The Ice King, a more insidious visitor, favors a different sort of spectacle. His appearances—in 1999; twice in 2000; again in 2002 and 2004; the twin blows of January and December 2005; then 2015—were measured not in the depth of anything pretty but in downed lines, splintered pines, and the sudden, humming silence when a whole subdivision loses power at once. The 2004 storm alone left roughly $11 million of damage in its wake, a reminder that a quarter‑inch of ice can do what a foot of snow cannot. It is no small irony that most of these ice storms have arrived in just the past quarter‑century, as if to correct anyone who thought winter here had grown softer with time.

In the Town Honea Path, institutions do not always announce themselves with marble plaques or brick façades. They grow more quietly, on soft soles and green thumbs, arriving as a handful of women and a flat of annuals. The Dogwood Garden Club began in just such a way in the early 1940s, when war was tightening its grip abroad and the Upstate’s textile mills still set the rhythm of life. Its charter members, looking out over the town’s streets and mill houses, seem to have decided that whatever the world was doing, Honea Path would at least be beautiful.

Yes, the freezing rain is still in the script, though the latest models potentially suggest less of it, and for a shorter time, than the original, more operatic predictions. The frozen stuff, which was supposed to bring an extended visitation, now looks more like an unwelcome houseguest: a wintry mix slipping in well after midnight, lingering through much of Sunday, and then leaving behind a mess that may prove more troublesome than the event itself.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 18-to-3 to advance the bill, which also creates the option of displaying numerous other historical documents in classrooms and allows schools to accept volunteer chaplains.

Alongside the 11-by-13-inch posters or framed copies of the Ten Commandments, all teachers would also have to display a “context statement” about the history of schools teaching the text.

Here’s the most recent roundup of shelters and emergency numbers that might be useful in preparation for the upcoming storm.

Under state law, businesses and individuals are prohibited from charging “unconscionable” prices for necessities such as food, gasoline, lodging, and emergency services like tree removal during a declared emergency. The rule remains in effect until the state of emergency is lifted or terminated. Violations are considered misdemeanor offenses, punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and 30 days in jail.

What the Department of Transportation could do, however, is add new lanes with tolls, often referred to as “choice lanes.” A bill introduced this week by Senate Transportation Chairman Larry Grooms would allow the Department of Transportation to do that, as long as the intention was to reduce traffic.

Sanders’s path into elected office is wound tightly around his family. West Pelzer’s former mayor, S.C. Rep. Blake Sanders, is his son—a reversal of the usual generational script that people in town like to point out. During Blake’s last term, residents urged Rick to run, but, he says, “I really just had too many irons in the fire.”

Only after time and circumstance aligned did he decide to run for council, and then, almost immediately, for mayor, when that seat opened. In the span of two months, he found himself elected twice, first as a council member and then as the town’s chief elected official, a compressed political education in a place where almost everyone already knows his name.

“We see a lot of different people,” Phillips said. There are those who are “literally homeless,” carrying their entire lives in backpacks or plastic bags, and there are others who have a house but no functioning heat, no electricity, no way to make the cold relent once they close their front door. For them, Hope Missions is less a shelter than a last resort against a particular kind of Southern winter, one that brings damp, bone‑deep chill. The center exists “to provide a warm and safe place for folks,” a phrase that sounds understated until one imagines the alternative.

On Thursday Anderson County council declared a state of emergency, which, layered atop the governor’s statewide disaster order, was less a piece of theater than a key, unlocking additional funding and the possibility of federal assistance if the ice storm developing on weather maps reached the threshold of a declared disaster.

In a meeting at the historic courthouse with online connections to those who lead first responders, Emergency Management Director Josh Hawkins offered the latest from the National Weather Service that sketched out a storm expected to be neither sudden nor dramatic, but relentless, as he informed and organized those who will be charged with meeting the potential challenges.

The show, on display through February and likely into early March, gathers work from more than two dozen artists—from high school students to established professionals—showcasing a spectrum of talent that stretches across generations and artistic styles.

The measure amends the Anderson County Code of Ordinances to spell out intensity standards and traffic impact analysis requirements for certain projects. The changes are intended to address design capacity on county roads and to clarify when a traffic impact study must be completed as a condition of development approval.

Rep. Beach said he and other conservative lawmakers have studied how other states manage road funding, pointing to Minnesota’s merit-based transportation leadership and focus on preservation as a model for South Carolina to follow. He said the group has discussed creating elected regional road commissioners responsible for maintenance in specific areas, rather than relying solely on appointees in Columbia.

It is easy to forget that his national holiday, now so settled on the calendar as to seem ancient, required a struggle of its own, a 32–year campaign to persuade the country that his life and death belonged in the civic liturgy. That long fight for a Monday in January says as much about the man as it does about the nation that took more than a generation to decide it was ready to honor him.

In its thirty-second year, Anderson Christmas Lights—still colloquially “Anderson Lights of Hope” to many locals—did not break records, at least not in the way nonprofit directors are often trained to crave. The numbers were, as the organizer puts it, “average,” a season that settled squarely in the middle when set against three decades of attendance and revenue.

Around 25,000 people drove or walked beneath the displays this year, roughly 61 percent of them who live outside of Anderson County, making the holiday park both a regional pilgrimage as a neighborhood tradition. 

Third reading is scheduled on the 2026 Comprehensive Plan (summary here), which aims to act as the county’s navigational chart through 2036, covering population growth, housing needs, and the optimal arrangement of community facilities.

Throughout 2026, museum programs will move chronologically, from the fraught decision to carve a new county out of Pendleton to the more modern eras that layered mills, highways, and subdivisions over old farmsteads, with a planned culmination near December 20, the date when the General Assembly approved Anderson’s creation.

Roberts said the gathering offers Anderson an annual opportunity to “come together in unity, reflect on how far we have come, and renew our commitment to the work that still lies ahead.” He said he hopes the breakfast will send attendees back into the community with renewed determination to live out King’s principles in daily life.

“When we began to work with the spill issue over here in this area It was astonishing that a major company, New York Stock Exchange Company, did so little to maintain their properties,” said Anderson County Councilwoman Cindy Wilson. “And so many people have been affected by the contaminants.

A “Rally Against ICE for Human Rights” is scheduled for Saturday from 2-4 p.m. on the grounds of the Anderson County Courthouse.
The event is billed as a peaceful protest and is being hosted by “concerned citizens of Anderson County,” according to a flyer being circulated on social media.