The Azar Newsletter

The City (1-17-09)

2009-01-17T21:36:00.000-05:00

Today I received good comment on the city situation, one of which I found very inspiring. Unfortunately, it was sent as a private conversation among a few, something I would not violate. But it inspired me to write, and I want to share my thoughts with you.

Thank you, Joseph

X-----, I started a note to you early today but did not have a chance to finish as business took me away. I do see some areas covered by others that I wanted to bring out.

1) I tire of this criticism of the council-manager system. It works for corporations, it works for Greenville, it works for Charlotte, it works many places. Those that want to go to a strong mayor do not know their history and are damned to repeat it. older citizens that successfully changed Columbia from strong mayor to council-manager can tell you why. It came down to corruption and cronyism, ala Chicago style politics. Should we go back to that?

You can change the system, you can change the rules, you can change the game, you can change the players, but it can always be corrupted. it is the character of the people in place that makes it work, or not.

2) It is the job of a city manager or strong mayor to oversee all operations and insure that it runs properly, timely reports are made, competent people are employed and doing their job, budgets created, audits are done, and council and the people are fully informed. That is the job, an overseer, an organizer, a motivator, an employer, a visionary, and the coach and team captain. Though early last decade I was a proponent of the strong mayor, I am no longer a proponent of either, only a proponent of integrity and quality in my leaders. Either system can be gamed. The strong mayor can hide much and run roughshod over a council. A Manager can insulate council members from an overbearing mayor, or he can corrupt the system.

Take a look at corporate America, it is a council-manager form. yet our presidency is a strong mayor form. Seems no one is pleased with either if you throw in the names Lehman Bro. and Bush.

Take your pick of your poison, whichever way you want it delivered.

3) Regardless of how it was spun, Austin was forced out. Council had no choice if they were to save their own posteriors, and they could no longer hold back the flood walls. the undercurrent was growing into a tidal wave and The State and Adam Beam were bringing it to attention. A lot of us like Charlie, but he was failing at the job, even given far too many passes. Everyone knew that anyone else would have been fired far sooner, given the failures, and the public undercurrent was torrid. Charlie's supporters could no longer make excuses as the public was also starting to blame them for the failures, beginning with lack of oversight. It came down to him or me, and you know who goes in that case.

Of course, it was a retirement. And of course, someone(s) were whispering in his ear what was going to happen, and what he should do.

4) Though we have a "weak" mayor system, ala Greenville and Charlotte, two successful cities, our mayor could have been a "strong" mayor if he chose. Rather, he prefers to not rock any boats to keep his job and whatever perks go with that job for himself, his law firm, and supporters. he is a member of one of Columbia's most powerful law firms, and it is beneficial to them. Now, another lawyer who is a member of a very powerful rival firm is planning to run. It is important to him and his firm.

The Papadea era shows us that. remember how many Edens & Avant signs were on properties around town? Now that Jim is out, how many do you see?

5) Columbia is a "Go along to get along town". People are afraid to stand up and out. Those few that do are made to be lepers by the establishment, and the masses go along with it rather than investigating the situation.

But it is changing. The fight over the Kenny property in 5 Points has changed politics in Columbia. First, it effectively killed the heir apparent to mayor. Rickenmann was put into office by the money men of Columbia to eventually be mayor, but he lost nearly every ward in his area, winning in the areas that knew him least. Next, the neighborhoods around the 5 Points area effectively killed the completely out of character project that somehow was allowed to be placed outside of the 5 Points architectural and zoning guidelines. Thousands of citizens stood up and shouted, afraid no more of opposing the system. Now, a few have had the determination and strength to sue the city for violation of their own rules and laws concerning the Kenny project.

I am proud of all of these people and re-energized by their actions. Politics is changing in Columbia because the citizens are changing.

6) Yes, the problem of bad leadership rests solely at the feet of those they represent. Change is not something people anywhere embrace well, especially the older they get. The quality of the politicians is a direct reflection of the people of that community. If you do not believe so, ask people outside of Chicago and Illinois how they perceive those communities.

Columbia, it must change. As Pogo said, "We have met the enemy and he is us".

7) Yes, Steve Benjamin plans to run, so does Coble. Kirkman is said to be entering the race. And I may too.

BREAKING NEWS! Circuit City starts liquidation. (1-16-09)

2009-01-16T18:30:00.001-05:00

Today Circuit City went down, filing for Chapter 7. This I hate to see as it hurts all everyone, consumers and other consumer electronic businesses alike. Now there is no other big alternative competitor to CC (Tweeter closed its doors a month ago) other than Best Buy. Walmart, Target, Costco, and a few others are trying to be in the consumer electronics market, but they have no ability to provide knowledge, installation or service to the consumer. It hurts manufacturers as they have fewer outlets to offer product through, reducing innovation as some of the smaller, yet more innovative manufacturers will also fold without outlets for their products.

What about the smaller specialty dealers like Upstairs Audio & Video? Though our business is now up due to the demise of Tweeter and the “trunk slammers” (those custom installers with a card that has a name, number and no address-they work out of their trunk), and due to the economic downturn (we always see our business go up when the economy gets tight as people shop harder and want better product and better information and service-it has been this way for decades for us), I find no joy in this. I realize that innovation will suffer, knowledge and information will suffer, and good sound and video will suffer. People will no longer have outlets with variety and choice, just more of the same old mass market mediocre product, meant to entice with too many features, decoy beauty, and “cheap” price. There is far too much poor HDTV on the market, not anywhere near the potential of what is being broadcast.

It is a strange new world, and though I am thankful for all of you that support us and what we do at Upstairs Audio & Video, keeping us as busy as we have ever been in a January, I hope that quality specialty manufacturers can still exist and continue to push the envelope of quality and new technology.

Read the articles on CC:

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/33343

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6630329.html

BREAKING NEWS! City manager resigns. (1-16-09)

2009-01-16T18:29:00.001-05:00

Today Charles Austin, Columbia City manager retired, or resigned, depending on how you want to call it. the handwriting has been on the wall and city council has been under siege to do something to reign in a runaway city administration. They have put it off and put it off for at least 2 years, but public discord was too strong and the errors too bitter to do otherwise. They have been discussing the manager’s performance behind closed doors for a while, including this week, without any public comment. Astute political observers will comment that this is a polite way of removing someone as there had to have been conversations between the city manager and certain council members as to what was happening and what would have to happen in the near future.

There is still some question from observers as to the legitimacy of a retirement concerning pay, perks, and retirement benefits. These issues may come out, or they may be kept hidden for political reasons. Time will tell.

Read The state article: http://www.thestate.com/local/story/653491.html .

More misinformation from The State editorial lizards (1-16-09)

2009-01-16T06:34:00.001-05:00

Some nights you just can’t sleep. Something comes through the atmosphere and jostles you around, making your mind race. What is it? You lie awake, helpless to know. Fortunately, the internet is there, so you get up in the dark, turn it on, and viola! There it is! It just happens to be more misinformation from those lizards in the ivory tower at that paper, the ones insular from the world of us that have to work, get our hands dirty, and struggle through the rough economic times. (If only I could get paid by the word……).

Take a look at today’s editorial: http://www.thestate.com/opinion/story/652599.html. Surprisingly, the city manager’s chief cheerleaders have turned on him, but are still making excuses for him, council, and the city. Lets dissect the article.

First, misinformation #1: “Yes, the form of government lends itself to failure.”. Maybe this is what is wrong with The State as well, a system that has a board of directors (city council), a chairman of the board (mayor), and it hires the president (city manager) of the corporation to run it, a system that is what most corporations world wide have. It seems to work for business, it seems to work for Charlotte, it seems to work for Greenville, but why not here? Maybe it is the people hired (elected) to run it as it has proven successful in Charlotte and Greenville. Why do the editorial lizards at The State continue to fail to inform us of the success of other cities with a system like ours? They have been on a rage so long to change our system, while denying us information on the successful cities with systems like ours, that it is obvious to anyone that these lizards have an ulterior motive. They just absolutely refuse to acknowledge any city that is like ours and successful. They would rather we have a “boss hog” system, one that can easily be corrupted by a powerful mayor and infected with cronyism and corruption, which is why those that have been in Columbia for years said the old system of a “strong mayor” was eliminated by the people years ago. Yes, Columbia had a strong mayor system and it was voted out due to problems. The editorial lizards obviously have not done their research and dug into their own archives (or have strong ulterior motives-think they are getting something on the side?) and want us to have Chicago like politics. Yeah, sure guys.

Misinformation #2: “While a broad cross-section of the community supports the Midlands Housing Alliance’s proposal…” . Huh? Where did this data come from? Not from the lizards, who only get out among the rich and well connected at events and clubs the average Columbian never attends. Was it a push poll they did that was heavily prejudiced to getting a respondent to answer in their favor? Or is it “editorial license” to make a statement with no basis to support a position? Most people do not know what the MHA proposal truly is, and I have yet to see any MHA full proposal, though I have asked. I am not sure the MHA has a full, in-depth working document on their proposal. This is yellow journalism at its truest to make a statement such as this.

Misinformation #3: “Also, consider how the council allowed a project that would have added needed parking to Five Points to just collapse”. Is parking needed in 5 Points now? Or is it that a few scream as they don’t have enough parking within 30 yards of their businesses? One parking study did not say that 5 Points was deficient, and a look down the street at times other than noon to 1p and 5p on will tell you that. Enclosed malls create a perception of closeness and encourage walking, even though you may park 3 blocks from where you ultimately end. Open area shopping creates a different perspective. Even though 5 Points is compact and the area bounded by Blossom, Harden and Saluda is no larger than Columbiana, being open, it appears larger and people tend to look for a space in front of their intended destination, or pass on. There is no way to put extra parking in front of every place in 5 Points, unless it went overhead. There were other parking alternatives and other parties interested in supplying facilities. The adjacent neighborhoods correctly pointed out that council did not allow a fair and open process to identify other better proposals and allow an open and fair process for bidding. These alternatives still exist; there is nothing stopping council from continuing a fair and open process of addressing any needed parking solutions for 5 Points. (BTW, meters are not needed before 11:30a and between 1:30p and 5p. There is plenty of parking available at these times, and as many have pointed out in The State, Free Times, and elsewhere, meters are a deterrent to shopping in 5 Points. If some merchants feel meters are needed-and council does because they need money-enforce them only 11:30a to 1:30p and 5p until midnight. This will create a deterrent to 5 Points employees using the space at lunch, and create the turnover in spaces merchants say is needed during peak parking times.

Otherwise, the editorial has valid points about the poor job that council and manager are doing. If this were a business, the board would have been voted out long ago and the manager fired within the first 12 months. Even Kevin Fisher in the Free Times just called for this: http://www.free-times.com/index.php?cat=11012501074601536&ShowArticle_ID=11011301090782507.

The real problem in Columbia is us: we tend to keep what we have even if it is broken as we do not change and progress easily. Regardless of city, the elected officials are a direct reflection of the people and attitudes of that city, and ours are of us.

As Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and he is us”.

Joseph Azar

(Done in a fit of sleeplessness so any errors are excusable. Now, if I was paid by the word as some others are…….)

Breaking News (1-14-09)

2009-01-14T22:24:00.000-05:00

The first is Pay Your Property Taxes by Thursday at 4:59pm!

City Messes Up Checks Again

By now many of you have read The State’s article by Adam Beam (http://www.thestate.com/local/story/644694.html) and today’s editorial (http://www.thestate.com/opinion/story/649774.html) criticizing Charles Austin. The city has been paying the same bill 2, 3, 4 times, among other accounting problems, such as being years late in reconciling its books. Surprisingly, someone in the editorial (who knows who actually writes these as there is no name or names claiming ownership) department has decided that Austin is not competent to manage the city: “He deserves a failing grade.”. This is a surprise as the editors have been some of the city manager’s greatest cheerleaders. Why now they change their minds? These problems and inadequacies have been going on for quite a long time, which they could easily see had they read the stories of their own reporters. Incorrectly, they continue to blame the problems on the system (“Unfortunately, the buck stops nowhere in the city’s council-manager form of government, with responsibility divided among the unelected manager, the weak mayor and the six other council members, four of whom represent single-member districts.”) rather than the people in the system. Never do they point out that Charlotte and Greenville have a system like ours, and neither has the problems that our politicians generate.

What is the breaking news? Two things, city wise. I received a call today that the city failed to deduct taxes from payroll checks. I called others to confirm it and received positives. It appears that the city just found out today. How does the city fail to deduct taxes? I understand that taxes have been deducted all along, so why the failure now? What are the inherent problems that allow the city to double and triple pay bills for years without any oversight? And to miss payroll tav deductions? What else is there that we do not know?

The other item brought to my attention is that upper echelon staff at city received year end bonuses of 3%. Yet the lower level workers were initially told that they could not bonuses, turkeys, gift cards, or COLAs. As I have been told, these bonuses were possibly hidden in accounting, and that council may not be aware of them. To discover them, it would be necessary to FOI all city checking accounts and payroll records. This I will leave up to the local news media, most of whom read this newsletter.

Lets see what, if anything, is reported in the media on these.

On The Record Voting Passes the House

The other breaking news:
According to Nikki Haley’s newsletter today, this passed the house: http://nikkihaley.com/2009/01/14/on-the-record-voting-passes-the-house/#comment-64. This is good news, but in reading her comments, I am not sure that everything is to be voted on the record. I posted this on her comments section and hope to get a clarification : “This is a good start, and I have supported you and Nathan all the way. But something concerns me as you said “virtually”, not “all”. In reading what is to be recorded, it appears some items may not get a recorded vote.
Please clarify.”
I mention this as a comment I received from an astute reader and one close to the issue pointed out to me the loopholes in what speaker bobby Harrell proposed for recorded voting. It appeared to be transparent, but had so many exclusions that it was only slightly better than nothing. In reading Nikki’s comments, I feel that some of these loopholes may still be there, and that this bill may be one strong armed to some extent by those not wanting recorded voting on all issues.
Read it yourself and comment.

City raided (12-5-08)

2008-12-05T23:01:00.000-05:00

The city’s sewer plant was raided Thursday for dumping raw sewage into the river, falsifying records, and improper operation. There is a rumor also going around that the city is under investigation by other agencies in the federal government. I cannot confirm it yet but will keep trying.

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/611643.html

Odds & Ends (11-30-08)

2008-11-30T00:22:00.001-05:00

Can You Believe It?

A store clerk dies after being trampled by shoppers at a Wal-Mart on Black Friday (http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=4226712&cl=10885567&src=news). No one helped and customers complained after being told the store would close for a while as a clerk was just killed. What have we become?

People lined up since Thanksgiving night to shop at stores. Best Buy had customers in line for deals in our town (http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=4226712&cl=10885567&src=news). Crazy, as these shoppers could have picked up a copy of Thursday’s The State and seen deals that matched or beat the ones they lined up for hours to get. Some were going to put their buys on E-bay (I am sure E-bay buyers also read local ads). Ridiculous! Better computer deals elsewhere with no minimums in stock, lower prices on cameras elsewhere with no lines, and these deals will be repeated as Christmas approaches. It always happens as stores want to clear out badly before Christmas. Otherwise, the prices are even better after Christmas as they must rid themselves of stock. Plus, returns. Those always go at even better prices. It reminds me of the sales tax holiday. Everyone goes into a feeding frenzy for sales tax savings, yet the next weekend whatever is left is always 25-50% off, far more than the 7% savings. I always wait and find better bargains then.

Then there are the liquidation sale scams (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=6326174&page=1). I went to Tweeter to see what they had on sale as I was told they were selling stuff for less than I could buy it for. Some items I saw, barely. Others, more, yet they claimed 70% off. No way as the list prices were higher than ours and the manufacturer’s suggested resale price.

BTW, some of the great discounts you see at the big box stores aren’t. Some manufacturers have two prices: MSRP (manufacturer suggested resale price) and MAP (minimum advertised price). A product can have a MSRP of $1200 with a MAP of $995, which is the lowest a retailer can advertise the product for, or be in violation of dealer-manufacturer agreements and lose the line. Often the “discount” you see is the difference between MSRP and MAP. It is all just a numbers game. And most people fall for it.

Your best bet is to check with local businesses, smaller ones. Often they are the same as the big boxes +/-5 or 10%. It may surprise you, but the small guys can do it as the big boxes have unbelievable overhead; the little guys do not, so they can be very competitive. But the best part is that the little guys work harder for your business, provide better buying information, knowledge, instruction, and after the sale service. Most frequently, the small guys offer service at a lower rate than the big boxes. For instance, last time I checked, Best Buy was charging $70-80 to put a stick of RAM in a computer. Silicon Solutions, a local shop on Millwood, was charging $30-40. And the staff at Silicon Solutions is far more knowledgeable than Best Buy, and more helpful, from the feedback I get.

I find the same thing at Hiller Hardware, where I can buy one screw, not a bag of 10 just to get one. And I find a better selection at Hiller. Ditto for Mann Tool, where I buy my power tools. They also do in house service, which is very convenient and quick. Their selection is better than any of the big boxes, prices competitive, and knowledge far superior about tools. They have even fixed some tools past warranty as they know the problems and what should be taken care of from experience and service alerts.

Often, I have told people we are not the lowest but the best, especially on installation. I may have to eat those words as I have found the big stores charging far more than what we charge for less service than we give. When we can hang a flat screen TV, adjust it, program it, link it to the AV surround receiver, and instruct our customer on use for less than the big stores charge just to hang it and go, I start thinking some BBQ sauce on those words might make them go down easier.

Material is not the be all, end all. What you own is not the defining criteria of you; what you are is. No one deserves to die over a sale. People need to be aware of the sale tricks and scams designed to relieve them of their money. And it is the little guy, the specialist store that can give you far better product for comparable prices to the lesser stuff the big boxes sell.

Blue Hippo

Speaking of scams, this has got to be a real money maker. It seems to be the merchandise equivalent of payday lenders. The web site does not explain the program very well, or the prices. They advertise like mad on radio stations that seem to be appealing to people with lower income. From what I can gather, they sell you a laptop for far more than list price, but require a deposit and a designated number of weeks of lay-away payments before they ship product. In other words, they get at least the list price, if not more, before they send it, and then continue to have you pay a year’s worth of weekly payments so they can provide you a good credit rating, as they advertise they have no credit checks, and that anyone with a checking account can get a laptop on credit from them.

It strikes me as a rip off as the laptop did not even have Wi-Fi, at least as I could find on the website. If you know of anyone that bought through them, I would like to hear of the experience.

Investment-Coble

Another socialist gets in line with hands out! He hasn't been able to handle the dollars he spends now, and he wants more? How much will this new 'team' cost the taxpayers?

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/602300.html & http://www.thestate.com/local/story/592575.html

I was going to let this slide, but got two earfuls from people, and then some, as seen from the example above. Coble goes to DC to get Obama to “invest” in Columbia. In other words, Coble is looking for bail out bucks just as the financial sector is. Obama has stated he would invest in America through infrastructure projects, much as the WPA did. I do not fault Coble for going (though it could have also been a Christmas shopping junket as well-he did something similar over 10 years ago when he went to NYC to talk Macy’s out of leaving, and it was looked at as a shopping junket as Macy’s leaving was already written in stone) as he should try to get money for the infrastructure projects we need to do, but 1) we do have lobbyists we pay to do this so was his trip necessary, and 2) his blatant spin, calling it an “investment” as we all do know it is a bail out. The city has increased fees and taxes and fines to get more revenue, and is having to cut the budget 5%, so they say, though it will likely be much more, in order to stay afloat. Coble insults us with his incessant spin. He has not balanced the budget for over 2 years, meaning it has not been current and council nor city manager really knew what we had and how to responsibly spend it. Council has failed to effectively budget and is now in trouble.

It is a bail out, stupid!

Bob, call it what it is.

War, What is it Good For?

Why, oh why? It has got to be the same mentality that causes people to trample a store clerk to death just to get a few “bargains”, and then complain that they have been in line for hours and do not understand why the store has to be shut for a killing. Only on a larger basis with more powerful weapons.

Buraya basarak resmi tam boytunda görebilirsiniz.

(The pictures do not show on Blogger, so visit The Azar Newsletter at Google Groups.)

What if it was you, and your children?

MRI scans pose danger of infection (11-19-08)

2008-11-19T23:10:00.000-05:00

Who would guess that you could get an incurable infection from an MRI, and die? My mother got one recently and fortunately she is OK, but she had a head cut and could have easily been infected. Hospitals are dirty places, according to friends who work in them, and that is understandable, but with the superbugs that have no known cure, it is frightening knowing that some medical personnel do not follow clean procedures. Hospitals are going to have a lot of infectious matter; after all, that is why people are there, to rid themselves of that. Just make sure you have medical personnel that keep things sanitary, and insist on it if they do not.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Patients-Develop-Superbug-MRSA-Infections/story.aspx?guid=%7BFC7ED289-7E12-465D-93AB-134347EEA31E%7D

PRESS RELEASE

Patients Develop Superbug MRSA Infections After Undergoing MRI Scanning
Renowned MRI Expert Alerts Public to New Concerns
Last update: 9:05 a.m. EST Nov. 18, 2008

HAYWARD, CA, Nov 18, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Dr. Peter Rothschild, one of the world's foremost MRI experts, is alerting the public to the possible risk of Superbug MRSA infections during medical imaging studies, such as MRI.

Numerous patients have developed "Superbug" infections that are resistant to conventional antibiotics after their MRI. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most common superbugs that patients have contracted after undergoing an MRI scan.

The most famous of these cases is that of 15-year-old honor roll student Nile Moss, who died from an MRSA infection after an outpatient visit to a hospital where he underwent an MRI. After leaving the hospital, Nile developed a high temperature. Three days after being admitted to the hospital, he died.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 1.7 million people in the United States contract a hospital acquired infection each year, and more than 100,000 people die each year as a result of these infections. Reports show that, in 2005, nearly 19,000 people died from hospital acquired infections. Hospital acquired infections are killing more people each year than AIDS.

After hearing of Nile's death, California State Senator Elaine Alquist was prompted to sponsor California SB1058, "The MRSA reporting and screening bill." Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed the bill into law, along with another bill designed to establish more rigorous infection control and training programs in hospitals.

An example that is occurring more frequently involved an elderly patient scheduled for cardiac bypass surgery. His doctors suspected that he may have had a small stroke and ordered an MRI. Two days after the MRI, the patient became sick, was then diagnosed with MRSA and within days after the MRI, the patient died from the infection.

Peter Rothschild M.D., the author of the landmark paper "Preventing Infection in MRI: Best Practices for Infection Control in and Around MRI Suites," says, "Infection control has such a low priority in MRI centers, that in the hundreds of MRI suites I have visited, I have rarely, if ever, seen a technologist clean the room and pads or even routinely wash their hands between patients, much less have a written infection control procedure. Patients have no idea of the total lack of infection control in MRI centers, especially outpatient MRIs. However, the worst of all are mobile MRIs, which often have not been properly cleaned in years. These mobile MRIs pull up to the back of a doctor's office or a small community hospital often after scanning highly contagious inmates at the local prison."

Dr. Rothschild warns, "Remove the sheet that covers the table pads and I promise you will be disgusted by what you see. Pads used on MRIs are torn and frayed and are often so contaminated that they smell. These pads should have been replaced years ago, but continue to be used every day without cleaning between patients, and sometimes they are never cleaned at all. I am not surprised that patients are becoming infected with MRSA following MRI scans; the rooms and pads table are filthy."

A recent study, from Ireland, confirmed this type of contamination in MRI suites by culturing the Superbug MRSA from the bore of an MRI. This raised great concern from Dr. Rothschild, because this is an area that is rarely, if ever, cleaned, but frequently is in very close contact with patients.

"This is the first and only study to date ever to take cultures from an MRI for the presence of Superbugs. I am extremely disappointed that no investigators in the United States have taken on the challenge to culture MRIs and pads for Superbug," said Rothschild. "Therefore, one has to assume from the limited data and lack of infection control at these centers, that they are a source of deadly MRSA infections and every precaution must be taken for its prevention."

He continued, "Unfortunately, the solution that most imaging centers have adopted is to ignore the problem and simply cover the torn and contaminated table pads with a clean sheet, thinking that this will somehow protect the patient."

Dr. Rothschild's experience has been that essentially 100% of the table pads use in MRIs over two to three years old are torn or frayed. This is in direct violation of clear guidelines by the CDC for environmental infection control in healthcare facilities. These guidelines state that damaged pads must be discarded since they are impossible to adequately clean. Even worse, some pads are so poorly made, and MRSA can penetrate frayed fabric covers that appear intact. Rothschild says torn and frayed pads are items that are often overlooked by MRI centers or not replaced in order to save money.

In response to these concerns, Dr. Rothschild recommends using a black light to identify biological contamination as well as a magnifying glass to see torn and frayed areas on MRI pads. This procedure will allow MRI centers to determine which pads must be replaced.

"There is nothing in my practice I am more concerned about than my patients developing an infection by a Superbug like MRSA, especially after an MRI," warns Richard Nolan M.D., an orthopedic surgeon. "If a patient begins to develop an infection from their pre-op MRI, any subsequent surgical results could be catastrophic. I have been ordering MRIs for years and have extensive experience with the lack of any semblance of infection control at these MRI centers. That is why I ask to see the center's infection control policy and make a visit to the center to see for myself, especially the condition of the pads. My motto is 'No infection control policy, no patients.' Unfortunately, that is the only way I have found to get MRI centers to take this issue seriously."

"It is only a matter of time before attorneys begin to subpoena MRI centers to obtain the pads for inspection and culturing," said Rothschild. "What should be of great concern for the MRI center is that from the MRSA found, a DNA 'fingerprint' can be acquired and then genetically matched to the MRSA cultured from an infected patient, leaving no doubt as to the source of the deadly infection."

"We live in a world that is increasingly under siege from extremely aggressive and dangerous bacteria. As radiologists, we need to make every effort to ensure that the imaging centers are clean and safe for our patients. There is no excuse for not taking every precaution possible for protecting our patients from these deadly Superbugs. Radiologists have, for too long, ignored the severe threat that these Superbugs present to all of our patients, especially immunosuppressed patients. This is dangerous and unacceptable."

Rothschild believes that, until MRI centers and the imaging community as a whole, take this threat seriously, more patients will contract MRSA after their MRIs, and many of them may die from these infections.

In his recently released white paper, Rothschild calls for more infectious disease control policies in the industry and patient education on how to prevent contracting a Superbug infection from MRI scans.

To request a copy of Dr. Rothschild's white paper, titled "Preventing Infections in MRI: Best Practices for Infection Control in and around MRI Suites," contact Doug Kohl, Sierra Communications, (209) 586-5887, or dkohl@mlode.com. More information on Superbug infections in MRI can be found at www.patientcomfortsystems.com

About Peter Rothschild, M.D.

Dr. Peter Rothschild is considered one of the world's foremost MRI experts. He formerly served as Medical Director of the research laboratory at the University of California, San Francisco, where he helped develop the first commercially available Open MRI scanner. He is the editor of the first textbook on Open MRI, authored numerous papers on the subject and is a sought after speaker who lectures on MRI and its future. Dr. Rothschild is a Board Certified Radiologist and served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Radiology at the University of California at San Francisco. He earned his M.D. degree in 1981 from the University of Louisville, in Louisville, Kentucky. He is founder and president of Patient Comfort Systems, Inc., a company dedicated to patient comfort and safety.

