Fairfield County Council chair pulls up Blythewood Town Council candidate Donald Brock’s campaign sign.
WINNSBORO – Fairfield County’s council chairman has gotten involved in Town of Blythewood politics.
On Oct. 27, security camera footage captured Council
Chairman Doug Pauley removing a campaign sign belonging to Blythewood
Councilman Donald Brock, who, days later, won re-election.
The footage recorded Pauley pulling up a sign, and then
tossing it into the back of his pickup truck and snapping the tonneau cover
shut.
The sign had been posted on property at 303 Main Street,
which is leased by The Voice newspaper. Pauley and two other tenants sublease
offices in the building from The Voice.
According to Brock, he had permission from the newspaper to
place the signs outside the building.
Voice publisher Barbara Ball said she has never restricted
who could post campaign signs on the property and has never asked anyone to
remove one.
The sign was removed five times in a little over a week.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Office is now investigating
the sign theft, and Brock has stated in the incident report that he plans to
file charges.
“I was advised by an attorney to press charges,” Brock said.
“What the ultimate resolution is, I don’t know yet.”
Shortly after two local television stations broadcast the
surveillance video of Pauley removing the sign, Pauley contacted The Voice’s
publisher, saying he took the sign down because he didn’t want it in front of
his office. Pauley said he thought it would hurt his business, according to
Ball.
Pauley declined to comment when contacted Tuesday by The
Voice.
“I said what I needed to say to Richland County and that’s
the only statement I will make at this time,” Pauley said. “It might be a
future date that I do a story outlining what really happened in the case, but
as of right now, no comment.”
What the law says
A Richland County sheriff’s deputy told The Voice that the
investigation into sign removal is ongoing.
The deputy said investigators are trying to determine
whether removing the signs was a criminal or ethical violation.
S.C. Code 7-25-210 specifically classifies the theft of
campaign signs as a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and/or a
$100 fine.
“It is unlawful to deface, vandalize, tamper with, or remove
a lawfully placed political campaign sign prior to the election without the
permission of the candidate or party,” the law states.
The South Carolina State Ethics Act is actually part of Section
8, not Section 7, of state law. Campaign sign theft isn’t mentioned anywhere in
the act.
According to a heavily redacted incident report, an
unidentified political candidate later confirmed to be Brock said he got
permission from The Voice to place political signage outside the building.
According to the report, the deputy contacted the suspect,
who agreed to be interviewed.
Disappearing Act
Brock said he placed the first sign outside The Voice’s
offices on Oct. 15. That sign and two others were removed and replaced within
that week.
On Thursday, Oct. 26, after Brock replaced the sign a fourth
time, The Voice’s publisher asked a third party to install a surveillance
camera on the property.
At about 8:30 a.m. the following morning, the camera recorded
Pauley removing the sign. The Voice provided Brock with a clip from the
surveillance video, and he installed a fifth sign in the same spot a few days
later.
That sign disappeared Tuesday, Oct. 31, when the building’s
internet service, which fed the surveillance camera, went off at 9:31 a.m. When
the internet service and surveillance resumed, the sign was gone.
Jay Bender, a media law attorney with the S.C. Press
Association, confirmed that the theft of campaign signs violates state law.
BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood Town Council passed a resolution last month expressing support for the major road construction projects being planned in conjunction with the arrival of Scout Motors.
The town’s agreement with the South Carolina Department of
Transportation makes a commitment to support the projects, which will include a
new Interstate 77 interchange, a new railroad crossing over Interstate 77, and
the realignment of Wilson Boulevard to allow railroad access, as well as any
relevant relocation of utilities.
Brooks Bickley, project lead for SCDOT, was present Monday
to answer council members’ questions.
“My understanding,” he said when asked about the purpose of
the resolution, “is that we want to make sure that everybody’s on the same page
with this agreement and the project is moving forward, and you guys are all in
agreement that we want this to happen and we’re trying to work together on it.”
Town Administrator Carroll Williamson said that assisting,
on the town’s part, will mean trying to keep everyone informed and minimize the
impact on drivers during the height of the construction in 2024 and 2025.
