So it came as no surprise to me that someone using this pseudonym on my recent post about the Upstate Family Reunion left a comment that seems like it came from a caricature of a Black person, and not a real one:

Winter Santiaga on July 26th, 2010 2:04 am

personally i think it is a good idea to keep the family reunion goin there are plenty of other events that take place each year and nobody complains about it so why should the family reunion be cancelled. is it because of how many african american or black people i may say are in one gathering. im sensing that is the problem. not taxes or anything else, any local events there will be crowds and i think i speak for alot people….why be concerned about the trash if your not the one who has to clean it up…im just saying!!

Really? Let me start of by saying I didn’t alter this “sentence” at all but left it in it’s ungrammatical glory, random ellipses and all. I was confused as to how a person could be a African-American or a Black person but then I realized the Blacks this person speaks of may not be American. But why are Black Americans called African-Americans while Haitians, for example, are still called Blacks? Racism I suppose.

The main point here though is that “Winter Santiaga” suggests that no one should care about all the trash strewn everywhere because they don’t have to pick it up. I suppose a trash fairy comes around to clean up after Winter but the rest of us end up paying overtime to workers to do this, and with city budgets tight I don’t see how Simpsonville can justify the expense, which was my point in the original post.

Since the race card was thrown down let me just say this: I’m Biracial, I grew up in an all-Black family and we were taught to clean up after ourselves. It’s low class to do otherwise.

Now here’s the rub. Let’s say that only 1 percent of Upstate Family Reunion attendees share the view of “Winter Santiago” that you you can drop trash where you will and not worry about it. last year there were 35,000 people, so Simpsonville would be looking at 350 people who were throwing trash on the ground all weekend. But having seen the park the day after last year I know it isn’t 1 percent.

“Winter Santiago’s” comment is one of the best cases I’ve seen for canceling the event. Hopefully next year Simpsonville will come to their senses and say no to the Upstate Family Reunion.

Residents are said to “have concerns” about this year.

35,000 people showed up last year and more may be coming this year. City officials are coordinating with event organizers and promoters to try to make things more orderly, including having 50 police on hand and the city many of which will be state troopers moonlighting and paid by Simpsonville.

It’s unclear who will be handling the massive clean up. Let me venture a guess – you. As in taxpayers who are footing the bill for a event too large to be handled by the meager resources Simpsonville has at it’s disposal anyway. It’s a waste of money, pure and simple.

There comes a point when whatever imaginary gains a city has for hosting an event is outweighed by the hundreds of thousands of real dollars it takes to hold it. And having witnessed the garbage strewn wasteland Heritage Park was transformed into last year first hand I think hundreds of thousands of dollars is a conservative estimate. How many businesses really benefited from the Family Reunion last year? How many of the vendors and bands were Simpsonville locals? Simpsonville is spending money so that people who don’t contribute to the city can make a quick buck and stick taxpayers with the mess.

I’m not the one running the cost benefit analysis but frankly, this just seems like a bad idea. Simpsonville residents got burned last year, and now the people who run the town are asking you to stick your hand back in the fire, because they’ve thrown more of your money into it so it’ll feel different.

This was a bad idea, and holding it again after the disaster of last year is a really bad idea. Simpsonville City Administrator Russell Hawes claims that if there’s problems similar to last year the event won’t be asked back. Let’s hope that’s true.

But since they didn’t learn their lesson last time I doubt it.

WSPA is following this developing story.

UPDATE: Two girls, 11 and 12, are charged with leaving the package. The girls will be charged with conveyance of an explosive device, although police admit there was no explosives found at the scene. Overreaction?

And even after reporting that Denver Anarchist group Black Cross called the rioters, who were clearly participating in a Black Bloc protest, comrades WYFF claims a motive is not known for the mayhem. The motive for the protesters is easy to divine, spoiled rich kids radicalized in college have little else to do with their time and were raised to feel entitled to “expressing” themselves in any way they see fit. Their motive is to destroy things because they like doing it and use Anarchism and Socialism as a justification for what is essentially misanthropy fueled by elitism.

What’s more interesting is the motive of people who bend over backwards to avoid pointing out this truth. These kids are criminals, many are drug users, and every May Day they will gather in large numbers for drug fueled orgies of violence which have absentee parenting and a culture that artificially inflates self-esteem as their root causes.

The notoriously liberal residents of Asheville are confused as to why they were targeted since they “aren’t corporate” as one woman in the WYFF video report puts it. Again, that’s easy to answer. You encourage these “radicals” to flock to your town, get high on your streets, and then present yourselves as passive targets who will not only be unlikely to fight back, but will side with the criminals against police. This is like people who put bells on their cats complaining that the coyotes kill their pets. Stop being a doormat and people will stop walking all over you.

