Charleston, S.C. (WCIV) — 24 C-17 flew across the Lowcountry on Thursday morning for a mission generation exercise.

The 437th wing has 41 C-17. Altogether, those planes value at around 9.2 billion dollars or 212 million per aircraft. Each C-17 can cruise 500 miles per hour at 28,000 feet.

"Our airmen live out in the community they live in Mount Pleasant, James Island, all over the Lowcountry. So, for them to go a simple 24 aircraft and fly over the Ravenel bridge so their neighbors can see what they bring to the United States of America each and every day means a lot. When you generate 24 aircraft at one time taking off in a 15-minute period, it flexes and forces us to use every airman on base to make that happen," said Col. David Taylor, 437th airwing Vice Commander.

The mission? Training for rapid global mobility. Once they get the call at Joint Base Charleston, they are up in the air heading anywhere in the world.

The exercise put every aspect of what the air force does at Joint Base Charleston to the test.

"Some of them are going out to do air-refueling, some are going to do airdrop, which means people will jump out of the back of them. Some of them are going to go and land in a semi-prepared airfield. Which means we don’t need pavement. We can land in the dirt," said Col. Taylor.

Having 24 C-17s in the air simultaneously, so close, doesn't happen very often.

Col. Taylor said the exercise shows the world the air force base in Charleston is ready to fly, fight, and win.

"For them to go a simple 24 aircraft and fly over the Ravenel bridge so their neighbors can see what they bring to the United States of America each and every day, it means a lot," said Col. Taylor.

Kyle Bickel drove 12 hours from Columbus, Ohio, with his two sons, Hunter and Bentley, to see the flyover.

"I was like yeah, why not take an impromptu trip down," said Kyle Bickel, who drove 12 hours from Columbus, Ohio. "The little ones love the airplanes as well. They are just all about them. I want to show them a good time and let them experience something that they may never get to experience," added Bickel.

There was no better place to view the military planes than Patriot's point.

The Bickel family mission was achieved by watching the flyover from the aircraft carrier.

"Airplane! Airplane!" said Bentley.

Kyle took a video of his kids watching the planes so they never forget.

"It will be a memory with the boys forever. So, whenever they get older, they can see it anytime they want," said Bickel.

“Big Dave” Garner has taken numerous big deer over a long hunting career. But it wasn’t the size of the deer he harvested a few days before the end of the 2022 season; it’s the story behind the hunt, a story about fulfilling a pact between friends made decades ago.

It has been a challenging year health-wise for Dave, 81, who suffered a broken hip a couple of weeks before South Carolina’s lengthy deer season opened in mid-August. He then took a fall at home that resulted in a muscle torn loose from his shin.

Dave had been in the hospital or a rehab center until just a few weeks ago, and likely would have missed the entire deer hunting season had it not been for his friend Steve Leasure.

Steve and Dave’s son Chuck were good friends growing up on James Island, and when Chuck was in medical school and later doing his residency, Dave took Steve under his wing.

“He used to take me to Allendale to hunt all the time. He would buy me dinner. I was sort of like his adopted son. My dad wasn’t much of a hunter and that’s where Dave stepped up and got me all involved in the outdoors,” Steve said.

“Years ago, I asked him ‘How can I repay you?’ He told me that one day he would be old and he expected me to take him hunting, ‘even if I’m in a wheelchair.’ That was 35-plus years ago but I never forgot it.″

So when Dave was allowed to return home from rehab, Steve hatched a plan to take Dave hunting.

Steve has a friend with property near Walterboro. He enlisted his oldest daughter, Lauren Bartleson, to help take Dave out to the hunting site where they had a ground blind. They would help Dave from the truck into his wheelchair and get him into the blind, and hope the deer showed up.

A longer-than-anticipated phone conversation Dave had with a health-care provider that day almost spoiled their plans. But when the call ended, Steve and Lauren picked Dave up around 3:30 p.m. and dashed off to their hunting spot.

“We got there at quarter til 5, so we had less than an hour of hunting left. We got him in his wheelchair and pushed him 10 feet literally. We lifted up the ground blind, got him inside and then reset the blind. Lauren drove off . Right before dark all these deer started walking out,” Steve said.

Dave rested the gun on a shooting stick and Steve wrapped his arm around Dave to help steady him, never touching the gun. Looking through the scope, Dave selected one of the larger does and pulled the trigger, downing the deer.

Steve said he let Chuck know that they had accomplished their mission. Chuck gave credit to Steve, but Steve responded: “No. your dad did it.”

They loaded the deer into the back of Steve’s truck and took it to Cordray’s in Ravenel for processing, a place Dave has visited many times over the years.

“They were all excited to see him. We got a picture of him with the deer and took him inside where he could tell them what cuts of meat he wanted,” Steve said. “It was magical to see that again. And it was emotional to me. He was my mentor for hunting many years ago and I was able to take him. It was so off the chart.

“We got to do something we talked about over 35 years ago and it was successful.”

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - As 2022 comes to a close, a popular Charleston-area pizza restaurant shuts down after three decades in business.

A sign on the door of the last-remaining Andolini’s Pizza location on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard in West Ashley read, “With sad hearts, we have closed the last Andolini’s Pizza” and thanked the community for its support over the years.

The official announcement came on the restaurant’s Facebook page Saturday afternoon, almost one month after a post celebrating the restaurant’s 30th anniversary.

“To all our loyal patrons and staff who were part of the journey...thank you from the bottom of all our hearts! We will miss you,” the post states.

While several restaurants in recent months have cited a variety of problems, from a slow economy to supply chain issues to finding workers, co-owner Mindy Odle said there was no specific issue that led to the decision, adding that COVID made it difficult for families to eat inside restaurants.

“Andolini’s was a staple for so many Charleston families and in many cases it began with the original Andolini’s on Wentworth,” Odle said. “It became the favorite pizza place for the College of Charleston.”

One patron responded to the post, saying she had been “a fan (and frequent customer)” since her college days at the College of Charleston and enjoyed introducing her children to “the best pizza on earth.”

Another posted a string of crying emojis with the message, “You had THE BEST PIZZA in Charleston!”

Many of the responses included emojis expressing sadness at the news.

Some former employees also expressed their appreciation to the family that started the business.

At its height, there were five primary locations across the Lowcountry: downtown Charleston, Mount Pleasant, James Island, North Charleston and West Ashley.

Its menu included Italian and Greek salads, breadsticks, calzones, and pizza by the slice or pie.

Its Facebook page stated Andolini’s was voted “Best New York Style Pizza” for 28 years.

“We had a good run for 30 years,” Odle said. “We will miss being Charleston’s favorite pizza place for more than 25 years in a row.”

Andolini’s is the latest in a list of longtime Lowcountry restaurants that closed their doors in 2022. Other familiar eateries that bade farewell during the year included The Sunflower Cafe in West Ashley, Nana’s Seafood, Philly’s in Summerville, Caroline’s Aloha Bar and the first location of Ladles Soups in West Ashley.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The City of Charleston’s Planning Commission on Wednesday will review plans for a new residential development on James Island.

The property has both low-lying wetlands and high ground, which appears to be causing concern for some James Island residents.

One James Island resident, Franny Henty, said she is concerned about the flooding problems that developments in low-lying areas may cause for surrounding neighbors.

Developers are proposing to build the ‘Harbor View Towns’ near the intersection of the James Island Expressway and Harbor View Road. According to the submitted plans, it will consist of six single-family and 10 multifamily units.

Henty lives off of Folly Road, right near Publix.

With the multiple jurisdictions interacting on James Island, she said she hopes the city is being careful with its stormwater retention plan, especially considering the low-lying areas and wetlands on the property.

“Adding so much development can flood out the neighbors, and that’s not apparent immediately, its apparent years later, Henty said.

City of Charleston Director of Planning, Preservation and Sustainability Robert Summerfield said the majority of the property is high land, but the portion of the property containing wetlands will be “pretty significantly” buffered away.

He said the developer’s plans include a stormwater retention plan, and even though the multiple jurisdictions can be confusing from a planning perspective, he is confident in the city’s stormwater requirements.

“This property is in the city, this property is not, and so on and so forth. But this one is in the city, has to meet all of our requirements. And again, our stormwater requirements, I would put those up against any in the state in terms of their stringent requirements to safeguard against future, and particularly downstream, flooding,” Summerfield said.

We are waiting to hear from the developer for comment.

Today’s planning commission meeting will take place at 5:00 p.m. in the Public Meeting Room on the first floor of 2 George Street.

The meeting will also be live streamed and recorded on the City of Charleston Public Meetings YouTube channel.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

The price tag for the Mark Clark Extension linking West Ashley to Johns and James islands has more than tripled to $2.35 billion and Charleston County would be responsible for most of the bill.

Some opponents are saying the excessive new cost figure for the final loop of the Interstate 526 system shows the route has gotten too expensive and should be dropped.

“It is time to say enough is enough,” said Jason Crowley of the Coastal Conservation League. “This to me is a perfect opportunity for Charleston County Council to walk away from this project.”

