Latest news with #IsleOfPalms
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Michael Gaston Becomes First African American President of SC Exchange Club District
ISLE OF PALMS, S.C (WCBD) — A historic milestone for the South Carolina Exchange Club Michael Gaston has been sworn in as the organization's first African American district president. The induction took place during the club's annual convention on Isle of Palms, where members, family, and supporters gathered to celebrate. 'We're here to serve, to lift each other up—and that's exactly what I plan to do,' Gaston said. With over 20 years of community service and youth mentorship, Gaston now hopes to unite chapters across the state under one mission service through unity. 'Harvest is peaceful—but labor is fuel,' he said. 'We need to work together, not separately.' Gaston also mentored Kenneth Battle, the first Black president of the Charleston chapter, who emphasized the importance of continuing to serve underserved communities. 'Service is our highest calling,' Battle said. 'The Charleston chapter has deep roots, and we're ready to grow deeper.' Want to get involved? Learn more or join a local chapter at Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Nancy Mace used naked photos in twisted blackmail scheme to profit off her toxic ex alleges former staff
Nancy Mace sought to use naked images taken from her ex-fiance's phone to try to secure a full interest in two valuable homes from him, her former advisor alleges in a bombshell new deposition. The advisor says under oath Mace asked him to meet with her ex and use the images as leverage – long before Mace delivered a stunning House floor speech where she said she had 'receipts' that would bring down a ring of predators and sex traffickers. The former advisor, Wesley Donehue, says in the deposition the South Carolina congresswoman asked him to relay information to her ex-fiance Patrick Bryant about photos and videos she said she found on his phone of multiple women. One was of a 'girl on a couch' who according to Mace was 'passed out.' Another was a picture of Mace – Mace says it was of her getting up to use the bathroom, according to the deposition. Her intention was to use the information 'as leverage to gain 100 percent ownership' of two homes she shared with Bryant, one in Washington, DC, and another in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, Donehue said in the deposition. The properties have a combined value of more than $5 million. 'Did she specifically say to you 'Please meet with Patrick and show him these images and tell him I'll make them public if he doesn't give me both houses?' a lawyer for Bryant asked the former Mace advisor. 'Yes,' he responded. Asked if it was 'effectively an effort to extort or blackmail Patrick,' Donehue responded, 'Yeah.' Donehue knew both parties, but said the role made him uncomfortable and put him in the middle of a fraught situation. A source familiar with the matter said Donehue was making 'a wild, outlandish allegation.' 'He thought he was helping his friend, but all he did was confirm her story,' said the source, who called Donehue a 'disgruntled former vendor' who is close friends with Bryant. The deposition comes after Donehue met with SLED, the South Carolina law enforcement department, and after he was subpoenaed by lawyer for her ex, he told FITS news, a South Carolina political site, and is connected to a civil case. SLED has confirmed it opened an investigation into Byant following Mace's allegations against him. None of the people Mace has accused have been charged with a crime. Donehue recalled the conversation he had on Mace's behalf as taking place at a lunch meeting in November 2023. Mace and Bryant had been battling over their jointly owned $3.9 million beach home and their $1.3 million Washington, D.C. property, DailyMail reported in December 2023. has reached out to Mace and the lawyer who conducted the deposition. The deposition came to light a day after Mace in an extraordinary public hearing on voyeurism followed up on her earlier accusations of Bryant and other men of being sexual 'predators' and running a rape and sex trafficking ring. The men have vigorously denied the allegations, which Mace first leveled in a shocking speech on the House floor. During the hearing Mace shared what she said was a 'naked silhouette' of herself that she said was taken without her consent. Donehue also spoke in the deposition about what he said was Mace's state of mind before he says he 'fired' her – in just one instance of the staff turmoil she has experienced. 'She was losing a lot of weight, she was getting what she called stress tattoos ... she was emotionally distraught at this point in the year. And in my view, her emotional stability was crumbling.' 'So I don't wanna make it seem like she was just this machine that didn't care about anything. She very much cared. But it was coming across as erratic and unstable.' Mace was at the White House this week as first lady Melania Trump attended the bill signing for a bill to stop revenge porn, and continues to advocate for women she says are victims of abuse after promoting a new hotline for complaints on the House floor. She shared multiple images at a House subcommittee she chaired Tuesday, although portions of the images were blocked out, and some appeared to be taken from a home security camera in a living room area. Donehue also spoke in the deposition about Mace saying 'inappropriate' things in their former interactions. 'Nancy talks about her sex life in a way that I've never heard a client or a woman talk about,' said Donehue, a consultant who operates Push Digital Group and other companies. He said 'it's like every conversation would devolve into what's going on in her sex life…something that she talked about all the time and I always felt uncomfortable with.' He also said in the deposition that even after she said she felt for her safety she said she was 'going to the Caribbean with Patrick and some of his friends, which I questioned, because I said "Nancy, you can't say that you fear for your safety and you're going to the Caribbean with him and some of his friends.' 'Then she said - and I remember as clear as day - "I'm taking my free vacation in the Caribbean.' He says he told her 'Nancy, as your campaign consultant, if it ever comes out that you knew of women being harmed and you didn't do anything about it, your career is over,' he said. He ultimately 'cut ties' with her for a variety of reasons, saying he felt 'uncomfortable' with the things Mace was asking him to do, according to his deposition testimony. Bryant has denied Mace's allegations against him, calling them false and malicious. Another man Mace identified, South Carolina businessman Brian Musgrave, has sued Mace for defamation, and she has countersued, claiming he defamed her through 'malicious and objectively false attacks on her fitness to hold public office.' Donehue was asked during his deposition about Mace's scorched earth floor speech earlier this year and how it compared to what she told him back in 2023. 'The only ... accusation ... was that Patrick was in possession of pictures of naked women taken without their consent and without them knowing he still had them. There was never any discussion of rape or sex trafficking or anything beyond the fact that he had pictures of naked women taken without their consent,' he responded. He also says in the deposition Mace spoke to him of being physically assaulted by Bryant, and she at one point 'she had a number of bruises on her arm' that he said were 'fingertip-size' above her elbow and that she said he grabbed her. At another point, he said Mace told him Bryant was doing some 'shady things' that 'she was upset and felt for her safety and was planning on breaking up with him.'
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Isle of Palms beach house owner confronts state officials over $289,000 seawall fine
An outspoken and angry beachfront property owner appeared in a state court this week — without the legal team he recently fired — and began blasting away at South Carolina environmental officials over a $289,000 fine levied against him for construction of a seawall they say is illegal and should be removed. Joined at the defense table by only his wife and a lawyer not directly involved in the case, Rom Reddy told the court Tuesday that he is a law-abiding citizen targeted by the state's environmental agency over work he conducted at his seaside home on the Isle of Palms. Reddy, animated and periodically pointing his finger to emphasize his points, told Judge Ralph King Anderson III that the S.C. Department of Environmental Services is trying to take his property through regulation and enforcement actions. He said the agency is being manipulated by the S.C. Coastal Conservation League environmental group. The league, a non-profit organization that advocates for beach protection, disputed that. 'I understand a little bit more than unelected bureaucrats,'' Reddy, a businessman and engineer, told Anderson during opening remarks this week. 'This is an unusual situation where we sit here with the citizens, my beautiful wife and myself .... against the police power to the state and a taxpayer funded charity.'' The Reddy case is being watched closely since it has the potential to curb state efforts to enforce beach protection laws that were established decades ago in response to the threat of sea level rise, a phenomenon that today is occurring along the South Carolina coast as the earth's climate warms. The state banned seawalls on the sandy beach 36 years ago because they worsen erosion when hit by waves and block the public's ability to stroll the public shoreline. Reddy claims an infringement of his property rights by the state's action. Reddy, an affluent coastal newspaper owner and outspoken advocate against government regulation, took the unusual position of representing himself in a courtroom after firing his lawyers last week over what he called a fee dispute. A self-described person of means who contributed $2.5 million to a conservative political action committee he founded, Reddy said he could not afford to pay the attorneys any longer. Rarely do people involved in administrative law court cases represent themselves. In court, Reddy, neatly dressed in a dark suit and wearing glasses, said state law allowed him to conduct work on the section of the beach where construction work occurred. He contends that if he's deprived use of the land, he should be compensated for the state's regulatory restrictions. He said the Environmental department is treating him differently than other property owners who have established seawalls along the beaches, notably a group at Hilton Head Island the state went easy on. A department official who testified Tuesday denied that. This week's trial brought a larger-than-normal crowd to the Administrative Law Court, a judiciary body that often hears routine cases about whether to issue environmental, health and business permits. Among those at the hearing was Wesley Donehue, one of the state's most well-known political strategists and public relations experts who is representing Reddy. The court proceedings are going on through the week. Anderson likely would not make a determination this week on whether Reddy must pay the $289,000 fine and tear out the seawall. Despite his fiery defense, Department of Environmental Services lawyers and staff said the case against Reddy for building a seawall on the beach is clear cut: It's illegal to do that in South Carolina, and has been for decades. And Reddy repeatedly dismissed state warnings not to build on the beach, they said. 'We're here today about a total disregard of the law,'' Environmental Services lawyer Sallie Phelan said in her opening remarks. 