10, 2025, at City Hall. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
Keyserling presented Order of the Palmetto
By Mike McCombs
The Island News
“There must be something very controversial on the agenda tonight, because there’s never this many people in the chamber,” Billy Keyserling joked at the Beaufort City Council meeting Tuesday night, June 10
Keyserling knew it wasn’t true when he said it. By that time, he’d
already been presented with the Order of the Palmetto, the state of South Carolina’s highest civilian honor, by S.C. Rep. Shannon Erickson.
Before presenting Keyserling with the award, Erickson related the impact he once had on her now grown child.
“I remember when he visited our then-second grader at Lady’s Island Elementary School and told stories about growing up on the water and playing in the pluff mud,” she said. “And they came home and said, ‘We don’t know who he was. He was really important and his name was Mr. Billy. But he loves this area and we can’t cut down trees.’ Those things stick
Protest draws more than 1,000, remains peaceful Beaufort turns out for national ‘No Kings’ event
By Mike McCombs The Island News
More than 1 000 people turned out in Beaufort for Saturday’s “No Kings” protest against the administration of President Donald Trump, one of the largest turnouts for a political rally in northern Beaufort County in recent memory.
The event was one of more than 2,000 across the country, organized, in part, to counter Trump’s military parade in Washington D.C., to mark the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army – and Trump’s 79th birthday, as well.
“Awesome, awesome, awesome,” said Barb Nash, North-
ern Beaufort County Democratic Club President, said about Saturday’s rally and march.
“It couldn’t have gone better, …,” she said. “It was a very peaceful protest, not that we weren’t noisy. But we followed the rules.”
Organizers estimated the crowd at around 1,500 The Island News, which made an effort to count as many participants as possible, couldn’t confirm that number. But the estimated total clearly surpassed 1 000 people when The Island News abandoned its efforts.
While the rally started at noon, the crowd continued to
SEE KINGS PAGE A7
Battle of the Beards set for Friday at Brody’s
deciding who
in Beaufort for 2025
The event, which is hosted by The Helianthus Project and Power Washing Man, is a fundraiser
to raise money to support Esther’s House, which is a refuge for children who have been victimized by human trafficking.
The contestant who raises the most money winner of the event will get to keep their beard, but the losers have their beards shaved right then and there.
A9 Listen on the Lawn returns June 22.
This is the second year for the event, and this year the event is being held at Brody’s Bar and Grill on Lady’s Island. The event will begin at 5 p.m. and will go until 8 p.m. on Friday, June 20
The three contestants in the 2025 event are Geoff Cunningham with Hail Logistics, Isaiah
Are your personal biases derailing your
Martinez with Landscape Workshop, and Jesse Klausman with Jesse’s Tree Service.
The nonprofit hopes to raise $8,000, which is the goal they almost reached in 2024 when John Hazel won over Connor Cave with Power Washing Man and Tim Green with ServPro.
All proceeds from the event will go directly to Esther’s House.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
South Carolina Rep. Shannon Erickson presents former City of Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling with the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor, during the Beaufort City Council meeting held on Tuesday, June
By Delayna Earley The Island News facial hair battle for the community’s support in
has the best beard
Protesters assembled in front of Beaufort’s City Hall during the “No Kings” protest in front of Beaufort’s City Hall on Saturday, June 14, 2025, before marching down Ribaut Road to Bay Street, ending at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park in downtown Beaufort. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
Caleb Keith and Deissy Perez, both from Beaufort, hold protest signs during the “No Kings” protest in front of Beaufort’s City Hall on Saturday, June 14, 2025. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
LOWCOUNTRY LIFE & NEWS
Lloyd Bloom took this photo of a Great Egret and its chick May 17, 2025, at the Cypress Wetlands in Port Royal. To submit a Lowcountry Life photo, you must be the photographer or have permission to submit the photo to be published in The Island News. Please submit high-resolution photos and include a description and/or names of the people in the picture and the name of the photographer. Email your photos to theislandnews@gmail.com.
VETERAN OF THE WEEK PAUL PATTERSON
American Legion Beaufort Post 207 brings you Paul Patterson, 76, who joined the United States Marine Corps in Orlando, Fla., in 1967. After Boot Camp at Parris Island and Infantry training at Camp Lejeune, he was assigned to the USS Guam (LPH9), which underwent refresher training in the Caribbean. Upon arrival back in Norfolk, Va., he was detached and sent to Vietnam, first to Da Nang and later
Paul Patterson
to Chu Lai, from which he served patrolling in the field during the Tet Offensive. He then agreed to
ON THIS DATE
June 19
2020: Brig. Gen. Julie Nethercot takes command of MCRD Parris Island from Maj. Gen. James Glynn.
June 21
2020: About 400 people turn out for a silent March For Justice beginning and ending at the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park and organized by retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Harold “Mitch”
serve another tour in Vietnam; first continuing patrols, then he was assigned to motor transport duties. He returned from Vietnam to duty at Parris Island in motor transport and as a rifle range instructor. He separated in 1970 but re-enlisted in 1972 to again serve at Parris Island. He separated again in 1974 as a Sergeant and began a 32-year career with the U.S. Post Office in Beaufort. Later he took a job
in Iraq handling the mail arriving in Baghdad for U.S. service members serving in-country. Today, he volunteers with community service projects handled by the men’s ministry at Cornerstone Christian Church.
– Compiled by John Chubb, American Legion Post 207 For Veteran Of The Week nominations, contact jechubb1@gmail.com.
Mitchell.” The event was meant to call attention to recent killings of black citizens across the nation, including George Floyd by the police in Minneapolis.
June 22
1917: The Marine post on Parris Island is officially renamed Marine Barracks, Paris Island. Note the misspelling of Parris Island with a single “r.”
2020: A ribbon cutting featuring State
PAL PETS OF THE WEEK
Dog of the Week
This sweet, 5-year-old boy is gentle, affectionate, and always eager to be near his favorite humans. Aiden absolutely adores attention and happily soaks up any and all pets, belly rubs, and kind words that come his way. His journey hasn’t been an easy one. He was found abandoned and emaciated, but with time, care, and plenty of good meals, he has transformed into a happy, healthy, 55-pound dreamboat! Despite his rough start, Aiden holds no grudges, only love. He’s a tender-hearted companion ready to bring comfort and joy to some lucky family. He is neutered, up
to date on vaccinations, and microchipped.
Cat of the Week
Anybody looking for a cool cat? Meet Crookshanks
Sen. Chip Campsen, R-Charleston; and state representatives Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, and Michael Rivers, D-Beaufort, signals the completion of an extensive beach re-nourishment project at Hunting Island State Park.
June 24
1944: Dr. Herbert and Harriet Hirschfield Keyserling are married.
– Compiled by Mike McCombs
Check out those mitts! Did you know polydactyl cats are considered lucky? Back in the day, they often accompanied sailors on long journeys as they made excellent mousers.
Their unique paws also helped them balance on rocky seas! Crookshanks is the undisputed king of relaxation. This 10 -year-old treasure loves finding the coziest spot to sprawl out. He’s a sweet boy who will fill your days with purrs, snuggles, and pure contentment. He is neutered, up to date on vaccinations, and microchipped.
For more information on Aiden, Crookshanks, and our other pets, call PAL at 843-645-1725 or email Info@ PalmettoAnimalLeague.org.
– Compiled by Lindsay Perry
Do you value your free hometown newspaper – made by locals, for locals? Free news isn’t cheap. Please help support The Island News!
Donations gratefully accepted at www.yourislandnews.com or The Island News, PO Box 550, Beaufort, SC 29901
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Port Royal replaces oversized speed bumps
The speed bump problem in the Town of Port Royal has been resolved.
As of last week, all the speed bumps that were recently installed several inches too high have been corrected.
In hopes of preventing drivers from traveling too fast through areas in Port Royal that are frequented by pedestrians, the town had a contractor install 28 asphalt speed bumps on several streets throughout the area.
The streets that are maintained by S.C. Department of Transportation have specific measurements that must be adhered to, but the speed bumps that were installed on streets maintained by the town were supposed to be 4 inches tall.
Much to the surprise of many motorists, several of the speed humps installed on Port Royal managed roads were too tall, mea-
suring 8 inches – 4 inches higher than what they were supposed to be, according to Assistant Town Manager Brooke Plank-Buccola.
“The contractor was very responsive when we told him that the speed bumps were too tall,” Plank-Buccola said.”
The contractor, Blythe Construction, and the subcontractor Atlantic Asphalt are covering the expense to replace the incorrectly installed speed humps.
Council members and community members alike complained about the too-tall speed bumps,
some even reporting to the town that their vehicles sustained damaged as they traveled over them.
Reports of damage will be reviewed on an individual basis by Blythe Construction and the town.
Plank-Buccola said that the town is grateful for the calls and complaints made to town staff about the incorrectly installed speed bumps, as they have a small staff, and feedback from the community was so important to them realizing there was a problem.
Town Manager Van Willis said during the regular town council meeting on June 11 that the with the corrected speed bumps, even if you hit them while speeding, “you will have a slight Dukes of Hazzard moment,” but you should be OK.
Port Royal Mayor Kevin Phillips said that adding the speed bumps is something that they have talked about adding for a long time, especially at the rate
that Port Royal is growing and attracting tourism.
“We are still a residential area,” Phillips said. “We still have a lot of families. … We’re just trying to keep everybody safe and be proactive in that thought. You never know what tragedies you prevent, you only know when a tragedy happens, and I hope that we never have to endure any kind of tragedy with speeding in vehicles because we know if a vehicle hits a person, a scooter, a golf cart, a bicycle, the vehicle’s going to win.”
Plank-Buccola said that installing the speed bumps is the last step in repaving the roads and the town hopes that the project will be complete by the end of the week.
Earley, who joined The Island
in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort
as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
Port Royal Council to receive long overdue raise
By Delayna Earley
For the first time in more than 30 years, Port Royal Town Council members will be getting a pay raise.
During the June 11 Town Council meeting, council members voted to approve the 2026 budget which included money set aside to increase the salaries for council members to $12 000 from their current $3 600 and the mayor’s salary was increased
to $15,000 from $4,800 That equates to more than a 200% increase for the council members, bringing them up to the same salary as City of Beaufort council members and mayor.
The subject was first broached publicly during the budget work session on June 4
“It’s always such a weird topic,” said Port Royal Mayor Kevin Phillips. “To keep us competitive, as you all
know we don’t do this for the money.”
During the budget work session, council asked the town staff to see if a council pay raise could be included in the budget without affecting the budget or changing the two-mil cut in the tax rate for 2026
Phillips said that the suggestion was made by town staff, not by council members, but added that raising the pay that council mem-
Tbers get to do the job may make it possible to attract future council candidates from all stages of life, jobs and backgrounds.
Councilwoman Mary Beth Heyward, who was first elected to her position on council in 1992, said that council has not received a raise in the 33 years that she has served.
“We’re not up here for the money,” Heyward said. “If we were here for the money, I made a mistake somewhere.”
The raises will not be able to be enacted until after the election in November 2025, as state law dictates that the raises cannot be applied until after the election of at least two council members.
At that point, all of the members of council are able to receive the pay raise.
The seats held by Heyward and fellow council member Darryl Owens are both up for election this fall.
There are 24 regular council meetings and workshops in addition to numerous community obligations such as ribbon cuttings and festival appearances that council members attend per year.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
Cory A. Messerschmidt, M.D.,
FAAOS
BOARD-CERTIFIED, FELLOWSHIP-TRAINED ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON
o further enhance orthopedic options for patients throughout the Lowcountry, Beaufort Memorial has added an experienced surgeon to its team at Beaufort Memorial Orthopaedic Specialists.
Dr. Cory A. Messerschmidt brings his expertise in joint preservation, replacement and robotic surgical techniques to the practice, seeing patients in both Port Royal and Okatie. Fellowship-trained in sports medicine, he also performs minimally invasive arthroscopic procedures such as ACL repairs, meniscus preservation and shoulder arthroscopy for both adult and pediatric patients.
Dr. Messerschmidt joins the practice from his role as an orthopedic surgeon at Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic in southern Georgia. His interest in medicine developed in high school, when he volunteered at a hometown emergency room in Virginia with his father.
Board-certified Orthopedic Surgery
Fellowship Training Sports Medicine
Emory University Atlanta, Ga.
Residency
Orthopedic Surgery
Medical University of South Carolina
S.C.
Doctor of Medicine
During his sports medicine fellowship at Emory University, Dr. Messerschmidt worked with professional sports teams such as the Atlanta Falcons and NCAA collegiate teams including Georgia Tech. In recent years, he has worked closely with local high school athletes, helping them recover from sports-related injuries and make a confident return to activity.
Eastern Virginia Medical School Norfolk, Va.
Dr. Vandit Sardana
Dr. Messerschmidt joins boardcertified, fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon Vandit Sardana, M.D., MSC, FRCSC at
Delayna
News
Gazette,
Speed bumps as seen on June 17, 2025 on London Avenue in Port Royal. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
The Island News
Comic book to tell story of Beaufort’s Robert Smalls
By Skylar Laird SCDailyGazette.com
When Rob Edwards started telling people he was writing a comic book about South Carolina Civil War hero Robert Smalls, he’d have to accompany it with an explanation of Smalls’ life.
Now, when he mentions his graphic novel, many people already know Smalls’ story, he said.
“It’s really fantastic to see,” said Edwards, a writer and producer who lives in Los Angeles. “And no one is more deserving than Capt. Smalls himself.”
Edwards’ upcoming graphic novel “DEFIANT,” which he hopes to turn into a feature-length film, is part of a broader effort to educate the public about a story that had been largely forgotten, including Smalls’ escape from slavery on a commandeered Confederate ship and his time as a state legislator and five-term congressman.
South Carolina legislators are planning to commemorate Smalls’ life with a statue across from the Statehouse visitors’ entrance, the first on the grounds recognizing an individual Black person.
A joint committee of senators and representatives approved plans for the statue May 8, on the last day of the 2025 session. The vote by the State House Committee affirmed the design and location chosen by the commission created by a bill the Legislature approved unanimously last year.
“He’s probably one of the greatest South Carolinians of all time, as is well documented,” former Sen. Gerald Malloy, who is in charge of fundraising to build the statue, said during a recent trip to scout out the Statehouse grounds with the statue’s artist.
Creator hoping for movie adaptation
Edwards, who has written movies for titans such as Disney and Marvel, didn’t know Smalls’ story either when a friend first brought him the idea.
The friend had seen a post on X, formerly Twitter, asking why of all the movies being made none had featured the action-packed story of Smalls’ escape on the U.S.S. Planter in Charleston and ensuing life in politics.
That intrigued Edwards, who started researching Smalls’ life.
He got in touch with Michael B. Moore, Smalls’ great-great-grandson, as well as a Harvard historian who studied Smalls, trying to learn as much as possible.
It was crucial to get the details of Smalls’ incredible feats correct, Edwards said.
“Because it’s true and because it’s phenomenal, (the story) has to reflect reality or else somebody’s going to say, ‘Oh, come on, that didn’t happen,’” Edwards said.
The part of Smalls’ story people tend to know is what Edwards calls “the heist:” Under cover of night, Smalls stole the Confederate ship he piloted and, using Confederate disguises and hand signals, delivered himself, his family and other enslaved workers to freedom in Union waters.
Exciting as that story is, Edwards was drawn to Smalls’ life as a free man. He became the first Black man to pilot ships for the U.S. Navy, used his prize money for capturing the steamship he hijacked to buy the same mansion where he was born and enslaved, and became a renowned politician.
During Reconstruction, Smalls was part of the majority-Black convention of delegates who wrote the state’s 1868 constitution,
Honor from page A1
with children.” Erickson then touchd on some of Keyserling’s impact on the community in business, the arts, real estate and especially education.
“I don’t know how many lives you’ve touched with your good works and common sense, but it’s been extraordinary,” Erickson told Keyserling.
Then Erickson got down to the nitty gritty.
“Billy, it’s an honor that I got the opportunity to do this for you,” Erickson told him at the podium in front of a packed City Council chamber. “I asked the Governor, and it was Henry (McMaster) and I know he’s a friend (of yours), and it meant a lot to him that he got to do this. The state of South Carolina is better because of you. The Beaufort community, our entire region is better because of you. Your work, your personal touch and your big heart, they have carried so many incredible lessons for all of us.”
“These guys all feel how
big your shoes are.,” Erickson said, gesturing to the sitting City Council. “You left a big legacy but also a lot of people who want to live up to what you set the stage for.”
Then she officially presented him with the framed certificate.
“William Keyserling, The Order of the Palmetto,” Erickson read. “This is the state’s highest civilian honor given by Henry McMaster, … and I’m very honored that you allowed me to be the one to present it to you and to be with you tonight in a special place. From all of us, Thank you.”
As Keyserling prepared to speak upon receiving the honor, he joked that he was taking his hearing aids out for Edie Rodgers, the former Republican state representative from Beaufort, so that he would talk louder so that she could hear him, purportedly always a problem.
“This is the first time I’ve been in the Chamber since I left because I thought, … and I haven’t been back to the, [Shannon Erickson] invited me to the House and I haven’t been back in the House because I think you
which promised free education to all children and voting rights to all men. He served in the state House and Senate before winning a seat in Congress in 1874
In 1895, Smalls was again a delegate for a convention — this time majority white — to rewrite the state constitution. He pleaded for a constitution guaranteeing “free and honest” elections while recognizing the convention was meant to disenfranchise Black voters.
“That was the stuff that was really amazing to me,” Edwards said.
Edwards, whose writing credits include Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” and Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World,” wanted to turn the story into a movie, but he knew selling the script might prove difficult.
He wanted proof that this was a story people cared about.
So, he and a team launched a fundraising campaign through Legion M, a company that lets
don’t look over your shoulder and you admire people for what they do rather than use your experiences to criticize them or to direct them. So when you move on you move on,” Keyserling said. “But when I was asked where I wanted to receive this and who I wanted to present this, it was Shannon, and it was in this chamber, because we built this chamber when I was mayor and this chamber really was my second home. This chamber and this city have been the love of my life.
“George O’Kelley, Gary Fordham, Mike Sutton, Nan Sutton … Mike McFee is still praying … but this was my family … I see Bill Prokop here, I could go through so many names. This was a great honor for me, and this will always be my home because I think we have, and I’ve always said, the best hometown in the world, and we can continue to do that.
“My old roommate from 45 years ago, the former Mayor of Charleston, John Tecklenburg came down, who was a fabulous mayor there, and then [Scott Richardson], this man, and Ms. Rodgers, was really a turn-
people back projects they want to see happen. The plan was to start with the comic book to drum up more interest, then set sights on a movie.
Almost as soon as the campaign was posted, donations started flooding in, Edwards said. As of Friday, the project had raised about $160 000
That was enough to get the comic book started, Edwards said. Once that’s out in the world, his hope is that it will be compelling enough to prove people want to see a live-action movie about Smalls’ life.
In the meantime, comic books appeal to teenagers, which is the audience Edwards most wants to reach.
“The thing that I would most want to tell a 16-year-old is, ‘Hey, there was this guy, he was born a slave, and look what he did,’” Edwards said. “If he can do that, then think of the things you can do.”
ing point in my life. When I first went to the legislature, Scott had just been elected. He was from Hilton Head and he was chair of the Republican Party. And to that point, I was pretty much identified as a Democrat, as a progressive Democrat. But we decided that it was best for Beaufort County, even though I think we were both very … we planned to distrust each other, we planned not to get along with each other, but we decided to sit together. And I must say that the four years that we were there together, we had dinner together almost every night. And he got in trouble, because he was hanging out with me, and I got in trouble because I was hanging out with him, but what we found as we got to know each other, there wasn’t much we disagreed on when it came to Beaufort. There’s some philosophical issues tied to parties, but quite frankly, particularly today, I think parties have become so irrelevant. And that two people who planned on not trusting each other became lifelong friends and were able to accomplish things
Edwards partnered with illustrators Nikolas Draper-Ivey, who created the art that accompanies the soundtrack for Marvel’s “Black Panther,” and Ray-Anthony Height, a longtime comic book artist who has created illustrations for Marvel and Star Wars comics.
The comic book, titled “DEFIANT: The Story of Robert Smalls,” is set for release June 19, which is also Juneteenth, a federal holiday celebrating the day slaves in Texas learned they were free in 1865
The release date has become especially significant after the Defense Intelligence Agency ordered a pause in events related to Juneteenth, alongside other holidays, following an executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs earlier this year, Edwards said.
“We’re in this really interesting time when I think inspirational stories like ‘DEFIANT’ are really, really important,” Edwards said. “I’m thrilled that we’re able to be part of the Juneteenth celebration with this book.”
Skylar Laird covers the South
After being presented with the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor, during the Beaufort City Council meeting held on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at City Hall, former City of Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling poses with City Council and others for a photo. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
for Beaufort County is a lesson about where we are in this world today.”
Keyserling is the son of two prominent Beaufortonians – Dr. Herbert Keyserling and Harriet Keyserling, the first woman to serve on the Beaufort County Council and a 16-year member of the S.C. House of Representatives. He was the Mayor of the City of Beaufort for three terms, from 2008 to 2020 He is the founder and was interim director of Second Founding of America: Reconstruction Beaufort, a nonprofit organization and philanthropic partner of the National Park Service. Its goal is to assist in uncovering, telling, and celebrating the untold stories of the Reconstruction Era. A two-term member of the S.C. House of Representatives, Keyserling spent 16 years in various positions in the offices of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
“DEFIANT” is a comic book slated for release June 19 telling the story of Civil War hero Robert Smalls. Photo courtesy of Legion M
Robert Smalls, as depicted in a monument set to stand outside the Statehouse, near the visitors' entrance. Photo courtesy of Robert Smalls Monument Commission
Second arrest made in Garden Oaks Apartments shooting
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
A second arrest has been made in the shooting at Garden Oaks Apartments that left two people injured in May.
Twenty-year-old Cleve Rudolph White was taken into custody on Monday, June 16, according to a release from the Beaufort Police Department, and was charged with possession of a machine gun, possession of a weapon by person prohibited, attempting to sell a machine gun and possession with intent to distribute.
Gasnel O’Bryan Miller, 35 years old, was also arrested on June 3 for his involvement in the shooting at the Beaufort apartment complex.
The incident is still under investigation and the Beaufort Police Department has asked anyone with information to contact Investigator Martin at 843-322-7940 or the non-emergency dispatch at 843-524-2777
To remain anonymous, tips can be reported through Crime Stoppers of Beaufort County through the P3 Tips App, online at www.TIPSBFT.com or by calling 1-844-8477238
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
Beaufort Public Works
Touch-A-Truck
Beaufort City Police officer Yousef Smith gives 3-year-old Daniel Gunter of Beaufort a look inside a police cruiser during the City of Beaufort Public Works Touch-a-Truck event on Saturday, June 14, 2025 at Southside Park. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
Coroner identifies Beaufort man killed in motorcycle crash
By Mike McCombs
The Island News
On Monday, June 16
2025, the Beaufort County
Coroner’s Office, released the name of a Beaufort man killed last week in a motorcycle crash on Trask Parkway.
Allen Szczepek, 68, died at Beaufort Memorial Hospital at 8:20 p.m., Thursday, June 12 2025, from “blunt force
injuries sustained in a single motorcycle crash,” which occurred on June 12 2025, at 4:33 p.m. at the intersection of Trask Parkway (U.S. Hwy. 21) and Glass Road. According to Cpl. Nick Pye of the South Carolina Highway Patrol (SCHP), Szczepek was traveling north on U.S. 21 when he “ran off the road right, then spilled off
the right side of the road.” He was transported to Beaufort Memorial Hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries. According to Pye, this incident remains under investigation by the SCHP.
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
NOB Democratic Club meeting June 19
The Northern Beaufort County Democratic Club will meet at 6 p.m., Thursday, June 19 at the Old Grace AME Chapel at 502 Charles Street in downtown Beaufort. The guest speaker will be Sylvia Wright, who is "running for Superintendent of Education to restore the constitutional and deeply patriotic promise of a free, high quality public education in South Carolina.”
The NOB Dems, along with several other groups, rally together every Monday at 4:30 p.m. in front of the Beaufort City Hall.
County offices closed for Juneteenth
In observance of the Juneteenth federal holiday, all Beaufort County government buildings will be closed Thursday, June 19
They will reopen Friday, June 20
Convenience Centers in Beaufort County will be closed Thursday, June 19. They will resume normal operating schedules Friday,
June 20
Operations and services at the Hilton Head Island Airport and Beaufort Executive Airport will remain available during the holiday. Emergency services and law enforcement personnel will remain available.
Board
of Voter Registration and Elections meeting Friday
The Board of Voter Registration and Elections of Beaufort County will hold their monthly board meeting on Friday, June 20 2025 at 2 p.m.
The meeting will be held at the Board of Voter Registration and Elections of Beaufort County main office training room, located at 15 John Galt Road, Beaufort, SC 29906
For more information, contact the Board of Voter Registration and Elections of Beaufort County at 843-255-6900
BMH holds first employee housing expo
Staff reports
Chatter about mortgages, loans, amenities and floorplans echoed along the Beaufort River on Thursday as Beaufort Memorial Hospital hosted its first-ever employee Housing Expo at the Kate Gleason Park.
The expo, coordinated by the Beaufort Memorial Foundation and sponsored by SouthState Bank, brought together lending institutions, real estate companies, rental experts and insurance professionals. Over 20 vendors all
offered housing information and resources to staff members at one of the county’s largest employers, in an area where housing options – particularly affordable options –seem to be limited.
“Access to affordable housing is critical for the healthcare industry and workforce in the Lowcountry and beyond. It’s one of the biggest challenges that Beaufort Memorial employees face living and working here,”
said Kim Yawn, Beaufort Memorial associate vice president
and chief development officer. “We wanted to bring together resources for Beaufort Memorial staff and let them see what sorts of options are out there for them, helping them overcome that barrier.”
Beaufort Memorial is working to continuously address workforce obstacles such as affordable housing and childcare. In November, the nonprofit hospital system cut the ribbon on the new, on-campus location of the Beaufort Memorial Learning Center,
an affordable childcare option for hospital employees.
While the expo on Thursday gathered resources and information for employees, Beaufort Memorial also has a housing development in partnership with Woda Cooper Companies underway in Bluffton. The groundbreaking for this development, LiveWell Terrace by BMH (located less than a mile from the Bluffton Community Hospital under construction now), is scheduled for later this year.
Lending institutions, apartment complexes and real estate professionals were onsite Thursday to offer Beaufort Memorial Hospital employees information about housing options in the area. Photos courtesy of Beaufort Memorial Hospital
King’s Day Unity Parade
LEGAL NOTICES
sc.gov.
NOTICE OF APPLICATION
Notice is hereby given that Shea Dawg LLC, ¬dba Main Street Island Pub, intends to apply to the South Carolina Department of Revenue for a license and/ or permit that will allow the sale and on premises consumption of beer, wine, and liquor at 1411
sc.gov, or
ABL@dor.sc.gov. STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF BEAUFORT IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS CASE NO.: 2023-CP-07-01349 (Non-Jury) DATAW ISLAND OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., Plaintiff, vs. DERRIN FERGUSON; ROBERT MAJOR; FIELD CAPITAL, LLC; DATAW ISLAND CLUB, INC., Defendants.
NOTICE OF SALE (Deficiency Waived) On August 4, 2025, at the Beaufort County Courthouse
Little Miss Juneteenth/Little Miss Lady's Island Avery K. Allen waves to parade watchers during the Project Freedom 326 King's Day Unity Parade celebrating Father's Day and Juneteenth on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
Tiny Miss Juneteenth Niyah Hayes with Ms. Congeniality Petite USA Kristen Varos (Coach Kay) wave to parade watchers during the Project Freedom 326 King's Day Unity Parade celebrating Father's Day and Juneteenth on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
NEWS
Dad's greatest gift
The Beaufort Memorial Collins Birthing Center saw four new arrivals on Father's Day, including a baby girl born to Beaufort parents. Celestine Smith was born at 5:15 am, weighing 7 pounds and 3 ounces, to Katherine and Mathew Smith of Beaufort. Also making their appearance Sunday were 8-pound, 5-ounce Angie Lopez Merida, born to Dashli Merida and Mynor Lopez of Bluffton, Yasbeth Esther Romero (7 pounds, 12 ounces), born to Yamilet Hernandez and Ever Joel Romero Torres of Ridgeland and Sebastian Hunt, born at 8 pounds, 15 ounces to Okatie parents Danielle and Adam Hunt. Birthing Center staff members Donna Mixon, LPN and Merrick Murdaugh, CST designed and crafted the crocheted fishing gear. Photos courtesy of Charlotte Berkeley
SC AG Wilson speaks to Beaufort Republican groups
Carolina Attorney General
grow for the next hour. At 1 p.m., the protesters – or about half of them, more accurately – took part in a peaceful march, using the sidewalk, down Ribaut Road to Bay Street and to the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park in downtown Beaufort.
Nash said a few words to the group gatherer in the park before it dispersed.
Linda Teachey, who is originally from North Carolina and has lived in Beaufort for six years, said she’s fed up with what’s going on the country.
“I had to come today,” she said. “I feel like it’s that important.”
Teachey said she was unhappy with how these protests were being twisted by some and portrayed as violent. The protests held in Beaufort since February have been virtually without incident.
“I believe in Democracy, it’s as simple as that,” she said. “Trump is slowly enacting Project 2025 every day, and people are ignorant. They need to see that there are other people who are not buying this. So that’s why I’m here. … People are fed up and willing to come out and say, ‘no.’”
The biggest issues for Teachey are the cutting of medical research and the rollback of environmental protections.
Staff reports South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson spoke to the Beaufort Republican Women’s Club and the Beaufort Republican Men’s Club and friends as they celebrated Flag Day on Saturday, June 14, 2025, at the Dataw Island Gazebo at 100 Marina Drive, St. Helena Island.
Though not a federal holiday, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June
14 as Flag Day in 1916, a day to commemorate the adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States.
Wilson is now in his fourth term as South Carolina’s Attorney General. He joined the National Guard upon graduation from college and has served for 29 years.
Wilson served in Iraq, earned the Combat Action Badge, and holds the
rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps. When asked by a member of the Dataw audience, Wilson shared one of his nearmiss experiences in Iraq.
Attendees to the celebration picnicked in the gazebo during intermittent rain showers. For more information about the club, please go to www. beaufortrepublicanwomensc.com.
Judge Galvin selected Fellow of American Bar Foundation
Staff reports
Judge Heather Galvin has been selected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation (ABF). Membership is strictly limited to one percent of lawyers admitted in the U.S. and its territories, and the nomination process is highly selective. The ABF is the world’s leading research institute for the interdisciplinary empirical study of law.
“It is my honor and pleasure to serve the citizens of Beaufort County as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation," stated Judge Galvin. "Fellows are at the forefront of policy and legislative research on the national and international levels.”
For more than seventy years, the ABF has served the legal profession, the academy, and the public through cutting-edge research, publications, and programs that advance justice and the understanding of law and legal processes
According to the American Bar Foundation, ABF Fellows are a global honorary society of attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession. More information can be found at https://bit. ly/4jRqcJ1
Judge Galvin currently serves as President of the South Carolina Association of Probate Judges, is a member of the Executive Committee of the National College of Probate Judges, liaison for the National College of Probate Judges to the American Bar Association and ACTEC (the American College of Estate and Trust Counsel), and board member for South Carolina NAMI and Lowcountry NAMI.
