Piedmont Republic (1983: Doomsday)

Piedmont Republic
The Piedmont Republic is a group of four counties in northwest South Carolina that barely avoided annihilation when because of a tactical decision by the Soviet Union to destroy power stations with conventional warheads. The Oconee Nuclear Power Plant was severely damaged in the attack, but by 2000 technicians were able to restore partial operations to the plant after nearly two decades of alternative fuel options in the area.

The college towns of Clemson, Greenville, and Spartanburg having successfully groomed the original student bodies of six colleges and universities (mostly on campus, and representing much of the rest of the pre-doomsday USA), have developed into an independent republic with around 500,000 citizens. The present governor is Robert R. Jones IV, son of one of the founding fathers of the republic.

Prior to Doomsday
Greenville, South Carolina, had been on the verge of a downtown renewal. In nearby Mauldin, a new baseball stadium had just been finished, anticipating the coming season of the Greenville Braves, a farm team for the Atlanta franchise. The main industry in the area was still textiles, though that industry was starting to be lost to cheaper labor in Mexico and Asian manufacturing facilities.

Clemson University in Pickens County was known for its engineering and agriculture departments, though most locals seemed only to think of its powerful football team (National Champs in 1981, but under probation for recruiting violations). Baptist affiliated Furman University and North Greenville College are in Greenville County, and Christian Schools Bob Jones University and Holmes Bible College both thrive inside the city limits. In Pickens County lies the campus of Central Wesleyan College represents the best of Methodist higher learning. Over in Spartanburg County there is Spartanburg Methodist College, which is a two-year college with students in residence on campus. These schools, among many others, were housing as many as 10, 000 students from around the state and the nation on the day the missiles fell.

Greenville county, as the largest in population and area, was the natural leader in the upstate. But there was much to offer in these counties along Interstate 85. That thoroughfare had lead some to attempt a national marketing program for developing the "GreenSpAn" of South Carolina. However, those in Anderson vetoed the idea, thinking that Greenville got top billing and they only got two letters on the end! Anderson county, though, did not have the "flavor" of the border counties. Three of the four touched the sky as the sloped toward the plain upon which the capital city of Columbia sat. Spartanburg County, on the other hand guarded closely its small town identity while seeking to be urban enough to attract visitors before they reached the "big city" to the southwest!

Tied to the past, looking to the future, the towns had racial tension. The Democratic party always seemed to have a lock on the minorities (both the African-American and the Lationos), while the Republican party held onto a slim majority of the white majority. The area had helped the state to put Ronald Reagan in the White House after he had come to speak to the Fundamentalist Christian population at Bob Jones University. Things were looking up, for the area had been able to send their former state representative to the House of Representatives in Washington. Carroll Campbell showed promise in national politics as well -- the first in what the Republican leadership was sure to be a long line of conservatives to change the face of governance in national politics.

The Aftermath of Doomsday
Newly-elected Greenville Mayor William D. "Bill" Workman III, having taken office June 13th, was the major political leader in the region. A close ally was Robert R. "Bob" Jones III, president of Bob Jones University. Jones had recently lost a US Supreme Court battle over a policy against inter-racial dating and marriage. This issue, though minor to the belief structure of the University, added to the racial tension of the area. The alliance between the Republican Party and the Fundamentalist school, though, would prove to be the strength that would hold the area together long enough to establish a viable political unit.

On the evening of Sunday, September 25th, 1983, Bob Jones, III, was enjoying a time with his extended family at their home in Greenville, SC. The home was inside the fences of Bob Jones University, designed with living quarters for his father, Bob Jones, Sr. (chancellor of BJU), and mother, as well as an "upper room" for prayer and devotions. Sunday was for God, so no outside media was on in the house. At about 8:55 pm, though, a disturbing call came from campus security. He immediately turned on the radio as the emergency broadcasting system had begun, announcing an impending strike on multiple US targets. By 9:05 Jones was on the public address system with instructions to all students in the dorms to seek shelter in the service areas in the basements of the Founder's Memorial Amphitorium and Rodheavor Auditorium.

