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Category: News

  • Richland Tax Board to Include Blythewood

    Blythewood Town Council will appoint someone to a 15-member board that proponents of the penny sales tax say will have oversight over how Council spends proceeds from the penny tax money.

    On Monday night, Town Council appointed five people to a committee that is supposed to select that person.

    The Council named Larry Sharpe, Councilman Ed Garrison, Planning Commissioner Buddy Price, Town Administrator John Perry and Mayor J. Michael Ross to the selection committee.

    The committee will take applications from and interview people from the community who would like to serve on the penny tax oversight committee.  Interested persons should send a resume to Town Hall and a statement explaining why they want to serve on the oversight board.

  • Burglaries, Break-Ins on the Rise

    Someone walked away with more than $4,000 worth of car parts from a Blythewood car dealership earlier this month as thieves cut their way into the fenced lot at Mickey D’s on Wilson Boulevard and hacked away the catalytic converters from underneath eight cars parked there. The break-in, and others like it, has prompted the Richland County Sheriff’s Department to urge individuals to take the time to secure their property and be more vigilant.

    “Over the last three months, we’ve seen a significant number of burglaries in the 29016 zip code,” Capt. Chris Cowan said. “We believe these are multiple suspects acting individually. They are forcing entry, stealing electronics, appliances and computers – getting in and out quickly. We’re asking citizens to be vigilant. No matter how small something seems, if it seems suspicious, call 9-1-1.”

    In the Mickey D’s break-in, unknown subjects cut their way through the fence near the rear of the lot sometime between the time the business closed at 8 p.m. Dec. 4 and the time it re-opened the next day at 8 a.m. Damage to the fence was estimated at $300.

    Once inside the compound, thieves cut away the catalytic converters from two Honda Odysseys, a Cadillac DeVille, a Chevrolet Impala, a Chevrolet Silverado, a Honda Accord, a Pontiac Grand Am and a Jeep Grand Cherokee, for a grand total of $4,400.

    Mickey Dinkins, the owner of the business, said that since 2006 his lot has been broken into approximately seven times, and Cowan reiterated that burglaries have been trending upward in the area in recent months.

    Cowan recommends that residents take a good look at their home – their locks, outdoor lighting, landscaping and alarms. Collectively, he said, these four things can make a big difference in securing one’s home. The Sheriff’s Department will send a deputy to your home to help you review your security, Cowan said, so residents can make any necessary upgrades. Deputies will also, at your request, patrol your home if you plan to be away for any significant amount of time.

    To have a deputy review your home’s security, call the Community Action Team at 803-576-3191. In addition to the emergency 9-1-1 number, Cowan also offered these helpful contact numbers:

    • Main Number – 803-576-3000

    • Non-Emergency – 803-252-2911

    • Region 6 Office – 803-865-8011

    • Community Action Team Deputy Jeff Beaman – 803-309-6668

    • Special Property Checks – 803-576-3180

    The Region 6 Commander, Capt. Roxanna Meetze, can also be reached via email at rmeetze@rcsd.net.

    “Look out for one another,” Cowan added. “Be aware of your surroundings. And remember, nothing is too small to report.”

  • Happiness is a Warm Blanket

    Harriet Brown, Jan Smith, Lee Howle, Sue Bowers and Marge Whitney with their handiwork.

    During this time of year when people’s generosity abounds with the spirit of giving, the Women of the Church Organization at the Lake Wateree Presbyterian Church have heeded the call. Harriet Brown, a church member of Windemere Road, learned of a need for blankets for the Richland Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital. Brown challenged the church ladies to make a total of 50 blankets by the first of April 2013. The ladies accepted the challenge and began meeting at the lake home of Brown once a week. The church made a monetary donation for purchase of materials to get the project started. Brown had material she has saved over the years and that friends have given to her and the other ladies were soon purchasing materials also. She has an ideal workshop over her garage with shelving for materials, sewing machine, ironing board and very large tables for laying out the materials for cutting. Some of the ladies have never done any sewing, so their task is cutting, ironing and tying knots. The task soon became a day of fellowship, fun and refreshments. Most of the materials have been purchased from Hancock, Joanne’s and Mary Jo’s fabric shops. Some of the blankets are quilts, many are wool and a few have been knitted or crocheted. There are plain ones, some are two-toned tie-togethers, most of them with children’s patterns such as sports figures and super heroes for the boys and female prints for the girls. These blankets are for ages of toddlers through teenagers, so small and large sizes are needed. There is a constant need for blankets for these young people, since they are allowed to take them home after their hospital stay.

