WEEK OF NOVEMBER 18, 2008
PAGE 7
Perplexing permits Getting ready to host a yard sale? You might need to ask for permission Jackie Alexander / Special to The Carolina Reporter
After enacting a garage sale permit ordinance in 1982, Cayce has tried to implement rules for having a yard sale in the city. Penalities could result in being shut down or a hefty fine. By Jackie Alexander Special to The Carolina Reporter
Even Cayce City Manager John Sharpe has a hard time complying with that city's law requiring garage sale permits. Sharpe held his own garage sale on a recent Saturday. Among other things, Sharpe said he hoped to unload a rarely used trash compactor. Eight cars were parked on the street, including two that blocked driveways. But that violates the ordinance, which says there can't be any on-street parking. “Where else are you going to let them park?” the city manager asked. Sharpe said he was sharing his permit with his neighbor. Although the ordinance does not explicitly allow permit sharing, Sharpe said he interprets it to allow side-by-side garage sales to share one permit. As a city clerk, Sharpe signed the ordinance in 1982 when it was enacted to crack down on home-based businesses. “It was junky all over the city because every week there’d be a
Jackie Alexander / Special to The Carolina Reporter
Permits for garage sales, like this one, left, are issued with strict guidelines for Cayce residents to go by when having a sale. But like many residents, Cayce City Manager John Sharpe had trouble complying with ordinance with his yard sale. garage sale and it was the same house,” Sharpe said. The ordinance is achieving the overarching goal of keeping home-based businesss in check, he said. Jennifer Aull, who lives in Sharpe’s subdivision, said she didn’t know she needed a $5 permit for her garage sale. “It’s just another law that shouldn’t hinder anybody,” she said.
But Stacy Broughman, who had a permit, questioned why, if she pays taxes, she should need one. “It’s on your own property. I don’t understand why they have to regulate it on private property,” Broughman said. Along with requiring the permit, the ordinance limits households to four garage sales per year., requires off-street
parking "for all persons attending the sale” and prohibits sales before 8 a.m. Some people said they came to Broughman’s sale because of a sign on a main road outside the Moss Creek subdivision. Sharpe says the ordinance needs revision, but will that happen? "Proably not," he said. City Council member Kenneth Jumper said he under-
stands the ordinance’s purpose, but thinks it's too restrictive. “I’d be in favor of looking at it and come up with anything that could help the residents,” Jumper said. Putting up signs and allowing parking on the street would help residents and not cause any harm, he said. The city gives the police department a list of permitted houses each Friday. Patrolling
officers know to keep an eye out for garage sale permits, Sharpe said. Anyone in violation could be shut down or fined $100. Most times, police tell garage sale operators to go to the city on the following Monday to pay for a permit, Sharpe said. “We’re not going to crack down on them,” he said. The city made more than $1,000 from permits from July 1, 2007, to this past June 30. Jessica Hendrix, 23, said she saw the ordinance in the newcomers guide she received when she moved to Cayce three years ago. “I’ve never lived anywhere where we’ve had to pay for a permit,” she said. Columbia and West Columbia also mandate garage sale permits, though West Columbia's is free. Irmo, Blythewood and Lexington do not require permits. Jackie Alexander is a student in the public affairs reporting class.
Foreign journalist comes to U.S. to study elections Southern culture intrigues visiting writer By Lindsay Brasington Staff Writer
Southern culture and American presidential politics lured Belgian journalist Evita Neefs to make yet another visit to the United States. A veteran writer and editor, Neefs is spending two weeks at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications during her three-month stint in the U.S. A specialist in foreign affairs for De Standaard, a Belgian publication in Flanders, Neefs has covered stories ranging from past American presidential contests to the Super Bowl. This is her first visit to the American South. While visiting South Carolina and other states, Neefs is researching American reactions to the presidential election for her Dutch-speaking audience back home. Belgium is a small three-language country in Northwestern Europe. Numerous larger countries have ruled over Belgium throughout its past, all leaving a bit of an imprint, in a few cases their languages, on its culture. More than 60 percent of Belgians speak Dutch, or Flemish, as it is more commonly called. Nearly 40 percent speak Walloon, which is a variation of French. Only about 1 percent speaks German. “Throughout our history, being governed, run over, by other countries really gives us an openness to the world that you will not find in bigger countries,” she said. So Belgians do not have the patriotism and sense of nationalism that Americans possess, Neefs said. “There are very few ‘Belgians,’” Neefs said. “They are either Flemish or Walloon or French. For me, being a Belgian is being a citizen of the world.” The American presidential elections affect people across the globe, Neefs said. But this year’s election is capturing an even larger following in Belgium than previous ones since the Bush administration – unpopular with many Europeans – is ending. Many major newspapers in Belgium are competing to have the best coverage of this year’s U.S. presidential race, she said. “This is my fourth American election that I’ve covered for my paper,” Neefs said. “And never, ever before have I seen so much interest in it.” De Standaard is Belgium’s leading political paper in the Dutch language. It has a circulation of roughly 90,000 papers a day. Its readership is typically well educated and follows the American elections very closely, Neefs said. “The day before the Iowa primary I wrote an editorial just to tell the people why these primaries were also important because we have to always explain the system because it’s so completely different from what we know,” Neefs said. “So I wanted to tell them that the primaries were also important. And I said
Lindsay Brasington / The Carolina Reporter
Belgium journalist Evita Neefs is spending three months in America studying the presidential election and the South. something half-jokingly that we really ought to have a vote in the American election.” During the American primaries, a few journalists from Neefs’ newspaper asked members of the Belgian Parliament whom they would vote for if they had the chance to vote in the American elections. Neefs said almost 99 percent said they would vote for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, were they given a chance to vote. A few conservatives said they would vote for Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee, and a few women said they would vote for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who then was competing with Obama for the Democratic nomination for president. Neefs’ visit to the U.S. occurred after she won a fellowship from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington to study Americans’ cultural differences in different regions. “What I am trying to find out is I’m mainly focused on American identity and what the different regional components of that identity are,” Neefs said. “Whether there are really still specific cultures, values, outlooks in all these areas I am going to.” For that part of the fellowship, she is starting in South Carolina and will drive through Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Colorado, Wisconsin and back to Washington, D.C. before returning to Belgium. Neefs will spend about two weeks in each of her destinations before flying back to Belgium.
n PAGE L AYOUT B Y ALEX RILEY