Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
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Area residents gather around the candidate to shake hands and take photos. |
Thursday, August 21, 2008
By AMANDA BUCK - Bulletin Staff Writer
After sitting in a room with Sen. Barack Obama for an hour and a half on Wednesday, several area residents said they are convinced that the presidential hopeful will work to help Henry County and Martinsville if he is elected Nov 4.
“I appreciate Sen. Obama’s honesty in saying he’s not going to say he can go out here and fix everything immediately,” said Valeria Edwards of Horsepasture, who was among 300 people invited to a town hall meeting with the candidate at Patrick Henry Community College’s motorsports facility. “But knowing that when he wakes up in the morning, he’s thinking about Martinsville ... that warms my heart.”
Edwards said she was touched when the Illinois senator pledged to wake up in the White House every day thinking about how he can help people who are struggling in Henry County and Martinsville. He made the promise to a room filled with many people who know those struggles well — the invitation-only event was held for workers and families who have been impacted by trade policies of the Bush administration.
Edwards’ family is among them. Her husband, Michael Edwards Sr., lost his job of 34 years at Pillowtex when the company’s Fieldale plant closed in 2003. He took automotive classes in the very building where Obama’s meeting was held and earned a certificate in May, but still he has been unable to find a job, Valeria Edwards said.
Obama acknowledged that problem Wednesday, noting that even workers who are retrained often cannot find jobs that pay two-thirds of their former salaries. He pledged to change trade policies to eliminate tax cuts for companies that move jobs overseas and offer incentives to those that create jobs in the United States.
That is a proposal Brian McGhee of Fieldale fully supports. McGhee, who was laid off June 11 from his job at Smurfit-Stone, was chosen by members of Obama’s campaign to introduce the senator and former governor Mark Warner, who appeared with him.
McGhee said he believes Obama will implement the kind of change America needs.
“American workers can compete with anyone, but we can’t compete with 50 cents an hour,” child labor and companies that operate without any environmental regulations, as is the case in some countries, he said.
“Barack Obama knows what life is like in Martinsville,” McGhee said. “This downturn isn’t just a psychological recession. All we’re asking for is a level playing field and an open door to opportunity.”
Antonio Brimmer and Ted Mebane, who like McGhee are members of the local steelworkers union 695, agreed. Brimmer, the union’s president, said Mebane and McGhee lost their jobs at Smurfit-Stone because of the harm trade policies have done to the local economy. However, they are not eligible for Trade Act benefits because they were not directly affected by NAFTA, Brimmer said.
It is nearly impossible for people to find jobs locally that pay as much as the $16-$17 an hour they were making at Smurfit-Stone, Brimmer said.
Mebane said that has left him with no choice but to go on unemployment.
“I don’t want to draw unemployment,” said Mebane, who lives in Martinsville. “But if I make $8 or $9 an hour, I’m cutting my throat. I’m bringing home less than unemployment.”
All three said they believe Obama would do the most to help them.
“I think the man’s got a lot of foresight,” McGhee said. “He was speaking from his heart.”
Annette Anderson of Rocky Mount said the way Obama spoke to people at the meeting was one of the things that impressed her most.
She was impressed “most of all (by) the humility he exhibited when he spoke to people,” she said.
Anderson said Obama’s positions on health care and Social Security resonated with her, particularly his pledge to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits for seniors who make less than $50,000.
For Jan Stockton of Fieldale, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, Obama’s pledge to offer better health care and support to the nation’s veterans was a highlight of the event. That pledge and others have won Stockton’s vote, he said.
The senator’s decision to visit an area that could be considered off the beaten path probably didn’t hurt.
“I’m gonna tell ya, it’s astounding for me,” Stockton said of the opportunity to see a presidential candidate speak in his hometown. “It’s something in my lifetime I never would have thought I’d see in this area.”
Grant Wade of Bassett, who retired from Bassett Furniture after 44 years and now is taking classes at PHCC through the Trade Act, said Obama “gives you the chance to believe in him.”
“He’s got my vote,” Wade said.
Edwards, the former educator, agreed. She was among numerous area residents who stopped by Obama’s local headquarters Monday in search of a hard-to-get ticket to the event. She found out she would be given one on Tuesday evening, she said.
Being face to face with Obama did not disappoint, she said.
“It was like sitting in the living room with him.” |
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