COMMUNITY UPDATE: August 2008
July 28, 2008 | 3 Comments
I hope you and your family are having a safe summer and enjoying everything our community and state offers! How many places in America can you live and travel to the mountains and the beach both within about 2 hours from home?
If you have events you’d like me to share on the site, please contact me directly through Nathansnews.com and I’ll be happy to see how I can help pass along the news. Before I continue with the update, I wanted to mention a special event to you. I hope to see you there!
*** SPECIAL EVENT *** The 3rd Annual Irmo Community Prayer Breakfast will be held this year, Thursday September 25th at 7:30 a.m., at Gateway Baptist Church . The event is made possible through sponsorships of $250 (table of 8). Please help us continue this wonderful annual gathering and consider sponsor a table or reserve a ticket ($8). You may contact me or Representative Chip Huggins (ch@scstatehouse.net).
STATE HOUSE
Education Finance Act Study Committee: You may have noticed that we are attempting the daunting task of improving (hopefully) our Education Funding in South Carolina. To that extent, I am joining other members of the committee in ongoing meetings that will certainly last until (and including) our session in 2009. Our next meeting is Tuesday, August 5, at 1:30pm. If you have any suggestions, I’m listening!
What bills would you introduce? The Legislature doesn’t return until January, but during the next several months is when I do my research and planning for what I feel (or have heard form you) is needed in our state and can move our state forward. I’d like to hear from you!
Did you know? Lobbyists: Ever wondered how many lobbyists/lobbyist principals there are in our state? You may be surprised.
YOUR MONEY
“Sales Tax Holiday” is Aug. 1 - 3: South Carolina’s annual back-to-school “Sales Tax Holiday” - the state’s popular three-day sales and use tax break on traditional back-to-school purchases - is less than a month away. The ninth annual tax-free weekend begins at midnight Friday, Aug. 1 and concludes at midnight Sunday, Aug. 3. During the long weekend, the state’s sales and use tax is lifted on purchases of clothes, shoes, school supplies, book bags, computers, computer parts, printers and more. South Carolina shoppers typically save about $2.8 million in sales tax during the event. The popularity of the tax-free weekend has made it the third busiest shopping period of the year, exceeded only by the weekend after Thanksgiving and the weekend before Christmas. South Carolina adopted the sales tax holiday in 2000 and in following years, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee have also implemented similar tax-free weekends. This year, each will hold their tax-free weekends at the same time as South Carolina.
Richland County Council defeats road tax: Richland County recently rejected placing a 1% sales tax increase on the November ballot. The revenue from the tax would have funded roads, bike paths, and public transportation.
COMMUNITY
Friarsgate Park / Irmo Little League: There will be another of the Friarsgate Advisory Committee tonight (Wednesday night) at Friarsgate Park with law enforcement, elected officials, the Irmo Little League, and parents/neighbors in the area to talk about recent events at the park and the need for safety awareness. If you live in the area or have children who play sports at the park, please attend. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.
National Night Out: Next Tuesday evening, August 5, several homeowners associations in our area will bring neighbors outdoors for food, fellowship, and community awareness events. I’ll be joining local Community Action Team member Amanda Lee and Sheriff Leon Lott that evening at Riverwalk, Waterford, and other neighborhoods.
FLW tour comes to Lake Murray: The top 77 professionals and 77 co-anglers in the world will compete for a $1 million top award in the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by BP and Castrol — bass fishing’s world championship — on Lake Murray in Columbia, S.C., Aug. 14-17. Many of these anglers, representing 31 states and Japan, are fishing on teams sponsored by some of the nation’s leading brands. The event is expected to have a $40 million impact on the area!
Jenny Sorenson coming home! Hospitalized since January 23, Jenny is coming home August 11. Many have followed Jenny and her family’s journey and last March, Gateway Baptist Church hosted a Blood Drive for Jenny. Scott (Jenny’s husband) thanks everyone in the community for their ongoing prayers and support.
