Flames ripped through the Beaufort restaurant La Nopalera early Tuesday morning and investigators suspect electrical wiring failure may have started the blaze.

The fire apparently started about 2:30 a.m. in a shed behind the main restaurant building on Ribaut Road, but quickly spread to the eves and roof of the restaurant, said Beaufort Fire Chief Sammy Negron. When firefighters arrived minutes after the call, they found flames climbing 30 feet.

Very quickly, the fire melted and ignited a nearby commercial gas meter, creating a dangerous potential for explosion.

“Firefighters did an outstanding job controlling the burning natural gas line until SCE&G crews could isolate the gas,” Negron said. “The firefighters were able to keep the gas-fed fire from running through the entire building.”

No one was in the structure at the time of the fire and no one was hurt. The main restaurant structure doesn’t appear to have any major structural damage, Negron said, though some roof rafters and decking will have to be replaced. Fortunately for the owners, he said, there is limited water or smoke damage to the main building.  The shed and its contents were consumed by the fire.

More than 30 firefighters helped battle the blaze, including four fire engines, two squads and one tower/ladder truck. Beaufort/Port Royal Fire fighters were assisted by personnel from Beaufort County EMS, the Burton Fire District, Marine Corps Parris Island Fire Department and the Beaufort County Fire Scene Investigation Team.

Although fire investigators continue to comb through the scene, it appears the fire was accidental and electrical wiring failure may have sparked the blaze.

At the conclusion of a two-day trial, jurors convicted Frederick Mcleod of first-degree burglary and first degree assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct. On the afternoon of August 16, 2012, Mcleod, who was intoxicated, approached his 29-year-old neighbor as she returned to a house on Paris Avenue in Port Royal that had been converted into several apartments. She brushed him off and went inside to get ready for work. A few minutes later, she heard a knock at her door. She cracked the door open and Mcleod burst through. He pushed her down on the bed and groped and kissed her. The victim told him to stop and was eventually able to break free. Mcleod lost his balance and fell into a wall. He threatened her by indicating
he would be waiting for her when she returned from work later that night.

Mcleod was arrested a short time later in his apartment and has remained in the Beaufort County Detention Center ever since.

“I am really proud of the victim for having the courage to confront her attacker,” said administrative solicitor Hunter Swanson, who prosecuted the case along with assistant solicitor Price Sumner. “I am also proud of the jury for getting this right and holding Mr. Mcleod accountable for his actions.”

Judge Brooks Goldsmith handed down the sentence, which by law, will require that Mcleod serve at least 85 percent before being eligible for any sort of early release.

Saltus River Grill celebrated its 10th Anniversary last Thursday with a four course dinner prepared by Chef Brian Waters, wine pairings provided by Advintage Distributors and live jazz with Vic Varner and Friends. Henri Gabriel, owner of Advintage Fine Wine Sales and Distribution based in Charleston, spoke at the upscale restaurant. The first course included a carrot and ginger bisque with butter poached stone crab claws. The second course featured pan roasted halibut with wilted organic spinach, oysters poached in pernod crème and potato gaufrette. The third course included a sous vide and wood grilled barrel cut filet, potato galette, caramelized shallots and Asher blue cheese demi glace. And the meal concluded with a Brandy Alexander tart with Chantilly crème, mint and a chocolate cigarette.

Joy and Henry Chambers, Steve and Vickie Mix and Lyn and Joe Mix

Saltus owner Lantz Price and Celia Strong

Alice Moss and Marguerite Garrett

Elizabeth Newberry, Abby and Patrick Mitchell

Charlie Williams and Laura Lee Rose

John and Ashley Rhodes and Kim and Jeff Ackerman.

• Thursday, May 16: Middle School Academic Awards Ceremony, 8:15 a.m.

• Thursday, May 16: 1st – 4th grades headed to see The Little Mermaid Jr. at USCB.

Coached by David Byrne, the Beaufort Academy Girls Varsity Soccer Team beat Oakbrook Prep 6-1 to bring home the state title!

• Thursday, May 16: Upper School Academic Awards Ceremony, 6 p.m.

