Mattress storein Goose Creek, SC

FLORENCE, S.C. (WCSC) - Two more Lowcountry teams punched their tickets to the SCHSL state championship games on Wednesday with victories in the Lower State title games.

The Berkeley girls won the 5A-2 Lower State championship with a dominating 67-32 win over North Myrtle Beach at the Florence Civic Center while the Goose Creek boys escaped with 60-46 victory over Berkeley.

The Stags girls and Gators boys join the Military Magnet and Summerville girls teams in their respective state championship games.

The ladies got things started and Berkeley didn’t waste much time. After giving up the first 2 points of the game, the Stags would go on an 11-0 run and never looked back in their win over North Myrtle Beach.

Alaina Carter led the way for the Stags with 17 points. Madison Thomas had 11 and Demi Gray also added 11, all in the 2nd half.

Berkeley head coach Crystal Peace, a former Stags player, was emotional after the win. She lost her mother almost a year ago and wished she could have been at the game to share the moment.

“15 years, even prior to that just pouring into these kids and I’m just thinking about my mom just thinking about my mom, I lost her last year and she spoke a lot of these things into existance and I’m so proud of this group, thankful for the coaching staff and just never giving up, never giving up always pouring into these kids” Peace said.

Berkeley will play in the 5A-2 state championship game on Saturday night at 6pm in Florence against Greenwood.

The boys contest was much closer as Goose Creek and Berkeley went into the final quarter tied at 35. But the Gators would turn things on scoring 25 points in the final 8 minutes.

Goose Creek had four players score in double figures led by Ja’Quell Brown who had a game high 20 points. Shane Potts, Jermaire Williams and Reggie Dozier each added 10.

Cam Palmer led the way for Berkeley with 13 points while Damien Kinloch added 11 and Jordan Livingston had 10.

“I just told them what do you want, if winning lower state is what you want and you’re satisfied be satisfied but if you want more why settle.” Gators head coach Blake Hall said. “I think you have to have that will not to give in when it gets tiring late in the game and I think you saw that maybe late”

Goose Creek will play the final high school basketball game in the state this season on Saturday night at 8pm against Greenville.

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Inside Goose Creek operations of the largest military shipbuilder in the US

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A new division of the largest military shipbuilder in the U.S. is in full swing after recently establishing operations in South Carolina.

Newport News Shipbuilding-Charleston Operations, a facility in a division of Virginia-based Huntington Ingalls Industries, better known as HII, began in Goose Creek roughly two months ago.

In two days, the site, which spans nearly 50 acres and includes roughly 500,000 square feet of manufacturing space, will send off its first structural unit to NNS headquarters in Virginia for U.S. Navy aircraft carrier production.

NNS is the sole builder of aircraft carriers for the nation and one of the two companies that build submarines for the U.S., Matt Needy, general manager and vice president of Charleston operations, said during a tour of the sprawling facility on Wednesday. The company has overseen the design, construction, overhaul and repair of more than 800 ships for the U.S. Navy and commercial customers since beginning 139 years ago.

The purpose of the NNS Goose Creek operations is to specialize in modules of the submarines and aircraft carriers to unburden the main production facility in Virginia, Needy said.

In January HII closed on the acquisition of all the assets of metal fabricator W International SC LLC and Vivid Empire SC LLC (collectively known as “W International”). Financial terms of the deal were not revealed.

The company specializes in two classes of nuclear-powered submarines, the Virginia-Class and the Columbia-Class. Modules that the Goose Creek operations produce include the habitability module, auxiliary machine room and weapons module of the Virginia-Class along with the auxiliary machine room and the weapons module for the Columbia-Class, Needy said.

Needy said HII had it sights set on South Carolina for some time, considering the pre-established manufacturing workforce in the region.

“Because of the buildings, because of the people that are here, because of the pipelines, because of the state and regional and educational relationships that we already had the foundation of, this became the obvious choice to most rapidly expand capacity and frequency for Newport News,” Needy said.

Creating a workforce pipeline

During the acquisition, 99% of the legacy employees from W International transitioned. Currently employing 475 workers at the Goose Creek location, Needy hopes to see those numbers rise by the hundreds.

Alexis Mervin, a class-three welder, has been working at the facility for three years.

“Everyone gets along very well here, it’s a lot of team membership and working with each other,” Mervin said. “I’m over here building aircraft carriers for the Navy, submarines as well. It’s just an amazing experience.”

When joining the NNS Goose Creek facility, employees go through a 12-week course learning the specifics of NNS operations. During their training, they are considered full-time employees with benefits.

“This is a people-centered business,” Needy said. “It takes the heads, the hearts, the minds of a lot of great shipbuilders doing this complex work every day to bring the ships to life.”

Since starting the training program in October 2021, about 1,200 students have graduated, said Mark Schmitt, director of plant services operations. Schools like Goose Creek High School and Berkley High School teach a curriculum that helps the transition into the Newport News curriculum.

“You have these young guys and gals coming out of high school and signing letters in front of everybody going to colleges and universities,” Schmitt said. “Our version of that is The Summit. They come here, their parents come out here and they sign a letter of intent saying ‘I’m going to go be a welder for Newport News.’ It really is a powerful thing for us.”

Ashanti Grant, an 18-year-old welder for Newport News, heard about the opportunity through his high school. After attending Trident Technical College, he finished his training with Newport News and has been working for about a year

“I didn’t know anything about welding before the job fair,” Grant said. “It’s really good here.”

