BLYTHEWOOD – Town Administrator John Perry announced at the June 24 Town Council meeting that several seats on the Town’s boards and commissions will be open for appointment when terms expire Sept. 30.
Vacancies will include two each on the Blythewood Planning Commission, Architectural Review Board (BAR) and the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA.) Perry requested that volunteers interested in appointment to the seats make applications at the Town Hall now. For more information, call Town Hall at 754-0501.
RICHLAND – A Columbia man was killed early Friday morning in a single-car accident on Longtown Road in northern Richland County.
According to Richland County Coroner Gary Watts, 19-year-old William T. Rew, of North Woodlake Drive, was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple trauma.
The S.C. Highway Patrol said Rew was driving a 2007 Toyota four-door east on the 2200 block of Longtown Road when the car ran off the side of the road and struck a tree at approximately 2:15 a.m. Rew, the only occupant of the vehicle, was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident, the Highway Patrol said. At press time, the accident was still under investigation by the Highway Patrol.
Fairfield Central High School will host their annual Junior Griffins Football/Life Skills camp, July 22-24, for third- through eighth-grade students. The camp runs from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and is free. To register, call head coach Demetrius Davis at 803-635-1441.
Phil Hinely, at a recent County Council meeting, resigned from his post as County Administrator Monday night.
FAIRFIELD – County Administrator Phil Hinely has resigned from his post at Fairfield County, effective June 28. Council announced the resignation at the end of Monday night’s work session.
“Monday’s meeting (June 24) was just all he could take,” Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) said after the work session. “He’s been beaten up over this pretty bad.”
Hinely’s departure from Fairfield County comes amid a firestorm of accusations and speculations about whether or not he used his County email account to forward emails containing pornographic images three years ago. The State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) was made aware of the allegations in February, but closed their file on the matter after consulting with Sixth Circuit Solicitor Doug Barfield, who determined that none of the alleged images in SLED’s possession violated South Carolina’s obscenity laws. Hinely denied that the contents of the SLED file had come from his computer, and, as SLED closed the case without conducting an investigation, the origins of the alleged emails could not be verified. Hinely did admit to forwarding emails that contained “tasteless jokes,” but said none of them were pornographic or anything resembling the material in the February SLED file.
When a Columbia television station attempted to access Hinely’s emails through the S.C. Freedom of Information Act, the County offered to grant that access, but only for a fee of nearly $30,000. The Voice was allowed to review Hinely’s emails, although without the aid of Information Technology (IT) expertise, and found nothing resembling the contents of the February SLED file.
In a special called meeting June 5, County Council voted unanimously to sanction Hinely. Hinely was placed on probation by Council, to be reviewed by the Chairman, Vice Chairman and County IT Director at the end of a six-month period. Hinely’s salary of $130,292 was reduced 5 percent by Council for the duration of the probationary period, and he was required to submit an official letter of apology to Fairfield’s local newspapers. Council also voted to include contract employees under the same policy manual as regular, at-will employees, except where the manual conflicts with the contract.
But that failed to satisfy a number of Fairfield residents who, for the last two Council meetings, have choked Council chambers, scolding Council for their perceived leniency and calling for Hinely’s head.
A second set of emails, also alleged to have been sent from Hinely’s Fairfield County address, surfaced during Council’s June 24 meeting, presented to Vice Chairman Dwayne Perry (District 1) by Kevin Thomas, Chairman of the Fairfield County GOP, during the public comments portion of the meeting. Thomas’s comments sparked a disagreement with Hinely that threatened, briefly, to derail the proceedings.
“I’ve heard that some Council members have not seen the pornographic emails that Mr. Hinely sent,” Thomas said.
“Allegedly sent, please sir,” Hinely interrupted.
“My time is running quick,” Thomas said. “Please don’t interrupt me.”
“I am going to interrupt you, because you lie about me,” Hinely said.
When Thomas was finally allowed to continue, he said he had recently received a second set of alleged emails, dated as late as May 28, 2011, which he then presented to Perry. Thomas later told The Voice that the February SLED file had been verified as coming from Hinely’s computer by Barfield and that the second packet of alleged emails contained similar dates, subject lines and content. Thomas and Fairfield County Democratic Party Chairwoman Tangee Brice Jacobs issued a joint statement late last week calling for Hinely to resign.
Barfield, meanwhile, was unhappy to learn how his name had been attached to the scandal.
“I did not verify anything about where this stuff came from,” Barfield said Monday morning. “I was told who it was attributed to, but I didn’t do anything to verify that information.”
