Area hospitals found themselves in the eyes of storms, figuratively speaking, in 2006 as debate intensified about their future directions.

The saga took a bizarre twist when John H. Rickenbacker resigned as chairman of Orangeburg County Council and admitted taking cash from a potential purchaser of the Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg & Calhoun Counties.

Meanwhile, in Bamberg County, the need to build a new hospital was universally acknowledged, but the fight over where to lay the bricks and mortar appeared headed for court.

Those events have been chosen as among the top stories of 2006 in The T&D Region.

Orangeburg County Council members were long known as defenders of the RMC, steadfastly rejecting talk of selling the facility that serves a vast indigent population.

Disagreements then arose over whether the hospital should underwrite part of the cost of operating the county's Emergency Medical Services on a continuing basis.

That led to larger questions about the hospital's financial status. At Rickenbacker's urging, council voted in November 2005 to pay Chicago-based Ponder & Company $75,000 for an evaluation of the RMC's financial and operational performance and its future potential.

A summary of the report said the hospital was "financially under-performing," that it was posting operating losses and that total assets had declined in recent years.

It concluded that the hospital "may survive, but it is not positioned to thrive" without changing its image and its finances.

When the study was presented in June 2006, County Council closed the session to the public on the grounds that the parties were discussing "negotiations incident to proposed contractual arrangements" and that the study contained "trade secrets."

The T&D eventually obtained a copy of the 138-page report, but with some portions blacked out.

A federal indictment was announced later in June, accusing Rickenbacker of soliciting cash from one health care company interested in buying the hospital, in exchange for providing a copy of the full report and supporting the company's eventual lease or purchase of the hospital.

The incident was reported to the FBI, and an agent posing as a consultant met with Rickenbacker six times, the indictment said.

Rickenbacker gave a copy of the analysis to the undercover agent and took a total of $50,000 in cash, the indictment alleged.

In December, Rickenbacker resigned the council seat he had held for the past 22 years and retired from his job as a high school assistant principal.

Then he entered guilty pleas to one count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and one count of extortion under color of official right.

A pre-sentence investigation is ongoing. The maximum penalty Rickenbacker, 54, could receive is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the bribery charge and 20 years in prison and another $250,000 fine on the extortion count.

Meanwhile, the matter of selling the hospital -- which is 84 percent owned by Orangeburg County and 16 percent by Calhoun Council -- is a dead issue, declared Willie B. Owens, chairman of the RMC Board of Trustees. Owens says he is running for Rickenbacker's County Council seat.

Bamberg County, meanwhile, has been split over where to build a $47 million, 59-bed replacement for a hospital that no longer meets code.

State officials are pressing the county to build a new facility by July 2008. Joel Grice, director of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control's Bureau of Health Facilities and Service Development, said continued delays could potentially force the Bamberg hospital to close.

The hospital board favors a 55-acre site on U.S. 301 North, less than one-third of a mile from the present hospital in Bamberg. Utilities are readily available.

Almost every doctor and medical specialist in the county is situated in the county seat, as are both dialysis centers.

State officials approved the plans in October. In early November, the Denmark City Council appealed that decision. The appeal was denied, so the council hired a lawyer and filed a request for a hearing before the Administrative Law Court in Columbia.

Denmark area officials favor a county-owned site at an industrial park roughly halfway between Bamberg -- population 3,733 -- and Denmark -- population 3,328, plus Denmark Technical College (1,408 students) and Voorhees College (709 students).

Hospital officials said that site would cost more to develop because it would require extending sewer lines and widening U.S. 78 and more expensive site preparation. Too, the proximity of the airport is considered a negative.

Denmark City Council members said they received threatening phone calls related to their appeal of the new hospital site and would make a report to the State Law Enforcement Division.

Public officials

under scrutiny

Rickenbacker was not the only area public official facing scrutiny in 2006:

* The City of Orangeburg's former finance director, Sharon Fanning of Orangeburg, pleaded guilty in June to one count of embezzling public funds over $5,000.

She was sentenced to eight years in prison, suspended to five years probation and payment of $25,000 in restitution to the city.

