News  Union County Wins Prestigious Palmetto Award

South Carolina Governor. Mark Sanford presented the Partnership Award to a group of Union County officials for their work in developing a new industrial park. Sanford said together the two political forces combined with allies to overcome large obstacles to make their county more marketable for businesses by building the 100-acre Commerce Industrial Park on the Furman Fendley Highway, complete with a spec building and infrastructure.

He recognized County Supervisor Donnie Betenbaugh, City Administrator Charles Potts, and County Economic Developer Stanley Vanderford along with Lockhart Power's Les Anderson and Broad River Electric Co-Op's W. B. Cook Monday during the first of a two-day Governor's Rural Summit in Columbia for fostering economic development outside the metropolitan areas.

A representative of Duke Power Co. was unable to attend the presentation. "One of the central goals of this administration is to improve the underlying business climate throughout South Carolina," Sanford told those attending the conference. "To do that, we've got to think outside the box and come up with creative ideas both from inside and from outside of our metropolitan areas. The only way we're going to get our economy firing on all eight cylinders again is to have a coordinated statewide vision for economic development, something I'm very excited about working with everyone here to help formulate."