BLYTHEWOOD (Aug. 25, 2016) – When the Town of Blythewood brought its accounting duties in-house earlier this year and purchased the software to do so, the expectation was that the Town would save around $80,000 a year. But Monday night, Town Administrator Gary Parker told Council that the accounting duties were too much for a single person to handle and recommended the hire of an administrative assistant in the finance department.
“We thought we were going to save $80,000 a year, roughly, by adding the accounting software,” Councilman Tom Utroska said during Monday’s Town Council meeting. “Of course, as usual they (software company) over-promised and the results under-performed and it takes more people. Instead of saving roughly $80,000, we’re going to save somewhere around $40,000. At least we hope.”
Parker said the original plan when purchasing the accounting software was to hire a finance director. The salary for the position, he said, would have been around $72,000, including benefits. That salary, plus the $7,500 a year maintenance costs of the software, would have virtually wiped out any real savings. Parker and Council later dropped the idea of hiring a finance director, Parker said, and instead put the accounting and finance duties on Chris Keefer, the Town’s Finance/HR Assistant.
“Well that was completely unrealistic,” Parker told Council. “It’s impossible for any one person to do all those things by herself.”
Parker said the Town would now shell out $40,000 in salary and benefits for an administrative assistant in finance.
“The bottom line is we thought we were going to save $80,000,” Utroska said. “To make it work, instead of saving $80,000 a year, hopefully we’re going to save $40,000. And I say hopefully, because these accounting programs unfortunately usually over-promise and under-produce. It’s a fact of life, when you buy something like this they tell you it’s going to work in a certain way, you really need to take it with a grain of salt, and maybe more than a grain.”
But Parker said the software itself was working well. The problem was the workflow.
“To be fair to the software, the software has worked,” Parker said, “but the tasks to bring accounting in-house are much more than any one person can handle.”
In his memo to Council dated Aug. 22, Parker said Keefer has had HR and finance duties as part of her job for the past several years. With the transition of accounting in-house, more extensive and detailed finance duties have been added, including accounts payable, general ledger accounting and payroll. This is in addition, Parker wrote, to Keefer’s work with the Doko Meadows Foundation Committee, scanning and filing administrative documents, and website and social media tasks, among others.
“There’s no sense belaboring it,” Utroska said. “Unfortunately, we’re going to have to go with it.”
WINNSBORO (Aug. 25, 2016) – With a light agenda Tuesday night, the most interesting discussion of the meeting happened during County Council Time on the new hot topic in the County – whether to build or not to build a new Courthouse, and what to do with the current historic Robert Mills Courthouse if the County decides to build a new one.
Acting on a tip from a concerned Fairfield County citizen, WLTX-Channel 19 aired a short news spot on the subject last Friday evening. Councilman Billy Smith (District 7), who was interviewed for the program, said he posted a link to the station’s story on his Facebook page and it lit up with more than 6,000 views and 1,400 clicks.
Citizen interest in the Courthouse conundrum picked up last June after an Ad Hoc Committee for the temporary relocation of the Courthouse, made up of Council Chairwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) and Council members Kamau Marcharia (District 4) and Dan Ruff (District 1), voted to recommend that Council build a new Courthouse on S. Congress Street in downtown Winnsboro on land the County owns. That property is a vacant lot next to First Citizen’s Bank. A week later, full Council voted to ask County Administrator Jason Taylor to look into the feasibility of the Committee’s recommendation.
That didn’t sit well with some in the community who worried about what would happen to the current Robert Mills Court House.
On Tuesday evening, Smith suggested an alternative to the vacant lot location.
“What would it cost us to renovate Mt. Zion for the temporary Courthouse?” Smith asked. “This is something we would need to talk to the Town of Winnsboro about and contact some firms about just as we are with the new facility on S. Congress to get some estimates. While we’re still in the discovery phase, I’d like us to look at all our options. If we’re looking at some of the figures I’ve heard to construct a new facility, I think it would behoove us to at least look into Mt. Zion. Before we move forward on something else, I’d like to at least find out if Mt. Zion is a viable option.”
Smith’s proposal followed Chairwoman Robinson’s comment that Council, earlier this summer, obtained permission from the Clerk of Court, 6th Circuit Court Judge Brian Gibbons and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Don Beatty to locate a new Courthouse building on S. Congress Street. She then asked Deputy Administrator Davis Anderson to update the audience on the history of the current plans to renovate the Courthouse, which were initiated in February of 2011.
According to the renovation timeline, by March of 2014, consultants Mead & Hunt had recommended the Council renovate the HON building to accommodate a temporary Courthouse while the Robert Mills Courthouse in downtown Winnsboro is renovated. But the $3.5 million price tag on the renovation of a building the County would leave behind after about two years was rejected by the current Council in September 2015.
The current Courthouse, designed by Robert Mills and built in 1823-1824, has major mechanical and environmental problems, Robinson said. The air conditioning system in the building is 50 years old and is prone to growing mold. Robinson pointed out that, for all his historic grandeur and value, the building doesn’t have adequate wiring for all the computers and electrical needs of a modern Courthouse.
