Ninety Six mill burns

Some residents evacuated as fire rages through historic site

March 11, 2005

From staff reports

NINETY SIX – A massive inferno consumed the heart of this community’s textile heritage Thursday, shutting the town’s power off and sending 100-150 nearby residents fleeing from their homes.
Ninety Six Plant No. 10 was supposed to have been torn down in September, but asbestos removal delayed its destruction. Instead of falling to the wrecking ball and salvage-takers, the stately mill with a massive smokestack that could be seen throughout the town went down in a blaze.
Mill village resident Marilyn Braxton, who once worked at the mill, said she couldn’t believe the mill caught fire. As she and her husband, William, waited in the candlelight at Temple Baptist Church, she said she felt a tremendous sadness.
“It just feels like a part of me is gone. In a way, I want to cry – tears have welled up in my eyes,” she said. “I know it is just material things, but you’ve got so many memories there. It doesn’t seem like it could be real.”
In darkness illuminated by the glowing flames, volunteers canvassed the homes potentially threatened by the blaze to warn residents to leave. Some wouldn’t, but most heeded the door-to-door calls designed to send them to safety.
Duke Power spokesman Lee Lewis said power would remain out until this morning for some residents. “It was a joint decision by the fire departments and Duke to leave these areas de-energized until the morning, from a safety standpoint,” he said.
Lewis said he wasn’t sure of the number of customers who lost power, but just “a small area” was to remain without power until today.
Ninety Six Police Chief Pat Dixon said the fire started about 6:30 p.m. He said as of about 10 p.m., the cause of the fire had not been determined.
“There is no power or (natural) gas to the mill,” he said.
Dixon was the first on the scene, followed by the Ninety Six Fire Department.
“There was black smoke coming from the top of the building,” he said.
The fire spread to nearby warehouses, Dixon said.
Ninety Six, Ware Shoals, Greenwood, Laurens and Newberry County Fire Departments responded, and seven others were on standby, Dixon said.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and the South Carolina Highway Patrol were also on the scene.
Dixon said there was a grass fire off Duke Street and a possible home roof that caught fire.
“No one has been hurt,” he said.
Tony Gambrell, Highway 34 Fire Department chief, said most of the main structure of the mill had burned and embers were flying off the blaze onto grassy areas and woods nearby.
Some embers hit the roofs of nearby houses, and firefighters were concerned that those also could cause fires. That concern led to the evacuation of homes near the mill.
“So far, the wind is blowing in the right direction,” to prevent the fire from spreading to the homes, Gambrell said. “We evacuated the houses on the back side of the mill.”
Gambrell said he did not know of any chemicals inside the mill that could cause toxic fumes.
“My wife and guys started evacuating when they got there,” he said. “We’re checking all the houses.”
The fire could take “several days” to be fully extinguished, Gambrell said.
The massive scope of the fire led to an “all-call” of fire departments, Gambrell said.
Residents and visitors to Ninety Six were caught up in the fire’s aftermath.
Saluda High soccer coach Karl Geliske got his players on their bus quickly after their win over Ninety Six, when a woman came to the field to tell youths there to leave – immediately.
“I asked her, ‘is there a problem?’ She said, ‘there’s an asbestos fire, close the windows of the bus and get out.’”
After that, Geliske said, “We’re in evacuation mode. We wheeled the bus around and looked out the window. Just beyond the track, you could see the fire. It was an inferno.”
The players pressed their faces to the windows to watch, and some were worried about people they knew who lived nearby. Geliske got the players to call their parents to tell them, in case the parents heard about a big fire in Ninety Six, that they were OK. The third-year coach said it was just another strange experience this year for his players – in one game they played in the dark because the other team arrived late and there were no lights at the field.
“I’ve known of times when you want to get out of town fast because of the fans, but not because the town was burning down,” Geliske said. “I don’t mean to make light of the situation – you can’t help but think about Aiken County (the Graniteville train wreck and toxic chlorine cloud).”
Terri Holden said she remembers many of her family members going into the mill for work.
She recalled watching men hang out of the mill’s windows during the summer months to cool off.
“I would rather see it burn down than be torn down. There’s no better way to go down than in flames,” Holden said.
She said although it seems harsh to say, the flames that quickly took the mill seemed somewhat better than it being deconstructed piece-by-piece, as intended.
“It’s a good way to end,” she said.
Residents gathered around candles in Temple Baptist Church and huddled in their vehicles in the parking lot while they awaited word about the status of the fire. The church served as a temporary shelter, despite lacking electricity, until First Baptist Church in Ninety Six was ready to take residents.
Debbie Phillips, who lives one block away from the mill, said she wasn’t at home when the fire started, but she rushed home.
