The Independent Voice of Blythewood and Fairfield County has officially opened office space in downtown Winnsboro in the office of local real estate agent Debbie Lewis at 108 S. Congress St.
Nocola Hemphill, the newest member of The Voice, will be in the office from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. daily. To reach her by phone, call 803-542-0537; or email her at Nocola@blythewoodonline.com.
“We are very excited about opening our Winnsboro location,” said Voice publisher Barbara Ball, “and we look forward to serving the Fairfield County community as its only 100 percent local news source.”
A boil water advisory, issued July 9 for customers of the Jenkinsville Water Company, was lifted last week after a second round of tests revealed samples containing E. coli bacteria came from a private well and not the company’s system, company president Gregrey Ginyard said.
Ginyard said the original sample came from a home in the Blair/Feasterville area and was part of standard random testing procedures practiced by DHEC. The customer-wide boil water advisory, which affected approximately 780 customers, was issued as a precaution, Ginyard said. Retested samples from the company’s wells in the area came back clean, he said, but samples taken from a privately owned well at the home showed the contamination. Copies of the tests were sent to the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), Ginyard said, along with a letter from the homeowner stating the contaminated sample came from his well.
E. coli can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea and headaches. It can be potentially even more dangerous in small children.
The Catalyst Youth Ministry of the First Church of the Nazarene will conduct a week of mission projects in the Winnsboro community during the week of July 23. “ISERVE” will include various services including house repair, ministry and honoring some special people in our community. There is no cost for these events, but reservations are required.
July 23
will be a special ladies evening, which includes a meal and the featured entertainment of Mrs. Candee Brakefield, Christian comedian, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Call 803-635-4463 or 803-237-2569 to reserve your seat.
July 26
will be a special night of honor as our teens serve dinner to the police officers, firemen and paramedics of our community at 7 p.m. Firemen are asked to call Chief Greg Gerber at 803-635-8416; police officers can reserve at their precinct and paramedics can make reservations at 803-633-2107. We will also be happy to deliver to those who are on duty and unable to attend.
July 27
we will honor the senior adults of our community with a lunch at noon and a special concert of Southern Gospel music by The Sharpes of Blythewood. Call 635-4463 or 422-4246 for reservations. Deadline for reservations for each event is Friday, July 20.
The Wateree Home Owners Association (WHOA) held their annual membership meeting July 14 at the Lake Wateree Baptist Church on River Road in Ridgeway. Prior to the meeting, a breakfast of assorted biscuits of sausage and bacon with jelly, coffee and juice was served. A blessing of the food was given by outgoing WHOA chairman Jerry Nealy, followed by a call to order and welcome to the membership and guests. Barbara Davis, the association’s long-time treasurer, gave a financial report and the results of an internal audit were submitted by Rick Noble. A new C.O.P. officer was introduced to the lake residents and he announced the next crime watch meeting is to be held Aug. 6 at 6:30 p.m.
Nealy introduced the new WHOA board members for 2012-2013. They are: chairman, Becky McSwain; first vice chairman, Milt Marley; second vice chairman, Michael Davis; secretary, Leslie Thorsvold (not in attendance) and treasurer Barbara Davis. Road representatives for the coming year are as follows: Carol Hefner for Wateree Estates/Dutchman Lane with alternate Richard Druggers; Jim McHone for Dovewood/Pinehurst with alternate Rick Noble; Sonny Hudson for Wateree Creek Valley/Woodside/Wateree Keys, alternate Ken Lawson; Bill Iskrzak for Molly Creek with alternate Jama Waters. There is presently no road representative for Rockbridge but alternate is Marge Whitney. Leonard Mushkin is representative for Rocky Point/Kingfisher but there is no alternate. Westshore rep is Chuck Stogner, no alternate. Deer Run rep George Jeandheur, alternate Brenda Worthington. Rolling Hills rep Milt Marley, alternate Pete Dodd. Plantation Pointe rep is Jerry Lester, alternate Frank Twiford. Shangri-La/Timberlane representative is Ned Gwin, with no alternate and Great North/Valley Drive/Inlet rep is Ron Hoadley with Jerry Nealy as alternate. If your road has no representative or alternate and you would like to help, please contact Rebecca McSwain.
Rick Noble, past chairman of the Catawba Riverkeepers, introduced the new riverkeeper Sam Perkins. Perkins is a UNC graduate from Chapel Hill, N.C. with a Masters in Science. McSwain introduced the cove keepers and introduced Mark Oakley from Duke Energy.
Oakley gave a report on the re-licensing that is required by the federal government, keeping up with any new laws, the clean water act, the Comprehensive Relicensing Agreement, biological opinions that are being studied and announced the new license for early 2013. He answered questions from the audience concerning low water during drought, modifying the spillway, concerns over the 100-year-old dam’s condition and a bladder dam. When construction of the bladder dam would start is undetermined right now or whether it will be in summer or winter months. The summer months have less runoff and would be a better time for employee safety.
Mr. Craig Keese discussed a safety program that is close to him, following a family tragedy, and suggested it be implemented by the people of WHOA. It is already in use at several lakes and involves having life jackets of all sizes available at boat landings for those who have none, with instructions for how to wear them properly. He represented water safety, storm and PFD information shelter. He stressed the importance of educating people about the necessity of wearing life jackets and the dangers of hyperthermia, quoting statistics on the number of drownings for children under 4 in both lakes and swimming pools and six senseless accidents of 23- to 32-year olds recently due to not having life jackets on. Anyone interested in getting this program started at Lake Wateree should contact their road representative. A WHOA member talked about the danger of electrocution from swimming in the water near docks with electricity on them. There have been several reported deaths. This is a great concern and needs to be addressed.
Milt Marley introduced chairman Dick Foote who gave a waterwatch update, and Dan Tufford who has a Ph.D. from USC. They explained how the waterwatch program works and the need for volunteers to go out in the boats to collect water samples. This program started in 1998 with thanks to volunteers and financial support. A slide presentation and summary of the 2011 tests were shown and an explanation of the importance of eutrophies, nutrients and algae and their relationship to the lake. There are currently 21 waterwatch volunteers but more are needed. Please contact Dick Foote and volunteer.
Richard Dorony, firefighter from the Dutchman Creek Volunteer Fire Department, spoke on the new substation and its benefits to the lake residents and thanked the WHOA organization for its financial support. There is a need for additional funds for such things, as a well as for a septic tank and restroom for the firefighters and more volunteer firefighters are needed. McSwain then asked for questions from the audience. One important topic was the need for dump stations for large boats at the docks. There was great concern about where the waste was being dumped.
It was a very informative meeting attended by more than 100 people.
McSwain is only the second female WHOA chair since its beginning. Linda Burnham was the first one, serving two terms from 1994 to 1996. McSwain has worked on many committees and been involved in so much of the lake activities over the years and is so knowledgeable that we are all looking forward to a productive year. Congratulations to Becky and the new WHOA board.
The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office said a male juvenile will be charged with assault and battery after a female student claims she was sexually propositioned and inappropriately touched earlier this month during summer school sessions at Fairfield Central High School. The juvenile in the case is reportedly one of the three young men who pleaded guilty in March following an assault of a sexual nature in a Fairfield Central classroom.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, a 15-year-old female student was in the Fairfield Central High School cafeteria July 2 when she was approached by three 15-year-old male students, two of whom reportedly offered her $5 to perform a sexual act on them. According to the incident report, the victim said she was hindered from leaving the area by one of the suspects. The Sheriff’s Office said that while none of the male subjects physically restrained the victim, she was sitting at a corner table in the cafeteria and the subjects had her boxed in at the time.
The victim also stated that one of the male subjects touched her inappropriately on her thigh in her private area, according to the incident report.
A second female student later told investigators that she was also approached by one of the same 15-year-old male students in the cafeteria at Fairfield Central on July 2 and was also asked by the suspect to perform a sexual act. The second victim did not wish to pursue charges, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that charges will been filed against the male juvenile who had actually touched the victim. The 15-year-old will be charged with third-degree assault and battery through the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), the Sheriff’s Office said. The other two juveniles will not be charged.
The juvenile expected to be charged in the July 2 incident was also involved in a March 12 incident that cost a teacher his job and triggered a civil lawsuit. All three of the juvenile males who later pleaded guilty to the March 12 classroom assault are back in the school system, School Board Chairwoman Andrea Harrison confirmed last week, after serving a suspension and being reassigned to Gordon Odyssey Academy.
“Of course, we don’t want to have children out of school,” Harrison said. “We do try to follow the Code of Conduct, while at the same time not take children away from a learning atmosphere.”
The District’s Code of Conduct states that the District “will exercise a zero-tolerance for all Level 3 disciplinary infractions,” which, according to the policy, includes sexual offenses and assault and battery. Action taken for Level 3 offenses includes a referral to administration, contacting parents, suspension pending expulsion hearing and notification of the School Resource Officer and appropriate citation.
On March 12 a teacher at Fairfield Central High School left his classroom unattended for several minutes, during which time a 14-year-old male student and two 15-year-old male students reportedly assaulted a 14-year-old female student, touching her inappropriately, pulling her shirt down and taking pictures of her exposed body with their cell phone cameras.
An incident report from the event states that the victim attempted to get away from the suspects, moving from her desk to sit on the floor against the wall. The suspects reportedly followed and physically restrained her on the floor, again pulling her shirt down. One suspect allegedly placed his mouth on the victim’s exposed body while the other suspects reportedly continued touching her inappropriately.
The suspects were arrested March 14 and charged with first-degree assault and battery.
All three students went through the legal process, Harrison said, through DJJ. The students pleaded guilty in Family Court in late March and received probation. After serving 10 days of suspension, the students were enrolled in Gordon Odyssey.
Before reinstatement, the students appeared before the District’s Disciplinary Committee, which consists of Harrison and Board Member Henry Miller.
“Zero tolerance means zero tolerance,” Harrison said. “It could be that we didn’t enforce zero tolerance. It could be that I didn’t know it was listed as a zero-tolerance issue. It may be something we will have to go back and look at. I won’t say we made a mistake, because our ultimate goal is to make sure our children get an education.”
Harrison said the Disciplinary Committee has not, in the last year, made reports of their activities to the full Board.
“The students know who has come before the Committee,” Harrison said, “so, for me, it is a confidentiality issue.”
Harrison also said that, with a new superintendent installed, she hopes to dissolve the Disciplinary Committee and relegate those issues to a Disciplinary Officer.
On April 16, the family of the female victim in the March 12 incident filed a lawsuit against the District, claiming that the victim has suffered emotional distress as a result of the assault. The suit claims that the victim returned to school shortly after the incident but was verbally harassed by other students. As a result, the lawsuit states, the victim went on home-bound status. Prior to the assault, the lawsuit notes, the victim had been an honor roll student at Fairfield Central High School.
With two of its members in attendance at the Town of Winnsboro’s water authority meeting and one member out for personal reasons, a bare quorum of Fairfield County Council gave the final OK July 9 to administration to hire two new code enforcement officers as well as create an assistant director of planning and zoning position. The move is designed to help the County enforce new and stricter zoning laws put in place by Council earlier this year.
The new code enforcement officers will have to complete training with the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy in order to be certified as Class 3 officers (with the ability to issue citations) within a reasonable amount of time after hire, Council Chairman David Ferguson said. The assistant director of planning and zoning will essentially be an understudy of the director, Hinely said at Council’s June 25 meeting, and will move into the director’s spot when that position comes open in the next two years. At that time, the assistant director position will be discontinued.
Hinely also said it was his plan to divide the department into two sections – building inspection, and planning and zoning/code enforcement – as well as initiate community outreach programs in order to notify property owners of County’s intent to enforce the more rigid codes.
“We’ll have some community awareness meetings to let people know what’s going on before we start mailing out notices,” Hinely said July 9.
Fergus said he had already received some negative feedback from the community regarding the County’s new codes, but said the tighter codes were necessary if Fairfield County is going to move into the future.
“First of all, we didn’t have a plan to help people realize just how negative these housing situations have gotten,” Ferguson said. “And since we never brought it to anybody’s attention, everyone just accepted that that’s what our expectations are. Well, those are not what our expectations are. Unless we move forward, Fairfield County is never going to be the place we all dream it can be.”
Ferguson later addressed the absence of Council members David Brown and Carolyn Robinson, both of whom attended the Town of Winnsboro’s meeting to consider the viability of creating a county water authority instead of the County Council meeting.
“We have a couple of Council members who chose to go to the water meeting the Town of Winnsboro chose to have tonight,” Ferguson said. “Their hope is to get all five purveyors of water on board to form a water authority.”
Councilman Dwayne Perry said he would have liked to have attended the Winnsboro meeting, but felt the regularly scheduled County Council meeting took precedence.
“If there’s another meeting, I hope to have the opportunity to go,” Perry said.
Council member Mary Lynn Kinley said the Town of Winnsboro was aware of the conflict in County Council’s schedule and knew the majority of Council members could not attend a July 9 meeting.
“We did have an opportunity to tell them when we could and could not meet,” Kinley said. “The Town sent us a letter and I think all of us stated that on the second and fourth Mondays we could not be there. But they chose tonight.”
Ferguson said County Council sets its meeting schedule at the beginning of the year, but that his impression was that most of the people who were invited to the Winnsboro meeting could only attend that night.
“We vote on our meeting schedule the first meeting in January,” Ferguson said, “and we don’t deviate from that unless an emergency comes up. We all would like to have been there (at the Winnsboro meeting), but Council’s agenda is Council’s agenda. I didn’t postpone this meeting or have an early meeting because this is the appointed Council time on this appointed night and the four of us are here to do business.”
The Winnsboro Department of Public Safety has made one arrest in a July 7 break-in of a restaurant on N. Congress Street and report that charges in a similar break-in are pending.
Investigators arrested Tyrell Guinyard, 17, of 604 Hudson St., last week after he admitted under interrogation to breaking into the Speedee Wok restaurant at 138 N. Congress St. during the early morning hours of July 7. According to an incident report, Guinyard had broken into the restaurant through a side door, causing an undetermined amount of damage. After ransacking the business, Guinyard reportedly made off with $300 in rolled coins. Lorick said the bank bag in which the coins were stored was found in Guinyard’s home. The money was not recovered, Lorick said.
Guinyard was charged with second-degree burglary and has since been released on bond, Lorick said.
Lorick said his department is expected to bring additional charges against Guinyard for a similar incident that also occurred in the early morning of July 7, which netted burglars as many as 10 laptop computers worth $5,000, stolen from a business at 134 N. Congress St. Lorick said Guinyard has denied any involvement in the second break-in, but said items found in Guinyard’s home were positively identified Monday as having been stolen from the business at 134 N. Congress St.
The Board of Architectural Review will meet on Monday, July 23 to hear a proposal from Trinity United Methodist Church to expand its campus. That meeting is a regular meeting to be held at the Community Center on Blythewood Road across from the Food Lion Shopping Center.
There have been a number of committee meetings held recently, including the Tree Ordinance committee meeting, which is scheduled to next meet on Tuesday, July 31, at 6 p.m. at Town Hall.
Some committee meetings are planned but not scheduled. One of the most anticipated meetings will be held by the Municipal Improvement District (MID) committee.
Town Administrator John Perry said he is waiting for more information before scheduling the meeting. Perry told Council recently that he doesn’t know how much money an MID could generate to fund improvements, nor was he certain how the properties inside the MID would be assessed. Perry said he expects to hammer out some of these answers during the upcoming meetings, expected to be scheduled soon.
Another committee still trying to gain traction is the Baseball Committee, headed by Bob Mangone.
“I’ll be emailing the committee members in the next couple of days to get a meeting date set so that we can try to figure out a way to get some more baseball fields going in the town,” Mangone said.
