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  • Suspects at Large After Barbershop Stickup

    Suspect #1
    Suspect #1
    Suspect #2
    Suspect #2

    WINNSBORO (Sept. 1, 2016) – A local barber dodged gunfire last week as he narrowly escaped a holdup outside his shop on Columbia Road. Fairfield County Sheriff’s investigators are now on the hunt for three suspects who fled the scene in a burgundy Pontiac Grand Am.

    According to an incident report from the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office, the 32-year-old barber was finishing up his last haircut of the day on Aug. 20 when, at approximately 10:15 p.m., three black males in their early 20s pulled into the parking lot of Fly Expressions barbershop at 159 Columbia Road. Although the victim told the suspects he was closing up after finishing with the customer in the chair, the barber agreed to give two of the suspects a haircut. The third suspect remained in the Grand Am, which has a donut spare on the front driver’s side.

    The barber’s parents were also in the shop, and after the barber finished with the customer in the chair they gave the man a ride home.

    The two suspects left the shop after receiving their haircuts, the report states, after which the barber began closing up shop. The barber’s parents returned to the shop just as he was closing up. According to the report, the victim’s mother told police that she had a “bad feeling” about the two strangers who had entered the shop so late in the evening. As she and her husband pulled into the parking lot, the barber was exiting the building. The barber’s parents said they spotted the two suspects waiting around the corner of the building, and as the barber was locking the front door, they drove their vehicle in closer and shouted warnings to their son.

    As the barber made a run for his parents’ vehicle, the suspects, armed with handguns, opened fire. The barber made it safely to the vehicle while the suspects leapt into the Grand Am and sped off down 2nd Street. The Grand Am then turned left on Maple Street and was out of sight.

    According to the report, suspect number one had mentioned that the men were from Sumter. The suspect had a wound on his chin and neck, which the suspect said was from a shooting at a nightclub. The suspect was between 6-feet and 6-feet, 3-inches tall, thin, with dreadlocks, a short beard and multiple tattoos on his arms.

    Suspect number two had short hair, a mustache, long hair on his chin, a “flame” tattoo on the right side of his neck and a “teardrop” tattoo under his right eye, as well as multiple tattoos on his arms.

    Suspect number three, who remained behind the wheel of the getaway car, was described only as heavy set and wearing a white tank top.

     

  • Blythewood Reads Honors Vets

    ‘Eli the Good’ Featured at Sept. 22 Event

    BLYTHEWOOD (Sept. 1, 2016) – Last May, the Blythewood community came together in solidarity to remember fallen service members by hosting the Wall that Heals, a memorial honoring those who died during the Vietnam War. Fiona Smith, Library Associate at the Blythewood Library, watched as the community embraced one another and shared memories of their past.

    In an effort to keep the camaraderie alive, she has challenged Blythewood to read “Eli the Good,” a book that tells the story of the aftermath of Vietnam on a small Southern town. She hopes the public will join her for the Blythewood Reads event at the Langford-Nord House on Sept. 22 to discuss the book and share their own wartime stories.

    “The book is about a Vietnam vet who has returned to a community like Blythewood. He comes back – it’s 1975 – and his sister moves in with the family. She’d been a protester,” Smith said. “We decided [the book] would be good because a lot of people reminisced about that era. They liked hearing about the ’70s and remembered things that had happened to them. We also thought it might inform younger people about the conflicts that went on.”

    The event is shaping up to be larger than expected, Smith said. “Eli the Good” has been checked out roughly 45 times and five different book clubs have expressed interest in attending. Volunteers are bringing cookies and tray bakes, and the library is serving water and sweet tea to attendees.

    “The house itself has several spaces where we can have groups, but there are also picnic tables outside so we can spread out. We’re going to have small groups with facilitators so people aren’t intimidated. We’ve got five facilitators so far, and we’ll look out for another one or two just in case,” Smith said.

    She is hoping the high schools get involved come November and use the book for their lessons on the Vietnam War. The goal is to keep people engaged by learning about the past and to strengthen the bond within the Blythewood community. Smith hopes to continue Blythewood Reads in the future and to find a new book to engross Blythewood’s bookworms.