The S.C. Department of Transportation is asking the county to agree on moving forward, but with the local share of the project pegged at more than $1.9 billion it’s not clear where Charleston County would get the money.

Also favoring the completion is the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, which sees rising expenses as a reason to get it done as soon as possible, and the city of Charleston.

“No question, the cost estimates for major infrastructure projects in South Carolina are exploding, and (Interstate) 526 is no exception,” Mayor John Tecklenburg said in a prepared statement. “But that doesn’t change the fact that our West Ashley and Island residents need and deserve the traffic relief and public safety improvements this project will bring.”

The connection between Interstate 526 and the James Island Connector, aimed at easing traffic on and off Johns Island, has been debated for decades and growing more costly all the time.

The DOT’s new cost estimate is more than three times the $725 million price calculated in 2015, but all of the increase would fall to Charleston County because the state’s share of the cost was capped at $420 million in a 2019 agreement with the county.

Charleston County had expected to contribute about $305 million, not more than six times that amount.

“We’ll wait to see how the county responds,” said state Secretary of Transportation Christy Hall. “Our recommendation remains ... to proceed with preliminary activity on the project and get to the point where it would be shovel-ready.”

In a letter to the county April 25, Hall said DOT is asking the county and the state Transportation Infrastructure Bank Board for approval to spend $150 million for ongoing work to make the road plan ready for bids. The county would pay half that amount.

Beyond that, the highway department wants the county to demonstrate “a reasonable financial approach to the entire project.”

“I don’t know if people are going to have an appetite for it,” said County Council Chairman Teddie Pryor. “Where are we going to get the extra money from?”

County Council was expected to discuss the issue at its April 26 meeting, but instead Pryor announced that Hall would be attending the council’s Finance Committee meeting on May 5. No member of council mentioned the road project or the new cost estimate at the meeting, but several members of the audience did.

“My personal opinion is, we should just cut our losses and not spend another dime on the project,” said Linda Miller of Johns Island.

Supporters and opponents of the road plan have expressed shock over the new cost estimate. Bradley Taggart, a co-founder of Charlestonians For I-526, told County Council members that a temporary spike in commodity prices was likely to blame and could prove temporary.

“We could be looking at a project that costs half as much in six month’s time as the market rebalances,” he told council members.

The county and the state have each spent about $12.5 million on the project so far, Pryor said earlier in the day.

“The longer this thing is delayed, the more it’s going to cost,” said Pryor.

Hall said one reason the cost has gone up so much is the soaring price of real estate in Charleston County. Acquiring the land needed for the road would cost an estimated $261 million, she said.

The DOT estimate assumes construction could begin in 2028, and also assumes there would be two or three years of litigation before that.

A legal challenge to the project has been winding its way through the courts for years already, with the Coastal Conservation League fighting Charleston County’s 2019 agreement to pay all the costs exceeding $420 million.

Crowley, CCL’s communities and transportation senior program director, suggested the new cost estimate could open the door to negotiating a way out of the contract were the county to seek an exit.

The county is currently spending about $200 million improving Johns Island roads, the Limehouse bridge over the Stono River and the intersection of U.S. Highway 17 and Main Road.

The Coastal Conservation League has strongly opposed the I-526 extension, calling it in 2021 “a last-century highway project that benefits few and impacts many.” A community organization called Nix 526 has also been fighting the project, and Charleston Waterkeeper and the S.C. Wildlife Federation have raised objections.

Supporters of the proposed roadway include the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors and the Trident CEO Council, the city of Charleston, Charlestonians For I-526, and many residents of Kiawah Island.

“The new cost estimate is a direct result of what happens when a critical project is continually delayed, costs inevitably go up,” said the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce. “The current cost of the project heightens the important need of completing this effort now.”

While Crowley said it’s time to say “enough is enough” the Chamber said “Now is the time to double down on our efforts” in a statement April 26.

Johns Island residents have been divided on the project, which would make it easier to get on and off the island but could increase development there. The island’s population has been growing quickly and many new residential subdivisions are underway.

Charleston governs a large part of Johns Island and has long supported the road project. City Council on April 26 unanimously adopted a resolution urging the county to continue moving forward.

If the extension were completed, there would be a highway loop around Charleston, with the interstate running from Mount Pleasant across Daniel Island, North Charleston and West Ashley, then becoming more of a low-speed parkway across Johns Island and connecting to the James Island Connector on James Island.

While the project would extend from the end of I-526 in West Ashley, DOT calls it the Mark Clark Extension. It’s separate from ongoing plans to widen the existing parts of the interstate from West Ashley to Mount Pleasant.