West End News: March 2

This week’s West End News is brought to you with a theme: Civic engagement. Don’t turn down the dial, this is important stuff! Let’s start with the local level.

The townships of Schroeder, Tofte, and Lutsen are all gearing up for their annual meetings, coming right up on March 14 this year. All three townships will hold elections for township positions from 5-8 pm on March 14, followed immediately by the annual meeting. Schroeder will be voting and meeting at the Schroeder Town Hall, Tofte residents can vote and meet at Birch Grove, and Lutsen folks will vote and convene at the Lutsen Town Hall.

In Schroeder, there is a race for one open supervisor seat. Marion McKeever, known as Bill, currently holds the seat and is being challenged by Rick Anderson. In Tofte, Craig Horak is running for the 3 year supervisor term. Craig is currently appointed to the seat left vacant by Paul James. Jeanie Larson, a current supervisor, is running for the 1 year supervisor term. Sam Crowley is running a write-in campaign for the 1 year supervisor term. If you would like to vote absentee for Tofte, call the town clerk at 370-0763 to get set up. The clerk will also be available for absentee voting on March 11, at the Tofte Town Hall from 10am to noon. Lastly, Lutsen resident Christine Ordemann has announced her intent to run as a write-in candidate for the open supervisor seat. If you’d like to vote absentee in Lutsen, call their town clerk at 663-7002 or email her at [email protected]. Same as Tofte, you can vote absentee at the Lutsen Town hall from 10am-noon on March 11, prior to the March 14 meeting.

If you aren’t registered to vote, don’t let that deter you! You can register to vote at the polls. So if you’re interested in who is making decisions in your town, what they’ve been up to and what the year ahead looks like, by all means attend the election and annual meetings. Again, the meetings are all at 8pm on March 14, at the Schroeder Town Hall, Birch Grove, and the Lutsen Town Hall.

On the state level, Lutsen resident Molly O’Neill is headed to St. Paul. Last fall, Molly participated in a listening session in Grand Marais held to discuss challenges and successes of women in rural MN. Molly shared her story about the difficulty of living and working in rural Minnesota and paying her monthly student loan bill. Molly’s story is simultaneously very personal and very relatable. As a somewhat recent college and law school graduate, I know more than my fair share of people in the same situation as Molly. They are educated, motivated, and gainfully employed in rural settings, yet still struggle due to their student loan debt. Molly has been invited to share her story in the form of testimony before the Higher Ed Committee at the Minnesota Legislature. The Committee is considering a bill that would establish a loan forgiveness program for individuals working in greater Minnesota. The West End is proud that Molly will be there to represent us!

On the national scene, Lutsen native Jessica Chenevert is in D.C. this week with the Pediatric Congenital Heart Association for the annual Congenital Heart Legislative Conference. The conference brings together patients, parents, providers, and partner organizations to advocate for awareness and funding for congenital heart disease. Inspired by her son Barrett, who was born with Transposition of the Great Arteries two and half years ago, Jessica has become a veteran advocate for more funding, research, and awareness for the #1 birth defect. As the full time social media coordinator for the Association, Jessica is in D.C. telling her personal story as well as supporting other newer advocates. All told, 183 advocates will be meeting with their representatives in the House and Senate to share their stories and ask the legislators to co-sponsor the Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act. This year, they will be asking for 7 million dollars to support surveillance and awareness activities aimed at addressing the public health impact of Congenital Heart Disease across the lifespan of those living with CHD. You can read more about their mission and how you can help at conqueringchd.org. This is Jessica’s third year attending the conference in D.C. Each year she has taken on more of a leadership role, and I feel confident that I can speak for us all in the West End when I say that we are very proud of her!

So there you have it, our very own West Enders are out there making a difference, from right here at home, to St. Paul, all the way to D.C. If you are interested in becoming involved, I encourage you to take that first step. It turns out the old cliché is true, one person really can make a difference.

For WTIP, I’m Clare Shirley with the West End News.