Hyperbaric Chamber Therapy in Lancaster, SC

LANCASTER, S.C. (WBTV) - Two people were arrested following a drug trafficking investigation in Lancaster County, deputies said.

According to the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, several law enforcement agencies executed a search warrant at a home on Tirzah Church Road on Thursday morning, after previously conducting an undercover investigation.

Once at the property, agents located illegal drugs, digital scales and firearms inside the home.

The drugs included two bags believed to be fentanyl, which contained 1,821 pills and weighed 192 grams. Another bag containing a small amount of powder, which was also suspected to be fentanyl, and more than 1,300 grams of marijuana were also found.

Agents also found 14 long guns, seven handguns, firearm magazines and assorted ammunition.

Deputies arrested 29-year-old Tyler Wayne Rhodes and 28-year-old Elizabeth Carolina Delaney McDonald in connection with the case.

According to the Lancaster County School District, McDonald has been a teacher at Indian Land High School since 2020. She has been placed on paid administrative leave.

Bryan Vaughn with Lancaster County Schools says they will take the findings from law enforcement and start investigations at the district and state levels.

“The superintendent will make a recommendation about employment status,” Vaughn said. “The state board could take all the documents and do an emergency revocation.”

Vaughn says all teachers are fingerprinted and background checked before they’re hired, but they are not all drug tested.

“If we had specific knowledge that amounted to a reasonable suspicion at that point we could in our policy have someone tested, but there’s not just a standard pre-employment drug screen,” he said.

He says they’re hopeful that anyone with information about this situation will come forward.

According to the sheriff’s office, Rhodes and McDonald are charged with trafficking and possession with intent to distribute the drugs, along with charges for possession of firearms during commission of the drug trafficking offenses.

Both were denied bond by a judge on Friday.

“Several controlled purchases of drugs were made which gave us probable cause to search this property,” Sheriff Barry Faile said. “We found upwards of 2,000 pills we believe to be Fentanyl and almost three pounds of Marijuana. This represents a substantial seizure of narcotics which we are happy will not be used or distributed in our county or anywhere else.”

Two men were also at the home during the execution of the warrant, but were not arrested or charged.

Anyone with information about this case is encouraged to call the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office at 803-283-3388 or contact Midlands Crimestoppers.

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South Carolina saw a more than 25% spike in drug overdose deaths in 2021, year over year, according to state health report released on Friday.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control called the latest figures an “alarming trend” that’s in keeping with an ongoing national drug overdose epidemic, fueled mainly by the opioid fentanyl.

“Mental health and substance use disorders are at the forefront of public health concerns around the nation, and we at DHEC – along with our many essential partners – are committed to stopping this disturbing trend in drug overdose deaths by connecting people with the help they need and deserve,” Dr. Brannon Traxler, DHEC public health director, said in a Friday press release. “We all have a role to play in ending the stigma surrounding substance use disorders and being a conduit for those who need help but can’t or won’t take those first steps to reach out.”

According to the report, South Carolina had 2,168 drug overdose deaths in 2021, an increase of 430 people from the year prior. In contrast, the state reported just 573 total drug overdose deaths in 2012.

Five SC counties with most overdose deaths in 2021

Fentanyl has largely been the driver behind the rise in drug overdose deaths across the nation in recent years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is between 50 and 100 times stronger than morphine.

Drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl rose by more than 35% in South Carolina between 2020 and 2021, the DHEC report shows. And of the total 2,168 overdose deaths in the state in 2021, 1,494 were due to fentanyl.

Five SC counties with the most deaths by fentanyl in 2021

“Other drugs are being laced with fentanyl without the user’s knowledge, which can cause a fatal overdose even in a small quantity,” Sara Goldsby, director of the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, said in the press release. “If there is a possibility of coming into contact with an unsafe drug, it’s important to have naloxone on hand in case of an overdose.”

If Lancaster County plans to build a new regional sports complex, leaders want it done right.

Lancaster County Council heard updated plans recebtkt for the 82-acre park planned within the Roselyn development. A park that could cost almost $73 million.

Project director Andrew Pack with the Woolpert refined the project Monday night from a similar presentation last fall. Further details are still needed. Dennis Marstall, county administrator, said groundbreaking could come in spring 2024 with an opening in summer 2025 at the earliest.

Pack proposed a $34 million first phase to include a baseball or softball complex, multiuse fields, trails, passive recreation areas and property expansion. The park is just off U.S. 521 to its west, east of Landsford Canal State Park.

A second phase would add a 50,000-square-foot recreation center for almost $39 million. Or, for the same price, that project could be split into a 25,000-square-foot recreation center and future expansion to double it for the same 50,000 square feet.

Marstall said splitting the recreation center could mean a few more years before the entire project is complete.

The county still needs to work out what programs the new park will offer to make final decisions on what will go there. There is a $750,000 agreement in place with USC Lancaster baseball to host home games on one of the park’s new fields.

The vision for the new park includes trails that could be used for cross country. Gyms for basketball, volleyball and pickleball, including tournament events. Tournament baseball or soccer, plus disc golf if the county acquires an adjoining 20 acres. A splash pad is planned, too.

Marstall said there are funding streams like hospitality tax to help with the park. A separate discussion of a new detention center and court facilities at about $90 million — a more detailed update is expected next month — also factors into county finances. The detention center could use capital sales tax, among other sources. The projects likely would require a 20-year bond, Marstall said, to pay for some portion of them.

“We have sufficient revenue streams,” Marstall said.

