Audience

We have the following audiences:

1. Animal Rights Activists
2. Animal lovers upset by killing
3. Average person who doesn't care about animals
4. People who believe "something must be done" and aren't aware of non-lethal alternatives
5. Hunters

Groups 1 and 2 don't need to be convinced, group 5 will never be convinced, so out true target audience are groups 3 and 4 who represent the average apathetic voter.

The audience can access the data in a hierarchy, several sentences on a Main Site page points to a several paragraph abstract on the public blog that has a "read more..." separator where multiple pages can be displayed.

We should keep content on the Main site within 2 screens per page so the average person doesn't get bored and just go along with the city.

At the bottom of every article people can comment, or they can view related articles by clicking a Label, or they can return to the main site.

Arguments that work on the first two audiences won't work on the next two audiences.

Proposed Changes

Here are some ideas for improving the .com site.  These changes are primarily structural.

A quick mock up is available here.  Please add your comments below...

1. Move Petition to Who we are, it will also need to change as the deadline approaches and passes.
2. Remove (or demote) Rewards page
3. Move Lethal subpages to Is it Safe?.
4. Move "Is it safe?" page to the right
5. Change "Falsehoods" to "What you need to know" because some of the subpages are facts not falsehoods.
6. Rephrase Falsehoods subpages to be neutral
7. Group Alternatives by DVA & Garden categories
8. Remove "Contraception" alternative 
9. Rewrite Lyme Disease Info to make the point that it isn't a problem in Ohio

Web Site Launch #2

Despite the Web site being launched to the media at the March 9th Safety meeting, six weeks later some people feel the site still isn't ready.

Since then, the home page and sidebar have been reworked, terminology has been simplified.

What will it take to make it ready?

Cayuga Alternatives

A couple of items of interest from Cayuga Alternatives page.

Interesting idea, does any of this apply to Solon?

RADS - Russo doesn't like signs, but actually this makes some interesting sense from a Safety point of view.

Fencing - People say this looks bad

Speeding - This has been a hard thing to overcome on BB Rd, I wonder if we could get them to do anything in high deer areas.

Petition Drive

Rough Draft, add suggestions on comments...

Our petition drive has started, here's a few things all circulators should know.

1. Get your petition from Lane, with a number.  We're tracking all petitions being circulated by a unique petition number.
2. DO NOT fill in the number of signatures, even when all 43 are collected, this number will be filled in  by a petition consultant who will verify signatures.
3. DO NOT sign your own petition, sign another circulators petition,
4. When you complete a petition, be sure to complete the last page (except for the number of signatures), return it to Lane and get a new numbered petition. 
5. For your first time circulating a petition, pair up with an experienced circulator so you can learn from them.
6. When at a public place its better to ask for signatures on the way out, rather than on the way in.
7. Ask if they are a Solon resident AND a registered voter, this is important.
8. Then ask them if they'd sign a petition regarding putting deer culling on the ballot so the people can decide, don't debate the issue with them, this will take time and won't address the main point of getting their signature.
9. If they want more information you can direct to the website solondeer.com, but tell them signing the petition puts it on the ballot for the citizens to decide, signing isn't saying they are for ot against it just lets the people decide.
10. If someone tries to engage you in a debate, politely refuse to debate them and walk away from them.

If you have any more questions, contact Lane.

Organization

See Notes in Orange

-------- Original Message --------

0) Subject:	Re: Fw: Bow Hunting
Date:	Sat, 9 Apr 2011 08:13:44 -0700 (PDT)
From:	Lane
To:	Heinz , John

