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  • Fairfield County Incident Reports

    FCSO

    29065

    Highway 215 N., 2800 block, between 11:27 a.m. and noon July 7. Someone entered an unlocked vacant home and stole copper wiring worth $100.

    Highway 215 S., 10600 block, between 9:07 and 9:25 a.m. July 8. Someone stole two newspaper boxes worth $500 from outside a business.

    Cole Trestle Road, 1100 block, between 10:13 and 10:23 a.m. July 8. Someone vandalized the outside of a church causing $275 in damage.

    Keller Lane, 100 block, between 10 p.m. July 8 and 7 a.m. July 9. Someone vandalized a car parked outside a home causing $3,000 in damage.

    29130

    Park Road, 1500 block, between 8:21 and 9 a.m. July 7. Deputies recovered a stolen SUV of undetermined value from the side of the road. The SUV had suffered $10,000 in damage.

    29180

    Bundrick Road, 400 block, between 7 and 10 a.m. July 5. Someone stole aluminum cans and other items worth $150 from outside a home.

    Highway 321 Bypass N., 300 block, between 7:08 and 7:18 a.m. July 5. Someone attempted to break into a home causing $300 in damage.

    Highway 321 Bypass N., 100 block, between 9:50 and 10:30 a.m. July 6. Someone broke out two windows on a home causing $100 in damage.

    Winnsboro Arms Drive, 100 block, between 5:24 and 5:31 a.m. July 7. Someone stole video game equipment worth $100 from a home.

    Bowsan Lane, 200 block, at 11:17 a.m. July 7. Someone broke into a home and stole a television worth $500.

    Estes Lane, 1900 block, between 3:33 and 5:30 p.m. July 7. Someone broke into a home and stole electronics and other items worth $1,539.

    WDPS

    29180

    Hickory Drive, 100 block, between 9 p.m. July 1 and 1:40 p.m. July 2. Someone vandalized a pool outside a home causing $200 in damage. Someone also vandalized a car parked outside a home causing $500 in damage.

    W. College Street, 100 block, between 10:10 and 10:20 p.m. July 2. Someone stole a handgun worth $100 from an unlocked car parked outside a home.

    Cedar Street, 200 block, between 7:50 and 7:55 a.m. July 5. Someone vandalized a car parked outside a home causing $1,500 in damage.

    E. College Street, 100 block, between 4 p.m. July 5 and 2:40 p.m. July 6. Someone stole stereo equipment and other items worth $500 from a car parked outside a business.

    N. Congress Street, 100 block, between 1 and 8 a.m. July 7. Someone broke into a business and stole computer equipment worth $5,000.

    N. Congress Street, 100 block, between 1 and 8 a.m. July 7. Someone broke into a business and stole change worth $300.

    Highway 321 Bypass, 700 block, between 1 and 1:30 p.m. July 10. Someone shoplifted a swimming pool of undetermined value from a business.

    Highway 321 Bypass, 700 block, between 8 and 8:30 a.m. July 11. A man was arrested after someone shoplifted electronics worth $295 from a business.

    Highway 321 Bypass, 700 block, between 1:25 and 2:10 p.m. July 12. Two women were arrested after someone shoplifted electronics worth $568 from a business.

    N. Congress Street, 300 block, between 7:10 and 7:28 a.m. July 13. Someone broke into a business and stole tools worth $1,775.

    N. Garden Street, 200 block, between noon and 12:15 p.m. July 14. Someone stole $111 in cash from a purse inside a home.

    Oak Street, 400 block, between 8 p.m. July 13 and 8:23 a.m. July 14. Someone vandalized a home and a car parked outside the home causing $300 in damage.

    Report of the Week:

    A 22-year-old Winnsboro man was having so much trouble getting along with his mother that he called deputies July 11 and asked them to give him a ride to his grandmother’s house. Always happy to serve, deputies responded to the Royal Hills Circle home. Unfortunately for the caller, however, there existed an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Deputies gave him a ride, all right – to the Fairfield County Detention Center.

  • Coroner: Body Found Near Fairfield Road Victim of Homicide

    The body of a 21-year-old Columbia man found Sunday morning near Fairfield Road was the victim of homicide, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said Monday.

    Watts said James J. Shepard, of Loggerhead Drive in Columbia, was found around 9 a.m. Sunday in a wooded area off Wessinger Road by a pair of hunters who were clearing the land in preparation for the upcoming deer season. Shepard died from a gunshot wound to the head, Watts said.

    Time of death had not been determined at press time.

  • Patrick Dukes Takes Second in Microsoft Competition

    Patrick Dukes, center, of Blythewood, with teammate Austen Hayes, right, accepting a check for $4,000 as second place finishers in the Microsoft Image Cup competition in Australia in June. At left is Larry Hryb, Director of Programming for the Microsoft gaming network Xbox Live.

