Estate Planning Attorney inClifton, SC

South Carolina cotton mills sprang up in the mid-to-late 1800s and were a leading industry in South Carolina well into the depression era when the price of cotton plummeted and many mills went under. The lives of the mill workers and the history of South Carolina textile mills during this era remain a point of curiosity, almost as much as the lives of our ancestors who lived through the Great Depression.

These 23 rare photos document mill workers, particularly the children, and give an unprecedented insight into the lifestyle as well as the livelihoods and the family life of cotton mill workers in South Carolina.

This rare glimpse into the life of cotton mill workers in the first two decades of the 1900s provides some insight into the lifestyle and hardships endured in this era. South Carolina was built on the backs of these laborers, who literally put the clothing on the backs of their fellow South Carolinians and others around the country.

For another look into South Carolina’s past, take a look at these 21 Rare Photos Taken In South Carolina During The Great Depression.

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Where can I learn more about factory history in South Carolina?

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - After dangerously high pressure on the Charleston Water System, officials say customers aren’t in the clear just yet, but conditions are looking better after a hectic holiday weekend.

Laura Clifton, Communications Coordinator for Charleston Water System, says due to pipe leaks and bursts, customers were using in total nearly 100 million gallons of water a day. That’s dangerously close to the 105-million-gallon threshold that would trigger a boil water notice.

“Overnight, we saw a dramatic decrease in the overnight we saw a dramatic decrease in our demand. We went from about 95 million gallons a day, down to 80 million gallons a day. So that is great news,” Clifton says.

She says their call center and crews have been working hard for the past four days. Clifton says the water service is waiving the water shut off fee for a crew to come to your home and turn off the system because of the emergency, but she expects that won’t last much longer.

“Since about Christmas Eve, our call center has received more than 1,400 calls from customers who have leaks in their home. So that’s at least 1,400 homes that we know of who are leaking water that doesn’t always account for people who are out of town on vacation, or people who have leaks, but were able to stop them themselves. So, all of that water usage accumulates, it really puts a high demand on our system,” Clifton explains.

Clifton says crews have also taken the liberty of turning off water at homes with visible leaks or bursts that appeared empty over the weekend. If you come home from out of town to your water turned off, just give them a call.

At the same time, plumbers across the Lowcountry are swamped with calls about pipe problems. Plumb Pro serves the tri-county area and offers a 24/7 emergency line. Danny Osterman, Commercial Consultant at the company, says it has been all hands-on deck for the past few days.

“In a normal week, per day we’ll probably get about 100-150 calls. Just this past weekend, we fielded over 1,500 in 48 hours,” Osterman says.

Osterman says the company always has someone on call to manage the 24/7 line, but many workers stepped up, leaving their home on the holiday to help out. When it comes to water emergencies, an uncontrolled leak or burst pipe can often be the first of many problems.

“Being proactive and not reactive can save you thousands of dollars. You’re talking about flooring damage, about insulation damage and then mold mitigation at that point so that’s where those dollar signs really get to adding up,” Osterman says.

To prevent hundreds or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, there are a few things you can do to protect pipes in cold weather.

Should your pipes freeze, Osterman says you can use a hairdryer or space heater to defrost them and you should monitor a space heater the whole time. If you are worried about the situation, he says you should call a professional or your local water system.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A judge put South Carolina’s new law banning most abortions around six weeks of pregnancy on hold Friday until the state Supreme Court can review the measure, giving providers a temporary reprieve in a region that has enacted strict limits on the procedure.

Judge Clifton Newman’s ruling that put the state’s abortion law back at roughly 20 weeks came about 24 hours after Gov. Henry McMaster signed the bill into law without any notice, which had left dozens of people seeking abortions in limbo and created the potential for a legal abortion becoming illegal as a doctor performed it.

“It’s extraordinarily difficult not only for the women themselves, but for their doctors — not just the doctors at Planned Parenthood — but hospitals all across the state who need to understand what to do in an emergency,” said Vicki Ringer, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood in South Carolina.

The developments in South Carolina are a microcosm of what has played out across the country since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade a year ago, allowing states to decide their abortion laws and leaving patients scrambling to find care wherever they can in situations where weeks or even days can make a huge difference.

Other news

States are moving in different directions after the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health opinion ended the federal right to abortion.

Current restrictions Post-Dobbs laws

All

stages of pregnancy

6-

8 weeks

12

weeks

15-

22 weeks

24

weeks or later

Source: AP reports

The South Carolina measure joins stiff limitations pending in North Carolina and Florida, states that had been holdouts in the South providing wider access to the procedure, threatening to further delay abortions as appointments pile up in the region.

