Stubborn As A Mule, or Smarter Than a Local?

Every summer a few local citizens protest the use of large animals (horses and mules) to pull carriage through the streets of Charleston. They claim to be concerned over the health of the animials. Hmmm . . . Recently there was a front page article on The Post & Courier dealing with this issue. The headline read:

TURNING UP THE HEAT

A long-running feud over guideline for Charleston's animal-drawn carriages during summer months has reached a boiling point

As a tour guide (yes, I'm one of the evil ones who drive carriages) I would like to address a few things. Number One, I work for Palmetto Carriage, and we voluntarily use a team of 2 mules to pull our large carriages, since mules are more heat adaptable than horses. I would like to know what experience that protestors have dealing with large animals, mules or horses. Following is a transcript of the Courier article written by Kyle Stock, and my comments (in gray). Also, I will be inserting quotes from a famous statesman to illustrate my points.

Quote # 1: “I use emotion for the many, and reason for the few.” -- Adolph Hitler

News article:
The city of Charleston is getting around to regulating one of its oldest industries, animal-drawn carriage tours, but a coalition of residents argues the process has been hijacked by tour companies and says officials won't go far enough to protect tourism's beast of burdens. "I really felt like we were hitting a spot where everyone was pretty happy, and all of a sudden it was like a political movement just jumped up," said John Malark, an equine veterinarian on the committee writing the new rules. "They are trying to do everything they can to limit the amount of trips that are done. ... I hope they don't derail the whole process and cut down two years of work."Although City Council will not see the proposed legislation until September or October, critics are already hot under the collar about several issues, particularly the proposed temperature thresholds at which guides must stop animal-drawn tours.A group of residents calling itself the Carriage Horse Safety Committee said draft animals often get sick and die in cramped stables because of their workload, citing a carriage company employee they declined to identify. (My suggestion: instead of lumping the entire industry in one package, why not check out each company indivually, and see which of the companies are breaking the rules. Why not root out the bad apples, the ones breaking the law and leave the other more responsible companies alone? For the same reason that a certain carriage company {Polo} can be in residential neighborhoods after specified hours and not get ticketed, they have an ”in” with the city's bubba network.)

(Responsible) Carriage companies deny those claims and have suggested that those pushing for tighter guidelines are more interested in keeping carriages away from their peninsular homes.In the balance hang six companies and a multimillion-dollar industry that loads about 30,000 carriages a year. For some time, the city has had rules detailing acceptable carriage routes and traffic levels and requiring a "diapering apparatus" on each horse and mule. But it has little on the books about animal welfare.
Voluntary guidelines The carriage industry in Charleston has been operating voluntarily on a set of veterinarians' "guidelines." Draft animals are fed, watered, rested and monitored based on these loose, but largely unenforceable, rules. Tour guides are supposed to check animals' temperatures when the weather hits 95 degrees, and stop tours when the mercury ticks up to 98 or when the total heat index -degrees plus humidity level - is 185.

The city has paid a third-party veterinarian $200 to $300 a day to check up occasionally on the animals and businesses. Amid a push for stricter regulations, the city formed a six-person committee in early 2004 to research the contested issues and write a comprehensive ordinance. After almost 2 1/2 years, the committee has a draft that reads much like the current guidelines. Under the proposal, companies would start taking the temperature of draft animals after every tour when the mercury hits 90 degrees. They would have to stop tours when temperatures hit 98 degrees or when the combination of heat and humidity tops 180.Residents and animal-welfare advocates are arguing for lower thresholds. They say they have spent a great deal of their time in the past two years following the committee's progress and debating issues. (But have they spent any time working in the carriage industry, or even witnessing the day-to-day care and maintenance of the animals?)

Quote #2: “The masses of the people will more easily fall victim to the
big lies than to a small one.” -- Adolph Hitler

Vocal critic
One of the loudest critics of the proposed regulations has been downtown resident Ellen Harley. In a June 5 e-mail, Harley wrote that the committee's draft ordinance is weaker than the 1993 guidelines."The carriage operators right now 'own' the committee; they are in complete control," she wrote. "Don't think that the SPCA or the veterinarian will protect the animals," Harley wrote, referring to Malark and another committee member from a local animal-welfare organization.The e-mail was forwarded to the committee and prompted a response from its chairman and at least one other member. Cathy Forrester, the committee head and director of development at the Coastal Conservation League, said the message was disturbing. "To suggest that the carriage operators 'own' the committee ... is a disservice to all of us and does not advance the process," she wrote.Committee member Tom Doyle, owner of Palmetto Carriage Works Ltd., wrote of Harley: "The collection of lies and insults in the e-mail sent under your name went well beyond the committee and into the community."

