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  • Attorney General: No Crime in Dennis Probe

    WINNSBORO (Dec. 18, 2015) – More than a year after the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) opened the case, the S.C. Attorney General’s Office cleared Dan Dennis of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with allegations by Former Fairfield County Administrator Phil Hinely that Dennis had blackmailed him, according to documents released by SLED last week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

    Those documents detail an investigation that opened on June 14, 2014 after Hinely alleged that he (Hinely) had been the victim of a blackmail and extortion plot by Dennis.

    Hinely resigned as County Administrator in June of 2013 amid a firestorm of controversy and public criticism over allegations that he used his County computer, during working hours, to disseminate pornographic images via email. An initial SLED investigation of the pornography allegations evolved into a second investigation of whether Hinely disseminated obscene images, a crime under S.C. Code Section 16-15-305. In a final report on that investigation, Sixth Circuit Solicitor Doug Barfield stated in a letter dated Oct. 20, 2013, that for obscene material to be illegal, it must, among other specifications, have been disseminated. Barfield said his agent, Britt Dove, concluded that Hinely had not sent the questionable files to anyone else after he received them.

    According to Sen. Creighton Coleman (D-17), who requested the investigation, Barfield’s letter only indicated that Hinely did not forward illegal material. Coleman maintains that Hinely did forward pornographic material, and noted that, in law, there is a difference between pornographic and obscene.

    “He sent stuff out,” Coleman said. “You know it and I know it.”

    According to Hinely’s statements in the SLED documents, that firestorm resulted from a disagreement between Hinely and Dan Dennis.

    Between 2006 and 2009, Hinely’s testimony states, the Dennis Corp. had experienced a cost overrun on a County project. Hinely blamed this overrun on Dennis’s lack of quality control. In his own testimony, Dennis said the overage was due to changes made in order to meet the standards of multiple agencies involved. Nevertheless, Dennis gave the County a check for $15,000 for the overrun, and in 2009 the County renewed their contract with Dennis Corp. But two years later, when the contract expired and went to another firm, Hinely told SLED, Dennis came to his office in Winnsboro to ask for the return of the $15,000 and threatened to expose Hinely as a racist and a pornographer.

    Hinely told SLED that he (Hinely) had received ‘inappropriate images’ via email from a Dennis Corp. employee and that he (Hinely) had, indeed, forwarded some of those emails, which he said were neither illegal nor policy violations at the time. Hinely said he asked the Dennis Corp. employee to stop sending him the emails.

    Dennis’s testimony stated that it was Hinely who sent the images to the Dennis Corp. employee and that Dennis asked Hinely to stop sending them. But Dennis denied making any attempt to extort, threaten or blackmail Hinely. Dennis stated in his testimony that he only wanted the $15,000 back that he paid for the overage. When Hinely refused, saying Dennis had made an engineering error, Dennis’s testimony states that started a domino effect and the pornographic photos were later leaked to the public. The SLED report does not suggest who leaked them.

    After interviewing several county employees, elected officials and citizens concerning Hinely’s accusations against Dennis, SLED closed their investigation on Aug. 28, marking it “Cleared.”

    “I have concluded that criminal prosecution is not appropriate given the facts and circumstances presented,” Brian T. Petrano, Assistant Attorney General, wrote in a declination letter, dated Aug. 21 regarding Hinely’s allegations against Dennis.

     

  • Toy Company Files for Bankruptcy

    WINNSBORO (Dec. 18, 2015) – After only a little more than a year in business at 1 Quality Lane in Winnsboro, Enor Corp. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

    In documents filed Dec. 2 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of New Jersey, the manufacturer of toys and games said they faced more than $5 million in liabilities, while claiming only $248,659 in assets with cash, cash equivalents and financial assets totaling just over $11,595.

    According to the documents, the company claimed $10,722,094 in business income between Jan. 1 and the bankruptcy filing date. That figure was up from earnings of $7,869,878 between December 2014 and October 2015, but off slightly from the $10,740,037 earned between December 2013 and November 2014.

    On the list of Enor’s top 20 creditors, according to the documents, is the Town of Winnsboro’s Utility Department, to whom the company owes $135,029.

    John Fantry, Winnsboro’s utilities attorney, confirmed this week that Enor had defaulted on their payment arrangement with the Town after making their November payment. Winnsboro will file a claim in Bankruptcy Court, Fantry said, to recover the funds.

