BLYTHEWOOD – Town Councilman Jeff Branham has announced his resignation from Town Council, effective July 31. Mayor J. Michael Ross read Branham’s resignation letter at the beginning of Monday night’s Council meeting. Ross explained that Branham has accepted a position with a chemical company in Jackson, Miss., and is already at that location working.
Branham told The Voice that he will be moving his family to Jackson later this summer.
“I’ve enjoyed the time I spent on Council,” Branham said, “and I didn’t want to leave Blythewood. I grew up here. But it is a great opportunity for me, professionally, so we made the decision to go. However, we don’t plan to stay there forever.
“Our families are here and we hope to be back in this area in a few years. Maybe I’ll be back before the 2016 election,” he quipped.
Ross announced that a special election will not be held to fill Branham’s seat, but that the Town will wait for the next regular election on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2013. The Town elections were previously set for January; however, last year Council voted to align the Town’s elections with the dates of national November elections.
RIDGEWAY – Town Council gave the final OK June 13 to their 2013-2014 budget, which includes rate increases for water and sewer customers, increases that originated with the source of Ridgeway’s water, the Town of Winnsboro (see The Voice, May 17). As Council took their last look at the coming budget, which balances the general fund at $198,550 and the water and sewer fund at $337,632, Councilman Russ Brown suggested Council search for more revenues for the 2014-2015 budget.
“Maybe next year we can look at a couple of places where we can save a little money and increase revenues,” Brown said.
Councilman Doug Porter said those revenues just might be right under their noses.
“We haven’t raised water rates by more than $1.50 since 2008,” Porter said. “The increases we’ve passed on were just to offset the increases from the Town of Winnsboro.”
Porter suggested that Council may want to consider a gradual step-up of rates, perhaps by 50 cents per year, over the next several years. This would not only increase revenues, but would help offset costs associated with upgrades and maintenance to the water system.
Mayor Charlene Herring, however, said Council may want to wait out the future of the proposed water authority, which is still in the exploratory stage of development. Should a water authority come into being, she said, rates will go up for certain.
Brown also said that an increase in fines could also help generate revenue, but added that it was not a popular option.
“Nobody wants to hear that,” Brown said.
As Council turned to their review of their strategic plan priorities, talk again turned to revenue.
“There are a lot of things going on in every town around us that we’re not doing and it hurts us,” Brown said.
And one of those things, Herring said, was a hospitality tax.
“More than half the counties in the state have one,” Brown said.
Council also voted to hire Donald Johnson as the Town’s new part-time police officer, replacing Gregory Miller, who left in late May to take a position as a School Resource Officer with the Fairfield County School District, via the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office. Johnson, who is from Winnsboro, previously served as a patrol supervisor for the Chester Police Department from April 2011 to August 2012, the S.C. Department of Mental Health State Police from May 2007 to March 2011 and the Elgin Police Department from February 2004 to April 2007. Johnson also did five years with the U.S. Army Reserve, where he received military police training.
WINNSBORO – A Blackstock man was arrested last week after leading Fairfield County narcotics officers on a high-speed chase down the Highway 321 Bypass.
Henry Neville Brice, 57, of 12091 Highway 321 N., Blackstock, was arrested June 12 and charged with disregarding a stop sign, failure to stop for a blue light, driving under suspension, reckless driving, possession of marijuana, possession of cocaine base (crack cocaine), manufacturing marijuana and possession of a controlled substance.
The Sheriff’s Office said they were conducting a narcotics operation in the South Winnsboro area and officers observed the suspect, later identified as Brice, make what appeared to be a drug sale from the front seat of his 2000 Buick Park Avenue off Columbia Road. The officers pulled their car parallel to Brice’s car just long enough to look him in the eye, the Sheriff’s Office said, before Brice hit the accelerator and sped away through an intersection. Brice took a quick left on 9th Street, heading west, and right on the Bypass, heading north. Officers followed as Brice weaved in and out of traffic. As speeds reached in excess of 100 miles an hour, the officers broke off the chase near Fairfield memorial Hospital, the Sheriff’s Office said, fearing that Brice may injure a bystander. But by that time, the agents had Brice’s license plate number and had dispatched deputies to his Blackstock home.