Related: Boeing commits to $1 billion Charleston County expansion

Related: Nation’s largest military shipbuilder closes on Charleston County acquisition

The site spans 48 acres along the Cooper River, allowing access to deep water transportation as well as rail transportation that goes through the property. The land contains 480,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

Making an investment in the Lowcountry

Located next to the HII campus a Leonardo DRS building is under construction, expected to open in 2026. The company is a provider of naval power and control technology solutions for the U.S. Navy. Needy said the two companies share a property line, road access and single barge slip so they are having meetings to maintain that relationship.

Materials for the productions are all sourced from the U.S. According to Needy, HII spends $500 million annually on local sourcing in the Lowcountry. Additionally, HII operations contribute $110 million per year in investments to its workforce, including education, scholarships, retirement and more.

“The Navy is in more demand than ever,” Needy said. “In my 34 years here with Newport News and the Huntington Ingalls Industries, I’ve never seen demand like the need for the ships that we build today.”

When the facility was W International, operations were exclusively a welding facility. Needy says the NNS goal is to build off those operations, scaling into something larger.

Needy said once the location’s operations are at full capacity, it won’t be just steel structures for the modules being sent out, but fully outfitted modules with doors, walls, beds and more. He doesn’t expect the facility to be at its full-rate production capacity until 2027 and 2028.

|Updated: Mar. 12, 2025 at 12:52 PM EDT

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCSC) - Goose Creek City Council gave final approval Tuesday for a developer to build a new fire station.

The new station would be built at the corner of Saint James Avenue and Second Avenue in the Carnes Crossroads neighborhood. Council voted 7-0 in favor of the plan at Tuesday night’s meeting.

The land was donated by previous developers and Chief Mike Nixon said plans for a new station have been in the works for a while, especially with rapid growth in the neighborhood.

“It’s the most rapidly growing area in the city,” Nixon said.

Nixon said they see about a 10% to 15% call volume increase each year.

“With more population density and more transient population going there for the commercial businesses that are opening gradually, we’re seeing an uptake of on-call volume in that area and we’re not going to see it stop,” Nixon said.

That makes it challenging for staff to meet response times.

“Right now our station three has to respond to that area and it takes, the response times a little bit longer than what we’d like to see,” Nixon said.

Nixon said the new station’s location is ideal and would allow staff to get to most areas in under three minutes. He added it will also foster a stronger community relationship.

“I’m expecting a lot of foot traffic there from the general public up there and it gives an opportunity for our firefighters to actually be part of a neighborhood,” Nixon said.

They hope to hire a dozen new staff members by June to start the training process. They already have the truck ready to go. Nixon said they’ll have a full fire suppression crew with a minimum staff of three.

“My fire station, I can speak on behalf of every member were pretty excited about seeing the development start,” Nixon said.

They aren’t the only ones on board.

“I think it’s a good idea. We live close to where the rural volunteer fire station is and well as big as the city starting to get it’s a good idea to have an extra one around,” Goose Creek resident John Cantrell said.

”I live not too far from here so I do hear like a lot of ambulances going and coming and even the fire truck and things like that so I do feel like it’ll be an increased response time and just give me a piece of mind," Goose Creek resident Andria Moore said.

Nixon said you’ll likely see some land movement and trees being taken down in a couple of months if final approval is given from the city council Tuesday night.

The whole station should be built in about a year.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCSC) - Members of a neighborhood in Crowfield are advocating for traffic calming measures along a growing throughfare road.

Crowfield Boulevard, a two-lane road, attaches on one end to Saint James Avenue, and on the other, College Park Road. The road can be frequented by commuters coming to or from major roadways like I-26, Highway 176, Highway 52 or Rivers Avenue.

In 2013, the South Carolina Department of Transportation tracked 28, 400 daily commuters in the area. In 2023, the number rose to 39,100. As the number sits on a steady incline, neighbors on the lakeside are asking for increased traffic measures.

The surrounding area is full of walking trails, many of them which cross over the road. The boulevard currently has light-beaconed crosswalk signs and a speed limit of between 40 and 45 miles per hour.

Jason Bermudez said the regular walks he takes with his five kids are times where he is on high alert. Bermudez adds he has witnessed cars that do not yield to the signs or speed through.

“As a parent, the first thing I do is I look through the windshield at the person to see if they even recognize there is a person at the crosswalk,” Bermudez said. “The increase in traffic makes it unsafe to cross the street.”

Heather Byrd moved to the area more than a decade ago in search of a home for her growing family. If her kids want to ride their bikes, she prefers it only when she can be around.

“I don’t let them because I’m scared for them to have anything to do with Crowfield Boulevard. People are stupid. I’m just not comfortable with them doing that. I would love to say they could come hang out on the lake or on the other portion of the lake. There is no lighting, no safety features that make me feel comfortable doing so,” Byrd said. “We’re going through a residential section of approximately 3,800 homes. That’s a lot of residents.”

The South Carolina Department of Public Safety reports 185 crashes on Crowfield Boulevard since 2022. Four of them involved pedestrians.

Byrd and Bermudez are asking for a traffic study to determine the next course of action. They have suggested the installation of increased lighting, pavement markings and, in some areas, roundabouts or traffic circles.

“Traffic on Crowfield is an issue. Over the last 10 years, you’ve seen the increase in population and how traffic has increased along Crowfield Boulevard,” Bermudez said.

“What’s the price of safety? Safer is better, not just for one person but for everybody. You can’t put a price on that,” Byrd said.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.