Two local Lowndes County people spoke to Georgia’s Senators at their town hall meeting in Fitzgerald about the recent debt ceiling legislation.

J.D. Sumner wrote for the Albany Herald 9 August 2011, U.S. senators meet with public about concerns:

Gretchen Quarterman, a Lowndes County Democrat who drove from Valdosta to participate in the meeting, asked both senators if they were committed to bringing U.S. armed forces abroad home, thereby saving money; money, she said, that could be spent on much-needed domestic programs like infrastructure improvements here.

“Everything has got to be on the table, and yes, defense has got to be on the table as well,” Isakson said. “But we have to make sure that we don’t slight the veterans who are coming home and will need proper care.”

Then he grossly underestimated the military budget and said Congress wouldn’t tell the Pentagon what to do.

George Boston Rhynes spoke:

George Grimes, a former head of the NAACP in Valdosta asked if the senators could work to end Georgia’s status as a right to work state, saying that many statewide workers are being terminated “for cause and without cause,” contributing to high unemployment numbers.

Isakson referred Grimes to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Atlanta as a place to file a grievance if a person feels that he or she has been unfairly terminated.

The senators also talked about HB 87; more on that in another post.

This was the first of six such meetings planned, so you could go to another one.

-jsq

Short Link: