Blythewood Online 691

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  • Council Wavers on Itinerant Merchants

    BLYTHEWOOD (Oct. 20, 2016) – During a discussion last week in a Town Council workshop about the increasing prevalence of itinerant merchants in the downtown area, Town attorney Jim Meggs asked, “What exactly is the problem you’re trying to solve here?”

    “I don’t know if this is a big issue,” Mayor J. Michael Ross said. “I think it bothers some people. I’ve had a lot of people talk to me about it,” and added jokingly, “telling me how good the tomatoes are. But if it comes back that Mayor Ross is shutting them down, well . . .”

    Meggs offered guidance in the form of a model ordinance used by another town (Midvale, Utah) to regulate peddlers and itinerant merchants. That ordinance, Meggs said, covered licensing, exceptions, definitions, applications, badges and penalties for a wide variety of itinerant merchants including vending carts, seasonal produce, seasonal food stands, Christmas tree sales and fireworks stands. He explained that the Midvale ordinance is detailed and specific.

    “It’s a commencement to see how far you want to go with this,” Meggs said. “If you go with the full Midvale treatment, you’re going to have a pretty exhaustive comprehensive set of regulations. I’m not sure some of these peddlers/itinerants would be able to comply with it.”

    Meggs said there appears to be some concern in the community about the produce stand that stays on site on the corner of the former Blythewood Community Center property across Blythewood Road from the Food Lion.

    “Under the Midvale ordinance,” he said, “(that stand) would have to be moved at closing time every day. You might want to consider how this (ordinance) would interface with a zoning change. Or if you have some concerns about prohibiting these kinds of activities in the Town Center District (TCD), because it may not be consistent with what your vision is for business activity in the TCD, then we’re back to ‘What’s the problem you’re trying to address?’”

    Town Administrator Gary Parker suggested that if the focus is on the itinerant merchants in the TCD district, it could be handled as an amendment to the zoning ordinance prohibiting itinerant merchants in the TCD altogether.

    “We might say there are not going to be any peddlers licensed in the TCD and then they’re just down the road – still in Blythewood, but not in the TCD, if we want that,” Parker said.

    Ross said he was concerned that the produce stand across from Food Lion was becoming more stationary.

    “He’s moved in a port-a-john over there. This is getting a little bit more so . . . ,” Ross said. “We now have a peanut man – sells boiled peanuts and sets up under a tent every afternoon on somebody’s property. We have a chicken man who brings in a trailer and unloads paintings to sell. We have birdhouses selling at Larry’s Exxon and fireworks.

    “What brought my attention is that a peddler comes in and is usually there a little while, but this (produce stand) has been here two months,” Ross said.

    Councilman Tom Utroska asked if the produce stand owner was paying taxes.

    “To be fair,” Ross said, “this man selling produce just pays a $40 business license. The IGA, Food Lion and Red Barn pay taxes on everything they sell. They turn in their taxes to us.”

    Utroska suggested permitting so much per day for a peddler’s license with a minimum amount for a maximum number of days. Parker suggested prohibiting itinerant merchants in the TCD except for charitable groups for temporary fundraisers such as the Food Truck Fridays that are held occasionally at one of the churches in downtown Blythewood.

    But there was no definitive answer to Meggs’ initial question, ‘What is the problem you want solved?’

    “We’re sitting here right now with only three (itinerant merchants) in the town,” Ross said. “But when we’re sitting here and there are 12 – 13 and we didn’t do anything, then what?”

    Without Council nailing down how they hoped to solve their problem, or if there was a problem, Ross concluded, “I think I’m going to back off right now. If there is something you all think needs to be addressed . . .”

    “If you want me to write an ordinance, let me know,” Meggs told Council members.

    There was no indication that the issue is scheduled to be brought back to Council.

     

  • Lawyer Responds to Zoning Issue

    RIDGEWAY (Oct. 20, 2016) – As the battle over a rezoning request for .82 acres at the fork of highways 21 and 34 continues to unfold, Mayor Charlene Herring reported during the Oct. 13 Town Council meeting that the Town had received a response from attorney Danny Crowe to questions that arose after Council last month nixed that request on second reading.

