Ground-breaking. Construction. Renovation. Design & Work. Ribbon-cutting. It was a never-ending cycle for Laurens County during 2023, and it will continue throughout 2024.
In the coming years, citizens can expect the County to cut a ribbon on major renovations to the Historic Courthouse and on a first-ever-in-this-county Agriculture Center. Probably sooner than that, Clinton will celebrate the opening of a new Public Library.
Fueled by the Capital Projects Sales Tax, and a residential boom that turned vacant land into tax-paying subdivisions, Laurens is one of the building-est counties in fast-growing Upstate South Carolina.
The biggest construction related news of the year, at least from a Clinton viewpoint, is renovation of the shuttered Bell Street Middle School into the new home of the University of South Carolina Union, Laurens location — the City’s second college, in addition to two charter schools and District 56 public schools.
More collegiate sports teams are Clinton-based as USC Union uses the expanded facility to house golf and bass fishing teams.
Here is a look at issue dates in The Chronicle of construction-related news articles from the year just past:
Feb. 1 - County signs $5.1 Million contract to finish Phase 2 of Historic Courthouse renovation - $3.1 Million comes from the CPST.
Feb. 8 - Sign goes up at the new District 56 headquarters in a former church near Eastside Elementary School.
March 8 - District 56 details an $18.2 Million expenditure for security enhancements, parking lots pavement, and a conference center at the former American Legion Hut, Clinton. PC opens a renovated Capitol Theatre for its first-ever eSports center.
March 22 - Developers announce plans for a 300-acre outdoors recreation site - Bush River Resort - with 44 acres in the Clinton city limits and the rest in the unincorporated area of Laurens County.
March 29 - PC opens an off-campus venue for students - 112 - on Musgrove Street in Uptown Clinton, also with dining options for the public.
May 3 - Work moves forward on CPST-funded renovations of the former Martha Dendy School in Clinton, and $23,172,850 is coming to Laurens County for infrastructure, according to the Upper Savannah Council of Governments.
May 17- Airtight and secure, the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office’s new evidence storage facility near the Johnson Detention Center opens - it is a CPST project.
June 14 - Laurens County Trails Association plays host to the official opening of The Loop Trail, across the road from the Laurens County Chamber of Commerce in the Professional Park - it is a CPST project.
June 21 - Construction sign goes up at the Clinton Police-Fire Center on North Broad Street, for extensive City-financed renovations.
July 26 - A new Clinton Public Library that “fits our mission statement to a T,” according to the county’s library director, is ground-broken under a bright summer sun but on a shady urban lot on a Thursday morning, just steps from the center of municipal government.
August 16 - Asking the Lord to continue to provide “our daily bread,” the Laurens County community comes together on a Saturday to begin the conversion of the Exchange Building and Fairgrounds into SC’s first county-supported Agriculture & Business Center, a $7.98 Million Capital Projects Sales Tax project.
August 23 - With Blaze the Bantam standing by, officials with USC Union, the USC Palmetto College, and Clinton’s government and schools reinvigorate the campus of Bell Street School once again on a Tuesday. “These halls will be alive again from one side to the other,” said Danny Cook, Clinton City Council member.
September 27 - A water tank that has served the rural community of Laurens County has come down and in its place stands a larger and taller water tank - thanks to the voters of the county and their adoption of the Capital Projects Sales Tax (2020). The new Hickory Tavern Elevated Water Tank was dedicated on a Thursday morning, about a year after the Lake Greenwood Water Treatment Plant was dedicated by the Laurens County Water and Sewer Commission.
Other news articles of note during 2023:
Jan. 18 - PC President Dr. Matt vandenBerg accepts a new position at Ohio Wesleyan University. He and his wife Melissa are from the Midwest and seek to relocate their family closer to extended family. His replacement is Dr. Anita Gustafson (pictured) and this is the college’s announcement:
President
Anita Olson Gustafson, Ph.D.
Anita Olson Gustafson, Ph.D. will take office on Aug. 1, 2023, as the 20th president of Presbyterian College.
She returned to PC after seven years as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a professor of history at Mercer University, a private research university in Macon, Ga. Before joining Mercer in 2016, Gustafson served on the PC faculty and administration for nearly two decades. She will be the first female president in PC history.
