Charleston Currents #13.26 | May 10, 2021
A SQUADRON. Charleston photographer English Purcell snapped this photo of this squadron (yes, that’s one of the group terms for these birds) of white pelicans at Bear Island Wildlife Management Area a couple of months back. Learn more about the undeveloped 12,000-acre property in Colleton County. See something you think our readers would enjoy? Snap a shot and send it along to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. Copyrighted photo by English Purcell.
FOCUS: Charleston County’s Willtown tract gets permanent protection
COMMENTARY, Brack: Reconsider South Carolina’s death penalty
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
NEWS BRIEFS: Scott draws two Democratic challengers
FEEDBACK: Send us a letter
MYSTERY PHOTO: Some maritime thing
CALENDAR: Best of Charleston issue to hit the streets Wednesday
Charleston County’s Willtown tract gets permanent protection
Photo of this pond at the Willtown tract provided.
By Skyler Baldwin, Charleston City Paper | The Nature Conservancy (TNC) announced Friday that the third-largest undeveloped tract of land in Charleston County is under permanent protection through a conservation easement that supports agricultural, forestry and recreational use.
The Willtown tract, 2,101 acres of undeveloped land, contributes to a 29-mile contiguous corridor of natural habitats for wildlife. The easement will keep the property under private ownership by TNC, promoting conservation and limiting its future development.
“Willtown is a very large property, but the impact of its protection is even larger,” TNC executive director Dale Threatt-Taylor said in a press release. “The forested land will help filter and clean the water that drains from Willtown into the Edisto River and eventually the ecologically rich St. Helena Sound. And, keeping that forest working, as the conservation easement allows, will support local jobs and South Carolina’s timber industry.”
The Willtown tract fits between a federal refuge and private land, contributing to 30 years and 300,000 acres of land protection momentum, according to the press release from TNC.
“It fits like a puzzle piece between the National Wildlife Refuge and other protected lands,” Steward Terra Communications principal Jennifer Howard told City Paper.
The Willtown tract shares more than a mile of its border with the Ashepoo-Combahee-Edisto river basin, commonly called the ACE Basin, one of the largest undeveloped wetland ecosystems on the Atlantic Coast.
“The ACE Basin is ground zero for migrating birds and wading birds,” Charleston County Greenbelt Program executive director Cathy Ruff said in the press release. “This network of protected lands in Charleston and neighboring counties is what keeps our rural areas authentic and maintains the character of Charleston County. It’s an invaluable stopover point for migrating birds and hugely important for all kinds of plants and wildlife.”
The Willtown tract was given high priority by the South Carolina Conservation Bank and the Charleston Greenbelt Grant Program. Additional funding was provided by TNC and the Ace Basin Task Force, and the remaining easement value was donated by the landowner.
“This is made possible by a local and statewide funding source – the Charleston Greenbelt Bank and the South Carolina Conservation Bank,” Howard said. “Land protection without these funding sources is nearly impossible. And oftentimes, securing one funding source helps leverage another.”
- Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com.
Reconsider South Carolina’s death penalty
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | South Carolina, one of 24 states that continues to allow executions, hasn’t been able to carry one out for the last decade because it hasn’t had access to lethal injection drugs. Those on death row currently pick whether they want to die by electrocution or lethal injection. Predictably with the drugs not available, that is the preferred choice, which has ground executions to a halt.
But now the S.C. House, following in the footsteps of the state Senate, approved a measure that would add death-by-firing-squad to the list of choices. With this as a replacement choice if lethal injection drugs are not available, executions could continue. Gov. Henry McMaster has pledged to sign the bill into law.
All of this is procedural. There hasn’t been serious consideration about whether it’s right for the state to execute prisoners on South Carolina’s death row, which now has 37 inmates.
So consider the thoughts of Hunter Limbaugh, elected in 1994 as a Republican to a Florence seat in the S.C. House. After that election, the GOP took over the House after years of rule by Democrats.
Limbaugh, now a lobbyist, today would describe himself in 1994 as “a very conservative traditional Republican.” He said in an interview he probably wouldn’t have given a second thought to voting for the firing squad bill had it been before the chamber because he was for the death penalty.
