Suwannee D.E.C. News

Pam and Skip Jarvis, Susan and John Bell and Gail and Bill Dolly represented Suwannee D.E.C. at the Inaugural Small County Coalition Caucus Convention in Gainesville. We came back with a lot of information and ideas on how to elect a Democratic President in 2008. We will support the winner of the primary, whoever he or she might be. This time we will be ready and prepared. We are going to work with Rhett Bullard and our brothers and sisters from Hamilton County to have a successful Presidential Campaign.

Our Suwannee D.E.C. Affirmative Action Committee met for lunch to discuss our plans. We unanimously decided that we need more minority candidates to run in our local elections. Our Committee, along with NAACP Chapter 5137 of Live Oak, will seek out viable candidates for office. The website for our local NAACP is: http://naacp5137.com

We had a meeting at our NAACP chapter 5137 with officials from the County, the City of Live Oak and the City Housing Authority. The shortage of low income housing was discussed in a very cooperative manner. Everyone agreed it's a problem that needs to be fixed. It was decided we will look into every possibility to get funds either from Federal, State or Private Enterprise. A meeting will be scheduled in about Three months to see what progress we've achieved.

There was a rally in Jasper to support our Democratic administrative staff,  fired by Republican Harry Pennington. It is no wonder our school system is so messed up, when our elected Republican officials play politics at the expense of our children. We can't let this continue; vote for Suzan Franks on Tuesday, June 26, 2007. A special thanks to Suzan Franks for showing up at our rally; she took time out of a very busy campaign schedule to be here. This is the third time she has come to our area, twice in Suwannee County and once in Hamilton County. She is the first politician who actually cares about our rural counties and she is on our side. A vote for Suzan is a vote for ourselves. We want to thank Suzan Franks, Karen Thurman and Reverend Rowls for making time and traveling a long distance to be here. We also thank everyone who showed up in the 100-degree temperature to show their support. I am working on getting a petition started, so keep in touch.

Lynn T. Bannister, Director of Outreach, for Senator Bill Nelson visited us at Live Oak City Hall. The only people, who showed up to see her were John and Susan Bell and myself. It was informative for those of us who were there. We got some good people to contact about our Housing issues and a person in Jacksonville, who handles Federal Grants for all sorts of community projects.

 District 11 Representative Debbie Boyd came to Spirit of the Suwannee to discuss the so called property tax cut, that will be on the ballot in January. After a brief discussion of what she has done and is continuing to do, she broke down this tax bill for us. I wish every citizen in the State of Florida could have been there, so they would know to vote no on this Bill. It is a nightmare in sheep's clothing, the first year property owners will get a few hundred dollars back. However, the local governments will be forced to reassess property values to continue to function. That will eliminate any gain from the first year. The worst part of this Bill is it will eliminate the save our homes statute that most counties have in effect. Save our homes is a cap, that the tax assessors have to honor. In Suwannee County there is a cap of 3%, this means your assessed value can't be raised higher than 3%. If this Bill passes, somebody can buy a tract of land next to you and pay 10,000 an acre where the price was 5,000 an acre your assessed value is now 10,000 an acre. The person who bought this property erects homes costing $500,000, your home will be reassessed to reflect this value. Most likely you won't be able to afford your taxes. They did this to us up on Long Island New York, where I used to live. My property taxes in ten years went from $600 a year to over $6000, I no longer live on Long Island. I was taxed out and if this passes, we may all be taxed out. See you in West Virginia!