Mobile Home Sales in Timmonsville, SC

TIMMONSVILLE, S.C. (WPDE) — A 95-year-old Timmonsville woman said she's been without water for nearly a month and had to get help from family members to make it day-by-day.

Essie Crosswell said her home was struck by lightning about four weeks ago.

She believes the strike damaged her water system.

"I called the water department. And I don't think they believed when I said the lightning had struck that meter. They didn't believe me. I would like to say we need to listen. We need to listen to our people. We need to hear their problems. And don't assume just because you're 95 years old they don't have their right mind," said Croswell.

The City of Florence oversees Timmonsville's water system.

Crosswell said the city did send crews to her home at least three times, but when they left she still didn't have water.

"It is rough because I’ve had to haul water. My granddaughter came, and we hauled water from my cousin's house by the gallons, and I had to buy water. And I’ve had to be very careful with how much water I used to cook with. And to wash dishes the old fashion way. I felt like I was back in the 1930’s during the Great Depression," she said.

Crosswell said she doesn't have a car and has a hard time walking because of her back.

She added her granddaughter, cousin and home health aide had to help her.

Crosswell said she could hardly lift the jugs of water and couldn't flush her toilet because it took too much water.

“ I can’t use my hand. So, I have to have help to help me get the lids off the bottles. To pour water in those half-gallon bottles. I have friends helping me. My aid. My home health aid. My granddaughter and my cousin Libby," said Crosswell.

She said she finally called a plumber.

Crosswell said Brad Hanna came to her home Monday and Tuesday to look at her problem.

Hanna said he quickly realized the issue wasn't on Crosswell's end, but the city's.

He added the city repaired a leak, but didn't reconnect Crosswell's water line which led to her not having water.

“They came and repaired and cut up the road the first time and repaired the water leak where it busted, and flooded the street. They unhooked her water line. Not her personal line. But, the city’s responsibility. They never hooked it back up. It was busted. They never hooked it back up. No one went and checked. No one went and took the meter out. Which is very easy. It’s two nuts. A nut in the front and a nut in the back. It’s two nuts. Take them loose. You could’ve turned them on to see if water was coming out of it. It could have took all of eight minutes. And nobody took the time," said Hanna.

He said it was very frustrating to see Crosswell in that situation.

She's a former educator having worked as a teacher with Florence 1 Schools for 57 years.

He said the city left tags on Crosswell's door from at least three visits to her home.

One of the tags read, "Good pressure, customer line stopped up."

Hanna said that wasn't the case at all because Crosswell had no pressure and no water.

Hanna said he did all he could to help her, including reaching out to the city to let them know what they needed to do to fix the problem to restore Crosswell's water.

"Eight minutes they could’ve figured out that her waterline was not hooked up in the back. They could have come in in one day and had it hooked up,” said Hanna.

ABC 15 reached out to the City of Florence.

Officials sent the following statement:

"In response to inquiries related to an interruption of water service for a City of Florence water customer located in Timmonsville, City staff has been notified and is investigating the matter further. The City of Florence strives to provide exceptional customer service to our customers and takes matters such as these seriously. Any neglect on the part of the city will be appropriately addressed and we will work directly with the customer to ensure resolution."

Officials added there was a miscommunication in dealing with the situation, but they didn't get the initial call about Crosswell's situation until eight days after her home was struck by lightning.

Hanna said when the city finally fixed their end of the problem, he had to go back and do more work to make sure Crosswell would lose pressure or have a major leak.

He said he didn't charge her one dime for the work and gave her a lifetime certificate for free plumbing.

Crosswell said she's thankful to those who helped her during her time of need, especially Hanna who went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure her water was restored.

ABC15 will keep you covered on the city's investigation.

FLORENCE, S.C. – Tremel Echols might be in new surroundings at Wilson High School, but he’s in a familiar spot on the football field.

Echols, who played for Timmonsville High School prior to the school districts consolidating this past summer, was one of the quarterbacks in contention for the starting job this offseason.

With the season opener at Aynor set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, the Tigers now turn to the 6-foot-2, 230-pound senior to guide them under center.

“Tremel has been a great addition to our program,” Wilson coach Rodney Mooney said. “His size and arm strength speaks for itself. He picked up the offense really, really well since he got here. I remember a week and a half into this thing, we were kind of trying to spoon feed him a little bit. But he was like, ‘No coach, I got it. I’m good to go.’

