Tuesday, January 5, 2010

President’s Message - January 2010

Happy New Year. This is a favorite time of mine simply because I love new beginnings. We had a great 2009 in the awards arena, made some mistakes and learned some things. We tried some new things and most of those we are likely to repeat because they worked. We also repeated some old things, borrowed some good ideas and pulled up our red, white, and blue socks to become greater activists than we were before last year started. And, of ourse, since we had old, new, borrowed, and blue and some great women in our membership some of you got married in 2009.

This new year promises to be even busier and more productive than the territory we just plowed. We hope to expand our image in Humboldt County with our community service work by maintaining past projects and expanding into some interesting other areas of local involvement. The new
arenas include some community beautification efforts and a visitation program for care homes.

Mary Scott has prepared a first draft on our scholarship plan; due to computer challenges we will be reporting on that next month. Our Bake Sale at the December meeting added nicely to our fledgling scholarship fund. Thanks for your help.

The arrival of the cookbooks was a big ending for a year that gave us considerable cause to celebrate, reasons to be proud of ourselves as better informed and more activist citizens,
satisfaction because a lot of hard work was behind our achievements, and because we had fun while we did the whole thing.

Let’s see if we can out-do ourselves in 2010 as we take on an election year and a loaded agenda.

Colleen Hedrick

January 2010 Redwood Alert

Humboldt Republican Women Federated welcomes Kay Backer

Land Use? It’s About the Truth and the Law

Welcome to 2010! We are launching this next year with our first meeting only at Moose Lodge,
4328 Campton Rd. Eureka, CA 95503. We are so excited to have Kay Backer of Humboldt
Economic and Land Planning
from Sacramento as our special guest. She will address the massive array of problems that are present in our local area of Humboldt County Planning Department issues. A question and answer session will follow. We welcome members, their guests and our community. Bring your questions, paper, and a pen- see you there! (Kay’s bio- page 2)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Moose Lodge - 4328 Campton Rd, Eureka
11:30 a.m. - Buffet Luncheon- Meeting 12 noon to 1 p.m.
Soup, Salad & Dessert - $12.00
Beverage & speaker - $4.00
Dessert, beverage & speaker - $6.00
*Please RSVP to Colleen Hedrick at 268-0101. Early reservations appreciated.
*Fundraising event for our scholarship.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER: KAY BACKER
Six-years ago, Pacific Legal Foundation recommended Kay Backer for her current consulting assignment with the Humboldt Economic and Land Plan (HELP.) HELP focuses on promoting jobs, housing, and individual rights while working to persuade the County to adopt a balanced General Plan. Backer is the founder and president of KB International She established this company in 1993 after functioning as the management of more than 25-engineers and six contract administrators overseeing $300-million worth of international heavy construction contracts, as well as authoring a Management Manual. As vice president of Telchert Land Company, Backer master planned over 15,000 acres of land in various locations throughout Northern California.

For the past 17-years, Backer's Sacramento based company has provided land development services to a variety of clients in more than 30-cites for varied mixed use projects ranging from 800-acre sites down to one-half acre parcels. These projects' uses included commercial use, offices, retail stores, residential, industrial, and communication/radio towers. She was asked by the Chinese in 1993 to assemble a team and compete with 14-international firms for the designing of a 22-acre project in downtown Shanghai for the Shanghai International Trust and Investment Corporation. The KBI team won and designed a mixed-use project which included a 60-story building and two 40-story buildings. Another similar contract was awarded to KBI a few years later by the city of Shanghai. She and her partners held a contractor's license there from 1996 through 2003.

Backer has served on more that 30-boards. She was chairman for the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce, KXPR Radio Station Board, Junior Achievement of Sacramento, US & China Center for Construction and Training and Exchange, and Leadership Sacramento. Other professional activities included serving as the Sacramento the governor too Planning Commissioner for four years and chagrin that commission during 1994. In 1996 she was appointed by the Governor to chair the State's Sacramento Task Force on Housing and Retail.

Among her numerous award are: Who’s Who of American Women, National Business Leadership Award, Who's Who in Sacramento Business, Sacramento Distinguished Businesswoman, and California's Certificate of Recognition.

January 2010 Redwood Alert