Biker Ezine

Bikers to Take Action in Myrtle Beach

2008-06-25T16:41:53Z

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. The Biker Ezine is seeking "reader letters" on the subject of Myrtle Beach Bike Week(s). ~FF

1) This Week's Photos and Video by FF
2) Biker blocs gear up for duel in Myrtle Beach
3) G-TOWN ABATE @ HARBOR WALK

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1) This Week's Photos and Video by FF
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http://www.fastfreds.com/
This Week's Photos and Video by FF

Here are a few photos and videos from the past weekend:

Kayaking the Upper Green and Roll Practice Video
Friday morning Randall and I ran the Upper Green in Henderson County, NC. The Upper has two class III+ rapids: Bayless' Boof and Pinball. This was Randall's first descent of the Upper Green, first day using hand paddles and second day in a new boat ...
http://www.fastfreds.com/trips/uppergreen20080620/index.htm

Motorcycle Tour of Nantahala, Dillsboro, and Asheville
Riding from NOC's campus I followed the Nantahala River upstream. I saw a few of my pals at Ferebee Park during a brief stop. Afterwards continued upstream to the Nantahala Cascades; along the way I passed several motorcyclists and a couple I knew ...
http://www.fastfreds.com/trips/wncmotorcycletour20080621/index.htm
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2) Biker blocs gear up for duel in Myrtle Beach
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http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/498011.html
Biker blocs gear up for duel
Campaigns start up to fight council decision
By Lisa Fleisher, Lorena Anderson and Mike Cherney
lfleisher@thesunnews.com, landerson@thesunnews.com and mcherney@thesunnews.com

Pro- and anti-bike-rally forces are forming across the eastern seaboard, heading for a showdown.

Via e-mail blasts, phone calls, blogs and advertising, people on both sides are putting out the rallying cry, calling for people to attend several public meetings over the next few weeks.

They're responding to a Myrtle Beach City Council decision a week ago to raise taxes to fund an effort to push the rallies out of town.

The May rallies - the Carolina Harley-Davidson Dealers Association Myrtle Beach Rally and Atlantic Beach Bikefest - are seen as a scourge or savior to local businesses and residents. Some say business is worse in May than in the dead of winter, while others say they do almost half their business for the year during the rallies.

“We're not going down easy, I'll tell you that,” said Craig Smith, owner of several clubs and a bar at biker hotspot Broadway at the Beach. “If they're going to try to get rid of it, we're going to fight them.”

Today, Smith is hosting a pro-biker meeting at his club Revolutions. He said a “hunk” of his business comes during the rallies, when dozens of vendors sell biker wares.

On June 17, City Council outlawed those vendors and raised taxes to fund a plan to get rid of the bikers. Mayor John Rhodes plans to ask Horry County Council to make similar moves.

City Councilman Chuck Martino said he thinks Myrtle Beach residents should “caravan” to Horry County Council meetings to express their thoughts.

“I don't think Myrtle Beach residents have made their voices heard to all the elected officials who can have an impact,” Martino said. “They've made themselves clear with us, but we're only one part of this.”

One local man who plans to go to Tuesday's County Council meeting is Tom Rice, an attorney and longtime resident.

“I think the bike rallies are a black eye for Myrtle Beach,” he said. “They give it a bad name, and they are a huge detraction to the quality of life.”

That meeting could be a key turning point - if Rhodes makes it on the agenda.

In anticipation, some groups are sending word to supporters to show up.

Hakim Harrell, a rally promoter and CEO of Cycle Shoe International in Philadelphia, sent an e-mail to the media and supporters urging people to go to the county meeting on Tuesday and providing e-mail addresses for local politicians.

“I feel that if we work closely together with both bike communities, we can convince [City Council members] to reconsider their decision,” Harrell wrote in the e-mail. “At the end of the day, we are still going to go to Myrtle Beach anyway.”

The rallies are neither sponsored by nor completely enclosed in Myrtle Beach, so if the city wants to successfully get rid of the rallies, it will likely need to coordinate with other municipalities. Already, Atlantic Beach, the small, oceanfront town to Myrtle Beach's north that hosts Bikefest, has said it plans to keep supporting the rally during Memorial Day weekend.

Several county politicians, including Horry County Council Chairwoman Liz Gilland, said they support Myrtle Beach's efforts to get rid of the rallies, but there has not been a formal vote. Gilland said she did not want to discourage bikers from coming to the Grand Strand throughout the year.

“Bikers are great for Horry County,” Gilland said. “But I think 300,000 at a time has overwhelmed our ability to enjoy them.”

Although rally supporters have said that eliminating the events would hurt the economy, Gilland said she thought the economy would recover. Gilland said she thought most of County Council backed Myrtle Beach's efforts.

Councilman Brent Schulz, who represents part of Atlantic Beach and Myrtle Beach, said he was keeping an open mind but would rather do away with the rallies.

“It might not mean getting rid of bike weeks. It might mean stepping up enforcement,” Schulz said. “But when people can't sleep and they are scared to go out, there's a problem.”

County Councilman Carl Schwartzkopf said he would wait to make a decision until he got more information on the economic impact. He wasn't sure if other local lawmakers would do the same.

“This will turn out to be an emotional decision, rather than a rational decision,” he said.

Club owner Smith said he is getting ready for a big crowd at today's meeting.

“If it's any indication from the phones ringing, it could be a lot,” he said. “I have no idea whether it will be 100 people or 500.”

He said he has not heard anything official from his landlord, Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc., one of the largest companies in the Myrtle Beach area. The company has not returned repeated requests for comment from The Sun News.

Terry Neilon, owner of Beach Customs bike shop in Little River, said his group of 15 to 20 local riders will reroute their weekly ride and head to Revolutions for the meeting. He, too, sent an e-mail about the meeting to his list of a few hundred customers.

“It's not to say that things couldn't be improved to accommodate other folks,” he said. “I understand the feelings people have about congestion and noise and all that, but . . . rather than fix the problem it seems to me they just want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. There ought to be a better way to go about it than to completely go against it.”

The Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson Dealership e-mailed a call to action to its contact list, said Mike Shank, a promoter and spokesman for the dealership.

He said people have strong opinions on both sides.

“If it affects them that much then they will show up at these meetings and they will continue to call and they will fight it until they can't fight it no more,” he said. “Trust me I've heard it all from people who are outraged [over the plan to get rid of the rallies] to people who can't wait for it to be gone.”

Contact LISA FLEISHER at 626-0317. Contact LORENA ANDERSON at 444-1722. Contact MIKE CHERNEY at 444-1765.
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3) G-TOWN ABATE @ HARBOR WALK
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G-TOWN ABATE @ HARBOR WALK

JUNE 28TH / 10am - 4pm!!
Bike Parking on Front Street Available!!

Biker Awareness Show: 2pm

Trophies for
1/ Best Looking Bike
2/ Ugliest or Dirtiest Bike
3/ Oldest Bike
4/ Best Bagger
5/ Highest Apes

All Donations will help fund our South Island Assist Living Programs

VENDOR SPACE AVAILABLE !!

Directions: Hwy 17 into Georgetown City make turn onto Front St. and parking starts corner of Wood St. and Front St. in front of Carolina 1st Bank and Kaminski House Museum

Contact : Tony 843-359-3014
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Knotts vs Shealy | Road Conditions Survey | Myrtle Beach

2008-06-19T08:06:38Z

Seeking reader letters regarding Myrtle Beach's decision to end bike week...

1) 2008 Motorcyclist Road Conditions Survey
2) Myrtle Beach taxpayers pick up tab for ending biker events
3) Bush to ask Congress to clear way for offshore oil drilling
4) Reader Letters: Knotts vs Shealy
5) Vitter To Introduce Concealed Carry Reciprocity
6) EVENT: Shawfest in Hartsville, Saturday June 21, 2008

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1) 2008 Motorcyclist Road Conditions Survey
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FF Note: Please take part in this important survey.

