Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009

The Carolinas | Prosecutor enters attorney general race

South Carolina

COLUMBIA

Prosecutor enters attorney general race

A Columbia attorney and former state and federal prosecutor has entered the race to be South Carolina's next attorney general.

Robert Bolchoz said Monday he'll seek the Republican nomination for the job.

Bolchoz was a prosecutor in Charleston and Berkeley counties and served as a deputy to former Attorney General Charlie Condon. He also served as special assistant U.S. Attorney and law clerk for former Gov. Carroll Campbell.

Former assistant attorney general Alan Wilson and Columbia lawyer Leighton Lord are the other announced Republican candidates. Attorney General Henry McMaster is seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

CHARLESTON

Mercury study smaller than planned

South Carolina is starting a study on the effects of mercury pollution, but it will be smaller than first planned because of state budget cuts.

The Post and Courier of Charleston reports the Department of Health and Environmental Control says it won't be a full statewide study because the agency lost $40 million in budget cuts. The study will initially focus around Florence, because mercury contamination is high in the area.

Mercury occurs naturally in the environment, but can also collect in rivers and lakes from pollution from burning coal. The newspaper reported that South Carolinians who eat fish from contaminated rivers have unusually high levels of mercury.

CHARLESTON

Oil spills spark Coast Guard clean up

The Coast Guard is cleaning some beaches on the South Carolina coast after tar balls were spotted on the shore.

The Coast Guard said teams on Edisto Island and Seabrook Island found tar balls Sunday morning. The Coast Guard says it is continuing an oil spill assessment and is working with contracted crews to clean the Charleston area beaches.

An oil spill was reported in Charleston Harbor on Oct. 20. The Coast Guard says it hasn't heard reports of the oil causing problems for fish or wildlife. The Coast Guard says cleanup efforts on Sullivans Island, Folly Beach and Fort Sumter have been effective.

CHARLESTON

Impact, not fire, killed men on plane

A coroner says four men who died when a small plane crashed in South Carolina last week were killed from the impact of the crash, not from the ensuing fire.

The Port and Courier of Charleston reports Dorchester County Coroner Chris Nisbet said Monday the cause of the deaths was blunt force injury.

The six-passenger Piper PA-23 crashed and burned shortly after takeoff from the Summerville Airport shortly before dawn on Oct. 21. The four men - three from South Carolina and one from Delaware - were going to the Bahamas for an amateur radio competition. A woman who lives nearby said she heard a grinding noise from the plane's engine before hearing an explosion. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

EDGEFIELD

Falling trailer kills 27-year-old man

A South Carolina man has been killed after a tractor-trailer hit a train trestle, causing the container the rig was hauling to fall onto the man's pickup.

The Augusta Chronicle reported that 27-year-old Jeremy Jay of Edgefield was killed instantly in crash about 7 a.m. Monday.

Authorities say the tractor-trailer struck the trestle entering Edgefield. A crane was used to help remove the container. The newspaper says two or three tractor trailers hit the 13-foot-tall trestle each year.

North Carolina

ASHEVILLE

Rock slide will take 3 months to clean up

Authorities estimate they will need up to three months to clear debris from a rock slide that has closed Interstate 40 in both directions at the North Carolina-Tennessee state line.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that three vehicles ran into the rocks within minutes of the slide, which occurred about 2 a.m. Sunday near mile marker 3 in Haywood County, west of Asheville. Highway Patrol troopers say one woman suffered injuries that weren't life-threatening.

A DOT spokeswoman said Monday the rock slide has created a 53-mile detour. Motorists traveling west to Tennessee should take I-40 West to I-240 West in Asheville to I-26 West. Follow I-26 West from Asheville to I-81 South in Tennessee, back to I-40. Eastbound motorists will follow the reverse directions.

Joel Setzer, a division engineer with the state Transportation Department, said the freeze and thaw of recent rains could have contributed to the slide. He said geologists and geo-technicians with the Transportation Department did a preliminary assessment and agreed with the engineers' estimate of up to three months to clear the area.

"An estimated 22,000 to 25,000 vehicles pass through this section of Interstate 40 daily, about half of which are commercial trucks," Setzer said.

The highway closure could hurt the area's already struggling tourism industry, especially during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, said Marla Tambellini, vice president of marketing for the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau.