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Hardeeville development may be SC’s largest

June 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Hardeeville in Jasper County is experiencing growth pressure from the Hilton Head, Bluffton and Savannah areas and is launching a tremendous commercial development project, located across from the Sun City Development. At $400 million, local officials say it may be the largest commercial development to date in South Carolina. It means 1.7 million square feet of retail space and 2000 permanent jobs.

Ted Felder, who directs Economic Development for the nearby town of Hardeeville, says the project is not really connected to the the port project, the proposal for the Jasper Ocean Terminal which is simutaneously underway. He says it’s the town’s geograhical location, and they’ve learned a lot from “their neighbors.”

“It’s like we’re in the center of the perfect storm, certainly in residential growth, and on the commercial and industrial side as well.  And we’re doing our best to make sure we’ve done our planning upfront.  We’ve watched neighbors and friends in other areas who  have faced growth challenges and frankly have had to make very tough, and sometimes bad decisions, not throwing stones at all, and we’ve tried to learn from those mistakes they’ve made,”  says Felder.  [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, News

Cancer death rate highest for SC blacks

June 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

CPCP Dir. James Hebert, PhD

African Americans in our state are more likely to die from cancer than any other population. That is according to a first-ever statewide study of deaths after diagnosis, which was conducted by the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health, and led by Dr. James Hebert.

Hebert is also the director of the Statewide Cancer Prevention and Control Program in South Carolina. He says this is the first time this kind of study has ever been done in terms of mapping within a geopolitical unit like a state.  The research is featured in the June issue of Cancer, the Journal of the American Cancer Society.

He says the Pee Dee shows some of the worst numbers, but the rates for the rest of the state are not much better. “It’s a huge problem and it’s pretty much statewide. These racial differences are pretty consistently seen across all cancer sites (in SC), certainly for cancer as a whole in virtually everywhere in the state. There are places that are particularly bad, but they’re not dramatically worse than any other place in the state—when comparing to the country as a whole,” says Hebert.

The largest disparities are for oral, breast or prostate cancers. Blacks have almost twice the mortality-to-incidence ratios in those than whites.

The breast cancer rates are interesting, says Hebert, especially in light of the fact that the incidence rate in the state for blacks is about 15 percent lower than it is for European-Americans in South Carolina.  The same imbalance occurs with prostate cancer, he says.  

Though this study does not ascribe cause, Hebert offers the observation based on other research, that African-Americans are getting a particularly virulent type of cancer.

“Within a given stage of cancer, stage describing the size of the tumor and how much it’s spread, blacks tend to have much higher grade or more aggressive tumors than do whites. So even after accounting for the stage of the disease, the cancers tend to be nastier.

And they tend to be more extremely nasty at very young ages,” says Hebert.

The next steps, he says, are to pinpoint and studying  the problem “at a smaller level” and then to involve the community in solving the problem.  

“It isn’t just about cancer,”  he says, “because if you are at high risk of getting and dying of cancer, you are at high risk for many other things.”
Filed Under: Health & Medicine, News

Teachers exploring alternative avenues for certification

June 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

As the competition for jobs in the teaching profession becomes more heated what with recession budget cuts and the elimination of positions that follow, teachers in South Carolina and around the country want to make sure their certification is up to date. More and more teachers are turning to universities with satellite branches and extensive online services that provide courses they need to retain or enhance their certification.Many of these schools, like the nationally known University of Phoenix were created beginning in the 1970′s to provide educational opportunities for working adults with busy schedules. University of Phoenix Continuing Teacher Education Liaison Justin Tracey says it is important for him to meet teachers face to face at events like Monday’s South Carolina Teacher Expo in Columbia.

“Providing information to educators in need of continuing teacher education course work to renew their certification or get alternative licensure, endorsements, things like that. Many teachers are looking specifically for single courses they can use to get the credits they need to keep their jobs or to move on to a different type of teaching or different subject matter.”

Tracy says he finds that teachers across the country are taking courses to enhance their certification in a variety of areas in order to become more versatile and more attractive to prospective employers. “Plenty of people right now are wanting to change their content area, their main subject of teaching. Lots of them are moving from one specific content area to multiple content areas in order to make themselves more marketable for obviously the way the industry is right now.”

Filed Under: Economy, Education, News

Wateree Blue Trail dedication Saturday

June 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The Wateree RiverThis Saturday is National Trail Day and American Rivers will be celebrating by dedicating a Blue Trail on the Wateree River. A Blue Trail is the water equivalent of a hiking trail and allows river enthusiasts a designated area to canoe, kayak, fish, of even hike along side in South Carolina. The Wateree Blue Trail will be 80 miles long beginning in Camden and passing through Kershaw, Sumter, and Richland Counties allowing for multiple night camping trips along the underdeveloped river corridor. Matt Rice, Associate Director of Southeast Conservation for American Rivers says that the purpose of the blue trail is to encourage people to take pride in their natural resource.

“The goal of our Blue Trails program is to–by highlighting the river resource and building a constituency behind it–to reconnect people and communities to their river,” said Rice, “and to inspire them to protect it for generations to come.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, News

Grand Strand businesses seek H.E.L.P.

June 2, 2009 By

The spring bike rallies along the Grand Strand have, in the past, generated a substantial amount of revenue for businesses in the area. After new laws and limitations implemented by Myrtle Beach City Council, this year, some businesses felt the effects of tourism reductions. Because of this, a new program was formed to tell these businesses: “Help is on the Way.” 

 

“From hearing all of the businesses and their employees over the last few bikes weeks, the lack of revenue has just been substantial. So, we in turn decided, we came up with “Help is on the Way,” and in order for us to help, we select three locations each week to patronize. A breakfast place, a lunch place, and a dinner establishment,” says Cunningham.

 

 “Help is on the Way,” or Help Eliminate Lowsy Politicians, spokesperson Tricia Cunningham says they want to “stir up” the Grand Strand, so they will leave flyers at each location, post information on their website, market themselves so other businesses will jump on board, and hold a petition signing for single member districts. Cunningham says they need their voice to be heard.

 

 “There was a lot of signs down here during bike week that said: ‘Not a Dime in 09,’ and they were discouraging people coming into the city, the city themselves were. So, they were really trying to deter people from coming into the city and we weren’t going to deal with selective tourism anymore, that’s not what we’re here for,” says Cunningham.

 

 But what they are there for, shines a light for the whole state to see and hear.

 

 “Myrtle Beach is one of the top tourists destinations in the country. It’s not our beach, it’s America’s beach. So, the state of South Carolina, the revenue that Myrtle Beach and Horry County produces is substantial, so if we lose, the state loses. So, we are encouraging everybody in the state, come visit us, come to the city, these business owners want your business, they want you in the city, they are welcoming you,” says Cunningham.

 

Cunningham says they will continue with these programs to help support the community at least until council elections in November. She says voting is the greatest thing someone can do to let their voice be heard, and signify that help could be on the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Business, News, Politics & Government