Mobile Home Sales in Huger, SC

HUGER, S.C. (WCBD) – Blissful Dreams Rescue Ranch located in Huger is using horses as a form of therapy for children and adults struggling with psychological, emotional, physical, and relational challenges.

Started in 2010 by Jamie Kohler, the faith-based non-profit offers a safe environment to help visitors with self-awareness, socialization skills, and more by riding, feeding, and grooming the horses.

“We use rescue horses, dogs, cats, all sorts of animals to try and reach out to those in the community no matter what ability they have” said Kohler.

Wednesday morning, Camp Artism, a program for artists with autism, spent time at the ranch.

“It’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Ryan Tomaszycki, a camper at Camp Artism.

Ashley Drayton, the founder and CEO of House of Artists Foundation and Camp Artism, says activities like riding horses bring smiles all around.

“This helps with their communication skills both the horse and the rider are one together. They are able to thrive abundantly beyond the spectrum,” said Drayton. “I see them smiling, I see them having a really, really great time getting able to experience something that they don’t get to on a daily basis.”

Many of the animals at the ranch are rescues including three horses saved from the kill pen.

“They know that they’re loved and they give that love right back,” said Kohler. “I like to work with challenging horses so we got them, them not knowing a whole lot, and worked with them and now pretty much anyone can ride them.”

The non-profit is looking to expand its reach with inclusive summer camps.

“This year we’re really trying to focus on doing all the inclusion camps including everyone of any age and ability whatsoever,” said Kohler.

For more information on the camps, click here.

Camper Ryan Tomaszycki says the trip to Huger is worth it.

“When we work together and the horses work together it’s about tenacity, perseverance, and sticking it out!”

If a nuclear emergency had occurred earlier this year at the V.C. Summer atomic power plant, the facility would not have been able to rely on an important piece of equipment to help prevent an accident, federal regulators say.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it will step up scrutiny of the Dominion Energy power plant after determining the utility failed to properly identify and correct problems with a backup diesel generator at V.C. Summer. The problems, which surfaced in January, went on for weeks before Dominion says they were resolved, records show.

Backup diesel generators lower the risks of nuclear accidents when atomic energy plants lose power. Generators provide power until the main source of energy can be restored. Maintaining power at a nuclear plant is vital to keep parts of the facility from over-heating and releasing radiation into the community.

In a letter last month to Dominion, the NRC said it was issuing a “white’ finding, an assessment of safety shortcomings at nuclear plants.

White findings are not common. They represent moderate risks at a nuclear plant. The most common findings are in the green category, which is the least serious class of troubles at atomic energy plants. The most serious category is red, followed by yellow, white and green.

The emergency diesel generator “would not have been available for use’’ if an accident occurred, the NRC said in an email to The State. The problem increased the risk that part of the plant “may not have had electrical power when needed under certain unlikely accidents,’’ a spokesman for the nuclear oversight agency said.

NRC spokesman Dave Gasperson said the situation was not “inherently dangerous’’ but the diesel generator’s problems could have meant trouble if an accident had occurred. The agency said it disagreed with a Dominion assessment that the diesel generator was in good enough shape to provide power during a three week period last January and February.

In response to questions from The State, Dominion said the public was never in danger. Troubleshooting by the nuclear plant corrected problems with equipment, the company said. The nuclear site now is evaluating the situation to make sure “equipment anomolies’’ are documented, company spokesman Darryl Huger said in the email.

The V.C. Summer plant has another backup generator in addition to the one cited by the NRC — and Huger said that would have been enough to support the nuclear plant.

Dave Lochbaum, a national expert on nuclear power and safety, said the white finding likely was given because the performance of backup diesel generators is so important at nuclear plants.

“Diesel on the risk scale is pretty high,’’ he said. “If there had been the same problems identifying and fixing this with something less important, it probably would’’ not have generated the white finding. The good news is the problem was caught and is being resolved, he said.

Lochbaum, who reviewed the NRC’s Oct. 18 letter to Dominion, said the problem appears to have been a dispute over how fast Dominion moved to resolve the issue after hiccups were found in the diesel generator.

“If you find a problem, you are supposed to fix it,’’ he said. “In this case, tests found the problem, and the company didn’t handle it the way the NRC wanted it.’’

The white finding is the fifth involving the V.C. Summer plant in the past 20 years, according to the NRC. It means the agency will increase scrutiny of the Summer plant with an additional inspection to make sure the problem is resolved and does not occur again.

There also will be end of the year management reviews of the Summer plant’s performance. Dominion could be required to step up training or modify the plant, if necessary, Gasperson said. Gasperson said the NRC issued its finding after coming to the conclusion that the risk of having the backup generator out of action, as well as the potential for accidents, “created some increased risk to the plant.’’

Located in Jenkinsville about 25 miles north of Columbia, the V.C. Summer plant is a key cog in Dominion’s mix of energy sources for South Carolina. The plant, which has a single nuclear reactor, was licensed for operation in 1982, and its license was renewed for 40 years in 2004.

At one point, Dominion’s predecessor, SCE&G, had started construction on two additional reactors at Jenkinsville, but the multi-billion dollar project was beset with problems and the effort was abandoned before completion in 2017.

Anna Gavrylenko routinely awoke at 6 a.m. to start her daughter’s breakfast before school. But a year ago, the sounds of explosions jolted her up at 5 a.m. Rising smoke plumes from a military airport in the distance greeted her.

The day was Feb. 24, 2022. Russia’s armed forces were pouring over the border into Eastern Ukraine. Soon, Russian troops would partially encircle Gavrylenko’s city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. They failed to capture the city but began occupying the northern and eastern portions of the province, also called Kharkiv.

Gavrylenko, her husband and their 11-year-old daughter spent the ensuing week in the underground of their nine-story apartment complex, hiding out in the space with a parking garage and storage rooms.

Three weeks later, she and her daughter stepped off a plane in Charleston. Her husband stayed behind to coordinate international humanitarian aid.

While Charleston has no centralized Ukrainian village, the Lowcountry does have a loose community of Eastern European immigrants who have found a sense of belonging and home at Euro Foods, a grocery and café in West Ashley along Old Towne Road. Gavrylenko and others told The Post and Courier how the spot helped them adapt to life in the United States and with particulars such as finding jobs, English classes and other resources. Owned by Aleksandr “Sasha” Pavlichenko and his wife Maka Aptsiauri, more than a dozen people told the newspaper how the business fostered solidarity in a time of war. They also described how the couple played a role in bringing the wider Charleston community together to help Ukraine through the eventual creation of CHS4Ukraine, a standalone nonprofit.

Food forms the bedrock of community

Clutching a dachshund in one arm, Aptsiauri, a slender-framed woman with raven-like hair, unlocked the door to a cool January morning an hour before opening.

Outside, cars buzz by the small grocery, nestled next to a liquor store in Northbridge Terrace. A long-vacant Piggly Wiggly and adjacent strings of strip malls surround the area. A church steeple pierces the skyline half a mile north. Tinted windows obscure the store's split persona of a cafeteria serving fresh perogies and other assorted Slavic dishes and a grocery selling candies, meats, cheeses, coffee, tea and other common staples from across Eastern Europe. A bright blue and yellow mural adorns an outside wall. It features the name of the Ukrainian aid nonprofit, CHS4Ukraine, that grew out of chaotic early days of the Russian invasion and the world's response to aid the embattled country.

Inside, blue walls feature messages of support for Ukraine along with Slavic curios from across Eastern Europe. They are joined by hanging potted ferns, art and lettering on a wall next to the register that says, "This is a bad place for a diet."

The dachshund let out a small bark and wiggled in Aptsiauri's arm. Mikola, the dog's Ukrainian name, was born Feb. 24, 2022 — the day the war started. Aptsiauri called him tenacious and said he has an attitude, qualities that match his name, she said.

The kitchen slowly came to life, with Aptsiauri, who's from the Republic of Georgia, and the cooks chatting in their native languages. House music played over speakers in the restaurant, offering an opening act for a lunch rush that would soon fill the air with a smattering of English and Slavic languages.

