CLEMSON, S.C. — If one plays, coaches or is around athletics long enough, they will experience many reunions in their careers.

Such is the case for three Miami Hurricanes when they visit No. 9 Clemson Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

Athletic director Dan Radakovich, defensive coordinator Kevin Steele and wide receiver Frank Ladson are all returning to Death Valley for their 3:30 p.m. kickoff with the Tigers. Radakovich and Ladson are making their first trip back to Clemson since leaving last December, while Steele is making his second since he and Clemson parted ways following the 2011 season.

Steele returned to Death Valley back in 2017, when he was the defensive coordinator at Auburn.

“He is a great coach,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “He has always been a great coach.”

Since leaving Clemson after the Tigers won the 2011 ACC Championship, Steele worked on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama and has been the defensive coordinator at LSU and Auburn. The Dillon, South Carolina native also served as the interim head coach for a short time at Auburn and Tennessee.

Steele spent three seasons at Clemson from 2009-’11.

This is Steele’s first year at Miami. The Hurricanes currently rank seventh in the ACC in total defense, while ranking second in tackles for loss and third in sacks. Also, their 12 interceptions rank third in the conference.

“Usually, four-down (lineman), that is typically how he has played,” Swinney said. “A lot of man coverage and is multiple with his coverages. Aggressive, an attack-type of defense, that is kind of how he has always done it.”

Radakovich left Clemson last December to take over as Miami’s new athletic director. He spent nine years (2012-’21) at Clemson. His vision for Clemson played a big role in the building of the Allen Reeves Football Complex, the new additions to Memorial Stadium, as well as state of the art renovations to Littlejohn Coliseum and the players’ facility at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

He also played a huge part in starting the softball program at Clemson, which has gone to the NCAA Tournament and played in a Super Regional in two of its first three seasons. The only reason the program did not go all three years was due to the global pandemic in 2020.

Swinney said earlier this week he knew Radakovich was thinking about taking the job at Miami, and even came over to his house to talk about it and to let him know what was going on.

“We talked through it and kind of talked about the opportunity and why and all of that. It was just a great opportunity for him,” Swinney said. “He went to grad school there and it is just kind of the next chapter for him and something he wanted to go do.”

Ladson also left Clemson last December and transferred to Miami following an injury riddled career at Clemson. He comes into Saturday’s game tied for third on the team with 27 catches for 298 yards and one touchdown.

The 6-foot-3 wide receiver has played in all 10 games thus for the Hurricanes. His best season at Clemson came in 2020, when he played in seven games and had 18 catches for 281 yards and three touchdowns. He played in just four games in 2021 due to a groin injury, while he played in eight games as a true freshman in 2019.

During his three seasons at Clemson, Ladson played in 19 games, caught 31 passes, had 440 yards, and scored nine touchdowns.

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A new frozen custard and burger restaurant soon will welcome customers in Ladson, and a home decor store is opening in a new shopping center in North Charleston.

Culver’s plans to open at 10 a.m. Aug. 29 at 3848 Ladson Road next to Gilligan’s Seafood Restaurant, according to Marilyn Knox, the franchise owner who opened the first Charleston-area Culver’s in 2019 on U.S. Highway 17A in Berkeley County.

The location also includes a drive-thru and patio, where live music will be available on opening evening and possibly once a week, Knox said. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for 10 a.m. opening day.

Culver’s specializes in its signature ButterBurgers and frozen custard. It also offers other meat sandwiches along with sides and salads.

The planned Culver’s is a few miles north of competitor Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers, which opened last fall at 4540 Ladson Road near Stars and Strikes bowling and arcade center on the edge of Summerville.

Come on in

Another new retailer is ready to open its doors in a North Charleston retail center.

HomeGoods plans to host a grand opening Aug. 18, starting at 8 a.m., in the new Cedar Grove Shopping Center at 8821 Dorchester Road.

The 22,000-square-foot home decor shop is the latest merchant to join the new retail center. Already open are Ross Dress for Less, discount shop Five Below and cosmetics purveyor Ulta.

A 16,000-square-foot PetSmart pet supply shop is expected to open in September, and other shops are on the way to a newly constructed outparcel building closer to Dorchester Road.

Shopping center plans call for three more retail structures on the south side where land is currently being cleared next to Riverbluff Parkway in front of Cedar Grove Apartments.

What’s cooking?

A new restaurant is ready to welcome customers at the site of a recently closed dining spot in Mount Pleasant.

Pasture & Grain will officially open at 11 a.m. Aug. 19 at 1701 Shoremeade Road in Indigo Square Shopping Center on U.S. Highway 17.

It’s in the same retail center where national sporting goods retailer REI is upfitting the former Publix GreenWise Market grocery store space for an opening in the fall.

The restaurant is taking over the space vacated in May by Blaze Pizza, which closed after three years.

Pasture & Grain owner and operator Ira Hill said the 2,800-square-foot venue will serve American fare priced from $8 to $18.

Meats, vegetables, grains, hot and cold sandwiches, salads and toast with spreads are on the menu. Sous chef is Brandon Brown. The new restaurant will be open until 9 p.m. daily.

On the way

A Florida-based grocery chain with several stores in the Charleston area has rolled out curbside prescription pickup in four states. Publix Pharmacy started offering the service Aug. 10 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Virginia. South Carolina and North Carolina locations will be added in the future as the company expands the program throughout its entire operations in the Southeast.

Tan lines

A new tanning salon has opened in Mount Pleasant.

City Tan can be found at 1167 Basketweave Drive in the Cirque Salon Studios off U.S. Highway 17 near Six Mile Road. The owner is Liz Bailey, who also owns Bikini Bronze Charleston at 10 Exchange St. on the peninsula.

Ready to Rumble

A group boxing workout studio plans to make its South Carolina debut with three new sites.

Rumble Boxing plans to open in Charleston and Hilton Head Island. Locations have not been announced.

Rumble President Shaun Grove said boxing workouts are geared to all fitness levels and abilities and the company plans to continue its expansion across the nation.

The boxing-inspired studio delivers 45-minute, 10-round strength and conditioning group workouts crafted around teardrop-style aqua boxing bags and high-intensity strength-training circuits. Rumble is designed to build strength and relieve stress.

The New York City-based company has 25 franchise locations open across the U.S. Others are in development.

LADSON, S.C. (WCIV) — Officials with Trident Medical Center are officially breaking ground on a new, standalone behavioral hospital!

It will be the first the first freestanding behavioral hospital to open in the Lowcountry in over 30 years.

The nearly 58,790-square-foot facility in Ladson will include a single-story hospital and interior courtyard with space for recreation and therapy. The facility will have “state of the art” inpatient and outpatient services for Lowcountry residents.

The main difference this building will provide in comparison to general hospital care is more of a focus and extended resources for geriatric and adolescent care. The behavioral hospital will continue adult care as well.

The medical director for behavioral health at Trident, Jeffrey Culver, says he starts every day in the emergency room.

Currently, there are only 250 beds for mental health patients in the Lowcountry, and without a dedicated space for them — in most cases — a lot of them must go to the emergency room.

But with the construction of this new facility, Culver hopes it will help provide a safe space for real change and will get more people the help they need.

“I fully expect when this facility opens, that the dialogue both locally and nationally will continue to help chip away at that stigma. I think we're still a long way from where we need to be, where we can talk about mental health and mental illness the same way we talk about things like heart disease and cancer, but we're getting there. And I think being able to open up a brand-new facility and have people see that what we're doing is part of medicine,” Culver said.

ABC News 4's Sean Mahoney spoke with longtime mental health advocate Kelly Troyer, who works with the National Alliance of Mental Illness - Greater Charleston area.

She says the Lowcountry has come a long way in providing mental health services, but that there is still more work to be done and she hopes this will help kickstart that change.

Troyer also says the need for mental health services has drastically increased over the course of the pandemic.

The City of Charleston reported a 78.1 percent increase in the number of suicides from 2020 to 2021.

Troyer also has a personal connection to mental illness, as her son, Alex, was diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age. She says finding resources in the Lowcountry was nearly impossible in the beginning, as she had to go out of state for care.

However, she says the construction of this new facility is a step in the right direction.

“As far as access to service, no, there's not enough in our state, especially in the rural areas. Then also, even here in the Lowcountry, we have great resources and we have people. But look at the Latino community and the African-American community, there's more [of a ] stigma around mental health conditions, so they don't reach out as much to the access that's here,” Troyer said. “So this groundbreaking of this hospital is very good news for us in our community. And we want to celebrate that.”

The hospital is expected to start out with 60 inpatient beds with the ability to expand and also will provide outpatient resources.

Construction started on the $30.4 million facility started in December, but officials with Trident waited until Thursday to hold the ceremony because of the weather.

