Cathy Zielinski speaks to the club about homelessness

A change in philosophy at the national and state level about how best to address homelessness contributed to the closing of the Sheltering Arms emergency shelter in Orange, according to Cathy Zielinski, program manager-human services planning for the Rappahannock-Rapidan Regional Commission.

Ms. Zielinski presented a status report on homelessness to the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club at its May 17 meeting.

The topic is of particular interest to club members because they had supported Sheltering Arms with their money and volunteer time for years before it closed last fall. The shelter was one of the few emergency shelters in the region and the only one that served single men.

Ms. Zielinski said federal and state authorities are now emphasizing getting homeless persons into permanent housing rather than temporary shelters and transitional housing. The philosophy is that public funds should be directed toward permanent solutions to the problem of homelessness rather than to short-term fixes. The result, she said, is that emergency shelters have suffered severe budget cuts.

The regional strategy for combatting homelessness is to provide a continuum of care directed to getting the homeless into permanent housing they can afford, she said.

The Piedmont Housing Network, which includes Orange, Culpeper, Madison, Fauquier and Rappahannock counties, the Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services Board and the area agency on aging, maintains four emergency shelters, six transitional housing units and a permanent supportive housing unit for persons with disabilities. Efforts have begun to work with landlords and property owners in the region to establish a system of permanent housing.

Cathy Zielinski, program manager-human services planning for the Rappahannock-Rapidan Regional Commission, will speak to the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club at its May 17 meeting on the efforts of Orange County and its neighboring counties and towns to develop regional cooperation in addressing shared concerns, such as housing. transportation and tourism.

In addition to Orange County, the Rappahannock-Rapidan Regional Commission serves the counties of Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison and Rappahannock, and the towns of Culpeper, Gordonsville, Madison, Orange, Remington, The Plains, Warrenton and Washington. It has its headquarters in Culpeper.

One of 21 regional commissions chartered by the Commonwealth of Virginia, the commission provides professional planning and technical resources, a concerted approach to regional cooperation, planning assistance with program delivery, and a forum for the interaction of appointed and elected local government officials and citizen members.

A founding principle of the Commonwealth’s planning district commissions is “to encourage and facilitate local government cooperation and state-local cooperation in addressing on a regional basis problems of greater than local significance.” The Rappahannock-Rapidan Regional Commission works to foster regional cooperation, coordination and collaboration through development of regional committees that focus on a variety of issues of importance to the region.

Ms. Zielinski serves as staff lead of the Commission’s Regional Workforce Affordable Housing Committee and Coordinated Human Services Mobility Planning initiative.

Active throughout the area in human services delivery for the past 15 years, most recently as project coordinator for the Rappahannock-Rapidan Eldercare Coalition, now called Aging Together, Ms. Zielinski holds a law degree from George Washington University and a Masters in Public Administration from Virginia Tech.

Ms. Zielinski has been with the Commission since 2006.

The club meets at 1:30 p.m. in the Lower Level of the LOW Clubhouse. Visitors, regardless of political affiliation, are welcome. Due to construction at the clubhouse, the lower level is accessible only by entering the front door and using the stairway.

To learn more about the Regional Planning Commission, try these links:

• Rappahannock-Rapidan Regional Planning Commission
• The Virginia Piedmont — Something Special in the Foothills
• Rappahannock-Rapidan Regional Commission Facts and Figures (Adobe PDF format)

Members step up to help re-elect the president

A field organizer for the Obama campaign explained to club members at the April 19 meeting how they can get involved in helping to re-elect the president.

Club members responded enthusiastically, signing up to conduct recruiting campaigns, voter registration campaigns, neighborhood canvassing and phone banks to help guarantee success in November.

Annie Roberts, a field director for the campaign, said preparations for the 2012 election are earlier and more extensive even than the precedent-setting successful effort in 2008. She said plans are for Orange County to be assigned its own field coordinator and that voluntees would be organized to conduct regular campaign events in and around Locust Grove.

Ms. Roberts showed an inspiring video about volunteer efforts on behalf of the president all across Virginia and then presented a slide show showing how volunteers would be organized in neighborhoods throughout the Commonwealth to increase efficiency and maximize success.

Teams comprising canvass coordinators, phone bank coordinators, data coordinators and others will work in Lake of the Woods, Locust Grove and Flat Run to insure that the president’s message reaches every eligible voter.

