I’ll be posting more about Hurricane Hugo and hurricane preparedness later, but to prepare for the coming anniversary I would like to gather pictures of the village after Hugo in order to prepare a slideshow.  Fallen trees, muddy floors and streets, damaged homes and boats, volunteers, National Guard, cleanup efforts, whatever you have that will add to the story.

If you have a scanner you can scan and email your photos to me.  Otherwise I will be scanning pictures.  You can submit them at our office and I will scan them and get them back to you as soon as possible.  Be sure to mark them with your information so nothing gets mixed and they are returned to the right place.  You can submit individual pictures or packages and I will sort through them and choose the best. Through this effort, we will be preserving these images forever.  If we get enough images I will even prepare a slideshow presentation for the town and make CD’s available.  All credit will be given to the original photographers, so please feel free to submit your best images.

We have a whole new population in the village that didn’t live through this experience that forever reshaped the way we viewed life.  Many have seen scrapbooks from one person or another, but few know the whole story.  An event like this can pull us together as a stronger community as we share our past experiences.  As the eyes of the nation fall on us again I propose that we present an image fitting the way that we banded together after Hugo to repair the Village.

There is no denying that it was a horrible experience.  A decade later, we still used “before Hugo” and “after Hugo” as the major time indicator.    I know some suffered enormous financial loss, but I dare say that McClellanville is a better place because of those tragedies because of what we learned about ourselves in the rebuilding process.  We learned the generosity of the human race as volunteers poured in to help a small town they had never heard of but saw only glimpses of on the news.  FEMA was probably less helpful than their dreadful performance in New Orleans after Katrina, but nobody gave up and begged for a handout.   We rebuilt.

If you ask most people you’ll find that the biggest tragedy wasn’t the shrimpboat in their front yard, 6 inches of mud in their house, or even their missing roof…it was that grandma’s quilt was missing or the ruined wedding album.  These are the things that we lost that we’ll never get back.  I was only 9 at the time of Hugo and couldn’t grasp that at the time (it was a big adventure for me, since there was no school for weeks and weeks and tons of new things to see) but I realize this now.

So dust off your scrap books and share your stories as we remember a part of our history that helped make us the town we are today…Who’s with me?

Shrimpboat picture courtesy of Mike Burton.

Ken Burger had a great article in the Post and Courier about being “Raised by a Hundred Mothers“, a feeling I can definitely relate to having grown up in McClellanville.  I’ve written about the it-takes-a-village mentality before, but Burger puts it best with this line, “Looking back, there were truly super women. They worked full time, sang in the choir, volunteered at the school, taught us to dance, held our families together and somehow found time to raise a village full of children.”

The Post and Courier also reported on one of our own this weekend, St. James Santee Episcople Churches minister, Jennie Olbrych.  I adore Jennie.  She is an amazing woman who is passionate about God’s word and always willing to help members of the community despite not living in McClellanville.  You can spot her in the videos on my most recent Shrimp Festival article as she has been responsible for blessing the fleet the past few years…come rain or shine.

Finally, I’d be remiss to not take a moment to acknowledge the two mom’s that make my everyday life possible.  My Mom, Susan Bates, lives just around the corner from me.  I can literally see her house through the woods (do I get credit for not being a momma’s boy if I told you that I lived away from home for 8 years?).  My mom is a strong, confident, and beautiful woman. My wife and I both have a great relationship with her (and my dad) and eat dinner with them almost every week (Thursday’s are Survivor night at the Bates house).  She’s also been a Godsend the past two years watching our son while we work and even allowing the occasional date night and I’m so happy he has someone like her to take him out in the garden, tromping in the woods, and crabbing.

My wife, Josie is my rock!  We were friends before dating and as a result know each other very well and compliment each others weaknesses.  She is an amazing mother with the perfect amount of discipline and love for our son.  She keeps me grounded but always supports me a rare thing to find.  She works hard and always has a smile on her beautiful face.  I definitely couldn’t do all the things I do without the help from these two great women and I often call upon them to review my articles, so my website wouldn’t be the same without them either.

PS - Charleston Painter, Katherine Muschick, wrote a great article about the McClellanville Arts Council’s Youth Art Show, so please check that out and leave a comment on her site.  Congratulations to the great local artists as well!

A few miles north of McClellanville on Highway 17  you’ll find Patriots Farms, or as it is more commonly known, “the strawberry farm”.  The strawberries have just ripened and will only be in season for another month or so, so be sure to go get some soon.  You may want to give them a call and listen to the answering machine message for their times as it may change depending on the availability of the crop. If you’re picking your own ($7.50 per bucket), I’d recommend the morning while it’s still cool. You can easily fill a bucket in twenty or thirty minutes worth of picking…even with a 2-year-old robbing a few.  Or you can pick up a bucket of freshly picked strawberries for just $10.  They also have strawberry jams and honey.

Not only is strawberry picking a great summer activity, but they’re of course a tasty treat that can be prepared many ways.  They’re great as a snack all by themselves or on cereal or shortbread with whipped cream or baked into a cobbler.   I personally love to cut the tops off and lay them on a baking sheet and freeze them.  From there you transfer them to zip lock bags and keep them year round.  Use them like ice cubes, a cold treat, or blend them up in daiquiris!
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This was the 33rd year of the annual event, which includes vendors, games, silent auction, live music, dancing, and of course seafood.    Overall, it was a great day for kids of all ages, except for a brief shower right in the middle of the blessing of the fleet.  The Lowcountry Shrimp Festival is organized by and profits Archibald Rutledge Academy.  Both these new websites are courtesy of MCVL.net - Lowcountry Blogging Network - contact me today to get your own website).

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Just before the blessing I escaped across to the other side of Jeremy Creek to film the blessing of the fleet from a different perspective.  I’m going to try to incorporate more videos into my posts in the future, but it’s all a learning process.   

Located in the southeastern region of the United States, South Carolina is home to rich mountain ranges, national parks and monuments. In South Carolina, The state was important in the manufacturing, processing and use of asbestos because of its natural deposits and large shipping industry. Many companies that used asbestos include the Charleston Navy Yard, Carolina Shipping Company and Detyen Shipyards, Inc.

Purchasing or moving into a new home is the investment of a lifetime. It will insure you and your family will have a safe and healthy home for a long foreseeable future. Asbestos is a fibrous mineral that was a prominent building application throughout the 20th century.

Potential McClellanville home buyers or those seeking to remodel a home built before 1980 should check for potential asbestos materials. This is not to say that you should be too worried because with the proper precautions, asbestos exposure can be easily prevented.

Even if asbestos shingles are on your home, if they are in good condition and left undisturbed, they are not a serious problem. The mere presence of asbestos in a home or a building is not hazardous. Damaged asbestos may release asbestos fibers and become a health hazard, leading to the development of asbestosis and mesothelioma. With a latency period that can last 20 to 50 years, this makes mesothelioma prognosis from physicians a difficult task.

The amount of asbestos-related incidents in the last few decades has lead to asbestos lawyer firms advocating victim rights around the U.S. The negligence involved with the asbestos scandal has been one of greed and dishonesty. Manufacturers of asbestos were aware of its toxic qualities, but repressed this information from the public.

If you suspected asbestos materials are in your home, most home inspectors and contractors advise to leave it un-disturbed as asbestos in good condition does not pose any health risks. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Council promotes the health and safety of the public and environment. These public organizations assist the disposal and removal of asbestos and other harmful materials. If asbestos removal is deemed necessary, it should be performed by licensed abatement contractor who is trained in handling hazardous materials.

Once the removal process is completed, green insulation alternatives should be given serious consideration. These alternatives include: cellulose, cotton fiber and lcynene. Tax breaks are being offered through The American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009. This package extends energy efficiency tax incentives first enacted in 2005 and even creates some new ones for those who remodel their homes using Eco-friendly materials. Insulation replacement can be vital to energy efficiency and is often overlooked by people looking to upgrade their homes.

