By Jenny Huggins
News Reporter

Bobbie McAuliffe is not one to sit back and watch the world go by without trying to make a difference. This weekend as she watch the events unfold in Iran she challenged herself to begin a mission and try to make a difference, even a small one.  McAuliffe will be on the lawn of the LeFlore County Courthouse in front of the WWII Memorial protesting the ever-growing national debt.

“Events taking place in Iran have prompted me to begin a mission to wake up my fellow citizens to what I believe we are not very far from here in the United States," said McAuliffe.  “I am very concerned about the direction our country is headed and I don't like it.  We have been on the wrong road for decades.  It did not just happen in January of this year.”  

 

McAuliffe's mission began Monday as she held a sign showing “our share of the national debt" for that week.  She begins at 8 a.m. and continues for approximately 30 minutes each day.  McAuliffe states, “We are over our heads in debt to our economic and political enemies and our leaders seem hell bent on pushing us all the way over the cliff by throwing more money at a problem they created.”  McAuliffe was a key organizer in the April 15 Tax Day Tea Party held in Poteau where people from all over the county who were concerned about the rising taxes and government overspending assembled.  She is also helping to organize Tea Party II in Poteau which is scheduled for Saturday in the parking lot of All Star Center from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.

 

McAuliffe, a citizen who prides herself in keeping track of the political heartbeat of not only LeFlore County but the state and nation, makes what some may say are radical statements such as, “We did not need those $300 stimulus checks last summer,” and “ Wall Street and the automakers made their own bed.  They should have been allowed to crash and burn. But they made poor business decisions and were rewarded for it with no accountability.”  “The national debt clock this week says each of us owes well over $36,000 and it is increasing by about $12 every day," McAuliffe states. "Taxes collected don't even cover the interest on that debt.”  While at the courthouse on Monday McAuliffe counted 311 names on the LeFlore County Fallen heroes' monument in front of the courthouse. "My friends and neighbors are veterans as well as my granddaughter," McAuliffe said. "I'm doing this for them."