Ken Boren, LPN, CERT team leader for Loris Healthcare System, front left, receives a StormReady Supporter sign for Loris Community Hospital from Steven Pfaff, Warning Coordinator Meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

LCH is first storm ready facility in state

Loris Community Hospital has been named the first StormReady Supporter facility in South Carolina by the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with endorsement from Horry County Emergency Management. As a StormReady facility, Loris Community Hospital’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) will establish a 24 hour emergency command center during severe weather conditions. They will use the National Weather Service and methods such as HAM radio to receive updates about existing weather conditions and forecasts allowing for faster preparedness and a quicker alert time of impending bad weather for all Loris Healthcare System facilities.

Area farmers are grateful for rain

By Greta Burroughs.
A very large part of the area around Loris and Green Sea is either farmland or pastures and the success or lack of success of the summer’s crops has an impact on the whole community. Not only do the owners of the farms depend on a good harvest to make a living but the
men and women employed by the landowners depend on it as well. In turn, the general public is affected by the availability of, and prices of, the groceries we need to feed our families.The responsibility for supplying the meat, vegetables and produce is on the shoulders of the farmers. They can do all the physical work but it is up to Mother Nature to provide the rain. After weeks of hot, dry drought conditions the welcomed rain finally watered the
parched fields and most of the crops will survive.
Johnny Jenerette from the Farm Services Agency commented, “Prior to the rains we received recently, the crops in the Loris and Green Sea areas were getting in really bad shape. Tobacco was small and burning
up, corn and other crops were suffering and pastureland was hurting as well.

These last rains we received have turned around the crops. The corn that had not tasseled yet should be in better shape. The corn that had already tasseled may not have been caught it in time. Tobacco has turned around 100 percent from where it was. We are very thankful for the rain. It has made a big difference in the crops.”Corn is a staple crop that is in great demand throughout the United States. The price and availability of corn based animal feed determines the price we pay for meat and dairy products and a lot of the products on the grocery store shelves contain corn in one way or
another.Another reason for the increasing demand is the production of ethanol. A good bit of the corn that originally went towards food production is now being channeled to refineries where it is processed for fuel.
When asked if the demand for corn has prompted the local farmers to plant more, Jenerette replied, “We are planting about the same as last year, which was the first year that corn acreage increased by any real amount. Lots of corn has been planted this year too. The rain came in time for some of that corn but what was planted early in the season might not make it. Overall the corn will be in fair condition.”

He continued, “We will probably not see more cornplanted in the years to come than what we are seeing now. The reason is because of rotation. You cannot plant the same crop in the same field over and
over because of disease. Most people will rotate and plant corn this year and next year have soybeans or tobacco.”According to Jenerette, the recent flooding in the Midwest will have an impact on the availability and price of corn but it is too early to predict what the effects will be. “It is hard to predict the price of corn. It’s higher now than it was a month ago but it is hard to say what the price will be when it is time to harvest it. Typically
the price goes down when it is time to start cutting corn in this area. A lot of people have already booked their corn so the increase in price will not effect what they get per bushel. They will only get the price that was set when they booked it.”What that means to the consumer is that there will be higher prices starting at the production end all the way through to the grocery
shelves and we will be paying more for our food. The price of the gasoline needed for transportation will take a toll on the prices as well.

The men and women who work the land have a very difficult job and when they do not get the precipitation needed to grow their crops, the public suffers right along with them.

Machine pitch baseball tournament raises scholarship funds

By Greta Burroughs.
Green Sea Recreation Inc. held it’s First Annual HTC Benji Blanton Machine Pitch Tournament earlier this month at the Green Sea Floyds Park. Pee Dee, Lake View, Aynor, Mullins, the Green Sea Floyds Allstars and the Horry County Hornets competed in the double elimination tournament during the five-day event.

