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Talk With Bette

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Talk With Bette

Category Archives: Politics

“FCGOP Reaches Out”

07 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by Bette Cox in Florence County, GOP, Politics

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Florence County GOP

7:00 PM Monday, September 12, 2016
Floyd Conference Center, 1592 Freedom Blvd., Florence, SC

leonwinn Pastor Leon Winn, South Carolina GOP 2nd Vice Chairman, will be our special guest this evening.

Dr. Winn will be addressing the importance of reaching out to minority communities during this election and beyond with a Republican message of hope and greater opportunity.

An Air Force veteran, former Columbia police officer and self-employed cosmetologist with over 30 years service as a pastor, Dr. Winn says he came to the epiphany that he was really a Republican some years ago when he took his daughter to a festival in Clarendon County.

During the event, he came across a campaign worker for a Republican who was running against Jim Clyburn at the time. She asked him why he was a Democrat.

“That was the first time in my life anybody ever asked me that. And I began to think about it, mull it over and do the research on it,” he said. “I found out I was a Democrat just because I was told I was supposed to be, just caught up in society’s dogma. And that’s when I decided to make the change.”

A brief business meeting of the Executive Committee will follow the public meeting.

Please call Chairman Mal Weatherly (843-319-4262) for more information. Hope to see you at the meeting.

Bette Cox, Secretary
Florence County Republican Party
843-629-0225

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Absentee voting

27 Saturday Aug 2016

Posted by Bette Cox in Florence County, GOP, Politics

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Absentee Voting, Voting

DontForgetToVoteFlagIn South Carolina, In-Person Absentee Voting begins 30 days before the election. For the November 8, 2016 election, In-Person Absentee Voting in Florence County begins at Voter Registration on Third Loop Road in Florence on October 8.

However, you can apply for an Absentee Ballot now, by visiting SCVotes.org, or SCAbsentee.com. 

Persons qualified to vote in SC by absentee ballot are the following:

  • Members of the Armed Forces or Merchant Marine serving outside their county of residence and their spouses and dependents residing with them
  • Persons serving with the American Red Cross or with the United Service Organizations (USO) who are attached to and serving with the Armed Forces outside their county of residence and their spouses and dependents residing with them
  • Overseas Citizens
  • Persons who are physically disabled
  • Students attending school outside their county of residence and their spouses and dependents residing with them
  • Persons who for reasons of employment will not be able to vote on election day
  • Government employees serving outside their county of residence on Election Day and their spouses and dependents residing with them
  • Persons who plan to be on vacation outside their county of residence on Election Day
  • Persons serving as a juror in state or federal court on Election Day
  • Persons admitted to the hospital as emergency patients on Election Day or within a four-day period before the election
  • Persons with a death or funeral in the family within three days before the election
  • Persons confined to a jail or pre-trial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial
  • Persons attending sick or physically disabled persons
  • Certified poll watchers, poll managers, and county election officials working on Election Day
  • Persons sixty-five years of age or older
  • Persons who for religious reasons do not want to vote on a Saturday (Presidential Primaries Only)

When voting in person, you will be asked to show one of the following Photo IDs at your polling place:

  • SC Driver’s License
  • SC Department of Motor Vehicles ID Card
  • SC Voter Registration Card with Photo
  • Federal Military ID
  • US Passport

For more information about voting in South Carolina, see http://see www.scvotes.org.

For information specifically about Florence County voting, see
http://www.florenceco.org/offices/voter-registration/

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Words mean things

02 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by Bette Cox in Family, Politics, Religion

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

1960s, power of words, words mean things

CapriTheater02X-rated movies were unheard of in Florence, SC when my children were toddlers. Some smaller towns nearby aired off-color films in their theaters, late at night and with little advertising.

But then one of our main Florence theaters began advance advertising for a “coming attraction,” our very first adult film with an X-rating.

The local daily paper carried the ad on the appropriate entertainment page; it was one of those in-your-face, I-dare-you-to-object sort of advertisements.