* Santee Police Chief Robert Williams and Santee Clerk of Court Fredya M. Bruce were arrested in October and charged with misconduct in office. Both were released on bond and placed on administrative leave pending their trials.

SLED affidavits allege Bruce took public funds entrusted to her office and put them to personal use, and allowed Williams to do the same.

SLED conducted the investigation at the request of town officials after an audit revealed "some improprieties," then-Town Administrator Donnie Hilliard said.

* SLED agents arrested Orangeburg County's former landfill supervisor, Herman Fields of North, and charged him with breach of trust with fraudulent intent of $5,000 or more.

He was accused of using county employees to perform work at his home, including digging a pond. He was also accused of pocketing cash received for materials taken to a recycling firm by county employees and county equipment.

Fields, who denied the allegations, was released on bond pending his trial. He was fired from his job.

* Orangeburg County Councilman Clyde Livingston is scheduled to go on trial Jan. 8 on a charge of receiving stolen goods. He has emphatically denied the allegation.

Livingston owns a business that sells used merchandise, and authorities allege that he bought stolen sports equipment valued at about $600 in May 2004. He returned the equipment.

Meanwhile, First Citizens Bank said, in a written complaint filed with city police, that Livingston deposited a $2,900 check in a joint account with his wife, but the check bounced and the bank had tried for months to resolve the matter. At last word, the case was being investigated, with no arrests made or warrants sought. The complaint said Livingston told the bank he had filed for bankruptcy protection.

Mahdi pleads guilty,

sentenced to death

in murder of officer

After three days of jury selection, a Virginia man admitted his guilt in the shooting death of Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Capt. James Myers.

Mikal Deen Mahdi of Lawrenceville, Va., pleaded guilty to murder, grand larceny and second-degree burglary in connection with Myers' death on July 18, 2004.

Mahdi, 23, was sentenced to death, making him the youngest person on South Carolina's Death Row. Appeals are automatic and could take years.

Third Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman cited, among other factors, Mahdi's use of a gun in the commission of a crime, his criminal history -- he was already a convicted felon with a lengthy rap sheet -- "and the fact that he has shown no remorse for any of his actions."

Mahdi is also accused of shooting to death a convenience store clerk in Winston-Salem, N.C., three days before Myers' death.

First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe told the Calhoun County court that Mahdi stole one car in Virginia, abandoned it in Columbia and carjacked a second vehicle at gunpoint.

At a store off Interstate 26, Mahdi tried to buy gas with a stolen credit card, but clerks called the sheriff's office and Mahdi fled.

A half-mile away, Myers was at his farm when Mahdi came upon him and shot him, tried to burn the body and a shed, and then fled in Myers' truck. Myers' body was later discovered by his wife, Amy Tripp Myers.

Fingerprints at the scene were identified as Mahdi's. A nationwide manhunt ended with his arrest three days later in Florida.

Mahdi told the judge that "most" of Pascoe's details were true.

Mahdi caused a stir in court when officials said they found a homemade handcuff key on him. After that, he was kept in full-body restraints.

"Capt. Myers was a treasured jewel to humanity," Newman said. "Mr. Mahdi robbed his family of their enjoyment of a peaceful life. ... I seek to find the humanity in every defendant. That humanity was not evident in Mr. Mahdi."

Santee inland port

debate continues

Carolina Linkages, also known as CaroLinks, a unit of Charleston-based maritime consultant Safe Ports Inc., in January announced plans to build an inland port near Santee.

Local political and economic development officials hailed the announcement. They have long sought such a facility, saying it would create hundreds of jobs and boost the local economy.

"This is a win-win situation for everybody," then-Santee Town Administrator Donnie Hilliard said at the time.

But by the year's end, opposition had risen from groups as diverse as the Santee Cooper Resort Property Owners Association and the S.C. National Resources Board.

Among their concerns: the port's impact on the lakes, the environment, property values, tourism and recreation; increased traffic, noise and the $40 million cost of building a new I-95 interchange and access roads.

A hoped-for summer groundbreaking did not occur, but the company still has an option to purchase nearly 800 acres of land near I-95 and U.S. 301. The company has dropped plans to barge goods to the site.

Hoping to allay fears about the intermodal transportation and distribution facilities, Santee and CaroLinks officials will host a public forum from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, at Lake Marion High School. All questions must be submitted in advance; none will be accepted on the night of the forum.

Legislature claims

right to regulate

poultry producers

Orangeburg County's stricter-than-state-law poultry farm regulations were short-lived, as the state Legislature voted in May to strip local governments' regulatory power in that area.

County Council had moved swiftly to enact more restrictive rules in 2005 after then-Chairman John Rickenbacker cited rumors of a planned massive influx of poultry farms.

Farming interests said the rules would make it very difficult if not impossible to establish a new poultry growing operation in the county.

The action was particularly controversial as it involved one of the state's leading agricultural counties. Farming interests filed a lawsuit alleging that the county was illegally forbidding use of private property.

With several other counties also moving to restrict poultry operations, the General Assembly moved in and passed a law giving the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control the sole authority to regulate most farming operation setbacks from neighboring homes and property lines.

The bill became law without Gov. Mark Sanford's signature.

Meanwhile, Orangeburg County officials and Planning Department employees have continued to draft a first-ever zoning ordinance for unincorporated areas of the county.

A revised proposed set of acceptable land uses for the Forest-Agricultural District -- which encompasses most of the land in the county -- is expected to be presented to the Planning Commission on Jan. 10.

Approval by the commission, and then County Council, will open the way for a series of public hearings across the county. Input from those hearings likely will require further rewriting of the draft. Final adoption of the ordinance is still months away.

Allied Air expansion

nearing completion

The Orangeburg County-City Industrial Park's flagship tenant, Allied Air Enterprises, is nearing completion of an $11 million expansion of its facilities in Orangeburg.

The division of Fortune 500 company Lennox International Inc. in February announced its intention to close its operations in Bellevue, Ohio, before April 2007, and consolidate all of its operations in South Carolina. Under its plan:

* Columbia became the site for the company's research and development operations.

* The Blackville plant gained an oil furnace line.

* The Magic Pack furnace line and gas combination heating and cooling line joined existing production lines in Orangeburg.

A new 238,000-square-foot warehouse addition at the Orangeburg County/City Industrial Park was being built to warehouse and distribute all Allied Air Enterprises products.

The additions will bring Allied Air's total square footage in Orangeburg County to about 775,000.

Since its arrival six years ago, Allied Air has contributed between $212,000 and $274,000 annually to Orangeburg County in taxes.

Other major industrial announcements in 2006:

* Lafarge North America announced a $291 million expansion and modernization of its Harleyville cement production facility to meet growing demands, increase operating efficiency, enhance environmental protection and improve competitiveness. An additional 18 jobs will be created at the plant, which currently employs 112.

The expansion would increase total production capacity to 2.6 million tons of cement a year. Emission control technology will be added.

* Germany-based ECKA Granules celebrated the grand opening and ribbon-cutting of its first U.S. production facility, a 60,000-square-foot building in the Orangeburg County Industrial park.

ECKA, a global manufacturer of pure metal powders, will invest $12 million in the facility and equipment to produce copper-based metals, aluminum and magnesium for U.S., Canadian and Latin American markets.

Mixed into alloys or separately, the powders are used in products ranging from inks, paints and chemical detergents to automobile parts, lightweight machine parts, golf club heads and bicycle frames.

The company will create 40 jobs in Orangeburg over the next five years.

* Doane Pet Care Co. was renamed Mars U.S. Pet Care by its second new owner in as many years.

Teachers' Private Capital, the private investment arm of the Ontario (Canada) Teachers' Pension Plan, which bought the company in November 2005, sold it to snack manufacturer Mars Inc. in 2006.

The company, based in Tennessee, sells a full range of dog and cat food products to retailers in the U.S., Europe and Japan. It is the largest manufacturer of private label pet food and the second largest manufacturer of dry pet food overall in the U.S.

