Close-Contact Businesses Ready to Reopen
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COVID-19 in SC Cases statewide: 163 new, 8,816 total Cases in the Lakelands Greenwood - 69 Saluda - 122 McCormick - 7 Abbeville - 35 Laurens - 57 Deaths statewide: 5 new, 385 total Live sports return with Darlington race Deaths in the Lakelands Greenwood - 1 Saluda - 0 McCormick -1 Page 1B Abbeville - 0 Laurens - 3 VOL. 102, NO. 61 indexjournal.com 2 SECTIONS, 13 PAGES MONDAY, MAY 18, 2020 DAILY $1, WEDNESDAY | SUNDAY $2 Close-contact businesses ready to reopen From staff reports home for seven weeks keeping myself well money on April first and I wasn’t paid un- to go back into a salon environment and employment until May 6. I was scared to As stylists, barbers and tattoo artists get sick. death when they put us out of work about geared up to reopen their businesses to- “You cannot cut hair around a mask,” how to pay the bills. Now, they want me day, a few people working service-industry Hughes said. “That’s all there is to it. I’m to go back to work and I’m honestly more jobs in Greenwood shared some concerns going to wear a mask. I have not been leav- anxious about going back.” about getting back to business. ing the house unless it’s Many salon workers are independent After closing certain businesses he absolutely necessary and contractors, said Titi Yang, owner of Titi deemed nonessential on April 1, Gov. I’m still having anxiety Nails. She said she knew of workers who Henry McMaster announced the limited over that. When the gov- struggled to get their unemployment pay- reopening of what he called close-contact ernor said we could open ments, too. businesses — including hair and nail sa- on Monday, my phone Yang said she planned to open her nail lons, spas, body-art facilities and massage started blowing up.” salon again today, with restrictions and services, among others. Hughes said she filed limits in place. Customers are all required “Even before the coronavirus, I was a HENRY for unemployment after to wear masks, and anyone waiting on an germophobe,” said Charlotte Hughes, a MCMASTER the salon she works at appointment will be asked to wait in their hair stylist with Miller and Company. “It closed April 1. car to accommodate for the salon’s new is about to send me over the edge. When I “It was a nightmare,” Hughes said of limited capacity. Placing restrictions on JONATHAN LIMEHOUSE | INDEX-JOURNAL go back to the salon, with all these recom- the process. “Self-employed hairdressers how businesses can reopen might pose Forbidden Arts owner Eric Hassler said opening his tattoo mendations, that aren’t mandatory, I don’t did not get unemployment until Trump a challenge to business owners, but Yang shop again will not be anything new for him or a lot of other know how it’s going to work, especially if signed the CARES Act for coronavirus said it’s overall a plus. artists in the tattoo industry because they are used to making people don’t respect themselves or others aid. ... I have friends and co-workers who “It’s slowing down the business, which safety precautions since they come in close contact with cli- enough to wear masks. I have not stayed at still haven’t received any money. I earned See REOPEN, page 4A ents on a regular basis. Lee Vartanian reflects on time at Lander, serving on D50’s school board By JONATHAN LIMEHOUSE years. He decided to resign [email protected] from the board in April be- cause “it was time.” He said he It used to be an eight-minute had done his part and he was walk for Lee Vartanian to get to happy with the current direc- his office at Lander University, tion of the district, especially where he served as chairman of while it was in the hands of the the department of teacher edu- current administration. cation. “I felt that the district was Now, he will charting a strong course and have to tack had wonderful leadership on another within the board, the adminis- two minutes tration and amongst the teach- to get to his ers,” he said. office at Ath- He acknowledges the board ens State Uni- functions as a unit, which is versity, where LEE why it’s hard to pinpoint his in July he VARTANIAN own individual contributions, ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS starts his new but he believes he provided Protesters march Saturday after a rally at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Ga. to protest the shooting of role as the dean of the college strategic vision. Above all else, Ahmaud Arbery. of education. he said all board members When Vartanian returned to were, and are, great listeners. Greenwood in 2006 as a teach- “In a loud discussion, if a er education professor at Land- great idea is whispered, the er, he came back home. A 1993 board will hear it,” he said. “Ev- Greenwood