Hello all. This is Jeff Seemann. Yes, the real Jeff posting under his own screenname. Jenn, Michelle and January have all been alerted.
I'm all finished, as of 6pm Wednesday night. 72 hours into it, I had to go home. Didn't want to, but had to. I was approached by a police cruiser and was told that I had to go home or be arrested for vagrancy (originally, the charge was loitering, but the officer misspoke and clarified it during our conversation).
The officer was very nice, and told me that I had to find shelter or I was going to jail right away. I had checked with a shelter earlier in the day, and they did not have any open space for the night. Yes, there were other options, but I wouldn't know if I could get in until about 10pm. I explained this to the officer, and he told me that I would have to go to jail if I didn't already have a place to sleep inside. I believe the police were doing a sweep of the streets. They were not being aggressive, I think they were just getting everybody inside. It's getting very bad out here tonight, LOTS of snow on the ground, and temperatures dropping fast.
Greetings everyone! My name is Jenn, and it is my duty today to report to you from Jeff Seemann's campaign and tell you all about his fourth day on the streets of Canton, Ohio. Jeff is having a better day today than last night, and he's very upbeat about finishing this 100 hours!
First, I have some distressing news about the area he is in. According to today's Canton Repository, Canton is the 30th most dangerous city in the country. It has been rated more dangerous than New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. This was especially hard to read today, knowing that Jeff is out there right now. He's been very fortunate so far, but his time is coming to a close. The safety of those around him will remain in jeopardy, and that does not sit well with him.
He has discussed his experiences of the previous 24 hours with me, and I'll relay them on to you. I'll check in later tonight from a friend's house if anybody would like to talk.
Hello everyone. My name is Michelle, and I am blogging on Jeff's behalf. By now you've heard the story of his homelessness experience, so I'll spare you the details.
I just spoke with Jeff about 20 minutes ago and he's not doing very well today. He had a lot of problems last night (and today) and the weather is turning extremely nasty as we speak. It's already snowing hard, the wind is bad and it'll dip below 20 degrees tonight.
Jeff has asked me to relay his experiences over the past 24 hours to you, so that's what this diary will be about.
From the way Jeff described the last 24 hours, I do not know how anybody survives being homeless. I'm actually VERY concerned for his safety tonight and have urged him to call me collect if he needs ANY help.
Hello. I am writing this diary on behalf of Jeff Seemann. As many of you know, Jeff is running for Congress in Ohio's 16th District, and he's trying a different strategy. He believes that you cannot represent people until you truly understand their lives.
Currently, he is spending 100 hours homeless, in an attempt to better understand what life is like for people who have lost everything. We all witnessed the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, but Katrina only magnified a problem that exists in every town on every day of every week.
I just spoke with Jeff, and he has asked me to relay the story of his first 20 hours to you and several other blogs. The following is Jeff's entry;
For those of you who may have missed the announcement, I have decided to experiment a little bit with my campaigning style. It's my firm belief that you cannot represent people until you truly understand their plight. My 2006 opponent, Ralph Regula, has lost touch with the citizens of his district and no longer knows how to tackle their problems.
So I have decided to experience for myself what it's like to live the lives of American citizens who don't make the front page every day....and my first lesson is to go 100 hours as a homeless person.
I'm leaving in the next few minutes and heading into downtown Canton. My girlfriend will be dropping me off with only the clothes on my body and a notepad so I can document my experiences.
When I'm done, sometime after 10pm on Thanksgiving night, I hope to have a better understanding of what life is like for people who have no home, no happy outlook, very little chance to pull themselves out. And at that point, I will be better equipped to create legislation that will protect people who are trapped between the cracks of society.
As many of you know, I have decided to take another shot at the US House Of Representatives and I have already announced my campaign for 2006. I'll once again be running for the seat in Ohio's 16th District, and my opponent will be Ralph Regula.
In the next couple of weeks, my new campaign website will launch, but the campaign itself will take a big step forward much sooner than that. I'm here today to announce a campaign initiative.
It's my firm belief that you cannot properly represent your district until you truly understand the problems that many Americans face. Ralph Regula has been in Washington DC for 33 years, and he's clearly lost touch with the issues that affect his constituents.
The following is also cross-posted at my newly re-opened blog, but I have added some commentary for the benefit of those not locally connected to my blog.
Most people across the state and across the country are focusing on the major races and have been opining on the meaning behind wins and losses. Yes, Tim Kaine defeated Jerry Kilgore and handed Bush a huge loss because Bush tried to push a statistical tie into a GOP win (which backfired into a nearly double-digit loss). Yes, RON lost big on all four amendments here in Ohio. Yes, Ahnold got his ass handed to him and now the Republicans are blaming him for the Caleeforneea losses.
Increasingly upset over Democratic and media attacks regarding extended delays of Federal assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina, the White House has begun to shift blame to the previous administration of President Bill Clinton.
An unidentified White House source insists that the Clinton Administration held a pattern of delaying assistance to those in need, directly pointing a finger at a 1994 incident in Maryland.
