COVID-19 RESPONSE: Global Expedition Leader on the Current Pandemic

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.

CAMDEN, S.C. – Energy and environmental attorney Tom Mullikin is not only working but training every single day, “without fail,” he says, during the coronavirus pandemic. He’s doing it while encouraging others and assisting family and friends in his hometown of Camden (one of the earliest-and-hardest hit regions in terms of the virus) and elsewhere around the state.

“Uncertain times like these are all the more reason to live purposeful lives,” Mullikin says. “To get through this pandemic – including the public fear of infection, of upended lives, and volatile markets and market predictions – we have to get up every day with purpose and drive, even if that drive is not naturally occurring at the moment.”

Last week, Mullikin – along with Dr. Tallulah Holmstrom, chief medical officer of Kershaw Health; and Kershaw County Sheriff Lee Boan – released a public service announcement (see below), which not only raised the banner for safety and best health practices going forward, but encouraged the public to take heart and “be strong.”

Holmstrom and Boan both urged continued social distancing measures in the PSA.

Mullikin said, “Kershaw County has led the way in our nation, since we fought and won our Independence, and we will continue to meet great challenges. We will lead the way in defeating the coronavirus through our responsible actions.”

Following the PSA’s release, Mullikin weighed in on social media: “The Coronavirus is a serious threat to our historic community. We have met and overcome grave challenges before and we need to meet this challenge with the same resolve. During these uncertain times we all will be experiencing anxiety. Please remember the words we find in 1 Peter 5:7 that we should ‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.’”

Mullikin’s work like that of others has been impacted by the pandemic. This year’s Mullikin Law Carolina Cup was cancelled. As have been overseas travel plans, his university teaching, and near daily face-to-face interactions with state and national leaders on topics ranging from climate change and flooding to crisis management and industry security and energy related issues.

Nevertheless, no hunkering down nor binge watching television for Mullikin who continues daily work on the phone with clients and business and government leaders, and training daily in his expansive home gym for forthcoming expeditions around the world. “I can’t stop,” said Mullikin who already has summited or circumnavigated many of the world’s highest mountains on every continent and logged SCUBA dives in every ocean on earth.

Later this year, Mullikin plans to explore the length of breadth South Carolina as part of a forthcoming magazine publishing project and then make a return trip to the Galapagos Islands where he serves as a professor at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (he also serves as professor at Coastal Carolina University).

Not surprisingly, Gov. Henry McMaster once referred to Mullikin as “the most interesting man in the world,” a play on the Dos Equis national advertising campaign of a few years ago. Even less surprising is that McMaster tapped Mullikin to lead (as chairman) the S.C. Floodwater Commission in Oct. 2018.

Big-scope challenges are not new to Mullikin, nor are unseen threats like the coronavirus.

The current pandemic, Mullikin says, will create new challenges for us all going forward but not the doom and gloom that is so-regularly proffered these days. “It all may look bleak right now, but there is blue sky in front of us,” Mullikin says. “Businesses are retooling. People are eager to get back to work. The markets are down, but I believe they are ultimately going to roar back to life. We don’t know what it’s all going to look like, but I am very hopeful.”

– See Kershaw County PSA at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlW30X-2IVM&feature=.