x-sender: governor.haley@sc.lmhostediq.com x-receiver: governor.haley@sc.lmhostediq.com Received: from mail pickup service by IQ12 with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Fri, 27 Feb 2015 03:02:04 -0500 thread-index: AdBSY6zGL4cvfH7KQCakblxwRY1tSA== Thread-Topic: I want to help. From: To: Subject: I want to help. Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2015 03:02:04 -0500 Message-ID: <5904EE269AF14BB18734E2B5C5F915F9@IQ12> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailer: Microsoft CDO for Windows 2000 Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message Importance: normal Priority: normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.1.7601.17609 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 27 Feb 2015 08:02:04.0783 (UTC) FILETIME=[ACC8DFF0:01D05263] CUSTOM miss latonya kwache joyner Citizen of South Carolina, Charleston 3326 Kraft Avenue North Charleston SC 29405 karmakameleon@me.com 8438191748 same ECON I want to help. I would like to share a few of my ideas with you Govenor because i want to help. First I want to tell you a story. My name is Latonya Joyner and I am from Charleston, SC. I am 32 years old. I've already emailed you but with technology theses days, I'm sure it got lost in the shuffle. I am writing you today because, well, I need your help. I'm not going to lie to you. I've done my share of the bad. I was pulled over for not having a tag light one night. One of the MANY nights, while driving home from a function at a local Resturant. The officer wasn't rude or anything but because I had a felony and a previous simple possession charge, he searched the car and found a small piece of a joint. Now, I admit, I do indulge but that particular day I wasn't. I told him that me and my roommates share the car and I just got in right after one of my roommates because I was late. I also told him that it was my car, my responsibility. He gave me a warning for the tag light and a $625 dollar ticket for the simple possession. I went to court because of course I didn't have the money and was practically living check to check. I asked the judge if I could do some community service and he proceeded to go on about how because of the fact that it was my second simple possession charge, I wasn't allowed community service. As upset as I was by his answer, I did what I had to do. They gave me a month to pay it. I figured I had time to pay it when I got my tax refund. My refund never came because I owed the federal government for student loans. I didn't receive any state tax money because I owed the state for a previous crime I committed back in 2005. I will explain later. About a few weeks went buy and after all that time after my bills, I had only been able to pay them $39. That is just about how much I am able to save a month. I know. I've calculated. It wasn't hard. I went to the clerk at the municipal court and I told her that I needed another extension. She turned me down. I explained to her that I knew I wouldn't have the money and I wanted to turn myself in. She told me that I would've had to wait until a warrants been issued first. I don't see any sense in that. It's almost as if I have to wait for an outcome that is already predestined. I now will have that warrant. I am currently unemployed because. I left my job in search of something better. We were slow and I wasn't making much money. I also wanted to focus on my writing. Writing is my passion. Now, I'm going to tell you a story and I also have lots of ideas that can help everyone. Please hear me out. Once I've explained what Ive done, no matter what happens, I will feel a lot better for it. I was born and raised in Charleston and I have lived in North Charleston most of my life. I graduated from North Charleston High school. I played girls varsity basketball, volleyball, and soccer. On December 31, 1998, I lost two of my younger sisters, Mary and Natasha, in a house fire that left our home in ruins. My family was absolutely devastated. I would never be the same. I was a dedicated student of North Charleston High School and I didn't even see them the day before they died. My family still tries very hard to move on but the pain was just too much for all of us to bear. That was the worse thing that has ever happened to me and I knew that I would never be the same. While many of my family members were turning to God,I was looking for answers. Falling into a deep depression, I began to indulge in drinking, smoking marijuana, wild parties, and hanging with the wrong crowd. My life was spiraling out of control. My grades started slipping my junior year and I had lost the passion for the sports that I've once loved. I had lost two of the most important people to me and it was a pain that I just couldn't fathom. I received my High School diploma in the year of 2000. I then went on to attend Morris college and I attended for about three and a half years but my tuition had gotten too high and me being a biology major, things got kind of tough. Me and my sister both were attending Morris College and playing sports at that time. That was around the time when the economy wasn't doing so well and my parents both made too much money to receive any help towards us going to school other than loans. Go figure. We would apply for grants only to find out that the requirements needed to be accepted were outdated. On top of that, They were refusing to give people grades if they didn't purchase books. I thought it was absurd so I conducted a little experiment. Out of my heavy work load, I chose one class and I did not purchase the book for it. It was my botany class. I found myself intrigued by the class and not having a book made me want to utilize and use my other outside resources. It made me more hands on. It also made me work harder. I ended up getting a B in the class and well my teacher was still screaming about the not having a book thing. I then went rambling on about how she should be proud to have had taught a student without a book and