Hypodermic syringe found on sidewalk

I was walking my dog along Fairchild St. on the morning of Monday, Dec. 19, at 8 am heading towards Daniel Island Drive when something sitting next to the sidewalk caught my eye. It was a hypodermic syringe! It was empty and capped but who knows where it came from or what it was used for? What if a child had found it and accidently punctured himself with it? Best case, the child gets a lot of blood tests and medical follow-up to ensure they were not exposed to a blood borne pathogen like HIV or hepatitis. Worse case is they were infected with a blood borne pathogen that could be life threatening.

Because I am a trained Medical First Responder and had previously been trained on blood borne pathogens, I properly disposed of the syringe.

To the person who dropped the syringe:

– If you are a diabetic and were careless with the syringe, you need to be more careful in the future! Surely your physician taught you how to properly manage medical waste.

– If the syringe was used for something else, take your waste and yourself elsewhere!

Parents – warn your children about this and tell them that if they find a syringe to leave it alone and report it to you. I recommend you report it to the Fire or Police Department so that an EMT can dispose of it.

Christmas Angel at Publix

It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving and I had run to Publix to pick up some ice cream to go with the remainder of the pumpkin pie. Forgetting that I had already been Christmas shopping online that day, I was astonished to find at the checkout counter that I did not have my wallet with me.  As I was trying to make arrangements to run home and return, the lady behind me stepped forward and before I knew it she had swiped her credit card and told me not to worry about it. As I stammered a thank you she told me, "It’s only ice cream."  I asked her name and promised to "pay it forward" before I left.  I drove home with tears in my eyes to think that a stranger had been that kind.

Thank you, Sarah Davis, for being a Christmas angel! How refreshing it is to know that someone will do something for a stranger with no pay-back expected. That truly is the Christmas spirit and I feel exceedingly blessed to live in a community where that could happen. Daniel Island really is a special place! 

DINA Update

My how fast a year flashes by. It was about this time a year ago that I agreed to step back in as the DINA leader. For those of you that are new to the island or do not know what DINA does let me explain our mission. The Daniel Island Neighborhood Association (DINA) is dedicated to serving the needs of all the residents of Daniel Island by providing a civic voice within Charleston City and Berkeley County governments. DINA exists to provide information, community organization, and to promote a sense of community among the residents and businesses on Daniel Island. We represent all island residents and anyone residing or owning a business on the island are eligible to become members. Annual membership dues are only $10 per family.

In several ways 2011 has been a frustrating year, but after reflecting for some time I can assure you the accomplishments far outweigh the price paid to achieve them. Most will agree we have made major steps in getting the City to step up and provide the services we deserve. However there is still much more to be done so I have agreed to stay on for another term in 2012. Jim Morrill has also agreed to serve as Treasurer for another year. We need people to step forward to fill the Vice President and Secretary positions. For information about the positions please contact Bob Graham at: bobgraham05@gmail.com.

I will list the major accomplishments later, but first I want to provide a list of some of the people that worked hard to make the progress possible. The DINA Board consisting of Paul Bannister, VP; Grace Strother, Secretary; Jim Morrill, Treasurer and Stacey Lindbergh, Immediate Past President provided strong leadership throughout the year. Paul also led the Planning and Zoning Committee. Dave Williams did an exceptional job of leading the Safety Committee. Bill and Barbara Hart along with Laurie Steinke were very active in leading the Membership Committee to encourage all island residents to become DINA members. Bob Sauer worked with City Urban Forestry to provide training for residents in proper tree trimming techniques to improve the health and esthetics of our street trees. For a complete list of volunteers visit the DINA website at: http://www.dineighborhoodassociation.org/index.html.

Another step that has made us a much stronger community is due to the strong bond we have forged with the Community Association and the Daniel island Company. A big thank you to Jimmy Bailey and Matt Sloan is well deserved.

The primary reason I agreed to step back in was that it was evident the City services were lacking in several areas. Due to the efforts of many we have been able to persuade the City to begin addressing several areas of concern. They have begun placing one-side only parking signs in several neighborhoods to provide safer streets and improved traffic flow. The logjam was also broken to loosen the city policies related to turning on street lights and accepting the primary responsibility for trimming of approximately 4,500 street trees on the island. DINA has been active in supporting the Community Association to get some of the streets restriped and we are driving the initiative to get a traffic study at the intersection of Seven Farms Drive and Daniel Island Drive.

Many of the initiatives above are in various stages of completion so we must remain vigilant to ensure we get the services the City is obligated, but sometimes reluctant to provide. There remains one area that the City is not being as proactive as we had hoped. When the City proposed to the Guggenheim Foundation that they wanted to annex the island they signed a formal agreement with the Daniel Island Development Company to build several parks, including five community buildings. To date we do not have even one facility that residents can utilize for civic and club meetings. The only indoor recreation facility available to our children and active adults is limited to 500 hours a year utilization of the Daniel Island School gym that was negotiated when the school was built and the city combined two of the required parks and constructed the park near the school.

Matt Sloan, Jimmy Bailey and I have had a couple of meetings with Mayor Riley, Gary White and city staff in an attempt to revise the parks agreement to reallocate funds to building one or more community buildings that would include a gymnasium. The city and the developer are wrapping up an accounting of how much land has been deeded for city parks. We are also reconciling the amount that the city should have invested in parks to date to determine how much money may be available for the requested facilities. At the conclusion of that process, should the city not step forward and make a firm commitment to timely construction of these facilities, the community will encourage the city and developer to enter arbitration as a means of quickly resolving this issue.

So folks as we rollover to another year we are still advocating for better city services and construction of parks and recreation facilities that we should be currently using. I feel we deserve these facilities soon based on the fact that they are legal obligations coupled with the fact that the average homeowner on Daniel Island pays two and a half times (2 ½) the amount of property taxes paid by an average city resident.

The next DINA meeting will be January 3 at 7 p.m. at the Holy Cross Church. At this meeting we will have a brief business meeting, elect 2012 officers and then have some social time with heavy hors d’oeuvres. I hope you will join us and that we can depend on your support to help us continue to improve our community.