A Beaufort man was arrested Sunday and charged with felony D.U.I. after the 2000 Saturn he was driving southbound on I-77 in Fairfield County side-swiped a 2010 Dodge Durango carrying a family on vacation from Michigan. A teenager in the Durango was killed as a result of the accident, which occurred near the 41 mile marker.
Ricky Lance Deel, 34, of Beaufort, was arrested following the accident and booked at the Fairfield County Detention Center.
The family, from New Boston, Mich., was traveling southbound in the right-hand lane on I-77 in the Durango when their vehicle was side-swiped at 6:50 p.m. Sunday by Deel’s Saturn, which swerved out of the left-hand lane. The Durango overturned and a passenger, 16-year-old James Franklin Williams, was ejected from the vehicle and into the northbound lane. Barkley Ramsey, Fairfield County Coroner, said Williams was then struck and killed by several passing cars. Williams was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the collision. Five other passengers and the driver in the Durango were transported to Palmetto Richland Hospital, one of whom was in critical condition as of Monday afternoon. Ramsey said the family traveling from Michigan to Florida to embark on a cruise to the Bahamas.
The accident was one of two deadly crashes in Fairfield County over the weekend, claiming three lives in total.
A one-car accident at 11:20 a.m. on Nov. 16 took the lives of Johnnie Mae Chisholm, 65, of Green Street in York, and Willie Albert Ashley II, 70, of Neelys Creek Road in Rock Hill. Ashley was driving a 1974 Chevrolet Suburban northbound on I-77 when, near the 32 mile marker, the left rear tire blew out causing him to lose control of the vehicle. The Suburban overturned in the median, ejecting both Ashley and the passenger, Chisholm, neither of whom was wearing a seat belt. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Ramsey said the tires on the Suburban were re-caps and at least 12 years old.
Both accidents remain under investigation by the S.C. Highway Patrol.
Joining Lady in a reading group at Round Top Elementary School are: D.J. Barnes, Lane Broderick, Kaylyn Boyd, Carson Buie and Amanda Hill.
Blythewood’s Round Top Elementary School welcomed an unusual 7-year-old to school this fall – Lady, a yellow Labrador Retriever and former seeing-eye dog, who reports eagerly to homeroom in Mrs. Holly Threatt’s classroom each day.
Lady enjoys her new role as a learning helper at Round Top. She listens attentively when students practice reading aloud, and is surely proud that by January, every first grader in the school will have read a story to her.
Threatt, who teaches reading in grades K-3, adopted Lady last summer.
“She had just retired as a guide dog, and clearly had the qualities of a great therapy dog,” Threatt said. “Our family’s other dog, Elvis, goes to work with my husband every day, and I didn’t want to just leave Lady home alone. Plus, I could see that she was itching for a new job to do!”
So Threatt spoke with Principal Jeaneen Tucker about ‘employing’ Lady as a learning helper, and they decided to give it a try.
“We introduced her slowly and carefully to the students,” Tucker said. “We knew that some children might be apprehensive around dogs, but it’s turned out that often those very kids who had some apprehension have become great friends with Lady and go out of their way to pet her or give her a smooch.”
In Threatt’s classroom, the opportunity to take Lady on a walk around the school is a coveted reward.
“When students achieve their weekly reading goal, they can choose from a variety of rewards,” Threatt said. “A little quality time with Lady is one of the most popular choices.”
Tucker said that Lady helps students not only academically, but that her presence also helps to develop the compassion and humanity that is kindled through fun, friendly relationships with animals.
Though Lady spends a comfortable chunk of class time snuggled into her cozy bed, she still manages to keep up with her extracurricular activities such as leading the school’s Pawfest Dog Parade in October. She also happily accepted an invitation recently to visit with students at nearby Blythewood Middle School.
And, of course, Lady has a stylish side! She proudly wears a different fashion collar with her pink leash each day, and went trick-or-treating as – what else? – a Ladybug. Her classmates were delighted that she gamely dressed as a terrific (yet humble) Wilbur the Pig for the school’s Charlotte’s Web party.
