The Sensational Epics during their heyday, in the early 1960s.
BLYTHEWOOD – Jim Chappell of Blythewood, and one of the original members of the Sensational Epics beach band, was recently named, along with his fellow band members, to the Beach Music Hall of Fame in Myrtle Beach. One of the hottest beach bands in the ‘60s , The Epics frequently shared the stage with such top recording artists as Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Tams, the Drifters, the Platters and the Impressions. During their heyday, the Epics recorded national hits “I’ve Been Hurt” and “Be Young, Be Foolish Be Happy.”
The band got its first big break while still in high school, Chappell recalled.
“Columbia had won the All-American City Award and was organizing an extravaganza at the Township Auditorium. We were invited and got great reviews. And the rest is history,” he said, shaking his head, still amazed.
After their college days, the band members’ lives took separate paths and they parted ways only to reunite in 2000 for a benefit in Five Points. The band was such a big hit all over again that they began taking bookings, Chappell said. Today, the Epics continue to have a solid schedule of venues.
“But tearing down a band stage at 1:30 in the morning doesn’t appeal to me anymore,” Chappell said with a laugh. But he said he supports the band and occasionally joins them for benefit performances. Chappell, who owns his own real estate business in Blythewood, still lives on family land in the Cedar Creek area.
The Epics will be inducted into the Beach Music Hall of Fame along with The Coasters and several other popular beach bands of the ‘60s on Nov. 28 at the Alabama Theater in Myrtle Beach.
BLYTHEWOOD – The restaurant that just last year seemed destined for Doko Meadows in Blythewood’s Town Center is fading fast, leaving in its wake not only a huge pile of sand but a conundrum of ‘what-to-do’s’ regarding the money from grants and loans the Town acquired to build it. While discussing their options at Tuesday’s budget work session at The Manor, the Town’s economic development consultant, Ed Parler, explained that if they failed to use the money ($1,350,000) as planned and returned it to Santee Cooper, the Town would have to pay a penalty to the lender/grantor.
Parler suggested that, instead of aborting the Town’s restaurant project and returning the money, he would like to see Council hang on to the money for now and pay the $18,000 annual interest payment due next October to Santee Cooper. He asked that Council consider appropriating that payment in the budget. Parler said, ideally, he would like to see the Town try to find a restaurateur who would want to build a restaurant similar to the upscale restaurant Mayor J. Michael Ross, former Town Administrator John Perry and the former Town Council had attempted to contract for last year with Jonathan Bazinet.
“We have the money and the design for a restaurant that we would like to see built, and we can look for proposals from anyone interested in doing business in a similar type service,” Parler told Council.
He suggested that, over the next six months, the Town use the local media to get the word out that the Town is looking for prospects.
“After 45-60 days, if we don’t find what we’re looking for,” he said, “we might look at a family-style operation with the appeal of taking advantage of the park. If we still don’t get anyone, then we can send out RFQ’s (requests for proposals) for developers. My idea is to create job opportunities, a place that would employ people.”
Parler said that if a restaurant doesn’t work out, maybe an office complex could be located where the restaurant was planned.
Councilman Bob Mangone took the plan a step further, suggesting that the Town put the loaned/granted money into the Manor and turn it into a high-end restaurant, a move that he said might prove profitable for the facility.
RIDGEWAY – Town Council gave the OK to first reading of the 2014-2015 budget during their May 8 meeting, and with that came an OK for a water and sewer rate increase that encompasses slightly more than the increase being foisted upon them by the Town of Winnsboro.
“We pay for all the water we buy wholesale from Winnsboro and they go up on their rates,” Ridgeway Mayor Charlene Herring said. “In order to make some profit and provide the services, such as a person who needs help with their water and the testing and all that, we have to go up on ours, too.”
But instead of just passing along Winnsboro’s 78-cent increase on rates across the board, Councilman Doug Porter recommended adding a few more cents to the base rate for the first 1,000 gallons for both water and sewer.
“We’ve always passed on any rate increases from Winnsboro. This year, they’re going to increase their rates per 1,000 gallons 78 cents,” Porter said. “This is our major source of revenue, so if we have a lot of repairs that need to be done – re-waxing the Town water tank (two weeks ago) cost anywhere in the neighborhood of $10,000.”
Councilman Donald Prioleau moved to accept Porter’s recommendation and Councilman Russ Brown offered a second. The motion passed without descent.