that it makes her look great as a teacher. It got to the point where they were refusing to let people take exams if they owed the school or have not taken care of their financial obligations first. That in itself should have been the big red flag. Like I said, that was back when the economy wasn't doing too good. I didn't write you to bash the government or politics. Im just trying to understand how things work so that I can pick myself up. For many years, I had this hole in my heart. A hole in my heart from a crime I committed back in 2005. Governor Haley, My name is Latonya Joyner, I am 32 years old, and I am committing a crime as we speak. In 2006, I was released from the Charleston County Detention Center after serving about four months in jail for pleading guilty to 13 counts of forgery. I pleaded guilty for this crime. I pleaded guilty to stealing checks from the City of North Charleston. Upon my release, I was granted five years probation in which I was ordered to pay restitution. Deep down inside I knew my life was over. I had hit rock bottom. I was hanging around the wrong crowd and on top of that I now have an astronomical amount of money I owe to both the State and Federal Government. I also knew that that was my only chance at life. That was my first time ever committing a crime and It was a major one. I knew I had to change. Once I got a glimpse of reality, I realized that getting it right again was going to be impossible. Back when I was doing my time, I did a lot of reading. Ive even managed to read The Bible. I also did some writing, for music and writing are my passions. During my days at CCDC, I wrote a letter to The North Charleston Recreational Department begging for forgiveness. I went on to explain how there was no excuse for what I had done and that I was deeply and truly sorry. I wasn't looking for a response. It just made me feel a little better knowing that I had at least gotten how I felt off my chest. I felt better for it. I felt like I was a better person for it. The response I got from the judge was to not ever contact any of the victims. Ever since 2006, I made it my business to try and find work where I could make enough money to pay back my debts. I was determined to make it right. This is where I started to get discouraged. I filled out resumes, hoping to get lucky, and hoping to get a chance. To my dismay, I was unsuccessful. Desperate to find work, I would take odd jobs from helping my uncle with his his security business, crawling underneath homes, routing wires to helping one of my other uncles renovate homes and paint. I found that I had a knack for mechanical work, but I feared that I would never get to express these talents because of the fact that I've never gotten a second chance. I didn't think I deserved it but I was willing to work hard in hopes that I would be able to overcome this. With me not being able to pay off my restitution because I was now living check to check, working two jobs, and having no car, I knew I was in trouble. I did this for about three years. Catching a bus from Rivers Avenue in North Charleston to Savannah Highway everyday. There had been many nights were I had to walk from Genes Haufbrau at one,sometimes two, in the morning because cabs refuse to come out that late and the buses didn't run. I did this because I was determined to not let my social economic status define me. I made a mistake and I am truly sorry. I come from a good family with good values. I guess I just lost my way. In 2007, my Grandmother was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer and she found out that she only had six months to live. Devastated by this, I feel into yet another depression. My grandmother was my rock. She was my families rock. The glue that held everything together. She was my lego piece that held it all together somehow, despite the hardships, for my grandmother was a monarch and a faithful Christian. She has been a servant of God since day one and as crazy as it sounds, she never tried to drill it in us to be the same. She always told me that it doesn't matter what I believe because people will always be who they want and that's what really makes the world go around. I believed her. In 2009, I decided to move into West Ashley and work at Genes Haufbrau as my only job. By this time. I had been paying my taxes faithfully but could find no extra to take care of my restitution before they started garnishing my wages. The money was just never there. Me, being the person that I am, was determined to make more money so I could fulfill my obligations because I knew that it was my only way out. I had no other options. I was never without a job because I knew that if I didn't work, I would never get this off of me. I went on to move in with one of my good friends in Johns Island. He was letting me stay with him for free so that I could have a little extra money to do what I had to do and take care of my restitution responsibilities. With that extra money, I fixed up an old 87 Mustang I had bought way back when for 500 dollars but couldn't drive because I couldn't afford insurance. One day, driving down Main Road, I saw a sign but I never paid much attention to it. It always looked like a small nick knack store to me. I never paid it any mind. While working at Genes, one of my coworkers suggested that I fill out an application at a local resturant on Johns Island. She explained that her husband was the assistant manager there and he would help me to get a position that I would like. I had been working for Genes Haufbrau as a supervisor only making $9.00 an hour. I loved my job and the people I worked with but I couldn't survive off of $400 dollar paychecks and had to wait two weeks to get paid. I needed something different, so I took her advice. In 2012, I went on to look up the website for the Tomato Shed Café. This café is owned by a local farmer. Farmer Pete is what they call him. He owns that beautiful farm out on Wadmalaw Island. I didn't know much about farming but I was