Members of the LOW Democratic Club rushed to sign up for the various team assignments and aren’t wasting any time in getting started. Club members will participate in a voter registration effort in Locust Grove on April 28.

E. Wayne Powell

E. Wayne Powell of Richmond has been officially declared the Democratic nominee in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, which includes Orange County.

Abbi Easter, the 7th Distrct chair, was notified April 11 by David Hunsicker of Lake of the Woods that “I am officially releasing my delegate candidates … and will no longer be a candidate…”

As a result, the assembled caucus scheduled for Saturday, April 14, in Orange and the 7th District Democratic Convention scheduled for Saturday, April 28, in Henrico County have been cancelled.

Mr. Powell will oppose Eric Ivan Cantor in the November general election.

Powell supports full funding for Medicare and Social Security. He would support ending tax breaks for the top 1 percent of wage earners and ending oil subsidies. The ending of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as soon as possible should be a top national priority, he said. He said he supports health-care reform and immigration reform.

“In my view … fixing Washington would be in large part accomplished by defeating Eric Cantor,” Mr. Powell said. He said Cantor is someone “who embodies much of what is wrong with the political system as it operates in our country today.”

A native of Richmond, Powell served 30 years as an active-duty and Reserve Army officer in intelligence.

He has spent 31 years as a trial attorney, since 1999 as president of Powell & Parrish, a Midlothian-based law firm. During the 1980s, Powell was an assistant attorney general and deputy commissioner of the Virginia Worker’s Compensation Commission.

Mr. Hunsicker confirmed on his Facebook page that he had dropped out of the race. “I have seen the delegate numbers from the counties, and it would seem that only a series of both unusual and lucky events could now allow my candidacy to move forward. So that the various chairs and committees don’t have to hold caucuses and a convention with little value, I wish to suspend my campaign for the Democratic nomination for Congress from Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. I am a Democrat first and a candidate second. Mr. Powell, I wish you well in your efforts to prevail against Eric Cantor. ”

Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, is largely responsible for the ineffectiveness of the 112th Congress by undermining the spirit of co-operation and compromise so necessary to the strength of a Democracy. Cantor’s slavish loyalty to special interests and his own raw ambition have effectively left Orange County without representation.

Henry Lee Carter, chair of the Orange County Democratic Committee, confirmed the cancellation of the Orange County caucus, saying, “To those who agreed to serve as Orange County delegates, we appreciate your willingness to serve and give up two Saturdays to accomplish this task.”

Also on the Web:

• The Times-Dispatch’s report on Mr. Powell’s nomination
• The Powell for Congress Web site

Annie Roberts, field director for the Obama-Biden campaign, attended the April meeting of the club’s steering committee to ask for volunteers in the effort to re-elect the president.

Campaign offices have been established in Fredericksburg, Culpeper and Spotsylvania, and staff members are being assembled to insure that Virginia stays in the Democratic column in November.

An organization meeting will take place from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 14, at the Fredericksburg office at 1281 Central Park Blvd.

A National Day of Action voter registration drive will take place on Saturday, April 18. There will be shifts from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at locations in Orange, Frederickburg, Stafford, Culpeper and Spotsylvania. See barackobama.com for details.

A phone bank for Orange County will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. April 12 and 19 at 113 West Main St., 3rd floor, Orange.

A phone bank specific to Locust Grove will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., April 17, at a place to be determined.

A Women for Obama phone bank will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, at 102 North Main St., Suite 201, in Culpeper and 1281 Central Park Blvd. in Fredericksburg.

There will be voter registration drives from noon to 3 p.m. Fridays and 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturdays starting at the Fredericksburg campaign office at 1281 Central Park Blvd.

For more information about any of these events, contact Annie Roberts at (540) 354-9582 or e-mail awilsonreberts@ofava.com

If you missed Dr. Lillis’ informative presentation to the club on Sunday, you’ll want to watch these video excerpts.

Dr. Lillis' presentation was well attended

Dr. Christopher Lillis, a Fredericksburg physician representing Doctors for America, cut through the political hysteria and revealed the compelling arguments in favor of the Affordable Care Act at a special Sunday afternoon program March 25 at the LOW Clubhouse.

Dr. Lillis’ presentation included authoritative answers to a variety of thoughtful questions from an audience of about 80 members and guests.

