Mobile Home Sales in Peedee, SC

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Pee Dee recognized the Youth of the Year representatives from each of its six locations on Saturday, Feb. 11, at the North Florence Club.

Each site winner took home a framed certificate, gift card, and swag bag.

The representatives gave speeches about how the Club has impacted their lives and were interviewed by four panels of judges in individual interviews for the Pee Dee Youth of the Year title. That representative will be announced at the Steak N Burger Dinner on Thursday, March 9, at First Presbyterian Church in Florence. Tickets are $35 each. The Pee Dee Youth of the Year will go on to the state event on April 1.

The Steak N Burger Dinner represents a special event that honors Club members and engages supporters of our organization with the young people who benefit from their generosity. Attendees will have a chance to learn more about our Clubs from 75 youth members for across the six Pee Dee sites. The evening includes good food, great entertainment, and interaction with Club members at each table. Hear inspirational stories from our alumni keynote speakers and each Youth of the Year representative. Adults enjoy a hamburger dinner alongside what often is the youth’s first steak dinner. Each table consists of adults and Club members for this unique learning opportunity.

The celebration serves as the culmination of our year-round Youth of the Year program. One talented individual has been chosen from each of our Clubs for the Pee Dee Area Regional Youth of the Year. At the end of the dinner, we announce the regional representative and present the Carraway Turner Leadership Fund scholarships. Each scholarship will fund the youth’s education for up to four years.

The Carraway Turner Leadership Fund

In 2019, a generous donation from Health Facilities Federal Credit Union, now known as South Carolina Federal Credit Union, created the Carraway Turner Leadership Fund in memory of Sgt. Terrence Carraway and Investigator Farrah Turner, who both lost their lives as a result of the tragic events on October 3, 2018, in Florence. After learning of both officers’ close ties to the Boys & Girls Club, HFFCU CEO Robert Harris and the HFFCU Board created the fund in their memory supporting youth at the Boys & Girls Club.

The Fund provides scholarships to the Youth of the Year for pursuing education after high school. South Carolina Federal Credit Union continues the legacy of HFFCU as very generous supports of the Boys & Girls Club.

SOLAR: A Texas recycling company is among several that have emerged to extract valuable metals from solar panels that have reached the end of their lifespans. (Yale Environment 360)

ALSO:• An Oklahoma planning commission denies NextEra Energy’s application for a solar and battery project on 5,277 acres. (Enid News & Eagle)• A Texas county board debates whether it can pass a moratorium on solar projects to block a planned 210 MW solar farm. (KLTV)• A solar developer tells Mississippi residents it’s about two years away from beginning operation of a planned 79 MW solar farm. (WKRG)• A troubled solar company appears in a Tennessee court as plaintiffs try to hold its owners personally liable for its problems. (WBIR)• A Tennessee-based solar developer procures 1.5 GW of advanced U.S.-made thin film solar modules made in Ohio. (PV Magazine)

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COAL:• A Sierra Club report finds ​​America’s coal sector to blame for 3,800 premature deaths a year, with the Tennessee Valley Authority as the company responsible for the most deaths and a Georgia Power coal plant ranked as 17th most dangerous. (Grist, Georgia Recorder)• Kentucky lawmakers move forward with a bill to keep coal-fired power plants on the grid despite opposition from utilities who say it hampers their ability to retire uneconomical plants. (Kentucky Lantern)

STORAGE:• Oklahoma lawmakers update an economic incentives package for an unnamed company, rumored to be Volkswagen, that’s deciding whether to build an electric vehicle battery package in the state. (Tulsa World)• West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signs a bill to give $105 million in state funding for a company to build an iron-air battery plant in a former steel town. (Associated Press)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Florida lawmaker suggests state officials consider limiting the use of electric vehicles during emergency evacuations until more charging stations are set up. (WFSU)

OIL & GAS: Texas’ fossil fuel industry lobbies state lawmakers to reinstate a recently expired program that uses school districts to award tax abatements to oil and gas companies and an array of other businesses. (Capital & Main)

PIPELINES: A South Carolina court hears an environmental group’s challenge of a water quality permit for Dominion Energy’s planned 14.5-mile natural gas pipeline along the Great Pee Dee River. (WBTW)

EMISSIONS:• South Memphis residents already exposed to toxic emissions say they’ve been pushed to the brink by releases of carcinogenic ethylene oxide from a plant that sterilizes medical equipment. (The Equation)• Dozens of Virginia residents and advocacy groups argue against a proposed regulation to allow suspension of emission requirements for data centers if the regional grid operator warns of strain on the system. (Virginia Mercury)

WIND: A wind energy advocacy group projects the Biden administration will fall short of its goal to develop 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030, even with a ​​lease auction set in the Gulf of Mexico this year. (Engineering News-Record)

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CARBON CAPTURE: West Virginia lawmakers rapidly advance a bill to place a 60-day moratorium on all carbon capture agreements. (Charleston Gazette-Mail, subscription)

CLIMATE: Rising sea levels push Florida developers and home buyers to seek out land at higher elevations in Miami, but community groups warn about resulting “climate gentrification.” (Miami Herald)

Mason has worked as a journalist since 2001, covering Appalachian communities and the issues that affect them. He compiles the Southeast Energy News digest. Mason previously worked as a wildlife biologist before moving into journalism by freelancing at Coast Weekly in Monterey, California, before taking an internship in 2001 at High Country News. He wrote for the Enterprise Mountaineer in western North Carolina and the Roanoke Times in western Virginia before going freelance in 2012. His work has appeared in Southerly, Daily Yonder, Mother Jones, Huffington Post, WVPB’s Inside Appalachia and elsewhere. Mason was born and raised in Clifton Forge, Virginia, and now lives with his family and a small herd of goats in Floyd County, Virginia.

