Photo by Mike Rosier/Publisher

Johnston residents try to remove a fallen tree from a nearby roadway. Severe storms were just one of the top stories of 2008.

As yet another calendar year passes into history, with the final edition of the year The Citizen News takes a look back at the stories and headlines that shaped the year that was 2008 in Edgefield County.

Some stories were tragic, while others were uplifting.

All were big newsmakers in our county.

Here are the Top 10 stories of 2008 (listed in the order in which they were reported).

1. Edgefield banks robbed at gun point - January, July

JANUARY 9th - With his vehicle parked quietly off a back side street, the target was in sight.
Down the sidewalk and to his left was the Carolina First Bank.

It was just before 11 a.m.

No one out on Main Street that day could have known his true intentions as he walked calmly towards the business. On the outside he must have appeared to be just another resident out for lunch on a cool, crisp January morning, one dressed casually in a fleece jacket, baseball cap and sunglasses.

But his plans called for anything but the ordinary.

He was about to make what many believe to be Edgefield history - he was about to rob the bank.
At 10:49 a.m., law enforcement officers were dispatched to the bank following an E911 call.

Police quickly converged on the scene, but the suspect was gone.
He had entered the bank and waited until two other customers left before approaching one of the tellers to demand cash behind the barrel of a hand gun (he also insisted that the money be handed over minus any dye pack, a device used to catch unsuspecting robbers by tainting their cash).

He then placed an undisclosed amount of money into a brown paper bag before leaving.
Within seconds it was all over and he was out the door.

"He definitely knows what he's doing," Edgefield Police Chief Ronnie Carter would say of the suspect, a white male in his mid forties to early fifties who is described as being between six-foot-one-inches and six-foot-three-inches tall and weighing around 250 pounds. "He's a professional. He's done this before."

NOTE: The suspect remains at large.

JULY 30th - Following years of relative peace and quiet (where bank robberies are concerned) the Town of Edgefield has now been victimized twice in less than seven months.

On Monday afternoon, a man walked into the Regions Bank during a driving rain storm with a handgun and an apparent lethal desire for cash.

Tuesday's suspect, described as a black male around five-foot-eight-inches tall and weighing approximately 170 pounds, entered the business located at the intersection of Main Street and Columbia Road wearing a white "hoodie" garment with black pants, black gloves and white shoes.

He was also wearing an orange or pink mask to disguise his identity.
Unlike the suspect from January's robbery, police believe that he may live nearby.

"We believe that he may be local," said Edgefield Police Chief Ronnie Carter.

NOTE: A suspect has been arrested in connection with this robbery.

2. Severe storms batter Ward, Johnston

MARCH 12th - When a town's heart is ripped out it's only natural to expect a tear or two.

And it's only fitting for the town's mayor to lead the way.

Early last week when severe storms threatened the midlands of South Carolina, a small town in

Saluda County came to grips with the reality that Mother Nature never plays favorites when it comes to destruction.

The particular storm cell that passed over Ward after 8 p.m. was hell-bent on doing damage.
With winds in excess of 60 miles per hour, the storm grabbed hold of the town's monument and gathering place - it's prided gazebo - and flattened it to the ground in just a matter of minutes.

Ward Mayor Leroy Smith had gathered a short distance away in the small town hall building with others for the town's monthly meeting. Suddenly, everyone's agenda drastically changed.

"All I could tell everyone was to hang on because I didn't know what was going to happen," he said.
Minutes later they emerged unscathed, but only physically speaking.

Smith decided to take a drive around town, and what he found broke his heart.

"Man, tears came to my eyes because so much work was put into (the gazebo), but there was nothing we could do about it," Smith added. "It just made tears come to my eyes. We were having our monthly meeting and all of the sudden we heard it hit, and after we adjourned and I decided to check on the town and make sure everybody was okay. That's when I ran across the gazebo."

NOTE: The gazebo has since been rebuilt.

MARCH 19th - Any second now and it was going to happen.

Willis Holmes' small pickup truck was fighting seemingly a losing battle with the horrific winds that were buffeting it from all sides and at any moment he expected his vehicle to be dispossessed.

Most everything else that had been in his yard was already across Ridge Road and gaining speed.
It had already been an atypical Saturday evening and the remaining balance didn't look good.

Severe thunderstorm cells - many with hundreds of miles of rotation under their belts - that had rocked Atlanta and beyond with tornadoes had finally come to call, bringing more spinning cyclones.
Now it was the Palmetto State's turn to feel nature's fury.

But as soon as it started it was gone, from breeze to blasting winds and back again in less than 15 minutes or so. Surprisingly, the little pickup and the other vehicle in the yard were still there.
Holmes was pleased to still have his transportation.

"I thought it was going to pick it right up," Holmes said of the winds, which the National Weather Service would estimate had held near 85 miles per hour. "I thought it was coming off the ground. Everything in the yard was across the road and we had hail that was golf ball size or bigger. It was rough."

3. Longtime NWTF CEO resigns, two top executives fired

APRIL 2nd - The National Wild Turkey Federation, and conservation industry as a whole, is still trying to regain its bearings after last week's abrupt resignation of longtime CEO Rob Keck.

Following 30 years of distinguished service, including 27 years as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Wild Turkey Federation, Rob Keck has decided, for personal and family reasons, to step aside from his duties with the Federation as of June 1, 2008.

Wednesday morning, the NWTF's National Board of Directors reluctantly accepted this decision. Under Mr. Keck's leadership, the NWTF has grown into one of the nation's premier conservation organizations.

"I was at a point in my life were I decided it was time to make a change," Keck told the Southern Sporting Journal.

Insiders pointed to other reasons for Keck's decision, as it appeared to coincide with the organization's firing of two key members of its leadership team in COO Carl Brown and Senior Vice

President of Sales and Marketing Dick Rosenlieb. Brown and Rosenlieb were forced out on Tuesday.
The NWTF said in a news release the resignation was for "personal and family reasons" but other sources, including Southern Sporting Journal, noted in their online editions that the resignation followed the board's decision earlier this week to oust two other NWTF executives - Chief Operating Officer Carl Brown and Dick Rosenlieb, sales and marketing vice president.

In an interview in January with The Augusta Chronicle, Mr. Keck - asked about friction with the board involving an audit of the 550,000-member group's activities - said there were no contentious personnel issues within NWTF and that the audit was being conducted as part of strategic planning purposes.

The NWTF, he noted in January, was turning 30 in February. "We're in the process of strategic planning to determine the direction we'll go in our next 30 years," he said.

His resignation was announced to employees Wednesday afternoon.

4. Johnston mural "tagged" by gang graffiti

JUNE 11th - Multiple locations in downtown Johnston, including the historic mural of the Peach Exchange with its portraits of prominent town residents, were defaced last week by what appears to be gang-related graffiti and markings spray painted during the late night or early morning hours.

Areas were believed to have been hit by a Hispanic group known as the "18th Street Gang" - which originated in Southern California and is said to have between 30,000 and 50,000 members nationwide.

Targets included the mural, windows at the Johnston Library and several businesses entering town. Also hit - quite literally - were four vehicles parked at G3 Auto Care on Lee Street across from the Triangle Restaurant, which had their windows busted out. The Triangle's marquee sign was also vandalized.

One other location on Highway 191 was "tagged" - a slang term for graffiti art.
Much of the graffiti is in Spanish, perhaps signifying gang member nicknames.

Many markings are an 18 with a line and an arrow pointed downward.
The Johnston Police Department has started an aggressive investigation into the vandalism.
Johnston Police Chief Chris Aston said there is a $250 cash reward that is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the perpetrators

"We're getting on this pretty quick," Aston said. "Right now we think they were just passing through here, maybe on their way from Aiken to Saluda. We don't think it was any of our local kids."

5. Trenton man found murdered

JUNE 25th - Police say they now have a person of interest in the brutal Sunday slaying of a Courtney Road man, Raymond Merriweather, who was found dead by his wife in the couple's home at around 3 p.m.

A suspect could be named in the case later this week after further evidence is analyzed.

