By LISA SHIN
Chair
Republican Party of Los Alamos
Nationwide, there is a growing effort to undermine parental authority, rights, and responsibilities. The issue of parental rights is front and center for the upcoming Constitution Day Dinner hosted by the Republican Party of Los Alamos (RPLA) on Saturday, Oct. 14.
Please join us for our special event at Cottonwood on the Greens, 4244 Diamond Drive. Our program starts at 5 p.m. with Mingle, Cash Bar and Silent Auction. At 6 p.m., there will be a dinner with a taco bar buffet, non-alcoholic beverage and dessert.
Winners of the LAFRW Constitution Essay Contest will be honored. Featured speakers will be Tara Beam and David Vandenberg.
Tara Beam is a native New Mexican who is passionate about healing our state and country through educational reform. Her drive for political and education reform is grounded in a firm conviction that to secure our liberty, Americans must return to our founding principles. She holds a master’s degree in politics from Hillsdale College. She helped found the Estancia Valley Classical Academy (EVCA) in Moriarty in 2011 and continues to be instrumental in bringing Barney Charter School Initiative schools to New Mexico. She also enjoys teaching our founding principles to church and civic groups. Tara and her husband have two sons and have lived in Los Alamos since July 2022.
Title of her talk: “The Moral Conditions of Freedom: Parental Rights and Duties in the American Founding.”
David Vandenberg is a staff attorney with the Eighth Texas Court of Appeals in El Paso. He is also the President-Elect of the Texas Association of Appellate Court Attorneys. Prior to working at the Texas Court of Appeals, he was Supervising Attorney for the Third Judicial District Court in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the second largest court of general jurisdiction in the state. He served as summer clerk at the Supreme Court of Micronesia, a former American territory, and at the Texas Third Court of Appeals in Austin. In addition to his law degree from John Marshall School of Law in Atlanta, he earned a doctorate in philosophy with a concentration in epistemology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with highest awards of the graduate faculty. He is the author of a highly cited article on royalty determination for horizontal and fracked oil and gas wells in cross-boundary contexts with the Journal of World Business and Energy Law at Oxford University Press, and is a designated reporter for developments in American law for OUP. He has been invited to speak on legal aspects of fracking technology at international energy conferences in Europe and Asia.
Title of his talk: “The Pitfalls of Parental Rights Arguments.”
Register online HERE.
Parents have an essential role in the upbringing of their children, and parental involvement is fundamental to their success. If you believe that parental input matters, then please support and vote for Los Alamos candidates Sondra Wyman for School District 5 and Sean Stanfield for School District 3. You will have an opportunity to ask questions and share concerns at our “Meet and Greet and Support School Board Candidate” events on Thursday, Oct. 5 and Wednesday, Oct. 25, 4:30-6 p.m., at SALA (2551 Central Ave). Note the time change.