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  • FCSD makes $35K down payment on Italy trip

    WINNSBORO – Fairfield School District Honors Chorus is $35,000 closer to traveling to Italy.

    At a special called meeting last week, the Fairfield Board of Trustees voted 5-1 to appropriate the funds as a down payment for a trip to Italy for the Fairfield District Honors Chorus.  Board member Paula Hartman voted against the appropriation.

    The trip has an approximately $125,000 price tag, though it was also said the trip would cost about $5,000 per student. Superintendent Dr. J. R. Green said approximately 30 students or students and adults would go on the trip. Students, he said, have raised about $5,000 total so far.

    Green said the students who would travel will fundraise to pay for the trip.

    But under questioning from Hartman, he wouldn’t specifically state that students must raise their own money. He also couldn’t state exactly how many students and chaperones would attend.

    “If they didn’t take part in fundraising, are they going to be excluded?” Hartman asked.

    “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, Ms. Hartman,” Green said. “The expectation is that students will participate in fundraising.”

    Green went on to say “students will contribute the vast amount of the cost,” but didn’t provide a specific breakdown of the final costs.

    District sponsored trips have become commonplace in recent years, and some have come at taxpayer expense.

    In 2016, Fairfield Middle chorus students traveled to the Bahamas. Also in 2016, the district tapped surplus legal funds to subsidize the chorus performing at Walt Disney World.

    Chorus students traveled to Carnegie Hall last year as well. Several Early College Academy students traveled to the United Kingdom in 2017. Also that year, the board voted to approve two senior trip options – one a cruise to the Bahamas and the other to Orlando, Florida.

    As for the Italy trip, the district voted to transfer $35,000 from the district’s unused salary account for the down payment. The special called meeting to approve the funding was necessary now because of a fast-approaching deadline, district officials said.

    Hartman objected. She didn’t think the district could legally transfer money reserved for teacher salaries to fund student trips.

    “That is false, the board establishes the budget. It is the board’s prerogative if it wants to make transfers,” Green replied.

    A majority of board members supported the expenditure, scoffing at any notions that it is a junket. But none could specifically say how the trip aligns with curriculum standards.

    “When I was a student, education was national. Now it’s global and we are competing with everybody, everywhere,” said board member Rev. Carl Jackson. “Our children should be given an education commensurate with that.”

    Board member Sylvia Harrison said students are gaining exposure.

    “Exposing them to something like that is a win-win for everybody, not just our school [but] for the community too,” Harrison said.

    Green pushed back on any notion the trips constitute wasteful spending.

    “I think there are some people who feel these kinds of opportunities should exist for some kids but not for ours,” Green said. “Because we are a high poverty community there are some people who say, well, they don’t deserve those kinds of opportunities.”

    “When I read some of the comments that are made,” Green said, “there are some who don’t care about the children of this district.”

    He did not reference where these comments were made.

    The Italy trip is scheduled for July.

  • Scholarship Gala set for Feb. 16

    WINNSBORO – “This is a time to come together for a good cause…to help our children,” Sylvia Harrison, the founder of Sylvia’s Foundation, said.

    Harrison’s 10th annual Scholarship Gala is scheduled for Feb. 16, from 7 to 11 pm., at the Old Armory, 301 Park Street, Winnsboro, SC 29180.

    “We have been so blessed,” Harrison said.  “Thanks to this fundraiser we have been able to provide college scholarships to 60 students over the years.  Last year we awarded 10 scholarships to Fairfield County students.”

    Each scholarship this year will be in the amount of $500.

    A committee processes the applications for the scholarships and selects the recipients from high school seniors. Students who attend Fairfield Central High School or Richard Winn Academy are eligible.

    “I do this because I know how expensive it is to put kids through college. I know because I put my three through,” Harrison said.

    The semi-formal, dinner and dance event will be catered by Jackie Bannister and will include music with DJ Don Prioleau and DJ Pete.  Highlighting the evening will be a line dance performance by the Palmetto Groovers. The evening’s guest speaker will be Pastor Reginald Bryden.

    Photographer Dwight Robertson will be on hand taking individual photos of the guests.  A portion of the proceeds from photo purchases will be donated to Sylvia’s Foundation.

