Brief History of the Town of Santee, S.C.

The Town of Santee, located in Orangeburg County, was officially chartered over 70 years ago in 1949. The town’s first mayor, Jimmy Smith, was elected in 1949 and didn’t vacate his office until 1972. Unfortunately, there are no minutes documenting any town meetings during those first 22 years of its existence. The town's current mayor, Donnie Hilliard, has served as Santee's mayor for the past eight years.

With the advent of the automobile in the early part of the 1900's, increased pressure grew to provide for more convenient and passable roadways across the state. In 1927, a bridge was built over 'the river' between the neighboring towns of Summerton and Santee. This led to the subsequent intersection of US 301 and SC 15 with SC Highway 6 in Santee. This laid the groundwork for the future growth of this town on beautiful Lake Marion, SC. 

Back in the late 1940's, Santee was just a crossroad with two or three restaurants and some stores. Because a lot of folks from the North were coming through on their way South to Florida, it was not long before a number of small motels started to be built along Highways 301 and 15, by Lake Marion. Remember, this was long before Interstate highway I-95 was constructed.

In those early times, the town didn’t have the right to sell alcohol to travelers. In order to be able to sell alcohol in South Carolina back then, you had to be an incorporated community. So the local hotel, restaurant, and store owners got together and petitioned to officially incorporate the Town of Santee, so they could sell alcohol to visitors. The rest is history.

Up through the 1950's, the primary occupation in the Santee area was farming. It wasn't until the 1960's that Santee began to give serious attention to the potential economic impact of travel and tourism on the town's future. By the early 1970s, in anticipation of the opening of I-95 running by Santee, more motels, restaurants and businesses had begun to be built on SC Route 6 that passes through the town.

In the mid-1970s the town government and its local business leaders started working together to secure federal funds to plan for and install central water and sewer systems. Bringing in central water and sewer, along with the completion of the I-95 bridge span across Lake Marion, signaled a new era of growth and development for the Santee community.

Though its now a far cry from the little crossroads community that it was in the early 1940's, Santee still retains its small town feel, while proudly focusing on its new motto as an 'Oasis of Recreation' on the banks of Lake Marion. Today visitors come to play golf, boat, fish, camp, hike, and observe the abundant wildlife inhabiting the area. 

 

It appears the most complete history of the town can be found in the book “Cotton Fields to Golf Courses – A Pictorial History of Elloree and Santee.” written by members of the Garden Club in nearby Elloree. Also, be sure to read the Orangeburg T&D Newspaper article "Santee to Celebrate 70th Birthday" and the Town of Santee 2018 Comprehensive Plan, 

 

 

Download and Read the 'Mueller Report' for Yourself

Download and read the full Mueller Report for yourself rather than listening to political spin by either political party. Go to https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf

To help get you started, the following are key excerpts from the Executive Summary of the actual report which is entitled: Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election

The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion. Evidence of Russian government operations began to surface in mid-2016. In June, the Democratic National Committee and its cyber response team publicly announced that Russian hackers had compromised its computer network. Releases of hacked materials-hacks that public reporting soon attributed to the Russian government-began that same month. Additional releases followed in July through the organization WikiLeaks, with further releases in October and November. 

In late July 2016, soon after WikiLeaks's first release of stolen documents, a foreign government contacted the FBI about a May 2016 encounter with Trump Campaign foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos had suggested to a representative of that foreign government that the Trump Campaign had received indications from the Russian government that it could assist the Campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. That information prompted the FBI on July 31, 2016, to open an investigation into whether individuals associated with the Trump Campaign were coordinating with the Russian government in its interference activities. 

That Fall, two federal agencies jointly announced that the Russian government "directed recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including US political organizations," and, "[t]hese thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process." After the election, in late December 2016, the United States imposed sanctions on Russia for having interfered in the election. By early 2017, several congressional committees were examining Russia's interference in the election.  

Within the Executive Branch, these investigatory efforts ultimately led to the May 2017 appointment of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III.


* * * The report on the investigation consists of two volumes:  

Volume I describes the factual results of the Special Counsel's investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election and its interactions with the Trump Campaign. Section I describes the scope of the investigation. Sections II and III describe the principal ways Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Section IV describes links between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign. Section V sets forth the Special Counsel's charging decisions. 

The Special Counsel's investigation established that Russia interfere~ in the 2016 presidential election principally through two operations. First, a Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Second, a Russian intelligence service conducted computer-intrusion operations against entities, employees, and volunteers working on the Clinton Campaign and then released stolen documents. The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign.

