Introduction from Southern Mississippi

[Ellen Carter <EllenCarter@excite.com>]

My name is Ellen Carter. I'm retired military, active in the community and general troublemaker, I suppose. I actually have another life, playing harp, cello, piano, stuff like that in churches and other places around the area. Unlike many of you, this is not my full-time life, but it is my full-time concern.

I live in Southern Mississippi where internet access, or lack thereof, is not the biggest problems. We haven't even gotten up to that. The people have to be first educated about the impact people in general can and do have on the environment, how that impact can and will, in turn, have a long-term economic impact (this is an area where many people have not had money until recently, so anyone who wants to interfere with economic "growth" as defined by developers is not warmly recieved), and how people can have an impact on government issues, policies, regulations, etc. (this is an area where people feel at the mercy of government, or contentiously against it, so working with government for effective change is almost a foreign idea). 

We don't have to worry about whether people can get on the internet, we have to educate people to believe that they can and should participate in community decision making processes and in what they should expect as reasonable and attainable goals.

I'm glad we are having this forum. Ellen.