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  • Fairfield County asks Prisma to slow ER purchase

    Council spends $1M annually on ER, but was not aware it was being sold

    WINNSBORO – In a strongly worded statement issued Tuesday morning, Fairfield County Council called on Prisma Health to “provide more information to the public, and to us,” regarding the impending acquisition of Providence Health-Fairfield Emergency Room in Winnsboro.

    In the statement, the council said it is joining the elected leaders in Kershaw, Lexington and Richland counties in seeking more information. Those counties’ hospitals (Providence in Columbia, Providence Northeast in Richland County and KershawHealth in Camden) are also being purchased by Prisma Health. All four hospitals are owned by LifePoint Health out of Brentwood, TN.

    Following the announcement of the pending sale last week, County Administrator Jason Taylor told The Voice that the county was having an attorney look at its contract regarding Providence Health-Fairfield Emergency Room to see if there are any possible negative ramifications.

    “I have also talked with our Providence representative, Joseph Bernard, to ask if we could expect any changes,” Taylor said. “He said there should be none.”

    The ER was funded by $12M from LifePoint Health for construction of the new facility and $10M ($1M a year for the next 10 years) from Fairfield County. South Carolina’s Hospital Transformation Program, which supports rural access to healthcare resources, contributed nearly $4M in transformational funding.

    Our citizens deserve a voice in the future of their health care choices.

    Fairfield County Council

    The statement issued by council stated that “Prior to the March 6, 2020 media coverage publicly announcing this impending sale of these health care service providers, we had not been informed or consulted about this important change in the delivery of health care services in our communities. Our citizens deserve transparency and a voice in the future of health care choices where they call home.”

    Council called on Prisma Health to slow down the process of the sale and to “begin a conversation with the citizens that count on available health care services in their communities. “

    The ER opened in December 2018 near the intersection of Highway 34 and US Bypass 321 in Winnsboro to assure continued emergency health care for the citizens of Fairfield County as Fairfield Memorial Hospital began its process of closing its doors.

    Bernard addressed the Fairfield County Council Monday evening with the purpose of updating Council, saying he would update council on the pending sale of the ER to Prisma, but his comments were limited, with no specifics.

    “Right now, I have no idea what the timeline is for the sale to be finalized,” Bernard said. “We’re confident, however, that this is an enhancement for the community’s health care.”

    “There are a lot of unanswered questions at this point,” Council Chairman Neil Robinson said following Monday night’s meeting. “As the council, we want to be sure that our citizens are provided the health care services that they need and deserve. We have questions.”

  • Abduction story turns out to be fake

    UPDATE – After a 14-year-old Northeast Columbia girl told sheriff’s deputies last month that a masked man tried to abduct her, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department released a statement Wednesday that the girl had made up the story.

    A sheriff’s spokesperson said the teen had actually met another person outside her home on the evening of Feb. 26, then concocted a story describing how she was grabbed by a man in dark clothing and dragged toward a waiting dirty white van. According to sheriff’s deputies, she said she only escaped after her dog bit the man.

    But investigators eventually learned that only the girl saw the van and the alleged abductor, contrasting what deputies were originally told, the sheriff’s department said.

    The girl made up the abduction story to avoid getting in trouble with her parents after meeting with another person outside the home that evening, according to the release.

    The sheriff’s department said it is exploring possible legal action to recover the costs of the investigation.

    “We do not have a monetary figure at this time,” sheriff’s department officials said in the release.

    Sheriff Leon Lott thanked those who called in tips and reviewed their surveillance videos in hopes of catching the van.

    Read the abduction story here.

  • Barclay School closes

    RIDGEWAY – The small special needs school in Ridgeway that was struggling under the weight of financial challenges closed its doors last week, after more than a decade in operation.

    In a hastily planned graduation, four students were recognized to receive their diplomas – and the remaining 12, who were not set to graduate this year, had to find other schooling options, said Gillian Barclay-Smith, head and founder of the school, whose vision for a holistic, abilities-focused model of special education was what got the school started 11 years ago.

    “It just breaks my heart,” said Barclay-Smith of the closure, ex pressing gratitude for the way the community has wrapped its loving arms around the school in the years it’s operated. “People have been nothing but kind.”

    The Barclay School was part of the community in Ridgeway, a town with a tiny downtown but a big heart.

