Probate Lawyer in Marietta, SC

The Slater-Marietta Fire Department will no longer provide fire and rescue services to its neighboring River Falls Fire Service Area after Dec. 15, according to a news release from Slater-Marietta Fire Chief Adam Brown.

Brown said the decision stemmed from a disproportionate amount of calls coming from River Calls combined with a lack of tax revenue creating a lack of funding in the area.

"The Slater-Marietta Fire District and its elected Commissioners owe their highest duty to the 10,000 citizens and residents of the Slater-Marietta Fire District," Brown wrote in his statement.

According to the release, a significant portion of funds paid by Slater-Marietta taxpayers were being diverted to calls for service coming from River Falls.

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"We're essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul," Brown told the Greenville News.

Much of the land in the River Falls Fire Service Area is owned by non-taxable entities, according to Brown's release, diminishing revenue for the River Falls Fire Service Area.

Brown said River Falls has its own fire department with two fire stations, but there just is not enough funding for the department to be self-sufficient.

"They're doing the best they can with what they have," Brown said of River Falls firefighters. "The issue is not personnel, it’s a lack of funding."

Bob Mihalic, a spokesperson for Greenville County, said the county is exploring many different options for funding the River Falls Fire Service Area.

- Tim Carlin covers county government, growth and development for The Greenville News. Follow him on Twitter @timcarlin_, and get in touch with him at TCarlin@gannett.com. You can support his work by subscribing to The Greenville News at greenvillenews.com/subscribe.

SLATER-MARIETTA, S.C. —

Two friends have enrolled in an online effort to help give back to the Slater-Marietta community.

Jeremy Reyes created the Marietta Manners Facebook page about a year-and-a-half ago. He said its goal is to help raise awareness to community needs and provide a platform for local businesses.

"This little town, we’re forgotten a lot," said Reyes. "And there wasn’t too many places that you could go to find that. So when we started doing it, it just made sense."

Timothy Sprouse was a member of the group early on. He and Jeremy now work closely together to grow the page.

"I kind of stepped in. I was like, 'hey, you need to do this or you need to do that,'" Sprouse recalled. "And (Reyes) was like, 'well, if you want it so bad, come help me.' So that’s what I did. I kind of helped him gain the page to what it is now."

Now with more than 4,000 members, the two use posts to gauge community needs, often setting up events to help people who could use food.

"This morning there were 10 people on there saying, 'I need this, and I need that,'" said Sprouse. "Not because they asked for it. It’s because we ask, 'If y’all could ever have anything that you need right now, what would it be?' You know?"

Last year, they decided to give away about 300 meals the weekend before Thanksgiving. Much of the food was donated.

The two are hoping to serve 600 people this year. Already, there have been no shortages of donations.

They said they're happy with how the page helps connect people and that it adds to an existing sense of community.

"That’s what shows on our page," said Sprouse. "People see other people helping and they wanna do it too."

"The biggest reward is just seeing people come out, having a good time and they talk about it for weeks afterwards," said Reyes.

This year's Thanksgiving meal will be held in the parking lot of the Hometown Food Store off Geer Highway in Marietta. It will start at noon.

If you were driving on the interstate or a main highway in South Carolina and passed a golden yellow field full of sunflowers it would be hard to miss. But this annual South Carolina sunflower field is off the beaten path and unless you've been there before, chances are good you probably don't even know it's there. It's a wonderful place to see sunflowers in South Carolina. Welcome to Beechwood Farms!

The magical sunflower field is located in Marietta along the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. But before you start making plans, the photos that follow are from previous years.

That's because the fields of magical blooms aren't exactly "blooming" just yet. They're expected to bloom in September.

As if being dazzled by a full field of these beauties isn't enough - this family farm just happens to have a nice surprise awaiting you.

Looking for "sunflowers near me?" You've found some of the best!

It's also a U-Pick farm! Bring your own shears and you can cut and buy as many as your heart desires.

So put a note in your digital calendar to remind you the sunflower field will be ready for cutting in September.

If you're wondering where to find this enchanted field of gold, it's located on Beechwood Farms in Marietta.

This gorgeous view only comes around once a year at Beechwood, and it's one most people in South Carolina didn't even know about. But now, as our readers often comment, "everyone knows," and we couldn't be happier to spread this kind of cheer.

Plan a visit now to see these SC sunflowers. We can't think of a more bucket list-worthy destination in South Carolina.

Beechwood Farms is a family-run farm that began in 1963 with a small field of crops in Marietta, SC. Today, Beechwood Farms spans hundreds of acres. It also operates a roadside market in Travelers Rest where you can pick up fresh local produce from May through November. To learn more about this year's annual sunflower field, including updates on when it's open for u-pick, you should follow Beechwood Farms' Facebook page. It's updated often.

Did you know about this hidden field where you can see sunflowers in South Carolina? Do you have any other favorite places to see South Carolina sunflowers? Let us know in the comments. If you're heading to Marietta in September for this u-pick sunflower opportunity and want to have lunch in the area, you should definitely check out this historic train-themed restaurant in Travelers Rest:

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/south-carolina/train-theme-restaurant-sc/

Marietta City Schools began using the Science of Reading two years ago. They've never seen something work so fast and now they have test scores to prove it.

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MARIETTA, Ga. — To hear him read a book now, you’d never guess rising 4th grader Neal Dean Gilland used to struggle to finish a page.

He started kindergarten during the pandemic and paired with his Dyslexia, it left a lot of holes in his learning.

