Oyster Roast, Low Country Boil to Benefit Meals on Wheels

The 9th annual Oyster Roast and Low Country Boil to benefit Meals on Wheels-Anderson will be held Oct. 26 at the Anderson County Recycling and Education Center. General admission to the event is from 5 – 8 p.m., but this year offers a VIP hour beginning at 4 p.m. to a limited number of ticket holders.  

This fall tradition offers all-you-can-eat oysters, roasted to perfection on site, a Low Country boil featuring boiled shrimp, sausage, potatoes and corn, as well as homemade barbecue will be offered. 

VIP hour will only be offered to 100 guests. This hour limits the number in attendance offering more personal attention to each guest. Servers will be on hand to “wait” on guests bringing beer, wine or soft drinks to each person.  

General admission tickets for this event are $30 for adults and $15 for children under 12. VIP tickets are available for $60. Tickets must be purchased in advance and include all food and beverages. Tickets can be purchased online at www.acmow.org; at the Meals on Wheels Center at 105 S. Fant St.; or by calling 864-225-6800.

County Personnel Committee to Meet Thursday

The Anderson County Council Personnel Committee will meet Thursday at 3 p.m. in the councl chambers of the historic courthouse downtown. The agenda is primarily an executive session meeting, but the public is invited and citizen comments welcomed.

Budget Deal a Short-Term Band-Aid

Tired of the excruciating debate in Washington over the nation’s budget, the debt ceiling, and the deficit? Sick of the government shutdown, of a Congress that stumbles, again and again, into cliffhanger moments that threaten economic calamity?

Get used to it.

The deal Congress edged toward approving Wednesday night to avoid defaulting on the national debt and reopen government agencies would set up three new deadlines in December, January, and February that present the possibility of fresh crises, including threats of another shutdown and another debt default.

It means that for all the talk of tectonic battles and doomsday scenarios, the decisions this week will not be the end of the debate. It will instead mark the continuation of a drawn out process that forces the nation – from Wall Street stock traders to average heartland constituents – to endure similar fights in a matter of weeks.

As the current chapter lurched to a close, the reaction was not so much relief as despair and anger over the state of things in Washington.

“Lack of leadership. Unwillingness to face reality,” Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, a Republican, said in an interview. “A lot of us governors who were elected in 2010 faced similar budget problems. But we had the courage to make the decisions right up front.”

The most recent crisis was instigated largely by Tea Party-backed Republicans who insisted that the government not be funded unless President Obama’s health care law was delayed or defunded. Party leaders opposed the strategy, predicting that it would not work and likely backfire. They were right. It failed miserably. Republicans were unable to extract any concessions from Obama on his signature legislation.

Some moderate voices in the GOP are now optimistic arch-conservatives will begin to listen to the party’s wiser, cooler hands—and be more open to compromise as pressure builds to cut long-lasting fiscal deals.

“Hopefully having inflicted this much self-torture on themselves, they will be able to do it now,” said Judd Gregg, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire. “Maybe we had to go through this process to show people [hard-line Republicans] weren’t interested in governing. They were only interested in their own cults. They basically cost us a lot of credibility in reducing the deficit and debt.”

That may be wishful thinking. Conservatives emerged unrepentant from this week’s House defeat and vowed to continue their fight—against both Democrats and their own party leaders.

Fully Story Here

State Extending Credit Protection with New Company

People affected by the massive hacking of South Carolina’s Revenue Department servers are being offered another year of free credit monitoring. But they’ll have to sign up again, this time with a different company than the state used previously, as officials outlined Tuesday.

Enrollment begins next week for protection through CSIdentity Corp. South Carolina is paying the Texas company up to $8.5 million to provide credit monitoring to people affected by the September 2012 theft of unencrypted information from the Revenue Department’s computer servers.

Credit bureau Experian had been doing that work for nearly 1.5 million people under a $12 million contract. Handled as an emergency situation, that contract was signed without competitive bidding.

Everyone affected by the hacking is eligible for CSID’s services, but the service will not transfer enrollment from Experian, so they’ll have to sign up again. During a news conference at the Statehouse, Gov. Nikki Haley said that she’s received no pushback from people frustrated at having to sign up a second time.

“No complaints so far. I don’t anticipate any,” Haley said. “People are thankful that we are continuing the protection.”

During the past year’s budget debate, legislators were critical of Experian’s after-the-fact notifications of opened credit accounts. They sought better protections and designated $10 million for the first year of a five-year contract.

People interested in the service can call CSID at 855-880-2743 or visit www.scidprotection.com. CSID President Ross said telephone landlines throughout the state will receive automated telephone messages with signup information, and the company is taking out radio and newspaper ads throughout the state as well.

East-West Parkway to Open Nov. 8; Walking Extensions Expected

The East-West Parkway, after long delays from weather and other factors, will officially open with a public ceremony Nov. 8 at 11 a.m. on the S.C. 81 side of the parkway.

The public is invited and is asked in enter from the McGee Road side of the parkway, turn right toward the Concord Road crossing.

Details are emerging. Watch this space.

Anderson County Council Chairman Francis Crowder also said that the extention of the walking track on the parkway from AnMed's track on S.C. 81 and on the other end of the parkway extending to the Anderson County Civic Center is also in the current plan.

Belton Asks County for $50,000 to Rebuild Tennis Courts

The city of Belton asked Anderson County Council on Tuesday night for $50,000 to demolish and rebuild the tennis courts at Leda Poore Park, home for the past 57 years of the Palmetto Tennis Championships.

“The general life of a tennis court is 40-50 years,” said Belton businessman Rex Maynard, who has been active in the tennis community for many years. “We need to have the best courts and facilities to continue to compete with other bidders on the tournament.”

The total amount to renovate the facility, including new fencing in lights will be between $130,000-$140,000. Maynard said the tournament represents the largest annual sporting event in Anderson County in tourism terms of putting “heads in beds.”

Maynard said one of the competing bids for the tournament just finished a $6.5 million facility, putting pressure on Belton and Anderson County to maintain the facility and keep the tournament.

“If we don’t repair these courts, we are in great jeopardy of losing the tournament,” said. Belton City Councilman Jay West.

On Tuesday night, council also:

The Anderson County Council’s Animal Welfare Ad Hoc Committee, having complete fact gathering and three meetings with community leaders and those concerned about the puppy mill issue, will move toward getting a proposal ready soon.

“We’re going to try to get something together for an ordinance and that’s probably going to take another couple of weeks,” said. Anderson County Councilman Tom Allen, who chairs the committee.

Met for nearly an hour in executive session to discuss "Project Fleur," an economic development proposal which council members declined to go on the record identifying the company. Council unanomously approved economic incentives for the project.

Approved a finance committee to approve a $16,000 EMS grant in aid.

Approved an agreement with the Clemson University Carolina Clear, which works among regional partnerships with communities, organizations and others to educate and involve the public in waterway protection and pollution prevention.

Approved on third reading fee-in-lieu-of tax structures for SMF-SC, LLC.

Approved on third reading an ordinance to provide for the creation of the Sharen Ridge Subdivision Special Tax District.

Approved on second reading an ordinance amending Ordinance 1/99-00-1, the Anderson County Zoning Ordinance, as adopted lily 20, 1999, by amending the Anderson County Official Zoning Map to rezone from C-2 (Highway Commercial) to R-A (Residential Agricultural) two parcels of land, identified along Lakeside Drive, Denver Road, and Clemson Boulevard, consisting of +/- 24.93 acres in the Denver-Sandy Springs Precinct.

Endorsed Rocky River Master Plan, with no commitment of funds or action based on the EPA study.

Anderson County Councilwoman Gracie Floyd was sick and unable to attend Tuesday night's meeting.

Scramble Continues on Debt Ceiling Bill

House Republicans are in trouble.

GOP leadership pulled their bill to open the government and lift the debt ceiling because they didn’t have the votes to squeeze it through the chamber.

There will be no vote Tuesday, which means Washington will have one day to lift the debt ceiling before the U.S. government reaches its borrowing limit.

