FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

 Docu-drama warns of the endangerment of America’s religious liberties

The Glory Worship Center, an official EchoLight Cinemas partner location, will present a public screening of the award-winning film “One Generation Away” on Saturday, August 1. Winner of 5 Dove Awards and awarded Best Documentary in the 2015 Christian Worldview Film Festival, this timely movie reveals how quickly religious freedoms can disappear if Americans do not remain vigilant to defend them. The event starts at 6:00 PM and runs until 8:00 PM, including a question and answer session with Director Ken Carpenter and Rep. Jeff Jones.

RSVP ONLINE TODAY!

By Benita M. Dodd

Susette Kelo was minding her own business when the city of New London, Conn., set its sights on her home. The city wanted to take the property and demolish the home, along with her neighbors’ homes, to make way for private economic development.

Kelo decided to fight back. The Institute for Justice led her fight, joined by think tanks around the country, including the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.

Remember the shocked property owners around the nation when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 10, 2005, that the city could take Kelo’s home and land against her will?

(Pictured: Rep. Jeff Jones and John "Jay" Neely III, Vice President, Law & Public Affairs, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation).

Glynn County’s delegation to the General Assembly will be three of 83 legislators to be recognized as Clean Water Champions by the Georgia Water Coalition.

Friends -- 

As you may recall, I voted NO on HB170 - Transportation Funding Act of 2015.

The Georgia Department of Revenue has posted the following document pertaining to Motor Vehicle changes related to the Transportation Funding Act of 2015, which will become effective July 1, 2015.  The bulletin can be found here.

Sincerely,

Representative Jeff Jones

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Rep. Jeff Jones Recognized by Golden Isles Association of Realtors

ATLANTA – State Representative Jeff Jones (R-Brunswick) was recently recognized by the Golden Isles Association of Realtors (GIAR) for his work and support of realtor-related issues during the 2015 legislative session. 

“I am honored to be recognized by this group of professionals who are so important to our Glynn County economy,” said Rep. Jones. 

During the 2015 legislative session, Rep. Jones sponsored the “Pool Bill,” House Bill 219, which sought to add “condominiums” to the existing list of private pools for which the county and state health departments currently have no jurisdiction, thus exempting those pools from inspection and licensing requirements.

RSVP: Robyn Lynch 770-530-7152 or Robyn@SoutheastCapitalConsulting.com

 Online (Click Here)

RSVP: Robyn Lynch 770-530-7152 or Robyn@SoutheastCapitalConsulting.com

 Online (Click Here)

National Day of Prayer Service - First UMC Brunswick Sanctuary - Brunswick, GA

Thursday, May 07, 2015 at 12:00 PM

Dear Heavenly Father,

We come before you today, humbly, on bended knee and in your honor, on this National Day of Prayer.  It is a privilege to come before your throne of grace.

We are here to give thanks to You for this Nation’s very founding and for those courageous men who, so many years ago, believed in You so completely as they worked to structure our country on Godly, Christian principals – Your principals Father.

In 1789, George Washington spoke these words:

“It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God."

It is truly amazing and humbling, Father God in Heaven, the wisdom and courage of these men who staked their very lives on founding this country in Your name, that they deliberately and purposefully included the words “in God we trust” on our currency, and used the words “one nation, under God” in our Pledge of Allegiance to our flag and our country.

Today, we must ask ourselves Father the question posed in Psalms 11:3 – “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?"  One important way, Father, is what we are doing here today – praying to You, our Almighty God.

We beseech you Father in Heaven to guide our leaders, both elected and appointed, to hear Your Word and to act upon them in their roles as leaders.

We thank you and praise you, Lord, for the many blessings You have bestowed on this, our Country, the United States of America, a nation established in Your mighty name.

However, as the years have marched by, Father, we – your people - have forgotten the God our founders knew to be the Creator who endowed us with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  We took prayer out of our schools, Father. People in our country have allowed the aborting of babies, babies who are gifts from You.  Dear Father, we have divided our country by rich and poor; the have and have not’s, by the color of our skin, by those who are power-hungry and those who are power-less.  Our dearest Father, we have not treated each other with respect or been civil with each other as You command us.  We have forgotten the Golden Rule, to treat others the way we want to be treated and to do so in your Holy, mighty name.  We have blurred the lines between right and wrong, and we live our lives today in a “grey area” calling it the truth.  However, Dear Father, these things are not the truth, not Your truth.  Your truth, Father, is the only truth.

Forgive us, God, for our many sins and yet, as sinners all, we humbly pray for you to bring unity to our nation Father, and we ask for your peace to be among us, that You will to talk to us, to whisper into our ears reminding us that Your voice is the only one that matters and to follow Your direction.  We have been greedy and selfish, afraid to speak the truth in our love for You.  Forgive us, oh God. We ask you to set our country back on a Godly path.

