November 28 edition

Davis

Beaufort County Council members weren’t the only Lowcountry political body last week scratching their heads about what to do with a failed transportation tax referendum.

Because the one percent sales tax referendum went down in defeat — 55 to 45 percent — the county no longer has the $190 million promised as a matching fund to the State Infrastructure Bank for the much-debated U.S. 278 Corridor Improvement plan, a plan which includes a replacement bridge to Hilton Head Island.

The SIB had pledged $120 million to Beaufort County for a portion of the project. But because Beaufort County voters didn’t buy the idea of another penny sales tax, well, that state money might go elsewhere.

Sen. Tom Davis, R-Bluffton, met with the SIB board last week and, according to reports, urged the agency to give the county more time to come up with options. Options, which according to the Post and Courier report of the meeting, include possible property tax increases.

Now the County Council members made it clear during their discussion of what to do that property tax increases were NOT an option. We’ll see how this plays out. After all, if voters say they don’t trust their elected County Council members, maybe a tax increase will be necessary to pay for that bridge to Hilton Head Island.

Remember, the voters returned all three of the incumbent County Council members on the ballot this month to office. Is that not some sign of “trust?”

One other tidbit coming from last week’s SIB meeting — Charleston County representatives

SEE LOWDOWN PAGE A3

The Bridges of Beaufort County

Bridges

and the political will it takes to build them tell the story of this Lowcountry county

By Scott Graber & Lolita Huckaby The Island News

Earlier this month, Beaufort County voters helped elect a new president, returned every local incumbent on the ballot to office and rejected, by a 55-45 percent margin, a proposal to implement a one percent sales tax for “transportation” improvements.

Foremost in that proposal was the U.S. 278 Corridor Improvement project with a proposed allocation of $90 million, a figure that would add to the $80 million for the bridge replacement project in the 2018 sales tax referendum which was adopted by a 57 percent vote.

The majority of the electorate said “no” this month, many re-

sponding to the battle cry from the Beaufort Tea Party that they didn’t “trust” the County Council to do what they promised.

This certainly wasn’t the first time voters said no to a tax for road improvements. As far back as 1917, according to historians Larry

SEE BRIDGES PAGE A5

Fire at Auldbrass causes damage to outbuilding

By Delayna Earley The Island News

A fire occurred at the historical landmark Auldbrass Plantation in mid-October and reportedly caused an estimated $2 million worth of damage.

The fire, which destroyed an outbuilding, took place sometime late Wednesday, Oct. 16 or early on Thursday, Oct. 17. A source told The Island News that the South Carolina Law Enforcement

Division’s (SLED) Arson Unit was called out to investigate the source of the fire.

A secondary source, who is close to the property’s owner said that the fire destroyed two vintage Lincoln Continentals that had been owned and modified by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1940s.

The home was designed and built by Wright from 1939 to 1941 for Charles Leigh Stevens, and it

was purchased and restored by Hollywood producer Joel Silver in 1986. Silver also purchased the cars that had been owned by Wright.

Sheldon Fire Department responded to the fire but attempts to speak with Fire Chief Walter F. “Buddy” Jones, III regarding the fire have not been successful.

What is Auldbrass

Auldbrass is one of two struc-

tures designed by Wright in South Carolina. The design for Auldbrass was inspired by the surrounding Lowcountry landscape and it incorporates aspects of his characteristic organic architecture.

The property is near the Town of Yemassee and is situated on the Combahee River.

SEE FIRE PAGE A4

LOLITA HUCKABY

The Broad River Bridges connect northern and southern Beaufort County, but there wasn’t a bridge traversing the Broad River to connect the two until 1957. Scott Graber/The Island News

LOWCOUNTRY LIFE & NEWS

Marking up cars like this one, photographed by Habersham’s Ron Callari, is a tradition when parents come to retrieve their sons and daughters from basic training at Parris Island. Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island has been associated with Marine recruit training since the early 20th century. 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.

Edith AlfiEri WArtEr

Edith Alfieri Warter died peacefully on November 20th, 2024 in Mystic, Connecticut at the age of 79

Edie and her husband Mark were longtime residents of Coosaw Point where she could be found at book club, bible study, and any or all social events. When not busy socializing, Edie could sit on the beach until dusk with a good book

Edith Alfieri Warter

or, even more so, her grandchildren. Edie was the beloved wife of Mark, and loving mother to her daughters Catherine Lottridge (Brian) of East Lyme, CT, Rebecca Lacy of Chatham, NJ and devoted grandmother to Abby, Aidan, Jake, Evelyn and Archie. She is survived by her wonderful

OBITUARIES

The Island News will publish obituaries up to 300 words for no charge. This service also includes a photograph. The Island News will have a charge of .25¢ per word of obituaries beyond 300 words. Please contact jeff.theislandnews@gmail.com for more information.

brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws and many cousins, nieces and nephews.

VETERAN OF THE WEEK PATRICIA MOORE

Patricia Moore

American Legion Beaufort Post 207 presents Beaufort’s Patricia Moore, 57, who joined the United States Army in Beaufort in 1986. After Basic Training at Fort Jackson, she trained as a personnel records specialist. She first served at Fort Knox, Ky. Her next assignment was at Frankfort, Germany processing records for promotion boards. She returned to Fort Stewart, Ga., from which she deployed to Saudi Arabia for Desert Storm. She separated in 1991 before taking a civilian position at Fort Lee, Va., still working with military records. In the late 1990s, she returned to Beaufort and spent 16 years working with Laurel Bay housing property maintenance. Today she works at MCAS Beaufort supporting facilities maintenance.

November 28

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

2023: Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone, in a letter to S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson, asks the Attorney General’s office to take over the misconduct and political corruption investigation into former Beaufort County Administrator Eric Greenway. At the time, the investigation is being conducted by the State Law Enforcement Division and the Public Integrity Unit, a team of prosecutors and investigators run jointly by the First and 14th Circuit Solicitors offices.

December 1

2022: Beaufort High School defeats Powdersville, 41-31, in Columbia to win the S.C. High School League Class 3A State Football Championship, the Eagles’ third title overall and first since 1945

December 3

1981: Joe Frazier fights Floyd Cummings to a 10-round draw in Chicago. The bout would be the last for Frazier, who retired with a professional record of 32-4-1

2015: Beaufort weightlifter Dade Stanley, 13, sets two Youth American records in the 69kg weight class at the USAW American Open at Grand Sierra resort in Reno, Nev. Stanley is 6-for-6 on his attempts, lifting 83kg in the Snatch, 105kg in the Clean & Jerk and a Total of 188kg. The Clean & Jerk and Total were American Youth Records.

December 4

2023: S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson, in a letter to 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone, says that after a review, his office will take over all prosecutorial actions related to the misconduct and political corruption investigation into former Beaufort County Administrator Eric Greenway. – Compiled by Mike McCombs

PAL PETS OF THE WEEK

Dog Of The Week Avery is a fun-loving dog with a personality all his own. He loves to sprawl out on his back and soak up the sun (sometimes in the middle of a walk). He is affectionate and loves attention but also has an independent streak. If you're looking for a dog with a big heart and just the right amount of spunk, Avery could be your perfect match! He is a year old, neutered, up to date on vaccinations, and microchipped.

day. Zeal gets along well with other cats and is people-friendly to the max. She dreams of a home with a sunny window seat, yummy food, and lots of love. She is spayed, up to date on vaccinations, and microchipped.

For more information on Avery, Zeal or any of our other pets, call Palmetto Animal League at 843-645-1725 or email Info@ PalmettoAnimalLeague.org.

– Compiled by Lindsay Perry

The City of Beaufort holiday festivities line-up

Staff reports

The holiday season in Beaufort kicks off this coming weekend with Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Artists Sunday. Expect a whirlwind of events throughout December, according to the City’s news release. Here are some of them:

Saturday, Nov. 30

Santa will be outside the Beaufort Candy Shoppe, 103 West Street Extension, from 1 to 5 p.m. Come for pictures!

Sunday, Dec. 1

It’s Artists Sunday! Come to downtown Beaufort from noon to 4 p.m. and enjoy a pop-up market at the Arsenal, shopping in galleries, food trucks and street musicians as local artists sell one-of-akind holiday gifts.

Thursday-Friday, Dec. 5-6

The “Gullah Kinfolk Christmas

Lowdown from page A1

were on hand to lobby for mercy since their transportation sales tax referendum failed also. And that rejection places the extension of the I-526 Mark Clark Expressway in jeopardy.

Apparently, our neighbors in Hardeeville did well at the SIB meeting.

While Jasper County voters supported their transportation referendum,

The Christmas tree in Beaufort’s Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park. Mike McCombs/The Island News

Wish” is an interactive musical depicting the last Christmas before the beginning of the Civil War among the enslaved at a

the county still needs an estimated $35 million from the state to further finance the proposed Exit 3 on I-95 Again, the Post and Courier reported they got it. Plus they’re getting a Buc-ee’s.

Checking out a parking challenge

BEAUFORT – Thirdparty parking collection companies, such as the one contracted with by the city of Beaufort, may not be legal, according to a recent opinion from the S.C. Attorney General.

South Carolina plantation. 7 p.m., USCB Center for the Arts. Tickets: https://www.gullahkinfolktravelingtheater.org/christmas

Friday, Dec. 6

Celebrate Night on the Town as streets close at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Merchants will be open, most offering complimentary food and drinks. On Bay Street, there will be plenty of food and activity booths hosted by non-profit organizations, and downtown restaurants will be open.

Christmas music and caroling throughout evening.

• The Parris Island Marine Corps Band, concert stage, Charles and Bay streets.

6 p.m., Santa photos begin outside Beaufort Candy Shoppe, 103 West Street Extension.

6 p.m., movie on Bay Street. 8:15 p.m., “The Night Before Christmas” reading.

A.G. Alan Wilson’s office issued a statement last week that the system used by Isle of Palms in Charleston County may be in violation of state law.

The question was raised by a citizens group that has been challenging public beach access regulations in the beachfront town.

The city of Beaufort has contracted with ParkBeaufort, a subsidiary of SP+, for parking services, which includes writing tickets and collecting revenue, since 2011 City Manager Scott

8:30 p.m., tree lighting with snow!

Saturday, Dec. 7

Celebrate and honor Gullah holiday traditions from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with the Gullah Taste of Christmas and Rice Cookoff.

Santa photos outside Beaufort Candy Shoppe, 103 West Street Extension, 1 to 5 p.m. The Lighted Boat Parade, hosted by the Beaufort Water festival, begins at 5:30 p.m. Grab a seat along the seawall at Waterfront Park.

Sunday, Dec. 8 The annual Christmas Parade begins at 3 p.m. and typically concludes about 5 p.m. Santa rounds it out as he sits atop a Beaufort-Port Royal fire truck.

Dec. 6-8 View more than 150 Nativity

Marshall said the city’s lawyers would review the opinion but noted the Attorney General’s opinion is just that, an opinion, not a legal ruling.

Here’s a good idea

BEAUFORT – Since March, the former TJ Maxx and PetSmart buildings located in Cross Creek Plaza on the west side of Robert Smalls Parkway, have been empty.

Employees of the chain stores boxed up their wares and moved across the parkway to the new Beaufort

Pulmonary C are

JOHN KRCMARIK M.D., FCCP

A board-certified, fellowship-trained pulmonologist and intensivist, Dr. Krcmarik draws on more than two decades of widely ranging experience in his specialty to prevent, diagnose and treat acute and chronic diseases and conditions of the respiratory system, bringing particular expertise in the treatment of sleep disorders.

A Chicago native, Dr. Krcmarik had practiced pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine for over 20 years at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, Mich., and served in several leadership positions, including as medical director of both Respiratory Care Services and the Munson Sleep Disorders Center.

ANDREW STEVENS

M.D.

A board-certified pulmonologist, Dr. Stevens’ broad expertise encompasses the treatment of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), smoking cessation, lung nodule evaluation, lung cancer diagnosis, pulmonary hypertension, and interstitial lung disease.

Station retail center.

Saturday, Dec. 14

Wreaths Across America at Beaufort National Cemetery at noon.

Santa photos outside Beaufort Candy Shoppe, 103 West Street Extension, 1 to 4 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 21

Santa photos outside Beaufort Candy Shoppe, 103 West Street Extension, 1 to 4 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 26

Chabad Greater Hilton Head holds a Chanukah menorah lighting, 5-6:30 p.m., Waterfront Park.

Tuesday, Dec. 31

Celebrate the end of 2024 and look ahead to 2025 with fireworks at Waterfront Park!

So Cross Creek, still home to Big Lots, Belks department store, a Walmart Super Center and others, has several thousand square feet of vacant floor space.

Why not a bowling alley?

Local bowlers have been lamenting the loss of Ribaut Lanes since it shuttered its doors in 2021

It has plenty of parking, would be a plus for the adjoining eateries and doesn’t require a squadron of employees like so many retail shops need. With some thoughtful

planning, the space might even incorporate a small movie theater, another lacking amenity for this community that hosts an international film festival.

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.

SHAWNA NIEVIEROWSKI

FNP - BC

An experienced and board-certified nurse practitioner, Shawna Nievierowski, works with the practice’s clinical team to prevent, diagnose and treat acute and chronic diseases and conditions of the respiratory system, including lung cancer screening and care coordination. Among her professional interests are chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, complicated pneumonias and interstitial lung disease.

Born into a family of doctors, Dr. Krcmarik earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy, summa cum laude, from Loyola University of Chicago and a Doctor of Medicine from Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in pulmonary critical care at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. He is board certified in the two specialties as well as in sleep medicine and is a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians.

Originally from Toronto, Canada, Dr. Stevens recently relocated to the Lowcountry after completing a three-year fellowship in Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where his patient-centered approach earned him an award for excellence in patient care. His tenure there also nurtured a profound interest in critical care, which he regards as “the purest form of medicine,” due to its emphasis on fundamental issues affecting the entire body. Dr. Stevens pursued a double major in college, obtaining a Bachelor of Science in biology and medical science from Western University in London, Ontario. He earned his Doctorate of Medicine from St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, West Indies, graduating summa cum laude, and completed his residency at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

A “fixer” at heart, Mrs. Nievierowski knew she wanted to be a nurse since taking a career aptitude test at the age 12. After completing her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, she worked in Saginaw, Mich., as a registered nurse in urgent, intensive and emergency care, in addition to caring for patients recovering from open-heart surgery, before returning to school to become a nurse practitioner.

After earning her Master of Science in Nursing from Saginaw Valley State University in University Center, Mich., as well as several advanced intensive and critical care certifications, Mrs. Nievierowski was recruited into pulmonary care where she developed a passion for the specialty that she’s now worked in for more than a decade.

Drs. John P. Krcmarik and Andrew Steven s and nurse practitioner Shawna Nievierowski are now seeing patients at 300 Midtown Drive in Beaufort.

By Delayna Earley The Island News

Where it all goes

County trying to increase awareness about its recycling process

Curious about recycling in Beau-

fort County?

Beaufort County held a series of tours of the facility where they do the county’s recycling on Friday, Nov. 15

The facility, which is in Hardeeville, is owned by i2recycle, who Beaufort County Solid Waste and Recycling recently contracted with to handle the county’s recycling needs. The recycling that the facility processes is the recycling that is collected at the county’s convenience centers.

The new contract went into effect on August 1, and this event was a chance to pull back the curtain and show members of the community who are interested how things are done.

“One of the biggest reasons for that was the need for higher trans-

NEWS BRIEFS

parency in the process,” said Valentina Palacio the Environmental Education Coordinator with Beaufort County Public Works. “i2 is also a facility owned by a community member. He seems to have more integrity.”

This is the first time that the county has held tours of the recycling facility, but Palacio said that they would absolutely love to hold more tour days in the future.

The tour attracted a total of 50 people, which Palacio said was a great turnout.

“I have a 40-person wait list of people who submitted their information, but I had to turn them down due to reaching capacity,” said Palacio.

Participants of the tour not only saw the facility and what it does, but adults over the age of 18 were able to sort some of the recycling into bins as well.

Important information about the way that the company does their recycling was also shared with the participants, so they know better what is able to be recycled there

and what is not.

For example, all caps and lids must be removed from plastic and glass bottles before recycling. And plastic and glass items should be larger than a cup but smaller than a gallon.

Beaufort county residents are asked not to bag their recyclables and recyclable paper must be larger than a standard envelope.

City to close offices for Thanksgiving City of Beaufort offices will be closed in celebration of Thanksgiving on Thursday, Nov. 28, and Friday, Nov. 29

Capital Waste Services will also be off on Thanksgiving Day. Trash and recycling services that normally take place on Thursday will move to Friday, and Friday services to Saturday.

Reconstruction Era

National Historical Park hosting free Junior Ranger Park Explorer Program

Reconstruction Era National Historical Park is inviting the public to attend a free Junior Ranger Park Explorer Program at Camp Saxton on Friday, Nov. 29 2024 any time between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Exploring public lands is a great way to shake off the turkey on the day after Thanksgiving. Stop by the Fort Frederick Heritage Preserve at 601 Old Fort Road in Port Royal, part of the site of Camp Saxton to meet a park ranger, and learn about how to safely experience wildlife and preserve historic sites. Participants will have the opportunity to earn their Junior Ranger Park Explorer Badge, as well as learn about the story of Camp Saxton. This program is free and open to the public.

For more information about Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, visit www. nps.gov/reer or follow on Facebook at www. facebook.com/ReconstructionNPS.

SCDOT to replace Jasper County bridge

The South Carolina Department of

Transportation (SCDOT) has made plans to accelerate the replacement of 10 bridges that were damaged during Hurricanes Debby and Helene, including one in Jasper County.

The SCDOT will replace the U.S. Highway 278 (Grays Highway) bridge over Beaverdam Creek. The bridges were identified for emergency replacement based on damage assessments conducted following the storms earlier this fall.

Malkin to speak at December Indivisible Beaufort meeting

ACLU-SC Advocacy Director Josh Malkin will be the featured speaker at the December meeting of Indivisible Beaufort at 11 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 14 at St. Helena Branch of the Beaufort Public Library at 6355 Jonathon Francis Sr. Road on St. Helena Island.

Sponsored by Indivisible Beaufort, Lowcountry Pride, and FABB, in the Building Movements For Justice program, Malkin will talk about the bills that have been filed for the 2025 South Carolina Legislative Session and discuss ways to advocate for the issues that matter to all of us.

The event is free and open to the public.

A construction reminder

IPW Construction Group will continue to perform shoulder closures and temporary lane closures the entire length of Laurel Bay Road in Beaufort. Closures will take place between the hours of 6 a.m. and 8 p.m., Monday to Saturday, until the end of the year.

– Staff reports

Finally, bottles and cans should not be crushed. For more information, visit Beaufortcountysc.gov/recycle or contact Beaufort County Solid Waste and Recycling at 843-255-2736

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.

A map of the Auldbrass Plantation. A fire in mid-October destroyed an outbuilding containing two vintage cars. Map from Beaufort Open Land Trust tour program

Fire

from page A1

The plantation was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and is currently open to the public one weekend every two years with the money raised from a limited number of tours benefiting the Beaufort County Open Land Trust.

Auldbrass Plantation was designed as a collection of buildings that included the main residence, cottages, guest house,

caretaker’s quarters, chicken runs, kennels, stables and a Granary.

The main residence along with a few of the other buildings make up a hexagon module floorplan and when approaching the home there is not a grand entrance as the driveways are angled to lead visitors to the property past the farm buildings before getting to the main building.

Wright designed the main residence to reflect the nature around it with vertically oriented brick walls and cypress wood walls with narrow windows. The roof is made of copper, and the rainspouts mimic the Spanish moss that can be seen hanging from the live oak trees. When Silver purchased the home in 1986, it was falling into disrepair. He restored Auldbrass with help from Wright’s grandson, Eric Lloyd Wright.

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.

Mike Bennett, owner of i2recycle, gives a tour of the recycling facility that processes Beaufort County’s recycling on Friday, Nov. 15 in Hardeeville. Delayna Earley/The Island News

Individuals participating in a tour of the recycling facility that processes Beaufort County’s recycling get the opportunity to be hands on in sorting the recyclable items on Friday, Nov. 15 at the i2recycle facility in Hardeeville.

Delayna Earley/The Island News

Meet The Chief

Firefighters battle complex blaze in Burton

Staff reports

Just before noon on Thursday, Nov. 21, firefighters from the Burton Fire District, along with MCAS Fire and Emergency Services, Beaufort/Port Royal Fire Department, and Beaufort County EMS, responded to a reported building fire at Greenline

Bridges from page A1

Rowland and Steve Wise’s wonderful tome, “The History of Beaufort County,” a proposed bond referendum to raise $150 000 for a projected $230 000 “road improvement project” failed by 89 7 percent of the votes cast. The authors wrote in their Vol. 3 of the history: “Taxpaying voters obviously saw no need for the socalled good roads that the progressives promoted.”

This most recent rejection by voters does nothing for the structurally deficient (according to S.C. Department of Transportation) part of U.S. 278 which crosses MacKay Creek and connects Hilton Head Island, the cash cow of Beaufort County, to the mainland.

Last week, County Council members began to discuss “what next” after representatives of State Infrastructure Bank said they may not hold the $120 million designated for their part of the U.S. 278 corridor improvement.

One of the scenarios is to turn the problem of a structurally deficient bridge back to its owners, the S.C. Department of Transportation. A “quick-fix” solution might be, county engineers speculated, a three- to sixyear repair schedule with lanes reduced while the work takes place.

A look at the Nov. 5 election results on the sales tax question shows where the support for road improvements came from –southern Beaufort County, specifically those growing communities of Sun City, with its 10,500 planned homes, Moss Creek, Rose Hill, etc., areas where motorists are getting tired of traffic snarls that the motorists from the northern part of the county and beyond have had to tolerate for years, as they traveled across the Broad River to take jobs in the HHI resorts.

Across the county line, in Jasper County, which is experiencing its share of rapid growth thanks largely to the annexation efforts of Hardeeville, 55 to 45 percent of their voters supported a $375 million sales tax referendum for road improvements and a green-space program.

Industries on Trask Parkway in the Grays Hill area of Beaufort County.

An employee called 911 to report a fire at the building and stated that the employees were evacuating.

Firefighters arrived on scene to find smoke coming from the top

A short history of bridges in Beaufort County Beaufort County has a long and interesting history when it comes to building bridges. This part of the Lowcountry always has been defined by its geography — a wet, low-lying geography still grudgingly embraced by the Atlantic Ocean. Until 1913, there were only ferries or boats powered by paddles with no highway bridges of any kind connecting Beaufort, Port Royal and the other sea islands with the mainland. It was 1908 when State Sen. Niels Christensen of Beaufort built his last re-election bid on the promise of a bridge across the Whale Branch River in the northern part of the county. And in 1913, with help from the General Assembly’s checkbook — a 550 foot-long, single-lane bridge was constructed connecting northern Beaufort County’s narrow, oyster-shell roads with Savannah, a day-long journey that involved planning, provisions and routed the intrepid motorist through the endless pine forests of Jasper County.

But while the outside world was being introduced in the northern part of the county, those living in the county seat of Beaufort still had no bridge to Lady’s Island, St. Helena Island and the Sea Islands lying to the East. These rural islands, home to a large, self-sufficient African-American community were, apparently, content with the small ferry boat that got them into town.

In 1920, a group of Beaufort merchants decided this small boat was inadequate and proposed a referendum that would raise money to build a bridge. That referendum passed in 1926 with voting records showing no support from those living on Lady’s Island or St Helena. By 1927, there were bridges at Whale Branch and at White Hall, spanning the Beaufort River to Lady’s Island, but there were other bodies of water, physical and economic barriers remaining to cross.

In 1936, there was talk that the U.S. Marine Corps might move its recruit depot from Beaufort County unless a bridge was constructed across Battery Creek to help access Parris Island. State

of an outdoor sawdust collector.

Firefighters climbed the collector and opened an access door locating the fire, and began to extinguish it with a fire hose; however, due to the deep-seated nature of the fire within the tower’s sawdust, more water were needed. A ladder truck from the Beaufort/Port Royal

fire department arrived on scene, and utilizing its elevated master stream device, was able to apply large volumes of water into the tower to saturate the sawdust.

Firefighters were on scene for longer than three hours extinguishing the fire. No injuries were reported

and damages were confined to the exterior sawdust tower.

The fire was caused by an errant welding spark from work being performed on the tower. Employees utilized fire extinguishers to keep the fire confined until the arrival of firefighters helping to limit damages.

In this screenshot of a map on Beaufort County found on SCVotes.org, the precincts shaded green voted in favor of the County’s proposed 1-cent transportation tax in the Nov. 5 general election. Those precincts shaded blue voted against the proposed tax. Photo screenshot from SCVotes.org

Sen. Calhoun Thomas, again according to Rowland and Wise’s history, reportedly underscored this “suggestion” saying the Marine Corps had actually “demanded” a bridge.

Losing the Recruit Training Depot at Parris Island was, even then, a reoccurring nightmare that kept Beaufortonians awake, and in 1939 the Battery Creek Bridge, costing the state a whopping $225 000, was dedicated.

But there was still the Broad River which divided the county and led to tenuous political relationships as the area showed signs of growth.

By the turn of the last century some Ridgeland leaders began to advocate for an entirely new county that would be formed between the Broad River and the Georgia state line. The residents called themselves “mainlanders” who felt they had little in common with the racially mixed population on the northern side of the Broad River. Those “mainlanders” successfully succeeded in 1913 and formed Jasper County.

In 1930s, communities south of the Broad River, notably Hilton Head Island and Bluffton, also believed their ties to Port Royal Island and the county seat were strained. There was talk about amalgamation with newly formed Jasper as an answer to their estrangement. Leaders in the city of Beaufort, responding to this second secession threat, began discussing a bridge. These discussions were sidelined by the Depression and then World War II, delaying any progress until

1947 when a small group of merchants and lawyers coalesced around a long, costly project that would unite the northern and southern parts of Beaufort County.

G.G. Dowling, a young Beaufort lawyer, was elected to the South Carolina House on the strength of a single promise: if elected he would go to Columbia and advocate for a bridge across the Broad River.

Dowling realized the only entity that could build the bridge was the state highway department. In those days the state highway department was considered more powerful than the Governor and the man who ran that agency, Claude McMillan, repeatedly told Dowling the Lowcountry didn’t have enough traffic to justify the bridge expenditure — there weren’t enough cars.

But Dowling was persistent and became the state’s chief highway commissioner’s trusted friend, consistently supporting McMillan’s efforts to modernize highways throughout the State. His effort was aided by a relatively healthy budget created when the General Assembly passed in 1929 a bond bill generating millions of borrowed dollars for bridge and highway construction.

More than once Dowling told friends he had devoted his energies to McMillan and to getting a bridge across the Broad. That loyalty paid off in 1957, when the E. Burton Rodgers Bridge was opened, physically uniting both sides of the county for the first time.

Completion of the Rod-

gers Bridge coincided with the arrival of Charles Fraser on Hilton Head Island. Fraser’s father, Joseph, was part of the Hilton Head Company that grew thousands of acres of pine trees on Hilton Head including 3,500 acres on the island’s south end.

Charles had recently graduated from Yale Law School and proposed a world-class resort, Sea Pines Plantation, among those pine trees.

For the Sea Pines development to be successful, Fraser and associates knew there needed to be a bridge to Hilton Head across Skull Creek. In the 1950s state Rep. Wilton Graves, one of the early investors in Hilton Head development with the first beachfront hotel, the Sea Crest, convinced the highway department to establish a ferry service that initially carried five cars.

That first ferry was soon replaced by a larger ferry the “Pocahontas” that could handle nine cars. But it was clear to everyone, except the state highway department, a bridge was needed.

Savannah businessman Olin McIntosh was already building cottages on the Island when he proposed a privately financed toll bridge with other Island’s larger landowners guaranteeing the repayment to bondholders. Their plan worked and in 1956, the James Byrnes Bridge was opened up with a $2 50 toll which remained until 1959 when the State took over the bridge and removed the toll.

The Byrnes Bridge, which was soon handling more than 15,000 vehicles on a typical July day, serviced the Island until 1982 when

the current four-lane bridges were built over Mackay Creek and Skull Creek. But again, increased traffic on and off the island plus determinations that the bridges were beginning to show structural deficiencies, made it obvious to everyone, including the S.C. Department of Transportation, a newer, larger crossing was essential.

For the next five years, Hilton Head Island officials, county and state engineers, environmentalists and community groups debated plans for a new US 278 Transportation Corridor which not only included new bridges but improved traffic patterns from Spanish Wells Road on Hilton Head to Moss Creek in Bluffton. The estimated $290 million price tag for the project was dependent on state funding and money raised through a penny sales tax, first endorsed by voters in a 2018 bond referendum but rejected in 2024

The Future The future of the project now lies with the County Council, with its 11 men and women elected to lead the way. History shows the political will it takes to build bridges – just like any road or public facility project. The larger question is what will Council do to win back the trust of the people on both sides of the Broad River?

Editor’s Note: The writers wish to again acknowledge Larry Rowland and Steve Wise (and their “History of Beaufort County, 3rd Edition”) as their source for many of the facts laid out in the above timeline; and also acknowledge Michael Danielson’s “Profits and Politics in Paradise,” South Carolina University Press, 1995, as a source with regard to the bridges to Hilton Head Island. Scott Graber is a lawyer, novelist, veteran columnist and longtime resident of Port Royal. He can be reached at cscottgraber@gmail.com.

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.

Administrative Captain John Griffith and Port Royal Police Chief Jeffery Myers talk with resident Connie Hipp during the Meet the Chief event at Port Royal Library on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. Amber Hewitt/The Island News

Administrative Captain John Griffith and Port Royal Police Chief Jeffery Myers talk with residents during the Meet the Chief event at Port Royal Library on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. Amber Hewitt/The Island News

Pam Tillis’ Belles and Bows Christmas

Tour coming to Beaufort

Staff reports

The holiday season is about to get a dazzling dose of country charm as Grammy Award-winning artist Pam Tillis brings her Belles and Bows Christmas tour to the USCB Center for the Arts. This highly anticipated performance will take place on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, at 7:30 p.m., offering an unforgettable evening of music and festive cheer.

Tillis, known for her powerhouse vocals and heartfelt storytelling, is a bona fide country music legend. With numerous number-one hits, multiple gold and platinum records, and countless accolades — including a Grammy Award and multiple CMA Awards — she has secured her place as one of country music’s most beloved artists. As the daughter of country music icon Mel Tillis, Pam has carried forward a rich musical legacy, blending traditional country sounds with her own unique artistry.

The Belles and Bows Christmas tour captures the magic of the holiday season, featuring a mix of Pam’s popular hits and classic Christmas songs, all performed with her signature warmth and style.

“We are thrilled to welcome Pam Tillis and her Belles and Bows Christmas tour to the USCB Center for the Arts,” Director of the Center for the Arts Bonnie Hargrove said in a news release. “This performance will be a heartwarming celebration of country music and holiday spirit that’s perfect for the whole family.”

Limited tickets are available for this one-night-only event and are on sale now. They are expected to sell quickly. Don’t miss this chance to experience Pam Tillis live on stage and ring in the holidays with music that stirs the spirit of a country Christmas.

Tickets for adults are $40; seniors/military are $35; and students are $20. Purchase tickets online at uscbcenterforthearts.com.

13

Where: USCB Center for the Arts, 805 Carteret Street, Beaufort

Tickets: Adults are $40; seniors/military are $35; and students are $20. Purchase tickets online at uscbcenterforthearts.com.

