[00:00:10] Speaker A: Hey, good morning and welcome to the April edition of Georgetown County's first Friday podcast. My name is Randy Akers. I'm the deputy public information officer for Georgetown County. I know mine is the face and voice you probably were not expecting to see or hear this morning. Unfortunately, our public information officer, Jackie Broch, is going through a bout of laryngitis right now. So she's not really exactly able to do a podcast that involves a lot of talking. So we wish her well and hope that she'll be back with us next month. Got a big slate of people on tap for you today. We have Walt Ackerman here to talk about a new project in the register of Deeds office. We have Afra McRae to speak about some things going on with elections and voter registration. We've also got our airport manager, Jim Taylor. But leading us off today is Antoine Maybank. Many of you who are familiar with Georgetown know that Antoine Maybank went to Georgetown High School, went on to participate in the Olympics, one gold medal, and now he has a track and field named after him. And an annual Antoine Maybank day here in Georgetown. We're going to go ahead and get into that interview right now.
Joining me now is Antoine Maybank. As I previously mentioned, Antoine Maybank is a former Georgetown high school student who went on to participate in the Olympics, won himself a gold medal. He brings it down and shows it to us on Antoine Maybank day every year. And mister Maybank, how are you doing today?
[00:01:26] Speaker B: I am doing wonderful. I'm extremely excited and can't wait to see the smiling faces of the kids each year.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: Well, we are certainly looking forward to it as well. Antoine Maybank Day this year is on April 20 here in Georgetown. That is a Saturday. But before we get into that, I understand you'll actually be helping us out with our senior Olympics this year. The day before, yes, it was new.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: Last year, and I'm even more excited because the first year I came down and I was speaking to Beth, I was amazed by the fact that so many older adults are out there being more fit and health conscious about themselves. Cause I said, up here, it's a different scenario. Some of them work hard. But when I came home, I saw that they're actually having competitions with themselves. And that made me feel extremely well, because I've seen how far everyone has come from an aging process to being more health conscious.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: Yeah, they do. They. They really get after it out there. They, uh, they go all ages from 50 up to, I think, one year that I was helping them out with it. They had a 95 year old out there and they're really going after it.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: Yes, I saw some, someone in their late eighties last year and she surprised me with her energy and her conversation. So I was. I'm always blown away by people who are continuing to push the barriers, especially not limiting themselves to the age limitations that people place them on.
[00:02:56] Speaker A: Now, there's probably not many people in Georgetown that aren't familiar with your accomplishments in the Olympics. But for anybody who may be learning about you for the first time through this podcast, talk a little bit about your experience in the Olympics and what that's led you to do later in life.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: The Olympics was a platform for me. It was an amazing accomplishments, amazing feat. When I work with the kids, always tell them. Cause they ask about me being an olympian. I said it was a point in my life that gave me more opportunities to actually reach others. The Olympics themselves, especially competing for the United States, but definitely for my hometown of Georgetown. Cause my older friends, they always say I placed Georgetown on the map and it's. Everyone always flies through Georgetown on the way to Myrtle beach or Charleston, but they never stop to enjoy all the treasures that we have right there in that small little Georgetown area. So it's. It's been the fact that I can actually use my athleticism and my experience to share with other kids and inspire them to make sure that they can actually reach their goals and expectations and make sure they understand that nothing could slow them down. No matter what someone else may say, it's actually going to be up to them to actually have the energy and willpower to continue to reach their goals.
[00:04:16] Speaker A: And those are definitely some great lessons to impart to kids today. We are having the annual Antoine Maybank day festivities on April 20. As I mentioned previously, you're going to come down to the Beck recreation center and the Antoine Maybank track and field, which was named for you, I think, two years ago. Is that correct?
Yep, two years ago. And what are, what are you expecting to do? Are you going to race Forrest the squirrel again this year?
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm prepared to race for us. Last year, Forrest looked like he was younger and fitter than he was the year before.
So I, I'm excited to keep pushing and challenging myself so we can have a very good, fair competition between the two of us.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I think he must have been paying attention to some of your coaching. He's been getting himself in shape and I think he's going to try and beat you this time. So you might have. He might have your work cut out for you?
