On Tues. Sept. 25, Winthrop welcomed seven candidates for SC House of Representatives to participate in a forum to answer questions about issues such as infrastructure, mental health and gun control.
The candidates who took part in the forum sponsored by the West Forum were John Kraljevich, House Seat 26, Johnny Walker, House Seat 49, Vickie Holt, House Seat 48, Tom Hawk, House Seat 43, Carl Dicks, House Seat 46, Marty Cotton, House Seat 47 and Corin Buskey, House Seat 45
Dicks addressed the problem of homelessness and crime in the Rock Hill area and he said it made him consider how South Carolina addresses these issues.
“One of the [problems] that I got to see first hand on Sunday, we had a concert at the amphitheater, and we got to see homelessness. Right here in Rock Hill. It made me start thinking about affordable housing. It doesn’t pop up as a priority one, but as we grow it has become one. Crime, especially among youth, is another problem that I’ve seen,” Dicks said.
An issue that Tom Hawk, House Seat 43, said he has seen is the nearly poverty level income for residents of Chester County.
“Their median income, which 50 percent is higher and 50 percent is lower, is $1000 above poverty level for a family of four. That means 50 percent of the people of Chester County earn poverty level or less,” Hawk said.
Hawk said that one way to combat this low income in his county is through tax reform or raising the minimum wage.
“I’m working on trying to get more money into the hands of the citizens, the people at the bottom, the middle class. Whether that’s through tax reform, raising the minimum wage, whatever needs to be done. We need to take care of the citizens,” Hawk said.
Marty Cotton, House Seat 47, focused on teachers, first responders and veterans in his opening remarks. He said that it is necessary to eliminate state income taxes for these groups.
“Without these three pillars of our community, our district, our state, and our country would fall to chaos. If elected, I propose to eliminate state income tax obligations for these three pillars of our society,” Cotton said.
The candidates had similar stances on the topics addressed such as mental health in the state. They addressed the need for a focus on mental health in schools and its correlation to gun violence.
Johnny Walker, House Seat 49, said that guidance counselors should be put back into schools.
“South Carolina needs to put a focus back on mental health, in particular. A lot of the homeless issues, the drug usage can stem back to mental health. Counselors in schools. We have great career counselors, not a whole lot of social counselors. We need to put those types of resources back in the school systems, so they can find those potential safety areas and give our teachers a safer place to teach our children,” Walker said.
Vickie Holt, House Seat 48, said that school shootings and mental health are directly related.
“We need to have qualified counselors and social workers in the classrooms to observe behaviors of bullies and the bullied. When someone decides to take an automatic weapon and shoot his fellow students, that didn’t start six weeks ago, or even six months ago. It started with ostracism, lack of understanding and tolerance, and inability to communicate at first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade level,” Holt said.
Corin Buskey, House Seat 45, said that an anonymous alert system should be implemented to inform officials of worrisome behavior.
“I think we need to take a multi-layered approach to curve or end gun violence in the schools. I believe that we need to have an anonymous reporting system, such as text-messaging. If a student that’s in school sees maybe his friend is kind of crazy and doing some deviant type behaviors, he can anonymously report that to law enforcement or to school officials,” Buskey said.
The cost of college tuition was addressed by many of the candidates. John Kraljevich, House Seat 26, said that though the state budget was increased by a billion dollars last year, tuition for public universities still rose.
“Distinct budget went up by a billion dollars last year. Your tuition didn’t go down. Your road isn’t any better or any prettier. Your taxes didn’t go down, that’s for sure. That money went somewhere,” Kraljevich said.
Kraljevich said that out-of-state universities are cheaper than in-state institutions which causes students to leave South Carolina and never return.
“I went to an out-of-state school when it was time for me to grow up and go to college and guess what? I never went home again. That’s what happens to kids who go to out of state schools. They don’t come home. We are telling our current crop of high school and college kids that because we want to save a little money to raise money in other places, we would rather you go someplace else and not come home again,” Kraljevich said.
