Probate Lawyer in Tigerville, SC

Fred Kissling has lived in the rural, northern Greenville County community of Tigerville for more than 40 years.

In a county that has seen drastic changes and development during that time, Tigerville’s quiet, agrarian lifestyle has been a form of solace for him and others in the community.

But in the past few years, a simmering tension has been building between local residents and Renewable Water Resources (ReWa), the primary wastewater treatment service provider in Greenville County.

The conflict began when ReWa purchased about 75 acres of land off Highway 414, including 50 acres acquired in 2020 through eminent domain.

“Lack of communication is what got things off on the wrong foot. [ReWa] never communicated things formally or clearly along the way, and that left the community to investigate and find out on our own.” -Jimmy Epting, former president, North Greenville University

ReWa promised that its goal was to build a new facility that would only serve to meet the needs of North Greenville University and a subdivision known as Cherokee Valley. The new facility, ReWa stated, would “not be designed to accommodate future growth in the area,” according to Chad Lawson, ReWa’s Director of Communications.

But residents like Kissling argued a new facility would only need a small fraction of that acreage, and questions arose as to whether the new treatment facility would be the first step in developing the area and destroying the rural beauty Kissling and others have come to love.

“It’s a problem, because what I would say is the overwhelming community desire is to just leave this place alone,” Kissling said. “But boy, sometimes it seems that is not well-understood.”

Lawmakers heard those concerns, and this past February, a group that included state Senator Tom Corbin, state Representative Mike Burns, County Councilman Joe Dill and members of the Tigerville Executive Community Committee sent a letter to ReWa asking for clarity on the true purpose of the treatment facility. The letter also asked for assurances that ReWa would meet the community’s “terms of agreement for coexistence.”

On Monday, April 19, lawmakers and North Greenville residents got their answer.

A resolution passed by ReWa’s board agreed to nearly every term outlined in that letter.

Those terms include:

Among those in attendance at a recent meeting with ReWa’s CEO Graham Rich was state Rep. Burns, who is now calling the resolution a “win-win” for both community residents and ReWa.

“I will say things developed a little slower than we would have liked,” Burns said, “but we have gotten to what I hope is the resolution of this situation, at least for now.”

That “slower” resolution Burns described was one of the main factors in driving speculation and uncertainty within the community, according to Jimmy Epting, former President of North Greenville University.

“Lack of communication is what got things off on the wrong foot,” Epting said. “What bothered the community so much was ReWa verbally saying, ‘Oh, it’s not our purpose to expand in that area. We just want to serve North Greenville University and Cherokee Valley.’ But they never communicated things formally or clearly along the way, and that left the community to investigate and find out on our own.”

As the president of NGU for nearly 25 years, Epting was part of the deliberations at the school to upgrade its sewer system just before he retired in 2015. One year later, lawmakers expanded ReWa’s service boundaries to include northern Greenville County.

For community residents like Heather Collins, who with her husband, Travis, owns 340 acres of family farmland right beside the land ReWa acquired, the clarity has been long overdue. Now, she just hopes the resolution means those agreements will be formally implemented.

“I really do want to find a nice coexistence with [ReWa],” Collins said. “I understand [northern] Greenville does need a solution, but it doesn’t need to be at the peril of the existing community.”

North Greenville University renamed the historic Tigerville General Store to Wood's General Store at a dedication ceremony. Left to right: Helen Wood, Willie Wood, Bobby Wood, and Laura Messer Wood.

A 168-year-old part of the Tigerville community was renamed, honoring its historic role in the Greenville County community which is home to North Greenville University’s main campus.

NGU’s remodeled campus store on the north edge of the campus is now Wood's General Store, celebrating the Wood family's ties to the building which became a community hub when it was built by Tigerville pioneer B.F. Neves in 1864.

The building at 7850 North Tigerville Road, which NGU purchased from Willie Wood in 2007, was restored and reopened in 2012 as Tigerville General Store. This summer, the building was remodeled to accommodate the new campus store and serve as the NGU post office facility. Open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, the store carries a variety of NGU-branded items, as well as school supplies and snack items. University officials saw the opportunity to restore the Wood name as part of the repurposing.

"If you forget your history, you are giving up precious jewels," said NGU President Dr. Gene C. Fant, Jr., at an Aug. 11 ceremony to celebrate the new name. "For over 150 years ... this is the place where people would come, would intersect, and would have conversations. It's really community.

