I do not see David Chavez's arrest record in the Daily JM. What happened to him? I remember that in July of 2008, Maizcelino Sacul Cucul was arrested for another stabbing in Walhalla. He is still in jail. He hasn't had a trial. I'm wondering why it takes so long to bring a murder suspect to trial if there is only one suspect and lots of evidence. That first stabbing was 16 months ago. What happened to the guarantee of a speedy trial? If he is not guilty, he should be turned loose. If he's convicted, he should be in the state prison in Columbia. How long will it be until we see Chavez brought to trial? What is with the delay and who is dropping the ball on these murder cases?
Affordable housing in Oconee County per Art Holdbrooks, County Planning Director is somewhere between $80,000 and $120,000. From what I understand the homes in this development will be somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000 each. This way exceeds "affordable" housing for our county, doesn' it? Again, it seems like all the development interests are catering to all the well to do.
According to an article about High Pointe in today's Anderson Independent Mail, Mr. Workman was quoted as saying, "“In this environment, no bank will loan you money to put in roads, water and sewer.”
It is a bank's business to loan money so if this is such a sure thing and doesn't contain any risks, why aren't they lending money for this project?
Let me go back to a lesson that I learned in my mid twenties. I had a good friend who wanted to buy a vehicle. She went to the bank and the bank turned her down on her signature. My friend then came to me and asked me to co-sign a loan so that she could get the vehicle. I was trusting, but gullible and co-signed the loan. She defaulted and I ended up paying for a vehicle that I didn't own. The bank assumed that my friend would be too big of risk in her paying off her loan. THE BANK WAS RIGHT!
JS, Let me refer you to the School Board's "Report to the People 2008-2009". By their own numbers their number of employees at this time was 1,777. The number of students was 10,377. That is one employee for every 5.8 students. The number of certified staff members is 990. That's 1 staff member for every 10 students. Surely you're not telling us that a ratio of 1 employee for 6 students county-wide is necessary.
No, I do not have children in school at this time, but my adult son and daughter have done very, very well with their educations in public schools that didn't have anything near that kind of ratio. They never went to a school that had 1 teacher for 10 students.
Tinadr, you mentioned the schools are turning off their lights and maybe next would be saving on the water bill. You are missing the point that we're spending 15 to 20 million dollars for schools that will only have a few hundred students. You're missing all the staff and administrative positions that we don't need that are costing us huge amounts of taxpayer money every year. Have you checked to see what the student/teacher/administrative ratios are? It was reported not long ago that one school in particular has 1 staff member for every 6 students...is this overkill? It seems like spending has run wild. Do we really need a lot of the extra positions we have in each school beyond the teachers you mentioned? Do we really need all the staff in the district office? Curiously, what did the profits from Coupon books, chocolates, and wrapping paper pay for? Did the profits go to keeping the lights on? Could we pay the light bill easier if we didn't have so many "chiefs" for so few "indians"? I'm glad that someone like Wayne McCall is not just rubber stamping spending requests. I'm glad he's watching my pocketbook and that we have that checks and balances.
Mr. Dilling, were you present curing the County Council's budget meeting with the School Board? Only a handful of citizens were present. Do you attend County Council meetings? Much went on that was not covered by the media. Mr. McCall is a very successful business owner. If you have ever been in business for yourself, you know better than to spend more than you have and more than you can count on. A successful business owner doesn't overspend, nor does he or she over collect monies from clients. Mr. McCall knows how to meet payroll, pay the bills, and collect money. Those who are salaried such as Mr. Lucas, often have very little concept of running a business and making ends meet without dependence on tax increases. Success takes a combination of education and common sense and I believe that Mr. McCall has plenty of both. I appreciate his efforts in reining in unnecessary spending and his awareness that taxpayers pockets are not bottomless pits.
Apparently the law enforcement officer has forgotten his sworn Oath of Office which is to protect and defend the U. S. Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. That Oath of Allegience includes protecting the First Amendment to the Constitution. The first Amendment was violated when he told the protesters to leave. Those who are organizing protests against the overspending, overtaxing, over-regulating that our federal government is doing, please let us know when the next protest will be and many of us will join you on the line.
We, the people, have been scammed again by our own law enforcement. I just looked up Oconee County's ordinance that deals with "solicitation" on or near highways. This is what the ordinance says about soliciting. Notice that it involves selling, contributing, asking for money, and not a peaceful protest. Here it is cut and pasted from the Ordinance: ARTICLE I. IN GENERAL c. No person shall stand within the right-of-way on the side of any street, highway or road for the purposes of soliciting contributions of any kind for an organization. No person shall stand on the right-of-way, at the side of any street, road, or highway, for the purpose of selling, offering to sell, or advertising any product, property or service.
Didn't the officer who accused the protesters unjustly of soliciting tell them they could leave their signs at the site? Wouldn't this be authorization for people to litter?
One day, those who objected to the protesters may also have a reason to peacefully assemble. They are working against their own future rights.
A big "AMEN" to Sam205a. Government is growing...growing...growing,while the money that we taxpayers try to keep is going...going...going! Our grandchildren will still be paying for handouts, giveaways, and social programs that Americans are demanding today. What has happened to "responsibility, self-reliance and living within our means"?
Posted on October 15 at 11:56 a.m.
On Murdered woman was strangled prior to stabbing
I do not see David Chavez's arrest record in the Daily JM. What happened to him? I remember that in July of 2008, Maizcelino Sacul Cucul was arrested for another stabbing in Walhalla. He is still in jail. He hasn't had a trial. I'm wondering why it takes so long to bring a murder suspect to trial if there is only one suspect and lots of evidence. That first stabbing was 16 months ago. What happened to the guarantee of a speedy trial? If he is not guilty, he should be turned loose. If he's convicted, he should be in the state prison in Columbia. How long will it be until we see Chavez brought to trial? What is with the delay and who is dropping the ball on these murder cases?