Reading the ad with misgivings, I carefully checked to see what hours the film would run. Surely it wouldn’t be until late in the evening, after normal family movie-goer hours, I thought. No. It would be run in the usual evening prime-time slot for several days.

One well-known and well-thought-of family had owned our local movie houses for many years. I wouldn’t have thought they’d be agreeable to this (I still don’t know if they were), or if they were being required to offer this movie in order to get other, more popular films of the day.

No matter. We had a few days’ notice, so I knew if anyone wanted to protest, they could write letters to the theater owners. I wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper. I wish I had kept a copy – it was titled, Words Mean Things.

It wasn’t just that I objected to showing this type of movie in Florence. I objected to the offensive advertising, the marquee posters that would appear, the billboards and the newspaper ads. I objected to the words and the images that would be seen not just by the adults the film was designed for, but by the children of our area.

That movie house was right on the main street of our town, right between a residential and commercial area. It was sandwiched between family restaurants and grocery stores.

It was an excellent location for a theater, actually. But not for the kind of blatant, off-color images and language that would accompany that movie – which would be the first of many such rated films, if this one succeeded in airing.

The newspaper didn’t change a single word of my letter. Since it was over their usual word limit, the editor called to ask my permission to publish it without changes of any kind. There was no editing, no cutting. The letter ran as-is.

But the movie never ran.

A few days after my letter was published, another ad appeared: Due to public sentiment the X-rated movie had been cancelled. Apparently my letter had hit a nerve. Many other people wrote letters of their own, followed by many phone calls to the theater owners.

The powers that be – whoever they were – feared a full-scale protest was about to happen, complete with marchers carrying signs. I didn’t foresee that happening and certainly didn’t suggest any such thing, but it was a definite possibility had the film ever opened in Florence.

Well, it was a long time after that before Florence did run an X-rated movie, and by then I didn’t live in town and didn’t keep up with movie fare.

But I’ve never forgotten the power of the words. Words mean things, but the message won’t get out if those words aren’t spoken. Or written.

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See something, say something

12 Saturday Dec 2015

Posted by Bette Cox in Politics, Religion

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

angel of light, deception, New Age, persecution, Politics, religion, see something say something

How can I demonstrate God’s love? See something, say something, maybe.

SkateboardBoyHe looked to be about 8 years old, the kid focused on the front edge of his skate board as he determinedly rode up and down my street. His track was the pavement in front of several houses on my block.

I stood at the window sipping a cup of coffee, watching his progress as he got the hang of his new gadget.

Back and forth, back and forth he went, the clattering sound of skateboard wheels on the rough pavement reaching into my living room. The expression on his face showed how much he was concentrating – how fast can I go, how fast can I turn, can I do a flip – normal stuff for a kid when there’s no skateboard ramp nearby.

He was still focused down at his feet when the car came up behind him. There were no sidewalks in our neighborhood, only a few cement driveways. Any of those would have been safe for him to swerve onto to get out of the car’s way.

But he was facing the wrong way, he didn’t hear the car, and so he didn’t swing onto the nearest driveway. He kept right on pushing, right in the street, right in the path of that oncoming car.

There was a posted speed limit but our street being a short cut between two major roads, many drivers ignored it. They often speeded up instead. Still watching, I frowned as I realized that the driver didn’t see the boy. In a minute it would be too late for him to stop.

What should I have done? It wasn’t my problem. That wasn’t my child. I didn’t know his family. They shouldn’t have let him play in the street anyway. Is that what I should have thought?

No. I jerked open the front door and ran outside yelling at the top of my lungs. Hey! Hey? Car! Car!

Both boy and driver saw my flailing arms, thankfully. The car veered into the other lane – good thing there was no oncoming traffic – and the boy jumped for the shallow ditch in front of my house. The car kept right on going, tragedy averted.