Even with the large price tag, council members on Monday said they aren’t looking to cut back on the park. Chairman Steve Harper said the park isn’t for him, but for the growing number of pickleball players and team sports athletes and community members who want something special.

“I just want to make sure that we do something a little different than everybody else, or a little bit better,” Harper said. “This needs to be the showcase for Lancaster County.”

Councilman Billy Mosteller pointed to a Hartsville trip leaders took to view a splash pad. Mosteller doesn’t want a small, afterthought splash pad at the Lancaster County park. Mosteller wants a significant attraction.

“They’re shipping bus loads to Hartsville to go to this thing,” Mosteller said. “I want them to go to Lancaster.”

With the gym space option, whether to build a larger facility at one time or split it and delay half, Councilwoman Charlene McGriff said the county needs to go with whatever best serves the recreation needs of a growing community.

“If we’re going to do it, this is the time we do it right,” McGriff said. “We will not have another chance.”

Details continue to take shape, quickly, on a new Chester County manufacturing project spanning 700 acres.

Chester County Council passed the first of three votes needed to rezone the property, on Wednesday night. The county planning commission had narrowly voted to approve the zoning changes. With two special called meetings, county council could finalize the zoning changes by March 13.

“This thing is time sensitive,” Council Chairman Joe Branham.

Richburg Magnolias of Chester applied to rezone two properties. The larger is 470 acres at 4375 Lancaster Highway, near Richburg Road. The smaller is 218 acres of unaddressed property off Lancaster Highway (S.C. 9). Advanced Chester of Sumter applied to rezone 22 acres at 510 Juniors Place.

The total property is east of I-77, between Richburg and Fort Lawn. County land records show the properties were involved in a 2018 sale for $4.5 million.

The new company hasn’t been named.

Kris Phillips with Chester County Economic Development updated county council last week on changes proposed by the company based on the planning commission meeting.

A rail line would be moved from the northeastern corner of the site near Bryant Corner Road, to the northwestern side to be farther away from homes on Bryant Corner. Only an administration building on a slab for a former spec facility, and not any manufacturing, would be within a 1,000-foot setback of nearby properties. There would be no road access off Bryant Corner to the adminstrative building.

“There’s no manufacturing, no processing there,” Phillips said.

All truck access would come off Lancaster Highway. The company would build a bridge over the highway for a rail line. Chemicals brought in wouldn’t be flammable or designated as high-risk to the environment by federal regulations, Phillips said.

Matt Gedney with L&C Railroad owner Gulf & Ohio Railways said the local line tries to steer clear of hazardous material transport and the new company would be no different.

“Nothing that is outside the mix of what we currently bring in,” Gedney said.

L&C serves some chemical and polymer facilities in the area. There’s a propane terminal in Lancaster County. But not sites with federally designated hazardous chemicals. The growing number of manufacturing facilities in Chester County also helps with safety concerns, Gedney said, as rail travels at a relatively low speed.

Phillips said the company is looking at sound walls and structures to avoid sound or light issues. The company intends to rely mostly on rail, but will evaluate what truck traffic the site will create. The company has spent tens of millions, Phillips said, at other sites to make sure environmental damage or air quality won’t be an issue.

Phillips said there will be significant activity on site.

“It’ll be a 24-7 operation,” Phillips said.

The planning commission voted 3-2 to recommend two of the zoning changes. The other, the largest property farthest from neighboring homes, got a 4-1 vote for recommendation.

Councilwoman Erin Mosley cast the only council vote against the zoning changes. Mosley said it wasn’t a slight to the company, but instead she felt more time is needed to study plans.

Plans would include a new 20-foot high by 40-foot wide berm to further insulate the site. Another part of the decision states if the property is rezoned and the company doesn’t bring the planned business, the zoning would revert to what it is now by November.

LANCASTER, S.C. — A local school district is taking drastic steps to keep kids from vaping in school.

A spokesperson with the Lancaster County School District says leaders are catching kids smoking e-cigarettes inside schools about 10 to 12 times every week. So the district plans to invest thousands of dollars in new technology and cameras to catch students vaping in the act.

Tunisia Milner has been a substitute teacher in several districts, and she’s seen first-hand just how popular vaping has become.

“Now it’s turned into a fad where it’s cool,” Milner said. “I had two students who were vaping in the classroom -- trying to do it, sneaking to do it -- but of course, I saw the smoke.”

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Officials in Lancaster County say it’s happening inside high school bathrooms so often that even parents are complaining, and they say some kids are even using the devices to smoke illegal drugs like marijuana.

“We had a case in the last week where we caught four individuals in a stall, and they were all smoking a vape,” said Bryan Vaughn with the Lancaster County School District.

LCSD is now turning to a company called Zeptive for help. They make vaping detectors that leaders will place in high school classrooms. The detectors cost about $1,100 each, and they can be set up wirelessly in minutes, according to Zeptive.

Cameras are also being installed outside of restrooms to help leaders find who’s vaping.

“We’re going to be able to cross-reference and find out who’s in that building for investigative purposes,” Vaughn said.

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For some parents, the detectors are helping put their minds at ease.

“It’s comforting for parents to know they can do something about it when they’re not in their own house,” said Gina Drummer.

Though others like Milner say the cameras may be an intrusion. Milner says more education may be the better solution.

“I think if they are educated about what vaping does to their body, then they would reconsider for sure,” Milner said.

District leaders told Channel 9 they’ll also look into creating tougher penalties for students caught vaping.

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