Upcoming events:

Libertarian Party Speech Contest for Wayne County High School students. Tuesday,April 5th, 6:30 P.M., Golay Center, Cambridge City This years topic: What does the First Amendment mean to you? Prizes: First Place $150.00, Second Place $100.00, Third place $75.00. contact Susan Bell at susanbell2002@msn.com or (765) 489-5363

State Convention, April 30th and May 1st. Clarksville IN For more info visit www.lpin.org

Greetings Wayne County Libertarians and Friends;

Thanks to everybody that came out for our District 6 meeting on March 12th. The evening drew 39 people for the meeting and Wellivers. We heard a lot of good ideas for advancing liberty, and the Libertarian Party.

Mark Burton won the copy of the Bill of Rights. The raffle raised $307.00, which will be applied to the speech contest prizes.

As you may have heard by now, we didn't win the election. Now that we've had a couple of months to get over that shock, I think we need to take a look at the positives of this campaign and election.

We have had a lot of support from dedicated candidates and members. Our main fundraiser, the LPWC Garage Sale raised over $2500.00 in support of our local campaign. We had booths and entries at 15 fairs, festivals and parades around the area. We have received excellent coverage ( if not endorsements) from the local newspapers and WKBV radio, and we have had 8 Libertarian faces smiling at thousands of motorists from five billboards in Wayne County for the last month.

We have done a great job of advancing the Libertarian name recognition. Four years ago, not many people in Wayne County had heard of the Libertarian Party. Today, you would be hard pressed to find someone in the county who hasn't.

Election Day brought volunteers from Hendricks, Hamilton and Marion Counties to help at the polls, along with a visit from Kenn Gividen, our Gubernatorial candidate, and Aaron Milewski, our candidate for Attorney General.

We had a great group of candidates this year, and they all deserve a big THANKS. I hate to single anybody out, but I'm going to anyway. Cheryl Heacox, a new member of the party, stepped up to run in District 2 County Commissioner spot. Cheryl campaigned tirelessly with her faithful sidekick and campaign manager, Marvin, and wouldn't allow even hip surgery to keep her from the campaign trail. She is one of the best schmoozers you have ever seen working our booth, and to top all of that, she went on to receive the highest vote total of any Libertarian ever on a Wayne County ballot. Not bad for the first time out. Great Job, Cheryl!!!

On some other positive notes: In 2002, our County Commissioner candidate received about 9% of the vote. This year, our 2 County Commissioner Candidates received over 25% of the vote each. That's a 16% increase over the last election. If we can continue that rate of growth for the next two elections, we will elect a Commissioner or two in 2008. Do we have any volunteers for the job?

Gayle Bond, our District 54 candidate, received 8% of the Wayne County vote in a 4-way race, and both Jon Bell and John Marcum garnered respectable totals in their districts.

Our County Council Candidates, Dale Purvis, Mark Burton and Mark Smith, had a tough way to go with an eight person race, but they did manage to draw over 9000 votes. Dale received over 13% in his home township.

Remember, other people are not your property, and other peoples' property is not your property.

Rex Bell Wayne County Chair