“That’s where we are,” Robinson said as she concluded the timetable.
Ruff agreed with Smith.
“I think we need to look at all options,” Ruff said. “I’d like to hear from people who come up with ideas we may not have looked at. This is a big deal and we need to take our time and be diligent about this.
Sunday Alcohol Sales
Council continued to fast track Sunday alcohol sales in Fairfield County by passing second reading to determine whether the S.C. Department of Revenue may issue temporary permits to allow the sale of alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption and beer and wine at permitted off-premises locations on Sundays in the unincorporated area. Council must pass third reading by Sept. 9 in order to have the Sunday alcoholic sales on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Rezoning Properties
Council passed second reading to reclassify property owned by Tammy C. Faile at 547 Miles Road in Great Falls from B-2 (General Business District) to RD-1 (Rural Residential District). It also passed second reading to reclassify property owned by Danny Holt at 1922 State Highway 34 East in Winnsboro from I-1 (Industrial District) to RD-1 (Rural Residential District.
Purchases
Council voted to purchase five stretchers for EMS at a total price of $67,067.98; a 2017 Chevrolet Tahoe PPV, 4×4 SUV (EMS) for $37,108.00 and three 2017 Chevrolet Caprices at a total cost of $40,058.46 for each vehicle.
Council passed a resolution for Enhanced Rail Passenger Service in support of transportation options for the state and it also voted to approve an agreement between Fairfield County Council and Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office supporting the Sheriff’s Office to obtain goods at no cost from the state/federal military surplus to include armored vehicles and/or Humvees as needed.
WINNSBORO (Aug. 18, 2016) – A Winnsboro man was convicted last week and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the 2014 murder of 34-year-old Jennifer Monique Stone.
Sixth Circuit Solicitor Randy E. Newman Jr. said Latroy Sampson, 38, was found guilty on Aug. 10 following a three-day trial presided over by Judge DeAndrea Benjamin. Deputy Solicitor Riley Maxwell and Assistant Solicitor Croom Hunter prosecuted the case.
Stone’s body was found outside her home at 417 S. Garden St., Winnsboro, by Winnsboro Department of Public Safety Offices at 3:50 a.m. on July 4, 2014. Freddie Lorick, Chief of Public Safety, said shortly after the incident that Stone’s son, 18-year-old Matthew Stone, was awakened in the early morning hours of July 4 by the sounds of an altercation taking place outside the home. Matthew came out of the house and was met by Sampson coming from around the side of the home. Sampson reportedly grabbed Matthew by the hair and tried to physically pull him back around to the side of the house, but Matthew slipped away and Sampson fled on foot. A short time later, Matthew ventured around to the south side of the house and discovered the body of his mother.
An EMS crew arrived on the heels of Public Safety officers, but their attempts to revive Stone were unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Solicitor’s Office said an autopsy later revealed the cause of death to have been strangulation, and DNA evidence found on Stone’s neck matched that of Sampson.
Sampson managed to elude police for nearly two week before he was apprehended in Rochester, N.Y. on July 25, 2014. Rochester police officers were responding to a report of a suspicious person in a local neighborhood that morning when they came upon Sampson, whom they noticed was carrying a handgun tucked into the waistband of his pants. Upon questioning, Sampson reportedly told officers he was wanted in S.C. for murder and officers detained him without incident. He was later extradited to S.C. to face murder charges.
At the time of Stone’s murder, Sampson had just recently been released from prison, Lorick said. Records from the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) state that Sampson was incarcerated in 1998 for an armed robbery conviction, as well as for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. In March of 2014, he was arrested for public disorderly conduct. A month later, he was charged with trespassing and failure to comply with the direction of a police officer.
Sampson’s list of prior charges in S.C. dates back to 1996 when he was arrested in March of that year by the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office and charged with second degree lynching. The following September, Sampson was again picked up by the Sheriff’s Office and charged with strong-armed robbery and armed robbery with a deadly weapon. None of those charges merited a conviction, however.
In November of 1996, Sampson was once again arrested by Sheriff’s deputies, this time charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. He was sentenced to six years, but the sentence was suspended upon five years of probation. One month later, Sampson found himself in the Kirkland penitentiary following a conviction for assaulting a police officer.
WINNSBORO (Aug. 18, 2016) – Community Enhancement Grants, which were terminated by County Council last year, came under fire again last week during a Council work session; not only from some Council members but from the County’s financial staff as well.
Comptroller Laura Johnson reported that many who received the grants either did not turn in their receipts or turned in ‘bogus’ receipts that did not match how the money was to be used, causing staff extra work and stress.
“I tried to do my best to call and leave messages (to get the receipts),” Johnson told Council. “In 2015 Council gave the $500 grants out first, then when we asked for the receipts, that was very difficult. I called people five and six times and that was a lot of work.”
After the County started asking for receipts before actually giving out the money, collecting the receipts put her staff in a difficult position, Johnson said.