    The children’s hospital features a skilled team of pediatric professionals with the goal of providing compassionate care to South Carolina’s children and their families. It features family centered patient rooms, playrooms and family spaces so parents can stay close to their children during their confinement and for outpatient treatments. The three floors are separated by the patients’ ages. A hospital stay can be a difficult experience for a child and anything we can do to make that time less stressful is time well spent.

    Brown felt this would be a good project for the ladies of the church and they responded so quickly that they have almost reached their goal already. They have decided to make the blanket- making an ongoing project. This hospital also needs stuffed toys for the children. These must be new. The church will now take on the collection of the stuffed animals after the Christmas holidays.

    If other churches in the area would like to help out with the blankets or stuffed toys, please take your gifts directly to the children’s hospital, located at 7 Richland Medical Park, Columbia. You can reach the hospital by calling 803-296-KIDS. Nearly 80,000 children are cared for in a year’s time and that is a lot of blankets and stuffed animals that are needed.

  • County Receives ‘Unqualified’ Audit

    Fairfield County received a clean audit report for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, although Tom McNiesh, of the auditing firm Elliot Davis, LLC, told Council Monday night that there were areas that required some improvement.

    “The good news is we’ve issued an unqualified opinion,” McNiesh said. “That means that, based on the testing we’ve performed of these balances and amounts and your financial statements, we feel like they’re materially correct in accordance with general accepted accounting principles.”

    One finding noted in the audit, McNiesh said, was in the Procurement Department. According to the audit, during the fiscal year “the County engaged in a single contractor to perform approximately $400,000 in projects on buildings throughout the County. In selecting the contractor, a formal bidding process was not conducted as required by the County’s procurement policy.”

    The audit noted that, per the County’s procurement policy, formal bids from a minimum of three qualified sources are required for purchases in excess of $25,000. In the event that three qualified sources are not available, McNiesh said, it is important that that fact is documented, which had not been done in this case.

    “As auditors, we go under the adage that if it wasn’t documented, it wasn’t done,” McNiesh said. “We just want to make sure there’s a document for that kind of procurement situation in the file.”

    McNiesh also told Council that two County employees received tuition reimbursement in excess of the maximum amount allowed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

    “The IRS is going to set a hard and fast limit as to the extent of what educational expense can be reimbursed,” McNiesh said. “That amount was $5,250 for the 2012 year.”

    Anything over that, he said, would have to be reported as income by the employee receiving the reimbursement. The County’s Educational Assistance policy makes available to all eligible employees reimbursement of educational expenses that are considered essential to an employee’s job requirements, the audit noted, and that, McNiesh said, was perfectly acceptable.

    McNiesh also said that the Magistrate’s Office’s bank account contained $82,000 in funds that could not be identified as either fines and fees to be transferred to the County Treasurer or as bail bond funds to be repaid to individuals. The audit states that the Magistrate’s Office has, over the last 20 years, gone through two system conversions and that the unidentified funds arose during those conversions. The audit recommends that the Magistrate develop internal controls to ensure that the entire account balance can be identified on a case-by-case basis and can be properly reconciled monthly.

    The County’s property tax ledger system, McNiesh said, could also be at risk, as it relies heavily on a single third-party vendor for its maintenance and operation. The software on which the property tax ledger system is based was developed by and is exclusively supported by this single third-party vendor.

    “The problem is if something happened to that vendor, if they went out of business or if they had key employee turnover, then potentially the County is left with a system they would have a very hard time maintaining without a proper level of support,” McNiesh said.

    McNiesh recommended the County develop a contingency plan, which would include identifying alternate software supported by more than one vendor.

    Finally, the audit found that the Planning and Zoning Department does not maintain a receipts journal for transactions paid in cash. “A sufficient audit trail should be available to ensure that all cash receipts are deposited at the bank and recorded in the County’s general ledger in a timely manner,” the audit states.

    “I think that’s a simple fix,” McNiesh said. “None of these are what we would consider ‘red flags’ or major issues. These are areas that, due to the improvement in your process, gave us the opportunity to go in and delve a little bit deeper.

    “One thing the County has had a really good history with is when we have had findings or when we’ve had issues we wanted to see addressed, we’ve always had a very prompt specific response to shore those areas up,” he added, “and we anticipate that will be the same for next year.”

  • Park Closure Spurs Community Response

    The walking trail is gone. The basketball court has been pulled out. The playground equipment, likewise, has gone the way of all flesh. All that remains of the former Blair Community Park on 99 Road is the green grass and rolling landscape. After 27 years, with the stroke of a pen, it was gone.

