Mobile Home Sales in Bennettsville, SC

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) - The threat of severe weather from Tropical Storm Ian has led to the postponement or cancellation of events in the Grand Strand and Pee Dee.

This list will be updated as more information comes in:

HORRY COUNTY

Horry County Schools announced Wednesday that all district facilities and schools will be closed Friday for an eLearning day due to the weather. Officials said school staff members will provide directions for students regarding the remote day. All after-school activities scheduled for Thursday and Friday have also been canceled.

HCS employees will also work remotely except for nutrition services staff, bus drivers, maintenance technicians and building services staff. The district said those employees will be allowed to make up the day based on their schedules.

The Georgetown County School District also made Friday an eLearning day, with all of its facilities closed and after-school activities scheduled for Thursday and Friday canceled. In addition, all GCSD activities scheduled for Saturday have also been called off. The district said it intends to return to normal operations on Monday.

A Myrtle Beach Fire Safety event scheduled for Saturday at the Coastal Grand Mall was postponed until Oct. 22.

The City of North Myrtle Beach has canceled its Farmers Market event scheduled for Friday.

Barefoot Landing’s OktoberFest! rescheduled for Saturday, Oct. 15 from Oct. 1.

Several Grand Strand and Pee Dee high school football games have also been rescheduled due to the storm.

Brookgreen Gardens announced it will close Friday, with a tentative reopening date of Saturday.

Myrtle Beach has canceled Mrytle’s Market, The Market Common Market, the Goomday Kickball tournament, and Myrtle Beach Recreation Center’s after-school program. The Myrtle Beach Barc Parcs will also be closed Friday.

The “I Love Seafood” festival has been rescheduled to Nov. 5-6, the Fall Jerk Festival has moved to Oct. 30, Pride in the Park is now on Oct. 22 and Britfest Car Show at The Market Common will be held Oct. 15.

Coast RTA also announced it will suspend service Friday due to the storm.

Coastal Carolina University will move to online classes Friday and anticipate in-person classes will resume Saturday.

Horry-Georgetown Technical College has canceled all night classes beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday and all Friday classes, field trips, internships and clinicals. All operations will resume Monday.

Surfside Beach Sanitation Schedule Adjusted Due to Hurricane Ian. The Town of Surfside Beach has suspended all sanitation services for Friday. Friday Curbside Recycling will take place on Monday. Friday Yard Debris area will be serviced on Tuesday. Friday Commercial dumpster route will be serviced on Sunday.

Horry County Animal Care Center will be closed Friday through Sunday, staff will continue to care for the animals on-site.

All Horry County Parks will close at 5 p.m. Thursday and any Horry County sponsored athletics will be canceled. All Parks and Recreation Centers will plan to reopen Saturday for indoor activities.

Horry County Memorial Libary branches will be closed Friday.

The Horry County Museum and L.W. Living History Farm have canceled all Friday programming.

The Horry County Solid Waste Authority facilities including Landfill, Material Recycling Facility, Household Hazardous Waste Facility and all 25 Horry County Recycling Convenience Centers will be closed Friday. The Landfill on Highway 90 and the Material Recycling facility on Three R Drive will reopen Saturday at 6 a.m. and the Recycling convenience centers will be planned to reopen Saturday at 7 a.m., depending on the availability of power.

The North Myrtle Beach Park and Sports Complex will be closed on Friday and will reopen Saturday, weather permitting.

Loris City Hall will be closed Friday.

North Myrtle Beach trash collection will be canceled Friday. There are plans to resume collection Saturday, weather permitting.

Publix announced that it will close multiple Grand Strand locations Friday. Those locations include:

Myrtle Beach International Airport will remain open however they urge travelers to check with individual airlines for flight statuses.

FLORENCE COUNTY

Florence County School Districts 2, 3 and 5 announce e-learning day in preparation for Hurricane Ian | Florence County schools are preparing for the impacts of Hurricane Ian, announcing Friday as an e-learning day. Florence County School District 5 has canceled all after-school activities for Thursday and Friday, with plans to return to normal Monday, Oct. 3.

Florence-Darlington Techincal College will now be closed Friday due to the closure of Florence County offices.

Florence After 5, scheduled for Friday, September 30 is canceled due to forecast impacts of rain and wind associated with Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ian. The city says it will be unable to reschedule the event due to a full slate of events scheduled in October, November, and December. Florence After 5 will return on Friday, May 26, 2023.