    Herring said that, according to Crowe, “Zoning ordinance sections 1005 (Protest) and 1007 (Minimum Area for New Districts) are valid laws. The rezoning requests from R1 to C1 that we received were invalid. Thus the council at our next meeting must nullify the voting on C1, we must have first reading on C2 and (we) must vote to send the request for rezoning from R1 to C1 back to Planning for consideration, with a public hearing, with public notices and postings.”

    Russ Brown’s request for rezoning from R1 to C2, which cleared the Planning Commission 5-2 on July 12, was amended by Council at their Aug. 11 meeting to a C1 request. That amended request passed first reading 3-2. Second reading, which came on the heels of a formal protest by nearby property owners, failed 1-3.

    During the public comment portion of the Oct. 13 meeting, Brown called Council “a kangaroo court held in a banana republic,” and added that, regardless of Council’s decision he could clear the lot.

    “If you remand and approve the rezoning request, you will actually gain a larger vegetative buffer with C1 than I am required to keep if it remains R1,” Brown said. “I’m willing to adhere to the commercial setbacks, but if denied I will return with another request for rezoning and a cleared lot.”

    In his memo to Council, Crowe states that zoning ordinance sections 1005 and 1007 are “presumptively valid local laws and should be enforced, as applicable, with regard to this property.”

    Because the Planning Commission recommended a change to C2, Crowe’s memo states, Council’s votes on C1 “should not have been taken.” Council, at its next meeting, should declare those votes null and withdraw them, Crowe writes.

    Since Council has not acted on the Planning Commission’s C2 recommendation, Crowe writes, this needs to be placed on the agenda for a future meeting.

    As Council noted during their Aug. 11 meeting, Brown’s .82 acres does not meet the 2-acre minimum requirement for C2 rezoning. In his memo, Crowe writes, “Council should request an administrative determination from the Zoning Administrator on whether the minimum area size requirement of Zoning Ordinance section 1007 applies to the Brown property for a rezoning to C2,” prior to first reading.

    Crowe also said the protest to Brown’s request was valid, as it contained the signatures of at least twenty percent of the five contiguous property owners. Therefore, adoption of the zoning change would require a three-fourths vote by Council. And three-fourths of five, Crowe states, is four.

    However, in a separate memo to Council, Crowe writes that, while Section 1005 does not specify a time for submittal of a protest, “submittal at the time of the Council meeting may not give the Town time to verify the requisite number of signatures and, therefore, may not be a reasonable time.”

    A petition of protest was submitted to Council by Sara Robertson prior to the Aug. 11 first reading.

    Council had scheduled a work session with Crowe to review the Town’s zoning ordinance on Oct. 18.

     

  • Three Nabbed After KFC Heist

    WINNSBORO (Oct. 20, 2016) – Three men were arrested Sunday night as they fled the scene of an armed robbery at the KFC on the Highway 321 Bypass.

    Acting Chief of Public Safety John Seibles said the restaurant had just closed and employees were cleaning up when, just after 11 p.m., employees heard loud banging at the back door. A witness approached the back door just in time to see an armed masked man crash through the glass and storm into the restaurant.

    Employees in the dining area fled, Seibles said, while another employee ducked into the manager’s office. The gunman, later identified as Steven Blair, 30, of Lancaster,  followed and forced the manager to fill a pillow case with cash. Blair then fled the restaurant to meet with a getaway car on Pumphouse Road.

    Meanwhile, the employees who had escaped had all climbed into a car and were circling back around to the KFC parking lot just as Public Safety officers arrived. When they did, they spotted the getaway car, a Honda Accord, pulling out of Pumphouse Road and onto the Bypass. Officers followed and pulled the Accord over in the Shell station parking lot a short distance away.

    Blair was located inside the Accord, along with Darreyell Marquise Myers, 21, of Eden Terrace Apartments in Rock Hill,  and Quenterrius Montgomery, 21, of Lancaster. When additional officers, along with a County deputy, arrived, the three men were handcuffed and placed in separate squad cars.

