South Carolina Waffle House customer cooks his own meal after finding staff sleeping

Posted on December 5, 2017 by Douglas Powell

At 55, I often doze off.

About 6 years ago, as we drove to Florida, Sorenne said she wanted Waffle House for her birthday.

It was gross, but the kid liked it.

A hungry, slightly inebriated man knew just what to do when he stopped by a South Carolina Waffle House early Thursday only to find the restaurant’s staff snoozing: He cooked up his own meal, snapping selfies along the way.

Alex Bowen said in a Facebook post that he stopped by a Waffle House in West Columbia because he couldn’t sleep.

The restaurant’s employees apparently did not have the same problem.

“I walked back outside to my car to look for employees,” Bowen told WIS. “No one in sight.”

It wasn’t until he walked back inside the restaurant that he noticed an employee snoozing in a corner booth.

“Then it was go time,” Bowen told WIS. “(I) got hot on the grill with a double Texas bacon cheesesteak with extra pickles. When I was done I cleaned the grill, collected my ill-gotten sandwich and rolled out.”

He told WIS that he wouldn’t normally have gotten behind the grill.

“I give all the credit to my old friend vodka,” Bowen said.

Disgruntled contractor allegedly sprays poop on produce in S. Carolina

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Douglas Powell

WYFF 4 reports a disgruntled contractor sprayed what investigators told employees was apparently feces on produce at a West Ashley Harris Teeter, officials with the supermarket said.

Charleston police said 41-year-old Pau S. Hang has been arrested and charged with damage to personal property. Police say Hang has been on trespass notice for the store.

“The suspect is accused of spraying a brown liquid from a spray bottle onto some of the produce in the store,” CPD officials said. “Police don’t know the type of liquid that was used.”

According to Harris Teeter officials, the suspect attempted to contaminate food in the produce department and the fresh foods department inside the store in the St. Andrews Shopping Center in Charleston.

South Carolina sports fan splattered with vomit live on TV as half-time show gets gross

Posted on August 29, 2016 by Douglas Powell

Baseball team the Charleston Riverdogs held a ribbon dancing contest between innings during a game on Thursday.

It went well and one of the dancers was beaming as she strolled off the field, but then out of nowhere she vomited everywhere.

And just in case the fans watching at home missed it, the Riverdogs uploaded the gross-out footage to social media.

What made her ill remains unclear, but viewers have noted that the team runs a “Thirsty Thursdays” promotion.

Others have suggested that it was simply ball-park food combined with the sudden physicality of dancing.

Regardless, her unfortunate outburst is being used as a Twitter meme to express sudden disgust.

Some fans took issue with the minor-league team for sharing the video on social media.

However the fan herself, named Bonnie, joked on Twitter that she gave “all she’s got” for her team.

131 sick with Salmonella in South Carolina jail

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Douglas Powell

A gastrointestinal illness has impacted a large group of inmates at the Lexington County Detention Center.

Wednesday, Captain Adam Myrick said 120 inmates have been treated for the illness in the past two days.

Myrick said that number Thursday is now at 131 inmates.

Myrick noted that epidemiologists with DHEC are investing the illness to determine what it is and how it is spreading.

Jim Beasley with DHEC said initial tests conducted by DHEC have found salmonella.

The inmate population at the detention center was 762 as of Wednesday.

Vaccines work: More than 3700 people vaccinated after possible Hardee’s Hepatitis A exposure in SC

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) says it has provided 3,706 vaccinations through its hepatitis A vaccine clinics in Spartanburg and Greenville.

They say vaccinations are being offered to individuals who might have been exposed to hepatitis A at two Hardee’s restaurants located in Spartanburg County.

The restaurants are located at:

12209 Greenville Highway in Lyman

1397 E. Main St. in Duncan.

DHEC’s Spartanburg and Greenville county health departments will continue to provide post-exposure treatments Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., through September 29, 2015.

If you’re sick, stay at home: 14 sick, 1 dead at SC daycare, lawsuit filed

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The parents of a 2-year-old boy who died in May after an E. coli outbreak at a Greenwood daycare facility have filed a lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed by Myles Mayfield’s parents, names The Learning Vine, LLC as the defendant in the wrongful death lawsuit.

Myles died in Greenville Memorial Hospital from medical complications associated with E. coli, coroner Sonny Cox said.

The lawsuit alleges that the first case of E. coli illness in the outbreak was a teacher at the daycare facility. It says that after the teacher returned to work at the center, several of the children being cared for showed symptoms of the infection during the week of May 10, including Myles.

The lawsuit says the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control was not notified that a teacher The Learning Vine had been sick with an E. coli infection until May 18. The lawsuit said the daycare did not tell parents about the employee’s infection.

After he had been sick with diarrhea off and on for a couple weeks, Myles parents took him to his doctor on May 26 because his condition was worsening, the lawsuit says. Myles was sent home without treatment, and his parents later took him to the emergency room at Self Regional Healthcare in Greenwood.

