Twas the night before Christmas

Pansy Clayton, Ehrhardt Correspondent

This year Ehrhardt's Christmas Parade's theme was 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' with 44 entries. The cold weather was perfect for this time of year. The parade was very successful and exciting, especially for the children, when Old St. Nick, just in from the North Pole, showed up riding high atop the Ehrhardt Fire Truck. The Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School JROTC was there with the Bamberg Ehrhardt Band leading the parade along with Grand Marshals, Pastor Tim and Thelma Bryson.

Mayor Bill Stanley said he was glad to see everyone come out and join the town in celebrating the Christmas Season.

Schuetzenfest Chairman, Eunice Sease and Donna Moore, Co Chairman, were wearing big smiles as they rode down Main Street Ehrhardt in a John Deere Gator Saturday afternoon.

The floats were amazing this year with 1st Place winner, MAMAS’s float with Bamberg County Chamber of Commerce, Waddy Thompson Citizen of the Year, Janis Steedly on it.

The Schuetzenfest Queens Float was the 2nd Place winner and it was gorgeously decorated to enhance the four young ladies aboard. They were Lauren Brooke Perry, Miss Schuetzenfest with her court of Teen Miss, Caleigh Dawson; Young Miss, Kendall Perry and Little Miss, Morgan Green. The Queens were bundled up for cool Christmas weather with furry Santa Hats and a big red bow.

The 3rd Place winner was the float named 'Merry Christmas' from Rusty N Paula’s Restaurant.

In the Golf Carts division, the 1st Place winner was Lexi Sease and her friends with the cart decorated with Woof signs and Merry Dog Gone Christmas!

Second Place winner was Moye, Izzie and Jaxson Brandt with Judy Brandt wearing a reindeer costume. Moye was dressed as Santa, Lorie Breland was Mrs. Claus, Kinsley Breland was an elf, Collin Breland was giving out candy, Izzie waving an American Flag and Jaxson as a tiny Santa.

Peggy Allen with her granddaughter, Harlo Sease, won 3rd Place with their decorated cart with Santa on the back and Harlo as Little Miss Ehrhardt Motor Company.

Gene Sease riding his Harley Davidson with son, Hall, stole the show dressed as Santa Claus and won 1st Place in Motorcycles. The Christian Motorcycles were wonderful and festive as always.

Novelties were outstanding this year with Ginger Sanders and her grandson, Michael Sanders riding their Bicycle Built For Two, winning 1st Place. Second Place went to The Christian Wagon done by The Children of Iona and Shawn Brown, Tevin, Zyon, Za-Corey and Taurelle.

Third Place went to Dustin Folk and Jarrett Hudgins and their kids riding 4 wheelers and go-carts.

First Place in Tractors went to dressed up Elf, Corey Walters, on a red International Tractor.

The Antique Cars and Trucks division was won by SC Noles Nursery in a 1972 Dodge Charger. The 2nd and 3rd Places were won by the remarkable cars owned by Ronnie Anderson (1939 Ford) and Herb Thomas in a 1924 Model T Touring Car escorting Mayor William Stanley.

Overall the Parade was a beautiful display of the Christmas Season Celebration for the Town of Ehrhardt.

Following the Parade everyone gathered at the Fire Department to give out trophies to the winners and join Chief Chad Dilling and other Firemen for a Soup Supper Fund Raiser. The dessert table was manned by Marilyn Prevatte and Mikki Murden assisting with the bake sale.

Mayor Stanley and Eunice Sease presented a special Plaque to Grand Marshal, Tim Bryson and his wife, Thelma Bryson for their wonderful, caring, giving service to the Ehrhardt community all these years. They will be retiring and moving to Myrtle Beach in January and will be greatly missed by everyone.

Red Raider wrestling team hungry for another state title

Jerry E. Halmon, Sports Editor

If the 2011 defending Class A State Champion Bamberg- Ehrhardt High School wrestling team needed any more motivation to repeat as state champions in 2012 all they had to do was read some of the chatter going around on various social media message boards. Some people are saying things like: “The only reason the Red Raider wrestling team won last year was because Chesterfield had some things go wrong for them,” and this year they’re saying things like “it’s no way Bamberg is going to win it again.”

B-E Class A State Wrestling Coach of the Year Cody Slaughter said his team has taken exception to the early season talk. “Our kids are taking it as a slap in the face,” Slaughter said at practice Wednesday after his team had just captured a sixth place finish in the prestigious Southern Slam Wrestling Tournament in Greenville over the weekend, that featured 35 schools and some of the best 4-A and 3-A teams from across the state; a tournament the Red Raiders finished 19th in last year in winning its first state wrestling championship.

“There is enough talk out there to keep them hungry,” Slaughter said, adding “I don’t have to do a lot of motivating, they read all the message boards, and they keep them motivated for me.”

And, when you add motivation to lots of experience wrestlers returning for another season, what you get is a team standing on the cusp of another state championship. After losing only one senior from last year’s team, the Red Raiders will return two state champions in Player Long, who is listed as one of the top juniors in the preseason 2012 Class according to Wrestling USA Magazine and Lane Walling. Three lower state champions in: Lan Hiers, Mark Moody and Lane Walling; a third place finisher in Malcolm Jones and a state qualifier in Lan Hiers.

The team will also look to wrestlers like senior Brent Cook, who is in his fourth year of wrestling to provide senior leadership and who is “coming around and getting more aggressive on the mat,” according to Coach Slaughter. The team will also look to Damien Johnson, who Coach Slaughter described as “a tough kid” and has gone up in weight class from 103 to 126. Wrestlers like David Deleon, who is practicing for the Shrine Bowl this week and will join the team later and Jeremy Davis, who has wrestled for the last two years, and “knows what he is doing” will be counted on to make big contributions to the team.

As preparation for another state title run, the Red Raiders will face some of the toughest competition in the state again this year with upcoming matches against 3-A and 4-A opponents like: Hilton Head and White Knoll and later matches with teams like Lexington and Eastside.

“We don’t slack on the competition,” Coach Slaughter said. “We go after the biggest teams we can because come February when we have to wrestle those 1-A and 2-A teams, we want to have seen the best competition in the state.”

The Key to the season: Coach Slaughter said the key to this season is keeping the team focused and the wrestler’s attitude toward wanting to win. “We have some goals set for the team and we feel if we can accomplish those goals, we’ll do everything we want to do. We’ll repeat as state champions. It’s all on the kids, keeping them motivated and focused.”

Counterfeit Merchandise

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

A city of Orangeburg man was given a citation and has a court date for possession of counterfeit recordings according a Denmark Police Department incident report. Irvin Riley, 48 of Orangeburg was given a citation for possession of counterfeited/forged music recordings and DVD Movies. According to the incident report, on December 9, 2011 Denmark Police Units performed a check of business licenses at the Flea Market on Butler Street in Denmark and noticed a vehicle filled with approximately 300 counterfeit CD’s/DVD’s with an estimated value of $2,000. Denmark Police Chief Leroy Grimes noted that the police department had received “a couple” of complaints about suspicious activity at the flea market prior to handing out the citation.