The Rock Hill Bookhouse, and the function of government in our lives

There has been a lot of press lately, and a lot of people who want to save The Book House.  There have been a number of people calling for the City of Rock Hill to do something.  What can the City do, legally?

I'm a big believer in smaller government that stays out of the way of business.  Less regulations, and allow for competition to determine what happens in the market, and at what price.  It is competition that has led to many of the great inventions of our time.

First, The City of Rock Hill has not received any plans for construction on the site or an application for re-zoning (if required).  If the business wanting to move in meets the legal requirements for the commercial business district, then there is nothing that can be done to stop it.

Second, the eviction of the Book House is a PRIVATE transaction between the business and the landlord.  The City has NO influence on that, and should never get involved in a private legal transaction.  I did mention to the owner (Michelle) to check what her lease says, as that dictates what can and can not happen with an eviction.

Third, Do I want a storage facility right in the middle of my City?  No, but going back to my earlier points: government staying out the way of private enterprise, and do they fit the legal requirements for the site.

Fourth, My first responsibility as Alderman is to the ENTIRE City of Rock Hill.  That means spending the tax dollars very wisely and ensuring our citizens are safe in their daily pursuits.

Fifth, The City does have a Historic preservation ordinance.  If we were to choose to classify the building at this point, it would be seen by most any court as interfering with a private party transaction.  While I will hate to see a historically old building torn down, I'm not willing to open the City up to a legal battle we have little chance of winning.



I will never say how I will vote on a particular ordinance or resolution before the Board of Alderman, until presented with all of the facts and having my questions answered.

The opinions expressed above and completely my own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the City of Rock Hill or other elected officials.


If YOU are really interested in helping the Book House, the best place is to probably go to their Facebook page, see their Change.org petition (directed toward the City, and not the property owner), or donate to their Indegogo campaign (they may need legal help too).  There is also a Rally scheduled (Rally to save Rock Hill's Book House is Tuesday)


Many of the articles about The Book House are not 100% accurate, but read them for yourself:

• Development Threatens Rock Hill's Book House
• Save independent bookstore in Rock Hill
• Book House Issues Call To Stave Off Eviction
• The Book House: Will Developers Demolish Historic Rock Hill Site For a Storage Facility?
• What Is a Bookstore?
• Storage Facility May Take Place of Rock Hill's Book House
• The Book House, a Rock Hill institution, is forced to relocate
• There are probably many more that I haven't linked to here.  Feel free to submit links in the comments.

I welcome constructive conversation here.  But remember to keep it civil and about the subject at hand (no personal attacks).

Working late for Scherry Consulting

Why would I be up at 4am?
  Indegestion - NO
  Kids awake - Not tonight
  Party all night - It's been MANY years since it has been this late.
  Is there a server down somewhere - That program (and pay) has ended


I did get some sleep so far (3hr), and plan on getting some more.  But I promised a client their computer back by today (Wed), and I plan on delivering on that promise.
Since I work a full time job during the day (at least for now, see my previous post), and have two kids that want time with daddy, and I love spending time with my wife after the kids are asleep.  So work for clients (the current 2 of them) gets done late.
It was great of my current boss, and owner of Guaranteed Computer. To allow me to pursue these clients on my own.  Relationships have been developed over the years, and the extra income will help.  Plus, it could lead into having my own PC consulting business for many clients.
So tonight, I am rebuilding a clients PC, and it had 2hrs of Windows updates to download.  As I type, it is installing the 2nd round of updates.  
Once this finishes, I'm hoping to make it to bed with my wife, for another hour or two of sleep tonight.  But there could be many more nights in my future.

Internet Security

Have you ever thought about how much of your information is floating out there on the internet for people to find?
There is the stuff you put out there yourself, but if use FREE WIFI or hotel internet access, then you need to secure your information more. It is very easy to gain access to your Facebook and Gmail accounts if you don't take a minute to add a bit of extra security

Facebook has their 'Login Notifications' and HTTPS security settings. but they don't turn them on by default.
HTTPS means that all information transmitted between your computer's internet browser and the Facebook servers is encrypted. If someone intercepts that internet traffic (very easy to do by the way; have you seen Firesheep?), all they see is random 'noise'. Of course you also get Facebook applications that are NOT HTTPS compatible. I just refuse to go there when they ask to "Turn off secure browsing?"
Login Notification requires you to 'name' every computer logging into your Facebook account. It then will send you an e-mail or text message letting you know what machine has logged into your account.
Both can be set up from Facebook's Account Settings, and change the Account Security. Just two simple check boxes could save your Facebook account. AND, if you want to know more about how easy it is for me to take over your account, just let me know and I will show you what Firesheep can really do.

GMAIL has this great feature called 2-step verification
Basically it requires your normal Gmail password, and a code you receive to a phone. Not just a smart phone, but any phone (home, mobile, other). See Google Help for full details
Google has already enabled HTTPS, and you can disable it. But I wouldn't recommend it.

SO security is something you should think about with everything you do on the internet

Cloud backup for Windows Server

I subscribe to the 3-2-1 method of backups.
- 3 copies of EVERYTHING
- 2 different types of media
- 1 offsite at all times

I have multiple not for profit clients who are running a client server environment (Windows Server 2003 or 2008). They currently change tapes or external hard drives for their backups. But ensuring the files get offsite in case of a true disaster really isn't in place.

Where can I find a reasonably priced solution?
SugarSync, Carbonite, Mozy all have business plans, but don't officially support the Windows Server environment. Amazon S3 cloud costs are to hard to figure out (15 cents per GB plus, 15 cents per GB transfered); to much effort to do that calculation on how often files change.

So am I stuck? So far it looks so.

There are solutions available that will let me back up the files to an offsite PC. But where do you put that? My house is close to both clients, so a tornado or earthquake could easily take us both out. Also could go to a NAS that supports internet backup (Dlink DNS322 http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=509), but the same issues as an offsite PC.

Really need some help here.