By Stan Welch
Nearly a hundred citizens attended an informal town hall meeting at the Powdersville Fire Department Monday night (May 24) for the first meeting of the new “Powdersville Politics” series.
Anderson County District Six Councilman Jimmy Davis and State House District 10 Representative West Cox hosted the gathering, for the purpose of disseminating important and accurate information about events and activities in the area. Cox is also the chairman of the Anderson County legislative delegation. Representatives Brian White, Anne Thayer and Jay West were also on hand, as was Pam Christopher, District 3 representative on the SCDOT Commission.
Davis kicked the show and tell off by introducing Dianne Hardy to the standing room only crowd. She is the founder of the Mom and Pop Alliance, an organization seeks to help small businesses; a challenge that obviously expanded as they continue to struggle to recover from the pandemic. She pointed out that South Carolina lost twenty thousand small businesses due to the impacts of COVID. “We still have four hundred thousand small businesses but we are woefully underrepresented in Columbia.
After Hardy finished her brief presentation, Davis proceeded to tell the crowd that the draft budget that the county council is considering will include no tax increase again this year. He then went on to update them on the recent improvements to Dolly Cooper Park. “We have a new master plan for the park that we will be presenting in the next few weeks. We already have a walking path and two launch and recovery sites within the park. So now, if you don’t want to float all the way to Piedmont or Pelzer, you can still enjoy the river. We had a movie night that was very well received, and we had a ball field in playable condition for opening day this year.” Cox chimed in that approximately $400,000 had ben spent on the park in recent months; a figure that reflects a huge increase over past investments.
Davis also mentioned that an automated fueling station will be located behind the recycling center at the park. It will allow ACSO deputies to refuel without driving to the facility in Anderson. “That will let them stay on station instead of wasting time and gas driving back and forth,” said Davis. The District also now has a quick response vehicle (QRV) located in the Three and Twenty area. A QRV is a vehicle manned by a paramedic that can respond and begin triage and treatment of patients while EMS personnel are en route. It is not set up to transport patients, but to get them attention as quickly as possible.
Rep. Cox then took the floor and touted several of the General Assembly’s legislative achievements during the last session. At the top of that list was the fetal heartbeat law, which prohibits abortion of the fetus once a heartbeat is detected. That occurs normally between the sixth and tenth week of gestation. He also pointed out that the General Assembly passed and Governor McMaster signed a bill that allows open carry of a firearm with state approved training, such as that required to obtain a concealed weapons permit. The bill also established South Carolina as a Second Amendment sanctuary state; a status that requires the state attorney general to review any federal gun control initiatives, and to deny the use of state resources to enforce them if they infringe on the Constitutional right to bear arms.
Cox provided some perspective on the scope of the General Assembly’s impact, saying that the Governor has signed one hundred and eight bills into law so far this year. That number is dwarfed, however, by the fourteen hundred eleven bills proposed by just the House side of the legislature. He also pointed out that he had co-sponsored a bill designed to correct a flaw in the state’s referendum process. The Anderson County fire commission called for a referendum on an increase in the fire tax levy. The referendum was held this year, in a free standing election that drew less tan five thousand voters. “That bill was passed within a week, unanimously. That is unheard of in the legislature,” said Cox.
Cox’s bill would require that all referendum issues appear on the ballot during a general election, so that a more representative number of voters would be involved. Cox also explained that, in response to the information gathered by the 2020 census, redistricting will occur later this year. He also opined that, with te state’s rapid growth, that South Carolina might even pick up an electoral vote or two after the 2030 census.
