Milliken: The Man

A legacy for Spartanburg, and it keeps on giving

DECEMBER 9, 2009 3:01 p.m. (4)

Its curator told him the man who planted the garden never got to see the full magnitude of what he had created.

Many say the same about Milliken, a private man who reinvented his family business into what is regarded as the nation’s best-run textile and chemical company, who is credited for the rebirth of the Republican Party in what had been a staunchly Democratic state and whose influence can be seen in almost every square foot of the Wofford College campus.  Continue reading...

The Middle Man

Why Sen. Graham maintains common ground with Republicans, Democrats

JANUARY 16, 2010 6:31 p.m. (0)

And he doesn’t intend to apologize for his friendship with the late Ted Kennedy.

With folksy humor and conversational explanations of sometimes complex points of international economics, healthcare, environmental and energy policy and entitlement programs, Graham has found himself in recent months repeatedly defending – at times angrily – why he has reached out to liberal figures such as Kennedy, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton to win conservatives a seat at the table.  Continue reading...

Small businesses get help

$2 million to be available this quarter

JANUARY 21, 2010 10:28 a.m. (0)

Entering the third year of being battered by the recession, The South Financial Group took steps to build a neglected business segment.

The company has created a 19-person department to become a bigger player in Small Business Administration loan programs in the Carolinas and Florida.  Continue reading...

Going with the grain

Residents say naming the western end of Spartanburg's downtown the "grain district" will spur further development

JANUARY 23, 2010 10:36 a.m. (0)

Tony Forest didn’t have to worry much about where his customers were going to park when he opened Carriage House Wines on West Main Street a little more than four years ago.

Except for Sonny’s Brick Oven Pizza, there weren’t any other businesses.  Continue reading...

SPARTA gets review

Spartanburg bus rider audit under way

JANUARY 21, 2010 10:53 a.m. (0)

Aboard a minibus on the North Church Street route 10 riders – men and women, most of them middle-aged or older – turned to 11, 12, 15 and then a precarious 19 before folks started getting off at the Spartanburg Regional Hospital stop.

Initially silent, conversation turned to the crowded conditions before long.  Continue reading...

Free medicine

Spartanburg County's employee clinic gets high marks from patients

FEBRUARY 18, 2010 9:58 a.m. (0)

Tony Bell was visiting the clinic he helped set up for Spartanburg County employees recently, and the clinic’s advising physician happened to be there.

“My shoulder has been bothering me forever and a day,” said Bell, sporting a blue canvas arm sling late last week. “He said, ‘Why don’t you get an MRI?’ I hadn’t gotten back to my office before they were calling me to set it up.”  Continue reading...

The other Greenville

Never heard of the Greenline-Spartanburg community? That’s their problem.

MARCH 14, 2010 11:54 a.m. (0)

Shedreaka Davis was injured on Nov. 12, 2008, and died five days later. The city’s slow response is seen as typical of the indifference toward the Greenline – Spartanburg area by some in the community.

City Manager Jim Bourey said city crews addressed safety issues with the bridge within days of the accident and that the final refurbishment of the structure took longer than it should have because the city wanted to do the job right.  Continue reading...

Spartanburg junior high will close

Whitlock Junior High had been under federal, state scrutiny to turn around student achievement

APRIL 7, 2010 3:50 p.m. (1)

Whitlock Junior High will be shutting down after classes wrap up May 28.

The announcement, the first concrete step in a larger proposed restructuring of the district, came Wednesday morning in a briefing to members of the media and the district’s principals. A general announcement to the public was embargoed until 4 p.m. today after school personnel could be notified.  Continue reading...

Attorney says District 7 broke law with disclosure delay

APRIL 7, 2010 4:25 p.m. (0)

The Spartanburg District 7 Board of Trustees took a major vote Tuesday night.

But the implications of that vote – which were to close Whitlock Junior High and the Madden Center – were unknown to the public until district personnel explained it in a closed-door media briefing the following morning.  Continue reading...

The gender difference

MAY 20, 2010 9:47 a.m. (0)

After 22 years in education, Tammy Greer has seen all sorts of change, including one she never envisioned would be so popular: single-gender classrooms.

“I had never even heard of it when I started,” the Boiling Springs Intermediate principal said.  Continue reading...

Study shows when it comes to firefighters, the more the better

Greenville chief calls department’s staffing adequate, says new station is needed  

JUNE 4, 2010 11:59 a.m. (0)

When an emergency call comes in to the Greenville Fire Department on the fast-growing far eastside of Greenville near Woodruff Road, there’s a greater chance than anywhere else in the city the station assigned to cover the area won’t be available to answer the call.

And if the Pleasantburg station isn’t on another call, there’s a greater chance than anywhere else in the city it will take more than four minutes for firefighters to arrive on the scene.  Continue reading...

The ‘Southwest Effect’

Entry of airline into GSP market should lower fares, boost options

MAY 21, 2010 9:13 a.m. (0)

Airfares plummeted at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last year.

The average round-trip ticket price flying out of the Twin Cities was $321.54 during the third quarter of 2009, nearly $151 less than the year before.  Continue reading...

Palmetto Bancshares gets major cash infusion

MAY 27, 2010 9:33 a.m. (0)

The Greenville financial company also said it has “nonbinding commitments from other potential institutional investors in excess of the $45 million expected to be raised.”  Continue reading...

Spartanburg signs LGBT proclamation

Some council members, residents say he shouldn't have done it

JUNE 3, 2010 9:15 a.m. (3)

Civil rights are not just a racial issue, Spartanburg Mayor Junie White said.

That why White signed a proclamation making June 19 Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Day.  Continue reading...

Mayfair has lofty goals

JUNE 14, 2010 9:13 a.m. (0)

The tenants at Mayfair Lofts generally aren’t locals but they have helped make the mill restoration project one of Spartanburg County’s success stories, said Pace Burt of Burt Development.

Perched alongside a major rail line on the edge of the City of Spartanburg, Mayfair Lofts is sandwiched between major shopping, and business opportunities as well as having easy access to colleges and the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg.  Continue reading...

Facebook + Teachers = privacy questions

JULY 16, 2010 5:00 a.m. (0)

Tagging, poking and friending may be fine on Facebook, but private information from school district employees' social web pages can end up in the district e-mail system.

Spartanburg District Five Director of Technology Tom Taylor said signing up for sites like Facebook with a work e-mail is opening the door for private information to be seen.  Continue reading...

Roadway repairs present long-term problem

JULY 20, 2010 7:28 a.m. (0)

Cash strapped South Carolina faces an ever growing deficit with highway maintenance issues with 25,783 centerline road miles that are rated as poor out of a system that encompasses 41,000 miles; the cost to fix it is $8.6 billion.

In 2010 state Department of Transportation (DOT) officials let contracts to resurface and repair 470 centerline miles. It will take almost 55 years to address the needs of today at current rates of funding, DOT figures show.  Continue reading...

40 cold cases in Spartanburg County

Investigators say time is the trouble

JULY 21, 2010 6:34 a.m. (1)

Crystal Bradshaw was getting her life back together.

The 28-year-old mother had been separated from her husband for several months and had recently purchased a home on Northbrook Street off Highway 9 in Boiling Springs.  Continue reading...

How First National Bank of the South failed

JULY 21, 2010 6:58 a.m. (0)

That ambition crashed last Friday when the FDIC put the bank into receivership, closed its doors and sold it to a private equity firm created to scoop up failed banks.

First National reopened as business as usual Monday under the new owners.  Continue reading...

GSP plans expansion, renovations

Infrastructure upgrades to help reduce operational costs

JULY 22, 2010 7:11 a.m. (0)

Work could begin as early as late spring or early summer 2011 on an $80 million to $100 million renovation and expansion of the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, officials said this week.

As plans stand now phase one of the work could be done by sometime in 2012.  Continue reading...

Charter schools will pay up

Greenville County School District plans to charge for vocational training

AUGUST 2, 2010 10:20 a.m. (4)

As public school money grows tighter and the population of students enrolled in charter high schools expands, another dispute over funding has emerged with Greenville County Schools.

Fred Crawford, principal of Greenville Tech Charter High, said he received an e-mail May 19 from Laura Herd, the school district’s coordinator for school and program accountability, saying his school must refund the district $2,993 for every charter student who enrolls in vocational classes at one of five centers across the county.  Continue reading...