“What really bothers me is what they’ve done to science,” she said. “The [National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency], … they’re just gutting science.”
The concerns are more personal for Beaufort’s Holly Mills.
“I am for democracy. We do not want a king who just does whatever he wants,” she said.
Mills said we simply have a mean-spirited man in the White House.
“He only cares about Trump,” she said. “He
doesn’t care about the environment. He doesn’t care about the people that pick our food.”
Beaufort’s Brainerd family – Mike and Jeannie and their daughter Scarlett – attended the protest and made the walk to Waterfront Park.
Mike Brainerd, retired from the U.S. Army after 30plus years, is new to protesting, while his wife Jeannie has been coming out since the rallies started early in the year.
If they had their way, Jeannie Brainerd said, the family would have been protesting
in the nation’s capital.
“Especially since Donald Trump absconded with the U.S. Army birthday, you know, because it’s his birthday,” Jeannie Brainerd said. “We really wanted to be in Washington protesting, but we’re here and it was happening here.”
“We feel like he’s taking our democracy away every day. I’ve been a conservative Republican my whole life pretty much and MAGA is not what the Republican Party used to be,” Mike Brainerd said. “… He thinks he owns the Congress, feels like he
owns the Supreme Court.
He’s taken this king thing … he said, ‘If you vote for me, you’ll never have to vote again.’ What does that mean?
I’m afraid for our democracy, and I think a lot of retired officers feel the same way, but when you’re on active duty, it’s a little different.”
And Mike Brainerd was clear about the use of U.S. Marines to counter protesters in Los Angeles.
“It’s wrong,” he said.
While a large number of drivers passing the protesters honked horns, shouted, or even held up signs from their cars in support of the protest, there were obviously those who honked or shouted in opposition, waved Trump flags, or even shared obscene hand gestures.
The presence of the City of Beaufort Police was welcomed, though it was difficult to tell if it was needed. Like all the local protests so far this year, Saturday’s event remained peaceful.
“I knew it would,” Mike Brainerd said. “This is Beaufort. It was gonna be fine. It’s like the Black Lives Matter thing that went on [a few years back], ... it looked bad in other places, but here, everybody’s been very appropriate and peacefully protesting.”
“It was a really good day,” said Anne Dickerson of Indivisible Beaufort. “I was really proud of our town and I was really grateful to our police. I think they deserve to be thanked.”
If there was a negative for the protesters, there were two heat-related health incidents involving marchers between City Hall and the Waterfront Park. Both women were tended to by emergency personnel before carrying on under their own power.
Otherwise, the event went off without a hitch.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Nash said. “It was awesome.”
“I don’t know if it does anything to change anything or not,” Dickerson said. “But it shows people are willing to stand up and be heard.”
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
“I expected that there could be some counter protesters,” Nash said. “But we had such a huge turnout, there wouldn’t have really been a place for them. But I thought there would be a few. There were middle fingers, Trump flags, a few shouts, but far more positive honks and waves and thumbs up and reinforcements.”
From left, Sandy McManamon, Stephanie Askew and Ouida Dillon hold protest signs during the “No Kings” protest in front of Beaufort’s City Hall on Saturday, June 14, 2025, before marching down Ribaut Road to Bay Street, ending at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park in downtown Beaufort. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
Follow the digital link or go to https://bit.
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Alan Wilson spoke to the Beaufort Republican Women’s Club and the Beaufort Republican Men’s Club on Saturday, June 14, 2025, at the Dataw Island Gazebo. Submitted photo
ART
Budding Artist After-School
Art Club
4 to 5 p.m., or 5:15 to 6:15 p.m., Mondays/Wednesdays or Tuesday/ Thursdays, Happy Art Studio, 10 Sam’s Point Way, Beaufort. Ages 8 to 13. Painting, drawing, clay or crafts. Visit www.happyartstudio. net.
CALENDAR
Beaufort Lions Club Water Festival Pancake Breakfast
8 to 11 a.m., Saturday, July 12, Sea Island Presbyterian Church, 81 Lady's Island Drive, Beaufort. Pancakes, waffles, biscuits/gravy, scrambled eggs, sausage, coffee, tea, juice. For more information, email beaufortlionsclub@gmail. com or follow us on Facebook/instagram/Nextdoor.
May River Shrimp Fest
Sunset Party
5:30 to 9:30 p.m., Friday, July 25, Oyster Factory Park, Bluffton. Featuring live music by “Cristaldi & Stiltner” and “Vanna & The Rump Shackers.” Enjoy a festive atmosphere with local seafood, food trucks, craft beers, boutique wines, and family-friendly fun. Kids and leashed pets are welcome. Tickets are $11 in advance, $15 at the door, with children under 12 free. Group discounts are available online. All tips collected from beer and wine sales support local charities. For tickets and more information, visit www.blufftonsunsetparty.com or call 843-757-8520.
Yemassee Shrimp Festival Friday, Sept. 19 & Saturday, Sept. 20, 101 Town Circle Yemassee. Live music includes the East Coast Party Band (8 p.m., Friday), sponsored by Comcast; and Funk Factory 5 (8 p.m. Saturday). Ore details to come.
Karaoke with Melissa
7:30 p.m. to midnight, Mondays, Tomfoolery, 3436 17 Market, Habersham, Beaufort. Enjoy food and drinks during Karaoke with Melissa.
Karaoke with Ali
9 p.m. to midnight, Tuesdays, Luther’s Rare and Well Done, 910 Bay Street, downtown Beaufort. With DJ Ali.
Karaoke with Melissa
7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., Wednesdays, Beaufort Moose Lodge, 350 Broad River Blvd, Beaufort. Enjoy food and drinks during Karaoke with Melissa.
Eric’s Karaoke Krew
9:30 p.m., Wednesdays, Rosie
O’Grady’s, 2127 Boundary Street, Suite 2, Beaufort. Free. Enjoy karaoke with either Parker or Eric.
Trivia with Tom –
Bricks On Boundary
7 p.m., Every Thursday, Bricks on Boundary, 1422 Boundary St, Beaufort. Free. Team trivia event, win house cash and Beer Bucket prizes! For more information, visit https:// rb.gy/o9nhwe.
Eric’s Karaoke Krew
7 p.m., Thursdays, Amvets Post 70, 1831 Ribaut Road, Port Royal. Free. Public is welcome. Enjoy Karaoke. Dinner will be available.
Karaoke at Willie’s
8 p.m., Thursdays, Willie's Bar and Grill, 7 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Saint Helena Island. Come and showcase your singing talents or just enjoy the performances. For more information, visit www.GullahLove.com.
Bluffton Night Bazaar — a Lowcountry Made Market
5 to 8 p.m., first Thursday of each month, Burnt Church Distillery, 120 Bluffton Road. A highly curated selection of accessories, clothing, home goods, custom gifts and more by local artists and makers.
Habersham Farmers Market
3 to 6 p.m., Fridays, Habersham Marketplace. Vendor roster includes B&E Farm, Cottonwood Soap, Flower Power Treats, Hardee Greens, Megs Sweet Treats, Vitamin Bee, Lady’s Island Oyster Company, Pet Wants.
Eric’s Karaoke Krew
9 p.m., Fridays, Highway 21 Bar, 3436 Trask Pkwy, Beaufort. Free. Enjoy Karaoke with Lt. Dan.
Eric’s Karaoke Krew 9:30 p.m., Fridays, Rosie O’Grady’s, 2127 Boundary Street, Suite 2, Beaufort. Free. Enjoy Karaoke with Parker.
Karaoke with Melissa
7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., Fridays, R Bar & Grill, 70 Pennington Drive, Bluffton. Enjoy food and drinks during Karaoke with Melissa.
Port Royal Farmers Market
9 a.m. to noon, Saturdays, year round, Naval Heritage Park, 1615 Ribaut Road, Port Royal. Rain or shine. You will find fresh, local, seasonal produce, shrimp, oysters, poultry, beef, pork, eggs, bread and cheese, as well as plants, ferns, camellias, azaleas, citrus trees and beautiful,
WHAT’S HAPPENING
fresh cut flower bouquets. There are prepared food vendors serving barbecue, dumplings, she crab soup, crab cakes, paella, coffee, baked goods, bagels and breakfast sandwiches. No pets allowed. For more information, visit http://www. portroyalfarmersmarket.com/, visit @portroyalfarmersmarket on Facebook or call 843-295-0058.
Slip and Splash Saturdays 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturdays, Battery Creek Pool, 1 Blue Dolphin Drive, Beaufort, and Bluffton Pool, 55 Pritchard Street, Bluffton. $5 per person. Stay busy for hours climbing on our inflatable challenge track.
Eric’s Karaoke Krew 7 p.m., Saturdays, The Beaufort Moose Lodge, 350 Broad River Blvd., Beaufort. Free. Enjoy karaoke with Lt. Dan. Come early at 6 p.m. for Steak Night.
Eric’s Karaoke Krew
9:30 p.m., Saturdays, Rosie O’Grady’s, 2127 Boundary Street, Suite 2, Beaufort. Free. Enjoy karaoke with Eric.
Teddy Bear Picnic Read-Aloud 9 a.m. to noon, 1st Saturday each month, Port Royal Farmer’s Market, Corner of Ribaut Road & Pinckney Blvd, Port Royal. Free. DAYLO Students and other volunteers will read to young children, who are encouraged to bring their favorite stuffed animals.
Karaoke with Melissa 8 p.m. to 12 a.m., 2nd and 4th
Saturdays of every month, Peaceful Henry’s Cigar Bar, 181 Bluffton Road, Bluffton. Enjoy food and drinks during Karaoke with Melissa.
CLASS REUNION
Beaufort High School Class of 1975 Oct. 17 through Oct. 19, 2025, Beaufort. 50th Class Reunion Celebration. Request that graduates of this class contact the class Community Outreach Representative Barbara Gardner Hunter at 347497-9326 or email gardnerbarbara991@gmail.com to provide current contact information.
DANCE Lowcountry Shaggers
6 to 9 p.m., Mondays, Holiday Inn, 2225 Boundary Street. Shag lessons with Tommy & Sheri O’Brien and others. Occasional ballroom and once-a-monh line dancing. Biginner, intermediate and advanced lessons. Open dancing after lessons. Visit www.lowcountryshaggers.com of email lowcountryshaggers@aol.com.
The Beaufort Shag Club
6:30 to 9 p.m., Wednesdays, AmVets Club, 1831 Ribaut Road, Port Royal. Free lessons for members from 6 to 6:30 p.m. We also host a dance the second Saturday of each month from 7 to 10 p.m. Lessons will run September through May only. Visit our FaceBook page (beaufortshagclub) for current events.
GOLF
4th annual Stingray Scramble Saturday, Sept. 20, Ocean Creek Golf Course, Fripp Island. Proceeds benefit Riverview Charter School.
Early bird pricing is $650 for team of four through July 1. After July 1, $700 for team of four. Register online at https://bit.ly/4kTF4br. Visit https://bit.ly/4mWQ7ls for sponsorship opportunities.
Free Adaptive Golf Clinic 9 to 11 a.m., Saturday, June 21, Dataw Island Golf Club. Register for clinic at https://bit.ly/4dT7zmy.
HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Rooted Beaufort Yoga classes
5:30 to 6:45 p.m., Thursdays, Cypress Wetlands, Port Royal; 9 to 10:15 a.m., Whitehall Park or Pigeon Point Park. Rooted Beaufort is a collective of local Yoga teachers who host outdoor yoga classes and donation-based events with proceeds being donated locally on a rotating basis.
BEMER Circulation Therapy 10 to 11 a.m., Fridays via Zoom. Already own a BEMER? Never heard of it but curious? Join to ask any questions about this leading-edge German technology that enhances blood flow 30% in 8 minutes. Sessions are designed to support those who have their own unit but everyone is welcome. Brought to you by BEMER Specialist -- Human & Equine, Elizabeth Bergmann. Text 410-212-1468 to get the Zoom link. Free.
HISTORY Beaufort History Museum at the Arsenal
10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturdays, 713 Craven St, Beaufort. General Admission for Adults $8, Seniors $7, Active Duty Military and College Students with ID $5. Children/Teens younger than 18 Free. Explore and experience more than 500 years of Beaufort History with knowledgeable docent guided tours.
The Historic Port Royal Museum 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. or upon request, Thursdays through Sundays, The Historic Port Royal Museum, 1634 Paris Ave. The museum features the turn-of-the-century businesses and industries of Port Royal: Shrimping, crabbing, oystering, the railroad, the school and the mercantile. Great gifts featuring local artists are available. For more information. visit www.portroyalhistory. org, email historicportroyalfoundation@gmail.com or call 843-5244333.
Tour Historic Fort Fremont
Dawn to dusk, Monday through Sunday, The Fort Fremont Preserve, 1124 Land’s End Road, St. Helena Island. Free and open to the public.
The History Center is open Thursdays from 1 to 4 p.m., Fridays from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. Visitors can learn about the fort’s history during the Spanish-American War through interpretive signs, self-guided walking tours with a smart phone, exhibits in the history center, and docent-led tours. For more information visit www.fortfremont.org or contact Passive Parks Manager Stefanie Nagid at snagid@bcgov.net.
LIBRARY ACTIVITIES
Hurricane Preparedness Workshop
2 p.m., Friday, June 20, Beaufort Branch Library, 311 Scott Street, Beaufort. Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Major Adam Zsamar will discuss household/personal preparations and planning, evacuation routes, reentry procedures and where to get additional information.
“Hidden Gems” Book Club
3 p.m., third Monday of each month, St. Helena Branch Library, 6355 Jonathan Francis Senior Road, St. Helena Island. Free. So many books, so little time. St. Helena staff have uncovered some great titles to get you started on your “hidden gem” journey. Join us for lively discussions and coffee or tea. No registration required.
Career Navigator
11 a.m. to 1 p.m., every Tuesday, Beaufort Branch Library, 311 Scott Street, Beaufort. Free one-on-one resume writing and job application assistance with a Career Navigator from Palmetto Goodwill. No appointments necessary. For more information call 843-255-6458.
Bridge Club
10 a.m. to noon, Wednesdays, Beaufort Branch Library, 311 Scott Street, Beaufort. Join us if you want to learn a new game, practice your skills, or need more players. Call the Beaufort Branch Library at 843255-6458 for more information.
Mahjong Club
10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Fridays, Beaufort Library, 311 Scott Street. All levels of players are welcome. Feel free to bring your own mahjong sets. Plan to meet every week. For more information, call the Beaufort Branch Library at 843-255-6458.
MEETINGS
NOB Democratic Club
6 p.m., Thursday, June 19, Old Grace AME Chapel, 502 Charles Street, Beaufort. The guest speaker will be Sylvia Wright, who is "running for Superintendent of Education to restore the constitutional and deeply patriotic promise of a free, high quality public education in South Carolina.” The NOB Dems, along with several other groups, rally together every Monday at 4:30 p.m. in front of the Beaufort City Hall.
Beaufort Lions Club
6 p.m., first and third Monday of every month, St John's Lutheran Church, 157 Lady's Island Drive, Beaufort. For more information, visit thebeaufortlionsclub@gmail. com or follow on Facebook/Instagram/Nextdoor.
PFLAG Savannah –Beaufort Peer Group
6:30 p.m., first Tuesday of every month, Fellowship Hall, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Beaufort (UUFB), 178 Sams Point Road, Beaufort. Free. The group will be moderated by Rick Hamilton and Kay Carr. The provides advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community, family, peers, and allies in the Lowcountry. The peer group provides a safe and strictly confidential environment for LGBTQ+ individuals, their families, friends, and allies to discuss the challenges faced in coming out or being out in neighborhoods, the workplace, school, or church. The organization offers resources for counseling, educating, and advocating to achieve an equitable, inclusive community where every LGBTQ+ person is safe, celebrated, empowered, and loved. Minors under the age of 18 are required to come with an adult parent, guardian, or mentor. Additional information about peer groups, membership, donations, and volunteering is on the website www.PFLAGSavannah.org and on Facebook.
