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  • Clausen, Davis are latest top county employees to leave the county’s employ

    • Clausen
    • Davis

    WINNSBORO – Fairfield County lost two more of its top tier employees to the Town of Winnsboro.

    Chris Clausen, Planning and Community Development Director with the county resigned his position on Monday to be the assistant town manager with the Town of Winnsboro. Fairfield County Clerk to Council Patti Locklair Davis also resigned on Monday to take the position of Town Clerk at the Town of Winnsboro.

    Clausen and Davis are the latest in a string of top Fairfield County government employees to leave the county under the current county council majority 4 that took over council the first of the year.

    Others besides Clausen and Davis who have left the county in the last few months include County Attorney Tommy Morgan, County Administrator Jason Taylor, Assistant Administrator Laura Johnson, Parks and Recreation Director Russell Price and several mid-level employees.

    Chris Clausen

    Clausen, who has been with the county since January of 2018, will report to his new job as assistant town manager under his former boss at the county, Jason Taylor who will be the new town manager for the Town of Winnsboro effective July 9.

    Clausen comes to the Town of Winnsboro with broad experience in planning for small to medium size organizations focused on rural and suburban development. In addition to managing the planning, building and zoning functions of the county as well as the development regulations and ensuring code compliance, Clausen was also charged with proactively seeking new community development initiatives with an increased utilization of grant funding.

    Prior to coming to Fairfield County, Clausen was previously the Zoning Administrator for Chapin, where he oversaw the growth of several large development projects, initiated numerous updates to the planning and zoning ordinances and secured funding for several community development projects.

    Clausen holds a Bachelor’s degree from Liberty University with a concentration in Business and two Master’s Degrees – one from the University of South Carolina (Master of Business Administration) and one from Clemson University (Master of City and Regional Planning.) He currently resides in Northeast Columbia with his wife Carla and their three children.

    “I’m excited to have an asset like Chris coming over to the Town,” Taylor said, “and I’m looking forward to the developments he will bring to the residents of Fairfield.”

    Patti Locklair Davis

    Davis was hired by Fairfield County Council five years ago to be the clerk to council. She also resigned her position on Monday, effective July 2. Davis is leaving the county to begin work on July 6 as the new town clerk for the Town of Winnsboro, joining Clausen and Taylor. She will be replacing longtime Winnsboro Town Clerk Lorraine Abell who is retiring.

    “I very much enjoyed working with Patti at the county and I look forward to continuing to work with her here at the Town,” Taylor said. “She’ll be a wonderful addition to the staff here.”

  • Majority 4 send MLK monument to Mt. Zion

    Council Options Land for $2.5M Ridgeway Rec Center

    WINNSBORO – The majority 4 on Fairfield County Council – Moses Bell, Shirley Greene, Mikel Trapp and Tim Roseborough voted to support the erection of a monument to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the grounds of the renovated Mt. Zion property which will serve as the new county administration building.

    The four also voted to support the use of the teacherage, located behind the Mt. Zion building, as a museum memorializing African American heritage in the county.

    Prior to the vote, Councilman Neil Robinson expressed his constituents’ disappointment with the monument and the African American museum being situated on the Mt. Zion grounds.

    “When I was chair, a consideration was to offset the [confederate] monument with a possible Dr. Martin Luther King monument,” Robinson said. “I formed an ad hoc committee, but I received information from the NAACP and members of the community that that was not what they wanted. So as my constituents didn’t want it over there, I’ll be voting no.”

    And he did, along with councilmen Clarence Gilbert and Douglas Pauley in a 4-3 vote.

    Speaker Randy Bright pointed out to Chairman Bell that the ordinance was miswritten to leave the option open for a similar historic figure for the monument. But Bright said the settlement agreement specifies Martin Luther King for the monument.

    The 4 option land in RW

    Bell, Trapp, Greene and Roseborough were again the deciding factor in a 4-3 vote to pass a resolution to option two one-acre parcels in Ridgeway for a new $2.5M recreation center.

    Councilmen Gilbert, Pauley and Robinson voted against.

    The $2.5M was designated in the Dominion lawsuit settlement last month for the recreation center that council chairman Moses Bell has sought for Ridgeway since being elected to council three years ago.

    Recruiting administrator

    During executive session, council discussed the selection of an executive recruiting consultant to search for a county administrator to replace Jason Taylor who will be taking the Town Manager position for the Town of Winnsboro.

    Following executive session, council voted 5-2 to authorize Chairman Bell and Vice-Chair Greene to handle interviewing of candidates for the position of county administrator and to bring a recommendation back to full council to select a firm.

  • Man barricades himself in attorney’s home

    WINNSBORO – A Winnsboro attorney told the Winnsboro Department of Public Safety officers that he was the victim of an assault by a man who barricaded himself in the attorney’s home with a gun for 30 to 40 minutes before being arrested.

    The altercation started about 5:30 Sunday afternoon after the man, Cleve Arnold Leach, Jr., 36, had come to the attorney’s home to do some work, according to the incident report.

    The attorney told WDPS officers that Leach became belligerent, and that his conversation was not making sense. At the same time, the attorney noticed that his 9mm Glock handgun was not where it should be, he told officers.

    According to the incident report, the attorney was concerned that the man had taken the gun.

    The attorney also told officers that the man then became violent and punched him (the attorney) in the right temple with a fist and grabbed the attorney causing a laceration to the attorney’s right hand.

    The attorney said Leach then grabbed the attorney’s wallet and cell phone to prevent him from calling 911.

    The attorney was able to exit the home and flee in a vehicle that had been sitting in the driveway and occupied by two male acquaintances. The attorney called 911.

    When the officers arrived, the attorney and the other two men returned to the scene where Leach was barricaded in the home.

    The WDPS investigator made cell phone contact with Leach and, after about 30 minutes, convinced him to come out of the house. He was arrested and charged with assault and taken to the Fairfield County Detention Center.

    Leach has since been released on bond to await trial.

  • Porter Gas loses family treasure in robbery

    WINNSBORO – Fairfield County investigators are looking to the community for assistance this week in locating the individual or individuals responsible for the break-in and robbery of Porter Gas Services Sunday night.

    According to an incident report from the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched to the Winnsboro business just before midnight on June 13.

    Deputies reported that physical damage revealed the intruders made their way into the business through the back door and had made off with the business’ cash drawer, which according to the store manager at the scene amounted to no more than $20.

    Though no one was physically harmed by the late-night burglary, Brice Williams, whose family owns the store, said that the event has left everyone feeling shaken and vulnerable for now. Even worse, she said, a piece of family history was lost along with cash drawer.

    “Inside the drawer was a wooden divider box. Probably worthless looking to anyone else, but it was the same divider from my family’s old store, Porter Grocery. It was small and I’m sure insignificant looking to anyone else, but it was special to us and I’m so sad to have lost it – especially in this way,” Williams told The Voice.

    Authorities have little to go on in their investigation into the robbery; those responsible took careful steps in their approach by choosing a path just out of range of the business’ security cameras and by cutting the power to the remainder of the security system so that there was no recording or photo evidence to be used against them.

    If not for one remaining alarm at the back door, Williams said they never would have been aware there was a break in.

    She said that information has caused her to wonder how the offenders knew their victim so well, or how long they had been studying the business.

    “It’s certainly frightening, that’s for sure. I keep wondering if it was someone who had visited the store before; if it was someone that I had helped at the store and shook their hand or smiled at them. It makes you feel unsafe and you begin questioning a lot of things,” Williams stated.

    The one comfort to Williams and her family has been the community, she said. As her family begins making the necessary repairs and security changes to help prevent any future chance of another burglary, she said community members have overwhelmed them with help and sympathy.

    “For sure, without the support of this community it would be so much worse and I appreciate that so very much,” she stated.

    If anyone has information regarding the break-in, they are encouraged to contact Fairfield County Sheriff’s office at 803-635-4141.

  • Fairfield Co-op election protest hearing set for Fri.

    BLYTHEWOOD – A public (co-op members only) hearing has been set for 1 p.m., Friday, June 18, for a protest filed by Ronald Friday, a candidate in the recent Fairfield Electric Cooperative board of trustees’ election.

    Friday’s protest claims that the Electric Cooperative employees interfered with the five-day election process in violation of the board’s bylaws and unfairly benefited three of the candidates: incumbents Joe Sharpe (District 2) and Johnny Roberts (Dist. 1) and a Dist. 3 challenger, Gen Palmer.

    In his protest, Friday stated that all six candidates were given documents outlining the policies and procedures for the election prior to campaigning, including a map of where candidates were to set up tents along the path of the drive-thru voters.

    The designated area for candidates was outside a gated fence, at least 200 feet from the polling place.

    In one of four separate incidents that Friday said amounted to interferences by employees, he described how, upon his arrival at the campaign area at the Cooperative’s Winnsboro office, at about 5:45 on the morning of May 20, the gate to the voting/registration area was unlocked and open, and the campaign tents and posted signs of both incumbents, Sharpe and Roberts, as well as that of Palmer, were already set up inside the fence, far ahead of the other three candidates. Friday, Branham and Good were set up in the areas designated for candidates. Friday said Sharpe, Roberts and Palmer were set up inside the fence, closer to the voting area.

