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South Carolina lawmakers are considering a bill that would require boat education courses for all people born after 2007 going forward.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Similar to driving a car, driving a boat could soon require a class beforehand. South Carolina lawmakers are considering a bill that would require boat education courses for all people born after 2007 going forward.

Right now, state law does not require any training for people over the age of 16 to drive a “personal watercraft” by themselves. Personal watercraft refers to boats and jet skis, and the bill defines all personal watercraft with 10 horsepower or higher engines.

“There are more people boating these days. There are more people with less experience boating these days. More people are visiting our coasts that can easily rent a boat and go out into unknown waters with a 10-minute talk. So, there’s more need for this than ever,” Chris Crolley, a boat captain at Coastal Expeditions says.

Crolley often leads educational boat tours, showing people the wildlife and workings of South Carolina Waterways. He says he is happy to see his representatives taking this on. He has a few ideas for what the training should include as well.

“What I would say is let’s add something to the test that has to do with the ethical interaction with seabirds and shorebirds while boating, right. And all wildlife really. If you see a loggerhead sea turtle, cut the engine drift through that spot. You know, manatees frequent our waters more often than ever. Dolphins -- there’s an ethical way to interact with dolphins,” Crolley says.

RELATED: Bill to strengthen boater education requirement advancing at SC State House

According to the most recent U.S. Coast Guard report in 2021, 75% of all boating deaths happened on a vessel where the operator had no training. According to the state Department of Natural Resources, when comparing 2018 with 2022 totals, South Carolina’s boating deaths have increased by 46%.

William Grubb is a boating enthusiast, who got his boating certificate in New Jersey and likes to travel and use it to see the east coast. Grubb says he enjoys the Shem Creek area, and his certification provided a lot of useful background.

“Mostly I found that learning about the buoys and the channel markers is the most important thing in boating safety. Because when you’re out in the fog or something, you rely upon channel markers to get you back to port. And you’ve got to know which ones are aware what they mean, especially the ones that signify a shallow area or some rocks,” Grubb says.

He thinks it’s a good idea for people to take the time to do a course on the basics of boating.

“So, I feel very, very strongly that ever since I’ve been boating and at the age of 14, that I’ve always had some courses to help me through my pleasurable day,” Grubb says.

Crolley says he is hopeful that if passed, the law will mean accessible boating resources are available to people, so they can participate in a safe boating culture.

“I just took that course with my nine-year-old because she’s so into boating and since it’s like the thing to do like a daddy daughter class that we took as an all day class and we got certificates and all that sort of thing. I love the idea that there’s some thought around making the boating safety culture of this state more highly involved,” Crolley says.

There are some exceptions to who would have to take the course. It is stated to apply to anyone born on or after July 1, 2007. But it excludes people who already have a commercial boating license, have a certification from another state or already has other Coast Guard credentials.

You can read the bill in its entirety here.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

King Street has a new heavy metal bar, and behind it are the owners of D’Allesandro’s Pizza and Cutty’s.

Cutty’s former general manager, Sarah Griffith, who had relocated to Philadelphia after working at the no-frills downtown watering hole for eight years, came back to head the endeavor and has since turned the old Gap Gallery space at 638 King St. into the bar of her dreams, Sugey’s.

Several of the metal, punk and blacklight posters on the walls, as well as vintage beer-branded sconces and motorcycle tire-rim light fixtures dangling by chains with upside-down cross lightbulbs, were from Griffith’s own collection or handpicked by her in the process of decorating Sugey’s.

Her pride and joy behind the bar is an original ’80s Venom poster, for which Metallica was listed as the opening act; she had been eyeing it for some time on eBay.

The bar itself also has a story; it’s made up of old bowling alley lanes found underneath an overpass.

In the corner is a Godzilla pinball machine, while between booths are DIY bamboo rods painted black. A red lava lamp and giant monster hands with silver studded nail polish stand out from behind the bar. A disco ball from Griffith’s home now hangs in the center of the room, casting shimmers to light up the dark-walled interior.

A few ’80s horror movie posters have worked their way into the collection, as well. Griffith is also hosting VHS nights every Sunday and has already received a few donations to the catalogue; she hopes to concoct a VHS library of sorts. Other patrons have vowed to donate their own show posters to the space to help fill up the walls.

“The punk and metalheads are really coming out of the woodworks,” she said. “It’s really cool to have a space that draws in likeminded people who share interests with you when it’s been difficult to find that in Charleston.”

As for the menu, Griffith has opted for a tiki bar theme.

“We’re leaning into tiki traditions,” she said. “Just like metal and punk are of the underground music scenes, tiki is that of the cocktail world. It’s been historically dismissed as illegitimate or trashy, but really it’s a cool school of mixology.”

There are currently four cocktails on the menu, including the Painslayer, a twist on a painkiller with Thai iced tea and tequila, and the Blood Oath, featuring what Griffith calls “the original Vermouth.”

Plans are in the works to add frozen drinks, volcano bowls and homemade horchata. Plus, there are Jell-O shots and PBR tallboys.

