Home Care In Irmo, SC

The burger chain is planning its new location at 1185 Dutch Fork Road near the Ballentine community next to the Aldi and Starbucks, already under development.

IRMO, S.C. — Rumors that popular Texas burger chain Whataburger is eyeing a new location in Irmo are true, town officials confirmed to News19 on Thursday.

"Yes, Whataburger is coming to town," Irmo Assistant Town Administrator Douglas Polen said.

The burger chain is planning its new location at 1185 Dutch Fork Road near the Ballentine community next to the Aldi and Starbucks, already under development.

"I think a lot of people are excited to have Whataburger here. It’s a fairly new franchise to the South Carolina area," Polen said. "I know I haven’t eaten there, but my brother lives in Texas, so I’ve heard good things."

Polen said it's in the permitting phase right now, which means Whataburger builders and architects need approval from the town, state and county.

"At this point, it really is bringing in your actual blueprints to the building official, so he’s looking at it. Alright, how does the water connect to the water system? Does the electricity look good in the building?" Polen said. "Those things normally take maybe a couple months as long as everything’s moving back and forth."

Polen said there’s no real difference between bringing in a chain and a local business. Both need proper zoning for a piece of land, permits for engineering plans by county, state and town and, eventually, a business license.

"As the town, what we look at is the building itself. Does it match our aesthetic criteria? How far away from the road is it? Is there enough parking? Does the drive-thru work correctly?" Polen said.

Polen said the town is waiting for Whataburger to send all of its plans to the building inspector for review. Once that’s done, the town said it will take about 48 to 72 hours to issue their permit.

"We try really hard to be easy to work with, fair and friendly. We know this area is growing," Polen said.

According to the developer out of Greenville, Magnolia Property Group, it is finishing up site work in the next few weeks and expects to get its building permit a few weeks after that, breaking ground in the next 30 to 60 days.

IRMO — With less than a week until he is sworn in, Irmo’s future mayor has his hands full.

In November, Irmo Councilman Bill Danielson, a business executive who was elected to the town council in 2020, beat out the town’s current mayor, Barry Walker, in his bid for reelection. Since then, constituents have been calling nonstop, Danielson said.

“With change, people get nervous,” Danielson said. “So, I’m trying to be very hands-on right now and be very responsive to our citizens.”

With an eye on Irmo’s town hall space, bolstering public safety and instilling unity on the council, Danielson said the transition between leaders has been smooth so far.

On Nov. 7, voters in Irmo, a 12,000 resident town that straddles Lexington and Richland counties, favored Danielson over Walker, the town’s current leader, by a 4 percent margin.

Walker served as the town’s mayor for one term, after being elected as Irmo’s first Black mayor in 2019. Walker also sat on the council for several decades before that.

Also in the 2023 election, current Councilman Erik Sickinger was reelected, and Phyllis Coleman snagged an open seat. Because Danielson’s council seat does not expire until 2025, the town will soon conduct a special election to fill his vacant seat.

With so much movement on the council, one of Danielson’s top priorities is getting new members up to speed and ensuring that the new collection of council members works smoothly together.

“Coming into a town council role, it’s drinking water through a firehose,” he said. “And the plan (to unify the council) is simple. The plan is to make sure everybody is involved.”

Additionally, when every seat has been filled, Danielson said he would like to have a meeting to gather the rest of council’s ideas on where to take the town.

Another top issue when Danielson takes office is figuring out the future of Irmo’s town hall building, he said. The town staff is bursting at the seams in its current home, and is in desperate need of an expansion. Though a property for a new facility has been identified, just down the street from the current town hall, funding for to build it is still up in the air, Danielson said.

A Midlands woman said nobody believed her when she told them that she had won $300,000 on a scratch-off ticket, according to South Carolina Education Lottery officials.

Maybe they never will, since the woman told lottery officials that she plans to save the winnings from her windfall, according to a news release.

The winner said the first thing she did after discovering her good luck was to call those closest to her to share the exciting news, according to the release.

Even though lottery officials said she called all of her family and friends, each had the same response.

“They didn’t believe me,” the woman said in the release.

To be fair, capturing the grand prize was unexpected even to the winner, who said “it was a shocker.”

The woman bought the six-figure winning The Rolling Jackpot game for $10 at the Pitt Stop gas station/convenience store at 11047 Broad River Road, according to the release. That’s in Irmo, near Exit 97 on Interstate 26.

The winner will be allowed to retain some privacy, as South Carolina is one of 11 states — along with Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas and Virginia — that allow lottery winners to remain anonymous.

