WINNSBORO – A 59-year old Winnsboro resident has been missing for over two weeks.
Jeffrey Harrison, who lives on Roosevelt Street, was last
seen by acquaintances on July 4. His sister notified law enforcement
He reportedly told neighbors he would be traveling to
Connecticut to visit relatives. Harrison has not been seen or heard from since.
Harrison is a black male, approximately 6’ 2”, weighs about
190 pounds and is balding.
The Winnsboro Department of Public Service was notified on
July 14 by Harrison’s sister who had not been able to get in touch with him for
several weeks.
Anyone with information about Harrison’s whereabouts is
asked to notify WDPS at 803-635-4511.
WINNBORO – A fox that attacked a man in Winnsboro and later lunged at police officers has tested positive for rabies, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. The fox was found between Drayton Street and Fairfield Street.
Retired Administrative Law Judge John D. McLeod reported to The Voice that he was attacked by a grey fox on North Congress St. in Winnsboro about 6:15 a.m., on Tuesday, July 14.
McLeod, who lives on Evans Street, reported that he was just beginning his morning walk when he was attacked from behind by the fox.
“Just as I passed the driveway of one of the houses on N. Congress Street, the fox bit the heel of the shoe on my right foot. I never saw him until he bit me. The attack threw me off balance, and I fell on the ground,” McLeod said.
“I was trying to get free from the fox’s bite, kicking at him and struggling to get away when a passerby in a pickup truck saw what was happening and came to my aid,” McLeod said. “That scared the fox and he ran off back into the yard where he had come from.”
Mcleod said someone called the Winnsboro Department of Public Safety (WDPS). He said that after an initial examination of his foot on the scene by emergency medical personnel, it appeared there was no wound. However, after Mcleod returned home, he was concerned and went to the Fairfield Providence emergency room.
“They found a small puncture on my right ankle,” Mcleod said, “so I’ve had to start the series of rabies vaccine as a precaution.”
Later on Tuesday, after the fox was again sited in the same yard, WDPS officers returned to the yard, according to officers. A report from WDPS stated that the officers found the fox and that it charged twice at officers. After it was shot once, it came at an officer again. It was killed with a second shot, according to the incident report.
The fox was taken to the Fairfield County Animal Shelter and submitted to DHEC’s lab for testing. A necropsy was performed and it was announced on July 15 that the Fox was rabid.
BLYTHEWOOD – As the town embarked on its daunting 10-year
comprehensive plan earlier this year, town leaders were also faced with the
prospect of looming growth both inside and outside the town. They needed to
come up with a plan with specific goals intended to keep the town on track to
grow well while maintaining its essential rural character and rich history,
Town Administrator Carroll Williamson said.
For their plan to accurately reflect what citizens want for
the town and surrounding community, town officials would need extensive citizen
input. To that end, on April 15, the town council and planning commission
approved and launched (under the guidance of Town Administrator Carroll
Williamson and Planning Commission Chair Rich McKenrick) a detailed stakeholder
survey to find out what the folks living in 29016 (both within and without the
town limits) want for Blythewood now and in the future. The survey was
distributed to everyone in the 29016 zip code.
Of the surveys released, 601 were completed and returned to
town hall. The raw data was organized and summarized by Gregory Sprouse,
Director of Research, Planning and Development for the Central Midlands Council
of Governments (CMCOG) in Columbia.
Of those who answered the survey, 63 percent live in the
town limits of Blythewood and 37 percent live in the unincorporated areas of
29016. And 37.82 percent of the respondents are relative new-comers, having
lived in Richland County for 10 years or less.
There were few surprises in the survey results.
The majority of those who answered the survey said they
chose to live in Blythewood because of its community rural character, its
proximity to Columbia, its quality of schools and because it’s a good place to
raise children.
Their biggest concerns are: too much growth (65 percent),
traffic and congestion issues (33 percent), inadequate infrastructure, public
facilities and public service (15 percent), the loss of rural, small town
character as a result of growth (13 percent) and the lack of commercial and
entertainment amenities such as dining, shopping, locally owned businesses and
a vibrant town center. (8.6 percent).
Asked why they chose Blythewood to put down roots, an
overwhelming, but not surprising, 63.78 percent said it was because of the
community’s rural character. Asked their opinion of the quality of life in
Blythewood, 68.12 percent said it is good, 20.64 percent said it’s excellent
and 10.74 percent said it’s fair.
Thirty four percent said it’s improving, 39.10 percent said
it’s unchanged and 26.47 percent said it is declining.
A little more than 66 percent of responders said the town
needs more restaurants.