“We found ourselves having to justify why we could not reimburse them,” she said. “Sometimes they became angry and they tried to justify why their receipts did not match the use on the application when it’s clear they didn’t match.”
While the grants were discontinued last year, the County has continued to earmark $2,500 per district ($17,500 total) for “the support of community based programs that develop or promote the improvement of quality of life activities for youth, adults and seniors.” But the application process itself has been on hold.
“The way we left it, is we would come back and try to fine tune it this year,” Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6) said.
Kinley, who said she is in favor of reinstating the $500 grants, suggested funneling the money to churches and other organizations to purchase school supplies or to provide assistance to individuals in the community who volunteer with youth and the elderly. Kinley took a dim view of requiring recipients of the grants to organizations that have 501(c)3 status.
“I don’t know that we can just give money to private individuals,” Councilman Billy Smith (District 7) told Council. “I think we’d need to check with the County attorney about that. I really think this (the grants program) is not something we should move forward on. I just found out about this meeting at noon yesterday and I appreciate the financial staff putting together this fact sheet (a report on the pros and cons of the grant program in past years). We need to base our decisions on sound factual information, not politics.”
Smith read a list of organizations in the county to which he said the County government already provides almost $1 million each year.
“Currently, these allocations make up right at four percent of our annual budget. I term this program ‘incumbent campaign enhancement grants,’” Smith said. “I think it is political and campaign based. If it weren’t, then why do we care which district the money goes to?”
“It sounds like some bigotry going on here with the churches and stuff,” Councilman Kamau Marcharia (District 4) told Council members. “I think when we give money to the churches to help the youth, it keeps them off the street. We have a bad disposition with our youth and our police officers in this country, county and state. We need to help these young folks be more mindful and responsible for what they are doing. You don’t do that by slamming the door and not doing anything for them in rural areas where they never have the opportunity to see the ocean, the mountains or just travel the state.”
He also questioned why the program had come under fire the last two years.
“We’ve been doing this for the last six – seven years, and never had a problem with it till the last two years. Never a problem. . . . I would like to see those accusations about receipts,” Marcharia said.
Johnson explained that prior to the last two years, receipts were not required.
“There was no application process,” Smith said. “The money was in the discretionary fund and Council members gave the money out in their districts. So there were no complaints. The only ones who knew what was being given were the Council member and the group receiving it. No one was complaining.”
“Two years ago Council began requiring receipts,” Johnson said. “The $500 would be awarded, then the receipts had to be turned in by March 30. The next year Council required the receipts to be turned in before the grant money was given out.”
Johnson said last year $17,500 was set aside for grants, 22 organizations applied for grants and Council approved funding for 16 of those. But she said only 10 were reimbursed for their expenditures because the applicants either did not turn in receipts or their receipts were not in compliance with the ordinance.
Johnson said one organization applied for a grant in 2015 for a health and welfare project.
“They were approved for $500 based on turning in their receipts for what they said they were going to use the money for,” Johnson said. “The receipts were for biscuits for a devotional service, for attending a gospel program and eating dinner at Fatz Café. I sent a denial and spent 30 minutes on the phone with a representative from that organization. They got pretty heated. I’m sorry, but I finally said, ‘I don’t know how biscuits at McDonald’s is healthy. Eating at Fatz Café and going to a gospel meeting are not health and welfare.”
“I was on the phone from 5 to 7 with another organization for the same thing,” Johnson said. “We have to check the dates on receipts because some are old, not even in the fiscal year. We have to go through each receipt to be sure if it’s in line with the application.”
“I would be interested to know how much salary and time our staff spends in addition to the $500 grant,” Smith said. “If we stuck to school supplies, I think we could all be agreeable, but if we are only doing school supplies, why couldn’t the County just buy it in bulk, saving us a lot of money. And it would not look like it’s coming from a Council member in that district as a campaign tactic.”
County Administrator Jason Taylor said he would be in favor of the County purchasing the supplies and then letting the schools determine which children are in need.
“While the goals of this program are honorable, it’s just not working. If we buy backpacks and fill them with school supplies, that could more efficiently accomplish what we are trying to accomplish,” Taylor said. “Applying for grants as they are doing now is causing us a lot of work in the process. Streamline it and cut to the chase. Give them school supplies.”
Councilman Marion Robinson (District 5) said he couldn’t support the grants as they were handled in the past, but wanted to hear how other counties might be handling things like this.
“Our staff should not be spending time and money playing nursemaid when we’re trying to give someone free money,” Robinson said.
Marcharia made one last stand for the application based process.
“I think churches have more of a personal contact and would know if they need backpacks, pencils or what,” Marcharia said. “You don’t just buy in bulk and say here, come get it.”
Kinley suggested that the school district be asked “to put some money in the pot, too,” for the supplies.
Asked by Chairwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) when they wanted to resolve the issue, Johnson suggested by June 30 of next year because she said there is a lot of work to do to change the application process.
“I’d say after the November election,” Smith said. “I don’t want it to be a campaign thing.”
