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Two Blythewood farms and nine others in Richland, Kershaw and Lexington counties will open their barn doors and farm gates for the inaugural Midlands Tour of Sustainable Family Farms, Saturday and Sunday, April 6-7, from 1 – 5 p.m. on both days.

Crooked Cedar Farm on Lawhorn Road, owned by Selwin and Edwina Harrell, and Doko Farm in Cedar Creek, owned Joe and Amanda Jones, will invite the public to take self-guided tours of their working farms and gardens.

In addition to gardens and crops, a variety of farm animals including chickens, pigs and goats, will be on hand to welcome the tour guests. The farmers will also be teaching gardening and growing techniques such as square foot gardening, permaculture, hydroponics and raised vegetable beds. All of the vegetables, fruits, flowers, mushrooms and more are grown without harmful pesticides.

Tour visitors are encouraged to enjoy a farm-fresh picnic or snack with food and treats purchased at the farms. Children will learn where their food comes from, play fun farm games and more.

Blythewood’s Crooked Cedar Farm produces for sale an endless array of seasonal tasty, colorful organic vegetables, herbs, fruits, strawberries and blueberries. The Harrells also grow and sell perennial plants and flowers.

The Harrells have lived on and worked the 11-acre farm for almost 35 years — since they were newlyweds. The garden started as a 50 x 100-foot plot when the Harrells’ boys were small. Today, the ever-expanding operation is a commercial endeavor that covers more than three acres. Besides garden produce, the Harrells raise chickens and sell eggs. Edwina cans or dries much of their garden’s produce for sale at the All-Local Market on Whaley Street in Columbia on Saturday mornings year round. Orders can also be placed for produce, eggs and canned/dried products by calling 786-4841 or emailing crookedcedarfarmsc@gmail.com and picked up at the farm.

Doko Farm, like the other farms, is always a work in progress and currently sells organic eggs, pork, lamb and ducks. It is located at 2102 Cedar Creek Road in Blythewood. The farm has been in Joe’s family for several generations. Today he and his wife take pride in turning acreage into a sustainable family farm. Orders for the Jones’ farm products can be placed by calling 803-873-7739 or emailing dokofarm@gmail.com or go to www.dokofarm.org.

Tour tickets, good for both days, are $25 per vehicle in advance. Tickets are available for purchase during the tour for $30 or you can also choose to pay $10 per farm (available for purchase at all the farms during the tour.) Groups of cycles count as one vehicle. Complete information about the tour and the farms, with interactive maps and driving directions to each farm, plus tour tickets are available at www.carolinafarmstewards.org. You can also pick up a printed brochure and buy tickets at Whole Foods Market in Columbia closer to the event date.

Visit any farm in any order and bring a cooler so you can bring home some of the farm fresh products that will be on sale at many of the farms. No pets allowed. The tour is rain or shine. Proceeds from the tour support the work of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association.

In case you weren’t invited, there was a red carpet movie screening in LongCreek Plantation last weekend at the waterfront home of Joan and Fred Jahnke. The faux, fun evening was part of Joan’s continuing effort to raise awareness about a very rare, painful and extremely serious vascular condition that presents as a heart attack (but isn’t), is difficult to diagnose and affects mainly women, including her. The ‘screening’ that evening was a segment from a show that appeared on PBS in December about Joan and her mysterious medical condition.

Since 2005, Joan has valiantly endured what seems like a heart ailment. She repeatedly suffers episodes that feel exactly like heart attacks. While tests continued to tell doctors that she wasn’t having heart attacks, her symptoms were relieved with nitro SL, the same medication that relieves symptoms for heart attack victims. It was not until 2008 that her medical malady was diagnosed at Emory University in Atlanta. The rare condition was identified as Cardiac Endothelial Dysfunction — but even with a name, the condition remains mysterious.

“There is no known cause,” Joan said, “and therefore, no known treatment for cure.”

Joan’s condition is so marked by breathlessness and weakness that she and her husband, Fred, had to install a stair chair in their home. But the high-spirited former nurse didn’t let her limited mobility stop her from spreading the word to help others in her predicament.

Her story first appeared two years ago in the online version of Scrubs, a professional journal for nurses. The focus of the article was not only to make nurses aware of the condition, but to help patients be equally aware, persistent and articulate when they notice symptoms that are consistent with heart disease.

“I started a blog about my experiences at the urging of two of my cardiologists, Dr. Andrew Weisinger at Emory University and Dr. Daniel Bouknight at Columbia Cardiology,” she said. “They encouraged me to spread the word.”

Her blog, which is hosted on MedHelp and can be found by googling “joanincarolina,” has proven a huge success.

“Since 2008,” she said, “women from all over the world have contacted me through the blog looking for help and answers.”

It wasn’t long before her blog even caught the attention of PBS producers who contacted Joan about featuring her story on an episode of the television show Second Opinion. They filmed the segment last summer and it was broadcast last December.  It is also available online at www.secondopinion-tv.org.

“I’ve heard from the staff at PBS that it’s one of their most-watched and commented-on shows!” she said.

As part of their continuing effort to boost women’s awareness of this condition, the Jahnkes decided to host a Hollywood-style screening of the PBS show for their friends and neighbors.

Styled after the Academy Awards, the festivities began with each guest’s star turn along a red carpet leading into the house. Amid flashing paparazzi cameras, they were interviewed by a faux Groucho Marx who was brimming with old-style quips like ‘I went to see a judge about getting married – but I should have seen a jury!’ After a little couture chat with Groucho (Barry Hill), guests traversed a star-tiled Walk of Fame into the dining room where they nibbled on baked brie, decadent chocolate truffles, tiramisu and other culinary delights.

The Jahnke’s lake-view party room was awash in glittering sequins, fur stoles, satin skirts, pencil jeans, bow ties, fedoras and the fabulous dazzle of entirely too much bling. As the movie popcorn and wine flowed, chatter and laughter filled the room. And, at the conclusion of the screening, the golden statue was presented to the star of the film — Joan Jahnke, who wasn’t speechless.

While the event was lots of fun, Joan said she was especially delighted to be able to spread the word about the condition.

“I hope this will create opportunity for our guests to help alert their own friends and family about this disease that is all the more painful if not diagnosed and treated,” Joan said as she mingled merrily among her 40 or so guests.

“While there is no cure for this disease, by knowing what the problem is, some relief and a very fulfilling life is still out there for those of us who suffer from it. “

And Joan Jahnke is living, fun-filled proof of that prognosis.

WINNSBORO – A Winnsboro man arrested last week on trespassing charges outside Home Movie Rental on Columbia Road had additional charges added to his name when investigators linked him to a March 12 surveillance video of a half-naked man inside Fairfield Middle School.

Yahya Abdul Salaam, 50, of Flora Circle, was arrested outside Home Movie Rental by Fairfield County Sheriff’s deputies March 19. Salaam was seen by a surveillance camera pulling into the lot on a bicycle at approximately 11 p.m. When the camera went dead, the business owner notified the Sheriff’s Office and deputies arrested Salaam on trespassing charges.

It was Salaam’s bicycle, which the Sheriff’s Office said had a unique color pattern and style, that led investigators to take a closer look at surveillance video from a March 12 incident at Fairfield Middle School.

The Winnsboro Department of Public Safety responded to an alarm at the school just after midnight on March 12, but finding no sign of forced entry, cleared the scene. When School Resource Officers reviewed surveillance footage later that day, however, they saw an unidentified man inside the halls. The suspect was naked from the waist down, the Sheriff’s Office said, wearing only a sweatshirt on his torso. Additional footage showed the suspect leaving the school grounds on a bicycle, purple and sliver in color. Investigators were able to positively match the bicycle to the one Salaam had pedaled into the Home Movie Rental parking lot a week later.

