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4/21/2008 - Senator Shelby visits with Autauga County residents

Shelby finishes town hall circuit

By Kenneth Mullinax

Saturday's town hall meetings in the River Region by U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tusacaloosa, marked a milestone for Alabama's senior congressional member.

By the end of Saturday's day- long schedule, Shelby had visited each of Alabama's 67 counties since January, said Laura Hender­son, Shelby's spokeswoman in Washington.

Speaking at a packed luncheon meeting at Ryan's Steakhouse in Prattville at noon -- one of five stops the Republican made Satur­day -- he said he finds the meet­ings informative and interesting.

"I just enjoy getting out and dis­covering what's on the hearts and minds of my friends back home, here in Alabama," Shelby said. "If more elected officials conducted these types of events, we would have broader and better represen­tation in the Congress," he said.

Saturday began early for Shel­by, who traveled from Tuscaloosa to an early-morning breakfast meeting in Alexander City, moved to a morning coffee in Tallassee, a luncheon in Prattville, a mid-after­noon event in Hayneville and ended the day with a dinner meet­ing in Camden, Henderson said.

Shelby has completed 1,472 town hall meetings in Alabama since he was elected to the Senate, Henderson said.

"These town hall meetings are important to me because it allows people to have easy access to me with any concerns or problems they may face," Shelby said. "And it allows me to interact with regu­lar folks -- learning how they feel on national issues, without them having to go through a lot of red tape," he said.

Shelby said a few nay-sayers scoff at how productive constitu­ent-based meetings can be, but re­called one such meeting that fos­tered an idea that grew into an important law.

"About 15 years ago, I had a town hall meeting in Huntsville where a woman brought up the top­ic of delinquent child support pay­ments," Shelby said.

She spoke of how her divorced husband refused to pay his court-ordered child support, leaving her and her children to rely on help from the state, he said.

He said since the man had moved outside Alabama, she couldn't get any legal help to force him to pay her.

"I took her problem to Washing­ton, put my senate lawyers on it, drafted a bill, got it passed through the congress and President George H.W. Bush signed it, which gave prosecutors a way to enforce child support orders nationwide," Shel­by said.

He said the law has enabled di­vorced parents to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in delinquent child support payments that now are allowing children to have a bet­ter life.

"These meetings do provide us with many good ideas from our cit­izens that help me do a better job," Shelby added.

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