JerryBellune@yahoo.com

It was a perfect Saturday for the 7th annual Lake Murray Polar Plunge. By 11:45 am more than 300 people waited at the water line at the SC Electric & Gas park on the south side of the Dreher Shoals Dam. The air temperature had reached a balmy 49°, the water temperature just under 50° and the wind from the northwest crossed the lake at a gentle 9 mph. For Special Olympics officials Mike Still and Barry Coats, this was pleasant. Both remember the year it snowed and another 2 days after an ice storm. Coats and his daughter Erin were ready to plunge. For cousins Jennifer Steele and Gina Jumper, it was a way to raise money for Special Olympics — Jennifer’s 4th plunge and Gina’s 1st. Both admitted they suffered temporary insanity as did state Department of Motor Vehicles Executive Director Kevin Shwedo who has plunged all 7 years. “Yes,” Shwedo said. “It is temporary insanity.” All 3 of them were laughing about this diagnosis. Meadow Glen Middle School special education teacher Anna Stackhouse brought a team of students calling themselves the Frost-Bitten Gators. Her husband Daniel, dressed as the Special Olympics polar bear, danced with the Chick-fil-A costumed cow. Sandhills Primary School’s Emojis, a team formed by special education teachers PJ Calvert and Mary Kennedy and Swansea High Athletic Director Chris Register and his wife Annie, won best team costume honors. New Providence Elementary student Suri Sefcik, 10, won the individual costume honor dressed as Cleopatra. When Lexington County Sheriff’s Sgt. Lee Barrett shouted “go” more than 100 plungers — some only in swim suits, others in shorts and shirts — hit the water. A few showed greater tolerance for the water temperature, but most hurried back to shore within seconds. Before the event, the Polar Plunge had raised $22,473. Mike Still said he expected more during registration. Still led individual fund raising with $1,598. The State Transport Police led teams with $4,083. This was 1 of 4 such Special Olympics fund raisers across the state Saturday. “Every dollar goes to support Special Olympians,” Still said. “It helps them pay for food, lodging and to participate in our events.”