Deputies arriving at Brice’s home located Brice’s car, used in the chase, behind the home. On the front seat could be seen a small amount of what deputies believed to be crack cocaine. When knocks to Brice’s front door went unanswered, deputies obtained a search warrant for the home, entered and found Brice hiding in an upstairs bedroom. A search of the bedroom uncovered more crack cocaine, marijuana and prescription medication for which Brice had no prescription. A search of the grounds turned up 26 marijuana plants, between 1-foot and 4-feet tall, growing outside the home. While these plants had not reached full maturity, the Sheriff’s Office said, a single mature plant can fetch as much as $2,000 in marijuana sales. Brice was taken into custody without further incident and transported to the Fairfield County Detention Center.
RIDGEWAY – A routine stop to fill up the gas tank at a business just outside the Ridgeway town limits turned ugly last week when a Ridgeway woman was carjacked at gunpoint and kidnapped.
According to the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office, the victim, a 23-year-old woman from Park Road, was in her car at the AM/PM on Highway 34 at approximately 8:30 a.m. June 12 when she was approached by a white male, later identified as Adam Eugene Stafford, 26, of Cook Road, Ridgeway. Stafford reportedly asked the victim if he could use her cell phone. When the victim told him she did not have a cell phone, Stafford allegedly produced a handgun, pointed it at the victim and forced his way into the car.
Stafford drove the car down a nearby dirt road and pulled over to tie the victim’s hands and take $60 from her wallet. After binding the victim, Stafford drove to a vacant house next door to Bryan’s Tire on Highway 34, approximately 100 yards from the AM/PM. When Stafford exited the car, the victim was able to untie her hands and get out of the car, just as Stafford was making his way back to the car from the house. Stafford then tried to grab the victim, the Sheriff’s Office said, and a struggle ensued. After fighting with her kidnapper for a few moments, the victim managed to extricate herself and run to Bryan’s Tire where the owner, Bryan Murphy, called for help. The victim was taken by ambulance to Fairfield Memorial Hospital where she was treated for minor injuries and released. Stafford, meanwhile, was on the run and Sheriff’s deputies set up a perimeter around Ridgeway.
Within minutes, the victim’s car, a Chevrolet Malibu, was found less than a mile away behind a vacant business on Highway 34. Investigators located Stafford a short time later, around 10 a.m., hiding underneath a vacant mobile home just off Highway 34. The handgun was recovered and found to be a pellet gun, the Sheriff’s Office said. Stafford was transported to the Fairfield County Detention Center.
In addition to charges of kidnapping, carjacking and armed robbery, Stafford has been charged with two counts of first-degree burglary and one count of forgery in unrelated cases dating back to May 31.
Stafford has been charged with the May 31 theft of copper worth $100 from the air conditioning unit of a home at 71712 Highway 34 in Ridgeway, as well as the June 10 break-in of a home at 254 Salutation Lane, also in Ridgeway, where a television worth $250 was stolen. The television was located 24 hours later at a pawn shop in Columbia. Stafford was also charged with forging an $800 check on May 31 at Boone’s Barn Liquor store in Winnsboro.
Minge Wiseman, left, a Blythewood horsewoman and member of Fairfield County Hoof and Paw animal rescue group, and Fairfield County Animal Control Director David Brown lead two of the three rescued horses into a safe haven in Blythewood where Wiseman has been caring for them.Minge Wiseman examines the full grown 4-year old bay mare who suffers from stunted growth and weighed only 400 pounds when rescued. The mare should have weighed between 1,000-1,200 pounds for her age. A third horse, a 3-year old, weighed only 200 pounds with severely stunted growth and had to be euthanized.
FAIRFIELD – Two horses are beginning the healing process, while another was euthanized last week after Fairfield Animal Control removed the animals from a pasture on Cook Road, not far from the Lang Mekra plant off Highway 34.