Before all the students could be gathered safely, the airwaves went silent. Local power was suddenly cut, and the emergency power system lit hallways dimly. Hundreds of students, without proper authorization, climbed down through manhole covers to the labyrinth of steam tunnels underneath the university "just in case" Greenville was a target. In about an hour, when no explosion had come, they emerged to campus security awaiting them. They were briefed as to what the "doctors Bob" had told everyone else on campus who had told them in the two basement sanctuaries. Though warnings had been sounded to seek cover for up to two weeks in case of fallout, the basements had been "standing room only." Arrangements had been made to utilize the lower and inner rooms of the dormitories and classroom buildings as suffiecient shelters.

Interstates 85 (out of Charlotte), and 26 (out of Columbia) had become jammed by 9:30 pm, as older cars (without computers) made it out of the cities. By about 9:45, though, warheads had exploded over both cities as well as over Augusta, Georgia. Some people in North Augusta had made it to Highway 25 on the way towards Greenville. Being the first out proved to be enough for perhaps a thousand cars in all, with occupants being able to get twenty miles or so away from "ground zero." These vehicles, though suffered much damage as the heat of the fireball reached them. Though some of the vehicles survived the assault, others were blown from the roadways. Few survived the resulting crashes. Fewer than five hundred vehicles, in fact, reached safe haven in Spartanburg and Greenville than night. From vehicles fortunate enough not to be overturned, though, about two hundred survivors climbed to finish their trek on foot.

The next day, City and county councils were meeting all day, as were student bodies in the auditoriums of the areas schools and universities. It soon became obvious that major resources were at a premium. Both the gasoline and natural gas pipelines that went through the upstate had been shut down at their point of origin along the Gulf of Mexico. The pump stations along the way had failed to function after the EMP's had struck. Any product locally would have to be extracted from the pipes themselves, which would take time. Fuel storage facilities in nearby Anderson county had yet to be contacted and fuel deliveries to local stations and larger tanks were uncertain. Travelers from Pickens county reported that a large explosion had been heard in the vicinity of the Oconee Nuclear Power Plant, though no mushroom cloud had been seen.

In the next few days, area hospitals were overflowing with refugees from coming up from the South and over from the Northeast. The nursing homes were beginning to fill up as the nursing personnel in them were being called on to serve the need of the moment. Triage centers were sending the worst cases to the nursing homes to die. The "regular" patients at the homes were being released to their families for lack of resources.

In addition to Greenville, the cities of Easley and Spartanburg were influencial in the leadership that developed into a stable government of the four counties. The city of Wahalla, county seat of Oconee county, was isolated, and only came into the republic after a stable government had been established. The city government of Clemson, at the corner of Pickens, Oconee, and rogue county Anderson, played a minor part, but it was the coherence of the College there that made a real difference in the survival of the republic against all odds.

The Greenville Protocol
At the first sign of chaos -- that is, when all power went on emergency backup and there was no electronic communications network -- Greenville county sheriff Johnny Mack Brown called all the deputies, as well as the policemen, that were at the Law Enforcement center in downtown into the conference room. The continuing cold war with the USSR had lead to contingency plans kept secret to all but law enforcement and top political leaders across the state. Now was the time to set it into motion. The police cruisers that had been disabled by the EMP's were quickly hot-wired passed the computers, having and were up and running within an hour of the attacks. The highway patrol in the county that had been on motorcycles had already converged on the Law Enforcement Center to receive their assignments. While the patrolmen went to find the officers already on patrol (now either awaiting help or busy hot-wiring their vehicles), the other officers began to form concentric circles a far out in line of sight as they could arrange along the streets heading out of town. When the officers on patrol had their vehicles running, they took the points further out towards the county line. Using bright flags, they communicated short Morse Code messages (left=dot; right=dash). Before looting could begin, the officers were in position.

