Seeking Sanford for VP

The maverick Senator from Arizona John McCain plus the maverick Governor of South Carolina Mark Sanford for the oval office in 2008? Sounds like a winning combo, to me and the Wall Street Journal's Brenden Miniter:

Over the past six years, Mr. Sanford has amassed a political record
that many within the GOP would like to see enacted in Washington: tax cuts,
school choice, market-based entitlement reform and a long list of vetoes handed
out to a profligate legislature. Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove and Sen. Lindsey
Graham (a stalwart John McCain backer) have all floated Mr. Sanford's name for
veep...
South Carolina isn't the first state many Republicans might think to
find a running mate; it's likely to vote Republican no matter who Mr. McCain
taps. But Mr. Sanford is popular on the right because he understands markets.
"There are only two ways to raise the standard of living," he said, "through
technology – one backhoe can dig more dirt than 50 men with shovels – and
through brain power . . . And that's it."

I still can picture Sanford walking into the State Capitol building with the pigs pooping all over him. That's basically what pigs do, in real life and in politics.

Town of Branchville "Almost Dead"

Branchville town hall in rubble after a March 15 hit by an F-3 tornado.

These are the words of a city councilman at this weeks town meeting. From the Times and Democrat:

Council members, following a spirited debate Monday, voted to
have a replacement town hall built back in the original town hall location on
Main Street.Engineer Kirk Nivens presented the council with several renderings
of possible building configurations. Nivens also explained a provision in the
state’s procurement code that allows municipalities to pass a resolution
indicating an emergency situation, which allows municipalities to bypass many of
the advertising timing requirements for bid processes.Nivens noted that
following the state’s procurement code would mean at least a two-year time frame
before a new Branchville Town Hall would be in place. However, taking action to
declare an emergency through resolution would mean a new building in seven to
nine months, he said.

Councilman Glenn Miller asked that council members take more
time to consider alternate locations for the replacement town hall.“Our town is
almost dead. We don’t want to bury it,” Miller said. “We need to make sure we
look at all our options.”

Niven's comment is interesting. Is the contractor trying to rush things to get in a first bid? Makes you wonder...

Branchville Tornado Relief Fund

Anything you can do will be appreciated:

Farmers and Merchants Bank of South Carolina.

P.O BOX 8

Branchville, South Carolina

29432.

Branchville Businesses face condemnations

If last Saturday's F-3 tornado wasn't enough to defeat the small town's merchants, county officials are now taking aim on damaged buildings. From the T & D newspaper:

The first dark cloud came Saturday night, bringing with it a
tornado that unleashed winds estimated between 150 and 165 mph.The second cloud
arrived late Wednesday when county officials partially or completely condemned
at least five downtown businesses due to structural stress cracks."The buildings
here have suffered a whole lot of pressure," says Harold Young, Orangeburg
County's deputy administrator for community development. "We understand that
this is a long portion of the town, and we're sympathetic. But we have to make
sure it's safe."

Local resident, and my former neighbor Clifton Ott isn't taking this lying down:

Ott says his business is safe, that very little damage was done
when the Category 3 tornado barrelled through the town between 7 and 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, knocking down entire buildings like bowling pins."The only thing it
did to my building is ripped the awning off and the sign was hanging down," Ott
said. "I still can't believe it. They're going to condemn us. I'll take you out
there and show you the cracks. They ain't nothing."

One of my first jobs as a teenager was at a department store in Newberry, which was struck by a tornado in the 1980's. You could see the cracks in the walls where the foundation shifted, but for several years at least, the business was still standing and operating as before.

More Branchville Tornado News

Branchville Wood Products, apart of Cox Wood Preserving out of Orangeburg took a direct hit from Saturday night's F-3 Tornado.

Several articles appeared on the frontpage of the T & D newspaper yesterday:


Branchville severely damaged by storm

Unchurned

Twister can't keep town's spirit down

And Governor Mark Sanford visited yesterday, but refused to declare us a disaster area:

Sanford: Storm not a statewide disaster

Battered Branchville 'hoping and praying' for state aid

Branchville Tornado Updates

Car wash destroyed.
Another view of the Churn rubble.

A massive tree struck at the old school. Notice the Flag, bent but not broken!

Only one person was injured, despite some 20 businesses damaged or destroyed.

The twister was rated an "EF-3".

