Blythewood Online 691

Category: News

  • Young Says Farewell

    Herman Young

    Gov. Haley to Name Interim

    Filing for Special Election Opens Aug. 8

    WINNSBORO – An era in law enforcement that has straddled two centuries came to an end this week as Fairfield County Sheriff Herman Young announced his resignation from office. The announcement came Tuesday morning and puts the future of the Sheriff’s Office, temporarily at least, in the hands of S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, who will appoint an interim Sheriff.

    Young, 72, was in the middle of what he said was to be his final four-year term. Filing will open next month, with a primary and runoff, if necessary, to follow. A special election to fill out the remainder of Young’s term will be held after the Nov. 4 general election.

    Young said he has been struggling with non-specific health-related issues in recent months, which influenced his decision to retire.

    “I’m going to miss being there,” Young told The Voice Tuesday. “I had every intention of completing my term, but as things got worse I felt I should hang it up.”

    Young was sworn in as Fairfield County’s first African-American Sheriff in 1992. Prior to that, he had served as Administrator for the Fairfield County Detention Center since 1973. Born and raised in Blair, he began his career in law enforcement in 1962 as a New York City Police Officer. Young returned to Fairfield County in 1965 and became the first black police officer with the Winnsboro Police Department. In 1972, he became the first African-American EMT with Fairfield Memorial Hospital.

    Young had only been Sheriff a short time when his office made national news, reopening a 20-year-old case that had been originally filed away as a suicide.

    In 1967, Frances Beasley told police that her bed-ridden husband, Ronald “Little Red” Beasley had taken a .22 caliber rifle, fired it once at her and then put the barrel of the gun in his mouth and shot himself to death. Although then Coroner Earl Bower ruled the death a suicide, neither Little Red’s family nor Young believed it. Little Red had suffered a stroke a few months before his death. He could neither walk nor feed himself and required around the clock care.

    In 1992, Frances Beasley – by then Frances Beasley Truesdale – was convicted of murdering her second husband, Jerry Truesdale, in Virginia. Although Virginia State Police handed their files over to the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office in 1989, it wasn’t until Young took office that Little Red’s death was reopened. A Fairfield County grand jury indicted Frances Truesdale in January of 1996, and that November, while still serving her 20-year term for the murder of Jerry Truesdale, she was convicted for the murder of Little Red. Frances Beasley Truesdale died two weeks ago in a Virginia state penitentiary.

    Young was recognized by his colleagues as Sheriff of the Year in 1996 and served as President of the S.C. Sheriff’s Association from 2011 to 2012. Young implemented the Summer Kids Camp and the Home Alone Program, a nationally recognized program that provides assistance to the elderly.

    Gov. Haley’s office said the governor was “doing her due diligence” leading up to the announcement of a temporary successor, but added that an announcement would come quickly.

    “Not only has Sheriff Young been an amazing public servant for 22 years but he is also a dear friend,” Haley said in a statement released Tuesday. “We are proud to celebrate his wonderful years of service. He is moving on from this post the same way he led the community of Fairfield County, with strength and grace. Michael and I, along with everyone in South Carolina, owe him a debt of gratitude.”

    Young’s resignation was effective July 21. Filing for the election to fill the remainder of Young’s term will open Aug. 8 at noon and will close on Aug. 18 at noon. A primary will be held on Sept. 30 and any necessary runoff will be held on Oct. 14.

    The special election for Sheriff will be held Nov. 18.

  • Another Great Church Cookbook!

    Putting the finishing touches on their new cookbook before it went to press the next day are six members of the Cedar Creek Baptist Church Fruitbearers, front row from left, Sylvia Beckham, Sandra Jones and Donna Wright. Standing, from left, Nancy Taylor, Janet Girard and Audrey Swygert.

