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USC Salkehatchie again faces end |
ALLENDALE — The faded past of this county with South Carolina’s highest unemployment rate is reflected in the derelict remains of motels and restaurants lining U.S. 301, once a main route to Florida from the Northeast.Now, many see the future quickly fading as well.A proposal by Gov. Mark Sanford would shutter the campus of the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie, which for more than four decades has provided students in this poverty-stricken corner of the state a chance at higher education. Along the way, advocates say the school has become more and more important to the region.“I think in a lot of ways a lot of people have written Allendale off,” said the Rev. Carol Holladay, who for 12 years has served as associate pastor of First Baptist Church of Allendale. Closing the campus would be “cutting off any opportunity for Allendale to come out of poverty. They are just limiting the amount we can change.”In South Carolina, which has the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation, Allendale is ground zero for economic turmoil. Jobless rates chronically have been in the double digits, hitting 19.7 percent in December. Mortgage foreclosure rates are the highest in the state. A textile plant shut down about 14 months ago, and two others in neighboring Barnwell County will close by June, robbing the area of hundreds more jobs.
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