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Willie,
I am happy to see the Walhalla Library is finally getting new flooring, however I didn’t recognize the name of the company doing the work. Our local representatives keep talking about supporting the local economy and yet they continue to send our tax dollars out of the county. We used outside contractors to build our courthouse; that turned out well, didn’t it? This continued practice is a slap in the face to our local tax paying merchants and contractors.
Willie says:
Here’s the truth, the whole truth and nothin’ but the truth from Tabitha Harvey, Accounting Technician, Oconee County Facilities Maintenance: “When funds were approved for the Walhalla Library carpet renovations, the county started looking into samples of carpets at several of the school district buildings. This carpet was manufactured by a company out of Marietta, Ga. by the name of Tandus USA, Inc. The County Procurement Director and Facilities Maintenance Director conducted a meeting with a Tandus Representative and became familiar with the carpet and its quality. Tandus executed a 5-year contract with the school district with costs of carpet and other necessities needed for carpet installation in 2005. With this information, the county was able to tag onto the school district’s contract. As for the installation of the carpet, Tandus USA Inc. has several qualified vendors that they specifically authorize for installation of their carpet. The school district also had procured a contract with Holden Carpet Services, LLC for their installation and we tagged onto that contract as well. County Council approved this move on May 6, 2008 and carpet installation began on Monday, June 2, and was completed in a professional and efficient manner on Friday, June 6.”
Willie,
I’m calling in about Seneca’s (4th of July). Let me give a suggestion. People around here like gospel music and country. I believe we can improve on the music.
Willie says:
Willie’s just passing along your suggestion on the music for next year’s 4th of July celebration. (I’m not running any more fireworks comments since that topic’s been covered.) Thanks for understanding.
Willie,
In the past, questions sent to Senators Thurman and Hollings would be answered quickly to their constituents back home. I have twice sent a query to Senator Graham’s office and have not received a reply. My question is, why has Congress allowed the IRS to set such a low rate for miles driven by volunteers? A rate for business people is set at $.50.5 a mile. A volunteer is only allowed $.14. Mileage used for medical purpose is $.19. It seems that our federal government wants to discourage local level volunteers. Why is our current senator or staff so busy that they can’t respond to this question?
Willie says,
Sen. Graham’s office said they want to answer constituents concerns as soon as possible. However, written correspondence can be as long as four weeks just getting to his office. There is also the little issue of 1,000 daily e-mails, something Senators Thurman and Hollings never had to deal with. Sen. Graham’s office said five staffers do nothing but deal with constituent inquiries. If you haven’t gotten an answer, feel free to call any of his offices, and they will check to see where your inquiry is in the system.
As for your actual question, staff had this to say: “There is certainly a disparity in the reimbursement rates that needs to be addressed. Sen. Graham is looking into the various legislative proposals that exist to fix the problem, and will continue to monitor the situation to help ensure fair treatment of charities and encourage volunteerism.”
Willie,
With all of the coverage about the water shortage and the need to conserve, I find it appalling that primarily banks on Highway 123 continue to regularly water their plots of grass and/or annuals. This occurs at approximately 5:30 a.m. and often times the sprinkler heads are doing no more than watering the roads. There are six businesses that have been regularly doing this.
Willie says:
Watering before 7 a.m is a good thing. Watering the streets is a bad thing. Everybody, get out there and make sure yer sprinklin’ what yer supposed to be sprinklin’!
Willie,
Thank you so much for the positive comments about the Seneca High School cheerleaders. Our squads were thrilled to read your kind words! They had such a great time hosting the camp and working with such an awesome group of young cheerleaders. The camp provided us with an opportunity to combine fundraising with community service. Because of the success, we decided to host another Competition Cheer Camp. Part of the funds raised from the camp will be donated by the SHS Cheerleaders to the Seneca Recreation Department Cheerleading program.
We are currently videotaping our cheers, chants, jumps and dances in hopes of creating a resource DVD to present to our Recreation Cheer Coaches. In addition, each cheerleader will assist a Recreation Cheer Coach in teaching cheers and dances for a minimum of three practices. We are providing this free DVD and volunteering our time because our squads believe in giving back to the community and in helping to prepare our next generation of cheerleaders. Thank you again for supporting the SHS Cheerleaders and for the fantastic praise report!
Willie says:
Sounds to me like you are all doing an amazing job. Sorry I didn’t get this in before your second camp, but I’ll bet it was a success. You make Seneca proud!
Willie,
Can you tell me why the City of Clemson decided to celebrate Independence Day on July 3? Call me silly, but I think all towns should celebrate the 4th of July on the right date!
Willie says:
Guess I’ll call you silly. Willie likes Clemson Fest being on July 3. That way I can celebrate America’s birthday two days in a row and see two fireworks shows! Haven’t you ever had a birthday party on a day other than the exact one?
Willie,
I was wondering what you meant by the comment, especially the January part, “The only ones who are not communicating with the fire department are the county and that is just par for the course, at least until January.”
Willie says:
There’ll be some new faces on the Oconee County Council come January.
Willie,
With all the fires in California (started by lighting), maybe God is fed up with the states that have ruled that same sex marriage is OK and He is trying to get our attention. Marriage is to be between man and woman. We had better wake up and be prepared because it seems as though this world is decaying bit by bit.
Willie says:
After God sent the flood he promised Noah that he’d never destroy the world again. He put a rainbow in the sky as a sign of the covenant. Willie doesn’t think God started the fires.
Willie,
Could you tell us the nationality of Angela’s husband (the one that took cruel advantage of her)? We’d like to know.
Willie says:
Not really.
Willie,
To the person complaining about Rep. Bill Sandifer and the funeral home industry, before you start hollering about people jumping through the right hoops, you need to jump through the right hoops yourself and figure out what is going on yourself because Rep. Sandifer hasn’t been a funeral home owner in more than ten years.
