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Category: News

  • District 5 Up for Grabs

    Bobby Cunningham

    No 2nd School Board Term for Cunningham

    WINNSBORO – Barely a week after District 7 County Councilman David Brown announced that he would be retiring from Council at the end of his current term, Bobby Cunningham, the Trustee from District 5, announced that he would not seek another term with the Fairfield County School Board.

    “I said from day one that I would not run for a second term,” Cunningham told The Voice this week. “I’m 70 years old and I have other things I want to pursue.”

    Cunningham pulled something of an upset in 2010, unseating Rickey Johnson, a minority incumbent in a minority district, 578 votes (51.56 percent) to 542 (48.35 percent). Since then, Cunningham has been part of a Board that has ushered in what might be considered a renaissance for the school district, hiring and supporting the longest serving superintendent in recent memory, updating the District’s security systems, reducing frivolous spending and, earlier this month, breaking ground on a new Career and Technology Center.

    “I had no earthly idea I would even win the thing,” Cunningham said. “I think my reputation is if you ask me something I’m going to tell you like it is. I think that’s what it was. People knew I was fair and that I would say what was on my mind.”

    Progress has been slow, Cunningham admits, and there is more to be made, but it has been progress, he said. And that is something the District hasn’t seen in quite some time. Attorney fees are down and test scores are up, Cunningham noted, and with the help of the School Resource Officers (SROs) and an updated security camera system, issues that Cunningham pushed to the forefront, the schools are safer than they were just four years ago.

    “There were a lot of issues on the curriculum side that I did not understand,” Cunningham said, “but there were other issues on the safety side that I did understand. Those security cameras have been a life-saver for the School District. There were some who were hell bent set against it.”

    Apart from championing safety issues, Cunningham said he was most proud of being on a Board that undertook and finally implemented a salary study, bringing wages up for the District’s lowest paid employees. And during his term, Cunningham has always been a staunch defender of taxpayer dollars.

    “I ate my first meal at the last Board meeting (an unusual 4:30 p.m. meeting on June 12),” Cunningham said. “I have eaten at retreats we’ve had – maybe a donut or a sausage biscuit, but I have not abused the taxpayers’ money. I go to one seminar every year, to Myrtle Beach, to get my points for accreditation, but that’s it. And I’ve never had one dime of phone calls to our attorneys, running up that bill.”

    The 70-year-old Cunningham said he has no further political aspirations at this time. He will fill his days, he said, tending his garden, working in the yard and relaxing in his rocking chair underneath the carport of his Washington Street home, watching the cars go by and throwing up a hand when he elicits a friendly honk.

  • Blythewood Daylily Growers Honored

    BLYTHEWOOD – Jim and Peggy Jeffcoat, owners of Singing Oakes Garden in Blythewood, were honored last week by the American Hemerocallis Society (American Daylily Society) at the group’s national convention in Asheville, N.C. The couple was presented the Steve Moldovan Mentoring Award, one of the highest honors bestowed by the organization.

    The Jeffcoats have been members of the AHS since 1981, and their daylily garden, recognized as one of the top daylily gardens in the country, has been on the AHS national tour several times. The award recognized the couple for their life-long mentoring efforts, from organizing their local club, The Mid-Carolina Daylily Society, in 1987 to their continuous service as elected leaders in the national organization to developing an AHS Display Garden at Riverbanks Zoological and Botanical Gardens in Columbia.

    They are both garden and exhibition judges and have long taken the lead in training daylily judges, writing journal articles and conducting workshops for other clubs. They frequently give talks on their own hybridizing programs at Singing Oakes Garden.

    During the presentation, the Jeffcoats were lauded for the wisdom they have imparted over the years to newer daylily addicts, their leadership of Mid-Carolina Daylily Society and the advice they have generously shared with many AHS members.

  • Family of Freed Fairfield Slave Reunites in Blythewood

    Green family members have spent the week preparing for the reunion activities. Folding hundreds of napkins for the various meals are Lottie Wilson, Mardie Walker, Josephine McRant, Bertha Breazeale, Mildred Blocker and Dorothy Clinton.

