A few years ago ...
1. Pickens County Senator Larry Martin put through a bill to eliminate the two at large seats on the school board.
2. At the time it arrived on SC Governor Mark Sanford's desk, Junius Smith called his office. The Governor's representative told Mr. Smith that the Governor had no reason to sign it because no one from Pickens County had called his office requesting it be made law.
3. Junius Smith personally arranged for more than 100 people to call in one hour.
4. A representative from the Governor's office finally called Mr. Smith back and told him that our calls were blocking the Governor's business and that he would sign the bill if the calls stopped. Mr. Smith agreed.
The reason we had asked Governor Sanford to sign the bill was because the school board in place at the time used the "Greenville Plan" to put Pickens County taxpayers under the highest tax burden in the history of the County.
The debt now stands at $378 million+ of Greenville Plan debt plus another $32 million+ in legal 8% bonded indebtedness. Taxes are due to go up next year to meet the increasing existing debt. We cannot allow another school board member, designed SOLELY to gain enough votes to vote in ANOTHER $35 million for a new school.
Easley is going to spend millions on a bicycle trail and maybe it would be more prudent to spend that money on another school for their children.
Our Legislative Representative, David Hiott, was asked a simple question by Junius Smith and again by Philip Smith,
"Why were we not informed properly by the delegation of their meeting held on Wednesday September 18, 2013 discuss this issue?"No PUBLISHED notice was made by ANY news organization concerning this meeting.
The meeting was held in the morning on a Wednesday (when arguably most are at work or at the Pickens County Flea market in this county.)
After Philip asked the same question, Representative Hiott reacted violently and nonprofessionally, and yelled at Philip that he had "… no intention of calling him every time that he decided to do something." Representative Hiott forgets that it is his job to keep the people informed of his plans for our county, that the seat he occupies in the legislature belongs to the people not him.
Philip is a member of the press; editor and writer for The Liberty Monitor, and both Junius and Philip are his constituents from two different areas.
After the meeting, Philip asked Hiott for an apology. Hiott angrily pointed towards his secretary and said, "Come over here! I'll prove to you we gave notice."
Hiott asked his secretary, "Didn't you notify the press about this meeting?"
The secretary confirmed she had not notified the press properly in order for publication and public notice of the event. Hiott continued to spout off angrily.
Mr. Hiott should resign his office and let someone who cares about his constituents have the seat.
Junius Smith
President, Conservatives Of The Upstate
Amen! I am so glad Junius and Philip Smith are speaking up! They are my heroes!
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