Blythewood Online 691

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  • Connecting to the Past

    Caroleen Sanders, artist in residence at USC-Lancaster’s Native American Studies Center, shows you how it’s done.

    This daytrip’s a breeze. Drive just 30 minutes and you can see beautiful examples of South Carolina’s oldest active art form – Catawba pottery. Catawba women still make pottery using traditional methods, thereby maintaining a link with their past. Catawba pottery is highly prized. Down Charleston way, some cooks feel that okra soup and other dishes can’t be prepared properly without a Catawba pot’s slow, steady cooking.

    At 119 South Main St. in Lancaster you’ll find the Native American Studies Center, part of the University of South Carolina Lancaster. There you’ll see beautiful pottery. Established in August 2012, this comprehensive center for the study of South Carolina’s Native American peoples offers you the chance to view the single largest collection of Catawba Indian pottery in existence, learn about Native Americans in the Southeast, participate in educational classes and programs, and observe archaeology, language and folklore and oral history labs.

    This area is rich in history. Lancaster and its environs have long been home to the Catawba Indian Nation. They have a reservation here. And they have something else, something special, something the Catawba have kept secret for hundreds of years: sacred clay holes.

    Caroleen Sanders is the center’s artist in residence. A talented potter, her mission is to restore purity to how the Catawba make pottery. (“Catawba,” you probably know, means “People of the River,” and that river of course is the Catawba.) Finding a good seam of clay, says Caroleen, provides a rush like finding a vein of gold. “Pure clay is blue and it won’t dissolve,” she adds, holding a lump of clay that’s soft and satiny smooth.

    When potters go to dig clay, they get into holes where the best clay is six feet down. Standing in a hole they all but disappear. Once they have a goodly amount of clay they cover the hole with brush and straw so interlopers can’t easily find it. Several challenges exist as the clay holes or pits go. Snakes, for one. A bigger threat, however, is so cleverly hiding a hole that it’s location becomes lost. “Forgetting it’s there is a threat,” says Caroleen.

    Getting the clay is when the real work begins. “The clay has to be cleaned,” says Caroleen. And it’s not cleaned once but several times. “I pour it through three screens to strain it. In time it clings to my hands like honey.” Caroleen and other skilled potters turn that honey into enduring art.

    Drive to Lancaster and see not just hundreds of years of Native American history but the Catawba nation’s rare and priceless connection with the land. Chief of the Catawba Nation, Chief William Harris, addressing the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, said: “The tradition of pottery making among the Catawba, unchanged since before recorded history, links the lives of modern Catawba to our ancestors and symbolizes our connection to the earth and to the land and river we love. Like our pottery, the Catawba people have been created from the earth, and have been shaped and fired over time and so have survived many hardships to provide a living testament to our ancestors and to this place we call home.”

     If You Go …

    • Native American Studies Center
    119 South Main St.
    Lancaster, South Carolina
    • 803-313-7172

    • Mondays by appointment only

    • Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday & • • Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

    • Thursday, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

    • Sunday, 1 – 5 p.m.

    • www.usclancaster.sc.edu/nas/index.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.

  • Discount Available for Early Business License Renewal

    BLYTHEWOOD – Business licenses renewals for 2014 are due by April 15. Businesses that renew during the month of January will receive a 10 percent discount. Those who renew during February will receive a 5 percent discount. Those licenses that are not paid until after April 15 will receive a 5 percent penalty of the calculated fee and an additional 5 percent for each month thereafter until the fee is paid.

    For questions , call Martie Weaver at Town Hall, 754-0501.

  • Filing Opens for Special Election

    BLYTHEWOOD – The filing period for candidates for the Blythewood Town Council Special Election begins at noon on Thursday, Jan. 9 and closes at noon on Thursday, Jan. 23. The Special Election, called to fill the seat recently vacated by Roger Hovis who resigned, will be held Tuesday, March 11. The seat is for the remaining two years of Hovis’ four-year term. Candidates will file at the Blythewood Town Hall, 171 Langford Road in Blythewood. The filing fee is $5.

