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Spare bundles of ABATE of SC Newsletters for Areas

 and Chapters available.

Make sure your chapter and area send representatives

 to the Legislative 

Meeting; all spare newsletters for the month of 

November will be distributed at this meeting.

This Legislative Meeting will be held 1:00 AM 

Saturday November 5th at Michelle's Place located 

at 1919 Airport Blvd  Cayce, SC  29033, Phone number

 is:  803-791-9293. See a map at

http://www.abatesc.com/legislativemeetings/index.htm 

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1) Update from Sputnik: SCC and more...

2) S.C. HIGHWAYS: Big-rig crashes jump 39 percent in S.C.

3) Former House speaker Wilkins shares tales of 

life in Canada

4) House bill blocks property seizure

5) Low voter turnout needs attention

6) Charleston tightens policy for police chases

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1) Update from Sputnik: SCC and more...

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Update from Sputnik

Don't forget the Advisor meeting at 1:00pm Saturday

SOUTHERN CROSS CONFERENCE

We attended the first Southern Cross 

Conference this past weekend in Charleston.

 Dad attended to represent Texas ABATE 

Confederation. The concept of the conference 

was to get all federal legislators on the same page 

concerning issues of importance to the 

southern states.  Bikers of 

course will spearhead that effort.

The conference brought out a lot of new 

riders from several states and the workshops

 were brand new from any you normally get at

 these type conferences. All seminars were 

very well prepared and were backed by 

volumes of written material. All were aimed 

at who the southern legislators are, their 

voting records and how to contact them. 

A female State Rep from SC started off by

 addressing the Conference. I believe 

someone should have given her some 

guidelines prior to her address. She 

stated that when bikers venture into 

the world of politics they should dress 

the part. She stated that when she went to 

bikers for their support she wore jeans and

 T-shirt into their world. She further 

stated that when we come into her world

 we should dress the part.

This old man was sitting up front on the 

chair for speakers and I was about to 

scream. (but didn't) She was giving the 

impression that she dressed down for us 

and we should dress up for her. I wasn't 

the only one who was getting that 

impression. When she finished I immediately 

told her if she would sit down now I would

 tell her how it really worked as I was 

the next speaker. She left. 

The banquet consisted of a fine variety of

food and was very plentiful. The evening 

speaker was the SC Lt. Governor and his 

talk was a 180 degree turnaround from that 

previously offered by the Rep. Everything

 about his talk was positive.

The Hospitality Room while being a place 

to party and enjoy snacks were primarily 

used as a place to discuss each political 

view espoused by each person present. It was

 several round table discussions and moving

from one table to the next brought several 

points front and center. 

Despite a few glitches the concept was very 

well accepted by all present. The next 

conference will be held in Kentucky the l

ast weekend of July. 

There will be a National Conference of 

Legislators held on that weekend. Plans are 

to hold the Southern Cross Conference in a 

hotel directly across the street from their 

conference.

The Hospitality Room will be open to the 

legislators and Kentucky Legislature. Mitch 

McConnell will host a Hospitality Room in the

 Legislator's hotel at which bikers will be 

welcome. Should be a whole new experience in 

bikers rights and you are urged to attend if 

at all possible.

CIA SECRET UNDERGROUND PRISONS

It has been revealed that the CIA has secret 

underground prisons scattered around the world 

where they are holding prisoners without 

charges being filed and apparently those 

prisoners are being tortured. Remember the 

revelation that FEMA has been using their 

budget to build concentration camps in this 

country as well as other purposes? Are these 

secret prisons also being built out of that budget?

MSNBC

The Senate has passed an Amendment (by senator 

John McCain) to the Defense Appropriations Act 

to prevent the CIA from using torture on those being 

held by that agency. President Bush reportedly

 is opposed to that Amendment and has said he 

would use his veto power for the first time. 

The House version does not have that Amendment in their 

Appropriations Bill and the Bill is currently 

in Conference Committee. We have contacted 

senator Huchison's office and they have verified 

the basic contents of the MSNBC Report. They 

did say the President opposes the Amendment 

but would not Veto the Appropriation Bill. 

If you believe that our country should not 

sink to the depths that we 

so loudly protest being employed by other 

countries against our citizens it is time to

 contact your congressman and let them know 

you support Senate Amendment # 1977 to the 

Defense Appropriations Act. This whole 

revelation demonstrates how low our federal

 leaders have sunk in the past few years.

GOVERNOR SAYS FEMA NOT DOING THEIR JOB

Governor Perry has gone on record condemning 

FEMA for not furnishing housing for those 

displaced by the storms. He says about 28%

 of those in temporary housing will be evicted 

by Christmas because the motels have not received 

rent payments. Christmas is no time to be putting 

those people out in the street. 

