Mace brings fireworks to Dataw
Congresswoman accuses media of wanting to ‘see something bad happen,’ calls Beaufort resident an ‘agitator’
By Mike McCombs, Delayna Earley and Amber Hewitt
The Island News
Congresswoman Nancy Mace’s Beaufort County constituents have been clamoring for some time for the Charleston Republican to hold a Town Hall meeting at this end of South Carolina’s 1st
Congressional District.
While a members-only Town Hall event in the gated Dataw Island community might not have been the ideal solution, her constituents, both supporters and opponents got some of the answers they wanted. However, what Mace had to say
before and after the Wednesday, April 23, Town Hall is still being talked about as much as anything that may have been said during the meeting.
Mace, who drove past protesters at the intersection of Sea Is-
SEE MEDIA PAGE A6
MCAS Beaufort gets new commanding officer
Col. Trevor J. Felter assumed command Tuesday
By Mike McCombs
The Island News
According to a release from the MCAS Beaufort Communication Strategy and Operations Office, Col. Trevor J. Felter assumed command of Marine Corps Air
Station Beaufort at 8 a.m., Tuesday, April 29 2025
Col. Felter, a native of Tiffin, Ohio, brings more than 30 years of service in the United States Marine Corps, with extensive operational and leadership experience across the aviation community. He most recently served as the Assistant
Chief of Staff, G-7 at Marine Forces Command in Norfolk, Va. MCAS Beaufort, home to Marine Aircraft Group 31 and the F-35B Lightning II, plays a critical role in supporting Marine Corps aviation and ensuring the readiness of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. Col. Mark D. Bortnem was relieved of his command of MCAS Beaufort on Tuesday morning, April 15, 2025, due to a “loss of trust and confidence” in his abil-
ity to command. Bortnem had been the Commanding Officer of MCAS Beaufort for nearly two years since he took command from Col. Karl Arbogast on July 14 2023. Lt. Col. Michael R. Eubanks served as acting commander in the two weeks before Felter assumed command.
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
Rev. Kenneth Hodges of the Tabernacle Baptist Church died April 22, 2025. He was 73.
leaves Beaufort with a hole to fill
also the former State Representative for House District 121 from 2005 to 2016
He was all of this things, but he was so much more.
Hodges died Tuesday, April 22, at 73 years old after just over a week in Beaufort Memorial Hospital. And members of the community are taking stock of just how much he meant to Beaufort.
“I admired that I kind of saw him as a Renaissance man, you know,” former Beaufort Mayor Stephen Murray said, “and that he was, you know, he was an artist. He
Col. Trevor J. Felter
Nancy Mace speaks with the media on the balcony of the Dataw Clubhouse ahead of a Town Hall meeting at Dataw Island on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
LOWCOUNTRY LIFE & NEWS
Allan Lassiter of Lady’s Island captured the remnants of this sailboat in Factory Creek near the Whitehall boat landing. The boat sank last week. 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 HERBERT WASHINGTON
Herbert Washington
American Legion Beaufort Post 207 brings you Herbert Washington, 75, who joined the U.S. Army after graduating from Robert Smalls High School in 1969. After Basic Training and Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Jackson, he was sent to Vietnam as an infantry soldier patrolling in the field. On one such patrol he came under fire and was wounded; awarded the Purple Heart Medal; and he recovered at a hospital in-country.
ON THIS DATE
May 2
He returned to Fort Jackson and was released in 1971 as a Sergeant. He then joined the U.S. Army Reserve and was assigned to a transportation battalion in Charleston. He used the GI Bill to earn degrees at TLC in electricity, carpentry, masonry, and hotel management. He then worked as a civil servant at the Parris Island Public Works Department for 21 years. In 1991 he was recalled to ac-
tive duty during Desert Storm and was deployed to Saudi Arabia. In 2010 he retired from the Army Reserves as a Master Sergeant. He has a son who retired from the Army as a Major.
– Compiled by John Chubb, American Legion Post 207 For Veteran Of The Week nominations, contact jechubb1@gmail.com.
1903: James Edwin McTeer, known as the High Sheriff of the Lowcountry, is born in Hardeeville. McTeer served 37 years as Beaufort County Sheriff from his initial appointment in 1926 until his retirement in 1963. McTeer was widely known as a root doctor and an expert on witchcraft, according to the Beaufort Gazette May 3
1825: Laura Matilda Towne is born in Pittsburgh, Pa. In 1862, with help from her friend, a Quaker named Ellen Murray, Towne founds Penn Center on St. Helena Island, the first school in the nation for freed slaves. The school started with nine students in the back of a plantation house.
2019: Team Beaufort weightlifters, including future Olympian C.J. Cummings and future Junior National Champion Dade Stanley, hold an exhibition at CrossFit Beaufort. – Compiled by Mike McCombs
PAL PETS OF THE WEEK
Cat of the Week
“In my head, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and cats are orange.” – Jim Davis, Garfield creator. Spanky is a handsome 1-year-old boy who is full of personality. He loves to perch by a window to watch the action outside. He’s both spirited and affectionate, making him the best of both worlds! He lets you know he cares by reaching out his paw to remind you he’s right there. If you’re looking for a loving cat with a dash of spunk, Spanky is waiting to claim your heart -- and your windowsill.
He is neutered, up to date on vaccinations, and microchipped.
Dog of the Week
Matilda is just one of the wonderful puppies waiting to be adopted at Palmetto Animal League. She was raised in a foster home, so she already knows the ropes and has the skills she needs to transition into her forever home with ease. Stop by PAL and meet her today. No appointment necessary. She is up to date on vaccinations and microchipped. Adoption fee includes spay surgery to be scheduled.
For more info on Spanky, Matilda, or any of 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
Ridgeland man killed in hit and run near Lemon Island
By Delayna Earley The Island News
A 39-year-old Ridgeland man was killed on Sunday morning after he was hit by a vehicle while walking on the side of the road on Highway 170 at Broad River Bridge.
Dontay Frost died from blunt force injuries sustained in a “motor vehicle collision versus pedestrian accident” according to a release from the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office on Monday, April 28
According to Mst. Trooper William Bennett with the South Carolina Highway Patrol, the accident occurred on Sunday, April 27, around 11:50 p.m. near Lemon Island, about five miles west of the City of Beaufort.
The vehicle, which has since been identified as a 2016-2018 Honda Civic, was traveling west when the vehicle struck Frost in the roadway and then fled the scene.
The collision remains under investigation by S.C. Highway Patrol.
According to the incident re-
port filed with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Department (BCSO), the 911 call was made by Frost’s girlfriend, who stated that “her boyfriend had been hit by a car on the highway, which then fled the scene.”
The report also states that Frost was pronounced dead upon arrival of emergency services.
S.C. Highway Patrol is asking for help from the public to locate the vehicle that was involved in the fatal hit and run collision.
According to a release put out
on Tuesday, April 29, the suspect was driving a 2016-2018 Honda Civic, and the color of the vehicle is currently unknown to law enforcement. The vehicle should have damage to the lower front passenger side of the car.
The vehicle was last seen travelling westbound on Highway 170 toward Bluffton.
A second vehicle, an SUV, may have sustained undercarriage damage and the vehicle was also last seen traveling westbound on Highway 170
toward Bluffton. Anyone with information about the identity of those responsible is asked to submit your anonymous tip by calling the S.C. Highway Patrol at 843-953-6010 or 1-800768-1501, Crime Stoppers or dial *HP on your phone.
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.
Taste of Beaufort returns this week
Event will be held at Waterfront Park on Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3
By Mike McCombs
The
It’s that time of year, again. Time to get your grub on.
The Taste of Beaufort invades Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park in downtown Beaufort this weekend, The event runs from 5 to 10 p.m., Friday, May 2 and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, May 3. While entry is free, tickets must be used to buy food, desserts and beverages from vendors, and they cost $1 per ticket.
This year’s vendors include Sea Eagle Market; Palmetto Kettle Corn; Kona Ice; Mother Smokin’ Good; Nom Nom Poke Shop; Taste of Mexico; Piece of Yard and Abroad, LLC Mobile Food Truck; Teen Challenge; Meg’s Sweet Treats; Locals Raw Bar; Belly Full by Tyger; and The Island Fudge Shoppe. Menus for all vendors except The Island Fudge Shoppe can be found with the online version of this story at yourislandnews.com. It’s not all about the food, though. There will be live
music on Friday and Saturday, as well.
On Friday, Campfire Tyler gets things started from 5 to 6 p.m. The High Five Band follow from 6:15 to 7:45 p.m., and Hotter Than July closes the opening night, from 8 to 9:45 p.m.
On Saturday, Weekly Special makes the best of the lunch hour from noon to 1 p.m., followed by longtime
local favorites Broke Locals from 1:15 to 2:45 p.m. The Brewer Band closes the afternoon from 3 to 4 p.m.
The Craft Market at A Taste of Beaufort will be open from noon to 6 p.m., on Friday May 2 and Saturday, May 3, independent of the event, and packed with amazing handmade goods, unique gifts, and one-of-akind treasures from talented local artisans.
And last but not least, the Kids Corner is open from 11 a.m., to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 3
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
Dr. Stephenson brings a wealth of experience in family practice, community health and holistic medicine to the primary care team. Originally from North Carolina, she joins Beaufort Memorial after several years in Northern California where she served as a family medicine physician for active-duty personnel and their families at the Travis Air Force Base, while later working as a physician serving a primarily Native American population in Central California.
Varner brings a breadth of experience in both urgent and primary care to the practice. The Pennsylvania native joins Beaufort Memorial after serving as a physician assistant at urgent care and family practice clinics in San Antonio for several years, providing care for patients of all ages. Given that area’s high veteran, elderly, and obese populations, he gained specialized knowledge in the treatment of patients who have multiple conditions and complex health issues.
Island News
Frogmore Stew from Sea Eagle Market as seen during the 2023 Taste of Beaufort Event on Saturday, May 6, at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park in downtown Beaufort. By Delayna Earley/The Island News
‘What happens if we do nothing?’
Proposed Jasper County overlay district on shaky ground
It is Monday, April 21, and I’m in Jasper County Council Chambers in Ridgeland, S.C.
The room is large, well-lit and comes with a raised dais behind which one can see four heads, all middle aged men — men who currently comprise Jasper’s Council.
Sitting opposite the dais at what I would have once called counsel’s table are David Tedder, County Attorney, and Andrew Fulghum, Jasper County’s Administrator.
Both of these men wear dark suits and sit behind impressive stacks of red-underlined, yellow-highlighted paper detailing the proposed Broad River Euhaw Overlay District.
The room is almost full, some here for other agenda items, but most wanting to know where this Council stands regarding the pending, much-debated “Overlay District.”
Earlier tonight Tedder began the “workshop” by explaining the history behind the Broad River Euhaw Planning Area — a proposed zoning that would allow one house for every 10 aces.
“The intent of the Euhaw Overlay District is to maintain the rural character of the area, to protect important cultural and natural resources, and to minimize the impacts of development on surrounding water resources particularly the Broad River …” says Article 8 of the proposed Special Purpose District.
The new zoning creates riparian buffers, anticipates private wastewater systems, and would have the effect of maintaining the rural, pine-forested look of part of the County.
The area covered by this proposed “Overlay” involves land bounded on the East by the Broad River and extending West to Purrysburg Road — but not including the Town of Ridgeland or Hardeeville—which will be given room to grow and develop.
