4-Year Council Terms Headed to Referendum; First Reading of FY 2017 Budget Passes

Anderson County Council approved on third reading an ordinance to change county council elected terms from two years to four years. The new terms would be staggered so that council elections would be help so that all of council would not be elected during the same cycle. 

By a vote of 5-2, council will now send the issue to Anderson County voters with a referendum in November.

“This gives the people the right to decide,” said Anderson County Council Chairman Tommy Dunn. “It will be in their hands.”

“Currently, 43 of the 46 counties in South Carolina have four-year terms,”  said outgoing Anderson County Councilman Francis Crowder. “So we are not setting a space, we are actually behind.” 

Crowder said only York, McCormick and Anderson have two-terms. 

Anderson County Councilwoman Cindy Wilson disagreed. 

The U.S. Congress and S.C. House serve two-year terms,” Wilson said. “And given the financial mismanagement in the county prior to 2008, it seems more appropriate to have two-year terms in Anderson County Council.” 

"A four-year term will give those of us up here a better understanding of what's going on," said Allen.

Meanwhile, council approved on first reading changes to what will be a very lean county budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year budget. 

“We have so many challenges in this year’s budget,” Wilson said.  “Health Insurance already over $7 million for our employees and we are looking at a $500,000 increase. An this budget has no funding for roads, I don’t know how we can avoid this key responsibility to the citizens.” 

Wilson said until the current budget year, the county had done no significant road work since 2003.

Other budget issues include replacing roofs for the new courthouse, the civic center and the library. 

“There is very little left to trim,” Crowder. “We are growing, exploding in Anderson County, and people demand services. “Our budget is not being kept up to the pace of the demand being created.” 

Crowder agreed roads are a serious issue, and said the state is not going to help. 

“The legislature year after year has dodged this issue. If any of the current budget proposals are passed, not one dime of that money will go to repair or maintain the 1,499 miles of county roads.” 

Crowder said the county can continue to ignore the problem of fixing roads, institute a road maintenance fee or consider a one-cent sales tax proposal, 100 percent of which will be used for roads.  

“As a council we need to face the fact and decide what we are going to do,” Crowder said. “We can keep kicking the bucket down the road, or we can face up to the issue.” 

"We need a continuing source of dollars that are locked in to take care or roads only," Allen said. Allen reminded council that $7.5 million is needed annually to take care of Anderson County roads.

"We can come up with around $1 million for roads for this years budget, but we need reoccuring funds for our roads," Dunn said. "We have got to get a plan in place to get our roads repaired."

Dunn also said the county's challenge to decide how to administrer EMS in the county is also going to be important in the upcoming budget.

"I can say this county council works on the budget," said Anderson County Councilman Ken Waters. "This is a job after you go through an election, and all of us up here take it seriously and we are all looking after the taxpayers."

“I am pleased by what I have seen so far, but the changed recommended by the finance commit tree makes no sense,” said Anderson County Council Woman Gracie Floyd. 

“And don’t forget we have spent $3.8 million fighting the Joey Preston case, and that’s not over yet,” Floyd said.

Floyd’s request for a full-council budget workshop was defeated by a 5-3 vote, with only Wilson, Floyd and Anderson County Councilman Tom Allen voting for such a meeting.

The total budget number currently being considered is approximately $!50 million, and currently reflects a decrease of $60,000 from the FY 2016 year.

Also on Tuesday night: 

Approved an ordinance for the formation of an Anderson County Convention and Visitors Bureau.  A board will be appointed by council to hire the sales manager position for the new organization, said Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns.  

Anderson County Councilman Tom Allen offered update on the Anderson County Animal Ordinance. 

“The basics have all been written and are in Columbia,” Allen said. “The lawyers down there are are reviewing it to make sure it does not violate any state laws.” Allen said he hopes the approval for the ordinance will be soon.

Approved a move to allow county employees to donate unused annual and/or sick leave to a leave pool account. The purpose is to support employees with serious or chronic illnesses who have used all of their sick leave. 

Kid Venture Playground to Close Week of May 13

The Kid Venture Park at the Anderson Civic Center will close May 13 for the demolition of the play volcano strucure and the installation of the new playground equipment.

The volcano will be donated to St. Mary of the Angels church in Anderson, for use in their playground. 

The total time the park is expected to be closed is approximately one week, according to Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns.

The Kid Venture 2.0 Cleanup Day is still set for June 11.

S.C. Judges Ordered to Attend Human Trafficking Summit

South Carolina's chief justice is ordering all Circuit and Family Court judges in the state to attend a summit this summer on human trafficking.

The order signed by Chief Justice Costa Pleicones (Pluh-KON-us) was issued Friday.