ARTS

Experience a Sea Island Christmas

Staff reports Gullah Kinfolk Traveling Theater, Inc. (GTTI) invites the public to a captivating Sea Island Christmas Celebration in the heart of Historic Beaufort from Thursday, Dec. 5 through Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. With four days of festive events, the celebration promises an unforgettable experience for theater enthusiasts, history buffs, and those with a passion for Lowcountry cultural arts. Visitors can enjoy this family-friendly event with holiday performances, culinary delights, activities for children, and immersive Gullah traditions throughout the weekend.

At the heart of the celebration is “Christmas Wish… Freedom!,” a fullstage musical production that brings the Gullah community’s rich Christmas traditions to life. This stirring show will be performed on Thursday, Dec. 5, and Friday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m. at the USCB Center for the Performing Arts.

Celebration of Gullah culture, history, holiday spirit coming to downtown Beaufort

At the heart of the Sea Island Christmas

The production explores themes of freedom, family, and faith through storytelling, song, and dance, making it a must-see event that captures the true spirit of a Sea Island Christmas.

The Christmas Marketplace on Friday, Dec. 6, at USCB Center for the Per-

forming Arts (5:30 to 9:30 p.m.) and Saturday, Dec. 7, will be held from 10 a.m., to 6 p.m., at Chambers Waterfront Park. Guests are invited to browse unique holiday gifts, savor authentic Lowcountry flavors from food trucks, and soak in live music and entertainment.

On Saturday, Dec. 7, the Gullah Taste of Christmas & Rice Cookoff brings an exciting competition, featuring live on-site cooking and a surprise celebrity judge. Local chefs will battle it out to create the best rice dish, with a $2 000 grand prize awarded to the

top entry. Visitors can join in the fun with line dancing, a Christmas boat parade, and a festive atmosphere that celebrates the season with true Sea Island spirit. This event not only offers a unique holiday experience but also provides an opportunity to engage with the vibrant Gullah culture that defines the Lowcountry. Whether you're drawn to the performances of the "Christmas Wish Freedom" show or the historic Gullah Heritage Tours, this celebration welcomes everyone looking to connect with Beaufort’s rich cultural history. For more information on event details, schedules, and ticket options, please visit www.gullahkinfolktravelingtheater.org/christmas or contact Denise Bullitt at 843-593-0904

Embrace the season and join us for a holiday experience that combines culture, cuisine, and community in an unforgettable Sea Island Christmas!

Drum Circle ‘Gathering’

Dancing the art of Jonathan Green

South Carolina Ballet production inspired artists’ paintings, Gullah culture coming to Beaufort

Staff reports The Freedman Arts District and USC Beaufort Center for the Arts are partnering to present the South Carolina Ballet’s (Formerly Columbia City Ballet) one-of-akind ballet, "Off the Wall and Onto the Stage: Dancing the Art of Jonathan Green." Praised by the New York Times as “fabulous...an ingenious idea … striking,” this production vividly brings Jonathan Green's Gullah-inspired paintings to life with captivating choreography and innovative sets. Artistic Director William Starrett crafted this extraordinary performance, scheduled for March 29, 2025, at the USCB Center For the Arts. Green received his professional art training at the Art Institute

of Chicago and has created more than 1,700 works that capture South Carolina’s Gullah culture.

Internationally known for his vibrantly colorful art depicting Gullah life in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, Green has said, “I wanted to go back to my roots … the older people were dying, and I began to see [the Gullahs] differently. I saw them as a people with a strong link, probably the strongest link with Africa of any of the black American people.”

Because slaves had been forcibly torn away from Africa and were often denied access to their own history, the cultural traditions that they succeeded in passing on to future generations acquired special significance.

“The importance of nature, family, community, and especially spirituality, are the threads which the Gullah culture contributes to the tapestry of our modern-day lives. It is this harmonious union of cultural traditions and deep spirituality that William Starrett translates through the art of dance in Off the Wall and Onto the Stage: Dancing the Art of Jonathan Green.”

“Off the Wall and Onto the Stage: Dancing the Art of Jonathan Green” was first performed in 2005 after Starrett and Green met at the S.C. Arts Commission’s Governors Awards ceremony. The two mutually admired each other’s work and collaborated to successfully bring Green’s paintings

to life through dance.

Starrett has created vignettes from 22 of Green’s paintings and explores themes of family, faith, hope, and love. He incorporates Green’s rich, vibrant colors onto the stage through eye-popping backdrops and scrims, over 150 hand-sewn costumes, an array of music that combines traditional work songs, gospel music, Motown, classical, and jazz, as well as a live choir. The choreography brings it all together as the company's dancers depict the cultural heritage of the Gullah and Geechee communities illustrated in Green’s paintings. The production features singers Elliot Brown with Regina Skeeter in the role of Bessie Mae.

WANT TO GO?

Who: The Carolina Ballet

What: "Off the Wall and Onto the Stage: Dancing the Art of Jonathan Green"

When: March 29, 2025

Where: USCB Center For The Arts Tickets: Tickets go on sale at 8 a.m., on Artist Sunday, December 1. To

$35 for students.

The Beaufort Drum Circle, Unity Drum Circle, Charleston Community Drum Circles, Bluffton Drum Circle and Music Is Medicine from Savannah play during "The Gathering" on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, at the Henry Chambers Waterfront Park Pavilion in downtown Beaufort. Amber Hewitt/ The Island News

Celebration is “Christmas Wish… Freedom!,” a fullstage Gullah musical production to be performed on Thursday, Dec. 5, and Friday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m. at the USCB Center for the Performing Arts. Submitted photo

So our own (I use the pronoun loosely)

Nancy Mace is off and running once again.

If she were to put half the energy into doing her job in Congress that she does into calling attention to herself, she might actually be worth the position she occupies

This time it is transgender members of Congress and the use of bathrooms. The first question I might ask Ms. Mace is what she does when she is on an extended plane trip. Hold it? Wear a diaper? Or does she (heaven forbid) use the restroom provided? Even then, does she wait till the line is mostly women and convince herself that no man shall have used it. Ah, the dilemma she must face!

Mace ignited significant controversy when she introduced a resolution this week to bar transgender women from using the women's restroom at the Capitol. The South Carolina lawmaker's proposal came days after the first openly transgender woman, Delaware Representative-elect Sarah McBride, was elected to the House of Representatives.

Mace and other far-right Republican lawmakers have doubled down on their support for the proposal in the days since. On Tuesday she

The Prima Donna of Congress

posted a video to X that showed her placing a sign reading "biological" above a women's restroom sign at the Capitol. Gee, Nancy, maybe you want to place yourself near that door to monitor that “biology” as it comes and goes.

Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, referred to Mace's prolific posting on X, writing earlier Wednesday that "tweeting 262 times about a bill that applies to, like, 00000001% of Congress in 36 hours is definitely about protecting women. It's certainly not just a ploy for media attention."

How is that for rationalization? But then, hardly a surprise, given all the more actual legislation the House has addressed this past year under his guidance.

Asked to comment on Johnson's posts, a spokesperson for Mace responded, "lol." You, dear reader, can assess that one for yourself.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor

Greene of Georgia also backed Mace's measure, referring to McBride as "a man" and "he" several times in a video posted to X. I can only say that if I were Mace, I wouldn’t put much stock in that. But then, I suppose any port in the storm will do.

Just a little sidebar of irony here: A former senior staffer said Mace used to trash members like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Gaetz for being in the Capitol just to make noise. Now, the staffer said, “she has turned herself into what she hates.”

When I began my research on Nancy Mace, one of the first pictures I found was that of her at the Republican Convention, with huge crosses dangling from her ears. Her nod to religion? Significant? Hypocritical? You call it!

Ms. Mace has said she plans to introduce even more legislation to ban transgender people from using their bathroom of choice "in every state of the nation. "Mace told Fox News' Laura Ingraham that she was "doubling down" after receiving backlash over her proposal to prevent trans Congress members from using the bathroom.

As I am wont to do, I am going to digress. What is it exactly that motivates these younger Republican members of Congress to flaunt their need to become viral celebrities? When doing so, it never seems they do it for the good for the country but rather by “hook or by crook,”

It should come as no shock when I assert that many of the younger far right Republicans became extremists pretty quickly; new to the ranks, they immediately put “strutting their stuff” ahead of a gradual rise in their party. One need only refer to George Santos, and his antics, all the while proclaiming his innocence, until it was no longer possible, given mounting evidence.

Then there is Lauren Boebert of “theater sex” fame, and MTG of all things ridiculous. Of course the list wouldn’t be complete without adding Matt Gaetz whose actions made him sufficiently favorable to become Trump’s candidate for Attorney General. We saw how well-received that was.

But my focus in this piece is Nancy Mace. One critic asserted that “Mace, in three and a half years, has established herself as one of the thirstiest members in Congress in

her unceasing quest for attention.”

This critic went on to say, “In interviews with eight former Mace staffers — of which there are several dozen, because Mace’s Washington office has an exceptionally high turnover rate — the politician’s obsession with getting press was described as her sole motivational force. Mace’s office ignored repeated interview requests from this critic with no response.

One former staffer described how “every move, however incongruous it may seem, is part of a larger effort for Mace to build her brand as a ‘caucus of one,’” as Mace herself puts it. (Instagram)

And so if I had the opportunity to question Nancy Mace, I might ask her this: “Just how do you think

McBride will invade your space? Do you believe she will be peeking over the top of the stall, just to see you pull down your panties? Get over yourself, Nancy. Some Republicans have already indicated that they have no interest in the Mace bill. Bravo! There are so many issues that need attention, that focusing on this is not only a waste of congressional time, but it simply keeps those “seekers of the spotlight” coveting more. Let’s get rid of the prima donnas, be they male or female, and get on with the activity for which they were elected.

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.”

CAROL LUCAS

Editor’s

Conservatives played their Trump cards

During Donald Trump’s Presidency and for the four years that followed, many of us bit our tongues as we were pummeled by one-sided reporting concocted by the liberal media. But guess what. As often happens, the truth came out and people recognized and welcomed it, and in a decisive trifecta the majority of Americans voted to send progressive liberals packing.

Growing up, there was a tonguein-cheek threat in my home when one of the six of us siblings said something that my mother found distasteful. She’d threaten to wash the offender’s mouth out with soap. I don’t recall that she ever made good on that old-fashioned punishment, but I think it serves as a toothless threat in today’s acrimonious world to remind us to watch what we say and do lest it come back to bite us.

I compiled a list of things that I think qualify for a good dose of soap: A reference to President-elect

Trump, the middle finger, and his non-supporters (crass).

ICalling Trump supporters dummies (insulting).

Use of the Marxist word proletariat in a reference to abortion (if it sounds like a socialist …).

Calling Trump a Dictator (nice try).

Comparing Trump to Hitler (I’d add Clorox to the soap for this one).

Referring to Trump supporters as minions and those who suffer from a deranged mindset (sticks and stones).

Republicans are weird (T-shirt fodder).

Republicans are deplorables (no trophy for the loser, Hil).

Trump supporters are gar-

bage (we all heard you say it, Joe).

The above should be considered when we look at some of the hairbrained ideas put forward and/or carried out by the Biden Administration:

The disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal that left Americans, American allies, and billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment behind (speaks for itself).

College loan debt forgiveness (do those who paid get their money back?).

Border crisis (dishonors the many immigrants who obey our laws and become citizens).

Lawfare (Democrat shenanigans backfired).

President Biden’s mental acuity (Dr. Jill and VP Harris should be run through the heavy wash cycle then put through the old-fashioned wringer for this one).

Birth males competing against birth females (no comment needed).

While Democrats wring their hands, they need look no further than their own party to blame for their epic losses. Democrat representatives engaged in “lawfare” while liberal supporters and media spewed hate and fear in a misguided attempt to turn our country blue. The only ones who took their rantings to heart were other fearmongers.

And as far as schools and colleges go, whoever heard of setting up safe rooms and places to play games so students could deal with their post-election stress? Give me a break. That’s what a dorm room is for, and the young people are only reacting to the hysteria they’ve heard at home, so don’t blame them. Our future leaders need to exchange ideas, talk about their differences, and develop backbones so they can make up their own minds. Strength doesn’t come from being coddled.

I could go on, but I’m not a politician or a professor so I’d just be jumping into the weeds if I said more. America is a great country made up of great people. We got

where we are because our forefathers thought things through and left us with a grand plan.

This November, record numbers of blacks, whites, and Hispanics voted for the man who they believed would be able to give them safe neighborhoods, job security, and better futures, and they nixed the history of handouts for which Democrats are famous. People want the opportunity for honest work and the dignity associated with making their own decisions.

Jim Dickson, I hope you weigh in soon and back me up, for to borrow from your exceptional piece An Ode To Joy (The Island News, Aug. 22 2024), the country sent Kammy, the Coach, and the Tin Man packing, and the Wicked Warlock of Orange Land is headed back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. For this I give thanks.

M.Z. Thwaite lives in Beaufort. She wears her maiden name hat when she writes, but she also answers to Martha Weeks.

Her novels are sold locally and on Amazon. She can be reached at mzthwaite@gmail.com and found at https://bit.ly/MZT.

We are going to need lots of toldjas

have to admit after my last column calling Trump supporters "dummies," I expected there to be a little more activity in my inbox.

There wasn’t. For the most part, the readers who responded were in agreement. They shared their concerns about the country's future with the nation’s controversial 45th president being returned to the Oval Office.

One reader wrote:

“Our nation's justice system, shifting populations, and especially the health of our planet, are under relentless, pernicious — unprecedented? — attack; I see only darkness ahead. I don't expect the light cycle to kick in again in my lifetime, and, frankly, with the depredations currently underway in so many areas, with the full acquiescence of leadership and (apparently) much of the American citizenry, I lack hope.”

Another reader, a pass-

By Bonnie Kapp

Ter-through, described a restaurant encountered after leaving Beaufort. Their first impression was a good one, based on a full parking lot. But they were taken aback by a large “Trump” sign just inside the door.

“Not a person of color to be seen,” the writer stated. "Wonder why? A Whites Only sign is not needed. Bigots got Donald (from New York, wow!) and the gutless Republican Party (everywhere) that looks the other way in the face of bigotry and religious tyranny.”

There were other comments on social media, mostly supportive, but I

want to reiterate the reason for my initial judgment:

Many Trump voters claimed to be principled, informed voters worried about the issues — especially the economy — and the fact is, they were not.

Trump is not even in office yet but, as reported by the New York Times and other news outlets, Republicans are suddenly optimistic about the economy.

“Republicans, according to the [Morning Consult] survey, now feel better about the economy than at any time since Mr. Trump lost his bid for re-election four years ago,” the Times reported.

Even though Joanna Hsu, director of surveys for the University of Michigan, told U.S. News and World Report, “the resolution of the election exerted little immediate impact on the current state of the economy.” Well, duh.

In other words, Republicans had been down on

the economy since Trump lost in 2020, and no matter what the Biden administration did to help, the GOP’s Shleprock routine became the popular position. Until they got their boy back. Now they’re happy again. But for how long?

More than a couple of pundits have suggested we all write down the inflation rate, stock market, gas prices, and other numbers that reflect how well things are going and compare them to when Trump actually takes office. For a while, at least, he’s going to be coasting on a good economy Joe Biden left him. But then it’s all on him, with his misguided tariffs and other bad economic plans.

I literally laughed out loud at the man interviewed last week who was carrying on about how Trump's tariffs were going to help his T-shirt business by making China pay more. Until a passerby explained the

tariff would be passed on to him and then he would have no choice but to raise the price of his T-shirts. Similar to what will happen with other good and businesses that will be affected by the tariffs.

“Oh no, I don’t like that,” he groaned.

Maybe he should put “Trump Buyer’s Remorse” on a T-shirt. Should be a popular item in a few months.

