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Thursday, December 24, 2015
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
High School Coach Suspended For Praying Files Federal Lawsuit...
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
December 2015 Meeting ...
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
A summary of the December 2015 County Council Meeting (12/7/15)
Last night the Pickens County Council had their last public meeting before the Christmas Holidays.
It was the pleasure of the Conservatives of the Upstate to wish each and every member of the Council a Merry Christmas and remind them of Jesus Christ's birth.
Junius Smith presented Mrs. Patricia Watkins' Children's book featuring her doggy. Was very professionally and interestingly done.
Junius Smith represented The Conservatives of the Upstate and he covered the following items:
1. The performance of the County County Council is far better than that of the School Board for the following reasons. The School Board failed to follow law 12-43- 285 at the last meeting and even after being warned that they were breaking the law in spending some of the $789,000 dollars over collected that should be refunded to the people, they voted to spend some of the money anyway on assistant principal pay raises.
2. They refused to stop refinancing the revenue bonds that they do not own; thus violating a court order and the law concerning the limitation of borrowing by schools to 8% of the appraised property in the county. SCAGO owns the bonds. and cannot transfer them or the money to the Board.
3. The County Council just recently came out in favor of a non-admittance to unvetted Syrian refugees at the request of the Conservatives of the Upstate. Johnnelle Raines led this discussion for COTU. We all are proud of their foresight in light of the San Bernardino massacre.
4. The County Council was praised for their swift action in eliminating the fire fee on vacant land. They were reminded that the mobile home fee is still too high and were asked to lower this fee.
5. The Conservatives of the Upstate recommend that the Council study the following requests for action in 2016:
A. Over-collection of taxes and their disposition.
B. Refuse the $6.5 million demand by Tri-County Tech for the purpose of building a Student Union building because Pickens County has spent $10s of millions already on a career center which duplicates the Tri-County mission that they have practically abandoned.
C. Reclassifying road front property
D. Change Comprehensive Plan to a more free enterprise, capitalistic, plan.
E. Fix the County Jail problem without building a completely new jail. Lead a forum on the Judicial system which is broken and causing the jail to be over occupied.
F. After requesting relief for the umpteenth time, sue the State of South Carolina for not funding the county properly.
G. Involve the Pickens County Auditor and Treasurer in the setting of millage and the over-collection as per 12-43-285.
H. Establish a system for monitoring the internet and instructing the Sheriff's office to follow up on dangerous items posted.
Then Pree Hamilton of the County Humane Society thanked Neil Smith for contributing $500 dollars for a computer and asked for any available funds. Mrs Patricia Watkins and Junius Smith also made contributions.
The auditing of the County books revealed no major problems.
The More Peaceful Side Of Islam Speaks ...
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Charleston Senator Pre-files SC Gun Registration Bill ...
A BILL TO AMEND CHAPTER 31, TITLE 23 OF THE 1976 CODE, RELATING TO FIREARMS, TO PROVIDE THAT A PERSON WHO OWNS A FIREARM SHALL REGISTER THE FIREARM WITH THE STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT DIVISION; TO PROVIDE THAT THE STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT DIVISION SHALL MAINTAIN A LIST OF FIREARM SERIAL NUMBERS; TO PROVIDE THAT THE STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT DIVISION MUST PUBLISH A REPORT; TO PROVIDE FOR PENALTIES; AND TO DEFINE NECESSARY TERMS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Chapter 31, Title 23 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
“Section 23-31-30. (A) For the purposes of this section, ‘firearm’ means a weapon which is designed to or readily may be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive, or the frame or receiver of that weapon.
(B)(1) A person who owns a firearm within this State shall register the firearm’s serial number and the person’s contact information with SLED within thirty days of purchase.
(2) Any change of contact information must be communicated in writing to SLED within ten days of the change.
(C) A person who owns a firearm that does not have a serial number shall bring the firearm to SLED headquarters to have it registered in a manner determined by SLED.
(D) SLED must maintain a list of all firearm serial numbers and the names and contact information for each person to whom the firearm is registered. SLED may release the list of firearm serial numbers or verify the status of the serial number only if the request is made by a law enforcement agency to aid in an official investigation, or if the list is required to be released pursuant to a subpoena or court order. SLED may charge a fee not to exceed its costs in releasing the information under this subsection. Except as otherwise provided in the subsection, a person in possession of a list of firearm serial numbers obtained from SLED must destroy the list.
(E) During the first quarter of each calendar year, SLED must publish a report of the information regarding the previous calendar year. The report must include a breakdown of the information by county.
(F) A person who fails to register the firearm’s serial number in accordance with this section is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.”
SECTION 2. A person who owns a firearm as of the effective date of this act shall have one year from the effective date of this act to register his firearm with SLED. During the first year after the effective date of this act, the penalty provision contained in this act shall be suspended for violations by a person who owned a firearm prior to the effective date of this act. In lieu of the penalties for those people, warnings shall be issued for violations. The warnings must include information related to registration requirements and the manner in which the owner of a firearm must register the firearm. SLED shall undertake an educational campaign to inform the public of the registration requirements contained in this act.
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
* Credit: Spartanburg Tea Party