• Friday, May 17: The fifth grade will perform the Latin play “Certamen” at 10:30 a.m.

• Friday, May 17: Annual second grade Dino Dig!

• Friday, May 17: Special assembly to unveil the 2013 Aquila.

• Monday, May 20: Senior final exams begin; Visiting author Jonathan Miller will spend time with the K-3rd grade students.

• Tuesday, May 21: Special activities for Walking Up to Next Year for lower school students; BA night at Fat Patties!  Fat Patties will donate 10% of the proceeds back to Beaufort Academy

• Wednesday, May 22: Lower School variety show

COOSA ELEMENTARY

• Spaces are still available for CAMP INVENTION at Coosa Elementary School. Take advantage of the Spring into Summer discount being offered right now.  Register at www.campinvention.org or contact Karyn

Beaufort Middle School eighth graders Perry Gallant, Tiffany Camputaro, Akasha Nelson, Tianna Garcia and Caroline O’Hara take the pledge and join the National Junior Honor Society.

Levesque at 322-6114 if you have any questions.  Camp dates are July 8- 11.

LADY’S ISLAND MIDDLE

• May 21-24: EOCEP Spring

• May 20: 6:30 p.m. Band & Orchestra Concert at BHS

• May 23: 7 p.m. Choir Spring Concert at LIMS

• May 23: 1:25-2:25 p.m. 7th & 8th Grade Yearbook Signing in Down Wofford Courtyard (Yearbook must be purchased to attend)

• May 23: 2:25-3:25 5th & 6th Grade Yearbook Signing in Down Wofford Courtyard

• May 24: 5th Grade field trip to National Cemetery for Community Service

• May 24: 2:30-5:30 p.m. Student Council Sponsored Dance

MISCELLANEOUS

• The Lady’s Island-St. Helena Fire District is presenting a mock car accident to include law enforcement, coroners, EMS, a helicopter, and of course fire personnel on Thursday, May 16 at Beaufort High School.

Suzanne Lataille kisses daughter, Grace, during the Mother’s Day picnic at E.C. Montessori School on Lady’s Island.

Auditorium presentation begins at 1 p.m. followed by the exterior program at 1:50 p.m. Some 400 plus students will witness the results of poor choices when driving.

• Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Support Group of Beaufort County: Do you need help with Child Support, Custody, Adoption, Legal Assistance, Education, Healthcare, Drug Abuse, Mental Illness, Imprisonment, Medicaid, Childcare, Bereavement? Please join us: Tuesday, May 21 at 6:30 p.m. at Davis Early Learning Center; Tuesday, May 28, 5 p.m. at St. Helena Elementary School.

SCHOOL DISTRICT

• Robert Smalls Middle School athletics complex dedicated in teacher’s name: The Beaufort County Board of Education unanimously dedicated the athletics complex at Robert Smalls Middle School in the name of Rocco Cavalluzzi, a veteran teacher who passed away unexpectedly in February.

“Mr. Cavalluzzi was a dedicated teacher at Robert Smalls Middle School for seven and one half years of his 24 years of service to the Beaufort County School District,” Principal Denise Smith said in a formal request to the Board from the Robert Smalls School Improvement Council.  “The SIC respectfully requests that the Board of Education honor this request for an educator whose service was not only given in the area of athletics, but also in classrooms preparing students for tomorrow’s challenges, the mentoring of new teachers to the profession, and for serving as a role model for so many young students.”

TECHNICAL COLLEGE OF THE LOWCOUNTRY

• TCL names interim president: At its May 3 meeting, the Technical College of the Lowcountry Area Commission formally accepted the resignation of College President Dr. Thomas C. Leitzel. The commission then appointed Dr. Gina Mounfield as Interim President effective June 1 until a permanent selection is made. Mounfield has served as the TCL Vice President for Academic Affairs since 2007 and has more than 30 years of higher education experience.

Send your school happenings to theislandnews@gmail.com.

Additionally, Board Member Brantley Harvey Jr. hosted a captain’s cocktail reception at his historic home, Marshlands.