    Total claims against the company come in at just over $2,352,717. According to an accounts receivable schedule included in the documents, the company is owed more than $596,111, nearly half of which is more than 90 days past due. Walmart Stores owes the company $177,362, while Wal-Mart Canada Corp. owes Enor more than $175,894.

    In addition to a long list of local individuals to whom Enor owes anywhere from between $350 and $1,700 each, several local merchants will also have to file claims for debts accrued. Topping the list of local merchants is Innovative Plastics SC in Ridgeway, to whom Enor is in debt to the tune of $12,935.

    Brice Plumbing and Hobgood Electric & Machinery Co. in Winnsboro, and Midlands Fire Protection, Inc. in Blythewood are also among Enor’s local creditors.

    Enor was introduced to Fairfield County in a ceremony in August 2014 at the Midlands QuickJobs Center in Winnsboro. Recruited to the area by Fairfield County Council and the S.C. Department of Commerce under the code name “Project Leprechaun,” Enor received a $300,000 Rural Infrastructure Fund grant from the S.C. Coordinating Council for Economic Development. Those funds were used to retrofit the 78,000-square-foot former Ruff & Tuff building at 1 Quality Lane, off Highway 321 S. Operations at the Winnsboro location began a month later.

    The company was also the beneficiary of a Fee-in-Lieu-of-Taxes (FILOT) agreement with the County. Under the agreement, Enor committed to invest a minimum of $2,500,000 in economic development property and a minimum of $3,870,000 in property subject to ad valorem taxation over a 20-year period. Enor also agreed to create at least 151 new full-time jobs at the plant over a five-year span.

    Enor’s payments to the County in lieu of taxes were capped at a 403.5 mills, with a 6 percent assessment ratio on economic development property.

    Milton Pope, Interim County Administrator, said the Chapter 11 filing would have no immediate impact on the incentives package.

    “However, the County and the Department of Commerce are closely monitoring this situation,” he added.

    Phone calls to the Department of Commerce were not returned at press time.

    Bankruptcy proceedings are not listed in the FILOT documents among the terms of default. A cessation of operations, including a closure of the plant or cessation of productions and shipment of products to customers for a continuous period of 12 months, however, is.

    A spokesperson for Enor told The Voice last week that there were no plans to shut down operations in Winnsboro.

    Enor is being represented in Bankruptcy Court by Jeffrey A. Cooper of the Livingston, N.J. law firm of Rabinowitz, Lubetkin & Tully. The first meeting of creditors is Jan. 6, 2016 in room 3B of the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Building in Newark, N.J. The last day for creditors to file a claim is April 5, 2015.

     

  • Council Approves, Kills Grants

    WINNSBORO (Dec. 18, 2015) – After a lengthy and arduous debate Tuesday night, County Council approved and then summarily killed their annual community enhancement grants, both on unanimous 6-0 votes (District 5 Councilman Marion Robinson was absent for health reasons).

    “This has gone on for the last two or three years and we’ve talked back and forth and didn’t want to do this,” Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6) said before making the motion to end the grants, “but I think the time has really come that we need to go back to the drawing board for this.”

    Kinley then moved to terminate the grants after this year’s round of funding and replace them in the 2016-2017 budget with “specific funding that goes toward the support of community based programs or agencies that either develop or promote the improvement of quality of life activities for youth, adults and seniors.”

    At the behest of District 3 Councilman Walter Larry Stewart, the motion was amended to include “adequate controls” over the program.

    An amending motion by Councilman Billy Smith (District 7) to exclude religious organizations from future County funding garnered little more than the sound of chirping crickets before Kinley spoke up in defense of churches.

    “We have found that there are 93 homeless students in the high school,” she said. “A lot of the churches have gone to bat for them when nobody else has offered to do that. I think sometimes in the small towns you kind of have to depend on the churches to be there when the families are not. I think it’s our duty to scrutinize and see what’s good or bad about the program they want to do. With all of our connections with all seven of us we would be able to tell if that was a legitimate program or if it’s something that’s not good for the community.”

    Smith withdrew his amendment, replacing it with the caveat that religious organizations could only receive funding if the money would not be a direct benefit to the organization itself, but instead was passed on to the community.

    “If they’re giving out clothes or paying a light bill or giving out food, they’re a facilitator,” Smith said. “That’s a way we’re helping those citizens and they (the churches) are just a pass-through. But I don’t think it should benefit the religious organization itself.”

    With the amendments, the motion passed without dissent.

    Chairwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) said Council would hammer out the details in a work session before next year’s budgeting process began.

    The debate over the grants began when Smith put forth the motion that organizations receiving this year’s round of grants should have to spend the money up front, then produce receipts to the County for reimbursement. Stewart seconded the motion.

    “They’re asking for money that they don’t have,” District 4 Councilman Kamau Marcharia said. “Are you asking that they pay out of their coffers and then submit a receipt to the County?”

    Smith confirmed that he was, and said the County had encountered “considerable difficulty” in tracking down receipts from grant recipients in the past.

    “I only know of two incidents where folks did not return their receipts out of 25 or 30 people who applied,” Marcharia said. “Did you think that was really significant, or do you have information that that many groups did not submit their receipts?”

    Smith said his information came from discussions with administration and staff.

    Milton Pope, Interim County Administrator, said the County had encountered some difficulty in getting receipts from grant recipients in the past, before Council revamped the grants process more than a year ago.

    Last year Council transformed what had been “discretionary funds” allotted to each district into the Community Enhancement Grants program. According to the criteria adopted by Council in 2014, “After the project is completed, receipts must be submitted to the Finance Department along with a Receipt Submission Form. . . . If any questionable or unauthorized purchases are made, the organization will not be eligible for future grants. . . .”

    Nevertheless, Council voted 5-1 to override their existing policy and require this year’s round of recipients to pay first and seek reimbursement later. Marcharia voted against the motion, even after Kinley added the amendment that if the organization could demonstrate a difficulty in paying up front, they may receive the funding in advance.

    Grant Recipients – $500

    District 1

    Tiger Totes Family Literacy (purchase of books to distribute to young people).

    District 3

    Fairfield Educational Training Complex (camping equipment, free youth program).

    District 4

    Little River Baptist Church food pantry (purchase food for pantry).

    Mount Moriah Baptist Church (youth activities, gifts for elderly, installation of handicapped ramp).

    St. Luke Baptist Church food pantry (purchase food, supplies).

    St. Peter Community Church (youth program, reach out to elderly).

    District 5

    Ebenezer AME Church (back to school supplies).

    Fairfield Arts Council (student writing contest).

    Blackjack Baptist Church (back to school bash, gifts for nursing home patients).

    St. Mark Baptist Church (serve food to elderly and children).

    District 6

    First Church of the Nazarene (advertising for Judgment House).

    Midlands STEM Institute (playground equipment).

    St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church (youth, adult and elderly health and wellness programs).

    Zion Hill Prevention Save the Kids (back to school supplies).

    Other Grants

    District 5

    New Hope AME Church (back to school supplies) – $250.

    New Hope AME Church Angel Tree project (school supplies) – $250.

    District 6

    Ward 1 Community Association (back to school supplies) – $425.64.

    District 2 & 7

    Streetlights – $2,500.

     

  • Judge Rejects ‘Will of the People’

    COLUMBIA (Dec. 17, 2016) – The ‘will of the people’ has been soundly rejected by 5th Circuit Court Judge L. Casey Manning as a reason for the Blythewood Planning Commission’s refusal on Nov. 9 to approve a site plan for a low-income housing project on Main Street in the center of town.

    Eppes & Plumblee of Greenville, attorneys for the developer of The Pointe housing project, Prestwick Development of Atlanta, filed a legal action on Nov. 23 and an amendment with stronger language on Nov. 30 asking the Court to: 1) overturn the Commission’s Nov. 9 vote; 2) mandate its members to approve the development plan and 3) require the Town to pay attorneys’ fees, court costs and such other relief as the court deems just.

    Judge Manning “concluded that the stated ground for refusal is arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion and the decision of the Planning Commission must be reversed.”

    The court ordered the reversal of the decision of the Planning Commission and that the Zoning Administrator of the Town provide his letter of approval of the site plan as submitted by the Plaintiffs. But the judge did not order the Town to pay for Prestwick’s attorneys’ fees and costs, stating instead that, “This action is dismissed with the parties to each bear their own respective attorneys’ fees and costs.”

    “It is undisputed that the site plan submitted by the Plaintiffs conformed in all respects with the Town’s Zoning Ordinance and Land Development Regulations,” the ruling stated. “Nonetheless, the Commission voted to refuse approval of the site plan. The only reason articulated by the Commission in voting to refuse approval was that the project ran afoul of the ‘will of the people’.”