While 52.77 percent of respondents strongly agree that the
town should pursue agricultural preservation, only 20.50 percent strongly agree
that more industrial space should be pursued.
Almost half (47.20 percent) of those responding said they
get their local news from the newspaper, far ahead of the national average,
while 30.05 percent said they get their news from social media, 13.07 percent
from email and 9.68 percent from a website.
While 53.22 percent said the community’s recreational
activities are adequate, 46.78 percent found them inadequate. Asked how they
feel about the current recreation space situation in Blythewood, approximately
55 percent said it’s not enough, almost 40 percent said it’s sufficient.
Only about a third of the respondents are in favor of the
town borrowing money, with 65 percent saying ‘no’ to borrowing.
More women (58 percent) than men (42 percent) answered the survey, and a little more than half of the respondents were more than 55 years of age.
A complete summary of the survey data is available below.
Roger and Nan Gaddy will have more time with their Boykins after his retirement. | Martha Ladd
WINNSBORO – After 16 years in office, recently retired Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy says politics is a slower-moving process than he first expected – but he lists improved working relationships with the county and major infrastructure improvements among his accomplishments in office. He says he hopes to see those efforts continue.
As a doctor he plans to work a few more years, he says, but
at age 70 he’s starting to slow down – and he’s hoping to recruit some young
doctors to serve patients in the area, as he was recruited years ago.
“I’m 70 years old, and I think it helps to get some fresh
perspectives,” he says of his exit from local politics, “and it was time for me
to slow down a little bit.”
Gaddy first came to Fairfield County in 1977 as a young
medical resident, he says. An Aiken native, he was the son of a schoolteacher
and a chemist and attended public schools before attending college at the
University of South Carolina and medical school at the Medical University of
South Carolina in Charleston before moving to the Columbia area for his medical
residency.
“When I was in residency at Columbia, the town of Winnsboro
was having some difficulty with weekend availability of their physicians… so I
started an emergency room coverage for the Fairfield Memorial Hospital, and
covered it on weekends,” he says. “That was in 1977. We soon expanded it to
weeknight coverage in addition to the weekend coverage. That would kind of give
the overworked family doctors in Winnsboro a break – and give them additional
coverage for their patients after hours and on weekends, and that’s how I first
got associated with the Winnsboro community.”
When he finished his residency, he says, he knew he wanted
to care for patients in a hospital, and Winnsboro was the closest community to
Columbia with a hospital. But it was a chance turn of events that brought him
back to the community permanently as a family doctor.
He says he took over an older doctor’s practice while he was
away for a year traveling, then returned to Columbia. Then he got a call from
Winnsboro asking him to come back.
“I went back to Columbia and practiced a year in Columbia to
see what I liked best: practicing in a small town or a big city. While I was in
Columbia, another young doctor came up to Winnsboro to take over an older
gentleman’s practice, and was killed in a car accident,” he says. “After he was
killed, the county council came and asked me if I would consider coming back to
Winnsboro.”
Ultimately, he says, they talked him into it – and four
decades later, he’s still glad he made that decision.
“I guess whenever I applied to medical school and had my interview,
they asked me what I wanted to do, I said I wanted to be a doctor in a small
town,” he says. “I think I’ve been very blessed in serving the population I
have in Fairfield County and Winnsboro, and hopefully I’ve made some positive
impact.”
Before he got into local politics, Gaddy says, he was
involved in medical politics as president of the state medical association and
as a delegate to the American Medical Association. He says it was the medical
liability crisis – a reality that forced Winnsboro’s small hospital to stop
delivering babies – that drove him to get involved, ultimately testifying
before Congress about the harmful impact on health care in rural communities.
He says his decision to run for mayor more than a decade and
a half ago was driven by his desire to serve the community.
“I guess my main reason to become mayor of Winnsboro was I
wanted to give back to the community that had given so much to me, a community
where I’d raised my children and made my career,” he says,” and I felt like I
maybe had something positive that I could give back to the community other than
just my medical expertise.”
He says it was a bit of a culture shock initially getting
into politics – it was a sharp contrast to medical appointments, where he would
walk into a room and leave a few minutes later with a solution, treatment plan,
or plan to refer the patient for diagnosis. The wheels turn slowly in the
public and political arena, a reality that he found frustrating. But he stuck
with it.
Asked about his accomplishments as mayor, his first and
immediate answer was not to tout a project or policy, but to focus on the
foundation: positive working relationships among Winnsboro town council and the
Fairfield County Council.
“I guess if you look at the accomplishments that we had over
my tenure as mayor, I think one thing that we were blessed with is that all of
our members of town council over the 16 years got along very well with very
little acrimony, no animosity, and the vast majority of votes that we took over
the 16 years were unanimous,” he says.
