2018 Daily Awards Dinner Digital Presentation

DAILY AWARDS

DINNER

RECOGNIZING THE BEST IN S.C. JOURNALISM

SPONSORS

PRESENTING SPONSOR

PLATINUM

GOLD Harrison Radeker Smith

&

P.A.

AT TOR N E YS AT LAW

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AL

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SPECIAL THANKS TO AT&T!

PRESENTING SPONSOR OF THE 2018 ANNUAL MEETING

MEET THE DEAN

Tom Reichert

College of Information and Communications

ASSOCIATED PRESS S.C. PHOTO OF THE YEAR

Grace Beahm Alford The Post and Courier

In memory of those we’ve lost over the past year Ollie T. Moye | SCPA President, 1992 | Former editor and general manager, The Newberry Observer | Former sports editor, Anderson Daily Mail John Lewis Heath Sr. | SCPA President, 1993 | Former publisher, The Beaufort Gazette and The Island Packet David Ernest | SCPA President, 2002 | Former publisher, The Lancaster News Gary Phillips | Freelance columnist and photographer, The Sun News Fender Brown | Former managing editor, The Gaffney Ledger Joe Willard Collins | Pressroom manager, The People-Sentinel and The Advertizer Herald John Frampton McGee | Former executive and comptroller, The News and Courier and The Charleston Evening Post | Former secretary, general manager, president and associate publisher, State-Record Co. | Former general executive of Knight Newspapers Inc. Gail Lamberth Mathis | Advertising manager, The Sumter Item | Bureau manager, Clarendon Sun Max Ford | Former reporter, The State | Former staff writer, United Press International | Former editor, North Charleston Banner Mary Pringle Manigault Gilbreth | Board of Directors, Evening Post Industries | Granddaughter of The Evening Post’s founder Arthur M. Manigault Randy Laney | Former Motor Sports Editor and News Editor, The State Jim McKeown | Publisher, Kershaw News-Era | Former Sports Editor, The News and Reporter

Full necrology on page 8 of program

LAST CALL FOR RAFFLE TICKETS 100% OF PROCEEDS will help fund SCPA Foundation internships and scholarships

$5 EACH OR 5 FOR $20 ENJOY DINNER!

JUDSON CHAPMAN AWARD OPEN DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

Jennifer Berry Hawes, Glenn Smith and Deanna Pan The Post and Courier

SECOND PLACE

Emily Weaver, Janet Blackmon Morgan and Elizabeth Townsend The Sun News

CARTOON OPEN DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Presented at Weekly Luncheon

SECOND PLACE Mike Beckom Index-Journal

CARTOON OPEN DIVISION

FIRST PLACE Robert Ariail The State

ILLUSTRATION OPEN DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

SECOND PLACE Meredith Sheffer The State

Presented at Weekly Luncheon

F MORE INSIDE

Scrimmage notebook; USC gets another commit, 3B ONLINE

GoGamecocks.com: Video of Muschamp’s thoughts on scrimmage

or South Carolina’s offense to be its best in 2017, wide receiver Deebo Samuel is going to have to stand out.

For Samuel to stand out, the Gamecocks are going to have to make him blend in.

Samuel, a 6-foot, 215-pound junior from Inman, is South Carolina’s leading returning receiver thanks to 59 catches for 783 yards a year ago. He also had 15 carries that resulted in 98 yards and six touchdowns.

He will be the focus of opposing defenses this fall.

The Gamecocks will attempt to counter that attention by lining Samuel up in multiple positions and getting him the ball in multiple ways.

“It’s not about plays, it’s about players.

Let’s put him in different spots and get him SEE SAMUEL, 4B

ILLUSTRATION OPEN DIVISION

Blue crab

Blue crabs or “Callinectes sapidus” (beautiful savory swimmer) have a lifespan of three to four years. In order to grow, a crab regularly sheds its exoskeleton as a new one develops underneath. During this stage, blue crabs are called soft shell crabs and are considered a delicacy.

FIRST PLACE

vs.

Male

Female

Male crabs or “jimmies” have a more T-shaped plate on their bellies than females.

Female crabs with egg mass, or sponge, must be returned to water unharmed immediately.

Brandon Lockett The Post and Courier

Do you need a license?

A saltwater recreational fishing license is required unless you use three or fewer drop nets, three or fewer fold-up traps or three or fewer handlines with no hooks and a single bait per line. Licensed recreational fishermen can fish two pots.

An annual license is $10 for residents and $35 for nonresidents.

Crabbing techniques

Size matters A crab must be 5 inches across at minimum, wider than a soft drink can laid across the shell.

Crab pot

Chicken necking

Drop net

The pot must be marked with yellow floats bearing the owner’s name and have enough line to prevent the float from being submerged at high tide. Pots should be checked daily.

Toss the bait into the water and allow it to sit on the bottom.

When you feel a crab feeding, slowly drag it back and use a long-handled net to land the crab.

Periodically pull the net slowly toward the surface. If crabs are feeding on the bait, give it a quick yank and pull in your catch.

BRANDON LOCKETT/STAFF

SPRING 2017 7

INFORMATIONAL GRAPHICS PORTFOLIO OPEN DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

SECOND PLACE

Elissa Macarin The State

Chad Dunbar The Post and Courier

How SC’s driving record stacks up FROM PAGE 1A

ANNEX

1. Voices from north Columbia RESIDENTS “If my water bill is going down and my taxes are going up, I’m not going to do it,” said Josh Kerr, a plumber who has lived near Blythewood for 40 years. But Kerr said he likes the idea of having four representatives on City Council in addition to the one representative on Richland County Council.

“One thing they’ve got to figure is little old ladies on fixed incomes,” said Margo Dimmery, who is 65 and has lived in the Blythewood area 43 years.

BUSINESS OWNER “My personal opinion is that usually when governments are trying to take something, it’s not a good thing,” said Danny Kiser, who has owned Tractor Mart on Wilson Boulevard for 20 years.

2. Voices from south Columbia RESIDENT Joining the city “would be a good thing for Olympia,” said Joby Castine, who has lived in the community for more than six decades. Sewer service, lower water rates, better codes enforcement and a more convenient police presence are all positives that would offset the downside of paying higher property taxes, he said. “In the end, I think there’s a lot more positive things that come along with being in the city than not.”

BUSINESS OWNER There are a lot of unknowns that make it difficult for Cason Cook, division manager of Chatham Steel on Shop Road, to say whether becoming part of the city would be a good move for his business. “I’d have to find out what the pros and cons are,” Cook said.

3. Voices from east Columbia RESIDENT “Us country people like our privacy. We like to be able to go out in our yards and shoot our guns,” said Gregg Hinson, who owns a 50-acre farm in Lower Richland. And, “I’m a honeybee farmer. I got bee hives all over my yard. You can’t do that in the city.”

BUSINESS OWNER “They say they want to be easy to do business with,” said Lizard’s Thicket CEO Bobby Williams, who is locked in a dispute with Columbia about

should be targeted first. Generally, however, they support expanding into three major road corridors: Shop and Bluff roads to the south; Main Street/Wilson Boulevard/Killian Road to the north and the Garners Ferry Road area to the east.

But City Council has yet to have a detailed annexation discussion, much less reach a vote on target areas. City Manager Teresa Wilson said a work session is likely in February where the city’s planning and development staff will help guide council.

Though a public consensus on council has yet to form, some members are impatient to forge ahead.

“I don’t think the city is aggressive enough,” said Duvall, who has extensive experience with annexations because of his 20 years with the Municipal Association of South Carolina, 16 of them as its director. “We just need to get busy.”

As the home of state government, the University of South Carolina and scores of properties owned by local government and other nonprofit organizations, Columbia’s inventory of taxable properties is highly limited.

That means the city must grow its core to have more income to meet an increasing demand for public services, such as curbside garbage pickup, increased police patrols and stricter codes enforcement.

As Charleston has expanded its borders, Columbia runs the risk of losing its status as the state’s most populous city.

“For us on council,” Devine said, “we need to look at (the fact that) when we don’t make annexation a priority, we run the risk of not having the political influence statewide.”

THE STRESSES OF ANNEXATION The three citywide representatives are aware that annexation can set off tensions between well-to-do and low-income property owners, which often have racial undercurrents.

City dwellers and country folk live lifestyles that can conflict, too.

Such divisions have undone some previous annexation drives, Devine said.

Owners of properties that have low- to moderate-taxable value will be made part of an enlarged Columbia, Benjamin said.

They, too, need and deserve city services.

“There will be some annexations that have little to do with the tax base,” the mayor said. Devine and Duvall agree that maintaining a racial balance in annexation decisions will be key and a big part of the new coordinator’s job.

South Carolina’s annexation laws date to the 1895 state constitution. And the laws, because they have not been updated since 1962, make annexation difficult, said Scott Slatton, field director of the state’s Municipal Association. “They are among the most restrictive in the country,” he said.

Under state law, property may be annexed in a few ways. A voluntary annexation is when property owners want to become part of a municipality. If 75 percent of property owners in an area choose annexation, their choice can be blocked only if owner(s) representing 25 percent of the area’s assessed value object.

Richland County Rep. Joe McEachern, a former member of county council, recalls the scars of annexation fights in the area off Wilson Boulevard that includes Keenan High School.

In the 1990s, the city annexed large swaths of state government property as

‘‘

I SAY KEEP ’EM OUTTA HERE. I GOT AN AR-15 (RIFLE). I LIKE TO GO OUT THERE AND LET IT LOOSE. THE NEAREST HOUSE IS ABOUT THREE-QUARTERS OF A MILE AWAY. THAT’S WHY WE PICKED TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY. Gregg Hinson, owner of East Columbia Car Care on Garners Ferry Road College’s enterprise campus. There was talk about bringing Meadowlake subdivision and the new high school inside city limits. Those plans were withdrawn or blocked, officials said.

“It was pretty much a hostile takeover,” McEachern said of the fights. “We kind of fought to have some buffers (land that was not annexed). We had some success with that.”

Still, it’s been about a decade since that annexation push. “I’m kind of interested in what people will think now that a few years have passed,” he said.

Gregg Hinson owns East Columbia Car Care, along Garners Ferry Road where it transitions from suburban to rural surroundings.

“I say keep ’em outta here,” Hinson said of city government and its regulations. “I got an AR-15 (rifle). I like to go out there and let it loose. The nearest house is about three-quarters of a mile away. That’s why we picked to live in the country.”

Bobby Williams, chief executive officer of the 15-restaurant Lizard’s Thicket restaurant chain, is leaning against having any more of his stores, including one on Garners Ferry, inside Columbia’s limits. One of the eight restaurants in Richland County is within the city – the Elmwood Avenue site, which the company is trying to remodel.

“We can’t do what we want with our own (Elmwood Avenue) property,” Williams said of a protracted exchange with city officials, who, the businessman said, want the restaurant’s footprint changed.

Lizard’s Thicket’s comptroller told the CEO that savings from lower water and sewer bills would not offset higher taxes, Williams said. “Plus we feel better with Richland County (sheriff’s department) protection. So I don’t think I want to be annexed into the city. I don’t see any advantage.”

FILLING DOUGHNUT HOLES In the past six years, Columbia has annexed about 1,450 acres, according to city records provided to The State newspaper.

The capital city now covers some 88,000 acres, planning and development director Krista Hampton estimates.

Those annexations are spread around town. Most are small parcels that were annexed at the request of homeowners or businesses.

The effect of those annexations largely has been to shrink some of the scores of doughnut holes that dot Columbia. A doughnut hole is a land planning term for unincorporated lands that are surrounded by cities or towns. Some holes are as small as a single parcel or as large as a neighborhood. The South Kilbourne neighborhood, off Rosewood Drive, is an example of a large doughnut hole.

SHOULD SC GAMBLE ON CASINOS? The state’s share of casino revenues would go toward the billions needed for road repairs

BY AVERY G. WILKS

awilks@thestate.com

E

very two months or so, Willie Rae Lee scrapes together $200 and steps onto a bus bound for Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina, Wind Creek in Alabama or another of the casinos dotting the Southeast.

The 72-year-old Columbia resident spends a day or two gambling with her friends, filling slot machines with pennies and nickels and hoping

for the same luck that won her $3,750 on a single spin four years ago.

“I like the atmosphere and the games,” said Lee, a veteran of the buses that ferry S.C. residents across state lines to gamble every week. “I like it all. If you go one time, you definitely want to go again.”

S.C. lawmakers this year could consider a proposal to keep Lee’s coins in the Palmetto State – in the name of fixing the state’s crumbling roads.

S.C. House Minority Leader

Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, has filed a bill to pave the way for casinos in South Carolina.

The state’s share of the revenue would go toward the billions of dollars needed for S.C. road repairs.

Rutherford’s bill is unlikely to go far this year. A House panel might not even consider it. And business leaders in one area of the state targeted for casinos say they have no interest.

Opponents doubt casinos SEE CASINOS, 7A

STATES WITH COMMERCIAL CASINOS 1931

1978

1989

1992

BY 1995

BY 2000

BY 2005

BY 2010

BY 2015

1: Nevada

2: Nevada plus New Jersey

3: Plus South Dakota

9: Plus Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi, Rhode Island, West Virginia

13: Plus Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri

15: Plus Michigan, New Mexico

18: Plus Maine, New York, Oklahoma

22: Plus Florida, Kansas, Maryland (1), Pennsylvania

24: Plus Massachusetts, Ohio

(1) Limited experiment later expanded in 2012 SOURCE: American Gaming Association

Fatalities rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled

34

10

Failure to obey (traffic signals, seat belts laws, having invalid driver’s licenses)

Drunken driving

7

Speeding

The Qu uinn universe

Who claims the most?

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

South America 50

North America 54

Asia 87

Europe 33

Politician

BlueCross BlueShield of S.C.

1981-2000

867

Fatal crashes in 2015

Former RQA consultant and Blue Cross Blue Shield lobbyist is now Gov. Henry McMaster’s chief of staff. Lobbyist at USC.

Paid RQA nearly $500,000 over four years for consulting work that’s reportedly drawn attention of investigators in Statehouse probe.

Kenny Bingham Former Cayce state representative and Quinn client rented space to businesses of Quinn and his son, Rep. Rick Quinn.

Mail Marketing Strategies

933

People killed in 2015

298

People killed so far in 2016 who were not wearing seat belts

S.C. GOP The Quinns provided money to the party in 2000 that helped Henry McMaster retain chairmanship.

Direct-mail business run by Richard Quinn’s son, Republican state Rep. Rick Quinn.

Longtime Quinn client and ally, McMaster has paid RQA $376,000 for campaign work since 2009, and paid $60,000 more to mail marketing business of Quinn’s son, Rep. Rick Quinn.

Average female

11.2 feet long, 400-500 lbs

8.2 feet long, 200 lbs

20 feet SOURCES: LOUISIANA WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES, S.C. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES

1921-1940

Sen. Luke Rankin

1901-1920

The Conway Republican, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, paid RQA $270,000 in 2016 for campaign work.

SQ Investments McAlister/Quinn Communications

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham

Partnership between veteran Columbia political consultants Richard Quinn and Bob McAllister.

Quinn client who paid RQA more than $500,000 since 2009 for campaign work.

1881-1900

Rick Quinn Lexington lawmaker and son of consultant Richard Quinn runs a political mail-marketing business and works as a campaign consultant.

Mark Plowden

Former partnership between Rep. Rick Quinn and Ports Authority board member Bill Stern that owned land along the Congaree River In West Columbia.

Former RQA worker went on to work for Quinn client Henry McMaster in attorney general, lieutenant governor and governor’s offices.

U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson Republican congressman and stepfather of SC’s attorney general has paid more than $200,000 to RQA and Rick Quinn’s Mail Marketing Strategies since 2009.

Molly Spearman

Where the big gators roam Gator bites

South Carolina’s education superintendent has spent more than $200,000 with Quinn businesses since 2014 for campaign work.

Nesting temps and sex

1861-1880

Adam Piper

Tracy Edge 1841-1860

Former state representative from North Myrtle Beach was a Quinn client and part-time campaign consultant for RQA. He has testified before state grand jury in corruption probe.

1821-1840

1801-1820

Glenn McConnell

Friends of the Hunley

A Charleston Republican, this former Quinn client and Senate president pro tem is now president of College of Charleston.

McConnell recommended RQA to Friends of the Hunley.

Nonprofit championed by McConnell to raise money to conserve the Confederate submarine has paid RQA $568,000 since 2013 to help with marketing and fundraising.

Raegan Quinn Richard's daughter has been a spokeswoman for Friends of the Hunley.

Bill Stern

Brielle Applebaum

Ports Authority board member was a partner with Quinn’s son, Rick, in SQ Investments when he voted on RQA work for the SPA.

Former executive director of Quinn-led conservative nonprofit now works as campaign manager of U.S. Rep Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina.

Worked as a political consultant for RQA and served as campaign manager for Quinn client Alan Wilson’s run for attorney general in 2010. Went on to work for attorney general.

Oran Smith Former RQA vice president now heads Palmetto Family Council, which co-sponsored a presidential candidates’ forum with a Quinnled conservative nonprofit.

Above bove 93° F alll are male

Below 86° F all are female

Richard Quinn 1781-1800

Careless drivers

Sen. Thomas Alexander 1761-1780

Conservative Leadership Project

Walhalla Republican has paid RQA $1,850 for campaign work.

Cayce-based nonprofit led

by Quinn that hosted a series of forums in 2015 with GOP presidential candiates. Quinnled nonprofit started in 2012.

Quinn’s son-in-law is an attorney for Willoughby & Hoefer who represented the House in a 2012 ethics case against former Gov. Nikki Haley, who was cleared.

Rebecca Quinn Mustian Quinn’s daughter, who is married to lawyer Ben Mustian, serves as treasurer of conservative nonprofit led by her father.

Sen. Sean Bennett

NOTE: FIGURES INCLUDE LARGE LAND MASSES FOR CONTINENTS AND SOME SMALL ISLANDS MAY NOT BE INCLUDED.

Willoughby and Hoefer

Conservative Leadership Project

How rare is a total solar eclipse for South Carolina?

Over the past 2,000 years, the area we know now as South Carolina has experienced 21 total solar eclipses, including 16 of their central paths.

The last total solar eclipse Charleston experienced was on March 7, 1970, which also was the last to cross over South Carolina.

2,290

Ralph Kennedy Former Republican representative from Lexington has paid RQA $43,066 for campaign work.

Collisions involving deer for year ending June 30 (up 94 from 2015)

Palmetto Health

Rep. Phyllis Henderson

Former Willoughby & Hoefer lawyer came to power in 2010 with Quinn’s help and has been public face of Quinn-led conservative nonprofit. He’s paid RQA $471,000 since 2009.

Greenville Republican has paid RQA $19,192 for campaign work.

Columbia health giant hired RQA as a consultant.

Mitch Willoughby Founding partner of Columbia law firm that has made millions representing the state is a former boss of Alan Wilson and a board member of Quinnled nonprofit.

State Ports Authority

Trial lawyers group worked with RQA.

Willoughby and Hoefer

HOW MANY ECLIPSES? These cities didn’t exiist 2,000 years ago, but there’s been this m many eclipses over the areas:

4.4 MINUTES

Frequency of traffic collisions, cited from 2014 Traffic Collision Fact Book, most recent year available

THE LEAST ECLIPSED: The lowest concentration includes these areas that have seen only five eclipses.

MC

SOURCE: NASA, ECLIPSE PREDICTIONS BY FRED ESPENAK, NASA’S GSFC

Greenville: 8 Columbia: 10 Aiken: 9 Myrtle Beach: 6 Charleston: 9 Beaufort: 8 CHAD DUNBAR/STAFF

The former Richland County representative, who has testified before the grand jury, was a former Quinn client and parttime employee of RQA.

Under water Large adults can hold their breath for nearly an hour.

Randy Page

Power bite

Former associate now works as public relations director for Bob Jones University, which hosted a forum sponsored by Quinn-led conservative nonprofit.

The bite force of a gator that is 12 feet long and 665 pounds has been measured at 2,125 — equal to weight of a small truck.

Agency has paid RQA around $2.6 million since 2009.

Also

Rep. Weston Newton

Bobby Harrell

Odds that an SC driver will hit a deer

Gator eggs Females lay 30-50 eggs with an incubation period of 65 days.

Jim Harrison Randy Lowell Attorney for Willoughby & Hoefer does work for State Ports Authority and serves on board of Quinn-led conservative nonprofit.

S.C. Association for Justice

THE E MOST ECLIPSED The high hest concentration includ des an area around Winnsboro o and an area south of Long gtown. These areas havve seen 12 eclipses.

93 TO 1

Attorney General Alan Wilson

Quinn & Associates Political consultant Richard Quinn f founded Richard Quinn & Associates in 1978 and has played kingmaker ever since. On the national level, his clients have included Ronald Reagan, Strom Thurmond, Lindsey G Graham and John McCain. But the firm’s inf fluence is much more pervasive on the state level — so much so that some Columbia observers have called Quinn and his candidates “the Quinndom.”

Summerville Republican paid RQA $53,732 for campaign work.

Former House speaker from Charleston, who pleaded guilty to using campaign cash for personal use, paid RQA $15,907 for campaign work.

GRAPHICS BY CHAD DUNBAR/STAFF

*The State of South Carolina does not keep an official record for the largest alligator. This is the overall largest alligator in S.C. from reports.

Sen. Hugh Leatherman The Senate president pro tem paid RQA $175,000 in 2016 for campaign work.

1941-1960

Compiled from most recent figures available from the S.C. Department of Public Safety and State Farm Insurance:

Fatal crashes so far in 2016

Trey Walker

1961-1980

OTHER SC STATISTICS

861

University of South Carolina

Former SC attorney general and gubernatorial candidate is a former Quinn client.

Ben Mustian

People killed in 2016

Average male

13.5 feet long, 1,025 lbs * Lake Moultrie (2010)

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster

Insurer is a corporate Quinn client.

Charlie Condon

1701-1720

Total SC road fatalities so far in 2016 (includes passengers, pedestrians, cyclists)

Largest reported in S.C.

Interactive graphic: For r a more indepth look into these connections, go to postandcourier.com

1741-1760

932

Largest on record 19.2 feet long, more than 2,000 lbs Marsh Island, La. (1890)

Key

1721-1740

932

Entity

Australia 35

2001-2020

7

The Post and Courier

LOCAL/STATE

Sizing up the monsters in the U.S.

Political consultant Richard Quinn founded Richard Quinn & Associates in 19 nce, assembling a deep stable of candidates and a vast network of connections.

His tentacles extend throughout South Carolina’s government and co orporate community while his son, Republican Rep. Rick Quinn, works the Statehouse from the inside.

Person

Antarctica 24

A Sunday, May 7, 2017 A4:

The Post and Courier

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE

Africa 61

A recent report confirms what many have long suspected – the Palmetto State is home to some of the worst drivers in the nation.

South Carolina ranks third worst in the nation for drivers, according to a study by CarInsuranceComparison.com. The report ranks states based on information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Each state is ranked based on fatality rate per 100 million vehicular miles and on citations for failure to obey, drunken driving, speeding and careless driving.

Here’s how S.C. ranked in specific categories, according to the survey:

1

The Post and Courier: A5

LOCAL/ /STATE S10: Sunday, August 20, 2017

Beaufort Republican has paid RQA $2,350 for campaign services.

Gators are most active during warm weather (82°-92°).

They stop feeding when the temperature drops below 70°, and they become dormant below 55°.

Hotbeds and hunting GATORS, from A1 Some of the best spots for an but give them plenty of room. almost guaranteed glimpse The S.C. Department of Natu- of one of the huge prehistoric ral Resources warns people reptiles include the impound— on land or in the water ment of the state’s Santee — not to approach, harass or Coastal Reserve near McClelfeed them. It’s against the law. lanville. Also, the Donnelley They’re also shy and quick to Wildlife Management Area in disappear when spooked.

Green Pond, on U.S. Highway Even hunting one isn’t for 17 south of Charleston. The amateurs.

ACE Basin is favorable. Anoth“Uggh. It’s a real bad idea. er good spot is the Jack’s Creek You’re in the water in a boat impoundments on Bull’s at night. If you’re not experiIsland in the Cape Romain enced with hunting and hunt- National Wildlife Refuge. ing big game, there’s a lot that Sometimes you may be lucky can go wrong in a hurry,” said enough to see them emerge on fishing guide Landon Mca local golf course.

Dowell, who snared that 2016 Gators tend to grow big record 800-pounder from the particularly near waterfowl Waccamaw. impoundments near now-feral American alligators can historic rice fields where they live about as long as humans. find prey, cover and nests.

They rarely grow longer than The levees of waterfowl rice 14 feet. Six feet long is the fields on plantation land along mark between juvenile and the Cooper River in Berkeley adult alligator. An 8-foot alCounty have become notoriligator is considered mature. ous for them.

After that, the question is not The Goose Creek Reservoir, whether it’s huge, but how ringed by homes, continues to huge. be a hotbed.

Hunters, guides and meat Alligators can be spotted processors year-round. agree the They never “It was like a truck. really himonster, 10-foot-plus and He was boss and bernate gators are will come concentrated of their he wasn’t leaving.” out in the middle burrows any Maryellen Mara-Christian of the coast. time the air Hooked 13-foot, 1,025-pound “Most of warms. But South Carolina gator in 2010 your large when spring in Lake Moultrie gators, hits they are they’re still moving, the in the Cooper or the Santeemales become less likely to Cooper (Marion-Moultrie) back away from an encounter. lake system,” said Matherly, And mean gators can mean the nuisance gator agent from business.

Florence.

In 2014, a snorkeler lost an In 2016, 124 of 395 gators arm in Lake Moultrie. In 2009, captured during the state’s a golfer lost an arm retrieving annual hunt were 10 feet or his ball from a course pond longer, according to DNR on Fripp Island. Last year, an records, and 86 of those came 80-year-old woman who wanfrom the middle coastal areas dered from an assisted-living that include the lakes and sur- center in West Ashley was rounding wetlands. mortally injured by an alligaIn two of the past three tor in a pond nearby. She beyears, the longest gator report- came the first alligator-related ed killed came from the lakes, death in the state since records including a 13-foot-7½-inch have been kept. animal taken below Cross on For this year’s annual public Lake Moultrie in 2015, and a hunt, applications opened May 13-foot-6-inch gator on Lake 1 and the filing period goes Marion near Ferguson Island until June 15 for a chance in a in 2014. lottery draw. Permit-winners Six of the nine longest over must hook or snare the animal the past three years came and pull it to the boat before from the lakes. killing it. Rifles can’t be used.

Around suburban CharlesAnd tangling with large gaton, a 13-foot-4-inch gator tors isn’t for the timid. was pulled from the Ashley “We broke a rod. We broke a River near a housing develharpoon and we broke another opment in Summerville. In harpoon. It was just big. It was April, a 9-footer had to be really big, and what I rememremoved from a second-story ber is it was heavy,” said hunter porch in Mount Pleasant near Mara-Christian. “It was a fight the Wando River. for sure. You had to pay attenThat comes as gators are bet- tion.” ter at hiding than showing off.

Because of the danger, guns “You don’t see a lot of gator aren’t allowed when gator anymore just because of the removal-agent Ron Russell boat traffic,” McDowell said. of Gator Getter Consultants “But I think a lot of people takes people out to hunt them. would be surprised to know how many are out there.”

Please see GATORS, Page A5

Range of the American alligator

Marsh Island, La. Largest alligator on record

A record gator or a tall tale? today’s renowned Tabasco Sauce is produced. He would later become a noted alligator naturalist and author of “The Alligator’s Life History.”

But he was 17 years old when he fired a shotgun into the gator’s head, he recounted later. Other claims he made have been discounted, writer Kelby Ouchley reported.

Ned “was well-known on the island for his gift for spinning yarns,” the McIlhenny Co. historian told the magazine. “I think he saw himself as an entertainer when relating his personal history. He took liberties in a good-natured way.”

— Bo Petersen

An annual public hunt for alligators has been opened since 2008 from mid-September to mid-October. The biggest gators taken tend to come from the Marion-Moultrie lakes in the middle coastal region, but have been snared in a variety of spots.

Greenville

South Carolina’s most massive

SEASON

Columbia

ZONEE 4

Myrtle Beach

The ‘biggest’ gator taken in South Carolina’s

Charleston

Hilton Head Island

2016: 13’ 5” / 655 lbs (Waccamaw River)

(Lake Moultrie) 2014: 13’ 2” / 762 lbs (Lake Moultrie)

SOURCE: REPORTS TO S.C. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, JAY BUTFILOSKI

(Lake Marion) 2014: 13’ 6” / 713 lbs (Lake Marion) 2014: 13’ 3” / unknown weight (Lake Marion)

Looking high and low for a toothy predator SCANA Curtis Loftis

Rep. Jim Merrill

The state treasurer has paid RQA $307,000 for campaign-related work since 2009.

Republican lawmaker from Daniel Island and former Quinn client faces 30 ethic charges in connection with Statehouse corruption probe. Paid RQA $4,500 for consulting work.

RQA has done consulting work for the Cayce-based utility.

Looking to add a monster-sized, prehistoric-era reptile to your wildlife “birder” list? Here are a few pointers:

AT&T Sen. John Courson Quinn client accused of funneling $133,000 of campaign money through RQA for his personal use.

Telecommunications giant is among RQA’s corporate clients.

Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin The two-term Columbia mayor, a Democrat, has paid RQA more than $195,000 since 2009 for campaign work.

Phil Leventis

David Thomas

Jenny Horne

Former state senator from Sumter has paid RQA $3,000 for campaign work.

Former Republican senator from Greenville has paid RQA $37,500 for campaign work.

Former Republican representative and congressional candidate from Summerville has paid RQA $23,682 for campaign work.

SOURCES: REPORTING BY ANDY SHAIN, GLENN SMITH, EMORY PARKER/STAFF

GRAPHIC BY CHAD DUNBAR/STAFF

The big ones Two of every three alligators 10 feet or longer taken in the 2016 hunt were killed in Georgetown, Berkeley, Charleston or Colleton counties.

When they are active Go at night, or at least dawn or twilight. The big guys are wary of boat traffic and other human disturbances and will come out when it’s quiet.

During the day In the daytime, search for them along exposed sand or mud banks, where they like to sun themselves.

Watch out Careful working too close along the banks. They occasionally are hidden in the reeds and will lurch out to dive underwater when startled.

Telling their size Watch for heads in the water. Remember the footper-inch rule: for every inch between the eyes and snout, the gator is a foot long.

INFORMATIONAL GRAPHICS PORTFOLIO OPEN DIVISION

FIRST PLACE Meredith Sheffer The State

“You hang up.”

“No, you hang up.”

“No, you hang up.”

That’s not exactly a transcript of new South Carolina baseball coach Mark Kingston’s interviews with Gamecocks athletics director Ray Tanner, but that’s the gist of it.

“We had some long phone calls, not because I was scrutinizing him,” Tanner said Friday when he announced Kingston as the man who now will shoulder the

weighty expectations of South Carolina’s baseball program. “We were learning from each other, and a lot of the traits he possesses are important to our program and where we are today.”

More than one of their phone calls lasted longer than an hour, and those were on top of the 13-hour interview process Kingston went through in Columbia.

“I would ask myself, ‘Did I keep him on SEE TANNER, 2B

INNOVATIVE CONCEPT OPEN DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Scott Chancey Morning News

SECOND PLACE Staff The Island Packet

INNOVATIVE CONCEPT OPEN DIVISION

FIRST PLACE

Caitlin Byrd, Erin Gillespie and Emory Parker The Post and Courier

AFFILIATED OR NICHE WEBSITE OPEN DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

Sara Novak, Laura James and Rachel Cook The Post and Courier

SECOND PLACE

Jay Rodriguez, Josh Bell and Steve Palisin The Sun News

AFFILIATED OR NICHE WEBSITE OPEN DIVISION

FIRST PLACE Staff The State

EDITORIAL OR COLUMN IN SUPPORT OF FOI/OPEN GOVERNMENT ISSUES ALL DAILY DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Michael Smith Herald-Journal

SECOND PLACE Richard Whiting Index-Journal ■ OUR VIEW

Public can, should help let sunlight in What’s that saying? It feels like deja vu all over again?

Yes it does, at least when it comes to producing meaningful changes to our state’s Freedom of Information Act and when it comes to getting genuine transparency from our elected and appointed offices.

While serving as governor, Nikki Haley pledged there would be more transparency and substantial progress in the area of ethics within the halls of government. She’s now working for President Trump as our nation’s representative to the United Nations. State Rep. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, has been spending countless hours and, really, years trying to make the FOIA more public friendly.

And it doesn’t stop there. Despite some well-meaning efforts among lawmakers such as Taylor, the Freedom of Information Act in its current form is abused greatly by elected bodies and public agencies. Many thumb their noses at you, the public, when you are asking for information that rightfully belongs to you. Those who abuse the public’s right to know are reminiscent of the person directing people passing by a crime scene or wreck who says, “Move along. There’s nothing to see here.”

Unfortunately, there is little the public can do when its requests for information are ignored. Sure, they can pursue a lawsuit to get what they should have been given to begin with, but how many are willing to fork out the dollars necessary to take the case before a judge? It’s a costly and timely adventure, believe us.

EDITORIAL OR COLUMN IN SUPPORT OF FOI/OPEN GOVERNMENT ISSUES ALL DAILY DIVISION ■ OUR VIEW

School board, administration thumb their noses at public Oops! They did it again.

They would be the majority of school board members and the school superintendent serving McCormick County.

Oops! We did it again. We just wrote that these people are serving McCormick County. Wrong.

Here’s a piece of irony. Public education’s school boards and administrators have some of the worst reputations in South Carolina when it comes to being answerable and accountable to the public. We’re not saying that’s true of all the public education districts in the Lakelands, but it’s safe to say that if there were a competition for shutting out the public, McCormick County might well be running in first place and close to capturing the trophy.

So, what are the problems in McCormick County’s school district?

Despite what state law under the Freedom of Information Act says, the superintendent and board do not think they have to tell parents and taxpayers whether William James, the IT director, remains on the job following his arrest Monday on a charge of disturbing schools. Equally troubling is that no school official will address James’ confession to deputies that he installed cameras (his own) in the school and monitored them on his personal phone. Parents and taxpayers deserve answers.

FIRST PLACE Richard Whiting Index-Journal

E.A. RAMSAUR AWARD FOR EDITORIAL WRITING ALL DAILY DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Michael Smith Herald-Journal

SECOND PLACE

Ed Buckley The Post and Courier

E.A. RAMSAUR AWARD FOR EDITORIAL WRITING ALL DAILY DIVISION

FIRST PLACE

David Lauderdale The Island Packet

OPINION PAGE/SECTION ALL DAILY DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

SECOND PLACE

Staff Herald-Journal

A8

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Spartanburg Herald-Journal | GoUpstate.com

A8 Sunday, October 29, 2017

Spartanburg Herald-Journal | GoUpstate.com

A10

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Spartanburg Herald-Journal | GoUpstate.com

OPINION

OPINION

OPINION

KEVIN DRAKE | Publisher MICHAEL SMITH | Executive Editor CHRIS HORETH | Opinion Editor

KEVIN DRAKE | Publisher MICHAEL SMITH | Executive Editor CHRIS HORETH | Opinion Editor

KEVIN DRAKE | Publisher MICHAEL SMITH | Executive Editor CHRIS HORETH | Opinion Editor

More opinion online at GoUpstate.com

More opinion online at GoUpstate.com

More opinion online at GoUpstate.com

Jonah Goldberg

A

mong the many problems with the great gun debate these days is that the pro-gun crowd wants to make it a culture-war battle and the anti-gun crowd wants to pretend that it isn’t.

On public policy grounds, the pro-gun people have the better arguments. Firearm homicides have declined since the 1990s despite the loosening of gun laws.

Almost none of the remedies proposed in the wake of mass shootings would have actually prevented those crimes.

Indeed, it’s common in the aftermath of shootings to hear pundits and politicians call for the passage of laws that already exist.

I’ve lost count of the number of times people have insisted that “machine guns” be banned — they essentially already are. Others talk about banning “assault weapons,” as if such a designation describes a specific kind of weapon. It doesn’t.

Nor would banning assault weapons, however defined, put much of a dent in the problem. Rifles of all kinds account for just 3 percent of the murder rate.

The slaughter at a Texas church last Sunday fits the pattern. Calls went out for background checks. But the shooter passed his; he just lied on the application, and the Air Force egregiously failed to submit his military criminal record to the national database.

Some argued that people convicted of spousal abuse — like the shooter — should be barred from getting a gun. That’s already federal law. (To be sure, such laws should be enforced better.)

More broadly, President Donald Trump and a GOP-controlled Congress will not do anything significant to restrict the gun rights of citizens in America. And the experience under President Barack Obama, particularly in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., demonstrates that even some Democrats don’t want to move against their electoral self-interest.

Indeed, the main reason for inaction isn’t the “stranglehold” of the National Rifle Association

Jonah Goldberg is an editor-at-large of National Review Online and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Reach him at JonahsColumn@aol.com.

GUIDELINES FOR LETTER WRITERS Letters must include the writer’s name, address and phone number, including a daytime phone number. Letters must be 300 words or fewer, and may be edited for length, clarity and accuracy. We do not publish poetry, form letters, petitions or consumers’ comments on private businesses.

Send letters by email: opinion@shj.com; mail: P.O. Box 1657, Spartanburg, S.C., 29304; or fax: 864-594-6350. Call 864-5627267 for more information.

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Opinion

SUNDAY JANUARY 29 2017 THESTATE.COM

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Opinion

‘Christian slavery’? Why we publish such vile opinions

Americans demand too much symbolism from their presidents

Anyone can create a backyard habitat for wildlife in winter

L. Beth Button OUR VIEW

Take time to thank them H

ow can we possibly say “thank you” enough? That is the question we as a nation must ask ourselves each year around Veterans Day, and certainly 2017 is no exception.

How can we thank a generation of young Americans who left the farms and the small towns and the cities, and went to France to fight against aggression in the trenches of World War I? Indeed it was that conflict, which ended with the signing of the armistice at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, that inspired the day of remembrance we now call Veterans Day. How can we thank the millions of young men and women who left home and hearth and family to battle the evil face of fascism in both Europe and the Far East during World War II, a group we now reverently call “the Greatest Generation”?

How can we thank the

many young men and women who were called to Asia once again in the 1950s, the 1960s and the 1970s, first in Korea and then in Vietnam?

How can we thank all of the volunteers who, over the past quarter-century, have been deployed, often repeatedly, to the Middle East? And how can we thank the many millions of men and women who, although they neither went overseas nor faced enemy fire, played vital roles on the homefront through service in the different branches of the U.S. military?

How indeed do we thank all those who have served in the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force and the Coast Guard over the years? All of them were charged with but one basic task — to defend our nation and the freedoms we enjoy.

The truth is that it is simply impossible to thank millions of people at one

time, be it through a politician’s speech or a Facebook post. No, a true expression of thanks needs to be up close and personal, face to face, if you will.

So, maybe the veteran you know is a member of your own family. Maybe the veteran you know works at the next desk over or down at the corner convenience store. Maybe the veteran you know lives in your neighborhood or attends your church. Maybe the veteran you know is a young woman, or perhaps it is an older man.

But whoever they are, whatever they do and however you know them, take the time to say thank you.

Say thank you for their service. Say thank you for the sacrifices they made.

Say thank you in the most sincere way possible.

This Veterans Day weekend, and every day, they deserve that thanks — from all of us.

GateHouse Media

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Be smart with donations I read with dismay the Nov. 5 article by Deena Bouknight concerning actionable ways to thank veterans. She suggested writing a check to veterans organizations and then listed several.

When Howconsidering ever, it is a monetary impordonation to any tant to charity, please make research the sure percentage of charifunds that go table toward actual veterans services as organiopposed to zations fundraising, have administrative been expenses, etc. properly vetted and have received favorable reviews.

When considering a monetary donation to any charity, please research the percentage of funds that go toward actual services as opposed to fundraising, administrative expenses, etc. It is suggested that 80 percent to 85 percent of donations should go toward programs and services.

A good source of such information is www.charitynavigator.org. Please give to charities with your head as well as your heart.

Janice Weakland, Whitmire

Obsessive gun culture No, this isn't another liberal plea for gun control.

Actually, the problem is us, not just guns per se.

Certain regions of the world are overly enamored with the CULTURE of guns.

The Americas, and the South in particular, are two such regions. I believe we have a pervasive obsession with gun powder, lead, wars, drugs/domestic violence and shoot-'em-up games.

Is it that we just love what guns can do more than life itself? It's paradoxically religious and libertarian at the same time.

How many more mass shootings would it take for us to address the gun culture as a disease?

One, 10, 100, 1,000?

I personally addressed this at 10 years old after watching the blood pulse out of a 5-year-old deer's face from my 30-caliber rifle hole. I wonder if the recent Sutherland Springs, Texas, shooter saw a 5-year-old child's face pulse, or did he just keep banging away until his clips were empty?

The best solution? Change our gun culture over time.

Somewhere between "ban guns" and "put a gun in every holster," there must be a better way.

I know that this letter will do little good in the short term because of the current popular distaste for culture change, education and government interference. A culture has to want to change before it will change.

The civilization curve is at stake here. How many more shootings will it take?

Dean Norman, Spartanburg

‘Exuberance’ should go With the subject of art in Spartanburg, in one form or another, now seemingly front and center almost daily, I would like to take this opportunity to call on the removal of Barnet Park’s “Exuberance” statue. It is not my first time doing so in the pages of the Herald-Journal, but it will be my last.

If it could be done without stepping on toes, that would be preferable — but it is not, and for that I am sorry.

Aesthetically, I have never appreciated any aspect of the statue. I could spend more time detailing why I find the statue objectionable, but there is no point to that other than to say it reminds me of a depiction of a crucifixion, arms outstretched, head thrown back and to the side, and with just enough clothing to satisfy the censors.

That combination of the sacred and the profane I find unsettling. And I wonder what young, impressionable minds make of what I consider to be its graphic nature.

My concern is that just because it’s there, there it will always be. Is it really the best that we can do?

W

ith colder months coming upon us, we start to dream about hot chocolate, hearty soups and cozy sweaters.

While snug in your home, have you ever stopped to consider what winter is like for the wildlife living in your yard?

They, too, seek a cozy home where they can find the food, water, shelter and space they need to survive. With new housing developments going up all over Spartanburg, forested areas and the habitats they provide are disappearing. Your backyard can be a habitat!

A little planning can turn your yard into a safe and inviting space for animals of all kinds. Plant native fruit- or nutbearing trees like persimmons or black gum.

Persimmons are enjoyed by many different forms of wildlife, and black gum trees attract pollinating bees while the seeds are consumed by song birds.

There are many trees that provide food, shelter or both while enhancing your landscape. By planting native plants and trees, you are doing yourself and the local fauna a favor. And these plants and trees are intrinsically suited for Spartanburg weather conditions and thrive in our summer heat and frequent droughts.

Placing bird feeders and feeding stations around your yard can provide a welcome meal for birds in the area or those who are moving through as natural sources of food for our winged friends are decreasing. Locate feeders where you can see them easily so you can enjoy your visitors; this will also help you remember to keep them filled.

With many bird predators around, placing your feeders near an evergreen tree or other shelter can help to ensure safety.

Adding a source of water can benefit many species. Anything from a simple bird bath to crafting a stream or pond will make your yard a popular site for migrating birds and year-round residents alike. Water can be difficult for animals to find in all seasons, but it’s a necessity often overlooked in winter. Even leaving out a dog-type water bowl will help out.

When designing a water

In our desire to have the perfect yard, we often remove items that wildlife collect to provide shelter for the winter. Instead of bagging leaves, consider leaving a pile of them somewhere in your yard. feature, plan for some areas that are shallow with slow or non-moving water. This allows your smallest visitors a safe spot to get a drink. Make sure there are stones or sticks in the deepest areas so any guests that go for an unexpected swim can find a way out.

Keep birdbaths clean and add fresh water often. In a bigger pool, consider adding gambusia — small fish that will eat mosquito larvae and keep their numbers in check without the use of chemicals.

In our desire to have the perfect yard, we often remove items that wildlife collect to provide shelter for the winter.

Instead of bagging leaves, consider leaving a pile of them somewhere in your yard. Squirrels collect them to make homes in trees, and unused leaves compost down to make great soil for your garden and become a home for worms and other beneficial invertebrates.

If you have made a pile of downed trees or limbs, those, too can become a home for someone.

Plan to allow the pile to remain during the winter and through the “baby season.” Permit a section of your yard to “go wild.” The taller grasses and the edges between this natural area and your manicured lawn are also safe habitats for birds and small mammals.

They will thank you with their songs, visits to your yard and pest control.

All they need from you is a little space to make themselves at home.

So this fall, with the clear crisp days, spend a little time in your yard.

Imagine what you could do to make your yard a backyard habitat. There are many sites on the internet that can help, with lists of native nut-, seed- and fruit-bearing plants and trees, water source ideas and even backyard habitat certification programs. Check out www.SCWF.org for certification and other ideas.

Wildlife can always use a helping hand, and your yard will benefit from their presence as well.

L. Beth Button is the Watershed Ecology Center’s community outreach coordinator.

Rodney Starnes, Spartanburg

Runoff letters deadline Letters pertaining to the Nov. 21 runoff must be received by the Herald-Journal by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14.

Friday, Nov. 17, is the final day the Herald-Journal will publish such letters.

GUIDELINES FOR LETTER WRITERS Letters must include the writer’s name, address and phone number, including a daytime phone number. Letters must be 300 words or fewer, and may be edited for length, clarity and accuracy. We do not publish poetry, form letters, petitions or consumers’ comments on private businesses.

Send letters by email: opinion@shj.com; mail: P.O. Box 1657, Spartanburg, S.C., 29304; or fax: 864-594-6350. Call 864-5627267 for more information.

OUR VIEW

Approve local sales tax S

partanburg County voters should approve a 1-cent sales tax to fund a new city-county government and justice center.

The reasons for a yes vote are numerous, but they begin with the necessity of constructing new buildings. The county courthouse, city hall and county administration building are outdated, overcrowded and unsuitable for expansion.

The courthouse, which opened in 1958, has been plagued with mold growth that is unlikely to be fixed permanently. The design of the building allows condensation to form between the inner and outer walls year-round. As long as the county operates the courthouse, it is likely to have to close off portions every few years and undertake expensive work to clean out mold.

This isn’t healthy for the people who work in and visit the courthouse. In the past two years, the county has faced 52 workers’ compensation claims from employees who claimed the building made them sick.

And that’s not the biggest problem with the courthouse.

It is also difficult to secure.

It has three entrances, and there is no way to separate possibly combative sides in criminal and legal disputes.

An accused criminal and his family may have to wait in the same area as the victim of the crime, witnesses and jurors before the trial.

These factors impose an additional burden on the Sheriff’s Office to provide security at the courthouse.

While the county grows, there is no way to effectively expand the courthouse, meaning the county must rent and renovate space in other buildings off-site to house county and state agencies.

That’s not only financially inefficient; it makes it hard for residents to find and interact with these offices.

City Hall faces many of these difficulties. A joint city-county judicial and government complex would solve these problems. It would also give county residents one place to find city, county and many state authorities.

Building a new county-city complex at the site of the current courthouse also would allow the sites of the current county administration building and City Hall to be sold for private development, returning them to the tax rolls.

It will cost almost $217 million to build the necessary complex. The next question is how to pay for it. The referendum would allow the county to raise the money

through a 1 percent local sales tax, which would expire after six years. This plan would allow the county to minimize borrowing for the project, saving tens of millions in interest.

By using a sales tax, the county can raise money from people traveling through Spartanburg County. One study showed that as much as a third of the cost of the project will be paid by nonresidents of the county.

The alternatives are not good. If the referendum does not pass, the county will have to build a smaller courthouse and house other county and state agencies in separate buildings around town. The city will have to pursue a similar course. It will be an inefficient and costly system that will provide poorer service to residents. And the entire burden of paying for that system will be shouldered by the county’s property owners. Property taxes will be the only option available.

Voting yes on the referendum will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of city and county government. And it will make dealing with those governments and the court system easier and safer for everyone in Spartanburg County.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Say no to the penny No one will disagree about continuing to make Spartanburg great. However, the 1 percent sales tax referendum is not the answer. Too many of us already can’t save due to the cost of living and incomes.

Spartanburg County Council adopted an ordinance allowing voters in an “off” election year to decide on a referendum calling for a 1 percent sales tax to pay for a new judicial center.

This is already a billion-dollar industry. Fees, court costs and fines are being paid via the judicial system. Revenue from Rolling Thunder, seizing property, home detention, etc., could be used.

I am reminded of how the swim center was lost. Our officials did not fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities.

Now, history repeats itself by way of the courthouse.

First, we had the $25 road tax, then the gasoline tax increase, and now we’re being asked to vote for a 1 percent sales tax increase.

If the Tax Commission had provided a report and recommendation to County Council to use a 1 percent capital sales tax for an increase for teachers, county employees, law enforcement, minimum wages and other incomes, there would be less resistance.

The rich will pay out of their wealth. The poor will pay more than all the others. The poor out of their poverty will

pay out all they have to live on (“The widow’s offering,” Mark 12:41-44 and Luke 21:1-4).

I don’t understand how 1 percent will generate $224,400,000 from the 99 percent of us plus the other 1 percent. If this sales tax increase proves inadequate, voting for it also gives the county permission for bonds payable from an ad valorem tax imposed on all taxable county property.

Just say NO to the penny on Nov. 7.

Doing so will save us all a lot of money and foster even more collaboration and efficiency for decades. We can call it a two-fer, a win-win, a nobrainer or any other cliche, but when you get down to the heart of the matter, there is no doubt it is a good deal for Spartanburg’s citizens.

I applaud the vision of our county and city leaders, and I urge everyone to vote “yes” to the penny on Nov. 7.

Richard Dillard, Spartanburg

Ruby Rice, former president, Spartanburg Branch, NAACP

Say yes to the penny Voters have a huge opportunity to do something that will tangibly add to the incredible momentum we are seeing in Spartanburg. Voting “yes” to the penny is a big “yes” vote to Spartanburg and our future.

We are fortunate to have the chance to generate revenue that is badly needed to take care of our antiquated, outdated and unsafe courthouse and other local government facilities. Thirty-three percent of this revenue, $70 million, will be generated by non-residents visiting and shopping in Spartanburg.

I’ll take that over a property tax increase any day!

It is also great to see our county and city governments coming together to build a joint center instead of wasting money on duplicative facilities.

A golden opportunity On Nov. 7, I will vote yes on the Spartanburg County penny sales tax increase referendum, and I urge all voters who care about keeping their property taxes low to do the same.

This is a golden opportunity to address our outdated and unhealthy courthouse without passing along a property tax increase. As a small-business owner, I rely on local government to provide top-notch services while keeping my property taxes as low as possible. This plan will do exactly that.

Leonid Bershidsky

W

hatever Americans think of how President Donald Trump is handling the policy-making part of his job, for a showman, he's unquestionably making a hash of the ceremonial aspects of the job.

But maybe, in the media age, expectations have become unfair, too.

The art and the skill of a leader in making such speeches is to make a deep emotional impression, but Trump appears to lack the necessary sensitivity for that. Politically divided as it is, and fragile as it looks, the U.S. doesn't really need any of this — but Trump keeps stepping in it because that's what expected of a U.S. president.

Walter Bagehot, the 19th century British thinker, wrote in "The English Constitution" about the clear distinction between the symbolic power of office and the job of government: "The queen is only at the head of the dignified part of the constitution. The prime minister is at the head of the efficient part. The crown is, according to the saying, the 'fountain of honour;' but the Treasury is the spring of business."

That doesn't mean that prime ministers are exempt from reflecting the public mood in times of crisis and responding; their parties have to be elected after all. Margaret Thatcher famously wrote a personal letter to every family that lost someone in the Falklands War — but that, much less phone calls, had not been expected of her. It was, in the end, her way of acknowledging personal responsibility for the war.

British Prime Minister Theresa May was heavily criticized for not visiting the sight of the Grenfell Tower fire quickly enough. But the main expectation is that the government will respond efficiently to the crisis with policy. In her speech after, the prime minister dwelled on the details of the government response.

The U.S. doesn't have a system in which the various sets of duties can be distributed between a presidency or monarchy, a prime minister's job and multiple-faction leaderships in parliament. In the U.S., according to the

Congressional Serial Set, "The president simultaneously serves to perform functions that parallel the activities of a king or queen in a monarchy and the prime minister or premier in a parliamentary democracy."

That's unfair to the officeholders, who are expected to draw up policies, make everyday executive decisions and manage a vast bureaucracy as well as carry out a wide range of demanding symbolic duties — from throwing out ceremonial first pitches at baseball games to consoling the families of those who die for the country.

Some historical circumstances may call for a kingly president, someone to embody the U.S. global leadership as well as the dignity of its domestic institutions. Others may call for a policy wonk, and yet others for a stellar negotiator and manager.

Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon weren't much good at the symbolic part of the job, either. Ronald Reagan was remembered as a president who was great at articulating the nation's hopes and grief. And while George W. Bush was much criticized for the Iraq War, his most iconic moment was his bullhorn speech to emergency rescue workers days after the 9/11 attacks.

The U.S. demands even more ceremony of its presidents than other countries in part because of the expectation that the head of state is also the moral-authority-in-chief where Christian leadership is prized and the president is expected to channel those attitudes.

Trump never has, not on the campaign trail or after. The question is, if he wasn't elected to be good at the ceremony, does it matter that he's awful at it?

It shouldn't matter.

It's unreasonable for Americans to expect one person to be both king and store manager. But that means being patient with the inevitable failures of the one person who is supposed to be everything at once.

Today, quite possibly, the U.S. needs a disruptor of tradition. By not following the cues or satisfying expectations, perhaps Trump at least fulfills that role. He should stop pretending he cares about that side of the job and let others do more of what he clearly can't.

Leonid Bershidsky is a Bloomberg View columnist.

GUIDELINES FOR LETTER WRITERS Rockie Bull, Lyman

Election letters deadline Letters pertaining to the Nov. 7 election must be received by noon Tuesday, Oct. 31. Friday, Nov. 3, is the final day the HeraldJournal will publish such letters.

Letters must include the writer’s name, address and phone number, including a daytime phone number. Letters must be 300 words or fewer, and may be edited for length, clarity and accuracy. We do not publish poetry, form letters, petitions or consumers’ comments on private businesses.

Send letters by email: opinion@shj.com; mail: P.O. Box 1657, Spartanburg, S.C., 29304; or fax: 864-594-6350. Call 864-5627267 for more information.

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 24 2017 THESTATE.COM

CINDI ROSS SCOPPE

Associate Editor

I

CONDUCTED an experiment this week: I published a letter to the editor from an unapologetic white supremacist, who was preaching points that no decent human being could possibly endorse. And I waited to see what happened.

I considered writing this column to run the same day, or at least including an editor’s note, but I wanted to see whether readers would be outraged by the letter or by our decision to publish it. That is, whether people would recognize that publishing the letter was an extreme version of what we do five days a week: provide a public forum where we hold a mirror up to our community, so it can examine itself, warts and all.

