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.
Pam says that Martinez was Puerto Rican and worked in the shipyards in San Francisco with his family before joining the Army, but she knows very little else about his life. When Ricky went back home to Cowpens on leave,  Martinez went as well to see the sixteen-year-old young lady who had become his pen pal.
That two-week leave was the first and only time Pam ever saw Martinez in person. A shy and awkward attraction developed over the course of the two weeks and hinted at when he went back to Fort Lewis, but when Martinez was deployed in Vietnam in April 3, 1969,  he began to express feelings to Pam in his letters that might have otherwise lain dormant - feelings of his love for Pam and his hope of reuniting with her once his time was through in the dreaded war.
“We can have so much together when I get out,  I know it. It’s just a matter of time…Before you know it I will be in your arms and telling you I will never let go know (now) that I have you so close to me,” he wrote in one of his letters to Pam.
Martinez was stationed in the Quang Nam Province in South Vietnam with the first squad of the 101st Airborne Division and served as a rifleman.
Pam says Martinez had poor grammar and spelling but despite that his letters brought out a romantic and eloquent side. “Pam the way love moves is the way to (two) persons meet, may it be by thought or touch,” he wrote on the back of a picture he sent to her from Vietnam.
Pam also thinks Martinez could express things in letters that he would find hard to say in person. “He was kind of shy at first (in person) but I think he was more comfortable when he started writing letters,” Pam explains.
The affection and romance that Martinez expressed to Pam made her feel in ways she had never felt before in her young life.
“I dated and had boyfriends before but he made me feel like the most wonderful person in the world, like I was an angel and that I was so precious to him,” Pam says. She was reluctant and shy to reciprocate the same intense romanticism and passion that Martinez communicated to her through his letters.
“I was only sixteen and it was all just so new and strange to read what he was saying to me,” Pam recounts. “I just wasn’t sure how to respond.”
Martinez tried not to be forceful in his letters but also asked her to grant one simple wish. “Guess what Pam, you own part of my heart… I don’t mine you owning part of me at all…it’s not even costing you a thing except a genione I Love You once in a wy’ll in your letters. is it a deal? my heart for an I Love You in your letter’s.”
Pam finally started ending her letters to Martinez with an “I love you” and other affectionate sentiments but a few weeks later she realized it was too late. On May 23, 1969 she came home from school to find an ominous package from the US Army waiting for her. Inside the package was her recent batch of letters to Martinez as well as a note informing her that Martinez was killed on May 7, 1969 while his unit was trying to take Hamburger Hill. He spent only a little more than a month in Vietnam.
The heartbreaking thing with journeys back through time is knowing the outcome of events but being powerless to change it. As Pam read back over letters from Martinez for the first time in 41 years,  she realized that the dates on the letters were a countdown till his untimely death.
“This (letter) is 26th of April,  ‘69 so how long did he have to live?” Pam asked her voice breaking with emotion.
What was also painful was realizing that the promises made by Martinez to Pam of the times they would share once his time was up in Vietnam were fated to never happen.
“We can go driving all over the place with the car windows down and the radio soft and you sitting next to me,” Martinez writes to Pam as he envisioned a peaceful place away from the foxholes and bombs.
Looking back at the letters stirred up a cauldron of mixed emotions in Pam,  making her wonder what would have happened if Martinez would have made it back from Vietnam. Would their love have survived? Would they still be together today? How would her life have been different?
But soon enough it was time to leave the past and return to the present, to carefully put away the old and yellowed letters back in a shadowy corner of her house and likewise put the thoughts of Martinez and the long - gone possibility of a different life away as well. 

Photo by Theron Willis
Construction is ongoing at CVS Pharmacy at the corner of Hwy 101 and Hwy 221, the location is projected to be open by mid-December

Take a drive down Main Street and one will see two major construction projects on both sides of town, a new Family Dollar store on the corner of W. Pine and Main St, and a CVS on Hwy 221 and Hwy 101.
Family Dollar is scheduled to have its grand opening at the end of September. The new Woodruff location is a new environmentally friendly design, which will act as a prototype for its future stores. CVS is slated to be completed and open by mid-December.
Two other potential businesses around the Hwy 221 and Hwy 101 intersection that have generated a lot of public interest have not given any official word that they are planning to build in Woodruff.
Neither Spinx nor McDonalds has made any official statement or  action that they are coming to town.
As far as McDonalds,  Mayor Burnett said he has recently talked to the Regional Director for Economic Development and was told that McDonalds has taken some promotional action that was preemptive and before the appropriate time, which includes Ronald McDonald coming to Woodruff Elementary School a few months ago and announcing that a McDonalds is coming to town.   Burnett said McDonalds told him they have not made any official decisions on coming to Woodruff yet but that they are very much interested in coming and are still looking very closely at the town.

