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Local
man honored
Ware
Shoals bridge dedicated to state Sen. Billy O’Dell
October
23, 2006
By BOBBY
HARRELL
Index-Journal
staff writer
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| State Sen. Billy O’Dell
talks with Citadel bagpiper Greg Hunt after the
dedication of the William H. “Billy” O’Dell bridge near
Ware Shoals. The Citadel flag detail team and bagpiper
were brought in for O’Dell, a Citadel alumnus.
| WARE SHOALS
— The Saluda River Bridge has stood for as long as state Sen.
Billy O’Dell, District 4, has been alive.
With the bridge’s
reopening on Sunday afternoon, it looks to stand even
longer.
The bridge, now renamed the William H. “Billy”
O’Dell bridge, was dedicated at the Burton Center amid a crowd
of family, friends and community members.
Senators,
representatives and South Carolina Department of
Transportation officials praised O’Dell for his work in the
state and the honor of his friendship.
Ware Shoals Mayor
George Rush presided over the ceremony.
O’Dell’s friends
also arranged a surprise that shocked the senator — a flag
detail and bagpiper from The Citadel, his alma
mater.
O’Dell said the bagpiper shook him up a little bit
as he asked for one to play at his funeral. “I had to pinch
myself,” he said at the dedication.
O’Dell thanked many
during his acceptance of the dedication, including his late
mother and father. He said he was humbled by his friends and
proud of the bridge.
SCDOT commissioner Marion P. Carnell
said he has know O’Dell his entire life, but doesn’t know
everything about him.
“I didn’t know his (middle) name was
Hamilton until I got this program,” Carnell said about the
dedication’s program.
O’Dell has spent most of his life
dedicated to public service.
He also helped place the
bridge on the Federal Replacement program and get the money
together to build it, Carnell said.
SCDOT executive
director Elizabeth S. Mabry said she thinks very highly of
O’Dell.
“He is kind and a gentleman to everyone,” she
said.
State Sen. Danny Verdin, District 9, said that
O’Dell’s reputation as a humble person wasn’t going to get in
the way of his friends saluting him and his
accomplishments.
“We’re not going to let your modesty get
in the way of us today,” Verdin said.
U.S. Rep. Gresham
Barrett, R, third congressional district, who was scheduled to
attend the dedication, couldn’t make the event because of his
ailing mother.
Barrett sent field representative Jackie
McCord to let O’Dell know the bridge-naming was
well-deserved.
State Rep. Michael Pitts said that O’Dell is
a good person because he never asks for praise.
Pitts also
congratulated everyone who worked on completing the
bridge.
“It takes a lot of people to pull together
something like this,” he said.
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