    BLYTHEWOOD – “Harry Green was born a slave in lower Fairfield County between 1858 and 1860 according to U. S. Federal Census records,” recalled his great granddaughter Josephine McRant of Blythewood. “He labored as a farmhand and, at age 20, married Lucy, a cook on the plantation where he worked. Harry and Lucy produced 10 children and when he became a free man later in life, he apparently taught himself to read and was well thought of by everyone, including his descendants.”

    This weekend, more than 160 of the descendants of Harry and Lucy and of Harry’s great nephew Jim and his wife Mary, will gather in Blythewood to honor their ancestors.

    “It will be the first time in 30 years that our extended family has reunited,” said McRant who is also chairperson of the reunion. “Each of us descended from either Harry’s family or Jim’s family. And while some of us have moved away over the years, we are all still very close and keep in touch, and we are so looking forward to this reunion. It’s how we honor our lineage.” She lamented that it’s difficult to find information from the 1800s, especially for slaves for whom there weren’t a lot of records kept. “But it has been a joy, chairing the reunion,” said McRant who has been at the task for more than a year. She said it has been not only a labor of love, but also a learning experience.

    “The area of Fairfield County where my great grandfather was born was later annexed into Richland County and is now part of Blythewood. He and his family were faithful members of Bethel Baptist Church,” McRant said, “and Harry died at age 60.” She said he left a legacy of hard work and devout faith.

    James ‘Jim’ Green was born in 1875 in Blythewood as a free man. He married Mary Turnipseed and they had seven children. He died in 1983, well over the age of 100. Both Jim and his great uncle, Harry, are buried in the Bethel Baptist Church cemetery. Blythewood families who have descended from Harry and Jim include the Ables, Alstons, Barbers, Beltons, Canzaters, Greens, Palmers, Wilsons and more. A proclamation was read by Blythewood Mayor J. Michael Ross at Monday night’s Town Council meeting declaring ‘the affirmation of the importance and commitment to family and ancestors who paved the way for their descendants.’ That proclamation recognized that the unions of Harry and Lucy Green and Jim and Mary Green produced entrepreneurs, teachers, medical professionals, administrators, carpenters and other productive citizens who, for more than a century and a half, have contributed to the political and financial growth and development of Blythewood, noting that the Green family is one of the largest in the community.

    McRant said family members will converge on Blythewood this week from as far away as New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

    “The hotels in town will be overflowing with Greens,” McRant said, laughing.

    The three-day event will begin on Friday at 1 p.m. with registration and a fish fry at Purity Lodge in Ridgeway. On Saturday, the party will move to the Blythewood Recreation Center on Boney Road where there will be a banquet in the gymnasium at 4 p.m. That evening there will be a social with dancing and visiting in Columbia. Sunday the family will worship together at their ancestral church, Bethel Baptist Church in downtown Blythewood. Following services, they will meet in the fellowship hall for a last reception before departing, and they will gather once more around the grave of their ancestors and, with a special pride, read again the epitaph on Harry’s headstone: ‘Harry Green born into slavery. Died November 28, 1918 as a free man. Highly respected by both races. Was faithful unto death.’

  • Gone Fishin’

    Fish in a Barrel –
    The Walhalla State Fish Hatchery in – you guessed it – Walhalla.

    A 162-mile drive, about three hours, will take you to a memorable place, the Walhalla State Fish Hatchery. Make your way to Walhalla and follow the directions at the end of this column. If you come away with a desire to go fishing and a hankering for fried trout, blame it on this column.

    Summer is a good time to make the trip. Green leafy mountains and winding roads make for a calming effect, something quite the opposite of the fish-frenzied Walhalla State Fish Hatchery. Walking through the hatchery you’ll see fingerlings aplenty, all swimming to and fro, churning the waters.

