Mortgage Broker in Moncks Corner, SC

The lights are on, the cameras are rolling, and the action is taking place in Moncks Corner.

The film industry is back in the Lowcountry, with filming kicking off Tuesday along Main Street.

“I kind of equivalate it to a major sporting event,” said Moncks Corner Mayor Michael Lockliear. “Because you’re going to bring people into town that usually wouldn’t come this way.”

With construction cones in place and law enforcement directing traffic, the stage is set for the pharmacy.

Delta Pharmacy has been transformed and prepped for Hollywood’s Woody Harrelson and Laura Linney, the stars of the drama film Suncoast.

But for Lockliear, the town and its businesses are the show's true stars.

“They’re going to be shooting all the way up until noon tonight,” he said. “They’re closing down Main Street at seven and will shoot on the Hwy 6 Main Street, so that’s exciting. It will expose those businesses, and it’s exciting to have a Hollywood studio production here in the Town of Moncks Corner.

Tuesday afternoon, the tents and truckloads of gear in Delta's parking lot caught the eye of Monica Early, who was shopping across the street.

“I knew something was going on, but I didn’t know what it was,” she said. “Put our little town on the map like it’s never been before. I believe you need to use local small towns when possible for these big movies. If you can use local, that just ups the value of your town.”

While Charleston has captured the eye of Hollywood in recent years with the filming of the series Outerbanks and Righteous Gemstones, Lockliear hopes the same recognition can translate to what he calls South Carolina’s best-kept secret.

“When people come from outside that normally wouldn’t come to Moncks Corner and see what we have to offer, they want to come back, and it’s great to have that,” he said.

Now is your chance to play a small role in Suncoast. To learn more on how to sign up to be an extra in the film, click here.

Through his travels on both coasts, barbering has been a rewarding experience for Julian Kelly, who owns and operates his CTB (Confidence Through the Art of Barbering) shop in Moncks Corner. But individual success isn’t what life’s all about for the Los Angeles native, as he’s currently seeking to expand the pool of aspiring barbers he can shepherd through the process of gaining certification and realizing their career dreams.

Until now, Kelly, 47, has welcomed a host of trainees to learn and work in his place of business — located at 391 Corner Square Plaza — as part of his on-the-job instruction program, which limits him to two shop apprentices over an 11-month period.

Going forward, the enterprising philanthropist hopes to generate the necessary funds to open a college that would allow Kelly to service 30-90 people a year. As a member of this group, each student would be able to earn a barbering state certification over a period of eight months to two years if needed.

If all goes according to plan, per the one-time Naval officer, seven or eight out of every 10 of his students will consist of foster children, disabled individuals or formerly incarcerated men and women who are seeking a second chance in life.

“To me, in my experience dealing with that, a lot of people go back and forth to jail because they really don’t have a map in life. They really don’t have anything to lose. So, our purpose in that is to try to give them a reason to stay out of jail, to try to give them a way of life they may not have thought of and give them an income — a purpose,” explained Kelly, a father of five, who has been cutting, shaving and grooming heads at a professional level since 1998, although he initially acquired his skills back in high school.

“I mean, it’s the same thing for foster kids and a lot of them lose their way because they don’t have anything to keep them structured. So, I try to create structure and give them a reason to [work] and to be able to pay their bills, and be able to look their family in the face and be something — give them something to be proud of.”

Kelly prepares his students by advising them to put in their “mileage” in terms of working on as many heads as possible before he can confidently deem an individual ready to undergo state testing and ultimately emerge as a full-fledged barber.

That testing also entails plenty of reading, said Kelly, which includes tackling literature on the history of barbering, where it originated and what people did before the advent of modern-day barbers.

Once someone has refined their cutting and grooming skills, he added, their next challenge is building a strong client base, which nowadays requires both novices and grizzled pros to broadcast their work via social media channels (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube etc.).

