Elevator Repairs at Courthouse to Cost $57,000

Observer Reports

Repairs on the out-of-order elevator in the historic courthouse downtown are under way.

The cost to overhaul the hydraulics of the elevator, which was installed in the early 1980s, and has been out of service for almost two weeks, will top out at $57,000 according to Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns. The cost is a fraction of the amount it would take to replace the elevator.

The elevator is required for access to public meetings, which is why county council meetings are being moved to comply. 

Hackers Increasingly Targeting Health Insurance Records

Hackers are targeting medical record data more than ever, and their most rewarding prey appears to be health insurance companies, a new study suggests.

Data breaches involving health plans accounted for 63 percent of all breached records that occurred between 2010 and 2017, said lead researcher Dr. Thomas McCoy Jr. He is director of research at Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Quantitative Health in Boston. 

"A small number of breaches account for the majority of [patient] records breached," McCoy said. "The majority of the breaches are of health care providers, whereas the majority of the records breached are from health plans."

About 70 percent of all breaches occurred with health care providers, compared with only 13 percent of breaches taking place at health insurance companies, the study findings showed.

But more records are exposed through breaches with health insurers -- about 110 million (63 percent) in 2017, compared with 37 million (21 percent) breached through health care providers that same year.

Insurance providers "work around the clock to ensure their data is secure, and to protect its members' information from bad actors who look for ways to break through their defenses," said Cathryn Donaldson, director of communications for America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade association for health insurers.

"They also regularly submit in-depth reports on any sort of company breach or potential for breach to ensure transparency, and immediately work to protect patient information," Donaldson continued. "Our members are committed to defending patients' security and privacy."

All health care entities must report any breaches of medical data to the federal government. McCoy and his colleagues reviewed records related to those breaches.

The total number of breaches have increased nearly every year, rising from 199 in 2010 to 344 in 2017.

But data hacking and information technology breaches now account for most confidentiality breaches of medical data, with 132 million records breached this way in 2017, the researchers reported.

Clemson Coach Robbie Caldwell to Speak at TD Club

Robbie Caldwell, Clemson University’s Assistant Coach for Offensive Lineman is scheduled to speak Friday at the Anderson Area Touchdown Club. Coach Caldwell has a 40 years experience in college coaching and a staff-high 477 college games as a coach.

Players and Coach will be also honored on Friday from their play from the previous Friday night games.

The meal lines opens at 11:30 am with the program beginning at 12:10 pm. Visitors are welcome.  Meal cost for members is $10 and $15 for visitors.

For further information about the Club or to join, call Bill Brissey at 864/226-7380 or Nancy at 864/616-6471.

"Coffee with a Cop" Oct. 3 at Grace's Restaurant

Anderson County Sheriff’s Office is joining nearly 500 law enforcement agencies across the country for its Second Annual “Coffee with a Cop” event Oct. 3, from 8-10 a.m. at Grace’s Restaurant (1510 N. Murray Ave. Anderson) for complimentary coffee with Sheriff Chad McBride and other Sheriff’s Office staff. 

The idea is that building relationships, opening communication and putting faces to the names at the Sheriff’s Office is the key to developing a healthy community-oriented policing program. During “Coffee with a Cop,” there will be no agendas, no speeches and no specific topics.

This informal environment will give citizens an opportunity to have a conversation, ask questions, or make a suggestion with Sheriff’s Office personnel. Coffee will be free.

Groundbreaking for New Airport Terminal Set for Thursday

Correction: Previous information on expansion of runway was incorrect. The renovations did not expand the runway.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the new terminal at the Anderson Regional Airport is set for Thursday, beginng at 10 a.m. at the site of the new building. As part of the vent, there will also be a ribbon-cutting for the new runway, which has been closed for reconstruction and repairs since Aug. 20. 

The new airport terminal is being paid for mostly from funds leftover from the 2017 general fund. Around $1.5 million is being used to match another $2 million in federal and state grants. The $1 million in repairs/renovation/extension of the runway is also being paid for from the 2017 funds. 

Clemson Makes Lawrence Starting QB

ESPN - A week ago, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said he would make a change at quarterback when one player clearly separated himself on the field. That's exactly what happened when Trevor Lawrence looked dominant in a win over Georgia Tech on Saturday, and the school announced Monday that the freshman would be the No. 3 Tigers' new starter.

Kelly Bryant, who led Clemson to the College Football Playoff last season, has started all four games this season, but Lawrence, the No. 2 overall recruit in the nation this year according to ESPN, has been superb coming off the bench, including completing 13 of 18 passes for 176 yards and four touchdowns against the Yellow Jackets on Saturday.

Swinney declined to discuss the quarterback situation Sunday but noted that the win over Georgia Tech was Lawrence's best game to date.

