Date: Wed, 31 Dec 1997 19:56:51 -0500
Sender: welfare reform research <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Ohio Update!

Dear Listmembers:

This is a copy of an article that was in our local newspaper yesterday. I found out that we can make some changes for the better if we all work together. All the information I received from the IWPR, and the researchers, policy makers, recipients, etc. on this list made this possible. I want to thank Johanna Finney and her crew at IWPR for making this list available. It has been invaluable.

Of course, a special thanks goes out to Marc Cohan and his staff at the Welfare Law Center in New York as well as the Equal Justice Foundation in Toledo Ohio. It was their perserverence and their willingness to help people they have never even met that made it possible. We have a long way to go before "Welfare Reform" will make any sense but we'll take any victory we can get (one at a time). :-) CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!

LOCAL WOMAN WINS BATTLE WITH WELFARE DEPARTMENT
Workfare requirement lowered so she can finish college

Fremont resident Julie Star recieved a unique holiday present Monday when she found out she would be able to take another college class this quarter at Terra Community College.

Star, a recipient of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, (a welfare benefit program), disagreed with the Sandusky County Department of Human Service workfare requirement of 40 hours a week for TANF recipients.

According to Star, 40 hours of workfare (up to 16 could be school hours, with 24 to be made up in Work Experience hours) made it impossible for her to go to classes, juggle family life and still get good enough grades so she could get a job and get off public assistance.

Monday, she found out the requirement was lowered by up to 10 hours a week by the department via a suggestion from the State of Ohio.

"Now I will be able to finish school," Star said.

"We just wanted to get the requirements so that the hours matched minimum wage requirements, and now we have it."

Star had refused to sign the Ohio Works First Self Sufficiency Contract in October, which required her to put in the 40 hours a week in 1998. The contract guarantees benefits to recipients for a year if the contract is followed.

Star signed a modified contract Monday, with lowered WEP requirements.

Because she receives a net of about $447 a month in cash benefits and food stamps, the amount of hours she would have to work a month would have exceeded the minimum wage, according to the Welfare Law Center of New York, which prepared her appeal.

According to the text of the letter to Star from Welfare Law Center attorney Marc Cohan, the threat of a lawsuit about the minimum wage discrepancy was a key consideration for the change.

"Without a doubt, we believe that is the case," said Chris Lamb, senior attorney for the Welfare Law Center.

"After we sent a letter to the state, they sent one back saying that they would make changes. What those changes were, we did not know specifically."

Star's case was the first one where there was a clear discrepancy between workfare requirements and minimum wage, Lamb said.

"We believe that it might be happening in a number of states," he said. "We have not yet been able to establish any other specific cases like that in Ohio like Mrs. Star, but we suspect there may be more."

In the original contract, 16 out of 40 hours could be fulfilled by education (classroom) hours, leaving at least 24 to be made up of WEP hours.

Under the contract that Star signed Monday, she is only required to serve 20 hours a week in WEP programs and 10 hours a week in education hours. The remaining 10 hours can be assigned at the discretion of Human Services, according to the contract.

The State of Ohio requires that TANF recipients work 30 hours a week in education and work programs. Sandusky County Department of Human Services requires up to 40 hours, as part of local control portion of the statewide welfare reform movement.

"Every case is different, but 30 hours per week is pretty much the norm," said Ron Rhodes, spokesman for the Ohio DHS.

Under calculations from the Welfare Law Center, Star would have received $4.33 per hours of workfare, if the amount of cash benefits and food stamps were divided by the number of work hours. Minimum wage is $5.15 per hour.

"Federal law is pretty clear when it comes to minimum wage requirements," said Rhodes. "If you are working so many hours, you have to get minimum wage."

"Every case is different. It is possible that the county might have assigned too many work hours to that particular client. With all these changes going on with welfare reform, it can happen."

All we wanted was to get it fair," said Star.

What a Christmas present! Once again thanks to all!

Julie Star
1240 Sycamore St
Fremont, Oh 43420
(419) 334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 16:28:50 -0400
Sender: welfare reform research <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Welfare Reform at it's best!

Dear listmembers,

I thought you might be interested in how workfare implementation is going out here in the trenches. As some of you know I am a welfare recipient who recently went up against the Ohio Department of Human Services in an attempt to get them to comply with Minimum Wage Laws and the Fair Labor Standards Act. When it was all said and done the state did decide to comply before we got to the point of class action. Unfortunately for me they weren't very happy with me for making them look bad.

Well they finally found a way to get even! I got a sanction letter in the mail today out of the blue saying that I am going to be sanctioned from cash assistance for the month of MAY three days before I am suppposed to get a check! I should have know better but I mailed my time sheets to them this month instead of dropping them off in person and getting a receipt so that I had proof I turned them in. I complied with every workfare hour and school hour I was required to do but because my timesheet for school was conveniently lost in the mail and they supposedly didn't receive it by the 7th we lose over $400.

I called the jobs supervisor to ask him what was going on and told him that I had mailed it to my caseworker. He hadn't even checked with her to see if she had seen it. He just looked in my case and it wasn't there so even though I have never had a timesheet even late in 24 months I lose 2/3 of our income for now he says the month of June. They can't even get their dates right on their own paperwork but I have to make sure I get every piece of paper to them on time. Who is going to sanction all of them for the mistake on my paperwork making me think that in three days we won't be getting a check. These people should at least have to call you to see why they don't have your timesheet when this has never happened before! Some democracy. I suppose I'll have to file for another state hearing. I can't just let this go without a fight. IT ISN'T FAIR!! Are they so perfect? I could see if I had missed hours but I didn't. So much for a case by case basis!!!!!

A Note From the Real World :-(

Julie Star
1240 Sycamore St.
Fremont, OH 43420
(419) 334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 19:04:15 -0400
Sender: welfare reform research <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Ohio update

Dear listmembers,

I spoke with the man in charge of imposing sanctions at our local Human Services Department again today. After mentioning the words "state hearing" and implying that I probably wouldn't to be jumping to come in and sign their compliance form stating that any "further infringements" would result in more sanctions, he said that there might be an "alternative". He spoke with his supervisor and they agreed that if I was to get statements from all my instructors verifying my attendance and that they saw and signed my timesheet that they would be willing to take those statements into consideration for good cause. He also told me that he had checked with their financial person and verified that I had indeed sent her a check for which she had written me a receipt for 4/3/98 which means that chances are I did send in my timesheet in on the same day and on time. It looks like my sanction should be dropped after I turn in my instructors statements.

I'll keep you informed and thanks for the support!

Julie Star
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 16:14:04 -0400
Sender: welfare reform research <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: On going in Ohio

Dear listmembers,

I turned in my instructors' statements today and that should have handled this sanction problem. The guy in charge told me that this should take care of it but gave me nothing in writing. He seemed hesitant. When I asked him if this thing was handled he said that as long as I attend my reapplication appointment on Monday 5/11 that he will have things set up in the computer so that my caseworker can cancel my sanction at that time. Why the delay until Monday to get me something in writing if this is handled? My concern is that even though I am due for a reapplication, even if none of this was going on, reapp was one of the requirements for my compliance under the sanction they are/were trying to impose. If the sanction is indeed being dropped then why do I need to wait until after a reapp that is no longer required where the sanction is concerned to drop it. I told him that I need to get this in writing because the cutoff for me to have my state hearing request in Columbus is 5/12 (at least 2 days by mail). I also told him that I had spoken with Marc Cohan at the Welfare Law Center in New York and that Marc wanted me to fax my sanction notices to him along with the paperwork canceling my sanction (so the cancellation part isn't quite true). He still didn't budge and said that she would print me out the paperwork if I showed up for my appointment on Monday.

