Willie Lee Simmons This is Me

Education

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1. 1. NBCSI - A Public Policy Research Center

   www.nbcsi.org/board.htm - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/27/2008   Last Visited: 3/27/2008

   Senator Willie SimmonsState Senator, Mississippi

2. 2. The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog: Financing and Siting Archives

   realcostofprisons.org/blog/arc - [Cached]

   Last Visited: 3/1/2008

   Corrections Committee Chairman Willie Simmons, D-Cleveland, said planning for the future is essential with projected state prisoner numbers at about 28,000.But several critics spoke out against the bill on the floor, saying more money for jails means less for other essential issues such as education and health care.
   
   The bill passed by a vote of 37 in favor and 14 against.
   
   "With all of the enhanced penalties we are passing, we are going to need these beds," said Simmons, adding that even if lawmakers approve the counties to build one of the jails, the commissioner of the Corrections Department would still have to sign off.

3. 3. www.bolivarcom.com

   www.bolivarcom.com/index.cfm?e - [Cached]

   Published on: 8/20/2008   Last Visited: 8/20/2008

   Willie Simmons, D-Cleveland, will join 185 fellow Democrats serving on the 2008 Democratic National Convention Platform Committee in Denver where the platform will be submitted to the party to be voted on.
   
   The convention will be from Aug. 25-28.
   
   Simmons joined his fellow committee members two weeks ago in Pittsburgh to draft the platform, with Simmons offering up three amendments which have strong ties to the Delta.
   
   "Being from the Delta area, a rural part of the country that is heavily plagued with poverty, I proposed three amendments," Simmons said."One of those amendments was to address the rural issue of America — saving and bringing industry to the rural area while protecting agriculture."
   
   Simmons said that infrastructure is the basis of dealing with the rural issue.
   
   Also proposed was an amendment that would create a federal program that provides public assistance and a community development organization.
   
   "The other amendment was to create a national office working out of the White House, reporting on a daily basis to the president on poverty," Simmons said.
   
   The PEP, Poverty Eradication Program, would bring forth public policies and resources to address the nation's poverty problem not only in the Mississippi Delta but across the country.
   
   "Back in (1968), Robert Kennedy came to the Mississippi Delta and he talked about poverty — it was a tour of poverty," he said."President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 waged a war on poverty.
   
   "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did the same," he continued.
   ...
   "Next week we will go into Denver and submit the platform itself," Simmons said."Possibly it may be amended, but hopefully those things, as well of a lot of others will be accepted and the next administration will implement those and we will have a better America."
   
   Simmons, who has served as senator for the last 15 years, was the only Mississippian selected to serve on the committee.