Mobile Home Sales in Liberty Hill, SC

The Trip Included Cultural Tours and Service Projects

(BOWIE, Md.) – Most students take off for the beach during spring break, but a group of Bowie State students and faculty decided to switch it up with an alternative spring break trip to South Carolina for a week of history, culture and service.

This year’s trip took 22 students on an eight-day excursion through South Carolina that featured stops in Charleston, Beaufort, Hilton Head and Liberty Hill. The group visited different historical sites, such as the Boone Hall Plantation and Denmark Vesey’s church, Mother Emanuel AME. Students and faculty also took part in the De Gullah Root tour, an experience that highlighted the history and culture of the African descendants that settled in the area after the Civil War.

“I feel grateful and provoked to engage with our history as a people,” said David Bryant, a freshman elementary education major. “The most impactful day was meeting Queen Quet and hearing her share about the Gullah Geechee people and resisting cultural erosion.”

The group also took part in service projects with community partners. The projects included digitizing historical records, researching tax and property records to connect Liberty Hill citizens with their family’s land, and helping with documentation efforts to have Liberty Hill recognized as a historic preservation site.

Dr. Janay Carpenter, a behavioral sciences and human services adjunct professor and one of the trip’s organizers, believes the impact of the students’ work will be relevant long after their trip.

“The legacy of Bowie State will be longstanding because of this initial partnership,” she said. “We’ll be able to go back to South Carolina to say, ‘How can we continue the work?’”

Dr. Julius Davis, who is from Liberty Hill, regarded the trip as a vehicle to educate students with stimulating experience that can’t be replicated in a classroom.

“One of the main things about the strategic plan is high-impact activities,” said Dr. Davis. “Service learning is one of them. We really tapped into goal number one of the university’s strategic plan in terms of achieving academic excellence and creating these external relationships with folks.”

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About Bowie State UniversityBowie State University (BSU) is an important higher education access portal for qualified persons from diverse academic and socioeconomic backgrounds, seeking a high-quality and affordable public comprehensive university. The university places special emphasis on the science, technology, cybersecurity, teacher education, business and nursing disciplines within the context of a liberal arts education. For more information about BSU, visit bowiestate.edu.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - This summer students are offering their time and energy to visit and help other communities for what they’re calling a “Week of Hope.”

The mission trip organization Group Cares has nearly 2,700 students participating in volunteer work this year. They come from across the country to new places and get to know locals, working on whatever projects need some manpower.

In North Charleston, these volunteers are spending a couple of days clearing out lots owned by Liberty Hill Redevelopment Group, to help the community maximize the use of their land.

Elijah Shreffler, a 14-year-old volunteer, says he wanted to give back to a new community and meet new people.

“It’s very inspirational because after all this work and progress you realize what you can do with just a couple of people and a little bit of time,” Shreffler says.

Micah Braznell, a 12-year-old, says his youth group was singing up and he felt like he needed to be a part of something bigger than himself.

“The guys that we were helping out, they were dumbfounded that we could do all this in such a short amount of time,” Braznell said.

Craig Mitchell with the Liberty Hill Redevelopment Group called the volunteers “worker bees,” saying he’s never seen more enthusiastic and hard-working people. Now, he calls them his friends and hopes they can stay in touch to follow how the neighborhood grows.

“We met new friends over these last couple of days and we are going to ensure that we keep the relationship and maybe one day we can go to their neighborhoods and help them because it’s our turn today and maybe tomorrow it’s theirs,” Mitchell says.

Austin Vansparrentak, an 18-year-old, says it’s been a fun experience doing yard work and solving problems while knowing they are accomplishing the community’s goals.

“Someone drove past us and they were asking us what we were doing and we told them and they were so thankful for how much we were helping out. It means a lot, especially with how much history this neighborhood has in the state,” Vansparrentak said.

Liberty Hill Redevelopment Group members say they are grateful to the group for coming to Charleston and hope to work with Group Cares again to better more communities in Charleston and across the country.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

CHARLESTON S.C. - Nine historically African American communities across Charleston County are receiving money to preserve Gullah / Geechee history.

Jeff Winget with the Center for Heirs Property Preservation has been working to document and highlight communities deeply rooted in the Lowcountry that may get overlooked as the area grows.

"Because of the unprecedented growth over the past few decades, as more people move to Charleston county, the need for development has threatened existing cultural resources," Winget said.

Carolyn Lecque from the Liberty Hill neighborhood in North Charleston said she wants to see community collaboration, not development and construction.

“We feel Liberty Hill is much too important as a part of South Carolina and Charleston history to allow it to develop into a shopping area,” Lecque.

Now, the organization will be helping various neighborhoods with projects like restoring cemeteries and churches, researching the impact of growth on black communities and educating others about a history they may not know still exists around them.

“They are communities that have been around since the late 1800′s,” project leader Esther Adams said. “They are still present, still vibrant, they still have a rich history and they’re dealing with issues like gentrification and the expansion and the growth and attention that Charleston gets.”

The costs of individual projects range from $3,000 to $15,000. Leaders in the Liberty Hill Community Reunion Committee say they will clean up two historic cemeteries and start a community garden.

