Oct. 3, 2009 - The Political Cesspool - James Edwards
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Welcome to the Political Cesspool, known worldwide as the South's foremost populous radio program.
And here to guide you through the murky waters of the political cesspool is your host, James Edwards.
James Edwards is taking...
...decided that he needed a break from the cesspool.
So your step-in is on the air.
And tonight, we have with us Cynthia from South Carolina will be joining us in just a minute with her horror story about the harassment and I would say abuse of her daughter her black neighbors.
And so why it's not safe to walk through even your own neighborhood anymore in this country because of low-class people who decide that you're not welcome in your own neighborhood once they get a foothold.
So Cynthia, are you there?
Yes, I am, Bill.
How are you?
Welcome.
Welcome to the political cesspool.
Now, I didn't go into too much of an introduction about your situation in South Carolina because a lot has happened since your daughter began or since your daughter suffered this, I would say, these verbal attacks, this harassment, this intimidation by a big group of blacks.
But just give us a brief background on what happened and how you got involved in your daughter's dilemma.
Well, it was National Ice Cream Day.
We just got back and my daughter wanted to go jogging.
It was like 6.30 in the evening.
It was cool enough.
And we never let her jog by herself.
You know, my husband and I, you know, we walked the dog.
And so she was ahead of us, about three houses ahead.
And we heard all this noise and yelling and screaming.
And, you know, my daughter starts running back, and she's really upset, and she's shaking.
And I'm like, Maria, honey, what's happening?
And she's like, mom, they would call me names.
I can't jog anymore.
I said, what do you mean they were calling you names?
And she said, I can't repeat what they were saying.
And the reason why, Bill, is because she's been in the Christian school since she was four years old.
Now she's 14.
And I said, you know, you have to tell me what they called you.
Well, they called me, you know, an F and white whore, run that white, you know, I don't know if I could say that on the air or not, run that white ass off, you white bitch, blah, And so my husband and I walked up with our German shepherd to them and confronted them and said, you know, did you call, you know, I said, did you call my daughter?
And I didn't even swear, you know, I said, did you call my daughter an F and white whore?
And, you know, one of the girls is sitting there.
She's like pretending she was Mexican, you know, she's see.
And I said, do you not understand English?
You know, then all of a sudden all the mouths, just, you know, all this awful language started coming out of their mouths.
And I said, you know, you don't understand police.
And I said, come on, honey.
You know, I said to my husband, and one of the kids, I got to say, was like eight years old.
The kids ranged, you know, from eight to probably 15 years old.
And the little black boy, you know, was just chanting all these awful things to my daughter, now wants to pat my dog.
You know, so he didn't even realize what he was saying or what the words meant.
Well, now, this all started because your daughter was out jogging.
Is this in your neighborhood?
Yeah, I've been here 21 years in this neighborhood.
All right.
Now, these were blacks.
This was a group of blacks.
Right.
And they were living in Section 8 homes.
They had just moved in there.
I know they've probably been there a couple of months.
So already, after just two months, there is a cultural displacement of whites, let's say, that this really isn't your neighborhood anymore.
And this is the message you're getting that now we can do anything we want because we're here.
And this is, do you feel like that this was really a first attempt at displacing the whites in the neighborhood?
You know, it wasn't just me being attacked because my neighbor next door to them, they urinated on her door, you know, and it wasn't a dog because you had to open up the glass door to urinate on her front door.
Well, why would they do it?
I mean, was this?
I have no idea, Bill.
You know, I mean, they're not civilized, obviously.
And they burglarized the house, robbed the house while this elderly lady, who happened to be black, was at home.
And they burglarized another house of an elderly woman, you know, around the corner.
And when this happened, you know, I was shocked, you know, and I called the police and I said, I want to press charges, all charges, against the parents of these kids and the kids.
So, you know, a week goes by, I don't hear anything.
You know, I'm calling the officer.
I call his lieutenant.
Nothing happens.
Nothing happens.
So I was looking online, you know, to try to find somebody that would help, you know, like a white advocate.
You know, and I got in touch with the Council of Conservative Citizens.
And they gave me a number to call.
And I called him, and he said, I need to go in front of county council.
So I went in front of county council and all of the members were on my side.
So they did a thorough investigation.
