South Carolina private club shut down, accused of violating governor’s order

PAGELAND, S.C. — Casey Maynor said the members of the private club she runs outside Pageland are more than just customers.

“They’re a lot of older people. People without families. People here working from out of town. They’re family to us,” she said.

Legends is a private club on Highway 601 that’s been in business for a decade. For the last two months it’s been shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but she tried to reopen this week after the governor allowed outdoor seating beginning Monday.

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“We thought we did everything right. We went above and beyond to make sure we did it right,” she said.

Following the governor’s last order, she decided to reopen, for outside seating only.

She got a tent, separated picnic tables by eight feet, and went beyond that, putting hand sanitizer on each table. The club also roped off the front entrance, only allowing members inside to use a restroom -- one at a time.

Yet on Wednesday night, after being open for two days, Chesterfield County Sheriff’s deputies pulled up, wrote her a citation and told her to shut down the business.

The citation shown to Channel 9 says, “violation of the governor’s order,” but doesn’t list what the violation is.

Maynor said deputies couldn’t tell her.

On Friday, Channel 9 spoke to Chesterfield County Sheriff James Dixon.

“I stand by what my officers did in this situation,” Dixon said.

He said his deputies believed that the club was allowing customers inside the business to buy alcohol -- a violation of the latest restrictions.

“If we just thought there were only people outside, my deputies would have never stopped there at all,” Dixon said.

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Maynor denies that, and said club members were not inside the business. She plans to save all three days of surveillance camera video to document that for a court appearance next month.

Before the citation was issued on Wednesday, Maynor spoke on the phone to both the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the South Carolina Department of Revenue several times. She had called to ask about what was specifically allowed under the governor’s order, and what wasn’t. She said both agencies gave conflicting information.

Shutting down again means continuing to struggle.

Maynor doesn’t understand why her business should be treated differently than others because she has all the same licenses to sell beer, wine and liquor. Now, she worries about the future.

“Are we gonna lose this place? Are we gonna make it through? Two months, no revenue. I mean, we’re not criminals,” she said.

On Friday, SLED agents told Channel 9 they were aware of the citation against the club, but were not involved in it.

The South Carolina Department of Revenue referred Channel 9 to law enforcement, and said the agency did not give legal advice about the governor’s executive orders.

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