New U.S. citizen excited to vote for the first time

[AlphaCentauri]

Russian immigrant Marina Solo has lived in the United States for 13 years, but she will cast a ballot for the first time Tuesday in the general election.
"We can change the world with one vote at a time, and I believe my vote will be also important," said Solo, a De Pere real estate agent.
It took Solo 13 years, and thousands of dollars, to become a U.S. citizen; she was sworn in with 43 others on Sept. 11.
Solo came to the United States with her son in 1995 on a business visa to attend a seminar in Boston. She applied for her green card to obtain permanent residency and received it five years later.
Solo said she had to wait five additional years to apply for her citizenship, but waited three years on top of that to ensure becoming a citizen was what she really wanted.
"I just really want to feel that I wanted to become an American because it just wasn't a piece of paper for me," she said. "It actually was a very important process and a decision."
"Being guest here, having authorization to work and live here is not 100 percent comfort level," she said.

While fighting for her reputation in a defamation case earlier this year, Solo was reminded that she was not an American citizen.

Realtor Kent Haluska was accused of posting comments about Solo on a real estate networking Web site using the names of other real estate agents and sending letters to Solo's clients telling them they were funding Russian terrorism.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20081102/GPG0101/811020700/1207/GPG01