Part-time Van Driver: Fairfield County Council on Aging is hiring a part-time van driver/delivery driver. Hours are 10:00-2:00 Monday through Friday. Must have valid SC driver’s license and clean driving record. Applicant must be able to lift 40 pounds without restrictions and have a positive work ethic. Applications are being accepted online at fairfieldcoa.org or in person at 210 East Washington Street, Winnsboro, SC until the position is filled. EOE.
Blog
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TOW hires Lawrence as interim WDPS chief
WINNSBORO – The Town of Winnsboro has tapped Fairfield County Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Lawrence as Interim Chief of the Winnsboro Department of Public Safety.
John Seibles resigned last week after serving the town for five years as WDPS Chief.
Lawrence will be sworn in on Friday, Sept. 2.
“We welcome Kevin to the Town and look forward to working with him,” said Town Manager Jason Taylor. “He comes highly recommended and I feel his background in law enforcement makes him well prepared to take on the challenges of some of the crime issues our Town is facing right now.”
Lawrence most recently worked as an investigator with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Department for the last two years. Prior to that, he served as a deputy with the Aiken, SC Sheriff’s Department where he began his law enforcement career years earlier.
Before returning to Aiken, Lawrence worked for 12 years as a deputy with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department in Columbia, and, from 2016 to 2018, had a role on the popular cop show, LIVE PD.
After two years on the show, he stepped down in 2018 to serve in the department’s criminal investigation division.
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R2 Superintendent: District is under attack
Davis: Protect The Brand, Focus on Culture, Environment
COLUMBIA – In a convocation address to Richland Two School District, embattled Superintendent Baron Davis, without mentioning the state investigation of the District, blasted what he called an attack on public education and promised a positive culture in lieu of raises for teachers and staff.
“Public education is under attack, public education teachers are under attack, administrators are under attack, and everybody that is attacking public education is not from the outside; some of them are inside the public education experience,” said Davis, in a speech to kick off the 2022-23 school year.
“Richland School District Two, that brand, that logo, is under attack,” said Davis, dressed in a black suit and red bow tie on the stage of Westwood High School.
“It has been tarnished (sic) as an attempt to tarnish it,” he said, “to say [the district] is not what it used to be, because some of the things that we focus on that don’t necessarily align with past historical practices… I would argue that this brand, this flame, shines as bright as it ever shined.”
The publicly available video of the speech is incomplete, with an unknown amount of time and content missing from the beginning. A district spokesman said the livestream site did not record the beginning.
Davis’s comments come a few weeks after the summer break announcement that Gov. Henry McMaster had requested an investigation of district leadership following a number of high-conflict incidents and complaints involving Davis, his wife, and members of the Richland Two school board.
According to McMaster’s request, the state inspector general’s office was asked to investigate after the state received evidence of “organizational or institutional dysfunction or other mismanagement by Richland Two’s elected and appointed leadership.”
Since 2019, nearly all of the school board members have either been arrested, cited for ethics violations, recorded cursing a member of the public, or otherwise crossed obvious ethical boundaries in their public conduct.
Davis has also been in the thick of the drama, particularly after a confrontation at a school board meeting that featured his wife, a high school teacher, reportedly involved in verbal altercations with several people (including a teen student) and reports of Davis himself having to be restrained while confronting a parent – all accusations that he denies.
In a more recent incident of school board dysfunction, a conversation recorded during a closed-door meeting featured an altercation between Board Chair Teresa Holmes and board member Lashonda McFadden that resulted in McFadden being arrested and charged with threatening Holmes.
In the wake of the announced state-level investigation, three of the four board members who are up for re-election this year opted not to run; only Holmes has filed to seek another term.
The top priority Davis stated for the new school year during his convocation speech: “Protect the Brand.”
He says his plan for the 2022-23 school year is to concentrate and focus on the culture and environment within the district – and take action to ensure that it is positive for teachers and staff.
“The world stage is full of actors, people pretending to be something that they’re not. What we have little of is people of action who actually put the work in to get it done,” he said.
“We don’t need any more people being pretentious about the roles and responsibilities that they have and displaying things and saying things and not following [through]. We need people of action, so we’re going to concentrate on these things.”
In addition to culture and environment, two areas of focus he noted are achievement and talent.
