Archive for January, 2010 « Columbia City Paper

Archive for January, 2010

A Perfect Storm

State unemployment program bankrupt amid record jobless rate
By Todd Morehead
An economic hurricane has finally made landfall over South Carolina and state legislators seemingly didn’t have the foresight to pack an umbrella. It was widely reported last week that the jobless rate in S.C. has hit a record 12.6 percent, well above the 10 percent national average. At a time when scores of out-of-work South Carolinians are looking to the state for unemployment benefits, many taxpayers may not realize that the Employment Security Commission’s unemployment insurance reserves ran dry over a year ago and the state government is relying on federal loans to keep the program afloat.
South Carolina, a state that made national headlines for attempting to reject federal stimulus dollars, has already borrowed over $723 million from the federal government since December 2008 to cover the unemployment insurance shortfall in order to keep paying out benefits.
Following a federal law passed during the Great Depression, each state may set its own unemployment insurance policies and set parameters for funding those policies within broad federal guidelines. The programs were designed for states to pad their reserves during times of economic stability, so that unemployment insurance could aid unemployed workers and continue to stimulate the economy during downturns –in short, to keep consumers spending and businesses open long enough to weather the storm. Over the years, however, enough state legislators nationwide vowed to increase benefits while lowering taxes, and effectively chipped their unemployment systems into the red. Currently 17 out of 50 state unemployment insurance programs have gone bankrupt and are forced to borrow money from the federal government in the middle of the worst recession since the Depression that gave birth to the programs.
South Carolina was among the first eight states to show a declining trust fund balance starting around 2005. The fund had close to $800 million in reserves in 2000, but massive tax cuts kept incoming revenue from sustaining it.
So far, the federal loans have kept the state unemployment insurance program from going belly up, but an unfortunate side effect is that the loans pass along costs to federal taxpayers, many of whom live in states that properly funded their unemployment programs. South Carolina taxpayers, in the long term, will cover tens of millions in interest charges on the federal loans, which likely will have to be paid out of the state’s general budget.
South Carolina has responded with short term planning, so far only restructuring the parameters of benefits payouts to the unemployed. Recently the House almost unanimously approved a temporary measure that will make it harder for workers who were fired for legitimate reasons –such as insubordination, sleeping on the job, intentionally damaging property, and other reasons—from collecting benefits. The measure moved to the Senate last week.
A number of other measures on the legislative agenda include a bill to require mandatory drug screenings for persons receiving unemployment; redefining the words “unemployed” and “wages” to tweak S.C. Employment Security Law and to increase the taxable wage base, respectively; and to allow a state tax credit for employers hiring an unemployed individual receiving unemployment benefits.
House representatives also plan to enact the “Employment Security Funding and Reform Act,” which is currently still in committee (House Ways and Means).
While state legislators hammer out ways to plug the leak, it could be years before South Carolina taxpayers are out of the water.
Special thanks to Olga Pierce and the Pro Publica journalism project for compiling a portion of the data used for this story.

The Vocal Booth

Greetings!!!  2010 is underway and the time keeps rolling.  2010 has seen many good days, but a couple of bad ones for my brothers and sisters in Haiti who fell victim to one of the worst earthquakes (and intense aftershocks) ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere.  I really hope those out there with a heart are doing more than just watching the news.  Please find a reputable charity and donate your time, money, or more to help.  Being that this is the 1st quarter of music releases, labels are working gearing up for February & March dates, I figured I’d give you a list of some of the best artists ever to hold a microphone, but for some reason they are no where to be found. Let’s get it!!!!
Where Are They Now???? (In No Particular Order)
D’Angelo
Deborah Cox
Jade
Zhane (Pronounced Jah Nay)
DMX
Paris
Phife Dawg (A Tribe Called Quest)
Olu
Nine (Whutcha Want!!!)
Cypress Hill
Kam
Foxy Brown
Nikki D
Naughty By Nature
Rob Base
Dana Dane
Slick Rick
Kool Moe Dee
Da Youngstas (Remember Crewz Pop!!!)
Chill Rob G
D-Nice
Jurassic 5
Killah Priest
The Born Jamericans
Mad Lion
Stetsasonic
House Of Pain
Digital Underground
Bahamadia
Jeru Da Damaja
***************************
HONORABLE MENTION- Craig Mack…from ‘Flava In Ear Fame’…one of the greatest songs ever recorded.
WORDS OF WISDOM
Rest in peace to Teddy Pendergrass…one of the greatest singers and performers of all time.    From ‘Wake Up Everybody’ and ‘Joy’ to ‘Love TKO’ and ‘Close The Door’, Teddy P had one of the smoothest and most distinctive voices ever.  May he, his spirit, his family, and his legacy forever remain blessed.  Stay Up!!!!
DJ Kingpin-Villain Of Vinyl        kingpinvillianofvinyl@gmail.com

