Charleston Currents #12.26 | May 11, 2020
SUNLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS. You don’t have to look hard to see magnolia blooms popping open all over the Lowcountry. We hope you’re enjoying them as much as we are. If you have a photo to share with readers, send it to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com. Charleston Currents photo.
TODAY’S FOCUS: County parks resume operations, more openings ahead
COMMENTARY, Brack: State needs to promote more absentee voting
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Titan Termite & Pest Control
NEWS BRIEFS: State’s public health agency overwhelmed, underfunded
FEEDBACK: On getting back to work and school
MYSTERY PHOTO: Maybe our most difficult mystery yet
CALENDAR: Charleston #MuseumWeek: 7 days, 7 themes, 7 hashtags
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Havilah Babcock
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We’re proud to offer Charleston Currents for free. For more than a dozen years, we’ve been the go-to place for insightful information and good news about the Lowcountry. And we love it as much as you do. But now, we can use your help. If you’ve been thinking of contributing to Charleston Currentsover the years, now would be a great time to contribute as we deal with the crisis. In advance, thank you.
— Andy Brack, editor and publisher
County parks resume some operations, more openings ahead
Rice canals at Caw Caw. Photos provided.
Staff reports | Eleven county parks have been reopened in recent days with limited amenities, such as being open for running, walking and biking on designated trails. Staff of Charleston County Parks will be on hand to ensure that guests are following social distancing guidelines and not using closed amenities, according to a statement..
Six parks reopened Friday:
- Caw Caw Interpretive Center
- James Island County Park
- Johns Island County Park
- Mount Pleasant Pier (fishing not allowed)
- Palmetto Islands County Park
- Wannamaker County Park
Charleston County Parks that also are currently open include:
- Laurel Hill County Park
- Meggett County Park
- Stono River County Park
- Wannamaker North Trail
- Isle of Palms County Park
County officials said several parks remain closed, but will open soon, including:
- Cooper River County Park
- Folly Beach County Park
- Folly Beach Pier
- Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve
- McLeod Plantation Historic Site
- SK8 Charleston
- Waterparks
At present, Kiawah Beachwalker Park is closed due to boardwalk construction
At county parks, various facilities will not be open for safety reasons. These include restrooms, showers, playgrounds, off-leash dog parks, spray play areas, retail spaces, food operations and rentals. Also, lifeguards will not be on duty. Guests should plan their visits accordingly. Additional parks and amenities will open in the coming weeks.
Although park events and programs have been canceled through May 31, CCPRC will continue offering a variety of virtual opportunities so the community can enjoy what the parks have to offer remotely, via CCPRC’s social media, @CharlestonCountyParks.
- More information: CharlestonCountyParks.com.
As more people stay home to deal with the coronavirus crisis, people are looking for things to do. You can find some fun things to do online in our calendar section below, but let us also encourage you to FORWARD your issue of Charleston Currents to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. It’s got a great price, as you know: Free! We hope they’ll enjoy our coverage.
BRACK: State needs more absentee voting
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | In these pandemic times, the state doesn’t want large groups of people to congregate. Yet it hasn’t expanded rules to allow people who want to shelter in place to vote by absentee ballot on June 9.
This makes absolutely no sense for anyone who has stood in long lines on election day, particularly now that there are more barriers to voting with identification requirements and new electronic machines still unfamiliar to many voters. More absentee voting would limit human contact — and potentially thwart the spread of coronavirus.
“The Republicans that control our government have a moral responsibility to protect our citizens and a constitutional responsibility to make sure our democracy doesn’t falter,” S.C. Democratic Party Chairman Trav Robertson said in a recent statement. “Our people demand that they take action and eliminate the qualifications for absentee voting and transition to a mail-in voting program.”
State Democrats and ACLU were right to file lawsuits challenging South Carolina’s old-fashioned way of doing elections — by making all but a subset of voters show up at a polling place. We already know mail-in balloting works. So let’s expand it.
Officials point to all sorts of exceptions that allow people to vote by mail. If you’re in the military or American Red Cross, you can vote absentee. If you’re overseas, disabled, a student living outside your home county, have a work conflict, on vacation, in the hospital, at a funeral, in jail, helping someone who is sick or disabled — all of you can vote absentee. So can anyone working the polls or who is 65 or older.
Quite frankly, anyone who wants to vote by mail could probably slide by in the pandemic claiming they have a work conflict. But that’s not really truthful.
But if more people actually do vote by mail, state officials are going to need more time to process ballots to make sure everyone’s vote is counted.
State lawmakers need to do two things next week to fix the whole mess. First, they need to pass emergency, temporary measures to allow more people to vote absentee during the June primary, any runoffs and in November in the general election. This will protect the integrity of the voting system — and protect public health — as we continue to grapple with the pandemic.
Second, they need to extend emergency measures to allow election officials to start processing ballots completed before election day to give them more time to do their counts, particularly if the mail-in system faces being overwhelmed in June. Even better: Also extend the time to certify elections from two days after the election to 30 days after the election to make sure everyone’s vote is counted.
But there’s more that lawmakers could do: They could get a jumpstart on modernizing how we conduct elections with this snazzy new thing called the Internet. If we can buy anything from groceries to a car through secure credit card transactions, we certainly can create a safe way to vote online. Nearing the age of receiving Social Security? You interact with the agency online. File taxes? You send a lot of personal information over the Internet. Come on, South Carolina. Get it together.
For a state with a rich maritime history, South Carolina is seriously missing the boat on voting absentee. It’s off the rails in two other ways too, both of which could be fixed during the three days lawmakers meet this month:
Close the gun loophole. The murder of nine people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston that shocked the nation occured almost five years ago. And still, lawmakers haven’t finished the job of strengthening gun background checks to keep weapons out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, such as the shooter in Charleston. Finish the job this month.
Approve medical marijuana. More than 30 states have decriminalized marijuana in some fashion. While South Carolina isn’t likely anytime soon to decriminalize fully, it should approve a medical marijuana proposal that will help those suffering from ailments have more relief. The measure, championed by S.C. Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, and others, likely would have passed this session had it not been cut short by the pandemic. Finish the job.
Andy Brack is the editor and publisher of Charleston Currents and Statehouse Report. He is publisher of the Charleston City Paper. 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.
- To meet all of our underwriters, click here.
State’s public health agency overwhelmed, underfunded
The headquarters of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control in Columbia, S.C.
Staff reports | North Charleston Democratic Rep. Wendell Gilliard described the state Department of Health and Environmental Control as chronically short-staffed and underfunded in a Friday story in sister publication Statehouse Report. He said while testing supplies were a nationwide issue, the state agency struggled with responding to public needs.
“When this situation took place, it just added insult to injury,” he said. “They weren’t ready for this and we, as lawmakers, did not help prepare them for this. The blame should be on us.”
But, state Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, said Republican Gov. Henry McMaster and leadership in the General Assembly have worked to bring back adequate levels of funding since 2017.
“For 12-plus years, these agencies were brought to the brink of dysfunction,” Sheheen said. “We’re reaping what we sowed … Now, with the economic downturn, it’s going to be even harder to bring it back.”
In other recent news:
Homeless to Hope telethon is a success. Last week’s Homeless to Hope Fund benefit telethon and concert raised more than $170,000 to fuel assistance to homeless individuals and their families as they transition into permanent housing throughout the Lowcountry. Learn more.
New joint venture. Marine Terminals Corporation – East, Ceres Marine Terminals Inc., and SSA Atlantic LLC on May 4 opened Charleston Stevedoring Company LLC (CSC), a new joint venture to provide container terminal and stevedoring services in the Port of Charleston.
“The new entity will provide significant benefits to the Port of Charleston, including improved container terminal services through the consolidated operations at all berths, as well as more efficient vessel turn times and improved equipment utilization,” CSC President Dan Hall said in a statement. “The combined company will optimize use of terminal capacity and improve integration between terminal, vessel and gate operations.”
CSC’s mission is to provide a secure, safe and stable environment for its employees, while simultaneously strengthening the Port of Charleston’s position within the global marketplace.
“The Southeast is the best place to be in the port business with both its thriving business sector and growing population boosting imports and exports,” S.C. Ports Authority President and CEO Jim Newsome said. “CSC will enhance the ability to market the Port of Charleston to a broader customer base with a focus on continued growth for this strategic market.”
House, Senate to reconvene. The legislature has plans to meet in-person beginning noon May 12, just days before the May 14 end of session, according to a statement from the House Speaker’s office. The House will meet each of the three days leading up to the deadline, according to House Clerk Charles Reid in a Thursday email to House members.
State revenues take virus dip. South Carolina’s general fund tax revenues declined $400.1 million for April compared with the same time frame in 2019, according to a Friday state revenue presentation. But it’s possible that money will be made up as taxes are filed later, state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Executive Director Frank Rainwater told the Board of Economic Advisers Friday morning. For the 2020-21 fiscal year, the state originally expected a $567 million surplus from current year funds. But now, the state expects only one-tenth of that amount. More from Statehouse Report.
- Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com
On getting back to work and school
To the editor:
President Trump on Sunday (5/3) says that it is safe for states to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic as the counts escalate rapidly.
We need effective interruption with containment of COVID-19. A plan that will keep us safe. Absent containment, the economy will limp along. We are not getting close to recapturing the former potential now locked up in our muscle memory, that is aging.
What do a bunch of business people serving on some task force with a malformed name (accelerateSC) know about a pandemic? Not enough. Everyone involved needs to serve the best the people of South Carolina. Open the economy with the safest plan that the epidemiologists can say. Nor should our schools be treated as forgotten children.
An independent panel of MUSC and Clemson epidemiologists should tweak and endorse the proposed plan put forward by the businesspeople. Early MUSC results from antibody testing indicate that 2% of health care workers have COVID-19 antibodies.
If this rate holds up, we can return and hold the spreading with vigorous broad-based testing that we lack. Overall containment, not the calendar, should be our guide.
— Fred Palm, Edisto Island
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Maybe our most difficult mystery yet
It’s not often that you see a mural mixing the images of Salvador Dali, Jimi Hendrix, Albert Einstein and Anthony Bourdain. But if you know where to look, you’ll find it somewhere in the Lowcountry. Where? Send your best guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.
Our previous mystery, “Big water,” showed the Beaufort River with the Woods Memorial Bridge to Lady’s Island in the background. Congratulations to the following sleuths who recognized the scene — and didn’t get confused by a similar-looking bridge that leads to Sullivan’s Island in Charleston County: Stephen Yetman and Lindsay Hatcher, both of Charleston; Jay Altman of Columbia; Marnie Huger of Richmond, Va.; Chris Brooks of Mount Pleasant; Don Clark of Hartsville; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; and George Graf of Palmyra, Va. Others who correctly guessed but didn’t include their hometown were: John B. Crouch III, Margaret Watson and Gail E. Lansing.
Altman noted, “[This is the ] Richard V. Woods Memorial Bridge (Woods Bridge) crossing the Beaufort River (Intracoastal Waterway) as seen from the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park in Beaufort, S.C. The bridge was featured in the film Forrest Gump as a stand-in for a bridge across the Mississippi River. In the film, Forrest Gump is interviewed by television reporters about his cross-country running trip while crossing the bridge.”
Peel added, “Woods Memorial Bridge is a 28-foot wide, moveable swing-bridge that was built to replace the first bridge at this location – the Lady’s Island Bridge – an old wooden swing-bridge that was built in 1927 and which provided the first land access from downtown Beaufort to Lady’s Island, St. Helena Island and the many other sea islands along the South Carolina coast. Originally opened on Dec. 17, 1959, this new bridge was renamed in 1971 to honor the memory of Richard V. Woods (1935–1969), a South Carolina Highway Patrol officer killed in the line of duty.”
- 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.
Charleston #MuseumWeek: 7 days, 7 themes, 7 hashtags
Staff reports | There are seven great things to do online this week through the Charleston Museum. Check out these activities:
- May 11: #HerosMW. Facebook Live with Heather Rivet, historic house manager at the Joseph Manigault House
- May 12: #CultureInQuarantineMW. Facebook Live with Jennifer McCormick, chief of collections and archivist in the Museum Archives
- May 13: #TogetherMW. Facebook Live with Jessica Runyon, museum educator (Lesson and craft for kids!)
- May 14: #MuseumMomentsMW. Facebook Live with Virginia Theerman, curator of historic textiles discussing museum matriarchs
- May 15: #ClimateMW. Lesson with Matthew Gibson, curator of natural history followed by Facebook Live craft for kids with Jessica Runyon.
- May 16: #TechnologyMW. Virtual tours and more ways to utilize the museum’s collection online.
- May 17: #DreamsMW. Building tomorrow’s museum with today’s dreams. Plans for the future with museum Director Carl Borick.
- More info: Charleston Museum.
Other local institutions to visit virtually:
Gibbes Museum. You can enjoy lots of local art offerings through the website and social media accounts of the Gibbes Museum. AT 10 a.m. on weekdays, the museum posts virtual readings and workshops on Facebook. Find more online.- Brookgreen Gardens. The Murrells Inlet gardens have a new set of activities, #BrookgreenAtHome, that you can do, well, from home. The staff offers materials, directions and examples. Post to social media with the tag when done.
