Category Archives: Midlands

This just in… Rod Shealy is ‘reformed’

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Here’s a man-bites-dog for you — Rod Shealy has PBS convinced that he is a reformed "bad boy." They actually used that word — "reformed." At least they said "claims to be." But still. If this gets around, Rod’s going to lose his whole mystique.

To complete the picture of Southern boys putting one over on out-of-staters — the only S.C. blog linked from the pages about the PBS package on dirty politics is Will Folks’ blog! How can they give such an exclusive to a guy who can’t even get Jeri Thompson to talk to him.

Dang. Maybe the libertarians are right about public financing of public broadcasting…

McCainiacs at play

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Mccainnhparty_007

As I mentioned back here, I tried dropping by some of the campaign gatherings last night. I had received e-mail invitations to gatherings the McCain and Obama folks were having (both of them anticipating wins), and I thought I’d swing by any others I could find.

Seeing the lights on at the Romney HQ, I stopped there first, but my timing wasn’t good. I had first dropped by my daughter’s place to hold my grandchildren for an hour, so I was out of touch. To my surprise, as I walked in, Mr. Romney was giving his NH concession speech. As bad as my timing was (seeing as how I wasn’t invited), I bugged Will Holley yet again about getting the candidate in for an interview before Friday, then left, seeing as how no one was in much of a chatting mood.

I then went by the McCain gathering at The Back Porch, which was the only place with a crowd, so I shot these pictures just as McCain was giving his victory speech. No one seemed to take much notice of the flash (which I hate using, because it’s generally so intrusive), with all that was going on. Then it hit me that I needed to go redo the editorial page, so I split.

After I left the paper again, a little after 10, I went looking for the Obama "party." Needless to say, there wasn’t one. There had been an intended party, at Damon’s, but by the time I got there I saw only 4 or 5 people standing around looking dazed. I decided to head to Obama HQ, but on the way I called Zac Wright, the only Clinton staffer whose number I had programmed into my Treo. I figured the Clinton people were probably having a party that would make the McCain gathering look like a funeral. But I couldn’t get Zac. (Haven’t been able to get him today, either — although Warren has talked to Darrell Jackson.)

At Obama HQ things were quite subdued. I only saw one person I knew at first — top staffers seemed to be in a back room in a conference call or something. I did chat with Inez Tenenbaum as she passed through the entrance area on her way out, but I’ve already mentioned that.

So all I have to show for all that would-be party-hopping is these few snaps from the short while I was at the McCain thing. Make of the photos what you will. You probably already knew that Speaker Bobby Harrell, Attorney General Henry McMaster, Sen. Mike Fair, Rep. Gloria Haskins and ex-Rep. Rick Quinn were in the McCain camp, and that B.J. Boling and Buzz Jacobs were on staff (The staffers reminded me that the last time I’d been to the McCain HQ — which is right next door to The Back Porch — it was a much lonelier place). I didn’t know about Glenn McConnell, but then for all I know he was just looking for a free drink on the night of the first day of the legislative session. I didn’t ask; I only saw him (and snapped the pic) on my way out the door.

And yup, that is TPS blogger Adam Fogle whose McCain sticker the attorney general is pointing at in the picture at top. The rest of the pics follow…

Mccainnhparty_001_2

Mccainnhparty_014_2

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Jake Knotts shocker!

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Mccainbus_135

Were you shocked to read on Friday that state Sen. Jake Knotts just endorsed John McCain?

Well, I certainly was — on account of the fact that I was under the impression that he had been openly and visibly supporting Sen. McCain for quite some time.

Unless we have an even more incredible case of "separated at birth," that’s him standing behind McCain, next to Adjutant Gen. Stan Spears, in these pictures I shot at a McCain event in Lexington on Sept. 17.

Maybe he was just there to be polite.

Mccainbus_169

Mayor Bob says Columbia WOULD provide sewer to Green Diamond

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You may have read this morning that Mayor Bob Coble said Columbia would not provide water service to Green Diamond, which "surprised" the developer and gratified Robert Adams and other opponents.

