Cherokee Springs Secret
This has nothing to do with archives. It has everything to do with trusting those who claim to serve.
My wife and I have lived in Louisville for the past six years, but we used to live in the Cherokee Springs area of South Carolina. The area is between Spartanburg and Boiling Springs. We still have friends there, and we are still interested in the area. I still like the area, and I hate to see the people there taken advantage of by entities designed to serve them. That appears to be what’s happening according to a new blog, VoteCherokeeSprings.com. It appears, if the blogger is correct, that the Cherokee Springs Fire Board is trying to sneak in a new referendum in order to raise the property taxes by 7 mils. The referendum will not appear on the ballot for the general election. It will occur on a different date in order to hide its existence from the general public. Classy.
I used to vote at CSFD, and if I still did, I would oppose this type of thing vehemently. I detest property taxes anyway, but I really detest them when people work to sneak them in. If the blog above is the whole story, it sounds like someone (ie. WSPA, Spartanburg Herald Journal) really needs to ask some serious, public questions of Commissioner Easler — like this week!
Your comments are both uninformed of legalities regarding Bond Issues and the cost of modern fire service. Your council people oppose Cherokee Springs bond because their constituents elsewhere were voted down in bond issues. I do not live in Cherokee Springs any longer but I urge you to take into account the sacrifice that people have made so that you can have a person to talk to. Dwight Easler is my dad. He has served since the 90’s as a board member and many more years before that as a firefighter. He was instrumental in changing the board to a publicly elected board so that people like you could have a voice. He walked streets like yours asking people to sign petitions so that they could publicly elect their fire board. Since the board was taken out of the hands of a few and placed in your hands as a voter, they have met faithfully every first MOnday night by law. No plan or financial record is kept secret and is at your disposal at any time.
I also urge you to think about your insurance rates and the actual fire service needs that your district has as one of the largest in SPTBG county. To not prepare for the future is to cut your own throat.
My dad gave up all rights and privileges as a member of the department when he became an elected board member. I think it is uninformed and deceptive to say that people like him are designing entities to serve themselves.
Dwight Easler
Assistant Chief
Corinth FD
Comment by dwight easler — April 28, 2008 @ 9:27 pm
Dwight,
I really didn’t say anything whatsoever that pertains to either the legalities of bond issues or the cost of modern fire service.
I didn’t accuse your father or anyone like him of “designing entities to serve themselves.” I don’t believe that they are. I believe that if the other blogger is correct (and that blogger is not me) the department probably has some legitimate needs. I am sympathetic to that. I have relatives who served on fire departments, and I appreciate the work that fire fighters do. I know that it is costly to have fire departments.
All that I said was that if the other blogger (and that’s not me) is correct then people should ask some serious questions about why the referendum is not occurring with the general election. The problem I have with this whole issue is that it appears (if the other blogger, not me, is correct) that the referendum vote is being snuck in on the citizens who live in Cherokee Springs.
By snuck in, I am not implying that there is any impropriety about how it got on the ballot.
By snuck in I am not implying that it has not been publicized in some buried section of the newspaper.
By snuck in I mean that it is not occurring at the same time as the well-publicized general election, even though it easily could.
Now, if I am incorrect in what I’ve suggested, then I welcome you to explain the whole issue more clearly to me. I don’t mind being persuaded.
And to be honest, I don’t have a dog in this fight, other than the fact that I lived in Cherokee Springs a few years back. I no longer live in South Carolina, so this whole thing is not an issue that affects me. I just kinda keep up with news there, and this thing peaked my interest.
Comment by Jason — April 29, 2008 @ 4:58 pm
You and I are in the same boat. We don’t have a dog in the fight. I think people are mistaken about the good intentions of people who are trying to balance the skyrocketing price of fire services(because we are asked to be all things to all people) and the obvious need to hold taxes down. I cannot answer about the timing of the vote, but it was not meant to decieve as far as I can tell from the board members I know. God bless
Comment by dwight easler — April 29, 2008 @ 6:23 pm
Dwight,
Probably so. There’s no doubt fire services are expensive. I hope all works out for the best for all involved down there.
By the way, I looked at your blog. I noticed that you’ve been listening to one of my best friends, Nathan Finn. He’s a great guy. We’ve known each other for several years.
Blessings,
Jason
Comment by Jason — April 29, 2008 @ 8:43 pm