Decent stuff for a decent price (no tariffs)

FIGHTING FOR A FOREVER FREE STATE

#31, September 2025

Decent stuff for a decent price (no tariffs)

2nd Bargain Bonanza Rummage Sale — August 2025

By Harriet Bachner

Being hopeful about a successful fund-raising rummage-sale event, I offered to manage the second Bargain Bonanza. Then I wondered what I was getting myself into. But with support from Emily Walters and Sally Harryman, along with enthusiasm and contributions from the Liberal Ladies, the Young Dems and CCDems, the plans evolved despite my disinclination at times. There was some discussion about renting a different venue, although we decided to transform the front office space of the CC Democratic Headquarters for the sale. This allowed more sales space than the 2023 use of the headquarters back room.

Announcement of the Bargain Bonanza with requests for donations and volunteers to work on the sale were sent. Shan Laubengayer donated her creative artistry to design the poster we used to advertise the sale. Several people signed up to help organize the donations and to work on the sale days. Nancy Fredette took charge of the bake sale as she had done for the 2023 sale, and in fact she baked most of the cookies, pastries, and cakes. People seemed enthused about the sale, maybe more so to have a good cause to donate things they accumulated since the last sale.

On Aug. 20, with the help of volunteers, we transformed the headquarters to look like a secondhand shop with tables lined up along the walls and donated goods organized and sorted.

Our entrepreneurial volunteers sent notices and emails about the sale (Sophia Stapleton helped here). On Friday, Aug. 22 volunteers arrived at 7:30am, customers began arriving before 8am, and a steady flow continued until mid-morning. Folks were also delighted to have a selection of baked goods that Nancy enthusiastically encouraged them to buy. By the time we had closed shopping at 2:00pm we had grossed $1,050: $175.00 from the bake sale and $875.00 from the rummage sale. So, we anticipated that Saturday would be another lucrative sale day. The volunteers’ efforts and selling ideas made the first day of this fundraising event a success.\

On Saturday, people arrived after shopping at the Farmers’ Market and selected baked goods and some sale items, some added Friday late afternoon. Since we wanted to sell as much as possible rather than pack up items, we reduced the prices later in the morning. Despite the rock bottom prices on Saturday, we made $110.00 from the bake sale and $418.40 from the rummage sale. Thus, our total proceeds are $285.00 from the bake sale (thank you Nancy) and $1,293.40 for the rummage sale. So, the grand total is $1,578.40!

This fundraising effort was supported by Crawford County Democrats and Young Dems, Liberal Ladies, and community members who donated items, volunteered to organize donations, worked on the sale days, baked delicious treats, and gave helpful suggestions and encouragement.

Gratitude goes to these folks: Sally Harryman and Emily Walters for supporting everyone’s efforts; Nancy Fredette for baking so many treats; Betty Urich and Rexine Warehime for organizing the jewelry, purses, and accessories; Cecily Stephens for organizing sale items; Shirley Beers for posting info about the sale and helping during the sale; Janice Arthur and Skip Urich for helping during the sale and at the closing in boxing up unsold items and taking them to the Salvation Army; Don Pyle insuring the proceeds were deposited in a timely manner;.

Thank you to all who showed up to assist in whatever ways were needed: Nikki Foster, Ruth Miller, Larry Downing, Larry Miller, Blaise Jacks, Rosemary Stapleton, Nancy Tomassi, Lillian Bosseau, Lynette Westcott, Marcia Weeks, Delma Thompson, Susy Hammons, Kay Long, Dionne Cox, Vivian Blakemore. I sure hope that I don’t miss anyone here; clearly this was a Democratic County Community effort.

Much appreciation goes to many people who donated items, especially all who also volunteered their time to make this rummage sale a success. This sale not only is a service to the community but also provides funds for the operation of the Crawford County Democratic office.

Join us at our next meeting

This month’s county party meeting will be on Sept. 21 at 1 pm at the Crawford County Democratic Headquarters. Everyone is welcome to participate.

