Thursday, March 22, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Irving Texas Officially Withdraws From Agenda 21 NGOs
ICLEI assists governments with the creation of local laws and requirements for city planning.
Critics assert that the organization exists to erase personal property rights and steal land rights under the “sustainable” umbrella.
On ICLEI’s website (under the “Programs” section) …
“Our campaigns, programs, and projects promote Local Agenda 21 as a participatory, long-term, strategic planning process that addresses local sustainability while protecting global common goods.”
Cities pay dues in order to obtain direction from ICLEI in establishing local policy and law.
ICLEI targets mayors — in the ‘Cool Mayor’ program, and other local officials to implement Agenda 21.
Changing Minds About Gun Rights & Marshall Law?
Two very recent moves by the The White House are concerning.
Recently, US Attorney General Eric Holder stated that "we need to change the minds of American youth about guns" ~ going as far as saying guns are unnecessary.
That can be equated as saying "rights are unnecessary".
Also recently, President Obama signed an executive order that states …
"(c) be prepared, in the event of a potential threat to the security of the United States, to take actions necessary to ensure the availability of adequate resources and production capability, including services and critical technology, for national defense requirements;"This is scary, very scary …
These two links aren't interpretation ...
Read the executive order in it's entirety here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness
Then see this video of the White House appointed US Attorney General:
http://content.bitsontherun.com/previews/vvy0FSoM-svqBtzyp?fwcc=1&fwcl=1&fwl
Monday, March 5, 2012
Important Pickens County Council Meeting Tonight / Stop TIF taxation
Dear Conservatives,
Please attend the Pickens County Council meeting on March 5, 2012 at 6:30PM.
Some very important items are on the agenda. We need a good showing of Conservatives!
If you would like to speak to the Council you need to arrive early so you can place your name on the speakers sheet.
Note the information below:
Thanks,
David Merck
President, Conservatives of the Upstate
PICKENS COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING
Monday March 5, 20126:30 PM
Auditorium, County Administration Facility
222 McDaniel Avenue
Pickens SC, 29671
This agenda is not inclusive to everything the council may discuss:
1. WELCOME AND CALL TO ORDER
2. PUBLIC FORUM:
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - February 6, 2012
4. ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT:
5. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Administration and Finance
Committee of the Whole
6. COUNCIL CORRESPONDENCE:
7. MOTION PERIOD AND NEW BUSINESS:
8. PRESENTATION FROM ANDERSON, PICKENS, OCONEE MENTAL HEALTH
9. APPROVAL OF BID FOR SIX MILE FIRE STATION
10. APPROVAL OF WEATHERLY DRIVE BEING ACCEPTED IN THE MINIMUM MAINTENANCE ROAD SYSTEM:
11. FIRST READING OF AN ORDINANCE TO ADDRESS PENALTIES RELATING TO THE SOLID WASTE STICKER PROGRAM:
12. THIRD READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 450 ESTABLISHING UNIFORM POLICIES FOR THE EVALUATION AND APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL OF TAX INCREMENT FINANCING REDEVELOPMENT PLANS AND DISTRICTS IN MUNICIPALITIES LOCATED WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF PICKENS COUNTY, AND ADDRESSING THE ISSUANCE OF MUNICIPAL DEBT FINANCING FROM REVENUES DERIVED FROM SUCH DISTRICTS, AS WELL AS THE USE OF SUCH REVENUES FOR ON-GOING PROJECTS WITHIN MUNICIPAL REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICTS ESTABLISHED PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF CHAPTER SIX OF TITLE 31 OF THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, AS AMENDED, AND RELATED MATTERS:
13. APPROVAL TO PURCHASE A FIRE TRUCK FOR ROCKY BOTTOM FIRE DISTRICT:
14. APPROVAL TO PURSUE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST CLEMSON CONCERNING TAX INCREMENT FINANCE (TIF) DISTRICT:
15. CONSENT AGENDA:
16. EXECUTIVE SESSION:
Boards and Commission (Crosswell Fire/Pickens Fire)
Legal update Margaret and Gary Pope
Legal issue (1) Pickens fire
17. ADJOURN:
Stop TIFs that are Taxation Without Representation
by Weldon Clark
Your support is needed to control TIFs that take millions of your tax money. Please support County Council's effort by coming to the next County Council meeting Monday March 5 at 6:30 Pm at the County Administration Facility at 222 McDaniel Ave Pickens and speaking at the public forum in favor of proposed ordinance 450 to control TIFs and support County Council's legal action against the City of Clemson that has abused TIFs. You must sign up ahead of time to speak.
TIFs are Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment projects (authorized by Chapter 6 of Title 31 of South Carolina code). The original reason for these projects were most likely very good. However these TIFs keep going on and on. The money comes from property taxes paid by the town residences that would ordinarily go to the County and School District. Both the County and School District provide services to the residences of the town.
Since TIF money would normally be county and school district revenue for the benefit of ALL county citizens, the citizens within the unincorporated areas must make up the loss by paying higher taxes to maintain their own services.
Something else is going on. The people in the towns get to vote in County Council elections. We in the County do not get to vote in the elections held in towns. If these TIFs continue on and on it is taxation without representation.
The City of Clemson is an example of foolish pending of TIF money. From the Greenville News Clemson city park plan envisions tennis center By Anna Simon. A new $4 million plan to guide continuing development of a park system that is already a source of pride in this college town includes a potential tennis center that would be shared by the city and university.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Landowners Get Favorable Ruling From Supreme Court
From Western Farm Press:
Farmers and ranchers prevailed this week when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of landowner property rights in the case of PPL v. Montana. This decision puts ownership of streambeds and stream banks in the hands of their rightful owners.* http://westernfarmpress.com/government/supreme-court-streambed-decision-protects-landowners
"This decision also helps ensure that farmers and ranchers will not have to pay government for the use of land or water from streambeds that run alongside or through their property. This week's decision is a win for Farm Bureau members, farmers and ranchers nationwide and all private property owners."
The American Farm Bureau Federation filed a friend-of-the-court brief along with the Montana Farm Bureau in the case. Colorado Farm Bureau and Utah Farm Bureau also filed briefs in the case in support of the petitioning landowners.
Time For A Choice
Time For A Choice
by Johnelle Raines
School choice has been a hot topic lately. With South Carolina's public school's having a poor performance year after year. It is time we begin to look to innovative ideas to improve the status quo.
America is the home of freedom and competition. School choice embraces both of those ideals. The freedom for a parent to choose which school is best for their child's education is a right we should all be pushing for. Children are not creatures of the state. Bureaucrats sitting in offices do NOT know what is best for each individual child. One size fits all education is not working.
Competition has always brought about higher quality in the business world. Common sense tells us it will also improve our public schools as well. At present only the wealthy can afford to send their children to private schools and the rest of parents have to send their children to a government run public school which may be not be providing the best environment for their child to excel.
South Carolina's taxpayers are spending over $11,000 per student, per year with overall negative results in the national rankings. Private schools on the average cost less than half that price per year with better results. Most of the $11,000 presently being spent per child is not getting to the classroom. Instead it is being “lost” in the bureaucracy of government.
Many opponents claim that if tax credits were allowed for school choice we would be taking money away from the public schools and this would further the downfall of public education. This is not true. Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Florida have all allowed school choice to become a reality and in fact it is saving the taxpayers money.
SC House bill 4894 is on the floor now to allow South Carolina parents the freedom to choose which school is best for their child. South Carolina already allows parents to choose the pre-school of their choice as well as the higher education choice for their child. Why is it parents cannot have the K-12 choice which is the most important formative years of their child? The barrier is our legislators...please contact yours and demand they support SC House bill 4894.
Johnnelle Raines
Vice President, Conservatives of the Upstate
South Carolina Legislators Debating "Property Management Bill"
Link to the bill:
http://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess119_2011-2012/bills/235.htm
South Carolina's General Assembly is considering a new law that, if passed, will allow every county council to tell their residents how to maintain their own private property.
In effect, your county council will be able to turn your whole county into one big Home Owner's Association.
Can you imagine your county council telling you:
• how tall your grass may grow;
• what kind of portable storage container you may have on your property and how long you may keep it;
• how clear your pool may be, even during the winter;
• and how to maintain the general appearance and condition of your home and property.
One Mt. Pleasant woman spent six days in jail after being cited for a messy yard under a similar ordinance.
Since when did a messy yard become a crime?
What will be next?
Will they tell you what colors your home may be painted?
Will they tell you how old your car may be?
Will they tell you how many leaves can fall on your grass before you must rake them?
What happens when your parents who are on fixed incomes may not be able to manicure their yard as county council sees fit?
What about when your neighbor who is a single mother working two jobs just to put food on the table for her children doesn't have the time or money to landscape her yard to perfection?
What about you, when you go on vacation and the grass grows faster than you expected?
County Councils have no business being the neighborhood nanny!
Pelosi Petitions Congress To Implement Agenda 21 Goals Bill
The bill is described on the House floor as follows:
H.C.Res. 353: A bill to expressing the sense of the Congress that the United States should assume a strong leadership role in implementing the decisions made at the Earth Summit by developing a national strategy to implement Agenda Twenty-One and other Earth Summit agreements through domestic policy and foreign policy, by cooperating with all countries to identify and initiate further agreements to protect the global environment, and by supporting and participating in a high-level United Nations Sustainable Development Commission.
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