The new owner announced a $5.5 million expansion of its 140,000-square-foot dog food production facility in the Orangeburg Industrial Park, where 85 are employed.

* Atlanta-based industrial process heating systems manufacturer GTS Energy Inc. said it will invest $3.5 million in the former Scienda Building Sciences facility in Orangeburg and bring 100 new jobs to Orangeburg in the next five years.

The company, which was founded in 1986, makes process bath heaters, high-pressure steam generators, direct-fired and convection heaters, and engineered skid packages.

* Martin Marietta Minerals Inc. announced an $11 million expansion, including equipment and machinery, at its plant on the Orangeburg-Berkeley county line.

Martin Marietta is a leading producer of construction aggregates and magnesia-based chemical products. The company is developing structural composites products for use in a wide variety of industries.

Relative charged

in shocking Sunday

afternoon slayings

A pot of collard greens was still on the stove when Bamberg County sheriff's deputies arrived to investigate the slayings of two sisters who died in May while cooking Sunday dinner.

An autopsy determined that Netha Barnwell, 89, and Louise Smith, 75, died of multiple head trauma from a blunt object. Authorities believe they were beaten to death with a crowbar.

Suspicion immediately fell on a distant relative of the victims, Charlie Beard, 40, of Bamberg, who had reportedly been seen at the crime scene earlier in the day.

Two days later, a Colleton County sheriff's deputy saw Beard driving Smith's car near Walterboro and attempted to stop him. After a 10-mile chase, tire-deflation devices stopped the car, at which time Beard attempted to set the vehicle on fire, officials said.

Beard faces two counts of murder and other charges. The solicitor formally served notice on Dec. 27 that the state would seek the death penalty if Beard was convicted, Bamberg County Sheriff Ed Darnell said. Indictments will go before the grand jury in Bamberg County in January.

Voters choose

ambitious youth

over experience

Every other year for nearly a quarter-century, District 90 voters elected Thomas Rhoad to the South Carolina House of Representatives.

"I am third in seniority and the oldest man up there," the 82-year-old lawmaker said in March. He asked voters to give him a 13th two-year term: "I believe this district will continue to benefit from that experience."

This time, however, the voters gave their support to a young man with a famous name, a political newcomer who had spent weeks knocking on doors and meeting people one-on-one.

Bakari Sellers, a 21-year-old Morehouse College graduate and second-year University of South Carolina law student, will become the youngest state legislator when the new session convenes next month. He defeated Rhoad in the Democratic primary and faced no opposition in the November election.

Sellers' father is Dr. Cleveland Sellers, a civil-rights activist who survived the event commonly known as the Orangeburg Massacre and today is a professor and the director of the African-American Studies Program at the University of South Carolina.

The younger Sellers, already a charismatic public speaker, said his parents asked him why he wanted to run for a House seat.

He said he told them, "I think I can create a little change, ruffle a couple of feathers, bring a little excitement" into politics.

He has done that already.

Sellers believes everyone in the state should have access to public education and basic health care, and that the state has -- or can generate -- the means to provide it.

"That may be my being 21 and naive," he added, but he intends to try. It's all about "bringing change" and "trying to make this state the state that it can be," he said.

If Sellers' victory was the political upset of the primaries, then Democrat Patsy Knight's defeat of incumbent Rep. George Bailey in District 97 was the surprise of the general election.

Bailey, whose previous party-switching raised the ire of former political allies, lost to Dorchester County's treasurer by fewer than 500 votes out of nearly 10,000 cast.

In another primary matchup that generated interest, Orangeburg City Council member Trelvis Miller changed his address and attempted to unseat Orangeburg County Council member Clyde Livingston in the Democratic primary.

Livingston cruised to re-election, but Miller made more headlines a few months later when he switched parties.

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson and S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster came to Orangeburg to welcome Miller into the GOP fold.

Another Republican who made news in 2006 was Hugh Weathers. The Bowman resident, appointed by Gov. Mark Sanford to complete an unexpired term as state agriculture commissioner, won a full term of his own in November, defeating Emile DeFelice of Calhoun County.

