Category: News

The next phase of what may very well one day become known as the Winnsboro Renaissance got under way Aug. 30 as members of the various transition teams that will be advising Christ Central Ministries during the makeover of the former Fairfield Country Club met at the club to begin formulating the master plan.

“Tonight we will be forming teams to think through the possibilities,” Pastor Jimmy Jones told the more than 50 people who turned out for the meeting.

The group split into six teams: the Commerce Advisory team, Facility, Food and Hospitality team, Country Club Campus Activity Advisory team, Golf Course Advisory team, Education and Schools team and the Transition Advisory team. Jones said the Transition Advisory team would be collecting information from the other teams and forwarding it to the Christ Central Missions Division in Aiken, which would in turn assist the community in accomplishing its goals.

“We will help you do anything,” Jones said, “but we won’t do anything for you.”

The goal is to transform Winnsboro into a place that can accommodate the Drew Blair School of Art, which, according to the school’s namesake, can be up and running in town in two years or less.

“In six years, we look to have 1,500 students,” Drew Blair said, “which would require some 300,000 square feet of space. By the fourth year, we could have enough students to start writing checks to start restoring the Mt. Zion building.”

Growing into the Mt. Zion campus from the Country Club, via Congress Street, is the ultimate goal for the Blair School, but in order for that to happen, Winnsboro has to be prepared for 80 students in the school’s first year, 200 in the second year and 500 in the third year.

“Suppose we had 250 students ready to come to the Blair School of Art tomorrow,” Jones speculated. “There would be nowhere for them to sleep, nowhere for them to eat, nowhere to take classes.”

What the various teams are charged with, Jones said, is devising a master plan that would prepare Winnsboro for this eventual influx of art students. The Commerce team, in particular, began reviewing the potential available square footage along Congress Street and will outline the kind of businesses necessary to support a growing college campus.

In addition to the art college, the Country Club may eventually house a culinary school in the remodeled kitchen area, which may also double as a public restaurant. There was also some speculation by Clay Bolton, who serves on Christ Central’s Education Division Board and teaches sports management at the University of South Carolina, that with the Country Club’s golf and pro shop facilities a partnership of some kind could be arranged with the university’s sports management program.

The teams will come together again on Sept. 30 at the Country Club. Anyone interested in participating in the transition should contact Pastor Jimmy Burroughs at 803-309-9390 or email him at Ccwinnsboro@truvista.net.

It has been a month now since water from the City of Columbia has flowed into Blythewood, relieving the Winnsboro water system of approximately 400,000 gallons a day, and Fairfield County, anxious to complete work on its new industrial park, is getting antsy about commitments it says the Town of Winnsboro made to them regarding water and sewer connections. Critical to the completion of the infrastructure at the new Fairfield Commerce Center, according to a letter dated Aug. 15, is the all-important “willingness to serve” letter, required by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) before County engineers can install water lines.

According to the Aug. 15 letter, sent from County Administrator Phil Hinely to Winnsboro Town manager Don Wood, Town Council voted to approve the “willingness to serve” letter during their April 3 meeting, but has not, to date, provided it to County engineers. Hinely’s letter stresses that the County is not asking for the water to actually be turned on, but only for the letter, which will allow engineers to move forward with the project.

A response to Hinely’s letter from Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy, dated Aug. 27, points out that “the correct title of the DHEC required letter is ‘Willingness and Ability to Serve Letter’.”

“The Town has the willingness to serve,” Gaddy said in his letter, “but is still evaluating its ability to serve and until the Town concludes that it has the ability to serve it would be imprudent to sign documents that would obligate the Town to provide both a supply and a capacity that may be currently unavailable.”

In spite of the Town relieving itself of its Blythewood water commitments, and in spite of the recent heavy rains, the Town’s reservoirs remain low and Winnsboro water customers remain under drought restrictions.

John Fantry, special counsel to the Town of Winnsboro on water and utility matters, said the County’s request would, essentially, consume all of the Town’s existing extra water capacity. Furthermore, he said, were the Town to sign off on a “Willingness and Ability to Serve” letter, in the eyes of DHEC it would be the same as if they turned the taps on.

“We could do that,” Fantry said, “but DHEC would want to see our plans for a new water plant.”

Fantry said the Town’s engineers are reviewing the request to determine exactly how much water the Town can commit to.

