FOIA in South Carolina

Winthrop mass communication professor, Larry Timbs, has a clever way to avoid submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) forms.

“My approach to people not giving me information was to say ‘If you don’t give me what is entailed under law, I will write an editorial asking what you are keeping hidden,’” Timbs said. “I had the power of the press worked in small communities and the agency didn’t want people against them.”

However, Timbs found that communities in states like Kentucky and Iowa were much more open with their information than in South Carolina.

“Every year at the school I went to in Iowa, the student newspaper printed several pages of everyone’s salary,” He said. “At Winthrop, everything is very ‘hush, hush.’ I have filed two FOIAs since I have been down here.”

A woman from Orangeburg, S.C. was refused the incident report that involved a traffic accident her daughter was involved in. Since the mother was not the victim, she wasn’t allowed to receive the incident report even though she owns the property where her daughter lives, according to an article from Times and Democrat.

However, the South Carolina FOIA says law enforcement incident reports are public information and are available whenever the public requests one.

“Any member of the public can look at police incident reports,” said South Carolina Press Association Executive Director Bill Rogers. “Law enforcement is allowed to take some highly personal information, such as the names of rape victims and undercover operations, but they can’t take out everything.”

Another issue dealing with South Carolina information laws is the Department of Transportation keeping secret incident reports from how many wrecks occur on damanged high ways.



The department said damage claims are being taken the number of claims and the cost to taxpayers doesn't have to be released under the state's open records laws.

However, the South Carolina Press Association said attorney-client privillage has nothing to do with the number of claims and this information can be released.

From looking at the cases, it seems that South Carolina is much more guarded with their information than other states.

Obama News Analysis

During his election and campaign, Obama seemed to be the one of the most popular presidential candidates. Voters trusted him and felt he was their friend with his messages of change and piece.

After the 2008 Presidential election, Obama had an 79% approval rating, according to CNN polls. But with one year of office under his belt, how are voters feeling now?

Obama's approval rating has dropped to 48% approval and 47% disapproval, according to the most recent Gallup poll.

What has happened with the warm, fuzzy feelings Obama originally left with Americans? In his first days 100 days of office, Obama seemed to only accomplish his basketball bracket for March madness, but obviusly his other actions are what have dropped his approval rating.

The healthcare reform bill, sending more troops to Afghanistan and the recent Christmas Day terrorist attacks on Christmas Day are a few of the reasons that Americans are turning against the president, according to CBS news.

“President Obama has been walking the public opinion tightrope represented by the 50 approval job approval line since about mid-November, with his rating wavering between 47 approval and 53 approval,” said Gallup’s Lydia Saad in her analysis for Politico.

How can Obama raise his approval? It seems the global economic crisis is on the minds of more Americans than health care reform. Jobless Americans need

The Huffington Post compares Obama's approval rating to Bill Clinton, who had at 52% approval rating at the end of his first year as president but also says that there were not as many democrats in favor of Clinton at the start of his presidential term.

Obama's approval rating at this point is only higher than Ronald Reagan's which was 49% in 1982, according to Politico.

Maybe Obama's ratings will go up if he concentrates more on the recession. According to CNN polls, 82% of Americans still say the economy is in bad shape.

Deadbeat parents have debts

One-thousand dollars.

That is what you can receive by turning in one of York County’s “deadbeat parents” using their Crime Stoppers program.

“Deadbeat Parents” are a list of parents who have abandoned their families and owe child support, according to York Country Sheriff’s Office website.

Through Crime Stoppers, residents of York County can anonymously report evidence about criminals. All patrons have to do is call the York County Crime Stoppers at 877-409-4321 and report any of the following:
-Sighting of suspect
-Car description
- Location of Sighting of suspect
-If saw crime occur

Some suspects that residents can look out for are the “deadbeat parents.” A list of these are located on the York County Sheriff office. The list shows a picture or drawing of the missing parent, how much they owe and how long they have been gone.

-Jewon Davis, 26, of Rock Hill, has been missing since 1999, which is longer than any of the other parents. He owes $16,714.00.

-Tyrone Glover, 35, of Catawba, has been missing since 2007. He owes the most amount of money at $105, 699.64.

-Danny Ray Jerald Taylor, 29, of Clover, has also been missing since 2007. He owes $49, 744.80

Recent Arrests for York County

The York County Sheriff’s Office has released the names of 10 arrests made in the past week.

1.) Robert Bankhead, 37, of Clover, booked Wednesday for probation violation. Banhead was previously booked in April by the York Country Sheriff’s Office for criminal violence.

Robert Bankhead

2.) Jorge Baca-Cabiera, 28, of Rock hill, booked Monday and is being held for another ragency. This is Baca-Cabiera’s first arrest.

Jorge Baca-Cabiera

3.) Vamarrio Anthony, 25, of Rock Hill, booked Thursday for violation of parole. Anthony was previously booked seven other times for common law robbery, burglary and probation violation.

Vamarrio Anthrony


4.) Jonathan Barber, 25, of Rock Hill, booked Friday for a court holding. Barber had previously served time with the York Country Sheriff’s Office trafficking, possessing and distributing cocaine.

Jonathan Barber

5.) Tarrance Barber, 39, of Rock Hill, booked Saturday for shoplifting. Barber had previously served time with the York Country Sheriff’s Office four other times for assault and battery, domestic violence, burglary, kidnapping and violation of probation.

Tarrance Barber

6.) Harold Brown, 20, of Rock Hill, booked Tuesday for probation violation. Brown was previously booked three other times for pretty larceny, burglary and probation violation.

Harold Brown

7.) Archie Caldwell, 20, of Rock Hill booked Tuesday for the manufacturing and distribution of cocaine. Caldwell was previously booked three other times for assault with intent to kill and other similar drug related charges.

