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Arts
Before she could conduct the concert, Joanna Ross Hersey paused at the podium to let two more musicians make their way down the aisles at Pawleys Island Community Church. It was worth the wait. By the time she gave them the downbeat, there were 35 tubas and euphoniums under...
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After 12 weeks of rehearsals, the Swamp Fox Junior Players will hit the stage with “Cinderella Jr.” next week at the Strand Theater. “I love classics and I remember the beauty of Cinderella when I was a child and saw a production,” director Ronnie Hunter said. “Working with juniors,...
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The Friends of the Georgetown Library are raising money to pay for a small sculpture of Harriet Tubman that will be placed inside the library when it reopens. The sculpture, titled “Whispers of My Ancestor,” features Tubman and her great-nephew, James Bowley. Bowley was one of the first enslaved...
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When “Harriet Tubman: Journey to Freedom” arrived in Georgetown County last week, its sculptor, Wesley Wofford, was inspired and amazed to see people lining the roads to watch and take pictures as it passed by. “I think it speaks of the importance of her story and her legacy,” Wofford...
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Musicians, singers, wardrobe and makeup artists and craftsmen have been hard at work at the Howard Auditorium this week getting ready for Kurt Weill’s “Street Scene,” which debuted Thursday as part of Varna International Music Academy’s “Muzika!” festival. Sharon Tchonev, co-founder and director of operations for Varna, said although...
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Georgetown has formed an Arts and Culture Commission to find ways, including events and displays, to attract visitors to the city. But don’t expect to see a transformation in the next few weeks. “I see it slowly evolving. I don’t see murals on every building or alligators on every...
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Seven rare prints of bird paintings by John James Audubon are back on the wall at Hobcaw Barony for the first time since they were stolen in 2003. “It’s nice to see them,” said Richard Camlin, director of education for the Belle W. Baruch Foundation. “We’re happy to have...
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When Ronnie Hunter studied set design in college, he wanted to stage “The Sound of Music.” His professors told him he wasn’t talented enough. Now 50, Hunter’s production of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical opens this week at the Strand Theater in Georgetown. “I relate much more to it...
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Thomas Schomberg spent the last 19 years trying to capture the emotions of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in bronze. “As an artist, I don’t understand cause, but I think I have a feeling for effect, and I know the effect this had on me and what...
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The top poems in this year’s Friends of the Waccamaw Library contest have a more serious tone than in year’s past. Cathy Filiatreau, the nonprofit’s poetry chairman, said that is a reflection of students who spent the last year dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and all the challenges that...
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Thirty years ago, Ronnie Hunter designed a set for “On Golden Pond” for a college class. That set never got built, until now. “This is my labor of love from my college days,” Hunter said. “What I envisioned over many, many years, has now come to life.” Hunter, a...
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Many families may be scaling back traditional Christmas gatherings this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but one place people can find the spirit of the season is the Strand Theater, where the Swamp Fox Players production, “O Hear the Angels’ Voices,” opens tonight. “People are going to be...
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In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are signs that the arts are returning to the area. The Swamp Fox Players plan to return to the stage in September and authors have been speaking at Moveable Feasts since last month. Director Lee Padgett describes “Independence Day at Happy...
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Six middle school students beat out more than 70 fellow writers to take top honors in the Friends of the Waccamaw Library’s annual poetry writing contest. The winners are: Aubrey Bailey, Charlie Gates, Savannah Jansky and Jack Thomas from Stacy Ownbey’s classes at Waccamaw Middle School, and Sarah Henn ...
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This article was updated to include the new opening date. Brookgreen Gardens has delayed the opening of its new exhibit, but its outdoor facilities remain open. “Southern Light,” an exhibit by light sculpture artist Bruce Munro was due to open April 8. It will now open May 1. The...
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For more than a century, the building at the corner of Highmarket and Cleland streets in Georgetown has been a center for education and the arts in Georgetown County. Originally opened in 1908, the Winyah Indigo School is home to the Winyah Auditorium and the Georgetown School of Arts...
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He goes to a regular school and has regular friends, but Brandon Goldberg is far from a regular eighth-grader. Some might call the award-winning 13-year-old a musical genius. He will perform at the first of two Lee Minton Signature Series concerts this month. The programs named for the late...
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It’s only natural that when there’s a play about how a dogs change people’s lives, that the actors and director are all dog people. Such is the case with “Sylvia,” the latest production of the Swamp Fox Players, which opens Nov 7. “Sylvia,” written by A.R. Gurney, is the...
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Bill Oberst Jr. is bringing author Ray Bradbury to life at this year’s Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston. For the show, Oberst draws from Bradbury’s own words and is accompanied by video clips, an original score, plus snippets of classic Bradbury movies, such as “Something Wicked This Way Comes”...
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The Swamp Fox Players are tackling farce in their latest production, “Sandy Toes and Salty Kisses,” which opens next week. The play was written by the husband-and-wife team of Michael and Susan Parker in 2018. It has become so popular so quickly that the Swamp Fox production is one...
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Corey Alston was a reluctant sweetgrass artist. The Lowcountry tradition goes back hundreds of years, but was maintained by women. Alston, who recently spoke as part of the Reign of Rice series at Brookgreen Gardens, is a fifth generation sweetgrass basket artist from Mount Pleasant. His grandmother, Mary Jane...
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Love is in the air at the Strand Theater in Georgetown. The Swamp Fox Players kick off the new season this week with “Almost, Maine.” The play takes place within a 10-minute timeframe in a small New England town before the aurora borealis appears. The town got its name from...
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Beaches
Rob Young thought he could improve on the WNC Strong slogan created after flooding from Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc in the mountains of western North Carolina. How about WNC Smart? It hasn’t caught on. And Young, a geology professor and director of the Program for the Study of Developed...
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Over the next 10 years, Georgetown County plans to spend $1 million on beach access improvements to keep pace with its growing population. Beth Goodale, the director of Parks and Recreation, knows that won’t be enough. “We need more beach access and parking, but above all we need more...
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A group of Pawleys Island area residents this week appealed to the town to do something about property owners encroaching in the state road right of way on the island’s north end. “There’s been so many people moving here that there’s just not enough parking for the common people,”...
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The Army Corps of Engineers is considering a change to the language of the easements it requires from property owners in order to conduct beach renourishment projects. But that change isn’t likely to happen before a Corps project to replace sand on the south end of Pawleys Island that...
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No major damage was reported from a storm this week that brought winds with hurricane-force gusts and caused schools and government offices to close. “The impacts were less than what were originally forecast,” Brandon Ellis, the county’s Emergency Management director, said. “I think that’s great. No one got hurt....
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Work began this week to rebuild a popular access to Litchfield Beach a year after it was destroyed by the storm surge from Hurricane Ian. The popularity of the walkway on the south side of the Litchfield Inn was part of the reason for the delay, said Beth Goodale,...
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After years of discussion, Pawleys Island Town Council agreed this week to spend the money to determine the condition of the rock and wood structure that holds the north end of the island in place. The jetty has been the subject of concern for years because it keeps Midway...
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Les Pitzer started trying more than a year ago to get somebody to do something about tents on the beach. “It obstructs and prevents others from enjoying the view of the beach and the ocean,” the Tradition Club resident told Georgetown County Council this week. “The tie-downs are trip...
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A $5,500 plastic fiber mat will replace a $30,000 wooden walkway at the First Street beach access on Pawleys Island. It will be the first public use of the mats in Georgetown County outside of Huntington Beach State Park. “There is some permitting we’ve got to go through with...
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Suits by property owners at Prince George claiming they were damaged by the effects of a beach renourishment project at Pawleys Island should be dismissed because none of them appealed the state permit for the work, an attorney for the state argued in court last week. An attorney for...
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Property owners at the southern end of Litchfield Beach were assessed nearly $300,000 to fund a renourishment project last summer. Two of the owners have challenged the assessment, saying the property owners association exceeded its authority in collecting money to place sand on the public beach. The association “was...
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Holes dug on the beach for recreation can be no deeper than 2 feet under a regulation approved by Georgetown County Council this week. The holes have to be filled in before the people who dig them leave the beach and only children’s toys or gardening tools under 12-inches...
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An environmental group has asked the state Court of Appeals to halt a proposed beach renourishment project at DeBordieu until it rules on a challenge to the state’s permit for the work. The DeBordieu Colony Community Association plans to start work next month on a project that will place...
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A beach renourishment project will begin at DeBordieu this fall with construction of three rock and concrete groins to follow before spring. A state Administrative Law Court judge this week rejected a request from an environmental group to halt the work while it appeals the permits. The DeBordieu Colony...
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A favorite pastime for some beachgoers is digging holes in the sand. But holes that are not filled in can be a danger to turtles and humans. “Nothing gets done with these holes that are dug on a daily basis,” Nancy Crawford, a Hagley resident, recently told County Council....
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A bill in the legislature that would prohibit beachfront towns from charging for parking without permission from the state gained support from Georgetown County Council this week. The bill, which was introduced in response to parking limits imposed in Charleston County during the pandemic, passed the Senate unanimously and...
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Property owners at the southern end of Litchfield Beach will return to the sea in search of sand for a renourishment project, abandoning plans to haul inland sand by truck. State and federal agencies are taking public comments on the third version of a permit application by the Peninsula...
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Engineers are at work to figure out how much of the 1.1 million cubic yards of sand pumped onto the beach at Pawleys Island over the winter survived the passage of Hurricane Isaias this week. The storm cut into the dune created as part of a $14.3 million beach...
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Public beach accesses in Georgetown County will reopen Friday at noon, with local officials saying they expect beachgoers to maintain “responsible social distancing.” Gov. Henry McMaster closed public accesses on March 30 as part of his emergency measures adopted to slow the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. Last week,...
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Public access to the beach on Pawleys Island will stay closed until Monday, unless the Town Council extends the closing. Access to the beaches at Litchfield and Garden City will remain closed until May 15, unless Georgetown County Council lifts the closing order sooner. Local officials took different approaches...
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A plan to end the ability of owners to unleash their dogs on Georgetown County beaches is no longer on County Council Chairman John Thomas’ agenda after hearing from constituents. “I’m planning a strategic retreat,” he said this week. Georgetown County allows dogs on the beach to be off...
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Property owners at the Litchfield Beaches want Georgetown County to follow state law when it comes to keeping dogs on a leash. They have the backing of County Council Chairman John Thomas, a North Litchfield resident. Georgetown County allows dogs on the beach to be off the leash from...
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Books
When James Patterson spoke at a Moveable Feast this month, 360 people sat down for lunch at Pawleys Plantation to hear the best-selling author. Preparing for the event was like planning a major wedding, said Linda Ketron, who founded the literary luncheons 25 years ago. “Most weddings have 200...
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December will mark the 50th anniversary of the closing of Sunset Lodge, a brothel that operated outside Georgetown near what is now a county industrial park. Over 33 years it gained world-wide renown for a port city that projected a glow of Southern gentility from beneath the live oaks...
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Brookgreen Gardens
It’s been 30 years since Brookgreen Garden first developed plans for a conservatory, and while the sculpture gardens are timeless, time does not stand still. Brookgreen is seeking a variance to cut four trees that Georgetown County classifies as “grand trees” to make way for the 10,000-square-foot building. They...
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Brookgreen Gardens’ popular holiday event started with 1,000 candles, naturally. That increased over the years to 5,000 candles. There are now about 2,800 candles on display this year for Nights of a Thousand Candles, which opens Friday. “It was just getting to be a lot,” said Jon McGann, who...
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A building that changed the way visitors viewed Brookgreen Gardens when it opened more than a quarter of a century ago has been renovated to change the way Brookgreen views the world. “Traveling exhibits have become a more and more important part of the way that we connect to...
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While the candles and lights are the most visible pieces of Nights of a Thousand Candles, other rarely noticed items are just as important. “Fishing line, zip ties and electrical tape are the unsung heroes,” said Jon McGann, who has overseen the Nights event at Brookgreen Gardens for seven...
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Brookgreen Gardens’ slogan is “Ever Changing, Simply Amazing,” and staff and volunteers take that to heart every year when designing and installing Nights of a Thousand Candles. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the holiday extravaganza, which opens tonight. Visitors will see some new designs, along with annual...
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John Paul “J.” Robertson IV grew up attending summer camps at Brookgreen Gardens. So when the 29-year-old decided to pop the question to his girlfriend, Charlotte Woodward, 28, the location was a no-brainer. “When I thought about getting engaged I wouldn’t want to do it anywhere else,” Robertson said....
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Business News
The Coastal Observer staff received 15 awards for reporting, writing, photography and design, in the S.C. Press Association’s annual news contest. The paper won first place for General Excellence among the state’s medium-sized weeklies. Judges cited the “local stories by local reporters,” the design, photos and letters to the...
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Coastal Observer staff received 17 awards for excellence in reporting, photography and design from the S.C. Press Association, including eight first-place awards. The awards were presented last week in Columbia, where Charles Swenson, Coastal Observer editor, was honored for his service as his term as press association president came...
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Coastal Observer staff won 10 awards from the S.C. Press Association for their work in 2019 and 2020, including third place for General Excellence among the mid-sized weekly newspapers. Awards were presented last week after the press association’s annual meeting in March was postponed, then cancelled due to the...
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For 40 years, a man working in a small, dusty room in Garden City has been hand-crafting world-class surfboards. “I’m lucky as hell to do what I love to make a living,” said Kelly Richards, owner of the Village Surf Shoppe and Perfection Surfboards. Richards still makes surfboards the...
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Here’s a deal. You buy Myrtle Avenue for $170, put up four beach houses for $100 each, then sit back and collect $750 from everybody who stops by. And if you want to get fancy, another $100 will replace those houses with an inn and you can pocket $950....
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Churches
Pawleys Island Community Church is bursting at the seams and recently unveiled a $6.75 million expansion plan. “Our church is very grateful it’s growing and we’ve added a lot of new people in the last year-and-a-half,” the Rev. Don Williams, the church pastor, said. “We just really have run...
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St. Paul’s Waccamaw will host its final United Methodist worship service on June 30. On July 1, St. Paul’s will officially become a member of the Global Methodist Church. “As far as the service and as far as the theology, there will be no difference,” the Rev. J.R. Virgin...
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Amy Richardson has eaten at Father Pat’s Kitchen for years, since her kids were little. They’re now in their 20s. But when Father Pat himself arrived at her table last week with a plate of roast beef, steak fries and stir-fry vegetables, she couldn’t help but wonder. “I know...
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Sarah Deas desperately needed a new roof on her Sandy Island house, but she couldn’t afford it. Whenever people would ask her about it she would tell them “God is going to give me a roof.” Deas got her new roof last week, and she believes it’s because God...
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There is a new man leading the faithful of Belin Memorial United Methodist Church for the first time in 14 years. Will Malambri was installed as senior pastor on July 14. So far he and his family have found the congregation “warm and receptive.” “We’re thankful for that,” Malambri...
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You’ll have to excuse the members of Belin Memorial United Methodist Church if they’ve been a little tearful this week. The parishioners are saying goodbye to the Rev. Mike Alexander, the pastor who has led them for the past 14 years. “This has been an incredible place, I love...
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St. Mary AME Church recently underwent a $107,000 facelift and a special guest is visiting this weekend to help the parishioners celebrate. Bishop Samuel L. Green Sr., presiding prelate, Seventh Episcopal District AME Church, will be on hand for a dedication of the church’s new roof and a worship...
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A choir of African children perform at Georgetown Presbyterian Church on Wednesday as a way to give their testimony, spread the Gospel, and raise money for people back home. Mary Lu Norris, director of music ministries at the church, views the concert as a community outreach project, and said...
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Hundreds of children in Georgetown County eat two meals every day in school. But when the weekend comes, many families go without. Two local churches are trying to help with that. St. Peter’s Lutheran Church and Belin Memorial United Methodist Church are both home to Backpack Buddies programs, which...
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Coronavirus
An emergency ordinance that required people in Georgetown County to wear face coverings in shops and restaurants expired without a bang or a whimper this week, 300 days after it was adopted by County Council. “We just let it roll on out,” Administrator Angela Christian said. “The numbers are...
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A year after the first patient in Georgetown County was diagnosed with COVID-19, staff at the area’s hospitals say it is important to remember the gains as well as the losses from the pandemic. “There’s not a day goes by that I’m in the office right now that I...
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Patty Piatt has never met her 6-month-old grandson, Ryan, who lives in Florida. All that will change now that Piatt got her COVID-19 vaccination at Pawleys Island Pharmacy on Wednesday morning. “I wish it was a month ago,” said Piatt, who became eligible to get the vaccine when the...
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Face masks will be required in public places until the end of April after Georgetown County Council passed what officials expect will be the final extension of an emergency ordinance this week. The 5-2 decision followed a plea from three residents to end the ordinance and criticism from Council...
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The state is moving into Phase 1b of the COVID-19 rollout as its weekly supply of vaccines increases by 50 percent. Starting Monday, people age 55 and older; people 16 and older who currently have cancer, are pregnant or have high-risk medical conditions such as diabetes and Down syndrome;...
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Last month, Ken Leach drove from his home in Heritage Plantation to Charleston so he and his wife and son could get the COVID-19 vaccination. Leach read all the instructions on the Medical University of South Carolina website before making the appointments. He thought that Corey, who is 41,...
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While 20,000 people 70 and older are on a waiting list to get an appointment to get the COVID-19 vaccine from Tidelands Health, a pharmacy is ready to help. Glenn Cox, owner of Pawleys Island Pharmacy, purchased a freezer capable of storing the vaccine, got his staff vaccinated and...
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With the state struggling to keep up with the demand for the COVID-19 vaccine, Publix announced Monday that pharmacies at 42 of its South Carolina stores, including Pawleys Island, will begin vaccinating residents on Wednesday. Vaccines will be available to residents 70 and above, residents and staff of long-term...
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Distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine is so fluid that Sheriff Carter Weaver was still waiting Tuesday morning to learn when deputies would be vaccinated. A few hours later he was rolling up his sleeve for a shot. “I wanted to get it to show the confidence in it and...
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An intensive care nurse and a cardiologist were the first health care workers in Georgetown County to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Ashley Griffith and Dr. Victor Diaz-Gonzalez said they were happy to set an example for their co-workers, families and community, after receiving the vaccine Wednesday at Waccamaw Community...
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Tidelands Health will soon be vaccinating a portion of its workforce against COVID-19. “We are encouraged by the progress on a safe, effective vaccine for COVID-19,” said Dr. Gerald Harmon, vice president of medical affairs for Tidelands. “An approved COVID-19 vaccine would greatly help our efforts in battling this...
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Lavern Staggers gets up before dawn and heads to the front lines. He has worked as a school custodian for almost 40 years. The job of keeping the schools clean is now about keeping them safe. At the start of the coronavirus outbreak in late February, custodians across the...
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Local business owners now have a recourse when customers refuse to wear a mask indoors: no mask, no service. “It keeps it simple, people know what’s expected and it levels the playing field,” Beth Stedman, president of the Chamber of Commerce, said about an ordinance passed by County Council...
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The COVID-19 pandemic is causing an onslaught like Dr. Desmond Young has never seen. Young, a pulmonologist at Waccamaw Community Hospital, said in the last two weeks, Tidelands Health’s two hospitals in Georgetown County have seen a “horrific increase” in the number of COVID-19 patients and the severity of...
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Georgetown County Council this week joined communities around the state in requiring face masks in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. The ordinance takes effect at midnight tonight and will remain in effect for 60 days. “There are lot of people asking us to do something,” Council...
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For a parent of a high school senior, it was a hard request to turn down. “I don’t want to miss every single graduation event,” the child said. The child had stayed at home since the governor ordered schools closed in March to help stop the spread of the...
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Georgetown County let its month-old ban on short-term rentals expire this week, catching the town of Pawleys Island off guard. The Town Council extended its ban for another two weeks. “All I really wanted was for us to be on the same page,” Town Administrator Ryan Fabbri said. “Clearly...
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Charles and Diane Costello visited Europe last month as an early celebration of their 40th wedding anniversary. Two weeks after returning to their home at Prince Creek, Charles, 66, was in a coma fighting for his life after testing positive for COVID-19. “Without my wife and God I would...
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The yellow Kia Soul rolled slowly along the gravel streets in a Garden City neighborhood. It was stuffed with boxes of food, packs of diapers and water bottles. After a series of twists and turns, the car pulled up in front of a mobile home. Tamara and Sean Lance...
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Whether it’s for individuals in need or health care workers, Waccamaw Neck residents are producing masks to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Karen Fedor of Heritage Plantation has made more than 100 masks for friends, neighbors and acquaintances who work at hospitals in Chicago and Maryland. Fedor...
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As they prepared for a surge of coronavirus patients, officials at Tidelands Health dealt with a surge of criticism that they weren’t protecting their staff adequately. The husband of a nurse at Waccamaw Community Hospital posted Saturday on Facebook that his wife was exposed to the coronavirus after she...
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The uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic has people on edge and is causing a lot of stress and anxiety. “Life has definitely changed, that’s for sure,” said Skylar Hepler, a Pawleys Island-based counselor. “My hope is that people don’t let the importance of mental health fall to the bottom...
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Public access to the beaches is closed and short-term rentals on the Waccamaw Neck are banned until the end of the month. But that doesn’t mean the beaches are closed or the beach houses are empty. Second-home owners and their friends are filling the houses. They are still able...
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Local pastors are working hard to make sure that social distancing doesn’t include spiritual distancing. With a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people in place due to the coronavirus, churches have started either live streaming Sunday services, or posting pre-recorded videos of services and sermons. The Rev....
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Georgetown County School District staff suspected that the shutdown due to the coronavirus would be more than two weeks, and had already planned for it before the governor extended it another five weeks. “I’m optimistic that as a group we’re doing all we can as a county, certainly as...
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The first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Georgetown County were reported this week as state health officials said the coronavirus pandemic had reached the “acceleration phase.” Two cases were reported Monday. The state Department of Health and Environmental Control does not release information about the location of individual cases....
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As the state was imposing new limits last week on public gatherings, the beach at Pawleys Island was filling up. “It was like a busy Saturday in July,” Police Chief Mike Fanning said. “Who knew we were going to have a heat wave in the middle of March and...
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Although Georgetown County has yet to have a confirmed case of coronavirus, life has changed. Gov. Henry McMaster ordered schools in the state to close on Monday, and the county followed on Wednesday by closing libraries, senior centers and parks and recreation facilities, and limiting access to government offices....
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Courts
There will be no quick resolution to a dispute that began nearly six years ago over parking at Marlin Quay Marina. A trial that began this week in Circuit Court in a lawsuit by the Gulfstream Café challenging Georgetown County’s approval of a new marina office and restaurant will...
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A defamation trial involving two members of the Georgetown County Board of Voter Registration and Elections came to a screeching halt on Tuesday, less than a day after the jury was seated and lawyers on both sides gave their opening statements. Tracy Gibson alleges that Jan Lane called her...
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Giving the town of Andrews the $2.7 million it needs to finish building a municipal complex would go against the will of Georgetown County voters, according to the county’s assistant attorney. The town claims it’s County County that has ignored the voters’ wishes. “If someone was to look at...
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Three years after Georgetown County Council first approved a zoning change to allow construction of a marina store and restaurant at Marlin Quay Marina, one neighbor is still trying to find out what the council members were thinking. The amendment to the “planned development” zoning prompted three lawsuits in...
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A Circuit Court judge last week denied the DeBordieu Colony Community Association’s bid to join a lawsuit over the title to marsh land at North Inlet saying there is no evidence that its members will lose access to the waterways. The Belle W. Baruch Foundation filed suit against the...
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The Belle W. Baruch Foundation had reached agreement with the state to go before a judge to decide ownership of 8,000 acres of marsh around Hobcaw Barony. Instead, a judge will decide whether the DeBordieu Colony Community Association should be allowed to intervene in the matter. “We don’t want...
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The former chairman of the state Department of Transportation commission has sued a political website saying it damaged his reputation with false accusations that he was involved in scandal and corruption at the agency. Mike Wooten of Murrells Inlet seeks actual and punitive damages from FITSNews and its owner...
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Crime
A guilty plea brought an end to the second case involving the murder of Deondré Brown, but it has not brought closure to his grandmother, Carrie Williams. Brown, 20, was shot to death outside of Williams’ home on Martin Luther King Drive in Pawleys Island on Dec. 11, 2019....
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A Pawleys Island area man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter in the 2019 shooting death of Deondre Brown outside his family’s home on Martin Luther King Road. Aiden Zasimovitch, who was 17 at the time, was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Ben Culbertson to 30 years in...
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Carrie Williams fears for her life, and the lives of her family members. Thirteen months after her grandson Deondré Brown was gunned down outside of her Parkersville home, the accused shooter, Aiden Marshall Zasimovitch, is free on bail and has contacted Brown’s younger brother on social media “It’s as...
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A Pawleys Island teen says the man he is accused of killing two weeks before Christmas beat and robbed him hours before the shooting, according to the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office. Aiden Marshall Zasimovitch, 17, was arrested Dec. 12 after investigators said he admitted shooting Deondré Ontonio Brown, 20,...
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Carrie Williams has three presents under her Christmas tree that won’t be opened this year. Her grandson Deondré Brown was shot and killed outside her home on Martin Luther King Road last week. The family hosted a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night and will gather to bury Brown today....
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Culture
A letter signed by Archer Huntington in 1948 is one of the silent auction items available at this year’s Friends of the Waccamaw Library summer book sale. “Archer was writing to the sister of one of the stone sculptors,” said Bea Mantoni, the Friends board member who is overseeing...
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While others areas of the country get three months to enjoy and learn from “Harriet Tubman: Journey to Freedom,” the sculpture will be in Georgetown County for six months. It will spend three months at Joseph Rainey Park on Front Street in Georgetown and then three months at Brookgreen...
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Ronald Coleman wasn’t aware of Juneteenth. For 91 years, his summer activities included the Fourth of July, picnics and trips to the beach. “I never thought of June and the abolishment of slavery , but now there’s another thing,” said Coleman. “It was very interesting.” He was among those...
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In a room below Georgetown’s iconic Town Clock, a brown bag sat on a table. There was a story inside. Vanessa Greene took hold of the narrative immediately. She knew that Joseph Hayne Rainey, the first Black elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, was the son of a...
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Education
There were 232 schools rated “excellent” in the report cards released last week by the state Department of Education. Three of those are in Pawleys Island: Waccamaw Intermediate, Waccamaw Middle and Waccamaw High. The high school scored a 69, the highest of all the schools in the district. The...
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The feedback Superintendent Bethany Giles has received from students about the Georgetown County School District’s ban on cell phones has been positive. “They’ve definitely shared that they’re on board,” she told the school board this week. “Some said – quite contrary to what popular opinion might be – they’re...
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Bethany Giles took over as interim superintendent of Georgetown County Schools on July 1, but she stayed in her assistant superintendent office while the school board went through the process of looking for a permanent replacement for Keith Price, who left for a job in the Midlands. Last week,...
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Nearly 100 people stopped by the Georgetown County School District office on Tuesday to hear from the four educators who want to be the next superintendent. Bethany Giles, Gregory Hall, Glenda Sheffield and William Wright were each given a chance to talk about their background and goals for the...
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When it comes to combatting bullying in schools, it takes everybody: students, administrators, teachers, parents, counselors, school staff and bus drivers. “It’s not just one person. Regardless of your credentials you cannot do it by yourself,” said Lonnie Stuckey, the director of safety and risk management for the Georgetown...
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Of the four finalists to be the next Georgetown County superintendent of schools, two are county natives, two are women, three are Black, one is a Marine Corps veteran, and one was a finalist the last time the county was looking for a superintendent. Bethany Giles, the district’s current...
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An online survey found that eight in 10 people want to see the next superintendent take the Georgetown County School District in a different direction. A third of the respondents want to see significant changes. One of the comments came from a former district student whose children currently attend...
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When Keith Price took over as superintendent of the Georgetown County School District in 2020, the world was in the grip of a pandemic. “The first year-and-a-half was just consumed with COVID. No one was really thinking about anything but how to navigate through COVID,” Price said. “While those...
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The Georgetown County School District is at risk of losing its state funding if it doesn’t come up with a policy that keeps students from using cellphones in schools. A proviso in the state budget, which has not been passed and signed by the governor, bans students from having...
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For the second time in three years, the top administrators in the Georgetown County School District both work at the same Waccamaw Neck school. Waccamaw Intermediate School’s Travis Klatka was named the principal of the year and Denetria Middleton was named the assistant principal of the year. “Even to...
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An online survey for people to give feedback on the next Georgetown County School District superintendent garnered 167 responses in the first two days after it went live. The district is also hosting one-hour feedback sessions next week at the county’s four high schools. The meetings will be at...
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Proposed state legislation to ban or limit cellphones in schools has prompted the Georgetown County School Board to review its own policy on electronic devices. The district currently leaves cellphone policy to the discretion of each school principal. “With elementary and middle schools, they don’t need to have it...
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Waccamaw Elementary is the only area public school that is expected to see an increase in enrollment in the next school year. In fact, the Georgetown County School Board has included funding for a teacher and a paraprofessional for a new pre-K class at the school as part of...
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The Georgetown County School Board named deputy superintendent Bethany Giles as the district’s interim superintendent this week. “The board is confident in Dr. Giles’ ability to serve as interim superintendent,” School Board Chairman Bill Gaskins said in a statement. “She is very familiar with GCSD, and we look forward...
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The Georgetown County School Board hopes to have an interim superintendent in place by the middle of next month and a permanent replacement named sometime after the start of the new school year. “That is our goal,” Chairman Bill Gaskins said at the board meeting this week. Superintendent Keith...
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Georgetown County School Superintendent Keith Price was named this week as the superintendent-elect of the Lexington County 1 School District. “It’s a great opportunity but also bittersweet to be saying goodbye to so many great people, colleagues and friends that I’ve made in my time here. It’s a bundle...
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Georgetown County School Superintendent Keith Price is one of three finalists to be the next superintendent of the Lexington 1 School District. Price declined to comment since the application process is ongoing. He notified the Georgetown County School Board members on March 20, the day before the names of...
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The Georgetown County School District is considering a proposal to add “safety monitors” at middle and high schools in the next school year. Alan Walters, the district’s chief operations officer, made a pitch for the new positions to the school board this week. “We think it is a critically...
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The question that was nagging students and parents at Waccamaw Intermediate was answered as cars pulled up in the front of the school Monday morning. Sunrise revealed a splash of green in the branches of a lacebark elm – and a sliver of yellow tights. The elf was back....
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A new art program for students in middle and high school is on track to open its doors in Georgetown in the fall of 2024. The C.E.W. Collaborative is the brainchild of Charles Williams, a world-renowned artist and Georgetown County native. The school “is an elite program for me...
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On a Wednesday evening late last last month, a team of Georgetown County students gathered in a circle to stretch before a competition. The students from all four high schools did exercises to loosen the muscles in their neck, their back and their hands. No need to stretch leg...
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In the wake of a loaded gun being found inside Carvers Bay Middle STEAM Academy last month, the Georgetown County School District has deployed weapons detection systems to be used every day at all eight of its middle and high schools. Superintendent Keith Price hopes the the district’s efforts...
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Waccamaw Middle and Waccamaw High have the highest scores in the district on state report cards that were released this week. Along with Pleasant Hill Elementary, they earned overall ratings of “excellent.” “As a collective team, we worked so hard with different strategies and initiatives together that allowed us...
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The Georgetown County School District’s magnet school program is in full swing and it has teachers and students in the Carvers Bay area thinking outside the box, like using Legos in lessons. Pleasant Hill Elementary School principal Lee Glover said his students “absolutely love” building with Legos. “Because it’s...
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During the last school year, Waccamaw Middle School students were tested quarterly on their writing skills to prepare them for state testing. That strategy worked as 90 percent of eighth-graders and 71 percent of seventh-graders met or exceeded expectations in the English/language arts (ELA) portion of the state’s standardized...
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Chris Bergeron, the director of Coastal Montessori Charter School, has been placed on paid administrative leave while the sheriff’s office investigates an allegation that he sexually assaulted a Waccamaw Middle School student three years ago. An Horry County woman told a sheriff’s deputy and a victim’s service officer on...
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Eight weeks after the 2022-23 school year ended, the 2023-24 school year has begun. Students are back in their classrooms today, about two weeks earlier than normal due to the district’s new modified year-round calendar. “Our teachers are excited to be back and we’re going to continue moving forward...
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The Georgetown County School Board is poring over the district’s discipline policies to suggest updates, and to make sure the policies are being enforced consistently in all schools. Several board members met with a committee of district officials to review the policies, which were presented as a “code of...
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Moments after being named Georgetown County’s new Teacher of the Year, Julieanne Humowitz got a hug from Ben Tester, who received the honor last year. Humowitz taught Tester when he was a student at Waccamaw High School. She’s taught a lot of students during her 29-year career. “I’m humbled,...
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The Georgetown County School District is looking for more students to join the 55 already accepted into the new Magnet Schools Assistance Program. The district will open another application period at the end of June. “I know this is really going to increase for our second window,” Constance May,...
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When Charles Williams was a first- and second-grader at Kensington Elementary School he was unfocused. His mother, who volunteered at the school, and Christie Weaver, one of his teachers, realized that art helped him concentrate. “My mom was in the art room helping Christie and I was able to...
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One of the last changes caused by the pandemic will be gone when the new school year starts in August. Fifteen minutes of instructional time is being restored at all the district’s elementary schools and Waccamaw Intermediate School. “It was something that our principals brought up. It was an...
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A familiar face is taking over as director of the Coastal Montessori Charter School. The charter school’s board voted this week to hire Chris Bergeron, the school’s physical education teacher, to succeed Rosemary Gray, who is retiring at the end of the school year. “I’m really excited about the...
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The state superintendent of education shared a secret with kindergarteners at Maryville Elementary School this week. Ellen Weaver told the youngsters that knowing how to read was their superpower. “Reading is the most foundational skill,” Weaver said. “Everything else in education relies on reading.” Weaver is a staunch supporter...
