June 27 edition

Hearings set for sex trafficking defendants

By Mike McCombs and Delayna Earley

The Island News

On Friday, July 19, two of the men arrested June 11 for sex trafficking in Beaufort County will begin having their preliminary hearings at the Beaufort County Detention Center.

Guy Frank Talley III, 27, of Okatie, and William James Youmans, 34, of Beaufort, are scheduled to appear for their preliminary hearings at 9:30 a.m., before Magistrate Judge LaShonda Green Scott, according to court documents.

The third man arrested in Beaufort, Alban Bryan, 63, of St. Helena Island, does not currently have a preliminary hearing date posted to

Update on tree protections

PORT ROYAL

The Port Royal Town Council did a nice thing two weeks ago.

The council of four elected members and a mayor actually do a lot of nice things for their citizens, although some actions are more appreciated by the public than others.

Two weeks ago they unanimously agreed to table the first reading of proposed changes to the town’s tree ordinance, a document passed last year and touted as one of the strictest, in terms of tree protection, in the state. When they passed the ordinance update, they promised they’d revisit the results of the new regulation. It was from that revisit that the proposals for change have come.

The proposed rewrite was presented to the Town Council at their June 5 workshop and, to the surprise of some, the first reading of the ordinance changes was on the June 12 agenda.

Thanks to an alert from the S.C.

SEE LOWDOWN PAGE A4

his judicial records as of Tuesday, June 25 Bryan is being represented by Public Defender Colin J. Hamilton, but the other two men do not have documented representation, according to court records.

Hunter Swanson with the 14th

Circuit Solicitor’s Office is listed as the prosecutor in all three cases.

The preliminary hearings for Talley and Youmans were originally scheduled for Friday, June 28 but Swanson asked for a continuance, moving the date back.

While there have not been any official updates from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) regarding the sex trafficking enterprise in Beaufort

and Jasper Counties, there are a few new details that have emerged.

A man and a woman were arrested by Hardeeville City Police and while Chief Sam Woodward has told The Island News that the arrests are connected to the sex trafficking enterprise, as of Tuesday, June 25, a spokesperson from SLED had not been able to con-

DragonBoat Beaufort’s race day set for Saturday

By Delayna Earley The Island News

Paddlers will once again descend on downtown Beaufort on Saturday for the 11th annual Dragonboat Race Day.

The event, which is hosted by DragonBoat Beaufort, a nonprofit organization that assists cancer patients who live, work or receive treatment in Beaufort County, will begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 29, at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park and will end around 3 or 4 p.m., according to the event’s co-director Chris Jones. Jones said that each of the 30 teams will race three times and the event will culminate with an awards ceremony at the pavilion in Waterfront Park.

Participants in the race should

plan to arrive early to prepare for the start of races and opening ceremony and Drummers Parade, which will both begin at 7:10 a.m.

“We provide help with things like rent, utilities and other things that families and individuals who are struggling with cancer wouldn’t get help with otherwise,” Jones said. “Individuals with cancer sometimes cannot work or have little left after paying for medical bills so covering everyday expenses can be hard.”

Of the 30 teams, 20 of them are local teams and 10 are from out of town. Each team consists of 20 paddlers with two recommended alternates and one drummer.

The teams are divided up into four

Debut novelist brings DragonBoat book to Beaufort’s race day

By Marly Rusoff

Special to The Island News

Roger Jones

Come see the exciting power of team-building Saturday, June 29 at the dramatically beautiful Beaufort DragonBoat Race Day in downtown Beaufort where the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park becomes the site of the largest and most colorful event created to

SEE NOVELIST PAGE A6

Talley III

Youmans

Paddlers compete in the Beaufort River near Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park for Dragonboat Race Day 2022. Photo courtesy of Steve Tate/file

LOLITA HUCKABY

LOWCOUNTRY LIFE & NEWS

The tri-colored herons at Port Royal’s Cypress Wetlands, photographed by Clark Morse, look a bit like dragons with their pose. To submit a Lowcountry Life photo, you must be the photographer or have permission to submit the photo to be published in The Island News. Please submit high-resolution photos and include a description and/or names of the people in the picture and the name of the photographer. Email your photos to theislandnews@gmail.com.

VETERAN OF THE WEEK DENNIS DUREN

Beaufort’s Dennis Duren, 78, joined the United States Navy in Charleston in 1963. After Boot Camp at Great Lakes, Ill., and San Diego, he trained as an Electrician’s Mate and at the Submarine School in Groton, Conn. He first served aboard USS Sirago (SS-485) out of Norfolk making deployments to the Med-

iterranean and Caribbean. After more advanced training he then served aboard USS Trout (SS-566) based in Charleston. He made more overseas deployments aboard the Trout. He then served at the Naval Weapons Station Goose Creek for two years before transferring to the Naval Reserve so that he could attend The

Citadel under the GI Bill, graduating in 1974. He then began a career in construction and real estate development.

– Compiled by John Chubb, American Legion Post 207. For Veteran Of The Week nominations, contact jechubb1@gmail.com.

Filing opens July 1 for Beaufort mayoral and City Council seats

From staff reports Registered voters in the City of Beaufort who are interested in serving in local government in an elected capacity have the opportunity to run for City Council this fall.

Three seats are on the ballot this November: the mayoral seat and two council seats. Those seats are currently occupied by Mayor Phil Cromer and City

Councilmen Neil Lipsitz and Mitch Mitchell. In South Carolina, municipal offices are non-partisan, allowing qualified candidates to run for office by filing a Statement of Candidacy.

Those interested must live in the City of Beaufort and be a registered voter in South Carolina. All the filing requirements can be found at https://bit.ly/4cvYVsj.

The deadline to file is Aug. 15 Packets are available now to be picked up from City Hall either in the first-floor lobby or the Office of City Clerk on the second floor. Packets are also available on the City of Beaufort’s website.

Filing will open at noon on Monday, July 1 2024. Packets must be returned in person to the Office of City Clerk no later than noon, Aug. 15. Packets may not be

mailed in or emailed.

The filing fee for candidates running for mayor is $250, and for City Council is $150

The General Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Newly elected officeholders will be sworn in and begin their terms on Dec. 10

If additional information is needed, please call the City Clerk at 843-525-7024

June 27

2019: Capt. Anneliese Satz, USMC, becomes the first female Marine to complete the F-35B training at MCAS Beaufort.

2019: Beaufort weightlifter C.J. Cummings, 19, sets 15 records in the 73kg weight class at the Junior Pan-Am Games in Havana, Cuba. Cummings won gold in the Clean and Jerk and Overall categories and silver in the Snatch.

2016: Beaufort weightlifter C.J. Cummings, 16, wins the 69kg weight class at the IWF Junior World Championships in Tblisi, Georgia, becoming the first American to win Junior Worlds since two-time Olympian Oscar Chaplin III did it in 2000 in Prague, Czech Republic. Cummings also became the first American to break a youth world record, doing so three times. He first broke the youth world record with a 175kg clean and jerk, broke it again with a 180kg lift, and then claimed his third youth world record by lifting a total of 317kg.

June 29

1948: William D. “Billy” Keyserling is born in Beaufort to Dr. Ben Herbert and Harriet H. Keyserling. An aide to U.S. Senator Fritz Hollings, Keyserling would represent Beaufort in the S.C. House in 1993-94. Eventually he would serve 12 years as the Mayor of The City of Beaufort.

2020: After an emergency meeting, Beaufort City Council enacted a mask requirement in all public buildings within the city limits in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19

June 30

2019: Beaufort weightlifter Dade Stanley sweeps the 81kg weight class, winning three gold medals, at the USA Weightlifting Youth National Championships in Anaheim, Calif.

– Compiled by Mike McCombs

Cat Of The Week

Anyone want Cheesecake? This divine, 2-year-old boy calmly keeps to himself at the Palmetto Animal League Adoption Center.

As you can see, he was blessed with lots of fluff and to add to his charm, he has the cutest bobtail. He is neutered, up to date on vaccinations, and microchipped.

Dog Of The Week

“Thanks for noticin’ me.” –Eeyore (Winnie-the-Pooh).

Palmetto Animal League's

CORRECTIONS:

Eeyore hopes someone will notice her. She's a beautiful soul with a sweet, gentle, easy-going personality. She is sure to bring love and joy into any home. She is spayed, up to date on vaccinations, and microchipped.

For more information on Cheesecake, Eeyore and any of our other pets, call PAL at 843-645-1725 or email Info@ PalmettoAnimalLeague.org.

– Compiled by Lindsay Perry

Ilaife Sylvia Meredith, one of five defendants arrested and charged in connection with a human sex trafficking operation in Beaufort County, was misidentified in the June 20 edition of The Island News In the Arts section of the June 20 edition of The Island News, the dates for the Beaufort Art Association show “Low Country Egrets in Flight” featuring the art of Bluffton’s John Meckley as its Featured Artist were incorrect. The show will run from Sunday, June 30 through Wednesday, August 31 at the Gallery of the Beaufort Art Association at 913 Bay Street in downtown Beaufort.

• In the Voices section of the June 20 edition of The Island News, columnist Carol Lucas wrote that Mac “Deford was the only candidate, Democrat or Republican, in the race for the 1st Congressional District to be awarded the distinction of a Gun-Sense Candidate” by Moms Demand Action. Michael B. Moore was also named a 2024 Gun Sense candidate.

Dennis Duren

By Delayna Earley

The Island News

The Fourth of July, otherwise known as Independence Day, is right around the corner.

The holiday celebrates the day in 1776 when the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence – a document which was instrumental in establishing America as an independent nation from Great Britain at the start of the Revolutionary War.

For many, the day is spent celebrating with fireworks and barbeque cookouts at home, but there are a few options for those who which to celebrate with the community.

3rd Annual Beaufort

5K Firecracker Run

Help of Beaufort is hosting its 3rd annual Firecracker 5K Race on Thursday, July 4, in downtown Beaufort.

The race begins at 8 a.m. on Bay and Newcastle Streets.

Runners will continue down Bay Street through historic downtown Beaufort and will turn onto Richard V. Woods Memorial Bridge “following a certified 5K course.”

After crossing Woods Bridge, runners will turn down Meridian Road to Youmans Drive before turning around and following the same route back to the start.

Participants can pick up their packets at Grounded Running, located at 2139

Celebrate July 4 with these area events

Spectacular bursts of red, white and blue mesmerize a crowd of more than a thousand spectators at the Town of Port Royal’s Fourth of July fireworks display at The Sands Beach. Bob Sofaly/File/The Island News

Boundary Street, Suite 108, in Beaufort, on Saturday, June 29, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. T-shirt and T-shirt sizes are not guaranteed for participants who registered after June 1, 2024

Same day entries can register on race day from 7 a.m. 7:40 a.m. on July 4

Runners were also able to register as a Virtual Participant this year. According to the sign-up website, Virtual

Participants can receive a t-shirt for an additional $15 and have their shirt mailed to them.

Registration for Virtual Participants cost $25 and ends on June 30 at 11:59 p.m.; registration for in-person runners ends on June 28 at 5 p.m.

The event is pet and stroller friendly, although flexi-type leashes will not be allowed. Pets must have a 4-to-6-foot lead.

ADVANCED ORTHOPEDIC OPTIONS TO RELIEVE BACK AND NECK PAIN

Registration is non-refundable.

If the event is not able to be hosted in person with a live race, it will be transferred to a virtual format.

The age categories for the race are under 12 13-19 2029, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 6069 and 70+.

Proceeds will go to benefit HELP of Beaufort, a nonprofit organization that provides clothing, food and short-term assistance to people in need in the Beaufort community.

Salute From The Shore

The 15th annual Salute From The Shore will be visible from Beaufort coasts between 1:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. on July 4, although times are approximate so it is recommended you arrive early.

According to their website, the F-16s are expected to fly over the Beaufort coastline at 1:35 p.m. and the C-17 is expected to pass over at 1:54 p.m.

The F-16 aircraft are scheduled to take off from McEntire Joint National Guard Base at 1 p.m. and the C-17 will take off from Charleston Air Force Base

The flyover, which can typically be seen well from Beaufort beaches, is susceptible to delays from weather conditions and mechanical issues, so the organization advises people to be patient as they enjoy the Lowcountry’s coasts. They advise spectators to

get creative and do something big to salute the aircrafts.

“Photos of the aircrafts are great. Photos of people saluting aircrafts are better,” the website said.

Spectators are encouraged to take their Salute images and videos with #SalutefromtheShore.

The first Salute From The Shore took place on July 4 2010, and it offers a unique opportunity for beach-goers to salute our armed forces while they celebrate Independence Day.

4th of July

Celebration at Sands Beach in Port Royal

The Town of Port Royal is hosting its annual daylong celebration featuring food trucks, live music and fireworks, according to a post made by the town to Facebook.

The celebration will begin at noon on July 4 at Sands Beach in Port Royal with the local Boy Scouts along with other food vendors selling food.

Fly Pies, Lawyers BBQ, Snack Shake, Tropical Treasures and Blue Sky Italian Ice will be on site selling food and drinks.

DJ Kev Greaves will be playing music throughout the event, and “Iron Mic” Parris Island Marine Band will also play.

Firearms and concealed weapons are prohibited at the event and only service

dogs will be allowed. No coolers will be allowed at the event.

The annual event will feature a fireworks show that will take place after sunset.

The road to Sands Beach will be shut down to traffic, but golf carts will be allowed.

All golf carts will need to be gone by 8 p.m. or will have to wait until all pedestrians have cleared the area following the fireworks.

Parking is available on Paris Avenue and there will be golf carts available to shuttle people to Sands Beach.

In its weekly newsletter, Port Royal announced that is is looking for volunteers who own golf carts to assist with transporting people from Paris Avenue down to the Sands. The rides are free, but donations are being accepted for the rides, and all proceeds will go to benefit the Cypress Wetlands.

“If you or someone you know can help, please let us know,” the newsletter read. “The more volunteers we have, the merrier the event will be!” This event is free and open to the public.

Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.

When unmanageable neck or back pain gets in your way, it’s time for the board-certified, fellowship-trained experts at Beaufort Memorial to give you relief.

At Beaufort Memorial you also find:

Whether you experienced a recent injury or have a chronic condition, Beaufort Memorial has your back. The Advanced Orthopedics and Spine Program at Beaufort Memorial brings together state-of-the-art technologies and top spine care experts to address a range of conditions that cause neck and back pain. Let our team create an individualized care plan, exploring both nonsurgical and surgical treatment options, so you can get back to life.

• Innovative solutions that improve your mobility and allow for more natural movement

• An Optimization Program that follows you through the process to ensure the best outcomes

• Advanced procedures that spare healthy tissue and speed recovery

• Outpatient surgeries that allow many patients to go home the same day Visit BeaufortMemorial.org/SpineCare

Main Street Beaufort website offers one-stop guide to downtown

From staff reports In another significant milestone in the City’s relaunching of Main Street Beaufort, a new website, www. mainstreetbeaufort.org, is now live, providing a comprehensive guide to all things all things related to historic downtown Beaufort – shopping, restaurants, lodging, tours, historic attractions and museums, events, and a digital map.

“We are so excited to have a landing page for all things down-

town Beaufort,” said Main Street Director Ashley Brandon. “We love that we were able to highlight every single business downtown and we believe it will be so helpful to our visitors and even to our residents.”

Beaufort has been a longtime member of the South Carolina Main Street organization,

but recommitted to it in 2023-2024 with events, plus the launch of Facebook and Instagram pages.

“There are 33 Main Streets in South Carolina,” Brandon said. “We all connect through a Facebook group.

This allows us to network with our peers, share information and re-

sources.” In addition, staff from the City of Beaufort’s Downtown Operations Department attend Main Street classes to develop even more expertise in keeping downtown vital and thriving.

Belonging to Main Street also means taking advantage of the technical training South Carolina offers to help in historic preservation.

“For example, we can help with storefronts,” Ashley said. “What

should they look like? What is likely to bring more customers in?”

Nan Sutton, owner of the Lulu Burgess gift shop on Bay Street, is a big advocate of Main Street and its benefits. “We need an ambassador for all the downtown businesses, and Main Street Beaufort provides a synergistic effect that brings all the downtown businesses together under one umbrella to make sure they have what they need to succeed,” she said.

Unity in the Community

NEWS BRIEFS

Indivisible Beaufort meeting

Indivisible Beaufort will hold its June meeting at 11 a.m., Saturday, June 29 at the Beaufort Library Downtown at 311 Scott Street.

The topic will be “How to Deal with These Profoundly Disorienting Times,” and the featured speaker will be Reverend Lori Hlaban of Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Beaufort. How do we cope with the anxiety of these disorienting times? There are no easy answers, but there are healthy ways to manage. Reverend Hlaban will lead a workshop on managing anxiety titled, “Hope for the Best — It May Happen!”

The event is free and open to the public.

Gadson earns Presidential honor

Beaufort’s Jonas Gadson has been hon-

ored with the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award was to be presented to Gadson on June 19 2024 at the Overdue Recognition Art Gallery in Bowie, Md., by Cheryl Wood at her magazine unveiling where Gadson is one of several speaking professionals featured in her debut issue.

Gadson is President and CEO of Partners for Purposeful Living LLC, where he coaches and trains executives, professionals and business owners. He is a coach in public speaking and effective communication.

In December 2018, Beaufort Lifestyle Magazine featured Gadson on the cover and in an article about his positive impact in Beaufort and surrounding communities for his community involvement, ministry and volunteer work. He graduated from the Beaufort Chamber of Commerce Leadership Class and has been nominated twice for the Civitas Lifetime of Leadership Award.

After working for two Fortune 500 companies — Xerox Corporation and Eastman Kodak Company — for 30 years, Gadson took an early retirement to return to Beaufort in 2005 to care for his elderly mother. He established a mission work at the Beaufort Church of Christ where he helped thousands of people in Beaufort and across the country live better lives.

“Service is the rent that you pay for the space that you occupy on this planet, and some of us are behind on our rent,” Gadson says.

Licenses available July 1 for solid waste collectors, haulers

Beginning Monday, July 1, solid waste hauler licenses for 2024-2025 will be available for all associated collectors and haulers operating in Beaufort County. The

County will not accept disposal charges at its approved landfills from collectors and haulers who do not have a valid license after August 1 License fees are $100 per year for the first vehicle and $50 for each additional vehicle/ decal. Beaufort County’s Code of Ordinances requires that all contractors providing residential waste collection and transportation within the County have a license which, along with decals, can be obtained from either the Beaufort or Bluffton location of the Beaufort County Solid Waste and Recycling Department.

To schedule an appointment or if you have questions, please contact Beaufort County Solid Waste and Recycling Program Manager Victoria Hoffman at victoria.hoffman@ bcgov.net or 843-255-2735

– From staff reports

from page A1

Coastal Conservation League, which tries to monitor all things environmental in a two-county range, a dozen dedicated tree huggers showed up for the council meeting and asked for a pause, to give time to review what’s being proposed.

And to the Council’s credit – maybe they were weary from budget work and ready for a little summer break – they responded, “we hear you.”

Now while the council doesn’t meet again until July 3, the public has time to review the changes which included, among other elements, decreasing the fines for removal. But, according to the town planner, the ordinance will still remain one of the strictest in the state.

The proposed ordinance reduces the mitigation fees from $750 per caliper inch to $250 for landmark trees and $500 to $100 for specimen trees. (“Landmark” and “specimen” refers to the tree’s size, not species.)