(Ellen Harley, 23 Wentworth Street / 843.853.7282
Historic Ansonborough Neighborhood Association /www.ansonborough.org
She is listed on the website as living at 46 Anson Street, but listed in the phone book at the Wentworth Street address. However,the last update on the website was 2003. Makes you wonder how active they actually are,doesn't it? What do they do, other than get together to drink and complain about carriage tours?)

War of words
The debate continued this week in a string of e-mails copied to The Post and Courier. Harley called Doyle's response "unfortunate and hysterical" and again criticized the makeup of the committee. She noted that in South Carolina animals can be euthanized without a veterinarian present, a loophole that she said may have allowed carriage companies to keep a clean record on animal mistreatment. Doyle, in turn, called for Harley to reveal evidence of heat-stressed horses. "Put up or shut up," he wrote. Pat Jones, president of the Historic Ansonborough Neighborhood Association, supported Harley's statement. "We have been rebuffed by the committee at all stages," Jones wrote. (Again, I suggest to Jones (no relation by the way, whew) and Harley, come work in the industry for a few days, help take care othe animals, or at least spend an entire day watching the operation from opening to closing. And by the way . . . if either of you own a cat, do you change your cat litter box EVERY DAY, like we replace the wood chips in all 12 of our sizable stalls each day?)

Conflicts of interest?
In an interview, Harley and Jones also said Malark, the veterinarian on the committee, has a conflict of interest because he counts carriage companies as clients. Malark said the only other equine veterinarian in the area also does business with carriage tour operators. (Hmmm, the veternarian was put on the committee due to his experience in dealing with equine animals, but Jones and Harley complain that since he takes care of carriage animals, he should be disqualified. Would you go to a plastic surgeon to treat an intestinal disorder? When your car breaks down, do you take it to an attorney?)

"Most of these critics are downtown Charleston residents, and they have some issues with the carriage companies for a lot of other reasons than the care of their horses - traffic issues, etc.," Malark said. "I don't know that anyone that lives downtown with a complaint doesn't have a conflict of interest of their own."Harley and Jones said their push for tighter carriage rules is not selfishly motivated.

"What we're seeking is humane treatment for the animals, period," Harley said. "That's the only agenda we have."

End of news article

By the way, Harley recently coordinated a full-day campaign workshop for the League of Women Voters to equip women with the skills to run for office. At the workshop, more than 50 women of all ages and backgrounds learned the nuts-and-bolts of running a campaign—from making the decision to grassroots organizing to fundraising. Hmmm . . . Sounds like Harley is not only a politically active person, but one who is educated in the manipultion of public opinion; it makes you wonder about her agenda, doesn't it? Beware of politicians who insist they only have one agenda. After all, Bill Clinton's agenda as president (other than dropping trou), was a peace accord in the Mid East between Israel and the neighboring Arab states. Worked out well, didn't it?

Quote # 3: "The greater the lie, the more readily it will be
believed." -- Adolph Hitler

Congratulations, Sullivan's Island & Happy Birthday, Mary Jo Kopechne!!

SMOKERS AREN'T WELCOME IN SULLIVAN'S BUSINESSES

The Post and Courier - Charleston, S.C.

Jun 21, 2006

Sullivan's Island is the first municipality in South Carolina to pass such a law. Councilman Everett Presson had proposed the workplace smoking ban several months ago, mainly to protect workers in businesses, restaurants and bars.

Congratulations, Sullivan's Island. I'm sure Will Moredock and his gang of goose-stepping PCers are already marching lockstep in full force through the doors of your bars and restaurants. By the way, isn't that hamburger you are serving full of fat? If you eat too many you will become obese, taking up too much room at the table, which will infringe on someone else's right to sit at the table with you. So we'd better ban fattening food RIGHT NOW! before there's only room for 2 people at a table designed to seat four.

And isn't the glass full of alcohol? You know, if you drink too much you will get drunk and kill some goose-stepper on the way home and have MADD mad at you.

