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"Leading Businesses and Leading Communities" is the theme of the 38th annual planning conference of the Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce, set for Nov. 7-9, in the historic town of Beaufort.

"Lancaster County is on the threshold of exploding growth, and we chose Beaufort as our conference site because we believe much can be learned from another community that has encountered many of the challenges we are beginning to face," said chamber Chairman Jay Rainey.

LOS ANGELES – As wildfires raged across parts of the Los Angeles area this week, one Lancaster man found himself running for his life.

Daniel Ghent, who lived in Lancaster most of his life before relocating to California four years ago, began his day like any other at work for Phone Power, a voice-over-Internet protocol telephone company based in California. But by the end of the day, he had already been on a harrowing trip through a wildfire to make sure his wife and son were safe.

INDIAN LAND – Edenmoor is apparently not paying its bills.

According to information from the Lancaster County register of deeds office, three liens, totaling about $2.2 million, have been filed by contractors against Edenmoor.

Edenmoor is an 800-acre development planned to have about 2,000 homes when complete. It is owned by Lawson's Bend LLC.

GS Carolina handles development activity for Lawson's Bend, but does not have any ownership in Edenmoor, said GS Carolina development manager Sean Calloway.

Austin Jenkins, Katawba Valley Land Trust's executive director, reflected on his lifelong passion for nature while introducing himself to the public last week.

Jenkins remembers watching animals and insects while marveling at the different trees and plants while growing up in Camden. He believes that curiosity for nature has landed him in what he calls the perfect job.

Jenkins, who recently became KVLT's first executive director, spoke during the trust's annual meeting, held Oct. 9 at the Carole Ray Dowling Center at the University of South Carolina at Lancaster.