Thanks to Erin for all her work on preparing for this press conference! Jane Clark Rural Advocates! What a successful press conference! Special thanks to Chris Bedford for his "solutions" vision and organization of the press conference, to Kari Carney and Mary Holmes for finalizing and distributing the press release and organizing the presenters, to Denise O'Brien for moderating, and to all the presenters, some of who filled in at the last minute because of inclement weather delaying the arrival of others: Darcy Tromenhauser, Matilde, Larry Ginter, LaVon Griffieon, Nicki Gould, Ed Woolsey, and Denise O'Brien. By my unofficial count we had 7 reporters at the press conference including FOX TV, KCCI TV, Iowa Public Radio, WHO radio, and the Cedar Rapids Gazette. I noticed that several of the 18 organizations represented were interviewed personally following the press conference. I was interviewed by three radio stations after my return to the office, WHO, KMA (Shenandoah), and Radio Iowa. Eleven organizations had banners or signs. And, thanks to Chris Bedford and The Humane Society, Rural Advocacy 2003 now has a beautiful banner of its own. "Thank you" to Erin Jordahl, who almost single-handedly collated and stuffed all the issue statement packets for 150 legislators, and LaVon Griffieon who together are passing those packets out to legislators. With the first funnel coming up in mid-February, some of us who talked after the press conference thought we ought to meet next week. A date and time that seemed to work for most was February 5 at 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. So let's plan to meet then at Iowa Environmental Council, 711 East Locust Street, Des Moines. We will have a brief debriefing of the press conference and decide next steps. Please let me know if you cannot make it. Otherwise, we'll plan on seeing you then. Check out the new official RA2K3 website www.ncrlc.com/ruraladvocacy2003.html. It was publicized in the press release about the press conference (see attached press release). It still has some things to be corrected. Please let your constituents know about the site and encourage them to carry the recommendations on to their own legislators. Note the statements can be downloaded as Word documents for easy printing. Tim Kautza Science and Environmental Education National Catholic Rural Life Conference 4625 Beaver Avenue Des Moines, IA 50310-2199 515-270-2634, ext. 16 515-270-9447 (FAX) [log in to unmask] www.ncrlc.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]