Personal Injury Attorneyin Moncks Corner, SC.

Treating patients during life altering and life threatening events takes a unique disposition, when optimism is in short supply and the patients keep coming.

May is Trauma Care Awareness Month. But what draws people to trauma care? It may be to experience the highest of health care highs when someone is brought back from near death. But it also comes with the lowest of lows.

Britney Ward of Moncks Corner has worked at Trident Hospital for close to 12 years. As she led the way to the trauma center, her unusually fast walking style offered a hint to her energy and her constant sense of urgency.

“I did ICU for four years and we would get the trauma patients after they stabilized them. I just remember my first trauma patient,” said Ward, an RN at Trident’s Trauma Center. “He was really hurt and very sick and very young. I just remember thinking about what it was like when he first rolled in. I’ve always loved trauma.”

Based on numbers provided by Trident Medical Center in North Charleston, in 2022 the medical center treated 2,127 trauma patients. Since the level II trauma center opened in 2016, there have been 14,000 patients treated.

“We get some bad ones, some very bad car accidents. We see people on their worst days,” said Ward. “Then when we do help them and they do get out of here, it is really nice to see that progress. It doesn’t always happen. But the ones that we do save — it’s very rewarding.”

The trauma center with all its wheeled apparatus, wires and various tones and dings obviously serves those with critical needs. More patients are treated for trauma at Trident Medical Center than any other hospital in the Lowcountry, according to information provided by the center. The three most common causes of trauma treated are related to falls, motor vehicle accidents and gunshot wounds.

“Anything car accidents, gunshots, stabbings. Anything,” she said. “It could be just a bad accident at work where they cut their arm. … Kids mess me up the most.”

And then there’s the crisis COVID put on the profession for years to come.

“I was here in for COVID and it was horrible,” Ward said. “If you want to know how things changed, it was COVID. It just changed nursing all together. I think it messed a lot of people up, nobody knew what was going on. We were just really scared.”

Ward and all the other trauma care providers are obviously very much appreciated by those they treat. They are providers you never think you’ll need — until you do.

Maybe a Trauma Care Awareness Month is needed — dates set aside to remind people about something no one ever wants to ever think about.

MONCKS CORNER — A smooth two-lane highway intercepted by a handful of railroad crossings separates Goose Creek and Moncks Corner. Driving toward the latter, construction, new apartments and a pristine brick Waffle House appear within the town limits.

Making a sharp left turn off Highway 52, I drove through a quiet neighborhood, past a sign for the Berkeley County Airport and into the parking lot of The Rustic Muffin, a five-year-old coffee house with another location in Summerville.

The small iced coffee I ordered came in a 20-ounce cup, meaning I was well-caffeinated by the time I made my way to Ophelia’s Wines & Bites, a welcoming spot in the town of just over 13,000.

Ophelia’s Wines & Bites, 328 East Main St., is owned by Jennifer Molnar and Nina Wolowitz, two friends and single moms with a combined four kids who moved from the New York City metropolitan area to South Carolina together in 2021. They found a home in Moncks Corner after first looking in other parts of the Charleston area.

“We decided we were going to live together because it was going to make life easier, and we needed enough space,” Wolowitz said. “We started looking in Charleston and Mount Pleasant, and for those prices we should have just stayed in New York.”

The sight-unseen move to Moncks Corner came first, and Ophelia’s came later, after the food and beverage industry veterans saved every dime they made from work at Poogan’s Hospitality Group and a stint delivering food through DoorDash and UberEats.

With the opening of Ophelia’s, Molnar and Wolowitz became the owners of the only dedicated wine bar in Moncks Corner’s main business district.

Like Charleston, Mount Pleasant and Summerville, Moncks Corner is growing — by 2030, it’s expected to have more than 15,000 residents, almost tripling in size since the turn of the 21st century — but at a much slower rate.

With nearby neighborhoods in North Charleston and Summerville already attracting new businesses, Moncks Corner is looking to carve out its own niche in the market. Revitalizing a downtown shopping area is one of the top priorities.

The mile-long stretch on East Main Street and Railroad Avenue features a dozen boutique shops and restaurants, with more coming every year. Ophelia’s, which opened in August 2021, is one of them.

The wine bar has evolved into a full-service eatery with appetizers, sandwiches, salads and monthly date-night dinners, when Wolowitz whips up a curated coursed meal in the modest Ophelia’s kitchen, equipped with two burners, an air fryer, convection oven and panini press.

“Originally we were just thinking meats and cheeses, but it turned into more,” Wolowitz said.

With hardwood floors and comfortable vintage furniture, Ophelia’s is a charming departure from some establishments that can make wine feel less approachable. Not at Ophelia’s, where generous pours of Sancerre, Cabernet Franc and other wines from across the country and globe are served by the glass for $7-$14.

The wine bar is also liberal with its food portions. My caprese sandwich, served with pesto, balsamic, arugula and red onions, arrived with thick slices of mozzarella spilling beyond the sides of a soft baguette. Those who stop by during weekday lunch can order half-portions of two food items for just $10.

The sandwiches, soups, salads and crostinis are relatively straightforward out of necessity, making Ophelia’s a reliable lunch or dinner option, whether you’re drinking alcohol or not.

All four kids help out when they can, Wolowitz said, though the youngest (8) usually provides moral support. Molnar’s daughter Julie, 12, has developed some serious culinary chops. According to Wolowitz, she has added a secret ingredient to their Caesar salad dressing that takes it to another level.

See if you can pick it out when you visit Ophelia’s, open 11 a.m.-11 p.m. daily.

A chemical firm is shutting down a Moncks Corner plant that makes the raw material for products like water bottles and packaging, leaving 125 workers without a job.

DAK Americas LLC — a subsidiary of Monterrey, Mexico-based Alpek — will permanently close its plant along the Cooper River that producsd PET resin, a type of polyester that’s derived from petroleum.

Layoffs will begin on April 28 and will conclude by the end of the year when the plant shuts down, according to a statement from Ricky Lane, the Charlotte company’s director of public affairs, trade relations and corporate communications.

DAK Americas said it will be moving production from Bushy Park to another unidentified site. The Berkeley County plant, which was built in the early 1970s, had the capacity to make 170,000 pounds of the resin annually.

“This difficult decision was necessitated as we optimize our assets to remain competitive in the challenging global polyester markets,” Lane said in a letter to the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce.

That letter stated that DAK Americas “will formally and permanently close production operations on March 1, 2023.”

Lane, in an email to The Post and Courier, said March 1 represents the beginning of the plant’s shutdown and that the process will take at least 60 days to complete.

“It may be helpful to understand that these production operations are not like a light switch and cannot just be turned on and off,” Lane said. “These are highly technical polymer processes that must be stopped in a very systematic manner that takes many days/weeks to accomplish. Only after the 60-day period and once the shutdown process is complete for employees in their area of work will the written notice of individual layoff dates be given.”

The company said the shutdown will save it about $20 million a year.

Parent company Alpek said in a written statement that it is “constantly exploring ways to create value through optimization of its installed capacity and strengthening its cost competitiveness.”

The company said it plans to grow “through more efficient utilization of its assets.”

The closure notice was filed with state officials a day before Jorge Young Cerecedo took over as CEO of Alpek. Cerecedo, who has been with the company for 32 years, also will remain president of Alpek’s polyester division, which accounts for two-thirds of the parent company’s revenues.

Alpek acquired the Moncks Corner plant in a 2001 deal with DuPont, which was exiting the polyester market. Alpek created its DAK Americas subsidiary to operate the South Carolina site and other factories.

The planned plant closure comes less than two years after DAK Americas cut 200 full-time jobs and 40 contract workers at the Cooper River site as it wound down its polyester staple fibers business. The company blamed the decision on a flood of cheap imports.

