May 17, 2012

You are here: Home / 2009 / July / Archives for 24th

More arrests made in Midlands area church burglaries

July 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

More arrests have been made in a series of summer church break-ins in Lexington County. Lexington County Sheriff James Metts says 19 year old Ashley Marie Spires and Glen Daniel Adams III have been charged with second degree burglary in connection with two church break-ins in Lexington County.

A week ago, 18 year old Kayla Ann Graydon and 20 year olds Patrick Burton Olvey of Gilbert and James Richard Osborne of Little Mountain were arrested in connection with 20 church burglaries in Lexington, Calhoun and Newberry Counties. Sheriff Metts says the motive was getting money to purchase drugs.

“They felt that churches were easy targets to get money. They felt that they could take that money or items they could quickly convert into money and use that money to buy “pot,” marijuana. They wanted to smoke the marijuana and live in motels and have a good time doing that.”     

Arrest warrants state that Adams and Spires accompanied Graydon and Osborne  on June 14 when Graydon and Osborne broke into St. Matthews Lutheran Church and that Adams and Spires were with Graydon and Osborne on June 15 when they broke into Oakwood Baptist Church in Lexington.

Sheriff Metts says for now the investigation of the break-ins continues. “The investigation is still ongoing. I don’t know whether we’re going to uncover any additional individuals or not, but it’s still too premature at this time to say.”

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, News

Armed Forces monument becomes reality for rural community

July 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Armed Forces Memorial at the National Guard armory in Batesburg Leesville

The Armed Forces Monument at the National Guard armory in Batesburg Leesville has been completed and will officially be dedicated this evening at 7:00 p.m. Four local individuals including the mayor and a newspaper reporter began this project 18 months ago. Sgt. Trey Anthony, a recruiter at the armory and one of the men responsible for the memorial, says this was a grass roots movement.

“We raised money in regard to one brick at a time,” said Anthony.

Example of inscribed bricks

“$100 is what the inscribed brick costs and from that we’ve raised to build a monument in our community which we have lacked that essentially honors all members of the Armed Forces. Not just the National Guard or not just one particular branch. It is all branches of our military. We have a marker for each one. We have the inscribed bricks which are personalized for a loved one or even the soldier himself to buy.”

Sgt. Anthony says there is plenty of space available for anyone who would like to honor a loved one. “Absolutely. We got a little over 350 inscribed bricks right now,” he said. “There are enough spaces in there to include 8,000. Hopefully over the years we will be adding names to it long after me and Sgt. Ozmint are gone and, hopefully for years to come, the community will have a place to honor those who have served.”

He says that many folks contributed and, as a result, the memorial is nearly

Another view

paid for. According to Sgt. Anthony, “It is as close to paid for as we can get. Our bricks–the one who actually laid all of our bricks here, Marty Henry of Henry masonry–he stepped up. We paid him a majority of what we owe him and there’s a little bit left for that but he told us, ‘hey guys, let’s get this thing completed. Let’s get it dedicated and we’ll worry about the money later.’ So really, he’s stepped up in a big way that has allowed us to move forward instead of having to wait.”

Sgt. Anthony says tonight’s dedication is intended to be a small, community celebration.

Filed Under: Human Interest, Military, News

DeMint: DNC’s ad “blatantly false”

July 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Senator Jim DeMint’s comment against President Obama’s health care reform plan has drawn national attention. DeMint said “If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo, it will break him,” last week while meeting with conservative activists.

In a press conference this week Obama replied saying: “I’ve heard that one Republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to compromise, it’s better politics to go for the kill, and another Republican senator (said) that defeating health care reform is about breaking me.”

DeMint says he knows it’s not about the president.

“I like President Obama personally, and this is not about him personally, it’s not political for me, it’s really about what policy works. I introduced a Health Care Freedom Act a few weeks ago, which does something pretty simple, it says if you like what you got, if you’re on medicare, or if you have a policy at work, just keep it, we’re not going to mess with it. But, if you don’t get your insurance at work or if you’re unemployed, we’ll give your family a $5,000 a year health care voucher to buy your health insurance,” says DeMint. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, News, Politics & Government

SCDOT facing funding cuts by Congress

July 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Funding for highways across the U.S. may be rescinded if Congress fails to act, says Transportation Secretary Buck Limehouse. Congress has already agreed to take back $8.7 billion that had been appropriated to federal highways meaning South Carolina stands to lose their portion of those appropriations totaling $145 million in contract authority. Limehouse has encouraged Congress to re-think the rescission. Department of Transportation Spokesman Michael Covington says that future highway funding needs to be addressed by Congress.

“The answer will be to find a way to shore up the highway trust fund and, in fact, Congress is debating a $27 billion shoring up of that fund,” said Covington, “rather than adjusting the gas tax or other things they could do. They’re also looking for other ways to fund highways in the future now that cars are getting away from fossil fuels and what have you.”

Covington says the rescission could limit the DOT’s ability to prioritize projects. “The rescission we’re facing this year will require us to take an across the board cut in all of the program areas,” he said.

“That means we will not be able to choose priorities and, if that happens, we may have to actually de-obligate some projects we have already approved. That’s why the secretary–Secretary Limehouse–is encouraging Congress to kind of  re-think their decision on this.”

Since 2002, there have been 10 rescissions by Congress. If they do not reconsider their 11th rescission, it would total nearly $270 million for South Carolina.

Filed Under: News, Politics & Government, Transportation

BAE Systems expands in Charleston, creating more jobs

July 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

BAE Systems- North Charleston facilityBAE Systems is expanding its North Charleston operations to accommodate a growing electronics engineering program.

“It’s a major milestone for BAE Systems as we have taken a small, $20 million organization and grown it over the past five years, into now a $130 million organization with a rich pipeline to continue that growth into the future,” says BAE Vice President Richard Anderson.

The South Carolina Department of Commerce, the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, the City of North Charleston, and Charleston County joined collaboratively for this effort, which is part of a BAE consolidation of three facilities into one. Anderson says the investment is expected to create 75 jobs, and bring in around $4.5 million this year, and 100 more jobs in 2010.

“It’s great because it’s gonna be a mixture of jobs. It’s gonna be administrative jobs to support, it’s gonna be technicians and mechanics building and assembling, and going out in the field and building and assembling and maintaining. And, it’s gonna be high-end engineering jobs that are going to be doing the design, the requirement analysis. So, it’s a nice spectrum of jobs,” says Anderson.

BAE focuses primarily on the fabrication of shipboard simulators, access control security systems, fuel handling equipment, communications and IT networks, and other classified electronic systems. Much of the work BAE produces in Charleston is for the U.S. Navy. Anderson says Charleston is a great place for this type of expansion.

“We can find the engineers, the technicians, the mechanics, we can find them in the local area, and the people that we find are good people who understand an honest day’s work for an honest day’s wage, and the other thing we like in Charleston is its also a good community, so while we have a customer, and we’re doing good work, when we have doing honorable work, when our employees go home at night, they go home to a good community,” says Anderson.

BAE’s new consolidated facility will sit on 74,000-square-feet at North Charleston’s Aviation Business Park.

Listen here to portion of Anderson’s interview

Filed Under: Business, Military, News
Newer Posts »