Please let Emily know if you have any items you'd like to see added to the agenda at emily@crawfordcountyksdems.org

We are hoping to see everyone there!

Hogg speaks on leadership

On Aug. 16, David Hogg, former DNC vice-chair, and prominent gun control advocate spoke at Pittsburg State University. This event was hosted by the Kansas Democratic Party, with contributions in terms of planning, promotion, and speakers by the Crawford County Democrats, the Crawford County Young Democrats, and the PSU Campus Democrats. The program was met with a large and enthusiastic crowd, and many stayed to mingle afterwards. In addition to the speeches, local progressive organizations including SEKwin, the Pittsburg State High School Democrats and the DSA had tables, allowing them to reach out to interested parties. The Liberal Ladies worked as ushers, which contributed to a friendly and collaborative atmosphere. Young Democrat leadership, both from Crawford County and at the state level got to meet with David Hogg, who had valuable insight about campaigns and messaging. Overall, this was an engaging and well received event.

— Sophia Stapleton
President, CC Young Dems

Kansas PDA update

By Jim Orwig

Kansas State Sen. Cindy Holscher, who is running for governor, was the featured guest at the Aug. 13 meeting of the Kansas Chapter of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA). Moderated by Kitty Degler, the focus of our meeting was the ongoing efforts of the Republican-dominated State Legislature to weaken public education by diverting public funds to private schools through a voucher program. The reasoning goes something like this: If it costs roughly $7,000 dollars a year to educate a child in public schools, and a parent doesn’t like the way public schools are run, then the parent should be given the $7,000 dollars per child to be spent on educating the child as the parents sees fit.

According to Sen. Holscher, 70 percent of those funds would go to parents of students who are already attending private schools. She reported a conversation she had with a parent, who wanted to know when she could get her $7,000. Sen. Holscher told her that the bill had not passed yet, and then she asked the parent how she intended to use the money. The parent told her that they intended to buy new household furniture.

In the years prior to the administration of former Gov. Sam Brownback, Kansas schools were well-funded, innovative and a reason to move to Kansas. Brownback’s massive tax cuts promised prosperity but brought chaos instead. After years of being underfunded, schools have somewhat recovered at the cost of larger class sizes, the elimination of some programs, teacher burnout, uncertain federal funding and lack of full funding for special education.

We had several educators present at the meeting, including Lynn Wescott, Harriet Bachner, and Ruth Miller, who is running for a spot on USD 250 school board. One of the takeaways from this meeting is the importance of electing candidates who see education as an investment by the community in its future. We need to challenge our legislators who are hellbent on creating a voucher program to listen to their constituents: We want well-funded and well-maintained schools, well-paid teachers, and resources that enhance the ability of children to learn.

Regarding the last point, having enough to eat is a challenge for many families in Kansas. The next two meetings of the Kansas Chapter of PDA will explore the problems of getting enough to eat in Kansas (Sept. 10) and solutions and policies that address the food problems (Oct. 8). Melinda Lavon, the chairperson of the Progressive Causus of the Kansas Democratic Party is organizing these meetings. To attend the Zoom meeting, go to the Mobilize app and look for the Kansas PDA Chapter, with the headline, “Let them eat ketchup: starving children for billionaires.”

A new rhyme from our Delma

This poem follows up on the Political Rhymes and Rants of an Unapolagetic “Woke” Nonagenarian by Delma Smith-Thompson, 2024

Outreach coming up

Parades:

Cherokee Saturday 9/6 5:00
McCune Saturday 9/27 10:30
Pitt State Saturday 10/11 9:00. Must register
Girard Saturday 10/18 10:00. Must register

Festa Italiana is 9/27 at Frontenac ballpark 5:00. We are registered again for strawberry shortcake. Will need 10 cakes.

School supplies were collected in August for Northeast Junior High and delivered on Aug. 14. The principal and staff were most appreciative.

— Lynn Grant

What is deep canvassing?

