Florence Regional Airport getting major updates

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Major developments are underway at the Florence Regional Airport, as it is on the receiving end of a more than $3 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The grant is going toward beefing up safety. Security staff said those improvements are at the base of growing airport services.

“People see a lot of activity going on out here. We are trying to make improvements as we can. It will help better the airport and work towards getting a little bit more commercial service from the airlines,” said Stephen Bailey, the airport’s public safety chief.

For more information, visit here: http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/36062392/florence-regional-airport-getting-major-updates

FMU, HopeHealth could bring behavioral health clinic downtown

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By: Rebecca Cross, Morning News

FLORENCE, S.C. – Francis Marion University will embark on several new initiatives, including the possibility of partnering with HopeHealth to bring a behavioral health clinic downtown.

University and HopeHealth employees are discussing details that would allow both entities to staff the clinic. The project is still in its beginning phase, but FMU President Fred Carter said this project strikes him as precisely the type of work the university should be doing in the community.

“I think a lot of people that we would serve there would likely be people in the community who have no place else to go for mental health counseling and for behavioral health services,” Carter said. “We look to this being the type of facility that could provide short- and long-term counseling and support for those folks.”

 Ronald Murphy, an FMU professor of psychology, regularly volunteers with underserved people and often incorporates his master’s students in those service times. Murphy said he sees people who are falling through the cracks, and providing them consistent services is a gap in the Florence community.

“I’ve been doing community work for a while,” Murphy said. “There’s such a tremendous need in Florence for mental health for people who are underserved.”

The clinic could be housed in the old Post Office building downtown.

Students in the master’s in applied counseling program also would be able to get hands-on experience at the clinic. They would work alongside trained, licensed psychologists.

“That would give them a clinical laboratory to essentially hone their skills and work with faculty who are experienced in counseling,” Carter said.

The unveiling of this project and others took place Thursday at the FMU board of trustees planning retreat.

In five years, the university hopes to have at least five new programs in place. The programs will be a doctorate in nurse practice, health informatics, speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy.

Chris Johnson, director of the university’s McNair Center for Research and Service, said the university is spearheading new research initiatives. The McNair Center plans to develop applied collaborative research projects and cultural recovery projects, and it wants to create projects that blend research with service.

These projects would allow both faculty and students to pursue research opportunities.

For example, there already are project possibilities for students to work with faculty on collaborative research projects for local industries. Research projects such as this could link students with future internship or employment opportunities.

Board chairman Kenneth Jackson said university leadership has an ambitious agenda, but he believes the leaders can meet the challenge.

“I think we have a lot to be excited about and a lot to be proud of,” Jackson said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us to get this accomplished in the next couple of years.”

After the planning retreat, the board met for its quarterly meeting, but no action was taken during the meeting.

SCNow Web Article – FMU, HopeHealth could bring behavioral health clinic downtown

Nine-mile paddle and festival raise funds for Lynches River

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By: Morning News

JOHNSONVILLE, S.C. — About a dozen paddlers hit Lynches River and Mill Creek Sunday afternoon as part of Go Paddle FoRevR — an event conducted by the Friends of the Revolutionary River to raise the profile of the river and its tourism potential.

The paddle was part of a festival at Odell Venters Landing that included a paddle area where participants could paddle kayaks and paddle boards around the landing, food from the grill and games for participants.

Terry Cook with Swamp Fox Kayaking and Rentals guided the paddle from the Johnsonville landing nine miles down Lynches River and Mill Creek to the landing at Snow’s Lake Road.

The event raised money to help support the Revolutionary Rivers in Florence County, which include 60 miles of the Lynches River from Lynches River County Park to the Great Pee Dee and then six miles of the Great Pee Dee River that has documented Revolutionary War significance, said Holly Beaumier, executive director of the Florence Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The paddle, which varied from relaxed lakes to challenging obstacles, included information on Francis Marion, history of the river, wildlife encounters and unique plants that call the swamp home.

“The 66-mile trail offers paddlers an unique experience of floating through swampland that was once traversed by Patriots engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Loyalists,” according to the FoRevR website. “The trail also features a series of short excursions and overnight rustic camping opportunities provided by local outfitters. Self-guided driving tours to remote Francis Marion Trail sites also are available.”