I don’t mean to imply that most people in South Carolina believe, as this writer stated, that “Christian slavery” was a good thing and that black people

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Sales tax referendum Spartanburg County Council has unanimously voted to put a sales tax increase referendum on the Nov. 7 ballot, and this will be voted on by the county’s citizens. If the tax increase passes, I believe goods will cost more in Spartanburg County than they do in Greenville County.

I once lived in an area with two jurisdictions that had different sales taxes and should describe what happened: New York City went to a sales tax of 8¼ percent in 1989 while New Jersey had a sales tax of 6 percent. I watched very well-known retail stores close in New York City, such as Ohrbach’s, B. Altman, Best & Co., Arnold Constable, etc.

Macy’s went through a bankruptcy. Bonwit Teller tried to stay open but lost $23 million in three years after New York City’s sales tax increase, and it also closed. Sales tax evasion in Manhattan hit an unprecedented 12 percent of all sales.

Those were good times for business. The New York Times reported, “One has to wonder why so many failed amid plenty.” But The Times also described a New Jersey shopping center as “parking lots and access roads can be jammed to exasperation on weekends.” The only difference between New York and New Jersey was the sales tax.

I fear that Spartanburg County Council might have issued a death warrant on retail business in Spartanburg County, just as I believe New York City did. And New York didn’t get the tax revenue it expected. Closed stores don’t pay sales taxes.

At least we can vote against County Council’s sales tax increase referendum.

Walter McSherry, Spartanburg

Wants versus needs On Election Day, Nov. 7, voters in Spartanburg County will decide whether to approve or disapprove a sales tax increase in Spartanburg County. The sales tax increase is expected to raise $216 million in a six-year period, and the money raised will be used to construct five new government buildings for the city of Spartanburg and for the county. The sales tax increase would end in 2024.

Those who want the tax increase say our county government buildings are more than 50 years old, and that the county will get $37 million a year in extra revenue for a total revenue increase of about $216 million.

It is wise to take a look at what other counties are doing with their courthouses. Spartanburg County’s courthouse was built in

1958. Anderson County’s courthouse was built in 1898, Georgetown County’s courthouse in 1824, Horry County’s courthouse in 1825, Greenville County’s courthouse in 1916, Chester County’s courthouse in 1852, etc. At least 21 county courthouses in South Carolina are more than 100 years old. I don’t know what these counties are doing to keep their courthouses open.

As a matter of fact, county government has put forward a case for a new courthouse, saying the existing one has been affected by mold and by having more courtrooms than it was designed for, but has said little or nothing about why we need four other buildings, or why we need to demolish the county’s existing administration building.

It appears county government is asking for what it wants, not what it needs.

Phil Harris, Roebuck

Praying for unity I would like to commend my fellow members of the School District 7 board of trustees for agreeing to participate in a board summit in the hopes of resolving the school naming issue.

I recently learned from some in the community that some proponents of keeping the name “Drayton Mills Elementary” for our new elementary school are circulating misleading assertions that I’m the only one concerned about the school name and that I’m trying to hurt the developers. I call on those who are circulating this untruth to stop trying to make me the issue.

This assertion is demeaning to the many people who are opponents to the current name and to the time and effort given by my colleagues, Sharon Porter, Ernest White and Rick Gray. I have been nothing but complimentary of the efforts of the developers of the revitalization of the Drayton community. Any effort to suggest otherwise is just an effort to deflect from the real issues.

Unfortunately, the downside to being the one to deliver what others are feeling and what a group is feeling is that the listeners/ readers who don’t want to accept what is being said as truth discount it by blaming the messenger. We should reject any efforts to demonize anyone on both sides of this issue.

I also think it is important to note that when the board voted 4-3 not to name the school “Drayton Elementary,” many of us on the board thought the issue was dead. However, the issue was revived, thus creating the dissension on the board. There are some who, through historical research, contend that the new elementary school being built on Skyline Drive

is not even located in the Drayton community.

Let’s continue to pray for unity and a consensus solution.

Vernon D. Beatty, School District 7 board trustee

Autism awareness As the dawn of Autism Awareness Month, beginning Nov. 1, draws close, I want to take a moment to stress the importance of funding, research and education opportunities for the millions of people who live with this condition every day.

Places such as Project Hope, with their dedicated staff, help their students reach their maximum potential through encouragement and focused teaching methods meant to unlock their hidden gifts. But these programs are very underfunded from federal and states governments, causing great financial strain on everyday families to send their children to these schools, further depriving the world of these potential future leaders’ contributions to the world.

When we contribute to worthwhile fundraisers, such as Project Hope’s current fundraising drive (https://hoperelay.org/ campaigns/btg-5-6-thelight-ning-squad), we help children with autism.

Some of history’s greatest figures, such as Mozart and Albert Einstein, had autism. They not only excelled in life, they changed the world we live in through their contributions to the world in the fields of music and mathematics.

ABC’s television show “The Good Doctor” explores the life of an autistic doctor struggling to prove he can excel in his career and socialize with his patients and other medical staff.

We as a society need to learn the different spectrums of autism in order to raise awareness on how to help autistic people reach for the stars.

As a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and the Scottish Rite Masons, two great and respected organizations devoted to uplifting and serving the citizens of our communities, I urge you to let your local, state and national elected officials know the importance of fully funding programs for autistic individuals so they can lead a happy, productive life.

should be grateful that their ancestors were enslaved — which means they were stolen from their homes, brought to our country in chains, sold to the highest bidder, forced to do whatever work their owners required, beaten, raped, ripped apart from their families. I don’t even mean to imply that a large minority of South Carolinians believe that; I’m confident that they do not.

But the sad truth is that you don’t have to look hard to find South Carolinians who believe that slavery was good because, in their view, black people are inherently inferior to white people. They even feel comfortable attaching their names to their warped views. And I believe all South Carolinians need to know that.

In addition to writing columns, part of my job is to read letters to the editor and select the ones to publish. That means that every day I read grossly misinformed opinions and the opinions of people with the most extreme views on the left and the right, all of which I find maddening. It means that every day I decide to publish letters that I disagree with or even find offensive, because that’s what providing a public forum entails.

It means I publish letters from

people who share my position on a given issue but argue the case in a way that actually hands ammunition to people who take the opposite position.

I believe I have an obligation not only to provide a forum but especially to publish letters that are critical of what The State has published and, even more so, what I have published on the opinion and commentary pages and, more so still, what I have written. I also believe that, on occasion, I have an obligation to hold up that unflattering mirror, to make sure that people in our community understand how ugly some of our neighbors are.

What I don’t have an obligation to do — what I have an obligation not to do — is publish letters that state or imply as fact things that are in fact not factual. If you say I’m crazy to believe what I wrote, I’ll probably print your letter. If you say I’m crazy to believe something I never said I believe, I won’t print it. If you write to say the governor didn’t try hard enough to stop the gas tax, I might publish it (unless I’m just tired of that topic); if you say he performs ritualistic killings of legislators, I will not print it. And yes, sometimes untrue claims slip by me.

The result of my experiment was gratifying: Only a handful of

readers contacted us to express outrage over the decision to publish the white supremacist letter on Wednesday.

The most interesting response was from a reader who wanted to know what’s out of bounds.

That’s a difficult question to answer, particularly when it comes to race. We receive a lot of letters that many readers would consider racist, but that are not overtly so. Should I publish even the least ambiguous ones and risk suggesting that such opinions are within the bounds of decency? Or should I toss them and deny a voice to people whose opinions about economics or crime or authority simply sound like they’re driven by race?

Wednesday’s letter was in no way ambiguous: It was so unequivocably and unapologetically racist that no one who wasn’t also a white supremacist could possibly deny how vile it was. It was, in fact, the perfect mirror.

I changed up the experiment on Facebook and asked our online staff to post an explanation with the letter — “Our editorial board publishes letters like this so we’ll know that our neighbors actually believe this sort of thing.” And, I assume as a result, nearly everyone focused their ire on the letter writer, or on each other, but not on the newspaper for publishing the letter. When I read the 186 comments that had been posted in the first 24 hours, I counted only three that took us to task for publishing the letter. That was gratifying.

‘‘

YOU DON’T HAVE TO LOOK HARD TO FIND SOUTH CAROLINIANS WHO BELIEVE THAT SLAVERY WAS GOOD. AND I BELIEVE ALL SOUTH CAROLINIANS NEED TO KNOW THAT. Most were shocked by the letter, which was more gratifying still, because we had in fact forced people to see something they didn’t realize was there. A few were grateful that we did this. Of course, that included the woman who wrote, “Thank you for posting the letter so we don’t forget that people, ‘Good Christian people’ honestly believe this.”

I usually don’t respond to online comments, but this one I can’t resist answering: Good Christian people do not in fact believe this. At least not anymore. The people who believe this are masquerading as Christians. Actual Christians strive to love our God with all our heart and soul and mind and to love our neighbors as ourselves — and to leave no doubt that we thoroughly reject such evil.

Ms. Scoppe can be reached at cscoppe@thestate.com or at (803) 771-8571.

TIM DOMINICK tdominick@thestate.com

Gov. Henry McMaster takes the oath as South Carolina’s 117th chief executive from Chief Justice Don Beatty on Tuesday evening with his wife, Peggy, holding the Bible.

How Henry McMaster can be the governor South Carolina needs

H

CINDI ROSS SCOPPE

Associate Editor

MEET CINDI ROSS SCOPPE Cindi Ross Scoppe writes about state government and the General Assembly and has covered South Carolina’s past five governors, first as a reporter and since 1998 as an editorial writer and columnist. She met Henry McMaster in 1988 and has written about all of his campaigns since.

Cindi has received numerous awards from the S.C. Press Association, including being named S.C. Journalist of the Year, editorial writer of the year and columnist of the year. She also has been honored

by Governing magazine, the American Bar Association and several other state and national organizations and is a two-time winner of The State’s Gonzales Award.

ENRY McMASTER was not my first choice for attorney general. That was Jon Ozmint, and our editorial board agreed, so I wrote the endorsement.

Mr. McMaster wasn’t my second choice either, or my third — of the four candidates who ran that year.

It wasn’t that I thought Mr. McMaster would be a bad attorney general; I just thought those other candidates would be better.

Eight months after he won his third straight election over a candidate I had endorsed, I looked up one day and realized that I had forgotten Henry McMaster was our attorney general. Because unlike his predecessor, the king of controversy and self-promotion, he hadn’t been splashing his name across the front page of the newspaper every day; he had just been quietly doing his job. I thought how nice that was, and I said so in a column.

And 15 years after we first met, Henry McMaster and I began having long conversations — in my board room, in his office, in my office, over lunches. (I hate having lunch with sources, but he always made it so hard to say no: “I’ll pick you up in front of your office in 15 minutes,” he’d say when he finally managed to get me on the phone.)

Hard work, tough calls As I got to know Henry McMaster, I discovered someone who had a deep and abiding respect for the rule of law, and who leaned heavily on the advice of career prosecutors and legal experts in his office. Someone who fixated on rewriting the rules for letting private attorneys file lawsuits in the name of the state, a perennial political problem for attorneys general, to make sure that it was the state that benefited rather than the attorney general’s reelection campaign — and that justice was served.

I discovered someone who worked across party lines to fight criminal domestic violence and made it his cause. Who worked tirelessly with judges, lawmakers and victim advocates developing and promoting a plan to divert first-time, nonviolent offenders to a “middle court” that would mix carrots and sticks to turn them into productive tax-paying citizens — and transform our corrections system from tough on crime to smart on crime.

Most impressively, I discovered the first attorney general I had known who fully appreciated that his job was to defend the constitution, not the gov-

RAINIER EHRHARDT AP

Here’s a big change: SC Gov Henry McMaster has a great relationship with House Speaker Jay Lucas.

Utility officials should pray for forgiveness I suppose the plan by SCANA and Santee Cooper to build two nuclear power plants began with good motives. It was sold to the Legislature, the PSC and the people as a way, in the long run, to save money on electricity. Of course, there was also money to be made for SCANA and its investors.

We’ve seen plenty of people promoting investment schemes they said would reap great rewards for investors.

When they turn out to be crooks, they are ordered to repay their honest investors and Jessie spend time in jail. This Sargent should happen to all who were and still are lying and covering up the nuclear power plant fiasco: the legislators who passed that foolish law, the Public Service Commissioners and the awful lobbyists who helped push the law through.

They, and most certainly the leaders of SCANA, must have known long ago that this project was going to fail, yet they continued. Is that good business?

Is it ethical? Is it legal?

So many people can barely afford a normal electric bill, let alone the extra 18 percent SCE&G has tacked on to pay for the reactors. If it wasn’t for the Salvation Army and its donors who help during the cold weather, many would be very ill or die.

The way 5,000 workers were dismissed, without notice, was underhanded, dirty and inexcusable. Loyal workers had to turn in their ID and leave the property, as if they had committed some grievous offense. Would the people who caused this problem like to be treated like that?

I would suggest that everyone involved in this unspeakable disaster get on their knees and confess to God their sins and ask for forgiveness from him and the people of South Carolina.

Otherwise they can expect a miserable life. Our God loves his children too much to allow us to be treated like this. Those who prefer not to ask forgiveness can be assured they will have no need of money where they are going.

– Jessie Sargent West Columbia

“It does no harm just once in a while to acknowledge that the whole country isn’t in flames, that there are people in this country besides politicians, entertainers and criminals.” — Quote from Charles Kuralt (1934-1997).

Max Trout, Campobello

Sara Johnson Borton Publisher & President Mark E. Lett Vice President/Executive Editor EDITORIAL

NEWS

Paul Osmundson Associate Editor

Steve Brook Managing Editor

Cindi Ross Scoppe Associate Editor

Eileen Waddell Assistant Managing Editor

Have your say. Letters to the editor should not exceed 200 words and should be sent to stateeditor@thestate.com or mailed to Letters to the Editor, The State, PO Box 1333, Columbia, SC, 29202.

Include your full name, street address and day and evening phone numbers. Because of volume, we cannot acknowledge receipt of letters.

Guest columns on state or local topics should not exceed 700 words and should be sent, along with a photograph, to cscoppe@thestate.com. Columnists should demonstrate authority and knowledge of the topic and make persuasive, information-backed arguments.

Submissions must be exclusive to The State and become property of The State. All submissions will be edited, and writers should be prepared to provide documentation for factual information. We do not guarantee publication or accept letters that are part of organized campaigns.

You can reach the Editorial Department at (803) 771-8465.

T

T Goal is to dismantle Constitution We have been bombarded with every emotion imaginable concerning Confederate anything. Some call it heritage, some call it racist, some want to attach explanations to the statues, and some want to put the Confederate everything in museums. Some have torn statues down or defaced them.

Al Sharpton wants to defund the federal upkeep of the Jefferson Memorial because Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. George Washington is being criticized for the same reason, and Christopher Columbus has been called a racist because he was the cause of mistreatment of the Indians.

Once the reputations of the founding fathers are shredded, we will then hear from the progressive left that we must no longer abide by the thoughts and ideas of these tarnished individuals.

Sara Johnson Borton Publisher & President Brian Tolley Vice President / Executive Editor EDITORIAL Paul Osmundson Associate Editor Cindi Ross Scoppe Associate Editor

Fo SCE&G Ma h he man cave beckon

Rewr t ng h story Fabr cat ng b ack Confederate so d ers

And what does that mean?

The thoughts and ideas of these individuals led to the Constitution of the United States. I believe that the ultimate goal of all this mess is the nullification of that document and everything for which it stands.

– Frank Gause Lexington

Letter distorted modern Christianity “Was Calhoun right or wrong when he argued … the South’s Christian slavery was ‘a positive good’ and ‘a great good’ for both whites and blacks?” asks Winston McCuen in his Wednesday letter, “Teach truth about the virtues of slavery.”

John C. Calhoun was wrong. Slavery benefited only one side of the relationship, the slave owner. There’s nothing “Christian” about slavery as practiced in the American South. Modern Christianity rejects it, along with such other Old Testa-

ment practices as wife-beating, animal sacrifice, stoning and making war in God’s name.

When using Christianity as a behavioral guide, start with “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Slavery is hardly love.

ing that I’ve not defrauded anyone out of a dime. I hope Mr. Carter can manage to get by on his retirement package.

– Ma

– Charles Spencer Lexington

Carter’s pension is an insult to us all Let me get this straight: Santee Cooper CEO Lonnie Carter’s annual salary is $540,929, and he will get roughly $800,000 a year when he retires? Neither I nor any other state retiree I know is making nearly twice their pre-retirement salary. This is another slap in the face of all state retirees and customers of these utilities.

It is very clear to me that not a single one of these overpaid executives with SCANA or Santee Cooper has a conscience.

I’m not making almost twice what I did when I was working, but I lay my head on my pillow every night know-

Brian Jones, Wellford

A little wise advice

Palmetto

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Too many gun control advocates tend to get the basic facts wrong — a relative piker when it comes to political spending — but the fact that millions of gun owners are likely to vote on the gun issue, while millions of gun control supporters are not. Also, a supermajority of Americans (76 percent to 23 percent, according to Gallup) do not want a ban on private gun ownership.

Anti-gun campaigners cling to the belief that they are a cadre of dedicated pragmatists who merely seek sensible gun control laws for the country. No doubt there are some who fit this description. But given how the most vocal advocates of gun control tend to get basic facts wrong and have a history of praising countries such as Australia, which all but banned guns outright for normal citizens, it’s easy to see why gun rights supporters are suspicious about what the anti-gun campaigners’ real goal is.

In 2015, The New York Times ran its first frontpage editorial in 95 years to call for, in part, the confiscation of millions of guns. Last month, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens called for outright repeal of the Second Amendment.

The simple fact is that many elites in places such as New York and Los Angeles, regardless of ideology (Stephens is a conservative), just don’t like guns or the culture of people who do. One can see this in the suddenly pervasive fad — common in the pages of The New York Times and on Twitter — of mocking people who offer “thoughts and prayers” for the victims of mass shootings if they don’t also subscribe to sweeping new gun control measures.

It’s a useful thought experiment to ask what America would look like if the gun controllers started to rack up policy victories, confiscating guns from law-abiding gun owners. Aside from the massive financial windfall for the NRA, millions of Americans would have their darkest suspicions confirmed, and the deep resentment already felt in much of “red state” America would intensify beyond anything we’ve experienced lately.

Perhaps there would be fewer mass murders and other gun deaths — though I’m skeptical. I’m sure our politics would be far uglier than they already are.

Staff The State

NEWS Steve Brook Managing Editor Eileen Waddell Assistant Managing Editor

Have your say. Letters to the editor should not exceed 200 words and should be sent to stateeditor@thestate.com or mailed to Letters to the Editor, The State, PO Box 1333, Columbia, SC, 29202. Include your full name, street address and day and evening phone numbers. Because of volume, we cannot acknowledge receipt of letters.

Guest columns on state or local topics should not exceed 700 words and should be sent, along with a photograph, to cscoppe@thestate.com. Columnists should demonstrate authority and knowledge of the topic and make persuasive, information-backed arguments.

Submissions must be exclusive to The State and become property of The State. All submissions will be edited, and writers should be prepared to provide documentation for factual information. We do not guarantee publication or accept letters that are part of organized campaigns.

You can reach the Editorial Department at (803) 771-8465.

Coun o wh oun

b n

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OPINION PAGE/SECTION OPINION

ALL DAILY DIVISION

Founded in 1803 PAMELA J. BROWNING, Publisher

OPINION

MITCH PUGH, Executive Editor CHARLES R. ROWE, Editorial Page Editor

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POSTANDCOURIER.COM

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Founded in 1803 PAMELA J. BROWNING, Publisher MITCH PUGH, Executive Editor CHARLES R. ROWE, Editorial Page Editor

Editorial

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor Bond referendum There is a $20 million referendum on the Nov. 7 ballot to finance low-income housing in the city. Why did it take this long to get serious about such a vital need that ordinary people saw coming so long ago?

Low-income people include quite a number of African Americans here. Much more enthusiasm has been going into building a museum about their past than housing for their present.

As they continue to disappear from the city for lack of affordable housing, their former neighborhoods themselves — even some churches — can now serve as “live museums” of past times.

To the eyes of a visitor in the 1970s their footsteps trod patiently through an almost barren downtown, beating out a daring message of unseen assurance: that things would pick-up again someday. Their footsteps were right — but they also got picked up, and out, of their surroundings.

The number of ratings that praise the city keep pouring in — even from abroad.

Let us hope that all the buildup here doesn’t come tumbling down under some force mindful of a hurricane — like Hugo in 1989. This highly rated city was then — as other cities have been or are even now — “a city of pity.”

Yes, Charleston — city of preservation — needs that $20 million bond as a start to bring back a most vital component of its past.

Its preservation is lacking until African Americans again are as visible here as they used to be — and as visible as that museum about them is expected to be.

NAT COHEN Coming Street Charleston

A free country In response to the Oct. 31 letter to the editor titled “Don’t blame Citadel staff for Bannon invitation”: I quote the second paragraph of the letter: “I should know, I am a proud and active member of a key Citadel advisory board and proud father of a 2017 Citadel graduate.” Congratulations. I, too, would be proud of that accomplishment, but let’s not let pride and tradition get in the way of the truth.

Slavery would still be in existence if the proud traditionalists had succeeded. There would still be no women cadets at The Citadel if the proud traditionalists had succeeded. I well remember the controversy over Shannon Faulkner. I also remember the Pat Conroy controversy when he spoke the truth as he saw it.

Tradition and eloquent words do not own the truth nor are they always best for the country. As people fought to form this country, sometimes we have to “fight” to keep it on the right track.

So, Mr. and Mrs. Traditionalist, let’s listen with an open mind before we say just sit down and shut up. This is a free country of which I am very proud. Even though mistakes have been made and will continue to be made, we live in a free society. Let’s have respect for each other’s views.

measures (such as seat belts) in cars, both of which have led to reduced death rates.

Today we face several public health epidemics in our country — gun violence, obesity and opioid addiction, to name three. Nobody says we shouldn’t try to address the obesity or opioid crises because the problems are too big and too difficult to solve.

Yet we’ve hit massive resistance when we try to address the issues of gun violence as a public health concern. We are continually told, “Gun violence is an insolvable problem.

There’s nothing we can do.”

As physicians, we disagree.

There is a solution to make us healthier and safer.

These facts are indisputable: 1) There has been an average of 35,529 firearm deaths in America each year between 2010 and 2012 (Centers for Disease Control).

2) Thorough background checks performed prior to firearms sales have been shown to reduce mortality (Journal of American Medicine Association, Internal Medicine, “Firearm Laws and Firearm Homicides, a Systematic Review,” plus many other medical journals).

We love America and all it stands for. And we love Americans. It’s our responsibility to them — to all of us — to do better. And it’s the responsibility of our legislators to enact the universal background checks that 90 percent of Americans and 85 percent of gun owners support.

Violent nation

Editorial

Page for Mount Pleasant mayor

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he political squabbling in just another vote on Town Council, the campaign for mayor of given that Mount Pleasant has a weakMount Pleasant apparently mayoral system that limits its leader’s will continue right up to authority.

Despite that limitaelection day. And tion, Ms. Page has been as the rancorous poa forceful voice for litical climate lowers the kind of intelligent the level of discourse, growth that has too voters should ultioften proven elusive mately turn their in the past for Mount at tent ion to t he Pleasant, but which still considerable record offers the best hope for of Mayor L i nd a its future.

Page during her first Ms. Page believes that term. She deserves to efforts to simply shut be re-elected. down future developSimply put, Mayor ment are not workPage has served the able. Property owners town well as its uphave rights and people beat, welcomi ng leader.

MARQUEL COAXUM/PROVIDED want to move to Mount Pleasant. “What do we “I represent 80,000 Linda Page gain from just saying pe ople , not one group of people and not one side of no?” she asked in a recent interview town,” she said. “We are in it together, with The Post and Courier. whether we came here six days ago or Nevertheless, she voted in April to dramatically increase impact fees on 60 years ago.”

It’s not easy to manage the popula- new developments. And she supported tion explosion that puts Mount Pleas- a two-year moratorium on new apartant among the fastest growing com- ment developments that was approved munities in the country. But it has to earlier this year.

In other words, Ms. Page cannot be done fairly and inclusively.

Mayor Page is, for better or worse, rightly be described as “pro-growth,”

but rather as someone who reasonably understands the limits the town now faces.

The town’s annual residential growth rate has hovered between 2.9 and 3.9 percent during most of Mayor Page’s first term.

As mayor, Ms. Page supported the difficult decision to raise taxes for the first time in years. But that move helped to improve the town’s bond rating to AAA and will save money in the long term. Property taxes remain comparatively low even though home values in Mount Pleasant are among the highest in the region.

Ms. Page has initiated or overseen at least 16 major road projects in the town over the past four years, many of which are still in the planning or construction phases. Major drainage projects are under way. The town has bolstered its reserve fund. A new town hall has been completed.

And Mayor Page notes that Mount Pleasant has the highest per capita income in the state, is a safe place to live and has a low jobless rate.

“Mount Pleasant is in great shape, and we’re going to continue to be in great shape if I’m mayor,” Ms. Page said.

Voters should give her another term on Tuesday.

Editorial

RICHARD HAGERTY, M.D. Associate Professor Plastic Surgery, MUSC (Ret.) LAYTON McCURDY, M.D. Dean Emeritus, MUSC (Ret.) Doughty Street Charleston

On June 14 my day began waiting to hear from my niece who lives near the site of the ballpark shooting in Alexandria, Va. She was shaken, but unharmed.

That afternoon I began working on a letter with ARM-in-ARM — South Carolinians for Responsible Gun Ownership — to commemorate the second anniversary of the Mother Emanuel shooting and to highlight our legislative advocacy to expand background checks on firearm purchasers.

That evening I called my sister who lives in the Portrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco where four people were shot to death.

And, in the midst of this work and turmoil, I begin to brace with my family for the emotion that engulfs the approach of my nephew’s July birth date.

There will be no 25th birthday party. He was shot to death in 2012 while going to visit friends. The Atlanta police told his mother the shooter probably meant only to rob, not kill, her only child, but the gun used has “a loose trigger and can be hard to control.”

My family is normal. We do not have high profile jobs.

We are not in law enforcement or the military. We do not live or work in “danger zones.” My brother owns antique rifles. My cousins hunt deer.

But a day like June 14 defines “normal” for us now.

Americans are exceptional in the fact that we tolerate such exceptional violence.

It is true that guns don’t kill people. People kill people.

That is why we need expanded background checks on those who wish to be armed in society. This is fair to gun owners and non-owners alike. This is so we can begin to feel normal and safe again.

JAN LEONARD Gilmore Road Charleston

Piggly Wiggly story The Piggly Wiggly story June 22 was first-rate. It’s a sad tale well and fairly told.

While Piggly Wiggly is a good cautionary tale about employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) overall, the data on employee ownership are extremely positive. Employees overall get about 2.2 times the total retirement assets, companies grow 2.5 percent per year faster, and layoffs are one-third to one-fifth as likely. They are a great tool for business transition.

But Piggly Wiggly shows what can happen when you put employees at the center of your philosophy, and that gets replaced by the interests of a limited number of people who can make decisions inimical to employee ownership.

Fortunately, the vast majority of ESOP companies (and Piggly Wiggly for a long time) do not do that.

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POSTANDCOURIER.COM

Sunday, June 25, 2017

visitors each year.

A Fall 2017 SCMM exhibit will be about South Carolina’s shipwrecks and will feature artifacts, photographs and seminars about the many ships and other vessels that have gone to the bottom off the coast and in the rivers of South Carolina during the past 300 years, including the Hunley.

We agree with North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey, who recommends, “put the museum in the location where the Hunley has the greatest chance of success.”

ROBERT M. McALISTER Director S.C. Maritime Museum Front Street Georgetown

Happy birthday Children’s bikes strewn on the street, inside happy children on red plastic stools slurping cherry cokes: Pitt Street Pharmacy 1987.

The love of my life and I had decided to marry. We were searching for a home and looked in the usual places, but when we drove through the Old Village of Mount Pleasant and I saw the pharmacy, I said, “I don’t care what the house is, I just want to live here.” Then I saw the big grin of agreement on Gilbert Bradham’s face.

We were married in that house a few months later. My youngest child was eight and the Pitt Street Pharmacy became her best friend.

We had a charge account so errands were easily run by her on her bike, and we wondered at the significant bills for egg salad sandwiches until we learned that she was treating her pediatrician, Dr. Ward, and his staff to frequent lunches at their office just next to the pharmacy.

Most Christmas presents for years came from the pharmacy, too.

A happy and spectacular 80th birthday to you, Pitt Street Pharmacy. We joined you for your 50th year and you gave us memories that continue to be shared at most family gatherings to this day.

Thanks for the memories and here’s to many more.

JUNE BRADHAM Confederate Circle Charleston

Boeing layoffs

FILE/STAFF

Boaters gather at Morris Island for a Fourth of July celebration.

A lifeline for the Conservation Bank

S

o far the most important environmental statement of Gov. Henry McMaster’s new administration has been his veto of a budget proviso to strip the State Conservation Bank of funding needed to preserve the green space and historic sites that define South Carolina.

Gov. McMaster’s support of the Conservation Bank comes at a crucial time, with some House leaders intent on altering the long-term focus of the bank’s highly successful program — or perhaps eliminating the bank altogether.

The House budget proviso in question would have cut $6.6 million from a Conservation Bank account. The budget also will eliminate the dedicated source of funding on which the bank has depended since its inception, replacing it instead with general fund and capital reserve money.

Terminating the revenue flow from the sale of documentary stamps required for property transactions is viewed by some bank advocates as a step toward having the agency sunset next year as its legislative authorization expires.

In his veto message, Gov. McMaster rightly insists that the bank’s full funding remain intact for the coming fiscal year, beginning July 1, and that its reauthorization be advanced next year “through normal legisla-

example, Morris Island, an unoccupied barrier island and site of a famous Civil War battle, in which Union forces first used a major contingent of black troops. Bank funds were used to purchase park land at Bacon’s Bridge, a campsite for Gen. Francis Marion and his soldiers during the Revolution.

Through its efforts, 1,900 acres of Carolina Bays have been preserved, and nearly 400 miles of river and creek frontage protected.

As Gov. McMaster said in his veto message, South Carolina’s natural resources are a central driver of our economic prosperity.

“Twenty-eight million people visit our state each year, contributing to a $20 billion tourism industry,” he explained. And the bank is “a useful tool for protecting our environment and maintaining our competitiveness.”

Mr. McMaster urged legislators to sustain his veto and “work with me to properly address the issue next year.” That is exactly what the Legislature should do.

The Conservation Bank has proven its value many times over to the state. Operating on a shoestring, with a staff of two, the state’s smallest agency has helped preserve 288,000 acres of environmentally valuable property in South Carolina. It deserves the opportunity to continue its good work without being continually threatened by its opponents in the Legislature.

Editorial

Purge prisons of illegal cell phones

O

n June 15, an attempt to take a cell phone away from a prisoner at Trenton Correctional Institute in Edgefield County set off a riot, causing six guards to barricade themselves in a dorm overnight until they could be rescued. Two guards were injured in the initial struggle to seize the phone.

Just a few days earlier, 34 people were indicted in a methamphetamine ring run by South Carolina prisoners in maximum-seKIM WESTBERG curity lockups in Columbia and Bishopville.

Cummings Circle According to the indictment, the ringleadMount Pleasant ers used cell phones to coordinate sales, deSad display liveries and payments on the outside.

Can there be any question about the How embarrassing it was need to find a better way to deal with cell for the RiverDogs to treat Tim Tebow the way they did. phones in S.C. prisons?

COREY ROSEN Mocking a man because of Founder And not just in South Carolina. Keeping his Christian faith, getting National Center wireless phones out of prisons has failed the fans to join in while he for Employee Ownership was at bat, publicly humiliat- nationwide, and problems associated with Telegraph Avenue ing him and then have the Oakland, CA them are only getting worse. So far, the nerve to say it was in fun.

Federal Communications Commission The Joe is supposed to be a Hunley home has done little to push the wireless inplace for a family outing. Is dustry toward a solution. But that could Mount Pleasant Mayor this the example adults are Linda Page made an error in giving to our children? Is this change under FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, declaring that Patriot’s Point what the young ballplayers of who just began a new five-year term. is “the state’s only maritime tomorrow are going to be like?

Consider that South Carolina has about museum.”

Did they learn the lesson? Do 30,000 prisoners, and more than 7,200 cell The South Carolina Mariwhatever it takes to win. time Museum, located along The stands were full every phones were confiscated last year alone. the waterfront of Georgenight Tim was here, but you, And prison officials estimate they’re seiztown, is a well-respected the RiverDogs, treated him ing only about half of the phones that maritime museum that the way you did. There won’t make their way behind bars. displays maritime artifacts, be any ballfields in Heaven images and models from all but there will be a Tim Tebow.

Now, in a bid to gain traction, South over South Carolina.

The RiverDogs need to get Carolina’s top prison official, Bryan StirIn addition, SCMM sponthings right with Tim Tebow. ling, has asked U.S. Attorney General Jeff sors a Youth Sailing Program Then they need to get Sessions for help. and presents the Georgetown things right with God. Wooden Boat Show, an anWireless phones can be disabled in a nual event that has been go- SPARKY WILSON limited area with radio frequency “jaming on for more than 25 years Channel Marker Way ming” technology, but the FCC has been and draws more than 15,000 Hanahan Boeing announces layoffs of “fewer than” 200 workers in North Charleston in order to stay “competitive in a relentlessly challenging industry.”

It was also announced that the big winner at the Paris Air Show was Boeing with double the orders of rival Airbus.

I’m confused.

tive processes — not the budget.”

Mr. McMaster supports the restoration of documentary stamp revenue for the bank, and views Sen. Chip Campsen’s reauthorization bill as the proper vehicle to work out the details of the bank’s continued operation, a spokesman for the governor said Friday. Sen. Campsen, R-Charleston, has been the bank’s main legislative advocate since its inception in 2004.

Apparently, some legislators have difficulty acknowledging the importance of conservation easements through which land is preserved in accordance with state policy goals, though without purchasing it outright.

Easements limit future development in perpetuity to provide for essential habitat, water quality and flood control. Easements are valuable in halting urban sprawl, preserving signature landscapes and view corridors, and encouraging traditional occupations, such as farming and forestry.

Though easements don’t typically provide for public access, their cost is a fraction of that of a fee-simple purchase.

Meanwhile, the property remains on local property tax rolls.

Of course, the Conservation Bank also has actually purchased property of great historical and environmental value — for

loathe to revisit the Communications Act of 1934 act that makes it illegal for all but the federal government to do so.

Section 333 of the Act, however, merely bans “willful or malicious interference to authorized radio communications.”

According to attorney Jon Ozmint, a former director of the S.C. Department of Corrections, all Mr. Sessions needs to is issue an advisory opinion that says cell phone calls made by prisoners are not “authorized” but, in fact, illegal. That could help clear the way for state prisons to legally jam wireless signals.

Telecom companies consistently have opposed signal jamming, arguing that it could block legitimate emergency calls or interfere with other public safety communications. But Mr. Ozmint insists that the FCC hasn’t had “the courage to stand up to the wireless industry.”

In FCC Chairman Pai, Mr. Ozmint sees a glimmer of hope. But he cautions that any solution will require the cooperation of the wireless industry.

“What we want to do is turn that phone into a brick” Mr. Ozmint says. “What we’re looking for now is for the FCC to enact some meaningful requirements, to try to get [the wireless industry] to cooperate.”

Mr. Pai has shown a willingness to help solve the problem. After hearing testimony from Mr. Stirling and former S.C. prison guard Robert Johnson, who was nearly killed in a 2010 plot orchestrated via prisoners with cellphones, the FCC in March approved a process for using “managed-access” systems and technology to pinpoint the whereabouts of contraband phones.

PAUL ZOELLER/FILE

Cell phones confiscated from inmates at Lieber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville.

Managed-access technology, in which all but pre-approved phones are blocked, has had some success in prisons. But Mr. Ozmint says those systems are expensive, hardware-intensive and “defeatable” by wireless carriers.

Trying to confiscate cell phones has proven futile and dangerous. In fact, Johnson was targeted precisely because it was his job to track down and seize phones at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville.

As the nation’s top law enforcement officer, Mr. Sessions has a duty to work with Mr. Stirling, as does Mr. Pai whose job it is to regulate the public airwaves. And until technology provides a better alternative for disabling cell phones, Mr. Sessions and Mr. Pai should find a way to allow states to jam signals — or let federal agencies do it directly.

Drs. Hagerty and McCurdy are members of the Arm-in-Arm Public Health Committee.

OPINION

Good opportunity What an opportunity. The Charleston Naval Hospital could be revamped into workforce and elderly housing. Workforce housing means young people and also children. The elderly need to be among younger people in order to keep a younger viewpoint.

The property is on bus lines.

If the housing is there, it also might interest a grocery store, a bakery, a shoe repairman (when is the last time you saw one of those?) and a host of small businesses. There’s also enough ground for a park, playground, baseball field, bike paths, and to plant and keep some of it natural.

Why don’t we be practical for a change? I live uptown, but for an affordable two-bedroom apartment I’ll move (with cat) to North Charleston.

Please consider this idea, rosy as it is. It could be part of the wonderful city of North Charleston, a positive rather than a blight on the landscape.

Letters to the Editor Concrete does not absorb water. Quit building in this wonderful once livable city.

Even with a good drainage system (which we do not have) there is nowhere for the water to go at high tide and during a good rain.

As a fourth generation Charlestonian, I find it very unpleasant to even go downtown.

BETTY M. ROSEN Chadwick Drive Charleston

Affordable rent

FILE/WADE SPEES/STAFF

The sun sets behind St. Philip’s Church, a Charleston church that cut ties with the national Episcopal Church.

End church dispute with mediation

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he congregations of St. Philip’s, St. Michael’s, Grace, St. CAROLINE LELAND Coming Street Mark’s, Old St. Andrew’s Charleston and dozens of other LowSports page politics country churches have worshipped together for centuries. The oldest date I have been a subscriber to back nearly to the city’s founding.

The Post and Courier for over Those spiritual roots stretch be30 years and with politics takyond any particular building or JOANNE EMBRY ing over so much of the news Holbird Drive lately my escape is the sports property. They are priceless and inNorth Charleston page. Well, I have lost that now. tangible. They cannot be undone by Why has Gene Sapakoff any court ruling. decided to push his political Public health crisis views on the sports page?

But the uprooting of some of those The Naval Jack has been in Throughout its history, congregations would be a tragedy of the Summerall Chapel since America has effectively faced historic proportions. It as an outcome 1939. The politics around it and reduced many public that should be repellent to both sides had died down, and then here health crises. Two seemingly comes Gene Sapakoff. intractable health crises in of the church divide in South Carolina, Please, let’s keep politics on recent history were tobacco and one that must be avoided through the editorial page and leave the smoking and automobile mediation that begins on Monday. sports page alone. deaths.

Through diligent research In August, the state Supreme Court DOROTHY RAKOWSKI and public policy, we have issued a ruling in favor of the Episcopal Shadow Lane reduced smoking and impleChurch in South Carolina, which could North Charleston mented numerous safety ultimately mean the loss of dozens of Letters to the editor must be signed, carry the writer’s address properties belonging to churches that for publication, and a daytime telephone number for verification chose to break away from the national purposes. All letters are subject to editing. Address them to: The Episcopal Church and form the sepaEditor, The Post and Courier, 134 Columbus St., Charleston, SC 29403-4800. Email to: letters@postandcourier.com. rate Diocese of South Carolina. Some

of those churches have since aligned with the Anglican Church.

The Diocese of South Carolina has called that 3-2 ruling into question because of state Supreme Court Justice Kaye Hearn’s involvement in the Episcopal Church. In fairness, the motion for a rehearing should be granted, and Justice Hearn should recuse herself.

But the rehearing request has yet to be acted on.

The purpose of mediation beginning Monday is to determine how to implement the August decision as amicably as possible. Even so, it still offers an opportunity for the disaffected church groups to preclude further legal battles over the valuable and historic properties in question.

Neither the Diocese nor the Episcopal Church in South Carolina may ever bridge the spiritual and philosophical divides that caused their separation.

Nor need they do so. Both groups are free to worship as they see fit — a principle enshrined in the Constitution.

But an agreement should be reached

that lets the Diocese of South Carolina and the Episcopal Church in South Carolina part ways while remaining in the churches they have called home for so many generations.

Failure to do so would do further harm to the Christian spirit of unity and goodwill that ought to bring Lowcountry churches together rather than tear them apart. Reaching a mediated accord could avoid years of additional lawsuits and appeals and divisions among friends and neighbors.

Congregations are more than four walls and a roof. Church homes are where congregants have gathered each week and marked countless milestones — baptisms, weddings, funerals — over the years and, in many cases, centuries.

Losing that over even the most deeply held disagreement is unthinkable.

Both parties should diligently seek an accord in this week’s mediation that will allow congregations to worship in their church homes for centuries to come.

government? Does our county government depend on the homeowner to be truthful in reporting how many days a year the unit is used for a short-term rental?

There may be some rental units booked year round on Airbnb and VRBO. 3) And lastly, are the homeowners of these short-term rentals required to report the income made from the rentals to the IRS? How can this income be verified? Again, is the honesty of the homeowner of the short-term rental required to report the income made from the rentals to the IRS? How can this be verified?

Again, is the honesty of the homeowner of the shortterm rental to be relied upon? The homeowner could pocket a substantial amount of money without reporting it to the IRS. The three questions that I have presented involve potential tax fraud. What mechanism does the county have to verify this information for tax assessment?

The Charleston Housing Authority is missing a great opportunity in the old Naval Hospital building.

It would make great efficiency apartments — just think of all those bathrooms.

Bathrooms/plumbing are expensive rooms to create, but they’re already there. Granted, two people might have to share a bathroom, but that’s not a new idea.

As a senior citizen living on Social Security only, I can SUSAN HAYNIE 26th Avenue tell you that Brian Hicks’ Isle of Palms idea of affordable rent being $600-plus is, in reality, not affordable rent.

Finger in the dike NAOMI RADCLIFF Market Street Charleston

Save the trees It has been said over and over, do not mutilate the trees.

I say, why not put the wires underground? I’ve seen the butchered trees, and it makes me want to weep.

Please consider this alternative.

LUCY B. AMUNDSON Newbury Street Charleston

Short-term rentals After reading the April 23 editorial regarding short-term rentals I have a few questions: 1) Do the renters pay an accommodation tax for their stay in the short-term rental to the homeowner?

Cities use the accommodation tax to fund many of the needs and services that support tourism. Small cities and towns with high-tourist visitation would be financially overwhelmed trying to provide public services to ensure the safety for all without this accommodation tax revenue that is returned to the cities and towns impacted by tourism.

Hotels and other rental property businesses are required to collect this tax. Why not short-term rentals? This is not a level playing field between businesses and private homeowners.

2) Do the homeowners of these short-term rentals pay a 4 percent homeowners property tax assessment for the unit or do they pay a 6 percent rental property tax assessment? And, how is this regulated by our county

MITCH PUGH, Executive Editor

B1

Our Lowcountry landscape is dominated by massive cranes and unsightly construction sites from Highway 41 to Central Park Road and Market Street to Savannah Highway.

We are flooded with hotels and apartment complexes.

Why aren’t some of the people we elected to look after our interests stepping up to put a finger in the dike and stop up the hole?

Kind of makes you scratch your head and wonder, doesn’t it?

Editorial

Don’t limit CHE’s oversight role

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he state Commission on Higher Education has made significant progress toward providing an essential level of oversight for college building projects. But under a last-minute legislative budget proviso, the commission could be stripped of that authority, at least for the coming year. The proviso should be kicked out of the state budget in conference committee.

The proviso would suspend the CHE’s authority for vetting “higher education auxiliary, athletic, maintenance and renovation permanent improvement projects.” Instead, those projects would be reviewed by the legislative Joint Bond Review Committee and the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, formerly known as the Budget and Control Board.

Neither would be expected to provide the level of scrutiny of the CHE. And that is certainly the reason why the proviso was inserted. Actually, a similar proviso was included in the initial version of the House budget, but was removed by the Senate Finance Committee under a rule that prohibits approval of a temporary proviso that contravenes existing law. To which, the House effectively said “so what?” when it put in another budget proviso last week.

For years, the Commission on Higher Education acted as a rubber stamp for college building projects. But under the

chairmanship of Tim Hofferth, the commission has been reinvigorated, and has attempted to fulfill its duty to provide fiscal oversight even while facing a headwind from college officials and their allies in the Legislature.

For example, last year the CHE repeatedly CCU ATHLETICS /PROVIDED refused a $31.8 million A rendering of Coastal Carolina University’s Brooks expansion of the Coast- Stadium following an expansion underway to lift its al Carolina University capacity from 9,000 to more than 20,000. football stadium, saying really want the heightened level of fiscal the cost would be financially burdensome to students there. Even- oversight that the CHE is attempting to tually, CCU officials did an end run with provide, you can bet that the taxpayers the help of their friends in the Legislature, do. And so should the students who are going into debt to pay rising college costs. and received project authorization.

The method by which the CCU project State universities and colleges are was approved should have been an embar- pleading for the passage of a state rassment to a Legislature that mostly likes bond bill before the legislative session to tout its fiscal conservatism. The current ends. It would provide $250 million for proviso, however, would get the trouble- college renovation and repair — all of some CHE out of the way by pointedly which would be exempt from review under this budget proviso. exempting similar athletic projects.

Indeed, a CHE analysis concluded that The CHE shouldn’t be hamstrung as it the proviso would exempt from review attempts to provide accountability and more than 70 percent of pending con- oversight to a system that badly needs struction projects for the state’s 33 public it. This backdoor effort to strip the CHE of its institutional authority shouldn’t be colleges and universities.

If legislators and college officials don’t allowed to stand.

Editorial

PATIENCE D. WALKER Lowndes Street Charleston

Open democracy Concerning the Statehouse corruption investigations now taking place in Columbia, I am pleased to see that our system of open democracy and accountability is alive and well. For example, John Crangle, formerly of Common Cause, continues to expose ethics violations.

The S.C. Supreme Court took the unprecedented step of overriding the attorney general’s efforts to curtail the investigations.

And most of all, the press through the Freedom of Information Act is allowed to speak and print documented truths.

All of the above reminds me of a quote by the 19th century historian and political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville, “I like American democracy not so much for the good it does but for the evil it prevents.”

FILE

This Santee Cooper-run solar farm in Colleton County — one of the state’s largest — will soon be dwarfed by a 71 megawatt farm covering nearly 800 acres in Jasper County.

Take cheap solar power seriously

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wo new nuclear reactors under construction in central South Carolina will cost state residents billions of dollars for years to come — even if they never get finished. Solar power, on the other hand, has gotten so cheap in the past few years that the state’s utilities could massively DON BELK Twin Oaks Lane expand their renewable energy capacity Isle of Palms at a long-term cost savings.

It would not necessarily cost ratepayers any money up front to build a new solar farm, and it could actually save them loria B. Jenkins of Stonewood Drive, Charleston, has money on their electric bills. received February’s Golden Pen Award for her letter In fact, solar is now the cheapest way “Prison food.” to build new electricity generating capacHer letter describes the small amount of money budgeted for ity — even without any kind of subsidy, prison food (at one point, $1.33 per man per day) and the poor quality of meals that inmates receive as a result. according to Bloomberg New Energy “My son has been in prison for 22 years and the single worst Finance and other sources. thing about it is the food. Sure there’s a chance you’ll get It’s cheaper than coal. It’s far cheaper stabbed. And there’s the certainty that officers will roust your room and trash your stuff. … But the really bad, oppressive part than nuclear. It’s even cheaper than natuof prison is the terrible food,” she wrote. ral gas, which itself has dropped dramatShe questioned the extent to which prisoners have benefitted ically in price as fracking has expanded. from farm programs that were designed for their rehabilitation Compare that to the nine times SCE&G and to supplement their food supplies. Indeed, Mrs. Jenkins also questioned the general absence of rehabilitation and coun- has raised electricity rates in the past seling programs. eight years just to pay for the two new “Basically you sit there for your 20, 30, 40 years and stare at reactors, both of which face an uncerthe walls.” tain future after the main contractor in She wrote: “The prison system is as inscrutable as the Soviet Union was in its day. They tell you what they want you to know. charge of constructing them filed for You see what they want you to see. Even the legislators who bankruptcy earlier this month. oversee the prisons don’t seem to know what they’re doing, just As SCE&G and Santee Cooper deterthat whatever they’re doing is ‘for the safety of the citizens of mine how to proceed on their new nuSouth Carolina.’ I’m not so sure.”

Winners of the Golden Pen are invited to an annual luncheon clear reactors, the conversation should with the editorial staff. include ditching all or part of the proj-

Jenkins wins Golden Pen award

G

PAMELA J. BROWNING, Publisher CHARLES R. ROWE, Editorial Page Editor

POSTANDCOURIER.COM

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Too much water

Founded in 1803

ect in favor of building an equivalent amount of solar capacity. It likely would be in customers’ best interest.

Of course solar isn’t a perfect substitute for nuclear power — or fossil fuels. Solar energy is only generated when the sun is shining, and battery storage isn’t currently an economically feasible option on a large scale, although prices are coming down.

For that reason, South Carolina will still need a healthy supply of more reliable energy — known as the base load — for the foreseeable future.

But most of the state’s power already comes from coal, gas and nuclear plants.

Only about one percent currently comes from renewable energy, including solar.

Most experts estimate that the amount of solar power could be expanded to about 20 percent of the total electricity generated without risking reliability.

And in South Carolina, the peak times for electricity consumption are generally when the sun is out (and the air conditioning is turned on) anyway, making solar a more practical way to grow the state’s energy capacity than it might be in other climates.

An increasingly popular business model of allowing private companies to buy or lease unused, marginal farmland for solar farms and sell the power to utilities means savings for utilities, savings for customers, income for landowners and property taxes for rural counties. It

even means a few hundred temporary construction jobs per farm.

That’s a winning solution all around.

Indeed, with a large-scale solar farm generating millions of dollars in property taxes over the life of a contract, South Carolina counties with dwindling tax bases could be in store for a windfall, even considering the discounted tax rates typically granted to solar power producers by counties. Energy companies currently have to negotiate with officials of individual counties for discounted rates.

The S.C. Legislature is considering a bill that would extend an 80 percent tax discount statewide, bringing the state in line with neighboring Georgia and North Carolina, both of which have built more than ten times more solar generating capacity than South Carolina.

But even with that large incentive, solar power would still likely be a boon to counties, since the disused land ripe for solar farms doesn’t generally generate much of a tax bill anyway. The Legislature should give the solar farm bill serious consideration.

As the days get longer and the temperature rises, the extra sunshine ought to be a reminder of the cleanest and cheapest way to generate new electricity for South Carolina. The state’s residents should demand that we take better advantage of solar power.

FIRST PLACE

Staff The Post and Courier

ELECTION/POLITICAL COVERAGE OPEN DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Staff The State

SECOND PLACE FIRST PLACE Presented at Weekly Luncheon

REVIEW PORTFOLIO OPEN DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

SECOND PLACE

Dan Armonaitis Herald-Journal

Adam Parker The Post and Courier

SOUND OBSERVATIONS

S O U N D O B S E R VAT I O N S

Malcolm Holcombe, Steve Tombstone’s talent surpasses their fame Stevie Tombstone will perform Saturday at The Spinning Jenny in Greer. [PROVIDED]

Dan Armonaitis

M

alcolm Holcombe has been praised

by Lucinda Williams and was once given a four-star review in Rolling Stone magazine, but the western North Carolina native somehow remains relatively little known in Americana circles.

The same can be said for Stevie Tombstone, a Georgia native who, in the 1980s and ’90s, led a swamp-rockabilly band called The Tombstones that influenced such high-profile groups as Drive-By Truckers and the Black Crowes.

Thus, when Holcombe and Tombstone team up for a concert Saturday at The Spinning Jenny in Greer, it’s unlikely to produce a whole lot of fanfare.

Hopefully, I’m wrong and the place is packed to the rafters, but my guess is that there’ll be only a decent turnout. Such is the life of a couple of troubadour musicians whose talent far and away surpasses their fame.

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to chat with both Holcombe and Tombstone and I’ve always been struck by their sincerity in conversation as well as music.

One of the neatest things I remember from my first chat with Tombstone was when he told me that, as a youth, he had gotten to meet country music legend Roy Acuff while visiting Nashville, Tenn., with his family.

“He was at the (Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum) for some reason or another, and he sat down and talked to us and was, like, one of the coolest human beings I’ve ever met,” Tombstone told me in 2013. “I had just learned to play ‘The Great Speckled Bird,’ so I was pretty beside myself. It was kind of like meeting Abraham Lincoln.”

If Roy Acuff is Abraham Lincoln in that analogy, perhaps Tombstone is akin to Theodore Roosevelt, the U.S. president who famously used the phrase “speak softly and carry a big stick” to describe his foreign policy.

Tombstone definitely speaks (and sings) softly, but his songs pack plenty of punch once you delve deeper into the lyrics.

Holcombe, whose voice has more of a raspy feel,

writes songs that convey similar emotions.

“I gave up on cool a long time ago,” Holcombe said to me in 2009. “I’m just trying to be of service.”

Ah, service. That’s a great description for what Holcombe and Tombstone do. Lots of musicians can deliver catchy tunes that are really good, but Holcombe and Tombstone provide a rare service – their songs actually touch your soul.

If quality songwriting, solid musicianship and distinctive vocals are your things and you consider yourself a fan of vintage country, blues and folk music, I’d highly recommend seeing Holcombe and Tombstone this weekend in Greer.

Tickets for Saturday’s show, which starts at 8 p.m., are $12 in advance and $15 day of show. For more information, call 864-469-6416

or visit www.thespinningjennygreer.com.

••• A closer look at some of this week’s area shows: The Van Dangs will perform at 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Nu-Way Restaurant and Lounge in Spartanburg.

The Hub City-based outfit cranks out hi-octane music that blends the spirit of outlaw country with the energy of old-school punk rock.

Wednesday 13 will perform, along with Eyes Set to Kill, Repulsur and Binding Isaac, at 7 p.m. Saturday at Ground Zero in Spartanburg.

Led by its charismatic frontman whose actual given name is Joseph Poole, Wednesday 13 offers a theatrical blend of horror punk and glam rock.

T.C. Costello will perform at 8 p.m. Sunday at Brickhouse Fresh Pizzeria and Grill in Spartanburg. Whether playing accordion or acoustic guitar, Costello wows audiences with fun-filled, foot-stomping music that falls somewhere between traditional folk and punk rock.

Brandy Lindsey and the Punch will perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at The Peddler in Spartanburg. The band delivers an impressive brand of jangle pop that would fit just as snugly on a contemporary Americana playlist as it would on a compilation otherwise filled with early 1980s college rock.

••• Looking ahead: Multiplatinum R&B group Xscape will bring its “The Great Xscape Tour,” with guests Monica and Tamar Braxton, to the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., for a performance at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 and the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia for a performance at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m.

Oct. 6. For more information, call 800-745-3000 or visit www.livenation.com.