The amended water and sewer rates for the first 1,000 gallons, effective July 1, are:
Resident (in town): Water — $15; Sewer – $12
Resident (outside town): Water – $20; Sewer – $13
Commercial (in town): Water – $18; Sewer – $16
Commercial (outside town): Water – $23; Sewer – $19.
Overage rates for each additional 1,000 gallons will only carry the 78-cent increase passed along from the Town of Winnsboro. Those rates, also effective July 1, are:
Resident (in town): Water — $5.07; Sewer – $4.42
Resident (outside town): Water – $6.32; Sewer – $5.57
Commercial (in town): Water – $5.07; Sewer – $4.57
Commercial (outside town): Water – $6.32; Sewer – $5.57.
Council did not propose any changes to water tap fees, which will remain at $500 for customers within the town limits and $800 for customers outside the town limits for a three-quarter-inch tap, non-bore. A 1-inch non-bore tap is also available for $900 for customers outside the town limits. Boring ads 10 percent to each fee. Sewer taps, both non-bore and bore, are provided at cost.
Ridgeway’s proposed general fund budget comes in at $217,550, while their water and sewer fund is expected to be $359,355.
Get Off My Lawn – Athens, Ga., home of, among other things, the only tree that owns itself.
Three hours west in Georgia lies the Classic City, better known as Athens, a city heralded as the quintessential college town. Although Athens is known for its University of Georgia Bulldogs football team, the city’s interesting venues attract many. There’s the world’s only double-barreled cannon, a Civil War relic. There’s the Georgia State Botanical Garden with more than 300 acres of forested trails and specialized gardens. Athens has a vibrant music scene, too, and is home to R.E.M., the B-52’s, Widespread Panic and Drive-By Truckers among other notable bands. Be sure to see the legendary 40-Watt Club, one of the most famous indie rock venues in the eastern United States.
Athens has a great restaurant scene too. Many of its restaurants have been featured in Southern Living. Check out NONA, (New Orleans N Athens,) on East Broad Street for some fine dining, Cajun and Creole style. Don’t miss the Sherry Crab Soup and have a glass of Terrapin Golden Ale from the local Terrapin Brewery.
A legendary and highly unique site is “The Tree That Owns Itself.” Just off West Broad you can make the bumpy drive up Finley Street, a steep street paved with bricks, to where it intersects with Dearing, and there you’ll see the tree that owns itself.
Some folks believe this tree is the most unusual property holder in the world. The tree pays no taxes (Imagine that!) and has its own protected lot. It stands on land originally owned by Colonel William H. Jackson, a University of Georgia professor. Legend maintains that Jackson, out of love for the great oak, deeded the tree and the land 8 feet on all sides to itself in the early 1800s.
Athens makes for a great walk-about town. The downtown area is rich with shops, bars, art galleries, restaurants and coffee houses. Across Broad Street near the Confederate monument you’ll see the University Arch. Tradition holds that students may not pass beneath the Arch until they have earned a diploma from the University of Georgia. For most graduates, visiting the Arch after commencement is a rite of passage. Don’t be surprised to see photographs being taken at the Arch year-round.
Walk past the Arch, whose three pillars stand for wisdom, justice and moderation, to the beautiful North Campus, a tree-rich classic campus scene. Walk far enough and you’ll come to Sanford Stadium, a beautiful stadium in the heart of the campus. The fifth largest on-campus stadium in the country, it holds 92,746. When you’re done walking, be sure to drive down Milledge Avenue to see its many beautiful homes and their classic architecture.
You’ll find the Classic City blends the old and new into an eclectic mix that makes for a great day trip, so great you will want to stay overnight. The city will accommodate you with an interesting range of hotels, all within walking distance of downtown.
If You Go …
• You can take three routes. The Highway 34 route is direct and approximately 157 miles. Another route, taking I-20, runs 187 miles. A route using I-85 in part runs 191 miles. All take about three hours and 10 minutes.
• www.visitathensga.com/?gclid=COrl0aaOz70CFaVxOgod7mcAlg “Take A Hip Trip To Athens.
Learn more about Tom Poland, a Southern writer, and his work at www.tompoland.net. Email day-trip ideas to him at tompol@earthlink.net.
BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council (minus Mayor J. Michael Ross, who is golfing this week in Scotland) and Town Administrator Jim Meggs spent the better part of a four-hour budget workshop on Tuesday morning trying to stretch the Town’s actual revenue to cover its proposed expenses.
