Lake Russell land moves closer to control by state

Property transfer could speed construction of upscale housing

July 15, 2005

By VIC MacDONALD
Index-Journal regional editor

A U.S. House-passed measure affecting water projects throughout the nation would put property on Lake Russell near Calhoun Falls in the hands of the state of South Carolina.
If passed by the U.S. Senate and approved by a conference committee, the bill would put a spark in an upscale housing development project spearheaded by a Charlotte-based company.
News of the passage of the Water Resources Development Act and its ripple effect from Washington to the small Abbeville County town was greeted with excitement.
“That’s huge!” said Scott Harris, Calhoun Falls town administrator. “This will help expedite the process.”
U.S. Land Investments envisions a project in which 550 acres are designated for development, with 350-400 set aside for homes.
The project, preparing for the first phase, will include a marina, boat slips, a boat-storage facility and a walking trail. The project has encountered several problems in the years since it began, including changes in developers.
However, Thursday’s House vote was hailed by federal lawmakers as a big break in what had been an economic development logjam.
“The bottom line is, we’re closer now than we’ve ever been,” U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett said. The building of upscale homes and amenities on this portion of Lake Russell would lift the economic tide throughout Abbeville County and the Lakelands, he said.
“Abbeville County needs a boost. It needs a push,” Barrett said from his Washington office shortly after the House vote. “This (land) is a wonderful, God-given gift, if we can do it right. We are one step closer to seeing it come to fruition.”
Barrett said former U.S. Rep., now U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham worked on the project for eight years. Barrett said he has invested three years in lobbying for the U.S. Corps of Engineers to relinquish control of the land.
“I know (former U.S. Rep.) Butler Derrick worked on it, and I think Bryan Dorn (also a former congressman) worked on it, too,” he said.
As part of the House-passed legislation, control of the Lake Russell land will pass from the Corps to the S.C. Department of Commerce.
“The Lake Russell project remains a very important piece of the local community’s economic development efforts,” Graham said. “It’s been a very long and difficult road. Gresham has been a great partner in this effort and deserves a lot of credit for helping push the ball forward.” On behalf of the Town of Calhoun Falls, Harris expressed appreciation to Barrett and Graham, along with state Sen. John Drummond, of Ninety Six, and state Rep. Paul Agnew, of Abbeville, for their work on behalf of the Lake Russell Project.
“I’m sure the state of South Carolina will work with U.S. Land and the Town of Calhoun Falls to expedite this process,” he said. “Also, the Corps has been very receptive to the town’s needs.” The Lake Russell Project began in 1989 when the Savannah Valley Authority received a little more than $2 million to buy and develop the property.
It wasn’t until four years later that work began on the infrastructure. The Department of Commerce took over the project after the Savannah Valley Authority disbanded. It was then that Freshwater Properties and other firms, at various periods, began development of the property. In 1996, the project fell apart when Freshwater Properties failed to make payments to the contractors working on the project.
In early 2004, the Town of Calhoun Falls approved proceeding with Phase I of the project. And in mid-June, the town council signed a letter of intent to work with U.S. Land.
With the letter, the town and U.S. Land are collaborating to conduct a roadmap that spells out work the town is obligated to do, Harris said in a previous interview. As zoning administrator for the town, Harris recently gave zoning approval for the project.
U.S. Land will also pay for sewer infrastructure.
The old Calhoun Falls Water Treatment Plant must be torn down, since it sits in the middle of the project site.
U.S. Land will be responsible for the demolition of the building and clearing the site. The developers will be given 3.76 acres, with the town receiving 4 acres of commercial land. There are five phases of the Lake Russell Project. During Phases II-III, construction is likely to begin on a golf course.
The Town of Calhoun Falls has sought grants from the Economic Development Administration, which exists to provide funds to communities to assist with economic development projects. The EDA is under the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“We will continue trying to get Calhoun Falls some money for infrastructure,” Barrett said. “We’re getting too close to let anything fall through the cracks now.” Previously, some provisions in plans to develop the Lake Russell land were not as good as they could have been in terms of protecting the environment, Barrett said.
“We must protect the green space, while providing for public development,” he said. “The beauty of the lake is why people are willing to invest.”