excited to learn and very willing. I got my interview and that's where I met the person who would change my life forever. Her name is Barbara Ambrose. After many years of feeling like I didn't belong, She gave me the hope that I have been searching for. I felt like I was no longer a fully functional member of society because of what I had done and she gave me a chance. She never made me feel any less than special. When we first met, I could see the look in her eyes. There was something there that I never saw, Hope. From that point on, I made it my business to be the best employee that she'd ever had. It took me while to catch on but once I got into the swing of things, I was all in. I decided that I was gonna make this home. It is now 2015 and I am currently unemployed. Not because I got fired but because of my passion. My passion for writing. I gave It all up because I am on a mission. I was not much of a spiritual person until I started watching the news regularly and to be honest with you Governor Haley, me and a lot of my friends were disgusted. Mainly because there wasn't a real voice for us. Im not saying that you haven't done anything Governor Haley, I just know that there are only so many things that you can do. A lot of us came from either middle class families , poor families, or no families at all. A lot of my friends thought I was crazy for doing what I am doing, but I feel like its my calling. I want to be that voice. Let me be a portal for you to reach out to the places that government officials wont go. Let me be the voice of reason and compromise to the people that you cant get to because believe it or not, a lot of us want to do the right thing, we just don't know how. I speak the language. That is one of the real reasons why I am writing you this letter today. I want the help I need to educate the younger generation and to teach the youth to make the right decisions, because here, some of us only get that one chance. I need Hope. I don't want my peer's children to make the same mistakes that I did growing up. I've ruined my life when I was younger and I am forever cursed by it for I will never be able to make anymore than 20,000 dollars a year. Im not asking for your sympathy Governor, I'm asking for a chance. Help me, I have tried to fulfill my obligations to both the State and Federal Government only to calculate that I would probably die in debt. Im 32 years old. That debt then carries on to my children and beneficiaries. A lot of my peers admit that they wouldn't even vote because their other friends, like me, are suffering the most behind a lot of the failed systems of the government and they have even shied away from things like filing taxes and participating in government forums because they feel that the forums aren't for them. I've also noticed that we live in an era where having babies is an incentive. Big tax paydays. I don't condone this, as a matter of fact, I think that I have lots of ideas that would work for people that I know that government officials don't. For instance, I support the idea of drug testing for government benefits and I support housing reforms. Drug testing will at least make the taxpayers feel a little more at ease knowing that they are not just getting free money and not contributing anything to the communities that they claim to love. I feel like the system at which housing and government benefits are based is outdated. I have spoken with a lot of my peers and the age of the people who are on welfare is getting younger and younger. Lets not breed generations of people who are settling for government housing and being complacent because why work when you can get it for free. This leads to a lot of us being unmotivated. This type of complacency leads to big economical problems. This type of thinking can really do us in. It throws off the checks and balance systems and most of all, it ruins the integrity of our State. It also creates a devision between tax payers and the government. People are losing faith in the system because it only caters to the ones who aren't putting in any effort. I do believe in equal rights for all because at the end of the day, the struggle is all of ours, together. I am on a mission to get through to the ones that the government cant seem to reach. My friends are behind me 150% on this one. My friends are mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, teachers, doctors,lawyers, cooks, entrepreneurs, active military people and veterans, but most of all, some of them are farmers. The farmers are very important. Our farmers are the starting point in the mitts of catastrophe. They could be the only source of food at one point or another if the lights ever go out. The stores will be close but the farms are always open. It could help us weather any storm. I feel like there should be research being done to try and build things that can protect our farms in the wake of catastrophe. Though my friends are fully functional members of society, they are willing to fight for the second chance that a lot of us will probably never see. I feel like this is my chance to give back to the community that I stole from. Please let me have this chance. I am currently writing a book called "The Other Fish." My motivation for the book came from Barbara Ambrose. She is the other reason why I'm even writing this letter. I am determined to make her proud in hopes that I could return to her and show her that inspiration comes in all walks of life. She probably doesn't even know how much she has inspired me to be a better person. I looked up to her and I still do to this day. We are both Pisces and I feel like Ive found my other fish. Please Governor Haley, My name is Latonya Joyner and I believe in change, I believe in science, and I believe in religion, but most of all I believe in People. My email address is karmakameleon@me.com and my telephone number is 843-819-1748. I am available day or night. I check my emails daily. I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this.