By Tom O'Dare
The Herald

Grand Strand-Linda Ketner says current 1st District Congressman Henry Brown has not been an effective leader for South Carolina on Capitol Hill.
For that reason, she has decided to run for the Congressional seat as a Democrat against Brown.
Ketner told a large group of Democrats in Myrtle Beach Friday morning that it's time that Congress looks after the people again instead of special interests.
The daughter of Food Lion co-founder Ralph Ketner, she is a business consultant from Charleston.
Over the years, Ketner has been a champion of providing equal housing to all, having served on or founded several boards and commissions on housing.
Even though he has been the sub-committee chairman on veterans' health care, Ketner says Brown's record on actually helping the nation's veterans has been shameful.
"It was while Henry was committee chairman that all the problems at Walter Reed Hospital came to light," she said.
She advocates a full Veterans Bill of Rights which would restore all benefits to all veterans including members of the Reserve and National Guard.
On the issue of illegal immigration, Ketner said she would start by deporting the almost one million illegal immigrants currently being held in the nation's jails.
"Our current policy makes no sense," she said. "Right now, we make them serve their entire sentence, then deport them. Why not save millions in taxpayers' dollars by deporting them sooner."

Environmentally-friendly issues would also be top priorities for her in Washington, she added.
Ketner said she was blessed to come from a loving family and especially blessed to have a grandmother that offered advice she has lived by all her life.
"I asked my grandmother why God let some people be rich while others are poor," she said. "She said God doesn't work through elves at night. He works through the people here on Earth. She taught me that if I see something wrong, I should go ahead and try to figure out how to correct it."
As to her connections to the Grand Strand, she said her family vacationed at Myrtle Beach for a week every year.
Smiling, she said one of her fondest memories was getting her first kiss behind the Pavilion.