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  • Town eyes options for relocating monument

    WINNSBORO – There is currently a law in South Carolina that protects, in part, certain monuments from being removed from public property in the state without a vote by the General Assembly.

    Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy said during town council meeting Tuesday night that the town government does not intend to break that law. Following a lengthy executive session about the legalities of moving the town’s confederate monument, council voted 5-0 to authorize Town Manager Don Wood to explore suitable options for relocating the monument.

    The monument, which sits on the far corner of the Mt. Zion Institute grounds from the former school building, is one of three kinds of monuments that the Heritage Act is designed to protect – those erected for Native Americans, African Americans and war memorials.

    The town’s confederate memorial is a war memorial.

    To be protected by the Act, monuments must also be located in a public area, according to an opinion by S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson.

    While the issue of the confederate monument has smoldered in some Winnsboro neighborhoods for years, the discussion caught fire last month when the Fairfield County NAACP President Jennifer Jenkins wrote a passionate editorial that appeared on the front page of The Voice, calling for the removal of the monument from the Mt. Zion property – a property that will soon be home to the county offices.

    Jenkins said it would be offensive for county employees to have to go to work there in sight of what many in the community consider a monument to slavery.

    A confederate monument stands on the edge of the Mt. Zion Institute property. | Barbara Ball

    “We’re not moving it [right now],” Gaddy said. “We’re just exploring our different options and how to legally apply those options. We’re not going to do anything illegal,” he said. “I don’t know where we can move it. I don’t know how much it will cost to move it. I don’t know who moves it. I do know we have to get permission from the state legislature to move it. But before I would ask permission from the legislature to do that, I would want to be able to tell them what we’re going to do with it.”

    County Administrator Jason Taylor said in a County Council meeting last month that the county would be glad to help the town government with the expenses of moving the monument to a more suitable location.

    While SC Attorney General Wilson has said he is prepared to defend the constitutionality of the Heritage Act, he has also said the part of the law that requires a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly in both the House and the Senate to remove a protected monument might be found unconstitutional if challenged since the General Assembly passes legislation with a simple majority.

    Gaddy said he doesn’t expect the legislature to take the matter up until they come back into regular session on Jan. 3.

    “There is a lawsuit in the courts now that’s trying to declare the Heritage Act unconstitutional,” Gaddy said. “It may be that they (legislature) may not have an Act to deal with when they come back. So, we’re going to see what avenues we have that are appropriate for us, legally, and to get the information that we need so that whenever the time comes, if we are able to move it, then we’ll have everything ready to go.”

    Gaddy said to get approval from the legislature to move the monument, the county’s legislative delegation would have to request approval of the General Assembly. A two-thirds vote is required for passage.

    As Gaddy was calling for adjournment of the meeting, Councilman Danny Miller interrupted him, saying he wanted to thank the mayor and council for its work on the issue.

    “I want you to know, with this situation, we appreciate you,” Miller said.

    “I appreciate all of our council members,” Gaddy said. “We’re fortunate in Winnsboro to have a good town council. We work together really well. There’s almost never any acrimony. Everything is usually done in a very civil, cordial and professional way.”

    Following the meeting, Miller, one of two African Americans on council, commented that he’s proud of how well the council has worked collaboratively on the issue of the monument and wanted to assure the community that council is working toward a goal.

    “Out of love and care, we’re going to come up with a good solution to this problem. We’ll work together for the good of the whole community,” Miller said.

    Asked when a decision might be reached about what to do with the monument, Councilman Demetrius Chatman, council’s newest member, said council has now put it in the hands of the town administrator to research where the monument should be moved to.

    “We had a really good discussion in executive session. But whatever we decide to do with it, we still have to find out what the legislature is going to do. We’re not going to break the law,” Chatman said.

    Chatman said that council was advised by legal counsel that even though the statue was moved some years back from the center of Congress Street in front of the town clock to its present location, its movement is still governed by the Heritage Act.

    “We can’t move it without approval from the General Assembly,” he said.

  • Alston trailhead improvements to promote western Fairfield

    Palmetto Trail hikers stop at the Alston trailhead in Fairfield County to promote the trail and publicize improvements at Alston that were made possible by a grant from Fairfield Forward. Standing next to the new information kiosks purchased with some of the $5,000 grant are, from left: Chair of Palmetto Trails Dr. Tracey McPherson, expedition leader and attorney Tom Mullican, Fairfield County Community Development Director Chris Clauson and Fairfield County Administrator Jason Taylor.