"We do have a person of interest we are looking at," said Edgefield County Sheriff's Office Lt. Randy Doran, who is the lead investigator in the case. "But we're still waiting on some results (from SLED)."

Mr. Merriweather, 60, was killed by an gunshot wound to the head according to Edgefield County Coroner Thurmond Burnett. An autopsy was conducted Monday morning in Newberry.

"We have a preliminary report from the autopsy in Newberry this morning and he died from a gun shot wound to the head," Mr. Burnett said Monday afternoon. "We don't have all of (the report) to know how many (shots) there were or anything like that. We think it was two, but we don't know. We don't have any suspects at this time and that's what we're working on right now. We'll know more about it later."

Mr. Burnett said he was unsure of what caliber weapon might have been employed in the killing.

"They're running tests now so we don't know, but we will know," he said.

Lt. Doran said Tuesday that the victim is believed to have been killed by a hand gun, perhaps even a .38-caliber pistol that the victim is known to have owned for many years.

The weapon is currently missing.

"The victim did own a .38-caliber hand gun," Lt. Doran said. "It's missing. It hasn't been located."

Mr. Merriwether's death is the first Edgefield County homicide of 2008.

6. Strom Thurmond hires new principal, Matthew Schilit

AUGUST 6th - If excitement were a cup, Matthew Schilit's would be running over.

The 30-year-old school administrator is on top of the world.

The Edgefield County School Board voted unanimously last Thursday evening, July 31, 2008 to hire

Mr. Matthew T. Schilit as the new Principal of Strom Thurmond High School.

"I'm just excited to have been given this opportunity," Mr. Schilit said Monday. "I've always wanted to be a principal, that's been one of my goals, but I was looking for the right fit and all the pieces here made sense. I'm looking forward to taking Strom Thurmond High School to the next level. Everything I read about the school district and the school were positive. I heard good things about Strom Thurmond High School."

Dr. Mary R. Crenshaw, Superintendent, recommended Mr. Schilit to the board following a search process that included information gained from a survey sent to all Strom Thurmond High School teachers, administrators and staff, school board members and community leaders on the qualities that they would like to see in the leadership role position of principal at Strom Thurmond High School.
A panel of twelve teachers and administrators interviewed all candidates on Thursday, July 24th.

"I had never been interviewed by that many people before," Mr. Schilit admitted.

7. Edgefield County Hospital CEO Ray Price resigns

SEPTEMBER 10th - Edgefield County Hospital CEO Ray Price said Tuesday he has resigned, effective October 10.

The confirmation follows on the heels of unconfirmed reports that had begun to circulate around the county over lunch tables and store counters.

Mr. Price sent out a memo to his employees on Thursday of last week announcing his decision, calling the employees "the best crew I have had the privilege to work with."Mr. Price, who joined the hospital in July of 2006, said he offered his resignation last month.

"I submitted my resignation on the 29th of August," he said. "It's time for me to move on."

Tim Padgett, chairman of the Edgefield County Hospital Board of Trustees, said the search for Mr. Price's replacement is already underway.

"The search has just started, and it will take some time to find a qualified candidate, but the search has already begun," he said Tuesday. "We received (the resignation) as information and accepted it, but we have not met formally, which we will do on the 29th of September at our regular meeting."

Mr. Padgett said Price is to be commended for his work with the hospital.

"There is no doubt that when he came we were not doing well financially, and he has turned that around," he said. "That's public record. Where we had around $150,000 or $200,000 in the bank when he arrived and now we have a nice surplus. We're doing much, much better financially."

8. The Gas Scare: County nearly pumped dry

SEPTEMBER 17th - Tonya Figueroa thought the gas situation Friday was all a big scare.

"It's insane," she said. "I think it's price gouging. There's been no real damage yet from the hurricane."

Bernard Mason agreed.

"It ain't right," he said.

Nevertheless, they both decided they'd better fill up their tanks. And they weren't alone.