“In this particular case, we don’t have utilities, so we
just want to be able to facilitate however we can,” Williamson said.
Bickley said the highway department is entering the
procurement process for the interchange and connector road (from the interstate
to U.S. Highway 21) and will begin construction in the summer of 2024 on this
project.
The railroad bridge, a separate project, will begin around
the same time frame and will take about one year, he said.
He said additional road improvement projects taking place as
part of the project – involving Blythewood, Muller, Syrup Mill, and Community
Roads – will all be completed in time for the Scout Motors opening in late
2026.
The Blythewood, Muller, and Syrup Mill Road improvements are
expected to be complete by the fall of 2025, with the Community Road project
expected to be complete by mid-2026.
More information about the projects can be found on the
Scout Motors development page at https://scoutblythewood.com/ and on the SCDOT
project page at https://i77exit26.com/.
Peddler Business License Increases
Also at last month’s meeting, the Blythewood Town Council
approved, on first reading, an update to the town’s business license structure
that will treat peddlers the same as other businesses.
Williamson said this is to meet a new requirement that an updated
class schedule for business licenses, based on census and industry data, be
approved by the end of the calendar year.
“So, if a peddler were selling groceries, they would have
the same [business license] rate class as a grocery store,” Williamson said.
“This is something that all municipalities are required to do to comply with
the statute by the end of 2023.”
BLYTHEWOOD – On Saturday, Mayor Bryan Franklin issued a rebuttal to a story that appeared in The Voice on Oct. 26, 2023, titled, ‘Franklin continues to hide Town’s expenses for MPA lawsuits’ with the following subtitle: ‘Town’s legal expenses could be approaching $800,000.’
The story recounts how the Town has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last almost three years on two lawsuits and a countersuit involving marketing firm MPA Strategies, The Town, and Franklin.
Franklin
But, for some reason, the Town will not release how much money it has spent defending those lawsuits.
Councilman Eddie Baughman signs checks related to the suits, so he would know something about how much has been spent and who it is being paid to. Franklin has been given the power through a vote by the council majority to handle all MPA/Town legal matters, including filing lawsuits. But he and Baughman do not share their information about the Town’s legal expenses, not even with the other council members, according to the members.
The issue began when Franklin and Baughman lost a 3-2 vote to hire a marketing firm for the Town in February, 2021. Councilman Sloan Griffin, Larry Griffin and Donald Brock voted to hire MPA Strategies, a firm that represents several other towns in South Carolina. Franklin and Baughman said they wanted to hire the Blythewood Chamber to do the Town’s marketing.
Hurt feelings over the vote, rumors and lawsuits have ensued. Franklin and Attorney David Black have publicly and increasingly accused The Voice’s publisher, Brock and now Franklin’s mayoral opponent, Sloan Griffin, of somehow co-conspiring with MPA CEO Ashley Hunter to defraud the Town.
In a press release issued earlier this week and in another piece he posted on Facebook yesterday, Franklin outlines what he calls false information printed in the Oct. 26 story in The Voice.
Franklin writes: “This headline is intentionally misleading and patently false …,” referring to the $800,000.
Information about how much the Town is spending on outside legal expenses has been written about previously in The Voice, and the amounts spent were taken directly from the town’s budget. According to budget information on the Town’s website, it spent $152,500 on outside legal expenses in FY 2021-22 and $199,885 in FY 2022-23, well over $300,000. Included in those amounts is $89,445.43 in specific MPA legal expenses that are available on the Town’s Account Quick-Report for January – December 2021 and provided to The Voice last year by Black.
In an FOI (Freedom of Information) response received by The Voice (from the Town) on Oct. 10, 2023, Black wrote: “…as you are aware, the Town has spent more than $200,000 defending Ms. Hunter’s baseless lawsuits.” But neither Franklin, Baughman nor the attorneys will say how much more.
In addition to that, the legal budget has been increased to $500,000 for this current fiscal year alone. And the Town has already spent 36.62% ($183,083.03) of that in the first three months of this fiscal year (July, August, and September) for an actual total of $536,516.35 spent on outside legal since the MPA/Town legal expenses began accumulating in the spring of 2021.
Based on the numbers above, The Voice estimates $800,000, but the Town will not release the actual expenses. However $800,000 is not an unrealistic number considering the on-going legal proceedings since early 2021 with sometimes as many as five high-end attorneys billing the Town.
Franklin writes: “Ball says ‘Franklin continues to prohibit the Town’s attorneys from revealing to the public, the media, and even some town council members, how much the town has spent.’ This is also false. I have never once directed any town attorney to withhold FOI’ed information…”
The issue is not whether Franklin directed the attorneys to withhold the information. The issue is that he will not release the information to the public, to council members or to the media. And he has been given the authority to do so by a council majority vote (see more below).
An Attorney General’s opinion says elected officials are
entitled to review financial documents itemizing town legal expenses, according
to the S.C. Attorney General’s Office in a June 19 opinion.
“It is this Office’s opinion that an elected official has
the right to access financial documents possessed by the governmental entity
that he or she is elected to oversee,” the opinion states.
“It is illegal for the Town to withhold the attorney fee
agreement entirely as that does not allow the residents of Blythewood to
understand any better how their taxpayer funds are being spent,” said Taylor
Smith, who represents the S. C. Press Association.
“Assuming these invoices even do have such confidential information, the state’s open records laws (FOIA) allow redaction of that info, not refusal to release the entire record,” Smith said.
Franklin writes: “Ball says in the story that ‘Franklin has the authority – given by council – to reveal how much the Town has spent on MPA legal costs. He has so far chosen not to reveal those costs to the public and even to some of his council members. This statement is also false. I do not have the authority to override the legal opines of town attorneys, nor can I put the town at risk by acting in such a way that revealing attorney-client privileged information would do harm to our citizens.”
According to a motion made by Town Councilman Rich McKenrick
and passed by the council majority on May 12, 2022, council authorized Franklin
to take any action whatsoever in regard to the Town’s legal proceedings with
MPA and others, including The Voice.
That motion, approved by council, reads in full: “This council affirms and approves all actions taken on behalf of the Town by the mayor, Carroll Williamson, and on behalf of the Town by its attorney Shannon Burnett and Nexsen Pruet Law Firm regarding all matters related to MPA Strategies, Ashley Hunter, State and Frink, Donald Brock, The Voice, and Barbara Ball et al and that such representation by and hiring of such attorneys is hereby reaffirmed and shall continue until further resolutions are made including any claims and counter claims filed, answered, appealed or any ancillary issues.”
As for Franklin’s reference to attorney-client privileged information, Jay Bender, a media law attorney representing the SC Press Association said, “I think that claiming that how much a local government is paying an attorney is subject to attorney-client privilege is total hogwash. There might be elements of the claim regarding strategy or witness identification that can be redacted, but how much is being spent by the Town of Blythewood is public information.”
Franklin writes: “Ms. Ball goes on to list ‘the four main attorneys who represent the Town and Franklin.’ Another known falsehood. The only attorney who has been retained to represent me in an individual capacity by the town’s insurer is David Morrison.”
As was stated in The Voice’s story, David Morrison does represent Franklin, but Maynard Nexsen’s Attorney David Black represents both the Town and Bryan Franklin according to the Richland County Public Index. Also, there are now five attorneys not four being paid by the Town for MPA legal matters. Alexandra Austin now also represents the Town.
Franklin writes: “…she (Ball) leaves out the known fact that I along with the town administrator acted in good faith at the outset of this case and spent an entire day attempting to amicably reach an agreement even though the town has done nothing wrong that I have seen or been advised of. The parties could not agree on a settlement.”
That information was not left out of the story. The story
included it in this sentence: “In a Facebook comment on Tuesday of this week,
Franklin said he has, from the beginning, been ready to settle the legal
matters with MPA.”
Franklin writes: “Ms. Ball writes that, ‘[Attorney Shannon] Burnett also works on the MPA/Town legal matters for the Town and Franklin’ …This too is false. Ms. Burnett has never worked for me in any individual capacity. She was formerly the Town attorney and has been retained to represent the Town in the MPA cases.”
As Franklin’s protests attempt to deflect from what the
story is about, it may also be a case of splitting hairs as to whether Burnett
is working on both the Town’s defense and Franklin’s.
Either way, the point of the story is not whose defense Burnett is working on, but why Franklin or the Town’s legal team won’t reveal how much the Town has paid the attorneys (including Burnett) for their work on the MPA/Town/Franklin cases.
There are numerous other accusations and complaints made by Franklin in this and other emails and postings he has made recently – too numerous to address here – such as this one that was released by him this week:
Franklin writes: “Judge Clifton Newman has sanctioned MPA and Ms. Hunter for destruction of evidence. As part of the sanction, the Court has ruled that Ashley Hunter will owe the Town its substantial litigation discovery costs. You (Ball) have still not shared with your readers this sanction from the court transcript and have not reported on it.”
The Voice absolutely did report on the hearing and on what the judge said about sanctioning in a story titled, ‘Council may raise FY 2023 legal fees budget to $500,000,’ in the Sept. 14, 2023 issue of The Voice.
However, Judge Newman did not sanction Ms. Hunter. He said some kind of sanctioning for spoliation (destruction of evidence) was warranted, but Newman left it up to the trial judge to eventually determine the facts and to make a decision concerning sanctions.
“It’s a unique situation,” Paul Porter, Ashley Hunter’s
attorney said. “Ashley had a pre-existing retention policy for her text
messages, so she unequivocally denies that she destroyed any evidence and
believes no relevant discernable documents were destroyed.”
Franklin ends his press release “demanding that Ms. Ball and The Voice retract the known falsehoods” in The Voice story.
BLYTHEWOOD – Blythewood mayoral candidates Bryan Franklin and Sloan J. Griffin III will participate in a forum at Doko Manor tonight from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
The event was planned by the candidates ahead of the election next week on Nov. 7.
Doko Manor is located at 100 Alvina Hagood Circle in Blythewood.
FAIRFIELD COUNTY – A late night crash on SC Hwy 215 near
Jenkinsville has resulted in the deaths of two Winnsboro residents.
According to a report by SC Highway Patrol Master Trooper
Brandon Bolt, a 2003 Chevrolet sedan with two occupants was traveling north on
southbound SC Hwy 215 about 11:20 p.m. on Oct. 31 when it crashed about one
mile east of Jenkinsville.
According to Fairfield County Coroner Chris Hill, Chrishonda
Boyd, 24, the driver, lost control of the vehicle when it traveled off the road
and overturned, striking a tree. Jacquivs Robinson, 25, was a passenger in the vehicle.
Both victims succumbed to their injuries and were pronounced
dead on the scene, according to Hill. An autopsy is scheduled with Newberry
Pathology to confirm the cause of death.
The incident remains an active investigation by Fairfield County Coroner’s Office and South Carolina Highway Patrol.
This story was updated at 3:32 p.m. on Nov. 1, 2023.
WINNSBORO – The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office has cleared from the MLILY Plant on US Hwy 321, south of Winnsboro, after responding to a bomb threat.
This morning, an employee at MLILY received a call indicating a bomb threat. Sheriff’s deputies were on the scene within two minutes of the call and assisted with the ongoing evacuation of the plant.
An investigation was immediately initiated while the property was being checked for suspicious packages and any other threats.
At this time, an arrest has been made, according to a media release from the Sheriff’s office. The investigation is ongoing and more information about the suspect will be available shortly.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Bomb threat being investigated at MLILY
WINNSBORO – The Fairfield County Sheriff’s office is on scene at MLILY (the former MACK Truck facility) on Highway 321 near the bypass in Fairfield County responding to a bomb threat. All employees have been evacuated and the scene is secure.
There is no threat to the public at this time, according to the Sheriff’s office. Deputies expect to be at the site for the next several hours.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
WINNSBORO – For the second time in 12 months, federal
nuclear inspectors have noted defects in critical hardware at the V.C. Summer
nuclear plant in Fairfield County.