    Blythewood Reads will be hosted at the Langford-Nord House on Sept. 22 at 7:30 p.m.

     

  • County Issues Sixth GO Bond

    WINNSBORO (Sept. 1, 2016) – Fairfield County Council issued its sixth general obligation (GO) bond in three years, this one in the amount of $306,000, issued Aug. 14.

    The new bond, like the five previous GO bonds, is being issued to pay off, in a circuitous fashion, a $24 million bond that was issued in 2013, not by the County but by a non-profit facilities corporation that was created by the County in March 2013 for the purpose of purchasing and repairing specific economic development projects for the County that the County could not otherwise afford to purchase and repair.

    The County used this legal but unorthodox scheme to borrow a larger amount of money than it could otherwise legally borrow without a voter referendum.

    In order to create an artificial revenue stream large enough to buy back the purchased and repaired specific economic development projects from the facilities corporation through an installment purchase plan, Council passed an ordinance on April 15, 2013, that allowed it to issue an unlimited number of GO bonds. The revenue from those GO bonds will be used to make the installment purchase payments to the facilities corporation over about 35 years. The facilities corporation will use those installment purchase payments to pay off the $24 million bond.

    After the first GO bond was issued Feb. 12, 2014, surprised residents complained that the County’s scheme to make payments (to the shell corporation) to pay off the $24 million bond debt with a string of GO bonds had not been explained to the public. While Parker Poe, the County’s bond attorney, later claimed in a public meeting that the plan had been fully explained to the public, those ‘plan’ explanations were about how the revenue from the $24 million bond would be spent, not how the facilities corporation process worked and how the County would levy multiple GO bonds over many years to pay off its debt to the facilities corporation.

    And the GO bond ordinance was short on details about the bonds – such as how many would be issued, for how much and how long.

    So long as the bonds issued do not exceed the County’s 8 percent debt limit, Council can issue bonds without the voters’ permission. Even so, the state statute provides a 20-day window that would have allowed the voters of Fairfield County (had they known Council was passing the GO bond ordinance) to initiate a petition that could have forced a referendum on the ordinance, effectively halting the issuance of the GO bonds.

    But while the ordinance was passed in a public meeting, a review of the recordings of the meetings verify that it was not explained. Elected officials and newspaper accounts may have further derailed any petition effort by wrongly identifying the ordinance passed on April 15, 2013 as the $24 million bond, not the GO bond ordinance which was subject to the initiative petition.

    Adding further confusion, then County Administrator Philip Hinely and then Director of Economic Development Tiffany Harrison were quoted in The Voice as saying the $24 million bond would not increase taxes. But a chart obtained in 2014 from the County through a Freedom of Information Act request showed that it is actually the GO bond debt (that is continually levied each year to make the installment purchase payments on the $24 million bond) that keeps the County’s debt millage at an elevated level of approximately 10 mills (or about $1.27 million) each year until about 2042, at which time the debt millage will begin to decrease steadily, reaching zero by 2047.

    While the County borrowed $24,690,000 to pay for economic development projects, it will repay $43,200,663 for the principal and interest on that bond debt, according to the bond document.

    Although the former County officials initially aligned the payments for the $24 million bond debt with the dates the County would realize additional income from the second and third units at the V.C. Summer nuclear plant, then Interim Administrator Milton Pope noted during a joint meeting of the Fairfield County Council and the Fairfield County Legislative Delegation in 2014 that the semi-annual installment purchase payments on the $24 million bond do not depend on income from the V.C. Summer nuclear plant. Pope said it was planned from the beginning to pay off the $24 million bond with property tax revenue from the issuance of multiple GO bonds over a period of about 35 years.

     

  • Teens Charged in Bus Incident

    COLUMBIA (Aug. 31, 2016) – Two teenage girls were arrested last week after an altercation aboard a school bus bound for Westwood High School.

    According to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, an argument broke out at approximately 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 23 between a brother and a sister on the bus as the bus approached the intersection of Hardscrabble and Sloan roads. A 15-year-old girl on the bus produced a can of pepper spray and discharged it into the face of the male victim. The 15-year-old and her 16-year-old sister then both attacked the female victim, the Sheriff’s Department said.