With Hurricane Ike slapping at the Gulf Coast and threatening to cut off gasoline supplies and with gas prices rising by the minute, area resident sat in line to make sure they had fuel in their vehicles.
After lunch on Friday, Amoco on Highway 25 in Edgefield was "Premium only" at $4.39 per gallon, while Monk's Corner in Johnston was "Regular only" at $3.89 per gallon.

Bags covered the nozzles on all the pumps at Kent's Corner on Highway 23. They were all sold out by 2:30 p.m. Workers at Monk's Corner reported they had seen a steady stream of customers beginning Thursday night and continuing Friday.

Late Friday and over the weekend, customers saw a drastic price change at most stations as new deliveries came in.

On Monday, regular gas was $4.99 a gallon at B.P. and Amoco in Edgefield. No premium or mid-grade was available. Kent's Corner reported that they received a delivery Friday night and had gas over the weekend. They had no premium and regular was $4.69 per gallon.

Monk's Corner has remained constant with no premium, and regular gas available at $3.89 per gallon. They were out of gas for a short while on Monday.

9. Two new Council members elected in huge turnout

NOVEMBER 5TH - It's not unusual to see cars lined up and down Penn Street on an Election Day.

As one of the larger polling locations in the county with over 1,000 registered voters on the rolls, the numbers at the Hezzie Griffis Post No. 30 American Legion Hut are more or less expected.

But the fact that the lines of cars Ð and lines of voters - remained well on toward lunch time (and long after the morning voting rush would normally have subsided) was something of an oddity.

Before noon, several Edgefield County voting locations were already pushing the 25-percent and even 30-percent marks of registered voters making their individual statements.
Precinct 3 (Kendall), which doesn't usually have a high voter turnout, was already pushing near the 25-percent line (147 voters) of the 588 registered voters on the roll.

"We've been busy," said one official. "The turnout is already high for us." At voting Precinct 1 (Parker Elementary) officials were beaming with pride.

And why not?

They had already eclipsed a 30-percent turnout with better than 250 votes having been cast. And that was all before 11 a.m. A higher than normal turnout was expected, but actually seeing the crowds of people casting their ballots was putting smiles on plenty of faces.

"It's good to see the process at work," said Parker polling volunteer Beth Byrd.

Two new County Council members were confirmed at the polls in uncontested candidates Rodney Ashcraft (District 2) and Genia Blackwell (District 5). Three incumbents retained their seats.

Two members were unopposed in Monroe Kneece (District 4) and Willie Bright (District 3). Longtime Councilman Norman Dorn (District 1) held off a stiff challenge from Trace Faust to keep his seat.
In the hotly contested State Senate 25 race, Shane Massey held off Greg Anderson.

10. Senator Massey ready for (short) break after big win

NOVEMBER 12th - With nearly everyone forecasting a down-to-the-wire-this-might-take-a-while contest between himself and District 25 Democratic challenger Greg Anderson, Republican Shane Massey had wondered if he might have to wait until Wednesday morning to learn if he were still the people's choice for state senator.

But instead, Massey had the answer - and the people's vote - before bedtime.

Massey, who has now campaigned in four elections over the last 12 months, defeated Anderson in Tuesday's general election by a final tally of 21,019 to 17,773 - earning 54-percent of the vote.
To say that he's finally earned a bit of a break is an understatement.

"I didn't hear anything about Saluda until the next day, but I knew about the other counties before I went to bed," Massey said. "But I did sleep pretty well, you are right. So that's definitely true. I feel like a Presidential candidate in that I've been running for a year and a half. I am glad it's over."

For a relative newcomer to the gritty game of politics, Massey has been tried by fire.

The Edgefield County native initially survived a group of six candidates in the primary and the rest has been a whirlwind of history as he has become the first Republican state senator to hold the District 25 office.

"It's very humbling and a very good feeling that people have the confidence in me to represent them and serve them," he added. "I am going to continue to work hard and do my best to be responsive. We're going to continue to hold the town hall meetings, but spread them out over course of an entire session instead of holding 18 of them in a matter of two months. You have to give folks the opportunity to talk about things, and most folks aren't afraid to tell you what they think. But it's important. I can't represent people if I never actually take the time to listen to them. I get a lot out of it as well, maybe more than the people do."