Vote OKs removing Morris' name from highway

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The joint resolution passed without debate on a voice vote to take the name of the former Carolina Investors chairman off the road. Morris was convicted late last year of securities fraud.

The legislation would have to pass again today before heading to the Senate, where it is expected to draw more scrutiny and some objections.

Upstate residents who lost money in Carolina Investors have supported the name change. Lynne Finley of Greer, who lost $189,000, said, "I thought that sign was a bruise. I'm amazed that the sign has not been paintballed."

The highway segment at issue is a stretch of State 153 running from Interstate 85 in Anderson County to Easley in Pickens County. It was named for Morris, a former state lawmaker, lieutenant governor and state comptroller general, nearly 30 years ago.

Two large signs and a monument in Anderson and Pickens counties name the highway after him.

"That's their decision," Morris said Tuesday in reaction to the vote by lawmakers.

State Rep. Dan. Cooper of Piedmont and other House lawmakers filed a resolution last year to remove the signs, but it was blocked in the Senate.

Cooper said Tuesday his constituents want the change."Some people lost money," he said. "Some people didn't but had friends who did. They resent seeing his name on that highway every day."

State Sen. Larry Martin of Pickens, who opposed the name change last year because he said it was premature at the time, supports changing the name and introduced his own resolution that passed the Senate the second day of the session.

But Martin said the House has complicated matters by referring his resolution to a committee and passing its own, since the resolution it passed will require more votes and could draw debate.

"It is being made a much bigger deal than it needs to be," he said. "It's like killing a flea with a shotgun."

Martin said a state Department of Transportation Commission member told him that the board only needed a request by lawmakers to change the name. It didn't need to be a law, he said.

Martin said lawmakers have always addressed highway names through concurrent resolutions, not joint resolutions as was done by the House.

"What worries me is the political discussion that could develop on the floor," he said. "It's elevating it to a much higher profile than it needs."

Martin said he notified House members last month that a joint resolution wasn't necessary.

The Pickens senator surveyed businesses along the highway late last year asking whether they supported a name change. He said last month that the businesses said "overwhelmingly" that they would like the name returned to State 153.

Cooper said the House legislation was drafted as a joint resolution because House members wanted it to be strong. "A concurrent resolution simply asks them to remove the name — this directs them to," Cooper said.

He said the resolution also notifies county offices and postal officials, so the change can be made with mailing addresses and in the 911 system.

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