Frankly I don't know if this is to let me stew a little longer or what but something feels fishy. I have another call into Marc because he said he wanted us to talk again after I turned in my paperwork. I really think that to be on the safe side that I will have to go ahead and file for a hearing unless they can get something in my hands by no later than Wednesday. Marc has already offered to write a letter. Maybe that would be a good idea to get them moving here.

The ongoing saga of welfare reform...

Julie Star
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 21:23:19 -0400
Sender: welfare reform research <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Ohio Update

Dear listmembers,

Good news bad news. I finally received a letter from the Sandusky County Department of Human Services on Saturday voiding my sanction. I guess they just wanted to let me sweat alittle since my reapp was today. The bad news is they were able to assign me to an additional 39 hours per month when I signed my new contract today. Since my daughter's father isn't keeping up on his child support, the new minimum wage calculation we got them to comply with came out to 9 hours more per week than I was doing. Now I have to work 29 workfare hours per week plus my 9 school hours per week are mandatory. Just when I was trying to get ahead some in schoolwork because my daughter is going to need another ear surgery. :-( I think it's pretty bad that when we as mothers don't "do what we're supposed to" we get nailed but when the fathers don't do what THEIR supposed to we get nailed as well. I got a thought why not make the fathers do the extra workfare hours when they don't pay instead of us. It's something to think about.

Thanks for the support :-)

Julie Star
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 20:22:05 -0400
Sender: welfare reform research <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Request for information

Dear listmembers,

I found out last week that my workfare assignment was being changed. My new worksite may be familiar to some of you. It is "PEAK INDUSTRIES". We had a discussion on the listserve a few months ago about the way that it is advertised on the internet. For those of you who are new to the list, the website for PEAK is http://www.sanduskycountydhs.org/peak.htm. If you check out the website you will get an idea of how the people (women) who are forced to work at this place are treated.

Today was my first day at PEAK and I was appalled by the stories that I heard from the other women about the working conditions they have been subjected to. For instance, they moved to a new location about 2 months ago and these women were forced to take brooms and brush loose paint off of the walls of this new building to prepare it for painting. They were not given any kind of protection from the airborne paint and the building does not have proper ventilation. No one knows how old the paint was that they were forced to remove without respirators. This building is old enough that chances are very good that the paint contained lead and was very possibly harmful to the health of the recipients.

The work we did today was completely meaningless and designed for no other reason than busy work to keep recipients busy. I spent 7 hours today inspecting hundreds of little plastic bags to see if each of them had four rubber washers of uniform size and to insure that the bags were properly sealed. The problem with that is that I was told by the other women that this is a job for Whirlpool Corp. Whirlpool has two of their people thoroughly go through these boxes before they ever get to PEAK. At PEAK they are all gone through by two more "inspectors" and supposedly after they leave PEAK they are checked two more times by handicapped people. Why does it take 6 people to count to 4? One of the boxes came back today rejected from the handicapped people and I got the real story. When these boxes come back rejected the women are publicly called out of the room for a private chewing out. In other words they are berated and degraded. They are told how incompetent they are because even handicapped people can catch defects that they can't. There is only one problem with this system and the shop supervisors are well aware of it (have been told many times by the women they are demeaning). When these bags of parts come into the shop they barely fit into these boxes. After they have been inspected by two people they have to be put back into the boxes. The only problem is that they overflow the box and have to be forced in so that the boxes can be sealed. By applying pressure to these heat sealed plastic bags the air that is in them pops the seals so that when they get to the handicapped people a they are rejected. This gives them the opportunity to make the workfare people recount them and keeps everyone in useless workfare jobs. What a gimmick.

The information I am requesting is this. I have a lot of experience with clerical work and computers and yet they have put me in a position of supposedly training for factory work. They know I will have two computer degrees a year from now. I offered them a computer worksite. This company was willing to let me work for them under the workfare program. It is something that I could put on a resume and would be the perfect in the field training. My caseworker admitted to me that they need more clerical sites but said that they don't have anyone working there right now who can set up new work sites. I thought that these workfare assignments were supposed to be done on a case by case basis based on our experience and qualifications. Does anyone know if the state is required to accept a viable new worksite if it is in the recipients field of expertise. Does anyone know if I have any legal ground to stand on if I file for a state hearing based on their refusal to properly place me?

Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance,

Julie Star
1240 Sycamore St.
Fremont, Oh 43420
star@xxxxx.xx
(419) 334-8205

Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 17:55:57 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Any suggestions?
To: WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx

Dear listmembers,

This is a copy of an e-mail I sent to Marc Cohan at the Welfare Law Center. Any suggestions on any of the issues would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I have been trying to come up with a name for an organization I would like to open here locally. What do you think of WASTIC? Women Against Systematic Torture of Impoverished Women for Capitalism. I thought WASTIC might relate to the German Swastica though I would love to come up with a beginning S and an ending A. Any ideas or other suggestions for names I'm a little low on imagination this week. Must be the heat!

Marc,

Did you receive the e-mail I sent you about PEAK and the fax that I sent you on Monday? Conditions at PEAK are deplorable. There is crumbling paint on the walls and ceiling any of which could contain lead. Yesterday it was so hot in the shop that I was dangerously close to heat exhaustion. I broke out in a sweat, got dizzy and light headed and proceeded to head to the bathroom to throw up. When my supervisor noticed my condition he decided to give us an extra 15 minute break but the radio said that the outside temperature was 91 degrees and it is awfully hard to cool down in those temperatures. Of course after the break we were right back in the same conditions doing the same jobs. Today Cindy ended up in the same condition I was in yesterday. I called time and temperature and it said that the outside temp was 88 degrees. We wanted to know what the temp was inside so, when I could finally get out from under the very close watchful eye of my supervisor, I took the thermometer out of the break room and hid it in the shop. I'm not entirely sure that it had time to come up to full temperature before we left for the day but when I read it the temperature was 105! I made sure I had witnesses. If the temperature in there today was at least 105 at an outside temp of 88 what was the temp in there yesterday with an outside temp of 91? What kind of conditions can these people make us work in legally? After Cindy's episode this afternoon the supervisor put a fan in the window directly behind her blowing hot air in on her supposedly in an attempt to help cool her down. I know that there is a medical limit about having fans blowing on you after certain temps. Above a certain temp it can actually raise your body temp rather than lower it. When she told the supervisor that the fan was making her hotter and asked him to turn it around he refused and told her not to touch it. I see that as him refusing to allow her to protect her health since that fan was blowing 105 degree heat directly on her for the rest of the day. Also she has been told every day since last Monday that she should be getting a check today but she hasn't gotten one. Someone is always going to check on it but she never hears anything. In the mean time they started her working 34 hours per week last week and started her at 40 hours for the rest of the month yesterday. She filled out her application mid April. I has been awhile since I filled out a new application but isn't their time frame for approving new applications like 30 or 45 days. Hers has been pending over 2 months and she is still being stalled.

