On Pelzer mill site cleanup
By Stan Welch
County Councilwoman Cindy Wilson is in the midst of a busy week. Monday, she traveled with a group of Pelzer officials and two county staff members to Columbia to meet with Governor Haley’s deputy chief of staff, Joshua Baker.
Dianne Lollis, Larry Coker, Gilbert Garrett, Dr. Wayne Fowler, recently elected Pelzer Councilwoman Kimberly Wilson, Kelly Arnett, and county staffers Steve Newton and Michael Forman represented the town of Pelzer and the Pelzer Heritage Trust Commission. Also accompanying the group was Gail Jeter, environmental consultant for the group.
“We just wanted to put faces with names between here and Columbia, and get some of the future local projects on the state’s radar,” Wilson said. “As you know, the town had several streets included in a special historic district last year. And the Commission received a four hundred thousand dollar grant to work on cleaning up the upper and lower mill sites. They show no signs of slowing down, and while we were there, we learned of at least one new state funding source we can explore.”
Rounding out the week, Wilson, along with State Rep. Anne Thayer will lead a litter pickup effort Saturday morning, along a stretch of Midway Road. Wilson said that the county will coordinate the effort, as well as providing traffic control, and the needed supplies, such as safety vests, gloves and garbage bags.
The group will assemble at the Midway Presbyterian Church at the intersection of Crestview and Midway roads. The area covered will depend on the size of the crowd, but the intention is to work north on Midway towards High Praises Church at the intersection of Midway and Hopewell Roads.
There will also be a countywide cleanup on April 16, but Wilson said that she and Rep. Thayer agreed that they needed to get something underway. “There is so much positive energy in the county right now, and the appearance of the area needs to reflect that” said Councilwoman Wilson.
The volunteers will assemble at 10:00 a.m. and the pickup will last a couple of hours.
