Criminal Defense Attorney inGramling, SC

Reported by Missy Bright

Despite the wet weather the days prior to the RVPC Spring Hunter Pace and Trail Ride, Collinsville Meadows were a deep green and blowing in the breeze. Pace Day was a beautiful and sunny day with temps in the upper 60s. The trails had been checked and marked with ribbons and were deemed safe for horses and riders.

The River Valley Pony Club has a huge band of volunteers. They design the course making sure all trails are clear and wet areas are averted to assure safety of rider and horse. Volunteers prepared the delicious meals and treats. They take are of parking the rigs, making sure everyone has a nice spot. They register riders, making sure all paperwork is in order, and are there to assist anyone who is in need. There are also volunteers who assist Joey Cabaniss, who is the series main timer. Everyone loves Joey. He gives good directions and often tells a joke before riders head out. He will always leave the light on for you!

Volunteers prepared a wonderful warm pasta which was very tasty and a good salad mix with dressings and a nice selection of desserts. There was one very special treat made by a young baker in Gramling, SC. Young Clara Gramling is an up and coming baker who even has her own website! Clara made a huge batch of Molasses Munchies from the RVPC Horse Cookie, Fly Spray and Wipe Recipe Pamphlet. These Munchies are a wonderful snack for the rider as well! These treats have been taste tested and approved by Missy Bright, Carla Fullam, and Jan Smith, and, of course, our trusty mounts!

The volunteers for RVPC Spring Hunter Pace and Trail Ride were Krista Burke, Becky Corthell, Helen Firby, James and Madlyn Fox, Emelia and Eliza Frederick, Caprice Fullam, Paula Hennon, Elaine and Michaela Hughes, Carnie and Lillie Johnson, Carla and Sidney Langley, Bett Mann, Sasha and Kaiya Mann, Beth McGregor, Lynn and Sarah Moorshead, Julie and Johari Moran, Denise Ritacco, Crystal and Emily Robbins, Alicia and Addison Sama, Vicki Schrenter, Ivey Sumrell and Autumn, Faith, and Stephanie Wanicka.

Landowners play an essential role. They allow us to cross their properties to enjoy the beautiful scenery and land marks. Without them, it would hard to have a Hunter Pace! The Land Owners are Glenn Arledge, Rick Burney, Barbara Claussen, Cheryl and Ed Daniels, Gist and Judy Farr, Cindy Goldberg, Kathy and Bill Gruhn, Mary and Bill Hill, Chris and Rhonda Lewis, Sara Lyter, Dot Moyer, Lisa Otto, Polk Partners/John Bell, Richard and Susan Wallahora, Tony Walters, and Linda Williams. Folks, that’s a lot of property that riders are allowed access. Give these owners a big thank you!

The trail was 8.1 miles and lead riders through the woods out into beautiful open areas with many photo opts! The Check Point was at the cul-de-sac at Green Fields, where riders were offered some refreshment and everyone got a three-minute rest.

There was a very nice turnout considering the earlier wet weather. There was a total of 67 riders in 35 teams.

Now, let’s get to those results:

There were a total of 28 riders in 13 teams in the Field Hunter Division. The Optimum Time as one hour, 25 minutes.

Receiving the First Place Blue Ribbon with a time of one hour, 24 minutes, 54 seconds was Gena Meredith from Landrum and Stephanie Poole from Mill Spring. They were a mere six seconds off the Optimum Time! Not far behind was to duo of Debbie Croft from Anderson and Rebecca Tolson from Pendleton with a time of one hour, 26 minutes, seven seconds to receive the Second Place Red Ribbon. In Third Place was the trio of Martha Hall from Mill Spring, Anne McIver from Greenville, and Peter Shanahan from Columbus with a time of one hour 23 minutes, nine seconds. Solo rider Kinsley Allarie brought home the Fifth Place Ribbon with a time of one hour, 27 minutes, eight seconds. Rounding out the placements for the Sixth Place Green Ribbons was the duo of Christina Goen from Lyman and Emily Mitchell from Greer with a time of one hour, 29 minutes, 33 seconds. Congratulations to all!

