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LOWCOUNTRY LOWDOWN
COVERING BEAUFORT COUNTY
‘Old Bessie’ vs. one old pole
LOLITA HUCKABY
New large pipes underneath the Spanish Moss Trail add tremendous drainage capacity during storms and heavy rains. Submitted photo.
Happy birthday to the OLT
This calls for a celebration
T
BEAUFORT he Beaufort County Open Land Trust celebrated its 50th anniversary last weekend on the bluff of the Bay Street, where its mission began. As the state’s first land trust program, the OLT was the brain child of three friends concerned about the changing face of the Lowcountry as development threatened more and more open spaces, vistas that make the area the natural jewel it is. Betty Logan Waskiewicz, John Trask Jr. and the late Marguerite Waterhouse Broz joined forces, brought their friends and other concerned citizens into the effort and purchased a home site on the bluff to protect the open view of the Beaufort River and marshes for all to enjoy. A working relationship with Beaufort County, through the Rural and Critical Lands Preservation Program, has enabled the preservation and protection of more than 25,000 acres of land throughout the county and neighboring counties. Most recently, OLT partnered with the county to create the Widgeon Point Preserve on S.C. 170 and the Broad and Chechessee Rivers. The nonprofit’s staff and volunteers were instrumental in the fight against proposed development of Bay Point Island, a project still in litigation as the developers protest the county’s Zoning Board of Appeals rejection. They helped negotiate an agreement with the developers of Whitehall on Lady’s Island for reduced construction. Since 1968, the Trust has worked with movie producer Joel Silver, owner of Auldbrass Plantation near Yemassee, in an agreement that preserves the Frank Lloyd Wright designed plantation buildings and makes them open for ticketed tours every two years as a fundraising effort to support the OLT projects. As another fundraiser, the Trust’s popular SEA ISLAND SEASONS cookbook remains in print since 1980. The list of accomplishments goes on and on and hopefully will for another 50 years. Citizens have spoken – playgrounds for Southside Park BEAUFORT – Speaking of parks and open spaces, the Beaufort City Council now has a detailed wish list for the popular Southside Park. The key is going to be how to pay for it. A citizen’s task force which has been working since the beginning of the year reported their findings last week to the City Council. And while
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Ceremony marks completion of Mossy Oaks stormwater project Bunny Winkler stands earlier this week next to the utility pole that fell on her car on Christmas Day 2020. Photo by Mindy Lucas.
No one claims outdated utility pole that smashes family car By Mindy Lucas When Bunny Winkler woke up Christmas morning in 2020, she got a present she wasn’t exactly expecting. An old utility pole had fallen and smashed the back end of her car. But not just any car. It was “Old Bessie” – the Beaufort family’s 2007 Honda CR-V. A workhorse of a car, Old Bessie had more than 160,000 miles on her but had never let Winkler or her family down. She took the kids to school and back, to music lessons and to softball practice. She carried groceries from the grocery store and faithfully performed all the duties a “mom taxi,” as Winkler called it, usually performs without fail. But now Old Bessie sat wounded in the family’s driveway, her rear windows smashed, her once gleaming black roof now dented inward. “It was my baby,” Winkler said, as she recently recounted
Winkler’s 2007 Honda had its rear window smashed and its roof crushed when a utility pole fell on Christmas Day. Photo courtesy of Bunny Winkler. what happened after the utility pole with loose wires came
It was my baby,” Bunny Winkler,
on her damaged Honda
crashing down on top of Old Bessie, effectively ending the car’s long run. It all started when some
contractors who were cutting trees in the Mossy Oaks neighborhood in mid-December caused some wires from the pole to fall down across Winkler’s car and driveway. The lines also tore a few shingles off her home’s roof as they fell. Winkler knows because she was sitting in her bedroom
From staff reports When you set out to do something big and difficult, and not only do you finish, but you finish on time and under budget, that’s cause for celebration. That’s just what the City of Beaufort and other entities involved in the Mossy Oaks Stormwater Project are doing Thursday, May 6. A ribbon-cutting will be held at 10 a.m. to celebrate the completion of the project. The ceremony will be held at the Spanish Moss Trail where it crosses Rodgers Drive. “Completing this project is a great accomplishment,” Beaufort Mayor Stephen Murray said in a news release. “This stormwater project is already providing relief for homeowners in Mossy Oaks, who are seeing much less flooding impacting their yards and homes during heavy storms and king tides. It’s a great tribute to all the partners who worked together so effectively to make this happen.” The stormwater project kicked off in 2017, when the Multijurisdictional Mossy Oaks Drainage Task Force was formed to address the issue of repeated flooding in the Mossy Oaks neighborhood. The area, comprising approximately 550 acres, was subject to flooding during heavy rains, king tides and storm surges. An engineering study identified factors such as inefficient drainage structures and poor drainage patterns. Other complicating issues included homes built on slabs, along
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SEE POLE PAGE A7
Replaced but not forgotten
Old Harbor River Bridge still has a role to play in Lowcountry
The old Harbor River Bridge will be dismantled, and steel and concrete from the old bridge will be transported offshore to create artificial reefs for recreational fishing. File photo by Bob Sofaly.
By Tess Malijenovsky The old Harbor River Bridge, recently replaced by a new fixed-span bridge on Sea Island Parkway (U.S. 21), will soon become a part of the only managed deepwater artificial reef on the East Coast, the South Carolina Memorial Reef. The riveted through truss swing bridge connecting St. Helena to
Harbor, Hunting, and Fripp Islands was a locally cherished landmark built in 1939 at the start of World War II. There are only seven moveable bridges left in South Carolina, one of them being the Woods Memorial Bridge in downtown Beaufort. While some locals are disappointed to see this piece of history removed, hoping it would remain as a fishing pier, others support the idea of the bridge living a second life under the sea enhancing saltwater marine fisheries and boosting
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New benches, designed by local artists, to be unveiled Thursday.
Holy Trinity’s Smith accepts appointment to US Naval Academy.
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sport fishing tourism for the state's coastal economy. Sen. George "Chip" Campsen is one of those supporters. He spearheaded the efforts to re-purpose the old swing bridge into an offshore artificial reef by teaming up with the board of the S.C. Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series to raise funds to acquire the old bridge from its owner. “We approached Mr. Jim Tripplett, who’s the owner of the compa-
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