The draft also changes the review process for a removal

request to give approval power to the staff Tree Review Committee instead of the citizen-appointed Design Review Board. The board, in the first year of the tree ordinance, reviewed fewer than a half-dozen requests for removal approval and have told the council they don’t mind the work.

The town’s Redevelopment Commission also asked that the town’s less restrictive original tree protection ordinance be used for future development projects within the Ribaut Road Overlay District, a zone which includes parcels like the still-wooded spot between Richland Avenue and Stuart Towne Apartments or the lovely, wooded spot formerly known as Kent’s Mobile Home Park. The undeveloped land wrapping around Alvin Ord’s, bordering on Johnny Morrall Circle is also within the zone. Apparently, the prospective larger developers who have had their eye on Port Royal properties have been holding off with their plans while the town council reviews the ordinance. Hmmm. Kinda what the town council hoped would happen when, in April, they imposed a one-year moratorium on multi-family dwelling projects, which were popping up as fast as

the town could annex the wooded tracts.

In the meantime, Beaufort City Council is continuing the rewrite of its development code which also includes revisions to their tree ordinance. They’re looking at changes which include increasing the fees for removal from $100 to $250 per caliper inch for landmark and $150 for specimen trees.

For anyone who would like more detail, or doesn’t have any good bedtime reading at hand, you can check out Port Royal’s s draft ordinance for yourself -- 06122024-440 (portroyal.org) page 10-30

Transportation sales tax proposal edging forward

BEAUFORT – Beaufort County Council members are making progress on the proposed transportation sales tax ordinance they plan to put before voters in November.

It’s taken a bit longer to draft the ordinance than they probably planned since the majority couldn’t agree, to begin with, how long the one percent sales tax would stay in place.

The citizens committee that worked for several months to come up with the proposal rec-

ommended 15 years and $1 625 billion. The County Council, once they got down to business after hiring a new administrator, said “nope,” too long.

They cut that time to 10 years which reduced the amount of money that could be raised to $950 million. Then they spent another three-hours hacking through the project wish list they would present the public.

Once they give this plan three votes of approval, the ordinance will be cleared for placement on the ballot and the elected officials will have to convince the public.

And if last week’s Beaufort City Council workshop was any indication, it’s going to be an uphill campaign. The City Council, which discussed the latest proposal without the benefit of any county traffic engineers present to answer questions, didn’t seem really keen on the project list.

They had a lot of questions and suggestions.

Public sentiment for the referendum, at this early point five months away from Election day, seems lacking. It’s going to be up to the municipal and county elected officials, who we turn to for solutions to our growing traffic issues, to show leadership. And

if they know a better way to deal with the problems, other than raising money, they’ll need to speak up.

FYI: Jasper County Council is also considering a transportation sales tax question on its November ballot.

Their proposal is for a 15year tax designed to raise $470 million. And their project wish list includes several U.S. 278 and U.S. 170 improvement projects which they hope to work with Beaufort County by combining dollars.

Harris Teeter: It’s open

LADY’S ISLAND – Yes, indeed. It’s open. And hopefully, traffic is still flowing and no one’s had to go to the hospital as a result of a car crash trying to get into their parking lot.

Be sure and enjoy the shaded parking lot!

Lolita Huckaby Watson is a community volunteer and newspaper columnist. In her former role as a reporter with The Beaufort Gazette, The Savannah Morning News, Bluffton Today and Beaufort Today, she prided herself in trying to stay neutral and unbiased. As a columnist, these are her opinions. Her goal is to be factual but opinionated, based on her own observations. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.

Laurie Shannon, right, of Sea Island Heritage Academy, passes out a flying disc to 2-yearold Kilian Sheeran during the inaugural Unity in the Community event Saturday, June 22, at Charles “Lind” Brown Community Center on Greene Street in Beaufort. The Sea Island Heritage Academy, according to Shannon, is a new charter school scheduled to open July 1 of this year. Looking on are Kilian’s parents, April and Dominic Sheeran and big brother Caden, 3. Bob Sofaly/The Island News

Mural artist John Bradley, Jr., poses for a photo in front of his newest creation during the inaugural Unity in the Community event Saturday, June 22, at Alvin Settles Pool, adjacent to the Charles “Lind” Brown Community Center on Greene Street in Beaufort. Bob Sofaly/The Island News

7 sites added to Reconstruction Era National Historic Network

From staff reports

The National Park Service has announced the addition of seven new sites to the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network. This national network connects sites across the country who provide education, inter pretation and research related to the period of Reconstruction.

The Reconstruction Era (1861-1900) is one of the most fascinating and misunderstood periods in American History and includes stories of freedom, education and self-determination.

community was first settled by formerly enslaved people in the 1870s and was then incorporated in the 1880s to be a self-governing all-Black city.

The new community sites added to the network include this quarter include:

• The Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, Ala.: A National Historic Landmark that, in addition to being an active state legislature, interprets the role of Black Alabamians who served in the state legislature during Reconstruction.

• The Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community in Eatonville, Fla.: Conducts public education and interpretive programming on the history of Eatonville. The

By Bob Sofaly

The Island News

• The Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives, located in Washington, D.C.: First established in 1872 as a school for the city’s Black students, and continues as a museum and archive to documenting the history of public education in Washington.

The Lincolnville Museum and Interpretive Center: Interprets 500 years of Black history in St. Augustine, Florida. The museum includes a variety of exhibits on Reconstruction ranging from Black soldiers in the Civil War, Black political leaders of northeast Florida, and the violent overthrow of Reconstruction in the region.

Located near Ridgeland, S.C., the Honey Hill Battlefield Park: Peserves the site of one of the one of the largest Civil War battles in South Caroli-

na. Participants included a substantial number of Black soldiers from the Lowcountry, who in some cases were fighting against Confederates from the region who had enslaved them prior to the war.

Incorporated in 1875, the Olivewood Cemetery in Houston, Texas: A historic African American cemetery where more than four thousand Black citizens are buried. Dating to Reconstruction, the cemetery has also been recognized by the United Nations UNESCO as a “Site of Memory” in the Slave Route Project.

Sumner Hall Post #25 in Chestertown, Md.: Established by Black veterans and members of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). Today the site is a museum, educational site, and community center. Sumner Hall, along with the David Hunter GAR Post in Beaufort, are the only historically African American GAR buildings still standing in the United States – both of which are now in the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network.

“These new sites in the Reconstruction Era National Historic

Network remind us all of the national scope of Reconstruction” Park Superintendent Laura Waller, said in a news release. “They stretch both the geographic and chronological boundaries of Reconstruction, and we’re excited that these communities will be able to engage with the history and legacy of Reconstruction.”

The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed into law on March 12 2019, outlined the creation of the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network. This network, managed by Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, includes more than 100 sites and programs that are affiliated with the Reconstruction Era, but not necessarily managed by the National Park Service. This network is nationwide and works to provide opportunities for visitors to connect to the stories of Reconstruction. For more information about the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network, visit https://www. nps.gov/subjects/reconstruction/ network.htm. For more information about Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, visit www.nps.gov/reer or follow on Facebook at www. facebook.com/ReconstructionNPS.

arrested in Beaufort connected to sexual exploitation of a minor

From staff reports

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced Thursday, June 20, the arrest of Trey Cameron Leonard, 22, of Sugar Hill, Ga., on two charges connected to the sexual exploitation of a minor. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office made the arrest.

Investigators state Leonard distributed files of child sexual abuse material and blackmailed a minor victim. Leonard was arrested on June 10 2024. He is charged with one count of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, second degree (§16-15-405), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment, and one count of Blackmail (§1617-640), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment. The case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office.

Attorney General Wilson stressed all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law. Leonard’s bond has been set at $50,000 for each charge. As of Tuesday, June 25, Leonard remains confined at the Beaufort County Detention Center. Man

Inaugural Creek Sweep cleans up with a different approach

Twenty volunteers manned 15 kayaks early Sunday morning, June 23, in an effort to clean up the litter from the marsh and feeder creeks from parts of Battery Creek and Beaufort River. With the trash too remote to be picked up any other way than with the shallow drafting boats able to slip in and back out without disturbing the surrounding pristine wetlands, the Beaufort Litter Patrol decided to do something different about the remote pollution in the waterways.

“We have been picking up litter by foot for three years,” according to Ashton Cradit. This year, though, they decided to attack the growing problem of litter in the wa-

ter. Cradit said attacking the problem from the water side might be more complete. She said they partnered with Coastal Experience Tours which specializes in kayak tours and the inaugural Creek Sweep was born.

“It took a year and-a-half to get everything worked out,” she said as 15 kayaks, some privately owned by participants, lined up on the banks of The Sands Beach. Some were seasoned kayakers; others had less experience. Some were were guides with Coastal Experience Tours. All had the same desire to clear the marshes of trash.

Little Phillip Ramirez was there with his mother, Carmela. When asked if he was a kayaker, he assured this photographer that he knew what he was doing.

James Mozley grabs one of the kayaks and pulls it back up on the shoreline prior to the inaugural Creek Sweep litter pick up Sunday, June 23, at The Sands Beach in Port Royal. Twenty volunteers paddled their kayaks from The Sands to Fort Frederick near the U. S. Naval Hospital and back down around the point at The Sands and into Battery Creek while picking up trash stuck in the sea grass and pluff mud. Water in feeder creeks is very shallow and only accessible by very shallow drafting boats like kayaks. Bob Sofaly/The Island News

“I’ve done this before,” he said. “Just once, but I know what to do.”

The group launched their boats and paddled up the

Beaufort River to the shores of Fort Frederic near the U.S. Naval Hospital, slipped their shallow drafting boats in and back out of places where no-

body could ever access without damaging the fragile, estuarial makeup of the local environment. The volunteers were giv-

en rubber gloves, orange plastic trash bags, life jackets and gripping devices before heading out. And if one didn’t bring a kayak, one was provided, complete with a paddle.

For safety reasons, they all moved together, hugging the shoreline and checking out each feeder creek making up the marsh. Moving slowly, so as to not miss any trash or damage the marsh, they moved back out to main waterway and onward to the next remote creek.

By 11:30 a.m., all the feeders from Fort Frederick to the observation tower at the end of the boardwalk had been cleaned out. Nothing had been damaged, and the kayakers returned to base with large smiles and a keen sense of accomplishment.

A story of survivorship

When a BMH cancer nurse got cancer

From staff reports

Awife, a mother of three, a Major in the South Carolina Army National Guard and a registered nurse working on Beaufort Memorial Hospital’s oncology floor, Constance (Connie) Pope had life figured out.

Then, in late 2019, she started feeling a pain in her chest and abdomen.

At first, she and her primary care doctor thought it was a gastrointestinal issue. But by early 2020 she noticed a lump had appeared on her chest.

Rewind 15 years, Pope was a Specialist in the Florida National Guard escorting convoys though the Iraqi desert in a U.S. Army gun truck. She had joined the guard while a sophomore at Florida A&M University out of a sincere sense of duty.

Although the experience was both dangerous and difficult, she said that joining was “by far the best decision I made in my life. It gave me a mindset of service that I’ve carried with me ever since.”

She returned home to Beaufort in 2013 and was finally ready to take on another challenge that she had kept in the back of her mind since earning her bachelor’s degree: becoming a nurse. She started taking classes at Trident University in Charleston while working as a certified nursing assistant on Beaufort Memorial Hospital’s (BMH) Oncology floor.

“Oncology has always been close to my heart,” Pope said. “I’m drawn to the work. There’s just something about the patients. You feel good about the work that you do.”

So, after graduating from nursing school in 2015, it was a natural fit for her to stay with the BMH oncology team as a registered nurse. And she excelled. She became the floor’s clinical

FLAG DAY

coordinator in 2019. In that key leadership position, she worked as a charge nurse and ensured that each patient had an established care plan coordinated with the appropriate providers. But just as she was settling in, she was to become a cancer patient herself.

After noticing the lump on her chest in March of 2020, she was referred to the Beaufort Memorial Breast Health Center, part of the

The Beaufort Republican Women’s Club gathered on Flag Day, June 14, 2024, to commemorate the adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States.

Though not a federal holiday, this day in June was chosen as a nationwide day of celebration. The guest speaker was American history author Randolph Russell, who spoke about the necessity for all Americans, young and old, to learn, know, and understand our American heritage. Russell treated the group to his solo sax rendition of America, and signed his books that were available to purchase. The Club enjoyed a picnic style supper at the Dataw Island Gazebo, 100 Marina Drive, St. Helena Island. For more information, please go to www. beaufortrepublicanwomensc.com. Submitted photo

USC Beaufort to present economic update with Barkin

From staff reports USC Beaufort is inviting the community to an economic update roundtable discussion led by Tom Barkin, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Va. The event will take place from 2 to 3 p.m., Wednesday, July 10, on USCB's Beaufort Campus, 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort -the Historic Beaufort College Building. Barkin has held the position of President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond since 2018. Barkin earned his bachelor’s, MBA and law degree from Harvard University.

Tom Barkin

Barkin is a voting member on the Fed’s

chief monetary policy body and the Federal Open Market Committee. He is responsible for the Fed’s Fifth District, which includes South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington D.C., West Virginia and Maryland. His engagement in the region has brought attention to areas facing economic challenges.

Before joining the Richmond Fed, Barkin was a senior partner and CFO at McKinsey & Company, a worldwide management consulting firm. There he oversaw McKinsey’s offices in the southern United States. Participants will have the opportunity to share their thoughts on how the current economy is impacting their industries.

The event is presented by USCB and Palmetto State Bank. RSVP to Angela Frazee at frazeea@uscb.edu.

nationally accredited Keyserling Cancer Center.

“The doctor told me that it looked like breast cancer and that I’d need to do a biopsy the next day,” Pope said. “I was like, ‘ummm, OK.’ And I went back to work. I didn’t even know what to do with that information. I was 37 years old at the time and I stayed fit for the guard. Why would I have breast cancer?”

It was as though Pope went into default mode. Her mindset of service took over, she compartmentalized and she kept working.

When her diagnosis came a week later, Dr. Jonathan Briggs, her radiation oncologist, says he had found that “it was an aggressive type of cancer.” She consequently needed “neo-adjuvant chemo, meaning chemotherapy given before surgery,” along with postoperative radiation therapy “to further decrease the risk of recurrence.”

She received that overwhelming news while at her annual training with the guard, where she felt it was her duty to be.

“They sent me home,” Pope said. “They said, ‘this diagnosis is a lot’ and told me that I needed to focus on taking care of myself.”

It was the compassion of her colleagues in the guard, on the BMH oncology floor and in the Keyserling Cancer Center that enabled Pope to let go of taking care of others for a while and focus instead on overcoming cancer herself.

Novelist from page A1

support the nonprofit DragonBoat Beaufort.

On this inspirational day men and women of all ages, many of them cancer survivors, compete as teams in the 2,000-yearold Chinese sport of dragon boat paddling. Bring the family. Attendance is free thanks to the many corporate sponsors.

Competing and attending this year with his Charleston team is debut novelist, real estate developer, cancer survivor and paddler Roger Jones.

“There is a reason this is the fastest growing water sport in the world,” he said. “When the endorphins kick in, and all twenty of you in the boat are moving in sync, pushing “harder, faster, deeper” — the three-word mantra emblazoned on many a paddle – “you feel the power of teammates working together. It is an incredible feeling. For that period of time, you forget about cancer and you forget about being sick. There is a peace that comes over you. You know without a doubt that you are not alone.”

Everyone has been touched by cancer in some way. Some of the boats racing on Saturday will be filled with survivors or those who have a family member or loved one that is a survivor; some competitors are even now going through treatment.

“When the races are over and they paddlers climb out of the water — win, lose or draw — they will be exhausted but exhilarated,” says Jones. “I promise you; you will feel the love. I wrote “The Final Victory,” a novel inspired by true events, because I wanted to honor and share the stories of my extraordinary teammates, men and women who joined me in our race of and for our lives.”

“Connie is a joy to work with; she is always willing to help where she can,” said Chimene Heyward, BMH breast care navigator and Pope’s colleague. “Even though she was going through a lot, she never let that get her down.”

Pope recounted numerous little instances that made her feel at ease through what can be a traumatic treatment process. The support of one Breast Health Center radiology technician who held her hand as she underwent one of her first diagnostic biopsies stood out. And, in the end, she felt reassured that she was getting the best care possible.

“They didn’t assume that because I’m a nurse I’d know everything,” Connie said. “No matter who you are, you don’t know what exactly you’re walking into when you find out that you have cancer.”

“Although the initial presentation showed an aggressive cancer, she had a wonderful response to the neoadjuvant chemotherapy showing a complete response,” Dr. Briggs said. “She continues to undergo routine follow up visits.” Pope has been cancer free for four years as of May and is back working with oncology patients in BMH’s medical oncology clinic. And this month, she’ll complete a master’s program to become a nurse practitioner, enabling her to be even more capable of serving patients facing similar cancer survivorship journeys.

Cancer had stolen my teammates’ mastery of their bodies. But the DragonBoat had restored our hope as the rulers of our lives. We were learning that perfect harmony can be made out of broken things and broken people. It would be the lesson of our lives.”

Jones will be signing books at Beaufort DragonBoat Race Day from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at The Final Victory tent. Copies will be available there from the Beaufort Bookstore. Jones will donate $5 from every copy sold to the DragonBoat Beaufort nonprofit.

Race

from page A1

different divisions – Community division, Cancer Survivor division, Seniors division which is reserved for participants over the age of 50 and a Men’s division.

Teams include churches, military members, local businesses, civic clubs, hospitals, schools, among others.

The teams compete for medals and awards given out for Top Fundraising Individual, Top Fundraising

Team, Fastest Local Team, Most Money Raised by a Drummer on Race Day, Fastest Overall Team, Best Dressed Drummer, Best Team Spirit, Best Tent Decoration and Best T-Shirt Design.

For a list of the 2024 teams check out www.dragonboat-raceday.com.

Registration is closed for this year’s event, but for future events the DragonBoat Beaufort Race Day is open to anyone who wants to participate. While the event is fun and empowering for those who participate, it also serves as a fundraiser to support DragonBoat Beaufort’s Cancer Outreach Mission. The goal this year is $70,000 and according to Jones, as of Tuesday morning the organization has raised more than $65 000 This year’s festival is presented by Platinum Sponsor Modern Jewelers.

Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.

Connie Pope works with oncology patients in Beaufort Memorial Hospital’s medical oncology clinic. Submitted photo

NEWS & BUSINESS

Fountain Island Blue open on St. Helena Island

From staff reports The Fountain Island Blue Convenience Store, a new Black-owned business located at 1210 Seaside Road on St. Helena Island, held its Grand Opening on May 4 2024

The new store is owned by Beaufort businesswoman Sandra L. Mack, a licensed barber, author, and bail bondsman who hails from New Orleans. The grand opening was attended by dozens of people of all ages.

It was sponsored by the Community Coalition Action Network of St. Helena Island (CCAN). The Gullah Geechee Chamber of Commerce, a partner of CCAN, also supported the event, which provided free food and drinks, a DJ, giveaways, and a bouncy house for kids. The store, located in a food desert on St. Helena Island, is one of only two Blackowned convenience stores on the island. It offers hot meals, lottery tickets, and a

hand car wash, in addition to the usual convenience store products. During segregation, St. Helena Island had 14 Gullah-owned neighborhood country/convenience stores, according to Community Coalition Action Network of St. Helena Island co-founder Roy R. Brown, who was St. Helena Island’s first Gullah U S. Postmaster. The Fountain Island Blue Convenience Store operates at the site of the former Seaside Mini-Mart.