Had I been acting in “love,” the way some well-meaning folks seem to define it, I would have simply smiled and kept silent. I would have let the boy continue on his way, oblivious to danger. Would have let the driver commit vehicular manslaughter. Heaven forbid that I should offend somebody with harsh words, hurt the feelings of someone going down the path to eternal destruction.

But that’s not my heart. Not Holy Spirit’s heart, either.

If I see someone who is being deceived (and/or deceiving others), I will probably say something. Write something, maybe. Something, like Hey! Hey! Danger! Danger!

Offensive? Well, “offend” means to stop someone, to turn them out of the way they’re going, so yes. Out of the path of the deceiver.

That tendency has sometimes gotten me into hot water. It has made me the target of sarcastic words to my face and worse words behind my back. Rude online articles sometimes. Or passive-aggressive hostility, the silent treatment from friends who don’t know me or my heart very well.

But it has also gotten some folks free of deceptive entanglements that could have ruined their lives, and helped others avoid that path in the first place.

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Persecuted

05 Saturday Dec 2015

Posted by Bette Cox in Politics, Religion

≈ 4 Comments

Have you ever been persecuted for your faith?

Not beaten up or shot, imprisoned and tortured as many believers in Jesus around the world are suffering. But maybe just annoyed, aggravated, irritated, made nervous and hesitant about sharing your faith any further in public?

Whenever you’re in the public eye, small or large public, you make yourself a target. In the late 1980’s, many right-wing pro-life Christian activists worked in the political arena and thus made themselves visible targets. I was one of them.

A United States Congressman from my state was running for re-election. He was a left-wing liberal, pro-abortion and pro-big government, and yet he called himself a Christian. (He wasn’t. No fruit.) He was well funded.

Tim and I supported one of his several opponents, one whose beliefs and stances on the issues were in line with ours. He was not well funded.

A debate was held in the local library meeting room. It had been publicized throughout our multi-county district and was attended by several hundred citizens, plus a few TV and print reporters.

Tim and I arrived early and took seats on the front row nearest the entry. As we were already known in the district for community and political volunteerism, a number of people came over to greet us.

When it came time for comments from the candidates, the US Congressman looked straight at me. He did not call my name, although obviously he knew it. He bluntly called me a Nazi, because I so publicly and vocally disagreed with his position on abortion. Taken aback at how ugly and vicious his words were, I could feel my face turning red.

He went on to recount his voting record, his support of the liberal agenda in Washington, and promised more of the same if re-elected.

Our candidate was an older man, a lanky, “red-neck” farmer, not sophisticated in his appearance or manner, but nevertheless he eloquently stated his belief system, his reasons for running for office, and his positions on the issues that affected our district.

It was quite an educational event. Many of our friends came by afterward to sympathize and commiserate on the verbal attack from the platform. We just thanked them for their attendance and asked them to vote for our candidate.

But, the Congressman won in that election, and the next, and the next. After a while no-one had guts enough to run against him. He became a polished, professional politician, racking up many thousands of left-wing dollars along the way.

Eventually our congressional district was split and my town became part of a new district. Our current Congressman is one with high moral standards and one I am very comfortable supporting.

That wasn’t the only time I faced disagreement on the issues, but it was the first from such a public figure, in such an ugly outburst, in such a public forum. I realized then that when you put your name and your face and your voice and your hands and feet out into the public arena for a cause you believe in, you need moral and spiritual guts. You need a thick skin!

You need to determine how much you’re willing to risk, ahead of time. The only way you can stand up and continue to stand, speak out and continue to speak, is by knowing that the Lord who called you to do this assignment lives inside you where it matters.

When someone who disagrees with you calls you a Nazi, Jesus calls you his beloved.

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Talk With Bette Radio

09 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Bette Cox in Politics, Technology, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

blogs, Family Memories, newspaper column, talk radio, Talk With Bette Radio

Radio studio interview“Talk With Bette” went on the air on radio WOLS-1230 in the fall of 2000. Every Friday morning I interviewed three interesting people for twenty minutes each. Medical and business CEO’s, housewives and politicians might be on the morning’s agenda.

