Age restrictions on handgun purchases unconstitutional

A Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled Thursday that a decades-old federal law banning handgun purchases by 18 to 20-year-olds violates the Second Amendment. This ruling came out January 2025
This is all thanks to U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, where they ruled that gun laws must adhere to the tradition of our country around the time that the Second Amendment was put into place. This has caused other laws to be examined and heard in courts as well and those laws also were overturned.

One of the reasons that are being cited for this way of thinking is that the Second Amendment mentions militia and back in those days people in that age range were part of the militia must like we have people in the US Armed forces in that age range as well. During those times around the time that the Second Amendment was written they were required to have a gun as being part of the militia.

You will have to make sure to check with an attorney if you have any concerns about the legality of owning and carrying a firearm.

Oconee County Elections Security might not be as secure as you think.

The Director Kristie Burr gave a speech and it was very informative. While giving the speech someone from the audience asked about a recent Homeland Security audit which is performed on every county to ensure proper security is in place to protect the election. The sad news is Oconee County failed the audit.
She would not elaborate on what was failed due to security reasons she stated.

Public attendance

Mrs. Burr did let the audience know that anyone in the public can attend the counting of the ballots, but they stated that the people would have to look through a window due to security reasons.

Is the internet used during the election?

While the Director did state that the internet was not connected, someone from the audience kept asking until we found out that eventually yes the data is on a computer that is connected to the internet. The Director told everyone that the data from the machines is loaded on a special USB drive that is encrypted to secure the data to transfer to another computer. That computer is used then to transfer the data to SC Elections for the record. As suspected by the audience at a point in time there is an internet connection involved, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a secure internet connection.

Is there fraud?

One person that gave a speech elaborated on the fraud that does go on during election time.
Laura Downing is an accountant and deals with fraud as well, so she was able to give a very good presentation on the issues. She talked about her struggles to get information about the voting machines and no answer to the FOIA requests.

Points of weakness

As anyone that takes security training they make it a point to ensure that the person taken the training knows that often times it is a human that is a point of failure, either by not following policies and procedures for good security, or by social engineering to get you to do something that as pointed out doesn’t follow the proper security and procedures. Even the best security system is no good if the people in the organization doesn’t know how things work, and proper security practices, as well as following procedures.

The Twitter files released in a completely unexpected turn of events Elon Musk released the private information about how Twitter employees and the Democrat party worked hand in hand to hide important information from the voters about the Hunter Biden laptop.

The Twitter files were released on December 2nd 2022 with tweet after tween of the revelations between Twitter staff and the Democrats and what they wished to have removed. It was not just Hunter Biden and the laptop it was other posts that they felt would do damage to the Democrat party.

What was also released was the fact that the Twitter company was biased exclusively to the Democrat party.

This was just the first data dump, Elon Musk has promised there will be more to come calling it the “Smoking Gun”

What was also a shocker well sort of is the complete blackout of information from the mainstream media about the event. It was days before they reported anything and even then it was just ot make out that this was not a big deal. Some Democrats are even trying to defend this by saying a private company can do what they want to they don’t have to abide by the constitution. All the while it was government officials involved in trying to silence this paper from publishing the news and being heard.

To read the whole Twitter thread with the communications from Twitter officials and their Democrat handlers visit the actual Twitter thread that broke the story first: https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1598840265266995203

On Sept. 29th the Oconee County Republican Party had a meeting.

The meeting had originally been scheduled by the Vice Chairman Jim Mann and on the agenda for that night was the call to assume the resignation for Perry Smith, and Mathew Durham. They were scheduled to ask for the resignation of David McMahan the Chairman of the OCRP.
Before the call to prayer or anything could be said for the meeting however Jim Mann jumps up and asked to make a motion that the original agenda be put in place, he was called out of order, then came a flood of his supporters trying to shout down the chairman. They were of course ruled out of order and then they tried to make a motion to adjourn the meeting.
When they were ruled out of order they began a race for the door, Jim Mann and others telling their followers to leave with them as they hastily ran for the door.

You might think with this behavior that this was a middle school event, but it wasn’t this was grown adults on up in their years behaving like this. Their attempt obviously was thinking they would deny a quorum. That didn’t happen there was still plenty of people for a quorum and they could have took advantage of that fact to enact a ruling to deal with that disruption but they didn’t.