Another Orangeburg County resident, Cheryl Footman, was the only African-African female candidate for statewide office in November. She was the Democratic Party's candidate for secretary of state. Footman lost to Republican incumbent Mark Hammond.

T&D celebrates

125th anniversary

More than a thousand people showed up for a street party in October, celebrating the 125th anniversary of the merger of the Orangeburg Times and the Orangeburg Democrat.

A highlight was the unveiling of a mural by artist Dana Coleman on an outside wall of the newspaper office, depicting the newspaper's evolution from a turn-of-the-century weekly into a modern daily with a Web site.

The mural was a gift to the community, as was the party, which featured entertainment as diverse as South Carolina State University's Drum Line and Gospel Choir, the Claflin University Jazz Ensemble, the Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School Marching Band, the Jarvis Brothers and the Orangeburg Part-Time Players theatrical troupe.

Orangeburg Mayor Paul Miller said he couldn't think of another business that has been serving the Orangeburg community as long as The T&D.

He presented Publisher Cathy Hughes with a proclamation congratulating The T&D for its many years of service and for being named one of four finalists for Lee Enterprises' most prestigious award: Enterprise of the Year.

The T&D also marked its anniversary with two special sections in September and October. Features included an updated history of the newspaper and stories about momentous events such as the fire that gutted the building in 1972, the blizzard in 1973, Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and the ice storm in 2004.

The sections also featured reprints of notable front pages, stories about people who helped produce the newspaper through the years and information on each department and how they work together to produce the newspaper.

Some of The T&D's special projects and continuing features were also highlighted, including sponsorship of the Community of Character initiative, the Mother of the Month contest, the Pet Idol competition, the Lose to Win weight-loss challenge, the Taste of Home Cooking School and the series of "We Will Not Forget" features about local lives lost in war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan.

Former sheriff

back in town

"Five months after returning home from a federal prison sentence for filing false tax documents and conspiracy, former Orangeburg County Sheriff James 'Poppa' Johnson has re-emerged in Orangeburg, the community he loves," T&D Sports Editor Charlene Slaughter wrote in a March article that generated strong reader response.

Johnson's roller-coaster life included:

* His election as the first black Orangeburg County sheriff since Reconstruction.

* His attempt, two years later, to file documents at the courthouse disclaiming all laws, statutes, rules and regulations in the state of South Carolina and the U.S. Constitution.

* An Internal Revenue Service raid of his home while he was attending a sheriff's convention in Ohio.

* A 21-count federal indictment, followed by a guilty verdict and a sentence of 51 months in prison. He was released in November 2005.

"He's still the same old 'Poppa.' His smile still stretches from ear to ear; he's as jolly as ever," Slaughter wrote. "Johnson said he's glad to be back, has energy to burn and is picking up where he left off years ago."

Back in the late 1980s, Johnson and his friend James Williams organized the Orangeburg Track Club.

"He said they saw a need in the community then for extracurricular activities for kids. More than 20 years later, he said that need still exists," Slaughter wrote.

So now they are working to revive the Junior Olympics Track Program, along with the Boys and Girls Club and the Orangeburg Parks and Recreation Department. Track, the former sheriff said, prepares kids for all other sports.

Johnson spoke of his "passion for working with young people. I believe it's my ministry. It keeps me young. To see their joy and happiness, whether they win or lose. The great thing that makes me feel so good is when they mature and they come back and they thank you. It's a beautiful feeling.'"

In time, Johnson said, he intends to talk to the youths about living behind bars.

But he wasn't ready to talk about his own experience just yet, other than crediting God: "No one can make it in there if they ain't got God in them," he said.

He insisted that the prison time hadn't changed him, and he wondered aloud why people would think otherwise.

"I wonder how they thought I would be," he said. "They wonder why I haven't changed. I don't have sense enough to change. I've got to be me. ... I can only be me."

T&D Staff Writer Lee Hendren can be reached by e-mail at lhendren@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5552. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

You must be logged in to comment.