Businesses want Morris' name off highway

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That's according to state Sen. Larry Martin, a Pickens Republican who surveyed the businesses and plans to announce soon what he will do as a result. Martin had said before the businesses completed the survey that he would act according to their wishes.

The Earle Morris Highway is a stretch of State 153, which runs from Interstate 85 in Anderson County to Easley in Pickens County.

It was named for Morris almost 30 years ago, Martin said, and a monument as well as signs were constructed along the route.

Mike Tedeschi, who owns Tedeschi's Auto Repair near Easley, said some of his customers and friends would like to see the name changed because they lost money in Carolina Investors.

He said he has mixed feelings because of the trouble and cost of changing his address with vendors and forms. He said he likes the idea of just removing the large signs with Morris' name.

"Personally, I'm in the middle," he said. "But I'm going to stick with the majority."

Martin said he will announce what he plans to do after conferring with others, including Anderson County's newest senator, Kevin Bryant.

Martin said then that he thought the resolution was premature because Morris hadn't then been accused of a crime.

A six-man, six-woman jury in November found Morris guilty of 22 counts of securities fraud after authorities said he schemed to defraud investors and misled them to keep their money in the business.

Circuit Judge James W. Johnson Jr. sentenced Morris to 44 months in prison. He remains free on bond pending his appeal.

Rep. Dan Cooper, a Piedmont Republican who sponsored last year's resolution, said he talked with Martin last month about passing a resolution to take down the two major signs announcing the highway's name.

"That was my whole issue last year, was to remove those two signs," he said.

"It had nothing to do whether Earle was innocent or guilty. People who lost money were reminded every time they got on that road that this was his road because of those big signs. If Sen. Martin wants to now completely undo the name because he's gotten a survey that said to do that, that's fine. I'll go along with it."

Morris, 76, served as a former state comptroller general and lieutenant governor.