CONTACT: Sandra Courie, Office of the Lieutenant Governor

803-734-2080

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 10, 2008

COLUMBIA - Lt. Governor Andrè Bauer’s office today announced the 180 winners of the 2008 Lt. Governor’s Writing Awards Program. The annual event recognizes the state’s public, private and home-schooled student writers at the fifth and eighth grade levels.

All of the winners will be recognized at 10 a.m. Monday during ceremonies at St. Andrews Baptist Church, 230 Bush River Road in Columbia. Recipients, parents, guardians, school and district officials have been invited. About 1,000 people are expected to attend.

The Lieutenant Governor’s Writing Awards Program began with Lt.

Governor Nancy Stevenson in 1979. The first meeting was held with district superintendents in the South Carolina House Chamber on May 7, 1979. Since that time, award ceremonies have been held in congressional districts, and regional statewide locations.

All fifth and eighth graders participate in the writing contest. Each class selects one top essay to be submitted to vie as the school winner.

The school winner is chosen and sent to a district coordinator who facilitates the selection of a district winner. A judging panel made up of the Lt. Governor’s Writing Award Executive Committee reads the approximate 80 essays from the private and home schools and chooses four Regional Winners.

“Our purpose in making these awards is to promote stronger writing skills, greater reading interest, and superior communication skills in our state’s next generation,” said Lt. Governor Bauer. “We are excited that through the generous support of some South Carolina businesses, both the writing awards program and the summer workshop are provided without the use of tax dollars and are free for the children who participate.”

The Lt. Governor’s Writing Program Executive Committee members are:

Deloris Brown, SCANA Corporation; Dr. Kathy Coleman, Clemson University; Jeanie Ferrer, former public school teacher; Patsy Grimes, School District Five of Lexington and Richland Counties; Linda Montague, former teacher at Gilbert High School; Jean Beilly, retired public school teacher; and Richard White, USC Research Foundation. The program is administered by Sandra Courie, State Coordinator for the Lt. Governor’s Writing Awards Program.

By Lt. Gov. André Bauer | April 6, 2008

Serving as South Carolina’s primary advocate for seniors is a truly rewarding opportunity and I am pleased with The Palmetto Scoop’s invitation to be today’s Sunday Guest Post contributor.

In the few years that I have had the pleasure of leading the good folks at the Office on Aging, we have made great strides in laying a solid foundation for the coming Age Wave. It is our goal to make sure that our seniors are able to grow old gracefully, living well and doing so in their own homes.

To do this more effectively, we have set goals and made changes to the way the office works for seniors. I want the Office on Aging to be the most efficient and productive unit of state government. We have been cutting the fat out of payroll, rent, antiquated programming and refocused the staff to prepare for the challenges before us.

We have created SCACCESS, an electronic directory of 14,000 services specific to the county level. We have created an incentive program for geriatric physicians that has become a national model, attracting 14 geriatricians to serve our seniors. We have testified to Congress and are now about to launch a campaign to put people who scam our seniors out of business. […]

MORE: http://www.palmettoscoop.com/2008/04/06/office-on-aging-making-great-strides/

James M. Miles the former Secretary of State of South Carolina is to be named Lt. Governor Andre Bauer’s Chief of Staff according to sources close to SCHotline. We will continue to follow this story as it develops, stay tuned to SCHotline.com for ‘Insider politics from across the State of South Carolina’.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDRE!

***Please disregard if received by a registered South Carolina Lobbyist***

adams@aging.sc.gov
News Release
For Immediate Release

or: JohnLegare
(803) 734-9917
jlegare@aging.sc.gov

Lieutenant Governor André Bauer Joins the Duke Energy Foundation to Kick Off the 2008 Blanket Blitz February 1 in Spartanburg and Cherokee Counties

(Columbia, S.C. — Jan. 31, 200 Winter places an unwanted burden on South Carolina’s senior citizens. Starting Feb. 1, low-income seniors in the Upstate of South Carolina will have the opportunity to receive a free blanket as part of the Palmetto Tomorrow Foundation’s Blanket Blitz.

The Blanket Blitz is a cooperative effort of Lt. Gov. André Bauer’s Palmetto Tomorrow Foundation and the Duke Energy Foundation. The blankets, which include information on electrical safety, will be distributed to seniors in Duke Energy’s South Carolina service area through partners including the Appalachia Area Agency on Aging, county Councils on Aging, adult day care centers, and other Upstate outreach organizations.

Lieutenant Governor Bauer will join representatives from Duke, local elected officials and other senior advocates in Spartanburg and Cherokee counties on Friday to hand out the first of 2,400 blankets at the Archibald Rutledge Center in Spartanburg at 10 a.m. A second stop is planned at 11:30 a.m. at Senior Centers of Cherokee County in Gaffney and the Bethel Senior Day Care Center in Gaffney at 12:30 p.m.

The Blanket Blitz returns to the Upstate on Feb. 8, with stops planned in Greenville, Anderson, Laurens, Oconee and Pickens counties.

The blanket distribution will continue across the Upstate with the help of the new mobile Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) that began servicing Anderson, Cherokee, Greenville, Oconee, Pickens and Spartanburg counties in January. The mobile ADRC offers a one-stop, no-wrong-answer place where seniors and people with disabilities can gather necessary paperwork and make appointments for numerous social programs in one location. The mobile ADRC will travel the Upstate bringing services to communities that would otherwise have none, making it easier for those without transportation to receive the help that they need.

Individuals in need of a blanket may call the Appalachia Area Agency on Aging at 864-242-9733 or toll-free at 800-434-4036 outside of the Greenville area.

Media Advisory

All media are invited to distribution sites Friday, February 1^st 2008 at Senior Centers of Spartanburg County, Senior Centers of Cherokee County and the Bethel Senior Day Care Center in Gaffney The Lieutenant Governor will be available for comment at the various sites.

What: Blanket distribution and interview opportunity with Lt. Governor Bauer

When & Where:

10:00 a.m. Archibald Rutledge Center

764 North Church Street

Spartanburg, SC 29303

11:30 a.m. Senior Centers of Cherokee County

499 W. Rutledge Avenue

Gaffney, SC 29341

12:30 p.m. Bethel Senior Day Care Center

332 West Meadow Street

Gaffney, SC 29342

-END-

News Release
Office of the Lieutenant Governor

Press Contact: Frank Adams
(803) 734-9900

January 23, 2008 — Lt. Governor André Bauer said today he will push for one joint South Carolina presidential primary in future years, rather than separate voting days for Republicans and Democrats.

Bauer says that he sees the two separate primaries as a waste of taxpayers’ dollars.

During last year’s legislative session, the General Assembly allocated state funds to allow the State Election Commission to conduct the presidential primaries.  In previous years, the respective political parties conducted and paid for their own primaries.

“As long as taxpayers are funding our current system of primaries,” says Bauer, “I see no benefit to them in having two separate primary dates in South Carolina.  Why not open the polls once and hold two primaries, instead of paying for them to be open twice.”

“Additionally, participation would probably increase with a single election day because there is likely to be less confusion,” Bauer said.  “It’s also possible that a joint system might allow voters who value their right to secret ballot to participate without publicly announcing their party preference.”

Bauer is sending letters to the Speaker of the House, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Governor requesting a study to find the most practical way to implement joint primaries in future presidential election years.

Bauer has been a long-time supporter of providing more common-sense access to public elections.  South Carolina’s current law allowing all working people and senior citizens to vote by absentee ballot is the result of the first piece of legislation authored by Bauer as a freshmen state legislator in 1996.

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