Deep canvassing involves open questioning, active listening, attending, and scaling of attitudes, to connect non-judgmentally without argument or persuasion. Through these strategies the voters begin to build awareness of their biases, discuss sensitive issues, and connect experiences with current issues. This stimulates reflection on prejudices or biases.

This training involves two meetings each for 2-hour sessions. We will discuss the stages of deep canvassing and practice the strategies. Join us for an informative and enjoyable opportunity to learn transformative communication models and skills.

The training meetings will be held at the Crawford County Democratic Headquarters on

Thursday September 11 Part 1 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm and
Saturday September 13 Part 2 from 10:00am to 12:00 noon

I look forward to hearing from you by email harrietanne7@gmail.com or text me at 620 704-8566 to sign up for this training.

— Harriet Bachner

Book group news

Our August book group meeting was a week late due to the preparation of HQ for the Bargain Bonanza. From all reports, the Bonanza was a success and so was the August book group.

Our August pick was Stacey Abrams’ 2025 book, Coded Justice. The novel explores the ethical implications of the use of AI in diagnosis, treatment planning, and pharmacological formulations in health care and the potential for good intentions to turn dangerous. Because Coded Justice was recently published and not readily available, some members read the first in Stacey Abrams’ series - While Justice Sleeps. Both books seem to have a similar style: lots of research, attention to detail, and intricate plotting in a murder mystery. The subject of Coded Justice stimulated interesting discussion, regarding the implications and our concerns about the growing use of and reliance on AI, especially in our medical care.

The pick for September is the author James Patterson, any book, your choice. A suggestion is selecting one of the books from his collaboration with Bill Clinton. They have written three books together: The President is Missing (2018), The President's Daughter (2021), and The First Gentleman (2025). A timely topical selection could also be Patterson’s book, Filthy Rich: A powerful billionaire, the sex scandal that undid him, and all the justice that money can buy (2016) about Jeffrey Epstein.

The next book group meeting is at 6:30 on Sept. 17, at Democratic HQ. Come for the lively conversation and a potluck dinner, even if you haven't read the book. Bring a friend and something to share if you're so inclined.

Hope to see you there.

— Linda Pratt and Harriet Bachner

Headquarters update

The purpose of the headquarters is to provide:

Safe, centralized meeting location
Comfortable and efficient work spaces for party officers and volunteers
Social support to our members
Reliable information to the community

Headquarters served its purposes last month as there have been meetings galore. We provided workspace for the Coover for Congress campaign a couple times last month and look forward to more of this. Women Helping Women and the Liberal Ladies have been hosting postcard writing and of course, the Bargain Bonanza. That sale went so well, I think we could do about anything in there!

The next Committee Chairperson meeting will be Thursday, Sept. 11 at 2pm at headquarters. This is a great chance to get your ideas and input into circulation. If you’re not a chairperson, but are interested in joining or even forming a committee, come on up, take some action!

The Headquarters staff remains fantastic and I’ve not heard many reports of boredom lately, because we’ve had so much going on! Keeping up with schedule changes has been tough for me this month as I started a new job (foodsmart.com, check it out) If you’d be willing to work a shift here or there, PLEASE, do it! Call or come up and we’ll get you on the schedule.

Lastly, leave the place as you find it, turn the ac up when you leave and know the governor could walk in at any minute. Peace!

— Sally Harryman

LLs’ August report

Liberal Ladies met first on August 13th. I was down with covid so Marcia Weeks led the meeting. Janice took her usual great notes.

Emily came to talk about the David Hogg visit on August 16th at the Bicknell Center. She asked if Liberal Ladies would be ushers and could guide people to the front rows. Shirley suggested wearing Blue Wave t-shirts. There will be voter registration and other tables in the Atrium.

The next CC Dems meeting will be at Aggie's Dream at Farlington Lake. The guest speaker will be State Sen. Cindy Holscher, who is running for governor.

Ethan Corson is expected to officially launch his race for governor on Aug. 15. He can start accepting donations after that date.

