POLITICAL EVENT - Kai Degner

Kai Degner to Announce Candidacy for Harrisonburg City Council on Thursday

Seeks Third Democratic Nomination

Harrisonburg, VA — Kai Degner plans to announce his candidacy for Harrisonburg City Council Thursday, June 5, at 5:15 at Clementine Cafe in downtown Harrisonburg. The free event will feature a brief introductory speech by Degner followed by an open community discussion, which Degner plans to make a staple of his campaign.

Degner plans to focus his campaign on three issues: smart growth, citizen education, and open government. "Harrisonburg is changing extremely quickly and we have an opportunity to make decisions today that will preserve the character and spirit of Harrisonburg in 10, 20, and 50 years. The city government has an opportunity to involve citizens in current decisions about the future at a larger scale than has ever before been seen. I have direct experience and knowledge to create additional ways for the city government to be responsive to citizen input."

Quick Facts about Kai Degner

• Member of Harrisonburg's Board of Zoning Appeals

• Graduate of the Harrisonburg Citizen Academy's Inaugural Class

• Executive Director of the Arts Council of the Valley

• Small Business Owner

• Co-founder of The OrangeBand Initiative

• Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and Bachelors of Science from JMU

• Member of the Harrisonburg-Massanutten Rotary Club

Leadership Experience

Currently, Kai serves as the Executive Director of the Arts Council of the Valley, where he facilitates collaborative partnerships between business leaders, philanthropists, community leaders, teachers, students and artists in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

Before taking his current position, Degner founded and operated a consulting business in Harrisonburg for three years. His business, Converging Voices LLC, focused on a combination of innovative facilitation and conference design, project management, and technology consulting. Kai contracted with the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Shenandoah Valley Pure Water Forum, James Madison University, Eastern Mennonite University's student government, and other regional clients. As part of this work, he served on the Shenandoah River Fish Kill Task Force, which continues to investigate the causes of annual fish deaths in the Shenandoah.

While self-employed, Degner served on the steering committee for the 2006 National Conference on Dialogue and Deliberation. Here, he entered the dialogue on developing and implementing strategies for local communities and governments to enable diverse stake-holders to collaboratively develop and implement sustainable solutions to complex problems. This experience provides him the knowledge to effectively initiate city-driven programs to meaningfully involve the Harrisonburg community in decisions that impact the city's future.

Community Involvement

In 2003, Degner founded The OrangeBand Initiative, a movement to get more people talking respectfully about what they care about most. OrangeBands are strips of fabric that people can tie somewhere to use as a conversation starter about an issue they feel is important to discuss. A major goal of OrangeBand is to bring together people with differing opinions to respectfully discuss issues that matter to them, and works towards solutions. This OrangeBand model has since been adopted at over a dozen universities and high schools around the country. Degner has personally organized, promoted, and/or moderated hundreds of discussion and/or community events in the Harrisonburg-Rockingham community.

Higher Education

Kai Degner earned a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and a Bachelors of Science in Integrated Science and Technology (ISAT) from James Madison University, where he was an Honors Scholar. While studying for his MBA, he focused on applying the coursework to nonprofit and small business administration. In ISAT, he concentrated on a combination of environmental studies and geography in the Shenandoah River watershed.

More information at www.KaiDegner.com

POLITICAL EVENT - Archeological Society of Virginia

Jun 4 2008,7:00PM | Municipal Building-Arey Hall

Massanutten Chapter of the Archeological Society of Virginia. Program by Dr. Bernard Means on "New Deal Archaeology. Public is invited. For more information visit www..mcasv.org or call 564-0635.

Final Paper Due Date

The paper is due by 8am on the 9th. I have to have it by then or else I will not be able to get them all graded. Feel free to hand the papers in earlier ;)

Guidelines for Final Presentation

Your final presentation should include the following characteristics:

1. Should be 5-10 minutes long.
2. Should outline the history of the controversy you are examining, the perspective you are using and why, and what you found by using that perspective.
3. You should be ready to answer questions after your presentation.

Additionally, come ready to ask questions. You can significantly help your class participation grade by asking questions of your classmates on Friday.

POLITICAL EVENT - Creigh Deeds

Creigh Deeds for Governor

Breakfast Reception

Place: Traditions Family Style Dining

625 Mt. Clinton Pike

Harrisonburg, VA

Date: Friday, June 6, 2008

Time: 8:00 – 9:00

Kindly RSVP by June 2,

Please make checks payable to

Deeds for Governor

To respond by mail please send to:

Roger Ritchie

Ritchie Law Firm, P.L.C.

71 South Court Square, Ste. A

Harrisonburg, VA 22801

To make a reservation

By phone: (540)433-6124

E-Mail: rritchie@ritchielawfirm.com

Yes, I will attend the Reception at the following level:

□ Patron ($1,000) seated at the head table, and 4 tickets

□ Host ($500.00) recognition and 4 tickets

□ Benefactor ($250) recognition and 3 tickets

□ Friend ($100) recognition and 2 tickets

□ Guest ( $50) recognition plus 1 ticket

□ Individual tickets to reception only @ $25

Name .

Address .

City/State/Zip .

Phone ( ) .

Occupation* .

Employer * .

City of Business * .

Enclosed is my check of $ for .

Virginia law requires every campaign to collect this information from contributors.

POLITICAL EVENT - Cheap Gas From Sam

Here's an easy one:

This is a political campaign stunt I’m not familiar with: paying for part of your gas. Sam Rasoul, Bob Goodlatte’s hybrid car-driving Democratic challenger is planning a campaign event at the Texaco Food Mart on South Main this Wednesday, June 4th at 4:00 for 40 minutes. A press release sent out by Rasoul states that his campaign will be pumping gas, and paying for one dollar per gallon (up to 10 gallons).