    Tickets are $30 and can be purchased in advance at Sylvia’s Designs Unlimited, 126 N Congress Street in Winnsboro, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.,Tuesday through Friday, and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

    For more information call Sylvia Harrison at 803-635-6939.

    “Our feedback from the student recipients has indicated that these funds make a big difference in getting them started on a successful path.  Hope you will join us in this opportunity for fellowship for a good cause.  Children are our future,” Harrison emphasized.

  • Electric substation eyes TCD zoning

    BLYTHEWOOD – Fairfield Electric Co-op is planning to build an electrical substation on property located at 861 Community Road on two acres across from the Midland Storage Company.

    Because the substation is located in the Town Center District, an electrical substation is not permitted outright. Fairfield Co-op is requesting that the town’s Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) make a special exception for the facility. The property borders industrial zoning.  A public hearing has been set for 6 p.m., Monday, February 11, for the board to hear the appeal.

    If the BZA appeal is granted, the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) will then take the matter up at another public hearing at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 19 at Doko Manor, to determine whether to award a Certificate of Appropriateness, which is required before Fairfield Electric Co-op can begin construction.

    If the substation request for a special exception is does not qualify for a BZA exception, utilities sometimes get special consideration because of the need for the service they provide, BAR president Jim McLean told The Voice. However, he said he is not sure if either the BZA or the BAR is the level at which such consideration is granted.

    Town Administrator Brian Cook said the BAR does have the power to grant certain variances from the architectural review parameters for out-of-the-ordinary circumstances.

    “It could open a can of worms for us,” McLean said. “I would be surprised, though, if this type of request has not come up in other towns. So, we’ll see.”

    The texts and documents related to the requests for both the special exception and the variance are available, upon request, for public inspection in the office of the Town Clerk at Blythewood Town Hall, 171 Langford Road, during regular working hours. The documents will also be available at the public hearing.

  • Planning Commission gives Village green light for Feb. 14 vote

    WINNSBORO – In a workshop held last week at the Old Armory to discuss the Fairfield County School District’s application for R-3 zoning for a Teacher Village, the Winnsboro Planning Commissions determined they had sufficient information to move forward with the request.

    Moving forward meant setting dates for a Planning Commission meeting that will include a public hearing followed by a vote on whether or not to recommend (to town council) the zoning change from C-2 to R-3, which permits three homes per acre and would allow cluster housing on 22 acres behind the district office off U.S 321 bypass.

    While there was some discussion as to whether the public would attend a public hearing on Valentine’s Day evening, the Commission decided to set both the public hearing and vote for Feb. 14, at 6 p.m.

    The preliminary site plan for the development does not subdivide the Teacher Village into individual lots. Rather, the entire development consists of one lot, planning documents show.

    R3 has less strict design standards than other residential zones, allowing for reduced spacing between buildings – 25 feet, front to front; 20 feet, front to side; and four feet, side to side – than R1 or R2 zones.

    It also only requires 20 percent of open space, as opposed to 35 percent for R1 and 25 percent for R2.

    Yard sizes are also significantly less, planning documents state.

    Required rights of way in an R3 zone are 6,000 square feet for the first home and 2,500 square feet for each additional dwelling unit. An R1 zone requires 6,000 square feet for all units. In an R2 zone, the minimum square footage is 10,000 square feet.

    Fairfield County educational leaders have touted the Teacher Village as vital in recruiting and retaining teachers.

    At issue during the workshop was whether the school district’s request had met the requirements for moving forward.

    For openers, Building and Zoning Director Billy Castles told Commissioners that, based on the scaled drawings submitted, the house footprints were too large for the spaces allotted.

    Later in the discussion, Vice Chair Sam Johnson concurred that the house footprints were all too large for the rectangle spaces allotted for the houses.

    “Would it have been to our benefit to have had the engineer (who drew the plans) here tonight to help with this?” Commissioner Sonja Kennedy asked.

    “It would have been,” Castles said, but explained that because the engineer is doing pro bono work for the school, he would not be attending the meeting.

    “Dr. Green sent me an email saying if I had any questions, get them to him and he would go to the engineer and get it in writing,” Castles said.