1) I would not put Stanek's reply on our website. We need to be prepared though if he should use that again so here is some stuff to get started with. 2) The crossbow comes from approximately 650 b. c. Improvements do not make this fact any less relevant Crossbows show NO difference in wounding rates.Studies, once published are still valuable to quote no matter how old they are, as long as you are quoting relevant information. If a study showed 54% wounding rate and some of those weapons are still being used, that study is still valid. In NJ, many of those same weapons are being used. Now crossbows are in use, but they don't discount any past study. Our Fish and Wildlife division are quoting studies from the 1960s in their reports. Doesn't mean those 1960 studies are fully valid, just means they got information from them to use in their reports. And they must be mentioned. 3) Brw, I would remove that article about the poaching incident in Mentor. The comment was that we need a longer hunting season. Not good. 4) The PPike gardening class might be added to the Sandy Baker stuff. It should be prefaced by the fact that PP Mayor Akers brought the Deer Dr back for an encore because she is so good.  John, my sincere apologies. There is an attachment with a letter from Akers singing her praises.   5) She is not your average 'how to protect your tulips'  expert. She is THE numero uno. --- On Sat, 4/9/11, John  wrote: From: John Subject: Re: Fw: Bow Hunting To: "Heinz Cc: "Lane Date: Saturday, April 9, 2011, 10:17 AM Heinz Knall wrote: 6) OK..................... well, that one might be best left off the web site.  "Hearts and Minds"   We can't win hearts and minds if we throw insults at the other team.  7) It's on the work blog which isn't indexed by Google search nor linked to by any public sites...  It's important info so I wanted to get it out of my enormous email queue to a place where just we can see it for reference or to decide what we want to do with it. Heinz Knall "With Dog, all things are possible, and usually occur when you are not at home."

---

-------- Original Message --------

8) Subject:	Fw: Solon--Deer
Date:	Sat, 19 Mar 2011 21:39:19 -0700 (PDT)
From:	Lane Ferrante
To:	John Nolan , Heinz Knall

9) First communication. She wrote to all separately . The attached is a testimonial from Pepper Pike mayor. --- On Wed, 2/16/11, Sandy Baker <wrote:To:pelunis@hotmail.com Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2011, 10:19 PM 10) February 17, 2011   Dear Robert Pelunis:   As a community leader faced with the impact of deer damage in parks, yards, and gardens, and conflict among your constituents regarding an effective solution, you are not alone. Local municipalities must resolve deer-related challenges, and there seems to be no rewarding answer.   But there is.  My work as a consultant in communities throughout the Northeastern United States shows that understanding fosters solutions for passionate stakeholders.    Government leaders have retained me to conduct seminars, give consultations, and educate home gardeners, parks’ stewards, growers, landscapers, nurseries’ owners, and the general public about reducing and preventing deer damage. Interviews with the local media, which I am available for, impact public perceptions; government leadership is seen as being responsive and open to deer management alternatives that address the concerns of all.  I have been dubbed “The Deer Doctor” because I help communities solve their deer-related challenges.   “How to Deer Proof Your Garden” seminars teach people how to protect plantings through a customizable Five Step Plan that introduces understanding of deer behavior which leads to planting success.  Last fall the mayors of five cities in Ohio pooled their resources to present my plan to their communities.  The reasonable cost was quickly defrayed by the reduction in deer damage to plant materials, the positive feedback generated through media coverage, and the resultant goodwill generated among community interest groups.  The attached letter will give you an idea of the response to my program from elected officials. . I urge you to plan now for a more beautiful community in the spring.  Take the first step by visiting www.deerproofyourgarden.com, then contact me at 585.338.2247 or contact@deerproofyourgarden.com for more information about seminars, scheduling, and fees.   Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to further communication with you.     Sandy Baker 11) Attachment  Notes: 0) 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11)

Email vs Blogger

Email presents many organiztion challenges.

When email is copied over to Blogger or Sites it may contain formatting that isn't consistent with the other web content.  If you copy it with formatting than you must try to reformat it to be consistent, either with the WYSIWIG tools or by going into raw HTML and removing the inconsistent code.

Once copied you can remove formatting with the Tx WYSIWIG tool.

However there may be some formatting you want to keep which means if you remove it you'll have to look at the original line by line and reapply the selected formatting.

By composing directly in Blogger the author applies the formatting with Google while writing it making it more consistent and not requiring more post-formatting.

Disturbing Video

How to handle disturbing videos?