SCNow Web Article – Nine-mile paddle and festival raise funds for Lynches River

History, hospitality key in getting SCGA Amateur back to FCC

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By: Mark Haseldon, Morning News

FLORENCE, S.C. — This is a big week for Florence Country Club, and the folks there aren’t making any bones about it.

When the SCGA Amateur Championship Presented by McLeod Health tees off there Thursday, it will mark the first time since 1983 a golf ball has been struck in that tournament at FCC.

The club and its members are embracing the opportunity, head golf pro Steve Behr said.

 “We’re really looking forward to it,” Behr said. “Our members have been very helpful. There are a lot of them volunteering, spotting, scoring, a lot of our juniors are doing live scoring and standard bearing. Everybody has been working together very well.”

FCC certainly is no stranger to hosting SCGA events. Each October, the SCGA Super Seniors is played there, and the John Orr junior leadership camp hosts about 50 kids for a weekend each November.

But the SCGA Amateur, the association’s “crown jewel” event each year, has had a long hiatus from FCC.

SCGA Executive Director Happ Lathrop said Florence and other older clubs have somewhat been the victim of the golf club explosion in South Carolina in the 1990s, which saw the establishment of courses like Colleton River Plantation (Bluffton) and The Reserve Club (Pawleys Island).

“We tried one time years ago to get a 10-year cycle going for clubs to host the Amateur, but it didn’t work out,” Lathrop said. “Then in the 90s, they started building such fine clubs like Colleton River. You’ve had so many great golf courses open up.”

But as it turned out, all it took was an invitation. Ben Ziegler, an FCC member who has a seat on the SCGA board of directors executive committee, played a key role in getting the tournament back to FCC, Lathrop said.

“He asked me one day how long it had been since we had played it in Florence,” Lathrop said. “I told him it had been a long time. He said, ‘Well, you ought to come here.’”

The rest is history.

Lathrop said the enthusiasm from the FCC staff, club and membership made a difference, as well as the golf course itself.

Lathrop praised the efforts of course superintendent Dru Clark for getting and keeping the course in shape.

“We don’t have to worry about whether the course is championship caliber,” Lathrop said.

 The way the people at FCC have reacted to hosting the tournament is a plus, as well, Lathrop said.

“We have a lot of good members from there playing in our tournaments and they seem excited to have us,” Lathrop said. “It’s been around a long time, there’s a lot of history. It has held more state amateurs than any of our clubs. This is an opportunity to go back and relive history.”

Like Lathrop said, Florence Country Club and the SCGA Amateur do have plenty of history together.

This will be the ninth time the tournament has been played at FCC, which was built in 1924.

The SCGA Amateur was played at FCC in 1934, 1942, 1951, 1956, 1962, 1966, 1974 and 1983.

Florence native James Clemmons Jr. won the 1956 event, and Florence native Billy Womack won in 1962 and 1966.

“History is important for us when we’re picking a venue for this,” Lathrop said. “Florence deserves this. Sometimes a club just deserves to have a big dance at their club and if anybody does, it’s FCC for the way they’ve supported us.”

SCNow Web Article – History, hospitality key in getting SCGA Amateur back to FCC

Forever Homes: The 10 Best Places in America to Age in Place

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By: www.realtor.com

That’s where realtor.com®’s data team comes in. We figured out the best metros for middle-agers who may just be starting to slow down—or, now that the kids are gone, just starting to rev up. “Our current generation of boomers don’t want to do those for-old people things,” says Jana Lynott, senior policy adviser on livable communities for AARP. “We encourage [people to consider] neighborhoods where you can walk to a variety of services you access on a daily basis, like banks, public transportation, shopping, restaurants.”

