BLYTHEWOOD – During a two-hour zoomed town council meeting Monday night, council spent an hour discussing whether or not to re-open the park’s walking trail before voting 4-1 to open it. Councilman Larry Griffin voted against.
At issue was the fact that the trail has been used steadily since it was officially closed by a vote of town council on March 16.
Councilman Larry Griffin said he was not against the trail
being open, but he felt opening it would be an invitation to citizens to use
the entire park.
Mayor Bryan Franklin disagreed.
“We opened the Farmer’s Market on Wednesday afternoons until
November. If we open the walking trail, and then a bunch of kids show up down
at the [park’s] rugby field, now they’re violating the governor’s executive
order [for social distancing] and they can be prosecuted. So, when you say if
the trail’s open, the whole park’s going to be open, that’s not true,” Franklin
said. “We are allowing only for the walking trail to be open. But if someone
wants to get out of their truck and walk their dog, get back in their truck and
go home, to me that’s common sense. They’re doing what the governor has
mandated in his executive order. I trust the people to use common sense. But if
a crowd gathered in the park and I found out about it, I would call Deputy
Kevin Dukes and have him go over there and break the crowd up because they
would be violating the law.”
Councilman Donald Brock said he didn’t believe access could
be restricted to just the walking trail.
Franklin again said that if people are congregating in the
park, a law was put in place by the governor that can be enforced to break up
crowds. He said separate families have been seen picnicking in the park and
people have been using the walking trail, but he doesn’t see that as a
violation. But he reiterated that a bunch of people congregating is a violation
of the law that is enforceable.
“Don’t go down this road of ‘We can’t enforce it,’ Franklin
said. “If someone steps off the trail, should they go to prison? That’s not
what we’re saying. We’re saying, ‘Come out and walk in this public area, walk
your dog, walk your kids, push a stroller, and then get in your car and go
home. Don’t congregate.’ I think people are using common sense.”
Franklin suggested the town could install signs stating that
the walking trails are open, but the rest of the park, restrooms, playground,
Manor and town hall remain closed to the public.
After making several attempts to call for a vote during the
almost-hour-long discussion of the trail closing, Councilman Eddie Baughman
made a motion to open the trail only. Even then, there were questions from
other council members about whether coronavirus germs might be lurking on areas
of the amphitheater that could infect park visitors and whether or not the
germs could live on concrete surfaces.
“The bottom line,” an exasperated Franklin said, “is that
many, many public areas are open now that are known as grocery stores where the
public congregates. You get my point.”
Baughman’s motion passed just before the clock
struck 9 p.m
RND restaurant owner Crystal Paulk delivers a family meal curbside to Dominique Gladden. | Contributed
BLYTHEWOOD – The social restrictions that come with the
Covid-19 pandemic have presented a real challenge for our local small
businesses in Blythewood and Fairfield County. But they’ve also presented new
opportunities that are likely to impact how these businesses operate even after
it’s over.
“We’re trying to be innovative and creative, and each and every
day utilizing curbside dining. We’re doing a lot of takeout. We’ve now gone
into delivery,” says Crystal Paulk, whose family owns The Restaurant Next Door
(RND) and The Donut Guy in Winnsboro.
“Were doing like everybody else is doing: sanitizing, sanitizing,
sanitizing,” she says. “And we’re staying prayerful, hopeful, and optimistic.”
At her restaurant, Paulk says, revenue is down about 60
percent since the appearance of the virus prompted government-mandated
shutdowns of restaurant dining rooms and other businesses in an effort to slow
its spread. But she’s working to make up lost ground by helping to meet needs
that have arisen in the era of social distancing.
For example, she’s put together a meal prep menu aimed at
seniors who are staying home to avoid getting sick but may not want to eat
microwave meals – and families who are feeling stressed by trying to balance
all the changes that have come to their lives in recent days.
The put-together meals, she says, provide the right quantity
of ingredients to make the desired portion size – without a trip to the grocery
store or the ahead-of-time work, like marinating meat and vegetables, already
done. The concept is similar to that of online meal kits – except that it’s
local, and the prices reflect that.
“It’s just one area,” she says, “that we can try and help in
a little way.”
Blythewood business owners – like Carla Lomas, who owns
Bloomin’ Bean Coffee Bar and Blythewood Gloriosa Florist; and Scottie Opolyn,
who owns Scottie’s Café & Grill – say that for them too, staying open is
about continuing to serve the community.