    From Cedar Creek Baptist Church

    BLYTHEWOOD – To celebrate their church’s 30th anniversary this fall, the Fruitbearers’ women’s group of Cedar Creek Baptist Church are publishing a cookbook titled, ‘From Our House to Yours.’ The 400-page hardbound tome of recipes has been compiled from family, friends, church members and other good cooks in the community and will be available for purchase on Oct. 1.

    “All of the proceeds will go toward two church projects, our missions work and a new sanctuary,” explained Donna Wright, one of several members of the Fruitbearers who packaged the book earlier this week to send to the printer.

    Besides the collection of delicious recipes, the cookbook also details the history of the Cedar Creek congregation from October 1979, when 12 families held the inaugural service at the Cedar Creek Grange Hall. In 1983, the congregation built the current Cedar Creek Baptist Church facility on Cedar Creek Road and has since added an educational wing and fellowship hall.

    The women published a previous cookbook in 2004 and it’s success prompted them to put out another one.

    “We think everyone will like it,” Wright said enthusiastically as she thumbed through the colorful indexed, three-ring bound book. “It has so many good recipes from some of the best cooks around here.”

    The cookbook costs $20 and will be available just in time for holiday gift giving. To order, mail a check to the church at 1920 Cedar Creek Road, Blythewood 29016 or call Wright at 735-8019 or Sandra Jones at 754-2571. Contact the church at 754-6230 or go to www.ccbcworship.org.

  • Former Councilwoman Faces Federal Charges

    BLYTHEWOOD – Former Blythewood Town Councilwoman and Blythewood attorney Kathleen (Katie) Devereaux Cauthen has been charged with two felony counts in a federal court in Nashville, Tenn. The charges include conspiracy to commit “theft or embezzlement in connection with health care” and misprision (failing to report the commission of a felony to judicial authorities). Cauthen faces up to eight years in prison and $500,000 in fines if convicted of the two charges.

    In a separate court action on June 27, the S.C. Supreme Court suspended Cauthen’s license to practice law in the state. It ordered attorney Peyre Lumpkin to take custody of Cauthen’s legal files and trust accounts.

    Last year, Cauthen was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in an alleged nationwide health care insurance scheme that first came to light in 2010 when the S.C. Department of Insurance (SCDOI) issued a cease and desist order against Cauthen, William M. Worthy II and a number of other individuals and companies and ordered them to halt their insurance selling operations. Cauthen appealed that order to the Administrative Law Court and that case is still pending. The SCDOI alleged that the insurance scheme involved “unlicensed insurers and phony insurance, sham corporations and shady associations, deals with Pakistani companies and with entities in the Bahamas, fraudulent insurance documents and fake credit instruments.” Four of Cauthen’s alleged co-conspirators – Worthy; Bart and Angela Posey of Springfield, Tenn. and Richard H. Bachman of Austin, Texas – were indicted by a federal grand jury in Nashville in June 2013. That case is scheduled for trial in U. S. District Court in Nashville in January 2015

    According to the two federal charges against Cauthen, filed June 16, she aided others in a scheme purported “to provide health care benefit coverage to more than 17,000 individuals and multiple employer groups in various states . . . although holding themselves out as providing health care coverage, the defendant and her co-conspirators did not comply with either state or federal regulatory requirements.” According to court documents, Cauthen and her co-conspirators collected more than $28 million in insurance premium payments.

    Some of those premiums went into an account opened by Cauthen at First Citizens Bank in Blythewood in the name of Nationwide Administrators for which Cauthen listed herself as president and used her home address for the company’s physical address according to the federal charges. The charges further state that the account was controlled by both Cauthen and Worthy, who is serving a federal prison sentence for involvement in a similar insurance fraud case.

    “The funds deposited into the account at First Citizens Bank were intended to represent payments to a non-existent underwriter, but were instead primarily converted to the personal use of defendant Kathleen Devereaux Cauthen and co-conspirator William M. Worthy II,” according to the federal charges against Cauthen.