    To move past what was becoming a logjam, Sue Rex, president of the Fairfield County School District Education Foundation, reached the engineer, Josh Rabon, on the phone. After some discussion with Commissioners, he determined that the scale was apparently off and offered to re-scale the drawing and email it to them, which he did. While Castles and Rex went to Castle’s office to print out the new scaled plat, the Commissioners discussed whether they had sufficient information (with the corrected scale drawing) to move forward with a recommendation to Town Council.

    Going over the list of requirements as outlined in the town ordinance, Johnson suggested they should not quibble over details.

    “The real issue,” he said, “is whether they (District) are presenting a somewhat coherent plan that meets the intentions that are laid out for us to make a decision as to whether we can justify making a recommendation to Council to change it from C-2 to R-3. As I see it, it looks like we’re headed in the right direction. At the end of the day, it’s probably not going to look like it does as it was given to us.”

    Commissioner Oliver Johnson agreed.

    “Are these perfect architectural drawings?” Oliver Johnson asked, then answered, “No. It (ordinance) doesn’t say they have to present to us the final detailed plan, just, basically, do they have a plan that looks potentially doable.”

    Johnson said the detailed site plan will be in the permitting process, “when they start to build,” Johnson said.

    The public hearing and vote is set for Feb. 14, at the Old Armory, 301 Park Street, Winnsboro. The Planning Commission’s recommendation for or against the rezoning will go to Town Council for the first of two votes on Feb. 19.

  • Update: R2 Board member arrested

    COLUMBIA – A Richland Two school board member has been criminally charged for her role in an altercation that involved a state senator, the senator’s sister and spouse of the school board chairwoman.

    Elkins-Johnson

    Monica Elkins-Johnson, 51, of Columbia, was charged Thursday with disorderly conduct, according to online police and court records.

    On Jan. 31, Elkins-Johnson turned herself in to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, where she appeared for a bond hearing.

    Elkins-Johnson posted a $237.50 personal recognizance bond. Her next scheduled court date is March 18, according to the Richland County Public Index.

    As a condition of her bond, Elkins-Johnson has been ordered to have no contact with any of the victims, identified in court records as Sen. Mia McLeod; Erica Davis, McLeod’s sister; and Stacy McKie, husband of board chair Amelia McKie.

    A Richland County Sheriff’s Office news release says Elkins-Johnson “did attack several individuals,” and cursed and threatened them.

    The incident was caught on video, the release said. A police report said the altercation occurred around 9:30 p.m., shortly after the board meeting adjourned.

    Footage released to The Voice shows a scrum of individuals in the foyer of the Richland Two Institute for Technology, moments after the Jan. 22 school board meeting adjourned.

    The footage shows security guards separating Elkins-Johnson from the group.

    Shortly before 10 p.m., The Voice observed Elkins-Johnson and another board member in the parking lot standing near a vehicle. Two security guards stood close by.

    Two police reports were filed in relation to the altercation that followed the Jan. 22 board meeting at the Richland Two Institute for Technology.

    One report stated that as McLeod and her sister were leaving the meeting, the suspect aggressively approached one of the sisters.

    A second report stated the suspect called Stacy McKie several “offensive words,” and threatened to kill him.

    Elkins Johnson filed a petition for a restraining order against Stacy McKie, claiming in court records that he cursed at her and alleged harassment. A magistrate denied Elkins-Johnson’s petition.

    Things turned heated after the Jan. 22 board meeting, a meeting in which the board discussed proposed policy revisions that would make it easier to remove board members from officer positions, such as board chair, vice-chair or treasurer.

    The proposed policy changes come following an investigation by The Voice into Richland Two board members failing to file required ethics forms with the S.C. Ethics Commission.

    McKie was fined $51,750 for failing to file several campaign disclosure reports.

    Elkins-Johnson didn’t file several quarterly campaign disclosure reports from the 2016 campaign – dating back to April 2017 – until Dec. 27, 2018, according to the ethics commission online database.

    It is unclear what ethics fines, if any, Elkins-Johnson faces. An ethics commission spokesperson couldn’t be reached for comment.

  • Head-on collision results in fatality

    WINNSBORO – A fatal head-on vehicle crash occurred Tuesday, Feb. 5, on U.S. Highway 321, at approximately 1:52 p.m. Tuesday about two miles south of Winnsboro.

    According to SC Highway Patrol officer Joe Hovis, a 2003 GMC pickup truck was traveling North on U.S. Hwy 321 and a 2014 Dodge pickup truck was traveling South on U.S. Hwy 321.

