‘He left all his blood, sweat and tears on that interstate:’ Highway named after former Clarendon County Sheriff

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Family, friends, local law enforcement and elected leaders gathered in Clarendon County to honor a former sheriff.

The stretch of I-95 from Manning to just north of Santee will now be known as the ‘Randolph Garrett, Jr. Memorial Highway’ for Randy Garrett, who died last year at the age of 64.

His daughters spoke about the significance of this moment.

"We are emotional we are loved by all these people. Daddy was loved by all the folks joining us here today. This is truly an honor for him, for us,” Lamonda Garrett said.

"We're very, very proud of him and the sacrifices he made and he was an awesome lawman, but above that, he was an amazing father," Brittney Garrett said.

Kipp Coker, the Lake City Police Chief, worked with Garrett when he was sheriff of Clarendon County. Coker says Garrett routinely traveled on the dedicated stretch of I-95.

"When he was patrolling, before he became sheriff and chief of police, he patrolled the interstate. He was doing interdiction work, taking illegal narcotics, illegal proceeds off of the interstate with these cartels and drug dealers. He left all his blood, sweat and tears on that interstate on these roads in this county," Coker said.

The dedication was made possible through the hard work of the Garrett family and a resolution introduced by District 36 State Senator Kevin Johnson.

“Randy and I were very close. He was a good friend, good law enforcement officer. When I was mayor of Manning, we had the fortunate honor to hire him as our police chief,” Johnson said.

Garrett served Clarendon County for nearly a decade after being elected in 2008, a position he held until current Sheriff Tim Baxley was sworn in 2017.

Before that, Garrett served as the Manning Police Chief.

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