Harriet asked for volunteers for our 2nd Bargain Bonanza. Nancy Fredette is baking and freezing bake sale items and needs help. We were reminded of the $50 limit on in-kind donations. If a donation reaches or exceeds that amount some identifying info is needed.

Kathy Thompson is hurt. Nancy Tomassi will send her a card.

Janice encouraged the group to attend and help out with the Farmers’ Market.

Ruth Miller discussed her campaign for USD 250 School Board. She can accept donations. She wants to talk to other candidates.

Our second Liberal Ladies meeting of the mointh was Aug. 27 with our largest group ever, 19 powerful women.

Harriet gave details of the Bargain Bonanza: $875 Friday, $420 Saturday. Bake Sale: $175 Friday, $110 Saturday. Total: $1500.78. By 3:00 on Saturday all the leftover stuff was delivered to the Salvation Army. Great job Harriet (organizing) and Nancy Fredette (bake sale). And many thanks to all who baked and worked!

Janice thanked the couples and others who have signed up to work at the Dem table at the Farmers’ Market. The schedule is full!

Penny brought stamps for the postcards. We will have a postcard writing day next Wednesday, the 3rd, at 1:00, at Dem HQ. They don't need to be mailed until October. There are 3 different messages to choose from.

Don Coover was doing some planning in the back room with Jenna Spencer and came in to answer our questions and introduce himself. He came across as genuine, intelligent, and decent. A candidate to be proud of and grateful for.

We learned that Shirley Beer has broken her leg!

We sang Happy Birthday to Sandy Malcolm. She brought cookies to celebrate.

— Susy Hammons

The story of Liberal Ladies

Years ago I visited a friend in Austin TX who took me to a meeting of Liberal Ladies Who Lunch. It was at a fancy restaurant and they introduced themselves, always starting on the "left." That's all I remember about the meeting except it was a great group with ideas that matched mine about politics! I went back to Kansas with a burning desire to have a support group like that in Pittsburg. In the meantime, I met Marcia Weeks who has become our expert about voter registration. Joy Leeper was another founding member. She became our scribe, writing letters to the editor and columns regularly. She was also our musical muse writing "Wise Women" especially for Liberal Ladies. Check it out on YouTube. In 2011, I invited 11 women to Lunch at the Corner Bistro.

We met every other Wednesday, but soon found that ordering and eating interfered too much with talking. We switched to the Pittsburg Public Library where you could bring a lunch, but most of us just wanted to talk.

It is such a special group! There are no officers, I'm the facilitator, no attendance is taken, no dues required, members decide what they are comfortable working on.

We protest, we march, we make phone calls, write postcards, letters to politicians and to the paper. We support Safehouse at Christmas, buy pool passes for kids each summer, school supplies for different schools, help with fund raisers, and volunteer at our permanent HQ.

If anyone is interested in starting their own Liberal Ladies group I would be glad to help you get started. Call me, email or we can meet in person at HQ.

-- Susy Hammons
620/719-9578
susyhammons@yahoo.com

We want to hear from you!

Article submissions are needed from Crawford County Democrats and friends about issues and topics we should all be thinking about. Let us publish your thoughts in this Revue, for distribution to county Democrats and others across the state. Back issues of thr newsletter are also on the website at https://www.crawfordcountyksdems.org/newsletter.

Please email your thoughts or those of your caucuses and interest groups for publication in the county party’s newsletter to news@crawfordcountyksdems.org. Accompanying photographs or other ideas for illustrating your articles are also welcome. Feel free to ask questions by text or phone of newsletter crew Harriet at 620-704-8566 or Phil at 708-466-0659. Also please include your phone number with your message in case we have questions for you.

We look forward to hearing from you!

By Crawford County Democratic Party

Dr. Emily Walters, Chair

EDUCATING VOTERS AND WINNING VOTES

Newsletter contacts: Harriet Bachner & Phil Burgert news@crawfordcountyksdems.org