Tag Archives: White House

County Commissioner from Wyoming one of three to meet with White House Officials

Commissioners Emily Brieve and Stan Ponstein (Photo courtesy of Emily Brieve)

By Lisa LaPlante

Kent County

 

Commissioners Emily Brieve, Stan Ponstein and Robert Womack joined more than 50 county commissioners from across Michigan on Aug. 8 at a White House Conference to discuss greater cooperation between local and federal leaders. The Commissioners were invited by the Trump administration to share their views on public policy challenges facing local governments.

 

Commissioner Brieve, who serves District 10 part of Caledonia Township and Gaines Township, said it was an informative visit. “Communicating with the various levels of government can be like playing a game of telephone. This meeting was important because it gave us, at the County level, a direct line to the White House,” Brieve said. “We were able to communicate our role in local government and bring light to issues important to counties in Michigan. This opportunity has allowed us access to departments that provide funding for core services to Kent County residents.”

 

Commissioners Ponstein and Brieve (in back) with the rest of the county commissioners from Michigan. (Photo by Emily Brieve)

Commissioner Ponstein felt honored to receive an invitation. “No one with the Michigan Association of Counties has ever known of the White House inviting County Commissioners to appear before them to speak of shortcomings of the Federal Government. I am glad I had the opportunity, along with two other Kent County Commissioners, to have our voice be heard,” Commissioner Ponstein of District 7 which is Grandville and part of Wyoming, said after the visit. “I was asked often, ‘What does the public really think?’; I simply stated that in Kent County, when residents see a problem, they work together to find a solution; they don’t feel that way about the Federal Government; they feel the system is broken and it no longer works for the people.”

 

The evening before the conference, the Commissioners attended a briefing from the Michigan Association of Counties and National Association of Counties on “Matters of Importance to Michigan.” “The engagement of Michigan commissioners in this event is highly encouraging,” said Stephan W. Currie, Executive Director of the Michigan Association of Counties. “There’s nothing more valuable in the development of strong public policy than to have local elected officials giving their on-the-ground assessments to federal leaders.”

 

For more information on the Kent County Board of Commissioners, visit www.accesskent.com/Departments/BOC/members.

Legacy matters, says GVSU keynote speaker

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The photo that helped launch a legacy – ‘Hands Up’

By Victoria Mullen

WKTV

 

At the age of 23, Grand Rapids native Leighton Watson is striving to leave a legacy that matters, and he is confident that his life path is on target to achieve that goal.

 

Watson was in Grand Rapids Sept. 26  to share with Grand Valley State University students the importance of finding solutions to social injustice within each community. The former student body president of Howard University was the keynote speaker for a presentation called ‘The Power of Student Voices,’ a component of GVSU’s Student Assembly Week. The purpose of the assembly was to encourage students to actively engage in conversation about social and political issues and have their voices heard.

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Leighton Watson

 

Although he is active in addressing the issues of Civil Rights and social injustice, Watson says he doesn’t think of himself as an ‘activist.’

 

“I’d rather be called a human being,” he said. “Everyone wants to put you in a box and label you. I’m an American.”

 

Watson’s current life path crystallized during his senior year of college, around the time of the Ferguson riots. Deeply disturbed by the increasing civil unrest and injustice, he gathered fellow students for a photo, ‘Hands Up’ (as in ‘don’t shoot’). He also traveled to Ferguson to see the situation firsthand.

 

“You can’t prescribe a remedy for a situation you don’t know about,” Watson said.

 

Meanwhile, the ‘Hands Up’ image rapidly went viral on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and CNN took notice. The station invited him to the studio to share his views and possible remedies for civic unrest.

 

“We don’t have to wait until we get to the point of Ferguson,” he said. “A lot of the same symptoms are happening now in other cities, but people don’t realize it until things blow up. If America was what it’s supposed to be, what it says on paper, you’d never have the movement, women’s rights, etc. I still think that there is a gap and that means there’s work for me and us to close that gap.”

 

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Watson and POTUS

After seeing Watson’s CNN appearance — and impressed with his proactive approach to identifying solutions (rather than simply pointing out the problems) — the White House invited him to Washington to be a part of a task force on policing.

 

“The President asked me what I wanted him to do about Ferguson,” said Watson. “There is no national solution to this issue. It’s something that must be addressed state by state, local government by local government — it has to happen on a local level.”

 

Since then, Watson has kept busy visiting communities across the country to talk to school children and organizations, discussng concerns and organizing movements. He stresses the importance of preparation and solution-finding, even at the middle school level.

 

“And I say to middle-schoolers, ‘You have to be prepared to answer the question. Preparation is an ongoing process; you must be prepared to meet the president in that moment.'”

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Watson addressing GVSU students (Photo courtesy of GVSU

 

Watson learned the importance of legacy from his grandfather, who started the Section 8 Housing Authority in South Bend, Indiana. Years after his death, people remember and speak very highly of him.

 

“I was about four years old when he died,” said Watson. “My grandpa taught me that achievement is not a resting place, it’s a trampoline.

 

“Fifty years from now, history will have written about this time, that these police shootings happened. The question I’ll have to answer my grandchildren is, ‘Grandpa, where were you when this happened?’ And I’ll want to answer that question confidently, that I did do something about it.

 

“Legacy is important. What you do with your time is important,” said Watson. “I want to look back on my life and be confident about what I did with my time.”