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Louisville Atheists and Freethinkers August Meetup

Aug 25
Tue 8:00 PM
Location
This location is shown only to members
Estimated attendance
 75  people attended.
4.00 4.0026

Who organized?
Joe Mays,  John Armstrong,  and Mikel

Our guest for August will be Congressman John Yarmuth, who will be joining us at 8 pm on August 25th at the Fox and Hound restaurant to say a few words and engage in a question and answer session with us as respresentatives as the secular voice of Louisville. In 2006 John Yarmuth was the only candidate on any Louisville ballot who came out making a strong statement in defense of the wall of separation of church and state. Since that time we've seen many gains in this area on the local and national stage, and also some setbacks. Now, in 2009 we're going to take a moment to hear from him about the secular state of our community and of the nation.

Our meetup would normally be on the 18th of August, but we are moving it to the 25th of August in order to accomodate the congressman's schedule. The day of the week (Tuesday night) and the time (7 pm if you are getting dinner, 8 pm for the guest presentation) are the same as always. Congressman Yarmuth won't be able to join us for dinner, so he'll be arriving at 8 for his remarks and question and answer session.

Also, we're having this meeting at the Fox and Hound restaurant behind Oxmoor Mall. They've given us about ideal terms (our own space, anyone can order whatever they want off the full menu, no minimums or anything), so we'll try them out.

Fox and Hound Pub & Grille - Louisville
302 Bullitt Lane
Louisville, KY 40222
Phone: (502) 394-7620

I'm setting this meetup up a little differently than normal.


  • There are no "Maybe" responses for this one. You can either be there or you can't. Please don't say you are going to be there unless you really intend to be there.
  • I'm setting an upper limit of 60 people. I believe that's the upper limit of space at Fox and Hound. If I find out differently I'll change it.
  • To the extent that it's possible, if we start approaching the limit I'm going to set up a waiting list, and give first preference to people who have attended the meetups in the past. That may not be necessary, though. We'll see what happens.

In order to keep things organized I think it's going to be necessary to have the session be moderated. There are lots of concerns and questions we could voice to the congressman. I'd like to have an agenda planned out in advance and have people on the list here suggest things they'd like to hear from the congressman about in order to keep things on topic and make sure the most significant comments and questions get heard. I'll post more on that in a couple of days. If you have any thoughts about the best way to make it work, send them to the list.

More discussion will come on this in the next few days, for now I just wanted to make sure people knew who the guest is going to be, and that you are all aware of the change in location and date.

Photos of this Meetup

No photos yet.

Talk about this Meetup

  • Deborah L. Carbon
    Posted Aug 28, 2009 1:04 AM
    Deborah L. Carbon
    There were problems with all the noise however it can only help in preparing for future speaking engagements. I would really like to thank the organizers of this event because it really takes time and dedication to bring a group like this to life. I know I wouldn't be able to pull it off at all. I do appreciate having Yarmuth speak because he could have easily refused. It would not have hurt him politically to blow us off. Thank you organizers!!!! I really appreciate it.
  • Joe Mays
    Posted Aug 26, 2009 12:15 PM
    Joe Mays
    Organizer
    I think the noise in the room was a problem for everyone. It was a combination of two things -- the noise coming from the other room (apparently Tuesday night is a big party night for the rest of the place, which no one told us in advance) and Yarmuth's voice was shot, he sounded like he had laryngitis. An unfortunate combination of events, to say the least. We did however get multiple videos and recordings of the event, which we will be making available.
  • Laura Blair
    Posted Aug 26, 2009 12:05 PM
    Laura Blair
    I always enjoy seeing/talking with other members and whatnot but I was a bit disappointed in the venue. I couldn't hear the Congressman at all... maybe 1-3 questions total was all I heard. I am grateful that he took the time to speak with us and always enjoy meetups, but was disappointed this time for lack of audibility.
  • Mikel
    Posted Aug 26, 2009 8:53 AM
    Mikel
    Assistant Organizer
    I think the meetup went very well and was enjoyable. I was sitting up close and had no trouble hearing, but I can see how that would be a problem for people sitting further back. Next time we do something like this, we need some sort of PA system.