Chuck Berry was rock ‘n’ roll’s poet laureate Looking ahead

W

hen I received word late Saturday afternoon that Chuck Berry had died at age 90, I almost immediately delved into my copy of “Rock and Roll Music Any Old Way You Choose It,” a gloriously lavish 16-CD box set released in 2014

by Bear Family Records, a Germany-based archival label.

It contains every studio recording Berry made from 1954 through 1979, including several rare outtakes and lots of previously unreleased material, along with multiple discs worth of historic live recordings, such as his 1958 performance at the Newport Jazz Festival.

Admittedly, it’s a lot to consume, but I’d highly recommend it to anyone who, like me, thinks Berry was a musical genius with sharp and clever lyrics that transformed rock ‘n’ roll from pure entertainment into a serious art form.

In the box set’s foreword, Paul McCartney of The Beatles wrote, “Chuck Berry is one of the greatest poets America has produced. His songs hit us like a bolt of lightning. When we first heard them, they summed up the freedom of youth with a wit and wisdom unlike anyone else’s writing at the time.”

While all of the songs that were included on the classic “The Great Twenty-Eight” compilation album, which Rolling Stone magazine ranked No. 21 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all-time, are the driving force of Berry’s legacy, the Bear Family box set paints a much broader picture and offers the ultimate musical biography of the St. Louis native.

Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter Chris Botti will perform at 8 p.m. Aug. 18 at the Peace Center for the Performing Arts in Greenville. Tickets are $45-$65 and now on sale. For more information, call 800-8887768 or visit www.peacecenter. org.

DAN ARMONAITIS

I couldn’t possibly add much more to the commentary others have provided about Berry’s monumental cultural impact, so I’ll instead attempt to offer a different perspective by focusing on a track from disc 8 of the box set that’s a spoken word piece rather than a song.

“My Dream,” which lasts six minutes and originally appeared on his 1971 album, “San Francisco Dues,” features Berry reciting a poem he wrote.

He’s accompanied by a jazzy instrumental backing on which he plays piano rather than his trademark guitar.

In it, Berry describes the features of his dream house, and, about halfway through, he says something that perhaps reveals as much about his love of music as any of the songs he ever recorded.

“At my old upright piano with pure ivory keys, I’ll just plunk out some vibrations of whatever I please,” he recites in a rhythmic tone reminiscent of a 1950s beatnik poet.

“Sometimes, it’ll be classics, sometimes lullabies, but mostly rock ‘n’ roll that I’ll surely improvise. And with my favorite guitar, I’ll be just strumming away and bidding goodbye to another beautiful day.”

Not only do the lines reflect Berry’s musical diversity

Bear Family Records released “Rock and Roll Music Any Which Way You Choose It,” a 16-CD box set of Chuck Berry recordings, in 2014. [DAN ARMONAITIS/SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL]

(the Bear Family box set even includes some nice 1970s renditions of country classics ranging from Jimmie Davis’ “You Are My Sunshine” to The Browns’ “Here Today and Gone Tomorrow”) but the entire poem also shows that he was just as capable of drawing inspiration from literary sources as musical ones.

Berry, who grew up in a middle-class African-American neighborhood and was raised by parents who were avid poetry buffs (his youngest brother was named after renowned black poet Paul Laurence Dunbar), was surely familiar with “Vagabond’s House,” written by early 20th century poet Don Blanding and first published in 1923.

If there’s any doubt, one needs only to listen to a previously unreleased track that’s also on the same disc of the Bear Family box set. Labeled as “My Pad” and recorded in 1970, a few months before “My Dream,” it features a nearly verbatim recitation of several stanzas from Blanding’s poem.

I say this not in an attempt

to out Berry as some sort of plagiarist (if that were the case, I’d begin by turning to the melody of “Sweet Little Sixteen,” which he clearly adapted from Clarence Garlow’s 1953 R&B song, “Route 90”). To the contrary, what the poem represents to me is Berry’s intellectual depth, and it helps explain how he earned a reputation as rock ‘n’ roll’s poet laureate.

Without his early interest in literature and poetry, Berry likely would never have developed the ability to string words together in the smart and efficient way that he did.

And, if that were the case, the rest of us would have been deprived the joy of such imaginative lines as “Milo Venus was a beautiful lass, she had the world in the palm of her hand, but she lost both her arms in a wrestling match, to get a brown eyed handsome man.”

Thankfully, Chuck Berry dug poetry.

• • • A closer look at some of this week’s area shows: The Rockafellers will

perform at 9:30 p.m. Friday at Main Street Pub in Spartanburg. The band, which was put together by Upstate music veterans Mark Cantrell, Mike Bailey and Donavan Turner, churns out an eclectic mix of modern and classic rock that’s peppered with blues and funk influences.

The Shane Pruitt Band will perform at 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Nu-Way Restaurant and Lounge in Spartanburg and at 9:30 p.m. Saturday at Delaney’s Irish Pub. Led by its guitar-wielding namesake, the group delivers a sanctifying brand of rock ‘n’ roll that’s equally inspired by everything from gospel and soul to jazz and blues.

Lauren and Lane will perform, along with Bre Surratt, at 8 p.m. Saturday at Capri on Main in Gaffney. The North Carolina-based sister duo plays modern folk music steeped in old-time bluegrass tradition.

Sly Sparrow will perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at The Peddler in Spartanburg.

Founded by Upstate bassist Daniel Casasanta, the band places an emphasis on rhythm while churning out a solid mix of rock ‘n’ roll originals and covers.

S O U N D O B S E R VAT I O N S

Peter Cooper’s new book on country music is a must-read Looking ahead Jason Aldean has added an Upstate date to his “They Don’t Know” tour. The country superstar will perform, along with special guests Chris Young, Kane Brown and Dee Jay Silver, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville.

Tickets are $32.25-$72.25 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. For more information, call 800-7453000 or visit www.livenation.com.

Dan Armonaitis

F

ormer Spartanburg resident Peter Cooper has written a new book about country music, and it’s really good.

Of course, I’m not a bit surprised that “Johnny’s Cash & Charley’s Pride: Lasting Legends and Untold Adventures in Country Music” — which lifts the catchy part of its title from an old Cowboy Jack Clement song that I first remember hearing many years ago through a recording

by Mac Wiseman — is such a fascinating read. After all, Cooper, who now resides in Nashville, Tenn., has been one of the best in the music journalism business for as long as I’ve known him.

That would be about 20 years now. I first met him at Clemson University’s Tillman Hall following a concert there by acclaimed singer-songwriter Jimmie Dale Gilmore.

Cooper thought it was cool that I had written about Gilmore, and I thought it was cool that he had written an informative book about musicians from Spartanburg called “Hub City Music Makers.” But little did I know then just how much mutual respect would follow in the years to come.

I’ve often said that I’m less interested in interviewing musicians than I am in having conversations with them. That’s how

The cover of “Johnny’s Cash & Charley’s Pride: Lasting Legends and Untold Adventures in Country Music,” a new book by former Spartanburg resident Peter Cooper. [PROVIDED]

you make emotional connections. If you’re making emotional connections, you’re feeling something.

And if you feel something, then chances are the reader will feel something, too.

I’m not nearly as good at it as Cooper is, but it’s encouraging to know that he follows a version of that creed as well.

In a chapter called “Storytelling” that’s in his new book, Cooper writes that “objectivity is dispassionate” when it comes to writing about music and that “we’re in the passion business.”

He further explains, “We’re trying to make people feel something different than what they felt before they read our words. The only way I’ve found to do this is to feel something before I write my words, and to feel something while I’m writing.”

Cooper’s advice on music

journalism, however, isn’t what makes “Johnny’s Cash & Charley’s Pride” so wonderful. It’s how he puts that philosophy into action that sets his book apart from others exploring a similar topic.

Cooper uses conversations and firsthand experiences he’s had with such iconic figures as Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn and even Taylor Swift as the basis for a book that offers a unique perspective on the history of country music.

And the way he writes about such lesser known figures as steel guitar whiz Lloyd Green, songwritermanager Don Light and a woman named Ann Soyers, who was a beloved door person at the legendary Station Inn in Nashville, shows a remarkable understanding of how it’s not just the biggest names that have made a significant impact.

I’ve seen a few reviews of “Johnny’s Cash & Charley’s Pride” that have likened it to a collection of cool bar stories.

In some ways, there’s a bit of truth in that as Cooper has a conversational way of weaving tales that makes it easy to picture him sitting on a barstool telling them.

Although such a portrayal of the book is well-intentioned, I find it does a disservice to all the hard work and originality put forth by Cooper in creating it. Sure, he’s a masterful storyteller but this isn’t merely a collection of streamof-conscious ramblings.

It’s a serious work that’s focused, and I’m certain it’ll be a valuable resource for country music scholars for years to come.

One of my favorite exclusive stories contained in the book is Cooper’s retelling of the time he introduced famed Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter to country music legend Porter Wagoner backstage at the Grand Ole Opry.

Wagoner listened for a while as Hunter spoke of the tremendous respect and appreciation he had for him but became distracted when his Taco Bell order arrived.

“The presence of the Taco Bell bags meant it was dinner time, which meant visiting hour was over,” Cooper writes. “This was readily apparent, and Hunter and I said quick thanks and headed for the door. “‘Hey man,’ Porter said, as Hunter and I backed out. ‘I never did hear nothing by that Grateful Dead that I didn’t like.’”

That’s the kind of stuff you get in “Johnny’s Cash & Charley’s Pride,” and it’s why I’d highly recommend it to anyone with an

interest in country music or just good storytelling.

The book, published by Spring House Press, is available for purchase at Hub City Bookshop in Spartanburg and via other retailers, including Amazon.com.

• • • A closer look at some of this week’s area shows: • Tuesday’s Sermon will perform at 9:30 p.m. Friday at Delaney’s Irish Pub in Spartanburg. Formed by area musicians TJ Jeter, Brandon Gillard and Shane Pruitt, the band offers a high-energy mix of blues- and soul-drenched rock ‘n’ roll.

• Fayssoux McLean and the Bluegrass Messengers will perform at 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Nu-Way Restaurant and Lounge in Spartanburg. Backed by some of the area’s finest acoustic pickers, McLean shows that she can belt out a bluegrass tune with as much warmth and passion as she displayed as a harmony vocalist for Emmylou Harris in the 1970s.

• Rory John Zak and Six Degrees South will perform at 9:30 p.m. Saturday at Wild Wing Café in Spartanburg. A native of the Raleigh, N.C., area, Zak delivers a mix of country, pop and rock covers and originals that are noted for their infectious melodies and luminous harmonies.

• The Ragbirds will perform, along with The Restoration, at 6 pm. Sunday at The Spinning Jenny in Greer.

The Michigan-based outfit churns out a high-spirited brand of roots-pop that’s sure to appeal to fans of Paul Simon’s world music pursuits.

REVIEW PORTFOLIO OPEN DIVISION

RESTAURANTREVIEW

McCrady’s Brock has everything under control in new tasting menu experience

BY HANNA RASKIN hraskin@postandcourier.com “So,” a woman in a gauzy silver sheath said, leaning conspiratorially over McCrady’s U-shaped bar. “Are we going for a Michelin star?”

The server deflected the question with polished references to inspiration and integrity, which satisfied the woman. She seemed to take his answer for a yes. In fact, there isn’t a Michelin guide to Charleston, so inspectors aren’t doling out stars around town.

But that doesn’t prevent McCrady’s from angling for prestigious awards and international acclaim. To the 18 diners with ringside seats, it appears that’s just what the tasting menu restaurant is up to.

In the food world, there are certain things you almost have to do to win the really big prizes, such as the James Beard Foundation’s national Outstanding Chef award, which ought to be executive chef Sean Brock’s any minute now. You have to publish a cookbook.

You have to appear at swanky food events, shake the right hands, pal around with the right people. And you have to somehow make clear that you are not merely a kitchen grunt who got lucky, but an artist devoted to your craft.

Have to, have to, have to: It could be McCrady’s motto.

The food is at least as impressive as what McCrady’s served before Neighborhood Dining Group split the 10-year-old restaurant in two, creating McCrady’s Tavern in the former McCrady’s (see 11/10/16 review), and the current McCrady’s in the space that housed the original Minero.

Which is to say the food is very impressive indeed: Brock has an uncanny knack for intuiting what makes a newfound ingredient special, and knitting it into a dish as though he’d been working with it for years. The green peanuts that lace a plate of

RESTAURANTREVIEW

three cobia cubes prepared three different ways, for instance, tastes at once fresh and irreplaceable.

But what’s missing from McCrady’s is any sense of spontaneity. In some regards, that’s understandable: When a restaurant requires each guest to ante up $274.05 just to secure a seat and beverages, everyone on the receiving end of that fee is bound to feel compelled to show his work (and McCrady’s is largely an all-his affair: There wasn’t a single woman among the 10 cooks

and servers working the night I ate there). Yet doing the same things the same way every time isn’t a breeding plan for the kind of responsiveness and warmth that many diners associate with hospitality.

Or, for readers just joining us in this paragraph, here’s the condensed version in Charleston terms: I left McCrady’s with an intense and unprecedented craving for French fries at Halls Chophouse.

Partly, the mood at McCrady’s is a function of the tasting menu format, which

either you like or you don’t. In cities where the structure is more prevalent, most diners with the money to spend on such things already have decided if they’re comfortable with its contours. For Charleston, though, Brock is breaking new ground by serving a series of 15 delicate dishes at a predetermined pace. There is no time to linger over the unexpected meeting of uni ice cream and paw paw sorbet, because the people seated on the opposite

Ahi tuna tartare bites on rice cakes

Downtown Charleston operation led by Alex Lira is unconventionally delicious

BY HANNA RASKIN hraskin@postandcourier.com

W

The menu at Bar Normandy on Broad Street .

Bar Normandy

PHOTOGRAPHS BY GRACE BEAHM /STAFF

Photo gallery For more photos, go to postandcourier.com/ photo_galleries or a comprehensive and consistent lineup of dishes, Oak Steakhouse is just a few doors down. Neither model is better or worse.

Yet Bar Normandy’s way of doing things is so removed from tradition that it demands to be interpreted differently than almost every other res-

the wealthiest restaurateurs.

What Bar Normandy demonstrates so brilliantly is there’s a workaround.

And the sharing arrangement that Bakery and Bar have hammered out doesn’t just 1. Bar Normandy is a make good financial sense for cure-all for the rent crisis. the owners (and customers who benefit from the cost savThe Charleston rental market ings). It gives the ad hoc dining is instructive if you’re an Econ room a cozy organic feel that’s 101 student, and maddenmissing from restaurants that ing if you’re an entrepreneur. stay cold and dark all day.

Supply is low, demand is high, Stepping into Bar Normandy and the square foot price of is part “Night at the Museum” downtown food service space thrill and part granny’s kitchen is unapproachable for all but comfort. It shouldn’t be the taurant. It’s certainly deserving of review, though. The experience at Bar Normandy is low-key, but fantastic. Here are six ways of looking at the operation:

last such collaboration on the peninsula.

2. Bar Normandy ought to be the belle of Broad Street.

Once the heart of Charleston’s dining district, the area surrounding Broad Street has been somewhat abandoned by locals who have to worry about things like parking.

What Bar Normandy makes clear, though, is it’s a mistake to cede the city’s most historic neighborhoods to visitors.

While all of the new restaurant

Tomahawk pork chop with braised greens, potato puree, apple butter and pork glace

East Bay Street restaurant’s oddities are neither Southern nor endearing

BY HANNA RASKIN hraskin@postandcourier.com

Bar Normandy

Bar Normandy on Broad Street.

Butterscotch pudding

Pawpaw

A roast duck, watermelon and onion dish at McCrady’s Please see MCCRADY’S, Page E15 tasting-menu restaurant.

RESTAURANTREVIEW

hen I first went to Bar Normandy, I thought I was giving myself a night off. I’d heard nothing but nice things about the operation, which nightly inhabits Broad Street’s Normandy Farm Bakery in the fashion of a hermit crab burrowing into a sea snail shell. And considering head chef Alex Lira’s record at The Lot, the quality of its food was very nearly a given.

But for a restaurant to qualify as review-worthy, it first has to qualify as a restaurant. The Bar Normandy set-up challenges almost every element of that convention. Even the food trucks and roving pizzerias I’ve reviewed offer something like a standard menu, along with active social media sites and occasional press releases.

Bar Normandy, by contrast, could vanish in a poof of bread oven steam, and nobody but its devotees (a healthy crop of industry folks) would know it had ever existed.

To turn Normandy Farm Bakery into Bar Normandy, Lira and service ace Philip Michael Cohen dim the lights and turn on a pair of induction burners and a panini press that Lira ironically calls his plancha. Other than affixing the names of the evening’s three available dishes and two available oyster varieties to a wallhung plastic-pin letterboard, those electrical adjustments are about the extent of the changeover. There’s no attempt to obscure the fact you’re eating in a workaday bakery.

So what to make of a place like this? No doubt many diners would make a beeline for the exit: If you’re seeking tablecloths, servers, cocktails

FIRST PLACE

PHOTOGRAPHS BY WADE SPEES/STAFF

Virginica oyster at McCrady’s, an 18-seat tasting-menu restaurant on East Bay Street.

CUISINE: Idiosyncratic REPRESENTATIVE DISH: Cauliflower soup, $6 ADDRESS: 19 Broad St. PHONE: 843-789-4509 BAR: Beer and wine WEB: n/a HOURS: Monday-Saturday, 3-9 p.m.

FOOD: 4 stars SERVICE: 3 stars ATMOSPHERE: 3 stars PRICE: $ COSTS: $1.77-$16 PARKING: Street NOISE: 71

construction further north is exciting, there’s no reason culinary creativity can’t coexist with 19th-century architecture. It’s possible I’m slightly biased on this score, since Bar Normandy’s building housed The News and Courier from 1861-1902, but the enterprise has a soul that seems older than its six months in business.

Please see REVIEW, Page E17

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he biggest fruit native to the continental U.S. is the pawpaw, sometimes called the poor man’s banana.

It’s not setting any records for name recognition or domestic sales, but a healthy specimen measures about as big around as a cantaloupe. And it thrives in an impressive number of places: More than half of the states in the Lower 48 can claim a wild pawpaw patch.

One of the areas where pawpaws don’t grow is coastal South Carolina, but that didn’t stop J. Keith Jones (Stars, Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar) from planting a restaurant bearing the fruit’s name on East Bay Street. A horticulturist might appreciate that decision as a worthy

pawpaw homage. After all, the tropical custard apple has “willed itself to grow where it probably shouldn’t,” in the words of Andrew Moore, author of “Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit.”

The average diner, though, is likely to be perplexed.

Online reviewers have speculated that perhaps Pawpaw is married to Mawmaw. Because the only in-restaurant reference to the fruit is a set of abstracted light fixtures — meaning there’s no pawpaw jelly to smear on the buttermilk biscuits or pawpaw ice cream alongside the red velvet cake — it’s a reasonable conclusion to draw in the face of fried chicken, pimento cheese and hush puppies bolted with bacon.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY WADE SPEES/STAFF

Please see PAWPAW, Page E17

Wood-grilled shrimp and grits at Pawpaw restaurant on East Bay Street in downtown Charleston.

Hanna Raskin The Post and Courier

SERIES OF SPORTS ARTICLES OPEN DIVISION

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FIRST PLACE Bret McCormick The Herald

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Mary Katherine Wildeman The Post and Courier

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Gene Crider The Times and Democrat O’Reilly will continue to be factor Fox commentator leaves imprint. A6

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FIRST PLACE

Beth Harrison The Post and Courier Judo couple learns to roll with punches

Recipe for a better life starts from scratch

BRAD NETTLES/STAFF

Cuthbert Hurtault, a prep manager at the downtown Taco Boy who is known as Eto, prepares guacamole. Hurtault was hired five years ago when he was homeless. He graduated from the kitchen program at Crisis Ministries, now One80 Place, and has since moved out of the shelter and into a home in North Charleston.

Crisis Ministries kitchen program helps once-homeless man build career

BY ANGIE JACKSON ajackson@postandcourier.com Cuthbert Hurtault moves with precision as he swiftly slices an avocado, wielding a long knife to remove the pit before tossing each half into a big bowl.

He repeats this process — slice, split, toss — over and over until his crate of avocados is empty.

The time-consuming act of making fresh guacamole during the solitude of the morning hours is Hurtault’s favorite task as prep man-

“It’s shining real bright on this side of the wall right now.”

Cuthbert Hurtault

ager at the Taco Boy in downtown Charleston. It’s a far cry from how he used to spend his days when he was homeless, sleeping under bridges and constantly searching for his next meal.

“It’s shining real bright on this side

of the wall right now,” said Hurtault, who goes by Eto. Hurtault, 47, was hired as a dishwasher at Taco Boy five years ago after completing the kitchen program at Crisis Ministries, now One80 Place. He credits the restaurant with giving him a chance. Managers there say they’re lucky to have him.

He was eager to work following over a year of homelessness. Hurtault said he was “going through a phase,” jobless and in a rocky relationship, when he started living on the streets. After about a month of

sleeping outside, he found shelter and assistance with getting back on his feet at Crisis Ministries.

“I just went on my way and I didn’t want to bother my family too much,” he said. “Sometimes you have to do some things and straighten your life out on your own. I wanted to do it myself.”

The Lowcountry Homeless Coalition found that 550 people were living on the streets or in shelters during a one-night tally in January Please see SUCCESS, Page A4

Porch-sitting gator wears out welcome Mount Pleasant family has run-in with stair-climbing monster MICHAEL PRONZATO/STAFF

Husband and wife Robert Gouthro and Lisa Capriotti perform their kata routine for the class at the Samurai Judo Association on the Naval Weapons Station in Goose Creek. The couple travels around the world for judo competitions.

Being among world’s best means a few bumps, bruises for husband, wife

BY GRACE RAYNOR graynor@postandcourier.com

Online

For a video, go to They met in 1998 — two kids postandcourier. in the marching band at Gettyscom/videos burg College in Pennsylvania who started to bond over late-night study sessions in a small section of the campus library.

Capriotti was a science gal, earnThen they fell in love. ing her degree in chemistry.

Robert Gouthro was a liberal They fell for each other during arts guy, studying history. Lisa their senior year at Gettysburg,

started dating in 2001 and wed in 2009.

“We really were kind of meant for each other,” Capriotti gushed.

“Like two peas in a pod.”

Most of the time, spousal terms are in order when the couple defines their relationship: he is Robert, Lisa’s husband, and she is Lisa, Robert’s wife.

But the couple, who lives in Summerville, are also partners

in kime no kata, a traditional form of judo with an emphasis on the self-defense applications of the sport. And when they travel around the world for judo competitions — finding themselves on the mat or in the gym — the tables turn.

“In those moments, she’s not my wife. She’s my kata partner.

Please see JUDO, Page A5

BY BO PETERSEN bopete@postandcourier.com Susie Polston had fallen asleep watching “Friends” on television. She awoke in the late night to a loud intruder on the porch outside her Mount Pleasant home.

“Somebody’s trying to break into the house,” she told her They secluded themVideo family. selves in the master bedroom See a video and called 911. But then the at postand racket stopped. Ben Polston, courier.com. 16, her son, snuck a look and started yelling, “Oh my God, I found it! I found it!”

He’d found it all right.

Please see GATOR, Page A3

PROVIDED BY STEVE POLSTON

A 10-foot alligator climbed to the second-story porch of this Mount Pleasant home and settled in for the night.

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Gene Zaleski The Times and Democrat The Times and Democrat SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2017 | SECTION D

A GOOD YEAR

T&D readers know well the name of Gene Zaleski. He has been reporting on agriculture and business – and much more – since 2000, and annually winning journalism awards in the process. A hallmark of Zaleski’s work is the in-depth look at agriculture he brings through the annual farm edition. His latest work begins on this section cover and continues inside.

D2: A decent year for dairy in Orangeburg County.

D3: Calhoun harvest better ‘for a change.’

D4: Stable input costs and better birds for Calhoun poultry farmers.

D5: Bamberg County farmers say corn crop the best in years.

D6: ‘Nothing to brag on’ for Bamberg County dairy, livestock.

D6: Bamberg County fruit, vegetable crops ‘very good.’

D7: Orangeburg County farmers hoping high yields offset prices.

D8: Forestry -- hardwood prices likely to continue decline.

FARMING

This image of harvesting oats at R. Barry Hutto Farms in Orangeburg County is from a drone operated by Crop Companions Inc., owned by Drake and John Perrow of Calhoun County.

SECOND PLACE Staff Aiken Standard

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SPECIAL SECTION: TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE S1 || SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2017

THE ECLIPSE ACROSS AMERICA

Staff The Post and Courier

As the cusp of the sun grazes the rim of the moon, diamondlike beads of light flare out.

These are Baily’s beads, sun shining through the gaps in the jagged peaks at the moon’s horizon. The beads are just one of the freaky, otherworldly wonders you could experience during the rare total solar eclipse that puts Charleston and much of South Carolina in its shadow’s path starting at 2:38 p.m. Monday. A million or more people are expected to converge on the state for this celestial event.

Going to great heights to film the eclipse

South Carolina will have a front-row seat

Shedding light on the science and myth

We’re over the moon for a celestial show

Who’s had more eclipses in S.C., world

Across the U.S., dozens of balloons with special equipment will livestream the eclipse from 17 miles above Earth.

As you settle in for the show, expect to see some unusual sights — and don’t forget to protect your eyes.

While eclipses have fueled dramatic stories and legends around the world, they’ve also given a boost to science.

Cities across S.C. and other places in the U.S. eclipse path are pulling out all the stops to celebrate this rare event.

A look at the total solar eclipses South Carolina has experienced over the last 2,000 years. Plus, how continents compare.

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SECOND PLACE Staff The Journal, Seneca 1

Saturday, January 14, 2017

$ 25

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CLEMSON NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SPECIAL EDITION

ORANGE CRUSH

REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney holds up the College Football Playoff National Championship trophy as players including Ben Boulware, Deshaun Watson and Carlos Watkins celebrate on stage after the Tigers’ 35-31 win over Alabama on Monday night in Tampa, Fla.

VICTORY ROAD 2017 could be a record year for area teams

» INSIDE • Tigers’ drive to be the best reaches its ultimate destination. 2 • Members of Clemson’s first title team reflect on experience, offer advice to new champions. 6 • Students, alums savor Clemson’s national title win. 8 • One 4 The Ages: Fullsized image of Tigers quarterback Deshaun Watson. 9 • Tigers’ title comes with some homegrown help. 10 • More images from Clemson’s historic College Football Playoff National Championship. 12

A Special Section HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL 2017

Fittingly named play caps drive — and season — that will live in Clemson lore TAMPA, Fla. — eflecting on the previous night’s events, Dabo Swinney had a oneword description at Tuesday morning’s champions news conference for the huddle after his Clemson team took a timeout with 14 seconds to go, the ball on Alabama’s 9-yard line and the Tigers trailing by three points. OFF THE But it wasn’t pressure or ten- BEAT |

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sion or even focus or intensity. STEVEN No, Swinney recalled the final BRADLEY huddle before his offense ran three plays that clinched the program’s second national championship simply as “fun.”

SEE DRIVE, PAGE 4

REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL

Clemson sophomore Hunter Renfrow catches the game-winning touchdown in front of Alabama’s Tony Brown during Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship.

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1B

FACEBOOK.COM/THESTATENEWS TWITTER.COM/THESTATE

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11 2017 THESTATE.COM

FIVE PAGES OF SPECIAL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP COVERAGE

FIRST PLACE GERRY MELENDEZ gmelendez@thestate.com

Clemson players celebrate after beating Alabama to win the national championship at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., on Monday.

All in

‘Greatness is for all of us. It’s not just for the Alabamas, the Ohio States, the Notre Dames.’

– DABO SWINNEY

What makes Dabo Swinney great?

TAMPA, FLA.

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BY MATT CONNOLLY

mconnolly@thestate.com

MORE INSIDE

Tigers’ triumphant return to Clemson, 1A Game statistics; how Jeff Scott called the key play, 4B ONLINE

thestate.com: Photo gallery and videos from the team’s return to Clemson campus

lemson coach Dabo Swinney has instilled in his team that it doesn’t matter how many stars you have by your name coming out of high school or how many national titles you have as a program, you can be successful.

That mindset was on display constantly this year, including in Monday night’s national championship win over Alabama.

Two of the stars of Monday’s showdown were quarterback Deshaun Watson and receiver Hunter Renfrow. The five-star recruit and former walk-on connected for the game-winning touchdown from 2 yards out with one second remaining, as the Tigers won their first national title since 1981.

“To me, that moment, that epitomizes what our program is all about,” Swinney said during a news conference Tuesday morning in Tampa. “You’ve got the five-star quarterback throwing the gamewinning touchdown to the walk-on wideout, and that’s the epitome of our team. It doesn’t matter if you’re the five-star guy or the walk-on, best player plays. You earn it.

There’s no entitlement in our pro-

WHAT HE SAID “You’ve got to believe man, you’ve got to believe. I’ve always believed because of what God’s done in my life to this point. It’s just been incredible. I just had a belief that this was our time, and I never had any doubt.”

WHAT OTHERS SAID ABOUT HIM “He’s still celebrating, I guarantee it. Dabo Swinney is still smiling, still hugging, still talking, still reveling in Clemson’s incredible, 35-31 dethroning of Alabama – an all-time classic. … He may or may not still be wearing the orange sweatshirt and khakis that were soaked in the postgame Gatorade bath, with grass stains on the right knee from being tackled to the turf by members of his coaching staff.”

– Pat Forde, Yahoo! Sports WHAT HE DID – He is the only coach to win six bowl games over coaches who already had won a national championship.

– He is the first coach to beat his alma mater in a postseason game to win the national championship.

– He is 89-28 as Clemson head coach. That is a .761 winning percentage, and it moves him ahead of Danny Ford.

– This was his 20th win over a team ranked in the top 25 of at least one of the polls.

SEE GREATNESS, 4B

Clemson’s greatest players

GERRY MELENDEZ The State

BEN BOULWARE His pregame talk had Tigers fired up for game, 2B

GERRY MELENDEZ The State

MIKE WILLIAMS His leaping catches kept two late TD drives alive, 2B

DAVID J. PHILLIP AP

DESHAUN WATSON He’ll go down as one of Clemson’s best ever, 3B

GERRY MELENDEZ The State

HUNTER RENFROW From walk-on to star, he’s the toast of Socastee, 3B

OF NOTE After the game, Dabo even took on Fox Sports radio host Colin Cowherd, who had called the Clemson team “a fraud” in November.

Said Dabo: “The guy that called us a fraud? Ask Alabama if we're a fraud. … Ask Ohio State if we're a fraud. Ask Oklahoma if we're a fraud.”

Staff The State

LIFESTYLE/FEATURE SECTION OR SPECIAL EDITION ALL DAILY DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

Staff The Post and Courier ARTS & CULTURE & VALUES LIFE {FAITH G1 Sunday, May 21, 2017

Inside Five Questions, G2 Books, G4 Travel, G5

POSTANDCOURIER.COM

Contact: Teresa Taylor, ttaylor@postandcourier.com

A pocketful of choices

BRAD NETTLES/STAFF

Mary Burkett’s drawing of Alida Baruch, who was born in Amsterr dam on Jan. 26, 1942, and died at the Auschwitz concentration camp about six months later.

Doing Spoleto and Piccolo Spoleto on $50, $100, $150 or less $50

$100

FOR RANGE OF A PAIR TICKETS

Giving Holocaust children a voice

$150

FOR RANGE OF A PAIR TICKETS

FOR RANGE OF A PAIR TICKETS

SECOND PLACE

Hanna Raskin, Teresa Taylor and Angie Blackburn The Post and Courier FOOD

Coming Thursday Restaurant Review: High Cotton, SNOB, Old Village Post House Charleston Scene

D1 Wednesday, January 25, 2017

POSTANDCOURIER.COM

Contact: Teresa Taylor, ttaylor@postandcourier.com

Glenn Roberts founder Anson Mills

Sean Brock executive chef Neighborhood Dining Group

Sara Clow general manager GrowFood Carolina

Frank Lee chef emeritus Hall Management Group

Angel Postell owner Home Team Public Relations

Michael Shemtov owner Butcher & Bee

Mickey Bakst general manager Charleston Grill

Mike Lata chef/partner FIG and The Ordinary

Jamee Haley executive director Lowcountry Local First

Stephen Zoukis CEO Raven Cliff Co.

Jaime Tenney, David Merritt owners Coast

Randi Weinstein creator FAB

Mike Seekings Charleston City Council member District 8

Jed Portman assistant editor Garden & Gun

Helen Hill CEO, Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau

Ann Marshall, Scott Blackwell owners High Wire Distilling Co.

Columbia woman draws portraits p of youngest victims

BY ROBERT BEHRE rbehre@postandcourier.com ”Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.”

— from Elie Wiesel’s “Night” Mary Burkett of Columbia wants to make one thing clear: Her simple yet elegant pencil drawings are not about her.

They’re about the Holocaust’s youngest victims who happened to have come to life on the pages of her sketchbook.

Her unlikely artistic journey began in January, when she resolved to take up drawing as a hobby and chose as her first subject a blackand-white photograph of a child named Hersch.

“I printed out his picture and began drawing, and soon his Please see PORTRAITS, Page G6

Yonder Field pushes opening to August, reveals scope of project

BY ADAM PARKER aparker@postandcourier.com PROVIDED

Jazz artist Charles Lloyd

BY ADAM PARKER aparker@postandcourier.com

I

PROVIDED

PROVIDED

“Yo, Carmen”

magine walking down King Street and finding a $50 bill. There it is, folded in half, lying aslant between the base of the tree trunk and the curb. It’s hard to spot because of the tufts of monkey grass planted around the tree, but you catch sight of what you think is the rugged and lined face of Ulysses S. Grant and that prompts you to take a closer look.

Sure enough, it’s a fifty. You reach down to retrieve it. You unfold it and scrutinize the front, then the back. You scan the area for anyone walking fast in your direction. You linger a moment in case someone should try to claim the bill. You consider for a moment leaving the money with the clerk inside the nearest store.

But you don’t consider it for very long. The

“Murmurs”

area is swarming with people. You figure there’s a good chance it was a tourist who dropped the money, a tourist with a wad of bills in his pocket. What’s one less fifty?

You begin to think about how to spend it.

Should you buy a new phone charger? Order some food for dinner? Use it to fill up your gas tank? You resume your saunter through the city’s historic district and encounter a small banner projecting from a light post. It says “Spoleto Festival USA.” Hmm, you think. Spoleto Festival. ... Suddenly, you know what you will do with the fifty. You’ll go see a show!

But what show? Should you go alone? You’ve only got $50. And tickets are expensive, right?

But you want to bring your better half! You want a date! A night at a Spoleto event would be such a nice gesture of affection. Your better half loves to go to concerts.

For more options, see Page G7

If you go WHAT: Spoleto Festival USA and Piccolo Spoleto Festival WHEN: May 26-June 11 WHERE: Multiple venues across the city and beyond.

PRICE: Varies MORE INFORMATION: For Spoleto Festival USA information and tickets, spoletousa.org; for Piccolo Spoleto information and tickets, piccolospoleto.com.

BOWMAN — Yonder Field, a new outdoor concert venue between Charleston and Columbia, is canceling its opening event scheduled for May 27 because of vendor delays, organizers say.

Musicians slated to perform on Memorial Day Weekend will instead appear there August through October.

“After careful consideration, we have collectively decided to postpone our May date,” Stacie Darr White, president and general manager of the startup venue, said in a statement. “With events of this scope and magnitude, there are numerous moving parts that need to interface with each other to provide the best concert experience. Due to some delays in deliverables beyond our control, we have decided to postpone our opening until late summer.”

Yonder Field will present a Solar Eclipse Family Festival on Aug. 21, featuring Uncle Kracker, Edwin McCain and Corey Smith.

The concert coincides with the Please see YONDER, Page G8

Top

25

Most powerful local food-and-bev players Editor’s note: This story was co-written by Hanna Raskin and Stephanie Burt, a longtime chronicler of the Charleston hospitality scene who contributes The Lowdown to The Post and Courier’s Charleston Scene on a biweekly basis. Burt is the host of The Southern Fork podcast, and a Charleston correspondent for Zagat and Food republic.

BY HANNA RASKIN AND STEPHANIE BURT hraskin@postandcourier.com

Terri Henning real estate investor

Bill Hall owner Hall Management Group

Melany Robinson owner Polished Pig Media

I

Steve Palmer managing partner The Indigo Road

Scott Shor owner, Edmund’s Oast and Edmund’s Oast Exchange

Brooks Reitz principal Neighbourhood

David Thompson owner David Thompson Architect

n conversations about the Charleston restaurant scene, the same question invariably comes up: Where is it headed next?

It’s the wrong question. Instead, people ought to be asking who sets the course for the local food-and-beverage industry. Because while the city’s culinary surge sometimes looks from the outside like an amorphous, uncontrollable force, it is in fact carefully shaped and steered by community members.

Our goal in identifying and ranking the scene’s most powerful players (other than stirring up debate, of course) was to introduce the eating public to the drivers behind the decisions that result in beef tartare being served in nearly half a dozen restaurants north of Line Street. Just as diners should know their farmers, as the locavore movement holds, they should get to know the area’s stringpullers, too.

Andrea and Jack Limehouse owners Limehouse Produce

Read more about these food-and-bev players and see how they rank Pages D4-5

Anonymous line cook

LIFESTYLE/FEATURE SECTION OR SPECIAL EDITION ARTS & CULTURE & VALUES LIFE {FAITH G1 Sunday, July 23, 2017

POSTANDCOURIER.COM

Inside Books, G4 Puzzles, G9 Television, G10

ALL DAILY DIVISION

Contact: Teresa Taylor, ttaylor@postandcourier.com

Toro y Moi bassist talks crusty Columbia days, music project If you go

BY KALYN OYER koyer@postandcourier.com

D

uring a touring hiatus with longtime Columbia friend Chaz Bundick of breakout band Toro y Moi, bassist Patrick Jeffords has found the time to focus on his own project, Kid Trails, and spend moments with family while he’s back in Soda City. “I have dinner at my mom’s tomorrow,� says Jeffords while simultaneously skateboarding in Columbia’s Five Points and on the phone. “Then, I’m celebrating my sister’s birthday. “Oh, and I have to go to Bluetile Skateshop, because they printed the T-shirts for tour. I’m not even trying to buy a skate-

project that is now based on the West Coast and signed to Carpark Records. In California, Jeffords and Bundick live right down the road from each other and tour together for Toro y Moi. In Columbia, they were childhood friends and bandmates. “I’ve been playing with Chaz since we were like 13, then doing the Toro (y Moi) thing since 2010,� says Jeffords. “Now, he lives like two miles away from me in California. I see him all the time.� board, but that old (expletive) Dave is still However, Jeffords takes ownership of trying to take my money,� he says jokingly. another creative project, Kid Trails. The Jeffords was in Columbia for a few weeks self-released debut in 2016 of full-length in July during the East Coast leg of touring “Kid Trails Rising� oozes lethargic waves with his new band, Kid Trails. He grew of an easygoing, sun-soaked summer. up there with Bundick of Toro y Moi, an experimental chillwave and psychedelic Please see MUSIC, Page G5 WHAT: Kid Trails with Those Lavender Whales, Southern Femisphere and Dear Blanca WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, July 29 WHERE: Tin Roof, 1117 Magnolia Road PRICE: $7 MORE INFO: charlestontinroof.com

GINGER FIERSTEIN

Patrick Jeffords (left), the brain behind Kid Trails and bassist for Toro y Moi, and Andy Woodward, drummer for Kid Trails and Toro y Moi.

FIRST PLACE

Staff The Post and Courier

MARLENA SLOSS/STAFF

Jacob Jackson of James Island waits for his friend outside of Bert’s Market at Folly Beach.

‘Rockingest grocery in town’ Come for groceries, stay for community at Bert’s Market

BY DEBBIE CLARK dclark@postandcourier.com FOLLY BEACH — A woman in a neon green tank top pauses as she walks into Bert’s Market on this popular vacation island. Spreading her arms, she lets loose a “whoooo!� in appreciation of the air conditioning. “There’s coffee waiting for you,� Denise Jennings says to her from behind the main register, and the woman makes her way to the free java station near the back of the store.

Bert’s Market is a block removed from the town’s main drag, but it seems that everyone on Folly ends up at Bert’s eventually. Cars are constantly pulling in and out of the five parking spaces in front of the store or the parallel parking area around the side in front of the larger-than-life mural portrait of Bert himself.

The doors are covered in stickers and posters and are propped open, beckoning visitors inside. A grandmother Please see BERT’S, Page G7

Inside The faces of Bert’s Market, G6

Photos galleries For more photos, go to postandcourier.com/ photo_galleries

‘conNECKted’ art explores gentrification Whitechapel Foundry closing;

has ties to Lowcountry churches

BY ADAM PARKER aparker@postandcourier.com

Please see EXHIBIT, Page G5

BY ROBERT BEHRE rbehre@postandcourier.com

ADAM PARKER/STAFF

Artist Gwylene Gallimard (right) collaborated with her partner JeanMarie Mauclet and members of the Charleston Rhizome Collective, including Pamella Gibbs (left) and Debra Holt (center), on “conNECKK ted: Imaginings for Truth & Reconciliation.�

What do churches in downtown Charleston and Sullivan’s Island have in common with Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia and London’s Houses of Parliament?

All have bells cast by Whitechapel Bell Foundry, which decided earlier this year to shutter its downtown London location where it did business for centuries.

In the small circles of change ringing — where the Charleston area is a national leader, with four churches having tuned bells specially rung by hand — the news was

a bit of a blow.

Whitechapel’s closing marks a nostalgic milestone and the end of an era for one of the world’s oldest manufacturers that began business 100 years before Carolina was a colony.

C.J. Cantwell, tower captain at St. Michael’s Church, said the church was saddened to hear the news. “Our bells were cast there and delivered to Charleston in 1764, the first of seven trips for the bells to and from Whitechapel,� she said. “This link through history is certainly a loss to us.�

Wray Lemke, who rings bells at Please see BELL FOUNDRY, Page G8

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R61-1599793-1

Most artists do not work like JeanMarie Mauclet and Gweylene Gallimard, the French duo who ran Gaulart & Maliclet French Cafe (affectionately known as “Fast and French�) for more than 30 years.

Most artists work in solitude, or they lead a team if the project requires more than a single pair of hands.

Not Mauclet and Gallimard. They are facilitators. Cheerleaders. Social experimenters. Advocates. Critics.

They draw inspiration from the community and rely on others to help realize a common goal. That’s what they did in 1991 when they contribut-

ENTERTAINMENT SECTION OPEN DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

SECOND PLACE Staff The State

Presented at Weekly Luncheon Art Bar turns 25 Vista hangout still has the best people-watching in town page 4

WXRY MUSIC CRAWL: 30 FREE ACTS, 2 BLOCKS, 1 DOWNTOWN STREET THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 2017 » THE STATE

PAGE 10 GOCOLUMBIA.COM » PRICELESS

ENTERTAINMENT SECTION OPEN DIVISION

Your route to entertainment

January 26-February 1, 2017

AIRPARK PLAYS IN ASHEVILLE, NC, D3

‘GOLD’ OPENS IN AREA THEATERS, D4

THE BEACH BOYS

FIRST PLACE

The Beach Boys will performtonight at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium. PROVIDED

‘MY LIFE AS A

’

Mike Love still gets good vibrations from his music

By Alan Sculley For the Herald-Journal

T

he Beach Boys lead singer Mike Love has released an autobiography that covers the long and at times tumultuous history of the group, not to mention more than a few parts of his personal life.

But when asked what he hopes readers will take away from the book, “Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy,” Love points to something that might surprise some — his lifestyle.

“I’m hoping they get the fact that the reason I’m still doing what I’m doing at the level we’re doing it, meaning a volume of work and stuff like that, is probably because I chose a path that wasn’t a path of all the nefarious drugs that my cousins did, I mean, serious, serious stuff, and I chose not to,” Love said, referring to his Beach Boys bandmates, brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, during a recent phone interview. “I will say that during the ‘60s, I did my share of weed. But once I learned to meditate, I gave up hard liquor and anything to do with drugs. So that meditation has given me the ability to relax and yet gain more energy and clarity and be able to, what would you call it, withstand the negatives that are thrown at you, that life does.”

SEE BEACH BOYS, D5

Want to go?

What: The Beach Boys When: 7:30 p.m. tonight Where: Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium, 385 N. Church St. Spartanburg Tickets: $50, $60 and $75 Tickets can be purchased at the Ticket Office (in person only), at any Ticketmaster outlet, through the Ticketmaster. com website, or by phone at 800-745-3000.

Dan Armonaitis and Linda Conley Herald-Journal

SPORTS MAGAZINE ALL DAILY DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

Staff The Journal, Seneca

SECOND PLACE Staff The State

SPORTS MAGAZINE ALL DAILY DIVISION

FIRST PLACE

Rachel Cook, Joni Brooks and Laurie Hellmann The Post and Courier

FEATURE MAGAZINE ALL DAILY DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Staff Herald-Journal

SECOND PLACE Staff Herald-Journal

FEATURE MAGAZINE ALL DAILY DIVISION

FIRST PLACE Staff Herald-Journal

MIXED MEDIA ILLUSTRATION ALL DAILY DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

Chad Dunbar The Post and Courier D1

SECOND PLACE Drew Martin The Island Packet THE ISLAND PACKET

Documents detail hazing allegations 24 investigations over 3 years cover all Parris Island battalions

BY WADE LIVINGSTON

wlivingston@islandpacket.com

A

ll four training battalions at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island have been investigated for hazing during the past three years, according to documents obtained through an open-records request by The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette.

Since Jan. 1, 2014, there have been 24 hazing investigations at the depot, half of which were substantiated, according to depot officials, though they didn’t identify them.

The newspapers have, so far, been provided with heavily redacted copies of 15 inquiries totaling more than 1,000 pages. They detail SEE HAZING, 19A

Recruits given ‘choice’ to go to ‘war’ — here’s what happened

BY WADE LIVINGSTON

wlivingston@islandpacket.com

Rebekah Kind knew something was different when she tried to leave the classroom to refill her canteen.

Kind, then a 28-year-old trainee from Zion, Ill., at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in summer 2016, was usually allowed to get water during lectures such as SEE WAR, 20A

ONLINE

See a timeline of the hazing allegations and read the full reports at islandpacket.com and beaufortgazette.com

MIXED MEDIA ILLUSTRATION The Times and Democrat

ALL DAILY DIVISION

FIRST PLACE

USC C IN THE FINAL FOUR NATIONAL NATI A ONAL SEMIFINALS L

ATT AMERICAN AMERICA C N AIRLINES CENTER IN DALLAS D DALLA AS

FRIDAY, A MARCH 31, 2017 Stanford (32-6) vs.

South Carolina (31-4), 7:30 p.m.

UConn (36-0) vs.

Mississippi p.m.. ississippi State (33-4), 9:30 p.m NATIONAL NATI NA ATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP CHAMPI MPIO ONSHIP N 6 p.m., Sunday, Aprill 2 2, 2017

Kristin Coker The Times and Democrat

DIGITAL PROJECT ALL DAILY DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

Wade Livingston, Jay Karr and Kelly Davis The Island Packet

SECOND PLACE

J. Emory Parker The Post and Courier

DIGITAL PROJECT ALL DAILY DIVISION

FIRST PLACE

J. Emory Parker and Abigail Darlington The Post and Courier

BREAKING NEWS REPORTING DAILY UNDER 13,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

Christopher Huff, Dionne Gleaton and Gene Zaleski The Times and Democrat

SECOND PLACE Matthew Hensley Index-Journal

OIG blasts Lander Foundation Report details poor oversight, questionable financial reporting

By MATTHEW HENSLEY mhensley@indexjournal.com Lander University’s foundation propped its operations up with funds from the very institution it is tasked with supporting while filing DAN misleadBALL ing financial statements that overstated contributions, according to a blistering state

Office of Inspector General review that also took issue with the foundation’s oversight and leadership.

The review stemmed from a probe that was initiated by a “credible complaint that included misspending JEFF allegations of MAY funds,” the report said, and the office conducted a related “misconduct investigation

based on misspending allegations of Foundation resources.”

Details of that investigation, which have been presented to the boards of Lander and its foundation, have not been made public.

The 18page report, released GARY Wednesday, MCCOMBS comes on the heels of reports taking issue with the operations of foundations at two

larger schools — the University of Louisville Foundation in Kentucky n and the foundations associated with the City University of New York.

Concerns raised in the OIG report include: ■ Lander University covered more than 80 percent of the operational needs of the Foundation during the 201516 fiscal year, the review said, and much of that support — including nearly half a million dollars in salRALPH aries — were PATTERSON incorrectly reported as contributions.

■ The Foundation’s endow-

ment has exhibited no growth in the past 15 years, primarily from underperforming fundraising efforts.

■ Lease agreements between the Foundation and the University, which were meant to recover costs for the Foundation after purchasing property, instead resulted in a profit for the Foundation and “in one case, the profit seemed substantial.”

■ An environment n of confusion and misunderstanding existed that prevented proper oversight.

■ No memorandum of understanding existed between the Foundation and the University, and policies and procedures, including those governing a travel and fiscal policies, were not in place.

While the report took issue with how the Foundation had been run, it praised the current administration for being proactive.

“Most issues and problems were identified by the new LU management well before this review was concluded,” the report said, “and many actions have been taken to address those issues.” In addition to working to put in place needed policies and procedures, “staffing changes were made and a search was begun for an experienced development officer. Most importantly, increased communication and transparency was established between LU management and the Foundation Board.”

Specifically, the OIG is See FOUNDATION, page 4A

BREAKING NEWS REPORTING DAILY UNDER 13,000 DIVISION

Ex-Self employee faces fraud charge Police: Greenwood woman used hospital funds for vacations, wedding

By ADAM BENSON abenson@indexjournal.com It was a wedding one year in the making.

Uptown Greenwood’s elegant hotel and events center, Inn on the Square, was completely booked for the marriage of Kelly Boatwright’s daughter from June 9 to 11. The cost: $31,220.80, paid for by perKELLY BOATWRIGHT sonal check.

Two weeks later, Inn on the Square officials received notice from First Citizens Bank the check had bounced,

and filed a report with the Greenwood Police Department.

According to court records, Boatwright was arrested Aug. 30 and charged with fraudulent use of checks of more than $5,000 on first offense. She posted a $1,000 bond and was released on personal recognizance the same day.

Police assert Boatwright’s phony check writing wasn’t an isolated incident. On Thursday, Boatwright, 50, of 302 Hunting Road, was arrested and charged with breach of trust valued at $10,000 or more after police said she defrauded Self Regional Healthcare through her position as a nurse recruiter, which she held from June 2013

until she was fired Aug. 1.

“A search into her activity had revealed that she had taken monies and other negotiable instruments that were entrusted to her as a result of her position,” Greenwood police Capt. Mitchell McAllister wrote in an incident report. “These monies and negotiable instruments were used to purchase items specific to her and were often ordered using the business accounts or credit cards, then shipped to her residence.”

Police said some of the items Boatwright paid for included “weekend trips, wedding gifts and Amazon gift cards.”

See FRAUD, page 4A

This table setting was part of a June wedding at Inn on the Square paid for with a $31,000 check that bounced, according to Greenwood police.

SUBMITTED

FIRST PLACE Adam Benson Index-Journal

BREAKING NEWS REPORTING DAILY 13,000-40,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Daniel J. Gross Herald-Journal

Family recounts shooting that left 8-year-old girl dead

By Daniel J. Gross daniel.gross@shj.com

Lamya Bradley, an 8-year-old visiting her uncle over the weekend, was playing games with her cousin when she was shot and killed.

She died after being taken to a hospital. One of the 15 bullets that rattled a twostory Gaffney apartment found the back of Bradley’s head while she was on the couch in front of the living room window.

Family members said they are trying to figure out who

would do such a thing while police officers are interviewing persons of interest.

Wallace A. Montgomery, Bradley’s uncle, was home at the time of the shooting and ran downstairs after hearing the first shots.

“I came running down the steps and tried to talk to her and tell her to calm down and breathe slow, and that was it, man,” Montgomery said. “She was laying there covered in blood. I kept talking to her, telling her we’d go to Chuck E. Cheese See SHOOTING, A5

Wallace A. Montgomery, Lamya Bradley’s uncle, reflects on losing his 8-year-old niece to a fatal shooting early Sunday in Gaffney.

[ALEX HICKS JR./SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL]

“I kept talking to her, telling her we’d go to Chuck E. Cheese when this was over… Then her body started shaking.”

— Wallace A. Montgomery

SECOND PLACE Christian Boschult The Sun News

BREAKING NEWS REPORTING DAILY 13,000-40,000 DIVISION

FIRST PLACE Daniel J. Gross Herald-Journal

BREAKING NEWS REPORTING DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Avery G. Wilks The State

SECOND PLACE

Staff The Post and Courier Restaurant standoff kills 1 Terrified diners flee Virginia’s On King, gunman takes at least one person hostage; police wound suspect

BRAD NETTLES/STAFF

SWAT team members escort a man out of Virginia’s On King toward the end of the standoff Thursday afternoon.

BY ANDREW KNAPP aknapp@postandcourier.com A disgruntled man with a gun killed a former coworker at a popular Charleston restaurant Thursday and took at least one other person hostage for hours until police shot him.

Terrified lunchtime diners crawled and ran from Virginia’s On King after the gunman barged in after noon, locked the door and announced “I am the new king of Charleston,” witnesses said.

Police sirens wailed in the busy commercial district, and officers blanketed the downtown streets, a scene that served as a startling reminder of an episode two years earlier when a gunman shot nine church worshippers to death in a race-motivated crime a quarter of a mile away.

Please see STANDOFF, Page A7

‘Active shooter’ crisis on King St. turns world’s focus to Charleston

BY TONY BARTELME and GLENN SMITH tbartelme@postandcourier.com gsmith@postandcourier.com

in the heat of the city’s summer tourist season, in a country already boiling in anxiety over mass shootings and racial and political strife.

So when word spread quickly about the violence at Virginia’s On King, the world’s eyes moved just as fast toward Charleston.

From India to the United Kingdom to CNN, networks issued news alerts. The shooting rose to the top

Three blocks from Emanuel AME Church, even closer to the controversial John C. Calhoun statue on Marion Square, an urgent police bulletin: “Active shooter situation.”

Thursday’s deadly shooting happened in the heart of downtown Charleston’s entertainment district, Please see CHARLESTON, Page A6

BREAKING NEWS REPORTING DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

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FIRST PLACE AND BEST OF THE BEST Staff The Post and Courier

ENTERPRISE REPORTING

DAILY 13,000-40,000 & UNDER 13,000 DIVISIONS COMBINED

THIRD PLACE Gina Smith The Island Packet

SECOND PLACE Daniel J. Gross Herald-Journal Nowhere to go

ARTWORK BY JOSH HOLT

Human trafficking in South Carolina in 2016:

50 36 28 12

trafficking cases were closed in state courts. court cases involved victims under 18. charges are pending in state courts.

federal cases were opened through the U.S. Attorney General’s Office.

Source: South Carolina Human Trafficking Task Force 2016 annual report

ARTWORK BY JOSH HOLT

Resources lacking for human trafficking victims in South Carolina

By Daniel J. Gross daniel.gross@shj.com

T

ajuan McCarty has a scar around the side of her neck, but she lives with her head held high.

It isn’t easy. She’s had reconstructive surgery on most of her face, the result of being beat “beyond recognition” multiple times a month. The scar on her neck was inflicted by a straight razor. Her hands shake when she holds them up.

For 11 years of her life, McCarty was trafficked, forced to prostitute herself to 30 different men a day in every state except Alaska and Hawaii.

She said she’s seen women forced to perform sex acts on video while their daughters were held at gunpoint. She said she knew of four women who were decapitated when they didn’t meet their quotas.

“My story may be mine, but it’s also one of many,” she said.

Yet McCarty considers herself one of the lucky ones. After serving time in jail and relapsing back into her old life, she escaped with the help of a woman she met — her “spiritual mom.”

McCarty now runs a safe house for trafficking survivors in Birmingham, Ala., called The Well House, where she trains people on how to spot trafficking victims and provide them with the necessary resources.

But many women find themselves without a safety net if and when they finally are able to SEE TRAFFICKING, A9

ENTERPRISE REPORTING

DAILY 13,000-40,000 & UNDER 13,000 DIVISIONS COMBINED

FIRST PLACE

Wade Livingston The Island Packet

ENTERPRISE REPORTING DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

Andrew Brown The Post and Courier

SECOND PLACE

Tony Bartelme The Post and Courier

ENTERPRISE REPORTING DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

FIRST PLACE AND BEST OF THE BEST Glenn Smith The Post and Courier

REPORTING-IN-DEPTH DAILY UNDER 13,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

SECOND PLACE

Adam Benson Index-Journal

Gene Zaleski The Times and Democrat

Greenwood Promise takes long view of success

By ADAM BENSON abenson@indexjournal.com Soon after the Greenwood County Council’s May 2 decision to table a request by Greenwood Promise officials for an indefinite commitment of $250,000 a year to the program, council chairman Steve Brown had a meeting

with leaders of the nonprofit, who floated another idea.

Over the next three years, the council would provide the initiative with $750,000, and then negotiate a permanent revenue stream from money collected through one of the county’s feein-lieu-of-taxes, or FILOT agreements.

Promise leaders were hopeful the

county would respond favorably, buff feted by the final line of an August 2015 council resolution in support of the ambitious proposal to ensure that all future students who attend Greenwood schools would have a chance to go college.

“Whereas, the County Council will, upon identification of an appropri-

ate revenue stream, consider financial funding for The Greenwood Promise through our budget process,” the measure stated.

Brown, however, said both proposals were non-starters.

Language in the resolution was See PROMISE, page 6A

KRIS BURRIS

STEVE BROWN

REPORTING-IN-DEPTH DAILY UNDER 13,000 DIVISION

FIRST PLACE

Law enforcement: Suspect in stabbing of Rock Hill woman had two other recent domestic violence charges VIDEO

BY HANNAH SMOOT

hgsmoot@heraldonline.com

Solicitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office officials discuss domestic violence at heraldonline.com

ROCK HILL

The day a Rock Hill mother of three was found dead in her home, her ex-boyfriend had failed to show up for a hearing that could have landed him in jail.

Police have identified the ex-boyfriend as Jefferson Quinde-Quishpi. They also say

he was the man they found on Sept. 18, stabbing himself at the Barrow Court house where Marandy Jade Brandon had been fatally stabbed.

Quinde-Quishpi was flown to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte with life-threatening injuries. He was listed in critical

condition Sept.

21.

Quinde-Quishpi is wanted on charges of murder and possession of a weapon in a violent crime, Jefferson but has not been Quindereleased from the Quishpi hospital, Rock Hill police spokesman Capt.

SEE STABBING, 10A

PHOTO COURTESY OF WSOC-TV

A 25-year-old woman was stabbed to death at a home on Barrow Court in Rock Hill, police said.

Hannah Smoot The Herald

REPORTING-IN-DEPTH DAILY 13,000-40,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Alyssa Mulliger Herald-Journal POINT IN TIME COUNT

Volunteers seek out homeless to gather information Data will help identify needs, resources for assistance

By Alyssa Mulliger alyssa.mulliger@shj.com

Tucked away on a tract of wooded land on the west side of the city of Spartanburg is a clearing that two men and one woman call home.

An assortment of clothing and blankets, some decorated with playful kittens, hangs on clotheslines between trees, while battered furniture, including a couch and patio chaise lounge, are scattered about for seating.

A deep hole serves as a fire pit for cooking, when it’s not filled with rain water or mud, and a large mounted tarp hangs above a stack of mattresses to form a sleeping area.

This homeless encampment is one of several places in Spartanburg County that volunteers with Upstate Warrior Solution visited Wednesday during the annual South Carolina Coalition for the Homeless Point-inTime Count.

The count is a one-night tally of both sheltered and unsheltered homeless populations in communities across the nation that takes place the last week of January. The count includes

Craig Burnette, at left in cap, a volunteer with Upstate Warrior Solution, talks with residents of a homeless encampment in Spartanburg County during the annual South Carolina Coalition for the Homeless Point-in-Time Count. ALEX HICKS JR./SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL

people living in emergency shelters, transitional housing and places unfit for human habitation such as streets, cars or abandoned buildings.

Rural states like South Carolina get a week to count, and volunteers ask each homeless person where they slept on Jan. 25. Spartanburg’s PIT Count continues through the end of January in order to reach soup kitchens in Greer and Woodruff and additional encampments.

'No picnic' One of the men in the west side camp, who asked not to be identified, said he has lived at the site for 10 years — ever since he wanted to “quit society.”

“I came out here after my wife died,” he said. “I like the woods and have always liked the woods.”

The man said he had visited places such as San Francisco and Portland when he was younger, but didn’t care for big

cities, where he never bumped into the same person twice.

He lives at the Spartanburg encampment with his brother and soon-to-be-wife, who said she has been in Spartanburg her entire life.

Among her cherished belongings are two wooden plaques, one with a lighthouse and the verse from Isaiah 42:16, and the other with a serenity prayer scrawled across it.

SEE HOMELESS, A4

SECOND PLACE Emily Weaver The Sun News

REPORTING-IN-DEPTH DAILY 13,000-40,000 DIVISION

Kohlhepp gets life Pleads guilty to all counts against him to avoid death penalty, receives 7 life sentences

By Daniel J. Gross and Zach Fox Staff writers

Todd Kohlhepp is led away from the courtroom after pleading guilty Friday morning to all counts against him. [ALEX HICKS JR./SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL]

Families begin process of moving forward

By Daniel J. Gross daniel.gross@shj.com

Todd Kohlhepp was in court on Friday morning and pled guilty to all charges and was sentenced to life in prison. Melissa Ponder Brackman and her son Scott Ponder Jr. return to their seats after giving victims statements to the court. [JOHN BYRUM/SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL]

Some family members of the Superbike Motorsports victims said Friday they are ready to move on after 13 long years.

Todd Kohlhepp’s guilty plea and life sentences in Spartanburg County Circuit Court brought an end to one of Spartanburg County’s most notorious homicide cases and a measure of peace to the victims’ families.

“It’s been a hard 13 years.

We’ve never given up,” said Lorraine Lucas, the mother of Brian Lucas, who was killed along with Scott Ponder,

Beverly Guy and Chris Sherbert at a motorcycle shop in 2003. “I don’t want to see (Kohlhepp’s) face. I don’t want to hear his name. I just want to go on with my life and get my life back in order and do something in a positive light in memory of my son.”

Inside a walk-in bedroom closet in Lorraine Lucas’ home, shelves are still stacked high with dozens of files and folders she put together over the years containing details of the Superbike murders, tips, evidence and potential persons of interest. She added a “Todd Christopher See CASE, A6

“I feel like our healing will be different now. Before it was coping and not knowing and doing the best with what we had, which was nothing, Moving forward, we know where he is. We know ultimately what will happen to him, and he will die in prison.”

Melissa Brackman

Todd Christopher Kohlhepp, now a convicted serial killer, will spend the rest of his life in a South Carolina prison for slaying seven people because the state doesn’t have an adequate death penalty, prosecutors said Friday.

The 46-year-old real estate agent, who shocked the world when a woman was found chained up on his Woodruff property, pleaded guilty to all counts against him Friday morning in Spartanburg County Circuit Court.

Kohlhepp agreed to a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.

A capital case would have been more painful for the victims’ families because of a lengthy appeals process and the limited resources to carry out a death sentence in South Carolina, 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette said.

“This was a death penalty case, no question about it, but it’s not fair to these family members to wait years and years and years for justice,” Barnette said.

Kohlhepp’s attorney, Shane Gorenson, told Circuit Court Judge Derham Cole that Kohlhepp was pleading guilty to the 14 charges against him for a negotiated sentence of seven consecutive life sentences.

The agreement states that Kohlhepp is not eligible for parole, cannot contest the validity of the conviction in state or federal court, cannot appeal, will receive no credits for good behavior for a reduced sentence and will be placed among the prison system’s general population.

The case unfolded when missing Anderson woman Kala Brown, 31, was found chained up inside a metal shipping container Nov. 3, 2016. Kohlhepp was arrested later that day at his home in Moore.

Authorities later found See KOHLHEPP, A6

FIRST PLACE AND BEST OF THE BEST

Daniel J. Gross, Zach Fox and Allison M. Roberts Herald-Journal

REPORTING-IN-DEPTH DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

SECOND PLACE

THIRD PLACE

David Slade The Post and Courier

Doug Pardue The Post and Courier

Risky strategy, harsh reality for S.C. pensions Retirement plans for 1 in 9 state residents in jeopardy; questionable investments leave $24 billion shortfall

BY DAVID SLADE dslade@postandcourier.com Years of ill-timed investments and a refusal to abandon questionable strategies have left South Carolina’s government pension plans on the ropes, with a massive funding gap that threatens promised benefits to future retirees.

The plans serve roughly one out of nine state residents, and the shortfall — $24.1 billion — is more than triple the Palmetto State’s annual budget. That’s left lawmakers and the state’s investment managers scrambling for a fix, as the burden grows for workers and taxpayers.

“We have lost so much money the state will be lucky to get out of it.”

South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis

Teachers, firefighters and other government employees have been required to pump ever-rising amounts of money into the pension system, only to see their retirement plans become increasingly uncertain. Costs have soared for state and local governments, school districts and public colleges.

The pension shortfall is the “state’s

pension money dwindled, the state’s investment managers chased increasingly expensive strategies. The result: South Carolina pays some of the nation’s highest costs among state pension plans, only to get results that were dead last over the 10 years ending in 2015.

“Our attitude from 2006 to 2013 was, we wanted to be on the cutting edge of (investment) diversification and financial theory, but we were on the bleeding edge,” said state Treasurer Curtis Loftis, who serves on the seven-member S.C. Retirement System Investment Commission.

biggest problem of the decade,” said Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson, co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Pension Systems Review.

How did we get here? First, state lawmakers repeatedly changed laws to encourage more aggressive pension investments, often at what proved to be the worst times to do so. Then, as the pot of Please see FUNDS, Page A8

558,127 The total membership in S.C. pension plans.

$3.2 billion Amount pension fund declined in the past two years.

$24.1 billion Additional amount needed to achieve full funding.

SOURCES: PEBA, RSIC

REPORTING-IN-DEPTH DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

FIRST PLACE

Tony Bartelme and Glenn Smith The Post and Courier

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING ALL DAILY DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Wade Livingston The Island Packet

SECOND PLACE

Jennifer Berry Hawes, Glenn Smith and Deanna Pan The Post and Courier

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING ALL DAILY DIVISION

FIRST PLACE

Erin Heffernan The Island Packet

SERIES OF ARTICLES DAILY UNDER 13,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Greg K. Deal Index-Journal

SECOND PLACE Staff Index-Journal

‘Part of God’s plan’ Hodges man’s recovery from alcohol addiction started in an empty room

By GREG K. DEAL | gdeal@indexjournal.com

Tommy Kinard was alone in his apartment, sitting on the edge of his bed at 3 a.m. on a Monday in July 1991. He looked out over the near-empty room and realized his life had come full circle.

Tommy Kinard shows his sobriety medallion. He has not had a drink since July 2, 1991.

GREG K. DEAL | INDEX-JOURNAL

H

e had just the basics in his apartment — a bed, a stove and a lamp without a shade. It was all too familiar. He realized he was living like he did as a child, when his alcoholic father squandered the family income by spending it on booze, leaving Tommy and his sister with very little. Many times, young Tommy and his sister would have to go along with their father to juke joints and sit in the cold car while their father drank. Sometimes they wouldn’t get home until early in the morning, and Tommy had to help get his sister ready for school.

Here Tommy was, though, experiencing the emptiness of the room again. It was Tommy’s rock bottom with alcohol. The daily drinker, who admittedly escaped to the apartment to drink himself to death after being alienated from his family, was moved to action.

“I got off of that bed and got on my knees and said, ‘God, if

“

Johnny Blackwell was born and raised in Due West, and he said while the faces of Erskine College students change every year, many in the town see the college as a separate world.

Due West Supply Co. owner Dee McDill is quick to talk about the town’s history, and collects pieces of history himself, like this Ford Model A.

Due West: Small town, big sense of history

BROKEN to MENDED September is National Recovery Month. This is one in a weekly series focusing on people’s journey to recovery from addiction.

you are there, give me some help and I won’t drink again,’” Tommy said. “I just had a peace come over me. I didn’t know what was coming next, but I knew everything was going to be OK.” The next day, Tommy, who was in the National Guard, asked his commander for help. Tommy had his last drink on July 2, 1991, and then went to treatment at the Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon, Georgia, where he took the first steps to regain — and transform — his life.

THE BIRTH of Tommy’s See PLAN, page 4A

I just had a peace come over me. I didn’t know what was coming next, but I knew everything was going to be OK.”

— TOMMY KINARD After asking God to help him quit drinking

PHOTOS BY DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ | INDEX-JOURNAL

It’s organized clutter inside the Due West Supply Co. store, run by Dee McDill since he took over from his father in the 1970s. tion of a small town, at less than 2 square miles and with a population of about 1,292 — just more than ue West shows its age twice Erskine College’s enrollment. with pride.

It’s not unusual to see residents Established in 1790, it walking everywhere in town, since might serve as the defini- nearly everything in town is within

By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ ddominguez@indexjournal.com

D

walking distance.

On Sunday, Johnny Blackwell was making his way down the road from the house he inherited from his grandmother when he stopped See DUE WEST, page 4A

SERIES OF ARTICLES DAILY UNDER 13,000 DIVISION

Confronting a crisis Walhalla woman recounts mental illness that led to son’s suicide

BY STEPHANIE JADRNICEK THE JOURNAL

F

SENECA — or the past two years, Kitty Coffey has been organizing pictures of her son.

The Walhalla resident groups them, labels them and writes short snippets to accompany each photo.

It’s one of the ways she finds closure about his suicide.

Alex Coffey was diagnosed as bipolar at the age of 8, after he’d destroyed his sister’s neighbor’s garden in a fit of rage.

“We didn’t know when his anger would come out,” Kitty said. “I thought maybe it was some kind of anger or jealousy, or not getting enough attention. He never said why — most of the time he’d say he didn’t know what made him act that way.”

CONFRONTING

A CRISIS THIS ARTICLE is part of a Journal series on suicide prevention.

Kitty had Alex tested for ADHD, but the results didn’t reveal any attention deficit disorders. His IQ was high, but he had issues relating with others.

Medication helped. That and the dedication of a loving elementary school principal eased him into middle and high school, where he played on the golf team, was an avid bowler and made the honor roll consistently.

“It seemed like he was doing fine. I SEE CRISIS, PAGE A6

Walhalla resident Kitty Coffey looks over photos of her son, Alex Coffey, who SAGE JADRNICEK | THE JOURNAL committed suicide nearly two years ago.

FIRST PLACE

Stephanie Jadrnicek The Journal, Seneca

SERIES OF ARTICLES DAILY 13,000-40,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Staff The Island Packet

SECOND PLACE Erin Heffernan and Kelly Meyerhofer The Island Packet

SERIES OF ARTICLES DAILY 13,000-40,000 DIVISION

FIRST PLACE

Wade Livingston The Island Packet

SERIES OF ARTICLES DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

David Slade and Gregory Yee The Post and Courier Patrolling for profits in South Carolina What police see as a weapon against drug traffickers others decry as legalized theft

Federal law has cops across state searching vehicles on interstates for drug money

BY DAVID SLADE and GREGORY YEE dslade@postandcourier.com gyee@postandcourier.com

BY DAVID SLADE dslade@postandcourier.com

Inside

When Hampton County sheriff’s deputies found $1.7 million stashed in secret compartments of a sport utility vehicle during a traffic stop on Interstate 95, the department confiscated the money and the SUV. The driver walked away with no criminal charges.

The driver “denied any knowledge of the money, and we had no way to connect it to him,” said Hampton County Chief Deputy William Jar-

rell. “He got a traffic ticket and we pointed him at the bus station.”

The case marked the largest civil asset forfeiture in South Carolina in 2015, but there have been others like it. That police kept the money while no one was charged with a crime also is not unusual.

Road. A search turned up a small amount of marijuana and crack cocaine in a passenger’s purse.

The drugs gave deputies grounds to confiscate Roberts’ cash on the presumption that it was tied to illegal narcotics activity — even though nothing was found on Roberts himself. The cash, Roberts said, was the money he’d been saving to buy a used car that day.

Roberts gets a monthly disability payment related to his Army service.

Roger Roberts had close to $7,500 in his pockets when a Richland County sheriff’s deputy pulled him over along a Columbia road in August 2012.

The deputy thought the black Nissan Maxima that Roberts was driving matched the description of a car involved in the shoplifting of a blouse from an X-rated shop on Two Notch Please see FORFEITURES, Page A5

ALEX HICKS JR./SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL

Federal, state and local authorities conducted “Operation Rolling Thunder” in March, pulling over 1,100 vehicles on Interstates 85 and 26, and searching 158.

How S.C.’s Operation Jackpot broke new ground in 1982. A7

Please see LAW, Page A7

SECOND PLACE Tim Smith The Greenville News

SERIES OF ARTICLES DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

FIRST PLACE

Tony Bartelme The Post and Courier

BEAT REPORTING DAILY UNDER 13,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

SECOND PLACE

Eric Sprott The Journal, Seneca

John Mack The Times and Democrat

Man gets 15 years in armed robbery, chase

BY ERIC SPROTT THE JOURNAL

Martin

WALHALLA — Even after being robbed at gunpoint, a West Union couple was willing to show mercy Friday morning at the Oconee County Courthouse to the

man who terrorized them in their own home.

And thanks in no small part to that showing of compassion, the Clemson man who pleaded guilty to the ordeal won’t spend nearly the amount of time in jail that the law would have allowed.

In front of Judge Scott Sprouse in Oconee General Sessions Court, Adam Richardson Martin, 26, was sentenced to 25 years — suspended to 15 years followed by five years of probation — after pleading guilty to two counts each of armed

robbery and kidnapping following the March 2, 2015, incident that was followed by a high-speed chase that extended into Laurens County.

He also pleaded guilty to Anderson County charges of failure to stop for a blue light and discharging a firearm

into a vehicle — with sentences of three and 10 years, respectively — stemming from the chase. All charges will run concurrently.

The victims, Bob and Pamela Fjeld, both spoke SEE ROBBERY, PAGE A5

BEAT REPORTING DAILY UNDER 13,000 DIVISION

FIRST PLACE

Gene Zaleski The Times and Democrat

BEAT REPORTING DAILY 13,000-40,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Maggie Angst The Island Packet

SECOND PLACE Daniel J. Gross Herald-Journal The thinning blue line

Cody Garrett left the Spartanburg Police Department after two years, and has since made a career out of blogging about law enforcement and producing YouTube commentaries about police practices and high-profile cases. [TIM KIMZEY/SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL]

Law enforcement struggling to hold onto officers

By Daniel J. Gross daniel.gross@shj.com

Cody Garrett thought becoming a police officer would be a natural transition after serving in the U.S. Navy.

But after two years, he turned in his badge, worn out by the stress, low pay and risk.

“You get a feeling of hopelessness,” he said.

Garrett is not alone.

About half of the South Carolina police academy graduates end up leaving law enforcement altogether within a year, according to the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy.

It’s a troubling trend the academy and some police departments are struggling See POLICE, A17

Base starting salaries for police agencies Spartanburg Police Department Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office Union County Cherokee County Greer Police Department Greenville Police Department Greenville County Sheriff’s Office Gaffney Police Department

$33,550 $30,285* $30,000 $32,968 $34,000 $38,840 $37,073 $28,500

*Spartanburg County Council has given preliminary approval to raising deputies’ starting base pay to $37,000.

BEAT REPORTING DAILY 13,000-40,000 DIVISION

FIRST PLACE

Wade Livingston The Island Packet

BEAT REPORTING DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE (TIE) Anna B. Mitchell The Greenville News Jeff Wilkinson The State

SECOND PLACE

Jennifer Berry Hawes The Post and Courier

BEAT REPORTING DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

FIRST PLACE John Monk The State

GOVERNMENT BEAT REPORTING DAILY 13,000-40,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Bob Montgomery Herald-Journal

Mitchell granted leave from legislature Medical leave will last through end of year

By Bob Montgomery bob.montgomery@shj.com

State Rep. Harold Mitchell of Spartanburg said Thursday he will be on medical leave from the legislature for the rest of the year.

Mitchell said he was granted a leave of absence April 10 by House Speaker Jay Lucas.

A 13-year veteran of the state House representing District 31, the Democratic lawmaker said he plans to continue his constituent services while he’s addressing his health issues.

“I want to get healthy and well,” he said.

He said high blood pressure, arthritis, gout and diabetes — combined with the stresses of his job — led his doctor at Medical University of South Carolina to recommend a leave of absence. The doctor said he was at risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke, Mitchell said.

Mitchell, 51, said Lucas was understanding.

“The speaker, after his close friend dying of a massive heart attack, told me to stay home,” Mitchell said.

“Jay said since we’ve only got a couple weeks left in the session, stay home and get yourself together. So that’s

what I’ve been doing.”

Lucas could not be reached for comment, but a spokeswoman confirmed Mitchell was granted the leave of absence.

Mitchell said his goal is to recuperate, then return to the Legislature next year.

In the meantime, he said he is working to finish the solar farm project at the former Arkwright landfill site. The project has won praise from state and federal officials and Duke Energy.

“I’m still working,” he said.

Shelly Roehrs, chairwoman of the Spartanburg County Democratic Party, said she See MITCHELL, C3

State Rep. Harold Mitchell of Spartanburg, seen here on election night last year, has been granted a leave of absence from the Legislature for health reasons. [ALEX HICKS JR/STAFF FILE]

SECOND PLACE Kirk Brown Independent Mail

GOVERNMENT BEAT REPORTING DAILY 13,000-40,000 DIVISION

FIRST PLACE

Alex Kincaid The Island Packet

GOVERNMENT BEAT REPORTING DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

Andrew Brown The Post and Courier

SECOND PLACE Avery G. Wilks The State

GOVERNMENT BEAT REPORTING DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

FIRST PLACE Cassie Cope The State

BUSINESS BEAT REPORTING

DAILY 13,000-40,000 & UNDER 13,000 DIVISIONS COMBINED

THIRD PLACE David Thackham The Herald

SECOND PLACE Bob Montgomery Herald-Journal Study: Local arts help pump $32M into economy

Randy Cohen, vice president of research and policy at Americans for the Arts, discusses the impact of the arts on the Upstate area. [ALEX HICKS JR./SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL]

Evins: Community now has proof of impact on tourism, business

By Bob Montgomery bob.montgomery@shj.com

A report released Thursday shows the arts and cultural community is a $32 million industry in the Spartanburg region, supporting 1,130 fulltime jobs and generating $2.7 million in local and state tax revenues.

Nonprofit arts and cultural organizations spent $21.4 million in 2015 and their audiences spent another $10.7 million — spending that pumped money into restaurants, hotels, retail stores, parking garages and other local businesses, according to the report.

“The arts are not a frill.

They provide cultural and

economic benefits for a community,” said Randy Cohen, the report’s author and vice president of research and policy at Americans for the Arts, a Washington, D.C.based nonprofit.

The two-year study was commissioned by Chapman Cultural Center to demonstrate the value of arts in attracting tourism and new businesses to Spartanburg, said Jennifer Evins, president and CEO of the cultural center.

“It’s so much more than quality of life — the return on investment is just as important as other economic strategies,” she said. “We want to be able to say this is an economic engine, not just a quality of life engine.”

“We know this region is growing quickly,” she added.

See ARTS, A7

From left, Randy Cohen, vice president of research and policy at Americans for the Arts, Elizabeth Goddard, executive director of the Spartanburg Art Museum, and Jennifer Evins, president and CEO of Chapman Cultural Center, discuss the impact of the arts on Spartanburg. [ALEX HICKS JR./SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL]

BUSINESS BEAT REPORTING

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Sarah Ellis The State

Upstate Forever pushes for planned growth

By Bob Montgomery bob.montgomery@shj.com

An Upstate land conservancy group is warning that without better planning, the Upstate will look like "just another bland metropolitan expanse" by 2040.

“We are at a crossroads,” said Andrea Cooper, executive director of Upstate Forever. “Roads are increasingly becoming more congested and landscape is disappearing.”

Upstate Forever has released its new fiveyear strategic plan for 2018 to 2022, “Shaping Our Future,” and will soon launch a $7 million

“Crossroads Campaign” to help meet its goals.

The plan seeks to reduce sprawl, preserve green space and safeguard the water supply by: • Protecting 15,000 acres of land to preserve water quality and habitat for plants and animals. Lands in the Tyger River watershed were among those identified.

• Reducing land consumption rates by working with local officials and residents to develop policies that support alternatives to sprawling development.

• Seeking to expand Upstate Forever's base of

Upstate development

See GROWTH, C3

Source: Upstate Forever; maps4news.com/©HERE

Projected development of land in Upstate South Carolina by 2040.

Developed land in 2040

Developed land in 2015

25

85

178

Spartanburg Greenville

76

176 123

SOUTH CAROLINA

385

26

GEORGIA

Area of study 25

5 miles 221

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THIRD PLACE Staff The Island Packet

After the storm hit, the big question from evacuees became, “How is my neighborhood?”

As soon as the storm had dissipated enough, we had nearly a dozen reporters and editors scattered throughout Beaufort County, providing a feed of hyper local social media images and Facebook Live video to update readers on flooding, downed trees, damaged homes, blocked roads and more. Over the span of Sept. 11 and 12, staff provided constant updates from Hilton Head and Daufuskie islands to Beaufort and Parris Island.

Facebook Live examples from 2 of our reporters:

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Damian Dominguez Index-Journal Naval personnel served as pallbearers at Milton Reece Surratt’s funeral services Friday, where he was buried in Mauldin 75 years after his death at Pearl Harbor.

A naval officer presented Shirley Watkins the folded flag that had draped across Milton Reece Surratt’s coffin 75 years after his death at Pearl Harbor.

Shirley and Wayne Watkins look at a new plaque dedicated to Seaman First Class Milton Reece Surratt, whose remains were identified 75 years after his death at Pearl Harbor.

Homecoming

SECOND PLACE Justin Lee Campbell The Journal, Seneca

Zinouri wants her dog, home and life back

BY JUSTIN LEE CAMPBELL THE JOURNAL

SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL

Clemson University graduate and Central resident Dr. Nazanin Zinouri holds her dog, Dexter, in this photo from her social media account.

PHOTOS BY DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ | INDEX-JOURNAL

Naval personnel carried Milton Reece Surratt’s remains Friday out of the Heritage Funeral Home Chapel, so he could be interred in Mauldin 75 years after his death at Pearl Harbor.

WWII veteran’s remains brought home 75 years after his death

By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ ddominguez@indexjournal.com

A

s a farm boy growing up in Mauldin, Milton Reece Surratt loved animals, riding his bike and spending time with

his cousin.

After he enlisted in the Navy in 1940, he loved writing letters back to his mother — letters filled with compelling prose about being away from home.

“You think of home when you get blue,” one letter home said, “but you don’t get blue very often.”

On Friday, his relatives loved having him home. It had been 75 years since Surratt died in the attack on Pearl Harbor, and his remains were only identified this year.

Navy officers who carry Surratt’s legacy also carried his remains in a flag-cloaked casket to his final resting place, back home in Mauldin. He was

laid to rest beside his mother, who placed a marker on his grave decades ago that reads: “Not forgotten.”

“I suppose this is the closing chapter of our sweet son, that loved us so dearly,” his mother, Bertha wrote to his father, Grover Cleveland Surratt, See HOMECOMING, page 4A

SENECA — Dr. Nazanin Zinouri misses and worries about her dog, Dexter.

While Zinouri stays stranded in her hometown, Tehran, Iran, the 6-month-old puppy waits for her almost 7,000 miles away in Zinouri’s new home, Central, S.C. Security officials forced Zinouri off her flight to the U.S. from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday per President Donald Trump’s executive order ban on travel from several Middle Eastern countries.

Now Dexter, who suffers from gastrointestinal problems, remains in the care of a friend as the offices of three South CaroliCaroli

na congressmen scramble to get Zinouri home.

“My dog has major medical issues,” said Zinouri, who earned a doctorate in industrial engi-

‘I have my entire life in Central. My family is in Tehran, but my personal life is in the U.S.’ Dr. Nazanin Zinouri Clemson University graduate neering from Clemson University. “People might not think it’s that important, but he’s really important to me.”

When Zinouri met Dexter at

the animal shelter, she understood that he had less of a chance for adoption with his GI problems. So Zinouri rescued him.

“I knew he was the one, and I adopted my adorable dog, Dexter,” Zinouri said in a personal testimony provided by her de facto spokesperson Rick Toller.

Dexter needs regular visits to the veterinarian, a strict nutrition regimen and periodic changes to his medication for his stomach. Zinouri told The Journal that he’s in good hands, but that doesn’t mean she stops worrying.

“I send texts to my friend all day asking if he ate lunch or if he got his heartworm pill,” she SEE ZINOURI, PAGE A2

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se

N

Damian Dominguez Index-Journal

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PHOTOS BY DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ | INDEX-JOURNAL

Vaughn Terpack says hot metal bends and sculpts much like clay — though even seemingly cool, gray metal can still be hot enough to scald someone. INSET: As glowing hot metal meets cool air, it rapidly oxidizes, leaving a scaly, gray rust that flakes off the outer layer as the metal cools.

History, fantasy fuel local blacksmith “When you work for somebody else and with other people around you, no matter how good you are, you’re surHODGES rounded by the drama,” he said. “It’s hether you need a a much, much simpler way of living hook to hang your — what I do now. But it’s a much more hat on, a handcrafted fulfilling way. What I make here will live hinge or you just on for 100 years, or more.” need a pesky dragon That’s the aspect of smithing the slain, turn to the nearest blacksmith.

45-year-old Terpack is quick to share. He’s It’s a craft with an ancient and storied read and studied the history of the craft, history, paired with centuries of fiction dating back thousands of years, and is that weave blacksmithing into fantasies. inspired by the generational knowledge In Hodges, Vaughn Terpack carries all of The forge in Vaughn Terpack’s workshop passed down by craftsmen. When a glowthat with him when he hammers away burns at upwards of 2,800 degrees ing piece of iron bends and transforms at the anvil beside the hissing heat of his Fahrenheit — given enough time it can under the weight of his hammer, clenched forge. tight by the tongs in his other hand, he melt iron and steel.

He grew up working with his hands, said he knows it’s a craft his ancestors but never did it professionally until about would have been familiar with. his whole family had, and as a high school student about 25 years ago he was three years ago.”

“If I can bring a little bit of that forward He was working a full-time job a few intrigued by books such as “Robinson today, it’s just absolutely amazing,” he said. years ago when he suffered a back injury Crusoe” and “Swiss Family Robinson.”

Alongside history, fantasy provides that made it hard to keep pace. Since the plenty of fuel for his creations. As he fired “I just happened to meet a guy who office environment never much appealed up the forge, he warned that “the burned By angling his wrist, Vaughn Terpack brings his hammer down was doing a demonstration,” he said. “I on the hot iron, pushing the softened metal out and flattening stayed with him on and off as I could. It’s to him, Terpack decided to switch career just something I always tried my hand in, paths. the tip.

See IRON, page 4A

By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ ddominguez@indexjournal.com

W

PHOTOS BY DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ | INDEX-JOURNAL

Adalissa Howard keeps an upbeat attitude and tries to spread positivity as she faces a genetic disorder that is blinding her.

Adalissa overcomes disorder, brings positivity to others

By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ ddominguez@indexjournal.com er voice bounces as often as the curly red locks of hair hanging beneath her shining tiara — Adalissa Howard can hardly contain her excitement and curiosity from moment to moment.

Her room is decorated with pink walls, cheerleading pictures, dolls and stuffed animals, but what lines her shelves are the

H

trophies, sashes and tiaras she’s won over the years.

The princess movie-loving 13-year-old girl isn’t a princess herself, she’s a queen.

This is her third year winning the S.C. Miss Amazing Junior Teen Queen title, as part of the Miss Amazing pageant, for girls and women facing disabilities.

Adalissa has Bardet-Biedl syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects 1 in 140,000 to 1 in 160,000 newborns in North America and Europe.

The syndrome brings a number of

challenges for her — learning disabilities, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, kidney problems, severe anxiety, sleep apnea and insomnia, said her mom, Olivia. Most problematic now, though, is her vision.

“It affects your eyesight or hearing — my doctor says by 15 I could be blind,” Adalissa said. “I think I was a little scared at first, but I don’t remember much because of my memory. I’m still getting used to my syndrome.”

See POSITIVE, page 4A

Adalissa Howard stands in her room, with her dozen tiaras and trophies above her.

“You don’t have to be like anybody else. Beauty comes from the inside.” — Adalissa Howard

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HORSE SENSE Traveling veterinarian meets needs of rural animal owners

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ststory byy JIM HILLEY EY photos pho oto by

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A ‘foodie’ town?

FIRST PLACE Saute Chef Michael Combs prepares shrimp at Cribb’s Kitchen in downtown Spartanburg, one of a number of restaurants to come online in the last several years as part of the Hub City’s burgeoning food scene. [JOHN BYRUM/SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL]

Spartanburg enjoys restaurant renaissance

By Alyssa Mulliger alyssa.mulliger@shj.com

Over the past several years, Spartanburg has experienced a restaurant renaissance, with the burgeoning culinary scene welcoming new dining concepts and unique foodie experiences.

With more restaurant activity downtown and along commercial corridors, city leaders and restaurateurs think Spartanburg could be on its way to becoming a food destination.

See FOODIE, A5

Hey foodies, remember this: a Forget-About-It sandwich at Cribb’s Kitchen. [JOHN BYRUM/SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL]

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PHOTOGRAPHS BY WADE SPEES/STAFF

More than 10 years after the end of South Carolina’s minibottle era, Richard’s Bar & Grill in Mount Pleasant is one of the very last drinking establishments in the state to stock its back bar exclusively with minibottles.

Still big on minis Richard’s in Mount Pleasant rides it out as one of last minibottle bars

BY HANNA RASKIN hraskin@postandcourier.com

T

he median that sits in the center of U.S. Highway 17 North between Six Mile and Long Point roads makes Richard Ruth nuts.

In 1989, when he opened Richard’s Bar & Grill, southbound drivers could turn directly into Ruth’s parking lot, without a stoplight and a few hundred yards of double-backing to separate them from a can of cold beer and a cigarette.

Inevitably, the traffic pattern was redrawn to accommodate Mount Pleasant’s growing number of carpooling SUVs and new-money sports cars, somewhat isolating Richard’s. But the fiercely unpretentious bar isn’t just spatially removed from the

high-gloss city around it: It’s cut off in time from the rest of the Lowcountry, which has mostly gone along with legislation banning indoor smoking and allowing full-size liquor bottles.

More than 10 years after the end of South Carolina’s minibottle era, Richard’s is one of the very last drinking establishments in the state to stock its back bar exclusively with 50-milliliter nips. It switched over to free pour in 2006, then reverted to the old system after two years because, as longtime customers put it, bartenders were robbing Ruth blind.

At least, inventory control was the official reason. But in a bar where nine out of 10 customers won’t share their names with Please see MINIBOTTLES, Page D4

Richard Ruth is a central figure, even when he’s away, at Richard’s Bar & Grill in Mount Pleasant.

FOOD WRITING DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

Feeding the prison system Some inmates buy way around much-maligned food

FIRST PLACE

BRAD NETTLES/STAFF

Inmates in South Carolina prisons received fried baloney, bread, lettuce and macaroni salad for lunch on one Monday last month.

BY HANNA RASKIN hraskin@postandcourier.com

O

n the first day of the sixth week of the South Carolina Department of Corrections’ master menu cycle, inmates across the state have a slice of mixed meat bologna for lunch.

A man may have been sent to Kershaw for writing bad checks, to Lee for fatally shooting a stranger or to Tyger River for dealing cocaine. Regardless of his crime, on a recent Monday morning, he was served a tray that looked very much like the one I faced at Kirkland, where I’d gone to learn more about food service in the state’s prisons.

Only four of the plastic tray’s six molded compartments were occupied. In addition to the warmed-over round of bologna streaked with a half-inch band of gray, there was a sour-smelling heap of macaroni salad, two misshapen pieces of bread and shredded iceberg lettuce.

“How is that?” asked support services division director Mark McCown, one of four Department of Corrections staff members who joined me in the mess hall. None of them ate there. Nodding his head knowingly, McCown continued, “You probably want mayonnaise for the bread, salt for the macaroni and salad dressing for the salad.”

Or as the department’s food service administrator, Willie Smith, put it: “The reality of it is we do institutional cooking, and that’s bland cooking.

We don’t season. We don’t cook it like momma used to cook it.”

“The reality of it is we do institutional cooking, and that’s bland cooking. We don’t season.

We don’t cook it like momma used to cook it.”

Willie Smith S.C. Department of Corrections food service administrator

Canteen is cooking Plain meals are the norm behind bars. But according to the master menu, which prison food directors are instructed to follow faithfully, there actually was supposed to be mayonnaise, mustard and sliced tomato on the tray. When I later e-mailed Smith about the omission, he assured me the overlooked items would be served with dinner “to ensure nutritional standards are met.”

It’s impossible to infer from one instance of missing condiments how frequently prison kitchens deviate from the state’s meal plan, which was designed to fulfill the minimum daily dietary requirements established by the federal government. Officials say they’re aware of the health and behavioral risks associated with underfeeding inmates, and maintain incarcerated men and women receive a sufficient amount of clean, safe and nourishing food. Inmates, on the other hand,

claim their welfare is secondary to budgetary and security concerns, resulting in meals that undermine their physical strength and mental resolve.

Still, formal complaints to the Department of Health and Environmental Control are few. It’s possible that’s because inmates with the financial ability to do so have essentially opted out of the food service system, purchasing everything they eat from the prison canteen. “I can’t tell you what percentage, but I can tell you there’s a lot of (that),” canteen manager Eddie Huddle said.

According to S.C. Department of Corrections data, about half of the state’s 20,652 imprisoned offenders shop the canteen on a weekly basis, spending a total of almost $17 million over the course of a year, with any profits going back into the agency’s coffers. That figure includes batteries, toilet paper, curling irons, tennis shoes and chess sets, but it also encompasses four different kinds of Girl Scout cookies, frozen chicken wings, barbecue pork rinds, frosted strawberry Pop-Tarts, jalapeno cheese sandwiches and kosher pickles, among many other food items.

To put that statistic in perspective, the Department of Corrections in fiscal year 2016 spent nearly $16 million on food. The exact number works out to $2.07 per inmate per day.

“I don’t eat that prison food,” said a Lieber Correctional Institute inmate contacted through Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, a national human rights organization that supports prisoners. “The guys on what they call lockup, they’re the ones who mostly Please see PRISON, Page D4

Hanna Raskin The Post and Courier

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St. Claire Donaghy Index-Journal

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Greenwood man’s ‘Stranger Things’-inspired costume goes viral online

By ST. CLAIRE DONAGHY sdonaghy@indexjournal.com

ST. CLAIRE DONAGHY | INDEX-JOURNAL

Lander University student Katie Porter, left, took the recent photos of fellow Lander student Mitchell Felton dressed as Eleven from “Stranger Things” that have become a media sensation. Another friend, Taylor Ramey, posted them online, with Felton and Porter’s permission.

When a former Greenwood High Eagle offensive lineman and church youth coordinator decides to dress up for Halloween as a fictional character from “Stranger Things” it is apparently the stuff of social media stardom.

In a week’s time, Mitchell Felton, 23, of Greenwood has graced social media website Reddit as well as such sites as Bored Panda, Barstool Sports, Facebook and Pinterest, in his hilarious costume portraying the mysterious young girl, Jane “Eleven” Ives, from the hugely popular Netflix series, “Stranger Things,” a suspense, horror series set in the 1980s.

He’s been interviewed by a member of the Press Association in London for Irishnews.com and on Friday, Felton got a call on his cellphone from someone with “Good Morning America.”

THE CAROLINA

Greenwood’s Mitchell Felton dressed up as Eleven from “Stranger Things” for a Halloween gathering in 2016. He and friends decided to recreate the look, and do a photo shoot for fun, in anticipation of the popular show’s second season.

The images have gone viral on the internet.

Michael Bedenbaugh, executive director of the Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation, crosses a platform above the stage of the Carolina Theatre in Spartanburg. The trust is seeking investment funds to help restore the theater. [ALEX HICKS JR./SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL]

How it all began “With season two of the show coming

By Alyssa Mulliger alyssa.mulliger@shj.com

See COSTUME, page 4A

SUBMITTED | KATIE PORTER

W

hen Mary Jane Talbert Sanders visits her hometown of Spartanburg, she makes a point of traveling down Church Street just to get another glimpse of the historic Montgomery Building, home of the former Carolina Theatre.

Seeing the 93-year-old building turns Sanders’ thoughts to the past, and for a few

minutes she revels in memories from more than 50 years ago.

Back then, in the early 1960s, she was a teenager selling tickets from a glass-enclosed box in the theater's foyer overlooking Church Street. It was a job given to her by her father, Bob Talbert, who once managed the Carolina and Palmetto theaters.

“I had a special pair of yellow-rimmed SEE CAROLINA, A7

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Adam Parker The Post and Courier For the world to see The rise of public art in South Carolina

BRAD NETTLES/STAFF

A mural at Huger and Hanover streets in downtown Charleston..

BRAD NETTLES/STAFF

One of many murals in the Avondale area of West Ashley.

ADAM PARKER/STAFF

BRAD NETTLES/STAFF

Shepard Fairey painted this mural on the College Lodge Residence Hall on the College of Charleston campus in downtown Charleston in 2014.

BY ADAM PARKER aparker@postandcourier.com

I

n West Ashley’s Avondale neighborhood, an alley behind the shops and bars near Magnolia Street has become an outdoor exhibition space filled with large and small murals. Artists have painted images ranging from an enormous turkey vulture to small cartoon-like figures on the sides of the buildings.

On the Charleston peninsula, three murals by Shepard Fairey and several more on Huger Street by a variety of artists can be viewed. David Boatwright’s work — part art, part commercial signage — is scattered throughout the downtown area.

In Columbia, a growing number of murals and sculptural pieces are adding a colorful dimension to a city so enthusiastic about public art that it has a dedicated nonprofit organization whose main purpose is to facilitate more of it.

This deliberate approach adopted by Co-

lumbia now is taking hold in the Holy City where efforts are underway to introduce more curated public art to the shared environment, and not just downtown.

One advocate is even calling for a “1 percent for art” program that would set aside money in every public building construction budget for the purpose of procuring artwork.

“I love public art,” said Mark Sloan, director of the Halsey Institute for Contemporary Art. “It does serve a vital role in terms of meeting people where they are. It’s in the public way; you have no choice.”

Sloan thinks public art is important enough to warrant more consistent support from patrons, civic leaders and private interests.

Mostly recently he helped arrange the public display of five Fairey works in conjunction with a 2014 Halsey exhibition. (Three of those pieces remain.) Sloan also curated a big 2016 project in the Upstate called “Seeing Please see ART, Page G7

The “House of the Future” by David Hammons was installed in 1991 as part of a Spoleto Festival USA show in Charleston.

GRACE BEAHM ALFORD/STAFF

Without the art, it’s just a traffic light box in Mount Pleasant.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT WRITING DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

AURORA ROBSON

“Scrutiny on the Bounty” by Aurora Robson, a 2013 work made with found packaging and acrylic on panel.

FIRST PLACE

Th The

pplastic problem

‘Sea Change,’ new Halsey show, turns waste concern into art nanoparticles as the scientists call them, consist of microscopic fibers from clothing made with petroleumThe birds do it. The fish do it. The based synthetic materials, such clams and oysters do it. You do it, too. as Gortex and Spandex and other It’s estimated that humans could be polyesters. Do a load of laundry ingesting up to 11,000 tiny pieces of and some fibers will be rinsed away, plastic each year. The health implica- eventually ending up in the oceans. tions are not yet known, but it’s safe to The plastic problem recently has say the problem is cause for concern. gained the attention of researchers The source of the problem is an who are beginning to study the eff economic system that relies on the fects of microplastics in the natural mass production and consumption environment. Artists, too, have of cheap plastic products and the taken an interest in the subject. Two vast quantities of plastic waste that of them will be in Charleston this accumulate as a result. A portion weekend for the opening of a new of that waste ends up in the oceans, exhibition at the Halsey Institute then breaks down into smaller and for Contemporary Art. The show, smaller pieces. Eventually, the pieces called “Sea Change,” features the get to be the size of a grain of sand, work of sculptor Aurora Robson and or smaller.

Please see PLASTIC, Page G8 Much of these “microplastics,” or

CHRIS JORDAN

Adult albatrosses on Midway Island are mistakk ing pieces of plastic for food and feeding them to their chicks, which die as a result.

BY ADAM PARKER aparker@postandcourier.com

JAROD CHASZEWSKI

A piece made by a student of Jarod Chaszewski from objects found on Sullivan’s Island.

CHRIS JORDAN

Chris Jordan photographed the Pacific Ocean with a high-speed camera, capturing light reflection not visible with the naked eye.

Adam Parker The Post and Courier

SHORT STORY

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THIRD PLACE Ariel Gilreath Index-Journal ‘God directed us to find him’

Man recounts finding body in Lake Greenwood

By ARIEL GILREATH agilreath@indexjournal.com Tim Keppler and his wife were late getting out the door to the chili cook-off in Crystal Bay Saturday night.

Keppler had cleaned out his pontoon boat that morning for the occasion, but while getting ready, his wife suggested they simply drive.

But Keppler had already decided — no, they’ll go by boat and just be late.

If they had taken a car to the party, they would not have seen what looked like a hat floating in Hidden Lake, a secluded section of Lake Greenwood in the Crystal Bay subdivision.

Keppler thought it was his neighbor’s — who had lost a hat in the lake earlier that day.

“We could not tell what it was until we were literally on top of it,” Keppler said. “And it was the top of a man’s head.”

The water was calm and clear enough for Keppler and his wife to know they had never met the man.

SECOND PLACE

Martha Rose Brown The Times and Democrat

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DAILY UNDER 13,000 DIVISION 3URWHFWLRQ &RQQHFWLRQ

FIRST PLACE PHOTOS BY CONOR HUGHES | INDEX-JOURNAL

Ron Warren holds condoms he distributes to his customers at the Grand Champion Barber Shop.

Greenwood barber advocates safe sex by distributing condoms

By CONOR HUGHES chughes@indexjournal.com At Grand Champion Barber Shop on Greenwood’s East Montague Avenue, Ron Warren maneuvers around Kelcey Stevens’ head, double checking each line, his clippers poised to make the next cut.

As he works, Warren periodically trades one tool for another, pulling from the arsenal of scissors and buzzers sitting on his work table.

Among the cans of hair spray and implements soaking in blue disinfectant sits a cardboard box — the word “LOVE” scrawled across it in bold, bubbly letters.

Inside the box are hundreds of condoms sealed in shiny, bright-red wrappers. Warren, 40, said he gives out about 1,000 of them every month.

“A lot of guys be looking for condoms,” he said. “And if they aren’t, I See CONDOMS, page 4A

Ron Warren cuts Kelcey Stevens’ hair at the Grand Champion Barber Shop in Greenwood.

Conor Hughes Index-Journal

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Stephanie Jadrnicek The Journal, Seneca

Richard Whiting Index-Journal

They might be different, but they are like you and me

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A jerk or a joy jy ast week, I sat down with Valerie Scott-Wagner for the first time.

We’d never met before, yet we had to broach one of the most sensitive subjects in our society.

I knew she was interested in telling her story, or she wouldn’t have agreed to the interview. But I could tell she wasn’t quite sure what angle I would pursue in writing it, a concern I took to heart when I finally sat in front of my keyboard.

It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to talk with a complete stranger about their impending death.

And there are very COMMON few people I’ve met GROUND | in my life who’ve approached this STEPHANIE transition with such JADRNICEK candor.

For those of you who missed the story that ran in Saturday’s paper, Valerie has six to nine months left to live. A tumor in her colon metastasized and cancer crawled up through her abdomen, even reaching into the bottom lobe of her left lung.

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I thank you for the conversations very week, complete strangers welcome me into their homes, into their offices, into their businesses and, often, into their hearts. Some might say this is just part of living in the South — and there’s some truth to that, but these situations are a little different.

Much like any Southern conversation, we begin with pleasantries. We discuss how our days have gone and perhaps the weather, then we begin to dive a bit deeper.

A mother once cried as she told me how she lost her son to the damages of war. A woman’s eyes widened as she described sneaking out of her own

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home with her children to escape from the person she loved most in the world. And an African-American reverend recounted his fear as he stood in a grocery line at the age of 9 and the officer in front of him joked about shooting the boy behind him.

He looked me dead in the eye and said he ran all the way home — he could still remember his heart pounding because he’d never been so scared in his life.

These are the interviews I leave with a heavy heart, knowing well my mission — to somehow convey the weight of these voices to our readers.

But sometimes I walk away ecstatic. I’ve interviewed many artists — painters, sculptors photographers and musicians — who’ve exCOMMON plained GROUND | how they harness STEPHANIE their JADRNICEK deepest insights and express them to the world.

Their inspiration is contagious, and I can’t wait

to return to my computer to write their stories.

Just the other day, I left Jerry Alexander’s home as giddy as a schoolgirl.

I can’t speak for other journalists, but when I’m talking with someone who shares my passion for the written word, it’s like a shot of caffeine to my system.

After all these years, Jerry’s still inspired by the stories he gathers.

And, unlike me, he has 80 years of experience on this Earth, which renders a wisdom I hope to have one day.

Although most people look forward to retiring and never looking back, Jerry couldn’t do that.

Once he sold his newspaper business and his media corporation, he felt the walls closing in and knew he had to write something.

So he started writing books — anything to keep the creativity flowing. He told me one day I would realize that it’s in my blood and it’s what will keep me going — making something out of nothing.

His words sparked a memory of an interview 10 years ago. A woman told me about renowned poet and author Frederick Buechner, who wrote that vocation is “the place where your deep gladness and the world’s

deep hunger meet.”

Now more than ever in my life, I see a need for stories that unify us. So for a few brief moments we drop our allegiances to our politics, our beliefs and our ideals and remember we’re all human beings in this thing called life together.

And if it hadn’t been for all of you who’ve shared your fears, your successes and your joys with me, I wouldn’t have had any stories to write.

So I thank you for the conversations.

STEPHANIE JADRNICEK is an award-winning columnist and feature writer. She may be reached at stephanie@upstatetoday.com.

Haste and wastee t’s been 20 years since I’ve been so careless. Sure, I’ve had an accident within that span of time, but I was never the one at fault.

I’d been rushing around — my usual weekend mode of operation — trying to get prepared for the upcoming week. The house was finally clean, and it was time to restock inventory.

So on Sunday morning at approximately 11:30 a.m., I packed my car for an errand run. I grabbed my canvas grocery bags, the family’s weekly list of necessities and wants and a few items that didn’t make the final cut and needed to return to the store.

I turned the ignition, checked my mirrors and threw the car in COMMON reverse — but I didn’t make it GROUND | very far.

In my rear-view STEPHANIE mirror, I could JADRNICEK plainly see the usual obstacles: my daughter’s Honda Civic and my

I

e pass by them on a sidewalk.

We see them lining up at the Soup Kitchen off Phoenix

Street.

And if we are honest with ourselves, most of us do just pass them by with little thought or interest. We might briefly pause, but only to judge them for why they are where they are. We conjure up explanations that satisfy our reasons for not making eye contact: they are on drugs; they are alcoholics; they just need to get a job; they might be dangerous; they might be crazy.

They all have stories, but we don’t want to WHITING’S hear their stories. Why? WRITINGS Because then we might have to become engaged RICHARD with them. Our lives S. WHITING might begin to intertwine and take us down a path we don’t want to travel. To do so would complicate our already complex yet ordered lives. And so we mentally put them into a box, close the lid and continue on our way.

For a long, long time many of us also

we were really doing, however, was meeting our own need to reorder our lives, remove any unpleasantries.

Some people in Greenwood, however, chose not to send them away, not to merely pass them by on the sidewalk or at the Soup Kitchen. They chose to look in their eyes. They chose to hear their stories. They chose to care.

From that rose Greenwood Pathway House, which began first as a shelter for homeless men and grew to include a new facility for women and women with children.

Most of us probably will continue to pass these people by on the sidewalks, the Soup Kitchen or wherever they might be. Most of us likely will never set foot in either shelter, unless we finally accept someone’s invitation to take a tour. Really, for the vast majority of us, just visiting either facility is something we will avoid at all costs. To visit would be to acknowledge these people exist. To acknowledge they exist would tug at our conscience, which could lead us to some sort of action.

But if you’d rather remain at a safe distance while getting a glimpse of homelessness, head to Premiere Cinema 10 in Greenwood and see the movie “Same

Peter Manning was kind enough to front the money for hundreds of people to attend the movie at no cost. An anonymous donor ensured everyone enjoyed the popcorn and drinks. But no one could do a thing to prevent the sniffles or stem the flow of tears among those in the crowded theater.

The story of how international art dealer Ron Hall and his wife’s lives crossed with a homeless man was first told in book form and was a New York Times bestseller. The movie, starring Greg Kinnear, Djimon Hounsou, Renee Zellweger and Jon Voight, brings it to the big screen.

No spoiler here. You already know the premise of the story. It’s about how people willingly or unwittingly came face to face with homelessness. They looked into a homeless person’s eyes, they heard his story. And they looked into their own hearts and got involved, not out of pity, but out of the simple acknowledgement that beyond our races, beyond our ages, beyond our gender, beyond our socioeconomic conditions, beyond our religion and beneath the skin’s surface we are traveling through this life together.

We are the same kind of different as you and as me.

Elizabeth adds royal touch to newsroom “Well, back when I was your age ...”

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ou can fill in the sentence, but we had one of those moments, if you will, in our newsroom.