Some Branchville articles found online:

Branchville twister confirmed (The T&D)

Small Orangeburg Town Hit Hardest in Storm (WLTX)

Branchville devastated by storms (WCBD)

Storms pummel South Carolina (WIS)

Branchville Devastation

What's left of the old Churn, a town icon.

The Branch Junction, sight of many mock gunfights during Raylrode Daze Festival.

A side view of the crumbling town hall.

Another view of what's left of Branchville Town Hall and Police Station.

The old High School Gym.

As far as I know, there were no casualties. The twister passed through about 7:25 PM Saturday, which was when our clocks stopped. A friend who works in the Neal Ott Grocery said she ducked down behind some racks, while other workers took shelter in the meat coolers.

The damage was confined to a narrow strip, as there was little destruction on either side of town. My parents had almost no limbs down in their yard, though there was wind and rain. Power stayed out until about 4:00 AM Sunday, and blinked off an on until 9:30, until it remained on.

Police aren't allowing anyone near the damage area, though HWYs 21 and 78 are open to traffic. Most of the pictures I took were taken from the car. My own opinion of the storm and the aftermath:

It was the darkest night Branchville ever saw.

Branchville Tornado

Downtown is devastated, and shut down. Businesses and homes wiped out, trees obstructing traffic. The Old High School Gym has collapsed. We are fine but power has been on and off. Hope to have photos later.

March Roars like a Lion

Tall, young pine is blown down in my parents yard in Branchville.

Sen. Graham Cites Iraq Improvements

More good news from the Surge, and South Carolina's Senator Lindsey Graham via Charleston.net:

"I asked Iraqi politicians, 'What happened? What has changed?' "
Graham said, and he was told their greater security led to new political
possibilities.
"The siege mentality that existed from al-Qaida roaming around
the country freely a year ago has led to security that has fostered hope that
has led to political reconciliation," Graham said. "I think history will say
that the (Gen. David) Petraeus strategy is one of the most successful military
counterinsurgency strategies or operations in world history."
Graham said the
nation's oil production and entrepreneurship are up, and he saw billboards,
soccer games, traffic jams and other signs of life during his travels in and
around Baghdad. "The city had a life and pride that did not exist a year ago,"
he said.

The article states it was the Senator's 10th trip to Iraq. I've had some disagreements with Graham on issues such as immigration and Gitmo torture (the lack thereof), but appreciate his stance against an early Iraq pullout plus his steadfast support of the President and our troops. We are a very fortunate state to have such politicians as this.

Branchville Wildfire

The town of Branchville is currently filled with a thick screen of smoke from a nearby field fire off Calhoun Road. Several hose trucks and heavy equipment such as bulldozers are currently battling the blaze as a fairly strong wind continues to fan the flames. I don't have much more details, but will post here ASAP, hoping we don't endure a California wildfire.

Update-5:25 PM.
My parents' neighbor is plowing up his field, which I think is a preventive measure against a brushfire. Smoke has dissipated somewhat which is a good sign. Monitoring the T & D website for the full story. No news yet.

More-6:31 PM. From WISTV "Over 100 fires burning throughout the state":

A spokesman for the state forestry
service says 106 fires raged Sunday throughout the
state, threatening dozens of homes.
Several of the fires have been contained,
but many have not...

The National Weather Services said Sunday the eastern half of
the state was under a red flag fire warning with winds gusting up to 30 mph and
low humidity.
The forestry service spokesman tells WIS News 10 those high
winds are a major contributing factor to the fires.

No mention of Orangeburg County, SC.

DeMint goes after Berkeley Marine Bashers

Updates below.

Code Pink and their radical antiwar supporters have gone too far for this Senator from South Carolina, Jim DeMint:

DeMint was angered after learning that the Berkeley City Council
voted this week to tell the U.S. Marine Corps to remove its recruiting station
from the city's downtown.
"This is a slap in the face to all brave service
men and women and their families," DeMint said in a prepared statement. "The
First Amendment gives the City of Berkeley the right to be idiotic, but from now
on they should do it with their own money."
"If the city can’t show respect
for the Marines that have fought, bled and died for their freedom, Berkeley
should not be receiving special taxpayer-funded handouts," he added.

Maybe its time for a Surge into Berkeley to root out all these anti American forces. Better yet, perhaps we should consider a total withdrawal from the state, and see how well they do against China, Mexico, and the terrorists on their own!
I kid of course, but it is disgusting that these people bash our selfless fighting forces at the taxpayers' expense.