Councilman Bob Massa, who chaired the meeting in the Mayor’s absence, said the preliminary look at the FY2014-15 budget shows total revenue at $1,208,000, down from $1,210,000 last year and total expenditures at $1,416,288, up from $1,210,000 last year. Massa said the proposed revenue will catch up somewhat before the next workshop in June as the franchise fees come in.
The biggest cuts are suggested in proposed special initiative expenses in the general fund as well as the hospitality tax revenue fund. It was generally agreed at the meeting to cut about $300,000 from the $468,000 proposed for 10 or so special initiatives in the general fund. These items include many of former Town Administrator John Perry’s pet initiatives, including plug-in stations for eCars, additional eCar work vehicles for the Town, right-of-way purchases on McNulty Road to accommodate road widening and streetscaping, as well as the complete street plans. Cutbacks are also expected to several special initiatives currently paid for with hospitality tax revenues, such as the rental and other costs for The Visitor Center and Blythewood Artists’ Guild, certain events and the baseball tournament. At the same time, Massa and Councilman Bob Mangone suggested spending money on a billboard on I-77 to promote the Blythewood Artists Guild’s individual businesses and $8,000 for a part-time secretary for the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce. While the Town spent $34,258.22 last year on Perry’s “Special Initiative 3B,” no one on Council has so far determined exactly what that and several other similarly named special initiatives are. Massa said the Council should take a closer look at all these items before the next budget workshop on June 13.
While the Town spent about $85,000 on mowing for the park and the new interstate landscaping last year, it plans to spend $95,000 this year; but that figure will also include the proposed $20,000 for new Christmas lights. Mangone criticized the lack of mowing and maintenance being provided for the new landscaping at the I-77 interchange and the median plantings at the Fairfield County line. Councilman Tom Utroska had mentioned prior to the meeting that the previous Council apparently did not provide for the costs of maintaining the considerable landscaping that was planted.
A large chunk of the morning’s discussion focused on the Town’s hospitality and accommodation tax revenues and expenses. Massa pointed out that while the revenue is healthy, it is being stretched thin to pay for the park.
“Almost 90 percent ($353,276) of the Town’s almost $400,000 annual hospitality tax revenue goes to make annual payments to the Blythewood Facilities Park for the $5.5 million park bond,” Massa told The Voice after the meeting. “That means that we are going to have to cut back on some of our traditional requests from community organizations for hospitality funds.”
The hospitality revenue for the coming year (proposed at $270,000) is expected to be considerably less than the $287,000 budgeted for last year. That reduction is largely due, Massa said, to the decreased of tax revenue resulting from the renovation of the Bojangle’s Restaurant.
“Anything over $270,000 this year will be a godsend,” Massa said.
The state and local accommodations tax revenue is expected to be about $128,000 next fiscal year, down from the $157,000 expected in the current year’s budget, but up from this year’s actual intake of $95,000. The total hospitality and accommodations tax revenues are expected to be a little less than $400,000.
Total proposed salary and benefits/expenses for Mayor Ross is $23,876, up from the $16,666.59 actually spent in FY2013-14. Total proposed (combined) salaries and benefits/expenses for Council is $22,177, up from $17,785.27 actually spent last fiscal year. Total staff salaries and benefits/expenses for FY2014-15 is $293,523, down from $379,549 actually spent last fiscal year.
Council is expected to hold first reading on the budget at the May 27 meeting. It will continue to work on the budget at a second workshop to be held on June 13.
The April 29 Richland 2 School Board meeting began 30 minutes late before a packed house at Lake Carolina Elementary School. Executive session items were lengthy, said Chairmen Chip Jackson. While the specifics of those items were not disclosed, executive sessions items usually involve student discipline (there were 13 students appealing expulsions), personnel/ staff decisions and legal/contractual matters.
The general fund operating budget was given the most time in the meeting. The Board had initially considered a budget that included an additional $13 million in property tax revenues over last year’s budget, but when word came from the Richland County Auditor’s Office that property tax collections would only generate $11 million more than last year, the budget was reduced by $2.1 million and the specifics of which line items to eliminate from the proposed budget were left to the discretion of the Finance department. In a 5-1 vote, the Board approved a total budget of $235 million.
James Manning voted against the approval because it was lacking in the Board having the decision of what items were to be removed.
Recognitions were made for many high school students: Westwood sophomore Andrew Plante won the 2014 State Strength Championship in the 190-pound weight class by pressing 280 pounds, squatting 495 pounds and extending himself 114 inches in a standing broad jump. Future Business Leaders of America students at Westwood High School (Jacob Schneider and Alani Thompson) and Blythewood High School (Ian Finch, Lorenzo Dyckes and Amy Johnson) won first-place honors at the FBLA state leadership conference. Blythewood High student Alex Vibber was honored for his first-place award at the recent Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) state conference.
