Today I write about one of favorite new non-profits – the Women’s Rights Empowerment Network (WREN). It’s a new organization who’s mission is to build a movement to enhance the health, economic well-being, and rights of South Carolina women, girls, and their families. I have the privilege of serving on the initial board, and our mission is as follows – advocating, education and empowering. In our first year of existence, we worked hard for the passage of the Cervical Cancer Prevention Act of 2016, which increases adolescents’ access to the HPV vaccine. Next year, we will be pushing for the implementation of the Comprehensive Education Act for public schools in South Carolina.

I am very proud of the work done so far! Congratulations to our Executive Direct, Ann Warner, who is leading us with knowledge, vigor, and enthusiasm. The public kickoff of our new organization will take place in Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston. The Columbia event will happen on October 6th from 6pm to 8pm. If anyone is interested in attending to learn more about WREN and our path going forward, please message me I will make sure you receive an invitation. I am proud to be part of this dynamic new team!

August 18th was a day of excitement for some and dread for others – the University of South Carolina resumed its classes! The start of a new school year is an exciting time for Columbia! It marks an increase for local restaurants and businesses, the preparation of a new wave of professionals preparing to enter the job market and, of course, it means it’s time for Gamecock Football! While a new school year means great things for our wonderful city, there also comes great caution. Flows of traffic will now increase, meaning we must always be aware of our surroundings. As you go to work, school, or to explore the great city of Columbia, please watch closely for bicyclists, pedestrians, and other drivers!

This week I wanted to give a shout-out to the men and women of the Mike Kelly Law Group! Each and everyone one of them – both full and part-time, have bought into the mission of the Mike Kelly Law Group: to serve our clients to the best of our ability in a professional and first-class manner, which in the end, makes South Carolina a better place to live, work and play! Of all of the wonderful attributes I could brag about with respect to my team, the thing I love the most is that we genuinely care for each other. After all, we spend more time together than we do with our own families! We have each others backs at all time and we celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and holidays as a family!

Below is a great example of what we do for each other!

This week I want to discuss the 2016 Trustus Theatre Playwright Festival Award Winner, Anatomy of a Hug, which begins tonight! Anatomy of a Hug was written by Kat Ramsburg and tonight’s performance will be its world premiere. Starring in the play are four actors and marks the return debut of my son, Patrick Kelly, who grew up learning his craft at Trustus Theatre. He has now returned to take a job teaching at Midlands Tech, and his wife, Martha, is in a similar capacity at Ridgeview High School. Needless to say, we are deliriously happy to have them back in Columbia, and I believe that you will see that they will add even more value to a very vibrant Columbia scene.

Trustus.org sums up the play as follows:

“Anatomy of a Hug explores what happens when a convict, Iris, receives Compassionate Release from her prison sentence into her daughter Amelia’s care. A lifetime of living through beloved TV characters doesn’t prepare Amelia for the actual drama of her mother’s return or the advances of a charming co-worker, Ben. The ticking clock of her mother’s illness means Amelia must decide if her fictional life is safer than the possibility of her own story.”

However, there are no words to capture the powerful performance and message this production conveys to its audience. For first class theatre entertainment right here in Columbia, visit the Trustus Theatre! Anatomy of a Hug will be running until August  27th!

Break a leg, Patrick!

With offices in three different locations, we purchase energy from three different entities – SCANA (Columbia), the town of Winnsboro (which is actually a reseller) and Santee Cooper (Myrtle Beach). Last Friday, I sat in on a presentation about the innovative solar programs that Santee Cooper is offering to its customers. There are actually three programs – Solar Home, Solar Business, and Solar Share. There is a solar energy farm with thousands of solar panels located in Colleton County. If it is not practical for you to install solar in your home or business, you can still participate in the solar power movement via Solar Share. For those in the Santee Cooper service area, I suggest you go to their website (https://www.santeecooper.com/) and discover what the upfront investment is and how much money you can save in return. It is also very appealing to me that utilizing solar power, you are being responsible stewards of the environment in which we live. Check it out!