Blythewood Pharmacy clerk/technician Arran Montgomery, assisting customers curbside, gloved and masked. | Barbara Ball
Though the flower shop, coffee shop, and restaurant are
closed to the public, Lomas says she’s still doing business by curbside pickup
and delivery, handling orders through the phone and computer.
Scotties is open as well for takeout and curbside pickup.
Plus, because a number of people show up to pick up orders at meal time,
Scottie has tables and chairs set up outside his restaurant for spaced seating
for those waiting on orders.
Fairfield’s boutiques like Over the Top and Shades of Blue
have closed their stores for the most part but are stepping up their online and
Facebook sales.
“We’re posting a lot more items on Facebook, 40 or so at a
time,” Robbie Martin, owner of Shades of Blue in Winnsboro and Bella and Blue
in Ridgeway, said. ”While we don’t have online ordering as such, we offer
shipping and are constantly updating our Facebook posts. Our customers can look
through our posts and call the store, pay over the phone and pick it up or
we’ll be happy to bring it curbside for pickup. It’s not just about shopping,”
Martin said. “It’s about therapy.
“We just want everyone to be safe right now,” she said. “And
we want our customers’ shopping experiences to be safe and enjoyable.”
Phyllis Gutierrez, store manager at Over the Top Boutique in
Ridgeway said the store has long had online shopping at
www.overthetopridgeway.com, but is offering other online shopping experiences
as well.
“We also post items on Instagram and Facebook that may or
may not be on our website,” Gutierrez said. “We offer home drop offs when
possible, phone sales, mail and curbside pickup.”
The store will also start offering private appointments at
the store on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“We are cleaning and wiping down the shop after each
customer and providing hand sanitizer for customers while in the shop,”
Guiterrez said.
Everyone, it seems,
is trying to muddle through the situation together – and sometimes even
businesses of a similar type land on different answers to the question of what
to do in the face of Covid-19: try to stay open, or close completely?
For Robert and Bobbie Pemberton, whose Oldies and Goodies
antique and consignment shop is one of several new businesses in downtown
Winnsboro, have made the difficult decision to close temporarily, at least
through the end of March.
“It’s not the ideal situation for us as a small business
because we still have rent and utilities and things like that to pay, but we
feel like if we just tighten our belts and stay in, maybe we will get through
this faster,” Bobbie Pemberton says.
Liz Humphries, owner of Blythewood Consignment, has kept her
business open – mainly, she says, because even with 75 percent less traffic in
her store, for those who have come in, the shop has met an important need.
So far, she’s observed the significance of small businesses
in a small town – even ones that some policymakers might deem non-essential.
For example, there was a waitress in need of grocery money
who came to pick up the check from items she’d sold through the consignment
store. There was an older lady who just needed to get out of the house – and
was able to come and shop after hours, when no one else was around.
There were countless people who called looking for hand
tools to plant their gardens, or household items like small appliances, because
they wanted to avoid shopping with the crowds at big-box stores — and the
greater risk of exposure to the virus.
“It’s a surreal situation, and I’m just trying to be here,”
Humphries says. “We’re wiping everything down, we’re cleaning stuff… I’ve never
been in a situation like this before, so I really don’t know what to do except
to stay positive, stay clean and just pray.”
If the situation wears on, she says, consignment shops like
hers may become an important income source for people whose income is
disrupted. Already during the pandemic, she’s had some major drop-offs of
furniture that people want to sell.
But whatever is to come in the next weeks and months, she’s
looking forward to the end of Covid-19 and social distancing that will
eventually come – and what it will be like when everyone who’s been cooped up
at home can come out and shop again.
“It’ll be good when it’s over is all I can say,” she says. “If small businesses can just hang on, it’ll be good when it’s over.”
The Voice will continue to update cancellations and closings at blythewoodonline.com. To submit a closing or cancellation notice, email voice@blythewoodonline.com.
FAIRFIELD COUNTY – Earlier this week, TruVista
Communications announced its plans to provide free internet service to new
customers in homes with K-12 and higher education students.
“We recognize that our company plays an important role in
helping customers connected to their loved ones, workplaces and schools through
the internet,” the press release stated.
Truvista will offer free 60 days of basic internet service,
including free installation to K-12 and/or college students without a current
TruVista subscription. Normal service agreements and deposits will also be
waived.
WINNSBORO – Barring a Christmas miracle, the Midlands
Fatherhood Coalition is in danger of shutting down.
The Coalition, which serves Fairfield County and is part of
the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families, is slated to cease
operations Dec. 31. State funding cuts are to blame.