And while the investigation was going on, you know, these people, they would wait till dark and they pull up in front of my house and rev up the engine, you know, stop, turn around, do it again, do it again.
You know, they do it at dark.
So, you know, I jumped in my truck one night and I said, look, I'm going to find this car.
You know, it's an older made car.
And I found the car, you know, and two blacks were getting in it.
And I was going to be F-150.
You know, I pulled up my truck, you know, so they couldn't get out.
And I looked at them, you know.
I just stared at them for a long five seconds and went back home.
And then they never came back by my house again.
But, I mean, I was just shocked and very upset that they attacked my daughter.
They don't know my daughter.
She doesn't go to school with them.
So when all this is said and done, I find out that it's breach of peace is what they're charging them with.
So I go down to the station and they do the investigation and they said, well, you know, that lady was calling us racial names.
So when I went down to the station, they said, well, you know, Cindy, we have some choices here for you.
One, you know, we can all sit down together in the room and talk about this.
You know, your daughter and these people.
I said, absolutely not.
You know, I'm not going to be, you know, I'm not subjecting my daughter or myself in one room.
I'm not going to be in one room with these people.
Or B, we can charge you with breach of peace.
And I said, charge me.
Well, then we're going to have to read you your rights.
I said, read me my rights because, you know, this is going to go to court and the truth will come out.
And they said, well, you know, breach of peace is nothing but a slap on the wrist.
Or you can drop the charges.
So I assume that the children, the parents, you know, because I told the police officer that I'm going to, I'm going after the parents of the children.
But we have no parental responsibility laws here in South Carolina.
So what I'm trying to do is get that parental responsibility law passed here in South Carolina so parents are held accountable and responsible for their children.
Now, have you actually had any face-to-face encounters or confrontations with the parents of any of these children?
Have any of them approached you either with an apology or with a threat or nothing?
So they've just basically left their children to run up and down the streets harassing people with no intervention at all.
So then after that happens, my neighbor was driving home and then with a 20-minute period, okay, there's three black kids taking up the whole road.
So my neighbor's slowing down so he doesn't hit him, okay?
And then the black kid sticks his head, you know, in the guy in my neighbor's window and says, we're going to F you up, man.
And Reggie's like, what did you say?
You heard me.
We're going to F you up.
And then they pull their pants down.
And they start following back, following him to his driveway.
Well, Reggie is nobody to mess with.
He jumps out of the van and the kids start running down the street.
And they're like 16 or 17 years old.
So we have a threat against somebody's life.
And then another black kid was riding by.
It was like 10 minutes later.
I was like, hey, I said, did you know those black kids that were just walking down the street?
He said, I ain't got no friends.
I said, you don't have any friends?
I ain't got no fucking friends.
He said, you got to use the light.
Watch the language.
And I'm sorry about that.
And I said, then just go on.
Just go.
So he said, I'm not going anywhere.
I'm staying right here.
I said, do you know what?
You stay right there.
And I called the police.
Well, he reaches in the back, and I thought he was going to pull out a gun.
But what he did was he pulled his pants down.
So, you know, here I am back at County Council again.
You know, I have to call the Greenville Sheriff's Department every time something happens, so it's logged, you know, in case somebody gets hurt.
But since then, I've got to tell you, Bill, these people don't live in this neighborhood anymore.
So they've moved away.
We're coming into break, Cynthia, in just a second.
But what I want to say is that this has all happened.
That is, what happened in your neighborhood happened.
Nothing like this had occurred before until these people moved in.
And then a few months after they move in, basically as welfare dependents, then your neighborhood gets turned upside down.
Exactly.
Okay.
Well, we're going into break, and we'll be right back after these messages with Cynthia from South Carolina.
Interesting story.
Don't go away.
There's more Political Cesspool coming your way right after these messages.
Welcome back to Get On The Political Cesspool.
Call us on James's Dime, toll-free, at 1-866-986-6397.
And here's the host of the Political Cesspool, James Edwards.
Tonight, filling in for James Edwards, Bill Rowland, and with me tonight in our third hour as a guest, we have Cynthia from South Carolina.
She's telling us the story of her experiences with blacks moving into her neighborhood, living in Section 8 housing, and what happened to her family, particularly the harassment and intimidation of her daughter by a gang of blacks, completely unprovoked.