The team from Aynor won the first place trophy and Pee Dee received the prize for second place. All the other children were given commemorative T-shirts when they were eliminated from their two game competitions. All the players, coaches and spectators had a great time and are looking forward to next year’s event.Travis Williams, president of Green Sea Recreation stated, “Our
tournament was a success. We learned a lot and I’m sure we’ll do some things next year to make it even better.”He continued, “Machine pitch baseball is a little different from regular baseball. The teams consists of children ages 5-8 and each game had a time limit of an hour and a half or four innings. There are 10 kids on the field and during each inning all the players get a chance to bat. A mechanical pitching machine was used that was set up to pitch the ball somewhere between 29-32 mph.”
Richard and Tammy Grainger initiated the effort to bring the machine pitch tournament to the area. Mrs. Grainger commented, “Green Sea had been involved in the machine pitch tournament in Florence on and off
for a good many years, but had not been in it for the last five years. My husband was coaching one of the machine pitch teams last year and we went over there [Florence] and made history. Green Sea had never won a game before, but last year we won two games and were
there for four days. We came in third place in our bracket of eight out of 21 teams.”

The Graingers wanted to get a tournament started around here so that area teams would not have to travel so far to participate in the competition. They brought the idea before the Green Sea Recreation board members and with the help of Tony Lewis made the proposal to
host a machine pitch tournament to benefit the Benji Blanton Scholarship Fund. The board approved the proposal and a committee was formed to put the project together, which included Wayne Fox, Harold Elvington, Tony Lewis, Kelly Strickland and the Graingers.
“I called every recreation department in this county and the surrounding counties and we ended up with seven teams, but Conway had to back out at the last minute. All the teams were excited to be involved in it. It turned out to be a really good experience. HTC agreed to sponsor us for three years and has done a fantastic job. It
will be an annual event and we will give the majority of the proceeds to the Benji Blanton Scholarship Fund,” said Grainger.The Benji Blanton Scholarship Fund is named in honor of a young man who dedicated himself to helping children learn and enjoy sports, namely baseball. He graduated from Green Sea Floyds High School and
attended Coker College where he received a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1997. He played football and baseball while at school and after completing his education, he was employed by HTC and played on their softball team. Blanton was very active with the youth
baseball program at Green Sea Floyds Park and spent most of his time doing what he loved.
Kelly Strickland, treasurer of Green Sea Floyds Recreation Inc., knew Blanton and had this to say about him. “He did many things at the ball field. He umpired most of our games and he was very good at it, very fair to both teams. If he was behind the plate and thought the
catcher was a little off, he might tell him to move over a little bit to help the pitcher. Little things like that even when he was umpiring the game, it didn’t matter if it was the home team or visitors he wanted to help the kids learn the game.He was out there all the time. He finished work and came to the ball field. He would do whatever needed to be done to get the field ready and then umpire the game.”Strickland continued, “ It didn’t matter who you were, if he knew you, he would speak with you. He was genuine, a really great guy. Everybody loved him. Benji was killed in a car accident on Nov. 18, 2002. He and a friend were going hunting early that morning and an oncoming car crossed the centerline and hit them head on. It was a tragic loss for everyone.”

The tournament raised around $2,800 to go towards the scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to a student who played football, baseball or softball during his or her senior year of high school. The applicants have to write an essay about his or her involvement in the community and what it means to him/her. The scholarship committee is made up of Green Sea Recreation board members, Benji’s mother, teachers and the athletic director. The scholarship started out at $500 but is now $1000.
The First Annual HTC Benji Blanton Machine Pitch Tournament was very successful in raising money for a very worthy cause and in remembering a very special person to our community.Grainger related what happened on the final night of the competition.

“Benji’s parents were involved and were super excited about the whole thing. The Pee Dee and Aynor game was tied 31-31 at the end of the fourth inning and was going into extra innings. Benji’s mother told the announcer that 31 was Benji’s number when he was playing baseball. When we all realized what was happening, people were crying and it sent chills down our backs knowing that Benji was here with us
watching the game. He would have loved it.”

For more Loris news, pick up a Loris Times newspaper today.