Fairfax, S.C., and Clay County, Ga., lead nation in separated couples

Posted 8:27PM on Monday 10th June 2002 ( 23 years ago )

FAIRFAX, SOUTH CAROLINA - The Rev. John Greene knows it is tough enough to find a job, much less a marriage counselor, in this corner of South Carolina where the cornfields and the railroad tracks seem to separate each town from the rest of the world. ``People are left out there all by themselves to fend,'' says Greene, who preaches at Revelation Ministries in poverty-stricken Fairfax. Among U.S. communities with a population of more than 1,000, this small farming town has the highest percentage of separated people in the nation, according to the 2000 census. Nearly 14 percent of people age 15 and older in the town of 3,200 reported that they were deliberately living apart from their spouses. The broken marriages are attributed to the stresses of poverty, lack of education, a breakdown in family values, the demands of South Carolina's divorce law, and the presence of a maximum-security prison here, which skews the numbers. Fairfax is in the southwestern part of the state's Allendale County, which is tied with Clay County, Ga., a similarly poor and predominantly black area, as the counties with the highest percentage in America of separated people. The rate in the two counties is 8 percent. In fact, South Carolina is second in the nation, with 3 percent of its 15-and-over population separated. Only the District of Columbia, with 4 percent, is higher. Nationally, the figure is 2 percent. Under South Carolina law, a person seeking a divorce has to prove desertion, physical abuse, adultery or drug and alcohol abuse on the part of the spouse. But couples can opt instead for a no-fault divorce, separating for 12 months and then dissolving the marriage without a battle. Poor people, especially, often take the separation route to save money on lawyers' fees. Or they split up and never bother to get divorced at all. ``It's ridiculous,'' says 44-year-old Richard Greene of Summerville, who was separated before his divorce became final last August. ``If two people decide it's not going to work out, why can't you just get it over with?'' Greene, a computer consultant and no relation to the Rev. Greene, says he chose separation out of respect for his wife after he watched other people slander their spouses in nasty, drawn-out fights. Allendale County, population 11,000, is the poorest county in the state, with 35 percent of its residents living in poverty. Fairfax was once a prosperous farming community not far from U.S. 301, at one time the main north-south route between New York and Florida. But Interstate 95 bypassed Fairfax 26 years ago. Now dozens of gas stations, restaurants and shops sit empty and windowless along the route. The state took over the Allendale County school system three years ago after the district continually failed to meet state academic standards. Poverty makes it harder for couples to keep their marriages together, says Clifton Flynn, a sociology professor at the University of South Carolina-Spartanburg. ``South Carolina tends to be poorer, have less education, low wage jobs, which make it stressful to maintain intimate relationships,'' he says. Also, the Allendale County numbers are may be higher because it is the home of the Allendale Correctional Institution, whose inmates are listed in the census as residents of Fairfax. Many of the inmates are serving long sentences, and their spouses have filed for separation. Some say keeping couples together requires more than jobs. ``It's going to take a long time to change the cycle of poverty and keep families together,'' says Beth Gooding, an Allendale County lawyer who has worked for 23 years to help families through their legal troubles. ``There are several generations where family values were never instilled.''

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