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KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — A new facility to bring ball games, and additional recreation options, could be in the works for Kershaw County.

"Parks and Rec in Kershaw County have kinda been left behind if you look at surrounding counties or other counties with a similar population. We do not have a tournament facility where we can host tournaments, where our leagues can play inside the county," says Katie Guinn, Kershaw County Council chairwoman.

Council was approached with an offer to completely change the landscape of Woodward Park.

The presentation from The Kershaw County Health Services District says they would provide $2M, while M-U-S-C would provide $3M in order to expand the park and put forth a recreation center, but they are asking the county to match the $5 million dollars in total and to make a decision within 90 days.

"We haven't concentrated on making a tournament facility place, so the time is now to do that, there is a real interest in the community, there is a need in the community. From an economic standpoint, this will help offset the taxpayer cost of the facility. There is a lot of research out there on the economic impact of a 3-day long tournament on the weekend so that's also intriguing," adds Guinn.

A change that some residents would like to see.

"I think it would be good for the community, give the kids more to do and get them off the streets," says Kershaw county resident, Shannon Hyman.

But if the council decides to move forward…. Guinn says they have a few more steps left to take…and a previous rendering to look over.

"They did get them drawn up that was before I was in office, and I would expect this county council to get a second opinion anyway, we're gonna start from I don't wanna say the beginning, cause there has been a lot of work done before this but, will start the discussion, then vote, then the planning process and not just take what was previously looked at," Guinn adds.

Council hopes to have this on their agenda at their next meeting on March 14th, which takes place at 5:30 pm at the Kershaw County Government Center.

She also says the council is working on other Parks and Recreation options in their budget outside of Woodward Park.

CAMDEN, S.C. — The Arts Center of Kershaw County will host its annual Black History Month celebration on Sunday.

"The Heritage Tea is a time that we can celebrate our heritage and honor Black History Month through the arts," said Founding Member of the Multicultural Committee Ann Davis.

Davis says this year's event recognizes three local trailblazers, two of which are known as "living legends." She also is proud to call them great friends.

One of them is Vivian Metze, who was an educator for more than 40 years.

"She was the first African American and the first female to chair the Kershaw County School Board," Davis said. "She was the chair of the Voter Registration for years."

Also being recognized is Bishop Thomas Bell, a local religious leader in Camden.

"He would gather up a group of his colleagues, and they were the just Jesus Movement, and they would stand on the corner of downtown Camden and they read the bible from Genesis to Revelations," Davis said.

Last, but not least, is Clifton Anderson, who's well-known as a community advocate.

"He would go to Washington and gather pieces of artwork and he would get the theme from the American Association of Negro History and he would bring all of this artwork back to Camden to share," Davis said.

Sunday's event will also feature all of the Black History Month projects students across the county created.

"I mainly focused on Michael Jackson, and this was a timeline that I thought of at the start," student Mason Chappell said. "I guess I highlighted more of what he did when he was younger."

The event kicks off at 3 p.m. at the Arts Center of Kershaw County. It is free to the public.

WASHINGTON — The US Department of Agriculture announced that it would invest $59 million in more facilities to increase independent meat and poultry processing capacity.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the funding while touring the Harrisonburg, Va., Farmer Focus organic chicken processing facility planning a $17.8 million expansion.

“For too long, American farmers and ranchers have been asked to produce more to meet increasing demand across the country and around the world, while they and the rural communities they come from have struggled to see their fair share of the benefits,” Vilsack said. “Through investments like those I’m announcing today, USDA will continue to work tirelessly to give farmers and ranchers a fair chance to compete in the marketplace, which in turn helps lower food costs for the American people.”

The Farmer Focus plant will receive $3.6 million that will be used for equipment purchase, new conveyor lines, building and site modifications and a new wastewater treatment system. USDA said the investment would help the company double its processing capacity to 630,000 birds per week. The expansion will help create 300 jobs.