    Friday said he learned later that morning that the gate was unlocked sometime in the night by a high level employee of the Cooperative to allow the three candidates, Sharpe, Roberts and Palmer to set up their tents and post campaign signs inside the gate – all in violation of the Cooperative’s Policy Bulletin No. 31 for board campaigns, Friday said.

    Policy 31-2-D states: “A candidate for the board may not distribute any type of campaign literature or place any political posters within 200 feet of any entrance used by the voters to enter the polling place on a Cooperative election date.”

    Policy 31-2-I states: “In the conduct of the annual election of trustees, any member or district information provided to an incumbent trustee for use in campaigning for the board of trustees must be provided to all candidates for the board of trustees on the same terms and conditions.”

    Friday told The Voice that did not happen, that all candidates were not afforded the same advantages and privileges as the incumbents and Palmer.

    When an election protest is filed, the Cooperative’s Credentials and Election Committee must, within seven days, set a date for a public hearing on the matter.

    The election and credentials committee will meet at 10 a.m. on Friday, and the public (co-op members only) hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m., in the community room of the Blythewood office of Fairfield Electric Cooperative located at 701 Blythewood Road.

    Friday will be represented at the hearing by Charleston Attorney Thomas S. Tisdale.  The Cooperative has also retained outside council to represent them at the hearing.

  • A/C thieves hit St. Mark

    RIDGEWAY – The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation into multiple robberies and the vandalism of a church in Ridgeway that occurred earlier last week.

    According to Fairfield County officials, authorities were first called to the St. Mark Baptist Church, located on Highway 34 between Ridgeway and Winnsboro, on June 9 when a member of the church noticed that two air conditioner units were missing from the church property, and that the catalytic converter had been removed from the church’s activity bus.

    According to an incident report, church member Curtis Simpson reported to deputies that he noticed the missing items after investigating tire tracks that he had observed going through the church’s graveyard.

    Simpson said he found two gravestones had been destroyed by the vehicle as it was driven through the property.

    Following the robbery, one man, believed to have returned to retrieve the catalytic converter, was caught on the church’s security camera without a mask, and authorities are hoping that individual may be identified by the public.

    Anyone with information on the suspect in the photo is asked to contact the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office, 803-635-4141

  • Protest filed in Fairfield Co-op board election

    BLYTHEWOOD – A candidate recently seeking election to a seat on the board of trustees of Fairfield Electric Cooperative has filed a protest with the Cooperative claiming, among other things, that Cooperative employees interfered with the five-day election process in violation of the board’s bylaws in an effort to unfairly benefit three of the candidates: Joe Sharpe, Johnny Roberts and Gen Palmer.

    The protest was filed on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, by candidate Ronald Friday.

    Incumbents Sharpe (District 2) and Roberts (District 1), both longtime board members, won their seats over challengers Ronald Friday and Eddie Branham, respectively. Palmer was defeated in District 3 by Mike Good whose late father had held the seat for almost 70 years.

    Friday filed the protest within the specified three-day period following the annual meeting and the announcement of the new board members.

    Friday stated that all six candidates were given documents outlining the policies and procedures for the election prior to campaigning, including a map of where candidates were to set up tents along the path of the drive-thru voters.

    The designated area for candidates was outside a gated fence, at least 200 feet from the polling place.

    In one of four separate incidents that Friday said were interferences by employees, he described how, upon his arrival at the campaign area at the Cooperative’s Winnsboro office, at a 5:45 on the morning of May 20, the gate to the voting/registration area was unlocked and open, and the campaign tents and posted signs of both incumbents, Sharpe and Roberts, as well as that of Palmer, were already set up inside the fence, far ahead of the other three candidates. Friday, Branham and Good were set up in the areas designated for candidates. Friday said Sharpe, Roberts and Palmer were set up within 200-feet of the entrance to the voting area.

    Friday said he learned later that morning that the gate was unlocked sometime in the night prior to his arrival by a high level employee of the Cooperative to allow the three candidates, Sharpe, Roberts and Palmer to set up their tents and post campaign signs inside the gate – all in violation of the Cooperative’s Policy Bulletin No. 31 for board campaigns, Friday said.

    Policy 31-2-D states: “A candidate for the board may not distribute any type of campaign literature or place any political posters within 200 feet of any entrance used by the voters to enter the polling place on a Cooperative election date.

    Policy 31-2-I states: “In the conduct of the annual election of trustees, any member or district information provided to an incumbent trustee for use in campaigning for the board of trustees must be provided to all candidates for the board of trustees on the same terms and conditions.”