To that end, barber stations inside CTB are all equipped with cell phone holders that are used when the cutter and/or hair stylist is attempting to record video while tending to a customer.

“That’s how you get your following and how get people to know what you’ve been doing. I believe that in this field, everybody should know you as a barber and then you won’t really have to be looking for people to fill your chairs up,” continued Kelly.

The other key to mastering the art of barbering is servicing a wide range of customers, including females, to avoid falling into a routine of providing everyone with the same haircut, which can sometimes happen in large chain businesses.

Being versatile, he noted, means being well-versed in handling any type of follicle variation and/or texture, along with knowing how to work with the elasticity of different skin types.

“I like to cater to everybody in the community. I don’t care what your ethnicity is, what kind of hair it is, I like to teach my students not to be scared to get into anybody’s hair and give them what they want.”

New this year, kickoff Celebrate The Season at Holiday in the Park on Nov. 25 and Nov. 26.

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. – The 12th annual Celebrate The Season charitable event, a family-friendly, month-long holiday festival, takes place daily from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. from Nov. 25 through Dec. 30 (closed Dec. 24 and Dec. 25). Celebrate The Season, organized and hosted by Santee Cooper, has donated more than $1 million to local charities, including the Coastal Community Foundation’s Giving Back to Berkeley Fund, since 2011. Berkeley Electric Cooperative will again serve as the festival’s presenting sponsor.

For only $5 per vehicle, visitors can drive through Celebrate The Season’s mile-long Holiday Lights Driving Tour, where thousands of festive holiday lights complement the natural beauty of Old Santee Canal Park. Participants can take as many trips as they like on the day they purchase their ticket.

New this year, Old Santee Canal Park will host Holiday in the Park from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Nov. 25 and 26. This kickoff event is included with admission to the Holiday Lights Driving Tour, which begins at Santee Cooper Headquarters at 1 Riverwood Dr. in Moncks Corner and ends in the park. Bring your family and friends for food, entertainment, a visit with Santa, and many other activities to help usher in the holiday season.

The beautiful LED lighting displays are powered by 100% Santee Cooper Green Power, which is Green-e Energy certified and meets the environmental and consumer-protection standards set forth by the nonprofit Center for Resource Solutions. Learn more at www.green-e.org.

For those looking for additional weekend festivities, Holiday Fairs at Moncks Corner Regional Recreation Complex, organized by the Town of Moncks Corner, will be held each Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. from Dec. 2 to Dec. 17. Admission to the Holiday Fairs, which features holiday-themed entertainment and activities, is free.

Santee Cooper is South Carolina’s largest power provider, the ultimate source of electricity for 2 million people across the state, and one of America’s Best Midsize Employers as named by Forbes. Through its low-cost, reliable and environmentally responsible electricity and water services, and through innovative partnerships and initiatives that attract and retain industry and jobs, Santee Cooper helps power South Carolina. To learn more, visit www.santeecooper.com and follow #PoweringSC on social media.

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (WCIV) — It’s been a brutally tough start for the Berkeley Stags football team. 1-5 is not anything anybody in Moncks Corner is used to seeing. What the team is going through, nothing, compared to their head coach who has for much of it been unapologetically absent.

For years, we’ve called Dr. Jerry Brown the “Good Doctor.” He’s not a medical doctor. He is a good man.

“My wife had a situation where I had to step away for three weeks, tough to get on and get on solid ground,” says the legendary head man.

One of the sweetest ladies in Moncks Corner is his wife, Mary Ames Brown. Sweet, exemplified, by the thousands upon thousands of Monday morning cookies baked, after hundreds and hundreds of Friday night wins.

“I’ll say this, she is a lot better at what she does than I am at what I do. She is definitely in the hall of fame, at that level as far as coaches' wives. Everyone here in Moncks Corner loves her. She’s felt the prayers, and that’s been precious.”

She’s needed them.

Her health has been in decline of late. Jerry has been there to deliver whatever else she has needed.

