Are you surprised voters said yes to the school bonds Tuesday? I am not.

The Fort Mill Times reported:

Schools bonds approved in landslide… Slightly more than one-fifth (22 percent) of the 24,290 registered voters in the school district took part, casting a total of 5,150 ballots, according to election officials.

Last Tuesday phone calls and emails hit our house. The calls were from volunteers frantically calling registered voters and urging us to vote because of the low voter turnout. The second concern I heard was about voter age. Are the voters mainly senior citizens? Would this age group primarily vote no for the bonds since they are empty nesters?

To refresh your memory there were two bond referendums or questions on the ballot. One bond is for building a middle school, 2 elementary schools, and acquiring land for future school sites. The cost of bond 1 is $87 million. The second bond will build additional gyms at both high schools, and the completion of the stadium at Nation Ford High School. The first question passed with 4,155 yes votes. The second question passed with 3,880 yes votes.

This is good news in regards to supporting the healthy growth in our area. This is bad news for your pocket book. Oh, the price of progress.

I am still laughing about Charlotte ranked 9th most miserable city to live by Forbes magazine. As you may know if you read my earlier post, I disagreed with Charlotte’s ranking. Of course my opinion has a lot to do with where I came from and I actually live south of Charlotte in small town called Tega Cay, SC.

I thought about the conversations Carmen and I have had with friends in the neighborhood over the last year and why they moved to our area. All of our neighborhood friends decided to relocate to the area. So I decided to put together a list of the top ten reasons on why our neighbors and of course Carmen and I live in the Fort Mill or more specifically Tega Cay, South Carolina.

The Top Ten Reasons We Live in Fort Mill/Tega Cay, SC (not ranked in any order):

1. Moderate weather year round.
2. You’ll find miles of walking trails.
3. Centrally located – the Appalachian mountains are approx a 3 hour drive to the west and the Atlantic beaches are approx 3 to 4 hour drive to the east
4. There are several quality golfing communities.
5. There are many city parks and sports complexes including baseball, soccer, tennis, fields, YMCA facilities and Leon Springs facilities.
6. Fort Mill schools rank very high in the state and have received many national education awards.
7. The area has a small town atmosphere but located just a few miles south of a much larger city Charlotte, NC.
8. Located near or on a recreation Lake Wylie with fishing, boating, swimming, etc.
9. Friendly people.
10. A bonus last year – Property taxes were lowered for most home owners in 2007.

I could come up with many more. How about you? If you wnat more information click on the city for a link Fort Mill or Tega Cay or contact Carmen Miller.

Congratulations to Gold Hill Elementary School. GHES has been selected as a National Blue Ribbon School by the US Department of Education. Gold Hill is one of four schools in South Carolina to receive this prestigious award. Click to see more.