Nondenominational Church in Westcott, SC

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Former and current residents at a Summerville apartment complex are sharing their stories, alleging bad communication from management and deteriorating conditions, after seeing one woman come forward about a mold problem.

In March, Breanna McCalla detailed a mold problem that she says forced her to move her family out of the Latitude at Wescott.

Madison Harriss says she experienced something similar when she spotted mold in her unit.

“When I first saw it, I started off by sending emails to the front office just letting them know about it. I also made a couple of trips into the office to talk to someone as well,” Harris says.

Harris feels she did everything right when she first saw mold nearly a year after she moved in. She says it took months of emailing and visiting the office to get someone in her unit to check out the issue.

“And it was frustrating because all they did was paint over it with some KILZ and called it a day. So it didn’t feel like it was resolved because it came back shortly after,” Harris says.

Harris says the mold and mildew-resistant paint job was too little too late, and when her lease was up in 2021, she left but took her story with her and shared her experience with anyone asking about living in the area.

While current resident Casey Hendricks says she hasn’t seen mold, her communication problems started before she even got on the property.

“Within three days of our move-in date, they told me that we could no longer have the three-bedroom apartment on the first floor they instead were moving us to a two-bedroom apartment temporarily on the third floor, which made it really difficult with two little kids and a dog,” Hendricks says.

Despite paying her deposit and hiring movers, Hendricks’ family was in a space too small. When they were finally allowed to relocate to a 3-bedroom months later, further communication issues cost her hundreds of dollars. Her moving company spent hours sitting in the parking lot on the day of the switch, waiting for management to allow them into the unit. When the company ran out of time that day, Hendricks had to pay movers to come back.

Once inside, Hendricks says the conditions were concerning. She pointed out water stains and missing vanity draws and knobs.

“The vanity that was never fixed. It was like this when we moved in. I did do a walk-through with the property manager and she is aware of this as of last November and when I moved in and it still has not been repaired,” Hendricks says.

Now Hendricks is facing mounting water and sewer bills, more than quadruple what she budgeted as average cost, and she wants answers. But with no repairs to her apartment yet, she doesn’t think she’ll ever get the help she’s asking for.

“So many other apartments are filled with mold. It definitely makes you wonder what might be out there in your air ducts and stuff that you’re not seeing,” Hendricks says.

Harris says while she lived there, she faced other maintenance issues besides mold like Hendricks.

“It just felt like they really didn’t care to fix the problem,” Harris says.

Latitude at Wescott management declined to comment when asked to answer questions for this story.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Whether you are a photographer or videographer, more and more content creators are adding constant lights as their go-to lighting setups. Quasar Science recently released their 30-watt T8 bulbs with raving reviews, and today, I explore six useful lighting setups you can build with four lights under $80 each.

If you watch the Fstoppers Youtube Channel, you know that Lee and I have gotten to play with a lot of different lighting gear over the years. A few weeks ago, my buddy, Keith Bradshaw, told me he built the ultimate DIY LED light panel that I had to check out. He even went as far as saying his homemade light panels were better than our expensive Westcott Flex Cine 1x3 Lights (which are part of the Peter Hurley Flex Kit). Our lights cost about $1,400 each, while his light, which is a foot longer than ours, was apparently built for only $330 total. Of course, I was a bit skeptical, so I told him to bring the light fixture down to the studio and we could compare them.

I had never heard of the brand Quasar Science, but apparently, they are a well-respected lighting company, and tons of people have been reviewing their LED T8 bulbs online. Quasar makes a few different versions of these bulbs with the most basic ones, the Q-LED, coming in a single 3,000 Kelvin or 5,600 Kelvin color temperature. The next step up is their X Crossfade lamps, which allow you to switch between tungsten and daylight temperatures (2,000K and 6,000K). Perhaps the most impressive lights were just released this year, the Quasar R-Rainbow LED lights, which use RGBX LEDs that can create any color in the rainbow. These also have more controls, such as hue and saturation levels and can be controlled wirelessly or through DMX controls. I'd love to try out these new lights, but Keith's rig was built around the basic 5,600K bulbs. Also, each of these series of LED lights comes in different lengths ranging from 2', 4', and 8' depending on the model and series of lights.

I've never really used any other T8 lights, before so I've made a short little list of the features that make these lights super useful and interesting.

