Charleston Currents #12.11 | Jan. 20, 2020
GATHERING OF FOOD TRUCKS. You can enjoy the Charleston Food Truck Festival Saturday and Sunday in North Charleston even more than these people did a few years. Great food and drinks, family fun and grooving sounds in one spot at the Navy Yard in North Charleston. Admission is free. Learn more below in Today’s Focus.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Thousands expected at Charleston Food Truck Festival
COMMENTARY, Brack: Why are there 1,800 untested rape kits in South Carolina?
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Titan Termite & Pest Control
NEWS BRIEFS: Drilling update, more
FEEDBACK: Send us a letter
MYSTERY PHOTO: Formal building
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Robert Mills House, Columbia
CALENDAR: Be on the lookout for oyster roasts
Thousands expected at Charleston Food Truck Festival
Staff reports | More than 25 food trucks with the best of mobile culinary delights will be at a major food truck round-up 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Navy Yard (1681 McMillan Ave.) in North Charleston. Admission is free.
The festival will offer fun for the whole family with everything from great food and tasty treats to thrilling activities for kids and adults, who will be able to partake in beverages to slake their thirst. Non-alcoholic refreshments will be available for kids.
The annual festival started in 2011 with five food trucks and about 500 guests. Since then, it’s grown to more than 10,000 people over two days. This year in addition to great food and drink, guests will be able to ride a Ferris wheel, bounce on a Bungee trampoline and navigate an obstacle course. Music will be provided Saturday by Weigh Station and Sunday by Gifted Soul.
MORE INFO
Cash encouraged. Festival organizers say lines move faster if you pay for your food and drink with cash. The festival is a “pay as you go” event in which each truck decides on its menu and costs. Most will take cards, but cash may be easier.
Dogs welcome. All well-behaved dogs are welcome, but must be on a leash. As always, please clean up after your pooch. You can also bring camping chairs and a blanket as green space is abundant.
Free parking. Lots of parking is available adjacent to the event on Noisette Avenue, but feel free to utilize the popular rideshare apps (especially if you’re drinking). Or take your golf cart or ride some bikes!
Be prepared to wait (just a little). Lines occasionally may be long. Organizers say waiting in line is half the fun. Why? Because you make new friends, decide what you will order and get opinions from your neighbors about what else they have eaten today. Remember, the festival is an adventure.
Some no-nos. No coolers. No weapons. No bad attitudes. No unicycles. No snakes. No fighting words. No llamas.
Why are there 1,800 untested rape kits in South Carolina?
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | There’s a backlog of untested rape kits in South Carolina because there’s more evidence coming in than authorized labs have the capacity to process.
One estimate is there are 1,800 evidence parcels that are waiting to be processed before cases can move forward.
As of Dec. 31, the State Law Enforcement Division’s forensics lab had 1,333 untested rape kits waiting for processing, according to spokesman Tommy Crosby. Another 148 are being processed now.
The number of untested kits at the SLED lab, which gets the majority of forensics requests in South Carolina, highlights the real problem — scientific capacity. In 2019, the SLED lab got 842 rape kits to test in addition to hundreds of other evidentiary requests in other cases. For the year, processing was completed on 437 rape kits.
“We’ve got some cases we’re completing right now that are from 2016,” said Dr. Todd Hughey, who directs SLED’s forensics lab. “If you look at the numbers in those cases, if we’re receiving 842 cases a year, and can only do 437 to 450, we are not staying current with the number of cases.”
As cases pile up in the state lab and four smaller certified labs in Beaufort, Greenville, Richland and York counties, help is on the way. The city of Charleston will finish building a new forensics lab by the end of the year. The state plans to consolidate forensics facilities into a new $54 million space next year. It will take an extra year for both to get the additional scientists and equipment in place to start to whittle the backlog.
Victims’ advocates worry untested kits are delaying justice for rape victims, who have to live with the horror of their rapist still walking South Carolina’s streets. In about 25 percent of cases, the victims don’t know their attackers, SLED said. Those cases, like attacks involving violence or children, get priority, much like a gunshot victim in a hospital gets treated in an emergency room before someone who has the flu.
Still, the sheer number of evidentiary kits waiting to be tested is numbing, says ACLU lawyer Susan Dunn of Charleston.
“Untested rape kits remind us that 21st century technology without 21st century funding is classic shortsighted problem-solving,” she said. “This failure to invest in the processing of the tests show that rape victims are not really a high priority. And this unreasonable delay allows sexual predators to go undetected and hampers law enforcement.
“Funds should be allocated immediately to eliminate the backlog and to assure that future rape kits are processed in a timely fashion.”
She’s right, but it’s not as easy as flipping a switch. The challenge is capacity in a state where 2,634 cases of sexual battery were reported in 2018, according to SLED.
“There’s a lot of room for improvement in our industry with rape kits,” Charleston Police Chief Luther Reynolds said, emphasizing that capacity issues on local and state levels are being addressed. “We can get kits tested that need to be tested.”
So what to do with all of the other kits, some of which have victims who don’t want to prosecute? Each piece of evidence in a kit may cost $2,000 to test. If there are, for example, 20 pieces of evidence that need to be bested for police to make a case, it gets fairly expensive to process.
As capacity issues are being resolved for the future, the state and local labs could start outsourcing needed forensics tests to out-of-state labs. But that brings up another thorny problem — the cost of bringing in the scientists who did the tests to testify in cases.
Fortunately, there is a magic wand that can actually fix the problem now as the state ramps up capacity: Steer $5 million in the state budget to outsource untested kits, fund costs to bring in scientists to testify when they’re needed and buy more equipment for scientists to do more of the work they’re doing.
When you’ve got $2 billion in surplus and new funds for the coming budget year, $5 million seems like a drop in the bucket to get justice done now instead of waiting for years.
- Andy Brack is the editor and publisher of Charleston Currents and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com
Titan Termite & Pest Control
Titan Termite & Pest Control, headquartered in Charleston, is a full service residential, commercial and industrial pest control company serving South Carolina. It is a third-generation, family-owned company known for outstanding customer service. Each associate is dedicated to the customer and exhibits integrity and respect. Titan’s pest professionals can assist your commercial or residential location with general pest control, termite inspections, termite control, flea control, bed bug extermination, ant control and more. Titan Termite and Pest Control continues to set high standards so that its customers receive the best possible service. Titan’s technicians are knowledgeable of the latest in pest control techniques, which enables the company to customize effective treatment plans for every situation.
- Free estimate: 888-794-5603.
- Contact Titan online.
On drilling for oil, more
In recent news briefs:
Drilling for oil. The S.C. House of Representatives appears ready to weigh in on banning offshore drilling, Statehouse Report correspondent Lindsay Street reports. Two competing bills — one that would kill the industry before it could begin, and the other that would prohibit local governments from banning it — have been placed on the contested calendar for second reading. Debate could happen as early as this week. But depending on House temperaments, it could be awhile, too. Read the story here.
Daylight Saving Time. S.C. lawmakers have passed their first bill of the year after the House passed a resolution that says South Carolina would adhere to making daylight saving time permanent should Congress allow states to choose. Read more.
Award-winner. Hats off to S.C. Ports Authority President and CEO Jim Newsome, who recently received the Roger Milliken Defender of Manufacturing Award for his support of South Carolina’s manufacturing industry. “The manufacturing industry has a real and meaningful impact in enhancing the quality of life for all South Carolinians,” said Max Metcalf, chairman of the S.C. Manufacturers Association. “The Roger Milliken Defender of Manufacturing Award honors individuals whose values and commitment for excellence lead to economic success and more prosperous communities.”
- Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com
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Tell us what you love about the Lowcountry. 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.
Formal building
Here’s a formal building somewhere in the Lowcountry for you to identify. Send your guess to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.
Our previous Mystery Photo
Our Jan. 13 mystery, “Rocky Top” got a lot of correct guesses from Charleston-area residents, who recognized the photo as the top of the Circular Congregational Church on Meeting Street.
Congratulations to: Jim McMahon , Freida McDuffie, Melinda Norris, Stephen Yetman, all of Charleston; Chris Brooks of Mount Pleasant; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Marnie Huger of Richmond, Va.; Bill Segars of Hartsville; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; and Jay Altman of Columbia.
Graf and Huger shared similar information: “According to the National Park Service, English Congregationalists, Scotch and Irish Presbyterians, and French Huguenots of the original settlement of Charles Town founded this dissenting congregation, known as the Independent Church, around 1681. Their first church building, erected before 1695, was known as the White Meeting House, for which Meeting Street was named. A second meeting house was built at this site in 1732.