Also in attendance were the Teacher Cadets from Westwood with Westwood teacher Jennifer Tinnery. They came to observe the Board meeting from the vantage point of a future teacher presenting to the District leaders and Board members. One student said that it was “interesting to see the role teachers can play outside the classroom in influencing education standard.” Early on in the meeting, a Lake Carolina science teacher lead her students in a presentation about nuthatch birds complete with singing by kindergartener Laura Eargle and a team of third-graders introduced the audience to the wonders of Canadian furry animals. The Teacher Cadets said they found the discussions about the District budget similar to talks from the economic classes.
Fred McDaniels of the Planning Department reported on the recently launched on-line student registration process that has caught the interest of pre-school and kindergarten parents. While the initial workload was very heaving for the district’s IT Department, the streamlined approach has cut the registrar’s paperwork time in half, giving them more time to hear families about specific need their students might have. Families with multiple children would not have to repeat common data and the district can more accurately identify those that qualify for free or reduced meals. The District would like to encourage returning families to try the on-line registration and avoid standing in lines for the fall registration.
The meeting ended a couple of hours later, around 9:30, with the Superintendent’s announcement of the District’s new Teacher Of The Year – first grade teacher Kim Kuhn of Bookman Elementary – and the national recognition for the third time to Blythewood Middle as ‘A School To Watch.’
RIDGEWAY – A Winnsboro man was arrested late Friday afternoon at his home on Sandifer Road and charged with the May 8 robbery of the First Citizen’s Bank in Ridgeway.
The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office said Boyd William Rowe, 52, was arrested without incident after investigators executed a search warrant on Rowe’s home where several hundred dollars in cash was found hidden in the back yard.
Rowe is believed to be the man who walked unarmed into the First Citizen’s Bank just after 3 p.m. on May 8 and demanded money from the teller on duty. Rowe allegedly told the teller that he didn’t want any “funny money,” indicating a bag of money containing a dye pack. After the teller had handed over $934 from the bank drawer, the suspect now identified by investigators as Rowe ran out of the bank, across the street and into the alley behind Laura’s Tea Room. Witnesses reported that the suspect got into a small white pickup truck and headed south down Highway 21.
It was a bit of inspiration that first pegged Rowe as a lead suspect in the case. Chief Deputy Keith Lewis said he knew Rowe had recently moved back into the area and he knew Rowe had a list of priors.
“I thought about him while I was lying in bed Thursday night,” Lewis said. “I remembered him and I wondered what he was up to, so we decided to check him out.”
Surveillance video was a start. Although the bank robber covered his face while inside the bank, video of him crossing the street – while not perfect – indicated enough of a resemblance to Rowe for investigators to look closer into his whereabouts on May 8. Investigators then learned that Rowe’s neighbor owned a small white pickup truck – a 1982 Dodge – that he often loaned out to Rowe, and at the time of the robbery, Rowe had indeed been in possession of his neighbor’s truck.
Lewis said investigators met with Rowe, who provided alibis for his whereabouts during the time of the robbery. After all of his alibis fell through, Lewis said the Sheriff’s Office obtained and executed a search warrant on Rowe’s home at 234 Sandifer Road. Investigators recovered what they described as “several items of evidence” inside the home. In the back yard, hidden inside a trash can, officers found between $300 and $400, believed to have been stolen from First Citizen’s Bank.
Rowe has lived at the Sandifer Road home since June of 2013. His list of convictions date back to 1980, when he was first picked up in Winnsboro for grand larceny. In 1985, Rowe was charged with housebreaking in Charleston County, and in 2000 with strong armed robbery and purse snatching in Newberry County. In 2012, Rowe was charged with grand larceny, also in Newberry County. Rowe also has numerous driving under suspension and DUI convictions on his résumé, as well as several drug charges.
Rowe was transported to the Fairfield County Detention Center where, as of press time, he is awaiting a bond hearing.
WINNSBORO – It may not have been a Hollywood-style high-speed chase along the lines of Steve McQueen in “Bullitt” or Gene Hackman in “The French Connection,” but high-speed pursuits involving a U-Haul rarely are. Especially a U-Haul towing a tractor on the back of a flatbed trailer.
Style points aside, investigators from the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office now have two men in custody whom they have linked to a larger organization, one that has pilfered Fairfield and surrounding counties of thousands of dollars in farm equipment and other machinery in a detailed and seemingly impervious operation.