    The old hatchery is easy on the eyes. The Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps built it in the 1930s. Make note of the beautiful rock architecture. Earth tone and hues do much to make the hatchery blend into the mountain environment. It’s said the rocks came from nearby mountains.

    The hatchery is the only cold-water fish hatchery the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources operates. Brown, brook and rainbow trout are raised here for stocking the public waters of South Carolina. Most trout are cultured to a size of 9 to 12 inches before being released. About half a million trout are produced and stocked annually. You can see large trout ranging from 5 to 15 pounds at the hatchery as well.

    Visitors are welcome to tour the hatchery and to fish in the East Fork, which runs through hatchery grounds. You’ll find places to picnic too.

    Belong to a fishing club? You can plan special group tours by calling the hatchery (The best time of year to schedule group tours is in the fall). Visits by individuals and families take place on a walk-through basis. The day I was there several families were touring the hatchery. Kids love to see the fish up close and they get a thrill when the fish splash them.

    You’ll find plenty to do when you’re done visiting the hatchery. Adjacent to the hatchery is the Chattooga Picnic Area, operated by the U.S. Forest Service. Next to the picnic area is the boundary of the Ellicott Rock Wilderness. Hikers may take a trail that goes along side the East Fork for 2.5 miles to the Chattooga River. From there you can go upstream to Ellicott’s Rock (1.7 miles) or downstream to the Burrell’s Ford campground and parking lot (2.1 miles). Request a trail map.

    On Highway 107 South toward Walhalla is the Oconee State Park. Here there are cabins, camping areas, swimming and numerous other recreational activities. Best of all it’s refreshing to go to the mountains when summer heats up the land and you’ll find it educational to learn about the life cycle of trout. And then you can plan a fishing trip and have that fish fry I mentioned earlier.

    If You Go …

    Walhalla State Fish Hatchery
    198 Fish Hatchery Road

    Mountain Rest, S.C. 29664

    864-638-2866

    Open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

    There may be a few exceptions during the winter months if inclement weather makes conditions unsafe for visitation. The hatchery is closed Christmas Day.

    www.hatcheries.dnr.sc.gov/walhalla/tour.html

    　

    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 Considers Limits, Fees on Yard Sale Signs

    BLYTHEWOOD – During the segment of Monday night’s Town Council meeting allowing for members’ miscellaneous comments, Councilman Bob Massa said he thought it was time the Town considers a fee for yard and garage sales.

    “One fee for individual garage sales and a higher fee for multi-family sales,” Massa said. “And limit them to two a year (per household.)”

    Massa added, “Wilson Boulevard and Blythewood Road look like flea markets on Saturdays with all those signs posted for sales. I called the Richland County Sheriff’s office about it, but there’s nothing they can do because these (yard and garage) sales are not actually businesses (that are regulated.)”

    Massa suggested that more than two sales in a year could require a business license, “and then we could shut them down for that. Besides being unattractive, the signs are distractions and create a traffic problem, and we may have somebody get hurt,” he said.

    Town Attorney Jim Meggs chimed in, saying he has similar thoughts whenever he is in Blythewood on Saturdays and suggested the Town consider some kind of regulations on the signs.

    Massa suggested requiring a fee for a yard or garage sale license, then requiring the license to be posted on the sign for the sale. But Meggs disagreed.

    “I’m not sure that (more signage) is something you want to encourage,” Meggs said.

    Mayor J. Michael Ross asked Meggs and new Town Administrator Gary Parker to look into limiting the number of signs that are popping up at the various fireworks stands in the town as well.

    “They don’t look good,” Ross said.

    During his comment time, Councilman Tom Utroska announced that the restrooms in the park are expected to be operational in time for the fireworks festivities in the park on July 5.

