Personal Injury Attorneyin Camden, SC.

Officials said the bridge 'sustained a catastrophic event' and closed immediately around 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 21

KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — A portion of I-20 in Kershaw County has been shut down as "emergency repairs" are underway.

Motorists are advised that the westbound bridge across a portion of the Wateree River on I-20 near Camden has been closed until further notice for emergency maintenance. The South Carolina Department of Transportation said crews have been called to make repairs, and law enforcement is assisting with traffic control.

RELATED: SCDOT shares new details on I-20 emergency repairs; timeline for completion

Officials said they hope to have repairs done within a week.

"I've instructed our crews to work around the clock to expedite the repair on the bridge," Secretary of Transportation Christy Hall said. "I recognize the inconvenience and we never want to have to close any primary or interstate route, but safety is our number one priority."

Hall asked drivers to be patient and "know that we are doing everything we can to get the bridge open for traffic as quickly and safely as possible."

"We certainly have the support we need, the staff we need out here and the resources to get this done as quickly as possible. We really want to get it finished and make the road and the bridge safe so that folks can get back on it and continue with their holiday and just regular travels," SCDOT Communications Director Ginny Jones said.

Credit: Johnny Deal

Detour information

South Carolina Highway Patrol will divert all westbound traffic at mile marker 98 -- to Highway 521/Sumter Highway. Drivers can take that highway north to Ehrenclou Drive, then take a left on U.S. 601/Jefferson Davis Highway, following U.S. 601 South, before re-entering I-20 at mile marker 92.

Drivers in the area should expect slowdowns, as roadwork was already being done in the area before this afternoon's event.

SCDOT has closed the Wateree River Bridge on I-20 westbound. All westbound traffic is being detoured at the 98 mile marker. To get back on I-20 take US 521 to Ehrenclou Drive to US 1 to US 601. Traffic can the re-enter I-20 at the 92 mile marker. pic.twitter.com/sJzSIFltsE

— Trooper William Bennett (@SCHP_Troop1) December 21, 2023

Grayson White’s name is etched throughout the Camden High School football record books.

Now, the senior quarterback and his teammates have another chance to finally get that elusive state championship ring.

White rushed for four touchdowns and running back Averee Hickmon added two scores as the Bulldogs defeated Brookland-Cayce, 46-30, on Friday in the Class 3A lower state championship game.

Camden will play Daniel in the state title game on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. at S.C. State’s Oliver Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg.

“We have a bunch of goals that Coach (Brian) Rimpf sets for us throughout the season,” White said. “The top one is a state championship. I’ve been a lower state champion, rivalry champion, but I haven’t got that championship ring yet. So that’s definitely the goal.”

It’s Camden 17th state championship appearance in school history and third in the last five years. All three of those state title games have come against Daniel.

White, a converted linebacker, has been the Bulldogs’ quarterback the past three seasons. This year, he’s accounted for more than 4,000 yards of offense and 54 touchdowns.

Against B-C, White was 21-of-27 for 309 yards and 20 carries for 69 yards. He also ran in a pair of two-point conversions.

“I hope every coach has a chance at some point in their coaching career to have a player like our No. 15 (White),” Rimpf said. “Whenever Grayson White is on the field, we feel like we are going to win the game. He set almost every record or at least tied everyone at Camden High for quarterback play. And we have a long, rich tradition.

“We’ve got one more game together. We are excited.”

Camden’s offense was hard to stop most of the night and didn’t punt once. The Bulldogs scored on their first four drives, the last touchdown coming on Hickmon’s 25-yard on fourth-and-2 to make it 30-14 with four minutes left in the second quarter.

B-C answered quickly as Will Young scored on a 25-yard run on fourth-and-3, and the Bearcats made the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 30-22. Young finished with 123 yards and three touchdowns.

The Bulldogs looked to score right before half as White hit Aidan Heriot on a long pass play, but B-C’s DeShaun Washington stripped the ball and Jvonn Edwards recovered it inside the 10-yard line.

The Bearcats’ defense came up big to start the second half as they forced two more turnovers with Camden driving inside the 20-yard line. The Bulldogs’ defense didn’t allow B-C to capitalize.

