August Meeting

It is hard to believe that it is August already! We hope you enjoyed our break from meetings during June and July, but it is time to start working hard again. The August meeting will be Tuesday, August 23, the day before the Bureau County Fair. We will meet at the fairgrounds so that we will be able to set up the Republican booth. Due to time conflicts, the time has been moved up to 4:00 pm. We realize that this might be difficult for some to make, but please come when you can to help us out.

Bureau County Fair

The Bureau County Fair will be held August 24 – August 28. We will need workers for the booth on each of those days. Please let Sue Pratt, 815-894-2130 or prattfam87@frontier.com, know the days and hours you are able to help. There will also be a sign-up sheet at the meeting on August 23.

Save the Statue Project

Please bring empty coffee cans to the August meeting. We plan to use these to put in stores to raise funds for our community project of helping to make necessary improvements to save the statue in Soldiers and Sailors Park. We will also need members to be willing to approach businesses in allowing us to place a can in their business for donations.

Raffle

Our fall fundraising raffle this year is for something we believe everyone would be thrilled to win: half a hog. The start of tickets sales will coincide with the fair – August 24, with the drawing on November 5. Tickets will sell for $10.00 each.  We hope that everyone will get involved in selling these tickets to help make this fundraiser our best one yet!

T-Shirts

Our Bureau County Republican Women t-shirt order is finally going in! The t-shirt will be a red polo shirt with a BCRW logo on the left shoulder area. The cost is $12.00 per shirt for sizes small to X-large. The cost goes up $2.00 per size for each size after that (2XL for $14.00, 3XL for $16.00, etc.). We believe this cost should cover the tax.

Please let us know if you would like to order a shirt (or two!) and what size by Sunday, August 14. We would like to try to get them in time to wear for the Bureau County Fair. Contact Sue Pratt with your order at 815-894-2130 or prattfam87@frontier.com.

“No morn ever dawned more favorable than ours did; and no day was every more clouded than the present! Wisdom, and good examples are necessary at this time to rescue the political machine from the impending storm.” –George Washington, letter to James Madison, 1786

We were honored to have Senator Darin LaHood speak at our April meeting. He has an ambitious plan to help get Illinois on sound fiscal ground and to improve the business climate to help create more jobs. We are very fortunate to have him representing us in Springfield. Thank you Senator LaHood, for coming to Princeton to speak with us and answer our questions.

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February Meeting

The next meeting for the Bureau County Republican Women will be on Tuesday, February 15, 2011. We will meet in the Steinbeck Room at Fitzgerald’s Piano Lounge. The address is 432 S. Main Street in Princeton. The meeting will begin at 6:00 pm. As always, pizza will be ordered for those who are interested.

We hope to see you there!

Lincoln Day Dinner

The Lincoln Day Dinner will be held on Saturday, February 19, 2011. The keynote speaker will be radio personality, Cisco Coto, talk show host for WLS Radio out of Chicago. The social time will begin at 6:00 with the dinner being served at 6:30. Tickets will be $35.00 single/$60.00 couple/$225.00 table of six.

Dessert Auction

We will be holding our annual Dessert Auction during the Lincoln Day Dinner. Final plans for this event will be solidified at the meeting. We are asking that our members donate a homemade dessert item to the auction. Please – NO store bought items. Email,
prattfam87@frontier.com, or call, 815-894-2130, Sue Pratt to let her know what type of dessert you would like to bring. This has always been a fun and successful event.

“I never thought of myself as a great man, just a man
committed to great ideas. I’ve always believed that
individuals should take priority over the state. History has
taught me that this is what sets America apart — not to
remake the world in our image, but to inspire people
everywhere with a sense of their own boundless possibilities.
There’s no question I am an idealist, which is another way of
saying I am an American.” –Ronald Reagan

Essay Contest

The theme for this year’s Eighth Grade Essay Contest is, “In honor of Ronald Reagan’s 100th Birthday, what qualities from his Illinois roots helped mold him to become one of the greatest leaders of the Twentieth Century?” We look forward this year’s entries.

Membership Dues

If you have not already done so, please send your 2011 dues to our treasurer, Nina Urbanowski. Thank you!

“His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have
ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity, of
friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was
indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great
man.” –Thomas Jefferson on George Washington

Photos from January meeting . . .

We were excited to have Illinois State Senator Sue Rezin as our guest speaker at January’s meeting. Senator Rezin is serving the 38th District which covers part of Bureau County; she was appointed following the retirement of Senator Gary Dahl.

Illinois State Senator Sue Rezin with BCRW President Sue Pratt & Secretary JoAnn Bertetto

Kristi, Illinois State Senator Sue Rezin, Marshann

Sue, Chris, Beth

Barry, Illinois State Senator Sue Rezin, Dan, Joe, Laura

JoAnn, Kristi, Marshann