Tedder described the soil in this area as poor; and spoke about the lack of sewer capacity at the Beaufort Jasper Water and Sewer Authority, the consultants who were hired to flesh out the new
zoning, and the moratorium that have consumed the last two and one-half years.
Tedder described going to Charleston, Beaufort and Spartanburg counties to talk with their staff about their growth problems. He talked about septic systems that could not be serviced or repaired. He recapped this lengthy, difficult time line for Council members Chris Vangeison, Joey Rowell, John Kemp and Joseph Arzillo.
When it came time for Council to speak, Joseph Arzillo — new to Council — spoke of protecting “property rights” and wondered just how much of Jasper would be covered by the proposed overlay district.
“Is it one-forth of the County?
“I don’t think so — maybe onefifth,” said Lisa Wagner, the staff planner for Jasper County.
Arzillo also wanted to know the arithmetic connected with a hypothetical 500-acre parcel — the hypothetical answer being 20 lots — and then expressed concern about the “small guy” and the rising cost of housing in Jasper.
Joey Rowell then asked for “alternatives” and Tedder responded to Rowell’s question by explaining a “smaller impact subdivision” of 40 to 50 homes versus the 2,000-house subdivision that would overwhelm existing infrastructure like highways and sewer.
At this point John Kemp, Chairman of Council asked, “What happens if we do nothing?” Tedder responded by reiterating the poor soil, failure of septic tanks — even the new and improved tanks that don’t require a drain field — and increased traffic all of which then worked its way around to a discussion of the problems on Argent Boulevard.
Lowcountry Indivisible, BCDP holding ‘May Day Strong’ rally in Bluffton
Lowcountry Indivisible, along with the Beaufort County Democratic Party, will hold a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with government employees, labor, immigrants, teachers from 4 to 6 p.m., Thursday, May 1 at the Beaufort County Municipal Offices at 4819 Bluffton Parkway in Bluffton.
As part of a National Day of Action, the groups are organizing a rally in solidarity with government employees, teachers, unions, immigrants, scientists and others who have been threatened and treated with contempt by the Trump administration that will be called the “May Day Strong” rally.
“Every move Trump and his billionaire buddies have made has been arbitrary, careless and cruel,” said Rita Conrad, spokesperson for Lowcountry Indivisible.
Supporters and media are encouraged to attend the action.
Lowcountry Indivisible is a chapter of national Indivisible, a non-partisan, progressive organization that stands in direct opposition to the current assault on American democracy by Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the administration. Founded in 2017 following Donald Trump’s first election, Lowcountry Indivisible has more than 900 local supporters.
SCDNR using area boat landings for shellfish bed reseeding
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) will be conducting its annual shellfish ground management efforts (oyster shell reseeding) at several Beaufort
“I’m afraid of what I don’t know,” said Kemp. I worry about “young folks” said Joseph Arzillo. “This is a work in progress,” said Andrew Fulgum. There is no question this process has been long and costly — and maybe it’s been too long.
Councilwoman Barbara Clark, a probable proponent for the district, was recently defeated and no longer sits behind the dais. Marty Sauls, another member who appeared to support the overlay, abruptly resigned on March 10 But tonight three of the four men who sit on Council expressed reservations about the overlay district.
Notwithstanding their comments, surveys undertaken by the County and its consultants indicate wide-spread support for limiting the massive growth happening around Hardeeville and Bluffton.
In order for an overlay designation to withstand legal scrutiny there has to be underlying justifications—reasons that this particular property should be
County boat landings beginning this week and running through the end of May.
The boat landings will remain open to the public, however there will be increased truck and barge activity throughout each day while SCDNR reseeds the oyster beds at each location.
The schedule is as follows:
• Through Friday, May 2: Port Royal Boat Landing/The Sands, Port Royal. Monday, May 12-Thursday, May 15: Broad River Boat Landing, Beaufort.
• Monday, May 19-Wednesday, May 21: Edgar Glenn Boat Landing/Chechessee Landing, Okatie.
The barge will occupy one ramp while it is being loaded. Loading will take approximately two hours. At least one ramp will be available for public use while the barge is being loaded.
For questions and more information, contact County Public Works Director Bradley Harriott at 843-255-2740
Coffee & Convos with the City Manager
Come out this May for a unique opportunity to meet Beaufort City Manager, Scott Marshall, over a cup of coffee. This is your chance to engage in casual conversations, share your ideas, and ask any questions you may have about our beautiful city of Beaufort.
The Coffee & Convos will take place on three Friday’s in May: 9:30 to 11 a.m., Friday, May 9, Magnolia Cafe; 9:30 to 11 a.m., Friday, May 16, Sunny Summers Cafe; 9:30 to 11 a.m., Friday, May 30, Mameem & Maudie.
Grab a coffee, come on in, and share your
treated differently. It would appear that Tedder’s emphasis on poor soil, failing septic tanks and inadequate highways are the principle reasons.
Earlier tonight Dean Moss, former chair of the Port Royal Sound Foundation, presented a stylized map (of Port Royal Sound) showing this vast expanse of water, islands, hammocks and marshes.
The map, however, does not show the development on Hilton Head or anywhere else. This is a rendering of what these waters looked like when Pedro Menendez arrived in 1566 — and in his remarks, Moss mentioned that keeping the headwaters in Jasper County free of development was critical to the health of the Port Royal Sound.
“In 2023, this Council decided to hit pause on approving new development to give yourself some time to think carefully about the Jasper County you wanted to create for the future.
“That was brave. It requires courage to move from reactive to being proactive and thoughtful.
thoughts. We look forward to seeing you there. Let's make Beaufort an even better place to live together.
Poll workers needed; training available
The Board of Voter Registration and Elections of Beaufort County will be holding 10 new poll worker training classes.
All of the classes will be held at the main office, located at 15 John Galt Road, Beaufort, S.C. 29906. The classes will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., on the following dates: Wednesday, May 14; Saturday, May 24; Wednesday, June 18; Wednesday, July 16; Saturday, July 26; Wednesday, Aug. 20; and Wednesday, Sept. 17
To sign up for a class, visit https://beaufortsc.easypollworker.com/home.
Rotary Club hosting annual Vidalia onion fundraiser
The Rotary Club of Beaufort is hosting its annual fundraiser – the sale of farmfresh Vidalia onions in either 10-pound or 25-pound bags ($12 or $25).
The onions must be pre-ordered before Friday, May 9 and will be available for pickup between noon and 12:30 p.m. in the parking lot of Sea Island Presbyterian Church, Lady’s Island, on Wednesday, May 14
The money raised by this fundraiser is used to support grant requests from nonprofit organizations north of the Broad River in Beaufort County. Onions can be ordered and paid for at www.beaufortrotaryclub.org.
Leadership Beaufort application window open
The application window for the 41st class
We have all seen what reactive growth looks like and the consequences it can have for our communities and environment. Our neighbors in Bluffton have been making significant investments to address the negative impacts of dense, reactive growth on the May River.
“You have chosen a different path. You chose to carefully consider your options and plan for the future of the community and our watershed. A full 30% of the Port Royal Sound watershed is within the bounds of Jasper County, and by working together we have the opportunity to ensure we maintain a healthy and productive watershed now and into the future.”
Moss came to Council tonight, delivered a map, reiterating his reason to enact the Broad River Euhaw Overlay District.
A second reading is scheduled for May 5
Scott Graber is a lawyer, novelist, veteran columnist and longtime resident of Port Royal. He can be reached at cscottgraber@gmail.com.
of Leadership Beaufort (August 2025-May 2026) is now open. Visit https://bit.ly/3EnhSlz to learn more and access the application. Deadline to submit applications is Friday, May 23. The program builds community trustee leadership through an indepth view of cultural, economic, historic, social, educational, environmental and government resources.
United Way of the Lowcountry offers additional free tax prep days
United Way of the Lowcountry's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is offering additional free tax preparation days to help qualifying residents of Beaufort and Jasper counties file their federal and state tax returns accurately and efficiently.
The program – a collaboration between the IRS, Beaufort County Human Services Alliance, and United Way of the Lowcountry (UWLC) – is designed to assist low-income individuals and families, non-English speaking taxpayers, people with disabilities, and seniors with their tax filing needs.
In Bluffton, the service is available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Mondays, July 28; and September 29, at the Bluffton Public Library at 120 Palmetto Drive.
In Beaufort, the service is available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Mondays, June 23 and August 25 at the United Way of the Lowcountry Beaufort Office at 1277 Ribaut Road.
Limited spots are available, and in-person appointments are required. Visit www.uwlowcountry.org/VITA to reserve your spot, check for eligibility requirements and to find a list of necessary documents to bring.
– Staff reports
SCOTT GRABER
A Port Royal Sound Foundation map of the headwaters of the Port Royal Sound, including part of what would be included in Jasper County’s proposed Broad River Euhaw Overlay District. Scott Graber/The Island News
Former Port Royal police officer arrested for sexual misconduct with a minor
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
A former Port Royal police officer has been arrested and charged with third-degree criminal sexual misconduct with a minor according to a release from the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
Edgar Kangaroo Jansons, a 75-year-old Beaufort resident, was arrested following an investigation into the incident led by SLED.
As of press time on Tuesday, April 29, a preliminary hearing was scheduled for him on Friday, May 9 at 9:30 a.m. according to the Public Index.
The arrest warrant states that in December 2024 a 10-year-old child was in Jansons’ residence, and he kissed the child on the mouth.
The minor reported the incident right away and stated during an interview as part of the investigation that Jansons touched the back of their arms and they felt his tongue.
Jansons was booked into the Beaufort County Detention Center on April 19 and was released on April 21 on a $25,000 personal recognizance bond.
A person is guilty of sexual conduct with a minor in the third degree if the alleged defendant is over 14 years old and “willfully and lewdly” commits or attempts to commit
a sexual act upon a child under 16 years old “with the intent of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions or sexual desires” of the defendant or the child and it is a felony that is punishable by up to 15 years and/or a fine to be issued by a judge following a guilty verdict.
Jansons voluntarily resigned from the Port Royal Police Department in November 2024, and, according to records, he was the facing pending criminal charges and was the subject of a criminal investigation when he resigned.
He worked for the Port Royal department from February 2013 to his resignation in November 2024
He also previously worked with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office from July 2001 until February 2013, and before that he worked with the Andrews Police Department in Georgetown County from 1986 to 2001
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.
Burton man displaced after suspicious latenight mobile-home fire
Staff reports
The Burton Fire District responded twice to a house fire on Lemon Lane late Monday night, April 28, and early Tuesday morning, April 29. As a result, the fire is now deemed suspicious.
Late Monday evening, the Burton Fire District, MCAS Fire and Emergency Services, and Beaufort County EMS and Sheriff’s Office, responded to a house fire in which one adult was displaced.
Late Monday evening, April 28, the Burton Fire District responded to a reported house fire on Lemon Lane in Burton.
Photo courtesy of Burton Fire District
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Just before 11 p.m., emergency crews were dispatched to a reported house fire on Lemon Lane in Burton. The initial 911 caller stated a mobile home at the rear of Lemon Lane was on fire and it was unknown if anyone was inside. Fire crews arrived on scene to a single-wide mobile home fully consumed in flames. Both lanes of Joe Frazier Road were closed, due to the nearest hydrant being on Joe Frazier, while firefighters worked to extinguish the fire. Firefighters were able to bring the fire under control within 10 minutes; however, it took firefighters more than two hours to fully extinguish.
Fire crews were hampered in their efforts due to the home being in the rear of the property, road conditions of Lemon Lane, and the mobile home itself being overgrown with vegetation.
