Henry County Democratic Party Featured Content

Henry County Democrats elect new Chairman!

Jim Nichols jim.nichols@gmail.com — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 02:14:20 PST

For Immediate Release: Henry County Democrats elect Chairman

Henry County resident Robert Abercrombie was elected last night as the next chairman of the Henry County Democratic Committee.
Jan-26-2009

For Immediate Release: January 26, 2009
Contact: Jim Nichols
770-312-6736
Jim.Nichols@gmail.com

Henry County resident Robert Abercrombie was elected Chairman of the Henry County Democratic Party. “We have so much to do,” Robert stated upon his election, “and I look forward to working to build a Democratic Henry.”

Robert has been employed by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office for the last 17 years and is the father of two children. Robert joined the committee last year and has been working as chair of the candidate recruitment committee.

“I became involved in politics a few years ago, but really began to take an active role in the past two years. I assisted the Obama team with canvassing and voter registration drives. I truly believe that we can make Henry County and the state of Georgia a better place.”

Robert is joined on the executive committee by Vice chair Cristie J. Baptiste, 2nd vice chair Jarrett Bell, Secretary Cara Richardson, and Treasurer Edith Gonsal. The Henry County Democrats meet the 4th Tuesday of every month at 7:30pm at the Henry County Government Annex. Their website is www.henrydems.com.

Candidate for 2nd Vice Chair Mildred Schmelz (sorry about the formatting I couldn't get it to post correctly -Jim)

Jim Nichols jim.nichols@gmail.com — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:26:15 PST

MILDRED C. SCHMELZ

170 DINK SCOTT COURT

ELLENWOOD, GEORGIA 30294

HOME (770) 981-4347

MOBILE (404) 316-0772

SUMMARY

Extensive experience as a Paralegal Professional and Legal Assistant. Proven strengthens in research, mathematical computations, organization, and verbal and written communication skills. An analytical thinker with the ability to accurately assess legal documents and prepare analytical reports and effectively present findings to the Executive Management Team and Board of Directors. Experienced trainer who is honest, and dependable, and who consistently meets deadlines and achieves results. Proficient in word processing, PowerPoint, Document Management (Imanage, Flowporting and LegalEdge) Excel, IAS and Access.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2007 - PRESENT OFFICE OF THE FULTON COUNTY TAX COMMISSIONER

Financial Services Specialist – Bankruptcy Division

Responsibilities:

Performs process duties related to ensuring compliance by users of the County‘s financial system.

Responsibilities include conducting financial and budgetary analysis, preparing reports for decision makers, and processing procurement requests. Monitors departmental operations and makes recommendations for improvements as required. Researches and analyzes financial trends and advises management for the impact of proposed legislation and policies. Monitors multiple budgets and recommends appropriate adjustments for entries. Develops bid specifications and analyzes responses. Supervising assigned staff.

Accomplishments:

2008 Implemented new electronic filing of proof of claims to U. S. Bankruptcy court (including staff

training)

Revamped written operating procedures for Bankruptcy area.

Gathered and organized data to be used in monthly Bankruptcy report (including staff

training)

2003 - 2006 OFFICE OF THE FULTON COUNTY ATTORNEY, ATLANTA, GA.

Legal Assistant - Finance and Tax Division

Responsibilities:

Prepared analytical reports regarding all tax appeals handled by the CountyAttorney Office. Drafted legal

documents and reviewed documents to ensue conformity with standard procedures and regulations.

Maintained and recorded legal information. Assisted attorneys with motions, hearings, research,

document review, trail preparation, contract drafting, file organization, travel and other miscellaneous

tasks as assigned. Provided customer service to the general public. Communicated with other agencies

and departments to gather information, coordinate the use and/or disseminate of information. Notarized

documents as required. Routed legal documents and filed them with the appropriate legal agencies.

Accomplishments:

Organized and maintain the division’s system for handling tax appeal cases.

2007 Employee of the First Quarter

2007- 2008 Elected recording secretary of the Fulton County Government Chapter of the

International Association of Administrative Professionals.

1989 - 2002 FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK OF ATLANTA, ATLANTA, GA.

Senior Paralegal to Bank In-House Counsel

Responsibilities:

Drafted, reviewed and analyzed leases, interest rate swap agreements, purchase and assumption agreements, letters of credit, private mortgage backed securities, legal memoranda and all bank service contracts including computer software contracts. Researched various issues using Lexis/Nexis and Westlaw. Prepared proof of claims to recoup monies owed by Savings and Loan Institutions and prepared

documentation in response to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints, subpoenas and Congressional inquiries. Frequent interface with Bank’s board of directors and executive management team. Reviewed legal and other periodicals for pertinent legislative and regulatory changes and judicial decisions. Notarized and witnessed various documents.