The break came on April 12 when a deputy working special duty at the Waffle House off I-77 exit 34 in Ridgeway spotted a U-Haul towing a tractor traveling down Highway 34 at approximately 2:43 a.m. Deputies had been put on special alert for suspicious U-Hauls after preliminary investigations into the theft of equipment from J. Wilbur Collins & Co. on Kincaid Bridge Road in March determined that thieves were using U-Hauls to cart away heavy gear. County units in the Ridgeway area were notified and attempted to pull the U-Haul over after the driver of the truck crossed the center line. When the pursuing deputy hit his blue lights, the U-Haul hit the gas and raced down 34, heading toward Winnsboro.
At the intersection of Highway 321 Bypass, the U-Haul made a sharp left, heading south. The driver then swooped into the median, cutting across the grass and into the north-bound lane – still heading south as fast as the U-Haul could manage. Backup units raced ahead of the U-Haul, clearing traffic as the chase advanced south, while pursuing units followed in the south-bound lane. An oncoming mini-van only barely avoided a head-on collision.
Highway 321 became two lanes again, and the U-Haul hung a rickety left onto Roddy Road, following it to where it dead-ends before plowing through the front yard of a home, diving into a creek and crashing against a tree. The doors flew open and the driver and a passenger fled on foot into the darkness. The passenger leapt into the creek, but was apprehended a few yards away. The driver made a better show of it, and bloodhounds were called to the scene to sniff out his trail. Half an hour later, the driver was found cowering underneath the front porch of a nearby home.
The passenger was identified as Tyrone David Holloway, 44, of 421 Dewpoint Road, Columbia. The driver was identified as Michael Booker, 47, of 1460 Oak Crest Drive, Columbia. The U-Haul was reported stolen from Two Notch Road, Columbia, while the tractor and the trailer were reported stolen from the Rosewood Drive area of Columbia. Holloway was charged with possession of stolen property, while Booker was charged with several counts of grand larceny. All told, the goods recovered that morning were worth approximately $36,000, yet they represent only a fraction of what the organization has netted in recent months. Moreover, investigators believe the thefts date back years and are the work of a larger ring with tentacles stretching across the entire state.
Although the identity of the person sitting at the top of the pyramid is, to date, unknown, Chief Deputy Keith Lewis said the organization operates out of another county. The organization is broken up into smaller groups of specialists, none of whom is aware of the other’s identity. It begins with an advanced team of scouts, who spend day after day driving around the state, casing properties and making notes of low-hanging fruit – lawn equipment left outdoors, trailers parked outside homes or businesses, tractors or other machinery left in the open or in easily breached lots. The scout team reports back and a second team is dispatched to make the theft. Individual teams specialize in specific types of equipment, Lewis said – lawn mowers, dump trucks, tractors, trailers. After the items are stolen, thieves then take the goods to a predetermined drop point – typically the parking lot of a business or church, or at a truck stop. A third unit is there waiting for them to give the thieves a lift back to their individual assembly points and the stolen goods are left to await pickup by a fourth team.
On March 11, a team hit J. Wilbur Collins & Co. They made off with a lawn mower, a pressure washer and a trailer. The take was so good, they decided to come back for a second helping a week later. But by then, the company had upgraded their surveillance cameras, and while investigators were not able to identify any suspects during the second, abortive, attempt on J. Wilbur Collins, they were able to see that suspects were employing a U-Haul in their efforts. That image stuck, and when deputies spotted a U-Haul parked and left unattended in the Wal-Mart parking lot on the 321 Bypass on March 18, they decided to have a look.
Inside the U-Haul, investigators saw that the ignition switch had been broken, and a check on the vehicle determined that it had indeed been stolen out of Richland County just days earlier. It was enough for the Sheriff’s Office to send out an intelligence report to its deputies to be on the lookout for U-Hauls passing through the county, which led to the April 12 chase and arrest.
Since the arrest of Holloway and Booker, the Sheriff’s Office said investigators have cleared up three cases in Fairfield County, including the theft of a trailer from the Jenkinsville Water Company on April 4, the theft of a Ford F-450 along with other equipment from a construction site in Jenkinsville on April 1 and the J. Wilbur Collins case. One case in Newberry County, one in the city of Newberry, two cases in Lexington County and four cases in Richland County have also been cleared since the arrests. More cases are pending, the Sheriff’s Office said, although cracking the ring completely may prove a more difficult challenge. The structure of the organization, designed to limit contact between the levels of operation, virtually ensures only the smallest fish may ever swim into law enforcement’s net.