“Lady is amazing with the kids,” Tucker said. “She’s well-behaved, and seems to understand that even difficult moments can be teachable situations. For instance if a child does something that Lady doesn’t like, such as pulling at her tail, Lady will move away. So we use that opportunity to illustrate that if you act unpleasantly towards a friend, it makes that friend not want to be around you. But when you treat people (and animals) nicely, they will react in kind.”
Tucker said that Lady is especially gifted at comforting children who are having a bad day.
“She’s a gentle spirit – you can see it in her eyes,” Tucker said. “One day a student came to school very sad because her family’s dog had just died. She asked to spend some time with Lady, and it helped to console her through a very difficult time.”
Lady’s easygoing personality encourages the children’s affection and supports their good work habits.
“She has added a wonderful element to our school,” Tucker said. “The kids absolutely love her.”
Voice photographer and Winnsboro attorney Ross Burton in his natural environment. Burton will head to Russia in 2014 to cover the Olympics.
You’ve seen his work, right here in these pages. Images from Westwood High School’s inaugural football and volleyball seasons crisp and sharp, the action frozen in time. Now, the man behind the camera on so many Redhawk sidelines will have a much bigger venue to cover, and in a much colder climate.
Ross Burton is going to Russia to cover the 2014 Winter Olympic Games–specifically, his beloved biathlon event.
For those not familiar with the event, the biathlon competition consists of a race in which contestants ski around a cross-country trail system, with the trail broken up by either two or four shooting rounds (half in the prone position, the other half standing). Depending on shooting performance, extra distance or time is added to the contestant’s total skiing distance or time. Skiers carry a small-bore rifle which uses .22 caliber ammunition. For each shooting round, the biathlete must hit five targets. Each target missed must be “atoned for” by either skiing a penalty loop, having one minute added to the skier’s total time or having to use an extra cartridge to finish off the target (only three extra cartridges are available for each round, and a penalty loop must be made for each of the targets left standing).
Burton knows the event well, and in the 1970s was a competitor on the U.S. team.
“But then I grew up and had to earn a living,” he said. “So I joined the Army.”
Burton, at 64, is a former “Army brat” himself, having been born in Boston and following his father across the country during the elder’s career.
“I don’t really have anywhere I can say I am from,” Burton said. “My father was in the Army, so we went where he went. Then I spent 20 years in the Army.”
During his time in the service, Burton was stationed in Michigan at the University of Detroit’s ROTC program. He took advantage of the free credit hours and began work on his law degree, which he continued at the New England School of Law while stationed in Burlington, Mass. during the Gulf War and finished several years later back in Detroit. One of his stops along his military career landed him at Fort Jackson in Columbia.
“South Carolina seemed a congenial place with a great climate and a low cost of living,” he said. “I decided this was where I wanted to be when I retired.”
Burton bought a house in Winnsboro in 1991 and when he hung up his uniform in 1995 made it his home. In 2001, he married his wife Betsy, who, he said, has been very tolerant of his biathlon mistress — because all that time, Burton never forgot his true love, even though it was virtually impossible to keep pace with it in America.
“It’s such a small sport in the U.S., there was really no way to keep up with it,” he said. “Then, in the early 1990s, the Internet changed everything. Suddenly, you could watch world news on biathlon events.”
‘Twas the month before Christmas and all through the Town, everyone was getting ready for the holidays.
In Blythewood, the Christmas season begins with Carolighting at the Town Hall. This year was a little different – the tree was lit before dark, the cookies were store bought and the grounds around Town Hall were a mess with grading and gravel.
Nevertheless, the townsfolk kicked off the season just the same, and now it’s on to shopping (locally), cooking, visiting and decorating.
Next up is the annual Christmas parade on Dec. 9 at 3 p.m. And if the rumors around town are true, Blythewood’s Santa may once again ride into town atop one of his favorite mules.
Members of the community gather in front of the Town Hall for the annual tree lighting ceremony.
Traditionally held on the second Sunday of December, the parade is always well attended, featuring bands, floats, horses, dogs tractors and dancing girls.