    Monday night, residents of the Blair community filled the County Council meeting chambers to let Council know they wanted it back. But not necessarily on the County’s dime.

    Ernest Yarborough, speaking on behalf of a community group calling themselves the Shelton Thompson Foundation, told Council that, instead of rehashing the events that led to the dismantling of the park, his group only wants the County’s help in helping themselves. Yarborough did, however, offer a brief rundown of his perspective of the chain of events leading up to the closure of the park.

    “One: The County was paying $1,200 a year to lease this family’s land, not $12,000 as reported in the paper (a Fairfield County media outlet not related to or affiliated with The Voice),” Yarborough said. “Two: There were no negotiations with the landowner to keep this park in place before this lease expired. I understand there were some landowner calls, but these were not negotiations. Three: The real losers of this dispute are the citizens of this community and the citizens of Fairfield County. This park was in a strategic location that made it easy to be used by children and adults. This park was constantly in use, and I’m told it was very well maintained by this body. This park was a small investment for the well-being of the citizens of this county.”

    Prior to the meeting, Yarborough told The Voice that the goal of the Foundation was to raise enough money to reestablish a park on the property, property owned by Nancy T. Young and administered by her daughter, Felicia Trower via power of attorney. Yarborough said the group hopes to raise private money, then request matching funds from the County at a later date. Yarborough said the location could serve the community not only as a park, but as a site for after-school programs as well.

    “I don’t have time to point fingers or to make blame or to sort out the truth from the fiction as to why this park was dismantled,” Yarborough said Monday night. “But I will tell you that the day the workers of this county came out to Road 99 and dismantled this park, they weren’t just dismantling monkey bars and rocking ducks, they were destroying a history of a people in this community. This park was named for Miss Eunice Shelton Thompson. Miss Thompson taught school for 35 years. She raised seven children under the most difficult of economic circumstances. She was Sunday school superintendent for many years in the community. She was a mentor to the young and the old alike. The name of this park was not just a name. It was a name that emanated hope and pride for a lot of people. For this body to take that away from the people without a single public discussion is not right, regardless of why the park was dismantled. The people here tonight have a right to be disappointed, but instead of coming here to fuss, these people appear tonight to ask you to give them a chance to help themselves.”

    Yarborough asked Council to put on hold any decision concerning leasing other land for a new park until the Foundation could come back with a proposal.

    Fairfield County officially announced the closing of the Blair Community Park at 544 99 Road Nov. 6, citing in a press release an inability of the County to come to terms with Trower on a new lease. Trower later claimed that the County never made a legitimate effort to reach such an agreement (see the Nov. 30 edition of The Voice). Following Yarborough’s presentation, Phil Hinely, County Administrator; Davis Anderson, Deputy Administrator; and Sheila Pickett, Director of Procurement reviewed for Council the process leading up to the closure of the park.

    Pickett said the negotiations actually began in 2009, when Trower met with Anderson and Lori Schaeffer, the County’s Recreation Department Director, to discuss the potential purchase of the property.

    “She (Trower) wanted $200,000 to $300,000 for the property of 2 acres of land,” Pickett said. “I was not in attendance at that meeting, but that was the conclusion of the meeting.”

    Anderson confirmed Pickett’s account of the meeting, adding that he explained to Trower during that meeting that the County could only pay tax value or fair market value for property. The issue stalled there until September of this year when Pickett said she again contacted Trower to negotiate a new lease. Pickett said Trower asked for $6,000 a year to renew the lease, which was out of the question for the County.

    Trower told The Voice two weeks ago that she never asked for more than $100,000 for the land, which she said was not a serious offer, and that the $6,000 a year was only a starting point for negotiations. Trower also said she had never met with nor ever heard of Lori Schaeffer.

    Hinely said Council’s own policies prohibited them from cutting such a deal, and Monday night he reviewed for Council a County resolution passed April 13, 2009, which, he said, has been steering the County out of expensive leases.

    “If the County does not own the property or does not have a long-term lease for a nominal amount of money, not an exorbitant amount of money, we have been getting out of those leases or purchasing those properties,” Hinely said. “As they come up for renewal, we’ve been having those discussions with property owners. So we have had discussions with property owners, regardless of what they may or may not say.”

    Councilman Mikel Trapp (District 3), who represents the Blair area, said he was working to make sure the community had a park in the near future.

    “I am in contact with two landowners in the area and they are talking very favorably about allowing the County to purchase their property,” Trapp said. “One of them is out of town until the first of the year. When he gets back, I will talk to him. And the other one is talking it over with family members. But a park will be relocated in the Blair area. It may not be in that precise location, but we will have a park out there.”

