Community Holiday Concert

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

The Dane Theater in Denmark echoed Thursday night with the melodious voices of the Voorhees College Choir and the Denmark Technical College Choir. The two Denmark, and Bamberg County college choirs gave a virtuoso performance in the first Bamberg County Community Holiday Choral Concert sponsored by the Bamberg County Chamber of Commerce, Denmark Technical College, the City of Denmark and Voorhees College.

The Voorhees College Choir under the direction of Mr. Alvin Tuck performed first and sung a number of popular holiday and gospel songs including; “OhHoly Night”; “Thiswas the greatest gift to man” and “All is well because in Christ I dwell", just to name a few.

During a musical interlude between performances, audience members were led in song by Taylor Johnson, Music Specialist, at Denmark Technical College.

Denmark Technical College President Dr. Michael Townsend, who said his son is being deployed to Iraq soon, encouraged all in attendance to be more appreciative and compassionate during this Christmas season.

“Do something nice for your neighbor,” Dr. Townsend said. “I really want you to really, really think about this. These are our young men and women in foreign lands that are guarding our freedoms.”

In the second performance of the evening, the nationally acclaimed Denmark Technical College Choir under the direction of Dr. Yvette McDaniel, featuring award winning choir members Markus McCutcheon of Sumter and Ashley Jordan of Denmark performed a variety of classical Christmas songs including; “Little drummer Boy”; “I’ll be home for Christmas”; God bless ye merry Gentlemen”; “Holy is the Lamb” and a first-time performance of a Celtic version of “Have yourself a merry little Christmas."

The reaction among many in the audience after the program was that a better concert could not have been enjoyed even at Carnegie Hall. All donations from the event went to Bamberg County First Steps Partnership’s “Santa’s Little Helpers Toy & Food Drive”

County Honors Employees

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

Bamberg County honored its employees with a reception Monday evening December 6, in the Bamberg County Courthouse. “These are meaningful jobs, thank everyone for their service,” County Councilmember Clair Guess told the honorees and a large group of other county employees gathered in the hallway of the courthouse. “Thank everyone for their work over the years,” Councilmember Rev. Isaiah said.

Bamberg County Council Chairwoman Alzena Robinson also thanked the employees for their years of service and had a special message for out-going Councilmember Dorothy “Dot” Tatum who was recognized for her 11-years of service on Bamberg County Council. “I do respect you, even though we didn’t always see eye-to-eye on everything” Robinson said. “I did my damn best,” Tatum responded in her usual candid manner.

County Council Honor

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

Bamberg County Council members took a few minutes to honor and recognize Dr. Herbert A. Moskow of Denmark, with a resolution on his “retirement from dedicated and untiring service to the many patients and citizens of Bamberg County, South Carolina while serving in the medical profession.”

“Thank you for the kind words,” Dr. Moskow said adding “most of all I want to thank Bamberg County for letting me reside here for almost 50-years. I owe Bamberg County a lot more than it owes me.”

Fralick Wins

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

Political veteran William “Buck” Fralick was declared the winner of a special City of Bamberg election on December 7. Fralick defeated Paulette Bamberg-Jamison 52-38 to fill the District 4 Seat on Bamberg City Council left vacant Ronald Wayne “Buzzy” Bunch, who won a seat on the Bamberg Board of Public Works earlier this year. Fralick held the District 4 Seat on City Council from 2005-2009 but did not file for re-election.

At Monday night’s December 13, Bamberg City Council meeting Fralick took the oath of office with his wife Lisa and son Kirby by his side and was welcomed back by his fellow council members. “It’s good to be back,” Fralick said.

Bowers Wins Another

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

Bamberg native and former B-E standout Da’Quan Bowers keeps raking in the hardware. With only one game left in an outstanding junior season, last week the “Basher from Bamberg” was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and winner of the Bronko Nagurski Award for the top defensive player in college football. Now, he can add to those prestigious awards the Ted Hendricks Award for the top defensive end in the nation.