Plumbers in Hanahan, SC

Last year, Siqi Fang, an eighth grader at Hanahan Middle School in Berkeley County, didn’t make it to the Spellbound! Bee, the Lowcountry’s only regional bee officially sanctioned by the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

She was knocked out of the competition at the district level.

This year, standing under the beaming spotlights at Charleston Southern University’s Lightsey Chapel, her left palm turned upwards to mimic her college ruled paper and her right hand holding an imaginary pen, Fang spelled the winning word.

“F-E-R-R-U-G-I-N-O-U-S,” she said, meaning of, relating to or containing iron.

All eyes glued to center stage, cheers and applause erupted from the crowd.

The contest had gone down from 30 students to two: the other was Zachary Teachman, a student at Thomas C. Carlo Middle School in Charleston County.

Teachman was given the word “epenthesis,” which is defined as the insertion of a sound or letter in the body of a word.

The bell, notorious for sending rows of competitors to sit on the other side of the stage to watch the remaining spellers, followed, echoing throughout the chapel.

Suddenly, the bee sting on Fang’s right finger that had pestered her the past few days felt obsolete.

“I was kind of nervous,” Fang told The Post and Courier after posing for myriad photos with her winning trophy. “My competitor was also really good.”

Fang would have to spell the word correctly along with one final word to win.

“This year she seemed to be more comfortable on stage,” Fang’s mother, Cui He, told The Post and Courier.

“I’m maturing,” Fang interjected proudly.

Students go through an intense series of elimination rounds to compete in Spellbound! They have to win their school and district spelling bees to qualify. More than 40,000 students compete for the finals.

The contest this year marked the bee’s 31st anniversary and represented students from Charleston, Berkeley, Colleton, Dorchester 2 and 4 school districts, the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, and S.C. Independent School Association.

The Post and Courier is a sponsor of Spellbound!

The winner advances to the virtual preliminary rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Those who make it through the virtual preliminaries go to National Harbor, Md., to compete for the champion title.

HANAHAN — A parade of emergency response vehicles and a school bus were the first to drive a newly opened mile-long stretch of Railroad Avenue, a road project recently completed after years of work.

The extension runs from Mabeline Road to Eagle Landing Boulevard, adding a two-lane roadway along the eastern side of the existing CSX rail line, with a sidewalk along one side of the road.

Though only a mile, the new stretch connects the northwest corner of the city, where several neighborhoods and Hanahan Elementary School are, to the rest of the city, said Mayor Christie Rainwater.

Prior to the extension, drivers had to take a roundabout route and cross the railroad tracks twice.

“In order to get to the Eagle Landing ... part of the city, you actually had to leave the city, cross over the railroad tracks, go to another city (North Charleston), and then go down Rivers Avenue, cross back over the railroad tracks and get back into (Hanahan),” she said. “So obviously it was inconvenient to say the least.”

It was also completed after more than two decades of delays, which ballooned the cost from a $4 million federal earmark in the 1990s to more than $20 million by the time the county broke ground on the project in 2021.

Berkeley County’s 1 percent sales tax to pay for infrastructure contributed more than $16 million to the funding.

Officials said the delays were due to a number of bureaucratic hurdles and discussions between the county, the S.C. Department of Transportation and CSX, all of which had to review and approve various aspects of the project. Funding issues contributed as well, Rainwater said — the longer other delays took, the more expensive the project became and the more time it took to secure further funding.

Town and county officials held a ribbon cutting for the road extension on March 17, with a cohort of former mayors and other public officials in attendance such as former U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, who helped secure the initial federal earmark. Officials, local emergency responders and other attendees took to the school bus and emergency vehicles to drive through a blue ribbon and up the mile of road.

Rainwater said the extension saves at least 10 minutes of driving, and that’s without traffic and train-related delays. During rush hour or when a train is stopped on the tracks, it took even longer for drivers to get to their destination.

Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb pointed out it will also help ease congestion on Rivers Avenue.

“Think about all the cars that leave Hanahan, go out on Rivers Avenue, go to the intersection of Ashley Phosphate and Rivers needlessly every single day,” he said. “Every one of those cars are now pulled off that road, so that helps regional transportation.”

It was also a public safety issue when emergency vehicles are trying to get to the northwest part of town, Rainwater said.

Though acknowledging that not all road projects take so long, attendees at the ribbon-cutting made a number of jokes about the length of time it took to complete the extension. Rainwater said one resident called her reporting that her daughter was about to graduate from high school and to ask if the student could drive it before she left for college.

“If anybody here has got a good idea on a road project that might be done in the next 30 years, let us know today before you leave so we can get it done in your lifetime,” Cribb joked.

Cribb pointed out each county has a “dinosaur” of an infrastructure project that has taken years to complete, referencing the Highway 526 in Charleston County and the Berlin G. Myers Parkway in Dorchester County. The Railroad Avenue extension has been Berkeley County’s, he said.

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. – (Tuesday, March 14, 2023) – Berkeley County, in partnership with the City of Hanahan, will celebrate the completion of Railroad Avenue Extension in Hanahan with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, March 17 at 10 a.m. The event will take place in front of the Hanahan Recreation Center ballfields across from Mabeline Road in Hanahan.

This critical road project, which was managed by the S.C. Department of Transportation, has been in the works since the 1990s. The County celebrated the project’s groundbreaking in spring 2021.

Kiewit Infrastructure South constructed the project, which consisted of extending Railroad Avenue from Mabeline Road to Eagle Landing Boulevard and adding a two-lane roadway along the eastern side of the existing CSX rail line, with a sidewalk along one side of the road.

The project provides a safer connection between North and South Hanahan. Specifically, drivers will no longer have to enter Rivers Avenue and cross the railroad twice; and first responder vehicles will also have a better and safer access to those communities, overall improving emergency response times.