“It’s going to be a campaign thing,” said Marcharia, who is running for re-election in November.
RIDGEWAY (Aug. 18, 2016) – There was a motion. There was a second. And there was a 3-2 vote by Town Council on Aug. 11 to approve Russ Brown’s request to rezone .82 acres at the fork of Highway 21 and Highway 34 from residential to commercial.
But as of press time, it was unclear whether or not Brown’s request actually passed.
Just in case, Herbert Robertson and Robert E. Johnson, who live near the property, sent the Town a letter protesting the rezoning that may or may not have passed on Aug. 11.
“Opposite side of the tracks. That’s the only thing that’s different between Russ Brown here and the rest of us in attendance,” Sara Robertson, another nearby resident, told Council during the public comment segment of the Aug. 11 meeting. “We, just like Mr. Brown, are hardworking individuals, and we’re trying to protect and maximize our return on our investment, just like he is. However, to have our own Town Council to once again entertain this request to rezone this small parcel of land for one individual at the expense of a whole neighborhood is very disturbing.”
Robertson presented Council with a petition that she said contained the signatures of 50 people who were opposed to Brown’s rezoning request. But Brown, during his turn at the podium, said the time for opposition to his request was during the Planning and Zoning Commission’s July 12 public hearing. The Commission voted to recommend Brown’s request for C-2 zoning on a 5-2 vote.
“There was zero opposition at that meeting. It was posted in the paper and a sign was on site,” Brown told Council. “The opportunity to come to the meeting was there.”
But Robertson pointed out that the Commission had strayed from the Town’s zoning ordinances by recommending the C-2 classification. Indeed, according to Article 10, Section 1007, only the Council or the Commission – not an individual – can initiate a zoning change of a lot less than 2 acres. The exceptions being for the extension of existing district boundaries or the addition of C-1 zoning contiguous to existing I-1 zones.
Patty Cookendorfer, Zoning Administrator, told Council the oversight was discovered during a Planning and Zoning workshop held two weeks after the public hearing.
Mayor Charlene Herring said “several missteps” had occurred during the process. Those included, she said, an error on the sign posted on Brown’s property. The sign, she said, reflected a request for C-1, not C-2 zoning.
“I know there’s been a little bit of question about the sign itself, being C-1 or whether it was C-2,” Brown said during his comments, “but at the same time, the zoning change was posted as commercial. Obviously, you knew it wasn’t a request to keep it residential.”
Herring also noted the minimum lot size requirement of a C-2 request, as well as the petition in protest of the zoning change, both of which caused some confusion.
According to Article 10, Section 1005, “In case of a protest against any proposed zoning change signed by the owners of 20 percent or more of the area of (a) the lots included in such proposed change, and (b) those lots contiguous to the area in question, such amendment shall not become effective except by the favorable vote of three-fourths of all the members of town council.”
“What does this mean?” Herring asked Council. “Is it (contiguous) something that is right next to (a property)?”
Councilwoman Angela Harrison said the Town’s ordinances indicated that the meaning of “contiguous” was “properties in the area;” however, a review of the Town’s zoning ordinances reveals no such definition. In fact, while the ordinances define many terms included within, there is no definition at all for “contiguous.”
The ordinances do say that “Where words have not been defined, the standard dictionary definition shall prevail.”
The standard dictionary definition for “contiguous” is “touching; in contact.” The second listed definition, meanwhile, is “in close proximity without actually touching; near.”
“I’m a little bit confused by our own zoning ordinances,” Herring admitted. “I thought I understood them, but I don’t know that I really do.”
Herring suggested that Council table the request until a lawyer could interpret the ordinances for them.
Councilman Heath Cookendorfer reminded Council that the Commission’s role was only an advisory one, and he moved to approve a C-1 zoning for Brown, which he said would still fit Brown’s needs but would get around the 2-acre minimum lot size that a C-2 would require.
Doug Porter seconded the motion, which carried 3-2. Harrison and Herring voted against the request.
But Harrison said because there was a protest, the request needed a three-fourths vote to carry.
“What is three-fourths of the (five-member) Council?” Herring asked.
According to the S.C. Municipal Association, three-fourths of a five-member council is four.
“That’s the reason I wanted to have a lawyer look at this,” Herring said.
The protest letter sent to the Town on Aug. 12 called Council’s decision “unlawful” and said the 3-2 vote was invalid. According to the Town’s zoning ordinances, the appeal must first go to the Board of Zoning Appeals within 30 days. The Board must then hold a hearing. The appeal may also go directly to Circuit Court.
“If they can’t see past getting this lot rezoned they might as well put a wall up around town,” Brown said this week. “Growth is coming to Ridgeway.”
NASHVILLE, TENN. (Aug. 18, 2016) – The sentencing of a former Blythewood Councilwoman, who has admitted her part in a multi-million dollar healthcare fraud and embezzlement scheme, has been delayed as she continues her cooperation with the United States Attorney’s office.