He then offered some comments on the value and importance of setting goals – routine material at this kind of event – before explaining his plan to investigate the culture throughout the district through surveys and unannounced classroom visits.
He called upon teachers to “create, sustain, and invest in a culture and environment of excellence” by developing and sharing personal goals to further the effort.
The five key areas he says are important to the district’s culture: that it is safe and secure, affirming and inclusive, respectful and professional, supportive and appreciative, connected and informed.
He said the culture and environment within the district is critical to retention of teachers and staff, noting that the last time Richland Two increased teacher pay, surrounding districts did the same in order to compete for talent.
But in the end, he says, most people won’t leave a district for a small pay difference when they are happy with their jobs.
He expressed some regret for the last teacher pay increase because, he said, had the district waited, the state would’ve picked up most of the tab.
“Two years ago, before the state decided to mandate starting teacher pay to be $40,000, we raised teacher pay from $37,000 to $41,000, before the state gave assistance to that,” he said. “Now, had I known the state was going to give assistance to that, maybe we would’ve waited two years.”
More important than differences in teacher pay between different school districts, he says, are the intangible elements of their workplace culture.
“People aren’t going back and forth between districts for $1,500, most people. They stay because of how you treat them and how they feel: Do they believe in you as the leaders of the school district, and do we believe in one another? Is it a good working environment?” he said.
“That’s what people stay for because when you divide $1,500 over 24 checks, you’re not going to see a whole lot of money, but you can’t put a value on feeling safe and secure and feeling affirmed and appreciated. That’s a valuable tool, and we have control over that, so that’s what we’re going to focus on.”
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Man dead as shootings, arrests continue
McDaniel 
Kennedy 
Hill
WINNSBORO – With five suspected drive-by shooters arrested during the last week, and a tenuous respite in the drive-by shootings, violence in the city continues, with a Winnsboro man shot to death Friday, Aug. 19, in a convenience store.
The Winnsboro Department of Public Safety was called to Citgo at the intersection of US Hwy 321 and Ninth Street about midnight after a man who was fighting with another man in the convenience store was shot multiple times by a third man, according to Winnsboro Public Safety Department Chief John Seibles.
The shooting victim, Martez Kemontae Hughes, 21, was transported to Prisma Health where he succumbed to his injuries.
Dydreekus Dwight McDaniel, 24, admitted to officers that he had shot the victim, according to the incident report. He was arrested and booked into the Fairfield County Detention Center. McDaniel is charged with murder.
The death was preceded by 10 drive-by shootings since April 21, 2022 and five wounded victims.
Arrests Increase
At least five arrests of suspects in the shootings have been made in the last week with the help of Fairfield County Sheriff’s Deputies and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
After Fairfield County Sheriff’s deputies arrested two 17-year-olds on Aug. 19 in Ridgeway in connection with a drive–by shooting at Chatham Forrest and Calhoun Street, Fairfield County Sheriff Will Montgomery said his office has had a number of deputies working overtime recently to assist the WDPS in finding and arresting several suspects in the various drive-by shootings.
“On Thursday night, we had eight deputies working overtime, and we’re going to continue that until we get these criminals off our streets and in jail,” Montgomery said.
The two teens were each charged with unlawful carry, possession of a firearm by persons under 21, and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.
Both were charged with attempted murder and several weapons charges.
“I’m very appreciative to the sheriff’s office and how they’ve worked together with our Winnsboro Department of Public Safety to get some of these criminals off the streets,” Winnsboro Town Manager Jason Taylor said. “It’s a relief to know these people are being arrested for their crimes.”
“Going forward,” Taylor said, “We want to keep our citizens safe, and we’re going to. We’ve lost some very good officers recently and we need to recruit some other good ones. We’re also exploring installing a camera system in some communities to help deter people from this kind of violence. We want to be able to quickly identify and get these criminals off the streets,” he said.
On Aug. 21, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department arrested a female after a warrant for attempted murder had been issued for her arrest in connection with two men being shot on Calhoun Street in June. One man was shot in the stomach, and another in the back.
The next morning, Aug. 22, the Fairfield County Sheriff’s office, working with WDPS and SLED, arrested a 17-year-old in connection with a shooting on Aug. 11 on College Street near Spring Street in Zion Hill that left a teen shot twice in the shoulder and in his chin.
