Charleston Currents #13.49 | Oct. 26, 2021
NOVEMBER SHOW. Local artists Brad Carroll of Mount Pleasant and Lee Garrard of Johns Island will be featured Nov. 3 to Nov. 24 in a show at the Park Circle Gallery in North Charleston. Above is a work by Carroll. Check out the Calendar below for more information. See something you think our readers would enjoy? Snap a shot and send it along. Photo provided.
FOCUS: Lejeune’s toxic water haunts James Island survivor
COMMENTARY, Brack: Verify, then trust: How to get more out of your news diet
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Morris Financial Concepts, Inc.
NEWS BRIEFS: Investments to give big opportunities for Charleston’s port, CEO says
FEEDBACK: Don’t set up students for failure
MYSTERY PHOTO: The pink cone
CALENDAR: North Charleston gallery to exhibit works by Carroll, Garrard
Lejeune’s toxic water haunts James Island survivor
James Island resident Rose Ann Boxx mourns the death of her brother from cancer almost 40 years ago. Photo by Andy Brack.
Staff reports | When James Island resident Rose Ann Boxx’s brother turned 32 in the late 1970s, he was diagnosed with colon cancer.
The diagnosis for Robert Thomas, came as a surprise — because of his age and also because there was no history of cancer of any kind on either side of the family. But another surprise loomed for kids like Rose Ann and Robert who spent formative years in the late 1950s at Camp Lejeune where their father was a Marine — the water was toxic, poisoned for more than three decades by chemicals that leaked into the water supply. Thousands — including Robert and, eventually, Rose Ann — got cancer.
She recalled last week how her older brother Robert went through several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatment to try to reverse the disease’s spread. In the throes of the disease, he managed to make jokes, she said, likening himself to a large Pac-Man, his body being slowly gnawed away by a foreign, floating enemy.
“They’ll take a little bit of me every time, but that’s okay,” he would tell Boxx.
For a while, things improved. He continued his job working for Charleston County and meeting up with Boxx for the occasional lunch. But then the cancer returned, this time in his lymph nodes. Robert died Sept. 30, 1982. He was 37.
Nearly 40 years later, Boxx is still trying to make sense of her brother’s death. She counts herself among the thousands of family members of veterans fighting for recognition and compensation from the U.S. military over decades of negligent water contamination at Lejeune that caused myriad cancers and other significant negative health impacts in servicemembers, their dependents and employees on the base.
A new bill currently working its way through Congress aims to provide relief. The Camp Lejeune Justice Act would allow anyone exposed to contamination on the base between 1953 and 1987 to sue the government for damages. Despite some 75 cosponsors, the Justice Act has remained stalled in committee. On Thursday, the bill was referred to the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. But advocates — a step short of hopeful — remain determined to push it across the line.
“We’re going to stand up for this issue until we see something happen,” said Curtis Crawford, 58, a Virginia resident who spent time on Lejeune when he was younger and now suffers from several conditions, including fibromyalgia and vitiligo, that he attributes to the water. “None of us should have this stuff. We should be thriving instead of dying.”
- To read the full story by writer Lewis Kendall in our sister publication Statehouse Report, click here. A related recent commentary is here.
- Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com.
Verify, then trust: How to get more out of your news diet
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | When word came this week that a former journalism professor passed away, it led to thoughts about how people’s consumption and understanding of news has evolved.
For 50 years, Donald Shaw taught students at the University of North Carolina’s journalism school, arguably one of the best in the nation. A man who sometimes seemed the stereotype of the absent-minded professor, he was wickedly smart as he labored to drill the tenets of basic newswriting and editing into the thick skulls of know-it-all grad students, some of whom would become know-it-all columnists.
During this training, Shaw’s mild but tough manner belied something that he didn’t talk much about: how he was a rock star in academic journalism circles. In the early 1970s, he and a colleague published research on how the media helped to set the agenda of people in a democracy. That may seem obvious today, but in pre-Internet days, this was the stuff from which legends are made.
In a groundbreaking paper followed by more research and a book, the authors described how news gatherers helped to shape political reality: “Readers learn not only about a given issue, but also how much importance to attach to that issue from the amount of information in a news story and its position. In reflecting what candidates are saying during a campaign, the mass media may well determine the important issues — that is, the media may set the ‘agenda’ of the campaign.”