The state has seen the number of abortions climb sharply as other Southern states passed near-total bans. Before the overturn of Roe, less than 1 in 10 abortions in South Carolina were performed on people who lived out of state. Now, that figure is near 50% and the number of abortions each month has at least tripled, according to state health data.

The law passed Tuesday by the General Assembly is similar to a ban on abortion once cardiac activity can be detected that lawmakers passed in 2021. The state Supreme Court decided in a 3-2 ruling that the 2021 law violated the state constitution’s right to privacy.

Legislative leaders said the new law makes technical tweaks that should sway at least one justice to change his mind.

But Newman said it wasn’t his role to figure out if that would be successful.

“The status quo should be maintained until the Supreme Court reviews its decision,” Newman said. “It’s going to end up there.”

Hours after the ruling, lawyers for the state asked the Supreme Court to either cancel Newman’s order or hear the case as quickly as possible to “protect the lives of countless unborn children,” they wrote in court papers.

Planned Parenthood immediately sued after the law went into effect Thursday, saying South Carolina’s abortion clinics were flooded with canceled appointments from patients further along in their pregnancies and doctors were forced to carefully review the new regulations on the fly.

The abortion rights group said the new law was so similar to the old one that clinics and women seeking treatment would be harmed if it were allowed to stay in effect until a full court review.

Nearly all of the 75 women with appointments for abortions over the next several days appeared to be past six weeks, Planned Parenthood attorney Kathleen McDaniel said.

“There is irreputable harm. It is happening. It has already happened,” McDaniel said.

The majority opinion in the South Carolina Supreme Court ruling striking down the 2021 law said that although lawmakers have the authority to protect life, the privacy clause in the state constitution ultimately gives women time to determine whether they want to get an abortion and most women don’t know they are pregnant six weeks after conception.

Justice Kaye Hearn wrote the opinion. She has since had to retire because she turned 72 and was replaced by a man, making the South Carolina’s the only high court in the country without a woman on the bench.

“I would say that nothing in the law has changed,” McDaniel said. “The only thing that has changed is there is no longer a woman on the Supreme Court.”

The changes in the new law are directed at another justice in the majority, John Few, who wrote his own opinion saying the 2021 law was poorly written because legislators didn’t show it did any work to determine if six weeks was enough time for a woman to know she was pregnant.

Few suggested he would have found an even stricter full ban on abortion constitutional, saying that if a fetus had all the rights of a person, then a ban would be like child abuse or rape laws that don’t violate privacy rights.

Lawyers for the state leaned on the hope Few will change his vote

“We would strongly encourage the court to review that decision very carefully, to understand it focuses on one law, the 2021 act,” state assistant attorney general Thomas Hydrick said. But, he said, the new law is a good faith attempt to correct flaws lawmakers saw in how the justices interpreted the 2021 law.

Newman said that’s outside his role as a lower court judge. “Am I being asked to overrule the Supreme Court?” he asked.

Lawmakers continued to say they are confident they wrote a bill that will stand up to the high court’s scrutiny this time.

“While I respect Judge Newman’s decision, I remain convinced that the heartbeat bill is constitutional and that the Supreme Court will agree,” Republican state Senate President Thomas Alexander said in a statement.

Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman recently served as the guest speaker at the NAACP Annual Freedom Fund Banquet held at the Kennedy Center in Greeleyville.

He was introduced by his daughter Circuit Court Judge Joycelyn Newman. The Father Daughter team is the first to serve together in the state of South Carolina.

Judge Newman is a native of Greeleyville, he is the former Assistant Solicitor in Williamsburg County. He delivered a very rousing and informative message.

Photo Provided

I stumbled across an old magazine feature of mine and it made me recall stops I’d made along that long, winding road called “Career.” Some memories were good; some not so great. Let’s be honest. Is there anyplace more artificial than fluorescent-lit cube farm workplaces? You put in eight hours, maybe, and call it a day. You put in your 40 hours, maybe, and call it a week. You go through team-building nonsense and do the bidding of the suits and all seems well. Then come Friday afternoon, you hightail it out of there. Monday morning, the cycle begins anew.

Another truth. Is there anything more temporary than workplace friends? You work together, go to lunch together, and socialize after work and sometimes weekends, but how long do you remain friends when you no longer work together? Invariably the bonds of friendship weaken, then break. I’ve seen it happen and so have you. Seems to me what keeps workplace colleagues friends is a sense of purpose. A lot of folks work to collect a check, but some see their work as a mission. Some of you will disagree, but it could be you work or worked in a place that added meaning to your life. Consider yourself fortunate.