Fairfield Memorial Hospital hopes you agree that regular exercise and physical activity are important and that you’re ready to take action! This third article is all about getting organized. It offers tips for setting short- and long-term goals, choosing activities and fitting them into your daily life and managing some of the practical things.

Setting Your Goals.

Many people find that having a firm goal in mind motivates them to move ahead on a project. Goals are most useful when they are specific, realistic and important to you. Consider both short- and long-term goals. Your success depends on setting goals that really matter to you. Write down your goals, put them where you can see them and review them regularly.

Short-Term Goals

will help you make physical activity a regular part of your daily life. For these goals, think about the things you will need to get or do in order to be physically active. For example, you may need to buy walking shoes or fill out an activity log so you can figure out how to fit physical activity into your busy day. Make sure your short-term goals will really help you be active. Here are a few examples of short-term goals:

• Today, I will decide to be more active.

• Tomorrow, I will find out about exercise classes in my area. Suggestion: call your local county recreation department and ask what exercises classes are available for seniors. Then sign up for a class!

• By the end of this week, I will talk with my friend about exercising with me a couple of times a week. The ‘buddy” system works so well when you are exercising! You can check up on each other!

• In the next two weeks, I will make sure I have the shoes and comfortable clothes I need to start walking. Remember the Boy Scout motto: “Be prepared”!

SOME QUICK TIPS:

• Try something new: If you baby-sit for your grandchildren, how about taking a walk with them instead of playing video games?

• Rethink your priorities: How important is an entire afternoon of TV? How about a walk after lunch instead?

• Work harder at the things you already do: Rake the leaves instead of using the blower. This way you are doing aerobics!

If you are already active, think of short-term goals to increase your level of physical activity. For example, over the next week or two, you may want to move gradually from walking to jogging, increase the amount of weight you lift, or try a new kind of physical activity. No matter what your starting point, reaching your short-term goals will make you feel good and give you confidence to progress toward your long-term goals.

After you write down your short-term goals, you can go on to identify your Long-Term Goals. Focus on where you want to be in six months, a year or two years from now. Writing these down are quite helpful! Long-term goals also should be realistic, personal and important to you. Here are a few examples:

• By this time next year, I will swim a mile three times a week.

• Next summer, I will be able to play ball with my grandchildren.

• In six months, I will have my blood pressure under control by increasing my physical activity and following my doctor’s advice.

It is important for everyone to set goals! Goals allow you to be more productive and successful! You would never take a vacation without researching it, planning where to go, setting a budget so you will know much it will cost, when you can go, etc. So it is just as important to set goals for your exercise and physical activity! Remember this: “A ship never leaves port unless it has a destination!” You do not need to just let your days come and go! Plan your days so you will get much more out of them and also do something good for yourself plus you will enjoy better health.

Next week, we will discuss when to talk with your doctor about exercise and physical activity; building rewards into your plan when you reach your goals; and getting the right shoes. Have an active and healthy week!

The two new nuclear reactors under construction at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville stand to generate more than just electricity when the first of the pair goes online in 2017. Fairfield County Council and the Fairfield County School Board are both bristling with anticipation of the millions in tax revenues expected to flow into their coffers, but efforts are afoot – and have been, quietly, for some time – in the State Legislature to siphon off a considerable portion of that money.

Three legislators from Aiken County have crafted plans to extract 85 percent of property tax revenues generated by energy producing facilities, with the goal of redistributing that money, through Columbia, to counties across the state. District 25 Senator A. Shane Massey (R), who represents Edgefield, Aiken, McCormick and Saluda counties, introduced his bill (S 866) in May of 2009. Massey’s counterparts in the House, William “Bill” Clyburn (D) and William M. Hixon (R), pre-filed a similar bill in December 2010. Clyburn represents District 82 and Hixon District 83, both serving Aiken and Edgefield counties.

According to the bills, “the State Treasurer shall transfer the amount collected for school operating purposes to the Homestead Exemption Fund to be distributed in the manner provided by this fund and the State Treasurer shall transfer the amount collected for county and municipal operating purposes to the Local Government Fund to be distributed in the manner provided by this fund.”

The House version of the bill would prohibit “donor counties” (counties from which the funds are extracted) from being a recipient of the redistributed funds.