It’s unclear what Speaker John Boehner’s team will do next. This could, once again, sideline the House and kick action over to negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The U.S. government reaches its debt limit on Thursday and the government has been shut down for more than two weeks.

The bill that was pulled because of flagging support would’ve reopened the government until Dec. 15, lifted the debt ceiling until Feb. 7, while forcing everyone from the president to Capitol Hill staffers to pay more for their health insurance.

House Democrats said they would’ve voted nearly unanimously against this plan. That means Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) would’ve had to find 217 GOP votes to pass their bill on their own.

Conservatives immediately rebelled. Outside conservative groups like FreedomWorks and Heritage Action for America urged lawmakers to vote against the bill.

The Tuesday evening drama is ironic, because Boehner spent all day changing the bill to maximize Republican support.

It’s yet another sign that Washington isn’t moving any closer to solving a grinding fiscal impasse that has had government shut since Oct. 1.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/government-shutdown-debt-ceiling-default-update-98317.html#ixzz2hq15X6BR

Emerging Budget Deal Yields Little for GOP

It’s not a perfect deal for the White House — but it’s a worse deal for Republicans.

Democrats won’t say it too loudly just yet, but the emerging budget agreement leaves Republicans with remarkably little to show for forcing the first government shutdown in 17 years: They barely nicked Obamacare and their poll numbers are in tank.

President Barack Obama would get most of what he wanted. He had insisted that Congress reopen the government and extend the country’s borrowing authority without any ideological strings attached. He held the line on the debt ceiling and Democrats are set to hold off Republican attempts to lock in next year’s round of sequester budget cuts early.

But it’s not the squeaky clean bill Obama sought.

There would be minor changes to the president’s signature health care law. The White House and Democratic leaders will argue the Obamacare provisions were a one-for-one proposition — each party got a fix to the Affordable Care Act — and did not come as the price for raising the debt limit or restarting the government, according to Democratic officials involved in the talks.

The Obamacare provisions risk muddying the president’s message, but the changes are so negligible that even House Republicans are grumbling that it’s a clean debt limit increase.

Even if the potential Senate deal survives in the House — still very much an open question — Obama would soon be back fighting the next round with Republicans. The debt limit increase would last almost four months. It’s less than what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wanted, but longer than what House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) suggested. And the next debt limit hike wouldn’t be contingent upon a budget deal, as Boehner proposed. 

Above all, Democratic leaders thinks the potential deal allows them to make progress on their overarching goal: Convincing Republicans that Democrats won’t cave to debt limit demands.

The negotiations continued Monday night, and no formal announcement is expected until after Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) meet separately with their caucuses Tuesday. New sticking points could emerge, as they did late Monday, but both leaders closed the day by saying they were optimistic.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/barack-obama-republicans-government-shutdown-debt-ceiling-deal-98308.html#ixzz2hmU5yQwA

NSA Collecting Email, IM Contacts

The National Security Agency has been collecting contacts from people's personal email address books and instant messaging accounts in an effort to detect relationships that might be crucial to government security, the Washington Post is reporting.

The agency is collecting the data from overseas points and many of the contacts belong to Americans, the Post reports.

The Post bases its report on word from senior intelligence officials and top secret documents, including a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden..

The majority of the contacts harvested come from Yahoo and Hotmail accounts, but others also come from Facebook, Google and unspecified other providers, the Post reports. The contacts amount to a sizeable portion of the world's email and instant messaging accounts, according to the news organization.

"You need the haystack to find the needle," the Post quotes Gen. Keith B. Alexander, NSA director, as saying in defense of the bulk collection.

No one from public affairs was available to discuss the allegations at National Security Agency headquarters in Fort Meade, Md., Monday evening.

Redemption Outreach Pastor Reveals Wife's Mental Illness

Pastor Ron Carpenter of Redemption World Outreach Center in Greenville, S.C., held a "family discussion" instead of a normal church service on Sunday as he informed his congregation in a heart-wrenching confession that his wife had committed adultery multiple times over the past 10 years and was under psychiatric observation.