It all began with a Facebook posting about an estate sale. Theresa Roy, wife of ad sales rep Bob Roy, was assisting with the sale. She posted a photo of an old Royal typewriter. Well, you might have thought she had posted a picture of some hard-to-find antique. “I want it!”, I wrote in the comments section. And thanks to the newsroom’s Wanda Rinker, who let’s just say is mature enough to also appreciate the find, the 1954 Royal has a new WHITING’S home.

The following MonWRITINGS day, Wanda and I ceremoniously walked to her RICHARD S. WHITING car in the IJ parking lot.

She opened the trunk and I smiled a broad smile as I hoisted the typewriter, cradled in my arms like a newborn. Just as I remembered from the old days at my first newspaper job h l h bb h

BOB SIMMONDS | INDEX-JOURNAL

This 1954 Royal typewriter, named Elizabeth, is a reminder of times long gone in the newspaper business. from my finger tips – hey, I didn’t say I was particularly skilled at switching out the ribbon, but it got done – we put a fresh piece of paper in, set the tabs and watched.

And listened. Yes, listened.

Aug. 1 marked my 37th year in the newspaper business Like any industry

MLK Day an opportunity to refocus

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n Monday, the nation will join in remembering and honoring the life of Martin Luther King Jr. And all across the nation, most certainly here in South Carolina, we would do well to focus on King’s message tomorrow and beyond. We have witnessed some tumultuous times that have tested and continue to test the progress our nation has made in the years since King’s civil WHITING’S rights message resonated, progress made since WRITINGS the King’s voice was silenced RICHARD on a hotel balcony in S. WHITING Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968.

Too many instances in which white officers have shot black citizens, the justification for which is either clouded or wholly deniable. South Carolina has two recent cases that come to mind. One took place in Sumter a few years ago in which the police officer shot a man who was running away

an unarmed black man. What began as a traffic stopped ended with Scott being shot multiple times as he ran away from Slager.

Again, he ran away, not toward. Last month, the judge declared a mistrial in Slager’s case when the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict.

And merely weeks following that incident, Dylann Roof sat for about an hour with a Bible study group in the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston before he opened fire and killed nine, including the church’s pastor.

The months leading up to the national election were troubling for many as well.

Donald Trump’s campaign speeches gave voters cause for concern. The presidential candidates’ words were racially divisive, he was endorsed by white supremacists.

Would decades of progress collapse, would healed wounds be ripped wide open? In only a few days following Martin Luther King Day, that candidate will be sworn in as President Trump. We can only hope that his divisive talk was just that, a means to an end, but we cannot forget those words.

People will be watching, waiting, listening.

established to honor the legacy of Benjamin E. Mays Jr., the son of a sharecropper who left Greenwood County to quench his deep, deep thirst for education, and to build for himself a far different and better life. He accomplished that and more. Mays was instrumental in the framework upon which King delivered his message for civil rights, his determination to ensure that, indeed, all men are created equal. Mays was a mentor to King and a much sought after adviser to many of our nation’s presidents.

Yes, we would all do well to reflect on the message King and his mentor sought to convey, their vision for a nation, yes even a world, in which people are respected and not treated differently because of the color of their skin or even the path they walk in their spiritual journey.

Is that an ideal? Yes, but it’s one worth achieving. It’s one worth our efforts to build back up that which has been torn down.

Whiting is executive editor of the IndexJournal. Contact him at 864-943-2522;

coffee cups remained – well, seasoned.

Back then, our connection to the outside world was usually by way of a radio. More updated newsrooms were also outfitted with a TV that was tuned to the most local affiliate of one of the Big Three networks, but not ours.

Jan. 28, 1986 was a day when the keys on Royal typewriters in my first newsroom were being ferociously banged as we remade the front page. Ron Sowers hurried out of the dark room where he was processing film, another bygone facet of the industry, to ask if we had heard the news. Space Shuttle Challenger had exploded as it headed toward space and killing seven astronauts, including teacher Christa McAuliffe and Lake City, South Carolina native Ron McNair.

Here at the IJ we don’t have a mascot, although a couple of stray dogs and kittens have very nearly been adopted, but this old Royal, now affectionately named Elizabeth, is now our mascot. Or maybe she’s just symbolic of who we are, with a nod to our past. Our distant past.

It’s been amusing to watch these young reporters approach Elizabeth with puzzled looks. Some are afraid to touch it, others give her a try. They did not take typing

COLUMN WRITING DAILY UNDER 13,000 DIVISION

COMMENTARY

Fla. woman finds plaque – and acts with her heart Lori Coffey from near Tampa, Fla., found a plaque in a thrift store honoring Thomas “T.J” Dudley, a Marine from York County killed in action in Afghanistan in 2011. She is a mother of a Marine and has worked to get the plaque to Dudley’s family.

COMMENTARY

Descendants of slaves want Fort Mill’s statue to stay

BY ANDREW DYS

adys@heraldonline.com FORT MILL

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ori Coffey never met Marine Thomas “T.J.” Dudley who grew up in York County. She never knew he died in combat in Afghanistan in 2011, until Coffey, the mother of a Marine who served in Iraq, recently went into a thrift store near Tampa, Fla. Coffey likes to fix old photos and even find the people in them.

The thrift store owner said he had something Thomas even better than Dudley an old picture that he would give Coffey.

Something he could not sell because it was too important.

It was a plaque with an American flag on it, honoring Dudley for his service. It was created by an Air Force unit search team that flew a search and rescue mission in Afghanistan after Dudley was killed.

How or why that plaque ended up in a thrift store, nobody knew. What mattered to Lori Coffey was Thomas Dudley – and his family.

“I promised that I would try and find who this Thomas Dudley was,” Coffey said.

Coffey looked on the Internet and found dozens of stories and columns I had written for The Herald since Dudley died in July 2011. She read of the news of his death in a helicopter incident after six deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. How Dudley was a volunteer firefighter as a teen in Tega Cay and in JROTC. The thousands of people who lined Fort Mill roads before the funeral at Fort Mill High School. The naming of a highway for Dudley after his death.

She found the name of Dudley’s widow, Mary, in the stories, and saw that the couple had three children, Taylor, Carter, and Jenna.

Coffey reached out to me and said, “Do you think Mary Dudley would want this plaque?”

I said, “Let’s find out.”

Mary Dudley met T.J in eighth grade in Fort Mill, and the couple was married after the Sept. 11, 2011 terror attacks – between Dudley’s combat deployments.

Mary Dudley still lives near Jacksonville, N.C., where her SEE DYS, 4A

ANDREW DYS adys@heraldonline.com

Cousins Charles White-Kiser, left, and Daniel Watts, of Fort Mill, at a monument that honors “faithful slaves” of the Confederacy in Fort Mill, including their great-grandfather, Handy White. It is one of just three monuments in America honoring slaves.

Family members who trace their ancestry to slaves listed on a monument in Fort Mill say the monument is unique and should remain as the country debates whether Confederate monuments have a place in modern America.

BY ANDREW DYS

adys@heraldonline.com FORT MILL

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cross South Carolina and the South, Confederate monuments are ubiquitous. In Rock

stone.

Harris said he sees the monument as unique to blacks who were slaves and survived enslavement. That doesn’t make the Confederate cause of trying to keep slavery any more tolerable, Harris said. He said black people who were part of the Confederate service — as cooks, servants and soldiers — did so out of fear of retaliation or retribution from their masters, and were ordered to do so because they were not free.

“I am proud that my greatgrandfather survived it,” said Harris, 53, who now lives in northern Virginia not far from Charlottesville. “I am not embarrassed.”

SEE DYS, 7A

END OF AN ERA?

Courtesy photos

Lori Coffey of Florida poses with a plaque honoring late Marine Thomas “T.J.” Dudley of Fort Mill she found in a thrift store. Coffey contacted The Herald and will send the plaque to Dudley’s family.

After 100th anniversary, weekend move for Hopewell Hash in Hickory Grove possible

‘‘

SOMETHING SO IMPORTANT, I CAN’T JUST PUT IT IN THE MAIL.

BY ANDREW DYS

adys@heraldonline.com

HICKORY GROVE

Lori Coffey on returning a plaque that honors Marine Thomas “T.J.” Dudley to his widow Mary Dudley

Herald file photos

Above: Bill Dodds stirs hash at the 98th annual Hopewell Day in 2015. The 100th Hopewell Day, Wednesday, will be held at the old Hopewell schoolhouse off S.C. 97 near Hickory Grove.

The family of the late Fort Mill Marine T.J. Dudley in 2017. Front, daughter Jenna, 8. Rear, wife, Mary; daughter Taylor, 19; son Carter, 11.

Hill, York, Chester, Lancaster, the monuments are in front of county courthouses and in cemeteries, and tout a cause historians say clearly was born out of secession to keep slavery.

Fort Mill is different.

Fort Mill has a monument in its Confederate Park dedicated to slaves. “Faithful slaves” to the Confederacy, the monument states, memorialized by the Samuel White family of Fort Mill.

The debate rages around the country after last month’s vio-

lence in Charlottesville, Va., about whether monuments to the Confederacy have a place in modern America.

Descendants of slaves in the Fort Mill area say that monument should stay right where it is.

“That time in history happened. We can’t go back and change that,” said Fort Mill native Weldon Harris.” “My read on that monument is that it was done for atonement.”

As the descendants of the family planned a reunion last year, research found Harris’ great-grandfather, Handy White, was born a slave around 1832 and is one of the “faithful slaves” honored on the white

The Fort Mill monument went up in 1895 and states “1860 Dedicated to the faithful slaves who, loyal to a sacred trust, toiled for the support of the Army. With matchless devotion and with sterling fidelity guarded our defenseless homes, women and children during the struggle for principles of our Confederate States of America.

1865.”

It is one of only three monuments across America honoring slaves — another is in West Virginia, the other in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

Daniel Watts, 80, also is a great-grandson of White. Daniel is the first African-American to serve on the Fort Mill Town Council and Fort Mill school board. Until recently, Watts said, like others, he overlooked the monument.

“I agree it should stay up and be there for people to see and understand that is where we came from,” Watts said. “This is my great-grandfather Handy White on here. This is where I came from. This is me.”

Watts and Harris say the monument should stay up not just because it is their family, but because it is unique in that it memorializes black history and those black people who helped forge Fort Mill. Harris and Watts say as older men, they can more easily see the historic importance of the monument than younger people who see it as an affront to their race and heritage.

“I don’t think the solution is to go after it with sledgehammers,” Harris said.

The Rev. Charles White-Kiser, another family member and pastor of a church in Rock Hill, said slavery was an abomination. But the monument shows the strength of a people subjugated could not be denied, and was not stamped out, and

Right: Savannah Howell, 9 at the time, stirs hash for the 95th annual Hopewell Day in 2012. Her great-grandfather Horace Howell stirred hash at the event for years.

The cakes will be so tall scaffolds are needed to slice them. The music, gospel, will float out of the windows of the old school where rural western York County kids learned to read and write and count dating back to the days of horse and buggy.

And yes, Big Wednesday, this Wednesday, for the 100th time in a row in western York County on Hopewell Day, means Hopewell Hash. But will this be the last year after 100 of them, the end of an era, because the world now starts school earlier in August and people work far away and Wednesday is in the middle of the week and more people could go on Saturday?

The answer is maybe. The other answer is maybe not.

“I’m not much for change,” said Faye Mitchell, who has baked and volunteered and served and at Hopewell Day all her life.

That life is many decades but I do not have the guts to ask how many even if she has kids close to age 60.

“Some things are pretty good the way they are. This is one of them.”

Faye Mitchell will bake a red velvet cake with so many layers that a collapse would require a crane to clear it away. She will bake a pineapple cake with the acreage of some homes. Dozens of other people will bring baked goods to sell.

SEE DYS, 8A

FIRST PLACE Andrew Dys The Herald

COLUMN WRITING DAILY 13,000-40,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Justin Johnson Morning News

SECOND PLACE David Lauderdale The Island Packet

COLUMN WRITING DAILY 13,000-40,000 DIVISION

FIRST PLACE AND BEST OF THE BEST Liz Farrell The Island Packet

COLUMN WRITING DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Bristow Marchant The State

SECOND PLACE

Steve Bailey The Post and Courier

COLUMN WRITING DAILY OVER 40,000 DIVISION

FIRST PLACE

Ed Buckley The Post and Courier

HUMOR COLUMN WRITING ALL DAILY DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

SECOND PLACE

Norm Cannada The Journal, Seneca On Neil Diamond and other celebrities y mother is in love with Neil Diamond.

“Love” really doesn’t quite describe her feelings. It is more of an obsession.

She has a “Neil Diamond Room” with all sorts of artifacts she has collected.

The televisions in that room, and any other room, often play his concert videos. If you visit her, she will likely make you watch at least a few songs.

Her only real interest in my move to Brooklyn two years ago was the fact that Neil Diamond was born here. She has asked several times if I have been to visit the singer’s childhood home on Church

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Avenue in Brooklyn.

I haven’t. I really don’t intend to make that pilgrimage.

The funniest thing about my mother’s Neil Diamond obsession is that it has only come in the last 5-10 years. Prior to that, she had never mentioned him. This man has had a career that has spanned decades, but she apparently has just discovered him.

Her infatuation with the singer has made it easier when it comes to Christmas gifts. Simply Google “Neil Diamond gifts,” purchase something you would never want in your own home, and wrap it up.

Christmas is done.

For the record, I have already purchased and mailed Diamond’s new Christmas album as an early Christmas gift.

She has been playing it non-stop LIFE IN for more than a THE CITY | week. I now have NORMAN “favorite CANNADA son” status over my brother — until he and his wife give her whatever Neil Diamond artifact

they find on eBay. My mother’s favorite singer was in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in 2011. I was in the city, but didn’t want to get up early enough to go to the parade, so I asked a member of our group to take a photo. I sent my mom a nice 8X10 of him on the float. That Neil Diamond picture is still in a frame in a prominent place in my mom’s home five years later.

So, I shouldn’t have been surprised when she called me a little over a week ago.

“Are you watching Neil Diamond?” she asked. “He just sang on TV.”

I realized quickly she was talking about the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. Michelle and I had planned to go, but it was raining. Standing in a Manhattan crowd for hours in the rain didn’t sound as fun as taking a nap in my apartment.

She was disappointed.

She really thinks Neil Diamond and I should be friends by now.

I often get asked about celebrities and how often I see them in NYC. My 6-year-old grandson asked me if I had seen Taylor Swift since I moved to the Big Apple. I became his hero when I told him I had

just seen her in an outdoor concert a few weeks before he asked.

Other than that, I don’t see a lot of celebrities.

They don’t travel in my neighborhood all that much.

But I do wish now I had braved the rain at Rockefeller Center. A picture of Neil Diamond singing there would have given me a good year ahead of my brother on the favorite son list.

NORMAN CANNADA made the switch from Journal news editor to inner-city pastor in December 2014. He now works for Graffiti Community Ministries in Brooklyn, N.Y.

David Lauderdale The Island Packet

Tips as Gov. Haley plans move to the Big Apple A

Gov. Nikki Haley: Dear Gov. Haley, I know you are busy running the state and preparing for your new job as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Perhaps I jumped a little ahead, since you haven’t even had your Senate confirmation hearing yet, but I am sure Sens.

Graham and Scott are already telling colleagues why you would make a fine U.N. Ambassador.

Likely, you are getting plenty of advice about your new job, so I won’t spend time on that. I can offer you something more valuable.

Since moving to Brooklyn two years ago this week, I have been writing this column for The Journal

focusing on the differences between South Carolina and NYC, but you may not have read them all.

So, let me summarize those differences and give a few tips as you pack up those boxes: • The weather. Assuming your confirmation is early in the new year, you’ll be moving during our coldest time. There was a day last February when it snowed 29 inches with wind gusts of 65 miles per hour. So, you may need a heavier coat to get through March, and maybe early April. The summer is also difficult because the sun reflects off the concrete. Make sure you have good air conditioning.

• Walking. I walk 5-10

miles a day, but I am not the U.N. ambassador, a job I assume comes with a car and a driver.

You’ll probably want to walk because of all the LIFE IN traffic, so pack a THE CITY | good pair of walkk NORMAN ing shoes.

CANNADA They will be cheaper in South Carolina.

• Beware of the Times Square characters. Times Square is filled with what may appear to be cute, cud-

dly characters like Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Spiderman and Elmo. They will expect you to pay if you take a picture with them, and that Statue of Liberty character is a bit creepy.

• Coffee. This was an important lesson for me.

If you go to a local bodega and order coffee, it will be served with cream and sugar unless you tell them otherwise. Even if you order a black coffee, make sure you tell them if you don’t want sugar. Coffee is still black, even with sugar.

• Get a straw. If you go to the bodega for a soft drink — they say “soda” here — make sure to ask for a straw. There’s a good reason for it, trust me.

• Umbrellas. If you have

a favorite umbrella, leave it in the Palmetto State. A strong burst of wind will destroy it and you can buy new ones here cheaply, sometimes for less than $5.

• When in trouble, use that Southern accent. New Yorkers automatically assume they are smarter than you because you are from the South. Don’t be offended, use it to your advantage. When I am lost in the city, I dig a little deeper with the Southern accent.

People run to help because they believe I am a poor, stupid Southerner. They don’t know I’ve outsmarted them.

• Stay away from Trump Tower. I know he’s your new boss, but all the added security has made that

part of Manhattan a traffic nightmare. It makes a trip for a $4 scoop of Trump Ice Cream seem like a waste. It will be simpler to meet the new president in Washington, D.C. Michelle and I hope your move to NYC will be trouble free, but if you want a change of pace and a good Southern meal, you and your family are invited to come over to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, for a visit.

Sometimes, it’s good to see folks from home.

NORMAN CANNADA made the switch from Journal news editor to inner-city pastor in December 2014. He now works for Graffiti Community Ministries in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Next time I will go to Dairy Queen for my Blizzard y coworker Gabe is upset he did not get the blizzard the weatherman promised him this week.

My advice to him was to go to Dairy Queen for a Blizzard. It’s satisfying and it doesn’t let you down.

Gabe wasn’t the only one in NYC to be disappointed when the promise of up to 20 inches of snow from winter storm Stella brought instead a slushy mess of rain, sleet and only 4-6 inches of snow.

When Michelle and I went to bed Monday night it was with the understanding that we would wake up to lots of the white stuff. The weather reports were all saying we would

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get 5-8 inches Monday night and another 8-12 inches Tuesday. Anytime the forecast calls for snow, everyone counts only the highest projections, so 8 on Monday night plus 12 on Tuesday equals 20 inches total.

Michelle and I hunkered down in our apartment to ride out the storm. Maybe we would be stranded a few days.

Mayor Bill de Blasio seemed to believe the forecast. On Monday, the mayor announced NYC schools would be closed Tuesday.

Don’t any of you say the Big Apple isn’t anything like the South. Our mayor canceled school the day before a snowstorm — before

the first flake had fallen.

That’s more Southern than biscuits and gravy.

But the big snow never materialized.

By 6 a.m.

Tuesday, forecasters were LIFE IN hedging on those THE CITY | projected totals.

NORMAN They CANNADA said it appeared it was going to turn into a mix of snow and rain earlier than anticipated.

One television meteorolo-

gist moved totals down to 6-12 inches, while another said maybe only be 3-6 inches.

“That’s not fair,” Michelle said, just waking up to the news.

This was the third time I have lived under a blizzard warning in my 27 months in Brooklyn.

My first blizzard warning came less than a month after moving here in late December 2014. It came in overnight Monday into a Tuesday morning. The subways were shut down by 11 p.m. the night before. Forecasters said we were likely going to see up to 30 inches.

At some point in the night, the storm decided

to take a turn away from the city and head over to Long Island. My friends on Long Island did receive 30-35 inches, but only 10 inches fell here.

By 8 a.m. NYC residents were complaining that the city overreacted by shutting down subways. I was disappointed.

In 2016, Michelle and I were excited about winter storm Jonas and the prediction of a blizzard that would bring 65-mileper-hour winds and 9-15 inches of the white stuff.

Jonas delivered more than was promised. I remember Michelle praying, “God give us a big snow.” Minutes later, the weatherman upped his

projections. By the time the snow ended on that Saturday we had 29 inches of snow in Brooklyn.

Maybe that’s why we were so excited about another blizzard this week.

And the results Tuesday are likely why Michelle is not excited at all about a forecast for up to three inches of new snow this weekend.

“We’ll see,” she told me.

I think I may have to take Michelle to Dairy Queen this weekend.

NORMAN CANNADA made the switch from Journal news editor to inner-city pastor in December 2014. He now works for Graffiti Community Ministries in Brooklyn, N.Y.

HUMOR COLUMN WRITING ALL DAILY DIVISION

The Kansas City Dog

S

mall things can cause big trouble.

I have seven pounds of trouble at my house. His name is Ollie.

Ollie, you see, is our dog, a black “morkipoo” (Maltese, Yorkshire and poodle. Yes, I know) and unrepentant rascal who showed up last summer to live with us and wreak havoc. My 8-year-old daughter Charley insisted on naming him “Ollie” because that’s “Papa’s favorite store.”

(Papa is her grandfather, my dad.)

A lot of the time, though, I end up calling him “Kansas City Dog,” because my wife CHRIS and daughter bought him while I was away in Kansas TRAINOR City, Missouri, for a weekend COLUMNIST watching the Royals play baseball. Knowing there was no way I’d ever agree to a “morkipoo” in-person, they waited until I was away at a ballgame and very distracted to call and butter me up about getting this dog.

If you’ve been reading this column for any length of time, you know my wife has deployed these kinds of tactics quite often. She catches me watching a ballgame and springs something on me. Like, I’ll be watching the South Carolina play football and it might be late in the fourth quarter and the Gamecocks need a big defensive stop.

Right at the most crucial moment, she’ll breeze past me and casually say, “I’m thinking about totally remodeling the bathroom.” Flash forward two weeks and the bathroom is getting torn out and I’m wondering what the hell happened.

And so, we’ve had our fancy dog, purchased from some very nice Mennonite folks in the Abbeville countryside (not to be confused with my previous dog, Phozzy, a poodle purchased from a trailer in Ware Shoals), for about nine months. Sometimes I call him by his given, discount-store-inspired name. But, when he’s been bad, which is often, I end up using the “Kansas City Dog” moniker, a sort of “Hey, this wasn’t my idea” reminder to my wife and daughter.

Y’all, there is nothing this dog won’t chew.

NOTHING. Bones, shoes, baseboards (he’s a baseboard specialist), chairs, antiques, the carpet, furniture, you name it.

He doesn’t just chew stuff. He eats it. I’m seri-

ous. He’s eaten almost an entire couch in our sunroom. People don’t believe me when I say a seven-pound dog has eaten a goodly portion of an honest-to-God couch, but I swear it’s true.

I feel like Quint from “Jaws” when I talk about it. “This morkipoo, swallow you whole.

A little shaking, a little tenderizing, and down you go.”

We got some natural spray that is supposed to deter dogs from chewing on things. So, for example, if your dog chews on the couch armrests, you spray the armrests and he’ll stop chewing them. The problem with Ollie is that when you put the spray on something he just goes and chews something else. I guess I need to spray the whole house. Maybe have one of those crop-dusting planes fly over and take care of it.

Charger cords are also one of the Kansas City Dog’s chewing specialties. Android cords, iPhone cords, Kindle cords; he doesn’t discriminate. He’s a ninja of phone cord chewing. The Jean-Claude Van Dog of phone charger cords.

I think he could actually write reviews on how different phone cords taste.

“The Samsung Adaptive Fast Charger offers a smoky, full-bodied flavor, with just a smidge of a mint aftertaste, though it must be said that the texture leaves something to be desired.”

Ollie’s also a digger. He dug one hole so deep in my back yard that I could just about see the molten hot center of the Earth. He also has tried to escape on multiple occasions by digging under the back fence, but (upon the advice of my father-in-law) I sprinkled some cayenne pepper along the fence line and he gave that up.

I’m making the Kansas City Dog sound like an unholy terror, and he’s actually isn’t.

Not quite. He has a few redeeming attributes, one of which is that my daughter loves him to pieces. She carries him around like a baby, sneaks him food and insists on having him curl up in bed beside her every night. So, if she loves him that much, then I love him, too.

At least a little bit.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m headed to Ollie’s (the store) to buy a new phone charger.

Chris Trainor is a contributing columnist for the Index-Journal. Contact him at ChrisTrainorSC@yahoo.com. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisTrainorSC. Views expressed in this column are those of the writer only and do not represent the newspaper’s opinion.

As ever, bread and milk

T

he chances are that many of you will not go hungry or thirsty this morning.

That’s because you’ve got bread and milk. Yes, by God, bread and milk.

As I was preparing this column late last week, the Upstate, including the Lakelands, were under a winter weather warning set for Friday night and stretching into Saturday. The Midlands also were being told to look out for possible snow and ice.

Those reports, of course, touched off a bit of hysteria unique to this wonderful corner of the world we call the Deep South. The reaction was as expected as the rising sun, as predictable and comfortable as a block of “Seinfeld” reruns on TBS. Basically, people started wigging out, and part of that includes dropping whatever it is you might be doing and reporting straight to the grocery store to buy gallons of milk and loaves of bread.

It happens every time. Every time.

Why do we do this? Why? You just know the following directive was handed out late last week in households across the Lakelands and

the Upstate: “Wait, frozen precipitation might fall from the sky for several hours? Fire up the Tahoe, honey! We need bread and milk, the two items in the grocery store that will spoil faster than just about anything else!”

I often wonder what a family of four does with seven loaves of bread and six gallons of milk after a single day of snow has subsided.

Make French toast for CHRIS the youth group at a TRAINOR megachurch? Feed the COLUMNIST pigeons West Cambridge Park? Exfoliating milk bath for mom (or dad)?

So feverish is the demand for bread and milk when the word “snow” is even whispered that a friend of mine on Facebook jokingly (???) posted last week that he was going to the store to buy up all the bread and milk and sell it on the street for a profit.

That’s where we are, y’all. That’s where Snowmageddon 2017 has taken us. We’ve got people contemplating

g

becoming bread and milk scalpers, lingering on the corner like those street hawks who peddle tickets to ballgames.

I can hear their rap now. “Who needs pasteurized? I got your pasteurized right here. The whole, the low-fat, the skim, I got ‘em. Got the seven-grain bread, too, but that’ll cost you. I can do two-for-one on the Nature’s Own and throw in a half-gallon of Southern Home two percent.”

The most head-scratching aspect of the whole thing is that grocery stores are literally packed, wall-to-wall, with delicious food that is not loaves of bread and gallons of milk. They’ve got pizza in there, guys. Pasta. All the fruits and veggies you can imagine. Pepsi.

Beer. Waffles. Steak. Toaster Strudels.

I mean, racks and racks of Toaster Strudels.

Why are we crawling all over each other like the zombies trying to scale that big wall in “World War Z” just to get bread and milk when the ingredients to make tacos are literally 10-feet away?

It doesn’t help the situation when the TV weather folks are breaking in every 15 minutes to give another

breathless update on a possibly impending winter weather situation.

A chance of snow in the South? That’s a TV weatherperson’s Super Bowl.

But at some point it gets a little crazy.

Someone needs to check to make sure some of these folks don’t have an interest in Pet and Sara Lee. Perhaps the bread-and-milk phenomenon is drawing my ire because I don’t like milk. I’m cool with bread.

I mean, come on, you make bologna sandwiches with that.

But milk? It’s kind of nasty. Except as a milkshake ingredient. Yes, yes, calcium and strong bones and all that stuff. I know. My hip will probably break any minute now.

So anyway, I hope you made it safely through the cold of the last few days.

Now go fix yourself another milk sandwich and enjoy your Sunday.

Chris Trainor is a contributing columnist for the Index-Journal. Contact him at ChrisTrainorSC@yahoo.com.

You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisTrainorSC. Views expressed in this column are those of the writer only and do not represent the newspaper’s opinion.

The Wrath of the Tan Grasshopper

W

e’ve all got our fears, phobias and general dislikes.

Some people get uncomfortable in small, enclosed places, like elevators. Others have a legitimate fear of heights.

I have a buddy who has issues with heights, only I didn’t really know it until we once went to the top of the Empire State Building.

There were several of us vacationing in New York and he didn’t want to spoil everyone’s time by saying he was afraid of heights, so he took a deep breath CHRIS and went up with TRAINOR us. By the time we were at the top of COLUMNIST the skyscraper, he was sweating like he’d been playing four quarters of basketball. At the top of the building, he took one step out onto the observation deck, said “Damn,” and went back inside.

There are many who fear, or just generally don’t like, various creatures that roam the earth. Snakes, frogs, editors, lizards, even cats or dogs.

Then there is my wife, a person who is generally not afraid of anything. She’s spent a career in the corporate side of the manufacturing industry, tussling with attorneys and competing entities and tackling var-

ious business-related issues on the national and international level. She’s also an active, caring mother to our young daughter and just generally a vibrant, outgoing lady with a biting, disarming sense of humor.

But she doesn’t do bugs. I mean, she really doesn’t do bugs. Can’t stand them. Doesn’t want to see them, doesn’t want to be near them.

Doesn’t want to know they exist.

Corporate lawyers? She eats them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A spider or roach? Forget it, she’s literally heading for the hills.

I’ve told you before about the time that she texted me while I was covering a Columbia City Council meeting, and advised me that I needed to come home and kill a spider that crawled onto a chair in our sunroom.

She wasn’t joking. She wanted me to stand up in Columbia City Hall, leave the building, drive 20 miles to our house and kill the bug.

When I told her I, um, couldn’t do that, she said that she would then a) take my daughter and leave the house and go to the store until I got home and b) seriously consider selling the chair in our sunroom.

The point is that she hates bugs.

It’s a fact of which I was abundantly reminded recently.

WE SPENT SEVERAL DAYS LAST WEEK at the beach. Specifically, we were in Murrells Inlet, just south of Myrtle Beach. Our daugh-

ter had spring break, so we headed to the beach for a few days of sun, sand, pool time and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. (It’s written in the South Carolina Code of Laws that you have to purchase at least one box of hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts when you cross into Horry or Georgetown counties.)

One night we ventured up to Myrtle Beach and braved the spring break crowds for dinner. We ended up at a casual dining burger place that shall remain nameless on Easter morning.

The dining room of the restaurant was packed, so they ended up seating us on the back porch, which was literally perched on the bank of a river. It was a nice, cool evening, so we didn’t mind the setup.

Dinner was going nicely, and I was quietly enjoying my burger when, suddenly, there was a disturbance at the other end of the table. To be precise, I watched as my wife hollered, then proceeded to jump higher than just about anyone I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t think LeBron James could jump this high.

She bolted out of her chair and across the back porch. Her purse went flying about six feet in a northeasterly direction. Her sunglasses rocketed up toward the ceiling fan. I think the glasses might have violated federal airspace laws. I don’t think they’ve come down yet.

I wasn’t immediately sure what happened, but had my suspicions

seconds later when I saw our friend Anna, who was on the trip and at dinner with us, furiously stomping on the ground in an attempt to eradicate … something.

As it turns out, a bug of some sort had found its way onto the table (keep in mind, we were outside, 10 feet from a river) and had crawled in the general direction of my wife.

I never got a definitive report on exactly what kind of bug we’re talking about, only that it “looked like a tan grasshopper.”

We eventually continued with dinner, but my wife was shell-shocked for the rest of the evening. She kept her head on a swivel, as if the tan grasshopper thing might come back at any moment. I think she believed it might actually be waiting on her when we got back to the car. Alas, we were able to navigate back to the relative safety of Murrells Inlet without any further sightings.

We all have things we fear. My wife is generally not afraid of very much, at all.

Just keep those tan grasshoppers away from her.

Chris Trainor is a contributing columnist for the Index-Journal. Contact him at ChrisTrainorSC@yahoo. com. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisTrainorSC. Views expressed in this column are those of the writer only and do not represent the newspaper’s opinion.

FIRST PLACE Chris Trainor Index-Journal

SPOT SPORTS STORY DAILY UNDER 13,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

Zach Lentz The Times and Democrat

SECOND PLACE David Roberts Index-Journal PURPLE REIGN Emerald bags pair of state championships, Childress gets first in Ware Shoals history

By DAVID ROBERTS droberts@indexjournal.com

Newton dominated Battery Creek’s Ahman Smalls from the beginning, scoring a takedown in the first period.

Then he tacked on another and picked up three points on a nearfall in the second period to push his lead to 7-0.

Newton won 7-0, his only win at the tournament that didn’t come by way of pin.

Pirkle beat Matthew Williams from West-Oak for the third time this month.

Going into the match, he had pinned Williams twice once in the third round of the playoffs and again in the Upper State tournament.

But this time took a bit more out of Pirkle, including his breakfast.

After Williams scored two points off a reversal, Pirkle held his hand in front of his mouth and looked for a trash can. Pirkle then vomited into the can before returning to the mat to finish off Williams.

“I’ve been really hot the last few days because it’s been like 100 degrees in the gym,” Pirkle said. “I guess my body finally got overheated, and I

ANDERSON – Luke Newton did it after finishing in second place three years in a row. Chandler Smalley did it for his grandmother. Connor Pirkle did it for the second time. Seth Childress did it for the first time in school history. Cody Fleming nearly did it as a freshman.

Four Lakelands wrestlers captured state titles Saturday at the individual state championships in Anderson, and one almost beat the odds.

Emerald took home a pair of championships as Newton won at 182 pounds and Pirkle at 132.

The win was a long time coming for Newton, who finished in second place as a freshman, sophomore and junior.

“It was really nerve-wracking this time knowing I can’t come back next year,” Newton said. “The first time I got second when I was a freshman, I was like, ‘OK, I didn’t actually think I’d get second anyway.’ But the next two times I expected to win it.”

See STATE, page 3B

PHOTOS BY DAVID ROBERTS | INDEX-JOURNAL

ABOVE: Emerald wrestler Luke Newton poses Saturday after receiving a state championship medal during the individual state tournament in Anderson. BELOW: Ware Shoals wrestler Seth Childress has his arm raised after winning a match at the individual state tournament in Anderson.

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SPORTS FEATURE STORY DAILY UNDER 13,000 DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Bret McCormick The Herald

SECOND PLACE Julian McWilliams Index-Journal 'LDPRQGV LQ WKH URXJK McCormick Marching Chiefs are town’s hidden gem “Love and Hip-Hop.” “We wanted to make sure we pulled songs that talked about love, and at the same McCORMICK time, hip-hop as well.” ucked away in the small The band doesn’t just stop at town of McCormick, the playing the music, it also acts it out. sound of the McCormick “When I’m putting a halftime Marching Chiefs echoes show together, I try to have that throughout the county. cohesiveness, so that if nobody It’s Friday night football at Mcknows about music, they can come Cormick High where the Chiefs are to our games and see our halftime taking on Dixie. show,” Wilson said. “From everyThe game is sloppy, with neither thing we’re displaying on the field, team able to gain its footing, each with the shapes that we’re making coughing up the football twice in and the title of the song or the song the first four minutes of the game.

McCormick band director Joseph Williams, second from left, poses with they’re hearing, they say, ‘Oh, I see The show isn’t on the field. Cerwhat they mean.’” some of his band members on the field at McCormick High School. tainly, with each tune played, the Wilson pulls his group both from Marching Chiefs — much like most the middle and high school, allowBut there’s a distinction that sepa- brought to the program.

Fridays — are the theater and are ing him to hone their skills for a rates this band from other bands in “McCormick was always talkslowly taking over. longer period of time. The Marchthe Lakelands: showmanship, soul ed about as this awesome band “We’re the little monster with the and funk. ing Chiefs provide a team aspect, program,” Wilson said. “You knew big sound,” one fan uttered.

Wilson said, for those who might “It’s going to be a difference if you when they were coming. I just The band earned the name by not go the sports route. come to one of our games (rather) wanted to maintain that and build participating in the Greenville Battle than a Greenwood or Emerald,” The band recently came in secupon it.” of the Bands. ond, receiving an excellent rating Wilson said. “It’s going to be a huge During halftime, fans don’t leave “About two years ago, they asked difference based on how we do their seats. Much like at historically in the Class 1A Garden City Classic us to come down and be the feature things and the music we play.”

Battle of the Bands. It’s the highest black colleges, the band is just as high school band,” McCormick So, what’s the difference? important — if not more important rating the band has received since band director Joseph Wilson said.

Wilson started.

“With us being a show-style band, — than the actual game.

“When we went, they pretty much “I want our band to be a positive the key word is ‘show,’” Wilson During the team’s halftime show gave us the name ‘The little monster continues. “So, we want to put on a you can hear a mixture of all sorts that people can look at, not only just with the big sound.’ Everyone was show that allows people to realize, of music, from your standard corps in McCormick, but from everylike, ‘Oh, this high school, they’re where and be like, ‘That’s one thing yes, you’re here at a football game, style band music, to R&B and hip(jamming).’” we know is awesome at that school.’” but we want you all to know the hop and even the church.

The McCormick marching band The little monster with the big band is here, too.”

Wilson, who’s the music minisdoesn’t have the shiny state titles sound is roaring and has a lot more Wilson took the baton from ter at Long Cane AME Church in like the one Ninety Six recently to say. former band director John Green Abbeville, also likes to incorporate collected, at least not yet. With just in 2009. Wilson, a graduate of that aspect.

Contact staff writer Julian McWil194 students at the school last year, Winthrop University, has a corps “We’re going to have a theme for liams at 864-223-1814 or on Twitter it doesn’t get the recognition. background, which meant he had a halftime show,” said Wilson, who @JulianMack105 It’s still a hidden gem. to adjust to the soulful style Green said the band’s theme this year was

By JULIAN MCWILLIAMS jmcwilliams@indexjournal.com

7

SPORTS FEATURE STORY

p

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Former Negro League player Williams relives his career

By JULIAN MCWILLIAMS | JMCWILLIAMS@INDEXJOURNAL.COM NINETY SIX ormer Negro League baseball player Rosel “Bobby” Williams sits in his white leather chair at his Ninety Six home that has a direct view of what’s going on outside his door. The chair – more so like his throne – has withstood the test of time, much like Williams.

When did he play?

His navy blue pinstripe 1951-1954: Played suit, too. Though football, baseball and elegant in style, it basketball at South no longer fits the Carolina State. once-chiseled frame 1954: Played for the Birmingham Black that reflected his Barons of the Negro athletic prowess, yet League. it speaks to his showmanship; his level of preparation for a basic interview.

Williams, now 84, says y he’s not in the best of health and he puts it out there before even beginning.

“I’m stuttering now because I had a stroke,” he said.

But with all that, Williams still remains sharp, just how he was on the baseball diamond.

See STORYTELLER, page 3B

Former Negro League player Rosel Williams poses while seated in his white chair Saturday afternoon.

JULIAN MCWILLIAMS | INDEX-JOURNAL

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Julian McWilliams Index-Journal

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FIRST PLACE AND BEST OF THE BEST Jeff Hartsell The Post and Courier

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SECOND PLACE Robert W. Dalton Herald-Journal

Twists and turns on Victory Road

By Robert W. Dalton, bob.dalton@shj.com

Welcome to Victory Road, the Herald-Journal’s version of “Chinese Democracy.”

OK, it didn’t take us quite as long to come out with our follow up to the smash hit “For Those About to Rock,” -- the Herald-Journal’s first album cover themed high school football section released in 2006 -- as it did for Guns N’ Roses to produce its long-anticipated follow to “Use Your Illusion 1 and 2.” But Victory Road did take some twists and turns.

Bob Dalton First was the generational difference between the producers and the players. When we told them they could choose their own album cover, their first reaction was, “Great!” Their second was, “What’s an album?”

Duplicating The Beatles’ “Abbey Road”

cover for our section front presented its own issues. First and foremost: How do we get the shot on a busy downtown street and avoid the players being struck by traffic, something I’m sure their coaches would have frowned upon.

Enter Spartanburg Police Lt. Lee Raines.

When we asked if he could block a section of West Main Street for a photo shoot, he, surprisingly, didn’t laugh. Not only did Raines have the street blocked, he also stood by in afternoon heat while the shoot took place.

There were no traffic incidents and the cover shoot came off without a hitch. Mostly.

There was one minor injury. Broome High’s Jarius Jeter suffered a foot cramp from holding his pose for so long.

But he hung in there and finished the shoot, and he is expected to make a full recovery.

Putting together the section was a lot of work, and a lot of fun. Song titles from the original albums were used as headlines on the player features.

We hope you’ll enjoy reading Victory Road.

COMMENTARY

The painful truth about the NCAA’s return to SC

By Robert W. Dalton bob.dalton@shj.com

People from all across the state have been giddy with anticipation over the NCAA basketball tournament’s return to South Carolina, and rightly so. It’s been 15 years since the Big Dance passed through the Palmetto State.

Before everyone gets too caught up in March Madness, let’s remember why it’s back.

Many people credit the North Carolina legislature for solving a problem that didn’t exist. The passage of the so-called bathroom bill was the catalyst that led to the NCAA removing its championship events from North Carolina. But the removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds in Columbia nearly two years ago paved the way for South Carolina to be a landing spot.

And we must never forget why the flag came down.

For 15 years, the NAACP staged an economic boycott of South

ROBERT W. DALTON

Carolina because of the flag’s prominent position at the state Capitol.

And for 15 years, the NCAA honored that boycott by keeping predetermined championship events out of the state.

The NAACP dug in its heels. The state legislature dug in its heels.

Let’s be honest, painfully honest.

There was no enlightenment, no plan on the table.

It took a night of genuine madness to push lawmakers to act. It took the execution of nine African Americans in a Charleston church to finally bring down the flag.

On June 17, 2015, white supremacist Dylann Roof sat through a prayer service at Mother Emanuel

AME Church in downtown Charleston. Then he pulled out a gun and opened fire.

The dead were people from all walks of life: Depayne Middleton Doctor: Church choir member.

Southern Wesleyan University employee. Mother.

Cynthia Hurd: A 31-year employee of the Charleston County Public Library. Wife.

Susie Jackson: At 87, the oldest victim. Cousin of victim Ethel Lance, aunt to victim Tywanza Sanders. Like Lance, a member at Mother Emanuel for most of her life.

Ethel Lance: Former custodian at Charleston’s Gaillard Municipal Auditorium. Mother.

Grandmother.

The Rev. Clementa Pinkney: Senior pastor of Mother Emanuel. State senator. Husband.

Father.

Tywanza Sanders: Graduated from Allen University in 2014 with a degree in business administration.

Former Belk and Macy’s employee.

The Rev. Daniel Simmons: Mother Emanuel staff member. A former pastor at Friendship AME Church in Mount Pleasant. Father. Grandfather.

The Rev. Sharonda ColemanSingleton: A Mother Emanuel pastor. Speech therapist. High school track coach. Mother.

Myra Thompson: Retired school teacher. She was teaching scripture the night of the shooting. Wife.

Mother.

In the wake of the shootings, then-Gov. Nikki Haley called for the flag’s removal from the Statehouse grounds. First the Senate, then the House approved the required legislation in early July 2015 — although the vote was not unanimous in either chamber — and the flag came down on July 10. The NAACP rescinded its boycott the next day.

By all means, welcome the NCAA tournament back to South Carolina. Enjoy the games. But never forget.

Never, ever forget.

Playing the hand we’re dealt

Bob Dalton

P

lay the hand you are dealt.

That's been the mantra I've lived by for more years than I care to mention.

It's getting harder to do, though, with seemingly constant changes in dealers and rules, fewer players allowed at the table, and exponentially more jokers and wild cards in the deck.

We're being dealt a new hand starting Monday, and we'll play it. Starting Monday night, the Herald-Journal will be printed by our sister paper in Gastonia, N.C., and our deadline will be 10 p.m.

Sunday through Thursday, and 10:30 p.m. on Fridays d i f tb ll

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Who will be the next lieutenant governor?

Page 6A

Haley’s legacy, accomplishments; where she fell short, Page 9A

What Haley’s appointment means for the 2018 governor’s race, Page 6A

Videos, including Trump’s and Haley’s “topsy turvy” history, THESTATE.COM

Colleagues call McMaster a ‘consensus builder’

MURDER-SUICIDE IN LEXINGTON COUNTY

‘I’ll see you in heaven,’ gunman had told woman

BY TEDDY KULMALA AND TIM FLACH

tkulmala@thestate.com; tflach@thestate.com

The man authorities say fatally shot his two children and their mother in her Lexington County home Sunday had been to the home twice before and had once told her, “I’ll see you in heaven,” according to law enforcement records.

The bodies of Marissa Hope Reynoso, 26, and two of her children, 4-year-old Elijah Chavez and 1-year old Ezra Chavez, were found New Year’s night in the master bedroom of the Old Barnwell Road home the family

The man authorities say fatally shot his two children and their mother in her Lexington County home Sunday had been to the home twice since November, including one incident in which he threatened suicide, according to law enforcement records.

VOLUME 47, No. 99 STAY CONNECTED ISLANDPACKET.COM

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HILTON HEAD ISLAND BLUFFTON

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THE ISLAND PACKET On course for company 6 months after storm

SPECIAL COVERAGE: THE HALEY NOMINATION

McMaster would bring different style of politics

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MONDAY APRIL 10 2017

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You may not notice much change in Harbour Town

The wrath of Hurricane Matthew: The iconic Harbour Town Lighthouse rises above the rubble left by the Category 2 storm

TIM DOMINICK tdominick@thestate.com

Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster and Gov. Nikki Haley: Haley’s U.N. nomination means major changes for both officials.

MORE INSIDE

What SC officials are saying about Haley’s nomination, Page 10A

A U.N. post won’t be an easy task for Haley

BY DAVID LIGHTMAN AND TERESA WELCH

McClatchy Washington Bureau WASHINGTON

Nikki Haley now becomes Donald Trump’s foreign policy explainer-in-chief to the world, and that’s going to be a very tough job.

While Trump will nominate the Republican governor of South Carolina to be the U.S.

Haley will be in interesting company as UN ambassador, Page 9A

ambassador to the United Nations, he and his national security team in Washington will set American foreign policy. The president-elect has shown little enthusiasm for United States alliances in place since the end of World War II. And Haley will report to a boss who’s known for his lack of diplomacy, particularly when it comes to for-

Governor’s appointment marks a series of “firsts,” Page 8A GERRY MELENDEZ gmelendez@thestate.com

Donald Trump gets an endorsement from Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster on Jan. 27.

SEE THE JOB, 10A

Haley photo page, in PALMETTO: Page 9B

BY SALLEY MCINERNEY

Contributing columnist

This is the story of turtles and flat tires. Of warm blankets and car windows that won’t go up. Of zinnias, trash bins, pecan pies, crowded parking lots and a little plastic toy by the name of Bab-eo.

This is the story of giving thanks for the little things in life. The small kindnesses that don’t move the

ground beneath our feet or change our lives in momentous ways but all the same, warm our souls, remind us of the goodness that still exists among us oft-beleaguered human beings.

Allow me to begin with a place called Frank’s Discount Tire on Bluff SEE THANKS, 12A

MORE INSIDE

Holiday Guide: Your guide to the season’s best shopping, dining and events, Inside Today Holiday closings, 2A Thanksgiving meal comes early for some at Fort Jackson, 3A

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Business Classifieds Comics

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HILTON HEAD ISLAND BLUFFTON

Cyberattack’s impact could worsen this week

BY SEWELL CHAN AND MARK SCOTT

Security experts are warning that the global cyberattack that began Friday is likely to be magnified in the new workweek as users return to their offices and turn on their computers.

Many workers, particularly in

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MORE INSIDE

Researcher sidelines ransomware with domain purchase, 7A

Asia, had logged off Friday before the malicious software, stolen from the U.S. government, began proliferating across computer systems around the world. So the true effect of the attack may emerge Monday as

employees return and log in.

Moreover, copycat variants of the malicious software behind the attacks have begun to spread, according to experts.

“We are in the second wave,” said Matthieu Suiche of Comae Technologies, a cybersecurity company based in the United Arab Emirates. “As expected, the attackers have released new variants of the malware. We can

the numbers will continue to grow when people go to work and turn their machines on Monday morning.”

Among the organizations hit were FedEx in the United States, the Spanish telecom giant Telefónica, the French automaker Renault, universities in China, Germany’s federal railway system and Russia’s Interior Ministry. The most disruptive attacks infected Britain’s public health system, where surgeries had to be rescheduled and some patients were turned away from emergency rooms.

A 22-year-old British researcher who uses the Twitter name MalwareTech has been

surely expect more.”

The cyberattack has hit 200,000 computers in more than 150 countries, said Rob Wainwright, executive director of Europol, the European Union’s police agency.

“At the moment, we are in the face of an escalating threat,” he told the British network ITV Sunday. “The numbers are going up. I am worried about how

SEE RANSOMWARE, 7A

Poison ivy cases on the rise

BY JOAN MCDONOUGH

jmcdonough@islandpacket.com d

APRIL 5, 2017 Dock construction continues and a party tent has been erected at right in this view of Harbour Town taken from the cleaned up seawall near the 18th green.

File photographs courtesy of the Greenville News

Clemson defeated Nebraska 22 22-15 15 in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1982, to claim their only national title.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF CHAMPIONSHIP

Clemson’s ’81 champs hope current Tigers join the club

‘‘

The Clemson Tigers will look to claim the second football national title in school history against Alabama on Monday, and the 1981 championship squad likes their chances.

I LIKE OUR CHANCES. I THINK THIS TEAM HAS AN ABILITY TO OVERCOME. THEY HAVE A VERY CONFIDENT APPROACH TO THEM. I’M HOPING THIS WILL BE OUR YEAR. Bill Smith, a member of Clemson’s 1981 national championship team

BY BEN BREINER

bbreiner@thestate.com

Former Clemson football defensive tackle Dan Benish wanted to make this part clear. He and his teammates from 1981, the program’s only national champion, will not be doing an impression of the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

That squad maintains a long tradition of celebrating every season when the last undefeated NFL team loses, keeping them as the

lone members of the undefeated season club.

“We’re not like the Miami Dolphins, hoping that they lose so we can be the only ones,” Benish said.

“We’re actually pulling for them and behind them. Can’t believe it’s been this long since they’ve been this close.”

The Tigers were this close a year ago, even closer with an early-fourth quarter lead against Alabama in Glendale, Ariz. Clemson won on that same field last Saturday night to earn a second

SEE TIGERS, 6A

JAY KARR jkarr@islandpacket.com

............................................

Dabo Swinney and Nick Saban analyze opposing teams, 1B.

sfretwell@thestate.com

EVAN VUCCI Associated Press

At the request of state regulators, SCE&G has abandoned plans to excavate and remove polluted coal tar from the Congaree River in a decision that could save the power company $11 million, records show.

The utility, which is responsible for addressing the contam-

SAMMY FRETWELL / SFRETWELL@THESTATE.COM

The area along the Congaree River where a coal tar cleanup was planned

ination, would leave tons of coal tar on the bottom of the Congaree and cover some of the river bed with fabric and stones, according to federal and state correspondence reviewed by The State newspaper.

That’s a significant departure

BY DAVID LAUDERDALE

THESTATE.COM Read a transcript of President Trump’s inaugural address

THE DAY IN PHOTOS Trump arrives, Obama le eaves, Trump and Clinton shake hands, 12A

SC IN DC Lo ove is stronger than Trum mp-Clinton split, 9A

WHERE THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPENT IN SC Who got the bulk of the money spent in SC?, 8A

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jshain@islandpacket.com d

BY JEFF SHAIN

jshain@islandpacket.com d

T

he countdown was on, as it is at any PGA Tour stop in the final days before the players arrive.

Digital scoreboards were being moved into place at Harbour Town Golf Links. Final landscaping touchups were in progress, not to mention a general collecting of twigs that had fallen during overnight storms. Near the clubhouse, workers began constructing a welcome arch.

Tree limbs danced in the breeze as PGA Tour agronomist Bland Cooper surveyed the swath of

dlauderdale@islandpacket.com d

Joan Robinson-Berry is one of South Carolina’s most important people.

She is vice president and

general manager of Boeing South Carolina in North Charleston, among the state’s largest private employers with some 7,500 workers producing three versions of the gigantic 787 Dreamliners.

It’s a position that comes front and center this week on Hilton Head Island as Sea Pines hosts the annual RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing.

As a black female, she won’t look like most of the other dignitaries, and she certainly

breaks the mold of South Carolina’s old-school business leadership.

Robinson-Berry was on duty as the first 787-10, the largest model yet and the only one made totally in South Carolina, rolled off the line in February, attracting a visit from President Donald Trump. Also that month, workers there rejected unionization.

But I’d rather you hear her life story.

She was a latchkey kid living in the foster care of relatives in gang-infested Los Angeles.

She witnessed a brother get killed by a relative.

She heard first on television SEE BOEING, 18A

green in front of him.

“If this was your first time coming to Harbour Town, you really would never know anything happened last fall,” Cooper said. “The way they restored the areas that were impacted, it’s almost seamless.”

Seamless is good.

Listen closely, though, and one also can make out the slow thumpthump-thump of a pile driver out in the marina.

Six months after Hurricane Matthew, the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing returns to the national sporting stage next week.

It’s a time to showcase the iconic SEE MATTHEW, 20A

ONLINE

Watch videos, see photos and get the latest updates from Heritage all week at http://bit.ly/ RBC-Heritage MORE INSIDE

Other major sporting events affected by natural disasters, 19A A schedule for the week, 20A Masters coverage, 1B Arnold Palmer’s special connection with Harbour Town, 1B

DELAYNA EARLEY dearley@islandpacket.com

Joan Robinson-Berry, the new vice president and general manager of Boeing S.C., stands for a portrait outside of her office overlooking production of Boeing aircrafts at the Boeing facility in North Charleston.

I

t’s easy to pick out the new trees at Harbour Town.

For one thing, they’re typically a bit shorter than the surrounding timberland. Not as much as one might think, but there’s a difference.

And if that wasn’t enough, the straps to keep them stabilized are a dead giveaway.

There figures to be fewer boats in the Harbour Town Marina, too, though perhaps not as few as first feared. Repairs continued through the weekend, but will stop for Heritage Week.

As for anything else that might catch the eye of those attending this week’s RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing — well, pack a little extra sunscreen.

“There’s definitely a little

ONLINE

Watch videos, see photos and get the latest updates from Heritage all week at http://bit.ly/RBC-Heritage MORE INSIDE

For the Heritage schedule, go to 7A.

bit more sunlight around here,” said Jon Wright, the superintendent in charge of getting Harbour Town ready for the PGA Tour’s annual visit.

Though a few local pros have tested Harbour Town in recent weeks, Monday’s practice rounds will mark the first time most entrants will get a look at the venerable course since Hurricane Matthew tore through the Lowcountry six months ago.

Ditto for patrons, though they’re obviously not as trained to notice differences in the topography. It certainly wouldn’t uldn’t hurt

anyone’s feelings if folks went away wondering what all the consternation was about.

“I think you’d be hardpressed to know we had a hurricane in here,” said Cary Corbitt, vice president of sports and operations at Sea Pines Resort.

As far as the PGA Tour is concerned, Harbour Town has lost nothing from the tight, tough challenge it usually provides. The winning score has hovered between 9- and 14-under par in six of the past seven years.

“I really don’t think it’s going to make any difference at all,” said Bland Cooper, the PGA Tour agronomist who keeps tabs on Harbour Town’s preparations each year. “It’s not going to make the course any easier, let’s put it that way.”