Contact:
Doug Kohl
Sierra Communications
(209) 586-5887
dkohl@mlode.com

SOURCE: Patient Comfort Systems

mailto:dkohl@mlode.com

Copyright 2008 Market Wire, All rights reserved.

How many does it take to.......part 4 (11-18-08)

2008-11-18T02:00:00.000-05:00

It was my intention to discuss many more of the issues of the homeless, issues concerning homeless women and children, the mentally and physically unrehabilitatable, the domestic abusers, sexual predators, chronic homeless, hard luck homeless that want renewed life, the homeless ex-military, and stories from homeless I have met in this and the next issues. But I must pause and discuss the politics as I see the MHA going through with the Salvation Army facility.

What I have seen is a group of citizens and businesses on one side that is tired of waiting for something to happen with the homeless, therefore willing to take action themselves. I see another side composed of residents and businesses that are opposed to any shelter in the downtown business and residential areas. The first side, the MHA, is composed of politically savvy, well connected and well heeled citizens and businesses, along with caring groups and churches. The MHA is organized, has a plan, applied for a grant, put up money to match the grant, and is on course to develop a facility in the failed Salvation Army facility. The other side is composed of a loose group of citizens, primarily neighborhood leaders and residents, opposed to any shelter due to the conflicts and fears that homeless spread through an area. The residents and businesses have a legitimate position as the littering (including defecation on porches, in yards, alleys and store fronts), sleeping in private yards, the aggressive (and I have seen aggressive) panhandling, and intimidation are detrimental to a peaceful, fear free neighborhood and business district.

Unfortunately, the residents and businesses (RB) are not organized, have no alternatives, and have not reached across the divide to work with the MHA, nor have taken the issue to the rest of the city residents. Likewise, the MHA has not reached across to work with the RB, springing this plan rather quickly upon everyone and rushing to implement it. Unlike the MHA, however, the RB has internal dissension. Some want to take action against MHA. Others simply want to support city council and whatever they decide to do about the homeless. Others are just angry and want to vent, not knowing what to do, or afraid to do anything. In spite of the internal schisms, the RB group will succeed in one way: they have forced council to refuse help to the MHA if they put a shelter at the Salvation Army site. Council realizes where the reelection votes are and know they are in the RB group, not the MHA. But RB will lose on the issue as MHA has the money and apparent legal right to build the shelter at the Main & Elmwood site.

The citizens, businesses, churches and helping groups of the MHA were tired of waiting for council and took action. They felt the city failed to act in a responsible manner, trying failing programs such as a winter only shelter and Housing First, neither of which solved anything long term. Now the city has extended the life of the riverside shelter that they promised to have open only two years, hired a homeless coordinator, and is trying to implement more services for the homeless. The effort is good, albeit long overdue, but underfunded and no guarantee of long term ongoing funding, especially in light of the city’s initial need to reduce the budget by at least 5%.

But the MHA faces the same problems as it has money to do the initial building and renovation but no guarantees of ongoing funding, putting it in the same danger of failure as happened to the Salvation Army. In this tight economic time, and without broad based support, the MHA cannot expect its shelter to last. It cannot expect anything but resistance at all points from the citizens and council alike.

All sides need to come together and talk, and listen. From what I have been told by some MHA members, this shelter at Main and Elmwood is a rehabilitation facility, one intended for those wanting to break the bonds of homelessness and economic insecurity, those that want to learn and improve themselves so as to once again become productive members of society. What it will not do is take in the transient and chronic homeless. Yet this is the main problem for the neighborhoods and business districts. So, the defecating, sleeping in residential yards, aggressive panhandling and such will still continue, problems unresolved.

Let me again state what I have in the previous three articles. This downtown facility is not adequate for the intended purpose as it is too small and cannot be expanded. There is not enough room for sleeping, eating and training to accommodate all that want and need services. The MHA points to Miami as an example. That facility has a small downtown presence with a larger facility on the outskirts in Homestead, much as I have suggested we do with a facility on our outskirts that would consist of many expandable and farmable acres. By having a large enough area, facilities can be created for chronic homeless vs. those for active job training and rehabilitation, and these facilities can be isolated from each other to keep threatening elements from women and children. But it still cannot succeed if there is not broad based support which must come Columbia, Richland, Lexington, Kershaw and Fairfield counties, all the surrounding cities, all churches, all groups like United Way, Sertoma, Rotary, etc., state and federal government, and private business and citizen support.

One way to build understanding and support is to have 4 or 5 forums around the city with panels from both sides discussing the issue, as well as taking suggestions and gathering ideas from the citizens. So far, I have had two newspapers and two from the MHA say this would be a good idea that they would support and participate.

Without cooperation, MHA will have built another failing shrine to poor planning from knee jerk reaction that our city has so eloquently demonstrated over the years, the homeless will still go needing, too much money will have been wasted, and the homeless issue will still be cussed and discussed for many more years to come.

DHEC; Rosemond (11-16-08)

2008-11-16T23:38:00.001-05:00

The State had a very good article on DHEC today and it is first in a series that continues through Saturday. read it carefully, and read between the lines. look at how power and money cause corruption and favoritism. I know I will be called down for saying this, but DHEC has the power to do what they say they cannot, even if it is just being an advocate for a better and healthier environment, which they say they cannot, according to the article.

When it comes to our government, state and city, money, which is power, buys favoritism and preferential treatment. Unfortunately, we the people, let it happen. We are a "Go along to get along" city and state, and allow ourselves to be treated as still on the plantation, with the massa still cracking the whip and we just taking it. When will we ever learn we as a group have power? Maybe the Obama event has started a little of that, along with erasing the notions of color making the choice for both black and white people.

Here is the first article: http://www.thestate.com/local/story/591534.html.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I highly recommend John Rosemond's articles to you. Though they are about children and parenting, they apply very well to adults and basic human nature. I constantly point out that adults never seem to lose any emotions they had as a child, they only gain 2 more. Find the website at http://www.rosemond.com/view/389/21753/Weekly-Column---111108.html. You will also find the weekly column in the Sunday State Life & Style section. I find it quite interesting and a must read for me weekly.

Odds & Ends + Your Comments (11-10-08)

2008-11-10T23:09:00.001-05:00

Things have been moving so fast lately, I have not time to keep up. Whew! Unfortunately, I did not get part 4 of the homeless situation together in time for the Free Times, so I have the rest of this week. Part 5 should be interesting too. With the rape of the lady at St. Peter’s by a homeless man, the heat and direction of the issue will change, I am quite sure. Unfortunately, all homeless will be blamed and shunned for the actions of one. It is the curse of the Garden of Eden once again.

Spam, Spoofing

It appears no one else is getting spammed with my address except me. But I received this from a reader: I get spammed by myself all the time. I’ve even sent naked pictures to myself. LOL
Having dealt with email for so long, I’m jaded and trust nothing, even familiar addresses, if the subject isn’t specific. Unfortunately, I have friends who persist in putting nothing on the subject line or something non-descript like “This will make you laugh!” No it won’t cuz I won’t open it. ; )

Well, at least mine get opened, so that is a plus. But this is probably one way that it happens, according to one reader:

Joe:
This kind fo spoofing means someone on the list has a trojan horse program that is grabbing all the email addresses from their contacts and sending them to the spammer to use as part of their spoofing.

So everyone should be using good anti-virus software and updating daily and scanning. I use a free program from AVG and have not had a virus since, and that is at least 3 years. Try it: http://free.avg.com/. Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

We get used!

In a good way. The news media often picks up stories from here. Jack Keunzie told me at the fair that he “stole” something from my newsletter. He had just done a story based on what you had sent. So your comments do make the news and affect our community. Here is jack’s article, basically pointing out that any rules and guidelines enacted in Columbia are often violated, quite quickly and quite frequently.

Joe: It appears the streaming video of this story is no longer available. This is more or less what the script said.

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?s=9178479

Jack Kuenzie
Senior Reporter
WIS TV
1111 Bull Street
Columbia, SC 29201
803-758-1265
803-758-1278 (fax)
jkuenzie@wistv.com

Thanks Jack! And keep up the good work.

Myco-Diesel and Mold

Joe,
I know you said that with tongue firmly planted in cheek, but some of those molds that can grow in a dorm room really can kill. Usually from an unhindered buildup in the pulmonary tree or the lungs directly.
I know you're just cryin' that Certainly Sh---- is having to close stores. Tweeter is gone, too, I saw in the paper the other day. Tweeter's pricing was ridiculous, BTW. They seemed to think a lot about themselves; pity few others did!
Take care and let's do lunch sometime!

Sure, but lunch without the mold. I have been told by a pigeon expert that pigeon poop that has been left to pile up for many months or a year can be quite dangerous, and not to stir it up and breathe it. Wear a mask/filter when shoveling it and carefully shovel it. Yes, the flesh eating bacteria is found quite often in places where we are, not just in some strange, out of the way place.

Circuit City just declared bankruptcy and reorganization today. It does not bode well for the consumer. Best Buy will take advantage of that and not only increase prices, but cause some manufacturers to go out of business. That is not good either. We will lose competition that creates new technology and lose the forces that drive down prices. I suggest you buy from CC before you go to the other big boxes as we need to keep the competition in the market place.

I know it sounds crazy for me to tell you to go see a competitor, but the loss will hurt me as well, as I expect manufacturers of good product but small stature to fail, having lost outlets in the independent section (ones like Upstairs Audio & Video), and now Tweeter and CC. I have never has a problem with competing on price with any of these stores as they have been the same, or more than us. Their overhead is astronomical, making it impossible to compete on all items with us. Sure, they may have some less, but usually the good products are higher. We often say, “They look like discount stores but their price tags give them away!”. What we do know is that their labor rates are higher than ours, we surprised me no end, as their installers do not have the skills and experience we have. Nor do the sales personnel, judging by the calls we get from people who have purchased at these big stores and then call us for help on how to use what they bought.

I just wish there were more small specialty stores with experts that love what they do. Without those, where do we go for knowledge, and where do specialty manufacturers go to sell advanced product?

Property Tax

Politicians should be good stewards and excellent agents of budgeting.
They should plan for the bad times with reserves that can carry
through until good times.

Joseph, this is a true statement; however, a politician's only mission in life is to get re-elected so they must spend the money on their constituents so they will be re-elected. Such an Catch 22 and so counter productive. Otherwise, my only counter to your property tax theory is that property tax is tax deductible where sales tax is not (for the most part) so I personally always vote to not raise sales tax to reduce property taxes. Also, with USA of A consumer spending down, a sales tax increase may be an additional deterrent to our recovery.
…………

I have always and will always believe that property taxes are wrong.
Period. In essence it means that one never really owns one's property.
The govt has a prior lien.
…………

Hi Joe:
This will be quick because I have to go vote...(why didn't I do it absentee????)..

You make a lot of good points... but one thing I would point out (and I am a big 3-legged stool (3-stooges?) proponents..

remember that property taxes represent only a fraction of the revenues that fund local govt. in SC.
For example, if you look at Richland Co. (had the data handy) the % of the total Gen Fund budget that comes from property taxes (all classes, residential, rental, commercial, industrial, etc) are $72.3 mil in FY 08-09. Total GF is $137.4 mil ... Property taxes only represent about 53% of the total budget. This of course varies by county. Muncipalities are even less dependent on property taxes ... I think the avg statewide is in the 35-40% range (I'm not looking at the data this minute) but you could check with the munic assoc and confirm.
We may not want some expenditures to have to vary so widely as the economy might swing and taxes based on income or sales might follow... for example, do we cut k-12 public educ when the economy slows... (I think we may see that happen due to Act 388.... )
So... it doesn't negate anything you were saying... but it adds another dimension or at least a little complicating factor.
Keep up the good work

jsa-If anyone would like the economic data I was sent, let me know and I will forward a copy. If I can find it on the web, I will post the link.
…………

Joe,
While a lot of what you write ( rant?) is true, let me clarify a few points:
1) The tax sale was moved because of the election and the massive crowds at the Hampton Street county complex. And lack of parking. The tax sale alternates the first part of November and the first part of December. Because the mandate was handed down by the State to sell mobile homes last year in the sale at almost the last minute, the November sale was moved to December, thereby throwing off the election year dates ( election years the sale ended up in December usually, so no conflict.). This years sale should by rights been in December to get back on schedule. Also, because of the volume of properties in the sale ( with the newly included mobile homes making the listing pages longer), there is no guarantee the sale would be over by the time County Council needed it's chambers by Tuesday night.
2) I agree that property tax is archaic . However to say that someone who has no income will loose their house........while true,if someone has no income, they will loose a lot more than their house. And, if you have a house, then you have an asset to sell, mortgage,reverse-mortgage to create the income you need. You need utilities/food/basics too if you have no income.......
3) While there are many owner occupied houses in the sale, there are also MANY stadium parking spaces...(!).....I'm sorry, but if you can afford to buy a parking space for many thousands of dollars, you ought to be able to afford the $250-$300 in taxes.
4) While I'm on my soapbox: I get totally ticked off at the 4%-6% tax rate for owner occupied vs. 2nd home/investment property. I am being ( economically) forced to move into another county for my principle residence because of the enormous difference in taxes.....just over $10,000 as a 2nd home, just over $2000 as principle. As an investor, I understand ( sort of) the reasoning behind "business" properties being assessed more. But I think that residential property should ALL be taxed the same.......renters pay their property tax through their rent. I can promise you that landlords pass on the increased costs for taxes/insurance/utilities in the increased rents. So...the people who can LEAST afford it pay the MOST in taxes indirectly. If agricultural land designation ( and lower taxes) has a minimum of 10 acres to apply, why can't all residential properties be assessed at 4% up to, say 10 units. That keeps the corporate apartment complexes at the "business" rate, and the smaller investor/ Mom and Pop landlords more reasonable?
As usual, thanks for letting me rant. I'm late for the tax sale............
…………

Joe:

You should submit this as an editorial to the newspapers. Excellent article!

jsa-OK, thanks, but I doubt they print it. However, I will send now. (Done.)

And Help Someone

Hi, Joe: I'm looking to a bicycle. It's for a "special" friend of mine who never misses an opportunity to grin and say, "You having a good day today, Miss Becky?" Living a pretty meager life, Randy does odd jobs around town, most recently at the El Cheapo's on Elmwood and Bull. He gets to work from his River Drive apartment on a bicycle--that is until last week when somebody pedaled away on it while Randy wasn't looking. He's saving up for another one, he says, and promises to lock it up on the inside from now own. It's got a bad chain and a flat tire, but the guy selling it to him says it won't take much to fix it.

You think someone out there might have a used three-speed we could share with Randy? He's about 5'10" and pretty wiry. And, he'll make your day--your week--with the toothy "thank you" you're gonna get!

Thanks for your help!

Becky Bailey
The New Survey
803-454-0088 (office)
803-338-9738 (mobile)
803-691-1187 (FAX)
………….

jsa-OK, I am late on this, but November is another month of need.

My mom sent me this message... she and my father are very involved with the Family Shelter. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Also please pass this on to anyone you think may help. Every little bit counts!

Thanks!
Shelburne

Dear Friends and Family,

Julian is on the board of the Family Shelter and I have been involved through our church work with them. We know first-hand of the great need and good works of this shelter. You all know that we are not your typical fund-raisers and are sending this only because of a heart-felt need to help.

The Family Shelter is a private, non-profit organization that provides emergency transitional services for families with children who have been made destitute by crisis. It is the ONLY agency in the midlands that provides these services for families (dads and/or moms, and they must have children). The shelter provides secure, structured emergency housing and assists them in transitioning to permanent housing and a more stable life-style.

Right now the Family Shelter is in the midst of a financial crisis. We have a new director (Jon Artz) who is doing an excellent job. We are working with United Way consultants to cut expenses and develop a solid long-range plan to achieve financial stability.

For the moment, however, the shelter is in dire need of help to meet operational expenses for the month of October. If you are able to make a donation of any amount (tax-deductible), please mail your check to:

The Family Shelter
2411 Two Notch Road
Columbia, SC 29204

If you know of a business or professional group that may be interested in contributing, please pass this on to them, or have them call Jon Artz at the Shelter (771-7040) or one of us (695-6140). Questions can be addressed through either of these numbers as well.

Please pass this on to anyone who may be interested. If you know of anyone we can call or visit that may be in a position to help, please let us know. We're new to the fund-raising game.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and for any help you can give,
Cynthia and Julian Dew
………….

jsa-I have donated a big Cadillac and a van to this program. So you can do the same and get a good tax deduction. Rather than try to attach the documents, just email Jimmy if you are interested and he will send the forms.

Joe: I enjoyed seeing you at the Sertoma Club and I appreciate your efforts over the years to make a change in Columbia City government, I own my deceased mother's home and was raised in the city, but live in West Columbia. I have supported your efforts for change and wish I could have voted for you. Keep up the efforts for change, we sure need it.

Any help you can provide to help us increase our vehicle donations is greatly appreciated. When you send these atachments out on your news letter, please ask everyone to forward them to their email contacts and to tell their friends at work or church about our program, which assists the "working poor".

Thanking you in advance and God Bless.

Jimmy Brazelle, Director
Community Auto Repository
The Cooperative Ministry
3821 West Beltline Blvd.
Columbia, SC 29204
799-3853 ext 511
Cell - 269-4394

Enough for tonight. I hope to see all of you Saturday at the Sertoma Tailgate party. Details in the following newsletter.

Joseph

Tweeter Shuts Down (11-5-08)

2008-11-05T02:34:00.001-05:00

Though no one wants competition in business, competition keeps prices down and quality up. So it is sad to see competitors fold. Tweeter looks to be no more after December 31. Circuit City is closing over 140 stores to try to stay financially solvent. The loss of these two hurts all of us as it eliminates other outlets for manufacturers, and may ultimately eliminate some manufacturers. It will also leave Best Buy as the only national full line electronic retailer, and that means a very real possibility of increased prices on their part, poorer customer service, and a very large club they can use on manufacturers to get what they want, while eliminating uncooperative manufacturers from their stores, providing fewer customer choices and less technological innovation from manufacturers with fewer manufacturers to compete in the market place.

For Upstairs Audio & Video, it is not a problem as the big box stores can never compete when it comes to mid and high end product. They can always beat us on those cheap items such as the cheap LCD sets from China, the $499 complete surround systems, and all the other products that they can buy rail car loads of from the orient, including stuff they label with their own brand. But when it comes to the better name brand equipment, they usually are the same as us, or higher. It may seem odd until you understand two things. First, they do not purchase mid and high end product at much less than we do. Typically they get 5 to maybe 10% off. They may also get some extras such as kickbacks for meeting certain sales levels, advertising money, free product, and other types of incentive programs. (Ever wonder why the sales people at some big stores insist on certain products, especially warranties? They get kickbacks-spiffs-too.) The second point is their overhead is high, very high. I would guess 10-12 times ours. With the locations they occupy, utility bills, advertising costs, layers of personnel, attorneys for lawsuits, theft, trucks, IT department, advertising department and all the other they must deal with, it is very easy to see how their overhead is far greater than ours. Which means their prices must be higher, wages low, and time spent with a customer on sales limited. It also means longer wait times for telephone information and service.

Unfortunately, the public does not see this and is easily mislead by slick advertising that appears to be low prices. Yet specialists such as Mann Tools and Hiller Hardware have similar prices, but far more knowledgeable personnel and service. They often have better selection and allow the purchase of one screw or one drill bit, rather than having to buy a package of 12 screws just to get one. Same applies to Upstairs Audio & Video and other specialists like us, who are unfortunately rapidly disappearing.

The loss of small businesses and specialists concerns me and should you too. Who do you turn to when you need advice and service? Where do the innovative manufacturers go to find people who can explain and sell their product? With the shrinking base of specialist retailers, there is a homogenizing of product, along with a frustration among consumers who cannot get product to work correctly.

It is a shame, but unless we do a better job of selecting good people to support, there will not be many good people left to support us. We reap what we sow.

Tweeter Files Shutdown Notice
By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 11/4/2008 8:15:00 AM
Canton, Mass. — Tweeter has notified a Massachusetts state agency that it is closing its headquarters here by Dec. 31 as part of a “permanent entire company closing.”

According to a report by the Associated Press, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development received the notification by letter on Monday.

The letter, a copy of which was obtained by TWICE, was sent by Tweeter's human resources VP R. Michael Rudman, and indicated that affected employees had also been notified of the shutdown.

The chain was sold to liquidators last Thursday, which the Boston Globe has identified as Hudson Capital Partners and Tiger Capital.

Property Tax (11-4-08)

2008-11-04T01:07:00.000-05:00

Surprisingly, no one commented on the extraordinary number of properties at tax sale Nov. 3 & 4. There are so many that it not only takes 2 days, but was moved to the Township Auditorium.The Oct. 23 State had page 9 to page 22 full of listings, over 4000, the most I have seen. I am curious as to how many owner occupied houses are in this sale. Though a quick look at the list shows many properties with one owner, there are also quite a few single properties with a single owner.

Property tax is a cruel and punishing tax to citizens, especially those that own a home and face economic troubles. No matter what, that tax must be paid. There is no way out if the property is to be kept. Doesn't matter if you have income or not, sick or not, disabled or not, elderly or not, it must be paid. No income? No problem, you lose your house. No savings? No problem, you lose your house. With income tax, you pay as you make. With sales tax, you pay as you can afford. With property tax, you pay. You pay with money that has already been taxed before, something called income.

There are those that promote the 3 legged stool approach to property tax: sales tax, income tax, property tax. These proponents say that when one tax is down, at least there are the other 2 that make up. They will tell you that property tax is the most stable, allowing government economic stability regardless of the economy. Yet that is the problem, and the proponents just don't get it. When citizens are down economically, government should be down. But with property tax, it is not. It still takes in the same, or possibly more with reassessment or millage increase, truly punishing the citizens when they already have less to spend.

Property tax is an antiquated tax from 2 centuries ago. As there were no accurate ways to truly determine a persons income in the 1700 and 1800's, the most accurate method of wealth was real property: land and buildings. Now we can determine income so the need for property tax is unnecessary. We also have sales taxes, so why keep property tax? Maybe because it is still a "bail out" tax for politicians that are not good stewards of taxpayers' money. Or as supporters like to say, it is the most stable of the taxes.

Yes, stability, that is the problem. You can fund airlines, and lose millions. You can buy trolleys, and lose millions. You can buy river front property, and lose millions. You can redo a downtown 4 or more times in 20 years, and lose millions, along with the businesses that fold because of construction. You can fail to balance your books, fail to account for employee insurance costs, employee retirement costs, and so many other items, and lose millions. Yet, as a politician, you always have that ultra stable property tax to fall back on, a great bail out for all those mistakes you made. In other words, the word budgeting never needs be a part of your vocabulary. It is my belief that budgets should include allowances for depreciation and decay of physical facilities in a realistic and economically responsible way. If machinery is purchased for water purification, and it is known to last 50 years, then not only should money be marked for ongoing maintenance, but also for replacement in the amount of 2% per year. In other words, there is always a growing reserve fund locked in only for the intended purpose, nothing else. To rob a well allotted account is to force the budget into the red sooner or later, as the tendency of politicians is not just robbing one account, but all.

If politicians did not have a "stable" source of funding, they would be forced into effective and intelligent budgeting, or oversee their own bankruptcy. Even with this "stable" source, we are seeing cities that are in bankruptcy, so it is easily possible to spend past the stable, bail out tax, meaning any argument for the stabilizing effects of property tax is moot.

Politicians should be good stewards and excellent agents of budgeting. They should plan for the bad times with reserves that can carry through until good times. They need to face the same economic highs and lows that the people they represent do. To not to means not only a great punishment of the people by the politicians, but too easy a way for politicians to lose sight of responsibilities and elected obligations, creating a laziness and great potential for a political economic crisis, as we are seeing in our city and state now.

Contrary to the pundits, everyone pays property tax in some way, and it, not sales tax, is absolutely the most punishing tax of all.

Just ask someone on the tax sale list that lost their home.

The Azar Newsletter How many does it take to.......Part 3 (11-3-08)

2008-11-03T00:29:00.001-05:00

Part 3 was to discuss privileges, rights, responsibilities and opportunities, but so many have given me so much feedback that I am going to write out of planned order, and instead, reveal the places I not only find much better to place a homeless shelter today, but also allow for future improvement of services via physical expansion, and help to generate a percentage of the operating revenue. Maybe now, those of you I meet on the street, we can discuss how to solve (or at least reduce) the problems rather than where the facility should locate, which has been a hot issue that has gotten my ears talked off! Let me take a moment to thank Dan Cook of the Free Times for his journalistic integrity. He has included my articles in the paper, the second of which he edited, but stated so and listed the link to the full article. Though he and I may disagree on some points of this issue, he is willing to allow debate and opposing points in his paper without censorship. Dan, thank you on behalf of all that read the Free Times. It is nice to see such unprejudiced journalistic integrity and reassures all readers of the desire on the part of the Free Times to inform us fairly regardless of editorial opinion.

Originally I suggested the river area that has been a blighted industrial area for years, for a comprehensive homeless center, based on ideas I had from Rick Baty’s excellent suggestions and far reaching vision. But what was good 12 years ago is not necessarily good today, especially as the Canalside developers were told directly, and assured, that the homeless shelter on the river was temporary and would be gone in 2 years. This was stated by council members in the living room of one of the leaders of the homeless movement, as I was told by that leader. Here again we have a case of a city council and mayor that cannot be trusted as to their word. This not only chills, but stops investment and development in our city. I have heard this for years from developers that will not do any within Columbia city limits, rather take their projects to other cities.

With Canalside, the increased development of Elmwood, Main and north Marion Sts., the strong attempts at improving Main St. both downtown and north of Elmwood, and the potential residential/mixed use redevelopment of the former state mental health facility, other areas offer a better opportunity for homeless service without the conflicts. One such area is the Beltline area where abandoned car dealership facilities are, along with Cooperative Ministries, a facility that serves those in need. It is also near the old Midlands Shopping center, another location of agencies that provide support to the needy. With large buildings on large tracts available at probably fire sale prices today, close to helping agencies, and close to all the other state and local agencies in town, why would not this area work? The sale price of the Main/Elmwood properties should be able to buy much Beltline land, rehab the facilities, and provide some operational funding. The Main/Elmwood facilities require rehab anyhow, so use that money on Beltline.

This area appealed to some, and some have expressed reservation, so let me present 4 more. First is 94 acres that is presently for sale just past the Wal-Mart off Sumter Highway (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=33.948077,-80.916431&spn=0.012727,0.019312&z=16) on Old Garner’s Ferry about 2 blocks down. Notice the sparse population around the area (use the Google satellite view). It is close enough to town, yet far enough from heavy population. Across the street is a church, with very little else close. Go a little farther down and there is a lake (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&ll=33.946595,-80.92113&spn=0.025455,0.038624&z=15&msid=112881840360438175137.00045ac01730ad04ba953 ) that once had a country club on it, but no longer. It was for sale at one point, though I am not sure it still is. But it is rough and appears uncared and unused for quite a while. Again, away from population centers, but with the added benefit of a lake for fishing and an irrigation source for agriculture.