His early regret was reflected in a story I read about some Texas voters wondering if they could go back and change their votes. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram quoted social media users:

“I regret voting for Trump,” one wrote. “I’ll reiterate that I live in an always very red state so it didn’t matter but I still symbolically am starting to feel quite dumb about it.”

And another user:

“Already regretting vot-

ing for you … these cabinet appointees are just not it Trump.”

Of course, they can’t go back and change their votes. If only they’d listened to the millions of people who tried to warn them. Like those of us who tried to warn about Project 2025 which the Trump campaign claimed said they had nothing to do with, which has been openly accepted now as their anti-government playbook for the next four years. Toss in watching the incoming president nominate a veritable rogue’s gallery to stock his Cabinet and it’s hard not think we’ll all get to find out — the hard way — the answer to the question Trump asked when begging for votes in 2020: “What do you have to lose?”

Terry E. Manning is a Clemson graduate and worked for 20 years as a journalist. He can be reached at teemanning@gmail.com.

Facing a new uncertainty with women’s reproductive health care

wo weeks ago, America voted to re-elect Donald Trump. As his cabinet takes shape and the most urgent priorities come to the forefront, our country is poised to be fundamentally changed by the new executive and his administration.

With any administration change, to the left or right, comes some degree of uncertainty. For the nearly 90% of Americans who believe that birth control should be legal and accessible for all, the future of contraception is top of mind.

Today, our elected leaders have the opportunity to put these uncertainties to rest. Our leaders can — and must — commit to the availability of and, as importantly, the affordability of vital contraceptive care.

In years past, leaders in both parties have rightly made this commitment. Last year, federal

lawmakers introduced the Orally Taken Contraception Act to create a smoother process for contraceptive companies to provide an over-the-counter option.

Just two years ago in South Carolina, a bipartisan bill making birth control available over-thecounter at pharmacies was signed into law by Republican Governor Henry McMaster, who at the time said, “If South Carolina wants to be a pro-life state, we must provide the means for people to avoid unwanted pregnancies.”

In 2023, former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, as a presidential hopeful, said unequivocally that protecting contraception access was imperative.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen health care leaders in South Carolina, where I lead New Morning — one of the largest contraceptive access initiatives in the U.S. — speak up about the importance of contraception in an attempt to

draw attention to the issue. Their words come as demand surges for contraceptive services in the state.

In the past year alone, New Morning health clinics have provided nearly 100 000 women with free and low-cost contraception. Our leaders would be wise to heed the words of the health clinic professionals across our state.

In South Carolina, we’ve seen firsthand the benefits of meeting this demand with affordable and accessible contraception. Since launching our statewide contraceptive access program in 2017, New Morning has served over half a million women across the state. In that time, unwanted births have decreased by 50%. Since 2015, unintended pregnancies in South Carolina are down to 37% from nearly 50% previously.

Expanding access to affordable contraception also delivers significant fiscal benefits. For every 10,000 women served, we have helped prevent over 2 000 unwanted pregnancies, 1 000 un-

planned births and 700 abortions.

As a result, we have saved taxpayers as much as $19 million in maternal and birth-related costs.

In simple terms, the more women who receive contraceptive services, the greater the economic benefit. Serving more than 500,000 women since 2017, we have saved the state as much as $800 million in taxpayer dollars in the past seven years.

This feat took years of hard work and collaboration with elected leaders in both parties and health practitioners across the state. With strong support, we’ve overcome longstanding barriers to contraceptive access in South Carolina, growing New Morning’s network to more than 150 partner clinics, reaching all corners of the state. As a nonpartisan organization, we have worked across party lines to fulfill our mission and will continue to partner with all who believe in our work.

As we look ahead to 2025, these victories should be celebrated and

access to affordable contraception should be affirmed emphatically. The advantages of doing so are well-documented. Failure to do so risks real regression.

Moving beyond a cost-benefit analysis, we must remember the women at the center of this conversation. For the women who seek these services, contraception is more than a policy debate. It’s a pathway to pursuing an education, a career and planning a family on their terms, giving them the freedom to shape their own futures. For these women, it’s more critical than ever that contraceptive access be protected.

Contraception can be life changing. South Carolina is proof. Now it is time for our leaders to step up and affirm their commitment to contraceptive access for women and families across our state.

M.Z. THWAITE

TERRY MANNING

Bonnie Kapp is president and CEO of New Morning, South Carolina’s largest provider of “safety net” birth control services.

VOICES

Happy Thanksgiving, Beaufort!

Southerners are known for their courageous spirit, adaptive nature, and unwavering perspective. We have survived wars, civil unrest, a global pandemic, and unprecedented divisive politics. Collectively, we are resilient people; however, specific gatherings still challenge us in the most unique ways.

Thanksgiving was first celebrated in 1621, following a year marked by illness and scarcity, setting the tone for what has become one of our most beloved holidays. It is beloved, yet precarious.

Today, conversations around the dinner table can be as unstable as the thin edge of a wedge. Even the slightest opinion shared while passing Aunt Opal's deviled eggs can sour the mood, making even

CHERIMIE CRANE WEATHERFORD

the sweetest potato pie taste bitter. Families are a microcosm of the broader population with a sampling of all persuasions.

As different as each family can be, Southern families usually follow a specific personality pattern. There is always at least one very outspoken matriarch, depending on her proclivity for violence or words that can burn the skin off a turkey — she is to be handled with the same care given to lighted dynamite. Understanding

her microexpressions is a survival skill passed down through generations.

At least one stylishly late woman often arrives, expecting admiration and full attention as she regretfully announces her latest failed relationship. She stays up-to-date on the latest fashion trends and miraculous self-help remedies she discovered on TikTok. Additionally, she can provide a comprehensive list of must-shop Black Friday deals and the juiciest family rumors. Without a doubt, an uncle will frequently check his watch, asking whether dinner will be served before the big game, as he needs to get home to the only chair worth his warming. He'll be dressed in a plaid shirt and a vest, wearing an unmistakable air of impatience as his accessory of choice. He

is the one to ask about the weather but not about taxes or civics.

We all have a couple overcome by gentle parenting as their toddlers and tweens wreak havoc throughout the house, torment the family pets, and refuse to eat anything with a hue of green. It is best to separate them from the family patriarch and breakable heirlooms. They can quote best parenting practices and the dangers of red food dye without provocation but always have the best wine. Hidden away from chores and responsibilities, you will find two to three gentlemen engrossed in watching football or hunting shows or sharing stories of their latest outdoor adventures. They excel at evading family drama, children, and cleaning duties. This group is worth observing. Wheth-

er their skill is a result of nature or nurture remains unclear. It demands impeccable timing, charm, and the ability to endure disbelieving glares from their wives.

Of course, we all have a casserole of characters sprinkled throughout our family feast, but the general ingredients remain. It's the holiday where we stuff our faces, push buttons, and understand why some family members live so far away. Learning to navigate this complex puzzle of personalities is a continuous task, strengthening the ties that bind and the drinks served.

Happy Thanksgiving, Beaufort.

Cherimie Weatherford is a long-time real estate broker, small business owner, wife and mom in beautiful Beaufort. She is the Director of Operations and Programs for the Freedman Arts District.

‘I don’t know the day of the week’

It is Wednesday, and it’s overcast. This morning

I’m sitting on our recently renovated deck drinking my second cup of Starbuck’s Breakfast Blend trying to figure out what I’m going to do with my day.

In times past the day’s agenda would be dictated by appointments and deadlines that were written down in an 8-inch-by-11inch book that I order from Paragraf Diary every December. When opened-up that large, clothbound book showed five workdays, Monday through Friday, spread out over two pages. These pages had five boxes — each captioned by a day and a date — that were filled in (by me) with phrases like, “Meet with Judge Castillo at 11:00” or “West Africa talk at USCB.” But mostly it had the names of clients and the agreed-upon time for our meeting.

Earlier this morning I leafed through the 2004 book, looking at the names of these clients and, sometimes, coming up with a face.

Sometimes that conjured face was pleasant (adoptions and loan closings) and sometimes that face was contorted in anger (divorce and property line disputes). Sometimes there was a business card or a question — “Is Dr. Lewis going to testify in Gibson?” Sometimes there was a little sketch of a football player catching a pass.

I kept these date books from 1983 to 2023, and now they provide instant transport back to the week of August 23 2004, when I was desperately trying to make arrangements to leave for Italy where my nephew was going to be married on the side of a mountain in Umbria.

I can (mostly) remember the meetings with the client, have some slight recollection of what was accomplished, but the details are long gone. And the urgency (or angst) I felt at that moment is completely gone.

All of that is good.

But I do miss the sense of predictability that came with having most of my future neatly scheduled into those five little boxes.

I miss the predictability that came with having meetings, court dates and trips planned, and written down, three, sometimes six months in advance. Looking at my calendar on any given Monday morning I was pretty certain I would be sitting in a lawyer’s office later that morning; or in Jasper’s dark, forbidding courtroom on Tuesday; or running around bag-toting people on the moving walkway at Charlotte’s Douglas International Airport on Friday afternoon.

Of course there were delays and postponements. But, for the most part, I could rely on this book and

Just about every business day for the last two decades, the morning has started with picking out an interesting quote for a daily news service sent to South Carolina businesses. The quote, called a “thought for the day,” is a way to ease a subscriber into the news morning, offering a pithy thought, amusing comment or a wry notion somehow related to the morning headlines. It might be from Belgian surreal artist Rene Magritte: “We must not fear daylight just because it almost always illuminates a miserable world.” Or something about etiquette from Judith Martin, also known as Miss Manners: “We are born charming, fresh and spontaneous and must be civilized before

“... we all have a casserole of characters sprinkled throughout our family feast, but the general ingredients remain. It's the holiday where we stuff our faces, push buttons, and understand why some family members live so far away.”

CHERIMIE

WEATHERFORD, on the complexity of navigating Thanksgiving gatherings

the boxes — make plans that were very likely to happen — such as a nonrefundable promise to attend my son’s Parents Day Weekend in upstate New York.

I was in the habit of taking this diary wherever I went. Sometimes I packed it in my leather, carry-on backpack; but usually I had it in my left hand as I presented my boarding pass (with my right hand) to gate attendants in Savannah or Charleston. It represented certainty and continuity and it was as important as my driver’s license.

There was also the sense of purposeful work that came with the words penned into these little boxes. As I glance back at the week beginning on March 29, 2004, I see the words “Motion to Amend,” “Deposition” and “shredding.”

I’m not sure what was shredded on April 1, 2004, but let’s assume for the purpose of this piece that it was some inconsequential file and does not imply wrongdoing or income tax evasion.

In those long gone days, I thought writing an Answer,

Memorandum of Understanding, or Motion to Compel represented productivity, and purpose, and sometimes creativity—all of which compensated for a tendency to think my life didn’t really matter. And now, with my retirement from the law, I no longer have this book, or any kind of calendar. I no longer wake up — glance at the week ahead — and practice my opening statement as I stand in the shower. Often, when I wake, I don’t know the day of the week. The price one pays for predictability is spontaneity. Now my wife and I can get in our Honda and drive to St. Augustine for a drink at the White Horse Inn just across the street from Castillo San Marcos. But, of course, we rarely do that.

I do miss the certainty that I’ll be in the lobby of the Charlotte Kimpton on April 3 at 4:30; or that I’ll be alive on August 4 at 5 p.m.

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

Picking the right quote is fun, daily challenge

we are fit to participate in society.”

More often than not, the quote is an attempt to get a pre-coffee chuckle through comments from past humorists such as Mark Twain and Will Rogers or more modern-day cynics like Steven Wright, George Carlin and Robin Williams. Twain: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” Rogers: “Good judgment

comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.”

Wright: “Whenever I think of the past, it brings back so many memories.”

Through the years, we’ve offered more than 5,000 of these morning thoughts.

We try not to repeat ourselves, but there’s no way to remember what quote was shared back in 2007 or 2014. If it looks fresh to us on a given morning, we figure it will look fresh to a reader.

Daily headlines often influence the morning search. While it’s not common to grab a quote from a story or opinion in the day’s news, it happens. More common is to search for a quote with the word “idiot” or “lessons” when someone in headlines has said something particularly idiotic or people need

a reminder about lessons from history.

After an election, readers might have seen this quote by John Adams, the nation’s second president: “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide.”

Or Thomas Jefferson, the founding father who followed as president, “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”

Finding a good quote is often made easier by websites like Brainyquote or The Quotations Page, where searches can be done by subject or author – or by relying on a site’s picks for motivational quotes, random quotes or quotes of the day. The risk with using these sites is that they often

lead to travels down various rabbit holes in search of the perfect thing. This can be a big time-waster in a business that relies on speed, morning deadlines and relevance. But quote sites are good reminders for common sayings that readers might not have heard in awhile, such as: Thorstein Veblen: “Invention is the mother of necessity.”

Oscar Wilde: “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience and rebellion that progress has been made.”

Frank Lloyd Wright: “Turn the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles.”

Sometimes, we try to find a good quote with South Carolina roots from past

silver-tongued leaders: The late U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings: “I don’t want to rust out. I’d rather wear out.” Past U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond: “I don’t think it’s a question of age as much as it’s a question of what kind of shape you’re in.”

Former Gov. Carroll A. Campbell Jr.: “I’ve often told my children that if they really want to expand their horizons, they’ll begin at the library.”

Pondering a daily morning quote from a religious or secular source is a fun way to ease into a day. Try it. It should help your sleepy brain to start firing on all cylinders.

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

SCOTT GRABER

ANDY BRACK

For Renee Levin, exercise is the ‘name of the game’

The large, waterfront windows of Renee Levin’s living room let in the early fall sunlight, highlighting the serene pieces of artwork on the walls.

In the middle of the room, though, is a flash of bright red –an exercise ball.

And perched on top? The fourfoot-nine, 95-year-old powerhouse herself, engaging her core and showing off the discipline that she’s developed over the decades raising four children, honing her artistic skills, and keeping an active lifestyle with the help of Beaufort Memorial LifeFit Wellness Center.

(She’s showing off a bit of restraint, too: Hurricane Helene and the accompanying wind left Renee’s yard littered with pinecones. She’s admittedly scaling back, limiting herself to filling only two wheelbarrows a day while cleaning up.)

Renee Levin packs a ton of discipline into her tiny frame – she rarely wavers from her structured workout routine, driving herself

to LifeFit multiple times a week to get her exercise fix.

“I try to go three days a week,” Renee said. “I think it’s the name of the game.”

Not many 95-year-olds live independently, let alone work out for an hour multiple times every week. Her routine includes making her way through LifeFit’s machines (she doesn’t have a favorite, she said: “I do them all.”) and doing her stretches religiously.

Renee and four friends were the first members of a new osteoporosis prevention exercise group prior to LifeFit opening in 2002 – one of Beaufort Memorial’s first organized fitness groups.

“It certainly has grown, which is wonderful,” she said. LifeFit has expanded over the last 22 years to help Beaufort residents like Renee manage their health through group fitness classes, cardiac rehab, and a staff of wellness coaches

Renee also paints – the evidence of her artistry hangs on the wall of her home and even

wise WORDS ©

in something as simple as her description of the picturesque live oak just outside her front door.

“Live oaks aren’t straight up and down,” she gestured, imitating the elegant stretch of the branches. “They’re like a beautiful lady dancing.”

Her large family meant an active household and her passion for art and the beauty around her means an active mind. Her commitment to getting up, getting moving and getting to LifeFit to take advantage of its offerings shows a passion for physical activity, too.

That commitment to exercise and movement is vital, Renee said, whether you’re 95 45 or 25

“I think if you sit on the couch and don’t move, you become a blob,” she said matter-of-factly. “If you don’t get up and exercise, you lose everything. Things become negative rather than positive.”

She plans to continue her fitness journey and making LifeFit a priority “for as long as I can,” she said, with no intention of stopping.

“I really think it’s the name of the game,” she repeated, gently bobbing on her red exercise ball. “I can’t ever see myself just sitting.”

