daily awards presentation - part 4 of 5

NEWS FEATURE WRITINGNEWS FEATURE WRITINGDaily Over 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe State

Joey HollemanI love you Peggy


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Post and CourierBrian HicksSlavery in Charleston: A chronicle of human bondage in the Holy City

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1

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of the nation’s 4 million slaves lived in South Caro-lina.

of Africans brought to America as slaves came through our port.

THE UGLY TRUTH MORE ON THE WAR

Tracing your roots back to the plantation. 7A

Th e 18th installment of our 20-part series on the Civil War. 1B

A listing of sesquicentennial events. 5B

of the white population owned 95% of the slaves in America.

harles Carleton Coffin would be haunted by the sight for the rest of his life.

Behind the iron gate of the “MART,” Coffin found a long hall lined with benches down one wall, a platform on the other and, beyond it, a four-story brick building with grated windows and iron doors.

He was standing in both a prison yard and an auction house.

Coffin, a reporter with the Boston Journal, was one of the first newspaper-men to reach Charleston after the Con-federate military abandoned it in Feb-ruary 1865. He immediately set out in search of the city’s largest slave market so he could describe it for his readers in Massachusetts.

As Coffin stood looking at the auction block, he heard a voice behind him.

“I was sold there upon that table two years ago.”

Please see SLAVERY, Page 6A


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Post and CourierAdam ParkerHidden hurt: The surprising, deep-seated cause of the 16-year-old Aaron Williams’ death

Hidden HurtThe surprising, deep-seated cause

of 16-year-old Aaron Williams’ death

WADE SPEES/STAFF

The Williams family, Hailey (clockwise from left), Beth, Trace and Hannah, with their dog Sassy, at their home in Mount Pleasant. Aaron Williams, 16, died in December from self-inflicted burns.

BY ADAM PARKER [email protected]

AAt some point that Monday evening, perhaps after a

pleasant family dinner, or after Sassy the Dalmatian

had her walk, Aaron Williams stepped outside, sat

in his car and wrote a goodbye letter.

Over dinner, Beth Williams and her three kids, Aaron,

Hannah and Hailey, chatted about the upcoming Christmas

break. Then they watched a movie together in the living room

of their Mount Pleasant home. Beth’s husband, Lt. Col. Trace

Williams, was nearing the end of a three-month assignment

at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Fla.

There was no outward indication to those close to Aaron

that the high school junior was preparing to end his life.

We were trying to help him, but we were looking in the wrong place.

Beth Williams,Aaron’s mother

PROVIDED

A 2010 class photo of Aaron Williams. Please see HIDDEN HURT, Page 6A

PROFILE FEATURE WRITING OR STORYPROFILE FEATURE WRITING OR STORYDaily Under 20,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEAiken StandardMike GibbonsYou Never Know Who’s Looking

Let me give you the moral of the story first: You never know who’s looking. And you never know how much they look up to you.

This true-life fable started last Thursday, when my wife, daughter and father-in-law went out to a restaurant. (Park-er and I went home to make sure the Wii still worked.) They had been there a few minutes when a bus pulled up. The bus was hauling the Chattahoochee Valley Community College softball team from Phenix City, Ala., in town for a weekend tournament.

My daughter felt a connec-tion immediately as, to her, anyone from Alabama surely is a Bama fan (even if they’re from down near Opelika). Plus, this was an honest-to-goodness softball team. With Allie’s tryouts for the 10-year-old league only a few days away, this was, to her, like seeing the Atlanta Braves walk into the joint.

She mustered up the cour-age to go and speak with the team, asking for pointers on what she should do at her tryout. They were more than helpful, and Allie became an immediate fan of the CVCC Lady Pirates.

On Saturday, Allie said over and over that she wanted to head to Citizens Park to see CVCC play. That, she told us, was HER team now, and she had to root them on. We finally made our way over to the fields around 3:30 p.m. The team was practicing on one field as other games unfolded throughout the park. We stood behind the fence as

two players practiced hitting, one of the women hitting sev-eral balls over the fence near us. Allie retrieved the balls and took them to the fence, where the players approached. “Hey, you’re the girl from the restaurant!” one said. Allie beamed. They told us they were playing in the champi-onship game at 4 p.m. When that hour arrived, we were there in the bleachers, waiting to cheer on CVCC.

We stood out, as a com-munity college softball team from Alabama usually doesn’t have a big local following when they play in South Carolina. One mother even approached my wife and asked, simply out of curiosity, why we were there cheering them on. My wife’s expla-nation seemed to make her proud.

As we watched the game, we saw this team was some-thing special. They had an amazing energy. Cheers, high-fives, chants, dances. This was a team Allie was born to follow. And emulate.

As the innings played on, we noticed the team, before taking the field, would huddle

at a poster hung on the fence. I slipped onto the field to see what they were all touching together as a team. It was a poster of a cherubic faced teen named Mallory Garmon. It had the quote, “No one bet-ter than you right here.” In the dugout, Mallory’s No. 23 jersey hung. I then saw a pink T-shirt on the back of one of the fan’s chairs – it had the No. 23, and the words “In Loving Memory of Mallory Garmon.”

I quickly looked her up online on my phone. Mallory, the pride and joy of Elmore,

Ala., was on a softball schol-arship to CVCC when she died in a car crash in October 2010. They were playing this game – and every game – for her.

CVCC started out strong, putting seven runs on the board in the first inning. The game got tight as it went on, but the opposing team never could top the spirit of CVCC. CVCC won, 15-14.

At the end of the game, they did something that made a little girl forever have some big league idols. They gave Allie the game

ball. And when they gathered for a team picture, they had Allie hold Mallory’s jersey. “You’ve gotta be somebody special to hold Mallory’s jer-sey,” one of the players told Allie.

I don’t know any of the young women on the CVCC team. I doubt I will ever cross paths with them again. But I hope they know the indelible mark they left on a 10-year-old girl in South Carolina. They taught a lesson of team-work, of sportsmanship, of loyalty.

Allie said she wants the

game ball to be her “practice ball,” and I think that’s a fine idea. When she takes the field for her first game, I hope she will carry the spirit of CVCC with her. And throughout her endeavors in life, I want her to always have fun and enjoy the journey, the way the CVCC team did. And I want her to always remember: She will one day be the woman some little girl looks up to.

Mike Gibbons is the man-aging editor of the Aiken Standard. Contact him at [email protected].

2C | Wednesday,February 23, 2011

Aiken Standard, Aiken, South CarolinaPage edited by: John LoweryENTERTAINMENT

You never know who’s looking …

MIKEGIBBONS

MIKE’S LIFE

Staff photo by Michael Gibbons

Allie Gibbons poses for a picture with the CVCC Lady Pirates softball game after their 15-14 win.


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEAiken StandardMike GibbonsMacayla’s Story

Aiken Standard

Area deaths

Inside

In the news

The Rev. Jeff Smoak was ordained on April 10. He is a 1991 graduate of Aiken High School and has an undergraduate degree from The Citadel. He attended seminary at Erskine Col-lege and is working toward a PhD.

Aiken native Jeff Smoak was preparing for a sermon at an Anderson church in March 2009 when he came upon a passage that put him at a crossroads of his faith.

“And Nathan departed unto his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.”

Smoak, then a seminary student, turned his thoughts immediately to Macayla, his 9-year-old daughter, who was dying from a degenera-tive brain disease. A grieving father and a man of faith found himself on a cliff of doubt.

“I had to ask the question. Was my child struck? Was Macayla struck or not?”

The beginningMacayla Smoak was born

May 22, 2001. She was healthy, happy and inquisitive. By 2 years old, she was memo-rizing movie labels and could work the VCR. Her father remembers her adventurous spirit.

“She was not a girlie-girl. She loved being outside, mess-ing with bugs, worms,” he said.

By MICHAEL GIBBONSManaging editor

Macayla’s storyBible verse triggers Aiken native to

share journey after loss of his daughter

Submitted photo

Aiken native the Rev. Jeff Smoak is seen with his daughter, Macayla, who died from a degen-erative brain disease on May 22. Smoak has written a book about his experiences.

Submitted photo

The Smoak family is seen at the beach. Pictured, from left, are Jennifer, Macayla, Jeff and Jacob.

About the book

“The Lord Struck the Child” by Jeff Smoak is available at www.lulu.com.Please see MACAYLA, page 16A


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Island PacketCassie FossThe People’s Advocate

PROFILE FEATURE WRITING OR STORYPROFILE FEATURE WRITING OR STORYDaily 20,000 - 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEHerald-JournalJenny ArnoldNot Slowing Down

Not slowing down

JOHN BYRUM/[email protected]

After losing part of his left leg in a motorcycle accident in February, Spartanburg Public Safety Officer Keith Soules has returned to his patrol shift after being fitted with a prosthetic leg.

Injured officer’s comeback inspires many, but he says he’s not done yet By JENNY [email protected]

With blue lights ablaze and siren screaming,


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe HeraldAndrew DysStaying Power

The clock struck 10 p.m. in the livingroom of the little house on PleasantHill Street.

Across the street sat First Washing-ton Baptist Church, where whippet-thin15-year-old Maurice Williams learned the musicthat wanted to burst forth from his soul.

In that living room, on thathot summer night in 1955,the girl with the skirt and thebraids and the smile thatwould rock the world fiveyears later told Maurice shehad to go home.

Handsome Mauricebegged. Handsome Mauricepleaded.

“I was in love with thatgirl ” Maurice recalls “Head

Staying power

PHOTOS BY ANDY BURRISS - [email protected] Williams holds his gold record for “Stay” at his Charlotte home Friday. Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs had the No. 1 record in thecountry the week of November 21, 1960. Below, Williams’ memorabilia from his career is on display at his home. At bottom are tickets forMaurice Williams & The Zodiacs concerts in Rock Hill from 1964 and 1965.

50 years later, Lancaster’s Maurice Williamsis still singing about the girl who got away

AndrewDys


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Sun NewsSteve JonesA Light to Others

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point where he can bow hishead at his Thanksgiving mealtoday to talk truly to God aboutwhat he’s thankful for.

“I’m thankful for my wifethat sticks by my side and myd a u gh t e r t h a t d r i ve s m earound,” Wilson says. “I’mthankful for my [National Fed-eration of the Blind] chapterand that they believe in me somuch.”

To appreciate the depth of hiswords, you need to understandthe soul they’re coming fromand the history of the voicespeaking them.

Wilson was born in Williams-burg County in 1942 and grewup in a time when a whole groupof people never called him any-thing but “Boy.”

“Boy, you want something toeat?” he recalls being sum-moned from the back door of ahouse where he had been rakingleaves all day. The offer, whichh e r e f u s e d , w a s f o r f o o dscraped from the plates of thoseinside, to be eaten on the porch.“What’s the matter with youboy, ain’t you hungry?”

Wilson shared his rural homewith four sisters and four broth-ers, a father who set the rulesand a mother who battled togive him a sense of self worth.

He recalls his father tellinghim that if he ever got in troublefor defending himself, he wouldbe there to help him. If he wascaught stealing, though, his fa-ther told him not to come home.

He recalls his mother’s handson his shoulders, her eyes bor-ing into his, telling him he wasas good as anybody else, no mat-ter the taunts they threw athim.

Back in those days, Wilsonsays, Williamsburg County“was so poor a crow would haveto carry his own corn.”

The only work he and his sib-lings could get to help maintainthe family was in agriculture,hard work, and the maximumpay was $3 a day.

“I knew I could handle morethan $3 a day,” he says. “I knew Iwas worth more than $3 a day.”

$1.25/hour in RochesterHe saved what money he

could and when he was 16, hewent to the bus station in Hem-ingway to get a ticket to a betterlife. Wilson recalls studying theschedule on the wall while theman behind the counter bad-gered him about what he want-ed, where he wanted to go. Theman got tired of waiting on Wil-son and turned to the customerbehind him.

“Rochester,” the man said ina deep voice as he handed overhis money, Wilson recalls.

“Rochester,” Wilson thenmimicked in as deep a voice ashe could muster.

Two days later, the bus pulledinto the station in northwesternNew York and Wilson disem-barked into an October chill un-like that in South Carolina. Hehad $40 in his pocket.

He asked a cab driver wherethe black people lived and gotin, stopping the journey short ofhis destination because the me-

ter ticked to $10. He walked therest of the way to a roominghouse and plunked down anoth-er $15 for a week’s rent, learningat the same time that a job waspossible if he was waiting out-side the car wash on MainStreet when it opened the nextmorning.

He rose early and recalls along, roundabout walk to MainStreet. But he was there by 5a.m. and was hired at $1.25 anhour to help wipe down cars af-ter they emerged from thewash.

“I said ‘Wow!’ ” he recalls. “Abuck and a quarter an hour!”

Eventually, he got a job withEastman Kodak, where hestayed for 30 years, met andmarried his wife, Jerlynn, start-ed a family and built a life thatdefines the American dream.

He had a motorcycle, he wentdeep sea fishing, he loved tohunt, he detailed vans and en-tered them in competitions. Hebought 80 acres with a cabinwhere he, his family and friendscould share good times andbond.

The Wilsons raised their chil-dren – two sons, four daughters– the way he was raised. Well-defined rules. Copious love.

Glaucoma scareHe had a scare from glauco-

ma, but it was deemed dormantin 1973.

In 1993, he went to a doctorfor help to stop tremors in hisface and paralysis in his armsand legs. The doctor diagnosedhim with Bell’s palsy and start-ed a regimen of steroids.

“Everything’s going dark,”Wilson recalls telling the doctorduring the treatment. “I need tosee an eye doctor.”

Fine, said the physician, butwait until the steroids have runtheir course.

When the eye doctor exam-ined him, Wilson recalls, she be-came furious. Wilson didn’thave Bell’s palsy, she said, hehad suffered a stroke.

And the physician treatinghim for the palsy hadn’t seenthe glaucoma in Wilson’s med-ical history.

Steroids will reawaken glau-coma and put it on fast forward.

Within three months, Wilsonhad lost the sight in his right eyeand the peripheral vision in his

left eye.Because of the loss, he had to

retire from Eastman Kodak andget out of a security business heowned with an associate be-cause he could no longer accu-rately fire the gun he needed tocarry. He had the retirement in-come, but lost the $12,000 to$15,000 he made each year inhis own business.

“I thought it was devastat-ing,” Wilson says.

Sitting around doing nothing,though, was not an option.

“The measure of a man isthat he has got to stand on hisown two feet and make his markin the world,” he says.

So he bought a one-ton pick-up truck and trailer and startedmaking regular runs to SouthCarolina, hauling fresh produceand seafood back north.

The trips reacquainted himwith how much warmer andslower life was in South Caroli-na than New York, and he beganto talk with Jerlynn about relo-cating. A native of Florida, sheresisted, partly because of herown memories but mostly be-cause she worried about leavingfriends, a paid-for home andsupport systems.

The sight in his left eye con-tinued to deteriorate. Half of itwas gone by 1997. By the timethe Wilsons moved into theirhome on the golf course nearConway in 1999, he could no lon-ger drive. He could still readsome, watch a bit of television,but his sight kept sliding.

Gone for goodHe was told at an eye ap-

pointment in 2007 that thenerves to his eyes were so dam-aged that there was no chancehe would keep any vision. Nohope.

He estimates he had 3 per-

cent of his sight left at that time.He remembers it shrank evenmore, to a point where he hadonly what he describes as laservision. If you were facing himhead-on, he could see you. If youmoved at all, you were gone.

“All I had to do was cough,sneeze, and everything wentblack,” he says of episodes thatbegan to plague him.

Then, one day in 2008, therewas no recovery.

“I panicked,” he said. “I usedto wake up at night tearing atmy face. It was like you had amask on.”

Wilson joined the Conwaychapter of the National Federa-tion of the Blind before he wastotally blind. He got more seri-ous with the organization afterthe 2007 diagnosis and nowsays his involvement with theorganization played a big part insaving his life.

It wasn’t an easy journey andthe chapter work wasn’t his on-ly lifeline.

“My thought was what do Ihave to live for now?” he says.“Honest to God, I wanted tocash out.”

Anger enveloped him like acold blanket, preventing any hu-man warmth from entering hisdark new world. He remembersthe day he sat hopeless on hisbed with a .357 caliber pistol inhis lap. He called his pastor, whostopped him from raising thegun and pulling the trigger. Hebegan to accept help from Jer-lynn, who he says is 150 percentof the reason for him making itthis far “in a land I’ve neverwalked before.”

He became president of theConway chapter, increasedmembership to 20, took the postas Area One director for thestate chapter and was named tohead its fundraising committee.

He’s proud of all that. Butstill, he says, each day is a chal-lenge, a fight between the goodmemories of the good past andthe intimidating fears of the un-known future.

“This is the only thing I can’twhip,” he says. “I wrassle with itevery day. It’s a struggle everyday.”

He wants to be able to walkout of h is house and lookaround. Again.

Jerlynn wants him to get outmore, spread his light furtherthan the Federation. But hethinks his lack of formal educa-tion limits what others will seeif he offers himself.

The Fixer“He’s one of the most impres-

sive people I’ve met in recentmemory,” says Conway City Ad-ministrator Bill Graham.

David Houck, director of theS.C. Federation of the Blind,who’s been legally blind since hewas 16, says Wilson’s future islimited only by what he will tryto do.

Jerlynn Wilson still thinks ofher husband as The Fixer, as

she always has.Wilson speaks with pride of

his recent presentation beforethe Conway City Counci l ,where he successfully soughtmoney to help send chaptermembers to a national conven-tion in Florida.

He impressed council mem-bers so much that even in a verytight budget year, they gave$500 to the effort. When Gra-ham called Wilson to give himthe news, Graham found him-self lingering on the phone, en-joying the conversation.

“It’s very uplifting to talkwith him,” Graham says.

Wilson says there are brightspots even on a completely darkroad.

His sense of direction, alwaysgood, has uncannily stayed withhim, and he routinely can tellJerlynn which way to turn whenthey are driving together. He’slearned to know where the sunis by the way it heats up onepart or another of his face. Hecan feel how the space inside hishome is different from that inthe neighborhood outside andhow an open field feels mores p a c i o u s t h a n t h eneighborhood.

He says he can pretty wellgauge a person’s height, weightand even hair color in a hand-shake and a bit of conversation.

Houck says blindness is tohim what he imagines a lost legis to a veteran. You always missit, but the presence of the loss inyour mind diminishes as in-creased activity takes over con-scious thoughts.

It can be an anchor that stopsmovement or it can be a solitarytear that dries on a cheek. Wil-son, you just know, is one whowill win. One who will create anew identity once again that fitsthe definition of a strong man.

“I dream of hunting wildboars down here with my pis-tol,” he says. “I love living on theedge.”

➤ Contact STEVE JONES at444-1765.

WILSONFrom Page 1A

BY TOM MURRAY [email protected]

Levern Wilson, president of the Conway chapter of the National Federation for the Blind, helps Patsy Roberts in theLittle Pee Dee Free Will Baptist Church. The church hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for the Federation last Saturday.

CONWAY | A single tear sneaksout of the corner of Levern Wil-son’s right eye and slidesstealthily down his cheek, outbeyond his dark glasses. It’snot big enough, doesn’t haveenough juice from the despair,to escape his cheek and droponto his shoulder, lingering on-ly as a glistening trail that ma-ny people would never see.

You don’t notice it at first be-cause you’re so busy listeningto his words about his lateststruggle with his identity, a life-long challenge, and the reso-nance of his deep voice.

“You wonder ‘How do theylook at me now?’ ” he says offamily, friends and acquain-tances. “I’m the guy that solvedthe problems.”

Two years ago, Wilson, 68,lost the final spark in a 14-yearcampaign against failing eye-sight, the last speck of lightleaving him forever.

He’s been through the sui-cide thing, through the searchfor a lifeline and has come to a

A light to others

PHOTOS BY TOM MURRAY [email protected]

The Rev. Leroy Larrimore (center) pastor of the Little Pee Dee Free Will Baptist Church, is guided to the hand of Levern Wilson by hisdaughter-in-law Pam Larrimore (left). Wilson is the president of the Conway Chapter of the National Federation for the Blind. Wilson andLarrimore lost their sight late in life.

Blind late in life, hemeets issue head-on

Levern Wilson speaks of his struggle with the glaucoma that took his sight.

View more photos of

Levern Wilson at

TheSunNews.com .

BY STEVE JONES

[email protected]

See WILSON | A

COLUMBIA | An experimentalplan to fight global warmingcould cause blooms of poison-ous algae in seafood-richstretches of the open ocean,say researchers at the Univer-

sity of South Carolina.For more than 20 years, sci-

entists have discussed wheth-er adding iron to the sea couldeffectively keep carbon dioxideout of the atmosphere by caus-ing the increased growth ofphytoplankton, a tiny oceanplant that absorbs the green-

house gas from air.But recent research shows

that putting more iron in theocean also could cause an ex-plosion in growth of toxic al-gae.

A recent report by re-searchers from USC, the Uni-versity of California-Santa

Cruz and LSU says they havedocumented the toxic algae insections of the open PacificOcean, a finding believed to bethe first of its kind. Previously,the toxin had been known al-most exclusively along the im-mediate coast, near beachesand harbors.

South Carolina professorClaudia Benitez-Nelson, amember of the research team,said adding iron to the seamight help curb global warm-ing — but not without a poten-tially caustic side effect.

Toxic algae puts brakes on warming fixBY SAMMY FRETWELL

McClatchy Newspapers

See ALGAE | Page 5A

PROFILE FEATURE WRITING OR STORYPROFILE FEATURE WRITING OR STORYDaily Over 50,000 Division


Otis R. Taylor Jr.The Twist and Chubby Checker


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Post and CourierGlenn SmithSinking into the darkness

Sinking into the darkness

BY GLENN [email protected]

Linda Weaver crouched behind a car as she watched sheriff’s deputies swarm around her friend David’s home across the street in West Ashley.

Pop! Pop! Tear gas canisters sailed through the air and found their mark with the shattering of glass.

Weaver cringed that January day, re-calling all the hours David had spent installing those windows, tending to every detail in the tidy, four-bedroom h th t h i t ll b ilt

Friends, family: Recession, deaths, addictions led to Ratliff’s downfall

Ronald David Ratliff


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Post and CourierYvonne WengerSanford Retrospective

GALAN HAWES/STAFF

As he flies on the state plane, Gov. Mark Sanford works on a speech he will give during a plant expansion announcement ceremony on June 24 at FujiFilm in Greenwood. Just days from leaving office, the governor, once seen as a possible presidential contender, is embarking on an uncertain path.

Gov. Mark Sanford rummages

through a ragged white canvas

sack that he calls his mobile office

and digs out his notes about a new

investment Fujifilm has made in

Greenwood.

He studies the details, and on a

half-dozen index cards, he scribbles

in barely legible penmanship a

speech he will deliver in less than

an hour before the Japanese execu-

tives and company workers.

The governor is traveling without

any staff in the state’s King Air, a

nine-seat plane with the state sym-

bol, a Palmetto tree and crescent

moon-shaped gorget, embroidered

on the tan headrests. The drone of

the plane’s engine dominates the

passenger cabin, and the smell of

leather fills the air as the hot plane

cools down on the 90-mile trip

from the capital city to Greenwood.

On this day, June 24, exactly one

year earlier, Sanford also prepared

to deliver a speech, one that would

change the trajectory of his

political career and the direction of

his life.

SANFORD RETROSPECTIVE

The governor’s future, personally and politically, remains in question as his time in office comes to a close

BY YVONNE WENGER // [email protected]

WADE SPEES/STAFF

Sanford’s well-worn “mobile office” sits just outside his office door in September, awaiting his next trip away from the Statehouse. Please see SANFORD, Page 8A

SHORT STORYSHORT STORYDaily Under 20,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Times and DemocratRichard WalkerSpray Park Sweetgrass Clipped

Spray park sweetgrass clippedBy RICHARD WALKER

T&D Staff Writer

Yoo-hoo! We see you, Mr. Sweetgrass man! You looked around but you didn’t see all of us in the video camera over your head.

Early Wednesday one of several ecurity cameras at the Orange-

burg Spray Park captured foot-age of a man apparently breaking n after hours and taking what a

police incident report called “the majority of the sweetgrass.”

The video shows the man enter-ng the facility around 2:30 a.m.

He then went off camera for about 24 minutes, coming back into view with an armload of sweetgrass.

At least he closed the gate when he left, as seen in the video.

City of Orangeburg employees called police around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday when they found the lock had been cut from the River-side Drive park’s gate.

The employees told police they were missing a large quantity of a green, stalky substance.

If you can pronounce it, it’s technically called muhlenbergia fi lipes. This native to the South-east is widely known for its use in sweetgrass baskets.

Park employees estimate they’re missing about $80 worth of the stuff .

Experts say the native grass that can grow a couple of feet high is becoming more scarce. Unless you have bolt cutters.

Police are following several leads taken from the sweetgrass video, including a clear view of Mr. Sweetgrass man.

If anyone has another name for Mr. Sweetgrass man, they are asked to contact Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.

Contact the writer: [email protected] or 803-533-5516.

CHRISTOPHER HUFF/T&D

Authorities say someone broke into the Orangeburg Spray Park and cut away some sweetgrass on Wednesday.

[email protected] Visit us online for video footage.TheTandD.com/news


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Island PacketTom Robinette...And Don’t Forget to Play by the “Rules”


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Times and DemocratRichard WalkerPolice: Monopoly Thief No Winner

Police: Monopolythief no winner

By RICHARD WALKERT&D Staff Writer

Go to jail, go directly to jail ...

A Denmark man didn’t pass GO, nor did he collect $200 after he allegedly tried to swipe a box of Monopoly game pieces from the John C. Calhoun Drive McDonald’s Friday night, according to an Orangeburg Department of Public Safety incident report.

Around 10 p.m., an off-duty police officer working security spotted a man walk inside the restaurant and step up to the counter. The officer noted the man was unsteady on his feet.

A few moments later, the man grabbed a box of Monop-oly game pieces and walked out, the report said.

The officer followed the man into the parking lot. The man initially drew a Chance card and tried to say he bought the pieces. Police told him the games were not for individual sale.

He was offered a Get Out Of Jail Free card if he would take the box of game pieces back. The man said he would.

However, once he was back inside, he changed his mind about returning the pieces, the report said. He said the box of game pieces contained his chicken dinner and soft drink, and he had paid for those items.

Police weren’t impressed. They still saw St. Charles’ Place instead of chicken.

After a bit of a scuffle, the 18-year-old was hauled off and charged with petit lar-ceny and public disorderly conduct, the report said.


SHORT STORYSHORT STORYDaily 20,000 - 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEMorning NewsDwight Dana

A Whopper of Energy


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEIndependent MailKirk Brown and Nikie MayoBody of Unidentifi ed Woman Removed from Well

a6/local Friday/7.15.11/www.independentmail.com

BY KIRK BROWNIndependent Mail

kirk.brown@/260.1259

BY NIKIE MAYOIndependent Mail

mayon@/622.1708

The body of a middle-agedwoman was removed Thurs-day from a well near Inter-state 85 in Anderson County.

Members of an Easleyfamily believe the body isthat of their 45-year-old rel-ative who has been missingfrom Anderson since May.

Anderson County DeputyCoroner Don McCown saidhe expects to confirm thewoman’s identity and hercause of death after an au-topsy this morning.

The body has likely beenin the well “at least severalweeks,” McCown said,adding that it was “almostskeletal.”

McCown said it took himtwo hours Thursday to ex-tract the body from the 50-foot well. The well is in astand of pine and oak treesalong Hurricane Road,which is off Liberty High-way.

“It was hard and un-pleasant down there in thathole,” he said. “But I want-ed to be sure that I saw anyforensic evidence and thatwe could preserve anythingwe found. The main thing isthat we were able to recovera woman,even if we can’t besure who she is yet.”

McCown met Thursday

night with relatives of Re-becca Lynn Simmons, anAnderson woman who waslast seen on Mother’s Day.The relatives, who reportedSimmons missing on May31, are “pretty convinced”that she was the woman inthe well, he said.

Anderson County sher-iff ’s Detective Wayne Mills,who was investigating Sim-mons’disappearance, foundthe body in the well onWednesday morning — thesame day that the sheriff ’soffice asked for the public’shelp in finding her.

Sheriff ’s spokesmanChad McBride said 45 to 50volunteer firefighters,emer-gency medical service per-sonnel and sheriff ’s em-ployees searched the areaaround the well for evidencebefore efforts to remove the

body began Thursday morn-ing. County public worksemployees and the countytechnical rescue team alsoassisted.

The well is a few feet froman abandoned house. Thewords “Brad and Becca’sPlace” are spray-painted onan outer wall of the dilapi-dated structure.

Simmons’ mother, JewelCraig, said Thursday nightthat her daughter spenttime at the abandonedhouse with a man whom shewas seeing named BradSmith.

Court records show thatSimmons was facingcharges of unlawful neglectof a child or helpless personand possession of less thanone gram of methampheta-mine at the time of her dis-appearance.

Body of unidentified woman removed from wellAnderson County

SEFTON IPOCK Independent Mail

Graffiti marks the entrance to a rundown structure off Hurricane Creek Roadin Anderson where a body was recovered from an abandoned well.

Anderson County sheriff's spokesman Chad McBridediscusses a body that was found in a well.

NATHAN GRAY Independent Mail

A member of the AndersonCounty Sheriff ’s Office walks down a trail offHurricane Road to the well where a body was found.

NATHAN GRAYIndependent Mail


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEIndependent MailNikie MayoWoman Killed on Way to Help Dog


mayon@/622.1708

Tricia Marie Trutwinwas waiting to hear if shehad been accepted to med-ical school andChelsea BlairSpears was liv-ing with herparents andworking atChili’s whentheir lives in-tersected thisweekend.

Spears was driving weston Brown Road in Ander-son late Friday night andTrutwin was walkingacross the same road be-cause her neighbor’s doghad been hit by a car andshe wanted to help.

Spears hit Trutwin nearAshley Downs subdivision,according to the South Car-olina Highway Patrol.The ac-cident happened at 10:15 p.m.

Less than an hour later,Trutwin was pronounceddead. She was 41.

Spears, who is 24, hasbeen charged with drivingunder the influence in anaccident involving death.

Anderson County DeputyCoroner Don McCown saidthat alcohol and speed werefactors in the accident andthat Trutwin died of “mul-tiple, multiple traumas.”

Trutwin, a formernurse’s assistant at AnMedHealth Medical Center,leaves behind two childrenand her husband. Her hus-band made it safely acrossBrown Road to try to helpthe injured dog just beforethe accident Friday night.

“This is a tragic situationboth ways,” MagistrateDenise Malone said Satur-day at Spears’bond hearing.

Spears’ parents, Kimber-ly and William B. Spears,held hands and cried at thehearing as they watchedtheir daughter via closed-circuit television.

Chelsea Spears,in the An-derson County jail, criedthrough nearly the entireproceeding,and sobbed hard-er as she signed paperworkat the end of the hearing.

She said only her name and“Yes, ma’am” to the judge.

Malone set a $10,000 sure-ty bond for Spears, and herparents had posted bail forher by Saturday evening.

McCown said the carSpears was driving duringthe accident, a 1999 HondaCivic, is registered to hermother, Kimberly Spears.Kimberly Spears is the ex-ecutive director of the An-derson County Arts Center.

Attorneys Bruce Byrholdtand Sarah Drawdy repre-sented Chelsea Spears at Sat-urday’s hearing.

Byrholdt asked the judgefor leniency, saying thatSpears suffers from de-pression and would be liv-ing at home with her par-ents in Anderson.

Malone ordered Spearsnot to have any contact withTrutwin’s family,and set hernext court date for Nov. 4.

In the lobby outside thejudge’s office, Spears’ fathercried as he waited for hiswife to gather bail moneyfor their daughter.

“Our hearts, ourthoughts and prayers, goout to the family of the vic-tim,” he said. “My daughterhas such a big heart.”

McCown said Trutwin, agraduate of Clemson Uni-versity, worked at AnMedbefore becoming an admin-istrative assistant at a chi-ropractor’s office. He saidshe had applied to medicalschool, though he wasn’tsure which one, and had ex-pected word any day aboutwhether she would get in.

“She was really smart;she studied microbiology,”McCown said. “Getting in-to medical school wouldhave marked a milestone inher life.”

Instead, one of the lastmarkers of Trutwin’s life isa white cross that the coro-ner spray-painted on thepavement.

Reporter Kirk Brown contributed to this story.

Woman killed on way to help dog

ON THE WEB

Photos from the scene of thewreck and video are atwww.independentmail.com.

Spears

SHORT STORYSHORT STORYDaily Over 50,000 Division


Dawn HinshawEverlasting Splendor


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe State

Adam BeamFor Mom, Rumor Became Horror


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Post and CourierBo PetersenCouncil Votes on Gibberish

Council votes on gibberishDorchester agendas offer little explanation of issuesBY BO [email protected]

ST. GEORGE — The people in the audience at the Dorchester County Council meeting on Monday finally had enough.

The voting began incomprehensibly: “3rd Reading for Ordinance #11-13,

‘An Ordinance to Amend Dorchester County Ordinance Number 97-05 as Previously Amended Pertaining to the Organization and Rules of Dorches-ter County Council to Delete the Last Sentence of Section 1-3 and Substitute a New Sentence in Lieu Thereof.’ ”

County Council members raised their hands to approve, without dis-cussion, and moved on. In the audi-ence, they looked at each other per-plexed. By the time council reached the eighth agenda item — four lines worth of the same sort of gibberish — two of them stood up.

“I should know what you are doing,” said Karen Smith , of the Dorchester community. “As a citizen I should un-derstand what you’re doing.” People don’t turn out for council meetings because they can’t follow what’s go-ing on, she said. “Can’t this be written in a language I understand?”

