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· Grant for New Intersection in Olney

I am pleased to announce that we have received a grant through the recently passed federal highway bill. This grant has provided $440,000 to help with the construction of a new intersection and new street off U.S. 50 that will link the soon-to-be rail-service-available industrial park south of Olney.

This addition will have a great economic impact for the region. For more information, please click on www.city-data.com/city/Olney-Illinois.html.

· Grants For 11 Fire Departments

I am glad to be able to support our first responders, as we do not know when or where the next emergency will occur. The proper training and equipment are the keys to safe communities. Therefore, I am excited to announce that 11 Fire Departments in Southern Illinois have been selected to receive grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This money comes from the 2005 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, from the DHS Office for Domestic Preparedness in cooperation with the United States Fire Administration.

The 11 departments receiving funds are as follows: Goreville Fire Department, $180,000; Tri-County Fire Protection District in Beacher City, $88,949; Centralia Fire Department, $83,372; Bedford Township Fire Protection in Cisne, $58,444; Divernon Fire Protection District, $73,084; Farina Fire Protection District, $35,198; Iuka Fire Protection District, $99,655; Pawnee Fire Protection District, $35,198; Sandoval Fire Protection District, $33,250; Stewardson Fire and Ambulance Protection District, $59,831; and Christy Fire Protection District in Sumner, $57,541.

These funds may be used for training, equipment, wellness and fitness, and modification to fire stations and facilities. For more information on these grants, please visit www.firegrantsupport.com.

· More Than Just Credit Reports

Many people know that they have access to annual credit reports. However, major credit bureaus are also required, by law, to provide you a free credit report every 12 months.

There are many other specialized firms that maintain other types of information in databases, which help in the fight again fraudulent claims. It is said that approximately nine out of every 10 insurance companies share information regarding their clients regarding claims. In accordance with the new Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act, these groups are also required to provide a free report. A couple of examples of areas that could provide these reports are in the auto or homeowner claims, or even in medical claims.

For auto and homeowner’s claims, one can contact ChoicePoint Inc. They will provide you with a CLUE (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange) report. They can be found on the internet at www.choicetrust.com, or by calling 1(866)312-8076.

For those of you who have applied for life, health, disability, or long-term care policies in the past five years, you may want to contact the Medical Information Bureau. This is a group of companies who focus on tracking medical insurance claims in order to stifle fraud. To contact this group, please call 1(866)692-6901.

· Do Not Call Registry

If you are registered for the Do Not Call Registry, www.donotcall.gov, you may not know that there are different types of companies that are exempt from this list. These include charities, political groups and pollsters. Another exemption is any business that you have a prior relationship with, such as your credit card company or a magazine to which you have subscribed. Keep in mind that if you would like these groups not to call you, you have the right to ask them to stop calling and they should stop.

If you receive a telemarketing call that you feel you shouldn’t, first make sure that you are currently registered on the list. If your registration is current and the company doesn’t fall under the exemptions, please register your complaint at www.donotcall.gov. If you are registered, keep in mind that you must reregister every 5 years.

Also, receiving any advertising mail or telemarketing calls for a deceased loved one can be a very sensitive situation. Knowing this, the Direct Marketing Association has established a Deceased Do-Not-Call List (DDNC). For a $1 credit card charge, one can easily remove a deceased loved one from the list at https://preference.the-dma.org/cgi/ddnc.php. The $1 credit card charge is to help prevent the misuse of the system.

· Tips For Teachers

As we head back to school, I want to remind all of the teachers out there to save any receipts for purchases of books and classroom supplies. These out-of-pocket expenses may lower their 2005 taxes.

To be eligible, a person must work at least 900 hours during a school year as a teacher, instructor, counselor, principal or aide. Educators may subtract up to $250 of qualified expenses when figuring their adjusted gross income (AGI) for 2005. This deduction is available whether or not the taxpayer itemizes deductions on Schedule A.

This deduction is set to expire after 2005, however, as a former teacher, I know that this can be helpful, so I have signed onto H.R. 2989, which would extend and make permanent this deduction. I am happy to be a co-sponsor of this legislation. You can follow the progress on this legislation at http://thomas.loc.gov.

· Hunting Season On Its Way

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed the following late-season framework for the hunting of migratory waterfowl for the Mississippi Flyway, which includes Illinois:

Ducks: A Hunting season of not more than 60 days (30 days canvasbacks) between September 24, 2005, and January 29, 2006. The proposed daily bag limit is six and may include no more than four mallards (two hens), three mottled ducks, two scaup, two wood ducks, two redheads, one black duck, one pintail, and one canvasback. The proposed daily bag limit of mergansers is five, only one of which may be a hooded merganser.

Geese: Generally, seasons for Canada geese may be held between September 24, 2005, and January 31, 2006, and vary in length among States and areas, with daily bag limits varying from one to three. States may select seasons for light geese not to exceed 107 days with 20 geese daily between September 24, 2005, and March 10, 2006: for white-fronted geese not to exceed 72 days with a two-bird daily bag limit or 86 days with a one-bird daily bag limit between September 24, 2005, and February 12, 2006; and for brant not to exceed 70 days with a two-bird Daily bag limit or 107 days with a one-bird daily bag limit between September 24, 2005, and January 31, 2006. There is no possession limit for light geese.

If you have any questions regarding any of this, please visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at www.fws.gov/hunting. For information regarding the Illinois state regulations and season, please visit http://dnr.state.il.us/admin/systems/index.htm.

· New “Traveling Help Desk” Dates

On Thursday, September 22, 2005, Doug Bugger of my Collinsville district office will be available to help the residents of Dale and Enfield. In Dale, he will be at the Dale Convention Center on Highway 142 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. In Enfield, he will be in the Enfield Village Hall on 115 West Wall Street from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Appointments are not necessary, so feel free to drop by at any time. For more information, please visit my web page at http://www.house.gov/shimkus/helpdesk.htm. I hope you stop in to see us!

Anticipated Action on the House Floor

· Keep an eye on the Office of the Clerk’s web site: http://clerk.house.gov/legisAct/index.html. This site provides up-to-date information on House legislative schedules.

Did You Know?

· 19th Amendment Adopted – Providing Women the Right to Vote

On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment, which guarantees women the right to vote, was formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution by proclamation of Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. The amendment was the culmination of more than 70 years of struggle by woman suffragists. Its two sections read simply: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex” and “Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

Thank you for the interest in my newsletter! Remember to tell your friends about it as well--they can sign up on my web page at http://www.house.gov/shimkus.

Sincerely,

Congressman John Shimkus

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