According to the Burton Fire District, emergency crews cleared up from this location at 2:34 a.m. However, they were again dispatched to this location for a report of a fire at 5:27a.m. Fire crews arrived to find the mobile home once again fully involved in flames.
One adult male was displaced. No injuries were reported. This fire is deemed suspicious and remains under investigation.
for more information.
Jansons
Lafayette Soiree fundraiser for HBF set for May 10
Event will be held at gardens of iconic historic home
The Castle
Staff reports
This spring’s much-anticipated Bicentennial Lafayette Soirée celebrates the 200th year of the Marquis de Lafayette's historic visit to Beaufort in 1825 and is Historic Beaufort Foundation’s primary fundraiser.
This year’s evening party will be held in the gardens of Mr. and Mrs. David Russell’s home on The Point, the Dr. Joseph F. Johnson House, ca. 1859, also known as “The Castle.”
“This promises to be a very special evening as we celebrate the bicentennial of Lafayette’s visit to Beaufort and the work this community has done and continues to do to preserve and protect our architectural and historic legacy,” Historic Beaufort Foundation Executive Director Cynthia Jenkins said in a news release.
With homage to the Marquis de Lafayette, guests will experience an evening of French-inspired culinary treats, music performed live by the Lafayette String Sextet and the Andrew Theilan Band, and much more.
Media from page A1
Proceeds from this year's Bicentennial Lafayette Soirée will benefit a collaborative program to rehabilitate historic properties within the Northwest Quadrant and the Old Commons neighborhoods within Beaufort's National Historic Landmark District.
more than 150 years, HBF’s flagship property, the John Mark Verdier House, ca. 1804, has been thought to be the location where Lafayette spoke to Beaufort-area residents during his visit in March 1825
In March of this year, HBF and the City of Beaufort, in collaboration with dozens of private and public organizations and individuals, celebrated that historic visit, attracting more than 3,000 people to experience the second arrival of “Lafayette,” a cannon and 13-gun salute, parade and full ceremony from the portico of the Verdier House.
$200, non-members $230) and can be purchased online at HistoricBeaufort.org or by calling the HBF Office, 843 379 3331. Tickets are non-refundable and the event is held rain or shine. Sponsors to date include A Friend of Historic Beaufort Foundation; Atlantic Asphalt; Harvey & Battey Attorneys at Law; JH Hiers; Lowcountry Legacy Law Firm; and Montgomery Architecture & Planning.
“Over the years, many historically and/or architecturally significant properties have become vacant and have begun to deteriorate.
“Residential properties that sit vacant or abandoned typically deterio-
“These neighborhoods hold a pivotal place in Beaufort's African American history,” Jenkins said.
land Parkway and Polowana Road on the way to Dataw, addressed the media in a “gaggle” on the patio prior to the meeting.
Isabella Douglas of the Island Packet asked what prompted Mace to finally hold a Town Hall meeting after a long stretch without one.
Mace cited a tight schedule -“We're in D.C. three weeks out of four” – and said she’d rescheduled numerous times. She also said she simply hadn’t been asked.
“Dataw Island was the first community to actually invite us to do a town hall this year,” she said. “The first and only one until today. So, we just got a second invitation to come back down to Hilton Head Island. So, we'll be doing that, working on scheduling that.”
And then Mace went on the offensive.
“And there are more media here today than we've had at any other Town Hall,” Mace said. “And it would have been really nice if you guys in the fake news would have covered any of our Town Halls over the last four years. But you've just refused to.”
Douglas pointed out that Mace had not been to Beaufort County for a Town Hall since “June of 2024.”
Mace claimed that was not true, citing numerous meetings in the county she has attended.
For clarity’s sake, The Island News has, in some fashion, covered every Town Hall meeting in northern Beaufort County over the last four years, at least five – March 22 2022 in a climate change panel at USC Beaufort; a Sept. 2022 event at Shellring Ale House in Port Royal; a Feb. 22 2024 event again at Shellring Ale House; a a May 13, 2024 event at Bricks on Boundary in Beaufort; and a June 7 2024 event again at Bricks on Boundary.
This list doesn’t include a Dec. 16 2021 media trip to Morgan Island on a boat with Mace to discuss ending animal testing.
Mace again pointed out how tough scheduling can be. And then she, again, unprovoked, went on the offensive.
“But we really appreciate it when communities invite us and help us put it together,” she said.
“It's a lot of resources, particularly when people who are requesting fake town halls for your fake news coverage are threatening to blow
up my office, are threatening to kill my employees, are threatening to kill my family, threaten to kill me.
“That's what's been going on. And that's why you guys are here because you want to see something bad happen. And quite frankly, it's B.S. You should have been here any time over the last four years for any number of town halls. We have over a dozen a year.
But you're here today because you want to silence a conservative woman. You want to hopefully show that I will be embarrassed today. And I carry no shame. And as a woman, you ought to think about that and how you report on conservative women.”
Then Mace attacked the protesters.
“And a lot of the protesters that are out there today, they're part of a socialist group called Indivisible.
But you all know this,” she said.”
“These are the people who are organizing calls and flooding the office with thousands of calls a week over a fake town hall. Their outrage is fake. These are people who've never been to a single town hall in four years. And we've hosted over a dozen every single year.
“These people don't show up. They're just doing it for attention.”
The people’s questions
Once inside the meeting, Mace was businesslike, answering questions that clearly came from people on both sides of the aisle.
Before the questions, she discussed the four committees she sits on and how much legislation she passes.
“Most members of Congress sit on one or maybe two committees, she said. “I'm a masochist. I like pain. ... I have four. So I sit on the House Armed Services Committee. I sit on the House Veterans Affairs Committee. And then I sit on the House Oversight Committee. … Oversight actually is the most non-partisan committee we have.
“I actually pass a lot of legislation out of there that everybody votes for. Most of it is cybersecurity. My fourth committee is that I chair the committee on Oversight called Cybersecurity Tax Innovation. And so we do a lot of cyberspace. There's a lot of obviously talk about AI or artificial intelligence. So a lot of legislation that I work on comes out of that committee. Almost every Republican, Democrat usually votes in favor of it … believe it or not, in spite of the fake news … I'm actually the 20 ranked the 22nd most bipartisan
rate more quickly than those that are lived in and cared for,” she said.
“Our goal is to help stop that deterioration.”
Since the 1980s, Historic Beaufort Foundation has been holding the annual Lafayette Soirée in recognition and celebration of the Marquis de Lafayette’s visit. For
member of Congress. So if you are willing to work with me, I am willing to work with you.”
She said she spends a lot of time in the House advocating for women. “I find as a female lawmaker, I have an inherent duty to speak up and speak out and show that we have got to do better for women and girls,” she said. “And it starts by banning men from women's restrooms. It starts by banning men, uh, people to watch women undress in the locker room. And I got very angry when Tim McBride got elected. And he wanted to use the women's restroom on the hill. And he wanted to use the women's locker room on the hill. And I said, not on my watch. And I admitted it.”
Mace said she recently worked on an American Fisheries Act, “a bill recently that will protect commercial fisheries and shrimpers. We have a lot of competition, particularly from China and other countries that are dumping in fish and shrimp into the market that is undercutting American fisheries. And so we can have a debate on tariffs. We probably will. I'm sure that's a question that's coming up. But tariffs for our commercial fisheries off the coast of South Carolina actually help level the playing field for our fishermen and shrimpers off the coast of South Carolina.”
Mace was asked if she supported wi,thout limits, the work of Elon Musk and DOGE?
“If he can find all the unlimited waste product use, I am 100% all in on DOGE. I love Elon Musk,” she said. “And the kind of waste that he's uncovering, the kind of efficiencies that he's finding … are incredible. And I support it 100% and wish he could do more.”
Mace said she supports President Trump’s position on Ukraine.
“If Zelensky wanted to keep Crimea, he should have fought for it 11 years ago, 2013-2014, when Obama was president, was when Russia went in and took Crimea,” she said. “So I agree with him on that. I want to see peace, but in order to have peace, there has to be a negotiation. I'm concerned that if there is not peace, that American troops are going to be in the ground in Ukraine. You don't want that. I don't want that. But Zelensky is going to have to come to the table, and he's going to have to negotiate. Is he going to be able to get the Donbass region back? I don't know, but there has to be some give and take here.”
"We are pleased to welcome the Bicentennial Lafayette Soirée to ‘The Castle’ gardens to continue the tradition of honoring Lafayette's historic visit to Beaufort, while helping HBF pursue its important mission of preservation and thoughtful progress,” said homeowners Dave and Nancy Russell.
The Lafayette Soirée is one of Beaufort’s most-anticipated events. Tickets are available now (members,
Over the past 60-plus years, Historic Beaufort Foundation has played a significant role in the preservation and protection of Beaufort’s historic resources. Historic Beaufort Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit education foundation created to preserve, protect, and present sites and artifacts of historic, architectural, and cultural interest throughout Beaufort County, South Carolina. For more information on the entity's mission and history, please visit historicbeaufort.org and follow them on social media, including Facebook and Instagram.
Protesters hold signs and chant slogans while lining the roadside at the intersection of Sea Island Parkway and Polowana Road on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, just before U.S. Representative Nancy Mace arrived for a Town Hall meeting on Dataw Island. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
‘Out-of-state agitator’
On Thursday, April 24, the day after the Town Hall, Mace’s office put out a release titled, “Mace exposes out-of-state agitators behind Dataw Island protest.”
In the release, Mace takes the media to task, claiming one of the protesters present on the way to the Town Hall event is not even from South Carolina.
“Despite misleading media coverage, one of the most vocal protestors quoted by Live 5 News, Kevin de L’Aigle, is a New York transplant who recently ran for office in Augusta, Georgia, before dropping out of the race. He is not a resident of South Carolina, much less the Lowcountry. Even the Augusta Chronicle describes him as a “political activist,” the release reads.
“Let’s call this what it is — a political stunt by out-of-state agitators pushing a national leftist agenda,” Mace is quoted as saying in the release. “Kevin de L’Aigle doesn’t live here, vote here, or represent anyone here. If the media bothered to do five minutes of homework, they’d know that. South Carolinians see through this nonsense.”
The only problem with the release and Mace’s comment – they’re not true. The Island News spoke with de L’Aigle and viewed his S.C. Voter Registration card, confirming his residency.
He wrote Mace a letter in response to her release and gave it to us when we asked for comment.
“I am indeed a resident of Beaufort County, and I have lived here for the last several years. I spoke with Live 5 News news yesterday, and they confirmed my residency (not fake news!). I was born and
raised in the south, and I returned here in 2022 to help care for my mother during a health crisis.
“I pass by your Beaufort office every day. You and your team may ask my minister, friends, people with whom I have attended classes with over the last several years, if you would like to fact check.
“My father and grandfather's construction company laid all the pipe work out on Robert Smalls Parkway back in the 1980s, when it was a two-lane road. You and your team obviously did not do your homework. This is simply a tactic to deflect from the fact that you are unwilling to meet with your [constituents] unless behind closed gates or at a ticketed and carefully curated event.
“Yes, I was not born in South Carolina, but neither were you. I was born in Georgia, lived and worked in NYC for 28 years, and returned south to care for family.
“I have attended the protests in Beaufort since January of my own free will and certainly nobody has paid me for those hours I spent. I have done this because I do not agree with the actions of this Congress or this Administration. This is my right as a proud Citizen of the United States. I would open a respectful discussion with you, if you would like to discuss these matters further.”
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com. 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.