“I had to run in and get my baby out,” she said, speaking about her 18-month-old son, Adam. “We knew they were going to tear it down but we didn’t know it was going to blow up.”
Phillips said firefighters were on the scene encouraging residents to grab what they needed and evacuate, but some were staying in their homes to wait out the fire.
“My husband stayed where he was. I don’t know what he’s thinking right now,” she said.
Ealey Dorn was at home with her son, Oral, when she saw the fire two streets away.
“I just looked out the back door and saw the building on fire. The whole top was on fire,” she said. “My husband came home and we had to get our son ready to go and wait for a wheelchair left. A firefighter down there said we should evacuate right away.”
Dorn said she heard from other people talking that some residents wouldn’t be going home Thursday night and they would stay in a shelter set up at a nearby church.
“(My husband) Duane was born and raised in the village. It’s a sad situation. We knew they were going to tear (the mill) down, but this was so sudden,” she said. “I’m proud we have a place to go when things happen. It needs to be done.”
Alton Vaughn, who was helping residents at Temple Baptist Church, said he grew up in the mill village and still lives in Ninety Six.
“This is the biggest thing to happen in Ninety Six since the bank was robbed, and that was 50 years ago,” he said.
Vaughn said he saw workers at the mill site several hours before the fire broke out, but he didn’t see any signs of a problem.
“They were tearing part of it down, but I don’t know what they could have been doing to set a fire,” he said. “The structure was so dried up, though, that it would have eventually burned down if they didn’t tear it down.”
Vaughn said the building held a lot of memories for him.
“When I lived in the village, the mill was in full operation. It served as a focal point in the community,” he said. “Everybody in Ninety Six was affiliated in some way with the mill. I worked part time there when I was in high school, and my parents worked there for years.
“Back in those days, the mill took care of everybody in the village. They did your laundry, at Christmastime they would give out fruit baskets to every family and they sponsored the local Boy Scouts. I was just a child of the village.”
Mill village resident Joann McCall, who was among the dozens of residents who sought shelter at Temple Baptist Church after being evacuated from their homes, said she reported the fire to authorities when her husband told her he saw smoke coming from the mill.
“We went on the porch and we saw the smoke, so I called 911,” she said. “It’s shocking. It’s sad to see it go like this.”
McCall, who said she has lived in a house across from the mill for the last 45 years, said she was slightly concerned about her house.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen – there might be an explosion,” she said, adding that the heat from the fire was impressive. “It was so hot that you couldn’t even stand on the porch.”
Kathryn Willingham, who also lives across from the mill, said she was unaware of the fire until she heard sirens approaching.
“We didn’t even know it was burning until the fire whistle sounded and the trucks went by with their lights flashing,” she said. She said that when she saw the trucks drive by, she knew immediately what was happening. “There was no doubt that it was burning. Our windows were even heating up when we left.”
It was about 6:45 p.m. when Alisha Fisher and her husband, who live on Liberty Street, more than five blocks from the mill, heard warning sirens. Fisher said her husband was asked by the Ninety Six Police to keep people from driving toward the mill village.
“I heard they might try to contain it, but let it burn,” she said.
She said she was a little concerned about having to evacuate with her two young daughters.
“Some of my friends who live on Laurel were evacuated,” Fisher said.
As the fire progressed, Fisher and her family were soon told to evacuate.
Jared Young, 19, a volunteer with the Laurens County Fire Department, was able to get close enough to the mill to warn residents to evacuate.
“Fire was everywhere,” an out-of-breath Young said. “The majority of the people were leaving, but some refused to leave.”
In August, the building’s owner, Martijn Van Zadelhoff, president of Vintage Building Materials of South Carolina Inc., said “deconstruction” of the mill was being delayed from its original Sept. 1 date because of asbestos inside.
“An environmental study showed that there was more asbestos than initially intended,” Van Zadelhoff said. His company had acquired the mill from Grant Textiles, of Cowpens, at the start of 2004.
Van Zadelhoff had said the mill’s bricks were going to the salvaged and had been slated for reuse for a shopping mall near Jacksonville, Fla.
The mill dated to the late 1800s and was closed in 1989, part of Greenwood Mills’ phasing out of many of its plants beginning in 1981. In 1921, expansion of Greenwood Cotton Mills accelerated with the acquisition of Ninety Six Cotton Mill. Growth continued in 1930 with Self purchasing Grendel Mill No. 2.
“I’ve had several people call me about it but I haven’t seen it,” said James C. Self III, president of Greenwood Mills. “It used to be a Greenwood Mills plant. We sold it in the late ’80s-early ’90s, and that’s the last we had to do with it.”
“It’s very sad when these things happen,” said Greenwood historian Ann Herd Bowen. “A lot of things began with the Ninety Six Mills. It’s really sad.”

The Index-Journal staffers Shavonne Potts, Tasha Steimer, Megan Varner, Bob Simmonds and Vic MacDonald contributed to this article.

Jay Brown

MARION — James Jeremy “Jay” Brown, 34, of 1510 Galveston Court, died Monday, March 7, 2005 in Gainesville, Fla., from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Born in Newberry, he was a son of James Miller Brown and the late Ann Ruley Lewis. He was employed by BLHI International.
Survivors include his father of Hodges; a son, Chase Brown of Walterboro; a daughter, Skylar Brown of Walterboro; three sisters, Melissa Lewis and Wendy Louise, both of Conway, and Heather Todd of Greenwood; and a brother, John Brown of Marion.
Services are at 11 Saturday at Harley Funeral Home, Greenwood, conducted by the Rev. Steven Crittendon. Burial is in Elmwood Cemetery.
Pallbearers are Rodney McCarty, Jamie Turner, Travis Fuller, Yurgen Harter, Nicholas Otis Brown and Lynn Gibert.
Visitation is from 7-9 at the funeral home.
The family is at the home of an aunt, Belinda Witteborg, 2501 Highway 246 South, Ninety Six.
Harley Funeral Home, Greenwood, is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.harleyfuneralhome.com.

Dashawn K. Gaston Jr.

Baby Dashawn Kamill Gaston Jr., 3 months, son of Dashawn Kamill Gaston Sr., and Jamisula Carter, of 129 Elm Court, died Thursday, March 10, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Survivors include his father of Greenwood; his mother of the home; a sister, Makeria Madez of Atlanta; maternal grandparents, Carolyn Williams of the home and Maurice Jemison of Greenwood; maternal great-grandparents, Verda Mae Carter and Leo Allen of Greenwood; paternal grandparents, Ella Gaston and Clarence Holloway of Florida; and paternal great-grandfather, James Witt.
The family is at the home, and at the home of his grandfather, Maurice Jemison, 200 Holoman St., Apt. 3CC, Twin Oaks, Greenwood.
Services will be announced by Robinson & Son Mortuary Inc.
Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting robson@emeraldis.com.

Alice Harrison

Alice Gaskin Harrison, 83, 1315 West Alexander Road, wife of Burnis Harrison, died Thursday, March 10, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Born in McCormick County, she was a daughter of the late John Gaskin and Ella Quarles. She was a member of Springfield Baptist Church, the Burial Aide Society and the Cannon Drive Bible Club.
Survivors include her husband of the home; a son, Sean Harrison Sr. of the home; a brother, Charlie Gaskin of Brooklyn, N.Y.; four sisters, Mattie Aye of Greenwood, Louella Branch of Cambridge Heights, N.Y., Mrs. Joe (Janie) Martin and Gertrude Dean, both of Philadelphia, Pa.; and two grandchildren.
The family is at the home.
Services will be announced by Robinson & Son Mortuary Inc.
Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting robson@emeraldis.com.

Bobby Ray Lewis

Services for Bobby Ray Lewis of 1548 Rock Hill Road, are at 3 Saturday at Abbeville & White Mortuary, conducted by Brother Thomas Collier. Burial is in Harbinson Cemetery in Abbeville. Pallbearers are nephews.
Flower bearers are nieces.
Viewing is from 1-8 today at the mortuary.
The family is at the home.
Abbeville & White Mortuary is in charge.

Hollie Martin Sr.

