"Last Saturday was a great day to be a Charlottesville Democrat!

At the Pasta Dinner and Auction, we had the biggest turnout I can remember -- about 275 or so (all I know is that all 250 seats were occupied, and some us couldn't sit down). The upstate returns aren't in yet, but it appears that we cleared about $10,000. That is by far the most successful fundraiser in our history.

Special praise and thanks go to:

*** Karen Waters, who organized the dinner itself;

*** Nancy O'Brien, for organizing the auction;

*** The front desk crew -- Shirley Cauley, Pam McArdle, Tina Rees, Jennifer Brown, Jeannette Rosenberg and Cherrie Waxman;
*** The setup crew who worked Saturday afternoon to put it all together -- Parthy Monagan, Jackie Lichtman, Maria Chapel, Virginia Germino and Barbara Smith;

*** Jeremy Weinberg, for helping get so many good auction donors;
*** Norman Dill, our auctioneer, who seemed to be able to coax money out of people who hadn't even planned on giving it (I guess that's why he's an auctioneer...);
*** David Lee, for making a mid-party wine run;

*** Our benefactors -- Creigh Deeds, Mitch Van Yahres and Al Weed
*** Our sponsors --
Rus Perry and Jeannette Rosenberg
Maurice Cox and Giovanna Galfione-Cox
Sheriff Cornelia Johnson
Lloyd Snook
http://loper.org/~george/
John Conover and Virginia Daugherty
Mary Ann Elwood
David Brown and Jean Hiatt
David Toscano and Nancy Tramontin
Kevin Halloran
Paul Garrett
Jennifer Brown
The New Broads Network
Dave Chapman and Cindy Chapman
Nancy Damon
Tom Vandever
L.F. and Susan Payne
Al Weed
Lee Richards and Edmunda Richards
Page Gilliam
Gennie Keller
Karen Waters
Meredith Richards and Larry Richards
Richard Brewer and Denise Lunsford
Eugene Foster and Jane Foster

The Drewary J. Brown Award was given in memory of Drewary Brown, for extraordinary service to the Charlottesville community and to the Charlottesville Democratic Party. This year's recipient was George Loper. George was recognized for service to the community -- the Social Development Commission, the Charlottesville Housing Foundation, the League of Women Voters, Planned Parenthood, St. Paul's Memorial Church, among other organizations. He was also recognized for his service to the Democratic Party. In addition to serving on the Walker precinct committee, he has been an officer of the local party in years past.

[L-R] Mitch Van Yahres with George Loper, Charlottesville, Virginia, February 28, 2004 Past recipients of the Drewary J. Brown Award include Drewary Brown, Clare Smith, Robert and Grace Tinsely, Mary Ann and Bill Elwood and Francis H. Fife.

He runs a great website that is not specifically a Democratic Party website -- it just seems that a lot of the people who write into the site, or to George personally, are more likely to vote Democratic.... George has also run the Saturday morning breakfasts for the last 10 years. Thanks to the Brown Award committee, chaired by Terri DiCintio, with assistance from Grace Tinsley, Jean Hiatt and Mary Ann Elwood.

Finally, the City Committee will be meeting on Tuesday, March 23, at 7:00 PM in the General District Court in City Hall. At this meeting we will have important information about how to be a delegate to the Fifth District Convention, the State Convention, and maybe even the National Democratic Convention in Boston. We will also review the last few months of frenetic Democratic activity, and we will make plans for the stretch run of the Council campaign. Please plan to be there.

Speaking of the campaign, I am delighted that John Conover is serving as campaign manager. We have three good, strong candidates, our organizing is starting to click, and we will be ready to win in May.

When John, or the precinct chair, or someone associated with the campaign calls, please find a way to say "Yes."

Thanks again to everyone who made the Pasta Dinner and Auction such a spectacular success.

Lloyd Snook
Democratic Party Chair (electronic mail, March 2, 2004)

Editor's Note: At the Dinner, Democratic candidates for the Charlottesville City Council were given $6,000 from the Democratic Road Back PAC.