[00:05:08] Speaker B: I've been preparing. Don't worry.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: All right. Well, mister Maybank, is there anything else you'd like to say to the folks down here in Georgetown before you get to town?
[00:05:18] Speaker B: Well, I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends that I went to high school with. Each year, I always get a notification from someone who wasn't aware of the event. So I try to publicize as much as I can on my social media just so that I can make sure that those individuals I went to school with can bring their kids out so that they can meet me and we can have a discussion and just have a really good time. So that's what I'm looking forward to. All the kids being able to just enjoy themselves, run and see how much enjoyment that their parents used to do at their age right now, when we're still not aging myself in our fifties or more.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: And for the folks down here in Georgetown who aren't already following you on social media, where can they find you and keep up with you?
[00:06:05] Speaker B: They can find me on my Facebook page, which is just my name, Antoine Maybank, on Instagram, the same thing, Antoine, maybe in addition to LinkedIn. So those social pages, I usually publicize anything that I'm doing coming down to Georgetown that I actually put out for people to view.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: Fantastic. Well, just a reminder, everybody. April 20 at the Beck Recreation center track and the Antoine Maybank track and field. Please come out and join us. We'd love to see you there. If you have some time the day before on April 19, please come out and join us for the annual senior Olympics going on out there. Mister maybach will be out there helping out with that as well. Thank you so much for joining us today. We're really looking forward to seeing you. Thank you.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: I'm looking forward to coming home again.
[00:06:47] Speaker A: Next up today, we have Georgetown county director of administration Walt Ackerman. Walt is here to talk to us about a new program in the register of Deeds office. Is that correct, Walt?
[00:06:54] Speaker C: Yes, sir, it is. This is an exciting new opportunity for our. Our property owners in the county to protect themselves from potential fraud. It's becoming much more widespread nationwide and have. We've had several instances in the state of South Carolina and other counties, but none that we are aware of in Georgetown county to date.
This is a fraud scheme. The latest scheme, I guess, where someone comes in and they file documents on a piece of property that you own, purporting that you have sold it to them, transferred it, whatever, and now it is your property. Or is their property. I'm sorry. And there have been instances in other states where people have went to just like vacant lots that they owned and show up and somebody's building a house on it, because whoever filed did the frauds and turned around and sold that property to somebody else and they thought it was their property. So they start building a house on it. And it can be a long, drawn out mess. You know, of course, you know, if this is discovered, and the problem is if it's discovered, you know, you can go to court and you can certainly win the case, but you have legal fees involved. It's a lot of time. So we have come up with a solution to head us off at the pass.
This is a piece of software that we have purchased, and it's a very, very simple process. You go on to the register of Deeds
[email protected], there's a link to sign up for this property fraud alert. You go in, you enter the name that you want to be alerted on so you can use multiple names. Like for me, I did my first name, I did my middle name. You know, I did various different combinations of names just in case, and an email address where the alert goes to. It's just that simple. Takes 30 seconds tops.
And in the whole process, I think it's advisable to enter multiple names, any combination. Go in and enter your family members names. If you got like, you know, I have elderly parents, so I went in and entered their names as well, just in case something comes up on their property.
And we need to spread the word on this, you know, get, get everybody that, you know, attuned to it, go in, you know, protect yourself, protect Others. If, if our county is seen as a well protected county, hopefully the fraudsters will say, well, we just need to avoid that place altogether. So this could have, you know, the more people we get on, the better it's going to be going down the road for everybody, right?
[00:09:42] Speaker A: So this service only works for properties that are in Georgetown county. So for example, if you own land in another state or another county, this will not work for those properties, correct?
[00:09:50] Speaker C: That is correct.
It's only going to alert on something that is filed in Georgetown county. So a filing needs to be in the county in which the property is located. So if someone tried to come into our county and file where you had sold property in Greenville county, then our folks should catch it and say, this is not one of our tax map numbers. You can't file this here. You have to go file it in Greenville county. So just remember, it's a simple, easy process, easiest way to do it. Go to the county website. On the register of Deeds page, there's a link for the property fraud alert registration. And I will say this, we can't see it on our end. We have no way to know who registered and who did not. So if you're calling to ask a question about how to register, that's fine. Call to register deeds office. But if you want to know whether your registration took or not, no need to call our office because we couldn't tell you. If you're not getting that alert email, just go back in and re register.