Two more are in the Bluff Rd. area, not far from the others. One is the property that Richland County purchased for the now aborted new state farmers market, near Bluff and I-77. We own it, it is over 100 acres, why not use it? The other is a little farther down Bluff Rd. by Big Lake and John Mark Dial Dr., the Richland County Detention Center site (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&ll=33.929901,-80.960827&spn=0.050919,0.077248&z=14&msid=112881840360438175137.00045ac01730ad04ba953). Again, away from population centers and in a sparsely populated area. I doubt that it is a desirable area for new housing and probably has available land for sale at reasonable cost. Adding lake access only enhances what can be accomplished.

Why are these areas better? They are away from most population and in areas that will create far fewer problems. But better than that, they are areas that are large, so they can grow with needs and homeless population growth, which will happen when we build it (they will come-more on that in a future issue). They provide fertile ground for agriculture so that fruits, vegetables, and flowers can be grown for use and sale, reducing the cost of shelter operations. Live stock could also be raised. Farm and gardening skills can be taught, along with landscaping and machinery operation. Day and night shelters can be built, and expanded without future land costs and zoning restrictions. Shower facilities, a laundry, a mail stop, telephones and computers for communication and job search, and just a place to hang out, all can be provided in one place for assistance, rather than our fountains that are now used for bathing and washing clothes, our library and other public facilities that are used for day shelters, and various inappropriate places that are now used as toilet facilities, my place sometimes being one of them. A comprehensive services building can be built for helping agencies to collocate satellite offices for daily and weekly service. This would provide the added benefit of agency workers being not only onsite to see the actual needs of those they serve in real life situations, but also to put these various agency workers in face to face contact, rather than via telephone, mail and email. This should serve to greatly increase communication and efficiency of service to the needy and across agency lines.

For the future, near and far, facilities for job training can be built, and classroom sessions can be held. Computer skills, which are so necessary today, can be taught. Literacy classes can be held. A demo house can be built to teach all the homebuilding skills needed, such as plumbing, carpentry, electrical, masonry, insulation, grading and foundation, along with remodeling skills, which are different from new construction. Heavy equipment operation, restoration, food prep, hospitality, plant maintenance, the list of training is long. There is even a potential connection with Habitat for Humanity. Wall assemblies and roof trusses could be built there and transported to Habitat sites, with savings to Habitat and skills developed by those who want to learn. On site renovation work could be done with Homeworks of America. The possibilities are endless and extremely exciting!

For this, expandable facilities and land are needed, and these areas fit the requirements. Plus they are large enough to have recreational areas. Fitness is part of good health, and sports are a fun, enticing way to fitness and good mental health as well.

But our city cannot carry this burden alone. It must be a cooperative effort with Columbia, Richland County, Lexington, Kershaw, Fairfield, plus all the other cities around us that have a homeless situation but no means to care. Churches, hospitals, businesses and individuals, along with the state government all should participate. If not, we are doomed to an inefficient and ineffectual homeless center that will always be on the edge of shrinking or folding due to lack of funding, much as has happened with the Salvation Army downtown.

It can be done. Those in need can take daily scheduled shuttles to the facility and back, just like the proposed shuttles to the Main St. facility. (FYI, the proposed Main St. facility will only allow bused in patrons, not walk up.) It can work. We have to develop the cooperation and will. And we must have incentives, opportunities, responsibilities and laws that encourage success.

It is time in Columbia we solve the problems, not the symptoms.

In the next issue, I will discuss more of the problems, the who and where and why, along with opportunities, incentives and responsibilities. Better yet, I would love to devote the next issue to your comments, ideas and solutions. I will say that so far, the great majority of Columbia residents feel that a facility should not be on Main St. or near heavily populated areas.

Thanks for reading, and even more so for your participation and comments.

Joseph Azar

How many does it take to.......Part 2 (10-27-08)

2008-10-27T01:03:00.001-04:00

This originally was to be a 3 part series, but is rapidly becoming more, based on what is happening in the community and the feedback I am getting. I have alternative locations for a homeless shelter that should be good choices for both residents and homeless, and I will reveal those as this series progresses.

Any discussion of the homeless must include who are they, where do they come from, and why are they homeless. It is estimated that a good percentage of the homeless are ex-military, a percentage that may be 25% or more. Many are said to be people with mental illness, now roaming the streets as state mental facilities have been downsized or closed. Many are homeless on either a short or long term because of job loss or reduced income, loss of house, domestic dispute, and various other reasons. Not all are adults. I remember a grad student in social work telling me of her study of homeless children in our region, and it numbered over 1000. I found that hard to comprehend. About 15%, a shelter director told me, want to be homeless and are unchangeable. They choose to be that way and all that can be done is to provide food and shelter. Unfortunately, no one really knows the true demographics of our homeless though a physical search and census was done recently. But there is no way to find all the homeless because, well, they are homeless and nomadic.

It is our heart felt desire to help those among us that need help. Our state is a great per capita contributor to charities, and our churches and civic groups provide much material and manpower to good causes. It may be that because we are a poor state nationally that we are all closer to those that need, can see the need first hand, and find sympathy and support easier to give. But because we are a poor state nationally in per capita income, we may also find we do not have much tolerance with those that abuse our good nature, nor continue to play upon our charity selfishly, as those of us that earn must work harder than the average American to make ends meet. This is where the root of the shelter problem comes from, mixing those who earn and want to help with those that do not.

Not all homeless are lazy and bad, and not all Wall St. bankers are crooks, but how can you tell which? I was approached (panhandled some would say) one evening in 5 Points, as happens quite frequently to me. The fellow asked me for $2 and then said “You know me”. I looked closer and yes I did. He worked at a place I eat regularly. He needed the $2 to have enough for the shelter that night. We talked for a very few minutes (I was in a hurry) and he explained that he is homeless sometimes when he cannot have enough for a cheap place and to meet expenses. He has been working at the same place for 2 years and needs the job and wants to keep it so he begged me not to mention his situation to his employer. His fear was that he would get fired if found out. I gave him $2 and have not mentioned it to his employer nor said anything of our conversation to him since. There are families, both complete and broken, that live in cars or worse, finding places to bathe as they can, and getting their children to school without anyone knowing. Or getting them in low cost/free daycare while they work. It is a rough life, very rough with danger involved, yet they work through it, always trying to do better for their children,

On the other hand, there are those with drug habits, mental illness and other problems roaming our streets. They panhandle, sometimes getting hundreds a day, only to spend it all on drugs. I knew 2 guys like that. They told me what they could make a day, and I immediately considered changing careers. They went on to blow it all on drugs, never saving any. They had stolen from family and were not welcome, only being allowed once in a while during special occasions. They also got in fights with other homeless that attempted or succeeded in stealing from them. (Stealing from other homeless by homeless is also a problem. You may have seen the article in The State recently of the almost homeless man who collects cans to pay his bills. He has to hide his stash as a homeless guy may will him and steal his daily collections.) The one I knew best appeared one day with a couple of front teeth missing.

Panhandling is a major problem where I work, on Main St. (though not so bad right now with the construction going on and the pedestrian traffic down), and to a lesser extent the Vista. I must be a panhandler magnet as I get hit many times a day, even to the point of guys trying to flag my moving car down to ask me for money, as one did earlier in the Food Lion parking lot as I this evening. To me it is only annoying, but to others it may be threatening, especially to females, and more especially to those with children in tow. With me they may argue, but I will tell them once they get annoying and doggedly persistent, where to get off. Unfortunately, this may not be the situation for a female. In this case, especially if a woman has children with her, a panhandler can be threatening, and a woman may give him money quickly to get him away. Easy marks, and panhandlers know this. So women stay away from those areas that are threatening and go to malls and other places they find safe. Panhandlers taking advantage of the weak angers me greatly. I recently decided that if I witness it I will not only confront the panhandler to leave, but ask he return the money. Panhandlers may bluster and threaten, but if you stand your ground, especially in a visible location, they will back down. However, I see most of these guys, and a few gals, quite often, so we know each other. That keeps most from trying to intimidate me like they do others.

But they do try intimidation. One restaurant tells me they come in the door and demand food. It does intimidate some of the girls, so the guys have to come from the kitchen and run the bum off. Another fellow told me the same thing happens at his place where they did come in and ask for food at the door in front of patrons. For a while he helped, but it got so out of hand they quit. Now, he says, they run in the door and grab a handful of the free peanuts in a bucket by the door and run out.

They try other ways, such as my car ran out of gas about two miles away and my wife and kids are in it and I am trying to get to_____ to start a new job in the morning and I need a few bucks for gas, or something similar. Before I knew this was a scam, I would offer a buck or two. Then I got wise and offered instead to get some gas and drive him to his car. Never any acceptance of my offer, though I did have one lady who said she needed kerosene for her heater take my offer, so we got kerosene and took it back to her place. One friend got the I need diapers for my baby at the checkout counter at Eckerd’s. She felt sorry and offered to buy the lady some, so the lady came back with the most expensive brand before my friend could get some from the rack. My friend was taken back but bought them. Then she went outside, drove her car across the street, and waited. Within a few minutes the lady came back to the store with the diapers. My friend went in to find the lady trying to get a refund. Let’s say the lady never got her refund, and the manager told my friend that it happens all the time.

I hear someone out there saying Joseph, you are making all homeless to be panhandlers and bums. No, but not all Wall St. bankers are crooks, but how do you tell? The problem is the old Adam and Eve problem: one person does something wrong and a whole lot of innocent people get branded and punished. When one homeless person plants a load of his fecal matter on my threshold (it happened about two weeks ago), I am enraged. It is bad enough that we clean out behind the dumpster one day and find it again the next, but in front of my door? College students urinate everywhere, homeless defecate. My tenants see them going behind the dumpster. They also leave clothing and other material behind it. Some sleep behind it. One crazy fellow I found living there, actually sleeping under the dumpster. He had to be on something because some days he thought he was Superman and almost jumped from my balcony. He would scream at people passing by and periodically tried to intimidate me, threatening force. I would threaten him back to get him to quit with me and those passing by. He went to jail often, which was probably a blessing to him: three hots and a cot.

Which brings up another problem. Our city is already understaffed in the police department, so dealing with homeless is a strain on the staff and the budget. One cop sees a guy in the fountain collecting pennies, washing clothes, or bathing. He confronts the man. Another cop comes arrives as back up. Soon the paddy wagon arrives to haul off the man. So we have 3 cops and three vehicles tied up, and an already understaffed force. The offender is taken to jail, and that costs the city. He goes to court and that costs the city. But he can’t pay the fine, so back to jail, and that costs again. Unfortunately, the arresting officer has to go to court to testify, taking an officer off the street. Of all the police I have spoken with, not one wants the shelter in downtown or anywhere near town. They tell me other cities give their homeless a one way ticket to Columbia, something I cannot confirm nor deny. They often have to look the other way when sleeping and loitering laws are being broken or all they would be doing is hauling homeless to jail every night, all night long, neglecting other problems that may arise at the same time. Take a look at Finlay Park, King Park, and other parks around town some evening. When you only have 5 or 6 officers in the south region on at night, and there are a dozen homeless sleeping and pooping in public areas, what are you going to do? Ignore the homeless and keep an eye on the neighborhoods, that’s what.

Trying to mix residents and homeless is an explosive situation. Parading the homeless out every morning in one of Columbia’s most visible locations is not only humiliating, but could get my friend fired if his employer saw him. The Main St. location is wrong, and the river location is not as acceptable as it was years ago when I first proposed it. It could have been, but with the residential and business closing in around, it creates another potentially toxic mix. A better location would be on Beltline in one of the old, abandoned car dealerships. That is where the Cooperative Ministries is, a wonderful helping organization that cares for homeless and others. It makes more sense to put those that need and those that provide together.

In the meantime, the group that is trying to make the Main St. shelter a reality needs to stop and truly address the problem. They are following their hearts, but also letting their hearts, not their heads, lead them. We must solve problems, not take actions that assuage some group’s guilt, or create an artificial warm and fuzzy feeling of goodness. To mix residents and homeless creates a unspoken anger and seething, boiling relentlessly below the surface, as well as a fear in residents.

In the next installment I will address opportunities, responsibilities, the general unspoken opinion of the public, and another one or two possibly excellent locations for a homeless shelter, if I can fit it all into a semi-compact newsletter.

Please forward to your friends and neighbors. (10-14-08)

2008-10-14T22:24:00.001-04:00

3 seats and 13 candidates!

WHO ARE YOU GOING TO VOTE FOR ?

CANDIDATES-AT-LARGE FOR RICHLAND COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD FORUM

WESLEY MEMORIAL METHODIST CHURCH

2501 Heyward Street in Shandon

This Thursday, October 16 at 6:30pm

Sponsored by Columbia Neighborhood Associations

League of Women Voters of the Columbia Area

Kenny's Update - Time Sensitive Information (10-13-08)

2008-10-13T22:41:00.000-04:00

The Kenny project goes before zoning tomorrow for exception, as seen below. Resistance is not of an aggravated nature this time, but of concern for the area. Those I have spoken with have expressed concern for traffic and safety issues, and looking at the mirror recommendation, I have the same concern. If this facility’s drive through is used frequently like all banks and drugstores are, I can foresee real problems with cars, pedestrians, and bicycles. There needs to be a better way to create visibility than trying to use convex mirrors, or we will experience accidents, some fatal, at this location.

Good design should be required, style that reflects the area. The rear of the building, visible, should have design requirements just as the front. When I built Upstairs Audio & Video, the rear-adjacent to the PO-was designed with concrete block and approved by city. When I saw what was to be, I spent an extra $5000 to cover the new, visible 20’ feet with brick, the part down the alley I left as block as it is not seen, especially with a tree covering the alley entrance. But I felt that ugly was not acceptable, so I spent to correct it, even though the city did not require or care.

I am not sure that a scrolling sign is allowed within 50’ of the street inside the city limits. If Walgreens is allowed, then I am putting one up too!

A great concern of the residents is the lack of communication city staff has had with the residents on this, as well as on the part of the developers. I do not believe the residents will oppose this project, they just want to insure that it is a class act, not a corporate design and construction job. Yes, they feel the creep of pushing the limits of the guidelines so ardently created is not good, and a bit of a slap to the residents yet an easy concession to developers. I concur. If guidelines are going to be set so as to preserve an area, then stick to them. Don’t creep them or you violate & lose the whole concept. This has happened again and again and again in Columbia, ultimately costing us so many valuable historical and architecturally significant structures to so called development, which turned out to be shoddy, cheap in design, and just unattractive. And it did not last too long, either, bringing no lasting economic benefits. Main St. is a classic example.

Maybe we should get a clue from cities 100 miles from us, Charlotte and Charleston. They have better design than us, whether because or requirement, encouragement, pride, or competition. Our city leaders should encourage the same.

________________________________________

Neighbors and Friends –

As information, final approval of the construction plan of the Walgreen's on the former Kenny’s site (the corner of Blossom and Saluda in Five Points) will be tomorrow, Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at the 10:00 am Columbia Board of Zoning Appeals meeting (open to the public) in City Council Chambers, 3rd Floor, City Hall, 1737 Main Street, Columbia, South Carolina.

Developers' Request to Exceed Size Limitation
In their last meetings, on September 9, 2008, both the Columbia Board of Zoning Appeals (“BOZA”) and the Design/Development Review Commission (“DDRC”) approved the developers’ plan for construction of a Walgreen’s on the former Kenny’s site notwithstanding concerns and questions based on pedestrian safety, design issues, and signage.** (See end of email for details.)

Tomorrow, the final issue – the size of the Walgreen’s store will be considered. The developers are requesting that they be allowed to exceed the maximum size requirement of 10,000 square feet to 13,813 square feet.

At this point, public money is no longer being proposed for this property and we welcome private development in Five Points. However, we do continue to have concerns with the City's process. Andy Marion, President of Wales Garden Neighborhood Association, summarizes the situation as follows:

“The developers’ current plans propose a building of almost 14,000 square feet, which is 40% larger than the maximum of the 10,000 square feet allowed outright under the new Future Five MX-1 zoning overlay for Five Points. I believe that the reason for the overlay is to keep the Five Points village feel. It is discouraging that the first major development since the approval of the new guidelines would be a large-box chain store that is significantly bigger than the MX-1 zoning allows without concern on the part of the City staff. It is also discouraging to learn of this need for a zoning exception so late in the game after the site's plans are at the final stage of approval by the City.”

References
For BOZA staff’s case summary and to check out the proposed designs for Walgreen’s, refer to the following link:
http://www.columbiascgateway.com/content/pdf_PZ/BoZA_packet_2008_10_14_Saluda_700.pdf

For confirmation and additional information, refer to the BOZA agenda at the following link: http://www.columbiascgateway.com/content/pdf_PZ/BoZA_2008_10_14_Agenda.pdf

If you have questions or need additional information regarding this matter, contact Mike Conley, the City Staff member in the zoning department, which is under Planning and Development Services. His telephone number is 545-3204 and email address is cmconley@columbiasc.net.

Caroline Watson
516 Congaree Avenue

** Concerns raised in last month's meetings were the following:
1. Pedestrian safety – a “blind” drive-through exiting the property onto Blossom Street (i.e., drivers are unable to view pedestrians or oncoming traffic except for traffic mirrors) and allowing an entrance and exit at the Saluda Street corner of Blossom pose an unnecessary hazard at one of the most heavily traveled sections of roadway in Richland County.
2. Design issues – the design of the building faces Saluda Avenue and Blossom Street. Design concerns included:
• The "back" of the building, which accomodates delivery and other commercial functions, has no pedestrian elements even though it faces Devine and Santee Avenue (i.e., just two blank brick walls without window facades or other design elements intended to soften the effect of the building). Staff's recommendation to allow the blank brick walls facing Devine and Santee rests on the assumption that the future construction will cover the view of the walls. However, there is no guarantee when the other buildings will be built, if at all, nor that the new construction design will block the view.
• The approved design appears to be the typical corporate design of Walgreen’s buildings with little or no reflection of the village feel or conformity to the Future Five Design/Development Guidelines. (The McDonald’s in the Vista is a good example of changing a corporate design to a design molded to the feel of the surrounding area.)
• The designs for the bank and additional retail construction have not been submitted for approval and there is no construction timeline. It is the position of Planning Staff that no such approval will be required.
3. Signage – there will be an independent LED lighted sign with scrolling advertising on the corner of Blossom and Saluda. On the front of the Walgreen’s building will be an additional lighted red neon sign. Both types of signs are specifically discouraged in the Future Five Design/Development Guidelines.

Residents presented all of the above issues before the DDRC as well as the pedestrian safety issue before both BOZA and the DDRC. There was no collaboration with the surrounding neighborhoods during the design or plan development process nor was notice given to any member of the public prior to submission of the final recommendation by Staff to the Board or Commission. It is the position of Staff that there is no vehicle to provide notice to any interested party other than the 15-day public postings on the property being considered.
Caroline N. Watson
Industry Transitions Consulting
516 Congaree Avenue
Columbia, SC 29205
USA
803.252.6507 (tel)
775.535.3645 (fax)

How many does it take to....... (10-13-08)

2008-10-13T21:59:00.000-04:00

I am sure there is a joke in here somewhere about how many people from Columbia does it take to recognize a homeless shelter, since Columbia City Council paid to fly 24 people to Miami for a day to visit a homeless shelter there. I wonder why 24? And I wonder, how much? Since the city cannot afford Christmas lights, where did they find the money for such a junket? And who were the privileged few? Was this a good buddy networking junket, as useless as Coble’s NYC Macy’s junket in the early 90’s? (Don’t remember that one? Macy’s announced plans to abandoned downtown, so our mayor makes a special trip to NYC to visit them. Of course, Macy’s had already made the decision, so his junket was useless, except a nice fall holiday trip to the city for our mayor.)

So, why so many? Maybe a nice reward for a group of people who support our council and mayor? In this economic climate I would want to believe our council would be much more cautious about the money they spend, applying it to the necessities and being frugal in the way they research issues.

In the early 90’s, Rick Baty had an idea for a program he called Agriculture in the City. A brilliant idea I thought, whereby the homeless would plant, cultivate and harvest fruits, vegetables and flowers on unused city land. With these, they could either feed themselves, or sell for income. Rick identified many plots, including small ones in traffic circles and rights of ways. I was so taken with the idea that I promoted it every council race I was in, and promised Rick that I would do so until either it happened or I quit running. Unfortunately, Rick passed away at a young age, and I quit running 2 ½ years ago. But his concept led me to think about possibilities for the homeless and add to his concept.

My thinking led me to propose a comprehensive homeless facility by the river. There is much land, unattractive to most, noisy and dirty next to I-126, Huger, Elmwood and the cemetery, industrial in nature, some being in the floodplain and under the overpass, that could be used. It is not very desirable, yet meets the requirements of those I talked with about being on a bus line and close to the in town services the homeless need. On the floodplain areas, recreation fields for soccer, baseball and other sports can be created, along with land for agriculture, as it floods infrequently. There is also more land adjacent that is out of the floodplain that may be used for those activities along with building a comprehensive facility with showers, mail stop, telephones, day shelter, wet shelter, night shelter, education, job training, and satellite offices of most of the agencies that work with the homeless. If memory serves me correctly, the idea for the recreation fields was also Rick’s, not mine. The rest, mine, cultivated from the ideas Rick seeded.

This concept I have pushed for years, mostly against the grain of the powers that be, including the intelligentsia of Columbia. Now, many years later, they “discover” the area and its suitability for the homeless. Though it is still a reasonable place to create this concept, it is not as suitable as it was even 4 years ago. Now it has new housing, new offices, a children’s puppet theater, revitalized neighborhoods, more retail, all competing to be viable. Mixing in the homeless is not a grand idea in this situation.

Let me stop here and say that the Main and Elmwood location is absolutely the wrong place to establish a comprehensive homeless center. The neighbors do not want it, the businesses of Downtown, 5 Points and the Vista do not, the library staff does not, and the police do not. But many affected will not voice opposition due to political correctness or political reasons. I can speak from experience in 5 Points as to the intensity of the situation as I am panhandled frequently every day, find clothes and materials on my roof and behind my dumpster that the area police recognize as from homeless, find soiled diapers and human excrement frequently behind the dumpster throughout the week, and last week found excrement in my doorway on ground level. I have even found homeless using my dumpster area as a home. I have a heart and have tried to help in many ways, including employment, but handling these types of homeless people is beyond my skill level. Not all homeless are this way, with many desiring to improve and rise out of the situation they are in. Not all Wall St. bankers are crooks either, but how do you tell the difference? Mixing people of different cultures and attitudes that clash horrendously just invites seething anger and fear, as well as physical confrontations.

There is a better place to situate the shelter, one that would cost less, provide more area, be well buffered from the city population, reduce confrontations, and allow dignity for the homeless. Fields for recreation and agriculture would be available, potential river access for fishing, area for shelters and training facilities, along with satellite offices for helping agencies. It would reduce the homeless population within the city that causes so much of a problem and allow easier enforcement of city laws that are so often broken by the homeless, but ignored by the police due to necessity. Reducing the city center homeless population and confrontations with citizens will help to revitalize central retail efforts and protect central housing growth.

This and more I will discuss in my next issue. In the meantime, your comments are welcomed.

Joseph Azar

Greed, Power, and the Love of Money (10-11-08)

2008-10-11T01:20:00.001-04:00

I really enjoyed this article by Mike Dubose and wanted to pass it along. He kindly has granted permission. Unfortunately for me, money has never been one of my loves or I would have been a very rich man by now. But I find riches elsewhere, such as good health, good friends, good laughs, good experiences and accomplishments, excitement for the future, helping others, and those of you who read the newsletter and contribute, for it is a wonderful gift you give to me.

Thank you Mike, for a good article and allowing me to send it to others.

My assistant should be sending it to you shortly. Thank you again for considering our work. More articles will be posted shortly. Watch my web site www.mikedubose.com

Thanks, Mike
………………

Joseph—

Thank you for your request to use the article “Greed, Power, and the Love of Money,” written and copyrighted by Mike DuBose. Per your request, you may publish this article in your newsletter during the year 2008. This e-mail serves as official written permission for you to do so. I have attached the file to this e-mail. Thanks again for your interest in Mike’s work and please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Sincerely,

Katie Beck
Executive Assistant
Research Associates
169 Laurelhurst Ave.
Columbia, SC 29210
(803) 454-2007
katie@grantexperts.com
www.grantexperts.com
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Greed, Power, and the Love of Money: A Formula for Business Disaster

By Mike DuBose

America, one of the wealthiest nations in the world, has a large population that enjoys a standard of life far higher than that of most people on Earth. Even our poorest citizens are considered rich by people in some Third World countries.

“Americans are not ashamed of amassing huge quantities of material things, a mindset that differentiates us from much of the rest of the world. ‘Making it big’ and ‘having it all’ are part and parcel of the American Dream,” writes Diane Coutu, senior editor at Harvard Business Journal. Unfortunately, much of America’s economic success is driven by greed and the desire for power and money. Our nation is obsessed with these things, and the more we get, the more we want—even if our greed threatens to destroy us. Though many Americans share the motto “Greed is good,” like Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas in the 1987 film Wall Street, their greed will eventually lead to punishment for their actions.

The Enron scandal demonstrated how money, power, and the accompanying greed can grow exponentially once we allow ourselves to start down that slippery slope. Our judgment becomes impaired, ethics compromised, and our management style blinded with ambition. What drives people who are so powerful and wealthy to take a path that can lead to prison and, in Ken Lay’s case, death? As I sadly followed the Enron story, I asked myself, “When is enough, enough?”

POWER: I worked for two governors in the 1980’s and was a campaign strategist for politicians from both parties. Thus, I was exposed to many powerful people. I found that many politicians have a high opinion of themselves, often seeking election out of a need for power and recognition that becomes insatiable once they’re in office.

Business leaders are not immune to this lust for power. When I was around those prominent people, I felt powerful, too! However, in Good to Great, Jim Collins contends that the most successful leaders do not intentionally seek power or recognition. In fact, he describes them as humble. Servant leaders earn recognition and power and lead with care, respect and ethical behavior. My early access to powerful people led to problems I had with one of the seven deadly sins later in life . . .

GREED: Once, a colleague told me with great conviction, “Mike, you have a mean greedy streak! And one day, it’s going to be your downfall!”

I was taken aback by her criticism but reluctantly admitted that she was right. At the time, all I thought of was making more and more money. I was on an unyielding course of self-destruction and was determined to become a multimillionaire and own a corporate jet no matter what the intangible costs. I was allowing greed to control my life, sacrificing the well-being of my staff, my family and myself.

My colleague’s words, with God’s help, caused me to take inventory of my life. I realized that my lust for money and power came from a deep-seated need to overcome feelings from my childhood. Freud was right—childhood experiences influence our adult lives.

My parents divorced in an era when people stayed married for life and my mother struggled financially. When I was in high school, we moved into the “big city” of Darlington, SC and I quickly ensconced myself with the popular crowd. They all had dreams of going to college, so I decided to go, too. When I met with my guidance counselor, she was not very encouraging.

“Mike,” she said with a smirk on her face, “College is just a waste of time for you. You will never amount to anything!”

However, I went on to college and graduated in three years with honors and later obtained a graduate degree. Fast forward 30 years: my childhood insecurities fueled my desire for wealth and power. If you had asked me two years ago what I liked to do for fun, my answer would have been, “I like to make money! It’s fun!” And the problem was…I was good at it!

