Commercial Truck Insurance in Abbeville, SC

ABBEVILLE — Concern over a community of tiny houses located in the city is misplaced, officials said Wednesday.

A post on an Abbeville Facebook page featured a video of a man and woman from Incredible Tiny Homes of Newport, Tennessee, discussing plans for such a development. It garnered several responses from people, many of them opposed to such a project.

Mayor Trey Edwards said statements made in the video implied that he and City Manager Blake Stone support such a development and claim that they would cut through red tape. Those statements are wrong, he said.

Any such plans would have to be discussed with the planning committee and be addressed by the council, Stone said at Wednesday’s meeting. Tiny homes are not addressed in the city’s laws. The developer has submitted a rezoning request to the planning committee.

If the council and the planning committee give a go-ahead, the process of changing the rules could take nine months to a year.

Copies of a request for a zoning change were on the agenda. Contact information lists Randolph Jones as a representative of Incredible Tiny Homes.

Nothing is being done in closed rooms or back alleys, said council member Matt Gambrell, who addressed residents’ concerns on the thread of the Facebook post.

“I really think it’s a classic case of putting the cart before the horse,” Gambrell said after the council meeting.

He is not against such a development, but it’s so early, he’s not for it either, he said.

“Just by watching the video it’s almost like it’s a done deal, that the ink dry on the paper. It’s very wet,” Gambrell said. “It could happen, maybe, but it’s in the very infant stages of development. There will need to be a lot of boxes to be checked, there are a lot of conditions that need to be met to make everyone happy.”

He invited officials with the business to open a dialogue. Gambrell said they are not talking with council.

According to the 2018 International Residential Code, a tiny house is a dwelling unit with a maximum of 400 square feet of floor area, excluding lofts. The term “tiny house” is sometimes used interchangeably with “micro-house.” Some states consider any home under 1,000 square feet to be a tiny or microhouse.

ABBEVILLE, S.C. —

The Abbeville Panthers won a state championship last year, their 12th in program history and eighth under head coach Jamie Nickles. Heading into a new season, Nickles said this is the youngest team he has ever had since his first year as a head coach 19 years ago.

The Panthers return five starters on offense and six on defense. When asked which key players he has to replace this season, Nickles said jokingly, "The whole team. We had a lot of good ones last year. That whole senior class- they were a special bunch."

The Panthers went 3-2 in their non-region schedule last year before winning out the rest of the way.

"It made us better when we went into region play," Nickles said.

"You have to face adversity to be where you want to go," Abbeville safety Damarcus Leach said. "To be able to bounce back and be the best team in 2A, it gives us a lot of hope we can do whatever we want to no matter what happens early on."

Nickles did say he's confident in his team's run game and defensive line heading into this season. He also loves their mindset.

"They're eager beavers," Nickles said. "They're ready to go. I hope they remain that way as the schedule gets tough and all, but right now, they're a bunch of eager beavers."

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Nickles said his message to his team this year is to just do the little things right.

Leach says the Panthers are hungry to win another title this year.

"Our mindset is to bond together and gel together," Leach said. "We can't really reflect on last year because that's gone. We bonded together trying to get to the same goal this year."

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The adversity and outside noise have been there all season for Gray Collegiate. At one point, they didn’t know what kind of season they would have. They faced the prospect of playing a shortened season once it was decided all their region opponents would forfeit games.

At the end of the day, they’ve persevered. And they also know where the season will end: the Class 2A state championship.

BJ Mongomery accounted for two touchdowns and Tyler Waller threw for two more Friday and the War Eagles used a hard-hitting, tenacious defense to knock off Abbeville 27-12.

Gray Collegiate will be making its second state championship game appearance on Thursday, Nov. 30 when it plays Oceanside Collegiate, a winner over Hampton County, at 7 p.m. at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg. The War Eagles won the title in 2021, their only other appearance in the finals. The Landsharks lost to Abbeville in the Class 2A title game last season.

“It means everything. What these guys have been through all year,” Gray Collegiate coach Adam Holmes said. “We maybe were going to have a four-game schedule. But at the end of the day, our guys persevered. Football teaches you how to face adversity and our football team faced adversity. We went out and played great football teams and it got us ready for nights like this. (Abbeville) set the precedent for 2A and that’s what we’re working to be and get on that level.”

The War Eagles (14-3) had to come back from an early deficit. And it was a special teams play that turned out to be the turning point. Demarcus Leach sprinted 80 yards for a score to bring the visiting Panthers within 13-12 with 1:10 remaining in the third quarter.

That’s when Montgomery made the play of the game. He misplayed the ensuing kickoff and let it bounce around on the ground. He gathered himself enough to go 88 yards just in front of the Abbeville sideline to make it 20-12 with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter.

“I had to stop and give it a second to make sure it didn’t roll through my legs,” Montgomery said. “Coach talked about it all week that if we take it back to the right side, we score. That’s what we did. We executed it very well.”

Holmes confirmed they thought they could make a big play on special teams.

“We worked on that all week,” he said. “We knew it was there. We just had to get our opportunity. We almost broke one every time. Finally, BJ hit it and broke the game open.”

Abbeville struck first on a 24-yard TD pass from Leach to Karson Norman on the opening drive.