    The driver of the GMC, a 27-year-old female and a 17-year old male passenger, both of Winnsboro, were injured and transported to Palmetto Richland Hospital. The female was seatbelted. It was not determined whether the male passenger was seatbelted according to the report.

    Trooper Hovis reported that a second passenger, Elizabeth Rhianna Harsey of Winnsboro was injured and succumbed to her injuries at the scene. Both passengers in the GMC were trapped and had to be mechanically extracted from the vehicle, the report stated.

    The driver of the Dodge truck, a 53-year-old male, of Winnsboro, was also injured and transported to Palmetto Richland, the report stated.

    The accident remains under investigation by the SC Highway Patrol and the Fairfield County Cororner’s office.

  • Grace Coffee opens outside town

    BLYTHEWOOD – Grace Coffee Company has moved its coffee trailer to a new location just outside of Blythewood and is open for business.

    Owner Matt Beyer posted a video last week inviting his former customers to find the turquoise and white trailer, which is now located at 10324 Wilson Boulevard.

    “We’ll be giving away free coffee and merchandise,” Beyer said in the video of their grand opening event last Saturday.

    Beyer’s coffee wagon moved out of Blythewood during the fall when the grandfathered status he sought in a new location from the town government was refused.

  • Boykins show off in Fairfield

    Mayor Roger Gaddy and his wife Nan with Gunnie, left, and Tucker.

    WINNSBORO – The little brown, curly-haired dogs that found their way into the hearts of South Carolinians competed this past weekend during a Boykin Spaniel Field Trial in Fairfield County.

    Brian Edwards with Bowman | Photos: Martha Ladd

    The event was hosted by Dr. and Mrs. Roger Gaddy and organized by the Carolina Boykin Spaniel Retriever Club. Over 110 entries from both the Carolinas, Georgia and Virginia gathered on Newberry Road property owned by Fairfield County native Fleming McMaster and Doctors Deborah and Craig Stuck.

    The dogs and owners/handlers/trainers competed on land and water in puppy, novice, intermediate and open competition categories. In addition to competing for award ribbons, the participants earned points toward end-of-year awards. Richard Winn Academy’s shooting team assisted with the event as Bird Technicians.

    South Carolinian Whit Boykin is credited with perfecting this specialty breed of hunting dog, and in 1985, Governor Richard Riley pushed through legislation to officially name the Boykin the State Dog.

    The Boykin Spaniel Society will host the annual Nationals Competition in Camden on March 22-24, and the public is invited. For more information about this upcoming event and dog breed, visit the website www.boykinspaniel.org.

    Bird technicians are responsible for simulating a real duck hunt by slinging and hiding duck dummies for the dogs. Pictured from left are Eagle Shooting members B Baker, Jennifer Haney, Samantha Wilkes, Sam Banister and Will Cathcart.

  • Man arrested at Blythewood High School after deputies find stolen gun, drugs

    BLYTHEWOOD – A man was arrested after entering Blythewood High School Tuesday morning about 9 a.m., telling the school resource officer that he wanted to speak to the students, according to an incident report.

    After talking with Jarelle Trevor Woodhouse, 29, an officer on duty at the school recognized him as having visited other Richland Two schools recently, uninvited.

    After escorting Woodhouse to his car, the officer found a stolen, loaded hand gun and drugs in the car.

    Woodhouse was arrested and charged with possession of stolen weapon, weapon on school property and a narcotics violation.

    Woodhouse was arrested and taken to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.

    The school district notified parents of the incident later on Tuesday.

  • Crickentree neighbors to hear from developer Thursday night

    BLYTHEWOOD – Blythewood-area neighbors and others will be attending meeting at the Manor in Blythewood on Thursday, Feb. 7, at 6 p.m. to hear an update from E-Capital about its plans for a 454 unit housing development on the former Golf Course of SC at Crickentree.

    This property has recently been purchased by its investor, E-Capital, whose principals are expected to seek an unknown level of residential zoning very soon.

    Local residents concerned about golf course life cycle issues and the increasing demise of TROS (traditional residential open space) protection are invited to attend. Representatives from the county and Blythewood governments are also expected to attend.

    450 homes could replace Crickentree Golf Course.