These people are supposed to be there to represent their precinct but ran out of a meeting and failed in their duties. They have demonstrated that they need to be replaced for real Republicans that are going to be there for their people and do their duty.

The meeting was very interesting explaining the power of the Executive Committeemen and how they can pretty much change anything to be the way they want it to be, but at that night nothing was changed at all, the chance to make use of the assembled EC was not used to to deal with the problem at hand that night.

Had the Vice Chairman Jim Mann had gotten his way about having his agenda used for the meeting I can tell it would have all fallen apart as the majority support David McMahan, as well as Perry Smith, and Mathew Durham, he would have had a no vote on all his proposals by the majority.

The small group of contentious people in the OCRP it is clearly don’t have the votes to pull off whatever it is they think they are trying to accomplish, and we can all thank God for that. Then again nobody is stating what the arguing is about. The only thing we do have on record is Jim Mann calling the people of Oconee Dixiecrats.

STATEMENT BY DAVID MCMAHAN REGARDING THE RECENT CENSURE

Jim Mann was elected OCRP Vice Chair on his campaign promise to “help David McMahan finish out his term strong”. As you will see, based on my story below, this statement turned out to be deceptive at a minimum, and at worst, a complete lie. At the time, David Dial had been appointed as my Treasurer, and Mickey Haney as my Secretary. Additionally, I had appointed Mike Tarner as my D2 Director. Teresa Sills was my long-standing D1 Director at the time. Jim Mann was elected in an Executive Committee meeting on 06/02/22.

In June 2022, during the contentious Primary Election Campaign of District 1 County Council race between Kay Keehn Knapp and John Elliott, I circulated a video where I stated that John Elliott was unwilling to debate Kay and that Kay was the confessed Christian of the two choices. I also reiterated a statement by John Elliot made during a town hall where he essentially stated that “only lakefront people paid taxes in this county”. This video did not set well with the Stamp Creek Precinct, which is John Elliott’s home precinct. I felt it necessary to make this video from a personal standpoint, as am a resident of District 1 and also still have the right to speak as an individual outside of my OCRP Chair position. While I understand that some do not like this aspect of my tenure, it is my right as an individual to speak freely. Also my issue at the time was that John Elliott had refused to show up to a scheduled debate-style meet and greet on 4-23-22 at Ebenezer Community Club when it was scheduled and announced. However, unbeknownst to me, I found out later that Teresa Sills, my D1 Director, had worked with Keri Unsworth,Terry Meyerring, Sherry Koban, and Pat Murray to change the format of the Ebenezer Community Club debate to a simple meet and greet for John Elliott. (Keri,Terry, and Pat were involved in the first attempt in January 2021 to covertly hold a CXC Meeting to oust and/or censure me.) At that point, John Elliott changed his position and accepted the invitation. I felt betrayed by my D1 Director because of this event, because had I found out about it ahead of time, I would not have permitted this change in format. This occurrence, in part, ultimately resulted in my future distrust and dismissal of Teresa Sills, as per my right per OCRP County Bylaws.
Another allegation by Jim Mann is that I willfully boycotted the State GOP Convention on 7-30-22, presumably because I was in protest of the Governers decision to remove Matt Durham from office pending the resolution of his charges. This is a false allegation. Otherwise, why would I have, after that, invited the Governor to speak at a free event at the Walhalla Civic Center on 6-9-22? The real reason I did not attend the convention was I own multiple rental units, do all of my own repairs, and had an emergency hot water heater replacement come up that day. I did reach out to Tyler Jordan and David Dial, who both attended the convention. As for the other delegates and alternate delegates not attending, I will own the fact that I did not actively reach out to them to encourage attendance, but, there was NO intentional boycott on my part nor encouragement of a boycott on my part.

Shortly thereafter, on or about July 2021, Jim Mann decided to initiate a Recon Meeting in an attempt to better unite the factions of the OCRP, which at that time, were the OCC, the OCRM, and the OCRW. I agreed to this but decided to “let Jim run with it, as it was his project”. Contrary to Jims allegations, I did not become involved with these meetings or the subsequent negotiations, which were embarrassingly leaked to the press. I was cc’ed on the email exchanges during the bargaining process that ensued after the first meeting on 7-27-22, but I was NEVER involved in any decision making of any faction, including the OCC, regarding this process. This was because I trusted Jim to see this project through and I did not want to micromanage him per his wishes.