Furman grad to lead BBC orchestra

AUGUST 4, 2010 3:38 p.m. (0)

Keith Lockhart, a Furman University graduate, has been chosen as the principal conductor for the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Lockhart, who is the conductor for the Boston Pops, will make his debut with the BBC orchestra on Aug. 30 at the Royal Albert Hall.  Continue reading...

When passion meets purpose

AUGUST 17, 2010 7:29 a.m. (0)

At 40, Booker is a man who loves his job, his family and the community he’s been called to serve. He is an intense man with kind eyes that urge people to talk about themselves and their dreams.

His favorite quote “Relationships are all there is,” is by Margaret Wheatley and sums up his philosophy of schools administration and life.  Continue reading...

AIR PLANS

Spartanburg’s largest property prepares for its next phase

AUGUST 18, 2010 8:00 a.m. (0)

A $2.5 million renovation and upgrade project at the Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport is the first phase of a project that would see the facility increase its economic impact on the area from $10 million to more than $30 million.

“It’s the kind of thing that is going to require long-term commitment from the city,” said Dick Lewis, director of aviation for the Concord (N.C.) Regional Airport, a city-run facility located on the outskirts of Charlotte.  Continue reading...

City will pay millions for landfill cap

AUGUST 17, 2010 6:37 a.m. (0)

The city of Spartanburg is on the hook to pay all of the estimated $5.5 million to $6 million that it will cost to put an earthen cap on the old Arkwright landfill, city officials have confirmed.

Costs could be higher, said City Manager Ed Memmott, but are not expected to exceed the high end of estimates.  Continue reading...

County plays clean up

Clerk of Court has thousands in unclaimed child support

AUGUST 17, 2010 7:38 a.m. (0)

A steady stream of phone calls have been flowing into the Spartanburg County Clerk of Court’s office since the announcement that $900,000 in unpaid child support and restitution payments have been discovered languishing in county accounts.

Hope Blackley, the recently appointed clerk of court, said the backlog of funds dates from 1980. Some of the amounts are small, $2 or $3, and others (mostly restitution payments), run into thousands of dollars.  Continue reading...

Timken scores big with bearings

Upstate plant project is part of $26-million contract

AUGUST 17, 2010 7:43 a.m. (0)

Production has started at Timken’s Tyger River plant in Union County on massive bearings for use in wind turbines for China’s Goldwind Science and Technology Company, the fifth largest wind power maker in the world, as part of a $26 million contract.

Under the terms of the contract Timken provides engineering, advanced bearings, and condition monitoring equipment for Goldwind, said Lorrie Paul Crum, spokeswoman for Timken, a Ohio-based company that has operations in 27 countries and $3.1 billion in sales in 2009.  Continue reading...

Coffee, and so much more

Hub City Bookshop brings literary world together

AUGUST 17, 2010 7:59 a.m. (0)

Little River Roasting Co. has been in Spartanburg since 2002 but it wasn’t until the The Coffee Bar opened in the historic Masonic Temple downtown that the company had a retail presence.

The Coffee Bar and Cakehead Bakery opened up shop in the building with the Hub City Bookshop.  Continue reading...

City of Spartanburg will pay millions for landfill cap

AUGUST 26, 2010 8:14 a.m. (0)

The city of Spartanburg is on the hook to pay all of the estimated $5.5 million to $6 million that it will cost to put an earthen cap on the old Arkwright landfill, city officials have confirmed.

Costs could be higher, said City Manager Ed Memmott, but are not expected to exceed the high end of estimates.  Continue reading...

He’s the man in the mirror

AUGUST 26, 2010 7:37 a.m. (0)

For Christopher Adam Turner, self-portraits are a form of therapy.

Some people may talk to friends about issues going on in their lives but Turner picks up a paint brush.  Continue reading...

Sport aircraft grow in popularity here

AUGUST 26, 2010 9:10 a.m. (0)

The boom in light sport aircraft will help fuel growth at the Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport, said Darwin Simpson, airport manager.

Light sport aircraft are a Federal Aviation Administration approved class of planes that require less training (a FAA Sport Pilot certificate and a driver’s license is all that’s needed to fly) and medical certification than general aviation aircraft, yet have adequate speed and range to be useful beyond simply being fun to fly.  Continue reading...

Parking in the City of Spartanburg?

AUGUST 26, 2010 6:24 a.m. (0)

Parking scofflaws in the city of Spartanburg could be facing stiffer fines and the prospects their car will be immobilized by a boot device attached to a wheel.

City Council is expected to take up the proposal next month.  Continue reading...

Denny's income drops

AUGUST 27, 2010 7:08 a.m. (0)

Spartanburg-based Denny’s Corp. net income fell 42 percent in the second quarter, the company reported.  Continue reading...

The fine print

By Dick Hughes

AUGUST 30, 2010 9:01 a.m. (0)

ScanSource Sets Revenue Record

ScanSource, the Greenville-based international distributor and reseller of technology products, had a good year with higher sales and income, but it could have been even better if it were not for product shortages, the company reported.  Continue reading...

Spartanburg's $17.3 million

It's a new day for the county's parks plan

OCTOBER 13, 2010 7:34 a.m. (0)

“If things go as we hope they will the Tyger River Park will play host to several regional tournaments next year that should generate an economic impact at least equal to the total cost of the parks building program,” said Jeff Caton, director of parks for the county.

Spartanburg is trying to come a long way in a short amount of time since it is the last major metropolitan county in the state to create a recreation department, Caton said, and it has the lowest allocation per resident, $23 dollars, to pay for recreation.  Continue reading...

Upstate schools win Blue Ribbons

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 8:54 a.m. (0)

Greenville Technical Charter High and Powdersville Elementary are among five South Carolina schools chosen as winners of the 2010 National Blue Ribbon Schools Awards, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced this morning.

The National Blue Ribbon exemplifies excellence, and winners are chosen due to their academic excellence or because they have demonstrated dramatic gains in student achievement, officials said.  Continue reading...

The news in brief

September 10-16, 2010

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 10:41 a.m. (0)

That’s even with the fact the numbers this week have already started to climb.

Locally, the price per gallon rose nine-tenths of a cent in the past week, while the national average fell two tenths of a cent.  Continue reading...

They can FLY!

‘Peter Pan’ production puts an actor in the air

SEPTEMBER 11, 2010 12:43 p.m. (0)

Toss in some physics, geometry, algebra, special flying harnesses, pulley systems and a Labor Day weekend full of instruction for five cast members by a flying director from the same company that helped former gymnast Cathy Rigby take to the air in the Broadway revival of the childhood favorite.

“People who sit in the audience have no idea what it takes mathematically and scientifically and a lot of times the people backstage don’t know what it takes artistically to make this work,” said Dan Kondas, the flying director with ZFX Flying Effects who was in Greenville last weekend.  Continue reading...

Scene. Here. Greenville.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2010 12:55 p.m. (0)

Water you doing?

Coldwell Banker Caine will host an exhibit opening reception for its next resident artist, watercolor painter Lynn Greer. The event will be held at The Real Estate Gallery at 428 South Main St. in Greenville on Thursday, Sept. 16 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.  The reception is free to attend and open to the public.  Continue reading...

Greenville arts writer moves on to next chapter

Ann Hicks plans to write two books, teach children to appreciate the arts

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 1:33 p.m. (0)

Although she spent her childhood behind the Iron Curtain in Budapest, Hungary, in an upper-class family where original paintings hung on the walls, the sound of classical music filled the air and where appreciation of the arts was as natural as mother’s milk, she had no idea how to write a review.

“I went to Barnes and Noble looking for ‘Criticism for Dummies.’ There was none,” she said.  Continue reading...

Breathing, not so easy here

New ozone requirements will mean big changes

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 8:35 p.m. (0)

In 2008 EPA set the primary acceptable ozone level at 0.075 parts per million (PPM). This year they are expected to lower that limit to between 0.060 to 0.070 PPM.

Data from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control shows Spartanburg County was significantly out of compliance with the existing ozone standard in the Aug. 13 and 14 time period with the ozone monitor in the northern part of the county recording a level of more than 0.080 PPM.  Continue reading...

Under water, out of luck

Spartanburg’s flood plain maps will soon be updated, leaving some residents not as high and dry as they once were

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 8:41 p.m. (0)

Homeowners concerned that their property might be included in the new flood zone map can go to the Spartanburg County Graphic Information System Web site and click on GIS mapping program.