    Seibles said the entire take from KFC – $1,725 – was found inside the Accord, as well the mask Blair had worn during the robbery and two loaded handguns, each with rounds racked into their chambers.

    All three men were charged with armed robbery. Myers faces an additional charge of possession of a deadly weapon while committing a violent offense. They were transported to the Fairfield County Detention Center.

    “I am extremely proud of our officers for how they handled the situation,” Seibles said.

     

  • Meeting Offers Peek at Road Project

    BLYTHEWOOD (Oct. 19, 2016) – The Richland County Transportation Committee will be hosting the first community meeting that will offer a glimpse at the promised road widening, traffic roundabout at the Cobblestone Park entrance and other improvements for Blythewood Road from I-77 to Mueller Road.

    The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 20, from 5 – 7 p.m. at Mueller Road Middle School.

    The open-house format, according to Town Councilman Malcolm Gordge, will include an opportunity to view informational displays and make comments to the program development team for the project.

    “They will also include details of the proposed road widening and the options that are up for comment including the placement of bike lanes and/or buffers between the street and the sidewalk or combined-use sidewalks,” Gordge said. “One interesting aspect of the project is that Locklier Road will not have an access point on Blythewood Road with the new configuration. The plan is to bend Locklier Road to exit onto Community Road.”

    Drawings on the Richland County website show the basic improvements will provide for a five-lane section between I-77 and Syrup Mill Road reducing down to a three lane section from Syrup Mill to Mueller Road. Further widening of Blythewood Road as far as Fulmer Road is on the books at a later time.

    “What will be of particular interest is the proposed traffic circle or roundabout at the Cobblestone Park entrance,” Gordge said. “A traffic light is not possible at such a close proximity to the lights at the I-77 ramp so a roundabout is a viable and effective alternative.”

    “We hope there will be a good turnout of local residents and business owners,” Project Engineer Ben Lewis,” said. Lewis will be available at the meeting. “It will be some while before there is another meeting so now is the best opportunity for residents to learn more and express any concerns they may have,” Lewis said.

    Bill Wiseman, Blythewood’s representative on the Transportation Penny Advisory Committee (TPAC) will also be in attendance to answer questions.

    Comments can be submitted by email to info@richlandpenny.com or by mail to Richland Penny Program, 201 Arbor Lake Drive, Columbia, S.C. 29223. The comment period ends Nov. 3.

    For more information, go to Richland County’s richlandpenny.com.

     

  • Tolbert Exits County Council Race

    WINNSBORO – Mary Anne Tolbert has withdrawn from the race for the District 6 seat on Fairfield County Council.

    Tolbert made her announcement in a post on her Facebook page this week. She confirmed her decision to The Voice Tuesday.

    “I have to regretfully inform the citizens of District 6 of Fairfield County that, as of this time, I am going to withdraw my name from the ballot for the November 2016 election,” Tolbert wrote in her post. “I am in the process of trying to purchase a new residence, which falls in a different district, and I do not wish to waste your time or (County) money if a second election would possibly have to be held if I moved at a later time.”

    The Fairfield County Voter Registration and Elections office, however, said Tuesday that they had not heard from Tolbert, and that it was too late, at this stage, to revise the ballots. Tolbert’s name will therefore appear on the Nov. 8 ballot in District 6.

    In her post announcing her withdrawal from the race, Tolbert endorsed Gwen Harden for the seat.

    “She is smart, knowledgeable and fair,” Tolbert wrote.

    Mary Lynn Kinley is seeking reelection for the District 6 seat. In addition to Harden, Cornelius Neil Robinson is also looking to unseat her.

     

  • JJ Ranchers’ Daughter Returns to Blythewood

    If you can remember when Blythewood looked like this, stop by and visit with Josie Jennings Atkinson Saturday at the Langford-Nord House.
    If you can remember when Blythewood looked like this, stop by and visit with Josie Jennings Atkinson Saturday at the Langford-Nord House.

