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Local

  • Council eyes $14 tax hike in new budget

    A $14 tax increase for the average homeowner will help fund several county agencies and a raise for county employees.

    County Council met Monday to continue talking about the proposed $31 million 2008-09 budget. Council is expected to approve third and final reading of the budget at next Monday night's council meeting. Fourteen dollars is what would be added to the tax bill for a $100,000 home.

    Council members received a third draft of the budget on Monday night, which included the tax increase.

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  • Nine Red Hat clubs helping homeless shelter network

    The organizers of Family Promise, a group hoping to organize a network of homeless shelters among area churches by this fall, will get a helping hand from a group of local women Thursday.

    Nearly all of the local chapters of the Red Hat Society are sponsoring a Chinese auction to benefit Family Promise starting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the American Legion Building in Lancaster.

    "We really believe in this," said Darlene Hallman, a member of Lancaster's Ramblin' Red Hatters. "This is only the second fundraiser they (Family Promise) have had."

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  • Simmons wows Sun City

    INDIAN LAND – Fitness guru Richard Simmons hit the Sun City Carolina Lakes active adult community Saturday with his signature verve and vigor.

    Pulte Homes, Carolina Lakes developer, brought Simmons in to attract new home buyers. Instead, he attracted homeowners who, over the years, had followed his successful career in promoting exercise.

    As the celebrity entered the Lake House walkway, teenage-like screaming from residents, 55 and older, pierced the otherwise quiet summer morning.

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  • Man sentenced to 10 years for string of local thefts

    A 26-year-old Lancaster man accused of going on stealing spree between last fall and this spring was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday.

    Zachary Helms, 26, pleaded guilty at the Lancaster County Courthouse to two charges of auto break-in, three grand larceny charges, three forgery charges and five burglary charges. He also pleaded guilty to receiving stolen goods over $5,000 and possession of stolen vehicle over $5,000.

    Helms' victims included some of his relatives and his church.

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  • Murder suspect granted bond

    Bertha Davis doesn't like the idea of Bildrick Green being out of jail on bond.

    She told Judge Brooks Goldsmith so Friday at a bond hearing at the Lancaster County Courthouse.

    Davis' son, Derek Lamont Davis, died at Springs Memorial Hospital on April 7, not long after being shot at Pardue Street Apartments. He was 21.

    Green, 24, is charged with Davis' murder.

    "We're still hurting now," said Davis' mother. "It's true they (Davis and Green) were friends, but what happened, we don't know."

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  • Law enforcement advocates helmet use, but bikers say issue isn't so simple

    If you spot Charles Bowers cruising U.S. 521 on his Harley Davidson, he most likely has his helmet.

    The question, though, is whether it will be on his head or packed away with his gear. He said it all depends on where he's riding.

    Bowers, an Indian Land resident whose fiancee died last month in a motorcycle wreck, said there are many dangers that bikers have to watch out for that makes their experience different from four-wheel motorists.

    The impact of certain accidents will be the same with or without a helmet, he said.

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  • Students create solutions with inventions

    Parts of the building looked like a science laboratory while another looked more like a distant planet.

    At Discovery School in Lancaster last week, more than 100 students tried their hand at various stations that made up Camp Invention.

    The program, which fostered creative thinking through hands-on activities, was geared to rising first- through sixth-graders.

    It started Monday and ran through Friday.

    One room in the building was turned into "Planet Zak," where students had crash landed and had five days to get off.

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  • Motorcycle deaths on the rise in S.C.

    Peggy Landry was riding her motorcycle with her fiance and friends on May 24 when she was suddenly hit from behind by a truck. The impact killed her instantly.

    About a week after that, fellow Lancaster County resident James Funderburk experienced mechanical failure with his Harley Davidson on Interstate 77. He was thrown from the bike and died on the spot.

    And last year, Eddie Cook was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle and was thrown off the road. Cook had been riding on S.C. 903 in Kershaw County with a group of motorcyclists in a Scripture run.

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  • Couple in comas after fire

    Pat Brice has been praying for Helen and Ronald Wright since they were hurt in a house fire Thursday.

    Brice has power of attorney for Helen, 65, and Ronald, 68, and has known the couple for about 20 years. She helps take care of the couple, and has become like a family member to them.

    Brice, 53, lives about four houses away from the Wrights on Charlotte Highway. She was shocked to hear that their home caught fire Thursday about 5 p.m.

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  • Man accused of growing marijuana – indoors

    Lancaster’s drought and merciless sun didn’t stop one Lancaster man’s crop from growing, officers say.

    John Thomas Whitaker, 29, of 2141 Whaley St., was charged Thursday by the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office with growing marijuana and simple possession of marijuana.

    After receiving information about drug activity at the home, narcotics agents with the sheriff’s office drug team set up surveillance for several hours on Thursday, sheriff’s office spokesman Tom Holland said.

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