Once the program comes up on the screen click on the mapping pulldown at the top right corner and click layer choices and select flood zones and aerials 2009.  Continue reading...

This season at the Chap

From Glenn Miller to Second City, season has diversity, depth

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 9:04 p.m. (0)

The schedule needs to have some crowd favorites that are sure to be slam dunks at the box office and acts that push the envelope and are outside the norm for the Spartanburg arts community.

“We feel a strong obligation not only to give the community what it wants, but also give it things that are different,” said Steve Wong, marketing director for the Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg. “Part of our responsibility artistically is to broaden horizons.”  Continue reading...

Worth the trip

Appalachian Folk Art Center

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 9:09 p.m. (0)

Tucked onto a spacious campus at mile marker 382 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, it’s a place where crafters of every discipline display the fruits of their labor and one of the few spots in this part of the world where visitors can see the real deal in southern highland art from basket weaving to sculpture.

The center is home to the Southern Highland Craft Guild, an organization founded in 1930 during the bad old days of the Great Depression to help bring in a little money for the craftspeople of the Appalachian region.  Continue reading...

Caterpillar, lost

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 9:14 p.m. (0)

Caterpillar’s decision to build a new plant in North Carolina, rejecting Spartanburg and Montgomery, Ala., is causing angst and puzzlement across the Upstate.

“I’ve had more people talk to me about Caterpillar and the loss of them than any other project in 20 years, going back to when we recruited BMW,” said H. David Britt, vice chairman of Spartanburg County Council and chairman of the economic recruitment and development committee.  Continue reading...

The week in pictures

Look who's in the Journal: Sept. 17-23

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 8:05 a.m. (0)

For-profits raise questions

Have private companies found a loophole in the charter school law?

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 8:44 a.m. (0)

The six schools educate slightly more than 2,100 children in elementary, middle and high school programs. One, the Meyer Center for Special Children, is for preschool children with disabilities.

Three of the schools are operated under the auspices of Greenville Technical College, whose high school just won the National Blue Ribbon Award. A seventh school opened this year.  Continue reading...

Just west of here

Artists flock to Pendleton Street Arts District

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 8:59 a.m. (0)

They’ve organized the West Greenville Arts Festival, a smaller, more intimate successor to Upstate Visual Arts’ Art in the Park.

“Even with the economy, more and more artists are coming to West Greenville and the Pendleton Street Arts District to work,” said Ryan Callaway, one of the event organizers and an artist who transformed an empty textile machine shop on Andrews Street into his working blacksmith’s studio and an art gallery. “They know it’s the art district in Greenville.”  Continue reading...

Inspired

Leah Brown, one of Hub-Bub’s first artists-in-residence, returns for installation

SEPTEMBER 22, 2010 9:07 a.m. (0)

The landlord loved her idea – one of more than 100 he had received – and Brown was suddenly an art gallery owner.

“In a matter of minutes, I went from having nothing to having a gallery,” said Brown, who opened 18 Rabbit Gallery in 2009.  Continue reading...

It takes one to dance

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010 12:56 p.m. (0)

But there was one problem. Ballroom dancing takes two people and she didn’t have a partner as serious about it as she was.

Then White discovered belly dancing.  Continue reading...

Reading lives on here

School district helps keep kids' noses buried in books

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010 1:45 p.m. (0)

But it is reading that lives at the heart of the story and a community that has pulled together to give all of the students a book of their own to read over the summer. One book each for 1,500 kids.

“It’s a way to get the students at Spartanburg High really involved with reading and to connect with the authors,” said McKenzie Wilson, a junior, during a telephone interview after school last Friday.  Continue reading...

County Council notes

From the September 16 meeting

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010 1:48 p.m. (0)

Spartanburg County Council voted to table an ordinance that would have authorized the county recreation district to issue a general obligation bond for up to $1.6 million to pay for a building that would be used for office space, public meetings and events.  Continue reading...

Warhol is here

Exhibitions boost city's cultural possibilities

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010 1:53 p.m. (3)

Jane Nodine almost threw away the University of South Carolina Upstate’s chance at owning a collection of photographs by famous pop artist Andy Warhol.

Back in 2007, Nodine was cleaning papers off her desk when a letter with the Andy Warhol Foundation’s return address caught her attention.  Continue reading...

Start-up delayed

Electric car company pushes launch to December

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010 2:20 p.m. (0)

If there are no more delays, the plant could be up and running in three to six months.

Curt Westlake, spokesman for CT&T in the company’s Atlanta office, said the delay was caused by the need to complete the distribution network.  Continue reading...

City Council notes

From the Sept. 27 meeting

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010 10:41 a.m. (0)

Spartanburg expects to save about $60,000 a year by refinancing $16.7 million in tax increment bonds for the St. John-Daniel Morgan Redevelopment Project and special obligation bonds for the Renaissance Park Project, city council was told Monday night.

Passed on first reading, the complex refinancing package would take advantage of favorable interest rates, Chris Story, assistant city manager, told the council. The exact amount of the savings will not be known until after the bonds are issued and the interest rate is set.  Continue reading...

AFL buys Verrillon, Inc.

Specialty fibers company acquired for undisclosed price

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010 11:09 a.m. (0)

Spartanburg-based AFL has purchased Verrillon, Inc. of Massachusetts for an undisclosed price, AFL officials announced last week.

“It won’t mean any new jobs locally,” said Corie Culp, public relations manager for AFL. “But the folks up in Massachusetts will keep their jobs.”  Continue reading...

Snap it up

Snapshot Spartanburg begins Oct. 6

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010 11:19 a.m. (0)

As a professional editorial and commercial photographer, Ian Curcio has access to some of the best photographic equipment on the market.

Sometimes, though, he just uses the camera on his iPhone.  Continue reading...

The week in pictures

Look who's in the Journal Oct. 1-7, 2010

OCTOBER 3, 2010 2:16 p.m. (0)

Andrew Wyeth: artist, grandfather

Granddaughter puts new face on the late artist

OCTOBER 11, 2010 7:18 a.m. (1)

But no one knows more about the life and work of Andrew Wyeth, the late American artist whose work helped transform the Greenville County Museum of Art from a regional museum to one with national and international prominence.

“I knew him as Andrew Wyeth, iconic artist. But I also knew him as Grandpa Andy,” said Victoria Wyeth, the late artist’s only grandchild and the niece of painter Jamie Wyeth.  Continue reading...

Landfull

Waste management may request an expansion at a westside dump

OCTOBER 14, 2010 10:38 a.m. (0)

A possible decline is a reason Waste Management might give for seeking to expand the landfill. The company won’t decide whether to seek permission to expand before Jan. 1, an official with Waste Management, owners of the private dump, told the Journal last week.

The nation’s largest commercial trash disposal company approached BMW recently with the idea of expanding the landfill with an eye toward extending the dump’s capacity to produce methane.  Continue reading...

Mummy, where art thou?

Greenville’s arts organizations capitalize on popularity of Halloween

OCTOBER 19, 2010 11:00 a.m. (0)

“People celebrate Halloween because it’s fun,” said Allan McCalla, artistic director for the Greenville Little Theatre. “All of us trick or treated as kids. And arts organizations are always looking for an angle.”

Americans are expected to spend $447.1 billion on Halloween this year, according to the National Retail Federation. And while Halloween used to be considered primarily a children’s event, it has become the second leading adult party reason behind New Year’s Eve.  Continue reading...

Clothed for business

South Carolina company weaves conservation into new clothing line

OCTOBER 14, 2010 11:12 a.m. (0)

In their 20s and engaged to be married, they are taking their principles into business, establishing the Loggerhead Apparel Co. to make quality clothing in South Carolina and help textiles and the loggerhead from “going extinct here.”

Their inaugural product is a South Carolina-made pima cotton polo shirt with a loggerhead logo.  Their first run of 2,500 “is just to give us some experience before Christmas and then we can look at some additional colors and follow up with a run to get ready for spring.”  Continue reading...

Upstate counties, by the balance sheet

Greenville County's banking environment "most competitive" in state

OCTOBER 14, 2010 11:29 a.m. (0)

Spartanburg County was fourth in deposits with $4.81 billion, a gain of $600 million, which increased the county’s share of the state deposit market from 6 percent to 6.9 percent. It has 80 banking offices.

Greenville led in deposits with $10.46 billion, down slightly from $10.54 billion reported in the FDIC’s 2009 report. The county’s share of the market declined from 15.10 percent to 14.88 percent.  The number of banking offices remained at 170.  Continue reading...