The head of FEMA says this is just grandstanding. 

Records indicate that each person placed in these

 motels was given enough money to pay several 

months of rent but have not used the money as 

intended. This is like the $2000 emergency 

checks that ended up being spent on extravagant

 shopping sprees and in topless bars. Foot in 

mouth again.      

-- 

Sputnik

State Chair of TMRA2

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2) S.C. HIGHWAYS: Big-rig crashes jump 39 percent

 in S.C.

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http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/13077737.htm

S.C. HIGHWAYS

Big-rig crashes jump 39 percent in S.C.

But the number of officers on patrol remains 

the same statewide

By RICK BRUNDRETT

Staff Writer

Commercial vehicle wrecks in South Carolina — 

like the Marion County crash Sunday that killed 

four — jumped by nearly 900, or 39 percent, from 

2001 through 2004, state accident records show.

During the same period, the number of State 

Transport Police officers, who enforce truck 

safety laws, remained about the same.

The agency has 111 officers to cover 46 counties, 

an average of fewer than three officers per 

county. Seventy-nine actually patrol the highways 

or staff weigh stations, according to agency data.

No transport officers were patrolling Sunday 

evening in Marion County when a toddler and 

three other people on a hayride were killed in a crash 

involving a tractor trailer, said transport police

 Col. Anna Amos, who heads the division. Eight 

transport officers are assigned to an eight-county 

region that includes Marion, she said.

The truck driver in Sunday’s crash, Jake Davis Jr., 

51, of Florence, was charged with felony driving 

under the influence. He has three prior DUI 

convictions and was charged with felony DUI in 

a 1988 wreck, state records show.

Amos declined to discuss specifics of Sunday’s 

wreck, which is being investigated by the state 

Highway Patrol, a separate division of the 

Department of Public Safety. But she said her 

division could use more officers.

“It certainly would be good to have your 

manpower increased to be able to respond 

to the amount of traffic that’s out there.”

Transport officers, for example, can sideline

 a trucker for 24 hours if they find unopened 

alcohol containers in a truck cab, she said.

State Sens. John Land, D-Clarendon, and 

John Courson, R-Richland, members of the 

Senate Finance Committee, said this week 

they support increased funding for transport police.

“They are grossly undermanned and grossly 

underfunded,” said Land.

The transport police division has a $14 million 

annual budget, which is supported mainly with 

federal money and various fees, Amos said.

>From 2001 through 2004 in South Carolina, the 

number of commercial vehicle collisions jumped 

to 3,147 from 2,264, a 39- percent increase, 

though last year’s total decreased slightly 

from 2003, according to State Transport Police data.

In 2004, there were 102 fatal wrecks involving 

commercial vehicles, about 3 percent of the total.

By comparison, the number of collisions involving

 all vehicles over the four-year period increased 

by about 10 percent to 110,029, of which 946, or 

about 1 percent, involved fatalities, Department 

of Public Safety records show.

Commercial vehicles include everything from 

pickup trucks that haul cargo to large passenger

 vans to 18-wheelers. The number of trucks 

licensed to haul cargo in South Carolina 

increased over the four-year period by about 

6 percent to 862,879, according to state Department

 of Motor Vehicle records.

The number of tractor-trailer rigs involved in 

collisions during the period increased by about 

17 percent to 3,036, Department of Public Safety 

records show.

Rick Todd, president of S.C. Trucking Association, 

said most wrecks involving rigs are the fault of 

car drivers who speed, follow too closely or 

break other traffic laws. Amos estimated car 

drivers are at fault in about 80 percent of crashes 

involving large trucks.

“We think we do a good job of policing ourselves, 

and so do our companies,” said Todd, whose 

organization has about 800 member companies.

Davis, the truck driver in Sunday’s fatal wreck, 

owned and operated his rig, authorities said.

Todd said the Marion County wreck was “unique” 

in that the accident occurred on an unlighted 

country road, and the truck driver was charged 

with drunken driving. He said studies show a 

very small percentage of truck drivers involved 

in wrecks are charged with drunken driving.

In South Carolina from 2001 through 2004, 

drunken driving was the primary cause in no 

more than 3 percent of all commercial vehicle

 collisions, records show.

Todd said his organization would support

 increased funding for the transport police. 

But he said lawmakers would get “the most 

bang for their buck” by helping other police

 agencies target car drivers who cause big 

rigs to crash.

Reach Brundrett at (803) 771-8484 or 

rbrundrett@thestate.com.