    On July 10, Cauthen waived her right to be indicted on the federal charges. Instead she was charged in a federal information. An information is a formal criminal charge made by a prosecutor without the necessity of obtaining a grand jury indictment. Cauthen signed the information document waiving her right to have her case brought before the grand jury. In the document, Cauthen consented to prosecution by information, and a news article in The Tennessean speculated that she is possibly cooperating with federal prosecutors in their case against others implicated in the scheme. The Nashville newspaper quoted former U.S. Attorney Ed Yarbrough, who is now a criminal defense attorney in Nashville, as saying, “Typical signal you get when there is an information filed is that a prior agreement has been reached between the defendant and the prosecution where they have cooperated with the government and the agreement would limit the scope of their possible punishment. If they want the person to testify in a trial against other co-conspirators, they almost always charge the conspiracy count and also throw in the misprision count.”

    Until the S.C. Supreme Court suspended Cauthen’s license to practice law in South Carolina last month, she was listed in good standing with the South Carolina Judicial Department. A 1999 graduate of the University of South Carolina law school, Cauthen most recently practiced law with Coastal Family Justice. She was elected to the Blythewood Town Council in 2008 and served until her term expired in 2012. She did not seek re-election.

    A Tennessee federal magistrate judge ruled on July 10 that Cauthen cannot afford to pay for an attorney and appointed a public defender, Cynthia Chappell, to defend her.

    The case against Cauthen is slated for jury trial on Sept. 16 at 9 a.m. in the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville.

  • Vacation Bible School

    Children’s Director Helen Edwards and Norma Branham, in charge of the kitchen, served eyeball jello and popcorn hands to VBS students Savannah Causey, Makayla Parker and the Branham sisters Bailey, Alexis and Cailyn. (Photo/Barbara Ball)

    Summer School that Kids Look Forward To . . .

    WINNSBORO – With summer at the half-way point, Vacation Bible School (VBS) is in full swing in churches across Fairfield County and the Blythewood community. The programs are usually a week long and take place in churches from the first week of summer until school starts in August. Staged around increasingly elaborate themes, the programs usually include not only Bible stories but singing, dancing, crafts, snacks, adventure activities and games. It is the summer school kids and their families look forward to.

    Last week, the Church of the Nazarene in Winnsboro held their week-long VBS with the theme of Weird Animals complete with a daily Sing and Play Stampede stage production, a Critter Cafe where kids were served snacks relevant to the theme, an Imagination Station, Untamed Games, KidVid Cinema and various Bible adventures.

    Like the VBS programs in other area churches, the Church of the Nazarene depends on a large staff of dedicated volunteers to make their big week happen. While VBS was traditionally held during the daytime, more churches, including the Church of the Nazarene, are holding them in the evening when working parents and church members are available for the many volunteer positions. And many offer classes for the whole family, including the adults.

    “It’s lots of fun,” said Norma Branham, who was in charge of the Church of the Nazarene’s Critter Cafe where her all-volunteer staff created cookies with animal faces, popcorn people paws, jello eyes and even a bucket of green slime.

    “And it’s a lot of work,” Children’s Director Helen Edwards added. “The kids really enjoy it and we enjoy making it happen. We spend months getting ready for it.”

    While the intent of VBS is a fun way to connect with families in the community, it’s underlying goal is mission oriented. VBS began in the late 1890s in New York City when a woman rented a large beer hall as a place to keep kids off the street in the summer. Today, churches spend hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars on props and supplies for the week’s program that frequently includes elaborate stage productions.

    Branham said her church was able to borrow a complete set of professionally made stage props from a church in Columbia that had used it for their VBS with the same theme earlier this year.

    “We all work very hard to make our VBS relevant and fun for the kids,” said Branham. “Now it’s time to start planning for next summer!”

  • Steam Leak Triggers Shutdown at Nuclear Plant

    JENKINSVILLE – A radioactive steam leak inside a containment tank at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station triggered a shutdown of the plant Sunday that may last as long as two weeks.

