Chiropractic Care in Cottageville, SC

Colleton County School District hosted a FIRST LEGO League East Qualifier robotics competition Saturday, February 12 at Colleton County Middle School (CCMS) to decide which team will go to State.

Nearly 25 teams from all over the South Carolina came to showcase their robotic creations and have their work judged. Eleven teams from Colleton were on hand to compete and demonstrate their STEM and robotic invention.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, basic knowledge needed in today’s fast paced world. The event Saturday focused on STEM projects and presentations designed by children in the county as part of the competition and the county-wide robotics programs.

“Our original goal was to start the program at the middle school, but as things progressed, we extended the program to the high school,” said Ed Williams, Colleton County robotics instructor. “Robotics prepares future engineers. The kids have to do research, math, and science tin order to complete an innovative project.

“Colleton is the only district on the I-95 corridor with a seamless robotics program.”

The robotics program begins with the Pre-K through first grade Discover Program where Head Start children begin learning about the program by playing with LEGOS.

After Head Start, children in the county’s elementary schools participate in the Explorer Program; this is for second - fourth grade. FIRST Tech challenge competitions continue for grades 4-8. FIRST LEGO League competitions are for grades pre-k through eighth grade. Then FIRST Robotics competitions are for grades 9-12, with FIRST LEGO league, FIRST Tech Challenge, and FIRST Robotics Competitions. As children grow and compete, the competition is more intense.

“This really gives me hope for the future. My son is four and has already started robotics. I have been looking at the Boeing company that has a booth here, and I noticed all the skills and job opportunities that robotics provide,” said Ebony Nesmith, a parent at the competition.

Boeing representatives said they were happy to be at the event. “These programs and competitions help inspire future generations of STEM based professionals. As a corporate sponsor, we are proud to support these competitions, locally and nationally,” said Frank Hatten, program manager and education relations specialist from Boeing.

Colleton Middle School also competed and decided to use solar and lunar energy in their product. “Our problem to solve was that the battery for the average delivery drone dies fairly quickly. Our solution was to take NASA’s unbuilt solar drone and improve it to make a solar/lunar powered drone,” said Annaleese Jameson of CMS.

Their idea was so good that the CCMS Robotics Team 9502 advanced to State where they will compete Saturday, February 19 at Cane Bay High School. Team members are Na’ziyah Washington, Annaleese Jameson, Renz Manuel, Jason Scott, Aiden Smoak. The competition for high schools will be held on February 26 at Dreher High School in Columbia.

Cottageville Elementary won first place in the Innovation Project, the Forest Hills City Slicers won the Breakthrough award and Bells Elementary won the Rising Star award.

Allie Stephen’s, a tenth grader at CCHS, won the Volunteer Award, and Mrs. Nikita Holmes won the Coaches Award.

The Colleton robotics programs have already won many awards, and the interest is growing. If parents want to get their children involved, they can contact their schools and find out about the program. Parents can also go to www.firstsouthcarolina.org or firstinspires.org. Parents are needed as volunteers and are needed to support the kids in their STEM activities.

COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - Bond was denied for a Colleton County man accused of making bombs at his home near Cottageville.

Deputies arrested Shuwn Doyle Tuesday night and reported locating explosive devices at his home.

Colleton County deputies arrested Doyle at his home on Carlisle Lane. He was taken into custody after the Charleston County Sheriff’s bomb squad found three handmade explosive devices.

In bond court, an investigator called them “sparkle bombs.”

“Sixteen of those sparkles is the equivalent of a quarter stick of dynamite if you can imagine what a stick of dynamite is,” said Sgt. Ed Marcurella with the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office

An arrest warrant states the investigation began when deputies responded to a home on Carlisle Lane for a verbal dispute. While dispatchers were talking to the caller on the phone the caller reported that there was a bomb on the table inside the home.

An arrest warrant states the caller told emergency operators she believed that there were at least six similar devices inside the home. Authorities said when law enforcement arrived on scene the caller handed them a bag containing two explosive devices.

A search warrant was then executed on the home where investigators say a third explosive device was found by the Charleston Bomb Squad.

Doyle’s family members say he was not making bombs.