Connecting the dots: The power of aggregation

Provided by Wells Fargo

To have less stress and more confidence about the future, taking the time to review account statements is helpful. But it can be even more meaningful to have a single place where you can see the total picture of all of your assets and liabilities — and how it may fluctuate over time. Building a comprehensive account summary or net worth statement can make it easier to connect the dots. As more dots are connected, you get a more meaningful picture and see a clearer, more actionable path.

As individuals build wealth, it becomes more challenging to keep track of one’s overall financial picture. There will likely be household cash accounts, investment accounts, retirement plans, real estate, loans, and a number

of credit cards. Executives may have stock options and other equity-based benefits that vest over time, and deferred compensation plans. Business owners often have multiple entities related to their core business, along with real estate holdings connected to the business. You may have private investments as well.

So gathering financial information and documents from different sources can become a bit of a chore.

How do successful people do this?

Don’t get overly complicated. Build something that works for you. Remember that the goal is to see the big picture, not to focus on the microscopic details. Let technology do some of the work for you. Many credit

cards offer very useful spending summaries. And increasingly, financial institutions are offering account aggregation tools that make it easier to see all your accounts, even at various institutions, in one place. After you take a little bit of time to set this up, you don’t need to wait for a monthly statement or quarterly review to get a broader view of your finances. Values are updated daily, so you can get a current picture any time it’s convenient for you to go online or check in on mobile.

Work with an experienced professional. An investment plan and net worth statement can form a “foundation built from facts” that may enable really good (if not always easy) conversations about spending, values, choices, and things to look forward to.

If I feel pretty sure that I am doing okay, why do all this extra work?

One reason is that having good metrics appears to be a hallmark of good performance. For example: successful business owner or executives can quickly tell you the key metrics that they watch to know how their business is doing. Athletes measure their training (and their rest) so that they will know whether they are progressing toward performance goals.

Another reason is, there is a payoff. We generally have more confidence when we know how we’re doing. Uncertainty, on the other hand, is likely to increase anxiety and stress.

Building a net worth statement is not an end in itself. But developing this positive habit can lead

Future Guardians Initiative Summer Camp

Hearings from page A1

firm the connection.

As previously reported, Terrance Lamar Fields, 50, was arrested and charged with Trafficking in Persons, Victim Under 18 Years of Age, and according to court documents he is still confined at Jasper County Detention Center and has not had his preliminary hearing.

Woodward said that Fields was arrested as a “John,” which is a term used for a male client of prostitution who pays for or trades something of value for sexual acts.

“He was arrested because he was one of the persons having sexual relations with these juveniles,” Woodward said.

Additionally, a 20-year-old woman named Ilaife Sylvia Meredith from Beaufort was arrested by Hardeeville City Police on June 13 and charged with Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor, ac-

cording to court records.

Woodward told The Island News that Meredith was arrested in Hampton County and brought back to Jasper County where she was detained at the Jasper County Detention Center.

Court records show that both Meredith and Fields were arrested by Master Patrol Officer Angela Serrano with the City of Hampton Police Department.

Ilaife Sylvia Meredith was misidentified in a previous article based on information posted to the City of Hardeeville Police Department’s Facebook page. Her first and middle names were transposed.

“The only thing I can tell you is that she facilitated in transporting some of the underage people from Beaufort to Hardeeville and gave them a place to stay in hiding while all this was going on,” said Chief Woodward.

“That’s all I can tell you so far in that investigation with her.”

Meredith had her bond hearing

the

on June 13 and was released on a $10 000 Surety Bond on June 17

Her first court appearance is scheduled for Friday, August 23 at 9 a.m. in Jasper County.

To summarize the case, four men and a woman, so far, have been arrested in connection with a human trafficking operation in Beaufort County.

Bryan, Talley, and Youmans face the most serious charge of Trafficking In Persons, Victim Under 18 Years of Age. They remain confined at the Beaufort County Detention Center.

A source has confirmed to The Island News that Jaquan Duvall Barnes, 28, of Port Royal, who recently escaped from the Jasper County Detention Center, is connected to the case, as well. He escaped the day before the arrest warrants in the case were served.

Barnes already faces the same charge following his March 5 arrest after he reportedly ran from police during a traffic stop. He was found with an underage girl

our city's

who had been reported missing from Beaufort County in the car with him.

Barnes remains at large.

According to sources, law enforcement, led by the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), conducted raids June 11 at several Beaufort County residences, collecting evidence and making several arrests in relation to a human trafficking operation in Beaufort County.

These sources told The Island News that several men had used the promise of employment to lure multiple under-aged females to a location or locations where they were instead drugged, plied with alcohol, held against their will and forced to have sex with paying customers.

The dates during which the trafficking took place, according to arrest warrants, were from February 1, 2024 through March 5, 2024 Little is known publicly about the victims in this case except there are at least several. Sourc-

es have confirmed to The Island News there are multiple victims and that at least one of the victims is as young as 14 Though SLED confirmed the investigation and the initial arrests, it has provided little additional information.

According to SLED’s news release, “the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, the Beaufort Police Department, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, the Hardeeville Police Department, the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations are working together on the active and ongoing investigation.”

Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached

Community Coalition Action Network of St. Helena Island co-founders Roy R. Brown, left, and Tade Oyeilumi, right, flank owner Sandra L. Mack at the grand opening of Fountain Island Blue Convenience Store at 1210 Seaside Road, St. Helena Island at its Grand Opening on May 4, 2024. Submitted photo

Teens participating in the Beaufort Police Department's Future Guardians Initiative Summer Camp pose for a photo with their tour guide and camp instructors during their visit to the Beaufort History Museum on Thursday, June 20, 2024. Amber Hewitt/The Island News

Teens in

Beaufort Police Department’s Future Guardians Initiative Summer Camp are enjoying a guided tour of the History Museum on Thursday, June 20, 2024, to deepen their understanding of

history. Amber Hewitt/The Island News

NEWS ARTS

Beaufort Theatre Company holding

auditions

for fall show

From staff reports

The Beaufort Theatre Company is hosting auditions from 3 to 5 p.m., Sunday, June 30 for those ages 15 and older at the USC Beaufort Center For The Arts.

Call backs will be from 6 to 8 p.m., Monday, July 1

Audition details

Bring nonreturnable photo; Arrive 15 minutes early to complete forms or download PDF from the USCB Center For The Arts website; Prepare a song from a classic Broadway musical – 16 bar maximum. Accompaniment will not be provided. Please bring your accompaniment track on your own device. A cappella singing is not preferred;

• Judges are looking for pitch matching, range and part independence. Choose a selection that demonstrates your ability; Prepare a 30- to 60-second monologue. Memorization is not required but encouraged;

• Wear comfortable clothes and shoes. Be prepared to learn some dance moves; and Not everyone who auditions will be cast.

Meckley BAA’s Featured Artist for July, August

From staff reports The Beaufort Art Association has named Bluffton’s John Meckley its Featured Artist for the period from June 30 through August 31

Meckley’s show entitled “Low Country Egrets in Flight” will be on display at the Gallery of the Beaufort Art Association at 913 Bay Street in downtown Beaufort, under the black awning. An opening night reception featuring the artist will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. on Friday, July 1 at the gallery.

Meckley’s love for art began at the age of 13. Self-

taught, his inspiration came from works by Rembrandt and the Wyeth family artists. He likes to incorpo-

rate their styles with soft, smooth, warm brush strokes of his own. He limits his palette to warm, earthy tones.

BOOK REVIEW

He believes his subjects portray a sense of serenity and peacefulness.

He won his first juried art show at the age of 17 in Pennsylvania. Since then, he has won numerous juried show awards in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Florida, and South Carolina. At one time, he even had a painting hanging in the Russian embassy in Washington, D.C.

Until two years ago, MEckley’s works were mostly snapshots of life with people struggling with real life situations and conditions, such as a tear fall-

ing from an old man on a park bench waiting for the end to come. In 2019, he moved to Bluffton and remembers taking in the impressive scenery, driving across a bridge with a light rain falling and the sun still shining. He saw a rainbow appear outside of the moving truck and he felt as if he could touch it. He noticed a flock of egrets in flight across the marsh and thought God was giving him a sign. Since then, egrets in flight have been his focus.

‘Dry Spell’ by Avery Caswell

By Susan Montanari

“Dry Spell,” by Avery Caswell is a literary plunge into the private lives of two mothers, each, in their own way, trying to steer their offspring down a particular path. Their children, however, have minds of their own.

Set in a small southern college town, the story will captivate readers with examples of Gullah customs practiced by Maggie Bliss. Practices that frighten her adult daughter Bella who is about to become a mother herself, and begins to treat her mother Maggie like a child.

A few houses away Eileen Simmons struggles to maintain the ap-

pearance of a picture-perfect family. Managing her four children, professor husband, home, and social life, she is perplexed by her teenage son, Nate, whose bouts of defiance fly in the face of her parenting style. What do you do when your son says, “no.”

The two households spin out of control and are destined to clash.

Avery Caswell’s lyrical voice casts a spell over readers as they are drawn into this expansive family drama. An award-winning writer and designer, Caswell’s previous

Truth Matters

work includes the novel “Salvation and Mother Load,” a collection of short stories, which Kirkus said was “stunning.” Lee Smith called her book “Luck, A Collection of Facts, Fiction, Poetry & Incantations,” “a feast for the eyes, the intellect, and the imagination.” Caswell studied with Chris Offutt at Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Abigail DeWitt at Duke Writers’ Workshop, and holds MFAs in Design and in Creative Writing. Dry Spell was published by WayWord Books, January 2024 WayWord Books, a new publishing company located here in Beaufort, is working to change the industry. As a subscription-based

publisher, WayWord Books is breaking the mold by delivering quality, first-edition books directly to readers, eliminating the need for distributors, many of whom earn far more than authors, and sometimes even more than publishers. They venture off the beaten path to find new work by topnotch writers, and combine beautifully designed books with carefully curated gifts that complement the authors’ work. One of their favorite quotes about writing is: “The book is a party the writer throws for the reader.”

You’re cordially invited to the party. RSVP by subscribing today at www.waywordbooks.com.

Should We Speak Out?

Should Christians speak out?

Truth Is Meant to Be Shared

When Christians attempt to share Christ with others or speak out about moral issues, we are often accused of being “intolerant.” The fear of being labeled as intolerant can keep us from lovingly sharing truth with others.

A false understanding of tolerance has become popular. In recent years, tolerance has come to mean that one should accept all viewpoints as equally true or good. It is seen as arrogant and judgmental to think that you know the truth in a particular matter, especially regarding faith or morals. It is seen as intolerant to share truth or help another person see that they are making a mistake. We must accept and celebrate everyone’s actions and beliefs, and leave everyone to whatever they want to do.

Should we tolerate a friend driving drunk?

Imagine seeing a friend at a restaurant, clearly intoxicated and about to drive himself home. Is it judgmental or arrogant to recognize that drunk driving is a dangerous and immoral course of action? Is it intolerant to challenge the friend and help him to choose a different course of action? Of course not!

Authentic tolerance means respectful disagreement. In its original sense, tolerance means that we respect and care for all people, even if we disagree with them on important subjects. Opposing views can be discussed in an atmosphere of mutual respect. For example, an atheist and a Christian could disagree on the existence of God and still hold each other in great esteem. They could respectfully talk about these matters, trying to help each other see the truth, and even be close friends.

Without authentic tolerance, true dialogue ceases. The irony of our “tolerant” culture is that views contrary to current political correctness are not tolerated. All viewpoints are supposed to be equally true and good, but quite often Christians are rejected as fools or bigots for adhering to Christian beliefs. Christians are expected to change their own beliefs to match what is politically correct. This is the opposite of authentic tolerance.

Christians should share the truth with love and respect. If we really believe that Jesus is divine, and that knowing him is the source of happiness both now and after death, how can we not want to share this good news? Like Jesus himself, we do not force anyone to our way of thinking, but with love we joyfully share what is good and true!

Avery Caswell

“August Sun” by John Meckley. Submitted

EDUCATION

Back-to-School Expo aimed at preparing students, parents for new year

From staff reports

The Beaufort County School District is teaming up with government agencies and private-sector business partners to hold its “Back-to-School Expo” designed to give students and their families a free day of fun, door prizes, and valuable information about the upcoming 2024-25 school year. This year’s Expo is set for Saturday, July 27, at Battery Creek High School, located at 1 Blue Dolphin Drive in Beaufort. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

“We are excited to once again kick-off the upcoming school year with this annual event that enables families to gather a lot of practical and helpful information,” Student Services Officer Juliet White, Ph.D., said in news release “District schools are pitching in, district employees are volunteering on a Saturday, and we’re glad to have par -

ticipation from our business partners, civic groups, and faith-based groups.”

Students and their families are encouraged to attend the event, which will feature:

Booths operated by district schools that can supply information about school activities. Door prizes from local restaurants and businesses.

• Free school supplies for students.

Free dental and health services provided by Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton Comprehensive Health Services and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). District Food Services will be available to answer questions about the free and reduced lunch application process, and the district’s food vendor will be present.

EDUCATION BRIEFS

AAUW’s Mann Scholarship goes to USCB junior

The Beaufort Chapter of American Association of University Women (AAUW) presented its annual 2024 Etta N. Mann Nontraditional Student Scholarship at its May chapter meeting.

The scholarship is awarded to a woman, 21 or older, who has returned to college following an interruption in her education. This year's scholarship was awarded to Alyssa Roberts, a junior at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, majoring in Elementary Education.

Roberts works full-time and volunteers as a tutor to students after school, all while attending college full-time. AAUW wishes Alyssa continued success at USCB and in her future teaching career.

Beaufort’s Sullivan graduates from Rhode Island

The University of Rhode Island celebrated more than 4 100 of its newest alumni during the University's 2024 Commencement in Kingston, R.I. Nearly 4 000 undergraduate degrees and 800 graduate degrees were conveyed to students during the ceremonies which took place May 1719 2024 Matthew Sullivan of Beaufort received a Master of Business Administration.

Acclaimed actress Viola Davis, one of only 19 people to have won all four of the major American performing arts awards, delivered a stirring keynote address, sharing a message of transformation, healing, and love with graduates. Davis, a Rhode Island native, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters. Charles M. Royce and Deborah Goodrich Royce, noted for their considerable literary and investment success and important preservation work across Rhode Island, were awarded honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees during the ceremony.

To view ceremony highlights, visit uri. edu/commencement/y2024/.

As a global education leader and the state of Rhode Island's flagship public research institution, URI now enrolls more than 18 000 students and offers more than 200 degree programs across nine schools and colleges. To learn more, visit uri.edu.

27 from Beaufort make College of Charleston

President's, Dean's lists College of Charleston congratulates more than 3,500 students – including 27 from Beaufort -- named to the President's List and the Dean's List for Spring 2024

The following are local students on the President’s List: Tyler Mcguire (29907), majoring in Computer Science; Cadence Gillaspie (29906), majoring in Political

The district’s travelling preschool bus will be on site, and staff will share information with parents.

BCSD families planning to attend the Back-to-School Expo are encouraged to pre-register by Friday, July 19, 2024: Free transportation for district families is being provided from high schools North and South of the Broad. BCSD Families interested in reserving transportation can do so as part of the pre-registration process at https://bit.ly/4chavI4.

For additional information, families can contact Anjanette Capers at 843322-5446 (Anjanette.Capers@beaufort.k12.sc.us) or Calanthia Fripp at 843322-5455 (Calanthia.Fripp@ beaufort.k12.sc.us). Spanish speaking families can contact Yanina Sarli at 843-3222420 and Yanina.SarliRotti@ beaufort.k12.sc.us.

USC Beaufort junior Alyssa Roberts, left, accepted the 2024 Etta N. Mann Nontraditional Student Scholarship from American Association of University Women’s Beaufort Chapter President Janice Herbert at the group’s May meeting. Submitted photo

Science and Public Health; Catherine Webb (29907), majoring in Integrated Studies; Margaret Armes (29906), majoring in Biochemistry and Chemistry; Emily Stacks (29906), majoring in International Studies and Spanish; Jacob Rye (29906), majoring in Theatre; Catherine Cozad (29902), majoring in Communication; Emma Jansen (29907), majoring in Archaeology and Anthropology; Lydia Mahan (29902), majoring in Spanish and Psychology; Addison MacPhee (29907), majoring in Computer Science; Emily Bennett (29907), majoring in Studio Art; Philip Henshaw (29907), majoring in Exercise Science; and Charlotte Vyge (29907), majoring in Psychology.

The following are local students on the Dean’s List: Rainee Kearney (29907), majoring in Professional Studies; Alex Barradas Perez (29906), majoring in German Studies and Electrical Engineering; Frederick Scheper (29907), majoring in Marine Biology; Kathryn Bendle (29907), majoring in Biology; Charles Jindrich (29907), majoring in Electrical Engineering; Hannah Fennell (29907), majoring in Biology; Isabel Vega (29907); majoring in Political Science; Emily Womack (29907), majoring in Biology; Julye Scheper (29907), majoring in Biology; Nya Goode (29907), majoring in Computing in the Arts; Heather May (29907), majoring in Biology; Paige Starnes (29907), majoring in Undecided; Aiden Clark (29907), majoring in Sociology; and Shannon Smith (29907), majoring in Exercise Science.

The College of Charleston is a public liberal arts and sciences university located in the heart of historic Charleston. Founded in 1770, the College is among the nation's top universities for quality education, student life and affordability.

– From staff reports

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Options & References for a Healthier Life

Best anti-aging skin care routines

As people age, the appearance and texture of their skin changes. This often includes the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines, a loss of elasticity, discoloration, and a rougher texture. Implementing a skin care routine that supports healthy aging may help to slow this process.

Substances in the skin such as collagen and elastin begin to decrease as a person ages. This can cause wrinkles and looser skin. Some lifestyle and environmental factors can also affect skin aging, such as exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light, smoking, and diet.

Although it is not possible to stop the skin from aging, using certain skin care products can slow down the process. Dermatologists may recommend products with ingredients such as retinoids and vitamin C to help prevent or reduce the visible signs of aging skin.

There are several different steps a person can add to their skin care routine to help reduce signs of aging skin. While dermatologists may recommend some skin care practices to everyone, some steps may change as a person gets older. Several active ingredients in anti-aging (or as we like to say “pro-aging”) skin care products may help to reduce the effects of aging on the skin.

Some of the most effective pro-aging ingredients include:

Retinoids: Retinoids promote the production of elastin and collagen. These are substances in the skin that reduce wrinkles and fine lines. Retinol is a common type of retinoid in skin care products.

Hyaluronic acid: This ingredient boosts hydration and makes the skin appear more plump.

Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid): Vitamin C can brighten the look of the skin and protect it from environmental factors. These include UV exposure and polluted air.

• Alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs):

These ingredients promote skin cell renewal and can brighten the appearance of skin and reduce fine lines and wrinkles. AHAs can also treat the effects of sun damage.

• Copper peptide: Copper peptide can boost the production of collagen and elastin, which reduces wrinkles, fine lines, and loose skin.