Santanna Hayes with the coalition’s Fairfield County office
said during a recent presentation to Fairfield County Council that the agency
is requesting an additional $60,000 per year from the county for the next three
years. The county already gives $40,000 annually to the Coalition.
“We were able to recoup a good bit of funding through some
efforts we’ve done this year,” Hayes said. “But, unfortunately, Fairfield
remains on the list of offices to be closed.”
The Midlands Fatherhood Coalition provides services to
fathers in need, including support groups, job coaching, transportation
assistance, access to men’s healthcare education and other services aimed at
helping struggling fathers.
The coalition’s Fairfield budget is about $213,000 a year,
including $40,000 from the county, said Laura Johnson, the county’s acting
deputy county administrator.
On Dec. 9, council members voted 6-1 against awarding the
additional $60,000. Councilman Mikel Trapp cast the lone dissenting vote.
The vote comes following a recommendation by the
Administrative and Finance Committee to disapprove the additional $60,000
funding.
Councilman Moses Bell, who voted against the funding
request, wanted to know if there was a way to save the Midlands Father
Coalition. To that end, he proposed absorbing the coalition into county
government.
Johnson said that would cost the county the full $213,000
annually. She said the county does not fully fund any agency.
“Everyone talks about how good the fatherhood coalition has
been in this county.
Can we add this service to another existing group in the
county?” Bell asked. Councilman Clarence Gilbert said he sympathized with the
coalition’s predicament, but also thought the agency’s funding troubles are
beyond the county’s ability to solve.
“To me it’s like having someone on life support. You want to
keep them around, you want them to stay here, but eventually you have to give
them up,” Gilbert said. “It’s a great program, but they understood where we’re
coming from. If we give them $100,000, what is it really going to do?”
Hays clarified in committee earlier that the $100,000 would
not include the total of the staff’s salaries.
The issue of cost has arisen previously. At the Oct. 14
meeting, Councilman Jimmy Ray Douglas said the cost was too great.
“It’s a lot of money to give in addition to what we’re
already giving,” Douglas said.
Councilwoman Bertha Goins voiced sympathy to the coalition’s
plight.
“When you think about the impact it has on personal lives
and the quality of life, you’re investing in the future,” Goins said. “We have
to be concerned about dollars, but on certain things you can’t put a price
tag.”
Midlands Fatherhood Coalition’s budget crunch is the result
of a complex set of funding cuts at the S.C. Department of Social Services,
which funds about half of the coalition’s budget.
In 2016, the state agency reached a settlement agreement in
a federal suit involving neglected and abused children.
As part of that agreement, the state agreed to “make all reasonable
efforts to provide funding and other resources necessary to the implementation
and achievement of the obligations under the Settlement Agreement,” according
to federal court records.
In turn, losing DSS funding has hindered the coalition’s
ability to obtain grants from other sources, Johnson said.
“Even with county funding, the group would have to scale
back operations,” Johnson added. “When they lost DSS funding, federal and state
funding all followed. It is a significant budgetary impact.”
Hayes noted the DSS funding cuts have nothing to do with the
coalition’s performance. She noted that since its inception in 1998, the local
office has served over 256 fathers and 400 children, providing a tax savings of
$331,000.
“We want Fairfield to stay on the map as an office,” Hayes
said. “We’re at a standstill when it comes to DSS funding. There is no promise
of additional funding at this time.”
SCDOT crews are currently repairing and repaving Moultrie St. east of S. Congress St.
WINNSBORO – The S. C. Department of Transportation continues
its paving projects in Fairfield County. Several highly traveled roadways have
recently been repaved including S.C. Hwy. 200 that was repaved from the I-77
overpass to U.S. 21 in Great Falls. Zion Street in Winnsboro has also been
recently repaved, and this week, crews are around the corner repairing and
repaving Moultrie Street just east of S. Congress Street. These are some of the
projects in Fairfield County under SCDOT’s Strategic 10-Year Plan.
Next, crews are expected to mill and replace S.C. 215 from
Glenns Bridge Road to St. Barnabas Church Road. Additionally, S.C. 34 will be
repaved from mile point 17.84 to 19.41, just west of the U.S. 321 Bypass. Crews
will also soon replace the bridge on Bellefield Road over Sawney’s Creek.
BLYTHEWOOD – A request for approval of a sketch plan that
was previously approved by a former planning commission was recommended for
‘approval with conditions’ Monday evening by the current planning commission.
The vote was 2-1 with Commission Chairman Donald Brock, who is the Oakhurst
Home Owners Association president, abstaining.
