My how two years can change things! Or, does it?

If you think back to June 2006 there was a very hotly contested Republican primary race for House District 16 between the incumbent Adam Taylor and the challenger from Fountain Inn, Mark Willis.

The primary campaign certainly was contested and at times down right ugly. The SCRG (South Carolinians for Responsible Government), or IRRESPONSIBLE Government as I refer to them, pulled out all the stops in support of Willis. They made sure out of state contributors contributed to his campaign in the thousands of dollars.

They sent mailer after mailer attacking Taylor. You remember, right? They said he wasted over fifty thousand dollars on a balloon race. In reality, he voted for a bill on tourism money that INCLUDED a line item for $50,000.00 for Freedom Weekend Aloft held each year here in the upstate. That one weekend contributes over a million dollars to the South Carolina economy.

Then, they sent a mailer saying he voted to waste $75,000 on a fish tank. In reality, Taylor voted, again, for a tourism bill that included that amount for the SC Aquarium in Charleston. The aquarium, another big tourist attraction for the state, also hosts thousands of public school students each year. The visits are tied to state standards for science.

I could go on, but I’m sure you can see, our “friends” at the SCRG were targeting Taylor. Targeting him with deceiving mailers. Why? I, along with thousands of others statewide, believe it was because Taylor did not support vouchers. As in, vouchers that would take money out of public schools and put that money into private schools. Private schools who would not have any accountability. Not for test scores, not for taking any and ALL students who wanted to attend.

On the other side, you had Mark Willis. Willis will tell you that he had hired a consultant to raise money. Willis will tell you it was this consultant, not him, who solicited the funds from the SCRG. And Willis will tell you that he didn’t have any ties, or affiliation to the SCRG. HE sure did accept their money now didn’t he?

The SCRG has several affiliated groups. The Club for Growth among them. That same organization also contributed to Willis.

Fast forward two years later. Adam Taylor is not seeking re-election. Willis ran and won the Republican nomination for the seat.

THIS time, Willis claims he’s pro public education. This time he claims his children are in public schools. My question is, how long have they ATENDED public schools? IF they suddenly enrolled after he lost in 2006 I have a problem with his motivation.

He says his wife teaches in public school. Again, my question is, how long? He claims he’s against vouchers.

Yet, mysteriously, last week residents of Laurens County got a mail-out sent BY the SCRG in SUPPORT of Willis. The SCRG’S MAIN GOAL is to get vouchers enacted in SC.

In this mailer they claim Willis is for more technology in schools. Smaller class sizes, and more highly qualified teachers. All these things are great, in THEORY! With the legislature already CUTTING MILLIONS from public education to balance the budget my question to Mark Willis is HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FUND THESE?????

It’s EASY to SAY you want all these things. It is MUCH HARDER to make them a reality. Now, let me say, Mark Willis and I agree on two things. He’s spot on that Laurens County schools need better technology, and smaller class sizes. The challenge has been and WILL be funding.

And, mark my words, with the newly instituted way schools are funded through sales taxes and NOT property taxes public schools are in for some rocky straights.

While I am not totally impressed with what I heard from Michael Turner during their debate last Thursday I’ll say this, Mark Willis has changed his positions, and loyalties way too much in two short years for my taste.

To me, he’s saying what he thinks he NEEDS to say to get elected. What’s he going to do once he gets to Columbia? To me, he WON”T be an advocate for Laurens County, and WON’T be an advocate for public education.

That’s enough to make say, if I had a vote, I’d be voting for Michael Turner.

That’s my rant, what’s yours?

What? No Darth Vader?

The past week has been a wild one in sports.

We’ve seen the Tampa Bay Rays complete their worst to first story book season by punching their ticket to the World Series.

Just as the Atlanta Braves of 1991, these Rays have gone from laughing stocks to THE Cinderella story of the year in sports.

Alas, not everyone is happy. The suits at Fox Sports who paid millions of dollars for the rights to broadcast the fall classic were praying for a Los Angeles versus Boston match-up.

Now, to them, they’re “stuck.” Stuck with a Cinderella story, but WITHOUT Darth Vader.

Every great story has a hero and a villain. A good guy, and a bad guy. Now, I ask you, how can you NOT root for the Rays and the Phillies?

