|
BY JEREMY BUMGARNER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
On August 7th during the Newberry County Council meeting, the council members and Sam Martin debated once more on the issue of legalizing video poker in our county. This debate also included, as its incentive and purpose, the replacing of property taxes with the proceeds from the machines. For this to happen, the council had to vote in order to put it on the ballot for the November elections. The council unanimously voted not to put the issue on the ballot in November.
Martin initiated the discussion on video poker over a year and a half ago. Despite a prior vote against his proposal and one prior disposal of the motion, he has maintained his complaints as to how it was handled. According to Mr. Martin and “unknown sources,” his previous petitions were thrown away and numerous deceased voters on the books would vote if the question was on the ballot. According to the Voter Registration Board, all of his documentation is on file in the office.
The County Council District 1 challenger, Ellic Prince, has endorsed the voters’ right to decide for themselves rather than the council doing it for them. He is quoted as saying that the members of his district want to vote on the issue. “God gave them the right to choose. People in my district don’t like having someone else vote for them. It’s not right for you to take my vote or theirs.”
County Councilman Edgar Baker has fought the video poker issue from its inception. During the last meeting where this was debated, he asked District 40 Representative Walt McLeod three times if video poker was illegal in the state of South Carolina. Two times he danced around the question, however the third time he was asked point-blank if it was illegal. The third time Mr. McLeod stated simply that yes, video poker is illegal in South Carolina.
Edgar Baker went on record to say, “Elllic is entitled to his opinion, but it’s a mute point. It’s against the law and why should we waste the time of the Voter Registration Board and the County Council for the time, money, and expense to put it on the ballot when it would be voted down anyway.” He added that if Sam Martin wants to pursue this, he needs to take his petition to Columbia and the State Legislature to try to get the law changed at that point.
 Email This Post
|
