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  • Council Nixes Move to Larger Venue

    County Council faced another full house Monday night.

    FAIRFIELD – Although County Council easily voted Monday night to move an upcoming special meeting on the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) funds to Fairfield Central High School, two motions to relocate regular meetings to a larger venue touched off a rigorous debate, eliciting unhappy grumbles from the overflow audience before being swept away in defeat.

    Councilman David Brown (District 7), who placed the first motion on the floor to move Council’s regular meetings to a larger venue for a three-month period, said he has been hearing from voters in his district who want better access to County business.

    “We’ve got a group here that’s going to follow us wherever we go,” Brown said, indicating the capacity crowd. “I think the best thing to do is to put us in a large enough venue where everybody can have a seat. We’ve got people in the other room down there (a conference room down the hall, which was also filled). We’ve got people standing in the hall. It’s a fire hazard. If we can go to one of the schools where there’s more room, more air space, actually the Council and the people in the audience shouldn’t feel quite as heated.”

    While Councilman Kamau Marcharia (District 4) said he had also heard from voters in his district on the matter, he had bad memories of previous efforts by Council to bring the meetings to the public.

    “One of the members in my district did write me and ask me to vote yes for moving (the meetings), but that member also told me I needed to resign, so if we move the meetings I don’t know what we’d be talking about,” Marcharia said. “Eight or nine years ago we used to move Council around to fire stations and to McCrorey-Liston school and other places, and we had to call the police. We went to those meetings and folks would come there totally out of control. We had to call that off. Unless you want to wear a football helmet, I am leery about moving.”

    Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6) said she was opposed to the idea, although her reasoning drew grumbles from the onlookers in attendance Monday night.

    “This is our headquarters,” Kinley said. “The Town Hall is where the Town of Winnsboro meets. The School Board meets where they meet. The Senate meets where they meet. They don’t change the venue at the Senate just to accommodate the public when they want to come. It’s first come, first served. But the main reason is Miss Brown (Shryll Brown, Clerk to Council) has records in her office that we depend on greatly for things to be voted on and have correct information.”

    Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) said moving a meeting as highly anticipated as the upcoming LOST update was one thing, but to move meetings permanently was another.

    “To take Council away from chambers for three months, that’s a long time,” Ferguson said. “This is the County seat for meetings. That’s publicly known. Do we need to try one or two and see how that plays out? That might not be a bad idea. But I don’t think we need to spend a quarter of the year someplace else. I don’t think that’s feasible.”

    The motion failed, 4-2, with Brown and Councilwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) its only supporters.

    Brown then followed with a second motion, to move meetings on a trial basis for no longer than three months.

    “We can do it one month, if it doesn’t work, or we can give it two months or three months, but let’s give it a try,” Brown said. “If the larger venue is too large, or if this Council starts doing a great job and we lose about half these people out here, we can come back here.”

    That motion, too, failed to garner enough support to carry, dying in a 3-3 deadlock. Brown, Robinson and Marcharia voted in favor, with Ferguson, Perry and Kinley voting against. Perry then put forward the motion to move meetings, as needed, to a larger venue, causing some in the audience to cry out that it was needed now. That motion carried, 3-2, with Brown and Robinson voting against.

    “I hate to disenfranchise any constituent from any of the meetings we have,” Brown said.

  • Ruin and Recreation

    Sorry, The Shamrock Hotel is booked. But there are other great places to stay and things to do and see in Blackville.

    Drive due south 83 miles (about two hours) and you’ll find the sleepy town of Blackville. Here you’ll find Ray Miller’s Bread-Basket with his famous homemade bread and the Healing Springs, a long-time destination for people seeking natural remedies. Here too you’ll find ruins of the Shamrock Hotel and Barnwell State Park.

    A Mennonite family operates Miller’s Bread-Basket on Main Street. Ray Miller owns Miller’s Bread-Basket, a quaint charming place. Just look for the fellow who resembles Ernest Hemingway. They say the meatloaf is out of this world. You’ll relish the wonderful greens and fried chicken. Take your sweet tooth with you. Lil Stoltzfus, the Pie Lady, makes German chocolate pies, Dutch shoofly pies, pecan pies, chocolate fudge pies, apple pies and others. Try the cinnamon raisin bread. Consider the entrees here Pennsylvania Dutch with a southern touch.

    Just down the street stand the ruins of the old Shamrock. For years Miller has advocated restoring Blackville’s 100-year-old Shamrock Hotel, once a whistle-stop on the old Hamburg-Charleston railroad. In its glory days the Shamrock was a hub of activity where people played poker and pool.

    It’s haunting and beautiful. In its heyday green tiles spelled “The Shamrock” in the lobby’s white ceramic tiles near the entrance. The old hotel has long since crumbled into ruin, a reminder of days when people rode trains, not cars.

    Close by is Blackville’s Healing Springs, known as God’s Acre Healing Springs. Lute Boylston deeded the springs to God in 1944. The deed states that the owner of the land surrounding the springs is “God Almighty.” (He’s always been the owner.) A sign at the springs states, “According to tradition the Indians reverenced the water for its healing properties as a gift from the Great Spirit. They led the British wounded to their secret waters during the American Revolution and the wounded were healed. This historical property has been deeded to God for public use. Please revere God by keeping it clean.”

    Gallons gush forth every minute. Take some jugs with you. Back a ways I knew a woman who would regularly make a 120-mile roundtrip to the springs. Laden with many plastic milk jugs she came home with the therapeutic spring water and swore by it.

    Continue your day at Barnwell State Park. Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, this park has a reputation as a great place to fish. Feel like staying overnight? Arrange a stay at one of the park’s cabins.

    Blackville may be a sleepy town but you won’t go hungry and you will find plenty to do. Check out this town in the South Carolina Heritage Corridor. And if some stubborn ailment plagues you, well you just may find a cure at the end of your 83-mile drive south.

    If You Go …

    • Miller’s Bread-Basket,

    No Credit Cards Accepted

    483 Main Street

    Blackville, S.C. 29817

    803-284-3117

     • Healing Springs,

    Free

    Springs Court

    Blackville S.C. 29817

    • Barnwell State Park,

    Free

    223 State Park Road

    Blackville, S.C. 29817

    803-284-2212

    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.

  • Runners, at Your Mark

    Blythewoodians Jim Graddick, left, and Dave Holder, on bass, entertain with fellow Barefoot-n-Reckless band members Gary Hydrick of Elgin and Hobart Trotter of Columbia. The group will perform a free concert at the Town Park amphitheater on Sunday evening, Sept. 1 prior to the Monday morning Plantation Park Run.

    Readers, your humble scribe is not a runner. You can take one look at me and deduce that. The only time I ever run on purpose is when someone is chasing me. But I understand there are those of you out there who enjoy running, who do it for . . . fun. Well, have I got a fun run for you – it’s the Fourth Annual Blythewood Labor Day Run featuring a 10K run, a 5K run and a 1-mile Kid’s Fun Run. It takes place at the Blythewood Middle School on Sept. 2. It’s hosted by the Blythewood Middle School PTO and Eggplant Events Production, said the school’s PTO President Leanne Thompson.

    But the fun actually begins the evening before, on Sunday, Sept. 1, at the Town Hall park amphitheater where the Barefoot-n-Reckless band will present a free concert for the runners and public from 5-8 p.m. Two of the four members of the band are Blythewoodians – Jim Graddick on mandolin and Dave Holder on bass. The popular new band will entertain with Americana, bluegrass, country and rock. Food vendors will be on site. And from 5-7 p.m., as the music plays on, runners can pick up their packets nearby in the park.

    Bright and early the next morning, race day packet pick-ups and race day registration begin at 6:30 a.m. in the Blythewood Middle School gym lobby. The 10k will start at 7:30 a.m., the 5k at 7:40 a.m. and the Kids’ Fun Run at 8:40 a.m. All three races start and finish at Blythewood Middle School. The 10K and 5K routes are USA Track and Field certified courses and will take runners through Longcreek Plantation, a beautiful residential area of Blythewood, as well as the rural areas surrounding Blythewood Middle School. The 10K runners will enjoy a mixture of flat areas and hills with views of Lake Columbia and the Longcreek Plantation Equestrian Center. The 5K runners will love the flat, scenic course in the historic Round Top area of Blythewood. The 1-Mile Kids’ Fun Run will take place around the gated perimeter of the middle school campus.

    Cash prizes of $50 will be awarded for male and female overall and master winners. Overall second and third male and female and first, second and third male and female in the following age groups will also receive signature Blythewood Labor Day Run awards : 10 and under; 11-14; 15-19; 20-24; 25-29; 30-34; 35-39; 40-44; 45-49; 50-54; 55-59; 60-64; 65-69; and 70+.

    “This is the largest fundraiser of the year for the middle school,” Thompson said. “Previously this was a fundraiser for the school’s orchestra. The proceeds from this year’s event will go toward a digital school sign next to the building and toward creating a field trip scholarship fund for economically disadvantaged students. This is also a great way to get the community involved. Last year we had 400 runners. We’re hoping to have 500 this year.”

    To register or for more information, visit www.BlythewoodLaborDayRun.com. Those wishing to volunteer before, after or during the race should contact the event coordinators at info@eggplantevents.com.

    All kidding about running and chasing aside, this sounds like a great event that the runners among you should enjoy. And don’t forget the free concert on Sunday, which you will enjoy whether you run or not.

  • Electronics Manufacturer to Bring 500 Jobs to Fairfield

    The Perry Ellis building in Winnsboro, future home of Element Electronics.

    WINNSBORO – Element Electronics announced plans Aug. 22 to locate its new flat-screen television production facility in Winnsboro. An overflow crowd spilled out of the County Council chambers Thursday afternoon to hear the news, and they were not disappointed, as the company proclaimed their new venture would bring 500 new jobs to Fairfield County over the next five years. The announcement was made via Internet teleconference from a Wal-Mart economic development conference in Orlando, Fla. by Vlad Kazhdan, vice president of product for Element, and S.C. Governor Nikki Haley. Element, a Minnesota-based company, is a main supplier of electronics to Wal-Mart, as well as Target and QVC.

    Element will locate their production facility at 392 Highway 321 Bypass N., former home of Perry Ellis Menswear. The building has been vacant since 2008. The move represents a shift in Element’s manufacturing from China back to the United States. Kazhdan said Element plans to have the Winnsboro plant up and running in October of this year and in full production in nine months. The move represents a $7.5 million investment for the company.

    Tiffany Harrison, Director of Economic Development for Fairfield County, said typical jobs at Element would pay about $12.50 an hour, on average. Element plans to bring in workers in shifts of 25 beginning in October, Harrison said, with 250 jobs expected in the initial phase of start-up. An additional 250 jobs will be added over the course of five years.

    Some upgrades would be required at the facility, Harrison said, and sources with knowledge of the site told The Voice that the sprinkler system would likely need to be replaced and also noted that there was no air conditioning inside the plant.

    “The building is in good shape, structurally,” Harrison said. “I’m not sure what Element’s needs are, as far as environmental control, but they’ve been through the building with their various contractors, so they know what they need.”

    According to Fairfield County tax records, the building is currently owned by Winnsboro DC, LLC, a Miami, Fla. subsidiary of Perry Ellis with offices in Columbia. Harrison said Element would not own the building initially. Details of when and if Element – or someone else – would acquire the property outright were part of the County’s incentive package, which Harrison said has not yet been finalized. But the deal to get Element into Fairfield County was driven by the presence of a facility that was ready for production.

    “The deal really was building-driven,” Harrison said. “Element was on a fast track. They were actually on track with another state when Gov. Haley invited them to come to South Carolina. The Perry Ellis building was on the list of buildings that would work.”

    The County’s commitment to having facilities ready for companies to move into, Harrison said, was key in bringing Element to Fairfield, and is key for further economic development in the future.

    “County Council has had the vision to do what is necessary, as far as building product,” Harrison said. “Element needed a building and needed to be up and running in a short time frame. Companies have short time frames now and they need to get their product to market as quickly as possible.

    “This is so much more than 500 jobs,” Harrison added. “This opens the door and shows other companies a pathway to being successful. We believe it could have a huge domino effect on economic development in Fairfield County.”

    Terry Vickers, President of the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce, said the entire county could benefit from the new plant.

    “I think we could see more restaurants come in, more retail – who knows?” Vickers said. “I think the businesses in the county will benefit from the 500 jobs.”

    And, Vickers said, the location of Element in Fairfield makes a much-needed positive statement about future growth.

    “It shows our governor and other state agencies that we do want growth in Fairfield County and we’re able to do what it takes to get development here,” she said. “The partnerships and the people who came together with the County and State to make this happen, that’s what business development is all about.”

    County Councilman David Brown (District 7) said after last week’s announcement that people were already “coming out of the woodwork” to apply for positions with Element, and Harrison said many of the skillsets required for Element are similar to those utilized by former employees of Perry Ellis.

    “With specific training from Element, folks from Fairfield County could be able to move into these jobs,” Harrison said.

    The company will begin hiring for the new positions in the fourth quarter of this year. Anyone interested in job opportunities with the company should visit www.sctechjobs.com at that time.

  • Bland’s Lovely Mistake

    Swan Lake-Iris Gardens in Sumter – there are worse accidents to have.

    It’s not far to Sumter. Just 66 miles, and it’ll only take about 90 minutes. Head toward Camden and make your way to Highway 378 E/US 76 E then make your way on to Sumter. Soon you’ll see the city give way to an accidental delight: Swan Lake-Iris Gardens.

    The accidental garden, referred to by Southern Living as a “lovely mistake,” developed into one of the finest botanical gardens in the United States. It came about as an accident sure enough. In 1927, Hamilton Carr Bland, a local businessman, was developing 30 acres of swamp and landscaping his home with Japanese irises. But the irises just wouldn’t cooperate. After consulting horticulturists, Bland told his gardener to dig up the bulbs and throw them in the swamp. The next spring, the irises exploded into bloom. This “lovely mistake” developed into one of the country’s finest botanical gardens. It’s also the country’s only public park that features all species of swan.

    You’ll see a lot of wildlife here. Black water studded by cypress knees hosts various waterfowl. The only public park in the United States to feature all eight swan species, Swan Lake-Iris Gardens is also home to some of the nation’s most intensive plantings of Japanese iris, which bloom yearly in mid to late May and last until the beginning of June. The garden also boasts many other floral attractions, including colorful camellias, azaleas, day lilies and Japanese magnolias. A Braille Trail enables the sight-impaired to enjoy the scents and sensations of the gardens.

    Here too you’ll find a butterfly garden and a striking sculpture, Grainger McKoy’s “Recovery Wing.” McKoy’s dramatic 18-foot sculpture of stainless steel represents the wing of a pintail duck in flight. According to McKoy, “This wing position is considered the weakest in bird flight, yet in the artist’s eye is the position with the most beauty and grace. All of us are in recovery somewhere in our lives, as is our environment, of which Swan Lake is a unique part.”

    You can walk trails and a boardwalk through the gardens. When you do, keep an eye out for alligators. You’ll see plenty of swans and birds, but remember that feeding them is not permitted.

    A curiosity is the chocolate garden. Established in 2009, it makes for a whimsical addition. Warn the kids that these plants are not really chocolate. No sampling allowed! Edible plants, such as chocolate cherry tomatoes, chocolate corn and chocolate mini bell peppers, all have a chocolate look but alas the kids will be sad to know they still taste like vegetables. The Chocolate Garden also grows flowers with chocolate-colored leaves, or stems, or centers of flowers, as well as chocolate-looking grasses and a chocolate Mimosa tree.

