The meeting was held as usual in Room 302 of the First Unitarian Church.
Members and guests present were Karen Barnett, Dean Becker, Jerry Epstein, Pam Graham, L. Gutierrez, Tami Halphen, F aye Hamilton, Clayton Jones, Duane Jones, Barry Klein, Ann Lee, Bob Lee, Cheryl Nolin, Steve Nolin, Al Robison, Art Smart, Frank Smi th, and Carl Veley.
I called the meeting to order at apx. 7:05 PM. Since I'll be taking a leave of absence until at least November, in o rder to get some other things done, I started with a request for one or more volunteers, preferably other than Jerry, to take respon sibility for planning and running these monthly meetings. Since everyone else was too busy, Jerry had to volunteer to do it, in addi tion to being responsible for the day-to-day operation of the statewide organization.
Jerry then presented his new plan for increasing our membership between now and 2005. In brief summary, this will in volve a new website, currently being designed by him and Art at www.dpft.org/preview, and a new emphasis. Instead of the emphasis be ing on the importance of ending drug prohibition, as at present, it will henceforth be on harm reduction legislation that we know fr om polls is favored by a majority of voters, including medical marijuana.
This led to another lively discussion, during which I tried to keep my promise of letting just one person speak at a time. It was a productive discussion that ended up with a consensus that Jerry was on the right track. Members were invited to chec k the new website from time to time and send suggestions for improvement to Jerry. Jerry will in turn discuss the various proposals with Art.
Mr. Gutierrez arrived late, but after Jerry's presentation he introduced himself. He had found out about the DPFT by seeing a re-run of one of our TV programs, and had also met T.W. Weston, who is trying to rejuvinate the Harris County Grand Jury A ssociation. He is a retired businessman who has a degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M. He had already been converted t o the cause of ending drug prohibition, even before finding out about us, and looks like he will be a most valuable colleague.
By way of old business, I presented Suzy's proposal for a statewide speakers bureau, and it was met with general app roval. Cheryl explained that she had been working with Jerry for some time on getting speaking engagements for speakers in the Houst on area, and would therefore volunteer to be the Houston coordinator of the statewide bureau. She will communicate with Suzy on such details as the one-page biographical sketch, etc.
By way of new business, a fair amount of time was devoted to the idea of revising our pamphlet featuring Bob and Ann to make it more in line with the DPFT's new direction. Instead of the current title ("Why do these conservative Republicans want to end drug prohibition?") the new one will ask a question more like "Why do these conservative Republicans favor medical marijuana?" or words to that effect. Jerry will work with Bob and Ann to make the text more reflective of this new question.
The meeting was adjourned shortly after 8:30 PM. The next meeting is scheduled for June 16th.
Respectfully submitted by G. Alan Robison.
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Latest Revision 11-Jun-03