Kathleen “Katie” Devereaux Cauthen, 46, has pleaded guilty and was scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 26 on two felony counts – conspiracy to commit “theft or embezzlement in connection with health care” and misprision, the failure to report the commission of a felony to judicial authorities. However, Cauthen’s sentencing hearing, where she could face 21-27 months in federal prison, has been delayed until Feb. 12, 2018 as she continues to help prosecute her alleged co-conspirators in a related case.
According to court documents released Aug. 8, Cauthen’s cooperation could culminate in the trial of Bart and Angela Posey, both 48, of Springfield, Tenn. and Richard H. Bachman, 67, of Austin, Texas. That case, titled USA Vs Posey, focusses on the same conspiracy and on which she is an unindicted co-conspirator, will go to trial in Jan. 16, 2018. The extension of time in this case, which is officially labeled as “complex” is “due to the nature of the prosecution, type of charges, and scope of discovery and forfeiture proceedings” Cauthen’s attorney Cynthia Chappell wrote in her motion asking to delay sentencing. This order was granted without opposition from prosecutor, Assistant United States Attorney William Abely.
Cauthen’s charges, filed June 16, 2014, state that she aided others in a scheme purported to provide healthcare benefit coverage to more than 17,000 individuals and multiple employer groups in various states.
The Posey case was filed a year before Cauthen was charged in June of 2013. Defendant Worthy, 53, of Isle of Palms, has also pleaded guilty, admitting one count of conspiracy and one count of wire fraud, for which he was sentenced earlier this year to serve 82 months in a minimum security prison and to pay $6.5 million in restitution.
At his 2015 plea hearing, Worthy admitted participating in a scheme designed to defraud thousands of individuals who purchased purported healthcare coverage from him and his co-conspirators. Worthy acknowledged his role in promoting and selling the health care plans not backed by insurance companies, which were marketed by Smart Data Solutions, LLC, a company located in Springfield, Tenn. owned and managed by Bart Posey, who is charged as a co-conspirator in this case. Worthy also admitted that he and his co-conspirators embezzled funds from premiums paid by individuals who had signed up for these unauthorized health plans, diverting more than $5.4 million in premiums for their own personal use. He further admitted that the majority of claims submitted in connection with these unauthorized health plans were never paid and accepted responsibility for more than $7.3 million of losses from the fraud.
Bart Posey, the named defendant in the case, faces 57 counts including criminal conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. Angela Posey and Bachman face almost all of those charges, also.
Cauthen will be hoping to qualify for a “downward departure” with her cooperation. If a defendant is able to offer substantial assistance in the prosecution of others, their sentence can be reduced in the federal sentencing guidelines.
Request for comment from the U.S. Attorney’s office were not returned at time of publication.
WINNSBORO – Community Enhancement Grants, which were terminated by County Council last year, came under fire again last week when they were revisited during a Council work session; not only from some Council members but from the County’s financial staff as well.
Comptroller Laura Johnson presented a ‘pros and cons’ report that described the previous application process approved by Council in 2015 as challenging for her staff.
According to Johnson, approved applicants were given $500 grants. After they spent the money they were to turn in their receipts for the purchases.
“But when we asked for the receipts, that was very difficult. I had to call people five and six times. It was a lot of work.”
She said the next year Council required receipts to be turned in before the grant money was given out. Johnson said many applicants who were approved for grants either did not turn in their receipts or turned in ‘bogus’ receipts that did not match how the money was to be used, causing staff extra work and stress.
“I tried to do my best to call and leave messages,” Johnson told Council. “But we found ourselves having to justify why we could not reimburse them. Sometimes they became angry trying to justify why their receipts did not match the use on the application when it’s clear they didn’t match.”
While the County earmarked $2,500 per district ($17,500 total) last year for “the support of community based programs that develop or promote the improvement of quality of life activities for youth, adults and seniors,” the application process itself is on hold.
“The way we left it, is we would come back and try to fine tune it this year,” Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6) said.
Kinley, said she is in favor of reinstating the $500 grants to churches and other organizations to purchase school supplies or to provide assistance to individuals in the community who volunteer with the youth and the elderly.
Councilman Billy Smith (District 7) told Council, “I really think this (the grants program) is not something we should move forward on. I just found out about this meeting at noon yesterday and I appreciate the financial staff putting together this fact sheet (the pros and cons report). We need to base our decisions on sound factual information, not politics.” He went on to explain, “I think it is political and campaign based. If it weren’t, then why do we care which district the money goes to?”
Smith read a list of organizations to which he said the County government already provides almost $1 million or almost four percent of the general fund each year.
“It sounds like some bigotry going on here with the churches and stuff,” Councilman Kamau Marcharia (District 4) told Council members. “I think when we give money to the churches to help the youth, it keeps them off the street. We have a bad disposition with our youth and our police officers in this country, county and state. We need to help these young folks be more mindful and responsible for what they are doing. You don’t do that by slamming the door and not doing anything for them in rural areas where they never have the opportunity to see the ocean, the mountains or just travel the state.”
He also questioned why the program had come under fire the last two years.