For the rest of the story, see this week’s Woodruff News.

Photo by Theron Willis
Executive Director Lisa Abercrombie holds a mock check symbolizing the $6,000 the organization recently won.

Helping Hands Ministries of the Woodruff Area recently won $6,000 from a contest on southernsavers.com. Southern Savers is a bargain website that offers coupons and special discounts at stores across the southeast. The website held a contest in which the food bank that received the most online votes would be the recipient of $6,000. After a frenzied 24-hour period of people of the community clicking madly at their respective computers, Helping Hands found out with great joy that they had in fact won.
The $6,000 is a welcome relief to Helping Hands, which finds itself in a desperate time of low funds and overwhelming need.
Actual dollar contributions from churches were $23,000 in 2008; in 2009 it was $18,000.  Individual contributions for ’08 were $17,000, for ’09 it dropped to $10,000. Business donations took a huge plunge from $6,000 in ’08 to $1,900 in 2009.
While Helping Hands receives most of its funds for assistance from federal programs, the community donations cover their operating costs and expenses.
While no end of the year numbers can be tabulated for 2010 yet, Abercrombie says that according to the monthly figures coming in 2010 will be an even worse year. “I’m pretty sure it’s going to be even lower,” Abercrombie said. 
While donations have dropped drastically over the past two years and continue to drop, Helping Hands has found itself part of a terribly ironic inverse trend - while funds are falling the need is rising.

For the rest of the story, see this week’s Woodruff News.

By Theron Willis
HOMETOWN NEWS

(Left to Right): Terry Lanford, Attorney David Alexander, and Attorney Greg Harris at the July 6th hearing at Woodruff Municipal Court in which Lanford challenged the order made by Judge Vicki Rae Smith at a May 24th hearing. Judge Smith fined Lanford $8,070 for failing to comply with the city’s Rental Property Ordinance.

Terry Glenn Lanford appeared in Woodruff Municipal Court on July 6 at 1 p.m. along with his two attorneys David Alexander of Greenville and Greg Harris of Columbia. The city’s Building Codes and Zoning Director Mike Doles appeared on the city’s behalf. Judge John Rollins Jr. presided.
The July 6th hearing at the Woodruff City Court was called because of a motion filed to reconsider, alter or amend the judgment made by Judge Vicki Rae Smith at a previous hearing on May 24 in which Judge Smith fined Lanford $8,070 for failure to comply with the city’s Rental Property Ordinance.
Judge Rollins heard the case in Judge Smith’s stead because she has recused herself from hearing any more cases involving Mr. Lanford due to a pending SLED investigation relating to text messages and calls made to Judge Smith by Lanford perceived by Smith to be of a threatening and harassing nature.
It was established several times during the hearing that Lanford was mentally unable to speak on his own behalf due to a heart attack and stroke suffered during an attempted catheterization procedure on May 27.
At the July 6 hearing, Lanford’s attorney argued that Lanford was denied his basic constitutional right to a jury trail at the original hearing.
He said that at the May 24 hearing that Lanford’s friend and associate David Smith appeared on Lanford’s behalf to request a jury trail for the rental property issue but that that request was denied. Judge Smith did not allow David Smith to represent Lanford that day,  stating that he was not an attorney. Lanford was tried in absence that day. 

For the rest of the story, see this week’s Woodruff News.

Photo by Theron Willis
Left to right: Rita Skinner, Robin Miller, Julia Godfrey, Dr. Mukesh Gandhi, Minaxi Gandhi, Pam Vaughn, and Sharon Watts. Not pictured is Joyce Sprouse and Brandi Gentry. 

