York County
officials are defending their Martin Luther King Jr. holiday policy
after the county recently was named as one of eight in the state
that doesn't observe the holiday.
York County government offices remain open during the holiday
honoring the slain civil-rights leader -- celebrated on the third
Monday in January. But county employees can choose to take the day
off as a paid holiday, Assistant County Manager David Larson
said.
In general, county employees get 10 paid holidays each year,
Larson said. Among those holidays, county employees have the option
of taking a paid day off on King Day or on their birthday.
A federal holiday recognizing King's birthday was first
celebrated in 1986. South Carolina began celebrating it as a state
holiday in 2001.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a national civil-rights activist,
recently has been pushing state leaders to require all 46 S.C.
counties to recognize the holiday. The Associated Press last week
listed York County as one of eight in the state that do not observe
King Day. The others were Greenville, Edgefield, Lexington, Pickens,
Saluda, Union and Williamsburg.
York County's King Day policy was approved by the County Council
several years ago, Council Chairman Mike Short said.
Council members knew some county employees would want to observe
the holiday and decided to make it an optional paid holiday, he
said.
Closing down county offices during the Martin Luther King Jr.
holiday would have meant bumping another full holiday from the
county calendar, he said. County offices also are open during the
Presidents Day and Easter holidays, he noted.
No one has ever complained about the county's King Day policy,
Short said. "We feel like it's been a pretty successful
program."
'Specially recognized holiday'
At least one council member thinks the county might want to take
a second look at the policy, however.
"I certainly agree that it should be a specially recognized
holiday," Councilman Buddy Motz said. Still, he said he understands
the county's concerns about adding another full holiday. Letting
county employees take a paid day off is a compromise, he said.
Motz hopes to form a new county committee similar to Rock Hill's
"No Room for Racism" group. The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday could
be among the countywide issues the new committee would discuss, he
said.
Councilwoman Ada Chisolm-Perry, the seven-member council's only
black representative, said she has never heard any complaints about
the King Day policy from county employees or her constituents. Her
former employer, Celanese, had a similar policy in place, she said.
"I didn't have a problem with that at all."
A January County Council meeting that would have fallen on King
Day this year was moved to Tuesday instead, she noted. "That showed
respect, as far as I'm concerned."
The council plans to review the county's holiday policy during a
workshop this year, she added. At that time, Chisolm-Perry said she
may urge other council members to reconsider the holiday policy.
Some local civil-rights leaders hope the county will change the
policy.
"I do not think it's sufficient," said the Rev. Anthony Johnson,
president of the Rock Hill chapter of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People. "I think it should be a full
holiday ... I believe that we ought to be in sync with the rest of
the United States."
Contact Caroline Brustad at 329-4082 or mailto:cbrustad@heraldonline.com