Who is Jim DeMint?

The senator from South Carolina

OCTOBER 22, 2010 8:39 a.m. (2)

If DeMint’s stable of tea party insurgents win on Nov. 2, he could become the leader of a coalition of hyper-conservatives with tremendous power in a sharply divided Senate.

Currently, he enjoys regular Republican support from Sens. Tom Coburn and James Inhofe, both of Oklahoma.  Continue reading...

Flower power

Locally written play brings breast cancer awareness to stage

OCTOBER 21, 2010 12:54 p.m. (0)

But there they are together at a funeral home in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., to pay respects to their friend who has died of breast cancer.

Taylor, who changed her name from Polly Lou Clementine and got a job at Dollywood to start her road to stardom, sends the women off on an adventure that includes Elvis and others.  Continue reading...

In harmony

Henry Gibson, Greenville Chorale celebrate their golden anniversary

OCTOBER 22, 2010 6:07 a.m. (0)

That’s because he has been performing with the Chorale since its inaugural season in 1961.

Gibson had graduated from North Greenville Junior College and transferred to Furman University. Shortly after the fall term had begun, one of Gibson’s professors told him he should join what started as the Rotary Civic Chorale.  Continue reading...

Arts and the app

Metropolitan Arts Council offers mobile help for Open Studios

NOVEMBER 5, 2010 11:46 a.m. (0)

And there’s an app to help her do that.

Miller, an art lover who has lived in the Upstate just a few weeks, plans to visit as many as a dozen of the 142 participating artists on Saturday and another half dozen on Sunday, and she’ll use a new app to help her decide which artists she wants to see and the route she’ll use to get there.  Continue reading...

History's his thing

Slave cabin expert to speak at lunch and learn

NOVEMBER 14, 2010 2:12 p.m. (0)

“Lots of places spend inordinate amounts of money on preserving the big house on plantations,” said Joseph McGill, a program officer with the National Trust for Historic Preservation office in Charleston. “But it was the slaves who drove the economic engine of the plantation system and at many sites the places where slaves lived are rapidly vanishing.”

Southerners have a love affair with the idea of plantations; moonlight and magnolias is an easy sell for tourists visiting one of the many plantation homes converted into bed and breakfast inns across the South.  Continue reading...

Gowdy goes to Washington

The freshman congressman talks values, voting and his dream for District 4

NOVEMBER 16, 2010 8:18 a.m. (4)

On a surface level, at least, there are seeming similarities between Gowdy’s vision of his role as a congressman and the naïveté of the Boy Ranger leader turned senator portrayed by Stewart in “Mr. Smith goes to Washington.”

Certainly, there is dead-ringer likeness between Gowdy and the movie character in passion for ideals and it was ideals that propelled Gowdy to his stunningly one-sided victory over veteran congressman Bob Inglis in the June primary runoff.  Continue reading...

Orders up

Denny's focuses on what's new and improving

NOVEMBER 14, 2010 2:37 p.m. (0)

Guest traffic is up, new restaurants are opening in travel centers and on college campuses, a café-style Denny’s is being tested, new leadership is falling into place, profits are edging up and the stock price is rebounding.

A lingering dispute with Nelson Marchioli, who was dumped in June as chief executive officer and from the board, was settled, although at a price.  Continue reading...

North Greenville raises curtain on new theater

NOVEMBER 14, 2010 2:48 p.m. (0)

The facility is one of two new buildings belonging to the theater department. Billingsley Theatre is located in the new Village at Tigerville, a 20-acre site that is home to the NGU Visual Arts Department, Carolina First Bank and Einstein’s Bagels.

The vision for the village includes numerous retail and campus-related buildings. Across from Billingsley is the new School of Theatre building, which occupies the historic Tigerville Elementary School building given to the university by the school district.  The original structure dates back to the early 20th century.  Continue reading...

The week in pictures: 11/14/10

Look who's in the Journal

NOVEMBER 14, 2010 10:02 a.m. (0)

So much drama

For these Governor’s School grads, that’s a good thing

NOVEMBER 22, 2010 8:26 a.m. (0)

Three graduates from the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities have roles in plays showing on New York’s Broadway.

Teyonah Parris and Nichole Beharie are appearing in John Guare’s “A Free Man of Color” with Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jeffrey Wright, while Liza Bennett appears in “The Merchant of Venice,” which stars Al Pacino. All three women attended Juilliard before they started acting professionally.  Continue reading...

The George

It's already paying off

NOVEMBER 19, 2010 12:45 p.m. (0)

“I can’t provide numbers this early on,” says Patty Bock, the economic development director of the City of Spartanburg, “but the USC Upstate Business School has definitely made a positive economic impact on the city, and it goes beyond our downtown.”

She says between faculty, staff and students, the school known as “The George” brings in nearly 1,000 people into downtown every day.  Continue reading...

The Peace Family

Seven generations now. Quietly helping grow a community.

DECEMBER 3, 2010 2:21 p.m. (0)

And without a $10 million pledge from three branches of the Peace family the idea to build a performing arts center beside the Reedy River likely would have died before it got started.

That was more than 20 years ago.  Continue reading...

Voices from Iran

Upstate native returns for reading at Hub City

DECEMBER 3, 2010 3:03 p.m. (7)

Raised in Gaffney by her doctor father, originally from Tehran, and her American mother, a nurse-turned-homemaker, she often overlooked her Iranian background. Although not autobiographical, Eslami explores her roots along with her character, Jasmine Fahroodhi, who was also brought up in a small Southern town by an Iranian father and American mother.

Eslami is returning to the Upstate Dec. 11 for family time and a book reading and signing in Spartanburg at Hub City Bookshop.  Continue reading...

What Hitt means for Haley

New Commerce chief has two decades of S.C. navigating experience

DECEMBER 9, 2010 12:28 p.m. (0)

Hitt has been BMW’s go-to guy for nearly 20 years in incentive negotiations with the state and has dealt with South Carolina’s last five commerce secretaries. Observers say he has played a key role in one of the state’s biggest business successes.

He is 60 and a 1973 graduate of the University of South Carolina’s College of Journalism. He and wife Gwen have two sons ages 31 and 19 and live in Simpsonville.  Continue reading...

Spartanburg Marriott changes ownership

Included: plans to expand

DECEMBER 12, 2010 1:15 p.m. (0)

The property is under contract with Bridgewater Capital Solutions of Atlanta, the current owner of the hotel building. The city owns the 4.7 acres the hotel occupies.

Changes to the city-owned lease with Bridgewater cleared City Council at first reading Monday and a final reading is on track for approval at next week’s meeting. The changes to the lease would enable SMR Hospitality LLC, the new potential owner, to finalize the sale.  Continue reading...

Have music, will travel

Spartanburg Music Trail celebrates contributions of local musicians to national, international music scene

JANUARY 6, 2011 12:02 p.m. (0)

Spartanburg’s musical heritage did not start or stop with the Marshall Tucker Band.

While the band is arguably the headliner of the influential musical acts to come from Spartanburg, it is by far not the only one that has gone on to national or international prominence.  Continue reading...

Zzzzzzzz

“In My Sleep,” produced by Greenville native, makes its premiere here

JANUARY 6, 2011 1:46 p.m. (0)

They wanted him to read books instead.

Then he discovered he could study filmmaking at the Fine Arts Center.  Continue reading...

Centre Stage

Set for a comeback

JANUARY 21, 2011 10:34 a.m. (0)

Then auditors told her they were considering issuing a going-concern opinion, a warning they are required to give when they have substantial doubt about whether a company or entity can survive for another 12 months.

ManWaring said she was not aware of the full extent of the theater’s financial troubles when she took the job.  Continue reading...

Preserved?

Hampton Heights residents have serious questions

JANUARY 27, 2011 3:55 p.m. (0)

Earl and Sharon Troglin, owners of 144 W. Hampton Ave., sued the trust and the city of Spartanburg and reached a mediated settlement with the trust, the contractor and the home inspector.

The city settled with the Troglins before the settlement was negotiated, City Manager Ed Memmott and Councilwoman Linda Dougan said.  Continue reading...

Art's all in their family

Cowpens husband-wife pottery team to participate in Smithsonian craft event

JANUARY 27, 2011 4:03 p.m. (0)

Bending over backwards is something Rosa Eugene has had to work on all her life.

As a girl, she had a habit of telling people the truth point-blank, never stopping to think whether the words coming out of her mouth would hurt the people to whom they were directed.  Continue reading...

