Hilton Head News

The Town of Hilton Head Island has relaxed temporary sign regulations through Sept. 7. Temporary signs will be allowed without a permit. Each business is permitted to have one sign per street frontage; each sign should be no larger than 18-by-24; and each sign must be located on the same site as the business. Banners (no larger than 24-by-48) are permitted to be located on buildings. 

The City of Beaufort was awarded a grant of $188,500 from the South Carolina Historic Preservation Office to restore windows at the Carnegie Library Building that were damaged by Hurricanes Matthew and Irma. During the hurricanes, water intrusion damaged the building, including many of the 29 windows. 

In August, Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president at the Democratic National Convention. She is familiar with the Lowcountry. Last fall, as presidential candidates made their way through Beaufort County, Harris made a campaign stop at University of South Carolina Beaufort amid a standing-room-only crowd.

Matt Clancy, chief of the City of Beaufort Police Department, died after a long battle with cancer. He was 56 years old. In 1997, Clancy joined the Beaufort Police Department as a patrol officer, criminal investigator, investigative lieutenant, and deputy chief. In 2009, he was promoted to police chief.

COASTAL DISCOVERY MUSEUM PROGRAM GIVES STUDENTS AN EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE

A program that launched for the first time during the 2019-2020 school year to help young students spread the word on how to help with local conservation efforts leapt into action when everything suddenly came to a halt more than halfway through the school year.

Conservation in the Classroom was launched by the Coastal Discovery Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate, as a way for students, teachers and the Hilton Head-based museum to work together to educate the youth on local conservation efforts.

DR. VANDERSLICE REMEMBERED FOR KIND HEART, PASSION FOR HELPING CHILDREN

Whether he was cracking jokes to provide levity to patients in the operating room or leading his family on another adventure, Dr. Rick Vanderslice seldom took the expected path.

Dr. Vanderslice, who died last month after a two-year battle with cancer, was the founder of The Urology Group on Hilton Head Island in the mid-1990s and a founding partner of the Outpatient Surgery Center. He was well-regarded for his work in the medical field at home, serving on the board of Hilton Head Hospital and receiving the Circle of Care Award from the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic, but he found a new passion with the first of a dozen or so medical mission trips to Tanzania in 2006.

FOOD LION DONATES $3,000 TO SECOND HELPINGS

Second Helpings received $3,000 from the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation to buy fresh food for some of its agencies that are most impacted by the increased need for food during the coronavirus pandemic.

Established in 2001, the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation provides financial support for programs and organizations dedicated to feeding the hungry in the communities it serves. 

Carey F. Smith, Hilton Head Island’s first town manager, died July 5. He was 77. Smith served as town manager from 1983, when the town was first incorporated, until 1988. Current town manager Steve Riley said many of Smith’s programs and policies are in place today.

Longtime Lowcountry journalist David Lauderdale announced his retirement after 43 years in newspapers. Lauderdale wrote in an Island Packet column that July 31 was his final day at the newspaper.

A columnist and senior editor for The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette, Lauderdale won two McClatchy President’s Awards for journalism excellence, and was honored with the 2016 Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce’s Alice Glenn Doughtie Good Citizenship Award for his “selfless community service in the spirit of brotherhood.”

Kevin Ashdown of Hilton Head Hospital was awarded the Daisy RN Award. He was nominated for the award by former patients. Ashdown earned his nursing degree in 2003 and has worked in the emergency department ever since. 

The Beaufort County School District’s plan to reopen includes virtual and in-person options for students. The tenative start date is Sept. 8, pending final board approval. The district said it’s possible it will begin the year with virtual- only instruction because of coronavirus concerns.

Students and staff are required to wear masks at all times, including on buses. View the district’s entire plan at its website (beaufortschools.net). 

The Community Foundation of the Lowcountry awarded 156 local students with more than $717,600 in scholarships. This is the 25th year the Community Foundation has awarded scholarships, and more than $7.8 million has been awarded to more than 1,000 recipients. 

Peacock Subaru Hilton Head donated $10,125 to Greater Bluffton Jasper County Volunteers in Medicine as part of its Subaru Share the Love campaign.

The State Infrastructure Bank granted Beaufort County $120 million to help pay for the replacement of Hilton Head Island’s bridges.

The U.S. 278 corridor project proposes improving or replacing the Karl Bowers Bridge and J. Wilton Graves Bridge connecting Hilton Head Island to the mainland and adjoining roadwork from Moss Creek Drive to Spanish Wells Road.

A 10-foot alligator attacked a woman during Independence Day weekend, according to S.C. Department of Natural Resources spokesman David Lucas.

Lucas said the 75-year-old Callawassie Island resident was trimming plants near an edge of the gated community’s pond when the gator grabbed her leg and pulled her into the water. A man jumped into the pond and pulled her out of the water. Lucas said the woman had fractures and had undergone surgery.