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A steady stream of parents and children filed in and out of the J.B. Beck Administration Building seeking information about the Georgetown County School District’s new Magnet Schools Assistance Program. Some had already made up their minds to send their children to school in the Carvers Bay area and...
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One of the essential parts of the Georgetown County School District’s new Magnet Schools Assistance Program is bringing equity and opportunity to all students. “It’s going to be a wonderful experience for our students; giving them an opportunity to kind of figure out what they like and where they...
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After 40 years as an educator, including the last two as Coastal Montessori Charter School director, Rosemary Gray is retiring. “It has been an honor and privilege to work with our CMCS families,” Gray wrote in an email sent to parents. “Thank you for being so involved in your...
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Starting July 1, the nine members of the Georgetown County Board of Education will get the first salary increase in more than 20 years. The board voted this week to increase salaries from $6,719 to $8,000 for members and from $9,406 to $9,700 for the chairman. There was no...
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High school students still dissect frogs in science class, but a select few also dissect the body parts on larger animals, like cows. Seven Waccamaw High School students in Barbara O’Neill’s human body systems class got a closeup look at a cow’s elbow on Monday to give them a...
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The state has mandated that certain teachers get 30 minutes of time off every day. The Georgetown County School District wants to go a step farther and give all its teachers a break. “It’s an interesting law and policy on the surface. Who wouldn’t support making sure that those...
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Waccamaw Middle School’s grade on the last state report cards has landed it on a state watch list. The school is one of 365 across the state that have been chosen for “additional targeted support and improvement” by the state Department of Education. Principal Ginny Haynes said the designation...
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The Georgetown County School Board is moving forward with a plan to increase their pay, which has been frozen since 2003. “It’s something serious we need to look at,” Board Member Robert Cox, who holds an at-large seat. “This is not something this board created, we’re just trying to...
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Magnets attract. Students from the Waccamaw Neck, Georgetown and Andrews are what the Georgetown County School District is hoping will be attracted to the Carvers Bay area in August when its five schools transition to magnet schools. Each school will have its own theme: creative and performing arts; STEAM...
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Members of the Georgetown County School Board get paid like it’s 2002, not 2022. If the board decides to change district policy, it will mean an extra $3,391 a year for the nine members. Board members are supposed to be paid 25 percent of a starting teacher’s salary. During...
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Col. Scott Gibson is no longer head of school at Lowcountry Prep School, and unhappy parents want answers from the school’s board of trustees. “Whoever made this knee-jerk reaction maybe didn’t have a pulse on what was really going on at the school,” said Suzanne Temple, the mother of...
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Perhaps it was a joke. Maybe some kind of sick humor? It was enough to make your toes curl; unless your toes were curled already. Students who arrived at Waccamaw Intermediate School on Monday morning were confronted by the doleful sight of an elf seated in a wheelchair in...
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Members of the Georgetown County School Board told Bill Gaskins he was the right man to be the next chairman. After much contemplation and prayer, Gaskins agreed to accept the nomination and was unanimously elected on Tuesday night. The support of his fellow board members was humbling, said Gaskins,...
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A week-long survey by the Georgetown County School District showed overwhelming support among staff, parents and students for a plan that will start classes the first week of August next year and add two midterm breaks. The school board approved the plan this week with only one of the...
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Some business owners who rely on teachers and students for their workforce during the summer say they are worried about a proposed change to the Georgetown County School District calendar that would start classes earlier next year. The change would have teachers returning to classrooms in July and students...
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The Georgetown County School District has been awarded $14.9 million from the U.S. Department of Education to start a magnet program in the Carvers Bay area. “When we began having this discussion and presented the idea to the principals, there was a lot of excitement, but also some nerves,...
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The Georgetown County School District is moving forward with a proposal to begin the next school year at the end of July. Teachers would report July 27 and the first day of classes would be Aug. 3, a week and half earlier than this year. Superintendent Keith Price unveiled...
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Coastal Montessori Charter School started as a dream of a dozen parents in December of 2009. On Monday, students celebrated the 10th anniversary of the school’s first classes with cupcakes and a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday.” “The word that comes to mind is joy,” said Kristin Bohan, who...
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As school safety measures evolve, the Georgetown County School District changes to keep up with the times. The district has ordered a “weapons detection system” for each middle and high school. The system looks like metal detectors, but uses artificial intelligence to identify specific shapes of potential weapons. People...
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Based on the traffic on Highway 17, summer is still in full swing. But vacation is ending for Georgetown County public school students, who return to class on Monday. More than 7,000 students are already enrolled, but the district is expects that as many as another 1,000 will show...
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The days of free meals for all students at every school in the county are over. Students at Waccamaw Intermediate, Waccamaw Middle, Waccamaw High and Georgetown High schools who don’t qualify for free meals will once again have to pay. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture...
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The Georgetown County School Board approved a $99.1 million budget this week that gives raises to all employees and increases the district’s salary scales and minimum wage. The revised budget is $1.89 million more than the board approved last month due to an increase in state funding. The extra...
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Thirty-two years after joining the staff of Waccamaw High School, Cara Cook walked out of the school for the last time on Friday. “This place has given me a lot. It’s been family. It’s raised my children with me,” Cook said. “It’s gotten me through several of the worst...
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The Georgetown County School Board approved a 3.5-mill property tax increase to fund raises for employees in the coming year and increase salaries in the future. That’s a rise of 3 percent. The proposal is due for a public hearing later this month. The increase was well under the...
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The Georgetown County School District is continuing to plan for magnet schools, even as it waits to learn whether it will get a federal grant to fund the program. “If we are successful with this application, this program will allow us to bring some really, really unique opportunities to...
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Funding employee pay raises and additional staff in the Georgetown County School District will leave a $3.1 million shortfall in the budget for the coming year. But the school board learned this week that it can cover that with a 7.3 percent tax increase, equal to a little over...
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School administrators and district staff have wish lists for new positions, and pay increases. Now the school board has to decide which ones to pay for and where to get the money. The board will get to work on the budget for the 2023 fiscal year at a work...
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The new coach may have a few late nights. But they won’t be spent on the bus, driving home from some far-flung field. The Georgetown County School District is starting an eSports program. A team comprised of students from each of the four high schools will begin competition in...
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The Georgetown County School District is seeking a federal grant to start magnet programs at the five schools in the Carvers Bay area of the county. “The magnet concept is to attract more students to that area and also to retain students in that area to keep them from...
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The Georgetown County School District has been funding 62 positions with money from the federal government for COVID-19 relief. Even though that funding won’t run out until September 2024, the district is not waiting until then to make decisions on which positions to keep. “There are a lot of...
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A Waccamaw High School graduate has returned to school to help future graduates navigate their career or college path. Vince Guarino, a 2008 graduate, was hired as the school’s college and career readiness coach in November. “I’m having a lot of fun,” Guarino said. “It’s been interesting coming back...
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The 2022-23 school year is expected to start at its usual time in mid-August under a new calendar made public at the Georgetown County School Board meeting this week, not earlier in August as the district proposed in January. Under the “traditional” calendar, teachers would return to work Aug....
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When Chairman Jim Dumm resigned from the Georgetown County School Board at the end of 2021, Vice Chairman Arthur Lance became acting chairman. Although he was not elected chairman by his fellow board members, Lance has taken over all the responsibilities of being chairman, according to Lindsay Anne Thompson,...
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Tera Marshall used to be a student at the Pawleys Island Child Development Center. Now she is the director of the center, which has been educating children for 47 years. “I’ve kind of come full circle,” Marshall said. “I had a special connection with this building and it’s in...
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The Georgetown County School Board will have one new member in the spring, and maybe two. Chairman Jim Dumm sent a letter to Superintendent Keith Price dated Dec. 23 tendering his resignation effective at midnight on Dec. 31. Dumm, who had served on the board for 27 years, cited...
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A North Litchfield resident is now chairman of the state Board of Education. Alan Walters, who is executive director of safety and risk management for the Georgetown County School District, plans to focus on school safety during his two-year term as chairman. “I want to use this position to...
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A bill in the state legislature to create Education Savings Accounts that would take money from school districts and give it to parents to spend on their child’s education is raising concerns with members of the Georgetown County School Board. Once the money is taken from the district it...
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The top administrators in the Georgetown County School District both work at Waccamaw Elementary School. Ashley Cameron is the principal of the year and Robert DelBagno is the assistant principal of the year. “It’s exciting,” Cameron said. “I was surprised, but really honored and thrilled that my staff nominated...
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The Georgetown County School District is working on a strategic plan for the next five years and is seeking input from as many people as possible. The district brought together more than 100 people representing all of its schools on Tuesday to brainstorm on its vision for the future....
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Take a walk past the Montessori School of Pawleys Island and you might see some of its youngest students digging in the dirt and watering plants. Students in pre-K classes are learning about food production and the circle of life by maintaining gardens and composting leftover food. “It really...
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Superintendent Keith Price joined the Georgetown County School in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and his leadership since then earned him high praise, a contract extension and a raise from the School Board. The board gave him an “excellent evaluation” last month. According to a summary of the...
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Parents will still decide whether their children have to wear masks inside Georgetown County schools, for now. The school board voted unanimously this week not to enact a mask mandate, but discussed options for mandates if there is another rise in COVID-19 cases Board Member Lynne Ford said that...
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The Georgetown County School Board is expected to discuss whether to require that face masks be worn inside schools when it meets next week. A proviso in the state budget this year barred the use of public funds to promote or enforce face masks in schools. This week, a...
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The Georgetown County School District had a nearly $2 million budget surplus at the end of the 2019-20 school year. The school board decided this week to spend more than half of that on bonuses for employees. Approximately 1,300 full-time employees will receive $750 each. Nearly 200 part-time and...
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The Georgetown County School District has amended its quarantine policy to shorten the time students exposed to COVID-19 spend away from the classroom. However, students must produce a negative COVID test, taken at least five days after exposure, to return to class in seven days instead of 10 days....
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While state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman is worried about how far behind the state’s third-graders are academically, those at Waccamaw Elementary School outperformed the district and the state on the report cards released this week. “Considering the circumstances I was real pleased,” principal Ashley Cameron said. “Considering the...
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Georgetown County schools opened Wednesday with 176 students and 10 staff members in quarantine due to the spike in COVID-19 cases caused by the Delta variant. Under state law, school districts cannot require that masks are worn inside schools. “We were hopeful that the COVID impact was mostly behind...
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The Georgetown County School District is preparing to welcome teachers and students back to school in the next few weeks as the state once again finds itself with a rising number of COVID-19 cases. A month ago, there were 115 new cases in the state, including two in Georgetown...
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The Georgetown County School District is still working on its reopening plans, but its plan to stagger school start times is not popular with some parents. The district announced in June that elementary and intermediate schools would start at 7:30 a.m. and middle and high schools at 8:30 a.m....
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The legislature and Gov. Henry McMaster have spoken: school districts cannot use funds to require masks be worn inside any education facilities, nor can mask policies be enforced or even announced. The legislature included the proviso in this year’s budget, which was signed by the governor and went into...
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Parents now have the option of not having their children wear masks inside school buildings. Gov. Henry McMaster signed an executive order on Tuesday overriding all mask requirements in the state. “We have known for months that our schools are some of the safest places when it comes to...
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Unless an order comes from someone at the state level, the Georgetown County School District will continue to require masks to be worn inside facilities. Superintendent Keith Price said throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the district has followed guidelines from state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman, the state Department of...
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As the Georgetown School District is considering only offering a virtual option for its high school student next year, one teacher said the district needs to deal with its internet issues before moving forward. Madison McCoy of Murrells Inlet, a kindergarten teacher at Waccamaw Elementary School, expressed her frustration...
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The Georgetown County School District will continue to offer a virtual learning option for students in the next school year, but it will be more selective about who can enroll. Parents will have to fill out an application for each child, which will have to be approved by the...
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More than 1,600 county students in grades two through eight failed at least one class during the first quarter of the school year. That is 36 percent of students in elementary, intermediate and middle schools. “We’ve known that the pandemic was going to have an impact on performance and...
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For the first time in almost a year, Georgetown County students will return to classrooms five days a week starting next month. The school board approved a reopening plan this week that expands in-person classes to five days a week for elementary and intermediate school students on March 1...
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Travis Klatka couldn’t see the smiles behind his students’ masks on Monday, but he knew they were there. “You could see it in their eyes that they’re excited to see friends they may not have seen for awhile,” said Klatka, who is the principal at Waccamaw Intermediate School. Monday...
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Georgetown County parents of students in elementary and intermediate schools will have the option of sending their children to in-person classes four days a week starting on Feb. 1. The school board approved a hybrid-plus plan this week. Students were attending in-person classes two days a week before the...
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With the local number of coronavirus cases passing their summer peak and hospitals at capacity, the Georgetown County School District delayed the return of students to in-person classes after winter break. The district will operate in its remote phase for the week of Jan. 4. “We thought for everyone’s...
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More than 100 people have donated money to help the family of Gene Nicastro, who was fired as the director of the Coastal Montessori Charter School last month. An account set up on the Go Fund Me website raised $10,967 in four days. The goal is $15,000. According to...
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Rapid tests for COVID-19 that will be distributed by the state to school districts have a 98 percent accuracy rate. But officials at the Georgetown County School District are in no rush to use them, because the test’s accuracy is based on testing people with symptoms of the virus....
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One week after firing its director, the Coastal Montessori Charter School board named Rosemary Gray as interim director. “I will work hard for you and with you,” Gray said after the announcement on Monday. She promised to continue to move the school forward. Gray is a retired educator with...
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For the second time in a month, a proposal to bring some of Georgetown County’s students back for in-person learning four days a week was defeated by the school board. Under the hybrid-plus plan recommended this week by district staff, all students in pre-K through fifth grade, along with...
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The Waccamaw Neck’s two new school board members are ready for the biggest challenge facing the district: getting students back inside classrooms full-time during the COVID-19 pandemic. “How do we properly prepare our children for their future in the current state that we’re in? We don’t want this pandemic...
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A proposal to expand in-person classes for students in pre-K through fifth grade was defeated this week by the Georgetown County School Board. Known as “hybrid-plus,” the plan was put together by the district in response to a memo from the state Department of Education urging districts to find...
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The Georgetown County School District will begin releasing its own COVID-19 infection numbers in the next couple of weeks. “Like a lot of other districts, we’ve just decided we need to put up our own,” said Alan Walters, the district’s director of safety. “We’re working out the logistics of...
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The combination of fewer students, more expenses due to COVID-19 and the lack of a new state budget is a headache for the Georgetown County School District. “We’re planning for the worst, trying to make sure we cover our basic obligations because we don’t know when this will end,”...
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It took nearly two weeks, but Georgetown County students and teachers were finally reunited inside classrooms on Monday. Superintendent Keith Price said principals from across the district told him the first days went really well. “I think everyone is happy to be at this point,” Price said. “Everyone understands...
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With the state reporting positive COVID-19 tests at only two schools in the district, students are heading back into classrooms starting on Monday. “While much work has been done, there is still much to do,” Superintendent Keith Price said. The state Department of Health and Environmental Control is...
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The Georgetown County School District is on the verge of moving into its hybrid phase, which would put students back in classrooms by the end of the month. “We are all eagerly awaiting that time when we get the all clear to move into our hybrid phase,” Superintendent Keith...
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Less than three weeks before the start of the new school year, the Georgetown County School District has less than half the teachers it needs for its virtual program. Superintendent Keith Price said the district’s human resources staff is working with school principals to find teachers “most well-equipped” to...
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Georgetown County public school students will start the new year in the same place they finished the last one: at home in front of their computers. Superintendent Keith Price said the decision to open in the “remote” phase was made because of the number of COVID-19 cases in the...
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Nearly one-third of students are already enrolled in the Georgetown County School District’s virtual program for the 2020-21 school year. As of noon on Wednesday, 2,945 students signed up. That number could increase since the district extended the sign-up deadline to Monday, or decrease since parents have until Aug....
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The Georgetown County School District will offer a completely virtual option for the new school year, but parents will have to decide quickly if that’s what they want for their child. The deadline to apply to the “Georgetown Virtual Program” on the district’s website is Wednesday. “I can’t adequately...
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The Georgetown County School District will have its first new superintendent since 2003 beginning July 1. Keith Price was named superintendent last week. He was one of three finalists to replace Randy Dozier, who will retire June 30. Price told the school board he is determined to “continue and...
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Keith Price was named Georgetown County’s new school superintendent Friday in a 5-2 vote. He was one of three finalists to replace Randy Dozier, who will retire June 30. “We had three excellent interviews,” Chairman Jim Dumm said before the vote. “It’s a tough, tough, tough decision.” Price has...
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The Georgetown County School District is expected to name a new superintendent by Memorial Day. School board members interviewed six candidates this week to replace Randy Dozier and announced three finalists on Wednesday. Two of the finalists – Valarie Williams and William Wright – are from North Carolina and...
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Georgetown County schools will focus on making sure students don’t fall behind following Gov. Henry McMaster’s decision this week to extend school closings in the face of the coronavirus outbreak. Online learning will continue through the end of the current school year next month. McMaster and state Superintendent of...
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With schools closed until at least March 31, the Georgetown County School District is making sure students will still be fed. Waccamaw Neck parents or guardians can stop by Waccamaw Elementary School between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays to pick up breakfast and lunch for each...
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The search for a new superintendent for the Georgetown County School District drew over 1,100 responses to an online survey, which confirmed the results of meetings with nearly 300 people around the district as consultants compiled a profile of the ideal candidate. The district should be able to attract...
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An elementary school principal from Pittsburgh will be the new director of Coastal Montessori Charter School. The charter board voted Wednesday to offer the position to Gene Nicastro. Chip Hennecy, who has been interim director for the past year, will be the assistant director, the position he held before...
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Reliable. Visible. Confident. Accessible. Able to make hard decisions. These are some of the traits that people are looking for in the next Georgetown County superintendent of schools. A team of consultants will give the school board a leadership profile next week based on three days of community input...
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Travis Klatka is changing jobs, but it won’t have much of an effect on his commute. After five years as the assistant principal at Waccamaw Middle School, Klatka has been promoted to interim principal at Waccamaw Intermediate School. “I’m excited to get in there, get to know my staff,...
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The Georgetown County School Board this week approved a schedule that will have them select a replacement by the end of May for Superintendent Randy Dozier, who will retire June 30. That includes more 20 hours of public engagement over three days this month to help consultants identify the...
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When Principal Tim Carnahan met with the teachers of Waccamaw Intermediate School before it opened in 2008, he gave them some advice: love the kids like they’re your own. Twelve years later Carnahan is leaving the school to become principal at Lexington Elementary near Columbia. “It’s hard to walk...
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A group of fifth-graders from Waccamaw Intermediate School hope that a house that rises and falls with the tide will help them win a FIRST Lego League state title on Saturday. The team, called the R2 Designers, came up with the idea for a “Hover House,” a structure built...
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A loaded gun found in the possession of a student inside a high school last month has school officials examining district safety measures and may lead to a clear bag policy. On Oct. 22, three Georgetown High School students, two 17-year-olds and one 15-year-old, were arrested after two made...
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Four Waccamaw Neck schools saw their overall ratings drop on state report cards released this week, including two – Waccamaw Intermediate and Coastal Montessori Charter – that saw double-digit declines. This is the second year the state has used the current formula to comply with the federal education law...
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Nine Georgetown County School District staff members and principals woke up Wednesday morning with new job titles, and some with new responsibilities. According to Superintendent Randy Dozier, the district is not through shifting people around yet. A handful of principals are ready for additional responsibilities, Dozier said, which means...
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George Weathers used to arrive at school at 8:30 a.m. and say the Lord’s prayer at the first bell. There were two classroom with four or five rows of chairs: first grade through fourth and fifth through eighth. The teacher was strict, he said. That was in the 1940s....
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To balance its 2020 budget, the Georgetown County School District is considering a 5.9 mill increase which would bring in an extra $1.7 million a year. Earlier this year the district projected a $2.1 million deficit in 2020. With budget cuts, it was able to decrease that estimate to...
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Waccamaw Elementary School students and staff now have an oasis behind the school to use for education, relaxation and fun. The school’s Parent-Teacher Organization funded the renovation of the Dolphin Garden, which includes a sensory garden, outdoor classroom, butterfly bushes and eating area just outside of the cafeteria. “It’s...
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There will be six new members on the board at Coastal Montessori Charter School in the coming year. The former vice-chairman is the only returning member in the election held this week. Tyler Esterling, Paula Johnson and Carla Todd were elected to two-year terms. Kathy Redwine, Joy Burch, Kimberly...
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A grief-stricken Waccamaw High School community gathered on Monday to pray, comfort each other and try to find a way forward after a student committed suicide last week, the second to take his own life since the beginning of April. “It’s been a very emotional time for everyone involved,...
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Becca-Lyn McRobbie knew when she was in middle school in New Jersey that she wanted to be a teacher. “When I was growing up I always pictured myself being a teacher,” McRobbie said. “It was something that always caught my attention and I was always influenced by my family...
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Hundreds of students crammed into the cafeteria and the media center at Waccamaw Intermediate School last week to show off their creativity, innovation, critical thinking, decision making and problem solving. Students from every grade and every Georgetown County school were on hand to compete in the district’s annual tech...
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A survey that the former director suggested to find out why teachers and students were leaving Coastal Montessori Charter School turned into a poll on her management of the school, according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The school’s board released the questions, but not the...
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The 11 members of the Waccamaw High School competitive speech team are very good at what they do. There’s very little debate about that, even though debating is something they do best. The Windtalkers won the Class 3A state championship earlier this month. It was the ninth Class 2A...
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Florida Yeldell, a lifelong educator, was inducted as the ninth member of the Georgetown County Women’s Hall of Fame last week. “She touched the lives of hundreds of students, drawing them in with her quiet presence, holding them fast to the ideals of scholarship and excellence, believing that her...
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As hundreds of people waited anxiously Tuesday to find out if Waccamaw Intermediate would be named one of the state’s best schools, the unthinkable happened: the two computers set up to live stream the announcement failed. As school staff struggled to fix the glitches, principal Tim Carnahan and other...
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Waccamaw High School extended its streak of Senior Academic Bowl wins to six last week by sweeping through this year’s tournament at the Beck Education Center. “It means a lot, it means keeping the streaking going and keeping this in our pocket every year,” said Covey Loftus, captain of...
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The director of Coastal Montessori Charter School resigned in January because she felt she was being undermined by the school’s board of directors, according to internal documents. Nathalie Hunt’s tenure as director came to a quick end during a two-week period in January. On Jan. 9, Hunt sent a...
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As the search continues for a new director of the Coastal Montessori Charter School, the old director is being paid two-thirds of her salary as a consultant. Nathalie Hunt informed the school’s board on Jan. 11 that she would leave at the end of the school year. Three days...
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Eighth-grade classrooms in Georgetown County were empty this week as students headed to Myrtle Beach for a career expo. Pathways 2 Possibilities, hosted by the Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation, brought scores of employers to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center to expose about 6,000 students from seven counties in the...
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There was no shortage of qualified applicants for the job of deputy superintendent of Georgetown County Schools. They may have been too qualified. “We had a good group of folks,” School Board Chairman Jim Dumm said. “A number of them were up for other positions.” The board decided this...
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Coastal Montessori Charter School will get nearly $445,000 more in state and federal funds this year due to a rise in enrollment and government spending on education. The increase includes $180,275 more in elementary funding, $100,238 in primary funding and $84,993 in Pupils in Poverty funding. “It’s a much...
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Two weeks after the sudden departure of the Coastal Montessori Charter School director Nathalie Hunt, parents and staff asked the school’s board this week for details. About 30 people attended the charter board’s meeting. Board chairman Ryan Fabbri started off by telling everyone that Hunt’s departure had “absolutely nothing”...
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The Georgetown County School District has a design for a new logo, but no timetable yet for adoption. The current logo is divided into four quadrants with intricate drawings representing the areas of the district, surrounded by words and leaves and topped by a lamp of learning. The proposed...
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Students and staff at Waccamaw Intermediate School began a frenzied search this morning for Chomper. The plush toy alligator can be elusive. Just before the winter break, it was found hidden in the lost-and-found. “Go into a school and look for dimples. Dimples on the staff, dimples on the...
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The director of Coastal Montessori Charter School announced this week that she will step down. Nathalie Hunt is the second director since the school opened in 2011 and oversaw its move to a new building. “This decision was not easy. I truly consider this school my first child –...
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Michael Cafaro was subject to random tests for drugs and alcohol as the Georgetown High principal because he was also licensed to drive a school bus. “I was able to brag to the staff and students that I was drug free,” he said. He proposed a way to get...
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The Georgetown County School Board agreed this week to restore funding to the Coastal Montessori Charter School that was cut after the discovery that the wrong numbers were used in the calculation. The move will proved an additional $225,000 to the charter school, which is sponsored by the district....
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Elections
A 1-cent local sales tax to pay for infrastructure projects won approval from Georgetown County voters this week by a margin as thin as a dime, according to the preliminary results. Voters rejected a second penny tax that would have provided a property tax credit by an even narrower...
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Over half of Georgetown County voters cast early or absentee ballots ahead of this Tuesday’s general election, according to data from the S.C. Election Commission. If turnout this year is the same as it was in the 2020 presidential election – 74.3 percent – the 26,124 votes already cast...
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A record number of South Carolina residents wanted to cast a ballot in this year’s general election but didn’t want to wait until Nov. 5. Lines were long at the recreation center in Pawleys Island and the county elections office in Georgetown when polls opened on Monday. Al and...
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Voting for the general election has begun. The county has received 1,998 applications for absentee ballots and mailed out 1,600 ballots. So far, 670 have been returned. Early in-person voting begins Monday at four sites around the county. Four years ago, during the pandemic, nearly half of the votes...
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As a mother of four, Kristie Baxley is very familiar with public and private schools on the Waccamaw Neck. The Litchfield Country Club resident has set her sights on representing District 6 (Pawleys Island/Litchfield) on the Georgetown County Board of Education. She is the only candidate to file in...
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Four votes. That’s what separates Scott DuBose (2,169 votes) and Lynne B. Ford (2,165) in the race for the District 2 seat on the Georgetown County School Board. The results are unofficial, pending a recount that will happen Friday morning after the Board of Elections and Voter Registration certifies...
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The general election may not be until Nov. 8, but voting starts on Monday. Registered voters can cast a ballot at three voting centers – including the Litchfield Exchange – or the elections office in Georgetown. “We need to make sure that people have no excuse for not voting,”...
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As early voting gets ready to start on Monday, the candidates for three seats on the Georgetown County Board of Education are split over how important education experience is for a board member. The candidates shared their thoughts at forums in Georgetown and Pawleys Island this week. Lynne Ford,...
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Lynne Ford kept her signs and her banners from her 2020 campaign for the District 6 seat on the Georgetown County Board of Education. She always planned to serve two terms. “I want to be efficient,” Ford said. “These are perfectly good signs.” The only problem is they say...
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Georgetown County voters joined the wave that swept U.S. Rep. Tom Rice from his 7th Congressional District seat in Tuesday’s GOP primary. State Rep. Russell Fry garnered 51 percent of the overall vote in the crowded race that featured seven candidates. Rice was got 25 percent. In Georgetown County,...
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Kathy Ferdon-Anderson was elected to the Georgetown County School Board on Tuesday, despite trailing her two opponents on the Waccamaw Neck, where just over half the votes were cast. “It’s been a good experience, it’s been fun and exhausting,” said Ferdon-Anderson, a Georgetown resident who narrowly defeated Jon Tester...
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Three months after one of the two at-large seats on the Georgetown County School Board became vacant, voters will decide on Tuesday who will fill it. Jon Tester and Scott DuBose, both of Pawleys Island, and Kathy Ferdon-Anderson of Georgetown have spent weeks talking about their ideas at public...
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Critical race theory occupied more time than any other topic at a forum in Georgetown last week for candidates in a nonpartisan school board election. It was hosted by the local chapter of the NAACP. “CRT is not part of the GCSD curriculum, nor is part of our state...
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Shifting two neighborhoods in Georgetown lifted clouds of doubt from a plan to redraw County Council districts for the next decade. The council gave final approval this week to a map that places three of the seven districts entirely on Waccamaw Neck – with one of those entirely in...
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Two of the candidates for the vacant at-large seat on the Georgetown County School board retired from the school district. The third is a long-time visitor and property owner who moved here permanently after retiring in 2017. They will be on the ballot in a special election March 29...
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Two men and one woman have filed to run in the special election to fill the vacant at-large seat on the Georgetown County School Board. Jon Tester lives in Pawleys Retreat, Scott DuBose lives in Pawleys Plantation and Kathy Ferdon-Anderson lives in Georgetown. Tester retired as assistant superintendent after...
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A redistricting map adopted this week by Georgetown County Council separates School Board Member Lynne Ford from her district by the width of a street even as it pulls the rest of the Waccamaw Neck together into three compact districts. The seven council districts are also used by the...
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Two proposed changes to Georgetown County Council districts shifts voters in DeBordieu into a district centered on the city of Georgetown. Council Member Bob Anderson, who represents those voters now, hopes to get them back before the new districts are made final next month. “People in DeBordieu don’t want...
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Georgetown County Council doesn’t have new election districts, but it does have its first candidate. Stella Mercado, a co-founder of the tech firm Mercom, announced this week that she will run as a Republican for the District 6 seat now held by Council Member Steve Goggans, who will not...
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Environment
The Planning Commission is sticking by its goals for Georgetown County’s natural resources element adopted two years ago. Members voted 6-0 to send those goals back to County Council, which had asked them to review proposed changes made by staff and council members in 2023. “I see no reason...
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Five years after Morgan Park in Georgetown was chosen as the site of a living shoreline, the work is almost complete. Zulu Marine Services of Savannah is putting on the finishing touches this week. “Everything went well,” said Shannon Merino of Zulu. “It’s gone as planned.” Morgan Park, which...
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There were far fewer sea turtle nests this year (4,816) than last year across the state (6,597). Despite that, the people who oversee the volunteers for the S.C. United Turtle Enthusiasts along the Waccamaw Neck consider this year to be a “good” season. “It was a relatively uneventful year....
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An update to Georgetown County’s plan for natural resources drafted nearly two years ago won’t be adopted until early next year at the earliest after a mistake on the County Council agenda delayed action this week. Natural resources is the last of the 10 required elements of the state...
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Three years after the planning for a living shoreline at the head of Winyah Bay started, installation has begun. “It’s a great area and it is massively eroding,” said Liz Fly, director of resilience and ocean conservation for The Nature Conservancy, and the project’s manager. “We have seen this...
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Capturing stormwater from a proposed residential development on Pawleys Creek in an underground system has the potential to increase pollution, neighbors told county officials at a hearing last week. The creek has been closed to shellfishing for generations because of high bacteria levels. “Their water quality appears to be...
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Natural resources will return to Georgetown County Council’s agenda this month after 14 months in the wilderness. The council tabled the natural resources element to the county’s state-mandated comprehensive plan in July 2023 after deferring discussion for six months. The element approved by the Planning Commission in November 2022...
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An invasive plant that was the focus of eradication efforts nearly 20 years ago is stretching its stems over area beaches again. “We said we eradicated it, but with invasives, you never eradicate it,” said Jennifer Plunket, stewardship coordinator for the North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Beach...
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Fueled by the yolk from its egg and millions of years of instinct, a loggerhead sea turtle hatchling scrambled across the wet pavement on Springs Avenue. It should have been heading toward the ocean. Instead, it climbed a gravel parking space on the edge of Pawleys Creek. Blocked by...
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The number of sea turtles nests along the South Carolina coast is lagging behind last year. “It’s a little bit slower than years past but we still have the month of August to go through,” said Rick Scott, who oversees the South Carolina United Turtle Enthusiasts, a group of...
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Murrells Inlet residents gave notice to Georgetown County last week that they are ready to go to court to enforce compliance with federal regulations that require the county to improve water quality in the estuary. If that happens, it will be the first action in the state to challenge...
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The Belle W. Baruch Foundation’s claim to about 8,000 acres of marsh adjacent to Hobcaw Barony will resume following a ruling by the state Court of Appeals last week that allows property owners at DeBordieu a role in the legal proceedings. A three-judge panel overturned a Circuit Court judge’s...
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A plan to dredge 16.5 miles of natural and man-made channels through Murrells Inlet is under review by federal and state agencies. It is also under scrutiny by environmental groups who question the project’s impact on the saltmarsh and oyster beds. Georgetown County is seeking permits to remove over...
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As the visitors were called to their seats on a bluff overlooking the Pee Dee River, an alligator in the dark water pushed its nose toward the bank in the shadow of a spreading live oak. Crowds are rare on this stretch of the river, where Thoroughfare Creek branches...
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Conservation groups pushed back last week against efforts to scale back protections and penalties in a proposed amendment to Georgetown County’s tree regulations. The amendment that was recommended for approval by the Planning Commission in June was deferred for final approval by county staff this week for additional review....
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Stiffer fines for cutting or damaging protected trees are still awaiting final approval from Georgetown County Council after months of delay while staff looks at ways to ease restrictions in the rural area. Amendments to the tree regulations within the zoning ordinance received the second of three required readings...
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It will cost at least $28 million to remove contaminants known as “forever chemicals” from the drinking water provided by the Georgetown County Water and Sewer District. The utility must decide in the next few months whether to seek that money from chemical companies through settlement agreements pending in...
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Tougher penalties for cutting or damaging protected trees will go into effect even as Georgetown County planning staff revise the ordinance to reduce protection for trees in the western part of the county. “The main emphasis here is the increase in the fee,” said Holly Richardson, the county planning...
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Among the new visitors to Pawleys Island this summer are sea turtles. Mary Schneider, who oversees the S.C. United Turtle Enthusiasts volunteers on the island, said DNA testing on eggs showed that several turtles had never nested on the island before. “We call them new recruits,” Schneider said. “You...
