What’s going on in Santee? Back in the day, when I used to be the reporter covering the town of Santee, that was a regular question. Something was always “up” in the town – some fight, some controversy or something that made you wonder if, perhaps, someone was putting something in the town’s drinking water that caused chaos in town government.

It seemed there was so much potential in the town, but professionalism was lacking. You wondered how a town with so much going for it – especially its location on Interstate 95 and on Lake Marion – could allow itself to suffer under a government that really seemed more interested in infighting than improving the lives of its residents.

Then some things changed. It got its new town center, replacing the ratty old trailer that formerly served as the town hall. That added a sense that this might actually be a real town.

And it added a professional administrator: Donnie Hilliard, Orangeburg County’s former administrator.

As a reporter, I hate to admit I’m not cynical all the time, but I’ve always thought a lot of Hilliard and his family.

His son and I went to Orangeburg-Wilkinson together. Don was sort of a member of our nerd crew, except he played football and had a few social skills us hard-core nerds didn’t. But he was smart and had a sense of integrity.

And Hilliard’s wife was my high school biology teacher. Nice woman, caring teacher and again, a person whose motives could never be questioned.

Through the years, as I worked with Donnie Hilliard, I found him to be a straight-up kind of guy. He’s an accountant by training and I’ve always thought of him as one – a person who cares about numbers, about getting things right.

Don’t get me wrong – if he got his hand caught in the cookie jar, I’d report it in a skinny minute. But from what I know of him and his family, I respect him.

When I learned he was named the Santee administrator in 2002, I thought “Finally, Santee did something right.” I imagined the progress Santee could make with someone at its helm with integrity, who worried about getting things right instead of past grudges. Just knowing Hilliard was associated with the town boosted its image in my mind.

And I imagined that Santee would begin to enjoy some of the benefits that it might have missed before.

Last week, Hilliard was fired. ... And it was done in the old Santee way. No explanation was given. Council was called for a meeting in executive session – some of the council members say they had no idea Hilliard’s employment was in question. Maybe they thought they were being gathered to discuss the police chief, who was arrested on a charge of misconduct in office after the State Law Enforcement Division was called about accounting irregularities.

Hilliard says he wishes he knew why he was fired. I wish I knew why. Why does Santee not need a professional administrator? Has he not done a good job? Do they have someone else they’re looking at? Or has Hilliard somehow offended them?

I want to know because I have a lot of love for Santee, the town I used to cover. You get like that once you spend enough time in a place. And I wonder, I worry, that Santee has just forsaken its efforts to take advantage of its great benefits to return to its old, slipshod ways.

The reason why Hilliard was fired will have a lot to say about the direction Santee is headed.

Got married this weekend to the wonderful Wendy Crider, nee Jeffcoat. My best man gave me three phrases he says make for a happy marriage:

1) “Yes, dear.”

2) “I’m sorry”

3) “I was wrong”

All sensible bits of information. Kind of like Berlitz for couples – it doesn’t cover everything, but it gets you through most situations.

I’d appreciate any other advice folks out there may have about marriage – just e-mail it to gcrider@timesanddemocrat.com. If I get any, I’ll share it.

City Editor Gene Crider can be reached at gcrider@timesanddemocrat.com and 803-533-5570. To comment on this and other stories, visit TheTandD.com.

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