What Happened in Ferguson, Mo. on 8/9/2014?

Do you know what really happened in Ferguson, Mo. on August 9, 2014? Really?

I grew up in University City, Mo., which is about seven miles south of Ferguson. So I can say that I know a little about Ferguson. But the Ferguson I knew then is not the Ferguson of today or the Ferguson of 2014.

Because of my law-enforcement background I started asking myself questions right away. I wanted to learn as much as I could about what happened. I was immediately skeptical of the stories I heard. I was not surprised to hear to the burning and looting in Ferguson or the wild claims of police brutality or racial injustice. I just didn't believe them then. Or since.

As more information came out, I believed even more strongly that Michael Brown was a thug and a criminal. Nothing has changed my mind.

Today PragerU released a five-minute video, titled "The Ferguson Lie". Larry Elder, a 68-year-old American libertarian talk show host, author, attorney, and documentary filmmaker. Oh, and he's black.

Watch this video and think about all the lies you have heard for more than five years. Lies that still fuel the Black Lives Matter movement and wrongfully influence people, young and old.

A cop's life and career were destroyed by BLM and the media. Much like the destruction of a cop's life right here in Columbia after the incident at Spring Valley High School, even though no one died.

Public Participation at online board meetings?

The Richland 2 School District decided to throw out public participation at board meetings, blindly swallowing the suggestion of the South Carolina School Boards Association.

Rather than considering what was good for Richland 2 and its constituents, the board took the easy, and wrong, path. It just suspended Board Policy BEDH. Not temporarily, as it did in March. It suspended it. Period. As in completely. Permanently? Only time will tell.

And then the District didn't even bother to notate on the Board Policy that it had been suspended or to remove the 3-page Public Participation Guidelines still found on the page that leads to the agenda for its semi-monthly meetings.

What could the Board have done?

It could have adopted an organized online public participation segment, allowing speakers to address the board for up to three minutes via Zoom or telephone.

The City of Arlington, Virginia held a long public participation session yesterday during a Saturday City Council meeting. Speakers had three minutes to voice their opinions. Speakers were well-organized and tight with the prepared comments.

Mayor Wilson did a great job controlling the public participation segment. He announced the name of the next speaker and the names of the next three speakers, so they could be ready. Most speakers confirmed that their voices could be heard. The moderator kept all muted except the announced speaker. There were no delay and no fluff between speakers.

It got out of control at one point in the afternoon, when a Councilwoman asked questions of one speaker. That speaker, a member of the House of Delegates, then monopolized the platform with his point of view and without regard to the three-minute limit. Then he was asked successive questions. The Mayor erred when he allowed the continued Q&A by the Councilwoman and that participant.

The Richland 2 School Board could allow public participation. If enough voters and parents ask for public participation to be restored, the Board will do it. Sending emails into the black hole of District Administration won't work, because there is no pressure of big public numbers.

Has anyone received replies to emails sent to the Board?

True State of Ethics in State

In an article in the June 18, 2020 online edition of The State newspaper, a well-known expert on ethics had this to say: “I think a lot of (elected officials) just don’t give a s***,” said Crangle. “Ethics is not a priority in South Carolina. It never has been.”

John Crangle was Executive Director of South Carolina Common Cause for many years and published Operation Lost Cause in 2015. It's about South Carolina legislators who violated the trust of those who elected them and about some who went to jail for it. A copy of Crangle's 600-page book is available at each Richland County Library. When I checked it out last year, it appeared I was the first to open it.

When I read Crangle's comment, I could not help but think of two people on the Richland 2 School Board.

One has owed $51,750 in fines and fees to the S.C. Ethics Commission and hasn't paid a penny in two years. She has a judgment against her in that amount, filed in July 2019 in the Richland County Common Pleas Court. Why isn't she paying it off?

The other is an attorney with multiple tax liens for numerous business and personal taxes. 

Are these people who should be serving on a school board and responsible for managing millions of dollars in assets and revenues?

Election of Officers - June 30

One of the most important meetings of the Richland 2 School Board will be held on Tuesday, June 30.

At that meeting the final action of the Board will be to elect the Officers for the 2020-2021 School Year. The officers to be elected are Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary.

Each is an important and responsible role. An officer of the school board must be a member of the Board. The unstated requirement is that an officer must be a legal member of the school board.

Since November 13, 2018 the Richland 2 School Board has done business with two women sitting as if they are board members. The fact is that neither is a legal member of the board.

Both Amelia McKie and Teresa Holmes took the oath of office on November 13, 2018, before they were eligible to do so. They became eligible to take the oath upon filing their Statements of Economic Interests with the South Carolina Ethics Commission on December 4, 2018. Neither has legally taken the oath of office on or since December 4, 2018.

In spite of this irregularity, District 2 has allowed them to serve and has paid them monthly remuneration for doing so. The District 2 has also paid expenses for functions as if they were board members. By doing so, the District has expended public funds not in accordance with policies and laws.

Holmes served, improperly, as Vice Chair during the 2019-2020 school year; that term of office ends June 30, 2020.

