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  • Fairfield Healthcare Center Keeps Residents Busy

    Residents at Fairfield Healthcare Center of Laurel Baye enjoy an ‘ocean cruise.’

    There’s never a dull moment at Fairfield Healthcare Center of Laurel Baye in Ridgeway. Under the direction of Healthcare Administrator Granda Myers, Activity Director Frances Maddox, the Center’s staff and volunteers, the residents are kept busy with social activities monthly. Their most recent celebration was National Nursing Home Week, which takes place at this time each year. Following on the heels of National Nursing Week, this is a time to spotlight the supportive and caring environment such as provided by nursing homes, enriching residents and families, helping them to grow, learn and teach. This special week was established in 1967 by the American Health Care Association. The activities during this time were designed to foster relationships between the generations and collect and preserve resident›s reminiscences. Also to strengthen the relationship with family members and to recognize the staff members who care for them daily.

    There were planned activities for every day of the week at the Fairfield Healthcare Center. This year’s celebration had a cruise ship theme, as seen by the picture taken on a previous cruise. On the first day the kick-off included a bon voyage party for the sailing of the ‘S.S. Fairfield.’ Each resident had a passport and was served the Captain’s drink of the day. Another of the days was celebrated with a Hawaiian theme and the residents enjoyed the playing of island games and listening to island music. Western day featured a cookout sponsored by the Center’s dietary department that included hamburgers and hotdogs cooked outside on the grill. Other events featured a hog calling contest, jackpot bingo and casino games. The VFW post #8346 Freedom Dancers were unable to attend but the residents were entertained with line dancing by the Center’s staff.

    Music for the celebration was furnished by long-time disk jockey, ‘the Party Doctor,’ Donald Prioleau and his nephew Gregg Prioleau. Donald Prioleau, who has played for the Center for many years, is well known as a member of Ridgeway Town Council. Sponsors for the week were Regional Ambulance Company of Columbia and Laurel Baye Healthcare. Volunteers included Fairfield County Sheriff’s Deputies, Harmony Care Hospice of Columbia, United Hospice of Rock Hill and Larry Patrick and Warren Ward of the Lugoff Optimist Club. As they have for the past 12 years, Olin Jackson Farms from Lugoff volunteered mule and wagon rides, always a favorite with the residents and their guests. Special guest for the event was Fairfield County Sheriff Herman Young with his deputies. After the week’s activities, many of the residents enjoyed a day at Lake Wateree May 29 for a cookout/picnic lunch and many more will enjoy the same outing June 5 and again June 12.

    This was a week to honor all those who contribute to the nation’s nursing homes, residents, family members, employees and volunteers; a time to celebrate those who make a positive difference in their lives every day.

    The Fairfield Healthcare Center of Laurel Baye was happy to receive a generous grant from Keep Fairfield Beautiful recently and they purchased many clusters of Knockout roses for the front of the Center. The residents get much pleasure in the flowers around the building and in the wheelchair accessible raised flower gardens.

  • Family of Sexual Assault Victim Sues School District

    The family of a 14-year-old girl who was the victim of a sexual assault in a Fairfield Central High School classroom in March has filed a lawsuit against the Fairfield County School District.

    The lawsuit, filed April 16 in the Fairfield County Court of Common Pleas, claims gross negligence as well as common law negligence on the part of the district and seeks damages for both, to be determined by a jury.

    The suit stems from a March 12 incident at Fairfield Central High School that occurred after a teacher, identified in the court documents as Ken Floyd, left his classroom unsupervised for approximately half an hour. During that time period, the victim was assaulted by three male students who reportedly pulled down the victim’s shirt, exposed and fondled her breast and took photographs of her exposed breast with a cell phone camera.

    The male students were arrested by the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office two days later and charged with first degree assault and battery. Two of the subjects pleaded guilty in Family Court on March 19 and were sentenced to nine months’ probation. The third subject was scheduled to appear in Family Court May 2. According to the lawsuit documents, Floyd resigned from the high school on or about March 22.

    Austin and Rogers, the Columbia law firm handling the case for the victim, would not comment on the lawsuit. Efforts to reach the Fairfield County School District for comment were also unsuccessful at press time.

  • Murder Sparks Fiery Retaliation

    The stepfather of a Zion Hill man charged with murder last week reported a retaliatory firebombing of his home in the early morning hours of May 20.

    According to an incident report from the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were called to the home on Doty Road Extension at 3:47 a.m. May 20. There, they found the 53-year-old homeowner standing in the yard holding a rifle. The homeowner told deputies that he had been up for most of the night, standing guard after hearing word on the street that friends and family of a recent murder victim were going to seek vengeance against him for the alleged actions of his stepson, Derekee Johnson.

    Johnson, 34, was arrested in Blythewood May 19 and charged with murder in the May 18 shooting death of 22-year-old Bobby Lee McCloud.

    The homeowner told deputies that although he had been keeping watch all night, he did doze off for a short period of time. He was awakened by a series of loud thuds striking the outside of the house. The homeowner then grabbed his shotgun and went out into the yard to investigate, the report states, where he found the house on fire.

    The homeowner said he thought he saw someone running away from the house and through the back yard, at which time he fired several warning shots into the air. He kept firing until he ran out of shells, then went back into the house and retrieved the rifle. After firing two rounds into the air with the rifle, he then put the fire out with a garden hose.

    Deputies located four beer bottles near the side of the house. The bottles had been filled with gasoline and stuffed with rags. The rags had been set on fire and the bottles thrown at the house, causing $1,200 in damage to the home. One of the bottles was recovered intact, the report states.

  • Bennett, Benson take top honors at BHS graduation

    JulieAnne Bennett, left, was named valedictorian and Bria Benson was named salutatorian of the Blythewood High School Class of 2012. They will graduate with their 490 classmates Friday.

    Two Blythewood girls will take top honors at the graduation ceremonies of Blythewood High School tomorrow night.

    JulieAnne Bennett has been named valedictorian and Bria Benson, salutatorian. Both girls received numerous scholarships.

    Bennett is the daughter of Dianne and Lawrence Bennett of Blythewood and plans to attend the Honors College of the University of South Carolina where she will study music performance and English. Among her many honors at Blythewood High School, Bennett, a violinist, was ranked second in the Senior Honors All-State Orchestra.

    Benson is the daughter of Andrea and Roger Benson and will attend the University of South Carolina where she plans to major in pharmacy. Benson was named 2012 Student of the Year in the Future Visions house at Blythewood High School.

    Blythewood High will graduate about 490 students at the Carolina Coliseum in Columbia Friday at 11:30 p.m.

  • Controversy Continues over Ashley Oaks Construction Methods

    During a rainfall on Monday, May 28, a river of mud and water swept rocks and gravel off the cleared lots and down the street.

    Some Ashley Oaks residents said one of their worst nightmares was realized on Memorial Day when a flood of muddy water carrying rocks and gravel flowed down Winding Oak Way and into wetlands behind the lots at the lower end of the road. (more…)

  • Winnsboro Man Struck, Killed by Train

    A 32-year-old Winnsboro man was killed Memorial Day evening after being struck by a CSX freight train near the intersection of Highway 321 Business and 321 Bypass.

    According to Barkley Ramsey, Fairfield County Coroner, Abilio Antonio Pineda, of 970 Golf Course Road in Winnsboro, was struck and killed by the train just before 6 p.m. Monday on a stretch of tracks located behind Boone’s Barn. Ramsey said that as the train rounded a curve near the incident location, the engineer spotted Pineda lying on the tracks and sounded the horn several times. Pineda, however, remained motionless and the train could not stop in time to avoid hitting him.

    While results of an autopsy were still pending at press time, the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office said they suspect alcohol may have been a factor in Pineda’s death. There was nothing, they said, to indicate foul play.

  • Lawsuit Aims New Accusations at Council’s Garrison

    Town Hall: Meeting Recordings Destroyed in Computer Crash

    South Capital Group, Inc., has amended accusations it made in a $10 million lawsuit it filed on Dec. 19, 2011 against the Town of Blythewood, Town Councilman Ed Garrison and Crescent Hills and/or Crescent Partners, two companies the suit alleges were formed by Garrison.