"As I am speaking to you right now, my wife Hope, has voluntarily checked into a one-year rehabilitation clinic and she is in isolation and she is under psychiatric evaluation at this moment," Carpenter revealed. "I've been on the phone with therapists until deep into the night last night, and the therapist told me that it was the worse case they had ever seen. That is the severity of this moment and this issue."

He shared in a shaky voice with thousands at the service and countless others watching online that he had lost 12 pounds in the last four days and had barely been eating or sleeping, and called that Sunday the worst day of his life in 45 years.

As Carpener spoke, members of the congregation intermittently rose to their feet and applauded him in a show of support, while others could be seen wiping their eyes during his difficult message.

The minister, who had informed church visitors and those watching the livestream of the Sunday service that they could excuse themselves because he was about to get into something heavy, said neither he nor the doctors know what exactly his plaguing his wife. Carpenter, who has been married for 23 years and has four children, told the congregation that his wife, Hope Hilley Carpenter, was sick and did not need anyone's "wrath."

Carpenter shared that for the past decade his wife's behavior had radically changed, putting him through what he cast as a harrowing and agonizing ordeal.

"For the last 10 years, I have been masking a situation that has absolutely almost destroyed me," he said. "In 2004, the date we dedicated this facility, Easter Sunday 2004, I left here to find a very different woman than I had ever met."

Explaining that he had courted and dated wife in a "pure, holy, sex-free relationship for three and a half years before we got married," Carpenter said he had impressed upon her during that time the challenges and scrutiny they would face as a couple in Christian ministry. He went on to describe their marriage as a "fairy tale" from 1990 to 2004, saying he could not even remember he and his wife having any arguments.

"I don't know what happened," a distraught Carpenter told his equally distraught congregation. "I went home to a person that for the next 10 years I did not marry and I have not known."

Calling his wife's behavior "erratic, reckless, nonsensical, (and) destructive," Carpenter told his flock that he "sat through two years of grueling therapy with her to no avail" and that the situation continued to grow worse. It got even worse, he said, when his wife confessed in 2010 that she had been carrying on an extra-marital relationship for the past five years.

"If I had been a regular old guy, I couldn't have took it," confessed Carpenter, explaining how and why he chose to remain with his wife at the time, instead of separating.

"But when I considered the integrity of the name of the Lord...I don't want to hurt his name. When I thought about you, when I thought about my love for her — I love her right now, I love her right now," he added through tears.

Carpenter, whose father was the late Bishop Ronald W. Carpenter, Sr. of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC), said he chose to cover his wife with love through the ordeal, as Christ was his own covering. He also said he did not want to be hypocritical by failing to practice what he himself preached.

After believing that their restoration process would produce positive results after the initial affair was revealed, Carpenter said his wife disclosed a second relationship that had been going on throughout the restoration process.

"There is a sickness, there is a whole 'nother dual life that I am finding out that has been created," Carpenter told worshippers. "Hope is not well. You need to know that. We don't know what's wrong, but these are not the actions of anybody that is right."

Emphasizing that he was committed to his kids one day having a mother "that is whole and that is well," the pastor said he was sparing no expense in affording his wife the best care, but that he would not be seeking to restore their marriage or restore her to ministry.

After a brief breakdown and audible weeping at the rostrum, Carpenter composed himself and told the congregation that his wife does not need their wrath, and that this is not "just sin."

"She does not need wrath [or] anger. She needs prayer, she needs support and she needs miracles," he said.

Carpenter also pointed out that he would not be leaving or going on a sabbatical, as he had done nothing wrong.

"The reason I'm not going on a sabbatical and not I'm trying to solicit hand claps, I'm being honest with you, is that at this point in my life I only have two joys — it's my kids and it's you, and I don't need to be separated from you right now," he said, breaking out in tears once more.

But Carpenter also made it clear that he understood if any members of Redemption World Outreach Center felt inclined to remove themselves from under his leadership but asked them to give him a chance.

"I know I am going to be under intense scrutiny. I'm just gonna have to deal with it, but I will do everything in my power to regain your trust...and I will walk this thing out with integrity and authenticity," he said.