In a special called meeting at Town Hall Monday, Blythewood Town Council voted to award bids for three contracts.
Land Plan Group South was lowest bidder ($5,500) of three companies vying to rewrite the town’s Tree and Landscape Ordinance. The other two bidders were Sustainable Site ($9,500) and HBG Engineering ($9,700.)
RABCO, a company owned by Richard A. Branham, the father of Councilman Jeff Branham, was the low bidder, at $25,000, for a contract to clean up the railroad right-of-way in the downtown area from McLean Road, along Highway 21, to a point that is approximately across from the entrance to Blythewood High School.
While Councilman Branham recused himself from voting to award the bid, he did not submit a written statement at the meeting explaining his recusal nor did he leave the room during the discussion and vote on the matter as required by the state ethics commission. It was also not made clear during the meeting that the Councilman’s father was the low bidder.
Mayor J. Michael Ross asked Town Administrator John Perry if there was a conflict. Perry and Councilman Branham both said only that the bidder was a relative of Councilman Branham’s.
When the mayor asked Perry what RABCO stood for, Perry answered that it was the name of the company that submitted the low bid.
Perry said there were four bidders on the railroad right-of-way clean-up project, but did not disclose who the other three were or the amount of their bids. He did say the bids ranged from $25,000 to $133,000.
Asked by Councilman Ed Garrison how long the project would take, Perry said “a few months.” He said the goal of the project is to clean, shape and plant the right-of-way to be more attractive.
Following the meeting, Councilman Branham was asked by The Voice to explain his recusal. Branham said RABCO was the name of his father’s company that won the bid, and that R. A. B. are the initials for his father’s name, Richard Aaron Branham.
Councilman Branham said he knew nothing about the bid except that Perry had called him sometime during February or March to ask for his father’s phone number because he (Perry) had a project he (Richard Branham) might be interested in bidding.
A third bid was awarded to SCE&G ($25,600) for lighting (lamp posts) to be installed along McNulty Road with the wires to be buried underground. Perry said SCE&G was the only bidder.
Other Council action…
Council also approved the Park Committee’s recommendation that the fountain in the formal garden and parts of the Sprayground fountain not be built at this time to leave enough money in the initial $5.5 million to pay for two rest room facilities to be located in proximity to the sprayground and children’s park.
In his remarks, the mayor suggested including one student from Blythewood High School and one from Westwood High School on the Park Committee.
Following the open meeting, Council voted to go into executive session to discuss negotiations incident to proposed contractual arrangements. Council discussed the matter but took no action.
The Council was also scheduled to receive legal advice in executive session relating to a pending, threatened or potential claim, but that item was postponed until a later date because Jim Meggs, the town’s attorney, said Mr. Wren could not be there. While a specific claim was not mentioned, Michael B. Wren, with the Davidson Morrison and Lindemann law firm of Columbia, is the lead attorney representing the Town of Blythewood in a lawsuit that was brought last December by South Capital Group, Inc. against the Town, Councilman Ed Garrison, Crescent Hills Partners LLC and/or Crescent Partners SRES LLC, which the complaint alleges was formed by Garrison, either individually or with others.
According to the lawsuit, South Capital Group, Inc. is asking for damages in excess of $10 million.
Blythewood volunteer firefighter Evan Peterson, second from left, displays the Pride of the Battalion Award he received upon completion of an eight-week Firefighter Candidate School course last month. The award, which was his battalion’s flag, is the school’s highest award. Shown in the row behind Peterson are paid employee representatives of each shift at the Fire Station: Curtis Hill, first shift; Scott Byrd, third shift and Rian O’Donnell, second shift. Standing to Peterson’s left is Jay Strohecker, who is recruiting volunteer firefighters to the Blythewood Fire Station and other fire stations in the Blythewood area.
The Blythewood Fire Station was established in 1971 by the citizens of Blythewood. The all-volunteer fire service has long been a source of safety and pride for the Blythewood community. It seemed everybody who was anybody served a stint volunteering at the town’s fire station.