The best skin care routine for supporting healthy aging will depend on what age a person is. While young adults may focus more on preventing skin aging, older adults may prioritize reducing the appearance of aging.

In your 20s and 30s

The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) recommends that people begin to take care of their skin in their 20s. Implementing a

skin care routine earlier in life can have a big effect on how the skin will look later in life. People should continue many of the skin care practices that they begin in their 20s as they get older.

Some skin care steps for those in their 20s that can help to prevent skin aging include:

Gently cleansing face twice a day: Using a mild cleanser suited to the individual’s skin type, gentle cleansing helps remove dirt, makeup, and dead skin cells. This helps the skin to appear clear and reduces signs of wrinkles.

• SPF 30+ Sunscreen: Using a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30 can help to protect the skin from the damage that UV rays cause. A person should apply sunscreen any time they are going outside.

Sugary drinks are among the most fattening items you can put into your body. This is because your brain doesn’t measure calories from liquid sugar the same way it does for solid food. Therefore,

when you drink soda, you end up eating more total calories. Sugary drinks are strongly associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and many other health problems. Keep in mind that

sweet tea and certain fruit juices may be almost as bad as soda in this regard, as they sometimes contain just as much sugar. Their small amounts of antioxidants do not negate the sugar’s harmful effects.

• Moisturizer: Applying moisturizer helps the skin to retain moisture and can improve the skin’s appearance, reducing signs of premature aging.

• Vitamin C cream/serum: Vitamin C-based serums and creams can help reduce skin discoloration and other signs of aging. Dermatologists recommend applying it in the morning, after cleansing, and before sunscreen.

• Retinoid: Retinoids (often retinol) should be applied before bed, around 20–30 minutes after cleansing and moisturizing.

In your 40s and 50s

Most skin care practices can continue once a person reaches their 40s and 50s. However, there are other pro-aging skin care steps that may be particularly beneficial for this age group: moisturizing after taking a bath or shower and throughout the day as needed to prevent dry skin using moisturizers that contain hyaluronic acid or glycerin avoiding alcohol-based products using fragrance-free products using products containing antioxidants, such as vitamin C. Retinoids and AHAs can be effective ingredients for reducing the appearance of aging but are not gentle on the skin. To avoid adverse effects, those in their 40s and 50s may want to discuss the use of these ingredients with a dermatologist.

Menopause can cause changes to a person’s skin. While skin care can help to prevent or reduce these changes, individuals should consider speaking with a dermatologist if they experience skin changes during this time.

In your 60s and 70s

During a person’s 60s and 70s,

their skin may feel drier and more prone to irritation. In older adults, the skin is generally thinner and less able to retain moisture.

Dermatologists recommend many of the same skin care practices to those in their 60s and 70s as other age groups. However, some adjustments in skin care habits may help soothe irritated skin and keep the skin hydrated: washing with gentle, moisturizing soap or cleanser using warm water when washing (instead of hot) reducing shower or bath time to 5–10 minutes using a moisturizer that specializes in moisturizing dry skin

When to contact a dermatologist

Anyone with a skin condition that impacts their quality of life, and causes discomfort, pain, or distress should speak with a dermatologist.

Dermatologists may be able to help with signs of premature aging. They may offer skin care recommendations or procedures that can reduce signs of skin aging. Dermatologists can also recommend products that are most suitable to certain skin types or to treat different signs of aging on the skin. Sometimes, spots or patches on the skin that look like age spots or other signs of aging skin can actually be skin cancer. If a person notices they have a spot or patch which looks different from others on their skin, changes, itches, or bleeds, they should see a dermatologist as soon as possible. In summary, as a person gets older, their skin changes and begins to show signs of age. Although it is not possible to stop the aging process, certain skin care products and practices can help to prevent and reduce the signs of aging skin.

Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday. com/articles/best-anti-aging-skin-careroutine

It's no secret that a Mediterranean diet, rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats, has been linked to numerous health benefits. However, a new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open has uncovered a particularly promising benefit: Consuming just half a tablespoon of olive oil per day may significantly reduce the risk of dementiarelated death.

Researchers analyzed data

from two large prospective studies in the United States, which included a combined 92,383 participants. Over the course of the 28-year follow-up period, they found that those who consumed more than 7 grams (about half a tablespoon) of olive oil daily had a 28% lower risk of dementia-related death compared to those who consumed less.

The study also explored substitutions for olive oil, finding that replacing margarine or mayonnaise with olive oil was associated with a lower risk of dementia-related deaths, while substitutions with other vegetable oils or butter did not significantly reduce risk.

As experts point out, olive oil is rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties that may protect brain health. Incorporating olive oil into your diet is easy—you could use it as your primary cooking oil, create homemade salad dressings, or drizzle it over your favorite dishes.

While further research is needed to establish a direct causal relationship, this study adds to the growing evidence supporting the numerous health benefits of olive oil. A simple switch to olive oil could be a significant step toward protecting your brain health and reducing the risk of dementia-related mortality.

To learn more about the study and how olive oil can support your overall health, visit this link and read the article “Can olive oil help lower the risk of dementiarelated death?”

Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/?utm_source=Sailthru%20Email&utm_

Does garlic lower blood pressure?

It could help with hypertension, but skip the supplement and enjoy garlic in your food instead

We’ve ascribed medicinal properties to garlic for thousands of years. You can find references to the herb-like vegetable throughout human history. It’s been used to treat everything from tuberculosis to snake bites. In fact, garlic was so important to some ancient cultures that archaeologists discovered bulbs of it in Egyptian pyramids. Our forebears may have been a bit overenthusiastic, but they weren’t wrong to treasure the plant. Garlic tastes good—and it’s good for you. Garlic has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antibiotic properties. Studies suggest it can boost your immune system. It might even be a useful addition to cancertreatment plans.

This little plant has a lot to offer. Is it possible that it could also lower your blood pressure? What effect does garlic have on blood pressure?

There’s some evidence to suggest that garlic can lower your blood pressure. But according to cardiologist Ashish Sarraju, MD, it’s still pretty limited. He’s not alone in that assessment. For example, a recent review study demonstrated that vitamin B12 levels may influence garlic’s effectiveness at lowering blood pressure. But what we eat is personal and specific. That makes it hard for

scientists to determine the impact of a single food, especially on a complex medical condition like high blood pressure. As a result, many studies on the relationship between garlic and hypertension are poorly designed. If garlic does indeed lower blood pressure, we’re still not completely sure how. Our best guess is that our red blood cells respond to the sulfur in garlic, creating nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gasses. These compounds relax and expand our blood vessels.

How much garlic should you take?

Garlic has a lot of health benefits, but how much of the stinky stuff should you be ingesting?

You’re probably already getting enough. While some studies show that taking a garlic supplement can reduce your blood pressure, Dr. Sarraju doesn’t think the data are strong enough to recommend it. But he does recommend cooking with garlic. In his words, “one of garlic’s biggest values is that it makes an evidence-based diet— like the DASH diet—tastier.” If you’re trying to make heart-healthy choices, like reducing your sodium intake or eating more veggies, garlic could be your secret weapon. While it might be a secret weapon, it’s not a silver bullet.

Hypertension (high blood

pressure) is complicated. When it comes to lowering blood pressure, diet is just part of the equation. Some of the other lifestyle changes doctors might recommend include quitting smoking, drinking less, exercising regularly, getting a good night’s sleep, reducing stress and in some cases, losing weight.

Garlic is great for flavoring your food, but it can’t change how you live your life. Unless, of course, you’re a vampire.

Is it safe to take?

The jury is also still out on the safety of garlic supplementation. In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Admin-

istration (FDA) hasn’t approved the use of garlic for medicinal purposes. They also don’t regulate the sale of garlic pill supplements. That means you can’t be sure of the dosage or quality of supplements or concentrates you buy over the counter.

Dr. Sarraju doesn’t recommend garlic supplements. There just isn’t enough evidence to support it. But does he think garlic is dangerous in high doses? There’s some evidence that in high doses, garlic can interfere with blood clotting. While that would be particularly concerning for people who already take blood thinners, Dr. Sarraju isn’t yet con-

vinced by the research.

Concentrated garlic could be harmful to people with certain health conditions. We know, for example, that folks with stomach issues like gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) see their symptoms worsen when they eat garlicky food. That’s why people on the low-FODMAP diet need to avoid it, at least for a while.

While it’s rare, some people are allergic to garlic. That’s another reason to avoid concentrated garlic in any form until you’ve spoken with your doctor.

There’s not enough evidence to support garlic

supplementation, but there also isn’t enough evidence to suggest that garlic is dangerous. It’s best, then, to enjoy it as you always have— in your food, with a breath mint chaser.

Can garlic replace medication?

Even if you’re enjoying garlic across all of your meals, don’t give up on your prescribed medications. There’s no evidence to suggest that you can use garlic in place of blood pressure medication. And even if there was, it’s important to remember that doctors don’t prescribe those drugs in isolation. As Dr. Sarraju puts it, “It’s hard to replace a conversation with your doctor and a multifaceted focus on lifestyle and medications with a supplement.”

Diet and lifestyle changes are important. In fact, Dr. Sarraju describes hypertension control as 70% lifestyle and 30% medication. Still, that 30% is important, too, especially as we can’t control factors, like genetics and certain environmental conditions, that influence our blood pressure. You’d bring more than garlic to a showdown with a vampire, so don’t rely on garlic alone to reduce your blood pressure. The stakes, so to speak, are too high.

Source: https://health. clevelandclinic.org/garlic-for-bloodpressure

Do pickles offer health benefits? Well, maybe

There’s nothing like the crunch of a pickle on a good burger, but does the cookout staple have any health benefits?

When it comes to the health benefits of pickles, it depends on the kind of pickle as well as the consumer,” explained Beth Czerwony, RD, registered dietitian for Cleveland Clinic. “It’s important to be mindful of any health conditions to determine how healthy pickles are for you, or how often you can consume them. The type of pickle that you like will also determine the health benefits.”

Czerwony said pickles generally offer fiber, antioxidants as well as vitamins to support eye and heart health.

Fermented pickles, specifically, are a good source of probiotics, which are helpful for gut health.

Pickles are also often low in calories, but it’s important to remember that sweet pickles tend to have added sugar while dill pickles are high in sodium.

Aside from the pickle itself, Czerwony adds the juice can

have other benefits because of the electrolytes.

“We've seen some people resolve cramping in their legs with a shot of pickle juice. Athletes will also often use pickle juice as an electrolyte replacement if they're not using an oral rehydration solution,” Czerwony said.

Although pickles have some

health benefits, Czerwony said it’s important to read the label on your go-to jar.

You want to keep an eye on the amount of sugar and salt, especially for those with health conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure.

Source: ccnewsservice@ccf.org

You have the right to know what’s happening in your community.

Public notices – information local governments are obligated to provide citizens – are required to be published in local newspapers to provide a public record that’s accessible to everyone.

Public notices keep you informed about your government. But, in some states legislators are trying to keep public notices from appearing in local newspapers. This severely impacts government transparency and, in turn, limits the public’s right to hold them accountable for their actions.

Let your state legislators know that you value being able to access notices in your newspaper and that they are worth the investment.

SPORTS&RECREATION

HH takes 12u title; state tourneys on deck

LowcoSports.com

The baseball all-stars from Hilton Head finished off a sweep of the 8-and-under, 10-and-under, and 12-and-under District 8 titles with an undefeated run through the Diamond Youth Baseball 12u O-Zone district tournament last week at Burton Wells Complex.

Hilton Head breezed through the bracket and claimed the title with a 13-2 win over Bluffton in the championship game on Thursday, June 20, a day after Bluffton rallied for six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to send Beaufort to a heartbreaking elimination.

Beaufort blasted Colleton County, 13-3, in its opener before running into the Hilton Head buzzsaw in a 16-0 defeat. It looked like the Beaufort All-Stars would get another shot at Hilton Head in the championship game, as the host team jumped out to an 8-3

lead after three innings and held it there until the bottom of the sixth.

The last three outs are often the hardest to get, and Beaufort couldn’t secure the final one, as Henry Burbage’s flare over third base got down to plate the winning run and cap a six-run rally for a 9-8 win.

15u all-stars headed to state

The 13-and-under and 14-and-under Beaufort County all-stars get to bypass their state tournaments and exercise host bids into the Diamond Boys Baseball World Series at Burton Wells Complex from July 26-31, but the 15-and-under squad coached by Jeremiah Young will have to win a state title to punch its ticket to the World Series in Sterlington, La. Beaufort County is one of four

Beaufort pitcher Mason Mothershead delivers a pitch during an elimination game against Bluffton on Wednesday at the Diamond Youth Baseball 12-and-under O-Zone district tournament at Burton Wells Complex. Bluffton rallied for six runs in the sixth inning to win, 9-8, and advance to the championship against Hilton Head. Justin Jarrett/LowcoSports.com

teams in the state tournament bracket this weekend in North Charleston, where three straight wins will earn a state title. Beau-

fort County opens against Mohawk at 5 p.m Friday with a matchup against either Fort Mill or North Charleston on Saturday.

Ospreys let early lead slip away

LowcoSports.com

From staff reports

The Beaufort Yacht & Sailing Club (BYSC) hosted the 57th Annual Lowcountry Regatta on June 22 and 23 on the Beaufort River off Lady’s Island. Dinghy sailboat classes in length from 8 to 22 feet were are entered from numerous sailing clubs across the southeast. More than 60 sailors participated this year.

The smaller boat classes have one person on board while the larger boats often have three people, and all are sailed over three separate race-courses set in the Beaufort River, from the marshes in front of downtown to the Sands in Port Royal.

Along with the sailors on the water, some 50 members of the race committee and club coach boats, and another 100 non-sailing family members and spectators were involved.

Topping off the sailing on Saturday was the much-anticipated Lowcountry Boil at BYSC on Lady’s Island.

After a week off, the Beaufort Ospreys came out swinging in their return to their home field at Battery Creek High School on Monday, but the hot start was quickly doused in a 20-5 loss to Moncks Corner Post 126 Gunner Hollingsworth put up a zero in the top of the first and the Ospreys gave him a five-run cushion in the bottom half, but a one-out error and a pair of walks loaded the bases and set off a six-run outburst from Moncks Corner in the top of the second, and the Berkeley County bats didn’t let up.

Matthew Hastings, Reece Mullen, and Landon Maichel each had a hit and an RBI for Beaufort.

Moncks Corner plated two more runs in the third, four in the fourth, and eight in the fifth to send the Ospreys to their sixth straight loss to start the season. Maurice Barnes was 2-for-2, and

The series was to continue Wednesday at St. John’s Christian Academy and wraps up at 7 p.m. Friday at Battery Creek. The Ospreys wrap up the League 1 season next week against Walterboro Post 93, hitting the road Monday and Friday and playing at home at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Bluffton outlasts Beaufort for 12u crown

Beaufort Ospreys relief pitcher Christian Simonsen takes care of business and gets the third out during the top of the third inning against Moncks Corner Post 126 on Monday, June 24, at Battery Creek High School. The Ospreys lost, 20-5. Bob Sofaly/The Island News

CALENDAR

Karaoke with Melissa

8 p.m. to midnight, Tuesdays, Highway 21 Bar, 3436 Trask Pkwy, Beaufort. Enjoy food and drinks during Karaoke with Melissa.

Karaoke with Melissa

7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., Wednesdays, Beaufort Moose Lodge, 350 Broad River Blvd, Beaufort. Enjoy food and drinks during Karaoke with Melissa.

Trivia with Tom – Fat Patties

7:30 p.m., Every Wednesday, Fat Patties, 831 Parris Island Gateway, Beaufort. Free. Team trivia event, win house cash prizes! For more information, visit https://rb.gy/o9nhwe.

Eric’s Karaoke Krew

9:30 p.m., Wednesdays, Rosie O’Grady’s, 2127 Boundary Street, Suite 2, Beaufort. Free. Enjoy karaoke with either Parker or Eric.

Trivia with Tom –Bricks On Boundary

7 p.m., Every Thursday, Bricks on Boundary, 1422 Boundary St, Beaufort. Free. Team trivia event, win house cash and Beer Bucket prizes! For more information, visit https://rb.gy/o9nhwe.

Eric’s Karaoke Krew

7 p.m., Thursdays, Amvets Post 70, 1831 Ribaut Road, Port Royal. Free. Public is welcome. Enjoy Karaoke. Dinner will be available.

Bluffton Night Bazaar –a Lowcountry Made Market

5 to 8 p.m., first Thursday of each month, Burnt Church Distillery, 120 Bluffton Road. A highly curated selection of accessories, clothing, home goods, custom gifts and more by local artists and makers.

TECHconnect

5:30 to 7:30 p.m., 3rd Thursday of each month, Beaufort Digital Corridor, 500 Carteret Street, Suite D, Beaufort. Free. The BDC's signature happy hour “meetup” networking event for tech professionals. Connect with like-minded people, fellow entrepreneurs, startups and VCs over local food and cold beverages. Call 843-470-3506 or visit https://rb.gy/e7t2h for more information.

Eric’s Karaoke Krew

9 p.m., Fridays, Highway 21 Bar, 3436 Trask Pkwy, Beaufort. Free. Enjoy Karaoke with Lt. Dan.

Eric’s Karaoke Krew

9:30 p.m., Fridays, Rosie O’Grady’s, 2127 Boundary Street, Suite 2, Beaufort. Free. Enjoy Karaoke with Parker. Karaoke with Melissa

7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., Fridays, R Bar & Grill, 70 Pennington Dr, Bluffton. Enjoy food and drinks during Karaoke with Melissa.

Highway 21 Flea Market

9 a.m. to 4 p.m., every Saturday and Sunday, Highway 21 Drive-In. Sellers, vendors, handmade items, unique products and yard sale items. For information, email lowcountryfleamarket@ gmail.com.

Port Royal Farmers Market

9 a.m. to noon, Saturdays, year round, Naval Heritage Park, 1615 Ribaut Road, Port Royal. Rain or shine. You will find fresh, local, seasonal produce, shrimp, oysters, poultry, beef, pork, eggs, bread and cheese, as well as plants, ferns, camellias, azaleas, citrus trees and beautiful, fresh cut flower bouquets. There are prepared food vendors serving barbecue, dumplings, she crab soup, crab cakes, paella, coffee, baked goods, bagels and breakfast sandwiches. No pets allowed. For more information, visit http://www.portroyalfarmersmarket.com/, visit @portroyalfarmersmarket on Facebook or call 843-295-0058.

Slip and Splash Saturdays

10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturdays, Battery Creek Pool, 1 Blue Dolphin Drive, Beaufort, and Bluffton Pool, 55 Pritchard Street, Bluffton. $5 per person. Stay busy for hours climbing on our inflatable challenge track.

Music Bingo with Mike –Bricks On Boundary

6 p.m., Every Saturday, Bricks on Boundary, 1422 Boundary St, Beaufort. Free. Play with a team or alone, win house cash! For more information, visit https://rb.gy/o9nhwe.

Eric’s Karaoke Krew

7 p.m., Saturdays, The Beaufort Moose Lodge, 350 Broad River Blvd., Beaufort. Free. Enjoy karaoke with Lt. Dan. Come early at 6 p.m. for Steak Night.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Eric’s Karaoke Krew

9:30 p.m., Saturdays, Rosie O’Grady’s, 2127 Boundary Street, Suite 2, Beaufort. Free. Enjoy karaoke with Eric.

Teddy Bear Picnic Read-Aloud

9 a.m. to noon, 1st Saturday each month, Port Royal Farmer’s Market, Corner of Ribaut Road & Pinckney Blvd, Port Royal. Free. DAYLO Students and other volunteers will read to young children, who are encouraged to bring their favorite stuffed animals.

Karaoke with Melissa

8 p.m. to 12 a.m., 2nd and 4th Saturdays of every month, Peaceful Henry’s Cigar Bar, 181 Bluffton Rd, Bluffton. Enjoy food and drinks during Karaoke with Melissa.

DANCE

The Beaufort Shag Club

6:30 to 9 p.m., Wednesdays, AmVets Club, 1831 Ribaut Road, Port Royal. Free lessons for members from 6 to 6:30 p.m. We also host a dance the second Saturday of each month from 7 to 10 p.m. Lessons will run September through May only. Visit our FaceBook page (beaufortshagclub) for current events.

GOLF

Stingray Scramble

9 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 28, Ocean Creek Golf Course, Fripp Island. Team of 4, $650. Individual, $175. Benefits Riverview Charter School. Shotgun start. 4-man scramble. Registration 8 to 8:45 a.m. Registration includes golf, gift, lunch, awards. Register at https:// bit.ly/4bUzWPh.

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Rooted Beaufort Yoga classes

5:30 to 6:45 p.m., Thursdays, Cypress Wetlands, Port Royal; 9 to 10:15 a.m., Whitehall Park or Pigeon Point Park. Rooted Beaufort is a collective of local Yoga teachers who host outdoor yoga classes and donation-based events with proceeds being donated locally on a rotating basis.

BEMER Circulation Therapy

10 to 11 a.m., Fridays via Zoom. Already own a BEMER? Never heard of it but curious? Join to ask any questions about this leading-edge German technology that enhances blood flow 30% in 8 minutes. Sessions are designed to support those who have their own unit but everyone is welcome. Brought to you by BEMER Specialist -- Human & Equine, Elizabeth Bergmann. Text 410212-1468 to get the Zoom link. Free.

HISTORY

Beaufort History Museum at the Arsenal

10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturdays, 713 Craven St, Beaufort. General Admission for Adults $8, Seniors $7, Active Duty Military and College Students with ID $5. Children/Teens younger than 18 Free. Explore and experience more than 500 years of Beaufort History with knowledgeable docent guided tours.

The Historic Port Royal Museum

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. or upon request, Thursdays through Sundays, The Historic Port Royal Museum, 1634 Paris Ave. The museum features the turn-ofthe-century businesses and industries of Port Royal: Shrimping, crabbing, oystering, the railroad, the school and the mercantile. Great gifts featuring local artists are available. For more information. visit www.portroyalhistory.org, email historicportroyalfoundation@ gmail.com or call 843-524-4333.

Tour Historic Fort Fremont

Dawn to dusk, Monday through Sunday, The Fort Fremont Preserve, 1124 Land’s End Road, St. Helena Island. Free and open to the public. The History Center is open Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. Visitors can learn about the fort’s history during the Spanish-American War through interpretive signs, self-guided walking tours with a smart phone, exhibits in the history center, and docent-led tours. For more information visit www.fortfremont.org or contact Passive Parks Manager Stefanie Nagid at snagid@bcgov.net.

LIBRARY ACTIVITIES

Scavenger hunt 10 a.m., Thursday, July 13, St. Helena Branch Library, 6355 Jonathan Francis Sr. Road, St. Helena Island. Explore the grounds around St. Helena Library while searching for nature’ hidden treasures native to our Lowcountry. All ages. No registration. Appropriate footwear required.

Beachcombing for kids

11:30 a.m., Thursday, July 18, St. Helena Branch Library, 6355 Jonathan Francis Sr. Road, St. Helena Island. Join Master Naturalist Margit Resch as she teaches us all about our local beach creatures. Learn about invertebrates, mollusks, crabs, sand dollars, sea stars and more. All ages. No registration required.

DIY Lava Lamps with USCB

11:30 a.m., Thursday, July 25, St. Helena Branch Library, 6355 Jonathan Francis Sr. Road, St. Helena Island. Journey into scientific adventures with handson activities, including a do-it-yourself lava lamp hosted by professors from USC Beaufort. Ages 6 to 12. Space is limited. Registration is required. Call 843-255-6440.

Monday Adventure Movie Matinee

4 to 5:30 p.m., Mondays, June and July, St. Helena Branch Library, 6355 Jonathan Francis Sr. Road, St. Helena Island. Join us for a fun-filled afternoon of adventure movies in our teen lounge. We’ll have popcorn.

“Lego” With Lego

4:30 to 5:30 p.m., every Tuesday, St. Helena Branch Library, 6355 Jonathan Francis Sr. Road, St. Helena Island. Free and open to the public. Ages 5 and up. No registration required. Come see our new and improved Lego Club. Choose one of our new Lego kits and get going. Call 843-255-6540 for more information.

Career Navigator

11 a.m. to 1 p.m., every Tuesday, Beaufort Branch Library, 311 Scott Street, Beaufort. Free one-on-one resume writing and job application assistance with a Career Navigator from Palmetto Goodwill. No appointments necessary. For more information call 843-2556458.

MEETINGS

Indivisible Beaufort

11 a.m., Saturday, June 29, Beaufort Library Downtown, 311 Scott Street. Topic will be “How to Deal with These Profoundly Disorienting Times.” Featured speaker will be Reverend Lori Hlaban of Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Beaufort. How do we cope with the anxiety of these disorienting times? There are no easy answers, but there are healthy ways to manage. Reverend Hlaban will lead a workshop on managing anxiety titled, “Hope for the Best -- It May Happen!” The event is free and open to the public.

Zonta Club of Beaufort

6 p.m., 4th Tuesday of each month, Smokehouse, Port Royal.

Beaufort Rotary Club

Noon, Wednesdays, Sea Island Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, 81 Lady’s Island Drive, Lady’s Island. Catered buffet lunch, followed by a guest speaker. Prospective members welcome. For further information and upcoming speakers, please visit website www.beaufortrotaryclub.org.

The Beaufort Trailblazers –A Volunteer Group

8 a.m., first Thursday each month, Herban Marketplace, Beaufort. Anyone interested in supporting or building off-road/dirt/wilderness mountain biking/jogging/walking trails near is encouraged to attend. For more information, call 843-575-0021 or email universitybicycles@hotmail.com.

Emotions Anonymous International local group meeting 4 p.m, Thursdays, via Zoom. Emotions Anonymous International, (EAI), is a nonprofit program designed to help people with emotional difficulties. It has a chapter in the Lowcountry and members want others who feel the need to know they are welcome to participate. There is no charge to participate. They are based on the 12 steps and 12 traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous and follow a specific format designed to provide the support and tools for navigating life’s painful difficulties. All are welcome. Anyone interested in participating may contact the group via email at EALowcountry@ gmail.com or call or text Laurie at 252917-7082. For more information on EAI visit www.emotionsanonymous.org.

Rotary Club of the Lowcountry 7:30 a.m., Fridays, Sea Island Presbyterian Church, Sea Island Parkway, Lady’s Island. A light breakfast is provided before the program. For further information and upcoming speakers, please visit our website at www.lowcountryrotary.org or contact our President, Bob Bible at reconmc@aol.com or 843-252-8535.

OUTDOORS

The Beaufort Tree Walk

Lady’s Island Garden Club invites you to take a meandering walk through the Historic “Old Point” and enjoy some unique and noteworthy trees. The “Walk” takes about an hour, is a little over a mile starting at the corner of Craven & Carteret streets in Morrall Park and concluding in Waterfront Park. Booklets with map and information about each tree are available free at the Visitors Center in the historic Arsenal on Craven Street.

Tours of Hunting Island

Every Tuesday, Hunting Island State Park, 2555 Sea Island Pkwy. Free, park entry fees apply. Sponsored by Friends of Hunting Island Keeper Ted and his team. For more information call the Hunting Island Nature Center at 843-838-7437. The next Tuesday is August 1.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Camera Club of Hilton Head Island photography exhibit

Through July 7, Main Gallery, Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn, 70 Honey Horn Drive, Hilton Head Island. Admission is free. The theme is "Field Trip," showcasing images of natural and historic sites throughout the region. A highlight of the exhibit will be photographs by student winners of the Kurtzberg Memorial Awards. Named after Larry Kurtzberg, a champion of youth photography and the club's founder and first president, these awards recognize exceptional students enrolled in Hilton Head Island High School's visual arts photography courses. As part of the museum’s ongoing efforts to support local arts groups, the museum is also hosting gallery talks by the Camera Club, at 2 p.m., on Wednesday, June 12, and Saturday, June 22 The talks are free and open to the public.

SEWING/QUILTING

Sea Island Quilters

6:30 p.m., Thursday, June 27, by Zoom and at Carteret Street United Methodist Church, 408 Carteret Street, Beaufort. We are meeting one week later due to Vacation Bible School at the church the week we usually meet. Join Zoom Meeting at https://bit. ly/3KMvGWq. Meeting ID: 849 5148 4011. Passcode: 637983. The program is Longarm Quilting Panel with Cynthia and Lynn. Learn about the process of longarming, various techniques, and best practices for preparing your quilts to be longarmed. Upcoming Workshops — July 20: Collage Quilting with Maria Davis. Trunk Show at the meeting followed by a workshop with custom SIQ EXCLUSIVE Collage Quilt Pattern kit on July 22; Aug. 15: Trunk Show with Karen Guinn.

American Needlepoint Guild Meeting

10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., 1st Tuesday each month. The Hilton Head Chapter of the American Needlepoint Guild welcomes anyone, beginner or experienced stitcher, who is interested in needlepoint to join us for stitching, learning and fellowship. For more information, please contact us at hiltonheadislandchapter@needlepoint.org.

Embroidery Guild of America Meeting

Second Tuesday of every month, Palmetto Electric Community Room, Hardeeville. The Lowcountry Chapter of the Embroidery Guild of America welcomes anyone, beginner or experienced stitcher, who is interested in any type of embroidery including needlepoint, cross-stitch, surface and beaded embroidery, hardanger, bargello, sashiko, etc., to join us for stitching, learning and fellowship. For more information, please contact us at lowcountrychapter@egacarolinas.org.

SPORTS/GAMES

ACBL Duplicate Bridge Club

9:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m., Tuesdays, Carteret St. United Methodist Church. Games and events will be held weekly. Contact Director and Club Manager Susan DeFoe at 843-597-2541

Beaufort Masters Swim Team

6 to 7 a.m., Monday through Friday, Wardle Family Port Royal YMCA. Coached practices. Ages 18 & older, all skill & speed levels, no prior swim team experience needed. Visit lowcountryswimming.com for more information.

YOUR EVENT HERE

Send us the details of your event for inclusion in the What's Happening section. Email your event information to theislandnews@gmail.com.

VOICES

Editor’s Note: The opinions of our columnists in the Voices section are not necessarily the opinions of

SC lawmakers may finally consider expanding Medicaid

Imagine state lawmakers turning away $17 6 billion of our own taxpayer dollars intended to help struggling South Carolinians obtain health insurance.

You don’t have to imagine. We’ve actually done that since 2014, and for no good reason other than, seemingly, to punish our own low-income friends and neighbors in South Carolina.

South Carolina remains one of only 10 states in the nation that still refuses to expand Medicaid eligibility, which could draw down billions in federal funds to provide health care coverage for an additional 345,000 low-income South Carolinians.

The good news is that some state lawmakers want a committee studying health care in South Carolina to at least consider the advantages of expanding Medicaid, according to recent reporting by the SC Daily Gazette’s Skylar Laird.

This would be the first serious effort among S.C. lawmakers in at least 10 years to think about the money lost and lives blighted by their misguided refusal to follow the lead of the 40 other states that have expanded Medicaid.

The 10 states that still reject Medicaid expansion are some of the poorest in the nation.

PAUL HYDE

Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and the others could certainly use an infusion of several billion of our own taxpayer dollars to boost our economies.

South Carolina, cutting off its nose to spite its face, has rejected about $1 6 billion annually in federal dollars for Medicaid expansion since 2014, according to calculations by the Appleseed Legal Justice Center.

That adds up to a total of $17 6 billion over 10 years, more than next fiscal year’s entire proposed budget for state taxes. Think of all the good that could do in our state.

A great deal

Medicaid expansion would be a great deal for South Carolina.

Federal dollars would pay for 90% of the costs of the expansion. The state would only need to kick in 10%

Medicaid expansion would create 31 000 jobs and add $7 6

billion in personal income growth in the state over three years, according to Cover SC, a coalition supporting Medicaid expansion.

All adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level would qualify for the program.

Right now, however, our federal tax dollars are being used to pay for Medicaid expansion in other states “while none of the Medicaid expansion funds are coming back” to South Carolina, according to health policy expert Louise Norris, writing in healthinsurance.org.

Norris writes that between 2013 and 2022 $152 billion in federal taxes have been collected from residents in states not expanding Medicaid, like South Carolina, to be used to fund Medicaid expansion in other states.

Popular support

A 2021 survey by AARP of adults age 50-plus found 80% of respondents — including 69% of Republicans — say they support expanding Medicaid in South Carolina and 73% say that expanding Medicaid in South Carolina is either extremely or very important.

South Carolinians, like others in the non-expansion states, seem reasonable, pragmatic and compassionate.

So, what’s the holdup?

Gov. Henry McMaster and

Isome lawmakers blame struggling people themselves for their health-insurance challenges rather than recognizing that healthcare costs have risen exponentially for decades in this low-income state, making insurance unaffordable for many workers.

Antiquated attitudes

State Sen. Wes Climer, quoted by Laird, recently reflected the callous attitude of many lawmakers: “It is unconscionable to me that we would consider expanding that to more — to put more South Carolinians into dependency on the government instead of encouraging them to seek employment and private health insurance elsewhere.”

Some people no doubt agree with that bootstraps mindset. But struggling South Carolina workers can’t simply wave a magic wand and get a better job that offers topnotch health insurance.

If Climer’s strategy worked, South Carolina would have one of the lowest uninsured rates in the nation. Instead, we have one of the highest uninsured rates in the nation, according to KFF.

We still have 521 660 South Carolinians under age 65 who lack health insurance, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. And we have the nation’s second-highest rate of medical

debt in collection, according to the Urban Institute.

Medicaid expansion, it should be pointed out, is not a partisan issue.

The overwhelming majority of so-called red states have expanded Medicaid in addition to all blue states.

North Carolina was the most recent state to embrace expansion. A longtime conservative opponent of Medicaid expansion, Republican state Sen. Phil Berger, president pro tempore of the North Carolina state Senate, explained in a 2023 commentary that arguments against expansion were no longer persuasive to fiscal conservatives.

It makes no sense to reject our fair share of federal taxpayer dollars when they’re needed in this state to help vulnerable South Carolinians.

It’s past time to expand Medicaid in South Carolina.

Paul Hyde is a longtime journalist and teacher in the Upstate. He worked 18 years for the Greenville News as a columnist, editorial writer, education reporter and arts writer. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Clemson and Harvard universities. He has written for the Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News and USA Today, among other publications. He currently is a regular contributor to the Greenville Journal,

Saying a final goodbye to Willie Mays, baseball’s ‘Say hey’ kid

n 1959, when Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev visited San Francisco and members of the International Longshoreman’s Union greeted him with cheers, newspaperman Frank Coniff quipped: “This is the damndest city. They cheer Khruschev and boo Willie Mays.”

It was the height of the Cold War and, for Coniff and many of his readers, there was no better symbol of America than Mays. At that time, Mays was a 28-yearold centerfielder for the San Francisco Giants and the best ballplayer in the world, and he was occasionally booed by fans of his own team.

A decade before that, Mays was playing for the Birmingham Black Barons, a Negro League team near his hometown of Westfield, Alabama, while still in high school.

Mays, who died on June 18, 2024, at the age of 93, was not only the greatest baseball player of the last 80 years, and quite possibly ever, but he was an enormously important figure in American sports, culture and history.

His journey from the segregated Deep South of his childhood to being honored by President Barack Obama with the Presidential Medal of Freedom spans much of America’s racial history in the 20th and early 21st century.

In 2009, Mays traveled to the All-Star Game, in which he had played 24 times (from 1959-1962 there were two All-Star Games a year), on Air Force One, where he told a rapt and smiling President Obama how much it meant to him after “growing up in Birmingham” to see an African American elected president.

Mays repeated several times how proud he was of Obama. The president responded, “If it hadn’t been for folks like you and Jackie (Robinson), I’m not sure I would have ever got elected to the White House.”

‘Racism and racial epithets’

Mays began his career with the New York Giants in 1951, four years after Jackie Robinson played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He became known as the “Say Hey Kid” because of his youth, exuberant style of play and habit of greeting people with the phrase, “Say Hey.” In those years, the integration of the National

and American Leagues was still in its earliest stages. There was an informal rule limiting each team to no more than three non-white players. Many teams, including the Yankees and the Red Sox, were still entirely white.

Although the Giants played on the northern edge of Harlem, where Mays lived early in his career and was widely beloved, when the team traveled to more southern cities and during spring training in Florida, Mays was subject to the same racism and racial epithets as Robinson.

The centrality of baseball to American culture during this period made Mays even more significant. This was still a time when baseball players were by far the most recognized athletes in the U.S. and when much of the country tuned in to the World Series every fall.

By the late 1950s, Mays was, along with Mickey Mantle, the most famous ballplayer in America. For decades it has not been unusual for African American athletes to be broadly admired, but Mays was the first.

Mays’s appeal to all fans was not just due to how good a player he was, but also the panache with which he played the game, wowing fans with basket catches and daring base running, as well as a public person-

ality that was outgoing and friendly.

Representing … with a ‘regal stature’ Robinson was a trailblazer and a unique figure in American history, but Mays’s impact on the culture was broader and at least as important.

Frank Guridy, a professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University, summed this up: “Mays was this Black mega-superstar in this country who was somehow able to transcend his background as somebody from the Jim Crow South to become appealing to white America. He was able to be Black and represent the Black intervention in the sport, while maintaining a regal stature that is appealing to all people.”

During the 1960s, when Mays was the best and most famous baseball player in the world, he was criticized by some for not being radical or outspoken enough. That criticism seems a bit unfair now.

Unlike many other great African American athletes of the era, like Bill Russell, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Wilt Chamberlain, Jim Brown or Robinson, Mays was a product of the Deep South and, on some level, carried that trauma with him.

It is often overlooked

that, for the last decade or so of his career, he was deeply respected by almost all African American baseball players because of his ability and his role as an early trailblazer.

As the best player, with the most seniority, on the San Francisco Giants in the 1960s, he set a tone and kept the peace in what was then by far the most diverse clubhouse in baseball.

Because Mays played in San Francisco for the Giants from 1958 until he was traded to the Mets, and back to New York, during the 1972 season, his offthe-field activities did not always receive the attention they deserved. However, for decades he worked with youth in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point community, a largely African American neighborhood where Candlestick Park was located.

Transcending racist history

Mays, who played his last game during the 1973 World Series, was a baseball star at the very end of the period when baseball was a massively important cultural institution, and at a time when baseball led the country on civil rights and integration.

