01.30.07
Posted in Events, GHDC Blog at 3:33 pm by M Beauregard
Dear Friend:
Please join us for the Power Hour Networking Mixer; a great opportunity to meet community representatives, civic leaders, and concerned citizens in a social setting. District H Councilman Adrian Garcia will be on hand to discuss our topics of interest. Councilman Garcia serves as the Chair of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee and the Minority/Women Business Enterprise and Small Contractor Development and Contract Compliance Committee.
Join us for an exciting evening at the Museum of Fine Arts. We will be treated to a special viewing of Helio Oiticica: The Body of Color. Come view contemporary Brazilian Art at its finest. Oiticica is considered to be one of the twentieth century’s most innovative artists.
Also, hear first hand about some exciting projects that our coming to our great city.
Our special guests include:
Monica Garza, Associate Director of Education for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Monica comes from the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, CA where she was the Education Curator.
and
Veronica Juarez work for the Mayor’s Special Assistant for Cultural Affairs on civic art projects and historic preservation initiatives. She believes that Houston, as a metropolitan area, leads the country in its cultural and arts offerings, and she will share some exciting projects that the city is working on. Re-discover Houston at www.artshound.com.
Music will be provided by Vangie Pinon. She is a local singer and songwriter. She recently debuted her first CD, Heart’s Afire, which features original Latin Jazz & Latin R&B pop and poetry. Further, she is Public Affairs Director with ABC-KTRK TV Channel 13. She currently produces "Viva Houston" and the Asian/Pacific American public affairs program "Visions,", working closely with key community leaders and government officials in providing coverage for a broad range of issues and concerns.
Date: Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Time: 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Place: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
1001 Bissonnet Street / Main
Houston, Tx 77005
(Caroline Wiess Law Building)
www.mfah.org
Parking: Free parking is available at First Presbyterian Church, directly across from the museum.
Hor’deurves and refreshments will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there!
Ed Gonzalez
Community Liaison
Councilman Adrian Garcia’s office
Phone: 713-498-6969
District H
www.adriangarcia.com
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01.28.07
Posted in Events, GHDC Blog at 1:00 pm by M Beauregard
For Immediate Release Contact: Chonya Davis-Johnson
Thursday, January 25, 2007 713.655.0050 (office)
713.899.9757 (cell)
chonya.davis-johnson@mail.house.gov
THE IRAQ WAR SUMMIT: WHAT NEXT?
Join A Constructive Dialogue On Saving Lives Of Americans, Securing The Homeland, And Bringing Our Troops Home With Dignity.
Houston, TX – Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, the author of several congressional bills questioning the constitutionality of the war in Iraq, will host a summit on the Iraq war and silent march for peace to engage the 18th Congressional District in a constructive dialogue to develop a new voice for peace to be heard in the United States Congress.
WHO: Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and other invited guests
WHAT: IRAQ WAR SUMMIT: WHAT NEXT?
Summit and Peace March with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee
WHEN: Saturday, January 27, 2006
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Iraq War Summit: What Next?
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM Silent March for Peace
WHERE: Mickey Leland Federal Building, 1919 Smith Street, 12th Floor
NOTES: The Community is invited.
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01.21.07
Posted in Events, GHDC Blog at 12:18 pm by M Beauregard
We don’t want Heights Dems site to become commercial or filled with advertising, but it’s nice to know community events and where our members like to hang out!
Fundraiser for the International Blues Challenge: Memphis or Bust!
Sunday, January 21st, 2007
Join us for a delectable buffet, libations and Live Blues!
In alliance with Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar, the Houston Blues Society will host a fundraiser to send our regional “International Blues Challenge” winners to Memphis in February 2007, to compete in the largest gathering of Blues artists in the history of the world!
Doors open at 2:00pm - Music from 3:00 ‘til 6:00
provided by our regional IBC winners
Jeremiah Johnson & Ray Griffith (solo/duo act) &
Lil’ Stanley Hampton & the Executives (band act)
Catering by Chesterfields
$10 donation or FREE entry with purchase of HBS membership that includes HBS Tee-Shirt!
1031 E. 24th Street, Houston, TX
In the Historical Sunset Heights
713-862-8707
Map: http://www.danelectrosguitarbar.com/Map/tabid/490/Default.aspx
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01.19.07
Posted in Events, GHDC Blog at 12:00 pm by M Beauregard
Debra Danburg, Chair
Beth Arnold and Saundria Chase Gray, Co-Chairs
invite you to Planned Parenthood’s Annual Pro-Choice Luncheon
with speaker
Marcia Ann Gillespie
former editor in chief of Ms. and Essence magazines
Friday, January 19 at noon-1:30
The Westin Galleria Hotel
Deadline for inclusion in the invitation is December 1st
Buy tickets Online at various levels of fundraising support beginning at $75.