Over the years, a strong volunteer staff of about 20 or so local men and women, including a locally legendary string of volunteer fire chiefs, was usually on call at the Blythewood station.
Since 1992, however, the Blythewood Fire Station (now officially known as Columbia Fire Station No. 26) has been owned and equipped by Richland County through an arrangement with the City of Columbia, which provides two paid, well-trained firefighters for each of three shifts to give 24/7 protection for the community.
In recent years, the number of volunteers has dwindled dramatically, fluctuating between few and none.
To help rebuild the volunteer program in Blythewood and in other nearby rural fire stations (Bear Creek on Heinz Road, Upper Richland Station on Campground Road in Cedar Creek and Crane Creek Station on Fairfield Road), the Columbia Fire Department has initiated a recruiting effort to attract volunteers from within the community that each station serves.
Since January, six volunteers have become certified firefighters for the Blythewood station and six or seven more are in the pipeline according to Volunteer Coordinator Jay Strohecker of the Columbia Fire Department.
“We need about 20 volunteers out here at the Blythewood station,” Strohecker said. “And there’s never been a better time to volunteer than now. While there are specific requirements, including training and residency that must be met, there are also great personal rewards, and we are currently offering a number of incentives.”
Strohecker said the volunteers’ extensive training is nationally recognized and continually reviewed to ensure that they have the most up-to-date skills and life-saving techniques. And, Strohecker added, “the knowledge and experience they gain through this training lasts a lifetime.”
“For optimum service, we need well-trained volunteers on call at home, at work and at the station. We’re looking for volunteers with the desire to give back – dedicated community servants.”
Strohecker said all of Blythewood’s new recruits fit that description.
Evan Peterson, 21, is a good example, he said. Peterson, who recently completed the required eight-week firefighter course for volunteer candidates at the S.C. Fire Academy on Monticello Road, has apparently been planning to be a firefighter since he was four years old. That’s when he began to ask his mom to take him to the Blythewood Fire Station where paid firefighter Keith Barton remembers showing him around or just letting him hang out and climb on the ladder truck.
But Peterson’s desire to serve his community as a firefighter is more than a ‘big red truck’ thing. It’s a family thing. His mom, Katie Peterson, served on the Blythewood Planning Commission several years ago, and his grandmother, Cindy Nord, currently serves on the town’s Architectural Review Board.
“I’ve always had an overwhelming desire to help out,” Peterson said. “This is definitely something I want to do.”
Peterson said he spends at least one afternoon and most weekends at the station waiting for a call to come in. Barton said there are usually two or three calls per shift.
“If a call comes in and I’m at the station,” Peterson said, “I get on the truck just like the paid guys.”
While Peterson said he’s eyeing a paid firefighting career, Strohecker said that’s not a required or expected next step for volunteers.
“We need many kinds of volunteers to help with more than just firefighting and for whatever length of time they can donate,” said Strohecker. “We need accountants, web masters, computer technicians and even those who can cook and bring food and snacks to the firefighters when they’re on a several-hours-long call.”
Robert Rabon, a Blythewood resident who was the Blythewood Fire Station’s first paid engineer and who recently retired from the Columbia Fire Department, said there are some volunteer jobs at a fire station that take less training than a firefighter but are still very necessary.
“Someone in the community with a Class B driver’s license could qualify to drive the tanker,” Rabon said. “Volunteering at the fire department is a great way to serve the community and it’s a job that is very much appreciated by the folks in Blythewood,” Rabon said. “It’s a proud tradition in Blythewood that I hope will continue.”
For more information about how to become a volunteer, call 803-545-3700 or go to columbiasc.net/fire/195.
Requirements:
–Must undergo various levels of training for firefighting, medical emergency and physical fitness at the SC Fire Academy on Monticello Rd., and ongoing training as required
–Must live in the community
–Must have a strong desire to serve the community
Benefits:
–Tuition refunds
–Up to $3,000 in income tax incentives
–Potential college credit for certain training courses
–Fuel reimbursement
–Paid accidental death insurance
–Opportunity to provide a valuable resource to community