Pee Dee Plant and Flower Festival - The Fall Plant and Flower Festival at the Pee Dee State Farmers Market has been rescheduled for Oct. 14-16, 2022. The festival was originally set for this weekend.

Lake City administrative offices will be closed on Friday, with plans to reopen Monday. All events are canceled for Friday and Saturday. Sandbags are available at the Public Works Department to Lake City residents on a first come first serve basis. There is a limit of 10 per household. Trash pick-up for Friday will be pushed to Monday.

Frances Marion University will cancel Friday classes and activities will be canceled throughout the weekend. Essential workers will still report to work. Dining Services and dorms will remain open and classes will resume on Monday at 8:30 a.m.

Florence Christian School and Child Care will be closed Friday.

American Airlines has canceled its flights for Friday into the Florence Regional Airport.

DILLON COUNTY

Dillon School Districts Three and Four will have an eLearning Day Friday due to inclement weather.

Dillon Christian School will cancel classes Friday, no eLearning will be required.

MARLBORO COUNTY

Marlboro County School District will have a half day Thursday and eLearning Friday. All extracurricular activities Friday will be canceled.

The Humane Society of Marlboro County will be closed this Friday and Saturday, September 30 and October 1 due to heavy rainfall and winds expected from Hurricane Ian. Staff will still be on site to feed and clean.

Bennettsville Administrative offices will be closed Friday with plans to reopen Monday at 8:30 a.m.

The City of Bennettsville Public Works will not have a collection on Friday. Roll-out carts, limbs and leaves will not be collected. The normal schedule will resume Monday.

All Marlboro County offices will be closed Friday.

MARION COUNTY

All Marion County Schools will operate as an eLearning Day on Friday, Sept. 30. All facilities and buildings will be closed for staff and students. Students will be assigned eLearning assignments that are expected to be completed at home.

Marion County Administration buildings will be closed Friday with plans to reopen Monday at 8:30 a.m.

ROBESON COUNTY

Due to possible weather impacts by Tropical Storm Ian, the Public Schools of Robeson County will operate on a remote schedule tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 30. Friday remains a teacher workday for students. The remote schedule pertains to PSRC staff members. Additionally, PSRC Early College will operate on an asynchronous instructional day schedule.

All classes at Robeson Community College will move to online instruction for Friday. Students are asked to check with their instructors regarding clinicals and other field-related classes.

The college will resume a normal operating schedule on Monday October 3, 2022. The college asks that students, faculty, and staff continue to check the RCC website and social media pages for the latest updates.

DARLINGTON COUNTY

All County offices, the landfill, solid waste collection and recycling centers will be closed Friday Weather permitting, normal hours will resume on Saturday for the landfill, solid waste collection and recycling centers.

GEORGETOWN COUNTY

Georgetown County offices will be closed Friday. Taxes due on Sept. 30 can be paid on Monday, Oct. 3 without penalty.

STATE

South Carolina reschedules game against SC State due to Hurricane Ian impacts - The Gamecocks will take on the Bulldogs at 7 p.m. Thursday instead of Saturday at noon.

South Carolina State University will cancel Friday classes and it has rescheduled the Friday volleyball match against North Carolina Central University to Sunday, Oct. 2 at 1 p.m.

Copyright 2022 WMBF. All rights reserved.

Calhoun, GA, August 4, 2022-Mohawk Industries will transition its Bennettsville, South Carolina yarn conversion and extrusion operations to manufacturing facilities in northwest Georgia.

Operations in Bennettsville will cease on October 6.

Mohawk's Q2 earnings release, the firm foretold of this type of cost reducing activity:“To adapt to current conditions and improve our results, we are taking actions across the enterprise to restructure our costs. We are finalizing plans to rationalize older, less efficient assets and optimize processes to lower our costs. The most significant actions will be in Flooring North America, including some fiber assets and reducing rug manufacturing capacity.

The Bennettsville campus, locally known as “Oak River,” consists of three plants that collectively employ about 600 people. These team members will receive outplacement support from Mohawk’s human resources team to identify employment opportunities in the area.

“Since the 1990s, people at Oak River have seen many changes, all of which were part of ongoing efforts to extend the operations on this campus and to invest in the Bennettsville community,” said Curt Hutchins, president of Mohawk’s residential carpet business. “Oak River continued to operate for almost thirty years after the closure of the carpet plant it was built to support. That speaks to the commitment to excellence of the people at this plant. However, during that same time period, we have also seen significant changes in consumer fiber preferences and manufacturing technology advances, both of which have ultimately directed this business decision.”