“It wouldn’t be a stretch that I might very well have been a cosponsor of the bill,” he said.
But not now, in part he says, because he has understood how his children have less certitude about right and wrong. In other words, millennials see a lot more gray than black or white.
Limbaugh
Then there’s another difference: Limbaugh, who left the House in 1997 to become the chief legal counsel for Gov. David Beasley, served as the governor’s representative “to make the call on reprieves at the time of an execution,” he said, adding he was in charge of giving final approval before an execution took place.
“I’d then stay on the phone until the death was declared. It was some very intense, up-close and personal stuff.”
At one point, he decided to wait because the U.S. Supreme Court had not ruled on a petition for a stay of execution.
“I literally had the life of this person in my hands. Honestly, it felt horrible. My answer was to wait, and the stay was soon denied, but those are five minutes I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
In other words, Limbaugh faced something more instant than a vote on procedure as considered this week in the S.C. House. He felt the death penalty in action.
Over the last generation, DNA evidence, often now used to exonerate wrongly convicted people on death row, has clearly shown how the justice system is tilted against people of color and those without good legal counsel. “Claims that each execution deters a certain number of murders have been thoroughly discredited by social science research,” adds the ACLU.
Limbaugh said his experience with the death penalty has led him to conclude it is wrong to put people to death.
“I just personally have come to the conclusion that neither I nor the state acting on the right to take the life of another human being should do so.” But he’s not opposed to tough punishment: “It has all the right in the world to isolate people who have demonstrated an inability to live in civil society.”
It’s time to rethink the death penalty in South Carolina, not just add another option on the menu.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Charleston Currents, and publisher of the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com.
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring Charleston Currents to you at no cost. Today we shine our spotlight on Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, founded in 1676 by the Drayton family.It has survived the centuries and witnessed the history of our nation unfold before it from the American Revolution through the Civil War and beyond. It is the oldest public tourist site in the Lowcountry and the oldest public gardens in America, opening its doors to visitors in 1870. Open 365 days a year, Magnolia offers its visitors splendid tours of nature and history and the role African-Americans played in the development of its award-winning Romantic-style gardens.
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Scott draws two Democratic challengers
Staff reports | U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, a Charleston County Republican, now has two Democrats running to snare his seat — second-term state Rep. Krystle Matthews and Spartanburg County Democratic Party chair Angela Geter.
Matthews
Scott
Matthews, a Ladson Democrat who announced her bid last month, told the Charleston City Paper in a Q&A interview last week that she viewed Scott as an opportunist who didn’t represent the interests of South Carolina’s Black community.
When asked for her thoughts on Scott’s recent national response to President Biden’s address to Congress, she said, “His response was just horribly staining. It’s wildly ironic that while delivering an extremely contrasting speech of his own, he would call the president divisive. But, this is typical behavior of what we’ve seen, and so people are tired of it.
She added that she took issue with Scott’s claim the United States wasn’t a racist country.
“Do you know how many white people have inboxed me in the last 24 hours saying, ‘I’m white, and I know America is racist.’ And the god-awful pandering of the line, ‘cotton field to Congress,’ I mean … Because Black people are not smart enough to know that he’s pandering, right? We’re smarter than that.”
Geter
Meanwhile, Geter said she would focus on economic development, infrastructure and education during a May 6 announcement, according to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.
“I’m young enough for today’s issues. I’m old enough to distinguish between fact and fiction,” she said. “And humble enough to know when I am uncertain about that distinction and take steps to make it clear. … I believe in federalism. I do not see the federal government as a problem. Instead it is essential to ensure we all share in the promise in public goods produced by democracy.”
In other recent news:
Fate of Santee Cooper reform, hate crimes unclear. With just three legislative days left in this year’s regular session of the General Assembly, the fate of measures to make hate crimes illegal and to reform Santee Cooper without selling the utility are up in the air, according to legislative insiders. That won’t be the case with measures to allow gun owners to carry pistols in the open, as long as there are permits, or with authorization of firing squads as a choice for state executions. Both versions of the House and Senate measures are close enough that compromise is expected in the week ahead. Gov. Henry McMaster also is expected to sign both.
