By Theron Willis
HOMETOWN NEWS

Photo by Diana Deaver
Steven Hyatt with his Nikon D3S standing on the steeple of St Michael’s Episcopal with St. Philip’s Episcopal in the background. 

Former area resident Steven Hyatt is gaining some artistic fame in the low country for his stunning photography of the historic places of worship in Charleston, giving people a spectacular inside glimpse of structures that many may have only seen from the outside.
The 27-year-old is originally from Pauline and spent a lot of time while growing up in Woodruff with his grandparents Keith and Rosie Thomas who still live in Three Pines. The Dorman High graduate moved to Charleston seven years ago to attend the College of Charleston where he majored in religion and philosophy.
He currently works at Imaging Arts Fine Art Photography Gallery and in the spring of last year visited the Unitarian Universalist Church located directly behind the gallery. 

For the rest of the story, see this week’s issue of your local Hometown News paper.

By Theron Willis
HOMETOWN NEWS

Woodruff City Council voted unanimously in favor of an official invocation policy for city council meetings at a special council meeting on Tuesday, August 3 at 6 p.m. called for the specific purpose of reviewing the policy of prayer at city council, in which television crews and members of the public were present. 
Mayor Burnett said the purpose of outlining the city’s invocation policy is to ensure to the city is in absolute conformity with South Carolina State Law Section 6-1-160 (which allows prayer before a deliberative public body) although Burnett says the city has never been in knowing violation of the law.

For the rest of the story, see this week’s issue of your local Hometown News; Woodruff News, Boiling Springs Sentry, Inman Times, Blacksburg Times, Middle Tyger Times, Chesnee Tribune, Spartanburg County News and Whitmire News.

The ongoing fracas involving the Holly Springs Fire and Rescue Department’s budget and whether or not the department can afford a fulltime chief highlights a basic misunderstanding on the part of the commission on how government budgeting works.
The situation has the county auditor’s office both puzzled and frustrated, especially after members of that office spent hours trying to explain the process to at least two commissioners in recent weeks.
At the root of at least part of the misinformation and misunderstanding is the proposed millage rollback during 2008’s reassessment that would have reduced taxpayers’ assessed milage from 18 mills to 16.7.
According to Assistant Auditor Patty Epps, under normal circumstances a millage rollback would be automatic. In the case of Holly Springs, the district had a prior year deficit that permitted the district to maintain the 18 mills approved by voters in a 2001 referendum.
Epps explained that the only time a millage reduction would happen is during that reassessment year and that the Holly Springs Fire Commission approved maintaining the 18-mill tax rate to pay off the prior year’s deficit.

For the rest of the story, see this week’s issue of your local Hometown News; Woodruff News, Boiling Springs Sentry, Inman Times, Blacksburg Times, Middle Tyger Times, Chesnee Tribune, Spartanburg County News and Whitmire News.

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH by Theron Willis
HOMETOWN NEWS

Pam Whitehead looks through the letters that she hasn’t read in over 40 years that were sent to her from a special someone who fought in the Vietnam War.

Sometimes the opening of an old dusty envelope hidden away in a corner can have an effect similar to time travel.
When Pam Whitehead of Lyman recently went through a 41-year-old stack of letters she was transported back to a time long ago. To a time before she was a mother and a grandmother,  back when she was a sixteen-year-old girl in Cowpens and a fragile and fateful love was budding between her and a soldier she hardly knew who was writing to her from the foxholes in Vietnam.
Whitehead, then with the maiden name Bolton, started correspondence with twenty-year-old Army Private First Class Paul Martinez while he was stationed at Fort Lewis in the state of Washington. Martinez was buddies with a guy named Ricky who was from Cowpens and dating Pam’s sister,  Gerri at the time.

For the rest of the story, see this week’s issue of your local Hometown News; Woodruff News, Boiling Springs Sentry, Inman Times, Blacksburg Times, Middle Tyger Times, Chesnee Tribune, Spartanburg County News and Whitmire News.

By Theron Willis
HOMETOWN NEWS

Terry Glenn Lanford was scheduled to appear in federal court on Wednesday, June 23 in Greenville to answer for a drug charge stemming from a narcotics conspiracy with former Spartanburg Clerk of Court Marcus Kitchens  but was not present due to his current medical state. His attorney Johnny Gasser informed U.S. District Judge Henry Herlong Jr. that Lanford suffered a heart attack and stroke during a medical procedure on May 27 and that his physician Dr. Robert E. Jackson believes that Lanford is fit neither mentally nor physically to appear in court.