RBC Heritage parking: R What you need to know MORE INSIDE

BY STEPHEN FASTENAU

sfastenau@beaufortgazette.com

RBC Heritage parking has changed again this year, and there are some important things to know when you head to the golf tournament on Hilton Head Island.

Tournament practice rounds begin Monday and the competition starts Thursday.

Free Heritage parking will be available at the Hilton Head schools complex at 70 Wilborn Drive off William Hilton Parkway. Motor coaches will run from the school lot to Harbour Town continuously from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Free golf parking will also be offered at Coligny Plaza on a first-come, first-served basis.

Shuttles will take spectators to

For a map showing where you can park and what you can bring, go to 7A.

a spot near Harbour Town ffrom 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Bicycle parking is also available at Coligny.

No parking will be offered at Coastal Discover Museum at Honey Horn due to ongoing Hurricane Matthew debris cleanup.

General spectator parking is not offered inside the Sea Pines gates. Handicapped parking will be available in Sea Pines but at a different lot than last year. The handicap passes will be distributed

by Sea Pines security, at 175 Greenwood Drive.

Bicyclists are allowed SEE PARKING, P 7A

SEE PREP, 7A

COMING THURSDAY

GARCIA WINS MASTERS

The Island Packet’s and The Beaufort Gazette’s Thursday editions include a 32-page special section on the Heritage tournament. Read more about the golfers in this year’s field, look back at a little bit of tournament history, and get the inside scoop on all things plaid.

Call it a Seve moment. And perhaps it’s fitting — on what would have been Sev ve Ballesteros’ 60th birthday, a Spaniard won the Masters from an impossible positio on. 1B

Sergio Garcia overcame a two-shot defficit with six holes to play and beat Justin Rose in na sudden-death playoff for his first majorr. 1B

JEFF SHAIN ON THE WIN

Trader Joe’s supporters in Bluffton aren’t ready to give up.

After years of pleading for the company to set up camp locally, an online petition has resurfaced to renew the efforts to woo the grocery and specialty store.

The closest Trader Joe’s is currently in Mount Pleasant, outside of Charleston. Bluffton and Hilton Head Island shoppers have been posting on social media, urging interested shoppers to request a new Lowcountry location directly on Trader Joe’s website.

Now that the Bi-Lo store on Burnt Church Road is set to close this summer to make way for a Hilton Head Island location, Trader Joe’s fans are thinking the spot would be ideal for a new store, social media posts suggest.

This call for Trader Joe’s isn’t new. In 2015, readers of The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette responded to a survey indicating that Costco and Trader Joe’s were the most desired national chains in the area. Wegmans and Aldi also made the list.

At the time, Rachel Broderick, a spokeswoman for Trader Joe’s, would only confirm that Bluffton, Hilton Head Island, Beaufort, Savannah and Pooler, Ga., were not in the company’s two-year plan for expansion. But two years have passed, and Bluffton residents remain determined.

The business model of Trader Joe’s is unique in that it doesn’t provide coupons or loyalty cards, and it doesn’t advertise or have a corporate social media presence, The Island Packet reported at the time. Since 80 percent of Trader Joe’s products are its own label, the privately held company is able to keep its prices low, despite offering specialty products.

. ...........................................................................

TIM DOMINICK tdominick@thestate.com

Tips for treatment

Congaree National Park rangers say poison ivy is more prevalent in the park than it was before.

A Don’t

scratch the blisters. Bacteria from under your fingernails can get into them and cause an infection.

The rash, blisters and itch normally disappear in several weeks without any treatment.

BY SAMMY FRETWELL

sfretwell@thestate.com COLUMBIA

A

n outdoorsman and hunter, Brian Medlin has stalked razor-tusked hogs, sharpclawed bears and big deer while rambling through the woods of South Carolina.

But none of those creatures scares him like poison ivy, and its cousin, poison oak. Last year, Medlin’s eye swelled shut and his face broke out in an itchy rash after he touched a toxic vine while preparing to hunt deer. It was a miserable experience Medlin fears he could have to deal with again.

“Poison ivy and poison oak are in places that used to not have it,’’ said Medlin, a Pickens resident who heads the S.C. Bear Hunters and Houndsmen Association. “Our yard never had it, then all of a sudden last summer, it was all over the place.’’

Medlin isn’t the only person who has noticed an increase in toxic plants.

As carbon dioxide levels rise and the earth’s climate changes, the number of patients seeking treatment for exposure to poison ivy and other poisonous plants has nearly doubled at the Medical University of South Carolina since 2013.

By Sept. 1 of last year, MUSC had

A Use

wet compresses or soaking in cool water to relieve the itch.

A Applying

over-the-counter topical corticosteroid preparations or taking prescription oral corticosteroids.

A Applying

topical OTC skin protectants – such as zinc acetate, zinc carbonate, zinc oxide and calamine – dry the oozing and weeping of poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac. Protectants such as baking soda or colloidal oatmeal relieve minor irritation and itching.

Aluminum acetate is an astringent that relieves rash.

Source: www.fda.gov .......................................................................

Joan McDonough: 843-706-8125, @IPBG_Joan

AP

A WALK IN THE WOODS OR A STROLL IN THE BACKYARD MIGHT WARRANT EXTRA ATTENTION THIS SUMMER AS POISON IVY GROWS IN A STATE WHERE MORE PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING FROM CONTACT WITH THE HATED PLANT. seen 335 patients with toxic plantrelated outbreaks, compared to 173 in 2013, according to data compiled for The State newspaper by MUSC. And those don’t include mild cases, university officials said.

“Anyone who comes through our doors has it pretty bad,’’ MUSC dermatologist Dirk Elston said, noting that many patients have palm-sized blisters, oozing rashes and swollen eyes. “The worst one I’ve seen is someone who took a chainsaw to a tree who was covered with poison ivy. This person had really widespread, horrible dermatitis.’’

It’s hard to say whether the increase in poison ivy cases at MUSC, a regional medical center in the Lowcountry, represents a widespread SEE IVY, 7A

SEE RIVER, 5A

TODAY’S DEAL

TODAY’S DEAL Carolina Wings

JAY KARR jkarr@islandpacket.com

Top 10 memorable moments from on and off the field, PAGE 28

Boeing S.C. exec tells how to build a life

EXCLUSIVE

BY SAMMY FRETWELL

JAY KARR jkarr@islandpacket.com

Grounds crew member Darren Smith cuts in a new hole on the putting green at Harbour Town Golf Links on Sunday as final preparations for the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing golf tournament are made. Tournament director Steve Wilmot said that everything will be ready for the 49th edition of the tournament, which kicks off Monday.

Be sure to bring sunscreen, though — extra sunlight outside the fairways might take some patrons by surprise.

BY JEFF SHAIN

COMING THURSDAY The Island Packet’s and The Beaufort Gazette’s Thursday editions include a 32-page special section on the Heritage tournament.

Read more about the golfers in this year’s field, look back at a little bit of tournament history, and get the inside scoop on all things plaid.

Who: Clemson (13-1) vs. Alabama (14-0) When: 8 p.m.

Monday Where: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Fla. TV: ESPN Line: Alabama by 61⁄2

State, SCE&G drop plan to dig up coal tar from Congaree

SNOW COULD BE ON THE WAY Forecasters say the Midlands could see snow or freezing rain Saturday.

In any event, it’s going to be cold. 3A

trip to the title game, and will play for it all again, against the Crimson Tide again, Monday night in Tampa, Fla. Members of the 1981 team have watched this squad closely, and some have tighter connections.

Benish, a former all-conference defensive tackle, is the uncle of current Clemson left tackle Mitch Hyatt. Bill Smith, a defensive end on the title team and current Clemson trustee, has a son, Cannon, on the roster.

The Tigers will try to unseat an Alabama team with a 26-game winning streak looking for its

............................................

National championship

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SPORTS

Strategy change sparks Eagles to win state title 1B

THE ISLAND PACKET

Fans of Trader Joe’s eye Bi-Lo site

WEATHER

Thanking those whose good deeds make life ‘a little easier’

$1.50

LONDON

croldán@thestate.com, sfretwell@thestate.com, ccope@thestate.com

SEE MCMASTER, 7A

MONDAY MAY 15 2017

New York Times

BY CYNTHIA ROLDÁN, SAMMY FRETWELL AND CASSIE COPE

Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster is in line to become governor by early next year – and if that happens, he would bring a notably different style as the state’s top elected leader.

A veteran of South Carolina politics since the early 1980s, the former attorney general is well known for a friendly, easygoing demeanor that both critics and supporters say likely would help him in dealing with the state Legislature on highly charged issues, such as a new roads bill.

McMaster, the country’s first statewide officeholder to endorse President-elect Donald Trump, has long been interested in becoming governor. Trump’s appointment of Gov. Nikki Haley as United Nations ambassador paves the way for that.

“He’ll be a terrific governor,” said former Republican Attorney General Charlie Condon.

Are Lowcountry alligators alligato dangerou us?

3A

RBC HERITAGE PRESENTED BY BOEING

OCT. 10, 2016

had been renting, officials have said. Also in the bedroom was the body of 25-year-old Jorge Luis Chavez.

Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said Tuesday that Chavez shot his way into the house in the Three Fountains community and shot Reynoso and their two children with a 9mm handgun before shooting himself. The

Dozens dead after explosions rock Egyptian churches on Palm Sunday 8A

THE ISLAND PACKET

Walloped by Matthew, Harbour Town Golf Links recovered and ready for national spotlight W

THESTATE.COM: Listen to the tense 911 call from a woman later killed in a domestic violence incident Sunday that ended with a suicide.

WORLD

Seven Beaufort County events to check out this month 3A

Professional Lawn Care & Preasure Washing Special deals on Soft Wash and Driveway Cleaning!

Get the deal of the day at dealsaver.com/columbia.

Business Best Bets Classifieds

8B 2A 11B

Comics Local Lotteries

9B 3A 2A

Nation Obituaries Television

4A 5B 10B

‘‘

But Palm Sunday tells us that ... it is the cross that is the true tree of life.

Pope Benedict XVI

Business Classified Comics

17A 7D 1E

In Depth Lottery Obituaries

1C 2A 4A

Opinion Sports TV

9A 1B 3C

‘‘

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Classified Comics Lottery

8B 6B 2A

Obituaries Opinion Puzzles

4A 6A 7B

Sports TV

1B 5B

‘‘

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

Lao Tzu

Classified Comics Lottery

8B 6B 2A

Obituaries Opinion Puzzles

4A 6A 7B

Sports TV

1B 5B

PAGE ONE DESIGN PORTFOLIO ALL DAILY DIVISION

WORLD: 7 Navy crewmen missing after collision, A15

NATION: America commemorates 9/11 attacks, A10 F O U N D E D 18 0 3

F O U N D E D 18 0 3

POSTANDCOURIER.COM

Charleston, S.C.

Charleston, S.C.

$1.00

Church seeks to balance worship, spotlight as it marks the second anniversary of the shooting that changed a city

HURRICANE IRMA

MONSTER SURGE Irma brings â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;incredible flooding,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; record-breaking tidal surge to Lowcountry as 6.7 million homes, businesses without power in storm-ravaged Florida MATTHEW FORTNER/STAFF

Thomas Galban visits Emanuel AME Church with his 3-year-old daughter Isabella on Wednesday. The New Jersey pastor and his family decided to stop in Charleston on the way to their Florida vacation with the church being an emotional destination.

BY JENNIFER KAY and DOUG FERGUSON Associated Press

carved streams on the roadside. Before noon, cars and an orange shipping container stashed in a Bi-Lo parking lot were f loating. Storm surge inundated the S.C. Highway 174 causeway, for a time cutting off residents who decided to ride out Tropical Storm Irma.

MIAMI â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Authorities sent an aircraft carrier and other Navy ships to help with search-and-rescue operations in Florida on Monday as a flyover of the hurricane-battered Keys yielded what the governor said were scenes of devastation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I just hope everyone survived,â&#x20AC;? Gov. Rick Scott said.

He said boats were cast ashore, water, sewers and electricity were knocked out, and â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think I saw one trailer park where almost everything wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t overturned.â&#x20AC;? Authorities also struggled to clear the single highway connecting the string of islands to the mainland.

Five deaths in Florida were blamed on Irma, along with two in Georgia.

At least 34 people were killed in the Caribbean as the storm closed in on the U.S. mainland.

The Keys felt Irmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s full fury when it came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane Sunday morning with 130 mph winds.

How many people defied evacuation orders and stayed during the storm was unclear.

Statewide, more than 6.7 million homes and businesses remained without power, and officials warned it could take weeks for electricity to be restored to everyone. More than 180,000 people huddled in shelters.

The scale of the damage inflicted

by Irma began to come into focus as the hurricane weakened to a tropical storm and finally pushed its way out of Florida, but not before dealing a parting shot by triggering severe flooding around Jacksonville in the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s northeastern corner.

Around midday Monday, Irma also spread misery into Georgia and South Carolina as it moved inland with winds at 50 mph, causing some flooding and power outages.

During its rainy, windy run up the full 400-mile length of Florida, Irma swamped homes, uprooted trees, f looded streets, snapped miles of power lines and toppled construction cranes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;How are we going to survive from here?â&#x20AC;? asked Gwen Bush, who waded through thigh-deep floodwaters outside her central Florida home to reach National Guard rescuers and get a ride to a shelter. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to happen now? I just donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know.â&#x20AC;?

Please see EDISTO, Page A3

Please see KEYS, Page A6

BRAD NETTLES/STAFF

An onslaught of waves crash into the High Battery in downtown Charleston on Monday. As Tropical Storm Irma moved into Georgia, the massive storm brought heavy flooding to parts of the Lowcountry.

Worst impacts of storm in S.C. felt along coast

Updates

BY TONY BARTELME tbartelme@postandcourier.com

Multimedia

In the worst tidal surge since Hurricane Hugo, Irmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wide, whirling bands thrashed coastal South Carolina on Monday with stinging rains and punishing floods that put vast swaths of the Lowcountry under water.

The storm tracked through Florida and Georgia, 200 miles away from Charleston as predicted, but its enormous reach still spawned tornadoes, downed power lines, killed at least one person and caused widespread disruption.

But it was Irmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surge that put it in Charlestonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s storied hurricane record book.

At its height, the storm generated a nearly 10-foot tide. That was 4 feet more than normal and among the worst tidal surges in 80 years after Hugo in 1989 and a storm in 1940. It was about 8 inches higher than last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hurricane Matthew.

Unlike Matthew, which lashed much of the state, Irmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worst impacts appeared to be on the coast. It brought high winds, including a 72 mph gust Please see STORM, Page A5

For continuous updates on Hurricane Irma and its impact on South Carolina, visit postandcourier.com or download The Post and Courier mobile app.

To see photos and videos of Mondayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wind, rain and storm surge, go to postandcourier.com.

Inside

Edisto â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;surrounded by waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; as tropical storm pounds S.C.

BY ANDREW KNAPP aknapp@postandcourier.com EDISTO BEACH â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Waves started crashing over the sand dunes and spilling into Palmetto Boulevard about 10 a.m. Monday, two hours before high tide.

A violent current pushed concrete parking dividers into the street and

BY JENNIFER BERRY HAWES // jhawes@postandcourier.com

D

rums beat, a trumpet bellows and voices rise up in jubilant greeting of the morning, Pentecost Sunday. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a joyful day in the Christian church. Yet, here at Emanuel AME, sorrow still clings to the atmosphere, even two years later.

Memories of the nine who died here linger everywhere. They rest in worn spots on the pews. They float from the choir loft and resound from the pulpit. Downstairs in the fellowship hall, where blood flowed that night, bullet holes remain in the walls

Multimedia For more photos and a video, go to postandcourier.com. and tiles.

The date â&#x20AC;&#x201D; June 17, 2015 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel very far away.

The deaths of the churchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s senior pastor, most of its ministers and several lifelong members affected every aspect of worship here. The losses still touch parishioners who remain alive, the ones left to discern

what Mother Emanuelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new normal feels and worships like.

Two years after a gunman killed nine people in Emanuelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fellowship hall, the church remains an active house of worship trying to find its footing with a new alter ego, that of a prominent stop on national civil rights tours and a destination for people from around the world who want to show sympathy and unity in the face of racial hatred.

Please see EMANUEL, Page A6

Inside Loved ones of shooting victims describe grief, love, legacies, A7 Charleston Forum looks at building a better future, A5

Police called to cool Folly Boat friction

WASHINGTON â&#x20AC;&#x201D; President Donald Trump acknowledged publicly for the first time Friday that he was under investigation in the expanding inquiry into Russian influence in the election, and he appeared to attack the integrity of the Justice Department official in charge of leading it.

In an early morning tweet, the president declared that he was â&#x20AC;&#x153;being investigatedâ&#x20AC;? for his de- Trump cision to fire James Comey, the former FBI director. And he seemed to accuse Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, of leading a â&#x20AC;&#x153;witch hunt.â&#x20AC;?

The tweet was the first explicit concession by the president that Robert Mueller, the special counsel for the Russia inquiry, had begun examining whether Trumpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s firing of Comey last month was an attempt to obstruct the investigation.

And Trumpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s apparent reference to Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia investigation because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from it, came just hours after an oddly worded statement from Rosenstein complaining about leaks in the case.

In the statement, Rosenstein wrote that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Americans should exercise caution before accepting as true any stories attributed to anonymous â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;officials,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; particularly when they do not identify the country â&#x20AC;&#x201D; let alone the branch or agency of government â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with which the alleged sources supposedly are affiliated.â&#x20AC;?

Please see TRUMP, Page A8

Heirs closer to reclaiming seized land Daniel Island property dispute began in 1998

Back-and-forth painting duel threatens civility at gathering spot "* "# ! "

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Complete 5-day forecast, B12

Early morning tweet confirms president under investigation

BY MICHAEL D. SHEAR and CHARLIE SAVAGE New York Times

BY BRENDA RINDGE brindge@postandcourier.com

Inside

BY ANDREW KNAPP aknapp@postandcourier.com For nearly three decades, civility reigned each time folks took a paint brush to the derelict boat along Folly Road and slathered on marriage proposals, birthday wishes and political statements.

Cooler heads prevailed through potentially divisive messages from Gamecocks and Tigers fans, from Barack Obama supporters, from those hoping to liberate Tom Brady from his oppressive â&#x20AC;&#x153;Deflategateâ&#x20AC;? suspension.

The tension that emerged this week, though, threatened to ruin the fun that ANDREW KNAPP/STAFF people have had with the Folly Beach landmark since Hurricane Hugo Chrys Blackstone paints over Confederate flags on the Folly Boat for the first time Thursday. The banners later reappeared and were Please see FOLLY, Page A4 painted over by someone else.

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Emanuel, God is with us

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These top producers serve your East Cooper needs.

SPORTS Sell-out crowd watches Tebow at Riley Park. C1

BUSINESS Amazon buys Whole Foods in $13.7 billion deal. B1

Bridge .............. B11 Crosswords .. B10,D8 Movies ............... B9 Business ............. B1 Dear Abby .......... B9 Obituaries .......... B4 Classifieds .......... D1 Editorials .......... A16 Sports .................C1 Comics.........B10, 11 Local .................. A2 Television ........... B8

Nearly two decades after the state took a deep water site on Daniel Island from its owners, the 16-acre tract is a step closer to being returned to the ownerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heirs.

The picturesque site on Clouter Creek was seized from the trust of J. Bradley Peecksen in 1998 after a protracted battle with the State Ports Authority. The trust was paid about $324,000.

At the time, the SPA planned to build a new marine cargo terminal complex on a 1,300-acre Daniel Island site cobbled together from various parcels, many taken by condemnation. Daniel Island was mostly undeveloped at the time.

The portâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plans were scrapped after an outcry from residents and politicians who didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want the traffic, noise and pollution the terminal would bring.

Please see HEIRS, Page A4

Stretch Zone N

$55 for 30-minute stretch therapy session by experienced, licensed trainer ($75 value). See A2

S

Monday, April 3, 2017

FINAL

FOUR

CHAMPS Joy overflows as Gamecocks best Mississippi State, bring programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first national title home to S.C.

Floridians take refuge in Charleston hotels Iconic Folly Boat washed away after 28 years. A3 Downtown residents find ways to keep busy. A3 Columbia area survives brunt of storm. A4 Hurricane worries not leaving with Irma. A5 Area businesses expect to reopen Tuesday. B1

BY MARY KATHERINE WILDEMAN mkwildeman@postandcourier.com MOUNT PLEASANT â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Wind and rain was whistling through the trees surrounding the Holiday Inn Express on Grands Avenue, but the mix of people in the waiting room regarded the hotel â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the Charleston area â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as a refuge Monday morning.

The Holiday Inn Express was full of Tropical Storm Irma refugees from Florida. It was booked WADE SPEES/STAFF to capacity Sunday, the general manager said, and just one room was left for Monday night.

Miami residents watch weather reports at a Mount Pleasant hotel. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We know the building has major damage, but we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Please see FLORIDIANS, Page A6 know about our apartment,â&#x20AC;? Monica Pasqualotto said.

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TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE — MONDAY, AUG. 21, 2017

Last-second score lifts Clemson to second national title

We’re on the path to totality

Are you

READY? Totality not only thing to watch for Monday

BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com

D

uring its last few minutes on land, the shadow of the moon will dash

across South Carolina and the “Great American Eclipse” will be gone forever.

Being a bit of an astronomy nerd, I have long looked forward to Monday’s eclipse.

Years ago, during the days of dial-up modems and Sumter Item 40-megabyte hard “eclipse expert” drives, I used the JIM HILLEY newly accessible internet to search for upcoming eclipses and discovered this one. I vowed I would somehow find a way to travel to see it. I believed even then it would be a huge event.

In 2014, I moved from New Mexico to Sumter, and once I got

ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF NASA

This illustration depicts the alignment of the sun, the moon and Earth, which only perfectly occurs about once every 18 months on average. around to checking how far I would have to travel to see the “Great American Eclipse,” I was astounded to learn I would only have to walk out my front door.

I tried, seemingly in vain, to stir up excitement among my co-workers and acquaintances in the Palmetto State.

A typical response was, “That’s very interesting, Jim.”

The only real response was, I became The Sumter Item’s “eclipse expert.”

As the moment neared, the eclipse hasn’t needed any help from me to generate excitement; It’s all over the newspapers, internet and TV. Nonetheless, I won’t let that stop

ECLIPSE TIMES IN SUMTER PARTIAL ECLIPSE: Starts at 1:14 p.m. and ends at 4:07 p.m.

TOTALITY: Starts at 2:43 p.m. and ends at 2:45 p.m. Duration of totality is 1 minute, 46 seconds

CLOSINGS BANKS / CREDIT UNIONS: • SAFE Federal Credit Union will close from 2:35 to 2:50 p.m.

• Bank of Clarendon will close from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.

• First Citizens will close from 2 to 3 p.m.

• The Citizens Bank will close the lobby from 2 to 3 p.m., but the drive thru will be open.

• BB&T, NBSC, Wells Fargo, South State Bank and AllSouth Federal Credit Union will be open their normal business hours.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICES: • Palmetto Tennis Center and The City of Sumter Aquatics Center both close at noon.

• All other City of Sumter offices and Sumter County offices will be open normal business hours.

• Lee County offices and City of Bishopville offices will be open normal business hours.

• Clarendon County offices and City of Manning offices will close at noon.

OTHER: • The Sumter County Library will be open normal business hours.

• The Harvin Clarendon County Library will be closed on Monday.

SEE EXCITEMENT, PAGE A13

Fido doesn’t need glasses

BY MELANIE SMITH melanie@theitem.com

INSIDE

By now, you’ve probably stocked up on the proper solar eclipse glasses, event T-shirts and hats and have mapped out a plan for your family to safely take in the once-in-a-lifetime ex-

• Clemson on top of the college football mountain once again. A3 • Thrilling final drive puts exclamation point on Watson’s career. C1 • Column: Swinney’s belief was driving force behind Tigers’ title. C1 • Notebook: Danny Ford named to College Football Hall of Fame. C1 MELANIE SMITH / THE SUMTER ITEM

perience Monday afternoon.

Wait. What about Mr. Wiggles?

Does he need glasses? Where would you get them? How to attach them to his noggin?

Relax. Fido likely won’t need them. That picture of my dog SEE ANIMALS, PAGE A13

Your dog won’t need solar eclipse glasses on Monday because animals don’t typically look at the sun, according to a meteorologist with The Weather Company.

The S.C. Emergency Management Division, on its Twitter feed, recently posted that it “does not know if LIZARDMEN become more active during a solar eclipse, but we advise that residents of Lee and Sumter counties should remain ever vigilant.”

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Lander President Larry Jackson at the groundbreaking of the Larry A. Jackson Library.

Larry Jackson was an academic, global traveler

SUBMITTED PHOTOS

By ARIEL GILREATH agilreath@indexjournal.com

F

or nearly two decades, Larry Jackson led the small school at the heart of Greenwood that would make a name for itself in South Carolina as Lander University.

Jackson, 92, died Tuesday night, but much of his life was spent dedicated to enriching the quality of education for students at not only Lander, but in schools across the world.

Prior to Lander, Jackson had a legacy of his own working in academia in Chile, Germany, India and around the world before landing in Greenwood in 1973.

A graduate of Wofford College in 1947, he had a special place in his heart for small, liberal arts colleges.

Oscar Page became provost and vice president for academic affairs at Lander College a few years after Jackson came on, and has remained friends with him ever since.

“He was a man of great compassion. He was a man who understood and gained great insight into numerous cultures throughout the world, and as a result, he had a good understanding of people in various parts of life,” Page said.

Born with a compassionate heart that led him to become a global citizen, it was this understanding and open-mindedness that made Jackson a unique leader at Lander, Page said.

“He truly understood servant leadership — leadership that puts others before yourself,” Page said.

Through 19 years as Lander’s leader, Jackson saw the school graduate its first class of nursing students with bachelor’s degrees and saw the college transform into a university.

He was chosen as Lander College’s ninth president after Don Herd retired in 1973, and the Florence native came to Greenwood with experience as director of Santiago College in Chile, provost of Callison College of the University of the Pacific — with a year of

See JACKSON, page 4A

Benjamin E. Mays, left, received an honorary Doctorate of Humanities at Lander President Larry Jackson’s inauguration ceremony.

A statue of Benjamin E. Mays was unveiled Saturday in Greenwood.

Mays’ legacy lives on

By CONOR HUGHES chughes@indexjournal.com Greenwood native son Benjamin E. Mays is considered by many to be the schoolmaster of the Civil Rights movement.

Among the civil rights leaders he mentored was the Rev. Otis Moss Jr. “We thank God for the life of Benjamin Elijah Mays, a prophet of freedom,” said the 82-yearold pastor, who credits Mays BENJAMIN with shaping his worldview. “He E. MAYS fought for freedom with every fiber of his being all of his life.”

In the midst of a public resurgence of white TODAY: Clouds and rain continue. High in the middle 50s.

FORECAST, 10A

supremacy — including a deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia — between 800 and 1,000 people gathered Saturday at the Benjamin E. Mays Historical Site for the unveiling of a statue of Mays and to remember his lifelong fight for equality.

Witness, from his earliest years, to the racial violence and oppression of the post-Reconstruction South, Mays went on to shape some of the greatest champions of justice in the nation’s history, including Martin Luther King Jr., serve as an adviser to three U.S. presidents and elevate black people throughout the country.

In 2004, the SC Palmetto Conservation Foundation bought Benjamin E. Mays’ childhood

CONOR HUGHES | INDEX-JOURNAL

See LEGACY, page 4A

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Charleston, S.C. $2.00

South Carolina’s great treasure hunts Fro Revolution From nary ry War W relics lics ic to pirate pirate and gangst an err stashes shh , Pa ttoo State offers Palm Palme rs many man a adve dventures from its ts rich ric hist his i oryy

Medicaid cuts would hurt needy S.C. kids Experts say GOP bill would trim 305,000 from rolls by 2036

BY LAUREN SAUSSER lsausser@postandcourier.com

Underdog Clemson dethrones Alabama in 35-31 victory

Since she was born, 11-year-old Tymia McCullough has received 45 blood transfusions and has been hospitalized 49 times, mostly at the Medical University of South Carolina Children’s Hospital.

Tymia was diagnosed in the womb with a form of sickle cell disease. The genetic blood disorder triggers debilitating episodes of intense pain. Sometimes it hurts so much, Tymia said, it feels like she’s being stabbed with sharp knives from the inside out.

“Anything can trigger her sickle cell crisis,” said her mom, Susie Pitts, of Georgetown.

It’s difficult to predict when another painful crisis will send Tymia back to MUSC, but it usually happens once a month. Her family is able Please see MEDICAID, Page A5

Law clerk in Roof trial alters course

BY JENNIFER BERRY HAWES jhawes@postandcourier.com

BY PRENTISS FINDLAY || pfindlay@postandcourie urier.com

A

mosaic saii of gangsters, pirates, mil military battles, historic plantations and shipwrecks make South Carolina a fertile ground forr reli rel elic hunters.

Finds Fin nds range from ancient coins in Berkele Ber eley County to Civil War cannon balls on ball n Folly Beach.

News stories from the 1950s tell of Ne folks ks dig igging holes on Isle of Palms in search rch off $90,000 from a New York bank heist.

One of th the suspected robbers, Duke

Connelly, lived well on IOP with another fugitive, Elmer “Trigger” Burke, who was wanted for murder.

The story of the beach fugitives fascinates retired attorney Nicolas Lempesis, who was 10 years old when Burke was captured on Folly.

Lempesis has sifted through thousands of pages of government documents to get a better picture of Burke, his life here and the mysteries he took to the grave, including the whereabouts of Connelly.

He’s found no evidence the FBI was

looking oo here for or ccash from the bankk he heist. t.

“If Iff anybod anybody did find any money, ey, tthey hey’re ey ree not going goi to say anything,” hee sa said. id.

Enrichi chingg historyy chi Relic hunte hunter hu Hal McGi cGirtt of Columb olumb umbia has found d hi his share of valu aluable able historic h sto ic artifacts in the t Lowco owcountr untry try, including dingg city of Cha Ch harleston rle Free Bad Badge dge No No. o. 320 20 issued ar arou oun nd 1783.

83. Itt iden identified d the he wearer as a free perso son n off color. co .

Pleasee ssee ee TREASURE UREE, Page A4

Christopher Bryant sat in his usual seat raised above a federal courtroom last fall when Dylann Roof walked toward a podium before him.

Bryant, a black law clerk for the presiding judge, knew well the racist ideology the self-avowed white supremacist used Bryant to explain why he killed nine worshippers at Emanuel AME Church. Long before Roof’s federal hate crimes began, Bryant had begun traversing racist websites like Stormfront, studying the ways its users communicated and Please see BRYANT, Page A6

CHAD DUNBAR ILLUSTRATION/STAFF AND DREAMSTIME IMAGES

Inside SPORTS

DAVID J. PHILLIP Associated Press

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney holds the championship trophy after the NCAA college football playoff championship game against Alabama early Tuesday in Tampa, Fla.

Four pages of coverage from the Clemson-Alabama national championship game: SPORTS, 1B-4B

THESTATE.COM: Photo galleries and post-game videos from Tampa; the scene and the reaction at Clemson

Veterans find ‘peace and innocence’ under water

Jacob Park’s long road from Stratford to Iowa State. C1

Regular dives with sharks, rays at Myrtle Beach aquarium therapy for those coping with PTSD

BUSINESS

BY MARY KATHERINE WILDEMAN mkwildeman@postandcourier.com

Recouping money spent on gas tax increase. D1

Video To see a video, go to postandcourier.com

MYRTLE BEACH — Lou Krieger looks down through the lens of a scuba Krieger, 68, served as a cryptogramask and watches the sea life. In the pher in the Army Security Agency silence of the fish tank, he watches the in 1968 and 1969. Since Vietnam, stingrays’ fluttering wings. They come he has coped with substance abuse, up to swim against him near the sur- uncontrollable rage, flashbacks and face, their fins sliding over his hands. lack of sleep.

He petitioned Ripley’s Aquarium GRACE BEAHM ALFORD/STAFF The sounds of sirens, trucks and of Myrtle Beach for permission to gunshots — the noise of war that use one of their tanks for therapy for Veterans Skyler Burgess and Lou Krieger, with the Myrtle Beach PTSD has stayed with him for almost 50 group, interact with stingrays Wednesday with aquarist Shannon Please see PTSD, Page A5 Hughes at Ripley’s Aquarium.

STATE Spike in gun deaths mirrors nationwide trend. A3

Charleston RiverDogs Half price RiverDogs tickets.

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TODAY’S DEAL Columbia Classical Ballet Company $13 for $26 Ticket!

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Chance of storms.

High 92. Low 76.

Complete 5-day B6

Arts & Culture...................G1 Classifieds ........................F1 Home & Real Estate..........E1 Nation/World .................A11 Sports ..............................C1 Books ...............................G4 Crossword ........................G9 Horoscope ......................G10 Obituaries ........................B4 Sudoku.............................G9 Business & Tech................D1 Dear Abby ......................G10 Movies .............................G5 Opinion ............................B1 Television .......................G10

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TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE

Awe-inspiring

FIRST PLACE

People across Lowcountry and S.C. come together to gaze at sky in wonder as eclipse puts on a show — clouds, lightning and all

WADE SPEES/STAFF

A layer of clouds partially veils the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge during Monday afternoon’s solar eclipse.

BY GLENN SMITH and TONY BARTELME The Post and Courier

W

e knew where it would go, this moon shadow.

Across America. Oregon to Charleston in about 90 minutes. A total eclipse of the sun.

For a few moments, it brought millions of people together. People looking skyward, pointing skyward, looking around at the darkness and at one another.

The suddenness of totality was startling, perhaps because the partial eclipse before and after took longer, in this case more than an hour. And then it happened: Darkness fell in an abrupt and powerful way. Birds stopped chirping. Bugs stopped making noise. And, along the shadow’s path, from coast to coast, cheers and oohs erupted, sounds of memories being made.

Please see AWE, Page A5

Chance of storms.

High 88. Low 76.

Complete 5-day forecast, B10

Bridge ...............B9 Business ............B1 Classifieds ......... C5 Comics............B8-9

LEROY BURNELL/STAFF

A crowd gathered at The Battery to view the eclipse as it passed over downtown Charleston.

MORE ECLIPSE COVERAGE Inside

Online

Multimedia

A roundup of reports from Folly Beach to 240,000 miles above Earth. Pages A4-A6

For eclipse coverage throughout the state, go to postandcourier. com/solar_eclipse.

To see a collection of eclipse photo galleries and videos, go to postandcourier.com.

Crosswords B8, C10 Dear Abby .........B7 Editorials ...........A8 Local .................A2

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Charles Towne Landing $30 for four adult admissions and four audio tours ($60 value).

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Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Season extension T

his is not my typical behavior. Usually, I’m waiting on pins and needles to escort the Christmas tree out of the house — thinking, “Though it was nice while it lasted, I’m ready to move on with my life.”

But this year I’m biding my time and letting the Christmas spirit linger.

One of the reasons for my recent change of heart is that we COMMON were gone for most of GROUND | the holidays.

STEPHANIE We headJADRNICEK ed south of the border and spent a week in Costa Rica. And although we saw the occasional holiday décor during our vacation, Christmas just wasn’t quite the same in the tropics.

Perhaps it was the humidity or the palm trees, but something seemed out of place.

To remedy the brevity of our seasonal celebration, I believe we’re due a Christmas extension. And I can tell my daughter feels the same way.

So even though it’s well past New Year’s, our Leyland cypress is still standing strong in our living room, and it isn’t anywhere near ready to give up the fight. Living up to its reputation, this tree has barely shed a needle over the last month, which makes me a little more lenient about granting it a longer stay.

Another reason for this year’s season extension is we just finally caught up from our travels. On average, for every week of vacation it seems to take one week to get our heads above water again.

There have been a few moments when I’ve ambitiously retrieved the ornament boxes from the closet and threatened to begin the dismantling process, however one look at my daughter’s face and I simply can’t deny her request for one more day.

In a sense, neither one of us wants the Christmas tree to go. This is her senior year in high school and, although she’ll come home from college for Christmas (at least she’d better), it’s the last tree of an era for our family — when we all lived under the same roof all year long.

So unlike other years, when I’ve said the Christmas tree was taking up too much space, like an ex-boyfriend who overstayed his welcome, I can barely bring myself to remove a single ornament.

Who knows? Maybe we’ll conduct an experiment to see how long we can keep the darn thing alive and redecorate it with eggs and bunnies for Easter.

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Lifestyle if l Editor: di Stephanie h i Jadrnicek d i k | stephanie@upstatetoday.com h i d | (864) 973-6686 Submit community news, calendar events, celebrations and obituaries to life@upstatetoday.com

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

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BY STEPHANIE JADRNICEK THE JOURNAL

CLEMSON — Born as a way for troops to finance activities, the sale of cookies by Girl Scouts had humble beginnings.

The first cookie sale occurred in 1917, when the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Okla., baked cookies and sold them in the high school cafeteria as a service project.

As the Girl Scout Cookie Program developed and evolved, it became a vehicle for teaching five essential skills — goal setting, decision making, money management, communication and business ethics. And as early as the 1950s, the program enabled collaboration and integration among girls and troops of diverse backgrounds as they worked together toward common goals.

On Monday, Girl Scouts of South Carolina-Mountains to Midlands announced the movement-wide celebration of the 100th season of Girl Scouts selling cookies. To commemorate this banner year, the highly anticipated Girl Scout S’mores cookies are now available, joining classics like Thin Mints and Trefoils.

Four cookie rallies will be held on Saturday from noon-2 p.m., one of which will take place at Clemson United Methodist Church. The orga-

SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL

Days for Girls has provided sanitary kits and health education to more than 640,000 women and girls in more than 100 countries since 2008.

Changing lives worldwide

STEPHANIE JADRNICEK is an award-winning columnist and feature writer. She may be reached at stephanie@upstatetoday.com.

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CLEMSON — n the small Cajun town of Breaux Bridge, La. — also known as the world’s crawfish capital — 3-year-old Hunter What: Hunter Hayes Hayes broke into the music Where: Clemson’s scene with his toy accordion.

Littlejohn Coliseum His grandmother gave him the instrument at the age of 2, and he never When: Fridayy at 8 p p.m.; doors open at 7 p.m. put it down.

Whenever he ventured out to Cost: Tickets start at restaurants, fairs or festivals with his $17 parents, he always carried along his For more: Visit squeezebox — because in Louisiana, ticketmaster.com live music lies around every corner.

Unlike many country artists, artists Hayes cut his teeth on Cajun music, learning his first songs in French.

“I started sitting in with this band when I was about 3 or 4 years old — I was playing my little toy accordion on the side of the stage, and they asked me if I wanted to come up and play,” said Hayes, who will perform at Clemson University’s Littlejohn Coliseum on Friday night. “My dad told them the songs I knew, and they pulled me up on stage.”

The band liked what they heard, so they told Hayes’ dad about all their upcoming gigs. By the time Hayes turned 7, he was fronting for the band — playing up to two hours in their shows.

About the same time, he started picking up the guitar.

He learned by ear, listening to the local musicians, then he

Seneca volunteers produce hygiene kits for girls in need

BY STEPHANIE JADRNICEK THE JOURNAL

O SENECA —

n the second Wednesday of every month, a group of women meets in the pastor’s hall at Seneca Presbyterian Church. A few women sit behind sewing machines, a couple stand behind ironing boards and six to eight gather around a table of brilliantly patterned fabric.

But they’re not making dresses for their daughters or granddaughters — they have a much larger mission in mind.

“We’re making washable, reusable feminine hygiene products for girls and women in third-world countries, where either these products are unavailable or it’s too difficult to dispose of disposables,” Days for Girls Seneca team co-leader Jan Palmer said.

Celeste Mergens, a Washington Mormon, founded Days for Girls in 2008 while working to improve

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nization’s director of marketing and communications, Karen Kelly, said the rallies help excite the girls about cookie sales.

“The Girl Scout Cookie Program is about so much more than delicious cookies — it’s about teaching girls business skills,” she said. “The girls will have some

fun at the rallies, but they’ll also learn how to count change and communicate with customers — important skills that will get them through the rest of their lives, not just this cookie season.”

The program teaches financial literacy. Girls learn the essential skills they need to become effective leaders, manage finances and gain self-sufficiency and confidence in handling money.

“To think that for 100 years Girl Scouts have been

Hunter Hayes went from playing Cajun music on a toy accordion to winning new artist of the year honors at the 2012 Country Music Awards in less than 25 years. He’ll perform at Clemson’s Littlejohn Coliseum on Friday at 8 p.m.

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SATURDAY

ART

SEE COOKIES, PAGE B4

To commemorate the 100th season of Girl Scout Cookies, the highly anticipated Girl Scout S’mores cookies are now available, joining classics like Thin Mints and Trefoils.

p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. blueridgeartscenter.com

winner; 20 percent to the Ladies Auxiliary Post 6830 to help our veterans. (864) 247-8523 CAR SHOW at GHS Cancer Institute, 298 Memorial Drive, Seneca, to support March of Dimes 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. $10 entry fee per car.

Entry can be paid in advance or

to continue National Juried Photography Exhibition. Running concurrently is the Member Challenge, “Green Eggs and Ham” and watercolors by JoAnne Anderson who will teach a 3-day drawing and painting workshop April 11-13. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Friday 1-4

ART GALLERY on Pendleton Square grand reopening April 14 6-8 p.m., featuring photographer and new member Larry Bennett.

Free and open to the public. The gallery is now at its new location 150 Exchange St., Pendleton.

Artgalleryps.org THE ARTS Center of Clemson is pleased to host the Pendleton Square Artists Co-op in the Main Gallery for the Interconnections Exhibit. Pendleton Square Artist

Co-op work will be on exhibit and on sale at The ARTS Center Gallery at 212 Butler Street in Clemson through March 31. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

ARTS OFF the Alley, 123 N Townville St., Seneca, “encaustic birds nest with wax and heat April 11 at 2 p.m. $55; and multi media birds nest April 18 at 2 p.m. $45.

PICKENS COUNTY Museum of Art and History, corner of Highway 178 at 307 Johnson St., Pickens, open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursdays,

9 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; and Saturdays, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Free, donations welcomed. (864) 898-5963 LEE GALLERY, Lee Hall, Clemson University with changing exhibits Mon.-Thurs., 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and Sun., 2 p.m.-5 p.m. (864) 6563899 or www.clemson.edu/caah/ leegallery.

MUSEUMS BERTHA LEE Strickland Cultural Museum, 208 W. South 2nd St., Seneca, open Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. On exhibit

SEE GOING OUT, PAGE B2 SAGE JADRNICEK | THE JOURNAL

Put yyour moneyy where your y house is.

Shop

First

Annette Strite’s sewing skills are in high demand on the second Wednesday of every month when the Days for Girls Seneca team meets to make its products.

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Although Days for Girls Seneca team members Jan Crismore and Charlena Gaines are working hard, they’re also enjoying each other’s company.

Contact: Teresa Taylor, ttaylor@postandcourier.com

T

he chickens at Keegan-Filion Farm in Walterboro are smaller, leaner, meaner and take longer to grow than birds at industrial-size farms. For Marc Filion, the farm’s co-owner, the key payoff is in the taste.

But it’s not only taste that sets Filion’s chickens apart. Filion does not use antibiotics prescribed for human infections in his chickens the way large poultry producers often do. More antibiotics are sold for use in food-producing animals than for KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN people, the Food and Drug Administration reports, and experts warn that conKentucky Fried Chicken committed in tinuing to overuse the drugs could make April to no longer buy chickens from them stop working altogether. producers who use antibiotics routinely “We did not want to contribute to that,” in their livestock.

Filion said. “We wanted to give people an alternative.” in food-producing animals. More research Soon, a major chicken buyer will follow needs to be done, the MUSC scientists suit. Kentucky Fried Chicken recently concluded, but consumers should be conannounced in April that by the end of cerned about salmonella when buying 2018, they will no longer purchase chicken food treated with antibiotics. raised with antibiotics important to huBulsiewicz said he broaches the topic of man medicine. antibiotics with most of his patients. He William Bulsiewicz, a specialist in said research is beginning to show the bacdiseases of digestive organs, said KFC’s teria in our gut is important to health. Anchange shows how consumers have begun tibiotics can wipe out healthy bacteria in to be more conscious of their food. the gut, he said. So he encourages patients “People are becoming increasingly aware to mind their grocery list, making sure to of the importance of food in health,” include produce as well as antibiotic- and Bulsiewicz said. hormone-free meat.

Some statehouses have taken notice, too: Farmers use antibiotics to promote aniMaryland’s legislature on Tuesday banned mals’ growth and ward off infection when the use of antibiotics in animals that are livestock lives in close quarters. Filion said not sick. he rarely needs antibiotics. He gives his Infections resistant to antibiotics make poultry fresh air and time to grow, and about 2 million Americans sick every year they seldom get sick. and kill about 23,000, according to Pew Filion produces about 15,000 chickens Charitable Trusts. That amounts to a cost per year at his farm. By contrast, largeof $26 billion annually and 8 million adscale farms can hold as many as 20,000 ditional days spent in the hospital. birds in one chicken house, he said.

A literature review published recently by KFC’s commitment will require many the Medical University of South Carolina suppliers to change their practices, said searched for evidence of a link between foodborne salmonella and antibiotic use Please see KFC, Page B2

neighbor of mine was recently told he has a devastating neurological disorder that is usually fatal within a few years of diagnosis. Though a new drug was recently approved for the illness, treatments may only slow progression of the disease for a time or extend life for maybe two or three months.

He is a man JANE of about 60 BRODY I’ve long considered the quintessential Mr. Fix-it, able to repair everything from bicycles to bathtubs. Now he is facing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, a disease that no one yet knows how to fix.

I can only imagine what he is going through because he does not want to talk about it.

However, many others similarly afflicted have openly addressed the challenges they faced, though it is usually up to friends and family to ex-

press them and advocate for more and better research and public understanding.

ALS attacks the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movements, like chewing, walking, breathing, swallowing and talking. It is invariably progressive. Lacking nervous system stimulation, the muscles soon begin to weaken, twitch and waste

away until individuals can no longer speak, eat, move or even breathe on their own.

Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that between 14,000 and 15,000 Americans have ALS, which makes it sound like a rare disease, but only because life expectancy is so short. ALS occurs Please see ALS, Page B2

T

he small white blobs lining Juliana Falk’s second floor ceiling looked as much like marshmallows as anything, but about three years ago, her contractor David Hoffman explained to her that underneath all that paint, there was something else.

The rest is history, more specifically history being revealed.

That fateful conversation gave Falk a new insight into her home’s storied past, launching an ongoing labor that is part restoration, part research project. ROBERT Falk and Hoffman both joke BEHRE their work has Architecture & gone beyond Preservation a hobby to a passion, or even an obsession.

Falk also began a blog on Facebook and Instagram, dubbed “The Accidental Preservationist,” and has more than 1,000 people following her ongoing work at the house.

Hoffman knew that underneath two centuries of accumulated paint layers were detailed acanthus leaves, and he scraped off the paint to reveal one or two. Hoffman told her if she didn’t like what she saw, he could just goop paint back on top.

“I truly had no idea. I just thought it was going to look like little threelobed blobs. That got me thinking about the house in a totally different way,” she says. “There was going to be no gooping of paint and pretending I never saw it.”

Today, the second floor parlor has been stripped down to the original materials dating to its construction in 1810, when merchant and French Simon Chancognie (prounounced SHANK-a-nay) had it constructed on Laurens Street, likely with a good view of Charleston Harbor. Only a few leaves remain in a marshmallow-like form.

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ne of my New Year’s resolutions last year, to become a beekeeper, has turned out to be among the best I’ve ever made.

The seeds of my resolution were sown when I wrote a story on the local response to the honeybee crisis, “Abuzz about bees,” published April 3, 2015.

Through that, I got to know some of DAVID the resourceQUICK ful people in the local beekeeping community and toyed with becoming a beekeeper myself.

When my good friend and housemate at the time, Virginie Ternisien, attended the Charleston Area Beekeepers Association’s

More than 20 million children receive free or reduced-price lunches during the school year and the nonprofit group Feeding America estimates 80 percent of them will lose access to those meals during the summer break.

To fill that void, the Medical University of South Carolina will participate in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program and offer free breakfast and lunch at two sites on campus to children throughout the summer.

Last year alone, the hospital and its food service partner Sodexo served more than 5,100 free meals to children.

The meals will be served on a first-come, first-serve basis at MUSC Rutledge Tower, 135 Rutledge Avenue, from 7-10 a.m. and from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday

Christmas Party last year, she gave me the nudge to go for it.

I needed the nudge because beekeeping seemed to be a big, challenging responsibility — housing and caring for bees — and that it had the potential for failure and heartbreak.

All that turned out to be true but well worth the risks and rewards, so far.

Building a foundation Like many New Year’s resolutions, my foray into beekeeping started in January. That’s when I took CABA’s intensive, two-day course held on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend every year.

The next course will be held 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Jan. 14-15 at the MUSC Gazes Auditorium, located at Doughty Street and Courtenay

Drive. The course costs $75, which includes a book and memberships to the local and state beekeepers associations.

Initially, I thought that spending 16 hours in two days learning about bees was overkill and that I may be nodding off in the latter hours of the class. Not the case.

Like many subjects, learning a little made me realize how much more I needed to know. I even wondered if I passed a test given at the end of the course. (I did, but missed more questions than I should have.)

Bees and the threats that conspire against them are more complex than one may imagine. And beekeeping is part science, part craft and part improvisation. Veterans often note that if you ask 10 bee-

Please see QUICK, Page E4

Please see BEHRE, Page E5

Resolutions for a new gardening year

BY LAUREN SAUSSER lsausser@postandcourier.com

PAUL ROGERS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

‘The Accidental Preservationist’ details work on Facebook blog

Beekeepers often refer to their bees as “my girls” because the worker bees are female.

Hospital to offer breakfast, lunch through mid-August

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, affects between 14,000 and 15,000 Americans, but it is a disease that no one yet knows how to fix.

Restoring home a passion

One New Year’s resolution that turned out to ‘bee’ sweet

BY MARY KATHERINE WILDEMAN mkwildeman@postandcourier.com

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THE BART Garrison Agricultural Museum, 120 History Lane, Pendleton, is open for tours Thursdays and Fridays from noon to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call (864) 646-7271 or visit www.bgamsc.org for current hours and admission prices.

Group and school tours arranged

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LEROY BURNELL/STAFF

A new drug for ALS, but the MUSC giving free meals to diagnosis still remains dire area children this summer

through Dec. 22, Churchfolk. Exhibit suitable for all ages. Call (864) 710-9994 or email blscmuseum@ gmail.com. Like us on facebook: facebook.com/culturalmuseum.

Inside Five Questions, G2 Books, G4 Travel, G5

The fireplace mantel in the drawing room of 48 Laurens St. is made from King of Prussia marble, and its contrasting colors are unique among Lowcountry mantels from the early 19th-century period.

SEE GIRLS, PAGE B4 If you want to place your entertainment calendar listings: Fax: 882-2381, attn. Pam Mail: The Journal, P. O. Box 547, Seneca, SC 29679 E-mail: life@upstatetoday.com We accept listings for the following events: art, family fare, festivals, museums, music and theater.

ARTS & CULTURE & VALUES LIFE {FAITH G1 Sunday, May 14, 2017

KFC latest to commit to remove antibiotics from its chicken supply

Country star Hunter Hayes coming to Clemson Friday

SEE HAYES, PAGE B2

Nearly 1 million Girl Scouts participate in the Girl Scout Cookie Program, generating nearly $800 million in cookie sales during the average season. One hundred percent of the net revenue raised through the Girl Scout Cookie Program stays with the local council and troops.

Contact: Teresa Taylor, ttaylor@postandcourier.com

off the menu

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Program marks milestone with new S’mores cookies

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E1 Sunday, January 1, 2017

Inside Transactions, E2 House Plan, E6

Contact: Lauren Sausser, lsausser@postandcourier.com

antibiotics

BY STEPHANIE JADRNICEK

years of selling cookies

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Taking

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B1 Monday, June 5, 2017

Inside Obituaries, B4 Television, B5 Comics, B6-7

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ike many people, I make a few resolutions each new year. Here are some gardening resolutions guaranteed to yield results, even if they aren’t followed 100 percent of the time.

Pull weeds when small PHOTO BY ANTHONY KEINATH

Fall-planted snapdragons will bloom during winter when temperatures remain above 50 degrees, the critical temperature for buds to form.

Always. For example, henbit, wild geranium and mouse-ear chickweed can be eliminated from the yard with one season

More of what works

ANTHONY KEINATH of diligent weeding. Choose one weed this year and pull up every one you see, before it flowers.

Next year, target another invader.

You can’t have too many snapdragons, foxgloves, or daffodils, at least I can’t. I usually wish I had bought more foxglove plants to set out. My ‘Dalmatian Purple’ foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) are flourishing in freshly dug, moist soil amended with compost and slow-release fertilizer. The largest plant already is 18 inches in diameter from leaf tip to leaf tip,

a record size for this time of year.

I should have planted at least five or six instead of just three.

Less of what doesn’t work Local gardening legend and author Emily Whaley gave plants two years to “make it” in her garden, or else they ended up on the trash heap when she renovated her garden each fall. I am Please see KEINATH, Page E5

CHRIS HUBER/EXTRA CHILL

Pat Magwood of the Charleston-based band Whitehall performing last month at Rex Fest, hosted by The Royal American.

CHRIS HUBER/EXTRA CHILL

MATTHEW DOBIE/ SPECIAL TO THE POST AND COURIER

The first Sofar concert in Charleston featured three local bands playing in a photographer’s studio.

In the

HED HI MEDIA HED HI MEDIA

Diaspoura played in a Lab Sessions series this spring.

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harleston’s popular music scene continues to show signs of dynamic growth. A new venue, new record label, new booking company and new short-term concert series all indicate that the snowball is gaining size and velocity as it rolls along.

What seems to be happening — finally, some would say — is a building up of necessary “infrastructure.” It’s one thing to have a bunch of decent bands in town playing in bars and clubs; it’s quite another to have recording studios, small and notso-small concert venues, booking agencies, marketing companies, record labels and community advocates willing to take risks on lesser-known

talent.

A new record company venture, Real South Records, has stepped into the void left by Hearts & Plugs after a dustup last year over a racist joke and a sudden determination to confront a lack of diversity at popular music venues.

Real South is run by D.J. Edwards, an audio engineer who has worked at Charleston Stage and who produces “The Fringe” podcast. The label, which launched in October 2016, has signed 14 South Carolina-based musicians/bands.

“We stand for artistic expression and diversity in music,” the label says in its mission statement.

“We recognize our roles as spokespersons in our respective communities, and therefore actively Please see SCENE, Page G8

If you go WHAT: Murias Entertainment and The Royal American present “Summer Shindig,” with Jordan Igoe, Riot Stares, Grace Joyner, Dumb Doctors, ET Anderson, Zack Mexico, The Very Hypnotic Soul Band, Young Mister, The Artisinals, Matt Monday, Futurebirds WHEN: 5-11 p.m. June 24 WHERE: The Royal American, COST: $25 general admission; $35 VIP MORE INFO: https:// www.muriasentertainment.com/

A young potter ready for his close-up Down syndrome no deterrent for Christian Royal’s talent

BY DEANNA PAN dpan@postandcourier.com Christian Royal stands in the corner of his studio, his hands buried in the pockets of his jeans, while a makeup artist smooths his hair with her fingers and his brother secures a lavalier microphone under his shirt.