When there were just a few networks and every town of any size had a newspaper, media were powerful voices in our communities. But as the Internet evolved, they started losing ground in influencing people.
Just look at how political campaigns have changed. When Shaw published his research, candidates relied on advertising, news stories and person-to-person organizing to prevail. But then came more sophisticated methods of politicking — polling, opposition research, professional fundraising, direct mail, websites and a broad array of ways to advertise and spend money.
Similarly, messaging changed. Today’s newspapers remain influential, but no longer rule the roost. In 2020, for example, 10 newspapers stopped printing in South Carolina, The Post and Courier recently reported. And because anyone now has the ability to publish information through the Internet, everyone is a publisher. These days, the noise of so much information is awfully loud.
While news organizations no longer have a stranglehold on what information consumers get, it’s caused a problem that Shaw’s agenda-setting couldn’t envision — a glut of information that’s so hard to sift through that noxious data creeps in to blur the truth. The cacophony of misinformation, disinformation and outright lies that are out there — along with ploys by foreign governments to create disharmony by using fake news reports to replace reality — is threatening societal norms.
So here are a few tips on how to be a more discriminating consumer of news thanks, in part, to a story in Scientific American.
Don’t overdose on news. The more news that you consume isn’t necessarily better. It can lead to feeling overwhelmed and anxious. Get what you need, but turn off the news so you don’t overdose.
Go past the headlines. Soon-to-retire news anchor Bill Sharpe of Charleston recently described how television news often provides headlines and how news consumers need to go to newspapers to learn more details. Six or seven words don’t tell a full story. To understand more about issues, you have to do some homework.
Check the facts. If something sounds fishy, it may well be. So use the power of the Internet to check other sources to see if the information is accurate. A couple of trusted journalism sources: PolitiFact.com and FactCheck.org.
Diversify. Read credible sources outside your comfort zone to get a fuller picture. Credible news organizations should offer more than one viewpoint in a story. But you should also check various sources. If you generally watch TV only, go to a national newspaper website to verify something. Remember: the Facebook algorithm feeds you what it thinks you want to read. Move beyond that to make sure things are what they purport to be.
These days, we’ve got to work a little harder to make sure what we’re reading is true. Verify. Then trust.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Charleston Currents, and publisher of the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com.
Morris Financial Concepts, Inc.
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We do not accept commissions or compensation related to the products and service we recommend. Our counsel is based solely on what we believe is best for each client.
- Learn about founder and Charleston Currents columnist Kyra Morris and more about the consultancy at: Morris Financial Concepts, Inc.
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Investments create big opportunities for port, CEO says
The Leatherman terminal opened earlier this year in North Charleston providing extra capacity to Charleston’s port operations. Photo by S.C. Ports Authority.
Staff reports | Recent investments to add a berth, increase cargo capacity and deepen Charleston harbor provide critical opportunities for the Port of Charleston, said Jim Newsome, the president and CEO of the S.C. Ports Authority who announced his retirement during an annual report card last week about the agency.
“The significant challenges in the global supply chain present an opportunity for cargo owners to diversify the port gateways they use to move goods,” Newsome said in a news release. “S.C. Ports has the berth availability, cargo capacity and fluidity to handle the record cargo volumes and unprecedented amount of retail imports flowing into the Port of Charleston.”
Newsome has led an unprecedented port expansion since he joined the agency about 13 years ago. The $1 billion Phase One of Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal opened in March 2021, marking the first container terminal to open in the U.S. in more than a decade and the only new container terminal capacity planned in the U.S. until 2030.
Barbara Melvin, who currently serves as Newsome’s second-in-command, will take over port operations on July 1. She will be the first female leader of a major U.S. port and reportedly will earn a $500,000 annual salary.
Newsome said shifts in consumer spending toward retail and home goods during the pandemic spurred a boom in retail imports coming into the U.S. That led to S.C. Ports achieving a record fiscal year 2021 and a record first quarter of fiscal year 2022 for containers handled.