They are still violating Minimum Wage Laws. Jeannie has a child under age 1 so shouldn't have to work any regular work hours but is doing 20 hours per week. I'm sure they are going in thru the back door and putting those under developmental hours. The problem is that she only receives $296 per month in food stamps and no cash assistance. That calculates out to 13.37 hours per week. That also means that she is receiving less than others of us in the shop for the same work. Doesn't that violate the Fair Labor Standards Act within their own organization?

I sure would like to hear from you to discuss these issues and others at your convenience.

Thank you,

Julie Star
1240 Sycamore St.
Fremont, Oh 43420
419 334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 18:42:42 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Re: Ohio Update
To: WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx

Dear Listmembers,

I found an interesting situation when I got to PEAK Industries today. All the ladies met me at the door to let me know that the plant would be closing at 1:00 p.m. today instead of 4:00 p.m. They were told the reason for the early closure was that they heard that the temperature in the plant was 105 yesterday. Go figure! Suddenly instead of getting chewed out for sitting down to cool down for 2 minutes. We were told that we could take breaks anytime we thought we needed them. What a switch. Why did it take a recipient taking the temperature to get them to stop abusing recipients? They even gave us an unscheduled 20 minute break between our morning break and lunch. It's funny what happens when you challenge the system. I got a call from Marc earlier. He is supposed to call me back later.

By the way, Cindy, the girl who applied in April for benefits was told today that they found her a job. That seems strange since she only started at PEAK last week. We were all told yesterday in a meeting that PEAK is designed as a 3-6 month program for building a work record that they can use to help us get jobs after that 3-6 month period when they think we are ready. Some of the girls have been there for 4 months or more and they haven't even tried to find them jobs. Why is it that when they overhear (oops) that I am recommending that Cindy file for a state hearing she is conveniently found a job. They really don't want me talking to anyone down there. Every time they catch me talking to someone about the new laws and regulations. They find something for me to do and they always come out to chit chat with us at lunch time all of a sudden. Go figure.

I made it a point to go to the OSHA website last night to print out some information about heat stroke and heat exhaustion and left it lay where everyone took turns reading it. Everyone except for the supervisors but, of course, I forgot to bring it home. I wonder if anyone looked at it after we all left.

I'll keep you up to date. They haven't said anything about my improper placement yet but they set me up an appointment with their doctors for tomorrow to have my wrists checked for any possible work limitations. I put in my state hearing request that I thought that some of the jobs I was being asked to do could be detrimental to my health including my wrists. I had problems with them last winter and my doctor went as far as sending me for an EMG that luckily came back with no permanent damage. One job in particular had my wrists throbbing by the end of the day so I asked the following day if there might be something else I could work on to help protect my wrists. Hence my appointment tomorrow so that they can prove that I am capable of doing this job at this point. Of course there is always the potential for damage to occur from doing this particular job but that is irrelevant in their book.

Thanks for the support,

Julie Star
1240 Sycamore St.
Fremont, OH 43420
(419) 334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 05:31:41 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Ohio update!
To: WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx

Dear listmembers,

My state hearing was on Tuesday and as expected the County pulled every dirty little trick they could find. For those of you who aren't familiar with my case, I filed for a state hearing based on the fact that my current workfare assignment at Peak Industries is not commensurate with my experience and education and that some of the jobs I was the being asked to do I could be detrimental to my health. During the hearing County representatives produced a copy of my medical report which stated that I was unable to perform my job duties. I was able to get them to admit that they had had the report for eight days and yet I had not been afforded a copy of it nor had my physician. They said that they had spoken with the physical and occupational therapists and that the therapists had said that I was able to perform any duties assigned to me at Peak Industries and yet could not produce written documentation. Supposedly, the therapists who had evaluated me had suddenly taken complete 180 degree turns in their opinions. The County continues to ignore my medical report and I continue to do the same jobs awaiting hearing results. I was being ganged up on in the hearing by the County jobs supervisor and my caseworker. My caseworker practically yelled at me in the hearing while berating me with the same question over and over. She had to be cut off not only by her supervisor but by the hearing officer later. We are still waiting for a decision .

I did find out the following day that I had misjudged the liaison to Peak Industries. He had gotten into an argument with my current caseworker and my past caseworker defending those of us at Peak Industries. The argument took place in front of a client who was a friend of mine. She said that my name came up in the argument. It appears the liaison was told "We are trying to 'tick' (*%$&) Julie off so that she will walk out of Peak, and here you are trying to get her a job." Apparently, he told them that they would never be able to get me to walk out of Peak because I was too smart and know the laws. I'm sure it didn't make them very happy.

I am anxiously awaiting my hearing results and will keep you informed.

Julie Star
1240 Sycamore St.
Fremont, OH 43420
(419) 334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Sun, 09 Aug 1998 02:58:48 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx
Subject: [Fwd: Volunteer work and the dole]

Dear listmembers,

First of all let me introduce myself. My name is Julie Star. Some of you I know have seen my posts on the IWPR and WLC lists. I am a 38 year old college student/veteran/welfare recipient/activist. I got involved with fighting welfare reform last summer after my workfare hours raised from 8 hours per week to 20 hours per week while I was attending school full time working on two associate degrees simultaneously. We started hearing rumors that our hours would be raised even further to 40 hours per week so I started doing some research. I found the IWPR listserv and posted my story. Marc Cohan from the Welfare Law Center in New York saw my posts and offered his help in fighting "deform" here in Ohio.

In October of last year, the Sandusky County Department of Human Services (SCDHS) wanted me to sign a new self-sufficiency contract agreeing to work 40 hours per week for them. They were assigning all recipients to 40 hours across the board irregardless of their benefit amounts. I filed for a state hearing stating that the contract was illegal. With the help of Marc at WLC and Bill Senhauser at the Equal Justice Foundation in Toledo Ohio we were able to get SCDHS as well as the Ohio Department of Human Services to comply with Minimum Wage Laws and the Fair Labor Standards Act.

I have filed for three more state hearings since then on various issues. Only the last has actually gone to hearing. It is based on the fact that I was improperly assessed and assigned to my current workfare position. The have me working in the Counties mock up factory. In my hearing I also claimed that I thought some of the jobs that I was being asked to do there could be detrimental to my health. The sent me for a medical evaluation and because it came back saying that I could not perform my required job duties they purposely tried to keep the report from me until after my hearing. They are still keeping me working in the same place doing the same jobs with some modifications while we are awaiting hearing results.

That is my story. I learned a lot about what is going on in Canada watching the discussion with C. Ditmar. Please excuse me if it takes me a bit to get up to par as this is all new to me. I will keep you informed as to what is going on down here in Ohio.

I look forward to some lively discussions with all of you and hope that together we can stop this madness!

Resisting in Ohio!
Julie Star
1240 Sycamore St.
Fremont, Oh 43420
(419) 334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Sun, 09 Aug 1998 18:04:59 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: "WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx" <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>, "workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx" <workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx>, LINC <workfare-wlc@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Ohio Update!

Dear listmembers,

I am still awaiting the results of my state hearing. My guess is that they are stalling until I start school next month when they probably intend to change my worksite anyway so that the hearing will be a mute point in their opinion. They seem to want to completely ignore the medical issues.