Views from the 2024 Lafayette Soiree and the Dr. Joseph F. Johnson House, The Castle. Photos courtesy of the Historic Beaufort Foundation
Hulbert chosen as Beaufort County Attorney
Staff reports
Beaufort County announced
Monday, April 28, in a news release that Deputy County Attorney Brian Hulbert has been promoted to the position as the County Attorney.
Along with the County’s other Deputy Attorney, Dylan Kidd, Hulbert has been managing the caseloads of former County Attorneys Brittany Ward and Thomas Keaveny since they resigned prior to the end of 2024
“We are grateful to have Brian’s knowledge and experience on our
legal team,” Beaufort County Administrator Michael Moore said in the news release. “He brings an impressive record of community and military service to the County Attorney position.”
Hulbert is a graduate of the University of Toledo and the University of Toledo College of Law. After graduating from law school and being awarded his juris doctorate degree, he spent 21 years as a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Marine Corps.
As a Marine he served at Camp Pendleton, MCLB Barstow, Camp Lejeune, Okinawa Japan, MCRD Parris Island, and MCAS Beaufort. While in the Marine Corps, Hulbert served as a Prosecutor, Defense Counsel, Legal Assistance Officer, Civil Affairs Officer, Officer in Charge of a Law Center, and as a Deputy Staff Judge Advocate and Staff Judge Advocate. He also attended The Judge Advocate General’s School
at the University of Virginia and was awarded his LLM with a specialty in criminal law.
Upon retirement from the Marine Corps, Hulbert served as the Town Prosecutor and Staff Attorney for the Town of Hilton Head Island for approximately 15 years. He retired in 2019 after facing criticism for referring to members of a Gullah Geechee committee as “you people” at a public meeting. He came out of retirement to work for Beaufort County as a Deputy County Attorney in 2023
Hulbert is admitted to practice in the states of South Carolina and Ohio (inactive) and is admitted as a member of the bars of the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. District Court of South Carolina, and South Carolina. He has called Beaufort County home since 1998
“I look forward to starting this exciting new journey,” Hulbert said in the release. “It’s an exciting time to work for Beaufort County, and I look forward to continue working with Mr. Moore and Beaufort County Council.”
Burton man sentenced to prison for shooting stepfather
Staff reports
A 25-year-old Burton man who shot his stepfather to death before fleeing to Mexico has been sent to prison.
Daniel Adame-Guatemala entered an “Alford plea” Wednesday in Beaufort County General Sessions Court to a charge of voluntary manslaughter in the 2022 shooting death of 29-year-old Christian Hernandez. Adame-Guatemala also pleaded to possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
“The violent death of a loved
one must be terribly excruciating – and doubly so when that death is at the hand of a family member,” 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office Deputy Solicitor
Mary Jones, who prosecuted the case, said in a news release. “It is not clear why the defendant in this case acted in such a violent manner. However, such violence makes it clear he belongs in prison.”
An Alford plea carries the same weight as a guilty plea. However, it
allows Adame-Guatemala to maintain his innocence but admit that the prosecution’s evidence would likely result in a guilty verdict if brought to trial.
Adame-Guatemala, whose criminal history includes convictions for public disorderly conduct and second-degree domestic violence, was living with his mother and stepfather at the Godwin Mobile Home Park on Joe Frazier Road in Burton after his release from prison.
He lived there several months without incident, until Feb. 24 2022. That evening, the defendant emerged without warning from a
bathroom and began firing a 9mm handgun at his stepfather as he ate dinner with Adame-Guatemala’s mother. She tried to stop her son, but Adame-Guatemala continued firing around her.
Hernandez died at the scene of multiple gunshot wounds.
Adame-Guatemala took the keys to a family pickup truck and fled, eventually escaping to Mexico, where he has several relatives. He then made his way to South America. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers captured him trying to cross the border in Hildago, Texas in June 2023. Adame-Guatemala
Release the butterflies
Beaufort’s Judah Labean, 2, holds a box with a butterfly during the "Release & Remember: A Community Butterfly Release" event on Saturday, April 26, 2025 at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park. This event invited community members to honor the memories of their loved ones by participating in a butterfly release over the Beaufort River. Each butterfly represents a tribute in memory or honor of someone special — a symbol of hope, transformation, and enduring love, and the proceeds benefit Friends of Caroline. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
Pastor from page A1
was a business owner. He was a pastor, elected official, you know, a humanitarian.
I mean, … he wore so many different hats and had such a vibrant life. You know he'll be missed. I don't know. It's just sad.”
Born Feb. 11 1952, Hodges grew up in Colleton County and graduated from Walterboro High School before heading to Atlanta where he graduated from Clark Atlanta University and earned his Master’s of Divinity at Morehouse University’s School of Religion in 1986
Eventually he made his way to Beaufort and took the reins as Pastor of the historic Tabernacle Baptist Church.
While Tabernacle’s building had been around since the early 1800s, the church was first established in 1863 for Black worshipers. Some of it’s earliest members wrote and sent resolutions in support of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
Hodges embraced its history, protecting it, nurturing it and honoring it. Beaufort’s Robert Smalls, a state legislator, five-term congressman and a Civil War hero, is buried on Tabernacle’s grounds. Born enslaved in Beaufort, Smalls pulled off the amazing feat of stealing a Confederate ship, sailing his family to freedom and delivering the boat to the Union on May 13 1862. S.C. legislators approved designating May 13 as Robert Smalls Day in South Carolina and voted to erect a statue of Smalls on
Statehouse grounds, the first memorial for an individual Black person at the S.C. capitol.
Hodges would say the state was behind. Tabernacle already had a bust of Smalls on it’s grounds.
“Tabernacle has always been associated with history and culture,” Hodges told the S.C. Daily Gazette for a story last year. “That’s just an extension of our ministry, of our service to the community.”
While pastor at Tabernacle, Hodges, Democrat, served in the S.C. House of Representatives.
It was there he fought to have the new bridge over the Combahee River on U.S. 17 named for Harriet Tubman. In June 1863, the year Tabernacle was founded, Tubman became the first women to help lead an American military operation when she assisted in the Combahee River Raid.
He succeeded.
But that wasn’t enough.
In 2016, Tabernacle raised $600,000 to fund a monument to Tubman on the Tabernacle grounds. That monument was completed and dedicated last summer.
“They could not identify with the story locally. It’s not told. It’s not in the history books,” Hodges told The Island News when asked why it took so long for Tubman’s exploits to be memorialized.
“[Beaufort] is the only place this story can be told. If we didn’t tell it, it couldn’t be told. This story had to be told here.”
“He was a great religious leader as Pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church,” Beaufort Mayor Phil Cromer said. “He was kind of a voice
waived extradition to South Carolina. He was originally charged with murder by the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
“The family cooperated with investigators and supported Adame-Guatemala’s prosecution,” Jones said. “However, they did not relish the prospect of testifying against him. Because the defendant also took responsibility for his crime by pleading to voluntary manslaughter, we agreed this was an appropriate resolution and merciful for his family.”
Circuit Court Judge Martha M. Rivers handed down the sentence.
Mary Frances Chaney of Bluffton captures a photo of a sunflower with a butterfly resting on it during the "Release & Remember: A Community Butterfly Release" event on Saturday, April 26, 2025 at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park. This event invited community members to honor the memories of their loved ones by participating in a butterfly release over the Beaufort River. Each butterfly represents a tribute in memory or honor of someone special — a symbol of hope, transformation, and enduring love, and the proceeds benefit Friends of Caroline. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
of wisdom and reason, if you will, in the community he served as a state representative in the House. And he did a lot of work, and was devoted to the preservation and celebration of the African-American history and culture in the area. That's seen through the efforts to honor Harriet Tubman and elevate the legacy, if you will, of the Reconstruction Era in Beaufort.”
Murray, who said Hodges encouraged him to run for office, said he wasn’t just about history, though. He was looking forward, too.
Over the years, he championed bills in the General Assembly to help support
small businesses, Murray said. And during the COVID pandemic, he helped arrange tractor trailers of food boxes for those in need and called on Murray, as well as his congregation to unload, organize and deliver them.
“He was such a die-hard preservationist, but he was also in my mind a futurist and was always thinking forward,” Murray said. “So he helped convert the house at the corner of Charles Street and Craven Street … the church owned it. It was a single family residence and the church went in and cut it up into four suites. Now it's workforce housing for four families. … But from the out-
side, it still looks [the same].
Other than the four mailboxes on the front porch, it still looks like a single family home.
“So he sort of proved how you could, you know, preserve a historic structure with its integrity, but also help sort of take care of the modern needs of, you know, folks who needed a place to live here at a reasonable price.”
“You could tell just how much he loved and cared for the people that live in this community,” said S.C. Rep. Shannon Erickson, who served with Hodges in the General Assembly. “He just seemed like such an amazing person. He was probably one of the most caring, deeply dedicated public servants Beaufort County has ever had.
“I mean, he didn't care who you were, where you came from, or what your deal was. He would make time. And did. I don't think he ever missed a meeting. At least none that I attended. He would go out of his way to be collaborative and thoughtful, really embraced the diversity of our community and our Lowcountry. And he never hesitated. This is something that I've learned from him. He never hesitated to celebrate even the smallest victory.”
During the 2020 election, he welcomed Texan Beto O’Rourke, a Democratic presidential candidate, to Tabernacle to meet with church, Black and Gullah leaders from Beaufort County. And, in addition to pastoring the flock at Tabernacle, he continued to own and run LyBensons’ Gallery on St. Helena Island, which featured much from his own expansive photography portfolio, often focused on Civil Rights Movement figures –Rosa Parks, Andrew Young, Maya Angelou -- as well as Black entertainers such as Sammy Davis Jr., and Dizzy Gillespie.
“He was always such a kind of a quiet, demure man, Murray said. “If you just met him, … he wasn't very like boisterous. But then like if you asked him to give the invocation or prayer, he just had this like really commanding, deep, booming voice that would take over the room. And I always enjoyed hearing him speak and hearing him give the invocations. He just had a nice way of sort of connecting the past to modern times.”
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
Hodges ran for the State Senate seat of the late Sen. Clementia Pickney in 2015 after his close friend and colleague was killed in June of that year with eight of his parishioners by a shooter at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Hodges lost in a primary runoff against Margie Bright Matthews, who still holds the seat. Though his political career ended in 2016, that didn’t mean he wasn’t active. He wrote several opinion pieces for The Island News, advocating for the Cultural Protection Overlay (CPO) zoning on St. Helena Island and Michael Moore’s candidacy for the House of Representatives in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District.
