Mid-Cities Democrats January meeting

When: 7:00PM, Thursday, January 24th
Where: Los Jimadores Tequila Factory
3314 Harwood Road
Bedford TX 76021 (map)

At this meeting, we will pay tribute to our group president, Byron Sibbett, who passed away from us suddenly last week. We will miss Byron’s gentle spirit, his dedication to our cause, and his commitment to Mid-Cities. Please join us in remembering Byron.

We will also feature a guest speaker, John Woods. If you watched the news in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, you may have seen coverage of John Woods, a University of Texas at Austin PhD student along with other friends and family of gun violence victims at Capitol Hill speaking to national leaders.

Woods is a 2007 Virginia Tech alum turned campus safety activist after campus carry bills were introduced in the Texas Legislature shortly after his move to Austin. Steering the small and tireless group at Students for Gun-Free Schools (Austin Chronicle’s “Best of Austin” 2009 award), Woods succeeded in stopping campus carry.

The 83rd Legislative Session is underway and a number of bills concerning firearms have been filed. To date, none dealing with campus carry or campus safety, though the issue is expected to be revisited.

Woods won the reader-decided Austin Chronicle’s “Best Activist” 2011 award (http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Awards/BestOfAustin?Award=1250813) and is the subject of the short documentary “Her Name was Max” (http://vimeo.com/37680779).

So join us on the 24th at Los Jimadores. Come early to eat; the meeting starts at 7 PM.

Democratically yours,
Mike Patino
Vice President
Mid-Cities Democrats