Neither McKie nor Holmes is eligible to serve as an officer of the school board for the 2020-2021 school year.

Shadd should be ineligible to serve as an officer because of his numerous tax liens and unpaid tax indebtedness.

That leaves four possible Trustees for the three officer positions: Manning, Agostini, Elkins-Johnson, and Caution-Parker.

Watch carefully to see how the board acts on June 30.

R2 Students Can Learn from the Death of Rayshard Brooks

Rayshard Brooks, 27, died in Atlanta on June 12, 2020. He didn't have to die.

Richland 2 students of all ages and races can learn from his death. And should learn from it. And they should learn to separate the "wheat from the chaff". Instead of making an immediate emotional decision about what you think happened, take it apart. Understand exactly what did happen.

And understand exactly what is wrong with the media reporting non-stop about it. And understand what the exact cause of the resulting violence is.

Why did Brooks die?

He resisted arrest.
He fought with two officers.
He disarmed one officer of his taser.
He fled with the officer's taser.
He fired the stolen taser at the officers who were chasing him.

Brooks' actions resulted in his death.

Watch the 20-minute video, not the 2-min. one on CNN.

The officer was polite to Brooks. Brooks was calm, until he realized he was being arrested. Are reports correct that he was on probation or bail and had been court-ordered to stay out of trouble?

Is DUI (a BAC of .108) staying out of trouble? Was he headed to jail for violating the terms of his release, not just for the DUI?

Don't be influenced by the Brooks' family mouthpiece. He is just doing what lawyers do. They plead their case in the media. He'll sue for $20,000,000 (40% contingency fee (commission)) and the City of Atlanta will roll over and pay.

Now, do you, students, need to worry about getting shot by police?

If you don't do stupid stuff, the answer is No. If you do stupid stuff but straighten up when the cops grab you, the answer is No. If you do dumb stuff, like fight with cops, disarm them, run, shoot at them? Yep, you'll probably die.

Use your education. Use your brains. Just be as smart as you can, and you'll live to a ripe, old age.

NOTE: At 6:30PM, hours after I wrote the above, I read this newspaper article in The Augusta Chronicle. I suggest you read it.

Open Letter to Board about Politics

The following letter has been sent to the Richland 2 School Board.

What do you think? Should the superintendent get a pass on this? Please comment below.


Mr. Manning, Board Members, and Trustees-elect McKie and Holmes,

I am writing to register a formal complaint about remarks made by Supt. Davis at the June 9, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Richland 2 School Board.

At 44:50 in the YouTube video-recording of that meeting Supt. Davis said, "Congratulations to our school board vice chairperson woman, Dr. Teresa Holmes, on her election as a delegate to the 2020 Democratic National Convention in August. The Democratic Party is scheduled to convene in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to formally nominate the next president and vice-president of the United States."

First of all, I object to his making a partisan statement during his official duties at the meeting.

Secondly, he was inaccurate. The DNC will not "formally nominate the next president and vice-present of the United States," in spite of that language on the DNC website. The DNC will select the Democratic nominee for the offices of POTUS and VPOTUS.

I request the board to admonish the superintendent regarding his partisan statement and to make a public statement at the next school meeting to assure the public that the School Board operates in a non-partisan manner.

Sincerely,

Gus Philpott

www.Richland2.info 

R2 Trustee Shadd owes $50,000 in tax liens

I was catching up on my newspaper reading tonight. Look what I found!

The Independent Voice of Blythewood & Fairfield County newspaper published an article on June 11 about tax lien debts of Richland 2 School Board member James Shadd. Read that article by clicking here.

Shadd owes personal and law-practice back taxes. You can read the breakdown in Michael Smith's article.

These three sentences in The Voice really tell it all.

"Shadd said he’s working to resolve the tax liens, calling them a 'personal matter.'

“'I am actively working to make sure that I take care of those matters,' he said.

"Shadd didn’t think owing $50,000 in unpaid income taxes impedes his ability to vote on multi-million dollar budget matters."

Sometimes people get behind on their taxes for one year, maybe two.

Shadd's record ought to disqualify him totally from an elected position on the school board where, as he says, he is one of seven trustees directing the budget.

From my point-of-view, he is one of five legal trustees. Two women on the board have never taken the oath of office legally after becoming eligible to do so, and they never should have been allowed to serve on the board since their 2018 election. Those women are Amelia McKie and Teresa Holmes.

McKie is infamous for her unpaid debt to the South Carolina Ethics Commission, which filed a $51,750 judgment against her in July 2019. The Ethics Commission recently indicated that McKie has made no payment toward her debt.

Shadd's term of office as School Board Trustee ends in November. Will he run for re-election?

Will it matter to the public that he hasn't paid taxes for a number of years. Should it matter?

Of course, it should matter. His opinion is that owing $50,000 doesn't impede his abiliity to vote. To vote, all he needs is the energy to press Yes or No on his school-issued tablet.

Being able to comprehend the important matters and make good decisions? Well, you be the judge.