The City of Marion, South Carolina

Swamp F o Scene

xA FREE monthly news magazinefor the citizens and visitors of the Swamp Fox City

Volume 1, Issue 7 December 2010

Renaming street honors long-time public servantMill Street has been renamed to honor long­

time public servant Bobby L. Davis Jr. The streetwas dedicated to Davis on Saturday, Nov. 13 dur­ing a ceremony in front of St. John A.M.E.Church. The street’s new name is Bobby L. DavisBoulevard. At right, Davis, surrounded by familyand friends, sits beside his wife, Geneva, awaitinghis turn to speak during the ceremony. Followingthe event was a block party for the street’s resi­dents. Davis, reelected consecutively to four­yearterms since Sept. 15, 1987, represents District 4and on Jan. 12, 1993 became the first AfricanAmerican to serve as Mayor Pro tem of the Mar­ion City Council, a position he held for 16 years. In March 2009 he became the first African Ameri­can to serve as the city’s Mayor.

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year

from your city of Marion employees!

Tis the Season to be Jolly...Celebrating Christmas in MarionIf there’s one thing Marion does well, it’s Christmas! From the decora-

tions and lights on the trees lining Main Street, to December’s firstSaturday parade and Sunday’s annual Tree Lighting ceremony with holidaysights and sounds, from Santa’s visits to fireworks, the city comes alive tocelebrate family and the holidays.

This year is sure to be no different from the successes of the past. Belowis a schedule of events and activities known to us at press time. There maybe more, so check with your family members and friends and make sure youenjoy the holidays “Marion Style” this year.

e

...Fah lalalala,lalalala!

Christmas Prelude, Dec. 4 & 5

Saturday Dec. 410 a.m.- 2 p.m., Main Street Marion will have Santa available for pictures downtown and

FREE hay rides through the Historic District; Open House in their office with displays ofBonita McLaurin’s original paintings ... Come enjoy punch and cookies!

1:30 p.m., “Polar Express” showing begins in CD Joyner.

4:30 p.m., Chamber of Commerce’s Christmas Parade, Grand Marshal is Frank Johnsonfrom WBTW TV13.

Sunday, Dec. 54:30-5:30 p.m., Drop in and listen to organists as they play in the Marion Baptist Church 5-7 p.m., Pilot Club of Marion’s annual Soup Supper, bake sale & silent auction, Baptist

Church Fellowship Hall.6 p.m., Courthouse Square, 21st annual Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony,

refreshments, Santa and fireworks!

Thursday, Dec. 95-8 p.m., Marion Auction House on Main Street, Desserts are featured at the Tastes of

Christmas, a fundraiser for the American Red Cross Tickets $5.

Saturday, Dec. 117 p.m., CD Joyner Fine Arts Center, the Parris Island Marine Band, holiday concert. Get

a FREE ticket to assure your seat!

Returning to Marion this year will be the Parris IslandMarine Corps Band. Above, they are shown visiting withmembers of the audience after their 2009 concert.

Who do I call formore information?

Page 2 Visit the City of Marion online at www.marionsc.gov December 2010

CITY NEWS ......................................Coming upComing upDecember Holiday events are on page 1.

December 1stWednesday: 8:30 a.m., Main StreetMarion’s Rise & Shine, Hulon Jewelers, Main St.

December 13th Monday, 5:30 p.m.: Citizens AdvisoryCommittee meeting (Second Mondayeach month), Fire Station, Bond St.

December 14th Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.: City Council(Second Tuesday each month), CityHall, 107 S. Main St.

December 20th Monday, 6:30 p.m.: Marion’s FoxWatch meeting, 332 N. Main St.

December 24th, 27th & 28thMerry Christmas! City employees willbe off and City Hall will be closed.

Citizens help needed with projectOne of the projects of the Marion

Lions Club is the purchase and place-ment of 55 American flags along MainStreet’s business section on variousPatriotic holidays.