Alpek, which is publicly traded on the Mexican Stock Exchange, reported revenues of $10.6 billion in 2022 — an 37 percent increase from the previous year — and net income of $789 million. It has more than 7,000 employees at 35 plants in nine countries.

Note: This story was updated March 6 with additional comment from the company.

NEW YORK — Most taxpayers are interested in filing their taxes directly to the IRS for free, a new report says, and that option will be tested next year.

The Internal Revenue Service has spent the past nine months studying whether U.S. taxpayers want to see a free, e-filing system run by the government — and is now preparing to launch a pilot program.

The prospect of a free, government-run, online system has been debated for a long time. Supporters argue that the option would make tax return services more equitable and accessible for taxpayers nationwide.

But there’s also been pushback from some big tax-prep companies.

Now, the IRS plans to launch a pilot program for the 2024 filing season to test a “direct file” system and help the federal government decide on whether to move forward with potentially implementing it in the future, IRS commissioner Danny Werfel and the Treasury Department official Laurel Blatchford confirmed on May 16.

There’s still limited details about the pilot as the agency determines the basic structure of the program, but Werfel said that members of the public will have the option to participate.

The IRS was tasked with looking into how to create a “direct file” system as part of the funding it received from the Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ flagship climate and health care measure that President Joe Biden signed last summer. It gave the IRS nine months and $15 million to report on how such a program would be implemented.

The IRS published a feasibility report Tuesday — which lays out taxpayer interest in direct file, how the system could work, its potential cost, operational challenges and more.

The report shows that the majority of surveyed taxpayers would be interested in using an IRS-provided tool to prepare and file their taxes electronically — and that the IRS is “technically capable of delivering direct file, but doing so would require additional resources and add complexity to IRS operations,” Werfel said.

The IRS’s existing free e-file option, available to lower income taxpayers who qualify, will remain in place, he added. Individuals of all income levels can also still submit their returns for free via the mail — although it can take months to process paper returns and taxpayers will still have to buy postage.

The new, direct e-file program being tested “could potentially save taxpayers billions of dollars annually,” said Blatchford, who noted that an individual taxpayer pays an average of $140 preparing a tax return each year.

The report’s initial cost analysis show that a pre-file option run by the IRS “could cost less than $10 per return to provide, and of course would be free to taxpayers — by comparison, simple electronic filing options currently available to taxpayers are around $40.”

The study estimates that annual costs of direct file may range, depending on the program’s usage and scope, from $64 million for 5 million users to $249 million for 25 million users.

“We believe today’s announcement is a significant step toward revolutionizing access to the tax system so that it is easier and more equitable. A free and simple direct file service will ensure that more families in America receive the tax benefits they are eligible for,” Amanda Renteria, CEO of civic tech nonprofit Code for America, said in a statement.

While supporters applauded the pilot program, critics have expressed skepticism about the IRS taking on the dual roles of both tax collector and tax preparer, arguing that the new service could create a power imbalance between taxpayers and the government.

There’s also concern about historic racial disparities and bias seen in the IRS’s enforcement of tax laws. In a Monday letter to the U.S. Senate, Werfel confirmed the IRS found that Black taxpayers may be audited at higher rates.

Big tax preparation companies also have millions of dollars to lose if the program comes to fruition. Last year, more than 60 million taxpayers were serviced between Intuit, the parent company of TurboTax, and H&R Block.

Neither H&R Block nor Intuit were immediately available to comment on Tuesday.

An Associated Press analysis shows that Intuit, H&R Block, and other private companies and advocacy groups for large tax preparation businesses, as well as proponents in favor of electronic free file, have reported spending $39.3 million since 2006 to lobby on “free-file” and other matters. Federal law doesn’t require domestic lobbyists to itemize expenses by specific issue, so the sums are not limited to free-file.

Werfel on Tuesday acknowledged concerns surrounding a possible direct file system, notably operational challenges, but maintained taxpayers should chose the filing option that works best for them and that “the IRS cannot run the tax system alone.”

