Young Republicans group starts chapter

A group of young professionals in Tulare County was chartered this month by the California Young Republicans, Inc. as the newest chapter in the state.

James Henderson was elected chairman of the newly formed Tulare County Young Republicans.

"We plan on being a long-term presence in the community and working closely with the Tulare County Republican Central Committee," Henderson said.

Henderson said the chapter members are young business and community leaders, and outreach efforts will follow. Other officers include Justin Stoner as vice chairman; Tiffany Smith, secretary; Brandi Davis, treasurer and Stephen Tootle, historian. Other club members include Shauna Martin, Kathy Chastain, Nicky Henderson, Holly Stoner, Johnny and Stephanie Amaral among others as new members join daily.

"Our hope is that anyone interested in politics will check out our blog and Web site," Henderson said. "One of our main goals is communicating Republican ideas. We feel like there are probably some people out there who share our ideas or want to learn more about the Republican Party and conservatism. We want to try to reach those people. There are a lot of misconceptions about what Republicans stand for. We update the blog regularly and hope people will look at the section on our Web site called ‘beliefs.’ We have also included links that any news junkie or history buff would appreciate."

The California Young Republicans, Inc. is an organization of Republicans between the ages of 18 and 40 who share an interest in politics and the success of the Republican Party. The CYR Inc. was established in 1936 and is the only young Republican group in California to be nationally organized by the Republican Nation Committee and the Young Republican National Federation.

The group launched at Web site at www.tulareyr.org and established an active blog at http://tulareyr.blogspot.com.

For more information, call Justin Stoner at 623-1731.