Thursday, March 31, 2016
Meeting regarding action against Pickens School Board ...
A free Pickens County community meeting will be held Tuesday, April 12, 2016 from 7pm till 8pm to provide information for concerned citizens over the recent School Board decision to close two of our rural schools.
This meeting will provide updates on the three plans in place to fight back against this decision which was clearly against the WILL OF THE PEOPLE OF PICKENS COUNTY. The three plans are #1 Law Suit #2 Charter School #3 Refusing the Spring high stakes tests .
Grassroots activists will be our speakers and hopefully we will try our best to answer your questions about the plans.
Donations will be accepted to pay for the retainer fee of our lawyer we have retained.
Meeting will take place at the Pickens Senior Center located at 129 Schoolhouse Street, Pickens, SC. Park in the back and enter through back entrance. Turn left down hallway and meeting will be held in multi-purpose room.
Monday, March 28, 2016
When someone on social media tells you how great Denmark is ...
Another fact: It's cold! 63° in July / -5° in January
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Sunday, March 20, 2016
A Tyrannical School Board by Johnnelle Raines
A Tyrannical School Board
Tyranny is “cruel and unfair treatment by people with powers over others” according to Webster. Thomas Jefferson once said, “Experience hath shown, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
This is exactly what has happened with the Pickens County School Board with the recent closing of two rural schools against the will of the people. Is that not unfair and cruel?
The overwhelming majority of the citizens of Pickens County did NOT want these two schools closed and made their wishes known to board members. Only two school board members listened to the will of the people; Alex Saitta and Henry Wilson. They obviously don’t believe in tyranny.
The other 4 members shut people out in the rain when the decision was made, ignored motion after motion by Saitta and Wilson to give more time and thought for the will of the people to prevail.
After a call in blitz that was held recently, it has become quite clear that the SC State Board of Education will do nothing even though they do have the ultimate authority over education according to the SC Constitution.
It has become quite clear that Gov. Nikki Haley is not going to intervene.
None of our Pickens Legislative Delegation members have offered any solutions.
Isn’t it interesting that all of the above elected officials will get involved in situations that “they” think are important; like take down the Dixie flag? But yet when WE THE PEOPLE feel there is an unjust tyrannical school board holding our schools hostage for ransom we get just a …”sorry we can’t help.” When the board threatens to close schools because you aren’t giving them enough money… that is extortion!
Edmond Burke once said, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”
Don’t remain silent people or there will be more tyrannical decisions made by these tyrants!
Rick Tate Files For Office To Challenge Neal Collins ...
Rick Tate To Challenge Establishment Incumbent
Easley resident Rick Tate filed paperwork to run for the SC House District 5 seat on Friday, March 18th. The district includes Easley and parts of Dacusville, Liberty, and Powdersville. For Tate the responsibility of being a House Representative includes being a delegate and trustee on behalf of the people in Pickens County.
Mr. Tate has helped Pickens County residents stand up to establishment politicians that have ignored the interests of the taxpayers. In 2015 Tate was elected First Vice Chairman of the Pickens County Republican Party.
Since the 1990’s Rick Tate has worked with other citizens to engage elected officials over issues such as education. On this he says, “Becoming a parent brought home the importance of choices we have to make about our children’s education. I looked at options we had as parents and became an advocate of school choice.” Underfunding of the state’s school districts has been a major issue for Tate.
On business related issues Tate states, “I have been in a supervisory position making tough decisions about others’ employment. Having had my own small business, to me taxes and regulation are realities, not just political buzzwords.”
The primary date in South Carolina is Tuesday, June 14, 2016.
Media wishing to learn more can contact Rick Tate directly.
• Phone: (864) 810-7457 or (864) 230-0084
• Email: Rick.Tate@hotmail.com
• Website: www.VoteRickTate.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/votericktate
Monday, March 14, 2016
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Notes about the March 2016 Pickens County Council meeting...
I was disappointed in last night's meeting with the County Council. There does not seem to be enough interest in preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution of this State and frugally spending our hard earned tax dollars. In my presentation to the Council I asked two important questions: 1. How much money is in the budget to fund the 6.5 million dollars that Tri-County Tech wants to build a Student Union Building? 2. How much money is in the budget to fund recreation projects? Let me be specific as to why I asked these two questions. First, the request from Tri-County Tech, is in my opinion, Illegal for several reasons. It violates Pickens County's 8% limitation on bonded indebtedness as the school board has already used all 8 %. It violates Article 10 Section 5 of the SC Constitution in that taxes must be given a specific use before they are collected and cannot be used for other projects. It violates Article 11 Section 3 that says the state is responsible for funding education. It is not in the best interests of the taxpayers. The County Council should not even entertain the project much less be rude to Mrs. Pat Watkins for even talking about it. It seems that the Council is having a problem with the Greenville News and surmised that the News had misinformed the public. This was not the case. The News had quoted a County Council member as saying I guess we will have to bite the bullet on this request. I personally have an email from a County Council Member stating the he favored the building expenditure. I was also told that there were 3 other members that favored the expenditure. This is why Mrs. Watkins said what she said. So she did not deserve the yelling from a council member, "where did you get your information" repeatedly. Mrs. Watkins deserves an apology. Another issue was the presentation of the 12 mile recreation project. A citizen from Greenville stated that he didn't believe there would be much economic gain from the project as the folks who brought their boats rarely bought anything except maybe a drink and they did not need anymore docks or facilities. Another Greenville resident expressed his belief that there would not be 80 jobs created. This job increase is being used by the Council to justify the counties expenditures. Another presentation was by Ms. Betty Roe on a Charter School for Pickens County. There will be two local meetings to discuss this project. March 15 at 6:30 at the Dream Center of Pickens County, 111 Hillcrest Drive, Easley SC, 29640 and April 7 @ 6:30 @ Smithfield Country Club, 100 Pine Ridge Drive, Easley, SC, 29642. This could be a very important meetings for our children. Don't forget our meeting Thursday night, March 10 at the Blue Ridge Bible Church. Rex Rice, candidate for State Senator, will be there at 6:30 to answer your questions! Junius Smith President |
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
March 2016 COTU meeting ...
Rex Rice, candidate for the SC Senate District 2 seat currently held by Larry Martin, will be the guest speaker at the next monthly meeting of Conservatives of the Upstate.
Mr. Rice is a former member of the SC House of Representatives. The public is invited to attend the meeting and ask the candidate questions. The meeting will be held on Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 6:30 PM.
The location is:
Blue Ridge Bible Church
769 Belle Shoals Rd
Pickens SC 29671
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