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Georgetown County says it has the data to show that it has a program to reduce pollution in Murrells Inlet. The lack of data was cited in a state report this spring that found the county’s stormwater program “needs improvement.” “We’ve done monitoring activities, but we haven’t included them...
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A plan to raise the penalties for cutting trees protected by Georgetown County ordinance drew praise at a public hearing, with one caveat: the ordinance doesn’t go far enough. “What would it hurt to protect 10-inch pine trees,” asked Snipe Allen, a Heritage Plantation resident who has a degree...
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Not all trees are equal, but under the Georgetown County tree ordinance the penalty for cutting a protected tree is the same: $500. A proposal before the Planning Commission would change that fine to $500 for every inch of the tree trunk’s diameter. “Obviously our current fees were not...
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A crucial element of Georgetown County’s resilience plan was dealt a setback last week with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limited federal regulation of wetlands. In a case from Washington State, the court ruled that the Clean Water Act only applies to wetlands with “a continuous surface connection”...
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Protecting natural resources is key to making Georgetown County able to withstand the impacts of disasters that have occurred with increasing frequency, according to consultants who are helping the county prepare a blueprint for resilience. The county needs to “enhance natural resilience through responsible land use,” which includes protecting...
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Changes to Georgetown County’s goals for protecting natural resources will be put on hold while it revises its plan for future land use. The decision was the second time this year that the county delivered a Tuesday-night surprise on its natural resources plan. The plan is one of the...
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The first time John Stricker picked up litter along Petigru Drive near his home, it took a month to get the roadside clean. Last week, he was finished in two hours, which included a side trip down Bertha Lane. “It would be nice if it didn’t reappear,” he said....
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Tom Martin likes to leave a little trash alongside Highway 17. But it’s always bagged, and it never stays there too long. The problem, said Martin: “It keeps coming. It just keeps coming.” Over the last year, the North Litchfield resident’s efforts to reduce litter along the highway south...
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A plan for protecting Georgetown County’s natural resources no longer calls for a minimum 50-foot buffer between wetlands and development. “We’ve had input from both sides,” said Matt Millwood, the senior planner who compiled six drafts of the plan this year. “We don’t want to put a number in...
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In an open forest, flames from a fire could rise 5 feet. In a forest like the one that’s grown up on the south end of Huntington Beach State Park, the fire would reach into the tree canopy 50 feet above the ground. “Flames will be coming out of...
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A package of proposals to increase protection of natural resources in Georgetown County was put on hold last week so the county planning staff can get additional public input. The natural resources element of the county’s comprehensive plan has gone through five drafts since it was introduced in June. ...
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Restrictions on single-use plastics along with limits on pesticides and fertilizers are among the ideas added to Georgetown County’s plan for maintaining and enhancing its natural resources, following comments from citizens groups. It also calls on the county to consider a committee to review large-scale developments to assess their...
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Erin Donmoyer needs a bigger boat. She has a kayak, but that isn’t practical for her new job as the Riverkeeper for the Black and Sampit rivers. “There was talk of a potential Jet Ski donation,” Donmoyer said. “It’d be a sight to see.” She was hired in March...
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The treatment plant that provides drinking water to the Waccamaw Neck is due for its first expansion in 20 years. The facility on Sandy Island Road treats water from the Waccamaw River; up to 8 million gallons a day. “On the Fourth of July, we’re getting very close to...
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An old friend has returned to the area this summer. Gimpy, a loggerhead turtle that is missing its left rear flipper, nested on North Island in May and at Hobcaw in June. Gimpy has been nesting, and trying to nest, in the DeBordieu area for more than two decades....
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Building an oyster reef is hands-on work. That’s what about a dozen volunteers found out in Murrells Inlet this week. First, 208 bags and 26 wire cages full of oyster shells had to be unloaded from a South Carolina Department of Natural Resources truck and loaded onto a DNR...
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A recently released study of Georgetown’s port recommends dredging part of the inner harbor to support existing commercial and recreational needs. The project to deepen the harbor’s two channels is estimated to cost around $4.4 million. It is a different project that the one Georgetown County proposed for a...
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Wetlands are a defining feature of the South Carolina coast, but they have an image problem. Everyone is aware of the salt marsh. They are less familiar with bottomland hardwoods or Carolina bays, said Maeve Snyder, coordinator of the coastal training program for the North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine...
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The proposal to protect a pair of live oaks with trunks more than 6 feet in diameter was met with a silence that seemed to stretch as wide as the trees themselves. Meghan and Logan Barnes asked the Georgetown County Board of Zoning Appeals for a 6.5-foot variance to...
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Increased wetlands protection that is tougher than state or federal standards is among the new goals under review by Georgetown County as part of its update to its comprehensive plan. “That’s where we can really kick in with these ordinances,” Matt Millwood, a senior planner, said. He drafted the...
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The first wave of summer visitors is expected to arrive on the beach in the next few weeks. When they do, volunteers wearing hard hats, reflective vests and closed-toed shoes will be there to greet them. A renourishment project at DeBordieu has added about 300 feet to the dry...
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For 12 years as a volunteer with S.C. United Turtle Enthusiasts, Nancy Crawford has been doing what she can to protect sea turtles. But she wants to do more. The Hagley resident is leading an effort to install signs with rules to safeguard turtles and a telephone number for...
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A renourishment project at the south end of Litchfield Beach is on track to begin next month. State and federal agencies have agreed to allow the work to continue until June 30. The contractor, Marinex, is about halfway through a renourishment project at DeBordieu. Work there was delayed because...
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It rained on Thursday. That was enough for most people. Others wanted to know more. So they had a look at their rain gauges the next morning at 7. A gauge on Murrells Inlet reported 1.75 inches. A gauge on the west side of Bypass 17 reported .87 inches....
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A conservation group has appealed the state’s decision to allow buried sandbags to remain in front of four oceanfront houses as part of a university study. The Coastal Conservation League filed notice this week that it will also challenge the decision in federal court as a violation of the...
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Delays to a beach renourishment project in Florida last year have pushed back work on two projects on Waccamaw Neck. Dredging began last week at DeBordieu to place up to 650,000 cubic yards of offshore sand on 1.5 miles of beach in a project that includes construction of three...
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Sand from the Pawleys Island beach renourishment project has altered the course of Pawleys Creek and put a house on the neighboring Prince George tract in danger of being washed away within weeks, according to a suit filed last week in Circuit Court. Bud and Melesa Watts are seeking...
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A change to Georgetown County’s beach regulations will limit the depth of holes that people can dig on the beach. The amendment is scheduled for the second of three readings by County Council next week. The amendment follows a request made last summer by a volunteer turtle monitor that...
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Morgan Park in Georgetown will soon be home to a “living shoreline” that is expected to help slow erosion while at the same time attracting fish, oysters, shrimp and birds. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, living shorelines use plants or other natural elements — sometimes in...
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Four DeBordieu property owners who installed sandbags in front of their beachfront houses without state permits will be able to keep them as part of a research project they are funding through Coastal Carolina University. The board of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control last week overturned...
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A $25,000 state grant will jump start Georgetown County’s efforts to clean up roadside trash. The funds from Palmetto Pride will pay for a three-member, part-time litter crew. They will tackle roadsides where safety could be a concern for the volunteers that the county also hopes to attract to...
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With his family in Atlanta in quarantine over Christmas, Tom Martin stayed home at North Litchfield. He wasn’t alone. He had 30 bags of roadside debris to keep him company. “For me to work on Christmas morning, it’s what I enjoy doing. I like service,” Martin said. “Thinking about...
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Now that Hasty Point plantation has been added to the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge, plans are in the works to open it to the public. The first step in the process was to ask the public what they wanted to see on the 772-acre property in Plantersville. “Hasty Point...
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A geologist at Coastal Carolina University didn’t find much interest among local officials when he told them data suggests that sinking land is exacerbating the problems caused by rising seas. He got a better response from state archaeologists. “There are many historic and prehistoric sites along our coast, and...
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Property owners in the Litchfield Beaches are gathering information about dredging shoals in Clubhouse Creek to keep it from filling in. “The creek is silting pretty bad,” said Lex Reynolds, a board member of the Litchfield Beaches Property Owners Association. He lives on the creek at Litchfield Beach. “I’ve...
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Thunderstorms that dumped over 2 inches of rain in some areas of the Waccamaw Neck this week should provide a boost to engineers gathering data for the first phase of Georgetown County’s stormwater master plan. They will launch an online mapping system following a public meeting today in order...
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A homeowners association will have to find an alternative to cutting down trees that is says are damaging the community. The Reunion Hall Homeowners Association at Willbrook wants to cut down 30 live oaks because the trees’ roots have damaged sidewalks and roads and could eventually damage the stormwater system...
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A $5 rise in the price of a saltwater fishing license that took effect July 1 will help fund a hatchery that is part of the state’s efforts to restore the flounder stocks in Georgetown and Horry counties. But it will be years before the hatchery can start to...
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Like many of the species it seeks to protect, a revision to the Georgetown County tree regulations is growing slowly. The Planning Commission last week deferred action on the proposal to allow the planning staff to consider a few more changes. It was the second time in two months...
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Georgetown County Council this week joined a dispute over the ownership of tidelands surrounding North Inlet that is working its way through the state courts. A resolution adopted unanimously by the council pledges the county’s “support of maintaining public access to these essential waterways and marshlands.” “It’s sort of...
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New research being conducted by Coastal Carolina University may help figure out why Georgetown and Horry counties have been hit by 1,000-year floods several times in the last few years and help find ways to mitigate future flooding. “There are very few things in the Pee Dee area that...
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Sunday morning traffic was light, but Ben and Jennifer Rozak took a risk to keep it away from the bobcat that lay sprawled on the edge of Highway 17 near North Litchfield. “We tried to protect him as much as we could until somebody could get here,” Jennifer said....
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South Carolina lawmakers this week grilled operators of a series of dams in North Carolina about their responsibility for flooding in Georgetown and Horry counties over the last three years. “There’s no lack of compassion here,” said Jeff Lineberger, director of water strategy for Duke Energy. “There is a...
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Two local lawmakers are taking different approaches, but they share the common goal of restoring the state’s troubled flounder fishery. And they have both rejected a call by the state wildlife agency to impose a season on the popular species. A bill by state Rep. Lee Hewitt that would...
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While Georgetown County continues to look for ways to protect trees from falling to new development, members of the Planning Commission are concerned that the ordinance lacks teeth. The current fine for violations of the tree protection ordinance is $500 per tree. The county can also require mitigation, said...
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Increased rainfall is raising the cost of providing drinking water at the same time it is reducing demand from customers of the Georgetown County Water and Sewer District. “All the rain we’ve been getting has been washing everything out of the swamp areas, which is very high in tannin,”...
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The first plan for the Prince George property didn’t turn out well. The developers who proposed nearly 3,000 dwellings, a 500-room hotel and three golf courses on 1,934 acres between the Atlantic Ocean and the Waccamaw River went bust. The current owner has more confidence in his plan: protect...
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An environmental group is considering its next step after a state Administrative Law Court judge upheld a permit to build three rock and concrete groins as part of a beach renourishment project at DeBordieu. The Coastal Conservation League and the Belle W. Baruch Foundation challenged the 2018 permit from...
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A stormwater master plan launched by Georgetown County will show the impacts on drainage if the Waccamaw Neck is built out under its current zoning. The $702,000 study approved by County Council will also recommend improvements to infrastructure and policies to mitigate those impacts. The council agreed in October...
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Till Hanebuth heard the complaints. Flooding had gotten worse, not only during storms but on sunny days. And it had become more apparent in the last five years. “I was not really sure what to believe,” he said. But Hanebuth, an associate professor at Coastal Carolina University with a...
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The loggerhead sea turtle that was found washed ashore in Midway Inlet on a June morning five years ago was missing part of its right front flipper. That was the least of its problems. It was later found that the turtle had ingested what a biologist at the S.C....
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There were only three green sea turtle nests on the South Carolina coast this year, and Pawleys Island had one of them. Volunteers with the Pawleys chapter of the S.C. United Turtle Enthusiasts closed out their 2020 season on Saturday with an inventory of the green nest. “The hatchlings...
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An effort to find matching funds to buy flood-prone houses ended up creating a new state agency. Gov. Henry McMaster signed legislation this week creating the Office of Resilience along with a revolving loan fund for the buyouts. The agency will be led by a chief resilience officer and...
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Opponents of oil and gas production off the South Carolina coast said they have tried to get support from Sen. Lindsey Graham for five years. But they were skeptical this week about his support for President Trump’s decision to extend a moratorium on leases until 2032. “My view has...
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The hole in the sand was past Kathi Aderholt’s elbow. She thought it was deep enough. The sea turtle wasn’t satisfied. The loggerhead, know as Gimpy to volunteers who monitor nests, is missing its left rear flipper. Aderholt was there to help. “It’s a night that I will...
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Property owners at the south end of Litchfield Beach plan to bring sand from inland rather than offshore to build up the beach and dune. The work will require 100 to 150 truck trips a day for about three months. The Peninsula Property Owners Association has applied for state...
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Property owners on the southern tip of Litchfield Beach are seeking state and federal permits to pump up to 700,000 cubic yards of offshore sand along nearly a mile of beachfront. The project, proposed by the Peninsula Property Owners Association, includes building a 6-foot tall dune along 4,000 feet...
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Coronavirus will not keep sea turtles from nesting on South Carolina beaches, but it may keep some nests from being protected. The state’s Department of Natural Resources has forbidden volunteers from collecting egg samples and relocating or “manipulating” nests. “We can walk the beach but we cannot touch the...
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A local Clemson University researcher is studying whether female wood ducks, like female sea turtles, return to where they were born, or return to the same area over and over, when they are ready to lay their eggs. Rick Kaminski calls the process “recruitment.” He is the director of...
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Property owners at DeBordieu want to join the state of South Carolina in challenging an effort by the Belle W. Baruch Foundation to claim title to marsh lands in North Inlet. They dispute the foundation’s claim that it can trace ownership to colonial era land grants. The foundation filed...
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Even if the Belle W. Baruch Foundation holds title to the marsh land surrounding Hobcaw Barony, the public’s long-time recreational use of the area has created a prescriptive easement over the property, according to the state’s top attorneys. S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson and Solicitor General Robert Cook want...
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The public will be barred from using North Inlet under a suit filed last year by the Belle W. Baruch Foundation to establish ownership of marsh land adjoining Hobcaw Barony, according to state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch. He is urging the state attorney general’s office to oppose the claim. “The...
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A bill that would make a temporary ban on onshore infrastructure for offshore drilling permanent was approved by a state Senate committee this week. Opponents of federal proposals to open the Outer Continental Shelf to oil and gas production say they believe the General Assembly will pass the ban....
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The Coastal Conservation League will close its Georgetown office while it looks for a new regional director. The league announced last week that Erin Pate will leave at the end of the year as its North Coast director after three years. “I love what the league does,” Pate said....
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Three centuries after the first land grant and 55 years after its creation, the Belle W. Baruch Foundation has gone to court to confirm that it owns all of the property known as Hobcaw Barony, particularly 8,000 acres of marsh. A suit filed last month in Circuit Court asks...
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Education is the key to dealing with a changing climate, according to the head of the federal agency responsible for coastal science. “I think the top-down solution ultimately starts with the bottom-up solution in the education process,” said Neil Jacobs, acting administrator of NOAA. And that includes the University...
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A bill restoring a moratorium on oil and gas leases that passed the U.S. House last week did so without the support of 7th District Rep. Tom Rice. It’s a vote offshore drilling opponents say they will remember. “It sends a very important message to a majority of his...
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Hurricane Dorian took its toll on sea turtle nests in the area, washing away about 45 from DeBordieu to North Myrtle Beach. “The season is coming to a screeching halt,” said Jeff McClary, co-founder of South Carolina United Turtle Enthusiasts. Despite the loss, it has been a record-setting year...
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They are fond of soap as well as candy bars. They are also looking for water and a place to call home. Pawleys Island has an issue. “We can’t even say it out loud,” said Rachel Lankford, who works for Clark’s Termite and Pest Control. Now that Labor Day...
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There is always something going on at the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge: building, cleaning, trapping, installing and restoring. At the top of the trapping list are the feral hogs that decimate parts of the refuge’s youth hunting areas. “With the floods, it’s pushed them up into a lot of...
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The threat posed to eight oak trees along Waverly Road by sewer line construction has prompted planners to consider amending Georgetown County’s tree ordinance. The current code, revised last year, doesn’t apply to the state right of way. “We can do that, legally. We did not do that,” Boyd...
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Heavy equipment parked under a row of oak trees along Waverly Road sent county officials scrambling this week to prevent the trees from being cut to install a sewer line for a new development. “They’re getting ready to dig up eight large live oak trees,” D. Russell told Georgetown...
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Approximately 7,500 bushels of oyster shells were added to nine reefs off Murrells Inlet during the last week. The project, led by Michael Hodges, was part of state Department of Natural Resources oyster recycling enhancement program. It’s a yearly event for the inlet. “Every year there’s a lot of...
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The seismic tests used to locate potential sources of offshore oil and gas “pose an undetermined but significant risk” to the state’s fisheries, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, which this week denied certification of a permit to conduct the test. The agency called for...
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The citizens of Riverway County have spoken. They are concerned about increased flooding from a changing climate and are looking to local government to help prepare. “We see a unified vision,” Maeve Snyder said. She is the coastal training coordinator at the National Estuarine Research Reserve based at USC’s...
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After a historically low nesting season in 2018, sea turtles have returned to the South Carolina coast in droves. There have been more than 200 nests this year from North Inlet to North Myrtle Beach, according to Jeff McClary, co-founder of the South Carolina United Turtle Enthusiasts, which is...
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U.S. Rep. Tom Rice sees growing opposition to offshore drilling among the state’s congressional delegation, but he told constituents last week that a bill that would ban oil and gas leases on the Atlantic coast has no chance of passage. The best chance to prevent offshore drilling is to...
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A month before a restriction on funding for state review of offshore oil and gas projects takes effect, the Department of Health and Environmental Control is preparing a response to a permit that will allow seismic testing. WesternGeco applied in 2014 for a federal permit to conduct geological and...
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The only thing missing was a judge as both sides in a dispute over a state permit to build three groins on the beach at DeBordieu argued their case last week. It was likely to be their last meeting until a state Administrative Law Court judge hears an appeal...
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Steve Chard’s friends dared him to wear the hat. They are policemen in the county of Dorset in the southwest of England so it was hard to refuse. But the hat wasn’t a Bobby’s familiar headgear. It was from a bachelor’s party, bright pink and iridescent. After almost 4,000...
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While permits to allow testing for oil and gas off the South Carolina coast are being challenged in federal court, opponents of offshore drilling are expecting a decision any day about the plans to open the Outer Continental Shelf. The sale of leases by the Bureau of Ocean Energy...
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A beach nourishment project at DeBordieu that includes construction of three rock and concrete groins was approved by the state Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management last week. Conservation groups and the Belle W. Baruch Foundation are considering challenges, as they did in 2011 when the state issued...
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Featured
Georgetown County spent $11,000 to rescan each of the 38,115 ballots cast in the general election only to find the local option sales tax still didn’t pass. State law requires a recount in elections if the margin is less than 1 percent. The county rented a machine...
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Georgetown County has cut the fire impact fee for a solar farm under construction in the western part of the county by more than $1 million. But the $1 million that the developer, Silicon Ranch, will still pay is more than enough to cover the cost of specialized equipment...
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There are jobs available at local industries for many of the 674 employees at the International Paper Co. mill in Georgetown who learned last week that the facility will close by the end of the year, according to local officials. They are now working with the company and state...
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The cypress posts long ago settled into the sandy soil. The brick pilings that replaced them crumbled. But the foundation of Friendfield Church endured. It is, the Rev. Betty Clark said, “a faith that would not die.” The church at Friendfield Village in Hobcaw Barony glowed in the warm...
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Last year it was cedar. This year it was oak. The cutting of the cedars led the town of Pawleys Island to revive discussion of a tree ordinance. Members of the Planning Commission hope that the oaks that were cut earlier this year will convince Town Council to adopt...
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When James Patterson spoke at a Moveable Feast this month, 360 people sat down for lunch at Pawleys Plantation to hear the best-selling author. Preparing for the event was like planning a major wedding, said Linda Ketron, who founded the literary luncheons 25 years ago. “Most weddings have 200...
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Ray Funnye’s ancestors used to travel by canoe and boat from Plantersville in the western part of the county to Sandy Island and Pawleys Island. “That was the highway of heaven right there, back in the day,” said Funnye, Georgetown County’s director of Public Services and the founder of...
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Grace Barnett was 3 seconds away from a trip to the Olympics Games in Tokyo. Barnett, a 2013 Waccamaw High School graduate, finished seventh in the 1,500 meters at the Olymic trials at the University of Oregon on Monday. “For me making that final was a really huge accomplishment,”...
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Flood
A solution to one stormwater problem in the Parkersville area is already identified in Georgetown County’s master plan for the Waccamaw. A 36-inch pipe under Martin Luther King Road needs to be replaced with a 48-inch pipe. That was estimated to cost $305,000 when the plan was adopted in...
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A Pawleys Island woman has filed suit against the country’s largest home builder saying its development next to her home in Parkersville caused flooding on her property that threatens that home. Deborah Greggs said in a suit filed in Circuit Court that her problems began when D.R. Horton Inc....
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New building codes that local governments must adopt by Jan. 1 will extend the construction standards required along the beachfront to be used for buildings farther inland, raising costs and making existing structures nonconforming, officials say. “This will greatly impact businesses along Business 17 in Murrells Inlet. It will...
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The launch of an effort to get the public’s help to identify drainage problems on the Waccamaw Neck left residents frustrated that issues they want Georgetown County to fix have yet to be addressed. “It turned into a gripe session,” said Bob Anderson. “That’s why I got mad and...
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A water-filled flexible barrier is in place between the Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers to hold back rising waters that are expected to cover Highway 17 this week. It won’t be enough to keep the road open, according to the head of the state Department of Transportation. “Worst case...
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Georgetown County officials believe flooding will not reach the extremes initially forecast as the rain that fell across the Carolinas during Hurricane Florence last week makes its way down the rivers. Administrator Sel Hemingway said Wednesday that the water flowing through the Waccamaw River is moving slower than first...
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A 4-foot berm went up this week around the pump station for the plant that supplies drinking water to Waccamaw Neck residents. Flooding in the Waccamaw River poses the dilemma of having too much water and yet not enough. Georgetown County Water and Sewer District’s main source of water...
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Georgetown
The plumes of white steam that have filled the sky over the city of Georgetown since 1937 will vanish by the end of the year. International Paper Co. announced Thursday that it will close the mill, which has 526 hourly and 148 salaried employees. “This decision is especially difficult...
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The Army Corps of Engineers expects to dredge the channel along the Georgetown waterfront to a depth of 12 feet with funding included in the federal budget last week. The $6.5 million was included in the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill last spring by Sen. Lindsay Graham, who...
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Georgetown County
Georgetown County has cut the fire impact fee for a solar farm under construction in the western part of the county by more than $1 million. But the $1 million that the developer, Silicon Ranch, will still pay is more than enough to cover the cost of specialized equipment...
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There are jobs available at local industries for many of the 674 employees at the International Paper Co. mill in Georgetown who learned last week that the facility will close by the end of the year, according to local officials. They are now working with the company and state...
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Georgetown County Council is due to vote today on a resolution to stop work on a capital projects sales tax. It follows complaints made last month by Council Members Everett Carolina and Raymond Newton that the town of Andrews isn’t represented on the tax commission. The council meeting was...
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Farm and timber land in Georgetown County that’s valued at over $800 million pays just under $700,000 a year in property taxes. County Council Member Bob Anderson would like to see that revenue grow to $6 million, but it would require the state to alter a decades-old tax credit....
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When the group preparing the ballot for a capital projects sales tax starts accepting proposals next month they will be looking at who will do the work as well as how much that work will cost. “Even if a need is articulated, does the project have the backing where...
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Georgetown County property owners will have an extra month to pay taxes on their real estate because of a delay in mailing the tax notices. The tax notices that are usually posted in October and mailed in November were delayed this year because of problems with the new system...
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Two County Council members moved this week to rescind their decision to create a capital projects sales tax commission because it doesn’t represent their districts in the Andrews area. Unless something changes, Georgetown County will take a divided council into next November’s referendum seeking voter approval for a 1-cent...
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The towns of Pawleys Island and Andrews will compete to place a representative on the commission that will pick the projects for a capital projects sales tax referendum next year. “We’re serving up a nominee who may or may not be on the committee,” Pawleys Island Mayor Brian Henry...
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A vote by Georgetown County Council this week will launch a campaign for another capital projects sales tax, which will require voter approval at the 2024 general election. The penny tax for infrastructure projects is only the first step a two-part plan. The county is considering a second penny...
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Taxes will go up to fund the eight more patrol deputies Sheriff Carter Weaver says are needed to keep pace with Georgetown County’s growing number of residents and visitors. This is the third year he has asked County Council to increase his staff. In a 4-3 vote that split...
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The county and city councils in Georgetown have tried to schedule a joint meeting for the first time anyone can remember. “We just couldn’t get everybody together,” Mayor Carol Jayroe said before taking a seat with her colleagues this week. The meeting coincided with the State Ports Authority approving...
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County Council members are working on a compromise to fund additional patrol deputies in the budget that comes up for final approval next week, addressing what Sheriff Carter Weaver called “a public safety crisis in the county.” He asked the council last month to raise property taxes to hire...
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Along with taking title to the port of Georgetown this month, Georgetown County is due to get $2.5 million to repair or demolish portions of the aging facilities. The money is part of over $13 million for projects in the county included in the state budget that is now...
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The only time voices were raised during a constituent drop in by County Council Member Stella Mercado was when people needed to talk over the sound of dribbling basketballs or volleying pickleballs. “No one raised their voice. Everyone was super-great,” Mercado said. About 40 people showed up at the...
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The county administrator will get a 5 percent raise and a five-year extension on her contract, starting today. Angela Christian was hired March 30, 2020, at a base salary of $155,000, and annual cost of living increases on par with other employees. Georgetown County Council voted unanimously this week...
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To get to its goals of job creation, workforce development and affordable housing, Georgetown County has to go through places like Bent Tree Lane. It was underwater in the “1,000-year flood” of 2015. Efforts by the county to improve drainage in the area were underway when the neighborhood off...
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These are the headlines for Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026: “Affordable housing partnership opens first homes.” “Major manufacturer relocates to county employing 1,200.” “Job market booms.” Whether those make it into print three years from now depends on how well Georgetown County Council is able to convert its vision into...
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A set of rules that will allow for the removal of people who disrupt Georgetown County meetings is due to take effect March 1. County Council agreed to delay implementation to allow for law enforcement training. Sheriff Carter Weaver raised concerns about the measures. “Who’s determining disruptive behavior?” Weaver...
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People who disrupt the “peace and decorum” of county government meetings can be removed, and those who are removed face a 12-month ban from attending further meetings under an ordinance up for final approval by Georgetown County Council next week. The measure passed the second of three readings last...
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An update to Georgetown County’s impact fees is estimated to raise between $18.5 million and $22.7 million for infrastructure improvements over the next decade. At the same time, the fees paid for residential construction will drop for houses under 4,500 square feet. “For the majority of residential permits, the...
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Steve Goggans was among the performers when Clemson University held its first guitar festival last spring. “It was quite humbling because there were world class musicians that were visiting,” he said. He played two pieces on stage at the university’s Brooks Center, one that he wrote when he was...
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The wood benches in the former courtroom that now serves as Georgetown County Council chambers don’t encourage people to linger. Over the last year, Clint Elliott and Stella Mercado persevered. Even when the two Waccamaw Neck Republicans learned this spring that they would be unopposed for seats on the...
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It will cost $2.1 million a mile to build a multi-use path and related facilities along 23 miles of roads in the western part of Georgetown County, according to a feasibility study presented to County Council this week. “This is not just a transportation project. This is a recreation...
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Law enforcement officers will get the largest share of pay raises included in Georgetown County’s new budget. They are at the top of a three-tiered compensation plan that also raises pay for firefighters and emergency medial workers as well as general government employees. The budget for the fiscal year...
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The pace of growth on the Waccamaw Neck led a County Council member to move to the mountains of North Carolina. John Thomas resigned his District 1 seat effective May 23. The timing means that a special election won’t be needed to fill the vacancy, but it means the...
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A property tax increase will generate $2.3 million to improve pay for Georgetown County employees, but won’t cover a request from Sheriff Carter Weaver for a 10 percent pay raise for law enforcement and eight new patrol deputies. “We’re being poached at a level I’ve never seen,” Weaver told...
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Georgetown County will be able raise property taxes by at least 5.5 percent this year to cover the cost of operations, according to a budget formula published by the state Office of Revenue and Fiscal Affairs. That would bring in about $3.3 million at a time when the county...
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A new redistricting plan for Georgetown County Council emerged this week after a series of public meetings ended with a heated exchange between a council member and the head of the local NAACP chapter about the fate of minority representation. “We are making adjustments to the maps as we...
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A Georgetown man is seeking $260 million from Georgetown County for himself and others who paid a road user fee adopted by the county in 2001. A class action suit filed last week in Circuit Court seeks 10 times the $26 million in fees collected by the county as...
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Local governments are making plans for spending their share of the $1.9 trillion from the federal American Rescue Plan. That ranges from $12 million for Georgetown County to $53,000 for the town of Pawleys Island. The money can be used to pay public sector workers who provided essential services...
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The town of Andrews has asked the Circuit Court to order Georgetown County Council to fund another $2.7 million in funds from a capital projects sales tax to complete its new municipal complex. The town claims that the county violated state law in failing to fully fund the $5.7...
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A new firm is coming to the Andrews industrial park with a $15 million investment and 34 jobs. That’s only the start. “The next five years in Georgetown will be the best five years Georgetown has ever seen in economic development,” said Brian Tucker, the director of Economic Development...
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Merit pay raises for employees of the sheriff’s office are included in the budget approved this week by Georgetown County Council. A request by Sheriff Carter Weaver for funding to add eight patrol deputies is still under consideration. Weaver told the council in May that merit raises of up...
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A $7 million package of capital projects that include the completion of the last phase of the Bike the Neck route passed Georgetown County Council this week after a month’s delay for rural residents to argue for a share of the funds. The money is left over from a...
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The cost of a ransomware attack on Georgetown County’s computer network in January is likely to reach $200,000. Although the county was insured and had a $10,000 deductible, the county will have to replace parts of its network to provide increased security, officials say. “New security features are going...
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Work to complete the Bike the Neck path along Waverly Road and to install devices that give fire and rescue vehicles priority at traffic signals will be delayed at least a month while County Council members outside the Waccamaw Neck meet with constituents who are upset about capital improvement...
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Seven years after a group of residents started talking about bringing amenities to the southern part of the county, the doors of the new Southern Georgetown Community Library opened for the first time last week. The Rev. Teddy Wilson said it was an emotional moment to finally be standing...
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The aging sidewalk along Waverly Road should be replaced by a multi-use path by the end of 2022 under a proposal to spend the remaining funds from Georgetown County’s capital improvement sales tax. County Council this week approved $7 million worth of projects, a million for each council district,...
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Georgetown County is still working to restore its computer system after its network was breached by ransomware last month. The county will need to draw on its cash reserves to upgrade the system and improve security, Administrator Angela Christian said. “It’s made us all realize how important computers and...
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A rise in coronavirus cases will send Georgetown County Council back to virtual meetings just as the members are about to adopt procedures that will govern the form of electronic meetings. Not everyone is happy with the change. “I’m taking issue with that,” Council Member Bob Anderson said. “What’s...
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Louis Morant turned 65 on Tuesday. He got a gavel for his birthday. Midway through his first term on Georgetown County Council, Morant was elected chairman. It’s the same position that his older brother, Johnny, held for 12 years. Morant succeeds John Thomas, who said last week that he...
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John Thomas won election as chairman of Georgetown County Council two years ago with a promise to provide “a steady hand, a calming influence.” In the first year, one of his six colleagues resigned after the county election commission ruled he didn’t live in his district, and the administrator...
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Ron Charlton left this week’s County Council meeting with a summary of the annual audit and a proclamation thanking him for 24 years of service tucked under his arm. “Of course, I’ll miss the people I serve with,” he said. But he will also miss being involved in the...
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Each of Georgetown County’s seven council districts will get $1 million worth of projects from the surplus raised by the capital surplus sales tax, under a plan presented to council members last week. Each member was asked to come up with two projects. The council is scheduled to adopt...
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Angela Christian made a promise to herself and her husband. For her first three months as Georgetown County administrator, she would listen. Now, after 100 days, Christian is ready to talk. Q: The first 100 days. Does it seem that long? A: It has been a whirlwind. It has...
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Property taxes won’t rise this year to fund Georgetown County government operations under a draft budget that is up for approval next month. The county will draw on reserves for the third straight year to balance the general fund and sheriff’s office budgets. But Ed Kilcullen, the finance director,...
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The Waccamaw Library will begin allowing patrons inside the building on June 1 for short periods as long as they’re a wearing mask. “We’ve been trying to figure out how to open the facilities. We haven’t done so casually,” Dwight McInvaill, the Georgetown County library director, told the library...
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As a county commission sorts through hundreds of millions of dollars worth of capital projects proposed for funding through a penny sales tax, it has come up short by $14,000 needed to gauge public support. Georgetown County Council is expected to debate Tuesday whether to continue with the sales...
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The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating a complaint that the Georgetown County treasurer, Allison Sippel Peteet, assaulted an employee. The incident occurred Tuesday in the treasurer’s office, according to a security video reviewed by the Coastal Observer. “We have been asked to initiate an investigation of an assault...
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The list of capital projects proposed for a share of an estimated $90 million in sales tax revenue grew to more than $459 million as officials and residents submitted proposals in advance of last week’s deadline. The commission charged with drafting the final list to be placed the ballot...
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Members of a county sales tax commission are reviewing the details of 81 capital projects worth over $238 million for a November referendum that is expected to contain about $90 million in projects to be completed over eight years. And the five-member commission will solicit additional projects through April...