By the way, how many of you know that Sullivan's Island was named after Captain Florence O'Sullivan who was described as an "ill-natured buggerer of children"?(source: 'Captain Florence O'Sullivan and the Origins of Carolina', South Carolina Historical Magazine #76, October 1975)

In that spirit . . . . I offer this retro advertisement

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Today is the birthday of Mary Jo Kopechne. Had she chosen to go hunting with Dick Cheney rather than go for a drive with Ted Kennedy, she would have been 66 years old today. However, she is still dead, and Ted Kennedy is still a U.S. Senator.

The mysteries of the case continue to haunt Ted Kennedy as well as the
authorities who investigated them. Charges of ineptitude and lack of diligence
abounded, as did insinuations that the machinery of justice crumbled beneath the
power and prestige of the Kennedy family. George Killen, former State Police
Detective-Lieutenant, and chief of a never-revealed investigation, lamented that
the failure to bring the case to a satisfactory conclusion was "the biggest mistake" of a long and distinguished police career. Senator Kennedy, he said, "killed that girl the same as if he put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger."~ Senatorial Privilege by Leo Damore

Those facts, and the more amazing reality that people actually take him seriously and keep electing him, is astounding.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates. A fictional treatment of the incident that has more truth than all of Teddy's statements following the accident.

Can you believe the cowardice (ignorance, group-think) of the media for NEVER bringing up that issue? But what do you expect when you have the followging types of people in charge of the media today:

According to an article in USA Today, NPR 90-year-old newsman Daniel Shorr has to deal with ignorant, young news producers (who were “educated” almost exclusively at east coast “elite” colleges, like Columbia, Brown, etc . . .). They ask him brilliant questions like this:“Which war came first, Vietnam or Korea?” (Answer: Korea.) One producer even asked, “You covered the Spanish-American War, didn't you?” Shorr replied, “That was in 1898.”

I see the same symptoms, but in a different way. I was giving a carriage tour and I mentioned that the battery sea wall was constructed after the War of 1812. And someone on my carriage asked (I am not joking).

“That was against the Germans, right?”

“No, the British,” I said.

“No, no, that was the Revolutionary War,” he replied.

"As was the War of 1812," I said.

"No, I'm pretty sure it was the Germans, or France."

“You're right,” I said, realizing I was in a disccussion that was going in circles and was going to take too long to straighten out. A carriage tour lasts only 1 hour. It was going to take longer than that to straighten him out. Probably another product of South Carolina Public schools (as am I, by the way, but I have always heeded Mark Twain's advice: "Never let your schooling interfere with your education."

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict by Donald R. Hickey

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The recent escalation of violence in the Mid-East has prompted many so-called 'elite' political pundits to call this World War III. I beg to differ. There is one thing that needs to happen to ensure that this becomes a World War. France has to surrender. Once France surrenders, THEN we can consider this a true World War.As President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "In politics there are no accidents. If it happens you can bet it was planned that way." I have always thought: if you're not paranoid, you're NOT paying attention to the important stuff. And, by the way, 90% of the time, the mainstream media does not cover the important stuff.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Rule by Secrecy by Jim Marrs. Even if you don't believe everything in the book, you will be watching and reading the news with a different perspective.

Charleston - The Most Mannerly City?

"It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor.” -- Thomas Jefferson

Had a nice thing happen this week while driving a carriage. I was assigned to the private carriage one day (the four-seater as opposed to the 16-seater). My customers were a couple from Tallahassee who had a Spanish exchange student living with them during the summer.

While we were driving along in SOB territory (South of Broad Street) we came upon a lemonade stand operated by two little girls - ages 3-6. My customers wanted to buy some lemonade from the girls so I pulled into a parking spot under a shade tree. I am a supporter of the free enterprise system even in its most rudimentary stages - three cups of lemonade for $3. I hope the city doesn't charge the girls the half cents sales tax to help pay for those empty CARTA buses I always see driving downtown in the evening.

While the girls were preparing the lemonade the grandparents came outside and we began to chat. By the way, the grandfather was smoking a cigar!! I hope the city doesn't try to arrest him. He was smoking on the sidewallk, next to a lemonade stand! If city council passes the smoking ban in bars and restaurants would this constitute a violation? I hope the city wouldn't try to close the lemonade stand down because of their grandfather's insensitivity! Maybe Will Moredock of The Charleston City Paper can write a column condemning the grandfather for endangering the lives of his grandduaghters.