Tampa Bay is the prototypical chalk up one to the little guy. On the other side, the usually easy to hate Phillies have Charlie Manuel. The “good guy” who always is nice, smiles, is jovial. Compound those qualities with the fact he just attended his mothers funeral and you have a problem. There’s not really anyone to loath. You have two feel good stories. Good for society, BAD FOR RATINGS!

Mark it down, this will go down as one of THE least watched world series ever. It’s sad, but true. I for one, am picking the Rays to win in 6 games.

Time will tell.

On to other odds and ends. I appreciate the feed back I received over last weeks rant. It’s good to know people are reading the blog, and more importantly giving me feed back. Sadly, I have NOT heard that the powers that be in Laurens 55 and/or 56 are going to be PROACTIVE and announce that competitive cheer and/or swimming is on the horizon for the 2009-2010 school year.

I was hoping, after totally blowing their arguments out of the water that they’d admit they were wrong and would do the right thing”

Maybe they’re just getting that committee together, who’ll appoint a sub-committee, who’ll then get a focus group together, who’ll make recommendations…. You get my point.

I’m hoping, sooner rather than later that we’ll hear, officially, they’ll take a step into the 21st century and give these kids an opportunity.

It’s good to see Laurens is off to their best start since 1996. At 7-1 and 2-0 in the region, they have a crucial home game this Friday against Westside.

It’d be neat to see the home stands full and fans being FANS and cheering their heads off Friday.

That’s my rant, what’s yours?

Time for a reality check

The last time I checked the calendar it told me we were in October of 2008. Sadly, it seems that some folks are caught living in the past. Living with old, out-dated thinking, ideas, and vision.

And no, I am not talking about Laurens County Council! Not this time at least.

I am talking about the people who think that cheerleading is not a sport, think there’s not enough interest, think there are not enough resources, and think the kids in small town South Carolina can’t keep up with the larger schools in bigger cities.

For years, I have heard weak arguments such as the ones I just mentioned. I’ve heard them from principals, athletic directors, district office personnel from both Laurens School Districts 55 and 56.

With a new man in charge of Laurens 56 as well as Clinton High School, and the vision in place in Laurens 55, the time is now, not later, to change the way some things are done.

Let’s review. A story printed this summer in the Clinton Chronicle detailed the situation at Clinton High School. Dale Roth the “sponsor” of the cheerleading squad was quoted as saying it was appropriate that her “program” wasn’t funded and stated there wasn’t an “interest” in letting the cheerleading squads compete.

At the same time, these “cheerleaders” are required to raise money to attend summer camp, learn routines, all the things that kids who “compete” do as well.

If you’re not going to compete, why make the kids spend the money?

I’ve heard the argument from people at Laurens High School over the years that there isn’t a facility in Laurens County for kids to learn tumbling and some of the other skills necessary to realistically compete at the level expected of a competition squad.

Well, now there is. Michelle Spires has assembled quite a facility and staff at the Laurens COUNTY Gymnastics Center. The facility is located at 970 Old Airport Road, which according to Mapquest.com is 8.43 miles from Clinton High School and 5.79 miles from Laurens High School.

That’s about as close to in the middle as you could expect distance wise.

This facility offers gymnastics classes, from beginner to advanced, and will begin offering a competition gymnastics AND cheerleading opportunity after Christmas.

They have a staff that offers the experience to teach tumbling.

Second, I have had some in administration tell me that schools in their regions don’t compete either. In Region 1-AAAA Wren and Easley not only compete, but HOST cheerleading competitions. Wren co-hosted a competition October 11th while Easley will be hosting one on October 18th. Both schools have made it to the upper state finals of their respective divisions in the last few years.

In Clinton’s region, Union, Blue Ridge and Riverside compete. Riverside placed in the top 5 in the state in recent years.

Third, Whitmire, Ware Shoals, Woodruff, Liberty, Pendleton, Walhalla, Aynor, and Belton-Honea Path, all schools in rural towns, field competitive cheerleading squads.

When I heard the issue of funding this summer I surveyed several schools. Woodruff, B-HP, Ware Shoals and Union ALL fund these squads at some level.

Wayne Green, the Athletic Director at B-HP who is as old school as you can get, funds one hundred percent of the expenses of the schools program, save the cost of a bus driver. Granted, B-HP does their share of fundraisers, including hosting a competition. This should illustrate that rural town South Carolina can, if done properly, give an opportunity to kids that are available in larger communities.

