Cape Girardeau County – Payroll Changes

There are so few people on the e-mail list for the Cape County Commission’s minutes, it is a good time to remind you to contact Vicki Ivy at the County Administration building (veivy@capecounty.us) to be added to the twice weekly e-mail.  You’ll receive the County Commission’s minutes as well as the agenda.  Sadly, it only appears that about 22 of 77,000 Cape County citizens are receiving the agenda and minutes.

This week’s e-mail included a list of payroll changes effective at the beginning of the year.  So, we thought it apropos to post that list here to inform your discretion.

Cape County Commission – Minutes – 20150122

We hope you will consider adding your name to the list of those working to keep your government in check.  This is what the Founders expected… …and the lack thereof is the reason our republican freedoms are waning.

Jefferson

It looks like we should be celebrating Thomas Jefferson Day and forgetting the rest of them. God Bless America

Thomas Jefferson

His Portrait is on the Two Dollar Bill.

Thomas Jefferson was a very remarkable man who started learning very early in life and never stopped:

• At 5, began studying under his cousin’s tutor
• At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French
• At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages
• At 16, entered the College of William and Mary
• He could write in Greek with one hand while writing the same in Latin with the other
• At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe
• At 23, started his own law practice
• At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses
• At 31, wrote the widely circulated “Summary View of the Rights of British America” and retired from his law practice
• At 32, he was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress
• At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence
• At 33, he took three years to revise Virginia’s legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom
• At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry
• At 40, served in Congress for two years
• At 41, was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams
• At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington
• At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society
• At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of Republican Party
• At 57, was elected the third president of the United States
• At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation’s size
• At 61, was elected to a second term as President
• At 65, retired to Monticello
• At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine
• At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first president
• At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence along with John Adams.

Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, His laws and the nature of man. Jefferson really knew his stuff – a voice from the past to lead us in the future.

John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the White House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: “This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe ..”– Thomas Jefferson

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” — Thomas Jefferson

“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.” — Thomas Jefferson

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”– Thomas Jefferson

“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”– Thomas Jefferson

“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”– Thomas Jefferson

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” — Thomas Jefferson

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”– Thomas Jefferson

“To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” — Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson said in 1802: “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property – until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

(Note: Received via e-mail)

Prayer For Jackson Schools And New Leadership

A letter from a retired Jackson schoolteacher:

Choosing my words carefully, I feel compelled to pray for the Jackson School District and especially the board members who will be selecting new leadership for the district in the next few weeks. I am praying that this will not be treated lightly and there will not be an ‘inside selection’ where others need not apply. I am asking the board members to truly review each candidate and their connection to the district. I will always love the district.

I spent 25 of the happiest years of my life there. I was hired in the Fall of 1984. My selection was a fluke, it was late in the summer (I was hired 8 days before school started.) I had no family or inside pull. I was quite enamored of the whole district, students, etc. I never got over that feeling.

I served first under Dr. Frank Wiley who told me that he was hesitant to hire me because Government was the THE MOST HATED CLASS in the district! Mr.Nelson later told me that I was hired because I was mature at age 31 and cheap on the pay scale. Essentially I got the job because I was ‘old and cheap’. The second Superintendent I served under was Wayne Maupin. Mr. Maupin was a diligent protector of the district’s money, it’s teachers and students. I recall two times that he sought me out, once to apologize for not calling off school early enough when he heard that I had gone into a ditch on the way to school. The second time, he came to my classroom after the suicide of a student because he was concerned about how I was coping. I will never forget his compassion and desire to connect to the students and the teachers. Dr. Jones was the next leader of the Jackson district. He was not there very long, but he made a tremendous difference for me. On the opening day of school, in his speech he said: “I did a mock interview for a college student, and asked him who he would like to emulate as a teacher. The student’s reply was: “The greatest teacher of all times was Jesus Christ. I would like to be like Mr. Seabaugh, because Science is my chosen field, but I would really like to be like Mrs. Dooley, because she makes you just love learning.” I lived off of those words for the rest of my career. I had to. There were no more words of praise. Ever.

It seems, IN MY OPINION, that many teachers and leaders in the district who had a true heart for the district, a love for its students and a true concern for how things were being managed were quickly dismissed and urged to move on. Opinions were not welcome and anyone who had one was dismissed as “Negative”.  Anyone with experience, who had invested, blood, sweat and tears for the district were pushed aside for people who had less than three years experience in education.