Rev. Kenneth Hodges stands alongside "Harriet Tubman" and a soldier during the unveiling of the Harriet Tubman Monument on June 1, 2024, at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Beaufort. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
AdameGuatemala
Clyburn holds Town Hall at TCL
S.C. Congressman Jim Clyburn, of the 6th Congressional District, answers questions from the audience during the public town hall at Technical College of the Lowcountry in Beaufort on Thursday, April 24, 2025. Clyburn has been holding town halls all over the state in red districts. “We're here tonight to break our silence. We've been too quiet in the country, we've been too quiet in South Carolina. …” Clyburn said. “We have got to preserve this democracy. This is a great country in no need of being made great. What we have got to do is muster the energy, raise forces, find the common ground to work together so that we can make the greatnesses of this country accessible and affordable for all.” Amber Hewitt/The Island News
Submitted by: Mandy Parsons President and
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Lowcountry 10 Pinckney Colony Rd., Ste. 103 Bluffton, SC 29909 (843) 379-5430 TRUSTEE'S NOTICE OF SALE Pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-32-300, et. seq., NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN of the intent of the undersigned Trustee, KING CUNNINGHAM, LLC, to sell the below described Properties at Public Auction to the highest bidders for cash on 5/15/2025 beginning at 9:30 A.M. The Public Auction shall occur at the Office of Bolchoz Law Firm, 6 Buckingham Plantation Rd, Ste B, Bluffton, SC 29910. Property Descriptions: A fee simple undivided interest (SEE EXHIBIT "A") in the Project as tenant(s) in common with the holders of other undivided interests in and to the timeshare property known as MBV VACATION SUITES, as established in that certain Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions and Vacation Ownership Instrument for MBV Vacation Suites, recorded at Book 3406, Pages 1312-1365, et seq., of the records of the R.O.D.
different from the obligor(s), and junior interest or lienholder(s) (if applicable) (hereinafter referred to as “Obligors”) are identified in Exhibit “A”. The sale of the Property is to satisfy the default in payment by
SC Aviation Week with at Beaufort Executive Airport
Staff reports To celebrate South Carolina Aviation Week — April 27 through May 3 — Beaufort Executive Airport is hosting the first Runway FOD Walk Event.
FOD stands for Foreign Object Debris, and volunteers will help keep the airfield safe and operational by removing any debris from the runway area. That will ensure a clean, hazard-free environment for aircraft operations. The Runway FOD Walk will be held Saturday, May 3, beginning at 9 a.m., at Beaufort Executive Airport at 39 Airport Circle, Lady's Island. Volunteers are asked to wear comfortable shoes and weather-appropriate clothing. Doughnuts and coffee will be served after the walk. This is a great opportunity to support aviation safety, connect with the community, and get a little fresh air. All volunteers are welcome — no experience needed. For more information, please contact Marlene Myers at 843-929-7967 or tracy.myers@bcgov.net.
Address, TS Interest, TS Interval Control No., Lien BK/ PG, Default Amount, Trustee’s Fee, NOS Costs, Total Amount Due; JUDITE MARIA MARCHANY-DE CASTRO & DURVALINO SOUSA DE CASTRO, 1008 LEAMINGTON CIRCLE IRMO, SC 29063, 0.0073861610410129, U2406-W3O, 4401/1975, $2,825.31, $450, $144.75, $3,420.06; EDWARD CHESTER SPYRA & REBECCA LYNNE SPYRA, 667 MOUNT HAMMOND LN CHARLES TOWN, WV 25414, 0.0147723220820258, U1304W23B, 4401/1962, $2,194.64, $450, $144.75, $2,789.39; YVETTE MICHELLE CONYERS & ROBERT WINFIELD CONYERS, 4429 GIBSON COVE PLACE VIRGINIA BEACH, VA 23456, 0.0147723220820258, U1203-W33B, 4401/1959, $4,397.31, $450, $144.75, $4,992.06; SUSAN ELIZABETH BURDICK , 213 GOLF VISTA CIR DAVENPORT, FL 33837, 0.0073861610410129, U2205-W9O, 4401/2005, $2,122.71, $450, $144.75, $2,717.46; JAMES A. VICK 30 VIOLA DRIVE EAST HAMPTON, CT 06424, 0.0147723220820258, U1202-W49B, 4401/1960, $2,194.64, $450, $144.75, $2,789.39; MICHAEL WAYNE PHILLIPS & DEBORAH PADGETT PHILLIPS, 4304 CHARLESTON LN JACKSONVILLE, FL 32210-7335, 0.0147723220820258, U1608W6B, 4401/1973, $2,306.36, $450, $144.75, $2,901.11; DANIEL F. LAWLER, IV & JENNIFER ANN LAWLER, 337 S MORRIS ST RANDOLPH, NJ 07869, 0.0147723220820258, U1607-W42B, 4401/1965, $3,053.83, $450, $144.75, $3,648.58; OSCAR S. LUGO & NORMA M. LUGO, 2927 FOREST RESERVE PL SEFFNER, FL 33584, 0.0073861610410129, U1206W50E, 4401/1958, $2,148.10, $450, $144.75, $2,742.85; NEERAJ MISTRY & ALLISON HODGES MISTRY, 7341 RATLIFF RD SOUTH SAN ANGELO, TX 76904, 0.0147723220820258, U1502-W29B, 4401/1957, $2,194.64, $450, $144.75, $2,789.39; DOUGLAS M. STEPHENS & ERICA DIANE STEPHENS, 656 SW EDEN PL LAWTON, OK 73505, 0.0147723220820258, U2202W18B, 4401/1953, $2,194.64, $450, $144.75, $2,789.39; JOSEPH JOHNSON & ROBBIE MORGAN JOHNSON, 45 AWESOME RIDGE GARNER, NC 27529-6640, 0.0073861610410129,0.007386161 0410129, U1204-W45E, U1501-W45O, 4401/1998, $2,294.64, $450, $144.75, $2,889.39; VIRGINIA RASO & PERRY EDWARD RASO, 19684 LOS ALIMOS ST CHATSWORTH, CA 91311, 0.0147723220820258, U2201-W40B, 4401/1994, $2,194.64, $450, $144.75, $2,789.39; LYNN HETZEL NIELSEN 10127 WOODLAND WATCH CT CHARLOTTE, NC 28277-3894, 0.0147723220820258, U1308-W14B, 4401/2003, $2,194.64, $450, $144.75, $2,789.39; RONDA LEE RICHARDSON & JAMES FRANKLIN RICHARDSON, 2ND, 121 MELSTONE CT MURFREESBORO, TN 37127-8143, 0.0147723220820258, U2302-W2B, 4401/1968, $2,194.64, $450, $144.75, $2,789.39; ROSEMARY M. RHINEHARDT , 308 SNIDER LN CLEMSON, SC 29631-2171, 0.0073861610410129, U1202-W17E, 4401/2000, $1,888.58, $450, $144.75, $2,483.33; SCOTT JOSEPH PEKAR , 2816 ASHBROOKE DR LEXINGTON, KY 40513, 0.0147723220820258, U1602-W44B, 4401/1995, $2,934.05, $450, $144.75, $3,528.80; BEVERLE E. ROSEMEYER 2520 MEYERHILL DR CINCINNATI, OH 45211, 0.0147723220820258, U2204-W12B, 4401/2006, $2,194.64, $450, $144.75, $2,789.39; JERRY LEE SARVER & TERRI JO BURDOFF, 521 PREWITT PIKE MOUNT STERLING, KY 40353-8124, 0.0073861610410129, U1501-W36E, 4401/1996, $2,492.76, $450, $144.75, $3,087.51; CHRISTIE ROMANO , 869 S HILLSIDE AVE ELMHURST, IL 60126, 0.0147723220820258, U2404-W1B, 4401/1967, $2,194.64, $450, $144.75, $2,789.39.
By Shaun Chornobroff
SCDailyGazette.com
New Winthrop poll: SC split on Trump as he nears 100-day mark
Almost 100 days into his second term, President Donald Trump has seen his approval in South Carolina dip slightly, according to a Winthrop Poll released Monday, April 28. Still, favor for Trump in the state outperformed his ratings on the national stage.
The poll, published on the eve of his 100th day in office, found that 49 8% of people who had an opinion approved of Trump’s work thus far, a more than three percentage point drop since March.
Scott Huffmon, a political science professor at Winthrop and the poll’s director, told the S.C. Daily Gazette that the rapid slicing of the federal government, a slew of executive orders and tariffs increased Trump’s polarization, especially as some start feeling the direct impact of those decisions.
“We’re seeing more people get used to Trump the president and not Trump the candidate,” he said.
Whether or not respondents looked favorably upon the president’s performance to date tracked heavily along party lines.
Among self-identified Republicans, who made up roughly a third of all respondents, Trump’s approval rating sits at 80% — largely unchanged since March. Meanwhile, disfavor among self-iden-
Support in state still higher than national average
tified Democrats, who made up a quarter of all respondents, grew four points to 85%
The remaining 42% of all respondents identified as independent or declined to name a political affiliation.
(Voters don’t register by party in South Carolina, and the poll was not limited to likely voters.)
Similarly, the Winthrop poll found that 47% of South Carolinians believe the country is on “the wrong track.” Eighty-one percent of Democrats hold that sentiment. Inversely, Republicans think the opposite, with 69% of respondents saying it is trending in the right direction.
“People’s opinions on the direction the country is headed depend heavily on whether their side holds power,” Huffmon said. “This is true at both the national and state level.”
More popular in the Palmetto State
Despite increased skepticism, Trump, who received more than 58% of the vote in November in South Carolina, remains more popular in the Palmetto State than he does nationwide.
A survey from Pew Research Center released on April 23 found the president’s national approval rating to be at 40%. Gallup has Trump at 44%, according to its
most recent poll.
“South Carolina approval for President Trump among those with an opinion is notably higher than his national support but struggles to break into a clear majority,” Huffmon said.
On average, Trump’s approval rating sits at 44% as of Monday, according to a New York Times aggregation of numerous polls around the country. On Feb. 17, the president had an average approval of 50%
In a Truth Social post Monday morning, Trump said not to believe the numbers. He specifically criticized a trio of polls, saying they should be investigated for election fraud.
He mentioned a joint survey done by ABC, The Washington Post and Ipsos, which concluded Trump had a 39% approval rating. He also railed against a New York Times-Siena Poll where 42% of respondents approved of him, as well as a Fox News survey that placed his favorability at 44%
“They are Negative Criminals who apologize to their subscribers and readers after I WIN ELECTIONS BIG, much bigger than their polls showed I would win,” Trump wrote.
Graham lags among GOP
The Winthrop Poll also took
South Carolinians’ temperature on other GOP politicians — notably U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is seeking his fifth term in the Senate in 2026
At 44%, Graham’s approval rating among partisan Republicans who expressed an opinion was noticeably lower than two other statewide officials included in the poll — U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and Gov. Henry McMaster.
McMaster and Scott, the cochairs for Graham’s 2026 re-election campaign, had a 58% and 56% approval rating among Republicans.
Graham has $15 9 million cash on hand, according to the latest FEC filings and already secured Trump’s endorsement for next year’s election.
“Senator Graham has a large campaign war chest and is not underwater approval-wise with his party,” Huffmon said. “This is a decent foundation upon which one could build a strong re-election campaign. Still, many on the right may view the fact that Graham’s numbers are substantially lower than those of his GOP colleagues as an invitation for a primary challenge.”
Graham has drawn multiple primary challengers in his last two Senate bids.
Mark Lynch, a Greenville busi-
nessman, announced a bid to challenge Graham in February. He moved more than $5 million of his own money into his campaign account in March, according to FEC filings.
The latest Winthrop poll was conducted online and via telephone between April 4 and April 12 from a sampling of South Carolina adults; 1 546 people responded.
The results were weighted to align with South Carolina’s demographics for race, sex and age based on census data. Findings using all respondents have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 49%. The margin of error increases to 4 29 points with Republican respondents and 5 05 points with Democratic respondents.
Shaun Chornobroff covers the state legislature for the S.C. Daily Gazette, part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest statefocused nonprofit news organization.
Provided by Wells Fargo Advisors
Tax season surprise? Take steps to reshape your strategies
If tax season resulted in you owing more to the IRS than you expected, you may want to revisit your investment-related tax strategies. Doing so can help put you in a better position and avoid having to face unexpected surprises. These steps can help. Review your investment portfolio for tax efficiency
1. Review the location of your investments.
Do you have investments in taxable accounts that distribute nonqualified dividends or taxable interest?