To determine the best places to age in place, we took the 300 largest metros and evaluated them for affordability and health services, and then made sure these were locations people would really want to spend their golden years. To ensure geographic diversity, we limited the list to one per state. Here are our final criteria:

  • Number of homes already adapted for seniors, looking at realtor.com listings with keywords like “universal design,” “ground-floor master suite,” “senior-friendly,” and “no-step entry”
  • Percentage of residents older than 65*
  • Low cost of living*
  • Number of home health aides per senior*
  • Number of hospitals per capita*
  • Number of senior centers per capita*
  • Number of singles 55 and up*
  • Number of sunny days*
  • Number of golf courses per capita*

One shocker: Florida did not come out on top. Miami—once known as “God’s Waiting Room,” for its preponderance of elderly residents—ranked only as the 113th best U.S. city to age in place. The very worst to age in place is Burlington, VT. But we didn’t make access to Ben & Jerry’s ice cream one of our criteria. Our bad.

Best-metros-to-age-in-place
Best-metros-to-age-in-place

Want to know more? Put on the designer spectacles and keep reading.

1. Florence, SC

Median home list price: $165,200

Michael Miller, head of Florence’s Chamber of Commerce, concedes that this city was once known as the “Denture Capital of the World.” But don’t be put off: This has become a lively and diverse place. Since 2010, the city has been hard at work on redeveloping its downtown area, which now boasts an $18 million library and a new art, science, and history museum—just the thing for folks with increasing amounts of time on their hands.
The area is also a regional medical hub, with one of the nation’s highest concentrations of hospitals and home health aides. And more than 22,000 of its housing units have been designed or modified to accommodate older residents. This may be why several of local Realtor® Laraine Stevens‘ clients in their 50s have relocated to the area from the oh-so-much-more-expensive Northeast. More of her buyers are seeking single-story homes or residences with ground-floor master suites.

“The cost of living is very affordable, and our taxes are lower compared to bigger cities,” says Stevens, of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. “You have a more temperate climate. You’re not fighting the snow and the blizzards.”

Click the link below to view the entire article on realtor.com.

Realtor.com Web Article – Forever Homes: The 10 Best Places in America to Age in Place

Ribbon Cutting: Family Heritage

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By: Jessica Imbimbo, Morning News

FLORENCE, S.C. – The Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday for Family Heritage Life Insurance Company at the Chamber office in downtown Florence.

Family Heritage Life Insurance Company of America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Torchmark Corporation and provides supplemental health and life insurance to its clients.

Family Heritage Life is licensed in 49 states and serves thousands of American families across the nation. It has received numerous awards for outstanding customer service and community outreach.

Gina Gilliard, an insurance agent for Heritage Family Life, had the honor of cutting the ribbon during the ceremony. As a Pee Dee native, Gilliard said she is excited to bring Family Heritage Life into the Florence community.

“It means a lot to join the chamber,” Gilliard said. “It means a lot to work with businesses here in Florence. We’re opening up the doors.”

City of Florence awarded Municipal Association of South Carolina Achievement Award

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The City of Florence has done it again! Let’s all celebrate the fifth consecutive Municipal Association of South Carolina Achievement Award for superior and innovative efforts in local government. Congrats to our city leadership team.

$16 million Florence Civic Center expansion ahead of schedule

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By Audrey Biesk, WMBF News

FLORENCE, SC (WMBF) – The Florence Civic Center is expanding its footprint for the first time since it was built in 1993.

The 60,000-square-foot venue is considered the largest convention, entertainment and exhibition facility in northeast South Carolina.

The new expansion is allowing Florence to recruit even more big-named conferences and conventions, bringing in more dollars to the Pee Dee. The progress and milestone of the expansion was celebrated during a construction topping-off ceremony held Thursday morning.

“So with the additional meeting space, now we are out there being a main player with Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Columbia and Greenville,” said Paul Beard, the Florence Civic Center’s interim general manager. “So we can go out and compete with some of the major conferences they currently attract.”

Beard said Florence County’s growth meant an expansion was due.

“There were so many conferences and conventions that came here and wanted to come to Florence because they liked the area, the atmosphere, the scenery, but we were missing breakout spaces,” he said. “We had only three small breakout rooms and our ballroom.”

The civic center can soon show off 10 breakout rooms, a junior and grand ballroom that fits nearly 2,000 people and a 10,000-seat arena. The facility is set apart because it can host conferences, conventions, trade shows, expos and sporting events.

