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Nexus X HumectressBy Tim Renaud
ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCBD) – Some Isle of Palms residents are expected to “declare independence” from South Carolina as they look to form “The Palm Republic.”
It stems from when a small group opposed Gov. Henry McMaster’s decision to close the beaches at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
The effort, by former and current leaders on the Isle of Palms, including former mayor Jimmy Carroll, said the decision is to protect what they call illegal action from the state. Those issues include beach parking and other traffic-related issues by the South Carolina Department of Transportation.
“The Palm Republic will exist as a free and sovereign republic that re-establishes Home Rule, which was unilaterally and illegally stripped from the Isle of Palms upon the passage of S. 40 in 2021,” organizers said Wednesday.
The Palm Republic is modeled after the Conch Republic along the Florida Keys.
While organizers said becoming a republic would give the island self-governance, it would not include seceding from South Carolina.
“This tongue-in-cheek protest will have no binding legal authority, the founding fathers and mothers of the Palm Republic hope to highlight the tyrannical and unconstitutional actions taken by state legislators, the Secretary of the Department of Transportation, and the governor stripping the Isle of Palms of its basic rights to govern itself,” said organizers. “The patriots of the Palm Republic are fun-loving people and include humor and drink in dealing with a very serious violation of their constitutionally guaranteed right to govern our Island.”