With a lackluster economy, these kinds of figures have attracted those who were unaware of Eco-friendly construction. Not only will these asbestos alternatives reduce energy costs, they allow a lifestyle that promotes a clean, free of health damaging materials.

McClellanville’s Archibald Rutledge Academy, where I attended from 4 year-old Kindergarten until graduation and would like to some day send my 2 year-old son, is one such school that could greatly benefit from such a bill.   A $2433 tax credit for a school with a $3500 tuition would be huge for local parents who are seeing less and less in their paychecks.  The bill would actually cover the entire tuition for children in poorer families, opening the educational possibilities to so many more children.  

The increased enrollment would translate to more programs and improvements for a school that has proven it’s financial responsibility and ability to produce students prepared to go to college or enter the workforce while the public schools  system spends over $20,000 annually per pupil in this area and remains at the bottom of the academic ratings in a county which is near the bottom of the state in rankings.  Generation after generation the students and parents of ARA (most of whom are alumni now) have done whatever was necessary to keep the school going and are responsible for McClellanville’s two biggest tourist events the Lowcountry Shrimp Festival (coming this May 2nd) and CreekSlam Fishing Tournament (every October).

A whole plethora of thoughts enter my mind every time I drive by ARA.  It’s where I learned of the sciences, not just in the textbooks but from nature walks and the deck of shrimpboat trawling the ocean floor.  And math from teachers who could put even complex formulas into everyday examples so everyone could understand them.  And reading and writing from passionate people who had taught for generations because  they did make a difference in the life of their students.  It’s where no child is forgotten and everyone is nurtured and encouraged to strive.  It’s where I learned that if you work hard enough than you can achieve your goals.  It’s where I learned that your own thoughts are opinions do matter even if you are a child.  It’s where I learned morals and principals on which I still stand today and grew from a small child to a man.  And it’s where I still gather every Sunday to play a game of pick-up basketball with generations of alumni whom I’ve known my entire life and grown to call my extended family.

McClellanville has a lot going for it; the amazing natural resources of adjacent Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge and Francis Marion Forest, beautiful historic district with its quaint boutiques, restaurants, homes and ancient live oaks, and a strong caring community of citizens that look out for one another to name just a few.   Our public education system is dismal however.  The No Child Left Behind Act created a standard that public schools must meet or allow children to attend another public school.  At least one of the schools in the rural District 1 seems to always be rated as “failing” but it mysteriously shuffles around each year.  St. James Santee Elementary is currently “failing” and recently McClellanville Middle School was conveniently closed before it could “earn” the “failing” rating a second year in a row spurring the ability of parents to take advantage of the No Child Left Behind Act and send their kids elsewhere.  Affordable schools could open the area to a younger demographic that has overlooked all that McClellanville has to offer and sturdy the local economy with an injection of home sales and new dollars.

Every few years when education becomes a hot button topic in the Lowcountry, the Charleston County School Board shuffles paper around and promises to do a better job, usually finding a scapegoat to fire in the process.   Down the road we see few improvements and little significant changes.  The poor performing schools actually get worse as the school board introduces academic magnet and charter schools which pluck the exceptional students out in a process which lowers the schools averages and blantantly demonstrates that a great education can’t be provided at these schools.  These schools also unfairly place District 1 at the bottom of the list for enrollment.  The system is broke and the educational leaders are too inept or scared to make the hard decisions required to fix it.

What would a McClellanville without ARA look like? No Shrimp Festival. No Fishing Tournament.  No baked goods or spaghetti dinner fund raisers.  No basketball games on Friday nights.  No roadside trash pickup.   Some parents would probably move closer to their jobs and other schools while some would send their children to the public schools where they have no role in their education.   In short McClellanville would survive but it would not be the same.

Please share your thoughts below in the comments section and if you feel passionately about this issue contact your representatives and have them support this bill.  With the strong new presence of Senator Ford we may be able to make this a reality and improve the future generations to come.

Update: 3/31/09 - The teachers and education leader must be starting to get scared about this bill if they’re holding a rally.  Keep up the good work Senator Ford!  Be sure to read the comments here as well as on the Post and Courier.