“The programs and money the Biden-Harris administration is committing can make a huge difference in providing opportunities to independent processors like Farmer Focus so we can build a more competitive meat industry and strong generational family farms while providing our consumers with the highest quality organic and humane certified chicken,” said Corwin Heatwole, founding farmer and chief executive officer of Farmer Focus. “Just a little over a year ago, I was invited to a White House Round Table where I had the unique opportunity to share my thoughts directly with President Biden and Secretary Vilsack on ways to increase competition within the meat industry.”

MEAT+POULTRY recently featured Farmer Focus’ new 78,000-square-foot packaging plant within a mile of the existing processing facility.

Other money allocated to processors in the United States included a $25 million grant for Riverbend Meats LLC in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to build a new beef processing plant. According to the agency, the funding would also include custom equipment and the installation of 9 miles of mainline gas pipe. The new facility would also double the plant’s capacity from 300 to 600 cattle daily.

Prestage Farms of South Carolina LLC will receive nearly $25 million to purchase equipment and pay for associated operating expenses at its poultry processing plant. The facility in Kershaw County will be able to process 8 million birds per year and create 292 jobs.

In South Dakota, CNF Enterprises plans to construct a new 30,000-square-foot processing facility in New Underwood, SD. USDA plans to invest $3.3 million in the project which would process 4,000 head per year, including beef, pork, lamb and buffalo, with custom USDA inspection.

Holly Poultry LLC in Baltimore, Md., will receive about $2 million to purchase equipment for upgrades and expansions at its facility. The project will add 200 jobs by 2025 and increase processing capacity by 2 million lbs of poultry per week.

Last November, USDA announced the first round of more than $223 million in grants and loans as part of the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP). USDA distributed the first round of funding, a total of $73 million, across 21 grant projects in 19 states as part of the program.

The agency later invested an additional $75 million for eight projects through the Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program (MPILP) and more than $75 million for four meat and poultry-related projects through the Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan program (FSCGLP).

KERSHAW, S.C. (WBTV) – A South Carolina restaurant had an unexpected patron charge through its doors earlier this week.

The owners of 521 Filling Station in Kershaw posted video surveillance footage to its Facebook page that shows a deer making its way into the eatery on Monday. 521 Filling Station is used to heavy foot traffic in and out of the door. But hoof traffic? Not so much.

”I’m in a meeting with the human resources officers and I start getting phone calls. So I step out and call and they’re like there’s a deer in the restaurant. And I said, ‘What?’ And they said, ‘There’s a deer in the restaurant!’ and I said you’re kidding me,” said co-owner Kevin Sims.

Video on the restaurant’s Facebook page shows that this situation was no joke. You can see a deer burst through the front glass door and slide right into the dining room of the restaurant.

”Came across the parking lot full head of steam. Hit the front door. Shattered glass everywhere. He slid over here and then there’s chaos,” he says.

A startled worker gets out of the way as the deer slips on the floor, knocking down chairs as it slides around the restaurant. The video shows all that chaos unfolding.

The animal eventually winds up in a booth before one of the workers got their hands on the deer and slid it across the floor and then back outside.

“He needed help to get out, so I helped him!” said Beth Truesdale, a server at the restaurant.

Truesdale cornered that deer and got it calm enough to be able to drag it out. The server showed her nerves of steel the entire time.

”I was just trying to get him. I’m a country girl it didn’t bother me,” she sa

When asked how she managed to stay so cool, calm, and collected she said it was simple. She had to get back to work.

”Servers only make $2.13 an hour. Most of them. So, I just needed him to leave so I could finish making my money,” she explained laughing.

“Never a dull moment @ THE 521,” the restaurant posted. Watch the original video below:

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The bleachers at Founders Park lay mostly empty on Tuesday afternoon. A smattering of fans littered the concourses and the garnet seats down either baseline, but early start time and increasingly cool temperatures as the night wore on left even the most dedicated tailgaters at home.

The seats directly behind home plate, though, were packed. An army of radar guns and backpacks were tucked between the plastic chairs, where double-digit major league scouts were on hand to see starter Eli Jerzembeck help No. 23 South Carolina (4-0) to a 19-3 win against Winthrop (3-1).

