At the start of last night’s Laurens City Council meeting, Mayor Sharon Brownlee reported that City workers have been busy revamping the River Street Park. Council approved spending up to $90,000 on upgrades in that park at their January meeting. She noted these improvements are in conjunction with the half-million-dollar Community Development Block Grant former Governor Mark Sanford announced for the city two November’s ago. Brownlee noted that this grant will provide for improvements to 18 to 20 properties in the Jersey neighborhood of Laurens. Some will involve tearing down abandoned houses, others will involve other external improvements to those properties.

   In another community-improvement matter last night, Laurens City Council approved a resolution of support for a not-for-profit company’s attempts to construct low-income subsidizes homes in the Laurens Mill neighborhood. 

  This makes the second year that Council has voted in support of Genesis Homes of Greenville. Jim Childress of that company told Council last night that HUD Grants for these projects are much more competitive than in years past, due to federal funds for these programs being reduced. He said he has learned that had there been funds in the state for one more program last year, the Laurens project would have been funded. He said he’s optimistic of getting the grant for Laurens this year.

   Childress said Genesis has purchased property for three energy-efficient homes it wants to build, provided funding is available.

   These would be on one lot they’ve acquired on Jackson Street, another on Holmes Street near Second BaptistChurch, and a third at the corner of Marion and Davis Streets. Jim Childress said plans are to rent these two and three bedroom homes for low-income senior citizens. Because of the use of HUD grants for construction, they will be able to rent these new homes for between $350 to $460 a month, much below the market rate for homes of their size.

   Childress estimated there is a 50-50 chance of obtaining the HUD grant needed for these homes this year.

    City Council last night also approved an audit report for the Fiscal year that ended last June 30^th.

A Fountain Inn man assaulted a man, causing his lung to collapse. LCSO arrested 33 year-old James William Whitmire of 11 Ridgecrest Dr, Fountain Inn yesterday night. James Whitmire was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. Warrant states that James William Whitmire did intentionally commit a battery upon the victim on February 18th by striking him in the face with his fist, the assault being aggravated in that the defendant broke the victims jaw and caused his lung to collapse, causing him to seek medical attention. Whitmire was still in the JDC this morning, pending a bond hearing.

      The Laurens County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Clinton man on two “Meth” charges yesterday afternoon. 41 year-old Billy Joe Roberts of 261 Forest Drive was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine and the unlawful disposal of methamphetamine waste. Warrants state that Billy Joe Roberts did knowingly and unlawfully dispose of methamphetamine waste without authority to do so, yesterday; and that he had in his possession items used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine. Roberts was still in Johnson Detentoin Center this morning pending a bond hearing.

     A Laurens woman has been charged with Illegally placing children she is guardian of in unreasonable danger. The Laurens County Sheriff’s Office arrested 42 year-old Tracy Bell Southerland of 2117 Whelon Road, Laurens Tuesday night. She is charged with Assault and Battery of a High and Aggravated nature, accused of committing battery upon a 17 year-old victim by hitting her in the back with a toilet plunger, and also hitting her on the head. Warrant also stated Tracy Southerland did place five victims in unreasonable risk of harm by exposing them to illegal drugs. The victims were reportedly two 17-year-old minors, an 11 year-old minor, a 6 year-old minor and a 79 year-old vulnerable female.

  Tracy Southerland was also charged with the Theft of a controlled Substance for allegedly taking a quantity of Lortabs on February 18^th. She was also charged with Simple Possession of Marijuana. Ms. Southerland remained in theJohnsonDetentionCenter earlier this morning, awaiting a bond hearing.

   The Laurens County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to Mill Pond Road outside Clinton on two cases yesterday afternoon.

   One apparently involved discovery of a Meth Lab. Narcotics Officer Sgt. Matt Veal was shown the site of a suspected methamphetamine lab. He was joined by Sgt. Wilkie, then by Lt. Shelton. The suspected meth lab site was cleaned up. The matter remained under investigation of the Narcotics Squad at the Sheriff’s Office.