    Friday told The Voice that did not happen, that all candidates were not afforded the same advantages and privileges as the incumbents and Palmer.

    “The Co-op officials clearly intended to and did give preferential treatment to Mr. Sharpe, Mr. Roberts and Mr. Palmer in this and in other ways, and in clear violation of the Cooperative’s election rules, bylaws and instructions given in writing to the candidates,” Friday said.

    A spokesperson for the Cooperative did not return a phone call from The Voice; however, he did provide The Voice with certain requested documents: the bylaws, information about the Cooperative’s Credentials and Election Committee (who oversaw the election and will conduct the hearing) and provided copies of policies and procedures for filing a protest.

    According to those documents, when an election protest is filed, the Cooperative’s Credentials and Election Committee must, within seven days, set a date for a public hearing on the matter.

    That public hearing has been set for Friday, June 18, 2021, at 1 p.m., in the community room of the Blythewood office of Fairfield Electric Cooperative located at 701 Blythewood Road.

    Friday will be represented at the hearing by Charleston Attorney Thomas S. Tisdale.  The Cooperative has also retained outside council to represent them at the hearing. The meeting will be open to the public.

  • Caulder accepts position of Fairfield interim admin

    Caulder to Receive Annual Salary of $125K for up to 6 months

    WINNSBORO – The majority 4 on Fairfield County Council voted Thursday, June 3, to hire Brad Caulder, their sixth choice, for interim administrator. The vote came following a five minute executive session during a special called meeting. Caulder is the county’s director of Human Resources. He did not attend the meeting.

    Caulder

    The Voice obtained a copy of Caulder’s contract with the county through a Freedom of Information request. The contract, which takes effect June 7, calls for Caulder to serve as interim administrator on a month to month basis, up to six months, and receive a base annual salary of $125,000.

    Caulder said in an interview with The Voice, that he would continue to work in his office in the Human Resources department during his time as interim admin and would not be moving into Former County Administrator Jason Taylor’s office.

    A stand for Johnson

    Before the vote for Caulder, Councilman Neil Robinson made a motion to hire Fairfield’s assistant county administrator Laura Johnson as the interim administrator.

    “I think we’re at a stage right now…I believe she’s the one to carry the torch forward,” Robinson said. Following the meeting, Robinson cited Johnson’s years of experience with the county and her overall role and expertise in assisting Taylor run the county for the last two years.

    Johnson, a CPA and former finance director of the county, retired Friday, June 4, the last full day Taylor said he would be in the county offices before moving into the town manager’s job at the Town of Winnsboro.

    Johnson and Taylor are two of several top county officials who were pushed out by the majority 4 since January.

    Council voted 3-4 against hiring Johnson, with the majority 4 – Moses Bell, Mikel Trapp, Tim Roseborough and Shirley Greene – voting against. Council members Robinson, Douglas Pauley and Clarence Gilbert voted for Johnson.

    After Trapp made the motion to hire Caulder, Pauley proposed an amendment to the motion.

    That amendment called for Caulder’s appointment to be for no more than a three-month period and for Caulder to be allowed to transfer back into the role of Human Resources Director following the three months.

    Pauley said following the meeting that he, Gilbert and Robinson hoped such an amendment would protect Caulder’s job until he gets back to it.

    Alluding to the majority 4’s penchant for government secrecy, Pauley also stipulated in his motion that, during the period Fairfield County has an interim administrator, any communications initiated to the interim administrator by a member of Council, including the Chair and Vice Chair, be in email format, and that all other Council members be copied on the email.

     “While I am hesitant to hire someone for the position of interim administrator who does not have extensive local government organization leadership experience,” Pauley said, “we need to do what is best for Fairfield County right now and we need to have an interim administrator by tomorrow according to state law. I think the best we can do tonight, considering the circumstances, is to hire a person we know to be intelligent and ethical. I believe Mr. Caulder to be both,” Pauley said.

    Pauley said the focus must now be shifted to hiring an eminently qualified permanent administrator.

    “We have no time to waste in doing that. I think three months is a reasonable timeline,” Pauley said. He called for stability and for no individual council members to attempt to micro-manage the interim administrator.

    “If this amendment passes, I will vote to appoint Mr. Caulder as the interim administrator. If the amendment fails, I will not be able to vote in favor of the appointment,” Pauley said.

    The amendment failed 3-4 with Pauley, Robinson and Gilbert voting for the amendment. Bell, Trapp, Roseborough and Greene voted against.

