By Robert Behre
The Post and Courier

It's OK to ask the federal government to keep the Francis Marion National Forest intact, as long as President George Bush is left out of things.

That's what Charleston County Council decided Tuesday. Five days after council members deadlocked 4-4 on a resolution to urge Bush and Congress not to sell off any parts of the forest, council voted 5-1 to approve the resolution, but only if it replaced the words "President Bush" with the "federal government."

The resolution means County Council will add its voice to Berkeley County and others who are trying to oppose plans to sell off 1,095 acres of the 250,000-acre forest that covers the northeastern parts of Charleston and Berkeley counties.

Chairman Leon Stavrinakis and Councilmen Henry Darby, Ed Fava, Curtis Inabinett and Teddie Pryor voted "yes," while Councilman Tim Scott voted "no," although he added, "I appreciate the deletion of the president's name."

Stavrinakis proposed the resolution last week and agreed to the tweaking. He said he wanted to prove to Councilman Curtis Bostic, who opposed the resolution last week along with Scott, Pryor and Darby, that it wasn't politically motivated, "but he (Bostic) is not here." Councilwoman Colleen Condon also was absent.

The county's resolution will be sent to members of the state's congressional delegation. The proposed sale is part of a larger plan to sell more than 307,000 acres of national forestland in 32 states to raise about $800 million.

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