Meanwhile, the area hospitals - from Barge Memorial Hospital on Bob Jones University to the large county hospitals - along with the doctors offices were gearing up for the injured to begin arriving from Charlotte and Columbia. No one knew exactly how many would come in, but it was decided if they made it in, they had priority over all other none-lethal conditions. When the casualties began to arrive, nurses in the waiting rooms had the responsibility to decide if they had a chance of survival. Over the course of the first six months tens of thousands of victims would come in, only a few hundreds would survive to see the founding of the new Republic. By the summer of 1984, in fact, all disposable medical supplies had been exhausted. As burn and radiation victims died, their beds came available for the sicker of those that had been "evicted" in the beginning. Hundreds of elderly residents of nursing facilities, for example, had been released to their families when the beds were needed for the disaster victims. Few of these ever reclaimed their beds, most having died at home.

Meanwhile, the colleges and universities in the counties had first priority for survival. The young people were in no way pampered, but it had been determined that they were the best hope for the future. Bob Jones University and Furman University, and to a certain extent North Greenville College, became self-contained communities. Armed vehicles guarded trucks hauling food and personal products for distribution to the campuses first and then to community centers where rations were distributed until such time as private gardens could begin to produce in the summer and fall of 1984. Draconian curfews and harsh punishments kept the unsavory looters and plunderers at bay. Local manufacturing plants looked for ways to use the chemicals and other materials they had to produce simple products that could serve the community need. Old equipment containing few electronic elements was taken out of storage. Emergency generators began to use rationed fuel to produce numerous everyday items.

Automobiles began to be collected for parts needed to keep essential vehicles - law enforcement, medical transport (personnel carpooling), and public transit - in working order. What jobs that were available began to be filled by those who lived within walking distance in many cases. Others who had jobs began to relocate to houses closer to work. The people of the upstate of South Carolina, especially in Greenville, knew there were probably many others that had survived as they did. But in the beginning -- until July 4th, 1986 in fact -- strict adherence to the "Greenville protocol" kept this little corner of the world alive.

Constitutional Convention
Thanksgiving day of 1984 was a day of reflection. In the fourteen months since what was called "Armageddon" by some, and "Doomsday" by others, the upstate had seen much suffering. However, with options being limited with conventional medicine, a wider use of alternative medicine was not only allowed, but encouraged. As a result of such an approach, death by radiation poison brought on the winds up from Atlanta were few. Since care to the elderly had fallen to the families for over a year, the mean age in the region went down as the weakest among them died of natural causes. The harvest of the gardens had been a good one, and everyone had plenty to eat. The future looked good.

Election day two weeks earlier had seen one hundred delegates (25 from each county) chosen for a convention to be convened on January 7, 1985 at McAllister Auditorium on the campus of Furman University. Mayor Bill Workman was elected chairmen of the convention. After the festivities of Christmas were over, these delegates got down to the business of building a sovereign state. Sovereignty was something many in the former South Carolina held dear. However, probably ninety-five percent of citizens felt in their heart that even under President Reagan they were losing freedoms once thought eternal. Now was a chance to "start over." Since the state constitution had become so long, the new constitution patterned itself after the historical US constitution. The changes they made, though, were carefully designed to not conflict with the original federal document. The delegates, by and large, were optimistic that some day the United States of America would once again be united. Opinions were divided, though, on whether the government should return to its former state.

On March 8, 1985, the delegates signed the document and carried copies back to their home districts. A campaign would ensue for ratification on election day in November. The convention had voted to have major Workman serve as interim governor, with Spartanburg mayor Robert "Bob" Rowell as interim lieutenant governor. The constitution had included provisions not explicitly spelled out in the US constitution -- such as the right to life for humans in all stages of biological existence (whether in the mother's womb, or in their children's care).