The best way to do it.
[00:10:56] Speaker A: Great. Well, thank you so much. Appreciate the information today.
[00:10:59] Speaker C: Thank you, sir.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: Joining me now is Jim Taylor. Jim is the manager of the Georgetown County Airport and they've got some pretty exciting stuff coming up this month. Jim, how are you today?
[00:11:08] Speaker D: Doing real fine, thank you.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: Fantastic. Well, tell me about what you got going on.
[00:11:13] Speaker D: Let's start with the b 29 dock.
It's one of only two surviving and flying in the world today.
It's coming to Georgetown on the 25th. It'll be on display the 25th, 26th.
It will be giving flight experiences on the 27th, Saturday, and then on Sunday it heads to the next airport.
That coincides with South Carolina Aviation Week, which is that entire week. And a lot of airports across the state host events to get people excited about aviation, to let the citizens of the community know the value of the airport.
Our aviation week event is Saturday the 27th. We're having an open house from 10:00 a.m. Until 02:00 p.m.
We have a few more static aircraft that will be displayed along with dock given rides. It's going to be a neat need a few days at the airport.
[00:12:26] Speaker A: Yeah, it sounds like it. That's really cool to see a b 29. A lot of people in Georgetown might not think that a plane like that can land at Georgetown. How does. When a larger plane comes in like that, how does that work for you guys? Is there anything special that you have to do?
[00:12:38] Speaker D: Not really. This airplane is 141ft wide.
When the United States Marines built the airport back in the forties, they were planning for 40ft wide aircraft.
On my way here this morning, I thought of one more thing I have to go back to the airport and measure. It's a radio transmitter to make sure that 140 1ft wingspan is going to clear when they make that turn on the taxiway. But other than that, no. We can land larger aircraft than most.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: People realize, and especially with the recent renovations at the airport to the Runway, you can also land heavier aircraft now here as well.
[00:13:23] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[00:13:25] Speaker A: So tell us a little bit about the in the air experiences with Doc. I know that the open house, that there's not really a charge associated with that, is there? Is that correct?
[00:13:33] Speaker D: No charge for the open house. People can come down, bring the kids, see the airplanes, get up close and personal with them, talk to the pilots, dock to tour the B 29.
They do charge for it. That's how they keep the airplane flying, buying the fuel for it, buying the maintenance for it.
It's $10 per person or $20 for a family to tour the aircraft. But the rest of the airplanes that'll be on display, no charge, come down, look around, enjoy, and the in the.
[00:14:09] Speaker A: Air experience with dock, there is a pretty big cost associated with that.
[00:14:13] Speaker D: Pretty big cost. But you have to realize each one of those engines are 2200 horsepower, consuming about 100 gallon of fuel per hour per engine, and there's four of them. So just the fuel bill alone is incredible on that.
I haven't looked how much the ride experiences are, but you have to ask yourself, this is a once in a lifetime thing.
When are you ever going to get a chance to jump in 1945 B 29 and fly over the coastline? I think it's going to be incredible.
[00:14:53] Speaker A: I think so, too. I think it's going to be a great opportunity for people to get out and see some of these older planes and also get out and see the Georgetown county airport. So we talked a lot about Doc, but tell us a little bit more about what some of the other planes that might be out there for people to see on the 27th.
[00:15:09] Speaker D: Dock. A P 51 Mustang, a P three, a Pilatus P three painted up in a swiss military colors. It's a gorgeous airplane.
We are still receiving confirmations on planes that are coming, but an L 18, which in layman's terms is a Piper cub painted up in military colors, that was used as an observer airplane during wartime events.
Folk Wolf 149, a german fighter, potentially we have a t 28 coming, which is a monster, single engine, massive radio engine, korean war aircraft, potentially two t might have a special treat from our friends in Charleston.
Might be either a flyover at noon or a massive, massive airplane landing on our Runway, backing up and then doing a short field takeoff.
[00:16:29] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:16:30] Speaker D: We're still putting the finishing touches on.
