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  • Arch Stable, Funding Less So

    Repairs have been made to Ridgeway's iconic arch, but money to complete the project is getting hard to come by. (Photo/Courtesy Heath Cookendorfer)
    Repairs have been made to Ridgeway’s iconic arch, but money to complete the project is getting hard to come by. (Photo/Courtesy Heath Cookendorfer)

    RIDGEWAY – Phase one of the restoration of the old Ridgeway School arch, the last remaining structure from the long-ago demolished school and its auditorium on Church and Means streets, is complete, Councilman Heath Cookendorfer reported during Council’s Aug. 13 meeting. Funding for the rest of the project, however, remains in limbo.

    Cookendorfer told Council last week that King Murphy had stabilized the arch, bricking in the base of the structure to prevent further erosion and water damage. Phase two, he said, would entail building brick steps around and leading up to the arch. Cookendorfer’s arch committee, he said, would be asking Council for $200 to pay for architectural drawings, and another $100 would be necessary to purchase the original bricks back from the Ridgeway resident who bought them from the Town after the auditorium was demolished in 2007.

    That money is in addition to what Cookendorfer has estimated would be $20,000-$30,000 to completely restore the crumbling arch.

    “I look at it as a community project,” Councilman Russ Brown said. “The community asked for it. The town is on a tight budget as it is. You can’t start a project and get halfway through it and not have the funds to finish it. We can’t come up with $200 right now. It doesn’t look promising to come up with $20,000.”

    When a 2007 storm destroyed the roof of the auditorium, leading to its ultimate demise, the Town received an insurance settlement of $480,000. At a Council meeting last November, former Councilman Robert Hartman suggested some of what remained of those funds be used to restore the arch. But last week, Council made it clear they were reluctant to turn any of that money loose.

    “That money I think we have saved in the past because we don’t have a big budget,” Mayor Charlene Herring said after last week’s meeting. “We don’t know if we’ll have another crisis. We don’t have air conditioning upstairs in this building (The Century House) here that we really need.”

    “There’s also the water tower,” Brown added. “We’ve got to have something in savings in case there’s a big problem.”

    Ridgeway received a $1,000 Community Enhancement Grant from the County last year, which went toward the arch, and Cookendorfer said he was now in the process of setting up an online Go Fund Me account to raise money for the project.

    With Council sitting on the remainder of the insurance settlement – which, contrary to popular belief, was not earmarked for the arch, Councilman Donald Prioleau said – it is apparent that funds for the arch are going to have to come from elsewhere.

    “They (the community) came to us asking for it and we didn’t have money to throw away in the budget,” Brown said. “We said get together and form a group. They got a group and they’re getting those things together. The fact is, if we spend all our money on materialistic things, we’re not going to have any when we have infrastructure problems.”

     

  • A Little Bit of Everything

    Everything but Leaded Gasoline – Cooper’s Country Store in Salters. Come on in and browse.
    Everything but Leaded Gasoline –
    Cooper’s Country Store in Salters. Come on in and browse.

    It’s been called the best country store in South Carolina. You can buy Virginia cured hams there, and you can buy gas, diesel, propane, shotgun shells, wrenches and frying pans. Why you can even buy hog heads for headcheese, red hash, fig jam, hoop cheese, Blenheim’s Ginger Ale and cheap wine there.

    As country stores in this part of the South go, it’s famous. Its fame, in fact, earned it a spot in the esteemed Southern magazine, “Garden & Gun.” So, if you have a hankering to see a genuine survivor, an honest-to-goodness country store, get in your car and drive US 521 to Salters, S.C. There sits Cooper’s Country Store on a major backroad to the Grand Stand.

    You can’t miss it. The red-and-white two-story store commands the eye. The big Exxon sign on top the living quarters adds its splash of patriotic colors to the scene. So does the Pepsi sign to the right in front of the upstairs porch. The store is classic and just about everything about it delights the senses. Go to the rear and stand near the fine Southhampton hams hanging in a screened-off cage. Inhale an aroma that has been making mouths water for many, many decades.

