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Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Where does "Anderson County's Local Option Sales Tax" fit into the SC Constitution?

The Greenville News published this piece how Anderson County School District 1 has been able to afford many "items on their want list" with their penny sales tax ...


How does this tax fit into the SC State Constitution?

Article 11 section 3 ...

System of free public schools and other public institutions of learning.

The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free public schools open to all children in the State and shall establish, organize and support such other public institutions of learning, as may be desirable.

If the "support" is to come from "The General Assembly (i.e. the State of SC Legislature) how can "a county" possibly "support" the schools - according to our State Constitution?

Where in any document whatsoever can it be found that "Anderson County shall supplement education"?

Say No To Coal Ash Signs Are In ...

THE SIGNS ARE IN!

You can go by "A STORAGE PLACE" located at 

109 Pilgrim Drive in Easley 

to pick up your sign to raise awareness on this issue! 

Call ahead to make sure Steve is there ...he is usually there 8AM -5PM M-F ...but call ahead to make sure.

Phone # 864-859-3575


Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Teacher's Union Sues To Stop Vouchers ...

A teachers union in Florida has sued the state to stop the popular voucher system in the State of Florida.


Rallies across the state, encouraging teachers to "Drop The Suit" occurred statewide on Tuesday January 19, 2016 ...


Thursday, January 14, 2016

Two "gun registration" bills presented for debate in 2016 SC Legislature...

Gun registration bills filed in South Carolina -

H. 4564 Rep. Jefferson: A BILL TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING ARTICLE 11 TO CHAPTER 31, TITLE 23 SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR THE REGISTRATION OF ALL FIREARMS BROUGHT INTO THE STATE OR PURCHASED WITHIN THE STATE WITH THE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT OF THE COUNTY IN WHICH THE OWNER RESIDES OR IS LODGING.

S. 943 Senator Kimpson: 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. Prefiled and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

COTU says NO to coal ash ...


Please contact the South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control who can be reached at  info@dhec.sc.gov 

(SCDHEC) 

.... and voice your opposition to the MRR landfill of coal ash! 

Do it today!

January 2016 Meeting ...

Our regular monthly meeting of the Conservatives of the Upstate (COTU) will be held at the Blue Ridge Bible Church Thursday(tomorrow) at 6:30PM.  

We will be planning for our first Question the Candidate Program the second Thursday in February. 

 It is of utmost importance that everyone come to these meetings so we have a chance to recommend conservative candidates for election.

Friday, January 8, 2016

You're Fired! By Johnnelle Raines


Have our SC Republican leaders ever read, “The Platform of the SC Republican Party?” which can be found here: https://www.scgop.com/resources/platform/

If so, the majority aren’t following it. “THEY” should be following it as it has everything “THEY” need to know about what WE THE PEOPLE who elected them want them to do while in Columbia!

Franklin Graham has resigned from the Republican Party? Why is that?

Donald Trump is supported by the majority of the voters to be our next Republican President. Why is that?

WE THE PEOPLE are ANGRY with career politicians who say one thing to get elected and betray us when they go to Columbia. 

OUR GRIEVANCES AGAINST SC LEGISLATORS AND OUR GOVERNOR:

THEY are allowing our state tax dollars to flow to Planned Parenthood so they can sell baby parts and murder babies in the womb. But if it were Animal Control Officers selling baby dog parts and aborting baby dogs, I bet they would defund them.

THEY removed our heritage The Confederate Flag from the grounds of the capitol in Columbia in the name of political correctness and now the National GOP has rewarded Nikki Haley for advancing Obama’s agenda of destroying Southern History.

THEY are not immediately defunding state funds to the influx of Muslim refugees which places SC lives in jeopardy and violates their oath to protect us from all enemies. Rep. Neal Collins doesn’t believe in transparency as he has deleted his pro Muslim statements on his FACEBOOK page. I guess he is following Hillary Clinton’s lead in deleting emails.

THEY investigate each other on ethics issues and have backroom deals with Democrats and lobbyist that betray our values and beliefs.

THEY have done very little to fix transparency with DOT or fix pot holes in our roads; however they give certain Senators’ counties plenty of funds to repair their roads.

THEY ignore their own passed legislation repealing Common Core and allow 90% mirrored standards which are still child abusive and indoctrinate children in liberal thinking.

THEY ignore Parents’ wishes for more school choice and the ability to opt their children out of data collecting stress producing tests. And continue to allow the Federal Government to have control over States’ rights to direct education.

THEY do very little to strengthen our property rights and leave us open to Socialism.

THEY are under-funding our schools which force our counties to over collect and raise taxes.

THEY are allowing illegal immigrants and probable terrorist refugees to receive our hard earned tax dollars to buy homes, cars and food at our expense and take our American born children’s jobs.

THEY do very little to help Veterans and Senior Citizens receive a cost of living increase while illegals and refugees get freebies with our tax dollars

THEY are allowing open primaries where Democrats can pick our leaders.