    More than 250,000 people visit the Swan Lake-Iris Gardens each year. Many come from afar. You, though, are close by and you’ll be glad you made the 66-mile drive to this accidental garden. Perhaps you’ve read about the gardens in Southern Living and Better Homes & Gardens. Why not see it up close and personal? It’s less than a day away.

    If You Go …

    • Swan Lake-Iris Gardens,

    Free Admission

    822 West Liberty Street

    Sumter, S.C. 29151

    800-688-4748

    Open daily

    (except holidays)

    7:30 a.m. to dusk

    www.sumtersc.gov/

    swan-lake-iris-gardens.aspx

    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.

  • Mystery Lingers Around Dam Breach

    BLYTHEWOOD – Answers to what happened to the dam that held back the now drained Dawson’s Creek Pond continue to be difficult to come by, but now a second witness has come forward claiming to have seen a work crew in the immediate area of the dam just weeks before the Aug. 6 breach.

    Randy Eisenhoward told The Voice last week that he was driving by the dam one afternoon just two weeks before the break and saw two pickup trucks, a flatbed truck and a track hoe parked near the dam. There were several men at the site, Eisenhoward said, and the track hoe was in use, digging “right where the breach occurred,” he said. The pickup trucks were white, he said, and the track hoe standard yellow, but he said he was not able to identify any markings on the vehicles and was therefore not sure whom they represented.

    Eisenhoward’s statement corroborates claims made by Dawson’s Creek resident Carol Peeples, who last week said she, too, had seen a work crew in the area prior to the breach of the dam.

    “I don’t know if it was Richland County, the Department of Transportation or Santee Cooper,” Peeples said last week at a meeting with Mayor J. Michael Ross and Town Administrator John Perry. “But we saw workers in floating machines. Somebody has been out there digging. We need to know who was out there with that large equipment.”

    A spokesperson for the S.C. Department of Transportation (DOT) told The Voice late last week that no one from their department has done any work in the area since 2012. The DOT has also not issued any permits for right-of-way, the spokesperson said, something that would have been required for anyone working in the area.

    “Some folks know they’re supposed to get a permit to work in the right-of-way,” the spokesperson said, “but others do work without getting that permit.”

    The Richland County Ombudsman’s Office confirmed that their Roads and Drainage division was responsible for maintaining the creek, but said detailed records of any work performed would have to be obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Last week The Voice submitted such a request, seeking records of any work in or around the dam performed or approved to be performed by Richland County. As of press time, Richland County had not responded to that request.

    Following the breach, Peeples submitted a request for service to the County’s Roads and Drainage division. A document detailing the County’s discussion of Peeples’ request, generated after the County had examined the remains of the dam, states that the dam had been “dug out . . . This has caused the pond to drain.” But the document also claims that the County has not done any recent work in the area and is not responsible for the disappearance of the pond.

    The 92-year-old pond drained in a matter of hours on Aug. 6 when the dam broke at approximately 9 p.m. and triggered a flash flood that blocked a portion of Highway 21 (Wilson Blvd.). The residents of the Dawson’s Creek community are now living with a view of an empty lake bed, which Peeples and other homeowners say is a health hazard. At the conclusion of last week’s meeting with the Town, Ross said that the Town would push to get the Department of Health and Environmental Control to come out and assess any potential health hazards related to the empty lake bed.

  • Ole Town and Mill Memories

    They’re probably not still 5 cents, but they are still cold.

    Make the pleasant 117-mile drive to Central, S.C. and you’ll find a country community of the 1930s, the brainchild of Roy and Pat Collins. While many remember the 1930s as the era of the Great Depression, it was also a time when life was pragmatic and picturesque, a rare combination these days. At Collins Ole Towne you can step back in time and see a vintage barn, old school, barbershop, mill and general store.

