Lancaster County, SC | featured news

KERSHAW – Newspaper readers may get their final edition of The Kershaw News-Era today.

The Dec. 7 death of Jim McKeown Jr., the paper’s hands-on owner, editor and publisher, has his only heir, Sara Helen McKeown White, trying to determine if it is feasible to keep printing the newspaper after this week. 

A licensed clinical counselor, White now lives in Idaho.

A fake newspaper clipping posted on an Indian Land community Facebook page saying residents had “overwhelmingly voted to incorporate” angered incorporation foes, some of whom said it was a conscious attempt by supporters to keep opposing voters from the polls.

The Nov. 30 post on the “Concerned Citizens of Indian Land” Facebook page by a user named Barry B. Baker shows what appears to be a photograph of a newspaper called “The Gate.” 

Lancaster County and the city of Lancaster are battening down the hatches when it comes to their computer systems, after a hacker immobilized Mecklenburg County’s system, forcing the county to revert to paper for all business. 

Lancaster County Administrator Steve Willis says that every system has a weakness, and it’s a constant battle to keep up to date.

“No system is bulletproof,” Willis said. “The bad guys are coming up with newer stuff every day. The weak link is the end user. 

INDIAN LAND – The Inspiration Network (INSP) is suing Lancaster County and N.C.-based UHF Development Group for the right to develop an 88-acre portion of its property along U.S. 521 south of CrossRidge.  

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday with the Lancaster County Clerk of Court’s office. It says INSP has already spent $6 million grading 61 acres in preparation for development, and that it is negotiating a “time-sensitive” project that might fall through if its dispute with UHF and the county isn’t resolved soon.

I stand on the porch with six homeless men.
They’re chatting, smoking cigarettes, picking on the youngest guy in the group about his rapping skills.
And I’m taking it all in – writing notes, snapping photos, listening to their stories.
Ten men are staying in a home on Trestle Lane, part of Lancaster’s old mill hill. They’re in a 90-day program organized by the nonprofit Citadel House, and they’re trying to get back on their feet.
I’ve seen poor people before.

Deputies with the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office often come across unclaimed, lost or abandoned property during the course of their duties.
Under county policy, when a deputy takes possession of such property, it is placed into evidence for safekeeping.   
The office works to identify owners and reunite them with their property. 
After a 90-day period and exhausting all reasonable efforts to find legal property owners, the sheriff’s office is allowed by state law to dispose of the items.

From release

Contacting S.C. Department of Transportation roadside assistance crews has become a little easier, just in time for holiday travel.
The SCDOT has added a new feature on its 511 App to allow motorists to contact State Highway Emergency Program. Selecting the “SCDOT SHEP Roadside Assistance” tab connects users with the closest dispatch phone number.
The program has helped about 800,000 motorists across the state since its inception in 1996.

Two weeks after its kickoff, the Ward Faulkenberry Sr. Christmas Basket Fund is a third of the way to its goal.
The fundraising drive, organized by HOPE in Lancaster,  had raised more than $3,000 as of Friday afternoon. This year’s goal is $10,000.
The money raised will go toward 400 Christmas meal food boxes prepared for families in need. Those families will be chosen through local agencies and HOPE’s Senior Food Pantry.

An N.C. man was charged with drunk driving after Lancaster County deputies found him naked behind the wheel of a yellow Hummer that Elgin residents reported driving slowly around the community blowing its horn.
The incident happened about 9 a.m. on Nov. 24. Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office deputies located the Hummer in the parking lot of the Elgin fire station at 114 Tram Road, according to the incident report.

Scout, a frisky 4-month-old poodle terrier, scooted between the legs of Lancaster executives and one TV star at Nutramax Laboratories’ warehouse on Flat Creek Road.