“I credit my fellow town council members for that, in that
they were always open-minded and open to suggestions and willing to listen to
their fellow council members’ sometimes opposing opinions.”
During his tenure as mayor, he says, Winnsboro has faced
problems common across small-town America: for example, the effort to give
downtown a facelift, the loss of local small businesses as big-box stores have
moved in nearby, and the ever-changing economy.
“I guess what I realized is that for Winnsboro and Fairfield
County to flourish and to be a desirable place to live, we had to have jobs
available for folks and be able to attract industry,” he says, “and the only
way you can attract industry is if you have the infrastructure that they need:
the water, sewer, gas and electric, rail and highway access.”
So the town went through the process of getting approval from DHEC to withdraw 10 million gallons of water a day from the Broad River. Winnsboro Town Council built a water system that serves customers not only in Winnsboro and Fairfield County but also in Blythewood.
The town also provides other utility services to residents:
sewer, electric and gas, in addition to basic services common to municipalities
like public safety and sanitation.
Toward the end of his tenure as mayor, the town put in
motion an upgrade to automatic meter-reading service, a $2 million investment
in a technology-based solution for consistent, reliable billing.
Also during the last 4-5 years of his tenure as mayor, he
says, the town developed a closer relationship with Fairfield County,
ultimately working together on projects to attract industry, including efforts
to improve utilities.
He says he believes his election to multiple terms as mayor
simply reflects the way he approached both his work as a doctor and his service
to the town.
“I was very fortunate in that a lot of people knew me, and I
think a lot of people knew my character and felt like I would certainly try to
do the right thing, and that I wouldn’t be looking out for my own
self-interest; I would be trying to do what was best for the citizens, just
like I tried to do what was best for my patients,” he said. “Hopefully, that’s
why they voted for me.”
While acknowledging recent acrimony as a result of changes
on the county council and the decision by several county staff members to apply
for and accept open positions with the town government, he says he’s hopeful
that the recent positive spirit of cooperation between the town and county –
and important projects they’ve worked together on in the last four to five
years – will continue moving forward.
“Our longtime Town Manager Don Woods, Billy Castles,
Lorraine Abell and other town employees who retired recently contributed to the
new harmony between the county and the town, and I want to say how grateful I
am for their service to me and the town and how well they all fulfilled their
responsibilities,” Gaddy said. “They made my life easier and relatively
seamless. They were a great group to work with.”
In his medical life, Gaddy says he’s still planning to
practice for a few more years, but he hopes to find some young physicians to do
as he did years ago, and come to Winnsboro to practice. Independent primary
care practice, he says, remains the most cost-efficient delivery of care.
Last year his local practice was recognized as South
Carolina Rural Health Provider of the Year by the SC office of rural health,
perhaps reflective of an approach reminiscent of what he says is the way
medicine used to be.
The way it used to be, he says, is something he’s
experienced during his many years of practice in Fairfield County, running into
patients around the community and caring compassionately for multiple
generations of families.
It used to be more that way, he says, before government and
insurance companies intruded into the middle of the doctor-patient
relationship.
His two children – who he took with him on house calls and
hospital rounds when they were young – now both work in the medical field, but
neither as a primary care doctor: his son is a cardiovascular anesthesiologist
and his daughter is a child psychiatrist. He says he’s glad to have given them
the experience of growing up in Winnsboro and Fairfield County.
“I guess my philosophy in how I treat patients is to treat
them the same way I’d want my own family to be treated, be that parents,
grandparents, spouse, or children,” he says. “If I refer them to a specialist,
I try to always send them to somebody I would go to myself or I would send my
own family to, and care about them not only in a professional but in a personal
way.”
WINNBORO – Retired Administrative Law Judge John D. McLeod
was attacked by a grey fox on North Congress St. in Winnsboro on Tuesday, about
6:15 a.m.
McLeod, who lives on Evans Street, reported that he was just
beginning his morning walk when he was attacked from behind by the fox.
“Just as I passed the driveway of one of the houses on N.
Congress Street, the fox bit the heel of the shoe on my right foot. I never saw
him until he bit me. The attack threw me off balance, and I fell on the
ground,” McLeod said.
“I was trying to get free from the fox’s bite, kicking at
him and struggling to get away when a passerby in a pickup truck saw what was
happening and came to my aid,” McLeod said. “That scared the fox and he ran off
back into the yard where he had come from.”
McLeod said someone called the Winnsboro Department of
Public Safety (WDPS). He said that after an initial examination of his foot on
the scene by emergency medical personnel, it appeared there was no wound.
However, after McLeod returned home, he was concerned and went to the Fairfield
Providence emergency room.
“They found a small puncture on my right ankle,” McLeod
said, “so I’ve had to start the series of rabies vaccine as a precaution.”
Later on Tuesday, after the fox was again sited in the same
yard, WDPS officers returned to the yard, according to officers. A report from WDPS stated that the officers
found the fox and that it charged twice at officers. After it was shot once, it
came at an officer again. It was killed with a second shot, according to the
incident report.
The fox’s body was taken to the Fairfield County Animal
Shelter and turned over to DHEC. A necropsy is being performed on the fox to
determine whether it is rabid. Results could be back a soon as Thursday, July
15, according to a shelter official.
The fox’s body was taken to the Fairfield County Animal Shelter and turned over to DHEC. A necropsy is being performed on the fox to determine whether it is rabid and results could be back a soon as Thursday, July 15, according to a shelter official.
More information will be posted as it becomes available.
FAIRFIELD COUNTY – County Council members Moses Bell
(District 1) and Tim Roseborough (District 4) will each meet with their
constituents in separate meetings on Saturday, July 17, and under separate
conditions.
Bell’s Meeting
Bell posted an announcement on his Facebook page that the meeting
for District 1 will be held at the Ridgeway Fire Department, from 10 to 11:30
a.m. The fire station is located at 350 South Palmer Street, Ridgeway, 29130.
Roseborough’s Meeting
Several members of District 4 told The Voice that they have
asked Roseborough to come to the church to answer questions they have about
issues in the county.
The meeting, which is also being held on July 17 at 10 a.m., was called by Pastor Jerome Boyd of the St. Luke Church. The church’s address is 183 Saint Luke Church Road in Winnsboro.
Roseborough’s constituents say they want Roseborough his
stand on issues in the county and specifically in District 4.
Some of those questions, the constituents say, are about how
the $99 million Dominion settlement is going to be spent.
“If there are questions from my district about issues in
Fairfield County government, I will answer the questions if I know them,”
Roseborough told The Voice, “and if I don’t, I’ll pass them on for answers from
the chairman or give them to the administrator for answers.”
“CDC guidelines will be observed at the meeting,” one of the
saint Luke Church organizers, Kirk
Chappell, said. “Masks must be worn and temperatures will be taken at the
door.”
Editor’s note: This story was produced in collaboration with The News & Reporter of Chester.
A secretive system shields the accused, even judges who face allegations of criminal behavior.
Then-Chester County Chief Magistrate Angel Underwood is sworn in by County Clerk of Court Sue Carpenter. | Brian Garner/Chester News & Reporter
South Carolina’s secretive, slow-moving system for policing
its judges allows the accused to remain on the bench for years despite serious
questions about their character and impartiality.
In one case, a Chester County judge still sits as a
magistrate despite persistent complaints that her conflicts with the sheriff’s
department make her position untenable. Court officials haven’t acted on a
grievance detailing the concerns in the two years since it was filed.
Records documenting these and other complaints, obtained by
The Post and Courier, offer a rare glimpse into the kind of allegations that South
Carolina allows judges to face in secret.
The Disciplinary Counsel’s office, an investigative arm of
the state Supreme Court, receives more than 200 complaints against the state’s
judges each year. But those investigations almost never lead to a judge being
removed or even publicly reprimanded.
It’s one of myriad ways that South Carolina allows
government officials to police themselves and escape public scrutiny. Through
its investigative series Uncovered, The Post and Courier has partnered with
local newspapers to crack the lid on the state’s broken system of ethical
oversight.
It’s a state where serious allegations of illegal or
improper behavior by police, teachers, mayors, county council members and other
officials are kept tucked away in government offices in Columbia, or shielded
from the public entirely.
But, as The Post and Courier first revealed in a joint 2019
investigation with ProPublica, few systems are as lenient and cloaked in
secrecy as the one overseeing the state’s judges.
Bound by confidentiality protections that far exceed what
South Carolina offers to other officials, the state’s disciplinary office
shares its work with no one. And unlike almost every other state, South
Carolina has gone decades without publicly sanctioning any of the state’s
powerful circuit judges despite more than 1,000 complaints, the news
organizations found.
The latest cases show how judges of South Carolina’s lower
courts also escape public scrutiny. Magistrates and municipal judges,
collectively the state’s busiest judges, handle hundreds of thousands of
low-level criminal and civil cases a year.
They do not have to be attorneys, a profession steeped in
legal and ethical training. About three-quarters of the state’s magistrates
lack a law license, The Post and Courier and ProPublica reported in 2019.