    FAIRFIELD COUNTY – A hike Tuesday on the part of the Palmetto Trail that runs through western Fairfield County and ends at the Alston trailhead, brought together several partners in an effort to enhance the trail and to encourage people to come out and enjoy the outdoors with their families.

    The hiking event from Peak to Prosperity, totaling about 10.7 miles, included leaders from Fairfield county; the Palmetto Conservation Foundation, which manages the trail system; the Kids in Parks program, which is expanding into South Carolina; and hike leader Tom Mullikin, a local adventurer who’s hiking trails around the state this month (www.southcarolina7.com).

    Not far from where the trail ended at Fairfield’s Alston trailhead, is an impressive bridge across the Broad River. The historic railroad trestle built in 1890 features scenic views and is a popular spot with photographers. The railroad has a long history in the area. An earlier bridge in the same location was burned during the Civil War.

    “There are different small efforts being made to enhance the trail, and our partnership with Fairfield County in this is growing,” said Mary Roe, executive director of the Palmetto Trail. “I think we’re very aligned in how we would like to bring people out to the Alston trailhead in Fairfield.”

    Chris Clauson, who is both Fairfield County’s community development director and chairman of local nonprofit Fairfield Forward, said the plan going forward is to make even more improvements for the benefit of county residents and to encourage them to use the trail for enjoyment and improved health.

    A $5,000 grant from Fairfield Forward helped fund some of the current Alston Trailhead improvements, including new park benches, two new information kiosks that offer brochures about plants and animals native to the area and other things. Clauson said these improvements are part of a larger effort the county is working on for the area.

    “We have a larger process we’re going through to master plan that entire tract, but we’re still in the early stages, and we’re kind of trying to find [additional] partners as well,” he says.

    “We’re working with the Palmetto Conservation Foundation to do more there, to basically make the Alston Trailhead area a real destination, more so than it already is, for all sorts of people – not just from the county, but from outside of the county and, hopefully, even from the state.”

    County officials see the area as a potential tourist attraction that could benefit the county, especially the western part.

    Other projects being considered are the improvement of an existing rudimentary kayak launch to make it more accessible for families, as well as improvements to picnic areas and camping facilities.

    Across the river in Newberry County, the trail on the former railroad bed passes the towns of Peak, Pomaria, and Prosperity; along the way, it has 14 wooden trestles over a creek meandering through the area, which was settled by German immigrants in the 1730s.

    “It’s one of our most popular trail systems,” Roe said, noting that in addition to the draw of its scenic views, the former railroad bed is wide and open, and lends itself to social distancing.

    It also lends itself to a variety of different hiking options, she said. The one-mile stretch that includes the bridge is a good option for a leisurely family walk, while those interested in a longer hike might walk 3.5 miles to Hope Station. An even longer option is the 6.5-mile hike to the Pomeria trailhead. The full trail distance, which is just shy of 11 miles, is more popular among bicyclists.

    “A lot of people, what they might do is park a car at Alston and park a car at Pomeria Station so they could walk the 6.5 miles and then go to the other trailhead and get the other car,” she says. “We encourage people, if they want to do a longer hike, to stage cars.”

    As a whole, the Palmetto Trail system includes around 370 miles, which stretch from the mountains in South Carolina’s upstate to the coast in Charleston County. The goal is to ultimately link them all together, with a total trail mileage of around 500.

    Maps of all the trail segments, which are officially referred to as passages, can be found on the Palmetto Conservation Foundation website at www.palmettoconservation.org. Both viewable online maps and downloadable offline maps are available for free. Peak to Prosperity is the local one.

    For families in particular, the TRACK Trail program has recently been implemented at the Alston trailhead in Fairfield, providing informational brochures for families about plants and animals along the trail. The program also has an online component, which has interactive features for kids and offers prizes through the mail.

    “Kids can track their trail adventures through our website,” said Jason Urroz, director of Kids in Parks, which oversees TRACK Trails and is a program of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. “They can kind of collect their locations and their different prizes along the way, and hopefully that encourages them to want to go on more and more adventures.”

    Urroz says the program, which currently has about 120 trail locations in North Carolina and 207 in a dozen states, will soon be adding its program to nine more trails in South Carolina’s midlands and upstate regions.

    More information on TRACK trails can be found at www.kidsinparks.com. Urros said the program has been around for more than a decade – and it’s all about helping kids and families get past the “unknown” factor in outdoor adventures and have a great time.

