BLYTHEWOOD – Cedar Creek Baptist Church has begun construction on a new 5,762 sq. ft. sanctuary that will seat almost 300. Under the leadership of Rev. J Thompson, the church’s new member growth prompted growth of the facilities. The old sanctuary will be renovated for a library and conference room.
Cedar Creek broke ground for its new sanctuary on Oct. 1, 2017 during the church’s homecoming weekend and plans to have the project completed this summer.
GREENVILLE – Fairfield County young farmers Allison Coleman, left, Sarah Coleman, Roe and Elizabeth Coleman, William and Meg Ladd, Ashley Mills and Shannon Matthews were among the more than 300 young farmers and ranchers across the state who traveled to Greenville for the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers and Ranchers Conference.
LAKE WATEREE – The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Department took the plunge last weekend at Lake Wateree for a good cause. The Department’s fundraiser benefits Special Olympics and has raised over $3,000 so far.
WINNSBORO – Over the past 12 hours, there have been rumors of threats of violence toward multiple schools throughout South Carolina, to include a school in Fairfield County (Fairfield Central High School). The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office has been investigating these rumors since they have surfaced and have found no substantiated or credible threats thus far. However, in the interest of alleviating any concerns and/or fears that students, staff, and parents may have, the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office is providing an increased law enforcement presence in our schools throughout the day.
Sheriff Montgomery: “Although these are just unconfirmed rumors, we want to ensure everyone that we do take these seriously. I’ve directed our personnel to have an increased presence in our schools today. While many counties are dealing with this same issue this morning, we should always err on the side of caution, especially when these types of rumors involve our children. Again, I want to ensure everyone that our increased presence on school campuses today is merely a safety precaution. We have no reason to believe that there has been a direct threat to any of our schools.”
WINNSBORO – A wild-west drive-by shoot ‘em up that occurred around 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 5, on Columbia Road behind the Bi-Lo Shopping Center, ended with a gunshot victim and three arrests, two of them for attempted murder.
According to the incident report, three men in a Buick Park Avenue on Highway 321 Bypass suspected that an older model, light-colored Buick had begun following them from the EXXON station on Highway 321.
A 17-year-old, one of two male passengers in the Park Avenue, stated that the driver of that car, Tykavious Sampson, 24, turned into the Deerwood Apartment complex in Winnsboro to determine if the older Buick was, indeed, following them. The Park Avenue turned back onto Highway 321 Bypass, then into the Bi-Lo Shopping Center parking lot and then on to Columbia Road. The older Buick followed, according to witnesses.
A witness who spoke with Sheriff’s deputies in the BI-LO parking lot following the incident, reported that the older Buick then pulled alongside the Park Avenue while on Columbia Road. An occupant in the older Buick opened fire with a handgun on the occupants of the Park Avenue, which suddenly braked after the shots were fired. Different witnesses reported hearing three to five shots.
Sampson sustained a gunshot wound in the side according to the incident report.
The second passenger in the Park Avenue, Gregory Alexander Javins, who was riding in the back seat, said the older Buick then sped off towards Highway 321 By-Pass.
The witness in the parking lot stated that a person got out of the Park Avenue and ran behind the BI-LO Shopping Center and then to the BI-LO, the incident report stated. Deputies stated they later found a 22-caliber rifle behind the BI-LO believed to belong to the occupants of the Park Avenue.
The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Department was able to obtain a photo of both vehicles from security cameras as they passed by the front door of the BI-LO.
Marshawn Devon Geiger, 19; Anthony Leo Green, Jr., 20; and Jawine William Ivery, 22, all believed to be occupants in the older Buick, were arrested on Feb. 6. Geiger has multiple charges including attempted murder. He was denied bond and remains in the Fairfield County Detention Center.
Green was also charged with attempted murder and was released on a $20,000 surety bond.
Ivery was charged with misprision (neglect to report a crime) and released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond. According to the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Department, the shooting is still under investigation.
