Wedding & Event Venue Near Barnwell, SC.

BARNWELL, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - The family of Regina Arroyo is still searching for answers weeks after her body was found in the North Fork Edisto River in Lexington County.

Arroyo went missing on Dec. 1 and her body was found on Dec. 3.

She was an advocate for animal welfare and ran a transportation service that rescued animals from kill shelters.

“She really had the biggest heart,” said Mindy Chrysler, Regina’s daughter. “‘I love you always. I’ll see you later.’ That was always her thing.”

Regina had five children. Chrysler said Regina would always leave notes for them every time she would visit.

MORE | Missing mom’s loved ones hope she won’t be ‘another statistic’

“Never thought that there would be this day where I wasn’t going to see her again,” said Chrysler.

The last time Chrysler texted her mom was on Thanksgiving. Around that time, Regina was doing a pet transportation. Shortly after, her family reported her missing.

“After the first day and there was still no sign of her, I knew that something horrible had happened and she wasn’t going to be coming home,” said Chrysler.

Chrysler’s instincts were right. At the beginning of December, authorities showed up at her doorstep to let her know her mom was dead.

Oops! Something went wrong.

An unexpected error occurred. Please see our support page (0: error)

“I don’t even remember what my first thought was,” said Chrysler. “I was crying and then I heard my daughter crying. I couldn’t process anything really.”

The fact that she’ll never hear her mom’s voice or have another phone call with her is what hurts the most.

“I just miss her saying that it’s gonna be ok because right now I don’t know if it’s gonna be ok,” said Chrysler.

The one thing that keeps her going is those small reminders from her mom.

“That’s always been her thing. You just can’t give up, you got to keep trying and it’s going to work,” said Chrysler.

Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

BARNWELL, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - For most kids, competing in the Dixie Softball World Series is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

For the Barnwell 12U All-Stars, most of the players are going back for the second year in a row.

“I’m really excited, because one, it’s a fun experience, and not a lot of girls get to do it,” said Pitcher Kensley Terrapin.

“We all feel like family, and so, we’re just so excited to do this all over again,” said Outfielder Sadie Whitehead.

Seven of the 12 girls on Barnwell’s roster went to the Dixie World Series in the 9-10-year-old division last year. Finishing as the national runner-ups is motivating them even more to get the job done this year.

“When we’re on the field, we’re cocky and confident. So we stay that motive all year,” said Terrapin.

“We’ve learned a lot of different things, and have had to play a lot of different positions,” said Infielder Harper Still.

“Whenever it’s at home or when we’re on the field, we just try to do our hardest and our best,” said Infielder Emily Vanacore.

“I tell them every time, if they get the bat on the ball, there’s not a team here that can touch them, and I firmly believe it,” said Head Coach Brad Whitehead.

Having the chance to represent the state of South Carolina is an honor, it also gives this team the chance to wear a cool new uniform.

“I like these better than last year’s, because of the pants design and the shirts and everything,” said Vanacore.

“They’re pretty cool, but they’re really baggy, and all of us have really big pants,” said Sadie.

Sometimes youth sports can be more serious than they’re meant to be, but no matter the stakes, these girls from Barnwell just want to have fun.

“We were down in the state tournament, and I said loom, let’s have fun. Whatever happens, happens but, if we go out there and have fun playing the game we love, and do what we know how to do and what we’ve practiced it will work out,” said Brad.

Barnwell is sending off their All-Stars in style with a celebration at the town circle, on Thursday night at 6 p.m. The Dixie Softball World Series begins this weekend and goes through early next week.

Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

BARNWELL COUNTY, S.C. (WJBF) — It’s been a month since Michael Still has vanished from his Barnwell County home. “We look in the woods all the time. You know, just looking, asking what happened? How, where?,” his sister, Melissa Still Chavis, said.

The last time Melissa saw Michael was on February 3, when he left her Williston home for his apartment at Colony West in Barnwell. “We know he left that Tuesday on the sixth sometime in the night because the house was lit up,” she recalled. “And these doors you have to lock from the outside with a key. So he didn’t lock that back door when he left. So he had to left in a hurry.”

Despite personal items found in his apartment, his car still in the parking lot, and extensive search efforts, there’s uncertainty about his well-being. “Did he have any shoes on? Because the shoes that he normally wears was in the room. His glasses are there, his watch is there. He never went anywhere without those two things,” she said.

The apartments appear to have no cameras, adding to the case’s complexity. “If they had cameras, it would definitely solve, saw a lot of issues that we are, or questions that we have. They, I heard that they had cameras, but they weren’t working. It’s time to get cameras.”

The Barnwell County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies are involved in the investigation.“They’ve had DNR on four-wheelers. They’ve had the cadaver dogs. They’ve had, somebody fly a drone over it,” Chavis recalled.

BCSO explained in a statement that there was no concrete evidence connecting Still’s disappearance to the later discovery of 17-year-old Maylashia Hogg. “People have asked to do a community search and I would love to do that, but I just need to know where to start,” she said.

There’s a more than $3,700 reward from the family, and $300 from the sheriff’s office for information leading to his discovery. The family seeks answers, justice, and closure.

“He deserves to be found. And then I’ll work on why and the answers to why somebody did this. But I just wanna put him to rest,” she added.

BARNWELL COUNTY, S.C. (WJBF) — People in Barnwell and Burke Counties could soon have an easier way to get between the two.