The Marion Lions Club appreciatesthe community’s support of this proj-ect and is asking for help. MarionLions Club needs extra manpower toput the flags up at 8 a.m. and to takethem down at 6 p.m. on the holidayson which they are flown. If you canhelp with this project, call DavidHollandsworth, president of theMarion Lions Club, at 843-275-9959.

The Swamp Fox Scene is the City of

Marion’s free monthly news magazine forthe citizens and visitors of the Swamp FoxCity, Marion, South Carolina.

The staff consists of City of Marion em-ployees Cheryl Askins, Elizabeth Ficik, PamJones and Dianne Owens. Call Pam Jones ifyou are interested in sponsoring an issue.

The newspaper is distributed by city em-ployee Dennis Brown and may be found inCity Hall, in the Marion Chamber of Com-merce’s office in the Historic Train Depot,in the Main Street Marion office on MainStreet and in other spots around town.

Call Mayor Rodney Berry or the City Ad-ministrator at 843-423-5961 with questions,concerns and comments.

For answers to your questionsabout the following, call ...

Citizen concerns; Storm DrainageIssues; Trees; Building Permits;Street & Sanitation issues; Inspections:

Alan Ammons, 423-5961Administrator, Building Official

Building & Sign Permits; ZoningInformation; Historical Commission:

Pam Jones, 423-5961Planning & Zoning Office

Business Licenses; Yard SalePermits; City Council Agenda,Minutes; General Information:

City Clerk, 423-5961

Supplier & Contractor BidOpportunities; Employment:

Elizabeth Ficik , 423-8614Purchasing Director, Personnel

Recreation Programs; Sign-UpInformation; Facility Rentals:

Cheryl Askins , 423-5410Watsonia Rec Center

Traffic Tickets; Police Fines; BondHearings; Municipal Court Info:

Heather Evans , 423-8616Municipal Court Clerk

The City of Marion selected Sanita-tion Department employee Dal “PeeWee” Johnson as its October 2010 Em-ployee of the Month.

Pee Wee, shown at right with MayorRodney Berry at the Nov. 9 Councilmeeting, has a positive attitude towardshis responsibilities and a strong workethic.

He is tasked with collecting largehousehold items and yard debris fromcitizens and transporting these items tothe landfill. The Mayor and Council rec-ognized Pee Wee for his contributions inhelping the city to maintain Marion’s“pretty little town” reputation.

Officer assigned to traffic unitPolice Officer Eric Walters has been

re-hired by the City, effective Oct. 25,

2010. CorporalWalters is as-signed to theTraffic Unit. Agraduate of LakeView High School,he lives in theLake View com-munity, with hiswife, April, andtheir four chil-dren. Eric says heis happy to be back with the City ofMarion and looks forward to making apositive difference in the community.

Originally hired by the City of MarionStreet Department in January 2003,Eric’s positive attitude, hard work anddedication to the City quickly earnedhim the respect of his peers, supervisorand city officials.

For the past seven years, he has alsoserved the community as a volunteerfirefighter. His interest in, and commit-ment to, emergency services led him toapply for an opening at the Marion Po-lice Department in 2006. City officialswholeheartedly supported him and hisdesire to have a career in law enforce-ment. He successfully completed theCriminal Justice Academy and trans-ferred to Marion Police Department,where he was the recipient Chief’saward in 2007.

In his second year on the policeforce, Eric was recognized as a localhero when he rescued a Marion womanfrom her burning home in 2008. Eric,who left the City of Marion in 2009,worked as a police officer for the Townof Nichols before he returned to Marionin October.

City Council recognizes Johson,

Walters returns as police officer

Visit the City of Marion online

at www.marionsc.gov

& on Facebook under

City of Marion, South Carolina,for the latest in news and things to do.

Questions about your Water or Sewer Bill?

Call Grand Strand Water and Sewer Authority

at (843) 765­4539or visit them in City Hall on Main Street.

JUST A REMINDER ... ... DID YOU KNOW THAT A TIRE, OR

TIRES, PLACED CURBSIDE IN THE CITY OFMARION IS CONSIDERED LITTER BY CITYORDINANCE? FOR HEALTH AND SAFETYREASONS AND IN ACCORDANCE WITHDHEC REGULATIONS, CITY EMPLOYEES NOLONGER PICK UP TIRES AT CURBSIDE.

THE FINE FOR LITTERING IS$1,092.50. HOMEOWNERS ARE TO DIS-POSE OF UNWANTED TIRES IN THE MARIONCOUNTY LANDFILL ON RED BLUFF COURTOR ON SEN. GASQUE ROAD.

CALL THE LANDFILL AT (843) 464-1157 FOR HOURS OF OPERATION. IF YOUHAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS RE-MINDER, CALL THE CITY ADMINISTRATOR,MARION CITY HALL (843) 423-5961.

Anderson Brothers' Bank is partici-pating in Toys for Tots and has drop offboxes for toys in the Marion branch of-fices and Progress Energy is acceptingtoy donations at the Dollar Generalstore to be distributed for Christmas,according to Mindy Taylor at ProgressEnergy.

Many other churches and groups areconducting food and or toy drives tohelp others during the holidays. TheCity of Marion Fire Department is gladlyaccepting donations of toys or moneyand will distribute them appropriatelyduring the holiday season. Point of Con-tact is Ryan Skipper, assistant chief,Marion City Fire Dept, 107 E. BondStreet, 843-423-8602.

Judy Johnson at the Marion Cham-ber of Commerce is compiling a list ofways to help during the holidays. If you

want to help or know of a helping pro-gram, contact her at423-3561.

Additionally, the City of Marion isconducting a $30 to buy Food forFriends campaign. The money will pur-chase food items to provide holiday din-ners to families in need in the City ofMarion. Donations are due by Dec. 20to either the Fire Department or CityHall and will be distributed on Dec. 21and 22 by the city’s firefighters and po-lice officers. DSS will help city officialsidentify the needy families.

Your donations matter! Thanks forgiving to others in our community.

Several schools are conducting fooddrives and coat drives and there aremany ways to give a helping hand thisholiday season.

Thanks for helping those around youhave a great Christmas!

FOX WATCH NEWSThe Fox Watch BBQ was a great

success! The group thanks the mem-bers of Fox Watch, its volunteers, theband and the city workers for all theirhard work. The $250 grand prize waswon by Sandy Levy and fox sculp-tures were won by Lakesha Shannonand John Loughlin.

A “BIG thank you” goes to the citi-zens who make the effort to reinvestin the health and safety of the City ofMarion, Fox Watch Coordinator,Teresa Scholz, says.

Now, the group is looking for Mar-ion citizens interested in starting awatch group in their neighborhood,on their streets or blocks.

Contact Fox Watch at (843)423-0847 and leave your name,address and telephone number.

Fox Watch meetings are the thirdMonday of each month at 6:30 p.m. inthe Fox Watch building on the cornerof Harllee and Main Streets.

All are welcome to participate. Thegroup will be presenting discussionson topics of interest for the commu-nity in the near future, Scholz says.“Look for notices here or in the com-munity events section of the localnewspapers.”

Thanksgiving and Christmas arecoming and Fox Watch wants every-one to have safe, happy and healthyholidays! Go to Facebook.com andlook for Marion Fox Watch, where wewill present tips on “things to remem-ber” during this exciting season.

Page 3 Visit the City of Marion online at www.marionsc.gov December 2010

RODNEYBERRYMayor

Mayor RodneyBerry was electedto his first four-year term in April2009. He can bereached by call-ing his office tele-phone at843-423-8235.

RALPHATKINSON

Mayor Pro TemDistrict 1

Council mem-ber Ralph Atkin-son was reelect-ed in April 2007.His term ends inApril 2011. Hecan be reachedby telephone at843-250-0446.