This project cost an estimated $20.1 million, including approximately $16 million from Berkeley County’s One-Cent Sales Tax Program—specifically from the referendum voters passed in 2014—and $4 million from federal funds.

“This road extension project, which has been decades in the making, is a gamechanger for the Hanahan community and public safety. We are thankful to Berkeley County voters for approving the County’s One-Cent Sales Tax referendum and to Congressman Henry Brown for securing federal funds to pay for this long-awaited infrastructure project. We are confident the result will be faster emergency response times and safer travel for all.” -Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb

“Thanks to the perseverance and hard work of so many who have passed the torch of this much needed project, we are finally celebrating the infrastructure connectivity of Hanahan through Railroad Avenue Extension. I am grateful for the collaboration of many different agencies to make this happen. Hanahan is now safer, transportation is easier, and quality of life is better.” -Hanahan Mayor Christie Rainwater

The City of Hanahan will also host a “Meet in the Street Block Party” event at 5:30 p.m. on Friday to commemorate the road project’s completion. There will be a food truck and other festivities. For more information, go HERE.

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-Prepared by the Berkeley County Public Information Office-

HANAHAN, S.C. (HOLY CITY SINNER) — Press Release

SeamonWhiteside (SW+), a full-service site design firm throughout the Carolinas, is nearing completion of the brand-new Hanahan Recreation Complex.

This multi-use recreation project is the first to open since the City of Hanahan’s large population growth over the last several years and is a much-needed addition to the community.

The new complex located in Hanahan off of Henry Brown Boulevard and adjacent to Bowen’s Corner Elementary School, will bring great value to the City’s residents and the Berkeley County School District with many added facilities and recreational uses.

SeamonWhiteside is the lead consultant on this $12M+ project and has worked closely with the City of Hanahan since 2016.

The firm provided Programming/Master Planning, Budgeting Assistance, CDs, Permitting, Bid Administration and Procurement, and Construction Administration.

The complex will offer dog parks, walking trails, courts for tennis, volleyball, and basketball, a playground, a multi-purpose recreation building, public parking, restrooms, picnic areas including a covered pavilion, and synthetic and natural sports fields.

“The project is nearing the finish line, and we can’t wait for the City of Hanahan residents to experience what we’ve been working on over the last several years. Located just steps away from Bowen’s Corner Elementary School, this will be a convenient and accessible resource for the community,” says Jennifer Palmer, Director of the SeamonWhiteside Summerville Office. “A fun fact about this project was the property used to be owned by the Federal Government Joint Base Charleston and was part of an old blast zone for testing missiles. All of the natural wetlands remain undisturbed and we utilized a timber bridge, designed by York Bridges, with a very natural park-like aesthetic for the road crossing spanning the wetland to join the two sides of the complex. It is thrilling to see it all come to life and I cannot wait to see it being utilized by the community.”

SeamonWhiteside worked closely on this project with Southeastern Surveying, ECS, Critical Systems Engineering, McSweeney Engineers, and architect Chris Karpus.

The Hanahan Recreation Complex began construction in June 2021 and is now nearing completion, with an expected finish and open date in early 2023.

To learn more about SeamonWhiteside, visit www.seamonwhiteside.com.

Hanahan High School’s next football coach has won better than 72 percent of his games in three Peach State stops as a head coach, including one state championship.

Milan Turner has certainly been around a lot of winning football going back nearly three decades.

Counting his time as an assistant coach in the mid-1990s, Turner has been on the sideline for six state championship games with five programs. Two of those won it all in Georgia, where he’s coached his whole career until now.

“We are elated to welcome Coach Turner to the Hawk family,” Hanahan High Principal Tom Gallus said. “Our community is very fortunate to have a coach of this caliber to lead and develop our student-athletes on and off the field. Coach Turner is a proven educator and leader. He knows what it takes to build a successful high school football program and to ensure that each student is prepared for their next steps after high school. I look forward to serving alongside Coach Turner and seeing our Hawks shine under the Friday night lights.”

Most recently, though, Turner was on the college level for one season, serving as the director of high school relations for the Georgia Southern football program.

Before Georgia Southern, where he earned his undergraduate and Master’s degrees, Turner compiled a 112-43 mark over 13 seasons as a head coach for three Georgia programs: Emanuel County (2005-10), Thomson (2011-13) and Veterans (2018-21). Turner’s teams won 65 games in six seasons at Emanuel, claiming the Class A crown in 2007 and finishing runner-up in 2008. He was 24-10 at Thomson and 23-21 at Veterans, both marks skewed heavily by one rough season.

In between Thomson and Veterans, Turner was on staff at Coffee High School for four seasons. Coffee was the Class 6A runner-up in 2017. He was also an assistant for the Class 4A state champion at Warner Robins in 2004 and played for state titles as an assistant at 2A Fitzgerald in 2000 and 2A Screven County in 1994.

Turner takes the reins from interim coach Steve Blanchard, who guided the Hawks for most of the season after Art Craig stepped away mid-season and eventually retired.

Last fall, Hanahan started off 6-1 and dropped three straight to finish 6-4 after a first-round playoff loss to Brookland-Cayce.

“First, I would like to thank Coach Clay Helton and Georgia Southern University for the incredible opportunity I had to serve this year on the football staff,” Coach Turner said in a statement released by HHS. “I want to also thank Principal Tom Gallus, Athletic Director Kim Joseph, the search committee, and the Berkeley County Board of Education for this incredible opportunity to be a teacher and head football coach at Hanahan High School. I am extremely excited for the future of our school and athletic program. I cannot wait to get to work with our team and to meet the Hanahan community.”