In the meantime, Lewis advises citizens to keep their gear locked up tight.
WINNSBORO – After meeting with staff members from U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney’s office two weeks ago in search of federal assistance in tapping into Lake Monticello for additional future water, Town Council learned Tuesday night that the solution to their problems might be right under their collective feet – and for a considerably lower cost than the proposed $8-$12 million to lay infrastructure out to Western Fairfield.
Jim Landmeyer, a hydrologists with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and a Blythewood resident, told Council Tuesday night that he had been following the trials and tribulations of the Winnsboro water system in The Voice newspaper “with great interest.” The problem is not unique to Fairfield County, Landmeyer said, and the USGS only recently wrapped up a study in Chesterfield County.
“You’re not going to get (1,000 gallons a minute) in Fairfield County,” Landmeyer said. “You might get 200-300 gallons a minute. So if you had four production wells in a rock aquifer, pumping 200 gallons a minute, that’s a million gallons a day.
“Have you ever thought about where that water (in the quarry) comes from? If you remember anything from tonight, remember that even though you’re sitting in fractured rock, you’re not sitting in sand (like Chesterfield), you do have an ample but unassessed source of water,” Landmeyer said.
Landmeyer said a groundwater assessment survey would take two to three years to complete, with the entire project costing “a couple hundred thousand dollars.” A 30 percent match would be available from the federal government, he said.
A groundwater survey has never been conducted in Fairfield County, Landmeyer said, at least not since 1879 when the USGS was founded. A mineralogical map was completed in 1970, he said, but there is no clear picture of how much water is available underneath Fairfield County, or how difficult it would be to bring enough of it to the surface for processing. The treatment of the groundwater would be minimal, he said, requiring only a dose of chlorine before it could be piped out to customers. Already there are many private wells in use in the county, he said, indicating that there is more water to be found.
“There is groundwater out there,” Landmeyer said. “The question is, could we find the areas that are thick enough and open enough that you could depend on?”
In other business Tuesday night, Council OK’d $26,000 in capital expenditures for the water plant for the purchase of a flow pump and its accessories. Council also reaffirmed an agreement voted on last November to provide 58 water taps to Landtech, a development in the Blythewood area.
Blythewood’s efforts to bow out of their franchise fee agreement with Winnsboro for the use of right-of-ways in Blythewood for access to water infrastructure has not reached a final conclusion, Mayor Roger Gaddy said Tuesday.
“I have talked with (Blythewood) Mayor (J. Michael) Ross on the phone,” Gaddy said. “I have not met with him personally, but I am sure there will be continued conversations to the negotiations.”
WINNSBORO – Fairfield County announced this week their latest addition to the Walter Brown Industrial Park. Tiffany Harrison, Director of Economic Development, said the Spain-based company Hidral (pronounced: E’-Drawl) has taken over occupancy of the building formally home to Makat in Walter Brown, out of which they will base their North American sales operations.
Harrison said the company, which manufactures freight elevators, platforms, lifts and vertical reciprocating conveyors, will invest $1.5 million in Fairfield County and create 25 jobs over the next three to five years as they eventually bring production as well as sales to the site.
“We are extremely pleased that Hidral chose to locate its first North American facility in Ridgeway, adding to a growing list of international companies that have chosen to call Fairfield County home,” Fairfield County Council Chairman David Ferguson said. “We look forward to partnering with the company to ensure their success as they start up operations in Fairfield and will continue to support them as they grow their presence in the North American market.”
Hidral USA Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hidral, S.A., headquartered in Seville, Spain. Hidral, S.A. employs more than 300 individuals worldwide and offers products to the professional industry in more than 50 countries.
The 18,000-square-foot facility, the company’s second facility in the Western Hemisphere, will be located at the Makat Building at 500 Tillessen Blvd. in Ridgeway. Hidral, S.A.’s first facility in the Western Hemisphere is a manufacturing plant located in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
“We are excited to participate in all the advantages that South Carolina has to offer Hidral USA Inc.,” Jose L. Casanova, vice president and general manager of Hidral USA Inc. said. “Additionally, I would like to thank the Central S.C. Alliance, Fairfield County and the S.C. Department of Commerce for making this project a reality. Without their continued support, this would have never been possible.”
The company is currently seeking employees for the following positions: engineering, drafting, clerk/administration, logistics, production, purchasing and quality. Interested applicants may send their resumes to: applications@hidral.us.com.