Day and night, month after month- he’s by her side. Practicing, what he’s always preached to his players, preparing them to be husbands and fathers.

“Came to a clash with my two commitments in the world- football and my wife. It’s been a nightmare. Operations were successful, she got over there trying to recover. She had 30 days in the hospital. That’s tough. She is weak as water some days, some days she feels a bit better. It will take a long time to be back how she was and gain her stamina.”

With this change, a marked change in Berkeley’s success on the field. Understandably so, when the head coach is so much a part of the team that is so much a part of the town.

“Tough situation emotionally for me. I want to treat the kids well and continue in a positive manner, but it's tough because my mind and heart will be other places sometimes. When I’m in football, I focus 100 percent on football. When I am a caretaker, I focus wholly on her and a caretaker. It’s really hard to mix both worlds. I’m really a single-minded guy. I came to the game on Friday and I felt real bad, she was weak as water that day and struggling. You are caught in between. It’s a tug of war between two commitments I have and balance it.”

She presses on, and so does he. They know what’s most important, and they know what those “sickness and health” vows mean.

“She wants me to go and go, come here and be with the kids, but at the same time, she needs her man.”

On the other side of this, those sweet cookies, will be just what the “Good Doctor” ordered.

For years a new Berkeley County courthouse has been needed. The current facility on California Avenue in Moncks Corner is cramped, cluttered and when it comes to restrooms and courtrooms, there is not enough of either. The court system in Berkeley County has out grown the building.

To meet the need county officials have decided to build a new courthouse on Belt Drive in Moncks Corner. Council initially put together a courthouse committee and along with the clerk of court and court security, a plan was devised to move ahead.

Clerk of Court, Leah Guerry Dupree said the upgrades will include, of course, more courtrooms.

Also, she said, there will be more elevators, secure entrances for detainees, a secure route through the building for judges and employees, not shared by detainees, which is currently not the case. And more holding cells to separate the juveniles from the adults.

In June of this year, it was time to hand the ball off to county procurement for architecture and engineering plans. Procurement’s job was to scour the country to find the best firm to design the $50-milllion investment. For five-months, numerous firms were considered and it was finally narrowed down to one — but Council believes somebody fumbled.

At the Council meeting on Nov. 14, procurement staff took their good news to the governing body that an out of state firm named Studio 8 Design/HDR has been chosen at a cost of $4.3 million, all that was needed was Council’s approval. Members were told the firm has designed several courthouses in states all over the country. But South Carolina wasn’t mentioned as one of them.

“What I would like to see Council do is go around and look at some of the projects, that this firm has done, the architectural and engineering part of it. Let’s see it first hand,” Councilman Jack Schulknight said to presenters.

Council member Josh Whitley then offered his concerns on that idea. “That would be difficult because they haven’t done any in the state of South Carolina,” he said.

He asked about another firm that was passed over on how many they designed in South Carolina — the answer was seven.

“So you have one firm that has by far and away done multiple, substantial courthouse projects in South Carolina and you have one that’s done zero,” Whitley said.

“This is a concern to Council,” said Schurlknight. “A huge concern to Council. A huge concern” added Whitley.

“A firm from California can come and do architectural services and they not get it right they go back to wherever they came from and no big deal,” said Whitley.

Whitley and the other members agreed that the firm chosen should have more ties to the state in order hold them more accountable if something goes wrong. Although the procurement speaker noted having done work in South Carolina was never pointed out as a stipulation in the search. Council also added that there has been a lack of communication from procurement staff and those on the courthouse committee during the process.

Council then chose to go into executive session for the purposes of personnel and the awarding of the contract.

Upon return, the motion was denied to award the firm the contract based on its lack of experience in South Carolina. After months of searching, bidding and interviews the effort to move the project along stalled. While to project is still in the works, it seems like it’s back to square one in the hunt to for design plans for the long overdue new Berkeley County Courthouse.