It said the state Office of Court Administration is working with Attorney General Alan Wilson's office in planning the event which is scheduled for Aug. 16 in Columbia. Prosecutors and public defenders from across the state are also being invited.

There are also expected to be representatives of law enforcement agencies, including SLED, mental health and social service workers and representatives of the U.S. Attorney's Office, the state Department of Education and the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Egg, Meat Producers Want Lobbying Efforts Shielded

Some of the largest food producers in the US have successfully petitioned Congress to propose a change to the Freedom of Information Act that would their communications with boards overseen by the US Department of Agriculture from the scrutiny of the public, the Guardian has learned.

The move follows a series of stories that showed the government-backed egg promoter, the American Egg Board, had attempted to stifle competition from Silicon Valley food startup Hampton Creek, in direct conflict with its mandate.

Several agricultural lobbyists including United Egg Producers, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the National Pork Producers Council have now sent a letter to the congressional subcommittee overseeing appropriations for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) asking to be exempted from Foia requests to their own respective promotional boards.

The letter to the subcommittee reads, in part:

 

We support inclusion of language in the Committee report urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to recognize that the research and promotion programs are funded solely with producer dollars, and therefore are not agencies of the Federal government or subject to the Freedom of Information Act (Foia).

The language added to the bill reads thusly:

The Committee notes that the commodity Research and Promotion boards that the agency oversees are not agencies of the federal government, nor are Research and Promotion programs funded with federal funds. The funding used to operate and carry out the activities of the various Research and Promotion programs is provided by producers and industry stakeholders, and employees of the boards are not federal employees. Therefore, the Committee urges USDA to recognize that such boards are not subject to the provisions of 5 U.S.C. Section 552.

The bill has not yet been passed.

Full Story Here

CU Cybersecurity Team Wins Top Honors

CU Cyber, the Clemson University competitive cybersecurity team, won first place at the recent Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition at Trident Technical College in Charleston. Team captain MacKenzie Binns also earned MVP honors as the team took home its third title in four years.

“I was very proud of the team and their performance bouncing back from last year in which many were rookies,” said Dr. Kevin McKenzie, one of the team’s faculty advisors. “Most of the time the general public is never aware that companies face real scenarios like the ones that the teams did every day to deliver the services that we expect.  To be successful, this competition requires the team to work as a cohesive unit and to operate under extreme duress of which the Clemson team did very well.”

“This was a true team effort and everyone on this team deserves the win,” said Binns. “Anybody can tell someone what to do, but everyone had the ability to carry out tasks in the face of overwhelming stress and get things done.”

The CU Cyber team poses with its place trophy at the Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition. From left to right, front to back: John Hoyt, Spencer Provost, Peter Schatteman, Nick Bulischeck, Mackenzie Binns, Kevin McKenzie, Foster McLane, Tyler Bautista.
Image Credit: Clemson University

CU Cyber bested seven other schools from the state, including the University of South Carolina, College of Charleston and The Citadel. The competition put six-person “Blue Teams” in charge of a fictional medical supply company that recently lost its IT staff, giving players 30 minutes to study the company’s technical infrastructure before “Red Team” hackers began to attack.

Teams earned points by maintaining its network and services (like email and web servers) while responding to threats and keeping business systems operational. Clemson captured two out of the three main categories on its way to victory.

S.C. Senate Dist. 3 Candidate Forum Thursday

A forum to get to know the candidates for the South Carolina District 3 Senate seat will be held Thursday from 7:30-9 a.m. at Tucker's Restaurant.

Sponsored by the Greater Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce, the forum will feature incumber Kevin Bryant and challenger Carol Burdette, the CEO of the United Way of Anderson. The pair is seeking the Republican nomination for the seat in the June 14 primary.

Each candidate will be expected to address their views, present their platform and answer questions. 

Registration is required. Tickets, which include breakfast, are $12 for Chamber members and $15 for non-Chamber members.

For more information or to register contact Gayla Bolt at 864-226-3454 or gbolt@andersonscchamber.com

Voter Registration Deadline for June Primary is May 14

If you want to vote in the June 14 South Carolina Primary elections, the deadline for registration is now less than two weeks away.

S.C. residents have until May 14 to register to vote if they wish to participate in the elections.

Anyone who is registering for the first time or needs to update their registration details must do so at their county registration office by close of business Wednesday, by mailing a registration form with a Wednesday postmark or by completing the online form by midnight. Otherwise, those voters won’t have the option of voting in the crowded GOP race.

Visit the Anderson County Voter Registration department here.