But this is an example of what happens when you build a multicultural tower of Babel and expect everybody to live in peace, joy, and harmony.
It doesn't happen.
What happens is the decent law-abiding citizens are subjected to fear and intimidation by the criminal welfare element.
Now, Cynthia, you were saying that these houses that it was only a couple of months after these black people moved into these houses that the harassment began.
And it wasn't just you, it was other people in the neighborhood.
And that it was one housing project in particular that had turned Section 8.
Is that correct?
Or one.
And these were rental houses.
These black people don't own these houses.
They're rental houses.
Yeah, they're rental houses.
And most of them owned by one person?
Yes, they are.
And who owns this?
How many houses is it approximately?
Ashley, he's got about four duplexes down there, so he has eight rental properties.
Eight rental properties.
And what is his name?
Henry Bickman.
Henry Bickman.
And he's the owner of property.
Well, of course, I guess if you get Section 8 housing, you know, you can't really control who moves in.
But it's interesting that all of these, the problem houses seem to be in that group of duplexes.
I mean, is that a pretty accurate statement?
Yeah, it is.
I have rental properties myself, and I don't accept Section 8 because they don't take care of it.
They don't have to pay any rent.
Or if they do, it's a small amount.
It might be $15 a month.
These are low-income people, collecting food stamps and Medicaid.
And I don't do it because the houses I have, I screen the people.
And most of the majority of the time, I get good tenants in my houses.
Right.
So you know the rental business from the inside.
I mean, you know that.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, if I have a problem with a tenant, or even my neighbors have a problem with a tenant, I want to know about it.
And I take care of it that day.
You know, for instance, I had an old man that lives across the street from one of my duplexes call me and said, look, you know, this young couple, every Friday and Saturday night, you know, they got that music blaring really loud, you know, coming home at 12, 1 o'clock in the morning.
You know, and this is every Friday and Saturday night.
So, you know, I'm there the next day, and I said, look, it says right here on your lease, no loud music.
If you feel the need to pay loud music, you need to find another place to go.
Right.
Because, you know, they signed contracts with me.
Did you ever try to contact Henry Bickman about the problem you were having with his tenants?
Yeah, several times.
And no response.
No response.
No.
Well, now, after your daughter was put through her trauma of having to deal with this group of blacks harassing her, yelling at her, calling her names, you basically decided to take a stand.
I mean, you weren't going to be run out of your neighborhood.
You weren't going to be intimidated.
And as you said in the previous segment, you started to really take some fairly aggressive action.
And by that I mean legally aggressive action to stop this.
You went to the police department.
They wouldn't really take any action without also prosecuting you, apparently.
That this group of blacks countercharged that you had disturbed the peace or whatever the term is for the type of misdemeanor.
And so you were facing arrest or at least citation along with them.
The parents never got involved.
Well, what steps did you take after that?
I mean, you've obviously reached a dead sort of a dead end here in the police station.
Well, no, because when in front of county council, there was a police officer there who he's the assistant to our sheriff loftist.
And so, you know, then things started happening.
They were investigating and but it came up to a dead-end wall.
So what I did was try to make this awful thing that happened to my daughter and try to do something positive.
You know so this doesn't happen to other kids.
I mean, so I didn't know until this all happened that we do not have a res parental responsibility law.
And I thought, you know, I thought every state, every parent is responsible for their child and their actions until they're 18.
But we don't have that law.
What?
What states do have that law?
Illinois has that law.
Oh, Obama's state, Illinois has the parental responsibility law.
So what I did was I contacted senators here in South Carolina and I wrote them all a letter and, along with that, a copy of the parental responsibility law that Illinois has in place.
Well, where does this?
I'm sorry, I was just gonna say so.
You've become an advocate for passage of a parental responsibility law in South Carolina.
Do you have you any senators come forward to support this law or to try to push it through, to get some legislative action?
Well, they're on.
They're on break right now.
But I did get a call back from let's see what I'll.
Let's see.
I've got a list of names here.
Shane Martin called me.
He called me Friday and said, Cindy, I got your letter and I got your message on the phone.
We need to get together.
I'm also a parent.
You know we have wonderful school systems here in Greenville, South Carolina.
I mean state-of-the-art schools.
They put a lot of money into them and what I did was I, you know, walked around, I interviewed different teachers and different parents and different school districts and basically came up with, you know, the same thing.