LOVE OF MONEY: Money isn’t the root of all evil—the love of money is. Recently, I shared with a well-known Midlands millionaire my passion for helping other business owners learn from my mistakes now that I had achieved reasonable success. I told him that I never dreamed I would accomplish the things I have and that I was satisfied with where I was in my life. Without blinking, he quipped, “Not me!” Sadly, I see many business owners like him, flying blindly down the road of unhappiness, driven by the insatiable success itch, chasing that elusive gold at the end of the rainbow.

Greed, power, and the love of money have ruined many business owners—and their companies. Blinded by their lust for more power and money, they self-destruct, leaving behind insecure children and unhappy spouses, not to mention the poor health they experience from the stress of never reaching their unattainable goals.

BEATING THE MONSTER: If you’re the captain of the ship and greed and power are steering you toward an iceberg, change course! The scenery may be a little nicer on the other route, but you may find that you’ll be just as content taking a slower-paced journey.

Recently, I promised my employees that money will not drive our company or the decisions we make. My team leaders and I remain keenly aware that we have to pay the bills and make a good profit, but if we don’t run people into the ground trying to keep the money rolling in, I believe the result will be happier employees who work smarter, not harder. We also decided to give away half the profits that Columbia Conference Center generates to charity and schools to make our world a better place.

I have learned firsthand that it’s much more productive to appreciate what you have. Hold on to high quality standards, but be satisfied with a little less of the green stuff. Personally, I have learned that inner peace and contentment pay much richer dividends than a whopping cash flow. By the way, I still haven’t given up on that corporate jet!

--

Mike DuBose is a field instructor with USC’s graduate school, and has been in business since 1981. He is the servant leader and owner of six debt-free corporations, including Columbia Conference Center, Research Associates and The Evaluation Group. Mike is writing his book The Art of Building a Great Business, to be released in late 2008. For more information and helpful articles, visit www.mikedubose.com.

© Copyright 2008 by Mike DuBose. All Rights Reserved. You have permission to forward this article to a friend or colleague and to distribute it as part of personal or professional use during the year 2008 in its full content with all credits to the author. However, no part of this article may be altered or published in any other manner without the written consent of the author. If you would like written approval to post this information on an appropriate web site or to publish this information, please contact Katie Beck at Katie@grantexperts.com and explain how the article will be used. We appreciate you honoring our hard work and we try to accommodate any requests in a timely fashion. Shorter versions of some articles are available upon request.

Columbia Bankrupt? (10-9-08)

2008-10-09T23:16:00.000-04:00

Is it? I say so, just as I have for quite a few years. I have called it functional bankruptcy, my way of saying it does not have the money to operate at the level it is for anytime in the future, but can continue to operate under cover as the real expenses of now and the future have never been made public, thereby shielding the public from the truth. What the council and city administrators know is that all revenue streams must be increased in order to try to avoid revealing the ugly truth, and those revenue streams must be increased as stealthily as possible. You can see it in new parking meters where none were; in more fines and increased fines; in the quadrupling of tap fees in 2 years; in the water runoff tax, especially on properties that really are absorbent, such as one my mother owns that is soil covered only about 30% with crushed rock, which actually retains water rather than letting it runoff, but city officials refuse to acknowledge that and no council member or mayor I emailed would respond; in the water cost that was increased 5% a year, which amounts to over 27% since this is compound interest (interest on interest), plus the sewer fee which is based on water usage, so that even if you use water for plants, car and house washing, swimming pool, you are still assumed to send most of it into the sewer in the summer and all in the winter; the hospitality tax, which is used for everything and anything the city wants, a giant slush fund that the attorney general, governor, lt. governor, solicitor, no one seems willing to address on a local or statewide basis; and….and….and….(So chime in here and tell what else I have missed.)

The city has not balanced the budget on time in at least 3 years, and it was about 2 years behind at one point, according to news reports. It is still not balanced and closed out, and the scuttlebutt is that it will always stay at least 6 months behind. Why? Because if it is finally balanced, it would show the real situation, and the city officials would have to admit the ugly truth. What the budget does not have to represent is potential liabilities such as potential lawsuits that are highly likely to happen, the real condition of water and sewer lines and what the cost of repair/replacement is, other future infrastructure problems that have no official study linked so that officials can say they have no knowledge of any needs, though they do know from “unofficial” investigation, and employee retirement and insurance liability true liabilities as they can say that those are not yet fully determined. (So what else am I missing besides rising expenses that do not have to publicly stated until they happen?)

The other side of this is that the city does not have to say that it is highly probable (gentle word for absolutely will) that city revenues will fall in the next few months and fiscal year. Across the country all 3 revenue sources are falling: property tax, sales tax, income tax. What is also falling is the amount of aid supplied by state and federal government, which was not mentioned in this NY Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/us/07citybudgets.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin.
We know the country has economic problems, but the state has them also. SC again is in the top 20 of something: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/10/1003_budget_shortfall/1.htm.
So any expected money from the state, and any from the fed that can be used by the state for itself or cities, is probably not going to make it in any usual amount to the cities.

I have blown the whistle on the city’s impending economic plight for at least 8 years, with no one paying attention. Instead, the slight-of-hand that our mayor and council use to tout the great gains and renaissance of Columbia smoke screens the real economic failures. It has worked for a while, but the problems now cannot be hidden or denied, only acknowledgement slightly delayed due to “we have to balance the books and close the year out first to see where we are”. One editorial writer for The State fairly well admitted, by not admitting, that the city is bankrupt with an editorial titled
“City’s bad bookkeeping hasn’t caused it to go broke-yet” (http://www.thestate.com/bolton/story/505493.html).
The editorial was written a few days after my article: The City of Columbia is Functionally Bankrupt (8-25-08), http://groups.google.com/group/theazarnewsletter/browse_thread/thread/fc2170991b452b88.
It was a softball editorial designed to give the council and manager an easy out and soft landing, in essence, denying the numbers put out by Adam Beam of The State, who gave a fairly conservative article on the city and conservative numbers (http://www.thestate.com/local/story/499398.html),
not including anything that had no quantitative number to it, such as estimates for the crumbling sewer and water infrastructure. I have to say that it was interesting to see one hand try to minimize the other at The State. And to read a mild comment discrediting me and my article without referring to me (my article came out 8-25 and the editorial 8-28; coincidence?). A more up to date article recently surfaced in the Free Times on October 1:
http://www.freetimes.com/index.php?cat=121304064644348&z_Issue_ID=11010110083100444&ShowArchiveArticle_ID=11010110080949539&Year=2008.
It implies that if the information the reporter obtained is true, the city effectively has no reserves and would be in the position of living paycheck to paycheck.

But, if as the whispers go, if they do bring it up to date and balanced, then they will have to admit to the economic failure of our city.

Joseph

BTW, if you do not receive this in HTML, the links for some of the articles may not appear. I hope the many embedded links do not get jumbled in this transmission. They probably will not link on the blog so you will have to cut and paste.

VUDU & The Economy (10-6-08)

2008-10-06T23:45:00.001-04:00

No way I will ever catch up with all the mail you send! In the newsletter box alone there are 1472 emails, and thousands more in the INBOX and elsewhere. If you ever send me an email and need a timely answer, I suggest you resend 24 hours later, or call if I do not respond. As you can imagine, some get missed for a while. Some also go to spam, such as one I sent from me to me!! Go figure.

BTW, fitting subject title, don’t you think?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VUDU

Got mail on this, and rather than list all, let me answer a question or two. VUDU offers around 20,000 or so movies and TV programs, as I heard last. I am sure it is up now. You will not usually find them all on at once because surfing 20,000 video offerings would take longer than watching a couple of movies. So they have limited to a smaller number and change up weekly so you can ultimately view all the offerings.

Where a cable or satellite company will have a dozen or two offerings, VUDU has much more. They both do pay per view, but VUDU allows you to buy and keep on hard drive, where cable/sat only allow you to rent.

Can you load a VUDU movie onto your computer or flash drive? No, not in digital, though you could via analog connection.

Will VUDU work in the car? Yes, with a 12vdc to 120vac inverter.

Is VUDU portable? More so than a DVD player as it is smaller.

Can I use it in a rental house? I assume you mean in a house you rent to others such as a vacation house. Yes, you can load movies on to it and let your tenants watch.

Can they buy movies on my account? No, if you lock it from downloading via password.

Are all VUDU movies HD? No, as all movies are not HD, but VUDU still has the largest collection of HD movies to date, or so I have read. Some download companies have not yet mastered and implemented HD movie download.

It has only 1 terabyte? Yes, which is plenty unless you intend to load a lot of HD content. Then you can add another VUDU for 2 TB of storage. Of course, why buy? Just how many times do you watch the same movie (unless you are 5 and its Disney)? Once? Twice? So renting is much more economical. Then those few classics can be purchased and stored.

How much is it? They make 2. The first is a 250 GB unit that sells for $299 and is now only available at the big boxes and online. The second is1TB at $999. This is the better one with more capability and better suited for good HDTV sets and home theater. I do have one of the lesser sets in stock if anyone wants one, but custom installers only get the better box, not the big stores.

Is the remote a universal one? No, but it is the neatest, easiest to use I have seen. Whoever designed this was a genius. It is RF, meaning you can operate it from the other room with no accessories. A thumbwheel and 4 buttons do it all!

Now what have I missed? Ask me some more.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Economy

It is obvious the anger. Not only are congress people pointing fingers and blaming the other side, but citizens are blaming each other! If you are a Democrat, you are blaming Republicans whether politician or neighbor, and the same goes for Republicans. First, let me say this: I was not and have not been responsible for this economic mess! Like I ever had that much money, sheeeesh! Nor are most of my neighbors, regardless of party. so quit trying to label people around you and blame them. Out it where it belongs, on congress. Any of them could have stopped this, but they never wanted to. Democrat, Republican, you name it. They all let it happen. Same for presidents, so quit acting high and mighty and telling me which party is at fault. One thing that seems to be agreed upon is that it started back in the Carter days (and yes, I like Jimmy).

…………

Joe,

I was in the mortgage industry in the mid 90's to late 90's. When people realize it started with Carter with the Community Reinvestment Act and really steamrolled with the Clinton crowd you would think it would shed some light. I dug this up the other day and have sent it to a few friends and thought you might enjoy it also.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 30, 1999

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

By STEVEN A. HOLMES

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''

Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market.

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.

''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''

Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.

Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites.

Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990's. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent from 1993 to 1998, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. During that same period the number of African Americans who got mortgages to buy a home increased by 71.9 per cent and the number of Asian Americans by 46.3 per cent.

In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent.

Despite these gains, home ownership rates for minorities continue to lag behind non-Hispanic whites, in part because blacks and Hispanics in particular tend to have on average worse credit ratings.

In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.

The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.

To hear today's Democrats, you'd think all this started in the last couple years. But the crisis began much earlier. The Carter-era Community Reinvestment Act forced banks to lend to un-creditworthy borrowers, mostly in minority areas.

Age-old standards of banking prudence got thrown out the window. In their place came harsh new regulations requiring banks not only to lend to un-creditworthy borrowers, but to do so on the basis of race.

These well-intended rules were supercharged in the early 1990s by President Clinton. Despite warnings from GOP members of Congress in 1992, Clinton pushed extensive changes to the rules requiring lenders to make questionable loans.

Failure to comply meant your bank might not be allowed to expand lending, add new branches or merge with other companies. Banks were given a so-called "CRA rating" that graded how diverse their lending portfolio was.

In the name of diversity, banks began making huge numbers of loans that they previously would not have. They opened branches in poor areas to lift their CRA ratings.

Meanwhile, Congress gave Fannie and Freddie the go-ahead to finance it all by buying loans from banks, then repackaging and securitizing them for resale on the open market.

With those changes, the subprime market took off. From a mere $35 billion in loans in 1994, it soared to $1 trillion by 2008.

…………

Joe:

It is a discredit to yourself that you would tout a Fox News program as being straightforward and in the know. Just today, there have been two articles detailing how Phil Gram and the Republican Party set up this climate of de-regulation that lead to this melt down. But, both parties are in the pocket of the financial institutions. The bankruptcy reform bill would never have passed without Democratic votes. However, at the present time, the Republican party still controls legislation because it can block anything in the Senate. So, even if the Democrats wanted to change the regulatory environment, they can't without the Republican votes.

And, don't forget, the Republicans are saying the CRA and loans to minorities caused this meltdown. That is an outright lie and Fox News is no source to give any credit to.

Peace,

jsa-Then I am busted! I have a friend that is extremely well respected in financial circles, the top echelon of the Buffets, Templetons, etc. He is quite informed and knowledgeable on matters financial as his research is used by these titans of finance. He also has much disdain for both parties. When he recommended that I watch this show, I took his advice as I had called him to ask how this all came about. He told me this would answer it. I watched, called him back, and discussed it, mentioning that it seemed that there was some bias. He said what? Maybe, as all news media have bias (remember, he is a member of the journalism corps as well), but the facts are there and quite valid, regardless of Fox or CNN ,or…or…I have known this person since just past birth and have trusted his word as he mine, as we both know the other knows his business, and will acknowledge what he does not know. In other words, we trust each other and don’t shoot any BS at each other. We are resources for each other. And he is held in such high regard by the international financial kings that they all want to be interviewed by him, which would not be the case if he were a hack.

Having said all that, he and the program are right. Add in whatever is missing, remove any bias you think you see, but the facts, the taped comments of the guilty, all of it stands and is irrefutable, FOX or no FOX, as my friend says, with disdain in his voice for both parties.

As for the low income demographic loans, how can it not be the cause? Let’s see, you get a house for NO downpayment, you get a LOWER interest rate than everyone else for a while, then it is adjusted up a few years later. In the meantime, an economic decline happens, your house value slides, your salary cut, hours cut, job lost so you cannot pay the monthlies. What do you do? Walk away. No equity in it, no loss of down payment, it was cheap rent while it lasted. CYA (in both ways). So who gets it who has to keep paying on it? And what happens? These were not a lot of the problem, but enough, along with everything else, to break the camels back.

I cannot think of any middle class working average Joe or Mary ever agreeing that this is the way loans should be made. After all, they both have to put it down, so why should they have to be on the hook for those who can’t? it just does not make sense to the average American, and now we see why.

Socialism mixed with capitalism gets very confusing and discombobulated, causing losses in both. If you can ever combobulate them, let me know.

…………

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/05/mccains-keating-5-scandal_n_132103.html

Joe,

While I agree that neither party's hands are clean when it comes to this country's economic mess, for many years McCain has been at the center of movements to deregulate banks and other aspects of the financial market.

Please check out this link to the Huffington Post as well as the 2 attached articles.

jsa-Yes, and when you start crying about McCain digging up old garbage not relevant, remember what you are doing here: the same sin, so guilty you are. Mac has publicly stated the Keating decision was a mistake on his part, and he wished he could correct it. But he can’t, other than to admit it was wrong, which is more than Dodd or Schumer or Frank are saying now. Yes it was a mistake. Give the man credit for admitting his mistakes publicly, apologizing for them, asking for forgiveness, learning form them, and acting to correct them. Who in politics does this? (Clinton, only some of it, after he is caught lying.)

Is deregulation bad? Well? We deregulated telephone, airlines and much else. They improved due to competition and got cheaper. Banks have become more competitive, at least until recently, though the consolidation will raise consumer costs due to a lack of competition. The real problems are numerous, the main being lack of oversight and punishment, and more importantly, the lack of control by congress that allowed these financial institutions to run wild. The business sector only did what it was allowed, and forced, to do.

…………

Pretty good if you have the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RZVw3no2A4

…………

Joe,

I have attached VISION that I wrote last week and presented before the South Carolina Federation of Republican Women on 10/4/08. It was received very well. The last part of VISION asks for participation in a march on D.C. in the Spring of 09 to protest the greed, sale of votes by members of the House and Senate, embezzlement, fraud, lies, extortion and continued power grabbing by members of the House and Senate. I have e-mailed the major news outlets in Columbia about this.

Would you be willing to help advertise the march on D.C. in the Spring of 09 once the organization called "Pitch Forks and Torches" (PFT) has its 501c3 status and is better organized? Let me know and let me know your opinion of VISION.

Carolyn B. Watkins, M.A.,R.D.,R.N.,C.D.E.

CEO

Rock Castle Nursing and Nutrition Services LLC

700 Ridge Trail Drive

Columbia, S.C. 29229

Phone: 803-699-7369

Fax: 803-788-7335

email: rockcastleinc@aol.com

website: www.rockcastlellc.com

jsa-Here it is.

VISION

Our forefathers were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth

Pinckney, Pierce Butler and others. The last 4 were from South Carolina and signed the Constitution of the

United States.. What does the Constitution say about the VISION that these men and other men who

signed the Constitution of the United States had? Read the Preamble to the Constitution of the United

States to answer this question.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more

perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility,

provide for the common defence, promote the general Wel-

fare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our

Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the

United States of America.

What does the preamble to the Constitution of the United States mean? What did it mean to our

forefathers and the signers of the Constitution of the United States? What does "We the People" mean?

That means you and I. This means that the Constitution of the United States was written for the

PEOPLE of the United States. What does "promote the general Welfare" mean? Does

anyone think that "promote the general welfare" meant allowing members of the House

and Senate to look the other way while 2 companies that were backed by the Treasury of the United States,

who by the way has no money but what the tax payer gives it, while the CEO of Freddie Mac who was

Franklin Raines and the CEO of Fannie Mae who was James Johnson stold money from Freddie Mac and

Fannie Mae? How many of you have seen the Utube video from a hearing by a sub committee called

Government Sponsored Enterprises Sub-Committee with Representative Richard Baker (R La )chair in the

House of Representative in late 2004? This sub-committee had received a report from the Federal Housing

Enterprise Oversight People critical of how the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE), which were

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, had been managed and was severely critical of the accounting practices by

Fannie and Freddie. The Democrats on this committee NOT only ignored the warning in the report, they

assulted Armando Falcon, who was Director of the Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, for the content of

the report. The following are comments made by the Democratic members of this committee

about the report and about Armando Falcon:

Barney Frank (Democrat from Massachuetts) made a comment that there is nothing in the report on

Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE) that raises safety and soundness problems

Maxine Waters (Democrat from California) - under the OUTSTANDING leadership of Franklin Raines (CEO

of Freddie Mac) everything under the act in 1992 has worked just fine. In fact the GSEs have exceeded

their housing goals.

Gregory Meeks (Democrat from New York) I am pissed off because the report on the GSEs gives

people an excuse to do away with the GSEs….the GSEs have done a TREMENDOUS job!

Lacy Clay (Democrat-Missouri) stated This is a "political lynching" of Franklin Raines. who by the way

received a 1.1 million dollar bonus on an annual salary of $526,000.00 as CEO of Freddie Mac in 2003.

The Democratic members in this hearing REFUSED to give the warning in the report on the GSEs

any credibility and instead criticized the Director of the agency that issued the report. NOW, 4 years later,

the tax payers of the United States are being REQUIRED to "BAIL OUT" the U.S. Treasury, the banks who

bought these bad loans and Wall Street people who have benefited from the loans given by Fannie Mae and

Freddie Mac. This is NOT what our forefathers meant when they wrote in the preamble of the United States

Constitution "to PROMOTE the general welfare". There is a difference between insuring and promoting

and by taking the risk out of lending and borrowing and FORCING the tax payer to "BAIL OUT" the risk

takers the tax payers are being FORCED to INSURE and NOT PROMOTE the "welfare" of the risk takers. How

can this be constitutional? I DO NOT NEED A SUPREME COURT RULING ON THIS! I know that this is NOT what

our forefathers meant by "promote the general welfare". It is time that we let members of the House and

Senate know this too!

In addition, ALL of the money given to House and Senate members by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG,

Lehman Brothers, Bear Stern, Wachovia, City Bank, etc needs to be given toward the "BAIL OUT". Why

should members of the House and Senate get to keep money given to them that influenced their votes

to allow the GSEs to continue operating using "improper accounting practices" and improper

management practices. There were a whole lot of people that benefited from all this get rich at

the expense of the tax payers of the United States and it was NOT the tax payers. Why should we allow

people who work for us to keep the money given them to buy their votes to ignore the fact that Fannie

and Freddie were going bankrupt and not REQUIRE them to give ALL that money toward the "BAIL OUT"?

Would you participate in a march on Washington D.C. in the Spring or Summer of 2009 to protest the greed,

arrogance, deceit, lies, embezzlement and incompetence of our elected and unelected leaders that led to

the "BAIL OUT?" Pray about this and let me know.

Carolyn B. Watkins

Citizen, tax payer and voter of the United States of America

…………

Holy Guacamole, Joseph! "my favorite president, Jimmy Carter"?! I hope that remark was facetious. This joker was a disaster from the start. And if it's possible, he's been a worse ex-president than he was a president, some of his actions, IMO, crossing the line into treason. When I was plying my trade during his administration some of the cabin attendants remarked that my PA announcements sounded just like him, and I made a concerted effort to correct that.

But anyway, here's a 1999 New York Times article that pretty much establishes the cause of the current meltdown (courtesy wrisley.com), although the Times being the Times, they looked upon it as a "good thing" at the time. You won't find much about this in today's news media, especially the Times, and I would be surprised if this story is not removed from their web site soon, but it's still there as of now:

Here Dr. Thomas Sowell confirms that the Democrat Party, the principal culprit in all this, is rather successfully blaming everybody but themselves for this situation. And it looks very much like the American people are buying this, and will put the inmates who caused this disaster fully in charge of the asylum next year.

It looks like we are going to be living out the old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times."

jsa-Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! I like Jimmy for his heart and ethics. Maybe I was a young idealist when he was prez and don’t know all about him. But as am older idealist, I still like him.

I am now off the Christmas party list?

Your Comments and Odds & Ends (10-3-08)

2008-10-03T01:10:00.000-04:00

Friday is the last day to register to vote (actually Saturday is, but the voter registration office is closed that day). Here is the form: http://www.state.sc.us/scsec/vr/VR_Blank_Form.pdf. The voter registration people will usually take it if it is postmarked Saturday, and Richland has been kind enough to take them if they are pushed through the doors before Monday at the county office. But I suggest you do it Friday.

There is much more detailed info at the far bottom about voting and the constitutional amendments we are to vote on.

Joseph, I have six tickets to the USC v Ole Miss game in Oxford, MS for sale.

Let me add to your business....I need Tennessee - Georgia tix for Oct 11th!

Joe, hey wanted to know if you knew anybody with 4 lower seats to the SC ,Clemson game?

Hey Joe,

I'd love to buy 4 tickets to the LSU game if you hear of any. A parking spot would be great too. Thanks!

Great! I have passed the word on. Email me about any. Now that those are out of the way……..

Homeless

Joseph,

I attended the meeting yesterday, and got there about 1:30, so as to arrive early, since your notice said it began at 2 p.m. The meeting had already started. However,i did get to speak. I understand that there is a three minute rule, but I had not been speaking much longer than three minutes (if that long) when Mr. Austin interrupted me when I bought up an issue that had been raised by a someone who had spoken prior to me, The fact was that some of these people are homeless because they cannot take advantage of housing due to the fact that they have been in Jail.

When I further addressed this issue by saying that some of these people have benn in jail as a a result of the fact that the city often chooses to throw them in jail for loitering and pan handling, and that this causes the city not have enough police officer oftentimes to protect us from real crimes (shop lifting, breaking and entering, etc) and that it is the Tax payer who ends up paying because rather than dealing with the issue, the police e just throws these people in Jail/

It was at this point that I suggested (as i have done before) that there needs to be some criteria or system in place in which people who have been in jail for loitering and pan handling and people who have been in jail for shop lifting or violent crimes. The person who bought this up "works at a law firm on Bull street," had mentioned that she had offered to help some homeless people get job a at her law firm, by driving them around to get (birth certificate and other needed documents so that they could get into housing. After she had done this work on behalf of the homeless, they could to get housing because they "had a record."

It was at this point that Austin tried to get me of the stand." I did finish saying what I needed to say however. I told the city that rather if they spend less time complaining about this, and more time trying to work with community, existing programs and businesses, rather than giving lip service and going by "The not in my back yard" excuse, they may accomplish more.

I had even mentioned that city work initiatives that are advertised in the Big DM, also be advertised in free Publications inn free Publications such as "Free Times," City Newspaper, and other free publications that these people actually read. I also suggested that they put leaflets on the blank advertising spaces not used on the buses, and that they be distributed at the transit station, where these programs targeted towards programs could be seen by the homeless. I even suggested that rather than paying $10-$15/ hr to get people to pick up trash, that they try paying some of these homeless people to do it. Again Austin mentioned that my three minutes was exceeded.

I should also point out two council members here: Kirkman Finley, who conspicuously absent, and E.W. Cromartie who was text messaging during a rime when someone else was speaking. When I did get to speak,I thanked the council for allowing me to speak, and prefaced my comments by saying that I followed the rules and turned my cell phone off, and asked Council member's not to text message or answer calls while I was speaking. Adding that the Councilperson who was doing that as someone else was speaking, exhibited "the height of Rudeness.)

My impressions are as follows: (1) Austin is going to do what he is told to do. (2) Tony Lawton will at least attempt to try to communicate with the Public. According to Tony,the city will be getting input from the citizens of Columbia " within the next 14-21 days." (3) Coble will do what it takes to satisfy whoever has objections with words more than actions. (4) Rickenman and Gergel in my opinion came off as the only two who were genuinely interested in being at this meeting, for the purpose of making a positive difference.

Rick Baty

Sharing something about my City and my dad...Thanks Joe!

jsa-Glad to. He was a catalyst for much good. We need more like him.
…………

Hi Joe,

I just had to comment on the statement that helping sway his followers to vote for Coble when he promised to do the recycling thing, if elected, constitutes a blemish on Rick Baty's record. This does not create a blemish on Rick's record nor anyone's record, it is an honest and open way to achieve some very important things and obviously you were willing to go the same route. Whatever kind of leader Coble became or whatever kind you might become if elected would not blemish Rick's very dedicated and unselfish efforts. A fact of life, and Rick knew it, the people who admired and were part of that group of followers were strong thinkers who walked with as opposed to being followers. In plain words you could not lead them where they felt they should not go, they went based on their own knowledge and research.

Rick Baty was a dear friend of mine. I attended his and Anna Hata's wedding, at that time he was Raja Swarr (probably spelled incorrectly), saw their daughter when she was just days old, I watched as he returned to being Rick and Anna Hata returned to being Nicki, there when they painfully separated. I was with them back when environmentalism was a joke and people wished we would all just get lost. I was there as Nicki nursed him in his illness and we all suffered when he passed on. It was indeed a great loss to everyone in this city and state. Rick was an example we could all follow and wish more of us would. So I do thank you for reminding us of some of his wonderful efforts and reminding us of this very special person.

Needed

Hey Joe,

I would appreciate it if you could forward this email to your list serve. Thanks for all that you do.

From: Scott Coots [mailto:scoots@hdsvans.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2008 4:26 PM
To: scoots@hdsvans.com
Subject: We Need Your Help!

Dear Customer,

We are working with a non-profit charitable organization that is setting up a driving experience in an accesible modified racing car at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The date of the event is October 23-26, 2008. The event will be held at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The non-profit would like to rent or requests the donation of a Class A motor home for the event.