“I have no file. No file was left with me,” Barfield continued. “I met with a SLED agent and he asked me to take a look at it and to determine if there was any illegality. I determined that there was not.”
Perry said the Thomas packet contained images more graphic than those in the SLED packet, but that he was still unsatisfied with their authenticity.
“The whole thing has become a wildfire,” Perry said last week. “People are taking these emails as gospel, as factual. I feel like I have an obligation to make a good decision and not be influenced by people in the room telling me what I should and shouldn’t do. I do want to know if he (Hinely) did it.
“This thing is so much deeper than people realize,” Perry said. “Why is this coming out now, if the emails were allegedly sent three years ago?”
Ferguson said he and Perry had met with Barfield on June 26 for about 45 minutes to discuss the matter. After that meeting, Ferguson said, the decision was made, per Barfield’s suggestion, to instruct County attorney John Moylan to remove Hinely’s hard drive from his computer and ship it to a California company, recommended by Moylan, to be analyzed.
“My only regret is that I didn’t do that two months ago,” Ferguson said. “I should have had our IT department take Mr. Hinely’s computer apart and send that hard drive off right then.”
Ferguson said Hinely was aware of the County’s intent to remove his hard drive and supported the decision.
“I told him I wished I had done this from the start,” Ferguson said. “Mr. Hinely said, ‘I wish you had, too’.”
As Council began its own internal investigation, SLED, at the request of State Sen. Creighton Coleman (D-17), became involved again and arrived Thursday (June 27) to seize Hinely’s hard drive.
“We don’t need a whole lot of help getting to the bottom of this,” Ferguson said last week after learning of SLED’s involvement. “If there was not a criminal act that took place, what’s the purpose of an investigation? The first emails have not been substantiated, yet.
“I don’t know what got him (Coleman) in that favor (to call in SLED),” Ferguson said. “For two and a half months he hasn’t said anything. But he brings SLED back into it, and you know, that kind of scares me, to be honest with you.”
Coleman told The Voice on June 27 that, because of the uproar in the community surrounding the allegations, he asked SLED to launch the investigation.
“There have been questions in the community about it and we need to get to the bottom of it,” Coleman said. “If (Hinely) didn’t do it, his name needs to be cleared. If he did do it, then County Council needs to take action.”
A SLED spokesperson confirmed on June 28 that SLED was indeed conducting an official investigation this time and therefore would not answer questions from The Voice about why, if no criminal activity was determined in the first SLED case file on the matter, a formal investigation was launched now, or why the results of the first SLED case file were turned over to Ferguson instead of, or in addition to, the original complainant.
Ferguson said SLED took the hard drive on Friday (June 28) and provided the Council with a copy Monday afternoon. Ferguson said the Council would continue to pursue its own internal investigation independently of SLED’s efforts and in spite of Hinely’s resignation.
“There’s going to be a lot more names in this before it’s all over with,” Ferguson said last week. “I think when this thing all comes out, there will be mud on a lot of people’s faces. But Phil Hinely is gone, and that was the chore at hand.”
Ferguson said he attempted to talk Hinely out of stepping down and admitted that the decision did not look good in light of the investigations.
“This thing has been eating on him and his wife so bad,” Ferguson said. “He called me Monday night he said he was going to resign. The man gave us 12 good years of service. He’s a good guy.”
Ferguson also said he was not concerned with the potential political fallout from the scandal.
“Not one voter from District 5 has been in one meeting we’ve had since this stuff started,” Ferguson said. “My voters told me, ‘When we think you’re doing something wrong, we’ll let you know’.”
Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6) said Council would release their report on the contents of the hard drive at the conclusion of Council’s investigation. Council was to hold a special meeting Wednesday (July 3) at 6 p.m. to discuss Hinely’s resignation further.
Numerous attempts to reach Hinely for comment were unsuccessful at press time.
FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield County School Board gave the final OK to their 2013-2014 budget Tuesday night. Weighing in at $34, 358, 564 and with a static millage rate of 203.1 mills, the budget passed on a 5-0 vote, with Board member Annie McDaniel (District 4) abstaining.
In order to keep the District afloat until tax time, the Board gave unanimous consent to a Tax Anticipation Note (TAN) for up to $6.15 million. The District will tap into the S.C. Association of Government Organizations (SCAGO) program for the bond, a program that pools other districts in the state in order to obtain a lower interest rate. The bond will be paid back once property taxes begin coming in in January. Last year the District floated a TAN of $5.5 million.
