WINNSBORO – With the announcement last week that Sixth Circuit Solicitor Douglas A. Barfield Jr. will retire at the end of his current term, Winnsboro attorney William P. Frick has announced his intentions to run for the top prosecutor’s job, which covers Fairfield, Chester and Lancaster counties.
Frick, who currently works as Deputy Public Defender for the Sixth Circuit, has previous experience as a prosecutor, having served in the Solicitor’s office in the Fourth and Sixth circuits and as an Assistant Attorney General with the S.C. Attorney General’s Office. Frick also represents District 6 on the Fairfield County School Board of Trustees.
Frick said that while pursuing the office will present no conflict with his duties as a School Board member, if elected he would have to give up that seat. His duties as a Public Defender, however, would come to an end once he files to run for the office.
“As soon as I file, that will be the end of my being a Public Defender,” Frick said. “I’ll be out of work for a few months.”
Frick said he will run as a Democrat, and filing for the Democratic primary opens March 16, with a primary election scheduled for June 10. The general election will be held Nov. 4.
“I am not sure if it really makes a difference whether you have a ‘D’ or an ‘R’ by your name in the job of Solicitor,” Frick said. “This job is about seeking justice and I am not sure how that is a Democratic or a Republican thing. I think that’s more of a Constitution thing.
“The Job of Solicitor is a complex one,” Frick added. “You must not only be able to handle complex criminal matters, you need to be able to deal with several of them at the same time, while also managing an office of attorneys and staff that encompasses Lancaster, Chester and Fairfield counties. I have the experience that is necessary to do that job.”
Frick’s election to the School Board in 2010 was part of a larger paradigm shift in School Board politics, one that has led the Fairfield County School District to calmer waters.
“I’ll do whatever I can to help recruit a candidate (for School Board) who understands the role of a School Board member,” Frick said.
Bravo Blythewood Improperly Registered with Secretary of State
BLYTHEWOOD – Bravo Blythewood, the cultural arts arm of the Town of Blythewood, was notified last week that it has been fined $2,000 for failing to register with and file its financial information with the Secretary of State’s Public Charities Division, according to Shannon Wiley, Deputy General Counsel of the Office of the Secretary of State. Former Town employee Martha Jones has been the CEO of the 501(c)3 since it was incorporated as a non-profit on Aug. 3, 2011. Wiley said no financial records have been filed with the Public Charities Division for Bravo Blythewood since it was incorporated.
While Bravo Blythewood is registered as a non-profit corporation with the business filing division, Wiley said because it solicits money and is funded by the Town Hall, it must also be registered with the state’s Public Charities Division and file an annual financial report and an annual registration form.
According to documents provided to The Voice by Wiley, a letter dated Jan. 1 was sent to Jones stating that a fine would be levied on Bravo Blythewood if Jones did not register and file the proper paperwork within 15 days. Jones did not respond to the letter until Jan. 22, when she phoned the office to say she would comply according to Wiley. When Jones did not further contact the office, a Notice of Administrative Fine was issued against Bravo Blythewood on Monday, Feb. 3. Wiley said Jones has since submitted a registration form, but did not submit financial information on the non-profit. Wiley said the paperwork was rejected and that Jones must resubmit her registration and submit the required financial information within 15 days of the last request that was expected to be mailed on Thursday.
If Jones does not comply or request a hearing with the S.C. Administrative Law Court within 30 days of the Feb. 3 Notice of Fine, Wiley said the entire fine could be levied.
The issue came to Wiley’s attention when Jones failed to submit information about Bravo Blythewood to The Voice for a story last December. When The Voice sought the same information from the Secretary of State’s office, Wiley contacted Jones about the matter. The Voice was unable to reach Jones for comment before press time.
Less than two hours away, about 92 miles to the southwest, you’ll find a rich history. A town that can boast it’s the home to 10 governors, an historic pottery tradition and strange-but-colorful turkey art. We’re talking Edgefield where the statue of Strom Thurmond overlooks the town square. You’ll see classic antebellum homes, antique shops, an old carpenter’s stand, majestic old cemeteries and lots of history. Just outside the town limits you’ll find the headquarters of the National Wild Turkey Federation.
Founded in 1785 as a trade center for farmers, Edgefield went on to develop some famous native sons. Its 10 governors are Andrew Pickens, George McDuffie, Pierce Mason Butler, James H. Hammond, Francis W. Pickens, Milledge Luke Bonham, John C. Sheppard, Benjamin R. Tillman, John Gary Evans and J. Strom Thurmond.
Politics and pottery — that’s Edgefield. It’s not surprising a pottery tradition has long flourished in Edgefield with its rich resources of kaolin, sands, feldspars and pines. Edgefield’s pottery history is a good one. Plantations here led to a demand for large-scale food storage and preservation. In the 1800s, slaves made traditional, alkaline-glazed pottery much as they had in Africa. Particularly notable were the “grotesques” or “voodoo jugs” upon which slave potters applied facial features.
Jane Bess still makes pottery in Edgefield. Jane, a Charleston native and University of Georgia graduate, makes gorgeous, functional stoneware. In an historic brick building, circa 1918, just off Main Street, you’ll find her charming shop and studio. Jane, who once lived in Atlanta, says the real America lives in small towns.
Edgefield’s most famous potter, Dave, was born around 1800. Dave left 30 years of verified work, from 1834 to 1864. In 1840, Dave began signing his work, not by merely stamping his initials on the base, as was the custom, but by writing “Dave” on the shoulder of most vessels. His jars and jugs provide a glimpse into life back then.
On one piece, Dave inscribed “I wonder where is all my relations / Friendship to all and every nation.” This couplet, inscribed April 16, 1857, alludes to the buying and selling of slave family members. On another piece, dated August 7, 1860, he wrote, “I saw a leopard and a lion’s face / then I felt the need of grace.” Perhaps it references the Bible, a dream or stories passed down by African ancestors. Historians surmise that Dave learned to read and write, perhaps, while working as a typesetter for an owner, Abner Landrum, who published a newspaper, The Edgefield Hive.
Enjoy a day trip to Edgefield. It’s not that far away from you and it’s a great place to just walk around. Ask locals about Horn’s Creek Church and its hand-painted angels in each corner of the ceiling . . . down a dirt road.
Edgefield. It’s worth the drive . . . Plan a trip when the peach trees are blooming and breathtaking beauty will be your companion.
If You Go …
• www.edgefieldsc.net
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.
‘Let’s have a look at that impacted wisdom tooth!’ “Samson and the Lion,” one of many sculptures on display at Brookgreen Gardens. (Photo/Robert Clark)
Head east-southeast for 175 miles and set your coordinates on Brookgreen Gardens. There you’ll find the world’s largest collection of outdoor sculpture (1,444 statues) in one of the Southeast’s more beautiful public gardens. Brookgreen Gardens is a major destination close by Murrells Inlet where you can find plenty of fine seafood restaurants when your statue gazing is done. Myrtle Beach is close by as well. Plenty to do on this day trip for sure.
In the beginning, the sprawling site where Brookgreen sits was part of four rice plantations. One of those plantations, Brookgreen, bequeathed its name to the gardens. The thousands of acres in Brookgreen’s Lowcountry History and Wildlife Preserve are rich with native plants and animals of the South Carolina Lowcountry. You’ll see evidence of the great rice plantations of the 1800s, too.
Archer M. Huntington was the stepson of railroad magnate Collis Potter Huntington. He and his wife, Anna, a noted sculptor, purchased the four rice plantations (9,100 acres) as a site for showcasing sculptures. The location provided a more temperate refuge for Anna Huntington, who suffered tuberculosis from the mid-twenties to the mid-thirties. She and Archer would go on to found Brookgreen Gardens. They built a winter home, “Atalaya,” Spanish for watchtower. Archer Huntington, a noted Spanish culture expert, designed the house after the Moorish architecture of the Spanish Mediterranean coast. A square tower, which housed a 3,000-gallon cypress water tank, rises about 40 feet over the structure. Architecture of this type is rare in the United States. As you’d expect it is on National Register of Historic Places.
Founded in 1931 as the nation’s first sculpture garden, statuary is abundant. See for instance Gleb W. Derujinsky’s “Samson & The Lion,” which he sculpted in 1949. It was placed in Brookgreen Gardens in 1950. Note how the play of light upon the stone brings realism to this work that depicts Samson as a force of nature. The statute stands at the center of a reflecting pool.
Another popular statue is “Diana,” which stands in the middle of a circular pool as jets of water pay her homage. Augustus Saint-Gaudens sculpted “Diana.” One of America’s greatest artists his work is exhibited around the world. He became an American when his French father and Irish mother brought him to New York after his 1848 birth in Dublin.
Visit the Garden’s website and check out its Events page. From January to March 6, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon and 2:30 p.m. you can reserve a ride on the Trekker, a safari-like van, down back roads and explore cemeteries, Brookgreen’s “Silent Cities.” Walk through former slaves and plantation owner graveyards and learn about the historical burial customs of European and African origin. Tickets are $15 in addition to garden admission for this two-hour excursion.
If You Go …
• Brookgreen Gardens
1931 Brookgreen Garden Dr.
Pawleys Island, S.C. 29585
• Adults 13 to 64, $14; Seniors 65 and over, $12; Children 4 to 7, $7; Children 3 and under, Free
• 843-235-6000
• www.brookgreen.org/
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.
BLYTHEWOOD – James Arnold, 73, of Ashley Oaks has filed as a write-in candidate for the Town Council seat vacated in December by Roger Hovis. Arnold filed on Jan. 24 directly with the Richland County Election Commission. When filing for the seat closed at noon at Town Hall on Jan. 23, Eddie Baughman was the only candidate to file. There is, however, a 14-day waiting period for write-in candidates to file.
Arnold is a retired Chief Warrant Officer 4, having served 31 years in the U.S. Navy. A native of Florida, he holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology from St. Leo University. He was employed for four years by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. He and his wife Glenda moved to Blythewood four years ago.
“It would be an honor and privilege to serve as a representative on the Blythewood Town Council,” Arnold told The Voice. “I can see there are some problems to be dealt with and I would like to help out.”
The election is scheduled for March 11 and residents who wish to vote must register by Feb. 11. For information about the election, call Town Hall at 754-0501 or the Richland County Election Commission at 576-2240.
BLYTHEWOOD – Eddie Baughman is the sole candidate to file for the Town Council seat vacated by former Councilman Roger Hovis in December. Two years remain in Hovis’ four-year term. Baughman filed on Thursday, the last day for filing. In the past, when there has been only one candidate, the Town did not hold an election. A resident of Blythewood for 28 years, Baughman is a retired Battalion Chief with the Columbia Fire Department.
“I’m looking forward to serving Blythewood and its citizens,” Baughman told The Voice. A public servant for 30 years, Baughman is a U.S. Navy veteran, is a member of Lake Wateree VFW Post 8346 and volunteers for M-USC burn foundation camp on Seabrook Island. And, he added, “I’m a proud member of the competition barbecue team ‘Hogs and Hoses’.”
RIDGEWAY – A Columbia man turned himself in to the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office this week while investigators there are still searching for at least three others after a grisly home invasion on Jan. 11 turned a residence on Rose Lane into a torture chamber.
Capt. Brad Douglas said Curtis Tyon Wright, 20, of William Hardin Road in Columbia, surrendered to deputies at the Sheriff’s Office Monday afternoon. Wright had been identified as the man seen attempting to use a debit card, stolen during the Rose Lane invasion, at an ATM on Hardscrabble and Farrow roads in Columbia shortly after the incident. Wright has been charged with kidnapping and burglary, with additional charges pending, including three more counts of kidnapping, armed robbery and assault and battery.
At 12:30 a.m. Jan. 11, according to a Sheriff’s Office report, a 37-year-old Winnsboro man answered a knock at the front door of 28 Rose Lane in Ridgeway. In the doorway was a man described as a “brown-skinned black male with a low haircut and big eyes.” The suspect pointed a gun at the face of the victim, pushed his way into the home and threw the victim to the floor. The suspect struck the victim with the handgun and kicked him in the ribs. A second victim in the home, a 39-year-old Ridgeway man, was in the living room at the time of the invasion and was also beaten and kicked by the suspect. At least two other suspects followed into the home, going into the back of the home and waking up the wife of the first victim, a 25-year-old woman, forcing her at gunpoint into the living room. The couple’s son, 7, was also in the home at the time of the invasion.
Once all the victims were rounded up in the living room, the suspects ordered them to strip off their clothes. The woman begged the suspects to let her son go back to his bedroom. The suspects complied, and once the boy was back in his room, the victims were forced to strip naked and were taped together, back-to-back, with clear packing tape.
According to the report the second male victim, the 39-year-old Ridgeway man, said the suspects were “looking for drugs and money,” and that the suspects “hung around for a long time while they searched the residence.” During that time, the report states, the suspects took turns beating the victims as they were tied together and, adding to the horror, burning the victims with a hot frying pan.
After the suspects had gathered up a little more than $200 in cash, a pair of debit cards and clothing and electronics worth $600, they left the victims tied up in the home. On their way out, one of the suspects fired a single shot into the home as a punctuation mark to the evening’s events.
The ordeal had lasted until around 4 a.m. Forty minutes later, at an AllSouth ATM on Farrow and Hardscrabble roads in Columbia, Wright tried to use one of the debit cards to withdraw cash. He was unsuccessful; however, his image was captured by the ATM’s internal surveillance camera.
At press time, Wright was being held at the Fairfield County Detention Center.
BLYTHEWOOD – The Town’s Events and Conference Center Director for the Manor, Martha Jones, has resigned that position after just a year to become the Director of Strategic Partnerships for Richland School District 2. Jones applied for the position with the District in October and the School Board voted on a consent agenda to hire her at their regular meeting on Jan. 14.
Jones, who was a teacher in the District for 15 years, was hired by Town Hall in January of 2013 to oversee special events planned by the Town and to manage rentals for The Manor. A press release from the District said she would assume her duties with Richland 2 in February and described her new job as “developing and sustaining positive community relations through strategic partnerships with civic organizations, faith-based organizations, parents and the Richland Two community.”
The District also announced the hiring of Elizabeth Roof as Executive Director of Communications to replace Ken Blackstone who left the District in October.
A 50-foot section of the retaining wall around the Drawdy Park football field collapsed Sunday night, spurring many County critics to say ‘I told you so.’
Contractor: Wall Poorly Constructed
WINNSBORO – In a massive stroke of dramatic irony Sunday night, the suspicions of County Council critics were confirmed when a portion of what is known in some circles as The Great Wall of Fairfield came crashing to the ground, leaving a 50-foot gap in the 525-foot long, 12-foot high retaining wall around the recently completed football field at Drawdy Park. The collapse prompted the appearance of the project’s chief engineer and sparked a public “We told you so” from one Council critic at Monday night’s County Council meeting.
While the collapse came one day after severe storms dumped more than 3 inches of rain on Winnsboro, both Sam Savage of S2 Engineering and Consulting, the firm that managed the project, and interim County Administrator Milton Pope said Monday night that it was too early to determine what caused the collapse.
“Obviously, we don’t know what happened that caused the failure,” Savage told Council. “We’re trying to look into that.”
Savage said he contacted the contractor on the project, Four Brothers Enterprise, LLC in Lexington, and brought them out to view the damage Monday morning. He said the contractor made it clear that he would honor the County’s warranty and repair the wall at no cost to the County.
Savage then left Council chambers without Council posing a single question. Pope, meanwhile, told Council that his staff would be following the progress of the repairs closely.
“There have been questions about the project ever since my arrival,” Pope noted. “Council had approved this and we want to make sure that the product we have is what the County paid for. The County will also make sure that we do our due diligence after they do a further assessment. I think it would be too premature for someone to suggest exactly what happened with the failure, because we want documentation from them to give us the confidence we need to make sure there are no additional problems with the construction there.”
But Bob Carrison, a County critic and member of Saving Fairfield, said the County should have been doing its due diligence all along, and he lambasted Council during the public comment portion of Monday night’s meeting.