If anyone knows where to rent such an RV or has one that they would donate the use of we would greatly appreciate you contacting us.

I can be reached at 770-422-9674 or mdresdner@hdsvans.com.

Thank You,

Michael Dresdner

Michael Dresdner
Handicapped Driver Services
1310 Kennestone Circle
Marietta, Georgia 30066

770-422-9674
mdresdner@hdsvans.com
www.hdsvans.com

Atlanta Jacksonville Birmingham Nashville
…………

Joe,

How are ya? Me...doing better, getting my strength back.

I am writing to let you know that I am in need of a file cabinet (a small one would work). If you know of anything, please help me.

Take care of yourself.

Eboniramm
Main Street Jazz
www.eboniramm.com
803-665-7036

Hydrogen: Hope or Hype?

Plenty to read: http://www.designnews.com/channel/Hydrogen_Power_Hope_or_Hype_.php

Flooding

One kind reader, an engineer, always keeps me informed about flooding issues as he is concerned that we make the same mistakes on the banks of the Congaree as other states have made with their rivers.

From the NSPE newsletter: (NSPE => National Society of Professional Engineers)
Overdevelopment may have worsened flood damage.
In continuing coverage from Wednesday's edition of Daily Designs, the Washington Post (6/19, A1, Achenbach) reports in a front-page story that some in Iowa suspect that "this natural disaster wasn't really all that natural" and "that the heavy rains fell on a landscape radically reengineered by humans." However, while "[o]fficials are still trying to understand all the factors that contributed to Iowa's flooding,...not everyone has" such suspicions. In fact, "some Iowans who study the environment suspect that changes in the land, both recently and over the past century or so, have made Iowa's terrain not only highly profitable but also highly vulnerable to flooding." Jerry DeWitt, director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, "sense[s] that the flooding is not the result of a 500-year event," because "[w]e're farming closer to creeks, farming closer to rivers," and "[w]ithout adequate buffer strips, the water moves rapidly from the field directly to the surface water."
The Wall Street Journal (6/19, A4, Belkin) adds, "As the swollen Mississippi rolls south, breaching levees, drowning crops and submerging towns, a debate is intensifying among scientists, environmentalists, and developers about whether development not only flirts with disaster, but helps cause it." The Journal notes, "Since the historic flood of 1993, nearly 30,000 homes have been built on land that was underwater around the Mississippi and Missouri rivers near St. Louis. This weekend, the dwellers may find out if they built wisely."
Meanwhile, "[a]s floodwaters slowly receded from much of Iowa on Wednesday, authorities focused their attention on a swollen Mississippi River that punched through at least two levees in Western Illinois and increasingly threatened hamlets in Missouri," the Los Angeles Times (6/19, Huffstutter) reports. "Federal officials said as many as 30 levees were in peril."
"Twenty levees already have been topped by flood waters this week," according to the Army Corps of Engineers, the AP (6/19) adds. "The levees in danger protect rural, industrial, and agricultural areas, not heavily populated towns. The levees protecting large towns are not as at risk of overflowing, officials said."
A related AP (6/19) report notes that "[t]he White House is asking Congress for $1.8 billion in emergency disaster aid for the flood-ravaged Midwest." Meanwhile, "[a] dozen senators in both parties are pressing to add money for levee repair and help for displaced homeowners, among other pressing needs."
Flood pollution raises concerns. USA Today (6/19, 3A, Gomez, Dorell) reports, "Human waste overflows, fertilizer runoff, and floating propane tanks are raising concerns in the flooded Midwest but should not cause severe or long-term environmental problems, health officials say." Karen Timberlake, Wisconsin's secretary of Health and Family Services said that "[s]erious chemical pollution from factories and chemical plants 'aren't concerns because we don't have many reports, just isolated cases and leaks.'" She said that, "at least for now,...health concerns are rather mundane: 'bacteria...stomach upset...and (the possibility of) tetanus.'" USA Today notes, "The sole wastewater treatment plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is inoperable, and Pat Ball, the city's utilities director, said it won't be up and running for months. That means raw sewage will continue spilling into the river and affect cities downstream, just as waste from damaged cities upstream continue to flow into Cedar Rapids' water supply."

The City

Joe,

You can bet your sweet ass that the city is "broke"!!! Yet, they are spending over $100,000 to do a new salary survey so they can once again "legitimately" boost salaries of those in the big building on the corner. Also, they just hired a new Deputy Finance Director which is a brand new position for the city @ $85,000 per year. They still have to fill the Finance Director's position at about $110,000 per year. Not to mention the literally thousands of dollars that they are spending to do a search for someone for the position. Two months ago Austen was in the newspaper with a statement that there is a "job" freeze on in the city since they are trying to conserve funds. That was and still is a lie--they are posting jobs and hiring people right and left. He put that in the paper to get everyone off his butt about spending so much money. Also, it is about time for Austen's "helpers" at city hall to get another "pay adjustment" that does NOT go thru council for approval.
…………

Joe:
Incompetence reigns…disgusting!

Subject: FW: City Finances Update

-----Original Message-----
From: Coble, Bob [mailto:bcoble@columbiasc.net]
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2008 9:55 AM
Subject: City Finances Update
I wanted to give you an update on our efforts to correct problems in the City's Finance Department. This week we had a training and orientation session for the Audit Committee that was conducted by Jackie Breeland a CPA. I have copied and pasted an email from our Interim Finance Director Missy Caughman with this week's status report. Additionally, I will send by separate email send a report from staff outlining how we are protecting the City's assets in view of the national financial crisis. If you have any questions please call me at 315-4123 or email. Thanks

From: Caughman, Missy
Sent: Fri 9/26/2008 5:43 PM
To: Austin, Charles Sr. (City Manager)
Cc: Ellis, William H
Subject: FW: FY 06/07 Audit & FY 07/08 Close Status

Mr. Austin

Here is the weekly update on the status of FY 06/07 and FY 07/08.

FY 06/07

*Bud Addison received a final draft of the CAFR on September 17.
*The final draft of ordinance to amend the FY 06/07 budget was sent to Legal on September 25 for review and placement on the October 1 agenda for City Council approval. The budget amendment will need to be approved in order to finalize the CAFR.
*A tentative date to send the CAFR to the printer for publication is October 17.
*The FY 05/06 A133 Single Audit (audit of grant accounts) final entries are also being reviewed by Bud and we have expressed to him that this is a high priority.

FY 07/08

*Bill Ellis is leading City staff with closing of FY 07/08. The MASC team is assisting in these efforts and will be partnered with City staff as much as possible for the training and coordination of the work.
*Staff is evaluating the journal entries and work performed on FY 06/07 as a basis for possible entries needed in FY 07/08. Once the prior year entries are reviewed, we will have a better idea of time frame for completion of the FY 07/08 closing and issuing of the CAFR.
* We will deliver to you a schedule of events (with appropriate terminology) in addition to weekly progress reports of FY 07/08 within the next 2 weeks.

Should you have any questions or need additional information, please let me know.

Thanks
Missy
…………

From: Coble, Bob [mailto:bcoble@columbiasc.net]
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2008 10:09 AM

Subject: Part II City Finances Update
In view of the national financial crisis, we asked City staff to review our investment status. I am attaching that report for your review. Thanks

Points concerning the City’s cash and investments position.

General

The City is subject to state law concerning its cash and investments policies. State law requires a very conservative policy with which the City complies.

Cash

The City’s primary bank accounts are with First Citizens Bank. Other banks are also local.

Deposits in commercial banks are collateralized by government securities. This means that for practical purposes the deposits are 100% "insured" by the federal government.

There is no reason to believe that the local banks in which the City’s deposits are held have any exposure to the types of loans or investments ("sub prime products") that have been at the root of the nationwide credit crisis.

Accordingly, the City’s cash is collateralized and in banks with no perceived exposure to high risk assets.

Investments

Investments are in two groups:

o Group One – investments administered by Merchant Capital. These investments are very conservative and are in or collateralized by government securities. The status of this portfolio was discussed with Brent Robertson and Trey Monroe and all agreed that the City’s investment position was as conservative as practicable.

o Group Two – these investments include the City’s Treasurer’s Fund and several smaller funds and approximate $96.3 million at June 30, 2008. These investments are under the custodianship of U.S. Bank and also are in government securities.

All the City’s investments are under a custodian or trustee – this adds a further level of protection due to their fiduciary duty to "perfect" the City’s ownership of the securities that they administer.

We obtained and reviewed a market value report received from U.S. Bank for the Group Two investments. Overall the market value is in excess of the cost of the investments (giving rise to an unrealized gain). This analysis supports the conclusion that the City’s investments are high quality (otherwise the market value would be diminished due to credit concerns).

Cash and Investments Summary

Cash is conservatively managed and positioned due to the local banks used and because of the collateral "insuring" the City’s deposits.

Investments are also positioned conservatively with respect to credit risk (i.e. credit risk is practically eliminated due to the state’s limitations on investments and the City’s investments in government securities) and the investment’s market value exceeds cost.

Bond Insurance

This matter was discussed with Brent Robertson and Trey Monroe of merchant capital.

The City’s exposure is limited to one bond – the 1993 Water and Sewer Bond which is insured by AMBAC. Currently, AMBAC’s credit rating is adequate (AA). If AMBAC is downgraded the worst case is that the City would have to deposit $7.3 million in a reserve fund (essentially the City would set aside the last year’s payment).

Even in that event, there should be no effect on the City’s bond rating because the City has adequate cash to satisfy the reserve requirements.

Other options in the event of an AMBAC downgrade are to secure a letter of credit to support the debt or to acquire other insurance. In any event, the City should be able to manage the worst case without any significant disruption.

To Do

We will continue to monitor the credit markets and the City’s market position; however, at this time the City is as conservatively positioned as could reasonably be expected.

Miscellaneous Received

If anyone has any old phones they have replace you can donate them to Sistercare in Cayce. They can wipe the Eprom and give them to women at risk. Even if the phone doesn’t have service 911 sill has to work by law. I know they would really appreciate it and they can use any and all old cell phones they can get.
…………

Write in SHERRI ABBOTT for Richland County Clerk of Court November 4th.

Visit the web site: www.sherriabbott.com

View full size
Forward this e-mail to everyone in your address book.
............

'Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.'

jsa-My definition is not nearly as descriptive, but another word for PC is hypocrisy.
…………

Something we won’t worry about this year (a rerun)

A farmer from South Carolina dies and, being a heathen, goes to Hell.

When he gets there its 95º F with 90% humidity, but Satan notices he's
kicked back on the brimstone relaxing comfortably.

He asks, "Why aren't you miserable like everyone else here?" The farmer
replies, "Oh, this is like a warm spring day in Columbia . I like it."

Angry, Satan turns up the thermostat until its 100º F and 95% humidity.

Still, the farmer's happy. "This is like a good June day on the farm.
Not bad at all."

Furious, Satan turns it up to 105º F and 99% humidity. Everyone is even
more miserable, except the farmer from South Carolina still resting.< BR>
"Hey, this is like a good August day on the farm bailing hay. Feels good
the hotter the better."

In a total rage, Satan turns the thermostat down to minus 25º F. Within
seconds, the air becomes chilly and frost appears, soon followed by
solid ice everywhere. Satan smirks, watching the farmer.

The confused farmer looks down at the frozen ground for a moment,
suddenly jumps up excitedly, looks around everywhere and begins to
laugh, scream, and jump for joy.

Scroll Down…..

"THE GAMECOCKS WON A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Good Morning Everyone,
Thanks to each of you for coming out last evening to hear two really good and informative speakers. Both Rob Godfrey and Adam Piper did a superb job – we are indeed fortunate to have these two young people on the conservat ive side of the equation.
I know the information provided below is lengthy, but please be patient and read every line or better still print it for quick reference. If you have further questions and can’t get them answered by logging onto scvotes.org, just let me know and I will try getting the answers in a timely manner.

There are some local issues that are not yet available. I will let you know just as soon as I receive the information.

Thanks everyone,

LN

ALL UNDERSCOR ED INFORMATION SHOWN BELOW IS ACCESSIBLE BY LOGGING ONTO SCVOTES.ORG
VOTER REGISTRATION ‘PHONE NUMBER; 576-2240

October 4th is the Deadline to Register to Vote in the 2008 General Election.
November 4th is Election Day 2008. Polls are open 7 am to 7 pm.
Register to Vote
How to Vote
List of Candidates - Federal & State
List of Candidates - by County (coming soon)
Constitutional Amendment Questions & ExplanationsSouth Carolina Voter Registration Information

*********** ******************************************************

***UNDERSCORED INFORMATION: PLEASE LOG ONTO SCVOTES.ORG AND CLICK ON THE UNDERSCORED FOR MORE INFORMATION.
How to Register
A citizen who wishes to register to vote can register in perso n at their county board of voter registration; or they may download a form, complete it, and mail it to their county board of voter registration.
Voter Registration Application
County Boards of Voter Registration - Mailing Addresses & Contact Numbe rs
Who Can Register?
In order to vote, South Carolina law requires one must first register to vote at least 30 days prior to the election. To be eligible to register in South Carolina you MUST:
• be a United States citizen -be at least eighteen years old on or before the next election
• be a resident of South Carolina, this county and precinct
• not be under a court order declaring you mentally incompetent
• not be confined in any public prison resulting from a conviction of a crime
• have never been convicted of a felony or offense against the election laws OR if previously convicted, have served the entire sentence, including probation or parole, or have received a pardon for the conviction.
There is no length of residency requirement in South Carolina in order to register to vote. You can register at any time.
You must be registered at least 30 days prior to any election in order to vote in that election. Registration by mail applications must be postmarked at least 3 0 days prior to that particular election to be eligible.
Check Your Voter Registration Information
Note: When checking your voter registration information, you must provide your name, county and date of birth as it appears on your voter registrati on card in order to view your information.
Your Voter Registration Information
Update Your Voter Registration Information
If your voter registration information has changed (name, address, etc.), and you still live within the same county, you may update your voter registration information using this form. If you have moved to a different county, you will need to re-register in your new county (see How to Register above).
Students
Students may register to vote where they reside while at tending college.
Students can use the following documents as proof of residency:
• a copy of a current, valid photo ID (driver's license, student ID, DMV-issued ID cards, etc.)
• copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, or othe r government document that shows your name and address in the county
Many college students who live on campus receive their mail at a campus post office box. These students must register at the physical address of their dormitory. The student's P.O. Box can be provided for mailing and contact purposes.
Voter Registration Drives
If you are planning a voter registration drive at an institution of higher learning, please make sure you have the National Voter Registration Application for student s who maintain their residency outside of South Carolina. For a list of addresses of Election Commissions throughout the country please see the Election Assistance Commision web site.

Absentee Voting
Absentee Voting for Military & Overseas C itizens
Voters with Disabilities
How to Use the Touchscreen Voting Machines

******************************************************************

2008 Constitutional Amendment Questions

Amendment 1
Must Section 33, Article II I of the Constitution of this State be amended so as to delete the provision that no unmarried woman shall legally consent to sexual intercourse who shall not have attained the age of fourteen years?
Yes []
No []
Explanation of Above:
This amendment deletes the section of the Constitution which says an unmarried woman must be fourteen years old or older in order to consent to sexual intercourse. Deleting this section would allow the state legislature to set the age of consent. Currently, the state legislature has the age of consent set at sixteen for most cases.
A "yes" vote would delete the section from the Constitution and let the state legislature set the age of consent.
A "no" vote would leave the section of the Constitution in place.
Amendment 2
Must Section 16, Article X of the Constitution of this State relating to benefits and funding of public employee pension plans in this State and the investments allowed for funds of the various state-operated retirement syste ms be amended so as to provide that the funds of any trust fund established by law for the funding of post-employment benefits for state employees and public school teachers may be invested and reinvested in equity securities subject to the same limitati ons on such investments applicable for the funds of the various state-operated retirement systems?
Yes []
No []
Explanation of Above:
"Post-employment benefits" are benefits, mainly health insurance, provided to eligible state government an d school district retirees.
To comply with a change in accounting standards, the state has created trust funds to pay for these post-employment benefits. This amendment relates to how the money in these trust funds may be invested.
A "yes" vote w ould give the state government the option to invest these funds in equity securities (stocks).
A "no" vote would mean that state government is not allowed to invest these funds in any kind of equity securities (stocks).
Amendment 3
Must Secti on 16, Article X of the Constitution of this State relating to benefits and funding of public employee pension plans in this State and the investments allowed for funds of the various state-operated retirement systems be amended so as to provide that the funds of any political subdivision of this State that have been set aside for the funding of post-employment benefits for the political subdivision's employees, including those invested in independent trusts established for that purpose, may be invested or reinvested in equity securities of the type permitted for investment by the various state operated retirement systems, as provided for by the General Assembly?
Yes []
No []
Explanation of Above:
This amendment is the same as Amendment 2 except it applies to local governments' post-employment benefits (instead of the state government's post-employment benefits).
________________________________________

Flip-Flop (10-2-08)

2008-10-02T23:47:00.001-04:00

The Palmetto Scoop today published this headline: Barrett flip-flops on bailout bill. I read the article and it appears to me that Barrett found new information that readjusted his opinion. Yet the author chose to call it a flip-flop. Why? Is it that the author does not like Barrett for some reason? Is the author supporting a Barrett opponent for governor (Barrett is said to be in the 2010 race)? Why prejudice the readers before they even read the article? Just as in push polls, I call this push journalism. So I fired off the note below to the comments section of the blog.
.........
Let's forget the issue for a moment; rather, let's address the theme of this article: Flip-Flop. There seems to be something magic in political circles about sticking to a position, period. Supposedly shows strength, resolve, determination. To change means weakness, lack of intelligence and vision, not versed at all on the issues.

If you are a general going into battle, you generally have a battle plan. Suppose you reach the battle zone, get new intelligence from your scout teams, and find that your plan is not sufficient. What do you do? Stick with the plan anyhow? Or create a new plan of attack? The answer is not hard to see. Or you are a business person with 1 year and 5 year plans. Later you find out a competitor is beating you badly in the market place. Or you run into an economy as we have here? What do you do?

So you are a politician, elected to make decisions about everything from the economy to the latest atom smasher. can you know it all? Immediately? Later? Sometimes initial opinions, gut feelings, immediate reactions are not a complete answer, if any part of a solution. As someone delves into an issue, he may find new information that can reshape his opinion and plan of action.

Would I want an elected official that never changed his mind on an issue once he has made a pubic statement? ABSOLUTELY NOT! If his faculties are too weak to recognize need for an opinion change, or his ego far too large, I want him out. We, as everyday citizens, constantly change our opinions and judgments of situations depending on what new and changing information we acquire. As businessmen, we do the same. Why, then, should a politician not change his opinion if he discovers new compelling information?

A politician that will not change (or flip-flop, as the media and opponents label it) in the face of compelling information is a dangerous politician indeed.

Now, back to the issue at hand........

Your opinion of the VP debate (10-2-08)

2008-10-02T23:34:00.000-04:00

A very interesting debate, one that was different from what I expected. I would love to hear your comments on it, which I will publish.

Your Comments (9-23-08)

2008-09-23T23:30:00.000-04:00

Homeless

Joe:

I do remember Rick Baty! Did he intoduce the slogan "Think Globally, Act Locally?" Also, didn't Ligon want to develop the riverfront area with "the bridge" before "the vista" came along?
……………..

Dear Joe,

Rick Baty was a creative genius whose talents and perpetual-motion presence will be forever missed in Columbia. Thanks for reminding us about Rick, may he rest in peace.

In the summers of 2005 and 2006 I had a unique opportunity to work at the United Nations and observe life in Manhattan up close. What amazed me was the greenery. Every square inch of available soil -- nearly every crack in the concrete jungle -- has something planted and growing. After a rain, the air smells wonderfully fresh because there are trees and flowers everywhere. I think the planting program is called The Urban Forest -- something like that.

If that kind of tangible enchantment can be found in New York, there is no reason it cannot be duplicated and exponentially improved upon here in Columbia, a city whose potential is still mostly a blank canvas.

Thanks for your always interesting and informative newsletter.
…………….

Joseph,

I certainly plan to be at the city council meeting in which the Homeless situation is discussed.I am disgusted with the way the city is handeling it. The more they sweep it under the rug, the worst the problem gets, and the more the business owners complain. yet City concil is either too arrogant, too stupid, or too insensitive to realize this fact. In my opinion, it a a combination of the the three.

I also remember Rick Batey. His studio was net to hairemhair cut place in Five points where I used to get m haircut. I was also a volunteer on his campaign, and do recall him coming up with the curb side recycling idea. I also recall that prior tot he run offs between Coble and Adams, there was a debate at at Lonhstreet theatre (if memory serves my correctly). I also seem to recall that at the time of this debate Coble said it was ecomomically not practicle, as did Adams. Coble also scolded Adamds for what at the time he said was a waste of money on Sidney (Now Finley) Park. It amazes me how many things coble has put down to a waste of time only totake credit for it when it works.

Parking Issues and Parking Meters at County Administration Building

jsa-Below was my note to David Adams about the meter issue. Sometime soon after the media called to find out who the doctor was as they wanted to interview him. Unfortunately, though the bad taste still lingered and he has never gone back, he politely declined any comment, though he still had nothing nice to say about the Coble response or the mayor’s lack of help. The patients he saw could not always afford a $10 prescription, yet they got hit with fines and towing fees higher than that. He felt if the city had that callous a heart, his time was worthless, so he left.
********

Way to go David! You are the hero of the common man! But this is not the first time this has come up. I know a doctor who volunteered his time at the free clinic in your building. The indigent patients who came to the clinic often had to pay for meters and get tickets because they had to be in longer than they expected. Going to feed meters could mean missing your call. Worse yet, when they had to park along the railroad track side because of lack of spaces, they would not only get a ticket, but if memory serves me correctly, they got towed.

Imagine. These are people who cannot afford prescriptions for themselves or their children, and we are ticketing and towing them. So we spend tax money for welfare, then steal it back by tickets and towing. Then they need more, and we have to give them more.

The doctor wrote mayor Coble a letter asking for relief for these patients, but nothing happened. He explained that he is giving his time free to help people, so he is saving taxpayers money from doctors fees. In turn, couldn’t the city help by not penalizing people who have very meager, if no, means to help themselves? I cannot remember if he got a bland “we will look into the matter” letter from Coble, or no response at all. I just remember this doctor’s frustration and anger with the city and mayor over seeing his patients being robbed of money they so desperately needed, especially since he was giving his time for free, even paying his gas and other expenses out of his pocket. He eventually quit volunteering, angered at the situation.

David is absolutely right. Citizens are being penalized to do business with their own government, which is not following the letter of the law they make any business follow. Whenever anyone builds, he has to have a minimum number of free parking spaces based on square footage of the building and business classification. That is the law, zoning law. Yet city hall does not have that. Try finding a space on a Wednesday when council is having a meeting, starting at 10a. At least county council meets in the evening when there are no meter violations.

David is right. The meters need to come out!

Joseph Azar
********

jsa-This was part of the correspondence I had with the doctor and the news person.

I sent him an email and asked him if he would talk with you. He is not eager to, though still angry about the situation, He said: “Joseph, I'm going to pass on this.

Bob Coble doesn't give a damn about the poor, but for various reasons I'm not going to weigh in on this.”

I asked him if he would speak anon to you and have not gotten an answer yet. You might want to interview past and present workers at the clinic. Some may talk about this issue. It needs to be brought to light and I am sure someone will be bold and unafraid enough to speak out.

Let me know how more I can help.

jsa-It is unfortunate this issue never made the news.

…………………..

Re parking meters and the problems they cause: I was talking with a middle manager who works for the state. She mentioned the time & money it costs the state when the employees
a) stop work to run outside & feed the meters
b) stop thinking about their work and start worrying about feeding the meters

Speaking of the problems the city (and state) causes itself, why doesn't it stop wallowing in self pity & resentment about something that happened almost 150 years ago, and get on with its life?? If they would try to think of something positive they could say about Columbia. . . instead of Columbia's HOT (which not a surprise in July & Aug). . .they might start making some progress and rely less on being a vassal of USC.

PS: If you doubt my correctness re self pity & resentment, Joe, just look at the mural on the building adjacent to the Flying Saucer. Is that all Columbia can claim as a heritage??
…………………

Joe,
Re: "Recently, the county has added dozens of new parking meters to compliment the dozens of city meters around our building."

Joe, Joe, Joe you're going about this all wrong! You and the Hari Kari Grill are sitting on a 'gold mine.' Get yourselves some custom made meters that take Visa and debit cards and sink them in your parking area. Maybe they could play a tune or have cool flashing lights or a 'double or nothing' option. Or maybe golden tanned bikini clad 'Valet Parking Attendants' after dark sponsored by Island Tan and you could just park cars up Lee St. and all around the park! Look at this as an alternate income opportunity and not an obstacle. Set up a pair of those D T Bipolar SuperTowers and Tower Loudspeakers and play Bluegrass music with wailing hammer dulcimer solos and mandolin jam bands all night. You know that the 'Don of 5 Points' Freewheelin' Frank Barco wouldn't let an opportunity like this pass him by!! Use the proceeds to by books!! So, what do ya think?

Yours truly,
(Omit my name so I can remain a ‘Secret Partner!’)

jsa-Hmmm. You want to be the first to park here? Only $5/hour, and free music!
……………….

Joseph,

You and everyone else do NOT understand! The city has to have the meters to help pay the TREMENDOUS NUMBER of out of kilter salaries, studies, law suits, etc. that they incur because of "sneaky", corrupt leaders.
……………….

Not to mention the ridiculous amount of people we 'employ' to play hall monitor on the meters. This is especially galling during the 'extended' hours or weekends or other times when the amount of revenue surely doesn't cover their cost. I'd much rather see them providing security and safety services in more areas of the city.

Meters are a major business prevention mechanism. At a time we need to encourage people to visit businesses and engage in the city, we instead make it a pain to go anywhere downtown or in 5 Points during the day (and the day extends way too far into the night!).
………………….

Do you know if employees at that building have to pay for their parking in the garage?
………………..

another commitee and another expensive consultant no one listens to....hmmm.. way to go belinda. those are some really fresh ideas. great leadership.

Other Comments

jsa-Those of you that read this column will know the issues behind these comments. Those of you who don’t, start reading. The archives may be found at http://groups.google.com/group/theazarnewsletter/topics.
…………………….

Joe, with regards to the person wanting to see a light rail line run from Irmo to downtown, I beg to differ. Mass Transit, even in places like New York and D.C. does not pay for itself and Columbia's limited (does CMRTA even have enough funding to qualify as limited?) transportation funds should go to the buses. BTW, I'm not sure how much CMRTA's ridership would increase if they had understandable routes and maps available for the public to see. My parents live in the Harbison area and I see buses all the time running down Harbison Blvd/St. Andrews and Bush River Roads. Has this person ridden a bus? Let's get acountablility with CMRTA, find out what its potential ridership is and give it the funding needed to get people around Richland and Lexington Counties (and other places with the Shuttles) before spending tons of money on pie-in-the sky proposals like rail.

Also, Joe although many of us can certainly understand why businessmen like Mr. Ligon and yourself may not want to serve as mayor, I think I speak for many of us who want a mayor who understands what it takes to make a business run tackling issues like audits, budgets and city ordinances instead of a cheerleader who doesn't grasp why the city shouldn't do somethings regardless of how good they sound.
……………………..

