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NOVEMBER 28–DECEMBER 4, 2024
WWW.YOURISLANDNEWS.COM
COVERING BEAUFORT COUNTY
LOWCOUNTRY LOWDOWN
LOLITA HUCKABY
Sen. Davis goes to bat for US 278 funding
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BEAUFORT eaufort County Council members weren’t the only Lowcountry political body last week scratching their heads about what to do with a failed transportation tax referendum. Because the one percent sales tax referendum went down in defeat — 55 to 45 percent — the county no longer has the $190 million promised as a matching fund to the State Infrastructure Bank for the much-debated U.S. 278 Corridor Improvement plan, a plan which includes a replacement bridge to Hilton Head Island. The SIB had pledged $120 million to Beaufort County for a portion of the project. But because Beaufort County voters didn’t buy the idea of another penny sales tax, well, that state money might go elsewhere. Sen. Tom Davis, R-Bluffton, met with the SIB board last week and, according to reports, urged the agency to give the county more time to come up with options. Options, which according to the Post and Courier report of the meeting, include possible property tax increases. Now the County Council members made it clear during their discussion of what to do that property tax increases were NOT an option. We’ll see how this plays out. After all, if voters say they don’t trust their elected County Council members, maybe a tax increase will be necessary to pay for that bridge to Hilton Head Island. Remember, the voters returned all three of the incumbent County Council members on the ballot this month to office. Is that not some sign of “trust?” One other tidbit coming from last week’s SIB meeting — Charleston County representatives
SEE LOWDOWN PAGE A3
The Broad River Bridges connect northern and southern Beaufort County, but there wasn’t a bridge traversing the Broad River to connect the two until 1957. Scott Graber/The Island News
The Bridges of Beaufort County
Bridges and the political will it takes to build them tell the story of this Lowcountry county By Scott Graber & Lolita Huckaby The Island News
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arlier this month, Beaufort County voters helped elect a new president, returned every local incumbent on the ballot to office and rejected, by a 55-45 percent margin, a proposal to implement a one percent sales tax for “transportation” improvements.
Foremost in that proposal was the U.S. 278 Corridor Improvement project with a proposed allocation of $90 million, a figure that would add to the $80 million for the bridge replacement project in the 2018 sales tax referendum which was adopted by a 57 percent vote. The majority of the electorate said “no” this month, many re-
sponding to the battle cry from the Beaufort Tea Party that they didn’t “trust” the County Council to do what they promised. This certainly wasn’t the first time voters said no to a tax for road improvements. As far back as 1917, according to historians Larry
SEE BRIDGES PAGE A5
Fire at Auldbrass causes damage to outbuilding By Delayna Earley The Island News A fire occurred at the historical landmark Auldbrass Plantation in mid-October and reportedly caused an estimated $2 million worth of damage. The fire, which destroyed an outbuilding, took place sometime late Wednesday, Oct. 16 or early on Thursday, Oct. 17. A source told The Island News that the South Carolina Law Enforcement
Division’s (SLED) Arson Unit was called out to investigate the source of the fire. A secondary source, who is close to the property’s owner said that the fire destroyed two vintage Lincoln Continentals that had been owned and modified by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1940s. The home was designed and built by Wright from 1939 to 1941 for Charles Leigh Stevens, and it
was purchased and restored by Hollywood producer Joel Silver in 1986. Silver also purchased the cars that had been owned by Wright. Sheldon Fire Department responded to the fire but attempts to speak with Fire Chief Walter F. “Buddy” Jones, III regarding the fire have not been successful.
tures designed by Wright in South Carolina. The design for Auldbrass was inspired by the surrounding Lowcountry landscape and it incorporates aspects of his characteristic organic architecture. The property is near the Town of Yemassee and is situated on the Combahee River.
What is Auldbrass Auldbrass is one of two struc-
SEE FIRE PAGE A4
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The City of Beaufort holiday festivities line-up.
Celebration of Gullah culture, history, holiday spirit coming to downtown Beaufort.
Superintendent Frank Rodriguez found to be ‘highly effective’ in his job.
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