On October 4, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
informed Dominion Energy, which operates V.C. Summer, of an apparent violation
of “substantial safety significance.”
The NRC issued a preliminary “Yellow” assessment, the second
most serious level, involving an emergency diesel generator. The generators
provide emergency power during blackouts.
Red assessments are the most serious, followed by Yellow,
White, and Green.
Yellow assessments indicate a “substantial safety or
security significance finding,” according to the NRC.
NRC spokesman Dave Gasperson estimated the agency would
probably make a final determination sometime in November after holding a public
regulatory meeting.
V.C. Summer will have an opportunity to respond to the
Yellow assessment, he said.
“It’s up to V.C. Summer if they want to present information
during a conference or submit a written response,” Gasperson said.
In a prepared statement, Dominion acknowledged that backup
systems are critical in the operation of nuclear power plants.
“At Dominion Energy, safety is our top priority,” the
statement says. “Rigorous internal and external controls are in place to
ensure all equipment is maintained and operates as designed.”
According to the NRC report, federal inspectors found
defects that left the generator vulnerable to piping cracks. The report also
stated that pipe cracks had been detected during prior testing.
“Despite the challenge to maintain leak-tight connections
and repeat occurrences of cracked piping, no significant changes were made to
maintenance practices, procedures or system design, and the licensee continued
to reactively monitor for leakage even after vulnerabilities were identified,”
the report states.
Documented issues of cracking had been reported as far back
as 2003, the report continues.
“The licensee treated individual pipe failures as
‘broke/fix’ rather than identifying the system vulnerability,” the report
states. “The licensee fixed the cracked piping/fittings but failed to identify
and correct the failure mechanism that affected the fuel oil system piping.”
In its statement, Dominion said it would continue to work on
maintaining compliance with federal nuclear regulations.
“With a commitment to continued safe operations, we are
inspecting and maintaining our generator and related components,” the statement
said. “We will continue to keep the
NRC updated on our future strategy
to further enhance our diesel generators.”
The preliminary Yellow assessment comes almost exactly a
year after the NRC noted safety defects in another V.C. Summer emergency diesel
generator, prompting the federal agency to issue a White assessment, according
to documents obtained by The Voice.
White assessments are less serious than Yellow assessments.
They indicate a “low to moderate safety or security significance finding,”
according to the NRC.
Specifically, Dominion failed “to adequately assess erratic emergency diesel generator governor operation, which resulted in an inoperable [generator],” according to the 2022 violation.
“The [generator] was exhibiting other-than-expected and
non-routine conditions in the form of significant fuel rack and kilowatt
swings,” the violation letter states. “These conditions resulted in a condition
of the indeterminate cause and other-than expected equipment performance found
during surveillance testing.”
V.C. Summer has received at least two other White assessment
violations since 2000, according to the NRC database.
Both occurred when SCANA ran V.C. Summer.
In 2006, the NRC issued a violation notice when V.C. Summer received
a shipment of radioactive material “in a package with radiation levels on an
external surface that exceeded applicable regulatory requirements.”
The package was then taken from V.C. Summer to an unnamed
offsite waste processing vendor, according to the NRC.
The second White assessment was issued in 2000 after the NRC
discovered a turbine driven emergency feed water pump had become inoperable,
records show.
Emergency water pumps help to cool reactors in the event of
a shutdown.
Community currator Megan Pinckney Rutherford, Hudson & Inga Beckham, co-owner of Hudson’s brand | Photos: Jesse Volk
COLUMBIA – When Beyoncé posted a photo of herself on Instagram in February 2019, wearing one of Ridgeway native Sergio Hudson’s fashion designs, Hudson posted on Facebook that it was the most excited he’d ever been about his work.
Since then, Hudson’s exciting moments have exploded as his
designs have been worn by some of the most well-known and powerful women in the
world including Michelle Obama, his close friend Keke Palmer, Serena Williams,
Amal Clooney, Rihanna, Kendall Jenner, Issa Rae, Rachel Brosnahan and Kamala
Harris on inauguration day in January 2021.
Hudson
On Nov. 18, the Columbia Museum of Art will host an exhibition showcasing Hudson’s work through Sunday, June 30, 2024.
