Four days after the United States strikes Venezuela and takes its president and his injured wife prisoner, and five days after reporting emerges that freedom of information requests and an affidavit shed new light on questions facing the City of Laurens, The Chronicle takes a look back on a tumultuous year for some, yet a year of progress on other fronts for Laurens County.
These dates correspond to dates when the articles were published in News at MyClintonChronicle.net:
Dec. 17 – The late Hunter Sipes, a Clinton firefighter, is honored with the naming of the intersection of Hwy 76 and Charlottes Road.
Dec. 17 – Clinton Planning Commission says no to a mixed development request at the intersection of Willard Road and Springdale Drive, pending more information.
Dec. 10 – Clinton will get a $9M investment on rural land behind the Nordsom plant, the county council is told.
Dec. 6 – Clinton City Council is looking to buy a second aerial firetruck; but a council member, Anita Williams, wonders if it’s a need why wasn’t it budgeted.
Dec. 3 – Clinton City Council allows the use of Old Colony Road as a southern entrance, beside Whitten Center, to a proposed travel baseball/subdivision complex, IF the developer can get SC DOT to widen and improve the road.
Nov. 21 & Sept. 17 – David Stumbo, solicitor for the 8th Circuit that includes Laurens County, announces candidacy for SC Attorney General and gains support from Sheriffs.
Nov. 15 – Laurens County Council welcomes its new administrator, Jerre Threatt, at a meeting in which investments of $63M and $93M, both in Laurens, are announced. Laurens County Development Corporation Executive Director Jon Coleman says, “I these projects follow the usual timelines, we will start 2026 with a bang, with two announcements.”
Nov. 12 – The Baptist Courier reports that the Martha Franks (Laurens) and Bethel Retirement Communities are for sale. Grand re-opening of The Villa at Martha Franks is staged on May 19.
Nov. 7 – Clinton City Council moves ahead land transactions including one near Shell Creek subdivision in development beside the closed Renfro plant.
Nov. 3 – All D56 schools except one (Clinton Elementary below average) are rated average on SC DOE report cards.
Oct. 22 – Clinton Presbyterian Community celebrates its 50th anniversary with a program titled “Anchored by Grace – Guided by Light.”
Oct. 14 – Medien American Switchgear, Gray Court, announces a $9.2M expansion.
Oct. 8 – Clinton City Council is told that a concrete plant could bring 100 jobs to a location near Hwy 56 and I-26.
Sept. 15 – Prisma Health will expand primary care in Clinton through a $1M grant that will enhance the Advanced Family Medicine office.
Sept. 19 – Clinton Design Review Board approves a new, lighted sign for House of Pizza (adjoining page) in a dispute that lasted for about half the year, after the business was destroyed by the August 2024 Uptown Clinton fire. July 2 is the official re-opening at a new location, also on Musgrove Street.
Sept. 17 – Sanders Middle School, Laurens, adds an 8th grade wing, and Eastside Elementary School, Clinton, adds a playground in upgrades to local schools.
Sept. 15 – State Rep. Luke Rankin calls for Presbyterian College gender studies professor Dr. Emily Taylor to be fired because of a piece she wrote about assassinated Turning Point USA and affiliated organizations’ founder Charlie Kirk. Taylor is no longer listed on the college’s on-line directory (see letter, adjoining page).
Sept. 11 – Laurens County Council begins the process of rewriting the county’s cluster development subdivision rules, after complaints that they give developers loopholes to “pack in” houses in subdivisions.
Sept. 10 – ZF Transmissions Gray Court breaks ground on a 45,000 sq ft expansion to support its logistics operations.
Aug. 27 – Clinton marks the 1-year Anniversary of a fire that destroyed businesses on Musgrove Street. The City has never made public a fire cause nor a damages-amount estimate.
Aug. 18 – South Carolina authorizes deployment of 100 National Guard soldiers to support the Trump Administration’s Operation D.C. Suppression.
Aug. 15 – The City of Clinton agrees to sell 552.76 acres by $1,381,000 to ARK Management One Corporation for a proposed travel baseball/subdivision (plan below) on former Whitten Center property. The property was not professionally appraised for value. The City and the State will split the $1.3M.
Aug. 14 – Aspin & Figs, the Clinton Art Gallery, and Main Street Clinton combine for a new business location on North Broad Street.