Volume II addresses the President' s actions towards the FBI's investigation into Russia' s interference in the 2016 presidential election and related matters, and his actions towards the Special Counsel' s investigation. Volume II separately states its framework and the considerations that guided that investigation.

The investigation found multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations, including the Russian-interference and obstruction investigations. The incidents were often carried out through one-on-one meetings in which the President sought to use his official power outside of usual channels. These actions ranged from efforts to remove the Special Counsel and to reverse the effect of the Attorney General ' s recusal; to the attempted use of official power to limit the scope of the investigation; to direct and indirect contacts with witnesses with the potential to influence their testimony. The President' s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.

Again, download and read the Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election - Go to https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf

Lake Marion Artisans Present Check to Scotts Branch HS Student

The Lake Marion Artisans presented a $500 check to Scotts Branch High School student Adriannah Johnson in recognition of her artistic talents and capabilities. Also present at the brief ceremony was Ms. Kheprha Hines, her art teacher at Scotts Branch. It is hoped that the financial award will help Adriannah to take the next step forward in her education as she prepares for college and a bright future.

Adriannah Johnson is currently a senior at Scotts Branch High School. She was born on December 2, 2000 in Manning, SC. Art has been her passion since her early childhood years. Growing up, she has won multiple competitions and participated in many community projects. She plans to go to Coastal Carolina to collect a degree in art. She is building her way to own an art gallery and give back to her community.

The Lake Marion Artisans is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in the historic district of Summerton, South Carolina.  They are committed to enriching the surrounding communities of Lake Marion through the arts. Learn more about the Lake Marion Artisans 'Community Activities, Events & Projects' on their web site.

 

* You might also want to read the following blog on 'The Arts and Economic Prosperity'.

'Smart' Fishing Rods Keep Evolving

The other day as I was sitting on the shore looking at beautiful Lake Marion near Summerton, S.C., and a lightbulb went off. I had come up with a brilliant idea - a 'smart' fishing pole. Unfortunately, a quick search of the Internet found that someone else had beat me to the punch.

Apparently, Kansas-based inventor Ed Hope has already developed and is selling the computerized Tackobox Poletap Smartrod - see Tackobox.com. Basically, the SmartRod contains an accelerometer that detects the telltale jerk of a fish taking the lure. Using a single-button control, users can switch between high, medium and low sensitivity settings depending on fishing conditions.

When a fish strike is detected, the SmartRod responds with either an auditory alarm or a flashing red LED light. Once the user starts reeling the line in, the fish-detecting microprocessor temporarily shuts down. This keeps the rod from flashing, shrieking and generally carrying on while you land your fish. The SmartRod requires a lithium cell battery that is said to be good for at least one full season.

After reading about the SmartRod, I realized it represented the 1^st generation of 'smart' fishing poles. Looking ahead, I can just see the many new enhancements people are going to come up with in the coming years. For example -

• What if the SmartPole sent you a text message or called you on your phone while you were back in your home getting a drink or watching the big game?
• What if the the SmartPole told you the weight of the fish on your line?
• What if your SmartPole had a small camera that sent you a picture of the fish on the end of your line?
• What if the SmartPole started to reel in your fish automatically? What if it let out more line if it sensed your line was about to break?
• What if...

The possibilities are almost endless once you start thinking about everything future generations of a SmartPole could potentially do for you. Maybe you could add an electric  current to the line and it would cook your fish while it was being reeled in?

By now it should be obvious I'm not a fisherman. But for those who are, think about what you would want your Smart Pole to do for you and share your thoughts with our readers.

 
For more information, check out these recent articles:

• Motion-detecting spinning reel pings your phone when the fish bite
• Smart fishing reel detects when a fish bites
• CyberFishing Smart Rod Sensor transforms Fishing Rods into Data Recorders 

* You might also want to watch the SmartRod YouTube Video and read some of my recent blogs on Smart Kayaks, ‘Smart’ Hats, ‘Smart’Fishing Rods, ‘Smart’Guns, and ‘Smart’Hiking Sticks.

AgriTourism in Clarendon County and Across Santee Cooper country

AgriTourism usually involves things like buying produce direct from a farm stand or local farmers market, navigating a corn maze, picking fruit, feeding animals, or actually staying on a ranch or farm. Read more about South Carolina Farmers Markets and the growing South Carolina AgriTourism industry.

Check out these certified roadside markets in Clarendon County, SC:

• Flowers Farm
• J.Mac Farms & Produce
• M&M Flowers and Farm
• Richburg Farms
• Willard Farms

 
* Check out other AgriTourism sites across Santee Cooper Country in S.C.