“That the retaining wall was flawed is not news,” Carrison said. “No, the collapse was entirely predictable. Not a matter of if, but when. There are at least a dozen people or more in this audience that knew the project was flawed. People from this group have been trying for months to get your eyes on the project. Late summer last year we made attempts to raise red flags on this structure and we tried to sound the alarm. We saw and we heard ample evidence to convince us that the project was poorly conceived and poorly executed.”
Carrison said that when he learned in late September that no inspections had been done on the project, he went to the County’s Planning and Zoning Department to verify that.
“I was told then by Director Ron Stowers that no, there were no plans for the structure that we could view,” Carrison said. “No plans had been submitted, there had been no inspections and they didn’t need to inspect this structure.”
But Pope told The Voice Monday morning that the County did, in fact, have structural engineering drawings for the project. Furthermore, Pope added, after visiting the site of the collapse he could see that rebar and the supporting footings were in place.
A Blythewood general contractor, however, reviewed photographs of the wall for The Voice and expressed serious concerns with how the wall was constructed. The contractor, who wished to remain anonymous, has built similar structures. He said it appeared as if there had been no plan for constructing the wall, or if there had been, the plan had not been followed.
Among his concerns was the absence of adequate rebar in the construction. Photographs of the collapsed portion of the wall show rebar inserted into every eighth column of block. The Blythewood contractor said rebar should have been inserted into every column of block and should have been filled with concrete. Photographs of the collapsed section indicate that no concrete fill had been included with the rebar.
The Blythewood contractor also said the sections of the wall had not been interlocked, as they should have been, nor were the deadmen (horizontal support sections running from the wall into the earth behind the wall). Rebar had also not been properly installed into the deadmen. Soil behind the wall also should have been compacted with every 2 feet of fill, the contractor said. Photographs of the collapse indicate that it had not. Weep holes (drainage holes) also should have been drilled along the base of the wall, he said. Photographs reveal the presence of no such holes.
Carrison said Saving Fairfield did not bring their concerns directly to Council because they had “no concrete proof that the allegations of mismanagement of this project were in fact true,” and because they felt Council would not take their concerns seriously.
“We have come to the conclusion that this Council looks upon us as nothing more than troublemaking malcontents,” Carrison said.
Carrison said Saving Fairfield called in the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to inspect the site in October in hopes they might condemn the property until testing and inspection could be done. However, all DHEC could do, Carrison said, was examine the site for proper runoff.
DHEC examined the site on Oct. 22 and gave it a “Satisfactory” rating, noting in their report that “A rough calculation of the disturbed area shows it to be less than 1 acre, which does not require an NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, which covers storm water drainage from construction sites) Construction General Permit to be issued.”
DHEC, County administrators clarified, was only concerned with an area at the lower end of the football field where significant amounts of earth had been displaced, and that area, they said they confirmed with DHEC, was less than 1 acre.
DHEC also noted in their report that “The area around the football field needs to be stabilized to ensure sediment does not leave the site.”
As Carrison’s allotted 3-minute time wound down, he showed no signs of letting up on Council.
“Done is done. Over a quarter of a million dollars is down the drain, literally,” Carrison said. “One question remains: How did the people of Saving Fairfield, how did we know these things and you did not? I don’t mean by that, how did Council or administration miss the red flags and the warnings. What I mean is that we knew and you did not. We were informed by people who knew what was going on.
“They did not come to you because they feared losing their jobs and their contracts,” Carrison said, raising his voice over calls from Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) for him to relent. “Please consider some strong whistleblowing protection for the employees and the contractors of this county (so they can) come talk to you and not fear reprisals and retribution. It has to be done,” Carrison shouted as a Fairfield County Sheriff’s Deputy escorted him from the microphone.
The cost for the entire project was originally capped at $280,000, according to an authorization signed by then County Administrator Phil Hinely on May 21, 2013. Late last summer, Council OK’d an additional $41,925 for fencing around the retaining wall. The County hauled away dirt from the site, at a cost of $5,737, bringing the grand total for the new Drawdy Park to $327,662.
