Accident
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- Category: Archives
- Published on Wednesday, 03 May 2017 14:16
- Written by Ralph Shealy
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Two Die In Head-on Collision
Two people lost their lives Sunday afternoon, April 30, in a head-on collision on the Greenwood Highway.
According to Saluda County Coroner Keith Turner, Evan Blair Campbell, 18, of Greenwood and Lexie Turner Rodgers, 66, of Ninety Six were both pronounced dead on the scene.
Cpl. Bill Rhyne of the S.C. Highway Patrol said the accident happened at approximately 4:10 p.m. on U.S. Highway 178, near Fruit Hill Road, six miles from Saluda.
A 1997 Nissan Altima, driven by Campbell, was traveling east when it crossed the centerline into the path of a 2004 Ford Econoline van driven by Mrs. Rodgers. Both victims were wearing seatbelts.
Campbell was just a few weeks away from graduating from Greenwood Christian Academy. Mrs. Turner was a former employee at Saluda Nursing Center.
Turner and Chief Deputy Randy Simmons would like to thank The Mayson Fire Department, Saluda County EMS, Saluda County Dispatch, and the SC Highway Patrol for all their help.
Community Concerned With Park Plans
African American citizens in Saluda are upset with the condition of Brooks and Roston Park on East End Drive off Bauknight Ferry Road.
A suggestion was made to County County to move the softball field from Brooks and Roston to the Recreation Complex.
This idea has upset the community, and Almastine Butler wrote the following letter:
“I am writing to tell your readers and the entire Saluda County the concerns and the deliberate discrimination of the African American Community when it involves who we are and what we have. As some know and some don’t Brooks and Roston Park, “The Field” has been on East End Drive off Bouknight Ferry Road since 1971. This is an area that is cherished and honored by the people that live in and around the area.
“The Field” has been Saluda’s Big Bang for many years, being the home of Sunday Adult League Softball Games. The field is the only kid and family friendly park that has swings, sliding boards, picnic tables, basketball courts and a softball field. However, within the recent months that has all been changed. For the last few months the park was blocked off by rope and cones that you couldn’t even step foot on the property or we would be trespassing.
The park was reopened with a larger problem at hand after the trespassing was removed. The electricity had been disconnected, the water has been disconnected as well as the bathroom and concession stand where the water fountain existed have been removed. The amount of care that Saluda has for the African American Community doesn’t exist.
With much controversy about Brooks and Roston Park the concerned citizens took it upon themselves to meet and bring forth information to others in the community of the happenings and the unexpected and unwanted changes to the park and to the community.
Concerned citizens met on Sunday, April 30, 2017 to discuss their concerns and to take action. According to Google, it’s approximately 4.4 miles from East End Drive to the Recreation Field on Highway 178. There are approximately 50-60 kids from one end to the other of Bouknight Ferry Road alone. Why should the kids have to find a ride or wait for someone to pick them up when a park is right in the vicinity?
Yes, there is some legal issues that are at hand, but in the end the African American Community is still coming up short. As of now, Saluda County claims that they are the owners of the Brooks and Roston Park. On April 14,2017 pictures of the landscaping work for the Saluda Recreation Department were posted to Social Media by the Saluda County Recreation Director, Paul Ergle, who would also be in charge of Brooks and Roston if it was owned by the county. His picture showed the grass cut, trash cleaned up and not a single child playing. In addition, his hashtag was “#wedonttakedaysoff.”
However, on April 30, 2017 at 6:52pm I went to Brooks and Roston there were 15-20 guys playing basketball on an unsurfaced basketball court, the grass in the softball field is grown up. Looks like the ten acres will be regrown inside the field instead of outside and there were two little girls which had to be under the age of 5 that were playing on the sliding boards where the grass is also grown up.
What makes the Saluda Recreation Field more important than Brooks and Roston Park if they are all County facilities? These are a small few of the concerns we have. Yet, this is why we have the concerns. I can only commiserate with others who are irate with the treatment and the thoughts of the change!”
(Recreation Director Paul Ergle and/ or County Council will be given the opportunity to respond to this in next week’s issue)
Burton Named Anderson
Male Athlete of Year
ANDERSON, S.C. – Anderson University women’s cross country and track standout Haylee Love and men’s track standout Christopher Burton, a Saluda High graduate, were honored as the Female and Male Athletes of the Year, respectively, at AU Athletics’ Senior Awards Banquet Tuesday evening at the G. Ross Anderson Jr. Student Center.
Love, a junior, became the first Trojan cross country runner to qualify for the NCAA National Championships since former All-American Whitney Bishoff earned back-to-back appearances in 2008 and 2009 and again during the 2011 campaign. She is also the first Anderson student-athlete to make an appearance at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships since Bishoff qualified for the 2011 NCAA Championships. Love was one of only two women’s competitors from the South Atlantic Conference to compete in the championships.
She earned Second-Team All-South Atlantic Conference honors this season in both cross country and track, while capturing All-Southeast Region accolades in cross country. The Lexington, S.C., native set a school record when she won the mile run at Clemson’s Last Chance Meet in mid-February and was named to the AFCU Gold Standard last November.
Burton owns the second-fastest time in the 200 meter dash in the NCAA-Division II ranks this season, while qualifying for next month’s NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and earlier posted a provisional qualifying time in the 100 meter dash. He brought home first place in the 100 meter and 200 meter dash at both the Emory Classic and the Montreat Invitational last month.
A native of Johnston, S.C., Burton earned back-to-back AstroTurf SAC Men’s Track Athlete of the Week honors earlier this month and captured First-Team All-Conference honors when he won the 100 meter dash and 200 meter dash at the South Atlantic Conference Championships in record time.