Notes from the April 2016 COTU Meeting ...

Our meeting last night was a real good one. It featured two candidates: Tim Morgan for Sheriff and Allen Quinn for The District 2 Senate seat currently held by Larry Martin. Before we get into last night's meeting, I want to praise our group for the presentations that were made at the meeting to save our schools.  Johnnelle Raines led off the meeting with an impassioned speech on "who is the boss of your children, you or the schools".  Of course we at the Conservatives of the Upstate believe that our parents must be charge and a good way to show who is in charge is to refuse the ungodly tests that are being demanded of our children.  She also made a strong case against parents for not attending these meetings after displaying such anger and emotion when the School Board conducted their Delphi Technique loaded meetings.  Also donations for a lawyer have been slow and need to pick up so we can achieve our goal of $7,500.  You see, we are trying to do something real while the School Board is playing tricks a smoke and mirrors game.  They have already made a bunch of personnel moves to close these schools, so the faster we get the money for an attorney, the faster we can let them know we won't tolerate this plan of ignoring the people's wishes.  Congratulations Johnnelle and thank you from those of us who know how hard you have worked to save these schools.

Then there was Deana McAnulty who reported expertly on the new Charter school that is to be built in Easley. It is to be called Clearview Collegic Academy.  Deana pointed out that a student wishing to go to college could achieve 60 credit hours of college work in Clearview which would put them nearly half way through college and save the parents a tremendous amount of money, and that these credits are acceptable to both Clemson and Carolina and all other state universities and colleges.  Deana also reported that Clearview would supply an excellent sports program, and that many of their students at the other two schools in Columbia and Charleston had many students to earn scholarships.  Sports are not a requirement though.  The academic schedules for students could be in the morning or the afternoon and that generally the students that participate in sports would get their academic work in the morning while those not in sports do their academic work in the afternoon.  School would be available from 6 through the 12th grades.  Emphasis will be placed on the business model.  Thanks Deana for you covering both of the charter school meetings and presenting a great report.

Don Joslyn presented the progress made in hiring an attorney to sue the school board for various violations of constitutional and statutory laws.  We need to thank Don for his diligence in this endeavor, and it is our hope that we will prevail over this tyranny of school closings in court since the School Board will not listen to the people.  Thanks very much Don.

The meeting with candidates was begun with Tim Morgan.  He described his background and experience with the former sheriff, David Stone.  He emphasized that he believed in the team approach to the job he was running for.  He spent several minutes explaining his plan for implementing his idea of the approach, which got a warm reception for the audience. He explained his position on a new jail, which he said would probably be needed down the road, but first the judicial system needed to be corrected by the General Assembly so that the constitution could be lived up to on timeliness of trials.  He was not sure exactly what would be the course of action, but that it would be cheaper to hire another prosecutor and maybe a defending attorney than it would be to build another jail right now.  This would take care of the overcrowding.  He said that the sewage system in the current jail needs to be redone because it was made out of terracotta pipe and continually had to be worked on.  There were too many other items that were discussed to write here, but it was a very productive meeting.  I am sure Tim would be glad to discuss his candidacy with you over the phone.  Thanks Tim for coming and sharing your thoughts with us.

Next, we heard from Allen Quinn, Candidate for the District 2 Senate Seat.  He told us about himself. He is from Easley, loves animals and had been very active in rodeo in the area.  He was in textiles for a period and was very sorry that the industry and all its jobs had left Pickens County for good.  He was critical of the current General Assembly and our local politicians for not doing a better job of securing jobs for the people of Pickens County.  He had a plan to help correct this problem if he is elected.  Another one of his plans was to fix the road maintenance without raising taxes by creating some fairness in the way money was being allocated in Columbia and eliminating waste and fraud.  He believes that politicians in Columbia should follow the constitution of this state, and the federal government as they have taken an oath to do so.  He believes that the constitution should be followed in funding our schools and spending the money taken in which is not happening now. Mr. Quinn spoke of other things and he would be glad to discuss them with you.  Thanks to Mr. Quinn for coming to speak with us.

Any candidate that would like to come to our May meeting the second Thursday in May at 6:30 PM at the Blue Ridge Bible Church at 769 Belle Shoals Road is welcome.  We will give everyone an equal chance to speak and answer questions.  

Just call 868-9298 and ask for Junius Smith.