Today I want to celebrate a friendship that has existed for over forty years – my good friends Debra and Steve Hamm. Debbie and Steve have had a wonderful marriage and are the proud parents of two lovely daughters, Kristen and Laura. More on those two later!

Steve came to South Carolina from California as a teacher and felt a calling to go to law school. He was my classmate in the class of 1977 and the Hamms and the Kellys lived together in married student housing. Steve has distinguished himself in the law, being recognized as one of the premier litigators, administrative lawyers, and lobbyists in South Carolina history. Debbie has devoted her entire working life to bettering South Carolina by serving in the field of education. She obtained her doctorate degree and has served with distinction as superintendent of one of the top school districts in South Carolina – Richland District 2 – and will be retiring at the end of the 2016-2017 school year. Debbie and Steve have endured more than their fair share of trials and tribulations with untimely deaths of loved ones, both surviving successfully bouts with cancer and, overcoming other health problems. Through it all, their love for God and their love for each other has taken them through. They were also there for me when I lost my wife, Anne, suddenly last February.

Lately, courtesy of Laura, Kristen, and their husbands, they have decided to bless the world with several additions to the Hamm family. This week, Laura followed Kristen’s lead and gave birth to twins. By my count, Debbie and Steve have six little Hamms to raise and nurture to turn into quality people like their grandparents and parents.

Both Debbie and Steve are treasures in the great state of South Carolina, and I am proud to call them very close friends and love both of them dearly!

Many of my friends question why I bother with Facebook. I tell them that I have learned enormous amounts of information on Facebook, stay in touch with friends and classmates and other people I have grown up with, and get to share my views on a variety of subjects as well as to listen and understand other people’s viewpoint that may be radically different from mine. I look at Facebook multiple times a day, and now I don’t know what I did without it! On the other hand, some of my Facebook friends have lately shown me another side of themselves over the presidential election.

Being a political science graduate, I have been following politics for fifty years and I have never seen such a level of hate and anger between the warring factions. I am just one guy but here is to hoping that the rhetoric can somehow be toned down between now and November 8th. Whoever is elected president, pray that our country can be unified in the best interest of our great nation! America is too great a country with too great a history to have us ruled by anger, fear, and hatred!

Understandably we spend a lot of time in South Carolina talking about unemployment rates and our large homeless population, especially in Columbia. Those issues are of paramount importance and need to be addressed, today I would like to talk about something more positive to end the week on a brighter note.

For example, since 2011 our overall employment increase in South Carolina, in terms of the number of jobs, is 12.1%. That is higher than the states of Colorado, California, Arizona, Florida, and North Carolina. In fact, we rank in the upper tier of employment change.

For April of 2016, the unemployment rate was 5.2%. This is a significant improvement and the largest sector of jobs that had an increase was in professional and business services. Because Columbia is, in large part, a professional and service economy, the highs may not be as high, but the lows are never as low as other areas in our nation. Here’s to hoping that our leadership on the State and National level (no matter who is governor and president) will continue to make job growth, wage increases, and employee benefits a top priority!

At the young age of 18, I came to Columbia to attend the University of South Carolina, and I’ve lived, worked and raised my family here for the last 46 years. Columbia is such a wonderful place to live, and I can honestly say that I am thankful and proud to be able to call it my home. Sunday evening, there were two diametrically opposed demonstrations –the Black Lives Matter march and a rally in support of the Confederate flag – all on the same day. The attendees in both instances rallied peacefully and without serious incident. I was very proud of law enforcement for their skillful handling of both of these rallies and special thanks to the leadership of the highway patrol, Sheriff Lott, and Columbia Police Chief, Skip Holbrook. You hear a lot about Greenville, Charleston, Atlanta and Charlotte but as for me, I’ll take Columbia any day of the week!