Croquet Tournament results: 1st Place, Harvey & Battey; tied for second place, Beaufort Shag Club and Power Rangers. Best Dressed Lady was Lady Ann Mclaughlin and Best Dressed Man was Wayne Blau. This year’s Bullseye competition went to Simon Jenkins, and the award for Best Picnic went to the “My Carolina” of Dataw Island.

AMIkids Beaufort is a nonprofit residential facility located in Lobeco that is an alternative to prison for juvenile offenders ages 14-17. Since its inception, three-fourths of  AMIkids’ graduates don’t get into any more trouble with the law.

AMI croquet tourney co-chair Mike Ingram

AMI croquet board founder Brantley Harvey Jr

Answer: I was born in Tallahassee, Florida, and raised in Beaufort, S.C.

Q: What is your education background?

Sharon Joyce-Millen is the project director of the Gullah Festival and a Behavioral Management Specialist at Beaufort Middle School.

A: I attended Clark College in Atlanta and Park University where I hold an Associates and Bachelors Degree in Psychology.

Q: What is a special memory from your college days?

A: While at Clark College, I sang with the jazz orchestra for four years and we were fortunate to perform and travel with jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, Mary Lou Williams, Ramsy Lewis, Jon Faddis and many more. We toured France and also performed two consecutive years at one of the World’s Largest Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland.

Q: What is your role with The Gullah Festival?

A: As project director, I am in charge of  operations for the Gullah Festival weekend.

Q: Why is supporting the Gullah Festival important to you?

A: Supporting the Gullah Festival is important to me because it’s a time when we as Beaufortonians can come together and enjoy one another while celebrating Memorial Day weekend the way people of the Gullah Culture of this area once celebrated many, many years ago in the name of unity, while honoring those who have given their lives for our beautiful country. It’s good to learn how others from different communities and cultures experienced life at times when things were not the way they are as we know it today. Maya Angelou once said, “If we don’t know where we’ve come from, we can’t know where we’re going”. All history should be very important to all Americans, if nothing more than to understand and or appreciate others.

Q: What are your expectations for this year’s event?

A: I have been working with The Gullah Festival, a nonprofit organization, for more than 20 years now. This year, things will be a little different as far as location and prices will be lower. The festival will be held at TCL (Technical College of the Lowcountry). There will still be vendors, music and entertainment, storytelling, a play, a pageant and many more fun activities during the course of the weekend. The festival has one day that is focuses on the children of Beaufort County and is opened for everyone to participate. We are fortunate to live in a city where there is a wealth of rich history and many different cultures to learn about and celebrate. We want everyone to please come out and partake in a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

Q: Where are you employed?

A: I am a Behavior Management Specialist at Palmetto’s Finest Beaufort Middle School.

Q: What led to your current profession?

A: I have always had an interest in working with children. I feel that our children’s future is so very important for our community.

Q: What is your role at the school?

A: As a Behavior Management Specialist, I provide effective positive behavior changes while providing supportive interventions to students and teachers. My goal is to replace negative behaviors with positive ones.

Q: How does your work help children?

A: Children need to know that they are not the only ones who experience challenges in life. They need encouragement as to different ways of looking at life such as looking at the glass being half full, as opposed to being half empty. Or knowing that they can conquer anything from a positive standpoint.

Q: What is the philosophy behind your work? 

A: My philosophy is if I can help one student redirect his or her behavior from negative to positive then my job is not in vain.

Q: Is there any connection between your work with children and what you do at the Gullah Festival? 

A: Every one of us should learn something new every day, and the Gullah Festival is a teaching and learning opportunity for the children, as well as adults.

Q: Have you ever lived away from Beaufort?

A: I lived in Southern California for five years and Albany, Georgia, for two years where I also worked with children. I came back to Beaufort because I had parents who were up in age and they needed me close to them.

Q: Do you have any personal heroes?

A: The first heroes who come to mind are my parents, they were my rock. My mother Emma J. Washington has always been my heart and my hero. She was truly a phenomenal women who was beautiful inside and out. She gave so much of herself to so many people for so many years. She was a cosmetologist who owned a beauty shop for more than 40 years where she trained others. She also worked as a social worker and she was a seamstress. She instilled strict morals and values in me. She always thought about others before herself. Did I mention that she was an excellent cook and a lover of people? My father John Washington was also a very hard worker all of his life. He was a man who stood up for what he believed in and he believed in helping people in any way that he could. They both believed in working hard for what you want in life. Because of them, I was afforded a college education and a wonderful childhood. They both were blessed to retire, enjoy their grandchildren and live until they were both 90 years old.