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Angela Christian will arrive at the end of this month to take charge of a county government vastly different from the one Sel Hemingway left at the end of last month. “It certainly isn’t going to be business as usual,” Christian said. She will start March 30, but has...
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County Council members cited experience in government finance for their choice of a new county administrator. Angela Christian, who has worked 23 years in local government, was the unanimous choice to replace Sel Hemingway, who retired Feb. 29. His departure came as the county started work on a new...
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A Georgetown County official who was passed over in the first search for a new administrator is a finalist for the job once more. Ray Funnye, the director of Public Services, was among three candidates interviewed Friday by County Council. The council reopened its search in October after its...
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The former county attorney will serve as Georgetown County’s interim administrator while County Council continues to search for a full-time replacement for Sel Hemingway. That search could end next week, according to the council chairman. Hemingway announced last May that he would retire at the end of the year....
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A resolution affirming Georgetown County Council’s commitment to public comment passed without comment from council members. But the public had something to say. The resolution by Council Chairman John Thomas was proposed in response to complaints that followed a call by former Council Member Bob Anderson to do away...
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Less than three years into her tenure as director of the Waccamaw Library, Tamara McIntyre was named Georgetown County’s manager of the year. “It shows that your hard work is appreciated, it’s nice to know” McIntyre said. “It’s nice recognition for the library that the county sees that...
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A critique of County Council by a former member drew a sharp rebuke from the local chapter of the NAACP and other citizens groups this week. And while they focused on the use of the words “lynching” and “mob” by former District 6 Council Member Bob Anderson, speakers at...
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A former Georgetown County Council member told the current council this week it is “dysfunctional” and argued for a change in the way it fields public comments even as he used the comment period at the council meeting to berate the council’s other critics. “I want you all to...
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Georgetown County may need to find an interim administrator as it seeks a replacement for Administrator Sel Hemingway. It will also be looking for a new county attorney. Hemingway agreed this week to delay his planned retirement from Dec. 31 to Feb. 29 with the understanding that he would...
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Georgetown County Council will hire a search firm to help find a new county administrator after its top choice for the job turned down the offer. The council voted 4-3 last week to offer the job to David Garner, director of Abbeville County. He was one of three finalists...
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Citing a need for a new perspective, Georgetown County Council voted this week to hire the next administrator from the midlands. David Garner, 34, director of Abbeville County will start contract negotiations following a 4-3 vote. He was hired over Ray Funnye, the county Public Services director, and Brian...
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The three finalists for Georgetown County administrator share a vision for public engagement. County Council is scheduled to decide next week whose vision they share. Ray Funnye, the county’s Public Services director; Brian Tucker, its Economic Development director; and David Garner, director of Abbeville County, were selected from 37...
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The director of Abbeville County and two Georgetown County department heads are the finalists for county administrator. Ray Funnye, the county director of Public Works, and Brian Tucker, the Economic Development director, were the only two county employees among the 37 candidates. They emerged as finalists after interviews on...
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Georgetown County will use $3.75 million collected from a capital projects sales tax to buy 948 acres on the Sampit River for an industrial park. The county has until the end of the month to exercise an option on the former timber company tract it obtained in 2017. The...
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Two county officials are in the running for Georgetown County administrator. Ray Funnye, the Public Services director, and Brian Tucker, director of Economic Development, were among nearly 40 applicants. A new administrator should be under contract by the end of October as Georgetown County Council narrows the field of...
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Georgetown County staff will continue to research a business license fee, but members of County Council say they are concerned about the impact on local firms. The proposal is one of several offered by Administrator Sel Hemingway as a way to raise revenue to offset deficits in the county...
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A proposal to create a business license to help balance Georgetown County’s budget has stirred little comment, area business groups say. County Council is due to discuss the idea at a workshop next week. “I haven’t really heard anything,” Council Chairman John Thomas said. The Georgetown County Chamber of...
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Local business groups are seeking input from their members on a proposal by Georgetown County to implement a business license. “We certainly would want to discuss it,” Beth Stedman, president of the Chamber of Commerce, said. She planned to send out a survey to chamber members this week. A...
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A business license and a change in the way Georgetown County funds its capital improvement plan are key to a proposal to create a sustainable budget. The county drew on reserves to plug budget deficits in the last two fiscal years. This year, it also used one-time federal disaster...
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Sel Hemingway will retire as Georgetown County administrator at the end of the year. His announcement to County Council members in a closed session this week followed a meeting in which Hemingway reminded the members that this year’s $90.5 million budget is not sustainable. “None of that was really...
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As Georgetown County starts to look at ways to spend surplus sales tax, and projects to pitch to voters for another round of the local 1-cent tax, a project that is not high on anyone’s list is likely to rise to the top. The county needs to repair or...
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The road stretches out between stands of pine, broken by stray fingers of cypress swamp and overhanging oaks. There are no houses, but there are gates that announce the rice plantations that gave Plantersville its name. The geography of the community along the Pee Dee River is the mirror...
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Shoppers in Georgetown County awoke Wednesday to a 14 percent tax cut. A 1-cent capital improvement sales tax adopted by voters in 2014 expired on April 30. The sales tax rate is now 6 percent. The extra penny was intended to raise $28.2 million for a Murrells Inlet dredging...
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Gov. Henry McMaster doesn’t have the authority or the need to remove a Georgetown County Council member from office because he is not a registered voter in the district he represents, according to the governor’s office. The county Board of Voter Registration and Elections ruled last month that Council...
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Council Member Austin Beard will appeal the decision of the Georgetown County election commission that he is not a registered voter in the district he represents. “It leaves some options open. Hopefully, I can get information and make an informed decision,” Beard said. A notice of appeal submitted to...
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A Georgetown County Council member who was poised to become chairman less than three months ago is now deciding whether he should resign following a ruling last week that he does not live in the district he represents. The county Board of Voter Registration and Elections voted unanimously that...
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The shutdown of the federal government now in its fifth week may seem like a far away problem to most of the residents of Georgetown County, but it’s hitting home at Coast Guard Station Georgetown. There are 40 guardsmen stationed in Georgetown, and more than 30 of them have...
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A hearing on Friday will determine whether County Council Member Austin Beard is a voter in the district that he represents. It won’t determine whether he is eligible to continue to serve, officials say. The local chapter of the NAACP filed a challenge to Beard’s voter status last week...
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John Thomas, who won re-election to County Council District 1 by 67 votes last year, was elected council chairman this week by 4 votes. The vote followed a complaint from three groups, including the county’s NAACP chapter, that the council’s vice chairman, Austin Beard, no longer lives in his...
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The speakers wanted to talk about Johnny Morant and his 25 years on County Council, the last 10 as chairman. Morant wanted to talk about the community. “The community has done a lot for me, has helped me throughout,” he said. It isn’t about the council, he added. “We’re...
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Health
A freestanding emergency room is a step closer to being built at the corner of Bypass 17 and Wesley Road. Grand Strand Regional Medical Center wants to build a one-story, 11,000-square-foot facility on the 2.99-acre property, which is a “planned development” zoning district. “Medical facility” is not one of...
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Gretchen Smith got a phone call last month that every nonprofit director dreams about. State Rep. Lee Hewitt had secured $250,000 in the state budget for the Smith Medical Clinic, where she is the director. “That kind of money can make a significant difference in what we do and...
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If there’s one good thing that has come out of the COVID-19 pandemic it’s an open conversation about the toll the last 17 months has taken on people’s mental health. “We need to normalize the conversation about mental health, specifically in our young people so we can help them...
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Teresa Robinette and Lynn Martin have a bond that no parent wants. Their sons committed suicide. “I never had an idea that he would do that,” Robinette said of Jesse, who was 16 when he killed himself in May of 2019. “There had to be mental illness there. There...
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Teresa Robinette became an advocate for mental health awareness and suicide prevention after her son Jesse took his own life in 2019. “I’ll never understand. We’ll never know, we’ll never understand,” Robinette said. “He didn’t write notes, he just said ‘I love you.’ ” Jesse, who was 16 at...
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It’s the first week of January, and legions of Americans are marching off to the gym, vowing once more to get fit, trim inches, shed extra pounds. Call it January’s version of Groundhog Day. And by the time the real Groundhog Day arrives, give or take a few weeks,...
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Anyone who wanted a hug last Saturday night had to look no farther than the Waccamaw High School track where more than a dozen people wearing “Free Hugs” shirts were taking part in the “R.I.S.E. Above The Darkness” mental health walk. Jesse Robinette, a Waccamaw High School student, wore...
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History
People have always considered the one-room schoolhouse on the campus of Holy Cross Faith Memorial Episcopal Church to be historic. Now that Holy Cross Faith Memorial School is on the National Register of Historic Places, it’s official. The church unveiled a marker on Saturday in front of a few...
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Hip replacement surgery couldn’t stop Lorna Rainey from paying tribute to her great-grandfather, Joseph Hayne Rainey, in his hometown that he loved dearly. She was delighted with the turnout at a plaque unveiling ceremony in Georgetown on June 21, the 192nd anniversary of his birth. Lorna said “potential, determination...
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The cypress posts long ago settled into the sandy soil. The brick pilings that replaced them crumbled. But the foundation of Friendfield Church endured. It is, the Rev. Betty Clark said, “a faith that would not die.” The church at Friendfield Village in Hobcaw Barony glowed in the warm...
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The replica of a 16th century Spanish ship towered over the crowds that lined the dock at Georgetown Landing Marina waiting to go on board for a tour. Many came away in awe of the men who sailed the original Trinidad across the Pacific in 1519. The ship was...
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The first Spanish ships arrived off the coast of Georgetown County in 1521, exploring the Santee River and Winyah Bay and making contact with the natives over the course of about a month. This week, the Nao Trinidad, a replica 16th century ship, docked in Georgetown, giving the locals...
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The grass that has grown up around the grave sways in rhythm with the traffic that passes on Highway 17. Below the soil are the remains of 22 people of African descent that were laid to rest 15 years after they had been exposed during construction of a home...
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The dead man’s soul reunited with its maker long ago. Researchers now hope they can return his body to his family. In the process, they have brought to life a new understanding of a Gullah-Geechee community that lived on the shores of Winyah Bay in the decades after the...
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A small aluminum work boat skimmed over the placid water where the Santee River meets the Atlantic Ocean, watched by flocks of brown and white pelicans that had settled on a sand bank. A chartplotter and sonar helped Jim Spirek pick his way through the shoals. It was the shoals...
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There will be fireworks. But when the smoke clears on July 4, 2026, the state commission preparing for the celebration hopes it will reveal a clearer picture of the struggles that led to the founding of the United States and find local communities better able to tell those stories....
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Housing
In a conventional subdivision, 154 single-family lots fit on a tract of raw land. A conservation subdivision would cluster the development in the middle of the tract, preserving the trees at the rear and leaving open space between the homes on the main road along the front of the...
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A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court claims Georgetown County failed to follow its comprehensive plan when it denied zoning approval for an affordable-housing development outside Georgetown last year. The suit was brought by the state and county chapters of the NAACP and by the company that planned to...
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Horry County is bursting at the seams with new homes, but only one neighborhood is geared toward people with disabilities. Oak Tree Farm is currently home to five residents between the ages of 25 and 35, but within the next few years that number could be closer to 100. ...
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Hurricane Ian
Fishing lines now dangle from the end of the Pawleys Pier where, one year ago, only broken timbers hung after Hurricane Ian cut the structure in half. The shortened pier is the most visible reminder of the storm that made its final landfall at North Island after crossing Florida...
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Two days after opening a recovery center in Litchfield, staff were still waiting for their first visit from someone affected by Hurricane Ian. It’s hard to compete with Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, said Lilian Tschanett, a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Small Business Administration. But for...
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The cost of damage to public infrastructure from Hurricane Ian continued to grow in the weeks following landfall in Georgetown County and is now expected to pass the threshold required for federal aid. That would reimburse local governments for the cost of cleaning up and rebuilding from the Category...
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Hours before Hurricane Ian ravaged Garden City, a handful residents met with Georgetown County officials to share their concerns about how little of their tax dollars are spent on taking care of their area of the county. In the days that followed, county officials and employees were out in...
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Hurricane Ian brought flooding to the Waccamaw Neck on a scale residents hadn’t seen since Hurricane Hugo 33 years earlier. “It’s a mess,” said Bill Caughman, who had 3 feet of water under his house on the north end of Pawleys Island. “No one expected it. And coming in...
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After hours of standing in the breaking surf, the end of Pawleys Pier settled with a shrug into the waves. Like a tired swimmer, it floated away. It was just after 1 p.m. The tattered American flag still snapped above the gazebo that had shaded generations of anglers. Howard...
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Hurricanes
The worst-case scenario for a hurricane evacuation in Georgetown and Horry counties shows it will take more than a day to get residents and visitors out of harm’s way. That’s based on the peak number of visitors and 100 percent compliance with an evacuation order, said Brandon Ellis, director...
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Georgetown County delayed replacing three walkways at Litchfield Beach destroyed by Hurricane Ian 10 months ago because there was no place for the contractor to stage equipment during the summer tourist season. So those walkways weren’t at risk from the storm surge expected to coincide with king tides as...
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Incorporation
Twenty-five years after a legal challenge derailed an effort to form a new town on the Waccamaw Neck, a group says it has spent more than a year studying the issue and is ready to move forward as a response to Georgetown County’s update of its future land use...
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Land use
Neighbors who oppose the rezoning of property on Pawleys Creek for a residential development have asked the Circuit Court to dismiss claims by the developer that they conspired with a citizens group to block the project. The claims by Magic Oaks LLC and RCB Land Holdings LLC “are clearly...
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An investment firm has delayed its request for approval for Georgetown County’s second large-scale solar farm in the face of opposition from residents and property owners in the Plantersville community. Sunrise Renewables is seeking zoning approval to build two solar farms on 5,700 acres that it will lease from...
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A plan to cut the top residential density allowed by Georgetown County’s zoning ordinance from 16 to 12 units an acre was postponed this week. The county is now on track to cut the top density to five units on the Waccamaw Neck. If that is approved, the only...
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While his constituents were raising concerns about the number of new homes that could be built on the Waccamaw Neck under a new land use plan, County Council Member Bob Anderson said he started thinking about density in a different way. “We’re looking at this as if it’s all...
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The developer of 27 lots on Pawleys Creek is seeking damages from a citizens group that it claims is behind a lawsuit challenging Georgetown County’s approval of the project. Keep It Green is using the lawsuit filed in June against Magic Oaks LLC, the county and two others to...
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Georgetown County never held a public hearing on a stormwater permit before January. Now it has two scheduled this month, and a third is likely. The hearings are a measure of the increased attention being paid to drainage and flooding issues, but also part of a growing frustration with...
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Georgetown County will move quickly to reduce the number of dwellings allowed in its highest density zoning district after this week’s approval of an updated land use plan. The top limit of 16 units an acre will be reduced to 12, “basically to match that to the future land...
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A proposed townhouse development on Petigru Drive will cause drainage and traffic problems and conflict with the county’s future land use plan, opponents say. But that’s only part of the reason they have asked the Georgetown County Planning Commission to overturn the staff decision to grant conceptual approval to...
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If the Waccamaw Neck develops under the zoning ordinance in place today, another 25,201 homes could be built before the area runs out of suitable land, according to data from consultants who are updating Georgetown County’s land use plan. But if the area develops as envisioned by the current...
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Consultants are expected to provide data on what the Waccamaw Neck will look like when it’s built out before a draft of the future land use plan comes up for discussion before Georgetown County Council this week. The county is seven years behind schedule in adopting a 10-year update...
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A townhouse development on Petigru Drive is poised to received conceptual approval from Georgetown County planning staff. But that could change if additional public comment is received today. The 46-unit Sweet Grass West plan is the first to be approved since the county changed its process to eliminate site...
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County planning staff is reviewing a plan for 46 townhouses on Petigru Drive in Pawleys Island. So are the neighbors and a citizens group that has challenged four other multi-family projects in and around the Parkersville area. The project, known as Sweetgrass West, is the first to come up...
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The cheers were short lived. The audience that turned out last week to argue against the latest draft of Georgetown County’s future land use plan thought for a moment that the Planning Commission had agreed with them. But the hands that went up were voting against a motion to...
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Heavy equipment started work this spring clearing 8.8 acres at the corner of Martin Luther King Road and Petigru Drive for a 22-lot subdivision. Seen from the street, it’s an example of the growth that many residents feel is overwhelming the community. Seen from the proposed maps that show...
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Matt Collison has only lived in Heritage Plantation for a year. He wasn’t here for the charettes, the corridor studies, the online survey or the delays that made up Georgetown County’s efforts since 2019 to revise the land use element of its comprehensive plan. “I’m a newbie,” Collison said...
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A tax break that reduced the value of property on Pawleys Creek by $3.6 million has cast doubt on a request to change the zoning for a proposed residential development. But the property owner’s attorney said the tax credit has no impact on the development of a portion of...
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The latest draft of Georgetown County’s land use plan calls for tougher stormwater regulations and sets a goal of preserving half of the undeveloped land remaining on Waccamaw Neck. It also calls for property now used for golf courses to remain low density if those courses are redeveloped. The...
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A zoning change to allow a 27-lot subdivision between Pawleys Creek and Highway 17 was put on hold by Georgetown County Council this week, raising concern that developers will create a development with more lots under the current zoning. Council Member Bob Anderson, who moved to defer approval of...
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Work began last week to demolish dilapidated buildings at the former port of Georgetown. It’s part of a cleanup effort that began when Georgetown County took ownership of the property on the Sampit River from the State Ports Authority last year. The county is now seeking a federal grant...
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Citizens groups say they don’t see much citizen input in a draft of the updated Georgetown County land use plan. A series of speakers at a forum last week told county planners that they fear the update is less restrictive than the current land use plan, which is one...
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A plan to develop a tract between Highway 17 and Pawleys Creek will limit the density of future homes, which has the support of some neighbors and a citizens group. But developing homes between two commercial tracts will set the stage for future conflicts, the Georgetown County Planning Commission...
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A long-awaited draft of Georgetown County’s future land use plan sets out goals for preserving the community’s character and culture while promoting prosperity, chiefly through the creation of more affordable housing. The draft is up for public comment at a forum next week and needs approval from the Planning...
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If you want to open a 5-and-10 or a TV repair shop, Georgetown County won’t keep you waiting. Those are allowed in the “general commercial” zoning district. If you have to turn to Google to find out what a 5-and-10 is, you may agree with Holly Richardson, the county...
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A request to change the zoning for property along Highway 17 in Pawleys Island will require designating the site for high density residential development even though it is proposed for a medium density project. A series of lawsuits and an ongoing update to the land use element of Georgetown...
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A draft of an updated land use plan for Georgetown County won’t be completed until at least mid January, according to consultants that are doing the work. None of about 70 people who reviewed their progress at two forums last week raised any objections to extending the original deadline...
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Property owners at Litchfield Beach will file suit to block Georgetown County’s approval of a zoning change that creates two single-family lots in their community, their attorney said. Property owners at Inlet Point South, a gated community, say houses on the site of a former water treatment plant will...
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The long-running update to Georgetown County’s land use plan will continue into next year to give the public time to comment on the draft being prepared by consultants. “We’re looking to have the draft submitted by the end of December,” said Holly Richardson, the county planning director. The consultants,...
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A request to change the zoning to allow construction of a sixth grocery store in the Pawleys Island area raised concerns about traffic and the need for the store, the same issues raised when the idea was first proposed in 2017. But like the store itself, the opposition was...
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Judge Ben Culbertson rejected a claim that Georgetown County’s land use plan took precedence over the zoning ordinance and development regulations. The plan “merely provides a general direction for Georgetown County Council and the for considering future rezoning. It does not constitute a mandatory requirement that must...
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There is no single solution to controlling future development in Georgetown County, the consultants working on an update to the land use plan said, so they divided the county into five regions. And within those five regions there are three broad categories of land use to consider. Each of...
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A Charleston-based developer has revived plans for a sixth grocery store in the Pawleys Island area. It is proposed for the same tract on Highway 17 at the corner of Petigru Drive where the grocery chain Lidl proposed building a store in 2017. A request to change the zoning...
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A Circuit Court judge has affirmed his decision to dismiss a lawsuit that challenges Georgetown County’s approval of two townhouse projects in the Pawleys Island area. Judge Ben Culbertson denied a motion to alter or amend his July ruling that dismissed a suit claiming County Council violated state law...
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A Circuit Court judge is scheduled hear arguments next week over whether he should alter his decision to dismiss a lawsuit over two developments in the Parkersville area. The suit is one of three challenging Georgetown County’s land use decisions that were dismissed by separate judges earlier this year....
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Consultants working to complete an update to the long-overdue land use element of Georgetown County comprehensive plan came away from a series of meetings last month with a clear understanding of the county’s diverse community. “It’s very stark,” said Jake Petrosky, a community planner with Stewart, a North Carolina...
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Georgetown County is not required to change its zoning ordinance to mirror its comprehensive plan, a Circuit Court judge said in a ruling this week. Judge Kristi Curtis last month dismissed a suit by neighbors and citizens groups seeking to overturn County Council’s approval of a 12-unit development on...
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Tougher standards for storage facilities along Highway 17 on the Waccamaw Neck failed to gain approval from Georgetown County Council this week. Instead, council members want to consider prohibiting the structures. The county planning staff proposed new rules that would limit the size, shape and appearance of storage facilities...
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In creating a new land use plan for Georgetown County, consultants also hope to rebuild trust between citizens and officials after a series of contentious land use decisions that have spawned four lawsuits. “It’s a strong sentiment from some people. I’m hoping this whole process, in where it’s going,...
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Lauren Kelly is a study in contrasts. Her two favorite places are Rome and Jackson Hole, Wyo.; one shaped by buildings, the other shaped by glaciers. One dense, one sparse. “They both have something in common: people want to go there,” Kelly said. When she considers the impact of...
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A third lawsuit challenging Georgetown County’s approval of multi-family development in the Pawleys Island area was dismissed this week by a Circuit Court judge. Like the two other suits, the suit filed by neighbors and citizens groups hinges in part on the role of the future land-use maps that...
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Georgetown County planning staff now have sole responsibility for reviewing multi-family developments with more than 10 units for the first time in 15 years. County Council gave final approval this week to an amendment to the zoning ordinance that eliminates its role in the process along with review by...
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A Circuit Court judge has dismissed a series of legal challenges to Georgetown County’s approval of two multi-family developments in the Pawleys Island area. It is the second time this year that claims that the county’s land-use decisions violated state law have been dismissed. However, the ruling last week...
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No one challenged the decision of the Georgetown County Planning Commission to recommend against a zoning change that would allow 90 townhouses on land proposed for a tech park. The 5-1 decision last fall was based on the conflict between the zoning and the county’s land use plan. That...
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Georgetown County is one vote away from changing the way it reviews plans for large multi-family developments, but attorneys are due to argue in court this week that there is nothing wrong with the current system that led to the approval of 12 duplexes on a tract in the...
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Georgetown County no longer has a contract to sell property at Pawleys Island that was once proposed as a technology park. An offer from an undisclosed buyer last year led to a zoning change to allow a townhouse development and a lawsuit to overturn that change. “There is no...
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A proposed change to the county zoning ordinance would settle a question that is now pending in a series of lawsuits over Georgetown County land use decisions. The measure drafted by Council Member Bob Anderson would require projects in “general residential” zoning districts to comply with the density shown...
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A Circuit Court judge this week dismissed a lawsuit seeking to overturn Georgetown County’s approval of multi-family development on property in Pawleys Island that it bought for a technology park. Judge William Seals filed a form granting motions by the county and its nonprofit Alliance for Economic Development to...
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The two newest members of Georgetown County Council are reluctant to embrace a call for a moratorium on new multi-family development on Waccamaw Neck, but say they are willing to help any property owners who want to change their land’s zoning to restrict future development. “If they want to...
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A Maryland-based company has pulled out of a deal to buy property on Highway 17 in Litchfield for a convenience store and gas station. Jimmy Smith, whose real estate company has the listing, said he was told by the property owner Wednesday that Royal Farms had withdrawn its contract....
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Citizens who don’t like Georgetown County’s land-use decisions should turn to the ballot box, not the courts, attorneys argued this month in an effort to dismiss one of four suits against the county. The suit by neighbors and citizens groups seeks to overturn an amendment to the “planned development”...
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There will be winners and losers. Property owners may not know which category they are in until the get the bill for their insurance premium or file a claim. New maps from the federal government that show flood risks across Georgetown County will go into effect next month, eight...
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Opponents of a gas station and convenience store on Highway 17 in Litchfield are gearing up for a hearing next month on a state stormwater permit for the project. “This is laser-focused on May 1,” said Gary Friedman, a member of the homeowners association at Hidden Oaks, which has...
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Faced with complaints that it was stifling public input, Georgetown County last week delayed action on a change to the way it reviews plans for multi-family developments. Although critics say the current process violates state law, they told the Planning Commission that the proposed fix will create other problems....
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A fourth lawsuit in 14 months – and the second this year – seeks to overturn Georgetown County’s approval of a 12-unit duplex development at Pawleys Island even as the county moves forward with a change in the rules that led to that approval. The suit filed last week...
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A zoning change that will replace a water treatment plant with two residential lots will generate an estimated $1.9 million that will help fund future renourishment on the southern end of Litchfield Beach. But neighbors say that the plan, which was recommended for approval by the Georgetown County Planning...
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Approval of a 12-unit duplex development by County Council is expected to trigger another lawsuit by Pawleys Island area residents and citizens groups who say the process violates state law. The Petigru Place project is proposed for 2 acres on Petigru Drive that are zoned for multi-family development. The...
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Georgetown County’s approval of a new store and restaurant at Marlin Quay Marina did not violate state and local law, a Circuit Court judge ruled last week. The decision by Judge R. Kirk Griffith came more than six years after the first plans for the project were challenged by...
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Opposition from area residents to a convenience store and gas station on Highway 17 in the Litchfield area took on increased urgency with an application last week for state permits for the project. Royal Farms, a Baltimore-based chain, plans a 5,154-square-foot store with 16 gas pumps on 2.8 acres...
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A lawsuit filed by neighbors and citizens groups seeks to overturn Georgetown County Council’s decision to change the zoning on an undeveloped tech park at Pawleys Island to allow 90 townhouses. The suit was filed last week by Keep It Green Advocacy, a year and a day after it...
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Property owners along a stretch of Highway 17 between Pawleys Island and Litchfield are organizing to oppose plans for a convenience store at the corner of Ford Road. “If we don’t work together, we’re not going to win this,” Jackie Harris, president of the homeowners association at Hidden Oaks,...
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The sale of property once planned for a tech park will repay Georgetown County for covering the $950,000 mortgage. What happens to any additional funds has yet to be determined, according to the head of the nonprofit that holds title to the 14.5 acres on Petigru Drive. County Council...
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Several speakers berated Georgetown County Council for moving forward with a proposal to allow 90 townhouses on a vacant tract in Parkersville before John Burgess got his turn at the podium. “I’m going be as nice as I can,” said Burgess, a long-time resident and leader in the traditionally...
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Six Parkersville residents and three citizens groups filed suit this week to overturn Georgetown County Council’s approval of two townhouse projects totaling 88 units in the community. A day later, the council voted 4-1 to move forward with a zoning change that would allow another 90 townhouses in the...
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Plans for two townhouse projects in the Parkersville community were reduced from 109 to 88 units before receiving approval this week from Georgetown County Council. Area residents said the development still posed a threat to the traditionally Black neighborhood where another plan for 90 more townhouses is still pending....
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The figure dressed in black and carrying a scythe was only the start. A timer drowned out speakers who exceeded their three minutes of public comment. Catcalls and false accusations led the chairman to hand over the gavel. And after the Georgetown County Planning Commission voted to recommend denial...
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The Rev. Johnny Ford and the community where he lives and works isn’t against change. “We want it done the right way,” he said. He has proposed that Georgetown County give land it bought for a technology park to Habitat for Humanity rather than sell it to a developer...
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Four community groups have called on Georgetown County to halt any decisions on development until it brings its zoning ordinance into compliance with its comprehensive plan. They are willing to go to court “in the event that the county is not willing to engage in a good faith discussion,”...
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A third townhouse development is being proposed for the Parkersville community at Pawleys Island. This one with 90 units is on the site of a vacant tract that Georgetown County had intended to use as a technology park. The 14.5 acres on Petigru Drive was bought by the county...
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Problems at a multi-family development in Murrells Inlet show that Georgetown County is unable to manage high-density projects, according to two citizens groups. The findings from a review of work at Sunnyside Village were cited in last week’s 3-2 decisions by the Georgetown County Planning Commission to recommend the...
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A citizens group is prepared to mount a legal challenge if Georgetown County approves two townhouse developments in the Parkersville community with a total of 109 units. “If it’s approved as-is, I think I can safely say we would appeal it,” said Cindy Person, attorney for Keep It Green....
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There are 36 vacant tracts larger than 7 acres on the Waccamaw Neck that would be subject to a proposal under review by Georgetown County to reduce the density of residential development. A Charleston developer is proposing a total of 109 townhouses on two of those sites in the...
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A solar farm planned for a 2,000-acre timber tract in rural Georgetown County will be the largest in the state, the Planning Commission was told last month. The project being developed for Santee Cooper by Silicon Ranch, a Tennessee company, will generate 200 megawatts of electricity from about 600,000...
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Plans for a new residential subdivision on Petigru Drive will be scaled back and a proposed townhouse project will be scrapped following talks between the property owners and the citizens group Keep It Green. “We had a good conversation,” said Guerry Green, a partner in Old Kings Highway LLC....
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Predictions of record flooding in Georgetown County as a result of Hurricane Florence in 2018 proved to be wildly exaggerated. But the storm has led to a wave of federal funding that will help complete a long-standing drainage project in the Litchfield area and free up funding for smaller...
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A plan to rezone property for a 26-lot residential development at the corner of Petigru Drive and Martin Luther King Road is due for a public hearing this month. So is a request to amend the “planned development” zoning for the River Club to allow 21 townhouses on 7...
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A proposal to cut density for some tracts on the Waccamaw Neck by increasing the amount of open space required in new developments is on hold while planners try to determine if there is another way to limit growth without raising the cost of housing. “There are a lot...
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A week before a decision is expected on the zoning of the Liberty Steel mill property, the head of the steelworkers union called out the chairman of the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals for negative comments about the mill. “We find it extremely unethical and a conflict of interest...
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Development of tracts in the high-density residential zoning districts on the Waccamaw Neck would be required to preserve 50 percent of that property as open space under a proposal up for review today by the Georgetown County Planning Commission. The goal is to reduce future population density, said County...
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A request to rezone property on Petigru Drive for a residential development will be up for a deferral so the owners can prepare a proposal to reduce the density on a nearby tract. “Our mistake was not to send both those over at the same time,” said Guerry Green,...
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A request to rezone property in Parkersville for an outdoor storage facility will be withdrawn. 3D Land Holdings asked to change the zoning on a 1.7-acre lot from “general residential” to “general commercial” on an undeveloped street west of Highway 17. About 30 people showed up at the Georgetown...
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A North Litchfield couple who rented rooms in their house through Airbnb during the pandemic saw their property tax bill rise by $5,000, after Georgetown County denied their application for a residential tax assessment. Brian Seley and Donna Altman have appealed the county’s decision to deny their application for...
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A request to increase the number of residential lots that can be developed on a tract near Stables Park will be up for review by the Georgetown County Planning Commission this month. The rezoning comes at a time when the county is facing a lawsuit from residents over a...
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Liberty Steel has gone to court to prevent the city of Georgetown from enforcing a provision of its zoning ordinance that would lead to the closure of its mill. The city says the company’s filing is premature since its Board of Zoning Appeals is due to hear the same...
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After being tossed by the tempests raised by the wakes from passing boats, the boaters who dock at Heritage Plantation Marina hope the waters will be calmer this year. The state Department of Natural Resources installed a string of buoys in the Waccamaw River earlier this month to establish...
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A request to rezone property in the Pawleys Island area to allow an open-storage facility has drawn objections from neighbors who say it is another example of commercial development threatening a traditionally Black residential community. About 30 people attended a Georgetown County Planning Commission hearing on the rezoning, which...
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Georgetown County is on track to acquire the port of Georgetown from the state in a deal that officials say could transform the city’s economy. “The port’s been sitting there for years undeveloped,” state Rep. Lee Hewitt said. “It’s dragging down the city.” Hewitt has worked for two years...
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None of the above was a popular choice for Waccamaw Neck residents who completed a survey of future land-use needs conducted by Georgetown County last year. About 60 percent said no more commercial or residential development is needed. What they want more of is zoning regulations that protect natural...
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A plan to build an 11,000-square-foot self-storage on property zoned for 20,000 square feet of office space failed to win final approval from Georgetown County Council this week after area residents questioned the need for another storage facility and its location in a traditionally Black neighborhood. “What struck is...
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A Circuit Court judge last week denied Georgetown County’s bid to end a lawsuit over a zoning change that allowed construction of a new shop and restaurant at Marlin Quay Marina. The owner of the adjacent Gulfstream Café, which has challenged the project in court since 2016, also rejected...
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A challenge to Georgetown County’s approval of a new marina store and restaurant at Marlin Quay that prompted a series of lawsuits should be dismissed because it was filed too late, the county argued at a hearing last week. “This is the one issue,” said Henrietta Golding, the attorney...
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A group of area residents has gone to court to overturn Georgetown County Council’s rezoning of property along Highway 17 to allow smaller lots for residential development. The suit was filed last week in Circuit Court by Keep It Green Advocacy, a nonprofit law firm that spun off from...
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Wider buffers will be required under a change to the Georgetown County zoning ordinance that narrowly passed the Planning Commission this month. The ordinance requires buffers between residential developments and commercial and industrial property. The minimum buffer is now 5 feet. That will increase to 15 feet if County...