With a link established, investigators acquired a search warrant to examine the contents of a bag Salaam was carrying with him at the time of his arrest. That bad contained a computer, a hand-written list of adult Web sites and several memory storage devices. One of those storage devices was found to contain what the Sheriff’s Office said were “several pornographic images of young females, some of which appeared to be younger than 10 years of age.” Salaam’s computer has been sent to the State Law Enforcement Division’s forensics lab for complete analysis, the Sheriff’s Office said. Salaam has since been hit with additional charges of second-degree burglary and second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor (possession of child pornography). The Sheriff’s Office said Salaam has also admitted to being the pants-less individual captured on video inside Fairfield Middle School, although he has admitted to no wrongdoing beyond breaking and entering. At press time, there was no evidence that Salaam tampered with any of the school’s computers, but the incident remains under investigation.

“The School District has been very cooperative with us during this investigation,” Fairfield County Sheriff’s Capt. Brad Douglas said. “Their IT people helped us out a great deal, and we’re very appreciative of that.”

At press time, Salaam was being held at the Fairfield County Detention Center.

The Christ Central Fast Track GED program is coming to Winnsboro next month. Pastor Jimmy Burroughs hopes to have classes starting in April and will use mass advertisement with signs and flyers to attract as many people as possible. Those interested can call 815-HELP or just visit the administration building at 108 Moultrie St. Students drop out of high school for multiple reasons varying from pregnancy, drugs or being forced into the workforce.

According to statisticbrain.com, over three million students dropped out of high school last year and those dropouts are not eligible for 90 percent of jobs available in the United States. The GED classes will be all day classes where lunch is provided. Training and instruction will take place in the morning with the after lunch hours consisting of practice tests. In addition, there is no cost to students. The classes, materials and $80 exam fee are all paid in full. The Vice President of Christ Central’s GED program, Roger Floyd, believes the program can make a positive difference in an individual’s life.

“There is such a great need for this service,” Floyd said. “It is just so hard to get any type of job without a GED or its equivalent.”

From Wagner all the way to Aiken, the Christ Central Fast Track GED program has a 90 percent pass rate since 2011 and their average score of 2,619 ranks higher than the state average of 2,532. In fact, they rank higher in every section from science (538-521) to social studies (533-515), reading (564-542), writing (489-481) and math (495-473). This past month, Christ Central had their best month ever with 13 graduates from Columbia, nine from Wagner and 20 from Aiken. The town of Winnsboro has high hopes to join those ranks in the coming months. Bonnie Austin is the Director of Midlands Workforce and she is looking forward to the prospect of educating high school dropouts.

“We are very excited to have this resource available to assist our residents,” Austin said. “This is a wonderful opportunity for all of Fairfield County.”

Transportation will be provided for those individuals in need to take the placement test. Classes will hold up to 15 students and be held mostly on Saturdays with an emphasis on math, writing and test taking skills.

BLYTHEWOOD – Since 2008, feral cats have had a safe haven in Blythewood as part of Homeward Bound Pet Rescue’s cat colony near Blythewood Road, but the recent fate of one unfortunate feline has the program’s director concerned about community perception.

“Having a managed cat colony is actually a good thing,” said Cam Chappell, who runs the animal rescue and adoption program. “These cats have been spayed or neutered and have had one round of shots. They help keep un-managed cats out of the area, keeping the population of stray animals down.”

Earlier this month, one of Chappell’s cats was trapped in Cobblestone by Richland County and taken to the City of Columbia’s animal shelter. Although a city ordinance mandates that animals be kept for five days before being euthanized, Chappell’s stray was put down in less than 24 hours.

Marli Drum, Animal Services Superintendent for the City of Columbia, said that while the ordinance does require a five-day holding period, animals can be put down sooner than that if they are injured, dangerous or if space is needed.

“Unfortunately, we had a handful of cats that came in that day (Feb. 4) and we didn’t have enough space,” Drum said. “This is a very unfortunate incident. It is heart-sickening to have euthanized one that we could have gotten out alive.”

Drum also said her staff did not notice the tell-tale ear tip, which managed feral cats bear. Chappell explained that cats in managed facilities like hers have the tip of one of their ears – usually the left ear – cropped off when they are spayed or neutered and have their shots as a sign to prevent just such unnecessary euthanizations as occurred Feb. 5. But Drum said that even if her staff had noticed the tip, it is rare that anyone comes and picks up ear-tipped cats.

