By Bill Simon
It’s the time of year for the Fresno Area Chapter ACLU-NC to celebrate. We are beginning our fifth year as a chapter. On September 12 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:45 p.m., we will begin our celebration with dinner at the Golden Restaurant in the Tower District (1135 N. Fulton St., just south of Olive Street). Following dinner, we will discuss what we have done during the past year, a member of the Affiliate Organizing Department will talk about current affiliate projects such as sentencing reform and we will elect a new board.
If you can’t come for the entire evening, come at 7:30 p.m. when we will welcome our guest speaker, Julia Harumi Mass. Mass is a staff lawyer at the Northern California ACLU specializing in immigration issues, which will be the topic of her presentation.
Everyone is invited to join us for dinner and the meeting. (Well, make that the first 72 people to RSVP because that’s all the seats we have.) If you would like to join us for dinner, RSVP to simonaclu@sbcglobal.net or call 559-227-6565. If you come at 7:30 p.m., no RSVP is needed.
We also have a second reason to celebrate. We have kept the affiliate so busy that the staff has always joked, I thought, about opening a Fresno office. No joke! The ACLU is opening a Fresno area office. It’s only a one-person office, but on September 12 we expect to introduce you to the person who has been hired by the ACLU-NC to work as an organizer specifically in the Central Valley. Come join us. And if you would like, we can make you a card-carrying member of the ACLU.
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Bill Simon is past chair of the Fresno Area Chapter ACLU-NC and is currently the volunteer coordinator for the chapter. Contact him at simonaclu@sbcglobal.net.
