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  • December Drug Charges Not the First for Fairfield Coach

    David Toney

    WINNSBORO – An assistant coach with the Fairfield Central High School football staff who was arrested and charged with simple possession of marijuana while on his way to the state championship game on Dec. 6 had a history of similar convictions, according to documents acquired recently by The Voice. In addition to two prior convictions for simple possession, David Nathaniel Toney, 36, also had two incidents of passing fraudulent checks and numerous driving-related offenses, including driving under suspension, attempting to use someone else’s driver’s license and failure to pay traffic tickets – all of which the School District said its previous administration was aware at the time of Toney’s hire in August of 2008.

    Beth Reid (District 7), Chairwoman of the Fairfield County School Board, said the Board was made aware of Toney’s priors during a briefing by Superintendent J.R. Green at the Dec. 17 Board meeting. Reid said it is District policy to run background checks on all prospective employees through the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), but it was not clear to her if one had been run on Toney – or if it had been, why it was apparently ignored.

    “(Background checks) are supposed to be done,” Reid said. “It certainly is distressing that, if in fact one was done, (the convictions were) not discovered.”

    Green, while he could not confirm if such a check was run on Toney, said the information regarding his criminal history was in Toney’s file. Green said he did not look into Toney’s file until after Toney’s arrest on Dec. 6.

    “My guess is it was done,” Green said.

    Green said Toney would likely have been tapped for his position on the coaching staff under then head coach Reggie Kennedy, but the interviewing process would have been conducted at the school level. In Toney’s case, this would have meant Fairfield Middle School, with the initial recommendation for hire made by the principal. Following the principal’s recommendation, the District’s Human Resources department, at that time headed by Dr. Jeffrey Long, would have conducted the necessary background checks. The final recommendation for hire would then have been made to the Board by then superintendent Samantha Ingram.

    Long was hired by the District in July 2008. Phone calls to the District Office to determine when Long left the District were not returned at press time. The Voice was also unable to reach Long, who now serves as Director of Operation for the Lee County School District. Ingram served as Superintendent from June 2007 to 2009.

    Green, who was hired in July 2012, said a bad SLED report, while a factor in the vetting process, would not necessarily eliminate someone from employment. References, he said, play a large part in the hiring process.

    “It’s a judgment call,” Green said. “I’m never going to tell someone who has had a brush with the law that I would not hire that person. You have to make an evaluation. That doesn’t mean you don’t take those other things into consideration – you do – but references are a big influence on your decision.”

    In fact, Green said, Toney’s references from his previous employment in Orangeburg County were outstanding, and his performance as a math teacher earned him Teacher of the Year honors for the District in 2012-2013.

    “In terms of his performance as a teacher, he’s one of the best I’ve ever seen,” Green said. “That’s not to say what he did doesn’t matter, but an evaluation of him at the professional level was excellent.”

    And while Toney’s criminal history was on file with the District, Green said records of any conversations that might have taken place between Long and Ingram about that history – and their decision to hire him in spite of that history – are not.

    A SLED background check on Toney, obtained by The Voice through the S.C. Press Association, lists three prior misdemeanors – a marijuana charge on Dec. 21, 2006 and two counts of issuing fraudulent checks, one on Aug. 3, 2000 and another on June 1, 2005.

    According to an incident report from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, Toney was pulled over in Columbia at Read and Harden streets at 1 p.m. on Dec. 21, 2006 after a deputy noticed a faulty brake light on Toney’s 2003 Dodge. The deputy noted a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the car and Toney directed the deputy to a partially burned marijuana cigarette tucked inside the driver’s side door handle. Toney then consented to a search of the vehicle, and a K-9 Unit discovered a small bag (approximately .5 grams) of marijuana hidden inside a shoe behind the passenger seat, as well as another marijuana cigarette on the passenger seat. Toney was arrested and charged with simple possession of marijuana. According to court documents, Toney was convicted on Jan. 23, 2007, receiving 30 days and a fine of $581.95. The documents also indicate that Toney has only paid $377 of that fine.

    Toney received a 30-day suspended sentence and a $60 fine on June 13, 2001 for his fraudulent check charges.

    A second marijuana charge, which does not appear on Toney’s SLED check, was revealed by an examination of Toney’s 10-year driving record, obtained by The Voice through a Freedom of Information Act request last week. That record indicates Toney was pulled over in Calhoun County on May 17, 2007 and found to be in possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana. Toney was also charged with driving under suspension at the time. The Calhoun County Magistrate’s Court confirmed that Toney was found guilty of both charges on June 25, 2007 and issued a fine of $647 for driving under suspension and a fine of $300 for simple possession. Toney did not pay those fines until October 10, 2012, the Magistrate’s Court said, and until that time was without a legal S.C. driver’s license.

    The Magistrate’s Court said that since Toney was only issued a citation for the offenses, and not arrested and fingerprinted, those convictions would not have appeared on a SLED background check.

    On July 18, 2007, Toney was convicted in an Orangeburg court for attempting to use someone else’s driver’s license during a May 28, 2007 traffic stop. He was fined $250.

    Toney’s latest encounter with the law, when he was pulled over by the S.C. Highway Patrol for driving 67 in a 55 on Highway 34 near I-77 on Dec. 6, and which turned up a bag of marijuana and several marijuana cigarettes, earned him a suspension from his duties as a coach and a math teacher at Fairfield Middle School, with pay, until his case has been heard. Toney was scheduled to appear before a Fairfield County Magistrate’s Court judge Thursday, after The Voice went to press.

    Toney’s arrest on Dec. 6 caused him to miss the Griffins’ state title game against Dillon High School, a game the Griffins lost 41-3.

    While Toney’s hire by the previous administration has raised question about the District’s vetting process – specifically, who else may also have slipped through the cracks and what may be in the background of other employees hired during the Ingram administration – Green said he was confident Toney’s situation was unique.

    “I would guess that this is an isolated incident,” Green said, “an exceptional situation, that doesn’t lead us to look into anyone’s past to see if they had this kind of thing when we hired them.”

  • ‘Swamped’ at Four Holes

    The cypress and tupelo gum swamp keep watch over the Francis Beidler Forest. So be on your best behavior.

    You can be sure birdwatchers know all about this daytrip destination. Two hours south, a 109-mile drive, will take you to two natural areas well worth the drive. Down near Harleyville, you’ll find the Francis Beidler Forest and within that forest runs Four Holes Swamp. Despite the name “swamp,” Four Holes is a river that runs in a series of interlaced streams that braid themselves into a river that feeds into the Edisto River, the world’s largest free-flowing blackwater river.

    Four Holes Swamp rises in Calhoun County and runs just 62 miles. It’s in the Francis Beidler Forest, one of the largest wetland reserves on the East Coast. More than 16,000 acres of bald cypress and tupelo gum swamp — the world’s largest stand — and 1,700 acres of old-growth forest remain here, some trees more than 1,000 years old. Within the forest is an Audubon wildlife sanctuary, the aforementioned Four Holes Swamp, a blackwater creek system. Visit the Audubon Center and Sanctuary at Francis Beidler Forest for educational information on this vital natural area. Audubon has managed this natural area for more than 40 years and it is a great place to see how much of our valuable wetlands once looked before man altered them. When it’s not hunting season, the area is used for natural history education courses conducted by the Audubon Society.

    Whether you are an amateur or a veteran birdwatcher, you’ll love the sanctuary, an Important Bird Area. Approximately 140 bird species nest or migrate through Beidler Forest. One of the feathered stars is the gold and rare prothonotary warbler that sweetens the sanctuary’s swamp music with its chirpy birdsong. If you see a brilliant flash of yellow-orange among the trees you’ve witnessed a prothonotary warbler. Were you to really get lucky you might catch a glimpse of the majestic painted bunting. Overhead and through the swamp canopy you may see bald eagles. Other wildlife residents include otters, owls and rare plants such as the dwarf trillium, a flower found in South Carolina only at Four Holes Swamp in Beidler Forest.

    Keep an eye on the weather and when a few warm days arrive plan a trip to Francis Beidler Forest and Four Holes Swamp. Take your binoculars, a good camera and a bird guide and strike out. Work on a boardwalk has been under way and you may be able to walk into the swamp where you can see and photograph wildlife species such as the anhinga. When complete the boardwalk will stretch two miles. If it’s warm enough you may see alligators cruising through the water. The good thing about the boardwalk is it lets you see 1,000-year-old cypress without getting your feet wet.

    In this age of urban sprawl, over development and adverse land use practices, it’s good to see that important natural areas are being kept just that, natural. In the words of naturalists you’ll find a rich biodiversity here and it’s not far away.

     If You Go …

     • Francis Beidler Forest
    336 Sanctuary Road
    Harleyville, S.C. 29448
    • 843-462-2713 / 843-462-2150

    • The Audubon Center charges an $8 adult admission. Children are $4.

    • www.audubon.org/locations/audubon-center-sanctuary-francis-beidler-forest

    　

    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.

  • Sashay Sisters Strut Their Scarves

    Bethel-Hanberry’s Sashay Sisters Club (back row): Ta’y Brown, Jordan Goings, Arianna Abraham, Ayden Stevens, Sydney Woodrow; (front row): Chloe Narboni, McKenna Brown, Ryan Shull, Dani Goings, Carla Finkel.

    BLYTHEWOOD — When a Voice photographer arrived recently at Sheryl McHugh’s after-school program at Bethel-Hanberry Elementary School to snap pictures of a girls’ crochet group, she was surprised to discover, instead, The Sashay Sisters Club – an irrepressibly crafty group of girls more than ready for their close up. Flinging colorful hand-crocheted scarves over their shoulders and striking poses, they proudly showed off their fashionable creations.

    “It started as a craft class – making homemade potpourri and painting pine cones,” McHugh said. “Then, one day, McKenna Brown, one of my third-graders, spotted my new crocheted Sashay scarf, and she immediately asked me how she could make one for herself.”

    McHugh had recently learned how to make the scarf from one of the other teachers, and she showed McKenna the single-stitch technique.

    “She learned it in 15 minutes,” McHugh said with a laugh, “and then crocheted herself a whole scarf. When the girls in our craft class saw it, they wanted to make one too.”

    By the next day, 10 girls were clamoring to learn how to make the scarves, so McHugh went to Michaels that evening to buy materials.

    “The girls are so smart – they learned how to do it in a matter of minutes,” she said. “They take the scarves home and work on them, and the next day after school we go over any mistakes or errors and work on technique.”

    Just a week later, some of the girls had already made two or three scarves.

    “The scarves are generally about 3-feet long,” McHugh said, “but the girls love that they can make them as long as they want! They like to wrap them around their necks, throw them over their shoulders or tie them in a neat little loop.”

    The scarves are decorative and colorful, and McHugh said some of the girls even made them for Christmas gifts.

    “They were excited about it, trying to hide them from their moms,” she said. “One of the girls said her grandmother was thrilled that she was learning to crochet.”

    It wasn’t long before the girls decided that their group needed a name.

    “They call themselves The Sashay Sisters Club because the brand of the crochet thread they use is Sashay,” McHugh said. “They have such fun together, laughing and talking even while they focus on their crochet. The whole project has been driven by the girls’ interest – they kept saying, ‘I want to learn, I want to learn to crochet!’”

    McHugh said she doesn’t see the girls slowing down any time soon.

    “They want to crochet every day,” she said, fawning exasperation. “I’m going to have to teach myself more so I can teach them more!”

    After Christmas break, the girls plan to make more scarves and donate them to women at local nursing homes and shelters, McHugh said.

    “I’m so proud of them,” McHugh said. “I cannot believe how quickly they learned this, and how much they enjoy it.”

  • Town Taps Meggs for Interim Administrator

    Jim Meggs

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council voted unanimously after a very short executive meeting at a special called meeting on Monday night to hire the Town’s attorney, Jim Meggs, to replace former Town Administrator John Perry on an interim basis. Meggs will now serve the Town as both the Town Attorney and as a part-time Interim Town Administrator until a permanent replacement is hired, which Mayor J. Michael Ross said could take up to six months.

    Meggs will earn almost $11,000 per month for the two part time positions. He currently earns approximately $4,500 per month or $54,000 annually as a part-time attorney for the Town. He will earn an additional $6,450 per month for 20 hours per week in his new capacity as Interim Town Administrator. Perry was paid $115,000 annually as Town Administrator. Ross said Meggs, in his Interim Administrator position, will keep morning office hours Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Town Hall unless he has a conflict with his work at Callison Tighe, the law firm in Columbia where he practices law.

    Although The Voice reported in December that Meggs would likely be hired by Council as the interim replacement for Perry, no one on Council nor the Mayor has spoken publicly regarding Meggs’ hiring nor has there been any explanation to the public as to Meggs’ qualifications or how (and whether) he plans to move forward with Perry’s agenda for the Town. A town government official told The Voice prior to Monday night’s meeting that Council had not seriously sought other candidates for the position. The mayor confirmed this on Tuesday morning following the Council meeting.

    After Council hired Meggs as the Interim Administrator, Councilman Bob Mangone asked Meggs, “In the chance there might be a legal opinion required to clarify a point that you make while Interim Town Administrator, how would that be handled?”

    Without answering that question directly, Meggs said, “If there were some indication that legal advice that I had rendered in some way conflicted with or invoked some conflict with the administration’s function or goal, keep in mind that in Blythewood, the chief executive officer is the mayor and in this temporary arrangement, with the two hats I’m wearing, I would be the mayor’s helper in his executive capacity. But if there were any semblance of conflict then we would send that question out to another attorney, not in my law firm, but a seasoned municipal attorney that would give the council a second opinion.”

    Meggs, who has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, was reported to have expressed an interest in working as a public administrator prior to the departure of Perry. Meggs has been a member of Callison Tighe law firm since 2007. According to the firm’s website, Meggs previously practiced municipal law in the public sector, including 17 years as the city attorney for the City of Columbia.

    Following the Dec. 16 Town Council meeting, when the Mayor and Town Council voted unanimously to accept John Perry’s resignation, Ross was asked by The Voice if Meggs was being considered for the Interim Administrator’s position, and Ross confirmed that he was. While the Town government has not offered any public explanation as to why Perry resigned or was asked to resign, sources in the government told The Voice that Perry’s resignation was forced, stemming from an ongoing employment related conflict between Perry and a Town Hall employee. Perry’s separation agreement with the Town, prepared by an attorney in Meggs’ law firm who specializes in labor and employment, restricts Perry from making any comment as to why he left the Town’s employ. Perry, who was hired in January 2008 by former Mayor Keith Bailey, did not have an employment contract with the Town.

    Ross told The Voice in an earlier interview that Council will appoint a seven- to eight-member search committee at the Jan. 27 Council meeting to find a permanent replacement for Perry. Asked if Meggs will become the permanent replacement for Perry, Ross said that would be up to the search committee.

  • Connecting to the Past

    Caroleen Sanders, artist in residence at USC-Lancaster’s Native American Studies Center, shows you how it’s done.

    This daytrip’s a breeze. Drive just 30 minutes and you can see beautiful examples of South Carolina’s oldest active art form – Catawba pottery. Catawba women still make pottery using traditional methods, thereby maintaining a link with their past. Catawba pottery is highly prized. Down Charleston way, some cooks feel that okra soup and other dishes can’t be prepared properly without a Catawba pot’s slow, steady cooking.

    At 119 South Main St. in Lancaster you’ll find the Native American Studies Center, part of the University of South Carolina Lancaster. There you’ll see beautiful pottery. Established in August 2012, this comprehensive center for the study of South Carolina’s Native American peoples offers you the chance to view the single largest collection of Catawba Indian pottery in existence, learn about Native Americans in the Southeast, participate in educational classes and programs, and observe archaeology, language and folklore and oral history labs.

    This area is rich in history. Lancaster and its environs have long been home to the Catawba Indian Nation. They have a reservation here. And they have something else, something special, something the Catawba have kept secret for hundreds of years: sacred clay holes.

    Caroleen Sanders is the center’s artist in residence. A talented potter, her mission is to restore purity to how the Catawba make pottery. (“Catawba,” you probably know, means “People of the River,” and that river of course is the Catawba.) Finding a good seam of clay, says Caroleen, provides a rush like finding a vein of gold. “Pure clay is blue and it won’t dissolve,” she adds, holding a lump of clay that’s soft and satiny smooth.

    When potters go to dig clay, they get into holes where the best clay is six feet down. Standing in a hole they all but disappear. Once they have a goodly amount of clay they cover the hole with brush and straw so interlopers can’t easily find it. Several challenges exist as the clay holes or pits go. Snakes, for one. A bigger threat, however, is so cleverly hiding a hole that it’s location becomes lost. “Forgetting it’s there is a threat,” says Caroleen.

    Getting the clay is when the real work begins. “The clay has to be cleaned,” says Caroleen. And it’s not cleaned once but several times. “I pour it through three screens to strain it. In time it clings to my hands like honey.” Caroleen and other skilled potters turn that honey into enduring art.

    Drive to Lancaster and see not just hundreds of years of Native American history but the Catawba nation’s rare and priceless connection with the land. Chief of the Catawba Nation, Chief William Harris, addressing the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, said: “The tradition of pottery making among the Catawba, unchanged since before recorded history, links the lives of modern Catawba to our ancestors and symbolizes our connection to the earth and to the land and river we love. Like our pottery, the Catawba people have been created from the earth, and have been shaped and fired over time and so have survived many hardships to provide a living testament to our ancestors and to this place we call home.”

     If You Go …

    • Native American Studies Center
    119 South Main St.
    Lancaster, South Carolina
    • 803-313-7172

    • Mondays by appointment only

    • Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday & • • Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

    • Thursday, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

    • Sunday, 1 – 5 p.m.

    • www.usclancaster.sc.edu/nas/index.html

    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.

  • Developer Seeks Winnsboro Water

    95 homes planned near Blythewood Middle School

    WINNSBORO – Developers of a 95-unit neighborhood planned across from Blythewood Middle School on Longtown Road West at Rimer Pond Road are seeking water capacity of 38,000 gallons of water per day from Winnsboro Town Council. Representing LongCove Venture, John Thomas said at Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting that the development, named East Lake Village, is currently in the permitting process and will go before the Richland County Development Review Team Friday, Dec. 27.

    “Then, we’ll take about 90 days to do the engineering drawings and get everything submitted for permitting for the County and the Department of Health and Environmental Control,” Thomas said.

    Thomas said construction should start in the spring and that the homes would be primarily starter homes in the $180,000 – $225,000 range.

    Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy said he expects the developers to be back asking Council for approval in four to six weeks.

    “At that time, we’ll have to decide if we will need another water tower to accommodate them. And if we, do we want to spend a million dollars on it? We’ll have to think about this,” Gaddy said.

  • Lights Before Christmas

    Riverbanks Zoo: They’ll leave the light on for you.

    Head south 36 miles to Columbia and look for dazzling lights, snow clouds and illuminated animals, trees and more. Visit Riverbanks Zoo and Garden up until Dec. 30 and witness Columbia’s longest-running holiday tradition, “The Lights Before Christmas.” It’s a holiday spectacle you don’t want to miss. Plan a late start for this daytrip for the zoo’s one million twinkling lights come on between 5 and 9 p.m.

    This year marks the 26th annual Lights Before Christmas at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden. Each evening the zoo delights children and adults when twinkling lights and countless animated images come alive. The images represent some of Riverbanks’ more popular animals. More than 350 sparkling silhouettes of giraffes and other animals burst with color. Palmetto trees dazzle the eye and everywhere you look lights shower zoo grounds with color. It’s a nighttime spectacle not to be missed. In fact even the most Scrooge-like adults will enjoy the effects of a million twinkling lights, music and electric wildlife.

    There’s plenty to do. Roast marshmallows at the jingle bell bonfire. Pay a visit to Santa and take in the sounds of the Music in Motion lights spectacular. Want to see snow at Christmas? At Riverbanks Zoo and Garden it snows every night! And if the weather turns seasonal and a chill bites the air, warm up with hot chocolate, marshmallows and seasonal foods.

    As for the zoo’s residents, the various animals, you probably won’t see many. They’ll be asleep; but don’t let that discourage from going this holiday season. The light show will mesmerize you and again your best chance to see a “white Christmas” is at the zoo. Many people make the Lights Before Christmas a seasonal tradition. For them going to the zoo ranks right up there with mistletoe, caroling, eggnog and decking the halls!

    Note: The zoo will be closed Dec. 24 and 25. All Riverbanks members are eligible to receive one free visit when they show their membership card and picture ID at the gate; guest passes are not accepted. If you want to avoid waiting in a long line, go to the zoo’s website and pre-order tickets.

    The show has a limited run, so make plans now to put some nighttime joy in your world. Be smart and pre-order tickets so you best spend time enjoying the lights and not be stuck in line.

    If You Go …

    • 500 Wildlife Parkway, just off I-126 at Greystone Blvd., Columbia, S.C.

    • Monday – Saturday,

    10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

    • $10 Adults, $8 Children 3-12, $3 Students, Children under 3 free

    • 803-779-8717

    • www.riverbanks.org/events/lights-before-christmas.shtml

    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.

  • Apartments, Retail Eye Downtown

    The proposed development is bordered by Blythewood High School, the IGA Shopping Center, Highway 21 and I-77.

    WINNSBORO – Developers of a proposed multi-use development called Doko Village planned for downtown Blythewood came before the Winnsboro Town Council Tuesday evening asking for water capacity of 80,000 to 100,000 gallons per day for the development.

    Representing LongCreek Associates, LLC of Greenville, engineer John Thomas of Sustainable Design Consultants, Inc., said the development would include 200 apartments, retail commercial, restaurants and doctor’s offices and is planned for an area bordered by Blythewood High School, the IGA Shopping Center, Highway 21 and Interstate 77. It would have entrances off Creech Road and Blythewood Road. Thomas said the developers have interest from a hotelier and he said there is space for several restaurants including three out parcels that might instead become space for doctor’s offices.

    Thomas said it’s a long-term project that is two to two and a half years away from completion.

    “We’ll have more information as we get the uses pinned down and start pulling this together,” Thomas said. “It will be a year and a half before everything is permitted and approved, then we can start construction. Water users would come in two to three years. We just wanted to give you a heads up before we come back for approval.”

    Following executive session, Council authorized the Town of Winnsboro to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Fairfield County for modification to the Town’s existing water infrastructure from North Fire Tower Road in Richland County to the Rite-Aid water tank on Highway 23.

    Council also authorized the Town of Winnsboro to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Fairfield County for expanded sewer service to Walter Brown Industrial Park.

