Georgetown Update

Members have continued to work in Scott County, building a movement there to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society.

We've visited churches, circulated petitions, had presentations at local groups, been a part of community festivals, and registered voters as Georgetown students have arrived back for the start of their semester.

Pictures from a Never Alone meeting in Georgetown - a support group for family members of incarcerated.  A major topic of the meeting was voting rights and how important civic engagement is to reintegrating into society.

A major target of this ground work is Senator Damon Thayer of Georgetown who has refused to bring the issue for a vote in his committee, even as we've passed the Kentucky House with overwhelming support of both Republicans and Democrats.

Two of our members - Gail Ray and Rosanne Klarer - went to speak to Senator Thayer last week.  Both are from Scott County and both have sons who have been convicted of a felony in the past.

I cried for two years and now I'm doing something about it," said Gail.  "My son is in prison and he's taking this opportunity to turn his life around.  I would hope that some day, someone is going to look at my son and tell him that he's really served his time and that he's a full citizen again." 

Thayer seemed impacted by the testimony and even told us that his priest had talked to him about this issue, encouraging him to support it, but said that at this time he still wasn't interested in bringing it up for a vote.

Our next Voting Rights community meeting in Georgetown is Tomorrow (Thursday) at 6:30pm at the Ed David Learning Center (151 Ed Davis Ln, Georgetown).  If you live in or near Scott County, please consider coming out to join us.