RONALDATKINSON

District 2

Council mem-ber Ronald Atkin-son was reelectedin April 2007. Histerm ends inApril 2011. Hecan be reachedby telephone at843-230-0072.

BETSYATKINSON

District 3

Council mem-ber Betsy Atkin-son was electedin April 2009.Her term endsin April 2013.She can bereached at843-430-1137.

BOBBYDAVIS

District 4

Council mem-ber Bobby Daviswas reelected inApril 2007. Histerm ends inApril 2011. Hecan be reachedby telephone at843-423-4655.

POIETTEBROMELL

District 5

Councilmember PoietteBromell was re-elected in April2009. Her termends in 2013.She can bereached at843-275-0265.

MICHAELBAKER

District 6

Council mem-ber MichaelBaker was re-elected in April2009. His termends in 2013. Hecan be reachedby telephone at843-222-9405.

Get to know your City Council

Large oak on Bond Street one of 21removed in city; Replanting to begin

The City of Marion was awarded a$20,400 grant, part of a grant awardedto the S.C. Forestry Commissionthrough theAmerican Recov-ery and Rein-vestment Act of2009, to removetrees that werediseased or dam-age and thatwere a liabilityfor the city.

Of thatamount about$16,000 hasbeen used to re-move hazardoustrees and about$4,500 will beused to replanttrees in the city,though not necessarily in the same lo-cations as the trees that were removed.

The city’s plan for replanting hasbeen approved by the State ForestryCommission. To be planted are three

Crabapples (Prairiefire), three KousaDogwoods, one Muskogee Crapemyrtle,two Black Gums, two American

Hophorn-beams, oneEastern Red-bud, Bald Cy-press, twoSwamp Chest-nut Oaks, oneOvercup Oak,two CarolinaSilverbells andtwo NuttallOaks.

The treeswere selectedfor their colorsduring thespring and fall,for being in-digenous to

this area, and for being disease resist-ant. They will be planted on some citystreets and in city parks. Anyone withquestions about the work should callAlan Ammons at 423-5961.

Photo by Winky Fore

Want to lend a helping hand?

Stay tuned for movies! The Recre-ation Department will be showingmovies in Grice’s and Watsonia Recre-ation Centers.

For information about those and thefollowing activities, call Cheryl at 423-5410 or stop by to see her in the Watso-nia Recreation Center.

Check us out online!The City of Marion Recreation De-

partment now has a Facebook Page andis on the Internet, on the www.Mari-

onsc.gov web site. Find us under “Resi-dents” and then click on “Recreation.” Tofind us on Facebook, search MarionRecreation Department! There are gametimes, photos and much more.

Join in the fun! Aerobics,bingo and more!

The FREE Senior Flexibility classmeets Monday and Thursday 9:30-10:30a.m. (Donations may be made to theCouncil on Aging. For information, callthe Marion County Council on Aging at423-4391.)

Also, residents of all ages are encour-aged to come join in the fun of getting fitat the Aerobics class that runs Mondaythru Friday from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Cost is$30 a month.

FREE Senior Bingo is played in theWatsonia Recreation Center the first andthird Thursdays of each month from8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

Need a place to have your party?We are taking rental applications for2011 events. Looking for an outsidevenue? We have Pop Dorsey picnic shel-ter. Inside? We have options! Call 423-5410 for rates and availability.

Page 4 Visit the City of Marion online at www.marionsc.gov December 2010

Coming Up

SPORTS & RECREATION .............................................

If you’ve been wondering about theprogress on the new tennis courts at thecity’s Withlacoochee Park: “Yes! The raindelayed us and caused us some difficul-ties we didn’t plan on.”

“Yes! We have pavement and are backon track to finish our courts this year!”

The City of Marion worked for a yearto put a financing package in place thatwould help us construct new tenniscourts for our high school teams andresident players.

