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COASTAL OBSERVER
Vol. XXXIII No. 21
Pawleys Island, South Carolina ~ November 13, 2014
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Corps plans for port dredging minus federal aid
BY JASON LESLEY
COASTAL OBSERVER
Officials with the Army
Corps of Engineers say dredging Georgetown Harbor needs
to include a long-range plan to
maintain the channel’s depth
and to identify new customers’
needs or the county, state and
State Ports Authority will be
throwing away millions of dol-
lars. And those will be local dollars because there are no federal funds yet for the project.
“In the past when we’ve
had this conversation with the
folks in Georgetown, the strategy has been 27 feet, the whole
depth, the whole project. We’re
just going to build it back, and
everything’s going to be great,
said Brandan Scully, chief of
navigation for the Corps of En-
gineers’ Charleston District. “I
don’t think that’s a viable strategy.”
Scully said he wants to encourage Georgetown port officials to avoid a path that is unrealistic and unsustainable. He
said the only real traffic at the
port is cargo going to the State
Ports Authority property along
with some bulk concrete aggregate going by barge to Rhode
Island.
“As far as we’re concerned,”
Scully said, “the best thing that
Georgetown can do is to make
sure that they can accommodate those. Let’s say we build
Georgetown back in the next
three years to its full project
depth. Georgetown has a history of not performing. I don’t
think anybody is going to rush
to set up in Georgetown. We
want to make sure that what’s
there now is viable. That’s the
best way for Georgetown to row
their project back to true viability.”
The Corps wants to work
with port and county officials
to develop a sustainable plan
that includes expanded disposal sites with a budget to continue maintenance dredging.
SEE “DREDGING,” PAGE 4
HIGHWAY 17
LITCHFIELD
Median work
begins with
drainage
Deputy
won’t face
charges in
July shooting,
solicitor says
BY CHARLES SWENSON
COASTAL OBSERVER
Work on a plan to install a
raised median on Highway 17
in the Pawleys Island business district has been cleared
to start, according to the state
Department of Transportation.
The work will begin with
installation of drainage pipes
under the highway, said Leah
Quattlebaum, the DOT project manager. The $3.75 million
project will eliminate the twoway left-turn lane on the highway between Waverly Road
and Baskervill Drive. It’s due
to be completed in November
2015.
“The contractor has been
given the notice to proceed,”
Quattlebaum said. “You should
see them out there.”
Palmetto Paving of Conway
was the low bidder. The company is currently wrapping up
the newest phase of the Bike
the Neck path, which runs
along Kings River Road from
Willbrook Boulevard to Waverly Road and down Waverly to
Waccamaw Elementary School.
The drainage work won’t require closing lanes on the highway. Once the crews move into
the median, they will work at
night and there will be lane closures, Quattlebaum said.
A raised concrete median
will have 17 breaks for left- and
U-turns. There are funds in the
contract for landscaping portions of the median, and Quattlebaum said DOT will work
with the Litchfield Beautification Foundation and the Pawleys Island Highway Beautification Program to select the
plants.
Some area business owners opposed the project design,
saying the reduction of left
turns will impact their customers. They claimed DOT misrepresented the project as a
beautification effort. The Citizens Coalition for Ocean Highway tried unsuccessfully to get
Georgetown County Council to
ask for a delay in the project so
the plan could be revised. The
SEE “MEDIAN,” PAGE 2
BY CHARLES SWENSON
COASTAL OBSERVER
Photos by Tanya Ackerman/Coastal Observer
Surfers return to Pawleys
The Eastern Surfing Association and Surf the Earth held
their second annual South End
Surf Off over the weekend.
Jackson Tiller, above, was fifth
in the junior men’s short board.
Junior men’s short board competitors, left, watch the action
from the groin. Chance Jones,
below, flies over the dune, a
dry run for what would come
later.
PAWLEYS ISLAND
MIDWAY FIRE AND RESCUE
Inside this issue
Out of the pulpit and into the fire
COASTAL OBSERVER
Salute for veterans: As generations pass Vietnam vets
step to the front.
SECOND FRONT
Sports: WHS athletes win
state titles in cross country
and tennis.
PAGE 22
Tanya Ackerman/Coastal Observer
The Rev. Wil Keith’s duties go beyond prayer.
chiefs. He went on his first
emergency call, a fender-bender on Highway 17, last week.
“They told me to jump in the
engine,” Keith said, “and I told
them I really respect what you
do and take your responsibility seriously but I was grinning
like a little kid.”
Midway Chief Doug Eggiman said Keith’s enthusiasm
SEE “CHAPLAIN,” PAGE 3
Utility project
gets ultimate
vote of approval:
a bill that’s paid
BY CHARLES SWENSON
COASTAL OBSERVER
BY JASON LESLEY
Father Wil Keith grew up
admiring the fact that his
childhood priest was chaplain
for the Asheville, N.C., Police
Department.
“That was very defining in
his career,” said Keith, rector
at Holy Cross-Faith Memorial
Episcopal Church in Pawleys
Island. “When we had blessing of the animals the police
would bring their horses and
K9 units. It was a big deal for
our little church.”
When Keith was invited
to become the new chaplain
for Midway Fire and Rescue,
he remembered his childhood
priest’s experiences and said
yes. “I had no idea what would
be expected of me,” Keith said,
“or even if I was qualified,
but my mind went back to my
priest.”
Keith has been hanging
around the main firehouse off
Willbrook Boulevard, getting
to know the firefighters and
No criminal charges will be
brought against a Georgetown
County deputy who shot and
killed a Litchfield woman who
was threatening suicide in her
apartment, according to 15th
Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson.
“It was obvious it was self defense,” he said.
Valerie Harrington was shot
by Deputy Joseph Wilson when
she attacked him with a kitchen knife. Harrington’s mother
called the sheriff’s office July
12 when she learned that Harrington was threatening to kill
herself in her apartment at Litchfield Oaks. Harrington, 36,
had just lost her job at International Paper, where she was
an engineer. She had divorced
earlier in the year and her exhusband had gone to court to
challenge their joint custody arrangement.
Wilson arrived at the apartment around 5 p.m. on the Saturday afternoon. Harrington
didn’t answer the door, so he
got the keys from a manager.
Two other deputies arrived and
they entered the apartment
just after 6 p.m. At 6:14 one
of them radioed “Shots fired.
Shots fired.”
The incident report completed by the shift supervisor said
Harrington charged at the deputies with a knife. She was shot
several times.
“I think that’s what had people concerned,” Richardson
said. “The case law is directly in
the officer’s favor on that. If you
SEE “DEPUTY,” PAGE 2
Crime ...................................9
Opinion............................. 10
Crossword........................ 14
What’s On ......................... 15
Property transfers......... 17
Classifieds.........................18
Sports................................ 21
On the Internet
www.coastalobserver.com
A nonbinding ballot this
spring showed 80 percent of
Pawleys Island property owners supported a plan to move
electric and cable lines underground in a $4.2 million project.
A more meaningful measure
of support came this month
when 64 percent of the owners
in the project area sent in their
first payment. The town will
fund $2.5 million and is responsible for covering any costs that
aren’t covered by the owners,
who were asked to pay $350 a
year for 10 years.
Mayor Bill Otis said he was
pleased with the response to
the first billing. The town didn’t
to make the payments mandatory because the project doesn’t
include every parcel. (Some already have underground wires.)
That would have required complex legal work to create a tax
district.
Santee Cooper, the stateowned utility, is doing the work.
It is awaiting environmental
permits to begin the first phase,
which includes burying the
SEE “UTILITY,” PAGE 5