Senate passes open carry gun measure. South Carolina senators on Thursday approved a bill 28-16 allowing people with concealed weapons permits to carry their guns in the open so long as they have required training and permit. The bill now goes back to the S.C. House. More: Associated Press | SC Public Radio.
S.C. House OKs firing squads for executions. The last state-held execution was 10 years ago today. Executions were halted due to a lack of lethal injection drugs. While inmates could still choose the electric chair in the state, none opted to do so in that time period. Now after the House on Wednesday approved a bill to require inmates to choose between the electric chair or firing squad, the General Assembly is poised to send a bill soon to the governor, who is expected to sign it. More: AP News | The Post and Courier.
Hate crimes proposal survives Senate committee challenge. Some Republican senators questioned the necessity of a hate crimes bill for South Carolina during a Senate committee hearing yesterday, but the bill passed 13-10 to head to the Senate floor. South Carolina remains one of just two states without a hate crimes law. More: AP News | WTGS.
New state agencies extend reach of government in S.C. Under Gov. Henry McMaster’s leadership, there has been the creation of three stand-alone agencies: departments of Veterans’ Affairs and Children’s Advocacy, and the Office of Resilience. The new agencies have a combined budget of $173 million. More: The Nerve.
McMaster signs bill allowing S.C. athletes to profit from likeness. South Carolina college athletes will soon be able to profit from their own brands, joining more than 20 states with similar measures. More: The Post and Courier.
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.
Some maritime thing
Here’s something with maritime connections, but what is it? And where is it? (It’s not in the Lowcountry.) 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 Photo
Last week’s mystery, “Thou shalt,” showed a door sign on the entrance to Grace Church Cathedral in Charleston on a recent Sunday.
Hats off to the three readers who correctly identified the location of the sign: Jim McMahon of Charleston; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; and George Graf of Palmyra, Va.
Peel shared this: “In October 2020, Grace Church Cathedral, in preparations for the church being reopened again for public worship, humorously issued 10 new commandments to ensure that worshipers who attended services could do so safely during the COVID pandemic. OK, technically these were only ‘guidelines,’ but the church strongly encouraged their followers to adhere to each and every one of them. So much so that they published the list in each of their regular bulletins as well as on their main website. The commandment posted on the main entrance doorway is actually the 10th commandment in the list. You can see all 10 commandments at the church’s website here.”
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.
Best of Charleston issue to hit the streets Wednesday
Staff reports | The Charleston City Paper’s annual Best of Charleston issue hits the street Wednesday with winners in more than 350 categories — including recognition in more than 20 special categories that pay tribute to best efforts during the 2020 pandemic.
The 2020 contest generated more than a million votes during the nomination and voting process as tens of thousands of readers picked their favorites for eating, drinking, shopping and playing throughout the Lowcountry.
Winners will receive a special box of goodies Wednesday delivered by City Paper staffers. Then on September 29, winners will celebrate with a smashing tropical Best of Charleston at Firefly Distillery in North Charleston.
“We generally host a tremendously fun party on the day that the big Best of Charleston issue is published, but out of an abundance of caution this year, we decided to wait until the fall because we didn’t want to have it during the sweating season, also known as summer,” publisher Andy Brack said.
- To see the Best of Charleston winners on Wednesday, go to: www.CharlestonCityPaper.com.
Also on the calendar:
Waterparks open May 15. Each of Charleston County’s three parks — in North Charleston, Mount Pleasant and James Island — will open May 15 for weekends only. Splash Zone at James Island County Park will be open daily starting June 5 through mid-August, when it will return to weekends only until Labor Day. Splash Island at Mount Pleasant Palmetto Islands County Park and Whirlin’ Waters Adventure Waterpark in the North Charleston Wannamaker County Park will be open weekends only until June 18, when they will open daily until mid-August. Both will then open on weekends through Labor Day.
Hampton Park picnic: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., May 22, Hampton Park, Charleston. The Charleston Nature Conservancy will hold a Picnic in the Park. You can purchase a picnic basket (with wine) and enjoy it on the lawn near the Rose Pavilion. More.