SCHOOLS
Got a “Straight-A Student” in your house? Once again, I want to recognize any K-12 student in our community who receives “Straight-As” on their report cards! Parents - please email your student’s name, school, and grade and I will have a State House Certificate of Recognition prepared in his/her name and mailed to your home address!
Prayer Walk at Irmo High School: August 16th at 9:00 am, there will be a Prayer Walk with Principal Eddie Walker and others at Irmo High School. The walk is in preparation for the upcoming school year.
Filing starts for School Board Elections: August 1st is when the filing period starts for School Board Officers throughout the state. Here in Lexington/Richland District Five, voters will fill three seats this November. Seats currently held by Robert Gantt (Richland) and Paula Hite (Lexington) and the seat held by the late Jerry Fowler (Lexington).
Bond Referendum: Over the next few months, you’ll see lots of information (for/against) another bond referendum for our schools. I encourage everyone to review all information, ask questions, and vote in November.
THANK YOU
Thanks again for staying informed by visiting the site! Please let your friends and neighbors know about it so that they can stay as informed as possible, too. As you can see, I try to write often and regularly update photos from our community as well as videos.
You have given me a great honor by choosing me to represent you in the South Carolina House of Representatives and I remain as committed as ever to staying in touch.
While we will not return for the next session until January 2009, please know I am just a phone call or email away. If you have a civic organization, church or homeowners’ association meeting or event - I would love to attend and hear from your members.
Please contact my office, 734-2969, or email me at BallentineN@scstatehouse.net anytime I can be of service to you or your family.
Nathan Ballentine
www.nathansnews.com
House of Representatives, District 71
Richland-Lexington Counties
320A Blatt Building
Columbia, SC 29221
Fair is fair?
July 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Watching TV tonight (which means “Fox News” in our house), Sean Hannity stated that the Top 10% wage earners pay 70% of the tax bill for our country.
My question: Is that “ fair “?
Since I’m into “numbers” this week, I wanted to share some interesting places for you to visit: here and here.
While we’re on the topic of taxes…got any thoughts on the Fair Tax ?
Discuss…
Is gambling back in SC?
July 24, 2008 | 1 Comment
Sure, we have the lottery - but I was talking about this post I came across tonight while cruising the blogs. (Brad, hope it’s ok I cut/pasted the letter below. What’s protocol here? I’m supposed to put h/t right? Hat tip?)
Anyway, read on….
***
July 24, 2008
Mr. Katon Dawson
SC Republican Party
P.O. Box 12373
Columbia, SC 29211
Dear Katon,
Recently, I wrote an op-ed that appeared in a number of newspapers in South Carolina entitled “Why Obama Will Win South Carolina.”
It seems to have caused quite a stir among some of your Republican friends who confidently dismissed an Obama victory as an impossibility. You have been quoted in newspapers as saying “We’ve got South Carolina taken care of.” and the idea of Obama winning was ‘a pipe dream’.
A ‘pipe dream’?
To quote Robert Kennedy, “Some men see things as they are, and say ‘Why?’ — I dream of things that never were, and say, ‘Why not?’”
Along with millions of people around the country, we in South Carolina are working to make our dream come true…and it will happen.
I’m so confident of victory that I would propose a friendly wager — as representatives of our respective candidates — the loser buys the winner a dinner of the finest South Carolina barbeque, with all the trimmings, at any restaurant of the winner’s choice in the state — except Maurice’s.
I look forward to hearing from you…and having a great dinner on you.
Sincerely,
Phil Noble
President
SC New Democrats
***
Wow, dem’s fighting words , ain’t they? Maybe everyone will get energized and SC will have it’s largest turnout yet. We can dream, can’t we? Afterall, there’s a lot of apathy towards politics in general - especially with national politicians approval ratings less than 20%.
Earlier this morning, this post seemed to lead some credence to Obama having at least a shot at pulling off the upset but - really - what do you think? Does he have a chance in South Carolina?
