MD state legislator hosts town hall in Wicomico County
Salisbury, Md. – Del. Sheree Sample-Hughes (D – District 37A) hosted a town hall at the Chipman Cultural Center Thursday night to connect with constituents and go over what bills made it into the state’s over $70 billion budget.
At the town hall, Sample-Hughes met with Wicomico County residents to discuss bills she and other legislators sponsored that passed made on issues like transportation for students, health care, tax exemption on electricity use for farmers, scholarships correctional officers and curbing the spread of blue catfish in the Chesapeake Bay. She also went over bills on labor, health, public safety, economic protections for seniors and safeguarding the state’s seafood industry.
She also brought guest speakers Salisbury Police Department Captain Dean Popovich and Wicomico County Board of Elections Director Dionne Church to talk about local public safety and voting rights access. Sample-Hughes also brought in a guest speaker to raise awareness for sickle-cell anemia, encouraging people to get tested.
Residents chimed in and voiced concerns about issues impacting them like safety in local parks and kids’ meals in schools.
“I was wondering if there is a way where we could marry our agricultural local farmers with programs that provide healthier alternatives for our kids?” Wicomico NAACP Branch 7028 President Monica Brooks asked.
Sample-Hughes says these town halls are an opportunity to focus on her constituents concerns and do her research for the next legislative session.
“It goes back to local, literally, as your theme is local matters. It really does,” she told WMDT after the town hall. “Here tonight, talking about the school lunches, are they nutritious enough for our young people? Those are some decisions and questions and answers that we should seek here locally. But there very well could be policies that need to be addressed at the state level to put a little bit more focus on it and make the changes that are necessary.”
Sample-Hughes also hosted a town hall earlier this week in Dorchester County and will host a free clinic on expungement on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Harriet Tubman Center for Cultural and Educational Advancement in Cambridge.