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A plan to put more green into green spaces is under review by the Georgetown County Planning Commission. Members say they want to make sure that the measure provides enough space for landscape plants to thrive. The effort began in 2019 with a request from Murrells Inlet restaurant owners...
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Georgetown County Council is expected to learn next week the outcome of its vote last week on a rezoning request that drew opposition from Waccamaw Neck residents. At issue is whether the decision of one member to abstain prevented the council from having the majority needed to approve the...
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A thousand names on petitions, hundreds of emails and a steady stream of objections raised at public hearings shifted one vote on a request to rezone residential property along Highway 17 to create additional lots. Whether that was enough to change the outcome is unclear. Georgetown County Council voted...
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A proposal to add 16 townhouses to a dormant commercial development along Highway 17 would be the first time that commercial property has been converted to residential use in Hagley Estates since the area was first developed in the 1960s. The Planning Commission will hold a hearing today on...
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Work to update Georgetown County’s land-use plan will resume with a community survey to help establish the direction and form of future growth. The Planning Commission agreed this week to a set of survey questions that will revive a process halted nearly a year ago after complaints that there...
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Before the Georgetown County Planning Commission updates its land-use plan, members say it first needs to update the community survey that will help shape the plan. They want to revise a set of 20 questions planning staff proposed for the survey. “There needs to be some massaging of it,”...
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Workers at Chick-fil-A in Murrells Inlet will have a dry place to take orders even though it means encroaching on the setback along Highway 17 that has been a source of concern for area residents in recent years. The fast-food restaurant received a variance from the Georgetown County Board...
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The leader of Keep It Green wore red. Cindy Person said it was to show solidarity with Benjamin Goff, whose request to rezone 14.8 acres to reduce the size of future lots from a half to a quarter acre she opposed. She got the idea from a social media...
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Restrictions on land use limit the ability of people to own homes on the Waccamaw Neck. “We cannot defend a tree rather than a human being when it comes to the right to build a home,” Cynthia Murray said in a letter to Georgetown County Council members. “What will...
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Three citizens groups say they are ready to go to court to force Georgetown County to complete an update of a state-mandated plan for infrastructure, growth and development. “We need to have a plan for what our vision is for Georgetown County for the next 10 years,” said Amy...
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Property off Highway 17 near Prince George took the first step toward higher density development, but not before the chairman of the Georgetown County Planning Commission pointed out to some of the project’s opponents that their community was only allowed to be built after a similar change to the...
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A divided County Council this week failed to pass a zoning change proposed to develop affordable housing outside Georgetown. Opponents of the project pledged to focus on affordable housing elsewhere, but supporters told the council they no longer had faith in the county, accusing members who voted against the...
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A zoning change that could lead to the creation of 90 units of affordable housing outside Georgetown narrowly passed County Council this week, with the chairman saying concerns raised by opponents can be dealt with before a development plan is approved. “I believe in, instead of concentrating on why...
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The concerns are familiar. Traffic, property values, crime. The location is different. It’s a 16-acre tract outside Georgetown. The property is part of a 65-acre “planned development” that was created in 2008 as the future site for Georgetown Memorial Hospital. The hospital, part of Tidelands Health, wants to change...
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A study that shows a need for more than 2,800 housing units in Georgetown County over the next five years will be used by local officials to shift growth from the Waccamaw Neck to the western part of the county. The demand is greatest for houses and rental units...
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A citizens group that fought a zoning change to allow an apartment complex in Pawleys Island is now asking Georgetown County to make a change. Keep It Green wants 14.5 acres on Petigru Drive to revert from a technology park to a “forest and agriculture” zoning district. The county...
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Opposition to a proposed apartment complex on Petigru Drive drew attention from buyers who could use the 14.5-acre site under its current zoning, according to Georgetown County’s director of Economic Development. “It has actually helped,” said Brian Tucker. “There are one or two prospective users who wouldn’t have to...
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A request to rezone property once intended for a technology park to allow 182 apartments was deferred this week to allow the developer to “consider some other information,” according to their attorney. Opponents of the project called on Georgetown County Council to deny the request outright. They said they...
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A plan to rezone property on Petigru Drive from a tech park to an apartment complex faces opposition from two local members of Georgetown County Council. The third is still undecided. The council is due to give second reading next week to a request from Graycliff Capital Partners to...
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A fall from a roof left Chris Taylor’s body broken. It also saved his life. And it has now led to the rebirth of the Litchfield Racquet Club. Taylor and his wife, Emily, plan to open Litchfield Racquet and Paddle next year on 3 acres that were part of...
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A citizens group this week renewed its threat of legal action after Georgetown County Council approved a zoning change to allow construction of 10 duplex units at the corner of Waverly and Kings River roads. The change from low density to medium density for the 3.3 acres is illegal...
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Swapping 167,000 square feet of planned commercial development at Pawleys Island for 182 apartments would run counter to the goals of Georgetown County’s future land-use plan, members of the Planning Commission say. The commission voted 5-0 last week against a zoning change to allow residential development on 14.4 acres...
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Pleas to deny a zoning change to allow development of 10 units at the corner of Waverly and Kings River roads picked up two more supporters on Georgetown County Council, but those were not enough to defeat the proposal. The council this week voted 4-3 to approve a change...
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A citizens group is considering legal action after Georgetown County Council voted this week to approve a zoning change to allow 10 duplex units on property where up to six single-family homes are currently allowed. The 6-1 vote on the project known as Waverly and Kings followed pleas from...
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Gary Weinreich listened to two-and-half hours of public comment and debate on a pair of rezoning requests before he got up to talk to the Georgetown County Planning Commission about his concerns over a proposed development in Murrells Inlet. “It breaks my heart to hear these people from the...
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While neighbors outlined concerns about density, traffic and stormwater that would follow approval of a proposed development at Waverly and Kings River roads, leaders of a community group told County Council those details are only a distraction. “A zoning ordinance cannot be changed without a showing of public necessity,”...
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Council Member Steve Goggans is still considering whether to recuse himself from a vote Sept. 22 on a rezoning that has drawn opposition from area residents. The project, known as Waverly and Kings, originally called for 14 townhouses. That was scaled back after a public hearing where neighbors and...
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A plan for townhouses at the intersection of Waverly and Kings River roads has been changed to duplexes in the face of criticism from area residents. “I’ll say it to the community: I heard you,” Bruce Watts, who created the plan, said this week. He is due to submit...
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Georgetown County planning staff are recommending approval of a request to rezone property at Waverly and Kings River roads for a multi-family development. The proposed change from six half-acre lots to 14 townhouses will create more green space than a typical single-family development, according to the recommendation. The project...
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A plan to build townhouses on the corner of one of the busiest intersections west of Highway 17 will save trees and reduce traffic impacts, according to the project’s designer. It will also require a zoning change to increase the density from six units to 15. “It’s going to...
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Half of the land on Waccamaw Neck that is available for development ought to be preserved, according to a land-use study prepared for Georgetown County. That amounts to about 950 acres. Land preservation is among 10 initiatives proposed for the next five years by Stantec, a global design and...
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Property at Pawleys Island once envisioned as a high-tech park is being considered for high-density residential development. The proposal from Graycliff Capital Development is under review by Georgetown County Council. “We’re struggling with what do we do with that property,” Council Chairman John Thomas said, adding that he opposes...
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After four failed attempts to change the zoning, the site of the former Litchfield Racquet Club was sold last month by Founders National Golf. The 8.9 acres was sold to Downtown Litchfield LLC for $550,000. The sale also includes the property at the entrance of Litchfield Country Club now...
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Concern that an update to Georgetown County’s future land-use plan will lead to increased population density on the Waccamaw Neck drew an overflow crowd to a forum sponsored by the citizens group Keep It Green. The two-hour civics lesson attracted more people than the publicly-fund sessions that have focused...
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The creation of a new oceanfront lot at North Litchfield has prompted the area property owners association to ensure that Georgetown County is aware of deed restrictions in the area that prohibit subdivisions. By one estimate, 10 percent of about 700 lots are large enough to be subdivided under...
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Georgetown County could issue a permit this week for construction of a house on a newly-created oceanfront lot in North Litchfield. A Circuit Court judge last week denied a motion to block construction on the property that was subdivided last year. The ruling by Judge William McKinnon was made...
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Work stopped this week on a new oceanfront lot at North Litchfield while Georgetown County officials determined whether equipment that leveled a sand dune violated the county’s dune protection ordinance. “We had no idea they were doing this. We gave them a demolition permit. Nobody said anything about removing...
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The Planning Commission has denied an appeal from a North Litchfield property owner who wanted Georgetown County to block a neighbor’s plans to create two lots out of an acre of oceanfront property. “It’s a first for us,” said Boyd Johnson, the county planning director. “It’s not a zoning...
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The score stands at 4-0 in the fight over the future of the former Litchfield Racquet Club as another developer has asked to withdraw a rezoning request rather than face denial by Georgetown County Council. It is the fifth plan served up for the facility this year and the...
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Hundreds of area residents packed into a meeting last week to oppose a zoning change that would replace 17 vacant tennis courts with 19 residential lots. About two thirds filtered out before the Planning Commission voted down the proposal, but the cheering still echoed through the room. AmeriBuilt Homes...
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The Georgetown County planning staff is recommending approval of a request to create new residential lots from the vacant courts at the former Litchfield Racquet Club. The Planning Commission will hold a hearing on the request Oct. 17. Three other requests to change the “planned development” zoning at the...
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Oak trees along Waverly Road that were in the way of a sewer line can’t be cut without approval from Georgetown County under a change to the zoning ordinance approved this week. The ordinance exempts public utilities. An amendment passed by County Council specifies that private utilities must comply...
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The Highway 17 corridor through the Waccamaw Neck needs more landscaping and turn lanes. It needs more fast food and fine dining. It needs more enforcement of speed limits and more kindness. It also needs more flounder. Consultants are compiling the opinions from over 100 area residents who this...
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The newest plan for the former Litchfield Racquet Club calls for 19 single-family lots in the place of 17 empty clay courts. At 10,000 square feet, the lots are more than twice the size of 32 lots proposed for the 8.5 acres in June. The property is owned by...
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The latest plan to redevelop the Litchfield Racquet Club was withdrawn Thursday, following the fate of two earlier requests. The decision came a week after a meeting between the developer and Georgetown County planning staff, who said they would recommend that a traffic study be completed before the Planning Commission...
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Creating a “downtown district” in the Pawleys Island area is among the recommendations the Georgetown County Planning Commission will consider as it starts work today on an update of the future land-use plan. A draft proposal of goals and strategies suggests a mix of commercial, professional and residential uses...
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The new developer of the former Litchfield Racquet Club has submitted a plan for houses on the property that has changed little from the one the former developer withdrew last month. The plan calls for 32 single-family homes on lots of 4,600 square feet. The 8.5 acres are part...
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A second plan for development of the former Litchfield Racquet Club was withdrawn Thursday, a week after it was submitted to Georgetown County planners. The revised plan would have replaced the 17 clay courts with 32 single-family lots that would be about half the size of the adjacent residential...
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A campaign to save the former Litchfield Racquet Club has now shifted direction, with a coalition of area residents calling on the county to preserve the site as open space. About 75 people showed up at the Georgetown County Planning Commission meeting last week even though a plan to...
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A developer has asked to withdraw a request to rezone the former Litchfield Racquet Club to allow 108 one-bedroom apartments. A public hearing on the project was scheduled today before the county Planning Commission. The request from Trey Smith follows a recommendation to the commission from the county planning...
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A plan for the former Litchfield Racquet Club calls for 108 efficiency apartments to replace the 17 clay tennis courts. The project faces a public hearing before the Georgetown County Planning Commission next month. Former club members are organizing to save the facility from redevelopment. The last matches were...
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Legislature
They disagree on abortion, gun control and whether Highway 521 will ever be widened to four lanes between Andrews and Interstate 95. But the partisan divide between the two Republicans and two Democrats who form the Georgetown County legislative delegation that prompted harsh words a year ago was left...
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Spending $450 million on a new highway doesn’t make sense if the existing roads can’t handle the increased traffic it will bring, said Becky Ryon, North Coast director of the Coastal Conservation. The members of the intergovernmental Grand Strand Area Transportation Study Policy Committee have heard that before as...
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A dispute over appointments that had simmered for two years boiled over last week with Republicans on the Georgetown County legislative delegation ousting James Sanderson from the Board of Voter Registration and Elections. Lawmakers said the move threatens to upend working relationships that transcend party politics and impact how...
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Waccamaw Neck residents may not have to drive to Georgetown to cast absentee ballots before the General Election in November. County election officials are exploring the possibility of opening a voting center somewhere in Pawleys Island in October. It would be staffed by poll workers and open weekdays from...
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Waccamaw Neck will continue to have a resident state senator under a redistricting plan proposed by the Senate staff. State Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, a Murrells Inlet Republican, said the plan is an improvement over the initial draft that drew the southern boundary of Senate District 34 just below his...
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The board of the Georgetown County Water and Sewer District will be back at full strength for the first time in nearly four years if Gov. Henry McMaster approves four nominations from local legislators. The delegation met this week for the first time in two years to fill vacant...
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The Georgetown County legislative delegation met this week for the first time in two years only to delay its meeting for another week in the face of complaints that the meeting violated state law. “It’s ridiculous,” said state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, the Murrells Inlet Republican who chairs the four-member...
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Whether James Sanderson or his son, Jamie, is nominated to fill a vacancy on the Georgetown County Election Commission may not make a difference in a looming rift between the state lawmakers who represent the county. State Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, the Murrells Inlet Republican who chairs the delegation, said...
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Even a virtual meeting can’t disguise the empty seats when the Georgetown County Water and Sewer District board meets. “We could stand a couple of new board members,” Bill Schwartzkopf, who chairs the board, said after this month’s meeting. “We seem to be a little short,” Ray Gagnon, the...
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Communities that pay a monthly fee for street lights could see a savings if Santee Cooper agrees to let them buy the light fixtures and poles. Officials at the state-owned utility have told property owners they are willing to talk about a change in policy since the Georgetown County...
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Local lawmakers see no clear path forward in three proposals for the future of Santee Cooper that were released last week. The legislature is due to decide sometime this year whether the state-owned utility will be reformed, sold or managed by a third party in the wake of a...
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Investors are proposing to resume construction on reactors at the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant or convert the plant to natural gas. Those options need to be weighed before the state legislature considers offers to sell Santee Cooper, the state-owned utility, state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch told constituents this week....
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State legislators say they will focus on ratepayers rather than ideology when they consider proposals to sell Santee Cooper, the state-owned electric utility. A report on four offers from private utilities is expected to emerge next month from a committee reviewing the sale. Santee Cooper provides retail power to...
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Concern about the future of electricity rates in the wake of the failed V.C. Summer nuclear plant offers the Waccamaw Neck Council of Property Owners Associations an opportunity to raise its profile as a community forum, but members decided this week they want more information themselves before tackling the...
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Litchfield Beach
A study prepared for Georgetown County as part of its update of its beachfront management plan recommends creating a fund to pay for up to $20.3 million of renourishment along the Litchfield Beaches to create an “engineered beach” that would qualify for federal disaster aid. At Garden City, which...
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Property owners at Litchfield Beach filed suit this week to overturn Georgetown County’s approval of a zoning change that allows two new houses to be built on the site of a former water treatment plant at Inlet Point South. “County Council members had no idea what they were amending...
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Property owners at Inlet Point South say there is something rotten in the plan to create two new lots in the middle of their gated community. But it isn’t a sewer plant. “There’s possibly some H2S odor because of the well,” said Ray Gagnon, executive director of Georgetown County...
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The HOA at Inlet Point South supports a zoning change that will create two buildable lots on the site of a disused sewer treatment plan. But homeowners say they all object to the change in the middle of their gated community on the south end of Litchfield Beach. “All...
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Weather and mechanical problems led to delays in a beach renourishment project at Litchfield Beach that had already received permission from regulators to work during the sea turtle nesting season. The extension of the permit for work at the Peninsula on the southern end of Litchfield has added to...
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Although storms, including the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, kept a dredge tucked into Winyah Bay for several days, a beach renourishment project at the south end of Litchfield Beach is on track to be completed by the end of the month, according to the project’s...
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A third request for a permit to place sand on the south end of Litchfield Beach was the first to generate positive comments, but it also drew new objections from a state agency and a conservation group that say the proposal to allow work in the spring and summer...
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A plan to haul sand by truck to rebuild the eroding beach and dune at the southern end of Litchfield Beach will be reviewed at a public hearing by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. The decision follows the receipt of over 100 comments from property owners...
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An east wind brought the sailboat ashore. A twin-axle trailer took it off. In a month spent on the edge of Litchfield Beach, the Grundoon drew hundreds of onlookers eager to see if it could be made to float. “I’ve been following this for a month,” said Tammy Bibee,...
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A collective sigh rose from the crowd like the last breath of the evening breeze when the mast fell across the rolling deck. Joshua Powers, owner of the 30-foot sailboat Grundoon, has tasted failure before. The boat ran aground on Litchfield Beach before dawn on Memorial Day when Powers...
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A weekend cruise from Georgetown to Murrells Inlet ended abruptly at Litchfield on Memorial Day. The 30-foot Catalina sailboat Grundoon came ashore just south of the Litchfield Inn around 2 a.m., said Joshua Powers, the owner. He lives aboard the boat in Georgetown. Powers and a friend were sailing...
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Milestones
Connor and Selena Gould came from Burlington, Vt. David and Cathy Whitehouse came from Rochester, N.Y. So did Dave and Patti Crean. They watched through protective glasses as the moon edged across the face of the sun and the light over the south end of Pawleys Island became tinged...
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You won’t be able to get the full effect of next week’s total eclipse from Pawleys Island, but you will be more likely to get a parking space. That will be a change from the 2017 eclipse that brought thousands of visitors to Georgetown County. And it will have...
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The verdict handed down last week in Georgetown County’s Central Traffic Court was unanimous. Isaac Pyatt was fair. Win or lose, prosecutors, defense attorneys and law enforcement told the retiring chief magistrate that they knew he had treated them fairly. Pyatt left the court for the last time Tuesday....
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Paige Sawyer was taking his usual pre-dawn stroll along the Harborwalk in downtown Georgetown when he smelled smoke and saw flames. What Sawyer discovered on Sept. 25, 2013, was the beginning of a fire that would destroy eight buildings, leave 10 people homeless and change the face of the...
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The sky was cloudless and serene. “Just like it was then,” said Lisa Midwood, a former sergeant with the New York Police Department. She walked to the monument outside the Midway Fire and Rescue station in Willbrook to get a closer look at the short piece of twisted steel...
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Never forget. That was the mantra after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, that killed 2,996 people at the World Trade Center in New York, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., and in Shanksville, Pa. Twenty years later, Pawleys Island Police Chief Mike Fanning, and Mark Nugent, fire...
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It’s been 21 years since Mary Shumpert sold her beloved 1961 Corvette, and she still misses it dearly. “I wish I had it right now,” Shumpert said. Now 105 and no longer able to drive, the feeling of loss has not dimmed. Her face lights up when she talks...
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Two lifelong friends left Pawleys Island as Jackson and Blake, but after hiking the 2,653-mile-long Pacific Crest Trail, they earned the trail names “Whole Roll” and “Scar.” Jackson Stacy and Blake Marsh, both 22, have been best friends since preschool. They were on the soccer and cross country teams...
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The following account was published Sept. 28, 1989. The South Carolina coast was overdue for a storm. Last week it roared in with a vengeance. Seven days later there is still no count of the homes destroyed on Waccamaw Neck. Officials estimate 100 homes were lost at Pawleys Island...
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Charlie Duke may be 83, but he can still claim the title of youngest man to walk on the moon. Duke was the lunar module pilot for Apollo 16 in 1972 and he and John Young spent more than 71 hours over three days driving a lunar roving vehicle...
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Bill and Joe Chandler were working for NASA in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy told Congress the United States should work toward landing a man on the moon, and returning him safely to Earth, before the end of the 1960s. “From the get-go we knew it was a...
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Dalton Paschal turned 100 last week. He was lucky to make it out of his 20s and still has the shrapnel as a reminder. It’s lodged in his left leg. He has been reading up lately about the battles that took place 75 years ago along the German border...
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Murrells Inlet
Once the goals of Georgetown County’s newly-adopted future land use plan are implemented through an updated zoning code, the future residential density in the Murrells Inlet area will be cut in half, County Council Member Clint Elliott told constituents at a drop-in event. “The problem with Murrells Inlet, the...
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Nearly a third of the shellfish beds in the state’s seafood capital are closed to harvesting because of high levels of bacteria in Murrells Inlet. Many residents say that is the result of development that has increased stormwater runoff. A researcher says it’s poop. “Most of the bacteria coming...
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A group of Murrells Inlet charter boat captains says Georgetown County’s plan to allow limited commercial activity at its boat landings comes up short. For John Sconyers, that’s 4 feet short. “It’s the length issue for us,” he told County Council last week. The council deferred final reading on...
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Members of the county’s Board of Zoning Appeals last week denied a request to remove a water oak to allow two additional townhouses to be built in the Majestic Oaks development in Murrells Inlet. There are already three clusters of townhouses on the property – and fourth about to...
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The Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire District’s plan to expand its Marine Safety Initiative next summer is now on hold after Georgetown County cut its accommodation tax grant. “That is something that is directly tourist driven difficult for us to offset through any type of tax revenue or impact...
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A pair of dredges was expected to arrive in Murrells Inlet this week to start work in the federal channel, the first of three proposed projects to improve navigation through the estuary. Dredging in the federal channel was last done by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2017. The...
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Two visitors to the Waccamaw Neck’s beaches lost their lives in June trying to help swimmers in distress. Unfortunately, it’s something firefighters see all the time. “If you’re not trained to perform the rescue don’t try to do the rescue because there’s a higher probability and a chance you...
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A complaint by the city of Georgetown against a tour boat operator has sent ripples across public boat landings in the county. Deputies have started ticketing commercial fishing guides at the Murrells Inlet boat landing, and commercial activities at other landings could also face citations, Sheriff Carter Weaver said....
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Voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum to increase property taxes from 14 to 28 mills for the Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire District this week. The vote was 2,102 for and 455 against. Turnout among the 8,579 Georgetown County voters and 19,294 Horry County voters in the district was 9 percent....
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Voters in Murrells Inlet go to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to raise property taxes for fire and emergency medical services. The Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire District board voted earlier this year to seek voter approval to raise the tax rate in the special-purpose district from 14 to...
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Voters in Murrells Inlet will go to the polls July 25 to decide whether to raise property taxes for fire and rescue services. The referendum comes four years after voters rejected a similar measure. “I haven’t detected anyone who is opposed. Hopefully, it will stay that way,” said Tom...
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Voters will be asked in July to double the tax rate for the Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire District over the next five years. The district board, which voted earlier this month to hold a referendum, this week decided to ask for an increase from 14 to 28 mills that...
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A referendum will be called this summer to raise the property tax cap for the Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire District. But after agreeing last week to bring the issue to a vote, the district’s board decided to wait until it receives its 2022 financial audit before deciding how much...
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The property tax rate will need to double for the Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire District to meet the staffing levels recommended in a consultant’s report. Raising the rate by 50 percent will allow the district to raise pay to boost hiring and retention of current employees, but won’t allow...
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A consultant’s report lays out a case for the Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire District seeking voter approval to raise property taxes. The report that Tom Swatzel is waiting for is the district’s annual financial audit. “I think that’s critical,” he said. Swatzel started the Friends of the Murrells Inlet-Garden...
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One of the three ambulances that serves the Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire District stopped running just before the weekend. The problem wasn’t the vehicle. The district didn’t have enough people to staff it. More than 200 times a year, the district doesn’t have an ambulance available due to its...
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Mother Nature rained on the Murrells Inlet Boat Parade on Monday, but not enough to dampen the enthusiasm of participants and spectators. “The parade went great. The participation numbers were higher than what I thought we would have, considering the forecast,” said Lee Hewitt, who co-chairs the parade committee....
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A “no parking” zone along the Bike the Neck route in Murrells Inlet will be replaced with 13 parking spaces using funds included in this year’s state budget. The parking area on the west side of Business 17 across from a wooden bridge over the marsh was a popular...
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A $6.1 million allocation of infrastructure funds will allow the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the federal channel at Murrells Inlet and place sand on the beach, a project last done in 2017 and funded by Georgetown County’s capital projects sales tax. No timetable has been set for...
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On a Sunday morning in November, Sandra Bundy spent half an hour picking up trash along the Marshwalk. She collected five plastic bottles (including Hunt’s Ketchup), seven aluminum beer cans (all different brands), a plastic shopping bag and four pieces of styrofoam. It was one of nine cleanups that...
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More data is needed to assess the threats to Murrells Inlet, and more cooperation among residents is needed to help mitigate those threats, according to a study by students at Coastal Carolina University. The findings were the result of a project by the first class in the university’s new...
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As the new executive director of Murrells Inlet 2020, Stacy Johnson is getting to meet a lot of visitors to the area. The nonprofit’s office on Highway 17 Business has become a kind of visitors center. “People come in and ask for hotel recommendations, or what’s the best restaurant...
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Dredging is needed to remove about 750,000 cubic yards of material from creeks in Murrells Inlet to make its waterways navigable, according to engineers hired by Georgetown County to complete a master plan for the work. But before that can be done, the engineers say, the county has to...
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After skipping the annual community cleanup during the pandemic year, there was plenty of trash for volunteers to collect at this year’s Spring Tide. Yet they also found time to focus on what was lost as well as what was found. The names of a dozen volunteers and supporters...
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When June Jordan, 82, passed from this world at a local hospital on the morning of April 7 after a protracted battle with cancer, the community of Murrells Inlet lost one of its brightest flowers and most ardent – though mostly unsung – supporters and environmental advocates. She was...
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Hickory, poplar and pine trees rise overhead. Empty beer bottles, old tires and chunks of concrete are underfoot. But whichever way you look, the 13 acres in Murrells Inlet belong to the public. Area residents want the property to stay that way, and last week convinced Georgetown County Council...
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An extension of the I2I bike route in Murrells Inlet is getting top priority for federal funds as part of a compromise among the officials who allocate money for regional transportation projects. The Inlet to Intracoastal project sponsored by Murrells Inlet 2020 will get $638,000 over two years if...
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The theme is “Independence Day the Inlet Way.” There is a logo ready to be printed on posters and T-shirts. But the fate of the Murrells Inlet Fourth of July Boat Parade remains uncertain. “I have applied to DNR with my permit. At this time, they are not issuing...
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Responding to his first structure fire as a rookie firefighter in 1979, Norman Knight was so nervous that his leg was shaking and banging on the steering wheel of the fire truck. When he arrived at the scene and tried to walk, he thought he had broken his kneecap....
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To hear Cathy Smith talk, you would think her interest in gardening grew out of nowhere – just like a bad weed. “I really have no idea where my interest in gardening came from,” Smith said as she strolled through the yard of her 60-foot-wide lot near the waterfront in...
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Voters in Murrells Inlet and Garden City will go to the polls Tuesday to decide whether they and their neighbors should pay more for fire and EMS services. The Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire District wants to increase its property tax rate from 14 to 19 mills starting this year....
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Kin McKenzie moved to Murrells Inlet about 10 years ago, but he grew up spending summers on the creek where his father built a house in 1960. “I’ve been coming here all my life,” he said. “I bused tables summers at Oliver’s Lodge.” He sat up late talking with...
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A proposed study of parking along the Murrells Inlet waterfront will have to wait until Georgetown County planners complete an update of the future land-use plan, or even longer if the county decides to outsource the work. Such studies “are a little more complicated than I thought,” Boyd Johnson,...
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The first phase of the Inlet to Intracoastal path through Murrells Inlet will stop 1,400 feet and about $114,000 short of its goal. The project, known as I2I, is a partnership between the Murrells Inlet 2020 revitalization group, Tidelands Health and Georgetown County. The first phase was due to...
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State engineers are working on a plan to reconfigure the parking lot and driveway at the Murrells Inlet Boat Landing to allow Belin Methodist Church to consolidate property to expand its facilities. “We’re hoping to make it better,” Andy Wicker, chief engineer for the state Department of Natural Resources,...
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An effort by restaurant owners to squeeze a few more parking spaces out of land along the creek at Murrells Inlet led the Georgetown County Planning Commission last week to call for a study of parking in the area. Although the amount of seating for restaurants is tied to...
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A plan to replace a bar in Murrells Inlet with a parking lot hinges on a request by the property owner to change the way Georgetown County requires parking lots to be landscaped. It may also lead to a review of how much parking is available in the restaurant...
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The backups on Bypass 17 caused by traffic trying to turn onto Tournament Boulevard have reached Pawleys Island, at least by word of mouth. “I have people tell me all the time how bad it is,” Pawleys Island Mayor Jimmy Braswell said. He joined the chorus of officials who...
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A Murrells Inlet restaurant owner will get another chance to change the conditions on a variance that was issued 11 years ago after three hearings by Georgetown County. The owner of the former Capt. Dave’s Dockside wants to be able to build a deck between the restaurant and the...
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Plans for a new marina store and restaurant at Marlin Quay received final approval from Georgetown County Council this week. But the project continues to move through the courts with the marina owner seeking to overturn a Circuit Court ruling that limits the footprint of the new building. The...
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Fears that portions of a proposed fence at a home on Murrells Inlet would become storm debris prompted neighbors to oppose the owner’s request to allow a structure 2 feet higher than the county allows. Members of the Georgetown County Board of Zoning Appeals last week denied the request...
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Nonprofits
Maria Montessori once said: “What the hand does, the mind remembers.” Coastal Montessori Charter School teachers and parents took that to heart three years ago when they started transforming a two-and-a-half wooded lot next to the school’s property into an outdoor learning area. “It is remarkably important. These kids...
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Every Thursday about three dozen Waccamaw High School students gather in Chris Overbeek’s classroom to eat lunch and share their faith. “I just love it because it’s so cool to see these kids at this age, with all the insecurities kids have, living their faith and being bold enough...
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For decades, Tara Hall Home for Boys helped thousands of abused and neglected boys through some of the worst times in their lives. When the Department of Social Services started to move away from group homes and it was clear that the facility was going to close, the Tara...
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Frozen turkeys flew from their packing cases at the rate of one every 20 seconds, helped on their way to Thanksgiving tables by dozens of volunteers. It was the largest holiday giveaway at the Baskervill Food Pantry. “We’re seeing an increase in the number of people,” said Nancy Cave,...
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A Murrells Inlet-based nonprofit is using horses as therapy for victims of crime and veterans. The reaction of a horse when spooked – fight, flight or freeze – is similar to trauma victims, or combat veterans, when they get triggered. “That comes from an involuntary part of the brain,...
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Inmates at the Georgetown County Detention Center spend years learning work skills as part of the sheriff’s office re-entry program. But when it comes time to be paroled, suddenly those same inmates have a short period of time – sometimes just weeks – to get things like housing in...
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Helping Hands of Georgetown was one of two nonprofits that surpassed $200,000 in donations during last year’s Palmetto Giving Day. Executive director Brendon Barber has high hopes for this year’s event, which is May 2-3. “It’s not just about the fundraising, it’s about letting people know who we are...
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As much as Palmetto Giving Day is about raising money for nonprofits, it’s also about building a community. “The more people know each other and build relationships with each other, the better off we all are,” Geales Sands, executive director of Frances Bunnelle Foundation, said. “We count on our...
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There’s an old saying: you are what you eat. “Unhealthy food does not contain the nutrients that our bodies need to function properly … the nutrients that we need for our physical and mental health,” said Dr. Michelle McCauley, a family medicine physician for Tidelands Health. “A lot...
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Got your hands on some non-perishable food that is beyond its expiration or sell by date? Don’t donate it to a food pantry. Throw it away, so the people at the pantry don’t have to. Nancy Cave, co-coordinator of the Baskervill Food Pantry, said volunteers can always tell when...
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Officials at nonprofits that serve Georgetown County residents woke up this morning with a little bit more money to do good work. More than $2.83 million was raised this week during Palmetto Giving Day, a 36-hour fundraising extravaganza started five years ago by the Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation. Not...
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In its first five years, Palmetto Giving Day has raised nearly $7 million for nonprofits that operate in Georgetown County. Last year’s event set records for the amount of money raised – $2.1 million – and number of donations – 3,699. “We’re looking forward to another record-breaking year,” said...
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After more than a year of living with relatives, Wilson Dozier moved back onto his property at the corner of Lafayette and Duke streets in Georgetown on Tuesday. “I’m really excited,” Dozier said. “I’m glad to be back on this corner.” Dozier left because his house was falling apart...
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The cows are gone. Even the farm is gone. But the mission of The Outreach Farm remains the same: provide protein to people who really need it. The challenge the nonprofit’s board now faces is letting people know it still exists, and still needs money. “Without the farm, without...
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This season’s greenery includes three varieties of lettuce, kale and some herbs. And they will stay green long after the holidays; a gift that keeps on giving. “We’ve just been very blessed,” said Brewster Buck, who chairs the board of Carolina Human Reinvestment. The nonprofit planted a community garden...
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Of the 10,423 toys collected this year for Toys for Tots in Georgetown County a couple stood out. Vaylon Myers will get one of them on Christmas morning. Jerry Goodrich knew it was special and tried to find the right time to put it on display. He and his...
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More than one out of every 10 Georgetown County residents lacks consistent access to enough food to live an active, healthy life, according to a recent study. This food insecurity is at its worst in the southern and western parts of the county, according to the study commissioned by...
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Volunteers finessed the first section of wall into place last week for the first Habitat Cottage, a new initiative that will provide decent housing for low-income seniors. “Everybody says it’s a tiny house,” said Wilson Dozier, 80, who hopes to move in later this year. “It’s big enough for...
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The tattered ends of the gray plastic tarp flutter in the sultry air. The tarp covers the back half of the roof at Wilson Dozier’s house in Georgetown. Where the tarp ends, the siding has rotted under the peeling yellow paint. The house is a decade older than its...