And with barbecue at stake, I’m wondering if the writer of this blog will be called in to serve the winner?
Warning: Political Junkies Only
July 23, 2008 | 9 Comments
As you can imagine, elected officials have an enormous about of information come to us daily…..emails, snail mail, phone calls, invitations, and publications.
Tonight I was reading through the recent issue of “State Legislatures” (from the National Conference of State Legislatures) and thought I’d pass some statistics along for those junkies out there who may actually find this interesting.
Did you know?
In 1938, there were 7,480 state legislators representing 113 million people.Since then, the nation’s population has grown to 304 million people and the number of state legislators actually decreased.
In 1938, a House member represented 23,124 people and a senator represened 72, 176. Today, a House member represents 56,216 people and a senator represents 154,330.
In the South Carolina 2004 elections (the last time prior to this year that all House and Senate were on the ballot), 6 candidates for the House raised more than $50,000 campaigning - and lost. In the Senate, 12 candidates raised more than $100,000 campaigning and lost.
In the New Hampshire 2004 elections the most money raised for a House Seat? $12,158 (That was the only candidate to raise more than $10,000).
South Carolina has the lowest percent of female representation (And our Senate next year will have ZERO women).
New Hampshire’s legislature has the oldest (92) and youngest (21) lawmakers in the country.
The New Hampshire legislature has 424 members (400 House, 24 Senate) making it the THIRD LARGEST LEGISLATIVE BODY IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD behind only the United States Congress and British Parliament. (As reference, we have 170)
Legislative Salaries: California $116,098; Michigan $79,650; Pennsylvania $70,163, South Carolina $10,400; New Hampshire $200.
Legislatures that meet biennially: Arkansas, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas.
Average age of state-lawmakers throughout the US: 56
WIS-TV (Ben Tanner) at Irmo Food Lion
July 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Sorry for the late notice but tonight I saw where Ben Tanner and company will be at the Food Lion on Broad River Road/Kennerly Road tomorrow morning and again in the evening.
Outside of FoxNews, HGTV, and The Food Network, my wife’s other favorite station is “The Weather Channel” so I’m sure she’ll be there tomorrow with Hurricane JC and Hurricane Emma in tow.
Sam Bryant meets POTUS
July 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment
(As you recall, last month I wrote about our own Sam Bryant who was selected to represent our state at the President’s annual t-ball game. Sam’s parents sent a great recap of that wonderful experience and I wanted to share it with you. UPDATE: WIS-TV ran a story tonight as well!)
Sam’s Day at the White House
What an exciting day. It started at 10:45 AM at the Marriott Downtown Washington just 3-4 blocks from the White House. All 50 states and the District of Columbia t-ball players showed up for lunch and to get uniforms and to meet their teammates. We sat at a table with Noah Wubben, the T-Baller from Iowa and had a great time. After lunch, Stephen Keener, President and Chief Executive Officer for Little League Baseball and Softball welcomed us and told us what will be happening this day. Kenny Chesney will be singing the National Anthem and Frank Robinson (Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame) will be the Honorary Commissioner. Their will be four teams (Western, Central, Southern and Eastern), playing two games: Eastern U.S. vs. Central U.S. and Southern U.S. vs. Western U.S. We were all very excited and you could hear the kids saying “When are we going?!”
At the end of the announcements they call teams to the back of the room for the handing out of uniforms. Sam was part of the Southern tams which consisted of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.
Part of the packet they received they all got baseball cards so after we got the uniform on all the kids in the room started trading out cards and going to meet everyone. Sam was able to get cards from all of his teammates and from some other teams’ players. Then it was time to go to the White House. The Southern team huddled and cheered before we left for our 4 block walk to the White House.
Then we were off, 51 T-Ballers and their families navigating the streets Washington DC. A block from the white house we were greeted by a secret service member who escorted us the final block and we got a police escort to cross the final street in front of the White House. Of course at that point all the kids were thirsty and tired and kept asking when they could sit down. We met our White House representative who was going to get us through security and give us our White House tour. Read more
Which one is half-full?