Additionally, it was also around this time, June or July timeframe, that I found out about a draft, unsigned Stamp Creek censure letter that was circulating between the Stamp Creek Precinct president (Scott Kreuger), Jim Mann, and Teresa Sills. I also believe that David Dial was aware of this draft censure letter at the time, as “he, Jim Mann, and Mike Tarner had started having friendly meetings at the Beer Station in Bountyland after work”, as stated explicitly by David Dial in an email to David Nix. These three people meeting behind my back was also a concern to me, as this was, or nearly was, considered a quorum of the OCRP Steering Committee. Neither Jim, Teresa, or David Dial considered it “necessary” to inform me of this “behind the scenes” censure activity that could adversely impact my public perception as OCRP Chair. Mickey Haney found out about all of this and informed me of this activity. Jim and Mickey discussed the censure letter and determined that it was not a valid letter since it was not signed. Jims reasoning for not informing me about the draft letter was “it was only a draft and was not official”. Would you trust your Vice Chair if he had done this to you? Additionally, when I asked Teresa Sills why she had not informed me of the draft censure letter, she stated “she was worried that I would be angry over it”. Would you trust your D1 Director after this incident and the previous incident?

Shortly after this, the censure letter was signed by Stamp Creek and a copy was circulated, again, behind my back. The “plan” was to make this motion to censure me in an upcoming Steering Committee Meeting in late June. I did not know this motion was going to happen until about an hour before the meeting was to occur. At that time, Jim Mann and David Dial invited me to meet with them at Ingles to have coffee about an hour before the scheduled Steering Committee Meeting. Their intent was to “sell” me on “just accepting the censure” and moving on, “sort of like a traffic ticket”. I did not agree with the content of the censure letter, and thus I told them that I would not accept the censure as I did not agree with the allegations. Additionally, I was not prepared at the time to mount a case against the censure. At this point, would you trust Jim and David?

After this series of occurrences, taken together as a collective, I resolved to remove any untrustworthy individuals from my Steering Committee. I had every right to do so as it was within the OCRP County Bylaws. With my history up to this point of distrust of individuals not associated with the OCC, I felt I had no choice and was backed into a corner. Therefore, I contacted David Dial to tell him that we needed a “second signer” on the OCRP Bank account, as was customary for charitable organizations. I had been trying to get this done anyway, but now felt it more urgent to do so. The alleged harassment and perceived threats to David Dial are false in that he was defensive and used delay and deflect tactics when Mickey and I approached him via emails, texts and phone calls to work through this matter.

As my relationship to Jim Mann and David Dial deteriorated, they continued to communicate, meet, and plan my demise behind my back. This is well documented.

The activities associated with transfer of Treasury responsibilities between David Dial and Mickey Haney were contentious. David Dial’s claims of contentiousness on my part were in fact a two way street. There was never any real harassment or physical threats. I investigated many cases of threats and harassment in law enforcement for 15+ years and I can tell you that there were no threats or harassment. There were some contentious email and text exchanges, but the contention was both ways rather than one way as portrayed in the 9-16-22 Emergent CXC Meeting.

Teresa Sills was a hard worker and for a long time was a very trustworthy one. I will always be indebted to her for her hard work and dedication to the Party. However, due to the two aforementioned events, I chose also to remove Teresa Sills as D1 Director due to lack of confidence in her. I felt that she had fallen under the influence of some of my detractors and could no longer be trusted to help me affectively lead this organization. Once I removed Teresa, this understandably provoked further contention and outrage.

I chose to remove David Dial as Treasurer, as this was also within my rights per OCRP County bylaws, due to a lack of trust and confidence in his leadership going forward. I replaced David Dial with Mickey Haney. Additionally, I chose to place David Nix into the OCRP Secretary position.

