NEWS FROM GRFW

The Georgia Federation of Republican Women will be celebrating its 50th birthday under the leadership of our own Millie Rogers. Please mark your calendar for this special event. It will be on October 11th and 12th of 2007, at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia.

Jim R Miller Park

Marietta , Georgia

September 20 - September 30, 2007

The Cobb GOP will host its annual fair booth this year.  Second Vice Chair Andre O'Brien will be leading the effort and we want to give him plenty of help!  As we did last year, we'll be publishing a schedule of time slots and sponsorship days.  Last year we had over 80 volunteers and a good time was had by all!  Free admission on each day that you volunteer!  Don't miss this huge opportunity to support your party and your candidates!   The North Georgia Fair is among the largest event of it's kind in the state and we have HUGE public attendance. 

Contacts to learn more:

Volunteering at the booth:

Andre O'Brien: andreob1@yahoo.com

Campaign materials, supplies, facilities:

Billie Dendy: dendybillie@comcast.net

Our Speaker  

Congressman John Linder represents the Seventh Congressional District of Georgia in the United States House of Representatives. A former dentist and businessman, John came to the House of Representatives in 1992 and has served in a number of leadership roles during this time.  John is also the author of a  New York Times bestseller.

John was elected to serve on the House Ways and Means Committee. The Ways and Means Committee is considered one of the most powerful committees in the House, and has jurisdiction over tax, tariff and trade laws, health care, Social Security and Medicare. John serves on the Subcommittee on Oversight and the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, which serves as the chief subcommittee on tax policy.

After being sworn into Congress, John was appointed to the Republican Steering Committee, which determines the assignments and leadership roles of all Republican Committee members. He was recently re-elected to the Steering Committee as the Region IX Representative for the 110th Congress. At the beginning of his third term, John joined the Republican Party leadership as Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (1996-98), where he worked to maintain the Republican majority in the House. John also served on the House Rules Committee, which is a part of the House leadership and reviews every major piece of legislation coming to the House floor for consideration. John managed more bills than any other Rules Committee member and served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Technology and the House and the Vice-Chairman of the Full Committee.

In the 109th Congress, John was Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attack. As Chairman, John oversaw efforts to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States involving nuclear and biological weapons, and oversaw the Department of Homeland Security’s role in nuclear and biological counter-proliferation and detection of fissile materials, biological weapons, precursors, and production equipment. John served on the House Committee on Homeland Security in the 108th and 109th Congress.

John has also taken a leadership role in the effort to enact fundamental tax reform. The FairTax, his revolutionary tax reform bill, abolishes all federal income taxes, including payroll taxes, self-employment taxes, capital gains taxes, gift taxes and death taxes, and replaces them all with one simple, straightforward federal sales tax. The FairTax gives the American people control over their own lives again by allowing them to keep 100% of their paychecks and shielding their personal information from bureaucrats.

Prior to serving in the U.S. Congress, John served seven terms in Georgia's General Assembly, where he was a spokesman for small business and families. In the process, he helped to build the Republican Party and a two-party system of government in Georgia.

Born September 9, 1942, in Deer River, Minnesota, John earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1964 as well as a doctorate in dental surgery in 1967. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force from 1967 to 1969. Upon completion of his military service, John moved to Georgia in 1969 where he began his private dental practice. Married for 43 years, John and his wife, Lynne, have two adult children and four grandchildren.

RSVP: 770-785-2522

$20 Members

$25 Guest

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OUR SPEAKER 

BIOGRAPHY OF JUDGE DEBRA BERNES

Judge Debra Bernes was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 15, 1955, to Alvin Halpern and Sherry King Halpern. She attended the City of Atlanta public schools, graduating from Atlanta's Henry Grady High School in 1973. Following high school, she attended the University of Florida, where in 1976, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in education with high honors. While an undergraduate, Judge Bernes was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi, Alpha Lambda Delta and Mortar Board Honor Societies.

Judge Bernes received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Florida's Fredric G. Levin College of Law in 1978 and became a member of the Georgia Bar in 1979. She subsequently became a member of the bars of the Supreme Court of Georgia, Georgia Court of Appeals, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

In 1979, Judge Bernes began a twenty-year career as an assistant district attorney for the Cobb Judicial Circuit, Marietta, Georgia, where she concentrated in felony prosecutions and appellate law. During her tenure as an assistant district attorney, she regularly appeared before the Georgia Supreme Court and Georgia Court of Appeals, arguing several cases of first impression.

In 2000, Judge Bernes entered private practice where she handled a wide variety of civil and criminal matters at the trial and appellate levels. Throughout the course of her career, she authored over 400 appellate briefs and argued over 60 cases in Georgia state and federal appellate courts.

On November 23, 2004, Judge Bernes was elected the 70th judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals. Her term of office began on January 1, 2005.

