THE MADISON PRESS
BY FRANODYNIEC

Quite a crowd gathered Monday morning in the atrium of the Madison County Courthouse to welcome Congressman Steve Stivers (R-15th Congressional District) on his first official visit to Madison County since his election to the U.S. House of Representatives.

He came to London to hold office hours to give the folks in Madison County the opportunity to discuss with him any concerns or questions they might have about federal issues. Clustered in groups around the foot of each staircase, citizens and county officials chatted as they waited for Stivers’ staff, who were seated at a reception table in the center of the atrium, to call their names from the sign-in sheet for the climb up the stairs to meet with the Congressman.

Sue Minner, of London, was the first to meet with Stivers. Her concern was around a $250 check she had received under the new health care law.

“It speaks well for the Congressman and the community as well,” said Madison County Republican Party Chairman Steve Saltsman. He, too, had come to speak with Stivers. “This is a
major step to accomplishing what he wants to do representing the citizens of Madison County.
It’s a good faith effort on his part.” “It’s encouraging to see him here so quickly in January,” said Sean Hughes, executive director of the Madison County Chamber of Commerce, “and for people to take an interest to see him.”

Monday marked Stivers’ 26th day in office. Hughes continued that these types of local office hours “will improve our relationship. Right off, he has a great relationship with Madison County.”

While help from a Congressman can go a long way in securing federal funding for local projects, Hughes also commented that “sometimes a letter of support from a Congressman can be of
great value.”

Through the late morning and into the early afternoon, Stivers received visits from 30 people at the courthouse. “It’s important for people to know their representatives,” he said of his intent to schedule regular office hours in Madison County. “A representative is the people’s face in government for the people.”

He said that office hours permit him and the people to have a “two-way conversation.” After a lunchtime stop at the Madison County Senior Center, the Stivers party stopped at the London Elementary School where Stivers addressed a full assembly in the school’s gymnasium on the process of government.

He was then scheduled to pay a visit with students at the London Middle School.

“Kids need to know that government is an honorable service and that it is there to help people as much as it can,” he said, referring to his presentations at the elementary and middle schools.

After he explained the function ofgovernment to the elementary schoolers,Stivers took questions from the bleachers that were filled to capacity. Those questions included:
• How old are you?
• How old do you have to be to go to
Congress?
• What are you doing for
Afghanistan?
• What did you do in Iraq?
Stivers, a major in the Ohio National Guard, has done a tour of duty in Iraq.