Don't Forget -- Picnic is Thursday May 26th

The annual Cherokee County Democratic Club picnic is THIS WEEK!  Thursday, May 26^th  Join us for good food, fun, fellowship, and lots of laughs!  Location: Jim Hogg City Park in Rusk. East on U.S. 84 at the intersection of 84 and 69 to the Park Road sign on your right. Rain or shine, we will start the picnic at 6:00 PM.  Coke, Dr. Pepper, sweet tea, unsweetened tea and ice are provided by the club. So bring a covered dish, snack tray, chips, BBQ, fried chicken, etc., and a guest or two.   See you there!

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From Suzanne Morris –

Many of you are aware of the movement to stop the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline from being extended down through East Texas to the Gulf Coast, crossing our streams, rivers and Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer.

On Saturday, May 28th, we will have a booth at the Fair on the Square in Rusk, and we need some help passing out post cards petitioning the State Department to reject TransCanada's request for a Presidential Permit for this pipeline extension.  The deadline for comment is June 6th.

Some of you have expressed an interest in this issue.  If you could help by passing out postcards during the Fair, we would greatly appreciate it.

We'll see you at the meeting next Thursday night, and Mary will have a few postcards for our members who wish to sign at that time.

The movement is growing to stop this toxic crude oil from being transported down through our state to get to the open commodity market.  It is a threat to our water supply and our environment, and our State Department needs to know we care.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call or email me.

Many thanks.

Suzanne Morris

(903) 683-9525

Texas Observer Notes What Defunding Planned Parenthood Will Cost Us

• The Texas Observer reported yesterday that the LBB says the move to take money out of family-planning programs could be very expensive for the state: “The cuts to family planning programs approved in the Texas House budget—part of conservative lawmakers’ efforts to defund Planned Parenthood this session—would lead to more than a quarter million low-income women losing essential reproductive health services and birth control, according to a recent analysis. … The House version of the budget would divert about $62 million—two-thirds of total funding—from birth control and other women’s health services to programs like autism services, early childhood intervention and crisis pregnancy centers. A recent analysis by the Legislative Budget Board estimates the family planning cuts contained in the House budget would result in almost 284,000 fewer women receiving services. With a lack of birth control come more unplanned pregnancies, and possibly more abortions. The LBB analysis—which hasn’t been made public, but was obtained by the Observer—also estimates that the state’s Medicaid program would have to cover approximately 20,511 more births. That would cost almost $100 million in state dollars over the next biennium.”   This came from Austin American Statesman online