You can pay your parking tickets in the alley behind the Marriot downtown. That is where you can go to argue the tickets also.
………………………..

Add Boozer Lumber Company to your list of small businesses going down.
It is no wonder! A Federal Government that caters to big business and pays lip service to small business is the reason we have so many oligopolies. There is no real pursuit of antitrust anymore. I have a friend who has started at least three small banks during his career solely for the purpose of being bought up by the big ones. He's made a fortune! Wonder if this is a contributory factor to our banking crisis today. Some heads need to roll in the financial community; and George W. Bush should be indicted for treason. A war (another one) going no where; an economy going down the toilet; and a country that is taking back seat to banana republics who hold oil over our heads and sap the cash out of our wallets. Harry Truman, are you still there? FDR, can you once again bail out this country with a program that puts Americans back to work? Bailing out Wall Street and the financial community is only a band aid that the wealthy want so they can save their asses (excuse me, I mean assets) at the tax payers' expense. Democrats tax and spend; Republicans borrow and spend. It's time to tax the people who have the money. Take the cap off of Social Security earnings; apply it to unearned income as well as earned. Apply a declining rate of tax to capital gains making short-term gains taxable at the highest rates and long-term taxable rates at the lowest rates; this will separate speculators from investors. Federal taxes on non-essentials, like entertainment, football tickets and sports revenues, concerts. A huge recycling tax on paper products, bottles, cigarette butts, plastics, and take-out foods. A graduated income tax based on gross earnings (earned and unearned) so that people making more than $300,000 a year pay taxes. Scrap regressive tax plans like the flat tax and the national sales tax, as they unfairly tax those with lower incomes. Get rid of WIC, Section 8, Title Nine and all other plans that are discriminatory against the majority. Our economic crisis may be an omen of the need for a fire sale.... get rid of everything and start over.
And let's begin with Congress and the White House!
………………

Do you know anyone that has a house for rent?
Robby and I got caught in the middle of a property owner vs. HOA fight and now we have to get out.
Looking for a 3 Bd/1.5 Bth for under $600.00 or a 3/2 for under $750.00 a month.
Let me know if you or your readers have anything.
………………….

Hey Joe,
'
I forgot to mention that the city is spending at present tens of thousands of dollars to get the books balanced by a CPA firm. Where is that money coming from???? They have people in the finance dept. that are supposed to be able to do that without calling in the accountants from the outside world.
……………….

Thought you might be interested in this article from Education Week. The Richland 1 board has clearly been looking for a leader in the super hero model.

The Turnstile Superintendency?

August 27, 2008 by Larry Cuban

Despite problems in their districts, the more successful urban school leaders stick around and make steady progress
http://lnk.edweek.org/edweek/index.html?url=/ew/articles/2008/08/27/01cuban_ep.h28.html&tkn=7%2BaVyyRHh%2BGjxxw1VDryqRx4HlR%2FR2ys

© 2007 Editorial Projects in Education
…………………………………………………….

I fel the Hospitality Tax is a Rip-Off and the money is not being spent as it should. When you pay tax on top of tax it gets into greed.
………………………….

We've got to be kidding ourselves if we believe the "Brain Drain" can be reversed anytime soon in Columbia. Maybe if you were in Charlotte or Atlanta things would be different. Even Charleston and the upstate are ahead of us when it comes to retaining young precious talent. Why ? Look first at our leaders and those groups that are even compensated for bringing industry here. Columbia is a nest of old world thinking in a modern fast moving world. We the citizens can blame ourselves whether we've moved here recently or been raised here. It's our vote that consistently puts these people in office. The University and it's growth are responsible for the greater percentage of job opportunity. As one elder friend put it; it has got to be in the water because no other city in the south with this much future potential could consistently do the same things over and over again and expect something different. The "New Columbia" of the future will not only draw people here to be educated, but settle down and stay here because of job opportunity and progressive leadership.
…………………………..

Usually I just read your comments without making a comment but the one about Paxil got my attention. I went into a deep depression about 10 years ago after a relationship breakup. I found that the breakup triggered some other "depression" related cycles I was experiencing. So, my doctor recommended Paxil. I admit it wasn't the greatest solution. I had to change dosages several times until they came out with Paxil CR. Everything leveled out on the Paxil CR. At one time they pulled it from the shelf for a short period of time and I had to take Zoloft. Now, that MADE me crazy!!!! I got back on Paxil CR ASAP. It works for me. It doesn't work for everyone. My depression is cyclical and doesn't consume my life. I've chosen to continue taking the medication to prevent depression. After that last one, I don't want to risk a bad bout that I might not recover from. So, medication helps some while it hinders others. Each person must take the course of action that is best for them.
……………………….

Thank you for including me on your newsletter email list.
The information I am forwarding to you is of vital interest to me.
Our national deby is not a result of the NIH or science grants; I believe
a science debate will be necessary to us to evaluate our candidates'
ability to lead our country through the economic and technological
challenges in the future.

is pleased to announce
Innovation 2008
Dear Marion,
Today we released Innovation 2008: 14 Questions the candidates for President should answer about Science & America's Future.
We started with more than 3,300 questions submitted by our 38,000 signers. We worked with 11 other organizations representing millions of voters to winnow them into the top 14 questions the candidates should answer. While there are many others, these 14 had the most common representation. They are broad enough to allow for wide variations in response, but they are specific enough to help guide the discussion toward many of the largest and most important unresolved challenges currently facing the United States.
We have submitted them to the campaigns and asked for written responses and for them to consider a broader, nationally televised forum for the general public.
We also made certain these 14 questions aligned with and contained as a subset the 7 congressional questions we codeveloped with our friends at Scientists and Engineers for America and 14 other organizations. This cooperative strategy has helped define the science agenda American voters need to hear about from their elected leaders.
To support the Presidential questions, Scientists and Engineers for America commissioned a poll on science and the election. It is published on our site, and it shows that voters are much more likely to vote for a candidate for President that will tackle America's major science issues.
Now we need your help to propel this major effort forward. Please tell 5 people you know about this initiative and ask them to sign on. Blog about it, write about it, and call or write to your local paper and ask them to cover the 14 Questions of Innovation 2008. And of course, call, email, and write the campaigns. These questions are critical to the future of the United States. Politicians pay attention to voters and the press. By working together we can continue to make science and technology a more prominent part of the 2008 elections.
Please also contribute to support our ongoing citizens' initiative to turn this country around.
-The Team at ScienceDebate2008.com

Subject: Earn it!!

A social studies schoolteacher at Robinson High School
in Little Rock did something not to be forgotten.

On the first day of school, with the permission of the
school superintendent, the principal and the building
supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her
classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room they
discovered that there were no desks.

'Ms. Cothren, where're our desks?'. She replied, 'You
can't have a desk until you tell me what you have done
to earn the right to sit at a desk.'

They thought, 'well, maybe it's our grades.' No,' she
said. 'Maybe it's our behavior.' She told them, 'No,
it's not even your behavior.'
And so, they came and went, the first period, second
period, third period. Still no desks in the
classroom.

By early afternoon television news crews had started
gathering in
Ms.Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy
teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled
students found seats on the floor of the deskless
classroom, Martha Cothren said, 'Throughout the day no
one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done
to earn the right to sit at the desks that are
ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to
tell you.' At this point, Martha Cothren went over to
the door of her classroom and opened it. Twenty-seven
(27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that
classroom, each one carrying a school desk.
The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and
then they would walk over and stand alongside the
wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final
desk in place those kids started to understand,
perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how
the right to sit at those desks had been earned.

Martha said, 'You didn't earn the right to sit at
these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed
the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you to sit in
them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good
students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so
that you could have the freedom to get an education.
Don't ever forget it.

By the way, this is a true story. Please consider
passing this along so others won't forget that the
freedoms we have in this great country were earned by
U. S. Veterans.

AMERICA - THE LAND OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE

Homeless Shelter-Again (9-22-08)

2008-09-23T00:23:00.000-04:00

Take a look at the notice below. I wonder who in city government came up with this idea? I am sure one of the council will take credit for it, lots of credit if it goes through, as council members always do. Never will you find them giving credit to anyone else, unless of course, it buys them votes or money. Too many good ideas have I seen come from the general public, and far too often selfishly co-opted and claimed by someone on council. So let me give you history behind this.

Many years ago, when Coble first ran for mayor, he faced 3 opponents: incumbent Adams, Ligon, and a fellow named Rick Baty. Rick was quite an unusual fellow, ahead of his time in many ways. Besides being a graphic artist, he was a roller skater, a musician, and an environmentalist, among others. He pushed for recycling, his big issue. When it came to a runoff between Coble & Adams, Coble told Rick that he would institute city recycling if Rick would swing his supporters behind him, which Rick did. That is how Coble got elected, and the only real blemish on Rick’s record.

But Rick had many other good ideas, which he shared with me over the times I ran. One I really found quite interesting and doable was his agriculture in the city idea. Take bare city land and let the homeless and poor use it to plant fruits and vegetables for their own use. Or flowers for sale. Use any property, whether right of ways that had barren areas, around city buildings, in parks, anywhere land could be found and used for agriculture. I liked it so much that I promised Rick I would promote it every time I ran, and institute it when I won. Rick passed away many years ago, and I promised him before he did I would keep after it, which I have.

In thinking about it over many years, I came up with embellishments, the primary one being to do this by a river in the government area, meaning the areas not allowed for any construction due to potential flooding. Areas I promoted were either by Elmwood Cemetery, or in the Bluff Road area. I was told, repeatedly, that in town was totally unacceptable as that area was to be developed and the rich that would occupy the area would never allow it. Nor would the people on Governor’s Hill, or the neighborhoods near by. When I promoted the Bluff Rd. area, I was told that was insensitive as A) the people out there were burdened enough with low socio-economic issues, B) as the homeless needed to be close to services that were available only in town, and C) the homeless should not be shuttled away from town and out of sight, as out of sight, out of mind.

My proposal, which grew out of Rick’s idea, grew into fields for agriculture, fields for recreation, a day shelter with showers, telephone, laundromat, lockers, mail stop, and other needs of the homeless. I also promoted building facilities so the helping agencies could all locate satellite services there, along with job training of all sorts. I strongly suggested the city give the land to Oliver Gospel and provide economic assistance for night shelters. Doing all of these would help to keep the homeless off Main St., where there was much anguish, and anger, over many of the homeless that panhandled customers and merchants, along with using the street and store fronts for restroom facilities. It also gave the homeless somewhere else to spend the day rather than the library during intolerable weather. My proposal was to give more help to the homeless and their needs, helping them to find ways to get help more easily, and to help themselves, building a sense of worth rather than resentment and anger. It also was designed to help with the development of Main St. business, especially retail, as downtown people were complaining of the homeless and how they ran off customers, especially ladies who were intimidated, and even more so if they had small children in tow.

This concept I have promoted for nearly 20 years, adding to it as I discovered more embellishments, and as many of you have given me more ideas. There is plenty of available land by the cemetery, the railroad tracks, in the industrial area to the right of I-126 as you exit to Huger, and under the Elmwood overpass (I have seen buildings under highway bridges elsewhere). This area is on the bus line (until it goes bankrupt shortly), is close to agencies, has suitable land and plenty of space, is not desirable for housing due to the road noise and dirt (OK, in California it would be suitable, or Manhattan, but we do not have their problems that require that, either), and gives the homeless an opportunity to create and develop. It also allows the homeless to stay out of sight if they want. Some who are homeless DO NOT want to be seen as homeless as they are afraid of losing a job if discovered. Besides, they want to maintain some dignity, and being branded as homeless does not.

There is more, but this is the nutshell history of it. It has taken almost 2 decades of promoting this concept to see this happen. I am not sure who and where else this is coming from, but I am sure it will have some “study” behind it, or some “focus group” or some politician claiming it.

The political egotists as they are, never give due credit to the average citizen for good ideas, but steal them instead and claim them as their own, trying to show “vision” on their part in order to gain votes. If they only understood people, especially the ones they represent, and gave them public credit, imagine how many more good ideas we would get, and how much more cooperation and energy there would be to accomplish them. Ego, greed, selfishness. So damaging, and so dangerous. It holds Columbia back.

Just remember where the good idea came from-Rick Baty.

________________________________________
From: RhettAnders@aol.com [mailto:RhettAnders@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 9:37 PM
To: theazarnewsletter+owner@googlegroups.com
Subject: Joe..please post.

Hello Everyone!

Columbia City Council will take up the homeless issue this Wednesday. The City is looking for alternatives to the Salvation Army Site in Downtown. The front runner to this is to build a permanent facility near the Water/Hydro Plant in the Vista.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE try to come to this very important meeting and express your thoughts for this or any other idea as to how we finally solve this problem in Columbia. Please forward this to anyone who works or lives downtown. Everyone's opinion matters and we must have resolution to this. Please come be heard.

Wednesday September 24th @ 2:00 PM in City Council Chambers in City Hall.

Thanks!

Rhett Anders
President
Windemere Spring N.A.

Odds & Ends (9-22-08)

2008-09-22T01:40:00.001-04:00

The Greek festival was a HUGE success! We ran out of souvlaki and gyro on Saturday before close. Ran out of pastries Sunday early, along with doughnuts and food from the kitchen. Yet more was ordered this year. I did not get any salad or pasta, a favorite of mine, but I did carry many buckets of salad to be served (how did I let it run out before I got any?).

Gotta say, Lady Chablis is better than RuPaul, if you ask me.

The bicycle race was fun to watch. Unfortunately, not as big a crowd as I expected.

OK, onward….

The City

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I was asked to run again for mayor this weekend. I had generally decided not to run again for public office, instead supporting others I feel will be clean, honest, and effective in our city. Yet the public dissatisfaction with all of city government, from Coble to council to Austin, is past comprehension. Not only citizens, but those employed by the city as well. I cannot believe the anger city employees have for council and administration. So much so they are almost willing to risk job just to speak about what is wrong. Coble has always been a source of dissatisfaction, but the hostility towards Austin really has taken me by surprise. This I am going to have to write about in the future, but the anger comes from employees across the board, not any one demographic.

People feel that the city is in a financial bind, that the truth has not come out. The lack of balanced books, the very high salaries of some, the demand that the merchants pay for Christmas lights as the city has no money for them now, and on and on, just leads everyone to the same conclusions: that council and manager are incompetent, do not take the jobs seriously, and that there are things being hidden. One person last week made a very telling comment. He said the city will not bring the books up to date for a very long time, keeping them at least 6 months behind. Because if they do bring them up to date, it will show that the city is truly out of money.

Someone a few weeks ago emailed me asking that I call for a grand jury investigation into the city, that is how bad it is. Supposedly, a citizen can call for one, the writer stated. I do not know if it is true, but like the state supreme court, it should be handled by the feds.

SC State Supreme Court

Ok, they say that bad stuff comes in threes. Here is the second, so what is the third.

This past week I had the opportunity to hear about some lawyers and their trials with the supreme court, eventually talking to some close to them about the situations. I am not sure what is going on, but some have told me that it is a kangaroo court, the way attorney investigations are handled. A complaint against the court is handled by the court and its subservient agencies, not by independent agents. An article in The State this past week made reference to the court and that it should not be the one investigating itself. That is quite obvious, it should not. Yet it is, for itself and for complaints lodged against it.

FITS News, Will Folks, put out this article ( http://www.fitsnews.com/2008/09/04/sc-supreme-court-faces-multiple-investigations/) that states that the court is under investigation. I have been told that SLED and the US Justice Dept. are in the information gathering stage. It would seem difficult for a state agency such as SLED or the attorney general to investigate impartially, but that the feds could less partially.

Lets see what happens here.

Temple Ligon

Temple, one of Columbia’s great assets, hits it again!

www.ecsc.org/index.php?Itemid=161&id=108&option=com_content&task=view

Our state's electric co-ops magazine Living in South Carolina published my article on Jasper Johns and sent about 450,000 copies across the state. Last May in Portland, Oregon, without telling me, the Council of Rural Electric Communicators declared my Johns article as their Best Feature Story among all of the statewide co-ops publications in the country for 2007.

I found out last week when I Googled myself, "John Temple Ligon."

Sometimes you should check yourself out and see how you're doing. I hadn't, apparently, since before last May. Anyway, I'm tickled pink to win a national journalism award, and I'm happy to tell my friends about it.

Thanks for reading such shameless self-promotion. Hell, if I don't, who will?

John Temple Ligon

Paying Parking Tickets

Joe,

I was just wondering if you knew of any easy way to pay for parking tickets in Columbia. As a generation X'er, I admit that I don't even have a check book anymore to mail in my payments. Even when I did, they usually got there a day or two late which added penalties to my bill. I have tried to go by the city's office on Main Street to pay my parking tickets, but I can NEVER find a parking place on or around Main Street during the day when they are open. I've even gone down to the Washington Street building, but their drive up window is never open... usually b/c there is a line out the door which I don't have time to wait that long when I have a job to do. I haven't been able to find an online payment solution on the city's Web site, so do you or anyone else know the best way to pay these blasted things?

KS

P.S. For the love of God, don't underestimate the time you will need to park b/c I just got another ticket today and was only 11 minutes over.

jsa-No, I only know of the drive up window at the police department.

Vista Concerts

what happened to the vista concert series on thursday nites?

jsa-I was told that the sponsor felt there was a large liability with people drinking and decided to withdraw. Below is the official statement.

No Fall Concert series

Vista After 5 - Where Columbia Comes Alive!

Fall 2008 season postponed
The Fall season of Vista After 5 has been postponed to next Spring due to reasons beyond our control. We truly appreciate your support, and the help of all the volunteers in the past seasons. We look forward to continuing, and building upon, our relationships with all of you when we return in April 2009.
Our gracious Sponsor at Jillians will be hosting the bands inside Jillians each Thursday from 6PM - 9PM each Thursday afternoon. You can view the band schedule by clicking here.
11 Years of Music, Fun, Dancing for a great cause!
For the past eleven years, the Vista After 5 concerts have been fantastic social and business networking events. There is never an admission fee, and beverage proceeds and your generous donations support very worthy local charitable organizations.
If you would like to be a part of our exciting 2009 season, either as a Sponsor or a Volunteer, please send us an email @vistalife@aol.com. We would love to hear from you! We currently have Sponsorship and Volunteer positions available.
History of Vista After 5
The Vista After 5 series was created by a group of dedicated volunteers and began in September of 1997. These free concerts have become "the place to be" every Thursday afternoon in Columbia, S.C. They feature the very best variety and show bands from throughout the Southeast and have generated many thousands of dollars in contributions to worthy charities. Your help and support for the future is greatly appreciated! Vista After 5
email: vistalife@aol.com
phone: (803) 239-9303
vistalife@aol.com
Quick Links...
• Visit our Website

More Odds & Ends

Joe,

I received word that the Happy Bookseller is closing in October. This news is sad for lovers of independent bookstores. Maybe you should put the news out in your newsletter.

Thanks,

jsa-Ace Hardware too. We are losing small business to large corporate boxes, who do not have the knowledge, service, and, believe it or not, the selection. I have noticed that the big hardware stores do not have the selection and variety of smaller stores such as Hiller Hardware. I can usually find one bolt or washer I need at Hiller, but at the big stores, if I can find it, I am required to buy a package of 5 or 10.

If all the specialists disappear, where will we find the knowledge and service?
………………..

Hi all.

I have a friend here in Columbia that is the Director of Programs for a non-profit agency called Communities In Schools of the Midlands. The sole purpose of this agency is to help children who are at risk of dropping out of school. In this technological age that we live in today, one of the required items on the school supply list of area students is a "jump" or flash" drive for them to safely backup their computer lab work. Many of the students that my friend fosters do not have the means to provide these for themselves. I have located a vendor that will sell me 100 256mb Memorex flash drives for $350 shipping included. That's only $3.50 per unit... that's less than a cup of Starbucks coffee!

I will be collecting donations to help acquire this item for as many Columbia area students as possible. If anyone is interested in helping out monetarily please let me know.

Best.

Jay Ellington
Art Director
Constantnow
[ellington@constantnow.com]

…………………..

Dear Joe,

Please explain why the 5 pts merchant's association is so adamant about having a garage built on the Kenny site?? What is behind it?? My husband and I attended the Five Pts Citizens Parking Advisory Committee meeing last evening but I cannot get at the economic basis of the merchants' demands as they are so contradictory. The owner of the creaive toy shop pleaded for the garage even though she has been in business on Saluda Ave for 20 yrs. ( She even maintained that if a garage were built behind Clausen's mothers with children in tow wouldn't walk to her shop and that she wouldn't do so as a customer either!!! Oh how the automobile and construction industry loves to hear such assertions regardless of the energy constraints facing the mobile world devoted to the 30-second waddle.) The same is true for the owner of the liquor store (Dennis??). If business has been so bad for the last twenty years sans garage why haven't they departed for better locations?? They all talked about the need for employee parking and in fact that was the main thrust of their argument for a parking garage. Two other merchants (the owner of an art gallery and another Dennis) asserted that there were plenty of parking spots. Evidently, employees cannot walk a couple of blocks to work and I assume from the the merchants' point of view that employees do not arrive on time for work and excuse their tardiness because of their search for a parking spot.

Five Pts businesses or rather their customers contribute to the hospitality tax. Since the businesses are the conduit, owners feel that they should receive benefits from such a tax in the form of garages, for example. Why can't they benefit from this tax in another way?? They have a wonderful opportunity to find a creative and I might add a much cheaper and more environmentally friendly solution to their putatvie problems.

The owner of the liquor store argued that the Kenny site as the gateway to Five Pts. would very soon be home to a Walgreens sorrounded by asphalt. Scare tactics?? That Walgreens would open another store so close to the one they have recently built on Garner's Ferry is another story and I suppose from the point of view of the investors who bought Kenny's site a moot point.

You may have written about the above in some detail. Please refer me to that scribble.

jsa-Look in the archives: http://groups.google.com/group/theazarnewsletter/topics. I have written much about it. The push for Kenny’s comes primarily from the Saluda Ave. merchants as it is close to them. They have given much faulty rationalization about how it is the center of 5 Points, closer to everyone, etc. At this point, either it will not be built in any fashion, or there are closed door meetings going on, just as in the beginning.
……………………

Hi Joe,

You seem to have enough contacts in town to get some answers on "missing link" questions. If you recall, shortly before school was back in session a decomposed body was found in the Maxcy Gregg stream off of Pickens and Blossom Streets adjacent to the ROTC building . The State covered it for a few days - maybe even a week - and the last I read was that they couldn't identify the body. Was this issue ever resolved? or was it put to sleep so as not to alarm the incoming students and the parents that were leaving their children in Columbia to go to school. Maybe I just missed the follow-up on it! Do you know how the story ended?

jsa-No, I do not.
……………………

On the CCI property issue and bridges to somewhere:
I don't know why the city let CCI be developed that way. They should have built another bridge over the Congaree River there. Tayor Street at the river could have been straightened and a new bridge could have been added. Now this can never happen because of the developement on that section of CCI. This is a mistake that will haunt Columbia when it grows 10-20 years down the road. Someday they will have to build another bridge over the Saluda River too. There is no way to cross from Columbia all the way to I 26. I predict they will have either a 9th Street or 12th Street Bridge someday (Maybe hooking up with Greystone Blvd.). Any comments?

jsa-I overheard a group at the Greek Festival discussing that, and everyone thought the project looked cheap and junky. The State ran letters from people who felt it is very poor architecture. The city, meaning council, has no real interest in good design or architecture. Maybe they just do not know what good design and construction is.

……………………
Why won't the city consider a light rail train from Irmo to the city center?

jsa-Ask the city that. I am sure you will get: “We are looking into that”, “The Midlands regional Planning Commission is in charge of that”, “The other towns and governments won’t work with us”, or some other similar comment. Attorney Joe Roof has promoted this idea for years, a great one involving a bus that is fitted with rail wheels and can run on track and street alike.

No vision, no will, no understanding, no money, and no money to be made under the table, yet.
…………………………..

Enough for tonight; plenty more where that came from. I will look for your comments.

Events (9-18-08)

2008-09-18T23:55:00.000-04:00

Big weekend in town. First, the Greek festival started today and goes through Sunday. A “Don’t Miss” event. Next, the big 5 Points concert starting at 6p Friday on Greene St. Then Saturday, it is Wofford and USC at the stadium (tickets available if you need them, and parking too). Of course, RuPaul is in town on Saturday at Finlay Park in a free show. Sunday, it is the bicycle races in the Vista starting at 1p.

Too much, but tons of fun all weekend. Enjoy!

T Mobile Boulevard
September 19, 2008 6:00pm - 10:00pm

Forward email

This email was sent to josephazar@upstairsaudio.com by merritt@fivepointscolumbia.com.
Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy.
Email Marketing by

Five Points Association | PO Box 5283 | Columbia | SC | 29250
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday Morning
October 5th, 2008
Crickentree Country Club
(803) 754-8600
10:00 A.M. Driving Range – (Free Balls)
11:00 A.M. Practice Round - Cost: $40.00
Monday
October 6th, 2008
Crickentree Country Club
9:00 A.M - 10:00 A.M. Driving Range
(Free Balls)
10:00 A.M. Shotgun Start
3:00 P.M. – 5:00 Afternoon Meal
Prize Drawings
Awards Presentation
Tournament Fee: $75.00 per player
Fee includes Golf Cart, Morning Snack on
Cart, Gift Bag, Prize Drawing Ticket,
Water, Beer, Soft Drinks on cart,
½ Baked Chicken Afternoon Meal provided
by Zorba’s
Awards for Gross & Net: 1st - $100 and 2nd - $50

Directions to Golf Course
I-77 from Charlotte – Take Left on Exit 27
I-77 from Columbia – Take Right on Exit 27
Next Traffic light take left
Go 50 yds at next light take right
Go 5 miles on Langford road
Golf course on the right
1084 Langford Road * (803) 754-8600

Thirteenth Annual
AHEPA MidSouthern
National Regional Golf Tournament
Player Registration Forum
Please complete the following information

Name:_____________________________

Address:____________________________

City/State/Zip:_______________________

Phone #: ___________________________
I would like to play with: ___________________________________

and return with your
$75.00
Entry Check to:
Likie Beleos
P.O. Box 87
Camden, SC 29021
803-432-3428 (W) or 803-799-3575 (H)
likieb@aol.com

Make all Checks payable to
AHEPA Columbia Foundation
Tournament Hole Sponsorship
to support
AHEPA Scholarship Fund
Please complete the following information and enclose a check for $50.00. Checks should be made out to
Columbia AHEPA 284 Inc.
Name:_____________________________
Address:____________________________
City/State/Zip:_______________________
Phone #: ___________________________
Name as you would like it to appear on the sign
____________________________________
Mail Checks to Joe Azar ,
746 Harden Street, Columbia, S.C. 29205

PURPOSE OF THE EVENT
Your participation in this event is vital to the
AHEPA Educational Foundation. The
Foundation, sponsored by AHEPA Palmetto
Chapter 284 of Columbia South Carolina,
provides assistance to numerous young adults
each year in the form of the George Boukedes
and the Dr. Daniel Kavadas Educational
Scholarships. Awards ranging from $500 to
$1000 dollars are distributed each year. In
2007, 12 scholarships were awarded and this
December we will award 16 additional
scholarships for 2008. The Committee thanks
you for supporting these scholarships by
participating in this tournament and/or
sponsoring a Golf Hole.