For the rest of the story and more local news and events, see this week’s Local Hometown News.

Woodruff News/Spartanburg County News/Blacksburg Times/The Boiling Springs Sentry/The Chesnee Tribune/Inman Times/Middle Tyger Times/Whitmire News

By Theron Willis
HOMETOWN NEWS

Photo by Phil Buchheit
Woodruff realtor Terry G. Lanford is placed in a Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office car last Thursday before he was  transported to the Detention Center for booking.

Around 3 p.m. on Thursday, June 17,  Terry Glenn Lanford was arrested at his home where he is currently living at 121 Whispering Forest Lane in Woodruff by the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office for a fraudulent check written to the City of Woodruff relating to rental property registration fees.
He was booked at 4:21 p.m. that day and charged with the first offense of writing a fraudulent check. His bond was set at $1,000 and he was released at 12:28 a.m. on Friday, June 18.
The timeline of events leading to his arrest  begins  on October 15, 2009 with the city sending a letter to all rental property owners in the city about the upcoming renewals under the Rental Property Registration and Licensing Ordinance.

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY AND MORE LOCAL NEWS AND EVENTS, SEE THIS WEEK’S HOMETOWN NEWS PAPERS.

By Jay King
HOMETOWN NEWS

As part of the dedication of the S.C. Vocational Rehabilitation Department’s new Bryant Center in Lyman Friday, Rep. Rita Allison and Sen. Lee Bright present former SCVRD Commissioner Larry Bryant with a flag flown over the State House and a proclamation honoring him for his service. Bryant, seated at right with his family, was the commissioner under whose leadership the new facility took shape.

After nearly 16 years of waiting, through ups and downs and over budgetary hurdles, the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department’s new Bryant Center in Lyman represents the collaboration of local and state leaders to bring a cutting-edge facility to the Upstate.
Named after former SCVRD Commissioner Larry C, Bryant, under whose leadership the center came to fruition, the center welcomed dozens of state and local dignitaries at a dedication ceremony Friday.
Conceived as a template for future centers throughout the state, the Bryant Center offers a comprehensive array of rehabilitative services for those suffering from physical injuries and disabilities. Bryant, who was on hand with his family to see the center officially dedicated, said the center reflects SCVRD’s core mission of enabling the disabled to pursue competitive employment.
Bryant said that the department’s programs have achieved enormous successes with its clients, especially considering the huge financial returns to the state’s economy through the addition of skilled workers for a minimal upfront investment in services.
“When you’re dealing with a physical disability, it requires a lot of intensive therapy,” Bryant said. “But the returns are worth it.”
The Bryant Center will serve the nine counties of the Upstate and offers extensive services through its pain management, therapeutic exercise, rehabilitation technology, information technology training and brain injury programs.
Bryant said he was particularly excited about the brain injury program, especially considering the number of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with severe brain injuries. Through services like this, clients are given individualized attention to help achieve employability and job placement services to help them find that employment.
Bryant said this is particularly important in a region of the state as heavily industrialized as the Upstate. He added that based on the success envisioned for the new facility, SCVRD aims to use it as a prototype for similar facilities in areas like the Lowcountry.
In her dedication remarks, current SCVRD Commissioner Barbara Hollis said the department has been energized by the vision of men like Bryant and excited by the prospect of providing services that previously clients could only receive via an extended stay in Columbia.
SCVRD Area Administrator Jennie Thomas added that the center’s staff comes to work each day energized by the prospect of making such a difference in the lives of clients.
“Many dreams are coming to life here,” she said. “It is a pleasure to come to work every day.”

District Six county council candidate Roger Nutt said that in the worst economic crisis in modern memory, the county must ease the tax burden on its citizens if it wants to contribute to an economic turnaround and help its citizens.

Nutt said that the recent state and national economic meltdown and the government’s response have created a level of disgust among voters with how government operates. He said people don’t want any more taxes and that they believe the county is not spending its money in the right areas.

He said that the passage of the Hospitality Tax was the single largest tax increase on the public and that it’s avowed purpose of improving the county’s parks, while laudable, does not fit into the county’s core area of responsibility of providing services for county residents.

Nutt said he would like to see the tax reduced to a level that will cover the debt obligation undertaken since its inception but leave more money in taxpayers’ pockets.

Nutt said that he has and continues to oppose revenue generating proposals like the proposed landfill that electrified the community and the $25 road fee that continues to rankle in many quarters. He said citizens pay taxes with the expectation that those funds will be used wisely. He said the road fee ought to be eliminated and the funding for roads put back under the general fund.

“You don’t charge people extra fees for roads – that’s what we pay taxes for,” Nutt said.

The Byrnes High graduate, husband and father of three is a professional engineer and small business owner who believes the county must make hard choices and prioritize spending on its core areas of responsibility like public safety, fire and emergency medical services and infrastructure like roads.

“In the economy we have, I don’t see parks as an essential service,” he said. “We have to start focusing on what government was established to take care of, things we can all agree are essential.”

He said in this respect it may well come to pass that the county council will have to make the tough choice to cut positions. He said that while he hopes this can be avoided, businesses have had to do it to stay solvent and the county is no different.

“I certainly don’t advocate anyone lose their job,” Foster said. “(But) it’s got to be on the table.”

Nutt said that conversely taxpayers have to decide what services they’re willing to pay for and what services they’re willing to sacrifice in order for the community as a whole to be able to weather the current financial crisis.

“The public needs to let council know that they’re willing to give up something,” Nutt said. “The people I’ve talked to overwhelmingly support giving up services.”

Nutt said this election has a clear choice between the candidates and that involvement at the local level is where voters can have the most impact.

“It’s basically about getting Spartanburg back to work and keeping taxes down,” Nutt said. “It’s real basic.”

Photo by Steve Blackwell

Team Spirit: Taras Kryzalka, of Stamford, Connecticut, is carried by his team members from Harrisonburg, Virginia.  Each SWAT team was assigned a Wounded Warrior and had to complete an obstacle course.  Since Taras has no use of his left arm, his teammates carried him so he could touch each rung of the monkey bars.

In the making of soldiers one of the core principals is developing teamwork and a sense of trust with the comrades to your left and right. The same can be said of a police SWAT team as their training, gear and mindset much more resemble the military than standard patrolmen or deputies.
That sense of teamwork among special weapons and tactics teams from law enforcement agencies across the Southeast is one of the hallmarks of the Southeastern SWAT Association’s annual competition, which took place in Duncan last week at the Spartanburg County Emergency Services Academy.
This was the 17th year of the competition, and a special group of veterans joined the ranks of elite law enforcement units to share experiences, hard-won lessons and that special sense of camaraderie that comes with being part of a select group of men and women under arms. Eight members of the Wounded Warrior Project, including local Iraq veteran Joe Merritt, spent time with the competitors and even took part in some of the events.
The project is a non-profit organization aimed at helping severely injured soldiers through direct support and services and by connecting combat veterans with one another in a network of support and understanding that comes only through enduring a common experience.
Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Capt. Randy Hollifield said having the Wounded Warriors members participating in this year’s event was a special treat for the competitors because it gave them a chance to express their appreciation for the sacrifices made in service to the country.
“I think it was awesome to have them there,” Hollifield said. He added that the Wounded Warrior members also demonstrated the meaning of determination by the way they handled being assigned to teams and taking part in some of the competitions.
For Wounded Warrior members Glenn Kunkel and Harper Woods, being invited to attend and take part in the Southeastern SWAT Association’s annual team competition was an honor and a chance to meet and make new friends.
Kunkel said being around the SWAT teams was very much like being around his military comrades because, in all of the ways that count, SWAT team members and soldiers are cut from much the same cloth.
“This is who we are and this is what we do,” Kunkel said. “Cops are fantastic individuals, no different than the military.’
For Kunkel, a Marine Corps combat veteran who served for 10 years and did two tours in Iraq, the training and tactics of the SWAT competitors was very similar to what he did while in uniform.
Woods served in the Army for 15 years and did two tours in Iraq, two in Afghanistan and one in Kosovo. He said the most memorable aspects of his service was seeing the faces of people newly liberated from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein’s regime and coming home with the guys he served with.
“Those people lived in mud huts,” Woods said. “We went and liberated them and they loved us for it.”
Hollifield said that having the combat veterans of the Wounded Warrior Project helped reinforce the importance of the missions of both defending the country and protecting its citizens. He said it was immensely rewarding to see the camaraderie of the former soldiers and the competitors as they spent time together in between competition events. “Now we’re just trying to figure out what we can do for next year,” he said.