2008 Motorcyclist Road Conditions Survey

The members of the Motorcyclist Advisory Council to the Federal Highway Administration recently created the 2008 Motorcyclist Road Conditions Survey. The purpose of the survey is to help state and federal highway administrators better understand and plan for the needs of motorcycle riders. All riders are encouraged to take the 10-minute survey before August 1, 2008.

Take the survey at www.surveymonkey.com/MACMembersHighwaySurvey
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2) Myrtle Beach taxpayers pick up tab for ending biker events
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http://www.thestate.com/136/story/437287.html
Taxpayers pick up tab for ending biker events

MYRTLE BEACH — Myrtle Beach City Council hit the gas on eradicating motorcycle rallies by passing a three-mill property-tax increase dedicated to an anti-bike-rally campaign and beginning to enact ordinances that will end motorcycle-related vending inside the city.

All seven council members at Tuesday's meeting voted in favor of the tax increase, which will raise about $1 million a year. One mill equals an additional $4 in property taxes for every $100,000 of assessed value for all owner-occupied homes, and $6 for every $100,000 assessed value of commercial property and second homes.

City staff members are tasked with coming up with a list of strategies for ending the rallies, and city leaders will choose which ones they want to try and which ones the city can afford.

It's news that will please the hundreds of anti-rally residents who showed up at last week's council meeting; but for others, it's not glad tidings.

"What I do in May and October is 40 percent of my business," said Ben Brown, owner of B&M Custom Cycles in downtown Myrtle Beach. "Without bike rallies, I don't have a business. What about all these other businesses - the drug stores, the movie theaters, the restaurants — that make money from the rallies? The money filters through the local economy."

City leaders say they want to actively market May as a family vacation month, replacing bike rally attendees.

But Brown said many of the people who come for the Harley-Davidson-related rallies in May and October also come down for family vacations at other times of the year, and they will not come back if they are not welcome in the spring and fall.

"When times get tough, you cannot go back and say 'we welcome your business,'" said Mike Shank, a partner in Festival Promotions, one of the Grand Strand's largest promoters of bike rally events.

The millage increase is a part of final passage of the 2008-09 budget that equals, with the capital improvement plan that pays for the boardwalk and other downtown improvements, about $151 million.

At Tuesday's meeting, council members also voted to change the city's OZ-50 zoning so vending permits cannot be issued in May. OZ-50 covers the Myrtle Beach Convention Center and Broadway at the Beach, two spots that in years past have drawn motorcycle-related vending.

That proposed ordinance must go before the city's Planning Commission for review before it gets its second and final reading.

Council members voted to cancel all motorcycle-related facilities permits for the month of May, as well. That ordinance also needs a second reading before it is considered official.

And they passed a resolution to send Mayor John Rhodes to Horry County Council to ask for the county's help in ending the bike rallies.

Rhodes takes part in the Coastal Alliance, a group of Grand Strand governments that meets monthly to work together on regional issues, and he said that group supported the city's efforts.

Council members who had previously been hesitant to enact a millage increase to dedicate a mill's worth of money to fund public transportation through The Coast Regional Transit Authority and additional police and recreation staff said residents clearly want an anti-rally campaign.

At last week's meeting, people said they were willing to pay for it.

But as part of the budget's passage, council members also agreed to fund two additional workers to assist at the city's three recreation centers, at a cost of $86,000. That money will come from the general fund.

The new budget is balanced with $252,000 going to The Coast RTA — not as much as some council members wanted, because a mill is worth about $335,000 a year. But Councilwoman Susan Grissom Means said she would push for that increase next year.

She said the anti-rally campaign takes precedence this year.

Shank said he thinks it's interesting that the city wouldn't pass an increase to fund transit or services "that actually benefit the residents, but they will pass an increase that they don't even know how they're going to spend yet."

— The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News
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3) Bush to ask Congress to clear way for offshore oil drilling
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/18/bush.offshore/index.html
Bush to ask Congress to clear way for offshore oil drilling

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush will ask Congress Wednesday to lift the ban on new offshore drilling, White House press secretary Dana Perino said Tuesday.

The request will come a day after presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain issued the same call.

"For years, the president has pushed Congress to expand our domestic oil supply, but Democrats in Congress have consistently blocked such action," Perino told CNN.

Opponents of offshore drilling say it would harm aquatic ecosystems by eroding wetlands, contaminating the water with chemicals, polluting the air, killing fish and dumping waste.

Bush has long called for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration, but Perino said he now wants to go further.

"With gasoline now over $4 a gallon, tomorrow he will explicitly call on Congress to also pass legislation lifting the congressional ban on safe, environmentally friendly offshore oil drilling," Perino said.

She added, "As with several existing Republican congressional proposals, he wants to work with states to determine where offshore drilling should occur, and also for the federal government to share revenues with the states. The president believes Congress shouldn't waste any more time."

At a campaign event in Houston, Texas, McCain made similar comments.

"We have proven oil reserves of at least 21 billion barrels in the United States," he said. "But a broad federal moratorium stands in the way of energy exploration and production. And I believe it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use." VideoWatch McCain state his new position on drilling »

He said lifting the ban could be done "in ways that are consistent with sensible standards of environmental protection."

McCain's plan would let individual states decide whether to explore drilling possibilities.

According to his campaign, presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama wants to invest $150 billion over the next 10 years to establish a green energy sector, create a national low-carbon fuel standard to ensure that the fuel is more efficient, and invest in clean energies like solar, wind and biodiesel.

New drilling already could be in the works 50 miles off the Florida coast -- by Cubans, not Americans, with help from China and other allies. A rich undersea oil field stretches into Cuban waters near the Florida Keys.

"The people I represent can't understand how we can possibly let China end up with rights to our oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico because we say we're not going to do it and they say, 'OK, we'll do it and we'll work with Cuba, if we have to, to do it,'" said U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tennessee. "That's really asinine."

CNN White House Correspondent Ed Henry contributed to this report.
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4) Reader Letters: Knotts vs Shealy
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Reader Letters: Knotts vs. Shealy

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In regards to our friend, Jake Knotts,

I can only tell you from my perspective what a tremendpous job he has done for the people of Lexington county. Though Jake has a tendency to jump quickly to a decision, he is willing to listen to all sides of any situation and can easily change his mind when it comes to what is best for Lexington and the state.

Jake has proven to be a senator that you can rely on and doesn't bow down to others when he feels he is serving his constituents. Jake is a big believer in freedom of choice and has proven that when he rides his motorcycle with no helment. He was strongly against the seatbelt law. Jake has proven himself in the biker community on several occasions. He rewrote his gang bill to eleminate motorcycles, just like we requested. He helped get the red light bill thru even though he felt it would never pass. Right before adjournment of the Senate he was told that the bill passed the house and requested a majority consent vote in the Senate that same day. Jake will not always be on your side but you will have no doubt about how he feels. And you can be assured that his vote can not be bought. Jake is a hard working Senator that puts the middle class above all.

I ask all that can to help keep him in the Senate so that Big Daddy Government doesn't stick another nail in the coffin.

Thanks,

Dean Collins Midlands Assistant Coordinator
Lexington, SC

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Knotts Favors Developers Over Constituents

I do indeed dislike Jakie Knotts very much. He is a liar and a crook. We moved way out here in the country ten years ago (you've been to our place) to get away from the traffic, the people and the light pollution. Then they built a high school, a Wal-Mart, and Hardee's, a Sonic ... and they started to widen the road and tried to annex our community, Boiling Springs (Lexington not Spartanburg), into Red Bank and incorporate it so they could get more tax money. We fought that ... Tim and Ed Lown were key players in defeating that plan. Jake Knotts, while shaking my husband's hand, looked him in the eye and swore they wouldn't widen the road any further than the new high school. Then they built a middle school ... and an elementary school Lexington didn't need. And they're widening the road. They've cleared land for more housing developments, but haven't built anything because the bottom fell out of the housing market.

