Best Jewelry Store near Summerville, SC

Summerville High School wrestling coach Darryl Tucker achieved a coaching milestone on Jan. 10, earning his 300th career victory as the head coach of the Green Wave.

Tucker reached the monumental win with his team’s victory over Timberland as part of a four-team match at Hanahan High School. Tucker got win No. 298 over Hanahan and No. 299 with a win over Military Magnet.

“It’s special, really special,” said Tucker, a graduate of Summerville and former wrestler and baseball player at the school from 1989-93. “To be able to accomplish this at Summerville, the place I grew up and competed myself as an athlete, makes it really special. I’m proud to be able to continue on the long tradition of success that was established before me.”

Tucker was a part of two state championship teams (1992-93) was a wrestler for coach Steve LaPrad, now the head football coach at Fort Dorchester. He also spent six years as an assistant under Kenny Walker while the Green Wave won four state championships. Tucker took over as head coach for the 2008-09 season.

“I’ve been very fortunate,” Tucker said. “Steve LaPrad, the best there ever was. Then having the opportunity to coach under Kenny Walker and I learned so much from him. It goes back to the roots, instilling those values and keeping the program moving forward.”

Summerville has reached the state finals twice under Tucker, losing to Rock Hill in 2013-14 and falling to Hillcrest in 2020-21. Tucker’s goal is to hoist the championship trophy as a head coach.

“I would trade all 300 wins for a state championship,” the coach said. “If winning championships was easy, everyone would have one. But it is a goal. We are going to stay the course and continue to do things the right way. If it’s meant to be, it will happen.”

Summerville is currently ranked fifth in the latest Class AAAAA state rankings by scmat.com. Other Charleston-area teams ranked in Class AAAAA include Cane Bay (seventh), Goose Creek (17th), Ashley Ridge (18th) and Fort Dorchester (19th).

In Class AAAA, Lucy Beckham is ranked 10th and James Island is ranked 18th. Hanahan is ranked ninth in Class AAA, followed by Philip Simmons at No. 10.

In the AA/A rankings, Timberland is ranked seventh and Bishop England is eighth. Cross is ranked ninth, followed by Academic Magnet at No. 18 and Military Magnet at No. 19.

Togami headed to USC

Wando High pole vaulter Hannah Togami will be taking her talents to the University of South Carolina next year. She is the two-time defending state champion in Class AAAAA. Togami also was a second-team All-Lowcountry selection in volleyball this past season.