However, Mayor Bob called this morning and left a phone message (click here for the audio) saying that "The city would provide sewer to a portion of the Green Diamond" — the portion north of I-77 — and that would happen as a matter of course, if requested.

But, he said "No one’s asked" the city to provide services one way or the other.

To remind you of where we were in this thrilling serial, Cayce will take up annexing the property tomorrow (Thursday), in keeping with the apparent plan to rush this thing through while everybody’s too busy with Christmas to rise up and stop it.

The Wiz comments on Cayce’s zoning rush

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Responding to the precipitate hurry of Cayce to pave the way for annexing the Green Diamond property, opposition spokesman Bob Wislinski sent out the following:

Hope Cayce city government is committed to more due process and community input than what I witnessed last night at their Planning Commission. They are going to need it. Another concern here is that Cayce is wrapping the project in the shroud of economic development secrecy/confidentiality, which eliminates a lot of effective citizen input. If anything, the project requires more transparency, less secrecy and more official openness, in my opinion, than Cayce is currently prepared to invite. Thanks.

Bob Wislinski
Congaree Taskforce

He also attached this, which he said was bulk-mailed to Cayce registered voters Monday.

This follows up on what Robert Adams was saying when I ran into him at the McCain event Saturday, suggesting that Cayce is going to ram this through before anyone gets the chance to react effectively.

Whoa! Didn’t Sorensen just GET here?

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People come and go so quickly here. Don’t know if you’ve seen this news….

    University of South Carolina President Andrew Sorensen plans to announce at 3 p.m. today that he intends to retire in the second half of next year.
    Sorensen took office in July 2002, following six years as president of the University of Alabama. His formal investiture as USC president took place Dec. 14, 2002.
    He will be 70 years old next July. He has set July 31 as his retirement date, according to board chairman Herbert Adams.

… but it strikes me that he just got here, and he’s started some good stuff, but it’s just gotten started. So how can he leave?

Mayor Bob looks at the bright side

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Mayor Bob Coble had the following perspective to add to the restructuring commission’s failure after three years to agree upon anything (this is from a Tuesday e-mail I’m just now getting to):

I wanted to add a perspective on the Restructuring Commission report (I am attaching the motion City Council approved establishing the Commission for information). First, the Commission draft report recommended the strongest version of the hybrid system that I ever suggested. While the recommendation is not the strong mayor, it is a much stronger mayor than the status quo. If this system existed today, the City would have a very accountable government, and the citizens would know "where the buck stopped’ when problems arise. Secondly, while the Commission fell one vote short of a recommendation to City Council, it did reach a consensus by ten outstanding citizens of Columbia who are geographically, philosophically, and racially diverse. Thirdly, the recommendation could not be enacted by City Council even if it had gotten the one more vote. This hybrid form of government must be enacted into enabling legislation by the Legislature in order to give all cities this option to adopt it by ordinance or by citizen petition.

I think everyone should review the findings and the draft recommendation carefully. If the community sees the same benefits to these changes that the ten Commission members did, then the next step is the State Legislature. It meets in less than a month.

Mayor Bob attached this file containing the text of the resolution that failed.

You know what I think.

Another shot fired in ‘Green Diamond’ wars

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You may have seen today’s column from Warren that he wrote after he was taken up in the spaceship. Then there was the Avery Wilkerson piece, which would have read a whole lot better without all that "that side of the river versus our side of the river" garbage, which as we know does no end of hurt to our community. (I wonder when folks on my side of the river — which would be the Lexington County side — are going to outgrow that? Soon, I hope.)