“We rely on an extensive network of partners across tax professional groups, the software communities, the payroll community and countless dedicated organizations that work directly with taxpayers,” Werfel said. “This report changes none of that.”

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MONCKS CORNER, S.C. – (Friday, January 27, 2023) – There will be a community-wide job fair happening Wednesday, February 1 in the Assembly Room of the Berkeley County Administration Building, located at 1003 N. Highway 52 in Moncks Corner.

The event will be open to Berkeley County high school students from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and the general public from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.

The event will provide opportunities for Berkeley County industries that are hiring to connect with job-seeking residents and high school seniors. Employment opportunities in healthcare, manufacturing, law enforcement, hospitality, construction, information technology and other career fields will be represented. Berkeley County Government will also be on-hand to discuss its open positions.

Attendees are urged to bring an updated resume and come prepared to interview on the spot, if necessary.

For questions, please contact Berkeley County Human Resources at 843-719-4163.

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-Prepared by the Berkeley County Public Information Office-

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. – (Friday, February 3, 2023) – Berkeley County received a ‘Clean Report’ or ‘Unmodified Opinion’ following a 2022 independent audit. The audit was presented to County Council on Monday, January 23, 2023 from the County’s outside auditors, Mauldin & Jenkins. Watch the full County Council meeting HERE.

“I’m pleased to say we do not have any audit findings to report to you on this year, meaning we noted no material weaknesses or sufficient deficiencies in the County’s internal controls in our audit. …Being one of the largest counties in South Carolina, you obviously have a significant amount of financial activity for which you have to account for. In addition, with all the new County standards and changes that are being implemented each year—and really just the complexity of all involved in the financial reporting process—it makes it all that more impressive to be able to present you all an audit with a clean opinion and no audit findings.” – David Irwin, CPA Partner, Mauldin & Jenkins

The report represents the best possible opinion the County can receive. The County has received this opinion several years in a row.

“Government has a fundamental responsibility to be effective stewards of the taxpayer’s money and this audit result reflects just that. A special thanks to my colleagues on County Council for their work throughout the budget process and most importantly to each and every Berkeley County employee for your daily efforts throughout the year. This TEAM effort allows us to continue to offer high level services while keeping our county government taxes the lowest in South Carolina.” -Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb

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-Prepared by the Berkeley County Public Information Office-

A fully leased shopping center in a small but fast-growing Lowcountry town has been sold just weeks after it made its debut.

An affiliate of Stockbridge Capital Group recently bought the Publix-anchored Moncks Corner Marketplace for $29.15 million, according to Berkeley County land records.

The deal worked out to about $400 a square foot.

The seller was Branch Properties, which began developing the 9-acre retail site along U.S. Highway 52 at Cypress Gardens Road in mid-2021. The Atlanta-based real estate investment firm is still handling the marketing and leasing of the property.

David Nix, managing director for acquisitions at Stockbridge, said Moncks Corner is “one of the fastest-growing submarkets” in the Charleston region. Several thousand homes are planned for areas in and around the county seat in developments such as Foxbank Plantation.

“Given its optimal location within a short distance to many of Charleston’s job centers and several surrounding master-planned residential communities, the area poses strong demographics,” Nix said.

He also described the fully occupied Moncks Corner Marketplace and other strategically located grocery store centers as “further proof of the demand for this type of e-commerce-resistant retail.”

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The 72,300-square-foot property opened in September. About six months earlier, Stockbridge announced a deal to buy a dozen Southeast retail centers from Branch Properties that include Publix and rival supermarket chain Harris Teeter as their primary traffic draws.

The San Francisco-based private equity firm has been investing in commercial real estate in the Charleston area since at least 2013, when it paid $24.6 million for the Whole Foods-anchored Patriots Plaza in Mount Pleasant. The deal was one of the region’s first big retail acquisitions in the aftermath of the so-called Great Recession.