While Mohawk is ending operations in Bennettsville, the consolidation of yarn conversion and extrusion in northwest Georgia represents the company’s continued commitment to delivering quality, speed and efficiency to customers through state-of-the-art equipment. The company expects no interruption of service during this transition.

“Oak River has been in the county for more than 60 years,” according to WPDE.

“‘The news of Oak River’s closing was unexpected, especially considering the County Council had just approved new tax incentives for the company in April of this year and at that time there was no indication of plans to close the site. Marlboro County has a long-standing record of assisting Mohawk and even developed a free bus route in 2017 to transport employees to and from the site,’ said [Marlboro County Administrator Ron] Munnerlyn.

“At one time, the plant employed more than 1,000 people.”

As of 2005, the plant produced 50 million pounds of spun and filament fiber annually. The company made a $60 million expansion to the facility in 2010.

UNION COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – Recently, there was a big manhunt in Union County for an escaped inmate. He was being held on charges for stealing a vehicle and several traffic violations.

So, why did law enforcement pull out all the stops for a massive manhunt? 7NEWS dug deeper to find out.

“He had a list of about 40 people that he wanted to kill,” said Neil McKeown, director of the Union County Detention Center. “You can’t take it lightly. So, all hands were on deck trying to get him.”

David Strickland escaped from the Union County Detention Center on September 30. He was on the run for over a week.

“You have someone that escaped from jail, you know. So, there’s a rhyme and a reason behind of why they done that. Whether that’s to harm someone or just to run,” said Captain Scott Coffer.

McKeown said Strickland escaped from the work camp area. He went through a fire exit, into a small, fenced in area.

“But when he went out, he carried a blanket and a bunch of clothes with him and threw them over the razor wire,” said McKeown.

The first night, Sheriff Jeff Bailey said it was only law enforcement from the Union County area searching.

“We’ve got an obligation to the community to keep searching and that’s what we were going to do,” said Sheriff Bailey.

As one day passed into another, they realized they needed more help.

“We didn’t have the manpower we needed,” said the sheriff. “So, I reached out to neighboring counties. Spartanburg County, York County, Greenville County was involved. U.S. Marshals, their fugitive team, and SLED.”

7NEWS reporter Alessandra Young asked the sheriff directly if this escaped inmate making a verbal hit list, threatening law enforcement and other people, made them use extra resources when trying to apprehend him.

“Yes, we felt like we needed to use as many resources as possible to apprehend this individual, because the more time he spent on the run, the better his chances were that he could acquire a weapon or try and take care of some of these people he had threatened,” said Bailey.

Law enforcement found out about the “hit list” by speaking with other inmates after Strickland escaped. Near the top of that list was Captain Scott Coffer.

“It was later on that night that I learned about this list by some of the jail staff and they told me that I was on there,” he said.

The captain said it’s not the first time he’s been threatened.

“When you have a family, you always want to protect them,” said Captain Coffer. “So, on that side of it, yeah, you always kind of, maybe look over your shoulder for a minute.”

Just when they were running out of tips and places to look, they got the call they were hoping for.

Strickland was recaptured inside an abandoned house.

Captain Coffer said after searching and searching, they found him hiding inside the insulation in the attic. He said they were able to find him all thanks to a CrimeStoppers tip.

Strickland has a record dating back to 1996. With this being his second escape from jail.

His first escape was back in 2002 from a prison in Bennettsville. That time, he was recaptured the same day.

What landed him in the Union County Jail this past August, Captain Coffer said, was stealing a car and various traffic violations.

On the morning of August 30th, that stolen truck was spotted.

“Knew it 100% was him, tried to block him in and he went come around me and then we had a vehicle pursuit,” said Captain Coffer.

Captain Coffer said Strickland did damage to property, like destroying a church fence, during the chase. After he crashed, Captain Coffer took him into custody. Which, he believed, landed him on that verbal hit list.

Now, back behind bars, McKeown said Strickland is being kept in a maximum security cell, and being watched at all hours.

As for the entire hunt and recapturing, Sheriff Bailey said it’s a collaborative effort between multiple agencies.

“We work as hard as we can and we use all the resources we have available to us and just be patient, but we won’t ever give up. I promise you that,” said Sheriff Bailey.

The sheriff said the scale of any manhunt depends on the particulars of the case and Strickland’s threats escalated their response.

There are steps being taken to keep this kind of thing from happening again.

The detention center director said they are improving the razor wire at the work camp building.