    Voting will be held at only one precinct, Blythewood Park (Richland County Recreation Center), 126 Boney Road in Blythewood, for this Special Election. The precinct will be open for voting from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Election Day.

    Candidates must be qualified, registered voters within the Blythewood town limits. According to an advertisement the Town Hall published with another media outlet, at 9 a.m. on Election Day, the absentee poll managers will begin examining the absentee ballot return envelopes at the Elections and Voter Registration office, 2020 Hampton St. in Columbia. Also at that office, on Thursday, March 13, at 10 a.m., the Richland County Board of Elections and Voter Registration will hold a hearing to determine the validity of ballots challenged in the election.

    Those residents of the Town of Blythewood who wish to register to vote in the Special Election must register by no later than Feb. 11.

    For questions about the Special Election, call Martie Weaver at Blythewood Town Hall, 754-0501.

  • Blythewood Man Dies from Car Crash Injuries

    BLYTHEWOOD – A Blythewood man died at Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital last week from injuries sustained in a two-vehicle car crash on Longtown Road.

    According to Richland County Coroner Gary Watts, 75-year-old Melvin James Bell of Cart Way in Blythewood was pronounced dead at Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital at 6:09 p.m. on Dec. 17 from injuries sustained in the collision that occurred at approximately 5:24 p.m. that same evening.

    The S.C. Highway Patrol said Bell was driving a 2011 Nissan and was pulling out of a private drive, attempting to make a left-hand turn on Longtown Road near Lee Road. Bell’s Nissan was struck in the left side by Cadillac SUV driven by Leroy Green, 60, also of Blythewood. Both drivers were wearing seat belts at the time of the accident, the Highway Patrol said. Green was transported to Palmetto Richland with serious but non-life threatening injuries, the Highway Patrol said. Bell was also transported to Palmetto Richland where he later succumbed to his injuries.

    The accident remains under investigation by the Highway Patrol.

  • Blair Woman Killed in Jenkinsville Crash

    JENKINSVILLE – The passenger in a single-car accident was killed Saturday when the car in which she was traveling ran off Highway 215 near Jenkinsville.

    Fairfield County Coroner Barkley Ramsey said Lucy Ann Hamlin, 56, of 3712 Highway 215 N. in Blair, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which occurred just after 5:30 p.m. Hamlin was trapped inside the vehicle, Ramsey said, and emergency responders worked 45 minutes to free her from the wreckage. The driver, 57-year-old Johnnie Charles, also of 3712 Highway 215 N., was transported by EMS to Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital, the S.C. Highway Patrol said.

    According to the Highway Patrol, Charles was piloting a 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt north on Highway 215 when he ran off the left side of the road and struck a tree approximately 9 miles from Jenkinsville. Both Charles and Hamlin were wearing seat belts at the time of the accident, the Highway Patrol said.

    Ramsey said speed and alcohol are suspected to be factors in the accident. The crash remains under investigation by the Highway Patrol.

  • Cameras, Cop Gear Tabled

    RIDGEWAY – Town Council tabled a decision on the purchase of security cameras for downtown during their Dec. 12 meeting after receiving four bids from three companies, ranging from $1,669 to $4,987. It was the second time in as many meetings that the purchase of cameras had been deferred.

    “I still think we should target that money toward the Police Department first,” Councilman Donald Prioleau said, “and get our Police Department up to standards, and then go do these cameras.”

    Mayor Charlene Herring said the money for the cameras would come out of the Town’s contingency fund, and not the police budget. The contingency money could not, she said, be used for recurring costs, such as the salary of more police officers, as Prioleau had suggested. And, she said, cameras provide another level of security when the Town’s part-time police officers are not on duty. The downtown merchants, Herring said, support the idea of cameras and sent a letter to Council stating as much.