I’ve worked for employers whose subject matter was abysmally lifeless, but I worked for one employer where the work hummed with life, and that brings me to my time as a writer of all things natural. At the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources I made friends that have lasted throughout my life. They have lasted because of what we share. The work I did there stayed with me and today I still write for South Carolina Wildlife magazine and I follow the work of its associate, The Harry Hampton Wildlife Fund.

Jim Goller, executive director of the HHWF and I have been friends for over 40 years. Robert Clark and I met at DNR and we have been friends for over 40 years as well. The three of us, besides being friends, share a love for natural resources, outdoor recreation, and the sheer beauty of the natural world. All three of us at one time worked together for South Carolina Wildlife magazine, which will mark its 70th anniversary in 2024. Our friendship, you could say, came naturally.

Since 1954 South Carolina Wildlife has fostered a love for outdoor treasures. The magazine continues to give readers a close look at the natural world—from the ivorybill woodpecker to pitcher plants and barrier islands, cove forests, lightning bugs, striped bass, saltwater fishing, whitetail, and more.

The Harry Hampton Wildlife Fund provides scholarships for young people interested in careers in natural resources, where I’m sure they will make like-minded friends for life as well. The HHWF supports DNR projects such as Marine Education and programs and projects including fish stocking and tagging and the South Carolina Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series and much more. It helps put people in the great outdoors and helps keep South Carolina’s outdoors great.

Work isn’t always work. A day afield in a Carolina bay, on a bay, river, or lake or in deep woods is a joy. You put in as many hours as you can before the setting sun calls it a day. A week writing about such places often exceeds 40 hours, but so what. There is no such thing as the workweek. You work each day except it isn’t work when you love what you do. How can anyone not love a career working with all things natural.

Other careers where you never get outside? Well, someone’s got to do it, and I suspect the friends they make there won’t last over the long haul. You can’t spell friend without e-n-d. A career devoted to wildlife, however, does indeed make for a better life. I’m fortunate to write about nature and I’m fortunate to count men like Robert Clark and Jim Goller as lifelong friends. A sense of purpose keeps us going.

About Tom Poland

Tom Poland is the author of fourteen books and more than 2,000 magazine features and columns.

Tom writes about the South, its people, culture, land, natural wealth, and beautiful detritus—ruins and abandoned places. He travels back roads looking for forgotten places, captivating people, and vestiges of bygone times. Much of that work finds its way into books, columns, essays, and features.

Tom grew up in Lincoln County, Georgia and graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Journalism. He began my career as a scriptwriter, moved into magazine work, then wandered into the book world. His work has appeared in magazines throughout the South. Among his recent books are Classic Carolina Road Trips From Columbia, Georgialina, A Southland, As We Knew It, and Reflections of South Carolina, Vol. II. In April 2018 the History Press published his book, South Carolina Country Roads.

KARACHI: A 19-storey residential-cum-commercial building in Clifton Cantonment is being constructed in brazen violation of Supreme Court orders. On Jan 22, 2019, a two-judge bench led by Justice Gulzar Ahmed had banned the conversion of residential and amenity plots for commercial purposes “all across Karachi City including cantonment areas”.

The interim order came during the hearing of a civil petition (No. 815-K/2016) about unauthorised construction on evacuee property in Lyari. No subsequent order was passed to modify or set it aside.

The above-mentioned building, named Zamzam Arcade, is being constructed on a residential plot measuring 3,600 square yards where Bath View apartments once used to stand. This plot — G24, Block 9, Clifton — was among a list of around 915 residential/amenity plots converted to commercial use that was compiled by the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) in response to the SC directives. As per the list, the plot had been converted from residential to commercial on Aug 20, 2018, only a few months before the apex court’s order.

The order read: “SBCA nor any other authority shall approve any conversion including pending ones. All conversion allowed by these authorities shall be reviewed and all efforts shall be made to ensure that the land which was originally provided in the Master Plan of the city of Karachi is restored to that status.”

It should be noted that unchecked commercialisation of Karachi’s real estate — which allegedly earns windfalls for certain politicians and bureaucrats — is placing increasing pressure on its already decrepit civic infrastructure and leading to a breakdown in service delivery.