Q: How did you meet your husband?

A: I met my husband Coah Millen at Clark College in Atlanta more than 30 years ago. We have five children.

Q: What do you like most about Beaufort?

A: Beaufort is and has always been a very quaint place full of down-to-earth and wonderful people.

Q: What are your plans for the future?

A: I plan to stay positive and involved with as many things in the Beaufort area that I can that involve helping children and others.

You’re 18 years old. It’s May. You can see the finish line. The date of your last exam is quickly approaching. Only thing stopping you? You.

Aaaah, Springtime in Beaufort, just about summer. It will soon be the start of sun-kissed skin, soccer on the beach, sandbar frolics and unforgettable family vacations. However, sorry to burst your bubble but, ahem, we’re not quite there yet! As I previously stated in one of my past articles, senioritis was bad last fall and the unrelenting battle rages on.

The home stretch is filled with so many exciting new plans and events, so many “lasts” that it is becoming difficult to pay attention to what is at hand, which is the rest of your school work and final exams. Come on, you have to finish it off with a bang! Whether you are in eighth grade and so ready to move onto high school, or a senior who is already mentally at college, most students still have final exams. As my dad told me my entire life (I hate to say he is right), “Buckle down and get to it, EVERYTHING COUNTS!” My “buckling down” starts right about now. This is the time to put the phone away, sit at that desk and keep my eyes glued to my book. My finish line is that last AP exam and class project. Just like running a race, I’m trying to “finish strong.”If I can do it, I know for sure that you can.

I once read a quote by Henry Ward Beecher that said, “The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won’t.” At first I laughed because it sounds like something my grandpa or dad would say. Then I realized that it really is true: If you really don’t want to do something, you won’t. However, if you have a very strong will, then you can achieve it. The biggest obstacle to achievement is your own will. Life is full of successive finish lines, each one placing you closer to your goals in life.

As for my fellow class of 2013 friends and their families, enjoy every single second of the rest of your year. Even though I am the oldest in my family and I have not had firsthand experience of what the process of leaving your high school en route to college, I have seen and talked to many others who later realized what a special time it was. Everything will change, they said, you will have so much more responsibility they said, and most for of all, it will be the best time of your life. Here’s to running through that finish line ribbon! Good luck.

Dr. Jane T. Upshaw, USCB chancellor, and Dr. Harris Pastides, president of the University of South Carolina, offered warm words of welcome and grateful appreciation to a sea of parents, relatives and friends of the graduates who filled Helen and Brantley Harvey Plaza in the foreground of the Hargray Building on the Hilton Head Gateway campus.

Emory Wayne Rushton, who attended the University of South Carolina Beaufort in the early 1960s when it was a regional campus of the USC system, received an Honorary Doctor of Public Administration degree. After USCB, Rushton earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at USC in 1965.

He served for more than four decades with the Office of the Controller of the Currency in Washington, D.C., rising to become one of the highest-ranking supervisory officials in the American Banking System. But no matter where the Rushtons lived while serving the government, they maintained a home in Beaufort.

John Martin Hicks Hart Jr., the award-winning author of four bestselling novels, received an Honorary Doctor of Literature degree. A former criminal defense attorney, banker and stockbroker, Hart delivered the commencement address. He urged the graduating seniors to believe in themselves and pursue their dreams, recalling how he left a secure position as a defense attorney to chase the dream of becoming a novelist.

Craig Bowman went fishing last weekend with his daughter Monica, son Lance, and buddy Brad Collins. He caught this cobia in the Broad River, weighing in at 84.22 lbs at the Port Royal Marina. It was deemed the largest catch yet this year. Send pictures of a big catch or your little anglers to theislandnews@gmail.com.

The 12 under girls Badkatz softball team placed third in the World Fastpitch Connection Mother’s Day Tournament in Sumter on May 11.