Home Care In Catawba, SC

INDIAN LAND, S.C. (WBTV) - Two homes in a Lancaster County subdivision sit side by side.

Built in 2008, the 3,987 sq. feet floor plans with two-door garages are virtually identical. Click back and forth between the property listings on Lancaster County’s online property records, and almost no text changes.

No text, that is, except the tax bills: Ed Dockweiler on Cressingham Drive owes the county $3,560 in property taxes for 2023.

His neighbor next door in the identical home? $2,319.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” Dockweiler said, standing outside the home this fall that he bought in late 2021. “I don’t want to see my neighbor’s taxes increase. What I do want to see is a more level playing field.”

Just up the road in the same subdivision, realtor Brian McCarron has a slightly larger home than Dockweiler and a tax bill a thousand dollars cheaper.

When another new neighbor in the subdivision approached McCarron to ask why he’d been hit with a property tax bill far higher than he’d been told to expect when buying his new home, McCarron went digging.

A South Carolina law implemented in 2006, as McCarron found out, caps how much the taxable value of a home can increase over a five-year period to just 15% -- unless the home is sold.

In other words, a home’s taxable worth of $300,000 in 2018 can at maximum only have a taxable value of $345,000 when reassessed in 2023 – until someone like Dockweiler comes along in 2021 and purchases the home for $550,000 at the current market rate.

That’s exactly what happened to Dockweiler and dozens of other new homeowners, who responded in frustration when McCarron put out a call on social media asking who was noticing unexpected tax increases after purchasing a home in 2021 or since.

South Carolina’s law protects longtime homeowners in South Carolina from massive swings in the housing market, such as the country has seen since mid-2021. Anyone who bought before the pandemic in the subdivision is paying taxes on an amount that’s close to the one they paid when closing on the home.

Newcomers, however, pay a price. Dockweiler’s home was worth $300,000 when it was built in 2008, but anyone who’s been paying attention to housing costs in the Charlotte metro area - or anywhere else in the country - in the last couple of years won’t be surprised by the 83% increase in value when he bought it in 2021.

“When you look at a house that’s all the sudden contributing a thousand dollars more to the county’s budget? That seems excessive and not really fair to somebody who’s two doors down and still contributing essentially the same amount of money,” McCarron explained. “I understand cost goes up every year, but there’s got to be a way we can balance that.”

When asked about the situation, Lancaster County administrator Dennis Marshall pointed to the state-mandated five-year reassessment schedule that the county adheres to, saying it “evens out” the differences (It’s the reassessment, however, that state law caps at 15% and hasn’t kept up with rapidly rising market values.).

“Those differences get evened out through the state-mandated reassessment process the County must undertake every five years,” Marshall wrote in an email. “Every County in South Carolina experiences these differences in residential tax values, but Lancaster, like the other 45 counties, undertakes the mandated reassessment process to address the temporary disparity in assessed home values.”

A guide from Charleston County in South Carolina makes it explicit, however: “At reassessment, the taxable value can increase no more than 15% over the previous taxable value.”

Laws capping home value increases until sale aren’t uncommon. More than a dozen states have some kind of cap on assessment increases, according to the finance and business media outlet Kiplinger.

North Carolina is not one of those states, something that Charlotte-area realtor April Villines says contributes to a whole different set of issues where longtime homeowners are more subject to the whims of the market.

“Each county can actually come in and assess at any time, so if they feel the need to do an assessment, they’re going to go ahead and do that,” Villines explained. “It has caused some disruption during the market recently because of the heavy increase in property values.”

Mecklenburg County, which re-assesses every four years, partially offset that impact in the last assessment by lowering their tax rates instead, Villines noted. Still, the market impact on homeowners in North Carolina can be severe.

“I think that’s really the question we need to be asking; does the 26% in market value increase, does that really need to reflect tax increases? So I think we need to almost reconsider our adjustment.”

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Depending on how you want to look at it, the Columbia Museum of Art’s exhibition Resurgence and Renaissance: Art of the Catawba Nation Since 1973 could be thought of as a few years, 50 years or a few millennia in the making.

Stroll through the exhibition space for just a few minutes, though, and one thing is clear: The attention that Catawba artists are getting is overdue.

A collaboration between USC Lancaster’s Native American Studies Center and the CMA, the exhibition, which runs until Sept. 3, features 82 items — primarily pottery but also quilts, hats, baskets and photos of some of the Catawba potters.

All of the pieces on view are from the collections of the Native American Studies Center, which was established in 2012 for the study of South Carolina’s Native American peoples, their histories and their cultures. The center features archaeology, language, and folklore and oral history labs; primary and secondary texts on Native Americans in the Southeast; classes and programs for both students and the public; and, perhaps most notably, the largest collection of Catawba pottery in existence.

