Author: Andy Brack

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Florence paper spotlights Center

The Florence (S.C.) Morning News profiled the Center’s work in a story about a Dec. 5 speech by president Andy Brack to the Florence West Rotary Club about the Southern Crescent project.

“Brack believes that by pooling smart people together, his group can do three important things to improve the problems of the South: work to tell people about the problems that exist, work with nonprofits and foundations to fund research and studies and work with the White House to get a special study commission appointed to recommend federal and state policies to raise the standard of living.”

00.scThe story also reported that improving the quality of life was something that should be important to everyone who lived in it, including folks in the Pee Dee region around Florence.

“Number one, as Southerners, we don’t take the easy way out. Number two, I think there are some economic justice issues here that a lot of you have a good quality of life, but we have to remember that there are 20 to 30 percent of people in rural counties that don’t have a good quality of life.

“There is also a moral component to this in that we are a wealthy country and we need to do a little more to leave this place better than we found it. Quite frankly, if we start taking care of all of these areas that drag us down, the South will improve its image.”

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Bushy roof, Clarendon County, S.C.

Bushy roof, Clarendon County, S.C.
Bushy roof, Clarendon County, S.C.

Retired editor Linda W. Brown of Kingstree, S.C., snapped a photo of this old tobacco barn with a bushy roof along S.C. Highway 261 just outside Manning in Clarendon County.  “It doesn’t show in the picture,” she writes, “but there is a fairly new fiberglass basketball goal right in front of the old tobacco barn.  Changing times, changing lives.”

Clarendon County, split in half by Interstate 95, had almost 21 percent of residents living in poverty, according to the 2010 Census.

Photo taken Oct. 20, 2013 by Linda W. Brown.  All rights reserved.

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Decaying ball field, Timmonsville, S.C.

Abandoned ball field, Timmonsville, S.C.
Abandoned ball field, Timmonsville, S.C.

This abandoned baseball field where wood is warping and steel stands are rusting seems reflective of how tired Timmonsville, S.C. seems.  Per capita income for the town was $11,714 in 2000.  In 2010, the town had 2,315  people.  Ten years later, it had grown by five people.

Timmonsville’s poverty rate was 26.6 percent in 2000, much higher than its home county, Florence, which had 19.4 percent poverty in 2010.  Florence, just a few miles away from Timmonsville, is the largest city in the Pee Dee with 37,498 people in 2012.   Florence County had 137,948 people, according to a 2012 estimate.

Copyrighted photo was taken Nov. 19, 2013, by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

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West Main Street, Timmonsville, S.C.

West Main Street, Timmonsville, S.C.
West Main Street, Timmonsville, S.C.

For every business that is open on West Main Street in the Pee Dee town of Timmonsville, S.C., some six businesses are shuttered, including those pictured above.  Open on the lonely street are a church, town hall, furniture shop, small chain general store and a bank.  But there were 18 closed businesses along three blocks of the city’s hub street last month.

Fortunately for the community, Honda Motor Company located a facility several years back that builds all-terrain vehicles and personal watercrafts nearby, which helped employment levels. Still, per capita income for the town was $11,714 in 2000.  In 2010, the town had 2,315 people.  Ten years later, it had grown by five people.

Timmonsville’s poverty rate was 26.6 percent in 2000, much higher than its home county, Florence, which had 19.4 percent poverty in 2010.  Florence, just a few miles away from Timmonsville, is the largest city in the Pee Dee with 37,498 people in 2012.   Florence County had 137,948 people, according to a 2012 estimate.

Copyrighted photo was taken Nov. 19, 2013, by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

 

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Convenience store, Estill, S.C.

Convenience store, Estill, S.C.
Convenience store, Estill, S.C.

People across the South often have to shop in convenience stores, such as this one in Estill, S.C., because their rural town doesn’t have a grocery store.  Estill, a town of about 2,000 located in rural Hampton County, is lucky to have an IGA store in addition to the Mid-Mart. Towns like Greeleyville, S.C., no longer have a grocery store.

Hampton County, located in the southern part of South Carolina, was home to 21,090 people in 2010, about 4,000 fewer than a century earlier.  More. Some 22.6 percent of Hampton County residents live below the poverty line.  Hampton’s annual Watermelon Festival is the state’s longest, continually-running festival.

Photo by Andy Brack, Sept. 22, 2013.  All rights reserved.

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Restored church, Oliver, Ga.

Old Methodist church, Oliver, Ga.
Old Methodist church, Oliver, Ga.

Here’s a photo that’s perfect for Thanksgiving.  It’s an old Methodist church turned into a venue for special events, like today’s holiday.