    Blythewood’s Patrick Dukes was one of two students from Clemson University’s School of Computing who took second place in the world Kinect Fun Labs Challenge, held as part of the tenth annual Microsoft Imagine Cup competition.

    The competition was held last month in Sydney, Australia.

    The theme for the 2012 Cup was ‘Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.’

    Graduate students, Dukes and Austen Hayes, known competitively as the “Whiteboard Pirates,” developed a stroke rehabilitation application using Microsoft’s Kinect tracking system. Kinect is a motion sensing input device that enables users to control and interact with an Xbox 360 without having to touch a game controller. The interface is accomplished with gestures and spoken commands.

    “Duck Duck Punch” interjects a little fun into what sometimes can be a challenging rehabilitation regimen. Dukes and Hayes said they saw shortcomings with current stroke therapy that they could address with the Kinect.

    “Since we wanted the program to be one that could actually be used, we consulted with stroke therapist, Dr. Michelle Woodbury, of the Medical University of South Carolina,” said Hayes. The goal was a cost-effective system that could be used at home. The pair came up with a design that helps with upper arm therapy.

    “Over 500 teams from around the world initially entered the competition by writing a project proposal,” Hayes said. “More than 100 teams were then asked to submit working software, a user’s manual, a written paper and a video describing their application.” The top three teams were awarded a free trip to the final completion in Sydney.

    In 10 years, the Imagine Cup has grown to be a global competition focused on finding solutions to real-world problems. Nearly 200 countries and regions registered for the Imagine Cup 2012 competition.

    Popular Science magazine wrote about Dukes’ and Hayes’ experience in Australia. “Everybody gets a new Nokia phone and winners get to go to a Microsoft developer’s conference,” the article said. “Everybody gets Bill Gates’s signature on a certificate!” See the complete article online at http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-07/kicking-2012-imagine-cup.

    Dukes will receive his Master’s from Clemson this year. He is also in the Ph.D. program.

    The son of Craig and Pam Dukes of Lake Ashley, Dukes graduated from Blythewood High School in 2006 and was student body president his senior year. He graduated from Winthrop University in 2010 with a B. S. in math.

    “We are so proud of Patrick,” Pam Dukes said. “We hope that his project will eventually be widely used to help stroke patients recover from this often devastating event.”

  • Trinity UMC Asks BAR to Approve 25-year Renovation Plan

    After filing an application for a Certificate of Appropriateness with the Town of Blythewood July 19, Trinity United Methodist Church presented a church expansion plan to the Board of Architectural Review Monday night.

    “We would like to be under permit and ready to go in five to six weeks,” John Powell, of LTC Associates Architects, told the Board.

    On behalf of the church’s planning committee, Powell presented to the Board a proposed master plan that included new construction renderings of a youth ministry gathering space, additional classroom facilities and a larger capacity sanctuary to accommodate the current growth and membership forecasts of the church.

    The proposed plan for the church, which sits in the center of downtown Blythewood and takes up a good portion of the block bordered by Blythewood Road, Boney Road and McNulty Street, must meet the Board’s approval regarding the architectural review aspects of construction of new facilities and the reconstruction of the existing structures, including the parking site improvements, the current church sanctuary and child care facility currently in operation.

    The five-phase architectural plan is projected over the next 25 years, depending on growth forecasts and funding sources, according to Powell.

    Since the plan did not address tree, landscaping, parking space allocation and signage, the church received only conditional approval at the meeting.

    “The basic plan is sound,” board member Bob Mangone  said, expressing the general consensus and optimism of the Board. But as these key pieces of the plan were not addressed at the hearing, the church must go before the Board again either at a special called meeting Aug. 13, or at the next calendar meeting Aug. 20.

    The Board expressed general approval with the overall look of the church’s plans.

  • Cowan Named Top Rotarian

    Outgoing Rotary Club president Catherine Martin (left) and Deputy Chris Cowan.

    Richland County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Cowan has been named the Blythewood Rotary Club’s Rotarian of the Year. The announcement was made at the Club’s regular breakfast meeting at Maggie’s Market July 19.

    Cowan was presented the award by outgoing club president Catherine Martin, who credited Cowan with planning and implementing a foreign exchange program for the club last year between Blythewood High School and the Queensland College of Wine Tourism in Australia.

    Blythewood High School principal Keith Price and culinary arts instructor William Turner recently returned from a trip to Australia to seal the deal, which focuses on student exchange studies leading to careers in the culinary or hospitality industry here and abroad.

    “This would not have happened,” Martin said, “had it not been for the vision, effort and shear believing of this one member of the club.”