Myles was admitted to the hospital, and on May 27, he was transferred to Greenville Memorial, where he was put on dialysis and a ventilator and died May 31.

The lawsuit says that DHEC confirmed 14 cases of the infection connected to The Learning Vine. DHEC said that the “staggered onsets of illness indicated person-to-person transmission rather than exposure to a single source, such as food.”

E. coli at SC day care: delays and violations

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The Learning Vine on Overland Drive in Greenwood, S.C. at the center of an E. coli outbreak, has multiple health and safety violations pending correction, according to the state Department of Social Services’ Division of Early Care and Education.

Learning Vine shut down voluntarily on Monday following the death of 2-year-old Myles Mayfield, of Greenwood, who died from hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition associated with E. coli that can lead to kidney failure.

Since Myles’ death, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control confirmed that there are eight cases of E. coli connected to Learning Vine.

The violation areas pending correction are:

– Diaper changing, 24-month and younger room (x2)

– Improper medication practices

– Sanitation violations (x3)

– Facility restrooms (x2)

– Feeding, 24-month and younger room

– Food safety/menu

– Posted information

– Other health and safety

Meanwhile, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) officials released a timeline Wednesday of their investigation.
DHEC says it’s been investigating fatal Greenwood E.coli cluster since May, but a nearly three-week gap between the reported diagnoses meant it took a month before they linked the outbreak to a daycare center.<

1 dead, 7 kids sick from E. coli at SC day care

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Douglas Powell

South Carolina health officials say an eighth case of E. coli has been traced to a daycare center that’s now temporarily closed.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said Monday evening that there are now eight confirmed cases of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) associated with The Learning Vine daycare in Greenwood County. That comes after seven confirmed cases were reported on Sunday night.

An investigation began after 2-year-old Myles Mayfield (right), a boy who attended The Learning Vine, developed an E. coli infection. Mayfield died from complications after developing hemolytic uremic syndrome.

On Sunday, officials said four of the cases have bacteria of the same strain. Two of the seven individuals with confirmed E. coli cases are hospitalized, DHEC said.
wistv.com – Columbia, South Carolina

7 kids sick with E. coli at SC daycare

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control says it has confirmed seven cases of E. coli associated with a Greenwood County daycare.

DHEC announced on Sunday the results of laboratory testing that confirmed the seven cases of E. coli.

To help limit the spread of the bacteria, DHEC issued a public health consent agreement with The Learning Vine to close.

The daycare has closed voluntarily and has cooperated with the investigation.

“Our primary concern is protecting the health and safety of the community,” said State Epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell. “We continue to work closely with the daycare facility and community partners to identify the source of the contamination and stop the spread of the infection.”

In the news release, DHEC said it had taken the following steps to identify the source of the infection and stop its spread:

Completed an initial onsite inspection of the daycare facility and provided cleaning guidance
Conducted over 50 interviews to identify and notify individuals at possible risk for exposure
Collected and tested samples for laboratory analysis
Established a hotline and held a forum to provide assistance to those affected
Confirmed the daycare facility had completed the required cleaning by conducting a follow-up inspection with the S.C. Department of Social Services
Issued a public health consent agreement with the daycare facility in order to limit the possibility of further spread of the infection.

South Carolina health officials investigating two outbreaks of salmonelloisis

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Ben Chapman

In 2009 when I had a Campylobacter infection it took me a few days of puking and diarrhea to go to my doctor. Then it took a week for the lab results. And then it took another week for the county folks to follow up with me about a food history.

Our conversation revolved around food that I had consumed a month prior (within the window of exposure).

Outbreak investigations can be messy.

According to the Island Packet (in South Carolina), the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is investigating a couple of clusters of salmonellosis that appear not to be linked.

State health officials have yet to determine if eight Beaufort County salmonella poisoning cases in the past three weeks stem from a common source. Neither have any new cases been reported to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control since the agency first confirmed last week a team is investigating a possible outbreak, DHEC spokeswoman Cassandra Harris said Friday.

However, the longer an investigation takes, the less likely the team will pin down a common source, she added.

“While efforts are made to identify the cause of salmonella clusters, the success of those efforts often depends on the cooperation of those involved and their recollection of what they ate,” Harris said. “As time passes, we are less likely to be able to identify a potential source for the illnesses.”

Harris also dispelled rumors that many more people in the county might be sick.

“At this time, there are no other indications of an unexpected increase in illnesses in the community” apart from the reported cases, Harris said (although CDC estimates that there are 38 related Salmonella illnesses for ever confirmed case due to underreporting -ben).

DHEC is also helping the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigate a separate, single case of salmonella poisoning that matches a national cluster of salmonella, Harris said.

However, DHEC and CDC investigators have not identified a common source of infections within that national cluster, according Laura Burnworth, a spokeswoman for the CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases.

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