Beaufort County official unnerved after home address circulated
Beaufort County councilwoman, Paula Brown, reported a disturbance to local law enforcement that she described as “inappropriate and dangerous” for herself and other elected public officials while attending a county-hosted event on St. Helena Island. Brown’s complaint was filed with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Brown — who represents voters in eastern Bluffton and north of Fording Island Road. — said she was concerned for her safety after a pamphlet listing council members’ personal home addresses were distributed at a public meeting.
The disturbance occurred during a “chat with council” event on June 23, the police report says, where members of the community were able to ask council members questions in a more informal setting. After the meeting, Brown was forwarded the pamphlet being distributed by an organization, although the organization was not specified in the report. According to Hanna Nichols, the county’s spokesperson, Brown was not in attendance during the St. Helena meeting.
The pamphlet listed the contact information, including home addresses, for each member of council. The pamphlet was encouraging the public to write letters to their respective council members.
Brown took issue with this, considering what she described to law enforcement as a series of personal “threats” she has received while serving on council since 2023. These include a voicemail and a message she received via Signal, an instant messaging service. She also cited fear in the midst of recent politically-motivated attacks, including the June murders of a Minnesota state representative and her husband.
She says that the threats occurred after she voted and spoke publicly about the development on Pine Island, a contentious topic that has prompted tensions among community members on either side of the issue. Lines have been drawn between those who are in support of a newly submitted zoning amendment, and those who are interested in maintaining the existing cultural protection overlay that has prohibited the development of resorts, gated communities and golf courses on St. Helena Island since the late 1990s.
In June 2023, Brown was one of only two council members to vote in favor of a zoning map amendment that would remove the 502-acre Pine Island property from the culturally protected zone.
She fears the next time the council votes on the matter this fall, she will face similar threats.
“That’s what disturbs me the most,” Brown said. “We are going to be voting on this again soon. You better believe I’m scared.”
Brown recently addressed the pamphlets at a county workshop.
“We know that we are in public service and therefore are public figures. That’s fine,” Brown said during the workshop. “Emails, county phones [are] all available. It’s all public knowledge. But to physically distribute our home addresses, that’s right, all of our home addresses on a sheet of paper, is crossing the line. While it may not be illegal, it’s certainty immoral.”
Brown passed around copies of the pamphlets to fellow council members. Council Chair Alice Howard, along with other members of the council, said that they had not seen the pamphlet. The pamphlets, Brown said, were calling the public to fight the development on Pine Island.
Jessie White, south coast office director of the Coastal Conservation League, later defended the pamphlets in the workshop, although she claimed to have not seen them.
She said that Protect St. Helena, a coalition of organizations that she said includes the league and the Penn Center, distributed a leaflet. It listed contact information for each council member that was pulled directly from the county’s website, she said.
Each of the council members’ contact information, including their home addresses, is available on the Beaufort County website.
Brown advised law enforcement that she has not received any direct threats following the distribution of her home address.
Clarification: An earlier version of this story implied that council member Brown was in attendance for the St. Helena meeting. She was not.
This story was originally published July 10, 2025 at 3:30 PM.