“We’ve been doing this for the last six – seven years, and never had a problem with it till the last two years. Never a problem. . . I would like to see those accusations about receipts,” Marcharia said.
Johnson explained that prior to the last two years, receipts were not required.
“There was no application process,” Smith explained. “The money was in the discretionary fund and Council members gave the money out in their districts. So there were no complaints.”
Johnson said Council set aside $17,500 for grants last year.
“Twenty-two organizations applied for grants, and Council approved funding for 16 of those. But only 10 applicants were reimbursed for their expenditures because the other applicants either did not turn in receipts or their receipts were not in compliance (with the ordinance),” she said.
Johnson gave as an example an organization that received a $500 grant for a health and welfare project.
“The receipts were for biscuits for a devotional service, for attending a gospel program and eating dinner at Fatz Café,” Johnson said. “I sent a denial and spent 30 minutes on the phone with a representative from that organization. They got pretty heated. I’m sorry, but I don’t know how biscuits at McDonald’s are healthy. Eating at Fatz Café and going to a gospel meeting are not health and welfare.”
“I would be interested to know how much salary and time our staff spends in addition to the $500 grant money,” Smith said. “If we stuck to school supplies, I think we could all be agreeable, but if we are only doing school supplies, why couldn’t the County just buy that in bulk, saving us a lot of money. And it would not look like it’s coming from a Council member in that district as a campaign tactic.”
County Administrator Jason Taylor said he would be in favor of the County purchasing the supplies in bulk and then letting the schools determine which children are in need.
“While the goals of this program are honorable, it’s just not working. If we buy backpacks and fill them with school supplies, that could more efficiently accomplish what we are trying to do,” Taylor said.
Councilman Marion Robinson (District 5) said he couldn’t support the grants as they were handled in the past, but told Taylor he wanted to hear how other counties might be handling things like this.
Marcharia made one last stand for the application-based process.
“I think churches have more of a personal contact and would know if they need backpacks, pencils or what,” Marcharia said. “You don’t just buy in bulk and say here, come get it.”
Kinley suggested that the school district be asked “to put some money in the pot, too,” for the supplies.
Asked by Chairwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) for a timetable for resolving the issue, Johnson suggested by June 30 of next year because she said there is a lot of work to do to change the application process.
“I’d say after the November election,” Smith added. “I don’t want it to be a campaign thing.”
“It’s going to be a campaign thing,” said Marcharia, who is running for re-election in November.
Family and friends who travelled to Alaska to work on the cabin this summer included Tommy Sanders (Adolf’s nephew), T. Cox (Adolf’s granddaughter’s father-in-law and Davis Weitzel (Adolf’s grandson).
NEAR ANCHOR POINT, ALASKA (Aug. 13, 2016) – The Weitzel family of Blythewood and Ridgeway is working together and with friends to finish building the Alaskan log cabin that was a labor of love for Adolf Weitzel, the family patriarch who died suddenly in May of 2015.
The cabin was a late-in-life project for Adolf and, according to his son Steve, he’d hoped that it would become a special outpost for family gatherings and wonderful memories. Now, thanks to the generosity, fortitude and mad skills of Adolph’s friends and family, his hope is becoming a reality.
At 72, Adolf, a home builder by trade, realized the dream of a lifetime when he set out to build a log cabin, by hand, in the coastal wilds of Alaska. After spontaneously purchasing the property in 2011 while on a cross-country RV trip with his wife Annerose, Adolf spent his final summers in cheerful pursuit of his dream – felling trees, curing the logs, hoisting them into walls . . . and fishing, whenever he wasn’t building. It brought him great joy to settle in for the summer – sometimes in the company of family and friends – on his patch of wilderness on the Kenai Peninsula, surrounded by glaciers, ocean and mountains.
In 2015, on his first day back in the Last Frontier, Adolf phoned Annerose and reported that everything looked wonderful – the tarp-covered cabin had survived the winter, all his equipment was in good shape and he was excited to get started. But after that call, while driving home with groceries from the nearby hamlet of Homer, he suffered a fatal heart attack.
Steve, who lives with his wife Joanna and their two children in Blythewood, said that while dealing with the shock and grief of his father’s passing, he realized that the cabin would need attention, and soon – it didn’t have a roof yet and wouldn’t be protected from the weather for long. He didn’t want his father’s cherished project to fall to neglect.
So after family and friends had gathered for a heartfelt celebration of Adolf’s memory, Steve and his sister, Patricia Reid, headed up to Alaska with Billy Windhorn of Blythewood and several others for two weeks of a convivial work-a-thon that resulted in a finished metal roof and closed-in gables. Steve, who works for a Geothermal heating company, grew up working with his dad on building projects, and eventually did contract work on his own for renovation and home improvement jobs.
This summer, the work continued. Steve and his son Davis, 15, travelled to Alaska with five others, and in two weeks they had installed shaker shingles on the ends of the cabin, built the balcony/porch, installed a window, and sanded, chinked and stained every log.
