While it’s not just for women anymore, there’s no question the League of Women Voters is just as relevant today in our complex world as it was when it was founded in 1920, just six months before the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. The local chapter turned a landmark 65 this year.

(If you’re wondering about the “not just for women” remark, the organization has opened its doors to men since 1973, and the LWV of La Plata County boasts several male members.)

The chapter held its annual meeting May 10 at the Rochester Hotel, courtesy of members Diane Wildfang and Kirk Komick. More than 30 people gathered to hear what the chapter has been up to, hear La Plata County Commissioner Bobby Lieb talk about what’s happening at the county level and laud outgoing President Stephanie Huss, who has put in two active years at the helm.

The league, for those who don’t know much about it, is nonpartisan – it does not support any political candidates but does endorse or oppose some public policy issues after studying them and coming to a consensus. Its ultimate purpose is to help all voters be more informed, and in today’s political climate, it’s particularly important to have these committed people taking on that role.

I need to issue a disclaimer here. My mother, Kathy Butler, was very active in the local LWV when I was growing up, and I remember many an evening when a group would be gathered around our kitchen table planning a candidate forum or organizing data from research and discussing the pros and cons of an issue.

Huss thanked her fellow officers and committee members for their service by giving them a choice between a baby ponderosa pine or Colorado blue spruce. At her house, built where the Valley Fire destroyed the home of Jack and Katy Freiberger, the Huss family has been on a tree-planting frenzy. One tree can produce 260 pounds of oxygen each year and cleans carbon dioxide from the air, she said.

Huss gave trees, with instructions about how to plant them, to Trish Pegram, Jill Patton, Grace Deltscheff, Nadine Ancel, Deanna Collins, Ellen and Ross Park, Suzanne Becker, Marilyn Brown, Pat Chatfield, Sally Bellerue and Marilyn Sandstrom.

The league boasts five 50-year members, who were introduced as part of the festivities. They are Judith Aitken, Mary Ruth Bowman, Barbara Cristol (an unbelievable 61 years), Sue Herbst and Dorothy Newell.

The group has undergone a real resurgence in the last decade, with all of the incoming board of directors having joined since 2002. (Some were leaguers elsewhere before moving here.)

The meeting included a favorable vote for a new slate of officers, including Pegram as president, Brown as first vice president, Laura Alsup as secretary and Ancel as treasurer. Bellerue served as chairwoman of the Nominating Committee and was joined by members Ann Flatten and Becker, along with Patton and Missy Rodey as membership representatives to the committee.

It has been a busy couple of years for the members. They have hosted 17 candidate forums with candidates running for offices ranging from school board to governor. They covered the 2010 ballot issues in Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio and taped the ballot-issue forum for City Span 10.

Last year was a big year for our country as we took our census for the decade, and the LWV was involved in that, too. They were honored for their actions on this front, which included everything from presenting census facts to local organizations to handing out information at the Snowdown Parade. They’re tracking health-care issues, legislative actions and what’s going on around the world with their Great Decisions program.

And, in response to one of the top topics in the world today, the local league has created an Energy, Environment and Sustainability Committee. Committee members, led by new member Deanna Collins, have gotten involved with local, state and national oil and gas issues, testified about actions by the Environmental Protection Agency and collaborated with the national LWV and the state leagues of Colorado, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico advocating for clean air in the Four Corners.

For her energy and commitment, Collins was awarded the inaugural Gladys McBee Spirit Award. The award was an LWV mug filled with Hershey’s kisses, a demonstration of how Collins is loved.

McBee’s daughter, Beverly, told Huss that McBee, my mom and Morley Ballantine were the Three Musketeers of the League of Women Voters back in the day. I have to admit I was so glad they named the award in Gladys McBee’s honor because she was one of the great ladies of Durango, year in and year out working on our behalf, particularly in the area of clean water. Her op-ed pieces in the Herald and efforts educating all of us on what citizenship means were invaluable.

When she died in 2003, U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis read a tribute to her into the Congressional Record. McBee donated her papers from years of working with the league to the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College.

Kudos to Huss and her team for a job well done, and thanks in advance to the incoming leadership team for your efforts supporting our democracy.

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Happy birthday to the last of the Taurus folks – Lucas Hoffman, Ron Huth, Susan Siegele, Adam Roessler, CarrieBetts, Virginia Martin, Dan Tucker, Harold Young, Molly Black, Duane Heidenreich, David Bulen, Beth Barnhardt, Bill Hoffman, Sarah Leavitt, Shep Shepherd and Ashley Hening.

Very special greetings go to the grande dame of the Animas Valley, Roberta Barr, who is turning 97 today.

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After 920 minutes – that’s 92 plays times 10 minutes – the winners are in for the Durango Arts Center’s national Ten Minute Play Contest.

About 75 people showed up to hear Maureen May, Emily Eisele, Shay Lopez and Miles Batchelder read the top five plays culled from the 92 entries by dozens of local readers.

The five winners were “Belonging” by Laurence Klavan from New York City; “Checkmate, Soulmate” by Mad Hester from Brooklyn, N.Y.; “Embodied Beings” by Jeff Schwamberger from La Honda, Calif.; “Grief” by Lynne McMahon of Chicago; and “Ronnie’s Charger” by Lawrence Kessenich of Watertown, Mass.

Shelley Mann was the contest director, and Dinah Swan directed the readers in rehearsal. Terry Swan, president of the DAC’s board of directors, introduced the entries.

Audience members picked “Ronnie’s Charger” to receive the People’s Choice Award and the $50 prize that went with it. The judges selected “Grief” in first place, and Mann called playwright McMahon with the news from the stage. What a thrill to hear a live audience applauding your work from more than 1,300 miles away. The $500 prize will come in handy, too.

I started this item with minutes, but I’ll end it with days. The 2012 contest is now open, and writers have just more than 300 days to complete a 10-page script. Check out the details at www.DurangoArts.org.

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I guess these folks are celebrating spring anniversaries (the meteorologists don’t necessarily agree) – John and Janet DeLeo, George and Susan Rambo, Andrew and Teri Cooley and Brad and Monique Monson.

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neighbors@durangoherald.com