Leon County citizens vent at Barton’s town hall meeting in Marquez

Keechi resident, Sam Roach, offered his folksy advice. “You can’t unscramble an egg but you can be careful with the next one”. Sherry’s Shots “This may have been the largest town hall meeting ever held in Leon County” an anonymous attendee said as he exited the meeting. Joe Barton had set this meeting up several weeks ago and according to him “I expected about 25 people and most of those would be my family.” But he was wrong.

Scheduled for 12:00 noon at the First Baptist Church in Marquez, concerned citizens began arriving early and by the time the meeting began, every one of the 300 seats were taken, at least 100 folks stood two and three deep around the perimeter of the church sanctuary and twenty-five to fifty people stood outside, unable to press their way indoors.

CNN had a TV camera in the church and Barton mentioned several times that this meeting was being broadcast to an international audience. Local reporters snapped pictures and took notes as the air conditioner worked overtime to keep the over-crowded room at a comfortable temperature.

Stella Noey is a registered nurse from Marquez. She does not want Washington “suits” tell her what to do when it comes to her job. Sherry’s Shots Barton opened the meeting with remarks concerning President Obama’s proposed health care bill. His staff handed out a detailed and confusing “Organizational Chart of the House Democrats’ Health Plan”. He explained that contrary to what the President had said about private citizens being able to keep their current health care plan if they wanted, at least two out of three individuals will lose their current health care plan within eight years. The reason being many of the plans will be forced to shut down and some doctors will ultimately close their practice if the Democrats’ Health Care Plan is passed.

Spontaneous applause broke out when Barton said that he would not vote for the Health Care Plan. “I am not just a ‘say no’ representative, but am a ‘do the right thing’ representative’. This is a take-over of health care as we know it today”.

Barton then took questions from the audience and was able to field about 15 questions. The majority of those present were Republican Conservatives or at least those who weren’t did not speak up. While a few citizens brought up items of concern like Gun Control and Cap and Trade, by far most questions were directly related to the President ‘s proposed health care bill.

Dr. Irma Aguerri, asked if the plan covers abortion services? Barton explained that the specific words were not in the plan but if the Secretary of Health says it is covered, then it is covered.

Stella Noey a Registered Nurse from Marquez said she has spent her life taking care of patients and she does not like the idea of someone who knows nothing about medicine telling her what to do.

Barton summarized by telling the crowd that he is planning six more town meetings in an effort to educate the public. He reminded the people that the ones who are in power at this time were duly elected and it is up to the voting public to changed things if that is what they wish.