Wedding & Event Venue Near Aiken, SC.

JANUARY 23, 2022 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

City of Aiken Announces Partnership with SRNL at State of the City Address

Aiken, SC – The City of Aiken announced Monday it will explore building a new high-tech workforce development Center in Downtown Aiken to house elements of the Savannah River National Laboratory using $20 million in Plutonium settlement funding set aside by the State of South Carolina for that purpose.

Aiken Mayor Rick Osbon hosted fellow elected officials, City staff, and members of the public for the City’s annual State of the City address. The event summarized the City’s successes from the past year before moving into the SRNL proposal to be considered in future weeks by Aiken City Council.

Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) is the newest National Laboratory under the Department of Energy (DOE). Nationwide, there are 17 DOE National Laboratories, and SRNL is the only DOE lab in the Carolinas, serving the Southeast region of the United State along with Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. SRNL is operated by Battelle in collaboration with University of South Carolina, Clemson, South Carolina State University, University of Georgia, and Georgia Institute of Technology.

SRNL’s mission is ensuring America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. We create high quality jobs in central Savannah River area and are an enduring economic engine by attracting advanced science and technology-based companies.

The Laboratory achieves this by attracting, motivating, and training a diverse and highly skilled workforce to execute on complex DOE programs. Therefore, SRNL is envisioning a workforce development building (WDB) that will provide the Laboratory with a pipeline for new talent acquisition as well as develop the existing employee base. Over the next five years, we anticipate hiring more than 1,500 highly-technical employees and host more than 100 faculty/graduate students and 500 undergraduate interns.

The work in the proposed building extends far beyond the five partner universities and includes an intense focus on minority serving institutions, continuing professional development of SRNL employees, recruitment of postdoc scientists; graduate students; undergraduate students; technicians (2-year degree); and precollege students. The pre-college tier is essential for building a long-term talent pipeline.

SRNL’s workforce development building is envisioned to be the hub for Laboratory’s collaboration with academic and industrial partners. SRNL would permanently place between 80-100 laboratory employees at this location to enable the following planned activities.

Director Dr. Vahid Majidi said he intends for the Downtown facility to serve as the community face of SRNL. His stated goals for the facility include:

Media Contact Mary Tilton Director of Operations City of Aiken mtilton@cityofaikensc.gov

Hopelands Gardens has been the scene of hundreds of public events over its decades in existence, and plans are in place to break new ground in a few weeks, with a revival set for May 31 and June 1. The theme is to be “Together for Hope.”

The Rev. Bryce Holdman, now in his sixth year with Mt. Horeb Church, of Lexington, is among the organizers and said the idea has been developing for about a year and came to light during a group meal at Outback Steakhouse, in Aiken. Holdman recalled being suddenly impressed by “the necessity for a revival to sweep across the community of Aiken.”

“God gave us the idea for that in May of last year,” he said. “The planning process has been extensive, but we are nearing the conclusion of that, and we’ve seen God do a lot throughout that whole process.”

The inspiration came, he added, “to rent out Hopelands Gardens, regardless of when, and see God do a mighty work and ignite the fire of evangelism and revival through that process.”

The Rev. Doug Slaughter, senior pastor of Second Baptist Church of Aiken, is among the plan’s boosters. “We’re just inviting all of the local and community churches to be a part. We have ... pastors and music ministry from other churches to provide the music,” he said. “The city is being supportive ... We’re excited about it. We really are, and we’re doing everything to make it as successful as we possibly can.”

Slaughter also commented on the event’s theme. “We ... really want to use this as a opportunity to bring the faith community in Aiken together,” he said.

“We just feel like the church needs to have a voice of unity and togetherness, because there’s such a spirit of division that’s at work, not in our community necessarily, but in our culture, and we just believe that the love of God should weigh in, and that there’s a better way,” Slaughter said.

Among others helping with the planning process have been members of Millbrook Baptist Church and Grace Covenant Church of God, said Holdman, who was born in Aiken, spent his first two years there and has a variety of family connections in New Ellenton, including the Rev. David Holdman, his paternal grandfather, now the associate pastor at Grace Covenant.

Some local residents closely associated with Hopelands Gardens expressed surprise about plans for a revival and said this may be the first event of its kind to be held there. The 14-acre city park traditionally plays host, especially during months of relatively mild weather, to a variety of musical and dance events.

An adjoining city facility, Rye Patch, is also a major local landmark. “Weddings, receptions, birthday parties, anniversary parties, business retreats, and other incredible parties have been hosted at this large and lavish home,” as noted on a city website.

