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  • WTC OKs Teacher Village zoning

    WINNSBORO – A request for R-3 zoning for property for a once controversial Teacher Village, sailed just as smoothly through the second and final reading as it did the first reading.

    Winnsboro Town Council unanimously approved of the rezoning with a 5-0 vote. As during the first reading, there was no discussion except for Councilman John McMeekin assuring those attending that the Planning Commission had thoroughly researched the request before recommending it to Town Council last month.

    No one spoke in support of the rezoning and only one person spoke against it.

    “I am representing my family as adjoining land owners. We have some concerns. What can we do?” Benjamin Clowney asked the council.

    “It seems like the only thing being considered is whether the proposed use meets the R-3 zoning that has been requested, not whether R-3 zoning is appropriate for the area where the subject property lies,” Clowney read from a prepared statement.

    “While the proposed use may meet R-3 zoning, I don’t believe the area is suitable for R-3,” Clowney said. “You’re talking about three or four houses to the acre. It shouldn’t be in that rural location. That is not where it belongs.”

    Mayor Gaddy thanked Clowney for his comments, but no one addressed the information he presented.

    The request is to rezone 22 acres behind the district office from C-2 Commercial to R-3 Residential. The project is expected to cost $3.6 million.

    School Superintendent Dr. J. R. Green said the District plans to give the property to the Fairfield County Education Foundation who will, in turn, turn it over to the developer who will own it and rent out the homes, but only to teachers in the district and to law enforcement and first responders, according to Sue Rex, Chair of the Education Foundation.

    The district is asking for a multi-county business park agreement and a seven-year $600,000 property tax abatement for the developer. Both require County Council approval.

  • Mayor Ross: ‘No one rides that bus’

    BLYTHEWOOD – After being asked to appoint a member of the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce to the COMET bus board, Mayor J. Michael Ross didn’t mince words about whether the bus service is needed in Blythewood.

    “Nobody ever sees anybody on that bus,” Ross said. “Initially we had some riders, but for me to vote to put someone on that board, I need to know how many people catch the COMET in Blythewood and come back on it to Blythewood.”

    Ross told COMET executive director/CEO John Andoh that Council needed some real ridership data for the Blythewood route.

    “We need to be clear,” Ross said to Andoh. “We have been asking for this data way before your time, but we get data that tells us about the bus, the 52-X Express. That’s wonderful. But that bus stays in service after it runs its routes here in the morning – two buses going into Columbia and two going out [back to Blythewood.] We as a council want to see how many people from Blythewood have used the services of the COMET this year,” Ross said.

    “We’re not sure that money is being spent in the best way if no one is riding the bus,” he said. “I believe a vote to appoint a board member should be postponed until the March 16 council retreat, until we get actual data that shows how many [Blythewood] people ride that bus.”

    Andoh explained that each boarding is recorded as a person boarding.

    “If you board 3 times in a day,” Andeau said, “we treat that as three people boarding.”

    Again Ross pressed for Blythewood rider data.

    After looking at data on his laptop from May through November 2018, Andoh agreed with Ross.

    “I can tell you that I’m not impressed with the numbers of 52-X,” Andoh said. “It is one of our lower performing routes and I believe that when this pilot program ends in May, we may need to look at doing something else with this service, maybe have two or three routes from Blythewood to Killian Road/Walmart and back and maybe priced for low-income residents and seniors.”

    Looking further at the data on his laptop, Andoh said 52-X carried 1 passenger per trip on average and that the subsidy was $67.97 with a fair box recovery ratio of 1.5 percent.

    “When you measure that to the rest of the system, that is very poor,” Andoh said.

    Ross repeated his desire to postpone the vote for the appointment of a COMET board member until the March 16 town council retreat. Council agreed with a unanimous vote.

  • State board honors R2 board members

    Change of Venue for Elkins-Johnson’s Day in Court

    COLUMBIA – As Richland Two school leaders grapple with ethical and legal challenges, three of them are being feted with statewide awards and distinctions.

    Board chair Amelia McKie, who’s facing nearly $52,000 in fines over previously unfiled ethics forms, has been elected Region 8 Director of the South Carolina School Boards Association (SCSBA).

    McKie was elected at the association’s annual business meeting in December. Voting consisted of delegates from most of the state’s 81 school boards, according to a news release.

    Region 8 includes Richland One and Richland Two school districts.
    The meeting was held Dec. 7-9, several days after The Voice published a story that said McKie hadn’t filed required Statements of Economic Interest, or SEI, forms from 2015-2018.

    Additionally, in July 2018, the S.C. Ethics Commission had already fined McKie $41,000 for failing to file multiple quarterly campaign disclosure reports. That fine increased to $51,750 on Jan. 1.

    Several Richland Two parents and at least one school board member have called on McKie to either step down as chair or resign from the board altogether.