The Heritage Green space

County looks for ways to improve public awareness of arts area.

FEBRUARY 3, 2011 3:39 p.m. (1)

The home of four museums, a community theater and the county’s main library is just three blocks from Main Street, yet is not widely thought of as a part of Greenville’s burgeoning downtown.

Some say that’s because of Academy Street, one of Greenville’s main central city thoroughfares that dissects Heritage Green from the rest of downtown and a more pedestrian-friendly Main Street.  Continue reading...

"Life is short, Art endures."

Chapman Cultural Center makes plans for its next phase of growing here

FEBRUARY 3, 2011 3:48 p.m. (0)

H. Perry Mixter, outgoing director of the partnership, said, “It wasn’t so much that fundraising slipped (that income was fairly steady) but that our expenses had jumped considerably (in 2009 through 2010) due to the opening of Chapman. We knew this was coming.”

Mixter said the partnership’s income from donations has remained steady at about $800,000 a year while expenses jumped sharply to around $1.2 million.  Continue reading...

Doing just swimmingly

Converse swim team finishes undefeated in dual-meet season, has national qualifiers

FEBRUARY 10, 2011 1:49 p.m. (0)

“I wanted to help build something special,” she said.

And the freshman who swam for Mauldin High and Team Greenville is.  Continue reading...

Southwest reports 'solid bookings' for GSP flights

Service will begin March 13

FEBRUARY 11, 2011 9:55 a.m. (0)

“We think South Carolina is going to be a wonderful addition to our route,” he told a news conference at the 122nd annual meeting and dinner of Greenville Chamber at the Carolina First Center Tuesday.

Kelly, who is Southwest’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, was the Chamber’s keynote speaker.  Continue reading...

Milliken's final wishes revealed

Will outlines how fortune will be doled out

FEBRUARY 19, 2011 3:19 p.m. (0)

The late textile magnate, who ran the day-to-day operations of his family’s textile empire until he was 90 and remained chairman of the board until his death last December at the age of 95, said in the two-page letter he hoped trusts he established would generate enough income to enable his descendants to actively pursue any career.

But, he wrote he hoped the trusts did not provide so much income that his five children and nine grandchildren would do nothing of consequence. He wanted the money to enable them to achieve true self-fulfillment and the happiness that flows there from.  Continue reading...

Track Star

Trevor Bayne made history by winning the Daytona 500 this year, and this racing whiz has connections here

FEBRUARY 24, 2011 8:55 a.m. (0)

The 20-year-old Bayne’s grandfather, William Bayne, raced in the Upstate circuit for years both against Eddie Hawkins and as a member of Hawkins’ racing team, the now retired veteran racer said.

“Trevor’s daddy, Rocky, and his brother both played with my boy around the shop when there were kids,” Hawkins said. Both Baynes graduated from Hillcrest High School and lived in Simpsonville.  Continue reading...

The South, at work

Artist works to preserve a vanishing way of life

MARCH 2, 2011 12:05 p.m. (0)

But it saddens her as well.

Bechdolt is one of 30 workers included in Whyte’s series of watercolor portraits highlighting Southern workers, but they are Southerners working in jobs that are fading away.  Continue reading...

The week in pictures: 2/25/11

Look who's in the Journal this week

FEBRUARY 25, 2011 8:43 a.m. (0)

The Palmetto Association of Independent Schools (PAIS) held its Inclusivity Conference 2011 at Christ Church Episcopal School. The day-long conference featured speakers, presentations and break-out work sessions designed to foster cultural awareness and multicultural education.

Stone Academy presented “ ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go!’ by the Incomparable Dr. Seuss’” at Furman University. The school-wide production was funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission. Students in grades first through fifth, strings students, Percussion Ensemble, Play Production, Stone Singers, and the Dance Ensemble were directed in the original production by Stone’s related arts teachers.  Continue reading...

The DuPre House

Could give one local school room to grow

MARCH 3, 2011 2:43 p.m. (0)

A spokesman for the college would not comment on talks with the city about DuPre.

The home is located on Howard Street and abuts the construction site for the VCOM campus.  Continue reading...

With the stroke of a pen

Spartanburg County worthless check program helps merchants collect money, keep cases out of court system

MARCH 9, 2011 2:57 p.m. (0)

She told Cooper several times she would come back to 101 Home Furnishings to make the check good – at the end of the week when she got paid, after she got home from a trip, and by 5 p.m. the day a police officer knocked on her door and told her she needed to pay up.

“I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt,” he said. “I just wanted my money.”  Continue reading...

Dream on, and on, and on

Warehouse has a unique take on Shakespeare classic ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’

MARCH 7, 2011 8:08 a.m. (0)

In the early planning stages for the Warehouse Theatre’s production of the Shakespeare classic, somebody threw out the idea of having the mechanicals – the acting troupe that performs the play “Pyramus and Thisbe” during “Midsummer Night’s Dream” – not just do the play within a play, but the entire play.

Everybody laughed – and then agreed the unique spin was a great idea.  Continue reading...

High noon

Music sandwiched in gives Spartanburg music lovers something to eat to

MARCH 3, 2011 3:13 p.m. (1)

They were there for Music Sandwiched In, a free event open to the public and presented by the Music Foundation of Spartanburg and held every other Wednesday.

The people were seated in rows of chairs and at tables throughout the room. Some of the audience members ate at the tables in the back of the room, either the lunches they brought with them or sandwiches that were available for purchase at the event. During the music, which lasted from 12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m., people trickled in and out of the room.  Continue reading...

GSP: A History

"Thank God for Mr. Milliken and Charles Daniel"

MARCH 11, 2011 1:23 p.m. (1)

Greenville and Spartanburg, back then, had their own downtown airports and the Army, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, told Greenville officials that an airbase would be built south of Greenville to train B-24 and B-25 bomber pilots fighting in World War II. The base was renamed Donaldson Air Force Base in the late 1950s.

As larger aircraft were being built to carry 100 or more passengers, the downtown airports, already 15 years old, were becoming antiquated and unprepared for handling the coming jet age.  Continue reading...

Where (tax) credit is due

Census data will change just who qualifies for a federal program that’s helped grow Greenville and Spartanburg

MARCH 23, 2011 3:07 p.m. (0)

In its 10th year, the New Markets Tax Credit program was enacted by Congress to stimulate lending for commercial and industrial development in areas designated by census data as having poverty rates of at least 20 percent or populations earning 20 percent less than surrounding median family income.

Large chunks of Greenville and Spartanburg, notably their downtowns, qualified under the 2000 census.  Continue reading...

Old school, new life

Legacy Charter School takes over Parker High campus

MARCH 17, 2011 9:27 a.m. (0)

They will again thanks to Legacy Charter School.

Legacy has turned the old Parker High into its middle and high school campus.  Continue reading...

Mike Gallagher, on stage

Radio talk show host to star in Centre Stage production

MARCH 17, 2011 10:35 a.m. (0)

National syndicated conservative radio talk show host Mike Gallagher says being a conservative and having an appreciation for the arts is not mutually exclusive.

He should know.  Continue reading...

With grace and poise

Carolina Ballet Theatre’s prima ballerina says goodbye

MARCH 28, 2011 11:02 a.m. (0)

And never more so than for Carolina Ballet Theatre prima ballerina Anita Pacylowski-Justo.

The Carolina Ballet’s April 9 production of “Giselle,” a romantic masterwork of the ballet world, was to be Pacylowski-Justo’s swan song, her farewell to the stage, a fitting end to a dancing career that has spanned more than two decades.  Continue reading...

All pride, no prejudice

Spartanburg Philharmonic debuts suite by Academy Award winner

MARCH 24, 2011 12:13 p.m. (0)

Award Winning Film Score Night was the fifth in a series of Masterworks Concerts, performed at the Twichell Auditorium. Along with the new piece, the concert  also featured Marianelli’s “Atonement” suite, “Clair de Lune” by Debussy, arranged by Stokovski, and “Le tombeau de Couperin” by Ravel.

The performance of the “Atonement” suite was originally scheduled to be performed by the Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra last year, but was canceled because of weather.  Continue reading...

Police crack cold case

Victim’s family: ‘We thought this day would never come’

APRIL 4, 2011 10:11 a.m. (0)

He was found two doors from home.

On Monday, Greenville Police Chief Terri Wilfong announced that two men have been arrested and charged with murder and strong-arm robbery in the case.  Continue reading...

