AC Repair in Charleston, SC

CHARLESTON, South Carolina – The LSU men’s basketball team looks to determine its identity and move forward as it plays three games in the next four days here in the annual Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic at the downtown TD Arena.

LSU faces Dayton at 4 p.m. ET (3 p.m. Baton Rouge time) in the second of four games scheduled for Thursday. The game will be broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network with Colin Lacy (sitting in for Chris Blair) joining Coach John Brady for the broadcast (Guaranty Media flagship in Baton Rouge Eagle 98.1 FM). ESPN2 will televise the game with Chuckie Kempf and former Tulane coach Perry Clark on the call.

Both teams are 1-1 on the young season after suffering defeats at the end of the week — the Tigers to Nicholls and Dayton on the road at Northwestern. For the Tigers, Coach Matt McMahon hopes what he has seen with his team in practice will carry over to the start of Thursday’s tournament game.

“I think the leadership (of our older players) has really set the tone for how we need to move forward as a team,” Coach McMahon said after a film session on Thursday. “I want to see that obviously carry over to the game floor, but I think they have done a terrific job of responding and I look forward to that continuing as we go into the opener (Thursday).”

Nicholls, in the 68-66 win on Friday, hit 9-of-17 three-point field goals in the opening 20 minutes as LSU failed to match the intensity level of Colonels in the opening 20 minutes before rallying from 24 down to take a lead into the final minutes. LSU did not shoot well overall in the game, making just 39.3 percent of their field goals (22-56) and just 3-of-19 from distance.

Dayton, the favorite in the Atlantic 10, is coached by Anthony Grant, who spent six years as the head coach at Alabama. Da Ron Holmes led Dayton in the 71-66 loss at Northwestern with 17 points and six assists while Koby Brea scored 15 points (4 treys) with Javon Bennett adding 12 points and five assists.

The Flyers made 21-of-39 field goal attempts, including 12-of-23 from distance.

“Dayton is a really good team, a terrific defensive team. They run a lot of different actions on the offensive end, so there is a lot to prepare for there,” said Coach McMahon. “The major focus for us is when that ball gets tossed up at 4 p.m. eastern (Thursday) what is our mind set? Do we have a laser focus on doing the things we need to do — to play with relentless effort and energy to give ourselves an opportunity to win and that has to be the foundation of what we are about?”

The winner/loser of Thursday’s game will play one of the other two teams in this half of the tournament bracket in Friday’s second day action. St John’s and North Texas meet in the first game on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. ET.

The losers will meet at 11:30 a.m. ET (10:30 a.m. BR time) and the winners will play at 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. BR time).

The evening session on Thursday will have Houston and Towson meeting followed by Wake Forest and Utah. LSU would face one of those four teams in Sunday’s final game in Charleston.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity to respond the right way to a disappointing event,” said Coach McMahon of the opportunity for three games in four days. “We’ll play great teams in this field. When we go into these really good tournaments our focus has to be on No. 1 getting better as a team and No. 2 going 1-0 on Thursday at 4 p.m. After that game, then we will reset the table and start our preparation for the next one.”

It is expected the Tigers will keep the same starting lineup of freshman Mike Williams III, junior Carlos Stewart and graduate Jordan Wright at the guards with sophomore Jalen Reed and graduate Will Baker at forwards. Reed scored an LSU personal high of 14 points in the game against Nicholls on Friday and is averaging 11.0 points and 7.0 rebounds a game.

Will Baker is averaging 15.5 points after his 29-point effort in the opener against Mississippi Valley, while Jordan Wright is averaging 11.5 points in the first two contests.

The Tigers practiced for close to two hours on Wednesday morning at TD Arena, the first half in the College of Charleston’s practice gym and the second half on the arena floor.

This will be LSU’s second appearance at the Charleston Classic in the 5,100-seat venue, having appeared in the 2011 version. LSU went 2-1 in that tournament, losing to Northwestern, before scoring wins over Western Kentucky and Georgia Tech.

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — The Charleston County Council revisited a controversial vote it made last month. The council voted to make changes to the Historic Preservation Ordinance, which is supposed to regulate development in protected areas.

Community members urged Charleston County Council to listen to their pleas in the Tuesday night meeting.

People are against weakening the Historic Preservation Ordinance’s protections against development on certain land.

