In May, Spartanburg Mayor Bill Barnet received the fifth annual Drummond Award for Statesmanship during an awards banquet in Columbia. Three of the five past Drummond Award recipients have been South Carolina mayors.
The award, named for state Senator John Drummond (D-Ninety Six), is presented by the Drummond Center at
Erskine College. It honors individuals who demonstrate leadership and good character in the realm of public service.
“Bill Barnet has distinguished himself as a businessman, political leader and public servant,” said Drummond Center
Executive Director Dr. Jay West. “Though the selection process for the Drummond Award is arduous, Bill Barnet rose to the top quickly as this year’s nominee.”
In accepting the award, Barnet emphasized why the honor was particularly special to him – because it connected him with state Sen. John Drummond, for whom the center was named to promote the ideal of perpetuating statesmanship in South Carolina.
During his remarks, Barnet said Robert Frost was his favorite poet when he was young. Frost coined the phrase, “building soil” and Barnet used that phrase in describing Drummond’s contributions to South Carolina.
“Senator Drummond built soil and did so by featuring civility — the capacity for, and the commitment to, the consideration of other people and ideas,” Barnet said. “As he does, I believe in this state, and I believe in its future.”
“To realize that future we must, with his [Drummond’s] notion of civility, be less about dogma and more about being open to good and creative ideas, be less about finding fault and more about encouragement and risk taking, less about
exclusion and more about being understanding of the true range of forms, colors, and traditions with which our common God has created and peopled his earth,” he said.
In her introduction of Barnet, Drummond Center Board Chair Paula Harper Bethea, who presided over the evening’s events, called Barnet “a gentleman, a gentle man and a gentle giant.”
“Bill’s influence is seen all over our state,” she said. “Bill Barnet always does what is right. Few private citizens have
championed the cause of education as he has.”
In his mayoral inauguration speech, Barnet said his goal was to make Spartanburg an “admired community” by improving educational opportunities through excellent schools, increasing per capita income, and beautifying the area
with trees, green space, fountains, and art. “I seek a community of encouragement,” he said, “wherein, by your and my actions and words, we challenge each other to believe we can dream greater dreams.”
Barnet joins Mayor Joe Riley of Charleston and former Mayor Max Heller of Greenville as a Drummond Award recipient. Other previous recipients are South Carolina textile giant Roger Milliken, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew J. Perry Jr. and U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham.