All are welcome and newcomers may attend for free! For more information call Diane Shiver at 388-8485 or e -mail diane.shiver@gmail.com

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The Isle of Palms Recreation Department would also like to thank this year’s sponsors: www.halfrubber.com, Atlanta Bread Company, Banana Cabana, Charleston Crab House , Charleston Limo, East Cooper Sporting Goods, Hucks Lowcountry Table, Isle Of Palms Marina, My Favorite Things, Wild Dunes Resort, Windjammer, Southen Brewery, Home Team BBQ, Chic-Fil-A, Vintage Chariots, Neil Jordans, Iacafano’s, Jack’s Cosmic Dogs, Bambu, Noisy Oyster, Capriccio and Vitamin Water.

For more information on the 2010 Isle of Palms Half Rubber Tournament, visit www.iop.net.

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The old Ben Sawyer bridge while it was under construction.

By Blake Bunch

Whether the Ben Sawyer bridge is working efficiently ultimately determines one’s route off Sullivan’s Island, and even though the bridge was recently replaced with a brand new span and operating system, the bridge is still experiencing the occasional maintenance issue. Most of these issues directly stem from the traffic/weight support of the bridge, for which supplemental support will ultimately be necessary.

According to Julie Hussey, communications liaison for the Ben Sawyer Bridge project, “In the course of rehabilitating the bridge, SC DOT (South Carolina Department of Transportation) and FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) engineers determined it would be best to upgrade the abutment foundations and assure the bridge’s new ability to withstand the worst case loading situations.”

To upgrade these foundations, crews plan to drive in support pilings adjacent to the existing pilings on both sides of the bridge where it abuts with the causeway. Hussey also noted that the finish surface of the asphalt pavement on the bridge will be completed after the abutments are sufficiently reinforced.

In terms of the time it will take to complete this enforcement process, Kim Partenheimer, on-site RCEI Project Manager for the bridge rehabilitation noted that, while the project is ready to go, it is still going through some last minute approvals.

“Once SC DOT and the contractor agree, I don’t think that it will take too long for the contractor to start work,” said Partenheimer. “The contractor built out each quadrant of the bridge, so he has installed temporary lagging walls at all four locations, and he has a working platform to work on the project. Once all the heavy equipment is moved in they can bring in the paver and complete the enhancement.”

Work to make the support pile upgrades is expected to begin by the end of the summer.

For further information, contact Julie Hussey at jchussey@civiccommunications.com, or Kim Partenheimer with the SCDOT Ben Sawyer Bridge Project Field Office at 972-1770, or by email at partenheimer@pbworld.com.

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Ellen Wilson leads the Holy Yoga group through some stretches with inspirational scripture.

By Kristin Hackler

It’s just before 9:30 on a Wednesday morning, and several cars are parked in front of Sunrise Presbyterian Church on Sullivan’s Island. A couple kids mill around as their moms grab a bottle of water and a colorful rolled-up mat out of the trunk and head into the church. No church clothes today; instead they’re wearing comfortable exercise pants and t-shirts, and each of them wave excitedly as they see a sprightly young blonde woman standing at the door, ushering them in to the community hall.

Since June, Ellen Shaw Wilson has been hosting an hour-long yoga class once a week in the spacious community room of Sunrise Presbyterian, and for many it’s one of the most deeply spiritual experiences they have had all week, because instead of listening to Eastern chants or instrumental meditation music, they listen to contemporary Christian praise music, and instead of humming Sanskrit mantras, they listen as Ellen reads chapters of strength, encouragement and insight from her well-worn Bible.

“I used to go to a lot of traditional yoga,” said Ellen, “but there was a lot of emphasis on Eastern teaching and thought patterns. I had a good physical workout, but it brought me out of my zone of peace.”

Wouldn’t it be cool, she thought, if she could have the same workout experience, but have it more in line with her beliefs and the traditions in which she was brought up?

That thought led her to research other forms of yoga online and within minutes, she was reading about a program started ten years ago by expert yoga practitioner Brooke Boon called Holy Yoga.

“I thought I was the first one to think of it!” laughed Ellen. The program intrigued her and she was surprised to find that there were already more than 200 certified Holy Yoga leaders around the country, with one already working in the Charleston area. Further research led her to find that Holy Yoga offered a fully-accredited school of yoga and to become a teacher, she would have to complete 200 hours of training with the final training sessions held in Arizona.

“I contacted them and prayed about, and I felt it was what I was supposed to do,” said Ellen. Already working as a therapist at MUSC and with a husband and two-year-old child at home, however, Ellen wasn’t sure how she would be able to not only get accredited, but also find a place to practice and students to fill the class.

“Our first lesson in Holy Yoga was the story of Moses,” Ellen smiled. “Moses was afraid that he couldn’t speak well in public, so God said, ‘Leave the details to me.’” And before Ellen’s plane even touched ground on her return from training in Arizona, a location had already been approved for her class and students were already waiting for her to lead them through their first class at Sunrise Presbyterian.

The unexpected help had come from the only other Holy Yoga instructor in Charleston, Rachel Glowacki. While Rachel teaches classes in Charleston, several of her students had requested that classes be held a little closer to their homes on the islands. Rachel knew that another student was soon returning to the Charleston area as a Holy Yoga instructor and with the help of Reverend Vince Pauly of Sunrise Presbyterian, a location for class was established and the students were ready with open arms.

Today, Ellen is hoping to expand the class to twice-a-week and possibly even include an evening class. Her regular Wednesday sessions host anywhere between 10 and 20 students and is designed to stretch and strengthen almost every level of yogi. More complicated moves are given simpler modifications, and time is taken to regroup and meditate on scripture.

A typical Holy Yoga class begins with meditation in a completely relaxed “corpse pose”, or Savasana. Calm spiritual music plays while the instructor leads the students into a place of calm and focused meditation. As the teacher leads the students from floor poses to standing poses such as Warrior One, they take a moment to read a line or two of inspirational scripture. In Ellen’s case, she began her class with a reading from Philippians 4:4 -10.

Holy Yoga is open to all and you do not have to be a member of the church to attend. The class is a $5 donation, and childcare for ages 0 – 6 is an additional $5 donation. Classes are currently held at Sunrise Presbyterian, located at 3222 Middle Street, on Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. Classes usually run between one hour and one hour and fifteen minutes. For more information, visit www.HolyYoga.net.

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The Appointment and Administration of Oath to New Employees

Mayor Dick Cronin led the following candidates through their Oath of Office: Mr. Jeff Anderson, who will serve as Fire Inspector for the City of Isle of Palms, Mrs. Marguerite DeCicco as Secretary of the Fire Department, Mr. William McElheney as the Recreation Supervisor, Mrs. Elizabeth McCullen as Telecommunicator, and Mr. Jeff Swain, Patrol Officer. “We have an outstanding work force in the city and now we’re adding to it,” Cronin smiled.

Mayor Cronin motioned to approve the minutes for the last Council meeting on July 27, 2010, and the Joint meeting of the City Council and the Planning Commission of July 20, 2010. Both were approved unanimously.

Citizens’ Comments

Mayor Cronin expressed his gratitude for the recognition of the City of Isle of Palms through the reception of the “Proudly We Hail” award given by the Isle of Palms Exchange Club. The City Isle of Palms is the first recipient of this award and it was given in recognition of the flying of the American Flag over City Hall year round.

Resident Jim Raih of 3904 Cameron Blvd. took the opportunity to speak during citizens’ comments, stating that he has been in the real estate development industry for nearly 25 years and feels that we have a serious communication problem on the island that needs to be addressed. “It’s gone on far too long,” said Raih. “We’ve spent countless hours trying to resolve issues.” One of the key problems, he said, was to keep the commercial income-generating component away from the public needs communication from a safety perspective. “It’s time for the city to take the lead in solving our problems for the community.” He offered his help to the city to help resolve the communication “challenges” on the island.

Wellness Fair

Mayor Cronin reminded Council and residents that the Isle of Palms will be holding their annual Wellness Fair on Thursday, September 16, from 7 a.m. to Noon.

Ways and Means Committee

Mayor Cronin ran through the July report from the City Treasurer, noting that the report shows that on a monthly basis we should be at 8.3% on the expenses, and our expenditures are 7%. All things a trending well from an expenditure standpoint, but we’re in a week period for income. “Our fiscal year in 2010 is about the same as we were in 2008,” said Cronin. “We had a downward blip as most of the country had in 2009, but now we’re back on track.” Cronin also noted that tourism income is back and looks a lot more stable.

In terms of special projects such as beach restoration and City Hall renovation, there has not been much activity, but as for the 52nd – 57th Ave. drainage project, Cronin noted that he attended a meeting last night and appealed to Countty Transportation meeting and by the end of the meeting, they had $100,000 to move forward with the project. “As I told them, we’re moving forward with the project, we just don’t know how much we can complete,” Cronin smiled. “We’ll get as much done as we can with what we have. We’ll have to do that again next time.”

Mayor Cronin also motioned to approve the award of a sole source contract to T2 Systems in the amount of $18,180.40 for four (4) Cisco IT-3100 handhelds and printers for the Police Department traffic ticketing (included in FY 11 Sate ATAX budget). Motion carries.

The next Ways and Means Committee meeting is Sept. 21 at 5:45 p.m.

Public Safety Committee

Chairman Martin Bettelli reported that the Public Safety Committee met on Tuesday, August 10, and heard an update on the radio tower. The chief has been meeting with other fire, police, and county officials to discuss a 180ft. tower over the proposed 230 ft. tower. “Part of the problem we’re having is interference off of the ocean,” said Bettellli, noting that the County is waiting on an independent report from a company, Kimball, which is reviewing the Motorola design.

The public safety building is having some trouble with HVAC. “We considered a Signal 30 Award, and we are awaiting input from the staff on this and will probably bring it up next month,” said Bettelli.

Highlights from the departmental reports include the Fire Department report, noting that there were 183 jellyfish stings and 12 stings from sting rays last month. The new Fire Inspector performed 66 inspections during the month, and Bettelli congratulated the chief on 25 years of service to the island. The Fire Department also will be having an ISO study, and this could result in a change to the City’s fire insurance rates.

During the month of July, 5034 calls were dispatched, and 1548 parking tickets were issued. There were 30 instances of noise violations and five citations written, and of 14 fireworks violations, two citations were written. There will also be a bicycle ride (ECCO Ride) on September 11 early in the morning and since there’s no City involvement, the police will not be involved.

The next meeting of Public Safety is Thursday, September 9, at 5:30 p.m.

Public Works Committee

Councilman Brian Duffy said that Public Works Committee met Wednesday August 4. “Garbage is still being picked up, and we’re at our lowest level in five years,” said Duffy. “Not sure why it’s down, but who knows.” Duffy stated that there was a review of the drainage project and thanked the Mayor for allocating the $100,000. The department hopes to get a good bid and expects approvals to come in by mid-October and bid packages will go out shortly thereafter.

Duffy also stated that they are trying a new project for Public Works by using one of the City’s ATVs, allowing them to move crews around more quickly to help with cleaning up various right of way issues.

The next meeting is Wednesday September 1, at 4 p.m.

Recreation Committee

Councilmember Ryan Buckhannon reported for the Recreation Committee, stating that the island theater group, Crabpot Players, will be holding auditions for the December performance, “Miracle on 34th Street” at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 18, at the Rec. Center. He also noted that the Rec. Center’s School’s Out activities were very successful, and this year’s theatre camp also went very well. The annual half-rubber tournament, held on Saturday, August 21, boasted 28 participating teams. The IOP beach run, held on July 18, had 233 runners involved. There were over 400 campers participating in the Wee Camp and Summershine programs this year, and the Lacrosse camp attracted 74 youths. “It was great to see the number of camps and new programs that we have were very successful this year, so kudos to the Rec. Department staff for that,” said Buckhannon. The first middle school dance of the year will be held on Friday, September 10 at 7 p.m. with an 80s Extravaganza theme. The Halloween Carnival is set up for October 30. The next meeting is scheduled for September 8 at 4 p.m.

Personnel Committee

Councilmember Ralph Piening announced the June Safety Sweepstakes winners. Emily Dziuban won for General Government, Joseph Washington won for Public Works, Jason Smith won for the Fire Department and Dianne Tarr won for the Police Department. The next Personnel Committee meeting will be held on September 7 at 5:45 p.m.

Mack truck lease approval

The Second Reading of Ordinance 2010-011, an ordinance authorizing the leasing of one Mack garbage truck GU713, passed second reading with Councilmember Buckhannon voting against, stating that, “We should try to get away from these lease/purchase program and just purchase what we need.”

First reading of ordinance to allow photography on the beach

First Reading, by title only of Ordinance 2010-12, An Ordinance Amending Title 7, Licensing and Regulation, Chapter 3, Beach and Marine Recreation Regulations, Article A, General Provisions, Section 7-3-20, Commercial Activities Restricted, of the City of Isle of Palms Code of Ordinances to Allow Commercial Photographers to take Photographs on the Beach under Certain Conditions.

“For those who aren’t aware, this is an amendment which will add the following paragraph to City Code. ‘… Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit a commercial photographer who is not soliciting on the beach, beach accesses, beach parking lot or Breach Inlet Bridge, from implementing a prior contract to take still photographs on the beach for a fee. The use of the beach to take photographs on the beach for a fee shall be limited to no more than one hour per day for a fee,” read Mayor Cronin.

Council member Bergwerf asked about the line “under certain conditions” in the motion and Cronin pointed out that this wasn’t a part of the change and was part of the existing code. Filming will still need to be approved through Council. There being no further concerns, the first reading passed unanimously.

The next Isle of Palms Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 28, at 7 p.m. in Council chambers, located at 1207 Palm Boulevard. For more info, call 886-6428 or visit www.iop.net.

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Join the National Park Service in celebration of Constitution Week by attending one of several free special events scheduled for the week of September 17-25, 2010, at Charles Pinckney National Historic Site located at 1254 Long Point Road in Mount Pleasant. The park preserves the last 28 acres of Snee Farm, a plantation that was once owned by Charles Pinckney who was a principal framer and signer of the U.S. Constitution.

On Friday, September 17, help celebrate Citizenship Day during the park’s annual naturalization ceremony at 10:30 a.m. During the ceremony, up to 150 candidates will be sworn in as America’s newest citizens. The public and school groups are invited to the free program, and are encouraged to bring chairs or blankets as seating will be limited. Later that day at 8 p.m., the public is invited to the premiere of a new documentary on Founding Father Charles Pinckney. Produced by SCETV, Forgotten Founder: the Story of Charles Pinckney uses original art work, period illustrations, historical documents, dramatic reenactments and studio interviews to tell the story of a true public servant. The program was funded in part by the Friends of Historic Snee Farm and the Humanities Council, SC. Dr. Walter Edgar will introduce the documentary and Producer Sanford “Dave” Adams will answer questions at the conclusion. The free screening will be held outdoors under a large tent. For more information on Forgotten Founder, please visit http://bit.ly/Pinckney.

On Saturday, September 18, join park staff at 11 a.m. for the unveiling of an original oil painting interpreting President George Washington’s 1791 visit to Snee Farm.  Artist Martin Pate has created paintings for the National Park Service for over fifteen years. Following the unveiling, Pate and National Park Service Archeologist John Jameson will present a program on Archeology and the Arts. The painting was funded by the Southeastern Archeological Center and will be a dramatic addition to the permanent exhibits at Pinckney.

Two days of living history are scheduled on Friday and Saturday, September 24 and 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Watch craftsmen in period dress demonstrate rice-pounding, indigo-dyeing, iron-smithing, brick masonry and domestic arts. Also included are Revolutionary War soldiers, 18^th century music, sweetgrass basket sewing, quilting, African drumming and Gullah story-telling. Visitors can also participate in a game of historic cricket.

