As a longtime teacher and co-president of the Wichita-Metro League of Women Voters, Ernestine Krehbiel heard something that really got under her skin earlier this year.

A friend asked her: “Who is the government?”

“I remember saying ‘I bet there are many, many people that think like you do,'” said Krehbiel, a history and government instructor at Butler County Community College.

On Saturday, Krehbiel talked with members of the League of Women Voters of Kansas about how to teach about government and political issues to adults in Kansas communities.

The Lawrence-Douglas County League hosted the annual State Council 2006 at Lawrence High School. About 50 members from around the state attended.

During the workshop “Developing a Civics 101 Course,” which Krehbiel facilitated, she and the 18 female members and two male members in the room decided to try put adult education about democracy on the front-burner at the league’s national convention next month.

The group hopes to develop a presentation, such as about checks and balances or the definitions of federal, state and local governments.

Then they hope the information can be presented in either a cartoon flier or a fun video that might resemble “Schoolhouse Rock,” the classic cartoon that taught children about how a bill becomes a law.

Krehbiel hopes the cartoons or the fliers can teach adults, who otherwise might be too embarrassed to ask such questions about the American system.

“There is evidence to suggest if you teach people, they will teach others,” said Pat Dooley, a journalism professor at Wichita State University.

During the brainstorm session, the group members dreamed big about their idea being aired one day as a commercial on some major broadcast or published in Parade Magazine.

“It’s so important that the issue be bigger than Kansas,” Krehbiel said.

Also on Saturday, the state’s league members worked through three business sessions, and they attended other workshops.

Melinda Lewis, the public policy and advocacy chairwoman for El Centro, delivered the keynote address about immigration issues in Kansas.