    The Collinses built their community onsite. Much of the material used came from old homes marked for demolition or renovation. What’s truly fascinating is the old general store. Back in olden times, folks needed liniment, castor oil and seeds. You’ll find those as well as memorabilia from life in a small community. Country store paraphernalia from the 1820s into the mid 1950s gives visitors an Americana feeling; and yes, the store has a vintage Coca Cola box.

    Check out the Issaqueena Mill, a three-legged mill with a wooden hopper, once used on large farms and small plantations. Now old plows, telephone conductors, old bottles and relics rest in it. When you’re there, note the old upside down horseshoe above the center post leaking away its good luck.

    The Depression-era barbershop features a reconstructed motorized barber pole, coat rack and several other items used in an old barbershop in Central. The Collinses purchased the barber chair, pedestal lavatory and many other items of interest during their travels.

    The latest addition to Ole Towne is the schoolhouse, which has a bell tower. Pull on the rope and it’s school time again. Sit in an old desk dating back to the early 20th century. See old school books and other memorabilia. Note, too, the wood-burning heater that kept winter’s frigid days at bay.

    Once Collins Ole Towne gets you in a “good old days mood” make the 13-mile drive up to Pickens and visit Hagood Mill. Before refrigerators came along, corn meal had a shelf life of about two weeks. This gristmill near Pickens churned out fresh meal from 1845 until the mid 1960s. You’ll find the mill on Hagood Creek. The water wheel, 20-feet in diameter by 4-feet wide, is South Carolina’s only wooden waterwheel. The wheel and mechanical components were rebuilt in the mid-1970s using as many original parts as possible. Restoration continued in the mid 1980s and mid 1990s. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places.

    Pay attention to the millstones. A revolving upper millstone, the “runner,” and a stationary bottom stone, the “bed,” gave old mills their heart. The stones weigh more than a ton and as they rubbed against each other grooves cut into them created a scissor-like action that grinds grain. To this day a lot of folks believe stone-ground grain tastes better than grain ground by modern roller milling methods.

    A quaint village much like a Hollywood set, a picturesque gristmill, and a drive through beautiful countryside: if those aren’t reasons enough to head to the cooler climes of the mountains, then what is?

    If You Go …

    • Collins Ole Towne

    228 Lawton Road

    Central, S.C.

    www.centralheritage.org

    Call for an appointment to tour the village:

    864-639-2618

    Admission Fee.

     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 wait is over. It’s time to get cookin’

    Norma Branham, left, shows off her Blue Cheese Pull-a-Parts – a recipe that will appear in the new “Cooks of Fairfield County” cookbook. Sampling some of the other cookbook goodies that will be available during a dessert reception at Honeysuckle Acres on Aug. 25 are Terry Vickers and Denise Jones who serve as president and chairman of the board, respectively, of the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce which is sponsoring the cookbook project.

    You’ve watched as they gathered the recipes, maybe even contributed one or two yourself; you’ve filled out the pre-order forms. Now it’s time for the unveiling. Hot off the press, “The Cooks of Fairfield County” cookbook is now ready for the grand unveiling at a special dessert event to be held on Sunday, August 25 from 3-5 p.m. at Honeysuckle Acres, 70 Honeysuckle Lane in Winnsboro. The event will introduce “The Cooks of Fairfield County” to the public. Cooks who submitted dessert recipes are invited to prepare their recipes to share at the event.

    “The unveiling will be a fun social event — a soiree,” project coordinator Denise Jones said. “The cookbook started as a fundraiser for the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce.”

    To gather the recipes, the cookbook creators engaged the community through the newspaper, word of mouth, email and social media like Facebook.

    “The idea behind compiling a cookbook was to bring people in the community together,” Jones said. Anyone who lives in Fairfield County or has ties to the county was invited to submit recipes.

    “I don’t think there is anything that brings us together more than food,” she added.

