NAACP Opens Summerville Branch

Dorchester County now has a third branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People: Summerville.

A Summerville branch of the NAACP was created Thursday evening, opening with 78 members. State NAACP Executive Director Dwight C. James oversaw the meeting at Dorchester County Council Chambers.

Officers elected were Dexcter Mack (President), Felisa Geddis (1^st Vice President), Deborah Mortellaro (2^nd Vice President) and Brenda Deweese (Treasurer). Elected as At Large members of the Executive Committee were Aaron Brown, Thelma Harper, William Sanders and John Thomas.

“Our first activities will be to work throughout the community to determine more precise goals,” Mack said.

Targets suggested were regaining black representation on the Dorchester County School District Two school board — which saw two black candidates out of a total of seven candidates vying for the three open seats but neither won — and creating a youth chapter of the new local branch.

James said goals for the organization statewide include addressing new voter identification regulations, which take effect next year. Click here to read the latest on Voter ID. 

“The NAACP was very active in holding back the ‘Voter ID’ laws (in 2012),” James said. “Come January, it starts again ... We have to be watchful and really on-guard that people aren’t disenfranchised from their right to vote.”

Dorchester County’s other two branches are in Ridgeville and St. George.

The group’s first official meeting is 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 13, at County Council Chambers (500 N. Main St. in Summerville).