    According to Jim Reece, a Region II inspector for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Senior Resident Inspector at V.C. Summer, an alarm sounded inside the control room at the plant late Sunday afternoon. Technicians identified the source of the alarm as a leaking relief valve inside the reactor’s pressurizer relief tank and notified the NRC. Steam from the pressurizer was entirely contained inside the tank, Reece said, and posed no danger to the public.

    The steam was escaping from the valve at a rate of 5 gallons per minute, Reece said, well below the technical specification limit of 10 gallons per minute. Nevertheless, Reece said, S.C. Electric & Gas (SCE&G) made the decision to shut down the plant. Reece said it was unknown exactly how much steam escaped through the valve. While the leak continued throughout the shutdown process, it diminished as the plant slowly ceased operation. By approximately 6 p.m. Monday, the plant had reached “mode 5,” or “cold shutdown,” Reece said.

    “Although still within operating limits, management made the conservative decision to shut down the plant to inspect and replace the valve,” Rhonda O’Banion, a spokesperson for SCANA, said in an email to The Voice on Tuesday. “The timeframe for returning the plant to power operation is under review but is expected to be 14 days or less. This issue poses no threat to public safety or the environment. Resident inspectors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have been notified.‎”

    The precautionary shutdown was welcomed by one local nuclear energy watchdog organization; however, they were less happy with the public notification process.

    “This leak could have been a precursor to a larger leak, so SCE&G was prudent in shutting the reactor down,” Tom Clements, director of the public interest organization Savannah River Site Watch, said. “SCE&G and the NRC should have notified the public of the situation and about steps it was taking to address it.”

    Clements said he learned about the incident at 1 p.m. Tuesday from a member of the public in another state.

    “This is simply not the way to communicate to the public about an incident that could have safety implications at the V.C. Summer site,” Clements said. “We will expect a more timely public notification in the event of future incidents at V.C. Summer.”

  • No More ‘Free Money’

    Accountability Placed on Discretionary Funds

    WINNSBORO – Extracting discretionary funds from County Council members is about to become more difficult and a lot more competitive, if the full Council accepts the recommendation made Monday evening by the Administration and Finance Committee.

    While discretionary spending by Council members under former County Administrator Phil Hinely sometimes strayed from its $2,500 limit, included a rather informal paper trail and required the approval only of the Administrator, the new policy drafted by Interim Administrator Milton Pope and his staff outlines specific restrictions on the funds and requires a majority vote by the entire Council.

    “What we tried to do from a staff perspective is to make sure the process we have is a transparent process, is an accountable process and is an open process for individuals to be able to submit things,” Pope told the Committee, which comprised Council Vice Chairman Dwayne Perry (serving as Committee Chairman), Council Chairman David Ferguson (substituting for Mikel Trapp) and Councilman David Brown (substituting for Carolyn Robinson).

    For starters, the funds will no long fly under the flag of “Discretionary Spending,” but instead will be labeled “Community Enhancement Grants.” The funds are still limited to $2,500 per district and require the completion of a four-page application, accompanied by an IRS Form W-9. Charitable organizations will be required to provide the County with a copy of their 501 (c) or 501 (c) 3 designation form or a copy of their registration form from the S.C. Secretary of State’s Office.

    According to the new policy, the County will award grants to fund the following types of projects:

    Back to school supplies for K-12 students;

    Community Enhancement programs/initiatives for churches, non-profit or other eleemosynary (charitable) groups that serve individuals or families in need;

    Community Improvement Grants – programs/initiatives that improve the quality of life for neighborhoods, identification signs, beautification, etc.; and

    Youth, Adult and/or Elderly programs/initiatives that support wellness, health fairs and related services to improve the overall quality of health in the community.