Currently, food trucks are offering eats in the Sugey’s parking lot, but heavy bar snacks are being planned, including a homemade Hot Pocket, vegan meatball sub and Jamaican beef patty.

“I never stop having ideas,” said Griffith. “It’s always a work in progress.”

One of those ideas that just came to fruition is Red Hots candy-infused whiskey, the bar’s personal take on Fireball.

There are also themed nights popping up, like Industry Night Mondays, Honky Tonk Tuesdays and Karaoke Night Saturdays.

On typical nights, heavy metal music is blasting over the speakers.

A handwritten note framed and hanging on the wall — admittedly not about Sugey’s, but about an old coffee shop Griffith used to work at while playing her favorite metal music playlists — perhaps explains the space best.

“Why are you torturing people with the Hellish music non-stop?... To enter your store is like passing thru (the) gates of Hell into Hell.”

Griffith still gets a kick out of that note and thinks it now has a fitting home.

No. 6 South Carolina scored early and rallied late on Tuesday night, coming away with a 10-4 victory over Charleston Southern.

Both teams got on the board in the first inning. The Buccaneers started things off by going up 1-0 on a double by Casey Asman. The Gamecocks tied things up, then took the lead in the bottom of the inning. Dylan Brewer walked to lead off, Braylen Wimmer singled, and Cole Messina walked with one out to load the bases. Gavin Casas walked too to force a run in and make the score 1-1, then Talmadge LeCroy brought in two runs with a single, making it a 3-1 game.

CSU regained the lead in the next inning, scoring three runs of their own courtesy of a Nico Regino double and a single by Jaylin Rae, putting them up 4-3. USC answered again in the bottom of the inning, tying the game at 4-4 after Wimmer singled with one out and scored on a two-out double by Messina.

The tie remained until the sixth, when the Cocks finally retook the lead for good after Caleb Denny walked to start things off and Brewer homered with one out to make it 6-4. Two more runs came in the next inning, when Messina hit a leadoff double and Casas went yard to push the lead to 8-4. The final two runs of the game came in the eighth. Brewer reached on an error, Wimmer got hit by a pitch, and Messina knocked a base hit to load the bases with one out. Casas then got plunked to force in a run and make it 9-4, and Hornung walked with the bases still loaded and two outs to get another run in and put Carolina in double digits.

Gamecocks starter Eli Jerzembeck pitched two innings and allowed six hits and four runs. He also walked one batter and struck one out. Dylan Eskew, Nick Proctor, and Cade Austin combined to go the rest of the way, pitching seven innings of shutout baseball. Proctor got the win and is now 3-0. Buccaneers starter Devin MacWatters worked four innings and gave up five hits and four runs. He also issued four walks and struck five batters out. Reliever Eddie Olsen took the loss and is now 1-2.

Messina paced USC at the plate with three hits, while Casas recorded four RBI. Asman, Regino, and James Jett had two hits apiece to lead Charleston Southern, while Rae tallied two RBI.

The Cocks are now 31-6 overall, while the Buccaneers are 17-19 on the season. South Carolina will be back in action on Thursday, when they open up a series against No. 3 Florida. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Founders Park.

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The city of Charleston seems to have experienced significant success by using zoning incentives to encourage developers to build affordable workforce housing units as a small percentage of their overall projects. Not only should other municipalities look at how they can replicate this success, but the city also should do more to get the word out and help these workforce units improve even more lives.

As reporter David Slade notes in The Post and Courier’s most recent installment of its “Priced Out” series, there are about 146 of these workforce apartments in six complexes across the city, with the potential for almost 3,000 additional below-market housing units the city already approved and contingent on major developments such as Laurel Island getting built. Most of them will be workforce rentals.

But for some renters at least, the units aren’t easy to find. Mr. Slade did a public service by including an interactive online map with his story that pinpoints where the units can be found. The nature of these units — which are tucked discretely in with similar-looking market-rate units — can make it more difficult for an apartment-hunter to realize they’re there.

And while some renters such as Patrick Carlson have been lucky enough to discover such an available unit, many others don’t know where to look. Mr. Carlson was able to lease a single unit at the Elan Midtown complex on King Street for hundreds of dollars less than the $1,565-a-month lease for a market-rate unit and therefore also able to live near where he works. People who earn 80% or less of the area’s median income are eligible to rent most units.

That’s a big help, and Charleston’s success should be something other municipalities try to replicate. Mount Pleasant has flirted with something similar, specifically density bonuses for including workforce housing units. The town’s policy has led to 24 workforce units, but it since has backed off such policies. We urge Town Council to reconsider, just as we have urged it to stop extending its moratorium on the construction of new apartments, which only worsens the region’s affordability crisis by reducing the supply of new homes.

Local governments have struggled to find a sweet spot that will entice developers to include these units in their projects without leading to buildings many consider too big or too tall. Charleston rightly tweaked its workforce housing incentives before landing on its current policy, which requires at least 10% of units be workforce housing for residential developments taller than four stories, with more height available in exchange for more workforce housing. Some developers have opted to pay the city a flat fee instead, but the city has rightly limited that option.

