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Wrong to use 4-H pledge for campaign

by LaVonne Olmsted
| October 20, 2022 12:00 AM

Shirley Azzopardi is a very nice person and we enjoyed her visit when she stopped by our home. The visit was brief as we had visitors at the time. Her poster is on our fence because my husband allows anyone to hang political posters on our fence and a friend put it there.

As a 4-H member from 9-18-years old and as a past 4-H leader I was disturbed that she used the words, "Head, Heart, Hands, Health, I support your mission!" Using a youth organization in a political ad is inappropriate. I checked with the Lake County Extension office and they could do nothing about it as the phrase is not copyrighted.

If she wanted to acknowledge the value of that youth organization, it would have been better to put in a separate article or letter to the editor as other people do. Putting it in a political ad showed poor judgement. How would people feel if it were The Boys or Girls Club, FFA, or Charlo Vikings?

For those unfamiliar with 4-H you can go to their website and the first thing you see is the above phrase as it is part of the pledge the kids take at their meetings.

Candidates, please be more careful. Thanks.

LaVonne Olmsted

St. Ignatius