Parade entries and sponsorships are being accepted through Nov. 30. There is no parade entry fee, but participating units should be family friendly and be decorated for the season.
Participants must submit a parade entry form to be included in the line-up. Sponsors donating $250 or more will receive a complimentary framed, numbered, and customized print by Blythewood artist Harold Branham. Parade sponsor and entry forms are available on the Chamber website, www.blythewoodcoc.com, and Blythewood Town Hall.
The parade route starts at the corner of Oakhurst Road and Main Street (near the Fire Station), turns right onto Main Street, proceeds south and turns right onto Blythewood Road, turns right onto Boney Road and ends at Bethel-Hanberry Elementary School. Parade stands and emcees will be stationed on Main Street at the intersection of Langford Road and on Boney Road near Trinity United Methodist Church.
Grand marshal for this year’s parade is former S.C. high school and college football coach and Blythewood resident Art Baker.
For more information, contact the Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce at 803-712-3806 or blythewoodcoc@gmail.com.
The owners of several downtown Blythewood businesses spoke out during a public hearing Monday night during a special called Town Council meeting. Their businesses are located in the proposed Town Center District. The six speakers expressed concern about how and whether their current businesses would be impacted by the new District’s zoning requirements.
Victor Kocher, owner of the new Palmetto Gold and Pawn shop in McNulty Plaza, expressed concern that his business was actually not allowed in the district. His landlord, Darlene Clawson, asked whether Council might make a zoning exception of Kocher’s business or classify it as a thrift store.
Vanessa English, owner of the Wendy’s on Blythewood Road, said she was not sure why the town government was once again adding new restrictions to the town’s commercial zoning.
Also expressing concern that their businesses did not seem to meet the requirements for the district were Dwayne Bohanan of Storage Express and Ray Bryson of Pope Davis Tire.
Final vote by Council on the zoning could come in early December.
In the latest move in the skirmish over Blythewood’s limited ball fields, the Blythewood girls’ softball board was asked last week to vote on whether they would consider moving their organization under the umbrella of the Blythewood Baseball League (BBL).
Although sharply divided, the board voted 6-5 to enter discussions with the BBL. The BBL board met a week later, on Nov. 18, to formally discuss the ramifications of including girls’ softball in the BBL.
Under that scenario, the girls would be registered to play softball through the Dixie League, the same league the BBL is registered with.
According to Thomas Massey, president of the softball board, announcements in this regard have not yet been made to the softball board by the BBL.
One source not authorized to speak for the BBL, told The Voice that the BBL would need some time to reach out to the Dentsville Softball League where girls from Blythewood are boundaried to play. Blythewood area girls playing in the Dentsville League softball boundaries would be impacted by new Dixie League softball boundaries.
Bill Trapp, president of the BBL, told The Voice, that the issue will be solved with more fields, primarily those expected to be finished in the next year or so as part of the County’s new Kelly Mill complex.
A member of the BBL board who was present at the meeting on Sunday said that everything is going to work out well and that everyone, both on the baseball side and on the girls softball side, are going to be extremely happy with how things are going to turn out.
Some parents of softball players have expressed concern in phone calls and letters to The Voice that when Blythewood girls softball was taken in by the BBL in the late 1990s, that things didn’t work out and the girls had to move their games to Dentsville while the BBL stayed in Blythewood.
A source on the BBL board told The Voice that won’t happen this time.
The Richland County Recreation Commission and the Town of Blythewood have committed to temporary relief from field shortages in the spring by providing a field at the Community Center for Spring Ball of 2013.
Trapp said the girls will not be relegated to the Community Center with the boys at the Blythewood Park fields.
“We’re looking at a mix of the two groups using all the fields,” he said. “Both groups will use each field. Smaller fields might be better suited to T-ball and Coaches Pitch and the bigger fields more suited to the older baseball and softball teams.”
Hundreds of pounds of food for the hungry in our area will be collected on Thanksgiving Day at the ninth annual Gobble Go fun run and walk to benefit Harvest Hope Food Bank. The event begins at 8 a.m. on Thursday at the front gate of the Windermere neighborhood in LongCreek Plantation.