“Now you’re famous,” his brother whispers, and Christians salutes him like a soldier.

Bobby Nicholson of the Greenville-based band Silvermane performed last month at Rex Fest, hosted by The Royal American in Charleston.

ggroove

New e labels, projects, venues signs of Charleston’s growing music arena

BY ADAM PARKER aparker@postandcourier.com

Lab Sessions hosted the Charleston and Columbia band Infinitikiss in March.

Christian is a potter. His studio — a bright, spacious set of rooms on the lower level of his parents’ house overlooking the Ashley River — is a sacrosanct place, typically reserved for Christian and his mother.

On a recent Tuesday in May, a team of producers has taken PROVIDED over the West Ashley home, hauling lamps, cameras and Christian Royal has become a skilled potter, specialtripods, spouting directions izing in high-fired stoneware. The young potter will make his TV debut this summer on INSP’s “HandPlease see POTTER, Page G5 crafted America.”

Columbia’s live music scene finds new vibe

BY JORDAN LAWRENCE jordanl@free-times.com

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OLUMBIA — Audrai Holloman has been around the entertainment business for a long time. Having worked at Columbia’s Township Auditorium for two decades in a variety of positions before taking the top job of executive director in 2012, he’s more accustomed than most to meeting high-profile entertainers. But some encounters still loom large.

Sitting behind his desk in the basement offices of the Township, he recalls a recent sold-out performance by the horn-stoked classic rock band Chicago. But meeting the members of that legendary Please see COLUMBIA, Page G7

Faith and higher education go together for evangelicals

BY PAUL BOWERS pbowers@postandcourier.com D.J. Curl wanted nothing more to do with Christian education after he graduated from Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy south of Atlanta in McDonough, Georgia.

He had spent his life attending Christian schools, and it left a bad taste in his mouth. Too much hypocrisy, too much legalism, not enough faith in action.

Plus, he wanted to party.

But when scholarship offers at other schools fell through, he was left with only Curl

Please see FAITH, Page G6

FILE/PAUL SAKUMA/AP

Many children lose access to meals during the summer months. MUSC will offer free breakfast and lunch through mid-August to all children. through Friday, starting June 5 through Aug. 22.

Meals will also be available for free during the same times and same dates at the Ashley River Tower Cafeteria, 25 Courtenay Drive, and the University Hospital Caff eteria, 65 Ashley Ave.

Free meals will not be available inside Rutledge Tower on July 4.

For more information about the free meal program, visit www.musc.edu/kids-eat-free.

Reach Lauren Sausser at 843-937-5598.

Simply neighborly.

New homes from the $270s.

CARNESCHARLESTON.COM

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GOOOD O Contact the Lifestyle Editor at lifestyle@upstatetoday.com or call (864) 882-2375 Submit community news, calendar events, celebrations and obituaries to life@upstatetoday.com

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SPECIAL SECTION: TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE S1 || SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2017

THE ECLIPSE ACROSS AMERICA

CHAD DUNBAR ILLUSTRATION/STAFF AND DREAMSTIME IMAGES

A guide to inside

BY HANNA RASKIN || hraskin@postandcourier.com

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t some point between paying the bill at the 11th stop on my South Carolina fried chicken tour and placing my standard order (two piece, dark) at the 12th, I came up with my grand theory of fried chicken.

As other fried chicken chroniclers have noted, fried chicken is one of the most acceptable items in the culinary universe. And by acceptable, they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean barely satisfactory: Fried chicken is welcome just about everywhere, from public park party shelters, where it arrives by the bucket, to elite dining rooms, where itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s served with Champagne. Appreciating fried chicken is a habit that transcends nationality, race, culture and class.

And hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why I think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so, at least in the United States. The standard American table is set with two things, other than cutlery:

As the cusp of the sun grazes the rim of the moon, diamondlike beads of light flare out.

These are Bailyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beads, sun shining through the gaps in the jagged peaks at the moonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s horizon. The beads are just one of the freaky, otherworldly wonders you could experience during the rare total solar eclipse that puts Charleston and much of South Carolina in its shadowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s path starting at 2:38 p.m. Monday. A million or more people are expected to converge on the state for this celestial event.

Interactive map

Salt and pepper. In many homes and restaurants, those shakers are joined at the outset of a meal by a basket of bread, an ancient way of saying â&#x20AC;&#x153;welcome.â&#x20AC;?

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the recipe for hospitality. It also happens to be the recipe for fried chicken. Beyond poultry, all the iconic dish requires is salt, pepper and flour. Fried chicken is clearly the ultimate symbol of what it means to share a meal.

Plus, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ridiculously delicious, which is why I set out to find the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best examples of the genre. This project was inspired (and blessed) by Garden & Gun magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recently departed food editor, Jed Portman, who earlier this year compiled a massive statePlease see BACKROADS, Page D5

Â&#x201E; The five best fried chickens in South Carolina, D6-7 Â&#x201E; Another dozen great fried chickens, D8-12 Also Â&#x201E; Tips for taking your own fried chicken crawl, D5 Â&#x201E; Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fueling gas station fried chicken, D5 Â&#x201E; How Yogi Bear chain became one, D6 Â&#x201E; There are many styles for Maryland Fried Chicken, D12

To plot your own fried chicken tour from any location, find an interactive map at postandcourier.com/fried-chicken

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Going to great heights to film the eclipse

South Carolina will have a front-row seat

Shedding light on the science and myth

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re over the moon for a celestial show

Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s had more eclipses in S.C., world

Across the U.S., dozens of balloons with special equipment will livestream the eclipse from 17 miles above Earth.

As you settle in for the show, expect to see some unusual sights â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to protect your eyes.

While eclipses have fueled dramatic stories and legends around the world, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve also given a boost to science.

Cities across S.C. and other places in the U.S. eclipse path are pulling out all the stops to celebrate this rare event.

A look at the total solar eclipses South Carolina has experienced over the last 2,000 years. Plus, how continents compare.

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Chad Dunbar The Post and Courier

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THIRD PLACE

Chad Dunbar The Post and Courier

SECOND PLACE

Chad Dunbar The Post and Courier

D1

SPECIAL SECTION: TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE S1 || SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2017

THE ECLIPSE ACROSS AMERICA As the cusp of the sun grazes the rim of the moon, diamondlike beads of light flare out.

These are Bailyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beads, sun shining through the gaps in the jagged peaks at the moonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s horizon. The beads are just one of the freaky, otherworldly wonders you could experience during the rare total solar eclipse that puts Charleston and much of South Carolina in its shadowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s path starting at 2:38 p.m. Monday. A million or more people are expected to converge on the state for this celestial event.

CHAD DUNBAR ILLUSTRATION/STAFF AND DREAMSTIME IMAGES

A guide to inside

BY HANNA RASKIN || hraskin@postandcourier.com

A

t some point between paying the bill at the 11th stop on my South Carolina fried chicken tour and placing my standard order (two piece, dark) at the 12th, I came up with my grand theory of fried chicken.

As other fried chicken chroniclers have noted, fried chicken is one of the most acceptable items in the culinary universe. And by acceptable, they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean barely satisfactory: Fried chicken is welcome just about everywhere, from public park party shelters, where it arrives by the bucket, to elite dining rooms, where itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s served with Champagne. Appreciating fried chicken is a habit that transcends nationality, race, culture and class.

And hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why I think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so, at least in the United States. The standard American table is set with two things, other than cutlery:

Interactive map

Salt and pepper. In many homes and restaurants, those shakers are joined at the outset of a meal by a basket of bread, an ancient way of saying â&#x20AC;&#x153;welcome.â&#x20AC;?

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the recipe for hospitality. It also happens to be the recipe for fried chicken. Beyond poultry, all the iconic dish requires is salt, pepper and flour. Fried chicken is clearly the ultimate symbol of what it means to share a meal.

Plus, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ridiculously delicious, which is why I set out to find the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best examples of the genre. This project was inspired (and blessed) by Garden & Gun magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recently departed food editor, Jed Portman, who earlier this year compiled a massive statePlease see BACKROADS, Page D5

Â&#x201E; The five best fried chickens in South Carolina, D6-7 Â&#x201E; Another dozen great fried chickens, D8-12 Also Â&#x201E; Tips for taking your own fried chicken crawl, D5 Â&#x201E; Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fueling gas station fried chicken, D5 Â&#x201E; How Yogi Bear chain became one, D6 Â&#x201E; There are many styles for Maryland Fried Chicken, D12

To plot your own fried chicken tour from any location, find an interactive map at postandcourier.com/fried-chicken

Going to great heights to film the eclipse

South Carolina will have a front-row seat

Shedding light on the science and myth

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re over the moon for a celestial show

Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s had more eclipses in S.C., world

Across the U.S., dozens of balloons with special equipment will livestream the eclipse from 17 miles above Earth.

As you settle in for the show, expect to see some unusual sights â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to protect your eyes.

While eclipses have fueled dramatic stories and legends around the world, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve also given a boost to science.

Cities across S.C. and other places in the U.S. eclipse path are pulling out all the stops to celebrate this rare event.

A look at the total solar eclipses South Carolina has experienced over the last 2,000 years. Plus, how continents compare.

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CHAD DUNBAR PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/STAFF AND NASA IMAGES

SINGLE FEATURE PAGE DESIGN D1

Thanksgiving edition

ALL DAILY DIVISION

FOOD || Wednesday, November 15, 2017 17

Guess who’s com ming to Thanksgiving dinner?

Feed the most challenging guests: See recipes and personality profiles

FIRST PLACE

The gluten eschewer The future in-law

Pages 4-7D

The vegan

Chad Dunbar The Post and Courier

The drunkard

GRACE BEAHM ALFORD AND CHAD DUNBAR PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/STAFF

BY HANNA RASKIN || hraskin@postandcourier.com

T

here’s something amiss in “Freedom from Want,” the Norman Rockwell painting that’s considered the quintessential depiction of an American Thanksgiving.

Beyond the political criticisms that could be lobbed at a family portrait that appears to idealize an upper-class white lifestyle, complete with good china and molded aspic on the table, the dinner guests don’t register as entirely believable. In short, it’s not easy to get 11 people grinning at the same time.

The Thanksgiving season always brings columns chock-full of advice for brining birds and getting the lumps out of gravy. But with a little practice, almost anyone can roast a Brussels sprout or make a decent pie crust (honest.) The real challenge is producing holiday harmony. After all, home cooks can choose their butter brand, but they can’t choose their cousins. And spatchcocking a turkey six ways from Sunday won’t quell simmering sibling disputes, or persuade boorish uncles to behave themselves.

Still, smart menu planning can help fend off at least some of the stress that comes with gathering a diverse group. To further the cause of happy holiday tables, The Post and Courier today presents nine of the most troublesome types of Thanksgiving guests, along with recipes guaranteed to please them. All of the recipes are drawn from brand-new cookbooks, so should the dishes succeed, you might consider making holiday gifts of their sources.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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SPORTS PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIO ALL DAILY DIVISION

SECOND PLACE

THIRD PLACE

Dave Hale The Post and Courier

Lee Harter The Times and Democrat TheTandD.com

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SPORTS

SECTION B

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2016 |

TheTandD.com

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SECTION B

SPORTS USC decks Duke C1 Monday, March 20, 2017

JADAR

Andrew Jackson repeats; O-W gets playoff win

ZACH LENTZ

T&D Correspondent

O

I

ne can only imagine what it must be like to win a national championship one day and then turn around to begin training on a future career in the NFL. That is exactly the journey former Clemson Tigers and Orangeburg-Wilkinson star Jadar Johnson has been on since the ďŹ nal whistle of the title game victory in Tampa. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been great. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been one of the most incredible journeys of my life,â&#x20AC;? Johnson said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But really, I just have to throw that in the back of my mind â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the national championship â&#x20AC;&#x201D; just because I had to get right into training. It was a quick celebration because I had to get focused for the things ahead of me.â&#x20AC;?

Johnson played a pivotal role in the Tigersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; march to the 2016 national championship, being named ďŹ rst-team All-ACC (me- Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s looking dia, coaches) after amassing 65 at ďŹ rst-round tackles, ďŹ ve interceptions and targets Mike seven pass breakups over 15 Williams and Deshaun Watgames (15 starts).

As Johnson makes the son? A teamtransition from star on a by-team look at national championship this weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NFL team to one of hundreds draft. Page B4 of players hoping to hear his name called in the NFL Draft from April 27-29 in Philadelphia, he is relying on a family of former players for advice along the way. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I talked to a lot of players, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just for this moment right here.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been talking to them for a long time,â&#x20AC;? Johnson said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A lot of guys, and I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really state any speciďŹ c names because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just so many that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cluttered up in my mind. I always talk to former Clemson players, and just the network of Clemson players, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like those players are older brothers to us and they never leave our side. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I could really call somebody that played in 1995, the year I was born, and call somebody and they would be willing to talk. The network of Clemson football players is great. All of their phones are always open to all of us.â&#x20AC;?

Johnson sought the wisdom of former players on the grind of the NFL Combine, in which he took part earlier this year.

But even with a multitude of former players sharing their thoughts and advice, nothing could have prepared Johnson for the event that has all eyes in the NFL watching. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That was a great experience. It was more tiring than I thought,â&#x20AC;? Johnson said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a lot of medical stuff going on, but as far as the experience I had never been up there. It was a nice experience just being, and then just going through all of the interviews with different teams and then actually performing in front of all of those teams. It was something different, but a lot of fun too.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I got a lot of good feedback,â&#x20AC;? Johnson said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was talking with some teams and I feel like my stock rose a little bit from my performance there.â&#x20AC;?

The feedback that Johnson heard most was in relation to his 40-yard dash time.

Johnson ran a 4.60 second 40-yard dash, but left the combine hearing that when the scouts saw him again at Clemsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pro Day event they needed that time to come down.

Draft teamby-team

PHOTOS DONNY KNIGHT AND SIDELINE CAROLINA/KRISTIN COKER ILLUSTRATION

T&D REGION CAROLINA/CLEMSON PLAYERS From left are T&D Region players in Saturdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s game: Clemsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mike Williams of Lake Marion High School (7); South Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s K.C. Crosby (3) of Bamberg-Ehrhardt; Clemsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Albert Huggins (67) of Orangeburg-Wilkinson, and Clemsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jadar Johnson (18), also from O-W. The Clemson squad also includes freshmen Will Spiers from Calhoun Academy and Lasamuel Davis from B-E.

CLEMSON FOOTBALL

2008 win shaped 2016 team Swinney grateful team got him job, laid foundation ZACH LENTZ

T&D Correspondent

CLEMSON â&#x20AC;&#x201D; It was 2008 and the Clemson Tigers entered the ďŹ nal contest of the season, the annual showdown with instate rival South Carolina, at 6-5 under interim coach Dabo Swinney.

According to Swinney it was that game, a 34-14 victory, that gave then-Athletic Director Terry Don Phillips the idea to remove the â&#x20AC;&#x153;interimâ&#x20AC;? label and

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Game information South Carolina (6-5) at Clemson (10-1) 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 26 TV: ESPN probably not the coach here. I mean, maybe,â&#x20AC;? Swinney said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I mean, Terry Don Phillips has some guts, but I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know if he had that kind of guts.â&#x20AC;?

Since that fateful game nearly nine years ago, Swinney has built Clemson into a football powerhouse â&#x20AC;&#x201D; amassing a 56-16 record

in eight years as head coach.

His record includes the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ rst appearance in the national championship game since 1981, six straight 10-win seasons, ďŹ ve division championships and, including this season, four appearances in the ACC Championship Game.

Looking back on that ďŹ nal game in 2008, Swinney can see the building blocks that were laid on the foundation that is now the No. 4-ranked team in the country seeking back-to-back ACC championships and back-to-back trips to the College Football Playoff.

Please see CLEMSON, Page B2

Coach, players say QB Bentley will â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;be ďŹ neâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Father living dream too, but it almost did not happen Many parents will never understand what it is like to have a child play football at the highest level, win a national championship and move on to the ultimate dream of playing in the NFL. For Harvey and Tabitha Johnson, the understanding of what it is like is all too real. As is the struggle that led them to the place where their son, Jadar Johnson, is today â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with a national championship, a degree and a future in the NFL on the horizon.

The journey to get to this point was not always an easy one for the Johnsons. It was one that involved long nights on the road for Johnsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father, a truck driver for Food Lion, paying for Jadar to attend the football camps that would ultimately lead him to Clemson. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This right here is real big to me. I just want to take time to single this person out, because on my journey here itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been kind of hard and so I just want to give a shout-out to

make him head coach. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s any question about it (that the game was the deciding factor,â&#x20AC;? Swinney said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I remember it was kind of a cold, kind of cloudy, seemed later than it was, type of game, and I just remember the spirit of our team and how hard they played â&#x20AC;&#x201D; their will to win.â&#x20AC;?

While the victory made the decision for Phillips a somewhat easy one, Swinney understood heading into the game that his future was in doubt despite posting a 4-1 record heading into the season-ending game. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was no question (for me), if we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t win that game, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m

Carolina freshman on the front line

Please see JADAR, Page B2

ZACH LENTZ

Final thoughts on 2016 season

Streaks: Ongoing and over

Clemson credentials in hand, O-W star ready for shot in NFL

T&D Correspondent

THURSDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

THURSDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

SCOTT HOOD

t was 20 years ago today, Woodrow â&#x20AC;&#x153;Woodyâ&#x20AC;? Dantzler and Orangeburg-Wilkinson showed the prep football world they could play.

The year was 1996. The Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bulls and New York Yankees were world champions, Nebraska football and Kentucky basketball were national champions and Bill Clinton was president of the United States.

And on Nov. 15 of that year, the Dantzler-led Bruins defeated Richland NorthTHOMAS GRANT JR. east, 33-26, in the opening round of the Class 4A Division I state playoffs.

Fast forward to this past Friday. O-W snapped a 12-game postseason losing streak with a 46-33 win in Bennettsville against Marlboro County. The Bruins scored 20 fourth-quarter points to advance to the second round to face former region foe Berkeley.

While one streak ended, another continued in Sumter, for a team from Ehrhardt:

T

STEVE NESIUS, AP PHOTO

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Freddie Martino (16) pulls in a 43-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jameis Winston during the third quarter of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016, in Tampa, Fla.

SHOWING HIS

WORTH

Team of the week

CHRIS CLARK

Andrew Jackson Academy The Confederates made it back-to-back undefeated SCISA 8-man championship seasons with a 60-18 rout of W.W. King Academy at Wilson Hallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Spencer Field. It was their ďŹ fth title all-time and a 26th consecutive victory for AJA â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the longest winning streak of any SCISA or S.C. High School League team.

T&D Sports Editor

Former North High School football star and North Greenville University standout wide receiver/track athlete Freddie Martino was just a reserve passing option in the National Football League for his ďŹ rst 2-1/2 seasons in the league.

But that all changed in recent weeks, and in a major way on Sunday in San Diego. Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston was glad he had Martino as an option to turn to for offensive production.

Martino had played two snaps for the Atlanta Falcons back in his rookie season of 2014.

In 2015, Martino became a possible answer to a trivia question, catching the last touchdown pass Tim Tebow threw in an NFL uniform, during a Philadelphia Eagles preseason game.

But Martino had no receptions in an actual NFL game until a catch for nine yards on Nov. 3 of this season in a Tampa Bay loss against the Atlanta franchise that originally signed him.

Martino followed that up with a 43-yard touchdown reception from Winston in a 36-10 home

Gridiron giants (playoff edition) Â&#x201E; Savalas Cann (Andrew Jackson Academy)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;293 rushing yards, 6 TDs (school record) Â&#x201E; Brett McCormick (Andrew Jackson Academy)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;10 tackles, rushing TD Â&#x201E; Kohl Gagum/Blaze Bunch (Bamberg-Ehrhardt)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;2 touchdown pass plays Â&#x201E; Braxton Wedgeworth (Bethune-Bowman)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;2 rushing TDs, passing TD Â&#x201E; John Brown (Holly Hill Academy)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;140 rushing yards, 2 TDs; 13 tackles Â&#x201E; Nick Strickland (Holly Hill Academy)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;127 passing yards; rushing TD Â&#x201E; Hanks Avinger (Holly Hill Academy)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;11 tackles Â&#x201E; Even Boyd (Holly Hill Academy)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;10 tackles Â&#x201E; Theo Johnson (Orangeburg-Wilkinson)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;4 rushing TDs

The 12th Annual Administrative Professionals Day Luncheon of the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce will be held at the Orangeburg Country Club on April 26. O-W graduate and Clemson football standout Jadar Johnson will be the speaker.

Call 803-534-6821 or visit www. orangeburgchamber.com for further information concerning reservations. by schools. I just want him to know that it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go unnoticed.â&#x20AC;?

The speech meant more to his father than Jadar will ever realize. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It feels amazing. That speech ZACH LENTZ, T&D CORRESPONDENT that he gave at the national championship celebration, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like to cry Jadar Johnson poses with his father, Harvey. in the public, but it made me cry,â&#x20AC;? my dad â&#x20AC;&#x201D; thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really like my best see him because he was out working Harvey said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It made me very emofriend,â&#x20AC;? Jadar said at the Clemson so hard. tional, just for him to remember and national championship celebration. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And him having to work that just to think about the things that we â&#x20AC;&#x153;He worked long nights, I mean long hard just to put me in camps so I nights, some nights I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even could perfect my craft and be seen Please see FATHER, Page B2

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COLUMBIA â&#x20AC;&#x201D; South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley turned 19 years old on Wednesday.

But when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a starting signal caller in the SEC and your birthday falls three days before the biggest game of the season against your schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chief rival, you have little time to celebrate.

Instead, with no classes on campus due to the Thanksgiving holiday, Bentley was likely to spend most of his birthday practicing, studying ďŹ lm and preparing for Saturdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s primetime Palmetto Bowl along with the rest of his Gamecock teammates.

The regular season ďŹ nale against Clemson marks Bentleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second career road start.

Two weeks ago, the freshman and the entire Gamecock offense struggled to generate anything in the 20-7 loss to the Gators.

USC was plagued all afternoon long by the lack of a productive running game, an alarming number of dropped passes, the offensive lineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inability to keep the Florida defense front out of the backďŹ eld and Bentleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tendency to hold onto the ball too

The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;10â&#x20AC;&#x2122; spot

TRAVIS BELL, SIDELINE CAROLINA

Hunter-Kinard-Tyler rallied from a 22-point deďŹ cit to defeat Whitmire 44-42 in the opening round of the Class A playoffs. The Trojans now face a Williston-Elko team that has defeated them 15 straight times, the last H-K-T win in the series coming in 2002 ...

Bamberg-Ehrhardtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jashaun Wilson has eight interceptions on the season ... Barnwell leads the all-time series with Woodland 5-3 ... Berkeley leads the all-time series, 4-2, with Orangeburg-Wilkinson ... Andrew Jackson Academy head coach Allen Sitterle is 36-3 in three seasons in Ehrhardt and has won six state titles, two at AJA and four at Daniel High School Please see GRANT, Page B2

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It was almost a year ago that Deon Cainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world was shattered.

Two days before the Clemson Tigers were to play in their ďŹ rst-ever College Football Playoff SemiďŹ nal game at the Orange Bowl, Cain and two of his teammates were sent home from Florida.

Not only did the wide receiver and his teammates get suspended from the Orange Bowl, they werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allowed to travel with the team or play in the National Championship against Alabama.

However, it was that costly mistake nearly a year ago that led Cain to where he is today â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s third-leading receiver (averaging 47.8 yards per game) in 2016, and second on the team in touchdowns with nine on the season.

is second to none, and the way he places other people ďŹ rst is so great. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Freddie is so humble, a great young man who is such a great example. I just remember that he and (former Clemson and NGU quarterback) Willy Korn worked so well together, which helped him in his development as a receiver. All the coaches at North Greenville loved coaching Freddie.â&#x20AC;?

Martino was a member of the Crusadersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; third-round NCAA Division II playoff team as a freshman on (current Charleston Southern head coach) Jamey Chadwellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NGU team.

The speedy wideout went on to win the National Christian College Athletic Association Indoor Track Athlete of the Year in 2012. He won a long jump title and was an All-American in the 4x400 relay. In track and ďŹ eld, Martino was an NCAA All-American and a two-time NCCAA All-American.

Martinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 146 receptions in his senior football season of 2013 for the Crusaders set a single-season NCAA Division II record.

Please see MARTINO, Page B2

ZACH LENTZ

DONNY KNIGHT, DONNYKNIGHTPHOTOGRAPHY@SMUGMUG.COM

Deon Cain of Clemson moves away from a Virginia Tech defender during the ACC Championship Game last Saturday. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When he (head coach Dabo let my team down bad. So, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Swinney) told me that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not why Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m really trying to show playing in the national champi- them that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a better person onship, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when it was real; and a better player; so I can really that kind of hit me and made me contribute to the offense.â&#x20AC;? feel like I really need to step my game up,â&#x20AC;? Cain said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I felt like I Please see CAIN, Page B2

BACK-TO-BACK Pardon the folks in Ehrhardt if they have a sense of nostalgia about their now 2-time SCISA 8-man state champions. In the early part of the new century, Andrew Jackson Academy dominated its league to the tune of three straight titles.

Having gone unscathed through the regular season and playoffs and winning all but one game by double digits, the Confederates appear headed for another long championship run. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We only had four guys back, so the thing about this team is itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a bunch of young kids,â&#x20AC;?

AJA head coach Allen Sitterle said after this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s title game. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got a lot of ninth graders. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to be better next year and the next year and the next year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kind of scary to think about this young group coming through like they did.â&#x20AC;?

STREAKING The T&D Region saw its share of streaks, both good and bad. In fact, the area was and is home to both the longest active winning and losing streaks in South Carolina high school football.

AJA owns a 26-game winning streak dating back now two full seasons. Earlier this season, Edisto High School snapped a 24-game skid, only to have the North Eagles match it and head into 2017 looking for its ďŹ rst victory in three years.

Meanwhile, the Orangeburg-Wilkinson football team ended a dubious post-season streak. For 20 years, the Bruins had gone winless in the playoffs. Road wins over Marlboro County and Berkeley put a Please see GRANT, Page B2

Clemsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s offense can be extremely dangerous T&D Correspondent

ZACH LENTZ

T&D Correspondent

By the numbers

long when receivers couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get week are devoted to assuring of close to 85,000 fans and a naSaturdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Palmetto Bowl un- tional TV audience watching. open downďŹ eld.

Muschamp expects his young All in all, Bentley and the of- folds in a more positive manner fense suffered through a night- for Bentley and the Gamecock quarterback will prepare the marish afternoon at the Swamp. offense, especially with a rauPractices and study time this cous standing-room-only crowd Please see USC, Page B2

number is called. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You just have to be ready, and this was a perfect example of that.â&#x20AC;?

Many coaches along the way saw Martino working hard to be ready for just such an opportunity. One of those coaches was Michael Bayne, Martinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special teams coordinator and head track coach at North Greenville University in Tigerville.

Bayne has a special appreciation for Martinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s effort and his roots in Orangeburg County. The current special teams coordinator at Brevard College once taught and coached at schools in St. George, Denmark, Elloree and Holly Hill. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special for me to see Freddie do so well, since I coached against his dadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s teams on the high school level and later coached Freddie,â&#x20AC;? Bayne said this week. â&#x20AC;&#x153;His work ethic

Getting benched may have been best thing for Deon Cain

Bamberg-Ehrhardtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 41-8 win over North Charleston improved its record to 10-1 on the season. It marks the seventh season with double-digit victories for head coach Kevin Crosby.

South Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jake Bentley unloads a pass against UMass during second-quarter action in Columbia on Oct. 22.

Freddie Martino win against the Chicago Bears on Nov. 13.

And then came this past Sunday, when the Buccaneers had two receivers go down with injuries â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Cecil Shorts with a knee and (former Clemson star) Adam Humphries with a concussion â&#x20AC;&#x201D; on the road against the Chargers.

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when Martinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s No. 16 was called and he stepped onto the ďŹ eld.

From there, he stepped up and made a difference, ďŹ nishing with four receptions for 56 yards. Those numbers led all Bucs receivers on the day in a 28-21 win that improved Tampa Bayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s playoff chances. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been preparing for this for a long time,â&#x20AC;? a 25-year-old Martino told members of the NFL media after Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s game. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I feel like if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re on the team, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re there for a reason. So itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only a matter of time before your

Learning the hard way

GamecockCentral.com

Speaker at chamber event

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been preparing for this for a long time. I feel like if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re on the team, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re there for a reason. So itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only a matter of time before your number is called.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Ex-North star Martino has standout day in the NFL

he 2016 high school football season is now in the books for The T&D Region.

With the last remaining S.C. High School League teams Bamberg-Ehrhardt and Orangeburg-Wilkinson losing in the third round of playoffs this past Friday, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time to take a THOMAS GRANT JR. ďŹ nal look at the special gridiron moments from the past four months:

For the Clemson offense, one thing is a guaranteeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the more quarterback and Heisman Trophy ďŹ nalist Deshaun Watson and running back Wayne Gallman rush the ball, the more dangerous the offense becomes.

It is that reason that the Tigersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; two co-offensive coordinators â&#x20AC;&#x201D; running backs coach Tony Elliott and wide receivers coach Jeff Scott â&#x20AC;&#x201D; formulate a plan each week for how they want to use the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top two running threats. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We know weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re at our best when we get him (Watson) and Gallman going and that opens all the passing game, play-actions and different things that we have in our system,â&#x20AC;? Elliott said, following the Tigersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 4235 victory in the ACC Championship on Saturday. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We knew coming in that the quarterback was going to have to run, and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just really glad it was successful.â&#x20AC;?

While the Tigersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; quarter-

Game information Saturday, Dec. 31 CFP SemiďŹ nals/Fiesta Bowl at Glendale, Ariz.

Clemson (12-1) vs. Ohio State (11-1) 7 p.m. (ESPN) back and running back have not had the success on the ground this season that they had last season, when Gallman set the single-season rushing record and Watson ran for more than 1,000 yards on the season, it is not from a lack of trying.

Because of the Tigersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; success last season on the ground, many teams have decided to â&#x20AC;&#x153;stackthe-boxâ&#x20AC;? against the Tigers, in hopes of keeping Clemsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s record-setting running game in check. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It goes back to us (coaches) ďŹ guring out what they (opposing defenses) want to take away, and then we have to counter,â&#x20AC;?

Please see CLEMSON, Page B2

POSTANDCOURIER.COM

Inside NASCAR, C2 College Baseball, C5 Golf, C6

Contact: Malcolm DeWitt, mdewitt@postandcourier.com

Gamecocks stun No. 2 seed Blue Devils to reach Sweet 16

Please see SAPAKOFF, Page C3

BY JEFF HARTSELL jhartsell@postandcourier.com COLUMBIA â&#x20AC;&#x201D; At the final horn, Kaela Davis launched the basketball toward the rafters. Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ja Wilson thrust her arms in the air in victory. And coach Dawn Staley turned to salute each section of the roaring, raucous crowd of 8,276 fans at Colonial Life Arena.

It was both a celebration and a sendoff for the top-seeded South Carolina, which is bound for the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight year after a nervewracking 71-68 win over No. 8 seed Arizona State on Sunday night. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a great feeling,â&#x20AC;? Wilson said of the emotions â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and noise â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that washed over her after Sun Devils star Sophie Brunner missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get any better that that.â&#x20AC;?

POSTANDCOURIER.COM

INSIDE

CHUCK BURTON/AP

North Carolina squandered a 17-point lead before rallying to defeat Arkansas. C3

Contact: Malcolm DeWitt, mdewitt@postandcourier.com

BY GRACE RAYNOR graynor@postandcourier.com

Next Game

WHO: Florida (3-5, 3-4 SEC) at South Carolina (6-3, 4-3) most electrifying player is out for the WHEN: Saturday, noon WHERE: Williams-Brice Stadium, season â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for real, this time. â&#x20AC;&#x153;During his rehab, Deebo Samuel Columbia sprained his foot. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be out for TV: WCSC (CBS) the season,â&#x20AC;? coach Will Muschamp LINE: South Carolina by 9 announced during his Sunday teleconference. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I talked to Dr. (Jeff) Guy this morning, they had a procedure, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m coming back and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m coming back and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll move forward with that.â&#x20AC;? better than ever with so much passion But anybody wondering if Samuel and fire in my soul,â&#x20AC;? Samuel wrote on had played his last collegiate game was Twitter. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gamecocks Country we got quickly relieved. Samuel tweeted he one more ride and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to be one would come back for his senior season. to remember, I love you all ... Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was another wall for me to climb, back 2018 to give you the summary!!â&#x20AC;? as I write this with my head held high now with a smile on my face because Please see USC, Page C4

SPORTS C1 Monday, April 3, 2017

FILE/TRAVIS BELL/SIDELINE CAROLINA

South Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Deebo Samuel had six touchdowns in three games before suffering a leg injury.

67

Next Game

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP NAT SHIP

WHO: Florida State (3-5, 3-4 ACC) at No. 4 Clemson (8-1, 6-1) When: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.

WHERE: Memorial Stadium, Clemson TV: ESPN LINE: Clemson by 18

CLEMSON â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Dabo Swinney realizes it sounds a bit odd off the tongue. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It sounds weird to say it,â&#x20AC;? Clemsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s football coach said Sunday night in his weekly teleconference following Clemsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 38-31 victory over N.C. State. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s probably Kelly (Bryantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s) worst game heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s played all year. Yet he was still able to lead this team to a win. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a sign of some growth and maturity with Kelly in that he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to play perfect to win.

Really impressed with him.â&#x20AC;?

And it comes at just the right time.

With November fully in swing and No. 4 Clemson a win over Florida State away from clinching the Atlantic

Inside College Basketball, C2-3 Volvo Car Open, Golf, C4 Baseball, C5 POSTANDCOURIER.COM

Swinney encouraged after QBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;worst gameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

COLUMBIA â&#x20AC;&#x201D; South Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Division, Bryant is finally starting to shake Deshaun Watson comparisons and instead be viewed as his own entity as opposed to Watsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s successor.

There is no denying the junior quarterback struggled mightily throughout the first half of Clemsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s victory over the Wolfpack, particularly in the

First Ladies South Carolina defeats Mississippi State for first national title

Please see CLEMSON, Page C4

Cam-do attitude Emotional Newton spurs Panthersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; rally past Falcons Panthers 20, Falcons 17

BY STEVE REED Associated Press

MICHAEL CONROY/AP

Moritz Wagner and No. 7 seed Michigan rallied past No. 2 seed Louisville. C3

CHUCK BURTON/AP

South Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chris Silva (top) blocks a shot by Dukeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Matt Jones during the second half in a second-round game of the NCAA Tournament in Greenville. The Gamecocks won 88-81. victory.

Sindarius Thornwell scored 24 points and seventh-seeded South Carolina used a second-half surge to shock No. 2 seed Duke 88-81 in the second round of the NCAA Tou r na ment at Bon S ecou rs Wellness Arena. USC now moves on produced South Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest to the Sweet 16 in New York â&#x20AC;&#x201D; home coach, greatest players and greatest of Frank McGuire, Kevin Joyce, teams. And now the Gamecocks are Brian Winters and so many Gameheaded back there, after what may cocks luminaries who did things go down as the programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest no other USC squad had done until

South Carolina 88, Duke 81

BY DAVID CARAVIELLO dcaraviello@postandcourier.com

GREENVILLE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; It is the city that

Sunday night. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Unbelievably proud of my guys,â&#x20AC;? said Gamecocks coach Frank Martin. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For us to be able to play against a team like Duke, and play so well on the big stage, says a lot about the character of our team.â&#x20AC;?

South Carolina advances to the East Region semifinal against No. 3 seed Baylor, set for Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

Please see USC, Page C3

MICHAEL CONROY/AP

Kentucky held off underdog Wichita State to reach the Sweet 16. C4

USC women survive Arizona State South Carolina 71, Arizona State 68

C1 Monday, November 6, 2017

BY DAVID CLONINGER dcloninger@postandcourier.com

Gamecocks good enough to win more games in NYC REENVILLE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Frank Martin showed up for work Sunday night with a retro-Frank McGuire look, something the late head coach might have worn for a 1960s ACC dust-up with Duke: plaid jacket, garnet pants.

The tone was set.

Things got intense enough early that the other head coach, five-time national championship winner Mike Krzyzewski, ripped his jacket off less than seven minutes in.

It got worse for Las Vegasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 2017 national title favorite in the second half. No. 7 seed South Carolina pulled away for a stunning 88-81 second-round NCAA Tournament victory at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.

As if South Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first NCAA Tournament win since 1973 on Friday night (Marquette) and besting a legend Sunday night (Coach K with or without jacket) is not enough, the fun isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t nearly over yet. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not satisfied just winning one game or this game,â&#x20AC;? SEC Player of the Year Sindarius Thornwell said after leading the Gamecocks with 24 points. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in it, so why not win it? Why not us win it? We think we can compete with anyone in the country.â&#x20AC;?

Absolutely.

This South Carolina team playing this kind of defense (18 Duke turnovers matched its season high) and shooting this well (71 percent in the second half) is good enough to win more games. And after a conquest of Duke, it wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be that surprising.

The Sweet 16 field is minus No. 1 seed Villanova.

The next two games are in, of all places, New York City, home of Frank McGuire and many of the best players he recruited during South Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s glory years of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Duke is Duke.

But Sunday night, South Carolina (24-10) was the much better team.

The Gamecocksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; offense was a tale of two halves, but the signature clogging defense rarely let up.

You could see the frustration on Duke faces. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just something weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been doing all year,â&#x20AC;? senior guard Duane

Inside Golf, C2 NFL, C3 College Football, C4

USCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Samuel suffers setback, out for year

GENE SAPAKOFF

G

SPORTS

The Gamecocks will take on the winner of No. 4 Miami against No. 12 Quinnipiac in Stockton, California.

But out in Stockton, which is not high on Staleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s list of top travel destinations, the Gamecocks wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the benefit of 8,000 towel-waving fans as they did in Columbia this weekend. And those fans were one reason USC was able to advance without All-America center Alaina Coates, out for the tournament with a leg injury. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just elated to be moving on,â&#x20AC;? said Staley, whose 2015 USC team made the Final Four. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We beat a very good Arizona State team that gave us SEAN RAYFORD/AP their best shot. We were very fortunate South Carolina guard Kaela Davis to play on our home court in front of (left) battles for a rebound against your home fans. They willed us to anArizona Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kelsey Moos. other victory.â&#x20AC;?

Sun Devils coach Charli Turner Wilson scored 21 points and grabbed Thorne insisted her team deserved 11 rebounds, and followed her own better than a No. 8 seed and a secondmiss for the winning basket with 46 round matchup with a top seed such seconds left. Davis added 20 points as as USC. USC (29-4) advanced to the Sweet 16 Please see SURVIVE, Page C3 for the fifth time under Staley.

LARRY PAPKE/AP

CHARLOTTE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Cam Newton felt the Carolina Panthers needed an emotional lift. He gave them one on Sunday.

An energetic and seemingly motivated Newton ran for 86 yards and scored on a head-first diving 9-yard touchdown run as the Carolina Panthers erased an early 10-point deficit to beat the NFC South-rival Atlanta Falcons 20-17.

Newton pumped his fist, f lexed his muscles and played up to the Inside crowd in a game Bengalsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Green he k new t he ejected in loss. C3 Panthers (6-3) had to have to remain a halfgame behind the first-place Saints in the NFC South. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When the Panthers are emotionless, good things donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen,â&#x20AC;?

Newton said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If we can get Bank of America Stadium with a pulse, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when we are at our best. And that is what I was trying to do.â&#x20AC;?

Newton was coming off an emotional week in which his top target â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and best friend on the team â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Kelvin Benjamin was traded to the Buffalo Bills.

With Benjamin gone, the Panthers turned to back to their running game, racking up a season-high 201 yards on the ground. Newton led the Panthersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; rushing attack for the fourth straight week, while rookie Christian McCaffrey added a career-high 66 yards rushing and a touchdown. Devin Funchess, now Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s No. 1 receiver, had 86 yards on five catches. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a good team win,â&#x20AC;? Panthers coach Ron Rivera said.

And another tough loss for the Falcons (4-4).

Atlanta continued to struggle running the ball, Matt Ryan had a costly first-half interception, and a wideopen Julio Jones dropped a 39-yard touchdown pass in the end zone. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With fumbles and drops and things like that, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not trying to do it,â&#x20AC;? Jones said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just happening, We are not taught to drop balls or fumble balls.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just the luck of the draw right now.â&#x20AC;?

Please see PANTHERS, Page C3

Kevin Harvick celebrates after winning Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Monster Cup race in Fort Worth, Texas.

Driver joins title field with Busch, Truex; one spot left

BY STEPHEN HAWKINS Associated Press

MIKE MCCARN/AP

Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Christian McCaffrey (left) celebrates with Cam Newton after his touchdown run against Atlanta during the first half Sunday in Charlotte. The Panthers rallied to win 20-17.

FORT WORTH, TEXAS â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Kevin Harvick went around the outside of Martin Truex for the lead on the 324th of 334 laps, then stayed in front the rest of the way to win the Cup Series race at Texas on Sunday and earn his championship shot in NASCARâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finale.

Truex had led 107 laps and was still up front until his bobble on the backstretch that allowed Harvick to take the lead. But Truex, the points leader who has won three of the eight playoff races, also locked into one of the four championship-contending spots at Homestead in two weeks.

Harvick and Kyle Busch clinched championship shots with their wins during the third round of the playoffs.

That leaves only one spot up for grabs next week at Phoenix.

Harvick got his first Cup win at the 1½-mile high-banked Texas Motor Speedway, where he had won five Xfinity Series races and once in a NASCAR Truck race. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a long time coming,â&#x20AC;? Harvick said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Great to check that one off.â&#x20AC;?

After doing a long burnout along the frontstretch in the No. 4 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing, Harvick went to Victory Lane, where the Texas celebration was missing the traditional firing of six-shooters by the winner.

SEAN RAYFORD/AP FILE/AP

Charleston Southern menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basketball coach Barclay Radebaugh is entering his 13th season.

BY DAVID SHELTON Special to The Post and Courier

College Basketball Inside Previews CSU women look to build on

If Charleston Southern menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basketball coach Barclay Radebaugh isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the most optimistic and upbeat coach in the country during the preseason, he certainly would be in the team picture.

Radebaugh begins his 13th season with the Buccaneers as the winningest coach (160 wins) in the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history. From 2011-14, CSU won 70 games and two Big South Conference regular-season titles. The victories slipped to nine in 2015-16

MONDAY: Charleston Southern TUESDAY: The Citadel WEDNESDAY: College of Charleston THURSDAY: Clemson FRIDAY: South Carolina

last seasonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success. C4

Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ja Wilson scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Gamecocks to a 67-55 victory

LM OTERO/AP

Sapakoff: Gamecocksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; national title is a gem. C3

Please see HARVICK, Page C4

CSUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Radebaugh brimming with optimism

South Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ja Wilson (22) celebrates Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 71-68 victory over Arizona State during the second round of the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NCAA Tournament in Columbia.

TONY GUTIERREZ/AP

Mission accomplished for South Carolina. C3

Harvick seals spot with win

weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve ever had here,â&#x20AC;? said Radebaugh, a two-time Big South Conference coach of the year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This group comes to work every single day, and it has been that way since we got them all here this summer. We have never had to coach effort or attitude, which means we can focus on getting better as a team. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very refreshing for me as a coach to be able to show up every practice knowing that we have a team that is going to put in the work to get better.â&#x20AC;?

the Big South standings, even with seven new players coming into the program and two others coming off redshirt seasons.

While the coach sees a more athletic and talented group on and improved slightly to 12 last the floor, his reason for optimism season. has more to do with attitude and Yet, Radebaugh has never been chemistry. more optimistic about the chances â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our practices have been great, of his team climbing back up really as good a preseason as Please see CSU, Page C4

LM OTERO/AP

Kaela Davis and the team will celebrate Monday in Columbia. C3 AP PHOTO

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2016 |

SECTION B

|

TheTandD.com

SPORTS

SPORTS

SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017 |

R80-1539846-1

SPORTS PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIO ALL DAILY DIVISION

USC MEN’S BASKETBALL

McGuires, Frank and Al, rivalry over time legendary

BY DAVID CLONINGER

dcloninger@thestate.com

It’s a fraternity, so it was no surprise to hear that Frank Martin considers Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski a friend.

The ties between South Carolina and the Golden Eagles run much, much deeper. The two are melded by the strong memories of their most legendary coaches.

The Gamecocks’ best run came under the fabled Frank McGuire, while Marquette is so devoted to the late Al McGuire that it still stencils “Al” on its jerseys. Frank won a national championship at North Carolina, then turned South Carolina into the king of the ACC; Al’s final game before an illustrious broadcasting career was 40 years ago, when the Eagles (then the Warriors) beat North Carolina for the 1977 national title.

The series spans 16 games, started because Frank wanted Al on the

FIRST PLACE

SEE MCGUIRES, 3B

USC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Rookie advanced: Ty Harris points USC into NCAAs

BY DAVID CLONINGER

dcloninger@thestate.com

Cannot replace Alaina Coates. Cannot.

Dawn Staley made that clear to her team when it was revealed South Carolina’s All-American center is done for the season, while giving the Gamecocks two choices. Use it as an excuse, or take advantage of what they still have to make a run in the NCAA Tournament.

The answer was always going to be B, and the Gamecocks were told how to start doing it. Everybody had to do what they could do to the very best of their ability, from freshman to senior.

Freshman Ty Harris understood.

“They told me, ‘You know what you’re doing.

You know all the information, so just take turns and say what needs to be done,’ ” the Gamecocks’ point guard said. “They have confidence in me, so I just have to go do it.”

She was handed a mountain of responsibility

Meredith Sheffer The State

SEE HARRIS, 3B

Why it’s time for colleges to rethink punishment for pot

C

ollege football coaches love to preach.

Nick Saban is at the pulpit often.

Here’s what Alabama’s head coach says about college football’s approach to testing and punishment for marijuana usage: “I’m not opposed to, ‘Does somebody have a better way to provide medical treatment and help for players who

BY JOSH KENDALL

jkendall@thestate.com

have issues with any kind of substance abuse?’ But drug testing is punitive. So what did we do to help? We do things internally in our program to help our players.

There’s greater things beside just punitive action that needs to be done to resolve this issue with young people.”

In short, Saban wants a way to “discipline” a player for marijuana

usage that doesn’t affect Saban’s football team and paycheck.

That’s a self-serving opinion.

It’s also not wrong.

It’s time for college athletics departments to rethink the way they approach marijuana usage. In fact, it’s time for them to eliminate the punitive part of their approach SEE KENDALL, 4B

Pot penalties The punishment for positive marijuana tests varies widely across the SEC and Power 5 conferences. Below are the mandatory suspensions per positive tests for marijuana at USC and some other SEC schools. Most schools also require counseling and some require community service for positive tests.

Suspension for 25 percent of season’s competition

South Carolina

No suspension

Arkansas

No suspension

Suspension for 10 percent of season’s competition

Suspension for 25 percent of season’s competition

Dismissal

No suspension

Suspension for 25 percent of season’s competition

Suspension for 50 percent of season’s competition

Suspension for full season

Florida

No suspension

Suspension for 10 percent of season’s competition

Suspension for 20 percent of season’s competition

Indefinite suspension, possible dismissal

Georgia

Suspension for 10 percent of season’s competition

Suspension for 30 percent of season’s competition

Dismissal

Mississippi St.

Suspension for 10 percent of season’s competition

Suspension for 20 percent of season’s competition

Dismissal

Missouri

No suspension

Suspended at least seven days

Dismissal

No suspension

Suspension for 20 percent of season’s competition

Suspension for 50 percent of season’s competition

Auburn

Texas A&M

Dismissal

Dismissal

Dismissal

MEN’S BASKETBALL | VANDERBILT 71, NO. 21 USC 62

South Carolina’s P.J. Dozier drives against Vanderbilt’s Matthew FisherDavis during the first half on Saturday.

Gamecocks continue slide in road loss Staff Reports

MORE INSIDE

How other SEC teams fared, 3B NASHVILLE, TENN.

South Carolina coach Frank Martin said his team had to find its spirit after a loss to Arkansas on Wednesday.

The No. 21 Gamecocks, who are sure to fall out of the Top 25 on Monday, are still

ONLINE

gogamecocks.com. Photo gallery from game

looking for it.

USC dropped its third of four games, losing at Vander-

bilt on Saturday, 71-62. It was a refrain of the others, and of recent games USC managed to win – the Gamecocks’ oncefearsome defense has become exposed, and USC couldn’t supply enough offense to help SEC Player of the Year candidate Sindarius Thornwell.

SEE GAMECOCKS, 4B

JIM BROWN USA TODAY

SINGLE SPORTS PAGE DESIGN ALL DAILY DIVISION

THIRD PLACE Bob Simmonds Index-Journal

SECOND PLACE Meredith Sheffer The State SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19 2017 THESTATE.COM

Indexjournal.com/sports www.facebook.com/indexjournal @IJIndexJournal

Sports

1B

FACEBOOK.COM/THESTATENEWS TWITTER.COM/THESTATE

B

Monday, April 3, 2017

Gamecocks 67, Bulldogs 55

South Carolina forward A’ja Wilson, right, drives around Mississippi State center Teaira McCowan during the first half in the championship game.

Mississippi State guard Morgan William, front, drives around South Carolina forward A’ja Wilson during the first half.

Members of the South Carolina bench cheer during the first half against Mississippi State in the final of women’s Final Four on Sunday in Dallas.

HERSTORY National

Why it’s time for colleges to rethink punishment for pot

Champions

C

MADE

BY JOSH KENDALL

jkendall@thestate.com

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS

have issues with any kind of substance abuse?’ But drug testing is punitive. So what did we do to help? We do things internally in our program to help our players.

There’s greater things beside just punitive action that needs to be done to resolve this issue with young people.”

In short, Saban wants a way to “discipline” a player for marijuana

usage that doesn’t affect Saban’s football team and paycheck.

That’s a self-serving opinion.

It’s also not wrong.

It’s time for college athletics departments to rethink the way they approach marijuana usage. In fact, it’s time for them to eliminate the punitive part of their approach SEE KENDALL, 4B

Pot penalties The punishment for positive marijuana tests varies widely across the SEC and Power 5 conferences. Below are the mandatory suspensions per positive tests for marijuana at USC and some other SEC schools. Most schools also require counseling and some require community service for positive tests.

South Carolina women win 1st national title

South Carolina forward A'ja Wilson, second from left, holds the trophy and coach Dawn Staley, right, points as the team celebrates a win against Mississippi State in the final of women's Final Four on Sunday in Dallas. South Carolina won 67-55.

ollege football coaches love to preach.

Nick Saban is at the pulpit often.

Here’s what Alabama’s head coach says about college football’s approach to testing and punishment for marijuana usage: “I’m not opposed to, ‘Does somebody have a better way to provide medical treatment and help for players who

By DOUG FEINBERG Associated Press

South Carolina

No suspension

Suspension for 25 percent of season’s competition

DALLAS — Dawn Staley finally could raise an NCAA championship trophy.

A’ja Wilson scored 23 points to help coach Staley and South Carolina win their first national championship with a 67-55 victory over Mississippi State on Sunday night.

Staley made the Final Four three times as a player at Virginia but never won. She also led the Gamecocks to the national semifinals two years ago before losing to Notre Dame.

Once the final buzzer sounded, Staley grabbed the trophy and paraded it around the court high over her head.

“You have to give tribute to the former players,” Staley said. “Go back to my Temple days, they believed in our vision. We took that vision to South Carolina and that vision was we’ll be national champions. If you stick with us and if you’re disciplined, if you believe all these players believed in that. Happy our words came true to them.”

Mississippi State had all the momentum on its side after a shocking win over UConn on Friday night that ended the Huskies’ record 111-game winning streak. The Bulldogs couldn’t muster the same effort against the Gamecocks. Morgan William, who had become the face of the tournament with the game-winner against the Huskies after a 41-point performance against Baylor, was held to just 8 points.

South Carolina (33-4) turned a 10-point halftime lead into a 45-31 advantage midway through the third quarter before the Bulldogs rallied. Mississippi State (34-5) slowly cut into its deficit, getting with 54-50 on Jazzmun Holmes’ jumper. That brought a huge cheer from the thousands of Mississippi State fans who made the 8-hour trip from Starkville, Mississippi.

But that’s as close as the Bulldogs could get.

The victory in front of a sellout crowd came one day after the Gamecocks men’s basketball team lost in the Final Four in Phoenix.

Wilson, who grew up in South Carolina, blocked a shot on one end of the court and then hit a short jumper in the lane that started a 12-2 run to put the game away. Staley emptied her bench with less than a minute left and Wilson, who won Most Valuable Player in the tournament, left with tears of joy.

Arkansas

No suspension

Suspension for 10 percent of season’s competition

Suspension for 25 percent of season’s competition

Dismissal

Auburn

No suspension

Suspension for 25 percent of season’s competition

Suspension for 50 percent of season’s competition

Suspension for full season

Florida

No suspension

Suspension for 10 percent of season’s competition

Suspension for 20 percent of season’s competition

Indefinite suspension, possible dismissal

Georgia

Suspension for 10 percent of season’s competition

Suspension for 30 percent of season’s competition

Dismissal

Mississippi St.

Suspension for 10 percent of season’s competition

Suspension for 20 percent of season’s competition

Dismissal

Missouri

No suspension

Suspended at least seven days

Dismissal

Texas A&M

No suspension

Suspension for 20 percent of season’s competition

Suspension for 50 percent of season’s competition

Dismissal

Dismissal

Dismissal

MEN’S BASKETBALL | VANDERBILT 71, NO. 21 USC 62

South Carolina’s P.J. Dozier drives against Vanderbilt’s Matthew FisherDavis during the first half on Saturday.

Gamecocks continue slide in road loss Staff Reports

MORE INSIDE

How other SEC teams fared, 3B NASHVILLE, TENN.

South Carolina coach Frank Martin said his team had to find its spirit after a loss to Arkansas on Wednesday.

The No. 21 Gamecocks, who are sure to fall out of the Top 25 on Monday, are still

ONLINE

gogamecocks.com. Photo gallery from game

looking for it.

USC dropped its third of four games, losing at Vander-

bilt on Saturday, 71-62. It was a refrain of the others, and of recent games USC managed to win – the Gamecocks’ oncefearsome defense has become exposed, and USC couldn’t supply enough offense to help SEC Player of the Year candidate Sindarius Thornwell.

SEE GAMECOCKS, 4B

JIM BROWN USA TODAY

SINGLE SPORTS PAGE DESIGN SUNDAY MAY 21 2017 THESTATE.COM

1B

FACEBOOK.COM/THESTATENEWS TWITTER.COM/THESTATE

ALL DAILY DIVISION

FIRST PLACE USC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

BY DAVID CLONINGER

dcloninger@thestate.com

T

he best recruiters are never complacent.