Do you have actively managed funds that are generating significant capital gains?
Could these investments
be held in tax-advantaged accounts instead?
2. Evaluate the tax impact of the types of investments you select for your taxable accounts. Compare taxable bonds or bond funds with tax-exempt bonds or bond funds. Determine which are better for your situation.
Work with a financial advisor to identify investments that will distribute primarily qualified dividends. Qualified dividends generally are taxed at the preferential long-term capital gain rates while nonqualified dividends are taxed at ordinary income tax rates. Mutual funds can distrib -
ute capital gains at yearend, delivering income that may be difficult to predict. If this is a concern, review other investment options that could offer more control over the recognition of capital gains.
3. Identify any unexpected taxable events that occurred. Determine if they are going to reoccur and think about actions you may want to take to help mitigate that impact.
Formulate your plan
Work with both your tax advisor and your financial advisor to build your overall plan.
First, schedule an appointment with your tax professional to discuss your situation and
review your tax projection. Running multiple-year projections can assist with determining when to increase or decrease income and/or deductions.
Then, follow up with your financial advisor to evaluate your portfolio strategies and any investment changes that may help reduce your tax bill. If you’re nearing retirement, a financial advisor can also run multiple scenarios to help you understand the potential portfolio and tax implications of your retirement income strategy.
Wells Fargo & Company and its affiliates do not provide tax or legal advice. This communication cannot be relied upon to avoid tax penalties. Please consult your tax and legal advisorsto determine how this information may apply to your own situation. Whether any planned tax result is realized by
Living & Growing the Jesus Way
Sunday Morning Worship at 8:30 & 10:30 81 Lady’s Island Drive
Pastor Steve Keeler • (843) 525-0696 seaislandpresbyterian.org
Living a New Life
Holiness in the Early Church
The apostles were arrested and told to stop preaching.
Filled with the Holy Spirit, the apostles had already helped about five thousand people to believe in Christ and be baptized. As the Church grew, the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem became alarmed. They arrested the apostles and threatened to put them to death if they did not stop teaching in the name of Jesus.
“We must obey God rather than men!”
The apostles stood up to their captors, insisting that they must speak about what they had seen and heard. They must obey God rather than men. The Jewish leaders eventually decided not to put the apostles to death, but to have them flogged instead: struck with thirty-nine lashes of the whip. Despite this severe punishment, the apostles left there “rejoicing that they been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus.” (Acts 5:17-42)
How the apostles have changed!
When Jesus had been arrested and put to death on the cross, the apostles had abandoned their master in his time of greatest need. They had run away, terrified for their own lives. Only John was brave enough to be present as Jesus was crucified. And yet only a couple of months later, these same men have become fearless! They are now willing to endure all sufferings, even risk death, out of love for Jesus.
There was something different about the early Christians. They devoted themselves to learning from the apostles, worshipping together, and living as a faith community. They sold their property and possessions so that they could care for each other and for the poor. Others could see that the Christians were living a new life. They were no longer the same; something had changed! (Acts 2:42-47)
Like Jesus, the early Church was holy.
In Scripture, holy means to be set apart for service to God. The temple in Jerusalem, for example, was holy because it was dedicated to worship of God. The early Christians were holy in this sense, in that they were called to be a people set apart and dedicated to God. Jesus invited his followers to unite with himself, and thus to begin to share in his own divine life. To be sure, they will still struggle with sin and brokenness. But they are given grace to gradually become holy like Jesus, to take part in his love and his goodness.
Through his Church, Jesus invites all to a life of holiness. Through the preaching of the Church, Jesus shares the Good News and invites people to follow him. In the waters of Baptism, Jesus washes away sin and gives his followers new life. In the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus nourishes his flock with the Bread of Life. Through his family of faith, Jesus teaches his followers how to worship, how to pray, and how to live a life of goodness and truth. The Church is holy not because its members are perfect, but because Jesus is holy, and because he works through his Church to invite everyone into a deeper union with himself, and so share in his holiness.
The Early Church Message 4 of 8
State House should leave SCHSL alone SPORTS
By the time you read this, our state legislature might have made the next step toward taking over governance of high school sports in South Carolina. If it happens, pay attention to who is celebrating, because it won’t be the coaches, administrators, and student-athletes who will be most impacted.
The notion of dismantling the S.C. High School League (SCHSL), which has overseen high school athletics in the state since 1913, was the brainchild of Rep. Shannon Erickson (R-Beaufort). Erickson floated the idea in an ad hoc committee in 2023 and was one of the sponsors for bill H.4163 when it was officially filed March 6
The proposal passed through subcommittee last week and appears fast-tracked for passage in the House and Senate before heading to Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk for a signature, and it would fundamentally alter how high school and middle school sports operate in the Palmetto State — or more accurately, who decides how they operate.
The bill would replace the member-run organization that has governed high school athletics for more than 110 years with an 11-member board appointed by the state legislature.
The idea has been met with mixed reviews on social media,
but the vast majority of veteran coaches and athletics administrators have expressed strong and unequivocal concern.
“This would be the beginning of the end of high school athletics,” said Jimmy Weatherford, a legendary baseball coach at Chesterfield and South Florence high schools who is now coaching at Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach, which competes in the S.C. Independent Schools Association (SCISA).
Much of the angst stems from the league’s handling in recent years of two overlapping issues — how to classify non-traditional schools such as private and charter schools that compete in the SCHSL, and how to adjudicate situations in which players are deemed ineligible during the course of the season.
Critics suggest the league has been unfair to non-traditional schools, pointing to the 3x
multiplier for students who live outside a school’s designated attendance zone — a policy that went into place this school year and bumped most non-traditional schools up at least one classification, if not more — and seemingly incongruent rulings regarding the penalty for using ineligible players.
This fall, powerhouse charter school Gray Collegiate Academy and traditional public school Irmo High School both were found to have used ineligible players in a handful of games during the season. Gray was banned from the playoffs, while Irmo was allowed to participate.
“There is no accountability,” Rep. Erickson told The State newspaper. “Our schools have accountability, our teachers have accountability, but there is no accountability from them (SCHSL).”
Those involved in the day-today of interscholastic athletics dispute that notion. The league has numerous committees and constantly meets with member institutions to update policy and protocol to meet the real-world challenges that can vary from small rural schools in Class 1A and 2A to well-funded and fully-staffed programs in Class 4A and 5A.
“I can’t think of anything worse for high school athletics in South
On the dotted line
Sunday, May 4 at Praise Assembly of God baseball field at 800 Paris Island Gateway. Players are asked to be 20 minutes early, warmed up, and ready to start at 1 p.m. There will be a parents/coaches meeting from 1 to 1:15 p.m., Saturday. For questions or more information, call Clay Stanley at 843-258-4198
Sponsors needed The Beaufort Ospreys are run on a nonprofit basis with coaches that volunteer their time. The Beaufort Board of Education charges the team for the use of the high school fields won which they play. The BOE also requires the team to provide
security for our games, pay for the use of lights, and pay for the umpires.
The Ospreys supply game balls at their expense. They charge gate fees and operate a concession stand which barely cover costs of umpires and security.
Last year’s field use was $1 500 plus a $500 donation to the Battery Creek athletic program, which was paid out of pocket from one of our coaches. This year, the Legion is fielding two teams, doubling the cost.
The Ospreys are hoping to find sponsors or donations to help cover expenses and enable the team to keep cost for parents and/or athletes minimal. The team travels all around the state, and travel costs alone are not cheap. The Ospreys play threegame series with each opponent with road games each week. Uniforms and gear are roughly $220 per player for up to 36 players and six coaches.
Any businesses or individuals interested in sponsorship or donating to the Beaufort Ospreys, call Clay Stanley at 843-258-4198
Carolina than for our legislators to get further involved,” said Charlie Burry, who spent 40 of his 45 years in public education at Hartsville High School, serving as a teacher, coach and principal before retiring in 2018 “SCHSL, all things considered, does a great job.”
Shannon Erickson
The league recently made headlines with a proactive approach to alleviating the issue of eligibility hearings — and possibly stemming the tide of transfers — with a one-time free transfer rule that puts in place standardized eligibility sanctions for a student who switches schools after the season or makes a second transfer without a bonafide change of address. The rule will certainly need to be adapted over time — as will the multiplier rule as it pertains to attendance figures and classifications — but that is what self-governing bodies like SCHSL do: They adapt to the times and continue on.
“State legislators have no idea the scope of what all the league coordinates,” said Greg Elliott, longtime basketball coach at Hilton Head Island and Summerville high schools. “If they did, they
would want no part of that beast. Work on paving roads, lowering state income taxes, and anything else but high school sports.
“Just like any organization, sometimes they make wrong decisions,” Elliott said. “But they manage 200-plus high schools fairly well.”
It’s worth noting that most of the support for this drastic and short-sighted measure is coming from advocates for charter schools, many of whom are the very legislators who would appoint the officials who rule over high school sports. Such a move would dramatically swing the balance of power back in favor of the non-traditional schools who dominated the past decade, nearly sweeping the state championships in the Class 1A and 2A divisions once populated by small, rural schools.
The SCHSL is always a work in progress, and many of its critics’ frustrations are valid. But taking the decision-making out of the hands of the people who have devoted their lives to high school athletics and consolidating even more power with our legislators and their cronies, is not the move.
Justin Jarrett is the sports editor of The Island News and the founder of LowcoSports.com. He was the sports editor of the Island Packet and the Beaufort Gazette for 6½ years. He has a
BA dominates Whale Branch
On Wednesday, April 23, 2025, Beaufort High senior athlete Caleb Stephan signs a Letter of Intent at Beaufort High School to attend college at Southern Wesleyan University. Stephan will compete in Track and Field. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
Beaufort Academy's Dylan Chapman slides into home plate against Whale Branch at Beaufort Academy on Friday, April 25, 2025. BA won, 18-3. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
Beaufort High’s Erin Crosby attempts to control the ball against Colleton County on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, at Beaufort High School. Beaufort won, 3-1. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
FABB receives national commendation for defense of intellectual freedom
Board member honored for advocacy, support of librarians
Staff reports
The American Association of School Librarians (AASL), through its state chapter, the South Carolina Association of School Librarians (SCASL), formally recognized and commended Families Against Book Bans (FABB) last month for its ongoing commitment to defending the intellectual freedom of South Carolina students and supporting school librarians on the front lines of censorship challenges.
FABB Board Member Mary Foster was also individually honored with the 20242025 SCASL President’s Award for her advocacy work supporting librarians.
At the 50th SCASL Conference held March 19 through March 21 2025, in Columbia, FABB was honored for its outstanding efforts to protect the First Amendment rights of all learners. The resolution highlights the organization’s role in standing with South Carolina librarians, advocating for fair instructional materials policies, and empowering families and communities to resist censorship.
The commendation recognizes FABB’s:
Direct support to librarians across South Carolina in defending intellectual freedom and resisting censorship efforts;
Ongoing communica-
tion with state and district legislators through meetings, testimony, calls, and emails to advocate for the protection of free expression; Community outreach through petitions, informational campaigns, book giveaways, and advocacy tools that help individuals take action in their local schools; Collaboration with SCASL in engaging state and local education leaders to promote
transparent and equitable policies on instructional content.
The AASL emphasized the importance of intellectual freedom as stated in the National School Library Standards, affirming that “intellectual freedom is every learner’s right.” The commendation also references the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, which asserts, “Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups
concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.”
