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  • County discusses moving momument

    WINNSBORO – Efforts to potentially relocate Winnsboro’s Confederate monument is unlikely until at least 2021, according to Fairfield County officials.

    Fairfield County Council discussed, but took no action on a request from the Town of Winnsboro to relocate the town’s Confederate monument from its current location at the Mt. Zion Institute grounds to the Fairfield County museum.

    A confederate monument stands on the edge of the Mt. Zion Institute property. | Barbara Ball

    County leaders cited the S.C. Heritage Act, which prohibits governmental agencies from removing Confederate and other war memorials from public property. A two-thirds vote in the state House and Senate is required to override this requirement.

    “I don’t think there’s any action that can be taken by this council at this time,” said county attorney Tommy Morgan. “The town has brought this to the council’s attention, but there’s nothing that can be done.”

    The Winnsboro monument depicts a Confederate soldier and his rifle atop an obelisk near the corner of Hudson and Zion streets in Winnsboro.

    It was relocated from Congress Street to the school campus in the 1960s after a street widening project in town, according to the S.C. Picture Project, a non-profit that maintains an online database of historically significant landmarks.

    County Administrator Jason Taylor said it was the town that initiated the request to the county to relocate the monument. That request was made following a guest editorial published on June 25, in The Voice by Fairfield County NAACP President Jennifer Jenkins calling for the removal of the monument from the grounds of the former Mount Zion School.

    During the July town council meeting, Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy said the town is merely exploring options.

    “We’re not moving it [right now],” Gaddy said. “We’re just exploring our different options and how to legally apply those options. We’re not going to do anything illegal.”

    Fairfield County Councilman Moses Bell asked if the county’s legislative delegation would be able to request to move the monument.

    Morgan said the delegation lacks that authority. He said the town’s request is contingent upon any potential revisions to the Heritage Act.

    Bills to that effect have been filed in the General Assembly. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a limited number of items are likely to be taken up this year, meaning it will likely be at least 2021 before bills addressing the Heritage Act are taken up, Morgan said.

    Bell said that he’s “very appreciative that the Town of Winnsboro looked at this and saw the harm that it’s doing to the community by the confederate monument being directly in front of where we’re going to have the new administration building.”

    Councilman Douglas Pauley thought moving the monument should be the town’s responsibility, not the county’s.

    “This monument has always been in the Town of Winnsboro’s jurisdiction and they’re responsible for it. I don’t see the need for them to want to give it to us and for us to accept the monument and put it on a piece of county property,” Pauley said. “If the heritage act is approved, they can find a more suitable location that they own instead of it being on a piece of county property.”

    Adopted in 2000, the Heritage Act protects most monuments. In part it reads:

    “No Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, War Between the States, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Native American, or African-American History monuments or memorials erected on public property of the State or any of its political subdivisions may be relocated, removed, disturbed, or altered.”

  • County, town fund e-commerce websites

    Sites To Benefit Fairfield Businesses

    WINNSBORO – The County and Town governments are looking to fund e-commerce sites for the county’s businesses as a way to help them survive the restrictions ordered during the Time of Corona.

    In a presentation Monday night during the County Council meeting, County Administrator Jason Taylor said the two governments are considering providing funding for the Chamber to pay for the creation of e-commerce websites for the county’s small businesses.

    “We’ve kicked around several ideas,” Taylor said. “One idea is a way to bring our businesses into the 21st century as far as how they market themselves to the public. The concept is to help them with their web presence – not just a website that says, ‘We’re here, located on Main Street,’ but one that has a point-of-sale feature so someone can go on it and not only see what products are available, but be able to also purchase those products, then go to the store and pick them up,” he said.

    Taylor credited Sarah ‘N Geo’s pizza restaurant in Ridgeway for taking the initiative to incorporate an e-commerce website into their business.

    “This restaurant was struggling after COVID hit. They went online with a point-of-sale website and were booming after that,” Taylor said. “That’s a model that worked for them, so we said, let’s see if we can follow that.”

    Taylor said e-commerce sites are a way to help the small businesses long term, not just temporarily.

    “I think we can assist businesses with this better than giving them a one-time grant. A one-time grant is a Band-Aid. With this [e-commerce site], I think they could come out of the pandemic even stronger,” Taylor said.

    Stephens agreed, saying that the pandemic had completely shut some merchants down from doing business due to the government restrictions put in place.

    “Our restaurants were struggling, and the merchants were out of business. They had no way to pull in any kind of income because they didn’t have any kind of economic commerce capabilities at that time,” Stephens said.

    To that end, Stephens would like to see Fairfield have a virtual component that encompasses not only the businesses but tourism and other things.

    “When someone visits a town, one of the first things they do is google the places they want to see and eat at. Most of our businesses and restaurants don’t have websites. They just have Facebook. But if they don’t have a website, they don’t have a Google rating,” Stephens said.

    “We are partnering with Retail Systems, Inc., out of Columbia, to connect with each of these businesses to create an internet presence,” Stephens said. “The company will deal with each business individually to customize their site to fit their needs. They will also offer guidance on logistics, video monitoring services and credit card processing services.”

    Stephens said he’s contacting 30 businesses and restaurants initially to offer them the opportunity to have an e-commerce site. 

    “This is a proposal to be able to basically bring our businesses up to code,” Stephens said. “Once our businesses start doing this, then we can start working on creating a virtual Fairfield.”

    “The county is paying for the sites to be built and the first three months of maintenance,” Stephens said. “Thereafter, the merchant or restaurant will pick up the $50 monthly tab.”

    For more information about the e-commerce sites, contact Stephens at 803-635-4242.

  • Homeless man stabbed in downtown Winnsboro

    WINNSBORO – When Winnsboro Department of Public Safety officers responded to a reported stabbing incident near the corner of Moultrie Street and S. Congress Street in downtown Winnsboro at about 10:45 Saturday morning, they found a 62-year-old homeless man “lying on the ground, bleeding profusely from his chest.”

    Lawson

    While the officers provide first aid, the man told them that he had been stabbed by another man named Alfonzo Lawson in front of the ABC store down the street, according to the police report.

    The victim said that after he was stabbed, he ran to the location where the officers found him. After EMS arrived, the victim was transferred by ambulance to Prisma Hospital in Richland County.

    Lawson, 65, was charged with assault and battery with intent to kill.

    WDPS Chief John Seibles said on Tuesday that the victim had undergone a second surgery that day and was in stable condition.

    There was no information about what led to the stabbing.

  • Winnsboro man arrested for string of robberies

    WINNSBORO – A Winnsboro man has been arrested for a string of area burglaries.

    Johnson

    Travis Jerrod Johnson, 38, has been arrested for several burglaries that occurred this last spring, according to Fairfield County Sheriff Will Montgomery.

    These incidents were believed to be connected to multiple burglaries that occurred in other jurisdictions as well, to include Richland, Lexington and Newberry counties where convenience stores and other businesses were broken into.

  • Prosecutor: Watson contacted witnesses

    BLYTHEWOOD – A Blythewood man charged with running a sex and drug trafficking operation has been sanctioned for contacting witnesses in the case from jail.

    Watson

    In court documents filed Sept. 4, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs signed an order barring Brian Leroy Watson from “having any contact with potential victims or witnesses, direct or indirect, by phone, email, online chats, social media websites, U.S. Mail, including through any third parties.”

    The order became necessary after prosecutors said in court filings that Watson, also known as “B” or “Lil B,” contacted witnesses to discuss the case. In one instance, a witness with whom he spoke discussed retaliating against a victim in the case, court records show.

    “While in custody on the [current] charges, Defendant is contacting witnesses, having conversations about who he believes are the victims with witnesses, and at least one of those witnesses has discussed retaliating against a person that witness believes to be a victim,” prosecutors said in a filing.

    Ordinarily, the issue would be moot because attorneys noted the suspect would be bound by a no contact order if out on bond.

    Presently jailed at the Lexington County Detention Center, Watson was allowed to contact people by phone, email, US mail or in person. One of the persons Watson contacted was an unnamed woman in custody at another area detention center, documents state.

    “The intent of such contact is presumably to obstruct justice, influence testimony, or punish who Witness 2 believes to be a victim in the case,” the filing states. “The Court has a firm basis to impose conditions, including while in detention, necessary to prevent and restrict Defendant’s ability and opportunity to improperly influence witnesses or obstruct justice.”

    According to court records, the suspect contacted at least two witnesses to discuss facts of the pending case. He also evaded jail restrictions to set up a three-person call with two witnesses to discuss the victims in the case, filings state.

    Documents further state that a woman with whom the suspect had a “close relationship” and is jailed at another facility vowed to retaliate against a person she believes to be a victim.

    The woman’s identity and exact nature of the discussions were not disclosed in court documents, but prosecutors viewed the discussions as more than enough reason to muzzle the suspect.

    “Given Defendant’s history of force, fraud, coercion, intimidation, physical violence, and sexual violence against both witnesses and victims, given the fear witnesses and victims commonly report, and now Defendant’s contact with Witness 1 and Witness 2 and Witness 2’s disturbing statements about who Witness 2 believes to be a victim demonstrates the risk and the need for the requested relief,” documents state.

    Watson, 48, of Blythewood, has pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of various human and drug trafficking charges.

    The 12-count indictment issued in August alleges human trafficking violations occurred between 2016 and 2019 in South Carolina.

    It also charges the suspect with distributing heroin and fentanyl, and with unlawfully operating a Blythewood dwelling for the purpose of storing and distributing heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine, according to the indictment.

    On August 27, prosecutors disclosed a laundry list of computers, communications equipment, weapons and other items investigators seized from the suspect.

    Investigators seized 12 cell phones, five tablets, video game systems, three rifles, BB guns, computers, watches, DVRs and a cache of DVDs, documents state.

  • Suspicious death investigation

    FAIRFIELD COUNTY – The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office has released a report that it is currently conducting a suspicious death investigation after deputies were called to a residence on Douglas 1 Rd in the Winnsboro area of Fairfield County.

    On Sunday, September 13, 2020 shortly after noon, deputies found Melissa McClain, 43 of Douglas 1 Rd, deceased inside of the residence.

    Sheriff’s officials would not confirm whether a suspect was in custody at this time.

    “The information that can be released to the public is very limited at this time,’ the press release stated. “Our investigators are actively working on this case and interviewing witnesses. More details regarding this case can be expected in the coming days.”

  • Fairfield seeks broadband expansion

    FAIRFIELD COUNTY – With the announcement of $3.3 million in approved grant funding, Fairfield County is a step closer to its plan to extend broadband Internet service to rural residents.

    The funding approval announced Aug. 26 by the South Carolina Broadband Infrastructure Program will help local communications provider TruVista extend access to households in the county that don’t currently have broadband. And because the money comes from the Coronavirus Relief Fund, it must be spent by the end of the year.

    “They’re going to be connecting homes between now and Christmas,” said Jim Stritzinger, whose Columbia-based consulting company has been working with local leaders on their broadband efforts.

    The $3.3 million for Fairfield is part of $26.7 million approved for broadband expansion statewide. In TruVista’s service area, it also includes $1.4 million for neighboring Chester County and is targeted for communities impacted by COVID-19.

    It’s a helpful step in the effort as officials await word on a much larger grant that TruVista applied for (with the enthusiastic support of Fairfield County leaders) earlier this year through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which if approved would put more than $20 million toward new broadband infrastructure in the county over the next five years.