Pavlichenko, who is from Ukraine, came to the U.S. in 1996. He spent about eight years living in a Ukrainian neighborhood in New York City. He visited a friend in Charleston in 2004 and saw a clear demand for the grocery that he opened in 2006.

Pavlichenko, 49, went from living in a community where he rarely had to speak English to a city where people like him were few and far between.

It was in the early days of the store's opening that he met Aptsiauri, who previously worked in food and hospitality and real estate after arriving in the U.S. in 1999. They bonded over a shared love of food, joking that they married so she had an easy way to get ingredients. Aptsiauri gave her husband a love tap on the arm and scolded him for not knowing on the spot the exact year they married; it was 2009.

"My God, just stop. Don't embarrass yourself," she said.

Pavlichenko smiles through his salt-and-pepper beard, saying what's important is that they've been together for so long. Aptsiauri is a great mom, he said. They each had children from prior relationships: he a son, she a daughter. Together, they made a family and later a community. In a sign of growth, the grocery opened its café in 2019, fulfilling a dream of Aptsiauri's.

Family and community also factored into his decision to open the store, he said. Food brings people together. Being able to find foods that someone grew up with improves their quality of life, he said. In Charleston, people from Eastern Europe didn't have that outlet.

Aptsiauri said another reason is that he loves to eat.

“This is true,” said Pavlichenko, who has a wide frame and barrel chest.

A year ago, the Russian invasion shook up their lives. Pavlichenko has family and friends in Ukraine. He sometimes spends sleepless nights checking on them and figuring out how to help them as well as strangers in need. Even now, the couple's days start early and end late, doing much of the same and embodying the solidarity and all-in attitude that's become a common sight across social media and news accounts.

“We love to provide whatever we can to the community and, I don’t know, I think we find our purpose in life,” she said.

When a rainy forecast lines up with higher-than-usual high tides, Charlestonians brace for impact.

Such will be the case this week.

King Tides are expected to be close to the 7-foot threshold that brings minor flooding beginning July 11 until July 15, said Steven Taylor, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service.

Tides were expected to reach 6.9 feet on July 11 — just under the flood threshold — but are dependent on wind direction, Taylor said. High tides will occur in the evenings, with tide levels being highest in the following 15 to 30 minutes, Taylor said.

About one inch of rain is expected to fall from July 11 through July 18, according to Rebecca Shaw, a NWS meteorologist. However, the amount of time thunderstorms linger over the area can change those rainfall predictions, Shaw said.

“When we start to get close to 7 feet, all the drainage is full of sea water, and so any kind of rain has nowhere to go,” Taylor said. “That’s why downtown Charleston has such a threat for flooding when it rains.”

As this type of flooding becomes a regular headache for residents, city leaders are taking a new approach toward addressing the issue. Instead of tackling flood concerns on a project-by-project basis, the city is looking at ways to stop development that increases flooding and identify which flood projects need to be prioritized first. They are also finding ways to determine how different flood projects may interact with each other. Sometimes a smaller project upstream in a floodplain can reduce the need for a larger project downstream, Charleston Chief Resiliency Officer Dale Morris said.

“Understanding the basin is fundamental,” he said.

A new approach to a worsening problem

Scientists have been continuously measuring seas in Charleston Harbor since 1921. Since then, the sea rose about an inch every decade. Part of this increase was because of the natural settling of the land, a process called subsidence. But in the mid-2000s, scientists began to rethink the pace of sea rise.

It wasn’t rising in a linear way. Instead it was accelerating, according to researchers with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, who were among the first to pinpoint this trend. Instead of an inch a decade, the pace was 2.7 inches between 2010 and 2020, they found. It’s on pace to rise 3.2 inches this decade, or about an inch every four years.

As more saltwater pours in from the sea, it’s meeting more water from the sky. As the atmosphere warms, it holds more moisture — which translates into more frequent and heavier downpours. The Southeast has seen a 27 percent increase in the number of downpours since the late 1950s, according to the National Climate Assessment.

Those tides and rains met last weekend and are expected to meet again this week.

Jordan Kruse, a real estate agent who was walking along Huger Street to a meeting on July 11, said he saw a small car wash away during flooding when he lived near the intersection of Smith and Morris close to the medical center. Kruse said the forecast sometimes determines whether he heads downtown because he doesn’t want to deal with detours or standing water.

“I hope the city’s going to get really aggressive dealing with it,” Kruse said.

Two new strategies could forever change the city’s approach to flooding.

Charleston City Council voted on two strategy overhauls toward the end of 2021. One was a comprehensive plan calling to rewrite the city’s zoning code. In the new version, officials want the zoning maps — the guide for what can get built where — to be based on elevation. High ground near major roadways will be fair game for high-density development, in most cases. Low-lying areas and wetlands will be restricted to little or no use at all.

City Council is expected to vote in August on a contract with a consulting firm that will draw the new maps.

“This is a unique approach to land use that Charleston is doing,” said Jason Crowley, senior program director with the Coastal Conservation League. “There are a lot of people that are looking at Charleston to see how it works because it could become a tool to other coastal cities.”

Tunnel-trouble

In the fiscal year 2022 budget, Charleston set aside $500,000 to commission a citywide water plan. The plan, the first of its kind for the city, will map out every drainage basin in Charleston and what flooding issues they contain. Doing so will help officials understand the link between flooding problems that may be connected to each other. Doing so will help the city plan more efficient flood control efforts and collaborate with Charleston County when a problem crosses city lines.

“Often flood risk projects look at a particular area with a particular problem,” Morris said. “But if you have a problem in one particular part of the basin, you may be able to do something upstream from it that will lessen the impact of the flooding.”

In that case, Morris said, the city could pursue two smaller projects at the top and bottom of a basin or combine them into one larger project upstream.

Ongoing efforts

While the paradigm shift in the city’s approach to flooding is underway, previously budgeted projects are ongoing.

At King and Huger, a notoriously flood-prone intersection, city crews are working on a two-phase project to increase drainage capacity.

In Charleston’s West Side, where King and Huger is located, streets begin to flood when tide levels reach 7 feet. The East Side begins to flood at 7.5 feet. Flooding poses a danger to homes at 8 feet, which is when the National Weather Service would issue a coastal flood warning, Taylor said.

Bennie Kinloch has dealt with standing water in front of his West Side home near Huger and King streets since he first moved here more than 50 years ago. A few times in the past, it crept up onto his porch and through the front door. On July 10, as water stood in the streets once again following afternoon thunderstorms, a man pushed a surfboard past Kinloch’s house.

“It used to be deep enough to paddle a boat through here,” Kinloch said, giving credit to city work meant to reduce the flooding that has plagued this area for decades. “It ain’t as bad as it was.”

Full relief from the chronic swampings at that intersection won’t happen until the second phase of the drainage project is completed. In that phase, a pump will be installed to move the water into nearby Newmarket Creek. But that’s a more complicated step because it requires environmental permitting. The design is finished but it is going through the approval phases needed from the city’s board of architectural review and the South Carolina Department of Transportation. In about a year and half, city staff plan to put the project out for a bid.

Meanwhile, a gas station a few doors down at the corner stays open 24/7 — even when the parking lot is flooded. Customers sometimes put on waders to trudge to the store when it’s inaccessible to cars. In the past, water has overturned the ice box and picked up the dumpster before depositing it in a nearby yard.

Kailey Cota, John Ramsey and Tony Bartelme contributed to this report.