Later that same day, the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office arrested 18-year-old Chazzon Kennedy under a WDPS warrant in connection with a drive-by shooting in the Chatham Forrest neighborhood. He was charged with attempted murder.
Another teen, 19-year-old Quinshawn Ditrakius Hill, was also arrested at the same time after an attempted murder warrant had been issued for his arrest. He was also charged with possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
Both were booked into the Fairfield County Detention Center.
Seibles believes most of the drive-by shootings seem to be acts of retribution.
“There are little groups going back and forth,” Seibles said. “It’s retaliatory.”
Mayor John McMeekin said it’s imperative to put an end to the shootings.
“We feel we have identified the shooters and when they are apprehended, we will pursue justice to the fullest extent of the law,” McMeekin said.
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WDPS Chief Seibles resigns
Seibles: I Thank God for Blessing my Law Enforcement Career
WINNSBORO – John Seibles, Chief of the Winnsboro Public Safety Department, resigned his post Tuesday afternoon after 47 years in law enforcement in Fairfield County.
John Seibles In a letter to Town Manager Jason Taylor, Seibles wrote, “I have enjoyed serving the citizens of the Town of Winnsboro, the dedicated Law Enforcement Officers of the department and the faithful volunteers who have devoted their time and service to the department. I will now have the opportunity to be of greater service to Him. I will continue to pray for the success of the Town in its future endeavors.”
His resignation is effective Sept. 6, 2022.
“I’ve enjoyed working with Chief Seibles,” Taylor told The Voice. “We thank him for his service and all that he’s done for the Town while serving as Chief. We certainly wish him well in his retirement and future endeavors.”
“I want to thank you, Chief Seibles, for your dedicated service to the Town of Winnsboro. May you receive the greatest of blessings on your new journey,” Winnsboro Mayor John McMeekin added.
Taylor said he would immediately begin trying to identify and name an interim chief.
“Then, we’ll move forward in a search for a permanent chief,” Taylor said.
Seibles was appointed interim chief in October, 2016 after his predecessor Freddy Lorick, Sr. was arrested in a prostitution sting in Columbia.
Don Wood, who was then Winnsboro Town Manager, hired Seibles for the permanent position on March 23. 2017
“I had applied for the position and, you know, it’s a small town and you hear little rumors, but the confirmation came and I guess I was not necessarily that surprised, but kind of, sort of,” Seibles told The Voice at the time.
Seibles’ career in law enforcement began in the Fairfield County Department of Corrections and included a stint with the Town of Winnsboro from 1978-1982 and later with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s office. He also served 10 years as Director of the Fairfield County Detention Center and after his retirement he returned to the Winnsboro Police Department in 2003 as a School Resource Officer.
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Winnsboro teen killed in shooting
McDaniel WINNSBORO – An altercation between two teens in a convenience store about 11:45 p.m. Friday night resulted in one of the teens being shot to death by a third man, Winnsboro Public Safety Department (WDPS) Chief John Seibles reported to The Voice.
WDPS was called to Citgo at the intersection of US Hwy 321 and Ninth Street about midnight (across the street from Fairfield Central High School) after a man who was fighting with another man in the store was shot multiple times by a third man, according to Seibles.
The victim was transported to Prisma Health where he succumbed to his injuries.
The shooter, Dydreekus Dwight Jaqueli McDaniel, 24, was arrested and booked into the Fairfield County Detention Center. McDaniel is charged with murder.
This a breaking story and more information will be posted this morning as it becomes available.
The incident is under investigation by WDPS and the Fairfield County Cororner’s office.
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Motorcyclist dies in crash on Hwy 269
WINNSBORO – A motorcyclist died when his cycle crashed on SC 269 Friday night, according to Master Trooper Brian Lee with the S.C. Highway Patrol.
The crash occurred at 10:39 p.m. Friday when the motorcycle was traveling south on SC 269 near Runway Road and ran off the roadway to the right. The motorcycle crashed, killing the driver.
The location of the accident is about three miles south of Winnsboro.
The name of the person who died has not been released by the Fairfield County Coroner.
The accident remains under investigation by the S.C. Highway Patrol and the Fairfield County Coroner’s Office.
This is breaking news and more information will be posted as it becomes available.
