An article in this morning's The State describes the grief being experienced in Saluda after a single-vehicle crash that killed two high school students and injured one.
Read the article by Sarah Ellis here.
How do we keep kids alive today?
As a former deputy sheriff and motorcycle patrol officer, I would like to see an article in The State that dissects the crash. But it'll never be there, because newspapers don't print analytical articles about fatal crashes. They should.
Readers could learn from such analyses. Parents could sit their children down and explain how they can stay alive.
Maybe the crash in Saluda was "just" an accident. I tend to think not.
Was the driver speeding? Distracted? Impaired? Were the passengers concerned about his driving before the accident?
Or, if he was speeding or driving recklessly, did they think that was "cool"?
Parents, when you see articles about fatal crashes, discuss them with the children in your home. You might just be saving their lives.
Tell them to get out of the car, if the driver is endangering them. Tell them that you will pick them up - anywhere and at any time, no questions asked - if their safety is at risk. And then do it.
Students, get out of the car, even if you are going to get wet or cold or have to walk home.
YOU are responsible for your life.
Friday, January 31, 2020
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Girl punches teacher at Westwood HS
WIS-TV reported last night that a female student at Westwood High School punched a teacher in the face at school yesterday.
What kind of little punks are attending Richland 2 schools?
The girl is reported to be 17 years old. Isn't that an adult in South Carolina for this type of crime? What's her name? Where is her booking photo? Height? Weight? Race? Previous disciplinary problems?
I suppose it would be politically (and legally) correct to say the student "allegedly" battered the teacher. And perhaps that the teacher "allegedly" suffered redness and swelling to the eye and jaw. And that the student was "allegedly" arrested before being released to her parents.
At least WIS-TV didn't dodge the gender issue, when it reported that the student was released to her parents. I guess the station could have written "to its parents", but this was a female student punching a teacher.
The District's Board Policies would label this a Level 3 offense, subject to expulsion. Is there any doubt that that kid should be expelled? And prosecuted and jailed after conviction, too?
Make a clear and convincing example out of her that this type of behavior will be dealt with in the harshest manner. Allow no "deals" by prosecution. No "diversion". No opportunity to clear her record. She just destroyed her future.
Tough cookies!
What kind of little punks are attending Richland 2 schools?
The girl is reported to be 17 years old. Isn't that an adult in South Carolina for this type of crime? What's her name? Where is her booking photo? Height? Weight? Race? Previous disciplinary problems?
I suppose it would be politically (and legally) correct to say the student "allegedly" battered the teacher. And perhaps that the teacher "allegedly" suffered redness and swelling to the eye and jaw. And that the student was "allegedly" arrested before being released to her parents.
At least WIS-TV didn't dodge the gender issue, when it reported that the student was released to her parents. I guess the station could have written "to its parents", but this was a female student punching a teacher.
The District's Board Policies would label this a Level 3 offense, subject to expulsion. Is there any doubt that that kid should be expelled? And prosecuted and jailed after conviction, too?
Make a clear and convincing example out of her that this type of behavior will be dealt with in the harshest manner. Allow no "deals" by prosecution. No "diversion". No opportunity to clear her record. She just destroyed her future.
Tough cookies!
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Richland 2 alters agendas
Recently I wrote about the practice of the Richland 2 School District to change a published agenda after a School Board meeting.
It is my very strong belief that the original agenda should be preserved on the District's website.
Rather than reporting action taken only in the Minutes, it is apparently the practice of Richland 2 to alter the published agenda and to add the actions taken at a meeting and the votes by the board. By adding these changes, the original agenda no longer exists.
When I first discovered this, I assumed that the changes were being made after the meeting had ended.
This evening I did not attend the Regular Meeting. At about 7:40PM I logged onto the District's website to examine whether there might have been any changes to the agenda after it was published last week.
To my great surprise, I found that the actions being taken at tonight's meeting are being entered on the Agenda during the meeting!
As it happens, I am reading George Orwell's 1984 this week. If you haven't read it, you can read it on your computer from the www.HooplaDigital.com service of the Richland Public Library system.
It is my very strong belief that the original agenda should be preserved on the District's website.
Rather than reporting action taken only in the Minutes, it is apparently the practice of Richland 2 to alter the published agenda and to add the actions taken at a meeting and the votes by the board. By adding these changes, the original agenda no longer exists.
When I first discovered this, I assumed that the changes were being made after the meeting had ended.
This evening I did not attend the Regular Meeting. At about 7:40PM I logged onto the District's website to examine whether there might have been any changes to the agenda after it was published last week.