The odds of winning the $300,000 top prize in The Rolling Jackpot game were one-in-1,080,000, according to the release. Three of the game’s five top prize-winning tickets remain unclaimed, according to the lottery website.

Pitt Stop in Irmo received a commission of $3,000 for selling the claimed ticket, according to the release.

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According to Skate Park committee organizer Marie Ryan, the town has allocated about $360K of hospitality tax funds or PARD Grant funding to cover the cost.

IRMO, S.C. — 5th Pocket Skateparks is now set to build an 8500 square foot skate park in the Friarsgate neighborhood of Irmo. That's according to Friarsgate Skate Park fundraising organizer Marie Ryan.

She tells News 19 the total cost of the park is $356,400, which the town explains they will cover with hospitality tax dollars or PARD Grant funds.

Town council met Tuesday night to determine the fate of the town's future skate park, ultimately deciding to allocate the money and approve the contract.

Everything starts hard before it's easy.

That's the case in learning both how to skateboard, as well as establishing a brand new skate park. Something that's taken years for the Friarsgate Skate Park committee to do.

Well now, it's finally coming to fruition.

Ryan tells News 19 they've had tons of fundraising events to help with these park designs and donating skate boards, helmets and pads to kids across Irmo.

"These kids that are learning these skills such as determination and resilience and improving themselves personally, that are challenging themselves personally, that are learning that falling isn't failing, these are going to be life long benefits that they can take with them throughout their education, through the workforce," Ryan said.

The after-school program Ryan helps with teaches 80 kids a week how to skate with a skateboard instructor. These are kids that will eventually have a new place to hone their skills.

"It's something that you can learn, to study, until you master it and be a good skateboarder," Paul Prailleau, third grade student said.

"Skateboarding doesn't have a rule. You can do it however you want it … It taught me how to be brave," Ethan Estrada, third grade student said.

All of them tell News 19 they are very excited to learn at a real skate park instead of the church parking lot.

"As far as quality of life goes, having some activity that you can do keeps you healthy, gets you out to meet other neighbors in your community," Kelly Busch, Irmo town council member said.

Ryan explains that construction will last about nine weeks, with an expected completion date of the end of next year since permitting will take several months.

Irmo football’s potent offense delivered another masterful performance Friday night.

The Yellow Jackets used a variety of big plays to defeat Myrtle Beach, 55-24, in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs at WC Hawkins Stadium. Irmo goes to James Island next week in the third round for a rematch of last year’s postseason game, a win by the Islanders.

Quarterback AJ Brand threw three touchdown passes and ran for a score. Running back Jaden Allen-Hendrix ran for two touchdowns and caught a 57-yard TD.

Receiver Telvin Smith returned a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown and also caught a TD pass.

“We had a heck of a test tonight. Coach (Mickey) Wilson and that group came out with a good game plan,” Irmo coach Aaron Brand said. “But our horses were just too much for them tonight. When those 200-pounders in the backfield get going and get (Donovan) Murph over the top for the big plays and Telvin Smith on the wings, we are tough to beat.”

Irmo (12-0) has 12 wins in a season for the first time since 2006. On Friday, they had four scoring plays of 50 yards or more in the game, with two coming in the final three minutes of the first half.

Brand connected with Murph on a 57-yard TD pass to put Irmo up 21-10 with 1:55 left in the second quarter.

After Irmo’s defense forced a three-and-out, Brand hit Allen-Hendrix on a swing pass out of the backfield that went 57 yards for the score and a 28-10 lead.

Brand finished 8-of-10 passing for 184 yards and also carried it 13 times for 128.

Myrtle Beach battled back in the third quarter. Quarterback Gibson Goodroe hit John Simmons for a touchdown to cut the lead to 28-17. But Smith took the ensuing kickoff back 94 yards for a touchdown to put Irmo back up 34-17.

On the Seahawks’ next possession, Malachi Washington took a hook-and-ladder for TD to trim the lead to 34-24 with 6:22 in the third quarter.

Myrtle Beach got it inside the 15-yard line at the beginning of the fourth quarter. But after a holding call pushed the Seahawks back, they missed a field goal.

Irmo marched it dowfield and Allen Hendrix scored on a 10-yard TD to make it 41-24 with 8:59 left.

“We had to find out who was going to show up when it got hard, and who was going to step up to the plate,” Allen-Hendrix said. “Defense stepped up at the end and showed up. Then the offense did what we had to do to close out the game.”

Hendrix finished with 267 all-purpose yards including 185 rushing yards on 14 carries. Smith had 133 all-purpose yards.