Hickmon scored his second TD of the night and a two-point conversion put Camden up 38-22. He finished with 73 yards rushing.

Heriot led Camden with six catches for 128 yards. Ja Mayrant had nine catches for 69 yards.

B-C didn’t go away and Washington scored on a 5-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter to cut the Camden lead to 38-30. Washington rushed for 75 yards.

But the Bearcats never got the stop they needed. Camden scored on its next drive, a five-yard run by White on fourth-and-2. Camden converted on a pair of fourth downs in the drive.

The senior flexed his muscles as he crossed the goal-line to put the game away.

“I had to let them know we can run the ball too,” White said of the gesture. “We can beat them at their game.”

The loss ended Brookland-Cayce’s season at 11-3. The Bearcats were making their third state semifinal appearance under coach Rusty Charpia.

“Of course we are disappointed because we felt like we had a chance,” Charpia said. “But Camden is a good team, well-coached and you can’t take anything away from them.

“... I’m proud of my guys and the season we had.”

This story was originally published November 24, 2023, 11:44 PM.

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Lou Bezjak is the High School Sports Prep Coordinator for The (Columbia) State and (Hilton Head) Island Packet. He previously worked at the Florence Morning News and had covered high school sports in South Carolina since 2002. Lou is a two-time South Carolina Sports Writer of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.

Three businesses are preparing to open their doors, but the city wants more shops to call the area home, leading to a change in zoning ordinances

CAMDEN, S.C. — New life is coming to downtown Camden as businesses hang up their signs and prepare to open their doors.

“It's really important for us to get businesses downtown because that's the core of the commercial area. If downtown is strong, the rest of the city is strong,” said Shawn Putnam, director of planning & development for the city.

Putnam says they’ve been working to ensure more shops are opening by using the Bailey bill for several buildings.

“We’ve helped business owners package federal and state tax incentives together to make projects more realistic, so we’re doing a lot of work to make downtown an attractive place to open a business,” Putnam said.

RELATED: 'Bailey Bill' offers tax incentive for Columbia developers

Three businesses are currently in the works downtown, including a cigar lounge known as Silver Leaf Cigar Lounge, a new steak and seafood destination called B Colson’s, and a third business that has yet to be named.

The city remains hopeful more businesses will come. To do so, leaders have proposed zoning ordinance amendments that will face final reading at Tuesday's city council meeting.

The proposal states that businesses like automobile dealers, auto parts stores, pawn shops, home centers, and wholesale durable goods will no longer be permitted in the downtown district, while others like arcades, ballrooms, escape rooms, laser tag, and brewpubs would be allowed downtown.

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“We hope that will attract locals to stay here but we also hope it will attract people from the surrounding area; we know that some of the restaurants and businesses downtown are attracting people from neighboring counties, so we want that to continue as well,” Putnam said.

Multiple businesses and shops are also in the works near the interstate that remains under construction.

City Council meets Tuesday, August 8th at 5:30 pm at City Hall.

The cigar lounge is anticipated to open on August 9th. No opening date has been announced for the other two businesses.

Camden volleyball has been resilient throughout its postseason in its run to the state championship.

The Bulldogs rallied to win its final two matches leading into Saturday’s high school championship against Wren.

But the defending-champion Hurricanes made sure it wasn’t three in a row for Camden as they defeated the Bulldogs, 3-1, (26-28, 25-12, 26-24, 25-21) to win the Class 3A championship at Dreher High School.

“I give credit to Wren, but I am just super proud of my team,” Camden coach Paige Wilson said. “I am just really proud of them. Only two teams made it here. It didn’t happen like we wanted to and I know it is disappointing to lose. But we gave our best and I am proud of the effort and proud we made it here. The girls should be, too.”

It was Wren’s second-straight championship and third appearance in a row. The Hurricanes showed their championship fight after bouncing back from dropping the first set to win the next three.

“It feels amazing to do this twice and I couldn’t have done it without a better group of girls,” Wren coach Amy Godfrey said.

Wilson, who is in her 30th year as coach of the program, thought her Camden squad might have been a little anxious on the championship stage, the school’s first appearance there since 2006. But it didn’t show as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 17-11 lead before the Hurricanes scored four straight points to make it 17-15.