Beard said the civic center was losing a number of the conferences that surrounding cities were able to recruit. Soon, it can do the same.

“We have to remember what happened out here first. It’s given promise and hope for a lot of areas and there is an even greater impact of what’s yet to come with this expansion,” said Mike Miller, president of the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce.

The economic growth from the Interstate 20 and Interstate 95 corridor has also proven to be an impact on the entire area.

“It did all happen here and years ago, when the city and county voted to build this, it was four to three. That’s how close it came to not build this initially,” said Buddy Brand, Florence mayor pro tem.

It’s a risk that is clearly worth taking today. Brand noted that both councils unanimously agreed to the project, pointing to the partnership between the city and county of Florence that has grown stronger since the vision began 25 years ago.

“You know, one of those thoughts going around of people saying, ‘Look at all those property tax dollars going to build the civic center,’ not one dime of property taxes is being used to build the $16 million expansion,” said Kevin Yokim, Florence County’s finance director. “It’s a 50/50 split – city, county. The county pays our half from hotel taxes, so you don’t fund this civic center unless you stay at a hotel here in Florence.”

Yokim said the city of Florence will fund it with food and beverage taxes, and he said a lot of that comes from tourists.

The civic center is still operating and hosting events as normal throughout the rest of the construction. The expansion is on schedule to open up its doors by early 2018.

WMBF News Web Article – $16 million Florence Civic Center expansion ahead of schedule

Florence Chamber combines expo with Business After Hours

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By: Jessica Imbimbo, Morning News

FLORENCE, S.C. – More than 50 people attended the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce’s PRISM Expo & Business After Hours event on Thursday evening.

The event was held at Reflection Images at 157 W. Evans St. from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Approximately 15 local companies including SC Works, Edward Jones Investments, ScienceSouth and Coker College set up booths for the event to promote their business and network with other community leaders.

 The PRISM (Promoting the Inclusion of Small and Minority Businesses) Expo doubled as a Business After Hours event for Reflection Images, a professional photography studio in downtown Florence. Les Echols, director of community and minority enterprise for the chamber, said the idea to combine the two events into one was helpful for both the chamber and all of the businesses who participated.

“The expo has been a tradition of ours,” Echols said. “By having it in a more intimate setting the attendance is good and they get to see that the attendance is good. If you had these guys in the civic center it would look like no one is in there.”

Business owners and ambassadors were able to put their companies on display and network with other local business leaders. Echols said events such as these help promote small businesses in the area, which will help Florence keep moving in a positive direction.

“That’s why we keep doing it,” Echols said. “We want local businesses to get as much exposure as possible and that’s the bottom line.”

SCNow Web Article – Florence Chamber combines expo with Business After Hours

New Florence shuttle connects downtown to Civic Center hotels

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By: Joshua Lloyd, Morning News

FLORENCE, S.C. – Two of Florence’s main attraction hubs are now connected via shuttle.

The Pee Dee Regional Transportation Authority announced “Downtown Connect” on Monday morning; a free shuttle that runs between major attractions in downtown Florence and hotels near the Florence Civic Center.

The shuttle service began running with Monday’s announcement. It will operate from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Fridays.

This shuttle is free and will run non-stop every 30 minute from downtown to eight hotels along Hospitality and Radio Drives.

Charles MacNeil, executive director of the PDRTA, said this service will make it easier for visitors to access Florence’s growing downtown.

“We get to appreciate what Florence has to offer everyday but this is an opportunity to extend our hospitality to visitors,” he said. “We’re working with the hotels to make sure everyone knows all about the service.”

Many of the hotels near the Civic Center operate a high capacity year round due to close proximity to two interstates, as wells chain brand restaurants and shopping centers. Officials said this service will provide those visitors easy access to Florence’s unique downtown.

“There’s certainly no shortage of restaurants in the Hospitality district but they’re all chains,” said Ray Reich, downtown development director. “In downtown we’re all independently owned. A lot of travelers want to see what makes a city unique and this service will give them a chance to visit downtown without ever having to move their car.”

Reich said if the shuttle does well there’s potential to expand service into Saturday night as well.

SCNow Web Article – New Florence shuttle connects downtown to Civic Center hotels