A baseball story

Bob Jones University premiers movie

APRIL 4, 2011 10:44 a.m. (0)

“Milltown Pride,” the newest production by Bob Jones University’s Unusual Films, tells the story of a young man who dreams of playing professional baseball.

But to do so, he has to defy his father and leave his privileged life for the local textile mill.  Continue reading...

Extended Stay? Not so much

Hotel company HQ packs up and moves to Charlotte

APRIL 11, 2011 2:09 p.m. (0)

Disappointed Spartanburg officials say Extended Stay and HVM, the company that runs the motels and employs virtually all of its workers, gave them no chance to keep the headquarters and, further, publicly gave reasons for moving based on thin reeds.

The move is a setback, too, for Spartanburg’s favorite son and benefactor, George Dean Johnson Jr., who was a founder of Extended Stay and brought the motel chain from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to his hometown in 2002 to set in motion revitalization of a crumbling downtown.  Continue reading...

In Haiti, the healing continues

And Converse college alum, students are doing their part

APRIL 24, 2011 1:43 p.m. (0)

She is a student in Converse College’s art therapy program and a Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivor who used art as a way to cope with the disease 14 years ago.

She was among a group of current and former Converse College students who spent their spring break in Haiti showing doctors and nurses how art can help healing.  Continue reading...

Cash flow

The  divide between Spartanburg county council and parks and recreation

MAY 9, 2011 11:25 a.m. (0)

County council ordered a recreation department audit in April and voted to amend the ordinance creating the recreation commission in a move that would bring the department under the supervision of County Administrator Glenn Breed. The recreation commission would remain to handle run-of-the-mill issues.

Council Chairman Jeff Horton said the county’s issues with how the recreation department is run stem mainly from a lack of progress on big-ticket projects like Va-  Continue reading...

Arts takeover

Artisphere features new faces, old favorites

MAY 12, 2011 9:56 a.m. (0)

That’s something that began to happen gradually a couple of years into their marriage.

Because Signe Grushovenko was used to drawing with pastels on colored paper, she did not want to paint on a white canvas.  Continue reading...

This market's for artists

SLAM to open June 11

JUNE 2, 2011 10:39 a.m. (0)

The Saturday Local Art Market will give local artists a venue at which to sell their art on Saturday afternoons from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The market will run June 11 through Oct. 29 and will be held at 702 S. Main St. in the vacant lot across the street from the Army-Navy store.  Continue reading...

Right neighborly

Nature photographer Clay Bolt heads international project to highlight wildlife that lives among us

JUNE 16, 2011 11:45 a.m. (0)

Not the neighbors who live in the house next door or across the street or even down the block, but the kind of “neighbors” that call our backyards, parks and other natural spaces home.

Think salamanders, snakes and frogs. Trillium, lady’s slippers and orchids.  Continue reading...

These pets are raising funds

Greenville and Spartanburg Humane Societies receive hundreds of photos

JUNE 17, 2011 10:55 a.m. (0)

Kim Pitman, the executive director, said the funniest of the photos was a yellow lab dressed in a ballerina costume compete with tutu and a cat, who Pitman says, must have been 25 pounds that had stuffed itself into a very small inbox tray.

“It looked like an exploded Jiffy Pop popcorn container.”  Continue reading...

Conservatives want to get the tea party started

Spartanburg tea party focuses on county

JUNE 23, 2011 9:58 a.m. (1)

In Spartanburg County employees have not had a raise in five years and yet council, with hearty tea party applause, has passed a tax cut for the next fiscal year.

“The last real tax increase we had in my 17 years on council was the road use fee,” said council Chairman Jeff Horton. “But I don’t think the tea party has that much influence with the council itself. We’re a pretty conservative bunch, overall.”  Continue reading...

Starting up a brand new day

They're using the web to fund their artistic endeavors

JUNE 23, 2011 10:08 a.m. (1)

Most of the 50 stations he visited said they would make airtime for “Carolina,” Blount’s single about wanting to go back home again.

“There were so many people excited about it,” Blount said. “I thought it was the start of something.”  Continue reading...

Arkwright closing moves ahead

City council votes to start condemnation

JUNE 23, 2011 10:32 a.m. (0)

The council recently voted to start the condemnation of 6.79 acres owned by VigIndustries that was once part of the IMC Fertilizer Plant. The land will be used as a buffer to help ensure the clay cap planned for the dump will be effective.

City Manager Ed Memmott told council he had hoped to avoid condemnation but the owner of the property had fears about potential liability issues forcing the city’s hand. Staff is of the opinion that the city is the only responsible party in the eyes of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.  Continue reading...

What it takes

Byrnes High student races the clock to get in enough activity to gain admittance to West Point

JUNE 30, 2011 11:28 a.m. (3)

Now that she’s going into her senior year in high school, the time to prove herself is coming to an end.

She’s just back from West Point’s Summer Academy in New York where she got up every day at 5:45 a.m. for physical training, then a day full of classes, military training, athletics, social events. Lights out arrived at 11 p.m.  Continue reading...

The most common canvas

Tattoo artists are focus of Pickens County museum exhibit

JUNE 30, 2011 12:41 p.m. (0)

From the whimsical to the mythological and from heartfelt tributes to fallen comrades, mothers and childhood heroes to political statements, their artistic creations are seen on upper arms, chests and legs of bikers, veterans and professionals alike.

They’re tattoo artists.  Continue reading...

Chow town

When it comes to dining out, more folks are going downtown

JULY 7, 2011 1:00 p.m. (0)

The restaurant will open in a new location at 226 W. Main St. July 14.

For three years William Cribb ran a catering company from 121 N. Spring St. After expanding to offer lunch and dinner service a year ago he quickly outgrew the 34-four seat space.  Continue reading...

Who's No. 1?

Turns out some lists don’t matter at all

JULY 30, 2011 10:30 a.m. (0)

How can one explain such a wide disparity from city to city in the same state?

A Journal analysis of the metrics used by Forbes indicates the differences are not as great as the rankings suggest, and omissions and distortions in the components used to calculate positioning make such “best” listings misleading at best, meaningless at worst.  Continue reading...

All season long

The Peace Center’s major renovation and ‘The Lion King’ won’t be the only highlights of The 2011-12 season

AUGUST 1, 2011 10:53 a.m. (0)

“You can’t get a much stronger season,” Riegel said.

The 2011-12 season also features an expanded “The Place for Everyone” shows where tickets start at $5.  Continue reading...

Now in residence

Hub-Bub chooses four artists to live here, serve here

JULY 18, 2011 11:00 a.m. (1)

They’ll share it with the community for the next 10 months.

Camille Bonham has taught drawing, bookmaking and alternative photographic processes to such disparate groups as inmates at the New Correctional Facility in Iowa and students at the M’Adamfo Pa Community Center in Accra, Ghana.  Continue reading...

Westside's story

Areturn to retail has a once-empty mall revitalized

JULY 14, 2011 11:06 a.m. (0)

Dollar General and Office Depot have been joined in the 10-acre Westgate Village by Longhorn Steak House and Toys“R”Us/Babies“R”Us.

Pier One and Circuit City left the 35-year-old shopping center at the intersection of W.O. Ezell Boulevard and West Blackstock Road.  Continue reading...

The path more taken

As the Swamp Rabbit Trail grows, so does its usage, leaving some concerned traffic crossing signs aren't quite sufficient.

JULY 27, 2011 12:55 p.m. (0)

Riders and walkers screamed warnings that were lost in the sound of screeching tires and billowing blue smoke of burning rubber.

Half a dozen cars stopped mere feet from the girl, who froze in the middle of the eastbound lanes.  Continue reading...

The bus stops here

Proterra makes plans to move its headquarters to the Upstate

JULY 28, 2011 11:11 a.m. (0)

“I have no doubt Greenville will be in very short order the center of everything,” said Marc Gottschalk, chief counsel and business development director.

“For a company in the early stages, it is really helpful to have all the key people in one place, so I think it is pretty inevitable” that place will be Greenville, he said.  Continue reading...

Bead Weaver

Melissa Earley turns old craft into fine art

AUGUST 1, 2011 11:18 a.m. (0)

“It seems the general conception of artists is they’ve got some kind of supernatural talent or something,” said Spartanburg bead artist Melissa Earley. “I think it’s important for people to see the artistic process because it demystifies it. Art in general becomes a little less intimidating.”

