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Article published Apr 2, 2003
Council: MLK day worker's choice

Tony Taylor
Staff Writer

GREENVILLE -- After spending months debating the issue of adding a paid holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., Greenville County Council members decided to remove themselves from the process and let the county's 1,600 employees decide for them.
By a vote of 7 to 5, Greenville County Council on Tuesday agreed to let county employees choose five of their 10 annual paid holidays, including one holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader.
The move angered the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who promised a mass protest march in Greenville and a national meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to discuss possible economic sanctions against Greenville County.
"We cannot afford to lose what we have going here," Jackson told about 100 supporters who gathered at the Allen Temple after walking out of the council meeting. "This is hatred of Dr. King and hatred for you."
Jackson, founder of the Rainbow Push Coalition and a Greenville native, started attending council meetings several months ago in an attempt to persuade the county to recognize King's birthday as a paid holiday for its employees.
Jackson was with King when he was
assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., 35 years ago.
Council members created a committee comprised of nine citizens to study the feasibility of a King holiday.
The committee recommended officials take away one of three existing holidays or create a new paid holiday without substituting another day.
The council ignored the committee's recommendation and approved an amendment offered by Councilman Mark Kingsbury that would allow county employees to decide whether the county should have a King holiday.
County employees get 10 paid holidays. If the recommendation passes, employees would retain five as fixed holidays and choose five others by ballot. The others must be existing federal, state or county holidays.
Eric Beddingfield, Joe Dill, Scott Case, Dozier Brooks, Stephen Selby and Bob Taylor voted with Kingsbury.
Cort Flint, Judy Gilstrap, Lottie Gibson, chairwoman Phyllis Henderson and Xanthene Norris opposed Kingsbury's amendment.
Norris said county employees were unlikely to vote for a King holiday because only 200 of the county's 1,600 workers are minorities.
Flint offered an amendment that would allow employees to choose four of their holidays while establishing a permanent holiday honoring King.
The amendment failed by an identical 7 to 5 vote.
Flint lashed out at the seven council members who voted to allow employees to decide the fate of the holiday.
"Where is the leadership?" Flint asked. "Why do we have a county council? Why don't we let the employees come up here and sit?"
Gibson also took issue with the decision.
"If you voted on us for slavery, we would still be enslaved," Gibson said.
Tony Taylor can be reached at 562-7219 or tony.taylor@shj.com.