Latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Midlands

The Lexington County Sheriff's Department at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 26 will honor the Hallmark Crime Watch for placing first in a "Spirit of Giving" challenge to collect toys and non-perishable food items during the 2008 Sheriff's Department Holiday Food and Toy Drive for families that were in need of assistance. The group will be honored during a meeting at the Irmo Branch of the Lexington County Public Library at 6251 St. Andrews Road near Irmo.

Lexington County Sheriff James R. Metts said the Hallmark Crime Watch will be provided with signs that will be displayed with Neighborhood Crime Watch signs along roads in the Hallmark neighborhood, showing that the crime watch group won the challenge. They Won by donating about 350 pounds of food as well as 45 toys.

Sgt. Wesley Swinson organized the challenged among neighborhood crime watch groups in the Sheriff's Department North  Region Patrol District, which is based near Irmo, Metts Said. Swinson supervises code enforcement officers, resident deputies and school resource officers in the North Region Patrol District. The Bradford Hills Crime Watch, Helenwood Crime Watch, Stratton Place Crime Watch and Villias Court Crime Watch also participated in the challenge and donated a total of about 150 pounds of food and toys, Metts said.

"The response that we received from crime watch groups exceeded our expectations and confirmed that the citizens in Lexington County are generous, caring people," Metts said. "Despite tough economic times, members of the crime watch groups showed that the Christmas spirit was alive and well in Lexington County."

On December 12, 2008, Metts and deputies delivered more than 1,000 toys and more than 500 pounds if non-perishable food items during the annual Stuff-A-Bus event at the Wal-Mart Supercenter off harbison Boulevard near Irmo.

The toys and food were donated to the Sheriff's Department during the agency's annual holiday toy drive, which benefitted children in Lexington county who were in need of assistance, Metts said. The toys that the Sherif's Department donated were distributed by The Salvation Army, while food was distributed by harvet Hope Food bank.