Now, confidential records obtained by The Post and Courier
show that sitting judges have been accused of abusing their positions or
breaking the law. Yet the judges have remained on the bench for years while disciplinary
officials pore over the allegations in secret.
It’s nearly impossible for the public to determine how
seriously the allegations are taken. The disciplinary agency shields access to
its investigative files.
And there’s no way of knowing if delays result from
understaffing — a spokeswoman would not even tell a reporter how many full-time
employees work for the agency. The agency also declined to make its top
official, John Nichols, available for an interview.
Left in the dark are the public, the people who file
complaints and even politicians who are responsible for appointing judges.
Questionable Actions
Chester County Magistrate Angel Underwood has held on to her
job as one of the county’s five magistrates despite a string of controversies.
First, the Supreme Court suspended her for a year as
disciplinary investigators discovered she had failed to disqualify herself from
more than 100 cases brought by the Chester County Sheriff’s Office while her
husband, Alex Underwood, was the elected sheriff.
Then, the Chester News & Reporter revealed that
Underwood successfully petitioned then-County Supervisor Shane Stuart to pay
her $39,000 for the time she was suspended. The lump sum payment was legally
questionable, since the Supreme Court had already advised the county it didn’t
owe Underwood the money. And it wasn’t approved by the county council, whose
members later asked the state Attorney General’s Office to investigate the
payment.
In 2019, The Post and Courier and ProPublica reported that
Underwood flew first class on the public’s dime to a conference in Reno, Nev.,
on trips arranged by her husband, the sheriff at the time. Federal prosecutors
eventually charged Alex Underwood, alleging he abused his power and skimmed
public money to finance the trips.
Whether disciplinary officials have asked Angel Underwood to
explain her actions or her use of public money is anybody’s guess. The agency
declined to answer questions about the case.
Angel Underwood was never a defendant in the federal case,
though her name came up repeatedly in her husband’s trial. Alex Underwood was
convicted on seven corruption and abuse charges. He awaits sentencing.
More complaints
Angel Underwood’s ties to her husband’s department led to a
2019 complaint from one of her colleagues, former Chester County Magistrate
Barbara Cameron.
In that complaint, obtained by The Post and Courier, Cameron
alleged Angel Underwood remained “constantly involved” in the operations of the
sheriff’s department while her husband ran it. The judge huddled behind closed
doors with top deputies and helped forward crime tips for deputies to follow up
on, Cameron wrote in the complaint.
Angel Underwood even presided over a drunken-driving case
brought by her husband’s office, then forged Cameron’s name on a court document
to cover it up, Cameron alleged.
“The appearance of impartiality and fairness between the
departments was laughable,” Cameron wrote in the complaint, which disciplinary
officials have yet to resolve.
Angel Underwood also secretly helped deputies draft a
complaint against two of her colleagues on the bench, The Post and Courier and
ProPublica reported at the time.
In the interim, the county’s new sheriff has filed his own
complaint against the judge, alleging Angel Underwood has a bias against the
department since her husband’s 2019 ouster.
Sheriff Max Dorsey noted he defeated Alex Underwood in the
2020 election, and that five of Dorsey’s deputies testified in the former
sheriff’s trial. Dorsey did not cite specific examples, but a March 15 complaint
insisted that Angel Underwood’s handling of any sheriff’s department matters
has “great potential to be unfair.”
Until recently, Underwood held the post of chief magistrate.
That meant she was in charge of her fellow judges, though held no formal authority
to discipline or sanction them. Through his annual selections of chief judges
in every county, State Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald Beatty removed her as
Chester’s chief magistrate on July 1.
Still, for weeks after her husband’s trial, magistrates
under Underwood’s supervision remained tasked with considering criminal
warrants submitted by Dorsey’s department. In an interview, Dorsey questioned
why those judges had rejected what the sheriff considered to be legitimate
requests.
Records from one case, obtained by the newspaper through an
open-records request, show a deputy magistrate denied an arrest warrant for a
man who published several Facebook posts calling for Chester police and
sheriff’s deputies to be killed.
In another, a magistrate rejected a warrant request for a
man who allegedly trespassed onto a woman’s property, exposed himself to her
and then peed on her husband’s truck.
“I can’t think of another reason why they would be
rejected,” Dorsey told the newspaper.
The disciplinary agency didn’t open an investigation into
Dorsey’s complaint until June 1, about three weeks after The Post and Courier
began asking questions about the issue.
Underwood’s attorney, I.S. Leevy Johnson, declined to
comment on what he described as a “false complaint.”
“Our detailed response to the meritless complaint will be
contained in our response that we will submit to the Office of Disciplinary
Counsel in a timely manner,” he said.
