Mobile Home Sales in Clyde, SC

We covered a lot of newsy items Wednesday so let’s start Thursday with a funny story.

South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp recounted it Wednesday to the Columbia TD Club during a lunch appearance. Muschamp was asked about his support staff and was praising director of high school relations Clyde Wrenn. As you’ll see, Muschamp’s praise often comes with a healthy dash of chop-busting.

“Clyde Wrenn has probably been the best hire I have had to be honest with you in terms of a guy who has been able to connect a lot of the dots for me as far as the South Carolina people because he understands the South Carolina people,” Muschamp said. “He was working for Coach (Ray) Tanner. Coach Tanner kept saying, ‘You need to talk to Clyde Wrenn.’ Finally, I just started wondering if he was just trying to get rid of Clyde Wrenn. This is a true story. Clyde came in and I said, ‘What can you do for our football program to make a difference in a positive manner?’ Clyde started going through all the things he could do. He also said, ‘I’m going to have the best high school coaching clinic in the world.’ He denies this now, but he did say it in my office. I said, ‘In the world?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’

“I said, ‘Let me tell you about a high school clinic to me that is very important. First of all, we have to keep our speakers happy and we have to get really competent, good speakers. I said high school coaches and myself like cold beer, I’m going to be honest with you. So we have to have plenty of that. And I said I like to eat and they like to eat, so we need good food. You do those three things and we’ll have a great clinic.’ He said, ‘I can handle all of that.’

“So it comes time for the clinic. He gets Coach (Lou) Holtz to come back but the plane he had got canceled. So now Coach Holtz is (mad). He’s mad coming in the door. I said, ‘Well, you violated rule No. 1.’ Then we come out and the coaches are all sitting out there and there’s no beer. I said, ‘Clyde, where’s the beer?’ He said, I was going to hold it for later. I said, ‘What are we waiting on? Are you trying to make them thirsty? Let’s get the beer out here.’ Then that night we ran out of food. Now, he says he’s going to get it back next year, but I question that.

“No, Clyde’s been outstanding. He’s a great friend in a short period of time, and a guy that I really trust.”

As for actual football news, the Gamecocks began their game preparation for Vanderbilt during Thursday morning’s practice so the season in almost here.

This story was originally published August 25, 2016, 8:22 AM.

There are times when a sandwich is far more than the sum of its digestible parts.

It can be a convergence of filling, sauce and garnish with the ability to transform a truck stop café into a culinary nirvana.

Or it can be a bread-centric vehicle for a formerly incarcerated, freshly freed line cook to pay the rent and start anew.

Or it can even be a savory testament to the fact that anything in life, even lunchmeat, holds the potential to be elevated to a higher plane.

All of the above are operative in the hands of playwright Lynn Nottage. In her comedic play “Clyde’s,” she skillfully blends humor and hardship, the bitter and sweet, the sacred and the mundane into something wholly satisfying and stick-to-your-ribs.

It’s no wonder that enlightened sandwich-making is at its tantalizing core, serving up a deft balance of bright comedic flavors, salty characters and some dramatic piquancy.

After making its Broadway debut in 2021, “Clyde’s” is now in its Southeastern regional premiere at Charleston’s Pure Theatre. A new production directed by Chad Henderson runs through Nov. 19 at Cannon Street Arts Center.

Beating the others to the regional premiere punch is a feat in and of itself. As Pure’s co-founder and artistic director Sharon Graci pointed out in her pre-show welcome, the work is currently the most-staged play in the country.

The twice-anointed Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright is as masterful as ever behind the wheel of this work, nimbly shifting gears from barbed exchanges to elegiac ponderings on Zen and the art of sandwich construction, coming together in a gritty lyricism that holds true and holds sway, too.

A quartet of four once-imprisoned kitchen workers find themselves at the mercy of another, the devilish Clyde, who quickly demonstrates that she has no qualms in eating them all for lunch. Their shared plight as formerly incarcerated elicits no empathy from their boss. Instead, it reinforces that she has them right where she wants them: subjugated and fearful.