    “Most merchants, anywhere else you go, are responsible for their own security,” Councilman Russ Brown said. “I’m a merchant on Main Street, and I have stuff that could be stolen out of my office, but I think some of the responsibility should fall back on the merchants. It’s easy to write a letter and just put your name on it and say you want something paid for by somebody else, but I think there needs to be some time of accountability from the merchants themselves.”

    Herring said that the merchants have done a great deal to put Ridgeway on the map, and that the cameras were about more than security for the merchants, they were about security for the town. The cameras, she said, would be set up to view Main Street and the back side of the buildings along the south side of Main Street.

    The lowest bid of $1,669.20 came from Cor Digital Technology of Columbia and included eight cameras, additional equipment and installation. Cor also turned in a bid of $3,672.77 for eight-camera HD package. Capture It Surveillance turned in a bid of $2,570 for a six-camera package, and Electronic Systems submitted a bid of $4,987.35 for eight cameras.

    “The surveillance cameras are going all the time,” Councilman Doug Porter pointed out, “and our police officers are part time.”

    Prioleau suggested looking into prices for wildlife cameras, which he said were less expensive. He said he could not vote for the purchase of the cameras as presented if a vote were called for Thursday night.

    “I don’t think we’re to the point where we’ve got to have cameras,” Prioleau said, “with just two people in the Police Department and there are question marks about one of them.”

    Council voted unanimously during their Nov. 14 meeting to offer a part-time police officer position to Malcolm Little. Little, who currently lives in Rock Hill, put in 12 years of service with the N.Y. City Police Department, from 1997 to 2009, before moving down South. He did a short stint with the Chester Sheriff’s Office, from May to August, 2011, before switching uniforms to the Chester Police Department, where he served from November 2011 to September 2012. Little is currently employed with G4S Special Police, a private security firm in Charlotte.

    But since his hire, Little has only worked the Ridgeway Christmas parade on Dec. 1. After last week’s meeting, Herring said Little was still working out his scheduling with G4S and Town Hall said they had not yet received Little’s paperwork indicating his certification as a police officer.

    Other needs for Ridgeway’s Police Department – a computer system and the accompanying software to enable police to tap into the national crime database – were also tabled.

    In non-police related business, Council accepted a bid of $410 from Dwayne Styles to repair the kitchen door at the Century House. Styles’ bid came in under a bid of $543.75 from SteelRose Construction.

    SteelRose’s bid of $258.50 was good enough to secure the job of repairing the door at Just Around the Corner, coming in under Styles’ bid of $360.

    Council also gave the OK to a $350 bonus for full-time employees and $150 for part-time employees.

  • Board OK’s Credit Cards

    WINNSBORO – The Fairfield County School Board gave approval Tuesday night to a new procurement program that eliminates the need for purchase orders for items under $2,500. The Bank of America Visa Purchasing Card program, which is sanctioned by the State Budget and Control Board, passed on a 4-3 vote, with Andrea Harrison (District 1), Paula Hartman (District 2) and Annie McDaniel (District 4) voting against.

    The Board had tabled the issue last month after debate over controls for the cards. Tuesday night, those controls were addressed, according to Kevin Robinson, Director of Finance, with a detailed policy. Nine cards will be issued in the initial rollout of the program, one to the principal at each of the District’s schools. A total of 20 cards will be in play when the program reaches full implementation early next year, with cards issued to heads of the District’s various departments. Cards are to be used for purchases of $2,500 or less and each card has a $3,000 limit at one time. While purchase orders will not be required for expenditures made with the cards, a form will be filled out by the principals for each purchase made.

    “If we anticipate or we run into problems with departments not following procedures, then we can decide that they will have to do purchase orders,” Robinson said. “But in order to optimize the efficiency of the card, we decided we won’t have purchase orders for purchases of $2,500 or less.”

    It is the “same purchasing power” principals and department heads have now, Board member William Frick (District 6) said, only with a different process.