David Shelton’s Lowcountry Top 10

Boys Basketball

1. Summerville

2. Goose Creek

3. Oceanside Collegiate

4. First Baptist

5. Cane Bay

6. Porter-Gaud

7. Woodland

8. Ashley Ridge

9. Lucy Beckham

10. James Island

Girls Basketball

1. Stratford

2. Philip Simmons

3. Summerville

4. Military Magnet

5. Fort Dorchester

6. Cane Bay

7. Northwood Academy

8. Stall

9. Timberland

10. James Island

S.C. Basketball Coaches Association Polls

Class AAAAA Boys Top 10

1. Dorman

2. Conway

3. Byrnes

4. Goose Creek

5. Lexington

6. TL Hanna

7. Summerville

8. Carolina Forest

9. Hillcrest

10. Cane Bay

Class AAAAA Girls Top 10

1. Stratford

2. Woodmont

3. Spring Valley

4. Sumter

5. Clover

6. Lexington

7. Summerville

8. Wando

9. Rock Hill

10. Fort Dorchester

Class AAAA Boys Top 10

1. North Augusta

2. Lancaster

3. Irmo

4. Wilson

5. Greenville

6. Indian Land

7. Westside

8. Catawba Ridge

9. Greer

10. West Florence

Class AAAA Girls Top 10

1. South Pointe

2. North Augusta

3. Westwood

4. South Florence

5. Hartsville

6. Pickens

7. Greer

8. AC Flora

9. Bluffton

10. Catawba Ridge

Class AAA Boys Top 10

1. Crestwood

2. Orangeburg-Wilkinson

3. Chester

4. Wren

5. Marlboro County

6. Daniel

7. North Charleston

8. Clinton

9. Lake City

10. Manning

Class AAA Girls Top 10

1. Southside

2. Camden

3. Wren

4. Phillip Simmons

5. Blue Ridge

6. Crestwood

7. Lower Richland

8. Emerald

9. West Oak

10. Gilbert

Class AA Boys Top 10

1. Gray Collegiate

2. Oceanside Collegiate

3. Wade Hampton

4. Keenan

5. Strom Thurmond

6. Landrum

7. Andrew Jackson

8. Newberry

9. Abbeville

10. Woodland

Class AA Girls Top 10

1. Keenan

2. Gray Collegiate

3. Andrew Jackson

4. Silver Bluff

5. Bishop England

6. Barnwell

7. Kingstree

8. Timberland

9. Chesterfield

10. Columbia

Class A Boys Top 10

1. Great Falls

2. Scott’s Branch

3. Christ Church

4. High Point Academy

5. Denmark-Olar

6. North

7. Southside Christian

8. Hannah-Pamlico

9. Johnsonville

10. Calhoun County

Class A Girls Top 10

1. Military Magnet

2. Denmark-Olar

3. High Point Academy

4. Lake View

5. Christ Church

6. Carvers Bay

7. Calhoun Falls

8. McBee

9. Cross

10. Latta

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. — Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic invited industry partners to an exclusive tabletop demonstration at Advanced Technology International (ATI) headquarters in late February to help them conceptualize the development of a prototype that will enhance the Marine Corps’ all-source intelligence system.

The demonstration was coordinated by NIWC Atlantic’s Information Warfare Research Project (IWRP), a highly successful program launched in 2018 to accelerate prototype development and deliver critical capabilities to the fleet faster.

Since its inception, IWRP has awarded 144 prototype projects totaling $543 million.

The demonstration was the first of its kind and coincided with an IWRP request for prototype project (RPP), which was released on Feb. 21.

“We planned this unique hands-on demonstration in conjunction with our call for proposals in order to provide industry the clearest look into what the Marine Corps is actually requesting,” said Jee Youn Fickling, a NIWC Atlantic program manager who oversees IWRP.

Twenty-nine IWRP consortium members attended the in-depth briefing at ATI, where prototype integration for the Distributed Common Ground/Surface System – Marine Corps (DCGS-MC) architecture was explained and demonstrated.

DCGS-MC is the Marine Corps’ ubiquitous network of intelligence and information that provides critical battlespace awareness capabilities. The system shed nearly 1,000 pounds of hardware in recent years thanks to NIWC Atlantic’s role in a major modernization effort that reduced its size, weight, cost and power requirements.

Now, to provide Marines even more advanced proficiencies during expeditionary operations in a maritime environment, the prototype under consideration must funnel certain DCGS-MC capabilities through the common handheld device currently used by Marines.

“To help the warfighter, we need companies to develop something that hits the target,” said Will Roenke, DCGS-MC All Source team lead at NIWC Atlantic’s Expeditionary Warfare Department. “In general, we typically see proposals that are either inapplicable, on-target or cost-prohibitive. This event will hopefully keep proposed prototypes on target while also increasing the number of responses we can choose from.”

NIWC Atlantic’s IWRP program regularly searches for ways to cut red tape and ease contracting processes for entities that have never worked with the government. IWRP is just one of several other transaction authorities, or OTAs, within the Department of the Navy (DON) created to lower barriers of entry for companies and get cutting-edge technologies into the hands of warfighters.

Fickling said there are nearly 800 members in the IWRP consortium, with an overwhelming 78% of them classified as non-traditional businesses and entities.

Roenke, who provided attendees with the DCGS-MC briefing, said based on feedback he received, incorporating events like the IWRP demo is an ideal way to request a proposal.

“It is difficult for companies in the private sector to provide a usable product within our architecture and constraints without seeing them firsthand,” he said. “By us articulating the need, gaps and some stretch-goals that we have for the system in the context of a larger effort for the project, value added in each proposal will likely increase and become a meaningful enhancement to the Marine intelligence process.”

Capt. Nicole Nigro, NIWC Atlantic commanding officer, said the demonstration was an excellent addition to the process to ensure the DON received the strongest proposals possible.

“Our IWRP leaders have moved out quickly to establish this consortium that benefits our industry partners and, most importantly, our warfighters,” she said. “I am extremely proud of their hard work, their creative ideas and their dedication to working with other teams and projects within the command to deliver the very best capabilities to our warfighters.”

About NIWC Atlantic

As a part of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, NIWC Atlantic provides systems engineering and acquisition to deliver information warfare capabilities to the naval, joint and national warfighter through the acquisition, development, integration, production, test, deployment, and sustainment of interoperable command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, cyber and information technology capabilities. Learn more at www.niwcatlantic.navy.mil.

