By Betsy Finklea
The Floyd Dale Senior In-Crowd was delighted to have Senator Kent Williams as their guest speaker at their March meeting.
Senator Williams spoke about his life as well as some of the issues going on in Columbia and the tough decisions that one has to make for the people.
Senator Williams is a native of Marion County. He grew up down near Centenary on the Pee Dee River on the family farm that his mother and father purchased in 1953. Tobacco was the major crop and was known as “the mortgage lifter.” There were 10 children in his family which included 8 boys and 2 girls, who now range in age from 48 to 80. All of them live in the Pee Dee Region except two who live in the DC/Maryland area. His parents were God-fearing and instilled a deep faith in him. He said if the church doors were open, the family was there. His parents also instilled a hard work ethic in him. They had cows, goats, chickens, and raised most of their own food. He has always planted a garden with the exception of last year.
His parents encouraged the children to get an education. He is a graduate of Terrell’s Bay High School. He went to Florence-Darlington Technical College where he majored in Agronomy and Animal Science. He always wanted to take over the farm and still raises beef cattle. He said it the early 1980s, farmers had to get big or get out. During his last semester in college, his father died at the age of 60, and he made the decision not to farm.
He transferred to South Carolina State and majored in agribusiness and economics. After graduating, he went to D.C. and then S.C. State called him about coming back and taking a job with them as an agriculture management specialist.
He did that until 1990 and then was recruited by Clemson University, who was trying to recruit more minority agents at the time. He started in St. George in Dorchester and stayed there until 1994. Then he transferred to Marlboro and Dillon Counties as a County agent where he got to know many people including Vic Bethea, D. Tom Edwards, and Junior Berry. In 1999, he was not feeling challenged enough and took a job as the deputy county administrator in Marion County and has been there ever since.
In 1998, he ran for the Marion County Board of Education and won. He served six years including four years as chairman. Senator Williams said he has always been a workhorse, who does his best for all the people.
The biggest challenge during his time on the school board was the merger of two school districts. He said change is inevitable and not all change is bad, while not all change is good.
The schools were funded per pupil and the small pupil count did not make keeping two school districts feasible. Senator Williams said he has always been one who could make the tough decisions in the best interest of the people and he did in this case. Someone came to him and told him that he shouldn’t run for the school board again because he had made people mad. He knew he had done the right thing. He ran and won by 53 votes.
Senator Williams then decided to run for the Senate and won over a 12-year incumbent. He has had a successful tenure the past 21 years. When he joined the senate in 2004, he ranked number 46 out of 46 counties. He now ranks number 10 out of 46 counties. He said seniority is very important in the Senate and determines what committees one is on. He is on the finance committee. He said where you sit is also determined by seniority.
Senator Williams spoke on some of matters being taken up in Columbia such as the school voucher bill, allowing non-certified teachers in the schools up to 10 percent of the teaching staff, EV (Electric Vehicle) charging stations, a bill addressing malicious injury to real property, tort reform, DOGE, DEI, the budget etc. He said he is “pro-business.” He said that Dillon County has one senator and that is him. His door is always open for comments and suggestions. The group enjoyed hearing Senator Williams informative presentation.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Johnnie Daniels/The Dillon County News, LLC