Hopelands Gardens is described on Friends of Hopelands and Rye Patch’s website as “a masterpiece which delights the eye, quiets the mind, and fills the heart.”

Plans are for each gathering to run from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. All parking spaces for Hopelands Gardens have been rented, and traffic help is to be provided by Aiken Department of Public Safety. The gates are to open both days at 5:30 p.m.

The younger Holdman, whose congregation dates back to 1890 and currently has more than 6,000 members, is to speak both nights, and representatives of several other congregations are also to be on board in various roles.

“We just want to be a light for moving forward as a community,” Slaughter said, “and we think that together there is hope, and that’s why we’re coming together – to be a witness of hope to the community.”

Hopelands Gardens is at 135 Dupree Place, alongside Whiskey Road. Details on the revival plans are available from Tina Harp, one of the organizers, at tinaharp61@gmail.com.

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The expected completion date of the Hitchcock Parkway improvement project has been moved back yet again.

South Carolina Secretary of Transportation Christy Hall said Friday the South Carolina Department of Transportation expects the $12 million project to be completed by the end of the year.

Hitchcock Parkway, named after the nearby Hitchcock Woods, is part of a bypass around downtown Aiken. The 4.8 mile road connects Silver Bluff Road and East Pine Log Road to the Jefferson Davis Highway (U.S. Route 1/78) west of Aiken.

The project includes resurfacing – adding a new layer of asphalt atop the old layers – from Silver Bluff Road to the Jefferson Davis Highway (U.S. Route 1/78) and the addition of a shared use path which is a bike path that can used by walkers, skaters and people in wheelchairs.

Also included are improvements to five intersections: Augusta Road (S.C. Highway 421), Dibble Road, Huntsman Drive, Hickory Ridge Road/Oriole Street and Silver Bluff Road/Pine Log Road. And the project includes drainage upgrades and plans for wider shoulders.

Utility relocations for the project began in fall 2020. The improvement project began April 26, 2021. At the time work began, the SCDOT expected the project to be complete by the end of 2022.

A SCDOT spokesman said before Christmas 2022 things were on track and the expected completion date was Nov. 30, 2022. Things were still on track in summer 2022.

But, at the end of November 2022, the completion date moved to April 1. And, in May, the completion date moved to late August.

Two reasons have been given for the delays: a minority subcontractor being removed and slow utility relocations.

Kelly Moore, public information director for the SCDOT, said in May the delays were caused by an underperforming minority contractor that had to be removed from the job in accordance with federal requirements.

Leland Colvin, deputy state transportation secretary for engineering, told S.C. Sen. Tom Young, R-Aiken, in February Elite Concrete Contracting Inc., a disadvantaged business enterprise that was to perform the drainage work on the project, had been released from the job.

“That’s kind of a critical path,” S.C. Rep. Bart Blackwell, R-Aiken, said Saturday. “So when that came to a halt, the whole project came to a halt.”

Colvin said the removal of Elite resulted in a 130-day delay for the project.

Blackwell added the general contractor, Reeves Construction Company, shouldn’t be blamed for the issues with Elite.

Hall implied Friday the delay was the result of slow utility relocations.

Young said Saturday that utility relocation issues are not unique to Aiken or South Carolina. He said some smaller utilities may not have the cash flow required to relocate utilities and allow road projects to go forward.

Colvin added in February that Carolina Gas was still relocating utilities.

However, Young said he had seen similar issues with the projects to widen Silver Bluff Road and at a project on Lecompte Avenue in North Augusta. He said he approached the SCDOT in summer 2019 – nearly two years before construction would begin – to see if anything could be done to alleviate those potential issues for the Hitchcock Parkway project.

Blackwell, who lives in Houndslake and commutes to his business on the eastside, said he travels the road each day and and the lack of apparent progress is frustrating.

“I can see the amount of effort, the amount of people on the job each day, how late they stay and if they’re working weekends,” Blackwell continued. “What we’ve been saying now for months is we understand schedule delays, problems and unforeseen circumstances. But, when you find yourself in that predicament, you need to take corrective action to get back on schedule. There just didn’t seem to be a sense of urgency on the part of the prime contractor [Reeves] to get the project back on schedule.”

Young added the pace of the progress has been “unacceptable.”

“We know the project has been an inconvenience for everyone who lives along the corridor and everyone who travels that road on a regular basis,” Young continued.