Other Field Hunters out enjoying the day were Birdie and Mike Axelrod, Jared Beasley, Bryton and Melissa Champion, Anna Dalton, Stephanie Easler, Ann Fratcher, Martha Love, Holly Mitchell, Angela and Caleigh Reichardt, Janine and Tom Stenson, Tom Trull, and Rachel Turner.

There were a total of 39 riders in 22 teams in the Trail Rider Division. The Calculated Optimum Time was one hour, 59 minutes, 58 seconds.

Ginny Jennings and Lynn Ronzello from Tryon nabbed the First Place Blue Ribbons with a time of one hour, 57 minutes, 59 seconds. Kay Mott, riding solo, was awarded the Second Place Red Ribbon with a time of two hours, one minute, 58 seconds. Third Place Honors were awarded to a team of Tennesseans with a time of one hour, 57 minutes, 23 seconds. Darleen Bullock, Nikki Hynes, and DeAnna Norton keep making Tennessee proud! The Fourth Place Ribbon was awarded to Karen Merrill and Teresa Snyder from York with a time of one hour, 56 minutes 49 seconds. Jennifer Wilson from Mill Springs was awarded the Fifth Place Pink Ribbon with a time of one hour, 56 minutes, 43 seconds. Rounding out the placements in the Trail Rider Division was Bobby Turner, who happened to be riding alone and clocked a time of one hour, 56 minutes, 38 seconds. Congratulations to all!

Other Trail Riders out enjoying a wonderful ride were Tara Boyce, Adam Burnsed, Jeannie Burrell, Doug and Nicole Cobb, Val DeVine, Michelle Drum, Lynn Fitch, Cindy Hansult, Susan Haslam, Laura Hendley, Elaine and Hugh Hobbs, Debbie Knebel, Lisa Kotalik, Nancy Kruger, Lori Kunkel, Lin Martin, Kathy Powell, Antje Richter, Jennifer Smith, Ivey Sumrell, Lenore Threlkald, Heidi Trull, Deborah Tucker, Aimee Williams, Carrie and Olive Wilsey, and Sherry Wyatt.

Following will be Scotsgrove Farm Hunter Pace and Trail Rider on Saturday May 27, 2017. The Year End Gathering will be held on Sunday, June 25, 2017 at Croft State Park in Spartanburg to benefit the Foothills Humane Society and the HALTER therapeutic riding program.

Visit wchp.org for upcoming events, placements and standings, weather changes, and classifieds.

Jimmy Bates served for nine years before he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Now, he is using his experiences to serve other disabled veterans along with his wife.

KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — Giving disabled veterans a community through hunting and fishing is the goal of one local nonprofit, Warriors for the Outdoors.

"You can find good or bad in any situation it’s just where do you want to look," Jimmy Bates said of his attitude as a disabled veteran.

Bates served for nine years before he was diagnosed with a brain tumor after having been cancer-free for 19 years.

"Three months of chemo and a month of radiation later, I beat brain cancer," he said.

While going through treatment, Bates met his wife Libbi Gramling when she was working at the VA Hospital. Now, the two are using their experience to help build community through an appreciation for the outdoors.

"The best feeling you ever get is you take a guy out and get their first pig, their biggest pig, the biggest fish, the best night of fishing," Bates said. "That's just that's the rewarding thing to me."

He’s able to see that reward through his nonprofit, Warriors for the Outdoors. Bates built a cabin on hunting property along with other veterans. Now, he uses it to provide free hunting and fishing trips.

"Watching him….this is like what he was meant to do," Gramling said. "This is what he was born to do."

His wife supports him through her role as the organization’s treasurer and by helping maintain the hunting property.

"There's so many people, veterans that need a place to go, that need a person to talk to, they need a group of people to talk to and can enjoy being together without feeling like it's therapy," Gramling said.

That’s the environment Bates tries to provide for people who might not find that community after leaving the service.

"Anybody that joins the military, there's usually a week of basic training," Bates said. "Usually it's about 13 weeks to get them from a civilian to a soldier when they get out. It's nothing, it's ‘Thanks. Here you go. Here's the world."

It's a world that can be scary to tackle alone. But through Warriors for the Outdoors, Bates said there is something they can discuss together around a campfire.

"That little spot, we sit around with chairs and just sit around the campfire just talking and not being judged," Bates said.