So now, here we are, with a civil war going on between myself, supported with my few Conservative loyalists, and Jim Mann, supported by the Keowee Key old guard, the moderates in collusion with the Democrats, such as Rannie Bond, and the other OCC haters that are now a part of the Keowee Key initiated OCRM organization. I have no trust in Jim, and rightfully so. He has not fulfilled his campaign promise. Actually, it has been quite the opposite with him. Constant bickering, planned conflicts and leaks to the local media, and constant beratement in every CXC and Steering Committee meeting since mid-year. Additionally, the old saying of “if you see or hear something subversive going on and decide to ignore it, then you become a part of it”. The repeated lies, misinformation, and slander against the OCRP leadership (other than Jim Mann) and against the Conservative movement by Rannie Bond, a disgruntled D3 county council candidate who lost, and two Democrats, is such a case. I really was trying to move forward with the party, but I have been opposed at every angle. I know I bear much of the responsibility of the divisiveness in the party, but I have tried to place OCRM and OCRW people into leadership positions and subsequently been betrayed. The detractors have chosen not to help, but rather, to destroy any hopes of unity.

If I thought this mess we call the OCRP was in any way completely my fault, I would resign in good conscience, but, I do not, and I will not. The OCRM was created to siphon away talent from the OCRP to an organization that by SC State Bylaws (See Section 3 b of SC State Bylaws) is illegitimate and redundant to what the OCRP does, which is charity, recruitment, education, and fundraising. I am a flawed leader. However, everyone has their shortcomings. Nevertheless, with an organization as large as the OCRP, and with me being a newly installed leader without history or benefit of experience, my failure was assisted on all fronts by the non-OCC factions. Therefore, notwithstanding the contrived and stacked 9-16-22 CXC Meeting voting of “no confidence”, I will proceed forward with my term using my loyalists in the Steering Committee. The rest of you can start propping me up with your help, flawed as I am as a leader, or you can continue with your destructive tactics. It’s your choice.

David McMahan

OCRP Chairman

For years there has been a push for Ban The Box Legislation

Some disagree about banning the asking of arrests, while others agree that you shouldn’t be kept from getting employment so you can get a job and take care of your needs.

Nationwide, 37 states and over 150 cities and counties have adopted what is widely known as “ban the box” so that employers consider a job candidate’s qualifications first.

While it is true that some people never change the fact remains is that many do. For someone to be able to seek to be a law abiding citizen and take care of their own needs they will first have to be able to get a job to do so. Many employers however stand in the way of those seeking to do just that.

This has been seen as a humanitarian initiative since everyone deserves the right to be employed and have the right to take care of themselves.

On the other side we have employers that stand to lose if the employee doesn’t perform well at their job, the customers suffer and the company could lose lots of money due to the fact an employer is responsible for what their employees do, so the employers do have a point as there are people out there that will seek to destroy a business if they get an unpleasant experience while doing business with the company. You also have liabilities that the company would be responsible for if the employee does something that causes damages to a person or their property. So we also need to work on that aspect as well.

Not only does a person have a right to take care of themselves by being gainfully employed you also have to think about the children of those people and their spouse, we have children suffering due to the failure of businesses to hire people just because at one point in their life they were arrested. Think about that a kid out there might be going hungry because a business won’t hire someone due to an arrest 10 years ago or more.

We also have to think about the taxes, if you work to fight for the right of a person to be gainfully employed they will be a tax paying citizen and paying in to help society. Those taxes go into helping build roads and maintain our state.

President Trump signs the Fair Chance Act, one of the final criminal justice reform priorities of the late Congressman Elijah Cummings

Glenn, Carrie. “Justice Action Network.” Justice Action Network, December 21, 2019. https://www.justiceactionnetwork.org/news/fair-chance-act-becomes-federal-law-one-year-after-passage-of-groundbreaking-first-step-act.

So it has been years since the passing of the Fair Chance Act and we haven’t seen any news reporting of this leading to the downfall of our nation, or states.

‌So far however the state of South Carolina has not adopted the Ban The Box legislation to follow along with other states that have given people a fair chance at getting a job. Hopefully this will change soon to help thousands of people in South Carolina get jobs and take care of their family.

In Oconee County, South Carolina they recently had a crack down on the panhandlers in the area, while it is true that some refuse to work there are some that would, but they face the barrier that many do and that is not being able to get hired due to a prior arrest record, many employers don’t put reasonable limits on usage of arrest records which is why the Ban The Box AKA Fair Chance Act has become much needed legislation.