July 20, 2008 | 3 Comments
Watching The British Open today made me think about politics. (Ok, so my wife will tell you almost everything makes me think about politics.)
When we were eating lunch after church at Carolina Wings and Rib House, one of the managers walked by and asked “Is he choking again today?” The “he” being asked about was, of course, Greg Norman. You know, the guy who not only won several professional golf tournaments but also a major or two along the way. The one who has his hands in several successful business ventures. The one who just got married to a tennis star, Chris Evert..
I know money doesn’t buy happiness but my thought here is that Norman, for all his success, is forever labeled (by some) as “an underachiever, or worse, a choker”.
Made me also think about the Buffalo Bills. What label do we stick on them? (They made it to four straight Super Bowls XXV - XXVIII. They lost all four.)
I guess it depends on whether you’re a glass is half-full or the glass is half-empty kinda person. Or, if you don’t follow politics closely, I guess it depends on if what the media (blogs, main stream) or campaign flyers say about officials or candidates.
You see, in politics, oftentimes one or two votes or one or two issues can put a label on you that you may never shake. Sometimes, it can cost you an election if people are “one issue” voters. Read more
Family dinner and movie, $100? Can’t be!
July 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I’m only 37 years old but tonight I sounded like my grandfather when I told my wife “$100 for family night out for dinner and movies?! Are you kidding me?!”
I wish I were making it up, and when you find out where we went you really will be shocked.
Tonight, Karen, Sarah, JC, Emma and I had Family Night and it started with dinner at……ChicFilA. Yep, we really went all out, huh? (We love going to Guido’s Pizza in Ballentine but we were trying to save a litte and were rushed to make the 7:25 show after I got home from work. If you haven’t been to Guido’s, you really are missing GREAT pizza!)
After that we just drove 1/2 mile (thank goodness, with gas now $4/gallon!) to Bower Parkway to see Space Chimps and have some candy, ONE tub of popcorn and TWO drinks.
Dinner……………$28
Tickets……………$36
Candy,etc………..$28
Way2Save ……….$ 3
I kid you not! Crazy, huh? Or am I just that cheap ?
Also sounding like my grandfather, I thought it was pretty neat that you could skip waiting in the ticket line out front and go inside and buy the tickets quickly at a kiosk. (This concept has probably been around for awhile but we don’t really get out that much!)
Tonight reminded me of why we usually rent from Movies on Demand ($5) and stay at home!
You won’t catch us out that much…and when we do, definitely no candy or popcorn or drinks!
Meet Ashley Dye - National Young Scholar
July 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment
A few weeks ago, Ashley participated in the National Young Scholars Program in Winston-Salem, NC.
She’s a rising 5th grader at Oak Point Elementary School and made straight A’s again this year in Mrs. Kicklighter’s class!
She sent me what her typical schedule was that week….whew….I’d have been worn out after days like this!
7:15 - 8:00 Breakfast
8:10 - 9:40 Leadership
9:50 - 11:50 Discovery Strand
12:00 - 12:45 Lunch
12:45 - 1:00 Teambuilder
1:10 - 3:40 Discover Strand
3:50 - 4:35 Recreation
4:45 - 5:45 Leadership
6:00 - 6:45 Dinner
7:00 - 8:20 Team Time
She certainly learned alot at camp and is no doubt going to have a great rest of the summer and wonderful 5th grade year starting this fall. I know her parents, Mark and Lisa, are very proud of this young lady from our community!
Ashley also represents Oak Pointe Elemenary as a member of the District’s Honor Choir.
I look for great things from Ashley in the future!
State Champions! Irmo Little League
July 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Unfortunately I can only put one State Champion picture above, but the Irmo Little Leage actually has two State Champions this year!! Minors and Coaches Pitch!
Visit the league site to learn more! Good luck Minors in West Virginia!