Make Your Voice Heard, Have Fun and Take a Break From Your Routine

Madison Action Day: An Opportunity You Should Not Miss

Every now and then you have an opportunity to do something good for your community, take a break for your regular routine and have fun.  Madison Action Day on March 14 is such an opportunity.  Madison Action Day, which is sponsored by the Wisconsin Council of churches and locally by our own ESTHER, is an opportunity for all of us to unite in support of programs to promote social justice in Wisconsin.  It is a day-long program that includes meetings with legislators, seminars and a speech by Rev. Brian N. Massingale of Marquette University in Milwaukee.

You’ll even get lunch. 

Join Us On the Bus

ESTHER has chartered a bus, which will leave at 7:00 AM from St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Neenah (140 South Green Bay Road). You can leave your car in the parking lot on the further end from the church.  If you prefer to drive yourself to Madison, you can join us at Bethel Lutheran Church; 312 Wisconsin Ave, Madison WI.  The registration fee, which includes the cost of the lunch and the bus, is $35.  To register, go to ESTHER’s website.

Many From the Fox Cities Will Attend – Please Unite Your Voice To Theirs

Many people from our community will be attending this event.  If you are not a member of ESTHER or do not attend any church, do not be discouraged. We hope you will join us because among the issues that will be discussed are two of particular importance to our community. They include our bus system and proposed prison reforms

Our Bus System Is At Stake

One of these is a bill that will authorize the Fox cities to create a regional rapid transit authority.  As I said in a post in this blog on January 9, we need a regional transit authority because our community has become too large to receive federal support for the operating expenses of our bus system.  A regional transit authority ought to be a no-brainer.  It is a solution that allows local people to solve a local problem with their own money.  The solution is supported not only by ESTHER but also by the Post-Crescent, by our local Chamber of Commerce and by the mayors of our cities.  However, there are some radical rightists in the legislature who are so spooked by the thought of any sort of tax that they have opposed the regional transit authority on doctrinaire grounds in spite of the fact that the regional transit authority would only be able to impose a sales tax of up to ½% after the tax has been approved by referendum.  Public transit is important to many people in our community and to many businesses.  So come to Madison with us and make your voice heard in support of public transit in the Fox Cities.

Treatment Instead of Prison:  Effective and Cheap

The other issue of importance to our community is funding in the budget for Treatment Alternative Diversion (TAD) programs.TAD programs provide treatment for nonviolent offenders instead of imprisonment.  As I discussed in a post on this blog on January 10, TAD programs are among the very rare cases where you get to have it all.  TAD programs are cheaper, more humane and more effective than prison.  We can make our communities safer and save money at the same time.  What’s not to like about that?  To make it a reality, money has to be allocated for TAD programs in the state budget. So join us in Madison and be a voice for good sense in the criminal justice system.

The reason why it is so important for all of us who support these programs to be in Madison on March 14 is that at that time the state budget will be under discussion for the next biennium, and good intentions are worth nothing unless they have adequate funding.  So we have to be there during the budget discussion if we want to have any real effect.

Event: People of Faith United For Justice Madison Action Day

Date: March 14, 2013

Event Location: Bethel Lutheran Church; 312 Wisconsin Ave, Madison WI.

Event Time: 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM

Bus leaves the Fox Cities from St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Neenah, 140 South Green Bay Road.

Bus leaves at 7:00 AM.

Cost: $35

Don’t miss this opportunity to make your voice heard!  Go to ESTHER Fox Valley and register now to attend Madison Action Day on March 14.