The Affordable Care Act, labeled by detractors as “Obamacare,” is already saving American lives, Dr. Lillis said, even though many of its more important provisions do not go into effect until 2014. He said as many as two million Americans who would otherwise be without health insurance are already protected by the law.

The speaker described how skyrocketing costs over the past 30 years have made it impossible for many middle-class Americans to afford even basic health care. If the trend had been allowed to continue, the physical health and economic health of most Americans would be at stake.

Dr. Lillis said the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act is vital to the success of the legislation. Of eight states who have tried to reform health care insurance, the only one to succeed has been Massachusetts because that state was the only one to include a mandate that citizens buy insurance.

Dr. Lillis

The efforts of misguided politicians and self-serving businesses to undermine the law are not in the best interest of American families, Dr. Lillis said. The result of those efforts, he said, will be the suffering and death of loved ones, friends and neighbors.

Dr. Lillis left immediately after his presentation to go to Washington, D.C., where he planned to be on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, which began hearing arguments in a court case brought by attorneys general in 26 states, including Virginia. He will be a part of a group from Doctors of America speaking to the media in defense of the health care law.

The presentation, sponsored by the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club, will take place at 2 p.m. in the lower level of the Clubhouse. Guests are welcome regardless of political affiliation. A meet-and-greet session will begin at 1:30 p.m.

President Obama invited Dr. Lillis to Washington in March 2010 to promote his health care package and to urge Congress to embrace his proposed reforms.

In January 2011, Dr. Lillis delivered a petition on behalf of Doctors of America to Rep. Eric Cantor opposing the congressman’s misconceived efforts to repeal the health care law. At that time he said in an interview, “The new health care reform law will save lives. We are already seeing more patients having access to quality and affordable health care. Doctors and medical students want to work with the new Congress to move our health care system forward by implementing the new reform law, not backwards by repealing it.”

Dr. Lillis earned a bachelor of science degree from Siena College near Albany, N.Y., and went on to complete his medical degree at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, and completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Duke University Hospital in Durham, N.C. His research at Duke involved cardiovascular disease prevention.

He is a full time private practice internal medicine physician, a monthly columnist for The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, and a member of the board of directors of Doctors for America as well as its director of the blog “Progress Notes.” Doctors of America is a non-profit organization of more than 200 physicians and medical students who have dedicated time to explain the new health-care law to Americans.

Dr. Lillis and his wife and young son in Fredericksburg.

Follow Dr. Lillis on Twitter @drlillisf_burg

For more information about the health care reform law and what it will do, visit the following Web sites:

• Learn how the Affordable Care Act benefits you
• Doctors for America
• The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
• The American Association of Retired Persons
• The American Medical Association

The Orange County Democratic Committee will meet at 10 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 25, at 135 Warren Street, Orange.

The agenda will include the following:

• Jim Phillips of Richmond, the third candidate seeking the 7th District Democratic Congressional nomination to oppose Eric Cantor will be at our meeting this Saturday to meet with the Committee and introduce himself to us. He will be introduced by Joseph T. Samuels Jr., the son of Joseph T. Samuels Sr., commissioner of the revenue for Orange County for many years.
• 7th District Democratic Congressional Convention – This convention is scheduled for Saturday, April 28. Orange County has been allocated nine delegates and two alternates. There is a pre-filing deadline and other rules. We can discuss these concerns at the meeting.
• Orange County Committee meeting dates – Here are the future meeting dates: March 31, April 23, May 19 and June 23. The March meeting will have to be in Orange County Library, 143 North Madison Road, due to the Community Room not being available in March.
• Spring Event – We need to plan a spring fundraising event to raise money to meet our coming needs. Wayne Garnett suggested Wednesday, April 18. This needs to be discussed at our meeting.
• Piedmont District Meeting – Suzanne Long, chairman of the Madison Committee, has arranged for the first meeting in George James Community Center, located Route 230 in Radiant on Saturday, March 10 at 9 a.m. A buffet breakfast will be available for $10. We hope to get the chairmen from Orange, Madison, Culpeper, Louisa and Rappahannock Counties together with committee members from each jurisdiction.
• Lake of the Woods Democratic Club – Next meeting on Sunday, March 25 at 2 p.m. in the lower level of the Lake of the Woods Clubhouse. The guest speaker will be Dr. Christopher Lillis who will speak about the Affordable Health Care Act.
• Concerns from the floor.