   The Laurens County Sheriff’s Office was also dispatched to Mill Pond Rd,Clinton yesterday afternoon on another matter. The victim in this case stated that there were two trespassers on his property and that the subjects may have also stolen some scrap metal. Upon arrival in the vicinity, officers reportedly initiated a traffic stop on Pine Street and contacted the subjects who had reportedly left Mill Pond Road in a Red Dodge pick-up. The subjects reportedly had to go by to the incident location and verify they had permission to take the scrap metal. Sheriff’s Sgts Franklin and Martin talked with the subjects and issued Trespass Notices to them, then released them.

  Laurens County EMS was averaging 37 calls a day over the past week. Our weekly summary for the week from Feb 11th through the 17th, Laurens County Emergency Medical Services responded to 261 calls, which averages just over 37 per day. The busiest days of the week were Wednesday with 49 calls and Friday with 46 calls. There were a total of 110 patients transported to Laurens County Hospital and 40 transported to facilities outside the county. There were also 32 patients treated or evaluated byLaurens County EMS who were not transported.

102 Pink Lortabs and 102 2mg Xanax, were reported stolen out of a car on Laurens East Main Street yesterday afternoon. The victim stated someone had stolen his medication, a bracelet and around $25 dollars in cash. Officers noted the car doors were unlocked and the dash had appeared to have been gone through. Officers advised the victim a report would be done. Stolen items added up to a total value of $140.

One man apparently didn’t get much use of a pickup truck he had purchased, with it having been taken over the past week.  

A Toyota Truck was taken from a Donald’s man’s property on Indian Mound Road sometime between February 16^th and the 19^th. The Laurens County Sheriff’s Office responded yesterday morning. The victim stated no one had permission to take or sell his vehicle and he also provided officers with a copy of his purchase of the truck. He alleged that the man he bought the truck from had taken the vehicle to a scrap metal company for the truck to be scrapped. The victim stated he visited the scrap metal company and saw his truck there, then contacted the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office  about the matter.

Laurens Police were dispatched to Spring Street yesterday afternoon on an apparent break-in attempt. The complainant reported a suspect was at her front door trying to get in, and had an open box cutter. The subject was gone when officers arrived, but they noted observing damage to the victim’s front door. The victim gave officers the name and number of the subject for them to contact. The incident is still under investigation.

   The Director of Public Safety for the City of Clinton has announced his retirement. Stacy Drakeford is to retire from his role as Director of Police and Fire Services for Clinton at the end of March.

   Clinton City Manager Frank Stovall told us that Chief Drakeford informed him of his retirement plans early last week, and that he informed the men and women of the Department of Public Safety last Wednesday evening.

  We asked Chief Stacy Drakeford about highlights of his 2 ½ year tenure in Clinton:

 “Getting the Department more involved in community activities, starting the explorer program, and basically all the things that we did to try to make the department more accessible to community members.”

   When asked ‘why retire now,’ Chief Drakeford cited he’s now eligible for state retirement:

 “Well…I’ve always wanted to do 25 years and I’ve done 25 years, and I’m currently finishing up my P.H.D. program that I stopped once I came here; and I decided to go back and finish it up. And I hope to become a college professor somewhere, eventually; but I’m still open to different options as they come available.”

   We asked Stacy Drakeford for his thoughts on the future needs forClinton’s Department of Public Safety:

 “Well I hope they continue to do training, because I’ve found that we’ve done a lot of training…in the last two years, and that training has helped us tremendously, especially on some of the big fires that we’ve had… …Especially over in Clinton Manor, where that training really paid off and we did what we had to do. There was no guessing. Everybody knew what they had to do and we did it, and we were able to save half of that building over there in Clinton Manor.” 

   Drakeford said he hopes Clinton will continue to use the Public Safety Concept for police and fire services:

 “I just hope they continue to move forward with the Public Safety Concept. I think it’s a good concept, especially when state agencies and federal budgets are…basically drying up…and you need to have people who are able to pitch in at any time and assist in any type of situation that the city has.”

      We asked City Manager Frank Stovall about plans to replace Drakeford as Head of the Department of Public Safety:

 “We have a very good command level staff over at the Department of Public Safety. And I have the utmost confidence that they will be able to manage the Department and continue to provide high quality services to our citizens. What we will do is, in the middle of March, we will name an interim director who will guide the department for the next few months while we search for a full-time replacement for Chief Drakeford.”