[00:16:33] Speaker A: That, so stay tuned and keep up with what's going on so people can know and hopefully get out there and see that that's going to be quite a sight.
[00:16:40] Speaker D: It is. And I will keep the updates on our airport Facebook page and I'm sure the county will share them on their Facebook pages.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: And you guys are Georgetown County Airport on Facebook?
[00:16:52] Speaker D: Correct.
[00:16:52] Speaker A: So this is going to be a great event. Is it going to be for all ages or just adults or who is this marketed towards?
[00:16:57] Speaker D: All ages. Young and young at heart, kids. I want to see kids instead of playing on the video games, coming out to the airport and getting excited about airplanes, maybe at a young age they start thinking about the future and it's an incredible career path.
And the young at heart, 50, 60, 70, 80 year old people that have a love for aviation, that when an airplane flies by, looks up in the sky to see what it is. That's the audience that I want to come out and be a part of this event.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: Tell us a little bit more about some things you have going on at the airport right now.
[00:17:43] Speaker D: Oh, economic development is the focus.
We are a jewel that people are starting to discover with Sherpa moving to the airfield here two years ago and they're occupying and operating out of their new hangar.
That has generated a lot more interest with other businesses looking at Georgetown county.
If I could equate it to the county industrial parks.
We attract businesses to come to the county to provide good paying jobs.
It's pretty much the same thing out at the airport with a little bit of a twist. Aviation jobs are more in demand and command a higher salary. So aviation jobs are good paying jobs and it's kind of what we're trying to attract out there and to set up, along with additional hangar space, highest and best use of all the available land that we have out there.
We're one of the few, if not the only, airport along the coast that has expansion opportunities.
Charleston, Myrtle beach, both are built out heavily congested.
You couldn't put another airplane on either airfield for storage.
Georgetown has the opportunity to capture this, the drive from Charleston to Georgetown county airport. It's only 45 minutes now and it's a straight line and little traffic.
I have a feeling we're going to see some tremendous growth soon.
[00:19:39] Speaker A: Well, Jim, thank you so much for sharing all this wonderful information today with us. As Jim said, you guys can find them on Facebook. Georgetown county airport. We will also be sharing news about the event on the Georgetown county government Facebook page. Jim, thank you again. Have a great day.
[00:19:53] Speaker D: Thank you, sir.
[00:19:54] Speaker A: Our candidate filing period recently just ended for partisan offices, and here to talk to us about that today is afraid. McRae, our election strategy. Aphra how are you today?
[00:20:03] Speaker E: I am doing very well. Thank you for having me. So, yes, Candidate Fallon has ended as. Ended successfully as of Monday, April Fools Day at noon. And so Georgetown county can expect a June primary, which is to take place on June 11. So we'll talk a little bit about what you can expect on your ballots and which candidates you can expect to see.
We do have a democratic. We will have a democratic and republican primary that the voters can expect to see. So let's just go down the list and talk about who's on it.
[00:20:46] Speaker A: Great.
[00:20:47] Speaker E: So on the state level, in the democratic primary for the congressional district, district seven race, which is all of Georgetown county, the voters can expect to see a Mal Hymen and a Daryl Scott. Tom Russell Frye currently holds the seat. Forgive me. So Russell Fry currently holds the seat. He beat out Tom Rice about two years ago. So we have two new democratic candidates again, Daryl Scott and Mel Hyman. They can expect to see those to newcomers on their ballots.
So for our local races, county council district three.
So while you have four candidates that have filed to run for that office, you'll only see a democratic primary. There is a republican candidate by the name of Craig Cumby.
He has failed to run under the republican party, but he will proceed straight to the general election ballot unless he withdraws prior to that time. So on the democratic side for the county council district race, the voters can expect to see Ernie Cooper, Sr.
Everett, Carolina, and Andre Evans.
So in June, on June 11, that is who you can expect to see for the democratic primary. All of our four early vote centers will be open. So anyone wanting to participate to vote in the county council district three race can do so. And we'll talk about those dates towards the end. County council district four, which is the city of Georgetown, people can expect to see, as it stands right now, a republican primary. Although you have a democratic running, the only Democrat running that is Henry Hobson. I'm sorry, that's Hobson. Henry Milton, running as a Democrat for county council district four. The two Republican candidates, as it stands today are Jonathan Ankner and a Ronald Charlton. His name is going to be Ron Charlton on the ballot. But I don't want to confuse voters. It's not the. The prior councilman, Ron Charlton. It's his son. Okay. And so a lot of people were calling and asking, which Ron Charlton is that.