    Roe said the trail is a worthwhile destination for anyone in the local area.

    “It’s steeped in history. You can walk across an amazing bridge,” she said. “You can have a simple one-mile hike in and one-mile hike out, get some great exercise and see some amazing turtles when you’re looking down from the bridge. There are some amazing sunsets and sunrises – it’s just a pretty special place.”

  • Court OKs Teacher Village tax credits

    WINNSBORO – Privately run residential projects like the fallow Teacher Village development qualify for the same tax credits as those normally reserved for heavy industry, according to a recent court decision.

    On July 8, in a six-page opinion, the SC Court of Appeals ruled that a proposed student housing project in Columbia is a commercial venture, thus qualifying it for tax incentives.

    Commercial projects qualify for economic development tax breaks; residential projects generally do not.

    “This appeal centers on the meaning of ‘industrial or business’ in the application of the statute. Dormitories are commercial enterprises that fall within the definition of ‘business,’” Justice James Lockemy wrote in the opinion.

    Justices Stephanie McDonald and Blake Hewitt concurred with the opinion.

    Proponents of the proposed Teacher Village, which call for building taxpayer subsidized single family rental homes in Winnsboro that cater to teachers, hope the appeals court decision will allay fears that the development would result in lawsuits.

    Dr. Sue Rex, chairwoman of the Fairfield County school district foundation that led Teacher Village efforts, said the county still faces a teacher shortage and offering affordable housing would help reduce that shortage.

    “The teacher shortage is real and it’s getting worse,” Rex said. “This pandemic is making it even worse. Some of the older teachers are just going to hang it up because they’re not going to put their health at risk.”

    In September 2019, a Charlotte investor interested in financing the Teacher Village withdrew after the county insisted the deal include an indemnification clause shielding it from any liability.

    Fairfield County Administrator Jason Taylor said the primary issue of concern has always been whether rental housing qualifies as commercial or residential. Now that the appeals court has issued a favorable ruling, he said it does allay the county’s concerns somewhat.

    “We have more confidence now that there’s a legal ruling through the courts,” he said. “It’s always a more comfortable thing to have.”

    Any future decision on whether the county revisits the Teacher Village would be up to the council, Taylor added.

    The Columbia Case

    Fairfield County was one of three local governments—Richland County and Columbia were the others—named as defendants in a 2016 lawsuit filed by the South Carolina Public Interest Foundation.

    The suit challenged the legality of Richland County using its multi county business park agreement with Fairfield County and Columbia to grant tax breaks to a student housing project in Columbia.

    “The statutory purpose of these Parks is to stimulate the growth of industrial jobs,” the 2016 suit states. “Housing projects create few jobs, and those jobs disappear once the project is built.

    “The tax breaks will not be an inducement for new business, new industry, or new jobs,” the suit continues. “They simply amount to a tax break for favored taxpayers, at the expense of other taxpayers, whose taxes would be used to make up the loss, including those taxpayers who are competitors of the favored taxpayers.”

    In February 2017, a circuit judge sided with Richland County, Fairfield County and Columbia, prompting the foundation to appeal.

    The appeals court upheld the previous ruling, saying student dormitories meet the statutory definition of business because they involve operating and leasing rooms to students, and also because they provide services, such as security, recreation and property management.

    “Dormitories engage in continuous commercial activity, are not owner-occupied, and are zoned commercially,” the appeals court opinion says.

    However, the Teacher Village differs in one important way—the property is zoned residential.

    Rex said it was actually the county that insisted the foundation rezone the Teacher Village property to residential. Winnsboro Town Council approved the rezoning in March 2019.

    Still on the Table?

    Although there’s been no visible action on the Teacher Village since September, Rex remains hopeful the development will happen.

    She said the foundation continues to meet and also to search for possible investors willing to help finance it.

    “It’s still on the table if we had an investment company that would want to do it,” Rex said. “I don’t know who that is.”

    Gorelick Brothers, the possible investor that withdrew, had wanted the county to designate the Teacher Village a multi-county business park and also sought $700,000 in tax breaks.

    In return, Gorelick Brothers would infuse capital into the project, operate the development and bring in revenue from the rent payments.

    Previously, county leaders cited the Public Interest Foundation case as a prime example of why an indemnification clause was needed.