GOP Committee Calls for Shutting Down IRS

t's a U.S. taxpayer's dream: make the Internal Revenue Service go away, and the largest conservative group in Congress is endorsing just that.

The Republican Study Committee, which counts over two-thirds of House of Representatives Republicans as its members, called recently for "the complete elimination of the IRS."

The committee's support for this idea, once confined to the fringes of conservative ideology, suggests it is more widely accepted on Capitol Hill than ever. But many in Washington, including some Republicans, have trouble taking it seriously.

Calls to abolish the IRS have not been well thought through, said Republican Representative Charles Boustany in an interview.

“Before we start making blanket statements about abolishing the IRS, I think it’s important to focus on what the tax code for the 21st century should look like," said Boustany, who does not belong to the 172-member study committee.

In an election year of dramatic rhetoric that is often short on details, the committee's proposal, released April 22 and echoing language from a March budget plan, is brief.

As part of a wider appeal for federal tax reform, the committee says simply: "This proposal takes the bold step of calling for the complete elimination of the IRS. Tax collection and enforcement activities would be moved to a new, smaller and more accountable department at the Treasury."

No further specifics were offered for how to replace an agency that is already part of Treasury, collected $3.3 trillion in revenue in 2015, and processed 240 million tax returns.

General Assembly Closes with Flurry of Bills

Last week marked the time during the legislative session when a bill has to pass one chamber or the other to have a realistic chance to become law.

The crossover date is May 1 and among the bills that didn’t make it is the controversial “bathroom bill” that would require transgender people use the public restroom of their gender at birth and the gender of which they identify.

However, despite that “setback,” one of the bill’s authors, Sen. Lee Bright (R-Spartanburg), wants to attach similar wording in the state budget.

“Basically, the budget amendment would say that any local subdivision that passes an ordinance that requires businesses to allow men in women’s restrooms, then we would take the aid to subdivisions, their state funding, away,” Bright said.

The bill had plenty of opposition, from both sides of the aisle, so an amendment may have the same. It could face a veto from Governor Haley.

A number of bills, however, did pass one chamber last week.

One that passed both the Senate and the House will include licensed dentists and oral surgeons as “emergency medical providers.”

That bill will now go to Governor Haley and since it’s had no opposition at all, it will likely become law.

The sponsor of the bill is Rep. Russell Fry (R-Surfside Beach).

The South Carolina state senate passed two bills that deal with animals.

One would require veterinarians to label all prescription drugs given to an animal’s owner in accordance with state and federal law.

Failure to do so would mean a fine of not more than $500.

The bill’s two sponsors are senators Thomas McElveen (D-Sumter) and Vincent Sheheen (D-Camden), who represents a good part of Chesterfield County.

The other “animal bill” allows the issuing of “No More Homeless Pets” license plates.

Once the plates make a profit, that money would go to grants to support local animal spaying and neutering programs.

Sen. Sheheen is this bill’s sponsor.

Both bills are now in a House committee. 

The House passed a bill last week that will enable you to check a box on your state income tax form to donate to “Habitat for Humanity.”

Among the sponsors are representatives Greg Duckworth (R-North Myrtle Beach), Roger Kirby (D-Lake City), Robert Ridgeway (D-Manning), Mike Ryhal (R-Carolina Forest), Jeff Johnson (R-Conway), Richie Yow (R-Chesterfield), Grady Brown (D-Bishopville) and Robert Williams (D-Darlington).

The bill is now in the Senate.

The House also passed a bill that will allow a county that has a barrier island or a municipality within such county to pass a law that would allow you to operate a golf cart at night if that cart has working lights.

That would apply to Horry and Georgetown counties.

The bill’s two sponsors are both from the Hilton Head area.

The bill is now in the Senate.

And the House passed a bill Wednesday (4/27) that would add a valid South Carolina Concealed Weapons Permit to the list of identification forms/cards that will enable you to vote.

Among the sponsors of the bill are Representatives Alan Clemmons (R-Myrtle Beach), Jeff Johnson (R-Conway), Richie Yow (R-Chesterfield), Robert Williams (D-Darlington), Jay Jordan (R-Florence), Stephen Goldfinch (R-Murrells Inlet), Greg Duckworth (R-North Myrtle Beach), Wayne George (D-Mullins), Jackie Hayes (D-Dillon), Russell Fry (R-Surfside Beach), Kevin Hardee (R-Loris), Mike Ryhal (R-Carolina Forest), Roger Kirby (D-Lake City) and Cezar McKnight (D-Kingstree).

The bill is now in the Senate. 

And another bill that passed both chambers will make each January 17 “Eartha Kitt Day” in South Carolina.

