Hundreds of thousands of South Carolinians expected to travel next week
Around 567,000 South Carolina residents are expected to hit the road for Thanksgiving next week, according to a news release from AAA Carolinas.
In all, 630,000 are estimated to travel 50 miles or more — over all means of transportation — for the annual fall feast.
The traffic is expected to be the worst on Wednesday and Sunday.
“As a traditional family holiday, Thanksgiving is the busiest travel weekend of the year,” David E. Parsons, president and chief executive of AAA Carolinas, said in the release. “Drivers should expect heavy congestion and plan on taking more time to reach their destination.”
On South Carolina highways last year, 13 people died in crashes on the holiday weekend, an 8 percent increase over the year’s daily average.
Movie theater, apartment complex planned for Lexington County
A 70-acre development near Interstate 20 and U.S. Highway 378 in Lexington County will soon be home to an apartment complex and movie theater that officials say will bring thousands to the area, WIS reported.
Lexington Mayor Steve MacDougall said the area will soon be the anchor of Highway 378, just two miles west of I-20.
The first parts of the development will be a movie theater and 234-unit apartment complex.
MacDougall said that an ongoing project to widen major intersections in the area will ease traffic on the highway.
According to the developer, the apartments could be ready in a year and a half, with the movie theaters following shortly thereafter.
Hardy pleads guilty to marijuana charge
Local television and radio personality Cynthia Pryor Hardy pleaded guilty Thursday to the charges filed against her after she attempted to enter the South Carolina State Fair last month.
The 54-year-old talk show host was cited for carrying a cigar case that contained two blunts, including one that was partly burned, with two grams of marijuana.
Hardy was sentenced to a conditional charge by Olympia Magistrate Judge Harold Cuff Thursday, which means that if Hardy passes two drug tests over the next six months, her charges will be expunged. If she fails one, the original conviction will be issued.
According to Sheriff Leon Lott, upon Hardy’s arrival at the fairgrounds, a metal detector was set off by the cigar case. Hardy was cited for simple possession of marijuana and was escorted from the property.