Irmo’s defense had five sacks and also picked off a pass.

The Hammond Skyhawks are headed back to the SCISA Class 4A championship game.

Hammond used a big first half Friday to defeat Cardinal Newman, 33-14, at Edens Stadium. Hammond will play Laurence Manning for the state championship next Friday at Charleston Southern.

It was Hammond’s second win over Cardinal Newman this season and 24th straight over the Cardinals.

Hammond led 20-0 at halftime. Robert Malanuk had a TD pass, Kinson Holland a TD run and Bubba Alexander returned a fumble 51 yards for a score with 46 seconds left in the second quarter.

Cardinal Newman got it within 26-14 on Cortez Lane’s TD run with 3:59 left in the third quarter.

But the Skyhawks scored on a double reverse as Jack Croft hit quarterback Andrew Turner to make it 33-14 with 3:33 left.

Elgin Sessions blocked a potential game-tying field goal as Dutch Fork defeated TL Hanna, 31-28, in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.

Dutch Fork will host Gaffney in the third round next week.

Backup quarterback Ethan Offing, starting in place of injured Jon Hunt, ran for 137 yards and a TD and threw for 123 yards and a score for the Silver Foxes.’

Offing’s 2-yard run put the Silver Foxes up 31-28 with 8:11 left.

TL Hanna marched down on its next possession, chewing most of the clock and got it to the Dutch Fork 10, but Sessions blocked Walker Broome’s kick to preserve the win.

Deon Winsley had a 90-yard fumble return for a touchdown to put Dutch Fork up 10-0 in the first quarter.

KD Patterson rushed for 215 yards and two touchdowns and Josh Donald also had two TDs for TLH.

There will be an all-Midlands showdown in the third round of the Class 3A Lower State playoffs.

Gilbert defeated Hanahan, 49-35, and Camden defeated Dillon, 35-21, both on the road, to set up next week’s game at Zemp Stadium.

The two teams met in the 2020 playoffs with Camden winning, 58-7.

In Camden’s win Friday, quarterback Grayson White threw two touchdowns, ran one in and also returned an interception for a touchdown. White was 20-of-32 passing for 220 yards and also ran it 12 times for 82 yards.

In Gilbert’s win, freshman Trevon Williamson rushed for 312 yards, three touchdowns and Jaylen Jay had 141 yards and three scores. Drake Braddock had a TD pass to Krew Morris.

White Knoll 50, Fort Dorchester 7: Quarterback Landon Sharpe threw five touchdown passes as the Timberwolves (12-0) moved on to the third round of the 5A playoffs. White Knoll will host Sumter next week.

Sharpe was 13-of-19 passing for 182 yards.

Five different Timberwolves (12-0) caught touchdown passes: Tiyon Fanning, CJ Earl (2), Tyson Cox, Austin Cunningham and Evan Henderson.

Cunningham caught five passes and also threw a TD pass. Fanning led WK rushing with 96 yards and a TD.

Dimensions Banks and Trenton Ilunga each had two sacks for the Timberwolves.

Brookland-Cayce 34, Philip Simmons 13: The Bearcats won their 10th game for the first time since 2016 and moved on in the 3A playoffs. B-C faces Crestwood next week. Running back DeShaun Washington rushed for 214 yards and four touchdowns. Jvonn Edwards added a TD run and Will Young rushed for 68 yards.

Gray Collegiate 62, Chesnee 14: The War Eagles rolled to the third round with a win over Chesnee. Gray will host Strom Thurmond next week. Quarterback Tyler Waller threw for two touchdowns and BJ Montgomery rushed for 150 yards and a TD. Dre Dopson had a TD pass.

Silver Bluff 22, Fairfield Central 21: Jordan Boyd had the game-winning interception return for a touchdown and the Bulldogs made the two-point conversion in the fourth for the win.

Strom Thurmond 53, Keenan 20: Quan Edmond threw four touchdown passes and Chris Barnes had two TD runs and a kickoff return for a score for Strom Thurmond. Keenan had a pair of defensive touchdowns, inclluding a fumble return by Corey Williams.

South Florence 50, Richland Northeast 20: The Cavs’ season ended at the hands of the defending 4A champions. SyRee Livingston ran for three touchdowns to lead South Florence. Will Wilson had two touchdowns for RNE.

Abbeville 41, Newberry 28: Jha’Louis Hadden ran for three touchdowns in Abbeville’s win over Newberry. Abbeville will host Silver Bluff next week. Kenton Caldwell had two touchdown passes and a TD run for Newberry.

This story was originally published November 11, 2023, 12:04 AM.