<html><div style='background-color:'><P><STRONG>Does anyone out there have any figures for civil servents on public assistance? I think most people expect the Federal Government to pay a decent wage; however, back in the good old days when I worked for the DoD I had a number of co-workers who qualified for food stamps. I remember comparing notes with my mother who worked for Los Angeles County and the same was true for her. So, how are things today. . . . any Latah County or Idaho State employees on welfare these days? Are the agencies that we, the people fund, paying that livable wage that Tom mentions below?</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>Just wondering.</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>Ellen</STRONG><BR><BR></P>
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From: <I>"Tom Hansen" <thansen@moscow.com></I><BR>To: <I>"'Donovan Arnold'" <donovanjarnold2005@yahoo.com>, <DonaldH675@aol.com>, <vision2020@moscow.com></I><BR>Subject: <I>RE: [Vision2020] Chicken or the Egg, Which Came First,Wal-Mart or Food Stamps?</I><BR>Date: <I>Fri, 13 Jan 2006 12:20:32 -0800</I><BR><BR>
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<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Perhaps you are right, Arnold. Perhaps a large percentage (maybe even most) of Wal-Marts employees were collecting welfare prior to their employment at Wal-Mart.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><BR>The statement remains that an employer must pay livable wages, the wages that keep employees off of welfare.</SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Tom Hansen</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Moscow</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">, Idaho</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=navy size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: navy">"If not us, who?<BR>If not now, when?"<BR><BR>- Unknown</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">From:</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"> vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">On Behalf Of </SPAN></B>Donovan Arnold<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Friday, January 13, 2006 11:38 AM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> DonaldH675@aol.com; vision2020@moscow.com<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> [Vision2020] Chicken or the Egg, Which Came First,Wal-Mart or Food Stamps?</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Georgia color=black size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia">"Certainly the facts about how many current Walmart employees in Moscow use the county indigent health care system and how many qualify for food stamps are relevant information because we all pay for those services." Don Huskey<BR><BR>Good point. However, how many Wal-Mart employees were already on Food Stamps, Social Security, Disability, or a government assisted program BEFORE being hired by Wal-Mart? That is the question that should be asked.<BR> </SPAN></FONT><BR><FONT id=role_document face=Georgia color=black><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia">It would strike me as odd that someone with skills, experience, an education and/or the ability to get hired elsewhere would stay at a job that pays so little they stay on food stamps. <BR><BR>Wal-Mart
also gets dinged because most companies ! will not hire senior citizens and the disabled because of medical costs. These people probably are being underpaid, but cannot get hired elsewhere. It is easy to offer medical benefits when you weed those people out of your workforce like so many companies do. <BR><BR>Which came first for the Wal-mart employee, the Food Stamps or the job at Wal-Mart? This is fundamental before accusations are made!<BR><BR>-DJA<BR></SPAN></FONT><BR><B><I><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">DonaldH675@aol.com</SPAN></I></B> wrote:</P>
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<P class=MsoNormal><FONT id=role_document face=Georgia color=black size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia">I just saw on the news (and I missed most of the details because I was doing other things at the same time) that a state has passed legislation requiring Walmart to carry health insurance! for it's workers in that state. Maybe we need to lobby the state to do something similar. Certainly the facts about how many current Walmart employees in Moscow use the county indigent health care system and how many qualify for food stamps are relevant information because we all pay for those services. I suspect when all is said and done we'll find that Walmart's low prices are a sham and that the additional cost of to the public of supporting the store exceeds the benefits of the low prices. Since I have not seen any actual analyses I could be wrong.</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Georgia color=black size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia">Don Huskey<BR><BR>"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." Mahatma Gandhi</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">_____________________________________________________<BR>List services made available by First Step Internet, <BR>serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <BR>! http://www.fsr.net <BR>mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ</SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Yahoo! Photos<BR>Ring in the New Year with <A href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/taglines/photos/*http:/pa.yahoo.com/*http:/us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/taglines/photos/evt=38087/*http:/pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/page?.file=calendar_splash.html&.dir=">Photo Calendars</A>. Add photos, events, holidays, whatever.</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV><BR>
<P>>_____________________________________________________<BR>> List services made available by First Step Internet,<BR>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.<BR>> http://www.fsr.net<BR>> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>>ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ<BR>
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