The Asheville Citizen-Times has a good report on the escalating violence of May Day. Maybe WYFF should send a reporter over there to see what the motive of anarchists rioting on May Day could possibly be.

I’m surprised this didn’t happen in Greenville.

His office sent around this press release earlier today:

April 13, 2010 (Mauldin, SC) The Jim Lee for Congress campaign has announced a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of person(s) stealing campaign signs in the Upstate.

“Unfortunately, this sort of behavior is almost expected during a campaign, but this level of sign removal goes beyond usual tactics. It is escalating each week as we put out more signs,” stated Jim Lee. “It has become obvious to supporters that our campaign is being specifically targeted as we receive calls and emails nearly every day of signs being stolen out of their own front yards.”

Signs in Jim Lee’s front yard were stolen twice Easter week.

Other reports of missing signs are coming in from across the district from volunteers who put out signs and are noticing that all other candidate’s signs are still there. “Only Jim Lee’s were missing,” has been stated by several volunteers.

One volunteer hearing of the reward this morning stated, “$2500!! I’ve got coffee and a camera and I’m good to go!!”

The Lee Campaign will also offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons(s) responsible for hacking into the campaign website over Easter weekend causing the website to be down for several days. The campaign has not yet determined an amount or offered further details as they are still investigating the incident.

“Timing would indicate it is likely the same individuals involved in stealing the signs and hacking the website,” stated campaign consultant Kerry Wood, “We would also like to encourage any would-be sleuths to avoid confrontation with those responsible. Get your evidence; physical description of individuals responsible, vehicle description and license plate, and take video or photographs if possible. Then contact local law enforcement and our campaign at 688-2500.”

Of course stealing signs or crashing the websites of people you disagree with politically is probably one of the most childish things people can do, which means the culprits are either college students or one of those baby boomers that hang around Coffee Underground looking for teens to smoke pot with. Of course, $2,500 buys a lot of weed so I assume someone will get turned in fairly quickly.

Please scroll down for updates.

A beheading that took place in downtown Greenville wasn’t an honor killing, it was an act of vandalism.  Police say a pair of vandals removed the head of a brick sculpture across from the Peace Center on Main Street.

Greenville Police caught the two on camera scoping out the statue, taking off the head, and then taking off with it.  “It’s fairly difficult to damage, but they seemed to do so,“ says Sgt. Jason Rampey with Greenville Police.

After going on a joy ride, investigators say the culprits came back, head in hand.  “Maybe they thought if they returned it, it was like no harm no foul, but they’ve caused damage to the statue.“

The city of Greenville is looking into repairing the art, but there is no cost estimate at this time.  Greenville Police hope the vandals will have a tough time keeping mum about their mischief, and that their loose lips will lead to an arrest.

Update, Feb. 10, 2010:

[Two 16-year-olds have been charged with malicious damage to the sculpture, a misdemeanor.  The case will be dealt with in the juvenile court system, and both teens have been released into their parents' custody.

Responding deputies observed that a mailbox with an attached pole had been thrown through the rear windshield of the car. Deputies were able to locate an address from the mailbox that led them to the owner’s home, who was also a victim of malicious damage to the mailbox. During the investigation, deputies discovered that several other cars and mailboxes had been damaged on other area streets.

The vandalism occurred on Windward Way, Crosswinds Street, Bransfield Drive, Silverleaf Street, and Hedgewood Terrace, and was reported around 7 a.m. on Saturday.

Incidentally, this vandalism spree in Greer coincides with a Greenville News report that crime in Greer was down 10 percent in 2009.

Of course, once you wade through the Greenville News spin you’ll find that crime didn’t actually drop, it’s just that Greer Police didn’t have the resources to pursue as many cases. “Part of this is due to some shortages we’ve experienced and not having the time to do some proactive stuff or police work as much as we were last year,” explained Greer Police Chief Dan Reynolds.

Greenville County deputies say thieves stole a forklift from a construction site near the Shoppes at Green Ridge and used it to pry a Wachovia ATM right out of the ground.

The robbery happened at the Wachovia Bank at 1174 Woodruff Road just before 5 a.m.

Deputies said that when they arrived, they found a forklift and broken cables, but no ATM. They said that surveillance video from the bank is being looked at in an effort to identify the thieves.

The bank was closed today for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

The thieves loaded the cash machine onto a vehicle and fled the scene, but not before triggering an alarm that alerted deputies to the crime.  No suspects have been identified at this time.

Firefighters said they arrived at the intersection of Augusta and Potomac roads at about 6:15 a.m. and found a truck ablaze. The truck belonged to Furniture Market Place. They said that the cause of the fire was suspicious.

Police said that a man was arrested shortly after officers arrived at the scene.

The tires were slashed on another truck belonging to the store.  The identity of the suspect is not available at this time.