The Post and Courier asked Beatty if he had any concerns
that the matters against Underwood are still pending. Through Jones, the courts
spokeswoman, Beatty did not answer.
Cameron declined to discuss details, but when asked how she
felt about the delay, through her lawyer, she gave a one-word answer:
“Disgusted.”
An ‘outlier’ system
Some lawmakers have called for a more streamlined system of
accountability for the state’s judges.
State Sen. Tom Davis, a Beaufort Republican, is among those
leading the charge for reform. He contends the oversight of lower court judges
like magistrates should fall more in line with South Carolina’s circuit judges,
who handle all felony and major civil cases.
Those judges are screened in public hearings before the
Judicial Merit Selection Commission. As it stands, the Disciplinary Counsel is
the only one in charge of policing magistrates and municipal judges, who also
handle minor criminal offenses.
That’s why it’s critical that when the disciplinary agency
receives complaints about those judges, the agency takes the matters seriously
and acts quickly, Davis said.
“The lack of responsiveness from (Disciplinary Counsel) or
the tolerance for these things is indicative that still the magistrate system
is looked at as being an outlier,” Davis said. “That’s something that has to
change.”
While Underwood’s complaints have sat pending, to keep her
seat on the bench she has needed only the support of Chester’s lone senator,
state Sen. Mike Fanning. The Great Falls Democrat has been a close ally to
Underwood and her husband for years, endorsing them for public office and
regularly posting pictures with the pair.
During the last round of reappointments in 2019, Fanning
installed four new magistrates. The only one he kept was Underwood. In an
interview, Fanning summed up her performance as magistrate in one word:
Outstanding.
Davis’ proposed Magistrate Reform Act would do away with the
practice of sole appointments, and add other layers of scrutiny to their
appointments.
A separate proposal by Rep. Tommy Stringer, a Greer
Republican, called for a legislative panel to investigate the Disciplinary
Counsel’s office. But his request, filed in December 2019, has stalled in the
state House of Representatives.
The key question for Stringer: Why does South Carolina discipline judges so rarely? Two years later, he hasn’t gotten an answer.
BLYTHEWOOD – The Town of Blythewood has been at risk of a
legal action for almost two months after Mayor Bryan Franklin failed to submit
responsive documents to a Freedom of Information request from MPA Strategies,
the town’s newly contracted marketing and grant writing firm.
On Tuesday, June 28, MPA filed that legal action against the
Town, stating that, “The Town still has not complied with the plaintiff’s
request and has demonstrated no intent to comply with the law.”
MPA is asking for a declaratory judgment and for injunctive
relief pursuant to and under the authority of S.C. Code 30-4-10, et seq., which
is known as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
MPA filed the complaint in the Court of Common Pleas Fifth
Judicial Circuit in Richland County.
In the complaint, Joseph D. Dickey, Jr., attorney for MPA,
said that on or around November, 2020, the Town contacted MPA concerning
proposed marketing and grant writing services. The Voice has previously
reported that former Blythewood Town Administrator Brian Cook suggested the
Town consider contacting Ashley Hunter, MPA’s owner and CEO, to provide those
services, as she was providing similar services for a number of other towns in
South Carolina who, he said, were pleased with her work.
According to the complaint, council initiated a request for
proposal (RFP) for marketing and grant writing services on Dec. 30, 2020.
Nonprofit not required in RFP
The complaint states that the RFP did not require applicants
to be a nonprofit, tax exempt organization or eligible to receive state
accommodation tax funds to be responsive.
In addition to MPA’s RFP, the Town also received submissions
from NP Strategy and the Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce.
The contract was subsequently awarded to MPA over the
Chamber of Commerce by a town council majority vote of 3-2 on Feb. 22, 2021.
Franklin and Councilman Eddie Baughman were the two
dissenting votes, favoring the Chamber of Commerce over MPA.
The complaint states that while having a nonprofit entity
was never a requirement of the Town’s RFP, the Town subsequently advised MPA
that it would be beneficial for MPA to become a nonprofit entity. The complaint
stated that MPA complied, establishing the nonprofit State and Frink
Foundation.
“Despite awarding the contract, the Town then required MPA
to further negotiate the contract outside the parameters of the original RFP,”
the complaint states.
The contract was negotiated by Franklin with assistance from Town Attorney Shannon Burnett and Town Administrator Carroll Williamson.
Stalled Negotiations and Rumors
After almost two months of unsuccessful negotiations and because at least two town officials had spread rumors about Hunter to the media and other town officials, MPA submitted a written FOIA request to the Town on April 15, 2021, in which MPA asked for all documents from Franklin’s devices relating to MPA pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. 10-4-10, et seq.