While we were chatting and the girls were delivering the lemonade to the carriage, the grandmother brought carrots out to feed the horse. And the evil, cigar-smoking grandfather asked, "How would you guys like to see the inside of a Charleston house?"

I asked him, "Where are you from? You're obviously not from Charleston."
He asked, "Why do you think that?"
I replied, "Very few people born in Charleston who grew up south of Broad would offer a tourist a free tour of their house."

Turns out I was right. They were not true locals; they were transplants. And some of the nicest, most gracious people I have met in a long time.

graciousness.
adj. 1. Characterized by kindness and warm courtesy. 2. Characterized by tact and propriety: responded to an insult with gracious humor.3. Of a merciful or compassionate nature.
Synonyms: gracious, cordial, genial, sociable

Charleston has been voted America's Most Mannerly City for about 300 years. Notice we don't get voted American's Most Friendly City. There is a big difference between "mannerly" and "friendly". Charlestonians are usually unfailing mannerly. We are nice to people to their face. We are polite and helpful, but once they are gone . . .

Over the last two weeks I have heard reports that some locals became upset by some of the things I mentioned in a previous blog. I had written about the rudeness and lack of grace by some locals who interupt tour guides conducting their business - giving tours. It somehow got into two local publications and some people took offense. However, I am assuming most locals weren't THAT upset since only one of them contacted me personally. And he made a nice point. He stated:

"You've chosen as your 'office' a public space, so dealing with everyone else who by right has access to that same space comes with your choice of vocation. The passer-by has exactly as much right to free speech at that exact same point of real estate as do you."

He is right, but my issue was never free speech. I am a proponent of free speech in ALL forms, including flag burning and smoking in public, not just the speech I agree with. My issue was with the rudeness of some locals. It was nice this week to come into contact with some who were beyond nice, the epitome of grace . . . even if they weren't TRUE Charlestonians.

“The only gracious way to accept an insult is to ignore it; if you can’t ignore it, top it; if you can’t top it, laugh at it; if you can’t laugh at it, it’s probably deserved.” -- Russell Lynes (b. 1910), U.S. editor, critic.

Charleston Firsts

Here is a partial list of Charleston firsts that I have compiling. I'm sure there are more. If anyone knows of any, and can substantiate them . . . I'd love to know.

1. First rice planted in America in the late 1680s. By 1690, rice was being exported and by 1700, according to the Collector of Customs in Charleston, there was so much rice being imported that "there were not enough ships in the harbor to export it all".

2. America's first woman artist was a Charlestonian, Henrietta Johnson, wife of Colonial Commissary Gideon Johnson. Between 1707-1728, she painted pastel likenesses of such wealthy Charlestonians as Gov. Thomas Broughton, Sir Nathaniel Johnson, and Col. William Rhett.

3. 1734: First theatre in America is built. Dock Street theatre.

4. 1735: First opera performed in America.

5. 1736: America's first fire insurance company, the "Friendly Society for the Mutual Insuring of Houses Against Fire", was organized in Charleston. The devastating fire of 1740, which burned over 300 bldgs., bankrupted the company.

6. In 1737, Dr. John Lining made America's first scientific weather observations from his home at the corner of Broad/King Streets.

7. 1748: First cotton exported to England – 7 bags.

8. 1749: Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, was organized and in 1824 became Reformed. First Reformed Jewish Synagogue in America. By 1800, Beth Elohim Charleston had the largest Jewish community in America – 500.

9. First commercial crop of indigo, a dye plants destined to become a valuable colonial export, was planted and harvested in Charleston. Eliza (Elizabeth) Lucas (later to become the wife of Chief Justice Charles Pinckney) obtained indigo seeds form the West Indies and experimented with the plants as a young girl. By the start of the Revolutionary War, Charles Town was exporting more than a million pounds a year.

10. 1773: First American Chamber of Commerce was organized in Charleston. (In Shepherd's Tavern –corner of Church/Broad St.)

11. 1773: First science museum

12. 1775: The American Colonies' first independent flag (to replace the Union Jack) was designed by Col. William Moultrie, then commanding the state militia units that occupied Fort Johnson on James Island. It was a blue flag decorated with a white crescent, in honor if the crescents which decorated the hats of the militia.