Staff Writer Shavonne Potts contributed to this article.

Mildred Adams

WARE SHOALS — Mildred R. Mitchell Adams, 76, of 162 Adams Drive, wife of Carl Adams, died Wednesday, July 13, 2005 at Laurens County Hospital.
A native of Laurens County, she was a daughter of the late Broadus and Sallie Mae Ridgeway Mitchell. She was a member and former Sunday school teacher at Mount Bethel United Methodist Church.
Survivors include her husband of the home; a brother, Jim Mitchell of Donalds; six sisters, Nell Smith and Katherine Kirkland, both of Hodges, Mary Blackwell of Laurens, Karen Gambrell of Due West, Bobby Jean Quidley of Cowpens and Jeanette Strawhorne of Ware Shoals.
Services are 2 p.m. Saturday at Mount Bethel United Methodist Church, conducted by the Rev. Dr. Philip L. Shuler. The body will be placed in the church at 1. Burial is in the church cemetery. Pallbearers are Ellis Brewington, Roger Petty, Will Petty, Steve Kerr, Ray Brewington and Randy Wrenn.
Visitation is 6-8 tonight at Parker-White Funeral Home.
The family is at the home.
Parker-White Funeral Home is in charge.

Jackie O. Blackmon

MONCKS CORNER — Jackie O’Neal Blackmon, 22, died Tuesday, July 12, 2005 at his home.
Born in Tulsa, Okla., he was a son of Jackie Anthony Blackmon and Kimberly Jean Sheldon Blackmon. He was a member of Berkeley Baptist Church and a former employee of Excel Heating and Air.
Survivors include his father and stepmother, Tammy Infinger Blackmon of Moncks Corner; his mother of Tulsa; five sisters, Leigh Lambert, Brandi Gilbert and Tara Isbell, all of Greenwood, Demi Blackmon and Parker Blackmon, both of Moncks Corner; and grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Tunny Blackmon of Greenwood, Shirley James of Tulsa and Frances Warren of Moncks Corner.
Services are 11 a.m. today at Berkeley Baptist Church. Burial is in Berkeley Memorial Gardens. Visitation is 10-11 today at the church.
Dial-Murray Funeral Home is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.blythfuneralhome.com

Rykevious D. Coates

WARE SHOALS — Rykevious Deion Coates, 7, of 55 E. Cork St., Apt. A, died Thursday, July 14, 2005 at his home.
The family is at the home.
Services will be announced by Robinson-Walker Funeral Service.

Loretta Harrison

SPARTANBURG — Services for Loretta Harrison, of 738 Idlewood Circle, are 1 p.m. Saturday at Springfield Baptist Church, Edgefield, conducted by Bishop Emmanuel Spearman, assisted by the Revs. Derrick Scott and Alfred Rucker. The body will be placed in the church at 12. Burial is in the church cemetery.
Pallbearers are Lenwood Ramsey, Michael Butler, Rico Morgan, Sylvester Ramsey, Donnie Ray Davis and Alvin Mathis.
Flower bearers are Jean Fuller, Diane Little, Aretha Thompkins, Bettye Norman, Liza Mitchell and Peggy Martin.
The family is at the home of a daughter Leatrice Harrison, 42 Stockman St., Greenwood. Percival-Tompkins Funeral Home, Greenwood, is in charge.