At Ms., Gillespie has made "moving the discussion of feminism forward" and "keeping it real with readers" her priorities. To those who think they know what Ms. has to say, she says "think again." A feminist who "wears make-up and high heels," Gillespie says that Ms. is a "welcome table" for a range of voices and views. Under her leadership, the magazine has reached a more diverse readership, attracting increasing numbers of younger women to its fold.
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01.15.07
Posted in Meeting Minutes at 10:19 am by M Beauregard
Our former Club President, Mary Kay Green, called the meeting to order at 9:15 AM. She announced that a lot of people aren’t here, because they’re at the Martin Luther King, Jr. "We are the Dream" parade (
www.wearethedream.org). The 3,000th Iraq War Memorial is on display from January 14 to 17 in Memorial Park. This is an observance of the over 3,000 U.S. military casualties, the over 150 U.S. civilian casualties, the estimated 650,000 Iraqi casualties, and the tens of thousands of wounded in the ongoing Iraq War. She observed that our freedoms are being whittled away "piece by piece" by the Bush Administration.
She introduced Randall R. Morton, President of the Progressive Forum. The Forum hosts 7 events each year. Some of the speakers last year were Al Gore, Molly Ivins, Seymour Hersh and George Soros.
The Spring Season 2007 will commence on February 19 with Garrison Keillor, who is the author of "Homegrown Democrat". Tim Flannery will speak on March 19 on the topic of global warming. His book, "The Weather Makers", is considered the best book on the subject. Senior Time magazine columnist Joe Klein will lecture on April 12 on "Islam, Iraq, and the War on Terror". Anna Deavere, who has been hailed by Newsweek as "the most exciting individual in American Theater", will speak on May 21.
Jim Dougherty asked whether The Progressive Forum is a non-profit organization. He confirmed that it is, and said it is the first group in Houston to pay speaker fees. He said that Progessive Forum events were previously held in the Hobby, but they’ve moved to the Wortham.
Mary Kay Green thanked Leta Parks for hosting our Christmas Party. She mentioned that Lita is an Associate Judge, and likes to host parties in her home.
Mary Kay Green said that in November we suspended the rule that stipulates that the election of Club officers will be held each year in December, and postponed that rule until today. She said that Barbara Ashley has stepped down as Vice-President, and she has resigned as President.
Bruce Mosier moved that we elect by acclamation Vicki Bellow as Treasurer. She was elected by unanimous acclamation.
Bruce Moshier moved that Kevin Hoffman be elected by acclamation as Vice-President. He’s an activist who has worked on the campaigns of Adrian Garcia and Jessica Farrar. Everyone acclaimed their approval.
Bruce Mosier moved that we elect by acclamation Max Beauregard as President. He acknowledged the contributions that Max has made to the field of demography. He has provided valuable demographic anaysis to various Democratic campaigns. He was elected by unanimous acclamation.
He moved that Henry Weissborn be elected by acclamation as Secretary. Henry was unanimously elected.
Max Beauregard reported that we had a great day on January 11 in our visit to Austin by bus for the Texas Legislature Open House. We left at 7 AM, and ended up watching 5 hours of the legislators going back and forth on the rules of how to vote. There were various questions about rules and endless points of order. In the end, "we all know who ended up as Speaker of the House (Tom Craddick), much to our chagrin".
He recollected that mariachi bands played in front of Jessica Farrar’s office for the entire day. He commented that she has a beautiful new office.
The first legislative session of 2007 started off with a motion to keep the voting secret until all of the committee assignments had been made. The motion failed. Following the defeat of that motion, Representative Jim Pitts withdrew his name. Max said, "he fell on his sword poltically in order to save his people".
Mary Kay Green declared, "I thank you for having served. I’ve enjoyed being your President, believe it or not. This is a city election year. We need to get people registered to vote, so that we don’t let things lag. We need to stay busy. It’s all yours, baby".
Max Beauregard commented, "I’m happy to help. I very much want this to be a team effort. My priority is to reach out to the community in order to make them aware of our presence".
Scott Bruns, our webmaster, noted that our web site gets a lot of visitors. He said that, although there were almost no visitors when our site first went online last year, by December we were up to a thousand visitors.
Max Beauregard commented, "a thousand people is really significant".
Scott said our two hottest topics were early voting and neighborhood community news like "Lights in the Heights". He commented that we provide a vital service with that kind of information, since the only alternative is the Houston Heights Association (
www.houstonheights.org), which is mostly focused on their club and is more procedurally-oriented.
He said "there are a lot of eyes. There are a lot of young people moving into these apartments. The majority of people coming to our site have high-speed internet connections.