He says if it were not for his wife and the community of veterans he's found, his work with Warriors for the Outdoors wouldn't be possible.

"I don't hunt. I support the organization, but I don’t hunt," Gramling said, laughing about first learning of her husband's affinity for the outdoors. "I would try to teach him you know, meditate and be in the moment and little did I know that that's what hunting is. It’s meditation. It's being in the moment and being aware of your surroundings. And I just thought it was beautiful."

From deer to turkey to squirrels, Bates said there are all kinds of animals at the property all year round for veterans to hunt and fish.

To sign up for a hunting or fishing trip and to learn more about the organization, you can visit its website or Facebook page.

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCIV) — A little bit of history rolled into town Friday.

The 9/11 'Never Forget' Mobile Museum is stationed in Mount Pleasant this weekend. Its purpose - to make sure no one forgets the thousands of lives lost nearly 15 years ago.

"When everything was attacked I was in high school," Mount Pleasant firefighter Mike Olson said. "Specifically, in band class."

Olson was one of several local firefighters to help set up the mobile museum on the grounds of Patriot's Point.

"Our mission every day at Patriot's Point - it fits in perfect here," Public Information Officer Chris Hauff of Patriot's Point said. "It's a central location for people to come and go. It's a free exhibit and it's no cost to anybody except for a parking fee."

First responders got a first look at the museum Friday night before it officially opens to the public Saturday at 10 a.m.

"Just extreme pride - extreme emotion about this," Olson said. "This is an emotional day that happened to our country so I'm just extremely, just proud to be a part of this."

"At the end of the day the fire department as a whole is a brotherhood, a family," said Mount Pleasant Fire Captain Edward Gramling.

Gramling served in the Fairfax County fire department September 11th, 2001. He may not have been a part of the rescue efforts at the Pentagon or World Trade Center, but understands the impact.

"If someone in another part of the nation, as a firefighter, hurts, it's a collective hurt among the ranks," he said.

The brotherhood stood together Friday to educate.

"I think it's so important to remember what happened to us as a country, as a city, because we did forget what happened to us in the '93 bombing," retired New York City Fire Commander Jack Oehm said.

"I was a battalion chief at the time," he said. "I lost three out of my nine units - never came back home. So twenty of my men never came back home."

Now, Oehm gives a heartfelt tour through the mobile museum every chance he gets.

"Feeling mad and angry and upset about what happened to us as a country."

He said it's how he keeps more than three thousand memories alive for the next generation of high school kids, who could one day also serve this country.

"I'll never forget it," Olson said. "Didn't really understand the impact of it until I got a little older and now being a firefighter, I now understand how important that event was and the pride I feel just being a part of this today."

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. It is free to enter. Donations will go to the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation to help build injured Veterans 'smart homes' once then return from combat.

By Robin Edgar

Although many veterans of World War II had the opportunity to see the world, it was not always as glamorous as it sounded. For some, like Fred J. Fisher, it meant being shuttled from ship to ship to a rustic base with only plywood huts to protect him from the elements.

Born in 1925, when his family lived in Arcadia on the Mayfair Mill Hill, west of Spartanburg, Fred lived in a four-room mill house his father rented for $1 per room. With two boys and two girls to clothe and feed, his parents decided to rent a house on Woodfin’s Farm in Gramling, S.C., where they could also raise some food while his father continued to work third shift at the mill. In addition to a garden, they had a cow, some chickens, and a mule. Fred graduated from Fairforest High School, which was in a community built around another mill about 18 miles from Landrum.

He was drafted into the United States Army Corps when he turned 18 in 1943.

“I was still a baby when I went to Fort Jackson, S.C. and then got conveyed by train to a training camp in Rhode Island. When we arrived, there was a foot of snow. As I looked out the train window and saw soldiers with crutches and broken arms, I thought they had come back from overseas. It turned out that their injuries happened at the training camp.”

“Then, we took a troop train down to Mississippi Ordinance Plant in Jackson, Miss. where we were in the swamps with huge mosquitos. After basic training, I was classified as a Private First Class and sent to England in 1944. They told us we were going to France and issued us a pamphlet to learn basic French. The only word I learned was “mademoiselle,” which was okay since they never sent us to France after all. We thought we were going home when they put us on another ship, but we just kept going until we went through the Suez Canal to the army base on Luzon Island in the Philippines.”