  • Council OK’s Budget

    Council Pay Down, Mayor’s Pay Up

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council unanimously approved a $1,226,000 budget for fiscal year 2014-15 with only minor changes due to scrivener’s errors. Building/construction permit revenue is expected to double from $35,000 in FY 2014 to $70,000 in FY 2015, and there are noticeable decreases in the expenditures for Town Hall personnel salaries and benefits from $546,000 in FY 2014 to $464,318 in FY 2015. Of that, staff’s collective salaries and benefits are down $70,000 to $402,398; Council’s salaries and benefits are down $22,956 for a collective total of $27,044 for the year (Councilman Tom Utroska does not take salary or benefits), and the Mayor’s salary and benefits are up $2,376 for a yearly total of $26,376.

    Total office expenses for the Town Hall are down about $20,000, while total legal and professional costs are up by $6,000. Promotions and maintenance are both down slightly from last year’s budget.

    Special initiatives will increase from $140,000 in FY 2014 to $212,500 in FY 2015. Of that amount, Council has set aside $59,000 for technology improvements at Town Hall, $10,000 for repairs, $30,000 for sidewalks, $18,000 for interest on the Doko restaurant loan and $95,000 for landscaping, signage and Christmas decorations. Another $20,000 is designated for Christmas decorations from the Hospitality Tax revenue.

    Other expenditures from Hospitality Tax revenue include: $28,000 for the Visitors’ Center ($9,000 for the executive director of the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce and the remainder to Bravo Blythewood and the Visitor’s Center); $12,000 for events; $5,000 for wireless internet and website; $7,000 for the Christmas Parade; $15,000 for the Diamond Invitational baseball tournament; $5,000 for audit fees and $180,000 for transfers to the Blythewood Facilities Corporation for payments on the $5.5 million park bond. The cost for the Town’s audit is divided between the Hospitality Tax ($5,000) and the Accommodations Tax ($6,000). The total Hospitality Tax revenue for FY 2015 is budgeted at $272,800. Total Accommodations Tax revenue is budgeted at $128,000.

    Council approved transfers to the Manor enterprise fund in the amount of $45,961 to cover the shortfall from last year.

    A copy of the budget is available at Town Hall and will be on the Town’s website soon.

  • Town Plans for Doko Eatery

    BLYTHEWOOD – While Town Council has shut one door on the Doko Restaurant, it has opened another, hoping to find an established restaurateur, agent or developer to construct the restaurant jointly with the Town in an area in the Town Park across from Town Hall.

    The Town would pay for the entire project with a low-interest $900,000 loan from Santee Cooper and a $456,000 grant from Fairfield Electric Cooperative, for a total of $1.3 million. The good deal for the purchaser is that it would only have to pay back the amount of the Santee Cooper loan, interest on that loan ($18,000 a year, estimated at a total of $48,000), legal and other loan administration fees ($32,000) and other incidental expenses (about $71,000) for fill dirt, survey and architectural and engineering work. The total estimated closing costs for the purchaser to pay the Town in full for the restaurant would come to a little over $980,000 instead of the entire $1.3 million since the $456,000 grant would not have to be repaid.

    “It’s a very good deal for the person or group who purchases the restaurant,” Ed Parler, the Town’s economic development consultant, told The Voice. “They will be getting much more than they paid for.”

    According to Parler, the individual or group entering into the project with the Town would be required to build the depot-like design already prepared and provided by the Town. The 4,800-square-foot restaurant with a seating capacity of 185 will be targeted, according to Parler, with a polished casual atmosphere. The only other such restaurant in the area is under construction in Cobblestone’s Golf Club and is expected to open in the fall. According to a flyer distributed by the Town, the nearest competitors would be located in The Village at Sandhills, more than a 15-20 minute drive from Blythewood. Other like venues are located in downtown Columbia in the Vista area, about 16 miles south on Interstate 77. Anyone interested in this joint project with the Town can contact Parler at 803-754-0501, 803-509-1085 or email him at Edward.parler@gmail.com.

  • Winnsboro Man Killed in Car Crash

    WINNSBORO – One Winnsboro man was killed and another injured in a single vehicle accident on Highway 213 Saturday night.

