ZONTA CLUB OF THE PIKES PEAK AREA

Zonta Club of the Pikes Peak Area March 2001 Newsletter Volume I, Issue 3

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - FRAN SOUCHEK

This month's spotlight is on Fran Souchek, our club president. Fran's family is very important to her. Her roots are from Southwest Nebraska and a small rural town in Kansas where she grew up with a sister and five brothers. They are scattered to the four winds - which she tries to ride. They are in Washington state, Nebraska, Kansas, Florida, Scotland and Perth, Australia. She doesn't see them as much as she'd like but she tries to do so - "somebody's got to do it."

Fran is a Lead Analyst at CIG/El Paso Corporation. Her major responsibility has been to assure that the processes that produce royalty and producer payments - for natural gas - function properly and efficiently.

She was attracted to Zonta by her need to become involved with a community service and Zonta is an organization that she can relate to. The dedication to not only local but international service is also a plus. She stays dedicated to Zonta because she feels somebody has got to do it. "We cannot rely on the other person to become involved if we ourselves do not take the responsibility."

From the area meetings and district conferences she has attended, Fran feels she gained a renewed sense of dedication. She found others going in the same direction as our club with service and a heartfelt sense of caring.

When asked about a secret she could share with the club, Fran reports, "I am just a mild mannered single woman that would not have a problem being a mild mannered single woman with a guy that is 6 ft tall who has an uncanny resemblance to Tom Selleck or a younger Sean Connery.:-)"

Pending Colorado Legislation

The following legislation is some we might want to keep an eye on. Many of these were presented at the Legislative breakfast I attended on January 5th. Many of our Zonta sisters were there also to show our interest in what the legislature was doing and to hear several legislators address issues.

WE CAN!, an organization in Denver that tracks Bills of Concern to Women reports as follows. Make your decisions as to your support or not and contact your legislators.

Colorado Legislature 2001:

Bills of Concern to Women

SB - 41 , Wage Nondiscrimination Act
SUPPORT
Sponsor/s: Sen. Sue Windels, Rep. Suzanne Williams Narrows the gender and race pay gap by requiring employers to set equal wages for workers performing comparable work regardless of their sex or race.

SB - 63, Breast & Cervical Cancer Treatment
SUPPORT
Sponsor/s: Sen. Bob Hagedorn, Rep. Debbie Stafford Allows Colorado to cover indigent women's breast and cervical cancer treatment through Medicaid.

SB - 75, Hate Crimes
SUPPORT
Sponsor/s: Sen. Penfield Tate, Rep. Mark Larson Expands the crime of ethnic intimidation to include physical or mental disability, age, sexual orientation and gender identity.

HB - 1004, Income Disregards For CO Works
SUPPORT
Sponsor/s: Rep. Lynn Hefley, Sen. Mary Ellen Epps Increases the amount of her earnings that a woman transitioning from welfare to work can keep before having her cash grant reduced.

HB - 1022, Transitional Medicaid
SUPPORT
Sponsor/s: Rep. Lois Tochtrop, Sen. Doug Linkhart Allows women transitioning from welfare to work to maintain health care for their families by reducing reporting requirements and eliminating the rule which keeps people who have obtained employment quickly from accessing Transitional Medicaid.

HB - 1058, Make State Earned Income Tax Credit Permanent
SUPPORT
Sponsor/s: Rep. Lynn Hefley, Sen. John Evans Makes the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which targets low-income families and individuals for tax relief, a permanent feature of Colorado tax laws.

HB - 1080, Study of Assisted Living Funding Options
SUPPORT
Sponsor/s: Rep. Alice Borodkin, Sen. Bob Hagedorn Requires the Colorado health care task force to study innovative housing and assisted living service options for older people who can no longer live independently in their communities and possible funding sources for these levels of care.

HB - 1101, All Union Agreement Elections
SUPPORT
Sponsor/s: Rep. Rosemary Marshall, Sen. Bill Thiebaut Repeals Colorado's burdensome and unnecessary required second election for workforces seeking union representation.

HB - 1114, Racial Profiling
SUPPORT
Sponsor: Rep. Peter Groff Requires law enforcement agencies (serving 25,000 or more people) to collect data on the race, gender, and age of persons stopped for traffic violations and what enforcement action, if any, was taken. This bill also would establish a Colorado Bureau of Investigation hotline for people to call if they have experienced racial profiling.

HB - 1140, Tax Credit for Disabled Access Residences
SUPPORT
Sponsor/s: Rep. Lois Tochtrop, Sen. Ron Tupa Provides a tax credit to those residence owners or builders who make their residences accessible to people with disabilities.

HB - 1143, Transportation for Low-Income Workers
SUPPORT
Sponsor: Rep. Alice Borodkin, Sen. Ron Tupa Establishes a task force to study current transportation assistance programs for Colorado Works participants and options for enhancements of these programs.

HB - 1147, Targeted Residential Picketing
SUPPORT
Sponsor/s: Rep. Suzanne Williams Requires picketers in residential areas to carry signs no larger than 2x3 feet and restricts picketers from stopping in front of specific homes.

SB - 83, Concealed Weapons
OPPOSE
Sponsor/s: Sen. Ken Chlouber Establishes a state issuance system for concealed weapons permits which would relax standards and disallow local jurisdictions from prohibiting concealed weapons.

SB - 87, Viable Child Protection Act
OPPOSE
Sponsor/s: Sen. Doug Lamborn, Rep. Joe Nunez Prohibits abortions after 19 weeks of pregnancy (Lamborns' definition of viability) and would set up criminal penalties for abortion providers who provide services after the 19 week time period.

HB - 1190, Hiding the Identities of Concealed Weapons Permit Holders
OPPOSE
Sponsor/s: Rep. Don Lee, Sen. Ken Chlouber Expands legal protections for concealed weapons carriers by making their names and indentifying information confidential.

Area Meetings - Why and What Are They?

As many of you know, District 12 comprises four states: Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado. There are 22 clubs in this district. To make communication and support easier, there is an Area Director over each of four areas in District 12. We are in Area Four and our Area Director is Jo Ann Russ, from the Pueblo Club.

There is to be one Area Meeting each year in March, April, or May. The dates of the Area Meetings are scheduled by the District Board starting with the southern-most Area (Area Four) due to the chance of inclement weather as we progress up our georgraphical district.

The goal of the Area Meetings is to promote the Objects and programs of Zonta International along with District goals for information and education. The underlying goal of the meeting is to increase interaction among the Area Clubs (Canon City, Pikes Peak Area, Prowers, and Pueblo) by exchanging ideas and enjoying the camaraderie of sister Zontians.

The program is set by the Area Director and the host club works with her to acquire accommodations and support her program needs. This year the host club is the Pikes Peak Area Club.

YOU SHOULD HAVE RECEIVED YOUR CALL TO MEETING BY NOW AND MAYBE EVEN SENT IN YOUR REGISTRATION FORM. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR - BE AT THIS MEETING - March 31, Colorado Springs!

Dates to Remember . . .

**Please send comments and suggested information for the newsletter to Sufak1@aol.com or nulty@money.org or betlow@aol.com.