    The school always operated on a shoestring, and the community offered up its love in everything from donations of used books and equipment to volunteers who taught things like art, gardening, and life skills and helped to facilitate regular excursions for the students in the town.

    The school, which was known for its family-like atmosphere and kept several class pets, regularly involved the students in community service projects; the children were always taught to give back. 

    It became public in December that the school had suffered funding disruptions and was struggling to pay its bills.

    In an effort to help it stay open, landlord MEKRA Lang North America – a major industrial employer in Ridgeway – gifted the school a year of free rent. Parents and others pitched in with fundraising in an effort to help the Barclay School finish the spring semester and allow time to make a plan for the future.

    Donations came in from around the community and also from far outside, but in the end it was not enough, and at the end of last week the school closed its doors. 

    Barclay-Smith, for whom education has been a lifelong passion, expressed her thanks to everyone who played a role – big or small – in keeping this special place going for the past 11 years.

    “The community – everybody’s been wonderful,” she said. “What a privilege to spend the time in the company of these amazing kids and the wonderful support that we always got from the community, the kindness of people. That’s kind of what I’m left with.”

  • Man charged with starving Fairfield dog

    Rochester, N.H. – Police in Rochester, New Hampshire have arrested a man for allegedly starving his dog to death last fall.

    That dog, Mandy, a 2-year-old Pit Bull was a Fairfield dog that had been brought to the Fairfield County Animal Shelter last year and adopted to a rescue organization, according to County Animal Control Director Bob Innes.

    “The rescue organization then adopted the dog out,” Inness said. “Now the dog is dead. These things happen everywhere. It’s a shame,” Innes said.

    Michael Jouvelakas, 30, has been charged with two Class A misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals in connection with the death of Mandy.

    Capt. Todd Pinkham was quoted in the Rochester newspaper as saying that an anonymous caller contacted the Rochester Police Department on Oct. 3, 2019, to report they believed Jouvelakas shot and killed Mandy and that Jouvelakas left Mandy’s body in his Chestnut Street home’s basement. This claim about the cause of the dog’s death proved to be false after an investigation.

    While officers were arriving at the home, however, other officers located Jouvelakas nearby according to the newspaper report. At the home, officers said they found Mandy’s body wrapped in a blanket inside a trash bag on the bed of a pickup truck.

    Jouvelakas was released while authorities conducted a necropsy and consulted with animal forensics specialists about Mandy, Pinkham said. After the additional investigation determined Mandy’s cause of death was starvation, Police were unable to locate Jouvelakas and issued a warrant for his arrest.

    Innis told The Voice that he was contacted on Tuesday by the Rochester police who said Jouvelakas turned himself in Monday evening.

  • Gas power plant welcome in Fairfield

    FAIRFIELD COUNTY – The new natural gas-fired power plant proposed for Fairfield County would be a welcome investment, said County Administrator Jason Taylor.

    “We would love to see them build a gas-fired power plant in Fairfield County,” he said. “We will negotiate an incentive package and those kinds of things to encourage them to go ahead and do that.”

    The plant, slated to come online at the end of 2023, is part of plans by NextEra Energy if the Florida-based energy company buys Santee Cooper, according to a report NextEra filed with its bid to purchase the South Carolina utility.

    “We view South Carolina as also confirmed that the plan is to build the new plant in Fairfield.

    According to the NextEra report, “The total capital investment will be approximately $1.3 billion, which includes equipment, construction, land, pipeline and transmission system integration costs.”

    “[NextEra has] already made significant progress in the initial phases of project development, including developing plans for plant siting, transmission interconnection, pipeline interconnection, fuel supply, and property tax agreements,” according to the report.

    “The gas for the new plant will come from the Transco pipeline via a newly constructed pipeline lateral.”

    Santee Cooper, partner with fellow South Carolina utility SCE&G in the failed project to build two new nuclear reactors at V.C. Summer, is deeply in debt and targeted for reform. Three options under consideration are reform implemented within the state agency; management by Virginia-based Dominion Energy, which bought SCE&G’s parent company, SCANA; or purchase by NextEra.

    Among the items included in NextEra’s proposal are payoff of Santee Cooper’s $7.9 billion debt, an effective reduction of electric rates, $941 million in customer refunds; and payment of an estimated $3.3 billion in taxes over 30 years. It also includes a $2.3 billion investment in new generation over the next five years, including 1,250 megawatts of gas-fired generation.