His extraordinary statistical accomplishments speak for themselves, but the grace, joy, energy and intel-

lect with which he played the game allowed him to separate himself from other great players of his, or any, era. Mays’s death is not only a loss for baseball, but for all of America. Willie Mays is a reminder of what America can produce and how there is always hope that the country can transcend its ugly racial history and embrace a graceful, talented and proud African American man as a uniquely important national hero.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Lincoln Mitchell is a political analyst, pundit and writer based in New York City and San Francisco. Lincoln works on democracy and governance related issues in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. He also works with businesses and NGOs globally, particularly in the former Soviet Union. Lincoln writes and speaks about US politics as well, and was the national political correspondent for The New York Observer from 2014-2016 Lincoln was on the faculty of Columbia University's School of International Affairs from 2006-2013. He retains an affiliation with Columbia's Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies and teaches in the political science department as well. In addition, he worked for years as a political consultant advising and managing domestic political campaigns.

LINCOLN MITCHELL

VOICES

Editor’s

What are the rules we’re going to follow

the 1800s.

It is Friday morning and I’m sitting in the largely deserted lobby of the Middlebury Inn in Middlebury, Vt.

The lobby is quiet — there is one other person huddled over his laptop — and I’ve got my complimentary coffee and the hotel’s WiFi password. In the olden days I would be writing on a legal pad, trying to come up with a column; or looking at the map and planning the ride home.

Susan and I are in Middlebury because it is a quaint New England town (actually a small city) that comes with a 100-yard wide waterfall right in the middle of its artisanal, used-bookstore, candle- and cheese-boutiqued downtown. While not as tall as Niagara Falls in nearby New York, the rushing, swirling, foaming water brings families downtown who eat flatbread and drink Australian Chardonnay while they

watch from a nearby hill.

Middlebury, Vt., is also the home to Middlebury College that has, for many years, educated Vermont’s elite. While not one of the Ivies, Middlebury is thought to be one of America’s best schools when it comes to languages — especially Asian languages. But two years ago Middlebury found itself in the middle of a controversy when it tried to change the name of the Mead Memorial Chapel.

In 1912, John A Mead gave the school $74 000 with which to build a chapel that would serve as a centerpiece of this small

college. Mead had also been Governor of Vermont and in that capacity sponsored a bill that would eventually result in the sterilization of 250 Vermonters thought to be mentally defective.

In 1912 it was believed (throughout the United States) that there was a class of “mental defectives” who lacked the intellectual capacity to function in society and they should not be allowed to replicate themselves.

Mead was an advocate of this “science,” called Eugenics, and, indeed, the College itself would teach this theory to students for some years.

The notion of genetic inequality, and selective breeding goes back to Plato. It was the common belief that certain groups had better genes than others and this supported the concept of “nobility” and the hereditary right to rule. All of which was put into a scientific context by Sir Francis Galton in

In the late 1800s there was a resident population of French Canadians who did most of the heavy lifting in New England. These immigrants, their wives and families, worked the textile mills that were the mainstay of almost every town in the Northeast. They also worked in the “Marble Works” (in downtown Middlebury) cutting and finishing the marble blocks with the help from the Otter Creek Falls.

In 1912, some Vermonters believed that French Canadians were in a biological category just south of the white immigrants who had come earlier, mostly from England.

In 2020, John Mead and his connection with Eugenics, and sterilization, resurfaced and Middlebury College decided now was time for his name to be taken off the Mead Memorial Chapel. Mead, much like

Woodrow Wilson who had become an embarrassment to Princeton University, was summarily assigned to anonymity and “canceled” by the college. Another former Governor, James Douglas, said “Not so fast.”

James Douglas filed suit arguing that Mead’s heirs had acquired a “perpetual naming right” that had been abrogated by the Trustees and faculty of the Vermont college. Thereafter Middlebury made its motion to dismiss but that motion was denied by the Court.

Like many controversies in our fractured Republic, it is hard to frame this particular argument in the context of an enforceable legal right like “implied contract” and prove all of the elements that come with that theory.

But sometimes a lawsuit is all that is available if one wants a binding resolution.

In the meantime we are learning that “gene editing”

Nis a reality and CRISPR can be employed to cut-out parts of the DNA sequence — to stave off, say, Sickle Cell Anemia. But it is costly ($3 1 million), controversial and has raised concerns about the making of “designer babies.”

The Chapel is a beautifully proportioned building that sits atop a hill looking down upon huge green lawn that has groupings of Adirondack chairs. It seems to me that classes might be taught about the rules we are going to follow as CRISPR technology improves. (Apparently China has already done gene “editing” on three infants.) Perhaps Middlebury could use part of its $1 5 billion endowment to fund the John Mead Chair for Gene-Editing Studies.

Scott Graber is a lawyer, novelist, veteran columnist and longtime resident of Port Royal. He can be reached at cscottgraber@gmail.com.

Growing up in today’s South may be harder than in past

inety years ago, the red, sandy field in middle

Georgia buzzed with agricultural activity as a grandfather worked the land to coax cotton out of 12 acres. It was hard work for a man who left school after seventh grade. After ginning a crop and paying back a government loan for seed and fertilizer, he pocketed about $50. For the year. For all of the talk these days in politics about going back to simpler times, people forget the sweat and toil across a South with no air-conditioning, few phones, little reliable electricity and the soul-numbing racism, misogyny and poverty that filled every rural crack and crevice throughout the region. It was a different time.

Fast forward to the post-World War II years when my father grew up – not on the farm, but in the big city of Macon, Ga., where the family eventually shifted from renters to owners of a small home. Communication and transportation got better. Prosperity bloomed

“It’s that tree,” he said.

My late husband wasn’t given to superlatives, although the tree he was referencing deserved many such descriptors. But, after all, Noel was a chemistry teacher, grounded in science, while I, the English teacher, tended to wax eloquent on any of Nature’s bounty.

The year was 1993, and we had decided that Hilton Head, our vacation spot for the past 15 years, was not going to become our next home town. While driving on U.S. 278 back to the island in the midst of traffic similar to that we often encountered in our city in Pennsylvania, my husband turned to me and said, “No way in hell we are going to retire here.” An economy of words devoid of superlatives unless you want to count “hell.”

We had come to love our time in the area, and knew, somehow, that we could find a place with all the

as more people moved off the farm and sent their kids to decent public schools. Some even became the first in their families to get college degrees.

The family unit was still strong as in-town folk often returned to the country to visit, eat, attend church services and generally commune. And while times were changing, the old bugaboo of race lurked in segregated schools, cafeterias, bus stations, theaters and daily interactions. “The good old days” still weren’t all that good for too many people across the South.

Then came my generation where the late 1960s and 1970s

saw huge changes with conflict among the old and young over civil rights, war, pollution and lifestyles. What emerged was an inward-focused culture that was more equal and diverse, but too comfortable with ego and greed. Too much of family got shoved aside for the all-important “me generation.”

Again, communication and transportation got better. Technology surged with endless solutions to generational problems. But politics started getting more divisive, just as more people prospered. And in the South, lots of people started moving in, which changed things even more.

Now look at today’s youths, with their high-speed internet and social media obsessions that shrink society to a mobile phone and often put families on the sidelines. Oh, they can move money instantly, Facetime with a friend in Romania or learn a language using an app. But too many seem lonelier than the poor Southern-

ers in times of my grandparents and parents. Today’s Southerners are connecting but getting more disconnected.

Florida-born humorist Sean Dietrich taps into this dichotomy as he plays banjo, piano and accordion to 200 audiences a year.

Just this month in Charleston to a crowd of more than 400, he sang everything from church spirituals to the theme from Beverly Hillbillies. The mostly older, white audience knew the words and sang along.

Dietrich, 41, tells stories of the disappearing South, the region of the country where I worry my children and generations beyond won’t appreciate the Sunday church dinners on the grounds with tables laden with the best fried chicken, weird jello “salads” and desserts galore.

“These stories are mostly about growing up in this interesting and diverse hotbed we call the South and there are so many shared experiences that we have from grow-

No poem lovely as a tree

allure of the lush greenery that is so liberally spread about (minus the traffic). This was in strong contrast to the long winters and gray skies of western Pennsylvania, recipient of the “lake effect” from late October till early April.

In 1995, my husband and I each took a semester-long sabbatical leave from our teaching positions. That year began our quest for a place to call home in the Lowcountry. We stayed on Harbor Island in a condo that overlooked the ocean, and I had not felt such serenity in many years. This was meant to be. However, I also recog-

nized that we were some distance from the town of Beaufort, and that could become something we would regret. So we began our search for communities closer to town. The fact is we came very close to purchasing a lot on Cat Island, and this is where I will continue the story of “that tree.”

We had looked at a lot in Pleasant Point, far enough out to be a bit rural, and yet not a lengthy jaunt into town. Of course the same could be said of Cat Island, which I was quick to point out.

In my husband’s gentle, yet definitive way, he suggested that before we purchased on Cat, we “look at Pleasant Point one more time.” As we made our way to the lot we had been shown by our Realtor, I asked what it was about this place, and his response was that which I stated above. Somehow that was a draw for him, and knowing what I know now

about his early passing, I am glad for so many reasons that I didn’t resist. A little bit about “that” tree. It is a magnificent live oak, draped with Spanish moss in such a way that you might think an artist had hand distributed that icon of the area. While I don’t pretend to be knowledgeable about such things, I do know the girth of the oak indicates a possible century of life.

Right after we moved into our home, Noel was insistent that we put a spotlight on the tree, and many evenings in the spring and fall, time was spent on our screened-in porch, listening to music we both loved (he also installed a stereo system that piped music to the porch), speaking in hushed tones, and marveling at the tree. Today, when the weather permits, in fact demands it, I will retreat to the porch and ruminate on the memories as well as the possibilities of what life might have been,

ing up in this part of the world,” he said in a recent interview. “And I fear that that way of life that we experienced when we came in — at least my generation — came in on the tail end of that way of life, and it’s falling apart.

“Everybody’s learning how to talk like Midwestern sports announcers. Everybody is learning how to be this global community instead of this rich, strong region that we used to experience.”

It all worries me too – the disconnect with extended family, the technological onslaught that sends us deeper into personal holes, the polarized politics grasping at a past that’s not going to come back. And while society now is more diverse and has more knowledge, I don’t think I’d want to grow up in the challenging world that kids encounter today. What about you?

Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to feedback@statehousereport.com.

had my husband not passed away so soon. It was appropriate that some of his ashes were scattered beneath that tree 23 years ago. And it was fortuitous that we began our new life at Pleasant Point because the support I received from people here, immediately after and even later, has to be filed under the heading of intuition.

I guess the reason I felt compelled to write this piece is an incident that occurred last week. Upon waking, stumbling my way to the kitchen to turn on the coffee, and returning to the bedroom, I looked out the window only to see that one huge limb of that wondrous ‘treow’ (old English for trust and promise) had fallen during the night.

I stopped, fully awake at that point. I had heard nothing at night, not necessarily unusual. I went out onto the porch, and I admit to a momentary gut punch. The vision of the tree’s large,

extended branch, replete with resurrection fern after a rain, and the number of times I had sat, entranced by the wonder of the entire picture, hit me, especially since I had come to call “that tree” “Noel’s tree.” Life takes its turns, some good; some not so much; all part of a plan. I let my mind drift, and I wonder what Noel might have said, had he been here for that fall. On one hand he might have laughed and said what he did the first time the light shone on his tree: “We get all the pleasure of viewing it, but it’s on the golf course for maintenance.”

On the other hand, I like to think that when the limb began to fall, he reached out and lowered it gently to the ground.

Carol Lucas is a retired high school teacher and a Lady’s Island resident. She is the author of the recently published “A Breath Away: One Woman’s Journey Through Widowhood.”

SCOTT GRABER

CAROL LUCAS

ANDY BRACK

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Just a different view from a different window

The “working class party” is coming to life to get your vote ... just to forget about you until the next election. Never mind “free” isn’t “free.” The folks they supposedly care so much about, will be expected to “pay their fair share” (just like Hunter paid his).

Never mind costs associated with the millions of “undocumented” for debit cards, housing, medical care and education. Never mind student loan forgiveness was declared unconstitutional twice. They’ll re-write that later. Never mind the removal of the “undocumented” from Martha’s Vinyard “holier than thou” attitude. Never mind Biden and senior leaders being devout Catholics support of abortions up to the actual birth is ripe with hypocrisy. Never mind the fentanyl deaths from open borders and business ties to China. Never mind ignoring military veterans promised benefits.

Never mind referring to folks as fascists or Nazis just because they questioned the election results. Hillary Clinton hasn’t stopped questioning it yet. Never mind Webster defines “minions” as subordinates or underlings or followers. Never mind labeling your opposition as “a threat to democracy.” Never mind Pelosi’s video admission that Jan. 6 security lapse was her fault. Never mind that no one has been charged with trying to overthrow the government. Never mind the eight-year laptop denial that has been verified to be real and uncompromised by Biden’s own DOJ and FBI in a court of law. Don’t forget the “10% for the Big Guy.” Never mind that non-disclosure agreements aren’t against that law nor are discretionary payments. Ask Bill Clinton … he’s familiar with the process. When LEFT with nothing, blame Trump. Individuality speaks volumes.

– D. Bev McCalla

Traffic light modernization

With an ever-increasing level of traffic volume in Beaufort and its environs, we are stuck with the old, historic Woods Memorial Bridge between Lady's Island and downtown Beaufort. When it is closed for marine traffic, mechanical breakdowns, accidents, and more recently about an unannounced two-hour closure by SCDOT, significant backups and traffic flow problems have multiplied.

For example, for those going east in downtown Beaufort, the alternate route to McTeer Bridge is Ribaut Road into Port Royal which becomes a nightmare of continuous red lights and congestion that ends up with only a one-lane left hand turn

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF BEAUFORT IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS CIVIL ACTION NO. 2023-CP-07-02331 NON-JURY

ORDER FOR SERVICE BY PUBLICATION

LYMUS MIDDLETON, SR. and THOMASINA MIDDLETON, as Trustees of the Lymus Middleton, Sr. Trust dated April 24, 2015 Plaintiffs, vs HEIRS OF DIANA SINGLETON AKA DIANA GREEN SINGLETON; HEIRS OF CHARLES SINGLETON AKA CHARLIE SINGLETON; HELEN DAISE; BERTHA BRADLEY, AS TRUSTEE; WILLIE MAE SINGLETON, AS TRUSTEE; GRETA S. MADDOX; SAMUEL ADAMS; BETTY ADAMS; RICHARD HOEKSEMA; SURIANA CANUTO PENA; JAMES H. MOSS D/B/A BEAUFORT SIX; and CYNTHIA GREGORY SMALLS; if living, and if not living, then the heirs or devisees of all such persons named above; and all persons unknown having or claiming to have any right, title, interest in or lien upon the real property described in the Complaint herein, being designated collectively as JOHN DOE and MARY ROE; including all persons who may be deceased, minors, in the Armed Forces of the United States, Non-Compos Mentis, and who may be under any other disability, who might have or claim to have any right, title, estate, interest in or lien upon the real property described in the Complaint herein. Defendants,

IT APPEARING to my satisfaction from the Affidavit of Diligent Search of the Plaintiffs’ Attorney, as well as from the Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint on file in this action, that the above entitled action has been commenced and is now pending; that the Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint has been filed with the Clerk of Court for Beaufort County, South Carolina; that a cause of action exists in favor of the above-named Plaintiffs against the above-named

into the bridge entrance. By the way, the key traffic intersection on Lady's Island is also cursed by the lack of two-lane lefthand turns.

But new traffic control technology is now coming online that can respond to these real-life and unexpected that occur in traffic volume. Typically, today's traditional traffic signals have one pattern for peak periods of volume, such as rush hours on weekdays, and another pattern for off-peak times during the week and on weekends. Hilton Head Island has already installed a new adaptive signal system that makes stoplights at intersections smarter and more responsive to current traffic conditions. Also coming down the pike is a Google system called Green Light which automatically adjusts the timing of traffic lights to changing traffic patterns.

Do any of these modern-day innovations solve all our traffic problems? Certainly not. But new technology can counter some of the problems caused by old technology. –

Bruce Wager, St. Helena Island

We have a choice; character does matter

As we get older, most of us experience declines in our memory. We have seen some evidence of this with both the Democratic and the Republican presidential candidates on the campaign trial. Fortunately, there are effective methods people can use to compensate for a declining memory. Unfortunately for the Republican candidate, there are no effective methods to compensate for a profound lack of human decency, integrity, honor, compassion, honesty, or competence. These character flaws were baked in at a young age and have only grown worse as he has gotten older. As voters we have a choice. Character does matter.

– Peter Birschbach, Port Royal

We should not be surprised

In concert with the excellent column by Carol Lucas regarding Nancy Mace (the waste of space), I am curious as to why there were three prominent pictures of her in the (June 13) edition of the paper and only one small photo of Michael Moore, who won the Democratic Primary in the 1st District and who would be an outstanding Congressperson for our district.

Nancy Mace seems to think that the more we read about her self-serving actions and the more we see her in person or in pictures the more we will regard her. Let us dissuade her of this by voting for someone who actually cares about the people he will represent and will fight for policies that benefit us. Not going to the Beaufort

National Cemetery to honor our veterans after prominently putting on a display in the Parade should remind us of another narcissist who dishonored the military by skipping a visit to the American Cemetery in Normandy on D-Day a few years ago. We should not be surprised that Nancy Mace is a devotee.

– Barbara Temple, Lady’s Island

On letters not worth printing

I’ve always wondered about the Letters to the Editor process. Does the Editor really read the submissions? If so, how do they determine what's fit to print … or even if that matters? And, does balance of view points matter … that is, are the letters reflective of the beliefs of the community at large or more about the feelings and beliefs of the Editor?

That said, a recent letter I found to be not worthy of publication in a paper that truly cares about the above. Yes, it was another anti-Trump submission. Like so many of these attack pieces this one started out with subjective observations and talking points that were at best misleading … “XXXX President XXXX, you had 4 years to lead the U.S. and failed us by your own choosing. Whether it be in foreign policy or domestic policy, you did not protect the United States as Commander in Chief.” Most people would assume that statement describes our current President rather than Trump.

Of more concern though and, after the standard recitation of Trumps flaws, came the now all too common and dangerous assertion that “MAGA has become a dog whistle for NAZI” … followed by the Brown Shirts and Hitler redux. The folly of insinuating that 50% of the country are Nazis is not only ridiculous but should not be worthy of consideration for print by any editor … regardless of political leaning or beliefs. –

Frank Wainwright, Saint Helena Island

On several topics

Gerold Blount, "The Real Threat:" 100% agree! I was Republican for many years and then the party lost its mind. Anti-God's teachings, anti-constitution, anti-gun control. anti-women's and people of color rights, anti-voter rights, etc.

Pvt. William Smith, "Filling The Gap:" I cried the entire time I read this article. I'm very proud of this marine and his heroic grandfather.

Carol Lucas: I love you gorgeous. "The party of law and order." There are so many hypocrites in the Republican Party, I feel like a pinball bouncing around due to their changing beliefs. Donald Trump has been

a crook his entire life. Yet we have Lindsey Graham, who called Trump many vile things in 2015 and now kisses his tail and calls our judicial system corrupt and run by Joe Biden. What a sad joke Republicans have become and I once was one.

George Richardson: That's my woman you insulted and by doing so showed your blind eye to justice and civility.

