IRMO, SC (WIS) -
Budget and Control Board officials have no
doubt Lexington-Richland Five board member Kim Murphy's home is in Lexington
County. The only line that shows Murphy in Richland County is that municipality.
"This is really not a very difficult call," said Sid
Miller, state and county boundary coordinator for the S.C. Budget and Control
Board. "… This house is 500 feet from the line."
A public hearing was held Friday at the
Lexington-Richland Five District Office with attorneys John Reagle, Ken Childs
and Keith Powell representing the school board to hear testimony of whether
Murphy's home is in Richland County. Also, the hearing will allow the school
board to legally determine whether it has authority to dismiss Murphy from the
board if it is determined she does not represent Richland County.
Murphy and her attorney Todd Kincannon chose not to
participate in the morning hearing, even though they were present at the
district office prior to the start of the hearing.
"(Kincannon) did come today, and he objected to these
proceedings, saying it violated the Voting Rights Act," Childs said. "I told
him he could make those objections to the school board after the school board
rules on those objections, he can raise them in the South Carolina Circuit
Court and up through the court system."
The Budget and Control Board's research and statistics
department used information from the Code of Laws for the state, the Lexington
County GIS Boundary, Richland County GIS Boundary, the U.S. Census and the U.S.
Geological Survey county boundary map, as well as a GPS device that measures
centimeters, to come to their conclusion of where Murphy's home sits. Out of
this information, Division of Research and Statistics Director Bobby Bowers
said the only one that points to Murphy in Richland County is its boundary
information.
Bowers read from the voter registration certificate for Murphy,
signed by Lillian McBride, and he said that the only voting district correct on
that card was the school district and the congressional district.
"She should be listed in the Chapin precinct," Bowers
said.
Retired Circuit Court Judge G. Thomas Cooper's schedule
does not allow him to revisit and examine all the materials presented Friday
until the week of March 11. Once Cooper's recommendation is complete, it will
be presented to Lexington-Richland Five school board members and a decision
will be made on Murphy's property line dilemma.
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