As a parent I hope that the children going to any of the closing schools don’t experience any turmoil during their transition and that it doesn’t impact their education in a negative way.  As a local I can understand how upsetting it must be to see a school you’ve been committed to closing.  But as a tax payer I think that it just makes sense after looking at the numbers.

According to Charleston County School Board records, McClellanville Middle School has an average enrollment of 96 students with a capacity of 250.  In a time when we should be pushing our occupancy rates to the brim before we spend more on new facilities, McClellanville Middle is operating at under 40% occupancy and enrollment has actually gone down every year for the last decade.  This most likely reflects a combination of a natural fluctuation in birth rates (baby-boomer effect), an increase in second home and retirement population in the area, and parents sending their children to schools with better academic achievements.  The low enrollment and occupancy rates balloon the cost to educate the average McClellanville Middle School student to over $20,000 per year while averages for all Charleston County Schools come in under $10,000.

The building holding McClellanville Middle School was originally built in 1921 as a public school for all ages.  It closed in 1974 among desegregation issues and remained dormant until there was a push in 1988 to renovate and reopen the school to serve the northern end of Charleston County.  Before renovations could begin Hurricane Hugo dealt a powerful blow to the school pushing renovation costs to $4.4 million.  The traditionally spelled “McClellanville Pvblic School” sign remained through the renovation, though at the time there was much discussion about the impact that the massive public school would have on McClellanville’s quaint Historic District.

Now less than 20 years later the school will close for a second time proving the County’s renovation efforts yet another waste of tax payer dollars.  St. James-Santee Elementary School, a few miles north of McClellanville on Highway 17, and Lincoln High School, just a few blocks from McClellanville Middle School, will absorb the students.  The question remains: What will happen to the McClellanville Middle School building and what will it’s impact on the community be?  I’m sure we will hear more in the coming months of the School Boards intentions for the structure.  I feel confident that the Town of McClellanville will have a say, but not the final word, in the decision as well.  But what sort of organization will need such a building and who can afford it in a down eceonomy?  A charter school? An assisted living facility? Or swanky high-rent McClellanville condos?…that was a joke, no condos!

Last week The Nature Conservancy released the notice of it’s purchase of 4 more tracts of land totaling 1,116 acres in the McClellanville area. This land was purchased from International Paper, who is a major holding company of land surrounding the National Forest using the lumber from the fast growing pines to produce pulp for paper production (say that 3 times fast). Two tracts lie just north of McClellanville on both sides of Highway 17 and the others west on Highway 45 (see the Charleston Business Journals Article for more information and map). The price tag for the 1,116 acres? $6,445,000 or $5,775 an acres…and no I can’t find you a deal like that for a single acre.

The Nature Conservancy has also recently worked with the Evening Post Publishing Company in placing a conservation easement on a 1,144 acre tract of land they own on Old Georgetown Road. This tract actually surrounds a separate 100 acre tract of land owned by the Village Museum which also allowed for a conservation easement placed by The Nature Conservancy earlier this year. The Evening Post and Village Museum land surrounds the St. James Santee Church (also known simply as "Old Brick Church " by locals) built in 1768. It is of monumental importance that historical character of the land surrounding this 18th century church has been preserved from future development.

We are already blessed to have the massive Francis Marion National Forest and Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge as our own personal backyards, but these additional lands ensure further natural habitat and protect against future development in the area. The coastline surrounding McClellanville serves as an essential breeding and nesting area for endangered birds and turtles who are losing more and more habitat every year. The forest tracts serve as wildlife habitat to other birds and ducks including the swallow-tail kite. As the Charleston area grows and Mount Pleasant seems to creep closer with each passing day and Awendaw acts only sporadically to slow development, it is imperative that organizations like The Nature Conservancy are encouraged to do the work that they do. To date, The Nature Conservancy has protected almost 50,000 acres of land in the Seewee to Santee region, so the next time you see our own Mike Prevost at his office on Pinckney Street, tell him thank you…for you and your grandchildren.