  • Coach Sits Out Big Game in Jail

    David Toney

    WINNSBORO – When the Fairfield Central High School Griffins took the field Friday night for what was undoubtedly their most important game of the season, the Class 2A/Division 1 State Championship, they were one coach shy of a full load. Just hours before the opening kickoff, Griffins’ defensive coordinator David Nathaniel Toney was jailed on marijuana charges, leaving the Griffins shorthanded in their contest with Dillon High School at Charlie W. Johnson Stadium in Columbia.

    According to the S.C. Highway Patrol (SCHP), Toney, 36, was pulled over on Highway 34 near I-77 at 6:15 p.m. Friday after a trooper clocked Toney’s 2008 Chrysler Aspen going 67 in a 55 MPH zone. The trooper approached the vehicle and asked Toney for his license and registration. At that time, a report from the SCHP states, the trooper noticed a “strong odor of marijuana” coming from inside the car. The trooper asked Toney if there was any marijuana in the vehicle, to which Toney replied that he “hoped not,” the report states.

    When the trooper asked a second time about the marijuana, Toney reportedly said that he had “a little bag,” and retrieved a clear plastic bag of marijuana from the center console of the vehicle and handed it over to the patrolman.

    Toney was then asked to exit the car, was placed in handcuffs and secured inside the patrol car. The trooper then searched Toney’s car and reportedly found a marijuana cigarette from inside a cup that was sitting in the center console. The trooper also discovered “numerous burnt marijuana cigarettes inside the same cup,” the report states. Toney was arrested for possession of marijuana and taken to the Fairfield County Detention Center, where he spent the rest of the night, missing Fairfield Central’s 41-3 loss to Dillon. The report listed the total weight of marijuana found in Toney’s car at 7.9 grams.

    Terrell Roach, Athletic Director at Fairfield Central, said the team obviously missed Toney’s energy and enthusiasm on the sidelines Friday night, but Demetrius Davis, the Griffins’ head coach, said his staff should have been able to compensate for the absence.

    “I don’t know if that affected us or not,” Davis said. “He was not here, but offensively, we just didn’t help us. We had some guys who were capable of running the defense, and I think they did a pretty decent job. Any time you’re missing a coach you’re going to have those problems.”

    J.R. Green, Superintendent of Fairfield County Schools, said Friday that he was “very disappointed” at the news of Toney’s arrest.

    “I expected him to be on the team bus, quite frankly,” Green said. “I wonder why he wasn’t on the team bus.”

    Davis said later that it is not uncommon for at least some of his coaches to drive their personal vehicles to games.

    “Normally, a couple of our coaches drive because we have extra equipment,” Davis said. “We have at least two coaches on the bus, but we’ve got 15 coaches, so a lot of times they do drive.”

    Toney was released Saturday on a $620 bond, and on Monday Green said Toney had been placed on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of an investigation.

    “We’re going to look at all the facts and give him an opportunity to give an account of the events,” Green said. “Then we’ll go from there.”

    Toney has been with the Griffins for the last three seasons. He is also a math teacher at Fairfield Middle School, where he was the 2012-2013 Teacher of the Year.

  • Weitzel to Head Camp Discovery

    Joanna Weitzel

    BLYTHEWOOD – On Dec. 3, the Camp Discovery Board of Trustees unanimously appointed Joanna Weitzel to the position of Executive Director. Weitzel was previously the Assistant Executive Director of Camp Discovery. She comes to this position with significant experience in management of non-profit organizations, a BS in Marketing and an MBA in Business Administration.

    “We are delighted to appoint Ms. Weitzel as Executive Director. She understands our mission to provide a special place for participants of all ages and abilities,” said Camp Discovery Executive Committee Chairwoman Dr. Cindy Nord.

    Weitzel has been a Blythewood resident for more than 20 years. She will continue to work closely with the founder of Camp Discovery, Donna Johnson, to provide continuity of programs and expand the mission of Camp Discovery to make the Camp available to our neighbors.