Both bills have reached the end of their two-year legislative cycle without having passed, meaning they would have to be re-filed and reintroduced from scratch in the next legislative session. In anticipation of this probability, County Council last week held a work session to formulate a game plan should either of those bills come to fruition, and Council Chairman David Ferguson said he is determined to fight any efforts to take money away from Fairfield County.

“We’ve got needs we’ve got to address in this county before we start talking about sending our money to other counties,” Ferguson said. “We’ve got a hospital that was built in the 1950s and a career center that was built 40 years ago. Once we get a hospital built and a career center built, we would like to reduce taxes for the people in this county.”

Ferguson said the County met with attorneys Aug. 21 to discuss a plan to combat the bills, which he said he was confident would be resurrected in the next legislative session.

“We’re not going to roll over and let them treat this county that way. Not as long as I am on Council,” Ferguson said. “The damage could be catastrophic.”

Ferguson said such a bill could stifle economic development efforts, not just in Fairfield County, but in all counties, as it would remove the incentive for counties to host similar facilities, as well as hinder the ability of counties to make deals, such as fee-in-lie-of-taxes agreements, with energy producing facilities.

Rep. Boyd Brown (D) has just wrapped up his last legislative session for District 41’s Fairfield and Chester counties, making way for the November race between Democrat MaryGail Douglas and Republican William Gray. Brown said he has been fighting the bills, and bills like them, for two terms, but during the next session it will be someone else’s plow to pull.

“I am a little concerned about what our next legislator might do,” Brown said. “I’ve been beating this thing back for four years, but it will come up again. There are significant plans afoot to take money out of Fairfield County.”

The bills only address energy producing facilities, leaving other big tax payers, like BMW and Boeing untouched, and Brown said legislators in counties that also have nuclear plants will most certainly line up to fight these attempts at raiding their county’s treasuries.

Douglas said that if she is elected, she will take up the fight where Brown left off.

“That money belongs to Fairfield County,” Douglas said. “The risk is all in Fairfield County.”

Gray agreed, and said if he were the next representative for Fairfield County he would oppose any such bill.

“We have our own problems here in Fairfield County,” Gray said. “I think you set a bad precedent when you start talking about taking money from one county to pay for the problems of other counties.”

Sen. Creighton Coleman, who is being opposed in November by Robert Carrison, questioned the constitutionality of singling out energy plants. He also said he was determined to defeat any efforts to take money out of Fairfield County.

“I’m not opposed to anything that would help our state,” Coleman said, “but not to the detriment of Fairfield County. It’s not going to happen on my watch.”

Carrison said he is fundamentally opposed to the idea of redistribution of wealth, and, like Gray, said such a bill would set a dangerous precedent.

“That facility lies in Fairfield County, and the risks also lie in Fairfield County,” Carrison said. “If you start down that path, should all counties get a redistribution of wealth from the widening of the Charleston harbor?”

Incumbents and challengers alike agree that the bills, or bills like them, are likely to resurface during the next legislative session and the defeat of these bills may be the only single issue on which they are united during this campaign season. And the County, meanwhile, is making preparations in the event the efforts of their legislative delegation are in vain.

Winnsboro Town Council unanimously threw their hat in the ring of the water authority, passing a resolution during their Aug. 21 meeting to become one of the charter members of the water distribution entity. With Blythewood customers are now receiving water from Columbia, taking the strain off the Mill Creek Reservoir, Rion Quarry and Sand Creek, the regional water authority will be able to begin securing new raw water sources for Fairfield County.

But, Mayor Roger Gaddy noted, an extreme drought is still in effect.

“Hopefully we get more rainfall so the reservoir has a chance to replenish itself, and then we can loosen water restrictions,” Gaddy said.

Until then, water use is still restricted.

Opening last week’s meeting was Brenda Miller, a citizen who presented a letter to Council in hopes to improve the community’s appearance.  Her letter focused on broken down buildings that are health concerns and that affect property value.  Miller said her goal was to protect the appearance of Winnsboro in order to make it an attractive place to live for families and provide economic stability.

Near the end of the meeting, Councilman Bill Haslett, echoing Miller’s comments, rehashed these same concerns. Haslett had compiled a collection of what he said were rundown properties inside the town limits that need to be cleaned up. Haslett attempted to present these pictures to council, but was halted by Councilman Clyde Sanders.

“I think if you send pictures around, then according to the Freedom of Information Act, I believe that would enable the paper to get these pictures,” Sanders said. “I do not think, myself, without legal counsel we can do this and show pictures of people’s property. It would be a liability someone’s house without approval.”