Jake accepted thousands and played a heavy hand to help clear the way (and the land) for those developments. Now there stands just empty land ... no trees, no grass, no shrubs or vegetation of any kind. Just dirt. Nothing will be built because some of the owners of the property are in foreclosure. He needs to be out of office. He doesn't represent the people, as he claims. He represents Jake Knotts and the good 'ole boys. I encourage people who did not vote and are eligible to do so in the republican primary to do so and vote for Katrina Shealy. She talks the talk ... we'll see if she can walk the walk, but anything is better than Jakie Knotts.

Elizabeth Moultrie
Lexington, SC

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Jake Rides Lidless

Photo of Senator jake Knotts riding his motorcycle following the 2006 Helmet law Rally in Columbia:
http://www.fastfreds.com/trips/helmetlawrally/pages/DSC06387_JPG.htm

Clearly Jake is the biker choice in this election. Not only does he support SC's current helmet law he also rides lidless. Jake is a current member of ABATE.

FastFred
North Charleston, SC

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Here is Katrina's response to my question of her support for bikers.

"I strongly support the rights of bikers. I have supported all the bills they have recently submitted. I spoke to a group of them at the ABATE meeting back before the primary. I have ridden before. My first husband had a Harley Davidson Sportster and we use to ride with a group of about 40 of our closest friends but haven't ridden in a while....not because I wouldn't just because I don't have access!"

PLUS, Katrina would support the right of bikers to be able to carry in over 30+ states. whereas Jakie would severely limit where bikers could carry nationwide.

So, it appears that Jakie has nothing to offer bikers that Katrina won't, and Katrina will give bikers the right to carry in many more states than Jakie will.

I trust her alot more than I trust Jakie

Bill
Walterboro, SC

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Don't forget to vote in this important run off Tuesday, June 24, 2008.

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5) Vitter To Introduce Concealed Carry Reciprocity
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Vitter To Introduce Concealed Carry Reciprocity

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org/
Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Senator David Vitter (R-LA) is planning to introduce a concealed carry reciprocity bill next week.

Senator Vitter had been working closely with Gun Owners of America to draft and file a reciprocity amendment a few weeks ago, but that amendment, unfortunately, never saw the light of day -- thanks to powerful opponents inside the Senate.

However, Sen. Vitter has continued undaunted and last week sent a Dear Colleague letter to his fellow senators, asking them to cosponsor his forthcoming bill, the "Respecting States Rights and Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act."

The Vitter bill treats concealed carry permits much the same as drivers' licenses, where one state's license is recognized in all other states.

In addressing the matter of reciprocity, the first concern of GOA and Sen. Vitter is that it be done constitutionally and that it respects states' rights.

Unlike another senate reciprocity measure, S. 388, Vitter's bill does not establish "national standards" for concealed carry. It simply says that states that allow concealed carry must recognize the CCW permits of other states.

Vitter's bill also respects the rights of states that allow concealed carry without a permit. Citizens of Vermont and non-license holders in Alaska are allowed to carry concealed without a permit. Under the Vitter bill, these states would be recognized in the same manner as states that do issue permits.

States that do not allow concealed carry at all are not forced, under the Vitter bill, to recognize out-of-state permits. There are currently two such states, Illinois and Wisconsin. While it is deplorable that these states refuse to trust their citizens with firearms, this is an issue that has to be dealt with at the state level.

Citizens should not be forced to sacrifice their right to self-defense at the state line. The Vitter bill will allow more Americans to defend themselves away from their home state.

Action: Please urge your two Senators to become original cosponsors of the Vitter "Respecting States Rights and Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act." You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm
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6) EVENT: Shawfest in Hartsville, Saturday June 21, 2008
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EVENT: Shawfest in Hartsville, Saturday June 21, 2008

1:00 PM Until

Live music, food, beverages, burnouts, event t-shirts, 50/50, and door prizes...

Located at the Hog Trough, 2452 Kelleytown Rd., Hartsville, SC.

Donations at the door to make this event possible.

For more information contact Van Shaw 843-861-1594

10th Annual Event!
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Knotts vs. Shealy | Human cost of unlicensed drivers | New Video and photos ...

2008-06-16T15:11:54Z

I am looking for reader commentaries and endorsements of either candidate in the Knotts vs. Shealy run off! Please submit your endorsement or commentary by Wednesday. Most importantly please provide your City and State along with your name or well known handle. These items will run in Thursday's ezine. I will also accept statements from the candidates if submitted.

This weekend I rode over 500 miles and still found enough time to paddle a couple of rivers in NC and TN.
This week's video and photos -> http://fastfreds.com/trips/PigeonRiver/

Sunday morning was not the same without Tim on "Meet The Press."

As always your feedback and questions are welcomed,

~FF

1) Human cost of unlicensed drivers
2) Knotts, Shealy plot strategies
3) Clyburn earmarks may benefit friends and family
4) Exclusive: Critics rip Harrell for lobbying
5) Hollings takes on Sam Donaldson

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1) Human cost of unlicensed drivers
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http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jun/16/human_cost_unlicensed_drivers44654/
Human cost of unlicensed drivers

Growing list of South Carolinians killed by unlicensed drivers, some illegal immigrants, fuels debate for tougher laws
By Noah Haglund , Yvonne Wenger

The human cost

In addition to the recent death of Smokey Bones bartender Steven Rand Rouvet, here are examples of the lives lost on South Carolina roadways to wrecks involving unlicensed, immigrant drivers:

Bluffton, May 18, 2008:

Federal authorities were investigating the immigration status of a man accused of driving drunk in a crash that killed high school senior Josh George, 17, as he headed home from the prom, The Island Packet newspaper reported. Juan Rodriquez, 20, was charged with felony DUI involving a death. Immigration officials did not say if Rodriquez was in the U.S. legally. There were conflicting reports about his name and whether he was from Honduras or Mexico.

Moncks Corner, July 13, 2006:

Moncks Corner Town Planner Michael Mitchum was killed when an unlicensed driver ran into him as he was getting out of his car to inspect a job site. Authorities said Jonise Kelvin, then 18, was at the wheel of the work van that hit Mitchum. Kelvin was charged with driving without a S.C. license and involuntary manslaughter. Kelvin told authorities through an interpreter that he is from Honduras. The Highway Patrol said Kelvin had no driver's license and limited driving experience. The State Department of Corrections said Kelvin served one year in prison for involuntary manslaughter and was turned over to immigration officials.

Myrtle Beach, Oct. 13, 2005:

Joyce Dargan, 57, was hit and killed when she walked to her mailbox in Restaurant Row, The Myrtle Beach Sun News reported. Authorities said two teen boys were racing their cars when one swerved off the road and struck Dargan. The boys, 14 and 15 at the time, were sentenced to up to six years in juvenile prison. Both were illegal immigrants who later could be deported. The boy whose car struck Dargan had been stopped for traffic violations twice in the six weeks before her death.

COLUMBIA—Recent accidents, some involving illegal immigrants, have captured the attention of the community and have lawmakers talking about what to do about unlicensed drivers.

From 2001 to 2005, 807 fatal accidents in South Carolina are believed to have involved unlicensed drivers, according to AAA Carolinas. It's unclear how many of those accidents were caused by illegal immigrants.

Regardless of the reasons they don't have licenses, unlicensed drivers are among the greatest safety threats on the highways, said Carol Gifford, public relations manager for AAA Carolinas, which released the "Unlicensed to Kill" study in March.