WINNSBORO – Last week attorneys for South Carolina Electric and Gas Company (SCE&G) argued in the Sixth Circuit Judicial Court for a change of venue for the lawsuit filed against them by Fairfield County.
Attorneys for Fairfield County argued that the trial should remain in the county where the incident (the abandonment of reactors two and three at V.C. Summers nuclear plant) occurred.
A decision from Judge Paul Burch is expected by next week.
Attorneys for SCE&G said in court that it would be necessary to move the trial to Lexington County since some county officials, including County Administrator Jason Taylor, Senator Mike Fanning and certain County Council members had poisoned the public by saying negative things about SCE&G which created the situation where the people of Fairfield could not be expected to rise to the level of giving a fair judgement.
The County’s attorneys argued, essentially, that the people of Fairfield County have a right to trial here in Fairfield County.
“Even if the trial is not held in Fairfield County where the plant is, by law it must be held in the circuit which includes Fairfield, Lancaster and Chester counties. Holding the trial in Lexington County is not an option,” McKensie said. “Legally it must be held in the county or at least in the circuit.”
WINNSBORO – Recognizing extenuating circumstances, Council voted 7 – 0 on the second of three readings to amend the Fairfield County Land Management Ordinance No. 599 in order to rezone a .036-acre property on Bishop Squirewell Road in Ridgeway from R-1 (Single Family Residential District) to RD-1 (Rural Residential District.) The property was recently purchased by Angela Young who told Council that she was from Fairfield County and had come back after 48 years and bought property in Ridgeway for a mobile home.
“I had no idea that the property had been rezoned from what it used to be. When I went to the zoning office, they sent me to the assessor’s office where I paid all the taxes that needed paying. That office gave me a permit to move the mobile home on to the property,” Young told council. “I was then sent back to the zoning office and they sent me to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to get the mobile home registered in my name. I did that and took my paperwork back to the zoning department.” It was at that point, Young said, that she was told the property had been rezoned and that the new zoning would not allow a mobile home.
“I had already moved my mobile home onto the property and then I was told it was there illegally. During all the processes I went through, no one ever told me that the property had been rezoned in 2012. I would like to get the property rezoned back to what it was before then, because I bought the property to put a mobile home on it, and the assessment office knew that because they gave me the move-in permit for it,” Young said.
“I would like for you to rezone the property for my mobile home. That’s the only place I have to live. I’ve been living with my nephew and then my sister,” Young said. “My sister is getting tired of me and I’m getting tired of her,” she said, drawing laughter from council members and the audience. “I’m hoping everyone understands where I’m coming from. I’m asking you to do the best you can to help me,” Young said.
Chairman Smith and County Administrator Jason Taylor expressed their concern to Planning Director Tim Roseborough that Young was able to get through the process without being told that her property had been rezoned. Roseborough confirmed Young’s story of the process.
“It concerns me that we would let it go that far without picking up on that (zoning),” Smith said.
Councilman Douglas Pauley welcomed Young back to the County and Councilwoman Bertha Goins apologized to Young for what she had been put through.
“We’ve had things like this in the past regarding rezoning for mobile homes,” Smith said. “Sometimes we’ve allowed them to do that and sometimes we haven’t, depending on the area. I think we would generally look upon this case in not an unfavorable way. That said, there are some extenuating circumstances – the property was rezoned and sometimes folks don’t know about it. I’m not pointing a finger at anyone, but when folks come in to the Planning and Zoning Office, we [need to] make sure the first time they come in, that we check [zoning] and not let it go two and three times down the road. Under these extenuating circumstances, I support both this second reading and third reading to rezone this property for Mrs. Young.”
The motion passed unanimously to rezone the property to RD-1 as requested by Young.
BLYTHEWOOD – As the residents of Rimer Pond Road and the LongCreek Plantation neighborhood continue to fight a Columbia family’s fourth attempt in as many years to bring commercial zoning to Rimer Pond Road, the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce Visitors’ Center raised the hackles of those residents by inserting itself into the emotionally charged zoning issue with a Facebook post on Monday, Jan.29.
