NEWS: Recycle those trees, don’t forget to get your decal. PAGE A6
DECEMBER 31, 2020–JANUARY 6, 2021
WWW.YOURISLANDNEWS.COM
COVERING BEAUFORT COUNTY
Beaufort Oyster Festival arrives with new year TERRY MANNING
Despite an awful 2020, I am thankful
From staff reports The Lowcountry may still be immersed in the COVID-19 pandemic, but the inaugural Beaufort Oyster Festival must go on. Conceived and hosted by the Beaufort Area Hospitality Association, the Beaufort Oyster Festival is conceived as an 11-day festival week (Thursday, Jan. 7-Sunday, Jan. 17) co-
inciding with Tides to Tables in conjunction with South Carolina Restaurant Week and culminating in a weekend of mini festival events throughout Northern Beaufort County. Area businesses, agri-tourism and eco-cul-
tural businesses, agencies and non-profits are invited to participate in the event throughout the week in educational, artisan and oystering programs and demonstrations. The event will celebrate all aspects of the Low-
country and Carolina Sea Islands’ oystering culture and agri-tourism economy from historical, to architectural, ecological, agricultural, culinary, artisan, and more. There will be events at the Port Royal Sound Foundation’s Maritime Museum, the Lady's Island Oyster
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A
s we near the close of a year so many will be glad to see leave because of the things — and people — they lost, I can look back and still find a few things for which to be thankful. I am thankful to be alive. I fell ill in March of this year, just after the school where I am employed declared it was halting in-person instruction. I guess being a firstborn made it easier to enjoy the first little while of solitude, but nothing eased the challenge of being sick with no one I could call. By that point, the symptoms of coronavirus were familiar, and I knew my brother and mother would have traveled to check on my condition, endangering their own well-being. When I hear people compare the virus to the seasonal flu, I think to myself, “I’ve had the flu and it never motivated me to draw up a last will and testament as I did while I recovered.” I did not die, obviously, but I now rank among the thousands described as “long haulers,” who continue to experience symptoms that bring back fresh memories of the illness we suffered. But I am still here, and for that I am thankful. I am thankful for the young people who graduated from high school and college this year in the midst of a pandemic that cost them the fullness of the celebrations they earned for their accomplishments. They deserved so much more than the virtual commencement exercises offered as replacement for live ceremonies. For the few who got to participate in live events,
USC Beaufort sophomore Noah Alexander is likely the youngest elected official in South Carolina history. Photo submitted by Noah Alexander.
The future is now
USCB student wins County Council seat, likely youngest elected official in S.C. history By Carol Weir
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oah Alexander is only 19 years old, but his drive to help Hampton County evolve has already made headlines. Alexander is the youngest member of Hampton County Council in the county’s history — and he’s likely the youngest elected official in the history of South Carolina. Elected in November, he takes
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office in January and said he’ll spend the first few weeks getting to know the county’s staff and his fellow elected officials, learning about their responsibilities. “Sometimes you need new people with new ideas,” he said. “I’m grateful to the older generation of leaders for what they have done, but they are not going to be here forever and younger people need to step up.”
Some would describe this level-headed, confident young man with the soft Southern accent as an “old soul.” His dad, Yemassee police chief Greg Alexander, described Noah to the local media as “a good listener.” His mom, Jessica Ohl, said Noah — her only child — has always been determined and mature for his age. “If he decides he want to do
something, he’ll do it,” she said. “When he came to me and said he wanted to run, I asked him if he had prayed about it and when he said he had, I said, ‘Go for it!’” Alexander is a sophomore at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, where he is majoring in biology, and he works about 30 hours a week as an administrative assistant for Crews and
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‘Kindness and compassion’
Beaufort family’s gesture a bright spot in a dark year By Mike McCombs
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t’s not unfair to say that 2020 has been a pretty rough year for a lot of people. Though everyone didn’t struggle this year, it’s safe to say if they didn’t, they likely know somebody who did. Many people lost a loved one to COVID-19. Many who didn’t, know
MIKE MCCOMBS
someone who did. People struggled to pay bills, pay the rent, and even put food on the table. These are not necessarily unusual struggles, but in a partially
shut down ONLINE economy, For more difficulties are information on magnified. the enterprise of And smaller Quade and Quinn Matthews, find struggles have @2KyndQs on a way of snowFacebook.com. balling into bigger ones. HELP of Beaufort is the largest food pantry in Beaufort County. When I spoke to its Executive
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A week before Christmas, it took Quinn and Quade Matthews two carloads to deliver all the food they had collected to HELP of Beaufort. Photo submitted by Matthews family.
ARTS
LOCAL MILITARY
INSIDE
FABulous’ exhibit shines the spotlight on fiber arts community and art form.
Meet Gunnery Sgt. Matthew Dike, the advance curriculum instructor at Drill Instructor School on Parris Island.
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