But to understand today’s exhibition, one must first look back several decades more, at least. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the museum’s first Catawba pottery exhibition, in 1973. It was organized by a USC Columbia graduate student, Steve Baker, who recognized the pottery as a traditional art form.

Stephen Criswell, director of Native American studies, professor of English and folklorist at USC Lancaster, discussed the impact of the 1973 exhibition at a recent lunch and learn conducted by the NASC.

“It was the first time that outsiders began to see Catawba pottery as art, and collectors began to see it as art,” Criswell said. “And the price of the pottery reflected that, and the reverence for the pottery began around this time. Potters had been working for, what, 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 years making this pottery. They’d been doing this for generations and generations, and the pottery was sold for very, very meager prices, and often traded for goods or services.”

Catawba pottery had been exhibited at museums before, but typically at natural history museums, “sort of exoticizing the Catawba instead of seeing this work as art,” Criswell said. But Baker did see it as art.

This marked a monumental shift in attitudes regarding Native American skills and artistry. Presenting the pottery as art changed people’s perceptions, and it opened up a market for the Catawba thanks to newfound demand for their craft.

As a result, at a time when some, including Baker, were beginning to wonder how much longer these ancient techniques would survive, production increased, helping to breathe new life into a time-honored tradition.

As evidenced by the pieces featured at the CMA, today’s Catawba potters still use the techniques passed down from generation to generation for some 5,000 years or more, even while they explore their own creativity. The pottery is made from traditional clay resources, time-honored fire methods are used, and mostly traditional forms are still seen as well.

Their processes also carry some traits that are distinct from modern pottery making. The elements within the clay used affect the final colors of the art, so there is often distinct coloring that is a result of the firing process and different types of clay. Additionally, Catawba pottery is unglazed, which affects both the creation process and the finished product. The results are fascinating and beautiful.

Resurgence and Renaissance, however, is about more than just the pottery, and about more than 1973. “It was important for us to let the experts and the citizens of Catawba Nation take the lead,” says Jackie Adams, director of art and learning at the CMA. “We wanted to center Catawba voices not just through the objects, but with the design of the show.”

So, in addition to the works of art, elements of storytelling, folklore and language were brought into the exhibition. Even the color of the walls — a rich blue — represents water, specifically the Catawba River. There are also graphic elements to the show created by Alex Osborne, a Catawba citizen, designer and featured artist. Osborne’s work includes a large, striking image of a Catawba chief’s head and a genealogy tree of artists and potters that goes back generations.

It all makes for a captivating, entertaining and highly educational experience that must be seen in person to be truly appreciated. “I remember Beckee (Garris, NASC program assistant and Catawba artist) said something: ‘People still think we walk around in leathers and feathers,’ ” Adams says. “There are these really perpetual stereotypes that still exist, and we need to counter those. And the show does that.”

— Images courtesy of the Columbia Museum of Art

If you're going

Resurgence and Renaissance: Art of the Catawba Nation since 1973 is on display at the Columbia Museum of Art, 1515 Main St., through Sept. 3.

Tribal members of South Carolina’s Catawba Indian Nation near Rock Hill are called, “The people of the river.”

On Thursday, they were joined by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to unveil plans to conserve and re-establish land and plants near the river that are unique to the heritage of the Catawbas. Haaland and the federal government will give the tribe $4.8 million to do it.

The goal is to “respect nature, and restore, balance,” Haaland told a gathering tribal leaders and members, along with other state and civic leaders at the reservation in York County.

Haaland, from New Mexico, is the first indigenous person to serve as a cabinet secretary in American history. Catawbas welcomed her with a song in their native language Thursday.

Haaland said the Biden-Harris administration is committed to conserving natural places. The grant is a “commitment to honoring tribal sovereignty,” Haaland said.

The money will be used for two culvert replacements that benefit water and land life along the river; to re-establish Rocky Shoals Spider Lillies in the river at the reservation; convert some land back to native prairie with indigenous plants, grasses and flowers; and re-establish cane breaks of indigenous river cane that are vital to Catawba crafts and customs.

The $4.8 million is part of $140 million across the country in a program called “America the Beautiful” the Biden administration is granting for collaborative conservation efforts.

The shared goal in the projects is to protect the natural resources unique to the area, said Keith Bradley, lead botanist for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources

The indigenous Catawbas are the only federally recognized tribe in South Carolina. The 144,000 acre reservation in eastern York County is the tribal headquarters.

Catawba pottery and weaving using native grasses is known worldwide for its quality and unique craftsmanship.

The tribe’s people have a relationship with the land and river that is an integral part of the identity of the Catawbas, said Aaron Baumgardner, director of natural resources for the Catawba Indian Nation.

Baumgardner said ecosystems in the area under ecological threat will be protected by the project.