July 6 officially marked Dr. Mukesh Gandhi’s 20th year of practicing medicine in Woodruff. This milestone made Dr. Gandhi take a brief pause from his hectic schedule to reflect on what the past two decades has brought - from starting his practice in a trailer across the street from the old BJ Workman Hospital to his current location on 409 E. Georgia St which offers x-ray, ultrasound, and a wide array of on-site services.
Dr. Gandhi was born in Nairobi, Africa and grew up in India where he went to BJ Medical College. He moved to America for his residency.
Way back in April of 1990 he came close to not even coming to Woodruff. While finishing his residency at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio,  he visited the Upstate to interview for a medical center in Greenville. His plan was to practice in the Upstate in order to be close to his wife Minaxi’s parents,  who live in Charlotte. 
After not liking the practice that he interviewed for in Greenville,  he was in Charlotte about to head back to Cleveland when he ran into a Spartanburg Indian community leader who was in Charlotte at the time. The man told Dr. Gandhi about Woodruff and the now defunct BJ Workman Hospital, which was looking for an internal medicine physician for the area. He cancelled his flight to Cleveland to pay Woodruff a visit and the rest is history.
Dr. Gandhi feels that Woodruff has been a good fit for him. A place with its own set of needs where he has filled a very important medical niche in the community
“I like small towns. It’s a very unique challenge,” Dr. Gandhi said. “Woodruff never had a full-time internist that practiced in the town and I thought I would be a good asset to the hospital for heart disease and diabetes and all the major medical problems.”
Curtis Walker,  who was the hospital administrator at BJ Workman,  recalls Dr. Gandhi coming to Woodruff and agrees that there was a void in town for someone like Gandhi.
“Well,  at the time we desperately needed an internal medicine physician and Dr. Gandhi filled that need very well,” Walker said.
Internal medicine specializes in the treatment, diagnosis and prevention of adult diseases like cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and high cholesterol.
After serving as an employee for BJ Workman for a little over a year -  and working out of a trailer across the street from the hospital -  Dr. Gandhi struck out on his own in February of 1992 with his own office at his current location.
Dr. Gandhi looks back on those early years as hard and stressful where he was working in the ER at different hospitals like Spartanburg Regional and Mary Black, teaching part-time at Spartanburg Regional and doing whatever it took to build his practice and support his family.
“It was a struggle but it was a fun struggle,” Gandhi said believing that those lean years defined his character and made him the person and physician that he is today.
Dr. Gandhi said that the reason for his success is making patients his top priority and serving them with the utmost care and skill, which he said he will do till the day he hangs up his stethoscope.
“I didn’t grow my practice through any politics but by working one patient at a time,” Dr. Gandhi said. “And that patient would bring me four more patients and so on.”
When BJ Workman Hospital closed about 5 years ago, Dr. Gandhi said he worked to get the equipment like an x-ray machine and a nuclear machine to fill the void for medical services and tests  with the hospital shutting down.
“What we did was try to bring the services here (in Woodruff) because not many people have the means  to go out (to Greenville and Spartanburg) for every little test or scan because they might be elderly and have no one to take them,” Dr. Gandhi said. 
He also credits his long - serving staff for his success in the Woodruff community, several of whom who have been with him for many years.
“My jewel is (medical assistant) Pam Vaughn who has been with me for 18 years,” he said. “She’s like my right hand person.”
Another faithful and enduring employee is Julia Godfrey,  who has worked with him for at least 15 years.
Dr. Gandhi also said his wife Minaxi,  who is his practice administrator,  has been an invaluable partner from day one.
Dr. Gandhi is generous with his medical skills,  providing his services to the St. Luke’s Free Medical Clinic in Spartanburg and the Woodruff Medical Clinic. He also worked at the Detox Center in Spartanburg, which just closed down.

For more local news and events, see this week’s issue of the Woodruff News.

A second municipal judge was appointed to serve on an as - needed basis and the final reading for fiscal year 2010-2011 was approved at the June 28 city council meeting, but another important issue to many concerned citizens was addressed before the official business got underway.
Before leading the prayer at the council meeting Mayor Burnett addressed the audience to establish his and the city’s stance towards the issue of public prayer at the start of the city’s council meeting.
“As long as I’m here and the people on this council are here we’re going to open in prayer,” Burnett said to responses of affirmation from those seated in the audience and from those on the council.
Burnett said prayer before meetings was not intended “to proselytize” a certain faith or creed or to offend anyone but to ask for divine guidance and wisdom as he and the council make decisions for the city. He also recommended to anyone offended by prayer before council meetings to show up a few minutes after the appointed meeting time so that they could miss the prayer but not any business on the agenda.
Pastor Clarence Thomas from Cedar Grove Baptist Church was scheduled for the invocation but was not present.
Although Burnett did not  mention any specific complaint or the letter he received in late May from the Freedom From Religion Foundation to cease and desist official prayer,  everyone present knew exactly what issue he was addressing.
After the meeting Burnett said he has not received any more correspondence from FFRF and that neither he nor the city has responded to the organization concerning their letter.
In regular business, Council voted to amend the agenda to allow Burnett to bring a matter before the council. He requested the appointment of Judge John Rollins as a second municipal judge for the city to serve in Judge Vicki Rae Smith’s stead for cases she feels the need to recuse herself from.  Burnett said because of the small size of Woodruff and the length of time she has worked and lived in the city that cases come on the municipal’s court docket that Judge Smith feels she cannot judge fairly due to personal relationships.
Burnett said there is a law that allows the mayor to approve a second municipal judge himself but that he would have to personally swear the judge in every time a case is to be heard.
Burnett also reassured that the second judge would be compensated like any other budgetary issue. Burnett also stated that such a case requiring Rollins to serve in place of Smith is scheduled after the Fourth of July but did not go into any specifics.
Council voted unanimously in favor of appointing Judge Rollins.
Under old business, council held the second reading of a budget ordinance for fiscal year 2010-2011. A public hearing was held on Tuesday, June 14 at 6 p.m. on the budget ordinance, but no one from the public showed up at the hearing.   
The general fund for the 2010-2011 fiscal year is projected at $2,091,000,  approximately a 2.6% decrease from last year.
Council voted unanimously for the second reading.
City Clerk/Treasurer John Baggett gave the manager’s report due to City Manager Steese’s absence because of his grandfather suffering a very serious illness,  according to Mayor Burnett.
Baggett reported that funds for  fiscal year  09-10 is looking  close to what they initially projected with no major expenses expected. The new fiscal year begins July 1.
In closing the mayor announced that city offices will be closed Monday, July 5 in observance of Independence Day and that the next city street dance is 7 p.m. on Friday, July 9 with the variety band Ace of Clubs performing.
The next city council meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 26 at 7 p.m.