Giving Tuesday LifeFit Wellness Center is the recipient of the Beaufort Memorial Foundation’s Giving Tuesday campaign this year.

The Foundation has a goal of raising $35 000 to further its mission and for purchasing state-of-the-art fitness equipment to continue to meet the wellness needs of LifeFit patrons.

“Lifefit Wellness Center’s start-

Stress and Strain, Body and Brain

Worries about work, money, health care and staying safe in the post-pandemic environment — as well as broader issues such as discrimination and climate change — can pile on the stress.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, try these ways to reduce your stress yourself. Ask for help or a referral from your health care professional for other ways to lower your stress.

Why It Matters: Simply put, stress can kill. People with high levels of chronic stress or psychological distress are more likely to die of various causes, research shows, including heart disease and stroke. Chronic stress is also linked to anxiety disorders and major depression. And stress can underlie other problems, such as irritability, sleep disruption, headaches, changes in appetite, gut discomfort and reduced fertility.

Try These Stress Busters: Fight stress by focusing on your physical and mental health.

• Get out of the house:

Take a walk in nature and enjoy the sights and sounds. Sleep tight: Set a regular bedtime and wakeup routine and turn off or dim electronic screens as bedtime approaches.

• Use your network: Reach out and connect regularly with family and friends. Put your mind to it: Explore mindfulness, a type of meditation that focuses your attention on your present experiences without interpretation or judgment. Lean on a furry friend: Pets may help

reduce physiological reactions to stress.

• Work it out: Regular physical activity—a recommended 150 minutes of moderate activity, 75 minutes of vigorous activity, or a mix of both weekly— can help relieve tension, anxiety and depression and give you immediate benefits from exercise. For more tips on the mind-heart-body connection, visit heart.org/BeWell

Source: https://www.heart.org/ en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/ stress-management/stress-strainbody-brain

up was funded by the Foundation and grants focused on offering a fitness facility to manage and prevent chronic diseases,” said Kim Yawn, BMH Foundation Chief Development Officer. “The mission of the Foundation is to serve as a catalyst for health and wellness

in our community, LifeFit is proof that we are serving that mission.”

To help us meet our goal this Giving Tuesday, Dec. 3, and purchase new equipment for LifeFit Wellness Center, donate today at BeaufortMemorial.org/ GivingTuesday!

What causes muscle cramps?

A cramp is a muscle spasm or sudden, involuntary contraction of one or more muscles into a painful knot.

A cramp, sometimes called a charley horse, is actually a muscle spasm—a sudden, involuntary contraction of one or more muscles into a painful knot. Overuse or strain of a muscle, dehydration, or simply holding a single position for a prolonged period may result in a muscle cramp.

Almost everyone gets a cramp at some point in the course of day-to-day activities. For example, people who become fatigued and dehydrated while participating in sports in warm weather often complain of muscle cramps.

Writer’s cramp, affecting the thumb and first two fingers of your writing hand, results from using the same muscles to grip a pen or pencil for long periods. At home, you can develop cramps in your hand or arm after spending long hours using a paintbrush or garden tool.

A common type of cramp—nocturnal cramps—occurs in your calf muscles or toes during sleep. The cause of this type of cramp is unknown but frequency seems to increase with age.

Home Remedies

If you have a muscle cramp, these actions may provide relief:

• Gently stretch and massage a cramping muscle.

For lower leg (calf) cramps, put your weight on the leg and bend your knee slightly. Or bring your toes upward and hold them. Don’t point your toes downward.

For upper leg (hamstring) cramps, straighten your legs and lean forward at

your waist. Steady yourself with a chair. Apply heat to relax tense, tight muscles. Apply cold to sore or tender muscles. Drink water. Fluid helps your muscles to function normally.

Prevention

To prevent muscle cramps:

Stretch your leg muscles daily, using the stretches for the Achilles tendon and calf.

Stretch your muscles carefully and gradually warm up before participating in vigorous activity. Stop exercising as soon as a cramp begins.

Drink plenty of liquids every day. Fluids help your muscles contract and relax and keep muscle cells hydrated and less irritable. Drink fluids before any exercise activity.

Medical Help

Muscle cramps usually disappear on their own and are rarely serious enough to require medical care. However, if you experience frequent and severe muscle cramps or if your cramps disturb your sleep, see a healthcare professional.

Most muscle cramps are harmless, but some might be related to a medical concern, such as reduced blood flow from narrowed arteries, nerve compression or not enough minerals. Medication prescribed for high blood pressure can cause increased urination, which can drain the body of minerals such as potassium, calcium, or magnesium.

Longtime Beaufort resident Renee Levin, 95, makes exercise a top priority in her weekly routine, saying that movement is important no matter your age.

Renee Levin, pictured with her late husband Julian, who passed away in 2015.

Source: Excerpted from Mayo Clinic Guide to Home Remedies by Cindy A. Kermott, M.D., M.P.H. and Gail M. Boriel, M.B.B.S., M.P.H.

Low calcium, magnesium levels tied to poorer cognitive performance

By Helen Adams

A new study, published in the journal Nutrients, investigates factors associated with cognitive performance in older adults. In agreement with previous research, it finds that age, body mass index (BMI), and chronic heart failure are all associated with changes in thinking skills.

They also showed that lower blood calcium and magnesium levels are linked to poorer performance in cognitive tests.

Cognitive decline is not inevitable.

As we age, our body’s systems and organs slowly change, including the brain. Cognitive decline—a slow deterioration in thinking abilities—is common. However, it is not inevitable, and some people maintain good mental performance well into their later years.

It is important to distinguish between cognitive decline, which is considered a normal part of aging, and dementia, which is not. Although dementia generally begins with cognitive decline, not everyone with cognitive decline will develop dementia.

Still, cognitive decline can make everyday life more

• Cognitive decline is a normal part of aging, but not everyone declines at the same rate.

• A new study investigates the relationship between cognitive performance and levels of magnesium and calcium in the blood.

• The researchers conclude that lower levels of these micronutrients are associated with poorer cognitive performance in people over 60.

challenging. So, as the average age in the West steadily increases, understanding the factors that contribute to cognitive decline is vital. Recently, deficiencies in magnesium and calcium have grabbed researchers’ attention.

Studies suggest that people who consume more magnesium in their diet have better cognitive abilities in older age.

The data on calcium intake are a little more mixed, though. Some research suggests that calcium intake reduces dementia risk, whereas other studies suggest that calcium supplements may increase risk for some older adults.

To make matters more confusing, some research suggests that the ratio of magnesium to calcium may play a role in brain health as we age.

The new study takes a more direct approach. It is the first of its kind to directly measure levels of calcium and magnesium in blood—a much more reliable method of assessing

nutrient status. This, the authors hope, might provide clearer answers.

What did the study find about calcium, magnesium, and brain health?

In agreement with previous research, the scientists found that higher age and the occurrence of heart failure were associated with poorer cognitive performance in the cohort. Also, a higher BMI was linked to better performance.

They also found that those with lower levels of magnesium or calcium in their blood per-

care TALK ©

When to take

formed worse on two different cognitive tests. Participants scored lower on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Clock-Drawing Test (CDT).

Interestingly, those with healthy magnesium levels but low calcium levels also performed poorly. However, individuals with low magnesium but healthy calcium levels did not have such pronounced cognitive impairment.

What are some dietary sources of magnesium and calcium?

In general, experts suggest that consuming vita-

mins and minerals in whole foods is better than taking supplements.

The best sources of dietary calcium are milk, cheese, and yogurt. Luckily for vegans, vegetarians, and those who are lactose intolerant, soybeans, firm tofu, and spinach are also good sources of calcium.

Fortified plant milk—almond, soy, oat, and rice—can also be considered.

As for magnesium, pumpkin seeds and chia seeds are great sources of magnesium, along with green leafy vegetables.

In short, according to the new study, lower levels of magnesium and calcium in the blood of older adults is associated with poorer cognitive performance. This result adds to our current understanding of factors that influence cognitive decline.

The best advice to keep the brain healthy as we age is to focus on consuming a wide variety of whole foods, minimize ultra-processed food intake, manage stress, and quit smoking.

Source: Excerpted from an article written by Tim Newman — Fact checked by Kevin Cyr, MD at https://www. medicalnewstoday.com/articles/lowcalcium-magnesium-levels-tied-topoorer-cognitive-performance . . .

your baby to the hospital

With so many viruses circulating, like COVID-19, RSV and the flu, it’s sure to cause concern for parents and caregivers. They may not know when to take their baby to the hospital.

“A lot of parents wonder when their child gets sick when the most appropriate time to go to the emergency department is, and it depends on what's making a child ill. But usually, the best advice is to contact your child's pediatrician's office first. Most offices will have an on-call doctor or nurse line that’s available 24/7,” said Kimberly Giuliano, MD, pediatrician for

Cleveland Clinic Children’s.

However, Dr. Giuliano said there are situations where you shouldn’t hesitate to go to the hospital.

For example, if your child is seriously hurt, has uncontrollable bleeding, or an altered mental state—meaning they’re not acting like themselves. She does note that if they have a fever, that could impact their behavior, so you may want to try giving them medication first. Always be sure to double check you’re using the right kind.

Breathing issues could also merit a trip to the hospital. But, again, Dr. Giuliano said it depends on the

circumstances. If your baby has a clogged nose, you may just need to get the mucus out.

“Even kids with breathing issues like asthma, sometimes we can prescribe treatments over the phone or recommend use of certain inhalers that asthma patients may already have at home that would prevent the need for an emergency department,” she said.

Dr. Giuliano said since there are so many viruses out there right now, parents are strongly urged to get their children vaccinated.

Source: ccnewsservice@ccf.org

Host Bucs claim JCS Memorial crown

By Justin Jarrett LowcoSports.com

The idea behind the JCS Memorial Preseason Tournament was to honor a former Bridges Prep wrestler who was lost far too young and provide an opportunity for area wrestlers to gain valuable preseason experience. Keeping the biggest trophy at home was a bonus for the Bucs. Bridges Prep honored Joshua Shipley not only by hosting the 12team event, but also by winning it, as the Bucs racked up 136 5 points to edge Bluffton by eight points.

Hilton Head placed fifth, with John Paul II in sixth and newcomer Hardeeville in 10th.

The Bucs claimed four individual titles, with Trevor Jones (150), Ali Jenkins (175), Byron Douglas-Jackson (215), and Jeremiah Chavez (285) taking gold in their weight classes, while Kevin Summers (165) placed second, Amari Bradley (157) finished third, and Harold Scott (132) and Kainen Tuttle (120) took fourth.

John Paul II had two champions — Brian Orta (138) and Jack Hannagan (144) — while Archer

Dewig (157) was runner-up, Jase Reynolds (120) and Jude Witkowski (126) placed third, and Bailey Homer (106) finished fourth.

The Bucs’ first regular-season action comes Wednesday, Dec. 4, in the Battle for Beaufort duals at John Paul II, along with Battery Creek and Whale Branch.

Justin Jarrett is the sports editor of The Island News and the founder of LowcoSports.com. He was the sports editor of the Island Packet and the Beaufort Gazette for 6½ years. He has a passion for sports and community journalism and a questionable sense of humor.

BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

Bridges Prep’s Trevor Jones makes the pin against Bluffton’s Carter Greer and wins the match during the 2024 JCS Memorial Tournament at Bridges Prep in Beaufort on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. Jones won the 150-pound division. Amber Hewitt/The Island News EARL CAMPBELL PRESEASON

Bridges Prep’s Poncie Capers (1) makes an attempt to stop his Royal Live Oaks opponent during the Earl Campbell Preseason Basketball Tournament at Whale Branch Early College High School on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. Bridges Prep won, 80-38. Amber Hewitt/The Island News

Battery Creek’s Amaria Daise (11) and Bridges Prep’s Makayla Lapp (11) struggle for control of the ball during the Earl Campbell Preseason Basketball Tournament at Whale Branch Early College High School on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. Battery Creek won, 49-30. Amber Hewitt/ The Island News

Bridges Prep’s QJ Young (5) leaps to make a basket against Royal Live Oaks Academy during the Earl Campbell Preseason Basketball Tournament at Whale Branch Early College High School on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. Bridges Prep won, 80-38. Amber Hewitt/ The Island News

SPORTS

Beaufort’s Parker, Brown nominated for Hall of Fame

Staff reports

The South Carolina Football Hall of Fame (SCFHOF) has opened online voting for its Class of 2024 with a First Round Nomination Ballot, and this year's ballot of 75 nominees (players and coaches) features two players with Beaufort ties – Zach Brown and Ron Parker.

Linebacker Zach Brown was born in Beaufort in 1989 but attended Wilde Lake High School (Columbia, Md.) and Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., before playing four seasons (2008-2011) at North Carolina.

Brown was drafted in the second round, 52nd overall, by the Tennessee Titans in the 2012 NFL Draft. He played 100 games – starting 80 -- over eight seasons in the NFL with the Titans,

the Buffalo Bills, the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Brown’s best season was his 2012 rookie season – he recorded 5 5 sacks and three interceptions for the Titans, returning two for touchdowns.

He finished his career with seven interceptions and 17 5 sacks.

He made 664 tackles, 59 for loss and forced six fumbles.

Port Royal’s Parker graduated from Beaufort High School. Mostly overlooked coming out of high school, he landed at Independence Community College in Kansas before ending up at Newberry.

He was a standout for the Wolves – he’s a member of the Newberry Athletic Hall of Fame -- but NFL scouts ignored “The Ghost.”

The Seattle Seahawks took a chance on Parker as an undrafted free agent in 2011, but he spent two years bouncing between franchises and fighting to earn a promotion from the practice squad to the active roster. He appeared in just five games in 2011 — three with the Oakland Raiders and two with the Seahawks — and five more in 2012, split between the Seahawks and Carolina Panthers.

Then came the call from Kansas City, and his first big break.

Parker joined the Chiefs in 2013 and played in all 16 games, starting one. He was a solid contributor who picked off two passes and recovered three fumbles in limited action, and his efforts resulted in a starting role in 2014 for legendary coach Andy Reid’s team.

After starting 15 games and

playing 96 percent of the Chiefs’ defensive snaps in 2014, Parker was rewarded with a five-year, $25 million contract with Kansas City, which ended up taking him through the end of his career when the team waived him following the 2018 season.

“This man believed in me when no one else did,” Parker said of Reid through social media in 2020. “Can’t thank (him) enough for what an unbelievable career I had.”

In all, Parker played in 105 NFL games over eight seasons, starting 78. He finished with 394 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, eight sacks, 11 interceptions (one touchdown), five forced fumbles, and five fumble recoveries.

Nominees were either born, grew up, played in South Carolina,

coached at one of the state’s collegiate football programs, or made a significant positive impact on football in South Carolina.

Voting is available online at scfootballhof.org and is open to everyone. The first-round voting period runs through Monday, Dec. 16 2024, allowing SCFHOF supporting members, football fans, and media outlets to vote for up to four (4) modern era nominees and one (1) legacy nominee from the provided ballot or a write-in for the Class of 2024

The final round of voting will follow shortly after, featuring the top names from the Nomination Round vote. The Class of 2024 will be enshrined at the organization’s 12th Annual Enshrinement Ceremony on April 17, 2025, at Hotel Hartness in Greenville, S.C.

USCB men 6-0, dazzle in home debut

By Brackin Lambert uscbathletics.com

The USCB men’s basketball team began the season with a barnstorming tour that has turned heads around NCAA Division II basketball, and the Sand Sharks stayed perfect in their home debut.

Ron Fudala’s team did not disappoint in its first appearance in The Cove this

Playoffs from page B1

season, picking up an 8972 victory over the Edward Waters Tigers on Saturday afternoon as Florida Atlantic transfer Alejandro Ralat scored 17 points to lead five Sand Sharks in double digits and dished out eight assists. Hudson Norton heated up to fuel a late surge and finish with 14 points, while Kenney Gaines added 12, and Dylan Lewis and Kevaughn Price each scored 11 USCB opened on 13-0 run, forcing the Tigers to burn a timeout to slow the rally, but Edward Waters battled back to knot the game at 24 with just over six minutes left in the first half before three quick points from Kyle Polce and a Dylan Lewis triple gave USCB a six-point lead

heading into halftime.

