HEALTH: Beaufort Memorial Hospital will resume some elective surgeries. PAGE A5
APRIL 30–MAY 6, 2020 WWW.YOURISLANDNEWS.COM
COVERING BEAUFORT COUNTY
Marines, recruits will be housed at The Citadel MIKE MCCOMBS
No way this good deed was going to be punished
T
he world is a strange place right now. It’s a weird time to be alive. Life during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is simply something most people never envisioned. Isolated for the most part from friends and family, social distancing, not being able to spend time around other people can be difficult. And it’s easy to feel down, especially with the depressing stories that are all around. But the good stories are there, too. And locally, there are some good things are happening. One obvious example, already I’ve written about Cathryn in The Island Miller News, is Cathryn Miller’s effort to raise money for out-of-work food and beverage workers through Facebook auctions. She’s been doing her thing for just more than five weeks now and has raised close to $25,000. A couple hundred dollars at a time, she, and the people who have joined her effort, have made some people’s lives better, even if only slightly, and let them know their neighbors care about them. But on Monday, April 20, that nearly all came crashing down on what turned out to be a bizarre day. “I was out delivering auction items and went to the post office to mail some gift cards that had been won,” Miller said. “While I was there, the postal worker told me I had a certified letter, so I signed for it, got back in my vehicle drove to the next drop off location. While I was waiting for the auction winner to come pick up their items I opened the letter. “That’s when I read it.” The letter was from the Office of the Honorable Mark Hammond, Secretary of State for the state of South Carolina. In the letter, Hammond’s general counsel Shannon Wiley informed Miller that she was operating an illegal raffle and was being fined $500. It wasn’t particularly Miller’s auctions that had run afoul of Hammond’s office, but she actually had held several raffles in lieu of auctions, selling numbers 1-45 for drawings for the auction prize with the money going directly to the out-of-work food and beverage worker who was to benefit. Whether Miller or any of the participants knew it or not, this was a no-no. To fight it meant paying
SEE DEED PAGE A5
Final scores The statewide closure has prompted school districts across the state to adjust their criteria for fourth-quarter grading of students. A4
By Mike McCombs The U.S. Marine Corps announced Tuesday afternoon that beginning Monday, May 4, recruits, instead of shipping to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, will travel directly to The Citadel in Charleston and will complete their 14-day staging period on campus. The change in destination was announced on MCRD Parris Island’s Facebook page. While in staging, recruits will be screened and observed by medical staff twice daily for the duration of the two-week period, according to the release. Approximate-
ly 600 personnel and 300 recruits will be housed at The Citadel. According to the release, the movement of personnel will be restricted to campus grounds as a preventative measure to reduce the potential spread of the coronavirus. Following the two-week staging period, recruits will then be transported to MCRD Parris Island to begin training. According to the Facebook post, the ability to conduct staging of recruits in hard structure berthing, as well as on-site laundry, in-
firmary, and mess facilities, led MCRD Parris Island to a temporary partnership with The Citadel. As an additional measure against COVID-19, the Marine Corps implemented the 14-day staging period for every recruit arriving to Marine Corps Recruit Depots Parris Island and San Diego. Staging is one part of MCRD Parris Island’s mitigation efforts being employed at recruit training to combat COVID-19. A source had previously told The Island News that Parris Island and San Diego would alternate taking
in classes for their staging periods instead of receiving shipments of recruits simultaneously. MCRD Parris Island received its first class of recruits since shipments were stopped March 31 on Monday, April 20 at what the release calls an Expeditionary Staging Area constructed aboard the depot. According to sources, both MCRD Parris Island and MCAS Beaufort have been constructing “tent cities” to house Marines while infected Marines were housed in permanent structures, particularly on Parris Island.
Sources have told The Island News that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases on Parris Island has reached triple digits despite the fact that numbers released by South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) don’t reflect that level of infection. Ironically, as Parris Island is shipping staff and recruits off the depot, the civilians that work on the base are returning. Marine Corps Community Services, the largest civilian contractor at MCAS
SEE MARINES PAGE A3
HANGING IT UP
Beaufort County Coroner Ed Allen will be retiring from public service this year. Photo by Bob Sofaly.
Allen moving on
By Mindy Lucas
Longtime Beaufort County Coroner set to retire
F
or 12 years, Beaufort County Coroner J. Edward Allen, or “Ed” to most who know him, has stood watch over the deceased – longer, if you consider the 33 years he served as the county’s Director of Emergency Medical Services during which
he also served as deputy county coroner for much of that time. From those who have perished suddenly or unexpectedly, to those who have died from violence or at the hands of someone they knew, Allen has presided over their cases, having once said that coroners served as the voice for the dead.
But ironically, as he will also tell you, the role of coroner is as much about the living as it is about the dead. “You try and approach every call first, respecting the decedent, but also having compassion for the survivors,” Allen said recently from his office in Port Royal.
It’s a role that requires a high level of commitment and mental fortitude, and, as Allen said last week, it’s a role he’s ready to step down from. “My wife, my three children and my six grandchildren have said, ‘Poppy, it’s time to come home,’” he said smiling.
SEE CORONER PAGE A5
When you can’t have a party, have a parade
Burton Fire District assisting in birthday celebrations
Sydni Hendricks celebrates her 14th birthday waving and making bubbles as neighbors in cars roll past her house Friday, April 24. The parade was followed up by a number of motorcycles and a fire truck from the Burton Fire District. Photo by Bob Sofaly.
IF YOU BUILD IT
WIPED AWAY
By Bob Sofaly Kids forced to socially distance and stay at home are having a difficult enough time. But it’s magnified even more when they can’t get together with friends when birthdays roll around. But neighbors in Shell Point have solved that problem with birthday parades. Neighbors get together in cars, in golf carts, even on motorcycles, and parade passed the home
of the person having a birthday. There’s also a fire truck, courtesy of the Burton Fire District. Recently, Sydni Hendricks said told her mother, Mendy, the only thing she wanted for her birthday was for her stepdad, Clark Hovland, to be home. Hovland, a private contractor working in the Middle East, turned down a job just so he could give her what she wanted.
INSIDE
New Beaufort County EMS station under way.
Remainder of spring high school sports season canceled.
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