No, because a lawyer wrote it, Coun-ty Attorney John Frampton joked. He and council members began explain-ing what the vote was for and how the language is required for the minutes. But that wasn’t it at all. John Muck-enfuss of Ridgeville followed Smith to the podium.

“A common man with a 12th-grade education cannot understand this at all,” he said, waving the agenda. What council is actually voting to do “needs to be on the agenda or put online so you can understand it.”

That’s the rub and it’s been that way for years. Unless there’s a fuss over a vote, or a council member takes it on himself to address the audience, agenda items often are passed without expla-nation. Council members do explain most ordinances on a first-reading

Please see GIBBERISH, Page 6B

COLUMN WRITINGCOLUMN WRITINGDaily Under 20,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEIndex-JournalScott J. Bryan

The Greenwood Police Department squad car sat idle across the street. A Lander University public safety

officer patrolled the lobby of Lander on the Square.

This wasn’t the scene of a crime. It was a town hall meeting Monday evening hosted by U.S. Third District Representa-

tive Jeff Duncan, R-S.C.There wasn’t an overt

police presence, and perhaps the same law enforcement existence might have been present no matter the circum-stances.

But the horrific trag-edy in Tucson, Ariz. — where U.S. Rep. Gabri-elle Giffords was shot, six people died and 13 were wounded Jan. 8

— still weighs heavily on many minds.No, Duncan didn’t wade into a war

zone. No, he wasn’t in Washington, a place state Sen. Shane Massey once dubbed a “cesspool” when he removed his name from the race for the same seat Duncan now owns.

Duncan was in Greenwood, a relatively peaceful place unless “loosely organized” wannabe gangs are playing their warped version of Cowboys and Indians in front of nightclubs.

Regardless, safety comes first. We learned that the hard way.

NOT TOO LONG AGO, town hall meetings were quiet, small gatherings where the voting public could express ideas and concerns to political leadership.

That quickly changed. In recent years, disenfranchised voters began loudly conveying opinions, some occasionally raising voices or chastising political lead-ers. Public discourse became disgusting at some meetings — some people, with microphone in hand and cameras rolling, became belligerent, irascible buffoons.

Nobody anticipated the war of words would eventually lead to deadly violence.

In early January, a gunman opened fire outside a supermarket where Giffords, 40, was hosting a town hall meeting. Jared Loughner, a 22-year-old college dropout, is accused of the shooting and has pled not guilty. Giffords was shot in the head and is undergoing treatment in Houston.

Since then, there has been endless chat-ter about possible mental defects, warning signs, gun rights and tasteless political propaganda.

Despite the senseless violence, Duncan said he intends to continue his visible, face-to-face contact with voters.

“I hope it was a fluke,” Duncan said after Monday’s town hall where about a dozen people attended. “I would hate to see an attack on any of my colleagues or an attack on me. ... As Americans in this day and time, we have to be cognizant of our surroundings and very alert, not only as elected officials but everyone. So, I would hope everyone’s more aware.”

Duncan, a Ware Shoals High School graduate and a Laurens resident, doesn’t intend to shirk his responsibility to meet with voters.

After all, Monday’s town hall meeting was the first of five he planned to attend this week.

“We’re not slowing down any,” said Duncan, who was entering the 11th hour of his busy schedule Monday.

A DUNCAN STAFFER said the newly elected representative wouldn’t divulge security detail information. That’s smart. Not many folks will pull a Knute Rockne and send an opponent the playbook.

The same staffer said the congressional office makes law enforcement aware of Duncan’s agenda as a cautionary measure.

While security will always remain a concern for elected officials, Duncan was more interested in people.

A busy Monday — Duncan lunched with local pastors, took tours of Green-wood Mills and Self Regional Medical Center, and met individually with con-stituents — closed with a question-and-answer town hall session.

“It’s great,” Duncan said. “I have the opportunity to interact with people and get some ideas. This is the first one for us (since being sworn in) here in Green-wood. I got to meet some people I’ve never gotten to meet.”

Securing ideas was a theme Duncan emphasized Monday. He readily admitted he was still learning on the job, though his involvement in Congress’ homeland secu-rity and foreign affairs committees should advance his international schooling.

“I hope to be able to gain knowledge from my constituents (at town halls) and address their concerns,” he said.

Many of those concerns — immigra-tion, the federal reserve, entitlements and more — were discussed Monday. Many more will be bandied about in the future.

Let us hope all of Duncan’s town hall meetings — and similar meetings around the nation — will be about discussion and debate, not screaming and animosity.

More important, let’s hope the patrol car across the street remains idle.

Bryan is associate editor of the Index-Journal. Contact him at 943-2513; e-mail [email protected]. Views expressed in this column are those of the writer only and do not represent the news-paper’s opinion.

A meeting of minds, not violence

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

SCOTT J. BRYAN

Picture a pack of dogs, foam-ing at the mouth and starving from malnutrition. Picture

these rabid, ferocious animals neglect-ed and hungry, their bellies sore from pangs of famine.

Now, imagine somebody throws a hunk of red meat into the center of these neglected animals and imagine the ravenous, desperate behavior.

When pondering how the state of South Carolina funds education — along with the intensely debated charter school bill that could eradicate some local funding from school dis-tricts — I can’t help but think about a pack of wild dogs fighting over a piece of meat.

Neglect a dog? Starve an animal? You face criminal charges, time in jail and hefty fines.

Neglect a child? Starve a mind? That’s political policy in South Caro-lina.

A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, Shell Dula — then Greenwood High School’s football coach — was con-sidering a run for John Drummond’s state senate seat, which eventually

went to another public school-mind-ed politico, former Greenwood mayor Floyd Nicholson.

Joking with Dula — a white, South-ern football coach who was raised in Laurens — I asked about his political affiliation, making an assumption

that was completely false.

“You can’t be for education and be a Republican,” Dula quipped.

Sadly, Dula’s joke was closer to reality than the Republican Party cares to admit. In a state dominated by the Grand Old Party — nearly four

times as many people in this state are registered as Republicans than Demo-crats — the South Carolina “Right” has ignored and abused the education system.

South Carolina Republicans have long opposed raising taxes. And that’s fine. But the current tax structure has significantly hampered education.

Ask anybody working in public school education, and they’ll gladly discuss Act 388, which drastically reduced property taxes. In turn, that left South Carolina with less funding for education.

But don’t worry, the South Carolina Taxation Realignment Commission — formed by the state legislature — released a report in December 2010 recommending parts of Act 388 should be eliminated and South Caro-lina should change much of its tax structure to pay for the state’s growing needs. The state legislature, by the way, asked TRAC not to consider Act 388 because the conclusion would be obvious.

Fearful of raising any taxes (other than cigarette taxes, apparently) and losing elections, state politicians ignored the report.

LAST AUGUST, Anne Parks, D-District 12, was meeting with McCor-mick County Council members with Shane Massey, a state senator.

When talking about last year’s bud-get, which Parks voted against, she gave a simple, reasonable response for

her inability to support the budget.“We didn’t fund (education) like we

should have funded it, and that’s why I didn’t vote for the budget,” Parks said. “I think our children are worth more than that.”

It’s hard to argue with facts.Take Greenwood District 50, for

example. Because of a lack of funding from the state, more than 220 posi-tions have been eliminated from the school district since 2008. Because of federal stimulus money, another 75 or so positions were saved this year. But there is no federal stimulus money next school year, so those 75 positions will likely disappear.

The state budget will be about a billion dollars less than the previous year, which means less money for everybody. In fact, during District 50 superintendent Darrell Johnson’s State of the District address Feb. 11, he revealed the district projects more than 300 job losses between 2009 and 2012.

On top of that, the legislature is debating H3241, a charter school bill that would force Abbeville County School District to relinquish $437,048

to Calhoun Falls Charter School and online charter schools. District 50 would lose $88,390.

Nobody can blame Calhoun Falls or the online charter schools for wanting a share of the local money. Nobody can blame Abbeville admin-istrators for attempts to safeguard its dwindling funding.

Because of a failed tax code, a herd mentality with the Republican major-ity and a gross negligence of the state’s youth, school districts and admin-istrators are doing the best they can with little funding.

Essentially what’s happening: we have a lot of 8-year-olds getting by on scraps. Maybe one day soon the Republican Party — long the majority party in this state and always so con-cerned about ensuring babies don’t get aborted — will begin worrying about what happens to those kids after birth.

Bryan is associate editor of the Index-Journal. Contact him at 943-2513; e-mail [email protected]. Views expressed in this column are those of the writer only and do not represent the newspaper’s opinion.

Legislators need to do more than bark for education

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

SCOTT J. BRYAN

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

— Dr. Seuss, “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!”

Words are beautiful, amazing, magical.

Over the weekend — my nose perpetually stuck in David McCullough’s 1994 Pulitzer Prize winning book on Harry Truman — I paused and smiled.

There’s nothing more relaxing than a good book. When John Grisham authors another tome, I’m one of the first in the Lakelands to purchase it (Thanks to Amazon.com, I order it before most people know Grisham has even written a new book). Just a couple of months ago, I purchased all of Pat Conroy’s books and began reading in earnest. I often read his work until 5 a.m. and con-

templated changing careers since Conroy’s prose is so riveting I didn’t feel worthy of typing for a living.

h h ’ ld b k k

The most troubling statistics? Twenty-one million Americans can’t read at all, 45 million are marginally illiterate and one-fifth of high school graduates can’t read their diplomas.

In the Lakelands, there are those who wage war against illiteracy.

Kathy Jennings, who has served as director of the Greenwood Literacy Coun-cil for 4 1/2 years and as a tutor for eight years, is one of many proverbial soldiers.

“We offer classes, basic adult education classes, that help adults get caught up on basic skills — reading, writing and math,” said Jennings, who cites “entertainment and knowledge” as her reasons for reading. “We have great volunteer tutors and some paid tutors who help them gain general knowledge in reading, writing and math.”

The Greenwood Literacy Council is instrumental, especially in a state that battled illiteracy at a 33 percent clip in the 1990s, according to Jennings.

“Not a lot of literacy problems are diag-nosed,” said Jennings, who said she reads history and novels, with a focus on local authors. “People kind of fake it on the job, and it’s important to us to try to help people feel a little more comfortable with day-to-day interaction with people, so we help them learn to read, learn to write and d l h”

craft and Wizardry.Words — magical, singing, dancing,

compelling words — are a vehicle to another destination, where the world’s problems and issues are simply forgotten for a time.

“It takes me away from my situation,” Greenwood County Library executive director Prudence Taylor said. “(Reading) helps me relax. I read a quotation once, ‘Reading good books gets you through the bad times.’ I have to agree with that. Not that times are bad, but we’re seeing an increase in youth (at the library). People are coming in and our circulation is up. I think it’s because people are reading to for-get about how bad the economy is.”

Taylor, who helped shepherd the new library and its grand opening in October 2010, said there are a variety of tactics geared toward improving literacy. She notes reading at the Greenwood County Library costs nothing — a library card is free for Greenwood County residents — and there is a collection of books for adult new readers, including sections of novels by Alice Walker and other popular authors.

“There’s no reason for somebody to spend penny one (if they don’t want to),” Taylor said. “It doesn’t cost anything.”

h h h

The magic of words

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

SCOTT J. BRYAN


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEIndex-JournalRichard Whiting

Many — too many — of us who are on the tail end of the baby boomers list have faced

or are facing the inevitable deaths of our parents. And for most, the experience is a difficult crossroad in life. We know it’s coming, but we prefer to not think about

it. And when it comes, we get caught up in a whirlwind of emotions.

The two people we came to depend on for so many things are gone. They nurtured us when we were babies and helped us learn to walk, ride a bike and finish our homework. They encouraged us to do better than they did, reminding us of the importance of an educa-

We occasionally carried those visits past high school and into early college years when her daughter and I came

this we did with no power sawhoe. Just a good day’s labor. Tdenly, this former Marine was

Parents aging, dying gives us new perspective

RICHARD S. WHITING

WHITING’S WRITINGS

Play “Taps” for the 17-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy. How it came to be, as with so many laws,

policies and regulations, is perhaps under-standable but not necessarily commend-able. It was a product of its time, and now it’s time the policy ended.

Remember when women did not serve in the military, other than as nurses?

Then along came World War II and with it the formation of the Women’s Army Corps (WACs) and Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES).

Many readers also recall when black men were fine to have as recruits and enlisted men in the military, only they had to be segregated, a la the famous Tuskegee

Airmen of World War II and the whole-sale segregation of troops in general. A reminder of that segregation exists today in Greenwood. Read the plaques on the military monument on Main Street. Even in death, black and white soldiers were segregated while honored and remem-

strict discipline, strict standards. There’s little room for deviation from the estab-lished way. That’s why boot camps not only prepare men —and women — for battle, but also for taking the “I” out of the individual serving in an effort to build a cohesive battle team. Again, the fewer distractions the better. Thus, segregate the races, segregate the sexes.

In the male-dominated military world

or commit some other military crime. There was a time when blending black and white men in military units could result in the commission of a hate crime as well, brought on by pure racial prejudice. In truth, those concerns remain, for there will always be prejudice in this world.

As in any workplace, the military has people of all socio-economic backgrounds, races, religions, genders and, yes, sexual orientation. And just as in any other work-place, the military needs to find ways to work through those differences. If anything, the highly disciplined and struc-tured military should be among the safest for such a diverse and divergent people.

Professional football seems to be able to field gay and straight players. Baseball, too. They may not sleep in the same rooms, but they do share the same locker rooms and showers. And aren’t all businesses held to strict anti-discrimination policies that protect all workers, regardless of race, reli-gion, sexual orientation? Apply the same standards in the military.

Whether we choose to admit or ignore it, gay men (and women) have long served in our military, and served well.

We have, in general, moved beyond the days when blacks could not sit at the Woolworth’s counter with whites We have

Don’t need ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’

RICHARD

S. WHITING

WHITING’S WRITINGS

Readers are encouraged to share their opin-ions. Letters to the Editor must not exceed 250 words. Guest columns must not exceed 625 words. Include your full name, street address, and day and evening phone num-bers, for verification purposes. Columnists should include one sentence about themselves and be prepared to submit a photograph if the column is accepted for publication. All are subject to editing for length, clarity and libel. Publication is not guaranteed. Contributors are limited to one letter/column every 30 days. Mail submissions to: Executive Editor, P.O. Box 1018, Greenwood, SC 29648. Fax to: Executive Editor, 864-223-7331. E-mail to: [email protected]. Copy and paste into your e-mail. Attachments will not be opened. If e-mailed, photos must be attached as jpgs, not embedded.

SHARE YOUR VIEWS


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Times and DemocratCarol Barker

CAROL BARKERT&D REGION EDITOR

Hurry, maw!My dentures

are slippin’

So here’s the deal. I was in the checkout line at a grocery store in Lex-ington on Saturday.

The woman ahead of me was a store manager who was getting off work and apparently buying some stuff for dinner. She pro-ceeded to get into a conversation with the teenage checker about a shoplifting that had occurred a few minutes earlier. Seems two “older” women made off with 12 boxes of a brand-name denture adhesive.

The manager said she got the license plate number of the shoplifters but didn’t call it in because police couldn’t do any-thing about it anyway. (That didn’t make any sense to me.)

Anyhow, the manager was so furious about the theft that she riled up the teen clerk and he was vowing to hunt down the old ladies when he got off work.

The manager and the checker proceeded to talk about how you just couldn’t trust customers anymore. I came close to leav-ing my groceries on the counter and walking out. I should have, but I was actually more in-

COLUMN WRITINGCOLUMN WRITINGDaily 20,000 - 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEHerald-JournalPam Stone


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe HeraldJames Werrell


The Sun NewsIssac Bailey

BEST OF THE BESTBEST OF THE BEST W e had been driv-ing on seeminglyendless dirt and

gravel roads in a rural partof Horry County beforemaking it to a small com-munity tucked away be-tween a few large, barrenfields. It was a couple ofyears ago.

It wasthere aformer S.C.Depart-ment ofSocialServicessocial work-er and Ijumped outof mytruck,walked upto a mobile home andknocked on the front door.It was a single-wide, prob-ably 20, 30 years old, thekind I grew up in only

DSS needsscrutiny; so do we

ISSACBAILEY

A DifferentPerspective

COLUMN WRITINGCOLUMN WRITINGDaily Over 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Greenville NewsBeth Padgett


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Post and CourierBrian Hicks

BRIAN HICKS

New verseto an oldfavorite

About 30 years ago, some downtown residents would have told you that the great-

est threats this city ever faced were the Yankees, the earthquake and ... Charleston Place.

Yeah, nothing strikes terror in the hearts of men like an upscale hotel with a little bit of convention space.

But back then some residents said such a place would bring in an un-desirable class of tourist — people who would only buy T-shirts and contribute little to the local econo-my. This thing, they warned, would rip the historic fabric of the com-munity.

Downtown residents and preser-vationists banded together to file a lawsuit.

You see where this is going, right?This week preservationists and

some downtown residents filed a suit to run Carnival cruise ships out of town. Let’s not kid ourselves, that is the ultimate goal here — to rid the town of Bermuda shorts and floppy hats. Of course the historic fabric of the community is at stake.

This town doesn’t revere its history so much as it wallows in it.

Calypso is a downer?This suit would be laughable if

Bg

pbtc

Eow

D BRIAN HICKS

Governor has been outclassed

Here are a few oldies but good-ies for your reading enjoy-ment:

“With this administration, you will find no greater priority than econom-ic development and job creation.”

“We want partners, those who are willing to invest in South Carolina, create jobs in our state, and utilize the small businesses already here.”

“Boeing was not just a win for our state for the jobs it directly created but for the auxiliary jobs and the economic activity it will bring.”

Those are all statements made by Gov. Nikki Haley in her first state of the state address two months ago.

So, governor, what happened?On Thursday, Darla Moore gave

$5 million to the University of South Carolina for a new aerospace innova-tion and research center, which will create jobs and help businesses already here. This from a “partner” who has proven, time and again, she is “willing to invest in South Carolina.”

And Haley summarily blew her off.

A class moveSee, this is how you prove a point.After Haley kicked Moore off the

university’s board of trustees last week, some worried that the state’s flagship school would lose its most generous benefactor, and a very smart business leader

BRIAN HICKS

Struggling S.C. gives up its own cash

Let’s get this straight:

Our schools, which aren’t exactly rocking the national

rankings, are being consistently underfunded by the state — forcing local districts to cut teachers and programs just to make budget. So, of course, we should just say no to $144 million of our own money for education funding. Even though we won’t get a tax refund by turning it down.

Brilliant.State Education Superintendent

Mick Zais not only said no to this money, he accused the U.S. Depart-ment of Education of playing poli-tics simply because it reminded him the deadline for getting this money is looming.

Pot, meet kettle.Zais is not only playing tea party

politics with our children, he got an assist from the current MVP of pandering, Gov. Nikki Haley. The guv said we don’t need no stinkin’ federal bailout.

Yeah, because she and Zais are do-ing such a good job with the schools on their own.

Other peoples’ money?Congress approved this “bailout”

last August, before the takeover by those guys who worship “job cre-ators” that don’t create jobs.

It was meant to help the states


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe StateCindi Ross Scoppe T

HE MAIN problem withthe Legislature’s habit ofnaming roads, bridgesand other infrastructure

after living people (usually legis-lators or their supporters) is thatthis self-aggrandizing/patronagesystem opens the state up to allsorts of embarrassment shouldthose honorees get into troublelater in life. And indeed, we’veseen a smattering of such instanc-es, most recently with for-mer Comptroller GeneralEarle Morris.

But while individual leg-islators do occasionally try,they rarely succeed innaming public property af-ter people who alreadyhave embarrassed ourstate. Which probably ex-plains why Andre Bauer’sfriends didn’t even bothertrying to go the usual routeof pushing a resolutionthrough the House andSenate when they decidedthat our outgoing lieutenant gov-ernor needed to be honored inasphalt.

Instead, they turned to a little-used procedure of having the re-quest made by the Lexington

driving 101 miles per hour on awet highway, used the police ra-dio in the state car he was drivinghome from a political event to tryto call off the trooper who waschasing him, and then used hisposition to get out of a ticket whenhe finally was stopped. This is theman who did get a ticket — forrunning two red lights at speedsup to 60 mph on Assembly Street— from a Columbia police officer

who was so worried by Mr.Bauer’s aggressive behav-ior that he felt the need topull a gun on him.

How even his most ar-dent fans could believe it isappropriate to attach Mr.Bauer’s name to any sortof highway structure in astate that has among themost deadly roads in thenation is simply beyondme.

Although I wish theyhad the backbone to sayno, it’s hard in our political

system to blame the members ofthe Transportation Commission,who voted unanimously in Octo-ber to approve the request fromLexington legislators. Since thegovernor doesn’t actually control

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and his mother, Jill, and sister, Drea,show off his new sign.

ROB THOMPSON/S.C. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

How Andre got his interchange

Cindi RossScoppeAssociate Editor

HUMOR COLUMN WRITINGHUMOR COLUMN WRITINGDaily Under 20,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEIndex-JournalChris Trainor

About a week ago, I walked out-side and was met by an unex-pected visitor at my front door.

He was loud, intrusive and had pierc-ing, blood-red eyes.

No, it wasn’t associate editor Scott J. Bryan after a Saturday night at Sports Break. It was the first cicada I’d seen

since 1998.As I’m sure most

of you are abundantly aware, the cicadas are back. The disgusting, little-winged insects, which appear every 13 years, are in the trees, on utility poles, in our yards and seem to have taken a particu-lar liking to my front porch.

And lets not even go into all the empty cicada “hulls” that are left clinging to trees, outside walls and even the tires of vehicles.

As noted by Clemson Extension

Hodges said the demon-noise pro-duced by the cicadas is actually the male bugs “singing” in the tree tops to attract the females. Index-Journal sports editor Scott Chancey uses this same method to pick up women, so if you’re in the area of Regency Park Apartments and hear someone badly warbling a Bob Dylan B-side from the branches of a pine tree, just ignore it.

MY DAUGHTER CHARLEY is a fairly adventurous 2-year-old and she normally loves to discover new things, especially animals, bugs and the like. But, the cicadas? Not so much.

When the bugs started to invade about a week ago, she initially was curi-ous. She actually picked up one of the empty hulls in the yard, marched up to me and asked, “What’s dat?”

“That’s from a cicada,” I responded.“A ’cada,” she said.Then she saw one of the actual bugs

scurrying around nearby.“What’s dat?” she asked, with a bit

from the house to the car, on the off chance that we might encounter one or two (or 10,000) cicadas on the 50-foot walk from one point to the next.

While the chief moniker she uses for the bugs is “ ’cadas,” she also has taken to calling them “lazy nothings.” That came from a moment of frustration on my part when, during a walk around the neighborhood, she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of a cicada about six feet in front of us.

Determined to assure her she wouldn’t be harmed, I flicked the bug away with my foot and said, “Charley, he’s not coming after you. He’s just a lazy nothing!”

Naturally, she has repeated that descriptor about 1,000 times now and made it clear that, in her mind, the entire cicada Class of 2011 is a bunch of lazy nothings.

THE LAST TIME THE CICADAS invaded, I was 19. It was 1998 and I was going to college and living at home in

Of ’cadas and men

SENIOR WRITER

CHRISTRAINOR

Two weeks ago I wrote a col-umn about cicadas.

I wrote about my daughter’s fear of the bugs she calls “lazy noth-ings” and about a prank my buddies and I played on our friend Matt Horne during the cicada swarm of 1998, in which we poured a 42-ounce cup full of the insects into the cab of

his pickup truck in the middle of the night.

The column was good for a chuckle or two, and several people have since emailed me to share their cicada stories. But, honestly, I really didn’t think I’d be writing another cica-da column for about, oh, another 13 years or so.

However, some folks around town — namely Mayor Welborn Adams — have forced my hand, so here we go again.

As previously documented, I have

who own The Two Old Bags shop in Greenwood, have decided cicada wings would make for good jewelry.

The sisters have devised a plan in which they seal the wings with an acrylic resin. The resin strengthens the wings and gives them a certain shine.

The cicada wing earrings are avail-able at The Two Old Bags in Uptown Greenwood. To read more about the earrings and The Two Old Bags, flip over to today’s Accent section and check out the story by staff writer Michelle Laxer.

I can appreciate the creativity behind transforming the wings of cicadas into jewelry. I don’t see any problem with local ladies turning what could be seen as an every-13-years nuisance into a fun fashion statement.

However, what about cicadas as a culinary delicacy? Sorry, but that’s a different story in my book.

Which brings us to Mayor Adams.

IN THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS I’ve come to know Adams pretty well.

I think he’s done a good job as mayor, especially considering the

In short, I respect the man and value his opinion on matters affecting the City of Greenwood.

Which makes the events of this past week ... a touch disturbing.

On Monday night, I was at home watching a little “Chicago Code” and getting my daughter ready for bed when I heard my cellphone chirp. I glanced down, saw “Welborn” illumi-nated on the outer screen and flipped the phone open.

It was a picture message. Curious as to what type of picture the mayor would be sending me at a fairly late hour on a Monday evening, I hit “open” and saw it was a picture of Adams enjoying some type of food. I couldn’t really tell what it was.

I scrolled down and read the text attached to the picture, at which point I was informed the Mayor of Green-wood was, in fact, eating cicadas.

Honestly, I laughed it off as a joke. I mean, sure, I had a picture of the mayor and he was eating something in that picture. But, surely it wasn’t really a cicada, was it?

I showed my wife, Christina, the

My spine and my Explorer’s front end alignment are eternally grateful.

We also needed to chat some about CPW’s renewed interest in giving the 54 acres at 1217 Grace St. to the city for use as a park. (Note to all enti-ties involved: Let’s get this deal done. Or don’t. Either way we need to stop arguing about it every three years).

After the city business was dis-cussed, the mayor and I exchanged a few pleasantries, and he casually asked whether I had “tried any cicadas yet.”

I knew he was referring to the photo he sent me a few nights earlier.

“Were you really eating a cicada?” I asked.

He informed me he actually ate FOUR cicadas. He said his wife Erika — one of the loveliest women you will likely meet — battered and fried the four insects, then served them to the mayor on a plate with a nice garnish.

I had to know, how did they taste?“They taste like okra,” Adams said,

with a little chuckle.Later Thursday I sent him a text

message to ask, one last time, if he really had been eating cicadas. He

The mayor’s bugging out: ‘They taste like okra’

SENIOR WRITER

CHRISTRAINOR

Many of you — and by “many,” I mean three or four

people, including my parents — might have noticed my column was missing from last Sunday’s edition.

While it would have been nice to have been in Green-wood late last week, churning out the column and stories about dump site assessments and murder trials and kids running lemonade stands, I was, instead, facing down cer-tain death in Myrtle Beach.

Well, maybe not certain death. But there was the dis-tinct possibility I could have been turned into lunch meat as I came face-to-face (actu-ally face-to-fin) with a shark for the first time in my life.

As summer 2011 heats up, I’m sure many of you have participated — or soon will participate — in the South Carolina summer rite of pas-sage that is going to Myrtle Beach. Visiting the Grand Strand is as much a part of life in the Palmetto State as barbecue, dirty politics and USC baseball national cham-pionships.

(Sorry, I had to slip that last one in there).

For many years I was out of the going-to-Myrtle Beach business, which was fine by me. I was perfectly content

taking my vacations else-where. Besides, if I wanted to see a woman wearing a

Confederate flag bikini shotgunning a PBR while her husband teaches their children to ignite bottle rockets with a lit Winston, I’d just go out to Waterloo on the week-end.

How-ever, now that my daughter Charley is growing up (she’s a robust 2 and 1/2 years old), my wife wants to make going to Myrtle Beach for a week-end a sort of yearly tradition, the type of annual pilgrimage many people my age had as kids, as our parents did before us.

Honestly, that’s OK with me, as it’s my daughter’s God-given right as a good South Carolinian to play in the sand, frolic in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, get motion sickness on the rides at Fam-ily Kingdom and ask me awkward questions after an airplane flies by pulling a ban-ner for Derriere’s Gentlemen’s Club.

So last weekend, our fam-

ily made the trek to the coast, joined by my brother Mat-thew and his wife and my good buddy Justin and his wife.

Everything was set for a nice weekend in the sun and surf. It was a great time ... until we came in contact with the biggest, most vicious man-eater since Jaws.

AS WE HIT THE BEACH last Saturday, we set up a tent under which Charley could build her sand castles and the wives could read their US magazines and novels, then the guys headed down to the water to play some skim ball (aka “those squishy, multi-colored balls that skip across the water”).

I should take a moment here to let you know the blinding white light you saw emanating from the east at about 11 a.m. last Saturday was me taking my shirt off at Myrtle Beach. Folks, I’m beyond white. I’m clear.

We were out in the ocean about waist deep, firing the skim ball back and forth, when Matthew and Justin spotted a jellyfish. Not an uncommon occurrence, but we quickly moved from that area to avoid feeling the sting of said jellyfish.

We were on a bit of

“marine-life alert” a few min-utes later as we continued our game of zinging the skim ball across the water to one anoth-er. Suddenly, my buddy Justin issued a stern warning.

“Chris there’s a shark right there!” he said.

Thinking he was just jumpy after our jellyfish encounter, I literally laughed in his face. Seconds later however, he turned and hauled tail out of the water.

At that point, I whipped my head around, and there it was: the unmistakable fin of a shark, gliding through the water about five feet away from me and about two feet away from a dude who was swimming in a West Virginia baseball cap.

I REMAINED CALM ABOUT THE SITUATION and deliberately made my way out of the water.

And by “remained calm about the situation and deliberately made my way out of the water,” I mean that I immediately screamed “SHARK! SHARK! SHARK!” and headed for shore so fast you would have thought someone had free doughnuts waiting for me on the beach.

Soon enough, hundreds of people on our section of beach were darting out of the

water. What’s funny is, as soon as people would hit the shore, they would turn around and stand at the edge of the water, watching the great fish.

Now, if you ask pretty much anybody who was there that day about the shark, if they are being honest, they’ll tell you it was about five feet long, maybe six. Perhaps even smaller.

But, let’s get real. Who’s going to be honest about it? As the years go by, I’m sure the shark will grow in the sto-ries of the folks who spotted the fish that day.

Hell, I’m already telling people it was a 12-foot Great White, blood dripping from its jaws as it looked for its next victim.

Alas, the beast was thwart-ed by three brave skim ball players from the Upstate. Men so brave and resolute that they ran from the water screaming like girls at a Justin Bieber concert.

See you next summer, Myrtle Beach.

Trainor is the senior staff writer at the Index-Journal. Contact him at 943-5650; email [email protected]. Views expressed in this column are those of the writer only and do not represent the newspaper’s opinion.

SENIOR WRITER

CHRISTRAINOR

I swear it was bigger than Jaws


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEAiken StandardMike Gibbons

A possum problem gone looseLet’s be honest – who here

HASN’T lost a possum?Wait, no one? Really. Hmm.It all started late the other

night when I heard Murphy the Excitable Dachshund whin-ing and yelping in the back yard. Generally, this means an enemy has been found, and Murphy has gone into attack mode. Usually, it’s a possum, and it responds in the most possum way possible, which is to stand on a fence and drool. This time, however, Murphy wasn’t at the fence jumping and being drooled on but rather in the shed.

I went out with a flashlight and saw he was going nuts and scratching at a chair that was leaning up against a wall. I leaned the chair back and saw a tiny possum, not much big-ger than...well, a baby possum.

I reached down and scooped up the critter, while Murphy retreated to the steps to receive his reward for saving us from imminent destruction.

I decided to put the possum in a pet carrier for the night so the kids could see it in the morning. As an added precau-tion, I put the carrier in the bathtub because...well, just because. I also put a towel in the carrier, which it quickly snuggled up in.

The next morning, my wife woke me up in a way people are rarely awoken: “The pos-sum’s gone.”

“It’s in the towel,” I assured her, rolling back over to sleep.

“Pretty sure it’s gone,” she said.

I got up and went into the bathroom to solidly prove her

“See,” I said, grabbing the towel, “The possum is...” Hello, empty towel.

Turns out this particular car-rier had a small opening that I had not noticed, and it was the perfect escape hatch for the possum. My daughter later told us that she had gotten up in the middle of the night to use the restroom and saw a possum walking on the bathtub. In her defense, I think assuming you are dreaming at that point is a safe bet.

I put the bathroom on lock-down and went into possum recovery mode. I focused much of my search in our closet, as I figured it would likely have sought refuge in there. (When you’re on the lam, don’t you want to hide in a stinky old boot?)

After an unsuccessful search, I decided to bring in backup, namely Murphy. He found the possum once, so surely he could find it again. I set Murphy in the middle of the room and said, “GOGETTHEPOSSUM!!!” over and over. Murphy responded by scratching himself while staring at me. I picked him up and set him by the carrier. “GOGETTHEPOS-SUM!!!” Scratch.

So on to Plan B. Or C. Or

out what room the possum was in. I was fairly certain it would have stayed close by but had to make sure it hadn’t made a break for another room. I closed off several rooms and left five pieces of dog food on the floor of each. I was hoping that wherever the possum was, it would come out looking for food and I would know where to focus my search.

I thought I had the possum at one point when I heard something crunching on dog food in our bedroom. I sprang out of bed, ready to pounce, only to find a very surprised and slightly embarrassed cat.

A short while later, I noticed that the dog food in the bath-room was missing, and I was fairly certain the cat had not been in there. I launched another search after seeing some other, um, evidence that the possum was nearby. Sure enough, huddled in a corner, was a very skittery possum. I scooped her up and presented my trophy to my wife, who was kind enough to pretend to be impressed.

I found another cage to keep the possum in for the rest of the night, one that had been thoroughly vetted for escape hatches. The possum is now going to live with an environ-mental outreach program, so it will be well fed and well cared for. And, I can say with great confidence, the next time someone sees a possum on our bathtub, they will definitely be dreaming.