High School grad- eryone values each member’s uate, he came back to Green- contributions and ideas.” Color & justice wood, married, had children The mix of ideas and con- and bought his first home. He cepts on the board stem from would spend 14 years at Land- the members being profession- Law enforcement ties complicate Arbery case er, growing on the track to be- als in different fields. Varta- coming a tenured professor, nian, having a background in By KATE BRUMBACK crime: A man was in a house under coordinating several programs, education, admitted he didn’t AND COLLEEN LONG construction. serving in administrative roles know about budgeting, ac- Associated Press “You said someone’s breaking into it and participating in service op- counting and how to conduct a right now?” portunities. business. Board service showed ATLANTA “No, it’s all open. It’s under construc- “I just grew so much profes- him what members with differ- here was an abundance of ev- tion,” the caller says, “And he’s running sionally during that time. It was ent backgrounds than his could idence when officers arrived right now. There he goes right now.” a really incredible and positive bring to the table. at the scene on a February The dispatcher says she’ll send police, experience,” he said. “I really “It’s so much beyond curric- afternoon in coastal Georgia: but “I just need to know what he was enjoyed working with all the ulum and teaching, which is A man, apparently unarmed, doing wrong.” wonderful people at Lander. It’s where I have some expertise, lying on the street, soaked in blood. The A second call comes in six minutes a special place that has a very so getting their perspective has T friendly campus. I also made a been really valuable,” he said. suspected shooter, a shotgun, eyewit- later: “I’m out here in Satilla Shores. nesses. And video of the incident. There’s a black male running down the lot of wonderful connections At Athens State, he hopes But no arrests were made in the death street.” and was able to work with to bring the knowledge he of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery for The operator is trying to get more de- some amazing students, many got from being on the school more than two months, not until after tails when a man yells, “Stop. ... Damnit. of whom I still keep in contact board to his new role. He said video of the shooting in Brunswick A protester holds a sign outside the Stop.” Then, after a pause, “Travis!” w it h .” he learned how school districts surfaced and stoked a national uproar Glynn County Courthouse in Bruns- Moments later, Arbery is shot. He took the role at Athens function, the importance of State because becoming a dean having clear goals and expec- over race relations. wick, Ga. According to the police report, Local prosecutors are now under Gregory McMichael said he saw a per- is the next level up from being tations, and accountability to investigation for their handling of the had been a longtime investigator at son he suspected of burglary “hauling chair of a department, and he those goals. He said he learned case. And a newly appointed investiga- the Brunswick Circuit District Attor- ass” down the street. He ran inside his began exploring options and the importance of sharing a vi- tive agency and prosecutor must untan- ney’s office? Did investigators treat the house, calling for his son Travis. The putting out applications in the sion and communicating it ef- gle the criminal investigation, build a shooting as a potential murder, or as two grabbed their guns, hopped into a fall. fectively with everyone. He also case and make up for lost time. a justifiable homicide? And might the pickup truck and chased him. Teaching at Lander wasn’t is looking forward to working Among the questions: Did shoot- outcome have been different if Arbery Gregory McMichael told police they enough for Vartanian. He in- with, and getting to know, his ing suspect Travis McMichael and his weren’t black? wanted to talk to Arbery and tried to gratiated himself within the faculty and staff at the college father, Gregory, both white, get special The 911 operator sounded confused corner him, but he began to “violently Greenwood Community so of education. treatment because the elder McMichael by the caller’s description of a purported See JUSTICE, page 4A much that he served on Green- The Vartanians have been in wood County School District Athens, Alabama for about two 50’s Board of Trustees for eight See REFLECTS, page 4A INSIDE TODAY FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL • BUSINESS 7A • COMICS 3B • TV LISTING 5A facebook.com/indexjournal • COVID-19 INFO 2A • MINI PAGE 2B • VIEWPOINTS 6A • CLASSIFIEDS 5B-6B • SPORTS 1B twitter.com/ijindexjournal 4A n Index-Journal, Greenwood, S.C.