Anyway, here’s the latest shot, from the "anti-" side:

Environmental leaders speak out against Cayce’s proposed annexation of Green Diamond property

(Cayce) – Environmental leaders representing local, statewide and national environmental groups spoke out today in opposition to the Cayce City Council’s plans to annex the controversial Green Diamond floodplain development in Lower Richland County.
    Representatives of the following organizations along with concerned citizens and Cayce residents participated in the news conference:
●         Audubon Society of South Carolina
●         Congaree Task Force
●         Friends of Congaree Swamp
●         Republicans for Environmental Protection (South Carolina)
●         South Carolina Wildlife Federation
●         Sierra Club of South Carolina
●         Southern Environmental Law Center

    At a news conference at Cayce City Hall, Robert Adams spoke for the group and issued the following statement:

    

Statement by Robert Adams, Congaree Task Force
     After more than seven years of heated debate on this controversial issue, I find it hard to believe that we are again faced with yet another last gasp effort to resuscitate the controversial Green Diamond development in Lower Richland County.  That the City of Cayce would even consider getting into the levee business with the tremendous liability for Cayce taxpayers that goes hand in hand with all things Green Diamond is even harder to comprehend with any degree of logic. 
     The Green Diamond development, by any name, is what it is – a floodplain development with tremendous potential financial liability for any governmental entity that gets led down the garden path by Columbia Venture.  Changing the name from Green Diamond to Vista Farms is like putting lipstick on a pig.  A pig with lipstick is still a pig.  Vista Farms is still Green Diamond.
     Since Burroughs & Chapin launched this ill-conceived floodplain development seven years ago, it has fallen victim repeatedly to the weight of the myriad of problems that go hand in hand with building on flood-prone land.
     This levee project will threaten Congaree National Park, a national jewel in our back yard.  Who is Columbia Venture to think they can make this decision?  Do Mayor Avery Wilkerson and Cayce City Council think it is within their authority to threaten a unique environmental tract that has been a part of our community’s landscape and culture for hundreds of years? 
     Having witnessed the devastating effects of flood damage in places like New Orleans, St. Louis and Houston to name a few, FEMA has been taking steps aggressively for over a decade to discourage and prohibit floodplain development nationally.   
     It is truly unbelievable that the City of Cayce would consider getting into the levee business and all of the liability that levees entail in the post-Katrina era – especially considering that well over 1,000 deaths occurred in New Orleans alone due to levee failure in that recent disaster.
     Here in the Midlands, after careful consideration, Richland County and the City of Columbia wisely decided not to sanction the Green Diamond development.
     Mayor Wilkerson and Cayce City Council should take heed of all of these glaring warning signs about the danger of proceeding with the annexation of the Green Diamond property — and the levees which will surely follow in short order.
     Green Diamond’s developers are licking their chops in anticipation of Cayce’s looming annexation plans for their low-lying property.  As soon as the ink dries on Cayce’ annexation papers, they will begin levee construction, dooming Cayce taxpayers to pay through the nose one day for the floods and levee failure which will ultimately come.
     They don’t call them 100-year floods for nothing.  These floods happen on average once every 100 years.  But, 100-year floods have occurred more frequently than that in this area before.  In fact, the Green Diamond property reached 100-year flood levels in 1928 and again in 1929.  That’s right, 100-year floods two years in a row.  It could happen again.
     We strongly encourage Mayor Wilkerson and Cayce City Council to halt their annexation plans into Lower Richland County and reject the Green Diamond project.  Failure to do so will  place huge liability on present and future Cayce taxpayers – a veritable albatross around the neck of this small town in perpetuity.   

PATHETIC!

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Can anyone see any level on which the failure of the city-government-structure committee to do anything, after years of limbo, is anything other than pathetic?

All the majority was trying to do was pass a watered-down proposal to have the mayor act a little bit like a mayor — not to have the kinds of powers that would justify holding him/her accountable for the city’s executive functions — and it couldn’t even do that.

Sure, the committee was stacked against change from the start — particularly with the three-quarters requirement — but think about it: In the world of committees, why do you delay a day, a week or a month (much less over two years) before having a vote? You do it to get your votes lined up, and make sure your votes can make the meeting.

But they couldn’t even do that. Worse, they couldn’t even pass a compromise to justify the committee’s hyperextended existence.

This is SO Columbia, so South Carolina. I love my state, but it’s the truth.

The Midnight Ride of the Wiz: Green Diamond is coming!

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The project formerly known as Green Diamond may have caught its opposition napping when it struck like a thunderbolt with its latest, wildest plan — which actually involves Cayce doing a sort of Anschluss across the river, seizing part of Richland County — but it’s waking up now.