    County officials began looking at the issue in earnest two years ago and were awarded a small grant for training to help them access broadband funding. But this year, during the pandemic, the disparity between areas that have broadband access and areas that don’t has taken center stage.

    In the time of social distancing, those who lack broadband access – an estimated 193,000 people across the state – have faced difficulties in three areas needed to carry on life and the economy: education (online schooling), telehealth (online doctor visits), and telecommuting (online work).

    “Households are becoming increasingly reliant on fast, reliable, and always-on internet connection for learning, work or to seek medical care and advice,” said Carla French, President and COO of TruVista, in an emailed statement.

    “Between our partnership with the state of South Carolina and the potential of further USDA ReConnect grant money, we look forward to bringing broadband services to underserved areas in Fairfield and Chester counties.”

    In addition to the planned expansion of infrastructure, TruVista has also been working with school districts to provide broadband connections to households with school-age children, according to the company.

    The immediate concern with education is that, without a reliable connection to participate in online classes, rural students could quickly fall behind.

    Broadband has become so essential in today’s world, Stritzinger compares it to electricity. The effort to expand rural broadband access he compares to the rural electrification effort of the 1930s, which likewise subsidized infrastructure with public funds to connect less populated areas.

    The programs work, he said, by offsetting the higher cost of rural infrastructure enough for the remaining private investment to make sense within the broadband provider’s normal business calculations, making a company’s return on investment similar to that of building infrastructure in more densely populated places.

    Beyond immediate needs, Fairfield County Economic Development Director Ty Davenport said broadband infrastructure will have a major impact on the county’s development future. And it’s critical for any rural community that seeks to be competitive in today’s economy.

    “Internet service is foundational, just like water and sewer. If it’s not there, industry, business – whether it’s commercial or manufacturing – probably isn’t going to come,” Davenport said.

    “[In addition to that], more and more you’re going to see people working away from the office or the plant or whatever their normal workplace is, and they’ve got to be connected. And if they can’t be connected, they’re not going to build or buy a home in a rural part of Fairfield County or any county.”

    Stritzinger said the two grants together – the $3.3 million that was just approved and the larger grant applied for with USDA – will have a major impact on extending broadband access to Fairfield County’s rural communities in need.

    “If the USDA grant comes through as well, the combination of the two of them will help solve Fairfield County’s internet vacuum, or most of it, which is extraordinary,” he said. “It’ll make a major impact – a life-changing impact on Fairfield County. No doubt about it.”

  • PC votes for council to rezone Red Gate

    BLYTHEWOOD – As was expected, the Blythewood planning commission voted 5-0 Tuesday evening to recommend that Town Council rezone the Red Gate property and a smaller adjoining property from Planned Development (PD) zoning designation to Development (D-1) zoning.

    But the properties’ owners, who sat in the audience during the commission’s proceedings, say they are not happy with the commission’s recommendation, and that it will keep them from developing their properties as they had planned.

    The rezoning of the 143-acre property has been discussed by Blythewood town government for the last couple of years. Annexed into the town in 2007 from Richland County where it had been zoned Planned Development District (PDD), the property was subsequently zoned PD by the Town. Before it could be developed, however, the property went through several transitions. After the larger parcel (Red Gate) went into bankruptcy, its ownership was assumed by Arthur State Bank. It was purchased last month by Blythewood resident Byron Dinkins.

    The 2.41-acre corner parcel was purchased by Larry Sharpe, who said he had planned to construct a service station and convenience store on the property.

    “I don’t know what’s been going on over the years. It seems like it’s always one thing or the other,” Sharpe told the commission.

    “At first, Winnsboro couldn’t supply us with water. Now we don’t have the sewer. We’re trying now to work with DOT (SC Department of Transportation). The curb cuts have already been approved, but they can’t tell us exactly where the new road is going to be,” Sharpe said. “I’ve already cleared the property and brought it up to subgrade and built a detention pond off site according to the recommendation of the engineers. Everything is approved on that site, except we still don’t have sewer. That’s the only thing that’s actually holding us back – that and the DOT recommendations. So, if those things were in place, I would be ready to move forward.