Bucky Drake of Drake Development and property owner Jim
Perryman requested sketch plan approval for Oakhurst Place Phase III, a
12-parcel, eight-acre site located in the rear of the existing Oakhurst
Subdivision off Oakhurst Road.
Town Administrator Brian Cook explained that the previous
approval for the property was given in May of 2017 as Cambridge Point. That
proposed subdivision included the lots reviewed Monday night, but also numerous
other lots across a stream and going back toward Boney Road.
Because the approved Cambridge Point subdivision was never
started, the former approvals have expired.
At issue Monday evening were four flag lots – lots with
narrow strips of driveway extending back to the buildable portion of the lot.
In a memo to commissioners, Cook said those driveways would
connect two cul-de-sacs in the established Oakhurst subdivision to the four
parcels landlocked by wetlands on the backside and otherwise surrounded by
current Oakhurst residential properties.
Four Oakhurst residents spoke during open comment time
objecting to the flag lots saying they posed numerous problems.
“I don’t have any issues with the proposed eight conforming
lots, but I am concerned with four of the lots I consider non-conforming…you
usually see these in rural areas, not in planned neighborhoods,” Oakhurst
resident Chris Shull, a realtor, said. “I’m also concerned about emergency
vehicles being able to get down these long driveways.”
Resident Danielle Andes expressed concern that traffic would
be a nuisance since the long driveways would border existing Oakhurst
properties and allow homes to be built behind current homes. She cited what she
felt were topography issues (steep inclines) that would allow runoff from the
steeper flag lots to drain onto her property below. She also suggested wetlands
could be an issue in the development of the flag lots.
“We can address emergency access to these driveways by
increasing their width and working with the fire department regarding
requirements,” Engineer Derrick Boyt said. “And we are staying out of the
wetlands area. We’ve had some flooding, but I design it so that it doesn’t
flood under normal conditions.”
“This is a topo
(topography map) of the land and the topo runs away from any other lots,”
Perryman said. “The wetlands have been delineated, so the proposed homes will
be away from and in compliance with the wetlands.”
Perryman said he didn’t know why these issues were being
raised now. He said that he and Drake had met with Brock, then a commissioner,
the (then) Town Planning Consultant Michael Criss and the (then) commission
chair about two years ago to redesign a plan and that was ultimately approved
by the commission.
But the original plan [proposed in December of 2016] did not
include flag lots. Instead, the town’s masterplan called for an internal street
connection system between the established Oakhurst subdivision and the proposed
new subdivision. That interconnectivity, home density and traffic didn’t sit
well with the Oakhurst homeowners who objected to their neighborhood serving as
a cut-through for the proposed neighborhood.
The developer came back to the commission on May 1, 2017
with a reduction in the number of lots, larger sized lots and the removal of an
internal bridge and the internal street connection system that connected
Oakhurst to the proposed subdivision.
Lots on the west side of the project would have access to Boney Road,
and lots on the east side would be connected to the Oakhurst subdivision.
However, Criss noted that the new plan also included a
number of flag lots.
“[Flag lots] are discouraged in your code but not
prohibited,” Criss said, “so the question is how many flag lots are too many.”
“The flag lots would make it easier for occupants to get in
and out of the lot without facing such steep inclines,” John Thomas, the
developer’s engineer at the time, said.
“The shape of the lots and the way it has turned out had to
do with the terrain on that side of the creek; it’s extremely steep coming off
the back of Oakhurst,” Thomas said. “So that’s why we put the flag lots there,
to utilize land where the accesses are at a fairly level place, so that you’re
not going down a real steep slope to try to get in and out of the lot.”
Using flag lots will allow developers to keep more of the
tree cover in the area, and preserve more of the natural environment along the
creek bed, Thomas said.
Brock said at the May, 2017 meeting he was not concerned
with the use of flag lots. “I understand Mr. Criss’s concerns about flag lots.
It looks to be four of 12 lots where you have that, not a big cause of concern
in my opinion,” Brock said.
The Commission unanimously granted approval to the changes.
“Is there anything in this presentation that is not
according to code?” Perryman asked Cook just prior to Monday night’s vote.
“Well, yes,” Cook said, citing Code 153.073(j) that says
flag lots are to be discouraged as a land development practice.
“Planning commission has the authority under certain
circumstances to vary design standards due to the physical shape or topography
of a track of land or other unusual conditions,” Cook said. “So the planning
commission has some leeway as to how they want to design the property. That is
what it is.”
