Athens Review, Athens, Texas

October 30, 2009

Town Hall meeting with Representative Brown Tuesday

By Lauren Ricks Associate Editor

Dist. 4 State Representative Betty Brown is planning to strike up a conversation with area citizens next Tuesday evening.

She will hold Town Hall meeting at the Trinity Valley Community College cafeteria, at 100 Cardinal Dr., beginning at 6 p.m.

“It is really going to be an exchange of information,” Brown said. “I’m really looking forward to it. We are going to seek input from the attendees about what they think.”

Jordan Berry, a consultant to Brown, said the town hall will be a good opportunity for citizens to get out and hear from their state representative.

She said the town hall meeting is open to all citizens in the area.

“I’m assuming several hundred (will attend), but there are no guarantees with these things,” Brown said. “It should be an interesting exchange of ideas. I will stay and visit with anyone who is there.”

She said that during the meeting, her focus will be on the local economy.

“One thing I think there isn’t enough said about is the position Texas is compared to the rest of the nation,” Brown said. “We have done something right.”

She said though Texas’ economy is affected by the national recession, the state has fared better than other states — like California.

“We have kept this a right-to-work state. We don’t have a deficit,” Berry said. “That is because of hard decisions made by the legislature. People are flooding here left and right.”

Brown said she hopes to focus on state issues during the meeting.

“I can’t have any impact on federal issues,” she said. “There is plenty to focus on here.”

Brown said the meeting was planned to coincide with the Texas Constitutional Amendment election held on Tuesday.

“It is election day, but it is in the evening before the polls close,” She said. “Maybe people will be more focused on government, because they have just come from the polls.”