    In the end, Gorelick Brothers balked and ultimately withdrew after an internal memo surfaced in which Gorelick explicitly stated it wouldn’t agree to an indemnification clause.

    There is no word if the South Carolina Public Interest Foundation will ask the SC Supreme Court to rule on the appellate court’s decision.

  • MLILY to expand workforce by 35%

    WINNSBORO – Seven months after the official opening of its vertically integrated factory in Winnsboro, mattress manufacturer MLILY USA is expanding again and looking to grow its workforce by 35 percent to fill a third shift and increase its production to more than 6,000 units a day.

     The company opened the 650,000-square-foot facility in December and since then has seen demand for its products soar.

    Today, MLILY is manufacturing 2,000 mattresses a day with two shifts and 185 employees at its Winnsboro facility, and the company is forecasting demand will top 6,000 by the end of the August. At that time, the company expects to be at full employment with 250 workers.

    “As the bedding industry continues its rebound, we are seeing significant growth and expect that growth to continue as more and more retailers and mattress suppliers are looking to fill their product list with mattresses made in the U.S.,” said Stephen Chen, president of MLILY USA. “As retail reopens from the countrywide shutdown due to COVID-19, and fears of supply chain disruptions continue to grow, we are filling the need for a number of leading retailers, as well as meeting the demand for private label contract manufacturers, that are looking for domestic supply partners,” Chen said.

    MLILY is looking for a variety of skilled workers to fill a number of positions, including jobs on the production lines, in the warehouse, sewing and factory supervisory jobs.

    The company, which is currently running multiple production lines in the facility, recently installed its first robotics machines for added production and has completed its automated racking system in the factory’s foam pouring area for foam storage.

    “The excitement over our growth, both within the factory and the Winnsboro community, is palpable,” said Chad Reinsel, director of manufacturing. “We expect the demand for our products to continue to grow, which allows us to continue to invest in the community and its residents.”

    The company manufactures its wide range of mattresses and pillows in the factory, including the Ego, Wellflex, Mprove and Dreamer lines. All of the mattresses from the factory are roll-packed.

    MLILY USA’s parent company Healthcare Co., Ltd. invested nearly $50 million in the former Mack Truck plant that had been dormant for nine years after Guardian Building Products left the community. In addition to producing mattresses for retailers throughout North America, the MLILY factory manufacturers springs and proprietary memory foam used in its mattresses.

    Based in Knoxville, Tennessee, MLILY USA’s mattresses, pillows and sleep accessories are manufactured in state-of-the-art factories around the world, including China, Thailand, Serbia and Winnsboro that span more than 6 million square feet. With products sold worldwide.

  • All Ridgeway, Jenkinsville candidates win seats

    • Ginyard
    • Prioleau
    • Belton

    JENKINSVILLE/RIDGEWAY – There were no surprises in the Jenkinsville and Ridgeway town council elections on Tuesday. Everyone who ran for a seat – and one who didn’t –  were all elected.

    Mayor Gregrey Ginyard was re-elected to his post for another four years and his wife, Betty will now be by his side at the dias. She was elected to fill one of two empty seats on council. Each received 10 votes – only 10 voters cast ballots.

    Joseph McBride, who did not file for re-election to his current seat on council, won via write-in votes. Nine of the voters wrote McBride’s name on the ballot.

    There are 54 registered voters in Jenkinsville.

    Ridgeway voters returned Councilman Donald Prioleau for a sixth term on council. Prioleau took 43 votes.

    Former Councilwoman Belva Bush Belton returned to council after a six-year absence with 44 votes.

    Neither Prioleau nor Belton were opposed.

    There was one write-in vote for a Ridgeway citizen.

    Of the 237 registered voters in Ridgeway, only 44 voted in the low turnout.

  • County encourages use of facemasks

    WINNSBORO – A Fairfield County council resolution encourages but won’t require people to wear masks during the coronavirus pandemic.

    In a unanimous vote Monday, council approved the resolution. It asks residents and visitors to wear “face coverings when in public locations where social distancing is not possible.”

    “The main thing is that we can do our part to promote safety. That’s the way I look at it,” Council Chairman Neil Robinson said.

    Council’s action comes as Fairfield County’s total reported cases hit 381 as of Tuesday, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

    The resolution stated Fairfield County reported 318 cases as of July 8, meaning the county added 53 new cases in the past six days.

    South Carolina added 2,205 new cases Tuesday, just shy of the record of 2,219 cases reported three days earlier. DHEC reported 23 confirmed deaths.