On Jan 24, two days after the court issued the directives, the SBCA notified an immediate ban on conversion and approvals of building plans/NOCs on converted plots within Karachi division until further orders. The notification also said: “All pending cases of change of land use (conversion) and approval of construction permits/ building plans/ NOCs on converted plots shall be deemed to be rejected as unconsidered.” Signed by DG SBCA Iftikhar Ali Kaimkhani, copies of the notification were sent to, among others, the director military lands and cantonments, district commissioners and SBCA directors “for immediate and strict compliance in letter and spirit”.

The SBCA also issued a public notice cancelling “all approvals, NOCs for change of land use/construction permits/ completion plans/ occupancy certificates/ NOC for sale and advertisement [etc]….” in those cases where amenity or residential plots were being put to commercial use. It further said: “The SBCA is determined to take action of demolition/ sealing/ ejectment wherever required in consonance with the orders of the Honourable SC.”

However, what took place in the following months appears to be in complete violation of the apex court’s order. On June 13, 2019, the Karachi Development Authority, the lessor of the plot in question, received outstanding dues of Rs9.7 million from the property owners, including demolition fee, plan forwarding fee, etc. The next day, KDA’s Directorate of Land Management issued an NOC to the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC), listing the names of the four co-owners and specifically stating that the plot was “Residential/ thereafter commercialised by Master Plan Dept SBCA”.

As per a written response to Dawn’s questions from the assistant director, commercial cell, KDA: “The said commercial plot does not come under the purview of the ban list of MPD, SBCA, hence the Land Department issued letter to CBC as per procedure.” If that was indeed the case, then why did Senior Court Associate Syed Zafar Ali on the SC’s direction send a certified copy of the order, dated Jan 22, 2019, to 11 recipients, among them the DG KDA?

The firm behind the construction of Zamzam Arcade, CL Builders and Developers, did not respond to questions from Dawn.

Meanwhile, various other authorities issued NOCs in respect of the planned high-rise. In March 2019, the Civil Aviation Authority gave height clearance of 400 feet for flight safety purposes. On May 3, K-Electric issued an NOC for provision of electricity connection in response to a request by the executive officer, CBC. On May 27, Sui Southern Gas issued an NOC in response to a request by one of the owners of the property. On July 23, the KWSB issued an NOC to provide water and sewerage services for the project at a request of the chief engineer, CBC.

Military Lands & Cantt Karachi Region Director Adil Rafi Siddiqui told Dawn that the notification issued by the SBCA following the apex court order of Jan 22, 2019 “has never been received in this office”. However, a source in the SBCA has shared with Dawn a TCS receipt (consignment number 306026311135) to refute this claim. The receipt shows that the SBCA did dispatch a document to the director, MLC, on Jan 29, 2019 at 12.57pm.

In his response to Dawn’s questions, Mr Rafi further said that while the plot in question fell within the jurisdiction of the CBC, “NOC from land point of view declaring the plot has been issued by KDA, being the lessor as well as record owing [sic] agency. Honorable apex court vide order dated 22-01-2019 had directed SBCA to review all plots which were originally meant for residential/amenity purpose and had been converted for commercial use and to file a report thereof in the court. This office has not so far been informed by SBCA regarding any property falling inside a cantonment in Karachi that would be under review with SBCA/ KDA….”

A retired senior official from SBCA described the cantonment board’s response as “foolish, baseless and worthless”. He questioned how CBC could continue with the project given that the order expressly imposed a “complete ban in Karachi including cantt areas. The director MLC is bound to obey the SC’s order, not the SBCA.” The apex court, he said, sought CBC officials’ attendance at the hearings, and “the attorney general Pakistan, advocate general Sindh and chief secretary Sindh contacted them and they attended meetings on the issue”.

Moreover, another certified copy of the order, this one dated Jan 24, 2019 was dispatched by Senior Court Associate Syed Zafar Ali, to 23 recipients, including the chairmen/CEOs of Karachi, Clifton, Faisal, Malir and Korangi cantonment boards and the DG KDA “for immediate compliance and report as directed by the court”. Over two years later, the construction on Zamzam Arcade continues as before.

Residents of the area are already suffering the consequences of the ongoing project. Several years ago, CBC had set up a kachra kundi (neighbourbood garbage collection point) adjacent to the plot. However, it was obstructing the planned entrance to Zamzam Arcade’s residential apartments from the side street and was removed during the course of the construction. “The kachra kundi used to serve the surrounding residential area as well as commercial/residential towers of Forum Mall, Ashiana Mall and Vincy Mall,” says one homeowner. “Now the kachra is being thrown in nullahs and here and there in the streets.”

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2021