Safe Sounds: Firefly Distillery, North Charleston. Head over to citypapertickets.com to secure a spot. Tickets are available now. Doors open 6 p.m. for shows that begin an hour later. (Editor’s note: City Paper Tickets, which is run by sister publication Charleston City Paper, is operating ticketing for Safe Sounds.) Check out some of the shows that are on the way:
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- May 20: Jimmie Allen
- May 22: The Reckoning
The Lawn Party exhibition: Opens May 8 and through Sept. 19, Charleston Museum, Meeting Street, Charleston. The Charleston Museum is pleased to present The Lawn Party: From Satin to Seersucker, the latest offering in its Historic Textiles Gallery. In an “unprecedented” era when large gatherings have been discouraged and fashion has trended towards leisurewear, this exhibition is a celebration of getting dressed up for an outdoor party. Bringing a hint of glamour to a trying time, the garments on display were selected with the grand idea of “after” in mind. This is a perfect opportunity to come see what to wear for your next outdoor event as we head toward the new “normal.”
Johns Island concerts: June 5 and July 10, Johns Island County Park. The reggae sounds of Mystic vibrations on June 5 and the Motown sounds of The Legacy on July 10. For each show, gates open at 6 p.m. with music beginning at 7 p.m. Shows end by 9:30 p.m. Tickets are available for $60 per 10×10 square, not per person. Squares are limited to four people max. Guests must arrive together, as each vehicle must have a ticket for entry. Squares will be available on a first-come, first-served basis upon arrival. Each show will also offer food vendors; no outside food, alcohol or coolers will be permitted. Alcohol will be available for purchase. Patrons are encouraged to bring chairs, blankets, tables, etc. to be used at their space. Masks are required, except when eating.
Ongoing
Holy City Farmers Market: 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., every Wednesday, Holy City Brewing, North Charleston. vendors rotate weekly to provide shoppers with a tiny but mighty shopping experience. vendors will be selling a range of products from specialty foods, home and body care to arts and crafts. More info.
Birds of Prey flight demonstrations: 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Thursdays and Saturdays, Center for Birds of Prey, 4719 Highway 17. Awendaw. The center has reopened its doors to visitors after closing due to the COvID-19 pandemic, inviting people to once again come and explore the world of raptors through an outdoor program and flight demonstration. Tickets: . $20/adult; $15/children age 3-17.
Quiet Edge: Through May 22, Redux Contemporary Art Center, 1056 King St., Charleston. This new show brings together the works of two artists who address rectangular forms that ebb and flow between depiction and abstraction: Suzanne Dittenber of Ashevlle, N.C., with the form of the book and Benny Fountain of Waco, Texas, with the window and room. Hours are Monday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Artist exhibition in Park Circle: Through May 28, Park Circle Gallery, North Charleston. More than a dozen new mixed media works will be on display by Johns Island-based artist Christine Bush Roman, winner of the 2020/21 North Charleston Arts Fest Poster Design Competition. Her winning design, Oak Circus, will be featured in the exhibition, which is presented as a component of the annual North Charleston Arts Fest.
Sunday Brunch Farmers Market: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., every Sunday, Charleston Pour House, 1977 Maybank Highway, James Island. While the market is discouraging people from spending too much time hanging out during the market, everyone is invited to shop their local vendors.
Bird-watching at Caw Caw. Every Wednesday and Saturday — particularly through the end of February — you can see a plethora of birds at Caw Caw Interpretive Center in Ravenel as they make their way through the Lowcountry. The two-hour regular walks, which start at 8:30 a.m., are through distinct habitats that allow participants to view and discuss a variety of birds, butterflies, and other organisms. Registration is not required. Participants are encouraged to bring their own binoculars. A paid chaperone is required for participants ages 15 and under. Max. 10 participants. Fee: $9; free for Gold Pass holders. Open to all ages. More: Caw Caw Interpretive Center.
- 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.
- ORDER NOW: Copies of our new book, 350 Facts About Charleston, are in Lowcountry-area bookstores now, but if you can’t swing by, you can order a copy online today.
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.
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