    The natural gas combined cycle plant planned for in Fairfield County is expected to create up to 30 permanent jobs and hundreds of construction jobs, and of course add to the county’s tax base, according to NextEra.

    The company’s plan also includes 800 megawatts of solar generation and 50 megawatts of battery storage, with potential sites in South Carolina but not Fairfield, and the retirement of an aging coal-fired power plant elsewhere in the state.

    State legislators, meanwhile, are discussing the issue of the company’s tax status in the event that it buys Santee Cooper – and whether it would receive tax advantages normally afforded to state-owned utilities.

    Taylor said that while the proposed gas-fired power plant would not come close to filling the hole in anticipated tax revenue left by the abandonment of the nuclear project, the project would nonetheless be a help to the county.

    “We welcome it,” he said. “We are anxious for them to invest – as we are with most companies – and we think this would be a good investment in Fairfield County.”

  • Teenage girl dragged from her Northeast Columbia yard in attempted abduction

    UPDATE – After a 14-year-old Northeast Columbia girl told sheriff’s deputies last month that a masked man tried to abduct her, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department released a statement Wednesday that the girl had made up the story.

    Read the full story on the faked abduction here.

    RICHLAND COUNTY – An unknown male attempted to drag a 14-year-old girl from her yard into a waiting panel van last week according to information released Monday afternoon by the Richland County Sheriff’s Office.

    The incident occurred last week about 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 26, on Heron Glen Drive in the Lake Shore Village neighborhood, between Killian and Farrow Roads.

    The RCSD Deputy Chief of Investigations said the teen stepped out of the house with the dog and the dog went around the house to the front door. As the teen went around to the side of the house to retrieve the dog, a masked, gloved individual, was lurking behind an air conditioning unit and attempted to drag the teen to a waiting van.

    He said the individual was believed to be a black male dressed in black. A second individual is believed to have been driving the van.

    The Chief Deputy said that as the teen screamed and called for help, the dog, a pit bull, bit the man’s leg and the teen was able to escape. The teen’s mother heard her daughter’s screams and ran out of the house to help as the abductor ran off toward the van.

    “The van is described as a panel van with windows on the back and only on the passenger and drivers doors. It was a white, dingy, dirty color,” he said.

    The mother of the teen reported to have seen the van in the neighborhood earlier in the day.

    Deputies are asking that neighbors submit video they might have that points out to the street to help in the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC (888-274-6372). The website is midlandscrimestoppers.com.

  • Sheriff seeks suspects in convenience store burglaries

    FAIRFELD COUNTY – During the past several weeks, there have been several convenience store burglaries throughout Fairfield County, as well as several similar incidents in surrounding counties.

    During these incidents, one or two unknown individuals are forcing their way into these businesses by breaking glass windows or doors. Upon entry, they steal mostly cigarettes and sometimes other miscellaneous items. These incidents are most often occurring after midnight and into the early morning hours.

    The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office is asking for assistance from the public to identify suspects in the below-listed incidents.

    Take note of the addresses, dates, and times. If you, or someone you know, has any type of home security footage (surveillance cameras, Ring doorbell cameras, etc.) that might have captured relevant video in these areas, contact the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office at (803) 635-4141 or Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CRIMESC (888-274-6372) or visit www.midlandscrimestoppers.com to email a tip. Your identity will be kept anonymous and if your tip leads to an arrest, you could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000.00.

    • Pantry Express- 31 US 321 Bypass (beside Italian Garden Restaurant)- 02/07/2020 sometime after midnight.
    • Monticello EZ Mart- 3888 SC 215, Blair- 02/08/2020 between 1:30 – 1:50 a.m.
    • Citgo/MP Mart on US 321 Bypass (across from FCHS) 02/15/2020 between 3:30 -3:50 a.m.
    • Pantry Express- 799 Columbia Rd- 02/25/2020 between 2:30 – 3:15 a.m.

     If you have any information about these incidents, contact the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office at (803) 635-4141 or Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CRIMESC (888-274-6372) or visit ww.midlandscrimestoppers.com to email a tip. Your identity will be kept anonymous and if your tip leads to an arrest, you could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000.00.

