The spirit of giving was shown by the Nevada County Tea Party Patriots when we were asked to help with a food and clothing drive to support the farmers and their employees in the San Joaquin Valley. We, and other Tea Party Patriots all over the country, stepped up and gave tons of food and clothing to people who work to keep us fed. So, thank you for your generosity.

Their plight is caused by the arrogance of our federal government who have limited the supply of water to the very people who supply 20% of the food to the entire United States. When you drive through this area, you will see over 500,000 acres of fallow land. Acres upon acres of government created dust bowls. Why? The reason they give is to save the 2 inch Delta Smelt. We will now have to import food items from foreign countries that do not have any controls over pesticides and waste water. How does this make any sense? .

It is up to us to keep up the pressure on our Senators and Congressmen and women to stop this insanity. Please, continue contacting our representatives. Your emails, calls and letters do make a difference.

On November 24^th I had the privilege of presenting the Nevada County Tea Party Patriots Mission Statement to three separate civic classes at Nevada Union High School. These very bright young people are our future. They were involved and asked a lot of great questions. My goal was not to convert them, but to encourage them to get involved in the political process. Judging by my experience that day, many of them will make good leaders.

Thanks need to go out to their teacher, Jeff Dellis, who encouraged their participation. Also, thanks to NCTPP Board Member, Ryan Hoskin for his participation. We hope to do this at other schools in the near future.

We are about to begin a petition drive called "Unplug the Political Machine". Rather than go into all the details here, go to http://www.unplugthepoliticalmachine.com this ballot measure is sponsored by the California Tea Party Patriots. It will be up to all of us to go out and gather 1.1 million signatures. You keep saying you want to be involved, this is your opportunity.

After you have gone to the above site, go to http://www.unplugthepoliticalmachine.org and register under "Nevada County". If you have any questions about any of this, contact Tom Wiederhold at 3scooters@gmail.com . Tom is going to coordinate all petition gathering for Nevada County.

Petitions and instructions should be ready by the end of December.

We now have an "Events Committee" that will be meeting this week.  Their goal is to come up with ideas that will bring us all together for information, camaraderie, and fun.  If you have any ideas, please let me know and I'll pass it on to them.