Beaufort Chapter of America’s Boating Club 6 p.m., 2nd Tuesday of most months, at various Beaufort/Port Royal venues. Regular meetings begin with a Social, followed by Dinner and often include an exciting Guest Speaker from the Lowcountry. For Meeting Information or Educational Opportunities, please contact Paul Gorsuch, Administrative Officer at admino@beaufortboatingclub.com . Boat ownership is not required, however a passion for safe responsible boating is mandatory.
Zonta Club of Beaufort 6 p.m., 4th Tuesday of each month, Smokehouse, Port Royal.
Rotary Club of Sea Island lunch meeting 12:15 p.m., 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month, Sea Island Presbyterian Church, 81 Lady’s Island Drive, Lady’s Island. Social gathering every 3rd Tuesday at 5:30 pm, locations vary and posted on our website. For more information, visit www.seaislandrotary.org.
Rotary Club of Sea Island social gathering 5:30 p.m., 3rd Tuesday of each month, locations vary and posted on our website. For more information, visit www.seaislandrotary.org.
Beaufort Rotary Club Noon, Wednesdays, Sea Island Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, 81 Lady’s Island Drive, Lady’s Island. Catered buffet lunch, followed by a guest speaker. Prospective members welcome. For further information and upcoming speakers, please visit website www.beaufortrotaryclub.org.
The Beaufort Trailblazers –A Volunteer Group 8 a.m., first Thursday each month, University Bikes, Beaufort. Anyone interested in supporting or building off-road/dirt/wilderness mountain biking/jogging/walking trails near is encouraged to attend. For more information, call 843-575-0021 or email universitybicycles@hotmail. com.
Emotions Anonymous International local group meeting 4 p.m, Thursdays, via Zoom. Emotions Anonymous International, (EAI), is a nonprofit program designed to help people with emotional difficulties. It has a chapter in the Lowcountry and members want others who feel the need to know they are welcome to participate. There is no charge to participate. They are based on the 12 steps and 12 traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous and follow a specific format designed to provide the support and tools for navigating life’s painful difficulties. All are welcome. Anyone interested in participating may contact the group via email at EALowcountry@ gmail.com or call or text Laurie at 252- 917-7082. For more information on EAI visit www.emotionsanonymous.org.
Northern Beaufort County Democratic Club 6 p.m., Thursday, June 19, Old Grace AME Chapel, 502 Charles Street, downtown Beaufort. Guest speaker will be Sylvia Wright . Wright is "running for Superintendent of Education to restore the constitutional and deeply patriotic promise of a free, high quality public education in South Carolina." NOB Dems rally together every Monday at 4:30 p.m. in front of the Beaufort City Hall. On Saturday, June 14, at noon, we will be gathering for a peaceful "No Kings Day" in front of Beaufort City Hall.
Al-Anon Beaufort County 7:30 p.m., Thursday, 80 Lady’s Island Drive in Beaufort. “Do you worry about how much someone drinks? Is it affecting your life? You are not alone. Al-Anon Beaufort Serenity Group offers help and hope. Join the group in Beaufort, or visit the Lowcountry page at https://bit. ly/3HvksaF for more times and locations.
Rotary Club of the Lowcountry
7:30 a.m., Fridays, Sea Island Presbyterian Church, 81 Lady's Island Dr., Ladys' Island. Catered breakfast from local chef. Speakers weekly. Occasional social events replace Friday mornings, but will be announced on our website, www.rotaryclubofthelowcountrybeaufort.org.
MUSIC The Southern Heat Band
6 to 7:30 p.m., Sunday, June 22, on the lawn of the USCB Center For The Arts, 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort. Part of the Listen on the Lawn series. Free and open to the public. The Southern Heat Band mixes the style of classic rock from the mid 1960s to the 2000s with the vibe and the groove of Cali reggae. Attendees are advised to bring lawn chairs, blankets, and your favorite snacks and people.
Distant Sounds 6 to 9 p.m., Friday, Aug. 8, Another Slice Pizza, Harbor Island. Something for everyone, from the 60s to the 10s. David Ayres on guitar & vocals, Richard Knieriem on drums
& vocals, Eric Roberts on bass, Paul Butare on guitar & vocals.
Live entertainment
7 to 11 p.m., Wednesdays, Luther’s Rare and Well Done, 910 Bay Street, downtown Beaufort.
Chris Jones 7 to 11 p.m., Thursdays, Luther’s Rare and Well Done, 910 Bay Street, downtown Beaufort.
Habersham Third Fridays Music on Market 5 to 8 p.m., third Friday of the month, Habersham Marketplace.
Live entertainment 9 p.m. to midnight, Fridays & Saturdays, Luther’s Rare and Well Done, 910 Bay Street, downtown Beaufort.
OUTDOORS/NATURE
Free boating inspections
Get a free vessel safety check by local members of the America's Boating Club of Beaufort. If your boat passes, you will receive a VSC decal to mount on your boat that will be visible to other boaters and maritime law enforcement personnel. Email Safety@beaufortboatingclub.com .
The Beaufort Tree Walk Lady’s Island Garden Club invites you to take a meandering walk through the Historic “Old Point” and enjoy some unique and noteworthy trees. The “Walk” takes about an hour, is a little over a mile starting at the corner of Craven & Carteret streets in Morrall Park and concluding in Waterfront Park. Booklets with map and information about each tree are available free at the Visitors Center in the historic Arsenal on Craven Street.
Tours of Hunting Island Every Tuesday, Hunting Island State Park, 2555 Sea Island Pkwy. Free, park entry fees apply. Sponsored by Friends of Hunting Island Keeper Ted and his team. For more information call the Hunting Island Nature Center at 843-838-7437.
PHOTOGRAPHY Wild Bees photography exhibit Through Sunday, August 17, Coastal Discovery Museum, Hilton Head Island. A photography exhibit by Paula Sharp and Ross Eatman. A public opening reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, May 15 at Coastal Discovery Museum. Sharp and Eatman will conduct a tour of the exhibition before the reception at 4 p.m.
RUNNING Sunset 5K -- Hawaiian Shirt Run 7:30 p.m., Thursday, July 24, Oyster Factory Park, Bluffton. The route takes participants through the charming streets of historic Old Towne Bluffton. The event is perfect for both runners and walkers. Come dressed in your brightest Hawaiian shirt or shorts — prizes will be awarded for the most colorful outfits! All participants will receive a themed T-shirt, lei, postrace refreshments during our lively Post Race Celebration. Strollers & Leashed pets welcome. Registration is open at bearfootsports.com.
SEWING/QUILTING American Needlepoint Guild Meeting 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., 1st Tuesday each month. The Hilton Head Chapter of the American Needlepoint Guild welcomes anyone, beginner or experienced stitcher, who is interested in needlepoint to join us for stitching, learning and fellowship. For more information, please contact us at hiltonheadislandchapter@needlepoint.org.
Embroidery Guild of America Meeting Second Tuesday of every month, Palmetto Electric Community Room, Hardeeville. The Lowcountry Chapter of the Embroidery Guild of America welcomes anyone, beginner or experienced stitcher, who is interested in any type of embroidery including needlepoint, crossstitch, surface and beaded embroidery, hardanger, bargello, sashiko, etc., to join us for stitching, learning and fellowship. For more information, please contact us at lowcountrychapter@egacarolinas.org.
SPORTS/GAMES
ACBL Duplicate Bridge Club
9:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m., Tuesdays, Carteret Street. Events will be held weekly. Contact Director and Club Manager Susan DeFoe at 843-5972541 for location.
Bridge Club 10 a.m. to noon, Wednesdays, Beaufort Branch Library, 311 Scott Street, Beaufort. Join us if you want to learn a new game, practice your skills, or need more players. Call the Beaufort Branch Library at 843255-6458 for more information.
Beaufort Masters Swim Team 6 to 7 a.m., Monday through Friday, Wardle Family Port Royal YMCA. Coached practices. Ages 18 & older, all skill & speed levels, no prior swim team experience needed. Visit lowcountryswimming.com for more information.
Street Music says ‘Goodbye’ for now
Listen on the Lawn returns June 22
Staff reports Listen on the Lawn is back! The Southern Heat Band will perform from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 22 under the oaks on the lawn of the USCB Center For The Arts at 801 Carteret Street in Beaufort. Based out of the Lowcountry, the Southern Heat Band has a style that harnesses the energetic style of classic rock from the mid 1960s to the 2000s mixed with the vibe and the groove of Cali reggae. The event is free. Attendees are advised to bring lawn chairs, blankets, and your favorite snacks and people — it’s the perfect way to wind down your weekend.
A Worldwide Faith
The Catholic Church is Universal
This cross represents the Christian population around the world.
If each of the one hundred figures in our image represent one percent of the world’s Christian population, the 13 red figures would represent Orthodox Christians, such as the Greek or Russian Orthodox. The 37 green figures would represent Protestant Christians, including 4 Lutherans, 4 Anglicans, 4 Pentecostals, 3 Baptists, 3 Presbyterians, 1 Methodist, and 1 Adventist.
The 50 blue figures remaining would be Catholic Christians.
Even though Catholics are a minority in many parts of the United States, Catholics represent just over half of the world’s Christians. Since Christians make up about a third of the world’s population, about one of every six people in the world is Catholic. This is one of the amazing things about the Catholic Church: it is a worldwide family that unites peoples of all cultures, nations, and backgrounds.
“Catholic” comes from the Greek word that means “universal.”
The Church has been called Catholic since at least the turn of the first century, when Ignatius of Antioch used the term to describe the Church started by Jesus. Just as a “universal remote” works for all televisions, when Ignatius spoke of the Church being universal, he meant that it includes all of humanity, rather than being limited to a particular area or demographic group.
Through the Church, Jesus begins to unite the human race into a new spiritual family.
In the Acts of the Apostles and the rest of the New Testament, one sees the Church spreading across all social and geographic boundaries. Gentiles and Jews became brothers and sisters in faith. Master and servant worshiped side by side. Rich and poor hoped for the same heavenly inheritance. Humanity, broken apart by sin, was starting to be reunited by Jesus into a new family of faith.
Wouldn’t we expect Christ’s Church to be universal?
Jesus commanded his apostles to go make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that he had taught. (Matt 28:19-20) If Jesus has been guiding his Church for two thousand years, wouldn’t we expect the Church to have done as Jesus commanded? Wouldn’t we expect his Church to have spread everywhere, teaching consistently across the centuries and across the world?
This is what one finds in the Catholic Church. The Catholic faith touches the heart of people of all cultures, through all centuries. Unlike most faiths, it is not limited to a particular area, language, or social group. Wherever Catholics travel, they can join their brothers and sisters in worship. The prayers might be in a different language, but they still feel at home, for they are united in the same family of faith.
The rain and a change in venue didn’t keep folks away as the music of Kevin Burt carried on, drawing an audience of all ages during the final spring performance of the Street Music on Paris Avenue concert series was held on Saturday, June 14, 2025, at the Skate Park in Port Royal.
Amber Hewitt/The Island News
EDUCATION
BCSD announces new principals at Battery Creek, Whale Branch
Staff reports
Two administrators have been selected as Beaufort County School District (BCSD) high school principals for the upcoming school year.
The two new principals are: Battery Creek High School – Elandee Thompson, current principal at Beaufort Middle School, replaces Denise Lessard, who has accepted a position in the Student Services division at the District Office. Thompson, locally educated in the Battery Creek cluster, began her 28-year career at BCSD as a science teacher
Staff reports
and has held assistant principal positions at Battery Creek, Beaufort, and May River high schools. Thompson also serves as a South Carolina Department of Education course facilitator for VirtualSC-PD. Thompson holds a doctorate degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Liberty University. She earned a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Administration from the University of South Carolina and a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from University of Phoenix. • Whale Branch Early College
High School – Freda McCanick, an assistant principal at Whale Branch Early College High School replaces Sonji Leach, who has accepted a position in the Student Services division at the District Office. McCanick began her educational career in Charleston County teaching at a 6th Grade Academy. She next served as an English Language Arts teacher and 8th Grade English Department Head in Colleton County. She then returned to Charleston County to teach 7th and 8th grade English. Before serv-
ing as assistant principal at Whale Branch Early College High School for two years, she taught 9th grade English for six years there and served as a district secondary literacy coach. McCanick holds a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction/Adolescent Literacy from Concordia University, as well as a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and School Administration with a concen-
tration in Secondary Administration from the Citadel.
“Every exceptional district has strong school leaders, and I’m excited to see these superb educators be successful in their new roles,” BCSD Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said. “They’re experienced, they understand the importance of creating a district and school culture of moving academic achievement and ensuring our students succeed.”
USCB to host public meeting on Sand Shark 20/20 Project
The University of South Carolina Beaufort will host a public meeting on Thursday, June 26 to share the plans for the Sand Shark 20/20 Project, an initiative to create a multi-purpose arena and sports complex on USCB’s campus. The project will expand educational opportunities, enhance community infrastructure, enrich the community through theater, concerts, symposiums, and support cultural and entertainment growth over the next two decades.
The arena will host athletic events, graduations, public education and entertainment, and is also designed to support emergency services when needed. The project also includes upgraded access and athletic fields to serve both student and public use.
“Sand Shark 20/20 is more than an arena, it’s a generational investment in the Lowcountry,” said USCB Chancellor Dr. Al Panu said in a news release. “This builds on the leadership shown by Beaufort County that helped USCB
become a four-year university 20 years ago. Sand Shark 20/20 will enhance educational opportunities and elevate the quality of life for everyone in Beaufort and Jasper counties, and it would not be possible without the strong
support of our county and state leadership.”
The public meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at The Heritage Classic Foundation Hall, Room 156 in the Hargray Building on USCB’s Bluffton campus. The event is open to all com-
munity members and will feature presentations from university leadership, architects, community and education leaders. Attendees will hear: An overview of USCB’s 20-year successful growth as a four-year institution and its role in community and workforce development, led by Chancellor Panu; A visual presentation of the Sand Shark 20/20 design and campus master plan by Neil Dawson of LS3P Architects; Remarks from USCB Athletic Director Quin Monahan on the university’s recent success, including joining the Sun Belt Conference; Comments from Novant Health leadership on the role USCB plays in recruiting top-tier
EDUCATION BRIEFS
Beaufort’s Estell makes dean’s list, receives degree from Radford
Alyssa Estell of Beaufort graduated from Radford University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology during its Spring 2025 Commencement ceremonies held in May. Estell was also named to the spring 2025 dean's list.
Nearly 1,400 graduates were awarded degrees during two main ceremonies, the graduate commencement and hooding on May 9, in the Dedmon Center and undergraduate commencement on May 10 on Moffet Lawn. This year's graduating class includes 259 first-generation college students, with graduates ranging in age from 18 to 66, and representing eight states, Washington, D.C., and 12 countries outside the United States.
Students are placed on the dean's list if they meet four specific criteria. They must have 12 semester hours of coursework graded A-F; earn GPA's of at least 3 4 for all courses not graded on a pass-fail basis; obtain no grade lower than "C"; and receive no incomplete grades.
Radford (Va.) University is a comprehensive public university of 7,812 students that has received national recognition for many of its undergraduate and graduate academic programs, as well as its sustainability initiatives.
Beaufort’s Constantine graduates from West Alabama
Briana Constantine of Beaufort graduated from the University of West Alabama during spring commencement exercises held in May on campus in Livingston, Ala..
Constantine was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences Comprehensive from the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The spring 2025 graduating class at UWA includes nearly 600 students representing some 19 states across the U.S. and abroad.