David Brown, Director of Animal Control, said his department received a call June 10 from an individual concerned about the condition of the horses. Upon investigation, Brown found a mare, approximately 9-12 years old; a filly, approximately 3-4 years old; and what appeared to be a weanling. All three animals were in extremely poor condition, Brown said.
Brown said the owner of the pasture in which the horses were discovered told him that the animals had been left behind months ago by neighbors who had moved away. Other horses on the property were healthy, Brown said. The ailing horses were taken by Animal Control with the agreement that the pasture owner would not be prosecuted, Brown said, and the animals were transported to a pasture in Blythewood where they are being looked after by Minge Wiseman, a Blythewood horse trainer. The animals were examined by Camden veterinarian Nicole Cunningham on June 12. During examinations by Wiseman and Cunningham, it was discovered that the horse originally believed to have been a weanling was actually another filly, between 2 and 3 years old. According to Cunningham’s report, the animal weighed only 200 pounds, was running a fever and was “severely emaciated.” The horse could not stand for any length of time, Brown said, and a day later was euthanized.
“She had the will, but her body was gone,” Brown said.
Wiseman said the surviving animals are feeding four times a day, but are still in a depressed state, with little energy. Their body sores and symptoms of rain rash have been medicated, she said.
“I’ve never seen horses like this in my 40 years of working with horses,” Wiseman said.
The horses will remain on the pasture, owned by Wiseman’s neighbors, until July 15, after which time they will have to find a new home.
“Minge took on the challenge,” Brown said, “and we want to thank her for doing so. We also want to thank Dr. Cunningham for coming down to examine the animals.”
Brown said it could cost as much as $2,000 to rehabilitate the horses, and donations of food and medicine were also needed. Brown said anyone interested in contributing to the care of these animals can call Janice Emerson at 803-447-3602. And, he added, people who are no longer able to care for their animals should call Animal Control before the animals fall into a state of neglect.
“We don’t want anyone to be ashamed or afraid of prosecution,” Brown said. “Call us before the animals get into such bad shape.”
Fairfield County Animal Control can be reached by calling 803-635-9944.
Brown said his department is searching for the original owners of these horses, and if they can be located they may indeed face charges of neglect.
WINNSBORO – After months of stalemate and stagnation, the Town of Winnsboro and the City of Columbia at last have a new water deal. The agreement, signed by Columbia June 4 – the same night Winnsboro Town Council voted to authorize Mayor Roger Gaddy to sign – ups Winnsboro’s take from Columbia from 400,000 gallons a day to up to 1 million gallons a day, and looks to be the final piece in the infrastructure puzzle to Fairfield County’s new industrial parks.
“Now we’ve got to sit down with everyone and figure out how to go from 400,000 gallons a day to 1 million gallons a day,” Fairfield County Council Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) said last week. “We’re going to get that park where it needs to be.”
Ferguson said the County was footing the bill to bring the water into the Highway 34 water tank and some additional engineering may be necessary to go from 400,000 to 1 million gallons. He also said that now that the water is on its way, the future for the park looks good.
“I would be really surprised if by the end of the year we didn’t have someone in there,” Ferguson said. “We’ve got a pretty good prospect for the new park.”
During Town Council’s June 4 meeting, when the tentative water deal was announced, Gaddy said the sticking points that had essentially killed previous negotiations – clauses that would have allowed Columbia to increase rates or decrease flow without notice, and that would have freed Columbia from water quality assurances or any maintenance responsibilities on their end of the line – had been removed from the current proposal. He also indicated that State Sen. Creighton Coleman (D-17) had played a significant role in bringing Columbia back to the table with a contract Winnsboro could sign.
Coleman said last week that he had indeed played a little politics in order to bring water to the industrial parks. About three weeks ago, Coleman said, he was approached by a lobbyist for the City of Columbia who asked him if he would consider amending a bill he had introduced, the S.C. Abandoned Buildings Revitalization Act (S.0234, introduced by Coleman, Kevin L. Johnson [D-36] and Thomas McElveey [D-35]), so that the bill would also encompass the Palmetto Compress Building, recently purchased by the City of Columbia.