Margaret Evans, Lowcountry Weekly: Ma’am, you often threaten to stop writing your column, Don’t. I really enjoy your thoughts and humor. The story about Scotland was very interesting. I have a friend I play golf with that is spending a week in Scotland. He's black. I asked him, did you get stared at a lot? Did you drink warm beer? Thomas laughed and said, “no” and “no.” He said the Scots were very friendly people, beer was cold, food was great, and he loved it. Reminds me of another article I read of a college professor who traveled a lot to foreign countries and stated, paraphrasing, never stop learning, travel erases bigotry and hate, creates empathy.

– Don Cass, Beaufort

Mr. Hyde a voice for common sense

It's a shame the superb article by Paul Hyde had to be relegated to the page with the Military News, but I realize it was to allow all your liberal "regulars" to have the space on the two pages of Voices.

Mr. Hyde has, to date, been a voice for conservative common sense and very much appreciated by fellow conservatives. What a wonderful suggestion he made in his column regarding "The Charleston Loophole" and I hope the 2025 S.C. Legislators will submit and pass a bill such as he proposed. My short version of his suggestion is “do away with the law that allows a gun sale to proceed after three days, even if the background check hasn't been done.” Surely we can come up with a more reasonable time period for a background check to be done and allow NO gun sales until it's completed. That would be a real accomplishment in 2025, which happens to be 10 years since the senseless murders at Mother Emanuel AME Church.

I urge your readers to search out Mr. Hyde's article in the June 20 issue of your paper. He makes no effort to denigrate anyone who might disagree with him. He's simply making a suggestion for a better law. And I want to share this statement from his article, which is possibly the most profound sentence uttered by a journalist in a long time: "We can’s alter the tragic past but we can create a better future.” – Edie Rodgers, Beaufort

Defendants as fully set forth in the Amended Complaint, the grounds of which are for having the rights of the parties herein to the real estate described in said action adjudicated; that the above-named Court has jurisdiction of the subject matter of this action; and that the Plaintiffs are unable with due diligence to make the service of the Amended Summons in said action upon the Defendants. NOW, THEREFORE, on Petition of Cherese T. Handy, Attorney for the Plaintiffs it is ORDERED, that the service of the Summons in said action upon the Defendants be made by publication in the Island News, a newspaper published in the County of Beaufort, State of South Carolina, which newspaper is hereby designated as the most likely to give notice to the said Defendants of the pendency of this action, once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks, and that the first publication of the Summons be made within thirty (30) days from the date of this Order.

Beaufort Common Pleas

Case Caption: Lymus Middleton Sr , plaintiff, et al VS Charles Singleton , defendant, et al Case Number: 2023CP0702331 Type: Order/Publication So Ordered s/Jerri Ann Roseneau, Beaufort County Clerk of Court

NOTICE OF DEFAULT AND INTENT TO SELL

Name and Address of Owner(s): HEATHER J. NEVITT 263 STEFAN DR CHARLESTON SC 29412-2433

Contract Number: 4572547; the following described property: An undivided one fifty-second (1/52) fractional interest in Unit No. 5625 respectively, SurfWatch Horizontal Property Regime, lying situate and being in Hilton Head Island, Beaufort County,

South Carolina, and being more particularly shown and described by reference to the Master Deed, establishing the said Horizontal Property Regime, being dated June 17, 2004, and recorded in the Land Records for Beaufort County, South Carolina, on June 22, 2004 in Deed Book 01976 at Page 0001, as further amended from time to time, the most recent amendment being the Third Amendment to the Master Deed dated July, 14, 2005, and recorded July 25, 2005, in Deed Book 2193 at Page 1839, and by reference to that certain plat entitled "Plat of Phase 1, 2 & 3 SurfWatch Horizontal Property Regime", said plat prepared by Surveying Consultants, Inc., Terry G. Hatchell, S.C.R.L.S.#11059 , said plat being dated July 15, 2005, and recorded in the Land Records for Beaufort County, South Carolina, in Plat Book 108 at Page 5, as may be further revised from time to time ("Plat"). AND ALSO, all of the rights, privileges, easements, and common areas appertaining to the above-described property as set forth in the Master Deed and By-Laws of SurfWatch Horizontal Property Regime.

AND ALSO, all right, title, interest and privileges extending to Time Sharing Interest Numbers(s) 5625-G-13 in each of the respective aforedescribed Units, as contained in that certain Time Sharing Declaration, dated June 17, 2004, recorded in the Land Records for Beaufort County, South Carolina, on June 22, 2004 in Deed Book 01976 at Page 0082, as amended from time to time. Lien Book and Page 157/317 ; Total Amount Presently Delinquent: $2,264.26. You are currently in default under certain provisions of the Master Deed Establishing SurfWatch Horizontal Property Regime, Beaufort County, South Carolina by MARRIOTT OWNERSHIP RESORTS INC. recorded in the Registrar of Deeds, Beaufort County, South Carolina on June 22, 2004 in Deed Book 01976 at Page 0001, as further amended from time to time,, lienholder has chosen to proceed with a non-judicial foreclosure procedure in accordance with Article 3 of Chapter 32 of Title 27 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina. If you fail to cure the default or take other appropriate action with regard to this matter within thirty calendar days after the date of this notice, you will risk losing your interest in this timeshare estate through a nonjudicial foreclosure procedure. However, under the nonjudicial procedure, you will not be subject to a

Sculptor of monument on SC Statehouse grounds reflects on his view from space

90-year-old Dwight made history as the oldest astronaut in space

By Skylar Laird SCDailyGazette.com

Ed Dwight, one of six passengers on Blue Origins’ seventh manned flight into space, feared for a moment something had gone awry.

As the rocket launched last month, the light below him was so bright, he thought it had exploded. The noise of the engine was deafening, even through his earplugs.

“Ah, well,” was his first thought, he told the S.C. Daily Gazette this week. “I had a nice life.”

But the rocket didn’t explode. And Dwight went roaring into space, soaring through the atmosphere and, at 90 years old, breaking the record for the oldest astronaut in space for his 11-minute trip.

Dwight, who is based in Colorado, is best known in South Carolina for his sculptures, which include the African American History Monument on the Statehouse grounds and, more recently, the statue of Harriet Tubman at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Beaufort.

But before becoming an artist — or a restauranteur or construction company owner, his other previous professions — he trained to become the first Black astronaut.

“Ed Dwight, not only do you capture history with your hands, but you make history,” reads a Facebook post from the group behind the Harriet Tubman monument. “You are history.”

The first Black astronaut candidate

As Dwight tells it, President John F. Kennedy selected him to bring some diversity to the space mission, then in its infancy.

But after Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Dwight lost his chief sponsor, and NASA passed him over when se-

lecting its next cohort of astronauts.

“A lot of people didn’t want any Blacks or women in the space program, because it was all about heroes — Superman and Daredevil and all that stuff,” Dwight said. “Of course, white men considered themselves the Superman, and they didn’t like the idea of having super women or super Black people.”

Dwight left the Air Force a few years later. The first Black astronaut would not leave Earth’s atmosphere for another 20 years, when Philadelphia native Guion Bluford went up in 1983

Over 60 years later, Dwight doesn’t harbor any resentment.

He decided to take the May 19 trip into space for all the people in his life who were angry on his behalf at losing that chance when he was younger, not for his own sake, he said.

Dwight is happy with the way his life turned out, “making huge memorials for people to visit that are going to be there for the end of time,” as he put it.

Finally taking the trip he didn’t get 60 years ago showed that hard work does pay off, even if it takes decades to show it, said Rev. Kenneth Hodges, pastor of Tabernacle Baptist church, which commissioned the Harriet Tubman sculpture.

A lot of people who have visited the monument, which was unveiled earlier this month, have heard about the oldest man to go into space but don’t realize he’s also the artist behind the piece, Hodges said.

“It shows the determination of a person and lets us all know you can still accomplish your dream — it doesn’t matter how long it takes, it doesn’t matter your

age,” said Hodges, a former state legislator.

And an offer to go into space is tough to turn down, he added.

Space for Humanity, with support from the Jaison and Jamie Robinson Family Foundation, sponsored Dwight’s seat on the private flight, according to Blue Origin. The company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, has not publicly disclosed the price of the tickets.

The view from space

Dwight logged so many flying hours in his youth, he was prepared for the force caused by the rocket’s acceleration, known as G force, which can cause some people to pass out. What he wasn’t prepared for was the view, he said.

He had thought the divid-

ing line between the Earth’s atmosphere and the space beyond would be a more gradual transition, but instead he found it to be one sharp, distinct line.

At first, everything went blue-black. Then, the ship rocketed into space, and Dwight got a glimpse of the Earth, appearing to sit all on its lonesome against never-ending darkness.

As the five other passengers screamed and clapped and kicked, Dwight looked out at the Earth growing smaller beneath him and thought: “I get it. I get it. Now I get it,” he said.

He likened the experience to looking down at a playground from the top of a slide.

“You see all these people, and they have the ability to play and to drive and to ride

their bikes and do whatever they do,” he said. “It’s just the damndest thing. The feelings you get are really incredible.”

Along with those feelings came a philosophical question Dwight has been chasing in his artwork for years: Why can’t those people just get along?

“When you get above it all, you don’t see any dividing lines between the states or dividing lines between the countries,” Dwight said.

“It’s just amazing thinking, ‘Everybody down there should be really getting along with each other, because this is just one place that we’re all in.’”

That’s not a new question for Dwight, but a reminder of one he’s had for a long time, he said.

In his artwork, such as the

monument beside the Statehouse that traces African American history in South Carolina from the slave trade through the 20th century, he tries to teach people about the past in a way that will help them lead better futures, he said.

“What we’re really trying to do as artists and peacemakers is we try to make life a little bit more livable, to have something that people can enjoy,” he said.

Skylar Laird covers the South Carolina Legislature and criminal justice issues. Originally from Missouri, she previously worked for The Post and Courier’s Columbia bureau.

S.C. Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest statefocused nonprofit news organization.

SC’s public health agency ready to launch

By Abraham Kenmore SCDailyGazette.com

COLUMBIA — South Caroli-

na’s newly organized public health agency is ready to launch in a week.

On July 1, the 50-year-old Department of Health and Environmental Control will split into two: the Department of Public Health and the Department of Environmental Services.

“Those we serve will not see any disruptions to the services that they depend on for good health and peace of mind thanks to our dedicated staff,” said Dr. Edward Simmer, DHEC’s director since 2021 and interim director of the new public health agency, in a statement Monday.

“Our employees have gone above and beyond to ready us for this transition and ensure that absolutely no one — not those we serve or our employees — falls through the cracks before, during and after this agency transition,” he continued.

The public health agency will have 2 900 employees across the state, according to a press release. The new environmental agency will share more information once it actually launches, according to a spokesperson.

Public health employees will be moving to new offices outside

downtown Columbia, but not before January. Rent for the new offices still has to be paid through the budget, which has not yet been finalized. Only then can work begin on renovating the new offices.

A few of the current duties of the Department of Health and Environmental Control will be transferred to other agencies.

Food inspection, including of restaurants and dairy, will move to the state Department of Agriculture. Oversight of veterans’ homes will move to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

A bill that would have further combined agencies in the state into one Executive Office of Health and Policy died this year in the last minutes of the legislative session.

The bill would have created a new Executive Office of Health and Policy, which would become South Carolina’s largest state agency with more than 6 300 employees. It would combine separate agencies overseeing services for the elderly, mental health issues, disabilities, patients covered by Medicaid, and those addicted to drugs and alcohol, plus an unknown number of workers brought over after the health and environmental agency breakup.

Abraham Kenmore is a reporter covering elections, health care and more. He joins the S.C. Daily Gazette from The Augusta Chronicle, where he reported on Georgia legislators, military and housing issues.

S.C. Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

But on May 9, the last day of the legislative session, members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus blocked a vote on the bill. Some lawmakers, including Gov. Henry McMaster, hoped legislators would add the bill to its agenda for a special session, a move that would require supermajority agreement. But legislators have taken no action to do that.

Morgan resigns as SC Chamber President, CEO

From staff reports

South Carolina Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Bob Morgan announced his resignation Monday, June 24, after serving in the role for longer than three years. Mike Brenan, a former Chairperson of the Chamber’s Board of Directors, will serve as interim president and CEO while the board conducts a comprehensive search for Morgan’s permanent successor.

“I’m humbled to have been given the opportunity to lead such a storied and important organization with the help of so many talented professionals, and I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together,” Morgan said in a news release.

“Since moving to South Carolina, Meg and I have become passionate about the Palmetto State and I look forward to helping the state continue to grow and prosper. I look forward to building on this experience as I pursue the next chapter in my career.”

“South Carolina’s business community is stronger and better represented than it was when Bob joined us, and we’re grateful for his time here,” said Will Whitley of Michelin North America and S.C. Chamber Board Chair. “The Chamber is on an exciting trajectory, having accomplished great things during the most recent two-year legislative session and bolstering our reputation as the voice of South Carolina’s thriving business community as a result. We’re fortunate to have an accomplished and respected leader like Mike Brenan offer his experience and guidance as we build on this momentum and search far and wide for the next president and CEO.”

A woman looks at the African American History Monument on the Statehouse grounds on Thursday, March 7, 2024. Skylar Laird/S.C. Daily Gazette

SC budget to reduce income taxes, repair bridges, raise employee pay

Panel of legislators approved the more than $14.4 billion budget Friday

By Skylar Laird SCDailyGazette.com

COLUMBIA — Legislators

agreed Friday to a $14 4 billion spending package that further reduces South Carolina income taxes, repairs aging bridges and raises public employees’ salaries.

A six-member budget negotiating committee voted unanimously on the plan that keeps Clemson University’s new veterinarian school on track to open in 2026 while also pumping $100 million into a medical campus at the University of South Carolina. It also includes more than $400 million for various community projects sponsored by legislators.

“I think this is a budget we can all be proud of,” said retiring Sen. Nikki Setzler, D-West Columbia, about the last negotiations of his 48-year tenure.

The full Legislature was set to return Wednesday to adopt the package and send it to Gov. Henry McMaster. By law, he would have until midnight July 2 — a day after the fiscal year starts — to review it and issue line-item vetoes on any spending he opposes.

The budget will take effect with his veto message. If that comes after the fiscal year starts, a resolution approved as a just-in-case stopgap measure will keep government operating in the interim. But that could delay state employees and teachers getting their raises on time.

Income tax reduction

Residents could see slightly higher paychecks starting this January after legislators agreed to shave another $100 million off state income taxes, doubling the reduction scheduled for the third year of a phased-in tax cut.

That money came from a $600 million surplus in state sales taxes that has been building up since the pandemic.

The 2006 law known as Act 388 increased the state sales tax by one cent on the dollar, up to 6%, in exchange for no longer charging owner-occupied homes for school operating costs. The idea was to use the sales tax to reimburse coun-

ties for what they lost.

For years, the state sales tax ran at a deficit, requiring legislators to make up the difference with other state taxes. But as people spent their federal stimulus checks during the pandemic and inflation drove up costs, the state collected more sales taxes, and a surplus built up.

The House had initially proposed putting $500 million of that toward reducing property tax bills, though its updated proposal passed in May scaled that back to $150 million.

But a one-time property tax reduction could have been a problem logistically for county officials attempting to distribute the money.

Getting one year closer to the collective $1 billion revenue cut from reducing state income taxes that lawmakers approved in 2022 was more of a sure bet, said House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville.

So, the negotiating committee opted to go with the Senate’s plan, reducing the state income tax.

“By locking in the income tax, we know that’ll happen and that we’ll maintain it over a period of time,”

Bannister said. “After discussions with the Senate and the governor, we decided that it made really good sense to do it that way.”

Roads and bridges

Most of the remaining sales tax surplus money will go toward bridge and road work, which legislators called a top priority.

All told, the agreement puts $200 million toward repairing or replacing dilapidated bridges. Nearly a third of the state’s 8,400 bridges are approaching or past their intended lifespans, according to the state Department of Transportation.

“The roads and infrastructure investment is huge,” Bannister said.

Another $200 million will go toward roadwork approved by county officials. That’s essential for smaller fixes that cause everyday annoyances, such as potholes, said Senate Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler.

“We should not have potholes in our districts,” the Gaffney Republican said.

The plan puts an additional $117 4 million into improving safety on rural roads.

New vet school

The deal will also give Clemson $125 million for its new vet school in one-time money, which is $50 million short of what Peeler, a Clemson graduate, wanted to finish funding construction. But the compromise gives Clemson $8 million additional indefinitely for the vet

school, which will keep its timeline for accreditation and opening on track.

The decision on how much to give the college, Peeler’s alma mater, was a sticking point in negotiations.

The University of South Carolina is also set to get $100 million for its medical campus. But the two requests were not dueling propositions for the rival colleges, Peeler said.

“I like to leave the Clemson vs South Carolina at Williams-Brice,” Peeler said.

Raises for state employees, teachers

State employees will receive another raise this year, following a $2 500 bump in their salaries last year.

Any employees making less than $50,000 per year will get a $1,125 boost, and anyone making more will see their salary increase 2 25%

“We’re focusing the majority of that raise on the state employees who are making the least amount of money,” Bannister said.

The Senate proposed giving a $1 375 raise to all employees making less than $50,000, and a 2 75% pay boost to all other workers. The House proposed a $1 000 raise for anyone making $66,667 or less and a 1 5% raise to everyone else.

One thing the House and Senate agreed to all along was raising the minimum pay for first-year teachers to $47 000, a $2 500 increase.

Under Friday’s proposal, districts will receive $200 million to increase teacher pay. The panel agreed to extend state-paid yearly boosts for experience from 23 years to 28 years in the classroom, something teachers’ advocates have been requesting for years as a way of rewarding the state’s more veteran teachers.

Local projects

The compromise combined the local projects in each chamber’s plan. In all, that’s $435 million for local governments, charities, events and other community enhancements.

That includes $10 million to turn Myrtle Beach into a tech lab, allow-

ing it to partner with companies as a test ground for new technology, as well as $8 million to improve local roads in York County and $6 million for an aquatics center in Richland County.

After two years of setting aside hundreds of millions of dollars for these projects, legislators plan to reexamine the process during the coming year, Peeler said. Last year, legislators spent $713 million on pet projects, far above any years before.

While Peeler couldn’t offer any specifics on what might change, he said the process is something legislators need to reconsider.

“It can get out of hand, and it seems to be getting out of hand, and we’re going to work on that to make it more fair and equitable,” Peeler. “Or, we might not have them at all.”

By Abraham Kenmore SCDailyGazette.com

COLUMBIA — Six months after her state ethics fine was knocked down to a fraction of what she initially owed, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace says, literally, that her check is in the mail.

The two-term Republican representing the coastal 1st District notified staff with the state House Ethics Committee late Wednesday afternoon, June 19, to expect her $1,200 payment.

“Ethics Fee Paid in Full,” reads the subject line of her two-sentence email to House staff provided to the S.C. Daily Gazette. “Just a quick note to let you know I cut a check this week for the ethics fee in full.”

The email was sent at 4:44 p.m., just over three hours after the Gazette left a voicemail message — and about

an hour after the outlet sent follow-up text and email messages — asking Mace’s spokesperson, Gabrielle Lipsky, for comment on why the fine hadn’t been paid yet. House staff responded to Mace’s email by reminding her of the mailing address to send the check. “Yes ma’am. Sent out this week,” was the quick response at 5:11 p.m. The Gazette was asking about it after updated House Ethics Committee records showed Mace still owed $1 200 stemming from fines that accumulated in 2021 and 2022, when she repeatedly failed to file quarterly campaign disclosures for her then-still-open state House campaign account. (She closed it out in December.)

