Notes from Occupy Rapid City Assembly Meeting November 7th, 2011 The meeting was held at the

Rapid City Public Library Room B. Attendance exceeded 20 participants. Announcements began with mentioning of last Saturday's Bank Transfer demonstration and continued with thoughts about how the group will proceed and bring new activism to the table for the following weeks. Hand-outs could be created to give more information about the movement Demonstrations could be held at crackerbarrels and/or in Pierre to get attention of legislators (starting January) Black Friday would be a good day for demonstrating in favor of shopping locally Shop Small Saturday takes place the day after Thanksgiving It was noted how the group's presence works to get people to ask questions The group then proceeded with introductions in which each person stated why he/she was present. Shirley announced that there are two lists for group emails. List A is a public list where recipients can see one another's emails, and List B is private, for those who wish to not release their email address. Chris has gathered responses from more than 60 people sharing their grievances/concerns. These responses are being tallied to help develop a statement about the group's purpose and intent. While the list was being compiled on the white board, the group continued general discussion about the future of the movement and relevant topics: We can be active in ways that improve lives, such as food drives, hands-on helping people, community involvement, or with Habitat for Humanity Teach-ins with other groups or hosting education groups is good outreach Such a group will gather tomorrow Tuesday Nov. 8th (same time and place) to further discuss topics related to the movement Bridges To Cultural Understanding was mentioned as a good example of an outreach organization The Elks Theatre as a venue for showing documentary films. Costs were discussed along with what's known about how to get a film shown or encourage the theatre to show relevant films. Concerning education and action, it was noted that we should try to distinguish between issues that are symptoms and issues that are causes, and to focus on addressing the causes of problems The question of whether the group is political came up. Some participants noted that it depends on the definition, while others reiterated that the group should remain non-partisan We are working on getting a statement of intent written that will describe what Occupy Rapid City is and advocates; this will come from narrowing-down our common views and grievances to get a perspective Some of the group will be interested in political action and others will not; everyone is entitled

to their path for activism Being partisan will narrow the appeal of the group for new people Could this movement end up creating a 3rd-party? Politicians are influenced by Wall Street interests regardless of what party they represent The survey results were finished being tallied and Chris presented the results from the white-board. Two values were used to tally the numbers. Value one represents responses that are directly related to the issue specifically. Value two is a higher value that includes closely related issues. In order of greatest response to least, the results were as follows: Corporate influence on government / money in politics 16 / 24 End wars (expense, morality) 14 Economic disparity / Economic insecurity / Unemployment 14 / 30 Health Insurance / Health care reform 13 Party system does not work / broken system / dishonest/broken government 12 / 21 Education / Education costs 10 Tax reform 9 Corporate greed / Regulation 8 Financial system reform / End the Fed 7 / 9 Campaign finance / Electoral reform 6 Corporations are not people 6 Environmental / Energy 6

Discussion followed: Use the aforementioned information for outreach Sharing details about last Saturday's demonstration at the Wells Fargo bank Considering implications versus benefits of civil disobedience Showing respect and courtesy towards others and private property Plans for next Saturday's demonstration concluded that we will meet at the usual place at the intersection by Main Street Square at 12 pm, and walk together to occupy the sidewalks at the Wells Fargo intersection on St. Joseph St and 9th St