"The state needs to prevent unlicensed drivers from driving, but that is very difficult to do," she said.

Earlier this month, Smokey Bones bartender Steven Rand Rouvet, 21, was killed in an early-morning hit-and-run crash near North Charleston. Four days later, Highway Patrol troopers charged Jesus Magana, an illegal immigrant with no driver's license, with leaving the scene of an accident involving a death.

Many fatal hit-and-run and drunk-driving crashes don't involve illegal immigrants, though the ones that do have attracted a lot of attention. The state averages more than 1,000 traffic fatalities each year.

And the growing list of South Carolinians killed by unlicensed, illegal immigrant drivers has helped drive the debate as the Legislature passed a new broad reform law that went into effect earlier this month.

But more work is left to be done.

"I would love to throw the book at illegal immigrants who are here driving on our highways," said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Larry Grooms, a Bonneau Republican.

The problem: The issue of unlicensed drivers, illegal immigrants and state law is a tangled mess. It is muddied by such situations as how to handle licensed drivers who leave home without their photo ID, or foreign tourists who visit Charleston. The federal government is so overwhelmed with immigration issues that it isn't much help, either.

Rep. Chip Limehouse, a Charleston Republican, thinks the solution comes in part by the Legislature strengthening penalties for drivers who are not licensed.

"We need to put those people behind bars," Limehouse said.

The minimum fine for unlicensed drivers is $232.50 for a first offense. It's $647.50 for those who get caught driving with a suspended license.

Limehouse added that the state's new immigration law is a start. It allows judges to consider immigration status when setting bail and attempts to stop illegal workers from finding jobs. Without work, the illegal immigrants won't be able to stay here.

The new law also seeks an agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to let the state enforce the federal laws.

Sen. Robert Ford, a Charleston Democrat, said the penalties won't serve as an effective deterrent.

"We have capital punishment in South Carolina, and that doesn't stop people in South Carolina from committing murder," Ford said.

He said the state should consider giving illegal immigrants driver's licenses. At least then, he said, they would be required to know the rules of the road.

"I think what's happening now, people want to make it so hard on illegal immigrants, they don't understand the consequences of their actions," Ford said. "People will be driving without knowing anything about the traffic laws. We don't know anything about true blue-blooded Americans driving without a license."

Many agree that the biggest part of the problem is not knowing how many people are driving unlicensed, and who they are. It's obviously more than illegal immigrants, and it includes drunken drivers who have lost their licenses and who continue to hit the roads.

"If your license is suspended and you're taking a chance, there aren't any laws to solve that. You're going to roll the dice," Ford said.

One effective approach is to immobilize or impound vehicles if drivers have had their licenses taken away, AAA's Gifford said. State officials need to have more control over licensing, license status and some vehicle-based sanctions, she said.

Grooms said the Transportation Committee has begun work on sorting through state law when it comes to driver's licensing and penalties.

"It is a problem and it is something the Transportation Committee will spend a great deal of time on," Grooms said. "We're going to go through this law and find out where loopholes are. But we want to make sure there are no unintended consequences of strengthening our laws.

"We'll make sure the penalties are appropriate for the lawbreakers."

The changes can't come soon enough, Hanahan police Lt. Mike Fowler said. Unlicensed drivers, specifically Hispanics who are believed to be illegal immigrants, are an issue the police in Hanahan face every day, Fowler said.

In the last week, Hanahan police arrested 14 unlicensed drivers, 13 of whom were Hispanic without proper identification, Fowler said. He noted that lack of federal cooperation leaves local police with no real way of knowing who is here legally.

Unlicensed drivers exist in every demographic, Fowler said, but the problem is compounded by those police believe to be illegal immigrants who sometimes flee the country before they can be prosecuted or never show up for court and slip back into the community.

"We had one Hispanic woman run a red light, weaving all over traffic, the officer thought she was drunk," Fowler said. "She wasn't drunk. She just didn't know how to drive."

Reach Yvonne Wenger at 803-799-9051 or ywenger@postandcourier.com. Reach Noah Haglund at 937-5550 or nhaglund@postandcourier.com.
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2) Knotts, Shealy plot strategies
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http://www.thestate.com/154/story/435160.html
Knotts, Shealy plot strategies
By CLIF LeBLANC
cleblanc@thestate.com

The runoff bout for a Lexington County Senate seat likely will be marked by even bigger money and perhaps a few sharp jabs.

Challenger Katrina Shealy plans to sink more money into expensive television ads, triple the number of campaign volunteers and keep pounding the pavement with her walking campaign for the June 24 runoff.

Incumbent Sen. Jake Knotts’ team predicts wads of out-of-state money will pour into Shealy’s camp but will backfire because voters resent anyone “buying a Senate seat.”

Knotts, who calls himself a champion of working people, is vulnerable because his two opponents received 55 percent of the vote in the GOP primary for the District 23 seat. Yet he has a well-funded campaign.

Knotts, known for his bare-knuckle style, told backers during the primary he had remained “nice.”

Katrina Shealy said the tenor of that race had been more civil than she expected.

“I hope we can stay above the fray and not get nasty,” she said Friday.

THE POLITICAL BACKDROP

Knotts is a 15-year veteran of the Legislature and seeking his second full Senate term. He won 45 percent of the vote last week.

That outcome signals he is vulnerable because opponents in his own party — Shealy and businessman Mike Sturkie — together garnered more votes. Sturkie has endorsed Knotts in the runoff.

“The political truism is incumbents lose (runoffs) because they couldn’t close the deal to begin with,” said Joshua Gross, a political consultant with Starboard Communications, which is managing Katrina Shealy’s race.

Gross cited the 2004 runoff victory of newcomer Nikki Haley in Lexington County over the then-most senior member of the House, Larry Koon.

But Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer was able to beat challenger Mike Campbell in a GOP runoff two years ago.

Knotts has one of the Senate’s largest campaign coffers. In January, he had $207,329, according to his disclosure report.

Knotts said he raised that much because he had been targeted by Gov. Mark Sanford and organizations linked to New York millionaire Howard Rich.

Rich backs a conservative agenda centered on tax credits to allow children to attend private school.

According to a widely circulated strategy memo written to Sanford, Knotts is on a list of about 20 RINOs _— Republican in name only — who stand between the governor and a friendly Legislature.

The incumbent said he expects out-of-state money to amount to “a wad.”

“Good, God,” Knotts said. “She’s their candidate. She’s the voucher candidate.”

Katrina Shealy denies the allegation. She said she supports public education and has not decided how she would vote on school vouchers.

“I haven’t signed any papers or promised anybody anything,” she said, adding she would welcome the money from voucher advocates.

Almost half of the $42,000 she reported before the primary came from people or groups tied to the school voucher issue.

STRATEGIES

Knotts has put aside $50,000 for the runoff, his campaign manager Rod Shealy said. Katrina Shealy has about the same amount, she said.

During the primary, she focused on fliers, newspaper ads and door-to-door campaigning across the central swath of the county’s largest Senate district. It stretches from Springdale to the Leesville portion of Batesburg-Leesville.

That effort won her 41 percent of the vote in a low-turnout primary.

She said donations and volunteers already have picked up. “Local people, not what I’m accused of, want to help.”

Shealy said her volunteers will concentrate on the precincts where she is strongest, generally around the town of Lexington.

But the campaign also will ask volunteers to work the phones in rural precincts so voters will show up for Katrina Shealy.

“I plan to have a lot of people out helping, doing the sweat equity,” she said.

PHONE CAMPAIGNS

Rod Shealy said that a well-funded phone effort was the deciding factor in forcing a runoff.

He said his polling showed Knotts was up 2-to-1 on election eve among historic Republican voters.