In addition to the city, severalsources funded the project, includingMarion High School’s Athletic BoosterClub, local businesses, and grants fromthe S.C. Parks, Recreational and

Tourism Department and the U.S. Ten-nis Association. First constructed in thelate 1960s, and updated throughout the

years, the tennis courts were in need ofan overhaul in order for our players tohave a safe playing experience.

The new Withlacoochee Park Tennis Courts are moving from concept to reality. Fournew courts, with striping for QuickStart Programs for our younger players will be apart of the new facility.

At right, Andi Querubin heads down-field and below, Kensley Moore battlesfor position and the ball. The two wereplaying in the All Star tournament gameagainst Dillon in Sumter.

The 10 & Under team lost to Dillon tobe eliminated from the tournament andthe 12 & Under Soccer team was de-feated by Cheraw in overtime. The 15 &Under team, after losing to Conway, wasnamed the tournament runner up.

Making the 10 & Under team,coached by Joel Williams, Rusty Brittand Mike Tiesing, were Callie Bryant,Collin Jaycob Jackson, Peyton Britt,Anna Grace Johnson, Sally Brown,Andria Querubin, James Buie III, AustinTiesing, Alex Cooke, Zachary Scott Dock

Willamson, Ashley Jennifer Garner, KyleZeman, Holly Grice, Frank Drew,Brandon Ingram and Kensley Moore.

The 12 & Under team, coached byImdad and Henna Sabri and JoeySkipper, included Shynae MichelleAbrams, Aurelio Alegria Mendoza Jr.,Khyle Burns, Jason Person, HaileyCooper, Samantha Querubin, AaronFulmer, Joshua Harrison Shelley, AnnieKate Gibson, Brooks Skipper, AnnaMarie Grice, Maranda Lynn Wallace,Zackary Alan Grice, Tristan Loggie,Jamarius Diamante Mckelvy.

The 15 & Under team, coached byKelvin Copley and Imdad Sabri andKadir, was Nicholas Paul Brown,Hannah Marie Martin, Tritt Copley,Jonathan Person, Wesley Edwards,Austin Querubin, Geoffrey Fravor,Madison Reynolds, Caleb Fulmer,Brandon William Shelley, JonathanDavid Fulmer, Caleb Stone, KevinLatrone Grant Jr., Chaz Young, GarrettLane and Hunter Lane.

Congratulations to all of the athleteswho made it to the All Stars! Thanks toall the coaches for volunteering theirtime to the City’s Recreation Depart-ment!

Members of the All Star Cheerleadingteam, coached by Latoria Martin, wereKiyauna Garner, Kaylee Herlong,Ayannia Riley, Kyla Scott, HaileySprings, and Ny’asia Washingon.

The All Star Small Fry Football team,coached by McArthur Washington, in-cluded Wayne Stroud and Leory Tart,

were JaQuan Abrams, Dellieon Moody,D’Vonte Allen, Tyler Pearson, GraysonBasily, Trever Rogers, Michael Blue II,Javarious Scott, Ja’Saih Chesser,Cameron Smith, Robbie Dozier, JermainSpears, Kailik Faulk, Tavarus Steele,Shemar Grant, Patrick Stroud, AustinHayes, McArthur Washington Jr., RobertHerlong, Da’Shon Wilson, Damonte’ Leeand Marquis McGill.

Making the All Star Mite Footballteam, coached by Emerson Hunt, JackieElliott and Chad Herlong, were D’AnteAllen, Craig Legette, Cameron Copley,Cornelius Lightfoot, Justin Elliott,Jimmy McBride, Jeremiah Ellison,Jordan McKnight, Artavis Evans, JoshuaPee, Justin Evans, Tyler Rogers, JaquanFelton, Kashawn Rowell, Zachary Hayes,James Stanley Jr., Brent Herlong, ErickWilliams Jr., Jacob Herlong, MarquiseWilliams, Darius Hunt and Ronnie King.

All Star players represent City well in post-season action!

Construction nears completion on new courts