Mike Gibbons is the manag-ing editor of the Aiken Stan-dard. Contact him at mgib-

MIKE’S LIFE

[email protected]


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEIndex-JournalJoseph W. Sitarz

Everyone knows the Beach Boys’ tune, “Good Vibrations,” with the lyrics, “I’m picking up good vibra-

tions ...”Just about any Beach Boys’ song con-

jures up images of bikini-clad girls, buff guys with surfboards, huge waves, ice cream hawker striped button down shirts, the smell of suntan lotion, and sun rises and sun sets.

Those images are nice anytime of the year, even when the ground is coated in snow and ice.

There’s little doubt Greenwood is miles and miles away from the coast the Beach Boys call home. The last week in Green-wood has been a winter wonderland/win-ter nightmareland, depending on your perspective. Snow is a natural magnet to

youngsters who sacrifice getting wet and cold for a few moments of glori-ous fun that only comes around a few times in a lifetime here in the south.

It was with great anticipation my two boys waited for the snow to start late last Sunday night. The Weather Channel was a regular stop as they cruised

through the satellite channels. So were the local TV stations so they could check the ticker across the bottom on the TV screen for closings. They were constantly in touch with their friend who happens

Good vibrationsa call for cautionduring snow play

JOSEPH SITARZ

ACCENTON LIFE

For some reason, there, on my kitchen counter, sits one of the new-fangled, solo cup coffee brewing

apparatuses.It’s been on the counter ever since some-

one smarter than me (my dad) decided I needed one. So, for my birthday this year, I got a coffee brewing machine.

Granted, there was nothing wrong with the coffee maker we’d got-ten from one of the big box stores a few years ago. I did break the little trap door that stopped the flow of liquid and allowed you to grab a cup of coffee while it was still brewing.

Get your cup and put the pot back. The trap door would open and liq-uid would start filling the pot again.

EITHER WAY, Joltin’ Joe Dimaggio’s brewing system was just fine.

No matter, though, because the solo cup brewer, with its pretty blue light brightly illuminating the water reservoir, sits on the counter, next to the microwave and just around the bend from the stove.

The old coffee pot has joined the other retired devices on a shelf down in the base-ment. The graveyard is filled with other coffee pots, waffle makers, juicers and iced tea makers.

But the new coffee maker on the shelf upstairs turned out coffee from light roast to extra bold with names such as Breakfast

JOSEPH SITARZ

COLUMNIST

ACCENTON LIFE

Would you like a little rap with

your cup of coffee? A house with a mouse, A mouse in a house.A critter in an abode,

Is just against my code.

The code to live by and never stray,Critters should just stay away.Varmints, by nature are outside creatures, Regardless of size or features.

When one does scurry into a space,The thought is to instant-ly start a chase.But when one is not sure what abounds,If you had ’em, call out the hounds.

We have a dog, and what a dog is he,And fish in a tank quiet as can be.But what my son saw recently was,Something that caused quite a buzz.

He said it was tiny, indeed it was small,It wasn’t big, or fat or tall.

It ran across the kitchen floor with ease,

If you had allergies you just might sneeze.

I did not see what he thought he saw,It caught his eye, he dropped his jaw.

A mouse was what he spied,The notion kind of hit me, broadside.

The supposed varmint was all in his head,I told myself there was nothing to dread.The house is a castle to one and all,There’s no way the stockade could fall.

The stove was his exit from being found,It was out of sight, there was no sound.A safe haven the stove did provide,A way to avoid harm, with one big slide.

It was nothing to fret or worry about,There was no mouse, I had no doubt.Day after day, the time did pass,The supposed mouse I could not harass.

It didn’t come back within a day or two,How was I to show what I could do.Weeks went by and still I did not spy,A mouse or something with my eye.

The sun rose on an October Sunday,A day for reflection and to pray

JOSEPH SITARZ

COLUMNIST

ACCENTON LIFE

A mouse in the house is no more

It re

T

HUMOR COLUMN WRITINGHUMOR COLUMN WRITINGDaily 20,000-50,000 & Over 50,000 Divisions Combined

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEMorning NewsJohn Sweeney

PeeDee Politics


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe HeraldJames WerrellIt’s an invasion; Minnesota teacher; Winter Wonderland

It’s time to wipe the sleep from your eyes,drink some coffee and do some light stretchingexercises. It’s time to WAKE UP, America!

We are in danger of being infiltrated by peo-ple who do not share our traditional Americanvalues, who do not appreciate all that this

country has to offer and whowould undermine our Con-stitution. In short, thesepeople are not like us.

They hold themselvesapart from normal Ameri-can society. They shun tech-nology and the gifts of West-ern culture.

Unlike normal Americanwomen who prance aroundin bikinis, flash strangerswho give them plastic beads

and post their drunken escapades on Face-book, these women cover themselves fromhead to toe in plain dresses. And their beardedhusbands approve of this!

They don’t use the public school system,preferring their own religious schools. They arepermitted to marry only those of the same reli-gion or risk being excommunicated by fellowmembers.

They refuse to serve in the U.S. military.

Among themselves, they communicate using aforeign dialect that most Americans can’t un-derstand.

As most probably have ascertained by now,I’m talking about the Amish — the Pennsylva-nia Dutch, whose very name hints at their dualallegiance. Are they Pennsylvanians or are theyDutch?

While the Amish are mostly concentrated inPennsylvania, they also have spread to com-munities in Indiana, Missouri, Iowa and evensouthwest Minnesota. And their numbers areincreasing.

When disputes occur among the Amish,they don’t like to call the cops like other Ameri-cans. They settle problems themselves! Theydon’t even like to sue people!

That is not the American way. How long canit be before we have Amish law and Amishcourts operating right alongside of our Ameri-can constitutional system? First, places likeLancaster, Pa., will go Amish, and then it willstart to spread — to Indiana, Ohio and bigchunks of the Midwest. Where will it end?

Soon, the American heartland will be underthe thumb of the Amish. America’s men will begrowing beards, walking around in overalls,straw hats and clunky black shoes. Women willbe draped in long, plain dresses, aprons and

bonnets, even in the summer! Americans will start calling each other

“thee” and “thou,” even though we don’t knowthe difference between those two words.

The Amish claim to be pacifists. They wouldlove to see total disarmament in this country.

Well, once we are disarmed, then what? Theperfect transport for one of those dirty bombswould be a little horse and buggy — parkedright in front of Philadelphia’s IndependenceHall, where our Founding Fathers signed theConstitution that allows us to openly discrim-inate against foreigners.

What we need, America, is a constitutionalamendment banning Amish law in this coun-try. What? You say that’s unnecessary?

Well, you might be singing a different tunewhen electricity is illegal, zippers are bannedand your fastest mode of transportation is onehorsepower!

America, the Amish threat is real. Thesepeople aren’t like us.

Consider what happens when you add justthree little letters to their name: “Islamish.”

Coincidence? I think not!

James Werrell, Herald opinion page editor, canbe reached at 329-4081 or, by e-mail, at

[email protected].

It’s an invasion by people who are different!

JamesWerrell

I’ve heard rumors that, at some newspapers,if no current horoscope is available, they justrun an old one.

That would never happen at The Herald. Wehave too much respect for the team of skilled

astrologers who divine thefuture and offer invaluableadvice through measure-ments of the subtle gravita-tional effect the stars haveon the earth and the peoplewho inhabit it, and by read-ing signs in wet tea leaves,goat entrails and chickenbones.

Substituting horoscopescan throw the lives of thou-sands of people out of kilter,sending them out to act on

advice that might be months, if not years, old.But that is a mere blip in the boundless void ofspace compared to the blazing comet hurledlast week by Parke Kunkle, an astronomy pro-fessor at Minneapolis Community and Techni-cal College.

Kunkle said the Earth’s wobbly orbit meansit no longer is aligned to the stars in the sameway it was when the signs of the zodiac werefirst devised. So, for example, when astrologerssay the sun is in Pisces, it’s really in Aquarius,according to Kunkle.

And all the other signs have changed, too.Kunkle claims that astronomers have knownabout this since 130 B.C., but they’ve kept itquiet.

How do I feel about that? Ambivalent, un-decided, of two minds, just like the typicalGemini, which I now am.

I was comfortable being a Cancer until star-man Kunkle decided to inform us that theworld is wobbly. What’s so unsettling is thatmy life might have been completely different if Ihad known from the start that I was a Geminiinstead.

After I found out my sign had changed, Ilooked at an old horoscope to see how the ad-vice might differ. It was startling.

Here’s the advice that day for Cancers: “Re-lax.Don’t do anything rash. Take some time forthoughtful reflection, and try to focus on thepositive things in your life. Dance with the cir-cumstances.”

Now, here’s the advice for Geminis: “Thismight be a good day to tell the boss what youreally think of him, invest all your savings ingold coins, and go live in a small cabin in thewoods.”

Wow, what a missed opportunity. My wife is, if anything, more flustered by

this change than I am. She went from being aSagittarius to an Ophiuchus. For one thing, youcan’t pronounce the new sign. For another,

what the heck is it?I checked, and Ophiuchus apparently is bet-

ter known as the Serpent Holder. Great, mywife’s new sign is a snake handler. I suppose healso speaks in tongues.

The Ophiuchus is described as a seeker ofpeace and harmony, and as someone who likesto wear clothing of vibrant colors. So the newsign might be a contestant in a beauty pageant.

But whatever it is, it covers only 19 days eachyear, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 17. (It looks to me, bythe way, like Ophiuchus snatched those daysfrom Cancer.) In any event, it was enough tothrow the whole zodiac out of whack.

I’m so confused by this whole disruption.I’m not sure where to turn next. I guess the sen-sible thing to do would be to consult my horo-scope. Duh!

OK, here it is: “Stay quiet while others argue.Your old assumptions may no longer fit, andyou should consider the impact of your choic-es. Keep your wits about you, and use yourimagination.”

No, wait, that was Cancer. Old habits arehard to break.

Let’s see what it says for Gemini: “Go tellyour boss ...”

James Werrell, Herald opinion page editor, canbe reached at 803-329-4081 or, by e-mail, at

[email protected].

Minnesota teacher is zodiac killer

JamesWerrell

Opinion editorI tried. Lord knows, I tried. I had the advantage of being the first in my

neighborhood to walk in the pristine snowthat began to fall just beforedawn on Monday. It was ascene from Currier andIves, a blanket of white cov-ering the visible world,sound muffled by the snow,f l akes gen t l y d r i f t i ngthrough the air in a silverygray light bereft of sun-shine.

It was, by any measure, abeautiful sight. I was a priv-ileged inhabitant of a place

where nature had erased all the rough edgesand replaced them with downy, white soft-ness. It was peaceful, serene, perfect, un-spoiled by man’s careless tread.

And all I could think was: “Please let it meltquickly.”

I had tried to beckon a soulful appreciationfor this picture-postcard winter scene. Mostpeople would consider themselves fortunateto be the first to venture into this virgin terrain.I was wretched.

Some would call me an ingrate, a cretin,someone incapable of appreciating the flaw-less frosty display so carefully wrought by na-ture. Guilty!

My face was freezing, and walking in thesnow was twice as hard as walking on a nice,bare sidewalk. I wanted to be inside, next to a

blazing fire, looking out at this wintry specta-cle – sneering and wishing for summer.

The taste of a madeleine summoned thepast for Proust. The smell of wet wool steam-ing on a radiator conjures up my childhood.

Forget high-tech, lightweight waterproofouterwear. Our defense against winter waswool – wool gloves and mittens, wool coats,wool socks, wool caps, wool sweaters.

Wool and corduroy and denim and rubbergaloshes.

As a kid in Ohio, I knew no better. Wintercame, winter stayed, and we endured. Itwasn’t a choice; it was just the way it was.

We would start out dry but ultimately endup wet. Snow would invade our boots andsoak our socks. Pants would get wet, thenfreeze stiff. Gloves and mittens would soakthrough after packing a few snowballs, offer-ing little or no protection from the cold.

We heard of places in the world – placeswith exotic names such as South Carolina –where the snow would come and go in theblink of an eye. These were places where thesnow didn’t turn gray and slushy and hangaround till spring. In some of these places, thesnow didn’t come at all.

In these faraway lands, there were nochapped legs, no frost-bitten extremities, norunny noses or cheeks rubbed red by a rawhand in a wet mitten. In these enchantedlands, snow was a happy thing, a novelty, areason to stay home from school, a reason toslide down a hill on whatever flat object was

handy. But for me, growing up, snow was reality,

the inevitable byproduct of the frigid season,part of the inalterable nature of things. Upthere, it was inescapable.

So I moved. I skedaddled. I fled the northand winter and snow.

I came south. But even here, the snow fol-lows.

Which is why I found it so difficult to en-gage in a reverie about the dazzling beauty ofa world swathed in white.

Soon, that beautiful white snow, so deepand dark and even, had turned to deadly,glass-like sheets of ice or sharp, broken shardsof ice, waiting to sweep me off my feet andsnap my bones. The winter wonderland hadmelted, only to freeze again into somethingmore ominous and unfriendly.

Banish it! Send it to New England! Make itdisappear!

Enough. We have had two whole snow-storms this winter, and that’s plenty.

If you really like snow, move to Ohio orNorth Dakota or Minsk. If you really, reallywant to stay home from school, fake a stom-ach-ache. If you really like Jack Frost nippingat your nose, stick your head in the freezer.

Just make the snow go away. Please, makeit be summer again soon!

James Werrell, Herald opinion page editor,can be reached at 803-329-4081 or by e-mail

at [email protected].

Even a little winter wonderland is too much

JamesWerrell


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEHerald-JournalPam Stone

Pam StoneI’m Just Sayin’

Sometimesit’s better to just sleep through it

‘OK,” I said to Paul last Thursday morning. “That was offi cially

the most horrible thing that has ever happened to me.”

“Really?” Paul replied, opening the fridge to retrieve the orange juice. “Worse than having a horse fall on you and break a few ribs?”

“Worse.”“Worse than getting up in

the middle of the night, only to step in something revolting from the cats?”

“Oh, much worse.”“Worse than that fl ight out

of Spain when you and your tour manager had had too many Bloody Marys, turbu-lence hit and all the bathrooms were occupied?”

“OK,” I capitulated. “That as prett bad ” (And I’ e

SERIES OF ARTICLESSERIES OF ARTICLESDaily Under 20,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEIndex-JournalSt. Claire Donaghy and Richard WhitingComfort in Dying

A N I N D E X - J O U R N A L P R I N T E D I T I O N E X C L U S I V E

THE FINAL MEMORIES Dr. Bob W. Todd checks the hand strength of Walla

Wilson to determine if she is eligible for physical therapy, which Hospice cannot provide.

PHOTOS BY SAM O’KEEFE | INDEX-JOURNAL

Dr. Bob W. Todd speaks with 29-year-old Robert Lee Bryson about his current level of comfort on Oct. 26 in his mother’s home in Abbeville. Bryson died Nov. 16 from osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer that develops from the cells that form bone tissue.

Hospice offers ‘palliative care’ for patients before reaching life’s final destination

By ST. CLAIRE [email protected]

For those with terminal illness, sometimes it depends whether a patient is solely interested in

extending time he or she has, or whether the person desires to be more comfort-able in the time left.

Since 1981, HospiceCare of the Pied-mont has been in the business of comfort care, also known as “palliative care,” helping patients — and their families — cope with their final days.

“Palliative care is the managing of symptoms that can come with terminal illness,” said Dr. Bob W. Todd, HospiceC-are of the Piedmont’s medical director. “Symptoms can be things such as physi-cal pain, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath and even constipation, but there’s also emotional, spiritual and social pain.

About Hospice November is National Hospice/Palliative Care

Month. HospiceCare of the Piedmont is a non-profit community organization that has been serving Abbev-ille, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick and Saluda counties since 1981.

Learn more at: hospicepiedmont.org.

Supporting HospiceCareShow your support for HospiceCare of the Piedmont by attending one or more of the following events:

Community memorial service — 6:30 p.m. Tues-day at First Baptist Church of Greenwood. (Keepsake angel ornaments available for purchase. Call 227-9393.)

Festival of Trees luncheon — noon Dec. 3 at First Baptist Church of Greenwood. (Reservations required.)

Festival of Trees fundraiser — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 4 at First Baptist Church of Greenwood.

Festival of Trees reception and live auction — 1 to 5 p.m. doors open. Reception at 4:30 p.m. Live auc-tion of trees at 5 p.m. at First Baptist Church.

Hope for the Holidays seminar — 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Dec. 7 at HospiceCare of the Piedmont offices.

IN DYING

First in a series

A look at Hospice care

COMFORT

Today HospiceCare

of the Piedmont’s Dr. Bob W. Todd discusses comfort care.

Saturday Nurse Lori

Mounts talks about caring for those facing terminal illness.

Dr. Bob W. Todd places his hand on the abdomen of Shirley Butler to diagnose her symptoms related to uterine cancer.See HOSPICE, page 5A


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEIndex-JournalErin OwensVietnam Veterans

THE WALL THAT HEALS l VIETNAM WAR VETERAN

By ERIN [email protected]

Preston Rodgers was never happy with his assignment as an Army cook in the Vietnam War.

Growing up, he dreamt about being a Marine. Once he was old enough, he planned to join the Marines, but joined the Army at the suggestion of a relative instead. Then, training at

boot camp, he injured his shoulder and had to spend four months in the

hospital.After recovering, he said he hoped

to work on helicopters, doing mainte-nance or radio repair, but because of the limited mobility of his shoulder, he was given the assignment of cook.

His injury and subsequent job assignment was the first of many dis-appointments Rodgers experienced during the Vietnam War, not the least of which included disease, injury and the deaths of close friends.

Though he is happy he did what he could for his country, Rodgers could do without some of his memories of Vietnam.

“I wouldn’t take nothing in the world for what I went through,” he said, “but I wish I could lose the memory of some of the things that happened.”

One memory that sticks out for

SAM O’KEEFE | INDEX-JOURNAL

Preston Rodgers served as a cook in the Army for a year in the Vietnam War. Though he had hoped to join the Marines, a shoulder injury during boot camp forced Rodgers onto a different path.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELEDRodgers was Army cook after shoulder injury prevented him from becoming a Marine

The Wall That Heals When:

Thursday-Sunday Where: Lander

University For information: Call

866-341-5794 or visit http://greenwoodtwth.webs.com.

See RODGERS, page 4A


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Times and DemocratRichard Walker, Phil Sarata, Dale Linder-Altman, Gene Zaleski and Dionne Gleaton9/11 How We Have Changed


He lived to his mid-90s. But Army Lt. Kermit Tyler most likely wished he could have only one par-ticular day back.

He had the information, however faulty, and without understanding the signifi cance, did nothing.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks showed the need for open communication between law enforcement agencies up and down the board.

The attacks brought to light the troubling failure of federal and local agencies to share information, said Chief Wendell Davis of the Orange-burg Department of Public Safety. “The argument is that had the infor-mation been shared, there would not only have been a response but pos-sibly we could have prevented some of that stuff .”

Nearly 60 years before the 9/11 devastation, Tyler had early infor-mation on America’s fi rst Day of In-famy. The lieutenant knew from a ra-dar post that a large mass of aircraft was converging on Battleship Row.

Information from the top didn’t clarify that an attack was imminent. In the end, on Dec. 7, 1941, 353 Jap-anese planes hurled down from the skies over Pearl Harbor.

Hindsight is always 20-20. Right or wrong, some will always ridicule Tyler’s lack of action.

As in Hawaii, the mindset prior to the 9/11 attacks was the Ameri-

can castle moated by two oceans couldn’t possibly be breached.

Smaller attacks in the 1990s did little to awaken Americans to the threat of terrorists.

A 34-year law enforcement vet-eran, State Law Enforcement Di-vision Chief Mark Keel said we learned our sense of security was false, that America can be success-fully attacked.

“I don’t think people thought on that scale that there would be an at-tack,” he said.

Then airliners struck in New York, Pennsylvania and Washing-ton, D.C.

When the realization hit home, people took an active part in their local law enforcement, Calhoun County Sheriff Thomas Summers said. Calls reporting shadowy fi g-ures and unattended packages went through the roof, called in by

a stunned American population on heightened alert.

“We need to check each one just to make sure. No one expected 9/11,” he said.

The groundswell of change in law enforcement began with the public and worked its way up.

Since 9/11, police training has grown from how to handle traffi c stops and domestic violence to in-clude gas attacks and bomb threats.

“Back then, we thought that any-thing, either war or terrorism, would happen in another country,” Orange-burg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said. “But to happen here, it was an eye opener.”

Specialized training sessions in-volving the combined resources of state and local agencies have been held in Orangeburg County since the devastating attacks 10 years ago. Some of the training was not made

public. Some involved simulated ter-rorist and lethal gas attacks.

“We’ve also had to put into place a way to communicate with each other at the scene,” Ravenell said. “I think everybody put into place (ra-dio) channels we can use to reach the other agencies. 9/11 taught us a lot.”

Davis said training and commu-nication resulted in the 2007 ar-rest near Goose Creek of Egyp-tian students studying in the U.S. Authorities said the trunk of their car contained explosives, although the men’s attorneys said they were homemade fi reworks.

“That really brought home the fact that you have to do two things: You have to communicate across lines, and you also have to train to recog-nize these things,” Davis said.

One of the men was sentenced to 15

Since 9/11,police seek,share more

FILE PHOTO/SPECIAL TO THE T&D

Members of the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Special Response Team review a fl oor plan during a weapon of mass destruction training exercise in Orangeburg.

The Times and Democrat is taking a closer look at how our community has changed since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Visit the “Hot Topics” tab on our website for more.

INSIDE The headline characterizations

of Pat Tillman were simple: NFL star, patriot, war hero and, for some, martyr. But Tillman was more than that, and his legacy is a call to action. A3

See PREPARING, A8

‘Tested and strengthened’

“I think an original concern was safety and security in general. The tem-ple increased its security in particular. We began locking the front door after 9/11. Whenever we have large gather-ings, safety is something in the back of our minds in a way that is diff erent than before 9/11,” he said.

Clafl in University Vice President for Planning and Assessment Dr. Zia Hasan, a Muslim, said he distinctly remembers what he was doing on the day of the attacks.

“We were in a cabinet meeting, and one of our colleagues was driving here from Columbia and just told us that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. The building had not collapsed or anything at that time. It didn’t really matter to me at that time who did it or why. It was an evil act,” Hasan said.

He said he did not experience anti-Muslim sentiment in Orangeburg fol-lowing the attacks.

“They considered me to be impacted by the tragedy as a Muslim the same way they were. I certainly did not feel ostra-

cized in this community in any way,” Hasan said.

“Nationally and certainly in this state, there is a greater focus on our need to understand the diff erent faiths and cultures that make up who we are as a nation. There is a spring of inter-faith groups,” he said, adding that he is a member of the Interfaith Partners of South Carolina group.

“There are really sincere attempts to get to know each other and discover that ... we have the same dreams and aspira-tions and feel the same not only about our communities, but our dedication to our faiths,” he said.

Sherman said, “I think we need to re-member how God wants us to live. It’s up to us to make this world a better place. That should always be our goal.”

He said the Muslim community has indeed been impacted in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

“I worry that people think that the fundamentalists speak for all of Islam.

The Times and Democrat is taking a closer look at how our

community has changed since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Visit this story online to see a video interview with Dr. Zia Hasan.

Whatever their faith, people foundquestions and answers aft er 9/11

By DIONNE GLEATONT&D Staff Writer

As the nation prepares to remember the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, faith and community leaders are urging individuals to look inward to see how they can make the world a better place.

The 9/11 attacks destroyed the World Trade Center towers and severely damaged the Penta-gon, claiming thousands of lives and spawning the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hopefully it has not destroyed the human spirit, leaders say.

“I think it did send a lot of people to syna-gogue and church, turning to prayers as they were looking for strength. There were a lot of questions about, ‘Why did these things hap-pen?’ Many people had their faith tested ... and strengthened,” said Rabbi Daniel Sherman of the Tree of Life Congregation in Columbia.

Sherman said the event even shook him up. “It is very scary when terrorism hits home,

so my fi rst thoughts were in making sure that those in my congregation and family members were OK as I was fi nding out what had hap-pened and seeing what we could do to help,” Sherman said.

Clafl in University Vice President Dr. Zia Hasan is involved with fostering religious understanding and unity through the Interfaith Partners of South Carolina group.

LARRY HARDY/T&D

See FAITH, A3

Firefi ghters better equipped, better prepared since 9/11

By PHIL SARATAT&D Staff Writer

Their mission hasn’t changed, but fi refi ghters face an entirely new set of possibilities since Sept. 11, 2001.

“The mission of life safety first, property second is still the same. The big change on the part of the fi rst re-sponder is that this can happen,” Or-angeburg Department of Public Safety Chief Wendell Davis said.

“Initially, we thought the fi rst plane on 9/11 was a terrible accident,” he said. “Now we don’t automatically assume it is an accident, but that it could be delib-erate. The mindset of fi rst responders has changed.”

The tragedy put fi refi ghters squarely at the vanguard of domestic eff orts in the nation’s war on terrorism. They be-came icons, tangible points public sen-timent rallied around in the aftermath

of the attack.The immediate off shoot of 9/11 for

fi re services across the U.S. involved an infl ux of money for needed equipment. Orangeburg County Fire System Coor-dinator Gene Ball said grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Secu-rity and the Federal Emergency Man-agement Agency “pushed us into the 21st Century.”

“Just from the standpoint of the fi re system, there was no assistance prior to 9/11,” Ball said. “Before, if any of our fi re departments could get a ‘new’ truck that was 20 years old, we were ecstatic.

“Since then, over $9 million has come to our fi re system through grants alone. By comparison, all the buildings and trucks prior to that time were done with bonds and lease-purchase. We would not be where we are today, equipment-

LARRY HARDY/T&D

Since 9/11, fi refi ghters have been trained to deal with a broader spectrum of possible emergencies, Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Cpl. Stewart Haig said.

Not forgotten3 of the small-town S.C. men who died in wars aft er 9/11

By JEFFREY COLLINSAssociated Press

JEFFERSON — The three men never met each other, but they had much in common even before they were among the fi rst to die thousands of miles away from their small South Carolina towns soon after the U.S. invaded Iraq in the second part of the war on terror.

As the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks nears, the families of those men have taken diff erent paths to mourn their loved ones.

There was George Buggs III, the 11-year veteran of the Army who left behind his estranged wife and 12-year-old son whose confusion has turned into anger; Jason Hicks, a newlywed fl ight engineer seven years into his Air Force career whose legacy is a scholarship in his name at his high school; and Spence McNeil a teenager just seven

The Times and Democrat is taking a closer look at how our

community has changed since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Visit this story online to see a video

interview with Cpl. Stewart Haig.

See FIREFIGHTERS, A3

SERIES OF ARTICLESSERIES OF ARTICLESDaily 20,000 - 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEIndependent MailLiz Carey, Anna Mitchell, Kirk Brown, Ray Chandler, Mike Ellis, Jennifer Howard and Nikie Mayo150th Anniversary of the Civil War

a4/local Sunday/2.13.11/www.independentmail.com

BY LIZ CAREYIndependent Mail

careyme@/260.1252

BY ANNA B. MITCHELLIndependent Mail

anna.mitchell@/260.1256

While official govern-ment figures tell one storyof Anderson County dur-ing and after the Civil War,historians and residents tellanother.

According to figuresfrom the U.S. Census Bu-reau, the Anderson Dis-trict, as it was known then,was thriving in 1860 withnearly 23,000 people livinghere. About 8,000 of themwere slaves. And more than160 of them were free blacks— one of whom owned twoslaves himself.

Just under half the coun-ty’s farmers had no slavesat all. But statewide, 60 per-cent of the population con-sisted of slaves.

Census figures showeveryone here with a patchof land grew some cotton,but most also grew cornand raised hogs and enoughother food to be self-suffi-cient.

According to W.J. Meg-ginson, author of “TheAfrican American Experi-ence in the Upper Pied-mont,” white owners andtheir slaves worked closelytogether sometimes toilingin the same field side byside.

Slavery was woven intoevery fabric of society andevery corner of the state,wrote renowned state his-torian Walter Edgar in hisbook “South Carolina: AHistory.”

“It was a rare white per-son who did not come intocontact with a black personwho was someone’s prop-erty,” he wrote.

And the mood was tensein 1860, the year AbrahamLincoln was elected presi-dent.

A letter from South Car-olina Gov. William Gist,printed on Nov. 16, 1860, inthe “Anderson Intelli-gencer,” urged every able-bodied white man aged 18 to45 to arm himself.

“If in the exercise of ar-bitrary power, and forgetfulof the lessons of history, theGovernment of the UnitedStates should attempt coer-cion, it will become oursolemn duty to meet forceby force,” Gist wrote.

At the time, Anderson —established as a courthousetown in 1826 — had a popu-lation of 625, a rail line andmarket square with itsshare of merchants and cot-ton speculators. The coun-ty reported 59 manufactur-ers employing 174 people in1860. More than 20 of thoseestablishments were flourand corn mills, along with10 carriage makers.

But the preferred homeof educated and wealthyresidents remained Pendle-ton, a refuge since the 18thcentury for Charlestoniansfinancially able to escapethe filth, heat and disease ofthe coast during the sum-mer.

Among others, statesrights advocate John C. Cal-houn’s widow, Floride, set-tled in Pendleton in the1850s within view of thePendleton Farmer’s Society.Her grandson, John Cal-houn Clemson, would be aprisoner in Ohio for muchof the war and her son-in-law, Thomas Green Clem-son, served as a mining andmunitions engineer inTexas.

While sending manymen and supplies off to thewar, the county didn’t seemuch military action untilthe end. Edgar also wrote inhis book that Anderson sawone of a handful of slave up-risings in the state as whitemasters left plantations inthe hands of women andchildren.

Some portion of the Con-federacy’s currency-print-ing equipment likely madeits way out of Columbia be-fore it was captured Feb. 17,1865, and is reported to havebeen stored in Anderson inthe women’s college onSouth Main Street.

But the war did affect thearea, Edgar said.

“There was a surge ofrefugees to the Upcountryduring the war,” Edgarsaid. “And not only peoplebut their valuables.”

In May 1865, weeks afterLee had surrendered at Ap-pomattox, a Union hunt forConfederate President Jef-ferson Davis also broughtfederal troops through thearea. Led by Maj. Gen.George Stoneman, Edgarwrote in his book, thesearch — called Stoneman’sRaid — stretched fromSpartanburg to Anderson.

Davis had on May 2 heldhis last cabinet meeting ofthe Confederacy inAbbeville. He was in Geor-gia by the time Stoneman’smen came looking for him.

There’s little doubt thecounty came out of the warwith damage to the rail-road and roads, and likelydamage to buildings. The1870 population was 24,049,with almost all the in-crease in the black popula-tion, which by then totaled9,593.

But as with most of theSouth, the start of thedecade after the war sawthe number of factories in-crease along with the pop-ulation. By 1870, some 78factories employed around425 people.

Freed black men stakedclaims to plantations thathad been abandoned orseized by the government.Many white landowners, apopulation already in de-cline before the war startedbecause of depleted land,headed west. Half of thestate’s wealth, Edgar wrotein his book, had also disap-peared in the wake ofemancipation. Human cap-ital — slaves — had a valueof about $5.4 billion in mod-ern dollars.

An Anderson County na-tive who had opposed se-cession — James L. Orr —would become the state’sfirst post-war governor in1866, and the process of re-building and recoveringcontinued across the area.

Now, 150 years later, theimpact of the Civil War onAnderson County’s cultureand heritage are indeliblyimprinted in our culturallandscape, our history andour environment.

Independent Mail file photo

Re-enactors portray soldiers at the Battle of Oconee.

Census shows thriving townsbut historians report hardship

By the numbers: Anderson County in the 1860s

CiCivilvilWWarar

150 years

BY LIZ CAREYIndependentMail

careyme@/260-1252

Herbert Booth, known as H.V. inElberton, tears up when he talksabout his father.

Booth’s father, Isham Johnson Booth,died when Booth was only 15. His fatherwas 87.

“He didn’t talk much about the war,”Booth said. “Whenever we asked aboutit he said ‘Children should be seen notheard.’”

At 92, Booth is one of a handful ofmen who are living sons of Confederateveterans, and one of only two in Geor-gia.

Isham Booth served as a guard at An-dersonville, the notorious Southernprison that at one time held as many as35,000 Northern prisoners of war andescaped slaves.

“He said it was the awful-est thing hehad ever gotten himself into.” H.V.Booth said.

According to H.V., Isham Boothsigned up to go to war after his threebrothers signed up.

“He volunteered. He wasn’t but 16,”Booth said. “There used to be a place

where they would gather all the youngmen, and the call would go out, ‘Weneed so many men from Alabama,’ or‘We need 400 men from Georgia,’ andthey’d go out and draft ’em up and putthem on a train.”

One of Isham’s brothers lost his lifein Virginia, H.V. said. Another cameback with one leg 15 inches shorterthan the other, he said. Long since lostare the names of which brothers. Onlyone brother made it home alive. ButIsham, the youngest, didn’t get to fight.

“Back then, they didn’t put theiryoungest soldiers on the front lines,” hesaid. “They made them KP (kitchen pa-trol) pushers and guards. They put theiroldest men up as soldiers. So, he endedup as a guard.”

There are only a few stories of histime in Andersonville, Booth said.Mostly, Isham didn’t want to rememberit.

“He said it was awful,” he said. “Pris-oners were dying like flies. They didn’thave any food, they didn’t have anyclothes, they didn’t have any water. Hesaid he never would go back there.”

According to Paul Anderson,

Man remembers father: Civil War veteran

NATHAN GRAYIndependent Mail

92-year-oldH.V. Booth ofElberton, Ga.,is one of onlya few men liv-ing who arethe sons ofConfederateveterans.H.V.’s fatherserved as aguard at An-dersonvilleduring theCivil War.