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Fifty nonprofits that work with residents of Georgetown County got a $2 million boost this week. The fifth annual Palmetto Giving Day, hosted by the Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation, raised $2.1 million during a 36-hour fundraising marathon on Tuesday and Wednesday. The amount of money raised and number of...
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The Baskervill Food Pantry kept up with an increase in visits since the start of the pandemic, as businesses closed and jobs were lost. The pantry had 3,964 visits from March through December, up 31 percent over the same period in 2019. “We’ve seen new people come who have...
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David Armbrister listened closely to the woman holding the large stuffed bear. He looked over the sets of blocks, the school bus that beeped, the piano that made silly sounds. He suggested a bright blue dump truck. The woman agreed. That was what she was looking for. “I try...
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After 50 years of working at Tara Hall Home for Boys, Jim Dumm is retiring. “It’s bittersweet,” Dumm said. “But I’m ready for it.” The nonprofit is a residential facility for troubled boys. The facility will be converted into a non-residential school for girls and boys which could be...
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Their time, their talents, their money and their love. Those are some of the things Dr. Carl Fisher and his wife, Lois, gave to the Smith Medical Clinic during the last quarter century. COVID-19 forced the DeBordieu couple to step away from the clinic months before a planned move...
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Staff at All 4 Paws Animal Rescue take to the road when it is time to spay or neuter cats and dogs, driving as far as Moncks Corner to use clinic space. So a couple of shipping containers will come in handy. The nonprofit has received a $230,000 grant...
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With need as great as it’s ever been in Georgetown County, people from near and far stepped up this week to support local nonprofits. The fourth annual Palmetto Giving Day, hosted by the Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation, raised $1.7 million during a 36-hour fundraising marathon. The number of donations,...
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Local nonprofits are hoping for an infusion of more than $1 million in donations this week. The Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation is hosting its fourth annual Palmetto Giving Day starting at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. The first three events raised nearly $3 million. The amount of money donated has increased...
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When the schools empty, the pool behind Teach My People fills up. As the area’s closest thing to a public pool, it is used by kids in the nonprofit’s summer program and by other groups. “Swimming is not only a great recreation but I think it’s vital that our...
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Twenty-five lucky people dined on Pawleys Creek foragers stew and berry clafoutis for the Cooking with Friends finale in the Cypress Room at Get Carried Away. Tickets were hotter than a blue flame for the event last month, the last of four such fund raisers this year to benefit...
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Most of the people who attend the Pawleys Pavilion Reunion every year never got a chance to dance at any of the island’s four pavilions, the last of which was destroyed by a fire in 1970. But this year’s attendees will be able to have their pictures made with...
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The third annual Palmetto Giving Day was another success, raising $1.2 million on Tuesday for 48 Georgetown County nonprofits. Teach My People in Pawleys Island was the top fundraiser, taking in $125,390 from 128 donors. Helping Hands of Georgetown raised $115,000, the second most on Tuesday, from 131 donors....
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Dozens of nonprofits that serve Georgetown County residents are hoping for an infusion of donations on Tuesday during the third annual Palmetto Giving Day. Teach My People in Pawleys Island has a goal of raising $100,000, according to executive director Eric Spatz. The nonprofit, which is an after-school and...
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Country music singer Jimmy Wayne is in Pawleys Island this week to help Tara Hall Home for Boys celebrate its 50th anniversary. Wayne, 42, has a special connection to the nonprofit: he spent a great deal of his youth in North Carolina’s foster care system and said not much...
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Coastal Montessori Charter School classrooms have been filled with slime this month, but it’s for a good cause. Sophia Kirk, 10, and her classmates have been selling the homemade stuff to raise money for a good cause: the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. “Everybody at the school likes slime so...
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Eleven women with dreams of being Miss America, or Miss America’s Outstanding Teen, battled it out on a Saturday night to take the first step of that journey. They were competing for the titles of Miss Georgetown County and Miss Five Rivers inside the Waccamaw High School auditorium. After...
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People looking for soup to warm their insides during the recent cold snap will have plenty of choices on Saturday during the 21st annual Souper Bowl. The event is a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity Georgetown County. There will be a flock of choices for people hungry for the...
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Passages
A line of firefighters filed past a rusted piece of steel outside the Midway Fire and Rescue headquarters at 8:46 a.m. They touched the gray granite that held the fragment from the World Trade Center. Wearing turnout gear that weighs 50 to 60 pounds, the 10 firefighters walked a...
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Marshall Chapman was playing at 12th and Porter, a club in Nashville. Jimmy Buffett and the songwriter Will Jennings were sitting in the front row. “They got up and left in the middle of the song, and I was thinking, ‘Oh, my, was I sounding bad? What’s the deal,’”...
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Jeff McClary couldn’t find a job in his chosen field, working with wildlife. Instead, he made it his life’s work. As the co-founder and long-time coordinator of S.C. United Turtle Enthusiasts, he led an effort that put Georgetown County at the forefront of sea turtle conservation. “He did such...
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Bill Chandler helped put a man on the moon, but he never let his vision stray far from the oaks and marsh at Murrells Inlet that shaped his own voyage. “My interest is to keep Murrells Inlet a vibrant, active, healthy community, and I think that appeals to most...
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If you spoke with Sheriff Lane Cribb for at least five minutes, he would probably consider you a friend after that. If the conversation went on any longer, he would try to figure if you were kin. “He was genuine. He was a real person,” Assistant Sheriff Carter Weaver...
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Pawleys Island
The largest free beach access in Georgetown County will have paved parking under a $417,113 improvement project due to start next week. The county is using federal disaster funds and a portion of its road user fees to upgrade the beach access on the south end of Pawleys Island....
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Sandbags now line the beach at Prince George where Pawleys Inlet has continued its southern migration as property owners and the town of Pawleys Island continue negotiations to relocate the inlet. “Emergency conditions have occurred along the oceanfront of the Prince George community,” state regulators found in issuing an...
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The design for a beach house that would replace a house from the 1940s in the Pawleys Island historic district was denied by the town’s Architectural Review Board after members said it wasn’t compatible with the 19th century home on the property. And town officials questioned whether the spirit...
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Negotiations are continuing between the town of Pawleys Island, state agencies and property owners at Prince George who say that a 2020 beach renourishment project on the island caused erosion along their shoreline. “There’s some optimism that both sides are getting closer to a solution,” Mayor Brian Henry told...
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Any homeowner will tell you the cost of renovations adds up fast. But in the town of Pawleys Island, those numbers also count down until they reach 50 percent of a home’s fair market value. At that point, the owner must bring the property into compliance with all the...
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Rommie Presley put his foot on the pedal and placed a handful of soda cans and water bottles in the mouth of the trash can. He waited. A green light flashed. He hoped there would be the sound of the trash compacting, but it was still early and the...
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Two years after one of Pawleys Island’s most iconic landmarks was cut in half by Hurricane Ian, the first signs that rebuilding is on the horizon will appear next week. Soil testing will take place on the beachfront at the remaing section of Pawleys Island Pier. Half of the...
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The Pawleys Island Fourth of July Parade was headed north along Myrtle Avenue. The crowd was headed south, drawn not by the lights, sirens and stirrings of patriotic tunes, but by the music-box tinkling of the ice cream truck. “That’s just something I remember as a kid, hearing the...
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If you wear a youth-sized T-shirt, you’re in luck. If not, you’re out of luck. Record sales of Pawleys Island Fourth of July Parade shirts have left the shelves empty at the Old Town Hall the day before the parade. The town has sold over $54,000 in T-shirts this...
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To feed the creativity of participants in this year’s Pawleys Island Fourth of July Parade, the town has laid out a banquet of prizes for the best decorated floats, docks and beach houses. Six area restaurants have donated meals and gift certificates for the winners. Mayor Brian Henry has...
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Town officials are looking for a way to relax their grip over people who take their dogs to the beach on Pawleys Island in the summer, provided those dogs don’t pose a threat to public safety. Council Member Guerry Green, who has received warnings and a ticket in the...
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The Pawleys Island Historic District was included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, a year after the listing of the historic district in Georgetown. “Pawleys Island area is currently undergoing massive economic development and needs the protection,” the state’s historic preservation coordinator wrote to the head...
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A house from the 1940s that the owners say is beyond repair will be replaced in exchange for an agreement to preserve one of the oldest houses on Pawleys Island. The town Board of Zoning Appeals last week gave Brian and Staci Inskeep a variance to the unified development...
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Owners of nine structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places are being polled by Pawleys Island officials to gauge support for restrictions that would prevent the demolition of those buildings. The town Planning Commission wants to present Town Council with a draft ordinance next month. “We’ve just...
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Pawleys Island Town Council this week took the first step toward acquiring three easements it needs to be eligible for federal funds to renourish 1.3 miles of beach on the island’s south end. Mayor Brian Henry said he hopes the town, the Army Corps of Engineers and three property...
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Worn timbers cling to the southern edge of the inlet between Pawleys Island and Litchfield Beach like gnarled fingers. More than seven decades of daily tides, seasonal storms and landmark hurricanes have tried to pry them loose. They are held in place by habit as well as rock, concrete...
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Two things that Pawleys Island has in abundance during the summer: sunshine and trash. The town is looking at a way to harness the former to help reduce the latter. Administrator Dan Newquist proposed to Town Council last week that they install solar powered compacting trash bins at beach...
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Property owners at Prince George are seeking federal and state approval to move Pawleys Inlet nearly half a mile north in order to restore the beach they say has been lost because of a renourishment project on Pawleys Island. The beach that now stretches 2,500 feet south of the...
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The town of Pawleys Island will have a seat at the table as Georgetown County prepares a package of capital improvements to fund through a 1-cent sales tax. It took 15 minutes this week for the two members of the ad hoc Capital Projects Sales Tax Commission who represent...
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A house that is dilapidated far beyond the “arrogantly shabby” level that was once a source of pride on Pawleys Island will be torn down – as soon as it has a new owner. The Tyson house sits on a curve overlooking the marsh on Myrtle Avenue just south...
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Work began this week to repave the main road on Pawleys Island, but the work won’t be completed until spring. And that’s fine by town officials who have waited two years for the project to start. They hope the extra time can be used to make improvements to drainage...
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Contested elections are rare in the town of Pawleys Island, so having five candidates for four seats on Town Council might have raised the profile of this year’s race. But if that’s so, the candidates haven’t seen it, and their campaigns have been low-key heading toward Election Day next...
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In the face of lawsuits and accusations of “secret” arrangements, Pawleys Island Town Council is considering a resolution that details the town’s partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers on beach renourishment projects. “The purpose of this resolution is to document previous Town Council approvals of these Corps documents...
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It took just 30 minutes to install a plastic mat over the dune at the First Street beach access on Pawleys Island. It replaced a wooden walkway that was destroyed by Hurricane Ian nearly a year ago. Raymond Kobermann of Columbus, Ohio, arrived from a house across Atlantic Avenue...
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The top prize in the door prize drawing that wraps up the Pawleys Island Civic Association’s annual meeting is always a kayak. This year, the winner could have paddled home. A series of high tides that coincided with the passage of Tropical Storm Idalia last week also arrived to...
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Sand eroded from the beach on the south end of Pawleys Island in a hurricane last September may not be replaced until 2025, town officials were told this week. “We were operating under the assumption that there would be a design phase this summer,” Mayor Brian Henry said, and...
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Ice cream trucks ran their last route on Pawleys Island 35 years ago when the town made vending illegal. But commerce never went away. From pizza deliveries to bike rentals to beach services, money continues to change hands. The town itself sold $50,000 worth of T-shirts this year for...
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Work is due to start this week to replace 85,000 dune plants and 8,500 feet of sand fence on Pawleys Island that was destroyed by Hurricane Ian last fall. Town Council approved a $140,250 contract for the work last month, but was waiting for approval from the Federal Emergency...
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The town of Pawleys Island may not be able to create more parking, but it could make it safer and less frustrating for property owners and visitors. That’s why members of the Planning Commission want to address it in their update of the town’s comprehensive plan. “It’s critical to...
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A suit over the Pawleys Island beach renourishment project can continue, but a Circuit Court judge dismissed four claims in suits brought by neighboring property owners, including one that would have allowed them to seek triple damages. In a ruling last month, Judge Paul Burch denied a motion from...
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The town of Pawleys Island is one vote away from protecting trees from being cut for development. It now wants to protect something older: its nine houses on the National Register. The strategic plan adopted by the Town Council in 2020 talks about the need to protect the character...
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The Army Corps of Engineers will pump up to 200,000 cubic yards of offshore sand onto the south end of Pawleys Island next winter as part of a $14 million project to repair damage from Hurricane Ian. The agency’s announcement last week fulfilled a promise town officials made when...
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Last year it was cedar. This year it was oak. The cutting of the cedars led the town of Pawleys Island to revive discussion of a tree ordinance. Members of the Planning Commission hope that the oaks that were cut earlier this year will convince Town Council to adopt...
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People who ride their golf carts to the beach at Pawleys Island have urged the town to reconsider its ordinance that requires the carts to be registered. They think it could be used to leverage more revenue from the town and improve access. Town Council voted to raise its...
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The town of Pawleys Island is moving forward with a plan to raise its fee for golf cart permits from $10 to $25, with Town Council members calling for a review of the impact that the carts are having on the island. “Golf carts seem to be a little...
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The migration of Pawleys Inlet has prompted a third lawsuit against the state, the town of Pawleys Island and its contractors seeking to shift the inlet north to its location before the town conducted a beach renourishment project. The Prince George Community Association filed suit last week asking the...
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The town of Pawleys Island has put a freeze on golf cart permits while Town Council considers whether to raise the annual permit fee, currently $10. “There’s a lot of work involved,” Council Member Sarah Zimmerman said. “I think it needs to be considerably more.” Pawleys Island once banned...
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The last remnants of debris left from Hurricane Ian are due to be removed from Pawleys Creek in the next few weeks. That includes debris that floated beyond the town limits. “In order for the town to get reimbursement, we had to get a memorandum of agreement; one from...
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First came radar, body armor and traffic cameras. Then body cameras. Then a drone. Now, Pawleys Island Police have a BT-100, which measures speed. “It’s one more tool in our toolkit,” Police Chief Mike Fanning said. He put it through its paces as Hurricane Nicole moved through the South...
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A contractor is due to start in the next week cleaning up debris strewn along the beach at Pawleys Island by Hurricane Ian. The work also includes pushing up a new dune along about 2,500 feet of beach from Pawleys Pier Village north to an area beyond Second Street....
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With its eyes on grant funding for infrastructure projects, the town of Pawleys Island will take another look at the jetty that has defined the island’s northern boundary for about 70 years. The rock and timber structure is falling apart, Robert Moser, a north end resident, told the council...
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The town of Pawleys Island will seek $210,000 in federal funds for drainage projects as it continues to study ways to address flooding caused by sea level rise. The town will be required to come up with a $70,000 local match. “That kind of naturally puts a cap on...
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A proposed tree ordinance for the town of Pawleys Island would protect trees with trunks of 4-inches or wider, but only for new houses. The Planning Commission approved the ordinance last week. It now goes to the Town Council. Tree protection and landscaping were among the topics proposed when...
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Fingers of salt water crept through the spartina grass and between the rocks. As the moon rose over the ocean, the water had the Pawleys Island Chapel in a soft embrace that was only disturbed when a passing car on Myrtle Avenue created a wake. That flooding last month...
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A state agency has moved in Circuit Court to dismiss claims from Prince George property owners that a beach renourishment project on Pawleys Island caused erosion on their beachfront. The Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism helped fund the $14.8 million project, which was completed in the spring of...
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Dan Newquist has never been to the Pawleys Island Fourth of July Parade. He’ll be there this year, two weeks before starting work as the new town administrator. “I’ll be working, watching, helping in anyway I can,” said Newquist. He signed a three-year contract this week, replacing Ryan Fabbri,...
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A group of property owners at Prince George filed suit this week to have Pawleys Inlet restored to its location prior to beach renourishment by the town of Pawleys Island. They are also seeking payment for millions of dollars in damages they say was caused by the renourishment. The...
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A Prince George couple has filed suit to force the town of Pawleys Island, its contractors and state agencies to restore the inlet at the island’s south end to the channel it followed before a beach renourishment project was completed in 2020. Over the last two years, Pawleys Inlet...
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The town of Pawleys Island has a new clerk. It does not have an administrator. Ryan Fabbri, who resigned earlier this month, left Town Hall last week. He had been expected to stay until June 3. “Essentially, I was very clear about the reason I left,” he said. “The...
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The Pawleys Island town administrator resigned this week citing conflicts with members of Town Council. “It’s unfortunate that it’s had to come to this after nine years of dedicated and faithful service to the Town,” Ryan Fabbri said in an email to the council members. He will leave Town...
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A 2 foot rise in sea level would make the extreme flooding seen on Pawleys Island during hurricanes a regular occurrence at normal high tides. Water from Pawleys Creek would cover nearly all of Myrtle Avenue north of the Bird’s Nest section along with the intersections to the two...
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As the Pawleys Island Planning Commission starts work on rules to protect trees, members are questioning why Town Council hasn’t acted on its recommendations to take over building permits and inspections from Georgetown County. Work on tree protection follows the adoption last year of architectural guidelines for new homes...
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A crew is at work on the south end of Pawleys Island to plant beach grass and install sand fence in the final phase of a renourishment project that pumped offshore sand onto the beach two years ago. The 139,062 plants are also the first phase of the town’s...
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Two security cameras will be added on Pawleys Island using a portion of the money the town will save by reducing its police force by one officer. Town Council voted last year not to fill the position when Sgt. Tracie Milligan retires this month. That will leave the department...
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The fate of a plan to stage a fireworks display over Pawleys Creek this summer is uncertain after Pawleys Island Town Council declined this week to give the event its blessing. “Everyone loves fireworks. It’s our responsibility as Town Council to do what’s responsible for the town,” Mayor Brian...
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The town of Pawleys Island will take another look at protecting trees 25 years after Town Council rejected a proposed tree ordinance. “It’s what makes Pawleys unique, the landscape,” said John Hildreth, who chairs the Planning Commission. Tree protection follows the town’s decision last year to adopt architectural guidelines...
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There is no environmental benefit to dredging Pawleys Creek, according to coastal scientists. That assessment has left Pawleys Island Town Council weighing the need for a $46,000 feasibility study for a dredging project. Removing shoals from the creek is one of four goals that the council identified in a...
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Legal fireworks could return to Pawleys Island for the first time this century under a proposal being reviewed by Town Council The display would be shot from a barge in the middle of Pawleys Creek over Labor Day weekend to mark the 60th anniversary of Pawleys Island Realty. “Labor...
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Pawleys Island Police and the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office has come up with a plan to maintain police protection in the town after the police department is reduced to three members next month. “I am prepared to assist the citizens of Pawleys Island in any way possible,” Sheriff Carter...
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The town of Pawleys Island will cut its police force by one officer and reduce coverage to 12 hours a day in order to help build up its reserves for future capital projects. The move will save $50,000 to $60,000 a year, according to Administrator Ryan Fabbri. The decision...
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An award of $8,000 in attorney’s fees rather than the $60,000 sought by two Pawleys Island property owners who challenged the town’s efforts to condemn easements on their property for beach renourishment is “grossly inadequate,” their attorney said in a court filing. Barry Stanton, a property owner and attorney...
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A house that meets the town’s new architectural code doesn’t necessarily need to have the “Pawleys Island look” the rules were designed to promote. Six months and four sets of plans after the creation of an Architectural Review Board, members say they are unsure how much influence they have....
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A Circuit Court judge cut over $100,000 from the claims of two Pawleys Island property owners seeking legal fees from the town for its failed attempt to condemn easements for beach renourishment. The owners will get $8,000 each in legal fees and another $913.33 in costs, Judge Michael Nettles...
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With architectural guidelines in place, the town of Pawleys Island needs its own building inspector to enforce them, Planning Commission members say. They made their third pitch in three and a half years to Town Council to take back plan review and inspections from Georgetown County and hire a...
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With another round of beach renourishment expected before the end of the decade, the town of Pawleys Island is looking at cuts in its four-member police department to provide money for capital projects. “I’m not for reducing safety, but I am for figuring how how to pay for these...
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If Bruce Bailey decides to paint the Pawley House green, he hopes the town of Pawleys Island will stop him. The house was built in the late 18th or early 19th century and is one of nine historic properties that the town Planning Commission wants to protect. Town Council...
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Before it spends any money on studies, the town of Pawleys Island wants to find out from engineers whether a project to dredge Pawleys Creek is likely to get permits from federal and state regulators. The town is committed to pursuing the issue, Mayor Brian Henry said. He wants...
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The cost of challenging the condemnation of easements on three oceanfront lots was more than $180,000, according to the owner who represented himself and two neighbors in a year-long legal battle with the town of Pawleys Island. The town says the cost is too high, since the owners didn’t...
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The town of Pawleys Island wants to work with its neighbors across Midway Inlet on a project to remove silt from the creeks. “Maintaining the creek is something we all know is vital,” Mayor Brian Henry said. It is one of four priorities in a strategic plan adopted by...
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Conflicting versions of events surrounding Pawleys Island Town Council meetings create sufficient dispute to allow a lawsuit claiming the town violated the state open meetings law to go to trial, a judge ruled last week. Henry Thomas, an island resident, filed suit in 2019 saying the council held improper...
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It took less than 15 minutes for the Pawleys Island Architectural Review Board to approve its first set of plans. Paul Groce would not have minded if it had taken longer. “We’re open to any suggestions,” he told the board. “My wife and I are so completely in support...
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An ordinance that would require town approval before altering or removing nine historic homes on Pawleys Island needs more study, Town Council members say. The proposed ordinance came days after the town Planning Commission agreed that something needs to be done to protect the 19th century buildings that led...
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When voices down the hall interrupted a workshop of Pawleys Island officials last month, someone pushed the door to the meeting closed. The town attorney objected. “We don’t want to get sued,” David DuRant said. The door was left ajar. That has become the new protocol as the town...
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The town of Pawleys Island will begin enforcing design standards next month that are intended to halt the spread of big-box houses. Town Council this week created an architectural review board that members say will preserve the “Pawleys Island look.” The ARB and the guidelines it will use to...
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Pawleys Island will ease into a set of house design guidelines that are headed toward final approval next month. Town Council last week week gave the first of two readings to an ordinance that will create an architectural review board that will have to sign off on all new...
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A proposal to preserve the traditional look of houses on Pawleys Island will follow a traditional approach: an architectural review board. Pawleys Island Town Council is due to take up the latest version of the plan May 17. It follows months of debate by the town Planning Commission that...
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A ruling in Circuit Court could end the first effort by the town of Pawleys Island to condemn easements on three beachfront lots for future renourishment projects. That effort resulted in two sets of lawsuits and a finding for the property owners that led them to seek over $100,000...
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A partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers is worth tens of millions of dollars to the town of Pawleys Island, officials say, but they are looking at tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees to make that possible. And the short-term cost could be higher as a...
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The owners of three oceanfront lots on Pawleys Island are not ready to drop lawsuits challenging the town’s efforts to condemn easements for beach renourishment even though a judge quashed one attempt and the town withdrew another. “They’ve called the tune here, and I think it’s fair to make...
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Four rules intended to preserve the “Pawleys look” could take effect in May under a timeline worked out by members of Pawleys Island Town Council and the Planning Commission this week. The rules were reduced from a list of six adopted by the commission last month. New houses will...
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A Circuit Court judge last week denied the town of Pawleys Island the chance to fix flaws in the process it used to condemn easements for beach renourishment. That means the town is likely to need to start from scratch to obtain the last three of 113 easements needed...
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As the town of Pawleys Island works to devise a set of design standards for new homes, some property owners have submitted house plans to get approval before the rules change. “They are all designs that would not be allowed if the guidance you have put together was in...
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The Pawleys Island Chapel has secured its place in history. This summer, there will be a marker to prove it. The state Department of Archives and History has approved an application by the nonprofit Pawleys Island House of Worship to place a historical marker at the chapel, which overhangs...
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Pawleys Island was always part of Hank Martin’s life. Now, Martin has a part of Pawleys Island. It’s a small part, just 5,335 square feet at the northern end of Myrtle Avenue. But it has caught the attention of the town because Martin has applied for a state permit...
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A Circuit Court judge has granted a motion by three oceanfront property owners seeking to quash an effort by the town of Pawleys Island to condemn easements for beach renourishment. Last week’s ruling by Judge Michael Nettles did not specify the grounds for his ruling on the motion for...
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The town of Pawleys Island hopes to launch two pilot projects to deal with sunny day flooding that will use an innovative device to keep saltwater from flowing into its storm drains. “I believe we could solve the king tide flooding and the normal flooding,” Council Member Rocky Holiday...
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The attorney for the town of Pawleys Island and for the three property owners who are challenging the town’s condemnation of easements for beach renourishment agree that time off is important. They disagree about when to take it. A circuit court this week agreed to postpone a hearing for...
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Pawleys Island Mayor Brian Henry will run for a second term in 2021. The announcement came as Town Council discussed health insurance for elected officials. Henry has been under pressure from the local chapter of the NAACP to resign since August over a social media post. The group held...
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There are protests outside Town Hall. A lawsuit has stymied plans for future beach renourishment. The long-time town clerk has resigned. Yet officials on Pawleys Island are moving forward on a list of projects that emerged from a strategic planning session this summer and the 10-year update of the...
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The local chapter of the NAACP plans to march on Pawleys Island this weekend to raise pressure on the town’s mayor to resign over a social media post that the group has condemned as racist. “This wave that is rising up will overwhelm the town of Pawleys Island, the...
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A challenge to efforts by the town of Pawleys Island to condemn easements on three oceanfront lots for beach renourishment can move forward, a Circuit Court judge has ruled. But Judge Ben Culbertson told the property owners who are seeking to block the condemnation that even if they win...
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The local chapter of the NAACP this week turned up the pressure on Mayor Brian Henry to resign following a racially charged Facebook post last month. A protest outside Town Hall drew about 60 people ahead of Town Council’s monthly meeting, which was held online, and organizers promised to...
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An apology from Pawleys Island’s mayor for a Facebook post that was condemned for racist language and led to calls for his resignation brought a new wave of criticism last week from people who said he had nothing to apologize for. Both sides focused their attention on Mayor Brian...
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Pawleys Island Mayor Brian Henry said this week he does not plan to resign in the face of the protests that followed a social media post that was condemned as racist. The first-term mayor was at work this week on a statement scheduled to be released at a press...
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The town of Pawleys Island wants three property owners who are challenging its efforts to get easements for beach renourishment to post $10 million bonds to cover the cost of storm damage while their lawsuits are pending. The motion in Circuit Court came a day after Town Council learned...
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Sand fence and beach grass that were due to be placed along the south end of Pawleys Island next month will likely be delayed by lawsuits challenging the town’s efforts to acquire easements for beach renourishment, according to the town administrator. “It’s disappointing given all the time and effort...
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The owners of three oceanfront lots filed suit this week to block the efforts of the town of Pawleys Island to acquire easements for future beach renourishment. They say the town has acted in bad faith and violated legal procedures in condemning those easements, which they say are no...
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Don’t call it a parade. There was a police car, a fire truck and a grand marshal. Still, it wasn’t a parade. People waved flags and cheered; kids chased candy tossed from the fire truck. Not unlike a parade, but not the parade. It was only July 3. Pawleys...
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Even without a parade, the town of Pawleys Island will be a busy place on the Fourth of July. Its four full-time and four part-time police officers will all be on duty. But the Town Council is debating whether to cut back its police department during the rest of...
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As the first storm of the hurricane season passed offshore, the Pawleys Island Town Council agreed this week to condemn the last four easements needed to ensure that the Army Corps of Engineers will have a role in maintaining the $14.3 million beach renourishment project the town completed this...
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The last of 1.1 million cubic yards of offshore sand flowed onto the beach at Pawleys Island this week. The $14.3 million renourishment project stopped just north of First Street, drawing criticism from the town’s former mayor. “Many of us on the north end feel betrayed,” Jimmy Braswell said...
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Pawleys Island’s beach renourishment project could end as early as next week, weather permitting. The 1.1 million cubic yards of offshore sand won’t cover all the rock groins on the island’s beachfront, which has raised concerns among property owners and town officials. The project that began in October has...
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A survey went out last week to property owners on Pawleys Island as the town prepares to develop its first strategic plan. “For us to go year to year and just react to what comes at us, I don’t think is efficient,” Mayor Brian Henry said. The idea was...
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As a $14.3 million beach renourishment project reaches the halfway mark, the town of Pawleys Island is considering an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers that will help fund future projects. But that will almost certainly require the town to condemn easements for that work from property owners...
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Construction crews expect to move out of the south end parking lot on Pawleys Island next week. It is uncertain when visitors be able to move in to the popular beach access that has been closed since September. “The public’s getting antsy, and I don’t blame them,” Administrator Ryan...
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Pawleys Island’s two top officials will give up $5,100 in salary increases to meet the Town Council’s goal of a 5 percent spending cut. That will leave the town with a $130,000 surplus for the fiscal year that begins Jan. 1. Mayor Brian Henry said the $14,300 in cuts...
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A Circuit Court judge has dismissed a whistleblower complaint filed last month by a former part-time Pawleys Island Police officer. Judge Ben Culbertson ruled this week that because Charles Houser Jr. was a seasonal employee “there’s nothing that says they have to hold the job open for you.” Houser,...
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A candidate for Pawleys Island Town Council will not appeal a decision by the county elections board to dismiss his protest. “It’s really disappointing that, based on the votes of residents, I won by 12 votes,” said Josh Ricker, who finished fifth in the race for four council seats....
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Brian Henry won’t be talking about the north, middle or south of Pawleys Island, where he is due to take office as mayor. Instead, he plans to look for ways to bring people together, “opportunities for residents to get together and focus on the issues,” he said. Henry beat...
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Pawleys Island Mayor Jimmy Braswell and Josh Ricker, a candidate for Town Council, filed protests to this week’s election hours after the Georgetown County Board of Voter Registration and Elections certified the results that showed them losing their races. The elections board on Thursday denied 20 challenges to votes...
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Ashley Carter and Sarah Zimmerman won re-election to Pawleys Island Town Council, but the outcome of the race for mayor and the two remaining council seats hinges on 29 challenged ballots that will be reviewed today. Pawleys Island Mayor Jimmy Braswell saw a 43-29 lead over challenger Brian Henry...
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Mayoral candidates Jimmy Braswell, 72, retired from the textile and furniture industries. He served on the Planning Commission before winning election as mayor in 2017. Brian Henry, 52, is co-owner of the Sea View Inn and Palmetto Cheese. He served on the town Beach Committee and its Accommodations Tax...
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The number of registered voters jumped by 28 percent for next month’s Pawleys Island Town Council election, where the question of residency remains a contentious issue. Mayor Jimmy Braswell faces opposition from Brian Henry in his bid for a second term as mayor. Henry and his wife own the...
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A campaign for Town Council is eroding Pawleys Island’s heritage of gentleness and tranquility the same way that hurricanes have eroded its beach. “Where this is all going, I don’t know,” Mayor Jimmy Braswell said. “It’s crazy. It’s totally dividing the island.” He faces opposition from Brian Henry, co-owner...
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A beach renourishment project is due to start on Pawleys Island in less than a month. Even though it is the height of the hurricane season along the South Carolina coast, it makes sense to have the dredge in place, according to the project manager. The Town Council is...
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Pawleys Island is poised to place the maximum amount of sand allowed under state and federal permits for a beach renourishment project due to start in just over a month. Town Council members who were concerned about straining the island’s finances to put 1.1 million cubic yards of sand...
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As the town of Pawleys Island gears up for a November election for mayor and four council seats, Mayor Jimmy Braswell this week asked the town attorney to review the residency requirement for candidates. “I think we just need to clear that up, with the Austin Beard debacle,” he...
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With the town of Pawleys Island on track to start a beach renourishment project in October, the need to secure future funding to maintain the beach is more important than ever, according to the town administrator. But the committee that reviewed a variety of options for raising money voted...
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A beach renourishment project that has been planned for over 20 years will start as soon as the last sea turtle hatchling leaves Pawleys Island in October under a project approved this week. Town Council voted to work with a private contractor rather than the Army Corps of Engineers,...
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The town of Pawleys Island is poised to hire a private contractor to carry out a beach renourishment project starting in October and end its partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers. Town Council will meet Monday morning to vote on the proposal. “I don’t envy you guys at...
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Pawleys Island Town Council will re-evaluate its beach renourishment project with the Army Corps of Engineers if the agency isn’t able to complete the work before the 2020 hurricane season. The town was told the Corps would put the project out to bid this month. Instead, it is reviewing...
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Renovations to turn the old Pawleys Island Town Hall into exhibit space should be complete by early fall. Town Council this week approved the proposal from an ad hoc committee to upgrade the building and grounds at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and the North Causeway at a cost...
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The Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing the cost-benefit ratio of a Pawleys Island beach renourishment project, raising concern among town officials that the project will be delayed another year. “Everything is pretty much on hold while they do it,” Town Administrator Ryan Fabbri said. Staff at the Corps’...
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The town of Pawleys Island will seek to change state law in order to raise money for beach renourishment through a property tax. Town Council this week hired a law firm to draft the measure. It will have to decide whether it wants to champion a bill itself or...
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Lawyers with the Army Corps of Engineers were scheduled to talk Wednesday with one of two property owners who declined to sign easements to allow a federally-funded beach renourishment project on the south end of Pawleys Island. The town will learn today whether the missing easements, two of the...
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Pawleys Island property owners stopped short of debating how to pay for future beach renourishment at an Easter weekend meeting because the fate of a project planned for this year remains uncertain. The town is 25 to 30 easements short of the 113 it needs from property owners on...
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Before the federal government will put 850,000 cubic yards of sand on the beach at Pawleys Island, 113 property owners have to put signatures on an easement. The town is racing against the calendar to get those signatures by the end of the month so the project can start...
