On Friday evening, six members of Richland County Council served a no trespassing notice to a citizen who had organized an effort to educate her community on the upcoming vote for a $1.4 billion budget that would max out property taxes. The ironic part? She had not visited the majority of the addresses that reported her…
Anna Herron of Richland County has been an active community member who routinely speaks at Richland County Council meetings. Herron has previously educated her local community on the pitfalls of the penny tax and wasteful government spending. She has kept a close eye on Richland County Council, including her latest piece on Richland County Council’s unconstitutional passage of their Hate Crime Ordinance.
This time, Herron organized an effort to door-knock and hand out educational flyers on the county budget increase that will receive its final vote on Tuesday, June 17th at 6pm.
On Wednesday, Anna Herron spoke to an individual close to county council who told her to be careful when handing out flyers in the council member’s neighborhood as it could be considered “harassment.”
On Friday, June 13, 2025 around 7pm, Mr. and Mrs. Herron received a knock on their door from Richland County Sheriff’s Department. The officer, who identified himself as Sergeant Fitzsimmons, presents a Notice of No Trespass with six addresses listed. After reviewing the addresses, Anna realized that she had only visited one of the six listed addresses. After further review, Anna recognized that every address listed are linked to the following Richland County Council members: Allison Terracio (District 5), Chakisse Newton (District 11), Gretchen Barron (District 7), Paul Livingston (District 4), Cheryl English (District 10), and of course, Vice Chair Derrek Pugh (District 2).
The officer explained to the Herrons that he had been directed by Deputy Chief Ashe and Attorney Joanna McDuffie to serve Anna Herron with the trespassing notice written up that day following a call they had received.
The following footage is from the Herron’s camera that caught clips of the interaction with law enforcement:
It appears that many Richland County Council members have an ego problem that is easily agitated by citizen involvement. Instead of listening to their constituents and encouraging active participation in local government, it seems that most Richland County Council members would prefer to send law enforcement with an implied threat to the door of a young female constituent for educating her community.
What’s in this budget? Besides the 18% increase and maxing out the property tax rate, the final budget will most likely include many kickbacks for the friends and associates of certain Richland County Council members that were received in the previous budgets. For example, Derrek Pugh’s fraternity received over $10,000 in the FY23-24 budget.
It seems Richland County elected officials are not used to being held accountable for their actions by their constituents. If you are interested in getting involved with other concerned citizens in Richland County or if you would like to know more about what is going on in your area, email us at info@palmettostatewatchfoundation.com
This article will be updated.
UPDATE: Anna Herron only visited ONE of the six addresses, not two.
UPDATE: 10:21pm – The following Richland County Council members voted in favor of the proposed budget: Paul Livingston (District 4), Allison Terracio (District 5), Don Weaver (District 6), Gretchen Barron (District 7), Tish Dozier Alleyne (District 8), Chairwoman Jesica Mackey (District 9), Cheryl English (District 10), Chakise Newton (District 11). Jason Branham (District 1) and Vice Chair Derrek Pugh (District 2) voted against. After Tyra Little (District 3) voted against, Chairwoman Mackey stopped and clarified “the motion is to approve all the items in the budget before you” to which Little replies “wait a minute” and the next thing Little says in inaudible. The county attorney then states that council members who have already voted are allowed to change their vote, the clerk asks Little if she would like to change her vote to yes, and Little’s response is inaudible. It is unclear what Little’s final vote was. To watch the full vote, go to 2:01:00 marker HERE.
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