    The male victim was overcome by the pepper spray and had to exit the bus, the Sheriff’s Department said, while several other students were transported to area hospitals for observation.

    On Aug. 24, the Sheriff’s Department said, the 16-year-old was charged with third-degree assault and interfering with the operation of a school bus. The 15-year-old was charged with third-degree assault, interfering with the operation of a school bus and carrying a weapon on school property.

    Both have since been released into the custody of their parents, pending a date in Family Court, the Sheriff’s Department said.

     

  • County Opens Vet Services for Bid

    WINNSBORO – Fairfield County is putting its veterinary services out for bid.

    “We’ve always used Dr. Robert Chappell,” Davis Anderson, Deputy County Administrator, said. “But we wanted to have an official contract and give anyone who wanted to put in for it to opportunity to do so.”

    The County is seeking a vet to provide services at the County Animal Shelter and Adoption Center. Services include in-house vaccinations, surgery (to include spaying and neutering), triage and tests and treatment of livestock involved in animal cruelty cases.

    The vet would handle primarily small animals, Davis said, while the County would continue to employ S.C. Equine Associates for veterinary services for horses.

    The official notice to bid can be found on page 14 of this edition. A detailed job description can be found on the County’s website at: http://www.fairfieldsc.com/_fileUploads/RFP%201816%20Veterinary%20Services.pdf

    Proposals will be accepted by the County until 2 p.m., Sept. 7.

     

  • Witness in Dog Dragging Receives $1,500 Reward

    WINNSBORO (Aug. 25, 2016) – The July sentencing of Billy Ray Huskey, the man who dragged a dog almost to death behind a pickup truck last December, was not the end of the horrific story that gripped Fairfield County for the better part of the first half of this year. The story finished bittersweet for the dog who was dragged and for the person who came forward to identify the dragger and bring justice for the dog.

    And for that brave gesture of coming forward, the person who identified Huskey was rewarded with $1,500 from the Hoof & Paw Benevolent Society earlier this month.

    At first reluctant to take the reward money, saying identifying Huskey was just something tha had to be done, the witness was eventually persuaded by the members of Hoof & Paw to accept the offer. However the group did not identify the witness.

    During a meeting scheduled at the Sheriff’s office between the witness and the Hoof & Paw members, Deborah Richelle, President of the group, handed a cashier’s check to the person she called a hero for standing up for the dragged dog, for all animals and for humanity.

    Richelle and other members chatted with the witness, alternately thanking the person and asking burning questions they had wrestled with for months and that only this person could answer. He/she answered them all. They also asked where the person had seen the poster that was distributed throughout Fairfield and Chester counties.

    The answer – in a copy of The Voice that was delivered to the person’s home.

    Then the members of Hoof & Paw had a special surprise. Member Minge Wiseman opened the door and brought in the dog that had been dragged – now handsome, healed (though not entirely whole) and healthy. He was adopted three months ago by a loving family with several other dogs on a farm in Fairfield County. The reunion scene was quiet but emotional, members of the group told The Voice, and something that they said they will never forget.

    “It was a wonderful meeting that I think brought some closure to some really sad, bad memories for this person,” Hoof & Paw member Kathy Faulk said. “It brought some closure for all of us, too. And I hope the folks who reached deep in their pockets for reward money for a dog and a hero they didn’t even know will read this and know the immensely important role they played in bringing justice for this dog. And we also hope that everyone who reads this story will know that the next time something like this happens, we will be right there with an even bigger reward in an effort to bring the perpetrator to justice.”

    Faulk identified the donors of the $1,500 reward as: Jimmy Ray Douglas, the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office, Dawn Paulus, Cindy Waund, Paula and Frank Spinale and three other individuals who wished to remain anonymous.

     

  • Voice Ad Designer ‘Best in Show’

    Bill Rogers, Executive Director of the S.C. Press Association (right) presents Voice graphic designer Ashley Ghere with her fifth consecutive Best in Show PALMY Award for ad design.
    Bill Rogers, Executive Director of the S.C. Press Association (right) presents Voice graphic designer Ashley Ghere with her fifth consecutive Best in Show PALMY Award for ad design.