Marcelle Murray

GREENWOOD – Marcelle Fisher Murray, 86, resident of 310 Colonial Drive, widow of Lonnie Edison “Red” Murray, died July 13, 2005 at her home.
Born in Chatham County, NC, December 12, 1918, she was a daughter of the late Dan Marsh and Cora Gunter Fisher. Mrs. Murray was retired from Greenwood Mills - Information Center and was a member of St. Mark United Methodist Church.
Surviving are a daughter, Emily M. Ivey and husband, Glenn of Union; two sons, Kyle F. Murray of Greenwood and G.M. “Scott” Murray and wife, Clair of Lexington; two grandchildren, Ashley Ivey of Union and Jay Edwards of Simpsonville.
Funeral services will be conducted at 2 pm Saturday from the Blyth Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Jim Johnston and Dr. Phillip Morris officiating.
Burial will be in Oakbrook Memorial Park.
Pallbearers will be Norman Haynes, Needham Jones, Ricky Murray, Bruce Graham, Jay Edwards and Josh Brewer.
The family is at the home on Colonial Drive and will receive friends at the funeral home from 1 to 2 Saturday afternoon.
Memorials may be made to St. Mark United Methodist Church Building Fund, 550 Hwy. 72 By Pass NW, Greenwood, SC 29649.
For additional information please visit www.blythfuneralhome.com.
BLYTH FUNERAL HOME IS ASSISTING THE MURRAY FAMILY.
PAID OBITUARY

Travis Robinson

Services for Travis Robinson, of 814 Greene St., are 2 p.m. Saturday at Morris Chapel Baptist Church, conducted by the Rev. Aaron Woodward, assisted by the Rev. Norris Turner. The body will be placed in the church at 1. Burial is in New China Baptist Church Cemetery, Bradley. Pallbearers are Jamanio Coaen, Brandon Toller, Aven Young, John Covington, Jamaul Covington, Javanius Covington, Sterling Bond, Herace Brooks, Sidney Boozer, Zantavius Hall, Jamarus Hall and Shyem Hall.
Flower bearers are Sheneka Butler, Carrissa Smith, Amber Calhoun, Chris Baker, Kearia Timpson, Christy Washington, Tykeria Timpson, Evon Hacket, Kim Calhoun, Shelia Timpson, Christy Timpson, Talisha Timpson and Nikki Bowie.
Visitation is tonight at the home.
Robinson & Son Mortuary Inc. is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at robson@emeraldis.com

John Thompson

WARE SHOALS — John Thompson, widower of Margie Clamp Thompson, died Thursday, July 14, 2005. Services will be announced by Parker-White Funeral Home.

Willie ‘Sonny’ Wideman

HODGES — Willie Noble “Sonny” Wideman, 62, of 118 Embassy Court, widower of Edna Mae Gaskin Wideman, died Wednesday, July 13, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Born in Greenwood County, he was a son of the late Ebbie and Louella Tolbert Wideman. He was a construction worker with G.E. Moore Construction Co. for more than 40 years. A member of Holy Springs Baptist Church, he served as Deacon Board chairman and was a member of 100 Men in Black and a former Mason.
Survivors include two brothers, T.J. Wideman and Jessie Earl Wideman, both of Philadelphia; two sisters, Geneva Robinson of Greenwood and Edna Mansel of Hodges; a niece reared in the home, Betty Wideman Carroll of Hodges.
The family is at the home.
Services will be announced by Percival-Tompkins Funeral Home.

CORRECTION

For the obituary of Thomas ‘Flea’ Jackson in Thursday’s paper, there was an error in the information submitted to The Index-Journal. Memorial services are 2 p.m. today at Percival-Tompkins Funeral Home.