“I told him it wasn’t going to happen unless Columbia signed a water deal with Winnsboro,” Coleman said. “Within a week, it was done.”
The House version of the bill (H.3093), which gives developers a 25 percent tax credit to revitalize buildings across the state that have been sitting idle and not generating income for at least five years, ultimately passed both chambers and was signed by Gov. Nikki Haley June 10.
Pet sitter Ashley Jackson takes her parents’ Golden Retriever, Rex, on a spin around the family farm.This mini pony greets Jackson with a hug when she arrives to feed him at the Strayer’s farm in Blythewood.
“Eight crickets in the evening and lettuce for breakfast,” Ashley Jackson reminded herself of the dietary needs of the bearded dragon she was pet sitting during a recent weekend.
“It’s actually a pretty healthy diet,” she said as she tore the lettuce into strips and dropped them into the little dragon’s cage.
Owner of the Blythewood and Fairfield County pet sitting service, Palmetto Horse and Hound, Jackson routinely looks after cats, dogs and horses — but the list is ever broadening to include chickens, rodents, reptiles, birds, livestock and more. “Nothing surprises me anymore,” she said, cheerfully. “So far, I haven’t encountered anything I couldn’t handle.
“Families are naturally concerned when they have to leave their beloved animals for work, vacation or an emergency,” Jackson said. “My goal is to give them peace of mind by allowing their animals to stay in the comfort of their own home or surroundings and still receive the quality care they deserve and expect.”
Jackson’s pet sitting business grew out of her natural love and concern for animals — all animals. Raised on a farm on Friendly Woods Road on the edge of the Cedar Creek community, Jackson grew up around dogs, horses and other farm animals. “I’ve taken care of animals all my life. It’s what I love to do.”
From the age of six, Jackson has been riding horses and later had the responsibility of caring for her own horse. She spent her formative years showing horses and went on to ride for the University of South Carolina’s equestrian team from 2002 to 2006, during which time the team won two national titles. Jackson graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in Business Administration and an entrepreneurial attitude. Her goal was to combine her education and her lifelong love of animals — she and her husband, Lonny, have five horses, three dogs and two cats — into a business.
“Pet sitting is a business just like any other business,” she said. “I take my work seriously and I don’t cut corners. Attention to detail is everything in this business as in any other business.
“My clients know that I will do all in my power to keep their animals happy, healthy and safe while they’re away,” Jackson said.
But it’s not a job that just any neighbor can do. Dumping food into Fido’s bowl is one thing. Rescuing a horse whose leg is stuck over a 4-foot fence is another. That happened on a Blythewood family farm she was ‘sitting’ when a horse kicked at another horse and caught her leg over the top of the fence. The predicament was potentially dangerous. Jackson ripped out the top section of the three-board fence to free the horse’s leg, then, after carefully checking the leg for injuries, nailed the fence board back up before heading for home.
It’s just part of the job.
To assure the smooth transition of pet care when a family goes away, Jackson first meets with the client and the pet(s) in their home or at their farm. “I familiarize myself with their routine, and, at the same time, let dogs, cats and horses get to know me and get familiar with my scent so that when I show up again they remember me,” Jackson explained.
Jackson’s services are particularly in demand during holidays and summer months when families go on vacation. While Jackson said she totally supports boarding, she said boarding isn’t available for all pets and it’s not ideal for others, like the blind Cocker Spaniel she occasionally sits. The pup’s family said she was terrified of the unfamiliar surroundings and sounds at the boarding facility.
“They were miserable with worry any time they went away, even though she was probably getting great care,” Jackson said. Now, when her family goes away, the dog stays at home where she’s comfortable, and Jackson checks in on her frequently.