For more local news and events, see this week’s Woodruff 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.
Gasser submitted a letter from Dr. Jackson stating he does not believe that Lanford would be able to undergo any court proceedings for at least six months or until he is released medically. It was also stated that Lanford is now under home medical care.
The continuance was granted but Herlong requested to receive monthly updates about Lanford’s condition.
In an unrelated case, Lanford was arrested two weeks ago on June 17 by Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office due to a fraudulent check written to the City of Woodruff and was released on bond after spending about eight hours in jail.
Lanford is facing the charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail and a $1 million fine.
The charge stems from a conspiracy with former Spartanburg County Clerk of Court Marcus Woodrow Kitchens in which Lanford sold drugs provided by Kitchens from the Spartanburg County Courthouse evidence room to a dealer in Florida.
Kitchens was present at the Wednesday hearing and pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine and another count of theft from a federally funded organization by an agent of said organization.
The plea was accepted and Herlong will pass down sentencing after reviewing the pre-sentence report.
The drug conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine, and a three-year term of supervised release. The maximum sentence for the second charge is a 10-year imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and a three-year term of supervised release. 
Evidence presented at the hearing stated that in mid-2009 an individual was apprehended by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) in Orlando, Florida and agreed to become a confidential source (CS). He informed investigators that the cocaine he  in his possession when  he was arrested  was bought from Terry Glenn Lanford of Woodruff, SC.   He also told investigators that he learned from Lanford that the narcotics were taken directly from the evidence locker of the Spartanburg County Courthouse.
Lanford was then interviewed by the DEA and confirmed this information saying that the DEA informant agreed to pay $8,000 for the drugs that Lanford obtained from then Clerk of Court Marcus Kitchens.
Lanford then agreed to wear an electronic recording device during his next meeting with Kitchens.
Kitchens and Lanford met on the morning of February 2, 2010 at a Spartanburg restaurant in which money from a past drug deal was exchanged and discussion followed about removing and selling more drugs from the evidence room. 
Kitchens was arrested as he left the restaurant.

For 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.
The ordinance was enacted by the city earlier in 2009 and Lanford filed suit against the ordinance in the summer of 2009 declaring it unconstitutional and an “unauthorized tax on property” because of a $15 fee per rental property. That lawsuit is still pending.
After sending four more notices regarding property registration in the months of January, February and March of 2010 to Lanford’s office,  the city received renewal applications plus a check for $840 for 56 properties on March 24, 2010.
The next day the city mailed a notice to Lanford’s office stating that he owed late fees for the properties and that two of the properties registered were duplexes,  bringing the total number of properties to 58 and total money owed to $2,610. The city also later mailed the $840 check back.
Then after a little over a month of attempting to contact Lanford through three more notices - the last being a citation sent on May 3 to appear in Woodruff Municipal Court on May 24 at 3 p.m. -  Woodruff Police Darrell Dawkins hand-delivered a copy of the citation to Lanford’s office on May 5.
The same day of Dawkin’s delivery the city received an email and fax from Lanford’s office stating that he already sent a check for the amount of $2,610.

