FOCUS: Visionary Whipper has made good things happen
COMMENTARY, Brack: Trump on Russia makes S.C. GOP leaders squirm
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: SCIWAY
GOOD NEWS: New Charleston Waterfront Pass debuts
WHAT WE LOVE: Tell us what you love
FEEDBACK: Teaching kids to swim makes a difference
MYSTERY PHOTO: Extreme close-up
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Sassafras Mountain
CALENDAR, July 23+: Sales tax free weekend around the corner
FOCUSFOCUS: Visionary Whipper has made good things happen
Editor’s note: Steve Skardon, executive director of The Palmetto Project, recently published this about longtime North Charleston leader Carrie Whipper on the organization’s Facebook page. We thought you should read it.
By Steve Skardon, republished with permission | It is hard to imagine The Palmetto Project without Carrie Fulse Whipper.
Whipper
For eighteen years, she has guided some of our most essential programs, including our signature statewide initiatives in African American health. After this month, she will be moving on to new work that also includes time for her grandson, Benjamin.
Carrie is the definition of a change agent. When she came to The Palmetto Project, she already had a vision for new ways that religious and community institutions could turn around soaring rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke in marginalized communities.
Her passion, undaunted spirit, and commitment to excellence turned that vision into a reality that continues to affect countless lives every day.
While Carrie led our Heart and Soul initiative in African American health, hundreds of AME and Baptist congregations created health ministries with volunteers often trained, equipped and supervised by Carrie. Within four years, statewide disparities in mortality rates due to preventable cardiovascular disease along lines of race declined by 50 percent.
Her ability to positively affect the health status of uninsured in the community, as opposed to clinical, settings helped inspire Congress to fund a nationwide network of patient navigators like her.
Carrie’s work attracted local funders like the Trident United Way, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, and the Medical Society of South Carolina, and national foundations like Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation. In fact, she received national recognition from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through a national advertising campaign about remarkable people who change lives through innovative thinking and doing.
Visionaries like Carrie are the reason The Palmetto Project exists. South Carolina is full of them. Their lives and careers have taken unique twists and turns and blessed them with unique insights into how our state can better address the challenges it faces.
Our job is to identify remarkable people like Carrie and give them the support they need to make their vision come alive.
Carrie, from all of us whose lives have been touched by yours, thank you and Godspeed.
- Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com
BRACK: Trump on Russia makes S.C. GOP leaders squirm
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | It’s been pretty easy to vote Republican in South Carolina for the last two decades thanks to the recurring mantra about less government and lower taxes.
But now with President Donald Trump’s European Summer Vacation blitzkrieg across Brussels, London, Scotland and Helsinki, mainstream, old-school Republicans are finding support of the Trump GOP to be somewhat uncomfortable.
“Elections have consequences,” one longtime state GOP analyst observed. “Actions have consequences. This is not helping.”
That’s because the president looked too cozy with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin. While many people in the Palmetto State may not pay much attention to global politics, decades of Cold War rhetoric still make just about anything Russian with the exception of vodka to be suspect.
When an American president who constantly shouts “no collusion” takes sides with the Kremlin over the American intelligence community about a Russian cyberattack on our election system, South Carolinians take note.
“South Carolina is a conservative state and voters are comfortable with the Cold War rhetoric,” observed Clemson political scientist David Woodard. “That is why the cozy Russia talk was disturbing. If Trump had been aggressive, no one would have cared.”
What should worry South Carolina GOP politicians, even with Trump’s backtracking after a fusillade of criticism about what happened in Finland, is whether past and future support of Trump will affect how voters react to their state or local campaigns this year.
If GOP voters are gullible enough to forget what Trump said in Helsinki, it may not matter. But if their gut reaction caused even a small percentage of voters to question whether they should cast ballots for a Trump-backed politician, there could be trouble at the polls in November — even in South Carolina.
Bottom line: Trump has put South Carolina Republicans in a sticky situation with what sports enthusiasts would call an unforced error.
Furman University political scientist Danielle Vinson said the state’s GOP leaders can’t be silent without consequences.
“Doing nothing says they are either okay with trashing U.S. allies and refusing to take Russia’s efforts to foment division and attack and undermine our electoral integrity and security, or they are burying their heads in the sand and hoping it goes away,” she said. “They need to speak out in clear terms against this kind of behavior, and they can do that even when they support some of the president’s policy positions on these things.”
Gibbs Knotts, chair of the political science department at the College of Charleston, added, “Republicans don’t need to weigh in on every event, but they should express an opinion if they think the country’s values are at stake or if disagreeing with the president in the best interest of the state or nation.”
McMaster
Most at risk over the president’s embrace of a country most believe remains a foe is GOP Gov. Henry McMaster, who wrapped his primary campaign around Trump, dubbing him to be one of the country’s greatest presidents.
Imagine if Putin feels emboldened to invade the country of Georgia or some other global hot spot and if the S.C. National Guard is called up to respond. That could turn out badly for McMaster. Or what if an ongoing federal investigation into the cyberattack gets worse and roosts closer to the president? Even worse for McMaster. Or if Trump’s trade war and its tariffs start harming South Carolina jobs? It would be more bad news for McMaster, who faced four candidates in a primary and was forced into a runoff by a GOP newcomer.
“Most all of the state’s GOP candidates have hitched their wagons to Trump,” Knotts said, “This is a risky general election strategy for a few reasons. We don’t know the final word from [Special Counsel Robert] Mueller. Also, the economy could get worse and that would impact Trump’s approval ratings.”
South Carolina needs bold leaders and leadership. Now is a time for Republican leaders to sound off loudly about the president’s unacceptable behavior and demand action to hold Russia accountable for what it did — and what Russians are probably still trying to do — to impact our election process. If our leaders do nothing, you should let them know how you feel about that at the polls.
- Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com
SPOTLIGHT: SCIWAY
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring Charleston Currents to you at no cost. Today we shine our spotlight on SCIWAY. Pronounced “sky-way,” SCIWAY is South Carolina’s Information Superhighway — the largest and most comprehensive directory of South Carolina information on the Internet. It includes thousands of links to other South Carolina Web sites, including Charleston Currents, as well as an amazing collection of maps, charts, articles, photos and other resources.
- To learn more about this extraordinary information hub that 7 million people visit a year, go to: http://www.SCIWAY.com.
GOOD NEWS: New Charleston Waterfront Pass debuts
Image provided by the S.C. Aquarium.
Staff reports | The South Carolina Aquarium, Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum, and the Charleston Water Taxi have announced a new, joint promotion: the Charleston Waterfront Pass. For the first time, the three organizations have partnered to create a special pass that is perfect for families and visitors who want to see two of the top Charleston-area attractions and enjoy a boat ride across the harbor.
Passholders can choose to begin their waterfront adventure at the aquarium or museum and then take in breathtaking views of the Charleston harbor while riding the water taxi to the other attraction. Visitors may show each attraction’s ticket staff their pass, and it will be redeemed for one standard admission ticket. Visits to each attraction are not required to take place on the same day, but must be used before the expiration date noted on the pass.
The Charleston Waterfront Pass is available exclusively through the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and can be purchased at its four staffed visitor centers:
- Downtown Charleston at 375 Meeting St.
- Kiawah Island at 4475 Betsy Kerrison Pkwy.
- Mount Pleasant at 99 Harry M. Hallman, Jr. Blvd.
- North Charleston at 4975-B Centre Pointe Dr.
The combined price of the pass allows visitors to save nearly $15 off the price of visiting each participating attraction on its own. Pricing for people 13 and over is $52.95 with lower prices for children. More information: Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum | S.C. Aquarium
Also in Good News:
Port continues to grow. The South Carolina Ports Authority (SC)A) handled a record 2.2 million containers in the 2018 fiscal year, a 3 percent growth over the previous year, according to a news release. “SCPA had an ambitious growth plan for the 2018 fiscal year, and our progress across all business segments is a true accomplishment,” said SCPA president and CEO Jim Newsome. “Growth of 3 percent in FY2018 on the heels of 10 percent growth last fiscal year reflects broad-based expansion of the port’s cargo base as well as strong operational performance of our port. Our container volume growth is further driven by the upsizing of vessels, with 18 of SCPA’s 26 weekly container services utilizing neo-Panamax ships.” SCPA handled 2.2 million twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) in FY2018, a peak in fiscal year container volume for the port. March through June marked the highest months of container volume in the Port’s history.
In Spanish. Congratulations to the Charleston County Democratic Party that today is unveiling a new web page that shares its local candidates on a new Spanish language page: Click here to see. Chair Brady Quirk-Garvan says the page, the party’s newest outreach tool, is offered because “we believe that voters should be able to be informed about the candidates running for office as well as upcoming meetings and events regardless of what language they speak.”
New music director. Jazz impresario Charlton Singleton recently announced he’s stepping down after 10 years as music director and band leader of the Charleston Jazz Orchestra to focus on his career as a performer and educator. He’ll continue with the CJO until its holiday concert on Dec. 1. Stepping into his shoes will be longtime CJO musician, saxophonist and educator Robert Lewis, currently the director of jazz studies at the College of Charleston. Thank you, Charlton. Welcome, Robert! More.
New crime lab. The state’s top crime lab will get a complete overhaul after years of using 21st century technologies in a building built before DNA testing became a standard of law enforcement. Struggles to process evidence promptly have led to backlogs while local agencies wait for thousands of evidence reports, delaying trials, insurance claims and, ultimately, justice. According to a story by Statehouse Report correspondent Lindsay Street, state lawmakers last month approved a 2018-19 budget proviso that puts $54 million toward a new State Law Enforcement Division laboratory near its headquarters on Broad River Road in Columbia. The one-time money was taken from unallocated money in a fund that is normally used to pay down state debt. The building is slated to open by Spring 2021. More: Statehouse Report.
WHAT WE LOVETell us what you love
Send a short comment – 100 words to 150 words – that describes something you really enjoy about the Lowcountry. It can be big or small. It can be a place, a thing or something you see. It might the bakery where you get a morning croissant or a business or government entity doing a good job. We’ll highlight your entry in a coming issue of Charleston Currents. We look forward to hearing from you.
Teaching kids to swim makes a difference
To the editor:
Enjoyed the story about swimming lessons. Up here in Lancaster, we started almost 25 years ago teaching elementary school kids to swim in the 4th grade. It is a partnership with the school district, USC Lancaster (also the Y since they started operating the pool for USCL last year with funding from the J Marion Sims Foundation).
The results in reducing drowning deaths to zero have been phenomenal.
— Steve Willis, Lancaster, S.C.
Send us a letter: We love hearing from readers. Comments are limited to 250 words or less. Please include your name and contact information. Send your letters to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com. | Read our feedback policy.
MYSTERYMYSTERY PHOTO: Extreme close-up
You’ve probably see this picture before, but just not so close-up. What is it? Send your best guess – plus your name and the town in which you now live – to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. In the subject line, write: “Mystery Photo guess.” (If you don’t include your contact information, we can’t give you credit!)
Last issue’s mystery
The July 16 mystery photo might have made your skin crawl – if you thought about all of the bugs you will encounter in the summer in the Congaree National Park in lower Richland County, which is where the photo was taken. The mystery was particularly tough because it looks like a lot of other great places (and guesses by readers) in South Carolina, including the Francis Beidler Forest near Harleyville, Walterboro’s city swamp park and Edisto Gardens in Orangeburg.
Congratulations to these sleuths who figured out the location: Christy Doucette of Mount Pleasant; Boykin Beard of Camden; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Kristina Wheeler of West Ashley; and Marnie Huger of Richmond, Va.
Wheeler loves the park: “One of my favorite places in South Carolina – Congaree National Park. The largest intact expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeastern United States encompassing nearly 27,000 acres. There is fascinating biodiversity found there in every season. Loved camping during a supermoon last December and when the synchronous fireflies were on show this past June!”
Graf provided a little more context: “According to nationalparks.org, situated along the meandering Congaree River in central South Carolina, Congaree National Park is home to champion trees, primeval forest landscapes, and diverse plant and animal life. This 22,200-acre park protects the largest contiguous tract of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the United States. Known for its giant hardwoods and towering pines, the parks floodplain forest includes one of the highest canopies in the world and some of the tallest trees in the eastern United States.