The Board also unanimously approved the recommendation of J.R. Green, Superintendent, to increase the salary of the District’s School Resource Officers (SROs) from the $28,000-$29,000 range to $32,130, provided the officers become SRO and D.A.R.E. certified.
Green’s request to transfer $18,000 in state special revenue funds into the general fund also sailed through without objection Tuesday night. The funds, according to Kevin Robinson, Finance Director, had not been utilized for their state-designated programs and had to be either transferred to the general fund or returned to the state by June 30. A similar transfer – $33,743 in Barnwell Funds, allocated for instructional facilities projects – narrowly passed on a 3-1 vote. McDaniel voted against the transfer because, she said, there was no built-in oversight to ensure the money would be used for instructional purposes. Board members Andrea Harrison (District 1) and Paula Hartman (District 2) abstained.
The Board also passed first reading of an amendment to the District’s policy on acceptable use of technology. The amended policy represents a shift in the District’s attitude toward students bringing their own portable electronic devices (iPads, iPods, etc.) to school, encouraging instead of discouraging students to do so in order to utilize those devices in the education process. The District will have to upgrade its wireless capabilities in order to meet the growing demand of these devices, Green said, which will cost approximately $100,000. The first reading passed 5-0, with McDaniel abstaining.
FAIRFIELD – A much anticipated and long-awaited vote by County Council on the fate of a recreation facility for Western Fairfield County will have to wait a little longer. After hearing impassioned pleas from citizens of Western Fairfield – the likes of which Council has been hearing since mid May – Council voted 4-0 Monday night to table any decision on construction of a recreation building until their next meeting, July 8. Council members David Brown (District 7) and Mikel Trapp (District 3) were absent Monday night.
The vote to table was clearly not what residents of Western Fairfield had come to hear Monday night.
“We have some dire needs in terms of serving the people of the Dawkins community,” the Rev. Vandell Davis, pastor of Dawkins Church, said during the public comments portion of Monday’s meeting. “Our young people have no place to go and play, and swim or to even walk in the community. We hope that after this evening, things will change. Whatever we can do as a church and a community, we will be glad to pull up our sleeves and help.”
Councilman Kamau Marcharia (District 4) asked for the delay, citing the absence of Trapp, who represents part of that community. Marcharia also said he had asked County Administrator Phil Hinely for a site evaluation of the land – 8.12 acres off Ladds Road – to determine what it would cost to prepare the land for construction, and asked that the results of that evaluation be brought to the July meeting. Carolyn Robinson (District 2) also requested an economic impact study to determine the cost of erecting and outfitting the building.
“I don’t believe we put anything in the budget that will start July 1 to actually man this building and this facility and anything else that goes into running that facility,” Robinson said.
The building itself, she said, is already in the hands of the County, and that is one of the things many members of Western Fairfield find frustrating.
“We want to know when you are going to deliver and install the building that you approved, purchased and have somehow put into storage for years,” Dawkins resident Jeff Schaffer said during his turn at the public comments microphone. “What the people of Western Fairfield want is to know when you are going to deliver on your promise to erect the building you approved and purchased years ago for Western Fairfield’s recreation center. We want that building delivered. We want it immediately. Tonight you have the opportunity to do the right thing for the people who elected you. Show us you can do it.”
Council’s commitment to recreation in Western Fairfield reaches back eight years when, according to minutes from their Feb. 28, 2005 meeting, Council voted 5-1 “to provide to the (now defunct) Recreation Commission $500,000, in addition to their budget, to provide a county-wide recreation plan, beginning with a facility in Western Fairfield.” Councilman Brown voted against the measure, which was put forth by then Councilman Carnell Murphy, who was also Executive Director of the Recreation Commission at the time.
By May of 2006, the Recreation Commission had inked a contract with MAR Construction of Lexington, S.C. to begin work on the site, which included $10,000 for clearing the property and installing a septic tank, $5,000 for sidewalks and $453,710 for delivery and construction of a building, purchased from a company in Alabama. The property for the facility had been leased to the Commission by S.C. Electric & Gas (SCE&G) in 1989 for the sole purpose of recreational facilities.
“The County gave the Recreation Commission $500,000 and asked them to sit down with us to plan where the building would go,” Hinely explained recently. “Before we could, they began construction on the site. There was no bid on the building purchase, which came to nearly $500,000, leaving nothing left over for staffing, plumbing, things like that.”
