PROSPERITY — The Town of Prosperity has named Donald Evans the new Police Chief of the Prosperity Police Department. Evans was introduced to Prosperity Town Council earlier this month and will officially be sworn in on Monday.

“He (Evans) interviewed and I think everybody is going to be pleased, not just the town, not just administration, but also the officers. We have a real good group of guys here and Mr. Evans will come in and continue the morale of Interim Police Chief Harry Bodiford, who did an outstanding job and we are very pleased with what he’s brought to the table for the police department,” said Mayor Derek Underwood.

Evans began his law enforcement career in 1995 with the Department of Corrections as a corrections officer and most recently was the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) commander and training officer for the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice and is a graduate of the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy.

Evans enlisted into the United States Army in 1988 and retired as a Sergeant Major in 2014. Prior to his first assignment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, he attended Basic and Advance Individual Training along with Airborne Training. His last military assignment was as the Operations Sergeant Major for the 1-118th Infantry Battalion in Union, deployed to Forward Command Post Kosovo, Task Force Falcon (2012-2013). Over his 25 year military career, both active duty and in the South Carolina Army National Guard, he served as a military policeman, combat engineer and infantry senior NCO.

“I look forward to coming down to the town, I’ve been down here off and on the past couple of weekends kind of riding around watching Officer Corey Jones out there dealing with people on the side of the road. I’ve been coming into town, riding around, seeing what’s going on and assessing what’s happening around the place and it looks like a very good community to raise your kids in, I look forward to getting started,” Evans said. “Speaking with some of the law enforcement around the area, there’s a little bit of drugs around and maybe we can help get some of that out of here and try to make it a little bit safer.”

As Prosperity’s new police chief, Evans hopes that he and the officers can build a positive leadership that will continue for years to come.

“To bring just a positive leadership, a well grounded leadership, get a certain path and sustain that path for a long period of time, not just a plug and play for a short period of time. Actually turn the department into a long lasting vision that starts with a team with the guys that are currently working here and what can we do to make this thing last for years to come, not just a one or two year stint,” Evans said.

In other business, resident Tracy Bouknight spoke before Council about zoning in reference to her animals.

Lieutenant Harry Bodiford went to Bouknight’s house at the beginning of October and said she had too many dogs and that she needed to re-home eight of them, Bodiford gave her until November.

Bouknight had 12 dogs and currently has seven. The limit for the Town of Prosperity is three. Bodiford told Bouknight the complaint was that her dogs barked all hours of the night and it smelled.

Bouknight presented Council with letters from neighbors who said the dogs were not a bother to them.

“I’m asking please let me keep what I have left because I’ve tried to re-home them, I don’t know what else to do, I don’t want to put them down, I don’t want to take them to a pound, they don’t deserve that. As they die off, I won’t replace them until I’m within the town limits of what I am allowed to have,” Bouknight said.

Bodiford informed Council that there was a previous incident where Bouknight’s dogs got out of her yard. She was written 16 citations, eight for animal at large and eight for keeping and maintaining animals. After push back from courts and Council at the time, Bouknight upgraded her fence to keep the dogs inside, Bodiford said they did away with the citations.

It was then in March of this year that an informal complaint was received through Town Hall, the town investigates through a complaint basis.

“I instructed Mrs. Livingston (Karen) to please have the individual come to the Police Department to do a formal complaint so we could do a report on it. Finally got the formal complaint, from the time of March to July, I had the guys do a daily activity report, I asked them to ride past that property all hours of the day and night, if they see or smell or anything out there that would show neglect or that she was not maintaining the animals properly that we needed to note that on the incident report,” Bodiford said.

Council did not take any action, instead they will look into speaking with the individual who complained and see if the complaint would be withdrawn. If the complaint is withdrawn, no citation, if not it will go before a judge.

Other business:

• Council recognized the Taylor Family for the donation of property on the corner of Brown and Shiloh Street.

• Peggy West and Meg Muir spoke before Council looking for Prosperity history to go into the Newberry County Museum.

• A motion was made by Councilman Chad Hawkins and seconded by Councilman Robert Martin to approve the first reading of the parking ordinance text amendment.

• Bodiford reported four fraud cases, five larcenies, two harrassments, auto breaking, two burglaries, one assault and battery, two domestic violences and one sexual assault case. Over the course of the month, the department conducted five field interviews talking with suspicious people and 106 traffic infractions for the month.

• Utility Director Ed West reported a pole was hit on South Main Street and they are working to finish putting Christmas decorations up, weather permitting. He also reported multiple burned electrical boxes due to ants.

Evans
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/web1_Evans.jpgEvans Kelly Duncan | The Newberry Observer

By Kelly Duncan

kduncan@newberryobserver.com

Reach Kelly Duncan at 803-768-3123 ext. 1868 or on Twitter @TheNBOnews.