2022: Enjoyed a record-setting junior year on the way to Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year and PL All-Tournament Team honors ... later named to the United Soccer Coaches All-North Region Third Team ... played in 18 games with 17 starts, leading the Bison to their second straight league title ... posted nine solo shutouts and shared two more with Kaylee Donnelly, helping the Bison tie the school record with 11 clean sheets on the season ... the nine shutouts were third-most in a season at Bucknell, two shy of Jessica Ratner's record set in 2015 ... shattered the school mark for goals-against average, with her 0.64 bettering Ratner's previous record of 0.82 ... .872 save percentage is second-best in school history, trailing only Becky Snover's .877 in 1995 ... led the Patriot League in shutouts, save percentage, and goals-against average ... ranked 10th among all Division I goalkeepers in save percentage and ranked 24th nationally in GAA ... two of her clean sheets came in 0-0 overtime draws with Boston University and Army in the Patriot League Tournament ... made seven saves against Boston U. and then scored herself in the penalty-kick shootout to help the team advance ... tallied six saves in the championship match at Army, and then added another diving stop on a PK to set up Rylee Donaldson's clincher ... made eight saves in the NCAA Tournament at Ohio State before finally seeing a ball go into her net in the 107th minute ... made several highlight-reel saves in a 0-0 draw with Loyola ... posted six shutouts in a seven-game span late in the year.

2021: Started all 22 games and solidified her standing as one of the Patriot League's top goalkeepers ... Third Team All-Patriot League selection ... named to Patriot League All-Tournament Team after becoming the first goalkeeper in league history to post three PL Tournament shutouts ... blanked Lehigh, Navy and Boston University en route to the championship ... led the Patriot League with eight shutouts on the season ... that is the third-highest total in team history, and her 11 wins is the fourth-highest ... ranked third in the league with a .786 save percentage and seventh in goals-against average at 1.27 ... allowed 29 goals on the season, but 13 came against four teams that were nationally ranked during the season ... another seven goals against came on own goals (4) and penalty kicks (3) ... turned in a 12-save shutout of Lehigh in a 1-0 overtime win in the regular-season finale, then had the three straight clean sheets in the postseason ... was brilliant in the NCAA Tournament game at No. 1 seed Rutgers ... logged a season-high 15 saves, including one on a penalty kick, in a 2-0 loss ... the two goals were the fewest Bucknell has allowed in an NCAA Tournament game ... named Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week after opening the season with two strong performances against Youngstown State and Towson ... played all but 45 minutes in goal on the season ... ranked 17th nationally in goalkeeper minutes played (2000:08) and 38th in shutouts ... also recorded an assist on Rylee Donaldson's goal in the West Virginia game.

2020-21: One of the Patriot League's top newcomers in the abbreviated spring 2021 season ... played in all five games in goal, coming on for the start of the second half in every contest ... allowed only one goal in 265 minutes of action while making 23 saves ... tallied a .958 save percentage and 0.34 goals-against average, leading the Patriot League in both categories ... made 10 saves in her collegiate debut against Lafayette and was named Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week and Rookie of the Week after helping the Bison preserve a 0-0 draw against the Leopards ... teamed with Kaylee Donnelly for three combined shutouts in five games, helping Bucknell to a league-best 0.37 team GAA.

Personal/High School: Born June 11, 2002 … parents are Robert and Gina Hall … has two younger siblings, Taylor and Trey … 2018-19 NEPSAC Class A/B Player of the Year at Miss Porter's School … 2018-19 All-NEPSAC Team … 2018-19 Boston Globe All-Scholastic Team … 2018-19 WWNEPSSA All-Star Selection … 2018-19 Connecticut PREPS All-State Team … helped team to 2016, 2018 and 2019 Founder's League championships … team captured 2016 and 2018 Class B regular-season titles and 2019 Class A regular-season crown … 2016 and 2018 NEPSAC Semifinalist … 2017 NEPSAC Quarterfinalist … team captain in 2019-20 … owns an overall high school record of 66-5-9 with 54 shutouts … played club soccer with CFC United 2002 … helped the team to 2017-18 and 2018-19 ECNL Champions League National Playoffs … team was the 2018 ECNL New England Conference champion … also plays varsity softball and was an All-WWNEPSSA selection in 2018 … High Honor Roll student … participated in the 2018 Junior Advisor Program … has volunteered with Amnesty International, Children to Children, Head of Possums, Head of Comedy ... major is global management ... member of the 2020 and 2021 Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.