In response to the commendation, Jamie Gregory, President of the South Carolina Association of School Librarians, said, “Families Against Book Bans has been a powerful and principled partner in our work to ensure that students in South Carolina have access to diverse perspectives and inclusive literature. Their advocacy, resources, and tireless energy have helped
amplify the voices of school librarians and community members who are committed to preserving students’ rights to read, learn, and think freely.”
FABB’s recognition by AASL and SCASL comes at a time when schools and libraries across the country are facing a surge in book challenges and censorship attempts. The commendation serves as a reminder of the vital role that families, educators, and advocates play in upholding intellec-
tual freedom and fostering a literate society. FABB is a grassroots coalition of parents, students, librarians, educators, and community members dedicated to advocating for intellectual freedom, championing educators and librarians, and promoting socially just and public education. FABB was launched in January 2023 to directly oppose the small group of extremists who effectively banned 97 books from the shelves of Beaufort County public schools.
Board of Education schedules community public forums on budget
Forum to be held at Beaufort High School on Thursday, May 1
Staff reports
Two public forums were scheduled for parents, staff, and the community to learn more about the school district budget being developed by the Beaufort County Board
of Education for the 202526 school year, according to a media release from the Beaufort County School District (BCSD). The first forum was to be held in the Bluffton High School cafeteria
at 6 p.m., Wednesday, April 30. The second will be held in the Beaufort High School cafeteria at 6 p.m., Thursday, May 1
Participants at each forum will hear a presentation on the budget and have a chance to work in small groups to explore various areas of the budget. Participants will be
able to share their discussions and suggestions.
“Input from our key stakeholders is an important part of the budget process,” Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said in the release. “We look forward to hearing from our community members, parents, and employees at our public budget forums.”
The Board hopes to officially certify the district’s 2025-26 budget at its May 20 meeting. Beaufort County Council’s current timeline calls for three readings, with the third and final reading of the district’s budget taking place on June 23 2025
The Families Against Book Bans (FABB) Board — from left, Betsy Hinderliter, Mary Foster, Angela Prestil, Carey Kerney, and Emily Mayer — stands with its American Association of School Librarians Commendation. Photo courtesy of Families Against Book Bans
Families Against Book Bans (FABB) Board Member Mary Foster receives the President’s Award from South Carolina Association of School Librarians (SCASL) President Jamie Gregory. Photo courtesy of Families Against Book Bans
Editor’s Note: The opinions
Stop shooting US in feet on trade
household items.
South Carolina makes stuff — a lot of stuff — and sends it all over the world.
But with the volatility in world markets and global trade caused by the unforced errors and bullying by President Donald Trump and his administration over unnecessary tariffs, stuff that we make and export face an uncertain future. People could lose jobs. Some businesses could go under.
The three months since Trump has been in office has created economic shock, but no awe, around the world and it’s making America look small. This increase in uncertainty is troubling for anyone in the middle class investing in the stock market, a recent see-saw which has dropped 9% — or $11 trillion — since Jan. 20, 2025
“The back-and-forth we’ve seen throughout the year on tariff policy makes it harder for businesses to plan for the future because they don’t know, for example, what their cost structure is likely to be
IANDY BRACK
or what the general market environment will look like,” University of South Carolina economist Joseph Von Nessen told us this week. “It’s important to remember that many businesses — and especially manufacturers — are making production decisions several years in advance.
“Uncertainty for businesses breeds paralysis. When businesses don’t know what the market landscape is likely to be, they are more likely to go into wait-andsee mode and postpone investment decisions.” And that could be more impact-
ful in South Carolina, which has a manufacturing economy ranked first in the South, according to a 2023 article in Maintenance World. Over the last decade, the state grew its manufacturing sector 17% thanks to infrastructure and workforce investments.
South Carolina also is a leading exporter of tires and passenger vehicles — so much so that the S.C. Ports Authority proudly boasts its efforts supporting one in nine jobs in the Palmetto State.
But what are tariffs by the United States, retaliatory tariffs by other nations and new ill will among trading partners going to do to people in South Carolina? While risk managers seem to be mostly mum, the answer is fairly obvious — unless the US can get stuff that it buys — without heavy tariffs — from some place or it starts making stuff pretty darn quickly (and it won’t be quick), either we’ll do without or things will get pricey soon. Hence, there
are fears of a recession.
Similarly, if we lose markets for our goods — such as South Carolina agricultural products usually bought by China and other Asian countries — our manufacturers could face an uncertain future.
Unless they’re doing what their risk managers likely are frantically advising — finding new markets for South Carolina goods.
So all in all, it’s a big damned mess that the federal government has caused around the world thanks to an unstrategic tariff policy not rooted in economic sanity. And remember, tariffs aren’t paid directly by foreign countries. They’re paid by Americans trying to get foreign goods.
Von Nessen notes, “A tariff is simply a tax on imported goods, which makes these goods more expensive for [American] buyers. And the buyer could either be a business that is purchasing raw materials for its production process or a consumer purchasing
“In each case, however, the ultimate effect is that the prices of goods affected by tariffs are likely to rise, impacting consumer demand. In addition, any retaliatory tariffs implemented by other countries would raise the prices of goods that are being produced in the US and sold to foreign consumers, which would lower the demand for these US businesses.”
The US is causing this tariff mess. It needs to cool down and develop a real strategy rooted in common sense and the rule of law. And it needs to do so before the South Carolinians who make stuff — a lot of the best stuff in the world, in fact — get pushed from the assembly line to the unemployment line.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send it to feedback@statehousereport.com.
With all due respect, it’s not a game
have always loved playing board games. From the time I was in grade school, Saturday afternoons, depending on the weather, were spent with my friends playing any number of those that were popular then. We all had them in our homes: Clue, Monopoly, Risk, Sorry, Yahtzee. The cumulative hours spent cannot be accurately calculated, but suffice to say, if we weren’t outside playing, we were at the game table. I could go off on a tangent and berate today’s situation with kids and their phones. I could bemoan the diminished creativity as a result. And I could lament the same regarding the dumbing-down of interpersonal skills.
But that is not the focus of this column. Instead, I am going to invite you to a game I choose to call “What If?”
What if you were suddenly to assume the Presidency of a company -- the brand doesn’t matter; just know that you are the head honcho, the decision-maker. And you know it is contingent upon you to make it function smoothly with as few hiccups as possible.
Success is your goal. What would be your first concern, your first task? If you answered, “having people around me who are experienced and accomplished in the field, people who make me look good,”
I’d say, “Bravo! You are on your way to success.”
Now let’s take a look at the positions you have to fill. One includes handling those issues dealing with health. Where do you begin to look? I hope your quick answer would be “those highly regarded in the field of medicine.”
It would seem logic dictates that. Yes, there are the good, the bad, and the ugly in all professions, including medicine. But you want the reflection on you to be a positive one. With all the top flight medical facilities in this country, you have an abundance of options from which to choose.
Pardon me? You’d choose RFK, Jr.? Are you kidding?
Some of Kennedy’s own stated aims are bound up with misinformation, and many medical experts have expressed serious concerns about him, citing his views on vaccines and other health matters.
One of his main false claims, repeated in a 2023 interview with FOX news, was that “autism comes from vaccines.”
His approach to removing fluoride from the water also received a “thumbs down” from many professionals with greater knowledge than he.
Sadly, this man, an acknowledged heroin addict who also talks about a dead worm in his brain, has a long and egregious record of promoting misinformation. I don’t think he will provide positive responses to your new company.
So on to choosing who will work diligently and produce results that make your hiring practices noteworthy. Security is paramount, not just for your company but for so much more. It’s important, in fact, that when you are choosing who heads this department, you do a thorough inves-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Open Letter to Rep. Nancy Mace from Beaufort Indivisible
April 24 2025
Congresswoman Mace:
On Wednesday, April 23, you hosted a town hall in Beaufort County at the gated community of Dataw Island. Prior to that meeting you provided local media with an opportunity to ask questions. Astoundingly, your responses included a blatant and hostile misrepresentation of our organization, our membership and what we stand for. To be clear, Beaufort Indivisible is hardly a “Socialist” or violent group as you mentioned. It may surprise you but we are local constituents: veterans, trade workers, doctors, nurses, seniors and teachers. For clarification this is what we stand for:
“Beaufort Indivisible: We are a local group of concerned citizens
from various backgrounds and political persuasions, committed to defending the earth, our rights, and our democracy. We are all patriots who want the best for our country and are willing to work for it.
“We are a nonpartisan group that encourages diverse viewpoints, constructive debate and peaceful advocacy. Our members act to engage our elected officials and make our voices heard to advance our mission.”
Yes, we believe in free speech, which includes calls and letters to our representatives but we also emphasize peaceful advocacy. We do not promote violence and take exception to any implication that our group is behind threatening calls or emails. Our group routinely makes inquiries to officials as local concerned citizens and we expect our representatives to take those inquiries seriously
“With all due respect, one would think that having had a prior shot at setting up this ‘business’ would have provided you with so many lessons, but it would appear that is not the case.”
CAROL LUCAS, on political appointments.
tigation for someone who puts safety and dependability ahead of all else. Someone with an impeccable background.
What’s that, you say?
Pete Hegseth? (moan and sigh)
The negatives attached to this man are voluminous. Please consider that he faced allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, alcohol issues, and … security issues.
Does “Signalgate” ring a bell?
You think he will enhance your image? Come on, even his Mom has reservations about him.
Oh, well. It’s your “company.”
Perhaps you are thinking you need some females on your Board of Directors. We all know what you really think of women, but appearances must be kept. While you have very little time for education in your newly-established “business,” you recognize that necessity.
The last time you tried this, the woman was all for privatizing the system, and that didn’t go over so well. What’s that you say? Linda McMahon? The A1 steak sauce lady? Sir, I humbly suggest that you reconsider.
And while you are doing that, you might also want to reconsider the dog killer.
I know she looks good in a T-shirt and that cowboy hat, but toting a gun that she points indiscriminately won’t do anything for your image. Well, OK; if you say so. With all due respect, one would think that having had a prior shot at setting up this “business” would
and respond to each of them. Our members have powerful voices and use those voices constructively for positive change in the community. Based on your interview though, you apparently have not heard our voices or read our letters. If you did, you would know we have valid issues to discuss: expanding veteran services, improving education, safeguarding Social Security and Medicare, expanding health care, addressing gun violence, ensuring women rights, protecting our local environment, ensuring appropriate immigration enforcement, and supporting Ukraine etc. Many, if not all, of our concerns have not been addressed by you or your staff.
We are your constituents, and you are our representative. We would like to hear from you and not from inside a gated community (gated communities
are rare in northern Beaufort). We seek a public forum for an open discussion of the issues –no divisive language, no name calling, just an honest exchange. You may not share our concerns, but you need to hear and understand them, and you may benefit from learning about our organization. Contact us and let’s schedule that forum.
– Sincerely, Jeff Baker, Brad Beck, Susan Boyd, Anne Dickerson, Susie Julavits, and Dennis Lynch on behalf of Beaufort Indivisible, 800 strong and growing
Citizens deserve equal participation, responsibility in government
I am at a loss to understand why no one in the MAGA Party is speaking out about the
have provided you with so many lessons, but it would appear that is not the case. My question is simply this: why not choose the best, the brightest? The ones who will make you look spectacular?