So, now that every single argument that has been raised over the years has been addressed, a sane, rational, adult would believe that the powers that be in both Laurens 55 as well as Laurens 56 would wake up and realize the opportunity they have.

Not to beat a dead horse, but some pretty sharp people in economic development told me that one of the first things that corporations look at are facilities and recreational opportunities for their employees.

While I am not saying having or not having competitive cheerleading squads at Laurens and Clinton would be the deal breaker, I have to believe that the more opportunities available the better.

Why stop there? The YMCA’S of Clinton and Laurens recently announced a cooprtative effort in fielding a Laurens COUNTY swim team.

Each YMCA has a heated indoor swimming facility. It would seem to me, that Clinton and Laurens High School could easily strike an agreement with these YMCA’S to help in establishing a swim team at each school.

The moral to this rant is this… it’s time to embrace change. Time to embrace advancement of opportunities. It is NOT the time to stone wall. It is NOT time to say “we’ve never done that before.”

You have every opportunity to be a part of the ever-expanding job of economic development. The recent developments in the short falls of public school funding due to the switch from property taxes to sales taxes should make all of us understand the need to expand and grow business in Laurens County.

Instead of sticking your heads in the sand, swallow hard, and take the opportunity to offer some new things. Football, baseball and basketball and tennis are great.

At the same time, I’m willing to bet that if offered, and promoted, PROPERLY, that these new programs would attract a significant number of new athletes to the schools.

That’s my rant, what’s yours?

Now THAT’S home field advantage!

Last Saturday, the Presbyterian College Blue Hose traveled to Boone, NC for a game against the three times defending national champion Appalachian State Mountaineers.

The game was scheduled for a 7pm start, the first night game scheduled in Boone since the beginning of the 2001 season.

On that night, against a team in just it’s second season in Division I FCS (the artist formerly known as I-AA) it was listed as a sell-out with an estimated actual attendance of over 20,000 fans.

I’ve been to games at Williams-Brice to see the Gamecocks, to Death-Valley for a Clemson game, and even to Charlotte to see the Panthers.

Last Saturday night, to me, was the epitome of what sports is all about. The Mountaineer fans were there, early, loud and even on a rainy night made their stadium a true home field advantage.

When PC had the ball, they were loud. As if on queue, when PC had it on 3rd down, the PA announcer would hit the first few measures of AC/DC’S Hells Bells and then the crowd went nuts!

The stands literally shook (made me think back to the days of if it ain’t swaying, we ain’t playing) and the crowd truly was the 12th man!

That same atmosphere has been replicated in certain stadiums on Friday nights. Just last Friday, when we were in Mauldin for the game with Laurens, the 4th quarter belonged to the Raider fans.

When I can hear them, clear across the field, being LOUDER than the Mauldin fans that’s impressive.

On the Greg Lawson show last night at The Hub, coach specifically mentioned that the fans, and their noise were a huge factor in keeping the kids pumped up when their backs were against the wall and Laurens pulled out the win.

Some old-timers will say players shouldn’t concern themselves with what the fans say, or how loud fans get. To a certain point, they’re right. At the same time, let’s be honest, in that kids are kids. They play with emotion. The more POSITIVE things they hear coming from the stands the better off they will be.

So, this Friday, when Laurens hosts Dorman, and Clinton hosts Riverside, the fans have yet another opportunity to be that 12th man.

Laurens is 5-0 for the first time since 1987. Win, lose, or draw, the Raiders have everything to gain and truly nothing to lose against Dorman. Dorman is literally twice the size of Laurens with Dorman boasting over 3200 students. That Big 16 school gives the Raiders an extra point in the playoff formula.

The lessons the Raiders learn going against Dorman will play out the next five weeks during region play.

I’ve heard many a Raider fan saying they long for the days when year in and year out the Raiders were contending for the region title and a state title.

While I’m not ready to declare them ready for the latter, I certainly feel that this Raider team is ready to contend to claim their first region title in quite a while.

So, when you get to K.C. Hanna stadium Friday night, go ahead, relax, let your hair down, and be a true 12th man, OR woman for the kids. They and YOU deserve it!

That’s my rant, what’s yours????