Does anyone have any information on the Family Leave Law or know where I can find it. We have two new girls in a PEAK Industries both with children under the age of 1. One of them was forced to work as a nursing mother of a 2 month old. She was subsequently forced to quit nursing. The other was supposed to attend some kind of testing at Human Services on June 16th. I assume this is some kind of placement testing to prepare people for GED testing or something. She missed the testing because she had the gall to give birth on that day. She was promptly sanctioned for the month of July. Her testing was rescheduled for July 23 since this testing is only done once a month. She couldn't have made it up in June if she tried and yet having a child is not good cause! All the new workers coming into PEAK are being assigned hours before their cases are even approved and before they have received any benefits. All of them are having to fight for benefits even after they have them working. I was told one girl, who is no longer there, worked for two months before they told her that they could not approve her case. So who paid her for the 2 months of work that she did? NO ONE!

Comments anyone?

Julie Star
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 00:19:15 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: LINC <workfare-wlc@xxxxx.xx>, "WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx" <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>, "workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx" <workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Ohio Update!

Dear listmembers;

I spoke with Mary today at work. She is the mother who was forced to quit breast feeding her 2 month old baby because she was forced to work workfare hours. She told me that she had to take her daughter to the emergency room shortly after she quit nursing her. Even though her daughter had never had any problems before she developed constricted intestines due to the drastic change in her diet. How can these morons get away with this. She is ready to fight this on any level we can find. I would love to see this one get to the national press! People need to be made aware that this kind of child abuse is being inflicted by the State of Ohio! This mother isn't required to work under federal law. This is strictly a state decision!! This woman even asked if she could work 5 days a week 4 hours a day so that she could continue to nurse her baby and was told that she would have to work two full 8 hour days and a 4 hour day. They refused to accommodate a nursing mother of a two month old child and inflicted medical harm on that child!

I intend to attempt to contact the president of La Leche League for support and comment on this. Sandy has contacted NOW and the Feminist Majority Foundation. She is also willing to contact syndicated columnists to see if we can get some press going on this. Any other ideas would be welcome.

We are calling for a public outcry from any organization that is willing to get involved!! This kind of thing cannot be allowed to continue for the safety of impoverished infants worldwide.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give,

Julie Star
1240 Sycamore St.
Fremont, OH 43420
(419) 334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 22:57:25 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: "workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx" <workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Re: How Much More Unreasonable Can Workfare Become

billbartlett@xxxxx.xx wrote:
>
> John Hollingsworth wrote:
>
> >Hi from John in Ottawa, Canada. It was good to hear from Julie about the
> >situation in Ohio. I agree with Bill that there is a growing need for
> >international solidarity.
>
> Yes, I would certainly like to do something, or even feel as though I was
> trying to do something about some of the atrocities I am hearing about. I
> still think one of the best things to do is tell other people what is going
> on. What we have to do is get these stories packaged so that people who
> don't know the story can understand it.
>
> Julie's 'Ohio Update' is a story that I think should be spread far and
> wide, but it can't be disseminated here without some background, such as
> the recent history of workfare in Ohio and the general US context.
>
> People here would be horrified that the mother of a joung baby is being
> forced to work for benefits, this has not even been suggested by the
> authorities here, workfare is a concept confined to the able-bodied
> unemployed and even then only the young so far.
>
> The conservatives (who operate under the banner of the "Liberal Party" here
> in Aust.) did advocate, a few years back, kicking single parents off the
> pension when their youngest child turned 14. They went to an election with
> that and other horrible policies, like limiting how long someone can get
> the dole to 12 months, and other popular measures like a $3/hour "youth
> wage" and a consumption tax.
>
> They managed with this policy mix to convert certain victory at the polls
> to defeat, and many of those policies have not been mentioned since. But
> they have now resurrected the consumption tax from the dead and are
> parading its corpse around the hustings as I speak, so a week is certainly
> a long time in politics!
>
> Anyhow that story needs to have a paragraph of general info about workare
> is in Ohio, who is targetted, what the obligations are, what benefits are
> provided and to whom and how that compares to other US states.
>
Workfare in the United States changed drastically two years ago when President Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. This law was written by Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation. According to someone who spoke with Mr. Rector the law was written with the idea of putting an end to single parent households. This guy is imposing his religious beliefs about the immorality of single parenthood on all the single welfare recipient mothers in the country. He believes in the sanctity of the two parent home. So who is going to tell the fathers that!

General Overview

On July 2, 1997, Governor George Voinovich signed into law House Bill 408, landmark legislation that fundamentally changed the nature of welfare assistance in Ohio. The law eliminates the Aid to Dependent Children program and replaces it with two innovative new programs -- Ohio Works First and Prevention, Retention & Contingency. With these two programs in place, Ohio will transform public assistance from a system focused on entitlement to one focused on employment, personal responsibility, and sustained self-sufficiency.

Who is targeted?

Every recipient in the state including those who are considered sick and disabled by their doctors. I will be posting a new story shortly as an example.

What are the obligations?

The obligations vary from state to state and county to county. The federal government requires 20 hours of work per week minimum but they leave things wide open to the states. My understanding is that most states are using that 20 hours but I could be wrong. Ohio decided to go one better and is requiring recipients to work 30 hours per week. My county (Sandusky County) was requiring 40 of everyone "irregardless" of the amount of their benefits. Since our minimum wage battle, our "regular" work hours are computed this way:

cash assistance + food stamps - child support kept by state = income
income / minimum wage = workfare hours per month
workfare hours per month / 4.3 = workfare hours per week

For the most part Sandusky County is now going by the state's 30 hour minimum requirement. If the calculation above comes out to less than 30 hours they fill in the rest with education and training or jobs searches.

Parents with children under age one are not required to work under the federal law but it is left up to the states discretion to assign up to 30 "developmental" hours per week. Because these hours are not federally regulated, officials have tried in more than one case to ignore the minimum wage calculation.

What are the Benefits?

The benefits are Cash Assistance, Food Stamps, Child Care Assistance and Transportation Assistance. Eligibility for and amount of the benefits is determined by income, expenses (such as rent and utility expenses) and family size.

How it compares to other states is the topic of much research at the moment.

> Remember, what is happening to that one person is important in as much as
> it starkly exposes the real situation compared to the propaganda, but
> people need to know why and how such horrors can exist. Then they are
> empowered to do something about it, rather than just be cowered by fear and
> ignorance.
>
> The other thing that would be very handy with that story is a little
> contact list, say the local newspaper in the town it is happenning (the
> story didn't mention exactly where that was) E-mail address of course, plus
> any contact info (e-mail preferred) for the criminals perpetrating these
> atrocities.
>
> We need to be able to use this information in different ways, like writing
> a letter to the local press where the atrocity is taking place, make an
> international incident of it so to speak. And/or perhaps protest to the
> perpetrators with the message "we know what you are doing, you bastard",
> and of course spread the word to others who will do the same. We should
> also be on the alert for the opportunity to use incidents like this on a
> local basis, as an example of workfare "in action in its native
> environment", a stark warning the dangers of what happens if people leave
> it too late to stop the spread of the disease!
>
> Bill Bartlett
> Bracknell tas.

This all took place in Fremont, Ohio (Sandusky County). Here are the addresses for the County Director, State Director and the local newspaper. Any support would be greatly appreciated!