Willie says:
Thanks for the comment.
And …
Willie,
This is what I think might be a mistake in the paper on Friday, July 4 in the “Tell Willie.” Are you absolutely sure Rep. Bill Sandifer has anything to do with his old funeral home? I’m under the impression he sold that years ago.
Willie says:
Willie never said Rep. Bill Sandifer did or did not still own a funeral home. The facts are that Rep. Sandifer owned a business called Seneca Mortuary up until 10 years ago. He then sold the business. The new owners rented real estate space from him until they closed May 30, 2007. The building is currently for sale.
To clear up another misunderstanding, Sandifer Funeral Home is not and never was owned by Rep. Bill Sandifer.
Willie,
I was reading about the license tag with the cross on it showing Christianity. Whoever the complainant is on this, maybe they need to do some soul searching because evidently something is bothering them if they don’t like to see the cross.
Willie says:
There can be many different reasons for people’s objections depending on where they’re coming from.
Willie,
Your eyesight must be a lot better than mine saying that when you go by the new water tower at OMC that you see action there. I don’t see anything there and I’ve been by there time after time. Who are you kidding?
Willie says:
Well, folks, building a 1 million gallon water tower takes a little more time than the smaller ones. I have it on good authority that a lot more is happening than you think. Willie has seen activity out there as recently as last week.
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Readers are solely responsible for the content of the comments they post here. Comments are subject to the site's terms and conditions of use and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or approval of Eagle Media. Readers whose comments violate the terms of use may have their comments removed or all of their content blocked from viewing by other users without notification....hummm...guess with all the E-mails and phone calls you haven't had the time to read your bible!...God did not say he would not destroy the world again...only that he would not destroy it with water!....the next time will be with "FIRE AND BRIMSTONE"...'rev.'.....
The "people around here" also like, rock, R&B and oldies.
Well, redneck...you're exactly right. Looks like ol Willie didn't do his homework once again. He just paraphrased and left a key word out, which changes the whole meaning. Thanks for your comment. People need to know what the Bible REALLY says...
Willie,
Concerning the article on “same sex marriage” in your column on 7-18-08. God defines a lawful marriage as a union between one man and one woman (Gen 2:21-24). What you have in California is an illicit, sinful union between two homosexuals but you cannot have and you do not have a “lawful” marriage. Secondly, God did not promise that He would not destroy the earth; He promised that He would not destroy the earth with water (Gen 9:11).
Willie must attend one of those mega-churches where they don't preach from the Bible. :)
Hopefully the next time Willie sees a rainbow it will remind him that is God's covenant(or promise) to man that he will not destroy the earth (mankind) again WITH WATER. I'm not sure what Willie used as a source of information for that answer.
South Carolina is so gay.
Apparently a couple of people don't watch the news, Jon.
If you obtained a marriage license from the State you have a lawful marriage in the eyes of the State, it has nothing to do with being married in the eyes of God, if you were married in the eyes of God, you would not have needed to obtain State's permission to get married. A State mandated marriage license proves one thing, that in the eyes of the people, the State is a higher power than God.
I believe Jon Robertson was referring to this:
http://www.wyff4.com/news/16889647/detai...
Sorry sparrow. The term “lawful” may apply to conformity with law of any sort, natural, divine, common or canon. [Cannon Law, from the Greek “Kannon” is internal ecclesiastical law governing Christian churches or denominations.] [A cannon usually results from a rule adopted from a Church council.] Because God is the Author of all natural and divine law and all common and canon law, in so far as it is based upon God’s Law, it must follow then that to be “lawfully” married one must be in obedience to that Law. On the other hand the term “legal” applies to what is sanctioned by civil law or conformity with that law, especially as is written by the courts, even though that law is unlawful in the eyes of God.
When a Christian is lawfully married in the eyes of God because the marriage is in accordance with God’s will, the Christian will also be legally married in the eyes of civil law because it is God’s will that the Christian obey civil law insofar as civil law doesn’t contradict Gods Law. Getting the States permission to marry and obtaining a license has far reaching implications usually for the benefit of the new couple. When this country was first settled though, there was no need for State marriage licenses as there were no States. Only the “Lawfulness” of the union was considered by church officials.
A state mandated marriage license does not prove that [all] people consider the state to be a higher power than God. It does indicate however that some people will use State law as a substitute for God’s Law when they want to get away with something. But, they will still stand before God in judgment.
Ken, that was very thought provoking but I'm still of a somewhat different mindset than you. I mispoke, I agree with your definition of legal and lawful, I believe strongly in natural law and every law that is against natural law is legal but unlawful which accounts for 95% of all our laws, in which case, we obey unlawful laws because we (generalized we) believe, maybe subconsciously, that the govt is the supreme power and our ultimate fear is of them and not God. Christians are no exception to this, they may mouth their belief that God is the Supreme power but do they really believe it if they obey unlawful laws?
A mandated marriage license is entirely for the benefit of the self serving govt, not only in terms of money but control given the fact that the origination of the marriage license in the U.S. was to prevent interracial marriages, when that was ruled unconstitutional they could have ended the need for one right then but they would have lost that revenue they had become so fond of.
Sparrow, I think we are on the same train but different cars. My whole argument is that, God set the rules for marriage. He also set the rules for behavior, which homosexuality egregiously violates. The State issuing licenses for same-sex marriages does not change the fact that God condemns it and someday will judge the offenders.
Careful Ken...you'll be acused of being ignorant and homophobic. Seems like that's the label some folks just love to place on us when stand up for God and the rules HE set. Their pride won't let them humble themselves so they can see the truth. Truly a pity.
rosey1022, tis truly a pity. Read 1 Cor 1:19-21 and 1 Cor 3:19-20.
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