recognized for the shirts and billboards that say “For God So Loved…” and who would hold an annual prayer vigil that involved people holding hands around the entire 201 Poplar building praying for justice, victims, and more. “Thank you for letting me be here today and to also be there and to honor him,” said Weirich. “It struck me, in preparing my words for today how easy it is to look back as we prepare to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the woman’s right to vote.” Weirich spoke of the challenges the women, and the few men who accompanied them, must have endured to ensure future women would have the right to vote. “They didn’t have the modern amenities that we have today,” said Weirich. “It would have been so easy to give up…, but what they had was hope. They had a vision and they had support. They had hope, they had vision, and they had support – what we need every day.” Weirich stated that her employment at 201 Poplar started in 1991. At that time, she was fresh out of law school, single, and ready to begin the job she had always wanted to have. She married a law school classmate the following year. The couple has remained together and have four children ages 13 to 26. “When I started in the DA’s office, the office looked much different than it does today,” said Weirich. “I was one of a handful of women. We weren’t allowed to wear pants. There wasn’t a maternity leave policy. There were typewriters everywhere and nobody was wearing a cell phone. And what we did was to go to court every day and made decisions. We reacted. We evaluated cases that the police department delivered to us.” Weirich then began to talk about how the DA’s office has changed over the years. “We now have more women employees in the DA’s office. We do have a very nice maternity leave policy,” said Weirich who mentioned the DA’s office had just moved into new office spaces at 201. “After almost 40 years of some people being in the basement and never leaving their office, they now have a window.” The whole process of moving has given the office time to look through old desks, relive the past, and to look towards the future of the organization. “We’ve been doing a lot of reflecting within the office as people cleaned out closets and desk drawers,” said Weirich. “To look back on where we were, where we are, and where we hope to be. The same as we do as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the women’s right to vote.” Lunch consisted of chicken crepes, seafood scampi, or vegetable risotto. After dining, Carol took to the podium to finish the business portion of the annual event. “We have our past State President, Sharon Fidler; our local past President, Peg Watkins; and we have a number of our management team members here,” said Straughn as she called for each of them to stand. “We have a good contingency and we do have room for a couple more, so during our meeting you can be thinking about that. 2
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