Like a latter-day Paul Revere, Bob Wislinksi has apparently run hither and yon, and is preparing his ramparts as we speak. He seems to have roused the yeomanry of Riverland Park to take a stand tomorrow:

Media Advisory                  Thursday, Dec. 6, 11 AM
Contact: Bob Wislinski          Riverland Park Neighborhood Center
                                      (corner of Riverland & Brookcliff Drives)

*Riverland Park neighborhood leaders and concerned Cayce citizens will
hold Thursday news conference to voice opposition to Cayce’s proposed
annexation of Green Diamond property*

A group of leaders from the Riverland Park neighborhood in Cayce and
other concerned citizens in the community will hold a news conference at
11:00 am at the Riverland Park Neighborhood Center (also known as the
Riverland Park Police Sub-station) located at the corner of Riverland
Drive and Brookcliff Drive in Cayce.

At the news conference, Riverland Park residents and other Cayce
community leaders will discuss their opposition to Cayce City Council’s
recently announced plans to annex the controversial Green Diamond
development into Cayce.

The Riverland Park neighborhood has been identified by FEMA as the Cayce
neighborhood most likely to be flooded by Green Diamonds levees, should
they ever be constructed.

Besides Riverland Park’s vulnerability, other participating neighborhood
and community leaders will discuss additional financial, infrastructure
and public liability reasons why the preliminary annexation should be
opposed by every Cayce citizen, regardless of where they live. The group
will lay out a general plan to beat the ill-begotten annexation plan.

            ###

I have the distinct feeling that all of this is going to get more interesting before it gets dull again.

The soul of discretion

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Maybe we should get Dirk Gently to become Columbia’s new police chief. In any case, this story certainly reads more like Douglas Adams satire than anything like reality. And yet, here we are:

    Nearly a month after stepping down as Columbia’s interim police chief, Harold Reaves has not returned to work for the city.
    And it’s not clear whether there is a job waiting for him.
    City
manager Charles Austin, who granted Reaves’ Nov. 1 request for personal
leave, told The State this week he doesn’t know how long Reaves will be
out. Austin also said he has yet to ask Reaves specifically why he
wanted time off.
    “As long as he is on personal leave, I think it
would be a matter of his discretion. I’m sure when he comes back, we’ll
have some discussion what the reason was about.”
    Austin earlier said Reaves requested time off for unspecified “family matters.”

Why do I think of Douglas Adams? Well, if you read So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish, you may recall that, after several years bouncing around the galaxy in his bathrobe, the hapless Arthur Dent returns to Earth, and decides he’d best give his boss a ring at work. His boss doesn’t bat an eye at his ridiculous explanation of his absence, and when he asks in an offhand manner when Arthur might return and Arthur gives a vague answer that suggests it might be months in the future (when I get home, I’ll look up the actual wording), his boss greets that with a chipper response along the lines of Right, then. Fine! Cheerio! See you when you get back!

This is apparently meant to lampoon the laxness of personnel policy at the BBC, and it’s quite funny to anyone who’s worked in a real workplace with actual accountability.

But in this, real-life, case, Mr. Austin isn’t even asking why his employee is gone, or when he’s coming back. And somehow, it’s not nearly as funny that way.

Alive, alive… IT IS ALIVE!

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One of my interlocutors wants to discuss the resurrected Green Diamond plan. Have at it. This thing is coming from so far out of left field, and without any warning whatsoever, to the point that I can’t even start thinking about it on a Friday (especially when my Sunday column’s already due, and I haven’t picked a topic). Right now, my only reaction to the news is, "Say what?" But here’s the story, and here’s an excerpt:

    Developers who for a decade have pushed to build a $1 billion community south of the capital city have launched a third attempt — this time by leapfrogging a river and trying to be annexed into the city of Cayce.
    Columbia Venture petitioned Cayce within the last week to annex 3,000 acres in Richland County.
    Cayce Mayor Avery Wilkerson said Thursday the city is poised to do just that.