Continued

Videos: H.V. Booth sharesmore memories; local histo-rians talk more aboutAbbeville's Civil War history

Maps: Compare AndresonCounty and United Statescensus stats in 1860 and1870

Photos: historical pictures, re-enactments and more

www.independentmail.com/civilwar

ONLINE

15a

aavvee bbiigg!!

■ Anderson mood was tense with Lincoln’s election/4a

■ Son of Confederate veteranshares memories of father/4a

■ Abbeville landmarks significant at beginning, end of war/5a

■ Frederick Douglass: Civil Warwas fought for freedom/6a

1ST IN A SERIES

WarCivil

150 years

The



SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe HeraldStaff Jail, No Bail - 50 years Later

The old station wagon that transportedprisoners screeched to a stop in front ofthe old building – a barn, really.

A barracks that, in 1961, sat alongwhat is now S.C. 5 on the eastern edge ofYork – where the current county animalshelter is. The surrounding area wasfields, with the York County Prison Camp

fenced in.Out of the back of

the wagon tumbled 10black men.

W.T. “Dub” Masseyand Rob McCullough,the smallest.

Then WillieMcCleod, not muchbigger, and ClarenceGraham and JamesWells and MackWorkman.

John Gaines andThomas Gaither jumped out, proddedwith the hard batons of guards, thenCharles Taylor and David Williamson Jr.

Prison.“I got out of that wagon,” recalled

Williamson, “and I looked at the wireand the fence, and I said to myself, ‘Man,you got what you asked for; you aregoing to prison.’”

The men were ushered into the middlecorridor of the building.

White prisoners on the left, behindbars and wire in a common room.

Black prisoners on the right behindbars and wire in a common room.

At the end of the building was thekitchen.

“My grandparents were preachers, andthe first thing I noticed was that thebuilding was shaped just like a cross,”said Massey. “The whites had their sideof the jail, and we had ours.

“Man, even jail was separate!”

Segregated – even in jailThe prison farm was a scene straight

out of an old movie. Big, tall whiteguards carrying shotguns. Guards who

JAIL, NO BAIL – 50 YEARS LATER

Sacrificing for equality

SPECIAL TO THE HERALD The men in the photo, From left, W.T. “Dub” Massey, Thomas Gaither, James Wells, Robert McCullough and John Gaines are shown behind bars at the prison farmduring their 30 days there in 1961.

AndrewDys

Columnist

FriendshipNine spent30 days atprison camp

See DYS ● 6A

Inside today’s paperIn a special edition of Viewpoint, The Herald profiles each member of the Friendship

Nine and highlights the civil rights movement in Rock Hill. We also look atnewspaper coverage of the protests. Finally, look for a commemorative photo withmost members of the Friendship Nine.

On the WebLook for extended coverage of the Friendship Nine at

heraldonline.com/friendshipnine. Friendship Nine members recall their sit-ins andarrests in an exclusive heraldonline video slideshow.

Friendship Nine Commemorative March todayToday at 3 p.m., a march and re-enactment of the Friendship Nine will be held on Main

Street from Dave Lyle Boulevard to the Old Town Bistro.

By Jamie [email protected]

Inez Graham grew up in Rock Hill whensegregation wasn’t called “Jim Crow” – itwasn’t called anything, she said.

It just was. Her granddaughter’s childhood in Rock

Hill was different. Danise Simpson, now45, grew up in a newly integrated Rock Hillstill rife with racial tension. But it waschanging.

Understandingher son’s choices

JIM [email protected]

Inez Graham, whose son, Clarence, isone of the Friendship Nine, speaksMonday in Rock Hill.See UNDERSTANDING ● 7A

Rock Hill’s Main Street was a busyplace in 1961.

Department stores, variety anddrug stores. Restaurants with counterand curb service, dry cleaners – every-thing a person needed.

Bustling lunch counters in four ofthose stores, with pretty girls in hoopskirts and ruby-red lipstick, burgers

and shakes andbottomless coffeefor a nickel a cup.

Lean, raw-bonedguys in loafers andkhakis with knuck-les scraped fromwork in huge textilemills that hiredanybody willing towork.

If you werewhite.

Blacks worked inservice, as maids and hod-carriers andcooks. Blacks were there on MainStreet, customers who could buy froma back window, but looked straightthrough by most whites.

They were there, but invisible.“I was a little boy, then a teenager,

looking into the places on Main Street,and it was just whites sitting on thosestools,” said a black man, now 68,


WHY NOT US?

HERALD FILE PHOTO Demonstrators are shown in 1960 on Main Street in Rock Hill. Racial tensions were high long before January 1961, when the Friendship Nine took totheir stools at the lunch counter in McCrory’s.

Remembering Friendship Nine’s historic protest in Rock Hill

THE FRIENDSHIP NINE

Jail, No Bail – 50 years laterThe Herald begins four days of coverage of the 50th anniversary of the

Friendship Nine arrests. In 1961, nine men who were charged withtrespassing after trying to desegregate a Rock Hill lunch counterchose 30 days of hard labor instead of paying bail.

Today – What led to the Friendship Nine sit-ins and their original strategySaturday – A look back at the day the Friendship Nine sat down to make their

point – and were arrestedSunday – What the Friendship Nine endured in 30 days of hard labor at the

York County Prison Farm. Also, a special edition of Viewpoint looks in-depthat the Friendship Nine and their place in Rock Hill’s civil rights history.

Monday – Coverage of Sunday’s commemorative march, marking the 50thanniversary of the historic sit-ins

Friendship Nine commemorative marchAt 3 p.m. Sunday, members of the Friendship Nine and others will walk down

Main Street from Dave Lyle Boulevard to the Old Town Bistro tocommemorate their historic protests.

ON THE WEB

Look for extended coverage of Rock Hill’s civil rights movement atheraldonline.com/friendshipnine, where you’ll find historic photos from the 1960sprotests, stories from the past, Friendship Nine FAQs and a schedule ofcommemorative events. View a trailer from the South Carolina ETV “Jail, No Bail”documentary.

AndrewDys

Columnist

Clockwise from topleft: W.T. “Dub”Massey, JohnGaines, JamesWells, RobertMcCollough, DavidWilliamson, WillieMcCleod, ThomasGaither, MackWorkman, ClarenceGraham

FRIDAY January 28, 2011 Rock Hill South Carolina


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Sun NewsIssac BaileyBooker T. Washington Anti-Violence

"It is a peculiar sensation,this double-consciousness, thissense of always looking at one-self through the eyes of others,of measuring one’s soul by thetape of a world that looks on inamused contempt and pity." –W. E. B. DuBois

John Graham died around 1a.m. on Sept. 4, 2006, shot todeath during a robbery attempt.

His death at the hand of a fel-low young black man was ruledself-defense. It would be one of 11killings in Myrtle Beach thatyear, the peak for violent deathsin the city between 2005 and2010.

Graham was killed in BookerT. Washington, a neighborhoodin the heart of South Carolina’smost important tourism center,

PHOTOS BY JANET BLACKMON MORGAN [email protected]

Trell Pressley (left) watches for a friend to pass while his sister Shy’da, 2, rests in the lap of Lakia Calloway late in the afternoon inthe Booker T. Washington neighborhood of Myrtle Beach.

“You want to be a winner? You want to play football for theSeahawks? You got to play football for me first,” Eric Goings (center)

ll f i hb h d hild i h k hi

“Where you going now? You come on back andwe’ll talk some,” the Rev. Rory Spivey (right)says to Eric Goings in the neighborhood.

Two faces, 1community

Residents tout safety despite murdersBY ISSAC J. BAILEY

[email protected]

Editor’s noteColumnist Issac J. Bailey spent

several weeks beginning during

February’s Black History Month in-

terviewing Myrtle Beach mothers

who have lost children to violence

since 2005, researching the roots of

the crime plaguing their Booker T.

Washington neighborhood, and ex-

amining the parallels in his own

family’s struggles.

Sunday | Mothers who have

lost children to the crime that sul-

lies the heritage of their Myrtle

Beach community are taking their

lessons to the streets in hopes of

saving other young people.

Monday | A mother who lost

two sons to violence months apart

speaks about her loss and her hopes

for the future.

Tuesday | One of those killed

was a young woman whose mother

recalls her spiral from successful

college student to drug dealer.

Wednesday | The story of a

military veteran who got into the il-

l l d d d

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

SERIES OF ARTICLESSERIES OF ARTICLESDaily Over 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Post and CourierDoug PardueThe Price of Living

How can courts protect the elderly?

BY DOUG [email protected]

Seventy-one million. That number serves as the driving force behind efforts in South

Carolina and across the nation to improve the way the courts deal with elderly abuse.

It is the estimate of how many Americans will be 65 or older by the year 2030 — double the number today . And that rapid increase starts next year when the first baby boomers turn 65.

In South Carolina, the increase of people 65 and older is expected to exceed the national rate. By 2030, the state will have 1,134,000 such citizens.

This senior tsunami comes as no shock. Numerous studies and federal reports have warned for years that, as the baby boom ages, the number of elderly who are subjected to neglect, abuse and fi-nancial exploitation will surge. Despite the warnings, little has been accomplished in most states and nationally to remedy the failings of courts set up to protect the incapacitated elderly.

Just in September, the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, released a study revealing that “there continue to be instances where some guardians have taken advantage of the

Judges, others finding new ways to guard assets of seniors in guardian situations

SPECIAL REPORT: THE PRICE OF LIVING

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALAN HAWES/STAFF

Ellen Murray (left) stands beside her mother, Lee Belle Murray, in front of Lee Belle’s home at 215 Wentworth St. A probate court approved a request by Lee Belle Murray’s court-appointed guardian to sell the house to pay for her continued care in an assisted living home against the wishes of Ellen Murray, who previously was caring for her.

Planning for death or incapacitation

The best way to make sure your affairs are handled the way you want in the event of death or in-capacitation is to have the three following legal documents:

A last will and testament: This document details how you want your possessions distributed. You can designate an executor to handle that distribution. The document must be in writing and signed by you and two witnesses.

Durable power of attorney for business affairs: This document designates a person to handle your finances and contractual relationships in the event that you are incapacitated.

Health care power of attorney and declaration of a desire for a natural death (or living will): This document designates a person to handle your medical decisions in the event you are incapacitated.

To find a lawyer, call the S.C. Lawyers Referral Service at 800- 868-2284 or the Legal Service Agency at 720-7044 for attorney information.

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Please see COURTS, Page 9A


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Post and CourierBrian HicksCivil War 150th Anniversary

Divided Democrats set the stageBY BRIAN [email protected]

There was great excitement on Broad Street that evening.

Local men dressed in fine suits congregated on Charleston’s busiest thoroughfare, their voic-es carrying along the dirt street, their shadows dancing on the walls of three-story storefronts, most of which had been closed for hours.

It was Nov. 6, 1860, and the “enthusiastic” gentlemen of the

Holy City had gathered in front of the telegraph offices and the headquarters of the Charleston Mercury to await news of the nation’s presidential election.

Years of strife, decades of conflict, had all come down to one vote. Nothing less than the future of the country rested on the electorate’s decision.

Although the mood outside the newspaper office was festive, there was a palpable anxiety running through Charleston. For decades, the South — and

South Carolina in particular — had grown increasingly rest-less with the state of the Union.

In 1832, South Carolina had nearly brought the country to war over tariffs that state politi-cians considered unfair. Two decades later, the Legislature declared that the state had the right to secede, although law-makers stopped short of follow-ing through on the threat.

These politicians claimed the

The series“Civil War 150 Years:

Charleston at War” com-memorates the 150th anni-versary of the Civil War in a 20-part serial that chronicles life in the city between 1860 and 1865.

The story begins in the weeks leading up to secession and continues through the city’s fall. Its purpose is not to retell the story of the Civil War, but to provide a snap-shot of life in Charleston

Above: A reproduction from the May 18, 1861, Harper’s Weekly showing The Battery.To the right: Robert Barnwell Rhett, a drawing of the bombardment of Fort Sumter which ran in an issue of Leslie’s, and Robert Smalls.

Please see DEMOCRATS, Page 4A

Please see SERIES, Page 4A


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe StateCarolyn Click, Joey Holleman, Wayne Washington, Jeff Wilkinson and John MonkThe Civil War: 150 years later

Today: S.C. Secedes. When South Carolina started the Civil War — seceding 150 years ago tomorrow —it was one of the country’s wealthiest states, riches based on slavery. Four years later, the state was oneof the nation’s poorest — and slavery no longer existed. Once a month through September, The State willlook at the ways the Civil War changed — and continues to change — South Carolina in “The Civil War:150 years later.”

n a foggy day near Christmas 1860, adelegation of South’s Carolinawealthiest, most powerful citizens –planters, judges, legislators and cler-gy, all white men – assembled at Co-lumbia’s stately red brick-columnedFirst Baptist Church to contemplatesmashing the Palmetto State’s bond

with the United States of America.Within hours, the assembly adopted a resolution that

for some among the group — those who relished themoniker of “fire-eater” — thought was 30 years past due:“The state of South Carolina should forthwith secedefrom the Federal Union.”

A day later, Dec. 18, fearing an outbreak of smallpox,the top-hatted gentry adjourned to Charleston, crowd-ing onto trains in the early morning darkness with anurgency of mission that had exploded with the Nov. 6election of President-elect Abraham Lincoln.

This “convention of the people,” called by the stateLegislature after Lincoln’s election, was united andswift. On Dec. 20 — 150 years ago tomorrow — it adopt-ed the Ordinance of Secession, declaring South Caroli-na, one of the original 13 colonies, no longer part was ofthe United States.

“THE UNION IS DISSOLVED!” screamed the head-line of the Charleston Mercury, a pro-secessionnewspaper.

Looking backward, as Americans prepare to mark the

INSIDE TODAYA timeline: Eventsthat led to seces-sion. Page A6

Facts: Some of thepeople and issuesthat played a rolein secession. Page A7

Viewpoints: TwoSouth Caroliniansoffer their opin-ions on the com-memoration of the150th anniversaryof the Civil War. Pages A8-A9

Changing SouthCarolina: A month-by-month look atThe State’s un-folding “The CivilWar: 150 yearslater” series. Page A6

THESTATE.COMFirst BaptistChurch curatorHarvey Teal tellsthe story of theSecession Conven-tion in Columbiaand how the viewsof modern-daySouthern Baptistsdiffer from their19th-century coun-terparts.

Charles Lesser,retired S.C. De-partment of Ar-chives and Historyarchivist, explainsthe history of theOrdinance of Se-cession and itssignificance in U.S.history.

Also, view a galleryof descendants ofsigners of theordinance. And,each day duringthe series, a newCivil War fact willbe online.

S.C.’S SECESSION LEGACY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2010

Economic, racial, political upheaval followed, lingered

SEE CIVIL WAR PAGE A6

A copy of the Extra edtion of the Charleston Mercury announcing secession

CHARLESTON MUSEUM

By CAROLYN [email protected]

REPORTING IN DEPTHREPORTING IN DEPTHDaily Under 20,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Beaufort GazettePatrick DonohueTraffi c Camera Commission Fails to Meet


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe ItemJade AndersonSchool Board Seeks to Avoid Bias


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Times and DemocratPhil Sarata, Dionne Gleaton, Dale Linder-AltmanWatchdogs

By DALE LINDER-ALTMANT&D Staff Writer

South Carolina State Univer-sity offi cials have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on every-thing from travel to dining out on school Visa cards since those re-cords were fi rst released online, but offi cials say there’s more to it than meets the eye.

Director of Finance John Smalls said that the $494,000 spent in 2010 looks like a lot of money to the person on the street, but it’s not a large sum to spend for a uni-versity the size of S.C. State.

“Keep in mind, we’ve got a $150 million budget,” he said. “With more than 4,000 students, with a thousand employees, that’s not much money. ...

“S.C. State is a small city. We do food services, housing, secu-rity. We have everything that a city would require, so a lot of purchases are necessary.”

People often feel that credit card spending is discretionary spend-ing, but it’s not, Smalls said.

“It is regular operation of busi-ness for the university – simply us-ing the credit card to pay for some-thing. The same expense would take place if it was done through a purchase order,” he said.

More than 10,000 state em-ployees have access to the South Carolina procurement card. From Aug. 1, 2008 until July 31, 2009, they spent more than $163 million on the P-Card, a Visa card issued by the Bank of America through a contract with the state.

An additional $54 million was spent on the card by local govern-ment employees during the same time period.

The University of South Caro-lina spent more than $28 million on the P-Card last year, or an aver-age of $2.3 million monthly.

Locally, South Carolina State University has issued 145 cards to employees.

Of the $494,000 spent in 2010, $109,476 was spent by six em-ployees on airline travel. Dr. La-min Drammeh had the highest travel expenditures at $34,000. More than $20,000 was charged to Director of Finance John Smalls’ P-Card on Oct. 4, 2010, and better than $20,000 was charged to the card of Alicia Davis, business man-

ager for the athletic department.President George Cooper spent

$5,100 on his card to pay for meals, gas and lodging from January through June.

He and other S.C. State card-holders used the cards to make purchases at vendors ranging from airlines, restaurants and gas sta-tions to offi ce supply, grocery and department stores.

Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College spent $20,800 from Sep-tember to December, and Denmark Technical College spent $10,700 from October to December at the same kinds of vendors. Their use

has been reported on the state comptroller general’s website for a shorter period of time.

The P-Card is designed to make it more convenient for authorized individuals to purchase routine supplies for state business. It cuts down on paperwork and saves the state money in processing bills, S.C. Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom said.

Eckstrom says the state has

guidelines to control P-Card spending, and his offi ce oversees the expenditures of state agencies, or Group A agencies. Some agen-cies, including colleges and uni-versities, do not fall under the au-thority of the comptroller general’s offi ce, which is charged with daily oversight of the P-Card program.

In January, the South Carolina Legislative Audit Council released a review calling for better over-sight of the P-Card program. The review said that while the Budget and Control Board sets statewide policy, it does not have a system in place to determine if agencies are complying with that policy.

“Without proactive and fre-quent reviews of the use of P-Cards, the likelihood of fraud and misuse is increased,” the review states.

According to Smalls, the LAC review gave S.C. State a clean bill of health.

The LAC examined 52 purchases by S.C. State, and questioned just one: a total of $4,000 spent on 17 purchases at a local restaurant. Some of the meals were labeled “offi cial dinner,” but did not in-clude documentation, the review stated.

Smalls said the review was not questioning the expenditures, but was asking why the university used a single restaurant.

The money was spent at the Four Moons restaurant during a search for three vice presidential candidates, Smalls said. He used the Four Moons because there’s a shortage of restaurants in Orange-burg and because it had a meeting room that was very convenient for interviewing candidates.

Cardholders are generally held to a single transaction limit of $2,500 and a monthly spend rate of $5,000 for purchases like sup-plies, materials, equipment for state businesses, Eckstrom said. Airline tickets can be charged to the P-Card, but many vendors — including restaurants, gas sta-tions and motels — are blocked to all state agencies, including edu-cational institutions.

The reason for blocking these and some other vendors is that the goods or services they supply are more likely to be used for personal

Credit card spending records online don’t tell the whole story, higher ed offi cials say

Tax-funded tabs

See SPENDING, A8

“We got access from the banks and in looking at some of the purchases,

we saw some things that we were very

nervous about,” S.C. Comptroller General

Richard Eckstrom said. Aft er investigating

them, “we were pretty satisfi ed there wasn’t

much abuse going on.”

[email protected] Visit this article on-line to nd out how you can look up govern-ment agencies’ credit card purchases yourself.TheTandD.com/news

INSIDESee a list of local college and univer-sity credit card bills on page A7

The Times and Democrat| 2 SECTIONS, 20 PAGES ★ VOL. 130 ★ NO. 9575 CENTS ★ ORANGEBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA |

Questions surround audit of Sheriff ’s Offi ceBy PHIL SARATAT&D Staff Writer

Unrecorded bank accounts and un-inventoried capital assets in the Orangeburg County Sheriff ’s Offi ce were unable to be verifi ed, accord-ing to the annual county audit.

Certifi ed public accountant Dawn Strickland of C.C. McGregor & Company told Orangeburg County Council on Monday the fi rm issued a qualifi ed opinion on the county’s fi nancial statements for the 2009-2010 fi scal year.

“This means that fi nancial state-ments presented are materially cor-

rect except for these areas for which we cannot satisfy ourselves through audit procedures,” Strickland said. “Therefore, we are excluding them from the opinion.”

Responding to a question from Councilman Clyde Livingston, Strickland noted the sheriff ’s of-fi ce audit only covered the period from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. She did not off er any specifi c infor-mation in her report to council.

“We were not hired to look into anything at the sheriff ’s offi ce prior to July 1, 2009 during our engage-ment here,” Strickland said. “These bank accounts and activity came to

light during this audit and have not been previously audited.

“The activity happened before July 1, 2009. We could not sat-isfy ourselves as to whether it is recorded.”

Orangeburg County Administra-tor Bill Clark said the sheriff ’s offi ce is a part of county government. As such, it is audited on a consistent basis as part of the annual county audit.

Although The Times and Demo-crat has requested a copy of the au-dit, only county offi cials had copies during Monday’s County Council meeting. Clark said one would be

made available to The T&D today.During the public comment por-

tion of the council meeting, Jeanette Jeff rey asked council why the audit was done “behind closed doors.” She was assured by Council Chairman Johnnie Wright it hadn’t been.

“I knew there was trouble with the audit,” Jeff rey said. “I cannot explain to you how I know.

“All I can tell you is I know there is a lot more to this that needs to be brought out.

“You heard her say they could not do the audit prior to July 1, 2009. Why can’t they do it? They let it go over their heads tonight when she

said there were unrecorded bank accounts. And why is that?”

Jeff rey said she is “double check-ing” the information that has been given to her for possible presenta-tion to council at a future meeting.

Strickland said the remaining portion of the audit noted 16 in-stances of internal control defi cien-cies, 11 of them signifi cant.

Council accepted the audit as in-formation, with Livingston casting the lone dissenting vote.


By DIONNE GLEATONT&D Staff Writer

DENMARK — State offi-cials are digging deeper into Denmark Technical College’s fi nances following a special review that found problems with the use of purchasing cards and inadequate fi nan-cial controls.

Following the review, the DTC Area Commission asked the South Carolina Technical College System to conduct a more comprehensive review of the use of state-issued pur-chase cards.

“As a member of the board and just as a citizen, I have very grave concerns regarding the apparent misuse of the purchasing cards. We asked the State Technical College System to give a 100 per-cent review of the purchas-ing cards going back to July 1, 2010,” DTC Area Commis-sioner Calvin Wright said. He also serves as chairman of the commission’s business and fi -

ment as early as February.“I became aware of irregu-

larities through self reporting

My committee attempted to gain an explanation ... and the administration was not forth-

“From that limited review, it was discerned that a further and more complete review

card use began this past week. She plans to present her fi nd-ings to the area commission

the card holders for that. With the procurement cards, there were very clear guidelines

Denmark Tech fi nances under scrutiny

LARRY HARDY/T&D

S.C. Technical College System offi cials have been asked to take a closer look at Denmark Technical College’s fi nances following a special review that found the college has inadequate fi nancial controls.

With money tight,state tech systemprobing Visa use

REPORTING IN DEPTHREPORTING IN DEPTHDaily 20,000 - 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Sun NewsTonya RootHigh School Shooter

Corrections to finish the prisonsentence.

The sentence was a relief toHelms’ parents and gave clo-sure to others involved in thecase, they said.

Cooper ordered Helms toserve six years in prison on anattempted murder charge inconnection with a shot fired atErik Karney, an Horry Countypolice school resource officer.He must serve at least 85 per-cent of the sentence. Coopersentenced Helms to six years inprison on a charge of takingpipe bombs to school, whichwill run concurrently with theattempted murder charge.

Cooper then sentencedHelms to five years in prison onthe second bomb charge, butsuspended that sentence andordered Helms to completefour years probation after he isreleased from prison. That sen-tence will run consecutively tothe first two charges.

Helms must also undergomental health counseling whilein prison and after being re-leased while on probation.Helms also received credit forthe time he has served in jailsince being taken into custodyat the age of 14 the day of theincident on Sept. 21.

Helms had faced up to 30years in prison on the attempt-ed murder charge and betweentwo and 15 years in prison oneach of the bomb charges.

Helms thanked Karney forhis actions on Sept. 21 insidethe school resource officer’s of-fice at the school.

“He’s the whole reason I getto call myself a 15-year-old inthe first place,” Helms said.

The teen pleaded guiltyMonday less than two hours af-ter a jury was selected to hearhis case. Helms pleaded guiltyto two counts of transportingor possessing components of adestructive device and enteredan Alford plea on an attemptedmurder charge.

In an Alford plea, the defen-dant does not admit guilt, butacknowledges that a jury wouldlikely convict based on theevidence.

The sentencing hearing,which took more than twice aslong as a typical sentencinghearing, included testimonyfrom psychologists, school au-thorities, correctional officers,Karney and his wife, andHelms’ family members.

Karney, who declined tospeak after the hearing, toldCooper about how Helms cameto his office that day, pointedthe gun at him and demandedhis weapon.

“Every cop knows the sec-ond their gun is taken awayfrom them, you are dead. I hadit in my mind that I was not go-ing to die that day,” Karney said

as he described being about 18inches away from Helms, whopointed the gun at his chest andhead. “I knew the second I wentafter it I had a chance of gettingshot. I dove. The gun was firedand went off so close to myhead that it felt like a baseballbat.”

Karney suffered powderburns to his head, but said hisemotional suffering continues.He also will not be returning to

the school this year as the SRO,where he spent five yearsworking.

“It’s almost been a year and Istill have nightmares,” saidKarney, who is the father to a4-year-old daughter and a4-month-old son. “I still havenightmares of being shot.”

Helms had planned to emu-late the 1999 Columbine HighSchool massacre, according tojournal entries and a video

made the day of the shooting,said Alicia Richardson, seniorsolicitor for juvenile prosecu-tion in Horry County.

“If he were 30 years old anddone this and got caught withthese things, there wouldn’t beany question as to what needsto be done,” Richardson said.“This was a school shooting. Hewanted to be a school shooter.”

Psychologists testified thatHelms was depressed and suf-fered from some mental issuesf o r w h i c h h e i s n o w o nmedication.

Prosecutors said their goalwas to have Helms tried as anadult, which was granted inMarch by a family court judge,15th Circuit Solicitor GregHembree said.

“There is some hope that hecan be rehabilitated,” Hembreesaid after the hearing.

Helms’ family told Cooperthat they planned to supportthe teen in rehabilitation andplan to do whatever it takes tohelp him when he is released.

“Christian, I love you with allmy heart. I am sorry for thepast. I will do everything I canto help you get through this,”said Jamie Helms, the teen’s fa-ther. “I made fun of his haircutand many other things. I didnot understand him. I alwaysloved him, but I didn’t show it.”

Jamie Helms and the teen’smother, Traci Helms, each said

they didn’t understand theteen’s reasoning behind the in-cident, but they thanked Kar-ney for his actions that day atthe school.

“Officer Karney, I am so sor-ry. Thank you. Thank you somuch. You showed your brav-ery, your courage, your honorand again you had no way ofknowing Christian would beworth that,” Traci Helms said.“You will always be at the top ofmy list for things I am thankfulfor.”

Both parents make weeklyvisits to see the teen in Colum-bia and are undergoing coun-seling, they said.

“Christ ian is my wholeworld,” Traci Helms said, look-ing at her son as her chin quiv-ered with emotion Wednesdayafternoon. “It has been a hor-rible year. Not only did I dealwith the fact my child is gone; Ihad to deal with what he haddone. I don’t understand it.”

Helms’ attorney, RussellLong, told Cooper that theteen’s mental health issueswere going untreated when theshooting occurred and that hehas since improved while beingin custody due to undergoingcounseling and medication.“He pulled that gun out and hescreamed to the world helpme,” Long said. “Christian wasunable to help himself and no-body was listening.”

HELMSFrom Page 1A


Traci Helms (left) reaches out to touch her son as she passes by after testifying in hissentencing hearing at the Horry County Courthouse on Wednesday.

Circuit Court Judge Thomas Cooper (right) watches asJamie Helms reads a statement in the in the sentencinghearing.

‘Every cop knows the second theirgun is taken away from them, you are

dead. I had it in my mind that I wasnot going to die that day.’

ERIK KARNEYHorry County police school resource officer

Christian Helms admitted he was wrongfor taking a loaded gun and pipe bombs toSocastee High School last year in a plot toget back at people who he said had bulliedhim.

“What I did, I know it was wrong. I don’tcondone any of it. Not only do I need help, Iwant help,” the 15-year-old former SocasteeHigh School student said Wednesday beforebeing sentenced to six years in prison. “Iswear I did not mean to pull that trigger. Iwant to be better. I want people to be proud

of me.”Helms will be about 20 years old when he

is released from prison after Circuit CourtJudge Thomas Cooper sentenced the teenWednesday. Helms will remain in the custo-dy of the state Department of Juvenile Jus-tice until he is 17, when he will be trans-fe r re d t o t h e s t at e D e p a r t m e n t o f

Helms gets 6 yearsfor school shooting


Jammed in a doorway, Traci Helms (right) holds her chest Wednesday and stumbles over words while her husband Jamie is embraced inthe hallway at the Horry County Courthouse . Their son Christian Helms was sentenced to six years in prison.

Christian Helms cries as his mother Traci Helms testifieson Wednesday. Helms entered two guilty pleas and anAlford plea on Monday.

Former Socastee student:‘I need help, I want help’

TONYA ROOT

[email protected] ONLINE

For more photos and video of reaction to the

verdict, go to TheSunNews.com .

See HELMS | Page 5A


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Sun NewsDavid WrenMyrtle Beach Real Estate Fraud

been used in at least 46 foreclo-sures since 2008.

There are nearly 100 DocXmortgage assignments filed atHorry County’s register ofdeeds office for homes withloans totaling more than $17million.

Green’s purported signatureis on many of those documents.

And many of those docu-ments are suspected of beingfraudulent, according to gov-ernment regulators.

Questionable signaturesThe Federal Reserve Board

and a trio of banking oversightgroups issued a consent orderin April against DocX and itsparent company, Lender Pro-cessing Services Inc. of Jack-sonville, Fla.

Although no fine was issuedand the regulators said morestudy is needed to determinewhat wrongdoing – if any – oc-curred, the order has sparkedinvestigations of DocX, whichshut down last year, in at leastfour states and more attorneysgeneral are expected to join theprobe.

The regulators’ action tookplace after a “60 Minutes” tele-vision news broadcast on April3 that showed DocX hired highschool students and others for$10 an hour to sit in a sweat-shop-like setting and sign thou-sands of mortgage documentsevery day, without checking tosee if the documents wereaccurate.

DocX workers signed thedocuments as if they were vicepresidents of national banks.Green, for example, claimed tobe the vice president of 20banks at the same time.

And when the real LindaGreen wasn’t signing the mort-gage documents, other DocXworkers were signing them inher name, according to the re-port. DocX documents, includ-ing those filed in Horry County,show numerous variations ofGreen’s purported signature.

DocX workers told “60 Min-utes” that Linda Green’s namewas chosen as the one they allwould sign because it is shortand easy to spell.

DocX also had public nota-ries sign the documents, attest-ing that Linda Green was thevice president of various banksand that they saw her sign thepaperwork. Jasmin Bennett,the notary who signed Wise’sdocument, did not return a tele-phone call seeking comment.

Green, however, was not thevice president of 20 banks andthe documents she and otherDocX workers signed as if theywere bank executives are com-ing under fire in legal proceed-i n g s – i n c l u d i n g W i s e ’sforeclosure.

Linda Green could not ber e a c h e d f o r c o m m e n t . Aspokeswoman for Lender Pro-cessing Services did not re-s p o n d t o a r e q u e s t f o rcomments.

“From what I can tell, every-thing DocX did was fraudu-lent,” Wise, the owner of ExitElite Realty in Myrtle Beach,told The Sun News last week.“They were just robo-signingthese documents, in my opin-ion, and Linda Green was theone who did that.”

Wise has hired a MyrtleBeach company called NewSouth Financial to help himfight the foreclosure. He saysthe allegedly fraudulent mort-gage assignment Green signed– in this case, pretending to bethe vice president of AmericanHome Mortgage Servicing Inc.,the successor to Option OneMortgage – means the lenderthat is trying to take his homedoesn’t really have clear title orrights to the property.

“At this point, with whatwe’ve discovered so far, I wantmy loan negated,” Wise said.“That’s what I’m going for.”

Game of cat and mouse

The allegations aren’t limit-ed to DocX.

“If you look through your lo-cal land documents, they’re fullof trash,” said Lynn Szymoniak,a Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.,lawyer who made it her missionto raise courts’ awareness offraudulent mortgage docu-ments after her own home wentinto foreclosure. “It is incredi-bly widespread.”

Bob and Christine Dorriemoved to Myrtle Beach fromthe Bronx in New York in 1998.Like many people during theeconomic boom, the Dorriesused their credit cards to fi-nance a lifestyle beyond theirmeans. So, in September 2007,they decided to refinance theirhome in the Island Green Eastneighborhood to pay off some oftheir bills.

“When we went to closing,the woman handling it said,‘Well, we couldn’t get as muchmoney as we thought’,” BobDorrie said, adding that none ofthe credit card bills wound upgetting paid in full. “We endedup with all the charge cards stillopen with money still on themand a new home loan at a muchhigher price.”

The Dorries’ mortgage pay-ment, which had been $987 amonth, soared to $1,340 amonth after the refinance.

As the economy grew worse,the Dorries quickly fell behindon their house payment.

Wells Fargo Bank, the newowner of the Dorries’ loan, fileda foreclosure lawsuit againstthe couple on Sept. 2, 2009. BobDorrie’s emergency bankrupt-cy filing three days before thehouse was to be sold at auctionhas put everything in limbo.

