Freddie Gault has announced his bid for election, and this is his statement.

"It is a pleasure today that I announce my candidacy for the office that I was appointed to in 2009 the Clerk of Court for Union County. When I was appointed by Governor Sanford in 2009 I made a commitment to work tirelessly to promote the best interest of Union County and to do so with integrity and professionalism. I would like to give you an accounting of what has transpired during my term:

STATEWIDE COURT CASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (CMS)

When I took office in 2009 during some of the audits taking place in the Clerk of Court’s Office, I learned that Union County was not under the Court Case Management System also known as CMS. I also found out that it had been previously offered to Union County but that the county had turned the system down. I talked with Solicitor Kevin Brackett and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Jean Toal to find out what it would take to get our county with CMS. Chief Justice Toal sent her Director, staff manager and engineers from the Court Administration to Union and met with me, Solicitor Brackett, County Supervisor Tommy Sinclair and Chief Magistrate Jimmy Crocker. I later appeared before County Council and asked their approval to move forward with the project. Over the next couple of months the Court Administration placed almost $500,000.00 into the Courthouse at no expense to the county. This included running new T-1 wiring throughout every office. including not only the Clerk of Court’s Office and Courtroom but also the Magistrate Office, Supervisor’s Office, Probate Judge, Treasurer, Auditor, Delinquent Tax and Sheriff’s Office. The Clerk’s Office, Magistrate Office and Courtroom also received all new computers, printers and scanners. The new CMS linked the Clerk’s office, Solicitor’s Office and Magistrate office together and linked Union County with the State Court Administration. This eliminated the redundancy of the information being placed in by each office while it increased accuracy and access to court information. In the Clerk’s Office CMS manages General Sessions Court and Common Pleas Courts, to include case management, jury management, and accounting for the bonds, fines and fees. Any changes in state law that may change the fines are automatically put into the system by the Court Administration. We are now on line so anyone can search court information such as case records of criminal and civil cases and court rosters. The public and attorneys can do this from any computer without having to come into the courthouse. During the time that CMS was being installed it was learned that the county would need to replace its telephone system. Even though this was a project of the Supervisor and County Council we learned that the county could “piggy back” the new phone service off of CMS and not need to run new phone lines. This being a savings to the county of over $100,000.00. All of this taking place at no cost to the citizens of Union County.

Register of Deeds

The Mortgage and Deeds section of the Clerk’s Office is probably the area that has the most interaction with the public. Attorneys, surveyors, abstractors and public citizens are in the office daily conducting searches. When I took office I talked to several of these people. One of the concerns was the number of public access computers. When I had the CMS lines run in the courthouse I had them to also run new T=1 lines and hook ups in the public access area. It has taken me until just recently to complete this project but we doubled the amount of public access computers from 3 to 6. Another concern that I had was with the way the Clerk’s Office had to take images of new deeds. Not long into the office the camera that was used to do this filming broke and needed to be replaced. The cost of replacing the camera would have been several thousand dollars. I researched and found that we could scan the images in house and send those images to an outside imaging company that we were already using. They would then send the images to State Archives. The cost of going in this direction would only cost approximately $500.00 a year and we would not have to purchase the camera. Also by doing this the employees would not need to do the filming which was taking them a few hours per week and they could now spend this time in the office working on other needs. I also heard complaints of the scan machines that are used to look up Plats and the printer. Many times people could not view the micro film well and could not print clear copies. Last year I had some federal money left over at the end of the budget year and with Council’s approval I was able to purchase two new scanners and a printer to replace the older ones. Anyone can come in now and not only view the images more clearly but also make wonderful copies. Again at no cost to the citizens of Union County.

COURTROOM

Anyone that has ever been in our Courtroom talks about how beautiful it is. But they also talk about how you cannot hear very well. I talked to some of the Judges that we have had and heard their concerns in this matter. I knew we had a Courthouse that is 100 years old and not built to today’s standards. Solicitor Brackett and I had a group come in and observe during court. One of the first projects was to replace the sound system. This cost was split between Federal money from the Clerk’s Office and Solicitor’s Office. This helped during court in the front area of the courtroom but we still had problems with everyone being able to hear due to the high ceilings, hardwood floors and plaster walls. After talking with another Clerk of Court that had a similar situation we placed acoustic panels on the walls of the courtroom and this has helped out tremendously. This was paid for by the Solicitor’s Office. And again all this at no cost to the citizens of Union County.

