Oct. 20, 2020 • Volume 23, Issue 20 • Complimentary • BlufftonSun.com
INSIDE
VOTE! NOV. 3
• Candidates for District 9 school board share thoughts 12A • BJVIM needs more volunteers to serve patients 14A • ‘Secret code’ of cursive still being taught 16A • WIP giving circle fuels change 20A • Local girl golfers help propel love of the game 41A
Annual oyster season repeats millennia of shellfish gathering By Gwyneth J. Saunders CONTRIBUTOR
The next time you split an oyster shell, you’ll be repeating a scene originating at least 164,000 years ago. In 2007, anthropologist Curtis Marean of Arizona State University discovered evidence of shellfish dinners and other marine food sources in a cave by the ocean at Pinnacle Point, South Africa. Since then, shellfish have been harvested around the world and have become a vital part of South Carolina’s economy – and of the Lowcountry’s feasts. According to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, in 2019 oysters were more than 13% of
commercial fisheries’ sales, bringing in $3,725,107. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control reopened the 2020-2021 season for recreational harvesting on Oct. 1 and will remain open through May 15, 2021 – unless there are reasons to extend the season or curtail it, such as hurricanes, heavy rain events or pollution spills. “There are human health considerations as well as resource management considerations when determining the opening and closing of the regular shellfish harvest season,” said Ben Dyar, head of DNR’s shellfish management section.
Please see OYSTERS on page 8A
GWYNETH J. SAUNDERS
There are seven oyster shell drop-off points in Beaufort County, including this one at Trask Landing on Sawmill Creek Road in Bluffton. Recycling oyster shells help oyster beds by restoring harvested or damaged grounds, preserves the ones that are thriving, and improves the inshore marine habitat.
New chief brings years of community, policing experience By Gwyneth J. Saunders CONTRIBUTOR
The newest member of the Bluffton Police Department reported for duty Oct. 12. Chief Stephenie Price, who until recently served as Savannah’s assistant
chief of police, was sworn in by Town Manager Marc Orlando in a brief ceremony at the department’s headquarters in Buckwalter Place. Although she is the town’s first woman chief of police, Price said she doesn’t usually think of herself as a woman police chief because being a police officer
$2,000 in prize money • Entries are due to the Maritime Center on December 11th-12th • Judging will take place the week of December 14th
Call 843-645-7774 for rules and details or visit www.portroyalsoundfoundation.org/recycled-art-contest
DEADLINE EXTENDED
doesn’t know any gender. “But I’ll tell you right now it feels really good to be the first female police chief, because it feels good to be the police chief in Bluffton,” said Price after the ceremony. The new chief has more than 20 years of law enforcement experience,
most of it in the Kansas City, Mo., police department, where she served in patrol, property crimes, internal affairs, domestic violence, narcotics and vice, the regional training academy, and fiscal services, according to the town’s press
Please see CHIEF on page 10A