Update-Sign the Petition to the City of Berkeley at Move America Forward:

It is shameful for you to attack our military men and women who
nobly and bravely serve this nation to protect our security and defend our
freedoms and liberties. Those liberties include the right to Freedom of Speech,
which you seem to believe should not be afforded to the members of the United
States Marine Corps and service personnel in other branches of the Armed
Forces.

Even More-Photographs of anti-Marine protestors who "denied anyone entry into the US Marine Corp offices for 7 1/2 hours!"at Gateway Pundit.

Where to Vote

It took me several clicks to finally discover my polling place for the January 19 GOP Primary at the SC Votes website. You can find out in one.

(Note-I'll repost this again on Election Day)

Illegals Restoring Branchville Depot?

As reported by Eddie on the Right (And he has photos):

Just after Thanksgiving -- 2007, the restoration efforts began in Branchville. After the Town of Branchville's Town Council & Mayor put out for bids the construction contract, all bids were deemed to far above the required amount. Because there in not enough monies on hand for a complete restoration. So, this resulted in the contracting of a company who agreed to provide restorative work not to exceed the on hand monies for that purpose.

The problem with that method it that there was no bidding allowed on the new criteria.

And it seems that the reason that the costs are somewhat lower now, is that alien labor is being employed to renew the old freight depot.

Eddie doesn't say for sure, but he may be right!

A Facelift and Shady Deals in Branchville

Interesting Journal post concerning my hometown of Branchville SC, on who's restoring the old dilapidated railroad depot:

...In recent months, the Town of Branchville has put out for bids a contract for the repairs and face lift of the long neglected freight depot.
It has been reported that all of the returned bids were too far over the dollar figure necessary for the limited funds which are available for the work to be done.
So after failing to find a company by using the proper means, which allows those in the free market to have a fair chance of being hired by the Town of Branchville, they decided to, instead, use a backroom type of hiring.
And, guess who was chosen to do the job for the amount of funds in hand.
You guessed it.
It was the same company who provided the Mayor of Branchville with the necessary survey to allow him to continue in office and to continue his controversial manner of governing the Town of Branchville which receives headline news treatment in neighboring news papers and other news media.

Very good! And you won't be too surprised to learn that Branchville's Mayor is also supporting a certain prominent politician known for shady deals as well, Hillary Clinton!

SC Dems Give Colbert the Boot

Good for them! This story is from Politico:

Stephen Colbert’s satirical run for the presidency has run into its first roadblock — his bid to be on the ballot in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary was rejected on Thursday.

The party’s executive council voted 13-3 to refuse Colbert’s application for a spot on the ballot.

“The general sense of the council was that he wasn’t a serious candidate and that was why he wasn’t selected to be on the ballot,” said Joe Werner, the party’s director. “There was discussion — I wouldn’t call it a heated debate — but there was discussion about it.”

If Colbert wants to run a pretend campaign on his show, that's his business. But lets leave these serious issues to the serious candidates.

Raylrode Daze 2007 Finale

"I Hate Snakes"

A strange watering trough!

The South Rises Again

Looks more like a hotel.

The Business End of the Cal Smoak Special.

2007 Annual Raylrode Daze Parade

As promised, here are todays photos of the annual celebration from Branchville, SC:

Branchville's Mayor Tim Cooner

Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams

Raylrode Daze A'Bloggin

Look for more photos all weekend of the Branchville, SC Raylrode Daze Festival!

Mmmm...Alligator Ka-bobs!

Mark Sanford Vs. SC Porkers

An unflattering piece on the crusading Governor at Greenville Online, but it did point me to the Reform SC site, which will now be in the links section:

Sanford's chief of staff, Tom Davis, sent out an e-mail 10 days ago
putting the arm on recipients for money, not for Sanford, who can't run again,
but for the governor's new toy, Reform SC. It was created, Davis said, to
"mobilize the people of South Carolina to send Columbia politicians a powerful
message."
He went on to refer to "television, direct mailings, radio, etc."
aimed at making change happen, "to inform the voters of the disconnect between
their legislators' conservative campaign promises and the way they actually
vote." In his P.S., Davis cited the need for a grass-roots campaign, saying,
"There are also far too many who campaigned for election on a conservative
platform and then failed to follow through on their promises." 'Bad
position'.

Remember when Sanford entered the SC State House with 2 live pigs to make a point about spending? Classic! Typically, those porkers crapped on him, which is what the above article did in favor of the loose spenders at the Capitol.