The mayor signed the contract the next day and sent it to Hunter to sign.
MPA’s FOIA request sought disclosure of, among other things, certain documents and recordings from Mayor Bryan Franklin related to MPA, Ashley Hunter and State and Frink Foundation, MPA’s nonprofit entity.
Town Charges $500 FOIA Fee
On April 20, Franklin authorized retaining Black to represent the Town in it’s dealings with MPA.
On April 23, 2021, MPA received correspondence from Black acknowledging receipt of MPA’s FOIA request and advised the cost of copying documents….10 cents per page plus $10 per hour for copying and a fee of $500 to pull email and text messages per device for the electronic data sought through the FOIA.
Three days later Dickey responded, questioning, “the excessive fee of $500 for a third party vendor to check devices.” After receiving no reply from Black, the complaint states that Dickey sent a follow up email on May 5, 2021, inquiring if Town’s response was to be received no later than May 24, 2021, the due date for the Town to submit the documents.
On April 29, The Country Chronicle newspaper sent FOIA requests to all five Blythewood town councilmen for documents concern MPA Strategies. On May 7, Black emailed Dickey stating that the Town had decided to waive all FOIA charges previously quoted and that, “a response by May 24 was ‘highly optimistic.’”
More Response Delays
On May 24, according to the complaint, Dickey emailed the
Town stating there had been no communication from the Town since May 7, 2021,
and that, “today is the deadline for the Town to respond with the requested
information.”
According to the complaint, about 45 minutes later, Black
responded.
“As we discussed, your FOIA request overlaps with several other requests for the same data. All of the data is being pulled by an independent contractor [TCDI]. We are still in the process of pulling all of the data,” Black wrote.
Franklin had insisted publicly and repeatedly that all council members were required to submit all their devices – personal and town issued – to Black to be processed through TCDI. The Freedom of Information Act, however, does not require that FOIA responses be processed in that manner.
The complaint stated that Black said the independent contractor would pull all documents from all the devices and that he would then determine which documents were responsive and submit them to the requestors. Not all of the councilmen wanted to submit their personal devices to be scanned and said they would submit texts, emails and other documents themselves or through their own attorneys.
“I do believe we are entitled to a timeframe of which to expect responses,” Dickey replied, according to the complaint. “Is that something the Town is unable to provide?”
Black emailed back, “Correct. I am unable to provide you a
timeframe until we get all of the data from all devices. Thanks for your
understanding. Additionally, you have made allegations that a town employee
made some form of defamatory or improper comment regarding your client,” Black
wrote. “If you could elaborate on that it may help me expedite things.”
Dickey responded on May 26.
“The mayor has publicly stated his information has been
submitted. Therefore, I don’t understand the delay,” Dickey wrote. “I only
requested data from the Mayor, so I am unsure of “all devices” you reference.
The information you’re requesting has nothing to do with the Town or you
complying with the FOIA request. Let me know when to expect a full response.”
Black replied on May 26, that, “in order to waive the $500
per device charge, we negotiated a bulk rate for all of the devices. We are
unable to process until the vendor receives all the devices. On email it is
pulled and being reviewed,” Black wrote. “We may be able to get you the email
before the texts.”
Dickey pointed out that, “Notably, the Town remarkably was able to timely respond to the County Chronicle’s April 29, 2021 FOIA request as confirmed through the newspaper’s June 17, 2021 article.”
The Freedom of Information Act provides that any person has
a right to inspect or copy any public record of a public body, except as
otherwise provided by state statute 30-4-40. The statute also provides that a
S.C. public body in receipt of written FOIA request, “shall within ten days
(except Saturdays, Sundays and legal public holidays) of the receipt of any
request notify the person making each request of its determination and the
reasons thereof.”
In the complaint, Dickey stated that, “If the request is granted, the public body must, no later than thirty calendar days from the date on which the final determination was provided, must furnish the requestor with records.”
The June 28 complaint states that MPA has not been provided any of the requested records, all of which were due May 24, 2021.
In the complaint, MPA asks the Court to declare that the
Town of Blythewood violated the FOIA in failing to maintain public records and
in failing to produce records in response to a request. Dickey is also asking
the Court to require the Town to immediately respond and produce the responsive
documents as required by law.
The complaint also asks for “attorney fees and costs incurred by MPA in bringing this action and prosecuting it.”
UPDATE: On July 9, Black emailed the responsive documents to both MPA and The Voice. Those sent to The Voice included 1,886 documents, a very large portion of which are documents that make no mention of MPA, (i.e. a notice that the Board of Zoning Appeals will not meet, copies of months and months of the agendas and agenda packets for all town board and committee meetings, notice of events at Blythewood High School, information about funding Movies in the Park, etc.) Most of the documents are duplicated, some as many as four or five times. The 1,886 documents are in no particular order, and it is not discernable who many of the texts messages are from are to.