Who attended?

  • 75 attendees
    • “ I left after the second question. I felt that John Yarmouth wasnt putting enough effort into his voice to talk to more people than would fit in a phone booth. Needless to say, I felt that it was a disappointment to at least not get the chance for him to lie like a politician to my face. ”
    • “ This was my first meetup. Everyone was very friendly, and I will be back. ”
    • Sam (+1 guest)
      “ Awesome to hear Yarmuth. Thanks! ”
    • “ The organizers did an exellent job. ”
    • “ Thanks to our learders for bringing Congressman John Yarmuth to meet with us. ”
    • Gary Taylor (+1 guest)
      “ Well, I guess you can't bat 1000. Considering how crowded the bar was, we should have had a small PA system. Mr. Yarmuth apparently was hoarse from another speech and seemed unable to raise his voice above a normal speaking level. We were close and could hear less than half of what he said. The decision to restrict questions to the separation of church and state was, I think, extremely misguided. Not only did it circumvent, without discussion, other topics, but it completely ignored the reason why Senator Yarmuth was attending meetings in the first place, to further the health care reform bill. I did hear the radio address earlier in the day. Nobody asked the question I wanted to ask, and I don't plan on attending the clusterf**k that will be the Central High School town Hall Meeting, so I guess my question wil remain unanswered. I know the anxiety of any leader to make decisions that effect the whole group, and to do the best that you can, but boy, sombody blew it this time. ”
    • Megan (+1 guest)
      “ A microphone would have helped this event immensely. I wish someone had scoped out the situation ahead of time and had the foresight to bring one. I was barely able to hear anything and I'm disappointed because I'm sure I could have gotten a lot out of Yarmuth's answers to the questions he was asked. ”
    • Doug Rankin (+1 guest)
      “ There should have been a microphone for Yarmuth....I heard maybe only about 50% of what was said, but otherwise, the meeting place was great and I hope it might be considered as our new "home" for future meetings. ”
    • “ I really enjoyed having Yarmuth as a guest speaker. It was interesting to see him in person. ”
    • Jim Overturf (+1 guest)
      “ The lack of a truely private room was evident. I was sitting 15-20 feet from the speaker and could only hear one word in every 10. I am sure the congressman had some nice thoughts, but they were largely wasted tonite. ”
    • “ The citizens of Jefferson County are lucky to have John Yarmuth as our representative in Washington. ”
    • “ There was too much noise in the other parts of restaurant and Congressman Yarmouth was not audible at all. Plus the room did not have a capacity of 80+ people and without a microphone even 60 would have been too many. I am not sure how many there were. It is also a distracting idea to have some people eating and waitresses walking through the group taking orders or settling bills. Please find lecture halls like in a library or public park or even a church (!!!). This being my first meeting (other than one two days ago in Indiana where too there was a mixup of rooms but other than that it was a glorious success. The eateries are not conducive to good serious discussion, in my humble opinion. This is probably too much of a criticism (though meant constructively) for a newcomer. I am truly sorry. Madhukar ”
    • “ This one of the best meeting yet for me. I really appreciate that I got a seat so that I could hear. ”
    • “ I was about 10 feet away from Congressman Yarmuth and could hear him fine but realized that those in the back would have a hard time due to the background noise. If I had been in the back I doubt I would have been able to hear anything at all. He did apologize for his lack of voice at the beggining of the speech. A PA system would have helped immensly but hindsight is 20/20. I was pleased to be able to hear the replay of his radio interview from earlier in the day on my way home. Is anyone going to be going to the town hall this coming Wednesday? I would like to attend to hear more from him and to watch the crazies. ”
    • “ I could not hear the speaker because of all the noise filtering in from the other rooms in the restaurant. Seems like I could hear about every third word. I could hear the questions from the audience clearly. I think he needed a microphone. ”
    • Mel (+1 guest)
    • alan Nachby (+1 guest)
    • Joe Mays (+1 guest)
    • Dan Delaney (+1 guest)
    • Charlie W (+1 guest)
    • Martin Jennings (+1 guest)
    • Dave (+1 guest)
    • JFC