Billy Liggett

Photo by Brooke Wolfe

Country Club manager: ‘We will rebuild’

By Gordon Anderson / anderson@sanfordherald.com
SANFORD — Whether to rebuild the Carolina Trace Country Club is not the issue — it’s just a matter of how to go about it, club leaders said Friday, a day after the 20,000-square-foot clubhouse was destroyed by a fire.
The destruction has put a temporary halt to most social activities for the club’s members, including golf, dining events and meetings.
Brad Bourret, the club’s general manager, said he first heard about the fire Thursday night while he was at a trade show in Florida.

Full story will appear in Saturday’s Herald

I saw this at Lostpedia.com and thought it was cool … one of the many things I love about this show.

Episode 4.01 trivia
* While playing horse with Hurley, Jack gets the letters “H” and “O”. “H” is the 8th letter of the alphabet and “O” is the 15th - 815
* Behind Hurley as he’s freaking out over Abbadon there’s a small sculpture of the letters ‘HO’ on a shelf.
* Hurley mentions Charlie’s ghost showing up in the convenience store right next to the “Ho Ho’s”.

To see my short review of the season premiere, click here.

Fire hydrant near facility was not working

SANFORD — The Carolina Trace fire chief addressed the issue of a fire hydrant not working properly near the Carolina Trace Country Club, which was destroyed by a fire Thursday night.

Todd McNeill said in a statement this morning that the non-working hydrant did pose an inconvenience to firefighting operaitons, but “it did not prevent us from fully performing our duties.”

“We maximized our access to the available water sources, including the local lake, called Lake Trace,” McNeill said. “This posed a minor inconvenience and we were able to tap all the water we needed.”

Firefighting operations concluded around 5:30 am this morning and firefighters hit the still smoldering hot spots at daybreak. McNeill said the operation has moved into the investigative phase.

“We have an experienced group of federal, state and local fire investigators who are working to determine the cause and origin of this fire,” he said. “We are happy that no one was injured during this operation, and we want to ensure that the proper cause is determined for this fire. At this time, we do not know when the investigation will be concluded. However all care will be given to ensure that the investigation is thorough.”

Cause of fire still unknown; 65 percent of building gone

From staff reports

SANFORD — The fire that destroyed Carolina Trace’s country club late Thursday consumed about 65 percent of the building, Todd McNeill with the Carolina Trace Volunteer Fire Department said in a press release today.

Officials with the Lee County Fire Marshal’s Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation are still investigating the fire to determine a cause.

Firefighters from 15 different fire departments were able to stop the fire from destroying the entire structure, McNeill said.

“While we are saddened to see the loss of such a large part of the Carolina Trace community, we are happy to have helped save a good amount of the personal property in the building, and no one was hurt during the operation,” said McNeill, CTVFD Chief and Incident Commander of the operation.

The fire was called into 9-1-1 by the security gatehouse at the complex at 9:35 pm. Firefighters responded, and the first crews began to attempt to reduce the fire spread. Numerous other fire departments, including the City of Sanford responded to assist.

The country club was under a minor renovation at the time of the fire. One contributing factor to the fire’s overall damage, McNeill said, was that the nearest fire hydrant was non-functional.

We got the call about this at nearly 10 p.m. last night and had to completely scrap the centerpiece we had in Friday’s newspaper. But thanks to Kevin Degon, Gordon Anderson and Brooke Wolfe staying on until past midnight last night, we were able to get this in.

It’s big news because this clubhouse has truly been a “social hub” for our community. I’ve attended a few events there sponsored by the Chamber, civic clubs and to golf, and I can tell you this was a big facility. It was also a great building, and both the Carolina Trace community and Lee County have suffered a great loss.

Here’s our story for Friday’s newspaper. We will have more in Saturday’s edition. Our original centerpiece — a fun advance on Saturday’s Quiz Bowl — will also appear in Saturday’s Herald.

Trace clubhouse destroyed by fire
Officials at scene call 20,000-square-foot structure ‘atotal loss’

By GORDON ANDERSON
anderson@sanfordherald.com
SANFORD — The “social hub” of the Carolina Trace com munity was destroyed by a fire Thursday night.
The clubhouse at Carolina Trace Country Club — the cen terpiece to the community’s golf course and home to numerous social functions over the years — was practically gutted by the fire, which began around 9:35 p.m. Flames were first noticed by a guard in the gated commu nity, according to an official with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
By 10:30 p.m., the fire had torn through much of the upper two levels of the 20,000-square foot structure, which houses the club’s golf pro shop, a bar, din ing rooms and meeting spaces.
A damage assessment for the rest of the building was unavail­able at press time, although offi cials at the scene said the build­ing would likely be considered a total loss.
Detective Van Holly of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said authorities didn’t think anyone was inside the building at the time of the fire. The cause of the blaze was unknown, he said.
Firefighters from across the area were on the scene Thursday night. In addition to the Carolina Trace Volunteer Fire Department, members of the Sanford Fire Department, the Northview Fire Department, the Cape Fear Fire Department, the West Sanford Fire Department, the Benhaven Fire Department, the Spring Lake Fire Department and the Lee County Emergency Management Office were on hand.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Lee County Fire Marshal’s Office.

Well, it’s 11:23 p.m. Thursday, and Lost has premiered. I normall don’t “blog” this late, but Carolina Trace’s country club burned down tonight, so here I am.
While I wait for my reporter and photographer to get back, I have a few thoughts on tonight’s episode … which I give 4 1/2 stars (out of 5).
Warning: Spoilers
• So we know three of the Oceanic 6: Jack, Kate and Hurley. Have any ideas who the other 3 are? I’m guessing Sayid is one of them. I don’t know why.
• The quick shot of Jacob when Hurley looks in the window appears to actually be Jack’s dad, Christian Shepherd.
• Hurley’s scene with Charlie was creepy and well done, but Hurley’s affection for Charlie was also well performed.
• Obviously, this flash-forward comes before Jack’s at the end of Season 3 (Jack: “I’m thinking of growing a beard). … but I also like how Hurley wants to go back to the island, yet Jack says no way. It will be great to find out what changes his mind.
• Jack would have killed Locke. How awesome is that.
• What’s the significance of Hurley drawing an igloo in the mental institution? How did the other patient see Charlie? Does this mean he’s more than just Hurley’s imagination?

My fire people are here, so I’m gone. I’ll talk more Lost tomorrow.