To my great surprise, I found that the actions being taken at tonight's meeting are being entered on the Agenda during the meeting!
As it happens, I am reading George Orwell's 1984 this week. If you haven't read it, you can read it on your computer from the www.HooplaDigital.com service of the Richland Public Library system.
Friday, January 24, 2020
Millenials and Communism
Watch this important fireside chat with Dennis Prager.
If you are a student, watch it.
If you are a parent, sit down with your children and watch it. Tell them to put their phones down. Then discuss it.
I am worried about communism and why so many people don't think it's bad. I grew up in the 1940s and the 1950s. My thoughts and beliefs formed them. Why do I fear socialism and the uninformed young people of today?
After you watch it, please comment below.
If you are a student, watch it.
If you are a parent, sit down with your children and watch it. Tell them to put their phones down. Then discuss it.
I am worried about communism and why so many people don't think it's bad. I grew up in the 1940s and the 1950s. My thoughts and beliefs formed them. Why do I fear socialism and the uninformed young people of today?
After you watch it, please comment below.
Saturday, January 18, 2020
R2 Ethics Poster
At last Tuesday's school board Regular Meeting, the inspiration moment was devoted to explaining the Ethical Principles poster that had been signed by all the board members and the taking of a group photo.
\You can view that segment near the beginning of the video-recording on YouTube. It's at 0:02:20 on the timer bar.
At the meeting I was immediately reminded of Amelia McKie's unpaid fines and fees balance of $51,750, owed to the South Carolina Ethics Commission. The fines are related a years' of unfiled required financial statements. In July 2018 the Commission issued a Decision & Order, and McKie basically thumbed her nose at the Commission and failed to make any payments toward her balance.
She could have avoided a substantial increase in the fees by making agreed-upon payments, but she did not. As a result, the Commission tacked on a $10,000 penalty at the end of 2018. Then, in July 2019 the Commission filed a Judgment in the Richland County Common Pleas Court.
What should be happening now is a collection effort by the South Carolina Department of Revenue. Collection action could include garnishing her income from the Richland 2 School District, other income or contract-work receipts, filing a lien on real estate, and taking of assets.
The DOR may be a failing collection agency, though, once you look at the $2.7 Million in outstanding debt owed to the Ethics Commission.
And then The State announced ethics problems of a second Richland County School Board member. James Shadd III owes $1,400 for unfiled financial documents related to his run for office in 2010.
Is this his first encounter with the Ethics Commission? Or did Shadd have a previous negotiated settlement with the Ethics Commission over different violations of ethics laws?
Ethics principles are like integrity and honesty and truth. You're either in or you're out. You reach the mark or you don't. There is no such thing as "very" or "almost" or "a little".
There is no reason for the Ethics Commission to negotiate on the $1,400 fine owed by Shadd. The State's reporter, Lucas DaPrile, wrote that Shadd told him on Friday (January 17, 2020) that he "was working to fix it." What Shadd should have dropped off at the Ethics Commission this week was a check for $1,400, as well as his campaign bank statements.
\You can view that segment near the beginning of the video-recording on YouTube. It's at 0:02:20 on the timer bar.
At the meeting I was immediately reminded of Amelia McKie's unpaid fines and fees balance of $51,750, owed to the South Carolina Ethics Commission. The fines are related a years' of unfiled required financial statements. In July 2018 the Commission issued a Decision & Order, and McKie basically thumbed her nose at the Commission and failed to make any payments toward her balance.
She could have avoided a substantial increase in the fees by making agreed-upon payments, but she did not. As a result, the Commission tacked on a $10,000 penalty at the end of 2018. Then, in July 2019 the Commission filed a Judgment in the Richland County Common Pleas Court.
What should be happening now is a collection effort by the South Carolina Department of Revenue. Collection action could include garnishing her income from the Richland 2 School District, other income or contract-work receipts, filing a lien on real estate, and taking of assets.
The DOR may be a failing collection agency, though, once you look at the $2.7 Million in outstanding debt owed to the Ethics Commission.
And then The State announced ethics problems of a second Richland County School Board member. James Shadd III owes $1,400 for unfiled financial documents related to his run for office in 2010.
Is this his first encounter with the Ethics Commission? Or did Shadd have a previous negotiated settlement with the Ethics Commission over different violations of ethics laws?
Ethics principles are like integrity and honesty and truth. You're either in or you're out. You reach the mark or you don't. There is no such thing as "very" or "almost" or "a little".