The fines were initially $16,700 But in December, her for-

mer colleagues in the state House voted unanimously to drop the fines down to $1,200, or $200 for each of the six missed disclosure deadlines dating as far back as 2020, when voters first sent her to Congress. Mace did not attend the House Ethics meeting, but in her written explanation to the committee, she said she couldn’t afford to pay the fines. By law, they can’t be paid with campaign donations.

According to a House Ethics letter sent to Mace in January, she was supposed to start paying 3½ months ago.

“The Committee considered the fact that these fines occurred during COVID, the substantial personal and family issues you were dealing with, and that your Final Campaign Disclosure was filed on December 12, 2023. However, the Com-

mittee noted the long period this matter languished, and that staff bent over backwards to reach out to you to handle this,” reads the letter dated Jan. 23 provided to the Gazette

It allows for a payment plan of $100 a month, to pay in full over a year, with the first payment due by March 1 Explaining why Mace hadn’t paid yet, her spokesperson sent the Gazette an earlier letter from House Ethics, dated Dec. 14, which set the first due date as Jan. 15, 2025. But that was simply a typo. That letter was supposed to set the first payment as due Jan. 15, 2024. The second letter sent in January, which Mace’s office never mentioned, corrected that typo by resetting the initial due date as March 1

“After a very busy couple of months, Mace is catching up,” Lipsky wrote in an email Thursday morning to the S.C. Daily Gazette.

“She planned on cutting the check this week.”

Mace was in the state Legislature a single term before she defeated Democrat Joe Cunningham in 2020, flipping the coastal 1st District back to the Republicans after a one-term blip.

Last week, Mace easily won a primary challenge — collecting 57% of the vote in a three-way contest against Catherine Templeton, a former director of two state agencies, and longshot candidate Bill Young. She faces Democrat Michael Moore in November.

In the week before the primary, Mace caught national media attention for being one of the top users of a new

reimbursement program for House members. The New York Times reported that the U.S. House Ethics Committee will look into Mace’s spending under the program. Members of Congress are paid annual salaries of $174 000 but many maintain residents in both their district and Washington. Mace co-owns a townhouse in the district, and expensed $27,817 from the reimbursement program in 2023, according to the Washington Post

Abraham Kenmore is a reporter covering elections, health care and more. He joins the S.C. Daily Gazette from The Augusta Chronicle, where he reported on Georgia legislators, military and housing issues.

S.C. Daily

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Senate Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, and House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, talk to reporters after a panel of legislators approved the state spending plan Friday, June 21, 2024. Skylar Laird/S.C. Daily Gazette

LOCAL MILITARY

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

Recruit Training Regiment, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, 28 June 2024

Recruit Training Regiment • Commanding Officer, Colonel C. B. McArthur

1st Recruit Training Battalion • Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel K. R. Sile Commander of Troops, 1stSgt T. M. Marple • Parade Adjutant, Staff Sergeant I. ColonDominguez Company “A”, 1st Recruit Training Battalion • Commanding Officer, Captain G. F. Tankersley Drill Masters • Gunnery Sergeant M. N. Moreno, Staff Sergeant J. A. Kolb

PLATOON 1032

Senior Drill Instructor

SSgt J. Bautista

PFC Adkins, Sean C.*

Pvt Alvarenga, Samuel I.

Pvt Ariasrodriguez, Luis M.

Pvt Beardsley, Jaden C.

PFC Brawley, Aiden J.

Pvt Davis, Davon C.

Pvt Franklin, Xavier E.

Pvt Gunn, Chance L.

Pvt Heneghan, Brandon E.

Pvt Hollowell, Ashton S.

PFC Krueger, Joseph B.*

PFC Lamrissi, Rayan Y.

PFC Leak, Ricardo W.

Pvt Lemke, David A.

Pvt Lott Iii, Kenneth N.

Pvt Maggard, Connor S.

PFC Martin, Jacob A.

Pvt Mckie, Jordan D.

Pvt Menendez, Edward T.

Pvt Mishurin, Iurii

Pvt Paredessotelo, Angel

PFC Parker, Noah S.

Pvt Riley, Luke C.

Pvt Royster Jr, Michael D.

PFC Salih, Kyle J.

Pvt Sill, Kevin J.

Pvt Slade, Tory A.

Pvt Thomas Jr, Christophe O.

Pvt Totherow, Daniel L.

Pvt Trull, Isaiah B.

Pvt Vinyard, Ryne A.

Pvt Walden, Kyle D.

PFC Wallace, Camdon B.

Pvt Whitman, Andrew R.

*Denotes Meritorious Promotions

PLATOON 1033

Senior Drill Instructor

SSgt D. J. Newhall

Pvt Allendanner, Jordan D.

Pvt Boudin, Henry T.

Pvt Branton, Jaylin

Pvt Burke, Christian J.

Pvt Bussen, Christopher B.

Pvt Castrejon, Axel

Pvt Castro, Gilberto

Pvt Chery, Chilokim T.

Pvt Cortescabanas, Hector I.

Pvt Davis, Kenneth E.

Pvt Dimartino, Kasyn M.

Pvt Erb, Austin T.

PFC Flanders, Joevany M.*

PFC Flippen, Jose A.*

Pvt Freet, Dylan A.

Pvt Glose, Joseph D.

Pvt Guidroz, Johnny N.

Pvt Hohn, Sean M.

PFC Hollins, William H.

Pvt Horne, Samuel A.

Pvt Hoskins, Hunter H.

Pvt Jeune, Caleb N.

Pvt Mullins, Timothy K.

Pvt Oliver, Jaden M.

Pvt Ostberg, Rodney S.

Pvt Ramirez, Felix A.

Pvt Rascoe, Kenneth L.

PFC Rojas, David A.

Pvt Rosadobetancourt, Oscar I.

PFC Travieso, Marlon J

PFC Vieiradacosta, Ariel L.*

Pvt Villazansuarez, Brayan

Pvt Wolfe III, William W.

PLATOON 1034

Senior Drill Instructor

GySgt J. F. Flores Perez

PFC Bailey, Willum R.

Pvt Barrios, Jose A.

Pvt Bellefleur, Ralph A.

Pvt Espinoza, Abdi Z.

PFC Farley, Jeremiah W.

Pvt Freitasfilho, Ronaldo A.

PFC Garcia, Alex B.

PFC Gardner, Christopher J.

PFC Guglietta, Anthony M.

Pvt Haddocks II, Anthony P.

Pvt Leavitt, Garrison C.

Pvt Lewin, Davante J.

PFC Lorenzo Jr., Roberto M.*

Pvt Madrigal, Christian A.

Pvt Mcallister, Tyreek K.

Pvt Mulligan, Gabriel J.

PFC Newton, Jacob G.

Pvt Ortegacaravantes, Marco B.

Pvt Owens, John E.

Pvt Parsons, William M.

PFC Robbins, Braylon M.

Pvt Rochaandia, Jose C.

Pvt Romani, Dominic G.

Pvt Schmidt, Samuel R.

PFC Sortoargueta, Javier I.

Pvt Teferi, Eyobe W.

PFC Tellomorales, Jorge L.

Pvt Tetzlaff, Anthony V.

Pvt Tufinocoria, Hugo E.

PFC Weiler, Aiden J.*

PFC Wilson, Robert E.*

Pvt Young, Ajay H.

PLATOON

1036

Senior Drill Instructor

SSgt A. A. Alshimmari

PFC Benedict, Evan M.*

Pvt Bennett, Tyshawn

Pvt Burton Jr, Gabriel A.

Pvt Calvert, Braden N.

Pvt Cameron, Nickholos D.

Pvt Chiosi, Caleb J.

Pvt Crable, Ryan X.

PFC Daniels Jr, Timothy O.

Pvt Davis, Benjamin P.

LCpl Delrosarioreynoso, David R.

Pvt Dormevil, Valery S.

Pvt Fennell, Nicholas R.

Pvt Frazier, William D.

Pvt Gordon, Wesley H.

Pvt Hearn, Declan R.

Pvt Hobert, Nicholas J.

Pvt Kubicek, Anthony W.

Pvt Lopesgoncalves, Joao V.

PFC Macfawn, Aiden D.*

Pvt Matsnev, Daniel A.

Pvt Matsnev, Eric A.

Pvt Mccoy, Brendan A.

Pvt Mcdade Jr, John J.

Pvt Parker, Caleb A.

PFC Perry, James S.

Pvt Phillips, Torron E.

PFC Richey, Jaxson B.

Pvt Santosguzman, Oscar R.

Pvt Scheer, Ryan P.

Pvt Schnitker, Nicholas E.

Pvt Selby, Riley B.

Pvt Tripp, Dillon J.

Pvt Vo, Danh H.

Pvt Wiley, Zackary C.

Pvt Yates, Donovan L.

PLATOON 1037

Senior Drill Instructor

SSgt D. I. Shedrick

Pvt Alonzo, Angel J.

Pvt Amelco, Luis R.

Pvt Arbonamesa, Kevin R.

PFC Beale, Christian N.

PFC Boivin II, Albert A.*

Pvt Burgos, Christian L.

PFC Burton, Karsen J.*

Pvt Camachovinan, Jhased A.

PFC Catalanreyes, Wilfredo D.

PFC Colon, Gabriel L.

Pvt Coloncortes, Jose J.

Pvt Cushman, Braeden T.

Pvt Donald, Tyreece L.

Pvt Dubuisson, Jeffrey

Pvt Duncan, Ian B.

Pvt Earls, Williams K.

PFC Falcon, Michael I.

Pvt Franco, Daniel W.

Pvt Gonzalezolmo, Jeruan M.

PFC Gutierrez, Sebastian A.

Pvt Hall, Damien L.

Pvt Hinchberger, Wyatt C.

Pvt Hubbard, Erik A.

Pvt Jackson, Deonte D.

Pvt Lorenzo, Gasper J.

Pvt Mckee, Aaron T.

PFC Montes, Alexis A.*

Pvt Muniz, Steven J.

PFC Patel, Shiv H.

Pvt Popovitch, Trenton L.

Pvt Rafferty, Patrick L.

PFC Roberts, Alexander C.

Pvt Rodriguez, Emanuel L.

PFC Smith, Christopher R.

Pvt Smith, Tyler W.

Pvt Tortoriello, Antonio V.

Pvt Vanderford, Alexander J.

Pvt Yeager, Derek O.

By Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Yarbrough USMC

SA promise to learn

Retired Marine keeps word to mother, returns to get his diploma

PHILADELPHIA

itting inside the Philadelphia County court room, the judge gave Joseph Bond two choices — he could either enlist in the military or go to jail.

Bond was in high school and only 17 years old at the time. The war in Vietnam was nearing its height, but despite that fact, Bond believed service to his country was a better option than jail. Bond decided to enlist in the Marine Corps and leave high school without graduating. He soon left his parents and his five siblings in Philadelphia bound for recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island.

Bond admits he had a hard time adjusting to the Marine Corps at first due to the toughness of his drill instructors, but he realized to graduate he needed to conform.

Bond would grow to love the Marine Corps, finding comfort in the physical elements of the job. Although he hadn’t traveled much in his life, the Marine Corps would eventually send him to Vietnam, Japan, and Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Following the Corps Bond would eventually leave the Marine Corps in the mid1970s and returned to Philadelphia, but he had a hard time returning to civilian life due to his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED Since

requires

U.S. Marine veteran Joseph Bond accomplished his lifelong goal and graduated high school at 72 years old on June 13, 2024. Bond enlisted in the Marine Corps at 17 years old before graduating high school and made a promise to his mother before she passed away that he would finish school. Cpl. Christian Cortez/USMC

He eventually landed on his feet and was hired as an equipment operator with the Philadelphia Water Department.

Bond was busy beginning a career and a family, leaving no time for education. But in 1977

Bond’s mother Elizabeth became sick and he made a promise to her just before she passed away.

"When she died, I made a promise to her — that I would get my diploma," Bond said.

Life continued at a fast pace for Bond, who would eventually have three children. In 1995, he joined the Army National Guard and following the attacks on 9/11, he was

activated and deployed to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Bond said he was always focused on his family, ensuring that his children would have a chance to get a good education. For Bond, schooling for himself, was the furthest thing from his mind.

Back to school

For 35 years, Bond remained with the Philadelphia Water Department and retired in 2013

By then, he had 10 grandchildren and four great grandchildren. His family pushed him to return to school and in 2023 Bond returned to Benjamin Franklin

High School in hopes of earning his diploma. Bond said he wanted to show his family that it is never too late to learn.

After five decades removed from schooling, Bond admits he had a learning curve returning to the classroom but was committed to fulfilling the promise he made to his mother. Additionally, Bond didn’t know what it would be like to return to school attending class with people who were his grandchildren’s age. But he said everyone was welcoming. Despite his age, Bond was respected and loved by his class-

mates. So much so, that he was crowned prom king at this year’s school prom.

Graduation

On June 13, Bond graduated from high school and received his diploma. His family and fellow Marines from 1st Marine Corps District were in attendance to congratulate him on his accomplishment.

For Bond, the moment provided closure for the promise he made to his mother nearly 50 years ago.

“Education is Freedom,” said Bond. “That’s something you can’t take away from anybody.”

the website www.savannahsalutes.org or you can call John Findeis at 912-507-4848.

NVLSP partners with the SC Department of Veteran Affairs

Through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the SC Department of Veteran Affairs (SCDVA) and the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP), veterans and military members in South Carolina may be able to get free pro bono legal help from NVLSP’s Lawyers Serving Warriors Program when appeals for veterans’ benefits have been denied by the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) or Department of Defense (DOD), and the appeal has a chance of being reversed. According to the SCDVA’s Director of Veteran Services, Mr. Timothy R. Frambes, the veteran needs to be working through a state or county SCDVA-accredited Veterans Service Officer (VSO) and must be referred by the SCDVA to get a review of a denial decision by NVLSP. Every denied appeal handled by SCDVA is automatically reviewed by the NVLSP team. When NVLSP reviews the decision, their lawyers offer the veteran the option of proceeding the case if they believe the VA decision was in error with a reasonable chance for reversal at the appellate level. NVLSP has an exceptional success rate on appeals –and they do not accept cases they do not believe they can win. SCDVA and NVLSP services are at no cost to the veteran if the veteran agrees to have NVLSP represent them, and the veteran can withdraw an appeal or decline NVLSP representation to continue a case.

About NVLSP The NVLSP webpage, https://www.nvlsp.org, and its’ NVLSP Veterans Legal Services Program Pamphlet, https://bit.ly/3L0N89T, state that NVLSP is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that has worked since 1981 to ensure that the government delivers to our nation's 22 million veterans and active-duty personnel the benefits to which they are entitled. The National Veterans Legal Services Program’s Pro Bono Program -- Lawyers Serving Warriors® (LSW) assists service members and veterans with applications for disability and other benefits, both at the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

NVLSP serves veterans and military members through Lawyers Serving Warriors®, Individual Representation, Class Actions, Training and Mentorship, and Publications. NVLSP LSW attorneys are experts in the DOD matters of discharge upgrades, military medical retirement, Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC), and the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance Traumatic

Injury Protection Program.

NVLSP has helped veterans and servicemembers obtain over $5 4 billion in disability benefits.

NVLSP Individual Representation

According to NVLSP’s “Individual Representation” webpage at https:// bit.ly/3VT3wzs, each year thousands of veterans have their claims for disability benefits wrongly denied or evaluated incorrectly.

When disability claims are denied by the VA, veterans have the right to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC). As with any legal proceeding, obtaining trained and competent legal representation is ideal.

Unfortunately, more than half of the veterans who file appeals to the CAVC do not have lawyers to represent them. In most cases, this is because the veterans cannot afford an attorney. For many others, navigating the system proves too big of a challenge. As a result, many disabled veterans are left behind, wondering where to turn for help.

NVLSP has represented thousands of veterans before the CAVC Court -- all at no charge to the veteran. Each year, staff attorneys from the National Veterans Legal Services Program review thousands of veterans' claims denied by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) – the highest authority within the VA. When NVLSP determines that a BVA

denial is worthy of appeal to the CAVC, NVLSP offers to represent the veteran or their family at no cost.

Of the cases NVLSP appeals each year, over 90% result in either a reversal of the previously denied claim or the case is sent back for the VA to correct legal errors.

NVLSP Class Actions

The NVLSP “Class Actions” webpage https:// bit.ly/3LizUpf states that NVLSP uses its expertise in veterans’ law to change the lives of veterans and their families. Through class action lawsuits, NVLSP brings claims on behalf of a group of individuals who have been wrongfully denied the benefits they have earned through their service. NVLSP has represented thousands of veterans in class actions.

NVLSP Training

According to the NVLSP “Training” webpage, https://bit.ly/4cCsecH, … one of NVLSP’s primary missions has been to train advocates in veterans law so that they can efficiently help veterans secure benefits from the VA. The goal of these trainings is to teach advocates how to obtain the correct amount of VA benefits for deserving veterans (and their family members) at the earliest possible time. NVLSP has conducted training programs for groups of non-attorney advocates as well as groups of attorneys. NVLSP also

trains the service officers of several of the largest state departments of veterans affairs. NVLSP has also conducted training for national veterans service organizations such as The American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Veterans, and the Military Order of the Purple Heart. NVLSP has also developed and conducted training programs for attorneys in organizations including the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program, The Legal Services Corporation, The National Legal Aid and Defender Association, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and state bar associations. NVLSP also offers in-person training sessions and online courses.

NVLSP Publications

The NVLSP webpage “Publications,” https:// bit.ly/3VWgU60, NVLSP has focused on the recruitment and training of both attorney and non-attorney advocates to help veterans secure benefits.

NVLSP Advocacy

Materials

As described at https:// productsbynvlsp.org, these materials are designed to increase the pool of advocates available to veterans and their families, as well as to empower advocates to be even more effective in representing clients. NVLSP's publications in-

clude (1) Veterans Benefits Manual (see https://productsbynvlsp.org) and (2.) The Basic Training Course on Veterans Benefits (see https://bit.ly/3XC2BEU). These materials are designed to be working tools for veterans service officers (VSOs), attorneys, and others who assist veterans and their families. Visit the NVLSP Store at https:// productsbynvlsp.org for details and ordering.

For more information For more information on the SCDVA – NVLSP MOU contact the South Carolina Department of Veterans Affairs, Director of Veteran Services, Timothy R. Frambes, 1800 St. Julian Place, Suite 305, Columbia, S.C. 29204, Email tim. frambes@scdva.sc.gov, Phone 803-734-4065 For more information about NVLSP, contact NVLSP at the National Veterans Legal Services Program,1100 Wilson Blvd. Suite 900, Arlington, Va. 22209, Phone 202-2658305, info@nvlsp.org.

Larry Dandridge is a Vietnam War wounded warrior, disabled veteran, ex-Enlisted Infantryman, ex-Warrant Officer Pilot, and retired Lt. Colonel. He is a past Veterans Service Officer, a Patient Adviser at the RHJ VA Hospital, the Fisher House Charleston Good Will Ambassador, and the VP for Veteran Affairs for the local

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