Besides feeding and watering, Jackson keeps a watchful eye for potential problems with her charges, like swelling or cuts on horses’ legs, especially horses that turn out together all day. She dispenses medicine if needed, administers a wellness check, blankets horses in cold weather, takes dogs on walks, gathers eggs and does whatever else is needed. “I care for my client’s animals as if they were my own,” Jackson said.
Jackson said each animal and family is unique. “My goal is to respect the wishes and training methods of each client and provide seamless continuity of care for pets until their families return home,” she said.
Need a pet sitter this summer? Call Jackson at 803-447-4930 or email AshleyWilliamsJackson@gmail.com to discuss your animal care needs and set up a free initial consultation.
BLYTHEWOOD – An ad hoc committee of local residents, appointed by Town Administrator John Perry, met June 13 to refine the list of Blythewood road projects that had previously been prioritized to receive funding from the new Richland County Penny Tax revenue. Bill Wiseman, Blythewood’s representative on the County’s Penny Tax watchdog or advisory committee, will chair the local committee.
Wiseman said things have changed on Blythewood’s list of priorities established by the County several years ago. Blythewood Planning Consultant Michael Criss explained to the group that Town Administrator John Perry wants to reallocate some of the tax revenue that was earmarked for certain projects that are no longer a priority for the Blythewood area.
Criss suggested that, instead of spending $21 million to widen Blythewood Road all the way from Syrup Mill to I-77 as prioritized, the widening could be limited to between Syrup Mill Road and Surreywood Lane. He said that would help ready the Fulmer Road intersection for a new school, perhaps another public safety station and other things planned for the area. Another $??????? of the $21 million could be reallocated for the town’s ‘complete street’ plan to connect a grid of streets between Blythewood and McNulty roads in the downtown area to make it more pedestrian and biker friendly. Another $??? could be reallocated for three roundabouts at the intersections of Blythewood Road and Creech Road, Blythewood Road and Cobblestone and Langford Road and Sandfield Road.
Other projects of greater priority are a new connector from Creech Road to Main Street and sidewalks on Blythewood Road from I-77 to Main Street/Wilson Blvd. and a bikeway along Blythewood Road just to Fulmer Road.
Wiseman will take the committee’s recommendations for Blythewood project re-prioritization back to the County committee. He suggested to the Blythewood committee that, in designating priorities, they consider improvements as they affect the entire county, not just Blythewood.
“There has to be a systematic approach to the whole county area,” Wiseman told the group. “Our prioritization must be based on sound logic or it will become politicized.”
Other members of the Blythewood committee are Malcolm Gorge, Mike Maginn and Bill McCoy. A fifth board member, Sean King, did not attend the meeting.
Wiseman said the next County meeting was June 17 and that he would keep the Blythewood group informed of the Penny Tax Committee’s actions.
RICHLAND – At a hastily called meeting June 13, the Richland 2 School Board voted to accept the resignation of Superintendent Katie Brochu, naming Dr. Debbie Hamm, a long-time Richland 2 administrator as Interim Superintendent. There was no comment or discussion about the resignation from the Board or District staff during the meeting. While a prepared statement from the District expressed Brochu’s readiness to move into the ‘next chapter’ of her professional career, Brochu refused any comment or clarification as to what that ‘next chapter’ entailed.
Just hours prior to the meeting, Brochu e-mailed a letter to the District Office staff and school administrators, calling them “the best school district key leaders on the planet.” She continued, “I feel good about my decision and want the Richland Two community to know I believe the timing is right. It has been an honor and pleasure to serve as Superintendent of Richland School District Two. I am confident that through your leadership Richland Two will continue to partner with the community to prepare all students for success by providing meaningful, challenging and engaging learning experiences . . .”