In the meantime, Council and the Recreation Commission had fallen into a legal battle over dual office holding (in the case of Murphy) and a political struggle over whether or not the Commission was an independent body or an arm of the County government. In the end, the County prevailed, replacing independent-minded Commission members with members whose only official act would be to dissolve the Commission, thereby paving the way for the County operated Recreation Department. In the midst of this struggle, the County used a clause in the lease agreement between SCE&G and the Commission, which stated that no permanent improvements could be made to the property without prior written consent of SCE&G, to halt construction at the site.
Fast forward to 2008: With construction stopped, the County now faced a lawsuit by MAR, which had a prefabricated building on its hands, ready to deliver. According to County documents from the negotiations, the County had the option of either paying $79,500 and receiving the building, or walking away empty handed for $39,000.
“I recommended to Council that we pay the $39,000 and be done with it,” Hinely said. “We knew nothing about the building, if it was the right size to meet the needs of that area, or whatever. But Council opted to take the building.”
A few weeks later, the building was delivered, in crates. Hinely said it is currently stored at the Armory on Old Airport Road. In the intervening years, Hinely said, the County has learned that the building does not meet the current fire codes. The property off Ladds Road, meanwhile, has reverted back to its natural state, grown over with pine trees. Hinely speculated that there was at least $50,000 in prep work to do to make the property ready for any building. The balance of the $500,000 designated for the aborted project, he said, remains in the County’s budget.
The strange and terrible saga of the recreation building with no home, however, does little to assuage the residents of Western Fairfield.
“I’m not asking you why you did what you did,” Schaffer said Monday night. “I’m not concerned with that. If you think a rational comment like ‘other districts are entitled to a recreation center too,’ well, we won’t disagree. Just be sure you make them wait as long as we’ve waited, after you’ve approved it, before moving on. Dawkins is no longer the dark and forgotten corner.”
WINNSBORO – With the new downtown farmer’s market slated for a June 29 opening, the Chamber of Commerce found itself behind the eight ball recently with Town ordinances. Terry Vickers, Chamber President, told Town Council during their June 18 meeting that while the Chamber is not charging growers and artisans during this first year of the market, growers would, she said she recently discovered, be hit with the Town’s peddlers’ license fees.
Don Wood, Town Manager, said peddlers’ fees were $50 a day, which was a little steep for the burgeoning market, and suggested Council consider an annual farmer’s market fee of $20. Council voted 3-0 to waive the peddlers’ fee entirely, until a new ordinance could be devised to cover the market.
Vickers said the market will open temporarily at the old Ford dealership on Congress Street and will move to the first floor of the Town Clock once renovations there are completed. She said she hoped to expand the market to the promenade behind the Clock as well, eventually moving into the former Voter Registration building on E. Washington Street, if that building can be rescued from the wrecking ball. Christ Central Ministries is currently in talks with the County for the revitalization of that building.
Council also approved the purchase of a pair of service trucks – one for the Maintenance Department for $12,380, and another for the Gas, Water & Sewer Department for $21,000. Council also OK’d a request by Councilman Clyde Sanders to donate $200 out of his community funds to donate to Christ Central Ministries, as well as a request from Councilman Jackie Wilkes to donate $250 from his funds to the local 4-H Club’s summer camps.
In his last meeting as a Councilman, Bill Haslett requested $150 to cover mileage expenses incurred by HandMade in America for their last visit to Winnsboro.
Following executive session, Council voted to send the Town of Ridgeway a bill for $13,677 to cover the cost of converting their water treatment from Chlorine to Chloramine. The total cost of the conversion, Council said, was $172,000, the balance of which was paid by Winnsboro.
BLYTHEWOOD – Within the last 90 days, developer DR Horton has started 40 new homes in Cobblestone Park, representing a capital investment of more than $20 million, according to Tony Hanson, DR Horton’s local manager.
Hanson told Blythewood Chamber of Commerce members at their June breakfast meeting that the local economy will also feel the longer-term benefit as new residents begin occupying those new homes in the months to come.
“I don’t think there’s a better place to be right now than Blythewood and Cobblestone Park,” Hanson said.
In addition to building homes, DR Horton has cleaned up undeveloped lots and ponds, planted trees and added fountains in Cobblestone. On the golf course, the clubhouse is undergoing some improvements and should re-open within the next 12 months. Starting in July, new golf carts will be delivered to Cobblestone Golf Club, which ranks among the top 30 courses in the state.
DR Horton is building homes in several price ranges, with entry level family-style homes starting in the $250,000-325,000 range, and luxury homes on and off the golf course in the $500,000-700,000 range. Amenity fees have been revamped to be competitive with those in other communities with similar amenities, Hanson said.
Hanson invited Chamber members to visit the Cobblestone Park community. Those wishing to visit the community should contact Diane Jones or Lisa Eckard in DR Horton’s sales office (333-8100).
