Willie,

Can your readers help us? We have lost our dog named Shadow. Shadow was lost in Lowe's parking lot. She is a special needs dog for special needs children. She is a medium-sized fawn colored dog. There is a reward for finding her. Call (706) 782-4891 or (706) 490-5257.

Willie says:

Willie is printing this appeal because Shadow is a dog for handicapped children making this an extraordinary case.

Willie,

Can you tell us the compensation of Ms. Brown at the county? What are her credentials? Has she previously worked in similar conditions with the accounting firm she chose for the county? Isn’t she appointed? She sure walks and talks like a politician.

Willie says:
Sources Willie checked with said Kendra Brown’s salary is $85,000, and she was paid $102,000 while she was Interim Administrator. She never worked for McAbee, Talbert and Halliday. After graduating from college she took a job as an auditor with KPMG in Dallas, Texas. She later transferred to KPMG’s office in Greenville. She left that firm to work at Clemson University in the internal audit department for five years. She was a stay-at-home mom for three years before taking a job with AIMCO in Greenville for a year. She left AIMCO to join Pickens County, where she worked more than eight years.

Willie,

With all the traffic lights popping up on this highway, it’s actually become faster to travel through town at posted speed limits! What agency is responsible for all the lights? The one at Carson Rd./Keowee Trail and Hwy. 123 is unbelievable. I’ve never seen more than five vehicles at this intersection on Carson Road and it stops up to five to 10 times more cars in both directions repeatedly throughout the day. What lobbying group got this light up? Obviously a group that is not concerned about mileage economy or global warming.

Willie says:

Don’t know who made it happen, but the SC Dept. of Transportation is in charge. You can call write or e-mail them with your input. Phone (803) 737-2314

TYY (803) 737-3870; The South Carolina Department of Transportation, Attn: SCDOT Communications, 955 Park Street, P.O. Box 191, Columbia, SC 29202-0191

Willie,

What happened to Doonesbury?

Willie says:

He got “buried” by the redesign, I guess. Sorry for the pun. Things change. Features come and go. And, Willie’s friends at the newspaper said that in reader surveys, he was near the bottom of the list in popularity.

Willie:
It's time to take off the kid gloves and face the facts. The county has grossly overtaxed us and now they are trying to justify it by coming up with all these needed capital projects. If these capital projects were not in the prior budgets, they should not be allowed to be funded by the excess funds. Those excess funds belong to the taxpayers. The council is trying to convince us that if they refund or credit some of this overpayment that Duke Power will get a large portion. Yes, and they should because it is a REFUND of what was overcharged. They treat us as idiots and we were, we elected these last jokers. The county knows if they get a real audit that the truth will come out and show us how much they have taken advantage of the local taxpayers. Big question ... why did the auditors for the last several years not uncover these problems? Simple answer, the county chooses auditors that do not look at the real issues. Their recent selection of an out of county auditor will have the same consequence. Wake up, people ! Everyone should go to the council meetings and just take 10 seconds each and say we are fed up. Hope to see you all there.

Willie says:
Wow. Now here's a reader who is really fed up. Ol' Willie doesn't know quite what to make of all this mess up at Oconee County Council. He wishes they would just lay everything out on the table and get an expert to check it. If they end up giving tax credits for overtaxing, make me first in line.

Willie,

As you probably know, many cities and towns have gone Wi-Fi. Greenville is a good example. For example, if you have a laptop, you can sit on Main Street in Greenville, or even in your own home, and have high speed Internet connection for free, just like when you go to Wi-Fi spots such as Chik-fil-A or McDonald’s. Our state legislators have discussed making the entire state of South Carolina Wi-Fi, and I believe that Oconee County Council has discussed making all of Oconee County Wi-Fi. Do you know the status of either of these? Even if my state or county taxes increased a little to pay for either of these, I would be willing. The added cost would be nowhere near what I pay each month to my Internet provider.

Willie says:

Wi-Fi, you say? Well, okay. Can’t really tell you what the status is as far as the county is concerned. I think the conversations have been pretty limited. Until someone convinces the council it can produce more business, it probably won’t be high on the list of priorities. I guess that means you will just have to “eat mor chikin” as the billboards suggest.

Willie,

Before we spend millions of dollars on an industrial park in Fair Play, we need to think about what we are up against. There are thousands of industrial parks around the nation that are nowhere near fully utilized. The Clemson Research Center on Hwy. 187 is a good example. There are far more vacant lots there than those being used. Just Google the words “county

industrial park” and you will see what I am talking about. Industry is moving out of our country, not in. It will continue to do so as long as we have free trade and other countries pay far less than one dollar per hour in wages. We should not waste our money on industrial parks. Why is every council member so obsessed with this idea? Who stands to make money on this?

Willie says:

Willie doesn’t think there is any personal gain to be had for any of the current council members. Maybe it’s just that, as Americans, we don’t want to give up something we have dominated for decades … industrial development. Smokestacks are probably a thing of the past, but that doesn’t mean the county shouldn’t try to maintain and build its light industry and technology base. We can’t be all tourism or service jobs. We need a good mix. Do we need another industrial park? Now that’s a good question.

Willie,

When does good old Oconee get in the business of underwriting bonds for the developers of Highpointe or any such interest? We have a ton of development that did not ask the taxpayers to underwrite it. The $6 million is backed by the taxpayers of Oconee; taxpayers read this. Did anyone notice that real estate is not selling? It’s great the land is supposedly worth more, but if there are no buyers, it is worth zip. Just ask the banks who are not lending. If this goes through, then I want roads and sewer on my land so that I can sell or not and let Oconee take the risk.

Willie says:

The county has been underwriting private business in a variety of forms for years. I don’t know all the ins and outs of what the Highpointe folks are proposing, but public-private partnerships are what we need.