1985 Election Day
Out of the estimated 150,000 eligible voters, 92,417 voted in voting booths from Wahalla to Spartanburg. A staggering 71,287 voted to ratify, or 73 percent. In a separate vote, 63 percent of the voters agreed that the interim government was doing good enough to be placed on the ballot for the general in 1986. With that "head start," it was assumed that they would probably hold those seats for another two to four years (depending on the office). For the most part, that proved to be true, with only about a third of the delegates not returning to office in the unicameral Assembly in January 1987.

Independence Day
On January 1, 1986, the Provisional Republic of the Piedmont, commonly known as the Piedmont Republic, officially came into existence. Its official title relayed the hope that the state of South Carolina would one day rejoin a reunited United States of America, but with a less centralized government. The next step would be to find out who else had survived.

Government
The Republic has a single assembly of 100 assemblymen (not a sexist term) as its legislative body. Election is every two years. All citizens of the republic 18 or older can vote, but an assemblyman must be at least 25 to serve. There is no discrimination as to the gender, race, or ethnic background. The executive branch consists of the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the governor's cabinet. The lieutenant governor and other executive officers are chosen by the governor and are confirmed by a vote of the electorate at the same time that the governor is elected. The executive term is for four years, with the option of serving for another four. All elections are non-partisan, but candidates are expected to fully disclose their political philosophy (subject to challenge in court). Truth is expected in all campaigns, and lying is grounds for recall. The court system has system of judges, nominated by the governor and approved by the assembly.

Currency
All banks were closed for weeks as the Greenville Protocol was in effect. US currency and coin in circulation at the time was allowed to be spent on commodities until the end of 1983. At that time, the provisional government called in all currency to be credited and then revalued. This was done by determining the total amount in circulation, and then estimating the total value of goods available. After that time, the money was put back in circulation, having been marked by the seal of the republic's treasury department. Any non-certified currency would from then be worthless.

Flag
It was determined on January 1, 1986, that a flag would be designed to distinguish the provisional republic from the old state of South Carolina. The sovereignty flag of 1861 provided a general design, but cool heads prevailed and the colors were changed to reflect the main schools of the old State of South Carolina. The bars became crimson to reflect the University of South Carolina, while the background was to be Clemson orange. Though Clemson remained and USC was gone, it was decided that the prominence of the orange was showing undue preference to Clemson, so the upper left and lower right panels were returned to the bonny blue color of the old flag. The palmetto tree, though rare in the upstate, was retained, but moved out of the panel it had shared with the crescent moon. The stars that had been prevalent in the sovereignty flag were taken out -- except for the center star, for unity, and four smaller stars for the four member counties of the republic.

The flag was approved by the Assembly and first raised over the state house in Greenville (the old Greenville County courthouse) on June 14, 1986.

Religion and Law
The prominent religion in the Republic is protestant Christian -- largely Southern and Independent Baptist. However, significant other religious traditions continue -- both Christian and non-Christian. Freedom of religion continues for the founders of the Republic agreed that it was faith in God that saw the survivors through Doomsday.

Some public policies though, deemed to be overly religious in nature over the years, were reinstated, and even strengthened:


 * Sundays once again were revered as a day of rest and worship. Other religious traditions were granted the full right to observe their own day (without fear of reprisal), but the "official" Sabbath would be Sunday.
 * Divorce became a lot harder. Though it was still allowed, restrictions on its use promoted reconciliation and required legal proof of infidelity.
 * The legal drinking age was raised to 25 years old.
 * The legal age for smoking was lowered to 16, but with requirements for anti-smoking education.
 * Abortion for any reason other than to save the life of the mother was strictly forbidden until such time as the US government was re-constituted.