“All of this came out of proportion with the bomb situation," said Kimberly Goins, Doyle’s aunt. "It was sparkles that he just wrapped up in electric tape and it went out of control.”

The family says it was a phone call made by Doyle’s younger sister to the sheriff’s office that got the attention of deputies.

“Him and his mother were having an argument and she got scared because she thought there was going to be fighting," Goins said."And she went in the room and called 911 and told them there was a bomb in the house.”

Family members were surprised to see such a show of force.

“My sister comes in and said ‘What are you doing? You see all those lights?’ When I come out I was like wow, and then when the bomb truck come out I was like this is crazy. All taxpayer money for nothing.”said Julie Muckelvaney, Doyle’s aunt.

Investigators say the taped together fireworks are the same as bombs and could seriously hurt or kill someone.

Still Doyle’s family is standing by him.

Doyle is currently on probation for third degree burglary.

If he’s convicted on the three new charges, he could face up to fifteen years in prison.

Copyright 2019 WCSC. All rights reserved.

COTTAGEVILLE — Detectives arrested a man in connection with a Christmas Day bomb blast used in an attempt to rob an ATM on Edisto Island. What helped them identify the suspect: the wig and jacket he wore to conceal his identity.

David Earl Ammons II, 38, is charged with second-degree burglary, safecracking and using a destructive device, authorities said. Ammons was booked into the Charleston County jail on Jan. 19 and waived his right to a bond hearing on Jan. 20.

If found guilty for safecracking, he could face up to five years in prison. If convicted of burglary, he could face 10. He also could face 25 years if found guilty for using a destructive device.

Detectives with the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office arrested Ammons on Jan. 19 after locating him in Cottageville, a small Colleton County town, department spokesman Andrew Knapp said. His arrest came two weeks after Charleston County deputies appealed to the public for more clues in the explosion.

Deputies previously released surveillance video of the incident, showing a heavily disguised person placing what appears to be a pipe bomb next to the ATM structure outside Enterprise Bank of South Carolina on Edisto Island, just after 9 a.m. on Dec. 25.

The device smoked for around 40 seconds before exploding, after which the suspect re-entered the frame and approached the building’s door, which was knocked off its hinges by the explosion’s force. Although the explosion caused enough damage to allow Ammons to enter the structure, the ATM itself was not breached and no money was stolen, Knapp said. No injuries were reported in the explosion.

The person in the video is dressed wearing a long-haired black wig, a camouflage hunting jacket and carrying a pink backpack with flowers on it, according to an arrest affidavit.

The surveillance footage also shows Ammons fleeing from the ATM in a black Audi hatchback, the affidavit said. Witnesses informed detectives this was the getaway vehicle, driven by a second person, it said.

It was the second time law enforcement came across the defendant in the hatchback. A deputy from the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office contacted Ammons in the same vehicle in late October, the affidavit said. The deputy located a long-haired black wig on the front seat of the hatchback, which was captured on the deputy’s dash- and body-camera video, according to the affidavit.

After the Dec. 25 incident, detectives recovered a jacket, wig and remnants from the explosive device, which were apparently discarded along a nearby dirt road. The seized wig was similar to the wigs shown in both the October and December footage. The jacket also looked similar to the one the bomber wore at the bank, the affidavit said.

Witnesses told detectives Kelsie Lynn Ammons, the defendant’s 35-year-old sister, was seen driving the hatchback on Dec. 25. Cellphone records also captured her phone in use on Edisto Island around the time of the attempted robbery, Knapp added. Authorities are searching for Kelsie Ammons as a second person of interest in the case.

Knapp encouraged anyone with information on the woman’s whereabouts to contact the sheriff’s office at 843-202-1700 or dispatch after hours at 843-743-7200.

The American Red Cross is helping a Cottageville family with temporary shelter and food after a house fire destroyed their home on Saturday, March 13th.

Firefighter-paramedics with Colleton County Fire-Rescue were called to the Amber Court house in Cottageville at about 8:55 a.m. They found an adult man climbing out of a small window of the mobile home when they arrived: the man was not harmed.

According to Barry McRoy, chief of Colleton County Fire-Rescue, the house was already about 65 percent engulfed, or filled with flames, when fire crews arrived on scene.