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Items collected on Pawleys Island from a recycling program the town started nine years ago are going straight to the county landfill because they aren’t being collected properly. “All of our recycling is not being recycled. It’s being contaminated,” Administrator Ryan Fabbri told Town Council this week. The council...
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A proposal to help fund beach renourishment by charging a parking fee at Pawleys Island beach accesses narrowly survived a vote to kill the idea. The town’s ad hoc finance committee this week deadlocked on a motion to drop the proposed fee from its recommendation to Town Council. The...
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Ice cream will have to wait. The old Town Hall at Pawleys Island will be used as a place for history and environmental education under a plan that an ad hoc committee hopes to complete this spring. “That’s sort of the overall direction we needed to go to in...
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A proposed parking fee at beach accesses on Pawleys Island drew a blunt rebuke from a Town Council member last week. The town has been working to close a gap in its operating budget and raise money for long-term beach nourishment. After checking into a variety of revenue-raising options...
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Houses on Pawleys Island will get taller and their roofs will get steeper under a proposal headed to Town Council. It is part of an effort to retain the traditional look of island beach houses as new houses replace old ones. “Anything we can do to get that roof...
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George Raftelis remembers King’s Funland. “It was a gathering place for folks.” Elizabeth McNiel remembers Howdy’s store where he brother worked in the summers. “It was a really a gathering spot.” Besty Altman remembers the Mikee’s Ice Cream truck,” which I loved, but they stopped that because of commercialism....
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Georgetown County needs to take more responsibility for maintaining the parking lot and beach access on the south end of Pawleys Island, town officials say, even if that means charging for parking to cover the cost. With 80 parking spaces, the county-owned lot is the largest free beach access...
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At the first meeting held in Pawleys Island’s new Town Hall, built primarily with private donations, the topic was public finance. A committee of property owners and town officials is looking for ways to close a projected shortfall in the town’s operating budget and find a source of funds...
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Pawleys Island property owners will have their first serious discussion about a property tax since the town was formed over 30 years ago. It will be part of what town officials call a “holistic approach” to the red ink that is forecast to wash over their budget like Pawleys...
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Georgetown County rebuffed a request to reduce the parking requirements for a three-story, 75,000-square-foot storage facility on Waverly Road, with members of the Board of Zoning Appeals saying there are broader issues that need to be addressed first. The building proposed by Extra Room Storage for 1.8 acres west...
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A three-story self-storage facility proposed for a site on Waverly Road exceeds Georgetown County’s limit on building size by 25 percent. And even if it is reduced from its planned 75,000 square feet to the 60,000-square-foot maximum, the building will have to meet the design standards for commercial facilities...
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A proposal to raise pay for Pawleys Island police officers to maintain parity with county deputies has the town looking at a business license fee to fund the increase. In a town that has operated for 33 years without a property tax, it is the only available source of...
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With a Category 4 hurricane still churning toward the East Coast, members of Pawleys Island Town Council focused last week on how residents and property owners would get back on the island once the storm passes. Memories were still fresh of days spent waiting at the bridge in October...
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Pets
Like a magician, Sylvester the cat keeps appearing and disappearing. His latest appearance is an early Christmas present for the families that have loved him for almost a decade. Five weeks after wandering off from a house in Litchfield Country Club where he was placed for adoption, Sylvester showed...
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A neighborhood has been searching for countless hours over the past two weeks for one of its beloved members; someone whose origin is just as unknown as his current whereabouts: a black cat with white patches and a clip on his ear that has been missing from Ricefields since...
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Planning
Everyone agrees there was something improper about the natural resources element of Georgetown County’s comprehensive plan. “The extent of strikes and inserts in the revised draft creates something that is no longer the Planning Commission’s original recommendation,” Monica Whalen, staff attorney for the S.C. Environmental Law Project, said That...
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The 40 acres that Georgetown County now owns along the waterfront in Georgetown is only one piece of a larger opportunity for growth, officials say. Downstream, the county and the city have partnered on a study that could lead to the dredging of the Sampit River that would improve...
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Sandra Bundy had a question. “How do we get projects into the capital improvement plan?” she asked as the Georgetown County Planning Commission prepared to vote on the transportation element of the county’s comprehensive plan. Approving the element, and its goals and strategies, is the start, she was told....
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Questions raised about the validity of a development plan approved more than two decades ago prompted the owner of a tract on Highway 17 at Hagley to withdraw a request to change that plan. “There seem to be a bunch of questions about vested rights and whether the PD...
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Politics
Six candidates are vying for two of the seats on Georgetown County Council that are on the ballot in November. Democrats will hold a primary in District 3 in the southern end of the county. Republicans will hold a rare primary in District 4, which includes the city of...
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Russell Fry doesn’t want to shut down the federal government. But the congressman from South Carolina’s 7th District told fellow Republicans this week that he voted against a continuing resolution that would keep the doors open because he doesn’t want to lose an opportunity to curb illegal immigration and...
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Carter Weaver came away from a GOP rally this week with a check. “I was surprised,” he said. Weaver is midway through his first full term as Georgetown County sheriff. He won’t be on the ballot again until 2024. The donation and his pre-stump speech to hundreds of people...
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There are several freedoms on Joe Cunningham’s platform in his campaign to unseat Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, but the one that earned the loudest applause at a stop in Pawleys Island last week was abortion rights. The former congressman from Charleston is trying to become the first Democrat to...
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State Sen. Mia McLeod brought her gubernatorial campaign back to Georgetown this week to support local steelworkers and call for the dredging of the port of Georgetown. “Liberty Steel currently employs around 65 workers, but with an investment of dredging the port of Georgetown to its project depth of...
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Two former insiders and one outsider are running to fill a vacant seat on the Georgetown County School Board. Kathy Ferdon-Anderson and Jon Tester, who both retired from the county school district, and Scott DuBose, a retired business man, faced the public this week during a forum sponsored by...
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County Republicans are hosting two candidate forums in the nonpartisan election to fill a vacant seat on the school board. “Even though Georgetown County School Board elections are nonpartisan, we believe it’s important for voters to know as much about these candidates as possible,” county GOP chairman Karol Anderson...
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Now that Lynne Ford no longer lives in the district she represents on the Georgetown County School Board, she is weighing her options, including running for the seat in her new district. “I’m really focused on serving out my term and doing to best job that I can do,”...
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President George W. Bush promised to leave no child behind. In the middle of making history on Monday, Georgetown Mayor Carol Jayroe said she and the new Republican majority on City Council will leave no neighborhood behind. “We invite you and we encourage you, we encourage every citizen to...
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When Clint Elliott was first urged to run for the District 1 seat on Georgetown County Council that would be open at the next election, he talked with his wife, Marodith. She chairs the board of the community group Murrells Inlet 2020. “We might be able to make a...
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Republicans flipped the leadership of Georgetown city government this week, claiming the mayorship and three seats on council. Carol Jayroe collected 1,330 votes to defeat Mayor Brendon Barber in his bid for a second term. Barber got 1,064 votes. Jayroe is the first woman, and first Republican, elected mayor...
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Uneven growth in Georgetown County will make it hard to redraw council district lines that maintain three with Black majorities, according to the head of the state agency that is doing the work. “Georgetown County is going to be one of the more difficult cases to redistrict because of...
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A third-party candidate for mayor of Georgetown was disqualified to vote last week by the Georgetown County Board of Voter Registration and Elections. It was a pattern of changes that coincided with elections that concerned the board’s chairman. “You don’t want people playing games with the system,” said James...
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The three County Council districts on the Waccamaw Neck need to lose over 4,500 people to achieve the balance required by redistricting, according to a report from the state Office of Revenue and Fiscal Affairs. That is half the number of people needed to make up a single council...
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Georgetown County is due to receive data this week that will show how each of its seven County Council districts have grown during the last decade. That will enable the council to begin the process of drawing new district lines as required by state law following the census. “There...
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Jonathan Angner said his heart sank when he saw the line out the door at the polling place. It was a Democratic stronghold. It was only when he went inside the Howard Center that Angner discovered the line was for COVID-19 vaccinations rather than voting. Angner, a plumbing and...
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President Trump’s actions while a mob attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 disqualified him from serving as president, U.S. Rep. Tom Rice told constituents this week. The 7th District congressman was one of 10 Republicans who voted for impeachment. “That attack on the Capitol was timed to occur when...
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Votes cast by 246 people in Georgetown County in the Nov. 3 election did not count, most of them due to confusion over the requirement for mail-in absentee ballots to have a witness signature. All of the issues occurred with either absentee or provisional ballots according to a report...
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By a show of hands, most of the 70 people spread out over the courts in the Waccamaw Regional Recreation Center had already voted. That made last week’s GOP stump meeting more like a homecoming in a socially-distanced election cycle. But the candidates came with a message. “Get your...
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There are five candidates seeking two seats on the Georgetown County School Board in districts that represent the Waccamaw Neck. The nine-member school board is nonpartisan, so people in District 1 and District 6 who are straight-ticket voters will have to scroll to the bottom of their ballot to...
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A neighborhood dispute over campaign signs led to the resignation of the chairman of the Georgetown County Board of Voter Registration and Elections. Dean Smith, a member of the elections board for 15 years, resigned Wednesday, two days after Republican Party officials filed a complaint with the sheriff’s office...
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For some voters, Oct. 5 will be the new Nov. 3. In-person absentee voting begins Monday at the Georgetown County Board of Voter Registration and Elections office, where staff are already working weekends to fill requests for mail-in absentee ballots. “It’s going to be busy,” said Dean Smith, who...
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There is a three-way race in both of the districts that represent the Waccamaw Neck on the Georgetown County Board of Education. Filing closed Monday for the nonpartisan election, which will be on the ballot in November. James Graves, a retired teacher and school administrator, filed last Thursday for...
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Two local seats on the Georgetown County School Board will be open in the November election. One has already attracted a candidate. The District 6 seat on the board became vacant in May with the death of Richard Kerr, who was finishing his second term. This week, Board Member...
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County Council Member Ron Charlton is ready to move on following his 22-vote primary loss in the GOP primary last month. He said this week he has no plans to offer any challenge to the vote that left Bob Anderson as the party’s nominee in District 2. But Charlton...
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Bob Anderson received the last 11 votes in the Republican Party primary for County Council 2, all cast by the local GOP executive committee. Added to the 22-vote margin he garnered at the polls, Anderson is set to assume the council seat Ron Charlton has held since 1996. The...
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Ron Charlton will challenge this week’s GOP primary election that left him 22 votes short of winning a seventh term on Georgetown County Council. “There are a lot of unanswered questions in this thing,” he said. Voters reported receiving ballots for the District 2 race between Charlton and Bob...
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The two candidates seeking to replace Georgetown County’s long-serving coroner agree on at least one thing: most people don’t understand what the job entails. Allen Morris and Chase Ridgeway part company when it comes to explaining it to voters. They are on the ballot in next week’s Republican Party...
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Bob Anderson spent Monday morning making phone calls, 110 of them, looking for votes in County Council District 2. Ron Charlton spent the morning responding to emails, 65 of them, from people who wanted to know how they could help him keep the District 2 seat he has held...
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People who run the polls are telling election officials around the state they don’t plan to work for the June 9 primaries because of the coronavirus pandemic. Dean Smith, who chairs the Georgetown County Board of Registration and Elections, told state lawmakers last week he had already heard from...
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It’s been a mad dash to the finish for local Democrats this week as the presidential primary approaches on Saturday. Candidates and their surrogates, including an Academy Award-winning actress, visited in the county as party officials pulled out all the stops to get out the vote. “Enthusiasm is pretty...
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Carter Weaver won election as Georgetown County sheriff with 91 percent of the vote in polling this week. He has less than six weeks to bask in victory before he gears up for the next election. Tuesday’s special election filled the unexpired term of Sheriff Lane Cribb, who died...
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Carter Weaver swept past a challenger in the GOP primary this week to secure his position as Georgetown County sheriff for another year. Weaver has been acting sheriff since the death in September of Lane Cribb, who served as sheriff for 27 years. Unofficial totals gave Weaver nearly 80...
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Poll workers estimated between 300 and 400 people showed up to vote for the Georgetown County sheriff’s candidates during this month’s Pawleys Island Town Council election. They went away empty handed. The candidates hope those voters will return for the GOP primary next week. Turnout is traditionally low for...
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Darryel Carr, a former deputy, and Carter Weaver, the acting sheriff, are seeking the GOP nomination in a special election to fill the unexpired term of Sheriff Lane Cribb, who died in September. There will be no Democrat on the Feb. 4 ballot. Barring a write-in campaign, the sheriff...
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Carter Weaver has spent more than twice as much as his opponent in his race to remain Georgetown County sheriff. And the former assistant sheriff has over $122,000 on hand as he approaches the Dec. 3 Republican Party primary with Darryel Carr, a former deputy. The winner of the...
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Talk of a successor began as soon as the death of Sheriff Lane Cribb became known last week. He wouldn’t have been surprised. “I don’t take nothing for granted,” he said after filing for a seventh term in 2016. And he was looking ahead to 2020. “I’ve got too...
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In the last few months, four people who want to be the Democratic Party nominee for president in 2020 made campaign stops in Georgetown County, looking for votes in one of the reddest parts of a red state. Deb Smith, chairman of the county Democrats, said volunteers and activists...
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Real Estate
An ordinance that would allow developers of affordable housing to receive incentives from Georgetown County is due to come before County Council this fall. It is the first step in a series of measures the county wants to adopt to fill gaps in the housing market. “This is not...
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Eight in 10 Georgetown County government employees need the sort of affordable “workforce housing” that a housing needs assessment completed earlier this year says is lacking. A series of changes to fees and regulations is being proposed to County Council as a way to meet that need in the...
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It will be another year before Georgetown County can adopt federal flood maps that officials expect will lower insurance premiums for many oceanfront homes. This is the first major revision to the maps since the 1980s, and it has already been delayed several times since the new maps were...
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A plan to address housing needs across Georgetown County will be created at the same time the county revises the impact fees paid by new development. “We have seen a significant reduction in those impact fees,” Administrator Angela Christian said. “Those numbers are going to come down significantly.” The...
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A plan to buy property for an industrial park on the Sampit River was delayed by Georgetown County Council this week after citizens questioned whether $3.75 million in surplus sales tax could be used to fund the purchase. The county obtained an option on the 948-acre timber tract in...
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Property owners at Litchfield Plantation have brought the 18th century home at the heart of the community back to life. And they haven’t seen any sign of the ghosts reputed to inhabit the property. “If there is a ghost, it’s a happy ghost,” said Angie Bunn, president of the...
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Pawleys Island will not get a sixth grocery store. Planning on a Lidl supermarket next to the Publix on Highway 17 halted over a year ago. The owner of the site is now asking Georgetown County to restore the original zoning of office and retail uses. “Lidl walked out...
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Doc Lachicotte knew his own children wouldn’t be able to take over the real estate business that bears his name. But he was still able to pass it on to the next generation with the sale earlier this year to the children of one of his long-time development partners....
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Recreation
Twenty years ago Georgetown County residents and officials had a vision of what the county could be. The “Visions for the Future” program is now in the past after a ribbon was cut to officially open Waverly Park this week. It is the last of the Visions projects. “It’s...
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Small fishing charters and tour boats are clear to use Georgetown County’s public boat landings under new rules approved this week after months of debate. But County Council rejected efforts by a 40-passenger tour boat to use the Campbell Marine Complex in Georgetown. After hearing from fishing charter captains...
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Restrictions on commercial activity at public boat landings in Georgetown County will be lifted for small charter operations, but not for a tour boat that ran afoul of restrictions in the city of Georgetown. County Council rejected requests to allow larger boats to load passengers at the Carroll Campbell...
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Charter boats carrying up to six passengers would be allowed to operate out of Georgetown County’s public landings under a proposed ordinance change. The boats would also be limited to 30 feet in length. The change comes after a magistrate found six fishing charter captains not guilty of violating...
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A charter boat operator has put his part-time business on hold while Georgetown County decides how it will enforce a long-time and long-ignored ban on commercial activity at public boat landings. “My business is shut down due to the sudden enforcement of a 30-year-old county ordinance,” Paul Kenny told...
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An ordinance that prohibits commercial activity at public boat landings is working just fine, county officials say. But they are open to any changes that will make sure that individual boaters aren’t crowded out by people running a business. The Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office began writing tickets to commercial...
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The owner of the marina at Willbrook Plantation announced last month that it would close public access to a boat ramp that was a condition of a state permit to construct the facility. The groups that obtained the access say they plan to enforce the agreement reached with the...
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More than a decade after plans were created for new county ballfields at Waccamaw Elementary School, Georgetown County Council has awarded a contract for the work. It is one of the last projects in a capital improvement plan adopted by the county in 2008. “It looks like we’re close,”...
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Forrest the Squirrel has emerged from the coronavirus pandemic ready to run. The new mascot for the Georgetown County Parks and Recreation Department made his debut last week at a ribbon cutting for the Bike the Neck path’s newest section. He got the honor of wielding the scissors. “It’s...
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The Bike the Neck path has ended up where it began. A ceremony Friday will mark the completion of the latest phase of the route that was envisioned 25 years ago running from the county line at Murrells Inlet to the Highway 17 bridges to Georgetown. The North Litchfield...
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Rick and Marie Ahlert will spend Christmas in Florida; perhaps on the Gulf Coast, maybe in the Keys. They’re in no hurry to get there. Their plans are for Christmas 2021. The Ahlerts will set out in March on a 6,000-mile journey around the eastern United States on a...
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A $100,000 state grant will help complete a long-awaited portion of the Bike the Neck path through North Litchfield. Work could start this summer, according to Ray Funnye, Georgetown County’s director of Public Services. The state Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism notified Georgetown County last week that it...
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Property across from Waccamaw Middle School will become a site for celebration and reflection under a plan envisioned by the late Jim Bindner and being completed by his wife Cindy. Georgetown County Council this week agreed to lease about 7.5 acres to JB’s Celebration Park. The property is part...
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Roads
There were 27 people killed in collisions along Highway 17 on the Waccamaw Neck in the last decade, according to data from the S.C. Department of Public Safety. Two of those within the last month. Planners are looking for ways to reduce those numbers here and around the region...
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When Georgetown County owned the multi-use path along Willbrook Boulevard, there was one rule: no motorized vehicles. The nonprofit group that took ownership last month is promoting four rules to make the path safe for pedestrians, cyclists and golf carts, but they can be summed up in one. “It’s...
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A community group has endorsed a plan to install a roundabout at the intersection of Waverly Road and Petigru Drive in spite of concern that it will lead to the removal of an oak tree on one corner. “If they can work around that tree, there would be no...
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There were over 55,000 crashes on roads in Georgetown and Horry counties between 2019 and 2023; 269 were fatal. Among the dead were 86 cyclists or pedestrians. State and local transportation agencies have data on each of the crashes, but at a meeting next week they are looking for...
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Two of the most congested roads in the region meet in Murrells Inlet. A formula adopted by the regional agency that allocates money to road projects is intended to ensure funding is available for improvements. Highway 707, which starts at Business 17, has the second highest level of congestion...
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Funding for a roundabout for the Waverly Road and Petigru Drive intersection that previously caused an uproar in the community has been restored at the request of Georgetown County. The Grand Strand Area Transportation Study Policy Committee last week approved $1.15 million for the project, listed as the region’s...
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Golf carts will return to the multi-use path along Willbrook Boulevard under an agreement that will return ownership of the route to area property owners. “The majority of folks really wanted carts back on the path and not on the road,” said Mark Curtiss, president of the Willbrook Plantation...
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Georgetown County will commission studies of the business districts in Pawleys Island and Murrells Inlet to create shovel-ready projects for state highway funding that will improve pedestrian access and safety along with aesthetics. The draft budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 includes $200,000 for Pawleys Island...
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A golf cart ban will continue on the path along Willbrook Boulevard after a local group declined to take ownership of the pavement from Georgetown County. “I was surprised,” County Council Member Stella Mercado said. She started working with the Willbrook Plantation Road Maintenance District earlier this year to...
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A 300-foot stretch of dirt road in Hagley Estates became public again this week, 10 days after being closed by a court order that set off a furor in the community. “The road was closed before we knew anything about it,” said Glenn Wilson, an area resident. “You have...
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Georgetown County has a second chance to get funding for improvements to Highway 17 on Waccamaw Neck that were approved by County Council in 2021. Seven projects recommended in a study of the highway corridor ranked in the top 25 that will be included in the region’s long-range Metropolitan...
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George Chastain knows what happens when accidents block the Highway 17 bridges leading into Georgetown. He knows what to expect when traffic over the Waccamaw River bridge is reduced to one lane in each direction for three months this winter. “You know how traffic backs up now,” said Chastain,...
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Golf carts are no longer permitted on the multi-use path that runs alongside Willbrook Boulevard. It was the only portion of the Bike the Neck route along Waccamaw Neck where the vehicles were allowed. “It kind of caught us by surprise,” said Dave Phillips, president of the Willbrook Plantation...
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Repairs to the bridge over the Waccamaw River, which are scheduled to begin in the new year, will require shutting down one lane of travel in each direction for almost three months. The state Department of Transportation will hold a meeting next week to present its plans to the...
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There were no flags in the Highway 17 median in Pawleys Island over the Fourth of July. The weeds were too high. Georgetown County is funding another round of maintenance, which will be done sometime in July, while it waits for a private group to take responsibility for the...
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Slabs of concrete from a 40-year-old sidewalk that hadn’t already crumbled yielded to the jaws of a backhoe as workers began clearing the way this week for a long-awaited extension of the Bike the Neck path down Waverly Road. The 1.3 mile section from Waccamaw Elementary School to Highway...
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Improvements to the four-way stop at Tournament Boulevard and McDowell Shortcut were supposed to take four years. “That’s unacceptable,” said State Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, who chaired the group that allocated funding for the project. That was four years ago. The bid for the $7.4 million project that is designed...
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The orphaned median through the Pawleys Island business district has a new family. A group is organizing to raise funds to maintain the landscape along the 1.9 miles of Highway 17. “There’s a whole lot of energy behind getting the orphan taken care of,” said Beth Goodale, the director...
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The weeds in the Highway 17 median through Pawleys Island were so large that last Christmas someone hung decorations on one. That won’t happen this year. Crews from Waccamaw Landscaping will be out tonight for a cleanup along 1.9 miles of the highway between Archer Road and Waverly Road....
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Property owners in one of the area’s oldest neighborhoods hope they have found a solution to one of their oldest problems. The $12,000 solution to speeding in Litchfield Country Club was launched this month with a pair of radar displays that let drivers know how fast they are going....
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Landscaping in the raised median on Highway 17 through the Pawleys Island business district will be restored after seasons of neglect. Georgetown County has set a timetable for the work. “ASAP,” said Beth Goodale, director of Parks and Recreation, who is overseeing the effort. The work is expected to...
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While a Circuit Court judge weighs Georgetown County’s request to dismiss a lawsuit seeking $260 million in refunds from a road user fee, one of his colleagues has already allowed a similar suit to move forward. “I don’t think you want conflicting Circuit Court judges,” Judge Cordell Maddox said...
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Georgetown County is seeking funds for two of 10 projects listed as priorities in a study of the Highway 17 corridor through Waccamaw Neck. The $3.3 million request is the lowest of any submitted for what is estimated to be $70 million in infrastructure funds. “Your next shot at...
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If the U.S. House of Representatives passes a $1 trillion infrastructure bill later this month, Georgetown County could see millions of dollars more for road projects than it usually gets. The county is part of the Grand Strand Area Transportation Study, which chooses which road projects get federal funding....
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A cyclist who was injured in a collision with a golf cart claims Georgetown County bears responsibility because it fails to enforce an ordinance against motorized vehicles on bike paths. The accident occurred last summer on the bike path that runs along Willbrook Boulevard, the one section of the...
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A project to repave the road to the Pawleys Island recycling center that is more than a year behind schedule will be delayed further by stormwater improvements. Grate Avenue was approved for repaving by the Georgetown County Transportation Committee in January 2020. The cost was $205,055. It was planned...
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The chance to comment on $53.3 million in proposed improvements to Highway 17 along the Waccamaw Neck drew more than 120 people to a forum this week. It was the best turnout so far for an update to the traffic study that has guided land planning and improvements along...
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Mark Hoeweler expected to get Georgetown County Council’s blessing last month on a $53.3 million list of proposed improvements along Highway 17 on Waccamaw Neck. That would make the work eligible for a share of federal transportation funds allocated by the Grand Strand Area Transportation Study, for which he...
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A federal grant will allow Georgetown County to improve drainage across Highway 17 in Litchfield, an area that was under water during a storm in 2015 that was called the “1,000-year flood.” The county will increase the size of pipes that run under the highway from a pond adjacent...
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It costs Georgetown County $66,000 a year to have the state write about 20 checks for road paving projects and send out monthly financial data. The data comes late. “The CTC is working off February statements. You just got March. Here we are in May,” Herb Cooper, a transportation...
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A state legislator is calling for more public comment on a $53.3 million list of improvements contained in a study of Highway 17 on the Waccamaw Neck. Although the study was the subject of a virtual hearing this month that was supposed to complete a process that began in...
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While traffic counts are rising on Highway 17 along the Waccamaw Neck, they have been underwhelming on the routes that would let the public comment on a list of proposed highway improvements over the next 20 years. “We’ve heard a few comments on the website and the visualizations. Not...
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The only holes left on Hinnant Lane by the end of spring should be those in the doughnut shop that will open on the corner. The crumbling pavement on the private street that runs west from Highway 17 has been a source of public complaints for years. “This has...
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The public will get a chance to comment on a package of $53.3 million in recommended improvements to Highway 17 before they go to Georgetown County Council for approval. Support from local government will make those projects eligible for federal transportation funds, although it won’t guarantee they get built...
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A proposed redesign of the main intersection in the Pawleys Island business district will replace left turns with U-turns as a way to reduce accidents and keep traffic moving. The new look for the Waverly Road / North Causeway intersection is contained in a study of the Highway 17...
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Sponsors of a bike path in Murrells Inlet have less than two months to try to keep a federal grant in Georgetown County. The money was set to be transferred to a project in Horry County until state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch raised concerns. The $628,000 in federal funds for...
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A project to widen the shoulders of Highway 17 between Prince George and the Waccamaw River bridge is under review after property owners along the route raised objections to the state Department of Transportation’s plan to cut down trees in the right of way. The $5 million project will...
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A plan to spend $362,000 to design bike paths in hope of future funding leaves out the route that Georgetown County Council lists as its top priority. The council agreed this week to allocate the funds that had been set aside in its capital improvement plan to match grants...
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There have been fewer injuries in crashes on Highway 17 in the Pawleys Island business district since construction of a raised median five years ago even as the total number of crashes has increased, according to a study commissioned by the Grand Strand Area Transportation Study. The study by...
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The intersection of Bypass 17 and Highway 707 that was expanded last year will fail in two years, according to a new study of traffic on the Waccamaw Neck. “We built something that has a three-year shelf life,” said Mark Hoeweler, executive director of the Grand Strand Area Transportation...
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It will take just three days to repair and repave the road to Georgetown County’s busiest recycling center. But only if the center is closed for those days. “Hopefully, we can get in there and get it done,” said Ray Funnye, the county’s director of Public Services. The $205,255...
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Georgetown County will try again to get a $100,000 state grant to complete a key section of the Bike the Neck route that was denied last year. It is the same grant that the county had to return to the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism in 2014...
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Crews went to work last week clearing weeds and trash from 1.9 miles of landscaped median along Highway 17 in the Pawleys Island business district. After two years of false hopes, the area known as the “orphan median” has a new family. “They’re finally at work,” said Brian Tucker,...
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An interactive map is giving the public a way to highlight problems along the Highway 17 corridor on Waccamaw Neck. It went live last week as part of a long-awaited traffic study. David Gundling highlighted three places in the Pawleys Island business district where he would like to see...
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Faulty concrete on a bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway has delayed the opening of the newest phase of the Carolina Bays Parkway at least until the fall, according to the state Department of Transportation. The project has already been delayed two years. Lawmakers say they have tried for months...
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Georgetown County has the long-sought easements to build the next phase of the Bike the Neck trail through North Litchfield, but bikes will likely continue to share the neighborhood streets for the next two summers. The project missed out on state funding and Georgetown County wants to use its...
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The firm that designed the raised median along Highway 17 in the Pawleys Island business district will conduct a review of land use along the highway corridor on Waccamaw Neck. A $200,000 contract with Stantec was approved by County Council last month. The land use review will be done...
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Safety
Head nods. Two-finger salutes. Beanie Babies. It’s not a parade, it’s just a low maintenance day for the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office Beach Patrol. Capt. Chuck Weaver, the commander of Beach and Marine Patrol, gets the same amount of attention in his utility vehicle as he would if it...
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As the number of reports of threats at schools grows, one Georgetown County School Board member is demanding action to keep students safe. “You can’t put a value on a child’s life,” Board Member Robert Cox said. “I’m not putting a $99 million budget on a child’s life. We...
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Georgetown County has scaled back its plans for a new jail as costs escalated, but at $66 million, it will still be its largest capital project ever. The 85,800-square-foot facility will replace the jail that has been beset with construction flaws since it opened in 1993 on a site...
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Georgetown County employees will get a minimum $1,500 pay raise this year, with public safety workers due to get at least $500 more. Sworn officers in the sheriff’s office will get $4,000 regardless of whether County Council includes funds in the budget. “I will do a $4,000 pay increase...
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Sheriff Carter Weaver will press his request to County Council for funds for additional patrol deputies during a budget workshop next week. It is the same request he made the previous two years with the goal of adding 26 patrol deputies by 2030. Weaver also wants to raise pay...
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From 2016 to 2021, the number of opioid overdose calls the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office from 88 to 169. “We are facing something in this country, and in the community, that has never been seen before,” Sheriff Carter Weaver said. “And if it is not a true fight against...
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A former member of Midway Fire and Rescue has returned to lead the department. Brent McClellan took over as chief on Monday. He has served as the assistant fire chief for the Georgetown City department for the past six years. “When the opportunity arose and it came before me,...
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In making his case for a 10 percent pay raise to keep his staff from being hired away by neighboring agencies, Sheriff Carter Weaver said this week that needs to include fire and rescue workers as well. As an elected official, he said, he can raise concerns in a...
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Two people were killed in a fire that destroyed a house on Windy Lane in Litchfield on Thursday. A woman who escaped the blaze told firefighters that her father heard the smoke detectors going off and woke her up to tell her the house was on fire. She then...
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John Stewart remembers a “scrawny, blond-haired boy” joining the Midway Fire Department as a volunteer in 1985. After seeing the boy in action at a couple of fires, Stewart wasn’t sure he was going to cut it as a firefighter. That boy was Doug Eggiman and he proved Stewart...
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It took nearly four years to get the green light from Georgetown County for a system that controls traffic signals for emergency vehicles. Now fire and rescue units are seeing nothing but green. “We drive like we normally due, use the same caution. It’s just that we see more...
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Midway Fire and Rescue Chief Doug Eggiman may be retiring at the end of the year, but he’s not going anywhere. Eggiman plans to stay on as a volunteer. “You reach a point where you realize it’s time for you and your family,” Eggiman said. “I finally came to...
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Teamwork saved the life of a Litchfield Country Club man who drove his Dodge Caravan into a pond at the entrance to the community last month. It wasn’t only the first responders who drew praise at an awards ceremony this week at Midway Fire and Rescue. Blake Marsh, a...
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Adam Marshall swam in the state championships in each of his four years at St. James High School. He joined the Naval Sea Cadet Corps when he was 10. A Litchfield Country Club man who drove his minivan into an entrance pond Sunday morning was lucky that Marshall, now...
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A system that gives fire and rescue vehicles priority at traffic signals should be in operation by mid-October. The project is being funded with $1 million in surplus funds collected by Georgetown County through a capital projects sales tax from 2015 to 2019. “It’s very exciting to know it’s...
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Sheriff Carter Weaver wants to add eight patrol deputies this year and wants Georgetown County Council to reinstate merit pay raises to help keep them. It would be the first increase in patrol deputies in 15 years, although deputies have been added for schools, traffic enforcement and a beach...
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Sheriff Carter Weaver will take this week’s election result to Georgetown County Council in an effort to fund additional deputies, particularly on the Waccamaw Neck. “A vote for me on Tuesday is going to be a vote for me standing in front of our County Council asking for people,”...
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When members of the county’s Technical Rescue Team responded to a report of trench collapse last week, what they found looked more like a bomb crater than a trench. “The hole was obviously wider than it was deeper, which creates a whole new challenge,” said Matt Smittle, division chief...
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A member of Generation Z is stepping up to inspire people of all ages in the fight against racial injustice. Eileen Carter, a rising sophomore at Waccamaw High School, led hundreds of people in a protest march alongside Highway 17 in Pawleys Island this week. She has scheduled another...
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Investigators are still looking for the cause of a three-alarm fire that destroyed a 7,300-square-foot building at Pawleys Island Lumber. Flames were already reaching far above the lumber yard on Archer Road when Midway Fire and Rescue units arrived shortly after 4 a.m. Thursday. The building, which was the...
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J.R. Haney is now in charge of the fire department he joined 17 years ago as a paramedic. He was named last week to replace Norman Knight as chief of the Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire Department. “This department has always been a big part of my life,” Haney said. ...
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Local government, school districts, residents and businesses are grappling with what to do about the coronavirus, which the Centers for Disease Control predicts will soon become widespread in the United States and has pandemic status across the world. The Georgetown County School District is following guidelines set by the...
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Stay calm. That was Deputy A.J. Kohut’s first thought on the morning of Dec. 12, when a Waccamaw High School student confided in him that the suspect in a murder was sitting in a classroom at that moment. “I don’t need more of a problem than we already have,”...
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The tallest fire truck in South Carolina has arrived at Midway and Fire Rescue and will go into service next weekend. The new 12-foot-tall truck, Ladder 814, has a 137-foot ladder and cost $1.6 million. Assistant Chief Jim Crawford said the length of the ladder will allow Midway to...