Accomplishments:

Coordinated and maintained all Bank proof of claims with the former Resolution Trust Corporation and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation resulting in recoupment of over 100 million dollars for the Bank during the Savings and Loan crisis.

Worked with Bank programmers to create new legal matter tracking system resulting in a system whereby files and records were maintained for the legal department.

Implemented new electronic system for the first Bank wide director election system.

Influenced the administration and creation of the new document management system.

Selected by Bank-wide staff and received award as a Women of Achievement for volunteer efforts.

Received Winner’s Circle awards by management for creating PowerPoint presentations, implementation of directors’ election system and re-creation of lost documents used by Bank departments.

Headed a charitable non-profit organization that was awarded monetary grant and meeting space from Bank which resulted in the granting of scholarships to deserving first year college students.

1989- Present LICENSED GEORGIA REAL ESTATE AGENT

Prepared Purchase and Sales Agreements involving computation of sales price, down payment, closing cost and earnest money.

Completed Market Analysis involving the comparison of like properties.

Sold homes and land in Fulton, Dekalb, Henry, Clayton, Cobb and Dougherty Counties, Georgia.

1975 - 1989 ATLANTA LEGAL AID SOCIETY, INC. ATLANTA, GA.

Paralegal - Family Law, Litigation and Administrative Law

Responsibilities:

Determined potential clients’ eligibility. Interviewed clients and prepared pleadings, motions, answers and counterclaims, and other legal documents for court. Maintained family law waiting list and made referrals to Dekalb Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, Counsel on Battered Women, Metro Fair Housing and other social service agencies. Searched court records, filed legal documents and set hearing dates. Represented clients in administrative hearing. Notarized and witnessed various documents.

Accomplishments:

Maintained one of the highest caseloads (200+ monthly) in the metro-Atlanta area.

Served as co-president of the Board of Directors to the first battered women’s center in Dekalb County.

Assisted attorneys in one of the largest housing litigation cases in the State of Georgia.

Participated as a statewide family law trainer for Atlanta Legal Aid Society and Georgia Legal Services staffs.

Trained first year law associates and third year law students on family law issues.

EDUCATION

EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW, ATLANTA, GA.

(AUDIT)

NATIONAL CENTER FOR PARALEGAL TRAINING, ATLANTA, GA.

(ABA APPROVED) Certificate in litigation. Litigation specialty including research and general practice skills.

PREMIER TRAINING INSTITUTE, DECATUR, GA.

Georgia Real Estate Commission licensing course.

Certified in Sales III.

MULTIPLE LISTING TRAINING INSTITUTE, TUCKER, GA.

Georgia Real Estate Commission pre-licensing courses.

Certified in Sales I and II.

ALBANY JUNIOR COLLEGE, ALBANY, GA.

Criminal Justice Major

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND HONORS

National Federation of Paralegal Association, secondary representative (award)

Georgia Association of Legal Assistants, board of directors/Public Relations chair and

Historian (awards);

Order of the Eastern Stars/Worthy Matron/Grand Chapter committee (awards)

Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta/Woman of Achievement (award)

Women’s Resource Center of Dekalb County/past co-president/board of directors (award);

Oakhurst Community Health Center, board of directors/Personnel Committee and Planning

Committee chair (award);

Aids Legal Project, paralegal volunteer;

Initiative for Affordable Housing/Dekalb, board of directors;

Henry County Juvenile Justice volunteer;

Southern Regional Hospital volunteer (award);

2007-2008 Officer/International Association of Administrative Professionals (award); and

2007 Employee of First Quarter/Office of the Fulton County Attorney.

Candidate for 2nd Vice Chair Jarrett Bell bio

Jim Nichols jim.nichols@gmail.com — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:17:21 PST

JARRETT'S BIO

Jarrett Azariah Bell- born on February 24, 1987 in Brooklyn, New York to two wonderful parents- Johnny Bell and Daisy Cobb Bell. The last child of three, Jarrett attended P.S. 165, an elementary school, where he obtained his vocal footing by writing his own makeshift Declaration of Independence. He then attended Robert F. Kennedy Middle School from 1997 to 2001 and Robert F. Kennedy High School from 2001 to 2005. At Robert F. Kennedy High school, he served as Student Government Organization (SGO) President, a representative to the Regional Student Advisory Council (RSAC), and served as a member of the Chancellor's Student Advisory Council (CSAC), the later with the power to impact the educational policies that ultimately affected one million New York City students. He has also served on the School Leadership team while in high school. He obtained more political footing by participating with Future Voters of America Party (FVAP) in an effort to lower the municipal voting age to 16.