“So he’s learned very fast on the fly.”

Echols had a solid season for the Whirlwinds last year – completing 88 of 123 passes for 1,260 yards and seven touchdowns compared to three interceptions.

The jump from one of the smallest schools in the state to a 4A program at Wilson has been an ongoing process, Echols said.

“It’s faster; everything’s faster,” he said of the pace of the game and practices. “I’ve had to learn a lot. Right now, we’re just at 1/3 of our offense, so it’s just a whole lot. You’ve got to come in and you’ve got to think fast.

“…But everybody’s working really hard. That’s the main thing. They want to be great.”

Having a quarterback coach (Richard Cue) has been a welcome addition, Echols added.

“I think that’s helped to have that (specialized) coach,” he said. “I think I’ve definitely worked hard and improved on my accuracy. I’ve got a good connection with my receivers right now.”

While Echols’ arm is one thing, it’s the dual-threat aspect of his game that Mooney believes will be the biggest asset to the offense this year.

“He’s just very versatile,” the second-year Tigers coach said. “Not only does he have an arm on him, but he can get outside the pocket and make some throws. He’s faster than people give him credit for, so he can actually pull it down and run it if he needs to, or make a very good throw outside the pocket. So he brings a lot of different things to our offense that really helps with what we do.

“…I feel more well-rounded (on offense) this season than last season, and he brings a great part to that.”

Mooney is anxious to see what his offense can do, but Friday’s matchup against Aynor might in fact come down to how well his defense is able to play against the Blue Jackets’ rushing attack.

“We’ve got to be disciplined and we’ve got to tackle well,” Mooney said. “We’ve got to play with great leverage and get them off the field – three and outs a lot. We cannot afford to let their running game get to going and take the ball out of our offense’s hands.”

TIMMONSVILLE, S.C. (WPDE) — Florence School District Four's Board of Trustees met for the third time this year on Tuesday. They presented a number of questions as they work to save Timmonsville High School and stop the consolidation with Florence One Schools that is scheduled for July 2022.

Some of those questions include who is the acting superintendent of the district? Board member, Mysty Hopkins, showed community members her son's diploma and another similar document with two people named as the superintendent.

"We need to know who is the superintendent of our district," said Florence School District Four Board Member, Mysty Hopkins.

TOP STORY: SC universities announce the return of mask mandates following Supreme Court decision

Why isn't there a virtual option for parents who are concerned about the rise in COVID-19 cases? The district has so far reported 68 students and two staff members were in quarantine as of Tuesday. One parent of a quarantined student was at the meeting and called for there to be a virtual option.

"I am asking this board if there is any way my child can go virtual," said one Florence School District Four parent.

"Our students deserve to be safe like other students. If Superintendent Spearman truly cares about the health of our students, she should have immediately developed a virtual option," said Hopkins.

Also, what happened to the transition committee that State Superintendent Spearman put in place after she announced the district will be consolidating?

ABC15 reached out to the South Carolina Department of Education to get some of these answers. The department's spokesperson, Ryan Brown, sent the following statement regarding the acting superintendent:

The district administrator is Mrs. Teresa gamble. The superintendent of record is Dr. David Mathis. Dr. Mathis is one of our deputy superintendents and is not paid with district funds. Dr. Strickland is not employed by the district or our agency.

The board has also been working to fill its three other empty seats after the South Carolina Dept. of Education stopped Florence school district four's election that was supposed to happen in November 2020.

They filed a request to the Governor's office to step in and hold a special election to fill those remaining seats.

The board also filed complaints to the United States Dept. of Justice and the Dept. of Education's Civil Rights office.

Dr. Gary Burgess, the spokesperson for the board, said even though the board holds not power, it's not going down without a fight.

"Now they realize they do have power. They have power, it may not be official but it's the cachet of being able to say we matter," said Burgess.

The board moved to obtain an attorney and pursue legal action.

Brown went on to suggest free virtual learning options through the VirtualSC that parents can enroll their child in. Registration opens up on Aug. 18 and serves students in 7th through 12th grade. He also listed a number of free virtual charter options if parents choose to take that route.

He said that Florence School District Four currently does not have enough students or enough teachers to create its own virtual program.

Timmonsville town leaders also announced that they are going to pay up to $5,000 in board expenses.