The common denominator is, you know, a lot of these kids and all kids I'm talking about not just blacks, but you know, they go into the schools.
They don't bring their books, they don't bring their papers and their pens and the pencils and the teachers have to politely ask them, you know, next time you come to class, please bring your book, you know.
And then the teachers aren't speaking in double negatives, so a lot of the kids don't understand what the teachers are saying.
And then if we have a really terrible kid, we take them and we ship them to the west side of Greenville to go to school, passing them, you know, from an F to a D, and we, the taxpayers doesn't matter how you know seven.
We have 790 square miles in Greenville County.
So wherever that child is we, the taxpayers, have to pay for that bus to pick up that child and bring them all the way to the west side and bring them back home.
So there again lies where's the parental responsibility.
There they should be the ones driving their kids back and forth to school if their kids are having a problem.
You have to do well.
Now you, you got some.
After your the incident with your daughter, you actually got quite a bit of press coverage.
I mean this, this obviously struck a nerve with people in the area and particularly with the press.
Yeah, I've had my name mentioned in a couple of papers.
The Times Examiner did a full page, a front page article on it.
We have a community newspaper, they they mentioned my name in that newspaper.
I sent Russ Castle W-O-R-D.
I just found out today.
I sent him an email and I just found out today that one of my friends said he read it off at six o'clock Friday morning, the you know the letter.
We've got problems with gangs, you know of of all races.
I've I got a letter that I wrote brief.
If you want me to read it to you what I wrote.
I don't know if we have time before the break.
We certainly want you to read it when we get back from the break, but one quick question.
Have you personally been suffering threats or intimidation since you've taken this action?
No, not at all.
I mean I had the cars driving by and then it was driving by in the middle of the night deep in the horns all you know hours of the night and they were doing it to one of my neighbors down the street.
That kind of harassment is what I've been having.
But no, I haven't had any, you know, I'm keeping my, you know, definitely keeping my guard up.
But no, I haven't had any harassment since then.
Well, we've got a break coming up, Cindy.
We'll be right back after these messages for listening to the political cesspool.
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On the show and express your opinion in the Political Cesspool,
call us toll-free at 1-866-986-6397.
And we are back, but not with James Edwards.
I'm the temporary host for the night, Bill Rowland.
But I'm glad you've joined me.
I need your support and your sympathy tonight.
Seriously, our guest tonight for the third hour is Cynthia from South Carolina, and she's been telling us about the problems she had with her Section 8 housing black neighbors after they moved into her neighborhood and began to disrupt the peace and quiet of an otherwise well-established and friendly place.
So, by the way, if you have calls, if you'd like to call and have some questions or want to talk about this topic with Cynthia, the number is 866-986-6397.
Give us a call if you have a question for Cynthia or a comment.
Now, Cynthia, before we went to break, you mentioned that you had written a letter and you wanted to go ahead and read it.
So, read this letter about.
I wrote this letter to Senator Fair, and I saved some articles, and what it says, and basically the letter that's the same to all the senators that I wrote to, it says, enclosed, you will find articles that I have saved for you, also laws that the state of Illinois has.
We in Greenville, and I'm sure across our state of South Carolina, are having problems with children under the age of 18.
First of all, we need a law, sadly but true, to hold parents accountable for their children's actions.
In the enclosed articles regarding the problems with teens in the downtown Greenville, you will note that the parents of these children use the defense that they can't find anything for their children to do on weekends.
The implication is that it is once again the responsibility of the hardworking tax-paying citizens of Greenville County to step in and do the jobs of these parents.
It is not enough that we pay for these children to be born, fed, clothed, and given the opportunity for a good education.
Where is the parental accountability?
Greenville County stepped up and instituted a temporary curfew, but this is merely a measure to cope with the situation, not a solution to it.
I believe that South Carolina needs to enact a parental responsibility law similar to the one in place in the state of Illinois, which I have enclosed.
Making parents financially responsible for the criminal acts of their children may be the only way to make them aware of all their parental responsibilities.
Affected parents will complain that they are being singled out and punished.
The reality is that a law like this may be the only chance their children have of living a good and productive life.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
I hope you will give it the consideration that I and many other South Carolina citizens know that it deserves.
