By Patrick McCreless

STAFF WRITER

Cost of living increases brought on by the economic recession may be enough to force Jenny Passler to come out of retirement and find a part-time job.

A tax increase is the last thing she wants right now.

“I balance my books ... if I don’t have it, I don’t spend it,” Passler said. “Yet our government doesn’t seem to be balancing their books.”

With a picket sign in hand, Passler was one of approximately 1,000 Cullman residents who stood outside the Cullman County Courthouse Wednesday to protest high taxes, government spending and the policies of President Barack Obama’s administration. The event was one of hundreds of “tea party” tax protest rallies held across the country.

“I am fed up with our government saying one thing and doing another,” Passler said. “These politicians should have taken a pay cut from the getgo. I didn’t vote for Obama, but I said I would support him. But it’s been down hill ever since.”

The Cullman rally featured several speakers from the community, including the rally’s organizer, Nan Auston.

“I’m tired of paying taxes and I’m tired of bailing out banks,” Auston said. “Nobody cares about what’s in my bank account.”

Standing in front of a banner that displayed the federal government’s more than $11 trillion deficit in bold red letters, Auston said the debt did not start with the Obama administration.

“He just brought it to new heights,” she said. “People like you and me have got to stop it.”

She encouraged everyone at the rally vote out the politicians who are spending tax dollars unwisely and to write their congressman or senator in opposition to bailouts and high taxes.

“We’re no longer the silent majority,” Auston said. “We’re getting loud.”

One of those “silent majority” was Dallas Threadgill of Birmingham.

“I’m upset with the intrusion of government on our rights as a whole,” Threadgill said. “We’ve got a president spending more money than all the others combined.”

Threadgill, who owns a security and investigating business in Huntsville, said he has been hit hard during the recession. Where once his business employed around 30 people, today it employs only five.

“You’d think in these times uniform securities would be the thing businesses would be after,” Threadgill said. “I don’t know how I’m going to survive.”

Lydia Haynes, who owns two physical rehab clinics in Cullman and spoke during the rally, said higher taxes would hurt her severely. Haynes said she wants to hire another qualified employee to man one of her two clinics, but after figuring her taxes for 2009, she does not see how that will be possible.

“My 2009 cost in taxes would pay for another employee,” Haynes said. “I can’t hire them. I can’t grow my business. Increased taxes hurt small businesses.”

Along with residents, several local politicians attended the rally including Cullman County Commission Chairman James Graves, County Commissioner Wayne Willingham, Good Hope Mayor Corey Harbison, West Point Mayor Kenneth Kilgo, Garden City Mayor Harden Davis and Fairview Mayor Randall Shedd.

Both Graves and Willingham said they have been staunchly opposed to Congress’ nearly $800 billion stimulus package.

“I’d rather they didn’t give that out at all,” Graves said.

When asked how they justify applying for stimulus money for the county while being opposed to the stimulus package, Willingham said either Cullman gets the money or somebody else does.

“If they give the money out, somebody is going to get it,” he said. “As long as it’s out there, we’ll get it.”

Though Rep. Robert Aderholt could not attend any of the tea rallies Wednesday, he did release a statement in support of them.

"I voted against the bailout and the stimulus and Democrat’s budget because I believe that massive spending and taxing will not lead to a growing economy,” Aderholt said in a press release. “The path to our economic recovery starts with fiscal responsibility and lower taxes, and I support that message at today’s tea parties."

Jane Neal, a teacher at West Elementary, said residents should keep fighting against higher taxes and deficit spending for the sake of their children.

“You don’t want to leave your child with the legacy of high taxes and high debt,” Neal said. “They are the future of America.”

‰ Patrick McCreless can be reached by e-mail at patrickm@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.