Greetings!!!  2010 is underway and the time keeps rolling.  2010 has seen many good days, but a couple of bad ones for my brothers and sisters in Haiti who fell victim to one of the worst earthquakes (and intense aftershocks) ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere.  I really hope those out there with a heart are doing more than just watching the news.  Please find a reputable charity and donate your time, money, or more to help.  Being that this is the 1st quarter of music releases, labels are working gearing up for February & March dates, I figured I’d give you a list of some of the best artists ever to hold a microphone, but for some reason they are no where to be found. Let’s get it!!!!
Where Are They Now???? (In No Particular Order)
D’AngeloDeborah CoxJadeZhane (Pronounced Jah Nay)DMXParisPhife Dawg (A Tribe Called Quest)OluNine (Whutcha Want!!!)Cypress HillKamFoxy BrownNikki DNaughty By NatureRob Base Dana DaneSlick RickKool Moe DeeDa Youngstas (Remember Crewz Pop!!!)Chill Rob GD-NiceJurassic 5Killah Priest The Born JamericansMad LionStetsasonicHouse Of PainDigital UndergroundBahamadiaJeru Da Damaja***************************HONORABLE MENTION- Craig Mack…from ‘Flava In Ear Fame’…one of the greatest songs ever recorded.
WORDS OF WISDOM Rest in peace to Teddy Pendergrass…one of the greatest singers and performers of all time.    From ‘Wake Up Everybody’ and ‘Joy’ to ‘Love TKO’ and ‘Close The Door’, Teddy P had one of the smoothest and most distinctive voices ever.  May he, his spirit, his family, and his legacy forever remain blessed.  Stay Up!!!!
DJ Kingpin-Villain Of Vinyl        kingpinvillianofvinyl@gmail.com

The Color of History

by Will Moredock

What is the lesson of history ignored?

January 18 was a beautiful day for a parade – 60 degrees and blue skies. A perfect way to celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday.

I watched the annual King Holiday Parade from the front porch of my apartment, as it wound its way through my neighborhood.  It is a little ritual I have enjoyed since I moved to Charleston eight years ago.  I still get that childhood excitement that comes from hearing the bass drums and brass blasting on the street and there were several high school bands in this parade, delivering lots of verve and volume. There were also the floats and  convertibles bearing beauty queens, politicians and television personalities, who waved enthusiastically at the crowds along Sumter Street. A motorcycle club and a Corvette club cruised by with their respective machines. Churches and civic organizations were recognized with their floats or just pickup trucks with signs on the side. It was a wonderful  moment of Americana, the kind of moment that has almost been lost in 21st century.
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Where in the World is Brunel Athis?

By Arik Bjorn

Twenty years ago, at the age of 16, I found myself roaming the tiny republic of Haiti by myself.

I was the product of an ultraconservative upbringing and had already made several “evangelism trips” to one of the world’s poorest nations.  Haitians needed “saving” by the bucket-load, I was convinced—despite the fact that the Haitian people are the most spiritually faithful people you could ever visit, no matter the unthinkably deplorable comments recently made by Pat Robertson in the wake of Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake.

Photos by Catherine Lainé

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“Daddy Loves His Craps”

A chat with mayoral candidate, Aaron Johnson

AARON/GRANT 2010 campaign team from left to right:  Claire Sprague Media Specialist, Shigeharu Kobayashi, Staff Advisor, Aaron Johnson Candidate for Mayor, Grant Robertson Candidate for City Council, Abby Thames Staff Advisor,  Rachel Thomason - Campaign Manager

Interview by Todd Morehead

The Columbia mayoral election has a wild card this year, a man with a vaudevillian wit, the iron gullet of a sailor and the fashion sense of a young Chester Arthur. Meet candidate Aaron Johnson, co-owner of the F-Stop Camera Shop and Pretty Penny Productions. Sure, he may have recently appeared on local TV wearing a homemade astronaut suit, but don’t let his penchant for theatrics fool you. Johnson is dead serious about reforming city council and is surprisingly versed in civics. He has no questionable ties and, so far, no political debts to repay. Young, hyper intelligent and beloved in his local community, he is known for his work ethic, creative eye and philanthropic spirit.

The candidate was kind enough to humor us when we pitched him a few off-the-wall questions and this interviewer walked away from the exchange believing that Mr. Johnson and business partner Grant Robertson, who is challenging Tameika Isaac Devine for her city council seat, could be the breath of fresh air this town needs. The pair might just surprise everyone on April 6 if they can fill their war chests early enough to effectively run each respective campaign…

COLUMBIA CITY PAPER: The city has two major problems: homelessness and city accounting. What would you say to a proposal to kill two birds with one stone and employ the homeless to take over city accounting?