Haslett said later the decision on whether or not to release the photos would be made at Council’s Aug. 27 work session.

Council also discussed a capital expense request by Southeastern Consulting Engineers to start re-connecting power lines on the 321 Bypass.  There is a 1-mile stretch from Cedar Terrace going north to Highway 34 that is in need of repair.

“The power lines on the Bypass were not built to accept the wattage of power they now carry,” Gaddy said.

The council approved a $30,000 study to prioritize the project, which will cost an estimated $300,000.

During their work session Monday night, Council tapped Gaddy to serve alongside Town Manager Don Wood on the regional water authority.

Council also interviewed Vanessa Hollins, Debra Matthews, Trey Spong, William Stidham and Jonathan Goode in executive session for the position of Municipal Court judge, a final decision on which will be made at their Sept. 4 meeting.

Following the interviews, Council discussed the International Property Maintenance Code. If the Code is adopted, the Town would need to hire at least two officers for code enforcement.

“It seems to me there has got to be some sort of compromise,” Gaddy said. “I think the codes need to be looked at and maybe not passed in total.”

Gaddy said violations of the code would have to come with consequences.

“There would be fines with some teeth in it,” Gaddy said.

Gaddy recommended the formation of a committee to review the International Property Maintenance Code and decide what, exactly, the Town of Winnsboro would like to adopt. Council agreed to revisit the issue at another work session in two to three weeks.

A 16-year-old Winnsboro girl, missing from her home since Aug. 19, was located in Orangeburg County last week at the home of a man Fairfield County Sheriff’s investigators said she met over the Internet.

Lauren Grace Dixon left her home on Newberry Road in the late night hours, investigators said, leaving behind a note that said she was running away. Early evidence collected in the search for Dixon indicated that a man named Brian, whom she had met over the Internet, had convinced her to leave her home and that the two of them were bound for Lexington, N.C. The Sheriff’s Office said they were later able to cull through additional clues, including statements from Dixon’s friends, which led them to the town of Branchville in Orangeburg County, where Dixon was found Aug. 22 at a home on Carpenter Street.

With the assistance of the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office, Dixon was returned home and 29-year-old Edward Bryan Proveaux was arrested and transported to the Fairfield County Detention Center, where he is awaiting a bond hearing.

Proveaux has so far been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the Sheriff’s Office said. Additional charges were pending at press time.

It was a quite Sunday night on Estes Lane, just a few miles southeast of the Fairfield County Airport; the kind of typical Sunday night one might expect on the outskirts of Winnsboro. But as the hands on the clock ticked passed midnight, and Sunday night became Monday morning, that silence was shattered, and shattered violently.

A 32-year-old woman living in the 1300 block of Estes Lane was awakened at 1:30 a.m. Aug. 20 to the sound of her front door crashing open. Two masked men brandishing handguns burst into the home, entered the bedroom and began demanding to know the location of the safe. When the woman refused to cooperate, the men beat her savagely, punching and kicking her about her head and body. Before fleeing the home, one of the men fired a single shot from a 9mm handgun, striking the woman through the leg.

The men left the scene without stealing a single thing, and the woman, lying bleeding on the bedroom floor, was unable to determine in what direction or in what kind of vehicle the suspects fled.

The brutal irony, the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office said, is that there was no safe in the home. Even worse, the only other witness to the horrific incident was the woman’s 2-year-old child, who was not injured in the incident.

Investigators arriving at the scene found that the front door had been kicked in. Also located at the scene was a single 9mm shell casing. The woman was transported by ambulance to Richland Memorial Hospital where she was treated for her injuries.

The Sheriff’s Office said they believe the incident was not just a random act by a roving band of criminals, but was instead a targeted assault on the Estes Lane home.

A community yard sale is being held in Lake Carolina Sept. 8, 7 a.m. – noon to benefit Abundant Life Physical Therapy’s Life Equipment Lending Library.

The library lends, free of charge, equipment such as wheelchairs, walkers, standers and other equipment to children, teens and adults who need this equipment to be able to participate in more activities in their lives.

The yard sale will be held on Lake Carolina’s Green across from Abundant Life Physical Therapy, located at 212 Eascott Place in Lake Carolina.

For questions about having a yard sale table at the event, please contact 803-720-5240 or go to www.abundantlifept@yahoo.com.