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COVERING BEAUFORT COUNTY
LOWCOUNTRY LOWDOWN
LOLITA HUCKABY
Voting is over; lack of political trust remains
I
BEAUFORT t’s been two weeks now. Beaufort County ballots have been counted, election results certified and political signs almost all gone. There were few — if any — reports of polls malfeasance and the results, at least in Beaufort County, showed the 75 percent of voters who showed up wanted the same County Council AND Beaufort City Council members to stay in office. The irony of this election is the majority of county voters, who returned incumbents to their posts, rejected the proposed one-percent transportation sales tax on the grounds of an orchestrated campaign organized by the Beaufort Tea Party of “we don’t trust those in charge.” So, incumbents get re-elected, a transportation sales tax which would have paid for road repairs, more sidewalks, paved roads and an improved bus system, gets rejected. Safe to assume complaints about traffic issues are going to continue.
SEE LOWDOWN PAGE A4
Beaufort’s Ryland Vargas, 6, leaps over a keg as he makes his way to the finish line during the Lab Monkey Freedom Run hosted by Shellring Ale Works, Dustbone Apparel and Grounded Running Beaufort on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024 at Shellring Ale Works in Port Royal. The Lab Monkey Freedom Run was conceived by Nathan Callender, founder of Dustbone Apparel; Tim Waz of Grounded Running; and Nick Borreggine, owner of Shellring Ale Works, after 43 female rhesus macaque monkeys fled from captivity at Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center on Wednesday, Nov. 6. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
Lab Monkey Freedom Run
Nathan Callender, founder of Dustbone Apparel; Tim Waz of Grounded Running; and Nick Borreggine, owner of Shellring Ale Works pose for a photo as they await the first of the runners to make their way to the finish line. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
The Mooney family pauses for a photo just before the start of the Lab Monkey Freedom Run hosted by Shellring Ale Works, Dustbone Apparel and Grounded Running Beaufort on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024 at Shellring Ale Works in Port Royal. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
Return to Pritchards Island
Enrollment rises, internships expand a year after state funding relaunches USC Beaufort’s island research site Governor Henry McMaster addresses attendees of the Return To Pritchards Island program on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2024, at Tabby Place in Beaufort. McMaster said the work of USC Beaufort supports statewide initiatives aimed at preserving South Carolina's natural beauty and biodiversity. Amber Hewitt/The Island News
Island research site, located off the southern end of the Palmetto State’s coastline. Now, a year after securing funding in the state budget, the Beaufort campus of South Carolina’s largest college system is back to conducting research on the pristine barrier island, studying wildlife that ranges from loggerhead By Jessica Holdman sea turtles, dolphins and red drum SCDailyGazette.com fish to diamondback rattlesnakes, BEAUFORT – The Universi- shore birds and several threatened ty of South Carolina was at risk species of bats. As a result, enrollment in USC of losing control of Pritchards
Beaufort’s marine biology program has surged from six students in 2020 to 116 today, biology professor Kim Ritchie told the S.C. Daily Gazette, ahead of visit by Gov. Henry McMaster to the Lowcountry on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Atlanta businessman Philip Rhodes donated the undeveloped island, accessible only by boat, to the university in 1982 to use for marine education and research. Then, in 2009, the same year
SEE ISLAND PAGE A7
HEALTH
STATE NEWS
MILITARY
INSIDE
Miler Orthodontics celebrates grand opening of Bluffton and Beaufort locations.
Beaufort’s Dr. Edward Simmer to keep leading SC’s public health agency.
Dying mother inspiration for recruit to become a Marine.
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Lowcountry Life A2 News A2–7 Health A8–9 Education A11 Sports B1, 3 Voices B2
uscb.edu
Career-building experiences cultivating leadership
Arts State News Faith Military Directory Classifieds
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