So have at it. I’ll wait until I’ve been "taken up in the spaceship," and have the opportunity to ask some questions about it. You know, like "Before, we were worried about it flooding Cayce across the river. Whom might it flood now?" Things like that.

The spaceship thing is an old Green Diamond joke on the editorial board. Remember when this thing was first brought up, and it was something like a year or so before we saw any diagrams or heard any details? Well, for months during that period, former S.C. Agriculture Commissioner Les Tindal was going around saying he had seen the plans, that they had been spread out before him on a table, and he examined them. We kept saying Mr. Tindal had been "taken up in the spaceship," and we thought it pretty weird that if there were detailed plans, why was Mr. Tindal the only one who had seen them?

Mayor Bob reports

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Our correspondent Bob Coble offers these observations on two hot city issues.

First, I got this e-mail from him today about City Finances, which, as we know, have been quite a mess lately:

Today at our City Council meeting, our auditor, Bud Addison of Webster Rogers, will present out 2005-06 audit. That will put us back on schedule. The City staff will close the books for 2006-07 by December 31st and Webster Rogers will then complete the audit. Our next steps will be to first make sure the new finance staff timely closes our books for 2006-07 and future years, and then the audits are completed timely. Secondly, the auditor’s management letter (that was presented a few weeks ago-Gina did a story and you an editorial) that outlines the deficiencies and recommendations from 2005 must be completed and implemented. The audit itself today will show the financial health of the City itself is strong.

Three minutes later, I received this addendum regarding the idea of Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott taking over the troubled Columbia Police Department:

I wanted to indicate that I have always supported consolidation of
city county services including law enforcement. State law outlines how that
could occur I believe. I think the current proposal by Kirkman and Daniel needs
to be reviewed (Council has only heard about this from Adam Beam). I do believe
there are serious issues that need to be considered. The combination of a
partisan elected official into city government should be reviewed carefully. It
has implications on the current form of government discussion. As always any
consolidation of services discussions should be divorced from the current
players and current situation and be viewed on a 20-30 year basis.

As for what I think — well, you know what I think: There should be a full-time elected mayor in charge of running the city, and that man or woman should be held accountable for all of the above. Having an unelected manager report to seven bosses — none of whom can be held accountable individually for what happens, since each has only one-seventh say — isn’t working out so hot.

If the way to get an elected person in charge of one critical city function — public safety — is to have the sheriff take over, that’s worth considering. But it’s pretty funky — a person elected by one set of people handling an entity that only serves a subset of that electorate is a very strange way to do accountability. And the mayor’s right — whatever we do on this, it shouldn’t be about current personalities.

Am I the only one who remembers the time BEFORE Kenny’s?

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Today, we have a couple of letters, and our newsroom had a section-front story, that discuss what is to happen with the former Kenny’s Auto Supply site in Five Points, behind Yesterday’s.

And I find myself thinking, as I often do — am I the only one who thinks of that property as where the Winn-Dixie used to be? I still think of Kenny’s as the new thing. I’m like, way disoriented, as the young folks might say.

Or — and this would be worse — am I dreaming this? Did I never go there to buy my groceries, then walk with them all the back uphill on Blossom to the Honeycombs, which, come to think of it, also don’t exist any more?

And if not, where was I really back in the fall of 1971? Somebody give me a reality check here…

John1

Thank a soldier, whatever your first language may be

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Yesterday at Rotary, one of the preliminary speakers told an anecdote, the punch line of which was one I’ve heard a number of times recently: "If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you’re reading it in English, thank a soldier."