    “I would like to see the zoning stay as it is, because the property is already predesigned for that use,” Sharpe said.

    But the Town of Blythewood code of ordinances places a time-specific condition upon the established PD zoning district, with a mandate for the planning commission to initiate a rezoning under certain circumstances. The commission determined at its Aug. 3 meeting that the Red Gate property fails under those ‘certain circumstances,’

    Town Administrator Brian Cook confirmed that if the zoning were changed to D-1, and Sharpe planned to construct the service station and convenience store, he would have to apply to rezone that corner parcel.

    Dinkins attended the meeting with commercial real estate broker Tom Milliken, who told The Voice following the meeting that Dinkins had purchased the property with the intent of developing it according to the original PD plans, and that the rezoning to D-1 would make it impossible for him to do that.

    The original PD zoned property was to be comprised of 232 single family units, 300 multi-family apartment units and 36 acres of general commercial.

    The D-1 zoning designation provides for large tracts of land located primarily on the fringe of urban growth where the predominant character of urban development as not yet been fully established, but is predominately residential or agricultural with scattered related uses.

    Council will met at 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 28, at Doko Manor for the first of two votes on the zoning fate of Red Gate.

  • Farr, Mackey in runoff for County Council Dist. 9

    RICHLAND COUNTY –   After a special election held Tuesday for the District 9 seat on Richland County Council, the winner will not be determined until a runoff is held later this month.

    Unofficial results of Tuesday’s special election show that Jonnieka Farr and Jessica Mackey will face each other in the runoff.  

    Neither woman received a majority of the vote. Unofficial results show that Jonnieka Farr received 549 votes (38.77%) to Jesica Mackey’s 488 votes (34.46%). Angela Gary Addison received 107 votes and Cody Pressley, 272 votes.

    The special election was called to fill the seat left by the death last month of County Councilman Calvin ‘Chip’ Jackson. Jackson was completing his first term on Council.

    District 9 covers a portion of the southeastern side of Blythewood 29016 and is one of three districts that represent Blythewood.

  • Fairfield County to auction 66 properties

    WINNSBORO – Sixty-six properties owned by Fairfield County will be auctioned online to the public from Sept. 11 through Sept. 24.

    The properties were acquired by the county through tax sales over the years, according to Terry Howe of Terry Howe Associates, Inc., who will be conducting the auction.

    Howe said the list includes vacant land, waterfront property and land with homes or other structures.

    “When a property goes to a tax sale, the county’s Forfeited Land Commission has the opening bid. These particular properties, for whatever reason, didn’t get another bid,” Howe said. “In order to put these properties back on the tax rolls, they need to get back into tax payers’ possession. To that end, the county is selling them through the online auction.”

    Howe said the county wants to get the information out as soon as possible to as many people as possible.

    Bidding will start at $100 for each property and will be sold to the highest bidder.

    General information on the properties to be auctioned and instructions on how to bid can be obtained on the Fairfield County website, www.fairfieldsc.com. Go to the Departments tab and select Forfeited Land Commission. The website will include a list of the properties as well as photos and addresses, tax map numbers and GIS and tax assessor information.

    For more information, call Terry Howe & Associates at 864-268-4399.