- Avian Conservation Center. Access videos and live streaming presentations online to learn about what’s going on at the Center for Birds of Prey.
There’s also a whole virtual world out there to find and enjoy. Some good ones:
- LONDON: British Museum, which has mummies and lots of treasures;
- LONDON: Tate Modern, which has lots of neat exhibitions.
- NEW YORK: Metropolitan Museum of Art, with collections of 5,000 years of art.
- NEW YORK: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum with its dazzling displays of modernism.
- More. You can visit 500 museums across the world online through this Google amalgamation of sites.
Virtual tours: Bulldog Tours is providing virtual tours of the city of Charleston daily at 2 p.m., according to sister publication Charleston City Paper. So far, tours have been to Washington Square, Fort Lamar and the old City Jail. Learn more.
Plugged In To History. Middleton Place offers this new digital content portal that offers streamed content on living history, heritage breeds, crafts and even past drinks and social practices (appropriately on Friday at 5 p.m.). More.
Online wellness: You can also get fit online through virtual fitness classes that offer workouts, meditations and more. Check out this City Paper post of what area studios are offering.
Online jazz: Forte Jazz Lounge in downtown Charleston is offering music enthusiasts the chance to watch live shows online through virtual ticketing with suggested donations of $10. The feed starts about 15 minutes before shows. When the virus scare is done, all donors will be invited to a big party blowout at the club with the Joe Clarke Big Band. Learn more.
Aquarium online. The S.C. Aquarium is expected to offer a daily Nature Challenge, a virtual “Passport to Fun” and a “Moment of Zen” starting this week online. It also offers daily education classes at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday to Friday, via its virtual network. Learn more.
- Read here to learn more about the Aquarium’s new Solo Sweep Challenge litter clean-up effort.
If you have any online events, drop us a line (editor@charlestoncurrents.com) and make sure to put “Online event” in the subject line. Similarly, if you’ve got cool ideas for stuff to do while in isolation at home, send them our way.
Havilah Babcock
Educator and writer Havilah Babcock was born on March 6, 1898, in Appomattox, Virginia, the son of Homer Curtis Babcock and Rosa Blanche Moore. He earned an A.B. from Elon College in 1918, then pursued graduate studies at Columbia University, the University of Virginia (A.M., 1923), and the University of South Carolina (Ph.D., 1927). On June 3, 1919, he married Alice Hudson Cheatham. He briefly taught high school English in Virginia before joining the faculty at the College of William and Mary in 1921. In 1926 Babcock came to the University of South Carolina (USC) on a year’s sabbatical leave. He found the people, school, and state so hospitable that he stayed thirty-eight years, joining the English department and becoming a fixture at the university.
At USC, Babcock was an institution about whom truths and legends were freely circulated. He might begin a class with “I’ll give twenty-five cents to anyone who can spell Houyhnhnm,” and reportedly he greeted students with a broadside of snowballs after a rare southern snowfall. His jovial bond with students made his courses the most sought after at the university, causing students to sign up a year in advance for his English 129 course entitled “I Want a Word.” In this vocabulary and semantics course, students learned of the charm and power of words as they listened to Babcock reveal their nuances and connotations.
Babcock was equally at home in the field as at the blackboard. He used the outdoors as a canvas to draw a vast array of colorful characters, becoming a master of the hunting-fishing tale. His stories were replete with references to English and American literature. More than one hundred of his stories found their way into print in a variety of newspapers and magazines, including Field and Stream. Anthologies of his works include My Health Is Better in November (1947), Tales of Quails ’n’ Such (1951), I Don’t Want to Shoot an Elephant (1958), and Jaybirds Go to Hell on Friday, and Other Stories (1964). His writing traveled the literary spectrum with ease. In his novel The Education of Pretty Boy (1960), Babcock wrote of a young boy’s gun-shy bird dog because he thought the dog “was too pretty not to be immortal.”
Babcock’s writings continued their popularity years after his death. A reviewer from the New York Times once compared his writing to “a rare old Bourbon you want to make last as long as possible.” A counterpart at Field and Stream applied a similar metaphor: “Like a good wine,” Babcock’s stories “grow better with age.” Babcock died in Columbia on December 10, 1964, and was buried in Appomattox, Virginia.
— Excerpted from an entry by Francis Neuffer. 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, published in 2006 by USC Press. (Information used by permission.)
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