Special general election Tuesday
By TUCKER LYON, T&D Government Writer Monday, April 16, 2007A little more than a month after winning the special Democratic primary, the outspoken former chairman of the Regional Medical Center board of trustees will square off against a politically unknown petition candidate in the special April 17 general election to fill the vacancy in the District 7 seat on Orangeburg County Council.
Willie B. Owens, a veteran educator and high-profile civil rights activist, scored a decisive 581 to 143 vote primary win in February over Cheryl Footman, who unsuccessfully ran for S.C. Secretary of State in 2006.
While no Republican filed for the District 7 seat, Larry Jumper did file as a petition candidate before the deadline. By collecting the required number of petition signatures, Jumper is on the ballot as an independent candidate.
Although he avoided the $623.04 prorated filing fee paid by the partisan candidates, Jumper says he had fully intended to file as a Democrat.
“I would have been in the Democratic primary,” he said. “I didn’t realize it closed out at lunch time. I went by at 2 p.m., and they said it closed at 12.”
The only difference between the primary race and the general election, Owens says, is that he wants to “make sure the lines are defined.” There was some voter confusion in the primary race, he says.
“I’m running as hard as ever,” he said. “I’m not taking anything for granted.”
John Rickenbacker, the Democratic chairman of County Council for 12 years, resigned in December from the District 7 seat he’d held since 1984. The former councilman had been re-elected to a four-year term in the November general election without opposition. He pleaded guilty to federal charges of taking bribes from an undercover FBI agent in exchange for supporting the sale of the RMC.
Earlier this month, Rickenbacker was sentenced to serve 366 days in prison and another three years of probation, plus pay a $5,000 fine.
Hospital financial issues have dominated Orangeburg County Council sessions for well over a year.
“I’m definitely for keeping the RMC a public entity owned by Orangeburg and Calhoun counties,” Owens said. “The county had asked the hospital for money, and we gave $7.4 million for Orangeburg and Calhoun counties. The hospital should not be in the business of supporting the county. The county should be supporting the hospital. ... The RMC Board has done an exceptional job.”
If elected, Owens says he intends to work with council to move forward and to pass a motion to take any consideration of selling the hospital off the table.
“I’m not going to get in a fight. I think we can go back and pick up the pieces,” he said. “I want council to come out in opposition of any plan to sell the hospital. I’ll ask for a vote to take that off the table.”
Jumper agrees that the RMC should remain in local hands.
“County Council hasn’t got the time to run the hospital. In all organizations, there’s always room for improvement,” he said. “My mother spent quite a bit of time there, and she got excellent service. There was a rumor about it being sold, and that’s all false. It should remain in the county and not some big conglomerate.”
District 7 includes all of the Ward 4 and Sub 2 precincts, as well as portions of Ward 1, Ward 2, Ward 5, Ward 6, Ward 9, Sub 1, Sub 3, Brookdale, Four Holes, Jamison and Whittaker. Of the 9,001 registered voters, 7,678 or 85.3 percent are black; 1,270 are white; and, 53 are designated “other.”
The following is a look at the two candidates:
Although he no longer serves the NAACP in any official capacity, Owens is a lifetime member who has been at the forefront of local civil rights issues, including the fight for single-member voting districts, for the last 40 years. This, however, is the first time he has sought public office himself.
“Having been dealing with County Council, in terms of having minority representation, I thought it was incumbent upon me to run to maintain the momentum that was established by John Rickenbacker,” he said. “There are a lot of things on the table I want to help move County Council forward on. I’m thoroughly familiar with the issues – the penny tax, the quest for economic development, the Lake Marion Regional Water Agency.”
If elected, Owens says he’d like to see additional recreation facilities for the youth in the county and a spec building out at the John W. Matthews Industrial Park to attract more development.
He calls for collaboration with municipalities to seek grants that “will provide for a better quality of life for our rural areas, while minimizing the tax burden on our citizens ... definitely keep taxes down.”
“We need a joint effort in preventing violence with the county sheriff’s department,” and the city of Orangeburg’s Department of Public Safety and the community to improve the quality of life, he said.
While Rickenbacker raised concerns about RMC employee benefits, Owens says that was one of the first issues he addressed when he joined the board.
“I’d like to see more improvements for every hospital employee,” he said. “I will not back away from that. They should have good benefits like everyone else.”
More than 40 years of working with the public, including economic development efforts, are good qualifications, Owens says.
“I know the people across the county,” he said. “I’m familiar with their needs.”
A native of Branchville and a resident of Orangeburg for more than 50 years, Owens has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education and a master’s degree in education from South Carolina State University and an education specialist degree from The Citadel. Following his retirement as principal of Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School, he worked at Voorhees College, first as assistant vice president for academic affairs, and then as dean of student development. After serving as an assistant vice president at Claflin University, he has been employed since 2001 at Voorhees as director of the S.C. Regional Community Development Corporation.
In addition to serving on the RMC board, Owens was also on the Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College Board for 20 years. He and his wife have two sons.
Running as the candidate for the local taxpayer, Jumper says the recent controversies between County Council members and the hospital board led him to seek office.
“I guess all the stuff I’ve been reading in the paper; they can’t sit down and make the right decision for the taxpayers of the county,” he said. “It seemed to be pretty simple, but it got pretty complicated. We, the taxpayers, come up the loser on both.”
If elected, Jumper says he’ll work hard to continue economic development.
“The last person who had the seat did a lot of good for the county with economic development,” he said. “I’d like to see more done, with better management.”
Noting the county’s excellent location, its labor force and educational facilities, Jumper says there are a “lot of reasons we need to move forward.”
His only disagreement with Owens, Jumper says, is that “he made a statement he’d teach County Council how to borrow money in the 21st Century. I have a lot of respect for County Council.”
A native of Orangeburg, Jumper has an associate’s degree in accounting from Palmer Business College. He owns a local auto parts store.
Jumper did not provide The Times and Democrat with a photograph.
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