“There’s been a movement for 50 years to do this,” Barnwell County Council Chairman Jerry Creech said.

A new bridge is expected to cut commute times and boost economic opportunities in both counties. The project involves building a bridge over the Savannah River, connecting Highway 125 in South Carolina with Highway 23 near Waynesboro.

“If you are up in Augusta area, you’ve got five or six different avenues you can go across that river. We don’t have that luxury down here,” Barnwell County Councilman Donald Harper added.

Only two bridges link South Carolina to Georgia in the area. One in Beech Island and the other 62 miles down the river.

“It’ll save everybody in Barnwell at least an hour, if not an hour and a half commute time. If you are working at Vogel or anything on Georgia’s side, it’ll save you at least an hour,” Creech said.

In addition to cutting commute times, it’s expected to provide convenience for residents and attract new businesses.

“We got several prospects this year with, if we get all the industry that is presently planning on coming here, we gotta have more people in all this region around here, Allendale, Bamberg, Counties especially,” he said.

“We need something to attract people and we really don’t have it now. We are working on that, like you said, with the pool at the Y and, and the other, other things that are for quality of life,” Harper added.

County leaders want the plan to be included in the South Carolina Department of Transportation’s 10-year improvement plan.

“We have already approached our local legislative delegation. We went to the regional transportation group, which is the Lower Savannah Council of Government. They have given this our approval and put it on their list for the next 10-year project. I would say it would take at least 10 years to complete,” Creech shared.

The project is still in its infancy. The county will need to have access to the river from SRS.

An engineering study will also need to be completed.

Ran Morrissett

As the golf world focuses on the Masters this week, let’s expand our lens and take stock of the sporting landscape beyond Augusta National Golf Club.

In recent years, a cluster of noteworthy clubs has cropped up in the surrounding region, bringing a constellation of courses — and courses in the making — to a Sandbelt that stretches across parts of the Carolinas and Georgia.

Here’s a look at six of these notable newbies, all of which lie within a 200-mile radius of the gated entrance of Magnolia Lane.

Location: Batesburg-Leesville, S.C.

In his nearly 10 years on the PGA Tour, Zac Blair has never broken into the winner’s circle. But he has made a name in architecture circles as the rare touring pro with a passion for course design. After pursuing a project for several years in his home state of Utah, Blair pivoted to the site of a former pine nursery in Aiken, S.C., where Tom Doak drew up a routing and Kye Goalby did the rest. The result is a nuanced lay-of-the-land course that marries elements of Pinehurst and Pine Valley.

Location: Aiken, S.C.

An elite club with a social conscience, Old Barnwell is the brainchild of the software entrepreneur Nick Schreiber, who has put golf into play as a force for greater good. With a melting-pot membership of just under 300, the club has cultivated ties beyond its boundaries, partnering with HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities) to host practice rounds and tournaments, while sponsoring women’s and junior golf initiatives. The course itself is broad-minded, too. Designed by first-time lead architects Blake Conant and longtime Doak associate Brian Schneider, it plays to an unconventional par 73, with an inventive routing that bucks and rolls through the heart and around the edges of a large sandy bowl.

Location: Rembert, S.C.

To say that Mike Koprowski is invested in this project is an understatement. The up-and-coming architect not only found the site, he purchased the land himself — convinced of its potential — before bringing on other partners. In collaboration with Kyle Franz, whose praised work includes the restoration of Southern Pines, Mid Pines and Pine Needles, Koprowski is now busy shaping a course on a rollicking canvas that has been likened to the terrain of esteemed Old Town Club, in Winston-Salem. Among its many refreshing features, Broomsedge will have holes that might switch in par from day and day, as well as 20 green sites for 18 holes, allowing for alternative and shared putting surfaces. The club will also operate on the British model, with a membership that gets priority but tee times made available for outside play.

Location: Butler, Ga.

With enrollment expected to be capped at around 100, Fall Line will have a membership half the size of Augusta’s but double the number of 18-hole courses. Both are being designed by the Australian firm of Ogilvie, Cocking and Mead, who have drawn inspiration in their work from English heathland and Aussie Sandbelt layouts. Along with a 12-hole short course and a Himalayas-style putting complex, this self-proclaimed “sporting” club will also have a clay-bird shooting facility and a robust offering of hunting programs.

Location: the Sand Hills between Aiken S.C and Augusta, Ga.

An invitation-only private membership club, this exclusive redoubt is slated to have two courses. The first will be the Hammer Course (as in the gambling game), a match-play layout by Sweetens Cove designers Tad King and Rob Collins that will feature various alternate routings and an extra three-hole loop for settling bets. When the Hammer is completed (the projected opening date is in 2025), the club will get to work on the Mackenzie Course, a recreation of El Boquerón, a daring, never-built design that the famed architect dreamed up for a wealthy family in Argentina more than a century ago.

Location: North Augusta, S.C.

Less than five miles down the road from where he won two green jackets, Tom Watson has been tapped to design the first of two courses at Cypress Shoals, a 1,742-acre planned community that bills itself as “Augusta, Reimagined.” Word of the development first made headlines last year, in the weeks leading up to the Masters, and while many details of the project remain unclear (including the opening date), the same promises endure on the Cypress Shoals website, which, in addition to golf, calls for 200 residential lots, 60 “club condominiums,” 40 “luxury cabins,” plus a fishing preserve, expansive hunting grounds and an equestrian facility, on acreage that borders the Savannah River.