There is no reason for the Ethics Commission to negotiate on the $1,400 fine owed by Shadd. The State's reporter, Lucas DaPrile, wrote that Shadd told him on Friday (January 17, 2020) that he "was working to fix it." What Shadd should have dropped off at the Ethics Commission this week was a check for $1,400, as well as his campaign bank statements.
Friday, January 17, 2020
Two board members should resign
The State newspaper published a story today about $1,400 in unpaid fines owed to the South Carolina Ethics Commission by James Shadd III, who is a trustee on the board. Shadd is serving the last year of a 2016-2020 term,
According to reporter Lucas Daprile, the Ethics Commission assessed this fine for Shadd's failure to file 14 quarterly Campaign Disclosure Reports related to his 2010 run for 5th Circuit Solicitor.
According to the article, Shadd was warned by the Ethics Commission in January 2019 and again in March 2019. The fine was assessed on December 30, 2019.
How is it that an elected official who owes fines even for an unrelated run for a different office does not just pay what he owes.
The article also comments on the $51,750 in fines and fees owed by Amelia McKie, who is a trustee-elect of the school board. I write "trustee-elect" (rather than trustee) because she has never taken the oath of office legally.
McKie and Shadd should "do the right thing" and clear out. In Shadd's case he should resign.
In McKie's case, the District and the Board should stop denying the facts and the very clearly-worded state law and block her from further duties, responsibilities and pay. McKie is usurping public office.
The laws are in place to remove her, but the South Carolina Office of Attorney General will not act to remove her.
The new Debtors' List on the Ethics Commission's website (ethics.sc.gov) is dated 1/13/2020 and includes the debts of both Shadd and McKie. The total owed the Ethics Commission is a whopping $2,762,979.31. Every dollar should be collected!
According to reporter Lucas Daprile, the Ethics Commission assessed this fine for Shadd's failure to file 14 quarterly Campaign Disclosure Reports related to his 2010 run for 5th Circuit Solicitor.
According to the article, Shadd was warned by the Ethics Commission in January 2019 and again in March 2019. The fine was assessed on December 30, 2019.
How is it that an elected official who owes fines even for an unrelated run for a different office does not just pay what he owes.
The article also comments on the $51,750 in fines and fees owed by Amelia McKie, who is a trustee-elect of the school board. I write "trustee-elect" (rather than trustee) because she has never taken the oath of office legally.
McKie and Shadd should "do the right thing" and clear out. In Shadd's case he should resign.
In McKie's case, the District and the Board should stop denying the facts and the very clearly-worded state law and block her from further duties, responsibilities and pay. McKie is usurping public office.
The laws are in place to remove her, but the South Carolina Office of Attorney General will not act to remove her.
The new Debtors' List on the Ethics Commission's website (ethics.sc.gov) is dated 1/13/2020 and includes the debts of both Shadd and McKie. The total owed the Ethics Commission is a whopping $2,762,979.31. Every dollar should be collected!
Text messages subject to FOIA?
When a school board trustee receives text messages and/or email during the public portion of the school board meeting and replies to them, are those messages subject to FOIA?
During the January 7, 2019 Special-Called Board Meeting Trustee Caution-Parker received multiple messages on her cell phone.
Beginning at 1:38:55 on the video-recording, her cell phone screen lit up while she was away from her Board Chair. A second message came in as she returned to her chair.
She can be seen reading it, scrolling through messages and tapping out a reply.
How does the Secretary of the school board pay attention to what is being said in the meeting, when she is paying attention to her phone?
And, worse, she then voted on a motion. Did she have any idea what she voting on?
Is there a Board Policy about use of cell phones, including texting, by Board members during public meetings?
I wonder what the Robert's Rules of Order expert would have to say about this at her next advisory session with the Board.
Board members should put away their cell phones during Board meetings, whether the meeting is open or closed.
During the January 7, 2019 Special-Called Board Meeting Trustee Caution-Parker received multiple messages on her cell phone.
Beginning at 1:38:55 on the video-recording, her cell phone screen lit up while she was away from her Board Chair. A second message came in as she returned to her chair.
She can be seen reading it, scrolling through messages and tapping out a reply.
How does the Secretary of the school board pay attention to what is being said in the meeting, when she is paying attention to her phone?
And, worse, she then voted on a motion. Did she have any idea what she voting on?
Is there a Board Policy about use of cell phones, including texting, by Board members during public meetings?
I wonder what the Robert's Rules of Order expert would have to say about this at her next advisory session with the Board.
Board members should put away their cell phones during Board meetings, whether the meeting is open or closed.
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