    After Yarborough was seated, another member of the Blair community, 9-year-old Precious Hill, told Council she misses her park.

    “This park means a lot to me,” Hill said. “Me and my family and friends, we used to always play there. We used to love to play there all the time, and then it got destroyed so we couldn’t play there no more. We used to have a lot of fun at cookouts and stuff.”

  • Gambling Machines Seized from Winnsboro Business

    A violent attack at a Winnsboro business sent a Blackstock man to the hospital with severe head trauma last month and led to the discovery of an illegal gambling operation by the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office.

    According to the Sheriff’s Office, 13 video poker machines were seized from an establishment licensed to Rebecca C. Boulware, 46, of Stone Road in Chester, under the name “B.S. Variety” at 1534 Highway 321 Business N. at 11:14 p.m. on Nov. 30.

    The machines were spotted earlier that evening when deputies responded to an assault call at the business. According to an incident report, an attendant at the business, 38-year-old Manuel Verdeja of Dokkensville Road in Blackstock, answered a knock at the front door of the business at approximately 8:30 p.m. When he opened the door, two unidentified men struck him several times in the head with a brick. A witness at the scene noticed an ambulance next door at the Swamp Fox restaurant and ran to them for help. When deputies arrived, Verdeja was being treated by EMS for a large contusion above his right eye and another, larger contusion on the back of his head, just above his right ear. Boulware arrived at the scene shortly after the assault and transported Verdeja to Fairfield Memorial Hospital for treatment. Verdeja was later transferred to Palmetto Richland by ambulance for treatment of severe head trauma.

    By Dec. 4, Verdeja was still drifting in and out of consciousness, but was awake long enough to tell investigators that he had been robbed of $1,000 in cash. According to the report, Verdeja has lost significant memories of the assault, memories that may or may not return.

    During the initial investigation of the assault, deputies spotted several people coming from the back of the inside of the building where he noticed several gambling machines. Investigators arriving at the business just after 11 p.m. received consent to search the location from an attendant. In addition to the poker machines, investigators confiscated nearly $3,300 in cash, a .22 caliber revolver, receipts and an accounting ledger.

    While both incidents remain under investigation, the Sheriff’s Office said charges were pending on the operation of illegal gambling devices.

  • Bus Drivers Make Case for Bonuses

    Although a salary increase for the lowest-paid employees of the Fairfield County School District was built into the 2012-2013 budget last summer, that didn’t stop a phalanx of District bus drivers from filling the Fairfield Central High School Media Center Tuesday night and asking the School Board what happened to their Christmas bonus.

    Addressing the Board on behalf of the bus drivers, Michelle Bufford said bus drivers would not, after their Dec. 28 check is issued, be receiving another paycheck until February (many drivers are paid on a nine-month cycle, one Board member later explained, while others are on a 12-month pay cycle). The Transportation Department, Buford said, would be the only department in the District so negatively impacted by a lack of a bonus.

    “We tried to avoid this by keeping our money spread over a 12-month period, but it didn’t work in our favor,” Bufford said. “Now, here we are with the very situation we tried to avoid back in August. We knew that because you gave us a raise back in August, you wouldn’t want to give us a bonus.”

    The Board did not have a discussion of the Christmas bonuses on Tuesday night’s agenda and did not take the matter up after Bufford’s presentation.

    Beth Reid, Board Chairwoman, said after the meeting that employees had received a significant raise in August – in the neighborhood of 10 percent. It was the first increase for many employees in more than five years. Furthermore, she said, bonuses were not in the budget.

    “If Christmas bonuses were in the budget, we could talk about it,” Reid said. “But they’re not. And the budget is done.”

    A Dec. 6 email from Reid to Board members and Superintendent J.R. Green outlined her rationale for not including discussion of bonuses on Tuesday’s agenda.

    “There is no budget line item for Christmas bonuses,” Reid’s email states. “There is not a large margin for unexpected expenditures due to the low cash balance of the school district during this time of year. Any unplanned large expenditures jeopardize the district’s ability to pay its bills. Any unplanned expenditures may lower the fund balance, which could negatively impact the district’s rating when borrowing funds.

    “While I respect the inquiry about adding it to the agenda, we have given our employees raises that they certainly deserve and cannot afford this expenditure at this time,” her email continues. “Also, board members have requested that the item be omitted from the agenda.”

    Last year, hourly employees received bonuses of approximately $600 each.

  • County OK’s FMH Collection Policy

    By a narrow 3-2 margin, Fairfield Memorial Hospital received the County’s blessing Monday night to adopt more aggressive collection policies.

