Herron Brings Jobs Tour to Carroll County

By Joel Washburn

washburn@mckenziebanner.com

HUNTINGDON (April 2) State Senator Roy Herron (D-Dresden) brought his Jobs Tour to Carroll County on Good Friday.

Meeting with government officials and small business owners at the FirstBank Activities Building in Huntingdon, Herron said the nation has become an urban-based economy and rural areas all across the nation and world have witnessed economic declines. Carroll County’s unemployment rate is 18.7%, according to January 2010 figures from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Herron said that rate is the eighth highest in the state. Lauderdale and Haywood counties in West Tennessee are higher.

Unemployed, underemployed, and discouraged unemployed are one in five persons in the county, said Herron.

The congressional candidate said, “Families and business owners all across the 8th District are hurting. It’s time Washington focused on jobs instead of bailing out Wall Street.”

He said there is hope because there is no place with better people; there are tremendous educational opportunities at Bethel University, UT-Martin, Jackson State Community College, Lane, Lambuth, Union University, and the Technology School at McKenzie, Paris, and Jackson; the fourlane highway system in the area provides great transportation to all markets. Carroll County is a crossroads on the four-lane highway system. He said the proposed deep-water Cate Landing in Lake County, the megasite in Haywood County, and the four-lane roads from McKenzie to Clarksville provide great opportunities for the area.

Manufacturing jobs pay approximately three times what retail jobs pay, said Herron, who noted the importance of attracting manufacturing to the area.

Herron said Tennessee’s education reform program was recently lauded when the state was one of two to receive Race to the Top federal funding. The educational direction was established during the McWherter administration when the Sanders Model was adopted for evaluating. Commissioner Charles Smith and Deputy Commissioner Brad Hurley helped establish the policies. Those plans are now paying off for Tennessee, said Herron.

Tennessee’s business climate is rated in the top five in the nation because of good transportation systems, low taxes, and support for industry.

Herron said, unfortunately, the state is suffering from a downtick in revenues and some programs are being reduced to balance the budget. The nation’s budget should also be more fiscally prudent.

“This nation is facing its greatest challenge since WWII. If the nation’s budget is not balanced, the country could be turned “upside down.”

The congressional candidate said a huge part of deficit reduction is putting people back to work.

Dr. Lee Carter questioned if Herron will help clean-up the recently approved health care reform. Carter said the bill offers some very good things, but other elements are bad.

Herron said there is talk to repeal, however, even Senator Bob Corker, R-Chattanooga, realizes it requires a two-thirds vote to override an all-but-certain presidential veto of any repeal efforts. Herron said he would work to keep the good and change the problematic areas.

Brad Hurley, president of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce asked Herron about his position on earmark funding. Herron said he would fight to eliminate earmarks but would ask for his district’s fair share if they are continued. He said he does support earmarks if it involves economic development.

In closing, Herron said he appreciated his first 10 years of public service when the people of Carroll County elected him to be their state representative. “I know where home is and I won’t forget you.”

Herron to Report over $1 Million Cash on Hand

Dresden - Former minister, small town attorney and businessman Roy Herron will report more than $1 million cash on hand in his race for Congress.  Herron has now put together over $1.1 million for his campaign in only four months, raising about $490,000 in the last three months alone.

"Roy's top priority in Tennessee is growing and saving jobs, and his priority for Washington is cutting spending.  People believe in Roy, a person who drives a truck with 380,000 miles on it, because they know he will be a good steward of their money," said Herron Senior Adviser Carol Andrews.

Herron has over 1,500 contributors, including citizens from all 19 counties in the district. Contributors include Independents, Democrats and Republicans.

"I am grateful for this strong support from people who believe that we need fiscally conservative leadership who will work to save and create jobs," Herron said.

Roy Herron bringing Jobs Tour to Jackson

Congressional candidate Roy Herron will bring his Jobs Tour to Jackson on Monday, according to a news release.

Herron, a state senator from Dresden, is running as a Democrat in the 8th District. He will meet with small-business owners and local leaders to hear their ideas about what he should do in Congress to help grow and save jobs.

The release said Madison County's unemployment rate is 11.7 percent, according to January figures from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

"Families and business owners all across the 8th District are hurting," Herron said in the release. "It's time Washington focused on jobs instead of bailing out Wall Street. In Congress, my top three priorities will be jobs, jobs and jobs."

Herron will be at TLM Associates, at 117 E. Lafayette St., at 7 a.m. Monday. He already has taken his Jobs Tour to Lauderdale, Haywood, Dickson, Humphreys, Henry, Benton, Shelby and Weakley counties. The release said Herron will visit all 19 counties in the district.