That means we can do internet videos. If we do 5-minute interviews with candidates, You Tube-types of things, and post it to the site, it would get a lot of traffic. You can get a camera for a thousand bucks (
www.youtube.com)".
Max Beuregarde said, "we need to network with Heights residents. We should hang our banner out on 19th Street. We need to wear our club t-shirts to First Saturday events, so that people will know there is a local operation going on".
Phil McNutt, an actvist with the local chapter of Democracy for America, said, "I’m in agreement with the web site". Democracy for America relies heavily on the internet. I think the club is moving in the right direction with the internet". He said that DFA will host a training academy in Houston on March 3 and 4 with speakers and workshops. The $60 admission charge includes lunch.
He said, "we’re ahead of Austin on training. We want to make sure that we get the word out. There are new folks and people running for office coming".
He announed that Barack Obama will speak at the Schultz’s (Beer) Garden, 1607 San Jacinto, in downtown Austin on January 28 at 5 PM.
Mary Kay Green said that Jim Rine is at the MLK Rally today, and added, "he was our bacup person for Vice President. He’s pretty over-extended with Veterans for Peace.".
E. I. Smith commented on the need for health care reform. He said, "there are millions of people without medication. Seniors are trying to get medicene down to a reasonable price".
Diane Mosier said that she writes a monthly column on neighborhood restaurants for the Heights Tribune (
www.heightstribune.com). She commented that we need to have more social gatherings. She said most young people don’t like to get up early for meetings on Saturday mornings. We need to additional events at times other than Saturday mornings. She suggested that we start putting on receptions once a year for Heights-area precinct chairs.
Vicki Bellow suggested that we host a garage sale this spring. She noted that we have some members who have graciously offered their homes for parties.
Scott Bruns commented, "it’s interesting to see who our web site visitors are. The things we’ve posted on the site that relate to the Heights neighborhood have been the most popular".
Max Beauregard adjourned the meeting at 10:25 AM.
by Henry Weissborn
GHDC Secretary
Approved by Max Beaurgard
GHDC President
TV dinner still cooling?
Check out "Tonight’s Picks" on Yahoo! TV.
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01.14.07
Posted in Events, GHDC Blog at 12:21 pm by M Beauregard
4-Day Memorial to honor all Iraq War Dead to Begin 14 January 2007, Memorial Park
A four-day memorial to all casualties from the war in Iraq will occupy a portion of Memorial Park at the intersection of Memorial Dr. and the east entrance to Picnic Lane on the south side of Memorial Dr. The observance will begin on 14 January and end on the 17th.
Jan. 14 is also the Houston Marathon, so 10,000 runners will pass the site after 9am. Volunteers are needed to plant the memorial flags earlier in the morning.
The lead organizations for this memorial are Veterans For Peace, Chapter 12 (VFP 12), Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), and CodePINK. The opening ceremony on the 14th will begin at 4:30pm. Short ceremonies will be held at sundown on the 15th and 16th. A gathering up of the flags will begin at 5:30pm on the 17th.
This memorial is designed to help educate the public on the cost of war to our servicemen, Iraqi civilians, and private contractors. The memorial will consist of three displays. The main display consists of over 3000 small U.S. flags (6” X 9”) each labeled for a specific casualty. A sub-section for Texas casualties includes small Texas flags. The second display is dedicated to the approximately 650,000 Iraq civilians who have lost their lives during this conflict. A third display denotes the hundreds of civilian contractors killed in the Iraq war. Volunteers are needed to: assemble flags on 13 January at 2pm at the memorial site; place flags beginning at 8am on 14 January (and watch the Houston Marathon which will pass the site); and remove the flag display on 17 January at 5:30pm. For further information or to volunteer contact Jim Rine (VFP 12) at jmrine@hotmail.com or phone 281 414 1386, Sherry Glover (MFSO) at another4peace@yahoo.com or Suzette Mouchaty at codepinkalerthoust@sbcglobal.net
Since this memorial is costing a minimum of $500, any donations will be cheerfully accepted. Checks can be made out to Veterans For Peace –Houston, TX and mailed to J. Rine, 633 Harvard, St. Houston, TX 77007.
Attached is an announcement flyer, please distribute this to your members.
Thank you,
Jim Rine
Pres., Veterans For Peace, Chapter 12
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01.13.07
Posted in Events, GHDC Blog at 1:00 am by M Beauregard
WE ARE THE DREAM MARCH & RALLY
DATE: Saturday, January 13, 2007
TIME: 8:00 am – 2:00 pm
LOCATION: 6300 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard (staging at Beekman St.) and culminating
At MacGregor Park, 5225 Calhoun.
Houstonians will come together as brothers and sisters to celebrate the prophetic voice of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a silent march down Martin Luther King Boulevard and a day of meaningful events at MacGregor Park. Register now at www.wearethedream.org or call the office of Houston City Council Member Ada Edwards at 713-247-2001.