That’s one of the reasons Earley decided to weave a large-scale beaded portrait during the month her work is being exhibited at the Metropolitan Arts Council gallery at 16 Augusta St. in Greenville.  Continue reading...

Those two little words

"Thank you" takes on big meaning in Gratitude Project

AUGUST 10, 2011 11:23 a.m. (0)

The lost art of letter writing and the arcane notion that saying “thank you” counts melded into a seamless whole.

Kerry Ferguson, a theater professor at Wofford, playwright, poet and stage director, was in a funk some months back over her lack of gratitude.  Continue reading...

Additional lawsuit filed in train crash

Woman is seeking unspecified damages for injuries sustained by her sons

AUGUST 12, 2011 9:05 a.m. (0)

The first suit in connection with the crash was filed within days of the accident by the family of Timothy and Tasha Harris of Cherokee County.

In papers filed by Greenville attorney Michael Parham in the Spartanburg County Court of Common Pleas, Misti Y. Harris, the mother of Morgan Harris and Camden Harris, is suing Spartanburg County, the county parks commission, the state department of labor, licensing and regulation, Matt Conrad, Donnie Carrigan and Jeff Caton.  Continue reading...

Never say never

This Dorman graduate has a future that’s as bright as he ever imagined

AUGUST 12, 2011 9:43 a.m. (0)

That’s what Thomas Maness noticed most on that day a little more than a month ago when he finally moved in with his new foster parent, Anthony Sartor.

Maness had been living at Glenn Springs Academy, a Pauline group home for as many as 32 boys, ages 10-21 who have been abused, neglected or abandoned by their parents.  Continue reading...

First in class

For students at the Edward Via College for Osteopathic Medicine, it’s not just about the medicine, there’s a mission, too

AUGUST 18, 2011 10:05 a.m. (0)

The mill’s 182-foot smokestack, the tallest structure of its kind in South Carolina, is preserved on the site as a reminder of what had been the world center of the textile industry.

“The students love it,” said William King, associate vice president of student services. “It is a tie to history.”  Continue reading...

DuPre House to be restored

VCOM to pay $400,000 to restore exterior and will raise funds to restore interior

AUGUST 18, 2011 10:26 a.m. (0)

William P. King, associate vice president for student services, said VCOM will pay the $400,000 or more that it will take to restore the exterior and will raise funds over time for restoration of the interior.

The college is soliciting bids for the exterior work and will hold the first of a series of fundraisers for the interior restoration in October, he said.  Continue reading...

100 words, 1 illustration

Upstate Book Project seeks local artists to write, illustrate group project

AUGUST 18, 2011 11:20 a.m. (0)

He’s looking for 29 adult artists from the Upstate to finish it.

“Artists, even the most nonchalant, are control freaks up to a point,” Bailie said. “This project is all about giving up comfort and security. It’s out of control and awesome.”  Continue reading...

SLED investigates parks agency

Preliminary investigation opened into issues cited by a soon-to-be released audit

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011 2:47 p.m. (0)

At this stage it is impossible to determine if any criminal charges are likely, Richardson said.

Information obtained by the Journal last week found that former County Administrator Glenn Breed stepped down after being confronted about the audit by council members in an executive session last month.  Continue reading...

This conference is about taking heart

Area churches are sponsoring "Take Heart" for women in pain

SEPTEMBER 8, 2011 12:29 p.m. (0)

Her son – newly married, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, president of his high school’s National Honor Society – had been arrested for murdering his wife’s former husband.

When she tried to get out of bed, her legs wouldn’t support her weight.  Continue reading...

Spartanburg snuffs out smokers

SEPTEMBER 11, 2011 8:47 a.m. (0)

But this time it wasn’t by choice. Those who normally would have been smoking in restaurants and bars, were taking a quick smoke on the way back to work, sitting in groups in the square, or slowly wandering the downtown area trying to stay within the constraints of the city’s new ban on smoking.

Beginning last Thursday, patrons can no longer smoke in public buildings.  Continue reading...

County Council spending

Audit reveals more questions

SEPTEMBER 9, 2011 7:54 a.m. (0)

“When I took over the jail and started looking over the books I found about $200,000 in one account that should have had about $4 million in it,” Sheriff Chuck Wright said.

The money came largely from payments for housing federal prisoners, inmate canteen receipts and a few other sources, Wright said.  Continue reading...

Reading, it's always on their mind

School District 7 connects writers with readers

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011 1:40 p.m. (0)

That was the message Melissa Conroy, the daughter of New York Times bestseller Pat Conroy, brought to District 7 students this week as she read and talked about her two children’s books.

Conroy read to kindergarten and first grade students in the media centers at Pine Street Elementary and Houston Elementary Monday and at Chapman and Mary Wright Elementary schools Tuesday.  Continue reading...

Pawprints everywhere

Clemson and the arts come together downtown

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011 1:43 p.m. (0)

“Over the last 15 years, Greenville has transformed itself in terms of cultural identity,” said Denise Woodward-Detrich, director of Clemson’s Lee Gallery. “And in terms of the city’s art scene, Clemson alumni have made a big contribution.”

An event Friday night at the Wyche Pavilion beside the Reedy River downtown is designed to make Greenville residents aware of those contributions and to raise awareness for the Center for the Visual Arts at Clemson.  Continue reading...

TEDxSpartanburg a success: now what?

It's about keeping the passion going

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 11:01 a.m. (0)

TEDxSpartanburg (x = independently organized TED event) was Spartanburg’s take on TED (Technology, Entertainment, & Design), a nonprofit that helps initiate worldwide “ideas worth spreading.”

Past TED events, which have been held around the world, have brought speakers from a variety of backgrounds, including JJ Abrams, a director and writer, Robert Ballard, who discovered the RMS Titantic wreckage, and former president Bill Clinton.  Continue reading...

Cash for roads hits dead end

Greenville and Spartanburg are badly in need of funds to repair roads

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011 11:25 a.m. (0)

The two counties combined need about $384 million in state funds and $11 million in federal funds to resurface and maintain state and federal roads.

State money for resurfacing is zero, said Jason Allison, maintenance engineer for the Department of Transportation District 3 which includes Oconee, Pickens, Greenville and Spartanburg counties.  Continue reading...

Upstate Visual Arts starts fresh

New executive director Katie Screven wants to elevate understanding of visual arts in the community

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011 11:40 a.m. (0)

But the nonprofit arts organization’s newest executive director Katie Screven says there’s no doubt UVA should – and will – play an important part in elevating the stature and understanding of visual arts in the Upstate.

“There’s definitely a place for UVA in the arts community in the Upstate,” she said.  Continue reading...

BMW pro-am enlists help from local college students

BMW tournament organizers hope to broaden event's appeal with a little help from college students here

OCTOBER 7, 2011 10:35 a.m. (0)

“This needs to become a more prominent event for everybody,” said Holgate, president of American Credit Acceptance, who organized a program to bring the heft of four Spartanburg colleges to increase interest in the Pro-Am in Spartanburg, which tournament organizers said has remained stagnant.

The tournament is held at Carolina Country Club in Spartanburg, Thornblade Club in Greenville and this year, the Greenville Country Club’s Chanticleer Course has been added.  Continue reading...

Artists. Here, everywhere

Diverse in their backgrounds and their talents, they have shaped and continue to shape Spartanburg’s visual arts scene

DECEMBER 21, 2011 2:33 p.m. (0)

They are the diners sitting at the next table, the next person in line at the grocery store.

They are neighbors, co-workers and the teachers at the school down the street.  Continue reading...

SCC to begin president search

Dr. Para Jones leaving in February

JANUARY 5, 2012 2:06 p.m. (0)

She will become the fourth president in Stark State’s 51-year history on Feb. 6.

Jones had spent 22 years at Stark State, including four as vice president for advancement, planning, college and community relations, before becoming the first woman president at Spartanburg Community College in 2009.  Continue reading...

Pocket park planned

Event space will be beside Masonic Temple

JANUARY 12, 2012 12:15 p.m. (0)

The pocket park will be in the alley between the Masonic Temple, where the Hub City Bookshop, The Coffee Bar and Cakehead Bakery are located, and the former Cantrell Wagon company building, home to Carriage House Wines & Wine Bar.

Pocket parks are small-scale urban open spaces that provide an area for small events, lunch breaks and a resting spot for visitors, said Angela Viney, director of the Spartanburg office of Upstate Forever.  Continue reading...