“There was a time we were very concerned about how he felt about himself and his worth because he knew he couldn’t read,” mom Beth Gilland said.

How well a child reads by the third grade is one of the best predictors of his or her future success.

“When [Neal Dean] came into third grade, he was reading on a kindergarten level based on our assessments. He was a conundrum,” reading specialist Tinsley Ray said.

Now, a new law is changing the way Georgia teaches its students how to read. The Georgia Early Literacy Act (House Bill 538) requires districts to start training teachers in Structured Literacy based on the Science of Reading beginning in 2025.

Two years ago, Marietta City Schools began using this new method to teach kids how to read. The Science of Reading taps into how the brain learns to read by decoding a word with phonics and language comprehension.

In action, it looks like a full-body method of sounding out a word.

In a demonstration at the kickoff to the new year, Marietta City Schools staff stood on the stage of the Marietta Performing Arts Center and decoded the word “churn.”

“CH- UR – N,” one teacher said as she tapped her shoulder, elbow and wrist with each phonetic syllable. She combined all the sounds as she slid her hand from her shoulder to her wrist to sound out the word “churn.”

They call it “tapping it out.”

Neal uses it often when he comes across a word that stumps him.

“SWIM – ING,” he said as he tapped his shoulder and elbow with each sound. “Swimming!” he said as he pointed to the word in the book.

Neal worked all year with Tinsley Key, one of 40 reading specialists in the district, and by the end of 3rd grade, he was reading on grade level, an almost unprecedented jump in the span of one year.

“It’s game-changing for their futures,” K-5 ELA Coordinator Nik Philmon said. “It used to take us years to close that gap. We’re seeing them close right out of the gate.”

Milestone test scores prove it. Every student across every demographic made gains.

The numbers show a 16% increase for students with disabilities and white students, a 15% jump for Black students, and a 14% improvement in students who are economically disadvantaged.

Scott Johnson, the Chairman of the new Georgia Council on Literacy (born out of another literacy law signed this year (SB 211), said that kind of success can become a reality at other districts across the state.

“I can’t say this is the most important thing Georgia will do in the next decade, but I will say without a doubt it is as important as anything Georgia will do in the next decade,” Johnson said.

As for the Gilland family, hearing Neal Dean read is proof enough.

“He started bringing home books, started connecting with the world around him. This works. And it’s not test scores that are proving it to us. It’s our child,” his mom said.

Neal Dean’s favorite part of reading?

“That when I’m finished, it feels like I’ve accomplished something,” he said.

MARIETTA, S.C. —

Sandy Glenn lost her husband, Mark Guion, to a sudden heart attack in December 2018.

He wanted to be buried in a green cemetery, where the land is allowed to stay in its natural state.

So he was buried at Saluda Rest, a natural burial site and ministry in Marietta, South Carolina.

Glenn tells WYFF News 4 she wants to visit his grave, but after a court order served last week she can't.

"His Facebook says that he (Saluda Rest) is still open all the time, which is what we were told originally, but when we got there he had posted notices that it was for family only and that it would be open February 29th...which if you realize that's a leap day. It happens once every four years,” said Glenn.

A report from the Greenville County Sheriff's Office shows that in June, there was a dispute between Glenn and Kenneth Curtis, the owner of Saluda Rest. That report details that Glenn wanted to visit the grave, and that Curtis said she had damaged his property twice when she drove through the site before.

The investigators' report reads that, while there was some displaced gravel, deputies couldn’t prove that this was malicious in any way.

In July, a court awarded $100.00 in damages to Curtis for the muddiness caused when Glenn drove through the non-profit cemetery to visit her husband's grave.

Glenn tells WYFF4 Curtis spread horse manure on the graves, and she says that while families are kept from going to the graves of their loved ones, hunters are welcome at the cemetery.

In court paperwork, Curtis admitted to dumping horse manure on Glenn's husband's grave against her wishes -- the record shows that he agreed to stop.

"We're an all-natural burial facility,” Curtis said, “What miss Glenn calls 'horse manure' is compost, we put compost on all the graves when we finish them so that grass will grow. It's got seed in it, and it grows a beautiful cover crop so the earth doesn't erode."

Curtis took a WYFF News 4 crew to see the grave - there didn't appear to be fertilizer of any kind on it.

Curtis tells WYFF4’s Renée Wunderlich he does allow hunters on the land, and that's one of the reasons he has a gate and requests visiting families to either have him let them in, or gives them an access code to a special lock on the gate.

A court order show that Glenn is entitled to access Saluda Rest to visit Mark's burial site, and that Curtis had to establish and post standard visitation hours.

So he did: February 29th.

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But one the rules he established says that, if any one wishes to be exempt from the policies, they can call him.

"She (Glenn) has access, there's no problem with her having access - there's a problem with the way that she is demanding access. This is private property. This is not a business, this is not public lands, this is private property,” Curtis said.

Curtis told WYFF4's Renée Wunderlich that because Saluda Rest is a church, a non-profit cemetery, a family cemetery and a nature preserve, the natural burial site is exempt from South Carolina Cemetery Board regulations.

Glenn told Wunderlich she's concerned other families may be restricted from paying their respects, and that she just wants to be able to visit her husband's final resting place.

"My goal is peaceful access to the cemetery. To be able to go and visit, and maintain the site without being harassed and know when it's going to be open,” said Glenn.

Curtis told Wunderlich none of the thirty-some families he's served through burials at Saluda Rest since around 2006 have had any issues, and that just wants an apology from Glenn.

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