The idea is to “heal our land and river,” Baumgardner said Thursday.

Baumgardner said cane breaks, or groups of river cane, that will be re-established are a native type of bamboo crucial for Catawba basket making and other cultural practices.

The Rocky Shoal Spider Lily is a flowering river plant that is found only in a few places in the world, including the Catawba River currently further south of the reservation. Plans are to re-establish the flowering plant at the reservation, Baumgardner said.

Harris, the tribe’s chief, said the public will be able to enjoy the efforts because the Carolina Thread Trial system goes through the reservation.

“Our commitment is to safeguard the river and its nearby natural resources,” Harris said Thursday.

To learn more about the Catawba Indian Nation, visit the tribe’s Webs site, catawba.com.

This story was originally published November 16, 2023, 5:38 PM.

A land conservation group has an agreement to buy 600 acres for a new state park in South Carolina that would emphasize the culture of the state’s Catawba Nation tribe.

The property had at one time been targeted for a 1,000-home development in Lancaster County, but the Open Space Institute says it has secured an option to buy the land for protection.

The institute expects to purchase the property and finalize the deal by the end of this year. The organization would then own the land until the property is sold to the state for the new park. The cost of acquiring the land from a local family has not been disclosed.

Located south of Charlotte, the property is near Van Wyck Road in Lancaster County. It includes a mile of waterfront on the Catawba River across from the Catawba reservation, which is in York County.

Deposits of clay historically used by the Catawbas to make the tribe’s widely recognized pottery are on the land. The property is heavily wooded with mature hardwood forests, a five-acre pond and some trails. An American beech tree on the land is so large, it takes four people to get their arms around the trunk, the institute’s Maria Whitehead said.

Duane Parrish, South Carolina’s parks agency director, said he looks forward to developing a state park on the 600 acres. The property being protected is Catawba ancestral lands.

“With the Catawba Nation’s engagement and support, we envision creating a state park in Lancaster County that weaves together the Park Service values of stewardship and service with the preservation and celebration of the Catawba’s cultural connections to the land and river,’’ Parrish said in a news release announcing the plan Monday.

The Catawba Nation was briefed on the plans over the weekend. The Nisbet family, the land’s owners for more than a century, struck the deal with the Open Space Institute.

The news release did not provide details on how the Catawbas would be involved with the park. Bill Harris, the Catawba tribe’s chief, said in the news release the deal will protect resources long-associated with the tribe.

The Catawba Indians have lived near the river that bears the tribe’s name for 6,000 years. The Catawbas are the only federally recognized tribe in South Carolina. The tribe’s reservation is in York County near the river.

The Open Space Institute’s involvement in protecting land follows other high-profile efforts by the national organization in South Carolina. The institute has protected some 50,000 acres in the state. It was instrumental in preserving land to substantially expand the Congaree Creek Heritage Preserve in Cayce and it is working to protect wetlands near Congaree National Park to offset the loss of wetlands for a new electric vehicle plant in Blythewood.

The institute has secured some of the money for purchasing the Nisbet property from the Knobloch Family Foundation and the Arras Foundation, as well as from Duke Energy and Lancaster County. It is now seeking money from the SC Conservation Bank, the news release said.

Neither the state parks department nor the Open Space Institute would provide a map showing the exact location of the proposed state park, saying negotiations were still under way.

But one issue that could surface is the proposed park’s proximity to the New Indy paper plant. The plant, a source of public complaints about odors and pollution, is in York County downstream from the Catawba reservation. The odors have diminished, to some degree, but concerns remain about dioxin and other pollutants on the New Indy property that could affect the Catawba River.

Paul McCormack, who heads PRT’s parks division, said the agency is always concerned about environmental issues. He said the agency has not “been engaged with adjacent property owners at this time’’ about the state park. The Open Space Institute declined comment on the New Indy plant.

Betty Rankin, a critic of New Indy, said a new state park sounds like a good idea, but the state needs to keep an eye on the industrial plant.

“I have no problems with it,’’ she said. “But the problem of New Indy has to be addressed sometime.’’

This story was originally published July 17, 2023, 9:00 AM.

803-771-8537

Sammy Fretwell has covered the environment beat for The State since 1995. He writes about an array of issues, including wildlife, climate change, energy, state environmental policy, nuclear waste and coastal development. He has won numerous awards, including Journalist of the Year by the S.C. Press Association in 2017. Fretwell is a University of South Carolina graduate who grew up in Anderson County. Reach him at 803 771 8537.

One resident says federal regulators have been as “useless as tits on a boar hog.”

Wealth and Power Reporter

Published Mar. 06, 2023 3:56AM EST

For more than two years, their dogs have grown sick, their headaches have persisted, and the same acrid smell has sullied the air. Residents near Catawba, South Carolina, say a paper mill part-owned by billionaire Robert Kraft continues to make them miserable, despite a series of lawsuits, media scrutiny, and government intervention.