Work is expected to wrap up in spring of 2023.

The groundbreaking ceremony and celebration is taking place at 11 a.m., at the construction site, which is about two miles from Trident Medical Center and right off highway 17 in Ladson, at 3445 Ingleside Boulevard.

Dorchester County citizens had an opportunity to offer feedback and voice concerns about streetscape improvements planned for Ladson Road at the Aug. 22 public meeting held at the Dorchester County Council Chambers.

Dorchester County personnel and consultant representatives from SeamonWhiteside, a local engineering and design firm, were on hand to discuss the project with citizens as a group and individually, as requested.

The well-attended meeting showcased a lively discussion during which citizens expressed their concerns, fears and frustrations over the project plans to date, as well as what is seen by many present as current problems that could be made worse going forward.

Construction of dedicated turn lanes at key intersections and installation of raised, landscaped medians with plantings and street lights are the key elements of the project. Video displays and print handouts were provided at the meeting to illustrate the plans under consideration. The project will impact the section of Ladson Road from the termination of the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) Dorchester Road Safety Improvement project to Coopers Ridge Boulevard.

“Last night’s meeting was the first step in soliciting public input, and we received many good comments that will be considered as we continue to move the design forward,” said Daniel Prentice, Deputy County Administrator. The meeting followed the DOT public comment requirements, according to Prentice.

The Ladson Road Streetscape Project is part of the Oakbrook Redevelopment Plan which was established in 2019. The plan outlines a comprehensive, multi-agency plan to revitalize the Oakbrook area. Funding comes from Tax Increment Financing (TIF), a method for financing redevelopment in blighted, conservation and sprawl areas of counties. TIF utilizes incremental increases in assessed value and property taxes to fund projects.

The price tag for the overall Oakbrook Redevelopment Plan now stands at $5 million, but county officials insist that it is not represented by a tax increase or impact fee.

“A TIF district is not a tax increase,” said Prentice. “The entities that levy millage (the rate at which property taxes are levied) partner to send tax dollars resulting from growth in assessments of new or improved buildings to the TIF fund which funds the public improvements. The public improvements, in turn, are used to continue to spur new private growth, increasing the overall vitality of the area.”

County personnel and officials projected their belief that by making the area more attractive for retail and restaurant activities, improving pedestrian and bike safety, improving infrastructure, reducing traffic and increasing safety and other upgrades, investment dollars will increase; new business and development will be established.

Presentation of the project leaned heavily on the aesthetic and beautification benefits to be realized, but county officials and staff also stressed improvement in safety as a major goal. “Data shows that safety will be improved by closing off the current open medians and guiding traffic through the use of dedicated turn lanes and restricting other turning movements due to the proposed medians,” said Prentice. “While one of the goals of the TIF district is beautification, the County believes that an additional positive outcome will be the function and safety of the corridor.”

Not everyone in attendance was convinced. Several citizens expressed frustration in their view that the county is giving priority to aesthetics over safety and functionality. Concerns voiced included existing poor access to certain businesses, which could increase under the plan; traffic load; difficulty of large and service vehicles to navigate turns; challenges of cyclists; maintenance costs associated with the use of plants versus other materials for division; and problems arising out of the overlap of traffic routes between counties.

One business owner, whose business requires drop-off traffic, complained that attracting new business and traffic, when existing businesses are negatively impacted by current road and traffic design, is not in the best interest of businesses along Ladson Road.

Proponents of the plan defended medians as a more modern design consideration for roadway construction and advocated for guiding traffic to dedicated turn lanes.

“Access management studies show that the true overall impact is not negative, although acclimation to the changes is required due to new traffic patterns,” said Prentice.

Construction on the Ladson Road Streetscape Project is slated to begin mid-2023, according to county personnel. Additional information on the Ladson Road project, Oakbrook Redevelopment Plan and TIF can be found on the Dorchester County website at https://www.dorchestercountysc.gov.

Public comments, written or oral, are invited.

LADSON, S.C. (WCIV) — A little over a week ago, ABC News 4 brought you the story of one Mount Pleasant mother fighting the Charleston County School District in what she says was a forced school placement change.

Since then, ABC News 4 has received dozens of reports of families going through similar situations.

One involves a Summerville mom stuck with a school district's choice looking to move her two sons to different schools.

The mother, Leslie Jackson, is described as a mom’s mom.