“Sadly, this is one that someone wanted back,” Drum said.

Chappell said the cat was trapped by a new property manager at Cobblestone who she said was enforcing company policy. She has since spoken with Cobblestone management and said she hopes to be able to keep the colony at its current location.

Chappell said she has also received assurances from Steve Benjamin, Mayor of Columbia, that the five-day hold policy will be observed in the future. Drum also added that it was their goal to become a no-kill shelter within the next five years.

“Citizens need to get behind it,” Drum said, “and become a no-kill community. Spay and neuter your pets, and instead of buying pets from a pet store or a breeder, adopt from the shelter.”

RIDGEWAY – A Ridgeway man was found dead in his son’s home Jan. 29 and the victim’s son and daughter-in-law are behind bars, both facing criminal charges in the incident.

Dwayne Maurice Green, 43, and his wife, Tonya Harris, 48, were arrested by the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office Jan. 31 on charges related to the death of 63-year-old Thomas Green, Dwayne Green’s father.

According to the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office, Fairfield County EMS responded to the home on Bellfield Road in Ridgeway on the evening of Jan. 29. There they found Thomas Green unresponsive and pronounced him dead at the scene. At first glance, the death appeared to have been from natural causes. However, a preliminary examination by the Fairfield County Coroner’s Office found bruises, some recent, on Green’s body and Barkley Ramsey, Fairfield County Coroner, ordered an autopsy.

Thomas Green had suffered a stroke in 1998, Ramsey said, and had health issues related to his heart as well. While Green required a wheelchair for complete mobility, he could, with assistance, stand and walk short distances. Green was unable to care for himself, the Sheriff’s Office said, and had been living in the care of his son and daughter-in-law since the summer of 2012. Prior to coming to live with them on Bellfield Road, Green had been in a nursing home.

Ramsey said the autopsy revealed that Thomas Green had been beaten prior to his death Jan. 29, and that the beating placed significant, and ultimately fatal, stress on Green’s heart. The number and ages of the bruises indicate that this was not the first beating Green had endured in recent months.

Dwayne Green has been charged with abuse of a vulnerable adult resulting in death and could face as much as 30 years in prison, while Harris has been charged with neglect of a vulnerable adult, which carries a maximum sentence of five years. Both Harris and Dwayne Green were being held at the Fairfield County Detention Center as of press time.

A Success Center designed to ensure a direct route from high school to higher education was opened Jan. 30 at Fairfield High School. The Center is a collaborative effort between Midlands Technical College (MTC) and the high school in partnership with SCANA Corporation and the School District of Fairfield County. The Center essentially places a college presence within the high school.

The Center offers students college planning and preparation assistance; information on jobs in health sciences, information technology and advanced manufacturing as well as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and alternate energy. The Center also offers in-school computerized college entrance testing (ACT COMPASS testing). Additional services include career search and financial aid workshops, daily parent outreach for targeted students, curriculum guides and support for faculty and staff, and MTC preparation materials and outreach.

“It is so important to ensure the pipeline from high school to higher education is open and accessible to all students,” said MTC President Dr. Marshall (Sonny) White Jr. “By having a physical presence within Fairfield Central High, MTC will be able to engage more students in early planning for their future education and careers.”

“The Success Center will enable our students to gain access to Midlands Technical College and explore future career opportunities,” said FCHS Principal David Corley. “The widening gap between available jobs and skilled workers is requiring our students to meet the growing demands of employers.”

Fairfield School Superintendent J. R. Green introduced a group of seventh graders who will be the first participants in the program. He thanked White “for giving us the latitude to stretch our students. We’re all about working together to achieve this,” Green said.

The Success Center is located at Fairfield Central High School and is staffed by MTC Program Coordinator Denado Dickson. Any Fairfield Central High School student can utilize the Center through referrals by teachers, faculty or by permission of the principal. All Educational Talent Search and TRIO students have unlimited access to the Success Center. Local school districts, teachers, and parents can access the center by calling 803-605-1332.