Urgent Care Facility closes, hospital deal no deal

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

Short of two months after opening its doors on May 2, the Urgent Care Center of Bamberg closed its doors on Friday night, June 29th at 11:00p.m. The reason cited for the closing by Dobbs Equity officials was patient volume. The reason cited by County officials for the closing of the Urgent Care Center and for all practical purposes the failure of the proposed regional health care system agreement itself; is the failure of Dobbs Equity Partners to finalize their part of the deal by the closing deadline of Saturday, June 30.

On Friday, June 29, Bamberg County Council members finalized its part of the regional healthcare system transaction with Dobbs Equity and the Southern Carolina Regional Health System, a Dobbs affiliate.

“Very frustrating, and a difficult situation, ” is how Bamberg County Council Chairman Chris Wilson described his feelings Monday afternoon about the closing of the Urgent Care Center and the regional hospital deal, which was suppose to built on Highway 78 in Denmark, collapsing after the County had invested so much of its time and financial resources in seeing the project through to its completion. “We have to evaluate where we stand and move forward,” Wilson said noting the setback will not deter the County from providing healthcare for its citizens.

“So we’re not going to give up on providing healthcare for our citizens,” Wilson said; adding“ We will do the best we can to go forward to provide healthcare for the citizens of Bamberg County.”

In a statement Dobbs Equity Executive Vice President Rick Greene said that Dobbs Equity Partner “was still committed to a regional healthcare deal and that the closure of the of the urgent care center was not linked to the regional hospital issue, but a lack of patient volume.

A sense of surprise and of being left in the dark were the feelings expressed by several employees of the urgent care facility on Friday afternoon when they were told the center would be closing its doors Friday night. The first inclination that something was amiss Friday was when several workers could be seen taking down the sign at the urgent care center on the corner of McGee and North Street.

According to its employees they were given no notice other than the center would be closed by 11 pm that night and to start packing up to vacate the building.

Severe Storms

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

Temperatures in the triple digits for the last few days spawned bands of severe thunderstorms and unstable storm cells producing damaging winds, dime sized hail and dangerous lightning across Bamberg County, Sunday evening. The storms caused power outages, street flooding in the city of Bamberg and blocking roadways in other areas of the county. Some residents of the city of Bamberg and other areas in the county woke up Monday morning to find large trees on their automobiles, homes and businesses.

Board of Public Works General Manager Will Martin said that most BPW customers that suffered power outages had their power restored by 3:00 a.m. Martin noted that the only BPW customers that were without power were ones that needed an electrician’s assistance.

Laundry Room Fire

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

Do to the quick response of the Bamberg Fire Department; a potentially bad situation was averted Tuesday at around 12:50 pm, when the department responded to a fire in the laundry room at the Bamberg Villa Apartment Complex. According to witnesses on the scene, it appears that the fire that had gotten in the roof of the building, started when a trash can inside caught fire. Fortunately, the apartment complex’s short location from the fire station played a big part in the fire being contained quickly.

Denmark City Council expresses voter roll change concerns

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

Denmark City Council members say they will look into why the names of a number of their citizens were not on the list when they showed up to vote in the June 12, special election to fill a vacant seat on City Council. Council members said they plan to reactivate the 2010 Census Committee to check into why the names were not on the rolls.

“It will make a difference in local elections, not so much in national elections,” Councilman James Robinson, who stated his name had been on the rolls for over 50 years, but wasn’t listed on the rolls when he went to vote on Tuesday.

Newly elected Councilman Calvin Odom, who was the winner of Tuesday’s special election and was sworn in to office at the start of the meeting, said several citizens came by his job and expressed concern they were unable to vote.

Denmark resident Vic Whetstone said he thought he was “the lone ranger” when he showed up to vote and his name was not on the rolls either. Whetstone noted that his voting issue was able to be resolved when he was instructed to write his name in and was allowed to vote.

“It’s an epidemic,” Whetstone said, noting “I didn’t know it was that widespread, it needs to be looked into.”

Councilwoman Hope Long-Weldon said she recommended Council convene with the census committee, get a list and verify who is in the city of Denmark.

Mayor Gerald Wright said an inquiry into why names were not on the voter rolls needs to be done. Mayor Wright noted district lines are redrawn every 10-years and sometimes information can be recorded “inappropriately.” The Mayor noted the city of Denmark has done two annexations recently and a detailed description on what is inside Denmark is available.

Bamberg Man Dies

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

An elderly Bamberg County man, while riding a lawnmower, was attempting to cross Highway 61 Saturday, June 24, when he was struck by a Ford pickup truck. Bamberg County Coroner Billy Duncan identified the man as 83 year-old Joseph LaBoard of 5155 Edisto River Road, Bamberg.

Laboard was transported to Richland Memorial Hospital in Columbia where he later died. The driver of the pickup truck was not injured.

2012-2013 Budget

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

After holding a public hearing in which no comments were heard at a special meeting of Bamberg City Council, Monday night; Council members gave unanimous second and final reading approval to their 2012- 2013 Budget. It was noted that the $2, 007,895 budget carried no millage increase and millage rates would remain at 114.34 mills which is the same as last year. With the State of South Carolina having not settled on its own budget for next year, City of Bamberg Clerk/Treasurer Bruce Watson said the only item in the City’s budget that might be affected by the State’s impasse would be aid to local subdivisions.

Zack Godley Named

Jerry E. Halmon, Sports Editor

Former Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School two-sport standout Zack Godley, who is presently a junior at the University of Tennessee, has been selected to participate on the Collegiate National Baseball team as an alternate, USA Baseball announced Sunday. Godley, a (6-3,245) right handed pitcher with the Volunteers recorded a 4-2 record this year with an era of 3.5 with 53 strikeouts. Godley, and his teammates who are currently working out at the National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina and other venues in the Tarheel state, will play a series of games against the Cuban National Team in Havana from July 5-9, and will play a series in Haarlem, The Netherlands from July 14-22.

Denmark Youth Soccer

Jerry E. Halmon, Sports Editor

On June 9, the Denmark Youth Soccer League culminated its season by holding its championship games. Winning the championship game in the Mite Division was Evert Comer Law Office with a score of 3-1 over First Baptist Church. Leading Comer Law was JaViere Johnson with three goals. First Baptist Church was led by JaQuan Williams with one goal.

In the Pee Wee Division Daniel’s Pharmacy came away with the championship with a 3-2 win over Rufus Jones Lodge. Leading scorers for Daniel’s Pharmacy was Keonyatta Gardner, Harold Johnson and Kevon Mack with one goal each. Rufus Jones Lodge was lead by Daveontae Walker with two goals.

In the Bantam Division, D&R of Virginia won the championship with a 6-0 win over King’s Beauty. Leaders for D&R of Virginia were DeVeon Nelson with four goals and Alejandro Serrano Jr. added two goals.

The Denmark Youth Soccer League would like to thank the parents, coaches and community as well as all our sponsors for all of their support and participation.