/wp:image
wp:paragraph
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
U.S. Representative Tom O’Halleran visited Winslow last week as part of his “Tom in Your Town” tour. Approximately 40 people attended the town hall style event where the discussion touched on many subjects. At the top of the list was development in Winslow and the surrounding rural areas in Navajo County. O’Halleran said, “We have a critical amount of needs in our communities. Communities like Winslow and Holbrook, they are areas of America that are going through a rough time.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Winslow resident Maree McHugh said, “Economic development is critical in continuing to move forward. Could you speak to specific strategies for economic development in a community like Winslow? We don’t want heavy industry. What are your recommendations?”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
O’Halleran responded, “First of all, I don’t think the federal government should be allowed to dictate to you what you do or don’t want. It is up to your community. So, whether you want heavy industry or light industry that is up to you, the citizens of this community, to decide. What you need is the infrastructure needed to get that process going. You have one of the greatest infrastructure corridors in America here, whether its transportation or highways or natural gas lines. One of the key things we are missing is broadband. The three universities are working on a collaboration with my office to develop a corridor for broadband right down Interstate 40.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Kerwin Lawrence, of the Winslow Chapter of the NAACP asked, “What sort of legislation is in the works to help with rural communities like this one in terms of moving forward with the new economy that is on its way? Information technology, more services as far as telecommunications here and on the reservations. What is happening to ensure growth?”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
“Our office is working specifically on broadband. If we don’t have broadband and I am talking about fiber optics that businesses can depend on, we cannot compete. Our hospitals, the quality of life of our citizens, the quality of education- they depend on that. I can tell you this: rural America needs to be able to have the same level of quality education as the urban areas. Can we get teachers that are here all the time physically? Probably not. Can we get them here via technology? The answer is yes. If we don’t do this we are not moving ahead. If we don’t continue to improve the quality of life for our citizens we are going to continue to have the problem of keeping people here.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Urban America looks at us as a provider network. We send the natural gas, the food (and) we maintain the highways. Without us, urban America doesn’t exist. That is the key piece that this region needs. We also need all of these communities to work together. As money becomes less and less available cooperation and regionalism are going to become more and more important,” said O’Halleran.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Another topic of discussion was prison reform. A citizen asked about O’Halleran’s stance on the issue.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
“I am a former homicide detective so I know a little bit about crime. I feel like any time we are discussing prison reform we are going in the right direction. We don’t want violent offenders on our streets but we do want to be able to have a second chance for people. We also want to know that our system is not spending money that could be put other places.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
“The State of Arizona right now spends about $1 billion a year on incarceration. There are a lot of things that money could go back to. One of them is to try to get treatment for people who need help with mental health issues and drug addiction. Another thing is to put it back in to education. If we can find a way to keep people in school and working toward a more productive life that would be beneficial. We are working on more vocational training to offset that poverty to prison pipeline.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
“Not everybody wants to go to college so we are going to continue to invest in technical education because the strength of our economy is all of us working together. We need people that will do the welding and the maintenance on the roadways and to run heavy equipment. We need to get to the point where we don’t have to send people to prison; we need other options. If you are caught up in a possession issue for example, get into a drug court, get some help. I’m not talking about people that are selling drugs. I’m talking about people that are using. Spending $30,000 per prisoner in the state prison in Arizona is not productive to our society and our needs. I worked against privatized prisons in the legislature on a consistent basis. The underlying aspect of that is that I don’t believe there is a place for private prisons in our society. It is all profit motive.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
O’Halleran also spoke his thoughts on health care and education in America.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
“There are those that want free college for all,” he said. “We don’t have the money for that. But we have other ways of putting together a structure so that the debt hold on our students is lessened. They will then become consumers in our society instead of debtors. There are people that say that we have enough money to address health care to a level of $4 trillion a year, I don’t know that. I would like to see every American citizen have the health care necessary to lead a productive life. I would like our citizens to have access to the same level of health care that I do. But we have to do it in a way that is something more than a title, like ‘Medicare for All.’ I do know that the system we have now isn’t working. Our system is not addressing dependency issues or mental health care.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
“Our society can’t keep going down this path where we have people that are making tens of millions of dollars and not paying taxes. We need a system for the American people that is going to work and we can’t do that without identifying where the money is going to come from and what other programs are going to be disinvested.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Winslow resident and Vietnam veteran Lou Slonczewski asked about border security. “We have thousands coming across our border illegally. Why is congress not doing anything about this? I didn’t go overseas to serve my country so people can break the law. I think it is a slap in the face to every veteran that ever served.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
O’Halleran responded, “I know a lot of veterans that have a different view. But you are entitled to your opinion that is what makes us America. Only about 55 percent of immigrants come across that border. The rest of them fly over with visas and overstay their visas. We don’t have a system to catch up with them. I want the border to be secure but I want a secure country also. If we are going to secure our country we can’t have this debate while the border is still insecure. We have to do it in a comprehensive fashion and get it done. It’s not like we can put up a fence on the border tomorrow and have this resolved.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
O’Halleran stated that his priorities for the State of Arizona and the United States as a whole are education and health care. “There is an internal structure that has to be built to protect our citizens.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
To contact Tom O’Halleran, visit his website at www.ohalleran.house.gov or call (520) 316-0839.
/wp:paragraph
