The

LLancaster
ancaste News
Lancaster Countys triweekly newspaper

<< A FOOD REVOLUTION

Chef Tillie Kerna teaches
healthy food options at
Indian Land Elementary School
EDUCATION, 3B

SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2015

www.thelancasternews.com

Council
considers
requests
at hearing

75 CENTS

2015 FARMER OF THE YEAR

It does make me feel pretty good when they
come right up like this, not just in a pasture.

CATTLE PRODUCER
CHUCK GARRISON JR.

COMFORTABLE

Denyse Clark

dclark@thelancasternews.com

Lancaster City Council held a public

hearing and budget workshop for its
proposed $23.8 million fiscal 2015-16
budget Tuesday, June 16.
One school project request and several
council recommendations were made at
the meeting, but not all of them were
fully approved .
During the public hearing, Reggie
Lowery, executive director of Communities In Schools (CIS), addressed council about its continued support for
YouthBuild.
Lowery said in YouthBuild, students
receive academic assistance and preparation to earn their GED or high school
diploma through the Adult Education
Department with the Lancaster County
School District.
YouthBuild offers opportunities to
earn an award, Lowery said. Students
can get $1,000 toward college tuition by
participating in this program.
Lowery said he was asking for a
YouthBuild grant to help build two
homes and continue its partnership
with the city for the upcoming year.
Lowerys request was heard by council and is expected to be included in
See REQUESTS I Page 2A

Summer
storm packs
a punch
Reece Murphy

rmurphy@thelancasternews.com

A summer storm rolled across Lancaster County on Thursday evening

June 18, causing scattered damage and
leaving thousands without power, some
into Friday afternoon.
News of the pending storm came about
2:49 p.m. Thursday, with a National
Weather Service severe thunderstorm
warning issued for southeastern Lancaster County, predicting lightning and a
storm capable of producing wind gusts in
excess of 60 mph and quarter-size hail.
Though the initial storm warning was
in effect only until 3:45 p.m., the brunt of
the storm hit Lancaster County between
6:30 and 7:15 p.m. and continued interSee STORM I Page 3A

AMONG HIS

CATTLE HERD

Garrison has a magic touch when it comes to livestock

Gregory A. Summers
gsummers@thelancasternews.com

huck Garrison isnt your typical beef producer. For one

thing, he steers clear of the
words calf and cow. Theyre not
part of his farming vocabulary.
As Garrison knelt down along the
tree line of a 70-acre spread off Mahaffey Line during a recent early
morning meander, it made perfect
sense.
He calls them adults and babies.
But he doesnt call em much.
Garrison doesnt have to.
As soon as he stops walking, they
show up. Garrison may be outnumbered 29 to 1, but he wasnt too
worried as the small herd joined
him along a tree line within arms
length. He is definitely comfortable
among his cattle.
It does make me feel pretty good
when they come right up like this,
not just in a pasture, he said.
See COMFORTABLE I Page 2A

PHOTOS BY GREGORY A. SUMMERS/gsummers@thelancasternews.com

Chuck Garrison signed up for the federal Environmental Quality Incentives

Program (EQIP) to partially pay for improvements, such as culverts at the
old Ed Mahaffey Dairy Farm off Memorial Park Road.

CCA helps struggling families

with wide range of services
Cathyleen Rice
crice@thelancasternews.com

For almost 50 years, Carolina Community Affairs (CCA) has provided help
to those facing economic challenges in
York, Union, Chester, Fairfield and Lancaster counties.
Its goal is reducing the causes and
conditions of poverty, and the agency
has spent more than $30 million
through the 2012-13 fiscal year to assist
both low-income families and individuals with a range of services from job
placement to helping pay utility bills.
It's a shame many people dont know
about these services, said Shirley Harris, a senior citizen who received an
HVAC unit through CCA after her unit
stopped working.
Harris said when she heard there was
a nonprofit organization willing to help,

163rd year, No. 75

Two sections
16 pages
Subscriber services
(803) 283-1145

she swallowed her pride.

Pride gets in the way for many people and they allow their pride to get in
the way of them receiving free goods.
No one will ever know what they can
get, unless they apply, Harris said.
After applying for help in November
2014, Harris said CCA sent a contractor
to her home for an assessment and
within two weeks, the faulty HVAC unit
had been replaced.
It makes me feel marvelous that
someone came out here and did such a
nice thing for me, Harris said.
CCA offer five major programs. They
include:
General Emergency Assistance Program-provides rental/mortgage assistance for those facing immediate evicCHRIS SARDELLI/csardelli@thelancasternews.com
tion and youth leadership employment Temperatures 13 degrees above the normal average of 87 degrees have many famiSee CCA I Page 3A lies struggling to stay cool and pay utility bills. CCA has a program that can help.