Well, not so much Montrellous. As portayed by the mesmerizing Keith H. Alston, he transforms the seemingly menial task before him into a spiritual experience. He’s a sandwich sensei who can channel Buddha with a breadknife. And his mad mealtime skills have inspired his fellow line workers to find their own perfect version, too, drawing from cultural influences and tapping creativity.

His disciples consist of three co-workers who have each sealed their fate in lapses of judgment that ended in jail time. Letitia, or Tish, is a struggling mother whose desire to take care of her child was compromised by fleeting temptation. She’s played with equal parts poignancy and deceptive ease by the transfixing Tonya Smalls Williams.

Tish is the object of affection for Rafael, a markedly mild-mannered, former drug addict, by way of the demurring, self-effacing Michael Smallwood. And new on the line is the hate-tatted, recently released Jason, who first came to life in Nottage’s much-heralded “Sweat.” Addison Dent is a credibly wary new parolee, aiming to keep his head down and elude engagement.

Even with sufficient collective hard knocks to render each resistant to hope or heart, the crew becomes bonded in the truck stop trenches. Survival entails they navigate the vagaries and random cruelty of Clyde, their chain-smoking, beer-swigging boss.

And then there is Clyde. In the title role, Joy Vandervort-Cobb is a red-satin-swathed menace, joking one minute and jabbing the next, keeping them forever watchful of her potential wrath. The Pure ensemble member is always commanding, but when she trains her formidable stage presence on a truck stop diner devil, there’s enough fire in the greasy spoon to cause serious damage.

It should also be flagged that the flash parade of Clyde’s getups and hairdos, by way of the stylings of Ambernice Tolliver, is worth the price of admission alone. Vandervort-Cobb owns every bit of fire engine red lycra and distressed denim. She swaggers around Richard Heffner’s effective set, with its rolling stainless tables reconfigured as need be, and a backwall cutout, where she rings in new orders and suspiciously surveys the staff.

For those who think a truck stop diner is well-trod terrain, you haven’t met Clyde, or the hapless employees under her thumb. With Nottage steering their fate, you’ll certainly laugh, pause to think and leave with a great Jones for a killer sandwich.

A couple who called themselves the “modern-day Bonnie and Clyde” took control of people’s bank accounts after going on a monthslong mail-stealing spree throughout three southeastern states, prosecutors say.

Michael H. Boatwright, 33, and Stephanie Michelle Lea Napier, 29, drove around to rummage through mailboxes in their home state of South Carolina, as well as Florida and Georgia, and illegally gathered the personal information of their victims, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia.

With that information, prosecutors say they were able to take over a number of bank accounts and “stole, or attempted to steal,” a total of $1.5 million from their victims.

Boatwright pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail, wire, and bank fraud on Aug. 29, court documents show. Napier previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud in March.

“These thefts weren’t just a matter of swiping letters from private citizens’ rural mailboxes; Boatwright and Napier took their crimes several steps further by using that mail to steal sensitive information and individuals’ identities,” U.S. Attorney David H. Estes said in a statement.

The couple, both from Chesterfield, awaits sentencing following their guilty pleas, according to the release.

Attorneys for Boatwright and Napier declined requests for comment from McClatchy News on Aug. 30.

Beginning in November 2020, the couple began stealing mail in a spree that would last until June 2021, according to prosecutors.

After obtaining personal identifying information from several victims and accessing their bank accounts, the duo would make wire transfers, write out fake checks and open debit and credit cards in their victims’ names, court documents show

In one case, the couple took over two victims’ co-owned bank accounts and stole $271,000 from them using a wire transfer in June 2021, according to Boatwright’s indictment.