While at Mercer University, Gustafson managed the university’s largest academic undergraduate college with nearly 2000 students. She collaborated consistently with the provost and deans from 11 other university programs, including the Schools of Law, Business, Engineering, Education, Theology, Professional Advancement, Music, Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Professions. In 2018, she worked with faculty to develop and implement a strategic plan for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
During her 19 years at PC, Gustafson worked to deliver a high-quality liberal arts program as a member of the faculty and as an administrator. She served on the president’s cabinet for more than two years while the presidential position was in transition due to a retirement. She also served as interim provost, interim dean of academic programs and history department chair. Gustafson held a number of faculty leadership roles at PC, including chair of the Senior Faculty Council and chair of the PC Launch Program for Vocation, Leadership and Service.
Gustafson earned her doctorate and master’s degrees in history from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. She holds a bachelor’s degree with majors in economics and Swedish and a minor in history from North Park University in Chicago.
Dr. Gustafson and her husband, Charles, have one son, Karl, who is a graduate student in global sustainability at the University of Helsinki, Finland (hiring article in the July 5 Chronicle).
Jan 18 - City of Clinton puts $1.6 Million “in reserve” for an outdoor swimming pool at the YMCA property.
Clinton’s Corey Fountain and Bryson James are the Laurens County Touchdown Club’s Coach and Player of the Year, respectively.
Laurens County Development Corporation announces 491 total jobs and $173,050,000 investment in post-COVID 2022.
Jan. 25 - Authorities identify Gary F. Kinner, 47, as an inmate found unresponsive in his cell and pronounced dead at the county jail.
Renfro, of Clinton, announces its closure by June - 100 people lose their jobs.
Feb. 1 - District 56 adopts a policy to place “In God We Trust” and other mottos in all schools; it’s designed to promote patriotism.
Clinton City Council votes to terminate its Audit Committee just 44 days before the next Municipal Election. All 7 members are required to serve as audit supervisors, after it is revealed that $4.7 Million the council thought it had in an electric rate stabilization fund is not there. Later, it is shown how the money was used to pay bills.
Feb. 15 - Clinton Police investigate the discovery of a dead body at Josh & Ella Savage Park.
Feb. 22 - Clinton Police investigate the discovery of a dead body in a room at Quality Inn, Hwy 56 and I-26.
Laurens County’s surplus tops $13 Million - $13.9 Million, actually - according to the independent audit. The County had $1.1 Million in unspent COVID recovery money at that time.
March 1 - PC announces the appointment of Dr. Guiseppe Gumina as the new dean of the Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy.
March 8 - ZF Transmissions, Gray Court-Owings, announces its “go green” technology. Later, it is announced at ZF intends to invest an additional $500 Million at the Northern Laurens County plant.
March 15 - Clinton City Council gives keys to the city to outgoing Mayor Bob McLean and council member Shirley Jenkins.
March 22 - Randy Randall, a former Clinton mayor and former member of the SC Public Service Commission, is sworn in as the new mayor, replacing Bob McLean. Anita Williams takes Shirley Jenkins’ place on the city council.
March 29 - Laurens County Disabilities and Special Needs Board celebrates its 50th Anniversary with a program in the Magnolia Room of the Laurens County Museum.
April 5 - Nathan Senn wins re-election as Laurens Mayor in a run-off against Randy Garrett.
April 12 - Citizens oppose an idea to move the Clinton Fire Substation from Springdale Drive to a maintenance shed for the torn-down and replaced National Guard Armory near Pine Street Park.
April 19 - Clinton Middle School and Clinton High School win the South Carolina Science Olympiad Championships (again) in competition at The Citadel.
May 3 - District 56 sets Aug. 1 as the start of a new school year in a modified year-round calendar.
May 10 - Prisma Health Laurens County Hospital announces a shutdown in labor and delivery services and transfer to Patewood Hospital, because of a shortage of OB/GYN physicians at the county hospital.
Clinton High Baseball is back-to-back Region Champions (season: 26-3), and goes on to earn the AAA State Championship, in dramatic fashion at home, over Hanahan.
May 24 - At the National Science Olympiad, the Clinton High School team wins the national Spirit Award.
PC launches a South Korean, East Asian Studies Center, a foreign studies replacement for the Chinese Confucius Center which was discontinued.
June 7 - 11 (more) Clinton High School senior-athletes sign for colleges after the whirlwind of spring sports.
June 28 - GREER - Piedmont Municipal Power Agency (PMPA) announces the appointment of Joel Ledbetter as its new General Manager. He is assuming the position after Andy Butcher’s departure at the end of June. Piedmont Municipal Power Agency (PMPA) is a joint-action agency established in 1979 that provides wholesale electric services to ten municipal utilities in the upstate of South Carolina. PMPA was created to purchase an ownership interest in the Catawba Nuclear Station in order to secure a reliable source of electric generation for its member utilities of Abbeville, Clinton, Easley, Gaffney, Greer, Laurens, Newberry, Rock Hill, Union, and Westminster.
