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Our first meeting in our new location at the Community School was April 14th. We have been meeting every Monday since. We will not be meeting on Memorial Day this coming Monday. This day we honor and respect our fallen heroes. I suspect I will see a few Ramonians at Ft. Rosecrans.

To those that have been attending our meetings lately, many thanks. Our apologizes for the arduous tedium of some administrative crap that we need to attend to. We will be meeting outside these public meetings to sort out our By-Laws. We are a Federally regulated 501c4 Mutual Benefit nonprofit organization.

Our last regular meetings were in October, last year. After the death of Beverly Ragsdale in September, and the fires in October, we decided to take a hiatus until the New Year.

Fast forward to today. Our focus today is on a membership drive. At one point 2 years ago we had regular attendance of 20+ people. We would like to see a registered membership of 200+.

The next step in the process to study incorporation is to work on boundaries. This will involve a polling into the different areas to assess voters desires. It will be important to acquire the registrar's current roster of voters. At the end of the day, it is this group that really matters. Understanding the interests of voters in the different areas is important. We have been advised by several knowledgeable people to take this step.

We have several committees that we are moving forward with. Fund raising for the LAFCO submission is next. We need to organizing the upcoming events. We will be manning a booth at the 4th of July event, and Fair Days. This is a face time occupation with our public that needs volunteers. The Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) committee will be exploring ways to short-cut and streamline the requirements that LAFCO has. Menefee was able to cut their budget to a third of what was estimated by negotiating with LAFCO on requirements, and conducting studies themselves. Menefee will be on the Ballot next month.

This is an exciting time in Ramona's history. Some real turning point events have occurred that can steel the resolve in our citizenship. Now is the time to move forward and become independent.

Every week I hear of a "Cottage Industry" based here in Ramona that is contributing to the coffers of the County. Did you know that the 80 acre "Pig Farm" on Warnock and Ramona St. is doing genetic engineering for Bio-Med? Did you know that there is a bicycle manufacturer here that specializes in ultra light weight racing bikes that retail in the $1,000's, and ships all over the world? The only way we will know what our tax base is, is to complete the economic study. Ramona is bigger than any of us knows. We deserve to be the masters of our own destiny. Not the subjects under outside rule.

See you at the Community School at Hansen and Ramona Street Monday June 2nd at 6:30 pm for the next meeting. We will be voting on the concept of Bi-monthly meetings, and organizing committees.