'We are here about two seawalls the Reddys constructed on the beach at Isle of Palms to protect their yard, despite the department's repeated warning that it was not authorized and the department believed it to be a violation of the South Carolina coastal tidelands and wetlands law.'' Phelan said Reddy had contractors put clay, rocks, concrete and other material on the beach to protect his house from the ocean, while eventually building a seawall to back up an aging wall that was failing. The area was being threatened by the sea, according to court records and testimony this week. Reddy had attempted to fix the first wall, before having contractors establish a second wall behind it, she said before showing photographs of repair and construction work at Reddy's house. Some of the photos showed that the ocean had run onto his property, damaging the wall and a yard overtopped with artificial turf. Isle of Palms property owner Rom Reddy has been in a dispute with state officials over construction they say was done illegally on the beach. This photo shows the property in Charleston County, where a seawall was built on the beach. Reddy says the work was legal. Former Department of Environmental Services beach regulator Matt Slagel testified that he had visited the area near Reddy's home 18-20 times from the summer of 2023 to late 2024 because of erosion issues that were occurring on that end of Isle of Palms, a popular area near the inlet adjacent to Sullivans Island. Slagel said the ocean was eating away at the oceanfront land where the Reddys have lived since 2014. At issue is where state jurisdiction begins and ends on the beach. South Carolina has a series of building restriction lines along the oceanfront, which often are near the back of the beach or in the dunes. They were established to discourage development close to the rising ocean. In some cases, however, the beach has eroded so much that the sandy seashore has been exposed outside the building restriction lines. The Reddy dispute centers on that part of the beach. Reddy says the state has no jurisdiction outside the building restriction lines, but the state says it does. Anderson, in a preliminary ruling last month, agreed the state has jurisdiction over the entire beach, but the full trial will determine how the judge ultimately rules. Reddy contends changes in state law in recent years made the work he did on the beach legal, but state officials say the law still gives them authority to protect all of the sandy beach, not just the areas with building restriction lines. During the trial this week, Reddy grilled Slagel over the agency's examination of his property following storms. He took particular aim at an issue on Hilton Head Island more than five years ago, when property owners built a seawall along the shoreline. He said he was treated more harshly and by a different standards. But Slagel said he didn't think Reddy was being treated any differently than anyone else and that his former agency was simply enforcing South Carolina's beach protection law. While Reddy said he did not ignore state advice about constructing along the each, Slagel said 'you did not cease and desist.'' Though not a lawyer, Reddy asked multiple detailed questions about the state's beach protection law, trying to make the point that it did not restrict him from building the wall at his home. But the trial was also peppered with commentary by Reddy, who said, among other things, thathe's being treated poorly in stories by 'the fake news'' and is standing up against what he calls the agency state. Anderson chastised him for calling state regulators liars. Among other things, Reddy questioned why the government had not pumped extra sand on the beach at Isle of Palms to protect his property and that of others. Had that been done, the dispute about construction and beach erosion would not have popped up in the first place, he said. He also said his stance has irked some people, who have threatened to 'burn down my wall.'' He said he contacted police about the threats. Reddy, an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump whose political action committee supports candidates he agrees with, has been actively posting on X about what he calls government ''tyranny'' and a taking of people's land through coastal development regulations. He was so upset with the DES fine against him that he urged the state Senate not to confirm its interim director as permanent director. Early in the week, Reddy said on X that he was prepared to fight. 'The unelected agency state is trying to apply a new interpretation of the regulation on property rights that would give them unlimited property rights that can vary by homeowner, depending on their judgment,'' he wrote of the S.C. Department of Environmental Services' coastal bureau. In another X posting, Reddy said 'we kneel to God, not government.''
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Yahoo
2 retrieved from water near Breach Inlet; both were unconscious, officials say
SULLIVAN'S ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD) – Two people were retrieved from the water at Breach Inlet on Tuesday afternoon. Both were unconscious. Sullivan's Island Fire Rescue responded to an emergency call around 3:18 p.m. after someone saw a male and female struggling in the water at the eastern end of Sullivan's Island. Crews at the scene told News 2 that one of the two people made it to a buoy and then started going underwater. A good Samaritan helped pull one of the individuals back to shore, and fire-rescue personnel picked up the other person via jet skis. 'Sullivan's Island Fire rescue retrieved one unconscious female, and another unconscious male was retrieved on the IOP side of Breach Inlet,' said Sullivan's Island Town Administrator Joe Henderson. Both were brought to the shore around 3:35 p.m. Officials said they were unconscious when they returned to shore, and CPR was administered. Both were taken to area hospitals via EMS. Sullivan's Island Fire Chief Anthony Stith said the jet skis were launched by Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms fire departments. Henderson said the identity of both victims is unknown to Sullivan's Island staff; however, he said personal items were collected on the Isle of Palms beach along with a vehicle. The condition of both individuals is unknown. An investigation is underway. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WCBD News 2.