“In 1804 to 1806 this church was replaced by a circular structure designed by architect Robert Mills, often referred to as the first professionally trained American architect, and a Charleston native. The present church is named for Mill’s earlier church, which burned during an 1861 fire, and stood in ruins until the 1886 earthquake destroyed it completely. Designed by architects Stevenson and Green, the Richardsonian Romanesque church was constructed as the city was rebuilding after that earthquake and reused bricks from the older structure. The graveyard is the city’s oldest burial ground with one monument remaining from the 17th century.”
Peel added, “Today’s Circular Congregational Church is not actually circular in form. Rather it is a ‘modified cloverleaf’ design, but continues to be known as the ‘Circular Church’ in honor of its historical significance to the community and the congregation that it served. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 1973 and today is home to an active congregation of parishioners in the United Church of Christ.”
- 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.
Robert Mills House, Columbia
S.C. Encyclopedia | A National Historic Landmark, Columbia’s Robert Mills House is most noted for its association with the first American-trained architect and the first federal architect of the United States. Of further significance is the building’s role as a regionally important religious institution and as an example of the grassroots historic preservation movement of the 1960s.
Originally intended as a private home for the Columbia merchant Ainsley Hall, the three-story mansion ultimately would serve solely in a public capacity. Equally ironic is that the building’s namesake, the Charlestonian Robert Mills, was an architect best known for public works, such as courthouses and jails, throughout South Carolina, rather than private structures. Architecturally, the Robert Mills House exemplifies early nineteenth-century classical revival design and reflects Mills’s association with Thomas Jefferson, James Hoban, Charles Bulfinch, and Benjamin Latrobe. During the building’s construction in 1823, however, Ainsley Hall died prematurely, leaving behind an ill-managed estate, which spawned years of legal suits that eventually resulted in the property’s liquidation in 1829. Purchased by the Presbyterian Synod, the building and its four-acre tract became the Columbia Theological Seminary, an institution that prepared religious leaders from 1830 until 1927.
Following a seven-year campaign for its restoration, the Robert Mills House opened to the public in 1967 as a historic house museum showcasing the neoclassical architecture and decorative arts of the early nineteenth century. Since 1967 the house has been chiefly operated by the Historic Columbia Foundation.
– Excerpted from the entry by John M. Sherrer III. This entry may not have been updated since 2006. To read more about this or 2,000 other entries about South Carolina, check out The South Carolina Encyclopedia by USC Press. (Information used by permission.)
Be on the lookout for oyster roasts
Photo by Rob Byko.
With the cold sweeping in, watch out for local groups with tantalizing oyster roasts, such as:
Shucked + Sauced: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 25, Rose Pavilion , Hampton Park, Charleston. Local oyster farmers, premier Charleston restaurants and barbecue pitmasters will come together for one quintessential Lowcountry afternoon as the Charleston Parks Conservancy hosts the second annual Shucked + Sauced. Guests will enjoy wine, beer and bloody marys, plus live music under the oaks with Dallas Baker and Friends. Tickets are $95 per person and \proceeds benefit the Conservancy’s work renovating and beautifying public parks and green spaces around the City of Charleston, including the Rose Pavilion at Hampton Park. Last year’s event sold out so purchase tickets early at www.charlestonparksconservancy.org.
Good Catch Oysterfest: 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Feb. 21, S.C. Aquarium, Charleston. The aquarium’s Good Catch series opens with an oyster event with Folly River Shellfish as the purveyor for a range of culinary preparers. Tickets are $50 to $75. For more information on Good Catch Oysterfest and the aquarium’s entire After Hours series, visit scaquarium.org/afterhours
Charleston Museum’s roast: Noon to 3 p.m., Feb. 22, Dill Sanctuary, James Island. The Charleston Museum will host its annual oyster roast and allow guests to enjoy Dill Sanctuary. Tickets to this event are all inclusive and include two tours with Museum Archaeologists, oysters, BBQ, sides, live music with the Paul Quattlebaum Jazz Band and a cupcake and coffee or hot cocoa courtesy of The Holy City Cupcakes! And of course, one of the best Lowcountry views Charleston can offer.
Also on the calendar:
Several events on tap for Martin Luther King Day. You still have a chance to commemorate the Martin Luther King holiday at a couple of events:
- MLK Commemorative Concert, 5 p.m. Jan. 20, First Baptist Church of James Island (details).