After posting seemingly innocuous information about a community meeting for residents concerning Hugh Palmer’s commercial zoning request on Rimer Pond Road, the Visitors’ Center’s Facebook page also featured a link to the Facebook page titled ‘Voice of Everyone – Blythewood’ that openly supports the commercial zoning and is administrated by Hugh Palmer’s son, Patrick, former longtime Chairman of the Richland County Planning Commission.
While the name of Palmer’s Facebook page, ‘Voice of Everyone – Blythewood,’ is strikingly similar to The Voice of Blythewood, it is not in any way associated with the newspaper.
The Palmer page, which was shared by the Visitors’ Center on its own Facebook page, promoted the commercial zoning request and featured a photo of a colorful, neatly landscaped row of four shops proposed on the Palmer’s Rimer Pond Road property. The page suggested that seemingly benign businesses such as a Sylvan Learning Center would be the kinds of businesses coming to the Palmer’s property which is across from Blythewood Middle School. According to Richland County zoning codes, however, other less desirable uses such as a convenience store with gas pumps, are also a permitted uses in the Neighborhood Commercial zoning requested by the Palmers.
Patrick Palmer’s page offered itself as a safe place where residents could freely voice their opinion on the matter, stating that the page was ‘not judgmental.’ However, as the comments against commercial zoning in the area began piling up on the page, they were promptly removed by the page’s administrator and those posters were subsequently blocked from posting. Screen shots of the blocked pages poured into The Voice.
“…comments that we posted on the Facebook page, ‘The Voice for Everyone – Blythewood,’ were deleted by the page administrator,” LongCreek residents Dan and Amy Wrightsman, who oppose the commercial zoning, stated in an email to The Voice.
“Palmer’s Facebook page, ‘Voice for Everyone – Blythewood,’ was bombarded with dozens of negative comments from residents,” Rimer Pond Road resident Trey Hair stated in an email to The Voice. “He deleted those comments and subsequently blocked those folks from being able to comment further. But residents had left 38 negative 1-star reviews on the site which the administrator was unable to delete per Facebook rules, so the entire page was ultimately deleted by its administrator,” wrote Hair who owns and operates ‘Keep it Rural,’ a Facebook site that serves as a hub of information for those who oppose the commercial rezoning in their neighborhood.
By the next morning, the flurry of angry, though civil, comments on Palmer’s Facebook page, that was being shared on the Chamber’s Visitors’ Center’s page, prompted Blythewood Mayor J. Michael Ross to call Switzer to complain about the Chamber’s Visitor’s Center’s page for sharing Palmer’s page. Ross has been a strong supporter of the residents’ fight against commercial zoning on Rimer Pond Road for several years.
“The Town government has been in support to keep this property [on Rimer Pond Road] rural from the beginning and will continue this by attending the [Windermere] meeting Jan. 31…I really want to focus our efforts on stopping this rezoning,” Ross said in an email to Hair’s Keep it Rural page. “Everything anybody needs is in Blythewood or on Killian Road.”
While Switzer took everything concerning the proposed commercial zoning off the Visitors’ Center’s Facebook page, he defended himself and the Chamber, telling The Voice in an email that “nobody on the chamber staff is siding with Palmer.” They also did not side with the community’s residents. Switzer placed blame for the entire posting incident on “our social media girl,” who, Switzer said, “did the post-share on her own…she thought it was informational.”
The ‘media girl,’ Heather Holt, was hired by the Chamber earlier this year as a specialist in Facebook and social media. The Visitor’s Center is funded by The Town of Blythewood through the Accommodation Tax fund.
Ross reiterated, however, that he stands firmly with the residents against commercial zoning on Rimer Pond Road and that the postings on the Visitors’ Center’s Facebook page did not reflect the Town’s stance on the issue.