Archie Caldwell

8.)Lakrystle Caldwell, 27, of Rock Hill, booked Saturday for speeding, driving with a suspended license and alcohol in the car with a broken seal. Caldwell has served time with the York Country Sheriff’s Office five other times for failure to appear in court, driving under the influence, shoplifting and fraudulent checks.

Lakrystle Caldwell

9.) Oscar Cerrato, 23, of Charlotte, booked Monday for speeding and operating a vehicle without a license. This is Cerrato’s first offense.

Oscar Cerrato

10.) Milton Cherry, 24, of Rock Hill, booked Sunday for driving under suspension and operating an uninsured motor vehicle. Cherry has served time with the York County Sheriff’s Office three other times for unlawful carrying of a weapon, possessing a stolen firearm and public disorderly conduct.

Milton Cherry

Stay tuned for family

Article from database

Extended family

In the 1930s, Americans listened to radio four to five hours a day. What did radio mean to them? A lot, apparently.

1.) Vaudeville comedian Eddie Cantor divulged his shirt and sock sizes on the air, fifteen thousand fans sent birthday gifts;

2.) Amos and Andy complained they could not afford a typewriter, NBC received 1,880 machines from listeners wanting to help their radio friends.

3.)Thousands of letters were mailed every week to radio's musicians, announcers, domestic advisors, and soap opera characters. Some offered advice, some asked for help, and some simply said thanks. "You are not giving us a fairy story," wrote an admirer of the eponymous heroine of The Story of Mary Marlin, "You are giving us Life" (71).

Shake the blues away

Modern readers may think imagining an intimate relationship with voices on the air is nuts; Bruce Lenthall concludes otherwise. Reading the letters collected in radio archives while doing research for his dissertation, Lenthall saw irony, not insanity. Depression-era Americans, he reminds readers, felt overwhelmed by change. On guard against distant forces of government and commercial empire that increasingly mattered in their lives, Americans relied on one of the leading change agents of mass culture, broadcasting, to personalize an impersonal and potentially threatening public sphere, even imagining ways that the medium could help them count and perhaps be noticed by those wielding power in the broader world. Yes, readers should question the adequacy of this remarkable use of radio, Lenthall allows. But he asks us to appreciate how and why so many found radio useful for humanizing mass society.

Airwave romance

Lenthall begins with the concerns of public intellectuals in the 1930s who provide him with his theoretical frame. Some, such as the economist William Orton and the Marxist journalist James Rorty, feared that mass culture would overwhelm individual voices and choices, cordoning off public speech to all but the powerful, who would use the airwaves to engineer a mass mind. Cheerleaders for radio countered that the commercial nature of radio's ownership guaranteed that ultimate power over programming lay with the masses. Lenthall assesses these claims through a series of case studies analyzing important understandings and practices that developed around radio. Examining the ethereal relationships listeners formed with radio characters--the radio democracy exemplified by Roosevelt's fireside chats, the faith in popular radio champions such as Father Charles Coughlin and Dr. John Brinkley, the birth of media studies, and the hope that radio could make art matter--Lenthall concludes that neither critics nor defenders got the significance of radio completely right.

Balance of culture

The meaning of radio, argues Lenthall, can be found "in some delicate balances" between individual authority and centralized mass culture (210). If Americans learned to accept the new rules of mass culture, such as the power of corporations to control broadcast programming, they also found ways to push back as individuals, leaving their stamp on the culture they inhabited.

A welcome development in recent years is that a number of scholars have set out to update Erik Barnouw's classic three-volume work, A History of Broadcasting in the United States. Lenthall's book is less comprehensive and descriptive than Susan Douglas's Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination. But advanced students will find it valuable for its clear and undistracted focus on important analytical questions raised by the rise of mass culture.

Elderly have troubles finding jobs with discrimination

I always thought it was annoying when I played the computer The Sims 2 when I would have an elderly Sim who was down on their luck but couldn't get anything better than a low paying part time job. The same job the teenage Sims would get.


Mortimer Goth from the Sims 2. Photo from Google Images

Though the Sims is just a game, it illustrates the discrimination that is going on in today's work force.

Walk into the Rock Hill Chick Fil-a on Cherry Road and you will see at least three of their employees who are over the age of 60. The elderly people serving us our eight count chicken nuggets are working the same job and skill level that any 16-year-old high school student could work.

Photo from Google Images

As our economy is failing, many retired people are having to return to work but have found it increasingly hard to get a job because of their age.

Joanna Lahey said in an article written for the Retirement Research at Boston College entitled "Elderly Workers Face Discrimination," that as more 'baby-boomers' retired, they are relying on Social Security Checks along with the population over the age of 65. Social Security is dwindling and many Americans find themselves having to work longer and retirer later.

One of the reasons for discrimination is not because older workers have a lower skill level than younger workers, said Lahey. Elderly might leave jobs with higher wages to go to another job. The elderly worker is expecting the same high pay they might have had at their old job, but since they can not exhibit the same expertise and skills they had in the past, they will not have an equally high pay.

Another reason for age discrimination is that the person hiring for the job is as old as the elderly person applying, said Richard Posner in his book "Aging and Old Age." Posner said that this causes them to forget that they are capable of doing the job.

It is unreasonable for someone hiring applicants to base the person's abilities off of their own, whether the applicant is older or younger. No two people are alike, so it is hard to judge working abilities off of age.

Regardless of the Social Security money issues, elderly people need to be provided for somehow before they go into financial ruin due to the economy.

It isn't expected that an older person will get a job as an engineer at Michelin, but it should be better than what they are generally being given now.

Working the customer service counter at Belks Department Store would be better than working the drive-thru at Chick fil-a.

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