The Dorries now are ques-tioning how Wells Fargo cameto own their loan.

Ace Funding – the companythat gave the Dorries their loanin 2007 – filed for bankruptcyprotection and went out of busi-ness the following year, neverofficially assigning the Dorries’loan over to Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo didn’t file the as-signment on behalf of the de-funct Ace Funding until morethan three weeks after the fore-closure lawsuit was filed. A law-yer representing Wells Fargo inthe foreclosure lawsuit signedthe document for Ace Funding,even though he “really has noauthority to assign this mort-gage,” according to Terry Wal-den, an audit originator and at-torney liaison for New SouthFinancial.

When Dorrie pushed Wells

Fargo for more informationabout the ownership of hismortgage, the bank told him inNovember that Fannie Maeowned the mortgage and thatWells Fargo was only the loanservicer.

Then, in April, Wells Fargotold Dorrie that the real ownerof his mortgage is Freddie Mac.

“Given this information, onlyFreddie Mac has the authorityto enforce this note and fore-close on this property,” Waldensaid.

Wells Fargo spokesman JimHines disagrees, saying theDorries’ loan documents werehandled appropriately and thatthe bank’s contract as a loanservicer gives it “the authorityto take action on the loan to pro-tect the investor’s interests, in-cluding foreclosure.”

Hines said Wells Fargo isworking with the Dorries andhopes to “reach a solution thatwould help them keep theirhome.”

Linda Green’s signature ap-pears on DocX paperwork usedwith thousands of Wells Fargomortgages – although not in theDorries’ case – since the real es-tate boom.

Even so, Hines said WellsFargo has reviewed mortgagedocumentation for all of itsloans and “has not found anyforeclosure that should nothave taken place.”

Wells Fargo sees foreclosureas a last resort, Hines said, andhas worked with 673,000 bor-rowers to modify their loanssince January 2009.

Bob Dorrie said Wells Fargohas repeatedly thrown up roadblocks while he has tried tomodify his loan. He hopes theperceived chain of title issueswill give him some additionalleverage in court proceedingsand force his lender to modifyhis loan on terms he and hiswife can live with.

“This is supposed to helpforce the bank’s hand, insteadof them playing this game of catand mouse with me,” Bob Dor-rie said. “I’m still in the home,and I’d like to keep it.”

Who is at fault?Ballery Skipper, the director

of Horry County’s Register ofDeeds office, said her staff isnot responsible for investigat-ing whether or not a documentis legitimate. As long as fraud isnot suspected, Skipper said,she is legally required to file thedocuments.

In the few cases where Skip-per or her staff suspects fraud,the case is referred to the stateattorney general’s office. Skip-per said she has not referredany of the DocX filings to lawenforcement.

Register of Deeds offices inother states, however, arestarting to do their own investi-gations. A review of filings inGuilford County, N.C., for ex-ample, found 1,920 DocX loandocuments for property worth$255 million and 15 variations ofLinda Green’s signature.

Some mortgage executivessay the documentation prob-

lems are overblown, and thathomeowners are looking fora n y r e a s o n t o s t o p aforeclosure.

“The homeowners have de-faulted on their loans, and aflaw in the documentation doesnot mean the foreclosure was awrongful foreclosure,” said Ja-nis Smith, vice president ofMortgage Electronic Registra-tion Systems, or MERS, the na-tion’s largest mortgage loanregistration service.

“Foreclosure is a very emo-tional situation, and people willtry all angles in an attempt tostop the process,” Smith said.“At the end of the day, though,you still have a situation wherethe borrower didn’t make their

payments.”Walden, however, says that

kind of response is disingenu-ous. While the courts are set upto determine whether a home-owner has defaulted on a loan,he said, they are also responsi-ble for ensuring the banks’ pa-perwork is legitimate and thatdue process is followed.

“The banks just made up thepaperwork they needed to getthe deal done,” Walden said.“We want to hold the banks ac-countable for that.”

Where it all beganTo better understand how

this mortgage mess occurred,one has to look back to thehome-buying frenzy that took

place between 2005 and 2007.During the real estate boom,

some of the nation’s largestbanks bought home loans fromall over the country and pack-aged them together in mort-gage-backed securities thatwere sold to investors – includ-ing many 401(k) programs andpension funds.

Each security that was is-sued included thousands ofmortgage loans worth a com-bined $1 billion to $1.5 billion –and the Wall Street banks soldhundreds of those securities toinvestors who believed the risein home values would neverend.

FRAUDFrom Page 1A

BY STEVE JESSMORE [email protected]

Bob and Christine Dorrie are taking part in a program that they hope will get them out of foreclosure and into a loan modification so they canafford to keep their home in the Island Green East subdivision.

See FRAUD | Page 17A

‘From what I can tell, everything DocXdid was fraudulent. They were just

robo-signing these documents, in myopinion, and Linda Green was the one

who did that.’ANTHONYWISE

owner of Exit Elite Realty in Myrtle Beach

Anthony Wise has been selling real es-tate in the Myrtle Beach area for nearlythree decades, but he had never heard ofLinda Green until after his home went intoforeclosure.

Now, just like hundreds of thousands ofpeople nationwide, Wise is finding that thebiggest investment he will ever make – hishome – is closely tied to Green … or some-one pretending to be her.

Green was a shipping clerk for an auto-mobile parts company before taking a jobin the signature room at a mortgage docu-ment company called DocX in Alpharetta,Ga., according to news reports.

DocX helped banks create documents –such as mortgage assignments, whichtransfer ownership of a home loan fromone entity to another – in cases where thedocuments were missing from the original

Mortgage papersraise fraud claims

BY STEVE JESSMORE [email protected]

Myrtle Beach real estate agent Anthony Wise hopes to cancel his home loan based on what he considers afraudulent document and improper securitization of his mortgage. His home on Haskell Circle in Myrtle Beach is indanger of foreclosure.

SIGNATURES

loan file or never existed in the first place.Those documents then were used in fore-closure proceedings all across the country.

In Horry County, DocX documents have

BY TOM MURRAY [email protected]

New South Financial advisers TerryWalden (left) and JaneteChristensen (center) work withFrank Welsh, whose mortgagedocuments are being analyzed afteralleged improper loan assignmentswere discovered.

Signatures on documents used inforeclosure cases under review

BY DAVID WREN

[email protected]

See FRAUD | Page 16A

A sampling of the varied Linda Green

signatures found on DocX mortgage

assignments filed with the Horry County

Register of Deeds. Allegedly fraudulent and

forged DocX paperwork has been used in at

least 46 foreclosures here and thousands

more nationwide.


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEHerald-JournalJenny Arnold, Jason Spencer, Lynne Shackleford, Luke Connell, Lee Healy, Stephen Largen, Trevor Anderson and Kim KimzeyCleveland Park Miniature Train Derailment

By JENNY [email protected]

GAFFNEY

Dwight Easler, his right foot in a cast, could not stand to face his congregation as he spoke during

his son Benji’s funeral Thursday.Emotionally, Easler said, he couldn’t

look at their faces. But he spoke from the heart, telling the hundreds of people who attended his son’s service at Corinth Baptist Church in Gaffney how God was with him on Saturday — when Benji died.

Easler said the Lord was with the good Samaritan who performed CPR on the 6-year-old after the Cleveland

Park train crashed. The Lord was with his wife, Tabitha, also on the train, and with the rescue workers who set aside

their emotions to do their jobs.

The Lord was with the nurse who held Easler’s hand at Spar-tanburg Regional Medi-cal Center and quoted Scripture, and in the voices and strength of his two other sons,

Seth and Matthew, who sobbed as their father spoke during the service.

SeSS veral l hunddddrereed dd pepeopo lell aatttenenndeed d d ththe fuf neral sesss rviccce e fofof r rrr BeeeeBeeBBBenjnjnnjnjji ii EaEaEEEaEEEaEEaaslslsslsssslerererererere o o oo oon nn nn nnn ThThThThThThTTTThTT ururururrururuursdsdsdsdsdssdayayayayayyyayayayyyay a a a a aaa a aaaat tttt tttt CoCoCoCoCoCoCoCoCoCoCoCoCoCoririririririrririririririntntnttntnttntntntntntntnth hhh hhhhh h hhhBaptptist Chhurrrchch. . MoMoMourururu nenennersrsrs f f filililededed t tt tto o o o ththththhhhe e e e chchchchchchuruurururuuu chchhchchchh c c ccccemememememeteteteteterererereery,y,y,y,y,,y w w w wwww wwheheheheheheerererererererereeee w w w w www hihihihihhihih teteteteteteteteteteetee dddd d d ddddddddovovovovovovovovovovovesesesesesesesesesesesses w ww ww w www wwwwwererererereererererrere e e eee eeeeeeee e rererererererereeeerereleeleleleleleleleleeleleasasasasasasasassasasasasassededededededededeedededed........

I cling to the memory of Benji’s smile, to the sound of his voice. I cling to his shoe as I clung to it that day and prayed that God would

not take him away from me. But I knew it was time for him to go. — DWIGHT EASLER”“

Family holds on to faith after losing son in tragedy

Benji Easler

◆ SEE FUNERAL PAGE A5

PHOTOS BY MIKE BONNER/[email protected]

Above, Tabitha Easler hugs one of her sons during the service for her 6-year-old son, Benji, who died Saturday in a miniature train derailment in Spartanburg’s Cleveland Park. Below, a firefighter looks over the program during the service at Corinth Baptist Church in Gaffney. For more photos from the funeral, visit GoUpstate.com.

March 19th began as a quiet Saturday for dispatchers at the Spartanburg County Communications/9-1-1 Department. But fi ve hours into their 12-hour shift , tragedy struck. Calls, like the fl ood of tears that would ensue, began to pour into the center following the

Cleveland Park train derailment. Th e fi rst call came in at 1:01 p.m. About a dozen dispatchers worked to gather information, console callers and assist fi rst responders.

By KIM [email protected]

“Spartanburg 9-1-1, what’s the address of the emergency?”

Caller: “Uh, yes, the train here at Cleve-land Park is overturned into the ditch on, uh, Asheville Highway. The whole train fl ipped over.”

9-1-1: “The whole train fl ipped over with the kids on it?”

C a l ler : “ Yes , t he whole train fl ipped over into the creek, into the rock bed…” (In the back-ground are screams.)

9-1-1: “I’m here, give me your name.”

Caller: “…Multiple people…”

9-1-1: “I understand, what’s your name?” (The caller again men-tions multiple people. Then the line goes dead.)

Another call comes into Spartanburg County Communications/911. The caller’s words spray forth like bullets from a machine

Team 1 recently was honored with the Team 9-1-1 Award of Merit from the South Carolina Association of Public-Safety Communication Officials/National Emergency Number Association for their work that day. “All four teams could handle it just as well, as far as I’m concerned, but we happened to be the team that was working that day,” said Scott Francis, a shift supervisor with the department.

By STEPHEN [email protected]

While the victims of theCleveland Park miniaturetrain tragedy wait for theslow process of the state’slegal and legislative systemsto address victims’ needs, thechurch overseeing a chari-table fund for the families istaking a new step.

Corinth Baptist Church ofGaffney, home to 15 of the 29people injured in the March19 derailment in Spartan-burg, is forming an advisorycommittee of officials andnonprofi t leaders from Cher-okee and Spartanburg coun-ties. The panel will overseespending from the fund andhelp lead future fundraisingefforts.

Benji Easler, the 6-year-

TIM KIMZEY/FILE

Emergency personnel tend to victims following a miniature train wreck at Cleveland Park in Spartanburg on March 19.

Church tries to cope with bills

An unforgettable day 9-1-1 dispatchers suddenly put to test

On the WebHear the 911 calls

from the day of the

Cleveland Park train crash at GoUpstate.com.

TIM KIMZEY/[email protected]

Dispatchers at the Spartanburg County Communications Department were recently recognized with a Team 9-1-1 Merit Award from the SC APCO/NENA for their response to the Cleveland Park train accident. Here, Telecommunicator 2 Terry Davis dispatches EMS calls on Thursday afternoon.

◆ SEE CHURCH PAGE A7◆ SEE DISPATCHERS PAGE A7

REPORTING IN DEPTHREPORTING IN DEPTHDaily Over 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Post and CourierGlenn Smith, Gene Sapakoff and Edward FennellSkip ReVille molestation stories

THE ACCUSED: LOUIS ‘SKIP’ REVILLE

CHILD MOLESTER

BY GLENN SMITH and GENE SAPAKOFF

Authorities say he used that access to carry out

dark fantasies with adolescent boys. Just how

many remains unclear. Mount Pleasant police

have charged the 32-year-old educator with

molesting five teens , but investigators have in-

dicated that more counts are on the way, led by

ReVille’s own confessions.

ReVille’s reach extended over years and across

county lines, from the rigid confines of The

Citadel to the suburban corners of Summerville

to the finest neighborhoods of Mount Pleasant

and Daniel Island. He literally had hundreds of

kids at his fingertips.

But just how did he keep his sexual advances

secret in a region well-versed in the threat of molesta-

tion? The area has seen a string of coaches, teachers,

ministers and priests charged with similar crimes, in-

cluding infamous predator Eddie Fischer, who molest-

ed more than 40 students during his teaching career.

Charleston also is home to Darkness to Light, a

national group that has trained some 300,000

people in ways to prevent child sexual abuse.

Despite these efforts and high-profile arrests,

new molestation cases come along all the time.

In part, that’s because predators are crafty, ma-

nipulative and adept at covering their tracks,

taking advantage of people’s trust and institu-

tions’ disdain for being tainted by the stain of

pedophilia, experts say.

“Child sexual predators get away with it for a

combination of reasons,” said William Burke, a

Summerville clinical counselor who works pri-

marily with men accused of child sexual abuse.

“First, they are pretty good at what they do. Then there

is what we call ‘passing the trash,’ where a school or

church gets rid of someone by sweeping things under

the rug and he goes on to another place.”

ReVille, 32, of Mount Pleasant is accused of sex acts with at least five boys in a case that continues to unfold.

A community comes to grips with the monster who lurked in its midst

[email protected] || [email protected]

LOUIS “SKIP” REVILLE prayed with, and preyed upon, vulnerable kids he coached and

groomed over a decade in the Lowcountry.

He taught school, led sports teams, guided Bible studies and took kids into his home as

a foster parent. In nearly every area of his life, ReVille positioned himself to be close to chil-

dren, to share their time and win their trust.

Past sexual predators in the Charleston area. 5A

How to talk to children about molestation. 5AINSIDE Louis Neal “Skip” ReVille,

a biography. 4A

Please see REVILLE, Page 4A

$2T H E S O U T H’S O L D E S T DA I LY N E W S PA P E R . F O U N D E D 1803

POSTANDCOURIER.COM Charleston . North Charleston, S.C. ✯✯


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Post and CourierGlenn Smith, Bo Petersen and Andy ParasPalmetto Behavioral Health

This is secure?

BY BO PETERSEN and ANDY [email protected]@postandcourier.com

SUMMERVILLE — No real se-curity is legally required at the children and adolescent treatment center where four teens with a his-tory of criminal violence scaled the fence and ran away Wednesday.

And the center’s staff made no timely effort to alert police or residents in surrounding neigh-borhoods, authorities said. Police were still waiting Friday for a pho-tograph to be supplied of the teen who remained on the loose.

4 escapeesonly had toscale fence

PHOTOGRAPHS BY WADE SPEES/STAFF

Four teens hopped the fence of the Palmetto Behavioral Health facility and escaped Wednesday. One remains at large.

Peggy Williams lives in the Oakbrook Commons neighborhood near the Palmetto Behavioral Health facility in Summerville. She said that after she learned of the four teens on the loose, she called her neighbors to warn them to lock their doors.

“Why in the world are we taking violent sexual predators from out of state? That’s farcical.”

S.C. REP. CHIP LIMEHOUSE, RCHARLESTON

Area residentwarned herneighborsBY ANDY [email protected]

S U M M E RV I L L E — Pe g g y Williams got a call from her hus-band that four teenagers with vio-lent histories had escaped from the Palmetto Behavioral Health center just down the road. She immedi-ately called her neighbors in the Oakbrook Commons neighbor-hood to warn them to lock their doors.

That was about 8 a.m. Thursday, nearly 15 hours after authorities said the Washington, D.C., teen-agers scaled a 6-foot-tall wooden fence and disappeared into the

Please see ESCAPE, Page 6APlease see NEIGHBORS, Page 6A


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Post and CourierRenee DudleyWaste and abuse at homeless shelter

Fired VA shelter director files suitGood Neighbor Center board accused of fraud

BY RENEE [email protected]

Officials at a North Charleston veterans’ homeless shelter that came under scrutiny late la s t yea r fired their execu-tive director last month following the release of a federal audit of the nonprofit’s operations.

T h i s w e e k , Na nc y C o ok , former d irec-tor of the Good Neighbor Center, fired back. She is su-ing the shelter and three members of its board of directors, accusing them of breaching her contract and fraud, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Charleston County Court of Common Pleas.

Cook demanded a jury trial to re-coup more than $10,000 in unpaid wages and benefits, plus attorney fees and unspecified damages, according to the suit.

She alleged that board members “en-gaged in a pattern of deceptive and fraudulent behavior” and said their

Cook

Please see DIRECTOR, Page 7A

BEAT REPORTINGBEAT REPORTINGDaily Under 20,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEBeaufort GazetteKyle PetersonOvertime Pay Raises Concerns


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Island PacketCassie FossHoliday Horror


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Times and DemocratRichard Walker

By PHIL SARATAT&D Staff Writer

Despite a slight increase in violent crime, the City of Orangeburg experienced a signifi cant decrease in overall crime during 2010.

Department of Public Safety Chief Wendell Davis says the numbers refl ect all Part I crimes reported to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division as part of the Uniform Crime Report program.

Noting he is never pleased with crime spikes of any degree, Davis said he is happy with the over-all trend.

“We have double-checked the fi gures because we want to be sure,” Davis said. “Violent crimes were

up by four incidents but it was not a big number.

“We try to main-tain the downward trend as best as possible. As long as we don’t have sig-

nifi cant spikes, we are relatively happy.”According to fi gures provided to city council

Tuesday night, violent crimes rose from 84 reported


A deadbolt or an extra yard light?With frustration levels growing over theft and

burglary, there are things a homeowner can do to protect his property.

“A lot of times, it’s really simple stuff ,” says Public Safety Offi cer Henry Griffi th. “It would be great if crime didn’t happen. But if it does, they can know what to do.”

What to do? Oftentimes the recipe for protect-ing your home turns to talk of “If I catch someone at my house ...”

But many times, the resident isn’t home to render his or her wrath on thieves.

An offi cer with the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety, Griffi th has watched homes and busi-nesses on a regular basis for the past three years.

On one of his recent patrols, he wrote down actual problem areas he saw in the city’s communities.

“‘Good’ target items and areas tend to be rela-tively unlit, may be abandoned or vacant, and have had little done to keep the bad guys out,” he said. “An unlit or dark area provides an ideal target for theft as even if someone happens to be watching the area, the chances of a thief being seen or iden-tifi ed are slim.”

Griffi th recommends lighting as much of your property as possible with utility lights or motion-sensor lighting.

Also, trim shrubs to prevent them from becoming hiding places for would-be thieves. If a window is concealed, a thief can enter the home unseen from the road.

These days, even vacant houses are burglarized. Certain metals they contain make them more of a target than an occupied house.

A metal thief “doesn’t care that the $50 obtained during the theft will cost a homeowner thousands to repair,” Griffi th said. “Regular and frequent checks on abandoned or vacant property, (installing) ad-equate lighting, or possibly even alarm systems or video surveillance systems may help in keeping your property safe.”

Griffi th said there’s no way to stop all burglaries and theft. But a few steps can deter them.

Thieves aren’t generally inclined to show a great deal of determination — if a house is fairly secure, he moves on. Simple locks and deadbolts can be a major deterrent on not only doors but windows as well.

“If the door has a window of any size close to the deadbolt, having a keyed locking mechanism on

Fed up with burglariesBy RICHARD WALKER

T&D Staff Writer

Direct and to the point, it wasn’t always pretty. Civil, but the point was made.

“The main thing we want to share is: Look out for your neighbor. Be vigilant,” Creek-moor resident Malcolm Crider said.

Creekmoor residents are trying to put a stop to prop-erty crimes and thefts be-fore the entire area is overrun with crimes far worse than burglaries.

About 60 residents of the Columbia Road neighbor-hood met last week to dis-cuss expanding patrols to put more eyes and ears on the neighborhood.

“I’m not asking you to con-front any of these people,” Crider said. “All I’m ask-ing you to do is ride.”

The neigh-borhood of about 200 homes began a Crime Watch group three years ago after the typically quiet, middle-class commu-nity began experiencing vehi-cle break-ins.

When those auto break-ins escalated to burglaries, a core group of block captains formed a part-time patrol in December that seeks out unknown vehi-cles, suspicious characters.

“I don’t know if it’s helped,” Crider said. “But I think it has.”

Since the patrols began, Crider said, the community has had one burglary. And that resulted in arrests.

Last month, a Creekmoor resident called deputies after seeing two men hauling two TVs and other electronics from a Slaughter Drive home.

Deputies arrived within minutes, arresting three men after the resident gave them a description of the red SUV the men were driving.

At the meeting, residents said it hasn’t always been that way. Most burglaries went unsolved or, at least in their minds, forgotten.

“That was just pure luck, what else can I say?” Crider said of the combination of events that led to the arrests.

The residents who patrol the neighborhood keep their eyes open, copy down license plates and call law enforce-ment when they see something suspicious.

But that eff ort is hampered, Glen Hutto said, by law en-forcement response times. Residents can’t sit back and let someone else do the work for them, he said.

“We have to stand up and show that we won’t take folks breaking and stealing our property and threatening our lives,” Hutto said. “Crime in Orangeburg County will not be controlled until mothers, fathers, grandparents, brothers


Speaking at a Creekmoor Crime Watch meeting, Belinda Adams of nearby Flossie Lane said she was concerned recently when a deputy approached two young men without backup.

Crime dropping thanks to public, Chief Davis says

On patrol, offi cer notices homeowners’ mistakes

Uniform Crime ReportPart I Crime Data Statistics 2007 2008 2009 2010

Total Violent Crime 85 102 84 88Total Property Crime 797 905 898 751Total URC Part I Crimes 882 1007 982 839

Source: Orangeburg Department of Public Safety

Neighborhood works together to fi ght crime

LARRY HARDY/T&D

Police say shrubs around the windows of your home could provide hiding places for thieves.

See CRIME, A7

See HOMES, A7 See BURGLARIES, A7

ONLINEView this article and revisit a collection of articles for help-ful information in the event this happens to you.

TheTandD.com

ONLINEReview Orangeburg city crime statistics from 2007 through 2010 attached to this article at TheTandD.com


Den’vis Larrymore is shown with his mother, Iris Larrymore, Tuesday at their home in St. Matthews. The disabled youth’s wheelchair was recently stolen, a wheelchair he needs to compete in the Special Olympics.

Missing wheelchair will prevent Special

Olympian from competing in event


It’s like stealing Superman’s cape.“I’m still trying to fi gure out who would and

why,” says Iris Larrymore. “I don’t know why they would or what would be the purpose.”

Regardless of the purpose, Larrymore’s son, Den’vis, won’t be able to compete in Friday’s Special Olympics because someone stole the teenager’s means to compete: his wheelchair.

“It really surprises me that somebody would take a wheelchair,” Larrymore said. “It

makes me wonder.”

For the past five

years, Den’vis has competed in the lo-cal assisted wheelchair

race at the annual Special Olympics. He’s done well, too, placing either fi rst or second each year.

But Superman couldn’t fly without a cape. And Den’vis can’t unless he has his wheelchair.

b fi f d

Sidelined

[email protected] Visit this article to see an interview with Iris Larrymore.TheTandD.com/news

See WHEELCHAIR, A5


HOLLY HILL — Neighbors and coworkers describe shooting victim Anthony James Sr. as a friend and good neighbor.

“He was a good guy in the neighborhood,” a friend of the family said. “He was a good friend of the whole area, the whole neighborhood.”

Offi cials were still seeking the person who shot James to death in his front yard, and the family friend did not want to give his name for fear of retribution.

Investigators were looking for 45-year-old Carvin Holman in connection with the domestic-related shooting, Orange-burg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said.

Coroner Samuetta Marshall said James, 45, died Friday at his Boyer Road home about two miles south of the Holly Hill town limits. She said an autopsy would be performed Saturday.

“My sympathy goes out to the family,” Marshall said.The family friend called the death, “just a tragic situation.”

He said James had just gotten off work about 20 minutes before the shooting.

Eddie Addicks, James’ supervisor at the Holly Hill IGA, de-scribed him as a “good employee.”

“He’s just a good guy, just a good ol’ boy,” Addicks said. “He fi t in.”

Addicks said James began working in the meat department about five years ago and developed a good rapport with the customers. James was one of those employ-ees who came in early and stayed late.

“He didn’t mind coming in and helping out,” Addicks said. “If he was already off , he didn’t mind helping.”

Addicks said he had just talked to James earlier Friday morning. When he found out what happened, he was shocked.

Investigators aren’t giving many details. Neighbors say there was apparently a fatal confrontation in James’ yard over a woman.

Authorities were called shortly after 1 p.m. Friday to the largely wooded area south of town. Traffi c was blocked on Gard-ner Boulevard south of town and also Boyer Road east by the victim’s home.

At about 2:30 p.m., a distraught woman was being comforted as she was taken away from the scene.

“It’s just a sad situation,” the family friend said.More than 20 law enforcement offi cers from the Sheriff ’s Of-

A man killed, a man soughtOffi cials use dogs, helicopter to hunt shooting suspect

LARRY HARDY/T&D

An unidentifi ed woman is comforted near the scene of a fatal shooting on Boyer Road in Holly Hill.

LARRY HARDY/T&D

Anthony James was killed at this home on Boyer Road in Holly Hill on Friday.

[email protected] Visit us online for video from the scene.TheTandD.com/news

LARRY HARDY/T&D

The State Law Enforcement Division sent a helicopter to the area to assist in the search for shooting suspect Carvin Holman.

Holman

See KILLED, A3

The Times and Democrat| 4 SECTIONS, 52 PAGES ★ VOL. 130 ★ NO. 15475 CENTS ★ ORANGEBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA |

‘He’s going to outlive us all’Killer’s appeal denied, but victims’ family is upset there are so many more to go


After fi ve years, a post-conviction motion for relief has been denied for triple murderer Charles Shuler.

Circuit Court Judge Casey Man-ning denied Shuler’s arguments for a new sentencing hearing at which

the convicted killer could receive a lesser sentence.

“The application for post-convic-tion relief is denied in its entirety,” Manning wrote in his decision fi led at the Orangeburg County Court-house on Tuesday. “Applicant has failed to show error, and he failed to show prejudice such as would sup-

port the granting of either a new guilt proceeding, or a new sentenc-ing proceeding.”

Lisa Armstrong, Shuler’s attor-ney for the PCR motion, did not re-turn a message seeking comment Thursday.

Shuler, who turns 63 next month, is currently held at Leiber Correc-

tional Institute in Ridgeville after he was sentenced to death in 2001.

He was found guilty of shooting to death his former girlfriend, Linda Williams, her mother Dorothy “Dot” Gates, and Linda Williams’ daugh-ter, Stacy Gates, on Sept. 8, 1999.

On that tragic day, Terry Gates lost three family members — a mother,

sister, and niece. Gates applauds the judge’s decision but feels a decade or more of appeals is unreasonable.

“It’s just the long wait, it’s just not right,” he said. “If we don’t get on

See KILLER, A7

Shuler

BEAT REPORTINGBEAT REPORTINGDaily 20,000 - 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEHerald-JournalJenny ArnoldMemorial Services

A soldier’s sacrifice

By JENNY [email protected]

In his friend Stan Fields, the late Army Capt. John David Hortman placed a great responsibility.

Hortman, who was killed Aug. 8 in a helicopter training exercise at Fort Benning, Ga., gave Fields a letter before his fi rst deployment in 2008 that would be opened only in the event of his death.

Hortman didn’t want two Army offi cers, strangers, to come to the home of his mother, Brenda Jones, with bad news. He wanted his friend Fields to gently break the news to his mom.

So Fields carried out the task for his friend, and spoke during Hortman’s funeral on Saturday. Fields said Hortman’s letter was a window to his soul, and he read portions of it to the hundreds of friends and family members who packed the pews for the service at First Baptist Church of Spartanburg.

“I died doing exactly what I wanted to do, what God put me on this earth to do,” Fields said, quoting the letter.

He asked Fields to be there for his family.

“My mom and sister are going to need you,” the letter said.

PHOTOS BY ALEX C. HICKS JR./[email protected]

A military honor guard detail carries the casket of Army Capt. John David Hortman, a Byrnes High School graduate and Bronze Star recipient, from First Baptist Church of Spartanburg on Saturday after Hortman’s funeral service.

A member of the Patriot Guard waits outside during the funeral. To see a photo gallery from the service, visit GoUpstate.com.

Leader’s last letter: Celebrate with me

◆ SEE HORTMAN PAGE A7


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEIndependent MailMike EllisCops and Crime

a6/local Wednesday/8.24.11/www.independentmail.com

BY MIKE ELLISIndependent Mail

ellism@ /260.1277

When sheriff ’s deputiesarrested a father and son oncharges of manufacturingmethamphetamine in Iva amonth ago, a complicatedand pricy cleanup need to bedone afterward.

Several active and aban-doned labs were hidden onthe property behind plastictarps and inside storagebuildings.

It was perhaps the biggestmethamphetamine lab dis-covered in Anderson Coun-ty this year, said ChadMcBride, sheriff ’s officespokesman.

Last year, the sheriff ’s of-fice discovered 65 meth labsand deputies appear ontrack to match those num-bers this year,McBride said.

Each cleanup costs thesheriff ’s office an average of$3,500 per lab, he said. TheIva property cost $8,000 toclean.

The case against the fa-ther and son, Michael andPhillip Pettigrew,is pending.

In South Carolina,methamphetamine is con-centrated in the Upstate,saidLt.Max Dorsey of the SouthCarolina Law EnforcementDivision, who specializes infighting meth.

“The Upstate of SouthCarolina has a longstandingproblem with meth,”he said.

Other counties — includ-ing Lexington, Aiken,Dorchester and Berkeley —have had problems, but theUpstate leads the state in useand production,Dorsey said.

Officials at the South Car-olina Department of Healthand Environmental Controlhave created a map of for-mer labs and meth-dumpingsites, with more than 200sites for 2011. That is only afraction of the total numberof sites broken up this yearbut it includes many of themajor ones, said AdamMyrick,a spokesman for thedepartment.

“When you look at thismap,it will instantly jolt youat the number of dots in theUpstate (compared with therest of the state),” Myricksaid.

About 70 percent of the re-ported methamphetaminelab or dump sites fall in the10-county Upstate region.The rest are spread out inless than a dozen of thestate’s 46 counties.

The map is not compre-hensive; it lists only a frac-tion of the meth labs foundin Anderson and the rest ofthe state because the list re-lies on a voluntary notifica-tion system.

“Notification is voluntary,so if there were a way for usto hear about these throughother means of notification,that might help us with thecleanup efforts,”Myrick said.

The state health depart-ment does not have a formalmethamphetamine pro-gram, any budget for such aprogram or any workers ded-icated only to meth cleanups,Myrick said, but individualworkers go “above and be-yond” their designated mis-sion to work with local lawenforcement to help restoresuch sites because of the en-vironmental risk.

The department main-tains a list of contractorswho can clean up meth sitesand department officialshelp with training and tech-nical assistance, but payingfor the contractors and ar-ranging for the cleaning gen-erally falls on the shouldersof local law enforcement,Myrick said.

There are two types ofmeth-production labs,Dorsey said. “Superlabs”are typically based in Mex-ico or states in the South-west and can churn out 10pounds of product in a 24-hour period.

But almost all of the labsfound in South Carolina arethe smaller type, which usea simpler method and pro-duce an average of twoounces of methampheta-mine per batch, he said.

That translates intoabout 10 to 12 ounces of tox-ic material, according to aU.S. Department of Justicewebsite.

Production of the drugand its toxic byproductsdamages the environmentand the home where it is

made, Myrick said.“The chemicals are poured

down drains in homes and inmobile homes,” he said. “Itcan get in a septic tank and atthat point seep into soil andlead to contamination in thegroundwater.”

Inside, the productionleaves toxins that can lingerin drywall,curtains and car-pet if not cleaned up,Myricksaid.

When law enforcementagencies break up a methlab, they are responsible forthe cleanup.

Contractors receive spe-cial training and must wearprotective gear,breaking upthe chemicals and placingthem in proper storage con-tainers before sending themoff to special sites for dis-

posal, Myrick said.The Anderson County

Sheriff ’s Office paid con-tractors an average of $3,500per cleanup last year, about$250,000 for the 65 sites.

The sites have to becleaned up quickly, usuallywithin days,although morecomplicated sites like theproperty in Iva take longer,McBride said.

In Anderson County, themoney for cleanups comesmostly from seizures in drugcases, he said, but also fromthe sheriff ’s office budget.

“We’re using drug deal-er’s money to help pay fortheir meth cleanup,”McBride said.

But that money, which isgenerally restricted to drug-related efforts,could be usedelsewhere, he said.

Finding the money to payto clean up labs has been asource of strain for law en-forcement throughout thenation since February,whenfederal officials announcedthat grant money that hadbeen used to pay for clan-destine lab cleanups wouldno longer be sent out afterJune 30.

South Carolina receivedabout $737,000 of that fund-ing in the 2010 fiscal yearand about half as much inthe previous two or threeyears.

“In 2010, the demand forthe money went up,” saidMark Keel, director of theSouth Carolina Law En-forcement Division.

