Sept. 1, 2021 • Volume 24, Issue 17 • Complimentary • BlufftonSun.com
INSIDE • M.C. Riley 9/11 garden continues as a memorial 14A • Local leader named president of statewide organization 18A • New Bluffton veterinarian served at Tokyo Olympics 24A • Join community for Fun in the Sun 27A • Annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s to be held Oct. 30 in Bluffton 30A
Finding and keeping employees harder than ever post-shutdown By Gwyneth J. Saunders CONTRIBUTOR
In March 2020, the unemployment rate in Beaufort County was 2.8%. The next month, unemployment was at 10.7% and since then has fluctuated between 6.6% and 2.9%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data for the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort statistical area. An online search for jobs available in Beaufort County shows more than 100 listed, from administrative assistant to wildlife control technician, from full-service restaurants to residential facilities and a donut shop. Employers are feeling the pinch, and customers are on the receiving end when stores, restaurants and other
businesses cut their hours. Small businesses offer as much compensation as they can, but still an employee shortage can turn a small restaurant into a carryout food service. Mindi Meyaard, owner of the popular Lunch Lady in the Okatie Riverwalk Business Park has had to serve through the front door. “Our number one need is staffing, and it’s not being met. And products. It’s very hard at this point to get products,” Meyaard said as she talked between handing out bagged meals to customers. “Staffing has been a huge part of it now. We are back to take out because we can’t get staff
Please see JOBS on page 10A
ROB CUSHMAN
The South Carolina Department of Public Safety was one of 18 employers seeking job applicants at the Aug. 18 job fair at St. Luke’s Church on Hilton Head Island.
Party-pooping poultry an unwelcome rite of passage at Red Cedar By Tim Wood CONTRIBUTOR
It has become an unwanted annual tradition that Dr. Kathy Corley and her staff at Red Cedar Elementary School are looking to end immediately. For the sixth straight year, a flock of Canada geese have invaded the school property. NIGHT ON THE
And they are far from tidy and inconspicuous visitors. This is a group of foul fowl. “We’d be happy to be their Airbnb hosts if it wasn’t for the poop,” Principal Corley said of the feathered guests. In all, about 35 of the geese have showed up right before the start of the school year like clockwork and typically stay through the end of September into early October.
O C T OBER 1 4 , 2 0 2 1 5: 3 0 PM
Due to safety precautions, we will be hosting the 7th Annual Night on the Sound virtually this year.
Visit bit.ly/prsfnots for more information
“It seems like the word is spreading on the party here, because there are more of them than last year and they’re overall a bit more poopy than last year,” Corley said. Why did they show up? According to a South Carolina Department of Natural Resources report on nuisance wildlife, the geese usually like habitats with standing water and low, sloping banks – a landscape the Red
Cedar property does not provide. They forage grass, which is plentiful both in the front and back of the property. The poop droppings were less noticeable before the school installed a new turf field and track in the recess area. “They have kept me and our custodians
Please see GEESE on page 16A