Could vanpooling be people’s preferred choice to commute to and from work in the near future?

The folks from Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments (BCDCOG) introduced their Lowcountry Go Vanpool Program as a “real solution” that would help reduce traffic congestion at the Summerville/Dorchester County Chamber of Commerce’s “Power Hour” event on Feb. 15 at the Rollins Edwards Community Center.

Morgan Grimes and Courtney Cherry were on hand to apprise the early-morning crowd of 50-60 attendees on Lowcountry Go’s initiative that provides eligible groups of four of more commuters with a 7 or 15-passenger van to get them to work anywhere in the Tri-county area.

During their presentation, the duo described the vanpooling endeavor as an easy and inexpensive service available via a month-to-month lease agreement which furnishes clients with a vehicle, insurance, maintenance, gas and emergency trips.

The monthly cost, they added, is divided among riders, as that expense lowers with more people who join in on the vanpooling endeavor. Overall, it was noted, the plan is most economical for groups traveling 15 or more miles one way.

The minimum amount of people to start a vanpool is four.

Audience members learned that the vanpool solution was the offshoot of factors, such as population growth — which is three times the national average in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties — and roadway congestion since in many cases lawmakers cannot widen their way out of traffic problems.

In addition to the vanpooling option, Lowcountry Go delivers walking, biking and public transit solutions in the form of electronic buses.

Vanpools can operate any day of the week and all participants — including the driver — must be commuting, as detailed in a corresponding slideshow at the “Power Hour” gathering.

Vanpooling, according to stats compiled by Lowcountry Go, saves people 50-80 percent annually on their commuting costs, 11,100 miles on their personal car and up to 25 percent in car insurance.

From an environmental standpoint, it eliminates 40 pounds of nitric oxide gases per day and saves up to 7.2 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. What’s more, up to one billion gallons of fuel can potentially be saved by more people opting to vanpool to work.

In fact, just 10 vanpools annually can eliminate 1.5 pounds of carbon dioxide.

Grimes and Cherry further mentioned the quality-of-life benefits derived from vanpooling, such as stress reduction and affording commuters more time to themselves before and after their daily drive.

Questions regarding Lowcountry Go can be sent to Courtney Cherry (vanpool@bcdcog.com 843-529-6286).

Saturday was a beautiful day in the Lowcountry! But if you were out in the sunshine you missed the inaugural concert by the Summerville Orchestra Junior & Youth Philharmonics. What an accomplished group of young musicians!

Hats off to DeAnndra Glenn their Conductor and Education Coordinator for her dedication to the musical future of our area! One night each week she gathers them to learn the music and saw away on their strings to make beautiful sounds. And what a treat it was to hear the program “Sounds of the Seafarers”. A few pieces were familiar and all carried the oceanic theme to transport the audience over the waves. Mark your calendar for May 20 at 3:00 p.m. at the Summers Corner Performing Arts Center for the next performance. One hears a frequent refrain regarding the loss of arts education in the schools. These 68 young people will restore your faith in our local school system.

To say nothing of the fabulous work being done by the Summerville Orchestra. From its origins in the early part of this century giving concerts in the park, the orchestra has grown to present a full schedule of work throughout the year. The Music Director, Wojciech Milewski, has brought professionalism of the highest degree to our little town. He is a gift to everyone with the least appreciation of music. The next full orchestra concert is Friday and Saturday March 31 and April 1.

While some in the audience might have been expecting a laundry list of stats when Trident Health Network CEO and President Christina Oh stepped to the podium at the Feb. 15 Rotary Club of Summerville meeting, the healthcare leader instead chose to shine a light on the people who diligently pour their energies into savings lives.

In recounting how the North Charleston-based Trident Medical Center emerged as a Level II trauma center in 2016, Oh shared the remarkable care provided to a trio of patients who recently faced unusual life-or-death circumstances.

She began by relating a recent incident that saw a 19-year-old male transported to the Roper Hospital Diagnostics ER with a stab wound in the chest area. The altercation victim was decompensating (a deterioration of a structure or system), according to the guest speaker, as the Roper medical staff was left with no other choice than to send the patient to Trident.

“So, they get to the trauma bank. By the time they called Dr. (James M.) Brenner in, the kid was almost dead. Dr. Brenner realized he didn’t have time to get this young man to the OR, so they splashed iodine on his chest and cut [it] open and found the problem,” said Oh.

The source of the patient’s plight that had him on death’s doorstep was a hole in his heart that Dr. Brenner patched up before he was relocated to the ICU. About seven days later, the local teen was discharged.

