July 25 2007

Last Meeting
July 25, 2007

Reporter – Chip Lyerly

After the prayer and Pledge of Allegiance, Lyman Whitehead humored us with his weekly Health and Happiness. Joel Collins introduced Ryan who is a graduate of Dutch Fork High School and was a recipient one year ago of one of our club’s Rotary Scholarships. Ryan is beginning his second year at USC and is Biology major.

President Beetle Bailey asked new members Dr. Bill Brooks (PhD) and Dr. David Isbell (MD) to give classification talks about their careers and profession. Bill is a graduate of The Citadel and is now retired from the South Carolina Agriculture Department where he was the Director of their research laboratory. David is a cardiologist practicing in Columbia and a graduate of Duke University and the University of Virginia Medical School.

Dr. Eddie Robison introduced our guest speaker Mike Dawson who is the Executive Director of The River Alliance. Mr. Dawson presented a slide show and spoke to the group about the various projects that have been completed since their formation in 1994. Prior to this time there had not been any comprehensive plans to develop and preserve the natural resources of the three rivers that have their confluence in heart of downtown Columbia. The Three Rivers Greenway was first proposed in 1998 and is a master plan that encompasses approximately 90 miles of river frontage. The first project was the Granby Park which opened in 1998. In 2002 the Ginyard family gave approximately 2½ miles of Congaree River frontage which has lead to the development of the West Columbia and Cayce Riverways. Dawson said that on a typical weekend day 450-500 people per hour are using these walkways for walking, running, biking and other recreational activities. The Riverfront Park in West Columbia opened in 2004 followed by the Mill Village Riverlink in 2005. The Mill Village connects the Olympia Mill area with paths to the USC Strom Thurmond Wellness Center and the USC Greek Village. He said that all of these walkways will eventually be interconnected. The next major thrust for the River Alliance will be the development of the river front walkways from the Gervais Street Bridge on the Columbia side of the Congaree going down past the Cayce rail road bridge south of Blossom Street. In the future the River Alliance would like to develop a pathway all of the ways up the Saluda River to the Lake Murray Dam.

Dawson pointed out to the many upscale residential developments that are underway in the Vista area as a testament to the quality of life people are experiencing with much of the credit being given to the public parkways that have been developed by The River Alliance. Columbia and surrounding municipalities are still in the infant stages of seeing the riverfront be a strong drawing card to tourist and residences back to the downtown are of our Capital City.

President Bailey reminded the Club that this was the last meeting that Molley Cousins would be attending before her corporate transfer to Virginia. Many members gave brief testaments to her leadership of our Club as past President and wished her continued success in her new role with Snelling Personnel.

President Bailey also reminded the Club that next week (August 1st) we will be visited by our new District Governor Mary Martin of Little River and asked that we all try to b in attendance for this important meeting.