Hydroelectric dam’s heritage celebrated
as Ware Shoals prepares to get feastive

May 27, 2006

By VIC MacDONALD
Index-Journal regional editor

WARE SHOALS — Cake and catfish came together here Friday as Town Hall hosted a celebration of the town’s once-thriving textile industry and still-going hydroelectric dam.
The Ware Shoals Hydroelectric Project turned 100 years old on Thursday, the anniversary of the day the Riegels fed the first cotton into the looms at Ware Shoals Manufacturing. The hydro project and the still-functioning dam that tamed the Saluda River and turned its power into electricity fueled the former textile giant for decades.
Though textiles now are gone from Ware Shoals, a Friday birthday party that included town council members, hydro project employees and town residents celebrated the fact that the stately dam stands proudly beside the shoals.
“We are the quintessential mill town,” Mayor George Rush said. “The only problem is, we don’t have a mill. The hydro made it all possible.”
Though few from the town came to the party, many were working just outside in the town park, serving food and putting final touches on the 26th Annual Catfish Feastival that continues today.
Why feastival? “We eat our way through it,” Rush quipped.
The festival celebrates the good eating that fishing lines can pull from the Saluda River, just a stone’s throw from Town Hall, and the family-oriented recreation available at Pitts Park beside the shoals.
The hydro project contributes to the outdoors mecca by marking portage routes around the dam for canoers and kayakers traveling the river, by providing fishing access and by installing duck boxes for nesting.
Water flow from the dam also is timed around the spawning cycles of fish in the river. And the hydro project sponsors a Christmas tree reclamation program.
The hydro project is managed by Consolidated Hydro Southeast Inc. in Piedmont, a subsidiary of Enel North America Inc.
“The FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) license for the hydro-electric plant was just renewed. It is good for 30 years,” said Beth Harris, project engineer/manager, regulatory services for Consolidated. “We are working with the community to make the Ware Shoals facility work for everybody.” “We have appreciated your cooperation all these years,” Rush said.
Rush and Harris said the hydro project has been working with an Upstate kayak group to develop a whitewater recreation access area that could attract enthusiasts of that sport to Ware Shoals.
“The canoe and kayak folks like to do that sport on this part of the river,” Rush said. “We can use the river for recreational and ecologically sound uses.”
On a table in Town Hall, where the birthday cake and punch were served, was a framed archive of the town’s history. What is thought to be the first town planning document and map for Ware Shoals has been salvaged and displayed. The May 30, 1906 map was found in the former Riegel textiles plant.

Post 20 ready for play

May 27, 2006

By CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal sports writer

While many baseball fans in Greenwood and the Lakelands area might list the Atlanta Braves or perhaps the Greenville Drive as teams they like to follow in the summertime, some would certainly list Greenwood’s own American Legion Post 20 squad as a team of interest.
Post 20 is hard at work preparing for the upcoming season, which begins June 5 with a home game against Easley. The team has a preseason scrimmage tonight at Easley.
The squad had a topsy-turvy campaign in 2005, finishing 16-12 before beginning play in the state tournament. Though the team did not win a League VII title, it advanced to the state event by virtue of Legion Field hosting the tournament. The squad made the most of the appearance, however, finishing third.
Post 20’s roster will take on a distinctively different look this season, according to coach Billy Dean Minor.
The team is returning only five players from last season. However, there are several standouts among that five.
Kyle Behrendt, from Greenwood High School, is back for 2006.
Behrendt led the team with 46 hits and a .411 batting average a year ago. He also had the team’s lowest ERA on the mound, at 0.95 and paced the unit with two saves.
Among other pitchers returning are Nick Milford, from Anderson College, Justin Collier, from Thornwell, and Brandon Miller, from Emerald.
Milford and Collier each had five wins in 2005, good for the team lead.
Milford led Post 20 in total innings pitched with 54.
Miller should add stability on the mound as well, seeing as how he is coming off a high school campaign in which he was named class AA player of the year.

Opinion

Few of us could match the enthusiasm of Tommy Cox

May 27, 2006

Jesse Thomas “Tommy” Cox died Wednesday at age 80. He packed so much into those 80 years, though, the term, “living a full life” could have been coined for him.
His family, church, civic, collegiate, military and professional experiences were so extensive the mere challenge of keeping up could have left others wondering how to find the time to do so much. And they were spread over many areas of the world.
For Tommy Cox, though, the rapid pace of juggling so many activities, and doing all of them well, was a gift. His interests and participation in such a variety of life were the things that made him tick. More than, that. He thrived under the passion for service and the natural pressure when many of us would falter.

THERE ARE MANY THINGS that could be said or written about Tommy, and they all are worthy of comment, if not awe. There was one thing, though, that stands out and deserves a special mention. He was one of the rare individuals who had an affinity for both the University of South Carolina and Clemson University, and it showed in the warm feelings he had for both. It also was a positive reflection on his character. He earned degrees from both and lettered in baseball at USC.
Many people and organizations will miss the enthusiasm of Tommy Cox. Few come along that take such interest and do so much to make a community better. Tommy did that for Greenwood and South Carolina.

Obituaries

Willie Thomas ‘Tom’ Jones

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Willie Thomas “Tom” Jones, 58, of 13 Burnie Lane, died Sunday, May 21, 2006 at Millard Fillmore Hospital.
Born in Abbeville, S.C., he was a son of Nancy Lee Clayton Jones and the late Willie Jones. He was a graduate of Wright High School and a carpenter. He was of the Methodist faith.
Survivors include his mother and three sisters, Ophelia Lewis, Mrs. Teddy (Brenda) Lewis and Mrs. Perry (Claudine) Murray, all of Calhoun Falls, S.C.
Services are 2 p.m. Sunday at Abbeville & White Mortuary, conducted by the Rev. Johnnie Waller. Viewing is 1-8 p.m. today at the mortuary.
The family is at the home of his mother, 110 Caldwell St., Calhoun Falls.
Abbeville & White Mortuary Inc. is in charge.

Mattie Benson Knight

ELBERTON, Ga. — Mattie Belle Benson Knight, 80, formerly of 1127 Edgefield Ave., Greenwood, S.C., died Friday, May 26, 2006 at Elberton Memorial Hospital.
Services will be announced by Harley Funeral Home, Greenwood.

CORRECTION

For the obituary of Juanita Middleton Plummer in Friday’s paper, there were errors in the information given to The Index-Journal. She was 75 and was born in Bronx, N.Y.