Highlights for the Town of Hilton Head Island

• We received a reply from FEMA regarding the last batch of private roads for which we were seeking reimbursement authorization. While several roads were approved for reimbursement eligibility, over 100 roads were rejected. Staff is reexamining each of these roads and developing additional justification in the expectation of filing an appeal by the January 24th deadline. These are mostly smaller roads, and many are dirt roads. If our appeal is unsuccessful, we will need to have a discussion about whether to clear the debris from these roads at Town cost.

Teens for Healthy Youth of Bluffton High School are joining forces with other teens and scientists across the United States as part of “National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week.”  During this week-long national health observance, beginning January 23rd, students will organize to “Shatter the Myths” on drugs and alcohol.

Highlights for the Town of Hilton Head Island

Through January 11th a total of 1,659,007 CY's of vegetative disaster debris has been collected; and 42,402 Hangers and 5,246 Leaners removed.

• To date 530,032 CY's of mulch has been hauled out to various locations to include a paper mill, local farm, Savannah to be shipped over-seas, Oakwood Landfill, Fire wood supply company, Lumber supply company, a hardwood sawmill and to the Port of Savannah for logs to be exported to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The contractor and town staff continue to work on identifying additional sources to accept the material.

Highlights for the Town of Hilton Head Island

by Town Manager, Steve Riley

• The Crowder Gulf debris clean-up crews returned to work following their holiday break on January 3rd. Operations will now continue seven days per week until all debris is removed.
• The chart below indicates where the debris has been collected from so far. As of January 4, 2017, 1,521,481 CYs of debris have been collected and transported to the debris management locations.

In nearly every major disaster, as recovery efforts move into their final stages, rumors and misinformation find their way onto social networks and elsewhere. Hurricane Matthew is no different. Survivors with questions about the recovery in South Carolina should be wary of what they may read or hear. Always ask for clarification from official sources.

Blood donations needed now to prevent delays in care for patients like freshman Payton Kannarr

The American Red Cross has a severe winter blood shortage and is issuing an emergency call for blood donors to make a donation appointment now and help save patient lives. 

In Hilton Head, an odd-numbered year – like 2017 – generally signals that the area’s biennial Public Art Exhibition on Hilton Head Island will occur in the fall. But not this year. Though plans were well underway for the 2017 Public Art Exhibition on Hilton Head Island, Mother Nature threw them asunder.

The 1945 song “The House I Live In (That's America to Me)” offered a strong affirmation of democracy and American values at a pivotal point in the nation’s history, and its message resonates with equal potency in today’s tense social and political climate.

Made popular by Frank Sinatra, it described a hopeful, idealized, multicultural America at a time when the U. S. Army and the country were still racially segregated. Partly because of the timing of its release and partly because it asked a simple but profound question — “What is America to me?” — the song became an anthem of sorts, and a tribute to the men and women who were fighting to keep America safe during a time of social and economic instability, turbulence and terror.

A photo taken by Hilton Head Island High School senior Sarah Suggs was recently featured in National Geographic’s “Daily Dozen,” an online gallery of remarkable photographs collected from around the world. The photo shows Suggs’ grandfather surrounded by tree damage following Hurricane Matthew.