Yes, I understand that loyalty is your is No. 1 priority. But to choose those who are obvious buffoons only underscores your own buffoonery … with all due respect. I guess I should have realized this when your choice for second in command was the eye-liner guy. His disloyal commentary about you earlier should have removed him from your consideration. Eating the cats and dogs? Another heads up. Greenland knew! (another sigh) All of this reminds me of the famous Sarah Palin comment about putting lipstick on a pig. So the ‘business’ will probably fail … (pause) unless that is your goal. Just my conjecture, sir … again, with all due respect!
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.”
ongoing/escalating lawlessness of the current Executive Branch of our government. If abiding by the laws of our country no longer applies to the Executive Branch, we are lost. Who actually wants to live in a United States that is ruled by an ideology, instead of being governed under a system of laws which require due process, universal application, and respect?
We are a diverse nation. Each citizen deserves to participate equally in our governing process, and each of us bears some responsibility for the government we get. Anyone who is not happy with the current collapse into lawlessness and unaccountability can demonstrate your concerns with your community every Monday in front of Beaufort City Hall at 4:30 p.m. Spare an hour during your week to register your view.
– Carol Brown, Beaufort
CAROL LUCAS
VOICES
Editor’s Note: The opinions of our columnists in the Voices section are not necessarily the opinions of The Island
Using anger to motivate revisionists
In the April 14 2025 New Yorker there is an opinion piece by David Remnick that talks about Trump’s recent executive order titled, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”
“It’s diagnosis is that there has long been among professors and curators ‘a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.’”
And it will be the job, according to the executive order, of Vice President J.D. Vance, “to remove from the museum (of African American History and Culture) what is called, in exquisite Orwellese, ‘improper ideology.’”
So where does our young Cromwell begin his search?
In the last couple of years Susan and I have done the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Ala.; the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.; and the International African American Museum in Charleston. The museum in Montgomery, Ala., is the most disturbing of these three taking one down into darkened cells where the slaves were held (pending distribution). These cells
come with a slave — a crying, pleading hologram that makes you want to forfeit your $5 ticket and run back out the door.
Washington’s National Museum is less grim but it also features exhibits from the “Middle Passage” leavened by a section dedicated to Black entertainers and a cafeteria that serves collards.
Charleston’s Museum is built over Gadsden’s Wharf — the very same wharf where the slaves where unloaded. But one end of the building opens itself to the Cooper River and this impossibly blue panorama helps one withstand the (sometimes unhappy) exhibits inside. I will readily admit that I was shaken by what I saw at The Legacy in Montgomery. Not that the holding cells themselves were a fiction; but the ghostly (holographic) slaves were obviously theatre — and a simulated beach littered with skulls was clearly a metaphor for
the thousands of lives lost in the Middle Passage.
Now I know that the museum in Montgomery is a private, nonprofit and it should be beyond the scrutiny of J.D. Vance. But the obvious purpose of this museum is to make people like me ashamed of what happened to our Black brothers and sisters during slavery and its aftermath.
And, indeed, it achieved its purpose — when Susan and I left the Legacy Museum we walked to a local bar (Central) where we sat, drank, and talked for several hours about the horrors we had just seen.
Although the Legacy has taken ideological license with its exhibits; clearly that was its intent and, being privately owned and operated, its right. It was also our right to avoid this place — we could have spent our vacation dollars further south, let’s say on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
Washington’s National African American museum is another matter because it is owned by the people of this country. If there is fiction in the presentation of its story—if its curators are presenting a “distorted narrative”—then J.D. has the right to find and fix this.
When we went (to the Washington museum) I didn’t see any obvious
factual errors. I did see some history, mostly the Jim Crow era that made me sad; but hey, nobody forced me into this labyrinthine museum. I didn’t have to look at the lynching photos. We could have done Air and Space; or the National Gallery of Art or, if we had more time, relived Robert E. Lee’s turning movement at Chancellorsville.
The rest of Remnick’s article deals with Russia and its history of punishing the “revisionist” historians who exposed Lenin, Stalin and Beria for who they were — murderers.
“His (Yegor Ligachev)
culture-war commissars took the cue, and approved a textbook filled with unquestioned assertions of official history, ‘Russia is a country of heroes.’
And ‘Ukraine is a neo-Nazi state.’”
“In the same spirit, according to Foreign Policy (Magazine), the Chinese Leader Xi Jinping oversaw the establishment a few years ago of historical nihilism ‘hotline’ so that citizens could rat out anyone who shared ‘wrong ideas and viewpoints.’”
So we still come back to feeling creepy about our new national theologian
telling museum curators what is true and what must go. We come away thinking this not the 1st Amendment we were taught in high school.
But let’s be clear. There is a voting demographic that is upset with these African American museums. We also know this Administration wants to use that anger to again motivate those who fear reparations.
Stay tuned.
Scott Graber is a lawyer, novelist, veteran columnist and longtime resident of Port Royal. He can be reached at cscottgraber@gmail.com.
Beaufort Memorial Hospital is proud that two of our very own were selected to receive the state’s highest honor for nurses: THE 2025 PALMETTO GOLD
eaufort Memorial congratulates Karen Carroll, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, and Tricia Evegan, BSN, RN, for being among the select group of 100 South Carolina nurses to receive the 2025 Palmetto Gold Award from the South Carolina Nurses Foundation. Now in its 22nd year, the Palmetto Gold Award recognizes nurses for the valuable contribution they make to patient care and the commitment they have shown to our community. Karen and Tricia exemplify the best of the nursing profession, improving the quality of life for patients and demonstrating the kind of compassion and caring that has made nursing the heart of healthcare.
SCOTT GRABER
Tricia Evegan, BSN, RN
Karen Carroll, DNP, RN,
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TSC State ROTC visit Camp Saxton on Naval Support Facility Beaufort
On April 18, 2025, cadets from
Reserve
by
as well as the
More on what veterans need to know about lay witness statements
his article is Part 2 of a three-part series on Lay Witness Statements. Last week’s article (read at https:// bit.ly/3ESy5PX) recommended veterans watch the VA’s YouTube Video #theSITREP “Buddy Statement” for VA Disability Service-Connection (Statement in Support of a Claim)” and read the VA web pages “About VA Form 21-4138 (Statement in Support of Claim)” and “About VA Form 2110210 (Lay/Witness Statement).”
What the VA is looking for in a Lay Witness Statement
The veteran should explain to the Lay Witness (a person who is not a trained professional witness) that the VA is looking for a page or two that focuses on the injury, wound, illness, trauma, event, or hazardous material (HAZMAT) exposure that caused the disability. The letter should tell the VA who, what, when, where, and how the injury, illness, scar, or HAZMAT contamination injury happened. Specifically, the Lay Witness statement should be tailored to the claim and give as much information as possible, including the following:
1 The witnesses’ name, address, phone, email, and relationship (Battle buddy, spouse, Chaplain, etc.) to the veteran.
2 Details about the incident, event, accident that caused the injury or illness/ condition (Who, What, When, Where, Why).
3 Details about the injury, wound, illness, trauma, event, or hazardous material (HAZMAT) exposure/ injuries (severity, frequency, and description of the injuries and symptoms),
4 Details about how the injury or illness affects the veteran’s job, social, and personal life (including complaints, loss of employment, divorce, having to take breaks, use of cane, wheelchair use, medications taken, and symptoms like snoring, gasping for air, startling awakenings, sleepy and tired all day, falling/tripping, limping, nightmares, nausea, crying, threatening suicide, rashes, scars, hypervigilance, irritability, guilt, depression, anxiety, etc., etc.)
5 Witness signature (Notarized if you use a simple letter).
Provide a written summary to the witness It is wise to give the witnesses who offer to write a supporting statement for your claim for service-connection (or individual unemployability) a written summary (and pictures if you have them) of your injury, wound, illness, trauma, event, or hazardous material (HAZMAT) exposure/injury and the resulting disability. Include a detailed description of the original injuries, trauma, scars, damaged equipment/vehicle/building/ helicopter/etc. or event. Include your specific
symptoms, frequency, type, and pain level (stabbing, sharp, dull, burning, etc.) or pain level from 1 to 10 (mild, moderate, severe, unbearable). Include in the summary your military unit and the date, time, and location of the original injury, wound, trauma, illness, burn, accident, or event.
Veterans can also draft the lay witness statement for the witness, but the witness must then put it in their own words based on their honest recollection and observations of the event, trauma, condition, illness, wound, injury, symptoms, and circumstances.
VA Forms or Letter
Use VA Form 21-4138, “Statement in Support of a Claim”; or VA Form 21-10210
“Lay Witness Statement”, or a (notarized) letter to the VA to provide a Lay Witness statement. The statement must be notarized if it is just a “letter” because the VA requires that the person writing it swear their testimony is the truth.
VA Form 21-4138 (Statement in Support of a Claim)
This form is frequently used by family members, spouses, battle buddies, chaplains, and other witnesses to submit written statements to support veterans’ VA disability claims. Veterans can download this form at the VA web page “About VA Form 214138” at https://bit.ly/3Y6KSmY. Witnesses can submit their statement online instead of sending the VA the paper form.
VA Form 21-10210 (Lay Witness Statement)
This newer form is specifically tailored for lay evidence, allowing firsthand witnesses to document
their observations in support of a veteran’s claim. It provides a structured format detailing how the witness knows the veteran, what they observed, and how the disability impacts the veteran’s life.
Veterans can download VA Form 21-10210 at the VA web page “About VA Form 21-10210,” at https://bit.ly/3sPpxD8 and https://bit.ly/3NdlOqv. Witnesses can submit their statements online instead of sending the VA the paper form.
The VA 21-10210 form instructions state: “Before completing this form, read the Privacy Act and Respondent Burden on Page 3. Use this form to submit a statement as a veteran/ claimant or someone writing on your behalf to support a claim. If you or someone else writing on your behalf provides additional statements to support your claim(s), please submit this form with your application.
For more information, contact the VA through Ask VA at https:// ask.va.gov/ or call (the VA) tollfree at 1-800-827-1000 (TTY: 711). VA forms are available at www. va.gov/vaforms. After completing the form (and if you do not submit it online), mail it to the Department of Veterans Affairs, Evidence Intake Center, P.O. Box 4444, Janesville, Wis. 53547-4444
It does not matter which form or if a letter is used. The specific VA form or letter the lay witness uses for a VA buddy statement is far less important than the structure and content of the statement. Honesty, facts, places, dates, times,
and other firsthand observations and specific information tailored to the claim are what matter.
What the veteran hopes the Lay Witness Statement will do The VA “Eligibility for VA Disability Benefits” web page at https://www.va.gov/disability/ eligibility/ states, “VA disability compensation provides tax-free monthly payments. You may be eligible for VA compensation if you have a service-connected condition. A service-connected condition means an illness or injury caused by or worsened because of your active military service.”
Most veterans do not have a problem proving to the VA that they have a disability because that can be documented in military, VA, and/or civilian medical records. Some veterans have difficulty proving what happened to them in service because their military medical and/or personnel records have been lost or were never created. Where most veterans run into trouble with the VA is when they try to show the causal relationship between the current disability and what happened to them in service.
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 and a contributing freelance writer with The Island News. Contact him at LDandridge@earthlink.net or 843-276-7164
LARRY DANDRIDGE
the
Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at South Carolina State University were warmly welcomed
U.S. Navy personnel,
National Park Rangers at Naval Support Facility Beaufort. As they toured the historic Camp Saxton, they delved into the profound legacy of those who served here, exploring the pivotal role this site played in our nation’s military history. Lindsay Schreiber/Naval Hospital Beaufort
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