    Commissioner Don Sanders, who made the motion to deny approval of the site plan, said he was moved to do so by a number of residents who spoke passionately against the housing project because they felt that particular location would increase the already congested traffic in downtown Blythewood and that the low-income homes could impact the resale value of surrounding homes.

    Councilman Bob Mangone, who has since resigned his Council seat because he said he will be moving away, said at the Nov. 17 Town Council workshop that he was dismayed at the bigotry, bias and racism displayed by the residents who opposed the project at the Nov. 9 Planning Commission meeting. Mangone, who did not attend that meeting, told The Voice that he considered the residents’ complaints about traffic and low cost housing to be veiled racism. But two of the three Commissioners who voted against the project were African-American as were several of the residents who spoke out against the development.

    In response to Mangone’s comments, the Oakhurst Home Owners Association president, Michael Rescigno, told The Voice, “Mr. Mangone is spinning it the way he wants it to sound. He lives in Cobblestone on the other side of the town. He doesn’t have to sit in our traffic. I guess he did not considered it veiled bias when some residents of Cobblestone, including himself, objected to the traffic congestion and lower home values that they feared would result from D.R. Horton building in that neighborhood.”

    When contacted for comment on the ruling, Commissioner Marcus Taylor, who voted against the site plan, said he feels something is terribly wrong when a community can’t carry out how they want their community to grow or not grow.

    “This really surprises me,” Taylor said.

    Taylor also said he was surprised that the town’s attorney Jim Meggs did not let members of the Commission know that the suit was going to be heard on Nov. 11.

    “I knew nothing about the court date until I received an email from Mr. Meggs dated Tuesday, Dec. 15. By that time it was over.”

    In that email, Meggs wrote, “The conclusion of the Court brings into clear focus the need to adhere to the Town’s ordinances relating to land development without regard to unsubstantiated fears or considerations that are not demonstrated by the record (or properly before) before the Commission.”

    Meggs stated further, “I would recommend that comment, if any, be respectful of the Court’s Order and that we move on with the project review in a calm and deliberate manner.”

    “We respect the Court’s ruling and will comply promptly,” Mayor J. Michael Ross said in an email to The Voice. “The project will now be reviewed by our Board of Architectural Review and we hope a tasteful addition to the town will result.”

    Ross said he is going to ask the town attorney to offer additional training sessions to the Town’s boards and commissions.

    “This will aid all of us in understanding the legal framework for site plan review and other land planning decision making,” Ross said.

    Next stop for Prestwick Development will be the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) on Monday, where the developer will submit its plans for approval of 13 variances needed for a certificate of appropriateness, the Town’s Planning Consultant Michael Criss said.

    “The BAR has complete authority over the building’s appearance,” Criss told The Voice. “That could not happen until the site plan was approved by the Planning Commission or the Court.”

    Planning Commissioners Don Sanders and Ernestine Rogers, who both voted against the site plan could not be reached for comment at press time.

    The BAR will meet at Town Hall at 7 p.m., Dec. 21.

     

  • Fairfield Teen Killed in Chester Crash

    CHESTER (Dec. 16, 2015) – A Blackstock teen died a Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte Saturday from injuries sustained in a one-car crash the night before.

    Chester County Coroner Terry D. Tinker said Lindsey Nease, 17, of 4556 Dewitt Road, Blackstock, was pronounced dead at 8:26 a.m. on Dec. 12. The cause of death, Tinker said, was blunt force trauma to the head.

    According to the S.C. Highway Patrol, Nease was a passenger in a 2004 Pontiac heading south on S.C. 901 in Chester on Dec. 11 when the car ran off the right side of the road, hit a fence and then struck a power pole just after 9 p.m. The crash occurred approximately 5.3 miles south of Great Falls.

    The driver, 21-year-old Dakota Campbell, was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash and was not injured, the Highway Patrol said. It was not known at press time if Nease was wearing her seat belt when the car veered off the road.

    Nease, who had just celebrated her 17th birthday the day before the crash, was transported by ambulance to an emergency room in a Lancaster County hospital, the Highway Patrol said. She was later taken to Carolinas Medical Center, the Coroner’s Office said, where she succumbed to her injuries.

    The accident remains under investigation by the Highway Patrol.

     

  • Chairman: Blythewood Key to Economic Development

    BLYTHEWOOD – “As we move Richland County forward, Blythewood is definitely an important part of the process,” Richland County Council Chairman Torrey Rush said in a presentation to Blythewood Chamber of Commerce members at a breakfast meeting in Cobblestone Park Clubhouse Tuesday morning.