    Everywhere you look, a jumble of sights delights the eyes: cookies, candies, hand-lettered signs and an amazing table featuring the shiny brass heads of 12-gauge shotgun shells. Fan belts hang on racks. The bacon here makes many a breakfast at the beach a feast. Curiously out of place is a surveillance camera, a sign of the times and not at good one.

    Toilet tank repair kits, eyebolts (good for hanging Pawley’s Island hammocks), and collectible but not for sale old farm implements grace the store. A precursor in a way to Walmart, old country stores like Cooper’s provided just about anything country folk needed.

    Cotton farmer Theron Burrows built the store in 1937. Known from the start as Burrow’s Service Station, it sold Esso gas. The name changed in 1974 when Burrow’s son-in-law, George Cooper, and Burrows’s daughter, Adalyn, took over the venerable store. Russell Cooper runs the store today.

    Like a lot of old country stores that surrendered to time, Cooper’s Country Store is a two-story affair with a home upstairs where the proprietors once lived and occasionally still stay. The French have a beautiful architectural term describing the covered entrance beneath which vehicles drive through: “porte cochere,” a porch where vehicles stop to discharge passengers. Well, you can be sure a lot of vehicles and passengers have passed through here, and so should you.

    I should issue a warning to people hell bent to get to the beach. Don’t stop at Cooper’s Country Store. You’ll linger far longer than you intend. God knows you may end up late to the land of traffic congestion, Yankee accents, “anyways,” and wacky golf. But, for those who want to see what was a common part of their grandparents’ lives, you’ll find the old store at the intersection of 521 and 377, the junction where the past meets the present.

    If You Go …

    About 115 miles away, a little over 2 hours. Take I-20 East and take Exit 98. Work your way to Salters along some fine back roads. Be sure to drive through nearby Salters to see an old whistle-stop town.

    www.southernfoodways.org/interview/coopers-country-store/

    Learn more about Tom Poland, a Southern writer, and his work at www.tompoland.net. Email day-trip ideas to him at tompol@earthlink.net.

     

  • The Power of the Purse

    Participating in a sewing bee at the Langford-Nord House in Blythewood to sew purses for school girls in Zambia are organizer Kem Smith, Gail Corn, Lynne Richardson, Frankie McLean (seated), Vivian Bickley, Lisa Smith, Jeanette Smith and Caroline Burgos. The women, who brought their portable sewing machines, produced nine purses during the bee.
    Participating in a sewing bee at the Langford-Nord House in Blythewood to sew purses for school girls in Zambia are organizer Kem Smith, Gail Corn, Lynne Richardson, Frankie McLean (seated), Vivian Bickley, Lisa Smith, Jeanette Smith and Caroline Burgos. The women, who brought their portable sewing machines, produced nine purses during the bee.

    BLYTHEWOOD – Eight women from Blythewood and the surrounding community recently toted their portable sewing machines to the Langford-Nord House on McNulty Road for an old fashioned sewing bee. Their focus on that evening was a project to help keep teenage girls in Zambia in school.

    That project is the Sew Powerful Purse Project and by the end of the evening the women had stitched together nine stylish but utilitarian purses, the likes of which might be found in any upscale boutique for women.

    But regardless of how good they look, how can purses help keep girls in Zambia and other poverty stricken countries in school?

    “For these girls who live in dire poverty, a purse is not a frivolous fashion,” said Kem Smith, a Blythewood CPA who has spearheaded the world-wide project locally. “It is a way the girls, as they come of age, can bring their necessary personal and sanitary supplies to school. Without a purse and these supplies, they will have to stay at home several days each month, missing at least six weeks of school each year. When the girls miss school, they fall behind. If they drop out, they will probably have no second chance for a better life.

    “Statistics show there is an 80 percent chance they will become HIV positive,” Smith said. “This very simple thing, a purse, can be their lifeline to staying in school.”

    In these countries, education is instrumental in the war on poverty, Smith explained, especially when poverty is so extreme that large families have to share a one-room hut with no running water or electricity, sleep on floor mats and never have enough to eat. And it is the females who, because they are female, are the most vulnerable to losing that fragile chance for a way out – an education.