I would appreciate a reply regarding the feasibility of enacting this law, and I have included my return address below.
So that's basically what I sent on to the senators.
Let me say one thing, Bill, before we're going any further.
Had a juvenile officer came to my house and said my daughter was involved, you know, saying racial slurs to a young black girl jogging down the road, you know what I would have done with my daughter?
I would have brought her down to the courthouse, and I would have had the judge mandate that she does 20 hours of community service for Greenville.
That would have been my punishment for my daughter had she done anything like that.
But you've heard absolutely nothing from the parents of any of these.
You know, I honestly thought that I was going to have knocks on the door apologizing.
You know, I'm sorry that my son or my daughter, you know, said this.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Not an apology, nothing.
Well, what kind of support have you gotten from the community because of you've stepped up and demanded that something be done about these lawless juveniles running over Greenville and basically taking over and terrorizing your neighborhood?
Well, there was also four adults up there, too.
So, you know, there's nothing really we can do about the adults.
You know, I mean, it's the children that, you know, I feel that they're teaching their kids that this is okay.
This is not okay behavior.
It's unacceptable behavior.
And I don't care if you're white, green, black, purple, or red.
You do not talk to people like that.
You know, it's disturbing.
Do you think or do you see any signs that this harassment is escalating or could escalate into something much more dangerous, much more menacing, violence, for instance, or more vandalism?
You mentioned some break-ins, some robberies.
I mean, is there indications that the crime is getting worse in that area?
Oh, no.
Everybody's gone.
Everybody has gone.
I mean, it's like it never happened.
These people moved out, and other people have moved out, and, you know, it's just amazing that they're gone.
I'm happy.
Unfortunately, they're going to go to another neighborhood and probably do the same thing.
But I don't want them in my neighborhood.
I've got two properties on this street, and I've been here 21 years, and I'm not moving.
And I'm not going to put up with that kind of behavior either.
We do have a problem with downtown Greenville.
I mean, they had, first, the news said there were like 50 kids, you know, disturbing the peace downtown.
In downtown Greenville, you know, they have nice restaurants and shops.
And, you know, the rent's not cheap down there.
And there were actually more than 50.
The news said there were 50.
A friend of mine said there must have been 500 of them.
And the police had it, you know, they didn't do anything.
I mean, they were banging on the windows at the car doors.
People had to close their shops down.
So Greenville, the city of Greenville, what they did was they put that curfew of 10 o'clock.
You know, 10 o'clock p.m., all the kids have to be off the street.
Well, you know, if you're a family and you're going to go out to eat, you're leaving around 6 o'clock at night.
You get down there, you pay $5 to $10 to park.
You have a meal.
It costs you $70, $80.
You're walking around the shop.
You're home by 9.30.
So what good does 10 o'clock do?
It doesn't make any sense.
And I just got back from Las Vegas a few days ago where we have people coming in from all over the world.
Okay, and my husband and I see the show car, and we're walking down the strip at midnight, and I feel safer walking down Las Vegas.
And I asked my father, I said, how did they handle the gang problems there?
And he said, it's simple.
You put up no loitering signs.
You know, they've got a tough mayor there.
No laundering.
There were no kids hanging out downtown Las Vegas.
I mean, there's a solution to every problem.
And if you put up no loitering signs with a fine, then guess what?
We're not going to have this problem anymore.
But I don't understand why they're not doing this.
Greenville, are you telling me that something like, well, the police say 50, the other people say hundreds of these, were they black kids?
Most of them were.
They're all in this Greenville, you know, I guess, riot or mini riot that you're talking about, that they caused trouble, banging on windows and so forth.
Was this a one-night one night, and then they instituted the 10 o'clock curfew.
They wanted to hang out there until 10 o'clock at night.
What prompted this eruption?
I don't know.
I mean, like I said, the parents are like, well, you know, the parents are dropping them off downtown.
You know, and then they're coming to us, you know, what are we supposed to do with our kids?
Well, Bill, my daughter's pretty tired when it comes Friday because, you know, she's an A student.
She's involved in volleyball, you know, and she takes dance lessons.
You know, Friday afternoon, when she gets home, she's pretty tired.
So, I mean, these kids have it all for free.
And why aren't they doing their homework?
Why are they hanging out?
