This is where I will spend the first part of my retirement. That's my brother's dog. He says it's a pit bull, but I think it's a lick monster. No one can near her without getting slimed.
Posted on 01/13/2002 7:44:43 AM PST by shuckmaster
The NAACP will begin posting "border patrols" at various entryways into South Carolina within 30 days urging tourists not to stop in the Palmetto State, the civil rights group said Saturday.
"The border patrol is our way of standing at the Georgia and North Carolina borders (and asking) that you not stop, not stay in hotels, and don't buy gas" in South Carolina, said Nelson B. Rivers III, NAACP national field director. "Or better still, that you turn around."
The initiative is part of a plan the group unveiled Saturday to turn up the heat on state leaders in 2002 to completely remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds.
Tourism officials reached Saturday expressed concern the action could hurt the state's economy, already laboring through a recession.
Rivers said the group will hold a third annual rally at the State House on Jan. 21, in part to protest the flag. The NAACP also will launch a national campaign that uses billboards, flyers, bumper stickers and television to discourage tourism in the state.
South Carolina has been the target of economic sanctions against tourism - at $9 billion a year, the state's largest industry - since 1999. Then, the NAACP began increasing pressure on the Legislature to take the Confederate emblem off the State House.
In what they said was a compromise, lawmakers removed the flag from the atop the State House, and from the Senate and House chambers in July 2000. At the same time, however, they raised a Confederate flag on a pole on the State House's front lawn.
In 1999-2000, tourism officials said the sanctions cost Columbia, Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head $10 million in lost revenues. Since the compromise, the impact of the sanctions has waned, those officials have said.
'DISAPPOINTED IN THE DECISION'
However, tourism officials Saturday expressed concern about the NAACP's new plans.
"At Parks, Recreation and Tourism, we're disappointed in the decision to take these further actions," said Marion Edmonds, a spokesman for the state tourism department.
"We felt that the Legislature's decision to take the Confederate flag off the dome and out of the Senate and House chambers was a good-faith effort to resolve the issue."
Edmonds said he was unsure of the impact the new NAACP actions might have. "These are actions that have not been taken before in South Carolina, to my knowledge. We don't know what to expect."
Others expressed concern the actions could hurt the state's economy during a recession.
Tom Sponseller, president of the Hospitality Association of South Carolina, said, "Anything that can hamper tourism, especially in a time like this, could have a severe impact on the overall economy."
Ashby Ward, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, said: "Right now, I'm angry. It borders on the ridiculous. The legislators from all walks of life settled on this situation in Columbia, and I realize nobody's happy, but it is a compromise. This issue should just be past."
Ward added: "It seems ridiculous in this kind of economy, with the nation focused on this war on terrorism - to drag something from the past out like this is beyond my comprehension."
Spokespersons for Gov. Jim Hodges did not return calls Saturday. House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, also could not be reached.
S.C. Attorney General Charlie Condon said the civil rights group's plan breaks the law.
"It's an illegal secondary boycott and so on behalf of the state of South Carolina I'm going to be looking into the possibility of bringing a lawsuit against them for monetary damages," Condon said.
In explaining the border patrols, Rivers said NAACP personnel periodically would be stationed at various South Carolina entrances, "with protection," to let travelers know that sanctions are still in place.
Rivers said he will spread the message that economic sanctions are still in place against South Carolina as he delivers speeches across the country over the next 45 days about black history.
"The NAACP has made up its mind," Rivers said at a monthly meeting of the state NAACP in Columbia. "We will not stop until the Confederate flag has been put where it should be - out of sight, out of mind."
The NAACP also has been urging athletes and entertainers to avoid coming to South Carolina. The group said it will continue that effort with fresh energy this year and in years to come.
State NAACP head James Gallman called on national religious leaders, meeting planners, performers, artists, athletes and others to avoid South Carolina. He also asked S.C. residents to honor the boycott by taking their vacations outside the state.
Dixie, this is the way viscous rumors are started.
No home in SC of conservative and Southern persuasion should not be without M-16, AK-47, M1, 1911A1, M14.........
It would be interesting as to how the NAACP would react if they received thousands of envelopes with receipts enclosed showing purchases in SC. Appropriate statements about the NAACP could be printed on the outside of the envelope as well.
In 1999-2000, tourism officials said the sanctions cost Columbia, Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head $10 million in lost revenues.