    BLYTHEWOOD/FAIRFIELD (Aug. 25, 2016) – Ashley Ghere, the graphic designer for The Voice who makes our advertisers look their very best, was honored for her work this month with 14 PALMY Awards from the S.C. Press Association.

    Ghere took home four first-place awards in the weekly under 8,500 circulation division, including the Best in Show Award for her Reese’s Plants ad, highlighting the garden store’s knockout roses selection. The ad also earned first place in the Professional Services category.

    This was Ghere’s fifth consecutive Best in Show win.

    “Wow. A knockout ad for knockout roses,” judges said. “Impossible to miss this ad. The message could not be more clear. Great work.”

    Ghere’s ad for Over The Top Boutique in Ridgeway took first place in the Fashion category, while her ad for the Midlands STEM Institute won first in the Half-Page or Greater category. Her ad for Emma Clifton earned first in the Miscellaneous category.

    Ghere also earned five second-place awards, including her ad for the Wings & Wheels Air Festival (Events/Cultural Entertainment category), the Blythewood Butterfly Festival (Small Space Ad), the Blythewood Merchants’ Valentine’s Day ad (Half-Page or Greater), the Holiday Entertaining Guide (Special Section) and The Voice’s ‘Thinking Inside the Box’ newspaper promotion ad.

    Her four third-place finishes include ads for The Law offices of Shannon Burnett (Professional Services), S.C. Farm Garden Wildlife (Home Furnishings), New Kirk Presbyterian (Non-Profit Community Service) and the Elaine Baker obituary ad (Miscellaneous).

    Congratulations to Ashley Ghere! Find out how good she can make your business look by calling 803-767-5711.

     

  • Brothers Dedicate 40 Years to Coaching Youth

    Brothers Chuck and Steve Raley will be honored on Sept. 22 for their 40 years of coaching youth at Drawdy Park.
    Brothers Chuck and Steve Raley will be honored on Sept. 22 for their 40 years of coaching youth at Drawdy Park.

    WINNSBORO (Aug. 25, 2016) – Coaching is the kind of thing that gets into your blood. Not unlike the ministry, one is ‘called’ to do it.

    Forty years ago, brothers Chuck and Steve Raley answered that call, and the two have been coaching football, baseball and basketball at Drawdy Park ever since.

    Next month, Fairfield County’s local legislative delegation – Sen. Creighton Coleman and Rep. MaryGail Douglas – will recognize the Raley brothers for their service at a ceremony at Drawdy Park on Sept. 22 at 6 p.m.

    “I’m honored,” Chuck Raley said recently. “But I don’t coach for the recognition. When you coach kids, you bond with kids, and I’ve bonded with so many kids over the years. I’ve had some really special kids.”

    Chuck Raley ticked off a few names that came through Drawdy Park on their way to the NFL; names like Orlando Ruff (Seattle Seahawks), Mike Anderson (Rookie of the Year in 1984 for the Denver Broncos) and Tyler Thigpen (Miami Dolphins, et. al.).

    And then there are the ones the Raleys coached who are now coaching themselves – Reggie Shaw (head football coach at A.C. Flora), Jonathan Burroughs (head baseball coach at Westwood) and Demetrius Davis (head football coach at Fairfield Central).

    Davis said that during his Drawdy Park days, he played football, baseball and basketball for the Raleys, and from them he learned what it meant to be dependable.

    “They never missed a practice,” Davis said. “They are both good guys. For them to continue their service for 40 years is a testament to what kind of guys they are. They’ve had a big fingerprint on sports in Fairfield County.”

    A youth coach, Davis said, is a key component to any high school’s feeder program, and a youth coach must strike a delicate balance – coaching kids just enough to develop their talents, but not so much that a kid gets turned off on the sport and never plays again. The Raley brothers, Davis said, have been able to strike that balance.

    “They’re one of the reasons why football has been so successful in Fairfield County for so long,” Davis said.

