Local governments put accent on progress
By Bobby Bryant, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Darlington County school board member Richard Brewer, left, with Hartsville city manager Natalie Zeigler. Photo by Bobby Bryant
Lamar’s water problems are “much, much better.”
Darlington County students’ preliminary test scores seem to be rising.
And Darlington’s new Sonic Drive-In should be finished by late August.
Those are among the takeaways from a quarterly conference of all the county’s governing councils and boards, held last week at Sara’s Porch restaurant in Darlington.
The July 29 conference, hosted this time by Darlington County Council, avoided any public debates, instead offering a chorus of updates on projects involving Darlington, Hartsville, Lamar, Society Hill, county government and the county school district.
Some of the highlights:
— Darlington’s southwest water and sewer project has been completed, Mayor Gloria Hines reported. This should help relieve some of the city’s flooding problems after storms hit, city officials have said. And the Sonic being built off U.S. 52 near McDonald’s and the remnants of what was a Huddle House restaurant should be completed by the end of August, she said.
Darlington County school board members Jamie Morphis, left, and Wanda Hassler, right. Photo by Bobby Bryant
“Sonic is coming,” Hines said. “ . . . We are lucky to have it.” An opening date for the Sonic hasn’t been announced by Sonic corporate officials. The company has not even officially announced that it’s building a restaurant here.
— Early word is that preliminary test scores for public-school students in Darlington County are improving over previous years, county Education Superintendent Tim Newman told the assembly. He said he’s encouraged, even though official results aren’t yet available.
“We’re excited” about the upcoming school year, Newman said. “We’ve got a lot of things going on.”
— Lamar is dealing with its water and sewer system problems, Town Council member Inez Lee reported. “The water situation has gotten better,” she said.
“It’s all better – much, much better.” She noted that a new elementary school is being built for the Lamar area – one of three new schools being built in Darlington County.
— State Rep. Robert Williams briefed the conference on the past session of the Legislature, and he noted that “infrastructure” issues are still a problem for parts of Darlington County. There are still areas in the county where you can’t get a cellphone signal, he said.