The commission voted for approval of the sketch plan with
the condition that the four flag lots (69, 71, 74 and 75) be removed.
“If there are only going to be eight lots, I don’t think
we’re going to try to move forward with it,” Drake told The Voice following the
meeting. “We’ve already spent $200,000 trying to develop this property. I’m not
going to say we’re absolutely not, but I’m not going to spend a lot more money
on it. We’ll see.”
FAIRFIELD COUNTY – In Fairfield County, just nine people who
served in the U.S. military during World War II are still living. The younger
ones are in their mid-90s; the oldest, over 100. This Veterans’ Day, the
community is holding an event to honor them while they still can.
Just as is occurring across the country, their numbers are
dwindling. Up until a few weeks ago, Fairfield County had 11 surviving World
War II vets.
The ceremony to recognize them will be held at 10 a.m.
Saturday, Nov. 9, at the Mt. Zion Memorial Park in Winnsboro. The guest speaker
is scheduled to be South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.
The public is invited, as are the vets themselves; those who
are able will attend, while others will be represented by family members. Some
are still able to talk about their experiences while others, with ailing
health, are not.
“It’s been a long time ago, and I done got old,” joked
101-year-old Sidney Squirewell, when asked to talk about his service. He was 19
when he enlisted in the army – more than 80 years ago – and served nine months
in the South Pacific.
Claude Marthers, 94, had a little more to say. His
reminiscence about helping to fight the Japanese came in the kind of bits and
pieces that often don’t make it into history books- glimpses of Japanese
leaders and examples of a murderous belief system that rivaled that of the
Nazis. The pride of joining the army – even though he was drafted – because of
the awful threat that America’s enemies posed to the world.
Today’s younger generations, he says, are living in a
different world from the one he grew up in. He remembers riding a horse to
school; they all use computers now.
“I can’t say they’re interested in World War II or what
happened to people or anything,” he says. “But I tell you if it hadn’t been for
the sacrifices that our people made back in those days and everything, this
country wouldn’t be here like it is today.”
He expressed pride, too, in what happened after the war, the
way the victorious Americans worked to aid the defeated foes in recovery.
“Right after World War II we started loaning them money and
setting them back up in life and everything, and helping them clean up the
country,” Marthers said. “That’s what America did. That’s what the American
government did…. They [the Japanese] would’ve never done that for America if
they’d conquered America.”
Bob Seibels’ mother was a trailblazer. She was a Marine
Corps drill instructor during the war, helping train the troops to march. Now
98, Lavinia Lyles Seibels Peltosalo joined up – to the shock and amazement of
all her friends – after graduating from the University of South Carolina.
When his mom and uncle used to sit and talk about their
wartime service, he says, he spent many hours listening to their stories.
Carlos Alexander, whose father George is also a 98-year-old
World War II vet, also recalls the impact of the stories – and the pride when
many people over the years would salute his father for his service after a long
Marine Corps career.
“I went over there, and I stayed on this little island of
Samoa three years,” George Alexander said. He remembers the wrecked planes –
the lucky ones – that made it back after difficult bombing runs.
He was a sergeant for a Marine Corps barrage balloon
battalion. On the South Pacific island, balloons suspended from the ground high
into the clouds served as an early method of defense against hostile aircraft.
His brother, an infantry soldier, fought on Saipan – another strategic island.
“It was families that were involved in these things as well
– not just individual soldiers,” Carlos Alexander said. “[They were] all the
way from South Carolina, tied up in the middle of the Pacific fighting the
Japanese.”
He saw, too, how those who’d fought the war together became
like family; for many years, his father’s platoon would hold reunions, and he
often went along to hear the stories. Today, his father is the only one who’s
still alive.
After the war was over, everyone had somebody to mourn –
friends they’d grown up with or attended high school with who didn’t make it
back, said Swain Whitfield, who often heard his father, Aubrey Whitfield, speak
about it.
But for many who survived the war, their service became a
springboard for a more prosperous future. After serving as a bomber mechanic in
the Army Air Corps – the predecessor of today’s Air Force – Aubrey Whitfield
went to college on the GI bill.
It was an opportunity he wouldn’t have had otherwise, and he
went on to spend his career as a forester with a large paper company.
These days Aubrey Whitfield, age 96, is “hanging in there,”
his son says – but it’s not tough to imagine what another half a decade will do
to the population of World War II vets who remain. It’s for that reason, he
says, that younger generations should take every opportunity to honor them.
“I think it’s the kind of thing that, in just a few years,
they might not be able to do again,” Swain Whitfield said of the planned Nov. 9
ceremony to honor living World War II vets.