    “It’s not extending a credit line any more than it already is,” Frick said. “It’s not giving them more money than they’ve already got.”

    Cardholders will, under the District’s guidelines, have to turn in daily receipts to the District and weekly reports of the card transactions will be reviewed by District staff. Receipts and monthly statements will be maintained by the District for five years.

    The card is not, according to the policy, to be used for personal purchases or the purchase of alcohol. A cardholder will face disciplinary action if they allow the card to be used by an unauthorized user or if they split purchases in an effort to circumvent the $2,500 limit.

    “My understanding is the receipts would have to be turned in or that individual (cardholder) would be responsible for that purchase,” Board Chairwoman Beth Reid said.

    But Hartman was wary of the program and asked if the District had not had issues with credit cards in the past. Using a credit card can sometimes be too easy, Hartman said, and good people often find themselves in a bind over credit card use.

    “I am optimistic that people will do the right thing and behave in a responsible fashion,” J.R. Green, Superintendent of Fairfield County Schools, said. “And when individuals don’t behave in a responsible fashion, then we will address it.”

  • Minimum Levied in Horse Case

    WINNSBORO – A Winnsboro man who pled guilty to three counts of ill treatment to animals in Magistrate’s Court in October, and who had until this month to bring the animals into good health, received the minimum sentence from Judge William Robinson on Dec. 6.

    Calvin D. Carver, 52, of 480 Hungry Hollow Road, was given the option of paying a fine of $262.50 per charge or spending 30 days in jail for each charge by Judge Robinson on Dec. 6. Carver, who opted for the fine, will have 60 days in which to pay the $787.50 total, Judge Robinson told The Voice last week.

    Carver originally faced six counts after being cited on July 19 for a half dozen horses that “were not being taken care of properly and needed to be fed,” according to a Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office report. The Sheriff’s Office said photographs of the horses were taken and reviewed by Dr. Michael Privett, a Columbia veterinarian, who according to the report rated the horses at a “5 or below” on a scale of 1-10.

    But during Carver’s first appearance in court on Oct. 4, Judge Robinson accepted a plea deal from Carver, deferring sentencing for 60 days. Judge Robinson said in October that his sentencing would be based on the condition of the horses after the 60-day period.

    Last week, Judge Robinson said the health and condition of the horses had greatly improved and his sentence represented the minimum allowed by law.

  • After Repeated Violations, Council Aims to Change the Law

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council unanimously adopted an ordinance Monday night to amend provisions of the Town’s Code of Laws pertaining to how applicants are recruited for the Town’s boards and commissions. The issue arose last month when Mayor J. Michael Ross brought forward the nomination of three applicants for appointment to the Board of Architectural Review and the Board of Zoning Appeals without following the Town’s statute that requires the posting of notices of vacancies on the boards and commissions at least 30 days prior to appointment so that members of the public can have notice of the vacancies in case they want to apply. This was the fourth time the Ross administration, with no public objections from Town Attorney Jim Meggs, proposed these appointments without posting a notice and without providing the required 30-day time period for residents to apply.

    In pushing back against criticism for this, the Mayor has told The Voice in each instance that he felt in his heart he was doing the right thing and that he felt that was more important than following the law.

    When Council asked Meggs’ opinion on the matter at last week’s meeting, Meggs said he would have to look at the chronology of what had come before. Even though the item had been on the agenda at that meeting and was in direct conflict with the Town’s written statute, as pointed out by two of the Council members, Meggs said he was not prepared to address the issue. The issue was then deferred until Meggs could review the Town’s statute. But, before the Council to defer the matter, the Mayor and then Town Administrator John Perry argued that the Town had run an advertisement in the newspaper last April or May calling for applicants for board and commission vacancies, even though there were no vacancies at the time. Councilman Bob Massa noted that the statute was predicated on an existing vacancy, of which, he said, there were none when the advertisement was posted.

