Dear Editor,

What a difference 25 years make, the Pickens County I moved to from Pennsylvania and fell in love with has changed so much. The rural atmosphere, a great climate, scenic mountains, beautiful lakes, and wonderful people who believed in individual freedom, what more could anyone ask for.

Times sure have changed and so has the face of Pickens politics, No longer is it simply small town politicians desiring immortality by having a road named after them or school board members with dreams of grandeur who have occasionally forgotten their obligation to serve the people and slipped off to the dark side, but now there are larger more insidious forces at work..

People from all over have discovered the beauty of Pickens, moved into the area, and begin the process of reshaping the county into their vision of what Pickens should be. We know who they are, money, training, resources and influence from outside the area all come into play as these organizations maneuver to take over the county. It’s easy to spot, simply look at the drafts for the Comprehensive Plan, instance after instance of the insertion of terms such as “require” and “mandate”, the relentless pursuit of the “consideration of zoning.”

Let’s remove the frills and convert those terms to their true meaning, force, government dictating land usage, there is no other interpretation. From there we have to question “Why”. Who is to gain, who will lose, what is the ultimate purpose.



The face of the enemy of land owners rights has changed, their armies are well trained and well financed, like a cancer they work from the inside out. As such, the focus of the PCTA has changed to challenge these forces, but we can’t do it alone. The citizens need to become aware, become more involved, write letters. Those who desire to dictate your property rights do not rest, they relentlessly push their agenda, their candidates, their appointees. There are wars going on, in Pickens, in South Carolina, in Washington, and as the saying goes, you snooze you lose. The PCTA needs your support, numbers matter, become involved, encourage your friends to do the same, our future and that of generations to follow are at stake.

Dennis Reinert

President, Pickens County Taxpayers