Beaufort’s Calcorzi named to Western Carolina Chancellor's List
Jennifer Calcorzi of Beaufort was named to the Western Carolina University Spring 2025 Chancellor's List. Calcorzi was among more than 2 900 students to achieve this honor. To qualify for the Chancellor's List, students must earn a GPA of 3 8 or higher.
Students named to the Chancellor's List are also named to the Dean's List.
As the westernmost institution in the University of North Carolina System, WCU in Cullowhee attracts students from around the globe for its nationally ranked programs, affordability through N.C. Promise and exceptional student support.
2 from Beaufort make Wofford’s Dean's List
Wofford College provost Timothy Schmitz has announced Dean's List students for the spring 2025 semester, including two from Beaufort: Hayden Canaday (29902) and Lucy Schwab (29907).
Wofford College, established in 1854, is a four-year, residential liberal arts college located in Spartanburg. It offers 27 major fields of study to a student body of 1 800 undergraduates. – Staff reports
nursing and healthcare talent to the region; Environmental stewardship insights from Jody Hayward of the Port Royal Sound Foundation; and A historical perspective from John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College and Vice-Chancellor of Suwanee, as well as a member of the Beaufort College Board of Trustees.
Speakers will also discuss how the arena will support local events such as high school graduations, concerts, and cultural programming, positioning it as a community resource for the Lowcountry.
Attendees will be encouraged to ask questions and participate in discussions throughout the event.
USCB wins Peach Belt ‘Connecting Communities ‘Award
Staff reports
The University of South Carolina Beaufort (USCB) has been awarded the 2025 Peach Belt Conference Connecting Communities Award, presented at the league’s annual dinner on Hilton Head Island. This honor recognizes the PBC institution that best exemplifies the NCAA Division II core value of community engagement — building meaningful connections between campus and community.
This year, USCB earned the award for its leadership and impact through the Flybrary Project, an initiative supporting Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport’s children’s book-sharing program. The project was spearheaded by USCB’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) during the spring 2025 semester.
The SAAC organized two successful book col-
the
lection events on campus — one during a Sand Shark softball game on February 13 and another at a basketball doubleheader on February 26. Student-athletes, faculty, staff and Lowcountry sports fans brought children's books to donate to the cause.
In total, the initiative collected 556 books to restock the airport’s Flybrary
shelves for young travelers. USCB’s commitment to the Flybrary Project will continue. Sand Sharks student-athletes will volunteer at the airport from Sept. 6 therough Sept. 8, distributing books to traveling families. This is the first time USCB has received the Connecting Communities Award.
An artist’s rendering Sand Shark 20/20 Project design. Courtesy of LS3P Architects
From left, USC Beaufort Chancellor Al M. Panu, Athletic Director Quin Monahan, Deputy Director of Athletics Genia Montford and Director of Athletic Compliance Shawn Becker received
"Connecting Communities" Award from Peach Belt Conference Commissioner David R. Brunk (in center).
Photo courtesy of USCB
Provided by Wells Fargo Advisors
Your investment portfolio may need variety to help fit your needs. Too much of one kind of asset, or too little, and you’re likely to find yourself without the pieces that can potentially help you meet your long-term financial goals. The trick is to guard against making decisions based on trends or biases you might not be aware you have.
Tracie McMillion, head of Global Asset Allocation for Wells Fargo Investment Institute, took a closer look at some of the biases that can cloud your thinking:
Identify your biases
Even savvy and knowledgeable investors can be blind to their own biases — tendencies that can thwart smart decision-making. Common investment biases include: Sector bias. All too often, professionals gravitate toward stocks in industries that they’re most familiar with. Doctors, for instance, may load up on health care stocks.
Risk: You may lose out on potential earnings in other industries and unduly expose yourself to downturns in industry-specific markets.
• Consideration: The key is to diversify among sectors. Work with your investment professionals to gain an understanding of how assets in various sectors may potentially help a portfolio perform better as a whole over the long term.
Company bias. From favoring a family business to maintaining too much loyalty to a long-time employer, this bias can weigh down a portfolio with one company’s stock.
Risk: Sinking too much of your retirement savings into one brand can leave you exposed to company-specific volatility risk that can be sizable. It can even expose your portfolio to the possibility that that one company may cease to exist.
• Consideration: Diversification may potentially help buffer the effects of severe problems at an individual company level.
Bias toward recent events. Called “recency bias,” this tendency relates to how investors respond to everyday market activity. With investment information and the news of national and international events at our fingertips 24/7, many of us are very tuned in to what’s happening in the world — and in the financial markets.
As human beings, we tend to project what has just happened into the future, reacting to upward and downward trends by buying and selling stocks as if yesterday’s good or bad news will continue into the future.
Risk: Letting short-term news drive your investment decisions could cause you to abandon your personalized, longterm investment plan.
• Consideration: Self-discipline. Work with your financial team to create a personal investment philosophy statement — and stick to it. This customized strategy should account for your desired asset mix, risk preferences, liquidity needs, and time horizon. And it can help you keep your cool when the headlines start to heat up.
Home country bias. Investors — be they American, Italian, or Brazilian — typically feel most comfortable when they choose to invest in companies headquartered in their home countries. After all, they’re usually the companies that such investors read about in local or national media and the companies that they do business with as consumers most often.
• Risk: Home country bias may translate to missed investment opportunities. Heavy reliance on U.S. stocks, bonds, and real estate can keep you from expanding your investment strategy to take advantage of global investment opportunities. Consideration: We believe it’s a good idea to see to it that most of your assets have some global component. And remember that while currency exchange rates may introduce risks to your portfolio, they also may pave the way toward enhanced returns.
Some additional caveats
In addition to these biases, we see other habits and attitudes that can affect our clients’ portfolios. You may not be susceptible to all of these tendencies, but being aware of them can help keep your investment strategy on track:
• Overconfidence. Do you think you can beat the Street? Striving to micromanage your portfolio stock-by-stock or trying to outsmart the market in a short time frame is a common, but often flawed, tactic in our view. Instead, trust your plan and don’t try to anticipate short-term market movements.
• Aversion to loss. Is there an asset you just can’t bear to sell because it has lost value? Well, with each passing day, you could be putting off the inevitable, and in our view, you may be robbing yourself of access to investment dollars that could be working for you elsewhere. Ask yourself if it’s time to move on.
• Anchoring. This tactic comes into play when you hold on to an investment because you
are comparing its current value to a reference value, such as a top-dollar price point from the past. Anchoring thinking might go something like this: “I just want the stock price to return to the high it hit two years ago before I sell.” But by mooring yourself to a potentially unrealistic expectation, you may find that your investment plan doesn’t move forward.
• Favoritism in asset classes. Are you showing preference for one type of asset over others? Do you have “rules” against investing in certain asset types? Showing favoritism may unnecessarily exclude a choice — including a new investment strategy — that could serve you well. Our goal is to help clients make their investment plans personal without allowing such unintentional biases and tendencies to creep in. The overall solution comes back to self-control during volatile times. Work with your investment team to maintain objectivity, manage risk, and stay focused on long-term goals rather than toward short-term investment — or emotional — rewards.
More about creating your personal investing philosophy
To help provide focus and direction, every investor should consider establishing a personal investment philosophy. For couples, the philosophy statement should reflect their mutual investment goals and their unified strategy as a household. Here’s a short list of action items that can get you started on formulating your personal investment strategy.
• Determine how much cash you need to hold to your commitment to your long-term investment plan. Before and during retirement, you may need to tap cash holdings to pay for living expenses, emergencies, or other major planned expenses, such as a son’s or daughter’s wedding. We call the amount of cash that you may need to access “your sleep-well number” — the figure that may allow you to feel more at ease regarding your investment plan. Commit to diversification of your investments. Not to sound repetitive, but this tactic can help you deal with market ups and downs. Just as you need an overcoat in winter and a swimsuit in summer, various assets simply tend to perform better during different economic cycles. So position yourself for different financial seasons with a di-
versified combination of fixed income, equity holdings, real assets, and alternative investment strategies.
Actively manage risk. Don’t forget to revisit and rebalance your portfolio about once a year and when you experience a major life event. Reallocation can help your portfolio stay on plan and reduce risk or enhance return potential when markets have moved significantly.
Weave goals into your overall plan. Many investors who have significant resources also have aspirations of making their world a better place.
To understand how you spend your investment dollars, consider asking a financial advisor to run screens on your complete portfolio, including investments, charitable trusts, and asset transfers. Then collaborate on any adjustments needed to help the overarching investment plan operate within your customized preferences.
Global Investment Strategy is a division of Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc. (WFII).
WFII is a registered investment adviser and wholly owned subsidiary of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., a bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company.
This article has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not a solicitation or an offer to buy any security or instrument or to participate in any trading strategy. Individuals need to make their own decisions based on their specific investment objectives, financial circumstances, and tolerance for risk. Please contact your financial, tax, and legal advisors regarding your specific situation.
All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.
Stock markets, especially foreign markets, are volatile. Stocks may fluctuate in response to general economic and market conditions, the prospects of individual companies, and industry sectors. Foreign investing has additional risks including those associated with currency fluctuation, political and economic instability, and different accounting standards. These risks are heightened in emerging and frontier markets.
Equity securities are subject to market risk, which means their value may fluctuate in response to general economic and market conditions and the perception of individual issuers. Investments in equity securities are generally more volatile than other types of securities.
Investments in fixed-income securities are subject to market, interest rate, credit and other risks. Bond prices fluctuate inversely to changes in interest rates. Therefore, a general rise in interest rates can cause a bond’s price to fall.
Credit risk is the risk that an issuer will default on payments of interest and/or principal. This risk is heightened in lower rated bonds. If sold prior to maturity, fixed income securities are subject to market risk. All fixed income investments may be worth less than their original cost upon redemption or maturity. Asset allocation and diversification are investment methods used to help manage risk. They do not guarantee investment returns or
eliminate risk of loss including in a declining market. All investing involves risk including the possible loss of principal.
There are special risks associated with an investment in real estate, including the possible illiquidity of the underlying properties, credit risk, interest rate fluctuations, and the impact of varied economic conditions.
Alternative investments, such as hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, managed futures, private capital, real assets and real estate funds, are not appropriate for all investors. They are speculative, highly illiquid, and are designed for long-term investment, and not as trading vehicle. These funds carry specific investor qualifications which can include high income and net-worth requirements as well as relatively high investment minimums. The high expenses associated with alternative investments must be offset by trading profits and other income which may not be realized. Unlike mutual funds, alternative investments are
VOICES
Editor’s Note: The opinions of our columnists in the Voices section are not necessarily the opinions of The Island News
Wilson needs to go back to law school to study Constitution
Maybe S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson, the MAGA-acolyte who wants to be governor so badly he can taste it, needs to go back to law school.
After hearing his so-called warning about June 14 plans for peaceful protests in a dozen places across the state, he appears to need a refresher on constitutional law, which specifically protects the right to assemble peaceably (First Amendment – right along with freedom of the press.)
Here’s what Wilson said as the media focused on unrest in California brought on by authoritarian immigration raids: “If you attack law enforcement, destroy public or private property, or endanger lives in our state, you will be arrested, charged, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Well, duh. Anyone who does anything like that should go to jail – including insurrectionists
Last week seemed to be endlessly focused on the upcoming military parade honoring the Army’s 250th birthday that coincided with the birthday of the 47th president of this country.
People on the left side of the political spectrum were enraged about the amount of money being spent for this gala (an estimated $45 million), especially given the hue and cry by this administration regarding budget cutting. They asserted that this spectacle was strictly use of the armed service men as a prop to glorify 47 on his birthday.
Those on the right justified this “parade” by espousing what they saw as “patriotism” for the armed forces protecting our country. Furthermore, they said, this was ample proof that the left doesn’t hold the same kind of respect for those in uniform as does the right.
Just another day in the park, so to speak.
But let’s take a moment to parse all of this just a bit. The parade plan was contested early on because 47 insisted upon having tanks as part of the grandeur. Those opposed offered some very good reasons,
who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 2021 – the very same insurrectionists who were pardoned by a man who seems to want to be a king, President Donald Trump. But that’s not what’s going on with Wilson’s bombast. He has a completely different agenda. He craves the spotlight and wants to fuel fear in South Carolina as the country deals with citizens who are more and more disenchanted with the over-the-top zeal of federal immigration stormtroopers across the nation.
Wilson is trying to jump on Trump’s coattails to whip up a South Carolina political base for his gubernatorial run by appearing to be a strong man. Instead, he’s a straw man who is wrongly threatening people who want to exercise the freedom that patriots fought and died for to shrug off a tyrannical king.
Let’s be clear: Donald Trump is not a king. He was elected by 49 8% of American voters. Current polling shows a majority of Americans disapprove of his job performance on a range just the kind of issues that cause people to protest. So the MAGA-enthused Wilson might also need to go back to law school. He might also learn from some former Republican presidents about the ideals of freedom and democracy.
President George W. Bush (2001-2009): “You can't put democracy and freedom back
into a box.”
President George H.W. Bush (1989-1993): “Freedom is not the same as independence. Americans will not support those who seek independence in order to replace a far-off tyranny with a local despotism. They will not aid those who promote a suicidal nationalism based upon ethnic hatred.”
President Ronald Reagan (1981-1989): "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it and then hand it to them with the well fought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don’t do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once
I just love a parade
not the least of which dealt with the possible destruction of the roads as well as the Memorial Bridge. But even more important, what about the impression this would make?
Tanks with soldiers marching behind reek of the kind of posturing associated with China, Russia and North Korea.
Those critics who see 47 as pandering to (craving, say some) a dictatorship declared this kind of display underscores that contention.
Roughly 7 000 troops were to march from Arlington, some wearing uniforms that represented the major wars of our country. A parachute team was scheduled to jump into the Ellipse and hand a flag to the president. However, the storms predicted a possible upending of that.
That troops had been deployed to Los Angeles a few
days before acted as a backdrop in the minds of those who objected to the parade. This was a messy situation to begin with, and the sight of troops and tanks in the nation’s capital only underscored the scenes that had occupied the television screen night after night the week before.
The idea that active-duty U.S. Marines as well as the California National Guard had been sent by the president, in defiance of Governor Newsom, was a divisive tactic at best, resulting in what is sure to become a legal battle.
It’s worthwhile to note that the Vietnam Veterans of America refused to participate, saying they refused to be a prop.
Sadly, what should have been a celebration of the Army’s legacy became a politicized tug of war. Had the parade been held on any other day, would it have been received differently?
My guess is no, and my reasons are numerous. First, let’s remember that this is the man who called those in the service “suckers and losers.” He stood at the graves of many who gave their lives and delivered these words to a retired general. And speaking of
generals, how many has he simply dismissed, tossed aside?
It was this man who ridiculed statesman John McCain by saying that he (47) didn’t have any time for those who were captured.
And his trip to Fort Bragg days before the parade? Listen closely to his speech because it is nothing more than a regurgitation of his campaign speeches.
That he is seen as a draft dodger certainly doesn’t affirm his dedication as Commander-in-Chief … and this is no digression.
was like in America when men were free."
President Gerald Ford (19741977): “Remember that none of us are more than caretakers of this great country. Remember that the more freedom you give to others, the more you will have for yourself. Remember that without law there can be no liberty. And remember, as well, the rich treasures you brought from whence you came, and let us share your pride in them.”
President Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961): "Freedom under law is like the air we breathe."
Those five leaders were in a Republican Party that had honor. The current GOP in Washington seem like zealots mixed with lemmings.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send it to feedback@statehousereport.com.
When I began this piece, I was floundering for a title. This happens often. I do admit, however, that early on, the song “I Love a Parade” had lodged itself in my brain. So I decided to do a little research as to the origins of this melody.