“By now it was 1945 and they thought they might need us in Japan for the occupation, so they put us on another ship and we sat in the harbor for three days before they sent us somewhere between Tokyo and Yokahama. Again, we arrived in a foot and half of snow. We stayed in temporary plywood huts for barracks in a holding area for seven months until they sent us home. When we arrived in Seattle in 1946, we were greeted by another foot of snow!”

“While I was in the military I learned to obey God in all situations of life. I saw how important it was to witness to everyone about God and to give back to the community.”

Fred had been dating Inez Brady before he was drafted and they exchanged letters while he was overseas. During that time, he proposed to her in one of his letters and she accepted. They got married two weeks after he returned to Spartanburg. He studied mechanical engineering at the Clemson College branch at Spartanburg High School and worked at Lockwood Greene Engineers in Spartanburg after he graduated.

They moved to Landrum so Fred could help his parents run his uncle’s business, B. D. Fisher’s Welding Shop, on Hwy.176, one mile south of the Landrum city limits. After their twin daughters, Connie Faye and Donnie Mae, arrived, Fred started working for AID Design Services in Greenville, S.C. and then went out on his own as a mechanical engineer contractor. He worked in the Landrum Hardware Store until he “retired” in February 2015 at the age of 90.

Fred is a member of First Baptist Church of Landrum, S.C., past president of the Woodman of the World Camp #186, Landrum, and was a charter member of the Hilltop Raritan, Spartanburg, S.C.

He has been 33rd Mason for many years at the Masonic Lodge # 278, Landrum, Past Wise Master of the Spartanburg Chapter Rose Croix of the Spartanburg Scottish Rite Bodies, and a Shriner.

If you are a veteran and would you like to share about your experience in the US military, please contact Robin Edgar at 2robinedgar@gmail.com or call The Tryon Daily Bulletin at 828-859-9151.

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A new toy store for kids, and adults too, has opened on N. Church Street in Landrum. Owners Lena and Tracy McCall held their grand opening on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17.

The opening and official ribbon cutting was a small reception, featuring Carolina Foothills Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Janet Sciacca and Landrum Mayor Robert Briggs and his wife, Debbie, following a soft opening on March 1.

Lena and Tracy moved to Landrum from Gramling, S.C. in November and officially started planning the toy store during the first week of February. Tracy owns his own electrical business in Spartanburg, Tracy McCall Electrical, which has been open for nearly 25 years.

“We had bought out a little consignment store here and my husband had started talking about doing a toy store,” McCall said. “We just moved up here and he said Landrum would be a good place to have one.”

The initial plan was for the McCalls to combine the consignment store with the toy store, but because the couple decided to focus on just toys they ended up selling the consignment store, The Carousel Shop.

The McCalls add inventory for the store by talking with sales representatives from worldwide companies. They say the toys in their store set them apart from places like Toys ‘R’ Us.

“The consignment shop was down in Gramling/Campobello and it was an existing shop that we had just bought out from somebody else,” McCall explained. “We’ve got two grandkids and we love taking them into toy stores like this one and let them pick out their toys.”

Lena said her husband loves to try out the toys and games they find in the toy stores they have been to, which sparked the idea to open one of their own near downtown Landrum. There is no relationship to the Imagination Station in downtown Spartanburg, although the McCalls are good friends with the owners there.

“We wanted to expand the reach of the Imagination Station in Spartanburg,” Tracy McCall said. “Bringing the toy store here in Landrum and using the same name will hopefully bring customers from Spartanburg up here, too.”

Inside the store are items like plush animals, keychains, toy guns, board games and a variety of toys for infants and toddlers. Brittany and Rokel McCall, who call themselves the “Savvy Sisters,” can also do customizable vinyl prints.

Play days, where kids can come in the store and do arts and crafts, are also an idea being toyed with by the McCalls at Imagination Station II. As of now, no dates have been set for these opportunities.

The store is open from 10 to 5 Tuesdays through Fridays, from 10 to 4 on Saturdays and closed on Sundays and Mondays.