“With the age of most of these folks that are left, there’s
no time like now,” he said. “It’s a unique opportunity to come out and pay your
respects and perhaps even talk to some of these people while the opportunity
still exists.”
Annie Faust, 103, is surrounded by most of the women in her family who look after her. Front row, from left: granddaughters Kayce Prince-Harvey and Bonnie Walker, daughters Sandra Faust Prince and Cheryl Faust Bullock. Back row, from left: Great granddaughters Kayle Counts (twin), Brook Edwards, Kendall Counts (twin), Ashley Counts, Kyndall Walker and Michelle Edwards. With his arm around his great great grandmother is Cooper Thompkins, 6. Not shown are grandson Billy Prince, Jr., granddaughter Brittany Bullock who is serving in the U.S. Army in Ft. Sill, Oklahoma and great granddaughter Dallas Prince.
BLYTHEWOOD – Annie Faust has lived in the same house in
Blythewood for about 75 years – just down the road from where she grew up on
Rimer Pond Road. Hers was a simple life
with few frills. But today, at 103, Annie is living every senior citizen’s
dream, basking in round-the-clock attention of an army of loving caregivers –
her family – in her own home.
In addition, she may well own the distinction of being the
oldest living native Blythewoodian.
Born in 1916, Annie was always an independent woman and is
still remarkably healthy in mind and body. Last year, at 102 years old, she
fell and broke her hip, but she’s defied the odds with an amazing recovery that
has been hampered only by arthritis in her knees.
“My doctor says I’m fine. Nothing wrong with me,” she said
with a laugh and feisty wave of her hand. “My heart and everything’s fine. I’m
fine.”
She has a quick wit, an astonishing grasp of her faculties,
and she delights in talking about what it was like growing up in Blythewood.
Asked how she maintains such a sharp memory at her age, she
quipped, “It’s not that older people don’t have good recall, it’s that the
older you get the more memories you have to keep up with. It’s hard!”
Annie sat down with The Voice recently to talk about her 103
years. She quickly turned the interview around, noting that she doesn’t always
get her Voice newspaper in the mail every week and she wanted to know why.
Growing up as the next to youngest of five children whose
parents were farmers, Annie’s young life was never easy.
Annie Faust, 103, enjoys a cheeseburger Happy Meal (with extra fries) with her great granddaughter, Kendall Counts. | Photos: Barbara Ball
“My parents tried to farm, but my mother was sick a lot and
my daddy became ill and died in his 60s. So they never made much at farming,”
she recalled.
Annie and her late husband, Littleton Faust, knew each other
in school as they were growing up.
“A bunch of us kids all walked together about three miles to
school every day and back home. We didn’t have a cafeteria or any food at the
school. We either took our lunch or waited till we got home to eat. That’s what
I did,” she said.
There were only 11 grades at the time, and after graduation,
Littleton, at 17, split for the Army. Annie stayed at home with her parents,
often helping her dad in the garden, something she remembers fondly.
“There was nothing for girls like me to do back then after
we got out of school. No real job. No
car. No money.
About five years later she and Littleton reconnected, this
time romantically. She was 24 when they were married in 1940.
“After we married, he left the Army and tried to get work in
Columbia, but it was hard to make enough money for a family,” Annie recalled.
World War II was underway, so Littleton re-enlisted. He also served in Korea,
Vietnam and other places around the world as well as a number of years at Ft.
Jackson before he retired after 30 years.
During her husband’s extended deployments, Annie remained in
their home in Blythewood where she raised the couple’s two daughters, Sandra
(Prince) and Cheryl (Bullock), both of whom still live in Blythewood.
In later years, she also helped look after her grandchildren, great-grands and great-great-grand while their parents worked.
Littleton died eight years ago at the age of 93. Asked how
long they were married, Annie answered, “We’re still married. He’s just dead.”
Today, Annie still lives in their little house on seven
acres on Highway 21, where she raised their two girls almost by herself. She
talked about how she sewed and gardened to help make ends meet as a
stay-at-home mom. While the years were often lean, she remembers them as good
times.
She said she couldn’t afford fancy weddings for her
daughters, but she sewed the dresses they wore to be married in.
“They were very pretty,” she said.
“I loved to sew and work in the garden, and I loved to cook.
I just loved it,” she said enthusiastically. “I still did a lot of that until I
turned 90. Then I just stopped and let someone else do it,” she said with a
laugh.
