| Vol. 1.3 | Summer 1997 | |
Hollings' Office Gets Quick Delivery of Information Needed for Amendment
| The ultimate decision as to whether South Carolina will continue to be the nation's nuclear waste dump is still up in the air, but US Sen. Fritz Hollings (D.SC) persuaded the US Senate to pass an amendment that would stop that process and he credited the Strom Thurmond Institute's FastMap program with playing a significant role in the victory. "The information received from the institute allowed me to roll over my opponents on the Senate floor," Hollings said. "The charts, the information and the illustrations proved to be too much, and not a single senator opposed our amendment to ban commercial nuclear waste from being transferred to the Savannah River Site for storage. "I, along with the people of South Carolina, owe a great debt of gratitude to the institute and the staff there." The senator's office placed emphasis on the speed with which the information was delivered. Said a member of his office staff: "Jeff Allen (the institute's research coordinator and leader of the Decisions and Communications Technology Group) happened to be in our office and heard us discussing our information needs. He said the institute could supply what we needed and -- most important to us because decision time was at hand quickly. "We called him the next day, and things started happening. On day two we got a fax with the exact information we needed. On day three, the maps arrived via FedEx. We made them into posters, and the senator had them on the floor for use in the debate, which never happened because the managers of the bill accepted his amendment before the matter came up for discussion." The posters showed the population comparisons between a Nevada site under consideration for the storage project and the Savannah River Site, all extracted from the FastMap computer files and converted to maps. The information showed a population of 615,000 living within a 50-mile concentric circle around the Savannah River Site, and only 14,000 residents in a similar area surrounding the Nevada site. The maps displayed a population of 2.6-million | South Carolina and Georgia residents within a 100-mile concentric circle around the Savannah River site. Comparable information about the larger area around the Nevada site was indefinite, according to Hollings' office, because it got into the suburbs of Las Vegas. But, a senate aide pointed out, that city doesn't have a population of anywhere near 2.6 million. The legislation concerns the federal government's intention to build a nuclear waste storage site in the Nevada desert. Investigations of the area selected has scientists somewhat concerned about its viability. There is a move afoot to allow a temporary site to be built in Nevada until safety concerns are satisfied. The bill would give the President the option of shifting waste elsewhere until the matter is settled. The Hollings' amendment barred the President from directing that commercial nuclear waste be sent to the Savannah River Site. The House hasn't voted on the bill. The major issue is over safety of water supplies in an area where nuclear waste is stored. The SRS is in a low-lying area, compared to the Nevada site, and the aquifers that carry the water move quickly, raising concerns about the speed with which contaminated drinking water could reach homes and commercial buildings should the waste site leak contaminated material. FastMap is an internet-delivered system that makes available detailed maps of Southeastern areas, complete with pertinent census data. The system combines the technology of Geographic Information Systems and the internet, photographs from satellites and aircraft and data from the US Census Bureau. Allen Said that the work in the institute's Spatial Analysis Lab is in response to needs expressed by local government units in the region. "Our maps showed that the area around the SRS definitely was not 'rural', Allen said, "and that storage of waste there could affect a large number of people. "The senator's office was having trouble getting accurate information quickly. I'm glad we could step into the breach." |
at Starr, Iva Elementaries
| A golden apple, that is. When Yvonne McGee at the Peoples Bank of Iva learned of the opportunity to nominate an outstanding teacher for Greenville television station WYFF's Golden Apple Award, she was torn between Iva Elementary's Vicki Simpson and Renae Lathrop. Both women direct the school's LINC (Linking Intergenerational Networks in Communities) project which also involves Starr Elementary School. The two women are truly a team, according to McGee. Both worked on the LINC grant to advance their "BEST Club." The acronym, stands for Business/Education Service Teams and involves at-risk youth with local business volunteer mentors. McGee was involved with the BEST Club and is now a LINC volunteer. With LINC funding, the LINC BEST Club has incorporated a service learning component and has recruited more older adult volunteers. | With guidance from their mentors, the at-risk youth are being prepared for the real world by serving their communities. The older adults benefit from sharing with the younger people and "giving back" to their community, McGee said. "Renae and Vickie have known a lot of these kids since they were in first grade. They care about these children and encourage them to take positive steps in their lives," McGee said. The Golden Apple is designated for one teacher per week who possesses outstanding teaching methods. Thanks to McGee's nominations, both Simpson and Lathrop were recognized, and each was given her own weekly segment on TV. McGee said there is a Teacher of the Year Award which will be given at the end of the school year. Might this golden team be awarded that throne for mixing older citizens and eager young people? Why not? |
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The Environmental Science and Policy Program at Clemson University (CU) has a website at the following address: http://www.strom.clemson.edu/enviro
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to Help Rural Schools
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The Middlebury (VT) College's Bread Loaf School of English has received a $2.4-million grant from the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund to expand the Bread Loaf Rural Teacher Network (BLRTN). BLRTN is a professional development program designed to improve instruction in rural classrooms in low-income communities in eight states and is affiliated with the Strom Thurmond Institute. The Institute, as a subcontractor for the grant, will receive $250,000 for the four-year period to provide editing, publishing and outreach coordination under the direction of Dixie Goswami, Chris Benson, and Carolyn Benson. Goswami said that each summer for the next four years the grant makes it possible for up to 45 teachers from Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Vermont to be offered graduate fellowships. They will study literature, the teaching of writing, creative writing, and theater arts for six weeks at the Bread Loaf School at Middlebury; Lincoln College, University of Oxford (UK); and the Native American Preparatory School, Rowe, NM, she said. |