“A joint venture between the Old-Growth Bottomland Forest Research and Education Center and the Columbia Museum of Art, the Congaree National Park Art & Science Project provided 5 integrated, standards-based experiences that engaged more than 1,100 students (many minority, low-income, and first-time visitors) in the art and science of soil. Two youth interns helped with program delivery.”
- Send us a mystery: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send it along to editor@charlestoncurrents.com.
HISTORY: Sassafras Mountain – state’s highest point
S.C. Encyclopedia | Sassafras Mountain, which lies in Pickens County along the South Carolina / North Carolina border, rises to 3,554 feet above sea level and is the highest point in South Carolina. While the summit is privately owned, it is included in the Appalachian Trail system and is a prime site for hikers. The mountain and surrounding areas contain miles of trails from which to view majestic mountain streams, waterfalls, and exposed rocks that give evidence of the area’s geologic history.
The geology of Sassafras Mountain reflects millions of years of plate tectonics. It lies within the inner Piedmont belt and is thought to be part of a continental fragment that attached or even reattached North America during the Middle Ordovician at a time of continental collision and mountain building called the Taconic Orogeny (mountain-building episode). Metamorphism continued during subsequent collisions in the Devonian period (Acadian Orogeny) and in the Pennsylvania to Permian periods (Alleghenian Orogeny).
During these episodes North America collided with the European plate (Baltica) and the African plate, respectively. These collisions, which generated tremendous heat and pressure, transformed sedimentary and igneous rocks into schists and the distinctive Henderson gneiss that underlies Sassafras Mountain. The gneiss is a large, lens-shaped igneous intrusion, or pluton, containing folds and textures that reflect a long history of intense pressure and heat from the collision of these landmasses. The region is also thought to have undergone extensive Mesozoic extensional faulting and later isostatic uplift from the Oligocene to the Miocene. These geologic processes caused active stream down-cutting and the resultant modern scenic gorges and waterfalls that surround Sassafras Mountain.
— Excerpted from an entry by Carolyn H. Murphy. To read more about this or 2,000 other entries about South Carolina, check out The South Carolina Encyclopedia, published in 2006 by USC Press. (Information used by permission.)
ON THE CALENDARCALENDAR, July 23+: Sales tax free weekend around the corner
Staff reports | South Carolina’s sales tax holiday is Aug. 3 to Aug. 5 and is a chance for parents to save money as they pick up a bunch of school supplies. But is the state’s sales tax holiday a poor tax policy?
That’s the claim from a new report by the national tax policy think tank Tax Foundation, which calls such state holidays “gimmicks” that “distract policymakers and taxpayers from genuine, permanent tax relief.”
But before you get too excited about buying that new laptop or back-to-school clothes, the report says sales tax holidays fail to promote economic growth, discriminate arbitrarily among products, can mislead consumers about savings, cause costly complexity and instability, and are not an effective means of relief for low-income consumers. South Carolina has the 17th highest sales tax in the nation at 6 percent. Tennessee, which has no income tax, has the highest at 9.46 percent.
Also on the Calendar:
Shark Week: Now through July 28, S.C. Aquarium, Charleston. Get ready for a JAW-some good time as the aquarium offers shark activities around every corner in celebrating the ocean’s often misunderstood apex predator. Guests young and old will enjoy special dive shows and programs, expert speakers and photo opportunities—all about sharks. South Carolina Aquarium Shark Week activities include a shark scavenger hunt, color-your-own reusable bag (while supplies last), and a shark tooth dig. A daily dive show in the 385,000-gallon Great Ocean Tank at 3 p.m. will feature the Aquarium’s three new sand tiger sharks, and guests can wave a fin to say, “hello.” More: scaquarium.org/sharkweek.
Library book sale: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., July 27, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., July 28, Johns Island Regional Library, 3531 Maybank Highway, Johns Island. The Charleston Friends of the Library will host its annual Johns Island Book Sale where you can pick up $1 paperbacks and $3 hardbacks. Proceeds benefit the public library system. This event is free.