"That’' one of the things we learned in the pandemic. We need community and we need connections with other people," said Fant. "Places like this really are integral to the community. That's been the value of stores like this in American life."

The store was originally called Ben Neves General Store. The Wood family connection began in 1914 as John T. Wood became Tigerville's postmaster, and also operated the store for Neves. Wood’' son, T. Pralo Wood, purchased the store in the 1940s, following Neves' death. Wood's son, Willie, bought the store from his father in 1988 and continued operating it until the mid-1990s. He sold it to North Greenville in 2007.

Willie Wood and his three siblings, Bobby Wood, Helen Wood, and Laura Wood Messer attended the Aug.,11 event. Laura Wood Messer, a 1967 North Greenville graduate, shared remarks on behalf of the family. She noted that their mother, Helen R. Wood, followed John T. Wood as postmaster, serving in that role for nearly 47 years.

“We would like to thank North Greenville University for reconnecting the Wood name to this store," Messer said. "You have refurbished and strengthened its 168-year-old walls and prepared it for another century of historical significance to the Tigerville community. And for that we are very grateful."

Noting the university’s need to address shifting needs of students related to textbook purchases and mail services, Fant said NGU "realized we had the opportunity to consolidate that here and make this once again a consolidated crossroads."

Messer said Neves constructed the building "with wooden pegs holding most of the timbers together. That was 29 years before North Greenville high school/junior college/university even came into existence.

"Mr. Neves was a great friend and supporter of education. He helped North Greenville survive in the early years after its founding in 1892," Messer said. "Mr. Neves donated the original 10 acres of land for the school and $500 to help in its establishment. For many years he somehow always found the cash to help keep the school's doors open."

When Diane Jackson became Principal of Tigerville Elementary School in 2011, she ignited a powerful impetus for change and reform that the school had never experienced before. One of the first things she did was to share the school’s and students’ ranking and performance scores with staff and create a sense of urgency that the school had to improve its expectations and performance with no excuses. Principal Jackson developed a unique and innovated vision, set a goal to become one of the highest performing schools in the state, and formed a strong leadership team of teachers, the media specialist, and support staff. Student failure was not an option and, to that end, Principal Jackson established high expectations for every child and staff member.

Principal Jackson exemplifies a student-centered, goal-oriented, and data driven approach to improvement. The concepts of differentiation and responding to every students’ unique needs guide Tigerville’ s instructional practices, educational planning, and allocation of resources. As a former teacher and instructional coach, she has a firm grasp of instructional and pedagogical best practices and models these with teachers and students in small reading groups.

As Principal Jackson said recently, “We have an ‘all-in’ philosophy.” Every adult in the building understands and has internalized Principal Jackson’s high expectations. They are committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure student success.

One example of Principal Jackson’s focus on meeting the needs and maximizing the potential of every student is the “needs board” in the data room. The needs board is broken down by grade level and by content area within each grade level. The board contains the name of each student who is struggling in math, English language arts, science, social studies, behavior, or social skills. The list is fluid and is updated each Tuesday at grade level meetings with teachers and administrators. As students’ names appear on the board, measurable evidence-based interventions begin. The board also includes the names of high-performing students who require more challenging academic content. In addition to being beneficial to general education teachers and administrators, the related arts staff, resource teacher, school psychologist, speech therapist, and interventionists also use the board to help guide decisions, interventions, and collaborate with the staff. In addition to school-wide small group interventions, all students in grades three through five receive small group instruction with their classroom teacher and another staff member. Principal Jackson used the district’s flex funding allocation to hire an additional certified teacher and an instructional specialist to work in small groups and individually with students at all grade levels throughout the school day. As a result, the school is better able to meet the needs of all students, including high- and low-performing students through differentiated instruction.

Principal Jackson has successfully engaged the residents of a nearby residential community in a school/community partnership. This partnership was an integral component of Tigerville’s transformation. The residents, mainly retirees, support Tigerville educationally and financially. Principal Jackson arranged for training of the residents as weekly tutors and mentors using the school’s curriculum and instructional materials specific to each students’ needs and achievement levels. Through the residents’ support, Tigerville created a Smart Table lab so every student has access to devices. The residents also have purchased jackets, shoes, food, and Christmas presents for students in need.