Aug. 8 – State Reps. Doug Gilliam and Luke Rankin present Chronicle Editor Vic MacDonald a flag that was flown over the Statehouse on the occasion of MacDonald’s 50th anniversary as a community journalist in South Carolina. The Chronicle and the Laurens County Chamber of Commerce partnered for a Business After Hours to mark the event.
Aug. 7 – Home Town Pediatrics and Carolina Community Pharmacy combine for a groundbreaking for a new facility on Hwy 76 next to Laurens County Hospital, with the theme “Home for Healing.”
July 30 – T. Sgt. Clarence E. Gibbs, who died in Europe in WWII and whose remains were found in Germany, is laid to rest with military honors in Clinton, his adopted hometown. His remains were discovered after 81 years and his great-nieces and nephews brought him to Clinton.
July 9 – Clinton City Council authorizes a MOU* for the Clinton Family YMCA to handle programs at the new Recreation Complex on Hwy 56. You do not have to be a Y member to participate, and the first games are expected there this spring. *MOU = Memorandum of Understanding.
June 24 – No tax hike to run D56 schools. 10% increase in Laurens County budget. $35M estimate to run Clinton utilities and operations.
June 12 – The Charter Institute at Erskine issues a congratulations message to Thornwell Charter School, Clinton, on the school’s first commencement.
May 15 – Laurens County has authorized the Ekom Fire Station in the western area to be named for the late Michael Vinson, a Clinton and Laurens County firefighter who died last Easter in a wreck near the Clinton National Guard Armory.
May 15 – The Clinton Planning Commission approved two subdivisions – one on North Adair Street accessed by Mt. Moriah Church Road which is envisioned for 160 lots, and one adjacent to the Clinton Recreation Complex on Hwy 56 which is envisioned for 92 lots.
May 15 – Clinton’s retired public works director Joey Meadors is hired as the city’s next manager.
April 29 – The City of Clinton gets a $4.3M literacy and science shot in the arm with the opening of a new public library. It’s a Capital Projects Sales Tax project approved by voters in the November, 2020, General Election.
April 27 – Angela Williams, President and CEO of United Way Worldwide, visits the United Way of Laurens County headquartered in Clinton’s Lydia Mill, a community hard-hit by 2024’s Hurricane Helene.
April 26 – Laurens County has decided to borrow $4M to upgrade the Johnson Detention Center, with new HVAC, 7 door locks, and a padded cell in the women’s unit for people facing mental health challenges.
April 17 – The Joanna Stadium Project unveils an ambitious plan to upgrade the former textile mill baseball stadium and revive playing games there.
April 8 – Cambridge Farm, proposed as 700 lots between Ingles and Merry Oakes in Clinton, passes its first hurdle at the Clinton City Council, but the project bogs down and eventually is rejected by the Laurens County Planning Commission. Developers indicate legal action.
April 2 – Nordsom in Clinton conducts its open house in the second of two spec buildings that the City of Clinton constructed on Hwy 72 at I-26. Nordsom Industrial Coatings Solutions is a global lead in dispensing and coating technologies.
March 19 – Laurens County decides not to enact a fireworks protection ordinance for livestock, after the issue runs into “property rights” opposition.
March 5 – Team Clinton qualifies for a National Science Olympiad trip, this one to Omaha, Nebraska, after Clinton High and Clinton Middle are determined to be the SC Champs during a fiercely competitive day at Presbyterian College.
March 1 – A small army of family and friends demand accountability from local officials in the death of 14-year-old Kaden Moses, shot to death 14 months prior. The rally is staged at the Hillcrest Square Judicial – Services – Administrative Center in Laurens.
Feb. 26 – George “Sammy” Wham, for many years the voice and face of the Laurens County Airport, is honored with the dedication of a new terminal building in his honor. This is a Capital Projects Sales Tax project, approved by voters in the Nov., 2020, General Election.
Jan. 20 – Donald J. Trumps takes the office as the 47th President of the United States, inside the U.S. Capitol rotunda.
Jan. 8 – Clinton paid 4 business owners $10,000 each so the Clinton Economic Development Corporation could obtain the land burned out by the August, 2024, Musgrove Street fire. But, questions about the transaction, by local business owner Stacey Michaels, are ruled out of order at a council meeting. She is told to address the matter face-to-face with city manager Tom Brooks (who later resigned and was replaced by Joey Meadors).