    “The one thing the hospital has a problem with is billing,” County Council Chairman David Ferguson said prior to the vote. “It’s not the Council’s decision to tell the hospital what it can and can’t do, and that’s not what this vote is about. No matter which way it goes, there’s going to have to be some real looking into this thing and making sure that it doesn’t go south. With the possibility of real liens and real property taken, which is right there in the bylaws, this could get pretty thick pretty fast if we don’t go about it in the right way. We need to be really mindful of how it’s administered to make sure our citizens aren’t put in jeopardy for no due cause.”

    Ferguson (District 5) ultimately voted against the policies, as did Councilman Mikel Trapp (District 3). Carolyn Robinson (District 2), who put the motion on the floor, and David Brown (District 7), who offered the second voted for the measure, as did Council Vice Chairman Dwayne Perry (District 1). Councilman Kamau Marcharia (District 4) was absent from Monday night’s meeting, while Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6), who works for the hospital, abstained.

    The new collection policies were discussed in great detail during Council’s Dec. 3 work session (see the Dec. 7 issue of The Voice), at which time Tim Mitchell, the hospital’s Chief Financial Officer, told Council that Fairfield Memorial loses between $5 million and $6 million each year in free care, some of which could be recouped from patients who may have the ability to pay some or all of their bills, but simply aren’t doing so.

    “We’re still providing care to those who don’t have the ability to pay for it,” Mitchell told Council on Dec. 3. “What (the new policy) is doing is, essentially, preventing people from abusing our policy and getting care at a discount or for free who have the ability to pay.

    “Only by collecting from people who have the ability to pay can we pay for services for those who are truly needy,” Mitchell added.

    Perry noted during the work session that the hospital in Allendale has adopted a similar method for collection with considerable success, more than doubling their collections.

    “The taxpayers and the County support this hospital, and we want to make sure we are serving the folks who are the most needy,” Perry said.

    While Ferguson said he agreed with Perry in principal, he was not enthusiastic about the new policy’s ability to garnish wages.

    “That’s a pretty drastic step,” Ferguson said Dec. 3. “I’m not sure if I would be comfortable with doing that.”

    Monday night, Ferguson’s vote reflected those same sentiments.

  • Harrison Resigns as School Board Secretary

    Former School Board Chairwoman Andrea Harrison (District 1) announced her resignation from her most recent post as Board Secretary in a letter to fellow Board members, read by current Board Chairwoman Beth Reid during Tuesday night’s meeting. Harrison was not in attendance.

    Harrison’s letter said that, since she had only just recently served as a Board officer she felt that other Board members should have an opportunity to take leadership roles.

    “These are the experiences that allow us to grow and become better servants to our district and our constituents,” Reid read from Harrison’s letter.

    Harrison was elected Secretary during last month’s School Board meeting.

    Reid then nominated Henry Miller for the position of Board Secretary, who with no other nominations following, was elected by acclamation.

    “I’ll do my best,” Miller said.

  • SLED ID’s Skeletal Remains

    Human remains discovered last month off Hope Road in Fairfield County have been positively identified by the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) as those of William Ira Pound Jr., the Fairfield County Sheriff’s office said last week. Pound, from Batesburg-Leesville, disappeared in Fairfield County on Nov. 29, 2010. He was 54 at the time of his disappearance.

    The skeletal remains were discovered by a timber cutting crew Nov. 17, only a few miles from where Pound’s wrecked car was found in 2010. Fairfield County Coroner Barkley Ramsey said the cause of death was unknown and would be listed as undetermined.

    In 2010, Pound’s family told news outlets that he had intended to visit his mother in a Fairfield County nursing home on Nov. 29. The following day, Pound’s car was found wrecked on Old River Road, about 1 mile east of I-77, but a search of the area, aided by thermal image scans of the surroundings, failed to turn up a driver. At the time of the recovery of the vehicle, Pound had not been reported missing, and the car was thought to have been abandoned and was towed from the scene.

    Pound’s wife, Sharon Pound, reported him missing to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Office Dec. 11, but it wasn’t until January 2011 that a Ridgeway salvage yard connected Pound’s name to the wrecked vehicle on his lot. A witness later came forward and reported seeing a man matching Pound’s description walking down Hope Road on the day of the accident, approximately 2 miles from where the car was recovered. The witness said the man was missing one shoe and had a towel wrapped around his head, leading investigators to suspect Pound had been injured in the crash. More than 40 volunteers searched an 8-mile area for days following the report, with no luck.