    To prepare for the Blythewood project, Smith, a meticulous seamstress, scoured fabric stores, selecting sturdy, colorful, washable fabrics for the purses and various color-coordinated fabrics for linings, flaps and shoulder straps. Using a pattern supplied by the Sew Powerful Purse Project, Smith cut out fabric pieces and separated them into Ziploc bags to be distributed to the women at the sewing bee. Each bag contained everything, including buttons and instructions, needed to construct one purse.

    Smith said she was motivated to participate in the project by her own realization of extreme poverty, which came when she was 13 and her dad, an Army colonel, was stationed in Ethiopia.

    “He wrote to me of the living conditions there, of the lack of opportunity, of the hunger, poverty and sickness,” she said. “That was in 1968, but in parts of Africa, this description of life remains much the same today. Education can be the way out, sometimes the only way out for both girls and boys. But this simple purse can be a powerful tool for keeping the prospect of education alive for the girls.”

    Jason Miles, the CEO of the Sew Powerful Purse Project, and his staff will deliver the purses made by the women at the Langford-Norse House to Zambia.

    “Each young woman receiving a purse will attend a health class and receive her purse filled with necessities – soap, underwear and feminine supplies – so that she can stay in school every day until she graduates,” Smith said. “It’s really so little we have to do to make such a big difference for these girls.”

    Smith said more sewing bees are planned in Blythewood and she would like to see them organized in surrounding communities as well.

    “We need more help,” Smith said. “For those who do not sew, they can contribute funds for the much needed supplies for the purses. Both purse and money contributions will go directly to the project. As long as there is one woman anywhere that lacks opportunity because she is a woman, our work is not done.”

    To find out more about the purse project, go to SewPowerful.org or contact Smith at krs@kemsmithcpa.com or call her at 803-786-5200.

     

  • Former Councilwoman Pleads Guilty

    Cauthen Faces 2 Years in Insurance Scam

    Katie Cauthen
    Katie Cauthen

    NASHVILLE, TENN. – Former Blythewood Town Councilwoman and attorney Kathleen (Katie) Devereaux Cauthen will face around two years in federal prison after pleading guilty in a Tennessee court last week.

    Cauthen had been charged with two felony counts in a U.S. District Court in Nashville, Tenn. in a healthcare fraud and embezzlement scheme. The charges include conspiracy to commit “theft or embezzlement in connection with health care” and misprision, the failure to report the commission of a felony to judicial authorities. In an unannounced 35-minute hearing held last week, Cauthen officially changed her plea to guilty and admitted the criminal acts for which she is charged. Though Cauthen has pleaded guilty, her full plea agreement is still under seal by the court and she will not be sentenced for more than a year. She remains free on bond.

    With the advice of her court-appointed attorneys, Cauthen acknowledged in plea hearing documents that she faces 21-27 months in prison. However, at her 11 a.m. Aug. 29, 2016 sentencing, if she has lived up to her agreement the conspiracy charge against her will be dismissed and Cauthen will plead only to misprision.

    “Fully understanding my rights to plead ‘not guilty’ and fully understanding the consequences of my plea of guilty, I wish to plead ‘guilty’ and respectfully request the Court to accept my plea more fully set out in the plea agreement,” the document signed by Cauthen and one of her two attorneys states.

    The term of imprisonment is set by the federal sentencing guidelines, taking into account the seriousness of the offense, criminal history and other factors. With her continued cooperation, Cauthen will be hoping to be granted a “downward departure” by her sentencing judge. If a defendant is honest and provides substantial aid and information to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, those prosecutors can recommend her offense level be lowered and sentence reduced by the guidelines.

    Cauthen’s case has been delayed on multiple occasions as she has been helping the U.S. Attorney’s Office make a case against her alleged co-conspirators. Charged separately from other conspirators, Cauthen was never indicted, but rather agreed to a federal criminal information.

