Citizens interested in learning about and discussing issues important to the conservative political movement are invited to attend the NW Ohio Conservative Conference, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 19.
The seven-hour conference will take place at Hilton Garden Inn, at Levis Commons in Perrysburg.
There is a $25 registration fee for adults, $15 for students, which includes lunch. Attendance will be limited to 650 people. John McAvoy, conference chairman, said he believes it will be a sellout crowd. He encourages people to preregister at www.nwohioconservativeconference.com.
McAvoy, who defines “political” as “supporting a particular candidate,” is adamant that the May 19 conference is not political.
“This will present conservative views on subjects, but it’s an information resource for people that just don’t know that there are resources out there, for people who want to get more information on a particular subject.”
McAvoy said conference leaders are planning breakout sessions and forums that will present information about national, state and local issues.
National issues to be discussed include health care, the right to bear arms, state sovereignty, the National Defense Authorization Act, home schooling, the balanced budget amendment, and the role of the Federal Reserve.
State and local issues to be discussed include the Ohio Workplace Freedom Amendment, voter identification, the pending Senate bill on voter fraud and the Lucas County Charter Group.
McAvoy encourages people from all political persuasions to attend.
“If you’re an honest liberal, and there are a few of them out there, if you really want to do some research and get the other side of the story, come to this. I always believe in getting the other side of the story. Don’t shut yourself out to one side because you’re doing yourself a disservice. If you want to try to get the other side of the story, come to this.”
Some Northwest Ohioans who have already registered for the conference have said that they’re attending because they have concerns with the direction the United States appears to be taking.
Anita Hahn, a Fremont resident in her early 50s, said she is attending the conference to meet other people interested in the same causes she is. She said she would like to find out what she can get involved in because she doesn’t like the direction the country is taking, “and I want to help change it.”
Hahn encourages people to attend and “just come out to find out what’s happening. You don’t have to get involved or join a cause. Just come and see what’s going on.”
Judith Ehret, 70, a Maumee resident, said the conference will be about issues that apply to people “whether they know it or not.”
Ehret said the current administration is manipulating citizens to “accept social justice or social redistribution rather than reliance on self and family.
“I’m concerned that we are losing our freedoms set down by our Founding Fathers. It’s to the point where people are treating this country as if it’s a democracy. It’s not. We are a republic, which is a nation of laws.”
Robert Densic, 45, a Rossford resident, is the founder and president of Back to Basics, an organization he describes as “committed to promoting the conservative, libertarian, constitutionalist approach to government.”
Densic said attending the conference will give people the chance to answer the “why” to policies and laws established by politicians.
“This is about the principle of America,” he said. “A principle which was framed when the founders asked the overriding question, ‘Can man govern himself?’
“We really are at a turning point in this nation. We have many options. The key from this point forward is not in reinventing America, but rediscovering our principles, our history and our heritage.”
Tammy Leinbach, 52, the mother of three children, registered for the conference at the end of April.
Leinbach plans to attend because “ignorance is not bliss. It’s dangerous. The best way I can combat my ignorance is to become more informed in my world in Maumee, my world in Ohio, my world in the United States and the world as a whole.
“I want to be a better citizen and a better person. It will increase my value of the role I play as a mom because I’m more informed. I need to be a watchdog at the gate. Maybe that comes from, especially comes from, being a mom.”