Runners, walkers, children and even dogs are welcome to participate. The entry fee is two nonperishable food items per person. All items collected will be donated to Harvest Hope.
Participants can choose routes of 3.1, 4.4 or 5.5 miles on gently rolling roads including Columbia Club Drive and Longtown Road. The event is not timed and no awards are given.
“On Thanksgiving Day of all days of the year, it’s hard to think there are people without enough to eat,” said event organizer Jeanne Reynolds. “The Gobble Go is a celebration of our blessings while helping those less fortunate.”
Those who want to contribute food but can’t participate in the event may drop food items by the Windermere front gate that morning.
The second annual Holiday Tour of Homes to benefit the Rhett Davis Children and Youth Scholarship Fund will be held Sunday, Dec. 2, from 5-9 p.m.
The tour will begin at Trinity UMC where participants can pick up the list of homes and maps for the tour.
Proceeds from ticket sales will be used to provide Christian camp scholarships for children and youth in the community who might not otherwise be able to attend a Christian camp.
Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for kids. For more information, call 786-1637.
Investigators with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office are hoping that partial skeletal remains discovered Saturday morning may put to rest a 2-year old missing persons case.
The Sheriff’s Office said the remains, discovered by a timber crew off Hope Road in Fairfield County, may be those of William Ira Pound Jr., the 54-year-old Batesburg-Leesville man who hasn’t been seen since Nov. 29, 2010. Pound’s family told news outlets in 2010 that he had intended to visit his mother in a Fairfield County nursing home that day. The following day, Pound’s car was found wrecked on Old River Road, about 1 mile east of I-77, but a search of the area, aided by thermal image scans of the surroundings, failed to turn up a driver. At the time of the recovery of the vehicle, Pound had not been reported missing, and the car was thought to have been abandoned and was towed from the scene.
Pound’s wife, Sharon Pound, reported him missing to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Office Dec. 11, but it wasn’t until January 2011 that a Ridgeway salvage yard connected Pound’s name to the wrecked vehicle on his lot. A witness later came forward and reported seeing a man matching Pound’s description walking down Hope Road on the day of the accident, approximately 2 miles from where the car was recovered. The witness said the man was missing one shoe and had a towel wrapped around his head. More than 40 volunteers searched an 8-mile area for days following the report, with no luck.
Capt. Brad Douglas of the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office said the remains have been sent to the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) for testing and identification. It was not known at press time when results of those tests would be available.
Fairfield Central head coach Demetrius Davis said he was expecting to see a different football team get off the bus from Cheraw than the team that took a lick and laid down back on Sept. 21, when the Griffins thumped the Braves 43-8. And that’s what he got.
These Braves were seasoned, hungry and relentless, and had the Griffins down 3-0 in the second quarter. These Braves found a way to put the brakes on Fairfield’s juggernaut offense, play keep-away and slow the tempo down. But the Griffins found their legs before the half and stretched out a win in the second chapter, 27-10, to advance to the upper state championship game next week.
“It’s the first time we’ve trailed since Union (Sept. 14),” Davis said. “I think to be able to play in the playoffs, you’ve got to be able to face a little adversity and still have the confidence to win. At the end of the day, you have to believe you can win and our kids believe they can win.”
After dueling to a scoreless draw in the first quarter, the Braves got on top with a 32-yard field goal by James Davis with 7:32 left in the second. The drive, which began with 28 seconds to go in the first quarter on the Cheraw 36, could have ended much differently. Having chewed up the Griffin defense to drive the ball to the Fairfield 10, the Braves lined up to go for a fourth-and-1. An illegal procedure penalty on the delayed snap cost the Braves 5 yards, however, and forced the kick.
The Griffins responded with a clock-consuming drive of their own, starting at their own 27. Riding largely on the back of Damien Bell, the Griffins marched to the Cheraw 30 before the Braves forced a crucial third-and-10. Then Fairfield quarterback DeAndre Belton hit Kewaun Squirewell with a 27-yard pass, all the way down to the Cheraw 3, setting up Bell’s 1-yard touchdown run moments later.