    Four of Cauthen’s alleged co-conspirators – William Worthy of Isle of Palms; Bart and Angela Posey of Springfield, Tenn. and Richard H. Bachman of Austin, Texas – were indicted by a federal grand jury in Nashville in June 2013. That case was scheduled for trial in U. S. District Court in Nashville in January, but has been moved up and now is unlikely to see a jury until August 2016. Some of those charged in this case are also cooperating with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and so are likely to accept a guilty plea and not go to trial. According to U.S. Department of Justice statistics, more than 95 percent of federal criminal defendants plead guilty to charges.

    In charges filed June 16, 2014, the former Councilwoman is alleged to have aided others in a scheme purported to provide health care benefit coverage to more than 17,000 individuals and multiple employer groups in various states. It claims that although holding themselves out as providing health care coverage, the defendant and her co-conspirators did not comply with either state or federal regulatory requirements. Cauthen and her co-conspirators are alleged to have collected more than $28 million in insurance premium payments.

     

  • More Charges for Former Pastor

    Walter Carrington Ballenger III,
    Walter Carrington Ballenger III,

    FLORENCE – A former pastor of Gordon Memorial United Methodist Church in Winnsboro, who was charged last month in Columbia with sexually abusing children, was hit with another charge last week in the City of Florence.

    The Florence Police Department said Walter Carrington Ballenger III, 59, of Haven Ridge Court in Columbia, was arrested Aug. 13 after investigators received allegations that Ballenger, while visiting Florence in July, had sexually assaulted an 11-year-old child. Ballenger was charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor, second degree. He was released from the Florence County Detention Center on Aug. 14 on a $40,000 surety bond.

    Ballenger was arrested on July 13 in Columbia on one charge of third degree criminal sexual conduct, alleged to have occurred on June 27. Shortly after Ballenger’s arrest, the Columbia Police Department said their investigation led to additional charges of two counts of second degree criminal sexual conduct in which Ballenger is accused of touching two children in a sexual manner.

    Ballenger was released from the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia just days after his July 13 arrest on a pair of $100,000 surety bonds.

    At the time of his arrest last month, Ballenger was the pastor of Grace United Methodist Church, at 410 Harbison Boulevard, Columbia. Until approximately one year ago, Ballenger was pastor of Gordon Memorial United Methodist Church at 502 Fifth St. in Winnsboro, where he had served for approximately seven years.

    The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office said no allegations related to Ballenger’s time in Winnsboro had yet surfaced.

     

  • Career Center Canopy Debate Stalls

    The new Fairfield County Career & Technology Center.
    The new Fairfield County Career & Technology Center.

    WINNSBORO – Discussion by the Fairfield County School Board Tuesday night about whether or not to construct a covered walkway between the Middle School and the new Career and Technology Center veered off course momentarily into money spent on security systems and the Superintendent’s contingency fund, but ultimately settled with the Board tabling the matter.

    Dr. J.R. Green, Superintendent of Schools, presented the Board with an array of options for the canopy, ranging from $79,000 to $186,000 (see the Aug. 14 edition of The Voice), but said his concerns involved the effectiveness of a canopy that would have to be approximately 17-feet high in order to accommodate bus traffic, as well as the how the late addition would affect the overall look of the facility.

    “If the canopy is 17-feet tall, unless you get a rain that is coming directly down, will it provide much coverage?” Green said, adding, “They did such a good job constructing a facility we can be proud of, I would not want to put something that is gaudy that crosses the road that really takes away from the facility.”

    An option, Green said, would be to construct a covered walkway along the sidewalk of the Middle School, and a second covered walkway along the Career Center sidewalk, leaving the 24-foot span of driveway uncovered. That option, which Board member Henry Miller (District 3) put on the floor as a motion, would cost the District $79,000, according to the bid submitted by Ventilated Awnings Corp. William Frick (District 6) seconded the motion.

    But Board member Annie McDaniel (District 4) did not like the sound of that alternative.

    “By not ensuring our children do not get wet in their transition from the Middle School to the Career Center, how does that affect our students?” McDaniel asked.

    When Miller answered that a 17-foot-high covered walkway spanning the drive would not, in fact, ensure that students remained dry, McDaniel asked, “Are we saying the children coming from the high school are more important than the children coming from the middle school?”