Back before I retired from the Army. We had a saying “There is only one thief in the Army, everyone else is just trying to get their stuff back.” I can assure you this is not what is going on in Oconee County. I can tell you I absolutely, 100%, without a doubt, I cannot stand a thief. Stealing is one of those things that everyone knows is wrong, you are taught that from a very young age. So, you absolutely do not have to be told that as an adult, especially as a old man. But some people know what they want, and they will steamroll anyone in their path to get it. Such is the case with what is going on in the city of Westminster.

As some may know, Westminster held a special election here not that long ago. The reason for this is because three city councilmen got mad, took their ball, and went home. This serves as a prime example of why acting on emotion rather than logic is often a horrible idea. These three essentially abandoned the people of Westminster and started a chain of events that could ultimately be the downfall of the town. I will explain all of that if you’ll bear with me. They then double downed by acting like a bunch of spoiled children going after City Councilman Yousef Meflah’s restaurant, Yousef’s Kitchen. As I have said before whether Yousef was right or wrong going after a man’s livelihood because you didn’t get your way is still wrong. If you had a problem with the way the man was doing business, you should have said something when it happened, but I digress. One of the resignee’s even made the statement in the paper, “they got the drill sergeant version of me.” That is all well and good to stroke your ego with sir, but you forgot your 1st general order which you taught basic trainees. “I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when properly relieved.”

How many hotels would people say are in Oconee County? I am not talking little rinky dink places. I am talking about nice hotels that you would let your kids travel to play recreational sports. While Seneca has built a few recently, Westminster has a big goose egg. Also, while Lucky Strike is a good place to get lunch. Your choices for dinner are Puerto and… Beef and Rib, I guess, maybe Yousef’s. Any pickle, my point is this Westminster does not have the amenities to be a big draw for rec sports. I understand that sports in Westminster is a big deal. One of my closest friends, his son was on the State Championship wrestling team this year. I had never paid attention to high school wrestling until this year. Folks, I’ve got to tell you, high school wrestling is the most underrated sport in the state of South Carolina. It goes 0-60, back to 30, up to 190, and back to 60 in a matter of minutes. It really is fun to watch once you understand it. But anyway, what Mayor Bryan Ramey has done is capitalized and taken advantage of the people’s love for rec sports. Then convinced everyone to jump in the back of an old farm truck, that is burning oil, and drive to Disney World and burn through a couple of months house payments. Not only that but to pay for this little extravagant expedition. He is also convinced MOST of his new City Council that we’ll just steal the neighbor’s car since we don’t have enough room in the farm truck. That is right folks, Westminster is growing under the direction of Bryan Ramey in his quest for his #buildhallstrec cause. People outside city limits are being brought into city limits to pay taxes against their will. This is stealing, just plain and simple. Taking something without permission is stealing. Mayor Ramey’s justification for all this, well they get water from the city. Of all the stupid excuses in the world, which is the lamest of them all. Meth heads stealing copper have better excuses.

I am telling everyone if that is all it takes for a municipality to legally take someone’s property, every person in the county is in trouble. It would be like Blue Ridge Co-op taking my property because I get power from them. Then telling me ”Well you could pay for solar panels.” This is “progress” folks, we have all heard the analogy that you can take one link out of a dog’s chain at a time. Eventually, the dog is stapled to the ground and never knew how it got there. If this is allowed to proceed it is just another link in the chain. It will also be a nail in the coffin towards bankrupting the city of Westminster. If Mayor Ramey’s blind promise of a grand rec department doesn’t draw sports tournaments from places like Easley and the Shaver Complex in Seneca. Every single citizen inside Westminster city limits will be left holding the bill on a bad investment. This includes the ones kidnapped by a greedy, power-hungry land grab. Who wanted no part of the nonsense in the first place. Fix your house before you put a pool in folks. Y’all have a nice day.