"He really played well," Swinney said. "He was very poised. The game has slowed down for him, and he's making good decisions. ... He made some beautiful throws ... and there's just some technical things to clean up."

A strong performance by Trevor Lawrence against Georgia Tech on Saturday may have pushed the freshman over the top in the race to be Clemson's starting quarterback. Joshua S. Kelly/USA TODAY Sports

Through four games, Bryant has led the offense on 21 full drives, while Lawrence has led 23. Clemson has averaged 4.2 points per drive with Lawrence at the helm, nearly double Bryant's scoring rate.

Scrabble Adds 300 New Words (Including Twerk)

Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Scrabble introduced 300 new entries to its dictionary of acceptable words on Monday.

Merriam-Webster published a list highlighting some of the new words, including portmanteaus and other modifications of existing words, some non-English words and slang terms that have become commonly used in modern vocabulary. 

The two-letter expression of disgust "ew" was the shortest word added to Scrabble's dictionary, joining a list of 106 other two-letter words, which are a vital part of Scrabble strategy.

"OK" was also added to the list after its capitalization prevented it from being used as a Scrabble word in the past.

"It used to be entered only as 'OK' or 'okay,'" Emily Brewster, an associate editor and lexicographer at Merriam-Webster told The New York Times.

"The ability to add seemingly random letters to existing ones will allow a player to enjoy far greater latitude in placing their words on the board, and will annoy opponents who think that the game should be played with words they recognize," the post stated.

The word "frowny" returned to the Scrabble dictionary after being removed from the 1961 edition, giving players another opportunity to play a valuable "Y" tile.

Also among the new additions were "bestie" -- although "BFF" is not yet playable -- and "twerk" along with other forms of the word such as "twerks," "twerked," and "twerking" but not "twerkings" and twerkery."

Two words which didn't originate in English and describe cultural items from other countries were also added to Scrabble's dictionary. First was the word "Qapik" -- a variant of the word gopik, which is defined as "a monetary subunit of the manat" of Azerbaijan, along with "arancini" an Italian style dish consisting of balls of cooked rice.

The remaining additions included "bizjet", a merging of the words "business" and "jet," "zomboid", which added another playable word ending in "-oid" and "beatdown."

"It means that in some ways the whole game is thrown open and made anew," Brewster said of the new additions. "I think it's especially exciting to people who play regularly."

S.C. Lowcountry Facing Fierce Flooding after Florence

Under calm, blue skies, eight days after Florence’s final drops rained down, parts of northeast South Carolina and southeast North Carolina are experiencing devastating flooding from the long-departed hurricane. Entire communities are underwater as some rivers continue to rise.

Conway, S.C., which is less than 15 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach, saw some of the most severe flooding on Monday. The Waccamaw River rose to a record and wasn’t forecast to crest until Wednesday, more than four feet above its previous high mark.

Observed and forecast levels for the Waccamaw River near Conway, S.C. (National Weather Service)

This “underscores why long-lived, significant flood events can cause so much human suffering,” tweeted Taylor Trogdon, a hurricane specialist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. “Hurricane Florence made landfall on September 14th, 10 days ago, and the Waccamaw River near Conway hasn’t crested yet, remaining in record stage.”

The National Weather Service said the river level would crest two feet higher than hurricanes Matthew in 2016 and Floyd in 1999.

“This particular event is extremely uncommon,” Frank Alsheimer, the science and operations officer at the National Weather Service’s office in Columbia, S.C., told Earther. “We’re talking about unprecedented levels we haven’t seen before, and because of that, we’re going to have a lot of personal suffering of people who live in areas that were never flooded before but will be flooded because of this event.”

Video footage showed vast areas, including entire residential zones, covered in water in Conway and other parts of northeast South Carolina and southeast North Carolina.

In the Pee Dee region of northeast South Carolina, just east of Florence, “catastrophic flooding” was occurring Monday, according to the South Carolina Emergency Management Division. It tweeted, “SCDOT crews are shoring up major roads as best they can. Now is not the time to be distracted by what roads may be open and what roads may be closed...we don’t know and won’t know until they flood."

The slow arrival of the floodwaters is the result of the time it takes the water from swollen rivers within North Carolina’s interior to flow downstream. It’s a considerable distance from the interior of the Carolinas to the shore, and the terrain flattens out along the coastal plain, which delays the drainage of water into the lowlands.

More than 40 people have died as a result of Florence. The storm set records for rainfall from hurricanes in both North Carolina and South Carolina, unloading up to three feet of water. It exited the East Coast on Wednesday, but its effects will linger for several more days, at least.

A piece of the former storm may be steered back toward the North Carolina Outer Banks, brushing the region with a little more rain midweek.

AU's “Hazel Louise” a Love Letter to Grandmother with Alzheimer's disease

Observer and AU Reports

Anderson University’s Dr. Deborah McEniry will star in the one-woman show “Hazel Louise,” Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m. in the Daniel Recital Hall.  