    The state’s percent of positive rate was 21.5 percent, according to DHEC reports.

    In spite of the continuing escalation of COVID-19 in the state, Fairfield County Council stopped short of mandating masks and face coverings as other counties and cities have done.

    The Town of Winnsboro adopted a mask mandate on 30. Richland County, the Town of Blythewood and the City of Columbia have also passed ordinances requiring masks.

    Counties have received conflicting messages from the state on whether or not they can legally adopt ordinances requiring masks.

    At a July 10 press conference, Gov. Henry McMaster expressed opposition to a state mask mandate, saying that task should fall to local governments.

    “Things like masks, there are over 5 million people in South Carolina. Cities, counties … they’re taking local action for the local people. That’s fine,” McMaster said. “But the state would have a difficult time enforcing a statewide mask order. One size doesn’t fit all.”

    On June 25, state Attorney General Alan Wilson released a statement saying cities have the power to adopt mask ordinances, but did not specifically say whether or not counties have the same authority.

    Can Counties Order Masks?

    “A city can pass this type of ordinance. Our state constitution and state laws have given cities the authority to pass these types of ordinances under the doctrine of Home Rule,” Wilson said. “The basic premise behind the Home Rule doctrine is to empower local governments (i.e., towns, cities and counties) to effectively govern themselves without interference from state government.”

    County attorney Tommy Morgan raised the ambiguity issue during Monday night’s council meeting, along with a litany of other potential legal issues. 

    Morgan said if a mask ordinance isn’t uniformly applied to all businesses and types of people, it could be challenged.

    “[Because] this would be something that impacts a person’s physical nature, that would probably lead a court to give a strict scrutiny to those types of ordinances,” Morgan said. “An ordinance that says one class of business has different restrictions than others, in my opinion, could be constitutionally challenged.”

    Enforcement Is Another Issue.

    The council cannot require the sheriff to prosecute mask ordinance violations because it lacks that authority since the sheriff is an elected official. Code enforcement officials could not handle enforcement either since they handle specific cases, such as animal control and litter, Morgan said.

    “The county could find itself with an inability to enforce it,” he said.

    Morgan went on to cite other issues, such as budgetary constraints and infrastructure. For example, the city of Columbia is using parking attendants to enforce mask violations, but Fairfield County does not have parking meter attendants.

    Also, the county would need a special ticket to serve as the charity document. A simple uniform traffic citation would not suffice, Morgan added.

    Council members did not push for a mandatory mask ordinance.

    Most said the most important thing they could do was to educate residents about the benefits of wearing masks, which health officials say help prevent passing the coronavirus to others. Council members also noted that in the media there’s a daily blitz about why masks should be worn when social distancing isn’t possible.

    “If individuals in the county are not encouraged by now to wear face coverings, then I don’t know what else to say,” Councilman Douglas Pauley said.

  • Blythewood town council passes face mask ordinance

    The 60-day ordinance goes into effect Monday, July 13, at 6 a.m.

    BLYTHEWOOD – In a special called town council meeting Friday evening, July 10, council voted 4 – 0 to pass an emergency ordinance requiring the wearing of face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Councilman Larry Griffin was not in attendance.

    The ordinance requires all persons entering a commercial establishment in the Town to wear a face covering which covers the mouth and nose. It is also recommended, but not mandated, that face masks be worn during religious events.

    In addition, the ordinance requires that all restaurants, retail stores, salons, grocery stores and pharmacies in the Town require their employees who have face-to-face interactions with the public to also wear face coverings.

    Anyone who is unable to safely wear a face mask because of age, an underlying health condition or is unable to remove the face mask without the assistance of others is exempt from the ordinance.

    Other exemptions to wearing a face mask include: in personal vehicles, when a person is alone in an enclosed space, when eating, drinking or smoking, when a person is alone with other household members, when wearing a mask causes or aggravates a health condition, when a person is 10 years of age and younger and during outdoor physical activity as well as in indoor gyms, providing the person maintains a minimum of six feet from other people at all times and, in the case of gyms, that the facility and equipment are properly sanitized.

    Persons who fail to wear face masks in commercial establishments would be guilty of a civil infraction, punishable by a fine of not more than $25.

    Persons in authority over employees at commercial establishments who fail to require employees to wear face masks while having face-to face interaction with the public will be fined not more than $100.