Rod Shealy contends Katrina Shealy’s backers examined voting data and had the money to keep calling what he said are “nontraditional” voters.

That expensive process yielded about 1,000 “of the church crowd” who were persuaded to vote for her, Rod Shealy said.

“A lot of money was spent on phone banks ... which are untraceable,” he said. “They can come from anywhere.”

Katrina Shealy disputes that her campaign created such a list.

“We got the same list they got,” she said, referring to public voting records. “We didn’t target any specific group.”

THE SANFORD FACTOR

Katrina Shealy said Knotts might be miscalculating to focus so much on Sanford.

“I think he’s strong,” she said of the governor. “A lot of people have said, ‘If Sanford supports her for the job, then I’ll vote for her.’”

Sanford won 61 percent of the vote in the Senate district in the 2006 general election over Democrat Tommy Moore, whom Knotts backed.

Still, Sanford lost the Republican primary in Lexington County where the governor remains weakened by his veto of a heart center for Lexington Medical Center.

Reach LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664.
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3) Clyburn earmarks may benefit friends and family
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http://www.thestate.com/312/story/434844.html
Clyburn earmarks may benefit friends and family
The Associated Press

South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn has earmarked millions of taxpayer dollars this decade for projects that could directly benefit his friends and family members, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The Sun News of Myrtle Beach found that Clyburn has set aside at least $6.2 million for such projects. That includes money for two projects his nephew was to help design, a community center that runs a program employing his sister-in-law and a Columbia wellness center that employs his daughter.

Clyburn is the House majority whip. He was the sole sponsor for 32 earmarks totaling $38.8 million in the current budget. In contrast, all of South Carolina's other lawmakers combined to sole-sponsor $45.5 million in earmarks in the same budget.

Clyburn's office did not return calls seeking comment, although he has repeatedly defended the earmark process, telling reporters last year that the special provisions help provide for community needs.

"I don't see that as wasteful government spending," he told reporters in February 2007. "I see that as responding to the needs these people said they had."

Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonprofit group that watches taxpayer money, calls Clyburn "hostile" toward taxpayers because of what is termed an extravagant use of public money.

"Mr. Clyburn is notorious for questionable earmarks," said Leslie Paige, a spokeswoman for the group.

The group once named Clyburn as its Porker of the Month because he set aside $3 million in a military spending bill for the First Tee nonprofit agency. First Tee operates a program at a Columbia golf course named after the congressman. Clyburn defended the money on the House floor, saying the money would benefit military families.

This year's budget includes at least four earmarks that could benefit people close to Clyburn.

The veteran lawmaker helped secure $784,000 for the planning and design of the International African American Museum in Charleston. Clyburn's nephew, Derrick Ballard, is one of the lead architects on that project.

Similarly, in 2005, Clyburn earmarked $145,500 for a community center to be designed by Ballard.

He also set aside $229,000 in this year's budget to the Charles R. Drew Wellness Center in Columbia - a facility he helped construct with a 2003 earmark of $990,000. His daughter, Angela, is the marketing and membership director there.

He got $282,000 appropriated for The South Sumter Resource Center in Sumter, where his sister-in-law, Gwendolyn Clyburn, is housing coordinator for the center's community development division. He's secured $670,000 for the resource center in past budgets.
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4) Exclusive: Critics rip Harrell for lobbying
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http://www.thestate.com/politics/story/434433.html
Exclusive: Critics rip Harrell for lobbying
House speaker denies intervention with state agency for Medicaid insurer was improper; his company later profited
By JOHN O’CONNOR
joconnor@thestate.com

House Speaker Bobby Harrell asked a state agency last year to quickly approve allowing a Medicaid insurer a new option to purchase drugs.

Since the request by the insurer, Charleston-based Select Health of South Carolina, was allowed, Select Health has spent thousands of dollars with a drug company Harrell owns.

According to e-mails obtained under the S.C. Freedom of Information Act, Harrell asked the state Department of Health and Human Services to quickly review a request to allow Medicaid managed-care company Select Health to use “pharmaceutical repackaging.”

Pharmaceutical repackagers are an emerging industry. The repackaging companies buy generic drugs wholesale, repackage them into smaller amounts and sell the smaller amounts to doctors for sale in their offices.

Harrell owns Palmetto State Pharmaceuticals, a Charleston-based repackager that sells PrimaryRX-labeled generics, according to his statement of economic interest filed with the State Ethics Commission.

Any resulting sales, Harrell said, are a tiny fraction of his company’s business.

Critics of the deal have questioned Harrell using his position as speaker of the House to intervene in a matter from which he would profit. Others believe his business ties to Medicaid are hypocritical following a floor speech this year during debate to raise the cigarette tax. In that speech, Harrell criticized expanding the Medicaid program, saying it would create a generation of children who felt entitled to state-funded health care.

The issue of pharmaceutical repackaging is at the center of a growing debate in the medical community. Pharmacists say they are worried that doctors selling drugs directly to patients could open the door to more medical errors. Harrell said he is being criticized because the burgeoning repackaging industry will cut into the bottom line of traditional pharmacists.

“There’s nothing that my company is doing that is inappropriate in any way,” Harrell said, adding that he was upfront with the agency about his interest in the matter. “I find myself from time to time, like any other business owner, I need to talk to state government about what we’re doing.”

WORKING HHS

Harrell and Select Health both noted that the company required no approval from Health and Human Services to use pharmaceutical repackagers — it was already allowed under federal rules — and that no one asked the agency to change any of its rules. Harrell said he was trying to help the company, the state’s largest Medicaid managed-care provider, save money and help patients more easily obtain their prescriptions.

Select Health spokeswoman Tracy Pou said the company contracts with physicians, who are free to choose whichever drug supplier they want. Harrell said his company does not deal directly with insurers, such as Select Health, only physicians.

Physicians with Select Health contracts, Harrell said, account for at most $7,000 of business, or a fraction of 1 percent of Palmetto State Pharmaceutical’s sales across the Southeast. About half the company’s sales, Harrell said, are accounted for by patients who pay without insurance. Select Health’s query about pharmaceutical repackaging began in 2006, when the company first inquired about its legality. Health and Human Services told the company Aug. 30, 2006, that Medicaid rules allowed those services.

A year later the company filed a Medicaid contract addendum with Health and Human Services to begin using pharmaceutical repackaging.

One day after Select Health filed its application on Sept. 18, Harrell contacted the agency to ask it to speed the approval of the insurer’s request.

According to the e-mails, Harrell met with new Department of Health and Human Services director Emma Forkner to introduce himself and discuss Select Health’s application.

“Speaker Harrell said he has a company that does pharmacy repackaging,” a Health and Human Services employee wrote in an e-mail sent to Forkner on Sept. 19. “He has a contract with Select Health and says the company has sent us a three-page addendum that will need to be approved for Select to implement this effort with their physicians. ... He was asking for expedited approval, if possible.”

In an e-mail sent the next month, Forkner asked staff about the approval.

“Any update on (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) review of the contract addition for Select Health?” Forkner wrote. “I never know when we will get a call from Bobby Harrell.”

In mid-October, Health and Human Services told the company it did not need state or federal approval to begin using pharmaceutical repackaging firms.

HARRELL AND SELECT HEALTH

Both Harrell and Select Health said there is no contract, and never has been, between Select Health and Harrell’s Palmetto State Pharmaceuticals. Instead, said Select Health spokeswoman Pou, doctors are free to choose from whom they buy drugs.

Pou said Select Health does not recommend drug providers.

Select Health is the state’s largest Medicaid managed-care provider, growing from $61.2 million of Medicaid services in 2003 to an estimated $190 million this year, according to Health and Human Services. In 2007, the company served 67,592 state residents.

Harrell said he inquired on behalf of Select Health because he considers them a constituent. The company is located across the Ashley River from Harrell’s Charleston district.

