Members of the Greater Cayce-West Columbia Chamber of Commerce received a pair of emphatic messages at the group’s Business Breakfast meeting Oct. 25.

The featured speaker was Hootie and the Blowfish drummer Jim Sonefeld, who talked about how his battle with alcohol dependence dovetailed with the famed Columbia band’s rise to ’90s prominence and how finding faith in God helped him get his issues under control.

The experience is detailed in his new book, “Swimming with the Blowfish: Hootie, Healing, and One Hell of a Ride,” sparked by a journal he kept during the recording of the group’s landmark debut album, “Cracked Rear View.” Sonefeld gave away signed copies to raffle winners at the meeting.

“In 2017, I realized I had this journal that had been kicking around in my closet and got up to start reading and see what it held,” he said. “I thought, ‘This is valuable. Maybe I'll combine the story of the synergy that happened in our career based on a journal and my memories and a few pictures with the journey through recovery and learning how to become a better person.”

Before Sonefeld spoke, Lexington Chamber and Visitors Center president/CEO Angelle Laborde got together with a group representing Vote Yes for Roads, a campaign pushing people to vote to approve a penny tax for road improvements that is on the ballot for the Nov. 8 election.

If approved by voters the Capital Project Sales Tax would add 1% to the amount of sales tax in the county for eight years to fund various road projects. LaBorde along with Nephron Pharmaceuticals CEO Lou Kennedy, South Congaree Mayor Cindy Campbell and Tom Ledbetter, associate vice provost for Midlands Technical College’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Educational Support, advocated for the tax and sought to dispel misconceptions about it (such that it would be permanent if enacted).

“We need our roads to be fixed so that we can move around Lexington County, and we're growing like crazy in Lexington County,” Kennedy said, noting her company’s planned December addition of an operational nitrile glove plant to its West Columbia headquarters and its anticipated needs when it comes to moving supplies, products and employees. 

Dominion Pushes for Speedy Transfer of Lake Murray Islands

Despite resistance expressed by many nearby residents due to the possibility of increased traffic and what they see as a lack of communication, Dominion Energy is looking to move quickly to transfer two islands on Lake Murray to the state of South Carolina for state parks, The Post and Courier reports.

“Dominion told its regulator, Federal Energy Regulation Commission, on Oct. 17 that it plans transfer Pine Island and Bundrick Island by early December,” Leah Hincks writes. “However, FERC could require Dominion to submit a formal application, which would push the transfer of the land until mid-January and also raises the possibility of regulators rejecting the power company’s request.”

The properties are among three that Dominion is giving to the state as part of its efforts to repay costs from the failed expansion of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Fairfield County.

“Despite neighbors’ concerns, 20 organizations, most of them from the Columbia area, are supporting the transfer, according [to] the Dominion letter to regulators,” Hincks writes. “Among the supporters including tourism promoter Lake Murray Country, advocacy group Lake Murray Association and Riverbanks Zoo.”

Lexington Medical Center to Take Part in National Drug Take Back Day

Lexington Medical Center is among the organizations participating in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Oct. 29.

The event will allow people to drop off unused or expired over-the-counter medications or prescriptions at a drive-through site outside Lexington Medical Park 3 (222 East Medical Ln. in West Columbia). 

“Disposal is free and anonymous. Pills, liquids in containers and patches will be accepted. Needles will not be accepted,” a press release states. “According to the DEA, too often, unused prescription drugs find their ways into the wrong hands. That can be dangerous and often tragic.”