It became very clear that you supported the administrative agenda or you were very quickly persona non grata. I never claimed to be the most intelligent or the best teacher of the district, but I did invest heavily in time, prayers and tears for my students. The Bible says: Study to show thyself approved, a workman who needs not to be ashamed. I know that I did do that. I was told that teachers were to be facilitators and to allow the students to learn on their own. I was a dinosaur that could not accept that. I made the decision to retire after prayerful consideration in 2009.

It was clear that I was attending a party that I was not invited to. I was docked in pay for giving the eulogy at a student’s funeral. I was docked in pay for being the only teacher who attended the funeral of Bob Davis who died in Afghanistan. No administrators attended. Why did we not line the street with flags when his funeral procession passed our school? I will never understand that one.

I confessed to one student that I never understood why God put me at Jackson to begin with and he replied, “He put you there for me. On several occasions, I was planning to commit suicide, but would decide to attend your class one last time. On each of those days, you would say something that would convince me to go on another day.”

Even though I received several awards and was asked to give the graduation speech five times, I was never considered to be a good teacher by administrators. On the last day, one described the other retiring teachers with tremendous praise and then said, “Mrs. Dooley is retiring, too.” My heart was truly ripped out.

I know in my heart that I served a purpose, if only for comic relief. I know that those students who I visited when they were sick and even dying, those who were going through great turmoil, and those who just loved learning remember being in my class. I fear that teachers, like me are endangered. The test score is the only measure of true learning. On my last evaluation, I was told that the the students didn’t like me because I was a good teacher, they liked me because I was a ‘mom’ to them, and that they did not need me to be a ‘mom”. And that is how I ended twenty-five years of my life.

So, today, I am pleading with the Jackson School Board to consider what kind of person they will put in charge. It takes more than just a businessman, the current pick of a questionable leader. It takes a person who has a true servant’s heart, a love for students and a love for learning! We need a leader who inspires students and teachers to do their very best. The attitude, in my opinion, for too long has been, “if you don’t like the way things are, we have fifty more who will take your job.” and “Teachers are a dime a dozen”.

Good ones aren’t.

My greatest success at the school was on the day that I sat in a student’s desk at 4:30 in the afternoon praying for him, asking God to send someone into his life that he might really hear to solve a very serious problem in his life. As I was praying, he walked through my door! We talked, cried and prayed for two hours. I felt God’s presence in that classroom that day.

If for no other reason, I will always be proud to say that God gave me the opportunity to serve at Jackson High School for twenty-five years, where He nurtured and protected me. He gave mentors like Hal Goddard and Karen Kight (a modern day version of Peter and Paul). He allowed me to learn from the very best. Teachers, like me, were problematic.

That is why today, I am begging the members of the Jackson Board to look beyond who is just in line for the job and seek out the applications of those who have a true heart for students, not only their test score, but the people that they are destined to become. Maybe some of them, were, like me and others who have left the district, problematic.

Ending The IRS Is A Bipartisan Issue

By John McMillen

Eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse should be a 100% unified effort of every senator and congressman/congresswoman….that is the basic responsibility and duty of anyone responsible for the use of our tax dollars. This should not be a partisan issue. This can be done and I will be looking for it to be down by any congress person or senator before they receive my vote.

In that vein, abolishing the IRS should be a priority. Again this should be a 100% unified effort. The way we collect the needed revenue to fund our government, should not be the corrupt evil system that the IRS has turned into. Neither political party should be able to influence those responsible for collecting our taxes to intimidate, harass, bully, and punish any taxpayer. Neither political party should have the power through the IRS to target American citizens who do not support their political philosophy.

 

Neither political party should have the power to punish individual American citizens, and shut down their businesses, or their ability to speak freely, organize, and form action groups to exercise their duty as an American citizen in our once free Republic.

You as a U.S. Senator, or a U.S. representative must assure that your ‘just’ powers are derived from the will of “THE PEOPLE.” Not from wealthy lobbyists, and big bundler campaign donors, or your national party bosses.

For this reason I strongly urge your support in abolishing the IRS Income Tax and all related IRS means of taxation and replace them with one simple Fair taxing method…House Bill HR-25/Senate Bill S-122.

This will restore American Jobs on American soil; restore the peoples trust in their government and those who desire to represent them honestly. It will restore individual freedom, and allow working Americans to keep their whole paycheck and pay their taxes directly and individually in the simplest, hassle free way possible.

It will restore our economy as major investments and large depositors come back within our United States boarders, and the huge flush of cash pumped into our economy from the new found increase in take home pay which raises spendable income dramatically.

It will restore America to her former greatness. That will enable many of these other issues and dilemmas to become manageable and solvable.