“Dr. Brenner had an opportunity to reunite with this patient and the young man brought his mom. She was sobbing when she said, ‘I just lost another son last year, I couldn’t have lost this one,’” continued Oh.

“There’s a lot of stuff that’s routine to us in healthcare and not routine to everyone else. You know there’s something special when you walk through the ER a week later and the physicians are saying, ‘Can you believe we just did that?’”

In a second extraordinary effort by Trident Health Network’s medical staff, Oh conveyed how a 36-year-old married mother of four — rendered unresponsive by a stroke — was treated for a “huge” frontal hemorrhage in her brain.

Despite the patient’s risk of mortality being 97 percent, the Summerville resident was nursed back to health via thorough examination in Summerville Medical Center’s neuro-ICU and was later operated on with a successful outcome.

In a third touch-and-go instance, Oh described the travails of a pregnant 32-year-old who was diagnosed with head and neck cancer. Doctors were unsure of how the radiation treatments would impact the baby.

After much consultation on the part of Trident physicians with friends in the medical field, surgeons were able to save the woman through radiation therapy and then also built a tongue out of the patient’s thigh muscle, as victims of head and neck cancer are often subject to the removal of body parts.

On that front, Oh lauded the work of dental oncologist Dr. Betsy K. Davis who was described as a master at producing 3D printings of eyes, noses, ears, jaws and tongues in the interest of “giving people a second chance at life” following the completion of cancer treatment.

“One of her favorite things she likes to say is: ‘What the surgeons work on nobody can see. But what I work on, that’s people’s opportunity to reenter society.’”

On the topic of notable physicians in the Trident family, Oh further mentioned Dr. Frank Cuoco, a leading cardiac electrophysiologist, who in addition to specializing in performing ablations in the treatment of abnormal heart rhythms, has also been a key figure in conducting fact-finding trials.

“There’s a lot of research going on. We are training the next generation of physicians. And through Trident, you have access to cutting-edge research,” assured Oh, a Beckley, West Virginia native, who has lived and/or worked in Arizona, Japan and a host of Rust Belt cities.

What’s more, the Trident Health spokesperson alerted Summerville Rotarians to the grand opening of the Live Oak Health and Wellness facility on June 6. The North Charleston behavioral health venue will feature 60 beds.

As for other projects in the pipeline, Oh reported that the James Island Freestanding Emergency Center is scheduled to open in August, which she deemed especially noteworthy since James Island and St. John’s Island had never had access to emergency care previously.

The distinguished Summerville Rotary guest concluded her presentation by not only promising that Trident Health would continue to expand services in the near future — particularly in behavioral and orthopaedic services — but she went on to inform listeners that her medical organization remains the only taxpaying healthcare system in the Lowcountry.

“Every time I’m driving down the road with a pothole or I see a school bus, or I see somebody in law enforcement, it just reminds me that we are proud that we pay taxes in the Charleston community,” affirmed Oh.

To that point, she stated that Trident Health has paid $193 million in federal, state and local taxes in the last five years, as well as paying $250 million in uncompensated services for individuals who lack the means to bear the cost of their care.

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Dorchester Paws is busting at the seams when it comes to space for puppies and dogs.

The shelter says they are over max capacity.

More than 100 adult dogs and 10 puppies are currently at Dorchester Paws and waiting for their forever home.

The adoption center says they are doing all they can to give adopters everything they may need.

“Every animal is spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped that comes into our care that goes out into an adopter,” Dorchester Paws Director of Marketing and Development Danielle Zuck said. “They’re also medically cleared to the best of our knowledge and our veterinarian’s knowledge at that time of the animal. We give you pet insurance for 30 days, and we also are now giving a free veterinarian hotline, to call for any questions that you have within the first 30 days as well.”

The lack of adoptions has led to overcrowding, and they have had to adjust to make room for all dogs.

“When we get to the point where we have to put the dog in a ‘pop-up,’ we are in what we call crisis mode,” Dorchester Paws Director of Operations April Howard said. “They are the small, wire crates that you see people use when they go to work during the day or when they go grocery shopping. They’re not meant for long-term housing.”

They say they are seeing an increase in owner surrenders, on top of puppy and kitten season.

“Warmer weather brings puppies and kittens a lot sooner, so here they are,” Zuck said. “We have so many animals that have hit our floor because of animals are just not spayed and neutered in our county as much as we would like them to be.”