AARON JOHNSON: Well, I can tell right away this is not going to be a puff piece. There is merit to your idea. Homeless people have some admirable talents that our city financial officials could stand to use as an example. They have to stretch very small budgets a long way to accomplish their goals. I would wager that they also, as a rule, know how much money they have in their coffers at any given time.

CCP: Some other cities have passed ordinances in favor or the Urban Chicken movement. Taking the current economic situation into consideration, would you allow Columbia citizens to raise and slaughter their own chickens within city limits?
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Regional Briefs – Jan. 14

BENNETTSVILLE

Deputy accused of beating girlfriend

Deputy Robert Paul Grimsley has been accused of domestic violence

A Dillon County Sheriff’s deputy has been accused of beating his girlfriend and trying to coerce a Dillon police officer to cover up evidence in the case.

Cpl. Randy Grimsley, 38, of Latta, is charged with stalking, obstruction of justice, malicious injury to property, criminal domestic violence, and violating a protection order. A circuit court judge denied bond for Grimsley.

Investigators said Grimsley grabbed his live-in girlfriend by the throat and kicked her at his home. A month later, they said, he violated an order of protection against him, when he was arrested for slashing her tires in front of her home. That day, prosecutors say, he tried to convince a Dillon officer to destroy evidence taken in the case. According to the Florence Morning News, the alleged victim told the court Grimsley drove by her home 18 to 20 times a day.

“I really loved that girl, but I’m not in love with her,” Grimsley said during the hearing. “She ain’t got to worry about me … I just want to tend to my children.”

MYRTLE BEACH

Woman slapped with taco, multiple arrests follow

A man, his girlfriend and their friend were arrested at a Myrtle Beach motel after police responded to a disturbance call.
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Coffee Art in a Gallery Space

By Judit Trunkos

Jonathan Brilliant with his coffee object installations


Photo By Kati Szollossy

McMaster Gallery opens the new year with Jonathan Brilliant’s coffee object installations.  The temporary pieces of art are built exclusively for each hosting gallery. Brilliant uses unaltered everyday objects from coffee shops, such as sticks, straws, and sleeves to install his work. “Sticks, Straws, Sleeves and Lids” is part of Brilliant’s nationwide “Have Sticks Will Travel Tour” which takes him to various galleries to build massive, suspended sculptures from coffee stirrer sticks.

Brilliant is inspired by natural, everyday objects and sees coffee shops as a natural environment for modern urban dwellers. He ultimately finds art in objects most of us would use and throw away.

“Running through my work is a genuine interest in the inherent qualities of a material and the extent to which I can exploit it for making art,” he says.
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What We Talk About When We Talk About Terror

By Baynard Woods

Jim DeMint recently criticized President Obama saying that “there is no question that the president has downplayed the risk of terror since he took office.”
When CNN’s Campbell Brown asked DeMint how Obama has downplayed the risk of terror, at first the senator looked a little befuddled. Then he puffed out, “Well,” and paused for something that was almost a laugh, “it begins with not even being willing to use the word.”
Of course, it was determined that DeMint was entirely off base and he actually came close to something like an apology, saying that Obama was actually “using the right approach” to terror.  So, DeMint’s claim tells us nothing about Barack Obama, but it can tell us a great deal about Jim DeMint. Remember, before he entered politics, DeMint was an ad executive and owned his own marketing research firm. In this context it is easy to see that DeMint was pushing a particular word in order to defend and redefine a brand.  But what word was it?

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Legislature has more work to do

By Andy Brack

A slogan from an old Virginia Slims cigarette ad – “You’ve come a long way, baby – just doesn’t apply to the South Carolina General Assembly.

But, the legislature took a few positive, progressive baby steps toward dealing with generational problems identified last year in Statehouse Report’s “Palmetto Priorities” list.

A year ago this week as the General Assembly prepared to open its annual session, we offered an agenda of “11 broad, continuing objectives for state legislators to consider and use as a bipartisan guide to creating a better South Carolina.” Why? Because lawmakers often seem to act independently and without a good look at the state’s big picture.

So today, it’s time to look at where they are. You might be surprised. Below is a short description of each objective, followed by a review of progress.

JOBS: Develop a Cabinet-level post dedicated to adding and retaining 10,000 small business jobs per year. Result? No action: Even though the state’s unemployment rate has rocketed to more than 12 percent, there seems to be little consensus or strategizing on how to get more jobs for South Carolina. This needs to be Job Number One in 2010. [Forget Gov. Mark Sanford’s embarrassing woes; work on more jobs.]