Blythewood girls competed in five relay events. Their top finish was third in the 1000 Spring Medley. | Photos: Backdawg Photog
EUGENE, OR – After a strong finish at the 2021 State Finals, Blythewood track and field standouts took to Eugene, Oregon for the Outdoor Nationals, presented by Nike.
Arianna Williams and Randy Kelly, who each won individual 5A
State Titles titles at the end of the 2021 high school season. Briana Green,
who took second at state in long jump, also competed in an individual event at
the Outdoor Nationals.
Williams
Green
Williams had the highest individual finish of the three Blythewood competitors. She placed eighth out of 24 runners in the 400 meter championships with a time of 55.08. The top finisher, Aaliyah Butler, finished at 53.48. Williams claimed the 2021 state title in the 400 meter dash. She topped her previous personal record of 55.13 at the Outdoor Nationals.
Randy Kelly
Kelly finished 10th out of 20 in the high jump finals with
at the 6-06.25 mark. His personal record of 6-10 was set at the 2021 state
finals when he claimed the individual title.
Green finished 28th out of 33 in long jump at 5.35m.
Blythewood’s 1000 Sprint Medley Relay team of Green, Hailey
Duncan, Williams and LaTavia Bracey-Ransom had Blythewood’s highest finish at
the Outdoor Nationals. They finished third with a time of 2:15.87, just under
five seconds out from the first place spot.
Green
Green, Williams, Bracey-Ransom and Duncan also competed in the 4×100 meter relay and placed fifth at 48.69.
Blythewood runners finished seventh in the 800 Sprint Medley
Championship with a time of 1:53.87. Katuria Glover, Duncan, Bracey-Ransom and
Mallorie Hogue competed.
The girls 4×200 relay of Glover, Green, Makeshira Brown and
Duncan had a time of 1:45.15 for a seventh place finish.
The girls relay of Monica Joy, Bracey-Ransom, Glover and
Williams placed eighth in the 4×400 meter event with a 3:58.12 finish.
Also this summer, Kelly placed first in high jump (6-08.75) at the USA Track and Field SC Association Championships in Columbia June 25-27.
BLYTHEWOOD – After Ashley Hunter, owner and CEO of MPA
Strategies, announced Monday night during council meeting that she has obtained
a grant for the town, the audience and council burst into applause.
Mayor Bryan Franklin, who has been critical of Hunter and
her marketing firm, joined his fellow council members Monday night in lauding
Hunter’s initial efforts and quick results.
“The intent was that we pay for services with grants that
come to the town,” Franklin said. “It’s well worth the investment,” he said.
“What we pay for services and you double or triple that in grants every year,
is obviously a good investment for this town. And I’m proud of making progress
in that regard.”
During opening remarks by council members, Councilman Larry
Griffin said that since he didn’t see anything on the agenda about a progress
report from MPA Strategies’ marketing work for the town, he wanted to yield his
time to Hunter so she could update council on her work.
“I’m very excited to announce that we’ve been awarded a
grant from International Paper.” That grant will go to the Doko Meadows Park
Foundation, Hunter said. “I’ve also been spending time meeting with various
nonprofits, associations and corporate teams about reserving this beautiful
space (the Manor). Lots of people are asking for proposals so I’ve been working
closely with Carroll [Williamson] on this.
“We’ve also had great success on social media,” she said.
“The town’s engagement has more than tripled on Instagram. I’m very excited
about working with Blythewood – lots of good news. This first round of funding
for the grant automatically makes us [eligible] for the second round as well,”
she said. “So it will be a two-part pot of funding for our park here in
Blythewood.”
The grant funds will be used to support the upfitting,
security and beautification of and around the trailway at Doko Meadows Park
where the new StoryWalk interactive literacy program was just opened.
Additionally, Hunts’ State and Frink nonprofit Foundation
awarded the Town $1000.00 for their 10-4-10 initiative honoring MPA Strategies’
10th year in business. The Foundation will award ten $1000.00 donations to
programs and charities in the Midlands that have a positive impact on their
communities. Blythewood’s is the second of the ten checks to be awarded.
Hunter, who owns and operates both MPA Strategies and the
State and Frink Foundation, stated she is excited to see the Town’s vision for
this wonderful park area for children and families to read and play come to
fruition.
The Foundation’s $1000 grant is being donated for benches
and play equipment throughout and around the StoryWalk exhibit in Doko Park,
Hunter said.