BLYTHEWOOD – Referring to himself as the CEO of the Town of Blythewood and discussing the new direction he sees for the Town, Mayor J. Michael Ross cast himself firmly in a new leadership role during an exclusive 45-minute interview with The Independent Voice last week. This is the first of several interviews planned about the town’s new direction.
The Voice: How much will the Town Attorney, Jim Meggs, be paid and how many hours will he work in his new position as the Town’s Interim Administrator?
Mayor: We have approved $75 an hour for Mr. Meggs for 20 hours a week*. He will work 8-1 Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Of course with his work at his law firm, he might have to be in court some of that time. I look forward to a 20-hour-a-week Town Administrator. I think this is something Council and I need to evaluate. Does the Town of Blythewood need a 40-hour per week, $115,000 Administrator? Potentially, did we ever need that? The thing that’s exciting here is critical. After John (Perry) was no longer coming in to the office after Dec. 29, I am the CEO of the Town and the administrator works for me, but Martie, Chris, Martha, Booth, Kirk and me – we all did an admiral job running the office, basically, without a Town Administrator since Dec. 29.
(Editor’s Note: Meggs is being paid $20 more per hour than Perry was paid.)
V: Will the Town continue in the progressive direction that John Perry visioned for the Town or will there be a new direction?
Mayor: I don’t see what we have done as ‘John’s plan’. I see it as the Town’s plan. We may not be as flashy as John was, and Mr. Meggs probably won’t attend every Town meeting. He will let us, the elected officials, do that. Mr. Meggs will be more of a cut and dried administrator, doing administrative duties.
V: Was Mr. Perry not a cut and dried administrator?
Mayor: He was very progressive and an out of the box thinker. He did drive things for the Town every day, every minute, every second. There’s a lot to be said for that. But is that what people in Blythewood want? We have to be sure what the people’s vision is.
V: But after your election, you were vocal to many in the Town and to The Voice, that you had come to realize that what you read in the newspaper before your election was not true, that the community was happy with the direction the Town was going and that there were no problems in the town government, that everything was perfect. You said you found that the Town’s park and development plans were financially sound and that it was all run smoothly by Mr. Perry. What changed your mind?
Mayor: I think that when you get in there, it might take more than six months or a year or a year and a half to gain the knowledge. As I’ve gotten more hands on, I believe that for where the Town of Blythewood wants to go and the pace (the people) want to go, that John’s leaving might be a good thing. I now think it’s what the majority of the people have always said they wanted.
V: When John Perry brought many of these plans to the (town) boards, they were clearly his ideas and his to explain to the boards. Don’t you think more people, now, have come to appreciate Perry’s more progressive vision for Blythewood? You voted to carry out every one of those plans.
Mayor: This past election in November opened my eyes – the vote to remove incumbents who had been there for 8 years doing what they had done, to get voted out and a new group voted in with a more conservative view point. The people spoke and said we want these guys, not those guys. The (new members) ran on a platform that said we’re going to look at things more closely and, probably, as I saw that coming, it helped me not to worry that we could lose John Perry as our administrator. John was a brilliant guy and he loved being Town Administrator. He had a vision for the Town. The new people (on council) came in with a different approach for looking at things, to feel comfortable that the project is a safe, secure project. My mind has been changed. Now I realize that this is what the people want.
V: Where does the Town government stand with the depot/restaurant plans?
Mayor: We are gathering financial information from Mr. Bazinet and his LLC’s, from everywhere. We are continuing to work on that. But my eyes are open to re-look at it. I would not disrespect our previous council for our decisions. I guess our experience in business was enough to satisfy us, but another group has come in who might want to look at it closer. We will have a building we will have to pay $8,000 a month for. It’s like any other thing that people go in to business with, except it’s the Town going into business, and that does scare me, and it was a concern brought up by the new council members.
V: You don’t think Mr. Perry could have successfully managed the Town through to the vision?
Mayor: There was a total change in where this Town’s government and politics were headed, as was determined by the November election. The people were saying slow down and think about stuff. Maybe we don’t want all of this. John worked so closely with (former councilmen) Ed (Garrison) and Paul (Moscati) for so long and it was their vision, but the people now say they don’t want that vision any more.