“We’re going to make it a communitywide event and it’s going to be involving the churches, the residence, the businesses,” Rev. Lisa Robinson said. “We just want everybody to take ownership of it because we feel that both of those plots are so sacred.”

Full list of participating communities includes:

The Center for Heirs Property Preservation will be presenting a full-length film on the nine communities on Saturday virtually during their annual symposium.

“Our mission is to continue to preserve the heritage of our community, and pass that on to our children and our children’s children,” Liberty Hill neighbor Hester McFadden said.

Copyright 2020 WCSC. All rights reserved.

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - A former Liberty Hill Academy teacher who filed a complaint with the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission said the harassment she experienced at the school went ignored by school and district officials.

“It got to the point I wasn’t going shopping in my area because I didn’t want to go to a local store and run into these kids or their parents because I was scared,” former Liberty Hill Academy Secretary Mary Wood said.

Wood was one of four Liberty Hill Academy staff members that filed harassment complaints to the state, detailing the harassment they experienced at the North Charleston alternative school.

Three teachers and a secretary have filed complaints with the commission over the past six months with the most recent coming on Nov. 13.

Wood claims she was fired while on FMLA for medically authorized leave.

“It’s affected me to the point when I think of the school I get really upset,” Wood said.

Wood worked at Liberty Hill Academy for 18 years, and said the last two years is when the school took a turn.

She said in that time she had to be hospitalized after a student brought pepper spray into the school, was sexually harassed, and was called vulgar names on a daily basis.

Wood said she went to the school and district several times and said nothing was done.

“It was hard working there, but I had no choice. I had to work. When it got to the point it was so bad I reached out to our ER department and I met someone off campus because I was at my wits end I didn’t know what to do,” Wood said. “Basically, I was told that I was burned out' You probably need to look for a new job.' Every time things would occur I would speak to the principal via usually email because you could hardly get him to sit because of so much chaos, and it was various times nothing was done.”

Wood said she had students rip her keys off her neck in the hallway and said a school administrator did nothing.

“Suck it, kiss it, and that was just so degrading,” Wood said. “It just gets old because you’re hearing that all day long, f**** b****, and it wore me down, it really wore me down. To be honest my self-esteem is kind of gone because I was in that environment so long and had to endure what I had to endure.”

Wood said the harassment has taken a toll emotionally and is seeing a therapist to deal with the stress and anxiety she had to endure.

“It has caused me to suffer a lot of low self-worth because I felt like no one cared and I just still am in awe. To be honest with you if I see someone from the school, even the principal, I just get really shaky because what he put me through there was no reason for it. I was a human being,” Wood said.

Previously released documents show 26 incidents of staff members who were injured on school grounds.

In a recent investigation, Live 5 News uncovered more than 4,000 student disciplinary incidents were filed at the school in 2017, yet nearly half were never processed.

The Charleston County School District previously said they have no comments on the complaints.

Copyright 2018 WCSC. All rights reserved.

YORK COUNTY, S.C. (WBTV) - Deputies say they seized 80 dogs, meth, illegal guns and other animals from a home in York, S.C. Monday morning.

In total, 80 dogs, two monkeys and a bird were the animals seized from the home. The 83 animals are now in the care of York County Animal Control.

After several months of investigation about poor living conditions and concerns of the health of the animals at a house off West Liberty Hill Road, deputies arrested 63-year-old David Andrew Barber, 63 and seized the animals. Deputies say the man was selling the dogs on the internet.

This is the home where the @YCSO_SC seized 80 dogs, two monkeys and a bird from what they say were "horrible living conditions." They say the man who lived here was selling the dogs on the internet. @WBTV_News Tonight at 4 & 5 -- I'll tell you where the animals are now. pic.twitter.com/j8XB8rUzmw

— Paige Pauroso (@PaigePauroso) July 26, 2021

On Monday, York County deputies along with York County Animal Control officers responded to a home on West Liberty Hill Road after reports of dozens of animals in unhealthy living conditions.

Responding deputies and animal control officers located 80 small breed dogs, two monkeys, and one bird in very poor living conditions inside and outside of the home.

“The smell about knocked me over. There were feces everywhere. Flies everywhere,” said Trent Faris, the public information officer for the York County Sheriff’s office. “I can tell you I walked into the house. Very very poor living conditions. Not only for him but also the animals.”

After investigating, preliminary charges against Barber are multiple counts of ill treatment of animals, hoarding of animals, and potentially other charges are pending after veterinary examination of the animals.

In addition during the search, deputies discovered methamphetamine and seized multiple firearms.

“We are thankful for the team work between our deputies and animal control to make sure these animals get the care they need, and hopefully in the future a loving home.” said Sheriff Kevin Tolson.

Deputies say they seized 80 dogs, meth, illegal guns and other animals from a home in York, S.C. Monday morning.

The only circumstances where law enforcement can legally remove an animal is where exigent circumstances exist or by court order or search warrant. Exigent circumstances would be imminent danger of death or destruction of evidence.

All animals will be examined by a veterinarian for health conditions for future placement.

This investigation is ongoing and deputies say there’s no evidence of dogfighting or baiting.

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