EWU quickly made it a one-point game as the half started, but Tasso Sfanos scored the next five points for USCB before Ralat connected on a fast-break three-pointer, and the Sand Sharks pushed the lead back to seven with just over 14 to play.

The Tigers made one more run, but Price and Ralat

Batesburg-Leesville 49, Andrew Jackson 14

Fairfield Central 41, Chesnee 6 Central 26, Saluda 15 Lower State Barnwell 21, Timberland 0 Cheraw 35, East Clarendon 0 Manning 28, Hampton Co. 27

6 Powdersville 21, Woodruff 14 Belton-Honea Path 42, Palmetto 14 Lower State Loris 28, Hanahan 21 Keenan 38, Orangeburg-Wilkinson 7 Dillon 33, Newberry 28 Oceanside Collegiate 36, Waccamaw 6 3rd Round Upper State

Crescent at Mountain View Prep

Powdersville at Belton-Honea Path Lower State Keenan at Loris

Dillon at Oceanside Collegiate

CLASS 2A 1st Round Upper State

Clinton 56, Pelion 0 Chester 44, Strom Thurmond 23 Batesburg-Leesville 42, Columbia 6 Andrew Jackson 42, Liberty 17 Fairfield Central 60, Chesterfield 6

Chesnee 26, Ninety-Six 21 Central 36, Landrum 26 Saluda 24, Mid-Carolina 0 Lower State

Barnwell 42, Academic Magnet 0 Timberland 20, Lake City 15 Cheraw 45, Edisto 0 East Clarendon 14, Andrews 12 Manning 55, North Central 0 Hampton Co. 42, Woodland 21 Philip Simmons 45, Mullins 12

Kingstree 34, Whale Branch 18 2nd Round Upper State Clinton 48, Chester 20

Philip Simmons 40, Kingstree 24 3rd Round Upper State

Batesburg-Leesville at Clinton Central at Fairfield Central Lower State

Cheraw at Barnwell Manning at Philip Simmons

CLASS 1A 1st Round Upper State Abbeville 48, C.A. Johnson 0

Blackville-Hilda 45, McCormick 6 Lamar 62, Whitmire 0 Lee Central 27, Calhoun Co. 13

Hunter-Kinard-Tyler 54, McBee 21 Dixie 42, Williston-Elko 0 Lewisville 66, Calhoun Falls 0 Ridge Spring-Monetta 45, Ware Shoals 28 Lower State Cross 48, Green Sea Floyds 0 Ridgeland 26, Scotts Branch 20 (OT) Hannah Pamplico 43, Military Magnet 6

Denmark-Olar 22, Carvers Bay 16 Lake View 36, Hardeeville 7 Johnsonville 43, Branchville 41

Bamberg-Ehrhardt 65, Bethune-Bowman 0 Baptist Hill 16, Latta 0 2nd Round Upper State

Abbeville 41, Blackville-Hilda 13

Lamar 22, Lee Central 12

Hunter-Kinard-Tyler 46, Dixie 13

Lewisville 39, Ridge Spring-Monetta 0 Lower State Cross 54, Ridgeland 0

knocked down three-pointers and Norton scored 10 points during a 12-5 run that lasted 1:40, helping the Sand Sharks ease away.

After winning two exhibition games on the road, the Sand Shark women got a spark from the return of point guard Taniyah Bowman on Saturday, but they couldn’t close the gap on the

Hannah Pamplico 40, Denmark-Olar 6

Lake View 21, Johnsonville 14

Bamberg-Ehrhardt 36, Baptist Hill 20 3rd Round Upper State Lamar at Abbeville Lewisville at Hunter-Kinard-Tyler Lower State

Hannah Pamplico at Cross Bamberg-Ehrhardt at Lake View

2024 SCISA FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS

SCISA 4A First Round Hammond 35, Cardinal Newman 6 Porter-Gaud 44, Heathwood Hall 13 Northwood Academy 49, Laurence Manning 20 Augusta Christian 17, Ben Lippen 7 Semifinals Hammond 55, Augusta Christian 7 Porter-Gaud 21, Northwood Academy 7 Championship Hammond 28, Porter-Gaud 21

SCISA 3A First Round Northside Christian 53, First Baptist 28 HHCA 42, Florence Christian 7 Wilson Hall 25, John Paul II 14 Pinewood Prep 49, Trinity Collegiate 13 Semifinals Pinewood Prep 35, Northside Christian 21 Wilson Hall 21, HHCA 9 Championship Pinewood Prep 24,

Tigers down the stretch in a 63-56 defeat. Bowman put up 18 points, and Brielle Bartelt and Shaniya Rose added 10 each for the Sand Sharks. USCB squares off with Savannah State in the River Rivalry game Tuesday at Enmarket Arena. Tipoff for the women’s game is set for 6 p.m. with the men’s game to follow.

Parole denied for Susan Smith

By Jessica Holdman SCDailyGazette.com

COLUMBIA — The state parole board denied parole for Susan Smith, a mother convicted of murdering her two young sons three decades ago in South Carolina’s Upstate.

On Oct. 25 1994, Smith left her sons — 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex — buckled in their car seats and rolled her car into John D. Long Lake in Union County.

“I just want to say how very sorry I am,” Smith said sobbing, her head in her hands. “I know that what I did was horrible, and I would give anything if I could go back and change it.”

The high-profile case garnered national attention when Smith, for nine days, claimed a Black man carjacked her and drove off with her sons. She tearfully pleaded on national television for their return, before eventually admitting to investigators what she had done.

The decision to deny was unanimous, though one of the six board members did not vote. Geraldine Miro, a former warden in the prison where Smith was originally housed, recused herself.

Her plea Smith, wearing a green prison jumpsuit, sat with a straight face as her Columbia-area lawyer, Tommy Thomas, pleaded her case over a live-streamed video feed.

Thomas spoke about her history of mental illness that started as a 6-year-old after her father committed suicide, her own suicide attempts in prison and the undiagnosed post-partum depression he believes she experienced after the birth of her youngest son.

Thomas told the board Smith would have support and living arrangements with her brother if released. And he said she is working on a counseling degree from an online Christian college.

Finally, Thomas read from a letter written by Smith and passed on to him when he took her case.

“I lost touch with reality,” she wrote. “My thoughts were not rational nor logical. I don’t think I understood that if I allowed that car to go into the lake that I would

never see my children again. The finality of it was not real to me.”

Smith wrote that she was not in her right mind and thought she was doing what was best for her two sons.

“I knew Jesus would take better care of them than I could,” she wrote.

The pleas for denial

But the people who came to oppose her release countered her explanations, saying Smith intended to cease being a mother.

The 15 who testified in opposition included her ex-husband, David Smith, and state House Speaker Pro Tem Tommy Pope of York — who was the chief prosecutor in the case.

The family members, friends and law enforcement united in their opposition all wore a photo of the boys pinned to their shirts.

“I’m just here to advocate for Michael and Alex as their father,” David Smith told the board. “She (Susan) made a free choice that night to end their life. It was no tragic mistake.”

Kevin Brackett, Pope’s chief deputy during the trial (who became solicitor himself in 2006), said he reviewed the case file, which he keeps in a closet just off his office, ahead of Wednesday’s hearing.

The file includes a letter from the man Smith was allegedly having an affair with. He wrote that he was not ready for children, prompting her to drown her sons to be with him,

Brackett said. Smith, however, continues to deny that claim.

“She betrayed her children, against the laws of nature, when she left them in the seat and rolled that car down,” Brackett said. “And she was not trying to commit suicide; she was trying to change her life. She wanted to kill her old life and start anew.”

Smith also intentionally played on racial stereotypes, accusing a Black man of the crime, Brackett and Pope said, both during the parole hearing and in an impromptu press conference outside the agency building afterward.

“How many Black men in red Mazdas got pulled over across the country because they were looking for those two kids and they were looking for this fictitious man?” Brackett asked.

As solicitor, Pope sought the death penalty, but the jury ultimately recommended life imprisonment.

In 1995, when Smith was tried and sentenced, life in prison did not mean life, Pope said. She could seek parole after 30 years, allowing Wednesday’s hearing.

Had she been sentenced a year later, after legislators changed the law, she would be ineligible for parole.

Pope said he sought to put Smith on death row because if a Black stranger had indeed killed the children, “people would have expected the death penalty.” They’d expect the same for David Smith had their father been the killer.

Indeed, the last person sent to death row in South Carolina was a white man who killed his five children.

A mother killing her own children is almost unthinkable, the prosecutors said.

“We leave our kids at home every day with our mothers, and we don’t think about it,” Pope told reporters after the decision. “I think it was unsettling.”

“And it’s precisely that betrayal that makes this case so disturbing,” Brackett added.

A ‘haunting’ memory

During the hearing, parole board Chairwoman Kim Frederick asked

Smith if there was anything she would like to say to the immense number of law enforcement officers who searched for her sons after she lied about what she’d done.

Smith apologized, specifically to the dive team that found the boys’ bodies.

“I didn’t lie to get away with it. I was just scared,” Smith told the board. “I did not know how to tell Dave he couldn’t see his sons again … I know they just might sound like words, but they come from my heart.”

Brackett spoke about standing in the crowd on the banks of the lake as the car was pulled out, calling it “one of the most haunting memories of my life.”

“It traumatized Union. It traumatized South Carolina. The entire country was in the grips of her lie and her treachery,” Brackett said. “On behalf of the community I now represent, I don’t believe she should ever be released.”

Standing beside David Smith, Brackett told the board, “His hopes and dreams were dashed. I hope you dash hers today.”

Smith said the grief made him contemplate suicide at times. But he managed to keep going, eventually remarrying and starting a new family.

After the vote, Smith said the board made the right decision.

“At least I know, for now, she’ll still be behind bars,” he told reporters. “And for two more years, there will still be justice for Michael and Alex.”

He vowed to return every two years to oppose his ex-wife’s parole.

Discipline record

In denying it this time, the board cited the violent nature of the crime and Smith’s behavior in prison.

Most recently, Smith was disciplined for speaking with a documentary filmmaker about her crimes. For punishment, she lost her telephone, tablet and canteen privileges for 90 days, beginning Oct. 4, according to a report provided by the Department of Corrections.

The prisons agency does not allow inmates to do media inter-

views by phone or in person. Inmates may only write letters, as per a policy upheld last month by a federal judge.

In those conversations, she agreed to provide contact information of friends, family and victims, including her former husband and father of her sons.

Inmates cannot communicate “directly or indirectly” or “through a third party, in any form” with victims’ family or friends, the report said.

It marked her first disciplinary issue in nearly 10 years. Other past offenses were related to drugs and mutilation.

In 2010, she lost canteen, phone and visitation privileges for an entire year — 365 days — for drug use. Online inmate reports don’t show sanctions before 2009

Asked why she should be trusted to follow the rules if released given she broke them while in prison, Smith attributed her past mistakes to “stupidity.”

When it comes to speaking with the filmmaker, she said, she “trusted the wrong person.” She claimed she thought the film would be a documentary on mental health issues. She said she is appealing that case against her.

Smith said prison has taught her that her decisions do not just affect her personally. They impact those she loves and that family and forgiveness should not be taken for granted.

“I am a Christian and God is a big part of my life,” she said. “I know He’s forgiven me. I just ask that you show that same kind of mercy as well.”

She is next eligible for parole in 2026

Susan Smith pictured during her Nov. 20, 2024, hearing in Columbia. Screenshot of the Court TV press pool livestream

David Smith, the ex-husband of Susan Smith, speaks with reporters in Columbia Nov. 20, 2024, after the South Carolina Parole Board denied his former wife’s application for parole. Jessica Holdman/S.C. Daily Gazette

STATE NEWS & EDUCATION

Environmental lawyer picked to lead SCDNR

By Skyler Laird SCDailyGazette.com

COLUMBIA — The board over-

seeing the state’s natural resources department has chosen an environmental attorney, research professor and retired military officer to lead the agency.

Tom Mullikin is expected to take over from current director Robert Boyles, who is retiring in February after five years overseeing the agency in charge of hunting, fishing, boating and conservation efforts.

He received unanimous approval Thursday, Nov. 21, from the agency’s seven-member governing board. However, Mullikin still needs to be confirmed by the Senate.

“Tom Mullikin will lead our world-class staff to the next level as South Carolina continues to rise as a global leader in natural resources stewardship,”

Boyles said in a Thursday news release. “I look forward to working together with him to ensure a successful transition.”

Mullikin works as a research professor for both Coastal Carolina University and the University of South Carolina’s hospitality and tourism school. In 2019, Gov. Henry McMaster chose him to oversee a commission tasked with coming up with

solutions to flooding, especially in cities along the coast and rivers.

“His extensive background in environmental law and policy will allow him to bring invaluable expertise to DNR,” McMaster said in the Thursday news release. “He has my full support.”

Mullikin has also publicly questioned international climate agreements and their impact on the economy, and he lobbied in Congress against a 2009 bill that would have reduced the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, The Post and Courier reported after his appointment to the flood commission.

Mullikin led the State Guard, South Carolina’s volunteer militia that aids in emergency response,

from 2014 to 2018, after retiring as a legal officer for the U.S. Army Reserve. He’s an avid outdoorsman who has completed scuba dives in every ocean and climbed mountains on every continent, according to a news release. He leads an annual 30-day trek across South Carolina for SC7, a partnership between two nonprofits that encourages people to get outside and appreciate their environment.

Outside of his environmental work, his Camden law firm led an unsuccessful bid to rename the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling that outlawed school segregation after the earlier-filed Briggs v. Elliot case originating in Claren-

don County. (Brown v. Board came from the Kansas lawsuit that was among five combined before the nation’s high court.)

“I am honored to be selected for appointment as director of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and look forward to working with the amazing staff to continue and advance the important work of SCDNR,” Mullikin said in the news release. Boyles’ salary is $187,000

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 state-focused nonprofit news organization.

Report: SC teacher vacancies decrease, remain above pre-pandemic levels

Advocates: Increases in teacher pay could have helped keep, recruit more teachers

By Skyler Laird SCDailyGazette.com

COLUMBIA — The number of vacant teaching positions in South Carolina’s K-12 schools has dropped, though it remains far above the number of openings reported before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an annual report released Monday, Nov. 25 It marks the first break in ever-increasing teacher shortages since 2019 Teachers’ advocates cautioned that the report by the state’s Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement does not give the full picture of the state’s teacher shortage. With 71 of 75 surveyed districts responding, the numbers may not be 100% accurate, said advocates and the state superintendent. Still, going from more than 1 600 open positions to 1,043 in one year is still a big improvement, advocates and the state Department of Education said Monday. But there’s more work to be done, they added.

“Our goal is nothing less than a great teacher in every classroom,” state Superintendent Ellen Weaver said in a statement.

The number of teacher vacancies fell nearly

37%, from 1,380 last fall to 872 this fall, according to the Supply and Demand Report.

The number of openings for classroom support positions dropped too. Last school year started with 233 vacant positions for librarians, counselors, psychologists and language pathologists. That number was down to 171 this fall, according to surveys conducted in September and October.

“It does look good, and it does look promising,” said South Carolina Education Association Vice President Dena Crews.

However, the number of vacancies is still much higher than districts reported during the fall 2019 semester, before the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools online. That year, 555 teaching positions were vacant, CERRA reported. Reports since then kept setting new records in vacancies.

One puzzler to the break in that trend is that districts reported fewer total teaching positions statewide: They wanted 51,400 teachers this school year, compared to 52,800 total slots at the beginning of last school year. That could come at least in part from fewer districts

responding to the survey this year than last year, advocates said.