    In addition, Martin said Cowan has been a tireless volunteer for the club’s annual social for the last two years, as well as for Salkehatchie. “Plus,” she added, “he has brought us four new members this past year. Chris epitomizes the true spirit of Rotary.”

    Cowan lives in Blythewood and is a Captain with the Sheriff’s Department, overseeing the Office of Public Information.

  • National Night Out at Lake Carolina

    Lake Carolina and the Lake Carolina Safety Committee  will host a ‘Night Out Against Crime on Tuesday, Aug. 7, starting at 5 p.m. Festivities will take place at the Lake Carolina Town Center and will include the Richland County Sheriff’s Hummer, K-9 team, Harley Davidson Motorcycle team, the K-9 unit, D.A.R.E. Truck and the RCSD fly-by helicopter.

    Come and be apart of Lake Carolina’s annual police and community partnership event for a safer community.

  • Scholarship Association Meeting Aug. 5

    The Bethel-Hanberry Athletic Association Scholarship meeting will be held Sunday, Aug. 5, at 4:30 p.m. at the Blythewood Recreation Park, 126 Boney Road.

    We invite all our good men and good women who attended Bethel-Hanberry High School to come out and participate in this organization. We are also looking for the community to support us in our efforts to offer college scholarships to the youth of our community.

    For information, call Larry D. Griffin at 803-361-5292, James Woods 803-920-8260 or Ted Manning at 803-413-4622.

  • Can It! Food Preservation Class Aug. 11

    A food preservation and canning class will be held at Spring Valley Presbyterian Church on Sparkleberry Lane, across from Spring Valley High School, Aug. 11, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Cost is $30. Nancy Harrison, Clemson Extension Agent will teach the class, which is sponsored by the Sandhill Farmers Market.

    The class includes an introduction to principles for safely preserving fruits and vegetables by pressure and boiling water bath canning methods,and participation in a canning demonstration. Participants will receive a Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving and a jar of freshly canned food. Pickle making will also be discussed.

    Contact Nancy Harrison at 803-874-2354 ext.113 or email: nhrrsn@clemson.edu. Mail payment for the class ($30) to P. O. Box 161, St. Matthews, S.C. 29135 and make the check out to Clemson University.

  • 25-Mile Yard Sale Planned from Blythewood to Winnsboro

    A 25-mile yard sale that will connect Blythewood, Ridgeway and Winnsboro is planned for Friday, Sept. 7 (noon – 8 p.m.) and Saturday, Sept. 8 (7 a.m. – 2 p.m.)

    The event will coincide with Ridgeway’s semi-annual sidewalk sale as well as it’s First Friday in September. The Chamber of Commerce for Blythewood and Fairfield County want to bring traffic to businesses along the Highway 21 and 34 routes.

    The merchant groups in the three communities will work closely together in organizing the road-side sale, which will span from Exit 24 (the downtown Blythewood exit off I-77) north on Highway 21 to Ridgeway and then on Highway 34 through downtown Winnsboro and back down Highway 321 via a short section of Highway 200 to connect back to Highway 34.

    “The sale will allow local folks who have attics, garages and storage sheds full of items to clean them out and sell things they want to part with,” said Ridgeway merchant Denise Jones.

    “A group sale is better than selling alone. More stuff draws more traffic,” Jones said. “We are encouraging sites along the route to have several families together. So mark your calendars and begin talking to your friends and neighbors about finding a location along the route to sell your treasures.”

    Blythewood, Ridgeway and Winnsboro will be issuing “Big Grab” yard sale signs for your locations.

    “We will also try to help sellers secure some generic locations along the planned routes should they been needed,” Jones said.

    Look for more details in future editions of The Voice.

  • Golf Tournament to Benefit Animal Rescue Group

    A golf tournament to benefit SQ RESCUE, a Blythewood area animal rescue group, will be held on Saturday, Aug. 11, at The Windermere Club, 1101 Longtown Road E. in Blythewood. Registration (if you aren’t already preregistered) is at 1 p.m. with a 2 p.m. Shotgun Start. Registration fee is $65 per golfer or $245 for groups of four.

    The format will be a four-person scramble. Because the proceeds are going to a worthy cause that depends on the generosity of those who care for animals, a number of sponsorships and donations are available: Event Sponsor, $500 or more; Cart Sponsor, $300; Putting Green Sponsor, $200; Hole Sponsor, $100 and to be recognized on SQ RESCUE’s website, $50. Donations of goods and services will also be given recognition on the website.

    For more information or to sign up for a sponsorship or to make a donation,  call Lauren at 803-608-0295 or Mark at 803-572-7021, email golfandpups@gmail.com, or go to sqrescueinc.org/golf.