McEniry, chair of the South Carolina School of the Arts at AU, co-wrote the  play “Hazel Louise,” with her cousin Dr. Alicia Corts as a tribute to their late grandmother Hazel Louise Corts.

The play is a love letter to their grandmother, who died in 1998, following her life from the days as a child in Illinois during the Great Depression to her final days in West Palm Beach, Florida.

“Gramz practiced kindness until it became a habit,” McEniry said. “She never spoke harshly to anyone. I think her kindness and thoughtfulness was so habitual that even though she didn’t always know much about what was happening those last few years, she still knew how to be kind and polite.” 

The play is more than a love letter, though.  

Alzheimer’s is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States, and the only one for which there is no cure or effective treatment, with more than five million suffering from the ailment. It is both progressive and incurable.  

Cindy Alewine, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Association of South Carolina, has spent nearly 30 years of her life fighting the disease. 

“The hardest part, I think, is a patient losing their memories,” Alewine said. “Families tell us it’s like losing their loved ones a little bit at a time. They are still there, of course, but they lose their ability to communicate and they lose their personality. They forget who their children and grandchildren are. And that’s so painful.”

It’s a pain McEniry knows well.  

“Even at the very end, she never got that combative spirit that can be common in Alzheimer’s patients,” McEniry said. “She didn’t know my name at the end, but she knew that I was someone she loved and so she just called me ‘sweetheart,’ and that was good enough for me.” 

McEniry hopes her performance will generate awareness that will help lead to a cure. 

“The disease has been around for a long time; Dr. Alzheimer’s discovery took place in 1906,” McEniry said. “The National Institute for Aging was formed in the 1970s. The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America was formed in 2002. Significant progress has been made, but more research is needed — particularly with an aging Baby Boomer population. My hope is that the more we can make our public aware of the disease and what it takes from the person and the person’s family, the more we can increase medical research and funding.” 

McEniry will also perform the play (under her stage name, Deborah Colleen White) Oct. 14 at the United Solo Festival on Theatre Row in New York City.

Still Time to Register to Vote in November Elections

Anderson Observer Reports

With the November elections less thansix weeks away, there's still time to register to vote in South Carolina. State law requires a citizen must first register to vote at least 30 days prior to the election, which means registration is open until Oct. 7.

Eligible voters must:

• Be a United States citizen -be at least eighteen years old on or before the next electio
• Be a resident of South Carolina, this county and precinct
• Not be under a court order declaring you mentally incompetent
• Not be confined in any public prison resulting from a conviction of a crime
• Have never been convicted of a felony or offense against the election laws OR if previously convicted, have served the entire sentence, including probation or parole, or have received a pardon for the conviction. 

There is no length of residency requirement in South Carolina in order to register to vote.

Registered voters can check their registration information at scvotes.org When checking your voter registration information, you must provide your name, county and date of birth as it appears on your voter registration card in order to view your information.

Rise in U.S. Oil Output Pushed OPEC to Up Production

LONDON (Reuters) - A steady rise in U.S. oil output will gather pace in the next five years, OPEC said on Sunday, predicting that demand for the producer group’s crude will decline despite a growing appetite for energy fed by global economic expansion. 

“Declining demand for OPEC crude is a result of strong non-OPEC supply in the 2017–2023 period, most notably from U.S. tight oil,” the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its long-term world oil outlook. 

“The U.S. remains by far the most important source of medium-term supply growth, contributing ... two-thirds of new supply, driven by surging tight oil output,” it said. 

The United States has pushed oil output to record levels in recent years on the back of a shale revolution that allowed new technology to unlock reserves previously seen as uneconomic. 

U.S. sanctions on OPEC members Venezuela and Iran have helped pushed oil prices LCOc1 to their highest since 2014 at around $80 a barrel, also spurring U.S. producers to ramp up output. 

However, high gasoline prices for U.S. consumers could create a political headache for President Donald Trump, who on Thursday called again on OPEC to boost supply. 

OPEC said it had revised its growth outlook for non-OPEC crude and liquids to 2023, and was now expecting growth to be 4 million bpd higher than in last year’s report. 

It said non-OPEC would produce 66.1 million bpd of crude and liquids in 2023, up from 57.5 million bpd in 2017. 

The United States will increase tight oil production to 13.4 million bpd in 2023 from 7.4 million bpd in 2017, with total U.S. output reaching 20 million bpd, OPEC said. 

That would make the United States, once the largest crude importer, self sufficient in oil.

Administrator Updates County's Activity in September

From last week, in case you missed it.

Review: Anderson University Stages Bold “Enemy of The People"

By Paul Hyde/Anderson Observer

Does the truth still matter?