He said overcrowding played a huge role in Strickland being moved to that work camp building and had a lot to do with his ability to escape.

He said they are planning to build an addition to the jail, which will give them 62 additional beds.

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BENNETTSVILLE, S.C. (WPDE) — Nine incarcerated men at Evans Correctional Institution received workforce certificates in business and industrial technology from Northeastern Technical College (NETC) at a graduation ceremony held on Aug. 9.

A press release from Cheraw college stated the ceremony was the second of its kind for the college and the prison, made possible by the Department of Education’s Second Chance Pell Experiment.

The experiment allows incarcerated people to receive federal financial aid for higher education, to increase their access to college; in 2016, NETC was selected as one of 67 colleges in the United States to participate in a pilot program.

One of the men who graduated spoke at the ceremony and talked about his pride in completing the program along with his appreciation for the opportunity presented through the program.

Today is a historic day at Evans Correctional, we are acknowledging the success of a few believers, who became achievers in their educational pursuit. History has shown that success is not achieved by doing nothing, but the result of exercising belief, perseverance, and endless efforts to accomplish what seemed impossible,” he said. “Northeastern Technical College provided us the opportunity to obtain educational credentials that will indeed enhance our possibilities for success in life as productive returning citizens.

He continued to say, "Knowledge that is earned, is knowledge that cannot be discredited or even taken away. I stand proud with these men graduating today, we have accomplished our goals through belief, perseverance, and effort."

Due to the success of the experiment, the press release shared that funding eligibility will expand in 2023 to include incarcerated individuals in correctional facilities throughout South Carolina.

NETC has now expanded its curriculum to include stackable workforce programs in order for students to gain workforce skills, employable knowledge, and lifelong learning opportunities that “stack” upon other educational opportunities to create Associate and Bachelor degrees.

At the graduation, the South Carolina Department of Corrections Director, Bryan Stirling said, “Our department couldn’t have success with recidivism without education and job skills programs like this one. I want to thank our colleagues at Northeastern Tech and the staff at Evans for making this program so successful. It wasn’t always easy to work through the limitations of the pandemic, but they stayed the course and provided the leadership and structure to help build a better life for our graduates and their families.”

A study from RAND, first conducted in 2013 and updated in 2018, found that access to postsecondary education in prison can reduce recidivism by up to 48%, which ultimately leads to safer communities and less of a financial burden for taxpayers.

Jan. 9—LAURINBURG — When Scotland head basketball coach Michael Malpass played for the Fighting Scots from 1992-95, he never knew he'd become his alma mater's head coach one day, or have his former high school coach Walter Steele on his staff today.

He also never realized he would reach a career milestone 300 wins as a head basketball coach.

On Jan. 5, when the final buzzer sounded to give Scotland a 63-56 win over the Purnell Swett Rams, Malpass had secured his 300th career win as a head coach.

Malpass, who has been a head boys varsity basketball coach for 16 years, is now in his second stint as the Scotland varsity head basketball coach after he coached the Fighting Scots from 2013-15 before stepping down to pursue a full-time role as a pastor at New Hope Baptist Church. Malpass still preaches there to this day.

And, if it wasn't for his faith and those that helped him along the way, Malpass said he wouldn't be where he is today.

"I want to thank the folks who invested in me when I started this journey of coaching boys' varsity basketball," he said. "I was an intern for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte while attending there under former head coach Bobby Lutz, who is the all-time wins leader at Charlotte, and his knowledge, approach, and belief in his players, coaches, and myself made a huge impact at an early age. I played basketball at Scotland High and my most influential coach was Walter Steele, who is on my staff today. I want to thank the administration, coaches, and players from Harvest Christian Academy in Fort Worth, Texas, Evangel Family Christian Academy in Montgomery, Ala. Crenshaw Christian Academy in Luverne, Ala. Rocky River High School in Mint Hill, N.C., Marlboro Academy in Bennettsville, S.C., and my current alma mater Scotland High School."

"My strongest and best support has always been my wife Charity Malpass, who is not only a wonderful coach's wife, but also a wonderful pastor's wife. My four kids love sports and have shown me unconditional love and support and a special thanks goes to Bronson, Makayla, Peyton, and Reagan. I believe writing a vision, making it plain, and going after it with passion and good mentors is the key to achieving your dreams. I sit here today with multiple conference championships, state championships, final four appearances, but (it couldn't be done) most importantly (without) the players who have won all the games in real time. Our goal is to love our staff and players, and help them be successful in every area of life."