13. Nov. 11, 1775, South Carolina's first Revolutionary War naval battle took place when two British men-of-war, the HMS Tamar and HMS Cherokee, fired upon the newly-commissioned South Carolina schooner Defence, a converted trading ship. Lord William Campbell, the last Royal Governor of South Carolina, was aboard the Cherokee during the battle. Campbell returned with the British fleet on June 28, 1776, and later died of wounds received off Sullivan's Island

14. June 28, 1776: First decisive American victory of the Revolutionary War. Although greatly outnumbered, and with vastly inferior armaments, South Carolina troops under Col. William Moultrie kept the British fleet from entering the harbor and held off the army trying to invade by land (Isle of Palms). Small fort of palmetto logs and sand, located on Sullivan's island, withstood the fire of the British fleet.

15. 1780: First American imprisoned by the British in the Tower of London was Henry Laurens, a Charlestonian who had been President of the Continental Congress 1777-78. In 1780, he was sent to get money from Holland for the American cause, but the ship was captured at sea. Laurens was taken to London, condemned for high treason and incarcerated in the Tower. The fact that he was exchanged for Lord General Cornwallis in 1781 shows the high value placed on Laurens by both the British and the Americans.

16. 1780: First prescription drug store (apothecary) in America.

17. 1786: First golf club in America was organized by a group of Scotsmen on Harleston Green, between Calhoun and Beaufain Streets, from Rutledge Ave to the Ashley River.

18. 1800: First Apt. bldge – Vanderhorst at 78 East Bay.

19. First fireproof bldg. in the United States was designed by Charleston architect Robert Mills, also known for designing the Washington Monument and the Treasury Bldg, in Washington, D. C. Was designed as a repository for public documents was completed in 1827 at a cost of $56,000 in the Greek Doric style.

20. 1830 – First regularly scheduled train offering passenger service originated from Charleston at the fantastic speed of 15 m.p.h. Part of the wreckage of that train "Best Friend", was used to cast the first cannon to be built in the Confederate States.

21. 1839 – College of Charleston becomes the first municipally supported college in America.

22. April 12, 1861: First shot of the Civil War is fired from Ft. Johnson to Ft. Sumter.

23. Feb. 17, 1864: World's first successful submarine attack took place at the mouth of the Charleston Harbor. The Confederate Hunley slid out of Breach Inlet to ram and sink the Union warship Housatonic. The Hunley also sank during the attack.

24. 1889: First U.S. successful commercial tea farm

25. Caroline Gilman, published and edited The Rosebud, the first child's newspaper in the country.

Random Thoughts on July 3

FOUNDING FATHER QUOTE FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY:
"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

- Benjamin Franklin

Franklin was the oldest signer of the Declaration of Independence at 70. The youngest signer was Edward Rutledge from Charleston, age 26.

Have a great 4th! Don't shoot fireworks close to my house that night, I'll be trying to sleep after 15 hours of work. Thank you.

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I will be having a book siging for Wicked Charleston, Volume II: Prostitutes, Politics & Prohibition at Waldenbooks @ Charleston Place on Friday, July 7, 2006, 7-9 p.m. If you like drinking/whore stories (and who doesn't?), this book is for you. http://www.wickedcharleston.net

Saturday, July 1, 2006, the stunning Rebel Sinclair had a successful book signing/ paranormal discussion at the Circular Church Graveyard . She was signing her new novel, Spirit of the Shadows, a contemporary ghost story set in a lowcountry mansion. Lots of people and some interesting disccusions on the paranormal. We learned a couple of new ghost encounters in two Charleston buildings.







Earlier in the afternoon, Reb had a run-in with the notorious Capt. Jack Sparrow.

I've got today off . . . . sitting here drinking rum, trying to get fortified enough in order to deal with the downtown Charleston Independence Day chaos. If this past weekend was any indication . . . we should be in for a fun couple of days. Do people people leave their brains at home when they take a trip? Or do they not have any to begin with?
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The federal statute on treason, 18 USC 2381, provides in relevant part: "Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States ... adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000." Thanks to The New York Times, the easiest job in the world right now is: "Head of Counterintelligence — Al-Qaida." You just have to read The New York Times over morning coffee, and you're done by 10 a.m.

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