On today’s episode of cod kick a crooked politician. I’d like to title this one, “Westminster, An Oconee Tragedy.” For years, Westminster has received a bad reputation as a rundown town, with high utility rates and nothing to show for it. Even receiving a sarcastic nickname at times calling it “Methminister.” While this is not fair to the good citizens of Westminster because the drug problem in Oconee County has been a major issue officials seem to want to stay away from. This destructive weed is continuously allowed to grow in our communities. While I fully support law enforcement, I think Oconee needs more deputies and better pay for them. What I tend to hear is raise the sheriff’s salary. Sounds to me like watering the blooms instead of the roots. My opinion is, if the sheriff wants a pay increase, then clean up the county first. But that’s a write up for another time.

Getting back to the subject of Westminster, I am not gonna down the city right now. But I am going to be brutally honest. Like I sometimes say, if you want it sugar coated go to Dunkin’ Donuts because I am not the one. Westminster has been robbed for quite a while. Not only has the people of Westminster been robbed but in turn the people of District 4 as a whole have been robbed as well. Now if you don’t know Oconee County is divided into five different districts. District 1 being the general area of Salem. District 2 is the general area of Walhalla. District 3 is the General area of Seneca. District 4 is the general area of Westminster, and District 5 is the southern part of the county or Fair Play general area. Now these areas are broken down depending on the population giving everyone in Oconee County an equal voice (well at least it’s supposed to). Districts 1 and 5 are the largest areas geographically because they are less densely populated. But they receive the least amount of money from the county budget. Number 3 on that list is District 4, Westminster, which I will come back to in a minute just bear with me. Number 2 is District 2 or Walhalla, and number 1 is obviously the crown jewel of the county Seneca. Here’s the funny part of that whole thing. District 3 covers the least amount of geographical area but continuously enjoys the lion’s share of the county budget.

Now why is that you ask, well this is where it gets good folks. You know I have no love lost for the Journal. But the Journal holds a lot of strong influence in Oconee County. They use this influence to strong arm their personal agenda on the county. I’ve come to realize why; they show no regard for public opinion of them. This is evidenced but their unprofessional remarks and replies. You see when I go in a gas station, I always look at the newspaper rack, especially in the evening. That stack of paper’s keeps getting higher and higher. But here’s what I’ve learned, the Journal makes more money off the taxpayers of Oconee County through its progressive majority on County Council. This comes from a multitude of fees and what not. Essentially, the Journal has found a way to tax the taxer. But what happens is they are taking money required to upkeep the county.

Now let me caveat on to this, the county budget was just released in the last county council meeting. The budget went from just over $49 million to a little over $60 million. But yet John Elliott, Mr. CPA himself, has said county taxes will not go up. Now I don’t claim to be a smart man, but this is impossible. I’ve often compared John Elliott to being Oconee’s very own Joe Biden. Due to him being the gaff machine that he is. Seems he tells the same lies as Creepy Uncle Joe as well. But again, this is not the topic of the day. Just an important detail to the tragedy.

Now if we divide $60 million by 5, we get $12 million per district. Remember each district is marked off to hold a roughly equal number of residents. That means Salem, Fair Play, and Westminster should all get just over $12 million of county funds. This is not the case though. Seneca gets the lion’s share to fund whatever it sees fit to blow money on. A big reason for this is because Mayor Dan Alexander stays leached onto the Journal’s owner Jerry Edward’s fourth point of contact. For all of you who’ve never been to the Army’s Airborne School, that’s his anal cushions. This is the same Mayor Dan which is constantly on Jazzy Jeff’s radio show live from the Julian Davis studio in Jeff’s house. Y’all can make your own assumptions to that association. So then why does Walhalla get the number 2 position? Let me answer that question. As I’ve mentioned many times before the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal is a man named Hal Welch. Hal is one of the Tell Willie faceless writers. Hal’s wife is Amy Welch, former candidate for Walhalla City Council, schoolteacher at the Hamilton Career Center, and head of a group called Partners for Progress (remember this group’s name). Partners for Progress is the group pushing for a bike trail in Walhalla while infrastructure crumbles into the ground. Partners for Progress’s main focus is Main Street in Walhalla and Main Street only. Their biggest opponents are Conservative City Councilmen David Underwood, Tyler Jordan, and Grant Keehn. This is a big reason why you always see the Journal play kick the conservatives with these 3 city councilmen.