While Annie faces life head on and generally exhibits a straight-laced demeanor, her soft side engages when she talks about her family and her fond remembrances of her daughters growing up.
“They were sweet girls,” she said. “Sometimes children cause their parents trouble. Our girls didn’t. They were very sweet.”
When the girls got married, Annie and Littleton gave them
each an acre of the family property for their own homes. Today, one of their
two daughters, two granddaughters and a grandson, all but one of the six
great-granddaughters and a great-great-grandson still live in the family
compound and are returning the love and thoughtful care that Annie provided in
abundance for them as they all grew up.
“One is with me around the clock,” Annie said. “They take
turns in 12-hour shifts. Someone is here all the time. The [great-grand] girls
do their homework and studying while they’re here.” Three of the six
great-granddaughters attend Westwood High School and one is enrolled at
Midlands Tech. “It’s so nice to have them here.
“Whoever stays the night shift fixes breakfast for us,”
Annie noted. Her breakfast is always a hearty one and always the same – a bowl
of grits and cheese, two pieces of toast, a Jimmy Dean sausage biscuit and two
cups of coffee.
“Someone brings in lunch or one of the great-grands picks up
Happy Meals for us,” she said with a wink.
“She likes extra fries,” great-granddaughter Kendall Walker
added, with a smile.
Annie said she doesn’t eat supper or snack before bedtime.
A tall slender woman who would easily pass for a vibrant
80-year-old, Annie attributes her healthy skin to liberal applications of Oil
of Olay and eating lots of fruits and vegetables.
“I do eat some meat, but I always loved vegetables –
butterbeans, tomatoes, black-eyed peas, cucumbers, just about any vegetable. I
especially like purple-top turnips. When I was young, I was always picking a
peach or plum or apple right off the tree and eating it. I love fruit,
especially apples,” she said.
While Faust doesn’t get out and about too much anymore,
she’s always up early, dressed and ready to pass a pleasant day with whichever
family member is on duty.
And, at 103, she’s still making plans for the future and
looks forward to every tomorrow.
“I’m hoping to be getting around without my walker by the
end of the year,” she told The Voice.
Annie has made the most of a simple life, focused on sharing
the gifts of her time, energy and whatever she had in this world with her
children and their children. Now those gifts are coming back to her in the form
of busy days filled with happy experiences, occasional visitors and the
constant coming and going of family members who clearly love her to pieces.
“I enjoy them all,” she said, folding her hands in her lap.
“Everything has worked out real good.”
RIDGEWAY – The SC Career Works career coach is headed for
Ridgeway to assist residents with job placement on Tuesday, Oct. 8.
“The green bus is a mobile extension of the statewide SC
Works centers. The mobile unit is geared toward helping residents of rural
communities create resumes and search for jobs. It also helps assess the
applicant’s skills and offers other employment assistance,” Mark Wuest,
regional manager for SC Works in the Midlands, said.
“While this isn’t a job fair as such, we will also have a
number of employers on site that will be conducting interviews and providing
employment information,” Wuest said.
The coach will be parked at Ridgeway Town Hall (Century
House) at 170 Dogwood Avenue, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. The employment vendors will
be set up inside the Town Hall.
The mobile unit is equipped with 10 work stations for job
seeking activities, on-site assistance, Wi-Fi and printer capabilities and is
wheelchair accessible.
According to postings in the South Carolina Works Online
services portal, there are more than 300 employment opportunities within 10
miles of Ridgeway. Fairfield County’s August unemployment rate was 4.4 percent,
compared to July’s rate of 4.9 percent.
According to S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce
data, 9,421 Fairfield County residents are employed. Statewide, South
Carolina’s unemployment rate was 3.2 percent in August compared to 3.4 percent
in July
For more information about the career coach, contact
803-297-2264.
CMOG planners Gregory Sprouse and John Newman and Fairfield County Director of Community Development Chris Clauson met with the Zion Hill community. | Barbara Ball
WINNSBORO – A new day may be dawning for the residents of
Zion Hill and Fortune Springs Park neighborhoods.
Planners hired by the county to look into the possibility of
revitalizing the two neighborhoods are applying this week for a $400,000
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to begin the first phase of a full
scale, long term revitalization operation.
Central Midlands Council of Governments (CMCOG) planners
Gregory Sprouse, Director of Research, Planning and Development, and John
Newman, along with Chris Clauson, Fairfield Community Development Director,
have spent the better part of the summer analyzing the needs of the Zion Hill
and Fortune Springs Park neighborhoods. They have walked the neighborhood
visiting with residents and finding out what can be done to rejuvenate the
area. The planners are also tasked with estimating the cost of the project.