    He equated that forward movement with growth and touched on the three areas he sees as most important in the county’s growth – economic development, new fiscal policies and community engagement.

    Commenting on the progress the county is making with economic development, Rush said he thought it was very good considering the county only recently, in the last three or four years, designated its own department for economic development. He commended Blythewood’s town government for having the foresight to recently rezone a large parcel of land bordered by Ashley Oaks subdivision, Community Road and I-77 for an industrial park.

    “We’ve got Shop Road extension for a major industrial park,” Rush said, “and now up here on this side of town, it’s tremendous to have an industrial park here as well. It’s extremely important. And just to reassure residents, today’s industry does not mean smokestacks. It’s new technology, things you wouldn’t hear or see if you didn’t go by it. Having this industry in your city will be tremendous to this region.”

    Commenting further on the importance of preparing industrial sites, Rush said, “Everybody’s looking for the same industries, the BMW’s of the world, all the tire companies, the manufacturers. It’s important to have the infrastructure in place to make sure we’re competitive.”

    Rush said the penny tax is a necessary step to having that infrastructure in place. He also touched on the county’s tax rate, saying it’s one of the highest in the state, which can deter economic development.

    “We’re going to have to stabilize our tax rate in order to compete,” he added. He said he has some ideas that he would be putting forward later this year.

    On the initial tenants in the mega development at Killian and I-77, Rush clicked off a few of the businesses that have recently opened – Applebee’s, Panda Express, McDonalds – and those in the works – more auto dealerships including BMW Columbia and McDaniels’ Porsche and Subaru.

    “A Chick-fil-A is coming, more big box retailers, lots of things,” Rush said.

    Rush said that one of the most important aspects of moving the county forward is to have an informed citizenry.

    “The community must be engaged. It must be informed and in the know,” he said. “We saw that a couple of weeks ago when a Blythewood group showed up at a Richland County Council meeting to protest a zoning issue. It seemed like we had all of Blythewood down there,” he said with a laugh. “But that means that you care about your neighborhoods, about your community and you want to make sure we’re growing in a smart and productive way.”

     

  • Roads Top To-Do List

    BLYTHEWOOD – With Blythewood now seating its full complement of members on Town Council after the re-election last month of Eddie Baughman and Mayor J. Michael Ross and the election of freshmen Larry Griffin and Malcolm Gordge, at least one local resident is ready for Council to talk about S.I.N.

    Ken Baldwin, 89, originated the idea for S.I.N. – Street Improvements Now – because, he said, he is sick and tired of pot-hole laden McNulty Road and other local streets, often full of water during rainy weather and a bumpy ride when dry. He pointed out that Blythewood has its fine new park and Doko Manor on the east side of town and the promising landscaped I-77 interchange at Blythewood Road on the west that are significant achievements, but in between are streets badly in need of improvement.

    “Some buildings do not have sidewalk access,” Baldwin said after a recent Council meeting. He said this was particularly important for the elderly and for out-of-town visitors staying overnight.

    Baldwin, a former member of the town’s Architectural Review Board, said it was important to develop a plan early in the administration of the new Council so that citizens will know they have hope.

    “We have been neglected too long,” he said.

    Ross told The Voice this week that S.I.N. was indeed at the top of Council’s priority list for the coming year and that he planned to assign Gordge the task of spearheading that challenge. Before his election to Council last month, Gordge had been Blythewood’s representative on the Richland County Penny Tax Committee, Ross said. With street improvement part of the Penny Tax plan, Ross said he hopes Gordge’s experience on the committee will help Council’s position when jockeying for funding.

    And funding is the main obstacle, Ross said.

    “I think he (Gordge) will run with it,” Ross said. “But how you run with that in a municipality that doesn’t have the money that other towns have is another question.”

    The suggestion that his idea might be dismissed on the premise that funds aren’t available or difficult to find is not the answer at this point, Baldwin said.

    “What we need now is a commitment to fix the problem and a plan that will accomplish it,” he said.

    Even, Baldwin added, if that means levying some form of local tax.

    “That (a tax) is certainly a possibility,” Baldwin said, “but I think most folks understand that not all public improvements are free. I am confident that members of Council are always going to do their best to keep taxes at the bare minimum.”

    Baldwin pointed out that landscaping the I-77 intersection was made possible by a federal grant. Money is often available from other governmental entities for public improvement projects, he said.