Community members urge Charleston County Council to leave historic preservation ordinance alone (WCIV)

Read more: "Charleston County's contentious changes to Historic Preservation Ordinance spark community concerns."

“I’d like to ask you not to reconsider the motion for the historic preservation commission and preserve our settlement communities before development displaces them,” said Ed Pinckney, who lives in the Ten Mile community.

The Historic Preservation Ordinance is supposed to protect areas of land like the Ten Mile community. It requires developers to acquire a “certificate of historic appropriateness” before being given the green light to build on vulnerable land.

Pinckney said this proposed zoning and new development isn’t what his neighbors want.

“In the roughly 300 homes that comprise Ten Mile, we have 248 signatures in support of downzoning our community,” Pinckney said.

However, some council members said they were concerned with the number of people in the area who do not want to downzone. They said they needed more time before making a final decision.

The council also heard from other community members who disagree with making changes to the long-standing historic ordinance, saying the council has acted with a lack of transparency.

“These amendments do the opposite, and to reconsider them tonight, added to the agenda at the last possible minute yesterday is not the right way to go about inclusive public policy,” said Sam Spence of the Preservation Society of Charleston.

Read more: "Historic Preservation Commission denies proposals of new homes within historic Ten Mile Community."

The council moved to reconsider both the Historic Preservation Ordinance amendments and zoning in the Ten Mile community, deferring them until January.

Another item on Tuesday’s Charleston County Council agenda: a public hearing discussing proposed amendments to the Zoning and Land Development Regulations Ordinance.

One of the proposed amendments would exempt Charleston County Public Works from most requirements when approving tree removal.

This has left many community members, especially those on James Island, concerned that the council is not enforcing enough checks and balances.

“As a resident who cares deeply about the environment and well-being of our community, I urge you to deny these proposed changes. As we all know, trees play a vital role in mitigating flooding and combating climate change,” said Samantha Seagull, who has spoken at prior meetings on this issue.

Over 30 community members spoke to the council, urging them to protect Charleston’s trees, saying that they’re an important part of the area’s history and provide necessary protection during storms.

After listening to community members, the council voted to defer the ZLDR amendments until January.

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Charleston County Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday to discuss a change to its tree ordinance.

Specifically, they will discuss which government body approves requests from the Public Works Department to remove large trees.

“The Public Works Department is seeking an exemption from our BZA requirement in part because you have to be the owner of land to file a BZA application, which means in a public works project we have to either condemn or purchase that land, or we can begin the process before we can begin the process of seeking a variance,” explained Charleston County Councilwoman Jenny Honeycutt.

Right now, if public works is seeking to cut down a large tree, they have to get the Board of Zoning Appeals approval. The council is considering changing that to require those requests to be approved by the county council.

“Then we move forward with design land acquisition and ultimately construction of the project,” Honeycutt added.

More than 7,000 people have signed a petition against the change. Ashleigh Dane is a developer who helped start the petition.

“To exempt our own government process from the process that they decided was important, seems contrary to what they’ve been elected to uphold,” said Dane, who is concerned about the changes. “In the same breath, that they are asking for this exemption for public works in the code, they are actually looking to make the code tougher for you and I.”

Dane went on to say, “County council, with five votes out of their board, would be able to decide which trees stay and which trees go. And for me, people under political pressure shouldn’t be making those decisions.”

“Our biggest concern with that is the lack of consideration that we think Public Works will have in future road projects, having this exemption,” said Emma Berry with the Coastal Conservation League.

Honeycutt says she believes the change adds public accountability.

“Providing this accountability to elected leaders, putting it in their hands provides a greater level of accountability. Because if a voter doesn’t like what that elected official has done – in either voting for or against the project to go forward – they can vote that elected leader out,” she said.

Honeycutt says upon hearing concerns, she does plan a make a change to the proposal.

“One of the revisions that I intend to put forward to the current amendments is that we do require a limited review process by our zoning department,” she said.

Councilwoman Honeycutt said if the council approves the ordinance, it would take at least eight weeks from now for the ordinance changes to be passed. Tuesday’s public hearing begins at 6:30.

College of Charleston coach Pat Kelsey calls the final eight minutes of a game “winning time.”

Unlike a year ago when College of Charleston seemed to make all the right plays at all the right times on its way to 31 wins and an NCAA Tournament appearance, the Cougars couldn’t get out of their own way down the stretch against Vermont on Thursday.