A fiscal conservative, Herron has voted to balance state budgets and knows how to make the tough cuts needed to keep our country on track, according to the release.

Herron has sponsored legislation that helps employers develop plans for training workers to meet future industry needs.

He also has fought for the West Tennessee megasite that will bring 21st century jobs and industry to rural West Tennessee, the release said.

Herron advocated investments for the Hemlock Semiconductor plant in Clarksville and the Northwest Tennessee Port and Industrial Park in Lake County, the release added.

It's official!

My top three priorities in Tennessee will be jobs, jobs and jobs.

Our hardworking people didn’t create this tough economy, but we certainly feel the effects.  To right the economy, we need leadership with experience in creating jobs.

As a state senator, I’ve fought for the West Tennessee Megasite that will bring 21st century jobs and industry to rural West Tennessee, the billion-dollar Hemlock Semiconductor plant in Clarksville, and the Northwest Tennessee Port and Industrial Park.  And I will continue working to recruit new industries and help existing industries grow more jobs.

My top three priorities in Washington will be fiscal responsibility, fiscal responsibility, and fiscal responsibility.

Washington is mortgaging the future of my sons and your children and our grandchildren.  And Washington is risking the future of this country with trillions in debt. 

I drive a 12-year-old truck with 375,000 miles on it.  My sons call me cheap, but Washington needs more of us with 375,000-mile pickups who’ll spend your money like our own.

These United States in general and Tennessee in particular can have a great future.  I believe there’s nothing wrong with us that cannot be fixed by what’s right with us.  We are Americans, the children and grandchildren of those who beat the Great Depression and the greatest militaries the world had ever seen.  It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or Republican if you forget you're an American.

Let’s remember we’re Americans.

Message from Roy: "Dad"

March 12, 2010

Thirty-three years ago tomorrow, my father drove his pickup to our farm, a mile or so from the farmhouse where he had started out sixty-four years earlier.

He turned at the old country store his parents had owned. He drove past the brush pile and the woods where he'd first taken me as a 10-year-old hunting for the covey of quail that was almost always nearby.

He parked the truck, climbed the fence, then walked past the buttercups, more buttercups than one could count and so yellow that they painted the end of the field where an old house had stood. As he walked on the soft ground to the grain bin, he looked past the barn to the pear orchard that had been created before he was. Above the gnarled old pear trees was a bright blue sky. He called out and the brown and white Hereford cattle ambled across the green pasture toward him.

The earth was warming and coming alive again. The early sunlight fell gently on him as he took the bucket of yellow corn from the grain bin for the cattle. I hope he fell gently as he returned to that earth again. A heart attack took him.

He died when and where and how he wanted. He fell on his favorite farm, at his favorite time of year, on a glorious and beautiful day, in the quiet and peace of early morning, on the sacred Sabbath. And no one, most especially Mother, had to watch him die.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, Scripture says. Son of the soil back to the soil. The farmer to the farm.

A World War II veteran, a respected judge, my father touched the lives of many. In turn, for his funeral, our Methodist Church sanctuary was full and then some. Several who did not come early, and all those who came late, stood outside.

Sitting in the front center pew, a first-year law student, I listened to the pastor talk of Dad's judicial passion for justice and his compassion for the weak, his strong sense of equity and fairness, his Biblical concern for the less fortunate and the hurting.

Then the preacher reminded us that his good deeds and kind ways did not have to die with him.

Theologians and preachers say a great deal about eternal life. They tell many things about heaven, streets of gold, mansions on high. I had read and heard those things all my life. But this much I realized sitting in front of that flag-draped coffin: as long as Dad's children and grandchildren and their children live, my father could live. As long as we love, Dad's life and love will not die.

Today, particularly in Washington politics, it's hard to find the love. Instead, Washington politics is plagued by partisanship and division.

My father would be disappointed. Before my devoutly Democratic father became a judge, his law partner in their two-lawyer firm was the county's leading Republican. Dad and his law partner knew they did not have to agree on every issue to work together for the benefit of those they served.

This country needs far less partisanship and much more patriotism, less hostility and more hospitality, less yelling about the other party and more listening to and learning from the other person.

Good people in both parties can have good ideas. That is part of the strength and beauty of America, of this democracy, and of God's world.

We no longer can afford the luxury of excessive partisanship. This country's challenges are too great and too many are hurting too much. We need more people like my father's generation who knew it doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or Republican if you forget you're an American.