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3) Former House speaker Wilkins shares tales 

of life in Canada

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http://www.greenvillenews.com/apps/

pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20051104/NEWS03/511040340/1068/NEWS01

OR

http://tinyurl.com/dh9ld

Wilkins shares tales of life in Canada

Former House speaker says same energy 

required in ambassador's post

By Ashley Fletcher

STAFF WRITER

afletcher@greenvillenews.com

After four months of representing the 

United States in Canada, former South 

Carolina House Speaker David Wilkins 

brought a little of Canada home on Thursday.

Greeting business leaders at the South 

Carolina Chamber of Commerce annual summit

 in Greenville in French, which he and his 

wife, Susan, are learning, Wilkins deadpanned 

about the language barriers a Southerner faces 

across the border.

He once spent 15 minutes trying to translate 

a "peanut boil," what he calls a campaign 

event, to a group of Canadian reporters, he

 said. The confusion finally was resolved 

when the crowd realized he wasn't talking 

about a "bowl."

"There's no Canadian equivalent of 'y'all,'

" said Wilkins, who represented Greenville 

in the Statehouse for 25 years. "So I have 

to explain to my Canadian friends that the 

plural of 'y'all' is 'all y'all.'"

After arriving in Ottawa on June 29,

about amonth after the U.S. Senate 

confirmed him as U.S. ambassador to Canada,

 Wilkins has traveled more than 70,000 miles

 around the country, getting to know its 

places and people. He described them as 

warmer toward Americans than some news 

reports suggest.

Every day as ambassador requires the 

intensity and energy he used three days 

a week, six months a year, as speaker, 

Wilkins said. And advocating the positions 

of the United States is a change from his 

years of wading into the policymaking himself, he said.

Wilkins described the spotlight he gained 

in a debate over U.S. tariffs on softwood 

lumber, the dominant political issue since

 he arrived. His comments that Canada 

should lower its rhetoric and stop the

 "emotional tirades" made headlines for 

three weeks, he said.

"They give great importance to what we 

say and what we do," Wilkins said. 

"Anything you say is scrutinized and 

given attention to."

The former speaker said his goal is to 

strengthen ties between the two countries,

 which depend on each other for trade and 

security. The two nations conduct $1.5 

billion in trade a day, Wilkins said.

"Canada conducts more trade with Home 

Depot than it does with Japan," he said.

"The U.S. needs Canada, just like Canada 

needs us. We depend on each other for 

peace and prosperity."

Canada is the No. 1 supplier of oil to the 

United States, Wilkins said.

"We need this stable source," he said.

Wilkins served as Speaker of the House for 

almost 11 years before stepping down in June. 

He co-chaired President Bush's campaign in

 South Carolina in 2000 and chaired his 

re-election campaign here four years later.

During Bush's first term, he offered Wilkins

 a federal judgeship and later the ambassador 

position in Chile, both of which Wilkins turned down. 

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4) House bill blocks property seizure

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http://www.charleston.net/stories/

?newsID=49383§ion=worldnation

House bill blocks property seizure

By JIM ABRAMS

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Contending that the Supreme 

Court has undermined a pillar of American 

society, the sanctity of the home, the House

 overwhelmingly approved a bill Thursday to

 block the court-approved seizure of private 

property for use by developers.

The bill, passed 376-38, would withhold 

federal money from state and local 

governments that use powers of eminent 

domain to force businesses and homeowners 

to give up their property for commercial uses.

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling 

in June, recognized the power of 

local governments to seize property 

needed for private development projects

 that generate tax revenue. The decision

 drew criticism from private property, 

civil rights, farm and religious groups

 that said it was an abuse of the Fifth 

Amendment's "takings clause." That 

language provides for the taking of 

private property, with fair compensation,

 for public use.

The court's June decision, said 

House Judiciary Committee Chairman

 James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., 

changed established constitutional 

principles by holding that "any 

property may now be taken for the 

benefit of another private party." 

The ruling in Kelo v. City of New 

London allowed the Connecticut city

 to exercise state eminent domain 

law to require several homeowners 

to cede their property for commercial use.

With this "infamous" decision, said 

Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., "homes and 

small businesses across the country 

have been placed in grave jeopardy and 

threatened by the government wrecking ball." 

But opponents argued that the federal

 government should not be interceding 

in what should be a local issue. 

"We should not change federal law every 

time members of Congress disagree with 

the judgment of a locality when it uses 

eminent domain for the purpose of economic

 development," said Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va.

The legislation is the latest, and most 

far-reaching, of several congressional 

responses to the court ruling. The House 

previously passed a measure to bar federal 

transportation money from going for 

improvements on land seized for private 

development. The Senate approved an amendment

 to a transportation spending bill applying

 similar restrictions. The bill now moves to

 the Senate, where Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas,

 has introduced companion legislation.

About half the states are also co