Warn readers?

eg SHARK is listed as "mature material" which adds extra steps for age verification. This makes it harder for readers to view, probably too hard.  http://www.youtube.com/user/SHARKonlineorg

A warning in the caption...

Web Services

This is an introduction to web services, for a more technical discussion see this post.

There are three distinct public sites:

• Main Site - SolonDeer.com - The first place for people to see what's going on
• Articles (Blog) - More detailed information, people will be directed here from the Main Site
• News (formally Comments) - A separate blog to publish News, Letters to the Editor, Editorials, and public comments sent to SolonDeer@gmail.com.

Public Document storage is done on ScribD which can be embedded onto blog posts.

There are private facilities for those active in supporting our effort.  This blog is the main vehicle for that effort.  Google Docs will also be used for collaboration, stay tuned for more instructions.

Call for Work Help

Our Solon Deer Work Blog now has 100 posts, 71 are "Active" and need input and discussion. http://solondeerprivwork.blogspot.com/

Currently this work area is available for everyone to view and comment on, it is suppressed from Google Search but when the city realizes our effort I will need to secure it so they can't see what we're up to.  While that may sound paranoid, I know from past experience that the city DOES IN FACT monitor citizens posting on the web.  I have seen them discover my bainbridge road blog with a large spike as they caught up on what I posted, I have been critical of the city online and been personally contacted within 12 hours of a post.  We can expect them to monitoIr our Solon Deer web presence very soon.

I'd like to encourage everyone who hasn't already registered for a Google ID to do so.  This will allow me to invite you to private work forums so you can read and contribute to secured areas.  See http://solondeerprivwork.blogspot.com/2011/03/google-registration.html  to see the process.  You can use your existing email to register to Google, you don't need to define a new ID. 

Take a look at the Welcome Post to see http://solondeerprivwork.blogspot.com/2011/02/welcome.html

Many of you are already registered to the private blog, some of you are not.  For those who are not, send me an email when you have an ID and I'll send you an invitation to the private blog.  When you sign in to the blog you will have the option of defining a new post, editing a post you authored, or commenting on any post.  See this post for details http://solondeerprivwork.blogspot.com/2011/03/using-blogger.html .

The 71 active posts were derived from the nearly 500 emails I have on this topic.  The work blog is an organization tool that allows you to filter posts by VerDraft status, by subject, etc.  We have 10 posts that have moved to VerArchive status that have been acted on and moved to the public sites.  Our goal would be to make a substantial dent in the 71 active posts to move them through draft status to VerFinal and to the public sites.  The challenge is that information, especially written from an animal activists point of view doesn't translate to a Web Site or Web Blog format nor to the target audience of uninformed voter.  See this post for a discussion - http://solondeerprivwork.blogspot.com/2011/02/audience.html .

Those who are more technical may be interested in how the web services are set up, see http://solondeerprivwork.blogspot.com/search/label/Tech

Everything starts with registering to Google and the Welcome post, we look forward to moving forward with our web content to support our actions..

As always, feel free to contact me about any question or suggestions.

April Safety Mtg

Speaker: Deer Park
He's expecting our support, but gives cause for being skeptical.

Deer Deter has asked but got no response

Kraus said experts must come to be heard.  This is a circular argument as they don't want to come where they obviously aren't wanted.

Could they present via the internet - ala Skype or GoToMeeting?

Solicitation Issues

What are we allowed to do and where can we do it?
We need good legal advice as we are likely to be challenged.

Can we sit at a table in the community center with a sign?
Will that be considered "solicitation"?
Are we allowed to approach people, or just sit passively until someone comes up to us?

Can we knock on doors with a "no solicitation" sticker (political exemption)?

Lawn sign rules?

• One sign per yard
• Not in right of way (tree lawn)
• 30 day rule on political signs doesn't apply to this "free speech statement sign".

Possible places:

• Community Center
• Pavilion at Community Park
• Earth Day
• Giant Eagle & Marcs

Lots of updates  needed per emails....

Flyer

What do we want in it?