“Together, Boatwright and Napier stole and attempted to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from their many victims, and caused substantial non-monetary harm and headaches for countless victims who had to deal with Boatwright and Napier’s blatant and far-ranging identity theft,” the indictment states.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Secret Service and authorities in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina are involved in the investigation of the couple, according to the release.

“Even the most cunning criminals can’t elude the team effort of the federal, state and local law enforcement agencies tasked with pursuing them,” Craig Reno, Secret Service resident agent in charge, said in a statement.

Chesterfield is roughly 85 miles northeast of Columbia.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – More than 80 students attending Sanders-Clyde Elementary School are given brand new, prescription glasses from the local non-profit, Vision to Learn.

Sanders-Clyde is the first school in South Carolina to participate in the Vision to Learn program. The program offers screenings, exams, and glasses to children in need in Title 1 schools at no charge to students or their families.

“The younger ones wanted to pick out glasses in their favorite color and the older students were excited to actually be able to see,” said Wukovits. “We’re confident that we’re going to see improved behavior and grades as a result of this program. You can’t learn if you can’t see.”

35 percent of students screened needed an eye exam and 80 percent of those students needed glasses.

“Since launching our South Carolina program at Sanders-Clyde Elementary, Vision To Learn has seen firsthand the extreme need for our program in Charleston,” said Roberto Hernandez, Program Manager of Vision to Learn Charleston. “Over a third of students did not pass a vision screening and the vast majority of these students have never had an eye examination – even some fourth or fifth graders who’ve needed glasses for years – underlining the lack of access to basic vision care.

Each student is allowed one pair of replacement glasses per year and will continue to be screened annually on-site at the school.

“One of the biggest obstacles is getting the students to their exams,” said Wukovits. “The cost of several hundred dollars is prohibitive as well; bringing the exam to the students puts us ahead of the game.”

Henry Blackford, long-time Charleston resident, watched a PBS documentary about Vision To Learn and partnered with MUSC Health, MUSC Children’s Health, and the Medical University’s Storm Eye Institute to bring the program to South Carolina.

“When I watched the news segment, Vision To Learn struck a nerve with me,” explained Blackford. “I got in touch with the founder to learn more, visited their program in Charlotte, and came back determined. The event at Sanders Clyde is our first dispensing event and we’re excited to expand the program.”

Blackford says he wore glasses his entire life and did not know what he would do without vision assistance.

“You can’t expect children to do well if they have uncorrected vision issues,” said Blackford.

JOHNSTON, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Twenty-nine years after dropping out of high school, a local man got his diploma in Edgefield County.

It’s giving Clyde Welch a sense of accomplishment, even though he’s already owned a business for 20 years and has five children.

MORE | 2023 Masters ticket application process gets underway

He graduated Friday through the GED program at Edgefield-McCormick County Adult Education and Family Literacy.

“When I was 15, things were difficult at home,” he said. “No one in my family had graduated from high school. My living conditions were bad, so I got a full-time job.”

On his second day of the 10th grade, he withdrew, eventually left the area and never returned to high school.

He got married, started a family, and launched Augusta Appliance Repairs and Service, which he has owned for almost 20 years.

“I have a good life but want to do more and continue my education,” the 43-year-old said. “I feel drawn to complete a certificate course in theology and eventually obtain an engineering degree.”

To make that happen, he knew he had to get his GED.

“Mr. Welch has shown that it is never too late to complete your educational goals,” said Vickie Butler, director of Edgefield-McCormick County Adult Education and Family Literacy. “Our staff is ready to help community members of any age, background and education level get started on accomplishing their dreams.”

He said his faith has played a vital role.

“God told me to get my GED,” he said. “Preparing for the tests was tough at times, but I knew it was important and that I would work hard until I could make it happen.”

Welch got support from everyone in the family, including his wife, two adult children, and three teens. His 16-year-old even tutored him in science.

“Our family is all the better for this experience, and we are so proud of him,” said his wife, Wendy. “It took courage and humility for Clyde to return to school, and I had no doubt he would succeed.”

Copyright 2022 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.