    Forfeite Land Commission Property List

    014-00-00-014-000       Off Ashford Ferry Road, Carlisle

    020-00-00-045-000       Bull Run Road, Winnsboro

    026-02-05-014-000       Peay Ridge Road, Great Falls

    026-03-04-044-000       183 Quarry Road, Great Falls

    026-04-01-005-000       Off Peay Ridge Road, Great Falls

    026-04-01-006-000       Off Peay Ridge Road, Great Falls

    026-04-01-034-000       Off Wrangler Drive, Great Falls

    027-03-01-011-000       336 General Sumter Drive, Great Falls

    027-03-01-023-000       General Sumter Drive, Great Falls

    027-03-01-029-000       Off General Sumter Drive, Great Falls

    043-00-00-028-000       Lot C Catawba Road, Great Falls

    045-00-00-027-000       99 Road, Blair

    045-00-00-033-000       6328 99 Road, Blair

    046-00-00-040-000       Lot 5 Off John Brice Road, Blair

    048-00-00-007-000       5216 State Hwy 215 North, Blair

    065-00-00-002-000       Tract D Off State Hwy 215 North, Blair

    065-00-00-041-000       State Hwy 215 North, Blair

    065-00-00-075-000       State Hwy 215 North, Blair

    066-00-00-035-000       44 Blue Rock Lane, Blair

    071-04-01-002-000       915 Toatley Road, Winnsboro

    071-04-01-007-000       Toatley Road, Winnsboro

    071-04-02-012-000       Toatley Road, Winnsboro

    081-00-00-014-000       Off 99 Road, Blair

    090-01-02-013-000       Off Smallstown Road, Winnsboro

    098-00-00-010-000       Old Blair Road, Blair

    099-00-00-017-000       17867 Newberry Road, Blair

    099-00-00-037-000       Strother Road, Blair

    099-00-00-061-000       212 Strother Road, Blair

    099-00-00-062-000       Lot B Strother Road, Blair

    107-03-02-004-000       1120 Newberry Road, Winnsboro

    107-03-07-001-000       Old Chester Road, Winnsboro

    118-04-02-008-000       3645 Pearson Road, Blair

    120-00-05-012-000       Twisted Lane, Blair

    126-01-44-006-000       124 South Zion Street, Winnsboro

    126-01-47-012-000       Moultrie Street, Winnsboro

    126-02-12-002-000       Off Zion Street, Winnsboro

    126-02-12-007-000       Cemetery Street, Winnsboro

    126-03-08-014-000       419 South Garden Street, Winnsboro

    142-00-00-028-000       222 Comet Drive, Winnsboro

    144-04-03-006-000       Wheat Road, Winnsboro

    145-02-05-013-000       608 Golf Course Road, Winnsboro

    145-02-11-013-000       Doty Road, Winnsboro

    146-01-03-006-000       2170 Old Camden Road, Winnsboro

    146-01-03-027-000       Old Camden Road, Winnsboro

    150-00-00-006-000       Blazing Star Circle, Ridgeway

    150-00-00-030-000       Off Old 21, Ridgeway

    151-00-00-033-000       Off Longtown Road, Ridgeway

    151-00-00-080-000       Off Branch Lane, Ridgeway

    159-00-00-037-000       Off Candy Cane Lane, Jenkinsville

    161-00-04-009-000       Reservoir Road, Winnsboro

    162-00-04-025-000       Off Rion Road, Winnsboro

    162-00-04-029-000       Rion Road, Winnsboro

    163-03-00-026-000       110 Stoney Circle, Winnsboro

    172-00-00-056-000       Blink Bonnie Road, Ridgeway

    184-00-00-114-000       Off Hwy 34, Ridgeway

    185-04-02-001-000       Ridgehill Road, Ridgeway

    186-01-12-012-000       Hwy 34, Ridgeway

    186-02-04-041-000       Lot D Off Long Leaf Road, Ridgeway

    189-00-03-023-000       Off Wood Duck Road, Ridgeway

    196-00-02-020-000       107 Family Lane, Winnsboro

    200-00-00-049-000       Syrup Mill Road, Ridgeway

    203-00-02-066-000       Off Macedonia Church Road, Ridgeway

    203-00-02-069-000       Off Macedonia Church Road, Ridgeway

    210-00-01-006-000       Off Fish Hook Road, Jenkinsville

    211-00-01-037-000       Off Hwy 215 South, Winnsboro

    223-00-01-009-000       Off Hwy 215 South, Winnsboro