    “We don’t want to phrase it that way,” Miller said. “We want to make sure that any time we spend our money that it’s spent in the right way. If we’re going to build something and it doesn’t make sense and they’re still going to get wet, why throw away that money? Let’s make rational and smart decisions. That’s all I’m saying.”

    McDaniel then blasted Dr. Green for his $40,000 contingency fund, “to do whatever he wants to do with and doesn’t have to bring accountability back,” she said; and the board for spending $180,000 on a security system. When Chairwoman Beth Reid (District 7) tried to steer McDaniel back onto the topic of the canopy, McDaniel concluded, “but we don’t want to spend the money for our babies so they don’t get wet?”

    “If we spend money on this and it’s 17-feet high and the kids still get wet,” Miller said, “somebody is going to look at us and say that was pretty foolish.”

    At Frick’s suggestion, Miller withdrew his motion and Frick followed by withdrawing his second. Frick then moved to table the discussion until all four companies bidding on the project could bring architectural renderings back to the Board for review.

    In the meantime, Green said, the District had purchased 25 umbrellas, which are kept at the Middle School and used by students walking from there to the new Career Center in inclement weather. Green said there were never any more than 21 students moving back and forth between the two buildings at one time.

    “And I’m proud to say, Ms. McDaniel, that I took that money out of that superintendent’s contingency fund to purchase those umbrellas,” Green said. “So it is being put to good use.”

    During the canopy discussion, McDaniel also revealed that she had called the architects to question them about the canopy. After the canopy matter had been tabled, Reid asked individual Board members to refrain from calling the architects, and instead to rout their questions through District channels.

    But McDaniel refused.

    “That’s a violation of First Amendment rights,” McDaniel said. “If I want to call the architect or anybody else that’s doing business in this district, I will call them, so you and all the board members will know that.”

     

  • Fire Destroys Blythewood Home

    Volunteer and City of Columbia firefighters extinguish the last remaining flames that destroyed a Pine Grove Road home Sunday morning. (Photo/Barbara Ball)
    Volunteer and City of Columbia firefighters extinguish the last remaining flames that destroyed a Pine Grove Road home Sunday morning. (Photo/Barbara Ball)

    BLYTHEWOOD – An early morning blaze Sunday laid waste to a home on Pine Grove Road.

    The Columbia Fire Department said more than a dozen trucks responded to the home at 1126 Pine Grove Road after receiving an emergency call at 6:40 a.m. Sunday. By the time the first trucks arrived, the house was in full blaze, with flames leaping from the second story windows. No one was at home at the time of the blaze, a Fire Department spokesperson said, and there were no injuries sustained by fire crews in their battle with the inferno.

    Firefighters did conduct an initial search of the home upon their arrival, but were quickly withdrawn as the fire fully engulfed the structure. Just after firefighters called off their search, the spokesperson said, the second floor collapsed into the ground floor of the home.

    The spokesperson said the home had apparently been burning for some time prior to the call coming in, and when crews arrived the house was 80 percent engulfed. A ladder truck was ultimately dispatched to the scene to dowse the remainder of the flames.

    At press time, the cause of the fire was not known and the incident remains under investigation.

     

  • Hunting Island

    Another postcard sunset at Hunting Island State Park. (Photo/James Denton)
    Another postcard sunset at Hunting Island State Park. (Photo/James Denton)

    How does a wild island, stunning beach, emerald marsh and a lookout tower sound? Does that bring out the pirate in you? If so, drive 185 miles south, a little over three hours, and the road ends at South Carolina’s most popular state park.

    Hunting Island State Park, located on St. Helena Island, 16 miles east of Beaufort, has 5,000-acres that delight over one million visitors each year. Five miles of photogenic beach, rippling salt marshes and a picturesque lighthouse add to the park’s splendor.

    The beach here is free of man’s clutter. A maritime forest, fallen trees and expanses of windswept shore give you the feeling that you’re on a stretch of African coast. Walk the beach and look for shark’s teeth. The island takes its name from the fact that it was a hunting preserve for 19th century planters. It’s rich with wildlife still and the island’s cinematic character has provided settings for movies.