He added, "The world will watch how we respond to this right here. This is gonna go viral. There are no secrets anymore, and I will be a YouTube and Internet sensation before supper time. I can't control what media does and I can't control what magazines write."

Carpenter, who said he would be preaching the following Sunday at a service that would be the "most powerful in the history of Redemption World Outreach Center," concluded his talk Sunday by sharing a letter from his daughter, who quoted Philippians 4:12-13: "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength."

Carpenter expressed his steadfast commitment to continue serving the Lord and told the congregation, "I love you." His full message from Sunday, Oct. 13, was made available online.

Friends and supporters of Carpenter and his congregation have expressed prayers for the Christian minister, many of them writing their messages on Twitter:

"Sending prayer and love your way during this season...Hold on sir. We care!" wrote Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter's House in Dallas, Texas.

"Praying and standing with @roncarpenter and Hope @rwoc," tweeted Ed Young, pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas.

Dharius Daniels, pastor of Kingdom Church in Princeton, N.J., wrote, "Love you @roncarpenter, praying for you."

Pastor Perry Noble of NewSpring Church in Anderson, S.C., tweeted, "I love you @roncarpenter — praying for you and standing with you my friend!"

"Praying for @roncarpenter today," wrote Elevation Church Pastor Steven Furtick in Charlotte, N.C. "He is a good man & a true friend. Love & respect to you, Pastor Ron."

According to his ministry website, Pastor Carpenter and his wife, Hope, founded Redemption World Outreach Center in 1991 with just three members "and a passion for breaking down the walls of racism, crossing cultural lines, and changing poverty mindsets in their community as well as around the world." The International Pentecostal Holiness Church congregation is home to about 13,000 members.

No Deal in Site as Debt Deadline Looms

The stakes of the stalemate are high -- and climbing.

The partial government shutdown entered its 14th day Monday, just three days before the U.S. government bumps up against its projected borrowing limit.

Talks both on ending the shutdown and on avoiding the debt ceiling have shifted to the Senate, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, along with other top senators, began discussions this weekend.

The Senate reconvened Sunday afternoon, with Reid saying he would do "everything I can throughout the day" to reach some sort of bargain with the chamber's Republican minority.

But a source familiar with the ongoing Senate discussions expressed doubt that any significant progress would be made Sunday evening. And the Senate adjourned shortly before 5 p.m. ET, showing no signs of such progress.

Still, Reid struck a positive note as he spoke on the Senate floor.

"I've had a productive conversation with the Republican leader this afternoon. Our discussions were substantive and we'll continue those discussions. I'm optimistic about the prospects for a positive conclusion," he said.

The Senate will meet again Monday at 2 p.m. ET.

County Council to Vote on Mergon Expansion in Anderson

Anderson County Council on Tuesday night will vote on second reading a the fee-in-lieu of taxes incentive for the expansion of Mergon Corporation of Anderson. The company promises $4.5 million in new investment and an additional 22 full-time jobs in the county. The company, which already operates in Anderson County and which the county had identified by the code name "Project Windermere," was indentified two weeks agao by the Anderson Observer as the Irish-based business and  advanced plastics manufacturer Mergon, which operates on Pearman Dairy Road. The new agreement includes tax breaks for the business and other infrastructure inducements. The average salary for the new jobs will be $13 per hour. Burris Nelson. director of economic development for Anderson County, said the company’s economic impact for the first year will be $4.3 million, with a 20-year total community impact of $26 million.  Nelson said the international company considered moving the current operation which includes 100 jobs, to Eastern Europe or Mexico before deciding to stay in Anderson.

Council will also look at zoning, the budget and hear a report from the Animal Welfare Ad Hoc Committee as part of the meeting. The CAT bus/Homeland Park bus situation is not on Tuesday's agenda.

Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the historic courthouse downtown.

Full Agenda Here

Finance Committee to Discuss Puppy Mill Monday

The Anderson County Council Finance Committee will discuss issues concerning the recent puppy mill rescue in as part of its meeting Monday at 6 p.m. in the council chambers of the historic courthouse downtown.

The public is invited.