Or, the decrease in the number of teacher positions could come from districts deciding not to fill open roles. In some cases, those positions could have been funded with federal pandemic aid, which is drying up, the Palmetto State Teachers Association said in an emailed statement.

If that’s the case, “the impact on students could be devastating, especially in core areas for academic success,” the statement said.

Districts had until this fall to designate their share of $3 billion in federal COVID aid but have until 2026 to spend it all.

Because the report doesn’t break down the data by school district, “we just don’t know” the true reason for the decrease, Kathy Maness, president of the teachers’ advocacy group, told the S.C. Daily Gazette.

“That’s one reason why we need to invest in a more robust data workforce system,” Maness said.

The state Department of Education is working to create a more detailed report, Weaver said in her statement.

“While this report provides an interesting snap-

shot of South Carolina’s current teacher workforce at an aggregate level, detailed district level data is required for deeper analysis of trends in student enrollment and educator positions; teacher working conditions and exit survey data; and unique subject area, grade level, and geographic needs,” she said.

More detailed data could also give a better idea of why the number of vacancies has dropped, and why some teachers are continuing to leave the profession, advocates said.

An increase in pay likely helped.

Legislators included $200 million in the budget that took effect in July to raise the minimum pay for first-year teachers to $47 000, up from $42 500 last school year. The governor’s goal, which legislators have supported, is to get the base pay to $50,000 by 2026

Legislators also extended 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.

Pay isn’t the only factor in keeping and attracting

teachers, but it certainly contributes, said education association President Sherry East. Districts can, and often do, pay more than the state’s required minimum, but the increases have helped, she said.

Some teachers who left amid the pandemic’s virtual learning might be returning to their classrooms, East said. Districts reported that 335 of the teachers newly hired ahead of this semester were returning to the district after a gap of some kind, according to the report.

Other districts may have filled positions with international or virtual teachers. That raised a point of concern for both teachers’ associations, since those teachers may not be the best equipped to teach students’ material, they said.

For instance, some districts contract with companies to livestream lectures to classrooms, but students lack the face-to-face instruction that is best for learning, the Palmetto State Teachers Association said.

“Such classrooms are most likely reported as having a ‘teacher,’ but the quality of instruction falls far short of what students need and deserve,” the association said in a statement.

Governor taps interim director to lead environmental agency

The Legislature could take plenty more steps to continue reducing the number of vacancies, representatives for the advocacy groups said. Legislators could revisit a proposal to make professional teaching certificates permanent, reducing the amount of bureaucracy teachers must contend with to renew their certification every five years. Or, they could create more wiggle room in teacher contracts, allowing them to back out after seeing their salaries without losing their teaching certificates, the associations said.

Limits on class sizes could help. So could yearlong, paid student-teaching programs, which would allow prospective teachers to get a better idea of what it takes to be a teacher before running a classroom on their own, East said.

“I don’t want people to think the teaching shortage is over, because it’s not,” East 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 state-focused nonprofit news organization.

By Skyler Laird SCDailyGazette.com

COLUMBIA — Gov. Henry McMaster chose the interim director of the state’s environmental agency to continue leading it permanently.

Myra Reece previously oversaw the environmental arm of the Department of Health and Environmental Control until July, when legislators split the department into two separate agencies.

She has been interim director of the 1 000-employee Department of Environmental Services since then. Her role to lead perma-

nently must still be confirmed by the Senate.

Myra Reece

“I’ve had the incredible privilege of working alongside talented teams of environmental experts for more than 30 years, and I’m honored to be considered to continue to lead the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services,”

Reece said in a news release.

Reece spent nine years as director of environmental affairs for DHEC.

Before that, she was chief of the department’s air quality bureau and a regional office division director. McMaster selected her to chair a working group considering how to protect the state’s water as demand from new developers increases.

As interim director, Reece’s salary is $179 925

“Her expertise, professionalism, and commitment have earned my respect, as well as that of her peers and staff,” McMaster said in a statement. “I am confident she will continue to effectively execute our state’s environmental missions

and ensure our natural resources are protected.”

Along with splitting DHEC, the 2022 law put both new agencies in the governor’s Cabinet. Instead of answering to a board of commissioners appointed by the governor, which oversaw DHEC, Reece will answer directly to the governor.

Reece’s appointment comes soon after McMaster announced Edward Simmer, interim director for the Department of Public Health and former director of DHEC, would continue leading the state’s health agency. Originally from Edgefield, Re-

ece received her bachelor’s degree from Clemson University and her master’s from the University of South Carolina. She also graduated programs in public and environmental health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Emory University. Skylar

Tom Mullikin

Rodriguez’s found to be ‘highly effective’ in his job

By Delayna Earley

The Island News

Five years into his tenure, Beaufort County School District Superintendent Frank Rodriguez seems to continue to impress.

The Beaufort County Board of Education (BCBOE) recently released the results of Rodriguez’s fifth annual evaluation, and they found his performance during the 2023-2024 school year to be “highly effective overall.” He earned a total composite score of 3 53, which puts him solidly in the “highly effective” category for his score, which ranges from 3 26 to 4 0 Board members completed evaluations individually and the results were collated and shared with Rodriguez and the Board. The evaluation is comprised of

32 questions that are included in five components of Professional Practice.

Practice section and Financial Oversight in the Measurable Components portion.

Frank Rodriguez

Government and Board Relations counts for 20% of the score, Community Relations is 15%, Staff Relations is 15%, Business and Finance is 20% and Instructional Leadership is 30%. There are also three areas of Measurable Components — student achievement, teacher recruitment and retention, financial oversight.

According to the release from Christina Gwozdz, chair of the BCBOE, Rodriguez scored highest in the areas of Business and Finance in the Professional

Per the release, the budget was spent with 0 7% remaining and the Beaufort County School District (BCSD), along with Greenville, continues to maintain a Moody’s Aa1 bond rating, which is the highest rating for the 73 public school districts in South Carolina.

Additionally, for the fourth year in a row, the district earned a “perfect score of 10 indicating low overall financial risk” on the Subrecipient Risk Assessment by the South Carolina Department of Education.

Evidence used to grade Rodriguez’s emphasis on quality classroom instruction includes the fact that the BCSD has been ranked

in the top in South Carolina for teacher compensation for three years in a row, they maintain staff childcare opportunities, they provide on-going quality professional development for educators, more than half of BCSD schools have been ranked as Excellent or Good on the 2023-2024 S.C. School Report Cards and improvement in students’ Meet and Exceed scores for S.C. Ready English Language Arts (ELA) and Math, End-ofCourse (EOC) exams for Algebra and Biology and meeting college or career readiness standards. The release pointed out that Rodriguez has also been named the 2025 South Carolina State Superintendent of the Year and was chosen as a 2023 Superintendent to Watch by the Na-

tional School Public Relations Association (NSPRA).

The BCBOE also praised Rodriguez’s oversight of the construction projects of the $344 million 2019 school boar referendum and securing the $439 million bond funding approval in 2023 with a landslide vote of 72% approval.

“The Board sincerely thanks Dr. Rodriguez for his effective leadership, his many efforts and for his dedication and commitment to the District,” Gwozdz said in the release.

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.

SC committee: Parent permission required for K-12 students reading ‘Crank’

Panel: Nothing wrong with an English textbook; asks for details about 2 other novels

By Skyler Laird SCDailyGazette.com

COLUMBIA — High school students in South Carolina should be allowed to continue checking out a novel about a woman addicted to meth from their public school libraries, as long as their parents agree, a state committee decided Thursday.

The review of three other books on the panel’s agenda Thursday stemmed from the complaints of one parent in Fort Mill.

Responding to her objections, the State Board of Education committee voted to keep an eighth grade English textbook in classrooms but postponed decisions on two novels: “Bronx Masquerade” by Nikki Grimes and “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros.

The full board will take up the committee’s recommendations on “Crank” and the textbook at its Dec. 3 meeting.

“Crank” was a holdover from a list of books the five-person committee decided to preemptively review Oct. 31 under a new regulation prohibiting books with “sexual conduct” from public K-12 schools.

Days later, the full Board of Education voted unanimously to require the removal of seven books from public schools for what board members decided were explicit descriptions of sex. Three classic novels can stay, board members determined.

Decisions on the first 11 books were meant to help clear up confusion about the rule, committee

members said.

Some teachers have criticized the regulation for not defining “sexual conduct,” instead referencing a portion of the state’s obscenity law. Thursday was the first time the committee heard actual challenges from a parent under the new regulation.

‘Crank’

When “Crank” came up for review in October, committee members faced a conundrum.

Department of Education staff who reviewed the book found descriptions of sexual activity, which seemed to violate the regulation.

But committee Chairman Christian Hanley received a letter ahead of the meeting from someone saying the book was helpful in dealing with drug use in their own family, giving him and other committee members pause, he said at the time.

Sex is not the only factor in whether a book can be banned under the regulation, department policy and legal advisor Robert Cathcart told the committee Thursday. Committee members can decide to remove a book from the shelves for anything they deem to not be age appropriate.

“Crank” would qualify for that, department staff wrote in a report provided to the committee.

“While the book does not intentionally glorify drug use, in the 544 pages of poetry, drugs are omnipresent, and getting high is often seen as either pleasurable or an escape from the drudgery of life,” the department re-

port reads. “Drugs, sex, rape, pregnancy, and depression pervade the book.”

The committee decided the descriptions of sex were not graphic enough to remove the book completely.

Because of its heavy themes, the committee instead decided to require parental permission to check out the book from school libraries.

Parents whose children want to read the book should receive the entire five-page list of problematic excerpts the committee reviewed before signing off, Hanley said. The book is available in high schools only, department staff wrote in a memo.

“This is a poor compromise,” author Ellen Hopkins wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

She added that she would have preferred the board al-

low parents to opt out of having their children read the book instead of opting in.

“But at least it’s still there and semi-available,” Hopkins continued.

Hopkins loosely based the book on her own daughter’s experience with methamphetamine addiction, she said in a statement provided by the state’s American Civil Liberties Union chapter. The novel follows a straight-A, high-achieving high schooler who gets addicted to the drug and watches her life fall apart as a result.

“I was determined to turn other teens away from that path if I could,” Hopkins wrote in the statement. “I also wanted those who’d already chosen that direction to believe there was a way out, support, someone who cared, and urge them to speak up

sooner rather than later. And I wanted people who’d never made that choice to develop understanding and empathy for those who had.”

Parent complaints

One parent requested reviews for all three new books the committee considered Thursday.

Emily Clement, who said she has two children in the Fort Mill School District, contested an eighth-grade literature textbook, along with two novels that English teachers in the York County district either assign or recommend to students.

Because all three books were part of school curriculums as opposed to simply being available in the school library, the committee allowed them to skip the normal appeals process.

The complaint came to the state directly, bypassing the Fort Mill school board, Cathcart said.

Clement pointed to short stories in the textbook that deal with themes of violence, sexuality, racism and other heavy topics as reasons she believed the book should be removed.

“The parents of this school district should be very concerned about what their child’s hearts and minds are being filled with every day in school,” Clement wrote in her complaint. “Parents put their trust in this school board, the administrators, and the teachers of Fort Mill schools to protect their children from evil, not to encourage them to follow the darkness.”

The textbook already went through a state vet-

ting process before it was approved for classrooms statewide, committee members said. For that reason, they unanimously agreed to allow it to remain.

“I have no objection to some of the materials, the ones that I have taught, that did not contain anything that justifies going against our regulation,” said Board Member Joyce Crimminger, who taught English in Lancaster County.

“Bronx Masquerade” by Nikki Grimes and “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, the two novels Clements raised for review, included scenes discussing sex, domestic violence, guns, suicide and drug use, she told committee members. Her complaints did not include quotes from specific scenes, so board members voted unanimously to defer any decision until they have more information.

The exact quotes could make or break whether a book is banned or not.

Books in which characters kiss or have romantic relationships are fine under the regulation. As are mentions of sex and sexual assault that happened off the page, or onpage sex scenes that don’t give details, board members have said in previously discussing books.

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 state-focused nonprofit news organization.

“Crank” by Ellen Hopkins. Dylan McCombs/The Island News

ART

Budding Artist After-School Art Club

4 to 5 p.m., or 5:15 to 6:15 p.m., Mondays/Wednesdays or Tuesday/Thursdays, Happy Art Studio, 10 Sam’s Point Way, Beaufort. Ages 8 to 13. Painting, drawing, clay or crafts. Visit www.happyartstudio.net.

CALENDAR

New Year’s Eve Fireworks

9 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 31, Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park, Beaufort. Presented by Beaufort Area Hospitality Association.

Tides To Tables Restaurant Week Thursday, Jan. 9 to Sunday, Jan. 19, Beaufort. Tides to Tables Restaurant Week kicks off the Beaufort Oyster Festival featuring local restaurants and their cuisine.

Beaufort Oyster Festival

10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 18 & 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday Jan. 19, Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park, Beaufort. Hosted by the Beaufort Area Hospitality Association. Free Admission. Live music. Cornhole tournament at 1 p.m., Sunday. Oysters provided are all locally farmed or harvested. Oysters will be available steamed, raw, roasted or fried. Other food options will be available as well. More than 15 local educational organizations will take part.

50th Beaufort Charities Festival

Friday & Saturday, Feb. 28 & March 1, Live Oaks Park, Port Royal. Live entertainment Friday and Saturday nights. Oyster roast all day Saturday.

Lowcountry Food Truck Festival

11 a.m., Saturday, April 5, 1404 Paris Avenue, Port Royal.

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.

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.

Karaoke at Willie’s

8 p.m., Thursdays, Willie's Bar and Grill, 7 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Saint Helena Island. Come and showcase your singing talents or just enjoy the performances. For more information, visit www.GullahLove.com.

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.

Habersham Farmers Market

3 to 6 p.m., Fridays, Habersham Marketplace. Vendor roster includes B&E Farm, Cottonwood Soap, Flower Power Treats, Hardee Greens, Megs Sweet Treats, Vitamin Bee, Lady’s Island Oyster Company, Pet Wants.

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.

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.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

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.

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.

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.

CHRISTMAS

Lowco Gardeners Christmas Market

3 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 30, Lowco Gardeners, 1 Marina Blvd., Beaufort. Shopping 3 to 5:30 p.m.; Tree lighting 5:30 p.m.; Movie 6 p.m.

Smile For Santa 9:30 a.m. to noon, Saturdays, Nov. 30, Dec. 7, Dec. 14, Port Royal Farmers Market Gazebo. Sponsored by the Beaufort Garden Club. Adults, Children, Grandchildren or Pets.

Christmas Movie Night

Meets Night On The Town

6 to 9 p.m., Friday, Dec. 6, 1301 Bay Street, in front of the Best Western, Beaufort. Movies include The Grinch and Disney’s The Santa Clause. Bring your own chairs. Free hot chocolate and popcorn. Sponsored by Stokes Honda Cars of Beaufort; Harvey & Battey, Attorneys at Law; and The City of Beaufort

13th annual Nativity Celebration

10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday and Saturday, Dec. 6 and 7; Noon to 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 8, First Presbyterian Church of Beaufort, 1201 North Street. Public is welcome for this free community eventcelebrating the Christmas story with more than 150 nativities from around the world.

Christmas Extravaganza

With The Cox Team

1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 15, 1304 Paris Avenue, Port Royal. Crafts, treats, bounce house, face painting, Santa & Mrs. Claus and more. Sponsored by Stephanie Cox, The Cox Team, EXP Realty and Melanie Ott with Gateway Mortgage Group. Family, friends, clients, associates — let’s get together for a fun afternoon spreading holiday cheer.

Town of Yemassee Christmas Tree

Lighting & Christmas Party

6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 19, downtown Yemassee. Activities include hayrides, refreshments, pictures with Santa, bingo, painting and more.

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.