College deans, mayors, businessmen and women came to talk with Bette about whatever might be going on in their world or coming up in the community. Subjects ranged from health care to gospel concerts, from Boy Scout projects to Red Cross blood drives.

My motto was – and still is – “If it interests me, it will interest you.”

Established here in my hometown of Florence, South Carolina in 1937, WOLS-1230 was a family-oriented station featuring nationally syndicated shows such as Focus on the Family, as well as local programs hosted by churches or civic groups. Talk shows were interspersed with golden oldies, beach and gospel music.

For many years WOLS aired the Holiday Show, named for the Holiday Inn Restaurant where the program first aired. For 90 minutes a day, Doug Williams and a co-hostess greeted folks around the breakfast table. Local residents or national personalities traveling through town, politicians to movie stars would stop by to chat informally with Doug about any and everything.

In between interviews Doug tuned into music while new guests got comfortable with a cup of hot coffee. The Holiday Show was hugely popular. Anybody who was anybody throughout South Carolina and many just traveling along the East Coast sought to be Doug’s guest. For a few years he switched to television, but eventually Doug returned the Holiday Show to WOLS, sometimes broadcasting remotely from a local restaurant, sometimes directly from the studio.

In the late 1980’s Tim and I signed up as grass-roots volunteers for several conservative, prolife causes and candidates. We always looked for time slots on radio stations where we and our candidates could discuss the issues of the day.

No Lottery 2000 was one of those issues. Working to defeat the lottery in South Carolina, we supported like-minded candidates for local and state-wide offices. And, as the campaigns progressed towards the fall election, Tim called WJMX-970, a radio station that had always welcomed candidates to be interviewed by Tom Kinard on Kinard and Koffee, a morning drive-time show that reached a wide segment of our state’s population.

Tim confidently called Tom to arrange interview times. But Tom had bad news – the station had a new manager with a new policy for Kinard and Koffee: nothing political, nothing controversial. Definitely nothing anti-lottery.

Well, there was still WOLS. A lower signal station, it had a smaller listening audience – but every voter counts, right? Except that Doug Williams had retired just the week before. After forty years on the air, the Holiday Show was no more.

We were very unhappy, to say the least. One candidate wasn’t just unhappy, he was thoughtful, and determined. He called WOLS himself to ask – suppose we find a replacement for Doug Williams? Would you put the Holiday Show back on the air? The station manager okayed the idea. All we’d have to do is find a host, find the guests, and find the sponsors. Simple.

The candidate enthusiastically called me. “You’d be perfect, Bette. You could do this, no problem. Will you?”

But the Holiday Show was daily, 90 minutes each day. It wasn’t feasible for me to leave working in our business that long every day. And Doug had a program manager, plus someone to handle the technical end of remote broadcasting. I had no expertise, no experience, not even a basic working knowledge of radio broadcasting. It’s impossible, I argued.

“We’ll get all that done, just say you’ll do it!” He and Tim urged, nagged and pleaded.

Reluctantly I agreed to host a one-hour show, one day a week. No music, just talk. Friday mornings, the slowest day of the work week for me. No remotes, we would broadcast from the sound booth in the station. Okay? The station manager said okay and made plans to begin the show immediately, even before we rounded up some sponsors.

But what to call it? We couldn’t keep the Holiday Show name, not without Doug. Talk With Bette was born. A fellow who worked for the station would be my on-air engineer. The station manager selected some intro music, recorded a professional-sounding voice-over for it, and by the next Friday we went on the air – all within a week of my saying yes. I still don’t see how we pulled that off…

Tim proved to be an excellent program manager. Well known throughout the Pee Dee himself, he had no problems whatsoever persuading people to come talk with Bette, live on the air. Our very first guests were candidates, naturally. To avoid troubles with the FCC and FEC, we invited all candidates, no matter the party or the issue. (The strangest thing: only the candidates we supported agreed to come.)