Here are facts:
NAACP boycott fails while South Carolina tourism booms
Columbia, SC—The much-vaunted economic boycott against South Carolina that was instituted by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has so far, failed miserably. Despite the fact that over 80 groups, mostly small black associations and family reunions, have announced that they are boycotting South Carolina, tourism in South Carolina is up dramatically over the same time period last year.
The effect of a boycott is not measured in the number of cancellations, it is measured in the number of people who come despite the boycott. Some visitors may even be coming because of the boycott.
The S.C. Department of Revenue has the numbers that one needs to compare 1998 and 1999. They keep a monthly tally of Accommodation Taxes paid by hotels and motels in South Carolina. As those taxes are paid by visitors and collected they are reported to the Department of Revenue. Their numbers show that since the middle of the year of 1999 when the NAACP first announced its boycott, tax revenues to South Carolina have increased approximately 9.6 percent. That means the number of visitors to the state is also up approximately 9.6 percent over the same period as last year. This 9.6 percent increase was during the same period that the black meetings have been canceled. That is a dramatic increase for a half-year figure.
The Department of Revenue monthly totals of July through November (the last month available at this writing) shows that approximately $19,020,395 was collected in Accommodation Tax in 1998 while $20,851,328 was collected in the same period in 1999. That increase was despite the massive government ordered evacuation in September of 1999 due to hurricane Floyd with all of the lost revenue that evacuation entailed. September was a down month 1999 in tax revenues compared with 1998.
Mr. Lou Fontana, who was a reporter for WIS-TV, is now the spokesperson for the S.C. Department of Tourism. When contacted at his office he seemed to be unaware of the Accommodation Tax figures. He said that his department would not have any numbers to report until about March when they were finalized. He said that tourism for 1999 appeared to be "about the same as the previous year." He added, "It’s been about flat." A check of the figures from the Department of Revenue, however, shows an increase of 7.7 percent in the first 11 months of 1999 over the same period of 1998.
The yearly rate increase of 7.7 percent, when measured against the 9.7 percent increase during the boycott period, shows that tourism is not only up strongly over the previous year, but that the rate of increase has been greater during the period of the boycott than for the year as a whole.
No member of the major media would dare tell the people of South Carolina that the NAACP is failing. The major media, most of which is owned by left-leaning news corporations headquartered outside of South Carolina, are trying to create the false idea that the NAACP is succeeding. Every time a black group cancels a meeting, the major media gives it prominent coverage. The S.C. Hospitality Association is also keeping a running tally of the estimated number of groups that do not come to South Carolina and they report it frequently. The figure they are currently reporting is in excess of 1 million dollars in losses. If tax revenues are up almost 2 million dollars at hotels alone, it is reasonable to assume that overall spending is up hundreds of millions of dollars since each visitor spends well over $100 each on average.
Lake High, the past Chairman of the South Carolina League of the South is not surprised by either the increase in tourism or the fact that the Department of Tourism either does not know of it or will not reveal it. "First of all," High said, "you can not expect to hear the true facts, or get a true evaluation of the issues, in the major media. The national media have a political agenda, which is to bring down the flag, and there is no dishonesty they will not perpetrate to accomplish that goal, including hiding the true facts," he said.
High also mentioned one of the possible reasons that tourism is up in South Carolina. He commented, "As we all know, over the last two generations over 100 million Americans have moved from cities and towns out to the suburbs. It is a cold, hard fact that those people didn’t move there to be with blacks. People don’t go where blacks are, they go where blacks aren’t." He also thinks that people’s natural avoidance reaction may very well hold true for tourism as well. "The same people who moved to the suburbs to live where blacks aren’t might also vacation where blacks aren’t. When they hear that blacks are avoiding South Carolina, they may very well be making plans to come," he said.
Regardless of the reason for the increases, South Carolina is doing quite well in the tourism department as the true figures show.
While it is easy for some associations to switch their convention plans and issue a press release, thousands of other people quietly make their own individual decisions and they don’t hold press conferences. They just bring their families to South Carolina and have a great time seeing the sights and enjoying a quiet, safe, fun filled holiday. "If this boycott keeps up," High said, "South Carolina will boom." He noted that the joke currently making the rounds on the cocktail party circuit in Columbia is the quip, "If they make us take down the flag, can we at least keep up the boycott?""
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