Now that I’ve built the case, we get to the meat and taters of our tragedy. Yesterday, Julian Davis, the county councilman for District 4, and his merry band of misfit tools held a big shin dig for the grand opening of Julian’s new Allstate Insurance office. This new office is located in West… nope, I’m wrong, it’s located in District 3 (Seneca). Which just so happens to be where Julian sends all of Westminster, Fair Play, and Salem’s money. Oh, it looked to be a beautiful gathering. They had a big giant petting zoo slam full of RINOs. Keri Unsworth was there, Ms. Unsworth led the campaign to try and overthrow Chairman David McMahan. Very much like the Democrats in Washington tried to do to President Trump. She essentially resigned from her post after being exposed for her support of Oconee County Democratic Party chair Jody Gaulin. Even lying, little donut boy Josh Roberts was in attendance. Josh was the paper’s candidate who ran in the Republican Primary against Matthew Durham for District 2. He’s also a member of the Partners for Progress in Walhalla. Son of a gun if his wife wasn’t Amy Welch’s campaign manager for Walhalla City Council. My, what a wicked web we weave. But going back to Julian, you would think he’d want to support the people in District 4. Sadly, this is not the case. Due to Julian’s close relationship with the Welch’s. Julian, while his political office is to represent the people of district 4, only serves to support Jerry Edwards and the Welch’s desire to rule Oconee County and line their own pockets using your tax dollars. This has spurned a chain of events detrimental to all who live in Oconee County. This is evidenced by what is going on in Westminster as we speak.
A starved city forced to survive off the breadcrumbs that fall off the table. Then criticized in Jerry Edwards’s Rag paper for its desire to grow. I’m gonna be honest with folks. After my last write up on Westminster, Mayor Ramey contacted me about my views and his concern of being a punching bag by everyone in the county. I told him that the annexation was wrong and told him if he’d stop the annexation I’d shut up. Now I’m not gonna give you my opinion on Mayor Ramey’s justification for the annexation. Even though you could probably assume my thoughts on it. I’m going to give it without opinion and y’all judge it how you want to.
Annexation is a conservative option because welfare is not a conservative trait. The people who move just outside the city, move there because they want the convenience of the city without paying the taxes for those conveniences. This is much like welfare wanting something without paying into it.
*The above is not my opinion, it’s what I was told
This is the direct effect of citizens not being made a priority of elected officials. Julian Davis’s friends before constituents mentality is what those who are about to loose their property rights can first point their finger at. Just out of curiosity, what happens once Westminster completely implodes on itself? When is Seneca gonna be big enough? Where is the line in the sand where cities say this is as far as we are gonna grow? The truth is there is no answers to these questions. Nor do they ever intend to be answered. Humankind is plagued with a fallible quality called Greed. I have often said in my observance of people the more they get the more they want. This stands true in Oconee County. Our county government has become so greedy for money that it has morphed into gluttony. This is historically one of the seven deadly sins; will it be what eventually kills Oconee County?
Westminster has so much potential. For whatever reason, the people of Westminster think the solution to their problem is the rec department. While I agree Westminster needs a new rec department, I say build to the need not to the want. But hey who am I? It’s my belief you kick Julian’s sorry butt to the curb. Find someone else that actually cares about Westminster and get the money to clean the town up. Use it wisely, make Westminster a town that people want to move to due to its small-town feel. You have to feed and care for a garden to get it to grow. That is the same with growing a town the correct way. Instead of build it and they will come, how about care for it and they will come.
Any pickle, I know this has been a long one. Anyone who has got to this point I really do appreciate you sticking with me. I need to add something I failed to fit in. The grand opening of Julian’s new office was just a political stunt to campaign for Jazzy Jeff. Just more of Julian caring more about Seneca than his own district and Westminster. Everyone have a wonderful day.

Qualifications

Jeff Bright actually doesn’t have any qualifications to be a County Councilman for District 3 of Oconee County. The only thing Jeff Bright has ever done is talk on the air as well as play music. Jeff Bright worked at Clemson University as a well helping with audio and video until they decided they didn’t need him anymore. Jeff Bright spent time installing radios in buses for the Oconee County School district which is as far as you can get to knowing how to run a county or a district as you can get. Jeff Bright is the court jester that people like to laugh and cut up with and that is it.