Communications
With electricity on emergency supply after Doomsday and electronics 'fried" by the EMP's, the radio and televeision stations were practically useless. The local newspapers began producing limited editions for they did not know how long there supplies would hold out. In Greenville, for instance, the Greenville-News and the Greenville Piedmont (morning and evening dailies, respectively) merged into the Piedmont News. This paper went to being published on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. In 2001, after power had been restored to most of the republic for daytime operations of essensial businesses, makeshift telegraph and telephone services sprung up to replace the regional services that had ruled pre-doomsday. Ham radio sets, drawn out of storage, were being utilized as they became available. As contact was made to other survivor city-states and nations, hope began to rise that there was hope in the world again. It was not until 2006 that area television stations were able to consolidate their facilities into WSPA, a weak station run out of facilities in an old bank building in Greer, RoP. Its first broadcasts were of the election results of the 2006 gubernotorial race.

Transportation
The state of emergency in 1983 had led the leadership in Greenville to impound about half the automobiles in the upstate. The newer vehicles, that had had their electronics rendered useless, were refitted with parts from older cars to allow at least some of the effecient late model engines to conserve the fuel older "gas-guzzlers" would have wasted. Existing fuel in the tanks of local gas stations was strictly rationed, and citizens were encouraged to use the bus system whenever possible. Locally, production of tires at three surviving Michelin Tire plants continued on a very reduced schedule (for the manufacturing facilities were a huge drain on energy and raw materials). Air travel, in small planes, resumed on very short flights around the Republic. Again, it was not known how much fuel was available, so larger planes or longer flights were felt to be unnecesary. Even with the recovery of fuel from storage tanks in the provisional county of Williamstown, transportation remained limited to within known bounds of the four member counties.

Demographics
After the influx of refugees in 1984 and 1985, the population of the Republic of Piedmont began to shift to lower median age. With the health care rationing, the weaker citizens tended to die of the lingering effects of radiation from the fallout that had come up from Atlanta on the prevailing winds in 1983. However, with the introduction of alternative medicines once shunned by federal -- and state -- medical practitianers, the healthy population that was exposed seemed to have few lasting affects. As a consequence, the population between the age of 18 and 50 held a heathy 60% over other age groups. However, the birthrates dropped as an accessment was made on available resources. By the 2000 census, though, those coming into the child-bearing age were encouraged to have more children. Their older contemporaries, meanwhile, began to attempt to have another child while they could. The present population, based on these trends, is estimated to be 420,000.

This population is 86 percent white, 12 percent black, and one percent each of Asian and "other." Of this population, about 12 percent claim Hispanic (Latino) heritage. The median income per household is around P$ 36,000, with a per capita income of about P$ 19,000. The unemployment rate, according to December 2009 figures, is 8.7% -- including full time students on government scholarships.

The Anderson-Toccoa War
(see main article: Anderson-Toccoa War)

In early winter of 1987, refugees began to arrive in Clemson from the south and from the west. Stories of unimaginable atrocities were met with some suspicion, but the victims showed many signs of trauma and emotional distress. There had been the takeover of two campuses in neighboring counties -- Toccoa Falls College in the former state of Georgia and Anderson College in the county to the south of the Republic in the former South Carolina. Both had seen bloodshed -- including the presidents of both colleges -- but the worst case was in Anderson.

Before authorities in the Republic of Piedmont could respond to either atrocity, war broke out between the rogue city-states. Two racist cities, in affect, were warring against each other with the RoP in between. Without waiting for a draft, students at Clemson University were joining up to the new army that had been formed in 1985. Both the ROTC and the football team was wanting to "liberate" the oppressed people in Anderson, just twenty miles away.

For four months, from March through June, the "peace keeping" forces from all four counties of the Republic stood in the gap between the warring factions. Though they did not receive many casualties, peace proved hard to achieve. Finally, though, a ceasefire was agreed upon and demilitarized zones were established to keep these enemies at bay. Furthermore, a buffer zone was established between the former Anderson County and the counties of the Republic that it bordered. As a result, five of the county's towns were occupied.

The Lake Hartwell Accord
On November 11, 1987, the warring parties in Anderson and Toccoa were compelled by the Piedmont military to sign a cease fire. The armed forces established a three mile wide Demilitarized Zone, 1.5 miles on either side of Lake Hartwell. Though the conflict would continue as each town attempted to liberate the slaves in the other, they would have to circumnavigate the lake's southern end, out of range of the patrol boats on the lake. The Piedmont Coast Guard kept 1200 guardsmen on rotating shifts of 400 to maintain peace.