There seems to be sort of a mass hysteria that takes place among, and I'll just, you know, among black kids when too many of them get in one place at one time.
Here where I live, a couple of months ago, there was a handbill that went out that advertised two movies being shown at this big multiplex theater.
And these two movies were, you know, black films.
Let's put it that way.
One, I think it was a horror film, and another one was a black rapper film or something.
I'm not sure what the films were, but clearly they were advertised for black audiences.
So these handbills are handed out all over town.
Parents of black kids come and I think the show was supposed to start at 10 o'clock or late at night and go sort of late into the night.
And they drop their kids off, leave.
It's only after these black kids are there and they're there in large numbers, a huge crowd, that the discovery is made that these are R-rated movies and that no one under 17 is admitted without a parent or guardian with them.
So hundreds of black kids under the age of 17 were roaming the parking lot without any way to leave.
And of course, what happens?
The same thing that happened.
Same thing that happened in Greenville.
A huge melee erupts, fights in the parking lot.
The other patrons of the movies and the different movies in this theater are held hostage by these gangs of roving black kids milling around outside the theater because their parents just dropped them without any attempt to find out about the movies or what they were watching.
Same thing is happening in Greenville.
Cindy, we're about to go into break.
We'll be right back and we'll finish up your story, fascinating story about someone who has the courage to stand up to a menace to her neighborhood and a menace to her family.
So we're looking forward to hearing the end of this story because I think it's a pretty promising ending, Cindy.
I hope so.
I really do.
All right.
We'll be right back.
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But our guest tonight in the third hour is Cynthia from South Carolina.
And we have been talking about the troubles and travails of her daughter and her family as they have had to confront black residents of a Section 8 housing lease or housing apartments, housing, and how she confronted that and what happened.
Now, Cynthia, once again, as we've said throughout this segment or throughout while you've been on the air with us, that the real problem is with the parents and their failure to take responsibility for their children and your push to get a law in South Carolina making parents responsible for their children's actions.
Right.
And what now the model legislation for that, what's the basic language of that legislation?
Well, it says right here, the legal guardian once my glasses aren't that, let me see.
Wait, let me just get into a better lighting, right?
The older you get, the worse your eyes get.
You know what I mean?
Okay, it says basically legal guardian means a person appointed guardian or given custody of a minor by a circuit court of the state, but does not include a person appointed guardian or given custody of a minor under the Juvenile Act or the Juvenile Court Act of 1987.
Liability.
The parent or legal guardian of the unemancipated minor who resides That such parent or legal guardian is liable for actual damages for the willful or malicious acts of such minor which causes injury to a person or property, including damages caused by the minor who has been adjudicated a delinquent for violating section 22-1.3 of the Criminal Code of 1961.
Responsible attorneys' fees, reasonable attorney's fees may be awarded to the plaintiff that is not a governmental unit in any action under this act.
And it's up to like $20,000 is the amount that these parents would have to pay for the actions of their children.
I'm quite honestly appalled that most states, if not all states, don't have this law.
I do.
I was shocked.
I thought, you know, and it's not because I thought it was a law to be a parent, you know, because I have been parenting my child since, you know, before I gave birth to her.
You know, and then I want to say, you know, I spoke to one senator and he said, you know, I hate to play devil's advocate.
He said, but, you know, most of those kids downtown come from a single family, a single parent home.
You know, I've been a single parent for 13 years.
I just recently got married last year.
So, you know, and I told him, I said, you know, I can't swallow that because, you know, that's an excuse.
And I don't, you know, there's a solution to every problem is also an excuse.
And everybody seems to see, and everybody's attitude seems to be, well, you know what, this is the way the world is nowadays.
But, Bill, the world doesn't have to be like this because it's going downhill.
It really is.
And if we don't step up and do something and make these parents become parents, I mean, we have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the nation.
We're the lowest as far as education goes here in South Carolina.
I mean, it's embarrassing.
So here's another factor to take into account.
That is that many of the talk is of these are single parent homes or single parent, it's a single parent problem.
An excuse is what it is.
You know, I've been a single parent.
Right, that's right.
Well, also, that many of these so-called single parents never leave the front porch of the house.
I mean, they don't have any excuse, any legitimate excuse, for not acting like a parent.
Exactly.
These so-called parents never leave the house.
And so they can supervise their children 24 hours a day.