The church (ca. 1908) in Oliver, Ga., between Statesboro and Savannah sat vacant for about 10 years before being bought and restored three years ago, according to its owner.  Now a venue for weddings and other events, the church is interesting to some because of its Star of David windows.

Oliver, population 253 in 2000, is slightly over half black.  An estimated 31 percent of residents are at or below the federal poverty line.  Oliver is in Screven County, which got started after the Revolutionary War and soon became part of the Black Belt of Georgia where cotton became an important staple crop tended by enslaved African Americans.

The county’s population jumped from 3,019 in 1800 to 8,274 by 1860, according to Census figures.  While it had 14,593 people in 2010, the county lost an estimated 391 people — 2.7 percent — by 2012, according to the U.S. Census.  In 2010, Some 25.4 percent of county residents lived below the federal poverty level, 9 points higher than the state average.

Photo taken Sept. 23, 2013, by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

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Hauling lumber, Cooperville, Ga.

Hauling lumber, Screven County, Ga.
Hauling lumber, Screven County, Ga.

 

Here’s a typical scene across the rural South — a log truck hauling lumber to be processed into 2x4s or pulverized into pulp for mills.

These days, the forest products market in the U.S. is considered optimistic in the near-term, according to a 2013 report by USEndowment.org.  And that, should help the rural South.  In the longer term, the market faces challenges and opportunities, according to the report.

In the photo above, the truck was turning off U.S. Highway 301 in Cooperville, Ga., in Screven County and heading toward Savannah. The county, which had 2,675 people in 2000, according to the Census, got started after the Revolutionary War and soon became part of the Black Belt of Georgia where cotton became an important staple crop tended by enslaved African Americans.

The county’s population jumped from 3,019 in 1800 to 8,274 by 1860, according to Census figures.  While it had 14,593 people in 2010, the county lost an estimated 391 people — 2.7 percent — by 2012, according to the U.S. Census.  In 2010, Some 25.4 percent of county residents lived below the federal poverty level, 9 points higher than the state average.

Photo taken Sept. 23, 2013, by Michael Kaynard.  All rights reserved.

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Abandoned chair, Statesboro, Ga.

Abandoned chair, Statesboro, Ga.
Abandoned chair, Statesboro, Ga.

This photo can be taken in almost any rural Southern town — an abandoned piece of furniture tossed onto the side of the road.

This upholstered chair is near a housing project in Statesboro, Ga., where about 50 percent of the town’s population lives in poverty, according to the U.S. Census.  While it’s likely that most of those living in “poverty” really are students who live cheaply in shared apartments, you can find evidence of poverty if you look around.

Statesboro is 54 percent white and 40 percent black.  Its median household income is $19,554, according to the Census.  It also is the county seat of Bulloch County, which has 72,694 people (2012), two thirds of which are white.  Just over 30 percent of residents live in poverty.  The median household income for the county is $33,902.

Photo taken Sept. 23, 2013 by Michael Kaynard.  All rights reserved.

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Clothes line, Statesboro, Ga.

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While it is unclear whether Statesboro, Georgia’s poverty rate is artificially high because all of the students who attend Georgia Southern University, there are parts of the community where it’s clear that there are a lot of needs.  This photo shows a housing project in the western part of the city.

U.S. Census data show more than 50 percent of Statesboro’s 29,779 people live at or below the federal poverty level.  The community is 54 percent white and 40 percent black.  Its median household income is $19,554, according to the Census.

Statesboro is the county seat of Bulloch County, which has 72,694 people (2012), two thirds of which are white.  Just over 30 percent of residents live in poverty.  The median household income for the county is $33,902.

Photo taken Sept. 23, 2013 by Michael Kaynard.  All rights reserved.

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Yellow house, Statesboro, Ga.

Yellow house, Statesboro, Ga.
Yellow house, Statesboro, Ga.

While it is unclear whether Statesboro, Georgia’s poverty rate is artificially high because all of the students who attend Georgia Southern University, there are parts of the community where it’s clear that there are a lot of needs.  This house is in the western part of the city.

U.S. Census data show more than 50 percent of Statesboro’s 29,779 people live at or below the federal poverty level.  The community is 54 percent white and 40 percent black.  Its median household income is $19,554, according to the Census.

Statesboro is the county seat of Bulloch County, which has 72,694 people (2012), two thirds of which are white.  Just over 30 percent of residents live in poverty.  The median household income for the county is $33,902.

Photo taken Sept. 23, 2013 by Michael Kaynard.  All rights reserved.