    In “Forrest Gump,” Vietcong ambush U.S. soldiers, and simple-fellow Gump earns the Medal of Honor carrying Lieutenant Dan to safety. We never see the VC, but Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” transports us back to 1967. It’s Vietnam all over again, only it’s not Vietnam. It’s Hunting Island.

    Fishing, boating and camping here attract people with a love for scenic sweeps and grand vistas. Hiking and nature trails provide excellent ways to see the island’s wildlife up close. Don’t miss the marsh boardwalk. It’s a great place to watch a coastal sunset. If you swim in the Atlantic you do so at your own risk.

    The lighthouse forms the island’s centerpiece. The original lighthouse, built in 1859, fell victim to the Civil War. Rebuilt in 1875, it has survived hurricanes. The historic Hunting Island lighthouse, the only lighthouse in our state you can climb, provides panoramic views. The lighthouse closes at times for inclement weather and repairs with no notice of closing, but when it’s open you can climb the 167 steps to the observation deck for a fee of $2. Typically, the tower is open for climbing March through October, beginning at 10 a.m. daily. The last admission is accepted at 4:45 p.m. each day. November through February the tower is open for climbing beginning at 10 a.m. daily with the last admission accepted at 3:45 p.m. each day. Children must be at least 44 inches tall to climb the tower.

    People like to camp here. Hunting Island has primitive campgrounds close to the beach and spaces for RVs. It has campsites with electricity too. A 1,120-foot fishing pier reaches into Fripp Inlet. At the pier’s entrance, you’ll find a nature center with exhibits about local wildlife.

    Nature is at her majestic best here. The beaches are some of South Carolina’s more photographed beaches. Since Beaufort is on your route, be sure to spend time in this beautiful town, perhaps South Carolina’s best-kept secret. You’ll see classic homes and find great restaurants to choose from.

    If You Go …

    From I-95: Take Hwy. 21 E. toward Beaufort. Drive 42 miles. Hwy. 21 ends at the park.

    2555 Sea Island Parkway, Hunting Island, S.C. 29920. 843-838-2011. huntingisland@scprt.com

    Latitude: 32.3585481

    Longitude: -80.4521216

    Learn more about Tom Poland, a Southern writer, and his work at www.tompoland.net. Email day-trip ideas to him at tompol@earthlink.net.

     

  • District Debuts ‘Showpiece’ Facility

    From last summer’s ceremonial groundbreaking where the state of the art new Career and Technology Center now stands are School Board Chairwoman Beth Reid, Superintendent Dr. J.R. Green, District 4 Board member Annie McDaniel, District 2 Board member Paula Hartman, State Sen. Creighton Coleman (rear), District 3 Board member Henry Miller, former District 5 Board member Bobby Cunningham and District 6 Board member William Frick.
    From last summer’s ceremonial groundbreaking where the state of the art new Career and Technology Center now stands are School Board Chairwoman Beth Reid, Superintendent Dr. J.R. Green, District 4 Board member Annie McDaniel, District 2 Board member Paula Hartman, State Sen. Creighton Coleman (rear), District 3 Board member Henry Miller, former District 5 Board member Bobby Cunningham and District 6 Board member William Frick.

    Ribbon Cutting, Tours at New Career Center Wednesday

    WINNSBORO – A little more than a year after the ceremonial first shovels of dirt were pitched out of the ground on the Highway 321 Bypass on a sliver of land nestled between Fairfield Central High School and Fairfield Middle School, the District’s new showpiece is undergoing its final finishing touches. And on Wednesday, the District will officially cut the ribbon and welcome the public in to see for themselves Fairfield County’s new Career and Technology Center.

    “We’re super excited,” Chris Dinkins, Director of the facility, said. “It’s hard to believe we’re here at this point. I’ve only been here a couple of years, but I know there are a lot of people who have really been pushing for this for a long time.”

    Indeed, Dinkins, who took over the reins at the aging facility on Highway 321 Business in 2012, came on board at just the right time – at just about the same time that then interim Superintendent David Eubanks slowly but surely convinced the School Board that they should and could build a new career center.