It’s a question Americans seem to be mulling a lot these days.Mayor Peter Stockmann (John Leggett), right with cane, argues with his brother Dr. Thomas Stockmann, left standing on platform, in a scene from Anderson University's production of "An Enemy of the People." (Photo Credit: Lynn Guthrie)

And it’s an issue at the heart of Arthur Miller’s bold and strikingly relevant adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People,” which opened Thursday at Anderson University’s Belk Theatre.

An all-student cast, under the deft direction of AU theater professor Robert Homer-Drummond, offers a powerful production of this drama about the fate of truth in a society ruled by fear, self-interest and hyper-partisanship.

Ibsen’s “Enemy” is set in 1882 although Homer-Drummond has moved the play up to the 1950s, when Miller wrote his adaptation.

The play centers on an honest, public-spirited man, Dr. Thomas Stockmann, who has discovered an inconvenient truth: that the water in his spa town has been poisoned by industrial pollution. 

The water threatens the health and lives of the people who journey to enjoy the touristy baths.

But the town’s fortunes depend on the income from the springs. It is, as one character says, “a gold mine.”

As always in the case of big environmental threats (think Flint, nuclear waste and climate change), fixing the problem of the polluted springs will cost a lot of public money. And the springs will have to be shut down for two years.

It matters little that Stockmann has the strength of scientific evidence on his side. It’s a fact that people are being poisoned by the springs. But the town’s self-satisfied leaders, notably Stockmann’s authoritarian brother, Peter, who happens to be the mayor, are much less concerned about the welfare of others than about their own wallets. 

It’s an age-old conflict: truth versus mammon.

For speaking truth to power and trying to save his town, Thomas Stockmann is branded “an enemy of the people.” (It’s a chilling phrase, of course, that has been hurled recently at the American press by a current elected official at the highest level of government.)

It was a gutsy decision for Anderson University to produce this play only a few weeks before an election. “Enemy” takes a dim view of fat cats, conservative conformity, and government complacency and secrecy.

The play’s heroes are the free press and truth-telling liberal reformers.

Miller wrote this extensive adaptation of Ibsen’s drama during that remarkable eight-year period when the playwright produced his other great morality plays: “All My Sons,” “Death of a Salesman,” “The Crucible” and “A View from the Bridge.”

“Enemy” shares with those plays Miller’s glowing sense of decency, love of freedom and sympathy for the underdog.

Miller’s prose often breathes righteous fire. It’s a wonderfully rich text, certainly melodramatic at times. Thomas Stockmann, for instance, is both a doubting Thomas and a Christ figure, persecuted for telling the truth and repeatedly tempted by leading citizens – or as he puts it, “all the ambassadors of hell” -- to compromise his principles.

He is, however, a man who can’t be bought.

Homer-Drummond, the director, and assistant director Megan Rosener lead a dynamic production in AU’s intimate Belk Theatre. The actors deliver the text with clarity and force, even if the play on Thursday night never quite reached its full rafter-shaking potential. There were a few awkward pauses on opening night and sight-line problems as well, although continued performances should tighten things up.

Homer-Drummond and Rosener, much to their credit, identify several opportunities for humor in what is otherwise a serious drama. Moving the 19^th century play to the 1950s was a clever idea, likely to put the audience in mind of the repressive McCarthy era that ensnared such great talents as Arthur Miller. What happens in Ibsen/Miller’s Norwegian town certainly is akin to a Red Scare in miniature.

Nick Holland and John Leggett contribute strong, standout performances as, respectively, the hero Dr. Thomas Stockmann and his blunt brother, Mayor Peter Stockmann. Their pitched confrontations are highlights of the play.

Kelly Lee is a sympathetic Catherine Stockmann, Thomas’ wife, the family peacemaker.

Cami Walters is a winning Petra Stockmann, Thomas’ daughter, a teacher who represents Ibsen’s clear-eyed, independent-minded woman of the future.

Tyler Rabideau does a nice turn as the doddering old publisher Aslaksen, Ibsen’s symbol of the complacent bourgeoisie, with his constant shouts of “moderation!”

DeAndre Weaver plays the sailor Captain Horster with the right note of devil-may-care gusto.

Maggie McNeil steals a scene as the forthright town drunk.

Other fine contributions are offered by Griffen Poore, Tyler White, Adam Hobbs, Aaron Fletcher, Eli Stone and Alexis Morehead.

The set by Dalton Cole and Cami Waters is excellent, foregrounded by a misty water stream: a suggestion of the poisoned waters and a potent reminder that empirical truth is hard to deny. 

Three performances remain of this compelling “An Enemy of the People”: 2 and 7:30 p.m. today and 3 p.m. Sunday. For tickets, see the Anderson University website or call 864-231-2080.

Paul Hyde, a veteran Upstate journalist, writes about everything under the South Carolina sun. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter: @PaulHyde7.