    The Mayor presented a scenario in which “we did that (advertised for applicants for boards and commission) on an annual basis to give a buildup of candidates and we will do that again.” However, such a policy has never been presented publicly or mentioned verbally or in writing by anyone from the Town Hall and does not comply with the Town’s statutes 155.465 (G) and 155.495 (E), which state that, “If a vacancy occurs, the Town will advertise for candidates to fill the vacant seat in the manner in division (D) of this section. Town Council may make an appointment to a vacant seat at any Council meeting held not sooner than 30 days after the advertisement appears in the local newspaper.”

    On Monday evening, Council unanimously passed a new statute that would allow the Town to forego those requirements and, instead, advertise semi-annually for board and commission vacancies instead of when the vacancies occur. If second reading of the new ordinance passes next month, the Town will advertise for applicants sometime in July and sometime in January, but Council would not specify any particular time during those two months.

    Meggs suggested that the intent was to simplify the process.

    In other business, Councilman Tom Utroska offered an agenda item calling for a two-year term limit for the Mayor and Town Council members. Councilman Bob Mangone offered an amendment to also restrict candidates from re-running until three and a half years after having reached their term limits. Mangone’s motion died for lack of a second. Mayor Ross said he felt funny about term limits.

    “Term limits say we aren’t trusting the people to vote on who they want to be in office,” Ross said.

    Utroska countered that “When people have been in office too long, they can sometimes use their bully pulpit so that it’s hard for people to run against them.”

    No one in Blythewood has served a third term as Mayor or on Town Council since the Ballow administration ended in 2004. The only two incumbents who have been reelected to a second term since 2004 ran unopposed.

    Utroska said that since the S.C. Attorney General had previously rendered an opinion that the state ordinance neither provided for nor prohibited for term limits, he would be happy to take the issue to the people at a special election.

    “Let the people speak,” Utroska said, “in an advisory referendum on the issue.”

    The Mayor said he would be meeting with Howard Jackson of the Richland County Election Commission about the possibility of an advisory referendum being held in conjunction with the special election next spring to replace Councilman Roger Hovis whose resignation was final Dec. 15. The Council voted 3-1, with Utroska dissenting, to defer the vote until after the Mayor meets with Jackson.

    In other business, Massa, in opening remarks, commented on his first three weeks in office being very unusual.

    “We had to deal with two or three issues that we hadn’t anticipated, but we’re all working together. One of those issues,” Massa said, “is the Doko Restaurant agreement. We’ve had a couple of meetings and executive sessions about the restaurant contract and one of the things that has become quite clear is that the Town has not performed any, or if they did it was very cursory, due diligence. As a Council, we have now assembled a list of questions that we will present to Mr. Bazinet after the first of the year.”

    The three new Council members delayed the vote on the second reading of the restaurant agreement to look into, among other things, whether they could get a performance bond to protect the Town from some unforeseen problem in the future.

  • Developer Seeks Winnsboro Water

    95 homes planned near Blythewood Middle School

    WINNSBORO – Developers of a 95-unit neighborhood planned across from Blythewood Middle School on Longtown Road West at Rimer Pond Road are seeking water capacity of 38,000 gallons of water per day from Winnsboro Town Council. Representing LongCove Venture, John Thomas said at Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting that the development, named East Lake Village, is currently in the permitting process and will go before the Richland County Development Review Team Friday, Dec. 27.

    “Then, we’ll take about 90 days to do the engineering drawings and get everything submitted for permitting for the County and the Department of Health and Environmental Control,” Thomas said.

    Thomas said construction should start in the spring and that the homes would be primarily starter homes in the $180,000 – $225,000 range.

    Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy said he expects the developers to be back asking Council for approval in four to six weeks.

    “At that time, we’ll have to decide if we will need another water tower to accommodate them. And if we, do we want to spend a million dollars on it? We’ll have to think about this,” Gaddy said.