“I’m just disgusted with everything,” said Kerri Bishop, who has organized social media pushback against the plant. “I know at least probably 20 people that have moved,” the vast majority of whom were at least partially motivated by the emissions. Bishop tried to move herself, but the sale process fell through.

The Daily Beast first wrote about the Catawba plant in July 2021, at which point locals had submitted more than 20,000 complaints to South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control.

“We feel like we’re being poisoned and gassed in our homes,” one former resident, Karen Reilly, said at the time. Reilly has since uprooted her family to escape the stench; the vertigo, vomiting, and headaches have disappeared, but her kids miss their old friends.

Some who remain in the area still worry about their exposure.

“Quite a few people have had pets take a sudden decline in health, to the point that they have had to be put down,” said one resident, speaking on condition of anonymity over concerns about angering New Indy’s business-friendly advocates. “A couple of months ago our dog had a seizure at about the exact same time a neighbor's dog did, on a really stinky [New Indy] day.”

Kraft’s namesake firm co-owns New Indy with Schwarz Partners, a packaging firm based in Indiana. New Indy acquired the Catawba mill for roughly $300 million on Dec. 31, 2018. Soon, it shifted from making bleached paper products to containerboard used to create boxes for e-commerce companies and other buyers.

Residents say the conversion dramatically worsened their quality of life. Last month’s train derailment in Ohio has them further on edge, despite the distance and very different circumstances. In Ohio, “they’re saying the best indicator of exposure is the odor,” Bishop said. “So if we’re smelling something for two years, that’s a problem.”

A spokesperson for the Kraft Group declined to comment.

Federal and state officials have sought to address the concerns. In November, a federal court approved a consent decree filed by the Environmental Protection Agency, saying it resolved allegations that the plant “was causing an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health or welfare or the environment.” The decree included $1.1 million in penalties and forced the company to comply with additional stipulations.

EPA Regional Director Daniel Blackman celebrated the decision in a statement, writing, “Thanks to EPA’s swift action, the facility has not had an exceedance of the health-based standard for [hydrogen sulfide] since September 2021.”

Roughly a week later, the Department of Health and Environmental Control announced its own consent order, which also declared that hydrogen sulfide concentrations had “significantly declined due to improvements being made by New Indy.” Officials warned that residents might never be happy, writing that “[f]acilities like paper mills can emit odors even when operating in full compliance with all applicable standards, laws, and regulations.”

The governmental cheerleading has only further incensed locals who insist the issues have not been resolved. They are also upset that New Indy has until June 2025 to install a new steam stripper to filter out contaminants.

The consent decree “lets them keep doing what they’re doing, and lets the EPA say, ‘Yep, we handled it,’” claimed one aggrieved resident, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another angry constituent said the authorities have been as “useless as tits on a boar hog.”

The EPA is, in fact, monitoring the situation. In December, it released a report alleging that New Indy may have committed 19 violations dating back several years. The report asserted that the company “may not be in compliance with the Clean Air Act” and state regulations. Additionally, it said, the plant’s activity may have significantly increased emissions of compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

Dissatisfied with the government’s response, multiple residents have filed lawsuits hoping the courts will enforce harsher reforms. The most recent, filed just last month, claims that the mill “discharges millions of gallons of inadequately treated wastewater per day to the Catawba River, affecting potentially over one million citizens, residents, and workers in South Carolina and North Carolina.”

The complaint alleges that New Indy has violated federal law and that the plaintiffs have suffered anxiety about possible adverse health effects and have been forced to stop using the Catawba watershed for recreational activities. (Sampling conducted by the state in 2021 found that water quality had not been affected, though some residents remain skeptical. New Indy has also pushed back on some of the allegations. In October, the company denied “the baseless accusations… that dioxin is seeping into the Catawba River from the mill property.”)

In an effort to improve its reputation, New Indy created an entire tab on its website dedicated to “misconceptions and misinformation.” It blames the hydrogen sulfide emissions on the plant’s previous owners, who it asserts “minimally maintained” the wastewater treatment system. The company also stresses that it has taken corrective actions, costing millions of dollars, to reduce emissions and to improve communication with the local community.

Some aren’t sold. “I personally don’t think they took the issue seriously, said Jim Stover, who recently moved away from the area, in part because of the plant. “They did their best to deflect the issue, saying they did everything they could. In reality very little was done to truly address the concerns of those affected by their negligence.”

Scott Stevens, who previously got nosebleeds he attributed to the mill, said the smell has become less frequent. Other towns, he noted, seem to have it worse.

Bishop, who has lived in the area for more than six years, is appealing directly to Robert Kraft for a solution. “Spend some of your billions and let’s get this going,” she said.