He added he and Blackwell have repeatedly expressed concerns to the department of transportation about the project and the progress on it. They also asked for and received a meeting with Hall about the project.

Young, Blackwell, Hall and her staff met July 26 at Young’s downtown office to discuss the state of the project. After the meeting, Young and Hall toured the site.

Young and Blackwell both added they were appreciative of Hall and SCDOT for agreeing to the meeting and working to get the project completed as quickly as possible.

Hall said the contractor expected the public would be able to see a lot of work on the project within a couple of months.

Young said paving on the multiuse path should start in September and continue through mid-October. He said asphalt paving would start in mid-October on the roadway and continue through November. Young added the paving would be done mostly at night. He said the traffic signals would be operational in late November or early December.

Once installed, the city will maintain the synchronization of the lights.

Hall added the department would consider whether to award additional money to Reeves or to withhold money for the delays after the project is substantially completed.

Daily Covid-19 admissions in the Aiken County area

About the data

Data is from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hospitalization data is a daily average of Covid-19 patients in hospital service areas that intersect with Aiken County, an area which may be larger than Aiken County itself.

The number of daily hospital admissions shows how many patients tested positive for Covid in hospitals and is one of the most reliably reported indicators of Covid’s impact on a community.

Nearby hospitals

Share of I.C.U. beds occupied

About this data Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes: The hospitals map shows the average I.C.U. occupancy at nearby hospitals in the most recent week with data reported. The data is self-reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by individual hospitals. It excludes counts from hospitals operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service. Numbers for hospitalized patients are based on inpatient beds and include I.C.U. beds. Hospitalized Covid-19 patients include both confirmed and suspected Covid-19 patients. The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on cases in May 2023.

How trends have changed in Aiken County

About this data Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes: Weekly county death data prior to Jan. 2021 was not reported by the C.D.C. and is sourced from reporting by The New York Times. Hospitalization data is a weekly average of Covid-19 patients in hospital service areas that intersect with Aiken County. Hospitalization numbers early in the pandemic are undercounts due to incomplete reporting by hospitals to the federal government. Test positivity data is based only on test results reported to the federal government and is a seven-day average.

Historical trends in Aiken County

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data in this chart has been archived and is no longer being updated. Weekly county case data prior to Jan. 2021 was not reported by the C.D.C. and is sourced from reporting by The New York Times. The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on cases in May 2023.

A year ago, hairstylist Summer Engelberg decided it was time to take the next step in her career and open her own hair salon.

“If I’m going to stay in the field, it’s time to go big or go home,” she said.

Engelberg opened Summer Cuts on June 7 after a year of planning and renovations. The salon offers a variety of services from haircuts to color at an affordable price.

Along with Engelberg, Summer Cuts has two other stylists, Alicia Taryn and Caitlyn Coleman.

“I don’t want to just build it for myself,” Engelberg said. “I want to build it for them too. I want them to get a good clientele because they deserve it too.”

Summer’s sister, Winter Ferraro said the stress of having employees was difficult for Engelberg at first.

“She was also worried about having employees under her and worried about being able to take care of them,” Ferraro said.

After finding the space on Whiskey Road, it took two months of renovations before it was ready to open as a salon, Engelberg said.

These renovations and the commitment to opening Summer Cuts were some of the biggest challenges for Engelberg.

“The renovations were huge because this place was not good when I started,” she said. “So that was a lot of the work, renovations. I guess just the fear of the commitment because it’s a three-year lease I’m in, so if it doesn’t go good, then we’re stuck.”

Despite Engelberg’s early anxieties about opening the salon, she said business has been better than she expected.

“So far it has been great,” she said. “Everybody that’s walked in, called in has been very nice. So, I hope it stays that way.”

After nine years of doing hair, Engelberg said the most rewarding part of being a hairstylist is the people.

“I feel like a lot of my clients I’ve had for like seven or eight years are like family for me now,” she said. “And that’s what I like, to just have people and talk to them and just watch them and their kids just grow.”

Engelberg was willing to go to great lengths to provide services for her clients, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ferraro said.

“During the pandemic when all the salons were closed, she would drive to their houses personally and do haircuts, especially for the elderly,” she said.

Summer Cuts is located at 1643 Whiskey Road in Aiken. To make an appointment, call or text 803-507-6577.

“I’m still only six weeks in, but so far, it’s been good,” Engelberg said. “And as long as it stays on a good path, I would like to have a bigger salon at some point and have more stylists working in here with me and just have a nice, good, affordable salon for everybody to come to.”