Throughout the week, visitors may take part in the “I Signed the Constitution” program, signing a scroll that will be sent to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, the city where Charles Pinckney and 38 other delegates signed the world-changing document on September 17, 1787.

All events are free. For more information or group reservations, please call the park at 881-5516 or visit us on the Web at: www.nps.gov/chpi

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Jim Koenig of King Fish Environmental holds several small crabs caught in the net during the Pack 59 July Pack outing. Photo by Steve Suggs

By Steve Suggs

The Pack 59 Cub Scouts packed in the summer fun with monthly outings including a trip to Bee City in Cottageville, an interactive surf seining experience on Sullivan’s Island and a fun free swim on Sullivan’s Island, as well as the Cub Scouts day camp offered by the Coastal Carolina Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

At Bee City, scouts learned the environmental importance of honeybees and actively helped in the processing of hive products by making beeswax candles and bottling honey. The boys also got to visit the adjacent petting zoo which included monkeys, lemurs, wallabies, alpacas and llamas, and the nature center which featured snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs and alligators.

The Surf Seining and Science program was an interactive hands-on event led by Jim Koenig of King Fish Environmental. The Cub Scouts helped Jim pull a 35-foot seine net in the ocean surf zone and in the process, captured a variety of sea creatures. The boys then learned to identify the wide variety of marine life caught in the net including many varieties of fish, crabs, sting rays and jelly fish before releasing the creatures back to the ocean. This interactive outdoor experience captured the imagination of the boys and intrigued the parents, all while educating without the aid of textbooks or homework.

Thunderstorms put a damper on the swimming outing, but a number of scouts dedicated to fun banded together for a short swim before the rains began to fall.

Pack 59 is chartered by Stella Maris Catholic Church and serves Sullivan’s Island, Isle of Palms and parts of Mount Pleasant. The Pack is part of the Etiwan District of the Coastal Carolina Council of the Boy Scouts of America. For more information about Pack 59, email Pack Committee Chair Ken Huggins at cubscout59@gmail.com For more information about Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts of America, contact District Executive William Etheridge at 763-0305, or visit www.coastalcarolinabsa.org.

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“This [class] will give you the knowledge to go buy a computer, set it up and feel confident about what you are doing,” says Bob, noting that he will be available to help anyone after both classes that need a little more help or guidance.

For more information, contact Bob Hooper at 822-7794 or 886-8939, or email him at rentabob@bellsouth.net

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The Isle of Palms Recreation Department will host their Annual Community Wellness Fair on Thursday, September 16, 2010, from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. Participants are invited to the Isle of Palms Recreation Department at 24 28th Avenue to speak with local healthcare professionals and specialists. Healthcare professionals will be on-site to provide several beneficial health services, including blood work, flu shots, free screenings and information, and much more. For more information, contact Will McElheny at 886-8294 or visit www.iop.net.

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Do you remember your first car, your first job or your first love? Would you like to write down some of these memories for yourself, your children or your grandchildren? Our “Writing Your Memoirs” class will help you get started. Each class includes instruction, examples and writing exercises. During this eight-week class, you’ll learn how to uncover your memories, organize your ideas, and make your stories interesting while having a lot of fun in the process. At the conclusion, your favorite story will be included in a class book. Space is limited to 12 students so register today. Classes are offered at two locations:

• Isle of Palms Recreation Department, located at 24 28th Ave., on Tuesdays from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for 8 weeks starting September 7. Cost: $45

• Creative Spark Center for the Arts, located at 757 Long Point Road, Thursdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m. for 8 weeks starting September 9. Cost: $65

Tonya McGue will be the class instructor and facilitator. She has experience teaching this class and has over 40 articles to her credit. She founded and published a regional parenting magazine. In addition to her nonfiction work, she has published short stories and a young adult novel.

Register by call 886-8294 for the Isle of Palms class or 881-3780 for the Creative Spark class.

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