Since 2005, Select Health has donated at least $11,500 to Harrell’s campaign account or his political action committee. Pou said the company gives annually to lawmakers in both parties, and that the contributions are disclosed.

State Rep. Kris Crawford, a Florence Republican and the Legislature’s only physician, defended Harrell.

“Is it unusual for a business guy to reach out to an agency and ask them to move faster? The answer is ‘no,’” Crawford said. “We reach out for all the other business people. Who is (Harrell’s) legislator to call?”

BUSINESS OF MEDICAID

Prosperity physician Oscar Lovelace, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2006, said the deal is another example of business interests — specifically managed-care companies — using their resources to lobby for a larger share of Medicaid. Lovelace is concerned that low-income and rural patients would be underserved in order to increase profits.

“We have turned Medicaid over to big businesses,” Lovelace said. “I think they like Medicaid managed care because of political contributions and business connections and not because they care about the poor people in this state.”

The real issue, Harrell said, is that his business would cut out pharmacists. The South Carolina Pharmacy Association opposes that, saying that eliminating pharmacists could open the door for more errors.

“It has more potential for patients to get hurt,” said Carmelo Cinqueonce, executive director of the South Carolina Pharmacy Association. Cinqueonce also said doctors would have a conflict of interest, saying they would have a profit motive to prescribe more.

But Crawford said he supported allowing doctors to sell prescriptions. Too often, Crawford said, the medical community tries to limit who can provide certain services. The Pharmacy Association, he said, has no problem with doctors at free clinics giving out drugs.

“I’m all for those boundaries when they’re patient safety-related,” Crawford said. “Anybody who is competent, and it’s safe to do so, should be allowed to render the service.”

Many people never deal with a pharmacist directly, Crawford said. Cinqueonce disagreed, saying that those who take many prescriptions, or live in rural areas, often know their pharmacist.

WHO’S ENTITLED

House Democrats said they felt Harrell’s comments during the cigarette tax debate went beyond criticizing the program and, instead, were a criticism of those who use Medicaid.

Harrell led the way in sustaining Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of a 50-cents-a-pack increase of South Carolina’s lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax. Harrell opposed spending the proceeds on Medicaid. He said on the House floor he thought expanding the Medicaid program would create a generation that feels “entitled” to state-funded health care.

Those same critics of Harrell’s entitlement speech argue a powerful lawmaker intervening on behalf of a business interest could be labeled entitlement behavior, as well.

“I have always believed that everybody ought to be fed from the same spoon,” said state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg. “Given the speaker’s comments on the tobacco tax, I don’t want to think there is a different standard being applied here.”

Harrell said a vote to expand Medicaid could have meant more sales for his company. The cigarette tax debate, he said, is a separate issue.

“That only makes sense if you’re trying to take a shot at me,” Harrell said.

Reach O’Connor at (803) 771-8358.
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5) Hollings takes on Sam Donaldson
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http://www.thestate.com/154/story/435146.html
Hollings takes on Sam Donaldson

For years, Fritz Hollings was a staple of Sunday morning news-talk shows. Then, as the former U.S. senator recounts in his new book, an on-air clash with ABC’s Sam Donaldson marked Hollings’ final appearance on “This Week with David Brinkley.”

During this period, Texas Senator Phil Gramm and I had agreed to appear on ABC’s “This Week with David Brinkley” on Sept. 16, 1990.

As members of the Budget Committee — and authors of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings legislation — we had been invited to discuss the summit on the budget deficit that had been convened between senior administration officials and congressional leaders at Andrews Air Force Base.

Sam Donaldson was up to his usual tricks when in the middle of the budget discussions, he veered off the subject.

“Senator,” Donaldson asked me, “you’re from the great textile-producing state of South Carolina. Is it true you have a Korean tailor?”

Before I could respond, Donaldson interjected: “Let’s see the label in there. What is the label in there?”

“I bought it,” I replied, “the same place right down the street where, if you want to personalize this thing, where you got that wig, Sam.”

“Well,” said Donaldson, now himself off guard, “I just want to ask you because it’s (the story of my imported suit) out there.”

“Well,” I responded, “I’ve got to give it back to you, if you want to personalize it. That’s the trouble. We play games with this thing. It’s too serious a problem to be playing.”

“I’m not playing a game,” Donaldson said. “I’m asking you a question.”

The recording room burst into an uproar.

David Brinkley, the show’s host, immediately gave a “time-out” signal to Gramm and me to get off the set.

Phil and I ducked off to wait in the side hospitality room for Sam to come. The cameramen crowded in crying, “You got him. You got him. You’ve got to have a drink with him.”

I waited for an hour, but Sam didn’t come off the set. As I left the studio, I knew this encounter would generate hard feelings.

“Take a long look around this studio,” I advised my press secretary, “we won’t be invited back here any time soon.”

I had been on the very first “This Week with David Brinkley” show in 1981 and usually appeared four or five times during the year.

Not any more.

I was never invited back.

That episode shows another reason that Washington doesn’t work these days.

It’s not just a reflection of lawmakers’ constant preoccupation with chasing campaign dollars.

We also are failing people because journalists too often are in the business of pursuing sideshows and not looking at the big picture.

— From Chapter 12: Missed Opportunities, pages 239-240; excerpted with permission of the University of South Carolina Press

Buy Hollings' book -> http://tinyurl.com/4vj6ox
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SC Election Results | Biker deaths to rise with gas prices? | Myrtle Beach ...

2008-06-11T11:37:11Z

Good news: Catherine Ceips loses her seat in the Senate after giving a nod to a helmet law in SC.
Bad news: Fellow biker Knotts in SC senate faces runoff

I am looking for feedback regarding the recent videos posted to www.bikerezine.com ... Can you view the movies? What is your opinion of the content?

~FF

1) States green-light new red-light laws for motorcycles
2) Biker deaths to rise with gas prices?
3) Residents: Enough with biker rallies
4) Bad News: Shealy, Knotts facing runoff; Good News: Catherine Ceips, loses her seat
5) Tim Scott claims victory in 3-way battle

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1) States green-light new red-light laws for motorcycles
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FF Note: It seems really odd that the one organization that worked to pass this bill into law was not even mentioned in the article. ABATE of SC worked this bill for three years. The other organization did little or nothing to pass this law in SC. This is yet another example of piss poor journalism and poor press relations on the part of bikers.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-10-red-light-laws_N.htm
States green-light new red-light laws for motorcycles
By Ron Barnett, USA TODAY
Sometimes, red means go.

Motorcyclists in a growing number of states are being allowed to go through red lights when sensors aren't able to detect they are there.

In May, South Carolina became the seventh state to give motorcyclists license to proceed with caution after stopping when the device that causes the light to change from red to green doesn't activate, according to Imre Szauter, government affairs manager for the American Motorcyclist Association.

North Carolina passed a similar law in 2007. Wisconsin (2006), Idaho (2006) Arkansas (2005), Tennessee (2003) and Minnesota (2002), all have passed laws the past six years, Szauter said. Bills have been introduced for the same purpose in Georgia, Missouri and Oklahoma, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and the legislative websites for those states.

The Federal Highway Administration says such laws raise safety concerns, but biker groups that have lobbied for the change say they are common sense.

"We want to emphasize that the riders do this with safety and caution in mind," Szauter said. "If they truly are trapped at a light, this gives them an opportunity to safely proceed through that signal, because otherwise they don't really have much of a choice."

Doug Hecox, a spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration, said the states should try to find a technical solution to the problem.

"We don't necessarily think that empowering motorists to make up their own rules of the road is the safest or best approach," he said.

The traffic lights in question are controlled by devices buried under the road that operate similar to metal detectors, according to Hecox. Their sensitivity can be set to detect motorcycles, but the proper balance is difficult to adjust, he said.

