SCOTT HARPER WITH GABNEWSONLINE.com "What's Happening In Georgetown?"5/22/26

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:36

How are you? We're doing okay. Uh how are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Oh, you're gonna you're gonna have asked me questions. I was sick last week, so I couldn't call you, and I'm just now starting to get over it. So I've done very little this week.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Are you feeling are you feeling better?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Yeah, I I had a multiple I'm I had the the flu and then I got an eye infection at the same time. Oh my gosh. I'm I'm like Popeye with the flu.

unknown 1:01

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Well I'm I'm hoping that's and I I don't and I don't eat spinach, so uh you know that's that's a problem.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Maybe that is the problem, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Maybe that is the problem. All right. So I've got very little to talk about because I've been out of pocket, but um you can ask me questions or maybe I can answer.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Well, you you had a couple of major stories um about the shootings, uh the couple of shootings and and results from that. So maybe you wanted uh do you have your website with you?

SPEAKER_01 1:29

I've got it on my phone. I gotta pull it up. I'm sorry. I pulled over because I'm like I'm headed to Wacama High School.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

What's going on there?

SPEAKER_01 1:36

To uh to interview the valedictorian and salutatorian. We've got graduations next week. Yeah, Tuesday through Friday next week, we've got our uh four high schools doing their uh graduation ceremony. And um so I always interview the violence from all the high schools. So gonna be doing that today and Tuesday. Anyway, yeah, one of the shootings happened, not didn't happen here, it happened in Hardyville, um in South Carolina. That's where the uh you may remember we talked about it earlier this year. Uh the polyviolent teen uh was shot and killed. Um Jaden Um Caldwell. Um he was shot and killed during a uh police involved shooting uh that happened in Hardyville um back earlier this year. Well, the sled report came out this week, and it was determined that um no charges are gonna be filed against the police officer. Uh the sled report showed that uh uh the 19-year-old from Poly Island shot first, shot a officer in the leg, and then uh the officers returned fire, shot him in the head, and he and he passed away. But uh all the indications are is the uh officer uh did did nothing criminally wrong at all. And um, so uh no charges could be filed in that. You know, it's the the the parents uh the the teen's mothers we we interviewed them a couple of times after this happened, and they never said that they didn't think you know he was in the wrong. They just wanted to see the proof. They wanted to see the uh you know the body cam, the the maybe the dashboard camera, whatever uh footage. Um so now I I I I haven't talked to them since the SLED report c uh came out, but um hopefully, you know, maybe you know they got the answers they were looking for, I hope. You know, but um yeah when we interviewed them, they never said no, my son's innocent, you know, he did not do this. They said they just wanted to uh they wanted to see the the truth, whether it was from cameras or reports or whatever. So um uh they've got uh what led says is the truth now, and um hopefully they'll be able to uh to move uh past this and get on uh with our lives, I hope. Um they have the answers. Unfortunately, you know, the the the the guy uh the 19-year-old was uh supposedly breaking into cars um in a parking lot uh in Hardyville. He was there visiting his grandmother uh when all of this happened and supposedly was breaking into cars, which is why police showed up and uh that led to uh all the events that happened there. But um so uh I I guess that story is over now. Uh now that that's um the uh those questions have been answered. And there was another shooting. Um that this one happened in Williamsburg County, but right over the county line, uh right past Andrews in Williamsburg County. Um Williamsbury uh Williamsburg County man uh he's been charged with murder um because of the shooting that happened near Andrews. Uh one person died. Um uh the sheriff's office of Williamsburg uh went Sunday, May 17th, uh, to uh a Cumbee Road home. And uh they say William Swallows Jr. of Andrews uh called dispatch and reported that he had shot someone while inside his home. So the uh the shooter actually called 911 and said, I did it. Well they investigated and found uh maybe he shouldn't have done it. And uh charged him with murder. And um I'm sorry I don't have the uh the victim's name in um this story. Because the victim's name hadn't been released when this was written. But anyway, uh so yeah, this happened uh, like I said, on Sunday, and um yeah, one man charged with murder. Uh what is his name? His name is um I'm sorry, I'm not all together today.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

That's okay. You're just getting back.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Yeah, yeah, William Swallows Jr. of Andrews. He's uh been charged uh with murder in in that case. And the other thing, uh, we've got an interesting interview that we're gonna be posting, I think, Monday. Uh we've got one of the uh races that'll be on the uh uh June 9th uh primaries in the Democratic primary. Um we've got a uh race for House Seat 103. Right now, of course, the incumbent in that is Carl Anderson. He's been uh the um seat holder of that seat for God a long time. Many, many terms. He's and he's running for re-election. He's got an opponent. Sometimes he doesn't have an opponent, but this year he does have an opponent, a guy named Wendell Padgett from uh Berkeley County, from Jamestown, is running against him. Now, we've interviewed him uh Wednesday night, uh, and we're gonna post that Monday. But during the interview, he says that he had a conversation with uh James Sanderson, who is the uh uh president of the Steel Workers Union uh in Georgetown County. And um, of course, they're still an organization, even though the steel mill is closed, because they do represent other entities. They've got, I think, uh the cafeteria workers at the hospital and and a couple of other uh groups that they um that they represent. So they're still here. Uh anyway, he said he was talking to the president, James Sanderson, and said that Sanderson told him, and we haven't confirmed this with Sanderson yet, but I I I'm gonna try to do it today if I get a chance, but he said Sanderson told him there's still hope of the steel mill coming back. What? Now if you go by if you drive down Fraser Street if you drive down Fraser Street in Georgetown, um half of the building is gone. And the other half is basically a shell, uh waiting to be torn down. Um so I asked him, I said, No, wait a minute, so you're saying that you've been told that the steel mill could come back. And he said, Yeah, because the part that hadn't been torn down, it's got some machinery still in it that can be used.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

I don't believe this.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

You know, and the steel making process. I'm like, okay, so so uh so I questioned him again. I said, No, but the problem is the property has been rezoned. You know, this past October after it had been closed for a year. I mean, that's the deal.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

The deal is if you close again, it's gone.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Then you you cannot put a you know industry on that a heavy industry on that property. Um so I questioned him again. You know, I said, you know, you sure it's dead? You said, oh yeah, there's a you know, anything can happen, you know, it's not a done deal. Steel mill might not be dead yet. All right. So I'm like, okay. So anyway, um we're gonna we're gonna post that money. I'm gonna get yeah, but no, I don't think the steel mill can come back. I really don't. I don't I don't see any way, shape, or form. And I don't know if uh, you know, I don't know if it was a misunderstood conversation or or what. But anyway, that's gonna be interesting. And we're gonna we're gonna interview his opponent, Carl Anderson, today. So we'll have both of those um next week. But um, yeah, that's some of what I was able to scramble up on.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Thank you so much, Scott Harper. Well, I hope you have a good Memorial Day weekend.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Yeah, I yeah, I guess I've always been told you can't say happy Memorial Day. You can say good, you can say, you know, whatever. You can't say happy Memorial Day. I don't know if that's true or not, but um anyway, so hopefully everyone uh is safe this weekend with all the bikers and everything. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Thank you so much. You can go to gapnewsonline.com, continue to feel better, and uh we'll talk to you next week.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Thank you.