[00:23:14] Speaker A: There's a lot of Ron Charlton's in Georgetown, apparently, yes.
[00:23:16] Speaker E: And should he be a junior? Well, it seems that they have two different middle names, so that changes the game there as far as a junior senior goes. But voters can expect to see the two Republicans, Jonathan Ankner and Ron Charlton, on the ballot in June for the county council district four race. So, as it stands, as far as primaries go, that well. No, there's one more. So your South Carolina State Senate 32 has opposition. You have Ronnie Saab, who currently holds that seat. He does have another democratic opponent by the name of Princecilla Sumter, and she is from the St. Stephen's area. So voters can also expect to see South Carolina State Senate 32 on their ballot June 11 of this year.
[00:24:08] Speaker A: Okay. And I noticed we had a lot of questions about why Ronnie Saab wasn't appearing on our website. That's because he filed somewhere else, correct?
[00:24:16] Speaker E: Correct. Correct. So if we process your candidate filing paperwork, then you'll see your information listed in our file, meaning our website, our paperwork in the office. If a candidate files elsewhere, then their paperwork will be processed and viewable in that county.
[00:24:39] Speaker A: So tell us about some of the other people that are running for county offices this year.
[00:24:42] Speaker E: So let's. We already know who to see on the June 11 ballot. Let's talk about who we'll see in November. So I have a list here. It's easier for me to go off my list. I don't miss anybody. All right, so for your county council district two race, we have Bob Anderson running as a Republican, and he is unopposed.
We have Carter Weaver Sr.
Running for the sheriff's office. He is running as a Republican. He does have opposition, but he has democratic opposition, and so you won't see a primary there. The two will move on to the general election.
We have Stephen Goldfinch running for South Carolina state Senate, 34. As a Republican. He is running unopposed.
We have Lee Hewitt running for the South Carolina House representative, 108 seat. He's running as a Republican, and he is also running unopposed. You have Ken Baker running for the Georgetown county auditor. He's running as Republican also, and he is running unopposed. Alma White, running for Georgetown county clerk of court as a democratic candidate. Miss Alma White is running unopposed.
Coroner Chase Ridgway, running as the coroner. Under the republican party, he's running as unopposed. Raymond Newton, running for county council district number five. As a Republican, he is also running unopposed. Miriam Mace, running for the treasurer, the Georgetown county treasurer's office. She's running as a Republican, and she's running unopposed also.
Lee Powers Bowen, running as the probate judge under the republican party. She's also running unopposed. Carl Anderson, running as the South Carolina state House representative, running as a Democrat, also running unopposed, we had two candidates to withdraw from the county council district four race, so voters will not see them at all.
The names are Theodore Ted Brown, running as a Democrat for county council district four. And then you had Travis T. Jones running as a Democrat for county council district four. And they, as of now, have both currently withdrawn themselves from that race.
We have Burt K. Adams running for the sheriff's department under the democratic party, and he's running unopposed. And that is the end of your candidate. So anybody who we didn't discuss for June 11 that I just named you will see them on the November ballot unless they withdraw.
[00:27:41] Speaker A: Gotcha. And this is a big year for y'all.
What's going on this year that makes this such a big year? You want to talk about it?
[00:27:49] Speaker E: Well, we will have, basically will have the president on the ballot. Okay. And so whenever you have. Whenever you're conducting federal elections like that, you see more of a turnout this year. You'll see more of a turnout this year than you will the last three years.
People who hadn't voted in 1610, five, eight, and seven years are gonna come out. So people really.
People really, for whatever reason, connect to the presidential race more than your other elections. So we're prepared.
We have all of the resources and volunteers and paid workers right now that I think we'll need. We should be fully staffed at all of our early vote locations. Everybody will be properly trained in depth this year because of the volume. So we are doing everything that we possibly can to make sure that it's easy, it's accessible, it's convenient, and voters don't experience any type of fatigue as much as we can right now.