Exactly.
And yet, if you're working, there are an awful lot of children, and they used to call them latchkey kids, latchkey children, who would come home from school to an empty house, and yet they're not the one.
These aren't the kids who are out throwing bottles at the cars or yelling at girls or trying to harass their neighbors.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And, you know, I keep my daughter busy, and she is.
Ever since, you know, you have to teach them morals.
They're not born with this.
You know, this is what parents do.
We have to teach our children manners, morals, you know, how to behave in public.
I mean, these children are not born with this.
We parents have to teach these children this.
And that's what being a parent is all about.
If you're going to be a parent, if you're going to have a baby, you take the responsibility.
And, Bill, it's not easy being a parent.
I mean, it is with mine.
I just have the one.
But, you know, she's my main priority, you know, to make her a productive member of society.
What kind of response have you gotten on this effort to put this law on the books?
You know, I just started.
I wrote all the letters two weeks ago, and I started making phone calls, leaving messages.
They're meeting before all of them are meeting downtown at Beaville County Square on the 12th of October.
And I called the secretary, and she works one day a week.
And I want to be there downtown at County Square when these state senators get together and talk.
I definitely want to be there.
Also, I'm going to be getting on to, I'm speaking in front of the Public Safety Committee of Greenville.
Because I have, you know, I have older friends that are older people that I know.
They feel like they're prisoners in their own homes because they don't dare go to the mall in fear that they're going to get mugged.
You know, they don't go downtown.
And these are the people that have money that can keep these businesses going.
I mean, we're in a recession right now.
And talking to these older people, they're saying, you know, we're afraid to go to Ingalls, which is a grocery store down the road.
I mean, it's just, it's awful, you know, and businesses are shutting down.
And here are these people, they have money to spend, and they want to get out of the house because they're retired, and they're afraid to go to the mall.
Because the mall is full of roaming.
French gang on Friday, you know, black gang on Saturday, and Hispanic gang on Sunday.
And I wrote a letter to Simon is the company that owns Hayward Mall.
I wrote a letter to the manager.
I've called him several times.
He will not return my phone calls.
Because the fact of the matter is, these kids are not spending money.
They're just hanging out.
There is no packages in their hands.
So if a guardian or a parent takes them to the mall, usually they have more money to spend, you know, and these elderly people can feel like they can go to the mall and spend money without having their purses snatched or being mugged in the parking lot.
And this man's not returning my calls.
I mean, it only makes sense, doesn't it?
The fact is, the fact is that people come in and spend their money.
These kids who show up at malls end up costing those stores money.
It costs them money because they're preventing people, real consumers, from going into the stores.
We see this.
This is simply an epidemic in malls, as far as malls are concerned, except for malls in areas which have virtually no minorities.
Now, that's the difference.
Well, you know, when I was going, I lived in one year in Las Vegas with my father, and they had a law.
This was back in the 70s.
And my friend and I would always go to the mall, walk after school, and go to the mall.
Well, we weren't allowed to go to the mall without a parent or a legal guardian.
This is in Las Vegas, Nevada, and that was in the 70s.
So my father had to write a note, you know, because my friend and I, we were actually spending money in the mall, you know.
So he had to write a letter, you know, saying, you know, you need to allow my daughter, you know, she has money to shop.
So I had to have a written note from my father to get to the mall.
But they have a law like, they had a law like that back in the 70s with malls.
And they do have laws like that in malls.
And they should.
Well, malls are private property.
So these are private property property.
And these management companies can do everything that is necessary to stop this invasion of juvenile delinquents.
They can take the necessary steps, but generally they just don't have the guts to do it.
But you know, it would increase their revenues.
They would make more money.
The stores would stay open if they took the bad seeds out of there or have them come with a parent or an adult.
The fact is that the malls generally are going to wait way too long to take action.
And unfortunately, it's only going to cost the decent, hardworking consumer and taxpayer more money.
Unfortunately, Cindy, we're out of time.
It's been a pleasure having you on the air.
And all the best wishes and prayers on your effort to get that law passed in South Carolina.
It's certainly a law that every state needs.
Make the parents responsible for their children.
Good night, everybody.
Next week, James Edwards will be back.
I'm Bill Rowland.
Happy Landing.
Thanks for joining us tonight in the Political Cesspool.