With no possibility of fed-eral funding, law enforce-ment officials asked statelegislators to set aside $1 mil-lion for methamphetaminecleanup and related effortsin the state’s budget year,which began July 1.

That money was set asideand was a welcome relief,Keel said.

Keel said the state’s $1million is expected to startflowing to local departmentssometime in September,once bids from contractorsare accepted.

“Those agencies thatfound labs in July and Au-gust can get reimbursed ifthey present the paper-work,” Keel said.

Several companies willlikely be picked to docleanup work in the state,said Myrick,the spokesman-for the state health depart-ment.The environmentalagency is helping distributethe money to sheriff’s officesand police departments ascleanups become necessary,Keel said.

“We feel like the milliondollars is a great, great helpin this,” he said. “We don’tknow how far it will go,don’tknow if it will be enough,be-cause that really depends onthe number of sites. But wehave one year of fundingright now, and we’re verythankful for it.”

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Meth Labs & Dumps In South Carolina

Cartographer: David Wilkie

®

DEA EPICDHEC On-Line Reporting

County InterviewsVarious News Media

DATA SOURCE

Updated 8/16/2011

Division ofSite Assessment,

Remediation & Revitalization

Legend (2011)

�) 208 Labs/Dumpsites

Meth labs and dumps in South Carolina


This file photo shows a site in Iva where Anderson County sheriff ’s deputies saythat a father and son were manufacturing methamphetamine when the twowere arrested in July.

Cleaning up the mess meth left behindFederal funds fall through; state will soon pay $1 million for cleanup

three houses down,and he’s just broken upover it.”

The Wilsons will cele-brate their 50th weddinganniversary later thisyear.

Larry Wilson said hebought the now-stolenwedding rings from Zalesfor between $300 and $800when he was getting out ofthe Army in 1961.

He said many otherslost more valuable jewelry,but losing the weddingrings really stung him andhis wife.

“A lot of people had itworse,” he said. “We camein after church and lookedat the jewelry cabinet. Ontop of it there had beenseveral decorations,things that were set on thebed and not returned to

the jewelry case. My wifesaid, ‘What have you beendoing in my jewelry case?’I said, ‘No, I didn’t dothat.’”

Wilson said his wife be-gan taking inventory andnoticed that her weddingband and engagementring, which came off herhand several months agoto be resized, were miss-ing. Two other rings, each

&BY MIKE ELLISIndependent Mail

ellism@/260.1277

ELBERTON, GA. — DarlaWilson came home fromchurch and found that thewedding rings she’s hadfor 50 yearshad beenstolen. Herh u s b a n dwalked acrossthe street tosee if NikkiM a t t h e w sCoker hadseen any-thing amiss.

Coker toldhim that shehad been “laz-ing aroundon the couchall day, not do-ing anythingand had not seen any-thing,” Larry Wilson said.

Deputies say that theWilson’s home was one oftwo dozen that were hit byCoker, 36, and WhitneyHope Mooney, 26, a pair oflocal hairdressers. Thetheft of Wilson’s weddingrings is believed to be partof a string of burglariesthat may have nettedmore than half a milliondollars’ worth of jewelry,coins, cash and, in a fewcases, women’s shoes, ac-cording to the ElbertCounty sheriff ’s investi-gators.

The Wilsons are a re-tired couple who live onRobinwood Lane in El-bert County, Ga. In thequiet rural enclave ofabout 25,000 people, gran-ite is king and turn-of-the-century angled roofs stilljut into the sky of thenow-sleepy downtown ofElberton, the county seat.

About two weeks afterthe Wilsons came home toa rude Sunday surprise,Coker and Mooney werearrested Feb. 9 andcharged with 23 burgla-ries, including the one atthe Wilsons’ home. Thetwo women have sincebeen charged with anoth-er burglary, and deputiessaid more charges couldfollow as people in thearea realize they havebeen robbed.

Mooney also wascharged with possessionof Schedule II drugs andcarrying drugs outside oftheir original container.

Many of the victims ofthe burglaries didn’t real-ize they were missinganything until days or

weeks after items weretaken, or even until afterthe women had been ar-rested and investigatorsfound jewelry inMooney’s house.

All the robberies hap-pened in Elbert County,which touches AndersonCounty at the border ofSouth Carolina and Geor-gia.

The robberies spannedat least five months andcould have begun in May2010, according to investi-gators,

Almost all the victimsappear to have had someconnection to Coker orMooney.

Investigators say thewomen stole from patronsof the Red Door Hair Sa-lon, where they both hadworked. The owner of thehair salon was amongthose who were robbed.

Family members werenot spared, including thebrother, sister-in-law andgodmother of one of thewomen, according towhat investigators toldthe Elberton Star news-paper. Friends and class-mates were targets.

Neighbors like theWilsons were hit.

Mooney and Coker ap-peared to have gotten intoall the homes withoutleaving pry marks orbreaking anything, in-vestigators said.

Larry Wilson said hebelieves thieves used acredit card to get into hisback door or side door,something easy enoughthat his wife had beenable to do it also.

As they did at otherhomes, the thieves lockedthe Wilsons’ doors beforeleaving, according to astatement from ElbertCounty Sheriff BarryHaston.

The Wilsons have sincereplaced their locks andinstalled deadbolts.

Other neighbors of thetwo women, who live ondifferent streets, said theyhave made sure their se-curity systems are armed,checked that securitysigns are posted andchecked or upgradedtheir locks.

Larry Wilson said thathe had tutored Coker, whois now charged with rob-bing him, when she wasin college.

“I have no animosity to-ward her. I just can’t be-lieve this happened,” hesaid. “Her daddy lives

Half million in cash, jewelsand other items stolen fromhomes in Elbert County

Beauticiansburglaries

Larry Wilson, of Elberton, Ga., shows where he thinks someone broke intohis home. Jewelry was stolen from the house. Wilson’s neighbor Nikki Cokerand Whitney Mooney now face multiple charges of burglary.

NATHAN GRAY Independent Mail photos

Nikki Coker and Whitney Mooney, who are both now charged with multiplecounts of burglary in Elbert County, Ga., worked at the Red Door Hair Salonin downtown Elberton.

Mooney

Coker

Ex-Deputy Moore was fired 5 years ago

a6/local


ellism@/260.1277

L. Brent Moore’s career asan Anderson County sher-iff ’s deputy bobbed from get-ting praise for his work togetting fired twice.

On Tuesday, a grand juryindicted him on threecharges of bribery andthree charges of official mis-conduct. He has not been ar-rested and faces arraign-ment hearings later thismonth.

After an investigation ofthe bribery allegations hadbegun, Moore was firedfrom the sheriff ’s office Aug.10. That was the second timehe had been fired whilewearing the uniform of theAnderson County Sheriff ’sOffice.

Almost five years ago — at9 a.m. on Dec. 12, 2005 — An-derson city police respond-ed to an incident involvingMoore and a civil distur-bance at an apartmentbuilding.

By the end of that day,Moore had been fired.

Joseph Hernandez calledpolice that day to report thata man had been poundingon his girlfriend’s apart-ment door for an hour andhad made seven harassingphone calls during the pre-vious day.

The man pounding on thedoor was Moore, who was adeputy at the time, accord-ing to a report by Andersonpolice officers.

Hernandez was in anapartment with his girl-friend, Shannon RussellBurns, who either was dat-ing or had dated Moore, ac-cording to the report.

“(Hernandez) and wit-ness Burns have beenboyfriend and girlfriend foraround three months now,”according to the report.“Burns stated she has beenseeing Moore for some time,also.”

The report does not makeit clear whether Moore andBurns were dating at thetime.

It says Burns told policethat Moore had said on sev-eral occasions that he would

kill Hernandez. Moore wasfound by police in a parkinglot near Burns’ apartment,sitting in his car with a gunreadily accessible in a doorcompartment, according tothe report.

Moore was not arrestedand no charges were filed af-ter Burns declined to presscharges against Moore.

Moore was fired that day.“Effective immediately,

your employment with theAnderson County Sheriff ’sOffice has been terminat-ed,” says the one-sentenceletter signed by then-SheriffDavid Crenshaw and datedDec. 12, 2005.

Personnel records pro-vided by the sheriff ’s officein response to a Freedom ofInformation Act requestshow that Moore was hiredback as a deputy Oct. 7, 2006.

There is no explanation inthe records from Crenshawor other supervisors ex-plaining why Moore was re-hired or the specifics of hisrehiring.

According to a letterMoore wrote for his person-nel file, then-Chief DeputyTim Busha had rushed tofire him without checkingthe facts.

“I denied that I interferedor caused any type of dis-turbance,” Moore wroteabout the 2005 incident atthe apartment. “ChiefDeputy Busha learned thatno criminal charges wereforthcoming, but he termi-nated my position withoutconducting an investiga-tion. In September 2006,Sheriff David Crenshawcontacted me and explainedthat he wasn’t fully aware ofthe circumstances that ledup to my departure.”

Moore wrote that Cren-shaw invited him back to thedepartment, an invitationMoore accepted.

Moore was a sheriff ’sdeputy when John Skipperdefeated Crenshaw in theNovember 2008 election.

As is customary when anew sheriff comes into of-fice, Skipper said, all of thedeputies at that time wererequired to reapply so hecould consider keepingthem. Skipper asked them

to include a note explainingwhat they hoped to accom-plish.

Moore’s note says hewanted to lead a drunkendriving enforcement team,implementing the lateststandards.

It was a request that washonored.

Skipper created a team fo-cusing on catching drunkendrivers, using federal grantmoney to pay for Moore andone other expert on drunk-en driving.

Moore excelled at catch-ing drunken drivers, leadingthe department in drunken-driving arrests both beforeand after the new positionwas created. He trained andcertified dozens of other of-ficers in advanced methodsof detecting people who aredriving under the influence.

In fact, Moore was nomi-nated in February 2008 forthe Officer of the Yearaward because he “led thisagency in driving under theinfluence arrests in 2007 andwas responsible for 30 per-cent of this agency’s DUIcases,” according to a nomi-nation letter signed by Lt.Billy Looper.

From January to May 15of this year, Moore was re-sponsible for more than 43percent of the DUI arrestsby sheriff ’s deputies.

Moore made a high-pro-file arrest of former coun-ty administrator Joey Pre-ston in May. Preston’s blood-alcohol level was deter-mined to have been belowthe legal threshold and thecharge against him wasdropped.

After the charge was dis-missed, Skipper said hestood behind Moore’s deci-sion to make the arrest.

Besides the Officer of theYear nomination, Moorewas praised in a letter ofcommendation by Cren-shaw for assisting membersof the Duke University foot-ball team. The team mem-bers were separated fromtheir team and Moorehelped them find their wayto the Clemson University’sMemorial Stadium in timefor a November 2008 game,where the Tigers won 31-7.

TIMELINE

L. Brent Moore’semployment as alaw enforcementofficer in AndersonCounty

April 2002 - Hired as ananimal control officer inPendletonSeptember 2003 - Hiredas a traffic officer in thePendleton Police De-partmentNov. 24, 2004 - Submitsapplication to then-Sheriff David CrenshawDec. 16, 2004 - Hiredas an Anderson Countysheriff’s deputy, effec-tive Jan. 4, 2005June 27, 2005 - Volun-tarily resigns from sher-iff’s office, citing per-sonal reasons and ask-ing for future considera-tion of a positionAug. 17, 2005 - Rehiredby sheriff’s officeDec. 12, 2005 - Firedfor conduct unbecomingan officer Oct. 7, 2006 - Rehiredby the sheriff’s officeDec. 29, 2008 - Sub-mits application toSheriff-elect John Skip-perJan. 5, 2009 - SheriffSkipper reappointsMoore as a deputy,along with the rest ofthe forceNov. 29, 2009 - Reas-signed to DUI Enforce-ment TeamDec. 3, 2009 - Newgrant-funded position,DUI traffic enforcement,created for MooreAug. 3 - Suspendedwithout pay, effectiveJuly 30Aug. 9 - Fired for officialmisconduct (he refusesAug. 10 to sign the ter-mination document)Nov. 30 - Moore is in-dicted

Source: AndersonCounty Sheriff’s Officepersonnel files, providedin response to aFreedom of InformationAct request


ellism@ /260.1277

Someone smashed thepassenger window of a 32-year-old Belton woman’sChevy Tahoe last Sundaywhile she was sitting in apew at Neals Creek BaptistChurch.

“When we came out ofthe church andsaw my win-dow smashedand all theglass sur-rounding it, Ithought, ‘Did Ibump the carbeside me?’ ”she said. “But that car wasthere when we pulled in.Someone asked if Ibumped the window withmy pocketbook, and I said,‘My pocketbook is in thecar,’ but I don’t know if Ieven got that sentence outbefore I realized what really happened.”

About half an hour lat-er two people tried to useher credit and debit cardsat Wal-Mart to buy a $649laptop.

Breaking into cars isone of the most popularways for identity thievesin Anderson to get whatthey can use to buy giftcards, make payments onstolen credit cards, sell tobrokers online or other-wise abuse a victim’s fi-nances.

The other major waysare stealing mail and forg-ing checks, according toChad McBride, aspokesman for the Ander-son County Sheriff ’s Of-fice and an expert on IDtheft. More advancedmethods, like readingcredit cards with portableelectronic devices, are justbeginning to get tractionin the Upstate.

The stolen cards thattwo people were trying touse at Wal-Mart last weekhad already been canceledby the time the thievesmade it to a cashier. The

Belton woman had calledWachovia from the churchparking lot. Cashiers triedrunning the stolen cardsfive times before giving up.

The woman asked thather name not be used inthis story because herkeys and other informa-tion, including her chil-

dren’s Social Securitynumbers and their schoolIDs, were stolen and thekeys have not been found.

Anderson city police ar-rested Felix Bowen PriceII, 40, and Sherri Lee Roe,43, Monday and chargedthem with stealing a vanand possessing stolen in-formation, which includ-ed some of the cards fromthe Belton woman’s purse.Police also found IDs for a22-year-old Andersonwoman, whose car wasbroken into at BroadwayLake Baptist Churchshortly before someonebroke into the Beltonwoman’s car.

The day after the theftand a few hours before anyarrests, according to thewoman, someone with aloud muffler similar towhat friends had heard inthe church parking lotdrove past her house, cir-cling the block threetimes.

After the third time, “Iran out of the house in pa-

jamas, trying to get theirlicense plate,” the womansaid. It was around 7 a.m.Monday and she didn’t getthe plate numbers, but herhusband went out drivingand was able to find theDodge van at a nearby gasstation.

“I think what we didpretty much led to themswapping out and gettinganother car,” the womansaid.

A Chrysler Town andCountry van was stolenaround 11 a.m. from an An-Med Health parking lot,but a GPS device in the carallowed police to find thethieves.

Inside the stolen van in-vestigators found a treas-ure trove of credit cards,debit cards, gift cards, So-cial Security cards and aprescription card.

The Belton woman wasnot the only one to be a re-cent victim of apparentidentity theft.

The same style of break-in, smashing a passenger

window, was repeated atBroadway Lake BaptistChurch last Sunday.

The thieves took pursesand small electronics, butinvestigators believe thereal target was the infor-mation in purses and glovecompartments.

Whether thieves smashin windows or get in an-other way, they tend to tar-get cars that have visiblepurses or electronics, saidMcBride, the sheriff ’s of-fice spokesman.

Several dozen car break-ins within the city limitsand in the county duringthe past three weeks meanthat local identity thievescould have a fresh supplyof information to exploit,he said.

“If you go out to my carright now, there’s insur-ance and registration thatyou’re required to have. Itmay not have all your per-sonal information on it,but maybe there’s a receipt

KEN RUINARD Independent Mail

Martha Newton, probate judge in Anderson County, said her identity was stolen about five years ago whensomeone took the mail out of her mailbox.

McBride

Most common types ofID theft reported to FTCfrom January 2005 toMarch 2010:

New credit card: 185,287complaints, or 13.2 percentof complaintsEmployment: 155,119 com-plaints, or 11.1 percent ofcomplaintsTax or wage: 125,230 com-plaints, or 8.9 percent ofcomplaintsExisting credit card:107,356 complaints, or 7.7percent of complaintsNew utility account: 65,047complaints, or 4.6 percentof complaints

There areseveral waysyour identitycan be stolen

Protect yourself

Continued


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEIndependent MailKirk BrownCops and Crime

gained a foothold in thestate, said Gregory, who isan 11-year veteran of thesheriff ’s of-fice.

“South Car-olina doesn’thave a hugegang problemby any stretchof the imagina-tion,” he said.

Anderson County’sgangs do not pose the samethreat as those found inmetropolitan areasthroughout the UnitedStates, said 10th JudicialCircuit Solicitor ChrissyAdams.

“When most people thinkof gangs, they think of theorganized gangs that areprevalent in the biggercities such as Chicago orNew York,” Adams said.“We do not have gangs likethat in Anderson County.

“However, we do havegroups of individuals thatrefer to themselves as‘gangs’ and give themselvesnames,” added Adams, whohas assigned one of her of-fice’s prosecutors to workwith Gregory’s team. “Thegang task force does an ex-cellent job in identifyingthese individuals and thenif and when any gang mem-ber is charged with a crime,we work with law enforce-ment to get the maximumsentence allowed by law.”

Changing face of gangs

Anderson County Sher-iff John Skipper said heand Anderson Police ChiefMartin Brown decided toform the joint gang taskforce to keep a lid on gang-related crimes.

“We have a gang taskforce so that we can put afinger on it and monitor itso that it doesn’t get out ofhand,” Skipper said.

Gregory said the “face ofgangs has changed” in An-derson County since his unitwas created.Gang membersare keeping a lower profile,he said,because of pressurefrom law enforcement.

“The graffiti incidentshave gone down. People car-rying bandannas to identifythemselves as gang membershave gone down,” he said.

As a result, Gregory said,“We have changed the waythat we work cases. We havegotten a little bit better atwhat we do.

“Instead of going after anormal 16-year-old who car-ries a flag, which we don’tget much from, we go afterany crime that would be ba-sically gangster-influenced,gangster-motivated.”

Gregory said he believeshis team has excelled in acouple of areas. One is ob-taining federal grants. Thetask force has receivedmore than $100,000 in the

past two years to pay thesalary of one task forcemember and to purchase aSpanish translation devicethat makes it easier to com-municate with Hispanicresidents.

The focus on the Hispan-ic community is based onefforts to track any incur-sions into the area by an ex-tremely violent gang calledMara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. This Salvadoran gangoriginated in Los Angelesand has spread to at least 42states with an estimated6,000 to 10,000 members na-tionwide, according to theFBI.

Although Gregory hasseen MS-13 graffiti in An-derson, he has not linkedthe gang to any localcrimes.

Another strength of thetask force, Gregory said, isgathering intelligenceabout local gangs.

“We pride ourselves atsource development,” hesaid. “I think that is onething that we are pretty goodat, getting people to talk.”

Skipper said the abilityto gather information aboutgangs has paid dividends.

“We haven’t had a largeoutbreak of multiple shoot-ings,” he said.

The sheriff also creditedthe task force with keepingclose tabs on efforts of At-lanta-based gangs to spreadtheir reach into AndersonCounty.

Solving an arsonThe May 17 shooting and

arson in the middle-class,typically quiet Stonehavensubdivision east of Center-ville Road clearly got underGregory’s skin. The crime,which apparently focusedon a grudge involving an 18-year-old who lives with hisparents, happened near thehome of a sheriff ’s deputy.

“The arson I think is apretty big case consideringwhere it was and how it hap-pened,” Gregory said.“Burning cars — that is aNorthern crime in the gang-ster world that dates all theway back to the mob.”

Based on intelligencethat he gathered, Gregory’sinvestigation focused onthree individuals. A breakin the case came when in-vestigators solved a cellphone store break-in. Theperson responsible for thebreak-in agreed to provideinformation about theStonehaven shooting andarson that led to thismonth’s arrests of twobrothers and another man.

One of the brothers, La-vance Shaka Gadsden, 19,was charged with recklessmanslaughter in New Jer-sey in 2009. Prosecutorssaid a 15-year-old died after

Gadsden repeatedly hit himin the chest for failing totake part in a gang fight out-side a grocery store.

Gadsden returned to An-derson after the charge wasdropped seven months lat-er based on a medical ex-aminer’s grand jury testi-mony that the victim diedof a heart defect.

He was arrested on a gun-law violation in Februaryafter a security guard heardfour shots fired in the frontparking lot of the AndersonMall. Gadsden also was ar-rested in July on charges ofsecond-degree burglaryand grand larceny.

Gadsden, his brother Ki-mani Mandella Gadsden,18,and Antonio RomalottiPelichet, 18, are chargedwith discharging firearmsinto a dwelling, conspiracyto commit a crime and twocounts of arson in the Stone-haven shooting and arson.

Gregory, who got his startas a gang investigator whileserving as a U.S. Marine atCamp Pendleton in Califor-nia, vowed to continue histenacious pursuit of gangmembers who commitcrimes.

“I am not going to letgangs become normal inmy community because Ihave three children who aregoing to go to school here,”he said.

Reporter Mike Ellis contributed to this story.

Sunday/10.16.11/www.independentmail.com

HIGH-PROFILECONVICTIONS OFGANG MEMBERS INANDERSON COUNTY

SanchezGilliardAge: 22Charge: armedrobberySentence: 18years

Terrance GossAge: 22Charge: armedrobberySentence: 15years

David MarioJohnsonAge: 30Charge: drugtraffickingSentence: 30years

Derrick JonesAge: 20Charge: armedrobberySentence: 25years

JocastariusTimpsonAge: 21Charge: armedRobberySentence: 20years

S.C. still lags other states inincidents of gang violenceFROM PAGE 6A

L. Gadsden

InsideLocal schools say gang incidents are rare/8a

local/11aSunday/7.24.11/www.independentmail.com



Randy Whitfield strug-gled with the sort of anguishlast week that no fatherwants to face.

The brawnyAnderson Coun-ty man was re-duced to tearsby a moraldilemma in-volving hisdaughter’s rolein the slaying of an elderlyneighbor.

Deep down, Whitfieldknew what he had to do.

“I am the one who mademy daughter turn herselfin,” said Whitfield in an ex-clusive interview with theIndependent Mail. “I knowwhat I did was right, but itkills me.”

Holly Kristin Whitfield,25, appeared at a bond hear-ing Saturday morning oncharges of murder andarmed robbery in the fatalshooting of Glenn Craft, 86.Three others face similarcharges: Craft’s 17-year-oldgreat-grandson CharlesSteven Bell II, Walter ChaseAlley, 28, and Charlie Tyler

Robinson, 21.The body of Craft, who

was affectionately known as“Coon” in the tight-knitCraytonville communitysouth of Belton,was found inhis home at 1423 Trail Driveby a Meals on Wheels volun-teer.An autopsy determinedthat he died as the result of agunshot wound between12:01 a.m.and 3 a.m.Monday.

According to warrants inthe case,a wallet with at least$260 was taken from Craft’shome. He had lived alonesince his wife died in De-cember after her long strug-gle with Alzheimer’s disease,one of his relatives said.

Learning the truthRandy Whitfield,who lives

three blocks from Craft’shome on Trail Road,was giv-ing an acquaintance a ridelate Sunday night when hesaw his daughter’s car “go bylike a bat out of hell.”

Monday morning, asnews of Craft’s death spread,Whitfield started looking forhis daughter.He found her ata friend’s house.

Whitfield said his daugh-ter first told him that she had

allowed Alley,Robinson andBell to borrow her car.But hedidn’t believe her.

“She told me lies to startwith,” said Whitfield, a self-employed heavy machineryoperator. “I felt it in my gut.It made me sick.”

So he kept pressing for thetruth.

“Finally she broke downand said, ‘Daddy, I was withthem,’”Whitfield said.“Shecame out and admitted shewas sitting in the car (out-side Craft’s home when hewas killed).”

Whitfield said he weptwhen his daughter de-scribed hearing a single gun-shot before Alley, Bell andRobinson left Craft’s home.

After his daughter con-fessed, Whitfield said, hetook her to the Honea PathPolice Department on Mon-day night. A sheriff ’s detec-tive questioned her the nextmorning.

Alley and Robinson werearrested Tuesday. Deputiesapprehended Bell lateWednesday at a York Coun-ty residence near the NorthCarolina border.Holly Whit-field was charged Friday.

They are all being held with-out bail at the AndersonCounty Detention Center.

A bad crowdRandy Whitfield said he

warned his daughter formonths about hangingaround unsavory charac-ters.

“She has been runningwith the wrong crowd,” hesaid.

Court records show thatHolly Whitfield was foundguilty of larceny at a May 16bench trial that stemmedfrom a February break-in ather stepmother’s home inHonea Path.

Pamela Strickland Pruitt,who is Randy Whitfield’s ex-wife, reported that severalpieces of children’s clothing,a Carolina Gamecocks piggy

bank, food storage contain-ers, lotion and body spraywith a total value of $350were stolen, according to asheriff ’s office report.

Pruitt said Friday that thestolen clothing belonged toHolly Whitfield’s own twochildren, who have been inPruitt’s care for the past 18months.

Alley and Robinson alsohave criminal records, andsheriff ’s officials said bothmen were out on bond fromprevious arrests at the timeof Craft’s death. Bell hadbeen living in a foster homein Travelers Rest that he ranaway from on the day beforehis great-grandfather waskilled.

Randy Whitfield said hisdaughter should haveknown better than to ac-

company Alley, Robinsonand Bell to Craft’s home.

“I wasn’t raised that way,and neither was she,” hesaid.

Whitfield said his daugh-ter and the three otherscharged in Craft’s death “de-serve what they get.”

“I hate to be lied to, and Ihate a damned thief,” hesaid. “You don’t take some-thing that is not yours.”

Whitfield said that somein the Craytonville commu-nity “are calling me a rat forwhat I did.” He also said rel-atives of those charged inthe case have made deaththreats against him.

But he said he was guidedby his faith.

“Ultimately, I have to an-swer to the man upstairs,”hesaid.

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Father turns in daughter: ‘I know what I did was right’

Bell Robinson WhitfieldAlley

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Holly Whitfield,25, charged inkilling of man, 86



Three teens soaked the sedanand pickup with gasoline. As anastonished neighbor watched,they torched the ve-hicles and fired sev-eral shots at a homein the Stonehavensubdivision beforefleeing into the night.

Ten days and twohome invasions lat-er, in May a pair ofrival gang members gunned downRashaun Williams, who was sit-ting on a stalled motorcycle at theMeadow Run Apartments southof Anderson.

Investigators were familiarwith Williams, a 24-year-old fatherof three whose youngest daugh-ter was born seven weeks beforehis death. He was involved in a2005 gunfight outside Applebee’sNeighborhood Grill and Bar onClemson Boulevard that usheredin an ongoing era of gang violenceof Anderson County.

In the ensuing years, Andersonpolice and sheriff ’s officials havestarted taking gangs more seri-ously. They formed a joint gangtask force in 2009 that has madenumerous high-profile arrests.

Five suspected gang membersare serving prison sentences,rang-ing from 15 to 30 years, after beingconvicted on charges ranging fromarmed robbery to drug trafficking.

Jesse Lee Oliver III, the reput-ed founder of the Brick City Boysthat is one of the county’s largestgangs, is in jail awaiting trial onarmed robbery and burglarycharges. Six other suspects alsohave been charged in connectionwith the Stonehaven arson andthe slaying of Williams in May.

But members of local gangs andthose affiliated with nationallyknown outfits such as the Bloods,Crips and Folk Nation continue tocommit crimes involving gunsand drugs,according to Mark Gre-gory, who leads the AndersonCounty Gang Task Force.

Three weeks ago, the occupantsof a car fled from a deputy, leavingbehind masks, gloves and high-powered rifles.

“We can only imagine whatthey were planning to do,” Gre-gory said.

Earlier this month, Gregorypulled over a suspected gang mem-ber and seized more than 2.5 poundsof cocaine, 100 Ecstasy pills, $18,000and a gun. His four-member team al-so is investigating Tuesday’s shoot-ings of two young men who werewalking along a road in Pendleton.

How bad is it?“Gang violence in Anderson

County is escalating,” warned abluntly worded grant applicationthat the Anderson Police Depart-ment submitted to the U.S. De-partment of Justice earlier thisyear. The application cited nearlya dozen unsolved gang-relatedcases, including home invasions,a club shooting and five drug in-vestigations.

The number of gang-relatedcrimes in the county increasedfrom 32 in 2005 to 89 in 2009, themost recent year for which sta-tistics are available. The 2009 tal-ly ranked third among South Car-olina counties.

“Don’t think because you livein your nice, clean, cozy neigh-

borhood that you are not subject-ed to what these people are doingbecause you are — we all are,”said Anderson County Councilmember Gracie Floyd at an Oct.4 meeting.

Council members unanimous-ly approved a resolution spon-sored by Floyd designating Octo-ber as Gang Awareness Month.According to the resolution, a ma-jor hurdle in combating gang ac-tivity is the “constant denial” ofthe problem.

Gang violence also has becomea problem in Greenville County,where two shootings on July 17wounded 10 people and led tomore than a dozen arrests.

In April, Kendrick Darnell Lit-tlejohn, 32, was convicted of as-sault and battery with intent to killand second-degree lynching for at-tacking an undercover federalagent two years ago in Greenville.

Evidence presented at a two-day trial showed that Littlejohn,a member of the Bloods streetgang, and several others beat aU.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,Firearms and Explosives agentwho was trying to buy an assaultrifle and a handgun. The agentsuffered a concussion and memo-ry loss of the attack, according to13th Judicial Circuit Solicitor W.Walter Wilkins.

Littlejohn was sentenced to 14years in state prison.

Another Bloods member, Bel-ton teen Robert Mondriques

Jones, was sentenced to 40 yearswithout parole in February afterbeing convicted in Greenville ofmurder, assault and battery withintent to kill, possession of aweapon during commission of aviolent crime and possession of aweapon by a person under 18.Jones killed Vincent AntonioCampbell Jr. and wounded hisbrother, Kevin Devon Campbell,according to Wilkins.

A state report issued last yearreported a tenfold increase ingang-related crimes in South Car-olina between 1998 and 2007. As-saults accounted for more thanhalf of the gang-related crimesduring that decade-long period,but there were also 48 murders at-tributed to gangs, according to thereport.

But the South Carolina Law En-forcement Division report alsonoted that gang-related crimes ac-counted for only 1 percent of of-fenses reported in the state in 2007.

Compared with other regionsof the nation, gangs have barely


KEN RUINARD Independent Mail

The Anderson County Gang Task Force was formed in 2009.

Oliver

Police: Gang violence is escalatingAnderson County

Incidentsnearly triplein less thanfive years

GANG FACTS

■ There were 28,100 gangs and731,000 gang members in theUnited States as of 2009, accord-ing to U.S. Department of Jus-tice.■ There were at least 340 gangsand 2,000 gang members in SouthCarolina in 2007, state officialssaid. ■ There are at least 25 gangs with450 members total in AndersonCounty, according to the AndersonCounty Gang Task Force.

REPORT GANG ACTIVITY

Anyone with information aboutgang-related activities or crimes isurged to contact:■ Mark Gregory/Anderson CountyGang Task Force: [email protected]■ Sgt. Jeff Mosher/AndersonCounty Gang Task Force: [email protected]■ Anderson Area Crime Stoppers:1-888-CRIME-SC (274-6372) orvisit www.andersonareacrimestoppers.com


Rashaun Williams, 24, who was fatally shot in May in Ander-son County, appears in a photo alongside his girlfriend, who is al-so the mother of his three children.

Please see S.C., page 7A

ON THE WEB

Photos of the Anderson County Gang Task Force at work atwww.independentmail.com.



A quiet neighborhoodof modest houses out-side Piedmont was

transformed into a combatzone in less than an hour ona sunny Thursday after-noon last month.

SWAT team members clad inthick bulletproof vests and hel-mets crouched behind sheds.Snipers grasping Remington700 .308 rifles hid in the nearbywoods. Two armored vehiclesbelonging to the AndersonCounty Sheriff ’s Office alsomoved into position.

Crisis negotiators huddled inthe sheriff ’s Mobile CommandCenter, which was parked ablock away, while a sturdy robotequipped with a camerawhirred to and fro on the streetoutside.

A pair of news helicopterscircled overhead and about 30onlookers gathered on a grassyknoll to watch what would hap-pen next.

The cause of all of the com-motion was Rocky Ingram. The52-year-old felon with a reputa-tion for erratic behavior hadbarricaded himself in his boy-hood home.

What evolved into a tensestandoff had begun when fourdeputies responding to a 911call about a woman’s abductionarrived at 109 Ingram Laneshortly after 11:30 a.m. on May5.

They stepped onto the porch,which was adorned with anAmerican flag that the militarygave Ingram’s family after hisuncle died in World War II, andknocked on the front door.

Gina Clark, 39, opened thedoor and frantically told thedeputies that Ingram “wouldnot let her go,” according to asheriff ’s report.

After taking Clark away, thedeputies tried to get Ingram tocome out. He wouldn’t budge.

The deputies knew of In-gram’s lengthy rap sheet anddidn’t gamble. They called forthe big guns.

Jay Lindsey, a warrants offi-cer who commands the sheriff ’sSWAT team, also knew Ingram.

“I had personal experiencedealing with him. I had to lockhim up several times,” saidLindsey, recalling that Ingramhad shown a fondness for guns,knives and swords in their past

encounters.Prior to the standoff, court

records show Ingram had beenarrested at least 21 times andcharged with more than 50criminal offenses in the past 34years.

He also was involved in oneof the largest jailbreaks in An-derson County history back in1980.

But last month marked thefirst time that Ingram had facedanything like a SWAT team.

A troubled childhoodThe white, single-story home

where Rocky Ingram wasraised as the fourth of five chil-dren has seen more than itsfair share of pain and suffer-ing.