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

HIGHWAY 21 DRIVE-IN

The movies scheduled for this week (Wednesday, Nov. 27 through Thursday, Dec. 5) at the Highway 21 Drive-In are Moana 2 (PG, 7:30 p.m.) and Inside Out 2 (PG, 9:10 p.m.) on Screen 1; How The Grinch Stole Christmas (PG, 6:15 p.m.) and Wicked (PG, 8 p.m.) on Screen 2; Red One (PG, 7 p.m.) and Gladiator II (R, 9:15 p.m.) on Screen 3. Online ticketing is available at hwy21drivein. com on the Now Playing page. Patrons are asked to arrive early on Friday and Saturday nights. Gates open at 6 p.m. A reminder: no outside food or beverages can be brought into the drive-in. Upcoming movies include Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (December) and Mufasa (December).

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

“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 843-255-6458.

Bridge Club

11 a.m., Wednesdays, Beaufort Branch Library, 311 Scott Street, Beaufort. Beginning September 18. The first session is for beginners new to the game, and following sessions will provide some instruction and we will learn as we play. Join us if you want to learn a new game, practice your skills, or need more players. Call the Beaufort Branch Library at 843-255-6458 for more information.

Mahjong Club

10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Fridays, Beaufort Library, 311 Scott Street. All levels of players are welcome. Feel free to bring your own mahjong sets. Plan to meet every week. For more information, call the Beaufort Branch Library at 843-255-6458.

MEETINGS

Zonta Club of Beaufort

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

Rotary Club of Sea Island lunch meeting

12:15 p.m., 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month, Sea Island Presbyterian Church, 81 Lady’s Island Drive, Lady’s Island. Social gathering every 3rd Tuesday at 5:30 pm, locations vary and posted on our website. For more information, visit www.seaislandrotary.org.

Rotary Club of Sea Island social gathering 5:30 p.m., 3rd Tuesday of each month, locations vary and posted on our website. For more information, visit www.seaislandrotary.org.

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 252- 9177082. For more information on EAI visit www.emotionsanonymous.org.

Rotary Club of the Lowcountry 7:30 a.m., Fridays, Sea Island Presbyterian Church, 81 Lady's Island Dr., Ladys' Island. Catered breakfast from local chef. Speakers weekly. Occasional social events replace Friday mornings, but will be announced on our website, www.rotaryclubofthelowcountrybeaufort.org.

MUSIC

Deas Guyz

7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 29; Willie's Bar and Grill, 7 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Saint Helena Island. $35. Doors open at 6 p.m. For more information and tickets, visit www.GullahLove.com.

Habersham Third Fridays

Music on Market 5 to 8 p.m., third Friday of the month, Habersham Marketplace.

OUTDOORS/NATURE

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.

RUNNING/WALKING

Oyster Boogie 5K Saturday, Jan. 18, downtown Beaufort. USATF Certified 5K Race.

SEWING/QUILTING

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. Events will be held weekly. Contact Director and Club Manager Susan DeFoe at 843-597-2541 for location.

Bridge Club 11 a.m., Wednesdays, Beaufort Branch Library. The first session is for beginners new to the game, and following sessions will provide some instruction and we will learn as we play. Join us if you want to learn a new game, practice your skills, or need more players. Call the Beaufort Branch Library at 843-255-6458 for more information.

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.

The year has flown by and now Thanksgiving is here. I hope you have a meaningful Thanksgiving with family and friends.

The election is over, basketball is starting, and the sentimental feelings of fall have turned into the blah of winter. Many already have their Christmas trees up, and this week delicious turkeys will be the centerpiece of our tables.

Actually, our celebration to give thanks was created in the United States in 1863, as President Abraham Lincoln wanted to promote unity and for all Americans to show their gratitude to God. Thanksgiving eventually became a national holiday in 1941, but what about counting our blessings every day?

Last week, we had another successful holiday food drive at the County Fire District where I’ve been chaplain since 2012. Through

generous contributions, volunteers help organize and coordinate boxes of food and a turkey to hundreds of families in our community every Thanksgiving. It’s a large operation and a great ministry for families who could use a blessing.

Amid the distribution activities, a man who’s been having a hard time lately started sharing with me. I guess you could say he’s given up on life and has become bitter. It breaks my heart to see people struggling with depression and who believe their problems are hopeless. As a minister and coun-

selor, I’ve learned that we cannot get into another person’s head and replace their contaminated thinking with optimism and hope. We can speak words of life and faith, we can show them Bible promises, we can pray for them, and even refer them to a psychologist, but everyone must realize some very crucial realities.

When someone becomes serious about changing their situation, they must develop a passion to allow God to renew their mind. If they are not willing to see how God has already blessed them, while refusing to help themselves, they will continue in a dark and destructive cycle. Since the mind is everyone’s battlefield for control, understanding who we are in Christ and our responsibility to obey Him should be a constant priority.

Yes, we all go through a difficult seasons from to time, but instead of agree-

ing with the voices of gloom and doom, the best option is to listen, absorb, and comprehend God’s viewpoint within our thoughts. I’m not referring to a wishy-washy happiness or a cranberry holiday, I’m talking about a lifestyle of spiritual contentment and peace that passes all understanding. Even science proves that being thankful improves our physical and mental health, increases empathy, reduces aggression, improves sleep, helps with self-esteem and bolsters our fortitude. We can all use more of that. Could we venture to say those who express sincere gratitude have less stress and sadness than those who do not? I say yes.

According to a 2014 Pew Research study about how often participants felt an attitude of gratitude, there was a 22 percent difference between Christians and non-Christians. What does this reveal? It gives us a hint

that a personal relationship with God plays a vital role in how sincerely thankful we are. Even beyond our awareness of His blessings, Christians invest time communicating with the one who created everything and everyone. How much more confidence and security could we possibly have?

You see, the Bible is not just another book, as God’s word has divine authority to transform our miserable thinking into a positive and faith-filled powerhouse! When we choose to interpret life according to His will, we are excited to praise and worship Him for who He is.

The man who was angry and sad that I mentioned earlier, never once mentioned being thankful for God’s grace, having a nice home, a good wife, being healthy, a successful business and talents, accomplished children and beautiful grandchildren, and so on. Unfortunately, he is clearly being distracted by the enemy who tries to convince all of us we are defeated. We are not likely to appreciate the wonders of God’s love if we do not acknowledge His constant mercy.

Billy Holland is an ordained minister, certified chaplain, and Christian author. Read more about the Christian life at billyhollandministries.com.

I Thessalonians 5:18 is not a suggestion, “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ concerning you.” It’s easy to fall into a pity party because we do not have what we want, without considering what we already have. Some are proud of their intelligence, creativity, and accomplishments, but instead of being grateful and giving God all the glory, they are always ready to take a bow and receive the honor and adoration for themselves.

Holiday Shopping

onMain Street

This holiday season, discover one-of-a-kind treasures in Downtown Beaufort! From handcrafted jewelry and unique home decor to locally-made goods, our small businesses offer gifts as special as the people on your list.

When you shop local, you’re not just finding special gifts—you’re supporting the heart of our community. Skip the big box stores and make a difference this season. Shop local, shop Beaufort, and spread the holiday cheer!

BILLY HOLLAND

Mass Casualty Exercise

Filing additional forms for military service-connected disability claims

Last week’s The Island News article on veterans’ benefits covered the need to turn in additional forms when a veteran files a service-connected disability claim for:

For increased compensation if a veteran cannot work (Individual Unemployability).

For compensation related to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or another mental health condition.

This is for an allowance for an automobile (or other conveyance and adaptive equipment).

Last week’s article can be read at https://bit.ly/4fHbtzj. That article also provided The Island News readers with:

A recommendation for veterans and their family members to use a VSO and to do their homework when filing for VA benefits and services.

Veterans should use a VA-accredited Veterans Service Officer (VSO) to help them with state and federal benefits claims. VSO services are free. VSOs are trained, must pass a background check, must complete continuing education, and are frequently veterans themselves.

A suggested list of Department of Veteran Affairs webpages to help them prepare for a meeting with a Veterans Service Officer (VSO) and to prepare for filing a claim for service-connected disability compensation and associated special claims.

A recommended list of The Island News’ previously published articles and VA webpages referenced in those articles as good places to start preparing to file for a service-connected disability compensation VA rating award. A warning to veterans and

their families about disability and pension benefit scams.

Many recipients of disability and pension benefits are targets for fraudulent activity. Scammers use a variety of methods to either swindle veterans out of earned benefits or convince them to apply for benefits they are not eligible for. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4fHbALf.

More homework, additional forms

This article will cover additional VA forms veterans may need to file when they submit disability claims. Veterans should read the information at the following VA webpages before submitting a claim for disability:

“File Additional Forms for Your Disability Claim,” found at https://bit.ly/3XgpDxU.

“Separation Health Assessment for Service Members,” [only if you are still in the military and filing a claim through the Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) program] found at https://bit. ly/3QvpV2U.

Additional forms

According to the VA’s webpage, “Find Additional Forms for Your Disability Claim” (https://bit. ly/3XgpDxU), veterans may need to submit additional forms when they file their disability claims.

Today’s article covers explicitly: Forms for an adaptive equipment grant for your automobile.

Forms for a clothing allowance. More helpful information.

For an adaptive-equipment grant for a veteran’s automobile

When a veteran files a claim for disability compensation, they also must submit VA Form 101394, An Application for Adaptive Equipment—Motor Vehicle. Veterans can download VA Form 10-1394 at https://bit.ly/3Zky6nk.

Learn more about automobile allowance and adaptive equipment eligibility and benefits at https://bit.ly/3TXtXjP. Veterans with questions can ask their VSO or call the VA at 800-827-1000 Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern Time.

For a clothing allowance

When a veteran files a claim for disability compensation, they must submit VA Form 10-8678, An Application for Annual Clothing Allowance. If a veteran’s clothing has been damaged by their prosthetic or orthopedic device (such as a wheelchair) or by the medicine they are taking for a skin condition, they may be able to get money each year to help them buy new clothes. Veterans can download VA Form 10-8678 at https://bit.ly/4i1xQkl. Learn more about VA clothing allowance at https://bit.ly/3OoTfq3

MORE HELPFUL INFORMATION

Supporting forms for VA claims

When veterans file a claim for some VA benefits, they must submit additional forms to support their claim. Go to the VA webpage titled “Supporting Forms for VA Claims” at https://bit.ly/3KPYQ7I to find the needed forms. Those forms may include: Authorize the VA to release your information to a third-party source Form (VA Form 21-0845) or Intent to file (VA Form 21-0966).

Request priority processing for an existing claim Form (VA Form 20-10207) or Request personal records Form (VA Form 20-10206).

Request to be a substitute claimant for a deceased claimant Form (VA Form 21P-0847) or Sign VA claim forms as an alternate signer Form (VA Form 21-0972).

View or change dependents on your VA Disability Benefits

Veterans can find out if they are eligible and how to add a dependent spouse, child, or parent to their VA disability benefits for additional compensation. They can also sign in to VA.gov to view dependents currently added to their benefits. Learn more about eligibility, how to view current dependents claimed, how to add a dependent to your VA disability benefits, who the VA considers a dependent, when to add a dependent, using a VSO to help file claims, find answers to questions, and more at https://bit.

ly/3AIDab2

How to apply for an adapted housing grant

Find out if you are eligible and how to apply for a Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) or Special Home Adaptation (SHA) grant online, by mail, or in person at https://bit.ly/3SGUot2 and past The Island News articles on this subject at https:// bit.ly/495LxuE and https://bit. ly/3ZmPiZe.

Veterans must fill out an Application in Acquiring Specially Adapted Housing or Special Home Adaptation Grant (VA Form 26-4555) to apply for an adapted housing grant. If veterans need help with their application, they can ask their VSO for assistance or call a VA SAH Staff member at 877-827-3702 (or teletypewriter - TTY: 711).

VA Aid and Attendance Benefits and Housebound Allowance VA Aid and Attendance or Housebound benefits provide monthly payments added to the amount of a monthly VA pension for qualified veterans and survivors. If a veteran needs help with daily activities or is housebound, they can find out if they qualify at https://bit.ly/3sKJ5Wd.

Veterans must fill VA Form 212680 (Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance) to apply by mail or in person.

Veterans can have their doctor fill out the examination information section. Download VA Form 212680 at https://bit.ly/4g5AjII.

Veterans should use VA Form 21-0779, “Request for Nursing Home Information in Connection with Claim for Aid and Attendance Form,” if they are nursing home residents and provide supporting information for their claim application for VA Aid and Attendance benefits.

The bottom line

Filing a claim for VA disability can be quite complicated. Do your homework and use a VSO to help you. Read The Island News article at https://bit.ly/3OgLZwl.

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

LARRY DANDRIDGE

U.S. Marines and civilian employees with Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island conducted a simulated mass casualty exercise aboard the depot Oct. 29, 2024. The exercise, titled Graduation Blues, simulated an explosive device detonating during a graduation ceremony, allowing base and community emergency services to test response times and emergency procedures for such an event.. Cpl. Dakota Dodd/USMC

SERVICE DIRECTORY

ATTORNEY

Christopher J. Geier

Attorney at Law, LLC

Criminal Defense & Civil Litigation

16 Professional Village Circle, Lady's Island Office: 843-986-9449 • Fax: 843-986-9450

chris@bftsclaw.com • www.geierlaw.com

AUDIOLOGY & HEARING

Beaufort Audiology & Hearing Care

Monica Wiser, M.A. CCC-A

Licensed Audiologist

38 Professional Village West, Lady's Island monica@beauforthearing.com www.beauforthearing.com | 843-521-3007

Hear the Beauty that Surrounds You

The Beaufort Sound Hearing and Balance Center

Dr. Larry Bridge, AU.D./CCC-A 206 Sea Island Parkway, Suite 31, Beaufort thebeaufortsound@gmail.com www.thebeaufortsound.com | 843-522-0655

E-Edition Digital Newspaper

A customer favorite! Enjoy the classic newspaper format in

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CLASSIFIEDS & GAMES

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The Adventure Begins

The Big Picture of the Bible

The knight bravely storms the enemy castle. Out of love for his kidnapped bride, he overcomes every foe. No one can stop his determined climb up the tower stairs. Vanquishing his final enemy, he bursts into the room where his beloved has been kept prisoner. “I am here,” he exclaims, “I have come for you!” He sets her free and, at long last, the two embrace with great joy.

Does God have such a love for us?

In our previous faith messages, we examined some of the reasons for faith in God. One can come to important insights by reflecting on the physical universe and on our experience of human nature. But these insights can only scratch the surface of the mysteries of God. If we are to know him in a deeper way, God has to choose to reveal himself to us. He has to come into the castle, so to speak, and make himself known.

God has indeed made himself known to us!

He did not simply set the universe in motion and leave us on our own without another thought. Rather, since our first days on earth, he has interacted with the human race and revealed himself to be a faithful, loving Father. As God revealed himself to his people over the centuries, he inspired many individuals to write down the stories of his words and deeds.

This is the amazing story recounted in the Bible. In its pages, we find the greatest adventure ever told: how God patiently prepared the way for the most amazing rescue mission of all time. This adventure is recounted by many authors and through various types of literature, such as histories, poems, and letters. For this reason, the Bible is not like a typical novel, but more like a library of small books collected under one cover.

To understand the Bible, we need to see the big picture. At its heart, the Bible is the adventure of God gradually forming a family of faith, the Israelites. With great patience, he helped them to love and trust him, calling them to be the light by which all the other nations would come to know him. If we can understand the broad outlines of this family history, then the other pieces of the Bible begin to fall into place. The Psalms, for example, are the family songs of the Israelite people, while Proverbs is a collection of their wise sayings.

God comes to save us!

In this message series, we will share the big picture from Genesis to Jesus. We will see that God created humanity to enjoy perfect union with him, and that we lost this union due to sin. We will watch as God begins his family of faith with the “yes” of one faithful man, Abraham, and follow this family as it grows into the nation of Israel. We will see how God prepares the way for a gift of himself beyond our imagining, a mighty warrior coming to save his beloved.