    BLYTHEWOOD (Oct. 13, 2016) – Josie Jennings Atkinson, the daughter of the late Jimmy and Sybil Jennings, owners of the JJ Ranch in Blythewood in the 1960s, will be in town Oct. 15 for a drop-in in her honor, hosted by the Historical Society. It will be a time for Atkinson to visit and catch up with old friends, many of whom were once JJ Ranch trail riders. Fifty years ago, that was most of the town’s residents.

    It was in 1958 that the Jenningses and their two children, Josie and Michael, rode into town with a trailer full of horses and, over the next six years, turned Blythewood into a Western movie. During those years, under Jimmy Jennings’ influence, almost everyone in town came to emulate the Western lifestyle – riding horses, wearing Western clothes, going on week-long trail rides, traveling to camp sites in covered wagons, sleeping on bedrolls under the stars and eating grub prepared on a chuck wagon.

    But unlike most Western movies, this one had a heartbreaking ending. In 1964, the Jenningses, who the community had come to love, even idolize, died in a plane crash as they were returning home from a trip to Arkansas to buy horses. The town fell into collective mourning over the loss of the Jenningses and of a much loved cowboy way of life.

    Not long after the Jenningses’ deaths, the ranch and horses had to be sold to pay bills, and the Jenningses’ children left Blythewood to live with relatives and friends who subsequently raised them. Many in the town say the Jenningses’ deaths left them with a feeling of emptiness that remains today.

    “It was all so much fun,” said Bobbie Stevens, one of the trail riders. “And then it was over.”

    Atkinson is now grown and married and her husband Mickey is the Sheriff’s Chief Deputy in McCaskill, Ark. They raised their children much like Atkinson was raised – on a farm, riding horses. Their grandchildren are now rodeo queens and barrel racers.

    Atkinson said she still treasures her formative years in Blythewood where, she said, “sometimes there were four or five hundred of us going on week-long trail rides to Elgin and other places. It was a world I will always remember. When I look through my scrapbook of Blythewood and the ranch, it seems like yesterday.”

    Atkinson said she has stayed in touch with many of her Blythewood friends, including Joe and Martha Trapp and Muff Hagood, on Facebook over the years.

    “I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again,” Atkinson said.

    The drop-in will be held from 2 – 4 p.m. at the Langford-Nord House, 100 McNulty St. in downtown Blythewood, and anyone who knew the Jennings family and would like to visit with Atkinson is invited to attend.

     

  • Committee Cautions on $100K Grant

    Retention Ponds Add $23,500 to Fire Station Costs

    The new Ridgeway fire station and the retention pond that slipped by County Council during the planning stages. The pond, and its counterpart at the Jenkinsville station, will be filled in and grassed over as a catch basin. (Photo/Barbara Ball)
    The new Ridgeway fire station and the retention pond that slipped by County Council during the planning stages. The pond, and its counterpart at the Jenkinsville station, will be filled in and grassed over as a catch basin. (Photo/Barbara Ball)

    WINNSBORO – During an Administrative and Finance Committee meeting Monday afternoon, the committee, led by Councilman Marion Robinson (District 5), balked at recommending Council apply for a $100,000 grant for the assessment of unnamed brownfield sites in the County – properties that are contaminated, vacant and not currently productive.

    “Through assessment, we can see if there’s a way we can make them productive. If we do find a way, then we can go back and apply for another $50,000 grant to remediate the site and get it back to a productive state,” County Administrator Jason Taylor told the Committee.

    While the grant comes with no match requirement and, according to Taylor, would not affect the County financially, Robinson said he wasn’t in favor of applying for the grant because of the potential for additional cost to the County.

    “First (the grant) states you have to have a specific project and we don’t have one,” Robinson said. “It’s open ended, and I find it hard to believe the federal government will give us $150,000 to go assess something, and we say, ‘OK, that’s good . . .’ and then we don’t have the money to go do something with the (assessed property).

    “What brought this about?” Robinson asked.

    “Steven Gaither, our Grants Manager, found this and thought it might be a good thing,” Taylor said.

    “We have a couple of sites – a plastics site and the Mack Truck site that are brownfield sites that we could use the grant money for,” Deputy County Administrator Davis Anderson added.