    The outgoing facility, built in the 1960s, has certainly outlived its usefulness as career center in the rapidly changing technological world of the 21st century. With the new facility, the District aims to prepare students for careers of the future, while still arming them with the kind of practical skills that never go out of style.

    “It’s hard to quantify what this means for the District’s progress, since for the last several years we have been making do with what we had,” Dinkins said. “Now, we have all the technology available and we’re going to have to think beyond where we have been thinking. Now we can really prepare students to compete in the workforce right out of school, or if they are going to continue their education at a two-year or four-year college, we can have them ready for that as well.”

    Dr. J.R. Green, Superintendent, said the perception of career centers has changed over the years, and the new facility allows the Fairfield County School District to change along with it.

    “Traditionally, career centers have been for students not on track for four-year colleges,” Green said. “Now, there will be opportunities for all students.”

    Two of those first such opportunities offered at the new facility include the heady subjects of Project Lead the Way Biomedical Science and Engineering.

    “Engineering is a tough field,” Dinkins said. “These are people who design the next space shuttle or redesign car engines to make them smaller and more efficient. We want to get students engaged, get them thinking creatively so they can be prepared.”

    The new facility was designed for its space to be flexible, so as technology evolves, so can the courses. Dinkins said he hopes to add more Project Lead the Way courses in the coming years, while courses in clean energy may also be on the horizon.

    The traditional programs will also be there, Dinkins and Green said, including masonry, welding, construction, electricity and horticulture, among others.

    “Those programs aren’t going away,” Dinkins said, “because those jobs aren’t going away.”

    The final price for the building came in at approximately $14.9 million, Green said, with the equipment and fixtures taking that up to around $17.5 million. And it was money well spent, he said.

    “This is a very impressive facility,” Green said. “State of the art. Brownstone and MBAJ did a great job designing it, and MB Kahn did an excellent job of meeting their construction deadlines. This is a cutting-edge facility.”

    The public can come see it for themselves Wednesday. The official ribbon cutting ceremony is at 4 p.m., with tours of the facility from 4:30 – 7 p.m.

     

  • No Junk in this Trunk

    Kim Kacsur operates Tricia’s Trunk, a clothing ministry located at Sandy Level Baptist Church in Blythewood.
    Kim Kacsur operates Tricia’s Trunk, a clothing ministry located at Sandy Level Baptist Church in Blythewood.

    BLYTHEWOOD – When folks in Blythewood are down on their luck and need a great looking outfit to wear for a job interview or nice clothes for their kids to start school in, they can find just what they need, at no cost, at Tricia’s Trunk, a unique, spacious shopping boutique located on the second floor behind the sanctuary of Sandy Level Baptist Church.

    “While Tricia’s Trunk is a clothing ministry,” explained Kim Kacsur who operates the store, “it’s much more than a thrift shop. We have very nice, clean, current, clothing and shoes (much of which is high-end labels) for all members of the family, and there is no charge. We just want to make people’s lives better.”

    There are three separate rooms for men’s, women’s and children’s clothing.

    Kacsur got the idea for Tricia’s Trunk a couple of years ago when she and other members of Sandy Level were looking for a way to honor Tricia Goodwin, a much loved member of Sandy Level who died three years ago of cancer at the age of 44.

    “Tricia was so stylish, so beautiful and so much fun,” Kacsur said. “We just loved her. Once when I was complaining about my clothes, she joked, ‘I’ll come over and give you some pointers.’ So I thought a clothing ministry would be a great way to remember and honor Tricia.”

    Kacsur, who spends 30-40 hours a month sorting, cleaning and displaying clothing on racks, says she picks through the donations and offers only the best. She contacts local school’s social workers and asks them to let families in need know about Tricia’s Trunk. But she said most of their ‘customers’ hear about the ministry from others in the community.

    Sandy Level Baptist Church is located at 408 Blythewood Road in Blythewood. Tricia’s Trunk is open the third Saturday of each month with their next open date Aug. 15. For more information, call 803-754-1299.