Here’s a “daycation” you can take this summer or plan for the fall: An 80-mile drive to Walnut Grove Plantation near Spartanburg. About 80 minutes’ drive up I-26 will take you to a farm/plantation of the 1780s that’s on the National Register of Historic Places.
Named for the walnut trees planted on the property by Kate Moore Barry, Walnut Grove Plantation’s story begins around 1765 when Charles and Mary Moore established Walnut Grove Plantation on a 550-acre king’s land grant. Many of Walnut Grove Plantation’s outbuildings from the 18th century still stand. Among them are a blacksmith shop, wheat house, barn, meat house, a well house with dry cellar, a school and doctor’s quarters. Kitchens of that era generally stood apart from the main dwelling because they were hot, prone to being smoky and, more to the point, they often caught fire. Note how gourds provided useful homegrown wares: bowls, scoops and funnels, all essential to preparing food. You’ll find them more picturesque than plastic bowls.
Put Walnut Grove Plantation on your fall itinerary if you like. FestiFall, a two-day festival at Walnut Grove, gives visitors an opportunity to see Colonial-era people practice crafts and trades. Aptly named craftsmen like Ike Carpenter of Edgefield demonstrates his pioneer woodworking skills at FestiFall at Walnut Grove. In early days men like Carpenter shaped wood into useful tools and beautiful furniture. A steady hand and an eye for detail rendered oak into functional works of art. See how Ike Carpenter’s handcrafted spoons replicate the look and feel of Colonial America. Today the indispensable wooden spoon brings a pioneering touch to modern kitchens.
Other craft artists like Greenville’s Mary Alice Goetz come to FestiFall to demonstrate basket weaving. She weaves split oak strands into heirloom baskets that will bring function and beauty to generations of users. See a blacksmith work his forge, a cooper make barrels and other craftsmen demonstrate how essential goods were made.
In 1961, Thomas Moore Craig Sr. and wife Lena Jones Craig, descendants of the Moore family, donated Walnut Grove Plantation and 8 acres to the Spartanburg County Foundation in a special trust fund. Now the public can tour and learn from this historic site. Walnut Grove Plantation chronicles how free and enslaved people settled South Carolina and other colonies. Part of its story is the fight for independence and the building of a new nation. Take a tour and see that story come alive.
If You Go …
Walnut Grove offers guided hourly tours of the site’s 250-year-old buildings. Learn about Colonial and Revolutionary Era history and see reenactors portray people of the time.
• Walnut Grove Plantation
1200 Otts Shoals Rd, Roebuck, S.C. 29376.
$6 per adult, $3 ages 5 to 17, free to infants to 4.
Call ahead to plan group tours.
864-576-6546
www.spartnaburghistory.org/walnutgrove.php
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 – At its regular Monday night meeting, Town Council passed an administrative ordinance to adopt a $1.2 million budget for the Town for the fiscal year 2013-14 that includes an Enterprise Fund to cover the costs of maintaining the Doko Manor. Council also passed a laundry list of final readings including zoning and annexation of Dusty Broom’s 11.43 property on Blythewood Road close to the intersection of Fulmer Road. Council voted to change the zoning from Rural to Community Commercial zoning. Council also finalized an administrative ordinance amending residential and commercial building and inspection fees in the town and an ordinance establishing a schedule of fees for development permits and related reviews, zoning map amendments, proceedings before the boards of Zoning Appeals and Architectural Review, and providing for other permit fees.
Mayor J. Michael Ross announced that the Town Hall has posted new hours and will now be open from 8 a.m.- 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“We have a full staff now — five full-time office employees and one part time,” Ross said, “so I think this is one way we can better accommodate the public.”
Ross also announced that staff members would now be available to assist the Town’s various volunteer committees like the ball field committee, the park committee and others.
Town Administrator John Perry reported that the I-77 landscape work at Exit 27 is nearing completion and that the several dead trees among the new plantings will be replaced by the landscape contractor in the fall. He said the landscape company who did the work is under the direction of the S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT), which has assured the Town that the work will be completed satisfactorily. Perry also announced that, starting next week, SCDOT will begin maintaining and mowing the grass on a 6-mile expanse along I-77. He also reported that the Town is in contract negotiations for the completion of the playground in the park and that he hopes the work will be finished by the end of the summer.
Council voted to go into executive session to discuss “matters relating to the proposed location, expansion or the provision of services encouraging location of expansion of industries or other business in the area served by the public body.” No action was taken.
