[South Carolina] Despite being oasis of recreation, lake towns have poverty

From The Times and Democrat

By SHIRLEY UPTON, T&D Correspondent

Santee is known as a golfing and fishing paradise. But there are some residents who have neither the time nor the money for recreational pursuits, and their lives are far from paradise.

These people are busy working, worrying and wondering how to pay their bills. If they fish, it’s for tonight’s supper.

Santee officials this year received a list of more than 60 families to receive a Thanksgiving Day meal from the town. These people, who live day to day, are the poor who must stretch every dime for utilities, rent, food and other necessities, with nothing extra for the luxuries others take for granted.

“There are different degrees of poverty,” Santee Mayor Silas Seabrooks said, “the have-nots, the will-nots and the cannots.” He pointed out that there are a large number of elderly people in the Santee area, some of whom have a difficult time with their limited resources, especially when it comes to buying necessary prescription medication.

“Sustaining life for an elderly person on a fixed income is difficult, but these folks came along during the Depression, and are used to making do,” Santee Town Administrator Donnie Hilliard said. “They have no alternative but to pay exorbitant fees for gypsy cabs to Orangeburg because there’s no public transportation.”

Seabrooks would like to see an additional senior complex in Santee, and Hilliard would like to see seniors subsidized in a communal-type environment where services would be available for them to make their lives easier.

“I realize that some seniors do not want to leave the homes they’ve lived in for many years,” he said.

Hilliard said the retired person living solely on a Social Security check of about $650 a month cannot make ends meet. Even those who receive additional pensions are often strapped for cash when unexpected expenses arise, and they have to depend on their relatives or their churches for temporary help, he said.

The working poor are also in a bind because they hold low-paying jobs because of their lack of education and training.

“People whose earnings are above a certain level cannot get any government assistance even though they don’t earn enough to cover their expenses. Help is only available for the very poor,” Hilliard said. “Some people are in worse shape financially when they do work for low wages because they lose government benefits.”

The population that can, but will not, work is a problem with no easy solution. Hilliard believes that a lot of young men are not lazy but hide their shame at their lack of marketable skills by projecting a macho image.

Seabrooks believes parents must be held accountable for the behavior and actions of their children. “The system has done all it can, but some of the parents don’t care,” the mayor said. “You must tell and show a child you love him and support him. Parents have to discipline their kids — this is part of loving them. If more parents would send their children to Sunday School, they would have less problems in the regular schools.”

Lamenting the loosening of standards for student conduct and appropriate dress in the schools, Seabrooks said, “One of our mistakes was taking discipline and prayer out of the schools.”

Seabrooks would like to see a program reinstated that was in Santee a few years ago. Community pastors, in conjunction with the police department, counseled both at-risk children and their parents.

“I would like to see this program offered again because it proved to be very successful,” he said.

“Poverty affects society as a whole, and we need to remedy the root cause,” Hilliard said. “Young people must be prepared to be members of society and get along in the world. This is too much responsibility for teachers alone.

“Parents must partner with teachers to make their children successful. Teachers are not respected like they used to be, and parents often are in denial of the wrongdoing of their children.”

Police Chief Robert L. Williams focused on the young and able-bodied who simply do not want to work as another cause of both poverty and crime.

“It’s a problem getting some people to work,” Williams said. “There are jobs available, but they are not willing to work for the prevailing wage and not willing to perform the type of work they are qualified to do.”

“I find that older people who are still working take greater pride in their work and are more dependable. Some of the younger workers just don’t seem to care. They will take off from work at the slightest ache or pain and have a poor work ethic,” the police chief said.

Elloree Town Administrator John Singh, commenting on poverty in his town, said, “Most poverty can be attributed to bad luck and bad situations. The scary thing about poverty is that it can happen to anyone, and it’s difficult to get out of.”

He said that typically the poor have limited educations and, therefore, cannot get high-paying jobs or afford child care. “If a working mother has a sick child, she has to choose whether to miss work or take care of her child. Some irresponsible employees don’t show up for work in an emergency and don’t bother to call their employers.”

Poor people have trouble navigating the system, Singh believes. “They do not have adequate resources to get help or the transportation to get to jobs and services. And, unfortunately, some of them who are knowledgeable use that knowledge to abuse the system,” he said.