    Monica Elkins-Johnson

    Also receiving accolades in the wake of legal challenges is Monica Elkins-Johnson, board vice-chair.

    At the Feb. 26 board meeting, she was recognized for achieving Level 6 board certification through the S.C. School Board Association Boardsmanship Institute, the highest level.

    The institute “offers a year-round training curriculum focused on leadership skills for board members on state and national educational issues,” according to the group’s website.

    The SCSBA awarded the Level 6 certification nearly a month after Elkins-Johnson was charged with disorderly conduct in relation to an altercation after the Jan. 22 board meeting, where tensions flared following a discussion of board member ethics.
    A police report filed after the meeting states that Elkins-Johnson was cursing loudly and threatened the husband of board chairwoman Amelia McKie in the foyer of the Richland Two Institute for Technology.
    A second report states that Elkins-Johnson shoved Erica Davis, state Sen. Mia McLeod’s sister, during the altercation.

    Change of Venue

    Pontiac Magistrate Andy Surles was originally assigned to preside over the  Elkins-Johnson case, but it has since been transferred to the Hopkins office and reassigned to Hopkins Magistrate Valerie Stroman.
    A Richland County magistrate office representative told The Voice that Judge Surles requested the recusal, prompting the change of venue.
    An exact reason for the transfer wasn’t provided, though one explanation would be to avoid a conflict of interest since one of the victims is Davis, sister of state Sen. Mia McLeod.
    McLeod’s senate district includes Pontiac, and state senators play a significant role in selecting magistrates.
    In South Carolina, governors appoint magistrates “upon the advice and consent of the Senate,” according to the S.C. Judicial Department website.

    In addition to the disorderly conduct charge, Elkins-Johnson also didn’t file several quarterly campaign disclosure reports due in 2016 and 2017 until Dec. 27, 2018, ethics commission records state.

    Reports due in April 2018 and October 2018 were also filed late, ethics records show.

    Dr. Baron Davis

    Though not as serious as the penalties McKie and Elkins-Johnson presently face, Dr. Davis paid a $200 fine to the ethics commission after self-reporting late filings, namely his Statements of Economic Interest, or SEI, forms.

    Davis disclosed the ethics fine during the Feb. 12 board meeting.

    Eight days later, at the 5th Annual Columbia Impact Awards, Davis received The Cathy Novinger Trailblazer Award, which “honors an individual who has shown exemplary leadership in his/her industry, advocates for business, and positively impacts our community” according to a news release.

    “In Richland Two, we talk about the pursuit of premier being relentless and unflinching. Trailblazers dare to chart their own paths even against conventional wisdom. But through challenging ourselves we often discover our purpose,” Davis said in prepared remarks.

  • PC Oks Abney Hill Phase 3

    BLYTHEWOOD – Although it was not specifically an agenda item, the agreeable response by a builder to a request made by members of the Mt. Valley Road area at the February Planning Commission meeting was a highlight at Monday night’s meeting.

    Last month, residents asked that public access onto Valley Estates Drive from Mt. Valley Road be closed. The heavy construction traffic was destroying the only entrance to their homes, residents told Commissioners. Resident Charles Bayne made the request during public comment time in February and appeared again at the March meeting.

    Frank Berry, on behalf of Essex homes, presented a plan Monday evening that designated the secondary access onto Valley Estates Drive from Mt. Valley Road as an “Emergency Only” access point to be secured by a double-swing gate, supplied with a Supra Lock Box for key access by emergency vehicles. The E911 has updated GIS in CAD for future response of emergency vehicles. Otherwise, secondary access onto Valley Estates Drive from Mt. Valley Road will be stopped by the yet-to-be installed gate.

    In the meantime, Berry said a ‘No Entrance’ sign has been placed at the emergency entrance. Berry said the gate has been ordered and that he is awaiting delivery.

    “I anticipate it will arrive within 45 days,” Berry said.

    The main item on the agenda was the request for approval of the Abney Hills subdivision Phase 3 sketch plan. Phase 3 totals 17.39 acres with 31 lots averaging 16,027 square feet.

    With 33 single family homes, Phase 3 is expected to be built out by 2021, Berry said. It will have access on Valley Estates Drive in Phase 1 which is built out with 90 lots. In Phase 2, construction on 52 lots is underway. Future phases across the creek have the potential for 192 lots and a build out date of 2024.  The remaining phases of Ashley Oaks (across Fulmer Road) are known as Phases 8 and 9 and include 159 lots.

    The findings of a traffic impact study conducted in November 2018 indicate that no road improvements need to be considered for Phase 3 (2022 build) Berry said.

    The sketch plan was approved unanimously as presented but contingent on the gate being installed as described at the secondary access on to Valley Estates Drive from Mt. Valley Drive.