Sandusky CDHS
Don L. Morton, Director
2511 Countryside Drive
P.O. Box 890
Fremont, Ohio 43420-9987
CDHS Phone: (419) 334-3891
CDHS Fax: (419) 332-2156
Internet E-Mail Address: scdhs@xxxxx.xx

Arnold Tompkins, Director ODHS:

Phone: (614) 466-6282
FAX: (614) 466-2815

Fremont News Messeger
Reporter: Patrick Orr
fremont@xxxxx.xx

Thank you,

Julie Star
1240 Sycamore St
Fremont, Oh 43420
(419) 334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 21:41:38 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: LINC <workfare-wlc@xxxxx.xx>, "WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx" <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>, "workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx" <workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Ohio Update!

Dear listmembers:

On next week's schedule they have Mary scheduled for 4 hour days instead of 8 hour days. They must have gotten wind of some legal stirrings developing. She took her daughter to the doctor and the doctor says her stomach is still tight from the drastic diet change. Personally I think some of it has to be the emotional separation from her mother. The idea is this never should have happened. What possible permanent medical damage has been done to this child?

When Mary first got to Peak Industries it appears that they were (although somewhat reluctantly) willing to partially accommodate her nursing her daughter. They allowed her ex-husband to bring her daughter to her at work and she was allowed to nurse her daughter in a hot car outside the building. When her ex-husband had to go back to work there was noone available to continue to bring her child to her. Knowing no better due to lack of information she felt she had no choice but to discontinue breast feeding and put her child on formula. Which, of course, has caused the medical problems. In spite of the fact that for a short period of time they were willing to let her continue to nurse her child outside, when she was no longer able to do that because of transportation problems they refused to let her protect her own health by allowing her the time to pump off the excess milk during her 8 hour days. Plus there is nowhere in the plant that will provide a clean and private place for her to do so.

Mary asked me last week if was possible for her to nurse her daughter during the hours she was not at work even though they had her working 8 hour days. I told her that her body should automatically adjust to the new schedule and that she should be able to relactate and go back to nursing her daughter at least most of the time. She found out that she was able to do that.

This all comes down to the fact that she should not have been required to work as a nursing mother of a 2 month old baby for the benefit of the child. At the very least they should have set up her hours so that none of this would be an issue.

In solidarity,

Julie Star
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 22:44:41 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: "WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx" <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>, LINC <workfare-wlc@xxxxx.xx>, "workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx" <workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Ohio Update!

Dear listmembers:

We have a time limit on this one! I got a call from a woman named Lori Michaels. She is due to be terminated on August 31. She has been fighting with human services to continue to prove her medical condition for 7 years. She has been fighting to try to get on Social Security for 5 years. She has been through a state hearing and two appeals because for some reason human services had a problem with their hearing officer in her first hearing and thought it should be redone.

She never received an Explanation of State Hearing Rights form with her hearing date like she should have so was unaware of what most of her rights were. She was told that she could not get copies of anything in her DHS records. She was told by the hearing officer in her appeal hearing that her witnesses "did not need to testify". Consequently, her testimony was the only given. Then they discounted her testimony on the grounds that they thought she was incompetent. Cute trick! She was told that medical records could not be used as evidence in a hearing. She was told twice by the district DHS office that she could not postpone filing an appeal to her last appeal. She was told that as long as she had her appeal request postmarked by July 29 that she would be okay. They knew full well when they told her that, that there was no way they would receive her request by the July 30 deadline. They neglected to point the deadline out to her. Consequently, her appeal request has been denied.

Lori is agoraphobic. She has not left her home except for state hearings and to go to doctors offices and emergency rooms in the last year. She is asthmatic, has irritable bowel syndrome, carpal tunnel, and her left wrist has bones fused together from damage done by the carpal tunnel. She is left handed by the way. This is only the tip of the iceberg with her medical condition. Social Security found her to be autistic and mentally retarded but still denied her case. She ended up in the emergency room last night from a severe panic attack. Her husband thought she was having a stroke it was so bad. He thought she was going to die. She is currently on 7 different medications for all of her problems. This amounts I am told to about $600 worth of medication per month. She will be without medical coverage on September 1 if something isn't done to stop these people! What happens to Lori when she has another severe panic attack without being on any anti anxiety medication or any medication for her asthma? Are they trying to kill her?

BY THE WAY, KEEP IN MIND THAT LORI IS WORK READY! Her state hearings are because she refused to sign a self-sufficiency contract agreeing to work.

Help me help this poor woman. THIS IS CRIMINAL!

Please,

Julie Star
star@xxxxx.xx
(419) 334-8205 home

Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1998 21:55:11 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: LINC <workfare-wlc@xxxxx.xx>, "WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx" <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>, "workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx" <workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Ohio Update!

Dear list members,

Everything is breaking loose here in Ohio! Shelley, the girl who was sanctioned for having a baby instead of going to DHS for testing, was sanctioned for three months on Monday because she missed work last week to attend her uncle's funeral. Mary, the girl who was forced to quit breastfeeding her baby because she was forced to work workfare hours, was sanctioned for three months yesterday because she was sick on Monday. I assume that she called in after the one hour time limit.

Lori, the woman who is agoraphobic, is in jail. She and her husband received letters in the mail from Human Services this morning saying that the whole family would be terminated as of Sept. 30. She has been under enough stress with her appeal request being denied and her case being dismissed . She went to see her psychiatrist today and while sitting in the waiting room started to go into another panic attack. Her husband was outside talking to his therapist when it started. When he returned to the waiting room and called her name she was unresponsive. He tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention and she lost it. The doctor came out and got her a few minutes later. Her husband Tom saw her through a glass door down the hall yelling and screaming at the doctor and throwing papers. She motioned for him to come in. He attempted to settle her down but she was out of control. Someone called the police. By the time the police arrived she was threatening suicide. She argued with police, told them to take her to jail, and bit one of them. Her husband asked that she be taken to a mental hospital and her counselor concurred. The police officer had a private conversation with her psychiatrist and then decided to take her to jail. Keep in mind that this was all during a panic attack and this woman was not functioning normally at the time. Tonight she is sitting in jail hysterical! The local Legal Aid office has agreed to take her case. She presently has an appointment scheduled for Aug. 27. The attorney said that he would try to move it up. Her hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow morning. We hope to contact the attorney in time for him to get to the hearing.

We have contacted the local newspaper and it appears that they are willing to do a story on this. We can only hope that the judge has enough common sense based on her history to put her in a psychiatric ward tomorrow instead of back in jail.

Any leads to find anything at this point would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance,

Julie Star
1240 Sycamore Street
Fremont, Ohio 43420
(419) 334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1998 23:08:23 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: "WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx" <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>, "workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx" <workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Ohio Update!

Lori was released from jail on Thursday by the judge on bond on her own recognizance. We went to talk to Steve Robins at ABLE (Advocates for Basic Legal Equality) and he said that her story read like a Russian novel. He is going to try to get her SSI case remanded back to Ohio from West Virginia. He also recommended that she reapply for assistance while he checks into whether or not there is any way to fight her dismissal.

Mary and Shelly have filed for state hearings. Mary did call in within the one hour time limit but she called Randy (the liaison for Peak Industries) instead of calling the shop. Randy never told her that she needed to call the shop as well so she got sanctioned for three months.