    Ross also said it may be possible to utilize hospitality tax dollars to help mend some of Blythewood’s roads.

    “I think we can use the hospitality tax, since the roads are keeping people from coming here,” Ross said. “It’s a tourism issue.”

    Ross said that with Doko Manor and the park now somewhat under control, roads will be the primary issue for the new administration in the coming year. Patching McNulty beyond just the band-aid quick fixes that have been administered in the past – fixes that last for only a month or two before traffic once again exposes their Third World condition – and straightening Blythewood Road are at the top of the list, he said.

    Ross said Blythewood had three of the top 12 penny tax projects on Richland County’s list – widening Blythewood Road, extending Creech Road and the repair and streetscaping of McNulty Road.

    And, Ross said that according to the S.C. Department of Transportation (DOT), by the middle of December Rimer Pond Road will be opened back up to traffic, alleviating congestion downtown in the early mornings and afternoons.

    “Once you open Rimer Pond Road up again,” Ross said, “20 to 30 percent of those cars downtown will disappear.”

     

  • Foundry Targets Blythewood

    BLYTHEWOOD – Approximately 150 acres off I-77 near Westwood High School may soon be the new home of an aluminum foundry, several media outlets reported last week, with Toronto-based Linamar Inc. having narrowed down its search for a new location to the North Point Industrial Park or a site in Asheville, N.C.

    The plant could create as many as 300 jobs, according to reports, with a final decision expected by Christmas. Details of the move, however, were still officially under wraps as Richland County and Asheville continue their negotiations with the factory.

    “You may have heard of an announcement a few days ago of an (economic development) win right here in your own back yard,” Richland County Council Chairman Torrey Rush told the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce at a breakfast meeting Tuesday. “I can’t speak to that right now because we’re still under a confidentiality agreement. Actually, that information wasn’t supposed to be out yet. Companies like these are saying this city, Blythewood, is a place we want to be.”

    The foundry would potentially be located just outside the Blythewood town limits and owned jointly by GF Automotive, a Swiss automobile industry supplier. Linamar would also reportedly acquire the existing Pure Power Technologies plant in Richland County as part of the plan, according to reports.

    Pure Power Technologies manufactures fuel injectors for automobiles and employs more than 200 people. Reports stated Pure Power could be used as a finishing plant for automobile components manufactured at the new Linamar-GF foundry.

    Linamar and GF Automotive announced last summer their intentions to locate a plant in the southeast for a metal die-casting operation. And even though reports describe the plant as a “foundry,” Ed Parler, Blythewood’s Economic Development Consultant, said it would be unlikely if it would fit into one’s traditional image of a foundry.

    “It may be a foundry,” Parler, who was not involved in the recruitment of Linamar, said, “but I wouldn’t think there would be any smelting done there; no obnoxious odors, no smokestacks. It may just be a stamping operation.”

    And, Parler said, pollution-belching smokestacks are prohibited in the North Point Industrial Park.

    Nevertheless, Linamar will require an air permit from the S.C. Department of health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to discharge pollution; although company representatives reportedly told media outlets last week that Linamar was committed to operating the plant cleanly.

    Linamar Inc. was founded in 1966 and employs 19,500 people in 48 plants around the world. GF Automotive is a division of the 200-year-old Georg Fischer Corp., and is one of the leading automotive suppliers in the world. Pure Power Technologies has made a name for itself for its efforts to simultaneously provide jobs and protect the environment.

     

  • ‘Messiah’ Returns Sunday

    Under the direction of the Rev. Lane Keister, minister of Lebanon Presbyterian Church, a community choir representing many area churches will perform Handel’s Messiah at 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 6, in the historic Bethel ARP church in downtown Winnsboro.
    Under the direction of the Rev. Lane Keister, minister of Lebanon Presbyterian Church, a community choir representing many area churches will perform Handel’s Messiah at 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 6, in the historic Bethel ARP church in downtown Winnsboro.

    WINNSBORO – A Winnsboro tradition since the early 1950s, the Christmas presentation of Handel’s “Messiah” will be performed by the Winnsboro Choral Society on Sunday, Dec. 6, at 3 p.m. at Bethel ARP Church, 101 Zion St. in downtown Winnsboro.

    The Choir, which is made up of singers from several area churches, has been practicing for weeks. When the call went out for singers, the response was overwhelming, said the choir’s director, the Rev. Lane Keister.