Ashcroft Drive, County Homes, husband of Millie Tyree Martin, died Thursday, March 10, 2005 at Self Regional Healthcare.
Born in Greenwood County, he was a son of the late Henry Martin and Dora Lee Coats Martin. He was a veteran of the Korean War and a retired truck driver from Wilson Brothers Sand Company. He was a member of Mt. Olive Baptist Church.
Survivors include his wife of the home; three sons, Hollie Martin Jr. of Charlotte, N.C., Byran Martin of Atlanta, and Jonathan Martin of the home; a daughter, Dora Marie Martin of Greenwood; a sister, Beulah Martin of Ninety Six; two brothers, Willie Martin of Ninety Six and Floyd Martin of Bradley; nine grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.
The family is at the home.
Services will be announced by Percival-Tompkins Funeral Home.

Elizabeth Mundy

ABBEVILLE — Elizabeth Loftis Mundy, 83, of 116 McGowan Ave., widow of David Lenwood “Doc” Mundy, died Thursday, March 10, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center in Greenwood.
Services will be announced by The Chandler-Jackson Funeral Home, Abbeville.

Rose Nash Smith

HODGES – Mrs. Rose Nash Smith, 87, resident of 3533 Cokesbury Road, Hodges, SC, died Wednesday, March 9, 2005 at Self Regional Hospital. The last surviving member of her family, the daughter of the late Wilson Henry and Willie Lee Holmes Nash, born December 25, 1917 in Cokesbury.
Mrs. Smith was educated in the public schools of Greenwood County, graduated from CA Johnson High School, Columbia, and received a Bachelor of Science degree from Allen University, Columbia, SC. She did further study at a number of various colleges.
Mrs. Smith was a member of St. Paul AME Church, in Cokesbury, where she served faithfully and with devotion as a steward, class leader, stewardess and missionary worker. She was a former church secretary, church school superintendent, church school teacher, past president of the missionary society (two terms), a Life Member of the Piedmont Conference Branch Women’s Missionary Society, former conference branch treasurer and recording secretary, serving in both capacities for tow terms. She worked relentlessly as a missionary throughout the area and local levels.
Mrs. Smith was a compassionate and devoted educator of 37 years; she retired from the McCormick County School system, (McCormick High School) and served as a former president of the McCormick County Education Association for a number of years.
Mrs. Smith served her church and community in numerous capacities throughout her adult life. She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., a former member of the Carnation Garden Club, Hodges-Cokesbury Auxiliary-Fire Department, Cokesbury Family Reunion club, Allen University Alumni Club and poll worker-Cokesbury Precinct
Survivors include a devoted and beloved daughter, Vallery C. Smith, of the home, two sons – Luther Nash Smith and Doris W. Smith (daughter-in-law), Troutman, NC; James Barrett Smith and Paulett C. Smith (daughter-in-law), Greenwood, SC, a devoted aunt, Mrs. Eugenia H. Evans, Cokesbury, seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren, several devoted nieces and nephews who were close to her.
The remains will arrive at St. Paul AME at 11:00 AM. Services will be 12:00 PM (noon) on Saturday, March 12, 2005, St. Paul AME Church, Cokesbury (Hwy. #254), conducted by Rev. Harold W. Chapman. Burial will be in The Evening Star Cemetery.
Honorary Escorts will be the Stewards of the Church and members of the Women’s Missionary Society.
Pallbearers will be grandsons. Flower bearers will be granddaughters and nieces.
Visitation will be at the home of the family on Friday from 6:00-8:00 pm. Online condolences may be sent to the family at: rosenashsmith@hotmail.com.
Percival-Tompkins Funeral Home of Greenwood is assisting the Smith Family.
PAID OBITUARY