    Applicants will have to describe in detail for the County how they intend to spend the funds, and a review panel will evaluate and score the applications based on the community and/or district benefit, the number of citizens served, the organization’s ability to deliver services and the county wide impact of the grant award. Special consideration will be given, Pope said, to organizations that are collaborating with other groups to deliver services.

    Once the application has made it through staff, it will then come to full Council for a final vote. Grant recipients will be required to provide the County with receipts for how the funds were used and organizations found to have made questionable or unauthorized purchases with the funds, Pope said, may be barred from receiving future grants.

    Brown, who along with Robinson has traditionally expended his District 7 money on providing street lights for the community, asked Pope where such an expenditure would fit into the new policy’s criteria. Pope said such an expenditure could either be incorporated into the policy for as long as that Council member holds their individual seat, or Council members could work with community organizations and encourage them to request the funds.

    “It’s a competition for the best programs the community wants to get involved with,” Pope said. “There’s nothing that precludes a Council member from working with their community about some kind of need that’s been identified and apply for this.”

    The draft of the policy discussed Monday evening capped the individual grants at $500 each, with a maximum of $2,500 per district. Ferguson, however, pointed out that Council may want to write more checks for less money.

    “Because of how many churches we’ve got that we deal with, we don’t ever give that much to one church,” Ferguson said. “If you’ve got more churches than that that you could give like $250 or $300 to, you could supply more children in need in different churches. I think that’s the way we need to think about it.”

    The Committee voted to amend the policy to read “up to $500,” keeping the maximum at $2,500 per district, and voted to recommend the policy to the full Council.

  • Baggy Pants Law Gets First Reading

    WINNSBORO – At its Tuesday evening meeting, Town Council held first reading of the ‘Baggy Pants’ Ordinance No. 080514 with no comment or discussion. Mayor Roger Gaddy said second reading and a public hearing will be held at the next meeting scheduled for Tuesday, July 29.

    In other business, Council approved capital expenditures of $140,000 for a new garbage truck for the Streets and Sanitation Department and up to $25,000 for a dump truck with a wood chipper. Council also approved an application for a $140,000 USDA Rural Development Communities Facilities grant for the purchase of the new garbage truck. The truck will be financed through two sources: 55 percent (or $77,000) of the $140,000 matching grant and the balance financed by the Town of Winnsboro’s General Fund Unappropriated Investment Account.

    Council also awarded a $31,350 contract to Site Concepts, LLC of Lugoff, to run a waterline down McCorkle Road, and tabled a request from the Fairfield Memorial Hospital Foundation for a donation to its annual BBQ, Bluegrass & Blue Jeans fundraiser in October, agreeing to take it up closer to the event.

    Council finished the meeting with an executive session to discuss a contractual matter concerning an electricity contract with Project USA and legal and contractual matters concerning its water contract with the Town of Blythewood. Council also discussed a potential legal battle over water that was promised in 2008 to Sycamore Development, LLC, when it proposed to develop property on Rimer Pond Road in Blythewood (see “Winnsboro seeks resolution with Blythewood developer” in the July 4 edition of The Voice). No action was taken by Council members on any of the discussions.

  • Mastering Augusta

    Augusta’s Riverwalk, from the back door of The Morris Museum. (Photo/Tom Poland)

    Drive southwest 95.5 miles to the city famous for the Masters and you’ll discover it has other attractions. The city that’s known for the renowned James Brown has the Morris Museum of Art, which overlooks Augusta’s Riverwalk, a beautiful place to walk along the Savannah River.

    If you like the South, you’ll like the Morris Museum of Art, located on the Riverwalk in downtown Augusta, Ga. It’s the first museum dedicated to the art and artists of the American South. Its collection includes close to 5,000 paintings, works on paper, photographs and sculptures dating from the late-eighteenth century to today. Each year the museum hosts eight to 10 temporary special exhibitions. Good things are always going on.