Timing?  Compared to Ballot Initiative and Yard Signs?

Deliver City wide?  Or public places?

Who are we?

Make it clear on all sites who we are and how we feel...

Taglines used at top of ALL sites, Main Site, Blog, Comments...

Petitioning/Surveying

ROUGH DRAFT...


There are four distinct items that have been called "Petition/Survey"...

1. Build a supporter database
   collect email addr, yard sign, help us?
   See Google Partition Post for details
2. Survey people's opinions
   How do they feel about various issues
   
3. Flood City Hall with opinions
   Like MetroPark, flood city hall
   
4. Ballot Initiative
   Formal process, rules on who can and how we collect signatures

Some examples:

Village Deer - https://sites.google.com/site/villagedeer/petition

Broadview Hts - http://sites.google.com/site/broadviewdeer/petition

Cayuga see box top left - http://www.cayugadeer.org/

Metro Parks -

Ohio Dem - http://ohiodems.org/we_are_ohio_rally_rsvp/

Like some of their verbiage like click here to rsvp

We would like to extend an invitation supporters like you

Letters, Editorials, Comments

I have a new blog named solondeernews.blogspot.com that is mentioned on the main site and article site.  If you have any items for that blog, you can post them here as new topics, labeled as NewsBlog and I'll move them to the public view and Label the item as VerArchive.  If the info isn't ready to post yet and you want to collect input then Label it VerRough or VerFirst (as well as NewsBlog).

If you don't have posting ability, then comment to this post or contact the site administrator for help.

Activists ToolBox

Thanks to Lucy for pointing me to this site, I found this interesting item there...

Activist Toolbox

Save time and get going: download all the materials you'll need to start defending imperiled wildlife in your community.

Downloadable Resources

Thanks for being such a dedicated Defender. Below, you'll find all the materials you'll need to take the next step for wildlife in your community. 

Click here.

---

PETA's Guide to Becoming an Activist

http://www.peta.org/action/activism-guide/default.aspx

IN THIS SECTION

• +Everyday Activism
• +Make a Difference in Five Minutes or Less!
• +Make a Difference in 15 Minutes!
• +Working With the Media
• +Public Speaking
• +Passing Animal Friendly Legislation

Contact

How should the public contact us?

They can email us at solondeer.com, this will be automatically forwarded to the SolonDeer Google Group.  Interesting comments will be posted to the SolonDeerNews Blog .  See the post Label NewsBlog for these topics.  


Need to determine if we want to show the google group publicly.

People can comment on the public blog.  We'll want them to comment on an appropriate post so we should have a post to catch related comments.

The google sites doesn't have much in the way of a commenting facility, we will have to point them to the public blog.  Added a contact page to main site to inform them of comment ability. REMOVED

Public group email.  If we can get people to join a google group they can communicate with each other and us via that platform.  People first have to get an ID registered to google (their own email), select the frequency (immediate, daily digest, or web only) and then they can post issues for discussions.  Popular discussions that we find useful may be copied to the public comment blog.  People can submit things to the Google Group without having a Google Acct by sending email to SolonDeer at gmail.com which has proxy authority and will post their comment.

Should we have a phone #?

Should we have an address?

Internal discussions

[REWRITE]This is separate from internal discussions of strategy or draft documents being developed.

For this we have a private facilities that we will want to secure to our working members so city hall and other advocates for killing aren't tipped off.  These are a  google group email and the working blog.  A working site could also be setup if it is helpful.

Press Release / Inquiry

How should these items be handled?  

Some sites require a press inquiry before using the site.

Affiliated Sites

Our Main Site Links page will list other affiliations, villagedeer, Broadview Hts, Hudson, Bedford Metro Parks, please comment here as you find these sites.

Safety Mtg

The USDA met with Stanek just before the Feb 9 mtg, do we have an OPR on that?

We're expecting USDA and ODNR at March 9th Safety Mtg.

It's been said that a "comprehensive" plan will be presented by May 1, this would mean it would be on April 13. If May 1 isn't firm then it could be on May 11.