California has chosen a technological solution. A law adopted last year requires that when new traffic-activated signals are installed, they be capable of detecting motorcycles and bicycles.

Motorcyclist Splatt Ratt of Palm Springs, Calif., a member of the board of directors of a motorcyclists advocacy group called American Bikers Aimed Toward Education, said that's not good enough. Replacing all the ineffective traffic-detection devices could take years, he said.

"The gist of the whole problem is I live in the stop-light capital of the world," he said.

Reb Richardson, a motorcyclist from Sumter, S.C., said he pushed his state's Legislature for three years to get the bill passed that Republican Gov. Mark Sanford signed last month. Richardson's efforts grew out of frustration over a traffic light at the intersection near his home.

"That light would never change," he said. "There's just not enough metal in motorcycles to detect them."

Some motorcyclists try to deal with the problem by motioning for a car behind them to pull forward to trip the signal, Richardson said. This puts the biker in danger, forcing the motorcyclist to move too far into the intersection, he said.

Scott Kauffman of Portland, Ore., says he has a solution. He has developed a magnetic device he calls the Green Light Trigger that straps onto the motorcycle and causes the traffic light to think a car is there, he said.

He's not worried about the changes in state law putting his company, Green Light, out of business. It's still better than running red lights, he said.

"You may not need it legally, but they need it from a safety standpoint," he said.

Barnett reports for The Greenville News in South Carolina
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2) Biker deaths to rise with gas prices?
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http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jun/11/biker_deaths_rise_gas_prices44082/
Biker deaths to rise with gas prices?
By Noah Haglund (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Most motorcyclists who died during a recent 18-month period studied by the S.C. Highway Patrol either had a beginner's license or no license at all, and troopers fear the problem could grow as high gas prices push more first-time riders toward two-wheeled transportation.

"With gas prices on the increase, more people are riding motorcycles to work," Lance Cpl. Bob Beres said. "They're not just using them for leisure."

Averaging about $3.88 a gallon on Tuesday, gas prices in Charleston are almost $1 above what they were a year ago, according to AAA.

The owner of Velocity Powersports motorcycle dealership in Summerville has noticed more customers asking about fuel efficiency. And good gas mileage is something owner Jerry Cristo can deliver — the Hondas, Yamahas and Kawasakis he sells get anywhere from 50 to 70 miles per gallon.

Cristo said sales at his dealership were up 35 percent to 40 percent last month compared to May 2007. "It's dramatically increased," he said.

The popularity of small- displacement models has been a large factor, he said. Manufacturers have been taking note and have been advertising to people interested in transportation, not just enthusiasts.

Troopers worry that inexperience could put newer riders at greater risk. Of the 99 fatal motorcycle crashes they investigated from July 2006 to December 2007, 36 riders had beginner's licenses — the same number as those with a regular license. Twenty-five had no license and two had expired licenses.

Motorcycle riders were at fault in about three-quarters of the fatal crashes. The major causes were speeding, failing to yield the right of way and driving under the influence. Most of those who died were middle-aged men not wearing helmets. Helmets are not required for riders 21 or older.

Troopers hope to curb the problem with a safety campaign that distributes a DVD geared toward first-time riders. It will be available through dealerships starting today to anyone buying a motorcycle.

Reach Noah Haglund at 937-5550 or nhaglund@postandcourier.com
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3) Residents: Enough with biker rallies
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FF Note: This quote is troubling: "Resident Ronnie Felts said he has spoken with members of the legislature who urged the city to push the state for a local option on the state's helmet law..."

http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/430688.html
Residents: Enough with biker rallies

MYRTLE BEACH —Residents here packed Tuesday's City Council meeting to let city leaders know that when it comes to motorcycle rallies, enough is enough.

Those three words, spoken by council member Mike Chestnut two weeks ago after a group approached the council wanting to work together to find a "better plan" for the bike rallies, have become the slogan in a campaign just starting to gear up.

"Why are we having events where we know — we know —someone is going to die?" resident Cynthia Powell asked the council. "Let's do something about it this time."

"We don't want to negotiate or compromise," Joyce Harris told the council. "You are not alone — just look at the audience."

She, Powell and others spoke up during the afternoon meeting's public discussion section, even though the bike rallies that fill the city at least two weekends each May — the Harley-Davidson Cruisin' the Coast rally and the Atlantic Beach Bikefest — were not on the agenda.

The audience gave Harris a standing ovation after she told the council she and others had already been in touch with officials in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to find out how they stopped spring break crowds that had been as out of control as some people feel the bike rallies are here.

She said the Fort Lauderdale mayor appeared on "Good Morning America" to publicly declare spring break partiers were not welcome any more; the city heavily enforced stricter ordinances; and the city met with hoteliers and worked with them as it created a "massive" marketing campaign to lure families back to the resort town over spring break.

Resident Ronnie Felts said he has spoken with members of the legislature who urged the city to push the state for a local option on the state's helmet law, which now says no motorcyclist 21 or older is obligated to wear headgear.

The city cannot now pass any law more restrictive than the state's, though Mayor Pro-Tem Wayne Gray, leading the meeting in Mayor John Rhodes' absence, said there are efforts to allow municipalities to do just that.

Resident Susan Shanks suggested a series of wide "speed tables" along city streets every block or so to slow traffic down, like the city of Alexandria, Va., has.

No one spoke in favor of the rallies, but after the meeting, Bikefest event organizer and biker Hakim Harrell said he wished he had known about the meeting because he wanted to address residents.

"I had 60,000 people over three days at my event at the convention center, and not one act of violence, not once were the police called," he said from his Philadelphia home. "The bikers come in unity and peace. We're a community. It's the other 35 percent of the people, who come in cars, who are the problem."

Local organizers could not be reached for comment.

Harrell was one of the people who approached the city two weeks ago about coming up with a plan to handle bike rallies, and he said he still wants to do so.

He said better communication and more organized events would help lessen the congestion that Bikefest, particularly, draws to Ocean Boulevard.

"I want to produce multiple events in multiple locations next year to show the city it can be done," he said.

City Manager Tom Leath, City Attorney Tom Ellenburg and Police Chief Warren Gall are planning to come up with options to present to the council, Leath said recently.

Resident Milton Frietas asked the council members how they feel about the bike rallies.

Chestnut reiterated his anger over the Memorial Day weekend shooting of a 20-year-old Coastal Carolina University student. That shooting didn't involve bikers as far as investigators have determined, but it took place during the Bikefest rally.

"I don't care who did it, a young man is gone," Chestnut said. "His mom and dad don't have a son anymore. We're going to do what we can to shut the sucker down."

Chestnut also got a standing ovation.

Councilwoman Susan Grissom Means said she's "100 percent in favor" of ending the rallies - neither of which is sponsored by the city - but wants residents to "support this with your mouths and with your pocketbooks."

She said if the council has to raise taxes to bring additional help in to end the rallies, citizens have to support that.

Councilman Phil Render, usually considered the most fiscally conservative council member, said he supports an increase in emergencies, and "this is an emergency."

Councilman Randal Wallace asked staff to find out how much a campaign similar to Fort Lauderdale's would cost.

Councilman Chuck Martino told the audience the city will need all the support it can get, especially because Horry County and the state will also have to be involved in efforts to end the rallies.

"You have to make your voices heard," Martino said.

Each of them agreed they want to end the rallies, but Gray reminded people it takes time.

"There are a host of things that need to take place, but this is a first step," he said.

— The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News
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4) Bad News: Shealy, Knotts facing runoff; Good News: Catherine Ceips, loses her seat
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FF Note: While I may not agree with Jake Knotts on all the issues he is still one of the best supporters of biker rights in the General Assembly and he rides. Good Riddence: "Catherine Ceips, lost her seat to Gov. Mark Sanford’s former chief of staff, Tom Davis." Apparently Ceips lost support from area bikers after making statements to the media in support of an all rider helmet law.