From band concerts to college enrollment, from fund-raising for the United Way to Little Theater plays – not to mention the lottery and the elections, of course – people came to talk about it. If someone wanted to air their opinion, advertise their event, plug their new business or promote their candidate, they called Tim. Several sponsors soon came on board, and now we had commercial breaks for guests to swap chairs.

My nosy nature and extensive preparations for every single interview kept things interesting. The atmosphere was laid back and casual, like visiting with a neighbor across their kitchen table. People who had been nervous about filling up twenty minutes were amazed how fast the time went. They often wanted to come back and continue the conversation another day, and we often scheduled just that.

One of my first guests on the lottery question was Armstrong Williams, who called in from his own studio in Washington, DC. One early program included two invited guests, Bill Monroe, pastor of the largest church in Florence, and former Governor David Beasley. I asked one opening question about the upcoming lottery vote, but for the rest of the hour they chatted with each other, asking questions and discussing that subject and other issues of the day.

I had to reschedule our third guest, who really didn’t mind – he was sitting in the room with us, enjoying the conversation. It was wonderful.

Of course, glitches and hitches arose occasionally. (Not often, thankfully.) One day my first guest was a lady who operated a private, no-kill animal shelter out in the county. She arrived early and we chatted quite easily about her love of animals, how the shelter operated and their constant need for donations. I took notes as we talked.

The moment the show went live, however, she froze up. She became terrified of the microphone and could not speak above a whisper. It was a good thing I had just asked her everything I really needed to know, so my on-air questions became lengthy and full of information. She could basically just say “yes” or “no.” When the segment ended, she apologized profusely, I patted her shoulder and said it was okay – and it was, but she never came back.

Another day a guest didn’t show up until the very end of the program. She’d had car trouble and no way to let me know.  But my prepared notes had enabled me to do her segment without her, introducing her topic and discussing it as though I was talking to a class of students.

One state senator running for re-election turned his face away from me as soon as I introduced him. Puzzled, I could not catch his eye to ask any of my questions. He just began to talk, and talk, and talk – spouting a canned campaign speech. He didn’t even seem to take a breath the whole time. When his twenty minutes were up, he rose, said thank you and walked out. I never invited him back.

As the program’s listener base grew, we acquired regular guests who appeared on a monthly basis, and Talk With Bette became fairly well known throughout the Pee Dee.

Then one day in 2003, the station management changed and with it, so did the format. Family-oriented no longer, WOLS would become “The Sports Animal,” switching to an all-sports format. Some local shows would be maintained, the new manager informed me, but with new time slots. Mine was one of those.

I could come in on Friday and interview guests as usual, he said, but the program would be recorded, not aired live. It would be broadcast on Saturday, perhaps in the early morning hours, perhaps the middle of the day, “We’ll let you know when.”

Unsure how such a drastic difference would be received by our listening audience, I said I’d have to think about it, talk to Tim about it, and let him know.

The next Friday I overheard the manager say to one of my guests that WOLS now had a website, something he’d never mentioned to me. Checking it out at home later I found many questionable “adult” images. Sports-related though they were, to me they bordered on x-rated.

That was my last program on WOLS. Tim and I thanked the new station manager for the offer, but felt it would be better for Talk With Bette to end while it was ahead.

Soon thereafter, at Tim’s instigation and the invitation of Brenda Harrison, Editor of the News Journal, I began writing a weekly newspaper column titled Family Memories. Some articles were a result of interviews I had done with local personalities, others contained my own memories of life growing up in South Carolina. The time I had spent talking, I now spent writing.

The column had an excellent few years before gradually slowing to a natural conclusion after Tim died in 2006. Two of my current blogs, Talk With Bette and S.C. Family Memories, are media outlets of a different sort to share information, thoughts, ideas and opinions.

I enjoyed my days on the radio, meeting and talking with so many fascinating folks from around the state and nation. I enjoyed writing the column, and I still enjoy writing the blogs as you may have guessed. Thanks so much for reading this post, if you’ve gotten this far… it’s been really good to reminisce.