I can assure you there was no ill intent toward anyone in the mind of the person who said that Monday. He simply meant to express the obligation that all of us owe to those who have worn the uniform of our country, and I agree with the sentiment. As for the actual words… well, as tends to happen during meetings, my mind starting riffing on what I’d heard, and it launched on two tracks. The first was that it seems that I started hearing that bit about "reading it in English" repeated more often about the time illegal immigration became such an emotional issue in this country. I suspect that I’m wrong; I’m sure I just started noticing the phrase, and hearing vague xenophobic echoes that weren’t really there, at about that time. After all, the two issues have no actual connection. Then I went down the second track: Is there any soldier alive today who fought in a war that prevented a situation in which we were likely to be speaking any language other than English? I started running through all the wars in my mind. Certainly we’d still speak English if we’d lost in 1783 or 1812. Maybe the Southwest was changed by the war with Mexico, but those guys have been dead a century and more. Certainly the world would be wildly different had we lost in 1919 or 1945, or the Cold War, but I suspect we’d still speak English — although maybe the REST of the world wouldn’t have switched to the English standard…Muoz1

Anyway, all this nonsense was swept away when the main speaker stepped to the podium. It was Sgt. José Muñoz, United States Army. (That’s him in the video above. I apologize for the quality; I shot it with my phone.) The first words out of his mouth were to beg forgiveness for his strong accent. He had been born in Mexico. He became a U.S. citizen earlier this year. He has done two combat tours in Iraq, and is about to go to Afghanistan. He joked that he joined the Army hoping to see more of THIS, his adopted country, but has seen little outside of Fort Bragg, while he has been all over Iraq, first with artillery, and later with convoy security.

Sgt. Muñoz was visiting us as part of the Pentagon’s "Why We Serve" speakers program. (That’s his official portrait below at left, much better than my phone version.) He said he didn’t fully understand at first why he was going to the Pentagon. He had never been there Hrs__munoz_photo
before. They just told him to show up in his Class A’s, so that’s what he did.

There was no particular political message other than the usual grousing about how "the media" always tell you the bad stuff that happens in Iraq. I just sat impassive through that, the way I always do (something that’s made easier by the fact that I know exactly what he means, and I know it has nothing to do with me). He had just come to tell why he, José Muñoz, is a United States soldier. He told of how, when he went into Iraq in the 2003 invasion, the Iraqi civilians treated him and his comrades like rock stars. Specifically, he said he felt like Ricky Martin. Later, it was more neutral, he said — they were looked upon just as a fact of life.

He also wanted to let everyone know that despite the fact that convoy security is extremely hazardous, his unit did not lose a single soldier during that deployment.

In response to a question that seemed to lead in this direction, Sgt. Muñoz volunteered the fact that his family came to this country legally. So that pretty much spoiled any pious little sermon I might offer on the immigration issue, seeing as how the angry people all insist that they don’t mind immigrants as long as they have their papers, and probably believe that if Sgt. Muñoz didn’t have his papers, he’d be essentially a different person (a sort of thinking I don’t follow, but that’s why I don’t get why this issue is as hot as it is).

In any case, suffice it to say that Sgt. Muñoz received a standing ovation. All present seemed to feel privileged to be in his presence.

Maybe we should add a corollary: "If you’re reading it in English as a second language, thank a soldier." I certainly made a point of thanking Sgt. Muñoz after the meeting. To me, and I believe to my fellow Rotarians, he’s a much bigger deal than Ricky Martin.

Muoz2

Daring adventures at Lexington Medical

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Scrub

Today, I was reminded of a recent contact report I failed to file at the time. It was our visit to Lexington Medical Center week before last. Mike Biediger, who runs the place, gave a tour to my boss, Henry Haitz; Mark Lett, the top editor in our newsroom; my colleague Warren Bolton; and yours truly. We got to see the hospital’s beautiful new North Tower with its capacious, well-designed rooms. We toured the operating rooms. We saw cool 3D computer scans of people’s vital parts. It was all most edifying, even though they didn’t actually let me cut on anybody.

I hadn’t written about it because I was determined to put together a video show of the tour, and haven’t found the time to edit my footage yet. But I was reminded that I should go ahead and post something today, when I took my Dad home from the place.

Ironically, less than a week after our tour, my Dad was a guest of the hospital, staying in that very North Tower we had toured. He’s been there most of the past week, and I had occasion to try out the comfortable daybeds they have built under the windows of each room. I had a nice snooze yesterday afternoon there; so I can report they work fine. Dad’s feeling much better now, by the way.

