Letters from Home
by State Representative David W. Floyd
March 7, 2007
The best part of my job is hearing from you, and it’s true for several reasons. For one thing dealing with other politicians can be frustrating, so that all else is better by comparison. Sitting down with folks over coffee on a Saturday morning, though, is both enjoyable and rewarding. It’s enjoyable because most everyone is congenial, and rewarding because I come away understanding more about things than when I went in.
Now, I love the face-to-face but of course people also call, email, and write letters. I try my best to respond to every one, and I tend to do that in-kind. By that I mean that if they write a letter I’ll write a letter back; if they leave a phone message I’ll call them back, and so on.
If I get a “form letter” (or “form email”) from a bunch of people I’ll compose one response and send it out. I remember in 2005 I received close to 1000 letters from distillery employees, and most all of them said exactly the same thing. So I wrote a letter and sent it to each of the 650 or so who gave me their address. It was funny when one fellow wrote back and said he didn’t appreciate a “form letter” reply.
Teachers will encourage their students to write to me, sometimes thanking me for coming to their classroom; these really warm my heart. In those classroom visits I encourage youth to contact me because their ideas “can be just as good as anyone else’s.” A few weeks ago I received a batch of letters from some of our younger citizens, addressing current legislation or just something that bothered them. I’m sure that the letter-writing exercise was good for them, but this one was also beneficial to me; for in those pages these students offered good instruction for their state representative.
A dozen letters arrived, written by Nelson County High School students in Mr. Tom Clark’s class. Two writers encouraged action to combat our dependence on oil. Another was concerned about America’s homeless. Seven letters were written to comment on Senate Bill 45, which called for a 3-month suspension of a teen’s driver’s license if he/she was caught with alcohol, even if they were nowhere near an automobile.
I thought SB 45 looked good. If a teen was caught with alcohol, why not make sure that they wouldn’t be doing any driving for a while? Three of the writers agreed. The other four protested, saying that the punishment should fit the crime. Baylee Davis said that “Drinking while underage has nothing to do with your license unless you are driving.” Shelby Helton suggested the same thing, adding that “people have to go places and do things” and they need their license.
A thorough and perhaps the most thoughtful analysis came from Kelley Clark. Her argument began that kids sitting at home drinking do not necessarily intend to drive. She acknowledged that they were breaking the law by possessing alcohol, but “if they’re not on the road they wouldn’t be a danger to the people.” Sounds like a 15 year-old lawyer. She then suggested that the situation would result in more law-breaking since “in their minds they did not deserve to lose their license” and would drive anyway.
Then this – “The punishment is not fit for the crime. I think we should come up with another alternative. I have a couple of ideas… I believe if we set a fine, it will stop a bunch of under age drinking. Another alternative would be community service. If they’re out there doing community service they won’t have time to drink on weekends.” I love that these students didn’t merely complain about the bill, but offered their own solutions.
The last two letters were from some young hunters. Matthew Roby wants to be able to buy shotgun shells at age sixteen and not have to depend on someone older. Josh Bartley thinks that you should be able to buy a hunting knife at fourteen. He asked if I could try to get the age lowered. He said it would be great and “I’m sure that it would help other people like me out. Just good old country boys. I’m sure inside you are one, too.” He’s right, of course.
So you see that hearing from you really is the best part of my job. This Saturday’s coffee starts at 10:00 in Chaplin at Howard’s Hardware. I hope to see you there, but if you can’t make it you can always call, email, or leave a message at 800-372-7181. Thank you for allowing me to serve you.