FAMILY COURT/ CHILD SUPPORT

The Family Court/Child Support Office of the Clerk of Court’s Office was moved to the Courthouse Annex prior to me taking office. Once I was in office I met with security personnel from DSS and SLED. We all agreed that the security at the Child Support Office had to be improved. I had metal bars placed at the top of the wall of the office that previously was an open space. I also had a metal door put up to replace a wooded door at the entrance to the office to secure this area. I have also started the direct deposit for child support. Now if a person chooses they can have their child support payment go directly into their bank account and they do not have to wait to have the check processed through my office. This speeds up the time of the person receiving the payment on getting the funds and also cuts down on the time that the employees in the Child Support Section since they do not have to cut those checks. I continue to have a deputy sheriff assigned to the Child Support Office full time. He not only provides security for the office but also handles all of the “Most Wanted” and “Dead Beat Parents” fliers with local news media. This has proven to be a great resource to get the names of these people out to the public. Each of these has been paid for by Federal funds and again at no cost to the citizens of Union County. I feel that the staff in my office and I have made a lot of improvements to the Clerk of Court’s Office since 2009. I am so proud of the employees in the Clerk’s Office for all the hard work that they do daily. Prior to me accepting the position of Clerk of Court I retired with 27 years in law enforcement. Over those years I worked closely with the Solicitor’s Office, Public Defender’s Office, Probation Office, Sheriff’s Office, State and Federal Law Enforcement agencies and local attorneys. My time as Clerk of Court and being an “Officer of the Court” has seen all of those relationships grow. I work closely with the Judges in the Circuit and from around the state. This past year I was appointed to the Technology Committee for the state court system, serving with other Clerks, Judges and the Court Administration. I strongly believe that Union County needs an experienced leader to guide the Clerk of Court’s Office through the next few years. Now is not the time for a less experienced Clerk of Court. I consider it a privilege to serve the citizens of Union County and I pledge to continue my diligent commitment and service to the people of Union County. I promise as an elected official to never forget who I am serving. I look forward to the future and as serving as YOUR Clerk of Court."

Gault’s wife Melodi work at DSS. They have two sons Jon Nick a freshman at Wofford College and Jacob a freshman at Union County High School. They are members of Grace United Methodist Church.

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USC-UNION ANNOUNCES PRESIDENT'S HONOR ROLL, DEAN'S LIST

Monday, February 6

The University of South Carolina Union Campus has named 21 students to the President’s Honor Roll and 90 students to the Dean’s List for the Fall 2011 semester. President’s Honor Roll students must be full-time grade point average of 4.0, and Dean’s List are full-time students with a semester GPA above 3.25. Named to the President’s Honor Roll were: Ashley LaPierre, Lourie Watson, and Cristen Wheatley of Buffalo; Suzanna Codington, Jay Peay, and Maureen Reese of Clinton; Kyle Williams of Jonesville; Isaac Brown, Charlotte Mitchell, and Jonathan Moore of Laurens; Caleb Cudd of Lockhart; Hannah Brown of Newberry; Travis Black, Amber Clayton, Christen England, Tyler Lance, Paula Millwood, Jessica Stoike, Ashley Williams, and Heather Wilson of Union; and Michael Eaves of Whitmire. Named to the Dean’s List were: Donielle Babb, David Goins, Alexis Taylor, Andrew Turner, Stacie Vanderford, Mary Walton, and Carolyn Willard of Buffalo; Derry Rambert of Chester; Matthew Galloway of Clinton; Alexis Johnson and Stephen Wattman of Columbia; Cleverland Jeter, Megan Patton, and Ellen Smith of Gaffney; James Griffin of Gray Court; Jason Adams, Jr. and Phillip Quinn of Jonesville; Cora Caldwell, Christopher Makla, and Justin Smith of Laurens; Cassandra Millwood and Jeffrey Turner of Lockhart; Kaci Dillinger and Lena Martin of Pacolet; Kara Winburn of Rock Hill; Ryan Healy of Sharon; Charles Holcombe of Spartanburg; Erik Beaty, Amanda Beheler, Timothy Black, Rashel Brannon, Jeremy Brown, Tiffney Crosby, Bryan Dill, Jacob Edwards, Charles Fonteneau, Rashee Fonteneau, Audren Foster, Autumn Fowler, Annias Gaffney, King Gilkey, Nicole Glenn, Dillon Greer, Jasmine Hall, April Hopkins, Shauna Hund, Yakima Jeter, Michael Johnson, John Terry Lee,III, Christina Maness, Shawn Nelems, Jazmine Newton, Kyle Newton, Jarred O’Shields, Glavin Ochiltree, Candice Owens, Sara Polk, Shareeka Rodgers, Britney Sheppard, Nathan Silvers, Jameca Singleton, Carmen Solis, Latoria Spears, Michael Walker, Logan Watters, Coty Williams, and Deidre Wilson of Union; Chelsea Caudill and Deanna Willard of Whitmire.

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STATE LIBRARY PRESENTS DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

Monday, February 6

The South Carolina State Library is pleased to present Digital Collections, a set of online projects that expand access to information for all South Carolinians. These online collections create greater access to the State Library's unique historical resources and new digital projects. The South Carolina State Documents Depository is an online library of both current and historical publications written by state agencies and state-supported academic institutions. These publications provide citizens with crucial information about state government, including statistics, annual accountability reports, and data on a wide variety of topics related to the state. The staff of the State Library have scanned and made available publications of historical value and interest such as the directories of schools published by the State Department of Education from 1912 through 2010 and the inaugural addresses of 19 South Carolina governors. Links to these publications are also available through SCLENDS, (sclends.lib.sc.us) their online catalog shared with 13 other library systems. For more information, contact Amanda Stone, Innovation & Digital Librarian, at astone@statelibrary.sc.gov, or call 803-734-4816.

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