What I found was this: "I Love a Parade" is not a song from a single musical. It's a popular song written by Ted Koehler with music by Harold Arlen, and was originally introduced in the 1931 "Cotton Club Revue."
But, dear reader, perhaps the best definition is that which follows.
Hopefully
ANDY BRACK
“I Love a Parade” is a Merrie Melodies cartoon from Hugh Harmon-Rudolf Ising Productions, and distributed by Warner Bros. The title tune is played throughout the short with various circus acts going on. You can draw your own conclusions.
I didn’t rain on your parade.
Carol Lucas is a retired high school teacher and a Lady’s Island resident. She is the author of the recently published “A Breath Away: One Woman’s Journey Through Widowhood.”
CAROL LUCAS
VOICES
Editor’s Note: The opinions of our columnists in the Voices section are not necessarily the opinions of The Island
The only way to get back to winning?
It is Tuesday and I’m sitting in a small, pleasant room lined with bookshelves. The room also comes with a sword, a shako, and a computer on which my friend, John Warley, writes. For those who may not know, a shako is a conical, helmet-like cap that we once wore (at dress parades) at The Citadel. John tells me he has just replaced the black feathers that attach to the brim ($88) and, for a moment, we think back on those Friday afternoons where we wore uniforms not unlike Gebhard von Blucher’s Prussians at Waterloo.
But this afternoon our focus is football — actually the changing nature of football — and John is a student of the game having been the starting center on Citadel’s varsity in 1966
“It’s about money,” he says.
SCOTT GRABER
Williams-Brice (USC), but $20 million won’t be available in Charleston.
(in football) for the ACC and the SEC.”
the Buckeyes, under coach Woody Hayes, won.
“It wasn’t much,” he says, “But hey, in 1966 $17 would fund a pretty good night in downtown Charleston.”
There is litigation still underway, but cash payments — $500 000 to $800 000 for a serviceable quarterback — will start on July 1. This kind of money is, apparently, available from gate receipts at Death Valley (Clemson) and at
And so we begin talking about the $20 million that many programs — not the Citadel — will divide among their roster. Although he got a full scholarship, the only cash he got was $17 a month for “laundry.”
But the real problems for The Citadel are the “portal” which allows a player to transfer to another college without the penalty of having to sit out a year, and something called NIL (name, image and likeness), another way to pay players.
John then tells me a story about a baseball player, a very talented pitcher, who was recruited by a small Upstate college. After this pitcher had a fabulous year finishing with an 8-2 record, he was offered $200 000 by a Southeastern Conference school with a history of winning the SEC championship.
“He took the money,” John says.
“The portal and the NIL mean that schools like The Citadel, Wofford, Coastal Carolina and Furman effectively become farm teams
There is also the looming prospect of a playoff scheme that expands the current 12 team format to 16 teams. One proposal is for the Big 10 and the SEC to have 8 guaranteed slots in the playoff, with the ACC and the Big Twelve getting a total of 4 slots, with Group of Six Conference getting one slot.
This then reduces the rest of the college football world to 3 at-large slots.
These extra games — played in the month of December — will bring even more money into these top-tier, player-buying, semi-pro teams.
I told John that when I was 11, my father returned to Ohio State to get his doctorate. Every Saturday he would work in his lab giving me and my brother his tickets to the game. And almost every Saturday
This win made me and 80 000 other Buckeyes fans delirious. It created a glow that lasted the entire week. I would talk about the game with my young pals, discussing Howard ‘Hop Along’ Cassidy’s 40yard run right through the middle of Purdue’s Boilermakers. It also created the notion that Ohio, as a place, was better than, say, Indiana. A win in Columbus was a huge anti-depressant injection for the entire state.
This happened almost every Saturday in the Fall; and often OSU would spend New Year’s Day in Pasadena. In those days the Rose Bowl was more or less reserved for Ohio State or Michigan.
“But when you consistently lose,” John replied, “this is huge disappointment for the team, and the school and the alumni. It’s depressing.”
“I think the only solution is for these small colleges to play football like the Ivy League where there are no scholarships.”
“I know The Citadel alumni will raise hell about this,” he continued, “But it’s the only way to get back to winning, at least in football.”
The Ivy League does not have scholarships, or deals with ESPN, and their “student-athletes” are indeed students, some majoring in Pre-medicine as opposed to Hospitality Theory or Hotel/Motel Art. All of which reminded me of The Citadel’s team in 1966 when John slept in a bunk bed, ate in the mess hall, and took on Vanderbilt, East Carolina and West Virginia on Saturdays.
Scott Graber is a lawyer, novelist, veteran columnist and longtime resident of Port Royal. He can be reached at cscottgraber@gmail.com.
How congregations become targets for child abuse
By Teresa Huizar
Arecent Washington Post investigation uncovered how a Virginia youth minister allegedly used his position to abuse young boys for decades. Despite repeated allegations, churches failed to act, allowing him to move from congregation to congregation and continue preying on new victims.
This isn't an isolated incident. It's part of a systemic problem that persists because too many faith communities lack clear, consistent policies to protect children.
Media scrutiny and reforms have focused primarily on priests or head ministers. To effectively prevent abuse, churches must account for others with access to children.
Many youth ministers are chosen for their charisma and passion
Three cheers for the Beaufort Garden Club
Our community owes a huge "Thank you" to the ladies of the Beaufort Garden Club, which just happens to be the second largest garden club in the state.
for working with kids, not their background in child safety. One survey of 30 000 churches found that 40% don't perform adequate background checks on youth ministers, volunteers, and staff.
The Post investigation highlights how abusers take advantage of these loopholes. The youth minister built trust with families, gaining access to children under the guise of mentorship and spiritual guidance. Interactions escalated over time. Casual conversations turned into questions about sexual habits. Routine meetings became overnight trips, private "Coke dates" in parked cars -- and, eventually, sexual abuse.
It's a familiar pattern. Child sexual abuse is almost always preceded by grooming behavior. In a study of more than 1 000 victims, perpetrators employed an average of 14 tactics per case -- from
Their “Garden A Day” tours were initiated in the mid-1990s and have been a source of pleasure for thousands since then. So kudos to the Club itself and to the homeowners who worked so hard to put their gardens in A-1 shape for the tours.
Their efforts have been a gift that keeps on giving and I hope they never stop presenting this gift to us each year to celebrate National Garden Club week.
– Edie Rodgers, Beaufort
Another poem
Condoning, normalizing
Arrogantly patronizing
Explaining in a twisted
Confused, absurd
Tone of voice
Complicit in the scam
Assisting in the grift
Collusion every time
Propping up the man
A demented lunatic
Like a dead El Cid tied
Up on s horse
They lead him on through All the people to do
The devil's work
gift-giving and casual touching to isolating children.
Seeking to talk about sexual desires with children is a major red flag. Such conversations are six times more common in instances of child sexual abuse. Yet in many churches, wanting to discuss "sexual sin" with youth ironically may be viewed as a positive qualification for a youth minister.
Churches need to be proactive. Comprehensive background checks, fingerprinting, and reference verification should be non-negotiable for anyone with access to children.
Minimizing one-on-one adultchild interactions is one of the most effective ways to prevent abuse. Routine activities should be observable, interruptible, and supervised by multiple adults.
Churches must require that staff and volunteers report
suspected abuse directly to law enforcement. Involving trained professionals immediately avoids any conflicts of interest. Unfortunately, predators often remain in positions of trust even after allegations surface. Many exploit the Christian ethic of forgiveness to persuade religious institutions that they're reformed and deserve a second chance.
Predators don't stop because one door closes. They move to the next unsuspecting community. When an employee or volunteer leaves amid allegations, churches should respond to reference checks as candidly as the law allows.
Families have an equally vital role to play. Parents need to be comfortable talking honestly with their children about sex and personal safety.
Predators take advantage of silence. If children aren't comfort-
And as they move forward
Trying to save themselves
From future wrath
They'll always be known
As a maga sycophant
– Carol Conner
Trump brings back Confederate Army slaveowning generals
Just when I thought Trump could not surprise me anymore, well, I am surprised.
According to a story in Rolling Stone, June 10, 2025, Trump announced that he would be restoring names of forts changed in recent years back to names of Confederate Army slave-owning generals.
The generals who fought to overthrow the
able asking questions at home, they'll seek answers elsewhere -- possibly from adults with bad intentions. If a child is uncomfortable talking to their parents about their body or relationships, it becomes harder to ask for help when they need it.
Youth ministers are an important part of many churches. But religious institutions must close the loopholes that abusers exploit. That will ensure religious spaces can remain places of refuge, rather than hunting grounds for predators.
Teresa Huizar is CEO of Washington, D.C.-based National Children's Alliance (NCA), the nation's network of nearly 1,000 Children's Advocacy Centers, providing justice and healing through services to child victims of abuse and their families. Find your local Children's Advocacy Center at nationalchildrensalliance.org.
U.S. government and lost. The generals who fought to uphold the right to enslave people.
The forts whose current names are Liberty, Barfoot, Cavazos, Eisenhower, Novosel, Johnson, Walker, and GreggAdams will now be called Bragg, Pickett, Hood, Gordon, Rucker, Polk, A.P. Hill, and Lee. Why should Dwight Eisenhower's name be taken off a fort so former slave owner, Confederate General and Governor of Georgia, John Gordon, be reinstated? It is because Trump is a stone cold racist. Trump has evidently developed an interest in Civil War history. He must be trying to uphold the Lost Cause of the South. For some, it is never too late to fight the War of Northern Aggression. All over again.
– Terry Gibson, Beaufort
STATE NEWS
SC death row inmate serving 2 death sentences executed
Stephen Stanko convicted of killing girlfriend, friend over two-day period in 2005
By Skylar Laird SCDailyGazette.com
COLUMBIA — Inmate Stephen Stanko, who was sentenced to death twice in separate cases, was executed Friday, June 13 2025, by lethal injection.
The 57-year-old was declared dead at 6:34 p.m., 27 minutes after the execution began. He was the sixth inmate put to death since the state resumed executions in September.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in a Friday afternoon order. Gov. Henry McMaster denied Stanko’s request for clemency Friday evening, as the Republican chief executive has for every inmate sent to the death chamber in the past nine months.
The curtain opened on the death chamber right at 6 p.m., the three media witnesses present said.
Stanko, strapped to a gurney with his arms out to either side and a blanket pulled over his chest, looked at everyone in the witness room. Along with the three reporters sat two members of victim Henry Turner’s family, one of victim Laura Ling’s family, a member of Stanko’s family, the solicitor from the office that prosecuted the case and one of Stanko’s attorneys.
Stanko’s attorney, Lindsey Vann, read his final statement, in which he apologized to the families of his victims and said his crime did not represent the sum of his life but the worst day of it.
“I have been a death row inmate for over 20 years now, and in that period of time, I have been the product of the worst day of my life,” Stanko wrote in his statement. “That is what happens. We live every day with the knowledge and understanding and responsibility of what happened.”
“For my victims and their families and for my own family, I have done everything possible to honor them over this time,” the statement continued.
Shortly before 6:07 p.m., a woman’s voice announced that the first dose of pentobarbital, a deadly sedative used for executions in the state, could begin.
Stanko mouthed something inaudible to Vann, who blew him a kiss. Looking at the victims’ family members, his mouth again moved inaudibly, witnesses said.
For about a minute, Stanko breathed deeply, his lips puffing out. The color drained from his face and hands. All movement seemed to stop at 6:07 p.m., witnesses said.
At 6:20 p.m., the woman’s voice announced a second dose of pentobarbital could begin. This announcement was not included in previous executions but was added for transparency after prison officials confirmed in federal court this week that the state’s lethal injection protocol involves two fatal doses of the drug, said spokeswoman Chrysti Shain.
A doctor entered the room at 6:33 p.m. and declared Stanko dead a minute later.
Stanko’s last meal, eaten Wednesday, was fried fish, fried shrimp, crab cakes, a baked potato, carrots, fried okra, cherry pie, banana pudding and sweet tea, Shain said.
Appeals After Stanko’s attorneys unsuccessfully petitioned the state Supreme Court for more information about the state Department of Corrections’ execution protocols, Stanko chose to die by lethal injection. His decision was to avoid the electric chair, which legislators made the default in 2021, and not because his concerns about other methods were assuaged, he wrote in a statement attached to the decision.
Stanko’s attorneys filed a sep-
arate appeal, this one in federal court, raising concerns about all three of the state’s allowed methods of execution: lethal injection, electrocution and firing squad.
The firing squad, in particular, has been under scrutiny by the state’s death row lawyers and some legislators after an autopsy of the last inmate executed in the state, Mikal Mahdi, showed two bullet holes instead of the expected three. The bullets also appeared not to have hit Mahdi squarely in the heart, as they had for a previous inmate, according to the autopsy report.
The marksmen, shooting at a target 15 feet away, might have intentionally missed the target to cause more suffering for Mahdi, who was put to death for killing a police officer, the attorneys claimed in their filing.
The state corrections department argued two bullets struck Mahdi in the same spot and followed the same path through his body. The bullets did hit his heart, the marksmen didn’t miss, and the target was properly placed, the state has said in legal filings.
Next, Stanko’s attorneys argued the state’s use of two “massive” doses of the sedative pentobarbital in at least two of the three previous lethal injection executions also suggests something went wrong. One inmate, Freddie Owens, declined an autopsy for religious reasons.
Attorneys for the state have said this is the state’s protocol and nothing has gone amiss in any executions carried out since September.
A federal judge declined to intervene. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel wrote in an order Wednesday he would not rule on firing squad arguments since that was not Stanko’s selected method. Furthermore, he saw no cause for intervention based on the previous lethal injection executions, he wrote.
The crime
Stanko’s crime spree began April 7 2005, at the Murrell’s Inlet home he shared with his girlfriend, librarian Laura Ling.
Ling’s 15-year-old daughter woke at about 1 a.m. to find Stanko standing over her in her bedroom. She ran to her mother’s bedroom, where she found Ling incapacitated and bleeding on the floor beside the bed, according to court records.
Stanko tied up, beat and raped Ling’s daughter, then choked Ling to death. He slit the daughter’s throat and left her for dead before packing a suitcase, stealing Ling’s credit card and jewelry, and fleeing in Ling’s car, according to court records.
Around 4 a.m., Stanko called a friend, Henry Turner. Stanko lied saying his father had died and asked Turner if he could spend the night.
Turner agreed and called his partner, who lived in Charlotte, to tell her. He ended the call in his usual style, saying, “I love you, brown eyes,” Cecelia Kotsipias later testified in court.
The next morning, after getting the two of them breakfast, Turner went to shave his face in the mirror. Using a pillow as a silencer, Stanko came up behind Turner and shot him in the back, according to court documents.
Stanko then struck Turner and fatally shot him in the chest.
Stanko took Turner’s truck, stole money from his bank account and drove to Columbia. There, he spent an evening posing as a businessman and buying people drinks at bars before taking off for Georgia.
In Augusta, Stanko told a woman he met that he was in town for The Masters golf tournament. A charming man, as people who knew him later testified, he con-
vinced her to let him stay at her house.
Stanko stayed there until April 12, before leaving abruptly in the middle of the night. After his departure, the woman recognized Stanko’s photograph in the newspaper alongside a headline about Turner’s death. She called the police, who apprehended Stanko before he left the city, according to court records.
Back home, Stanko had a reputation as a scam artist. Over the years, he was charged and convicted more than a dozen times for stealing money, computers and cars from employers and falsely posing as a lawyer.
Stanko also had served a prison sentence for kidnapping his then-girlfriend with the intent to kill her. While serving that sentence, he helped write the book “Living in Prison: A History of the Correctional System with an Insider’s View,” alongside researchers Wayne Gillespie and Gordon A. Crews.
Stanko was released from prison for that crime about a year before committing those that would land him on death row.