“The Visitor’s Center’s Facebook page is supposed to be used to bring tourism to Blythewood,” Ross said.
”it was…only to generate a discussion regarding that location based on the discussions at the council meeting,” Holt said in an email to The Voice after the posts were removed. But the Mayor, during that council meeting, had spoken out against the commercial zoning request and in support of the residents. Holt’s Visitor’s Center’s Facebook page did not take that stand.
“I thought (regrettably so) that sharing a post from that [Voice of Everyone – Blythewood] page would start a conversation about the proposed development,” Holt stated in a post on the ‘Keep it Rural’ Facebook page, in which she shielded Switzer and the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce from any blame for the postings. In an email to The Voice, Holt stated, “It was information I thought people would be interested in knowing.”
County Council will cast their first vote on the issue on Feb. 27, at 7 p.m., in Council Chambers in the County building at Harden and Hampton Streets. The agenda and packet for the meeting should be available from the County the week prior to the meeting. To obtain a copy of the agenda and the entire meeting packet via email, call Tommy Delage at 576-2172 or email him at delaget@rcgov.us or call 576-2190.
Community information about the meeting can be found on the Facebook page, ‘Keep it Rural.’ Patrick Palmer, whose family is requesting the commercial zoning on the road, has posted signs at the Rimer Pond Road site asking residents to call him at 556-3340 for information.
BLYTHEWOOD – Almost 200 residents in the Rimer Pond Road, LongCreek Plantation and Eagles Glen neighborhoods showed up, many wearing red in solidarity, at the Windermere Club last week to express to their County Council representative the myriad reasons they do not want commercial zoning on Rimer Pond Road.
Columbia resident Hugh Palmer has requested Neighborhood Commercial zoning for 5.23 acres his family owns across from Blythewood Middle School. Neither Palmer nor his son Patrick attended the meeting. Patrick Palmer, who recently resigned after serving 12 years on the Richland County Planning Commission, actively promotes the rezoning request and had the property listed with his real estate company two years ago for $3.5 million.
Richland County Councilwoman Gwendolyn Kennedy, who represents the area where the commercial zoning is requested, did attend and heard two hours of impassioned pleas from residents. Blythewood Town Council member Eddie Baughman and Mayor J. Michael Ross also attended and called on Kennedy to keep commercial zoning out of the area.
Asked at one point by Jerry Rega, the meeting organizer, if there was anyone at the meeting who wanted to speak in favor of commercial, no one did.
While the residents were of one accord, they had a tricky course to navigate. Although Kennedy represents the area, she is the only one of the 11 County Council members who voted against the residents last year when the issue came before Council.
Until this meeting, Kennedy has not accepted or responded to invitations to meet with the residents. Many residents who emailed Kennedy said they never got an answer. Kennedy confirmed at the meeting that she leaves that to her 10-year-old grandson.
Speaker after speaker told Kennedy they did not need or want commercial conveniences brought into their area.
At one point, Kennedy asked the incredulous audience, “Have these thoughts been expressed previously?”
“Once this property is zoned commercial of any kind, one of the criteria for future zoning will be, ‘Commercial zoning is next door or close by.’ Then you have to consider it,” one speaker said to Kennedy. “And the properties on the corners around this property are just waiting.”
LongCreek Plantation resident Tracy Courson handed out pages of annual security statistics compiled by the Richland County Sheriff’s office that show how students under 17 are more likely to be involved in incidents involving the police when schools, even elementary schools, in proximity to commercial entities.
Examples of schools not located next to commercial entities include Blythewood Middle School with 7 such incidents and Round Top Elementary with 14 incidents. Examples of schools that are next to or across the street from commercial entities include Sandlapper (52 incidents), Dentsville Middle (91 incidents) and Rice Creek Elementary (67 incidents).
