Staff Writer

Economic development, education, crime and the passing of a community institution dominated the headlines in 2007.

Economic Development

October was the busiest month for economic development in Union with three major announcements.

First, the long-standing rumors of a Wal-Mart Super Center being located in Union were confirmed. Officials said the company planned to build the facility on the old Conso property sometime in 2008. The new building will be 153,000 square feet in size and have 500-700 parking spaces to accommodate as many as six to seven other businesses that could also be built on the

Sonoco then announced that it had purchased Paragon Plastics plant on Rice Avenue Extension. The company plans to transfer some of the plant's equipment to its Sonoco Road facility and convert part of the building into a warehouse while renovating the rest for any future use.

This was followed by Timken's announcement that it would lease the spec building in Union Commerce Park from Union County for $150,000 a year for 10 years. The company will relocate its industrial bearings services from its Tyger River plant to the spec building. The new facility will focus exclusively on providing repair and other support services to Timken customers. The Tyger River plant will focus exclusively on the manufacture of ball bearings.

Good news arrived earlier in the year when DisneyShopping.com announced that it would relocated its customer call center from Kansas to its distribution center in Jonesville. The move was expected to generate 60 new jobs.

Team Aruba, a professional drag-racing team, relocated to Union County in 2007. The arrival of the team is part of local efforts to promote the county as a location for the $400 billion a year motorsports industry.

On the retail front Food Lion returned to Union County in August. The 35,000-foot store, located on U.S. 176 at Tosches Creek Circle, employs 50 part- and full-time associates.

A Bojangles restaurant and O'Reilly's auto parts store are also under construction on Highway 176,

In addition, the county and the city and other agencies continued to work toward the construction of the proposed Upstate Regional Robotics Training Center. Plans call for the center to serve as the nucleus of a new technical college.

Schools

The year was a mixed bag for the Union County School District, which faced a continuing decline in the number of students but saw some improvement in academic performance.

In September, 10-day enrollment figures showed that the district's student body totaled 4,536 or 90 fewer students than the 4,626 enrolled at the same time in 2006. Officials attributed this to Union County's overall demographic decline which they felt would only be reversed through economic growth that promotes migration into the county.

Academic performance continued to improve with students showing gains on their PACT exams and SAT scores. Exit exams were more mixed with students doing slightly worse in math but slightly better in English/Language Arts. Three schools met all their federal Adequate Yearly Progress and the district's graduation rate was 73.9 percent compared to the state average of 70.9 percent.

Baby Doe

A tragedy in October spawned a mystery that remains unsolved at the end of the year.

An unborn fetus was found in a trash can at a Monarch car wash. The fetus had been wrapped in a T-shirt and placed in a makeup bag before being stuffed in the trash can.

In the three months that followed, the Union County Sheriff's Office investigated hundreds of leads and interviewed around a dozen women were or were thought to be pregnant. One woman even underwent an ultrasound after a search warrant was issued.

However, investigators were unable to find the mother and Sheriff Howard Wells made an appeal earlier this month asking for someone to come forward with information about Baby Doe. Wells said it was possible someone from out of town had left the fetus in the trash can. He said a DNA sample will be kept on record.

Shootings

Also unsolved are two shootings that occurred within 48 hours of each other.

The body of Quentin Dean Jeter, 18, was found in the yard of an Axle Street home in the early morning hours of Nov. 30. He'd been shot in the left side of the chest.

Barely two days later, a 61-year-old woman was shot and wounded while lying on the couch at a Johnson Road residence. Five spent shells from a 9mm handgun were found in the road near the house.

Wells said investigators believed the two shootings were related. He said it was believed the target of the second shooting was a family member of the victim who wasn't present at the time.

Both incidents remain under investigation.

Murder

When he was arrested, the suspect in the Aug. 19 murder of a Buffalo woman was snorting cocaine through a $100 bill.

Josh Howell, 20, of 313 Fire Lane, Buffalo is charged by the sheriff's office with strong-armed robbery, possession of cocaine, criminal sexual conduct and murder. He is accused of sexually assaulting, strangling and robbing Margaret Groves Stephens, 40, of Jennings Circle. The woman's semi-nude body was found about 250 feet from the Buffalo Mill park in the bushes next to Buffalo Creek.

Howell remains in custody.

In Memoriam

Union County lost one of its most popular institutions when Wishie Hines died in July.

Hines, 86, was the author of “Around Town With Wishie,” a long-running column that chronicled everyday life in Union County. He began writing for the County News. When it closed in the 1980s it moved to the Times-Advertiser, a weekly publication of The Union Daily Times. In 1995, the column was moved to the Lifestyles page of The Union Daily Times where it remained a fixture until Hines' death.

Union County lost a trailblazer in February when Paul Glenn died.

Glenn, 76, made history repeatedly in his life as the first black principal of Union High School; the black member of the Union City Council and its first black mayor pro tem. In December 2006, he made history again as the first recipient of the “Yellow Jacket,” the highest honor city council could bestow in honor of his years of service to the community.