Weather

Sunny and
steamy, little
chance of rain
Highs: 95-97
Lows: 74-76

Index
Celebrations .........................4B
Classifieds ............................7B
Coming Events ....................6B
Education ...........................3B

Entertainment ..................5B
Faces & Places ..................1B
Opinion .............................7A
Sports ................................5A

Death, 4A

Inside, 1B

Linda Williams

Discover local
agricultural riches
at annual Ag+Art
tour June 27-28

The Lancaster News www.thelancasternews.com Sunday, June 21, 2015 | Page 3A

KVLT speaker series set for thursday at uscl

Bill Stokes to discuss paddling on Catawba River

Katawba Valley Land Trust

The next speaker in the Katawba Valley Land Trust 2015

Speaker Series is local paddler
Bill Stokes.
The lecture is 7 p.m. Thursday, June 25, at the University
of South Carolina Lancaster
Carole Ray Dowling Center,
509 Hubbard Drive. The lecture
is free and open to the public.
Stokes, known to some locals
as the eyes and ears of Lancaster County stretch of the
Catawba River, an experienced
and avid kayaker. He has been
paddling the Catawba River
and its tributaries for more
than 15 years. His first trip on
the Catawba was on the Great
Falls Reservoir below the Fishing Creek or Nitrolee Dam and
Stumpy Pond near Great Falls.
The river and paddling captured his imagination from this
beginning and Stokes has
spent countless hours exploring the river basin.
Stokes especially enjoys the
serenity and quiet majesty
found along the Catawba in the
early mornings. He has seen

CCA
>>FROM 1A
u A Weatherization Assistance Program reduces
energy costs to low-income persons, while improving the comfort and
indoor quality of home.
u The Low-Income
Home Energy Assistance
Program (LIHEAP) provides low income households with heating and
cooling equipment or
helping with energy bills.
u The Workforce Investment Act provides
training and supportive
activities for workforce
development for out-ofschool youth and adults.
u Head Start is a federal program that promotes
the school readiness of
children from birth to age
five from low-income
families.
Diane Wells, CCA community liaison, said the
agency can assist anyone
whose income doesnt
exceed 150 percent over
the federal poverty guideline. That means the
monthly income for a
one-party
household
cannot exceed $1,471.25
if they need help with
utility bills or $14,712.50
a year for rent and mortgage assistance.
The majority of the
time, we help individuals
with their utility bill,
Wells said. Both those
needing emergency and
non-emergency help, we

Storm
>>FROM 1A
mittently
throughout
most of the evening.
Hardest hit was the
area between Lancaster
and Kershaw with reports
of trees down on Bailey,
Potter and East Doc Garris roads.
Emergency services in
Kershaw also received
calls about lightening
strikes at a home on
North Ingram Street and
the Kershaw Bowling Alley at Stevens Park and
other locations.
I dont think it actually
struck the building, but
in part of the building,
the lights were on, the
other part wasnt, Kershaw Town Administrator
Tony Starnes said of the
bowling alley. Same
thing at the waste treatment plant; some of the
pumps wouldnt come
on, but they got it taken
care of right away.
Faring much worse from
the storm, however, was
the countys power grid.
Between York Electric
Cooperative in the Panhandle and Duke Energy
in the central and southern portions of the county, about 615 homes were
still without power at
noon Friday.
Though the company
reported a total of about

and photographed breathtaking sunrises and sunsets and

numerous birds, as well as
wildflowers, capturing the
moods of the river in all seasons. A naturalist in every
sense, Stokes meticulously records all the wildlife he sees.
For Stokes, nothing matches
the serenity of paddling the
Catawba River on a crisp, early
fall morning.
I can talk about it for hours,
Stokes said in a past interview.
You arrive at sunrise when
theres a little mist on the water
before the crowd gets out.
Theres just no better place to
watch birds and wildlife.
Since June 1998, the electrical engineer has been a regular
fixture on the river. He has also
pulled all kinds of litter and
more than 17,000 balls from
the free-flowing stretch of the
Catawba between Nitrolee
Dam and Bowater.
Once Stokes collects the
balls, he cleans and inflates the
ones in good condition to give
to Scout troops, schools, recreation departments and any kid

PHOTO SUPPLIED

Bill Stokes retrieves balls and litter from the Catawba River nearly every weekend. He calls his effort
a win-win situation. I get to exercise and enjoy wildlife and a kid gets a ball, he said in a past interview. What could be better than that?
who needs a ball.
His goal is to help protect the
river so his children and grandchildren can enjoy its pristine
beauty, too.