Rain keeps Greenwood in suspense

Game 4 against Spartanburg halted, will resume tonight

July 15, 2005

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports writer

The Greenwood American Legion Post 20 baseball team will have to wait before trying to advance to the second round of the state playoffs.
Thursday's Game Four between Post 20 and two-time defending state champion Spartanburg at Legion Field was postponed because of heavy rain.
The game has been rescheduled for 7:30 tonight and will pick up where it left off, in the third inning with Post 20, which leads the best-of-five series 2-1, at bat, a runner on first and no outs and Spartanburg leading 2-1.
The infield, which isn't covered by a tarp, was already waterlogged by showers from earlier in the day. So, it didn't take long under the heavy evening torrent for the infield to look like a smaller version of Lake Greenwood. Only the dirt around home plate, the pitcher's mound and the two bullpens have covers.
"The field was totally saturated from before," said Post 20 assistant coach Nate Hamilton, who spent four hours working on the field Thursday afternoon to get it playable. "I couldn't even get a mat drag on it, because the drag was picking up everything. It's going to take a lot of good work tomorrow to get it ready to play. I can't run a nail drag on the field until the sun gets on it.
"We're really going to need some sun tomorrow."
Post 20 coach Billy Dean Minor said he wasn't sure as to whom he would use to take the mound in Friday night's makeup game, with Nick Milford, who was also the Game One starter, going three innings Thursday.
Tuesday's Game Two starter Josh Jones and Brandon Miller, who came in relief for the win Tuesday, are the likely starting candidates for the makeup game.
Jones and teammate Doug New took in a little sliding practice during Thursday's rain delay. With Minor out of the Greenwood dugout, Jones and New, clad in their practice T-shirts, took off running in front of their dugout and slid along the waterlogged grass to the cheers of teammates and the fans sitting under the overhang.
At the start of the game, Milford had problems finding the strike zone early in the count against Spartanburg batters. He got behind on three of the first four hitters and Spartanburg turned that into three singles and a 2-0 lead.
Post 20 got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning. Milton Brown led off the first with a single up the middle. During Kyle Behrendt's at bat, Brown went from first to third on a passed ball and a stolen base.
After Behrendt walked to make it first and third with no outs, Will Gary sent a deep fly ball to right, scoring Brown to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Milford became more efficient with his pitches in the second inning, but a slight hesitation by the Dixie High School graduate put him in a tough position.
After Sloan Gilliam led off with a stand-up double, Trey Boyd squared around for a sacrifice bunt to move Gilliam to third. But the Greenwood defense set up the wheel play, moving the shortstop to cover third on the play.
With the bunt down, Gilliam got a late jump and Milford paused before throwing to Behrendt, allowing Gilliam to slide in safely for runners on the corners with no outs. But Milford worked out of the situation without allowing a run. He fielded Thomas Groome's sacrifice bunt and then snagged Ryan Wilkins' comebacker.
Behrendt saved two runs by picking up out No. 3. The Post 20 shortstop ranged to his left on Patrick West's grounder up the middle, made the diving stop and threw to first to get the speedy West to end the inning.
Justin Collier, who pitched Post 20 to a Game Three victory, drew a four-pitch walk to leadoff the bottom of the third.
The rain began to fall at 8:18 p.m. during Brown's second at bat. One minute later, with the count full, Brown asked for time and stepped out of the box to dry off his bat. But before he would see another pitch, the home-plate umpire ordered the rain delay.
Seventeen minutes later, Minor let the P.A. announcer know the game had been called so he could inform those still in attendance.

New law about complaints helps patients and doctors

July 15, 2005

South Carolina once again has been criticized by a national consumers group. The group, Public Citizen, says the state is doing considerably worse in disciplining physicians than it used to. In 1987, the group says, South Carolina ranked ninth out of the 50 states. Now Public Citizen ranks it 43rd, says Dr. Sidney Wolfe, who co-founded the organization with Ralph Nader.
State regulators, though, dispute the report. They say this state has tough licensing requirements that get rid of questionable applicants early.
There has been a scandal in recent times with at least one doctor charged with illegally prescribing steroids for some athletes. It has been a high-profile case and has focused the national spotlight on South Carolina more than usual.


THIS YEAR, HOWEVER, state lawmakers addressed the handling of complaints against doctors. They approved legislation to make it easier for the public to know what goes on in disciplining doctors facing complaints. That helps open the process more in the public’s favor. Until now, discipline has been, many feel, hidden from the public.
Bill Rogers, Executive Director of the South Carolina Press Association, which pushed for the change, says “This is an important measure in two ways. First, it gives the public confidence that medical disciplinary actions are being handled properly and that such hearings aren’t just cover-ups. By public oversight, we gain confidence that the system is working.


“SECOND,” ROGERS SAYS, “it gives members of the public access to the information they need to make informed decisions when selecting physicians.”
It’s good to protect the public, of course. At the same time, though, there must be pains taken to make sure that nuisance and frivolous complaints against doctors are screened ….. and that includes those from anyone with an ax to grind. While we are so concerned about high medical costs, it’s those baseless complaints that hurt all of us. They cost us, big time.
Reputable physicians, and that’s most of them by far, would likely be the first to praise efforts to reassure the public about those in their profession who give the rest of them a bad name.