Civil rights groups in the Republic, though, have lobbied the Assembly, and fought in the courts, to have the army forcibly liberate the slaves in both Anderson and Toccoa. Most recently, in Irwin vs. RoP, Athenian survivor Barry Irwin lost in a case brought before the RoP Supreme Court. Irwin had argued that the rogue states had violated the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution in holding slaves within the bounds of the United States. However, associate judge Bill Watkins spoke for the majority:


 * Since the United States of America has been officially dissolved, the citizens of that larger nation are no longer held by the provisions of its constitution. Although the constitution of the Republic of the Piedmont indeed does have a similar provision for civil rights of all people, that constitution does not apply to those states outside its jurisdiction.  Until such time as these adjoining counties become either a part of this republic, or under international contract are liable to such civil laws, this republic may not interfere with the internal affairs of said states.   Irwin vs the Republic of Piedmont, Aug 13, 2009.

To date, 674 Piedmontan troops have died in this ongoing conflict. Most recently, on Dec. 12, 2009, a patrol boat was bombed by a small plane believed to have been out of Toccoa. Survivor Lt. Gerald Johnson reported that the bomb appeared to be a Fuel Air Explosive (FAE) device that exploded in two stages - first releasing a fine mist of gasoline and then igniting it a fraction of a second later. Authorities in the DoD of the Republic would not comment on whether they had a similar weapon in their arsenal. Lt. Johnson was the only survivor, the rest of the crew are presumed dead.

Aftermath of the war: Establishing boundaries


Although Zahur had claimed all of former Anderson County, the "Supreme Leader" had to settle for a greatly diminished territory. This turned out to be abetter "deal" for him, for he did not have the power to control the remaining populations of the small towns in the northern part of the county. All these towns were near the border with the Piedmont Republic, which had occupied those towns inside the demilitarized zones. When he was forced to withdraw into the city of Anderson, it hadrelieved the tension of continual occupation of what accounted for about half of the Republic's southern border.

Before the final lines were drawn, as the government of the Piedmont Republic considered the former Anderson County to be the "rightful boundaries" for its present government, the "battle lines" represented quite a drain on the budget of the fledgling republic.





Conditions were far from ideal with these arrangements. The "old rules" about county lines had to be reconsidered. The Andersonians held onto most of the small towns only by intimidation. Even the most libertarian among the Piedmontias were demanding that the threat in the south be contained. And so, new lines were drawn, and Jibril Zahur had to settle for a much smaller territory, which he called the Islamic Republic of Anderson. His territory became the city of Anderson plus the land up to Lake Hartwell.



Scouting teams would find all towns south of Belton to be completely abandoned, having been ransacked by fleeing refugees coming up from Augusta and Columbia. Belton had held out a bit longer, but had been found by Piedmontian troops to be near death due to unsanitary conditions and disease. The remaining towns of the county, apart from the suburbs of the city of Anderson, were annexed to the RoP. The new borders of the Republic of Piedmont extended to the borders of the IRA on the north and the east, for it had been determined that the line (34 degrees 29 minutes North) from the southern tip of Greenville county to the border of the IRA could be safely administered. The new territory is to be renamed Williamston, after the largest town annexed. Elections are scheduled for November 2010 to form a new government for the new county.

While having considered themselves the heir to the original state of South Carolina, the citizens and leadership of the Piedmont Republic had found it against their nature to seek to annex counties that had no government to agree to such an annexation. In this case, they had expanded as the result of a "civil war" in the heart of the old south itself. Search parties in 2010 are seeking refugees or settled governments in the former Laurens, Union, and even Newberry counties for possible incorpration into the republic as counties.

Rising to the Challenges of the New Millennium
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The Present Day
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