Matt Veretto scored 18 points and TJ Long added 15 points and seven rebounds to lead Vermont past College of Charleston, 73-64, on Nov. 16 in the opening game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational at the UTC Center on the campus of Coastal Carolina in Conway.

Ante Brozovic led the Cougars with 14 points, while Ben Burnham chipped in 13. Bryce Butler and Kobe Rodgers each had 10.

It was the second straight loss for the Cougars, who dropped to 1-2 on the season and will face Wyoming Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the second day of the three-day tournament.

“Winning time is the last eight minutes of the game and give Vermont credit, they stepped up and made the plays that were necessary to win and unfortunately we did not,” Kelsey said. “That’s something we’ve got to fix and we’ve got fix it in a hurry because we play in less than 24 hours. I thought our guys played really well and really hard for the majority of the game.

“Unfortunately, we were not at our best in the final eight minutes and that’s on me as a coach. There were eight or nine things that happened in the closing minutes that can’t happen if you are going to close out and win games against really good teams like Vermont.”

One of the biggest plays of the game came with three minutes to play with the College of Charleston clinging to a 60-57 lead.

After Veretto was fouled and made one free throw, Vermont’s Ileri Ayo-Faleye rebounded the second attempt, scored on the put back and was fouled.

Ayo-Faleye’s free throw gave the Catamounts their first lead, 61-60, since early in the game.

“Page one, sentence one of any ‘how to win basketball games’ is don’t give up offensive rebounds on free throws late in the game,’” Kelsey said. “There are eight or nine other winning time things we didn’t do, that we need to do, and ultimately that’s on me as the coach. We harp on it and we preach and maybe I’m not harping on it and preaching it enough.”

The celebration of vintage cars, pinup fashion and Americana music returns to Park Circle Nov. 17 through Nov. 19 during the 10th annual Rockabillaque.

“We try to keep it as mid-century as possible,” said the festival’s creator, Simon Cantlon. “The music that we book is rockabilly, roots rock, honky tonk or Americana. But it’s really eclectic, so there’s something for everybody. It’s also a great way to shine a light on Park Circle and what an amazing neighborhood it is. All the different bars, restaurants and breweries take part and open their doors, and it’s a really fun day.”

The weekend-long festival offers a classic car show with more than 400 classic cars and bikes from before 1989 taking over the main strip on Montague Avenue. The event is free to attend, and guests can enjoy a vendors’ market with more than 70 unique artisans and makers. There’s also performances by over 30 bands from all over the U.S. and Canada.

And don’t miss the contests: Enter the pinup contest for a chance to be crowned Miss Rockabillaque, or sign up for the best tattoos or beard and mustache competitions. Fees to enter the contests will raise funds for the Movember Foundation, a nonprofit organization which raises awareness of men’s health issues.

The celebration kicks off with a party at Commonhouse Aleworks Friday night, where guests can find this year’s special beer, a Strawberry Milkshake Cream ale, harkening to the flavors of a 1950s diner. Starlight Motor Inn hosts a $15 ticketed pool party from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday with music by DJ Slowcountry, cocktails, games and more.

The festival was created by Simon Cantlon, who also organizes Park Circle Pride. He moved to Charleston in 2011, and in 2012 co-produced the first year of a Rockabilly festival in New Mexico called “Rockabilly On The Route.” Cantlon said after his time in New Mexico, he returned home to Park Circle and decided he wanted to bring a similar celebration to his new home.

“I thought, how great it would be to see classic cars parked all along the historic main strip in the Park Circle, taking the neighborhood back in time to its days as a bustling neighborhood center?”

The idea for Rockabillaque was born: a classic car show and a celebration of mid-century Americana music and culture with Rockabilly and roots rock bands playing throughout the neighborhood. For the first festival in 2013, Cantlon worked with Scott Cloud, owner of now-closed Barbeque Joint in Park Circle — Rockabillaque (rock-a-bill-a-que) is the combined name of rockabilly-music-meets-barbecue.

That first festival drew 1,200 attendees, which Cantlon considered such a success, he started offering it annually. Four years ago, he even expanded to create a sister event, Florida Rockabillaque, which will be held this year in January 2024 at Seminole Casino in Immokalee, Fla.

Now in its 10th year, the Charleston festival draws nearly 20,000 annual visitors of all ages. “It has grown to be the biggest festival of its kind in the Carolinas,” Cantlon said.

Find the full music line-up and more details at rockabillaque.com.

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