“Capacity is the new port currency, and SC Ports has the right capacity at the right time to meet retailers’ needs to keep freight moving,” Newsome said. “We have invested more than $2 billion in recent years to enhance existing infrastructure and open a new container terminal.”
In other recent news:
State to get COVID-19 vaccines for kids next month. Children ages 5-11 should start receiving Pfizer COVID-19 shots in the first week of November, according to state health officials. The state expects to receive 150,000 doses of the lower-dose shots next month. Also Wednesday, federal officials backed booster shots from Johnson & Johnson and Moderna — and said it was OK to mix or match boosters. More: The State | The New York Times.
SC GOP’s October conference announces headliners. U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, former White House physician Ronny Jackson, U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack, and GOP media personality Armstrong Williams, a native of Marion, will speak at the South Carolina GOP’s inaugural action conference held later this month in Myrtle Beach. More: The Post and Courier.
S.C. incumbents rake in cash ahead of 2022. Each incumbent U.S. House member and senator of South Carolina ended the year’s third fundraising quarter — from July to September — with more money in the bank, according to data from the Federal Election Commission. More: The State.
Ethics complaint against S.C. fed judge sent to special committee. A judicial ethics complaint against U.S. District Judge Joe Dawson, a Trump appointee who serves in South Carolina, over a contract he signed with his former employer Charleston County will be sent to a special committee of judges for further investigation after an Oct. 19 order by 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Roger Gregory. The complaint was filed on the heels of a Post and Courier story in February that reported on the contract Dawson signed with Charleston County as he departed for the federal bench. More: The Post and Courier.
Rare songbird discovered in S.C. declared extinct. For decades, birders in the Lowcountry have trekked in and out of forests and wetlands searching for the Bachman’s warbler, one of North America’s rarest songbirds. It’s now been deemed extinct. More: The Post and Courier.
- Want more headlines every business day that are like this? Visit our friends at SC Clips.
Don’t set up students for failure
To the editor:
This article caught my attention because similar incidents are happening throughout school districts in the entire United States. I live in South Carolina and know of an incident that happened several weeks ago.
Underaged children of color are being traumatized when the school authorities are too lazy to investigate the incident to find out the WHOLE truth. Whatever happened to principals, assistant principals, teachers, aides, etc., who took the job they signed up for seriously?
Control of the classroom is the key to avoiding many incidents that occur in the classroom today. Arresting students at an early age sets them and their community up for failure. And what happens when people can’t find jobs? They rely on the system to survive.
— Mildred Smith, McCormick, S.C.
Send us your thoughts by email
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The pink cone
Where in the world is this pink cone and why is it here? Send your best guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live. And if you’ve got a clever mystery photo for our readers, send it to the same address (Try to stump us!)
Our previous Mystery Photo
Last week’s mystery, “Lots of vegetables in this image,” showed a mural painted outside the GrowFood Carolina office on Morrison Drive in Charleston. It may have been a little tougher of a picture than many bargained for.
Congratulations to these five readers who identified it: Mia Maness of Charleston; Christel Newton of North Charleston; George Graf of Palmyra, N.Y.; Jay Altman of Columbia; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; and Chris Brooks of Mount Pleasant.
- 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.
N. Charleston gallery to exhibit works by Carroll, Garrard
Staff reports | Mount Pleasant painter Brad Carroll and Johns Island artist Lee Garrard will be featured Nov. 3 to Nov. 24 in a show at the Park Circle Gallery by the City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department.
Carroll’s exhibit, called “Home and Away,” offers a collection of recent oil paintings that feature whimsical compositions of architectural and natural elements that create an unexpected balance between geometry and biology. Home during the pandemic or away for travel, Carroll pays careful attention to his surroundings and uses the environment as a model, guide, and point of inspiration.
“Often, I’m catching a moment in time,” he said in a press release. “I want to take hold of the viewer and briefly subjugate realism, to provide an alternative idea of what walking down the street and exploring our world can look like.”
Carroll has been painting for more than 20 years, specializing in oil or acrylic on canvas. He received a bachelor’s degree in media arts from the University of South Carolina in 2004. His paintings have been displayed in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the Lowcountry. See the artist’s work at www.bradcarrollpaintings.com.