Advantages

If you watch the video above, you can see how Keith built his homemade fixtures for these lights. Basically, he mounted four Q-LED 4' lights to a small piece of plywood using 8 T8 clips he bought off Amazon (he has since added a few extra rows to make it even more rigid). The whole rig was then mounted to a 3" Baby Pin Wall Plate so he can easily mount the light to any C-stand or grip knuckle. All four lights are then plugged into a small power strip and controlled with a Triac Dimmer.

My Impressions

As mentioned in the video, I used to enjoy making my own DIY gear back when I first started out in photography. As the years went by and my business grew, I found myself appreciating professional gear that was well designed and built for everyday use. However, professional gear almost always costs more, and depending on what your needs are, sometimes you really can build something that is as useful and maybe has even more versatility than the more "professional" options on the market.

After playing with Keith's "Kino Flo Killer," I have to say, I was pretty impressed with how simple this light is to use and how powerful these four bulbs are when combined into one single light. When compared to our Westcott Flex 1'x3' Cine Kit Led Light, the Quasar light did seem a little less even, probably because the Westcott light is a little wider and has a built in diffusion baffle over the LED lights. That being said, the Quasar lights are a full foot longer, so you do get a bit more even lighting if you are shooting full body or you are framing up a 3/4 portrait. If you were to add a fifth or sixth bulb, you wouldn't really be adding much in terms of power, but you could probably make the light even more even and soft. Of course, you would also need a larger power strip, and the overall light would start to become a bit heavier than the Westcott light too.

The biggest problem with all of these LED panel lights is that they really are only good for one type of lighting: soft, even lighting. If you want to create a hard light or if you want to add modifiers to your lights to shape them in useful ways, these panels leave a lot to be desired. For this reason, we have bought quite a few Fiilex P360 Pro LED lights, which let you add Profoto modifiers to them for harder and more specular lighting options. However, at $795 a pop, these lights are pretty expensive for what they do.

That being said, these lights are super cool and extremely affordable at just $75 each. I can also see them being really useful in tight spaces like lighting car interiors or building a small set in your home. While these lights aren't quite bright enough to be super useful outside, a single bulb is plenty bright if you are shooting at f/2.8 at ISO 400-1600. I also like the idea of being able to pair two to four lights together to get one strong light source, but then also being able to break the lights apart to be able to build something more complex if I need the flexibility.

Hopefully, I can get my hands on some of the Quasar Science Q-LED R-Rainbow LED lights, because those things look super interesting, but if you just need a simple light than is balanced for daylight or tungsten light, these Q-LED lights are definitely worth checking out.

Topics:

DIY

Fstoppers Originals

Gear

Lighting

Portraits

Videography

The thriving brewery scene continues expanding across the Midlands, with Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant being the newest location scheduled to open soon in Columbia's historic downtown BullStreet District.

The award-winning brewery, known for its signature beers and fan favorites, is headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania, and the newest and the newest Columbia location will be the second in South Carolina; the other location is upstate in Greenville. According to Iron Hill Brewery CEO Chris Westcott, the Columbia site expands the company's footprint in the southeast to 21 total breweries.

Construction of the new brewery and restaurant has been ongoing for a while. For those wondering when the new location will open, Westcott said they are shooting for sometime in June. He added that the location is actively hiring local talent, and a temporary office is set up for walk-in applicants and interviews.

In anticipation of the grand opening, the location is hiring servers, cooks, dishwashers and more. Interested individuals can attend Iron Hill’s job fair Saturday, May 20 between 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. at their training center located at 2421 Boyce Street or apply online, here.

"First and foremost, we are hiring local," said Wescott. "Our management team has been hired; they've been commuting up to Greenville for training, and they are all local residents of the area. Our staff will be local, and we'll bring in staff from our home restaurants for training and development, but we invest in our staff, and we help them understand our version of hospitality. And we think it will complement what people are looking for here."

The seeming explosion of breweries across the Midlands stems from the Stone Bill signed by then-Governor Nikki Haley June 2, 2014. The bill allowed production breweries to serve food, eradicating consumption restrictions that previously limited patrons to 48 ounces per customer. According to information gathered by Wikipedia, as of 2021, there are 123 breweries currently operating across the state.

Standing out in an area where numerous breweries are located is no easy fete; however, Westcott said that Iron Hill offers a comfortable and causal ambiance outside the city, allowing its customers to relax and enjoy all the area has to offer. The brewery and restaurant also offers an eclectic food menu and a plethora of beer choices. He added that the location will feature a special branded local beer called 'the hometown tap.'

