Bowman’s Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade scheduled for Thursday night was canceled following threats of violence, the mayor said.
Mayor Patsy Rhett said in a Facebook video on Thursday that she made the decision, “because of threats of violence that was brought or threatened to be brought upon our students at our high school yesterday and threatened to be brought against Bowman.”
Orangeburg County School District Superintendent Dr. Shawn Foster no threats were made to Bethune-Bowman Middle/High School.
Foster said the school was placed on “soft lockdown” for about an hour out of an abundance of caution after someone allegedly made a social media threat about “getting some people in Bowman.”
Foster said the alleged threat wasn’t specifically addressed to anyone at the school, but Bowman.
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During the “soft lockdown,” the outside doors of the school remained locked and operations inside the school continued as usual. Dismissal procedures at the school continued as usual.
Foster said students’ parents and guardians were informed about Wednesday’s “soft lockdown” at the school.
After the incident, Rhett consulted with members of town council and decided to cancel the parade.
“A lot of community people are afraid and fear the safety of their children and of us,” Rhett said.
“We are so sorry because the anger and what these young people are doing caused us not to be able to come together as a community and feel safe and enjoy our Christmas parade,” Rhett said.
She said vendors will be refunded money they’ve paid if they contact town hall.
Bowman Town Hall may be reached at 803-829-2666 during business hours.
Contact the writer: mbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5545. Follow on Twitter: @MRBrownTandD
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