NEWS: Beaufort County public schools to resume face-to-face instruction Oct. 5. PAGE A4
SEPTEMBER 24–30, 2020 WWW.YOURISLANDNEWS.COM
COVERING BEAUFORT COUNTY
Four family members killed in McTeer Bridge crash Mother, 3 children drown after van plunges into Beaufort River By Mindy Lucas and Mike McCombs A three-vehicle collision on the J.E. McTeer Bridge on Saturday morning took the lives of nearly an entire family and has left the Lowcountry reeling. Tikia Lashay Doe, 36, and her three young sons, Jashawn Hawkins, 16, Alonzo Houston, 6, and Cameron Perry, 3, all of Burton, died after the mini-van they were traveling in flipped over the side of the bridge
and plummeted into the Beaufort River below. The four were pronounced dead at the scene – their names released Saturday by the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office. In addition, Doe was eight months pregnant, according to an accident report released by the Beaufort Police Department. The driver of the family’s vehicle, later identified as Doe’s husband by the Port Royal Police Department,
survived the crash. His name has not been released. The incident, which occurred just after 11 a.m., shut down both sides of the bridge for several hours on Saturday after the family’s Dodge Caravan, a Ford F-150 and a Chevy Malibu were involved in a collision, according to a news release issued by the Port Royal Police Department. The vehicles were traveling across the bridge toward Lady’s Island when the crash occurred, the release stated.
First responders with the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island Fire Department’s Marine Unit, Beaufort Water Search and Rescue, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office dive team and civilian boaters responded to the scene and were able to recover the victims from the submerged vehicle. Doe’s husband was taken to Beaufort Memorial Hospital and later released. The driver of the Ford F-150 was
also taken to the hospital with minor injuries and later released. The driver of the Chevy Malibu was not injured and released at the scene, the press release stated. Emergency crews used a crane to pull the family’s mini-van from the water, Port Royal Police Chief Alan Beach said. An autopsy performed on Monday revealed the family members
SEE CRASH PAGE A6
Election 2020: All eyes on first Presidential debate
Friends and supporters line the sea wall at the boat ramp of Henry C. Chambers Watefront Park on Saturday for the 14th annual Beaufort River Swim. Photo by Bob Sofaly.
Local party reps hope to see candidates stick to issues By Mindy Lucas While the pandemic may have put a damper on local watch parties, millions of Americans are still expected to tune in for the first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden next week. The two will square off from 9 to 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Sept. 29, at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. The live, 90-minute-long, commercial-free event will air on most major news stations, according to The Washington Post, and live-streamed on various websites including the Post’s. Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace will serve as moderator. Those are the details we know. What we don’t know is how the candidates will fair. “What the American people want is for them to say here are the issues, here’s where you stand on the issues and here’s what you’ve accomplished,” said Barbara Nielsen, director of communications director for the Beaufort County Republican Party. Having served as South Carolina’s Superintendent of Education for two four-year terms, Nielsen is familiar with what constituents are looking
Beaufort River Swim + 5K a success despite Covid-19 Skyler Bruner, 15, repeats as women’s champ, claims overall title
By Mike McCombs When then-14-year-old Skyler Bruner won the women’s title in the 2019 Beaufort River Swim, she was 8 seconds or so behind the overall and men’s winner, her then-16-year-old older brother Cohen Bruner. “I’ll catch him next year,” Skyler Bruner said that Saturday morning.
Zoning Board of Appeals to take up Bay Point Thursday
The Beaufort County Zoning Board of Appeals will take up the Bay Point development project on Thursday, Sept. 24. The meeting will be held at 5 p.m. at the Burton Wells Complex at 1 Middleton Recreation Drive, in Beaufort, according to the meeting agenda. The meeting will be the first in-person public hearing held on the development since the county’s Staff Review Team approved the project in May to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals. – Mindy Lucas
She didn’t beat her brother Satur- Games in Atlanta. Michael Wendt, 58, was the runday – he wasn’t in the field. But she ner-up and men’s winner beat everybody else, turning with a time of 52:59.8. Yorlin a time of 50:39.8 and claimliry Moreno, 29, was the ing the overall and women’s tioverall biathlon champion tle in the annual 3.2-mile race. Results with a time of 1:18:14.5. Mer“It might be safe to say she For complete edith Anderson, 34, was the has the Olympic genes,” Beau- race results, top women’s finisher with a fort-Jasper YMCA Healthy Liv- go to https:// www.trisignup. time of 1:25:18.4. ing Program Director and race com/Race/ Fanning said the race, organizer Denice Fanning said. Results/48567 originally scheduled for May Cohen and Skyler’s father, Carlton Bruner, swam for the United before being postponed during the States in the 1996 Summer Olympic Covid-19 pandemic, matched last
year, as far as the number of registrations – there were 141 swimmers and 32 runners this year. The YMCA raised more than $15,000 for the Y Learn To Swim program last year. “We exceeded our goals by even having (the race) and not having it canceled altogether,” Fanning said. “I couldn’t be happier.” Mike McCombs is the editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
Whitehall subdivision plan rejected By Mindy Lucas In a 4-2 vote held Monday, Sept. 22, members of the Metropolitan Planning Commission denied plans for a major subdivision to be built on the property known as Whitehall. Unlike its August meeting in which the commission took over four hours to discuss the project before tabling the discussion, it took only a matter of minutes Monday night to proceed with a motion to vote. Approval of the project had been held up for most of the year – previously by the developer who asked to remove its consideration from earlier MPC meetings citing a desire to have the public weigh in at an in-person meeting. The pandemic has prevented those types of meetings and area municipalities have been holding virtual meetings while residents and
members of the public have weighed in online, through email and social media. Recent plans presented by the developer, Sam Levin, showed a mix of retail and approximately 200 residential units on 10.1 acres. The site is zoned for mixed use. The other half of the original site, or remaining 10 acres, was sold to Beaufort County in 2018, and the county has since moved forward with its plans to develop a public park. Commission Member Judy Alling who made the motion to deny the project at Monday’s meeting said the reasons for the commission’s difficulty to make a decision had “become quite clear.” Alling called into question whether the site plan reflected the intent of the county’s zoning code adding that the site should be an extension
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of Bay Street and “large apartment buildings” were not part of Bay Street. She also maintained, as she did in August, that the traffic study the commission had asked for had not been updated properly. Commission member Bill Bardenwerper said he and other members wished that the “village looking plan” with mixed uses previously presented in 2018 was still on the table. “Because it was the kind of plan that …I think that a lot of the public was willing to overlook traffic considerations,” he said. He went on to say, however, that it was his legal opinion that the commission was not entitled to exercise authority it didn’t have.
SEE DEBATE PAGE A4 MILLIONS WILL WATCH An estimated 84 million people tuned in to watch the first Clinton-Trump debate in 2016 and 71.6 million tuned in to the third debate, according to Nielsen Media Research.
SEE PLAN PAGE A5
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2020-2021 season for recreational harvest of shellfish in South Carolina opens Oct. 1.
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