    Chairman Donald Brock announced that Planning Commission member Michelle Kiedrowski has resigned from the Commission.

  • Love is common thread at St. John’s Episcopal

    St. John’s Episcopal Church is located at 301 W. Liberty St. in Winnsboro. | Martha Ladd

    WINNSBORO – If you want to know who your neighbor is, you might want visit St. John’s Episcopal Church for a four-part Lenten Series beginning Sunday, Mar. 10 at 4 p.m. The church has invited speakers from the Episcopal, Jewish, Muslim and Greek Orthodox faiths to offer insights and observations about their faith and how love is the starting point for interfaith dialogue.

    “With love as the common thread to each of these faiths,” a church flyer states, “Rev. Canon Alan Bentrup from the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina will open the series at the March 10 Sunday service.”

    Other presentations are scheduled for March 17 (Rabbi Eric Mollo), March 24 (Imam Omar Shaheed, Masjid As-Salaam) and March 31 (Rev. Fr. Michael Plantis). A reception will follow each presentation.

    At the same location for the past 130 years, this series is one of the ways St. John’s continues to serve its congregation and the town of Winnsboro.

    Twelve years after the Episcopal Church was founded in Fairfield in 1827, the first church building was constructed in 1839, at Garden and Fairfield Streets. Burned to the ground first by Union soldiers in Feb. 1865 and again in 1869 by a fire started in a nearby stable, the building was rebuilt twice in two locations in Winnsboro.

    Today the picturesque red brick church stands at 301 W. Liberty Street, on a treed lot with decades old shrubs that flower prolifically in the spring and summer.

    “Temples made with hands could be destroyed…but the Church is eternal in the hearts of men,” Bishop Howe said at the laying of the current church’s cornerstone in Nov. 1888.

    For information about the church or the Lenten series, call 803-815-1499 or 405-777-8440.

  • Heart for the Homeless

    WINNSBORO – The merchants of downtown Winnsboro sold and displayed pink paper hearts for $1 during February to raise money for the homeless in the community. During the weekly merchant meeting on Friday, the money raised ($150) was presented  to Bleva Bush Belton for the Closet to Closet ministry she runs in the Gordon Odyssey building for Fairfield County homeless students and their families. Presenting the funds to Belton are merchants, from left, Crystal Paulk (The Donut Guy), Vanessa Reynolds (Sunshine & Serenity), Belton, Wanda Carnes (Artists Coop) and Valery Clowney (farmers’ market).

  • Blythewood Presbyterian Church breaks ground

    Blythewood Presbyterian Church’s Pastor Rhett Sanders guides the plow and congregants pull ropes to break ground for their new church on Rimer Pond Road.

    BLYTHEWOOD – After meeting at Blythewood High School for the last nine years, Blythewood Presbyterian Church Pastor Rhett Sanders and the church’s 240 members broke ground on property on Rimer Pond Road Sunday, where they hope to soon begin construction of a 7,600 square foot church.

    “We hope to be in the building by the Fall,” Sanders said.

    In 2010, a core group of about 22 families came out to Blythewood from Northeast Presbyterian Church where Sanders had been on staff for 22 years.

    Today the congregation supports and partners with five ministries in England, North Africa, Mexico, Nicaragua and Thailand.

    Locally, they are engaged with Columbia NE Young Life, Bethany Christian Services, Christian Assistance Bridge and Family Promise.  The group partners with Round Top Baptist Church to produce a First Fruits Market Garden, where the produce goes to support Round Top’s feeding program, a CSA program and the Blythewood Farmers Market.

    “We just started a Youth Soccer League with four teams,” Sanders said, “and we head the Backpack Program at Round Top Elementary that provides food for the weekend for students in need at three local schools.

    “We desire to be a great church for the community of Blythewood and be a blessing to the world for the advancement of the Gospel,” Sanders said.

    Participating in the service were Janeen Tucker, Round Top Elementary Principal, Mayor J. Michael Ross and Consuella Cunningham of the Round Top community.

  • Crickentree working toward Council votes

    COLUMBIA – When a room full of Crickentree neighborhood residents appeared Tuesday night at Richland County Council to speak out against Texas investment company ECapital’s request to rezone the neighborhood’s golf course from TROS to medium density residential, several Council members pushed back, saying it was not the practice of Council to allow residents to speak twice on an item for which a public hearing would be held.

    When sixteen residents were called forward to speak during citizen’s input on a section of the agenda allowing input that ‘Must Pertain to Richland County Matters Not on the Agenda,’ Councilwoman Gwen Kennedy, who represents the Rimer Pond Road area of Blythewood, leaned over to whisper to Chairman Paul Livingston who nodded in response.

    Following the first speaker, House Representative for District 77 Kambrell Garvin, Council Vice Chair Dahli Meyers warned speakers that, “If you speak tonight, you will not be allowed to speak at the public hearing. You cannot speak twice [on a public hearing item].”

