Thursday, February 28, 2013

Fund raiser for Micah Smiley




Micah Smiley is the son of Chief Deputy Jamie Smiley of theTattnall County Sheriff's Office.  Micahwas diagnosed with Lymphoma cancer in January of 2013 and has been receiving treatmentsat the Children's Hospital in Atlanta.  Familyand Friends are having a raffle drawing on May 11th in an attempt tohelp the family with medical and travel expenses.
Tickets are $5 each and you have two chances to win.  1st 60 in flat screen TV 2ndMossberg Shotgun. 

If you want to purchase tickets please call me at 478-955-9164or email me. 
I and Jamie Smiley were best friends in High School and graduatedtogether.   I talked to him the other dayand he advised that the family was really struggling with expenses and that hiswife may lose her job due to her staying by her son's side while at thehospital in Atlanta.  If  any of you could help out with this it wouldbe much appreciated. 

Thanks, Major Jamie McDaniel
Twiggs County Sheriff's Office




  

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

An Open Letter To Washington DC

 
Dear President Obama,

In the last 13 years, Congress has given themselves $32,700 in pay raises.... All while fighting about the budget (just under the 20% pay cut that they are asking, no telling, all Federal workers that we must take).
 
I think if they are going to make the average Federal Employee take a 20% pay cut (1 day off per week= 20%) then they should have to take it as well!
It would save the American taxpayers $18,618,000 a year, which I know is just a drop in the bucket, but it is what they are asking all of us to do! That is not taking into account their budgets that they have for staff, offices, housing, travel etc.
Or even better Congress should forfeit their pay until we have a budget. Why do we pay them to take a vacation while there is a budget crisis?
 
Honestly these people need to lead by example and make the cuts start with them before they start cutting those of us who make less than $100,000 a year working for the Federal Government!
 
Stop and look at what a 20% reduction in pay is going to do to the average Federal employee. If we use $55,000 as the standard a 20% reduction in pay is $11,000 over the course of a year, or about $423 per pay period, or $846 per month less going home.
 
For a family with small children, that is a day care payment for two children.
 
For a person working towards retirement, that is their extra into savings towards retirement, less money for them to have in savings and more that they have to depend on the government in their retirement years.
 
For a single mother, that is food on the table, gas in the car, utlities in her home.
 
For a young person straight out of college, it is their student loan payment, money towards their own home and money to start a family.
 
For a middle age person that is the pay for their parent's caregiver, pay off their houses.
 
For the person that has to commute to work due to the housing prices closer to their job, that is their gas for the month, food on the table.
 
I could go on and on about how this budget crisis is going to affect America.
 
For me personally? It's the difference between remaining in debt and barely hanging on, barely paying the bills, and maybenally digging out of this hole that we have found ourselves in after one military move after the other.
 
It's the difference in being able to pay for our 19 year old to take college classes with us helping her pay for them, and her not taking classes unless she can pay for them.
 
It's the difference in allowing our 16 year old to attend a summer program that will help prepare her for college, or her finding a part time job for the summer.
 
It's the difference between fresh, whole foods on the table or processed foods. Sad to say but processed tends to be cheaper until the farmers markets open up, and in a lot of cases even then.
 
It's the difference between sending our 8 year old to educational camps this summer, or just regular day care, or even my not working over the summer so we don't have that expense.
 
It's the difference between my taking graduate level classes to improve my teaching, or getting a summer job to help pay the bills.
 
It's the difference between my husband taking a job close to home, or a job working out of the country, because that is where the money is.
 
This job of mine, after my husband's retirement from 20 years in the military was supposed to be our way up out of this hole that we have dug ourselves, and now we find the prospect of my being right back at the same pay rate I was at working in a state school.
 
I love our country and love serving our country by educating the children of our military members, but what Congress is asking of the Federal employees right now? It is just too much.
 
Please Mr. President, push hard on Congress to come to a deal, a good deal, a deal that will benefit all Americans. Push Congress to look, really look for a solution to avoid these cuts on March 1st.

Sincerely,
Patricia L. Cleveland
 
Patty Cleveland
Patty Cleveland
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Friday, February 22, 2013

make a constitutional amendment that states that all bills passed by Congress must also apply to Congress.

Dear friends,

I wanted to let you know about a new petition I created on We the People, a new feature on WhiteHouse.gov, and ask for your support. Will you add your name to mine? If this petition gets 100,000 signatures by March 24, 2013, the White House will review it and respond!

We the People allows anyone to create and sign petitions asking the Obama Administration to take action on a range of issues. If a petition gets enough support, the Obama Administration will issue an official response.

You can view and sign the petition here:


Here's some more information about this petition:

make a constitutional amendment that states that all bills passed by Congress must also apply to Congress.

To date the members of Congress have the opportunity to "opt" out of measures that they pass on the American public. Congress is exempt from taking the proposed 10-20% paycut all other Federal Employees are facing with the Sequestration, Congress is exempt from Obamacare, and many other laws that they have put upon the American public. We need a Consitutional amendment that makes this practice illegal.



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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Email your Representatives, Sentators and the President Today with how the Sequester is going to effect you

I want to challenge each of my friends that live here in the United States to take 5 minutes to stop and think about when the sequester hits, how will you be effected, and then take another 5 mintues and write to your Congressmen, Sentator, and President Obama and tell them how it is going to effect you.
Ten minutes of your day to show Washington how the general American is going to be hurt by their refusal to work together. If you think that these cuts are not going to effect you, please educate yourself by going on the multitude of websites out there that will show you everything that is going to be touched by this. CNN

While you are at it, you could also challenge Congress to give themselves a 10% paycut like they are expecting all Federal employees to do....