A literary footnote: Just before I went to get Dad, I was reading Zorro by Isabel Allende. I bought two copies of the book (one in English, the other in the original Spanish) at a discount sale at the beach over the summer. You might call it Peruvian pulp fiction. I was a huge "Zorro" fan as a kid — I speak of the old Walt Disney TV series. In fact my first watch was a Zorro watch (no Mickey Mouse for me), and I once had a toy épée with a piece of chalk on the end for writing Zs. Ms. Allende’s book was OK for light reading; I finished it just a few minutes ago. (Best part? She included both loyal sidekick Bernardo and lovable nemesis Sgt. Garcia as characters. Worst part? Possibly because it was written by a lady, it had too much romance and too few swordfights.) Anyway, just as I was about to go spring my Dad from the hospital, I was reading a part in which Don Diego was about to spring his father, Don Alejandro de la Vega, from a damp, dirty prison. It seemed like I saw a parallel there. Unfortunately, LMC’s new tower is much nicer than El Diablo prison, and there were no guards upon whom to scratch Zs, so as an adventure, it was a bust.

But it was nice to get Dad home.

The hunter, home from the hill

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Home is the sailor, home from the sea,    
  And the hunter home from the hill.    

Leon Uris closed his epic novel about the U.S. Marines, Battle Cry, with those lines from Robert Louis Stevenson. They came to mind when I viewed this video clip sent to me and others by Samuel Tenenbaum, the cover message saying only "Just watch!"

It’s an ABC News clip about a Marine staff sergeant surprising his young daughters upon his return from Iraq. It’s an evocative piece of video, and it stirred Rusty DePass to share this with us:

I can sympathize. I got my boy back from Afghanistan yesterday for 2 weeks. Nothing quite so dramatic but we are glad to have him home. During the next 2 weeks I think his Momma is planning to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, St. Patricks Day, and any other holidays she can think of.

Here’s wishing a joyful Chrismukkah, and many more such to come, to the DePass family, and my God bless all who serve, and their families.

Taking the ‘Pulse’ of our mystery friends

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This morning, I got this e-mail from the anonymous folks over at The Pulse of Columbia:

To: Our Friends in the City of
Columbia

From: THE PULSE OF
COLUMBIA

With “Charles in Charge”… it begs
the question “What About Bob”?

The
State
says we need the “Strong Mayor” system, but could Mayor Bob really run the City
of

Columbia

?

You tell us what you think at The Pulse of
Columbia!!

As
always,

Your Friends at THE PULSE

… to which I responded:

Who says Bob would be
the mayor? And would we even consider a change that would take effect before the
next mayoral election?

Here’s the reply I got:

Completely agree with
you on that one, Brad. We’re pushing right along with
you!!!

 

We’d really like to
see Council take the lead and give the voters a chance to decide what form of
government is best for

Columbia

. If we can educate the voting populous
out there about the importance of a good government structure, it would
dramatically improve the way the City does business and give Columbia the
fighting chance it needs to really be a fantastic
city.

The rally for change
is exciting. We need to continue moving the balls forward. Eventually they will
begin to roll on their own.

As long as you keep
pushing the message, we’ll continue posting it!!

In case you’re wondering who our "friends" at the Pulse might be, we’re in the same boat. Back when I first started hearing from them, I asked, and here’s the answer I got:

We’re are a group of
Columbia-area residents and business owners who’d like to see the City’s
leadership step up to the plate, like we have to do every day with our families
and businesses, and help our Capital City reach its potential. There’s so much
out there that we’d like to City to address, and we just hope to be a voice that
does that.

Kind of a long name, huh?

Shealy says District 5 stepped out of line. Did it?

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Not only did District 5 lose another bond referendum this week, but now it’s fending off a charge from referendum opponent Rod Shealy Jr. that it made inappropriate use of public resources in the failed effort.

