2015-2016 Bill 4252: Grier U. Blackwelder - South Carolina Legislature Online

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 121st Session, 2015-2016 3 4 H. 4252 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 House Resolution 9 Sponsors: Reps. G.M. Smith, Weeks, Alexander, Allison, Anderson, Anthony, Atwater, Bales, Ballentine, 10 Bamberg, Bannister, Bedingfield, Bernstein, Bingham, Bowers, Bradley, Brannon, G.A. Brown, 11 R.L. Brown, Burns, Chumley, Clary, Clemmons, Clyburn, CobbHunter, Cole, Collins, Corley, 12 H.A. Crawford, Crosby, Daning, Delleney, Dillard, Douglas, Duckworth, Erickson, Felder, Finlay, 13 Forrester, Funderburk, Gagnon, Gambrell, George, Gilliard, Goldfinch, Govan, Hamilton, Hardee, Hart, 14 Hayes, Henderson, Henegan, Herbkersman, Hicks, Hill, Hiott, Hixon, Hodges, Horne, Hosey, Howard, 15 Huggins, Jefferson, Johnson, Jordan, Kennedy, King, Kirby, Knight, Limehouse, Loftis, Long, Lowe, 16 Lucas, Mack, McCoy, McEachern, McKnight, M.S. McLeod, W.J. McLeod, Merrill, Mitchell, 17 D.C. Moss, V.S. Moss, Murphy, Nanney, Neal, Newton, Norman, Norrell, Ott, Parks, Pitts, Pope, 18 Putnam, Quinn, Ridgeway, Riley, Rivers, RobinsonSimpson, Rutherford, Ryhal, Sandifer, Simrill, 19 G.R. Smith, J.E. Smith, Sottile, Southard, Spires, Stavrinakis, Stringer, Tallon, Taylor, Thayer, Tinkler, 20 Toole, Wells, Whipper, White, Whitmire, Williams, Willis and Yow 21 Document Path: l:\council\bills\agm\18656ab15.docx 22 23 Introduced in the House on May 26, 2015 24 Adopted by the House on May 26, 2015 25 26 Summary: Grier U. Blackwelder 27 28 29 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 30 31 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 32 5/26/2015 House Introduced and adopted ( House Journalpage 67) 33 34 View the latest legislative information at the website 35 36 37 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 38 39 5/26/2015 40 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A HOUSE RESOLUTION 10 11 TO CONGRATULATE GRIER U. BLACKWELDER, 12 PRESIDENT OF THE GREATER SUMTER CHAMBER OF 13 COMMERCE, UPON THE OCCASION OF HIS RETIREMENT, 14 TO RECOGNIZE AND COMMEND HIS OUTSTANDING 15 CONTRIBUTIONS TO SUMTER COUNTY AND SOUTH 16 CAROLINA, AND TO WISH HIM CONTINUED SUCCESS 17 AND HAPPINESS IN ALL HIS FUTURE ENDEAVORS. 18 19 Whereas, the South Carolina House of Representatives has learned 20 that Grier U. Blackwelder, president of the Greater Sumter 21 Chamber of Commerce, soon will retire from a distinguished 22 thirtyone year tenure at that organization, the past seventeen years 23 of which he served as its president; and 24 25 Whereas, in preparation for his life’s work, the native of Norwood, 26 North Carolina earned a bachelor’s degree in business 27 administration from Pfeiffer University, and later completed 28 graduatelevel studies in organizational management from the 29 United States Chamber of Commerce Center for Organizational 30 Management at the University of Georgia; and 31 32 Whereas, after beginning his working career as a cost accounting 33 analyst with Collins & Aikman Corporation in Albemarle, North 34 Carolina, he later served as general manager of the Stanly County 35 Chamber of Commerce in Albemarle from 1979 until he joined the 36 Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce as its general manager in 37 1984; and 38 39 Whereas, after fourteen years of service as general manager, Mr. 40 Blackwelder became president of the Greater Sumter Chamber of 41 Commerce in 1998. Flourishing under his distinguished leadership, 42 the Chamber has seen its membership soar from 650 in 1998 to

[4252] 2 1 1,150 and its budget grow from $498,000 to $700,000, the latter 2 due to his diversification of the Chamber’s streams of income; and 3 4 Whereas, under Grier Blackwelder’s leadership, the endeavors of 5 the Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce, including its annual 6 Chamber Leadership Class that grooms new generations of 7 community stewards and role models, have played an 8 indispensable role in the revitalization of downtown Sumter, an 9 area that had deteriorated from an exodus of merchants and other 10 businesses to a mall and other areas of the city. Today, downtown 11 Sumter boasts a healthy variety of new businesses, and plans are in 12 development for a major hotel complex, a parking garage, 13 restaurants, bars, and a movie theatre; and 14 15 Whereas, a widely respected leader in his field, Mr. Blackwelder 16 has served as president of the Carolinas Association of Chamber of 17 Commerce Executives, and was named the South Carolina 18 Chamber Executive of the Year for 2002; and 19 20 Whereas, Mr. Blackwelder’s contributions to the Sumter 21 community extend beyond his work at the Chamber, and include 22 unifying the business community to successfully support passage 23 of a Penny for Progress sales tax and to successfully support 24 passage of Sunday alcohol sales in Sumter; and 25 26 Whereas, fundamental to the success of the Greater Sumter County 27 Chamber of Commerce’s mission has been the highly successful 28 working relationship that Grier Balckwelder helped forge between 29 the community and its largest employer, Shaw Air Force Base; and 30 31 Whereas, a member of Trinity United Methodist Church, he is 32 married to the former Jo Talbert of Albemarle, and together they 33 have reared a fine son, Bill Blackwelder; and 34 35 Whereas, the members of the South Carolina House of 36 Representatives are grateful for the years of unparalleled 37 dedication that Grier Blackwelder has devoted to economic 38 development in Sumter County and to the Palmetto State through 39 his work at the Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce and in the 40 community, and wish him many years of enjoyment in his 41 wellearned retirement. Now, therefore, 42 43 Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

[4252] 3 1 2 That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, 3 by this resolution, congratulate Grier U. Blackwelder, president of 4 the Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce, upon the occasion of 5 his retirement, to recognize and commend his outstanding 6 contributions to Sumter County and South Carolina, and to wish 7 him continued success and happiness in all his future endeavors. 8 9 Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to 10 Grier U. Blackwelder. 11 XX 12

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