THEY do very little to protect our religious freedoms which forces our clergy to perform homosexual marriages and business owners to sell flowers and cakes to celebrate an abomination against God’s law.

THEY do very little to protect our second, fourth, and tenth amendment.

THEY do nothing about limiting legislator and judge term limits.

THEY haven’t fixed the problems with the flawed judicial system which promotes cronyism and nepotism. We need elected judges who are held accountable to WE THE PEOPLE for the wrongful decisions on cases.

Let’s show them how angry WE THE PEOPLE are and tell them what Donald Trump would say, “YOU’RE FIRED!”  

Their betrayal to Southern Christian Conservative Pride, Values, and Beliefs is overthrowing States’ Rights and Freedom in American. They are no better than our enemies who seek to destroy American from within. VOTE THEM OUT 2016!

Thursday, January 7, 2016

President of Conservatives of The Upstate; Junius Smith speaks before the Pickens County Delegation ...

Some talking points for tonight's Delegation meeting ....




Laws broken by School Board

1. SC law 12-43-285 Setting millage rates - what to do if rates are too high and revenue is collected over and above because of millage rates.  Revenue collected because of wrong percentages set for collect-ability 95% instead of 103 %- What to do!  Revenue gained for price variations: For instance gasoline is now 1/2 of what it was budgeted- tremendous windfall to the Schools.  In all cases over-collected revenue should be put in a separate account by County Treasurer and either refunded or credited to tax payer.  This money does not belong to the School District and if the State was funding the Schools like is required by law in our Constitution, Article 11 Section 3, none of this would be a problem.

2.  The School Board has recently refinanced $320,000,000 of bonds that they do not own and can't own according to the Constitution's 8% of appraised property rule in the county. This not only violates the Constitution but the original findings on the "Greenville Plan" by the SC Supreme Court saying that there was no evidence that the the SCAGO dummy corporation was the alter ego of the Pickens County School Board.  There are $789,000 in overages this year in the first quarter. $3.2 million for the year.

3.  The School Board Financial Officer said that he was moving funds from one place to another which is a violation of the Article 10 Section 5's  part "  Any tax which shall be levied shall distinctly state the public purpose to which the proceeds of the tax shall be applied."  Also if you have money for the replacement of a roof that does not need replacing as budgeted, that money cannot be moved  to operating expense items because of the personal residence owner discount on their taxes. This all means that money that has been taxed without the home owner discount, cannot be used to pay for the home owner discounted items.

4.  The people of Pickens County do not want the unvetted Syrian refugees.

5.  The people of Pickens County do not want to pay $6.5 million dollars for a student union building at Tri-County Tech.  This is the State's responsibility. (Article 11 Section 3) and it causes the County to exceed the 8% rule for general obligation bonds for education.  Pickens County has spent tens of millions of dollars on a career center and staffed it with teachers to do the mission of Tri-County Tech.

These are some things that the State has let us down on.

Junius Smith

2016 Pickens County Legislative Delegation Meeting ...


Sunday, January 3, 2016

Upcoming meetings and talking points ...


The Pickens County Council will meet Monday January 4, 2015 at 6:30PM at the County Administration Building.  

One of the major talking points is that Tri-county Tech wants $6.5 million dollars to build a student union building.

The major issue here is that it is against the law under Article 11 Section 3 of the Constitution of South Carolina.  The State is responsible for funding education: Buildings, maintenance, and operating expense.  If we get into this type of borrowing expense, it will be never ending.  If Tri-County Tech wants this building, the State should pay for it.  The only other way that they could get the County involved is to put it on the ballot in November, and let the people decide whether they want to fund it.  I remind you that we are already in debt over $355 million (some revenue bonds, some general obligation bonds) for buildings in this County.  I want to also remind you that Tri-County Tech's original mission was to train workers for industry. Now the Pickens County School District has spent tens of millions of dollars and hired a bunch of teachers to do the mission that is supposed to be done by Tri-County Tech.  They are now a Junior College for Clemson University, teaching many students that want to avoid some professors at Clemson and taking college courses at a cheaper price; which is fine but should not be the expense of the County.

I think before this is voted on by the Council, we should be given a public legal opinion by our County Legal Advice and also the State Attorney General.

Another talking point is the Syrian Refugee problem.  Enough info has already been sent out on this.

There will be other talking points for the January 7, 2015 meeting with the delegation to be held at Clemson City Hall Chambers at 5:30PM.

If you do not come to these meetings and make your wishes known, prepare to have your taxes raised.  We should let it be known that we will sue individually and collectively every member of the Council that votes favorably for the $6.5 million.

Also note:

January 25, 2016 School District Of Pickens County Board Meeting / 1348 Griffin Mill Rd Easley @7PM 

Conservatives Of The Upstate Monthly Meeting / 6:30PM Second Thursday each month. Next meeting Thursday January 14, 2016 at Blue Ridge Bible Church, 769 Belle Shoals Rd.  


Junius Smith