Posted on 12/04/2012 7:43:52 AM PST by from occupied ga
Melissa Hines was the first person through the door when home heating help became available Monday morning.
Hundreds of people were bundled up behind her in the dark, hoping to get help paying their heating bills.
The Macon-Bibb County Economic Opportunity Council accepted applications from the first 250 people in the line, which stretched around St. Paul AME Church at 7 a.m. It’s part of a nationwide energy assistance program.
Each person approved for the assistance will receive between $310 and $350, depending on income and family size, said Jimmie Samuel, the council’s executive director.
Hines camped out starting at 9 p.m. Saturday night. When church began Sunday, she moved to a gas station across the street and returned when services were over.
Hines ate salad and hard-boiled eggs from a cooler. She kept entertained by watching “Blade,” “Saw III” and a Harry Potter movie on a portable DVD player.
Disabled after nine foot surgeries, a back problem and other medical issues, Hines lives on a fixed income and needs the money to help keep her heater on.
The council provided portable toilets for the men and women who lined up in advance. Fast food bags, coffee cups and other trash littered the church grounds.
Although people are asked not to camp out, they inevitably do, Samuel said.
Still, he said the first-come, first-served system is better than a lottery.
Applicants ages 65 and older lined up for assistance last month. Homebound applicants are handled on a case-by-case basis, Samuel said.
But waiting for hours in the cold was too much for Rene Tompkins.
“My time is limited on this line,” she said, explaining that she wasn’t able to take care of her ill sister while she waited in line, only to be turned away. “If they’d taken another 50 people, I would have been in.”
Tompkins is a former project manager for the New York City Parks and Recreation Department who moved south more than a decade ago. In Macon, she worked as a cashier at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame until she became disabled and unable to work.
She said she won’t be lining up for heating assistance again.
Sally West also camped out hoping to get help, but she was turned away before she was in sight of the door.
West, who became disabled after injuring her back in a car accident nine years ago, needed a walker to help her as she stood in line.
She arrived about 3 p.m. Sunday and stood in line with classmates from Virginia College, where she’s training to be a medical assistant. She’s got six months left and then she hopes she’ll be able to work again.
West said she’ll be back Friday morning when the assistance program takes more applications starting at 7 a.m.
“You’ve got to keep trying,” she said
And I can't help wondering who, Tompkins, the New Yorker living in GA voted for. Any guesses?
Isn't it funny these people are not too disabled to wait in line, but are too disabled to work for a living?
And this really annoys me: Hines lives on a fixed income
Who doesn't live on a fixed income. Can any of you go out and get an extra ten or twenty perct? I know I can't.
Heating assistance? I live about 90 miles away from Macon. We haven’t turned our heaters on yet.
“Hines ate salad and hard-boiled eggs from a cooler. She kept entertained by watching “Blade,” “Saw III” and a Harry Potter movie on a portable DVD player.”
It would have been kind of fun to get 250 rich people to line up good and early.
"Denied. Your income disqualifies you."
"Denied. Your income disqualifies you."
"Denied. Your income disqualifies you."
The county could save a lot of money if none of the accepted applications could result in an award. But of course they would change the rules after the fact and just find people they could give money to.
The meteorologists are telling us that this winter may be even warmer than last winter, thanks to “climate change.” So why do these people get $350/mo. for free stuff? That money is paid by taxpayers, some of whom are paying taxes on their unemployment checks. Shameful.
Hate to tell her and other Obamunists, but the elections is over and the money boys are gonna cut off Obama’s stash. Those student loans to deadbeats, only if Bernanke prints, stimulus to pay for welfare costs, the same.
Economic Opportunity Council? How much does it cost the taxpayers to operate that? How many paid employees and directors, etc.? It isn’t just the moochers, it’s the entire bureaucracy that it takes to run these wasteful programs.
Also, did you notice that these moochers didn’t even bother to dispose of their trash properly? They just tossed stuff on the church grounds. Not only are they entitled to other people’s money, but they are entitled to have somebody else pick up after them. Reminds me of a story a guy told who had volunteered to help out Katrina victims who were staying at a camp. A woman called to have somebody bring clean sheets to her room because her young son had wet the bed. When the guy brought the sheets, she wanted him to change the bed for her. That’s when he quit.
Yes. Isn't that special?
I count them with the moochers. It seems that since the emperor of leeches was re-elected his subjects have grown bold.
I didn't realize it was per month. I didn't see that in the article. $310 to $350 a month is a huge amount--probably two to three times the average heating bill, certainly if you heat with gas.
I live in one of the top three richest counties in America and my bill in the middle of winter is only $125 a month for gas. And VA is colder than GA. What kind of prices must these people be paying in GA to receive monthly payments that high?
True dat, as they would say. Wonder what they do when the host dries up?
Such a lavish life style..Spoiled Americans!
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I’ve seen poor people go through a cold winter’s day here in New England with their windows open. The furnace is blasting out the heat, and the only way to be comfortable is to open up some windows. Doesn’t cost ‘em anything, so why not?
She kept entertained by watching “Blade,” “Saw III” and a Harry Potter movie on a portable DVD player.
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Neal Boortz was talking about this today...
If she could afford the DVD and movies why didnt she pay her own heating bill ???
I don’t think it is per month. I think that sum is for the season. Either way they shouldn’t be getting a penny.
Kind of the question tht I'd like to see answered too.
Each person approved for the assistance will receive between $310 and $350, depending on income and family size,
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DUH
Why doesnt it just depend on the amount thats owed on the electric bill ???
Why arent they required to provide last months electric bill and then the authorities pay that for them...
and NO MONEY is given to them ...
Thats the way United Way does it and it works for them...
My electric bill has NEVER been $300+...
Anyone in Georgia pay $300+ ???
As a side note, I don't have a portable DVD player. Hard for me to afford the - what, 100 bucks or so? - that one costs, as well as not needing a portable time-waster, anyway.
There are only two reasons that someone is poor
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