July 5 - CHARLOTTE, N.C. – 2012 Presbyterian College graduate and 11-year National Football League veteran Justin Bethel is named to the Big South Conference Hall of Fame for the Class of 2024. Announced by league Commissioner Sherika A. Montgomery, Bethel earns the distinction of being the first Blue Hose athlete to permanently etch their name in the Big South Hall of Fame since its formation in 2003 and PC’s admittance to the conference in 2007.
July 12 - “You’re burning through too much cash.” Independent Auditor Gary Bailey gives the Clinton City Council this warning, and other recommendations, at the June 26 workshop meeting. As a result, council adopts a “freeze” on the city’s budget. That retains it at last year’s level while city staff, over the next 45 days, develops an entirely new spending plan to guide the city until June 30, 2024.
Without public comment, Laurens County Council has adopted a $41,833,242 spending plan for the next fiscal year, giving the spending and revenues package final approval on June 27. The budget is 14.7% higher next year than this year, according to an advertisement posted by the county. The county will instruct the tax assessor to levy property taxes to cover $17,843,410 of the FY 23-24 expenditures. No tax increase is expected; and if there were a tax increase, it could not exceed 8.22% (the rate of inflation) without a referendum.
July 19 - Beginning in August, Laurens County Council will cut its meetings schedule from twice to once per month. Council decides that county staff can do the work of implementing council approved policies well enough to reduce the number of “actionable items” coming before the council. Also, a change is made in the meeting start time.The change shifts the council away from meeting on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month, at 5:30 p.m. Now the council will meet at 6 p.m. on the 2nd Monday of each month. Meetings are being held in the Hillcrest Complex East at 105 Bolt Dr., Laurens, while the Historic Courthouse in downtown Laurens undergoes exterior renovations (a Capital Projects Sales Tax project). Council Vice-chairman Jeff Carroll said people had told him that the 5:30 p.m. time is too early, for people to get off work and travel to Hillcrest East, which is adjacent to the Hillcrest Square Judicial - Services - Administration building on Hillcrest Drive/Hwy 76 By-pass in Laurens, for a meeting.
August 9 - The Joanna community could become a horse-riding destination for South Carolina and beyond based on the action of the Laurens County Council, which gives Thomas Higgs, county administrator, and Andy Howard, director of parks, recreation and tourism, authority to negotiate a non-binding contract to acquire 330 acres adjoining the Sumter National Forest, and linking to Joanna. Howard said the best use of the land would be an equestrian park, linked to a small horse-riding segment of the mountains-to-the-sea Palmetto Trail.
CHARLESTON - The South Carolina Battleground Trust announces the acquisition of the Hammond’s Store Battlefield near Clinton in Laurens County, South Carolina. These 30 acres associated with the December 30, 1780, engagement will be incorporated into the Liberty Trail initiative, augmented with trails and interpretation to tell the story of the Revolutionary War in South Carolina. The Liberty Trail, a partnership of the South Carolina Battleground Trust and the American Battlefield Trust, is a driving trail of Revolutionary War battlefields throughout South Carolina.
August 16 - Thornwell, a nonprofit organization in Clinton committed to serving children and families in need across South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia, is honored to be named one of the Best Places to Work in South Carolina, ranking 24th in the medium employer category in its first year of submission. The distinction honors the best employers in the Palmetto State based on employee-driven research highlighting company best practices, programs, and culture. Since 1875, Thornwell has been a leading expert in child and family well-being in South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. As its 147-year history demonstrates, Thornwell has worked to better the lives of countless children and families, made possible by the passion and dedication of its nearly 130 employees spanning three states who share a commitment to empowering communities in which all people can experience both life and love in abundance.
August 30 - Clinton City Manager Tom Brooks now has authorization to negotiate with GMK & Associates for a $4.725 Million Recreation Complex, on city-owned property on Hwy 56 east of Clinton. Council discusses the contract in closed session at a workshop-style meeting last Monday night, before the public vote. The firm will bring back a plan for 3 playing fields, lighting, drainage, and a road. The city has this money available in a bond, that is repaid through accommodations and hospitality (tourism-generating) taxes.
September 20 -- 100 Years of Clinton High School Football:
Technically, by a Governor’s decree, on a Friday everybody in South Carolina was required to acknowledge the success of Clinton High School Red Devil Football. Certainly, our friends in Laurens, Newberry and Union County had no interest in doing that. And, equally certainly, the Chapman Panthers weren’t in the mood to offer that respect. They came to town determined to spoil a Clinton home game, just like they did two seasons ago, snatching a region championship in the process. Clinton got sweet revenge - twice - last season, on its way to a 13-1 record.