- MLK Breakfast, 7:30 a.m., Jan 21, Charleston Gaillard Center (tickets). The keynote speaker will be entrepreneur and philanthropist Sheila C. Johnson, founder and CEO of Salamander Hotels & Resorts, co-founder of the Black Entertainment Television (BET) network, producer of the critically acclaimed film “The Butler,” and the first African American woman to achieve a billion-dollar net worth. Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg will serve as the event’s honorary chair. More than 700 leaders are expected.
- MLK Youth Summit, 9 a.m., Jan. 21, Charleston Gaillard Center.
- MORE INFO. Learn more about the 2020 MLK Celebration online at ywcagc.org/mlk.
Ahead at Gaillard Center: Enjoy something a little different (perhaps) in January at the Charleston Gaillard Center on Calhoun Street:
- From Russians With Love: 7:30 p.m., Jan. 23. The Charleston Symphony Orchestra will offer an evening of Russian symphonic and popular music, including Flight of the Bumblebee, Firebird, Night on Bald Mountain, and of course, From Russia with Love. Tickets are $25 to $114.
2020 Charleston Jazz Festival: Jan. 23 to Jan. 26. Venues around town will highlight jazz during the sixth annual festival with a wide variety of talented jazz artists. To learn more and get tickets, click here. Among the highlights:
- Local Band Day with Offramp and the music of Pat Metheny: 6 p.m. Jan. 23, Forte Jazz Lounge, 477 King St., Charleston.
- Local Band Night with Cameron and the Saltwater Brass: 7:30 p.m., Jan. 23, Forte Jazz Lounge.
- Local Band Night with Lee Barbour’s Polyverse Art of the Modern Organ Trio, 9 p.m., Jan. 23, Forte Jazz Lounge.
- The World of Regina Carter: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 24, Charleston Music Hall.
- Monte Alexander Trio + Jane Monheit + Freddy Cole + Charleston Jazz Orchestra, 7:30 p.m., Jan. 25, Charleston Gaillard Center.
Charleston Boat Show: Jan. 24-26, Charleston Area Convention Center, 5001 Coliseum Dr., North Charleston. The 40th anniversary of the show will offer the best in boating to thousands who attend the three-day event. There will be more than 85 boat brands and more than 100 vendors selling marine related products and services. The Charleston Boat Show tickets range from $5-$20. For tickets and details please visit www.TheCharlestonBoatShow.com
Charleston Food Truck Festival: Jan. 25 to Jan. 26, Navy Yard, North Charleston. More.
Colour of Music Festival: Jan. 29 to Feb. 1, three Charleston locations, including the Murray Center Salon, Edmondston-Alston House and Middleton Place Pavilion. The Color of Music Festival will showcase leading black classical artists from France, Great Britain, Colombia and the Caribbean. Info on shows and tickets: www.colourofmusic.org
ONGOING
Black America: Resilient: Through Jan. 25, 2020, Redux Contemporary Art Center, 1056 King St., Charleston. The center offers this solo show that highlights the work of Dontré Major, a College of Charleston art graduate whose work takes a look at Black/African Americans in the United States during different periods throughout time. Each photograph is meant to emulate the feelings individuals had during these specific times, and touch on the struggle they went through to be seen as equals.
North Charleston art shows: Open daily through Jan. 31, North Charleston City Gallery, Charleston Area Convention Center, 5001 Coliseum Drive, North Charleston. On display are paintings by Pinopolis artist Katherine Hester in an exhibit titled Ebb and Flow and photographs by North Charleston photographer Jenion Tyson in A Bug’s Eye View: Macro Photograph in the Garden. Admission is free.
Lights of Magnolia: 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., through March 15, 2020, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, West Ashley. Enjoy nine acres of Chinese lanterns, dragons and more at the venerable garden’s new evening attraction. The lantern festival includes custom-designed installations of large-scale thematically unified lanterns, a fusion of historic Chinese cultural symbols and images that represent the flora and fauna of Magnolia. Learn more online. Tickets are $11-$26. On-site parking is limited, but shuttles are available. For more information and frequently asked questions, click here.
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 is not required, but participants are to be 15 and up. $10 per person or free to Gold Pass holders. More: http://www.CharlestonCountyParks.com.
- If you have an event to list on our calendar, please send it to feedback@charlestoncurrents.com for consideration. The calendar is updated weekly on Mondays.
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