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Posted in Events, GHDC Blog at 1:00 am by M Beauregard
Guest Speaker: Randall R. Morton, Founder and President of
The Progressive Forum.
The aim of 
Houston’s new civic speaker organization is to enrich our democracy and culture by presenting the greatest minds from all the fields of human endeavor—the sciences and humanities as well as politics and public affairs. Our progressive viewpoint is rooted in the mainstream constitutional, enlightenment, and egalitarian values of America’s founding fathers, a bedrock of moderate values that need affirming, now more than ever.
We’re pioneering a new model in the field of public affairs to deliver a higher quality experience to larger audiences. We use the finest theaters and venues, we pay speaker fees to present the world’s top intellectual and cultural stars, and we use intensive marketing and convenient box office services. Ticket sales cover only a portion of our costs, and we depend on our sponsors to provide this high level of quality. We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.
Election of Officers will be held at this regular meeting. Nominations will be taken from the floor, but the proposed slate of candidates for 2007 is:
President, Max Beauregard
Vice Pres, ???
Secretary, Henry Weisborn
Treasurer, Vicki Bellow
Webmaster Scott Bruns
Memberships dues of $15. must be paid prior to the meeting. Send checks to
GHDC POBox 70248 Houston, TX 77270
3000th Iraq War Memorial
Preparations for this 4day exhibition in Memorial Park will begin after our meeting. Assembly of flags is at 2pm.
ML King Day rally continues until 2pm
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01.11.07
Posted in GHDC Blog at 11:30 am by M Beauregard
Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
THE HARRIS COUNTY DEMOCRATIC LAWYERS’ ASSOCIATION CORDIALLY INVITES ALL DEMOCRATIC LAWYERS AND FRIENDS TO OUR MONTHLY LUNCHEON
Thursday, January 11th, 2007
11:30 a.m. - Noon - Social
12:00 p.m. -1:00 p.m. - Lunch and Program
THE BROWNSTONE RESTAURANT
2736 Virginia (at Westheimer, one block west of Kirby)
PROGRAM: "THE MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT"
This topic overviews the procedure for issues facing the detainees and other detention matters related to the "war on terror" and will focus on lawyers’ duties and obligations regarding the same under the federal law.
SPEAKER: Frances "Sissy" Farenthold
COST: $25; includes entrée, coffee and tea, dessert and gratuity, pay at the door.
Treat Yourself to Democratic Fellowship Without Recrimination!
RSVP: Georgia Cole, georgiacole@la-law.net, or 713-402-6161
Our Standard Monthly Luncheon
The 2nd Thursday of the Month
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01.10.07
Posted in Events, GHDC Blog at 5:30 pm by M Beauregard
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Dear Friend:
Happy holidays and a prosperous New Year!
I want to add to your holiday season by inviting you to the Power Hour Network Mixer on January 10th. This is a great opportunity to meet community representatives, civic leaders, and concerned citizens in a social setting. District H Councilman Adrian Garcia will be on hand to discuss topics of interest. Councilmember Garcia serves as the Chair of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, and is the Chair of the Minority/ Women Business Enterprise and Small Contractor Development and Contract Compliance Committee. He is always looking to help grow our local economy!
 Our focus this month will be the Houston Rockets and how they want to grow with Houston’s Hispanic business community. Beyond being our professional basketball team, the Houston Rockets are a great economic development partner for our city. They want to provide information to Hispanic business owners on how together we can grow their markets!
Our special guest will be Gretchen Sheirr, Director of Ticket Sales of the Houston Rockets. She has been with the Houston Rockets for over six year and will provide insight to the Rockets organization in general. Hispanics who are key members of the Rockets organization will join her. Her focus will be building strong relationships within the Hispanic Business Community through Rockets season ticket packages, group outings, or suite rentals. This can be great ways to help companies grow their businesses and strengthen relationships with their costumers.
In addition, Mr. Martin Cabrera, President and CEO of Cabrera Capital Markets, Inc. will join us to share some insight to the financial industry. Cabrera Capital Markets, Inc is a full service broker-dealer headquartered in the heart of Chicago’s financial district and has offices throughout the country. They are members of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB), the Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and they are a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE).
After the presentation, stay and enjoy the game as the Rockets battle the Los Angeles Lakers!
Date: January 10, 2007
Location: Toyota Center
Time: 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Game Tip Off: 7:30 PM
Appetizers and refreshments provided.
Sponsors: Houston Rockets
Please RSVP at Edward.Gonzalez@yahoo.com no later than January 8th. There is only room for 100 people!
Sincerely,
Edward Gonzalez
Community Liaison
Council Member Garcia’s Office
District H
www.adriangarcia.com
PHONE: 713.247.2003
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