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/430526.html
Shealy, Knotts facing runoff
"People are ready for change," challenger says amid contentious race in Lexington
By CLIF LeBLANC
cleblanc@thestate.com

It will be Round 2 in the combative match that pits Lexington County’s most bruising political figure with one of a handful of women vying for the S.C. Senate.

A June 24 runoff will settle which hand is raised to represent Lexington County’s largest Senate district.

Former Lexington County GOP chairwoman Katrina Shealy nearly matched Sen. Jake Knotts’ votes on a day with low turnout, blistering heat and evening thunderstorms.

The weather pattern reflected a mantra from Shealy backers: “Rock ’em like a hurricane.”

Early tabulations show more than half of Tuesday’s votes went against Knotts in a three-way Republican primary.

Shealy, 53, said voters sent a message: “Jake lost more votes than he won. The people are saying they’re ready for a change.”

Knotts, seeking his second full term, expects to be the champ.

“We’ll win it in two weeks,” the 63-year-old said Tuesday night.

He blamed the setback on the turnout and, “these third parties coming in and throwing all this money around.”

Organizations such as S.C. Club for Growth and South Carolinians for Responsible Government have ties to millionaire New Yorker Howard Rich and his agenda of deep spending cuts and tax credits for children who attend private school.

In another Senate race, the only remaining incumbent female senator, Catherine Ceips, lost her seat to Gov. Mark Sanford’s former chief of staff, Tom Davis.

Two other women didn’t face primary opposition and will appear on November’s ballot.

One other female on Tuesday made it into a runoff. Leah Bess Moody is challenging for a Rock Hill-area seat.

CRITICS: HE’S A ‘RINO’

Knotts’ critics say he is characteristic of what is wrong in one of the state’s fastest-growing counties — they call him a brutish legislator who has few guiding Republican principles but persists in office with guts and guile.

Shealy said Knotts is a RINO (Republican in name only) whose time is passing as the county becomes more sophisticated and more conservative.

On election eve after walking through neighborhoods knocking on doors, Shealy admitted she would be happy with a runoff.

Fortified by campaign contributions from Sanford and the groups with out-of-state connections, she focused much of her attention on pockets of the district where newcomers might have a bad taste for Knotts’ style.

Monday, in 100-degree weather, wearing white canvas Keds slides and carrying bottles of Dasani water, Shealy walked the Creek Side Farm subdivision in Lexington. She and a campaign staffer sought out homes of those who voted in the January GOP presidential primary.

Most greeted her politely but were noncommittal. Some told her what she was sweating to hear.

“I’m not really a Jake Knotts fan. It’s time to get out,” said Jim McGrath, a former Manhattan resident who moved to the county 10 years ago.

Many voters Tuesday seemed to agree.

“I’m a little unhappy with Jake Knotts,” Catherine Anderson, 66, said as she cast her ballot in South Congaree. “I have voted for him for years. He might get a wake-up call.”

Still, the incumbent’s legions also turned out for him.

“I voted for Jake Knotts because I’m against the voucher thing,” said Anne Harmon, who is critical of forces pushing school tax credits.

Monday, Knotts was confident as he drove his Ford SUV about 50 miles from one end of the district to the other.

He shook hands, slapped backs and kissed ladies after his “Thank you, darlin’” sendoff. He also delivered an eight-page newspaper mock-up extolling his accomplishments.

Knotts’ two mobile phones rang incessantly, requiring him to hold each to his ear to figure which one to answer, “Yell-ow.”

“People in Lexington County got a good horse and they’re going to ride it,” he said as he held court in Compton’s Kitchen, a popular down-home West Columbia restaurant.

Knotts hauls his 305-pound frame back to the restaurant for the Friday special, fried spaghetti.

“Need your help tomorrow,” he said to all who approached him as if meeting a good friend.

“Good to see you, Jakie. Keep them people straight,” one diner said to the blue-collar champion.

“I mingle with the working people,” Knotts said. “The real people.”

He is quick to draw distinctions with Sanford.

“These people don’t have the problems he’s got. They got problems paying the light bill.”

The senator takes credit for alerting public school leaders to oppose Sanford’s school voucher plan. “I stopped them dead in their tracks,” Knotts said of in-state and out-of-state advocates for private school tax credits.

During his cross-district trek, he stopped to ask his longtime supporters to distribute fliers and invited everyone to his Tuesday celebration.

He told many he accepted their campaign strategy advice. “I’ve been focused. I stayed cool. I was nice.”

One of his stops was to the Springdale home of Congressman Joe Wilson and his wife, Roxanne. She is one of Knotts’ key advisers and a force in county politics.

“She’s ruining her political capital,” Roxanne Wilson said of Shealy. “She’s toast as far as being a (future) candidate.”

Shealy fires back that Knotts is not a favorite of the county GOP establishment.

“My ties with the party are a lot closer than his,” she said, noting Knotts has backed Democrats for governor.

Shealy said she has taken her message of change and true Republican principles on a shoe-leather campaign across the district.

Unlike Knotts, who has one of the Senate’s largest campaign war chests, Shealy did not pay for expensive television ads.

But third-party groups painted the incumbent as a wasteful spender who supports money for pork and small-town festivals and who opposes government restructuring.

Mostly, the Batesburg native fought back against Knotts with fliers, radio spots and phone calls made by campaign staffers, friends and family.

Shealy touted herself as a loyal Republican who is more conservative than Knotts on spending and fiscal responsibility.

“I’m a fresh face, an open mind. I’m giving Lexington County a chance to have change.”

She is counting on a roundhouse punch to flatten Knotts in two weeks. “I hope I’ve made enough personal connections to get them back out.”

Reach LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664.
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5) Tim Scott claims victory in 3-way battle
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FF Note: I've known and supported Tim Scott for several years. I expect great things from district 117 in the upcoming session.

http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jun/11/tim_scott_claims_victory_way_battle44118/
Tim Scott claims victory in 3-way battle
By Glenn Smith

Tim Scott speaks with supporter Shelley Campbell, a high school friend, at the Sticky Fingers in North Charleston after it became clear that he would win the three-way Republican primary for the S.C. House Dist. 117 seat.

Charleston County Council Chairman Tim Scott won a three-way primary for the District 117 seat Tuesday, virtually assuring that a black Republican will serve in the Statehouse for the first time since Reconstruction.

Scott captured about 53 percent of the vote in the district, which covers Berkeley and Charleston counties. Berkeley County Councilman Bill Crosby was second with 26 percent of the vote, while former state Rep. Wheeler Tillman had 21 percent, according to unofficial results.

Scott avoided a runoff by capturing both his home county and predominantly white Berkeley County, where 65 percent of the district's residents live. He faces no Democratic challenger in November, so the seat is essentially his.

Scott, who has served 13 years on Charleston County Council, was one of five black members of the GOP running for House and Senate seats this year. He is the only House candidate from that group without opposition in November.

Scott, 42, thanked God and a large team of diverse, hard-working volunteers for helping him win the contest. He said his election illustrates that the GOP is more interested in issues than race.

"What it says is that the Republican Party and the voters of the Republican Party are moving forward, and have been for a long time," he said. "This is merely a manifestation of that."

State Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson called Scott's win a "momentous election for South Carolina."

Crosby could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Tillman, a lawyer who served three terms in the District 117 House seat in the 1970s, said it was tough to compete in a "big-money, lopsided race" where Scott had all the cash.

Scott, who was endorsed by Gov. Mark Sanford, raised roughly 14 times the combined total of what Crosby and Tillman took in, or about $70,000, according to campaign finance reports.
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