    Remembering that the game is supposed to be fun, Steve Raley, 58, said, is part of striking that balance.

    “You’ve got to make it fun for them,” Steve said. “If you try to over-coach them, it goes over their heads. You don’t want it to get too complicated or too competitive.”

    Chuck, 61, said his kids may not know it, but he has them running some rather advanced plays on the football field.

    “I run college plays,” he said. “They don’t know it, but they run them. I simplify them a little, but the kids today are very smart. I love watching kids learn and seeing their talent level grow. I love it when they see themselves make plays they couldn’t make when they started.”

    Steve said coaching is like therapy for him, and he hopes to keep doing it for years to come.

    “I enjoy being around the kids. They’re real special,” Steve said. “It’s been my pleasure to be with these kids. They pick me up a little bit. I love seeing the progress they make and watching them grow.”

    The Raleys have seen a lot of changes over their 40 years as coaches, and one change, they said, is concerning.

    “It seems like a number of kids nowadays are more interested in video games,” he said. “They didn’t have video games when I started coaching. Now, kids are not in as good of shape as in the past because of video games. They don’t come out and play sports like they used to.”

    “I guess they’d rather do it with their fingers now,” Steve agreed.

    But one thing, Chuck said, has not changed.

    “The quality of talent is still there,” Chuck said. “We’ve still got a lot of good athletes in Fairfield County.”

    The Sept. 22 event is free and current and former players, as well as family and friends, are invited.

     

  • ‘Peddlers’ May Soon Need License

    Manor Tweaks Fees, Chamber OK’d for Grant

    BLYTHEWOOD (Aug. 25, 2016) – Town Council Monday night kicked around the possibility of enacting a special license for peddlers doing business inside the Town limits. Jim Meggs, the Town’s attorney, said the license would actually cover what he called “itinerate merchants” rather than peddlers. Peddlers, he said, refers more to door-to-door sales and solicitations, whereas an itinerate merchant was a temporary, mobile business.

    “We were concerned with folks who come to town, set up shop on a piece of property, in a trailer or some other kind of a setting, and offer goods and services for sale,” Meggs said, “but not from a fixed place of business and a permanent attached building with all of the required facilities that you would normally see in a qualified fixed place of business.”

    As an example, Meggs provided Council with the regulations followed by Midvale, Utah. The Midvale regulations are extensive, Meggs said, requiring everything from background checks to off-street parking and access to rest rooms. The simplest approach, he suggested, would be for Council to regulate the Town’s zoning districts and allow temporary, mobile businesses to conduct trade there.

    Michael Criss, Town Planning Consultant, suggested that Council also consider including food trucks in the regulations.

    According to documents provided by the Town, Council is considering a two-tiered licensing structure. For regular activities (more than two sale periods of more than three days each per year), Council is considering a $40 fee for the first $2,000 of sales, plus $1.45 per each $1,000 in sales over $2,000.

    For seasonal activities (not more than two sale periods of not more than three days each year, with a separate license required for each sale period), Council is considering a $40 license for the first $2,000 in sales, plus 40 cents per each $1,000 in sales over $2,000.

    But tracking sales of peddlers and itinerate merchants, Mayor J. Michael Ross said, is a trick unto itself.

    “A lot of those places come in and I don’t know if they ever report any sales,” Ross said, “whether it be to the state government or us.”

    Council took the material as information to be discussed in depth at a future meeting.

    Chamber Grant

    Council also agreed to partner with the Chamber of Commerce in applying for a grant from the S.C. Municipal Association to convert the space currently being used by the Chamber in McNulty Plaza to a shared work space for small businesses that cannot afford to rent an entire space of their own.

    Mike Switzer, Executive Director of the Chamber, said the Town’s $12,500 economic development grant already provided to the Chamber, would more than cover the 5 percent match required by the Municipal Association grant.

    Manor Report

    Steve Hasterok, Director of Doko Manor, told Council that the first quarter of fiscal year 2016-2017 was about $1,000 shy of projections, mainly because of several cancellations of events.

