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2025-2026 Bill 5194: Midlands Lodge #1 Fraternal Order of Police 50th Anniversary - South Carolina Legislature Online
South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 5194
STATUS INFORMATION
House Resolution
Sponsors: Reps. Wooten, Alexander, Anderson, Atkinson, Bailey, Ballentine, Bamberg, Bannister, Bauer, Beach, Bernstein, Bowers, Bradley, Brewer, Brittain, Burns, Bustos, Calhoon, Caskey, Chapman, Chumley, Clyburn, Cobb-Hunter, Collins, Cox, Crawford, Cromer, Davis, Dillard, Duncan, Edgerton, Erickson, Ford, Forrest, Frank, Gagnon, Garvin, Gatch, Gibson, Gilliam, Gilliard, Gilreath, Govan, Grant, Guest, Guffey, Haddon, Hager, Hardee, Harris, Hart, Hartnett, Hartz, Hayes, Henderson-Myers, Herbkersman, Hewitt, Hiott, Hixon, Holman, Hosey, Howard, Huff, J.E. Johnson, J.L. Johnson, Jones, Jordan, Kilmartin, King, Kirby, Landing, Lastinger, Lawson, Ligon, Long, Lowe, Luck, Magnuson, Martin, McCabe, McCravy, McDaniel, McGinnis, C. Mitchell, D. Mitchell, Montgomery, J. Moore, T. Moore, Morgan, Moss, Neese, B. Newton, W. Newton, Oremus, Pace, Pedalino, Pope, Rankin, Reese, Rivers, Robbins, Rose, Rutherford, Sanders, Schuessler, Scott, Sessions, G.M. Smith, M.M. Smith, Spann-Wilder, Stavrinakis, Taylor, Teeple, Terribile, Vaughan, Waters, Weeks, Wetmore, White, Whitmire, Wickensimer, Williams, Willis and Yow
Document Path: LC-0291HA-GM26.docx
Introduced in the House on February 18, 2026
Adopted by the House on February 18, 2026
Summary: Midlands Lodge #1 Fraternal Order of Police 50th Anniversary
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
Date
Body
Action Description with journal page number
2/18/2026
House
Introduced and adopted (
House Journal-page 44
)
View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
02/18/2026
A
house
RESOLUTION
to recognize and honor the police officers of
Midlands Lodge #1 of the Fraternal Order of Police and to congratulate them
upon the celebration of the lodge's fiftieth anniversary.
W
hereas, the South
Carolina House of Representatives is pleased to learn that Midlands Lodge #1 of
Columbia is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary and was the first lodge to
form in South Carolina that has stayed active, made up entirely of deputies
with the Lexington County Sheriff's Department; and
W
hereas, these officers
searched for a national organization to join that would help them in their
endeavors, and they determined that the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) was the
only organization that truly consisted of police officers who represented
police officers; and
W
hereas, they contacted
the North Carolina State Lodge of the FOP, and those FOP members came to discuss
the FOP with them, after which Lexington County deputies began the work of
creating a local FOP organization. On February 9, 1976, the first meeting was
held in which seventy-five Lexington County deputies, out of seventy-eight
serving the county, became charter members and elected its initial officers: Guy
Osborne, president; Jack Bowden, vice president; W.T. Scruggs, secretary; and
John Robinson, treasurer; and
W
hereas, on April 22,
1976, the S.C. Secretary of State issued the Certificate of Incorporation to
the Midlands Lodge #1, which was known at that time as Lexington County Lodge
#2 due to an unsuccessful prior effort by Lancaster County Lodge #1 to
establish an FOP Lodge, and later renamed the FOP Midlands Lodge #1 on January
24, 1986; and
W
hereas, the officers of
the Midlands FOP began the task of gathering community support and strength
through numbers. They started raising funds for activities and attorney fees if
needed, and when their plight became public, support started coming in
immediately; and
W
hereas, around the
same time that the Midlands Lodge was formed, officers with the Charleston
County Police Department began searching for a national organization to join.
They contacted the Georgia State Lodge of the FOP for assistance and discovered
that Lexington officers had just formed an FOP lodge; and
W
hereas, the officers
from the Charleston County Police Department chartered the Charleston County
Lodge #3. The officers from both lodges began to share information, and in
early 1977, officers from Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens counties formed the third
lodge called Tri-County Lodge #4; and
W
hereas, in April of
1977, the three FOP lodges in South Carolina took a bold step to form a state
lodge. The first meeting was held at the Ramanda Inn in West Columbia. The national
FOP President, Pat Stark, came in to charter the new state lodge and to preside
over the meeting to elect state officers. The leadership from the three lodges
met and elected the following officers: State President Guy Osborne, Vice
President Jim Cleveland, Secretary William Graham, and Treasurer Gilbert Smith.
James Longo was elected as the first national trustee; and
W
hereas, the South
Carolina House of Representatives values the camaraderie, support, and
fellowship that the Midlands Lodge #1 has provided for fellow officers for half
a century, and the members congratulate them for being the longest active lodge
in the State of South Carolina. Now, therefore,
B
e it resolved by the
House of Representatives
:
T
hat the members of the
South Carolina
House of Representatives
,
by this resolution, recognize and honor the police officers of Midlands Lodge
#1 of the Fraternal Order of Police and congratulate them upon the celebration
of the lodge's fiftieth anniversary.
B
e it further resolved
that a copy of this resolution be presented to Midlands Lodge #1 of the
Fraternal Order of Police.
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This web page was last updated on February 18, 2026 at 1:06 PM