Now I've found out that one of the children's services caseworkers went on a child roundup in March. Rex and Yvonne had their 5 children pulled from their home in March and they still have not been returned in spite of the fact that there is no proof of any kind of abuse. One of the children was a 2 month old little girl who was nursing. A day care provider called children's services and said that their 5 year old little girl had a cigarette burn on her. They were only supposed to take her but when the man in charge of removing Stephanie from her home called into the office to ask what to do with the other 4 children he was told to take them all. That same day they rounded up children from 7 other household and another household the following day. Rex told me that the caseworker looked like she was enjoying it.

Stephanie was examined by a doctor and her cigarette burn turned out to be nothing more than impetigo. The foster parents also had her examined with the same results and yet the children have yet to be returned to their parents. What kind of damage has this done to that 2 month old baby? She has spent more than 2/3 of her life away from her mother. These Nazi tactics have to be stopped!

Getting discouraged in Ohio,

Julie Star
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 23:21:24 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: "workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx" <workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx>, LINC <workfare-wlc@xxxxx.xx>, "WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx" <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Ohio Update!

viggo.andersen@xxxxx.xx wrote:
>
> How about trying to get national tv in our respective countries to
> make news reports about what goes on in Ohio? It is after all what
> this list could and should be used for, even if it is a bit early, we
> aren't that many countries represented yet. I'll let it up to you for
> now, Julie, and especially as to whether you will prefer and feel you
> have the time and energy to write a resume for the purpose that you
> could post, and then we could all simply forward it to tv channels and
> why not also newspapers in our respective countries with an appeal to
> investigate it, and wherever else it might do some good. The resume
> will have to contain not only info for contact to officials, I think
> you already have posted that, but also somebody representing people
> being abused by the system, either yourself and/or somebody else. I
> only hope that news media is better organized with email addresses now
> here in Denmark than they were in late 1996, because that was
> ridiculous. Well, that's about what I can think of right now, any
> other ideas?
>
> Viggo.

I think my Ohio Updates have pretty much put out the stories of what is going on down here. We can use all the support we can get! I had Dan write up a letter that I can send to all the organizations in Ohio introducing myself and telling them about some of the various cases going on up here and see if anyone if willing to get involved since we are all in the same state. I haven't even had a chance to read it yet let alone adapt it to my writing style and proofread it to check facts.

Things are changing daily down here. Lori told me yesterday that DHS came to their home yesterday and took her daughter. They say that since she was threatening suicide and ended up in jail she is incompetent to care for her daughter. Funny how when it is convenient for them she is all of a sudden incompetent! She has been fighting them for 7 years to convince them that her medical and emotional problems make it impossible for her to work. Now when they have pushed her to the point where she was in her doctors office asking to be sent to a psychiatric ward because they had her so crazy she is thrown in jail. (not taken to a hospital because her doctor says that she is competent) She flips out because they won't get her any help and human services is finally willing to admit she has a problem!

I just found out from a student in Athens County that he was assigned to 20 workfare hours per week because he is a student. He was told that students are required to work 20 hours. He is only receiving $119 per month in food stamps and no cash or medical coverage. He should only be working 5.37 hours per week if that. I was told by an attorney that you don't have to sign a contract agreeing to work for just food stamps. I found out that my own case will also hinge on this now. A new child support order came through on my case today. My daughter's father will be paying $400 per month in support. That is more than the amount of my cash assistance (TANF) so my cash case will be closed leaving just food stamps and medical. If it turns out that we really aren't supposed to be working for just food stamps it will allow us and other students like us to be able to attend school full time. Does anyone know where in the food stamp law it tells about this?

By the way, for all activists and advocates in Ohio or elsewhere! Peak Industries is having an open house next Wednesday! This is going to be the official opening and dedication of the building and their little pet project. Governor Voinovich and all the brass have been invited to attend. It is open to the public. We will all be there working as usual showing off our new found skills to the big shots. If anybody is interested in popping down to see slave labor camp in action come on down and bring a few pointed (embarassing) questions for the Gov. Just a thought. :-)

Getting geared up for school,

Julie Star star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Tue, 08 Sep 1998 23:24:29 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: "WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx" <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>, "workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx" <workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx>, LINC <workfare-wlc@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Lost my state hearing!

Dear listmembers,

Just wanted to let you know that I lost my state hearing. If you recall, my state hearing was to challenge the fact that I was improperly assessed and assigned to Peak Industries in Sandusky County, Ohio. I am a computer student currently working on two computer degrees. At one point, my physician suspected that I might have carpal tunnel syndrome. I was very fortunate that it turned out not to be carpal tunnel. Because I am a computer student, it is vital that I protect my wrists. One of the jobs, in particular, at Peak was very strenuous on my wrists. I put it in my state hearing request that I thought that some of the jobs I was being asked to do at Peak Industries could be detrimental to my health. When the County offered testimony in my case, they basically said that the therapists who had examined me and written up my medical report had taken a 180 degree turn in their opinions. In spite of the fact that none of this was in writing they were permitted to use this supposed conversation with the therapist as evidence against me in my hearing. My caseworker was so determined to try to nail me and trip me up in my hearing that she went as far as to yell at me during my hearing.

The hearing officer found that the county was right to place me at Peak Industries (which is a factory setting). I have until Sept. 15 to get my appeal request to Toledo. Even though it appears that as of October 1st I won't be required to work any workfare hours until January when my daughter turns six, I I intend to fight this since the issue will come back up in January. At least I did get to put a little damper on the dedication of the Peak Industries Building. I will be posting an article shortly on the building dedication.

Lori's daughter still has not been returned. Rex and Yvonne had a hearing September 3rd. They have done everything that the judge has asked them to do and yet their children still have not been returned. Now the county wants them to repeat parenting classes as well as some other requirements and their next hearing is not scheduled until November. Their youngest daughter who was 2 months old when she was taken from their home has now spent three fourths of her life away from her parents.

On the up side of things, it appears that we may be able to find some minimum wage violations throughout the State of Ohio in spite of that fact that the state director Arnold Tompkins was told to clean up his state. I am waiting for some people to get back to me and let me know if they have found anyone who is willing to stand up in a class action suit.

Still feelin' SASI in Ohio,

Julie Star
SASI (Sisters Against Social Injustice)
1240 Sycamore St.
Fremont, Oh 43420
(419) 334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 14:08:42 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: "workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx" <workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Info on non-profits?

Viggo,

I have been watching your posts. We may only be a list of 37 but the right 37 can be more powerful than the wrong 200. We'll get there! I as a recipient and activist appreciate all of your efforts. Things have been very busy down here in Ohio as you may have seen from my Ohio updates.

I finally got to tell these assholes to stick their TANF (cash assistance) checks! We got a new child support order that amounts to more than the amount of my TANF checks so I am taking my child support instead. Down here as long as my daughter is under age 6 I don't have to work for my food stamps and they don't know it yet but when she turns 6 in January I'll get 'em again. The federal law says that a full-time student with a child under age 12 is not required to work. This is all just blowing them away. They even offered to give me my check back! They couldn't figure out how I was paying my bills while waiting for the child support to come through. They suspect I am making money under the table. I told them I had an $800 school grant check coming next month so I didn't want their money.

How stupid did they think I was! By the time they offered my check back I had already been off work under the exemption for a week. If I had taken that check back they would have just sanctioned me for it for not completing my work hours and then taken my food stamps on top of it. I have to admit it was a nice try on their part.

Anyway, my question is this: How do I get information on opening a non-profit organization. We had our first board of directors meeting last week and decided on our name SASI (Stand Against Social Injustice) but someone told me they have seen the acronym used somewhere else. Anyone know how I find out or what paperwork needs to be filed to apply for non-profit status? I have a group down here finally ready and raring to go and don't know how.

Any help would be appreciated.

Keep up the good work Viggo!

Feelin' SASI,

Julie Star
1240 Sycamore St.
Fremont, Oh 43420
(419) 334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

-> Workfare-Discuss, the list for fighting workfare internationally
-> To subscribe, send subscribe workfare-discuss to majordomo@xxxxx.xx
-> List web site, http://www.icomm.ca/workfare/

Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 00:05:17 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: "workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx" <workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Ohio Update

This is a copy of an email I received from our local PBS tv station.

jbeals@xxxxx.xx wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> My name is Jon Beals and I am writing on behalf of Marlene Harris-Taylor
> and WBGU channel 27. Marlene Produces and hosts a live call in public
> affairs program called the journal every Tuesday night at 10pm. We heard
> about you through an article in the Toledo Blade about the Peak Program
> and would like to invite you to be a guest on our Oct. 13 show. The topic
> is welfare reform and your experiences and knowledge would benefit our
> viewers throughout Northwest Ohio. Please contact Marlene Harris-Taylor,
> producer and host of the Journal, so that arrangements can be made. Her
> number is (419) 372-7031.
>
> Thank you
>
> Jon Beals

Cool huh? I came home from a meeting with the Ohio Empowerment Coalition and a press conference in front of the state house and found this email and they had called as well. I spoke with Marlene today on the phone and she told me that there will be a panel of 4 of us in a talk show setting and fielding calls as well. Any ideas anyone has on dispelling the myths of welfare and answering some of the tough questions would be greatly appreciated.

It has been an interesting couple of weeks ever since I reposted my letter to the president. Someone emailed me asking if the letter had been sent to the congressional conference committee working on the Wellstone amendment. I told him it hadn't and he said he would give it to them that afternoon.

Someone else suggested that the Kensington Welfare Rights Union might be interested in including it in their packet of stories going to the UN. They will be filing a formal complaint against the United States for violating Economics Human Rights.

Last but not least someone said she had spoken with the first lady and gave her a copy. I never got a reply from the president when I wrote it who knows maybe I'll get a reply from his wife.

I was asked by the Ohio Empowerment Coalition if I would consider coming on board as a full time paid organizer in my section of the state. It would pay 20-$22,000 per year with full medical coverage for me and my children provided they can get a grant to cover it. I would be their second paid employee. What an opportunity!

Lori (the agoraphobic) is in the hospital. She finally got a new doctor and in spite of the fact that she has no medical coverage at this point her new doctor put her in the psychiatric ward to keep her under observation while he changed her medications. She had to postpone her state hearing that was scheduled for this morning and I guess Human Services wasn't too happy about it. Her husband Tom lost his doctor when the pharmacy filled his prescription for twice the prescribed dosage. He took them as the bottle suggested and was borderline toxic. His doctor thought he was abusing the medication in spite of calls from the pharmacy about the mistake and dropped him as a patient. Needless to say the pharmacy is paying for the emergency and doctor bills and any other expenses they incurred from the mistake.

Rex and Yvonne have yet to get their kids back. Their next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 9. Once they started learning some of their rights and asserting them, they found out that their children's services caseworker had been changed and the lawyer for children's services had been fired. I wonder why???

That's what's up in Ohio. I'll let you know how the tv show goes. Wish me luck. :-)
--
Still Feelin' SASI,

Julie Star
Stand Against Social Injustice
1240 Sycamore St.
Fremont, OH 43420
(419) 334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

-> Workfare-Discuss, the list for fighting workfare internationally
-> To subscribe, send subscribe workfare-discuss to majordomo@xxxxx.xx
-> List web site, http://www.icomm.ca/workfare/

Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 20:51:39 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: LINC <workfare-wlc@xxxxx.xx>, "WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx" <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>, "workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx" <workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Wanted to say thank you

I apologize for posting this to all 3 lists but someone was nice enough to send me a postcard and didn't include their name or address so that I could get back to them personally. The card had to come from someone on one of the lists because it mentions Peak Industries and is postmarked in Boston, Massachusetts.

Here is the content of the postcard:

Julie, poor girl, stuck at Peak (a factory setting!). Heard the Queen of England post is already filled. Grow up. No body owes you a living. I've paid more taxes than you ever will. Try going to another country and get handouts! Too bad you didn't keep your knees together and stay in school about 6 years ago. I have no sympathy for you, just impatience and disbelief.

Of course there is no signature. I thought it was important to publicly answer this. I keep very close track of what I post on these lists. I have never once posted my history. When I started last year I posted my present situation not how I came to be a recipient. This is exactly the kind of typical stereotypes we need to take to the streets and fight. From the text I assume that this came from a female.

I wouldn't want the Queen of England post anyway (not my style). I've paid plenty of taxes in this country including when I was in the military serving it! As far as handouts in other countries, some countries are smart enough to take care of their people who are having troubles. Of course this crap of workfare is going on all over the world. Maybe this person should join the workfare-discuss list if she hasn't already. She just might get an eye opener.

This person has no idea what my background is. How does she know whether or not I was a happily married good church going stay at home mom 6 years ago? How does she know that my husband didn't leave me flat to run off with some bimbo and leave me alone with 2 kids and no training to re-enter the workforce so that I was forced to go to school to re-train? How does she know that I wasn't raped 6 years ago and that I did the honorable thing by having and loving my daughter? How does she know that I wasn't a victim of domestic violence and that I left with my children for our own safety. She doesn't! I never said and I won't now because it doesn't matter. I don't have to justify demanding human decency from the country I served!

As long as stereotypes like these are out there our jobs as activists will be long and hard. These kinds of attitudes are at the core of the welfare reform problem. How do we combat this? One person at a time. A very wise man once said, "Caring people light lights." I'd like to light up the world.

How about you? :-)
--
Feelin' SASI,

Julie Star
Stand Against Social Injustice
1240 Sycamore St.
Fremont, OH 43420
(419) 334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

-> Workfare-Discuss, the list for fighting workfare internationally
-> To subscribe, send subscribe workfare-discuss to majordomo@xxxxx.xx
-> List web site, http://www.icomm.ca/workfare/

Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 04:37:59 -0500
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: workfare-discuss <workfare-discuss@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Ohio Update!

Hi guys,

Sorry it has been so long between it updates. I have been really busy with a school project but at least now I have some time to breathe. Not much has been going on in Ohio. Our group members haven't had too many changes made in their cases.

Lori has at least gotten Human Services to pay for her prescriptions. Since she has been diagnosed as medically dependent, they have given her a medical card good for prescriptions only. I believe she had a state hearing yesterday to challenge the expedited Medicaid rules. Right now the expedited Medicaid rules in Ohio say that only pregnant women are eligible for expedited Medicaid. She is challenging that rule. There are many other cases in which expedited Medicaid is necessary and this rule needs to be changed. She hasn't called me to let me know how she thinks it went. Human Services is telling her that it can be up to six months before she may have a decision on full Medicaid coverage. She really needs to have full Medicaid coverage because with the medications that the doctor has her on she needs to be kept monitored. She has to have periodic blood work done and has told me that she will need surgery redone on her tail bone soon.