    Jackie Boyd, 60, of 6989 Reservoir Road was pronounced dead at the scene Saturday after the 1997 Ford Aerostar van in which he was a passenger ran a stop sign on Landis Road, crossed Highway 213, ran off the road and struck a tree, according to Fairfield County Coroner Barkley Ramsey. The accident occurred at 10:20 p.m., approximately 5 miles north of Jenkinsville. Boyd was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, Ramsey said.

    The driver of the van, 60-year-old Ronald Hart of Winnsboro, was transported by ambulance to Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to the S.C. Highway Patrol (SCHP). Hart was also not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident, the SCHP said.

    The accident was still under investigation at press time, according to the SCHP, and Ramsey said results of toxicology reports on both victims were pending.

  • County Renews Deal with Auditor

    WINNSBORO – County Council voted 6-0 Monday night to renew its contract with Columbia accounting firm Elliot Davis for auditing services. Councilman Mikel Trapp (District 3) was absent from Monday’s meeting.

    Milton Pope, Interim County Administrator, said Council had, during the budgeting process, approved funding for the continued employment of Elliot Davis, but a public vote on the contract renewal had not been held.

    “In our budgeting process we did approve the funding for auditing services,” Pope said, “however, what we should have done at that time is have a proviso in there approving Elliot Davis as the auditors.

    “I think it’s very important we don’t have an interruption in our auditing services,” Pope continued. “They’re very familiar with our books. I would strongly encourage us not to disrupt that service, to keep those things working effectively and efficiently through the process.”

    Council approved the contract extension for three years.

    Council also gave the OK to $31,107 for the purchase of a new Chevrolet Caprice for the Sheriff’s Office to replace a 2008 Crown Victoria patrol car that was totaled in an accident. Council gave approval as well to a $2,700 overrun on fire service equipment. The budgeted amount for the purchase of hoses, replacement parts and other equipment was originally $25,000, Pope said.

  • Council Gets Preview of DHEC-Quarry Opponents Meeting

    WINNSBORO – Thursday afternoon, long after this week’s edition of The Voice had gone to press, residents of the Rockton community met at the County offices with representatives of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to air their concerns and seek answers to questions regarding a proposed granite mining operation intent on breaking ground near their homes off Highway 34. Monday night, the point person for those residents, Dorothy Brandenburg, previewed their concerns for County Council in a 10-minute presentation.

    “Whether you’re for or against the quarry, show me the data,” Brandenburg said as she guided Council through a PowerPoint presentation. “In order to make educated decisions moving forward, we need information.”

    Brandenburg said she had requested from DHEC additional information regarding the noise level at the proposed quarry, as well as a wind and air quality study and a rock modeling study to determine the effects of blasting. A request had also been sent to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for a ground water survey.

    The noise survey, she said, would determine current decibel levels of the area and help set a level over which operations at the proposed quarry could not rise during preset “quiet hours.” The wind study would help determine a dust path, Brandenburg said, while the rock modeling study would give residents an idea of how explosives would affect the area.

    Brandenburg said Winnsboro Crushed Stone’s plans to control dust with water spray could have a negative impact on the local water supply, and the DNR currently has no data on Fairfield County’s ground water table.

    “How is (the water supply) going to be maintained if this mine comes in and they don’t have the water they thought was in the ground to use on the dust containment system?” Brandenburg said. “The water level is to the point, if we want to wash clothes and take a shower at the same time, we can’t do it. You do one and then the other.”

    Brandenburg said there was also a concern about the disruption of area wetlands, as well as habitats for protected and endangered species of animals. There was also a question about the proposed positioning of certain elements of the mining operation, including the company’s rock crushing apparatus, which Brandenburg said appeared to be “economically efficient,” but not “resident-friendly.”

    “If you want to operate, all right; but we were here first so we have a right to at least a little bit of accommodation,” Brandenburg said, adding that the goal of the meeting was for the company to hopefully demonstrate “a willingness to work together.”

    “That’s really what we want to see at this level of the game,” she said, “what kind of neighbor can we expect to see coming into our town?”

    A full report on Thursday’s meeting can be expected in the July 4 edition of The Voice.