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Help Us Take the Capitol by Storm!
Sign up for the March 15 SOCM Lobby Day
Dear SOCM members and supporters, SOCM is gearing up for SOCM Lobby Day, Tuesday, March 15. This is your chance to attend a lobby training, and take action by telling your Tennessee legislators which bills you support for social, economic and environmental justice. This full day of meetings, learning and  | | The Rally for Good Jobs, Living Wages and Our Public Services will take place March 15. |
networking is one of the most important events you can attend all year.
We know you're busy, so if you can't attend the entire day, consider joining us for the Rally for Good Jobs, Living Wages and Our Public Services, at the Capitol Hill steps at noon. Sponsoring organizations for this event include: Workers Interfaith Network (WIN), Jobs with Justice of East Tennessee, UCW-CWA, CWA District 3, University of Memphis Progressive Student Alliance, Middle Tennessee Jobs with Justice, Tennessee State AFL-CIO, Chattanooga Org
anized for Action, SOCM, Knoxville-Oak Ridge Area Central Labor Council. We are excited to be part of this call for fair wages, public services and green jobs. Don't miss out as we take the Tennessee Capitol by storm! Register by contacting your nearest organizer or email Stacey Mitchell at stacey@socm.org, or call 865.249.7488. Sincerely, Your SOCM Team
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Citizens group forms to fight Fentress Co. 49% tax hike
SOCM member speaks out for change
When county commissioners in Fentress County passed a 49 percent property tax increase in September 2010, SOCM member David Beaty did was he does best: FIGHT, with words that is.
Since September, he's been escorted out of a commission meeting while questioning the tax hike, and cursed at by a county commissioner. Beaty and a large group of Fentress County taxpayers have joined to form a new citizens action group to consider a charter government. You can be assured that they won't go down without some serious grassroots organizing taking place.
Right now though, they need your help. This "blatant misuse of power," as Beaty describes it, can easily stay hushed in small town bureaucracy and red tape. Please, take a moment to email a friend, write a letter-to-the-editor to the Tennessean or Fentress Courier. These concerned citizens need to know that SOCM members and supporters are behind them as they fight to protect Fentress, the fourth poorest county in Tennessee.
Read more about the Fentress Co. tax hike here.
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Jeff Biggers to Read for SOCM
March 5 benefit event in Knoxville, Tenn.
Celebrated author and journalist Jeff Biggers will read from his newest book Reckoning at Eagle Creek - The Secret Legacy of Coal in  the Heartland. As a longstanding voice for environmental preservation and Appalachia history, Biggers's visit will provide an insightful look at the misconception of "clean coal" through a storyteller's voice. SOCM is thrilled to host his visit to Knoxville, Tenn.! All donations for this reading wil l go to benefit Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM). Take a moment to enjoy this rare literary look at the coal industry and America's transition to a clean energy future. Join us in welcoming Jeff Biggers, March 5, 2011, at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, at 7:30 PM EST.
Contact 865.249.7488 or email info@socm.org with questions!
Learn more about Jeff Biggers here - http://jeffrbiggers.com/
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Mountain justice event scheduled
Spend a Week in Washington to End MTR
Attend the 6th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington, D.C. Joining hundreds of people form across the  U.S., SOCM members will make their way to Washington, D.C., April 2 - 6, to attend the 6th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week! This year we're taking a cozy bus with television and internet - join us! Contact ann@socm.org to learn more. |
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SOCM office moves to Knoxville
Please take note - SOCM Gets New Phone Number and Address after 16 Years
Thanks to all of our members who helped with packing and moving. Volunteers included: Polly Murphy, Franz Raetzer, Yusef Gaither, Elam Blackman, Todd Shelton, Ethiel and Michelle Garlington, Chuck Shuford, Maureen O'Connell, Bob Luxmoore and Carol Foreman.
Note our new address AND phone number:
2507 Mineral Springs Avenue, Suite D, Knox, TN 37917 Phone: 865.249.7488 |
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Rally and press conference planned for LUMP public hearing
Click here to sign your name to an official comment!
Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM) and United Mountain Defense will host a press conference March 10, 2011, 5 p.m., outside the LaFollette Middle School, and a rally at 5:30 p.m. to support the Cumberland Area Lands Unsuitable for Mining petition. A public hearing, one of three planned by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, will begin at 6:30 PM.
The North Cumberland Lands Unsuitable for Mining Petition (LUMP) would make 600 feet on both sides of the ridgelines in the petition area off limits to surface mining. Find details here.
Please take a moment to express your concern for protecting the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area (WMA) through a lands unsuitable for mining designation by signing your name to a mass comment.
Find an overview of the LUMP provided by the Department of Environment and Conservation here.
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Your Community
Needs You
Join SOCM today! Click on the link below and designate your donation as membership dues or mail us a check with "new member" in the memo line.
Click HERE to donate!
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"We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
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