FLORENCE, S.C. (WPDE) — South Carolina State Superintendent Molly Spearman defended her plan to consolidate Florence Four Schools (also known as Timmonsville) with Florence One Schools at a community meeting on Thursday night.

Spearman provided a presentation showing the previous financial and academic status of the Timmonsville schools to justify the merger. Spearman also said the Florence Four district is too small to continue operating.

She said once the consolidation goes through in June Florence One would get money to cover the costs of taking in Florence Four students.

TRENDING: Portuguese man o' wars could pop up on SC coasts, CCU professor advises how to respond

The state superintendent answered questions from the community, but many said she did not specifically answer the questions they wanted answered.

A group of frustrated community members walked out of the meeting mid way through.

State Representative Terry Alexander addressed concerns about the consolidation, he said the district has been down this road multiple times.

"The people of Timmonsville have been down this road before. This is not the first time we have talked about consolidation, this is not the first time they've run out of money. And I feel for the community. I feel for the community, every three to four years we do this. Every three to four years that I can remember, we're at this point," said Rep. Alexander. "They say okay give us some more money, we give them a little bit of money for a little while and then we run out. The state come back in and three or four years later, give us some more money. You know what I mean? There's no continuity there, it's not good for the kids."

Spearman reiterated that Johnson Middle School and Timmonsville High School will close when the consolidation happens. She said there are no plans to sell the buildings, but she said there is a chance in the future that students could be back in those facilities if Florence continues on its current growth path.

TRENDING: Myrtle Beach high school senior sings her way onto American Idol

Middle and high school students have been given the option on where they want to attend school next year in the Florence One district. Spearman said plans and school bus routes are being planned.

Officials said Brockington Elementary will be converted to a magnet school for the arts and will feed into Florence One middle and high schools.

The South Carolina Department of Education declared a state of emergency for the Florence Four School District in 2018, at the time the district faced a $100,000 deficit.

In February the Florence Four School Board filed a lawsuit against the state to stop the consolidation.

The merger is scheduled to go into effect June 30, 2022.

FLORENCE, S.C. – More than 14% of South Carolina’s nearly 3.4 million registered voters already have cast their ballots for the 2022 general election.

Approximately 500,000 South Carolina registered voters went to the poll during the state’s 12-day early voting period, which ended Saturday. More than 50,000 registered voters had turned in their absentee ballots.

The South Carolina General Assembly created the 12-day early voting window earlier this year. Gov. Henry McMaster signed the early-voting legislation into law in May. Early voting was used in the June primaries. November 8 is the first time early voting has been used in a general election.

Tuesday polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the rest of the state’s registered voters to vote in the mid-term general election. Federal, state, county, municipal and school board races will be in the ballot.

City of Florence voters also will be deciding whether retailers will be able to sell beer and wine on Sundays.

Two questions on the ballot would amend the state constitution to require legislators to increase the amount of money put in the state’s rainy-day fund from 5% of the state’s annual revenues to $7%. The second question requires legislators to increase the amount of money put into the capital expense reserves fund. The amount would be changed from 2% of the state’s annual revenues to 3%.

Florence County’s registered voters took advantage of the early voting period. Florence County had established early voting sites in Florence, Lake City, Timmonsville and Johnsonville, Florence County Voter Registration and Election Board Director Julian Young said.

“We have had record numbers on early voting,” Young said. “We have been having over a thousand voters a day it seems like all the way through this period. … We are pleased with the turnout.”

Florence County has 82,912 registered voters, according to the latest numbers available from the South Carolina Election Commission’s website – scvotes.gov. There are 63 voting precincts in the county.

The Florence County Voter Registration and Election Board is prepared for election day on Tuesday, he said.

Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Young said. Anyone in line at 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote.

“All precincts will be open. Check your voter registration card; your precinct number will be on there. It will show you where to vote, too.”

Registered voters also can check their registration, review a sample ballot and find their polling place at scvotes.gov.

Registered voters will need to take a photo ID to cast their ballot.

Accepted photo IDs are a South Carolina driver’s license, South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles ID Card, South Carolina Voter Registration Card with photo, federal military ID and a United States passport.

“At each one of our polls, we have a full staff. They are fully equipped with their certification. They will be working to make sure everything is safe, secure and impartial. We have the voting machines ready to go,” Young said.

Young encouraged registered voters who didn’t vote early to go to the polls on Tuesday.

“We want you to come vote. We are excited that people are turning out so well,” he said.