“You see the talent,” head coach Mark Kingston said postgame. “You see the elite fastball. You see the the command of all his off-speed pitches. He didn’t walk a batter. ... Some good things out of Eli tonight.”

It only takes a batter or two to see why those representing baseball’s best clubs were on hand for an otherwise nondescript midweek game between Southeastern Conference and Big South squads.

Jerzembeck, the No. 63 player in Perfect Game’s 2022 class rankings, fired a first pitch breaking ball low and in on Winthrop leadoff hitter CJ Conrad. He followed that with fastball clocked at 94 miles per hour in on Conrad’s hands.

Riding that mix of steady fastballs and slippery breaking-balls, Jerzembeck rolled through his first three innings of work as the offense piled up six runs behind him.

He retired three of his first four batters, the lone blemish a first-inning double to right field via Eagles right fielder Ricky Teel. Jerzembeck followed the first frame of his South Carolina career with similar stuff, working through a 1-2-3 inning — the final out coming on a low and away breaking-ball strikeout of Winthrop catcher Ty Hooks.

With temperatures dipping from 80 degrees at first pitch to the 60s by night’s end, Jerzembeck remained plenty hot. He retired the side in 1-2-3 fashion in the third inning on six pitches.

“I think I was just excited the whole time,” Jerzembeck said. “I was just really excited to be out there, I mean, the whole time.”

The freshman righty slowed some as his pitch count climbed into the fourth inning. Jerzembeck surrendered a pair of singles and a double over his first four batters of the fourth inning. A mound visit from pitching coach Justin Parker followed.

Kingston quipped postgame Jerzembeck, at times, sped himself up, forgetting to look at the wrist watch that signaled what pitch he was to throw before he stepped onto the rubber.

Jerzembeck responded to the brief meeting with vigor — forcing a ground out and recording his fourth strikeout of the afternoon to end the threat.

“His temperament is always a challenge, but that’s what makes him him,” Kingston said. “... We don’t ask our guys to be robots. We want their personalities to come out. We want them to be who they are. But then you have to keep that within a framework of what do we need in this moment as a pitcher in a big moment. And, again, he calmed down. He made big pitches and he got out of a jam.”

Where Jerzembeck coasted early before a brief hiccup, the South Carolina offense continued its historic start to the 2023 season with a hitting display that’d make the Murderer’s Row New York Yankees blush.

Evan Petry clocked two home runs, the 16th and 18th of the 19 long balls the Gamecocks have hit through four games this season. Braylen Wimmer, Cole Messina and Caleb Denny followed suit with homers of their own.

The start, albeit in three contests against UMass-Lowell and a Winthrop squad that won just 18 games a year ago, is a vast change from the 2022 campaign in which South Carolina consistently struggled to piece together enough offensively to compete as its pitching staff crumbled amid injuries.

“Preseason this year, I mean, I got it by truck. Like, I couldn’t find it,” said Petry, who finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs. “I worked with Monte (Lee), Coach (Mike) Current, (Scott) Wingo, Kingston, we all figured out what was wrong. It was just all mental. And mentally I became stronger.”

Leaving the bump after 62 pitches and four innings of work on Tuesday, Jerzembeck did plenty to inspire confidence those MLB scouts gathered at Founders Park will return for another glimpse.

Those scouts, more years than not, wouldn’t have had to travel to Columbia at all to see him pitch. After teams didn’t meet Jerzembeck’s signing bonus asks in the 2022 MLB Draft, he spurned professional ball to spend at least the next two seasons at South Carolina.

He now becomes a cog in what should be as deep a pitching staff as there is in college baseball, albeit on a pitch count around 60 right now, he said.

Will Sanders and Noah Hall are as good a 1-2 punch as exists in the SEC, while Jack Mahoney was borderline untouchable in his Sunday debut. That leaves Jerzembeck and last year’s initial No. 2 James Hicks, who underwent Tommy John surgery after his second start in 2022, to likely split the midweek contests this spring.

At this rate, those seats along the first and third base lines don’t feel like they’ll be empty much longer.