    “It’s a beautiful performance and it is always fully appreciated by the audience,” Keister said. “We have a wealth of vocal talent in this community. It will be a wonderful evening.”

    Last year, after the final Hallelujah chorus and the performance ended, the crowd spontaneously rose to its feet. Following the performance, many in attendance will walk across Congress Street in their holiday finery to the Fairfield Museum for the Museum’s annual Holiday Open House to continue what is one of Winnsboro’s most social holiday evenings.

     

  • Shot Tot Removed from Home

    Taken to ER 15 Hours Later; Father, Grandmother Charged

    Michael Gerald Tart
    Michael Gerald Tart
    Wendy Dianne Payne
    Wendy Dianne Payne

    WINNSBORO – A Winnsboro toddler was placed in emergency protective custody and his father and grandmother charged with unlawful neglect of a child after the 3-year-old was shot outside a home on Nov. 19.

    According to the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office, the victim’s father, Michael Gerald Tart, 35, of 392 Gumsprings Road, Winnsboro, was arrested and charged on Nov. 23. The victim’s grandmother, Wendy Dianne Payne, 51, of 433 Arrowood Dr., Winnsboro, was arrested a day later.

    Payne brought the 3-year-old, suffering from a gunshot wound to the left leg, into the Fairfield Memorial Hospital emergency room just after 3 p.m. on Nov. 19, according to the incident report. Payne reportedly told investigators that the child had been accidentally shot by Payne’s brother-in-law, who was taking aim at a possum outside Payne’s home at approximately 12:30 p.m. that day. Payne said the child ran into the line of fire just before her brother-in-law pulled the trigger.

    Investigators wanted to know why Payne did not bring the victim in immediately for medical treatment. Payne said she did, but that the emergency room was “too busy,” the report states.

    Agents with the Department of Social Services (DSS), which, according to the report, already has an open case file with Payne and Tart, later told investigators that they had received an anonymous tip that the child had been shot much earlier, and possibly by someone else.

    Payne’s story then began to change. She later told investigators that the child had been shot at 12:30 a.m., not 12:30 in the afternoon, but maintained that he had been accidentally shot by her brother-in-law who was aiming at a possum. She was unable, however, to provide investigators with a contact phone number for her brother-in-law. Payne said she drove the child to the emergency room that night, but found the waiting room crowded with people. She returned home with the child, she said, dressed his wounds and “cared for him all night.” Payne said her daughter had a 4 p.m. doctor’s appointment later that day, and her intention was to take the child in with her daughter for medical treatment then.

    Payne said the child was not complaining of any pain and she “figured he would be OK,” during the night. She was a nurse, she said, and was “taking care of him.”

    DSS agents, meanwhile, told investigators that, according to their tip, the child had been shot by his father, Tart. After interviewing the victim, investigators were able to confirm that the child had indeed been shot by Tart. Confronted with this information, Payne broke down. Weeping, she said it was her son, Tart, whom she called to the house just after midnight on Nov. 19 to shoot the possum, and not her bother-in-law.

    By Nov. 23, the story had changed again. Investigators learned that the shooting actually occurred at Tart’s home on Gumsprings Road, a fact that Payne later admitted. Payne said the child wanted to go home with his father that night, and even though unsupervised custody of the child by Tart was prohibited by the DSS safety plan, Payne allowed it. But only for a short time, she said. When she went to Tart’s house a short time later to pick up the child, she found that he had been shot.

    The gunshot wound, from a 9mm handgun, was through-and-through, the report states, with the bullet striking and breaking a bone as it exited the leg. The victim was transported from Fairfield Memorial to Richland Children’s Hospital, where the Emergency Protective Custody Order was later delivered to Tart.

    When a search of Tart’s home on Nov. 23 failed to turn up the weapon, Tart told investigators that he had taken the gun to his place of business, “cut it up with a torch, then threw it in a lake.” Tart also, during the search, admitted to accidentally shooting his son outside of his home on Gumsprings Road. Tart said that while he was aiming at a possum, his son was standing slightly behind him and to his left on the front deck of the home. Tart said he fired two shots, one of which “must have ricocheted back and struck the victim in the leg.”

    Payne arrived five minutes after the shooting, Tart said, and took the child back to her house. Tart was arrested after the search of his home. Payne was arrested on Nov. 24.

    Both Tart and Payne were released on Nov. 24 from the Fairfield County Detention Center on bonds of $20,000 each.