Rex and Yvonne still have not gotten their children back. Their youngest daughter was 2 months old when she was taken and is now ten months old. There's still no proof that these parents have ever done anything to in anyway to harm their children. This is a crime! Their next hearing date is November 9.

My TV debut on one of our local PBS stations went well. The representative from Allen County here in Ohio didn't show up. State representative Jack Ford is a Democrat and appears to be on our side. I still need to approach him to get his endorsement on House bill 793. House bill 793 is a corrective bill introduced by the Ohio Empowerment Coalition in Cincinnati. It's purpose is to soften sanctions imposed under the new welfare reform laws. I did get the typical question "Why should my tax dollars pay to support people on welfare?" This I used this as an opportunity to combat the typical stereotype of the welfare recipient. I used much the same information as I used in my post to the person who sent me the post card. I made it a point on two occasions to quote our local county director. At the close of the show we were asked to give our prediction of what we thought would happen when the three year time limit in Ohio is reached. I told them that the three year limit scared me because I heard our County director in a speech say "We have to get these people working because if we don't it will cost us more to support their children in foster care afterward." I recorded the show and a concerned taxpayer from out of town will be sending a copy of it to our local County director just so he knows that his name was mentioned. I'm sure he'll be very happy about it. I was also able to get out some information on how people are being sanctioned. All in all I think it went well.

In a meeting earlier this month with the Ohio Empowerment Coalition it was decided that the member groups across the state will be throwing press conferences locally on Nov. 18 to bring attention to House bill 793. I still need to find out how to throw a press conference. This is only three weeks away and I haven't had a chance to start on it. We'll get there.

That's about all that's going on in Ohio at the moment. We hope to be able to step up our efforts again soon.

Stay tuned,
--
Feelin' SASI,

Julie Star
Executive Director
Stand Against Social Injustice (SASI)
1240 Sycamore St.
Fremont, OH 43420
(419) 334-8205 (Home)
star@xxxxx.xx

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Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 18:03:31 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: IWPR <WELFAREM-L@xxxxx.xx>, workfare-fight <workfare-fight@xxxxx.xx>, LINC <workfare-wlc@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: Ohio Update!

Hi All!

Sorry about that last message going to the whole WelfareM-L group I guess I'm a bit out of practice. I'll be more careful in the future.

Just wanted to let you all know that even though I haven't been able to do any posting lately because of my schedule I have been monitoring them and you are all to be commended for your wonderful efforts.

For those of you who were following our stories here in Ohio here is a quick update (anyone who is not familiar with the background on these stories can find a full accounting of them on my link on the Workfare-Fight site listed below):

Lori is the lady who is agoraphobic, has been diagnosed bipolar for depression, has had wrist surgery, etc. that Human Services said was work ready. She is now doing better. Her doctor has her on different medication and at least her emotional condition has improved some because of that but Children's Services has placed her daughter Carol Anne with her father. All because when she asked her psychiatrist for help he said she didn't need to be put in a psychiatric ward. When she lost control because of it and the police were called and because of that Human Services said she was incompetent in spite of her doctors opinion and took her child. Awfully funny since she has been trying to convince them for 7 years that she is incapable of working and her doctor told them so.

Rex and Yvonne still don't have their 5 children that Human Services took from them a year ago. They are now saying they are going to petition the court in 30 days for permanent custody of the children. Keep in mind that the abuse charge that they finally used to take the children after 5 years of harassing these people and finding nothing, was disproved and dropped last June but the children have not been returned. It is painfully clear that they never intended to return the children from the beginning and the judge is letting them get away with it. Our only hope now is that I we can prove flat out perjury on the part of the caseworker who has caused all the trouble in the case. The parents tell me that she said on the stand last April that all the children WERE in counseling. That is not true! Their November and March case plans state "The boys will BEGIN counseling." The children have yet to receive any counseling and still have not been told why they have been taken. The older children are blaming themselves. If anyone has any idea how we can use this information to have the caseworker declared an unreliable witness and have her and her testimony since stricken from the record since last April when she lied it would be the turning point in this case. Any help would be appreciated.

Me, I've been extremely busy with school but it has paid off! I graduated in spite of the reforms March 19 with an Associates Degree in Computer Information Systems - Small Systems Support basically a degree in computer hardware. I am in my last quarter now in and will receive my degree in Computer Information Systems (a computer software degree) in June. This is largely due to all the help I have received from all of you. I can't thank you enough for all your support. In the mean time I have been doing some organizing for the Ohio Empowerment Coalition as well as SASI but I wish I had the time right now to do more. We have gotten in a couple of jabs on education and are pushing our HB 793 to reduce that impact of sanctions in Ohio. I was privileged to be involved in a training session with Ann Withorn on Friday in Toledo and it was an experience I will never forget. It was a training session for social workers and social work students from the University of Toledo. Some of the skits they put on demonstrating the issues put me in tears because they were so real and I was amazed at how well they understood the trials and tribulations of the recipient. I'll be attending our state conference for the Ohio Empowerment Coalition tomorrow and Thursday and look forward to meeting any of you who might be able to attend.

I think that is more than enough for now. Sorry this is so long but there was a lot of catching up to do.

Still Feelin' SASI,

Julie Star
Executive Director
Stand Against Social Injustice SASI
1240 Sycamore St.
Fremont, Oh 43420
419-334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

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-> To subscribe, send subscribe workfare-fight to majordomo@xxxxx.xx
-> List web site, http://www.icomm.ca/workfare/>

Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 01:38:38 -0400
From: Julie Star <star@xxxxx.xx>
To: LINC <workfare-wlc@xxxxx.xx>, workfare-fight <workfare-fight@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: [Fwd: Victory in Ohio!]

I am forwarding this to the list on behalf of the Ohio Empowerment Coalition. It just shows once again that working together we can change things.
------------

Just wanted to report that at this time the Ohio Empowerment Coalition which is a grassroots, statewide welfare rights coalition, has had a victory in the Ohio Assembly. Both houses have changed the extremely punitive sanctions policy of Ohio!

Presently, Ohio cuts all cash assistance, adult food stamps, all child care, transportation and all other support services for 30 days or until compliance which ever is longer.

We have been able to get all food stamps restored to the household, child care, transportation and all other support services restored to sanctioned households.

Also, there is a 10 day period from date of a proposed sanction for a recipient to call the caseworker (or another official) to get the sanction stopped. Also, there is the requirement for all Ohio Counties to have an omnibus person to trouble shoot problems that recipients are having with case worker.

We will continue to work to restore the cash assistance to families who are sanctioned.

If anyone has good ideas or strategies for getting cash assistance restored we would love to hear them. Or is anyone is interested in what more is going on in Ohio please feel free to contact us.

Katy Heins
513-381-4242
contactcenter@xxxxx.xx

--
Feelin' SASI,

Julie Star
Executive Director
Stand Against Social Injustice (SASI)
1240 Sycamore St.
Fremont, Oh 43420
419-334-8205
star@xxxxx.xx

To find out what has been going on in Ohio, go to the website listed below and click on my link.

-> Workfare-Fight, the list for fighting workfare internationally
-> To subscribe, send subscribe workfare-fight to majordomo@xxxxx.xx
-> List web site, http://www.icomm.ca/workfare/

Welfare Rights Coalition Newsletter, May 1999
Stand Against Social Injustice: An Interview with Julie Star. August 18, 1999