Poweshiek CARES meeting: December 18, 2012

Poweshiek CARES met from 7 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, December 18 at the Drake Community Library. Here are the main items that we discussed:

• Jon Andelson showed a video (“People, pigs, and politics: cleaning up the hog industry in North Carolina”).
• Val Vetter gave a status report on our prospects for becoming a 501c(4) social welfare organization. She has met with Tom Lacina, and they are working on drafting articles of incorporation and by-laws for us. After some discussion, we decided to appoint seven initial members of the board of directors: Joyce Otto, Laforest (John) Sherman, John Stone, Valerie Vetter, Jean Perri, Marilyn Barnes, and Donna Winburn.
• Doug Caulkins and Elena Gartner presented preliminary results from their survey on the importance to our community of various problems associated with CAFOs.
• We made plans and preparations for Lobby Day (January 15, 2013) and discussed our legislative agenda. A bus will pick up participants from Grinnell at the Super 8 motel at 8 a.m. and take us to Des Moines for the day, returning about 5 p.m.