The Kiawah Island Precinct’s Democratic Party recently planned an informative event for democratic candidates to discuss where they stood on certain issues. Speakers in attendance were SC State Representative Spencer Wetmore; Dr. Annie Andrews, who is running for Congress; Dr. Carol Tempel, who is running for Charleston County School District’s School Board of Trustees; and Julie Hallman, who is running for County Council.
Andrews was up first. She spoke about the leading cause of death in children, which is from firearms. As a pediatrician at MUSC, she is passionate about spreading the word on gun violence and how it affects children.
Andrews shared that 13 million children live in a house with a gun. She also shared that more than a third of these children have handled the gun. And, she said that a quarter of those children’s parents didn’t know that their kids had handled the gun.
Another alarming statistic Andrews shared was that 90% of unintentional firearm deaths in children occur in the home and that when a teen uses a gun to kill themselves, they get it from their home nine out of 10 times.
Andrews stressed that adults should ask other parents if there are firearms in their home before they send their child over for a playdate. In her experience, she has never had another parent feel uncomfortable with this question. “I usually have other parents tell me that they thought it was a great question and that they are going to start asking that too,” Andrews said. And when it comes to children, Tempel, who was a former principal, followed Andrews in the presentation. She feels there needs to be a major focus on education. Tempel shared that 51% of the students in Charleston County are not reading on grade level. As for district 9, which is what Kiawah Island voters would be voting in, the schools are located in James Island and Johns Island. Tempel said that the achievement in District 9 “is not what we want to see.” Tempel added that the most important people related to a good education are teachers. “I feel we need to engage our students in more subjects, like the arts, social studies, history, and we need good teachers for that” she said. Tempel commented that CCSD is doing a good job with their summer programs and early childhood education.
Tempel is a proponent of giving teachers a raise and she wants to see better funding for schools. She does not support having tax dollars fund private school education and she also does not support critical race theory or censoring books. Hallman was the next speaker. As a candidate for Charleston County Council, she is running on a platform of controlling development in the area and getting a handle on traffic. Hallman announced a statistic put out by MUSC. They said that by 2024, there will be an additional 31,000 additional retirees in the area. Hallman said that was reported in their press release about the new medical center. Currently both Kiawah Island and Seabrook Island have a population of about 2,000 on each island. Hallman addressed the fact that little has been done to fix traffic in the area even though she said that the County has the funding. She reviewed some of the different measures that the area can take to create some traffic relief, even without the 526 extension, which is estimated to cost about $2 billion to complete over a decade. Hallman also said that the County needs to consider the sea level rising effects due to climate change.
She stated that NOAA announced that they predict sea level rising over a foot between now and 2050. As a former realtor, Hallman feels strongly that homeownership should be available to everyone, so she would like to get the price of homes under control in the area as well and more affordable housing. Wetmore was the last to speak and she spoke about different forms of legislation that she has worked on during her tenure in office. She encouraged everyone to vote early and she encouraged everyone to reach out to her with any questions or concerns. Wetmore also addressed the abortion bill. She said that the House version of the bill acknowledges that life begins at conception. Wetmore said there are a number of stipulations legally in that since due to issues with child support, etc. There were other provisions in the bill that she addressed like the issues with doctors being charged with a felony if they perform an abortion. Wetmore said she opposes the bill, but does not celebrate abortion. The panel took questions at the end. Dr. Andrews addressed open carry, Temple addressed CRT and Hallman addressed over development. To watch the full meeting on YouTube, visit youtube.com/ watch?v=cmvJI_93gls.
Early voting is currently in effect. Election day is Nov. 8.