    “Yes, but we would have to have a special project? And I don’t see one mentioned here,” Robinson said. “I would like to know a little more about this before I vote on it.”

    Committee members Robinson, Chairwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) and Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6) voted to send it back for further study.

    The Committee did move forward with another item concerning the repair of inappropriately placed retention ponds proposed at the fire stations being constructed in Jenkinsville and Ridgeway as well as the recreation center in Jenkinsville.

    Taylor explained that the engineering designs for each of the three new construction locations had situated the retention ponds directly in front of the buildings.

    “These are unsightly, unsafe and difficult to maintain,” Taylor told the Committee.

    During a discussion at last month’s Committee meeting, Taylor said the ponds were not in the drawings, but were in the text. The misstep had not been noticed when the plans were originally approved two years ago.

    Taylor also suggested that there are several other things about the three projects that Council might not be happy with.

    “There’s no (outdoor) lighting on any of these sites,” Taylor said. “Considering safety and potential vandalism, we probably need to go back and consider lighting these sites. And at the Jenkinsville site, we have two buildings – the fire station and the rec center – and there is no connectivity between them. There’s a hill between them, and I think people will walk back and over it causing the grass not to grow and then erosion. So we may need to look at some type of stairs between the two buildings.

    “There is also no water at the recreation sites, no drinking fountains for the children,” Taylor said. “Some of these issues, you’re going to pay now or pay later. I can bring these issues back later to another meeting if you would like.”

    As for the retention pond issue, Taylor said he had met with the contractor and the solution is to place a drainage pipe in the catch basin and cover it with grass at a total cost of $23,500 for all three locations. He said there were no similar problems with the retention pond at the Mitford recreation center.

    Committee members voted unanimously to accept the proposed solution and the $23,500 cost and asked that Council add the item to that evening’s Council agenda for a vote since the construction at all three locations was already in progress. Council did add the item to their agenda later that evening and it passed unanimously.

  • CTC Pledges Sidewalk Funds for Ridgeway

    Committee Member ‘Offended’

    WINNSBORO – Although two members of the County Transportation Committee chided Ridgeway Town Councilwoman Angela Harrison for opening remarks in which she referred to a partially CTC funded sidewalk project in Jenkinsville as a “sidewalk to nowhere,” the CTC during their Sept. 29 meeting voted unanimously to provide up to $9,000 for sidewalk repairs in Ridgeway.

    The Committee also agreed in principal to work with Ridgeway on a more extensive sidewalk project of $50,000 once the details of that project are worked out.

    “We would kind of like to structure it the same way you did Jenkinsville; however this would not be a ‘sidewalk to nowhere,’ it would be a sidewalk to somewhere,” Harrison told the Committee.

    Last year, the CTC partnered with County Council to provide $100,000 in matching funds for a Department of Transportation (DOT) grant to the town of Jenkinsville to complete a sidewalk near Lake Monticello Park. The County, in a narrow 4-3 vote, agreed to kick in $50,000, while the CTC approved the other $50,000, paid in two equal annual increments.

    Prior to the CTC’s vote in February 2015 to help fund the project, Dawkins resident Jeff Schaffer told the Committee that the sidewalk project was “a joke” and “a waste of County money.” Schaffer told the CTC that the “sidewalk starts nowhere and goes nowhere.”

    Harrison’s remark did not sit well with two CTC members on Sept. 29.

    “I enjoyed your presentation,” CTC member Clifton Hendrix told Harrison, “but I was offended when you said about Jenkinsville, the project –”

    “I’m sorry,” Harrison apologized, “but that’s what I’ve heard from all our citizens.”

    “Let me finish,” Hendrix said. “The people in Jenkinsville, their lives are just as precious as the lives in Ridgeway.”

    “Yes sir. Amen. I believe that,” Harrison said.

    CTC Chairman David Williams also lightly admonished Harrison for her remarks, but said she was “forgiven.”

    Williams then questioned Harrison about the estimates on the sidewalk repairs.