    The cookbook editors received 635 recipes, including some they gleaned by pouring over about 30 old cookbooks going all the way back to 1945.

    “We included all the recipes,” said Jones. The chamber used an online cookbook publisher to create the cookbook.

    “We had a group of people along with me who entered the recipes and proofed them,” said Jones. “We tried initially to limit the recipes to two per person, but we had some that have submitted more than that.”

    There were lots of pecan pie recipes and lots and lots of chicken casserole recipes. This is a cookbook for someone with a real sweet tooth, because by far, the largest section is Desserts.

    This cookbook is unique, Jones believes, and stands out in the cookbook crowd.

    “These are recipes that came out of Fairfield County, dishes that people around here have probably eaten at church events and have always wanted to know how to make,” said Jones. “Now they will have that opportunity.”

    A favorite feature of the cookbook is the 100 or so vintage recipes from the days when we didn’t worry about things like fats or the effects of butter, sugar and salt.

    “This is the first Fairfield County cookbook that we know of,” said Jones.

    Chamber president Terry Vickers expressed appreciation to Jones and the new chamber board members who initiated the cookbook project.

    “We hope everybody in Fairfield County will buy at least three cookbooks; keep one and give the others as gifts,” Vickers said. “Christmas will be here soon and it’s a great gift to stock up on before the holidays. Send them to friends and relatives out of state so other people will know what great cooks we have in Fairfield County.”

    If you plan to bring a dessert to the unveiling, or need more details about the event and the cookbook, contact the chamber at 803-635-4242.

    Don’t know about you, but I’ve got my fork and napkin ready!

  • One Week Later, Dam Breach Unsolved

    The remnants of the Dawson’s Pond dam, which ruptured last week, causing the complete drainage of the more than 90-year-old pond. Residents are still seeking an explanation as the mystery of what happened there on the night of Aug. 6 only deepens.

    BLYTHEWOOD – The mystery of what caused the dam holding back Dawson’s Pond to breach last week, draining the 92-year-old landmark and triggering a flash flood that blocked Highway 21, has only deepened since Aug. 6 and Monday night, residents of the neighborhood turned to the Town of Blythewood for help.

    “The Town has a responsibility to help us,” Dawson’s Creek resident Carol Peeples said at Monday’s informal meeting with Mayor J. Michael Ross and Town Administrator John Perry. “We are all residents of Blythewood and we think Blythewood has a responsibility to help us get it (the dam) repaired.”

    But while Ross said the Town would make the call to the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to address the health issues presented by the now empty and muddy lake bed, and the Town would try to facilitate a second meeting between residents and Richland County, who Peeples said is at least partially responsible for the breach, that was about as far as the Town could go.

    “We’re not in the dam business,” Ross said. “We don’t maintain dams. If something happens on my property, it’s my responsibility to fix it. This is a little out of our league.”

    Ross said the Town would also help guide the neighbors through the process of forming a homeowner’s association, which could collectively maintain a repaired dam in the future.

    Peeples said there were a number of factors that contributed to last week’s disaster, some that have been building up for years to just such a catastrophe.

    “We have been asking Richland County for 13 years to come out and do a proper re-digging of the drainage system,” Peeples said. “We ask them monthly to come out and take care of the beavers that are damming up the (drainage) creek. They lie to us and tell us they’ve done that, that they’ve captured beavers, but the beavers are still there, building dams.”

    Peeples said the Roads and Drainage division of Richland County’s Public Works Department is responsible for maintaining the drainage creek that handles overflow from the pond, and they have neglected doing so. When the pond at Blythewood High School overflowed on the night of Aug. 6, she said, the water from that pond flooded her yard and overwhelmed Dawson’s Pond’s drainage system. Monday night Peeples presented the Town with a document she said detailed correspondence between members of the Department discussing her request for service. That document only added to the mystery of what breached the dam.