If you cannot take on the responsibility of an adopter, Zuck explains there are other ways to help.

“Take a dog on a doggy date, you can go around town, you can do an overnight, as well as just a foster to give an animal a shelter break,” Zuck said. “They say even if you can give an animal a weekend, it will lower their stress level tenfold.”

Dorchester Paws is open at 136 4 Paws Ln in Summerville for adoptions every day from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Music, guided tours and an appetizing spread were all part of the package during the Summerville-Dorchester Museum’s 30th anniversary function on Feb. 5, as featured attraction Dr. Ed West held court to introduce a new softcover publication and delve into the people of “off.”

In leading up to his presentation of a new release titled “When The President Circled Summerville,” West entertained a gathered audience in the museum courtyard with accounts of some of Summerville’s founding and/or influential residents from days gone by who weren’t necessarily natives of the community.

Through the years, these individuals — much like many present-day out-of-towners — were referred to as the people of “off,” per the historian.

“The people who came here and really made history did not live here. We have a few people who truly are historical characters who are from Summerville. But a whole lot of people who really made a big name here didn’t live here,” stated West.

Dr. Charles Shepard of North Haven, Connecticut was one of these seminal figures, who traveled to Summerville to build the Pinehurst Tea Plantation in 1888, recognized as the first commercial tea plantation in the United States. Lipton Tea Company would eventually claim the old Pinehurst plants and transported them to Wadmadlaw Island years after the operation faltered once its founder passed in 1915.

Similarly, West recounted how German immigrant Frederick Wagener purchased the Summerville Hotel Company in 1890, and went on to open the Pine Forest Inn a year later.

Wagener started out as a grocer and emerged as a self-made millionaire. He would go on to build the largest commercial edifice in Charleston on East Bay Street in 1880 and lived at the “Rutledge House” on the other end of Broad Street.

The book further highlights the exploits of railroad man John Averill of Plattsburgh, New York, who led the rebuilding efforts in Summerville in the aftermath of the 1886 earthquake.

But the protagonist of the book is the 26th President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt. The New York City-born statesman, conservationist, soldier, writer and historian is prominently featured on the cover the museum’s limited-edition printed copy due to his 24-hour visit to Summerville in 1902. The purpose of the sojourn was to tour the Lowcountry due to “two remarkable men,” as mentioned in the write-up, who joined forces on a “benighted effort” to host a World’s Fair in the Holy City.

“Teddy Roosevelt spent the day in Charleston and he came up to Summerville and spent the night at the Pine Forest Inn and then he went over to see the tea farm,” explained West.

While in Charleston, Roosevelt claimed that his mother, Martha Stewart “Mittie” Roosevelt, was a southerner born in Connecticut, but raised in Cobb County, Georgia in the 1800s.

“I don’t know if you all think this way, but who lived in South Carolina in 1700 and in Georgia in 1800? The people who lived out in Dorchester. I found out her maiden name was Stewart ... this land we’re standing on now was owned by James Stewart.”

In addition, West disclosed that (James) Stewart — a relative of Martha’s from the previous century — most likely was the proprietor of property that would serve as the future location of the Pine Forest Inn in Summerville.

The site of the Pine Forest Inn was situated on 60 acres of land near the present-day Roosevelt Square that is generally bounded by Simmons Avenue, Salisbury Drive, Marion Avenue and Gaillard Lane.

The limited-edition book copies were distributed among sponsor reps at the anniversary event that was also attended by museum executive officers and directors, including: Vice President Pam Giesick, Kenneth Battle, Danny Hughes, Janet Sussman and Michael Sussman, among others.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) in conjunction with the Town of Summerville and the Dorchester County Transportation Authority (DCTA) continues work on the 3rd phase of the Berlin G. Myers Project.

A temporary 3-day, 72-hour closure of the Sawmill Branch Walk/Bike Trail between Luden Drive and the pedestrian bridge at Willet Drive (shown in red on the map below) will be required between Monday, February 20, 2023, and Wednesday, February 22, 2023. Construction crews will be working on crossline drainage pipes beneath the existing trail and constructing a small section of detour trail near Luden Drive.

Variable message boards will be placed at either end of the trail to give advanced warning of the closure to pedestrians. The trail from Luden Drive to Crosscreek Drive and from Willet Drive to East Richardson Avenue will remain open and may still be used (shown in green on the map below).

The safety of the traveling public is of the utmost concern. Construction crews will work diligently to complete this work and reopen the trail for the Town’s recreational use as quickly as possible.