EDUCATION: Cut the state’s dropout rate in half by 2015. State Education Department spokesman Jim Foster says these days, educators focus more on graduation rates than dropout rates. (This appears as the flip side of the same coin to us). Interestingly, past policy actions are having incremental progress. According to Education Week magazine’s latest study, South Carolina had the top progress in increasing graduation rates over the last 10 years. Instead of being last in the nation in 1996 with 53.2 percent of students graduating, in 2006, we were 37th in the nation with 66.3 percent graduating. Congratulations.

HEALTH CARE: Increase the cigarette tax to $1 per pack and use revenues to maximize federal health care matching funds. No action. Again. This is a no-brainer. The legislature needs to pass this proposal this year to nab more federal matching health care dollars.

HEALTH CARE: Ensure affordable and accessible health care that optimizes preventive care for every South Carolinian by 2015. No action: While this is more of a federal government issue, the state could start to take more steps, instead of waiting in the wings.

ENVIRONMENT: Adopt a state energy policy that requires energy producers to generate 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020. Some action: In 2009, Santee Cooper backed off plans to build a new coal-fired plant. Duke and SCANA are moving toward building four more nuclear reactors. The state amended its state energy policy to promote clean energy, which now is defined to include nuclear. More work needs to be done to set measurable goals.

TAXES: By 2012, remove special interest sales tax exemptions that are outdated for the state’s 21st Century economy. Some action: A special legislative committee has been working on this throughout the summer. Look for some action this year.

TAXES: Reform and stabilize the tax structure by 2012 after following an overall nonpartisan review that seriously considers reimplementation of reasonable property taxes. Unfortunately, the committee (above) can’t consider property tax reform from three years ago that caused more harm than good.

ELECTIONS: Increase voter registration to 75 percent by 2015. No action.

CORRECTIONS: Reduce the prison population by 25 percent by 2020 through creative alternative sentencing programs for non-violent offenders. A little action: State Attorney General Henry McMaster’s “middle courts” program is still in legislative committee. It likely would impact prison populations significantly. More work can be done.

ROADS: Strengthen all bridges and upgrade all state roads by 2015 through creative highway financing and maintenance programs. No major action. Mostly, it was business as usual.

POLITICS: Have a vigorous two- or multi-party political system of governance. No action: State Democrats don’t even have candidates in six of the nine statewide constitutional races at this point. Other bills are in the hopper that would increase partisanship, not foster bipartisanship.

Bottom line: South Carolina still has a long way to go, baby – but encouraging signs abound.

Andy Brack, publisher of Statehouse Report, can be reached at: brack@statehousereport.com.

Now showing

Now Showing: “Crowns,” February 12 – March 6, Trustus Theatre, 254-9732. “Cinderella,” February 12-21, Columbia Children’s Theatre, 691-4548. “Cheaper by the Dozen,” February 18 – March 6, Chapin Community Theatre, 345-6181. “Always… Patsy Cline,” February 19 – March 6,
Upcoming:
Town Theatre 799-2510. “The Writings of A.A. Milne,” February 20-21, Ritz Theatre of Newberry, 276-1963. “The Sound of Music,” March 5-24, Village Square Theatre, 359-1436. “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story,” March 17-21, Town Theatre, 799-2510. “The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon,” March 18-28, Sumter Little Theatre, 775-2150. “Love! Valor! And Compassion!” March 19 – April 3, Workshop Theatre, 799-6551. “The Last Five Years,” March 26 – April 17, Trustus Theatre, 254-9732. “Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train,” March 25-27, NiA Company at USC Black Box. “Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business,” April 9-18, Columbia Children’s Theatre, 691-4548. “Always… Patsy Cline,” April 30 – May 9, Ritz Theatre of Newberry, 276-1963. “Southern Hospitality,” May 6-24, Chapin Community Theatre, 345-6181. “Last Summer at Bluefish Cove,” May 7-29, Trustus Theatre, 254-9732. “Annie Get Your Gun,” May 7-29, Town Theatre, 799-2510. “Forbidden Broadway!” May 7-22, Workshop Theatre, 799-6551. “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe,” May 7-16, Village Square Theatre, 359-1436. “Arsenic and Old Lace,” May 13-23, Sumter Little Theatre, 775-2150.

Theater links: Camden Community Theatre Chapin Community Theatre Columbia Children’s Theatre NiA Company SC Shakespeare Company Stage 5 Theatre Sumter Little Theatre Ritz Theatre of Newberry Town Theatre Trustus Theatre Village Square Theatre Workshop Theatre

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