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Jim Willis arrived at Waccamaw Middle School at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday to pick up sandbags to protect his Litchfield home if Hurricane Dorian brought flooding. More than two hours later Willis finally had 10 bags in the back of his pickup truck. The tourist season gave way to...
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A citizens’ effort to give fire and rescue vehicles priority at traffic signals has gathered over 700 signatures on a petition urging Georgetown County Council to adopt a plan that the council rejected last month. “Most people say, ‘Why don’t we have it?’ ” said Karen Yaniga, a leader...
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Sam Hodge, the face of Georgetown County during hurricanes, flooding and other disasters, is retiring at the end of August. “The time has come for me to close this chapter,” Hodge said Wednesday. “After serving the residents and visitors of Georgetown County for nearly three decades, I just hope...
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Proponents of a system that would give fire trucks and ambulances priority at traffic signals waited three months to hear from Georgetown County Council about a the plan they first pitched in March. “We have provided you with a solution to a growing problem in our county. We have...
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Georgetown County will draw on its reserves to cover about $1.5 million in budget deficits for the coming year. County Council will start early looking for ways to stem the flow of red in for the next budget. “We expect to have the same type of situation next year,”...
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Sales tax
Georgetown County spent $11,000 to rescan each of the 38,115 ballots cast in the general election only to find the local option sales tax still didn’t pass. State law requires a recount in elections if the margin is less than 1 percent. The county rented a machine...
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Georgetown County voters have rejected local sales taxes three of the four times they have been proposed. And those were all for 1 cent each. This year, the county is proposing 2 cents, one for property tax relief and another for capital projects. Even proponents say that is probably...
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After two months of trying to explain Georgetown County’s plan for two 1-cent local sales taxes, Walt Ackerman can sense the moment. It comes with a thoughtful pause and a furrowing of eyebrows in the audience. Then there’s the inevitable question: How can you pay $58.18 in additional sales...
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Walt Ackerman has lost count of the number of presentations he has made about the two sales tax initiatives on the November ballot. Mark Hawn estimated he has attended about 30. That’s more than the number of meetings held by the Capital Project Sales Tax Commission that he chaired...
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The town of Pawleys Island doesn’t claim ownership of the jetty that defines its northern tip. But its stake in seeing that the 72-year-old structure remains in place is greater than that of the state highway department, which built it but doesn’t claim it either. Repairing the structure at...
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Proponents of raising the sales tax in Georgetown County to fund capital improvements realize that the 22 projects on the priority list won’t appeal to everyone. But if there’s a project they really don’t like, “know that if you vote ‘no,’ you’re not just killing that project, you’re killing...
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It took six months to put together a list of $74.3 million for funding through a capital projects sales tax. Officials are now worried that voters won’t take the time to read through them when they appear on the November ballot. “Have you all sat down with a stop...
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Walt Ackerman knows how he plans to vote on two sales tax referendum questions that will be on November’s ballot. He’s doing his best not to let the public know. The first of nine meetings planned to explain the sale tax proposals between now and Election Day drew four...
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There were five items on the ballot when Georgetown County voters were given the chance to adopt a capital projects sales tax in 2014. One never started. One is still not complete five years after the penny sales tax expired. “One thing we heard from every single group as...
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A shakeup in the U.S. presidential election will be felt in Georgetown County, where a group assembled by the Chamber of Commerce is preparing to pitch a pair of 1-cent sales tax referendums to voters in November. “It’s challenging in a presidential election year anyway,” said Beth Stedman, the...
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Wachesaw Recreation Park project. That didn’t sound too exciting, even if it came with a $988,000 price tag. Harris Chewning suggested adding a few words of description. Gary Cooper agreed. “That’s going to be amazing; a dog park, a lot of stuff for citizens,” he said. And it’s in...
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A multipurpose path in Parkersville could join the list of priority projects for funding through a proposed sales tax if Georgetown County finds another way to fund one of the most expensive projects on that list. The six-member Capital Project Sales Tax Commission presented its list of $72 million...
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A bike path on Martin Luther King Road, outdoor pickleball and basketball courts at the regional rec center, a rebuilt park in Murrells Inlet and a new fire station at DeBordieu are among the top projects being considered for a share of a proposed capital projects sales tax. But...
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The biggest project proposed for a share of a capital projects sales tax got a little smaller last week. Georgetown County doesn’t need $21 million to dredge channels in Murrells Inlet. “That number now is $1 million,” Ray Funnye, the county director of Public Services, said. He told the...
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There are $254.3 million in requests for a share of Georgetown County’s proposed capital projects sales tax. Staff were still sorting through the 63 project proposals, two-thirds of which came in the final days before the deadline at midnight Monday. “I do like the list we’ve got. I think...
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Local government offices echoed this week with the sound of crunching numbers as staff worked to complete submissions for a share of Georgetown County’s proposed capital projects sales tax ahead of the April 1 deadline. “I hate to miss this opportunity to at least put it down for consideration,”...
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The Georgetown County Water and Sewer District has $56.1 million worth of projects to propose for a share of a capital projects sales tax that is expected to come up for voter approval in November. In addition to those 10 projects, the city of Georgetown has 13 more to...
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When the town of Pawleys Island first sought a seat on the commission that is creating a list of projects for a countywide capital projects sales tax, officials thought they might seek funding for two projects. That list has now grown to five. If any of them are included...
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Tommie Kennedy has heard a steady stream of requests for new projects since he took over as executive director of Georgetown County Water and Sewer District at the start of this month. His selection by the utility’s board in December coincided with Georgetown County’s creation of a Capital Projects...
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People around Georgetown County say that when it comes to capital projects, Waccamaw Neck is the area that gets all the projects. That isn’t what residents in the Parkersville community told the county’s Capital Projects Sales Tax Commission last week. Their community needs sidewalks and drainage improvements that have...
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A proposal to evaluate capital projects seeking funds from a new penny sales tax looks at two broad categories: how much value and impact would the project have in the community, and what is the likelihood that the project will succeed? The committee charged with reviewing the projects and...
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Two members of Georgetown County Council say the commission that will prepare a list of projects for a capital projects sales tax referendum doesn’t understand the needs of the western part of the county. “I could name 20 communities right now. Very few on the committee would even know...
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Sports
Eleven times in the last 23 years the Waccamaw High School boys soccer team advanced to the Lower State final and lost. The 12th time was the charm as the Warriors beat Hanahan 3-1 on Monday and will play for the Class 3A state title on Friday, That will...
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Ayami Prior is taking her basketball game to Europe this summer. “I’m very excited,” the Waccamaw High School freshman said. Prior was selected to participate in the United World Games in Germany and Austria in June after a coach saw her playing with her AAU team in Florida last...
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A fleet of small boats pushed off from the public dock in Georgetown’s Francis Marion Park. It was a sunset cruise, but not the kind where you sit back and relax. It was race day for the summer sailing camp at the S.C. Maritime Museum, a chance to put...
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Of all the historic places in Georgetown County, one that might get overlooked is Mike Johnson Park at the corner of Emanuel and Kaminski streets in Georgetown. The park, which is home to the Georgetown High School baseball team and the American Legion Post 114 senior and junior baseball...
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Pride, heart, and desire. Waccamaw High School track and field athletes know these words not only because they make a cool acronym on a T-shirt, but because they had a coach who embodied them. Bill Peterman is calling it a career after 26 years of coaching. He announced his...
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In a game where they scored 15 goals, Waccamaw High’s 10th goal would have been easy to overlook. It was fired straight up the middle from about 15 yards out as three defenders crowded around Chris Gibson. But his teammates stretched out their hands as Gibson walked back to...
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In almost all high school sports, an athlete has to be good with their hands. That is especially true for the Georgetown County School District’s newest varsity squad: the esports team. Twelve high school students from across the county play video games, and compete against each other, and in...
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After winning five state titles between 2004 and 2010, the Waccamaw High School girls tennis program slipped into a drought. On Saturday, they made it rain. The Warriors beat Chapman 5-1 to win the Class 3A state title. “We are ecstatic about our state 3A title,” Warriors coach Mary...
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Jack Simcsak stays active by mentoring athletes young enough to be his grandchildren. The 74-year-old New Jersey native is one of the most sought after kicking coaches in South Carolina. “I’m able to help young people get better, and it gets me out of the house,” Simcsak said. “It’s...
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Melissa Jefferson is a world champion and a national champion. But the 21-year-old wants to be known as “a regular person.” “I guess I’m far from that nowadays,” Jefferson said. She will start training next month for her first full season as a professional runner. She made the move...
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Waccamaw High graduate T.J. McKenzie doesn’t think he has a home-field advantage this weekend when the Bassmaster College National Championship takes place on the county’s five rivers. “In the past, knowledge has hurt me,” McKenzie said. “The more I know about a place, the less likely I am to...
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Waccamaw High’s girls cross country team won the Class 3A state championship on Nov. 11, led by Anna Margaret Loftus, who won the individual title. It’s the third title for the team in the last six years. “This team is an amazing group of young ladies,” said Warriors coach...
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Grace Barnett was 3 seconds away from a trip to the Olympics Games in Tokyo. Barnett, a 2013 Waccamaw High School graduate, finished seventh in the 1,500 meters at the Olymic trials at the University of Oregon on Monday. “For me making that final was a really huge accomplishment,”...
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Temperature checks. Health questions. Small groups. Social distancing. This is high school football in 2020. “We’re crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s and making sure we’re as safe as possible,” said Amondre Johnson, Waccamaw High School’s first-year coach. Football players arrived around 7 a.m. on a humid Monday...
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Team competitions are prohibited. So is spitting. Conditioning and sports-specific drills are allowed. The S.C. High School League has released the first phase of its guidelines for the resumption of athletics. There is no timeline for the next two phases. Here are the highlights of phase one: Athletes and...
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While 2020 will be remembered as a season cut short, the memories of 2010 remain vivid for Waccamaw High teams that won two state championship on the same day Girls soccer | Softball Team formed in rec league reached peak as seniors Waccamaw High School’s girls soccer state championship...
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It has been 26 days since the last sporting event for Waccamaw High School athletes. It will be at least another 21 days before the next one, if there even is a next one during this school year. “The past few weeks have been filled with many different emotions,”...
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Waccamaw High School’s baseball season kicks off today with the 14th annual Coastal Invitational Baseball Tournament. The tournament has a local feel to it this year. Five of the visiting teams will be traveling less than 50 miles to get to Warrior Field. “It’s a good tournament. It’s hard...
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Thousands of golfers have dreamed about traveling around the United State and playing the best courses. One couple actually did it. Mike and Marilyn Allen, who split their time between Ohio and Litchfield By the Sea, played the 201 courses that Golf Digest included in it’s bi-annual list of...
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There were 102 runners registered for the 27th running of the Pawleys Island Turtle Strut, and 91 turned out at the starting line in spite of temperatures that dipped into the upper 30s. This year’s 5K race was a benefit for the Family Justice Center. Here are the results...
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Waccamaw High School football coach Shane Fidler believes his team needs to get a win early this season to provide some momentum and confidence. The Warriors didn’t win a game until October last year, and that broke a 24-game losing streak. They then lost their final two games. “If...
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When Jaret Montenery was growing up in Lima, Ohio, his family hosted college baseball players who were playing for local teams in a summer league. The tables have been turned as Montenery, a 2018 Waccamaw High graduate, is now a college student staying with a Wilmington, N.C., family while...
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At 26, Alex Burdette has already experienced what head coaches in every sport work for: his team played for its league championship. The 2011 Waccamaw High School graduate led the Białystok Lowlanders to Polish Bowl XIV on June 29. “Having the opportunity to be a part of the championship...
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For James Brown it’s another year, another ride. The former Waccamaw High School teacher and coach left on his bicycle from Bourbon Street in New Orleans Thursday morning planning to pull into the parking lot at Uncle Tito’s in Murrells Inlet 10 days later. The 900-mile ride is the...
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Thirteen is not an unlucky number for at least 27 residents of Pawleys Plantation. They have all had at least one ace on the 13th hole of Pawleys Plantation’s golf course. Some of the group gathered at Barb and John LoCascio’s house near the 14th hole last week to...
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Waccamaw High softball coach James Graves is retiring, again. “It’s time,” Graves said. “I think we had a good year. You always wanted more but the kids played hard.” He broke the news to his coaches and players last week. Waccamaw finished 13-12-1 this season, losing to Aynor in...
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Waccamaw High’s softball team outlasted Swansea 1-0 on Thursday night in the first round of the Class 3A Lower State playoffs. “The kids played well,” Warriors coach James Graves said. “It was a good ball game. Both teams played hard and played well. Neither team hit the ball very...
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Stetson Blaylock came to Georgetown last week to do a little fishing and went home $100,000 richer on Sunday. The angler from Benton, Ark., won the Bassmaster Elite tournament by catching 50.15 pounds of fish, nine ounces more than the second-place finisher, Scott Canterbury of Odenville, Ala. “I look...
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Georgetown County’s five rivers will be full of fishermen angling for a $100,000 jackpot starting Thursday, as the Bassmaster Elite Series returns to the area. The series is the highest level of professional bass fishing tournaments. Georgetown is the fourth stop of 10 this year. Anglers will begin their...
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Three boys are looking for a safe place to do fakies, pops, grinds and flips. Stowe Benston, Jayce Heenan and Truman Miller have started a campaign to build support for a skate park in the Pawleys Island area. Stowe is skateboarder. Jayce and Truman ride scooters. “A lot of...
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Play is under way at Warrior Field as Waccamaw High hosts the 13th annual Coastal Invitational Baseball Tournament. The Warriors are the defending champions. “Every time I put the uniform on I think we’ve got a chance to win, so I think we have a good chance to win...
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Stormwater
A solution to one stormwater problem in the Parkersville area is already identified in Georgetown County’s master plan for the Waccamaw. A 36-inch pipe under Martin Luther King Road needs to be replaced with a 48-inch pipe. That was estimated to cost $305,000 when the plan was adopted in...
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A Pawleys Island woman has filed suit against the country’s largest home builder saying its development next to her home in Parkersville caused flooding on her property that threatens that home. Deborah Greggs said in a suit filed in Circuit Court that her problems began when D.R. Horton Inc....
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The launch of an effort to get the public’s help to identify drainage problems on the Waccamaw Neck left residents frustrated that issues they want Georgetown County to fix have yet to be addressed. “It turned into a gripe session,” said Bob Anderson. “That’s why I got mad and...
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Tourism
Georgetown County is expected to receive about $1.6 million in accommodations tax funds this year. Twenty-two entities have applied to the county for a share of that money. Those requests total $2.59 million. How to make up the difference was one of the many questions that was raised at...
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A firm that works with top U.S. retailers will start providing data to the Chamber of Commerce to help figure out just how many people visit Georgetown County. Every year the chamber gets the lion’s share of the county’s revenue from the 2 percent state tax on short-term rentals....
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A vacation getaway isn’t what it used to be. Along with footprints in the sand, visitors are leaving cellphone and credit card data for companies to scoop up, analyze and sell. “There’s a lot of information out there,” said Adam Zappia, a sales director for Zartico, a Utah-based firm...
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A bird no bigger than a fist flitted through the marsh grass before settling on the rocks that define the entrance to Murrells Inlet. A dozen pairs of eyes followed its journey, aided by binoculars, spotting scopes and camera lenses of enormous size. They hoped to solve a mystery:...
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Scores of short-term vacation rentals have operated in Georgetown for years. As that number increases, City Council Member Jonathan Angner is worried how it will change the city. “Georgetown is not the secret it was before,” Angner said during a City Council workshop last week. “You know what’s going...
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The annual award of accommodations tax grants that rarely provokes comment came under scrutiny this week by Georgetown County Council, with members saying they struggled to find the rationale for some of the funding proposals. “This is $1.6 million I’ve got to justify to all my people. I’m not...
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When the county’s Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee recommended that the Chamber of Commerce receive $111,851 less than what it asked for, chamber officials were disappointed. “The marketing dollars get tighter and tighter and tighter and the expense for marketing jumped up just like everything else,” Chamber president Beth Stedman...
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In a county that sits on the Atlantic Ocean and is traversed by five rivers, first responders need to be equipped for water rescues. Four requests from first responders seek more than $900,000 in accommodations tax revenue to pay for staff, training and equipment. By law, accommodations tax revenue,...
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You can book a night in a home in Georgetown’s historic district or a loft on the waterfront, but unless the owner is living there the short-term vacation rental isn’t legal. “They’re not legal and they’ve never been legal,” said Robert Cox, the city’s interim planning director. He estimated...
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Cabana Boy Beach Services has been renting tents and chairs to the same family every summer for the last 14 years. But not this year. With more than half his staff going back to school today thanks to the school district’s new modified year-round calendar, owner Mike Junga was...
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A request by a Murrells Inlet restaurant for tourism tax money to build restrooms near the Marshwalk has sparked a debate about using public funds for projects on private property. The owners of the Wicked Tuna asked Georgetown County for $251,240 in accommodations tax funds to construct a concrete...
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A local initiative is working to preserve the heritage and culture of the Gullah Geechee people in Georgetown, while also tapping into a potentially billion-dollar tourism industry. Marilyn Hemingway, the founder and president of the Gullah Geechee Chamber of Commerce, is leading a project known as the Gullah Geechee...
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By the time mariners start arriving for the Wooden Boat Show in 2023, Georgetown should be home to a new boutique hotel – The George. “This is not a project that’s just good for the investors and the developers, this is great for the city. We’re going to leave...
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Brookgreen Gardens is a year and about $4 million away from starting work on a conservatory that has been part of its expansion plans for 30 years. “Our hope is that we’ll break ground in early ’23, and it will be about an 18-month project,” said Page Kiniry, the...
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Ray Funnye’s ancestors used to travel by canoe and boat from Plantersville in the western part of the county to Sandy Island and Pawleys Island. “That was the highway of heaven right there, back in the day,” said Funnye, Georgetown County’s director of Public Services and the founder of...
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A windfall in taxes paid by people who rent vacation properties has yet to find its way to the organizations that rely on the revenue to help fund their activities. Despite a rise in rentals fueled by the coronovirus pandemic, Georgetown County is still unsure how much it can...
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Officials are not sure how much money Georgetown County will get from the state accommodations tax, but more than a dozen entities are ready to step up to help spend it. Funds from the 2 percent state tax on short-term rentals are awarded annually to groups for tourism-related projects....
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The COVID-19 pandemic kept people from visiting most of South Carolina in 2020, but not Georgetown County. While the statewide occupancy rate on short-term rentals was down by 23 percent in the last seven months of 2020, Georgetown County saw an 11.5 percent increase. “It was great,” Will Dieter,...
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As anyone who has driven on Highway 17 this summer can tell you, the coronavirus has not kept the tourists away. The occupancy rate for vacation rentals in July was 94 percent in Pawleys Island, and 90 percent for Garden City and Murrells Inlet, Mark Stevens, the county’s director...
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A gantry peeks above the oaks, cedars and pines that border the salt marsh. A forest of pilings is rising as Huntington Beach State Park rebuilds the nature center that was destroyed by a lightning fire three years ago. “The nature center that we had previously worked great. It...
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The Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce is looking for a tourism development director. Jennifer Norman, who was hired by the county Chamber in July 2017, resigned last month to rejoin her husband, who is a professor of tourism at Clemson University. Before coming to Georgetown, Norman worked as the...
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Not many locals think they live on the Hammock Coast and the people in charge of spending money to market the county want to know if non-locals even know where the Hammock Coast is. The fate of the Hammock Coast brand was a hot topic at the monthly meeting...
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Traditions
When David Chase lost his class ring on New Year’s Eve in Pawleys Island, he feared it was gone forever. But on Monday, the ring was back in Chase’s possession thanks to Andrew Deckard, a stranger who refused to give up the search for the ring’s owner. “For me...
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They came first to party. They came back for the memories. Danny King was prepared. He made up a sign to welcome the crowd who had been young professionals when he opened a nightclub in Murrells Inlet in the spring of 1984. It read “Sandpiper’s Social Club / Seniors’...
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They followed their star and wound up in a field in front of Pawleys Island Community Church. For the 24 musicians, Christmas provides a chance to be a star. “It wouldn’t be Christmas without TubaChristmas,” said Bill Loeb, who came from Calabash, N.C. The church was one of five...
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Twelve days just aren’t enough when it comes to scheduling Christmas events. From now through the New Year there will be a swirl of lights, Santas and entertainment to make the season merry and bright. Here’s a calendar. Start making your list. Nov. 25 • The town of Pawleys Island...
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During last year’s Wooden Boat Show, Henry Culberson debuted his hand-crafted, solar-powered Greta T boat. This year, the Hagley resident is working with his grandsons – Henry Thomas Swinnie, 7, and Barrett Swinnie, 6 – to create a replica of the Greta T for the event’s corrugated boat regatta....
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After Don Quattlebaum bought White House Farms in 2011, he started growing rice to attract ducks for hunting. The rice grew so well that Quattlebaum turned it into a business venture: Andy’s Charleston Gold Rice. “The prices you can get for the heirloom varieties made it feasible,” Quattlebaum said....
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The Schroders had never entered a float in the Pawleys Island Fourth of July Parade. “We’ve never been able to get up early enough to be here,” Caroline Schroder said. This year, they made it to the South Causeway before the 10 a.m. start, with a pickup truck towing...
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There was a little more white in the red, white and blue at Pawleys Island’s Fourth of July Parade. And a little more sparkle. Thanks go to Casey Peissel, his family and his future in-laws. They stopped the parade at 336 Myrtle Ave., just short of the town’s Nature...
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After 39 years, the Murrells Inlet Fourth of July Boat Parade finally got straight with the law. “We get a DNR permit every year,” said Lee Hewitt, one of the founders who co-chairs the parade committee, referring to the state Department of Natural Resources. This year he got a...
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When Fran Ward rode in the Pawleys Island Fourth of July Parade a decade ago, she was beside her late husband, Howard, who was the grand marshal. “I remember it well,” she said. “He was very honored.” This year, it is her turn. Ward will lead what should be...
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James Livingston remembered the knock on the door. “I went several times and was involved with that knock on the door. I thought combat was tough, but when you stand up with a chaplain and knock on that door, folks, sometimes that’s worse than combat. That’s the most difficult...
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An eagle flew west from the salt marsh before the first people arrived. It dipped low over the cemetery and was gone. John Henry of Georgetown arrived, carrying a pan-African flag and a walking stick topped by an Egyptian ankh cross. He said he was there for the Gullah...
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Tiffany Carroll was shocked when she took her family’s dog, Skai, to the vet. “They didn’t know it was the state dog,” she said, shaking her head. Skai, now 2, was one of a score of Boykin spaniels that gathered along with their owners at A Dog’s Way Inn...
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Their roots were in Africa, stretching from the Atlantic coast east across the continent toward Kenya and north to the Middle East. They worked the rice fields at Hagley Plantation, where 334 men and women were enslaved on the eve of the Civil War. When they died, they were...
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The town of Pawleys Island this week canceled its Fourth of July Parade, a tradition for 54 years, due to the rise of COVID-19 cases in the area. Organizers of the Murrells Inlet Boat Parade called off their event last week. “It was not an easy decision,” Mayor Brian...
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Pawleys Island will celebrate the Fourth of July with a parade. “It may be difficult to practice social distancing,” Mayor Brian Henry said. But he added, “I can’t imagine Pawleys without a Fourth of July parade. While the town agreed to move forward with plans as the state begins...
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An original story by Christine Thomas Doran with illustration by Nancy Van Buren “Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” Norman Vincent Peale Do you believe in the magic of Christmas? Gather around children, and listen to a Christmas...
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Food insecurity is a problem that affects thousands of Georgetown County residents. The issue becomes even more acute around holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it is something that people live with every day. Several nonprofits, and even a few individuals, are tackling the problem head-on. Baskervill Food Pantry...
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A lot of things have changed in Murrells Inlet in the last 100 years. But at least four things have not: descendants of the families that owned property along the creek near Belin Memorial United Methodist Church still own that property. The Byars and Stedmans; the Rices; the Tillers,...
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People usually want to know what it costs. Ben Marlow won’t say. “It’s best left a secret,” he said. It’s enough to know that the fireworks that will dance across the night sky above Pawleys Creek on the Fourth of July are free for those who know where to...
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Veterans
Irving “Jack” Craig Jr. of Murrells Inlet and the rest of the crew of a B-29 airplane named Smilin’ Jack survived 33 bombing missions during the last year of World War II. The only member of the crew who didn’t make it home was the original pilot, who was...
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Liz Litvin wore a uniform for 26 years. Her service didn’t end when she retired. “I couldn’t just turn off that part of my heart, that part of my mind that wanted to serve,” she said. “Serving in my community helped my transition from the Army. I’m still serving,...
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Imagine the deck of a landing ship. Other ships stretch to the horizon. A Harrier jump-jet lands on the deck as F-18s fly low overhead. Boats carrying Marines make their way toward the shore. Naval gunfire. It might be a training exercise, but “there’s a wow factor.” Scenes like...
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Immediately after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the United States government set up a base in Uzbekistan near the border with Afghanistan to launch strikes against the Taliban and al Qaeda. Nineteen years later, 75 percent of the more than 10,000 servicemen and women who served at...
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Johnny Dieter of Pawleys Island was serving in the Navy during World War II when the Japanese unleashed a new form of warfare: pilots intentionally crashing their planes into enemy ships. “Their emperor was their God and it was a divine mission that those pilots were on,” said Dieter,...
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Bill Atkin joined the Marine Corps at 17, just shy of the first anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He served in the Pacific as a mechanic in a bomber squadron. He was a sergeant and not yet 21 when he returned home to Massachusetts in 1946....
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Waccamaw High
Georgetown County schools may be closed this week for fall break, but not all of them have been empty. Hundreds of students from the eastern half of the state gathered at Waccamaw High for the S.C. Association of Student Councils District II rally. The entire event was planned and...
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A group of Waccamaw High School athletes competed against Socastee, Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach on Saturday. But it wasn’t on the football field, the baseball diamond or the basketball court. It was in the Atlantic Ocean. The school’s surf club competed for the second time since it...
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Tyrese Haynes had what Chris Overbeek called an “infectious smile.” “Good kid, good student. He was loved by his peers,” said Overbeek, the coach of the Waccamaw High School boys basketball team. “Those are the qualities that matter.” Haynes, 17, who would have started his senior year at the...
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Kristi Patterson waited to see her daughter walk down the hallway of Waccamaw Elementary School through misty eyes. Waccamaw High School senior Claire Patterson, 18, was just about to start the second grade when the family moved to Pawleys Island in 2013. As Patterson teaches her current second-graders, it...
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When Hunter Eddy began his teaching career a decade ago he got some advice from Celeste Pringle, who was the Georgetonw County School District’s deputy superintendent at the time. Pringle told him “as long as you do right by the students, you’ll be a success. Always put them first.”...
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The school board hired a member of the Waccamaw High School family as its next leader this week. Hunter Eddy, who has been an assistant principal at the school since 2018, will take over as principal on July 1, the first day of the 2024-25 school year. “I’m very...
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The first time David Hammel was principal of Waccamaw High School, one of his goals was to start a Junior ROTC program. Unfortunately the country was in the middle of an economic downtown and there was no money in the district’s budget. Now that Hammel is principal again, he...
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As the Georgetown County School District prepares to winnow the candidates to be the next Waccamaw High School principal, the superintendent asked parents and the community what they want in the new leader. “I want to give folks a voice in this process. To find out the key characteristics...
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Residents in the communities outside of Pawleys Island sometimes complain that Waccamaw Neck schools get everything. However, the only high school in the county that doesn’t have a Junior ROTC program is Waccamaw. Principal David Hammel is working to correct that and he is taking his request to the...
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Waccamaw High School’s girls golf team dominated the competition on Tuesday en route to a Class 3A state title. The Warriors shot a two-day total of 661, 26 strokes better than Daniel High, the runners-up. Anna Brown, a senior, had been dreaming of winning a state title since she...
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The week before Adam George was placed on leave as principal of Waccamaw High during the school district’s investigation of a “senior prank” he received an exemplary evaluation. The week after, he denied having specific knowledge that a prank was planned for the night of May 21 and cast...
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David Hammel never expected to be a principal again. The former Waccamaw High School principal was quite happy being back in a classroom teaching science at Georgetown High School. District officials approached Hammel after Adam George was removed as Waccamaw High’s principal last week after an investigation into a...
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At 8:30 on a Sunday evening in May, two students met an adult in a parking lot behind Waccamaw High School. They walked to a door that leads to the gym. Minutes later, the students were in the atrium. They opened the front door, but one had second thoughts....
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An outpouring of community support for Adam George followed the Georgetown County School District’s announcement this week that he had been removed as principal of Waccamaw High School following further investigation of a “senior prank” in May. George will be reassigned to a position for which he is “certified...
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On a Sunday evening in May, tents popped up in the senior parking lot at Waccamaw High. What happened over the course of the night fueled rumors that persisted through the graduation ceremony two weeks later and led to an investigation by the Georgetown County School District. It also...
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Former Waccamaw High School principal David Hammel returned to teaching last August. Now he’s returning to something that he loves just as much: coaching. Hammel was named the school’s first boys volleyball coach this week. “Coaching has sort of been in my blood. I’ve coached basketball. I’ve coached track,”...
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The second class of the Waccamaw High School Athletics Hall of Fame is chock full of state champions. The athletes who will be inducted at a ceremony Friday are are: Addie Avant, Ashley Czechner, Willie Grady, Billy Kenny, Michael Moran, Andy Peace and Taylor Player. They will be joined...
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A frustrated Waccamaw High mother told the Georgetown County School Board last week that her child was one of a handful nonbinary or transgender students who were left out of the school yearbook because photos require uniformity. “If you identify as neither male or female, do you really have...
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As the evening shadows lengthened across Warrior Field, the time grew short for more than 200 members of the Waccamaw High School Class of 2022. Don’t call them former Warriors. The school’s motto is: “Once a Warrior, always a Warrior.” The seniors were sophomores when the COVID-19 pandemic ended...
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The football fields at Georgetown County’s four high schools are being converted from grass to synthetic turf. “I think it’s a very visible addition to each of our high school campuses,” Superintendent Keith Price said. “It’s something our community can be proud of and it’s going to touch each...
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Waccamaw High School recently welcomed back some old friends who had a lot of athletic success when they were at the school. The first class of the WHS Athletic Hall of Fame was honored on Friday. Since it opened its doors in 1990, athletes have won more than 20...
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The inaugural class of the Waccamaw High School Athletic Hall of Fame is full of state champions, a state record holder and an All-American. “It’s a great representation across all of the sports that have had success at Waccamaw,” principal Adam George said. “I’m very happy with the class.”...
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Waccamaw High School is starting an athletic Hall of Fame and the first members will be inducted this fall. “We’re excited,” principal Adam George said. “I think this is something that’s going to draw some good interest.” The school opened in August of 1990. The first state titles came...
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As the sun set behind the football stadium, members of the Class of 2021 said farewell to Waccamaw High School. For the second straight year, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the school district to move graduation ceremonies outdoors. Principal Adam George and superintendent Keith Price were pleased with how everything...
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As the most unusual year in the history of Waccamaw High School nears an end, the members of the Class of 2021 will get their diplomas tonight. For the second year in a row, the graduation ceremony will be held inside the school’s football stadium. While last year’s seniors...
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Victor Otubu recently became the first Waccamaw High School athlete to be named All-State in three sports. “I was shocked, because my freshmen and sophomore years I was one of the kids that thought, ‘I’ve got to stick to one sport,’” Otubu said. “As I got older and more...
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When competing in a virtual speech and debate tournament, you have to have a plan and a backup plan. Waccamaw High School’s Windtalkers used both plans on Saturday to make sure they could perform live for the judges of the Carolina Kickoff. “This is the craziest and weirdest start...
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The Principal | Making the new seem more familiar When students walked through the doors of Waccamaw High School for the first time on Aug. 27, 1990, the staff wanted them to feel at home. “We wanted it to be like it was the 181st day of school,” said...
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Waccamaw High School seniors will get their moment in the sun, literally. This year’s commencement ceremony will take place in the school’s football stadium on June 4 at 9 a.m. “We’re trying to make the best of a difficult situation,” Superintendent Randy Dozier told the school board Thursday. “We’re...
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The Waccamaw High marching band heads to the Lower State competition Saturday at White Knoll High School in Lexington. Last year, the band placed sixth and earned a chance to compete in the state final. The band has won their first two competitions, picking up eight trophies. The band...
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People watching the Waccamaw High School marching band’s show this year will get a lesson in acceptance. “True Colors” is the story of a young girl who has been rejected by the other members of the band. Slowly, as the performance continues, they accept her. The moral of...
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Another school year has come and gone and 189 members of the Class of 2019 officially said goodbye to Waccamaw High School and hello to the future last night. First-year principal Adam George said he will always remember these seniors, the first graduating class in his tenure. “It’s always...
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Jessie Grieb and Mike Plante share several bonds. They have both struggled with addiction and lost brothers to overdoses. They are now sharing the road as part of the East Coast Overdose Awareness Walk from Fort Kent, Maine, on the Canadian border, to Key West, Fla. Grieb, 26, a...
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Having five children who played a sport at Waccamaw High School gives Scott Eddy a vested interest in supporting athletics at the school. Eddy has settled in as president of the WHS Athletic Booster Club since taking over the position from Brian Henry in May. As a member of...
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Traffic to the Waccamaw High softball field will be able to share the access road to the nearby sewer treatment plant under an agreement up for approval by the Georgetown County Water and Sewer District. The school board approved the deal last week. The shared road agreement is the...
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LOCAL EVENTS
Meetings
Georgetown County Board of Education: First and third Tuesdays, 5:30 p.m., Beck Education Center. For details, go to gcsd.k12.sc.us. Georgetown County Council: Second and fourth Tuesdays, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 129 Screven St., Georgetown. For details, go to georgetowncountysc.org. Pawleys Island Town Council: Second Mondays, 5 p.m. Town Hall, 323 Myrtle Ave. For details, go to townofpawleysisland.com. , .
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