National AHEPA Rules:
The Low Gross and Low Net winners will
qualify for the AHEPA tournament at
Wild Dunes, Charleston, SC. A $400.00 will
be paid by AHEPA toward Expenses.

Format:
USGA Rules apply. Play your ball, bump
your ball only on fairways, otherwise
adhere to all US Golf Association Rules.
No Mulligans, No Gimmees – Putt all balls.
Golfers must provide their own clubs and
soft spike shoes.

Handicaps
You do not have to be an AHEPAN
to play in this Tournament
Handicap
Blue Tees 1 - 12
White Tees 13 - 24
Yellow Tees Senior (70 + yrs)
Red Tees Ladies

Accommodations:
A special rate of $90/night is available for all
players at the Holiday Inn Express on
Clemson Road. Exit #80 from I-20 located
near the golf course.
(803) 419-3558
Use the name AHEPA

Thirteenth Annual
AHEPA MidSouthern
National Regional Golf Tournament
Monday October 6th, 2008

Crickentree Country Club
1084 Langford Road
Columbia, SC
(803) 754-8600
Sponsored by
Columbia AHEPA 284 Inc.

Hello Columbia friends,

Just a note, and a bit late notice, since apparently some didn't get the note sent earlier.
I'm playing tonight, and EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT in September in Northeast Columbia at
THE PUDDLIN' DUCK
(formerly K-Tees Irish pub) in the 9300 block of Two Notch Road right behind DUNKIN' DOUGHNUTS. Its tucked away a bit, but easy to locate @ 108 Columbia Northeast Drive....between I-77 @ Two Notch & the entrance to Spring Valley Country Club.......on your left heading away from downtown.
New owner David has maintained the neighborhood Irish pub atmosphere and already gone non-smoking (ahead of his time). The food is great and it's a small fun place.
I'll be playing each Wednesday @ 7:00pm, so come on out from work and dust off the day's work. I'll see you there......cb
Puddlin' Duck (803) 865-2859
108 Columbia Northeast Drive

British Car Club Midlands Centre Annual Car Show
October 5th 2008

Greetings!

The British Car Club Midlands Centre is proud to present their annual car show to support Camp Kemo and Columbia Parks & Recreation. Come join us for all the fun, interesting automobiles, music & food! Finley Park downtown in Columbia , SC. Sunday October 5, 2008 at 10:00am-3:00pm. All British Marques are welcome! Event is FREE to the public!

To enter your British auto into the show, get your registration forms online at www.BritishCarClubMidlandsCentre.com

For more information on the event, you can contact Todd Smith @ 803-397-5556 or Brad Wik @ 803-600-6243.

Thank you for your help in spreading the word for a great time & a great cause!

Sincerely,

Roe D. Young
British Car Club Member-Marketing Director
(803)730-5338
Or
(803)957-8585

The British Car Club Midland Centre's Annual Fundraiser
To support Camp Kemo and Columbia Parks & Recreation

A great event for family and friends alike! Spend an afternoon perusing antique models, listening to great music, and eating amazing food; all for a good cause!

Event Info

October 5, 2008
10 am to 3 pm
Finley Park, Downtown Columbia

Forward email

This email was sent to josephazar@upstairsaudio.com by interncolumbiasc@sunbeltnetwork.com.
Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy.
Email Marketing by

The British Car Club Midlands Centre | Downtown | Columbia | SC | 29201
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

William Wilson (9-8-08)

2008-09-08T23:15:00.001-04:00

I came home to find a life was cut far too short. Yesterday, William Wilson, son of Jeremy Wilson of Wilson-Kibler, passed away, as I found out later today.

While I was in Denver, I received an email telling me a cyclist was hit and in serious condition, teetering on the edge. I asked that my prayers be expressed to his parents, my hope being that he would make it. This morning I left a message for his father expressing my hope, not knowing he had passed away late yesterday. It was a hit and run, both very unnecessary. A young man riding his bike at 7p to a friend’s house, and he was hit at the corner by where I live, already an unsafe corner. From what I understand, there was too much head trauma and he could not pull through.

Though I did not know him, as a cyclist, and as one that knows his parents, my heartfelt sympathies go out to them, and all his family and friends. Burying a child is something no parent ever wants to do. It was a needless loss of life of a young man just beginning his career in life, and he never had a chance.

I understand that the funeral is Wednesday, noon, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.

Do honor his life by expressing your sympathies to his parents ( jwilson@wilsonkibler.com ), and by being courteous and protective of others that ride bicycles, just as he chose to do.

You may learn more at http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=65893&catid=2.

REMEMBER - FUN RAISING, POUR IT NOW SILENT AUCTION (9-6-08)

2008-09-06T13:31:00.000-04:00

For a good cause. Young people need something to do, and many of them skateboard, just as I did when I was younger. Unfortunately, there are no official places to do so, and many young people do wherever they can find places, some of which happen to be the street. I see this in 5 Points and am quite afraid that they are going to get hurt or cause a motorist to swerve and wreck. The police could give them citations, and eventually lock them up for repeat behavior, but 13, 14 year olds in jail is not a remedy. These young people are willing to do whatever fundraising they can, and to help the city parks dpt. In any way to make a skate park a reality.

I hope you will attend, just as I would if I were back in town from Denver tomorrow.

Thank you,

Joseph
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Join us tomorrow Sunday September 7, 2008.

FUN RAISING, POUR IT NOW SILENT AUCTION

WHAT:
Mark your calendar and make plans to attend! Enjoy a live Jazz Ensemble made up completely of local skateboarders, hor d'oeuvres, open bar and great auction items, ranging from art to fashion! This family friendly event is fun for everyone! Tickets are only $25 per person and can be purchased online at www.pouritnow.com

WHEN:
Sunday, September 7, 2008
6:00pm to 9:00pm

WHERE:
MoMo's Bistro
2930 Devine Street
Columbia, SC

WHY:
With no public skate parks in Columbia, Fun Raising, POUR IT NOW's silent auction helps raise the funds needed to build a park that will prevent potential injury to children forced to look for places to skateboard that may place them in harm's way.

About Fun Raising:
(Columbia, SC) On Sunday, September 7 skateboarders and community members will raise money to help build a much needed skatepark in Columbia. POUR IT NOW, in conjunction with MoMo's Bistro and The Half & Half present Fun Raising, a silent auction at MoMo's Bistro.

The Fun Raising Silent Auction will help POUR IT NOW continue their effort to raise awareness and funds to replace the park at Owens Field. Fun Raising provides the skateboarders of Columbia the support they need for a free, fun, safe place to roll around.

Enjoy a live Jazz Ensemble made up completely of local skateboaders, hor d'oeuvres, open bar and great auction items, ranging from art to fashion! This family friendly event is fun for everyone. Tickets are only $25 per person and can be purchased online at www.pouritnow.com .

For more information:
Ryan Cockrell: ryan.cockrell@gmail.com
POUR IT NOW: www.pouritnow.com
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~

Your Comments (9-9-08)

2008-09-03T02:33:00.000-04:00

Just looking to see if the latest Free Times had hit the internet and I kept seeing this headline: Austin Says City Too Broke to Fund X-Mas Street Lights (http://www.free-times.com/index.php?cat=11010712073616103&ShowArticle_ID=11462711072021489). I really should get Warren Bolton a gift subscription to the Free Times. Maybe then he would understand what everyone else knows: the city is broke.

On to your comments.

Bus System

About my letter to The State, which (Warthen Bolton will never print and I never expect), one reader said: This certainly feasible..
……………………

Hi joe,
Well I agree with you 100%. It would be a complete joke if Columbia doesn't fix the bus system budget issues. The city shouldn't have to borrow funds from other places to make it work. Come up with several solutions and have the people vote on the best one. What planet are we living on that this cannot be communicated logically from anyone besides you. Atleast you're, as Glenn Beck would say, a thinker.

on top of that maybe if the system was improved then the city could actually transform itself as far as transportation goes. Examples: new stops, clean stops where people don't have to drag a log from the woods to sit on, and maybe even some new eco-friendly buses. I know these things will cost money but then maybe people will use it and generate some revenue for the city. I know I would!!!!!
…………………….

Joseph,
I am so sorry to take so long in getting back to you on this issue, since as you know this is an issue that I am very passionate about. Not nly because I use the bus system, because I have been able to drive, and proabaly will again. I feel this is an important issue because the people in this town, especially the "so called" political and business leadership need to to stop seeing the bus ssytem as a way to get poor and lederly people from thier homes/neighborhoods to the neighborhoods and homes of the hotlesl and homes that they clean, and begin to see it more as a tool for economic advancement. I even know one professor at Benedict who told me that she ahs a student who must wheel herself across the bridge to the transit station, to get to Benedict College.

the fact is the better the bus system=more people are able to get work= more taxes paid to the city+ more discretionary spending monye (movies, plays, shopping etc)= more businesses taxes paid to the governement becasue these busineesse are growing and earning more.

Now, ahving said that I happen to agree with your coments about Mr Fisher's observations. I should also point out that I called Councilman Rickenman on the bus system topic and he promptly called me back. I was on my cell phone with him from the timwe thatI got on theb bus at the transit station unti just before i got off in st Andrews. (about 20-30 minutes)

As i recall one thing that we did agree on is that businesses, individuals, and the municiplaities need to work together on this issue. I even went so far as to say that what needs to happen is instead of various local governments pointing fingers at each other (i.e.Richaland County Council vs City council), we need to have a joint meeting between the various local governments. (City of Columbia, Richaland Couty, Lexington County, west columbi, sringdale etc) and various businesses and citizen to ppoint out he benefits of putting into the bus system. As councilman Rickenman pointed out during in our phone conversatin part of the problem is that we have four or five bus systems that repeat one another in many cases, U.SC. CMRT, Newberry express, wateree expreess, Chapin express) which should pool their resources and join inot one system.

Will any of these things ever happen? i dount it? Too many of the people involved just wante to play power games.

I also e-mailed mayor Coble on this issue and he did e-mail me back and responded that the city had been unsuccessful in getting people/businesses ot advertise on the inside of the bus. i e-mailed him back that he and the city should consisder doing commercial on the enefits of advertsing on the inside of the bus similar to how they advertise the smart/parkingmeter card. I also suggested tat a portion of the money generated from the sale of the parkingmeter cards be used towards the bus system. At least on a temporary basis. he e-mailed m back with a two woord response. "Good Ideas!"

Now I was not able to make the meeting, but I doubt nay of thos "good ideas" (to use Mayor Coble's own words) were put forth, or will be put forth. Simply because our leaders see in an outdated classist way rather than a tool for economicdevelopment.

However. in al fairness to our politicians, I must state her what I tell people who ride the bus everytime they ask me to give them an update on what is goingoon or what I think about the situation: "Go to the meetings!" Joe until this happens, things are not going to change. As much as people like you and I speak out on issues such as this, it is also important that busriders and busdrivers also attend these meetings.

please feel free to sign my name.

Keith h. Seymour

Tipping

Tipping on to go orders…

It depends. The food usually costs the same for the restaurant and you whether it’s dine in or to go. Some may charge more for to go, but most don’t. However, the service for to go orders varies. Obviously with dine in, you have a poor little server (or bartender) running her butt off for $2.13 an hour (or $3.75 for bar), unless it went up with the recent minimum wage increase (but it usually doesn’t). However, that hourly wage is barely enough to cover that server’s tax on all over credit card charges, which the restaurant makes her pay. So if you’re sitting down drinking beer while you wait on your to go food, and you have a server taking care of you, then YES, you should tip. And don’t forget that in that situation, you took up a table in her section where a family of four could have sat while dining in, and therefore would have hopefully tipped 20% - and yes, that’s the starting rate! People think it’s 15%, but it’s not. Servers can work up or down, but that’s the standard starting point – 20%.

Now, if you order to go food at say, Yesterday’s, they probably have a hostess putting it together in a bag for you with all the condiments, fork set, etc. If that’s the case, they’re making at least minimum wage, and this duty is usually part of their job. In this case, tips are really great and certainly appreciated b/c $7 an hour doesn’t go very far, but they’re not as necessary as when a server brings the food.

Regardless, food and beverage employees are paid almost nothing in Columbia, unlike Charleston, Hilton Head and other tourist areas, so if you have the extra dollars, spread the love!

On the City

Joe - you frequently have some valid points regarding the operation of the City of Columbia but you also fall short occasionally in your diatribes....

I have been involved in and been a part of the Vista revitalization. It has truly been a remarkable effort since Mayor Findlay focused the City on that area in the early 80's. The joint effort of USC and the city has been nothing short of amazing. There are countless success stories, i.e. increased residential development, the Publix, the new baseball stadium, the Convention Center, the Colonial Center, the new Hilton - the list goes on and on.

The City got the best deal it could out of the bus system - I'm told by people who understand the negotiations. SCE&G was determined to opt out and the court had ruled it could not be forced to operate the transit system at a loss. Coble is correct, on a net basis we did better than Charleston with SCE&G. The future of an acceptable transit system in the midlands will involve increased taxes (and maybe fares) of some kind.

Coble and the Council have made their share of mistakes, the lack of credible accounting procedure probably the most serious.

Personally I don't share your view of CCI. It was an eyesore with absolutely no redeeming features. As a movie set? Come on Joe, that is so far removed from reality, it's absurd!!

jsa-I assume Group Therapy is more significant? That’s why it has been used in movies? Who would need an old jail as a set anyhow?

SCE&G has been determined for years to opt out. What court ruled that and when? Maybe those that told you we got the best deal also had circuitous economic interests. You know this town well and how it works. I believe I heard a story maybe you could substantiate about someone in the Vista area, a “community leader”, who is getting a nice break on a house and rent. Something to do with the old CDC. I never did take time to investigate the minutes as someone told me to.

The Vista is much better now than when I was a child. It was a run down warehouse district. It has come a long way. You have done a good job.
…………..

Joe, I know it predates Chucky being city manager (and to be fair I was critical of his performance as police chief as well), but why the bleep have ALL city council members and Mr. Coble not been concerned about the lack of accounting of city finances? I'm sure Mr. Bolton is a nice guy, but what was he smoking when he wrote this? A cigarette left in an ashtray by a video poker machine? BTW, any comments on a good bike to get for someone who wishes say to ride 10 miles a day that would handle both street and light trail (i.e. Riverfront park)

Thanks for your time,

p.s. You are 100% correct about the Colonial Life Arena debacle, something that as a stagehand I have to make sure I'm correct on.
…………..

RE: CCI:
It need to be destroyed because it was not safe when the Dept. Of Corrections moved. I worked in and out for 21 months and people signed a statement to sleep in the single cells because they were unsafe. Fortunately there was not an accident. It was my understanding that CCI was the first state facility in SC. A marker to CCI should be sufficient. I too wanted something left, but when it was checked out, none of bldgs were in shape to remain.

jsa-So was the Publix-unsafe. Remember the boards used to hold it up? It is not nearly as architecturally or historically significant as the old CCI. Yet the Publix is now used by thousands a day and condos are going into that building also. Any building can be brought up to spec, just look at 701 in Olympia.
……………

Spelling Error:
For Future Reference:
"Penney's" Should Always Be Properly Spelled With An "e"
Not
"Penny's".
Also:
J.C.Penney''s
J.C.Penney
i.e.:
Stands For:
James "Cash" Penney*
Middle Name "Cash"; Often Used As An Inquiry For A Popular Trivia Question
In French:
Pronounced
J.C.Pen~A

jsa-OK, OK. I take my lashings.
……………….

asked what the results of the two test holes at the old Kenny's site in five points. In less than a week after they were dug, the reduced the height of the proposed building. The location was originally a swamp.

jsa-Hmmmm……

ABC Denver

Even though I intend to vote for Obama/Biden, you are right about the money talking..

The only real reason the two party system is sacrosanct in the US is that it is easier for the big-monied corporate interests to buy off two parties than more than two. Over half of the former members of the US House and Senate are now lobbying the US House and Senate, mostly for the big money boys.
……………………
Joe,

Unfortunately this little clip shows only the arrest and puts its own spin on why the arrest was made (it could have been for harassing an old lady for all I know).

It would be more believable, if it had been filmed as completely as the arrest threat of Ralph Nader at the presidential debates a few years ago, where he had a ticket but the cops had been given orders not to let him in by the debate commission!
………………..

I’ll bet celebrities wish they could have Denver police handle the paparazzi.
…………………..

I smell a massive lawsuit against the Denver Police. Its a public sidewalk so the hotel had nothing to complain about. This demonstrates that the Democrats are as corrupt as they say Republicans are.
………………….

That's heavy and not just the weight on that Denver cop(lol) but in all fairness to Brett he was on public property but secret service agents said he was in a protest free zone and ironically it was they who determined the parameters of the zone.

Update: Five Points Parking Issues (9-3-08)

2008-09-03T00:13:00.001-04:00

Here is an update from Caroline Watson who very competently led the drive to defeat the 6 story project. Though I am scheduled to be out of town, I may just be able to delay the trip for this meeting, if necessary. I do urge everyone interested in 5 Points to attend. What happens here also sets precedent for the rest of the city, just as the past fight has.

Joseph Azar

________________________________________
From: Caroline Watson [mailto:wats6861@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2008 11:40 PM
To: cwatson@industrytransitions.com
Subject: Update: Five Points Parking Issues

Neighbors and Friends –

This email is to update you on the issues remaining after the cancellation of the project on the former Kenny’s site in Five Points.

Critical next steps to ensure Five Points success:
As noted in the last update, we believe that the steps defined as critical to Five Points success are the following:
• parking needs in Five Points must be evaluated to determine exactly what the parking demands are and if new surface parking or a parking structure is justified;
• if additional parking demands are justified, any commitment by the City for parking should be made only after a fair and open process; and,
• a project on the former Kenny’s site must be completed successfully in a way that adds to the village feel.
Does Five Points need additional parking?
After the plan for the 6-story project on the former Kenny’s site, which included a parking garage, was cancelled, the question remained as to whether the village needed a parking garage or other parking relief. (As has been previously noted, we are unaware of any data supporting the need for a parking garage despite a 2007 filing of a Freedom of Information Request.)

Belinda Gergel, the new District 3 representative on Columbia City Council, has been working to resolve the long-standing Five Points parking issue. In the City Council meeting on July 9, 2008, Belinda raised the idea of retaining an outside parking consultant to provide independent expertise on quantifying parking demands and options but the idea was not embraced by the rest of Council. However, Council did pass her motion to form a citizens advisory committee to make recommendations regarding Five Points parking.

Five Points Citizen’s Advisory Committee
The members of the Five Points Citizen’s Advisory Committee and its Mission Statement are set out below. As a committee member, I will make every effort to keep those of you that have indicated interest informed as the Committee’s work progresses.

The first meeting was held last Wednesday, August 27, 2008, and, after much discussion, the Committee determined that it did not have the data or the expertise to fulfill its mission without an independent consultant. Therefore, the Committee voted to ask Belinda to present a recommendation to Council for its approval of an RFQ (Request for Qualifications) for such a consultant. An RFQ does not commit any public money at this time; rather, it asks that interested qualified consultants present credentials, rates, and other designated information to Council. (See http://www.wach.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=181912)

Since over 950 citizens were concerned about the procurement process used by the City in its dealings related to the parking garage at the former Kenny’s site, I am happy to report that much emphasis has been placed on the work of the Advisory Committee being “fair and open.” As a large group of public citizens, we have also been concerned about the City’s fiscal responsibility. That issue is also being addressed; “costs and other financial considerations” is a basic tenet of the Committee’s Mission Statement (see below).

The next meeting will be Wednesday, September 3 at 5:15 in the Capital Senior Center. Although the discussion is limited to Committee members, anyone who attends will have an opportunity to speak at the end of each meeting.

Plans for the Kenny’s site
On August 6, 2008, the State newspaper reported that the developers of the Kenny’s Auto Supply site in Five Points said they are going to build a free-standing bank, drugstore, small shop and surface parking lot instead of a six-story, mixed-use development. The developers have applied for the new 5 Points zoning that limits the height to four stories and provides for DDRC review on design. According to posted notices, a hearing is scheduled to review their request to allow an exemption for a drive-through on September 9 and to allow the change in zoning on September 17.

Although the developers have announced that the $5.3 million of publicly funded parking (a total of 200 metered parking spaces) is no longer part of their plan, they have also said they are still open to discussing some form of public parking. (see http://www.thestate.com/local/story/481437.html)

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Feel free to forward suggestions or feedback to me or get involved by attending any of the meetings. I will continue to send periodic updates.

Caroline Watson
516 Congaree Avenue

Five Points Citizens Parking Advisory Committee--- Approved By City Council on August 6, 2008

Committee Chair - Susan Lake, Attorney, Past President of the Shandon Neighborhood Council ; Home telephone-771-6926; Email: slake@sc.rr.com

Mary Bryan, Attorney; Director of Conflict Resolution Program at Columbia College

Durham Carter, Retired Administrator; Martin Luther King Neighborhood President

Ree’Jeena Fletcher, Garibaldi’s server and employee in 5 Points; Office Manager

Dennis Hiltner, Owner of Gourmet Shop

Mark Manos, Attorney, University Hills Neighborhood President

James D. “Don” McCallister, Owner, Loose Lucy’s

Jack Van Loan, Executive Director St. Pat’s Day

Patrick Mason, Publisher of Carolina Living

J.P. Scurry, Leasing Agent, Colliers Keenan

Suzi Sheffield, Owner, El Burrito

Ted Speth, Attorney; President of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce

Howard Stravitz, Professor, University of South Carolina Law School

Bessie Watson, Administrator, SC Budget and Control Board; President-elect, Columbia Council of Neighborhoods

Caroline Watson, Attorney and Business Consultant

Mission Statement for the Five Points Parking Citizens Advisory Committee

The Five Points Parking Citizens Advisory Committee has as its principle mission to work collaboratively and with an open mind to address the parking needs of Five Points with the goal of reaching by consensus a ranked set of options for consideration by City Council. The Committee is tasked to do the following:

1. Evaluate the present and future needs of parking in Five Points;

2. Identify the best strategy/ strategies for addressing the parking needs of Five Points;

3. To the extent that additional parking is determined to be needed in Five Points, identify all potential locations for additional parking and evaluate and contrast each location on the basis of appropriate criteria, including suitability of location, maintenance and enhancement on the historic village atmosphere of Five Points and the surrounding neighborhoods, and cost and other financial considerations;

4. Rank the various parking options and provide an analysis articulating the basis for each ranking, including in that analysis the balancing of the issues of suitability of location, maintenance and enhancement of the historic village atmosphere of Five Points and the surrounding neighborhoods, and cost and other financial considerations.

Caroline N. Watson
Industry Transitions Consulting
516 Congaree Avenue
Columbia, SC 29205
USA
803.252.6507 (tel)
775.535.3645 (fax)

The Azar Newsletter ALL COMERS TRACK MEET (9-2-08)

2008-09-02T11:43:00.003-04:00

Great Idea! Kudos to the sheriff's department. This is a program I have wanted to see in town for years in the form of a summer track program held weekly at night. Also a summer music program and a summer drama program that would involve children and adults alike weekly. Ironically, though I have promoted this during many campaigns and no politician has taken the idea yet, someone 2 weeks ago discussed with me trying to get grants for these programs for next summer.

The sheriff's department is already on the right track. Maybe they will be willing to adopt these ideas, all of which are extremely cheap to implement, maybe $18,000 for all three. We will see what we can do, but do spread the word about this and go support it.

Unfortunately, the flyer will not print to this blog. Registration starts a 5p.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Richland County Sheriff's Department

LEON LOTT

Sheriff

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott announced today the details of the annual Sheriff's Department "All Comers Track Meet".

Sheriff Leon Lott stated that the event will be held September 19, 2008 at Region 1 Headquarters at Lower Richland High School -- the "All Comers Track Meet" is held by the Sheriff's Department and Community Leaders each year to benefit the youth in Richland County. Sheriff Leon Lott stated that the "All Comers Track Meet" is an event created to bring the Sheriff's Department and citizens together to build unity between the citizens and department and to benefit the youth by bringing awareness to crime prevention and education.

Attached is a flier giving details of the upcoming event - please post to community calendars and share with family and friends.

Lt. Chris Cowan

Richland County Sheriff's Department,

Senior Public Information Coordinator

5623 Two Notch Road

Columbia, South Carolina 29223

803-576-3036 (office) 803-576-3190 (fax)

PIO Pager 988-6018

ccowan@rcsd.net

5 Points Parking Committee Meeting Correction (9-1-08)

2008-09-01T23:16:00.001-04:00

The committee will meet Wednesday, Sept. 3 in the Capital Senior Center at 5:15p, not 6p as I reported earlier. Anyone wishing to speak has 3 minutes before the committee.

Your Comments (9-1-08)

2008-09-01T01:31:00.000-04:00

My gosh, now that I am back on a bicycle, riding 25-40 miles, I have way too much energy. It keeps me up working and writing. It has been 8 years that I have been off the bike, and it was my life before that, including my old shop, The Cyclist. Great times.

…………..

Columbia Bankrupt

It is quite a compliment when someone like editorial writer Warren Bolton of The State feels the need to counter my article on the city being bankrupt (http://www.thestate.com/editorial-columns/story/505493.html). He sounded as if was making apologies for the city while defending Coble & Co. with a denial of the facts. Warren’s logic was quite fuzzy and contradictory. Use his numbers (if you can) and see what it comes to be. Then add in for the sewer and water system (a city official stated $100 million, according to a Columbia Star report), the $5 million+ we owe county, the potential liability for the hotel suit, another million for a water tank that needs immediate attention, more money for police, money for Christmas lights, money to add electrical on Main St for the lights (this was overlooked in the Main St revitalization, according to a The State article), COLAs, etc. Then tell Warren what you get. The city does not know what it has. Austin cannot give council current financials, so it is all speculative as to the city’s finances. But when Austin has to ask the merchants for Christmas money, you know it is bad, real bad.

Warren needs to reread Adam Beam’s article, then his own. His math needs a refresher course.

……………

Joe,

how are you? It has been a while.

So I read this and it really makes me wonder.....how some of our officials get appointed in the first place. Is nobody out to look after the Citys health anymore. Maybe when they were first elected but then everyone gets lost in the web of beaurocracies, responsibility, and solving their own problems. I agree with others. When they audit the City funds they should know who was responsible for which losses. That is the purpose of an audit....to provide accountability. It would be incomplete if done any other way. The the people can decide what to do.....we do live in a democracy still, so maybe the voice of the people can decide....if we ever get that far.

Unfortunately, I don't see nor expect much to happen or even change in the future. I would love to be proven wrong. Columbia has has been led by a bad example, our national budget. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

……………….

Hey Joe,

Bet you didn't know that the city just hired a NEW Deputy Assistant to the Finance Director. This is a NEW position at $85,000 per year. That does NOT include the salary of the NEW Finance Director that they still have to hire since the surmise of Lisa (incompetent) Roland. That salary is over $100,000 more. They are also paying a CPA firm thousands weekly to try to get the books audited. Something screwy here! Don't you think?

……………………..