“Next summer,” Steve said, “we plan to finish putting in the windows and doors, and start on some of the inside work – electrical and plumbing. It’ll probably take three more summers to complete everything.”
It’s not all work and no play, though – the group enjoyed fishing for salmon and halibut, and they delighted in seeing moose and calves that would frequently visit the property.
Joanna said the family looks forward to travelling to Alaska for many future summer visits and eventually for a Christmas gathering at the cabin. She said Adolf would be thrilled to know that everyone was working together on the cabin he had started with a vision of family and fellowship.
“Adolf left this world doing exactly what he wanted to do, on his terms and in the place that he loved,” Joanna said, “and I think the family is able to find comfort in that. Annerose said that Adolf was very happy when she spoke with him on that last phone call. He said he was so happy that everything had gone so well.”
Gary Brown makes his last stop Saturday at his barbershop on Congress Street. (Photo/Barbara Ball)
WINNSBORO (Aug. 12, 2016) – When men like Gary Brown, men who have become so ingrained in the fiber of the community that one can no longer separate the man from the place or the place from the man, when men who have become institutions in their community leave this world for their Final Reward, the rest of us are left to wonder, for a time at least, just how this Earth will continue to turn.
On Aug. 3, 2016, the man who, referring to his nightly constitutional of a half pint of Lord Calvert Canadian whiskey, would often say at the end of a long day at his barbershop or filming a football game or a Town Council meeting, “I’m going home to shake hands with the Lord,” literally did just that.
Gary Brown was many things to many people. A son, a father, a grandfather, even a great-grandfather. A husband, remarkably enough, at one time or another. For more than 50 years, he was the proverbial Town Barber, a maker of trophies and plaques, videographer of local government meetings and The Voice of the Griffins. A golfing partner, bookie and drinking buddy. And an instant old friend; the minute you met him, he treated you like he’d known you all your life.
I first came to Winnsboro in 2002 as an eager young reporter with The Herald-Independent. On my first day of work the senior reporter, Bobb Hane, took me out of the office so I could meet all the big important people – the local dignitaries, as it were – whom I would need to know in order to be any kind of successful at my job. I’m thinking, ‘OK. I’m probably going to meet the mayor, a couple of council members, an administrator or two, maybe the sheriff.’
The first place Hane took me was straight across the street to meet the town barber.
‘Where the heck am I?’ I remember thinking. ‘The most important dignitary on their list is the town barber . . . ? They actually have a town barber here?’
Right away, Gary treated me like he’d always known me. Like I belonged here. It wasn’t long before I was calling football and basketball games with him, and together we logged a lot of miles across the state. We saw a lot of football together, most of it good. We had a lot of times together. Most of them were good, too. I never regretted knowing the man.
“The first year I moved here was Gary’s first year on the radio (WCKM-AM),” Robert Sharpe said. “He did our first state championship out here at Winnsboro High School. It was 1969. The games would be broadcast on a delay on Saturday morning, and all the football players would sit and listen to Gary on the radio like he was a big celebrity. Before the games, Gary would come in and he’d say ‘How many are we going to beat ‘em by tonight?’ He wanted to know because he always had a side bet going on somewhere.
“Anything you wanted from Gary, he tried to get it done,” Sharpe said. “There’s no doubt about that. I think he’s going to be really missed by a lot of people. I don’t believe people realize what all Gary did do until this year when they’re missing him.”
“He saw a lot of football around here,” Demetrius Davis, head football coach at Fairfield Central High School, said. “When it comes to football in Fairfield County, Gary Brown is going to be missed. He’s been calling games for a lot of years. I remember him calling games when I was in high school and I still have some VHS tapes of some of his games. Everybody used to look forward to watching his replays during the week in Fairfield County. That was one of the days when everybody went and watched TV. As a high school kid you get a chance to see yourself on TV and listen to some of the nice things he said about you. He’s going to be truly missed and it’s going to be tough to replace a guy that had the passion for football in Winnsboro and providing a lot of attention to high school football and high school football players.”
“He was one of the mainstays, the foundation of support when I was there,” said S.C. State University head football coach Buddy Pough. Pough was head man at Fairfield Central from 1994 to 1996, leading the Griffins to a state title his final year. “He always helped us, whatever we needed. I always enjoy going back and looking at his work and seeing our games during our championship year there. Gary was a good friend during my time there.”
“He was a good guy,” Reggie Kennedy, the Griffins’ head football coach from 2002-2005 and 2008-2010. “He treated me really well when I was there and did a great job covering the games. If you wanted to know anything about the history of Winnsboro, all you had to do was ask him. He knew it. The first time I met him over at his barber shop, I couldn’t believe he was a barber. I thought he was in there getting a haircut. But I met him there and I got a chance to be a part of the barber shop talk for a little while.”
“Gary was always unbiased,” Deputy County Administrator Davis Anderson said. “He did everything we needed him to do to get the (County Council) meetings filmed. He was always a good spokesperson for Fairfield County, and he was always there for the high school football games.”