He moved to McDonough, Georgia on June 30, 2005, seeking to further his education. Currently a junior majoring in Information Technology at Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) in Marietta, he has taken his vocal opinions to the next level in college. He has served as Parliamentarian and council member for the Student Government Association (SGA), as well as serving as Vice Chair of the SPSU chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE.) Currently, he is a staff writer for the school's newspaper, 'The Sting.'

While maintaining a 3.4 GPA and extracurricular activities, Jarrett has also worked with Norfolk Southern Corporation in 2005 as a co-op student as the Engineering Department's technical support. After leaving the railroad for more opportunities, he landed two jobs at Georgia Pacific- one in the summer of 2008 as an Analyst for the department of Strategic Sourcing and Procurement and the second in the fall of 2008 as a co-op student doing quality assurance testing for Compliance and Ethics IT. While working at Georgia Pacific, he also worked as System Administrator for Geerdes & Kim, LLC in Dunwoody.

If elected as second vice chair of the Henry County Democrats, he looks to do the following:

To unify county democrats by conducting events such as gatherings and other events
To engage the public through direct involvement and town hall meetings
To clearly define the purpose of the county party and rally behind a solid, unified message
Expand the usage of technology to advance our objectives and operations
To create a standard of ethics and create mechanisms to ensure compliance to the standard(s)
To successfully market our candidates to the public of Henry County with the objective of installing Democrats in county positions

Candidate for Secretary Cara Richardson bio

Jim Nichols jim.nichols@gmail.com — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:15:40 PST

Greetings Henry County Democrats,

My name is Cara Richardson and I am running for Office of Secretary for the Henry County Democratic Party. This year will mark my 12^th year in education and my 6^th year in Georgia as a Henry County resident. I am currently a high school teacher and aspiring administrator. I have earned my B.S. in English Education, an M.Ed in Emotionally Handicap, an Ed.S in Educational Leadership, and an Ed.D in Organizational Leadership. I have been have been a dedicated member of the Henry County Democrats for the past year. I am both prepared and enthusiastic about the opportunity to continue to assist the party in reaching its mission to build a solid organizational foundation and address the needs of the total population that we serve in a more challenging role as Secretary for The Henry County Democrats.

I believe that the role of the Secretary is beyond that of dictation and the reading of the minutes. I am running for Secretary because I believe that the growth and spirit of any organization lies within the actions of the secretary. I am organized, a hard worker, personable and technologically perceptive. I will do an exceptional job due to my ability to plan and execute any given task in a timely manner but with careful consideration.

This past year, I worked with the Henry County Democratic Party by volunteering time to work the phone banks and participate in political rallies for national and local candidates as well as voter registration. In addition to my volunteering with the Henry county Democrats, I am also an avid volunteer with Connecting Henry, which gives me the perfect avenue to reach across many different backgrounds, ethnicities and social-economic classes to assist in building a stronger local party.

A vote for me is a vote for my promise to work hard on your behalf of the Henry County Democratic Party and the Henry County residents. Thank you for your support.

Dr. Cara Richardson

Candidate for Treasurer Edith Gonsal bio

Jim Nichols jim.nichols@gmail.com — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:09:47 PST

Edith B. Gonsal Ed.D.

407 Langshire Dr.

McDonough, Georgia 30253

Edith Gonsal was born and raised in Cambridge Massachusetts. She received her formal education as a Register Nurse in California. Her background experience in health care is very broad and diverse. It includes a wide range of administrative and leadership positions which include Chief nursing Officer, Group Regional Consultant for 12 health care facilities nationwide and Director of Clinical Education and Organizational Development in acute health care settings. During this period she provided consultant services for the Division of Nursing in the analysis of financial performances, and budgetary planning.

Her political background has been President of the NAACP in Pasadena, California and a member of the Altadena West Corridor which was instrumental in the redevelopment of commercial businesses. Her political aspirations were realized, when she ran for the county commissioner position for District 4 but lost by a very small margin.

She received her Doctorate from the University of Massachusetts in Organizational Development from the school of education. She currently teaches @ Clayton State University in the Department of Health Care Management as an Adjunct Faculty. She is a member of the Henry County Chamber of Commerce Cultural Diversity Committee. She published a book in 2002 entitled “A Piece of America, Black Women in the Work Place”

She relocated from Altadena California in 2004 and lives in McDonough, Georgia.