Organized by the CMA in partnership with Sergio Hudson
Collections, LLC and community curator Megan Pinckney Rutherford, this exhibition
showcases the remarkable moments of a designer who fell in love with fashion at
5 years old while living in Ridgeway, and has become one of the biggest names
in the industry today.
“Many things are happening in my life that I could only
dream of — this exhibition at the CMA is one of them,” says Hudson. “I feel
very lucky, and I hope my story can inspire other young men in South Carolina
to believe in themselves and follow their passion.”
Hudson will be at the CMA on November 18 for a special opening
day program — tickets go on sale to museum members on Monday, October 16.
“As a lifelong lover of fashion, I am thrilled to be the community curator behind this exhibition showcasing the incredible work of my dear friend, Sergio Hudson, a successful Black fashion designer that was born and bred right here in the Midlands and is well on his way to becoming the next iconic American designer,” says Rutherford. “I am honored to get to share his story with a community that inspired and supported him, and also with the next generation that I’m sure will be inspired by his familiar beginnings.”
Born and raised in Ridgeway, Hudson said he has always taken
inspiration from the strong women in his life, particularly his mother, Sheldon
Hudson, who introduced him to sewing. Since launching his first eponymous label
in 2014, his fresh perspective on luxury American sportswear has taken the
fashion world by storm.
Hudson’s philosophy is that fashion should be for everyone
and include everyone. He designs to empower the wearer and often includes a nod
to the ’90s of his youth. Focused on the Fit features eight signature garments
from key moments in his revolutionary career alongside more than 20 sketches
and drawings exploring his career from the early days when he won $100,000 in
Bravo’s Styled to Rock in 2013 up through the present day.
“Sergio is an example of what it means to ignite a passion and never let go of the dream. Focused on the Fit is not only a show about fashion, but also a story of how one makes their mark in the world,” says CMA Director of Art and Learning Jackie Adams. “We are so proud to present Sergio’s work right here in his home state, and we hope this show will inspire and educate visitors about a creative visionary driven to make a difference in how we choose to show up in the world through fashion.”
Pants suits, a staple of Hudson’s brand, come in over-saturated colors that add a freshness to the classic, tailored look of his fashions.
RIDGEWAY – The deaths of two individuals at a residence located on US 21, south of Ridgeway are being investigated by the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office and the Fairfield County Coroner’s Office.
Deputies and EMS were called to the residence at about 4 p.m., Monday, Sept. 26, when a family member went by to check on the occupants of the residence and observed that the occupants appeared to be unconscious.
Upon gaining entry into the residence, deputies found the
two male occupants to be deceased.
The deaths are currently being considered a “suspicious
death” investigation.
Because of the presence of illegal drugs and no other
obvious signs of foul play, investigators are not able to rule out an
accidental drug overdose at this time.
This is a continuing investigation as the Sheriff’s office
awaits pathology and toxicology results from the Fairfield County Coroner’s
Office.
Bob Innes, Director of the Fairfield Co. Animal Shelter & Adoption Center
WINNSBORO – Fairfield County Director of Animal Control Bob Innes submitted his resignation on Monday. He will continue to work until at least the end of the month.
Innes has held the director’s position at the shelter for
seven years. Prior to that he was the director of the shelter at Pets Inc. in
Columbia.
Town Manager of Winnsboro Jason Taylor (and former Fairfield
County Administrator) hired Innes in 2016.
“I always enjoyed working with Bob both through the county
and now with the Town,” Taylor said.
During his time with the county, Innes made many
improvements to the shelter’s animal care as it became a no-kill shelter and
developed a strong network of shelter volunteers.
“I’ve done the best I could do,” Innes said about his tenure
at the county, “and I feel our staff made a big difference for the animals.”
Innes, a native of England, said he plans to take a few
months off, go visit his children in England and then find something else.
County Councilman Dan Ruff said he wishes Innes the best.
“It’s a sad day in Fairfield County to lose such a good man
who cared so much for animals and his job and was so good for the county,” Ruff
said. “He will be missed.”