    Each day of the continuing violation of this ordinance shall be considered a separate and distinct offense. In addition to the fines, repeated violations of this ordinance by a person who owns, manages, operates or otherwise controls a business subject to this ordinance may result  in the suspension or revocation of any occupancy permit or business license issued to a business where the repeated violation occurs. Repeat violations will be declared a public nuisance which may be abated by the Town by restraining order, preliminary and permanent injunction or other means provided by the laws of the state.

    “Wearing masks is the least you can do. It just makes sense,” Mayor Bryan Franklin said. “The bottom line is, if you are asymptomatic and don’t know you have it, you can still spread it. The mask is for the public’s safety. It’s not a hard thing to do.”

    Franklin said the town government will provide masks to those who don’t have access to them.

    The ordinance goes into effect on Monday, July 13 at 6 a.m. and will be in effect for 60 days.

    View the Blythewood facemask ordinance here.Download

  • Victim in burned Jeep identified

    WINNSBORO – The victim in a vehicle fire that occurred last week off Hwy. 34 in Blair has been identified as Yakiem Romel Breeland of Columbia, SC.

    After receiving a tip about a vehicle on fire at about 11 p.m. Sunday, July 5, the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office discovered a white Jeep Grand Cherokee fully engulfed in flames between Possum Branch Road and Zion Hopewell Church Road, about 150 yards off the roadway.

    After the fire was extinguished, officers discovered a body in the back seat of the car. The body was so badly burned that the gender and race could not initially be determined, according to officers’ report. 

    The arson/death case remains under investigation by the Fairfield County Coroner’s Office and the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office.

  • Pauling wanted for attempted murder

    WINNSBORO – A Winnsboro man is wanted for attempted murder after allegedly firing multiple gun shots at another man who was standing in his front yard with his daughter and a woman on Friday, June 3.

    After a dispute with his daughter, the daughter called her mother to come get her, according to the incident report. After the mother drove up, the report stated that another (red) car also drove up to the house on Smalltown Road in Winnsboro.

    Virgel Alvester Pauling, 26, reportedly got out of the red car and got into a physical altercation with the father, 47, officials said. The father reported to deputies that as he had the subject in a choke hold, the women came at him with a bat and a crowbar. He released the subject who then went to the red car, retrieved a gun and fired two shots at the father and six or seven shots into the father’s truck that was parked in the yard near his residence, the incident report states.

    The father told deputies that one of the females, age 39, picked up some of the spent shell casings and left the property with Pauling. Deputies reported finding several spent casings in and around the victim’s truck.

    There is a warrant for Pauling’s arrest. The incident is under investigation by the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office.

    Pauling was charged on April 17, 2020 with three counts of grand larceny, one count of first degree burglary and two counts of second degree burglary.

  • JV, RW town elections set for July 14

    • Ginyard
    • Prioleau
    • Belton

    WINNSBORO – After being postponed due to the COVID-19 restrictions, municipal elections are set for July 14, for both the Town of Jenkinsville and the Town of Ridgeway.

    Jenkinsville

    Two town council seats and the office of mayor are up for election, but only one candidate is running for one of the council seats, one candidate for mayor and no one filed for the other council seat.

    Current mayor Gregrey Ginyard is the only candidate for mayor. His wife, Betty, is running for one of the council seats and no one filed for the seat currently held by Joseph McBride.

    The Jenkinsville precinct (Jenkinsville Volunteer Fire Department at 7104 State Highway 215 S., in Jenkinsville,) will be open for voting from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m., Tuesday, July 14.

    Ridgeway

    In Ridgeway, two town council seats are open for election. 

    Current Councilman Donald Prioleau will be running for his seat. Former councilwoman Belva Bush Belton is running for the seat currently held by Angela Harrison, who is not seeking re-election.

    The Ridgeway precinct (Former Ridgeway Fire Department at 170 S. Palmer Street in Ridgeway) will be open for voting from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m., Tuesday, July 14.

    Voting Guidelines

    Only citizens residing in the city limits of the two towns and are properly registered to vote will be eligible to vote in this election. Check voter registration information at SCVotes.org.

    At 11 a.m. on Election Day, the county election commission will begin examination of the absentee ballot return envelopes for both towns at 315 S. Congress St in Winnsboro.

    On Friday, July 17, at 10 a.m., the county election commission will hold a hearing to determine the validity of ballots challenged in these elections and certify the results. This hearing will be held at the Fairfield County Voter Registration and Elections Office at 315 S. Congress St., Winnsboro.