    The original complaint accused the defendants of civil conspiracy, tortuous interference with a contract and negligence involving 142.95 acres, known as Red Gate, that South Capital owned on Blythewood Road between Muller and Syrup Mill roads.

    The amended complaint alleges that Councilman Ed Garrison was a member of the Town Council at the time it voted to rezone the Red Gate property from a Planned Development District zoning designation to Rural zoning and that it did so without  South Capital Group’s knowledge.

    The new complaint further alleges that Garrison, who is a real estate agent and developer,  voted to rezone the property to Rural without disclosing his interest and the interest of his companies (Crescent Hills and/or Crescent Partners), in developing the property.

    It was reported in the July 8, 2010 issue of The Voice that Garrison failed to recuse himself from voting on the Red Gate property at both the first (Feb. 22, 2010) and second (March 29, 2010) readings to change the zoning of the property to Rural.

    While the town clerk records regular town council meetings, The Voice has learned that the recordings for these meetings are no longer available from Town Hall because a computer crashed the month following the second of the two meetings and the recordings were destroyed in the crash.

    Among South Capital’s original allegations are that, in or around April, 2010, unbeknownst to South Capital Group, Inc., the Town sent a letter to Garrison and Crescent Hills and/or Crescent Partners regarding a partnership between them to include development of the Red Gate property.

    The suit alleges that the defendants and others entered into an agreement to harm South Capital Group, Inc., by taking various steps to defeat their ability to utilize their property for commercial purposes, and therefore depriving them of income and profits.

    The suit also alleges that:

    • The defendants delayed and circumvented South Capital, Inc.’s efforts to have the property zoned in accordance with representations made to them before and after the annexation.

    • The Town zoned the Red Gate property in a manner inconsistent with the Town’s comprehensive and master plan for development within the Town limits.

    • The defendants committed these conspiratorial acts for the benefit of the project proposed by Garrison and Crescent Hills and/or Crescent Partners, among and including the other alleged coconspirators, and to further the Town’s alleged partnership with Crescent Hills and/or Crescent Partners.

    The property is now bankrupt and is owned by Arthur State Bank in Lexington. According to the agent handling the property, the bank acquired the property from the bankruptcy on Dec. 1, 2010.

    The case has been remanded from Richland County Court of Common Pleas to the District Court of South Carolina.

  • The Independent Voice Launches Operations in Fairfield County

    The Independent Voice of Blythewood is now the Independent Voice of Blythewood and Fairfield County, and the now weekly newspaper is pleased to launch this, its first Fairfield County edition.

    As part of its expansion into Fairfield County, The Voice has added two new staff members to lead its news-gathering efforts – James Denton and Jill Cincotta. Denton, a 13-year veteran of community newspapers, will serve as editor and oversee the news operations of The Voice.

    “This is a very exciting time to be part of a locally owned community newspaper,” Denton said. “These two communities have so much in common and so much to offer, and we look forward to offering them a strong newspaper.”

    Denton can be reached at the Blythewood office at 803-708-8105, or by email at James@BlythewoodOnline.com.

    Cincotta, winner of the 2011 Montgomery FOIA Award from the S.C. Press Association, will staff the Winnsboro office, the location of which will be confirmed early next week, and will be the lead reporter for Fairfield County news.

    “I am excited about the new venture and looking forward to continuing to report the news about and for the Fairfield community,” Cincotta said.

    Cincotta can be reached by email at Jill@BlythewoodOnline.com.

    Part of The Voice’s agenda includes a new state-of-the-art Web site, www.FairfieldCountyVoice.com, which went live today. The site will keep readers up to date on breaking news and sports, and will offer a valuable outlet for advertisers to get their message out to readers. The Voice will also soon be launching a mobile application, so readers can take The Voice with them on their smart phones wherever they go.

    “One of the best things about The Voice is that it is part of the community,” Barbara Ball, publisher of The Voice, said. “Our ownership is right here, our billing is right here, our newspaper is put together right here. It’s not done all piecemeal two or three counties away, or even five or six states away. We’re right here in Fairfield and in Blythewood.”

    Ball will handle advertising chores for The Voice. Advertisers can reach her at 803-767-5711, or by email at Barbara@BlythewoodOnline.com.