Science Center 2.0

New interactive exhibits first in four years for center

JANUARY 12, 2012 12:22 p.m. (0)

That’s what makes the Spartanburg Science Center’s new exhibits so exciting to the organization’s executive director John Green.

The Science Center is showcasing 14 new exhibits it received from Discovery Place in Charlotte during an open house Saturday. The old exhibits were informative, but not interactive, Green said.  Continue reading...

MAC has record year – again

Nonprofit organization surpasses $1 million for second year in a row

JANUARY 12, 2012 12:58 p.m. (0)

The nonprofit organization that provides support for Greenville’s art organizations and artists in each arts discipline raised $1,071,786 in 2011, the most in its 38-year history and the second consecutive year MAC surpassed the $1 million  mark.

But that wasn’t the only record set by the organization.  Continue reading...

Telling a story on one sheet of paper

Minibook Collective challenges artists to tell about the Greenville they know

JANUARY 12, 2012 1:06 p.m. (0)

And complicated.

That’s what Greenville artists and residents are being asked to do in the Minibook Collective, a project that got its start when Greenville artist Melinda Hoffman read about a project in the United Kingdom that challenged artists around the world to create small books using a single sheet of paper that created a sense of place and told the story of their home.  Continue reading...

"Every poem is a love poem"

Spartanburg's newest artist-in-residence is a poet

JANUARY 20, 2012 9:31 a.m. (0)

Travis Blankenship dabbled in all types of art before he became serious about poetry when he was 21.

“Poetry is the most natural expression of emotion I’ve been able to accomplish,” said Blankenship, who arrived in Spartanburg last month to complete a residency that ends in May.  Continue reading...

Art exhibition focuses on bicycles

Greenville artist Teri Pena combines love of painting and "the world's greatest toy" in latest artistic path

MARCH 1, 2012 11:49 a.m. (0)

And the bicycle has meant artistic freedom to Greenville painter Teri Pena.

“There’s such a freedom to the bicycle,” she said. “What made the bicycle such an amazing product is that it knows no age.”  Continue reading...

How to sink the Titanic

Engineer designs a sinking deck for Spartanburg Little Theatre production

MARCH 1, 2012 11:53 a.m. (0)

During the Spartanburg Little Theatre’s production of “Titanic: The Musical,” the ship will “sink” without a single drop of water.

Mechanical designer Tim Reed has designed a 40-foot long suspended mechanical deck that will create the illusion of the ship sinking, a big part of the drama of the musical’s second act.  Continue reading...

Art and soul at the history museum

Folk art exhibit reveals the ‘put it out there spirit’ of the Gullah South

MARCH 22, 2012 2:09 p.m. (0)

What started as a few pieces here and there has grown into a 500-piece folk art collection, a sampling of which is on loan to Greenville’s Upcountry History Museum for the Uniquely Southern Folk Art exhibit running until Sept. 2.

Blackwell’s collection includes pieces by Pendleton artist Richard Burnside and Greenville artist William Thomas Thompson, as well as pieces by Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Bernice Sims, Mose Tolliver, Leonard Jones, Lonnie Holley and a host of others.  Continue reading...

Public kept in dark about DSN controversy

Butch Kirven plans to hold a private meeting with officials about agency's financial difficulties

APRIL 12, 2012 1:18 p.m. (5)

Since Kirven controls the agenda of the Committee of the Whole, it is not likely the meeting will be held anytime soon, Councilman Joe Dill told the Journal. “We intend to keep asking,” Dill said.

State Department of Disabilities and Special Needs Director Beverly A. H. Buscemi told the Journal Wednesday that her agency’s Internal Audit Department is in the process of conducting its own audit of the Greenville County DSN’s books.  Continue reading...

'Client H' investigation raises more troubling questions for DSN

Did Disabilities and Special Needs violations contribute to the death of a Greenville group home resident?

APRIL 19, 2012 10:42 a.m. (3)

Greenville County Disabilities and Special Needs has been cited by state officials for violating the standard of care in the Feb. 11 death of Heather Dawn Worchester Lemon, 36, a resident at one of the agency’s group homes.

The citation came in a recertification review of the Civitan Community Residence and is detailed in a state Department of Health and Environmental Control report dated March 8. The report was made available to the Journal by sources close to the situation.  Continue reading...

False savings in animal control

Change in Spartanburg animal control policy leaves too many animals uncontrolled.

APRIL 19, 2012 11:24 a.m. (3)

Spartanburg County’s decision to break ties with the Humane Society and contract animal care services out to Greenville County has resulted in an exploding population of stray and unwanted animals in the county that could threaten public safety, said Jimmy Smith, a former Spartanburg Humane Society board member, in an open letter to the Spartanburg County Council.

“Many fellow citizens, like myself, are concerned about the negative impact that our county’s new animal policies are having on our already serious stray and unwanted animal population,” Smith wrote. “I am especially disappointed with how County Council Chairman Jeff Horton has portrayed this to the public. Leaving over half of our stray animal population to wander and reproduce freely in our county is not saving money. It threatens public safety. Having our Animal Control officers transport Spartanburg animals to Greenville every day is not an efficient use of taxpayer dollars. Discouraging Good Samaritan rescues by telling citizens who have picked up a potentially lost animal that they will have to arrange a pick-up time with Animal Control does not reunite owners with their lost pet. It results in more lost and stray animals.”  Continue reading...

Church 2.0

The future of worship in Spartanburg is not where you think

APRIL 26, 2012 12:33 p.m. (0)

When leaders at North Hills Community Church in Taylors discovered that some people were traveling from Spartanburg to attend services there, they began work on a plan to serve those worshippers closer to home.

Rev. Matt Nestberg is not a newcomer to the Upstate, but his congregation, CrossLife Church in Spartanburg, is a new kid on the block. The new church was planted this spring by North Hills Community Church. Nestberg, the worship pastor at North Hills for 13 years, is now leading the congregation that meets in Fairforest Elementary’s auditorium.  Continue reading...

As a new festival artist, everything is new to Shabkie

Greenville painter picked as Artisphere’s Emerging Artist

MAY 11, 2012 9:04 a.m. (0)

While preparing for her first outdoor arts festival this weekend, Julie Hughes Shabkie has encountered a new surprise every day.

“There are revelations all the time,” said Shabkie, who owns her own studio on Pendleton Street in Greenville’s Far West End.  Continue reading...

Students to have more options under charter school law

Law allows charter school students to participate in extracurricular activities at school they would have attended

MAY 18, 2012 8:55 a.m. (0)

South Carolina law will no longer force some of the state’s middle and high school students to choose between academics and athletics – attending a charter school that could better meet their educational needs versus a traditional public school that offers their sport.

“This says we are not going to punish children who don’t go into traditional public schools by denying them access to athletics and things that they should automatically have the ability to do,” Gov. Nikki Haley said during a bill-signing ceremony Monday at Greenville Tech Charter High, one of the state’s most successful charter schools.  Continue reading...

Opening new fronts in the ‘War on Cancer’

Spartanburg Regional’s Gibbs Cancer Center to build new center in Greer; other health systems also expanding treatment options

MAY 25, 2012 9:24 a.m. (0)

The Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System recently broke ground on a 10,000-square-foot cancer center – not in Spartanburg, but at the Village Hospital campus on Highway 14 in Greer.

The Gibbs Cancer Center opened in 1999 in Spartanburg and became affiliated with the M.D. Anderson Physicians Network in 2006. David Church, vice president for oncology and support services, said the center is expanding to the Greer area so patients will not have to travel as far for treatment. The expansion is part of the center’s master plan “to improve cancer treatment in that area,” he said. “Eighty to 85 percent of cancer care is given at a local center.”  Continue reading...

Textiles come back to Reedy River

‘Textiles in a Tube’ exhibition features contemporary textile art

MAY 31, 2012 10:59 a.m. (0)

For decades, the Reedy River was the conduit from which fabric flowed from Greenville to all over the country.

In the latest Riverworks Gallery exhibition, that was reversed.  Continue reading...

Finding their forever families

National Heart Gallery uses professional portraits to help foster children find their permanent homes

JULY 9, 2012 11:45 a.m. (1)

Octavia wants to become a lawyer. Deshon plans to own a cleaning business. Javan aspires to be a doctor. And, when she grows up, Keyonna wants to be a butterfly or mermaid.

While their future aspirations differ, the four siblings all want the same thing for the present – a permanent home.  Continue reading...