    “The Morris,” as it’s called, also houses the Center for the Study of Southern Art, a reference and research library that includes archives pertaining to artists working in the South. The museum’s permanent collection houses art in nine categories: Antebellum Portraiture, Civil War, Genre, Still Life, Impressionism in the South, Landscape Painting, Early to Mid-20th Century Art, Late 20th-Century/Contemporary Art and Self-Taught Artists.

    I was there on a beautiful spring afternoon. Outside, a large canvas was being covered with paint. Kayakers paddled down river as folks strolled along Riverwalk’s red brick walkway and its green iron railings. Once a river capable of raging, the Savannah today purls peacefully toward the Atlantic, glad to be shed of the three dams that tame her. Nearby a wedding party was underway, and proud family members snapped photos of the memorable day.

    Riverwalk evolved from the need to protect an early 1900s Augusta from flooding. In 1908, the city built a levee, but even it was no use against one of the mighty Savannah River’s more severe floods. It kept on raining and the levee proved to be too low. In 1936, the Army Corps of Engineers came to the rescue, building a taller levee. For over 50 years this levee protected downtown Augusta, but it was a detriment to commerce and served as a psychological barrier between the people and the river. Industry moved out but left a pristine shoreline. When the mall era of the 1970s arrived, downtown suffered a mass exodus as merchants began leaving downtown.

    In the early 1980s a renaissance began along that pristine shoreline. Visionaries transformed Augusta’s Riverfront into a thriving business and tourist center with a focus on establishing a cultural corridor. Today you can enjoy fine art, performances, and a stunning walk along the Savannah River. Across from the museum is the Marriott should you want to tarry in the home of the Masters.

    Sundays at the Morris are always free and a complimentary tour begins at 3 p.m. Check the Morris’s calendar and put this day trip on your calendar: many good things are planned and when you go; listen closely along Riverwalk: you just may hear the ghost of James Brown singing across the river in nearby Beech Island.

    If You Go …

    The Morris Museum

    1 Tenth Street

    Augusta, Ga. 30901

    706-724-7501

    Tuesday–Saturday:

    10 a.m.–5 p.m.
    Sunday: noon–5 p.m.
    Closed Mondays and major holidays

     Adults $5

    Youth 13–17, $3

    Children 12 & under, Free

    Student with ID, $3

    Military with ID, $3

    Senior, 65 & older, $3

    www.themorris.org

    Riverwalk

    Augusta, Ga. 30901

    706-821-1754

    www.augustaga.gov/292/Riverwalk

    Learn more about Tom Poland, a Southern writer, and his work at www.tompoland.net. Email day-trip ideas to him at tompol@earthlink.net.

  • Council May Limit Downtown Parking

    RIDGEWAY – A proposed amendment to an ordinance restricting long-term parking in downtown Ridgeway was tabled at Council’s July 10 meeting, but not before considerable debate over the necessity of such an ordinance.

    Ordinance 5-1001 already limits to three hours parking on Main Street, but Mayor Charlene Herring suggested an amendment to the ordinance to include police department property as well as the Cotton Yard, which the Town is considering leasing from Norfolk Southern Railway. Herring said the goal was to prevent drivers from leaving cars parked in town overnight for extended periods of time. Councilman Donald Prioleau, however, said the amendment was unnecessary and the number of cars parked overnight was negligible.

    “You’re talking about one or two cars that may be parked down there sometimes overnight,” Prioleau said. “If (you’re going to be out of town), you’re going to be gone for two days, where would you want that car parked? Where there’s police protection.

    “Several years ago, they had a limit on parking downtown,” Prioleau said. “That didn’t work out. I would hate to have somebody at somebody’s business, they come out and they’ve got a ticket.”

    Councilman Russ Brown suggested the Town designate an area for parking more than three hours, with parking for more than one or two nights requiring permission from the Town.

    “We don’t want the police to start bullying people,” Brown said. “I don’t think we need to abuse the privilege of having the lease and keep people off of (the Cotton Yard property).