“Firefighters deployed multiple hand lines to the structure and stopped the spread of the flames, but the interior of the mobile home was gutted,” he said. “The family lost most of their belongings.”

McRoy said local fire crews had the fire under control within 15 minutes, but crews stayed on scene for about two hours “performing overhaul.”

According to McRoy, the fire appears to have started in a utility shed located next to the house. The flames then spread to the mobile home, he said. The utility shed, which was about 12x12 in size, was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived on scene.

No one was injured in the blaze.

The American Red Cross was called to help the family.

A second house fire that also occurred in Cottageville last week left a Cottageville family with house damage and with personal losses. (See more information on that story in this issue).

So far this year, CCFR has already responded to 18 structure fires.

In 2020, CCFR responded to 73 structure fires.

According to McRoy, the number of fires in 2020 was down from the year prior: in 2019, Colleton County Fire-Rescue responded to 28 fires.

For this year’s house fires, McRoy said firefighter-paramedics have seen the fires being related to people smoking. He also said yard debris fires this year have gotten out of control and sent flames to nearby houses and structures.

“We are seeing an increase in the woods fires,” he added. “Most of the fires are from people burning outdoors, such as yard debris fires, someone burning off their yard and even people burning household garbage, which is not permitted.

“This is the time of year, people tend to burn yard debris from cleaning up their property or conduct large outdoor burns related to land management,” he said. “Many people leave the fires unattended and they spread to neighboring property or buildings. Some of those structure fires are related to unattended outdoor burning which spread to outside utility buildings.”

A Colleton County School Resource Officer has received a state award for his work in a local school. Deputy Ray Crawford is now the School Resource Officer of the Year for the State of South Carolina. He also has been honored as a top SRO for the Lowcountry Region of the S.C. Association of School Resource Officers.Crawford is from Hampton, S.C. He has been a law enforcement officer for 13 years: three of these 13 years have been with the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office, and he has served as a School Resource Officer (SRO) for that entire time.Crawford is currently the SRO at Cottageville Elementary School.“Since joining CCSO, I’m a volunteer coach at the Colleton County Recreation Center, and I also created a mentorship program called The Distinguished Young Men’s Club, which is a program I developed for young men in grades 3rd through 5th grade that focuses on leadership skills, decision making concepts, conflict resolution modules, etiquettes, physical fitness, and education,” he said. Crawford was recently recognized by this newspaper and by Cottageville Elementary School leaders for his work with the Distinguished Young Men’s Club.“I strive to develop educational ideas that make the job fun, involving the school, parents, and students that help create a positive comradery among our schools which motivates us to push one another,” he said.For Crawford to have been considered for the state and regional SRO award, he was nominated by Cottageville Elementary School and the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office. He also had to be nominated by a community member for “outstanding performance” as a School Resource Officer and for being dedicated to the community. These were the criteria for being selected.He received the award at a recent regional ceremony.“I love being an SRO because it provides me great opportunities to impact the world by positively motivating young people to be the best person they can be,” said Crawford. “One of the most gratifying experiences of being an SRO is when you receive that special phone call from a student saying ‘Thank you’ for working with them and believing in them, which makes all the difference,” he said.Crawford said he plans to continue serving as an SRO next year at Cottageville Elementary School, continuing with the Distinguished Young Men’s Club. He will also be working with the school’s counselor to create a mentorship program for young women at the school, he said.“This upcoming year Cottageville Elementary School and I plan to host a flag football competition called ‘The Cottageville Elementary School Invitational,’” he said. “It is an event that I developed to bring back the comradery among elementary schools in the Colleton County School District.”Crawford is one of seven School Resource Officers in the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office.These SRO’s are specialty-trained officers who are placed in public schools in Colleton County. While the officers are primarily at the schools to ensure safety for students and staff, the officers also serve as mentors to students.These School Resource Officers’ salaries are funded with a combination of money that is a part of the annual budgets from both the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office and the Colleton County School District. The officers’ salaries and the SRO program are also partially funded through a grant, according to Shalane Lowes, spokeswoman for the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office.

Other items that may interest you