But, Sept. 15 wasn’t about them; it was all about US.
A 2023 Red Devil football team that with :00 on the game clock still had a chance to beat a Chapman team that earlier in the season had shocked Class AAAAA Byrnes.
A 1923 Red Devil football team that humbly asked the greater Clinton community for equipment money so they could field an entire season on the gridiron. Their request? $150. This newspaper printed a running list of the people and businesses that contributed.
Certainly, it costs more than $150 nowadays to run a football program; however, what hasn’t changed? Young men still dream of gridiron glory, and parents still flinch at the sight of every big hit. And, something else you could tell from a jam-packed Clinton Middle School gym last Friday evening - players remember their coaches, and the community remembers its players.
Sept. 27 - A suspect who was shot by a county deputy after the person fled into the woods and then “exited into a clearing and pointed a rifle at a deputy in close proximity” will be arrested and charged after recovering in the hospital. The Laurens County Sheriff’s Office confirms that the arrest will be made after the suspect recovers. Neither the suspect who allegedly pointed the rifle nor the deputy who fired the wounding shot were identified by LCSO or the State Law Enforcement Division. SLED confirmed on a Monday afternoon that there are no charges. It’s SC’s 29th officer-involved shooting this year.
The Clinton Family YMCA on a Thursday afternoon pauses its activities for a celebration — the 50th Anniversary of the Y at its current location. “Organizations that don’t celebrate success usually have less success to celebrate,” said Harold Nichols, executive director. “Here at the Y we certainly have a lot to celebrate. We are committed to youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. We exist to strengthen our community.” Leaders at the Clinton Mills and Torrington Mills brought with them experiences at YMCAs and worked diligently to develop a Y for Clinton. That led to the development of a Y in Laurens. “We certainly stand on the shoulders of giants for this day,” Nichols said. The Clinton Y has served the community since 1967 and at its current location since September, 1973. Laurens County provides money for the Clinton Y to upgrade and maintain its pool - the only indoor pool in Laurens County - and the City of Clinton sponsors a State Recreation grant to resurface the tennis courts and add a third court for pickle ball, the fastest growing recreation in the United States. The county money comes from the post-pandemic American Rescue Plan Act.
October 11 - The cast and crew of Laurens County Community Theatre’s production of the timeless classic “The Wizard of Oz” staged an Emerald City dress rehearsal last Thursday evening at the Clinton High School Auditorium. This is LCCT’s second production after a COVID pause, and additional productions are planned for 2024 to include “The Little Mermaid.”
October 25 - Presbyterian College makes the absolute right decision Friday afternoon to have an indoors dedication of upgrades to Templeton Gymnasium before an outdoors ribbon-cutting for the new John McIntosh Athletics Center. About 30 minutes into a 37-minute ceremony in Templeton, a rain shower pounds the roof and, if everyone had been outdoors, they would have been scurrying for cover. As it was, three unveilings and a ribbon-cutting indoors and one ribbon-cutting outside come off flawlessly, as Laurens County’s College on South Broad Street in Clinton celebrates a past heritage for its basketball/volleyball/athletic offices arena and the new homebase for wrestling, acrobatics and tumbling, and competitive cheer.
December 6 - Decision 2024 - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis brings his Republican Presidential campaign to Clinton December 1, in advance of the Feb. 24, 2024, primary election in South Carolina, the First-in-the-South GOP race for the nomination. DeSantis references his Nov. 30 Red State vs Blue State appearance against California Governor Gavin Newsome when he says, “When you have a leftist ideology that has captured cities and states in this country, it’s not just bad policy; it causes these states and cities to collapse, and that’s what you have seen in California, where you have almost a million people who have moved out of there since Gavin’s been governor. That is a result of his leftist agenda; it’s the result of people fleeing a state that doesn’t respect their freedoms. … What you have seen happen in California is the leftist agenda go full throttle.”
December 20 - 13 Red Devils on All-County Team, Laurens County Touchdown Club; Corey Fountain is Coach of the Year and Kadon Crawford is Player of the Year. It is the second consecutive year that CHS Football (10-3 in 2023 and Region Champion) has swept the top two awards. December 27 -- Clinton defensive back/ wide receiver/ kick returner Zay Johnson fulfills his earlier commitment and signs to attend and play football for the University of Cincinatti - Johnson is Red Devil Football’s first Shrine Bowl participant since 1992. He is 1 of 7 seniors to receive their diplomas, just before the signing, in the school’s first Winter Commencement.