 

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The Battle of Athens, Tennessee, 1946

08 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by Bette Cox in Politics, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

1946, Athens Tennessee, Second Amendment

Why we need the Second Amendment…

BattleOfAthensTN1946Crowds

BattleOfAthensTN1946

The Battle of Athens, Tennessee took place in 1946. I did not know an armed revolt on American soil by WWII veterans had ever taken place during my lifetime. The following video clip is sobering to say the least. It’s from “The Battle of Athens: Restoring the Rule of Law,” a movie based on this factual battle. The clip lasts about 14 minutes and is well worth your time.

The reasons for the Second Amendment should now be a little clearer to everyone. For more information about this historical event, read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Athens_%281946%29
http://missouritenth.com/2012/03/12/battle-of-athens-reveals-value-in-right-to-bear-arms/
http://www.americanheritage.com/content/battle-athens
http://jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/athens.htm
http://www.tn.gov/tsla/exhibits/disasters/riots.htm

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A note from Congressman Jeff Duncan

07 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by Bette Cox in Politics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2012 Primary Election, SC Supreme Court decision


From Laurens, South Carolina, Jeff Duncan serves as the Congressman for the Third Congressional District. Jeff has been recognized as a defender of the Constitution, a fiscal conservative champion, and a protector of family values.

Here’s a statement I received from him via email today (7 June 2012) regarding the 2012 Primary Election situation:

Hey guys,

I’m writing you this evening because something horrible has happened in the state of South Carolina. As you may have heard, a few weeks ago, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a ruling that caused many candidates running for office to be thrown off the ballot.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued another ruling that impacted even more candidates. To make matters worse, the ruling didn’t impact everyone equally since incumbents have a different filing process.

While my race for United States Congress was not affected because it’s a Federal position and the ruling only applied to state races, I still felt the need to speak up.

The South Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling means there are no longer any contested Republican Primary races in Oconee County. Across the Third District, and across the state, literally hundreds of candidates no longer have the chance to run for office.

The law is supposed to exist to protect the rights of the people, but instead the court has taken away people’s rights.

What has happened in South Carolina is deplorable. Through a technicality, the court has denied hundreds of people the right to run for office, and has essentially denied hundreds of thousands the right to participate in a free and fair election.

You deserve better, and I’m disgusted that such an injustice has taken place in our state.

As I said before, this is a state issue that involves a state court and a state law. While I don’t have the power to solve this problem in the halls of Congress, I wanted to let you know what’s going on, and encourage you to contact your State Representative and Senator before the General Assembly adjourns on Friday. Let them know how you feel, and ask them how they plan to solve this problem.

I’m continuing to look into this issue as a concerned South Carolinian who believes that we need to do whatever we can to protect the electoral process.

Also know, that while it won’t remedy the situation here at home, that I’m talking to other Congressmen from across the country about what’s happened in South Carolina to help prevent this abuse of the legal system from happening anywhere else.

God Bless,

Jeff Duncan

www.JeffDuncan.com

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Andre Bauer on raising the debt ceiling

29 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by Bette Cox in GOP, Politics

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Tags

Andre Bauer, debt ceiling, GOP, SC 7th Congressional District

In a Republican debate in Georgetown, South Carolina (Congressional race in South Carolina’s new 7th district) Tom Rice was the only candidate who said he would raise our nation’s debt ceiling for a local pork project. 

Here is a statement from Andre Bauer on raising the debt ceiling:

“I have pledged that I would not vote to raise our nations debt ceiling. We cannot afford it. Our children and their children do not deserve being burdened by our increasing debt and careless spending. We must have the capacity to say NO…and we must do it now.

I congratulate the other other Republican candidates for agreeing with me during last nights congressional debate in Georgetown, SC.

However one candidate said that he was in favor of raising our debt ceiling, Tom Rice. This is a major area in which Tom Rice and I differ tremendously.