While they found the needs to be many, Sprouse said the
initial focus will be on the demolition and cleanup of up to 40 vacant,
dilapidated homes in the area.
“We took all the info we heard from you at the last meeting
and talking to you in the neighborhood,” Sprouse said during a second gathering
of neighbors at the Fairfield High alumni building on Sept. 17. “We’ve engaged
with over 70 people either in the first meeting or in stakeholder interviews,
and the greatest concern expressed by 70 percent of you is the dilapidated
housing in your neighborhood. We want you to know that we’ve heard you,”
Sprouse assured the gathering.
“We’re also trying to get some funding as part of this
package for emergency housing rehabilitation for qualifying owner-occupied
units. If there are some folks who desperately need roof, porch, foundation or
other exterior repairs to help stabilize a house, we could apply some of this
funding for that,” Sprouse said.
Other maybes include new street security lights and cameras
for key areas, particularly around Zion Hill Park, increased patrols coupled
with signage to let people know the area is under police surveillance.
“These are rather low cost improvements that can help
discourage speeders,” Sprouse said. “We’re also looking at landscaping
opportunities in key areas. Part of the idea is trying to create a neighborhood
identity with gateways into the community and beautification of those areas.”
Aside from the CDBG, Clauson is in the process of applying
for transportation alternative funding which would provide for some
transportation accessibility improvements in Fortune Springs Park.
“Mitigating the drainage issues there and improving
conductivity will allow access from some of the neighborhoods into the
sidewalks in the park. There‘re no real defined shoulders in the park so it’s
not safe there,” Clauson said.
The plans also call for new playground equipment, picnic and
shade structures particularly in Zion Hill Park.
“That’s something that CDBG doesn’t typically cover, but for
a fairly low cost we could get some of that implemented in the park,” Clauson
said. “We are committed to pursuing opportunities to make that happen.”
Sprouse noted that the Zion Hill/Fortune Springs Park area
has a number of community assets that can be leveraged to improve the
neighborhood.
One asset is the proximity of the neighborhood to downtown.
“And Fortune Springs Park is a regional asset,” Sprouse
said. “It was once a destination for people all across the county to come and
swim and picnic. Other assets include the recreational ball fields, the old
Gordon school, the Fairfield High Alumni building, the Zion Hill Park, the main
library branch, the affordable housing in the senior living complex, the former
hospital site that could be redeveloped over time and many more.”
Sprouse said the focus of the efforts for the Zion
Hill/Fortune Springs Park area coincide well with a census designation.
“That’s what the Department of Commerce’s CDBG program uses
to determine eligibility for funding,” Sprouse said. “They also look for
neighborhoods that are 51 percent or more at low and moderate income. This area
qualifies at 63.4 percent. Winnsboro, itself, is about 63 percent and the
county is 59 percent.”
While the population of the neighborhood is about 1,200,
Sprouse said the trend is spiraling downward at about a 10 percent since 2015.
“About 50 percent of the houses were built between 1950-59
and not much after 2010. It is an aging housing stock which means we are going
to have a lot of upkeep and maintenance issues as people leave and properties
change hands,” Sprouse said.
“If phase one is successful, we will submit for funding next
fall for phase two to continue funding for some of the demolition activities,
probably try to step up the funding for the limited housing rehabilitation,”
Sprouse said. “We also want to pursue working with other non-governmental
partners such as Habitat for Humanity.”
Sprouse said he also hopes to continue improving public
safety, landscaping, playground and tennis court improvements in Fortune
Springs Park. He said he would be applying for funds for two high priority
sewer projects in the spring infrastructure round that will benefit the
community.
“In the long term, we want to bring new, quality, affordable
housing back to the area where we’re taking houses down. Vacant lots can become
an issue unto themselves,” Sprouse said.
Other long term goals are to Identify and prioritize
potential trail connection opportunities in the entire study area to better
connect residents.
Last, Sprouse said in order to make all this happen, and to
continue the effort into the future, it’s important to establish some type of
neighborhood organization or collaborative effort to help with things like
crime watch, communication and engagement with the police department, county
and town.
“We have a good starting point with the Fairfield High Alumni
Association. Because they are so engaged and so many of you work with them,
it’s an immediate thing we could start talking about. It doesn’t have to be a
formalized organization, but just a group of engaged citizens willing to help
be leaders in the community,” Sprouse said. “I think a lot of you all fit that
profile.”