"They, along with their schools' principals and students, will be linked to BreadNet -- a nationally recognized telecommunications network -- and receive a stipend to support collaborative projects and research in their schools and communities," she added. The new grant builds on an initial $2.7 million the Fund awarded in 1993 to help the Bread Loaf School establish the Rural Teacher Network. The network provides rural teachers access to high-quality professional development opportunities and helps them overcome their isolation from each other and from educational and cultural centers. Goswami said that "by making available opportunities for outstanding teachers, the Bread Loaf School of English will continue to play a significant role in each of the eight target states and nationally in the goal of improving American education and helping keep America's best teachers in the classroom." The program is expected to reach about 1,500 teachers nationally over the term of the grant. |
| Conflict has developed in the villages on the Atlantic coast between tourists and the year-round residents who make their living through commercial fishing. The Strom Thurmond would like to find out if that situation can be reversed. The resentment stems from the booming sport of recreational fishing which has increased competition for the available fish and affordable docking space. Perhaps the most galling development for commercial fishers was the redefining of several traditional fishing communities as "tourist destinations." Despite the economic values of tourism (which includes consumption of the catch of the commercial fishing fleet), antagonism often exists. These findings came from the institute's recently concluded MARFIN Project, "Socioeconomic Assessment of Commercial Reef Fishing in the South Atlantic Region." Dr. Ken Backman, professor of Parks, Recreation and Tourism at Clemson University and head of the institute's Regional Development Team which did the MARFIN study, observed: | "If one looks closely, there appears to be much, common ground among the conflicted groups, and if those interrelations were explored, a more harmonious coexistence might develop." Backman said the team has submitted a proposal to the National Coastal Resources Research and Development Institute entitled, "'Fishing Village Imagery Promotion as a Model for Commercial Fisher and Tourism Sector Partnerships." The four primary objectives of the study are: · To explore the potential for mutually beneficial partnerships in tourism and commercial fishing sectors. · To measure the attractiveness of "Fishing Village" imagery to coastal tourists and the extent of this market in the Southeast. · To measure the service mix which would make a "Fishing Village" tourism experience most appealing to tourists. · To evaluate the findings by implementing "Fishing Village" image promotion at a test site. "We believe the study will produce a model that can be used elsewhere," Backman said. |
Lessons from Life with SC's Accommodations Tax
Most Popular Use Was Public Services, Utilities, and Facilities to Serve Tourists
By Holley Hewitt Ulbrich
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This analysis is part of an ongoing effort by the Strom Thurmond Institute to monitor state and local finance issues in South Carolina. In 1984, South Carolina followed the lead of many other states in deciding to impose a tax on accommodations, or rentals of motel and hotel rooms, guest cottages, and other places serving tourists and business travellers. The growing popularity of this tax comes from three factors:
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tourism agency, typically a Chamber of Commerce or Convention/Visitors' Bureau. The balance is spent on tourism related activities, based on recommendations from a local Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee and approved by the city or county council. Analysis While 35 states charge general sales tax on room rentals, and 40 states allow local governments to tax room rentals, South Carolina is one of only five states with both taxes on rentals at the state level. This tax of 2% in addition to the state sales tax goes back to cities and counties, most of it to where it originated, with a small share redistributed to more rural counties with little tourism. Now we have more than ten years experience with this tax, which generated more than $22 million in revenue in 1994-95. What have we learned? First, the rate in South Carolina is still low by national standards, where the average sales plus accommodations (or occupancy) tax rate is between 12% and 14%. In South Carolina, it is 7% in counties that do not have a local option sales tax, and 8% elsewhere. Second, as was expected, the revenue is concentrated in just a few areas. Of the state's 10 tourism regions, the three coastal regions accounted for almost three-fourths of the revenue. Municipalities get a much larger share (69%) than counties because hotels and motels are concentrated in urban areas. Three fourths of the city share of |
revenues came from just four cities -- Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head, Charleston, and North Myrtle Beach.
While this tax was the first one put in place to offer some relief from the local property tax, it only served that purpose in a few areas of the state.
Third, a relatively small number of counties and municipalities crossed the $50,000 threshold and had to designate a tourism promotion agency and appoint an accommodations tax advisory committee. Twenty three counties and 34 municipalities exceeded that revenue minimum. In those areas, however, tourism funds offered some significant opportunities. Ironically, those extra funds allowed the areas already attracting tourists to expand their tourism even more relative to areas with fewer visitors, so that the gap between the two groups can be expected to increase over time.
Finally, a state committee reviews and summarizes the expenditure of tourism promotion funds each year.
Of the funds spent based on recommendations from local advisory committees, by far the most popular use in 1993-94 was public services, utilities, and facilities to serve tourists (21% of funds). However, uses were scattered across a number of categories, including waterfront erosion control and repair, civic and cultural facilities, tourism advertising and promotion, and support for local festivals.
Holley Hewitt Ulbrich, Ph.D, is Clemson University alumni professor of economics and a senior fellow of the Strom Thurmond Institute. |
| Staff
Jeffery S. Allen | Senior Scholars
Dixie Goswami Graduate Assistants
Lisa Faulkenberry STI Intern Erika Dargle Student Assistants
Ernest Haynes | Fellows
David L. Barkley | Associates
Sheila Backman |
*Original group of collaborating faculty at the institute.