Ex-area players get rest during busy week

Chiles, Willis excited as Anderson College plays host to East Regional

March 11, 2005

By BRIAN HOWARD
Assistant sports editor

ANDERSON — A year ago, the Anderson College women’s basketball team traveled more than 400 miles to play in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
This week, however, LaShonda Chiles, Leanna Willis and the rest of the Lady Trojans have been sleeping in their own beds.
That’s because Anderson is playing host to the East Regional and the Lady Trojans (31-2) open the tournament at 8 tonight against Millersville (Pa.).
Chiles, a Greenwood High School graduate, will be playing in her second straight tournament, while Willis, a former Ninety Six High School standout, will be experiencing the tournament for the first time.
“Right now, we got a 21-game winning streak going, which I believe is the longest in the country,” Lady Trojans coach Kevin Pederson said. “I feel pretty good about our chances each night, because of the players we have out there on the court, especially like a guard like LaShonda Chiles.”
Anderson is one of the nation’s highest scoring teams, averaging 88.8 points, while Millersville allows just 58.3 a contest.
The Marauders (21-8) have three players averaging double figures — Danielle Marshall (14 points per game), Destinne Parker-Stewart (11.6) and Kristy Garner (11).
Millersville got to the tournament by winning the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Tournament.
This is the Marauders’ seventh appearance and coming into the East Regional with a 15-game winning streak.
That streak could come to a sudden halt at Anderson, as Chiles looks to make it 43 consecutive games with at least scoring in double digits.
As a starting guard this season, Chiles scored in double figures in all 33 games and has a streak of 42 in a row, dating back to the 2003-04 season.
Chiles was named CVAC Player of the Year and CVAC Tournament MVP a week ago, and was recently named Daktronics Division II East Region first team. With that honor, she is now on the ballot on the Daktronics Division II All-America ballot.
“I credit all my accomplishments to my coaches and teammates,” Chiles said. “They’ve help me become a better player.”
Chiles is shooting 42 percent from the field, 34 percent from behind the 3-point line, and 79 percent from the free-throw line. She has made 77 3-pointers this season.
Among those stats, Chiles, who is 5-foot-2, averages 4.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. In 1,194 minutes this season as Anderson’s main ball handler, she has had 173 assists to just 77 turnovers.
“There is no added pressure for me to perform out there,” Chiles said. “I go out there and play my game and the team plays our game and we like to compete.”
The Lady Trojans reached the East Regional by winning the CVAC tournament for the second straight year.
Anderson used a 17-4 run to open the second half and beat Belmont Abbey, 85-67, in the title game played at Limestone College.
Chiles led Anderson, ranked No. 5 in Division II, with 26 points.
Perhaps the biggest excitement came last Sunday when the team found out it was going to play host to the East Regional.
“It’s definitely a chance of a lifetime,” former Ninety Six High School standout Leanna Willis said. “This season has been tough, because of battling an injury and filling in as a role player. I am definitely nervous and have some butterflies.”
Willis has played sparingly this season at Anderson, and she’s had to adjust from being the Region I-A Player of the Year in South Carolina at Ninety Six to a role player at Anderson.
Besides being a role player on a team that last lost a game, Jan. 8 against Barton (74-72), Willis has been sideline for most of the season with an injury in her left Achilles.
“What I had was bursitis in my left Achilles,” she said. “I couldn’t run and jump. There was a lot of inflammation and I had to take steroid injections to play. I ended up missing about 10 games.”
Willis has experienced some new things besides winning. She also enjoyed her first flight at the beginning of the season.
The Lady Trojans played three games in the Disney Classic in Orlando, Fla.
Anderson went 2-1 that week, losing 62-56 to Bentley (Mass.).
“I enjoyed the trip,” Willis said. “I experienced a lot of firsts that week. My first time to fly, first to Disney World and first game. It was very overwhelming to come in here and be with such a good team and play with top players.”
Willis has played in 20 games and is 5 of 14 shooting and 7-of-17 from the free-throw line.
The Lady Trojans lost in the second round last season to Glenville State.
The regional will be played today, Saturday and Monday at the Abney Center at Anderson.
The winner of Monday’s championship game advances to the Elite Eight, March 23 in Hot Springs, Ark. The Lady Trojans have never reached the Elite Eight.

Unified effort is glimpse of caring, sharing place

March 11, 2005

Tim Ervolina, chief professional officer of the United Way in Greenwood, put the whole effort in perspective in statements made at the annual meeting. “This is not a campaign celebration – it is a community celebration.”
Indeed it was. It’s people doing things together for each other. But, Ervolina added, “the United Way is about more than raising money. It’s about bringing the community together first, then work on the issues.”
Those issues include all the things that enhance the quality of life for everyone in the community, not a selected few. They include things like health care, education and other facets of everyday life that impact all our dreams and aspirations.
The United Way staff and the legions of volunteers have worked wonders ….. together. They couldn’t have done it, though, without the people who give, whether it’s a dime, a dollar or thousands of dollars. All of them, as a group, have shown that “togetherness” is more than simply a word. It is people caring.
All deserve our thanks. They have helped Greenwood continue to be a community where people are what life is all about.