Hilton Head Monthly Voice Voice of the Lowcountry Planning for the second phase of the U.S. 278 Corridor Improvements Project plan has begun, the Town of Hilton Head said.
The phase will include discussions of architectural elements, landscaping, signage, lighting, and similar areas of design. S.C. Department of Transportation is in discussions with Creative Design Resolutions, a leader in infrastructure design for highways and transportation projects, to provide project leadership, the Town said.
Beaufort County Administrator Ashley Jacobs resigned at the Oct. 19 County Council meeting.
The Island Packet reports the council accepted her resignation in an 8-2-1 vote. Jacobs had been administrator since 2019.
Eric Greenway was named acting county administrator.
The Beaufort County Board of Education approved construction contracts for the next two major projects funded with proceeds from the November 2019 bond referendum.
The board approved a $53 million contract with Kansas City-based JE Dunn Construction to build a new Robert Smalls International Academy and demolish the existing facility. It also approved a $46 million contract with Columbia-based M.B. Kahn Construction to completely renovate Battery Creek High School’s academic and athletic facilities, according to a news release.
Megan DeWeese, a first-grade teacher at Okatie Elementary, was named the Beaufort County 2020-2021 District Teacher of the Year.
“She is a perpetual learner; she has completed her doctoral studies over the last year,” Okatie Elementary Principal Jamie Pinckney said. “She’s only been at Okatie Elementary for five years and she’s already accomplished more in her five than I have in 39.”
QUIRK OF ‘DONUT HOLES’ POSE CHALLENGES
Here’s a fun exercise if you ever feel like breaking the law in the stupidest way possible: make your way up S.C. 46 as it winds away from Old Town toward Savannah with three sticks in your hand. As you travel, place the first of the sticks across Buck Island Road. Place the second stick across Haigler Boulevard and the third across Crooked Cove Lane.
Congratulations, you are now a renegade outlaw. Kind of.
Election Day: Nov. 3. Polls open 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.
Registration Deadlines: In-person, Oct. 2 by 5 p.m.; Online, fax, email, Oct. 4 by 11:59 p.m.; By mail, postmarked by Oct. 5.
LOCAL, COUNTY & STATE RACES
Local voters will help determine the outcome of a pair of races closely watched across the country on Nov. 3, as Sen. Lindsey Graham pushes to stave off Jaime Harrison. Congressman Joe Cunningham, who in 2018 became the first Democrat since 1981 to represent the 1st Congressional District, is trying to hold on to the seat in a contest with State Rep. Nancy Mace. Voters will also have a long list of state and local races to determine.
TCL CULINARY INSTITUTE RECEIVES $50,000 FROM PALMETTO ELECTRIC TRUST
The Technical College of the Lowcountry received a $50,000 gift from Palmetto Electric Trust to establish the Palmetto Electric Cooperative Lobby at the Culinary Institute of the South.
The Culinary Institute of the South is under construction at the Buckwalter Place Commerce Park in Bluffton. The 29,000 square-foot best-in-class culinary training facility will accommodate more than 300 student. The Foodseum, an interactive museum, will preserve and bring to life the true story of Southern food.
A 1,000-acre agribusiness cluster in Hampton County will employ more than 1,500 people, according to a news release.
The jobs will be in growing, packing and shipping tomatoes, leafy greens, blueberries and other fresh produce using a “cutting-edge” approach called Controlled Environment Agriculture.
The Beaufort County School District is set to resume face-to-face educational instruction in a hybrid model starting Oct. 5. Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said the district’s risk factors for COVID-19 published by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control had decreased significantly in recent weeks.
In a hybrid AA-BB model, half of the students who registered for face-to-face instruction will attend school on Monday and Tuesday and the other half will attend on Thursday and Friday. Students will have virtual learning on Wednesdays when the school is cleaned.
South Carolina and the state’s health department has sued Able Contracting after it said it spent $5 million to clean up the massive pile of trash that burned and smoldered for months, according to the Associated Press.
It took the state Department of Health and Environmental Control and the federal Environmental Protection Agency six months to completely extinguish the fire and clean the site in Jasper County, according to the report.
With the website wealreadypay.org, the Town of Hilton Head aims to update property owners on the ordinance passed by Beaufort County to impose a law enforcement charge and uniform user fee on island residents and business owners.
The town has filed an injunction with the state Supreme Court requesting that it prevent Beaufort County from adding the fee to island residents and said it filed a lawsuit against Beaufort County in the Beaufort County Court of Common Pleas.
The University of South Carolina Beaufort is celebrating the success of Theodora (Tedi) Light, who is the first USCB student to receive a Fulbright Student Award. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants for individually designed study and research projects abroad. Light (Class of 2020, B.A. in History and Spanish) will spend five to seven months in Spain researching the enslavement of indigenous people along the coast of La Florida in the 16th century.
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ALL SAINTS GARDEN TOUR 2020 CONTRIBUTIONS TO CHARITIES
Despite cancelling its May 2020 Garden Tour, the All Saints Garden Tour still made contributions to six charities. Twenty-four sponsors contributed $5,425. Fifteen people who purchased their tickets early contributed $700, and donations from parishioners and friends of All Saints contributed $4,900.
Thanks to the generosity of businesses and individuals, the board contributed $1,870 to Family Promise of Beaufort Co., Hilton Head Island Safe Harbour, The Hunger Coalition of the Low Country (HHI Backpack Buddies), Antioch Educational Center (Jasper Co. Backpack Buddies), Crossroads Community Support Services (BackPack Buddies of Bluffton), and St. Stephens UMC Outreach Foodbank.
Jonathan Griz of Hilton Head become the youngest champion of the 89th South Carolina Amateur Championship. Griz, 16, shot a 5-under-par 67 in the final round at Columbia Country Club. He finished 14-under par for the tournament. Griz is committed to compete in college at the University of Alabama.