"About a month ago, we launched one of the biggest initiatives in our company. We launched 20 new beers, and each one was brewed for each location and named for that particular location. So we are in the process right now formulating the recipe and formulating the name of what the Columbia beer will be," said Wescott. "We're really excited about that, we call it the hometown tap, and that will be a featured product here, and I'm sure everybody will dig it."

To learn more about Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant or to apply for a job, visit ironhillbrewery.com. To watch a behind-the-scenes tour of the new location, click here.

Detroit, MI (CBS Detroit) - Established in 1874, the J.W. Westcott story actually begins December 19, 1848, when John Ward Westcott was born into a prominent Michigan shipping family. John's father, David H. Westcott worked as a fireman. Ward also founded Ward's Central and Pacific Lake Line and Ward's Detroit and Lake Superior Line. Westcott's brothers were also involved in various shipping careers.

Today, J.W. Westcott continues to serve the Great Lakes marine community providing everything from the obvious to the ridiculous and everything in between.

"Captain J.W. Westcott started this out of the need for some sort of ship-to-shore communication," explains President and Owner James Michael Hogan. "With us being established in 1874, as far as the marina history goes, we probably are pretty much the longest continuous operation, which is a part of the commercial Great Lakes shipping industry."

"We are really the only ones that do what we do, in terms of overall service," says Boat Captain William Redding. "With the mail deliveries, freight deliveries and what not."

"We do three shifts per day, the boat runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during the navigation season," explains General Manager Sam Buchanan. "We may have anywhere from 1 to 20 runs per day."

"My task is to maneuver our boat alongside these deep-draft vessels," says Buchanan, "and they're moving, so it's kind of a specialized skill."

"As I have put in each year at this job, I have realized the importance of the tradition," says Hogan. "And the mystique and the uniqueness I guess you might say of all of this."

Watch for "Eye on Detroit" segments weekdays during "CBS This Morning" at 7 a.m. featuring unique and positive stories from the Motor City.

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When Linda Hardy left Missouri, medical degree in hand, in order to pursue a residency in Augusta, she probably did not realize she would spend the rest of her life there.

As she pursued her career as a child and adolescent psychiatrist, she married a radiation oncologist and focused primarily on medical interests.

For several years, she was director of medical student education in the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical College of Georgia (now a part of Augusta University), leaving that to go into private practice.

Upon retirement, she thought she would try painting, a totally new venture for her, and she has been painting successfully ever since.

When she decided to pick up a paintbrush, it was only natural that Hardy would turn to David Mascaro as her teacher.

She did not know him well, but she knew his reputation as a professor of medical illustration at the Medical University where both had worked, and she knew that, in his retirement, he was offering painting classes in a Washington Road studio.

Although Mascaro is now deceased, she joins other of his students in his studio one day each week to pursue her art.

She said it is motivating to “know you’ll spend the day painting,” and she enjoys being with artists who share her impulse.

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On other days, she paints at home in a basement-level studio, though perhaps not for such long sessions. She finds that regular practice is important in achieving what she is looking for and she tries to paint nearly every day.

Hardy’s first paintings were in oil, but she found that acrylics suited her style better. She works quickly, and with acrylics, she does not need to slow down to wait for paint to dry. Initially, she was displeased with what she put on canvas, but a breakthrough came and she began to like what she found herself creating.

Although her style is loose, the brush strokes have a certain authority that tell the viewer this artist knows what she is doing. Her aim is not to recreate an image using photo realism but to capture the essence of what she sees.

Unlike many artists, Hardy does not fill her walls with her own paintings. Rather, they hold an assortment of large canvases, for the most part painted by artists such as Bea Kulke and Mary Ann Brock known and revered in this area.

Her home is also ornamented by two aging long-haired cats, siblings, Rowdy and Pretty Boy, and by a standard poodle, Drake, a breed she selected in part to cut down on the accumulation of animal hair in the house. Drake often accompanies her on walks, her favorite form of exercise.

Marsh scenes and flowers, two of Hardy’s favorite subjects, are the dominant subjects of Hardy’s paintings that will be exhibited at the Aiken Center for the Arts from Tuesday through Feb. 13.

A reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday will give the public the opportunity to meet her and to see her work. Other exhibits featured at the arts center are being held over from December, offering viewers the opportunity to catch up on what they might have missed earlier.