They don’t land one prized prospect or one elite class and call it quits.

They know that success is fleeting, that other teams won’t stop recruiting, and they also know once their team wins a championship, the hunt is on to win another. The only way to do that is sustain what’s worked and augment it to get another.

So one wouldn’t find Dawn Staley taking a week or two to head to the beach after winning the national championship she’d chased for nearly 30 years. South Carolina’s coach was canvassing the state and country, texting, calling and hosting recruits all the while, net-lace around her neck as

National title opens door to more elite recruits for Dawn Staley, Gamecocks she strove to keep the Gamecocks on their current perch.

With the wave of talent in the Class of 2018, Staley knew to strike when the iron was hot, and hers was scorching. The Gamecocks have already nabbed one Top-10 national recruit (Destanni Henderson) and are

heavily in contention for five more prospects in the Top 26, four that join Henderson in the Top 10.

“It’s a great class, it’s a great class,” said Staley, who is prohibited from discussing unsigned recruits. “Hopefully we can continue to get some more commitments

from players who feel like all of their dreams can come true at the University of South Carolina.”

Henderson is the top-rated point guard in the class and the No. 9 overall prospect.

She pledged in January and is expected to sign in November. If the Gamecocks

MORE INSIDE

What else has Dawn Staley been up to? 11B

don’t add a player for next year’s team, they will have four open scholarships for 2018-19 after Henderson fills the first.

The potential other newcomers? Recruits rated third, fourth, fifth, seventh and 26th in the nation.

Olivia Nelson-Ododa from Winder, Ga., checks in at third. She was the No. 1 overall recruit, but a knee injury midway through last season dropped the forward two spots in the most recent rankings.

That hasn’t stopped her 12 finalists from calling – besides USC, Nelson-Ododa has Notre Dame, Connecticut, Tennessee, Maryland and next-door Georgia bidSEE RECRUITS, 11B

USC BASEBALL

Gamecocks blank Bulldogs to avoid series sweep

BY MATT CONNOLLY

mconnolly@thestate.com

South Carolina already lost its eighth consecutive series earlier this weekend, but bounced back with a 10-0 victory on Saturday to ensure that none of the eight series losses would be a sweep.

Colby Lee, Colie Bowers, Tyler Johnson and Graham Lawson combined for a three-

hit shutout as USC earned a win in its final game before the SEC Tournament.

The Gamecocks (32-23, 13-17) will begin play at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. against Vanderbilt.

“Our players showed a lot of pride for the uniform that they wear and the program that they’re a part of and played a great game today,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said. “It’s a

do-or-die situation (in Hoover).

We’ll go down there and see if we can get on a little bit of a hot streak, and you never know.”

South Carolina scored at least one run in each of its final six at-bats, putting up three runs in the third inning and three more in the sixth inning.

South Carolina pounded out 12 hits with Jonah Bride leading the way with a 3-for-5 afternoon and three runs scored.

Justin Row went 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, while Danny Blair and Carlos Cortes each had two hits, a double and an RBI. “We haven’t had a game like this in the league maybe since the first week against Tennessee,” Holbrook said. “From the third inning to the eighth, we put at least a run on the board.

It was good to see. We just had some more competitive at-bats

today.”

Lee, a freshman, got the Gamecocks off to a good start on the mound, allowing one hit in 32⁄3 innings of work.

He struck out two and left the game in the fourth inning with the bases loaded and two outs.

Bowers, a senior, then came in to get the final out of the inning on a fly ball to center.

SEE USC, 3B

Meredith Sheffer The State

INSIDE PAGE DESIGN ALL DAILY DIVISION

THIRD PLACE

Chad Dunbar and Allison Mann The Post and Courier S4: Sunday, August 20, 2017

What to expect TEMPERATURES: It will get cooler, with estimates ranging from 5 to 25 degrees.

in.

sec.

ANIMALS: Different animals will react differently, getting louder or quieter, jumpier or more settled, most of them

Rock Hill

2:3

38

EFFECTS: On a sunny day, the shadows you see blur at the edges; during an eclipse they sharpen.

WIND: The wind tends to calm near totality, the point where the moon completely eclipses the sun.

8 p.m

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.

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President Barack Obama speaks at the White House. His supporters see his election as a powerful symbol of racial progress – and yet, both black and white Americans believe that race relations have worsened during his presidency.

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PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS ASSOCIATED PRESS .

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., shouts “You lie!” during Obama’s Sept. 9, 2009, speech on health care.

2:4

30

6 p.m

sec.

The only safe way to look directly at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun is through certified, special-purpose solar filters. Homemade filters or ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones, are not safe.

.

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Sept. 9. 2009: During Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress on health care, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, an S.C. Republican, shouts “You lie!” The statement is seen by many observers and commentators as a breathtaking show of disrespect aimed at a black president.

.

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Don’t look at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun through an unfiltered camera, telescope, binoculars or other optical device. Also, don’t look through a camera, a telescope, binoculars or any other optical device while using your eclipse glasses or hand-held solar viewer — the concentrated solar rays will damage the filter and seriously injure your eye.

Jan. 17, 2010: On his first Martin Luther King Jr. holiday as president, Obama speaks at the Vermont Avenue Baptist Church in Washington, where King once spoke. He reflects on difficulties faced in pushing his agenda through Congress and the periodic distractions stemming from remarks about his race. Referring to the “postracial” and “post-partisan” shift in the country that some had predicted would flow from his election, Obama says, “That didn’t work out so well.”

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Remove your solar filter only when the moon completely covers the sun’s bright face and it suddenly gets quite dark. As soon as the bright sun begins to reappear, replace your solar viewer to glance at the remaining partial phases.

Beaufort

Bluffton

Oddball viewing tips Fill a bucket. The eclipse will be reflected in the water.

Grab a colander and a piece of white cardboard. The eclipse will project through the holes in the colander and you can watch the reflection on the cardboard.

Partial eclipse protective

Total eclipse

Can’t find the colander? Put a tiny hole in the cardboard and set it against a small mirror. Use a second white cardboard piece to watch the reflection.

Partial eclipse

no protective

protective

needed

2017 solar eclipse

April 27, 2011: The White House releases copies of Obama’s long-form birth certificate to prove he was born in Hawaii. The president had been dogged by the “birther” movement, led by Donald Trump, which spread the falsehood that Obama was born in Africa.

Many Obama supporters saw the birther conspiracy as an effort to delegitimize the first black president.

Eclipses through this century Carbondale, Ill..,, is the greatest point of duration n of the eclipse: 2 minutes, 41.6 seconds.

It’s also in th the path of the April 8, 2024, eclipse.

12.25 million people live inside the path of totality

July 16, 2009: Henry Louis Gates Jr., a black professor at Harvard University, is arrested by a white police officer after trying to open a jammed door at his home; a suspected burglary had been reported. Days later Obama weighs in, saying he’s unsure what role race played in the incident but “that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately.” That creates a stir, and Obama invites Gates and the officer to the White House for what becomes known as the “Beer Summit.”

se

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From the moment Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and America’s first African-American commander in chief, race took center stage in myriad ways in the national conversation.

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, 20

OBAMA’S LEGACY Race: Pride, promise, regret – and a deeper black-white divide

BY SHARON COHEN AND DEEPTI HAJELA ASSOCIATED PRESS

H CHICAGO

e entered the White House a living symbol, breaking a color line that stood for 220 years.

Barack Obama took office, and race immediately became a focal point in a way that was unprecedented in U.S. history.

No matter his accomplishments, he seemed destined to be remembered foremost as the first black man to lead the world’s most powerful nation.

But eight years later, Obama’s racial legacy is as complicated as the president himself.

To some, his election was a step toward realizing the dream of a post-racial society.

African-Americans, along with Latinos and Asians, voted for him in record numbers in 2008, flush with expectations that he’d deliver on his message of hope and change.

Some say he did, ushering in criminal justice reforms that helped minorities, pro-

30, 20

Sept.

An Arizona member of the anti-Obama “birther” movement alleges in 2012 that Obama’s birth certificate is a forgery. The movement was seen as an effort to delegitimize the president.

23, 20

90

Aug. 1, 2008

97

Aug. 23, 2044

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17

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SOURCE: NASA, ECLIPSE PREDICTIONS BY FRED ESPENAK, NASA’S GSFC

71

SEE LEGACY, 10A

As the president prepares to leave office after eight years, South Carolinians who have met him share stories of the Barack Obama they know. 1C

2012: Obama’s race for a second term against Republican Mitt Romney features a slew of racist remarks, incidents and bumper stickers, including one showing a picture of a chimpanzee next to “Obama 2012.”

ent

ent

some who think he didn’t speak out quickly or forcefully enough on race or push aggressively enough for immigration reform.

And polls show both blacks and whites think race relations deteriorated during his presidency.

A New York Times/CBS News poll in April 2009 found 66 percent of Americans regarded race relations

THE OBAMA I KNOW

May 1, 2079

25 perc

90 perc

MARY ALTAFFER Associated Press

The death of a black man, Eric Garner, after a chokehold by a white New York police officer prompts a rally July 18, 2015.

tecting hundreds of thousands of immigrants from deportation, pushing an expansion of health care that provided insurance for millions of African-Americans and Hispanics, and making racially diverse appointments, including the first two black attorneys general. These supporters celebrate his family as a sterling symbol of black success.

But Obama also frustrated

as generally good. By last summer, that number had reversed itself: 69 percent of Americans saw race relations as mostly bad.

That fracture came amid mounting tensions and protests over police shootings of African-Americans in several cities and the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Perhaps most strikingly, the president’s successor, Donald Trump, is seen by many as the antithesis of a colorblind society, a one-time leader of the “birther” movement that spread the falsehood that Obama was born in Africa.

Trump’s strong reliance on white voters was in sharp contrast to the multiracial coalition that gave Obama his two victories.

“President Obama represents the face of the future – multicultural America. Donald Trump represents the old racial order of the black-white divide,” says Fredrick Cornelius Harris, director of the Center on African American

MATT YORK Associated Press

33

March

11 May

50 perc

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9A

SOME KEY RACE-RELATED MOMENTS DURING OBAMA’S PRESIDENCY

The total eclipse of the sun Monday will be visible along a stretch of the middle of South Carolina. During a total solar eclipse, the moon passes in perfect alignment between the Earth and sun, creating a shadow on the planet and a spectacular light show in the sky, complete with a dazzling ring of light around the moon’s silhouette. Here’s what you need to know if you plan to watch:

2m

News

SUNDAY JANUARY 8 2017 THESTATE.COM

In the path of totality Time of greatest eclipse

Elissa Macarin The State

The Post and Courier

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE

Highlighted paths are the areas with the longest viewing times in S.C.

SECOND PLACE

ch

Mar

30,

11

, 20

78

2052 Nexxt total solar eclipse e fo or S.C.

CAROLYN KASTER Associated Press

Obama speaks about the Trayvon Martin shooting in July 2013.

July 19, 2013: Neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman is acquitted in Florida in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a black teen. After Martin was killed in 2012, Obama said he “could have been my son.” Following Zimmerman’s trial, Obama again weighs in, trying to explain black America’s reaction to the case: “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. And when you think about why, in the African-American community at least, there’s a lot of pain around what happened here, I think it’s important to recognize that the African-American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that doesn’t go away.” Some black activists praise Obama, while conservative commentators denounce the remarks as divisive.

SEE MOMENTS, 10A W10-1607662-1

BY LISA LERER

Associated Press

GRAPHIC BY CHAD DUNBAR AND ALLISON MANN/STAFF

Auto Accidents Personal Injury Motorcycle Accidents Medical Malpractice Criminal Defense DUI - Driving Offenses

As Obama accomplished his own policy goals, his party floundered WASHINGTON

In boasting about his tenure in the White House, President Barack Obama often cites numbers like these: 15 million new jobs, a 4.9 percent jobless rate and 74 months of consecutive job growth.

There’s one number you will almost never hear: More than 1,030 seats.

That’s the number of spots in state legislatures, governor’s mansions and Congress lost by Democrats during Obama’s presidency.

It’s a statistic that reveals an unexpected twist of the Obama years: The leadership of the one-time community

organizer and champion of ground-up politics was rough on the grassroots of his own party.

When Obama exits the White House, he’ll leave behind a Democratic Party that languished in his shadow for years and is searching for itself.

Sheheen “What’s happened on the ground is that voters have been punishing Democrats for eight solid years – it’s been exhausting,” said S.C. state Sen. Vincent Sheheen, who lost two gubernatorial campaigns to Nikki Haley, President-elect Donald Trump’s

pick for ambassador to the U.N., during Obama’s tenure as president. “If I was talking about a local or state issue, voters would always lapse back into a national topic: Barack Obama.”

When Obama won the presidency, his election was heralded as a moment of Democratic dominance – the crashing of a conservative wave that had swept the country since the dawn of the Reagan era.

Democrats thought that the coalition of young, minority and female voters who swept Obama into the White House would usher in something new: an ascendant Democratic majority that would ensure party gains for decades to come.

The coalition, it turns out, was Obama’s alone.

GREATEST LOSSES UNDER ANY PRESIDENT After this year’s elections, Democrats hold the governor’s office and both legislative chambers in just five coastal states: Oregon, California, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware. Republicans have the trifecta in 25, giving them control of a broad swath of the middle of the country.

The defeats have all but wiped out a generation of young Democrats, leaving the party with limited power in statehouses and a thin bench to challenge an ascendant SEE GOALS, 10A

INSIDE PAGE DESIGN ALL DAILY DIVISION

The Post and Courier

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TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE

Eclipse lore and history In many cultures throughout history, an eclipse has been seen as an omen, a sign of something gone awry in the heavens. There's been more scientific than heavenly discussion as the Aug. 21 solar eclipse approaches, but here are some eclipse-related myths, stories and legends from the past few millennia, including a few that persist today:

FIRST PLACE

Judaism

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In Jewish scriptures, the Book of Joshua recounts a story in which Yahweh helped the Israelites win a battle by causing the sun to stand still in the sky. According to the Times of Israel news website, a team of researchers at Ben-Gurion University believes the battle may have coincided with the date of a solar eclipse.

Brandon Lockett, Allison Mann and Chad Dunbar The Post and Courier

Total solar eclipse Partial eclipse Result

Sun

Moon

Christianity

Earth

In 1504, knowing that a lunar eclipse was about to happen based on an almanac he had with him, the Italian colonizer Christopher Columbus told the indigenous people of Jamaica that the celestial sign meant the Christian God was angry with them. The trick worked, convincing the natives to continue providing food for his crew.

Total eclipse

Dragons

Annular eclipse Partial eclipse Result

Sun

Moon

Earth

The earliest Chinese word for eclipse, "shih," means "to eat."

This comes from a variety of legends about dragons and other creatures devouring the sun during eclipses.

Annular eclipse

Partial solar eclipse Sun

Partial eclipse

Rahu

Earth

In one Buddhist scripture, the demigod Rahu attacked and swallowed the sun deity Surya and the moon deity Chandra. Rahu released both deities after they recited a stanza in praise of the Buddha that concluded, "Be thou my refuge."

Moon

Jaguars, dogs

Of course, a total eclipse is only one of four types. A partial eclipse looks like the moon has taken a â&#x20AC;&#x153;biteâ&#x20AC;? out of the sun. In an annular eclipse, the moon appears smaller than the sun and only covers the center portion.

NOTE: A hybrid eclipse appears as an annular eclipse in some locations and as a total eclipse in others.

Several cultures developed a belief that some creature or another was eating the sun or moon during an eclipse. In Paraguay and Argentina, it was a jaguar; in Bolivia, it was an enormous dog.

Toads

According to Vietnamese legend, a giant frog that was chained to the pool of Hanh would occasionally escape while a neighboring lord was sleeping and swallow the moon whole. Young girls would beat rice-grinding bowls during lunar eclipses to wake the lord's ladies so that the lord of Hanh would force the frog to release the moon.

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Iroquois

Oral tradition holds that the League of Iroquois, an important Native American alliance formed in present-day New York, was formed on the day of a solar eclipse. Legend holds that the alliance's formation coincided with "a darkening of the Great Spirit's smiling face."

Wolves

Ra and the snake

In ancient Egyptian lore, the sun god Ra rode across the sky every day in the Boat of Millions of Years. A solar eclipse was seen as the temporary victory of a serpent who sought to stop him, and one historian said that people would gather to shout and scare away the snake.

In Norse mythology, the celestial bodies that blacked out the sun and moon during eclipses were known as SkĂśll and Hati, a pair of wolves that chased their prey. At Ragnarok, the Norse apocalypse, it was believed that SkĂśll and Hati would finally catch and consume the sun and moon, causing mountains to topple and civilization to collapse.

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SOURCES: NASA; ASSOCIATED PRESS; â&#x20AC;&#x153;IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON: THE SCIENCE, MAGIC, AND MYSTERY OF SOLAR ECLIPSESâ&#x20AC;?; â&#x20AC;&#x153;THE LIFE OF MUHAMMADâ&#x20AC;?; WIRED MAGAZINE: â&#x20AC;&#x153;AUG. 18, 1868: HELIUM DISCOVERED DURING TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSEâ&#x20AC;?; NORSE-MYTHOLOGY.ORG; SPACE.COM: â&#x20AC;&#x153;HOW A TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE HELPED PROVE EINSTEIN RIGHT ABOUT RELATIVITYâ&#x20AC;?; â&#x20AC;&#x153;TOTAL ECLIPSES: SCIENCE, OBSERVATIONS, MYTHS AND LEGENDSâ&#x20AC;?; SURIYA SUTTA; â&#x20AC;&#x153;HOW A LUNAR ECLIPSE SAVED COLUMBUS,â&#x20AC;? NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC; TIMES OF ISRAEL; â&#x20AC;&#x153;EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGENDâ&#x20AC;?

GRAPHIC BY BRANDON LOCKETT, CHAD DUNBAR AND ALLISON MANN/STAFF REPORTING BY PAUL BOWERS/STAFF

Whenever you want to talk solar, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re ready!

!

!

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843-203-0624 southerncurrentllc.com

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DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T GET LEFT IN THE DARK!

The British astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington conducted experiments during the solar eclipse of 1919 that proved a key piece of Albert Einsteinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s then-controversial theory of relativity: That the mass of enormous objects like the sun can warp the fabric of space-time, altering the perceived position of other objects in the sky.

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Result

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DAILY 13,000-40,000 & UNDER 13,000 DIVISIONS COMBINED

THIRD PLACE Ross Chandler Morning News

SECOND PLACE

Kristin Coker The Times and Democrat B6

◆

SOUTHERN 500

www.scnow.com

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2017

Every fan has a story

◆

Firefighter makes first-time visit

JESSICA IMBIMBO/MORNING NEWS

Joe Etling gets a bird’s-eye view of the track from the top of his camper/bus Saturday at Darlington Raceway.

| MONDAY, MARCH 27, 2017

FARM

THE TIMES AND DEMOCRAT

5C

DARLINGTON — Joe Etling and a couple of fellow volunteer firefighters drove up from Summerville to watch the races at Darlington Raceway this weekend.

He and his friends drove a school bus that had been repurposed into a camper to the event, making their campsite a notable one to each passer-by.

“It’s a bus we picked up and converted into a camper,” Etling said. “The guy that owns it got the idea from sitting in the stands at a race years ago and seeing all the buses out here.”

It was Etling’s first time at the track dubbed “Too Tough to Tame,” and he said he has really enjoyed the atmosphere, the town and the people he’s met.

“It’s an experience,” he said.

“I’ve enjoyed myself just taking some time off to relax, unwind and get rid of the stress.”

– Jessica Imbimbo

THE

MORNING NEWS

T

he Carolina Region Pony Club jumping rally was held March 18-19 at the T. Ed Garrison Arena at Clemson University.

Jumpers competed in three different divisions. Competitors included Sam Salley (62) and Bea Salley (63) of Holly Hill, Elizabeth Hadwin (96) of Islandton, Allison Suber (97) and Catherine Coxwell (98) of Beaufort, and Murray Taylor (64) of St. George. Taylor placed second and Suber was third in their divisions. The mission of U.S. Pony Clubs is to provide a program for youth that teaches riding, mounted sports, and the care of horses and ponies, thereby developing responsibility, moral judgment, leadership, and VHOI FRQÀGHQFH 7KH 6RXWK &DUROLQD (TXLQH &HQVXV LQ HVWLPDWHG WKH YDOXH RI WKH VWDWH·V KRUVHV DW PRUH WKDQ PLOOLRQ 7KH YDOXH RI HTXLQH UHODWHG DVVHWV LQ WKH VWDWH ZDV HVWLPDWHG DW QHDUO\ ELOOLRQ

JESSICA IMBIMBO/MORNING NEWS

Chad Ford wore his overalls proudly Saturday during his first visit to Darlington Raceway. He and his wife, Rosa, spent time buying merchandise and walking the streets of Vendor’s Row before the racing began.

Charlotte native takes victory lap in Darlington Chad Ford said he wears his overalls every day, so wearing them to Darlington Raceway for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 was a given.

“I’m a little bit of a character,” Ford said laughing.

Ford, a Charlotte native, admits he and his wife, Rosa, were planning on going to Bristol this year, but about two months ago, he got a call that changed his mind.

“Ford Performance called me,” he said.

“I had entered a contest I had forgotten

about. My Mustang won a contest to be the grand marshal car. We’re going to drive around the track before the race starts.”

Now that the contest has brought him to Darlington, Ford said he wouldn’t mind coming to see the races here more often.

“I love it,” he said. “I love the oldschool feel about it. It’s got a hometown feel.”

– Jessica Imbimbo

Ian Heustess, 6, spends time with his parents during his third trip to Darlington Raceway.

PHOTOS BY T&D CORRESPONDENT DONNY KNIGHT KENT MAHONEY/HARTSVILLE MESSENGER

Adam Siegal owns a cleaning service in Florence and has been a stalwart supporter of the Southern 500 for almost two decades.

Siegal, friends enjoying NASCAR atmosphere Adam Siegal owns a cleaning service in Florence and has been a stalwart supporter of the Bojangles Southern 500 for almost two decades.

“I like the family atmosphere,” he said from the small camper area near Turn 4.

He and his friends were sporting a Clemson pop-up tent with approximately seven people under it.

Is everyone Clemson fans?

“No, not all of them,” he said.

So you have spies?

“We have people from all walks of life,” he said. “Bulldog fans, South Carolina

fans, Florida fans.”

Seigal’s favorite driver was Tony Stewart.

“I think I’ll be pulling for any of his team members this year,” he said.

What does he like most about NASCAR? “I can’t put my finger on it,” Siegal said.

“We just have a good time. We’ve been doing this for 18 years now. We are in the same spot with our bus. We just enjoy coming here and have all of our friends get together.”

– Kent Mahoney

Driver cutouts are a staple for race fan

JESSICA IMBIMBO/MORNING NEWS

Hartsville native gets ‘extra family time’ at track Chris and Jamie Heustess had one of their first dates at a NASCAR race.

They have been together 14 years, and they have been to their fair share of NASCAR races since then. This race, however, hits a little closer to home.

“I grew up 10 minutes from here in Hartsville,” Chris said.

“It’s extra family time for us,” Jamie said.

Chris and Jamie brought their 6-year-old son, Ian, to this weekend’s race. Jamie said even though Ian has autism, he truly enjoys going to races and taking in the sights and sounds of NASCAR. “It’s a big thing for him with his sensory issues to be able to experience it with us,” Jamie said. “He does fabulous here.

He loves it.”

– Jessica Imbimbo

Connie Hendrick from Brevard, North Carolina, considers herself a hardcore NASCAR fan who has been coming to the Darlington Raceway for six years.

“We support Dale Earnhardt Jr. mostly,” she said. “But Kevin Harvick goes up there, and he’s on the pole.”

Hendrick likes the atmosphere at Darlington.

“We like to do the people thing,” she said. “It is the same people that come back each year. We like being in the infield and watching the race.”

Hendrick talks to plenty of people walking by because of the life-size cutouts of the drivers, especially Earnhardt and Harvick.

“We’ve had these cutout people here for about six years,” she said.

“Some we bought off eBay, and some have been given to us.”

KENT MAHONEY/HARTSVILLE MESSENGER

Connie Hendrick from Brevard, N.C., considers herself a hard-core NASCAR fan who has been coming to Darlington Raceway for six years.

Plenty of people were interested in them Saturday.

– Kent Mahoney

00 1

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SCHSL CLASS A

The Branchville High School Lady Yellow ellow Jackets (31-6) defeated the Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics, 3-2, all state championship. to win the school’s first-ever volleyball

FIRST PLACE

22016 0016 16 BHS BHS CHAAMPION MPPION IONSSHHIIPP TTEAM EAM

1. Lynasia nasia Felder 2. Madison adison Leggett 4. Danielle anielle McAlhany 5. Abby bby Jones 6. Cassidy assidy Jacobs 7. Abby bby Funchess 8. Anna nna Smith 9. Macy acy Vallentine 10. Josie osie Jones 11. Destyne Paul 12. Anna Cait Cline Clin ne 13. Jordan ordan Smith Head d coach: Ron Nester Asst.. coach: Andrea rea Felder

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BY KRISTIN COKER

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Inside College Basketball, C2-3 Volvo Car Open, Golf, C4 Baseball, C5 POSTANDCOURIER.COM

Contact: Malcolm DeWitt, mdewitt@postandcourier.com

A daily, deeper look at the people, places and issues shaping South Carolina

67

55 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP NAT SHIP

TRACY GLANTZ tglantz@thestate.com TIM DOMINICK tdominick@thestate.com

The Columbia Fireflies had its inaugural game in the new Spirit Communications Park in April.

GERRY MELENDEZ gmelendez@thestate.com

Eight-month-old Greyson Garrett is approached by Maverick, one of Riverbanks Zoo and Gardensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sea lions, at the new Sea Lion Landing.

Deborah Smith runs out to hug her former middle school students, Coastal Carolina baseball players, Mike Morrison, right, and Connor Owings, during the Lexington Peach Festival parade in Gilbert. Coastal won the College World Series.

OUR YEAR IN PHOTOS

First Ladies South Carolina defeats Mississippi State for first national title

Here, in pictures, are some of the biggest local stories we were talking about in 2016

TONY GUTIERREZ/AP

Mission accomplished for South Carolina. C3

Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ja Wilson scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Gamecocks to a 67-55 victory

MATT WALSH / mwalsh@thestate.com

Frank Oliver enters the Wildlife Action Center to turn off the power in the Fork Retch Community in October. Hurricane Matthew left homes beneath 17 feet of water in the Pee Dee region; Mullins and Nichols were hard-hit.

LM OTERO/AP

Sapakoff: Gamecocksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; national title is a gem. C3

GERRY MELENDEZ gmelendez@thestate.com

South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley celebrates a touchdown pass against UMass at Williams-Brice Stadium on Oct. 22. USC faces South Florida in the Birmingham Bowl on Thursday.

GERRY MELENDEZ gmelendez@thestate.com

SEAN RAYFORD online@thestate.com

Anaya Bastian sits in the road along Huger Street during a United We Stand march in July.

Clemson safety Jayron Kearse walks off the field after losing the National Championship Game to Alabama on Jan. 11. Clemson faces Ohio State in the playoffs Saturday in the Fiesta Bowl.

LM OTERO/AP

Kaela Davis and the team will celebrate Monday in Columbia. C3

OPINION Scoppe: How to punish corrupt politicians. 2C

AP PHOTO

SOUTH CAROLINA REMEMBERS

Nancy Wells, Columbia Frank Wenstrom, Columbia Thomas Westmoreland, Columbia Irene Williams, Columbia

Obituaries inside the Palmetto section Willis Moore, Jr., Columbia Jeannie Priester, Ehrhardt Robert Rand, Chapin Cecil Rice, Leesville Vaughn Shealy, Batesburg-Leesville Robert Smith, Elgin Annie Stevenson, Columbia

Barbara Hotchkiss, West Columbia Helen Howell, Elgin John Hutto, Cayce Harold Jones Sr., Clemson Hal Kohn, West Columbia Kathryn McEntire, Newberry Emily Moise , Sumter

Marion Altman, Columbia Mary Amick, West Columbia Geraldine Ellison, Cayce Robert Foy, Columbia Phyllis Gardner, Lexington Rhonda Gibson, West Columbia Joseph Gore, Jr., Sumter

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A daily, deeper look at the people, places and issues shaping South Carolina

STEPHEN B. MORTON Associated Press

June 19, 2015: The men of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity lead a crowd in prayer outside Emanuel AME Church, after a memorial for the nine people killed by Dylann Roof.

HOW WE GOT HERE

As Roof’s sentence nears, a look back TRACY GLANTZ tglantz@thestate.com

Wilhelmina Jones with Nichols AME Church holds programs during a service on the first anniversary of the slayings.

Tuesday, the same jurors who convicted Dylann Roof of hate crimes and other charges in the killings of nine black members of Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church are expected to begin deliberating his fate – life in prison or the death penalty. Here, a look back, in pictures, of some of the events since the killings June 17, 2015.

GERRY MELENDEZ gmelendez@thestate.com

A choir performs at Sen. Clementa Pinckney's memorial service at College of Charleston's TD Arena June 26, 2015.

MATT WALSH MWALSH@THESTATE.COM

Sen. Clementa Pinckney's casket passes the Confederate flag at the State House June 24, 2015.

TIM DOMINICK tdominick@thestate.com

Gov. Nikki Haley in July 2015 signs a bill to remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds.

TIM DOMINICK tdominick@thestate.com

The Highway Patrol Honor Guard removes the Confederate flag July 10, 2015.

THE TRIAL OF DYLANN ROOF IN PHOTOS, PAGE 5C

OPINION Scoppe: We could use these 11 bills; most others, not so much. 2C

SOUTH CAROLINA REMEMBERS

Obituaries inside the Palmetto section

Mary Bates, Columbia

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Rebecca Fagg, Lexington

Angie Jeffcoat, West Columbia

Benjamin DeBerry, Columbia

Myers Harriss, Columbia

Alan McCanne, Prosperity

Peggy McLendon, Gaston Cameron Waters, Lexington

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LOCAL

Roof trial images: Sanctuary became a tomb ROOF, from A1 identifying the fallen and pointing out evidence left in the killer’s wake. Despite a warning from the presiding judge “that there’s no shame in stepping out for this,” about 50 victims’ loved ones filled half of the courtroom as the horrific images appeared on two TV screens in front of them. One family member left the courtroom, while soft cries wafted through the gallery.

In all, SLED collected 74 shell casings from the room, and 54 rounds were pulled from the victims’ bodies during autopsies, Burke said.

The victims were peppered with bullets. Susie Jackson, an 87-year-old parishioner and family matriarch, took the most rounds, with 11 shots to her body. Doctors also recovered four rounds from Tywanza Sanders; three from the church’s pastor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney; six from Cynthia Graham Hurd; seven from Ethel Lance; eight from the Rev. DePayne Middleton Doctor; four from the Rev. Daniel L. Simmons Sr.; five from Sharonda Coleman-Singleton; and eight from the Rev. Myra Thompson.

After he died, Sanders lay on his back, one arm stretched to touch his elderly Aunt Susie, whom he had crawled across the floor to try to rescue. He died touching her hair. Others lay near or beneath tables covered with white cloths and open Bibles. Many looked as if they’d died while hiding under those tables, which they had used to study Scripture just minutes before being killed. Away from the rest, Pinckney lay facedown on the tile, a stream of blood stretching from his body, which was facing the fellowship hall’s altar.

One by one, these nine had arrived at the stately white church

FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM: The newspaper also extensively used Facebook and Instagram to push breaking news out to readers and promote over coverage in the print edition.

LEROY BURNELL/STAFF

Homeland Security police patrol the streets around the federal courthouse in downtown Charleston on Thursday morning during Dylann Roof’s federal death penalty trial. it was Roof ’s lawyer, David Bruck, who elicited the “pit of hell” comment on cross-examination. This was in response to Bruck’s asking Sanders if Roof had indicated during the attack that he was just 21 years old and that he planned to take his own life after the shooting. Gergel Defense motion requesting mistrial said neither of those factors were relevant during the guilt phase of the trial. “That’s not an motion-activated camera cap- describing Roof as “evil,” and element to the crime, it’s not a tured him leaving the Calhoun that her comments on the stand defense to the crime ” he said

“After the Court overruled defense counsel’s objection to this testimony, the witness later continued on crossexamination, ‘He’s evil. There’s no place on earth for him except the pit of hell.’ ”

identified as the man they were seeking.

English also narrated a video timeline he created from Emanuel’s surveillance footage showing each of the nine victims arriving at the church that day and entering through a side door, beginning with Coleman-Singleton at 1:06 p.m.

The timeline ended with Roof leaving with the gun clutched in his hand.

Burke the former SLED crime

on Snapchat before the shooting started. Gordon said he came across the video on Sanders’ account and noted that a young white man in the footage appeared to be the suspect accused of the shooting. As the video was set to expire within 24 hours, Gordon said he made a copy and took screenshots of the images, turning them both over to the FBI. Two Shelby, N.C., police officers later described how they apprehended Roof during a traffic stop the next morning after getting a call from a woman who spotted the suspect’s car driving through their town.

Officer Daniel Bernat testified that Roof put up no resistance as he and other officers took him into custody, volunteering his name when questioned.

Beneath a pillow in his car they found a Glock pistol, he said.

Shelby police Sgt. Michael Myers said Roof told him the gun was in the vehicle. Roof also stated that he was the person involved in the shooting in Charleston, Myers said.

Roof ’s defense team asked few questions of the witnesses.

Bruck had indicated Wednesday that the defense planned to call few, if any witnesses, of its own. He all but conceded Roof ’s guilt in the June 2015 massacre. At this point, Bruck said, the defense’s goal is to keep Roof from getting the death penalty.

That decision will fall to a jury of 12 people. A panel of 18 jurors and alternates — 12 whites, five blacks and one other of unspecified race — are now hearing the case. They won’t know until the trial concludes whether they will be among the dozen deciding Roof’s fate.

The trial will resume at 9:30 a.m. Friday with more testimony from Shelby police officers. Prosecutors also indicated that they plan to play Roof ’s two-hour taped confession to

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High school basketball playoffs continue, Sports, 1B VOL. 98, NO. 317

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Sheriff denies video request in jail death Kelly cites concerns regarding privacy in second denial

By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ ddominguez@indexjournal.com

It’s an invasion of privacy that’s the reason Sheriff Dennis Kelly cited for continuing to withhold surveillance video taken inside the taxpayerfunded Greenwood County

Detention Center that would show how deputies handled the medical emergency that led to Demetric Cowan’s death.

The request for that video, sent Jan. 4, is the second such request the first sent March 18 to then-Sheriff Tony Davis.

It came five days after Cowan’s death from what a State Law Enforcement Division autopsy report later revealed was drug toxicity.

Cowan was arrested by Greenwood police and booked

into the detention center March 12, 2016 on charges of drug possession and resisting arrest. The next morning he began “crawling around the holding cell and acting weird,” according to an incident report and after he began shaking and having a medical emergency, he died.

The Index-Journal requested a number of documents from the sheriff ’s office and coroner’s office detailing his last moments, including the

surveillance video showing his time in the detention center.

On April 22, Davis denied the release of the video, citing that Cowan’s family intended to file legal action against the county.

More than three months later Cowan’s widow, LaKrystal Coats, filed a complaint asking a judge to block the release of the requested records. On Thursday, Circuit Judge Frank Addy will hear the Index-Journal’s motion to dismiss Coats’ suit, which

argues that she has no standing in the case.

Kelly’s answer On Jan. 24, Kelly denied the Index-Journal’s second request for access to the surveillance video.

The request asked for video to include events taking place after 3:33 a.m. March 13 which is when Cowan began having the medical emergency that led up to his death as videos leading up to that time

Improving adult literacy Library’s program set to expand as part of initiative agilreath@indexjournal.com

A

abenson@indexjournal.com

After nearly two decades of administration-level meetings and conceptual planning, City Manager Charlie Barrineau on Monday has begun laying the groundwork for construction of a south side park that he said could transform that part of Greenwood.

“This property has been up for discussion for 15 or 20 years, and I don’t think this

■ ‘DR. PHIL’

Kidnapped SC woman tells story

By SEANNA ADCOX Associated Press

the summer, Barrineau said the council intends to ask the Housing Authority to deed the property — which requires authority board approval — for construction of a public park.

Next fall, Barrineau said Greenwood plans to apply for a $200,000 cleanup grant through the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which can’t be done without

COLUMBIA — A South Carolina woman who spent two months chained inside a large metal container says her captor r ap e d h e r daily and warned that if she ran or TODD tried to hurt KOHLHEPP him, she would die.

“He told me as long as I served my purpose, I was safe,” Kala Brown told Phillip McGraw, the host of the television show “Dr. Phil.”

It was the first time she has talked publicly since her Nov. 3 rescue, which authorities say helped them solve seven slayings in the area dating back 13 years. Police said Todd Kohlhepp, a real estate agent with his own firm until his arrest, killed Brown’s boyfriend, a couple who had been missing nearly a year and four people at a motorcycle shop in 2003.

Brown said she and her boyfriend had gone to Kohlhepp’s rural property Aug. 31 to help him clear some underbrush from trails. After the couple followed him to a two-story garage on the 95-acre property, Kohlhepp handed them hedge clippers and bottles of water. He said he needed to get something inside and came out a few minutes later shooting, Brown said.

He shot Charles Carver three times in the chest, she said. He gagged Brown and handcuffed her ankles and wrists. Kohlhepp took her to a “pitch black,” 30-foot-long storage container nearby, chained her by the neck in a back corner and raped her, she said.

He “let me know that if I tried to run, he’d kill me. If I tried to hurt him, he’d kill me.

If I fought back, he would kill me. And then he raped me,” Brown said in episodes that aired this week. “He would rape me twice a day, every day.”

Kohlhepp, 45, faces murder, kidnapping and weapon charges. He is not charged with sexual assault. Spokes-

See PARK, page 4A

See CAPTIVE, page 3A

SUBMITTED

A Greenwood County Library tutor in the adult literacy program works with a student learning how to read. mother gave her a choice she could go to work to help support her family, which meant she would have to drop out of school, or she could stay at home and take care of her brothers and sisters, which also meant she had to drop out of

school,” Taylor said.

Another example Taylor gave was a man who graduated from high school but had worked in a mill for much of his life and never had a reason to read very much.

“He graduated from high school

and he had gone to work at one of the mills, and he was there for 18 years until the mill closed and he was laid off,” Taylor said. “Because he hadn’t been reading anything See LITERACY, page 4A

City manager laying groundwork for south side park

By ADAM BENSON

See VIDEO, page 4A

Accused captor faces 7 murder charges in Upstate

By ARIEL GILREATH bout 1 in 6 adults in Greenwood County is functionally illiterate, according to information gathered for the Greenwood County Library’s adult literacy program.

The library’s literacy program has been around since 2012, but this year a subcommittee with the Community Indicators Project is making adult literacy its focus.

Shirley Boyce, chairwoman for the Knowledge for Tomorrow subcommittee, said when the committee decided on adult literacy as its focus, the members looked to the library because it already had a program in place.

“Our committee explored and selected adult literacy as our focus area because we were concerned about educational attainment and its impact on Greenwood County having a trained workforce,” Boyce said. “Expanding the program at the library appeared to be the best way to expedite this for our county.”

Prudence Taylor, director of the library and member of the subcommittee, said the residents who are considered functionally illiterate are below a second-grade reading level.

“They can’t read and understand the directions on a prescription bottle which has an impact on health because if you don’t know how to take medicine correctly, you may either take too little or too much, take it at the wrong time or not at all,” Taylor said.

Many of the adults who show up to the library’s classes either are not native English speakers or have a learning disability that was never diagnosed. Others dropped out of school, and some graduated high school but lost their comprehension skills over time from not reading.

“With one of our former literacy students, her father died and her

have already been provided.

“I believe that the people of Greenwood County are mostly kind and considerate, and that they would not support the Sheriff ’s Office ignoring the feelings of a grieving family,” he wrote in the response.

“I also believe that, while the people of Greenwood County want the Sheriff ’s Office to be as transparent as it can be, they also want us to be responsible

group has ever had a formal presentation,” Barrineau told the Housing Authority’s nonprofit arm, which owns the 13.5-acre site that once housed Greenwood Mills.

The area is targeted for development into a park using revenue from the capital project sales tax levy.

“We’re not asking for anything today or any vot. We just everybody to be on the same page,” Barrineau said.

The housing authority’s

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nonprofit has owned the land off Foundry Road since 2004, buying it from the Greenwood Mills that year. City Council provided the authority with $50,000 to demolish and remove the old foundry structure.

But to make it a park, the property needs to change hands again so the city can apply for a “non-voluntary cleanup contract,” or VCC, with the state Department of Health and Environmental

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“We cannot apply for any grant money until the property is in our name, which is a key reason why it needs to be,” Barrineau said. “To use the site, we’re going to have to deal with the environmental problems up front.”

The contract protects the city from any environmental liability with an agreement that officials will implement a state-approved cleanup and redevelopment plan. By

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ATLANTIC OCEAN

Both sides of aisle oppose oil search

BY TONY PUGH

tpugh@mcclatchydc.com

State and federal lawmakers from both parties have joined East Coast business interests to convince the Trump administration to halt its plan for fossil fuel development in the Atlantic Ocean.

It’s a surprisingly diverse collection of power players: members of Congress, dozens of lawmakers from both red and blue states, nine attorneys general, six governors and thousands of business owners from Florida through the Carolinas and up to New Jersey.

They hope that mix and their economic, not environmental, argument will sway President Donald Trump’s Interior Department as it nears a decision on testing that could open the door to oil and gas exploration, and eventually drilling, off the coast.

“The wall of opposition that has been built up to Atlantic drilling and seismic testing is amazing,” said Frank Knapp, chief executive of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce and president of the Business Alliance for Protecting the Atlantic Coast, an organization supported by more than 41,000 businesses and 500,000 commercial fishing families on the East Coast.

Environmental groups have worked for years to stop oil and gas development, focusing on the threat it poses to coastal marine life. Lawmakers and business leaders, however, are raising concerns about the economic effect that seismic testing and drilling could have on the multi-billion dollar coastal tourism and fishing industries.

Time is running out for them to make the case. The Interior Department is now reviewing whether to allow the first-ever seismic tests in the Atlantic and whether to allow oil and natural gas leasing there as well after both activities were barred by the Obama administration.

Many in the business and environmental communities expected Interior to quickly sign off on seismic testing once the public comment period ended in July. That’s because Trump had issued an executive order in April that called for making millions of acres of federal coastal waters available for oil and gas leasing.

"That fear was real,” Knapp said of issuing permits for testing. “So we did everything we could to activate Congress, to activate the governors, the attorney generals and business voices to where (the government) ended up getting more than 80,000 public comments.

And I guarantee, 99 percent were opposing it."

Ocean-related commerce, from the hotel and restaurant industry to recreational and commercial fishing, generates $95 billion in economic activity each year and supports nearly

PHOTOS BY JAY KARR jkarr@islandpacket.com

Want to ignore sea-level rise? Irma is reality check The storm showed Beaufort County’s island residents firsthand what happens when a 4-foot surge roars atop of an 8-foot high tide.

BY DAVID LAUDERDALE

dlauderdale@islandpacket.com

N

ow we know what a 4-foot storm surge looks like.

And sea-level rise.

We were taught by a storm called Irma — one of the mightiest hurricanes ever recorded as it swirled across the Atlantic Ocean.

But she was a mere tropical storm when its outer bands whipsawed Beaufort County on a king tide in the gray daylight last Monday.

Irma had been a longrunning horror show, with a number of computers spitting out full-color “spaghetti models” pointed right at

ABOVE: A firetruck rolls through the rising flood waters on Lighthouse Road in Harbour Town on Monday.

LEFT: The Beaufort River was pushed over Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park seawall Monday.

The Beaufort Downtown Marina can be seen in the background.

SEE SURGE, 17A

‘‘

My home is not a place, it is people.

Lois McMaster Bujold

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Trump’s tax plan cuts rates, eliminates many deductions, puts Congress on hook

BY ALAN RAPPEPORT AND THOMAS KAPLAN

New York Times WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON

The inscription on this wall at an oceanfront home in Sea Pines reads “Matthew 2016.” The wall was built last year after waves from that storm came right up to the home’s swimming pool. The storm surge from Tropical Storm Irma washed away all the sand that had covered the wall.

After Harvey and Irma, FEMA struggles to come through for Puerto Rico

Partly cloudy

$3

The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed the most sweeping changes to the federal tax code in decades, outlining a framework that would cut individual and corporate taxes, eliminate widely used exemp-

MORE INSIDE, 3A

tions and deductions, and tilt the United States closer to the type of tax system embraced by other industrialized nations.

But the framework leaves many of the toughest decisions to Congress, including how to pay for a plan that could add trillions of dollars to the federal deficit, how progressive it should be and which prized deductions to jettison.

President Donald Trump unveiled the tax plan in a speech in Indiana. Senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the proposal said the White House was fully aligned with the tax-writing committees in the House and Senate. Republicans are racing to pass a tax bill by the end of the year as they look to secure their first major legislative

achievement since taking power this year.

As he departed the White House for Indiana, Trump insisted that his tax plan would benefit the middle class and not the rich.

“My plan is for working people and my plan is for jobs,” Trump said. “I don’t benefit.

Very, very strongly I think there’s very little benefit for

people of wealth.”

While the Republican leadership claims to be unified on the tax plan, they must sell it to lawmakers who have proved to be deeply divided this year. At a House retreat, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, walked members through the SEE TAXES, 4A

Memorial held for pregnant woman, unborn child who were fatally shot

SOME DETAILS EMERGE Attorneys revealed details of the altercation that led to Jadasia Myers being shot Sunday night.

PLANNING FOR MOTHERHOOD Myers was preparing for the birth of her daughter, who she planned to name Harmony, with baby clothes and bottles.

STILL LOOKING FOR ANSWERS Police are still investigating how Jordan Pyatt, the accused gunman, became involved in the deadly altercation.

JASON LEE jlee@thesunnews.com

Amanda Alston, along with Rasheeda Stephens and 1-year-old Yanna Bellamy, visits a makeshift memorial for Jadasia Myers at Futrell Park on Wednesday near the site where the 22-year-old pregnant mother was shot and killed Sunday on Spivey Avenue. Myers’ child also died during delivery. Story, 3A.

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‘This is your last chance’ Expected impact on Upstate lessening

By Chris Lavender chris.lavender@shj.com

As Hurricane Irma continued to move farther west Saturday, its expected impact on the Upstate decreased slightly.

Doug Outlaw, meteorologist with the National Weather Service at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, said the area could experience winds of 30 to 35 mph and up to 3 inches of rainfall as the storm’s center passes through Georgia. Conditions should begin to improve Tuesday morning in the Upstate, he said.

Counties closer to the South Carolina-Georgia border should anticipate higher rainfall totals, Outlaw said.

Officials in South Carolina continue to prepare for stormy weather associated with Irma.

Spartanburg Water announced that public landings at Lake Bowen and Lake Blalock will be closed Monday and Tuesday.

“With the considerable rainfall and high winds that the Upstate

Evacuees stand in line to enter the Germain Arena, which is being used as a fallout shelter, in advance of Hurricane Irma Saturday in Estero, Fla. [GERALD HERBERT/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]

Irma puts a bull’s-eye on Tampa

By Jay Reeves and Tamara Lush The Associated Press

NAPLES, Fla. — Hurricane Irma’s leading edge whipped palm trees and kicked up the surf as it spun toward Florida with 125 mph winds Saturday on a projected new track that could subject Tampa — not Miami — to the storm’s worst fury.

Tampa has not taken a direct hit from a major hurricane in nearly a century.

The westward swing away from Miami in the overnight forecast caught many people

off guard along Florida’s Gulf coast and triggered an abrupt shift in storm preparations. A major round of evacuations was ordered in the Tampa area, and shelters there soon began filling up.

Still, Miami was not out of danger. Because the storm is 350 to 400 miles wide, the metro area could still get life-threatening hurricane winds and dangerous storm surge of 4 to 6 feet, forecasters warned.

The window was closing fast for anyone wanting to See IRMA, A6

2 p.m.

Wed.

Irma’s potential path

Atlantic Ocean

2 p.m.

Tue.

Center location 23.3 N, 80.8 W Maximum sustained wind 120 mph Movement WNW at 7 mph

2 p.m.

Mon. 30˚N

2 a.m.

Sun.

All times EDT 25˚N

Gulf of Mexico

2 p.m.

Sun.

8 p.m.

Sat.

20˚N

100˚W

95˚W

Hurricane: Warning

90˚W

85˚W

Watch

80˚W

75˚W

70˚W

Tropical storm: Warning

Data as of 8 p.m. EDT Saturday Source: nhc.noaa.gov

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Watch

GATEHOUSE MEDIA

See UPSTATE, A6

Local DACA recipients hope for immigration solution Women brought to US as children want to stay in country they call home

By Zach Fox zach.fox@shj.com

Pollyanna Conte is preparing for the possibility she’ll be forced to leave the country.

Conte, 22, is a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program recipient. Her parents brought her to the U.S. from Brazil when she was 7 years old. With last week’s news that President Donald Trump plans to end the program — pending a congressional solution — Conte said she has forced

Volume 172, Issue 253 ©2017 GateHouse Media Home delivery: 582-8558

herself to consider she could be deported.

“The thought is scary, so I just think, ‘Prepare yourself mentally and physically.’

Thankfully, I have another two years, but not everybody has that. I’m just going to prepare as much as I can,” she said. “I may have to go back to a country I don’t know, but at the end of the day, it is my country in a way. There is a fear, but I have to understand (the process), I guess.”

Conte works with dementia patients in Greenville, and is trying to save enough money to attend Converse College.

She said she’s trying to stay See DACA, A11

Arts & Leisure ............E1 Business .................. A13 Classifieds ............... D2

DAC A B Y T H E N U M B E R S

$500

minimum cost to renew DACA status every two

years

2012

the year the program was created by President

Barack Obama

7,150

the number of DACA applications from South Carolina approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to the Migration Policy Institute

Elisa Gonzalez was brought to the U.S. by her parents when she was a year old. A DACA recipient, Gonzalez currently works two jobs to help pay her tuition at Converse College since she is not eligible for state or federal financial aid. [ALEX HICKS JR./SPARTANBURG HERALDJOURNAL]

Crossword ................ D7 Obituaries ............. B2-3 Opinion ................A8-9

10 10

number of states that planned to sue the federal government over DACA

number of states planning to sue the federal government over the end of DACA

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W I N N E R O F T H E 2 0 15 P U L I T Z E R P R I Z E F O R P U B L I C S E R V I C E POSTANDCOURIER.COM

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Charleston, S.C.

$1.00

Berkeley ex-CFO confesses to theft School board votes to fire accounting firm, worries case may involve funds beyond $382,252 listed so far in July 2012, according to district officials.

In addition to releasing details of the investigation, the board voted Tuesday MONCKS CORNER —The former chief to fire the accounting firm that gave it a financial officer of Berkeley County clean audit just a month before Brantley School District has confessed to taking Thomas, 60, was accused of misapproprinearly $400,000 from the district starting ating funds.

BY BRENDA RINDGE brindge@postandcourier.com

The board also called Tuesday for an internal investigation into the district’s finances.

Thomas, who had worked for the district since 1993, oversaw all of the district’s monies, including its nearly $260 million general fund.

He was fired Feb. 7, a day after district officials learned of a probe by Wells Fargo and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

He has not yet been charged.

Thomas’ lawyer, Matt Hubbell, said

last week his client is cooperating with authorities.

The district has been advised that Thomas admitted to his wrongdoing, Board Vice Chairman Mac McQuillin said. Chairwoman Sally Wofford, who had surgery last week, was not at Tuesday’s meeting, but McQullin said the district can discuss the case because it is the victim.

Please see THOMAS, Page A6

Boeing, union wage epic battle of ads Viewers bombarded with messages leading up to today’s IAM vote

Thomas

Russia contacts verified U.S. officials: Trump aides talked with Russians repeatedly

BY MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, MARK MAZZETTI and MATT APUZZO New York Times News Service WASHINGTON — Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election, according to four current and former U.S. officials.

U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted the communications around the same time that they were discovering evidence that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee, three of the officials said.

Please see RUSSIA, Page A10

PROVIDED/BOEING CO.

The first Boeing 787-10 is almost ready to exit the final assembly building in North Charleston.

BY DAVID WREN dwren@postandcourier.com If you’ve been anywhere near a television these past few weeks, you’ve undoubtedly seen the ads.

Heartfelt testimonials from workers who love their jobs with Boeing Co. Darker, slickly produced spots alleging misdeeds

by leaders of the International Association of Machinists.

Shoestring-budget commercials featuring union members expressing solidarity for their South Carolina brethren.

Those ads have run more than 800 times — including a highprofile appearance during the Super Bowl — since Jan. 31, a

Bloomberg News report shows.

All of them were leading up to Wednesday’s vote at Boeing’s North Charleston businesses, in which about 3,000 production workers will decide if they want the IAM to represent them in contract negotiations.

Please see BOEING, Page A8

Inside HICKS: Union vote isn’t a matter of whether Boeing flies here. A2

Poll Do you think Boeing will thrive under President Trump’s trade policies? Go to postandcourier.com to vote.

S.C. lands a Trump visit to celebrate Boeing 787-10

BY SCHUYLER KROPF skropf@postandcourier.com South Carolina has hosted presidential visits before, but never this early into an administration.

After days of speculation, the White House confirmed Tuesday that President Donald Trump will return to South Carolina on Friday, specifically to attend Boeing Co.’s unveiling of its first 787-10 jet at

Inside Officials: Trump knew Flynn misled White House weeks before ouster. A10 the Dreamliner campus in North Charleston.

It will be Trump’s first visit to the Palmetto State since his decisive victory in the state’s Republican

presidential primary one year ago.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed the trip during his daily briefing.

“This visit will give the president an opportunity to celebrate a huge milestone for thousands of workers at Boeing, America’s No. 1 exporter, and the millions of American workers involved in aerospace,” Spicer said.

“This trip has been months in the

making, and we’re thrilled to celebrate the rollout of this amazing plane,” he added.

The specific time and window for the visit has not been released, leaving it unclear what sort of traffic snarls could occur around the Boeing plant and adjacent Charleston airport complex based on security concerns.

Please see TRUMP, Page A8

Mount P. moves to rein in growth Freeze on apartments gets initial approval

BY DAVID SLADE dslade@postandcourier.com MOUNT PLEASANT — Responding to development-weary residents in one of the nation’s fastest-growing communities, the Town Council has voted for another 180-day freeze on new apartment construction plans and it’s also discussing a potentially huge increase in development impact fees.

The apartment moratorium would require a follow-up vote when Town Council meets in March, but the measure passed by a wide margin Tuesday, suggesting final approval is likely. The vote was 7-2, with only Mayor Linda Page and Councilman Mark Smith opposed.

Please see COUNCIL, Page A6

Inside STATE

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McCain unlikely to vote for Mulvaney for budget pick. A6

LBJ Library chief is new CEO of Medal of Honor Museum group. B1

Road for ‘Roadfood’ co-author leads to Aiken, horses. D1

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