York County had a big year in politics, news. Here’s what you may have missed.
York County took the spotlight in 2019 as a presidential campaign hot spot.
The city of Rock Hill saw 13 Democratic presidential candidates come through. And some candidates campaigned twice in the county.
The front-runners, former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders, drew crowds in the high hundreds.
Biden campaigned in August at Clinton College, a historically black university. More than 300 supporters came out to hear the former vice president speak.
In an interview with The Herald after his event, the former Delaware senator acknowledged the importance of campaigning in South Carolina, which is the fourth state to hold its Democratic primary for the 2020 presidential election.
“...Most people don’t realize it, but Delaware has the eighth largest black population in America as a percent of population,” he said. “And it’s been the backbone of my support. It’s very important to be able to come to South Carolina and win — not only as it relates to the African American community, but across the board.”
Warren, who also campaigned at Clinton College, saw more than 600 supporters come out. In an interview with The Herald before her event, Warren said she chose to campaign in the city as part of her effort to build a “grassroots movement.”
“I decided I was not going to spend my time behind closed doors with bazillionaires and corporate executives,” she said. “And that meant I would get a lot more time to do town halls.”
Sanders campaigned at Clinton in June, and he returned to Rock Hill in September to campaign at Winthrop University. More than 800 supporters came out to see the Vermont senator at Winthrop.
In March, three Democratic presidential candidates visted Rock Hill within two days. Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who withdrew from the presidential race in November, campaigned at Amelie’s cafe downtown, and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg both stopped in Rock Hill the following day.
Buttigieg returned in October and his second town hall saw the largest turnout with over 1,700 people crammed in the Old Town Amphitheater. Buttigieg was the first candidate to spend two days in Rock Hill.
Voters also saw U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, who withdrew from the race in December, California billionaire Tom Steyer, self-help author Marianne Williamson — twice — and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
Other news
Aside from politics, York and Chester counties garnered some attention for other important news in 2019.
DRESS CODE BATTLE
At the start of the school year, a Fort Mill middle school received backlash over its dress code after an eighth grader was pulled out of class multiple times in the first week of school for violations.
Parents and students fought back, claiming the dress code unfairly targets girls and is not consistently enforced. An online petition against the dress code garnered nearly 6,000 signatures.
Hundreds of Fort Mill parents and students went on to protest the dress code at a school board meeting.
ROCK HILL WATER MAIN BREAK
A 20-inch water main broke at the Rock Hill water filter plant on Cherry Road in October, which left nearly 120,000 York County residents without clean water for more than two days. About 30 million gallons of water was lost from the city’s system as a result of break.
A portion of the cracked cast-iron pipe lost the entire bottom section. And about 12 million gallons of water was released in less than 4 hours when the pipe broke.
Multiple county offices, restaurants, schools and colleges closed as a result. The break also caused road closures.
CHESTER SHERIFF INDICTMENT
In May, a federal grand jury indicted Chester County Sheriff Alex Underwood, his chief deputy and a lieutenant, alleging they falsified police reports and made false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Underwood was suspended from office by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster. Underwood and two deputies pleaded not guilty to the charges.
And in November, the grand jury issued new indictments against Underwood and deputies on charges of conspiracy to use their positions to intimidate others and using sheriff’s office money for personal travel.
The suspended sheriff and deputies pleaded not guilty in November to the new charges.
This story was originally published December 31, 2019 at 12:07 PM.
