Commenter “Winter Santiaga” Is The Reason The Upstate Family Reunion is A Really Bad Idea
If the name Winter Santiaga sounds familiar to you it’s because you no doubt are aware that it is the name of the main character in an “urban fiction” book called The Coldest Winter Ever by known racist and Communist Sister Souljah. For those of you that don’t know, “Urban fiction” is the publishing industry’s attempt to market sub-par writing to Black Americans, who they think don’t read the same kinds of books as everyone else. Thus “urban fiction” publishers find people to write stories in pidgin English (or the mythical Ebonics) that glorify self-segregation and ghettoization (as well as misogyny, bigotry and criminality) then make a hefty profit convincing people the genre is written and produced by “the community” when in fact White liberals are pushing this intellectual apartheid onto Black youth.
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.
Simpsonville Holding Another Upstate Family Reunion Is A Really Bad Idea
The Tribune-Times ran an article in yesterday’s edition titled “Reunion’s return eyed warily” (re-titled “Family Reunion returns to Simpsonville, some residents worry about crowds” on their website for some reason) which downplayed the damage and concerns about the annual Upstate Family Reunion festival. Last year attendees to the event damaged property, trespassed, destroyed residents yards and left Simpsonville’s Heritage Park looking like a war zone.
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.
Simpsonville Makes Family Circle Top Ten Places to Raise a Family
Hell’s Angels be damned! From The Tribune-Times:
Family Circle Magazine has named Simpsonville to its annual list of “10 Best Towns for Families: 2010.”
The magazine picked Simpsonville as one of its “perfect places to raise kids” and ranked the city among the top in the country for its affordable home prices, parks and recreation, schools and giving spirit.
The article in the issue that launched July 7 lauds Simpsonville’s family friendly atmosphere, its Freedom Weekend Aloft festival and local parks and recreation facilities, such as the Golden Strip YMCA and the Discovery Island Water Park.
“We have focused for many years now in building a family friendly community and trying to provide places and opportunities for families to spend quality time together,” Mayor Dennis Waldrop said. “This in my mind confirms what we have tried to accomplish.”
Residents feel safe with a low crime rate and can enjoy a small-town atmosphere downtown or numerous parks and recreational facilities, Waldrop said.
“I think if you look at the entire community and look at the atmosphere around here, how could they not choose us?” he asked.
Living in Mauldin I often find myself in Simpsonville and thinking I should have just moved there. It’s got some great restaurants, nice parks and a 24-hour Bi-Lo. If you’re looking to move down here you could do worse than Simpsonville.
Good News! 5,000-10,000 Bikers May Show Up to Simpsonville Bike Rally in June
Organizer Beth Brown (also known as Throttle Fox) decided to hold the first annual Southern Throttle Motorcycle Rally in Heritage Park because of Myrtle Beach’s new ordinances targeting bikers. From the Tribune-Times:
When Beth Brown rides her Harley Davidson motorcycle through Simpsonville or Greenville or the nearby mountains, she envisions the Upstate as a destination for motorcycle riders from across the Southeast.
Now she wants to bring those riders here.
She expects more than 3,000 bikers to cruise into Simpsonville June 4-5 for a new two-day rally at Heritage Park. Others have told her to expect 5,000-10,000 bikers, she said.
The Southern Throttle Motorcycle Rally is being organized by Greenville event-management company Epic Events. Brown, the event’s organizer, hopes the rally will become an annual draw.
Which may be good news for the city of Simpsonville and Greenville County, specially since the the Simpsonville City Council recently expanded the alcohol ordinance to allow sales at public events. Like biker rallies.
The bad news? Over the years several 1%er clubs have been active in South Carolina including The Hell’s Angels, The Pagans, and The Warlocks but as far as I know there is no one gang whose territory is Greenville. So out of the few thousand that show up to this rally we can expect some gangs who are rivals. Despite assurances to the contrary, the outlaw biker culture is still very active, very dangerous and very attracted to rallies like this.
Strippers and other “adult workers” should be especially careful during this rally as many gangs make money through the extortion and abuse of these women. The Breed were caught doing this in 2000 and that case is typical of how 1%er gangs operate.
Awful: Simpsonville Teen Raped 15-Year-Old … When he was 13!
Another reason you should probably be homeschooling. What’s going on in our society when 13-year-olds are already brutal rapists? We blogged about this before, but now an arrest has been made and the case is just shocking.
From Fox Carolina:
GREENVILLE, S.C. — A Simpsonville teen was arrested on Wednesday after a 15-year-old girl said he raped her last month.
Greenville County deputies said that the sexual assault was reported on April 1 to Simpsonville police, when the suspect, who will not be identified because of his age, was 13 years old.
Deputies said that during the initial investigation by police, it was discovered that the suspect was the son of a Simpsonville city employee. They said the case was then turned over to the Sheriff’s Office to avoid a conflict of interest.
Investigators from the county’s sex crimes unit said that the suspect, now 14 years old, forced himself on the girl and had non-consensual sex with her. They said that the pair were acquaintances.
I hope that city employee is also under investigation. Normal, decent people don’t raise rapists.