Here’s what Mr. Shealy — a political consultant who had been retained by Chapin-area opponents of the referendum — had to say in an e-mail that was copied to me yesterday:

    Bill, as I understand it, the press release below was sent during school hours from a district computer and was also posted on the district Web site. My question is this: IN WHAT ALTERNATE UNIVERSE IS THIS EVEN THE SLIGHTEST BIT APPROPRIATE? Does this serve any purpose other than a purely political one? It’s campaigning on the taxpayers’ dime, and it is what they’ve been urged repeatedly not to do… part of the reason many people lose their faith in the district’s leadership.
    I opted not to send this to you before the campaign so my intent would not be misconstrued… just wanted you to know where I was coming from.
     (Maybe your editorial board, in its alacrity for criticizing those who do not agree with them on political issues, should focus on this type of stuff. think i’ll copy them on this email)

Thanks,
Rod Jr.

Here’s the e-mail to which he referred:

Newspapers endorse bond referendum

IRMO—This week, editorial boards of two local newspapers endorsed the Lexington-Richland Five bond referendum, which will be held on Tuesday.

    Rod Shealy, Sr., publisher of The New Irmo News, wrote in a front-page editorial of the November 1 edition of his newspaper, “I have generally opposed bond issues….This time, however, I will be voting ‘YES.’”

    In addition, an editorial in The State on November 2 endorsed the referendum.

    The State’s editorial incorrectly stated, “the owner of a home with an assessed value of $100,000 would pay an estimated $235.60 annually over 20 years to pay back [the] loan.”

    In actuality, if the referendum is successful, the owner of a $100,000 home will pay an additional $39.60 per year, or a total of $792 over the course of 20 years.

Totally apart from the intergenerational drama going on here between the Shealys, we have the question of whether the side that Rod pere was on stepped out of line.

Mind you, Rod fils isn’t claiming the law was broken, although he clearly believes it wasn’t kosher. As he said to me in a follow-up:

    … to be clear, my contention was not that it is illegal — although I do believe it is, or at least should be…
    whether or not it is technically legal, it is inappropriate…
    a majority of the voters in this district opposed this bond plan, which means the taxpayers of this district had resources for which they pay used in a political campaign against them…
    Brad, this has been an issue between the school district and me going back several years… I’m the good guy on this one…

Rod Jr.

The district’s response came before I had even read Rod’s first missive. Michelle Foster, the district’s "Community Services Specialist," sent me copies of an e-mail exchange between her and Cathy Hazelwood of the State Ethics Commission. Here’s the inquiry:

Ms. Hazelwood,

Buddy Price asked me to forward you the attached press release for review. We would like to clarify some misinformation that was printed in The State this morning by posting this press release on our district home page.  If possible, we would also like to send it to our listserv, consisting of parents and community members.

Please let me know your opinion.

Many thanks,
Michelle Foster

Here’s the file Ms. Foster attached to her query. And here’s the terse response:

The news release is fine, so you can distribute it to whomever.  Cathy

Folks, this hits me in a bit of a null space. Unlike most of my colleagues, I’ve always been sort of fuzzy and undecided about stuff like this, so I leave others to write about it. I’m more for doing the right thing, and so many ethics considerations seem to be about the appearance of morality, rather than the real thing. I can sympathize with the folks at the district, who saw the newspaper endorse their proposal while at the same time misrepresenting an important factual consideration. (The one thing I know for sure in all this shoulda woulda coulda is that we shoulda gotten the numbers straight the first time.)

At the same time, having our live-and-let-live State Ethics Commission say something is OK is almost, but not quite, enough to persuade me that it’s not OK at all.

So what do you think? Which is the greater sin — sending out an e-mail to set the record straight, or primly sitting on one’s hands and leaving voters in the dark?

Rudy gives pep talk to supporters

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Here’s footage from Rudy Giuliani’s brief appearance this afternoon at his West Columbia headquarters at 1221 Sunset Blvd.

It’s pretty vanilla stuff. First he explains how important they are, and that he couldn’t do it himself. He does this awkwardly enough — I’ve cut out some of the repetition to keep this under 5 minutes — that I could almost see him thinking, They know that! How obvious can you get? Say something interesting! Mention 9/11!

He then goes on to tout his qualifications in what you might term a cut-down, just-among-friends version of his stump speech.

I’ll have more video of him talking about the Pat Robertson endorsement momentarily…