MORE: Photo galleries you can find at MyClintonNews.com:
Nov. 26 – PC Football celebrates its 10-2 season with a dramatic finale win over Marist.
Nov. 26 – Clinton High Football’s hopes to repeat as 2A Champions are crushed by home loss to Fairfield-Central.
July 23 – Celebrating Laurens County’s natural beauty on a leg of The Palmetto Trail.
July 9 – California Gov. Gavin Newsom rallies Democrats at a Laurens church.
July 2 – Defying the Fire: House of Pizza opens.
June 3 – 4 are nominated for courage. All are winners. At the Laurens County Sports Hall of Fame awards.
June 3 – 9th silver trophy for football for the Clinton High trophy case.
May 30 – Seniors join the ranks of Red Devil Nation as alumni.
May 13 – Clinton High boys’ tennis is runner-up in 3A competition in the state finals in Columbia.
May 1 – PC starts the daunting task of replacing the trees destroyed by Hurricane Helene.
March 5 – Clinton High girls’ basketball plays in Florence for the 2A Final Four.
March 5 – SC Science Olympiad’s first competition at Presbyterian College.
Jan. 12 – Awards night for the Laurens County Touchdown Club.
These staff-generated articles are free to read and photo galleries are free to view at MyClintonNews.com. Full issues can be accessed with a paid subscription.
More about
Venezuela
Congresswoman Sheri Biggs Statement on Removal of Venezuelan Leader Nicolás Maduro
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Sheri Biggs (SC-03, which includes Laurens County) released the following statement in response to the U.S. operation resulting in the removal of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro:
“Nicolás Maduro is a thug who has trafficked poison into American neighborhoods for years through cartel-backed drug routes. Those fatal actions have decisive consequences. President Trump has made it clear that he will promote peace and defend the rule of law.”
Regime change
in Venezuela
by Mel Gurtov
The US has overthrown the Maduro regime in Venezuela, captured its leader, Nicolas Maduro, and occupied the country. Continuing a long history of US interventions in Latin America, Trump has vowed to “run the country until such time that we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”
The US policy of regime change had been telegraphed for months, as Trump ramped up attacks on supposed Venezuelan drug boats, imposed an oil blockade, and ordered a CIA drone strike on a Venezuelan dock alleged to be used for loading drugs. Now those clear violations of international and US law and false allegations about Venezuela’s role in the fentanyl trade are ending with an occupation and US control of Venezuela’s oil-based economy.
The US action is consistent with “America First,” said Trump, citing the need for oil and energy:
“The US will be in charge of Venezuela’s oil industry. We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure and start making money for the country.”
Trump made these comments during a press conference in Mar-a-Lago. So, in a word, it’s imperialism—and a clear sign that for Trump, dominance in Latin America is his top foreign policy objective. We now await word about whom Trump will select to be America’s puppet in Caracas, and who among Trump’s inner circle will become overlord of the occupation.
The US intervention comes despite a call by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum for UN action to prevent the crisis, and despite polls showing around 75 percent of Americans oppose an invasion of Venezuela. Sheinbaum condemned foreign intervention and warned that the UN’s silence could have dangerous consequences. Now Mexico could be next on Trump’s crusade. “The cartels are running Mexico — she’s not running Mexico,” Trump just said. “I’ve asked her numerous times, ‘Would you like us to take out the cartels?’” “Something is going to have to be done with Mexico.”
Then there’s Colombia. Trump has called Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, an “illegal drug leader” and warned last month that he could be “next.” Petro has fired back, saying that Trump “deserves nothing but jail” for having the U.S. military destroy the vessels and kill their crews. While critics have long assailed Petro’s drug policy, accusing him of being too lenient on coca growers and armed groups, there is no evidence he leads or is tied to any criminal organization.
Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, and Brazil were among the Latin American countries that have condemned the US invasion of Venezuela. France’s foreign ministry also did so. President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil said the US attacks “crossed an unacceptable line,” set a “dangerous precedent,” and evoked “the worst moments of interference” in Latin America. Russia also criticized the US; but Moscow must be pleased that the US has emulated Russia in attacking a sovereign nation.
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Mel Gurtov, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Portland State University.