You promised in your Word, 2 Chronicles, 7:14:
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  We claim that promise today, Lord, and believe in You for the results.

We pray for our President and those he brings close for advice, that there be Godly wisdom in their decision-making as they lead the country.

Father, we beseech you to bestow upon our President, and all of our leaders, Your wisdom, guidance and direction.  Proverbs 1:7 says “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge …… but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

Embolden our Congress, Father, to do what is right for the country and to truly be servants to the people, looking to You, our God in Heaven, for vision and wisdom.  Help them to seek Your face, your blessing, your guidance --- not the approval of men.

Our Supreme Court even now is debating an institution established by You, Father, so important to the very fabric of our society.  Give these men and women Your blessed wisdom, Dear Father, to act with integrity, following your direction, Father. We pray that the right decision will be made, a decision based in Godly principals.

We pray for our Governor, and for our State and Federal Senators and Representatives, and other State and Federal leaders, that they will honor You, Father in heaven, by the decisions they make for the citizens of Georgia and for our great country.

We pray that our Local officials will act in a righteous manner honoring You, Father in Heaven, in every decision and action they take.

We pray for our pastors in these trying days to preach your Word boldly and with conviction in the face of pressure to stray from a Godly path. We know this is hard, Father, but we know You are there with them in their service to You and the people of this great nation.

God, we pray for our military men and women.  Give them, and their families’ courage and strength as they protect and defend us.  We are grateful for their sacrifice and willingness to give their very lives for our freedom. Keep them in the palm of Your hand, Lord.

Thank you, Father, most of all for your Son, Jesus Christ, that you sent Him to us to save us, all we have to do is accept Him.  What an incredible gift.

Father, all of these things we humbly ask and pray in your mighty name.

Amen.

###

By Representative Jeff Jones

One year-ago  – Earth Day, April 22, 2014 – the Director of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Department of Natural Resources, announced that the State of Georgia would no longer enforce a long-standing provision requiring a 25-foot marsh protection buffer. (View EPD Director Jud Turner’s letter) The marsh buffer stipulation, which appears in the Erosion and Sedimentation Act, requires marsh front developments - whether large or small, commercial or residential - to observe a 25-foot buffer. The buffer’s purpose is to protect salt marshes from upland soil erosion, and runoff from construction and from commercial or residential marsh-side developments.

As a resident of coastal Georgia serving my first term in the Georgia House of Representatives, I was extremely concerned about the prospect that our coastal marshes were unprotected by a buffer and the possibility that our environmentally and economically important marsh buffers would continue unprotected.

Throughout the end of 2014, I continued to read, listen and learn more about coastal marsh protection issues. In the process, coastal residents and legislators voiced strong concerns and objections to EPD's decision to cease enforcement of the buffer provision. The EPD Director justified the decision to stop buffer enforcement because he said that language in the Erosion and Sedimentation Act was confusing, EPD's enforcement was inconsistent across the state and that the 2004 letter from ex-EPD Director Carol Couch, which had been acceptable for over 10 years was not enforceable as law (View Carol Couch’s 2004 memorandum). For example, for more than a decade, the agency had been enforcing the buffer on coastal salt marsh, but not on freshwater wetlands, which have their own, separate complexities, issues and challenges.  Upon reading the language in the Erosion and Sedimentation Act, I began to better understand the confusion about the Act's applicability to coastal salt marsh and became convinced that we needed a legislative remedy.

This siting of this jellyfish processing factory on the Sapelo River in 2014 shows the changes that could come if loopholes aren't closed in the current marsh buffer bill, environmentalists say. Photocourtesy Megan Desrosiers/ One Hundred Miles.

By Mary Landers

Worried that the current marsh buffer bill is too weak, Rep. Jeff Jones of Brunswick is gathering support for a substitute that would close its major loopholes.

On Friday, Jones emailed his fellow state representatives with his substitute for S.B. 101, the buffer bill introduced by Savannah Republican state Sen. Ben Watson.

“Many of us believe that S.B. 101, as presented, has too many broad exceptions and significantly hampers the Environmental Protection Division of the DNR’s ability to effectively and properly manage and protect Georgia’s coastal marshes,” Jones wrote to house members. “I’ve been working with (Rules Committee) Chairman (John) Meadows, other representatives and members of the environmental community, to craft a substitute bill that tightens up the broad exception language in the original S.B. 101 and effectively returns control and oversight of handling marsh buffer exceptions to the EPD.”

Coastal lawmaker tries to salvage marsh protections

Posted: March 21, 2015 - 11:22pm  |  Updated: March 23, 2015 - 8:39am

http://savannahnow.com/news/2015-03-21/coastal-lawmaker-tries-salvage-marsh-protections