    “On your repairs, you’re currently at $7,000,” Williams said, “but you’ve got another bid that’s $9,000, so you don’t really know what the bid is. You say (in your request) ‘in addition the Town of Ridgeway is requesting $7,000 in C-funds for sidewalk repairs,’ but you’re saying it’s $9,000. It needs to be $7,624.18, if that’s what it is.”

    Harrison said she was waiting on the final figures from Ridgeway Mayor Charlene Herring.

    Last February, Ridgeway Town Council approved a $5,000 estimate to repair approximately 200 feet of sidewalk between the Lopez house and the Post Office on S. Palmer Street, with local resident Dwight Robertson donating the labor. But three months later, Council backed off the deal when the bid was revised to $5,900. The revision, which was to meet DOT requirements, sent the estimate over the $5,000 threshold for no-bid jobs, and Council was required to seek additional bids on the project.

    Robertson’s offer was the lower of two bids, the second coming in at $8,200 from M C Rowe Construction.

    At Council’s May 12 meeting, Councilman Heath Cookendorfer said he had received negative feedback from citizens who were concerned about the Town spending money on a state-owned sidewalk.

    Sidewalk repair failed during the May 12 meeting on a 2-3 vote, with Herring and Doug Porter voting in favor and Cookendorfer, Donald Prioleau and Harrison voting against.

    Ridgeway’s pending $50,000 request would cover adding sidewalks to the south end of town, Harrison said, down Highway 34 past Bishop Squirewell Road, as well as near the old Ridgeway School property where the Town plans to construct a playground.

    Blue Bird Lane

    CTC Engineer Bill Coleman told the Committee that while Blue Bird Lane in District 2 is on the list of roads likely to be paved in 2017, paving it would not make sense unless Wateree Creek Valley Road is also paved. But to pave them both would require an amendment by County Council to the road paving points program ordinance.

    “Wateree Creek (Valley) Road is about a half-mile long and its gravel, its dirt,” Coleman said. “I can’t see paving a 400-foot Blue Bird Lane and not paving Wateree Creek Valley. In this case, you’ve got a little short road that’s due to be paved, but you’ve got to go through a half a mile of gravel road to get to it, so it doesn’t make sense to me to pave the short road without paving the other road.”

    Coleman recommended putting Blue Bird Lane off another year and paving Skylar Lane in its stead. Meanwhile, the CTC would ask the County to amend the ordinance to read, in part: “this amendment applies to any road that becomes eligible for paving based on priority points. If the eligible road begins on an unpaved county road, the unpaved county road will be paved as part of the eligible road.”

    2017 Roads List

    The CTC approved the 2017 paving list, which, Coleman pointed out, would be followed until funding ran out. Roads not paved in 2017 would be carried over to the 2018 list. Those roads are:

    High Hill Lane (District 4, 303 feet); Elbow Circle (District 1, 1,938 feet); Rainbow Cove Road (District 2, 386 feet), Cypress Drive (District 3, 901 feet); Bob’s Point Lane (District 4, 2,275 feet); Shoemaker Lane (District 5, 1,356 feet); Valencia Road (District 7, 1,000 feet); Deck Drive (District 1, 520 feet); Hickory Nut Lane (District 2, 312 feet); Stoney Trace (District 3, 3,030 feet); High Hill Road (District 1,604 feet); Creighton Road (District 5, 984 feet); Horse Creek Road (District 7, 2,340 feet); Pineneedle Lane (District 1, 520 feet); Skylark Lane (District 2, 338 feet); and Rosewood Lane (District 3, 3,249 feet).

  • JWC Board Calls Cops, Secret Meeting

    JENKINSVILLE – The Sheriff’s Office was called out after the president of the Jenkinsville Water Company decided the approximately 39 seconds one customer had gone over the three minute limit while speaking during the open discussion portion of Monday’s monthly board meeting was too much to endure.

    But before deputies could arrive, Dee Melton had stepped down, and Water Board President Gregrey Ginyard said the deputies would not pursue the matter because they had not witnessed the disruption. Ginyard later suggested, and the board agreed, to have a deputy present at future meetings.