LongCreek Estates resident Patrick Whiddon rattled off the numbers of murders, shoplifting and robberies that occurred at the Sharpe Shoppe, Domino’s and Circle K, all in the Lee Road/Longtown Road commercial area; as well as crimes committed at commercialized corners on Hardscrabble with Spinx, CVS and Walgreens.
“I work in law enforcement,” said one attendee, “and more crimes happen in areas with commercial buildings.”
“While Mr. Palmer says gas stations are not allowed under Neighborhood Commercial zoning, which is the zoning he is requesting for the property across from Blythewood Middle School,” Woodlake Farms resident Shannon Fields said, “convenience stores with gas pumps are allowed. It’s the same thing.”
“This property that Mr. Palmer wants to zone commercial is in our back yard,” Patrice Matthews said. “Once you bring commercial zoning next to homes, you open the gate for other things besides homes, churches and schools to come in to our neighborhood. It’s a slippery slope. I’m nervous about it.”
One Coatsbridge resident who said the Palmers’ property borders her property said her family is military and her husband is deployed.
“My children and I are there by ourselves for long periods and I would not feel safe living next to a convenience store,” the woman said, her voice trembling. “This is not what we want for our family or our community. You were elected to help provide safety for us, take care of us. If you vote for this commercial zoning, you are not taking care of us.”
Another woman pointed out that there are many empty commercial buildings strewn about the outskirts of the neighborhood, and that more commercial businesses are not needed.
“We don’t want another Hardscrabble nightmare on Longtown Road,” Mary Hoffman said. “There are already many empty stores and offices nearby. We don’t need commercial zoning out here. We love that it’s still semi-rural, and we want to keep it that way,” Hoffman said.
Blythewood Councilman Eddie Baughman, who also serves as Mayor pro tem, said commercial development on Rimer Pond Road would not improve the quality of life for anyone in the room.
“These folks’ commercial needs are provided for in Blythewood, the Sandhills, on Killian Road and Hardscrabble. We, as the Town of Blythewood, support these residents. They don’t want or need this proposed commercial zoning,” Baughman said as he was drowned out by thunderous applause.
Scott Galloway asked Kennedy what the decision maker will be for her when she votes.
“I base my decision on how it [commercial zoning] will affect the community and how it will benefit Richland County,” Kennedy said. She said the County staff had shown her the feasibility of going ahead with Palmer’s rezoning and what needs to be done in the area.
Asked how the commercial zoning would benefit the county, Kennedy said she would hear what County Zoning Administrator Geonardo Price had to say on that at a separate meeting. Pressed for an answer, Kennedy said the things that would be good for the county were written on a paper she held in her hand.
When asked to reveal what things were on the paper, Kennedy declined to answer.
Asked if she had heard from any residents in the affected area who were in favor of the commercial zoning requested by Palmer, Kennedy was hesitant, then said she had not.
“You have the chance to do the right thing and vote for the people or you have the chance to vote for the landowner who stands to make $3.5 million,” Hair said to Kennedy.
“I encourage the community to flood County Council members with emails every day,” Ross said after thanking Kennedy for her attendance. “Do it over and over, telling them that you don’t want, don’t need commercial zoning out here. It just does not fit.”
Because Kennedy waited until after the residents had spoken to defer the vote on the matter during a County Council public hearing on Dec. 19, residents will be in the unique position of not being allowed to address Council prior to its first vote on the requested commercial zoning during the Tuesday, Feb. 27 meeting.
“That is a huge blow to our efforts,” Hair said. “But all the council members except Ms. Kennedy voted with us last year and, really, Council has been with us every time this issue has come before them. They have never let us down, and we are trusting that they will be with us again, and Ms. Kennedy, too.”
The commercial zoning request will come before County Council on Feb. 27, at 7 p.m., in Council Chambers in the County building at Harden and Hampton Streets. The agenda and packet for the meeting should be available from the County the week prior to the meeting. To obtain a copy of the agenda and the entire meeting packet via email, call Tommy Delage at 576-2172 or email him at delaget@rcgov.us or call 576-2190.