“I met Gary Brown in 1971, when I got back from Vietnam,” said Lawrence Brown, a longtime friend and a big part of Gary’s video productions. “When a new person came into town and came into the barbershop, Gary treated them like he already knew them. And when they left that barbershop, he always told them if there was anything he could do for them, just let him know. And he meant it. We’re going to miss his voice and we’re going to miss his personality.”
“Good old Gary Brown was exactly that: Good Old Gary Brown,” said former County Councilman David Brown. “He always looked out for people. He loved the county, and he loved people. He’d let you know what he believed – you might not agree with him, but he’d let you know. He provided a service in Winnsboro that’s a dying breed – an old timey barber.
“You had to catch him between long-winded political speeches or he wouldn’t stop cutting your hair, and you couldn’t get him too riled up or you’d leave the chair bald,” Brown said. “But he always cut my hair the way I wanted it cut. We’ll miss having an old timey barbershop where you could sit and get caught up on everything. It’s the end of an era.”
“If you saw his hands shaking, you got a little nervous in that barber chair,” Winnsboro Town Councilman Stan Klaus said. Klaus was also a founding member of Gary Brown Video Productions, helping Gary with the selection of equipment and the productions of broadcasts. Klaus fondly recalled tinkering with the equipment on an election night in the early 1990s, turning what was meant to be a delayed airing into a live feed and giving Gary the surprise of his life.
What will Klaus miss the most?
“The barbershop B.S.,” he said. “Gary Brown could come off the wall with a rumor. If you go to a beautician, she’s got the rumor, but she can substantiate it. But Gary Brown was always like ‘I heard this . . .’ Well, where did you hear it? ‘Oh, I can’t tell you. . . .’ He was like the town crier, from talking to the people who came into his shop. Now, whether it was true or whether it wasn’t . . . ?
“I’ll miss his friendship,” Klaus said. “I’ll miss talking to some of the other people who came into the barbershop. I would spend an hour, an hour and a half in the shop, talking to the other people who came in. These are the things you take for granted, but that you’ll miss down the road.”
“Where are all the men in town going to be able to keep up with everything politically and gossip-wise?” Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy wondered. “He probably attended more Council meetings than any other person in town, including Council members. That was one unique perspective he had, because of his longevity, filming meetings for as long as he did. He knew more about what was going on with those political bodies than members of the political bodies did.”
“I’ve known Gary since 1965,” said Ed Ellenburg, an All-State quarterback for Winnsboro High in 1967. “He came here to cut hair with Slim Mattox. I was in the 10th grade and playing football. I went in to get a haircut. I didn’t know what to expect. I sat up in that chair and all he talked about was sports, and I thought ‘we’re going to get along just fine.’ We played a lot of golf together. He couldn’t count. He could play golf, but he couldn’t count. He would make an 8 on a hole and say he got a 5.”
Ellenburg said he’ll miss the stories Gary would tell while cutting hair more than the haircuts themselves.
“He’d tell the same story four different ways,” Ellenburg said. “He would say ‘I swear this is true,’ and I knew right then it wasn’t. My sister came up from Florida one time and Gary cut her hair. Gary was probably the worst barber in the country, but my sister said it was the best haircut she’d ever had.”
We laid Gary to rest Saturday morning, a half pint of Lord Calvert and an assortment of golf balls and tees tucked in beside him. His obituary can be found on page 5 of our Aug. 11 edition as well as here on this website. What others in the community say about him tells the rest.
WINNSBORO (Aug. 11, 2016) – A Winnsboro woman was arrested last week and charged with trafficking heroin as well as two other counts of possession of a controlled substance.
According to the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office, Linda Dover Silvia, 51, of Cedar Court Extension, was arrested during a traffic stop on Aug. 4 on the Highway 321 Bypass near Highway 213. Silvia was a passenger in the front seat of a 2000 Chevrolet Suburban being driven by Shanda Silvia.
Fairfield County Sheriff Will Montgomery said a tip from a confidential informant alerted investigators that the Suburban was headed to Winnsboro from Blythewood and was transporting heroin. Investigators picked up the Suburban at approximately 7 p.m. on Highway 34 near Golf Course Road and followed the SUV until it neared Highway 213.
After making the stop, according to the incident report, an investigator approached the driver’s side of the Suburban and observed Linda Silvia working to conceal something in her purse and wallet. A passenger in the back seat, 47-year-old Tracey Elaine Moody of Forest Hills Drive, was found with an open container of beer, for which she was issued a citation.
After receiving consent to search the Suburban from Shanda Silvia, investigators reportedly found inside Linda Silvia’s purse a pill bottle containing 5 grams of heroin, as well as 19 hydrocodone pills and 47 Alprazolam (Xanax) pills. Also reportedly discovered inside Silvia’s purse were several used syringes. A glass smoking pipe was located inside the glove compartment of the vehicle, according to the report.
Moody and Shanda Silvia were released after investigators completed their search of the Suburban. Linda Silvia was transported to the Fairfield County Detention Center. She was released later the same day on a $20,000 bond.