    Councilwoman Joyce Dickerson, who represents the Crickentree neighborhood, quickly agreed.

    “If you speak tonight, then when this item comes before us on the fourth Tuesday in April [for a public hearing], you will forfeit your opportunity to speak a second time,” Dickerson told the Crickentree neighbors.

    Councilman Bill Malinowski, however, who does not represent the district, asked the parliamentarian to clarify the agenda item.

    “It says, ‘Must pertain to Richland County matters not on the agenda,” Malinowski pointed out. “It doesn’t say, ‘…and not on something that in the future would require a public hearing.’ It says if it’s not on the agenda, so why can’t they speak tonight and again at the public hearing? This doesn’t prohibit them from speaking both times,” Malinowski said.

    At that point, Dickerson switched her stand in favor of the residents, but called on the county attorney, Larry Smith to clarify the agenda language.

    Smith avoided clarifying the language, instead stating what Council had done in the past.

    “If they speak to an item that may not be on the agenda, but that does require a public hearing, you usually don’t allow them to speak twice,” Smith said.

    Malinowski pushed back.

    “That has been the practice but for the sake of the public, we need to clarify our wording a little better so when they see the agenda, they know their options,” Malinowski said.

    Meyers then called on Crickentree resident Michael Koska to speak.

    “I was advised by staff that we would be able to speak at all the meetings. We’re here. We should be allowed to speak [both times],” Koska said. “I’m begging you to let us speak.”

    Meyers said he could speak but did not make it clear whether he could speak again at the public hearing. When Koska sought clarification, Livingston interrupted.

    “Thank you for your input,” dismissing Koska who then sat down.

    Malinowski interceded, making a motion to wave the rules, since the people, he said, were advised by a County staff person that they could speak at all the meetings.

    “They took the time to come down here today. If they wish to come speak a second time, I ask that we allow them to speak tonight and again at the public hearing.

    Councilman Jim Manning agreed.

    “If the public walks in, looks at the agenda and reads that, they should be able to speak.”

    After Malinowski’s motion was seconded, it passed with all voting for the measure except Kennedy, who did not vote, and the speakers were allowed to proceed.

    In addition to neighborhood speakers that included former NBA player Xavier McDaniel, Garvin reminded Council that the zoning request for medium density would allow up to 900 homes on 183 acres.

    “That would not fit within the character of the Crickentree neighborhood or the surrounding community,” Garvin said. “That would be detrimental to the community.”

    A public hearing will be held in Council Chambers at 2020 Hampton Street in downtown Columbia on April 23 at 6 p.m. For information about the rezoning, call Michael Koska (803-719-1242) or Richland County Planning (803-576-2190).

  • Red Ribbon Opening

    BLYTHEWOOD – Cutting the ribbon for the grand opening of her new Blythewood boutique and gift shop, The Gilded Iris, Tina Johnson and her husband, Rick, right, share scissor duties with Mayor J. Michael Ross and her daughter, jewelry designer Christy Spivey. At left is store manager Phyllis Gutierrez (white jacket). The shop carries women’s clothing (Lilla P., Honeyme, Margaret Winters, Isle, Renaur and Private Label), refurbished furniture, one of a kind jewelry, local paintings and books. Guests in the background, from left: Denise Jones, Mike Switzer, Booth Chilcoat, Debra Humphries, Fairfield County Councilman Moses Bell and stylist Carla Pinnick. The shop is located at 428 McNulty Road. Open Mon. – Thurs., 11 – 5:30; Fri., 11 – 6 and Sat., 11 – 3.

  • Update: Arrest made in Mekra Lang shooting

    FAIRFIELD COUNTY –Jazzmine K. Thompson, 21, of Ranch Rd., Columbia has been arrested for a shooting incident that occurred at Mekra Lang North America on Tuesday, Mar. 5.

    Thompson, a former temporary employee at Mekra Lang, was arrested Tuesday evening in Richland County and is being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. Thompson will be transferred to Fairfield County and charged with two counts of attempted murder, possession of a deadly weapon during a violent crime and discharging a firearm into a building.

    Mekra Lang North America is located at 101 Tillesen Blvd. in the Ridgeway area of Fairfield County. No mugshot is available for Thompson at this time.

    Sheriff investigates shooting at Mekra Lang

    FAIRFIELD COUNTY (3/5/19)– The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting incident that took place this morning outside of Mekra Lang North America, located at 101 Tillesen Blvd in the Ridgeway area of Fairfield County.

    “This is still a very active investigation,” said Sheriff Will Montgomery. “We are limited on the information that we can release at this time.”

    No injuries related to the incident were reported, and it is believed that the shooter left the area in a vehicle. Deputies are still working to positively identify the shooter.

    The Voice will update this story as more information is made available.