HIGHLAND HEIGHTS - For years Northern Kentucky legislators have told citizens that for them to be heard in Frankfort they need to speak up, show up and let lawmakers know how they feel.
Saturday morning the public showed up and spoke out in a big, passionate and forceful way.
A crowd estimated at between 500 and 600 jammed into a room at Northern Kentucky University for a meeting of the Northern Kentucky Legislative Caucus.
It was one of the largest - if not the largest - crowds ever to attend a gathering of the region's lawmakers.
The message from most of those in attendance was clear: don't cut public education, and find a way to raise new revenue, even if that means increasing taxes.
"Do your job," Barb Martin, a Kenton County schools administrator, told legislators. "Focus on finding new revenue, focus on bringing the state of Kentucky back where it should be, quit hiding behind the no (new) tax pledge."
Martin was one of hundreds of local teachers, school administrators and staff, parents, school board members and education advocates - nearly all of them wearing red in sign of solidarity - who showed up at Saturday's two-hour hearing. Dozens more were turned away, unable to fit into the standing-room-only meeting...
On a personal note: Way to go Barb ! We were classmates for 13 years and graduated from Ludlow High School together - sometime during the last century. Barb is a great American who always could say what was on her mind.
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