Wren eventually tied it at 23-23 and had its second set point before Camden rallied. Leah Hendrix had the Bulldogs’ final point of the set for the 28-26 win.

“It’s normal to come out tense in the first set, but we hung in there and were able to pull it out,” Wilson said.

Wren dominated the second set, winning 25-12, and jumped out to a 11-6 lead in the third. The Bulldogs’ Joyce Edwards had a kill that tied it at 18-18. It went back-and-forth from there before Wren won the last two points to win the set, 26-24.

It was the third-straight playoff match where Camden went down 2-1. The Bulldogs rallied to beat Gilbert on Oct. 26 and then Philip Simmons on Tuesday.

It looked like Camden was going to have another comeback left Saturday. The Bulldogs trailed 22-15 before four straight points close it to 22-18.

But after a timeout, Wren regained its composure and held on as the final point went off two Camden blockers, hit the floor and the celebration began.

“When last year ended, I didn’t know we would be back here,” Godfrey said. “I know we had the capable personnel but I just wasn’t sure. We needed leadership and the seniors stepped up to do it and brought us here.”

One of those players was senior Ashley Stein, who had several big kills over the final two sets.

Camden finished the season at 26-5 and will graduate two seniors from this year’s team, with one of them Edwards, the No. 2 girls high school basketball player in the country.

Edwards has yet to make her college decision but some South Carolina women’s basketball fans were in attendance, chanting, “We want Joyce! We want Joyce!” after the Bulldogs won the first set.

At Dreher High School

Thursday

Class 4A Boys: Bishop England 3, Catawba Ridge 0

Class 5A Boys: Dorman 3, Carolina Forest 1

Saturday

Class A Girls: St. Joseph’s 3, Bridges Prep 0

Class 5A Girls: Dorman 3, Wando 1

Class 3A Girls: Wren 3, Camden 1

Class 2A Girls: Bishop England 3, Landrum 0

Class 4A Girls: South Aiken 3, North Myrtle Beach 1

This story was originally published November 4, 2023, 6:56 PM.

ORANGEBURG – Daniel football made a defensive play to win the state championship.

Three other ones made it possible.

The Lions stopped a two-point conversion in overtime Saturday night to beat Camden, 49-48, at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium and take their third Class AAA title in four years. Daniel finished a perfect 15-0 season and in fact has lost only one game in this four-year dynasty.

To get to the extra period, though, Daniel had to find some way to knock Camden (11-4) off schedule. The Bulldogs, mostly with their power running game led by 250-pound quarterback Grayson White, never punted.

But he was intercepted three times. And that was the difference. All three were critical.

Tremaine Davis Jr. had two interceptions, including one he returned for a touchdown and another in the end zone. Isaac Turner had another on a tip by teammate Preston Rollins. Daniel turned those into 21 points, including a possible 14-point swing on the second interception by Davis.

“Our defense has been working so hard,” Daniel coach Jeff Fruster said. “They’ve been opportunistic all year. We definitely won the turnover margin for the season and until lately, it wasn’t even close.”

Daniel went up, 28-14, in the second quarter on the 51-yard touchdown by Davis.

“I felt like it was a momentum-changer,” Davis said. “After that, we got on a roll. It was one of the biggest plays, I think.”

On a quick pass toward the Camden sideline, Davis jumped into the route and never stopped until he got to the back of the end zone.

“I’ve been talking all week about how I was going to get that pick,” Davis said. “I’ve been watching film every day. I just knew they were going to do that play and I saw it coming.”

In the fourth quarter, Davis intercepted a fourth down throw to the end zone by White.

“I should have batted it down. Honestly, I thought it was third down,” Davis said. “But I just wanted the ball so bad.”

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Turner said he had a serious case of pregame anxiety that was still there during the first half.

“I had some jitters,” Turner said. “I just had to shake that off at halftime and get myself ready. It’s always hard for me to get going right off the bus, but guys were talking to me and helping me out.”

Turner's interception led to the second of three TD runs by Jakari Bennett and put Daniel up by 14 points again in the third quarter.

“I think it’s natural to have a little bit of jitters, especially on a stage like this,” Fruster said. “You just have to overcome that, which I feel like we did. We talked Friday about not letting your anxiety outmatch your hunger.”