The vote marked the end of the Brochu era at Richland 2 – a tumultuous three years marred by soaring professional development expenses (more than $3 million in three years for Schlechty training), unprecedented flight of experienced teachers and administrators to neighboring schools (more than 100 positions are currently open for the 2013-14 school year) and a 71-point drop in Richland 2 scores on national testing. Many parents and teachers in the District blamed the increasingly dismal report cards on Brochu’s strict adherence to the Schlechty model of education — the model Brochu had brought with her and integrated into Richland 2 from day one of her administration. Schlechty methods propose that only a complete, radical shift in the role of community members and school administrators toward guiding students to their passions will ignite a student to become interested in learning. Igniting a student’s curiosity is the goal of the Schlechty-trained teacher. Schlechty further postulates that this is accomplished by the teachers talking less and the students talking more. Very few measurements of student performance, however, have supported this model.
Yet, throughout her often controversial tenure, Brochu was not without her supporters in Richland 2. Some Board Members, including Chairman Bill Flemming, have remained staunch allies of Brochu’s programs, reluctant to the end to entertain concerns of many of the parents, teachers and the public.
“I was a supporter of her,” Flemming said last week. “I thought she brought the change and direction that we needed. I think she only had two years of basic results. I just think with three years you would have had a better picture. I would have liked her to stay. She decided she didn’t want to.”
Brochu’s resignation is effective July 1 (see Johnson’s column, page 5).
FAIRFIELD – County Council held a public hearing and passed second reading on an ordinance Monday night to amend the County’s formula for assigning priority for paving roads.
During a May 6 work session, Bill Coleman, Chairman of the County Transportation Committee, presented Council with the new formula for determining which roads will get the tar in years to come.
“I, myself, have driven these roads and wondered how (priority) points were allotted,” Coleman said. “Our current formula has faults.”
Under the proposed formula, roads will be issued priority points based on the number of residences per road (2 points each), the number of churches per road (2 points each), whether or not a road is considered a thruway (5 points) and on density (residences per mile).
A residence is defined as a permanent dwelling-house or a fixed mobile home, Coleman said. Travel trailers and RV’s, which had been included in the current formula, are no longer considered residences. Houses used as vacation homes or part-time, seasonal residences would be considered, Coleman said.
Determining density is a little more complicated, but Coleman said it begins by converting miles into feet (1 mile = 5,280 feet). For example, Coleman said, if a road is 1,000-feet long and has five residences, first divide 1,000 (length of road) by 5,280 (feet in a mile) to get .189 (length of the road in miles – in other words, a road 1,000-feet long is .189 miles long). Then, divide the number of residences (5) by the length of the road in miles (.189) to get the points for density (24.46).
An actual example cited by Coleman is Palmetto Road, which is 620-feet long and has seven residences (14 points), no churches (0 points) and is not a thruway (0 points). Its density is 620 feet divided by 5,280 (feet in a mile) to get .117 miles. Seven residences divided by .117 = 59.82 points. Add that to the 14 points Palmetto Road gets for its total residences, and it is assigned 73.82 priority points.
During the public hearing, Val Green suggested that the ordinance may be somewhat vague in its definition of what constitutes a “County road.” Council Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) asked administration to research that definition prior to final reading, which is slated for Council’s next meeting on June 24.
Council also OK’d first reading of an ordinance shifting full responsibility for the removal of derelict of abandoned mobile homes to the owner of the land upon which those homes sit. The new ordinance revises Ordinance 541, which Dan Vismore said during Council’s May 13 meeting places the County in a Catch-22.
Ordinance 541, the consultant said last month, places the onus for removing an abandoned or derelict mobile home on either the land owner or the “local official;” i.e., the County. Vismore said that in many cases, the County has found that the owner of such a mobile home has abandoned not only the home, but the county as well, making it difficult to pin down responsibility for removing the home.
“That means that either the County is going to have to remove that mobile home, or we’ve got to place full and sole responsibility on the land owner that is housing that derelict mobile home,” Vismore said in May.
During the May 13 meeting, Councilwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) said there may be some difficulty in implementing the amendment, particularly when it comes to searching out and locating a legal title for abandoned mobile homes. And a legal title, she said, was required before any such home could be moved or even torn down. Monday night, Robinson was still not entirely satisfied with the wording of the ordinance, and said there may be state laws that supersede it. Ferguson asked the County attorney, John James, to research the state laws before second reading on June 24.