His older sister Peggy was 12when she was killed in thehome’s living room on Christ-mas Eve 1966. Her cousin acci-dentally fired a hunting rifle,shooting Peggy in the head.

“We didn’t go in that roommuch after that happened,”said Tony Ingram, 49, theyoungest of the family’s chil-dren.

He said the cousin later tookhis own life.

During a recent interview,Tony Ingram pulled out a letterthat Peggy wrote shortly beforeshe died. In the letter, she askedSanta Claus to bring her broth-er Rocky a Batman punchingbag.

The children’s father, JamesIngram, was a decorated warveteran who took part in the

Allied invasion of France on D-Day, Tony Ingram said. He al-so was an alcoholic with a badtemper who often beat Rockyand his older brother Jim ifthey failed to do their chores.

“He was just mean as hell,”Tony Ingram said.

James Ingram died in May2010 at age 92. The children’sfervently religious mother died

in 1995 after a lengthy battlewith bone cancer, Tony Ingramsaid. Jim Ingram, the eldestson, died in prison at age 50 in2003 while serving a life sen-tence for murder.

Even though they live nextdoor to each other, Tony In-gram says he and Rocky In-gram are not close.

“Me and him do not get

along,” he said. “He is a shameand disgrace for the whole fam-ily.”

Tony Ingram, a married fa-ther of three who works atMichelin, also doesn’t see thedifficult upbringing that he andhis siblings endured as an ex-cuse for the trouble that hisbrother has caused as an adult.

“Life is about choices,” hesaid.

Rocky’s rap sheetRocky Ingram was 18 years

old when his name first ap-peared in court records. He wascharged with a couple of drugoffenses in Anderson County in1977 that were later dropped.

Ingram received a 25-yearsentence in September 1979 af-ter pleading guilty to twocounts of armed robbery andgrand larceny. The heists at apair of Greenville County gro-cery stores netted a total of$200, according to courtrecords.

The same month, his olderbrother Jim Ingram was sen-tenced to life in prison plus 25years after a jury found himguilty in the murder and armedrobbery of Greenville Countyresident Homer Frank Davis onEaster Sunday 1979, accordingto court records.

The Ingram brothers wereamong seven inmates who es-caped July 15, 1980, from theAnderson County Jail. Theprisoners used hacksaw bladescoated in soap to muffle thesound as they cut through thebars of their cell.

Rocky Ingram got caught,and he pleaded guilty to threecounts of forgery, escape andstrong-arm robbery, courtrecords show. He ended upserving 9½ years in stateprison before being released on

ON THE WEB

More SWAT team photos and videoabout Rocky Ingram’s life and the SWAT team standoff at www.independentmail.com.


KEN RUINARD Independent Mail photos

Tony Ingram of Piedmont shows a window that was broken in last month’s standoff involving his older brother Rocky Ingram andthe Anderson County sheriff ’s SWAT team.

Rocky lifeSeveral run-ins

with the lawlead up to

recent standoff

Anderson County sheriff ’s SWAT team member Todd Owenswears a camera on his helmet during a training session at the oldSouth Carolina National Guard Armory in Anderson.

Continued

local/9aSunday/6.12.11/www.independentmail.com

SWAT Team pulled out all the stops to get to Ingram

parole, according to Tony In-gram.

Ingram went back to prisonin 1992 for resisting arrest andviolating his parole. The resist-ing charge was filed after hetried to attack an AndersonCounty deputy with a razorknife, court records show. In-gram stayed behind bars for 2½years after this conviction,Tony Ingram said.

Since then Ingram has servedtime for an array of chargesranging from driving under theinfluence to assault and battery.

He also was charged with —but not convicted of — fivecounts of kidnapping, threecounts of assault and batterywith intent to kill and a felonyDUI involving the death of awoman.

The reluctance of victims towork with prosecutors hasposed a problem in a number ofthese cases, 10th Judicial CircuitSolicitor Chrissy Adams said.

“If victims do not cooperateand do not come to court, wesimply cannot go forward,”Adams said.

Responding to a report thatIngram was driving around andshooting a gun out of his car, anAnderson County deputy sub-dued him with a Taser on April11, 2008, according to a sheriff ’sreport. Ingram pleaded guiltyto a charge of breach of thepeace, court records show.

Ingram was arrested againMay 10, 2008, on charges ofcriminal domestic violence andanimal cruelty. According to ar-rest warrants, he was accusedof kicking a woman in themouth and killing a kitten byslamming it against a tree,placing its head under his kneeand then throwing it into ahouse.

Deputies also arrested himafter a March 26, 2009, shooting,according to a sheriff ’s report.Tony Ingram’s wife, Rhonda,and his sister, Susan Paxton,said that Rocky Ingram fired ashotgun while extremely intoxi-cated after they stopped at hishouse.

Ingram pleaded guilty to thecriminal domestic violence andanimal cruelty charges on April20, 2010. He was sentenced to431 days of time served, accord-ing to court records. Prosecu-tors dropped the weaponscharged stemming from the in-cident involving his sister andsister-in-law on the same day,court records show.

Most recently, a South Caroli-na Highway Patrol trooperstopped Ingram on the night be-fore his confrontation with theSWAT team and charged himwith driving with a suspendedlicense. He was allowed to leaveafter being ticketed.

Standoff ends Sheriff ’s officials used some

of their most sophisticated —and expensive — tactical gear totry to coax out Ingram at lastmonth’s standoff.

“We were trying to give himevery opportunity,” Lindseysaid.

Sheriff ’s Capt. Darrell Hillhandled negotiations in the mo-bile command center, which re-sembles a large recreational ve-hicle. The sheriff ’s office ob-tained a federal Department ofHomeland Security grant topurchase the $297,000 commandcenter in 2005.

“What we are doing in there istrying to develop a dialoguewith the individual and see ifwe can get him talking to us,”Hill said.

They had one of the sheriff ’stwo robots take a phone to In-gram’s home for him to use. Hillalso tried to make contact by us-ing the loudspeakers on one ofthe sheriff ’s armored vehicles.Some of Ingram’s friends werebrought to the scene in hopes thatthey could make a connection.

None of these attempts suc-ceeded.

SWAT team members occa-sionally caught glimpses of In-gram.

“He would look out windows.We would see him moving,”Lindsey said.

Ingram became harder to ob-

serve as the hot afternoon woreon.

Lindsey decided to send therobot into the house to check onIngram. But the $200,000 piece oftechnology, which also was ob-tained through federal grants,soon got stuck in a screen door.

The SWAT team then used thebattering ram on its $310,000Bearcat armored vehicle to re-move the screen door and breakin the front door to Ingram’shome.

The robot rolled inside, butwas blocked by furniture thatIngram had wedged into a hall-way.

Lindsey said he was gettingincreasingly worried about In-gram’s well-being.

“I don’t know where he is,what he is doing — he may havekilled himself,” he said.

As a result of these concerns,sheriff ’s officials decided it wastime to act.

Several loud booms echoed

through the neighborhoodaround 4 p.m. as the SWAT teamfired tear gas rounds into thehome from a 40-mm launcher.But Ingram still wouldn’t budge.

Donning gas masks, theSWAT team’s entry specialiststossed non-lethal concussiongrenades into the home as theyburst inside. Ingram was un-armed and put up no resistance,Lindsey said.

“When they went in there,they had him in 20 seconds,” hesaid.

Hill described Ingram’s cap-ture as a success.

“Nobody got hurt,” he said.“You can’t put a price tag onthat.”

Lindsey said the number oftimes that the 28-officer SWATteam is called out varies frommonth to month.

“It comes in spurts,” he said.Illustrating his point, the

SWAT team was deployed againa few hours after storming In-gram’s house. That call alsoended peacefully when a suici-dal man surrendered withoutincident.

While stressing that everycall is different, Lindsey ac-knowledged that Ingram’s cap-ture represented a rare degreeof effort and devotion of re-sources that happens only a fewtimes per year.

Back behind barsAfter being examined at a

hospital, Ingram was taken tothe Anderson County DetentionCenter on charges of kidnap-ping and criminal domestic vio-lence of a high and aggravatednature. He remains there in lieuof $40,000 bond.

Tony Ingram recently led areporter and photographerthrough the home where hisbrother was captured. Most ofthe windows were shattered andone bed was damaged. The foot-steps of the SWAT team mem-bers could be seen in powderydust on the living room floor leftbehind by the tear gas.

While he is upset about thedamage, Ingram expressed re-lief that his rebellious, trouble-prone sibling is back behindbars.

“He is a habitual offender,”Tony Ingram said. “I don’t seehow he keeps getting out.”

Under state law, Rocky In-gram could face a maximumsentence of 30 years on the kid-napping charge and 10 years onthe charge of criminal domesticviolence of a high and aggravat-ed nature.

Tony Ingram said that basedon his past convictions, he ishoping his brother qualifies fora life sentence under South Car-olina’s three strikes law.

Simpsonville resident StevenBryson, who grew up on IngramLane, said Rocky Ingram is aboyhood friend who neverlearned how to act like an adult.

“He needs to be removed fromsociety,” Bryson said.

Anderson County SheriffJohn Skipper said he agreeswith Bryson’s sentiment.

“Maybe this might be thecase where our judicial systemwill recognize this and give himsome sentencing that will puthim away,” Skipper said.

Tony Ingramhopes brotherRocky willfinally be putaway for good

“Nobody got hurt. Youcan’t put a price tag on that.” Darrell HillAnderson County sheriff’s captain

KEN RUINARD Independent Mail photos

Dust from tear gas is spread around the Piedmont home of Rocky Ingram. The Anderson Countysheriff ’s SWAT team fired the tear gas before storming the home to arrest Ingram last month.

Rocky Ingram, left, and his younger brother, Tony Ingram, ofPiedmont are shown in a photo from the 1980s.

FROM PAGE 8A

SWAT team member David Davis, left, stands near Tim Grasty,who is wearing a ghillie suit, during a training session at theold South Carolina National Guard Armory in Anderson.

“We were trying to givehim every opportunity.”

Jay Lindseya warrants officer who commandsthe sheriff’s SWAT team

Submitted photo

BEAT REPORTINGBEAT REPORTINGDaily Over 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Post and CourierGlenn SmithPolice and Crime

$2.00

It took police 90 minutes to reach site of shooting;

suspect confesses.Nation & World, 12A

T H E S O U T H’S O L D E S T DA I LY N E W S PA P E R . F O U N D E D 1803


BY GLENN [email protected]

Inmates at Lieber state prison marked James Belli as prey as soon as he landed in a maximum-security cell block meant for mur-derers, rapists and other violent criminals. Slight, slim and pale, the Summerville teen was fresh meat in a den of predators.

What happened to him at Lieber reveals a dark and dangerous world behind the brick walls and barbed wire at one of South Carolina’s toughest prisons.

It unveils a place where the most violent prisoners ruled the roost, guards suspected one another of cor-ruption and corrections officials turned a blind eye to cancers in their midst, court documents show.

Belli’s family knew none of this when they turned the wayward teen in to police in late 2005 to face bur-glary and larceny charges, hoping it would straighten him out. Instead, he became a target for extortion at Lieber, and was roughed up and shaken down by other inmates.

Belli, 19, had served just a few months of his eight-year sentence when prisoners attacked him on Aug. 23, 2006. One man plunged a homemade shank into Belli’s neck — again and again. Belli died the next day.

His family’s quest for answers, along with a civil lawsuit, has yielded a bounty of documents and testi-mony that raise fresh questions about prison officials’

A small teen in prison

Belli was thrown to wolves in Lieber’s toughest dorm

PHOTOGRAPHS PROVIDED BY BELLI FAMILY

In better times — before he was sent to prison — James Belli enjoyed the company of his friends and his dogs in Summerville. Belli was 19 when he was sent to Lieber state prison on burglary and larceny charges. Only a few months into his sentence in 2006, he was stabbed to death.

Victimearlieraskedfor help

BY ANDY PARASand DIETTE COURRÉGÉ[email protected]@postandcourier.com

MONCKS CORNER — On Monday, Mary Ann Cox asked local deputies to keep a SLED agent, a man she said was her former lover, from contacting her any more.

By Friday, both were dead behind the bank where she worked. He had shot her, then killed himself, authorities said.

They said Charles Boyette, 61, shot bank teller Mary Ann Cox, 45, three times — twice in the arm and wrist and once in the back — as she was leaving Southcoast Community Bank on East Main Street about 5:30 p.m.

He then turned the gun on himself and fired into his chest . The pair were within feet of each other and were dead when police arrived, investiga-tors said.

Cox had sought help from authorities before the shooting. She told Berke-ley County sheriff ’s investigators on

Woman had broken offtryst with SLED agent

He never had a chance

James Belli with his mother, Diane DiLorenzo, at his middle-school graduation.

Please see TEEN, Page 4A

Boyette

Cox

Girls Rock: Young summer campers area hit at the Music Farm

Local & State, 1B

It’s not that hard to turn your old house into a smart home

Home & Garden, 1D

Highlights, records from city swim meet

Sports, 8C

Please see HELP, Page 8A

READ MORETo read an incident re-port and letters relating to Boyette’s suspension and resignation, go to postandcourier.com.

Sunday July 24 , 2011


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Post and CourierYvonne WengerGovernment

GALAN HAWES/STAFF

As he flies on the state plane, Gov. Mark Sanford works on a speech he will give during a plant expansion announcement ceremony on June 24 at FujiFilm in Greenwood. Just days from leaving office, the governor, once seen as a possible presidential contender, is embarking on an uncertain path.

Gov. Mark Sanford rummages

through a ragged white canvas

sack that he calls his mobile office

and digs out his notes about a new

investment Fujifilm has made in

Greenwood.

He studies the details, and on a

half-dozen index cards, he scribbles

in barely legible penmanship a

speech he will deliver in less than

an hour before the Japanese execu-

tives and company workers.

The governor is traveling without

any staff in the state’s King Air, a

nine-seat plane with the state sym-

bol, a Palmetto tree and crescent

moon-shaped gorget, embroidered

on the tan headrests. The drone of

the plane’s engine dominates the

passenger cabin, and the smell of

leather fills the air as the hot plane

cools down on the 90-mile trip

from the capital city to Greenwood.

On this day, June 24, exactly one

year earlier, Sanford also prepared

to deliver a speech, one that would

change the trajectory of his

political career and the direction of

his life.

SANFORD RETROSPECTIVE

The governor’s future, personally and politically, remains in question as his time in office comes to a close

BY YVONNE WENGER // [email protected]

WADE SPEES/STAFF

Sanford’s well-worn “mobile office” sits just outside his office door in September, awaiting his next trip away from the Statehouse.

MULTIMEDIA: For a photo gallery, an Associated Press interactive timeline of Sanford’s political career, links to e-mails between Mark Sanford and Maria Belen Chapur posted on The State newspaper’s website and more, go to postandcourier.com. For more on the Sanford scandal, go to postandcourier.com/sanford.

Please see SANFORD, Page 8A


The StateJohn O’Connor

Coverage of new governor Nikki Haley

BEST OF THE BESTBEST OF THE BEST

PUBLIC SERVICE FOR A PUBLIC SERVICE FOR A DAILY NEWSPAPERDAILY NEWSPAPER

Daily Under 20,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEAiken Standard

Mike GibbonsCarolina Bay Cleanup



SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Island PacketFitz McAden and Tom BartonMedical Imaging



FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Island PacketJeff Kidd and Rachel HeatonFinancial Dealings of Football Coach/Nonprofi t Director

PUBLIC SERVICE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE FOR A DAILY NEWSPAPERA DAILY NEWSPAPER

Daily 20,000 - 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEIndependent MailJennifer Crossley Howard and Nikie MayoDesigner Drugs

a6/local Wednesday/10.5.11/www.independentmail.com


mayon@/ 622.1708

AND JENNIFER CROSSLEY HOWARDIndependent Mail

jchoward@/ 260.1248

Justin Dial’s cousin methim in Piedmont with acompound bow in one handand a pistol in the other.

Dial had gone to hiscousin’s garage to check ona truck.

“They are after me,” Di-al’s cousin screamed. “Theyare coming to get me.”

He pointed the bow overhis shoulder and toward thewoods.

“I’m not going to let themget me,” he said.

Dial’s cousin was talkingabout men that only hecould see.

“He was hallucinatingand ready to shoot,” Dialsaid in an interview. “I justleft the yard and got out ofthere.”

Dial’s cousin, whom hedescribes as “a really de-cent guy,” had snorted bathsalts that night. Thecousin’s admission ofsnorting bath salts anddrinking is included in anAug. 17 report from the An-derson County Sheriff ’s Of-fice.

While Dial left the garageto call the sheriff ’s officethat night, his cousin wentinside the home that heshared with his parents and“began to toss the wholehouse,” according to thedeputy’s report. Dial’scousin turned over furni-ture, knocked pictureframes off every wall, andthrew “just about every-thing he could get his handson” down on the floor.

He went back to thegarage with a loaded gunand fired several shots in-side. Afraid for their lives,his parents ran from theirhome on River Road andsought refuge at a housenearby.

It took the efforts of theAnderson County SWATteam to keep the halluci-nating man and his familysafe.

Medical experts say thekinds of behavior that Di-al’s cousin exhibited — hal-lucinations and signs ofparanoia — are classicsymptoms of the effectsthat bath salts have on thebody and the mind.

The stimulants are soldin crystal and powder formin small, brightly coloredpackages that are labeled“bath salts.”

These aren’t the bathsalts that a person uses inthe tub for a long soak. In-stead, these “salts” areused as recreational drugsand have been compared

to cocaine.But there is a big differ-

ence between bath salts andcocaine: In many parts ofthe United States, buyingbath salts is a perfectly legalactivity.

They’re cheap, too.A gram of cocaine can

fetch $120 in AndersonCounty. At an Iva gas sta-tion and an Anderson con-venience store, IndependentMail reporters bought thesame amount of bath saltsfor $20 to $30.

Doctors say that whenthese bath salts are snortedor injected, they can pro-duce an effect on a person’sbody that is worse than co-caine or methampheta-mine, and lasts muchlonger.

Just two weeks ago, aCentral man who was highon bath salts threatened tokill his mother before thePickens County Sheriff ’sOffice intervened.

Bath salts are not yet reg-ulated by any federalagency, and many times thepackages don’t list the in-

gredients. Some packagesbear messages like “not forhuman consumption” or“must be 18 to purchase.”Some packages found bythe Independent Mail boreno warnings at all.

The U.S. Drug Enforce-ment Administration re-cently announced that itplans to use its emergencypowers to make bath salts il-legal for at least one year sothe agency can study themand decide whether thechemicals in them shouldbe permanently controlled.Areas in at least 33 stateshave taken measures to banor try to control the chemi-cals used in bath salts.

In South Carolina, Rep.Anne Thayer of AndersonCounty introduced a bill inMarch to outlaw bath saltsin this state. But the bill re-mains stalled.

The Anderson CountyCouncil is considering anordinance to make bath saltsillegal in the county.But theordinance would have to bevoted on three times beforeit would take effect.

In the meantime, bathsalts are sold in tiny vials orpackets, often found behindshelves at gas stations, headshops and conveniencestores, including some inAnderson County. Underbrand names includingIvory Wave, Vanilla Sky,Tranquility and Locomo-tion, the salts are sold —legally — and can cost as lit-tle as $1 per high.

A challenge to medicine

In their purest forms,bath salts are composed ofthree synthetic stimulants:mephedrone, methylone,and methylenedioxpy-rovalerone, or MDPV.

A spokesman for the fed-eral Drug Enforcement Ad-ministration said bath saltswere seen in the UnitedKingdom and Germany asearly as two years ago, wellbefore they were on theradar of authorities in theUnited States. In Britain,buying bath salts has beenillegal since 2010.

Because the product isnot regulated by the U.S.Food and Drug Adminis-tration, the content of anypackage labeled as “bathsalts” and sold in this coun-try is questionable.

“Anything could be inthem,” said Jeffrey Scott, aspokesman for the DEA.

“You’re basically playingRussian roulette anytimeyou take one of these.”

In Iva, an IndependentMail reporter bought aproduct labeled CloudNine. The package turnedout to contain what ap-peared to be herbs ratherthan powder or crystallizedbath salts.

However, that same Ivagas station sold a brand ofpowdered bath salts calledTranquility.

The purple packagepromised “an invigoratingand scentual (sic) experi-ence” and cost $15 for half agram.

At an Anderson conven-ience store, another Inde-pendent Mail reporterbought two brands of bathsalts — Locomotion andBang — for a total of $20.

Those bath salts werebought at a conveniencestore less than a quarter-mile from Robert AndersonMiddle School.

They were sold in jarsthat contained 500 mil-ligrams each, but doctorssay that a person who takesbath salts can begin to haveserious physical reactionsafter ingesting one-tenththat amount.

State and national statis-tics show that bath salts arebecoming more common inthe United States.

In 2010, the American As-sociation of Poison ControlCenters had taken 303 callsabout bath salts. As of Aug.31, the association had an-swered almost 5,000 callsabout them.

The Palmetto PoisonCenter in Columbia has al-ready answered at least 118calls related to the bath saltsthis year. That’s up fromjust two calls in 2010.

Dr. Wally Davies of An-Med Health Medical Centerhas seen firsthand how bathsalts affect patients thathave come into his emer-gency room.

The hospital does nothave official statistics onhow many patients have in-gested them because bathsalts are not easily traceablein available drug tests. ButDavies said the hospitalstarted noticing cases of pa-tients having reactions tobath salts in the summer of2010, and saw a “smatter-ing” of cases last fall andwinter. In a recent period ofjust a few weeks, the hospi-tal treated at least five pa-tients who had ingestedbath salts.

The stimulants first af-fect the brain and spinalcord and then travel to theheart and lungs, often leav-ing intestines and kidneys

A legal drug you can buy anywhere‘Bath salts’ leave users high, paranoid — and in danger

NATHAN GRAY Independent Mail

Bath salts are being used as a recreational drug and are available at many gas stations and smoke shops around the United States.

“Anything could be in them. You’rebasically playing Russian rouletteanytime you take one of these.”

Jeffrey Scott spokesman for the DEA

Please see OFFICIALS, page 7A



SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe HeraldPaul OsmundsonJail, No Bail

Rock Hill’s Main Street was a busyplace in 1961


WHY NOT US?

HERALD FILE PHOTO Demonstrators are shown in 1960 on Main Street in Rock Hill. Racial tensions were high long before January 1961, when the Friendship Nine took totheir stools at the lunch counter in McCrory’s.

Remembering Friendship Nine’s historic protest in Rock Hill

THE FRIENDSHIP NINE

Jail No Bail – 50 years later

FRIDAY January 28, 2011 Rock Hill South Carolina



FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Sun NewsIssac Bailey and Janet Blackmon MorganTackling Tough Topics

Monica Wall was only hours away from doing what ma-ny Grand Strand families do at this time of year.

She was going to at-tend her little sister’sgraduation.

She would have got-ten dressed and proba-bly taken her friend andhousemate, Jamilah Hy-tower, to meet up withWall’s family.

M ay b e s h e wo u l dhave cheered loudlyfrom the stands even after school officials would haveurged, for the thousandth time, everyone to be silent untilthe names of all the graduates have been called.

TRYING TO RESCUE A NEIGHBORHOOD


"It’s so hard. I don’t want to get out of bed. I miss her so much. It hurts. It hurts me. It’s too hard,"Betty Wall says of losing her daughter, Monica Madeline Wall.

Different paths leadto same tragic demise

Barbara Hytower looks at an old photo albumwhile talking about sparing other mothers fromthe pain of losing a child. Hytower’s daughterJamila Hytower was killed with Monica MadelineWall in 2006.

Double murder leavesmothers grieving,teamed toward change

BY ISSAC BAILEY

[email protected]

See PATHS | Page 7A

MORE PHOTOSView more photos at TheSunNews.com .

‘A mother is notsupposed to bury

her children.’ BARBARA HYTOWER

mother of Jamilah Hytower,who was killed in 2006

C o r e y B r o o k s w a s a20-year-old Coastal CarolinaUniversity student who wasgoing to be a pharmacist, butinstead his death became arallying cry for Myrtle BeachCity Council and residentsseeking to curb the long-dis-puted large, annual motorcy-cle festivals.

He was killed in May 2008when he tried to break up afight between members of theproperty owner’s family and afew intoxicated young men ov-er allowing a group of girls topark on the property during

Editor’s noteColumnist Issac J. Bailey spent

several weeks beginning during

February’s Black History Month

interviewing Myrtle Beach mothers

who have lost children to violence

since 2005, researching the roots

of the crime plaguing their Booker

T. Washington neighborhood, and

examining the parallels in his own

family’s struggles.

Sunday | Mothers who have lost

children to the crime that sullies

the heritage of their Myrtle Beach

community are taking their lessons

to the streets in hopes of saving

other young people.

Monday | A mother who lost two

sons to violence months apart

speaks about her loss and her

hopes for the future.

Today | One of those killed was a

young woman whose mother

recalls her spiral from successful

college student to drug dealer.

Wednesday | The story of a

military veteran who got into the

illegal drug trade, tried to steer

young people away from that life

after being released from prison but

was later shot to death in a

nightclub.

Thursday | An active crack dealer

explains his choices; Bailey

questions one of his brothers, a

former drug dealer; and explores

the lessons learned and possible

solutions.

Miss one? | Go to

TheSunNews.com to read earlier

articles in the series and see more

photos of the people and their

neighborhood.

Deathsevokediversereactions

BY ISSAC J. BAILEY

[email protected]

See DEATHS | Page 7A


Daily Over 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Post and CourierTony BartelemeTracking an Arsonist POLL

Do schools need school resource officers? Go to postandcourier.com/polls to vote.

$2.00T H E S O U T H’S O L D E S T DA I LY N E W S PA P E R . F O U N D E D 1803


David Slade column: Don’t just throw away your unwanted itemsYour Money, 1F

Sunday October 2 , 2011

BY TONY [email protected]

It’s 3 a.m. on Bogard and Ashe streets, dead center in the arsonist’s hunting zone. It’s quiet except for the hum of air conditioners and a dis-

tant voice. I move closer and see a young man on a porch. He’s talking on his cell phone and smoking a cigarette. Ahead, a fan of palmet-to fronds blocks the glow from a street lamp; I walk into its shadow, my footsteps scrape the sidewalk.

An arsonist has walked these same blocks, perhaps for as many as ten years. He passed the porches of these tightly packed wooden homes, some of which date to the Civil War. He moved through this same time of stillness, a time after the bars close and before the delivery trucks roll and early risers rise.

At some point, his footsteps turned toward the porches of these homes and crossed that invisible line between public and private. Then came the sound of a match or the click of a lighter. Did his heart beat faster as the flame grew in his hands? Did his hands shake as they moved the flame to a couch cushion or rag?

I’ve lived near these streets for 15 years, worked in a building blocks from homes that burned, watched how this unique area has been transformed by college students, wondered how one thing remained constant amid this change: the mystery of these fires. How has the arsonist been able to set them undetected all these years? Who is this person? Which house will burn next?

A city task force is trying to put this jigsaw puzzle togeth-er but knows it can’t be done alone. “We need the com-

munity’s help,” Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said in a news conference after the most recent fire.

With this plea in mind, I’ve searched for pieces that might fit, looked for clues in police reports, talked with experts about why arsonists do what they do. In the process, I learn that at least 83 sus-picious fires have been set in this area since 2002, 27 more than po-lice and fire investigators have so far acknowledged.

Each fire generates data, and because so many fires have been set, a large amount of information is public. These details can reveal new clues about patterns and fires that investigators may have missed.

Police, for instance, have said that the arsonist hasn’t killed anyone yet, but a review of old reports turned up a case in which an elderly man died, a case that investigators originally dismissed as an accident but in retrospect has the hallmarks of other intentionally set fires.

While discussing this with investigators, I see the de-termination in their faces, hear the frustration in their voices that their manhunt so far has failed.

It’s also clear that they’re sidetracked by the daily crush of crimes and fire calls, and that their system of stor-ing records hamstrings them from building databases on serial crimes, even though past crimes are crucial to understanding when an offender might strike next.

But it isn’t until I spend hours early one morning in the arson zone that the mystery sheds some of its veils, particularly why arsonists are so hard to catch in an old city like Charleston, a place of many shadows.

Charleston has been terrorized by more than 80 fires. What do we know

about these blazes and who is behind

them?

The mystery unfolds inside on Page 4A

ILLUSTRATION: BETSY MILLER AND GILL GUERRY/STAFF PHOTOS: LEROY BURNELL/STAFF, DREAMSTIME

Arts & Travel ......1EBooks .................4EClassifi eds ......... 1HCooking ............. 3DDear Abby ......... 6GCrossword ..........5EEditorials ........... 6AFaith & Values ... 1GHome & Garden ..1DHoroscope ......... 6G

Local News .........1BLottery .............. 2AMovies ...............7EObituaries ......... 4BPets ................... 5DSports ................1CTelevision ...........8EWall St. Journal ..2FWeddings .......... 4GYour Money ........1F

Clear. High 70. Low 45.Complete 5-day forecast, 8B

INDEX

CONTACT USClassified ......................................722-6500Home delivery ..............853-post (7678)General offices ...........................577-7111Newsroom ...................................937-5582

Setting the record straight .................. 2A

Research: Accepted Civil War death toll off by at least 100,000Local & State, 1B

Favorites have little trouble in MLB playoffsSports, 9C

Need forpolice inschoolsdebated

BY DIETTE COURRÉGÉ[email protected]

The resource officer at Fort Johnson Middle School spends far less time investigating crimes than he does prevent-ing them.

He heads up the school’s peer mediation program in which selected eighth-graders are trained and he lp ot her students work through dis-agreements.

He speaks to every student in the school four times each year on bully-ing, and he’s part of a team that meets regularly for students having behavior problems.

Principal David Parler isn’t convinced that the money for Master Deputy John Droney’s salary would be better spent elsewhere, but some school board members wonder wheth-er it would.

The county school board agreed last week to approve agreements with law enforce-ment in Charleston County, Charleston, North Charles-ton and Mount Pleasant to provide school resource of-ficers to the middle and high schools in their jurisdictions, but not before having an ex-tensive conversation about the value of police officers in schools.

Board member Elizabeth Moffly said she wanted to get

Most favor practice,but 2 on countyboard have doubts

Young volunteers provide dinner to the hungry and homelessFaith & Values, 1G

Gridlockhas manyculprits

BY CHARLES BABINGTONAssociated Press

WASHINGTON — How did it get this bad on Capitol Hill?

Why does Congress barely function today?

The legislative branch of the world’s most powerful nation is now widely scorned as it lurch-es from one near-catastrophe to the next, even on supposedly routine matters such as setting an annual budget and keeping government offices open.

Congress is accustomed to fierce debate, of course. But veteran lawmakers and schol-ars use words such as “unprec-edented” to describe the cur-rent level of dysfunction and

Congress scorned overdysfunction, paralysis

Please see POLICE, Page 8A

Please see CONGRESS, Page 8A

InsideBRIAN HICKS: School cops are not debatable. 1B

PUBLIC SERVICE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE FOR A DAILY NEWSPAPERA DAILY NEWSPAPER


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Post and CourierDoug PardueThe Price of Living

Arts & Travel .......1EBooks ..................5EClassifi eds .......... 1HCollege Football ..1CCooking .............. 3DDear Abby .......... 5GCrossword ...........6EEditorials .......... 12AFaith & Values .... 1GHome & Garden . 1D

Horoscope .......... 5GLocal News ..........1BMovies ................9EObituaries .......... 4BPets .................... 5DSports .................7CTelevision ..........10EWall St. Journal ...2FWeddings ........... 4GYour Money .........1F

CONTACT USClassified ........................................ 722-6500Home delivery ................ 853-post (7678)General offices ............................. 577-7111Newsroom ..................................... 937-5582

Setting the record straight 2A

INDEX

$2.00T H E S O U T H’S O L D E S T DA I LY N E W S PA P E R . F O U N D E D 1803


Full day of sun. High 62. Low 43.Complete 5-day forecast, 8B

ARTS & TRAVEL

Holiday calendar has much to choose from

Our calendar of holiday events includes picks for every day from today through Christmas Eve. Page 1E

Are you really sure you want to go there?

They’re moody. Secretive. Spacy. Infuriating! Find out what’s really going on inside your teen’s head. Inside

FAITH & VALUES

Leading from the pulpit a historical role

Local ministers are carry-ing on the tradition of church leaders who preach gospel, press social issues. Page 1G

ALAN HAWES/STAFF

Lucia Morfesis holds a photo of herself with her parents, Virginia and George Manos, from the mid-1940s. The Charleston County Probate Court in 2004 appointed a guardian and a conservator to take care of Virginia Manos because of reports she could not care for herself.

SPECIAL REPORT: THE PRICE OF LIVING

Is system draining our seniors’ assets?

‘Leave dead or injured’

BY TIM FOUGHT and NEDRA PICKLERAssociated Press

PORTLAND, ORE. — A Somali-born teenager plotted “a spectacular show” of terrorism for months, saying he didn’t mind that children would die if he bombed a crowded Christmas tree-lighting cere-mony, according to a law enforcement official and court documents.

He never got the chance. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested Fri-day in downtown Portland after using a cell phone to try to detonate what he thought were explosives in a van, prosecutors said. It turned out to be a dummy bomb put together by FBI agents, and authorities said the public never was in danger.

The case is the latest in a string of alleged terrorist planning by U.S. citi-zens or residents, including a Times Square plot in which a Pakistan-born man pleaded guilty earlier this year to trying to set off a car bomb at a busy street corner.

In the Portland plot, Mohamud

Teen who plotted Christmas tree-lighting bombing latest in alleged terror attempts

BY DOUG [email protected]

The Charleston County Probate Court appointed a guardian and a conservator to take care of Virginia Manos in 2004 because of reports that the 89-year-old woman who lived alone couldn’t take care of herself and might be exploited.