“I'm on top of my kids, you know, with their schooling a lot. A lot of people tell me that I’m probably the most involved parent when it comes to the kids,” she explained.

Jackson said that her love for her children resonated when she watched Olivia Rose-Walker’s story.

“When I did see [the] story about Olivia, I mean, I cried my eyes out. I felt for a mom, I felt for Olivia,” she said.

Jackson’s sons, Elijah and Xavier, also have learning disabilities. Both twins were born at 24 weeks old, with each spending numerous months in the hospital after birth. Both were diagnosed with autism with Elijah also having expressive language disorder.

While the two twins have a different disability than Olivia does, they do face a similar battle ahead.

“We had Eli’s IEP in May,” Jackson said. “They decided to place him at Malcom C. Hursey Montessori school. When we did Xavier’s IEP that next week, [it was decided] he is to go to Ladson. And I was like, well, why are they being separated from schools?”

While Olivia’s battle dealt more with the disability placement change, this challenge focuses more on the process of school placement. By the time Jackson found out about Xavier’s placement, the deadline for school choice in CCSD had already passed, leaving her with many questions.

“It kind of threw me for a loop that, they're brothers, you know, they're twins, you know? How did one get placed somewhere and one get placed somewhere else? And no one can really give me an answer for that,” she stated.

She's another mother feeling the same pain that Olivia’s mom did, while going through a school change they don’t want to do.

“This whole thing, honestly, it's made me feel emotional about it. You know, during the meeting, I almost felt like a failed parent. I was like, how did this happen?

But just like Olivia’s mom did, Jackson searched for help.

“Charleston Autism Parents [Facebook group], I put out a post on there and let them know the situation was like, [has] this happened to anybody else?” Jackson explained.

After her message was posted, she received dozens of comments in response, informing her that she was not alone. Up to 20 families reached out claiming they are in a similar situations.

“There are a lot of people that responded that [I was like] wow, I guess this happens a lot,” she said.

After seeing the responses to Jackson’s post and the messages we have received at ABC News 4, we tried to find out how often situations like these happen.

The answer is that they happen more than you might think.

“This is something that we see often.” Director of Youth Transition Program at Able SC Paige Winget said. “We have the seasons of calls from parents.”

Representatives with Family Connection South Carolina say referrals for a program which helps families navigate the IEP process have skyrocketed in the past year, with over 5,000 referrals overall to all of their programs.

“Our referrals for this program have gone up by 65% since last year,” CEO of Family Connection SC Amy Holbert said.

So the question that remains is why is this so common?

These experts say it may be the stress the pandemic has put on these families or the lack of all-around resources at every school, which forces these placement changes to specific programs.

“Ideally, you know, inclusion we know is best practice,” Winget said. “But sometimes, there's a lot of lack of training for our general education teachers, and for just our school administration, and those that are in the school that aren't necessarily always working with students with disabilities.”

These experts say it could also be the system of IEP placements, which sometimes may not meet the needs of a specific student.

“The I in an IEP is individualized, and it needs to be for that student, and not because of a specific diagnosis or something else that's determining that factor,” Director of Education and Family Support for Family Connection SC Sally Baker said.

While these experts say a lot of the times the schools or IEP administrators do have good advice for these students, in situations where they may be disagreements like in Jackson’s case, they are here to help.

We are working in school districts. We might know someone and might be able to say, let me, you know, chat with this person. Or let's get the full picture,” Winget explained.

“We've talked to all the different people that can potentially help you answer the questions along the way,” Baker said. “[We] talk about what's kind of next, what's coming. Who are you going to meet? Are you going to see how to use your voice and how to use the things that you see at home that you know your child can do? Find their strengths and how to communicate that over to their educational team?”

Able South Carolina is a disability-led organization that helps push for change in systems and communities surrounding people with disabilities.

Family Connection SC has many programs that do the same thing, including its Education Partner program, which helps families communicate with schools and gather more information on their specific IEPs to help parents make informed decisions.

It's something Jackson said is important to continuing the fight.

“If you're not okay with this, you don't have to accept that you can’t fight this. You have options,” she said.

We reached out to CCSD for a statement on Jackson’s situation. In response, the district said:

“While we can't comment on a specific student matter related to this topic, we want to emphasize we are committed to providing the best possible resources available for all of our students, and we work collaboratively with all parents and guardians. IEP teams make determinations regarding services and placement for students with disabilities based on the individual needs of each child.”