Still, this sort of housing assistance is relatively new and locally created — different from the traditional federal approach in which housing authorities either build large public complexes with only subsidized units or where authorities give out federal housing vouchers to cover part of the rent of a market-rate unit. While housing authorities have offices to help people find and secure public housing, a city government’s housing office is smaller and focuses mostly on creating new housing opportunities, such as below-market homes for sale that have 99-year deed restrictions on their resale prices.

A quick internet search of “Charleston workforce housing” leads to a general description of the city’s role, but few hints about where this housing is — or who to contact to learn about its availability. The city’s affordable housing dashboard offers little practical information. Indeed, Mr. Slade’s news story is the best information available, and while the newspaper is happy to provide useful information to the public, this is something the city should be doing. Presumably, the city already knows where it’s requiring developers to build affordable housing. If city officials aren’t already doing so, they should require developers to report when that housing is available, along with contact information, waiting lists and the like — information that should be posted online in an easy-to-find location.

Again, Charleston has made important progress creating these badly needed opportunities, but it’s not appropriate to require qualified would-be renters to know a secret handshake to get into one of the units. Making that information readily accessible is an essential part of any such program. With rents having climbed 30% in two years and showing no signs of dropping, officials need to do better.

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Cargo moving through the Port of Charleston hit a two-year low in March as consumer worries about inflation continued to dent imports, but a boost could be coming because labor strife in southern California might force retailers to reroute shipments to the East and Gulf coasts.

A total of 107,084 containers of all sizes moved through Charleston’s terminals last month, the State Ports Authority said on April 18.

While that is a 26 percent year-over-year decline, the comparison is skewed because the port set an all-time cargo record in March 2022. The post-pandemic pullback was less severe for the entire first quarter, with an 8.5 percent drop from last year.

Charleston’s port still performed better in March than the nation’s seaports as a whole, where a 28 percent cargo decline was noted, according to estimates from the National Retail Federation. The drop-off was expected compared to last year’s record volumes, according to Jonathan Gold, the trade group’s vice president for supply chain and customs policy.

“Last spring and summer were the busiest ever as consumers spent freely and retailers brought in merchandise to meet demand,” Gold said in a written statement. “This year won’t repeat that, but the numbers we’re expecting would have been considered normal before the pandemic.”

Loaded imports were down by more than 30 percent in Charleston last month, but the retail federation and others are forecasting stronger imports as the year progresses.

“We remain confident in the strength of the Southeast market and our position as a well-run port with ample capacity,” said Barbara Melvin, the SPA’s president and CEO.

Charleston’s port hosted fewer cargo vessels in March than during the previous month, while container lines canceled 35 sailings during the first quarter.

But ongoing labor strife at the nation’s largest ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., could bring more vessels to Charleston in coming months as the peak shipping season for back-to-school and holiday goods approaches.

There has been little progress in negotiating a new contract with the union that represents West Coast dockworkers, and brief work stoppages were reported earlier this month. That has some importers looking to alternative ports as a hedge against further disruptions, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

“The fact we don’t have a contract yet is one of those big glaring issues that [importers] don’t want to get caught up in,” Gold told the Journal.

Meanwhile, freight rates in Charleston and elsewhere are being affected by flagging consumer demand and worries about the economy. The latest consumer sentiment survey by the University of Michigan showed a slight rebound in April even though expectations about inflation worsened. Consumers said this month they expect prices to increase by 4.6 percent in the year ahead, up from 3.6 percent in March.

“While consumers have noted the easing of inflation among durable goods and cars, they still expect high inflation to persist, at least in the short run,” Joanne Hsu, director of the survey, said in a written statement. “On net, consumers did not perceive material changes in the economic environment in April.”

The SPA’s board of directors held their monthly meeting in Dillon, instead of at the agency’s Mount Pleasant headquarters, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Inland Port Dillon, which moves goods between the Charleston waterfront and the the Pee Dee region’s I-95 corridor on CSX rail cars.

The site moved a record 4,314 containers in March — 16 percent better than the previous mark set in December.

Dillon’s inland port opened in 2018 with Harbor Freight Tools as its anchor tenant. It joined a similar cargo-handling site in Spartanburg County that was completed a decade ago with automaker BMW as the primary user.

“This was an innovative and cutting-edge idea at the time that few ports in the country were undertaking, but we believed strongly that South Carolina Ports needed rail-served inland ports in South Carolina,” Melvin said. “We wanted to extend the Port of Charleston’s reach inland to better serve our customers.”

The number of vehicles exported from Columbus Street Terminal in Charleston, primarily BMWs built in the Upstate, was down by about 30 percent in March compared to a year ago.

The SPA’s cruise segment got a boost from eight visits during the month — six by the Carnival Sunshine and two from short-term ports of call. Cruise passengers soared to 22,027 in March, a roughly 48 percent gain from last year.