    Council authorized Bell and the county attorney, Charles Boykin, to negotiate a contract with Caulder.

    Bell said Caulder has experience in human resources and public works.

    “What we’re doing tonight is a very innovative approach,” Bell said. “We believe this move will allow us to gain more depth in our organization, and it creates a significant alternative long term.”

    No one will be hired to carry out Caulder’s duties in human resources while he serves as interim administrator.

    Following the meeting, Caulder said in a phone interview with The Voice, “We will work as a team to continue to provide services for the citizens.”

    Squirewell retreats

    Michael Squirewell, a candidate interviewed on June 1 at the same meeting Caulder was interviewed for the Fairfield County’s interim administrator’s job, notified Council Chairman Moses Bell in an email on June 2 that he was withdrawing his name from consideration for the position.

    Squirewell spoke with The Voice to confirm that he is no longer a candidate for the job.

    “Upon arrival for the interview [Tuesday evening], I was informed by a council member that you had decided who you were going to hire before the interview began,” Squirewell wrote in the email to Bell.

    In an interview with The Voice, Squirewell said that while he appreciated that council was going to continue to interview him tonight, he would have appreciated it more had he received prior notice that he was out of the running.

    Squirewell told The Voice that he was under the impression that he was seriously being considered and did not know that council had interviewed another candidate after he (Squirewell) left the interview.

    Caulder was interviewed in executive session separate from Squirewell on Tuesday night, according to sources and was subsequently hired on June 3. Bell was reached for comment, but said he couldn’t talk at the time, but would call back. At press time, he had not returned the call.

  • Blythewood man indicted on drug weapons charge

    BLYTHEWOOD – A Blythewood sex offender with felony convictions spanning two decades is potentially facing more hard time due to federal weapons charges.

    Jonathan Xavier Miller, 37, of Blythewood, has been indicted on charges of possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, as well as possession of opioids, cocaine and meth.

    If convicted on all counts, Miller could spend the rest of his life in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting.

    Court documents obtained by The Voice state that Miller has a previous conviction for “serious drug felony.”

    An arraignment hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, June 15, documents state.

    Filed June 1, the five-count indictment says the violations occurred during a nine-month period in 2019.

    The first count states that on or about February 22, 2019, the suspect possessed with intent to distribute 50 or more grams of methamphetamine, cocaine and crack cocaine.

    In July 2019, the suspect possessed with intent to distribute quantities of crack cocaine, eutylone and bath salts, according to the indictment.

    The suspect also possessed with intent to distribute additional quantities of opioids in November 2019, indictment states.

    The other counts involve weapon possession charges.

    One count states that the suspect possessed a handgun in the furtherance of the aforementioned opioid drug offense. The suspect is also prohibited from possessing a firearm because he’s a convicted felon, court records state.

    A news release stated the suspect has previous convictions for strong arm robbery, criminal domestic violence, drug possession and weapon possession.

    Miller is also a convicted sex offender, according to S.C. Law Enforcement Division records.

    Richland County’s online court record system states that in 2001, he pleaded guilty to a charge of second degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, ages 11-14. He was sentenced to six years in prison, the database shows.

    Miller also faces a multitude of drug and weapons counts in Richland County Circuit Court.

    The Richland County Sheriff’s Office filed seven counts against Miller in March 2019. Irmo police filed an additional nine counts in November 2019.

    The Richland County court case database lists both cases as pending.

    In September 2013, Miller started serving a nine-year sentence that was linked to multiple drug charges the Columbia Police Department filed in January of that year, according to SLED records obtained by The Voice.

    Miller litigated the charges all the way to the S.C. Supreme Court, arguing in court papers that Columbia police violated his Fourth Amendment rights by towing his vehicle after a traffic stop in a private driveway and searching the vehicle without a warrant.

    The court ultimately upheld the charges in a 4-2 decision justices filed in 2018.

    As of Tuesday, the S.C. Department of Corrections did not list Miller in its online inmate database.

    A spokesperson with the S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services was unable as of press time to provide more details about Miller’s sentence or possible release.

    Miller remained behind bars through at least March 6, 2017, when he was charged with carry or conceal weapon by inmate. SLED records state he received a six-month sentence for that charge.

    By February 2019, however, Miller appeared to no longer be incarcerated.

    SLED records state that local police agencies charged him with multiple drug and weapon offenses in February, July and November of that year, which also corresponds with the timing of the federal charges.

  • A Fond Farewell

    About fifty fellow employees and friends said farewell with refreshments and gifts to Assistant County Administrator Laura Johnson, who is retiring, and former County Administrator Jason Taylor, who will take over as Winnsboro Town Manager next month.