  • Bill would nix NextEra paying Fairfield County taxes

    30-Year Tax Abatement Would Keep Millions From County

    COLUMBIA – Fairfield County officials say they were alarmed by a story in The State newspaper Monday announcing that the proposed sale of state-owned utility Santee Cooper to Florida energy giant NextEra could deprive many South Carolina counties and their schools, including Fairfield, of billions in tax dollars over the next 30 years.

    Santee Cooper is a publicly owned utility and, therefore, does not pay property taxes. Should the for-profit utility NextEra purchase Santee Cooper, which is likely, then Santee Cooper would convert to a for-profit business and would, under normal circumstances, be required to pay taxes. But a bill proposed by some state lawmakers would exempt the utility from paying local property taxes to South Carolina counties and schools for a period of 30 years.

    For counties and schools throughout the state, according to the proposed bill, that would amount to NextEra not paying as much as $200 million a year, or $6 billion over 30 years.  For Fairfield County it would mean missing out on millions annually according to Fairfield County Administrator Jason Taylor.

     “We were expecting an additional $15 million or so annually if the sale goes through,” Taylor said. “But if the proposed bill becomes law and NextEra ends up paying the same tax rate Santee Cooper paid, that would be nothing, zero dollars for the county. And not just the county, but our schools would also lose out tremendously.”

    I can understand some kind of incentive associated with Next Era’s purchase of Santee Cooper, some kind of fee-in-lieu structure, but not a 30-year tax holiday.

    Jason Taylor, Fairfield County Administrator

    One former county official put it like this: while Fairfield County citizens bear all of the risk of having a nuclear and gas plant within its borders, which NextEra would partially own should the sale go through, the county would get no additional property tax benefits (if the proposed bill becomes law) to fund things like local schools, EMS, fire services, law enforcement and other vital services, while NextEra chases profits.

    The county has reportedly been negotiating for months with NextEra on an incentive package for a gas fired plant that could potentially bring millions to the county if the sale is finalized. But those negotiations were predicated on NextEra purchasing Santee Cooper, thus converting Santee Cooper to a private for-profit business that would pay taxes. If the proposed bill becomes law, those taxes will not materialize for Fairfield County for 30 years.

    Taylor said he’s read the proposed bill, but is not fully informed yet about where it stands or how likely it is to be passed.

    “But we have a message and we want to be sure our message is fully shared with the state legislators,” he said. “We would possibly pass a resolution expressing our feelings on this, but we first want to consult with our local legislative delegation and, of course, with our county association who helps us with lobbying.”

    Taylor said the county still favors the sale.

    “We feel the sale of Santee Cooper to NextEra will definitely benefit Fairfield County with that billion dollar gas fired plant they’re proposing to build,” Taylor said. “But we’ve been negotiating under the assumption that if and when NextEra buys Santee Cooper, the existing nuclear reactor would bring 45 percent of the additional tax revenue to the county.

    “The county currently receives $32 million annually from V.C. Summer’s operations,” Taylor said. “If the sale goes through and the bill does not, that could bring another $15 million in tax revenue to us. I can understand some kind of incentive associated with NextEra’s purchase of Santee Cooper, some kind of fee-in-lieu structure, but not a 30-year tax holiday. Hopefully, the state will counter the bill.”

  • Council negotiating new WWTP site

    Cedar Creek resident William (Bill) Dubard speaks to the Fairfield Joint Water and Sewer Authority during a public hearing to receive public comments regarding the construction of a wastewater treatment plant in Fairfield County with a planned discharge of treated effluent into Big Cedar Creek that runs through both Fairfield and Richland Counties. | Barbara Ball

    WINNSBORO – After spending more than a month battling Fairfield County’s proposal to build a wastewater treatment plant in the vicinity of Syrup Mill and Broom Mill Roads, Center Creek and Cedar Creek residents were invited to express their concerns to the Fairfield County Joint Water and Sewer Authority Commission Tuesday evening in Fairfield county council chambers.

    While the public notice of the meeting stated that anyone who desired could speak to the issue, only six of the capacity crowd addressed council. The speakers mostly agreed that they want Fairfield County to grow and prosper. They were generally divided, however, in their focus based on where they live.

    Center Creek residents generally protested the location of the county’s planned wastewater treatment plant in proximity to their homes, saying they would be plagued by the smell, noise and unsightliness of the plant. They said they didn’t trust the Department of Health and Environment Control (DHEC) to monitor and regulate the wastewater treatment process, and they want the county to find another location further from their homes.

