Meat In Day will be Sat 3/18. An interesting wrinkle on the battle over preemption laws. Have you heard of District Accountability Committees?
Mark your calendars for Meat In Day this year. It will be Sat 3/18. So far I’m aware of two events (but will add as I learn of more).
I'm trying to collect a list of Meat In Day events to post here. So far I have one for Sterling, CO (see the link below) and I have one for Mesa County, CO (see picture of the flyer attached).
I would love to have you post about yours as well. Please add to the comments or send me a message and I will.
My hope is to have a post that is a list of them so people from all over the state can find one that's close (or far depending on their preference) and go.
I am glad to see Meat In Day continuing across the state and I hope it becomes a new tradition. At this point, I don't even care so much about Polis' bonehead proclamation: I have seen Meat In Day grow into something that boosts our cattle industry and that offers (as the one in Sterling, and I'm guessing others too) a chance for some charity.
As I hear of others, I'll update.
https://rivercountry.newschannelnebraska.com/story/48354425/meatin-2023-set-for-march-18
An interesting "new wrinkle on the preemption debate".
In case you're not familiar, a preemption law is one that prevents a "lesser" governmental body from making a law or policy. Colorado has (had? esp after the current Assembly session) a few. The best example I can think of is a preemption law that prevents local governmental agencies from instituting rent control.
The other classic example, which Colorado no longer has, is a preemption about gun control laws. Prior to the last Assembly session, Colorado had a preemption law that prevented any local governmental agency from instituting a gun control law stronger than the state's.
The article below was an interesting take on gun control preemption laws because, as it turns out, an appeals court in Oregon recently found that the state's preemption law made an attempt by an Oregon county to make itself a "Second Amendment Sanctuary" were null and void!
**To offer a bit of relevant context, Oregon is like Colorado in the sense that their coastal towns are quite liberal with a high population while the far Eastern part of the state is pretty rural and conservative. As happens here, policy is passed by the state which many folks in the Eastern part disagree with strongly, and they feel like they have no voice.
This presents quite a turnaround from the original thinking behind preemption laws for gun control: the proponents wanted it to be tougher to enact gun control and didn't want a patchwork of gun laws across a state. Gun control advocates were, of course, not a fan of this idea because it's easier to pass gun control laws in smaller political districts which tend to be more politically homogenous.
All this has led to plenty of opportunities for confusion and open hypocrisy which you can read about in the attached screengrab (from the article).
https://thereload.com/analysis-oregon-ruling-adds-a-new-wrinkle-to-the-preemption-debate-member-exclusive/
If you want to have a voice in your local school district, a District Accountability Committee (DAC) offers you another way to do it.
This post was spurred by Mr. Sengenber's op ed linked first below. In his op ed Mr. Sengenberger details how JeffCo's school board is blatantly ignoring the district's DAC and its subsidiary committee.
Not okay and if you live in JeffCo, I urge you to attend a school board meeting or write them and let them know as much--civilly, forcefully, and often.
If you don't live in JeffCo, however, I think this is still worth mentioning because (I would hope) other school district's won't be as ill-run.
First, if you're not familiar, what is a DAC? DAC's were created by law to offer community members (whether you have students in the schools of that district or no) a chance to offer some feedback and a sounding board to the school district--particularly on the issue of things like budgets and etc. The decisions and opinions of the DAC are not enforceable or mandatory on the school board (as the op ed clearly shows), but in a non-dysfunctional district, you should find that they are heard in their thoughts.
There is no election, there is no selection process to be in on the DAC, one simply needs to show up to a meeting, listen, and participate.
As I usually do, I checked on RE-1 Valley (my local district) to see about their DAC and came across a couple things.
The first is an op ed (linked second below) by the gentleman leading the DAC up here, Jared Sonnenberg. RE-1 Valley's DAC re-formed within the last year or so and, per a phone call with Mr. Sonnenberg, they're back up.
He recommended that you call the superintendent's office at RE-1 Valley if you're interested in attending a meeting (see the screenshot for contact info).
**one last thing: a special note of gratitude to Mr. Sonnenberg for his help in understanding the role of DAC's and who to call if you're interested in participating.
https://gazette.com/denver-gazette/jeffco-school-spurn-parents-accountability-jimmy-sengenberger/article_7697832c-b462-11ed-9d9b-c7dc81d85662.html
https://www.journal-advocate.com/2022/02/02/renewed-re-1-valley-district-accountability-committee-holds-first-meeting/