When asked to describe herself as a leader, Principal Diane Jackson would use terms such as, honest, direct, fair, consistent, learner, and visionary. These words are traits that guide all her decisions and interactions whether communicating with students, faculty, parents, or community stakeholders.

Since 2011, under Principal Jackson’s leadership, Tigerville has undergone a sea change in school culture with lasting impacts on both student success and community perception.

Renewable Water Resources (ReWa) approved a resolution stating the conditions that it will construct and operate a treatment facility in Tigerville.

The resolution, approved by its board Monday, comes after Tigerville residents asked ReWa's executive officers to sign off on a list of stipulations under which the community is willing to co-exist with the treatment facility.

ReWa purchased property off State 414 and has said it plans to build a new treatment facility to replace the outdated one that serves North Greenville University and the Cherokee Valley neighborhood.

ReWa owns the facility that currently serves NGU and Cherokee Valley. The site of its new facility abuts the university athletic fields and Famoda, a historic angus cattle farm.

Residents in Tigerville, a rural nonincorporated area of northern Greenville County, have said they don't want the sewer option in the community, fearing it will spur sprawl and add more rooftops.

ReWa's resolution addresses some of the stipulations under which residents said they would co-exist with the new plant.

Travis Collins, a member of the Tigerville Community Executive Committee who also co-operates Famoda Farm with his wife, Heather, said the resolution does sound encouraging in that ReWa is trying to at least listen to the community to save the Upstate as far as the small town, rural community.

"That's what we're hoping to do," he said.

Still, he said, the community has yet to see a response from ReWa to the community or the committee.

Heather Collins said the resolution is definitely a step in the right direction.

"Hopefully we have been heard," she said. "What the community wants is not to be impacted by a sewer treatment plant. We understand that there is need to North Greenville and Cherokee Valley and we're happy to accommodate our neighbor. But we are not opening the flood gates. By (ReWa) coming to the table to acknowledge that and work with us on it, I'm very, very pleased with that."

More:Residents want Renewable Water Resources to agree to conditions to co-exist in Tigerville

Conditions in ReWa's resolution:

Stipulations requested by residents:

TIGERVILLE, S.C. —

Cary Sanders may have seemed like an unlikely candidate for a doctoral degree nearly a decade ago. Let alone from a school he was once not welcomed at, North Greenville University.

"We are here in Tigerville and I used to terrorize this town,” Sanders said. "By the age of 17, I had been arrested 17 different times, and I was really worthless to myself and to the community. One time, I had a lifetime trespassing ban from here for vandalism and stealing. I ended up with a nine-year prison sentence for armed robbery. I thought my life was over.”

After his release in November 2013, Sanders said what ultimately changed his life was being given a second chance, and those around him that believed he was worth investing in.

"For nine years now, I’ve been in higher education since my release from prison," Sanders said. "Now, I’m a homeowner. I’m married, I have two children and I’m a productive member of the community."

During his nine-year sentence, Sanders only obtained his GED.

In 2018, he finally earned a master's degree in management from Western Governor's University.

In 2019, Sanders' ban was lifted following an application for a scholarship to the University of North Greenville. Sanders was among the first two people to receive a full scholarship for NGU's doctoral program. The scholarship was given by the late Walt Brashier.

NGU President Gene Fant said the university has seen some remarkable stories, but this one echoes the idea that redemption can be found through education.

"No matter where you are, no matter where you come from, there is hope and change is possible,” Fant said.

NGU Graduate School Associate Provost and Dean, Larry McDonald, said education is also a reflection of hope and NGU is a place where second chances are given.

“I want to say that we live in a society that when people make mistakes, when they mess up, they feel like their life is over," McDonald said. "They’re hopeless, they don’t feel like there’s a path to do anything significant, but Cary’s story is one that there is hope.”

Sanders received a doctorate of ministry, and he said he wants to use it to continue to be a blessing to others through JumpStart and other endeavors. Sanders said for all of the men and women currently locked up, change can happen when opportunities are taken advantage of.

"I’m hoping those watching this tonight will see that they too can have a future greater than their past," Sanders said. "If they will make the most of the opportunities they have right now and just step into them.”

Sanders said he also hopes communities will continue to provide transformational opportunities to formerly incarcerated individuals, because he said that can be the difference between productive members of society versus those who return to jail.

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