Disconnected: Works by Christine Bush Roman: Now through Aug. 5, City Gallery, 14 Prioleau St., Charleston. The City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs will present this show in which the artist combines transfer techniques with painting, drawing and collage to give glimpses into the intricate and contradictory nature of modern life. The works explore postpartum depression, mental illness, and a life out of balance, while examining the web of issues that lead to detachments from one another and the natural world. More: www.charleston-sc.gov/citygallery.
Expressive abstracts: Aug. 2-31, North Charleston City Gallery, 5001 Coliseum Drive, North Charleston. The city’s cultural arts department will welcome a group of works by 35 female abstract expressionist artists who come from across the country. Two thirds of the group will present new mixed media work in the exhibition called “Inside Out: Expressing our Inner Voices.” More info.
Music Under the Oaks: 11 a.m. Aug. 4, Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, 1254 Long Point Road, Mount Pleasant. On June 2, NIA Productions will feature African drumming and dance; On July 4, the show will feature singer Ann Caldwell while the Plantation Singers will perform Aug. 4. Bring sunscreen and insect repellant.
Historic Charleston house tours. 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., every Tuesday through Aug. 7 at the Nathaniel Russel House, 51 Meeting St., Charleston, and every Thursday through Aug. 9 at the Aiken-Rhett House, 48 Elizabeth St. To learn more about the event and fees, click here.
TEDxCharleston: The annual day of ideas in Charleston is accepting applications through August 27 for participants to speak or perform on issues related to the theme for April 10, 2019: Currents. The theme will explore “What trends are rising to the surface? How are science, art, culture and conversation making waves and evolving to meet the needs of future communities? What changes are happening that parallel and challenge our history?” Learn more |
sign up.
Early morning bird walks at Caw Caw: 8:30 a.m. every Wednesday and Saturday, Caw Caw Interpretive Center, Ravenel. You can learn about habitats and birds, butterflies and other organisms in this two-hour session. Registration not required, but participants are to be 15 and up. $10 per person or free to Gold Pass holders. More: http://www.CharlestonCountyParks.com.
AREA FARMERS MARKETS
SATURDAYS: The Charleston Farmers Market, is back in action from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday through Nov. 24 at Marion Square. A holiday market will be open Dec. 1, 2, 8. 9, 15 and 16.
SATURDAYS: Johns Island Farmers Market operates each Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. year-round with more than 50 local farmers and vendors, food trucks, music and more. The market is located on the campus of Charleston Collegiate School, 2024 Academy Road, Johns Island.
SATURDAYS: The Town Market on James Island are again open. Open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday at the James Island Youth Soccer Club, 871 Fort Johnson Road, James Island.
TUESDAYS: The Town of Mount Pleasant’s Farmers Market is every Tuesday from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the market pavilion at Moultrie Middle School, 645 Coleman Blvd, in Mount Pleasant.
WEDNESDAYS. The West Ashley Farmers Market, 55 Sycamore Ave., is open every Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Ackerman Park. More.
- If you have an event to list on our calendar, please send it to charlestoncurrents@gmail.com for consideration. The calendar is updated weekly on Mondays.
OUR UNDERWRITERS
Charleston Currents is an underwriter-supported weekly online journal of good news about the Charleston area and Lowcountry of South Carolina.
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OUR TEAM
Charleston Currents offers insightful community comment and good news on events each week. It cuts through the information clutter to offer the best of what’s happening locally.
- Mailing address: O. Box. 22261 | Charleston, SC 29413
- Phone: 670.3996
Charleston Currents is provided to you weekly by:
- Editor and publisher: Andy Brack, 843.670.3996
- Contributing photographer: Michael Kaynard
- Contributing editor, careers: Ben Fanning
- Contributing editor, common good, Fred Palm
- Contributing editor, money: Kyra Morris
- Contributing editor, Palmetto Poem: Marjory Wentworth
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© 2008-2018, Statehouse Report, LLC. All rights reserved. Charleston Currents is published every Monday by Statehouse Report LLC, PO Box 22261, Charleston, SC 29413.
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