    Saturdays are still strong, he said, and are almost entirely sold out for the next year. Fridays and Sundays, however, were weak. In an effort to drive Friday and Sunday bookings, Hasterok said he had cut rates for those days by 20 percent.

    “Even with this 20 percent price cut I can still make a profit,” Hasterok said. “I can make a good profit.”

    To combat late cancellations, he said, he has raised the security deposit from $300 to $500. Hasterok said the Manor had employed a two-tiered security deposit structure – $300 for 100 people or less and $500 for 101 people or more – which he said was causing problems.

    “What I found with the $300 security deposit is people play games,” Hasterok said. “They would pay the $300 deposit and then all of a sudden they’d have 170 people show up.”

    People would also pay the $300 deposit to reserve the space, he said, then go out shopping for a better deal. Three weeks later, they would cancel.

    “By raising the security deposit to $500, they have to be a little more committed,” Hasterok said.

    Board Appointments

    Council also approved the appointments of Pamela Dukes to the Board of Architectural Review, and Cynthia Shull to the Planning Commission.

     

  • Board OK’s $2 Million Bond

    WINNSBORO (Aug. 25, 2016) – During last week’s Fairfield County School Board meeting, Superintendent Dr. J.R. Green asked the Board to approve a $2 million General Obligation (GO) bond to renovate Kelly Miller Elementary School.

    The District’s Finance Director Kevin Robinson told the Board that passing the $2 million GO bond “would result in a 3 mill drop in the School District’s debt millage.”

    However, when pressed by Board member Paula Hartman (District 1) to explain how adding a $2 million bond would reduce the District’s debt millage, Robinson clarified that the drop in millage this year will actually result from a reduction in the amount of the District’s payment on a previous GO bond. He said the payments (on a $20 million GO bond passed by the Board in 2013 to build the Career Center) were structured to be high the first three years and lower beginning this year. Green said he expects the bond payments for the Career Center to remain low through 2025 and that the $2 million bond will be paid off in one year.

    Also contributing to the drop in the District’s debt millage, according to Green, is that the District is not using all the funds that were designated for capital projects in the 2013 GO bond. Only $15.6 million of the $20 million bond went to the Career Center. The remaining $4.4 million was earmarked for other capital projects.

    When the Career Center bond was passed in 2013, Mike Gallagher, the District’s financial advisor on the bond issue, said the $20 million GO bond would bump millage rates to 34 mills for the first two years, then drop to about 24 mills.

    “The expectation when we passed the bond was that we were going to stay at 23.6 mills through 2025,” Green said. “That would give us the capacity to have a certain amount of funds for capital improvements in addition to funds for the career center payments. Since we are not going to use all the capacity we have for capital improvements this year, we will have a further millage decrease.”

    While Green did not say how much the millage would decrease, he did say that even with the issuance of the $2 million bond the millage would be at about 20.5 mills this year and probably until 2025.

    “If we don’t borrow the money ($2 million GO bond), would the millage drop more than three mills?” Hartman asked.

    “Yes,” Robinson said, but he did not say how much the debt millage would drop in 2016 if the District does not pass the $2 million GO bond.

    “Where are we with the Middle School renovation?” Board member William Frick (District 6) asked. “Are we still looking to do that as a capital project or with a GO bond?”

    “We will use the $2.25 million surplus that we transferred into the capital account last year,” Green said.

    “So it should not be necessary to go outside these capital funds for additional money?” Frick asked.

    “The architects always tell you what the project will cost, but it doesn’t mean anything until a contractor tells you they’ll do it for that,” Green said.

    Frick also questioned why a letter sent to Board members stated the bond will be for $2 million, but the resolution says $2.5 million.

    “The way the millage stands (at 23.6), based on last year, the bond could generate enough for $2.5 million, but that’s not necessary,” Robinson said. “What’s necessary is $2 million.”

    Green said the Kelley Miller renovation would include the addition of six rooms for band, music, art, dance, science and in-school suspension. The next step, Green said, is to put the project out for bid and he expects construction to begin around the end of the year.

    After the renovation of the Middle School and the Kelly Miller School, Green said he would like to build a new field house.

    The Board approved the bond 6-1, with Hartman voting against.