Loggers, SC utility at odds over submerged logs

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A couple of divers and the state owned utility Santee Cooper are at loggerheads over the ownership of old logs raised from the depths of Lake Marion.

The Post and Courier of Charleston reports (http://bit.ly/ohmXCq ) commercial divers raised logs from beneath the lake and want to take them back to a workshop in Meggett. The logs sell for $2 per foot but cut into boards can sell for five times as much.

Nate Tarpein and Justin Herrington have a state permit to remove logs from the Santee River, but the river flows through the lake, owned by Santee Cooper. So the utility crews told the divers they couldn’t remove the logs.

Tarpein and Herrington have hired a lawyer to try to protect their income.

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Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.postandcourier.com