As a conservative, I will say no to spending we cannot afford. Apparently, as a moderate, Tom Rice believes that more spending whether it be a project in South Carolina or a “bridge to nowhere”…is not a big deal.

The voters do have a choice on June 12th. They can choose someone who will offer more of the same, or a person who will stand up and say enough is enough.”

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Florence County Council

29 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by Bette Cox in Florence County, GOP, Politics

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

County Council, Florence County, GOP, Politics

Willard Dorriety, Jr. has filed as a Republican candidate for Florence County Council, District 9.

That happens to be my own council district as I live in Delmae 1, one of the five precincts included in District 9 (Delmae 1 and 2, Ebenezer 1, 2 and 3).

I am pleased to support Willard for this seat. You may know that Dr. Morris Anderson, current councilman for this district, is retiring. Dr. Anderson has endorsed Willard Dorriety in this election.

A lifelong resident of Florence County, Willard is an agri-businessman – read that farmer – with deep roots in Florence County. No pun intended, folks. Well, maybe a little one.

In case you aren’t familiar with Willard’s work background and his history of community service, below is some basic information. Check out his website, http://dorrietyforcountycouncil.com. Willard also has a Facebook fan page – take a look – https://www.facebook.com/DorrietyForCountyCouncil, and a Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/373252486030315/.

  • As an agri-businessman, Willard Dorriety Jr. understands the trials and triumphs of owning a small business.
  • A husband, father, and grandfather, he has a passion to spend time with his family and work to improve the community in which they live.
  • Since 2003 Willard has served as a Florence School District One Trustee. He understands very well how important and valuable it is for a community to work together to accomplish the tasks facing it. Some important history about his service on the School Board:

Over the last decade, Florence District One has become one of the most fiscally sound entities in South Carolina. It operates a system for 16,000 students within budget, without the financial turmoil that has plagued other areas. No teachers were furloughed, laid off or terminated during the past few years, something not many other districts can say.

The district operates a system for school construction needs on a pay-as-you-go basis. With a reserve fund in place, the district has the highest of bond ratings available to school districts in this state.

When the new Lucy T. Davis Elementary School on Hoffmeyer Road is dedicated this year, as the ribbon is cut the district will carry no debt on it. The school will be fully paid for and millions of dollars in interest will have been avoided to the benefit of the taxpayers of this community. The same will be true when the new middle school now under construction opens next door to it.

The school district enjoys the wide support and participation of the faith community. This has been nurtured and encouraged over the last 10 years and as a result we’ve seen the introduction and spread of Good News Clubs in the elementary schools; of the off-campus Christian Learning Center programs available to the students of all three middle schools; of mentor volunteers who respond as they are called to address the needs of children; and of churches partnering with schools to provide clothing and school materials for students in need.

Although the federal courts in our state are now strictly interpreting the separation of church and state, and even here in the Pee Dee, the many examples above which have been developed within the law point to the affirmations of our faith community to be involved in the lives of children here in Florence.

In addition to his work and school board service, Willard is an active member of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Florence. Over the years he has served as the Chairman of Deacons, Chairman of Building and Grounds Committee, Chairman of Personnel Committee, Finance Committee member, and a member of the Usher Team.

For over ten years he has also served as a coach for several age groups of church league basketball.

Of all his positions and achievements, however, Willard is most proud of his role as husband, father, and grandfather. He has been married to Ruth Jenne Dorriety, a retired Florence School District One teacher, for 33 years. They are the proud parents of Jason and Jessica Dorriety. Jason is a graduate of West Florence High School with a degree from Clemson University. He is married to Ann Harmon Dorriety of Greenville, SC and they are the proud parents of Betsy and Will Dorriety. Jessica is also a graduate of West Florence High School with a degree from Anderson University.

I believe Willard’s background and record of community service will give him the tools and abilities to be an excellent and effective member of Florence County Council. If you are a Republican voter in District 9, I ask you to join me in voting for Willard Dorriety in the Republican primary, June 12.

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Bette Cox

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