    Cedar Creek residents protested the county’s plan to discharge the treated effluent into Big Cedar Creek which runs past or near their homes and properties. They said they fear it will contaminate the creek, their water wells and their lands.

    The meeting was opened by Commission Chairman Roger Gaddy, Mayor of Winnsboro, who turned the program over to Chris Clausen, the county’s community development director, who explained the county’s need for infrastructure to help stem the loss of population and bring economic development to the county.

    “The Central Midlands Council of Governments’ (CMCOG) population projection two years ago was really alarming. The number it projected for the County by 2050 was only 26,925 people, only a 2,500 increase in population over the next 30 years,” Clausen said. “That is not sustainable for this county. So we need to look at how can we grow and develop this county.”

    Clausen said the biggest impediment to growth is the lack of utility infrastructure in the county, particularly wastewater, thus the need to find a suitable site for a wastewater treatment plant to encourage and accommodate not only industrial growth but residential growth as well.

    To his point, Clausen and the county’s Economic Development Director Ty Davenport presented data affirming the safety, reliability and “the highest level of treatment standards produced by the Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR) wastewater treatment process” proposed at the Syrup Mill Road site. That data also included other information and charts explaining why the county cannot afford another $40 million to take the effluent to the Broad River, the ideal site from all perspectives in the room. Davenport said the County is still looking at five different sites, to include the Syrup Mill/Broom Mill Site.

    Following executive session during the Monday night county council meeting, council voted to authorize County Administrator Jason Taylor to pursue negotiations for a site other than the Syrup Mill site.

    At Tuesday night’s meeting, however, Center Creek and Cedar Creek residents, praised the county’s efforts to find other sites for both the treatment facility and the effluent discharge, but made it clear they were not backing down.

    Some residents offered to help the county find the funding to take the effluent to the Broad.

    “I do think this is a tremendous opportunity for the county to be set up for success in the future regarding residential, commercial and industrial growth. However, I’m adamantly opposed to the wastewater going into Cedar Creek, and I am committed to working with the county to seek additional funding to carry this to the Broad River,” Cedar Creek resident Lynn Beckham Robertson told the Commissioners. “There are other options.”

  • Council gives go-ahead to open-air style market

    BLYTHEWOOD – A 7,300 square foot open air market structure proposed by the Doko Meadows Park Foundation for construction was approved by Council Monday evening. The facility will have associated storage and restroom facilities.

    Equip Studio provided council with a schematic of what the market structure will look like. The cost to move forward to design the structure will be $6,200, Town Administrator Brian Cook said. The market that will be located in the park between the Town Hall and the Sandfield Road entrance to the park.

    During council’s retreat last month, there was discussion about constructing the market so that it could be closed in, possibly with roll up doors to provide indoor settings for craft and other vendors and events such as the town’s annual holiday market since these kinds of events have difficulty finding affordable indoor accommodations.

    Councilman Eddie Baughman, who also serves on the park foundation, explained that the foundation committee has put lots of time coming up with a design for the market.

    “It’s been a long time in the making,” Baughman said. “Our idea was that this was going to be an open air farmers market first. This is the concept that the park foundation would like to go with,” he said, referencing the schematic. “While this market project is a collaboration between the town (council) and the foundation, it is the foundation that is going to be tasked with raising the funds to get this built.

    “When you handcuff the foundation in a sense where you’re going to change the concept, you’re going to make it more difficult for the foundation to raise that $300,000,” Baughman said.

    “We’ve met with Mr. Cook and I think he will tell you that every member of the foundation would like to see this concept go forward. If there are events that need to be able to lock their wares up, I think we can make other accommodations for those events,” Baughman continued.

    Baughman said, again, that an open air market is what the people want.

    Councilman Donald Brock said he was the one who had spurred the idea for a structure that could be closed or open.

    “I just wanted to make sure we weren’t being short sighted. I was not aware of the fact that the farmers market has been a two year project,” he said. “If this is the type of design that the park foundation wants, who am I to stand in their way and say ‘no? ‘ And if the foundation has potential donners lined up to fully finance the project, who are we to stop them?”

    Council voted unanimously to move forward with the park foundation’s open air market plan.