By JIM PURCELL
It is being reported by The Macon County News, in a story titled "Macon Chapter of LWV dissolves due to lack of interest," in its November 21, 2017 edition, by Brittney Lofthouse, that a chapter of the League of Women Voters is being disbanded.
This is alarming for many reasons. According to the article, the Macon County Chapter of the League was established in the Spring of 1990 and "...fast forward 27 years and as of this year, the organization has disbanded."
Susan Ervin and Maethel Shindelman were co-coordinators of the group and it is reported they began to talk about dissolving the league after membership declined and a lack of attendance by the public at forums and meetings began to decline.
Ervin said the group tried to hold events at different times and places, but it didn't make much difference.
Ervin and Shindelman said the local league focused on presenting accurate information to voters about local government, candidates, issues, activities and organizations, and held forums for local races -- for county commissioners, town board and mayor, sheriff, school board and N.C. House and Senate.
Younger members were not joining the league and, according to the co-coordinators, members in the league "aged out" and were not replaced with new volunteers. In addition, Ervin and Shindelman believe that, in these very partisan times, non-partisan groups are not as attractive as they once were to people.