    “I think it can be curtailed a little bit,” Brown said, “but I don’t think we need to stop people and tell them what they can and can’t do.”

    Prioleau said that the Town was “putting the cart before the horse” by attempting to place restrictions on property it doesn’t even yet have any rights to, but Herring said that in order for the Town to obtain the lease on the property, a tighter parking ordinance was necessary.

    Police & Security

    Following an executive session of more than two hours, Council emerged to authorize the hiring of a security officer to supplement the Town’s police force during special events. Council could not provide a figure associated with the costs of the temporary, as-needed hires, nor which private security company would be used.

    Council also OK’d an oil change and a new set of tires for the Police Department’s Dodge Charger, at a cost of approximately $568.

    Prior to the executive session, Councilman Heath Cookendorfer reviewed a list of proposed upgrades to the Police Department, including a new printer and a dedicated internet connection. Cookendorfer said a new computer was recently donated to the Department, but the internet was currently being accessed by using the library’s Wi-Fi.

    “Jumping onto someone else’s network, you run some risks,” Cookendorfer said. “You open yourself up. It’s a lot easier to hack.”

    Council took no action on the upgrades.

    Restaurant

    Town Council will soon be looking for a new tenant for the Old Town Hall Restaurant property on Main Street, as the property’s most recent tenant, Vesha Sanders, closed up shop and began the process of moving out last week. As of Council’s July 10 meeting, that search had not yet begun.

    “They still have a time frame where they can renew their lease,” Brown said, “but they probably won’t. We’re going to give them their time to move out.”

    Movie Night

    Ridgeway plans to hold its first free movie night on Aug. 1 and is looking for sponsors for future films. Cookendorfer said the rights to show a movie in public cost between $300 and $400. Council voted to foot the bill for the Aug. 1 movie, which will be shown on the side of the fire station.

  • Property Seeks Sign Exemption

    BLYTHEWOOD – The Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) met Monday evening to hear the appeal of an administrative denial for multiple signage on a commercial property on Blythewood Road. But because the Board lacked a quorum, it was not able to convene. Of the Board’s seven members, only Chairwoman Sabra Mazyck and members Pat Littlejohn and Deborah McLean attended.

    The appeal was brought by Sandy Khan, owner of the State Farm Insurance office located in front of the IGA on Blythewood Road. Last month Khan asked former interim Town Administrator Jim Meggs to allow her to place two signs on her property, one for her insurance business and the second for the Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Center located in the same building at the back of Khan’s property. That building also houses the Blythewood Artists Guild, and all three offices rent space from Kahn.

    There are currently three signs on the property – a large sign on Blythewood Road that displays signs for both State Farm Insurance and the Blythewood Artists Guild; a 3x 4-foot free-standing sign at the back of the property for the Blythewood Artists Guild and a smaller sign in the side window of the Guild. An additional sign for the Chamber and Visitor’s Center would bring to four the number of separate signs on the property.

    Meggs denied the request. In a memorandum dated July 11, Meggs updated the BZA on the issue, explaining that “Only one sign is permitted.” Meggs wrote that he informed Khan that she could appeal his interpretation of the law to the BZA.

    In her request for an appeal, Khan said she felt that because The Chamber and Visitor’s Center are civic organizations, they should be exempt from the requirements of the sign ordinance that other businesses in the town must follow. In his memorandum to the BZA, Meggs wrote that, “The exemption which (Khan) claims is not applicable because a sign advertising the Chamber and the Visitor’s Center is not a sign erected by or on behalf of the Town or some other government (which are exempt.) There is no exemption for signs erected by or on behalf of a civic organization. Only a flag, badge or insignia of a civic, etc., organization is excluded from the definition of the term ‘sign.’ Signs placed by civic, etc. organizations are subject to the same regulations as commercial signs.”

    Mazyck told The Voice that she expected the Board would be asked to call a special meeting soon to hear the issue. The BZA is a quasi-judicial board that meets only when there are appeals or requests for variances.