award up to $500 toward

their utility bill, based on
certain criteria.
Sometimes, individuals are close to having their
lights turned off within
five days, and for us, that
means were obligated to
respond within 48 hours
and immediately help,
Wells said. The maximum
amount a person can receive is $225, but through
added incentives, they can
receive up to $500.
From
single-parent
households and those in
coed relationships with
children under age 5 to
senior citizens, CCA
helps the struggling.
We also help youth in
the community, in which
we actually pay their salaries or hire them as an
intern and help them acquire job training, Wells
said. Paying for others to
get their degrees and job
training in various programs is another thing
we do to help.
Former
Lancaster
County EMS employee
Virginia Thomas stopped
in the local CCA office for
information about a program that placed seniors
into the workforce.
Since CCA and EMS
shared the same building, I stopped in one day
and was advised by Artimisha Foster that they
had an AARP program,
she said. Being over 60,
Im really happy theres a
program out here that
helps people my age.
After completing the

program, Thomas became

an intake worker at CCA,
where she takes applications and advises others
about its services.
Thomas is hopeful other
seniors in the county will
find out about the wide
range of programs offered
by CCA. She said many of
them dont realize there is
help to supplement income and lift financial
burdens.
Its a great program
that gives you a chance to
get out the house and
earn extra money, she
said. This program gives
me an everyday purpose
to serve others and gives
me an over joyous feeling
to reach people who may
need me. Doing something so small can make
them feel like theyre doing something effective.
CCA in Lancaster is currently taking applications
to assist low-income families with home energy
cooling bills and a variety
of other programs. Families can receive assistance
with utility bills up to
$1,000 or get a new air
conditioner or HVAC unit
at no cost. Senior citizens
may also qualify to receive
a 16-inch oscillating stand
fan.
Applications are taken
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday
through Thursday at 101
Wylie St.
Family
households
must be income-eligible
with required documentation, such as a photo ID
with current address, So-

300 outages overnight,

most of York Electric Cooperatives
outages,
about 265, were concentrated in an area just
south of Waxhaw Highway, due to damage at a
relay station operated by
Duke Energy.
Duke Energy Government and Community
Relations Director Rick
Jiran said company power crews contended with
nearly 3,500 outages
overnight at scattered locations throughout its
coverage area.
By Friday morning,
crews had whittled the
number of outages down
to about 385, nearly all of
which were tied to a single outage outside the Elgin and Rich Hill communities between Lancaster and Heath Springs.
Crews were still working to restore power to
the homes Friday afternoon.
Theres 350 customers
on that particular circuit, Jiran said. Weve
got nine spans (of power
line) that hit the ground
and broke cross bars.
Thats a lot of damage
and its in a remote spot,
he said.
Jiran said overall he
was pleased with the
power crews response,
especially given that they
had to work through the
night and were still at it in
the heat of a very hot day.

We certainly appreciate the patience of our

customers because we
know theyre hot in their
homes with no electricity, Jiran said. But were
working as fast and safe
as we can.
According to most reports, the storm was largely dry with only one brief,
albeit intense, bout of rain
that lasted 15 to 20 minutes and dropped a quarter- to a half-inch of rain.
NWS
meteorologist
Steven Naglick said the
storm was a result of the
intense seasonal heat,
which drives warm air
upward and comes back
down with a vengeance
as it cools in the higher
altitudes.
Its typical, Naglick
said Friday. Theres a
slight chance of storms
today and then tomorrow, but then Sunday
through
Tuesday
it
should be dry and reheating up again into the
100s.
Next week its going to
be warm, he said.
Contact reporter Reece
Murphy at (803) 283-1151
or follow on Twitter at
@ReeceTLN

Stokes will share his beautiful photographs, as well as his

captivating stories at his upcoming lecture. The lecture is
free and open to the public.

cial Security cards for all

household
members,
household income, mortgage bill/lease statement
and/or an eviction notice.
Were here to help others maintain and sustain
themselves through an
awesome opportunity,
Wells said. This agency
serves as a model for nonprofit organizations. Were
the type that serves a huge
market in our community
to provide assistance to
low-income families in
need of help.
I go home every day
knowing weve helped
someone improve their
quality of life.
Contact intern Cathyleen Rice
at (803) 283-1155

Please plan to join KVLT for an

interesting and educational
evening. For information, contact kvlt@comporium.net or
(803) 285-5801.

CATHYLEEN rICE/crice@thelancasternews.com

Shirley Harris stands beside the new HVAC unit she

received through CCA in November 2014.