Stanko never claimed innocence, instead arguing he had brain damage that caused him to commit the killings. Two separate juries, in 2006 and 2009, convicted Stanko of murdering Ling and Turner. The juries recommended death sentences for each of the crimes.
It’s Turner’s killing for which Stanko was executed Friday. His appeals in the other case were ongoing.
Stephen Stanko
Growing up, Stanko was smart and well-liked. Although his father could be harsh and his parents weren’t particularly involved in his life, Stanko was outgoing and cheerful at school, teachers and neighbors recalled during his trials.
He was a member of the honor society, Beta Club, and junior engineering club, as well as an escort at school pageants and vice president of the school’s Spanish club. He placed in a regional competition for the Olympics of the Mind, in which students would participate in academic challenges, former teachers said.
“He was, I think, a role model to the other students,” one of his middle school teachers, Barbara Poland, testified. “I think the other students really did look up to him.”
As an adult, Stanko remained intelligent and charming, his former girlfriend, Elizabeth Buckner, testified. But she saw a darker side to him, too, in the four years they were together, she said.
Stanko lied to Buckner repeatedly about work, telling her he’d been promoted when really he’d been fired or saying he was starting a side business selling cars without telling her the cars were stolen.
Stanko had an “inability to speak the truth about anything,” Buckner testified.
“He ran into trouble in every position that he held,” she said.
When Buckner confronted Stanko, he tried to knock her out using a combination of chemicals. When that didn’t work, he tied her up. He pleaded guilty to kidnapping and assault and battery with the intent to kill, according to court documents.
Henry Turner
Turner was a jester, both literally and figuratively.
He was a member of the Royal Order of Jesters, an invite-only faction of Shriners for which Turner would don clown makeup and the distinctive fez to ride tiny cars in parades. He was always making jokes and acting eccentric, friends and family testified during Stan-
STEPHEN STANKO’S LAST STATEMENT What must be said first and foremost is to Christina and the rest of Laura’s family and
In my early adulthood, I volunteered at the orphanage, I saved a drowning child in Augusta, I coached youth baseball. I was not what people see me as now — in this moment. On death row, I have tutored inmates, some are now in general population. Some will possibly be released. I have written books. I have lectured to college students via telephone across the United States. My years have shown me the good that exists in others.
NONE of this is meant to brag. It is only meant to show that I am NOT ONLY what people see me as now — in this moment.
In my life as a free person, I was raised Catholic, spent years in catechism and Sunday school, and learned the Bible from cover to cover, chapter and verse. I have always believed in God.
In prison — on death row — I saw faith in volunteers who came in and showed us God’s love. I experienced faith in looking at myself with my past and present and later in eternity. In here, I have seen, felt, and now have a relationship with God. I am not what people see me as now — in this moment.
We execute people in this country for moments in their life. For over 20 years, people have only seen these moments and judge us for those alone. I have lived approximately twenty thousand nine hundred and seventythree days (20,793) but I am judged solely for one (1).
I am NOT trying to lessen what has happened. There is no way for me to EVER make up for what happened. This has been my life for over 20 years.
If I spent another 20,793 days apologizing, it would not be enough for that day, but that was NOT my only day.
If my death helps anyone, that is one thing, but once I am gone, I hope that Christina, Laura’s family and Henry’s family can all forgive me. The execution may help them. Forgiveness will heal them.
To Lindsey and the Joes, to Charles and Emily, to Jill and Cierra and Rosalind, Ali, Briana AND EVERYBODY who fought, I could not have been able to have ever known better people. You became family.
Jeff. I love you. No man or woman has had a better brother.
Charles. The same. No man or woman could have found a better brother.
Source: South Carolina Department of Corrections
ko’s 2009 trial. Turner, who served as a master sergeant in the Air Force, loved to wear a pair of red, white and blue joggers wherever he went, said his partner Kotsipias. At first, she asked him to wear something else, but eventually, the pants grew on her.
“Everywhere we’d go, he got attention by these pants, and I grew to love them, too,” she said.
Turner loved fishing, and he passed down the passion to his three children and six grandchildren, his children testified. When his daughter, Debbie Gallogly, needed a break from the chaos of two younger brothers, her dad would take her out on the lake.
“We don’t have his laughter, or his humor, or his intelligence, or his compassion,” Gallogly testified. “All of that is erased when you lose a family member, and to lose someone the way that he died — it hurts my heart so bad to know the circumstances surrounding my father’s death.”
At the time of his death, Turner had been working for Stanko to make extra money so he could take Kotsipias on a cruise, she said.
“We had a wonderful life together, and Stephen Stanko has ruined our lives,” Kotsipias said. “He has ruined it entirely, because Henry would have been living today. We would have been fishing, we would have been singing, we would have been having a wonderful time together.”
Laura Ling Christina Ling remembered her mother as a hard worker. After divorcing Christina Ling’s father, Laura Ling worked a job at a library, raised her three children and earned a master’s degree in library science all at once, Christina Ling testified in 2006
“It was tough, but she did it, and she was so successful,” Christina Ling said.
Laura Ling also helped at her
friend Rebecca Cahly’s greenhouse, often working harder than even Cahly herself for little or no pay. Really, Ling would ride her children’s bikes to help because she liked the time she could spent chatting with Cahly, the friend testified.
A talented seamstress, Ling handmade Halloween costumes and Christmas stockings so elaborate that Cahly, a seamstress herself, said Ling must have put more than 100 hours of work into them.
“I wish that I would have asked her to teach me how to sew and stuff before she passed away, because I’m not very good at it,” Christina Ling testified.
Laura Ling loved playing tennis and watching movies with her children. When Cahly went through a difficult pregnancy, Ling made a habit of calling her up and, instead of saying hello, yelling into the receiver, “I love you.” If Christina was around, she’d join in, Cahly testified.
A couple years before Laura Ling was killed, she and her daughter went through a rough patch, spurred in part by Ling’s preoccupation with her other children, her job and her degree. Hoping to work it out, Christina Ling wrote her mother a letter that she later found buried in the bottom of her mother’s purse.
“You have been my mom and on some occasions even my dad, my tennis mate, my friend, my mentor through the good and the bad,” Ling wrote in the letter, which she read in court. “To be honest, I’m sure we have got a lot of bad ahead of us, but just know that I’m going to be sticking it out there with you and that I love you very much.”
Skylar Laird covers the South Carolina Legislature and criminal justice issues. Originally from Missouri, she previously worked for The Post and Courier’s Columbia bureau. S.C Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
STATE NEWS
Thousands attend SC ‘No Kings’ protests
By Jessica Holdman SCDailyGazette.com
COLUMBIA — Thousands of South Carolinians who oppose the Trump administration poured onto the Statehouse grounds as part of a national Flag Day protest in all 50 states.
The coast-to-coast “No Kings” protests on Saturday, held on a day celebrating the official adoption of the American flag by the Second Continental Congress, coincided with President Donald Trump’s birthday and a major military parade on the streets of Washington, D.C., to honor the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.
In addition to the rally in South Carolina’s Capital City, thousands attended similar events across the Palmetto State, including Greenville in the Upstate, Charleston and Summerville in the Lowcountry and the Charlotte suburb of Rock Hill, area media outlets reported. There were also events in Beaufort and Bluffton in Beaufort County.
The protests went on with no reports of violence or acts of destruction despite earlier concerns and a warning issued ahead of the events by S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson. Protesters in Columbia filled the lawn and lined the street from corner to corner in front of the Statehouse as afternoon temperatures climbed to nearly 90 degrees. They waived American flags and hoisted signs with slogans on a host of issues, including deportation of immigrants, cuts to Medicaid, threats to civil liberties
Thousands attend a protest at the South Carolina Statehouse Saturday, June 14, 2025, as part of the coast-to-coast “No Kings” grassroots protest event in opposition to the Trump administration. Jessica Holdman/ S.C. Daily Gazette
and democracy and attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.
For Dr. Tessa Gonzalez, her 8-year-old daughter, Ana Sofia, and concerns over potential cuts to Medicaid were her motivation for attending the demonstration.
The young girl has a rare genetic mutation, known as CASK, and requires a specialized wheelchair and nutritional formula.
“My daughter, 100% depends on Medicaid to provide the medicine,
equipment, everything that she needs to lead a happy, healthy life,” said Gonzalez, a pediatrician from Elgin. “So it’s essential.”
With her wheelchair and other equipment, Ana Sofia is able to go to school and attend events in the community. She particularly enjoys swimming and splashing in the water, Gonzalez said. And she loves music. Her favorite song is “APT” by Bruno Mars.
The Gonzalez family carries pri-
vate insurance to help cover Ana Sofia’s cost of care. But Medicaid covers things private insurance does not, like the $20,000 wheelchair she needs and which has to be upgraded every few years.
“She would just have to be in the house and never out, never doing anything,” Gonzalez said. “She has a sister and a family who absolutely loves her. I don’t know what we’d do without her.”
Events like the protest on Sat-
urday lets the family know they’re not alone in their concerns, Gonzalez said.
“There are so many of us who are feeling similarly,” she said. “But we have to make our voices heard, whether that’s calling our representatives, coming out to rallies. We can’t just sit by and let all of this happen. We have to take action.”
Kevin Brown, of Columbia, attended the protest Saturday in support of the transgender community.
The 41-year-old business owner said he has friends who are transgender.
“These are people I know, and I’m scared for them,” he said. “I think it’s important for us to have a loud voice and be visible because there are so many who can’t speak for themselves.”
A trio of friends from Lexington, Jake Yanity, Sean McCall and Sebastian Albert, said they were angered by the estimated $25 million to $45 million military place taking place at the same time in Washington, D.C. They felt the money would be better spent on improving K-12 education or funding national park operations.
“That’s a lot of money; that could fund a lot of schools,” said Albert, who is 22-years-old and recently graduated from college.
Jessica Holdman writes about the economy, workforce and higher education.
Before joining the S.C. Daily Gazette, she was a business reporter for The Post and Courier. S.C. Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
SC representative charged with distributing child sexual abuse material
Rep. RJ May, a founding member of the Freedom Caucus, was arrested Wednesday
By Skylar Laird SCDailyGazette.com
COLUMBIA — A state representative will remain in jail without bond on charges of distributing child sexual abuse material, a federal judge decided Thursday, June 12
Rep. RJ May, a founding member of the state’s ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, faces 10 counts of distributing child sexual abuse material, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. May pleaded not guilty in court Thursday, June 12 May was arrested Wednesday, June 11, outside his West Columbia home and booked in the Lexington County jail, according to jail records that quickly disappeared from public view. May was suspended without pay from the House on Thursday pending the case’s outcome, according to a letter from the House Speaker’s Office. State law requires an officeholder indicted on a felony to be suspended.
Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, declined to comment further, citing the ongoing investigation.
May, who arrived in court Thursday wearing a white T-shirt and gray athletic shorts, also faces up to 20 years in prison, with a minimum of five years, as well as a fine of up to $250,000 if found guilty. If May is convicted, prosecutors will seek a sentence at or near the maximum, U.S. Assistant Attorney Scott Matthews told Judge Shiva Hodges on Thursday.
In April 2024, social mes-
saging app Kik notified the nonprofit National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of videos involving child sexual abuse sent from an account called “joebidennnn69.” Investigators tracked the account to May’s house and cellphone, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The “joebidennnn69” account was established March 30 2024, and deleted five days later, said Britton Lorenzen, a special agent for the Department of Homeland Security’s division investigating internet crimes against children. In that time, the account sent more than 1 100 messages, mostly explicit in nature. Investigators identified 220 different videos and images depicting child sexual abuse saved to it, she testified in court.
Most of the videos involved young children, including toddlers and infants, Lorenzen said. Some depicted violent acts, and at least one included beastiality, she said.
To prove the phone belonged to May, prosecutors presented phone records that showed May made calls to his wife or clients at his consulting firm, researched legislation and, in one case, texted a friend “happy Easter” at the same time the videos were being sent over Kik.
Dayne Phillips, who represented May during the investigation and in court Thursday, argued the overlap in phone records showed May couldn’t have been the one sending the videos. The
judge disagreed, pointing out that she had been texting a law clerk and rescheduling hearings on her phone while taking notes during May’s hearing.
“I don’t think it a big leap that one uses a phone for multiple reasons at the same time,” Hodges said.
Phillips also argued someone may have taken control of May’s phone or gotten onto his home internet during those five days, alluding to unnamed “political enemies” who may have wanted to harm May’s career or reputation.
May’s home WiFi and phone were both password protected, meaning it would be difficult for another person to access them, said Matthews.
Federal investigators seized electronics from 38-year-old May last August.
Two months later, a court filing confirmed they took a Lenovo laptop, an Amazon tablet, four cellphones, four hard drives, four SD cards, two DVD-Rs and 19 thumb drives.
Among those were two cellphones found in May’s master bedroom, one belonging to him and the other belonging to his wife. The phone belonging to May’s wife was not linked to child sexual abuse material, Lorenzen said.
While none of the devices investigators seized had child sexual abuse material saved directly on them, that’s not uncommon, Lorenzen testified, considering the ability to save media to the cloud through various apps.
Rep. RJ May, R-West Columbia, listens from the back of the House chamber during an organizational session on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024 at the Statehouse in Columbia. Mary Ann Chastain/Special to the S.C. Daily Gazette
May’s phone showed several apps had recently been deleted, including Kik and other encrypted, foreign-based apps for which U.S. investigators can’t get search warrants, Lorenzen said. But data on the phone that saves commonly used phrases suggested the “joebidennnn69” username, as well as an alternate email account linked to that Kik user, had been typed repeatedly, she said.
On May’s personal laptop, investigators also found nine separate videos of May paying to have sex with women who appeared to be young. The videos appear to have been recorded during international trips May took to Colombia in 2023 and 2024 Lorenzen said. Investigators have not been able to identify the women or determine their ages, she said.
May doesn’t face any
charges related to those videos. However, Hodges referenced the videos as a reason to keep May in jail until the date of his trial. She said the videos suggest May has ties to another country, making him a potential flight risk.
Hodges also worried that many of the children in the videos appeared to be about the same age as May’s two children, both of whom are under 10 years old, she said.
“I am concerned about the danger to the community, specifically to May’s two minor children, as well as other children, who are somebody’s children,” Hodges said.
Members of the Freedom Caucus, which suspended May’s membership last year, called for him to resign his House seat.
May previously served as vice chairman but no longer held a leadership position
after the caucus’ officer elections last July. His connections in Congress helped launch the state Freedom Caucus in 2022. He acted as de facto spokesman for the group as it battled with the main Republican Caucus until the federal investigation became public.
“These crimes are heinous and we expect that they will be fully investigated,” the Freedom Caucus statement read.
May has not been involved with Freedom Caucus activities since last August, said Rep. Jordan Pace, R-Goose Creek, the caucus’ current chairman. May attended this year’s session, but he stayed quiet, not getting involved in floor debates and continuing to vote alongside the Freedom Caucus. The last legislator suspended while facing charges was Rep. Rick Martin in 2021. The Newberry Republican was charged with giving alcohol to a 15-year-old girl and trying to influence an investigation by the state Department of Social Services, which the former foster parent denied at the time. Martin lost a bid for reelection the following year, losing the primary election to Freedom Caucus member Rep. Joe White. His case is ongoing.
Skylar Laird covers the South Carolina Legislature and criminal justice issues. Originally from Missouri, she previously worked for The Post and Courier’s Columbia bureau. S.C Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
Pat McAfee visits Parris Island
Veteran and survivor VA burial, memorial, other benefits
Article 1 of four in this series can be read at https://bit.ly/4413oAD.
