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<p><strong>From staff reports</strong></p>
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<p>Beaufort County Council Vice Chairman Paul Sommerville was among five elected to the a four-year term on the board of the South Carolina Association of Counties (SCAC) when the organization held its 2021 Annual Conference July 30 through Aug. 3.</p>
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<p>Oconee County Council Vice Chairman Paul A. Cain was elected President, succeeding Orangeburg County Council Chairman Johnnie Wright Sr., who served as 2020−21 SCAC President.</p>
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<p>“I am deeply honored and grateful to have the opportunity to serve as president of SCAC this year,” SCAC President Paul A. Cain said in a release.</p>
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<p>The newly elected president offered some advice to anyone who has not been vaccinated.</p>
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<p>“I strongly encourage everyone to get vaccinated,” said Cain, noting that he and his wife, Amy, were vaccinated mid-April against COVID-19. “As we see the rise in the highly-contagious Delta variant of the COVID-19, we also see serious illnesses and deaths rise throughout South Carolina. At this point in the pandemic, almost all of the people who are dying are unvaccinated.</p>
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<p>“If you don’t want to get vaccinated for your own safety,” he pleaded, “please at least think about your family and friends who would be devastated if you passed away from COVID-19, and get vaccinated for them.”</p>
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<p>Other officers elected include First Vice President Debra B. Summers, Lexington County Council; Second Vice President Roy Costner III, Pickens County Council Vice Chairman; Third Vice President William E. Robinson, Allendale County Council; Secretary Steve Willis, Lancaster County Administrator; and Treasurer Belinda D. Copeland, Darlington County.</p>
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<p>Other board members elected include Julie J. Armstrong, Charleston County Clerk of Court; Steven J. Brown, Greenwood County Council Chairman; Cecil M. Thornton Jr., Calhoun County Council; and Robert Winkler, York County Council Vice Chairman.</p>
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<p>SCAC voted for Dwight L. Stewart Jr. (Clarendon County Council Chairman), SCAC’s Immediate Past President for 2020−21, to serve the unexpired term of SCAC Third Vice President William E. Robinson (Allendale County Council).</p>
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<p>SCAC, chartered on June 22, 1967, is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization whose membership includes all 46 counties in South Carolina. Governed by a 29-member board of directors elected each year by county officials at the Association’s annual conference, SCAC is the only organization representing county governments in the state.</p>
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