Mr. Will Phillips was kind enough to send me his notes from the Town Hall Meeting we had on Monday February 27, 2012 at the Historic Courthouse.
My mom and I attended your Town Hall Meeting at the Historic County Courthouse in Anderson on February 27. This meeting was to address an item that will assist Veterans. Veterans are so important for all of us. Because of our Veterans we have all of our freedoms, including freedom of speech. Veterans from various wars were recognized. These wars included WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc. The meeting was well attended. There were several other public officials at the meeting too. These included a representative from the local VA Office, Rep Ann Thayer from District 9, Tom Allen from Anderson County Council, a representative from Senator DeMint’s Office and a representative from Congressman Jeff Duncan’s office. The meeting opened with The Pledge of Allegiance.
Senator Bryant has introduced Bill # 1169. This Bill would allow Veterans to have a logo on their Drivers’ License that would let others know they have served our country. All Veterans do not qualify for a Veteran ID card. A lot of businesses offer discounts to Veterans, but some have no way to prove that they have served. This would help with that problem. There was a lot of discussion about the benefits of this.
Then there was also discussion about the fact that all drivers’ licenses in SC will likely be changing in the next few years. This has to do with the fact that our DL is very easy to reproduce. So there was discussion as to how much room will be available for the Veteran logo.
Other discussion included the Finance Committee. Our unemployment is in a mess There has been a lot of fraud in the unemployment system. There was also discussion about drug testing for unemployment benefits. If you must pass a drug test to keep a job, you should have to pass one to get unemployment benefits. I agree. Our SC retirement system needs a lot of work too. Senator Bryant is on the Finance Committee as well as the Agricultural Committee-water legislation which deals with Lake Hartwell. He also serves on the Medical Affairs Committee and as a pharmacist he has a lot of input on this committee.
One Veteran raised a possible problem with the POW license plates in SC. There might be more issued than should be. A lot of ID has to be shown to receive one of these license plates, so they want to make sure there is no fraud in this area. I enjoyed learning more about our Government. I hope to spend some time with Senator Bryant in Columbia one day this spring.
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