MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2001 Regular Session

To: Rules

By: Representative Taylor, Pierce

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMENDING AND CONGRATULATING MRS. BETTY M. MILLER FOR OVER 50 YEARS OF OUTSTANDING PUBLIC SERVICE.

WHEREAS, Mrs. Betty M. Miller has been serving the citizens of the State of Mississippi for over 50 years; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Miller was born on February 24, 1931, in New Augusta, Perry County, Mississippi, where she graduated from New Augusta High School ranked third in her class; and

WHEREAS, after graduating from high school, Mrs. Miller attended Millsaps College and the University of Southern Mississippi; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Miller began her service to the State of Mississippi as a stenographer for the Department of Human Services before graduating from high school; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Miller has also worked as a food stamp eligibility worker, an AFDC eligibility worker and a nursing home eligibility worker; and

WHEREAS, in 1977, Mrs. Miller administered a nursing home in Brandon, Mississippi, and returned to the Department of Human Services as a child support enforcement officer in 1980; and

WHEREAS, while engaged in her work at DHS, Mrs. Miller began discussing with her co-workers the idea of organizing a state employee union to advocate for better pay, family benefits and workers rights for all Mississippi's public employees; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Miller joined with other state employees on June 19, 1989, in founding the Mississippi Alliance of State Employees, affiliated with the Communications Workers of America; and

WHEREAS, after retiring from the DHS in May of 1991, Mrs. Miller began working full time as an organizer with the Mississippi Alliance of State Employees (MASE); and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Miller was instrumental in efforts to get Mississippi's state employees off the bottom in how they were paid, bringing them from a national ranking of 50th in 1990 to 43rd in 2000; and

WHEREAS, in addition, Mrs. Miller shared in the leadership of MASE that protected and improved the jobs of Mississippi's state employees over the decade; and

WHEREAS, in 2001, Mrs. Miller began a new effort to bring first class job training to Mississippi's undertrained and underpaid hospitality workers; and

WHEREAS, currently Mrs. Miller is contributing her time and energy as Executive Director of the Mississippi Hospitality Workers Training Center for the welfare of the citizens of Mississippi; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Miller has been lovingly supported in all her endeavors by her late husband, Dempsey Ray Miller; four children, Mike, Sue, Lee and Coy; 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild; and

WHEREAS, it is the policy of this Legislature to recognize and commend outstanding Mississippians such as Mrs. Miller for her many years of hard work and dedication to improving the quality of life for the citizens of this state:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE SENATE CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby commend and congratulate Mrs. Betty M. Miller for her over 50 years of outstanding public service and express our heartiest wishes of success in all her future endeavors.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to Mrs. Betty M. Miller and to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.