Joe,

A. The City is "managementally" bankrupt.

b. Can the Mayor be impeached/recalled?

jsa- A. Yes, that too.

B. I just got a new basket of peaches at the market today. Lets go for it! (That is an interesting question. Here you can find the code of laws: http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=13167&sid=40. It may be covered under state law as my quick search did not show any recall. Maybe more in depth search will reveal something.)

………………..

But we have money to hire consultants for ad phrases and retail studies and hire more employees in the hysterical preservation department, etc. Then there’s the airline, the prison redevelopment, oh, it hurts to even go on…

……………………..

Another financial issue that needs to be examined is how much money the City takes from the water revenues. As a non city resident who pays Columbia for water, I have become very concerned with how City Council constantly spends water revenues for general City expenses. In essence, Columbia is taxing non-residents to pay for all kind of crap. I have written every member of the Lexington County Delegation with my concerns and have gotten great support in seeking a solution for keeping the City from conducting this practice. As corrupt and inept as Columbia City Government is and as mismanaged as Columbia's finances are, at least City residents can vote on those that spend their money. Non-residents have no say yet Columbia spends tens upon tens of millions of non-resident water revenue for general expense. How much worse will City finances get when Columbia has to stop diverting this money?

jsa-Robbing the water revenues over the years has made council lazy. It also has shortchanged the maintenance of the system. The water rates should be illegal, and would be if a private company was supplying water as state law prevents a water utility from profits of 35-50%. I have said for years that budgeting should be set up on a knowledge basis of deterioration of the system. If it is known certain pipes last 50 years and then need replacing, 2% should be put away yearly to cover that need. The interest from that money can be used for more maintenance, and most especially for greatly unexpected contingencies.

……………………

Well,
Sadly, does anybody care, will there be screaming and demands for a better shake for the folks living here. I couldn't understand why everybody wasn't screaming; first at the salaries being paid by the city for some employees; second by the planned increase in property taxes and water. Unfortunately unless there is a miracle I will never be out there fighting again. For years people talked about an oversight committee for the Police Department, maybe it is time to talk about a financial oversight committee for the city. Or maybe we need to insist the council go back to school and take courses in financial responsibility.

jsa-Or maybe we just need to replace them all.

To go orders...should you tip?

Hi Joe,

I need your expertise in helping figure something out for me, if you don’t mind.

I was eating out with the Lake Murray Jaycees last night and an interesting topic of discussion came up. One side of the table said that tipping should be done for to go orders because whatever the total amount of sales for the night whether it is to-go orders or dine-in orders is taxed. It was also stated that Richland and Lexington Counties passed a law about a year ago that to-go orders were to cost more to include the tip therefore you don’t have to tip. Or something like that, please know that I am no law expert. We asked the restaurant where we were eating and they said they charge the same for to-go and dine-in orders. On wis-tv Monday night a report was done on how to save some extra money. One of the ways suggested was to order the food to go vs. dining in to save the 15% tip. I don’t want to be shortchanging our valuable servers if they are supposed to get tipped on to-go orders

jsa-You already saw me and got my opinion, so let’s see what readers think.

jsa-How appropriate an article sent from an astute reader on the possible eve of another New Orleans hurricane.

Better buffer than levees

Water management and retreat from flood plains make more sense and cost less.

By Steffen Schmidt

from the July 9, 2008 edition

Seattle - This week more than $2.3 million in government disaster assistance grants was approved for Illinois residents affected by the flooding. Rather than continue spending massive amounts of government money on haphazard cleanup efforts after disasters that hit the Midwest and Louisiana, let's take some realistic measures.

One immediate response to the horrible Midwest flooding has been the pronouncement that the Army Corps of Engineers must build bigger and higher levees. But as The Economist magazine recently observed with regard to Britain, there are several problems with that approach.

Urbanization has reduced the ability of land to absorb rainfall that in past centuries remained stored "locally." Today that water has no place to go but into storm sewers, creeks, and then heavily levied rivers.

Climate change experts predict new weather patterns that include droughts in some places, heavier rainfall in other areas, and decades of much more severe tropical storm patterns along the Gulf and East Coast. We know that the levees in New Orleans did not hold. Recent reports indicate that the rebuilt levees today would not even hold with a Category 2 hurricane. That means the levee of the future would have to be a "superlevee" – more elaborate than anything we have ever built.

Those bigger and "better" levees come with financial and social costs – someone downstream will inevitably suffer the consequences. We can't control nature, and when we try, we selectively benefit certain parcels of land and communities.

Like squeezing a balloon, though, the floods will pop out from levees – no matter how big they are – through the next weak spot. Sandbags are just not a policy.

So, what to do?

As a compassionate society, we need to help communities and affected citizens get back on their feet. But after that, managing the collection of water is the only fiscally sound policy to pursue going forward.

We don't have the budgets to continually increase levee heights. The billions of dollars spent on some levees would be much better invested buying out landowners whose property is worth less than the cost of the defenses it would take to save their land.

American communities and policymakers at all levels can prohibit new construction in flood plains. Let's discontinue flood insurance. Let's discontinue federal and state bailouts that make it worth taking the risk of building in dubious places.

We should concentrate greater resources on protecting assets that cannot realistically be purchased or moved. This would strengthen areas that we have no choice but to protect from flooding.

We need to integrate levee protection so that it is not a "patchwork" of uncoordinated structures built by different agencies and jurisdictions. The 272-page report prepared after the 1993 floods in Iowa pointed this out, and for good reason.

Local, federal, and state governments should develop an integrated strategic flooding plan that deliberately designates "safety valves" along US rivers and tributaries prone to extreme flooding. By creating places where water can flow all the way up and down waterways and coastal areas with minimal damage, it relieves flood pressure downstream from densely populated communities. Just like a valve on pressure cookers, built in safety valves would be a place where rivers could blow out with less damage.

Resistance to this "managed retreat" approach will be fierce from landowners, developers, and the US Army Corps of Engineers. Because, without clear compensation, they will see a threat to their interests.

However, evidence points to this new management system as sound, doable, and realistic.

With rising healthcare costs, rusting bridges, faltering schools, and other needs, local, state, and federal governments will not have the tax revenue to undertake an huge overhaul of man-made armor such as dams and superlevees throughout the country.

Instead, total coordination is our best chance at preventing the waste of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Steffen Schmidt is a professor of political science at Iowa State University. He researches and lectures on coastal policy at the Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center in Dania Beach, Fla.

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.138 / Virus Database: 270.4.7/1542 - Release Date: 7/9/2008 6:50 AM

Letter to the Free Times (9-1-08)

2008-09-01T00:27:00.000-04:00

Since I was part of the last mayoral election, I feel the need to respond to Coble’s article ( http://www.free-times.com/index.php?cat=1992912064033858&ShowArticle_ID=11012708084021605) last week. Kevin is still making the same “rants” as he did during the election, and they are still valid, even more so now that the city still has not balanced its books, hired a finance director, does not know what money it has available, finds itself with a $10-20 million employee insurance liability it had no idea it had, has crumbling water and sewer lines (Huger St caved in last week due to a faulty pipe), has no money for Christmas lights this year and is asking the Main St. and 5 Points merchants to contribute, the bus system is coming to an end, and… and…Need I say more? So Kevin has every right to point out the obvious, and the hidden.

As for the Pee Wee Gaskins memorial, I find that a stretch. I found the destruction of the old CCI facility a travesty as it was a very historic facility and architecturally significant. According to what I have read, it was built by black slave inmates in the 1800’s. This facility should have been kept as a museum, and could have been frequently used by the movie industry, as promoted by Temple Ligon. It would have been as monumental as Alcatraz, the impact enormous. I believe Kevin was pointing out the lack of vision of city leaders and how Charleston would never have destroyed such a significant structure, along with the benefits of preservation.

The bus system is another issue. Yes, the system was very poorly run. SCE&G wanted it that way as an out. But they were obligated to run it as long as they had the Columbia electric franchise, as ruled by the US Supreme Court many decades ago. Coble’s statement that the SC Legislature could dissolve that ruling is questionable at best, and more an excuse for his and council’s mistake. Any mayor worth his salt would take legal action against any state attempt to overturn a federal ruling, but why would the legislators even attempt such? It could be political suicide. The $71 million was also not all cash but real estate and other considerations, meaning there was not enough cash to invest to return even $3 million yearly at 5% interest. The point is, the system did not have to be taken over by the city. SCE&G was required to operate it, and the city could have taken it back to court to force an adequate system. it may have been poorly run, but at least it was running, not like the death it faces over the next few months. (As a side note, someone politically connected told me that council voted to release SCE&G as they were threatened with well funded election opposition if they did not, which reinforces my instinct that someone/s benefited at the expense of many.)

As for the renaissance Coble keeps touting, it isn’t happening, unless you call rebuilding what you destroyed a renaissance. Not only has Coble presided over the greatest financial disasters in Columbia’s history, he also presided over the greatest destruction of Columbia since Sherman. In 1990, downtown was still the activity center of Columbia. Then we lost Macy’s, Belk’s, Penny’s, many glorious movie theaters and homes, most small retailers, and wide streets. Now we are losing SCANA, the VA, Lourie’s, the Capital Newsstand, the Capital Café, and more. Projects such as Vision have been scrapped, the Main St revitalization (is this the 6th over 30 years?) is going to cause more to be lost, as it did in 5 Points, and it is not certain that enough money is available complete it anytime soon. The Eau Claire revitalization will not happen soon due to lack of money, Innovista has not yet become the cash cow city planned, yet spent millions building parking garages for USC Innovista that will not be filled anytime soon (shouldn’t USC have built the garages with its own funds?). Adesso and other condo projects are still sitting unfilled, neighborhoods (especially north Columbia) are living in fear of real, not perceived crime, the water and sewer lines are crumbling, causing sink holes all over town and requiring water boils due to ingress of contaminants, multi-millions of dollars lost on projects such as Airsouth, trolleys, Canalside, and on and on. If renaissance is trying to rebuild what you destroyed, yes, we are in one.

As for constructive advice Coble is right. Kevin could offer more. I know I have over many campaigns, and Coble and council have taken personal credit for all of it: council meetings on channel 2, evening council meetings, city/educational institution cooperation, summer concerts, all city information online, a functional transportation system, regional cooperation, timely accurate financial information and more.

Of course, if Kevin offered more, council would probably adopt it and claim the ideas as their own.

Odds & Ends (8-30-08)

2008-08-30T12:23:00.001-04:00

Happy Labor Day Weekend! I sure hope you have a fun and safe time. Hopefully it won’t rain all weekend, though it is quite overcast outside my window.

The Colonial Center

It is changing its name to the Colonial Life Arena. The Colonial Center people say it better represents the sponsor, and Colonial Life feels the same. Which I find amusing as I had this conversation with some of the grand pooh bahs of Colonial when it was first named the Colonial Center. In the south, anything and everything gets colonial on it, so Colonial Center just means deep south to most. Unless you add Life, people will not identify your company with the building. But I was told no, you are wrong, marketing and advertising people of great brilliance and experience have determined that it identifies our company, and it is clean and straightforward, representing our company well. Now they are spending $200,000 on the signage change to make it Colonial Life Arena. To think they could have paid me $1000 in the beginning for advice, both of us coming out ahead. I do believe Colonial Life Center would roll of the tongue easier than Colonial Life Arena, meaning most people will just say arena, or Carolina arena. But, imagining what went on in smoky, clandestine advertising backrooms, I would guess that it someone said if we call it Colonial Life center, people would barely notice a change, so let’s make them say a completely new name, Colonial Life Arena. Maybe people will, but knowing the propensity of us southerners to have a lazy speak, I kinda doubt it.

I bring this up to point out that sometimes (and most times) common sense and gut feelings (intuition) take precedence over high powered, high priced consultants and those with years of experience and academic credentials. Far too often, many decisions are based on seminars, articles, trends, rather than a good understanding of people and behavior. The real estate boom market was one of those mistakes. Just barely over a year ago, people were still buying real estate at a crazed frenzy based on trends, articles, seminars that said real estate was secure and the best and safest investment you could make. Unlike other commodities, more land cannot be made, so real estate was safe. Yet, as I looked around our city and others across the nation, I wondered where all the people were coming from to fill all these new units being built. And if they were coming to fill these, what were they leaving, and what would happen to what they left? I got no answers other than you should invest and flip it at a profit because it is a hot market. I was starting to feel left out, and then, BOOM, the hammer fell, and now look at the market and state of the economy. It really mirrors the dotcom bust of 8 years ago. If you put the two side by side, you will notice so much of the same. The only difference is the real estate is still there, though owned by someone else, or is a house unfinished, or finished and unoccupied except by the occasional vagrant.

The same thing applies to politics. Much spin and smoke is created to lead you to where they want your attention, and away from what should be noticed. It is truly a sleight of hand trick using mouth instead of hand (but there is no sleight of mouth on these spin masters). You hear it on our mayors part, always smoke screening the problems in our city by saying we are in the greatest renaissance the city has ever seen, yet we are losing SCANA, the VA, Lourie’s, Capital Newstand, and a host of other businesses. We are in the greatest financial crisis this city has seen since Sherman. We have destroyed more of our retail, historic structures, and glorious downtown residences in the past 20 years than at any other time since Sherman. Many businesses have suffered and died due to the 5 Points, downtown, and other revitalization projects, and no real help has been offered. The greatest financial blunder in the history of transportation was made when our mayor and council decided to let SGE&G off their responsibility to fund the bus system forever. (I have heard that this decision was made in part by some council members who were challenged that they would have a well funded candidate against them if they did not support releasing SCE&G from its duty. This is inline with what I have said is my intuition about someone/s making money off the deal behind the scenes.)

The moral of this story is summed up in one of my old sayings ( I just loooove making up old sayings): If it smells funny…and sticks to your shoes, it probably is.

It is election season, voter beware.

OK, OK

You send me so much, and I have so little time anymore to respond, that you think I am ignoring you. At least that is the crux of a few letters I have received recently. No, I am just over my head in things to do. I only have 1513 messages in the newsletter box, forget the 5000+ in the others. So please do not feel offended if I do not respond but I do try to read everything and use it to build upon, even if I do not directly use it. Your comments give me a sense of community awareness and feeling, and they provide info upon which to build. So my thanks to you for all you send and the knowledge you provide me, which I try to pass along.

Keep those comments flowing, they are greatly appreciated.

5 Points Parking

Belinda Gergel has appointed a committee to investigate parking, and the first meeting is at the Senior Center Wednesday at 6p. I will be out of town, but here is what I sent the committee.

I will not be here then so I will miss the meeting. I am opposed to a large facility at the Kenny site. I favor the Claussens as it is much more centrally located, giving merchants in north 5 Points parking as well. Yet it is only 1 block from the Kenny site. It also blends in to the hill and background very well, much as one in the Wachovia lot would do against the railroad berm. But the Wachovia lot is also at the far end of 5 Points, away from the north 5 Points merchants who could also use parking. Maybe a multi-level garage could be put next to the Office Depot, which would also be against the railroad berm and not as visibly detracting. I also favor the Gergel plan of perimeter parking as it allows easy parking near many more businesses, but these lots MUST be lighted well at night, be very open visibly, and be patrolled frequently, for obvious reasons. Cameras on internet and recorded would be excellent to add, and those cameras are cheap to add.

If you have any interest in the 5 Points area, I suggest you attend this meeting.

Speaking of Parking

Here is a nifty solution from one observant reader. Our friends at China Garden had plans drawn for a project that included this, but have since changed plans.

http://nreionline.com/technology/automated_garages_urban_parking_0818/

Pour It Now

I support this project for many reasons. If you want to know why, ask.

FUN RAISING, POUR IT NOW SILENT AUCTION

WHAT:
Mark your calendar and make plans to attend! Enjoy a live Jazz
Ensemble made up completely of local skateboarders, hor d'oeuvres,
open bar and great auction items, ranging from art to fashion! This
family friendly event is fun for everyone! Tickets are only $25 per
person and can be purchased online at www.pouritnow.com

WHEN:
Sunday, September 7, 2008
6:00pm to 9:00pm

WHERE:
MoMo's Bistro
2930 Devine Street
Columbia, SC

WHY:
With no public skate parks in Columbia, Fun Raising, POUR IT NOW's
silent auction helps raise the funds needed to build a park that will
prevent potential injury to children forced to look for places to
skateboard that may place them in harm's way.

About Fun Raising:
(Columbia, SC) On Sunday, September 7 skateboarders and community
members will raise money to help build a much needed skatepark in
Columbia. POUR IT NOW, in conjunction with MoMo's Bistro and The Half
& Half present Fun Raising, a silent auction at MoMo's Bistro.

The Fun Raising Silent Auction will help POUR IT NOW continue their
effort to raise awareness and funds to replace the park at Owens
Field. Fun Raising provides the skateboarders of Columbia the support
they need for a free, fun, safe place to roll around.

Enjoy a live Jazz Ensemble made up completely of local skateboaders,
hor d'oeuvres, open bar and great auction items, ranging from art to
fashion! This family friendly event is fun for everyone. Tickets are
only $25 per person and can be purchased online at www.pouritnow.com .

For more information:
Ryan Cockrell: ryan.cockrell@gmail.com
POUR IT NOW: www.pouritnow.com

And life needs to be, or at least have a little humor to dull the pain…..

You send me so much humorous material, much too politically incorrect to put here. (But I do love it, so keep it coming!) In honor of football season, I respectfully submit this sent by an astute female reader (with obviously no mercy for northern football fans).

As for those dawgs, someone call the SPCA, poodle fighting is illegal (though not very rough), and it could mess up their perms.

…………………..

There are two sports seasons in America, according to Colin Cowherd of ESPN---- 1) Football season and 2) Waiting on football season.

The wait is almost over!! Whooo-hoo!

Go Dawgs!!! Sic 'em!! woof, woof, woof!

And this couldn't be more true:

Football & SEC

Planning for the fall football season in the South is radically different
than up North. For those who are planning a football trip South, here
are some helpful hints.

> Women's Accessories:
NORTH: Chap Stick in back pocket and a $20 bill in the front pocket.
SOUTH: Louis Vuitton duffel with two lipsticks, waterproof mascara,
and a fifth of bourbon. Money not necessary - that's what dates are for.

> Stadium Size:
NORTH: College football stadiums hold 20,000 people.
SOUTH: High school football stadiums hold 20,000 people.

> Fathers:
NORTH: Expect their daughters to understand Sylvia Plath.
SOUTH: Expect their daughters to understand pass interference.

> Campus Decor:
NORTH: Statues of founding fathers.
SOUTH: Statues of Heisman trophy winners.

> Homecoming Queen:
NORTH: Also a physics major.
SOUTH: Also Miss USA .

> Heroes:
NORTH: Rudy Giuliani
SOUTH: Herschel Walker & Peyton Manning

> Getting Tickets:
NORTH: 5 days before the game you walk into the ticket office on campus.
SOUTH: 5 months before the game you walk into the ticket office on campus, make a large financial contribution, and put name on a waiting
list for tickets.

> Friday Classes After a Thursday Night Game:
NORTH: Students and teachers not sure they're going to t! he ga me,because they have classes on Friday.
SOUTH: Teachers cancel Friday classes because they don't want to see the few hung over students that might actually make it to cla ss.

> Parking:
NORTH: An hour before game time, the University opens the campus for game parking.
SOUTH: RVs sporting their school flags begin arriving on Wednesday for the weekend festivities. The really faithful arrive on Tuesday.

> Game Day:
NORTH: A few students party in the dorm and watch ESPN on TV.
SOUTH: Every student wakes up, has a beer for breakfast, and rushes over to where ESPN is broadcasting 'Game Day Live' to get on camera and wave to
the idiots up north who wonder why 'Game Day Live' is never Broadcast
from their campus.

> Tailgating:
NORTH: Raw meat on a grill, beer with lime in it, listening to local radio
station with truck tailgate down.
SOUTH: 30-foot custom pig-shaped smoker fires up at dawn. Cooking
accompanied by live performance from the Dave Matthews Band,... who come over during breaks and ask for a hit off bottle of bourbon.

> Getting to the Stadium:
NORTH: You ask 'Where's the stadium?' When you find it, you walk right in.
SOUTH: When you're near it, you'll hear it. On game day it is the state's third largest city.

> Concessions:
NORTH: Drinks served in a paper cup, filled to the top with soda.
SOUTH: Drinks served in a plastic cup, with the home team's mascot on it,
filled less than half way with soda, to ensure enough room for bourbon.

> When National Anthem is Played:
NORTH: Stands are less than half full, and less than half of them stand up.
SOUTH: 100,000 fans, all standing, sing along in perfect four-part harmony.

> The Smell in the Air After the First Score :
NORTH: Nothing changes.
SOUTH: Fireworks, with a touch of bourbon.

> Commentary (Male):
NORTH: 'Nice play.'
SOUTH: 'Dammit, you slow sumbitch - tackle him and break his legs.'

> Commentary (Female):
NORTH: 'My, this certainly is a violent sport.'
SOUTH: 'Dammit, you slow sumbitch - tackle him and break his legs.'

> Announcers:
NORTH: Neutral and paid.
SOUTH: Announcer harmonizes with the crowd in the fight song, with a tear in his eye because he is so proud of his team.

> After the Game:
NORTH: The stadium is empty way before the game ends.
SOUTH: Another rack of ribs goes on the smoker, while somebody goes to the nearest package store for more bourbon, and planning begins for next week's
game.

Nothing else in the universe comes even halfway close to the glories of Southern football!

Sic em' dawgs!

Letter to The State-City bus system (8-28-08)

2008-08-28T00:57:00.000-04:00

Much talk has been served over the bus system, much more finger pointing. Regardless, none of it matters at this time. The bus system is dead unless money is found to operate it next year. Let me suggest a reasonable proposal.

No one wants taxes. But they are tolerated if they serve a useful purpose. But no one wants taxes that are abused. Though public transportation in Columbia is not heavily used, the citizens do recognize a need for those who have no private transportation, and no means to own any. They understand the need of those in this situation, as well as for citizens who no longer drive. I believe to be proposal our citizens would support in a public referendum. Eliminate the 2 cent sales tax on prepared food. Institute a ½ cent sales tax strictly for the bus system that will exist each year until the required amount needed to fund the bus system properly is reached. Then eliminate the tax until the following year, again collecting it until the necessary amount is reached. Various reports state that about $12 million per year is needed. I believe, calculating simply from news reports I have read and heard, this amount should be collected within 3 to 4 months each year.

Of course, there will be anguish among the arts community, and I am one of the beneficiaries of the current hospitality tax for the arts, directly and indirectly. But in tough times, tough decisions must be made, and some things must give way to necessities. However, a half cent tax could be instituted that would go to the arts, and it would exist all year, every year. This proposal would keep and grow our bus system, dedicate the money only for the bus system, keep extra money from being misappropriated, still provide funding for the arts, and allow the citizens to keep more money in these tight times for family, food, school, and other necessities.

I suggest all councils investigate this course of action. I dare say the citizens would be supportive.

Joseph Azar

ABC News: ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators, Big Donors (8-28-08)

2008-08-28T00:16:00.000-04:00

And Brett Bursey thought only George Bush Republicans were like this. Money seems to talk, and often the wrong language, no matter the party.

Joseph Azar

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Conventions/story?id=5668622&page=1

Game Day Parking (8-26-08)

2008-08-26T11:27:00.000-04:00

Great game day parking. One space 200 yards from the stadium, clean bathrooms, plenty of HDTVs, fenced and covered (you will appreciate it when it rains Thursday evening). 513-3357

Also parking at the storage facility at Rosewood and Assembly, and at SCANA on Bluff by Bernie’s, both sponsored by Columbia Sertoma, with proceeds going to charities in Columbia

The City of Columbia is Functionally Bankrupt (8-25-08)

2008-08-25T00:35:00.000-04:00

Yes, it is true, just read the article by Adam Beam. This I have said for years. There is too much not on the books that the city is liable for, and it only gets put on the books when it no longer can be hidden.

Functional bankruptcy? I am asked constantly what is that as no one seems to know. OK, it is my term, one I created to describe a bankrupt entity that cannot easily go bankrupt as it can tax its way out of it, penalizing the people who it has already violated. Obviously, no other entity other than a governmental one can exist in functional bankruptcy. No private business can squander all its assets, have a very red bottom line on the income statement and balance sheet, and be able to force everyone to come in and spend money with them, whether a person wanted what the business had or not. But our city can do that, and it is, raising water and sewer rates yearly, fines, fees, and other taxes. We are all paying for council mistakes, and we will pay for years. It is so bad that we will not have Christmas decorations in 5 Points and downtown, according to news articles quoting our city manager.

2006-2007 has not yet been audited, according to news articles, so no one knows exactly what happened. The comments in the article are very telling, especially if you read past what is being said. Adam Beam has really been polite to council and administration with his comments. But if you do the numbers he presents, plus factor in the items he says no one knows exactly what the costs will be, you can see that the city is far into the red. Then identify the items that are not on the books that need attention, such as water tanks that need repair, water and sewer lines that are failing, extra police and security that needs funding, down revenue of local business that will be reflected in lower business license tax collections, among others, plus add in the insurance costs for employees that have “surprisingly” blind sided council, and you can see a lot more red ink.

What does this mean for all of us, in the city or not? Higher water, higher sewer, higher taxes and fees, increased cost of living and doing business in the city. This can, and will, cause people to move elsewhere, and business to think twice before locating in the city. Already SCANA has chosen to move, and others will probably follow. If so, costs to us left here will go even higher.

Rickenmann and Finlay suggested firing city employees deemed responsible. I wonder if they would care to share with us who those city officials and employees might be? Coble said it is embarrassing, but with new procedures and personnel, the city should do a much better job. Of course, why did he not recognize this a few years ago when it started, and how much worse could he and council do? Does council not ask to see financials? Do they not make and review a budget? Do they not base the next year’s budget on what actually happened the previous year, plus expectations of the future of the economy?

I could go on and on, but Adam Beam has written a good, albeit gentle, story on the situation. Adam’s articles are one good reason to take The State. He has been digging into city issues and reporting well about them. I know many of you dropped your subscriptions due to the editorial staff, most especially Warthen and Bolton, who have done a good job of running off many subscribers, and have been the inspiration for the I Don’t Read The State bumper sticker and others similar. So take out a 2 month subscription, and send Henry Haitz, the president, (1401 Shop Rd., P.O. Box 1333,Columbia, SC 29202, hhaitz@thestate.com) a note saying that you will continue to subscribe if they get rid of those two. Newspapers everywhere need the subscribers, so maybe he will. After all, The State cut out the Saturday editorial page, so maybe the end for those two is coming sooner than we think.

After you read the article, send me your comments.

Joseph Azar

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/499398.html

Welcome!

2008-08-23T23:38:00.000-04:00

Due to so many requests, I am adding my newsletter to a blog. Though I prefer having a newsletter delivered to me as I never have time to go to a blog, it seems many prefer to access a blog for information.

So here we go, adding the content of The Azar Newsletter (that is now delivered directly to the thousands of readers) to a blog site.

Enjoy!

Joseph Azar

PS You can still request email delivery of my newsletter by requesting at josephazar@upstairsaudio.com. The archives for The Azar Newsletter are in Google Groups, which is http://groups.google.com/group/theazarnewsletter.