A painting by Garrard.
Also in the show are Garrard’s portraits in a show called “The People You See Every Day.” These charcoal portraits and works in oil on canvas celebrate the warmth, beauty and eccentricity of our region and the people who live here.
“I am inspired by the human form, especially faces,” he said. “I love the way light reflects off the human body and I love the heat and sensuality of the South. The people have a lush sense of beauty and dignity about them.” Working mainly from photographs, Garrard aims to capture his subjects’ expression, but also attempts to offer a glimpse into what might be going on in their lives or what they are thinking rather than revealing to the world.
Self-taught, Garrard has been drawing the world around him since childhood. He is a licensed landscape architect with a passion and deep respect for land and the people who inhabit it. His work has been exhibited in solo and group shows throughout South Carolina and he is a member of The Charleston Artist Guild. He is also a partner and owner of Medicine Wheel Land Planning, a local design studio. Learn more about the artist at https://lgarrard.wixsite.com/lee-garrard.
The Park Circle Gallery is located at 4820 Jenkins Avenue in North Charleston, in what was formerly known as the Olde Village Community Building. Admission is free. The gallery is open 10 a.m. to 6 pm. Wednesdays through Fridays and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
Also on the calendar:
Maintenance of Way exhibit: Through Oct. 30, Redux Contemporary Art Center, 1056 King St., Charleston. Redux and Tiger Strikes Asteroid Greenwill are presenting this exhibition of work by Hannah Barnes and Gyun Hur. They create work that considers place as a mental and physical construct built by layers of time, a collection of striations. Barnes and Gyun explore the idea of maintenance in their practices as a physical and emotional pursuit, connected both to one’s private self and a broader public society. Their work invites the viewer to share in the collective experience of being private selves in public spaces.
Reviving photos. Through Oct. 31, Charleston Museum, Meeting Street. The museum is exhibiting The Lowcountry in Living Color: Making Historical Photographs Come to Life as the latest offering in its Lowcountry Image Gallery. Colorizing black and white pictures allows viewers to see components that otherwise might be overlooked. Buy tickets.
Winter Wonderland exhibit. Nov. 1 to March 27, 2022, Lowcountry Image Gallery, The Charleston Museum, 360 Meeting St., Charleston. This exhibit showcases colorized photographs of remarkable snow days captured by residents of Charleston dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. More on tickets and hours.
Holiday Festival of Lights: 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m, Nov. 12 through Dec. 31, James Island County Park.. Visitors can drive through the impressive three-mile light spectacle with more than 750 illuminated displays. The festival also includes other holiday activities like train rides, marshmallow roasting, a climbing wall and more. There also will be a Winter Wonderland, which features the area’s largest holiday sand sculpture made from more than 50 tons of sand. You and your family can also explore the shops, an enchanted walking trail and the amazing dancing light display. Tickets It is recommended that visitors purchase tickets in advance online. Also on the calendar:
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.
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.
Farmers markets
Last week
North Charleston Farmers Market: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., every Thursday, Felix Davis Community Circle in Park Circle. The market offers fresh, locally grown produce as well as arts-and-craft vendors, specialty foods and live music. More. Closes Oct. 28.
Moncks Corner Farmers Market: 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., every Thursday, Market Pavilion at the Regional Recreation Complex, 418 E. Main St., Moncks Corner. More. Closes Oct. 28.
Closing in November
Summerville Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., every Saturday, First Citizens Bank parking lot near Town Hall, 200 S. Main Street, Summerville. More. Closes Nov. 20.
Charleston Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., every Saturday, Marion Square, 329 Meeting St., Charleston. More. Tentative closing Nov. 27. Holiday market to open temporarily in December.
Closing in December
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. Closes Dec. 18 with holiday market.
Open year-round
West Ashley Farmers Market: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., every Wednesday, Ackerman Park, 55 Sycamore Avenue, Charleston. More.
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. More info.
Sea Island Farmers Market: 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., every Saturday. Charleston Collegiate Campus, 2024 Academy Rd., Johns Island. More.
Goose Creek Farmers Market: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., every Saturday, 519 N. Goose Creek Blvd., Goose Creek. More.
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