Your friend,

Roy

Herron brings jobs tour to Weakley County

Dresden Enterprise

March 3, 2010

State Senator and Congressional candidate Roy Herron will bring his Jobs Tour to his hometown of Dresden next week.

Herron will meet with small business owners and local leaders to hear their ideas about what he should do in Congress to help grow and save jobs.

Weakley County's unemployment rate is 12.6 percent, according to December 2009 figures from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

"Families and business owners all across the 8^th District are hurting," Herron said. "It's time Washington focused on jobs instead of bailout of Wall Street. In Congress, my top three priorities will be jobs, jobs and jobs."

Herron is scheduled to be at Kountry Korner, located at 9308 Highway 22 in Dresden at 7:30 a.m. Monday, March 8.

Herron has already taken his Jobs Tour to Lauderdale, Haywood, Dickson, Humphreys, Benton and Shelby counties. He will visit all 19 counties in the district focusing on jobs.

Herron has supported policies that make Tennessee one of the top business-friendly states in the nation. He has worked to help existing industries and businesses expand and grow jobs. He has sponsored legislation that helps employers develop plans for training workers to meet future industry needs.

In addition, Herron fought for the West Tennessee Megasite that will bring 21^st Century jobs and industry to rural West Tennessee. He also advocated investments for the Hemlock Semiconductor plan in Clarksville and the Northwest Tennessee Port and Industrial Park in Lake County. Together, these new facilities will create thousands of jobs.

Herron supported Governor Bredesen's workers compensation reform to help small businesses.

Herron sees tough job market as Millington's top challenge

By Trey Heath

Commercial Appeal
Sunday, February 28, 2010

Millington resident Jean Jungkans knows how difficult the job market is in Shelby County.

The 68-year-old widow re-entered the job market four years ago when her husband died, and despite having a master's degree, the only job she's been able to find is a position as a greeter at the Millington Walmart.

"There's a lot of unemployment in Millington," Jungkans said. "The only jobs people like me can get are in the service industry, like Walmart or at restaurants."

Employment specifically, how to create more of it -- was the topic that brought Jungkans out to a Saturday morning breakfast held by Tennessee state senator and Congressional candidate Roy Herron.

Herron, a native of Dresden, Tenn., is seeking the Democratic nomination to fill Rep. John Tanner's 8th District Congressional seat after he retires following the end of his term. His likely Republican opponent will be Crockett County farmer and gospel singer Stephen Fincher.

Herron addressed a crowd of Millington residents and local politicians at Old Timers Restaurant on the dire job market in West Tennessee.

"We haven't seen a recession this deep since the Great Depression," he said. "The most important thing we can do is work together and find out how we can bring new jobs to Tennessee."

The current unemployment rate in Shelby County is 10.3 percent, but if the underemployed and frustrated job-seekers who don't sign up for unemployment are included, Herron said, the rate for District 8 probably is around 20 percent.

"You can talk about numbers, but it's really about people," Herron said. "The best social program on Earth is a good job because they can care for themselves, and we know that some folks really want to find a good job, or a better job or any job at this point."

The need to find any job is what drew Jungkans out of the health-care industry to work at Walmart. Jungkans said she's tried to find jobs throughout the county, but she's often losing to younger candidates, or failing to get hired because she has too much education. It's making it harder and harder for her to pay for her home and help her kids through college.

"I'm doing everything on my own," she said. "Even at some jobs when I do apply, I'm told that I'm over-qualified for them."

Although Jungkans has struggled to find work with two degrees, Herron said Saturday that education needs to remain a priority in Tennessee in order to drive down the unemployment rate.

One example he gave was the $1 billion Volkswagen plant currently under construction in Chattanooga. The facility is bringing around 1,200 new jobs to the area, but every single job seeker must be able to first fill out an application online.

"In that plant, everyone is going to be using a computer...," Herron said. "Jobs in the 21st century require a strong work ethic, but they also require a strong mind."

Editorial: Recovery is sure, but won't be fast

The economy is on the road to recovery, but it's a long road. And improvements in the jobless rate will be the last milepost reached. That's the consensus of many economists, and it's shared by our state senator, Roy Herron of Dresden, now a candidate for Congress.

Congressman hopeful Roy Herron visits Camden

The focus of Roy Herron's visit to Camden on Monday was the need for jobs. After Herron recognized elected officials who were at the meeting he got right into the high unemployment rate Benton County is experiencing. According to Herron, unemployment is at 13 percent across the district. He states that his number one priority is bringing in jobs.

Sen. Roy Herron speaks to Paris-Henry County Chamber of Commerce