    Melton, during his time on the floor, pressed the board for answers on the number of gallons lost to leaks in the last month. The operator’s report had earlier stated that the water company had produced 3,681,050 gallons from its wells, while the company also purchased 1,438,000 gallons from Mid County Water. The report also revealed six leaks during the month of September.

    The amount of water lost through those leaks, however, was not included in the report.

    Ginyard said the amount of water lost is tabulated in the office, but that office staff had been out sick and were not able to produce the water loss numbers in time for the meeting.

    Melton also pressed the board over a secret meeting held by the board last week.

    “Was the meeting open to the public?” Melton asked.

    “In the beginning the meeting was open to the public,” Ginyard answered. “Once it went into executive session, no sir.”

    Ginyard also admitted that the meeting had been held without public notice.

    “It was a special called meeting where board members signed to say that because of the circumstances that we could do that,” Ginyard said. “The meeting was called to order and then it went into an executive session for legal matters.”

    Ginyard later told The Voice that the meeting had been an “emergency meeting” to discuss “personnel matters.”

    The S.C. Freedom of Information Act does provide an exemption for public notice of emergency meetings, but not for special called meetings. “Legal matters” or “personnel matters” are not considered adequately specific reasons, under the law, for closing a meeting to the public, however.

    As Melton began to question the board regarding what he said was their recent approval of a water tap for a local gas station, Ginyard informed him that his three minutes had expired.

    “It says a ‘minimum’ of three minutes on the agenda,” Melton pointed out.

    Although the agenda did indeed say ‘limit three minutes minimum per person,’ and while one board member said the ‘minimum’ was a typographical error, Melton refused to yield the floor until after vice president Joseph McBride called 9-1-1.

    Melton is currently entangled in a lawsuit with the water company, to include Ginyard and McBride, over the company’s refusal to provide additional taps for his Broad River Campground. That lawsuit was filed in September 2014.

  • Candidate Faces Probe in Fondling Allegation

    Report: Inappropriate Relationship with 16 Year Old

    Mike Fanning

    COLUMBIA – The state’s highest law enforcement agency has opened an investigation into allegations, based on an incident report filed last week with the Hampton County Sheriff’s Department, that Mike Fanning, of Mitford, and currently the Democratic nominee for S.C. Senate District 17, had an “inappropriate relationship” with a 16-year-old female student when he was her teacher at Estill High School beginning in 1993, a spokesperson for the S.C. Law Enforcement Division (SLED) confirmed Tuesday.

    The offenses, as stated in the incident report, which was filed Sept. 29, were ‘fondling – forcible.’

    According to the woman who filed the report and who is now 40 years old, the relationship with Fanning, who she said was her history teacher at the time, began in the spring of 1993, her junior year in high school, and progressed in intensity, lasting until the fall of 1994 during her first semester of college.

    The woman told The Voice last week in a phone conversation that she did not have contact with Fanning again until they both showed up at a mutual friend’s birthday party about 10 years ago. She said he contacted her last fall via Facebook to say he was planning to run for political office and wanted to know if she was proud of him.

    “After I thought about that for a while, it bothered me,” she said, “because I felt he was contacting me to find out if I was going to cause him any problems in his campaign.”

    Other documents obtained by The Voice refer to separate allegations by two female students in May 1998, of inappropriate touching that allegedly took place in Fanning’s home and that resulted in Fanning being suspended with pay from his high school teaching position in Columbia.

    Fanning was not charged as a result of the allegations, and other documents indicate that he passed a non-law enforcement administered polygraph examination in connection with the accusations. Documents from July 1998 further state that the Richland County Sheriff’s Department did not press charges due to ‘not sufficient evidence for criminal prosecution,’ and Fanning was subsequently reinstated to his teaching position.

    Fanning is the Executive Director of the Olde English Consortium, a 501(c)3 non-profit that, according to its website is an “educational collaborative seeking to promote excellence in education through collaboration.”

    In the Nov. 8 general election, Fanning will face Republican candidate Mark Palmer for the district that includes parts of Chester, Fairfield and York counties.

    Fanning had not, at press time, responded to The Voice’s phone messages.