South CarolinaPing
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Posted on 08/31/2010 6:43:37 PM PDT by SC Swamp Fox
DILLON — Dillon County Council Chairman Macio Williamson must appear before a judge after he ordered the county administrator to instruct another official to hire a black person to fill a vacant county position.
Williamson has served on Dillon County Council representing District 1 for nearly 29 years and serves as the council’s chairman.
The letter was written by Dillon County Administrator David Mobley on Williamson’s behalf Aug. 13.
The letter was sent to Dillon County Chief Magistrate Mackie Hayes on a Dillon County Council letterhead and was signed by Mobley.
It was sent in response to an employee of the magistrate’s office resigning and taking a position elsewhere. That employee was African-American.
Williamson said he contacted Hayes after the employee resigned and said another minority should be hired in her place.
“I asked him that we needed to have the magistrate’s office reflecting the way that the community looks, black and white, which is right,” Williamson said.
It was after that conversation when Hayes said he had the authority to decide on hiring in the office, and Williamson sought out alternative means to see that his will was done, including by sending a letter to Hayes through the county administrator.
The letter states: “Dear Judge Hayes, I have today received a phone call from Dillon County Council Chairman Macio Williamson and have been directed to inform you and I quote: ‘If you don’t hire an African-American to fill the vacant position at the Dillon County Magistrate’s Office, that I the Chairman of the Dillon County Council will cut this position from the Dillon Magistrate’s Office Budget.“
The letter goes on to issue directives from Williamson through the letter written by Mobley: “In addition, he directed me to further inform you that, ‘Mackie Hayes is not going to push me or County Council around.’ Therefore, I am conveying this message to you as directed,” ending the letter with the signature of Mobley.
Neither Mobley nor Hayes could be reached for comment Tuesday.
Williamson, however, defended his position, saying he did what he felt was right.
“Not only do I serve as chairman of the county council, but I serve as chairman of the budget committee, and I told him (Hayes) I would get with the county administrator, which is David Mobley, if you cannot adjust to what I’m saying,” he said. “It needs to be and I’m not going to take it back, it needs to be an African-American in that position. If you look at the overall employment in the county, we’re not fairly represented.”
When asked if a white person with the proper credentials should not be considered for the job simply on the basis of their race, Williamson responded, “No, I don’t have a problem with that ... but I’m gonna go back to what I said and I’m not gonna take it back ... that office should reflect the way the community looks.”
Williamson will appear before Circuit Court Judge Paul Burch on Sept. 21 for a hearing on a rule to show cause as to why he should not be held in contempt of court for violating a prior court order.
That previous order stated that the county administrator would handle all county personnel issues in accordance with established policies and that county council members should not deal directly with personnel issues involving county employees.
A violation of the code of law pertaining to that order could end with severe fines or jail time.
Williamson said he believes he acted within his scope as county council chairman and said lawyers from the NAACP will join him for the hearing in September.
They really think that this is right, they have no concept of equal protection or equal opportunity.
Mr. Holder, are you investigating this?
Stalemate.
A little off topic but I don’t think I have heard of Dillon S.C. since I worked with Miss Dillon back in 1969 at a Summer retreat. She was pretty enough to have represented a far larger town. Also a really nice girl. Also a good worker.
He's threatening the chief magistrate? Not too smart.
Dillon County, SC. Home of Pedro’s South-of-the-Border...and not much else. There is that truck stop with no fuel pumps and hourly rates.
If they demanded a White hire you can bet the “Rev.” Jacksonnnnnnn, the NAALCP and the rest of the race industry would be all over it.
Judge Hayes should have hired a clean-cut white guy. When questioned by Williamson he could have asked, “Have you met his husband, Eugene?”
Williamson will appear before Circuit Court Judge Paul Burch on Sept. 21 for a hearing on a rule to show cause as to why he should not be held in contempt of court for violating a prior court order.
That previous order stated that the county administrator would handle all county personnel issues in accordance with established policies and that county council members should not deal directly with personnel issues involving county employees.
A violation of the code of law pertaining to that order could end with severe fines or jail time.
I wish you rebels would put a state name in the title. I read all the way to the comments before I figured out it was South Carolina...
Sorry, I usually do. I just forget this time.
That sounds so Al Sharpton-esque.
The current story is only half the story then. Apparently the county council's interference in hiring has already been to court at least once and resulted in a court order. Anybody offhand have the rest of the story?
Ousted Administrator's firing upheld by Dillon County
County Councilman Macio Williamson became upset because he enforced policy and refused to pay firefighters who didn’t show up to fires but said they did so they could be paid, Curry said.
Firefighters were known to sign or have their friend’s sign a payroll sheet for a fire they didn’t respond to, he said. Dillon Station One, where Williamson is a volunteer firefighter, “is one of the worse offenders of that policy,” Curry said.
The courtroom crowd gasped and Williamson looked on stunned as Curry projected a dated payroll sheet with Williamson’s signature, followed by the councilman receipt from a Marriott Golf Resort in Hilton Head where he was vacationing during the time he was supposedly fighting fire in Dillon.
Oh so he's not only a racist bigot, but a liar and a cheater as well. Good find, Swampy!
That could be said of all of FR, not just us rebels. I've read stories and finally figured out it was some town in CA, or never figured out where it was. Doesn't seem a big deal to me to put a state abbreviation in the title. Might be an FR rule not to change the title, I don't know. Annoys me too. :-)
There IS a FR rule that titles should not be changed. This is to make title searching easier.
Plenty of titles have [Barf Alert] or some such after the title. And that's not a problem because the title did not get changed.
I agree, putting the two letter state abbreviation in front of the title makes a lot of sense.
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