Judge Bernes has dedicated herself to serving in a wide array of professional organizations. In 2003-2004, she served both as President of the Cobb County Bar Association and as Secretary of the Appellate Section of the State Bar of Georgia. She is a Fellow of the Lawyers Foundation of Georgia, is a member of the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers, the Cobb Justice Foundation, the Lawyers Club of Atlanta, and is a Master of the Lamar and Bleckley Inns of Court.

In 2005, Judge Bernes was appointed by Governor Sonny Perdue to a four-year term on the Georgia Child Support Commission and in 2006 was appointed to the Georgia Supreme Court Commissions on Dispute Resolution and Children, Marriage and Family Law. In 2007, Judge Bernes will be serving as Chair of the Georgia Law Related Education Consortium.

As part of her professional commitments, Judge Bernes has played an active role in teaching and lecturing on a host of legal topics. She has served as an instructor for the North Georgia Police Academy, the Prosecuting Attorney's Council of Georgia, and the National District Attorney's Association. She also has been active in continuing legal education, having served as co‑chair of several appellate advocacy seminars and Chair of the Continuing Legal Education Committee for the Cobb County Bar Association.

In addition to her professional service, Judge Bernes has volunteered her time and energy to a broad spectrum of civic and charitable organizations. Judge Bernes is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Marietta, and she was awarded the club's Distinguished Service Award in 1997. She is a former member of the Cobb 2000 Commission, the Cobb‑Marietta Junior League, the East Cobb Jaycees, the Willow Point Service League, and the Erwin Zaban Leadership Development Program. She currently serves on the boards of the Jewish Educational Loan Fund and the William Bremen Jewish Home. In March 2004, she was honored by the Y.W.C.A. of Northwest Georgia as a 2004 Woman of Achievement.

Judge Bernes has been married for twenty‑seven years to Gary Lee Bernes. They have two children, Lanie and Matthew. The Bernes family attends Ahavath Achim and Congregation Etz Chaim Synagogues. They live in Marietta, Georgia.

RSVP :770-785-2522

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State of the County
(written by Sam Olens)

“Immigration and the impact on our community”

Sheriff Neil Warren has been a law enforcement professional in Cobb County for over thirty years. Fulfilling the unexpired term of longtime Sheriff Bill Hutson, Warren was sworn in as the 42nd Sheriff of Cobb County January 1, 2004. Sheriff Warren was elected to serve his first four year term as Sheriff in November of 2004.

He began his career with the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office in 1977 as a Deputy Sheriff and worked his way through the ranks. He was successively promoted to ranks of Sergeant, Lieutenant and Captain. Sheriff Warren was appointed as Chief Criminal Investigator in 1984 and to the position of Chief Deputy Sheriff in June of 1994 where he served until taking over the Office of Sheriff.

Sheriff Warren received his BS Degree in Criminal Justice from Brenau College. He is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Academy, as well the Cobb County Police Academy. Sheriff Warren serves as the Secretary/Treasurer for the Marietta/Cobb/ Smyrna Narcotics Unit and is on the Advisory Board for the North Central Georgia Law Enforcement Academy. He currently serves on the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association Legislative Committee.

A resident of Cobb County for over 50 years, , Sheriff Warren and his wife Penny are active members of Roswell Street Baptist Church. He is currently on the Board of Directors for the North Georgia State Fair, a member of the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association, the Cobb Chamber of Commerce and the Kennesaw Masonic Lodge, 33. In 2001, Sheriff Warren was the recipient of Cobb County Bar Association’s Peace Officer of the Year Award and in 2002 received the Smyrna Oakdale Moose Lodge’s Mr. Cobb County.

State of the County
(written by Sam Olens)

Following the County’s annual audit, I am pleased to present a very positive report on our County. With a much slower rate of population growth, a transportation program in high gear, and the recently approved parks initiative, we face a great future.

We reduced the County’s millage rate last year from 9.72 mills to 9.60. We tackled GASB-45, establishing a restricted account for retiree health costs, prior to any other government in the State. We are fully up-to-date with building maintenance, now improving parks maintenance and upgrading our information technology systems. And our budget surplus was predominantly due to reduced expenditures (73%) as compared to increased revenues, our financial reserves have never been higher, and our triple AAA credit rating has never been safer.

Public safety continues to be our # 1 priority. Recently, we created 16 new police positions, 30 new fire positions and 21 new deputy sheriffs. We established a Domestic Violence unit, a Quality of Life unit to complement Code Enforcement, and we are building new fire stations. The expanded Jail will start construction shortly. For the first time in the County’s history, we have a consolidated public safety communications dispatch system and Emergency Management program.

The South Cobb Tunnel design is 80% complete, a new regional library is open, with a new library, recreation center, and expanded gymnastics and senior centers opening soon.

On December 3, 2007, we will celebrate our County’s 175th birthday at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center. With your help, we will continue to improve our residents’ quality of life, investing in our bright future, with a strong fiscally conservative government.