Jeff Bright has only one qualification, and that is to be a detractor to hopefully win against Don Mize, and be another vote for those that are trying to push through a huge project to build a walking trail for the county, that is going to cost the Oconee County tax payers lots of money they don’t have.

Jeff Bright History

Jeff Bright was hanging out with James Bartee a person running for Sheriff back in 2012. James Bartee was going to actually do something about the drug trade that has gone unchecked in Oconee County. This worried someone so bad they cooked up a scheme to have James Bartee arrested with an accusation that he was plotting a kidnapping of a judge which was extremely ludicrous but it happened.

According to a SLED report

D. Colgrove further noted “It appears to me that Jeff C. Bright is looking for remote locations for some reason. He also is in and out of high crime areas.” During the meeting with D. Colgrove S/A Sloan received a briefing of his report. D. Colgrove also referred to the recording of James Bartee on the radio challenging J. Edwards to a fist fight. D.

SLED Report File 34-12-90

Jerry Edwards connection

Jerry Edwards hired an investigator due to him saying he feared for his safety and the safety of his family.

Preliminary Investigation 
Edwards, Jerry (complainant) 
Bartee, James/ Jeff Bright (suspects) 

This investigation was started by

Dale Colgrove of DCT detection (private 
investigator) on behalf of Jerry Edwards (Seneca Journal)
According to the report Jerry Edwards hired the detective to investigate James Bartee which led to the involvement with Jeff Bright. 

Jerry Edwards according to the SLED report:

Edward’s main concern was the 50 to 60,000 dollars he had paid for the investigation. He felt that he had waisted all of the money because all of the cooperating witnesses and information he provided SLED with were now uncovered. J. Edwards was satisfied with the fact that James Bartee and J. Bright believed SLED was the one investigating him and not a private investigator hired by him. J. Edwards

SLED Report File 34-12-90

So according to the report he spent between $50,000 to $60,000 to investigate James Bartee and Jeff Bright, but now we see Jeff Bright hanging tight with Jerry Edwards the same person that spent all that money to investigate believing that Jeff Bright and James Bartee were a threat to Jerry Edward’s and his family.

Jerry Edward support

Things are not adding up, even if you can forgive someone for targeting you and your family you certainly don’t back them later on. This is exactly what we are seeing go on, as if Jeff Bright had been a double agent for someone pulling the strings to destroy James Bartee all along to make sure he didn’t win the bid for the Oconee County Sheriff race he was running.

Original SLED Report

I am including the original SLED report so you can see all that went on with all the facts.

Gas prices are higher than they ever have been, and it is taking a toll on the economy.

Some people are saying that the president has little to no control over gas prices. The fact is historically the presidents in the past have made decisions that affected the price of gas.

Nixon froze all prices and wages during his term.

On Aug. 15, 1971, in a nationally televised address, Nixon announced, “I am today ordering a freeze on all prices and wages throughout the United States.” (Healy 2011)

After a 90‐day freeze, increases would have to be approved by a “Pay Board” and a “Price Commission,” with an eye toward eventually lifting controls: Cato Institute. “Remembering Nixon’s Wage and Price Controls,” August 16, 2011. https://www.cato.org/commentary/remembering-nixons-wage-price-controls.

And we can see that the answer changes based on who is president as well:

About 71% of all Democrats said presidents could do a lot to rein in gas prices. Six years later Democrat Barack Obama was president, and CBS/New York Times repeated the same question in their March survey. This time, 42% of Democrats said the president had the power to influence the price of gasoline — fully 29 percentage points fewer than those holding that view when Bush was president.

Morin, Rich. “Can a President Control Gas Prices? Depends on When You Ask.” Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center, July 25, 2013. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/07/25/can-a-president-control-gas-prices-depends-on-when-you-ask/.

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South Carolina has controls on public utilities where they must get approval to raise rates, so as you can see the government can control expenses it is being done and has been done for many years.

Another thing that is affecting prices is the push for electric vehicles, people mention supply and demand, well when you are having the government fund electric vehicles over gas powered engines then yes there will be lower demand for gas. So far it is not as big of a problem yet because there still isn’t as many electric vehicles as gas powered engines.

The ones that are being hit the hardest are those that use diesel, so that is really having a dreadful impact on truckers that deliver goods for us. We are seeing food prices, and other items increase in price due to higher fuel cost.