It summarizes the VA benefits designed to aid veterans and their families in planning for the veteran’s death and the benefits available to the veteran’s survivors. It encourages veterans and their families to read the “VA Planning Your Legacy (VA Survivors and Burial Benefits) Kit/Pamphlet”, which can be downloaded and read online at https://bit.ly/4n3qiA2
The first article also encourages veterans and their families to use a VA-accredited Veterans Service Officer (VSO) to help them understand: Their veterans’ state and federal benefits, and how to plan their legacy, apply in advance for an eligibility determination, find the eligibility requirements for burial in a VA National Cemetery, make burial plans, schedule a burial for a veteran or family member, and find answers to frequently asked questions. How to find a VA Cemetery, how to find the eligibility requirements for burial at Arlington National Cemetery, what happens at a military funeral at Arlington National Cemetery, how to request a copy of a veteran’s military service records, how to get bereavement counseling, how to get readjustment counseling, how to learn about the Veterans Legacy Program, and how to download the 2025 Federal Benefits for Veterans, Dependents, and Survivors Handbook.
Article 2 in this series can be read online at https://bit. ly/4kdQTbj. It covers the eligibility requirements for burial in a VA national cemetery.
This third article covers specific groups not eligible
for burial in a VA national cemetery, what is included in a VA national cemetery burial, and VA burial allowance and transportation benefits.
These veterans’ family members are not eligible:
A former spouse who is not also a veteran, whose marriage to an eligible veteran or service member ended by annulment or divorce.
Family members of a veteran convicted of subversive activities (unless the veteran receives a pardon from the President).
Other family members who do not meet the eligibility requirements.
People who were drafted but never entered military service
People are not eligible if they were ordered to report to an induction station but were discharged at that point and never entered military service.
Veterans with a particular character of discharge
Veterans are not eligible if they were separated from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions or have a character of service that disqualifies them.
A VA regional office determines eligibility in cases where the Veteran has:
An undesirable, bad conduct, and any other discharge other than honorable; or Multiple discharges of varying character.
Veterans found guilty of a capital crime
Veterans are not eligible if: They have been convicted of a federal or state capital crime and may receive a sentence of imprisonment for life or the death penalty, and the conviction is final; or Clear and convincing evidence shows that they’ve committed a federal or state capital crime (punishable by death), but they couldn’t have a trial due to flight to avoid prosecution or death. These veterans also do not qualify for a Presidential Memorial Certificate, burial flag, headstone, or marker.
Veterans convicted of certain sex crimes
Veterans are not eligible if they were convicted of a Tier III sex offense and sentenced to a minimum of life imprisonment, and the conviction is final. These veterans also do not qualify for a Presidential Memorial Certificate, burial flag, headstone, or marker.
Veterans convicted of subversive activities
Veterans convicted of subversive activities after September 1 1959, are not eligible unless they’ve received a pardon from the President of the United States.
What does burial in a VA national cemetery include?
If you’re a Veteran, service member, Reservist, or family member who qualifies for burial in a VA national cemetery, you’ll receive certain burial benefits at no cost to your family.
Burial in a VA national cemetery includes these burial benefits: A gravesite in any of our national cemeteries with available space. Veterans and family members can find a VA national cemetery at the VA’s NCA “Find a Cemetery” webpage https://www.cem.
va.gov/find-cemetary/.
The map on the VA’s “Find a Cemetery” page provides interactive customer service options to find a location, contact a cemetery, get directions, look up the schedule for a burial, and find your Veterans memorial page to post tributes and photos to honor our nation's Veterans. Perpetual (ongoing) care of the gravesite. Opening and closing of the grave. A burial liner provided by the government. A headstone or marker provided by the government. Learn more at the VA’s “Veterans Headstones, Markers, Medallions, Plaques, and Urns” webpage https:// bit.ly/3SW1j40
Veterans, service members, and Reservists also qualify for these benefits: A burial flag. The VA webpage “Burial Flags to Honor Veterans and Reservists” https://bit.ly/446THks covers eligibility a burial flag. To get a burial flag, fill out the Application for United States Flag for Burial Purposes (VA Form 27-2008), which can be downloaded at https:// bit.ly/3SS6zpn, and bring the application to A funeral director, a VA regional office, or a U.S. Post Office.Call ahead to make sure your local post office has burial flags. If they don’t, they can direct you to one that does.
A Presidential Memorial Certificate (PMC). A PMC is an engraved paper certificate signed by the current president. Find out how to request a certificate at the VA’s PMC web page https:// bit.ly/45uDqYU.
The Department of Defense provides military funeral honors. These honors include the playing of “Taps” and two
uniformed service members who present the burial flag. Learn more at https://bit. ly/3ZBFMkP. Arrange for military funeral honors through your funeral director or get help from a Veterans Service Organization, a Veterans Service Officer (VSO), or VA national cemetery staff.
Veterans' burial allowance and transportation benefits. If you are eligible, you may receive these benefits:
VA burial allowance for burial and funeral costs
VA plot or interment allowance for the cost of the plot (gravesite) or interment VA transportation reimbursement for the cost of transporting the Veteran’s remains to the final resting place
The VA provides burial benefits for all legal burial types, including cremation and burial at sea. The VA also provides burial benefits for donating the remains to a medical school. Find out how to get veterans' burial allowances to help cover burial, funeral, and transportation costs. Learn the details at https://bit.ly/4kKnqGK and in next week’s article.
Continued next week.
Larry Dandridge is a Vietnam War wounded warrior, disabled veteran, ex-Enlisted Infantryman, ex-Warrant Officer Pilot, and retired Lt. Colonel. He is a past Veterans Service Officer, a Patient Adviser at the RHJ VA Hospital, the Fisher House Charleston Good Will Ambassador, and the VP for Veteran Affairs for the local Army Association Chapter. Larry is the author of the award-winning book Blades of Thunder
LARRY DANDRIDGE
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Wellness Accius, a senior drill instructor with Support Battalion, delivers a speech given to new recruits June 6, 2025, as they arrive on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. Pat McAfee was hosted by the Depot in order to witness the transformation cycle from civilian to United States Marine, and the integral role drill instructors play in this transformation. Cpl. Jordy Morales/USMC
Pat McAfee, a sports analyst for ESPN, makes a phone call during receiving procedures June 6, 2025, on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island5. Cpl. Jordy Morales/USMC
Pat McAfee, a sports analyst for ESPN, watches recruits with Alpha Company, 1st Recruit Training Battalion receive their Eagle, Globe and Anchor on June 7, 2025, on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. Cpl. Jordy Morales/USMC
LOCAL MILITARY
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
Recruit Training Regiment, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, 18 June 2025
PLATOON 1032
Senior Drill Instructor
SSgt S. R. Harvin IV
Pvt Adkins C. J.
PFC Alqadi H. Y.
Pvt Boden L. C.
Pvt Bolanos N. I.
Pvt Carnes B. L.
PFC Cline K. K.
Pvt Coffee G. S.
PFC Cook T. M.
Pvt Cranford E. G.
PFC Davis A. T.
Pvt Davis T. D.
Pvt Ellerbe J. E.
PFC Fell P. C.*
Pvt Gonzalez J. A.
Pvt Gonzalezperez F.
PFC Harrison C. A.*
Pvt Horton B. R.
PFC Ilesanmi O. S.
Pvt Johnson D. G.
Pvt Johnson T. D.
PFC Lopez E. Y.*
Pvt Lopezvelasquez A. N.
Pvt Masambeta J.
Pvt Medina D. J.
PFC Miller X. L.
Pvt Mleczynski S. H.
PFC Post N. A.
Pvt Ramirezcandela E.
Pvt Rangel J.
Pvt Roberson B. W.
PFC Simmons S. A.
Pvt Smalls K. Q.
PFC Smith R. H.
Pvt Smith T. D.
PFC Stephens S. R.
Pvt Tatum II T. A.
PFC Thompson K. M.
PFC Trama M. A.*
Pvt Whisenhunt G. L.
Pvt Williams S. J.
Pvt Yang K.
Pvt Youman J. R.
PLATOON 1033
Senior Drill Instructor
SSgt J. A. Runion
Pvt Agnew T. L.
Pvt Aleman E. I.
PFC Becker J. G.
PFC Bethea K. N.
PFC Bickham L. M.
Pvt Brown G. J.
Pvt Camachogutierrez E.
Pvt Carino T. E.
Pvt Castilloalameda J. M.
PFC Dunkley J. K.
PFC Ewart K. N.
PFC Flores J. C.
Pvt Fonsecarodriguez R.
Pvt Gomez F. A.
Pvt Herman W. T.
Pvt Ikner M. N.
Pvt Jackson I. F.
Pvt Jones D. C.
PFC Laplante T. J.*
PFC Lavigne G. F. *
Pvt Leal A. J.
Pvt Lee Jr M. A.
Pvt Little L. E.
Pvt Macri L. H.
Pvt Mayorga J. J.
Pvt Milam A. M.
Pvt Ngugi R.
Pvt Perryman J. A.
Pvt Richardson D. D.
Pvt Ridenour C. E.
PFC Robinson D. E.
Pvt Sanchezlantigua D. Y.
Pvt Shepherd J. K.
PFC Soto J. L.
PFC Spade J. T.
Pvt Stafford A. H.
PFC Stern A. M. *
Pvt Stewart A. J.
Pvt Teixeira S. A.
PFC Torres D. A.
Pvt Valentin D. I.
Pvt Watson P. W.
PFC Zane IV R. J.
PLATOON 1034
Senior Drill Instructor
SSgt J. Lafrance
PFC Aragon D.
PFC Aviles Jr., O. A.*
PFC Berry II S. J.
Pvt Calles D. A.
PFC Carmonadiaz D. E.
Pvt Colonmendoza L.
PFC Curran J. J.
Pvt Cusickalves T. J.
Pvt Delapavabecerra S.
Pvt Djiwa Y.
Pvt Echeverriablas Jr J. J.
Pvt Espinosa B. D.
PFC Gomez J.
Pvt Gulick K. A.
Pvt Gutierrez E. O.
PFC Hribar M. J.
Pvt Johnson A. I.
Pvt Jones J. D.
Pvt Lee L. J.
Pvt Lydon D. J.
PFC Lyons J. T.
PFC Menconi D. J.*
PFC Milot M. R.*
Pvt Moise G.
Pvt Moise K.
Pvt Mootispaw T. D.
Pvt Nicolasdelacruz L. A.
Pvt Niel L. N.
Pvt Ouellette J. R.
Pvt Pafford E. G.
Pvt Phillips D. D.
PFC Pichardo E. R.
Pvt Quinteros J.
PFC Rojas Jr O. M.
Pvt Rojas S. E.
PFC Roysdon A. D.*
Pvt Rudy M. O.
Pvt Sesinespeleta S.
PFC Spencer L. J.
PFC Sutton J. A.
Pvt Thermitus Y.
Pvt Thompson C. Q.
Pvt Torres J. J.
Pvt Zamudiogamez A.
PLATOON 1036
Senior Drill Instructor SSgt L. A. Sivils Jr.
PFC Allison, D. E.*
PFC Arroyopacheco A.*
PFC Bauzoromero K.
Pvt Burton B. D.
PFC Cabrera J. L.
Pvt Cavender T. R.
Pvt Colella R. G.
PFC Cutts III T. R.
Pvt Deaderick T. E.
Pvt Feliz A. E.
LCpl Gayfigueroa J. A.*
PFC Gigax I. J.*
Pvt Gonzaleznieto A.
Pvt Harvin Jr B. J.
PFC Hernandezminyety W. A.
PFC Jackson C. J.
Pvt Jackson D. T.
Pvt Jardines B. C.
PFC Johal M. S.
Pvt Johnson II L. R.
PFC Johnston C. A.
Pvt Kembola C. E.
Pvt Kinner A. M.
Pvt Laplante J.
Pvt Long S. R.
Pvt Martinezortiz J.
Pvt Mccandless J. S.
Pvt Morand G. T.
Pvt Mound J. C.
Pvt Parcetich B. A.
Pvt Pastorlizarzaburo S. L.
PFC Peters D. J.
Pvt Price T. J.
PFC Quaid C. B.
PFC Rodriguezmaldonado J. A.
Pvt Shannon M. T.
Pvt Skelly K. W.
Pvt Stell B. A.
Pvt Stidham C. J.
Pvt Sutton N. R.
Pvt Trimble E. N.
Pvt Valdez T. R.
Recruit Training Regiment • Commanding Officer, Colonel C. B. McArthur 1st Recruit Training Battalion • Commanding Officer, LtCol Gregory T. Moynihan Commander of Troops, Captain N. J. Busalacchi • Parade Adjutant, Captain Bardia O. Farhoomand Company “A”, 1st Recruit Training Battalion • Captain N. J. Busalacchi Drill Master • Gunnery Sergeant J. J. Merriweather, Staff Sergeant B. C. McGuigan Promote your Church Services in The Island News and increase membership! Contact us today! Amanda Hanna amanda@lcweekly.com Hope Shreve ads.theislandnews@gmail.com
PLATOON 1037
Senior Drill Instructor SSgt A. K. Everett
Pvt Abruscato D. C.
Pvt Ayalaramos D. I.
Pvt Baughman O. D.
Pvt Benjamin T. L.
PFC Bobnar C. V.*
Pvt Bounguenemangou L.
Daniyaer S.
SERVICE DIRECTORY
Christopher J. Geier
Attorney at Law, LLC
Criminal Defense & Civil Litigation
16 Professional Village Circle, Lady's Island Office: 843-986-9449 • Fax: 843-986-9450
chris@bftsclaw.com • www.geierlaw.com
AUDIOLOGY & HEARING
Beaufort Audiology & Hearing Care
Monica Wiser, M.A. CCC-A
Licensed Audiologist
38 Professional Village West, Lady's Island monica@beauforthearing.com www.beauforthearing.com | 843-521-3007
Hear the Beauty that Surrounds You
The Beaufort Sound Hearing and Balance Center
Dr. Larry Bridge, AU.D./CCC-A 206 Sea Island Parkway, Suite 31, Beaufort thebeaufortsound@gmail.com www.thebeaufortsound.com | 843-522-0655
Enjoy the classic newspaper format in a digital
is a digital replica of the print newspaper, with all of the same news and advertising content
CLASSIFIEDS & GAMES
THURSDAY’S CARTOON
ANNOUNCEMENTS
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AUCTIONS
HUGE SPECTACULAR ESTATE AUC-
TION. Sat., June 21 at 9:30AM. 4378 Carolina Hwy., Denmark, SC. Selling 3 partial estates including Atty Joy Mann and contents of Guess home! Lots of nice Southern antique and designer furniture, china cabinets, BR suites, chairs/tables, china sets, glassware, quilts, clocks, pottery, doll collection, coins, 30-ton log splitter, lots of tools, much more! So much that wo auctioneers will be selling most of the day. Preview Fri., June 20 from 11AM – 6PM. Browse web www.cogburnauction.com 803-860-0712
PUBLIC AUCTION. Surplus Government Vehicles and Equipment. CITY OF ROCK HILL, SC. Saturday, June 21 at 10am. 757 South Anderson Rd. Rock Hill, SC. Selling Kubota Mini Excavators, Skid Steers, Backhoe, Motor Grader, UTV’s, Garbage Trucks, SUV’s, Mowers, Police Cars, Tahoes and more. www.ClassicAuctions.com. Tony Furr. NCAF5479/5508/ SCAL2893R. 704-791-8825
ADVERTISE YOUR AUCTION in 80 S.C. newspapers for only $375. Your 25-word classified ad will reach more than 1 5 million readers. Call Randall Savely at the S.C. Newspaper Network, 803-750-9561
HELP WANTED – DRIVERS
ADVERTISE YOUR DRIVER JOBS in 80
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MISCELLANEOUS FOR SALE
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TELEVISION & INTERNET SERVICES
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YOUR AD HERE Looking to advertise your business, announce a yard sale, or share other classifieds? Contact Amanda Hanna today at amanda@lcweekly.com to secure your spot and get your ad featured in our upcoming issue!