FLORENCE, S.C. (WMBF) - Keeping a community healthy is a challenge.

A group of healthcare leaders with the South Carolina Department of Health and the CDC met in Florence on Friday to figure out how to tackle the rise in smoking across the region, which includes Horry, Georgetown and Florence counties.

They gathered for the 2022 Pee Dee Tobacco Advocacy Summit to discuss ways to reduce the rise in smoking and vaping.

According to the latest data from the Department of Health and Environmental Control, one of the most impacted groups by smoking and vaping are high school students across South Carolina. The numbers show that nearly 28% of high school students use tobacco while 22% use e-cigarettes.

“We seem to think that if we stop smoking now, we can go to vaping. In the means of I guess decreasing a recreational habit,” said Iris McDuffie, who works with the Clemson Rural Health Program team.

“We are looking at making sure they understand that is just as addictive as smoking cigarettes also, so we are working with the youth on those issues,” said Suzette McClellan, community system director for the DHEC Pee Dee region.

During the summit, the leaders talked about how to create smoke-free ordinances that they could present to county leaders, and try to make a change.

Health experts said the best way to get county leaders on board is to educate them about the dangers of both smoking and vaping on communities.

“We got one problem that we are trying to alleviate and that we are trying to take care of. But when you look at the scheme. We just need a new system in place that will assist us to educate the public and reduce risks,” said McDuffie “Education, Education, Education and we got to do it collectively.”

But to make a change happen, there are also some challenges.

Some leaders said the lack of funding, resources, and political interest could be a setback for new ordinances.

Data also shows that Horry County has six out of 12 municipalities and schools with a smoke-free policy in place. The city of Myrtle Beach, Loris, Aynor, Briarcliffe Acres, Conway and unincorporated areas of Horry County do not have smoke-free policies in place.

In Florence County, nine out of 17 municipalities have smoke-free policies in place.

Copyright 2022 WMBF. All rights reserved.

Lessie Bernshouse is a librarian at Wilder Elementary School in Sumter. On Thursday, she was honored by the South Carolina Association of School Librarians.

SUMTER, S.C. — A Sumter librarian just earned the title of PeeDee School Librarian of the Year by the South Carolina Association of School Librarians.

Lessie Bernshouse is in her first year as a librarian at Wilder Elementary School.

"That was a big deal when they came in. I’m still in shock," Bernshouse laughed.

She applied for the award without thinking she had a chance of winning, Bernshouse told me. To her surprise, she was recognized for the impact she has on her students everyday.

"It’s crazy with related arts teachers and librarians at elementary school, we see every single kid and we see them from the time they’re in pre-school to the time they’re usually in 5th or 6th grade, so we’re like one of those constant figures in their life and we get to see them age over that whole time," she said. "It’s nice, but that’s a huge responsibility for us to be able to make sure we’re being a good example of a leader and a good representative of what an adult should be."

An example she models for students like kindergartener Jeremiah Bethea.

"I love reading with my friends," 5-year-old Bethea shared.

It's a love that Ms. Bernshouse has instilled…along with other fun.

"I be dancing around and she be letting us dance," Bethea said.

That fun touches not only the students, but also the staff, according to teacher’s assistance Laureen McBeath.

"Oh, I think she’s great. She’s great with the kids. The kids love her. They learn so much, they enjoy the stories," McBeath explained. "They really love her and we love her being here. She’s a lot of fun with the kids and the kids enjoy her stories and stuff. Just makes it so much fun to be here."

Watching the students get excited about reading is what motivates Bernshouse.

"It’s just exciting when they’re learning something new for the first time or they pick up this book and they’re like ‘This is the book I’ve been looking for my whole life. It’s the best thing ever!" Bernshouse smiled. "My favorite part is when you get to talk to the students and it’s like they all of a sudden come up with some thought in their head that they’ve never thought of and they’re like ‘Oh’ and then you start having this natural conversation."

Four other librarians across the state are being recognized today to represent their region. In March, one of the four winners will be selected as the sSate School Librarian of the Year.

Before working at Wilder, Bernshouse worked at Millwood Elementary School in Sumter.

"I always liked children's books and ya novels more than adult fiction, and so it just kind of was a natural fit for me," Bernhouse detailed.

PEE DEE, S.C. (WPDE) — Several Pee Dee communities are seeing more black bears in recent weeks.

Several people in the Oakdale community of Dillon County said they saw a black bear last week roaming through their neighborhood.

A man in the area of Carter's Crossroads near Hemingway in Williamsburg County capture a picture with his cell phone of a black bear in a neighbor's yard.

Captain Benjamin Byers with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said bears are a growing population in South Carolina.

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"The bears habitat is slowly being destroyed by construction, so they are being pushed to areas that are inhabited by humans so it increases peoples chances of encountering a bear," said Byers.

DNR's website says, "Black bears are the largest land mammals in South Carolina. They are covered in a long thick fur that can vary in color. The most common color phase is black or dark brown with light brown snout. They have a broad head with rounded ears set well back on the head. The rump of a black bear is higher than the front shoulders, and they do not have the prominent shoulder hump of the Grizzly and Brown bears. They have good eyesight and an incredible sense of smell. Black bears are excellent climbers and good swimmers and can be found in a variety of habitats."

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The website also says black bears are "opportunistic and will feed on whatever is readily available," including "garbage, bird feeders, outdoor pet food, agricultural crops, etc., which can result in them becoming nuisance bears."

Byers said if you encounter a bear don't panic.

"The bears are actually more scared of people. The best thing to do is turn around slowly and walk away. Especially if it is a female with cubs. That is usually the only time a bear is aggressive is when she has her little ones with her. "

You can click here to learn more about black bears in South Carolina.