The day won’t mean any time off from a work or a disruption in state services but it recognizes Kitt, who was born January 17, 1927, in North, South Carolina, in Orangeburg County.

Kitt was a noted actress and singer, and won a couple Emmy Awards.

Orson Welles once called her “most exciting woman in the world”.

Eartha Kitt died on Christmas Day, 2008, at the age of 81.

One of the bill’s sponsors is Rep. Cezar McKnight (D-Kingstree).

The House passed the bill unanimously but six senators voted “nay.”

None of those six opposing votes came from local lawmakers.

The bill becomes law upon the approval of Governor Haley.

Poll: Most Evangelicals Doubt Trump is Conservative

One of the most prominent pollsters who focuses on the religious beliefs and behaviors of Americans says most evangelicals actually doubt that Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is a conservative.

George Barna, the founder of the research firm Barna Group, explained during an interview with One News Now that despite media reports suggesting Trump is winning over evangelical voters, many evangelicals are weary of Trump's new-found conservatism.

"They don't really believe he's a conservative — only four percent believe he's genuinely a conservative," Barna explained.

Although some evangelical leaders like Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. and Dallas megachurch Pastor Robert Jeffress have rallied around Trump in the 2016 election, other #NeverTrump evangelicals don't believe Trump is a conservate.

Although Trump now proclaims that he is pro-life, he once proudly claimed in 1999 that he is "very pro-choice" and wouldn't favor a ban on partial-birth abortions.

While many conservative evangelicals stand firmly against ordinances allowing biological men into women's restrooms, Trump recently said transgender individuals should be allowed to use whatever bathroom they feel is appropriate. Additionally, he criticized a controversial transgender bathroom law passed in North Carolina that thousands of social conservatives rallied in defense of.

An online poll posted with the One News Now interview asked readers what grade they give Trump's conservatism. Of the 1,400-plus respondents, 51.92 percent gave Trump a "fail," while 38.19 percent selected "needs work." Only 9.89 percent selected "pass."

It's not just Trump's conservatism that evangelicals are not sold on, Barna said that evangelicals are also not sold on Trump's personality, character and history.

"They don't like his character," the pollster asserted. "[Yes] the issues matter to them, but c

Some S.C. Democrats Still Back Sanders

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is cutting campaign staff as his White House hopes dim, but some S.C. Democrats backing the U.S. senator from Vermont are not willing – yet – to concede the fight for their party’s presidential nomination. 

Still, S.C. Democratic Party chairman Jaime Harrison called Saturday for solidarity as Democrats gathered for their state convention to choose the delegates who will help pick the party’s nominee in July. 

“We have to remember who and what we’re fighting for,” said Harrison, one of six S.C. superdelegates to the Philadelphia convention. Harrison pledged his support for Clinton after she won the state’s primary in a 3-to-1 rout.

As Republicans decide their nominee, “We cannot allow ourselves to be divided and allow them to win,” Harrison said.

More than 1,000 S.C. Democrats showed up Saturday at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center to elect delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez, mentioned in his some circles as possible vice presidential candidate, gave the keynote address. Attendees also heard from the party’s lineup of candidates for the U.S. House and Senate.

Another Clinton supporter, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia, also made attempts to soothe any tensions that might be left between Clinton and Sanders supporters.

“I don’t have a thing but respect for Bernie Sanders,” said the U.S. House assistant Democratic leader, adding Sanders was his go-to senator to get support for community health care centers in the Affordable Care Act.

Calling for unity, Clyburn said, “We cannot get so upset about the results of the primary that we lose sight of what needs to happen in November.”

Sanders supporters from Columbia and elsewhere in Clyburn’s 6th District sat in a sparsely filled cluster of chairs in part of the convention center’s ballroom. Across the aisle, Clinton’s supporters packed chairs that filled an entire side of the room.

Full Story Here

S.C. Reports First Case of Zika Virus

South Carolina public health officials on Friday confirmed the first case of Zika virus in the state.

The infection was confirmed in a resident who'd recently traveled to a country with active transmission of the virus, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

“We had expected to see a case appear in South Carolina eventually as more people vacation to countries where the Zika virus is actively spreading,” said Dr. Teresa Foo, DHEC medical consultant. “As our state’s public health agency, we actively monitor for the arrival of new diseases in South Carolina in an effort to help stop the spread of the illness.”

The infected person, who'd had symptoms while out of the country, was well and not contagious by the time they returned to the U.S., officials said. So there is currently no risk to public health and no risk of transmission to people or mosquitoes in the state.

No further information about the patient was released because of privacy concerns.

April 29 Podcast: Hello Fair, Goodbye Woolworth and Chad McBride Interview