But Waller, who was 13-of-22 for 165 yards, sandwiched a couple of TD passes around the half to give the War Eagles the lead for good. First, he connected with Blaine Redmond on a 7-yard TD just before the half to make it a 6-all game at the break.

Then after a turnover on the first possession of the second half, Waller directed 3-play, 23-yard drive that ended with an 18-yard TD strike to Jamarious Lockett with 5:21 remaining in the third. Lockett finished with six catches for 103 yards.

Montgomery, who was the workhorse on the ground with 96 yards on 24 carries, iced it on the next Gray possession with a five-yard run with 7:59 remaining.

The War Eagles defense took over from there.

“Our defense did an amazing job,” Holmes said. “They balled out tonight. Guys like (Michael) Boulware and (Trequan) Singleton played great. Other than that one long run, we held them and made them have to go on long, long drives. Proud of that defense and we just have to do it one more week.”

This story was originally published November 25, 2023, 12:36 AM.

Torin and Paige Rouse crossed the South Carolina state line, where they were greeted by people from all walks of life who were inspired by their journey.

ABBEVILLE, S.C. — Horns blew as cars passed Torin and Paige Rouse walking down Highway 81 heading north to toward Lowdesville, South Carolina.

As they walked, those horns were not in spite of the couple, rather a sign to keep going as they walked across America.

The couple, who reside in northeast Missouri, made the decision to start walking across the country a year ago in an effort to change how they perceived the world in a time of such uncertainty.

“We really want to be the example. I don’t see anything else that better showcases the mind than walking across the country. Right now, hitting South Carolina, we are on state 18, so we're maybe at or over a third of the way through it,” Torin told us as he and his wife walked across the South Carolina state line into Abbeville County.

“Prior to starting the journey, I was a lot more cynical and much more of a negative person. And I looked down on the fellow man,” Torin admitted.

That was one reason why the Rouses wanted to change that mindset by challenging themselves to cultivate an outlook on life where they felt hopeful, confident, and appreciative in a world of uncertainty.

“We went through a tornado in Kansas and we’ve learned to do it without stressing. And we’ve learned to be content in such an uncomfortable and uncertain lifestyle,” Paige said. That learning curve has come from the realization that discomfort enacts change.

“We’ve realized that you don’t find happiness in being comfortable or getting what you want. We’ve learned that we can change as people more than we thought, and we hope to show people that you’re not strong enough to walk across the county, you become strong doing it. We are all more malleable than we think,” Paige said as she reflected on their last year of travel.

That malleability and courage, which has been showcased daily on their social media, was what caught the attention South Carolinian Chrissy Boles, who has followed them on Facebook.

“I wish them all the best and I support them. I think its pretty rad what they are doing,” Boles said after ironically finding them at a gas station pausing their journey to use the restroom.

And Boles wasn’t the only one who had been following.

As folks noticed them walking down the roadway, honks continued to be given left and right. Some even stopped to give donations towards the couple's journey.

Whenever the couple was asked “why” they are taking on such a unique task, the answer was short.

“You must change the inside in order to change the outside,” Paige said.

And that change, according to them, starts with one’s perspective.

“We think it’s all about perspective, we can have a more positive perspective, we can be more content in our own minds, and we can learn how to empathize more and judge less and become friends with any type of person. We want to be the example and share the tools that we've learned to help alter that previous perspective,” Paige said.

The couple plans to finish their journey within a 4-year time period but told News19 the timeline isn’t the overarching goal. Rather, their goal is to hit all 48 states while sharing what they learn from living in uncertain circumstances, all to prove change is possible but it starts with mind and the perspectives with which we chose to see the world.

ABBEVILLE, S.C. —

More than 200 homes were almost built in Abbeville, South Carolina, but ultimately the planning commission unanimously voted it down.

As for why, they had more questions than answers.

Randy Jones with Incredible Tiny Homes was looking at the city of Abbeville as his next big project.

Jones has several communities in Tennessee and believed Abbeville was the perfect place for a tiny home community.

However, many at Thursday's planning commission meeting had reservations about the proposed project.

"The misconception is, the people who are going to be buying these tiny homes are going to be a nuisance to the community. That they are going to be low-income housing and that they are not going to take care of their place and that it's going to be a de-value of people's property," Jones said.

Throughout the meeting, Jones emphasized his flexibility with the project and was ready to work with the city of Abbeville to make it happen. However, many neighbors pushed back on the idea altogether.

"This feels completely absurd that we're even listening to this without any type of specific plan any knowledge of our regulations or rules, any knowledge of our town or county. This is absurd," one neighbor said.

Some were worried about the number of homes.

"Me, I do not want these 200 strangers right in my backyard," another neighbor said.

Others felt it was too much change at once.

"We're living here now and we love it and we don't want some things to change. I understand some things need to change at times when we grow. But there are a lot of things that hold us here that we hold dearly," a neighbor said.

Ultimately the commission unanimously denied the application.

"Is it the best use of that limited area where we can do this? Does it fit the needs of our community? Is it something in 50 years we'll be able to look back and say we were proud to make that decision," an Abbeville commissioner said.

Jones said he was disappointed about the outcome but said it hasn't turned him away from bringing tiny homes to South Carolina.

"I don't think they want to change right now, maybe in the future, they can. It's too new. It's too much. It's just too different for everybody. Totally understand that," Jones said.

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