The city says it did not receive the check mentioned in that correspondence.
On May 11 the city received an email stating that Lanford was rushed to the Emergency Room;  that same day someone from his office delivered a $2,610 check - a different check than the one mentioned in the May 5 email - for the late fees.
On May 17 the city received notice from Arthur State Bank that the $2,610 check bounced. The same day a notice was sent to Lanford of the returned check. On May 21 the certified notice was returned to the city as unclaimed.  The city claims it did receive a call on the 21st from Lanford’s office and reminded the person on the phone about the court date on the 24th.

The May 24 court date arrived with Lanford nor his attorney present. Instead a man by the name of David Smith appeared in Lanford’s stead saying he was a friend and associate.  Smith claimed to Woodruff Municipal Judge Vicki Rae Smith  that Lanford was in the hospital and could not attend the hearing. Judge Smith ordered David Smith to sit down and remain silent after calling Spartanburg Regional and learning that Lanford had not been admitted that day but released last week.
After Smith was silenced, the city’s Director of Building Codes and Zoning Mike Doles then presented to the judge evidence of the attempts to contact Mr. Lanford and a copy of the bounced check.
Judge Smith levied $8,090 total in fines. $3,296 for failure to comply with the ordinance, $2,610 for the bounced check, and $1,092 each for the two properties that weren’t registered as separate properties but registered as duplexes.  She then scheduled a rule to show cause hearing on June 1 for Lanford to appear in court and explain why he was unable to be present at the May 24 hearing.
At the June 1 hearing Lanford was not present but his attorney David Alexander attended and presented letters from his doctors stating that Mr. Lanford suffered a stroke during a recent medical procedure and was unable to appear in court for the next four to six weeks. Judge Smith accepted the letters and said the hearing would be rescheduled for a later date.
Judge Smith said  she has received several harassing text messages and voicemails from Lanford  which she perceived as being of a threatening nature. An ongoing investigation into the texts and calls is being undertaken by SLED and the Solicitor’s office has turned over all municipal court cases involving Lanford over to another municipal judge in Spartanburg County.
In a statement to Hometown News on Tuesday, Judge Smith said, “Mr. Lanford and the people who have presented themselves as representatives of Mr. Lanford have chosen to tell many proven untruths. I can no longer continue in a judicial manner to be fair and impartial towards any case to which Mr. Lanford is a party.
“Also, in the pending case involving the investigation of Mr. Lanford by SLED as to his involvement in the continued harassment towards me and the Woodruff Municipal Court, the SC Court Administration and the Spartanburg County Solicitor’s Office has found it necessary to place another municipal judge to hear any cases in which Mr. Lanford is a party.”
No court dates have been set as of yet relating to the rental property ordinance violation fees and the rule to cause.
There is also a separate court date pending in Spartanburg General Sessions Court for the fraudulent check written to the city.

FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS AND EVENTS, SEE THIS WEEK’S HOMETOWN NEWS PAPERS.

By Theron Willis
HOMETOWN NEWS

Woodruff High School placed 586 in Newsweek’s annual America’s Best High School listing that was released this week. Criteria is based mainly on how many advanced-placement tests are taken in relation to the size of the senior class. Only six percent of all the public schools in the U.S. (just over 1,600) made the list. 
“Obviously we’re very pleased to be on the list with such a high placing,” Principal Aaron Fulmer said. “We’re thankful for our teachers and academic staff for all their hard work and excellent instruction.”
The Newsweek list is based on the Challenge Index, which takes the total number of AP tests given (as well as International Baccalaureate and Cambridge (AICE) tests taken when applicable) and divides that by the number of graduating seniors in May or June. Fulmer said Woodruff High is a school that allows students to challenge themselves and strive to reach their full academic potential even at the risk of a low AP test score.
“We have a policy of inclusion,” Fulmer explains. “If a student wants to take an upper level course we encourage them and want them to take challenging classes even if they might not pass the AP test or make a high score. We want to expose them to academic rigor to prepare them for college.”
Fulmer said this year’s senior class performed handily when given the opportunity to reach their full scholarly potential. It was a graduating class that was both big in population and big in brainpower.
“This is the largest senior class ever,” he stated referring to the Class of 2010,  “and very academically gifted with 15 Palmetto Fellows, which is the largest number we’ve ever had and the most scholarship money ever awarded as a whole.”
Other schools from the Upstate listed were Southside in Greenville placing 125, Governor’s School for Arts and Humanities placing 506, and Wade Hampton and Eastside, which placed 794 and 863 respectively.
The only other school from Spartanburg County on the list is Spartanburg High, which is 1256.
Fulmer said he hopes Woodruff High can place even higher next year in the Newsweek listing but also believes that listings and data streams don’t tell the whole story of a school and the work it does.

To view the full listing, go to www.newsweek.com 

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.”