In 2018, Stockbridge added an industrial property to its portfolio when it bought the nearly 351,000-square-foot North Pointe Business Campus on North Rhett Avenue for $30.5 million.

The following year, the firm acquired the historic S.H. Kress & Co. on King Street, in the heart of the downtown Charleston shopping district. Stockbridge paid $19.5 million for the roughly 91-year-old mixed-use art-deco structure that includes “fast fashion” clothing retailer H&M and a law firm as its main tenants.

Nix said the Charleston region “continues to be an attractive market for Stockbridge,” citing the area’s population growth, expanding port and other favorable real estate investment attributes.

The Charleston-area industrial real estate market proved resilient in the first quarter despite rising interest rates and a cooling economy, with tenants absorbing 2.2 million square feet, according to a new report.

All told, according to Colliers, 3.7 million square feet of new space came online in the first three months of the year. Vacancy rates ticked up as well, but they remained near historic lows at 3.74 percent despite all the new construction.

“Since the beginning of 2021, the market has absorbed an average of 1.6 million square feet per quarter,” the commercial real estate firm said in its analysis. “This was largely driven by warehousing to support the advanced manufacturing sector, particularly internal combustion and electric vehicle manufacturing, and expansion of third-party logistics activity.”

Over the coming months, those business sectors will continue to drive demand for additional real estate, according to the report. About 11.8 million square feet of industrial space is under construction in the three-county region.

The Port of Charleston is still the main driver, even though cargo levels have fallen in recent months as post-pandemic consumers spend more money on services and experiences than on imported goods. Inflation has also tamed what had been a frenetic spending spree last year on items like furniture and electronics.

A plan by ZEB Metals to build an aluminum recycling plant on 32 acres along U.S. Highway 52 in the Goose Creek area was the largest industrial announcement dollar-wise during the quarter, Colliers said. The $80 million project is expected to create 28 jobs.

Second to that project was a $49.9 million cold-storage warehouse that Charleston-based FlexCold plans to build along Patriot Boulevard in Dorchester County. The 151,600-square-foot building on roughly 51 acres is expected to create 59 jobs.

A separate report by Avison Young shows average annual base rents for Charleston-area industrial properties hit $8.89 per square foot in the first quarter and are expected to continue rising on the back of strong demand.

“As larger tenants relocate to the Charleston market, demand has increased for industrial space,” the firm’s local office said. “The projected average building size for deliveries in 2023 is 346,000 square feet. Based on construction activity, this number is expected to rise to 540,000 square feet in 2024.”

The Palmetto Commerce Park area in North Charleston and the Summerville region along Interstate 26 continue to be the hottest spots for industrial construction, with a combined 42.7 million square feet of space — nearly two-thirds of the market’s total.

Up a notch

An economic development trade publication reports South Carolina is the nation’s seventh-best state for attracting industrial investment.

The ranking is included in Site Selection’s annual Prosperity Cup list, which measures the effectiveness of each state’s economic development efforts.

The Palmetto State moved up one spot in the magazine’s 2023 rankings. Neighboring states Georgia and North Carolina placed first and second, respectively.

A focus on electric vehicles and the batteries that power them helped the S.C. Department of Commerce recruit 120 businesses and expansions representing investments topping $10.27 billion in 2022 — a record year for economic development in South Carolina and an 80 percent increase over the previous mark set in 2021.

The new deals promise to create 14,083 jobs over time, with most of the activity centered around plants in the Charleston region and the Upstate.

Bottled up

South Atlantic Canners is spending $28.7 million on a multiyear expansion at its Lee County site that will create 15 jobs over the next five years.

The company is managed by Coca-Cola Consolidated Inc., the largest independent Coca-Cola bottler in the United States with production of more than 300 beverage brands and distribution to 14 states and Washington, D.C.

South Atlantic Canners plans to renovate its existing Bishopville facility and add new, state-of-the-art equipment. The expansion is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.