The Griffins had an opportunity to add to their 6-3 lead late in the half, but Belton coughed the ball up at the end of a 19-yard run at the Fairfield 45.
“(Belton) had a big fumble right there at the half, and I hate to see that,” Davis said. “He’s such a good player, I want him to be free at all times and I don’t want him to have stuff in his mind, so I went to him and told him to move on and just play. He was able to shake it off. I’m so happy he’s on my team and I get to coach him again next year.”
Stymied on a fourth-and-goal from the Cheraw 3 on their opening possession of the second half, the Griffin’s relied on their defense to hold the Braves deep. Compton Walker fielded the punt at the Braves’ 41 and returned it to the 17, setting up a three-play drive that Belton finished off with a 6-yard run. Walker’s kick put the Griffins up 13-3 with 5:37 left in the third quarter.
But the Braves were not going to collapse in round three of the playoffs the way they had in week five of the regular season, and an unusual turn of events put them right back in the ball game.
Facing a fourth-and-7 from their own 48, the Braves lined up to punt the ball away. The punt was blocked by Mitchell Crosby and rolled deep into Cheraw territory. Following a wild scramble, the officials ruled that a Griffin had, momentarily, recovered the ball, but had fumbled it back to Cheraw, giving the Braves new life on their own 17. It was the opening they needed, and the Braves capitalized, driving 83 yards in 17 plays to close the gap to 13-10 on a 2-yard run by Justin Chapman with 9:26 left in the game.
The Griffins responded once more, with Daniel Maple taking the ensuing kick at his own 35 and returning it to the Fairfield 47. Belton and the Bells drove the ball to the Cheraw 22 before the Braves forced a fourth-and-2 and Davis rolled the dice. The Braves bit on the long count, jumped off sides and gave the Griffins a first down at the 17. Still, the Cheraw defense hung tough, putting the Griffins in another fourth down situation, this time 5 yards shy at the 12. Belton rolled out in the bootleg and hit Larry G. Bell with a touchdown strike to put Fairfield up 20-10 with 4:45 remaining. Bell would hammer in the final nail one minute later with a 20-yard run against a gassed Cheraw defense.
“That’s a good football team there,” Davis said of Cheraw. “We were fortunate tonight. I’m glad our kids were prepared for a tough football game, because we were able to respond. I told them it’s tough to beat a team twice. They’ve got all the film they need just from watching the last game. We probably could have done a few things differently here and there, but at the end of the day, we won.”
The Griffins will host Newberry next week for the opportunity to represent the upper state in the title game Nov. 30. Newberry beat Central 21-14 Friday night.
FC 0-6-7-14 27
CH 0-3-0-7 10
Second Quarter
CH – James Davis 32 FG. (7:26)
FC – Damien Bell 1 run. Kick failed. (2:32)
Third Quarter
FC – DeAndre Belton 6 run. Compton Walker kick. (5:37)
Fourth Quarter
CH – Justin Chapman 2 run. Davis kick. (9:26)
FC – Larry G. Bell 12 pass from D. Belton. C. Walker kick. (4:45)
FC – L.G. Bell 20 run. Josh Bell kick. (3:46)
Team Stats
FC CH
First Downs 12 13
Rushes/Yards 40-188 37-140
Passing Yards 90 69
C-A-INT 6-7-0 9-23-0
Penalties/Yards 6-55 4-26
Fumbles/Lost 2-2 1-0
Individual Stats
RUSHING: FC—Damien Bell 23-92. DeAndre Belton 10-60. Larry G. Bell 7-36. CH—Justin Chapman 21-71. Deion Sanders 1-3. Xavier Taylor 7-24. John Cooks 2-4. Randall Watson 1-12. Robert Pitts 5-26.
RECEIVING: FC—Damien Bell 1-(-5). Kewaun Squirewell 2-80. Kevin Workman 1-3. Larry G. Bell 1-12. Javaris Cook 1-0. CH—Justin Chapman 5-36. Winston Martin 2-10. John Cooks 2-25.
