Council kills controversial resolution

Does Oconee County Council have any business weighing in on an issue at the federal level as to the extent the United States should accommodate refugees fleeing from the fighting in the Mid East?  That was one of the considerations last night, as the council killed a resolution that would have put Oconee on record as opposing the re-settlement of Syrian refugees within Oconee or the state.  The resolution was put asunder on a motion by Councilwoman Edda Cammick and a second by Councilman Reg Dexter.  Only Paul Cain, the councilman who proposed the original resolution that underwent a re-write before last night’s meeting.  Cain held to his position that, as the leading authority for Oconee County, the council has a valuable opinion on the potential issues that re-settlement might create.  “I am not OK,” Cain said, “with welcoming people to this country until we are 100% sure, or as sure as we can be, that they do not wish harm to the people here.”  But the majority went the other way, as Cammick said, “This isn’t a county issue.  We can’t keep flexing muscles we don’t have.”  Chairman Wayne McCall said the resolution targets those of one ethnic background, and he believes to do so violates the country’s Civil Rights Act of 1964.