Local News

John Rollins vividly recalls what he saw from a school bus window in 1958.

Rollins, 10 at the time, was on his way home from school. When the bus stopped to allow members of the Gay family to exit, they found something tragic at their home. The Heath Gay home, on present-day Shiloh-Unity Road, was ablaze.

“The fire was so hot, you could feel the heat on the bus,” Rollins said. “We really weren’t there long, but that’s what I remember.”

The house was destroyed, but no one was killed, Rollins said.

Television footage of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico inspired Fran Gardner’s latest artwork.

Gardner’s work was on exhibit at the Florida Museum for Women Artists last month. Gardner, who works in fiber arts, created pieces using thread and fabric. The pieces featured the many shore birds affected by the spill and seen on TV covered in oil.

The University of South Carolina at Lancaster received a little help from the county this week to fund a new classroom building on its campus.

County Council voted unanimously Tuesday on a resolution to help provide funding for a general education classroom building at USCL. The resolution states council’s intent to support the project by providing for 1 mill of property tax beginning in the 2012-13 fiscal year.

The vote comes a week after USCL Dean Dr. John Catalano enlisted council’s help in funding the new building.

In the wake of Dr. Peter Barry’s death last week, officials with the University of South Carolina at Lancaster and the Lancaster County School District have been working to determine how they’ll fill his respective roles.

Barry, a history professor who had been tied to USCL for nearly 40 years, was teaching three classes this semester, with another set to begin in October.

Dean Dr. John Catalano said a fellow history professor is picking up one, while the other three classes are being covered by adjunct, or part-time, professors.