    “The embankment on the back side of [the] pond within the power line right-of-way has been dug out,” a Department employee identified as “PittsD” stated on Aug. 8 in the document. “This has caused the pond to drain.”

    PittsD goes on to say that the County has not been to the area and is not responsible for draining of the pond.

    But Peeples said someone has indeed been in the area performing work. Just weeks before the dam break, Peeples said she and others saw workers in boats using machinery in the retention area.

    “I don’t know if it was Richland County, the Department of Transportation or Santee Cooper,” Peeples said. “But we saw workers in floating machines. Someone was doing work in the retention area, and now Roads and Drainage says someone ‘dug it out’. Somebody has been out there digging. We need to know who was out there with that large equipment.”

    The Richland County Ombudsman’s Office confirmed Tuesday that Roads and Drainage was responsible for maintaining the creek, but said detailed records of any work performed would have to be obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

    “I don’t have anything showing beaver removal,” a supervisor with the Ombudsman’s Office told The Voice Tuesday. “Normally, the County contracts that kind of work out.”

    Ross said the Town would, in the next week, bring Richland County to the table to try to shed more light on what, exactly, happened to the Dawson’s Pond dam.

  • Release Your Hidden Artist

    Fairfield Arts Council board member Phyllis Gutierrez talks about all things arts with FCAC president Virginia Lacy on the steps of the Century House in Ridgeway.

    Local artist Campbell Frost says there’s a hidden artist in all of us. The Fairfield County Arts Council (FCAC) is inviting all those artists to come out and play.

    You hesitate to use five-dollar words like “renaissance” when talking about how something has improved or changed, but when we’re talking about the Fairfield County Arts Council, that word seems appropriate.

    A transfusion of new blood, brought about by associating with the Ridgeway Historic and Cultural Committee (the presenters of the annual Arts on the Ridge art event in Ridgeway), brought the FCAC back from almost the point of extinction.

    Now, the FCAC is a vibrant organization with their collective paint-smeared fingers in several pies, say FCAC president Virginia Lacy and FCAC board member Phyllis Gutierrez.

    “We are using community events to create a new excitement for the Arts Council,” Gutierrez said. “This arts renaissance involves artists and supporters of the arts who feel the arts should be an important part of specific community events like Arts on the Ridge and Pine Tree Playhouse. They feel there’s a need for more community involvement in every area of the arts — visual, performing, written, spoken and musical,” Gutierrez added.

    This group has provided the volunteer-powered engine that is starting to make art-related things happen in Fairfield County.

    Lacy and Gutierrez believe that love of the arts can bring communities together and help revitalize those communities.

    “There’s a common factor there, whether it’s your art work, a child’s art, your friend’s or a family member’s art, or art for art’s sake — it brings people together. People will come to these events” Lacy said. “It’s a wonderful way for all people to communicate.”

    OK, so arts are good for the community. This is a given. So, why else do you want to be a member of the Arts Council and attend the meetings?

    For the experiences, my friends. One of the goals of the Arts Council is to begin a series of art workshops in the fall. FCAC members will be able to take part in these exploratory workshops that are planned for everything from basket weaving to pottery making, as well as explore the paint mediums of oils, acrylics and watercolors.

    The FCAC has not left out the scribes among us in their planning, be you poet or prose writer. Virginia Schaefer is in the planning stages of organizing a writer’s group under the FCAC umbrella.

    FCAC members who are also artists have the opportunity to display and sell their works in the anteroom of Hoot’s Restaurant in Winnsboro and in other venues.

    Besides that, most every FCAC meeting features news of interest to artists and art-supporters, and there’s likely to be a realtime art demo of some sort thrown in for good measure at the meetings.

    The new FCAC is determined to see the arts flourish in Fairfield County and the surrounding areas. I urge you to attend one of their meetings and prompt your own hidden artist to come out and play.

    Fairfield County Arts Council meetings are held the first Tuesday of the month, at 6 p.m. at the Century House in Ridgeway. For information, call Virginia Lacy at 803-360-0893.