[00:29:03] Speaker A: For some of those people that have not voted in quite some time, how can they go about checking their voter registration to make sure that they're still up to date?
[00:29:09] Speaker E: Those voters will need to give us a call, stop in at our local office. We will hold two events. I am still waiting on the date for the second event, but the first event is going to be held at the Howard auditorium, and we're still trying to gather the details, what we are going to offer. I know we are going to have machinery there for people. People to touch it, see what it looks like.
We want to instill more voter confidence. We have a lot of people come when it's time to vote, and they don't know how the machines work, and so it takes a little time, and we can see them lose a little confidence. So we don't want that this year, busy year. Long lines. So we kind of want to, we want to speed up the process as much as possible. So, but one of the things I think we are going to offer is we will have a station there for anyone to check their voter registration, change their address, or even take one of our new pictures that you can, the hard plastic copy. So there will be a station there for people to check their voter registration. And I encourage them to do that. I also encourage people to follow us on Facebook. A lot of our information comes there in real time. And so you stay up to date with what we're working on and what we're doing. So we are going to have those two events and we will post those on our website.
I'm going to say at some point next week. That way voters know when they're taking place and what time they're taking place so that they can come and attend.
[00:30:52] Speaker A: That sounds like it's going to be an excellent opportunity for people to get out and learn more about the process. I know you said you're good for staffing or in a good place with staffing right now, but I don't want to let you get out of here without telling people how they can volunteer in the future and they can get paid to work for you guys in the future at the polls. You want to talk a little bit about that before we go?
[00:31:10] Speaker E: So if anyone is interested in working the polls again, give our office a call. Stop in. We do have the paperwork on our website. If you go to gtcounty.org vote, there's a link on the left hand side. If you're on an iPad or a laptop. If you're on your cell, that link will probably be at the very bottom so you can click on that link info for poll workers and apply there. We receive the information real time.
[00:31:36] Speaker A: Great. So, ephra, anything else you think we need to know about the elections this year?
[00:31:41] Speaker E: Next most next big event will be the early vote, the early voting for the June 11 primaries that will take place or will begin May 28 and will run until June 7. No weekends for the June primaries. You won't see that until the general election from 830 to five. And that will be at all of our early vote locations, the Waccamaw Recreational center, the Chappie Recreational center, your Andrews Recreational center, and the local county office. Call us with any questions that you may have.
[00:32:15] Speaker A: And what's that number?
[00:32:16] Speaker E: 8435-453-0339 great.
[00:32:19] Speaker A: Aphrod, thank you so much.
[00:32:20] Speaker E: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
[00:32:23] Speaker A: That's all for this month's edition of First Friday with Georgetown county. Thank you so much for joining us. I want to wish our public information officer, Jackie Broach well as she recovers from laryngitis. She'll be back with us next month and I'm sure we'll do a much better job than I did today. But before we go, we wanted to let you know about a few things that are going on this month in Georgetown County. April is national county government month. It's an annual celebration that has taken place since 1991. It highlights the roles and responsibilities of counties in serving residents. This year's theme is four. Together we've got some great activities planned for county government month. You can check out our website calendar for more and we might have a feature on next month's podcast to kind of wrap up everything that happens in the month of April for county government month. Today is also the last day that you can register for youth track and field. If you have a child that's interested in getting out and running on the youth track and field program, please visit gtcparks.org to to get them registered for that. We've also got some county council district seven community chats coming up in the month of April. There's one in the spring gully community at McDonald Elementary School on April 11 and another one at Plantersville Elementary School on April 15. Both of those events will start at 05:00 p.m. And run until around 07:00 p.m.
Our Recreation Commission quarterly meeting is at the Beck Recreation center on April 22 from 530 to 07:00 p.m. And the three years anniversary celebration at the Southern Georgetown Library will be on April 27 from 11:00 a.m. To 02:00 p.m., we've of course got a whole host of public meetings going on this month between our county council zoning Board of Appeals Planning Commission and of course the capital Project sales Tax Commission. You can always visit gtcounty.org and go down to the calendar to see when all of those events are taking place. Thank you again so much for watching this month. We'll see you next month.
