Hello, everyone - the Incorporation vote is only a few weeks away. February 16th will be the big day. I hope you plan to come to the February 4th Ballentine Dutch Fork Civic Association meeting at 6:30 pm for updates.

This meeting is important: there are three main subjects that will be addressed. If you haven’t been to the any of the meetings for the past several months, this is one of your last chances to get a grip on the importance of the Incorporation vote. Come and spend an hour with us. You will enjoy the education you get on YOUR community affairs.

1. Tesa Griffin from SCDOT has agreed to share information for Transportation Enhancement programs that will be available after we become incorporated.

2. You guessed it……. An Incorporation update with sample ballots available.

3. Information will be relayed pertaining to the March 15th voting for Mayor and four (4) Town Council members. It is time for candidates to register.

********** My thanks go to our Richland County Councilman, Bill Malinowski. Bill was very helpful this week by getting an issue resolved at the county level to clear the way for our Februay 16th vote.

********** The CSX project is moving forward and will affect our area in many ways. Even if they never had a major accident, rail crossings will be eliminated and there will be delays crossing the tracks in Ballentine as trains slow down to use the sidetracks. What is now a 2-3 min wait can easily become at 6-10 min wait because of the slower speeds.

Senator Courson, Nathan Ballentine & Bill Malinowski all oppose the siding but this will take help at the Federal level to stop it. If the tracks go in, you know they won’t ever come out…..do you want them? Contact your elected Congressmen and Senators before the tracks go in. Jonathan Harling, who is leading the CSX opposition group, can be reached, at 603-3012, jharling@dutchforkaction.com or the web site at www.dutchforkaction.com. Jonathan told me they have over 519 signatures of area residents opposing the new rail sidetracks.

********** The Vote last month for the Ballentine Dutch Fork Civic Association leadership team was to continue with the current officers.
President, Les Tweed, Vice President, Mike Sloan, Treasurer, Rick Pascal, Secretary, Joan Tweed and Communications Officer, Ken Tallman.

********** As you can see from the above, we have a lot of important items and issues that directly affect your quality of life and home in this area.

********** ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, at 6:30 pm, the Working Group will sponsor another community forum to discuss the issues of Incorporation. If you know neighbors or friends who have questions about Incorporation, please invite them to the meeting so they will be informed of the issues. The meeting will be held at the Ballentine Community Center.

Ken Colton will be addressing the last public meeting on February 7th. Ken and members of the Incorporation working group plan to educate everyone on the present and future issues pertaining to the Incorporation efforts. Please come and get the information first hand. Everyone needs to understand what the voting is all about.

Learn about the benefits of incorporation. The more people learn about our efforts and the true reasons behind the Incorporation effort, the more supporters we get.

It is very important that this information be distributed to as many residents of the proposed Town of Ballentine as possible. Have you ever shared this information with a neighbor?

Please HELP us help everyone by giving a copy of this to your friends and neighbors in the proposed town limits or direct them to our web site.

We are asking you to come to the next meeting and bring another area voter with you.

Les Tweed
President, BDFCA
www.ballentinedutchfork.com