Over the next four years, until she died in July 2008, the court approved spending $150,000 of her available money on lawyer, guardian, conservator and court fees — almost one out of every four dollars spent for her care.

Manos’ case is not alone. It is among many in which the Probate Court, set up to protect incapacitated elderly people from neglect, abuse or financial exploi-tation, allows lawyers, guardians and conservators to profit off helpless elderly wards.

Ethel Hyde is one of those. The Probate Court ap-pointed a guardian and conservator for her in 2008 because of concern that her son persuaded her to

In some cases, court opens financial spigotDefining rolesWHAT IS PROBATE COURT AND WHAT DO CERTAIN TERMS MEAN? Probate Court assists people in probating estates, resolving disputes in estates and trusts, handling involuntary commitments for alcohol/drug abuse and/or mental illness, obtaining marriage licenses, appointing and supervising guardians and conservators and approving minor and wrongful death settlements. Probate Court includes the Estate, Commitment and Marriage Divisions. The Probate Judge is elected county-wide and serves a four-year term.

PROBATE: Typically refers to the legal pro-cess of wrapping up a dead person’s affairs, paying their bills and distributing their assets.

GUARDIAN: A person who has been ap-pointed by a judge to take care of a minor child (called a “ward”) or incompetent adult and manage that person’s daily life and medi-cal decisions.

CONSERVATOR: A person appointed by a judge to protect and manage another’s financial affairs and/or the person’s daily life

f

THE SERIES■ TODAY: The Probate Court was set up in part to

protect the elderly, but in some cases turns on a financial faucet that helps drain the estates of the people it is suppose to guard.

Please see SYSTEM, Page 10A

TORSTEN KJELLSTRAND/AP

A crowd watches as a Christmas tree is lit on Pioneer Courthouse Square on Friday in Portland, Ore. Federal agents arrested a Somali-b j h i d bl i

Mohamud

Please see TEEN, Page 11A

Sunday November 28 , 2010

PUBLIC SERVICE FOR A DAILY PUBLIC SERVICE FOR A DAILY NEWSPAPERNEWSPAPER


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe State Staff The Civil War: 150 Years Later

Today: S.C. Secedes. When South Carolina started the Civil War — seceding 150 years ago tomorrow —it was one of the country’s wealthiest states, riches based on slavery. Four years later, the state was oneof the nation’s poorest — and slavery no longer existed. Once a month through September, The State willlook at the ways the Civil War changed — and continues to change — South Carolina in “The Civil War:150 years later.”

n a foggy day near Christmas 1860, adelegation of South’s Carolinawealthiest, most powerful citizens –planters, judges, legislators and cler-gy, all white men – assembled at Co-lumbia’s stately red brick-columnedFirst Baptist Church to contemplatesmashing the Palmetto State’s bond

with the United States of America.Within hours, the assembly adopted a resolution that

for some among the group — those who relished themoniker of “fire-eater” — thought was 30 years past due:“The state of South Carolina should forthwith secedefrom the Federal Union.”

A day later, Dec. 18, fearing an outbreak of smallpox,the top-hatted gentry adjourned to Charleston, crowd-ing onto trains in the early morning darkness with anurgency of mission that had exploded with the Nov. 6election of President-elect Abraham Lincoln.

This “convention of the people,” called by the stateLegislature after Lincoln’s election, was united andswift. On Dec. 20 — 150 years ago tomorrow — it adopt-ed the Ordinance of Secession, declaring South Caroli-na, one of the original 13 colonies, no longer part was ofthe United States.

“THE UNION IS DISSOLVED!” screamed the head-line of the Charleston Mercury, a pro-secessionnewspaper.

Looking backward, as Americans prepare to mark the

INSIDE TODAYA timeline: Eventsthat led to seces-sion. Page A6

Facts: Some of thepeople and issuesthat played a rolein secession. Page A7

Viewpoints: TwoSouth Caroliniansoffer their opin-ions on the com-memoration of the150th anniversaryof the Civil War. Pages A8-A9

Changing SouthCarolina: A month-by-month look atThe State’s un-folding “The CivilWar: 150 yearslater” series. Page A6

THESTATE.COMFirst BaptistChurch curatorHarvey Teal tellsthe story of theSecession Conven-tion in Columbiaand how the viewsof modern-daySouthern Baptistsdiffer from their19th-century coun-terparts.

Charles Lesser,retired S.C. De-partment of Ar-chives and Historyarchivist, explainsthe history of theOrdinance of Se-cession and itssignificance in U.S.history.

Also, view a galleryof descendants ofsigners of theordinance. And,each day duringthe series, a newCivil War fact willbe online.

S.C.’S SECESSION LEGACY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2010

119TH YEAR, NO. 353 | SOUTH CAROLINA'S LARGEST NEWSPAPER | $2.00 | COPYRIGHT © 2010 | CAPIT

Economic, racial, political upheaval followed, lingered

SEE CIVIL WAR PAGE A6

A copy of the Extra edtion of the Charleston Mercury announcing secession

CHARLESTON MUSEUM

By CAROLYN [email protected]

SPOT SPORTS STORYSPOT SPORTS STORYDaily Under 20,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Island PacketSam McDowellTransfer Might Be Ineligible


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe ItemDennis BrunsonHope Crushed


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Island PacketJustin JarrettRun of Birdies

SPOT SPORTS STORYSPOT SPORTS STORYDaily 20,000 - 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEHerald-JournalTodd ShanesyStorybook Ending

Storybook ending

By TODD [email protected]

Chelsea McMillan didn’t sleep Sunday night. She tossed and turned, thinking about her fi nal basketball game for USC Upstate.

Even if she had dozed off, she never could have dreamed of a fi nish like this.

McMillan is an all-time great at USC Upstate. She’s a 6-foot power forward who ranks among the top 10 at the school in 16 different catego-ries, including eighth in scoring and fourth in rebounding.

One thing she is not is a 3-point shooter.

But McMillan let one fl y in the fi nal seconds Monday night. The shot was perfect and so was the conclusion of her stellar career.

The 3-pointer, which barely even moved the net, set off a wild celebration on the court as USC Upstate beat Florida Gulf Coast, the No. 1 team in the Atlantic Sun Conference, 75-74, at the Hodge Center.

“It’s just unbelievable,” USC Upstate head

coach Tammy George said. “… It’s a storybook ending for her. It’s just great.”

The game was fi tting of an Atlantic Sun tour-nament fi nal, but neither team is eligible, still in transition phases after moving up from NCAA Division II to Division I in 2007. Florida Gulf Coast (24-3, 17-3) is regardless considered the regular-season champion and will be going to the NIT. Upstate (17-12, 13-7) fi nished tied for third.

MIKE BONNER/[email protected]

USC Upstate senior Chelsea McMillan (21) shoots against Florida Gulf Coast on Monday evening at the Hodge Center. McMillan capped her Upstate career with another double-double — 20 points and 14 rebounds. Visit GoUpstate.com to view a photo gallery from the Upstate women’s final game of the season.

McMillan drains game-winning 3-pointer in fi nal outing of her stellar career at Upstate; Spartans down FGCU, 75-74

We wanted to go out with a bang.CHELSEA MCMILLAN, USC Upstate senior, who hit the game-winning shot in her final outing with the Spartans

◆

“We just never gave up. We refused to lose tonight.

I’m very proud of this team.”TAMMY GEORGE

Upstate coach, whose team (17-12, 13-7) finished tied for third in the Atlantic Sun Conference

◆

Upstate 75FGCU 74

Inside, B3Upstate men’s team drops its season finale, 81-65.

◆ SEE UPSTATE PAGE B3


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEHerald-JournalMike McCombsNumbers and Up


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Sun NewsAlan BlondinGlover Outlasts Byrd

15-under 273.“I’m elated, absolutely elated,” Glov-

er said. “You know, against this fieldand on this golf course and in a tourna-ment of this magnitude, I’m thrilled.”

Glover posted a 3-under-par 69 toovercome a three-shot deficit to Byrdentering the final round at Quail Hol-low Club, and both former ClemsonUniversity teammates made key puttson the 18th hole to force the playoff.

Glover chipped to 7 feet on the 18th af-ter a 6-iron from thick rough to the leftof the creek that runs down the left sideof the hole and made the putt to main-tain a one-shot lead.

That forced Byrd to hole a 14-footputt for birdie in the next group to forcethe playoff, eliciting a series of demon-strative fist pumps and screams fromByrd after the putt fell.

“When you get in a playoff and youbirdie the last, you feel like, ‘Hey, this isjust going to work out,’ ” Byrd said.

It didn’t. Byrd found a bunker to theright of the 18th fairway, pulled his sec-ond shot to the left side of the creek andwas unable to hole a 25-foot par putt, al-lowing Glover to two-putt for the win.“I think I had some calmness there be-cause Jonathan and I are so close,”Glover said.

Both players said the playoff felt dif-ferent because of their close friendship.They both now reside in Sea Island, Ga.“If I couldn’t win, I couldn’t pick anybo-dy else I’d want to win other than Lu-cas, so I’m very happy for him,” Byrdsaid.

Prior to the playoff, Glover had a mo-ment of trepidation on the 18th when hisball rolled down the hill toward thecreek as he was standing over it, andcaught up in the rough. Glover made apoint of not grounding his club becauseof the chance the ball could move. “I justsettled my feet and was in my waggleand there it goes,” Glover said.

Sunday’s win is Glover’s third on thePGA Tour. The 31-year-old also won the2005Funai Classic at Disney World.

After a breakout 2009 in which Glov-er won the U.S. Open, tied for second atQuail Hollow, finished fifth in the PGAChampionship and had another pair oftop-fives, he hasn’t done much in thepast 18 months.

Glover had just three top-10s lastyear, doesn’t have anything better thana tie for 20th this year and had missedhis last three cuts. He’s going through adivorce that may have had an impact onhis performance on the course.

“Expectations to play great or playgood don’t always mean you’re going towin, but I have to think that way,” Glov-

er said. “… When I quit believing that,then it’s probably time to hang themup.”

Glover began the final round threeshots off Byrd’s lead at 15 under andwas 1 over for the round through sixholes before he two-putted for birdie onthe seventh hole, putted in from 30 feetand off the green on the eighth, andholed a 27-foot eagle putt on the586-yard par-5 10th after a big drive overthe corner of a bunker and 3-iron ap-proach to take the lead at 15 under.

“Those were probably the two bestshots I hit today,” Glover said. “I had a27-footer makeable and emotions gotgoing then when that went in.”

Glover alternated bogeys and bird-ies on holes 12 through 15, and made keypar saves on the final three holes tomaintain a lead before Byrd’s 18th-holebirdie. He got up and down from 65 feeton 16, two-putted from 75 feet on 17 andmade the 7-footer on 18.

“I couldn’t let myself get too upsetright then [on 14],” Glover said. “Youknow, I hit a bad shot and I had a chanceto get it up-and-down, only dropped ashot and knew I had 15 to play.”

Byrd made his own key par savesdown the stretch to get into the playoff.After a bogey with an approach into thewater from the rough on the 14th, Byrdchipped to 2 feet for birdie on the 15th toget to 14 under. After pitching back intothe fairway after a drive in the rightwoods on 16, he hit an 8-iron inside 2feet to save par, then chipped to 2 feeton the 17th for par to set up the playoff-forcing birdie on 18.

“I did some amazing stuff on the lastthree holes to get in a playoff,” Byrdsaid. “… So I’m quite pleased with that.I’m just a little disappointed with how Iplayed the rest of the 15 holes. It was myworst round of golf all week.”

He birdied the par-5 seventh toreach 16 under and open up a four-stroke lead, but he bogeyed the shortpar-4 eighth when he missed the greenfrom 80 yards and par-4 ninth with asecond shot short of the green, and wasin a fight for the lead thereafter.

Charlotte native and Greenville resi-dent Bill Haas shot a 70 Sunday andwas within a shot of the lead after a teeshot to 5 feet for birdie on 17, but hefound the creek to the left of the 18th

green from 160 yards in the fairway andmade bogey to finish fourth at 13-under275.

“I hit a nice iron in at 17 and made a 2there, I just didn’t finish it off like a truechampion, I guess,” said Haas, who hadGalivants Ferry native Michael Manesson the bag and was seeking his thirdwin in the past 17 months.

➤ Contact ALAN BLONDIN at843-626-0284.

GLOVERFrom Page 1B

CHARLOTTE, N.C. | The bushybeard that engulfs the majorityof Lucas Glover’s face beneath alow hat brim exudes gruffnessfrom a man who shows littleemotion.

But it couldn’t mask Glover’selation after he prevailed in a

playoff over Jonathan Byrd towin the ninth annual Wells Far-go Championship, a victory thatends 18 months of struggles andadds credibility to his last win –the 2009 U.S. Open.

Glover pumped his fist to-ward the sky and hugged hiscaddie and Byrd on the 18th

green after he made a downhill4-foot putt for par on the firstplayoff hole, and gave a more fi-

ery fist pump when he drained a7-foot par putt that ultimatelygot him into the playoff at BY CHUCK BURTON The Associated Press

Lucas Glover reacts after making par on the firstsudden-death playoff hole.

GOLF | WELLS FARGO CHAMPIONSHIP

Glover outlasts ByrdBY ALAN BLONDIN

[email protected]➤ Notebook: Sabbatini rallies

➤ Scores

Page 3B

Player tops former Clemsonteammate on playoff hole

See GLOVER | Page 3B

SPOT SPORTS STORYSPOT SPORTS STORYDaily Over 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Post and CourierTommy BraswellCougars Shoot Down Flyers

BY TOMMY [email protected]

Before the College of Charleston found out the identity of its first-round opponent in the National Invitation Tournament, freshman forward Trent Wiedeman said the Cougars could beat anybody because they had Andrew Goudelock on their team.

Goudelock, the school’s career scoring leader, set his personal single-game scoring record as well as the school’s NCAA Division I single-game mark with 39 points to lead the College of Charleston to a 94-84 victory over defending champion Dayton on Tuesday night before 4,717 at Carolina First Arena. He also became the 62nd player in NCAA Division I history to reach 2,500 points for his career. Goudelock has now scored 2,527.

The Cougars (25-10) will face Cleveland State in the second round, but the date and location will not be announced until sometime this morning, an NIT off icial said. Second-round games will be played between March 18-21.

Dayton, which lost in the final of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament championship, finished at 22-14. The Flyers beat North Carolina to win last year’s NIT.

Charleston did not score its first 3-point basket unti l Antwaine Wiggins nailed a shot from the top of the key to give the Cougars their first lead at 17-16. That bucket ignited the Cougars, who hit eight of their next 10 attempts from beyond the 3-point line and charged out to a 16-point lead.

CYAN-AOOO MAGENTA-OAOO YELLOW-OOAO BLACK 012908

PHOTOS AND VIDEO

For photos and postgame interviews from Tuesday night’s NIT game, go to postandcourier.com/

multimedia.

Next Game

WHO: College of Charleston (25-10)

vs. Cleveland State (27-8)

WHEN/WHERE: TBA

TV: TBA

INSIDE: Coastal falls in NIT, 3C; UNCA wins NCAA opener in OT, 3C; NCAA men’s tournament bracket, 4C

NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT: COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 94, DAYTON 84

GENE SAPAKOFF

Release the NIT hounds

Some National Invitation Tournament teams arrive upset with their lesser March

Madness bracket and are upset in the first round.

Others, like the College of Charleston this year and Dayton last year, come determined to make viewers across our scenic nation stop clicking the remote and show some respect.

The Cougars, with a 94-84 victory over the frequent Flyers on Tuesday night at Carolina First Arena, made a bold statement: Hey, let’s party ’til April.

They showed up smiling, Andrew Goudelock scored a school NCAA-record 39 points and a near-sellout crowd loved the show.

“It was a wonderful night,” head coach Bobby Cremins said. “Great atmosphere. Great crowd. Great opponent.”

Yes, what a cool scene at The House John Kresse Built, where grownups snapped up the expensive tickets and students took advantage of the $4 option.

Goudelock’s classmates celebrated and serenaded, chanting “N-B-A! N-B-A!” in the final minutes.

“The fans were just great. I love this atmosphere, this program, this city,” Goudelock said. “They’ve done so much for me. I just embrace those guys. They’re like my family, everybody around here. It was great to hear that. But we have unfinished business, so I’ll worry about that later.”

MARY ANN CHASTAIN/AP

Suspended South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia will return to practice next Tuesday.

USC ‘rises’ to postseason for 1st time under StaleyBY TRAVIS [email protected]

COLUMBIA — Scores of college and professional basketball teams around the country come up with catchy slogans each year to help sell tickets — and, really, their team.

In Dawn Staley’s third season at South Carolina, the Gamecocks’ marketing motto was “We Rise.” Seems to f it , considering USC managed to reach the postseason for the first time in Staley’s coaching tenure here despite a number of

defections and bouts with adversity.The Gamecocks (17-14) begin

play today in the 64-team Women’s National Invitation Tournament against Appalachian State (25-6). Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Colonial Life Arena.

“We’ve had people leave the program. We’ve had people step away. We’ve had a number of things happen to us this year,” Staley said. “I’m very happy our team stuck together and have an opportunity to play.

Gamecocks QB Garcia to serve 1-week suspensionCoach Spurrier suspends senior for ‘some violation of team rules’BY TRAVIS HANEY

[email protected]

COLUMBIA — One day of spring football in the books, and South Carolina’s quarterback discussion is already red hot.

Sophomore Connor Shaw will be the team’s No. 1 QB for the next few days while veteran starter and fifth-year senior Stephen Garcia serves a

suspension for, according to coach Steve Spurrier, “some violation of team rules.”

Along with sophomore quarterback Andrew Clifford, Garcia is expected to return to practice next Tuesday.

Sophomore cornerback Victor Hampton missed practice to attend to an academic matter. Hampton should return Thursday, Spurrier said.

The coach didn’t expound on the details about the quarterbacks, but multiple sources said Garcia and

SOUTH CAROLINA FOOTBALL WOMEN’S NIT

Cougars Shoot Down FlyersGoudelock pours in career-high 39 to power C of C to NIT 1st-round win

WADE SPEES/STAFF

College of Charleston guard Andrew Goudelock scored a career-high 39 points, including eight 3-pointers, in a 94-84 win over Dayton in the first round of the NIT on Tuesday night.

Please see USC, Page 5C Please see POSTSEASON, Page 5C

Please see COUGARS, Page 3CPlease see SAPAKOFF, Page 3C


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Post and CourierJeff HartsellBulldogs Recall Master Motivator

Contact: Malcolm DeWitt, [email protected]

SportsChal Port, who led the 1990 Citadel baseball team to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., amassed 641 victories as the Bulldogs’ head coach. He died Saturday at the age of 80.

FILE/WADE SPEES/STAFF

Bulldogs recall ‘master motivator’ Chal Port led Citadel to 1990 College World SeriesBY JEFF [email protected]

The bus had just arrived on The Citadel campus from Miami, where the Bulldogs had shocked the college baseball world by advancing to the 1990 College World Series.

As Citadel players staggered into the locker room after spending all night on the bus, they were greeted by the words coach Chal Port scrawled on the blackboard:

“Don’t take the World Serious.”It was typical of the crusty Port, a

pithy reminder to keep things in per-spective and to enjoy the ride. Gettys Glaze, a pitcher on that team and now a successful Charleston busi-nessman, remembers those words

when times get tough.“That was his attitude,” Glaze said.

“He was saying to us, ‘Enjoy the time you are here. If you take the world serious, it will probably get to you.”

Port, who won 641 games during 27 seasons as The Citadel’s baseball coach, died early Saturday morning at the age of 80 after an extended illness.

He led Citadel teams to five NCAA tournament appearances and seven Southern Conference champion-ships, and capped his career with a stunning run to the College World Series in 1990.

Chal Port: 1931-2011

WHO: The Citadel baseball coach,

1965-1991

RECORD: 641-386-2 in 27 seasons

SOCON TITLES: 7NCAA TOURNAMENTS: 5COLLEGE WORLD SERIES: 1990

INSIDE Battery fall in overtime

to Orlando, 6C

Please see PORT, Page 4C

POSTANDCOURIER.COM Sunday , August 21 , 2011 C


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Greenville NewsScott KeelerState Championship Bittersweet for J.L. Mann

SPORTS ENTERPRISE REPORTINGSPORTS ENTERPRISE REPORTINGDaily Under 20,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEIndex-JournalBen BreinerPlaying Safe a Cool Thing

By BEN [email protected]

In South Carolina, the hallmark of sum-mer is a special kind of heat.

It’s that smothering, thick, muggy air that envelops anyone who walks outside and drives the never-ending

parade of days that top out at more than 90 degrees. Most people try to stay inside for long stretches, drawn to the familiar hum of an air conditioner.

Brian Bishop and the student-athletes whose care he is entrusted with do not have that luxury.

Bishop is Emerald High School’s ath-letic trainer, and as a number of Emerald teams’ summer workouts approach, he has to prepare athletes for training during the hotter months. In this arena, football takes center stage, as teams will lift, condition and compete in 7-on-7 leagues for the next two months before starting August camps.

Football can also be one of the more dan-gerous sports, because of the heavy pads and helmets that come on once August arrives.

“When the air temperature is above 90, you start really looking hard at the humidity with it,” Bishop said. “If the air temperature is over 90 and your humidity is over 50 percent, then it’s time to use caution.

“If the air temperature’s over 100, you just need to shut it down and move your practice inside.”

Different Lakelands teams threw out differ-ent numbers, but most used the heat index, a measure combining temperature and humid-ity, to determine adjustments in practices.

Bishop and Andrew Petersen, Greenwood’s athletic trainer, agreed the first key to com-batting the heat is continually replenishing fluids.

Gone are the days when coaches discour-aged getting water during practice and saw

PLAYING SAFE A COOL THINGCoaches, trainers work to ensure summer practices aren’t dangerous

Signs of heat stroke, exhaustionYou might have heat exhaustion if you exhibit any of the following symptoms:

Confusion Dark-colored urine (which indicates

dehydration) Dizziness Fainting Fatigue Headache Muscle cramps Nausea Pale skin Profuse sweating Rapid heartbeat

You might be getting heat stroke if you exhibit any of the following symptoms:

Unconsciousness for longer than a few seconds

Convulsion (seizure) Signs of moderate to severe difficulty

breathing A rectal temperature over 104°F (40°C)

after exposure to a hot environmentConfusion, severe restlessness or

anxietyFast heart rateSweating that may be heavy or may

have stoppedSkin that may be red, hot, and dry, even

in the armpits Severe vomiting and diarrhea

SOURCE: WEBMD.COM

See COOL, page 4B

“These are student-athletes; the most important thing is their health.”

— Andrew Petersen,

GHS athletic trainer


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Times and DemocratBrian LinderMilitary Mission Has Clafl in Star’s Future in Doubt

T&D FILES

Eric Salley of Clafl in is the No. 3 scorer in the nation and No. 1 in the SIAC.

Military missionhas Clafl in star’sfuture in doubt

By BRIAN LINDERT&D Sports Editor

Eric Salley says he is AWOL.He fi gures the knock on the door will come. He counts

on having to answer for not reporting to his unit in Foun-tain Inn for a three-week training stint in Saudi Arabia, but he does not regret the decision.

A star senior shooting guard for the Clafl in Panthers, just a week ago Salley was the best player in the South-ern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, leading the league in scoring at 24.3 points per game. But trouble was brewing, and Salley could not fi nd a way out. Two months ago, the word came about the training in Saudi Arabia. Salley requested he be allowed to stay in Orange-burg, fi nish his personal-best season and graduate.

The National Guard, he says, would have none of it.“I talked to everybody I could,” Salley said. “But there

are only so many people you can talk to because of the chain of command.”

Salley had a decision to make. Report to Saudi Ara-bia and miss the fi nal weeks of his college career or stay with the Panthers. He chose to stay, but Sunday as the team boarded the bus to head to Stillman in Alabama for a Monday game, Salley was called off and left in Orangeburg. Now his future as a player at the school is uncertain.

“It’s hard,” Salley said. “You don’t want to make the wrong decision. In this situation, somebody has to be unhappy. They just put me in this situation.”

Left behindClafl in head coach Ron Woodard and Athletic Direc-

tor Timothy Autry say they believe Salley could play again, perhaps as soon as Saturday’s home game against Albany State.

“I can’t see us not letting him play,” Woodard said.

See SALLEY, B2


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Island PacketSam McDowell and Jeff KiddStrive, Team Line Blurred

SPORTS ENTERPRISE REPORTINGSPORTS ENTERPRISE REPORTINGDaily 20,000-50,000 & Over 50,000 Divisions Combined

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Post and CourierJeff HartsellHidden Killer

Hidden Killer

BY JEFF [email protected]

It was the middle of summer when Ja’Quayvin Smalls participated in his first — and what would be his last — workout with the Western Carolina football team.

Smalls, a defensive back from Wando High School, had report-ed to Western Carolina after two years at Georgia Military Col-lege. During the workout on July 8, 2009, a session that included weight-lifting and a series of

sprints, Smalls collapsed and lost consciousness.

He was pronounced dead at a hospital that night.

Four months later, an autopsy report revealed that Smalls died of complications from an enlarged heart, with sickle cell trait and exertion listed as contributing factors.

This year, his family filed a wrongful death suit against West-ern Carolina, alleging that the

Former Wando football player

Ja’Quayvin Smalls (right) died of sickle

cell trait while practicing with

his Western Carolina

teammates. The same ailment

felled 14-year-old Lamar High School football player TyQuan

Brantley (below).

Since 2000, 18 prep, collegefootball players have died

About sickle cell traitIf you have sickle cell trait, you have inherited the gene for sickle cell

disease. Sickle cell trait does not turn into sickle cell disease. If some-one has sickle cell trait and his partner has sickle cell trait, they may produce a child with sickle cell disease. There are about 2.5 million people in America with sickle cell trait.

About sickle cell diseaseSickle cell disease is an inherited disorder that affects red blood cells.

People with sickle cell disease have red blood cells that become hard and pointed instead of soft and round. Sickle cells cause anemia, pain and many other problems. More than 70,000 people in the U.S. have sickle cell disease.

SICKLE-SHAPEDBLOOD CELLContains abnormal hemoglobin that causes the cell’s sickle shape.

NORMAL REDBLOOD CELLRound-shaped cell that contains hemoglobin, an iron-rich protein that carries oxygen from the lungs to other parts of the body and gives blood its reddish color.

Comparing cells

How can sickle cell trait kill?Under duress, normally round red blood cells can become sickle-shaped.

NORMAL RED BLOOD CELLSRound-shaped, move freely through blood vessels.

While young black men die, debate continues on testing for sickle cell trait

Please see TRAIT, Page 10A

FLORENCE MORNING NEWS, TYRONE WALKER/STAFF


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Post and CourierJeff HartsellHead Games

HEAD GAMES

BY JEFF [email protected]

On a recent Saturday morning, 15-

year-old Eric Wagenlander woke with a

question for his parents.

What, he wanted to know, was a hospi-

tal bracelet doing on his wrist?

“I immediately started crying,” re-

called his mother, Fannie Wagenlander

of Mount Pleasant. “We knew that our

boy was back.”

E i h t W d Hi h

Athletes and their families deal with impact of concussions, which are on rise in young players and can be very serious

ALAN HAWES/STAFF

Wando High School varsity basketball player Eric Wagenlander (right), sidelined with a head injury, encourages teammate Elijah Legreev before a game Friday night.

Return to play

Doctors recommend that athletes who suffer concussions follow these steps before returning to play, with the athlete showing no symptoms after each step:

Complete physical and cognitive restLight aerobic exerciseSport-specific exerciseNon-contact training drillsFull contact practiceReturn to play

◗◗◗◗◗◗


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe StateAndrew ShainBusiness is good for USC

boost in upcoming years ifbroadcast rights fall or anychange occurs.

“A day of reckoning is com-ing,” he said.

The growing revenues —much of it from TV rights — is

setting offcompetitionespecially incoaches sala-ries, saidCharles Clot-felter, a Dukepublic policyprofessorand author of“Big-TimeSports inAmericanUniversi-ties.”

From1986-2010,professorsalaries rose32 percentwhile univer-sity presi-dent pay rose90 percent,Clotfeltersaid. Pay-checks forhead football

coaches skyrocketed by 650percent in the same timespan.

Spurrier recently receiveda raise well over 50 percentduring the next threeseasons.

“Describing this as anarms race is pretty accurate,”Clotfelter said. “With thatkind of escalation, you say, ‘Itcan’t go on this way.’ ”

Spiraling costs have led totalk about how to help themajority of schools that mustsubsidize their athletics pro-grams.

“I’m hearing more calls forreform, but I’m not seeingmuch done right now,” Ved-der said. Changes could

athletics department re-ceives each year in studentfees. Without the $178 yearlystudent fee, USC would havelost $2 million in 2008 and2009 combined, rather thanposting a $2 million profit.

Still,South Caro-lina’s annu-al take instudent feesis well be-low theaverage ofall schoolsthat acceptthem,which was$5 millionin 2009, ac-cording torecordscompiled byESPN.

SouthCarolinastudents donot pay fortickets tosportsevents.They use $4millionworth oftickets per year, said Jeff Tal-lant, chief financial officerfor the athletics department.

And unlike most Division Ischools, South Carolina doesnot take any money from theuniversity’s general funds topay for athletics. UNLV ledthe nation by taking morethan $19 million in aid fromuniversity coffers. The aver-age was nearly $4 million, ac-cording to the ESPN records.

NOT SUSTAINABLEThe escalating costs in in-

tercollegiate athletics are notsustainable, Nichols said.Even athletics departmentsdoing well now, such asSouth Carolina, could need a

“There are storm clouds onthe horizon for intercolle-giate athletics,” said JohnNichols, a Penn State com-munications professor whoco-chairs the Coalition on In-tercollegiate Athletics, an al-liance of faculty senates.“This undermines the truepurpose of the university.”

But considering its fiscalstanding, “South Carolina isin a better position than mostuniversities when the stormhits,” Nichols said.

Hyman sees the economyas a threat, but signs point toimprovement. Still, footballticket sales dropped in 2009after the university started anew pricing plan in the midstof the worst economic down-turn since the Great Depres-sion. They also have fallenfor the basketball team. Tick-et sales appear to have aboutstayed the same in 2010-11,department officials said.

Anyone can point to scoresof potential obstacles thatcould derail growth, but Hy-man sees nothing imminent.His business, he knows, isdifferent.

“Our work is peoples’ pas-sion,” he said.

WHO PAYS THE BILLSTraditionally, football and

men’s basketball fund othersports at colleges.

Even in its national cham-pionship season, the USCbaseball team lost $300,000.The 16 sports outside footballand men’s basketball lost $14million in 2009-10, led by thewomen’s basketball shortfallof $2.3 million. Other admin-istrative, marketing and per-sonnel costs account for therest of expenses.

“Sometimes people thinkwe drive in a Wells Fargotruck down here and wedon’t,” Hyman said. “That’sthe cost of doing business.”

But those non-revenueprograms do not benefit fromthe new SEC network con-tract that gives each schoolan extra $6 million a year.That money is doled out tothe football and basketballteams, which has more thanmade up for the decline inticket sales.

“The SEC is to athleticswhat the Ivy League is to aca-demics,” said Richard Ved-der, an Ohio University eco-nomics professor who di-rects the Center for CollegeAffordability andProductivity.

South Carolina also hasworked better deals for uni-form and local broadcastrights and started chargingfor parking at football.

“Most schools lose moneyand lose money by the buck-etful,” Nichols said.

What makes the differencefor USC is the $2 million the

come in five to 10 years asmore schools continue toreach deeper in their pocketsto pay for athletics, he said.

Hyman said he knows ofnothing imminent that couldhurt USC’s bottom line, andhe says the programs’ recentsuccesses bring other valueto the university.

The school got millions ofdollars in free publicity frombeating top-ranked Alabama— an estimated $6 millionworth of ads — and the run-up to the SEC Championshipgame — valued at $21 mil-lion.

And the exposure attractsmore students. TCU’s recentgood run in football has in-creased applications fivefoldover the past decade, Hymansaid.

“It’s all part of the equa-tion,” he said.

GOOD STEWARDSWhen Hyman arrived in

Columbia from TCU in thesummer of 2005, the depart-ment was coming off a $2 million deficit and head-ing into another.

“We were hemorrhaging fi-nancially,” Hyman said.

USC started using zero-based budgeting, where ev-ery cost must be justified.

“We wanted to work withthe coaches, but we didn’thave a lot of financial flexibil-ity back then,” Hyman said.

About 30 percent of theathletics department budgetcomes from contributions tothe Gamecock Club, gifts andspecial seat fees.

“We have to be good stew-ards of other peoples’ mon-ey,” Hyman said. “We havetried to get that embeddedwith people in the athleticsdepartment.”

That has helped eliminatea deficit and allowed theschool to work on more than$40 million in projects overthe past five years, including:upgrading suites and train-ing rooms and performingstructural improvements atWilliams-Brice Stadium, out-fitting the new baseball stadi-um and buying scoreboards;and building the new stu-dent-athlete academic cen-ter.

Future plans include a newadministration/coachesbuilding and softball field.

The goal is making theGamecocks more competi-tive in the SEC, Hyman said.While the football team’sprofit ranked 11th nationally,it placed seventh in theconference.

“We have been selling itand now people are going toask us, ‘Where’s the beef?’ ”Hyman said. “We’re not sit-ting on the money. … Youhave to put a good productout there. That’s thebusiness.”

Reach Shain at (803) 771-8619.

USC’S BOTTOM LINEThe balance sheets of USC’s three major programs

and the athletics department the past five seasons:

FOOTBALLYear Revenue Expenses Profit/Loss2009-10 $57.1 million $22.8 million $34.3 million2008-09 $55.7 million $20.5 million $35.2 million2007-08 $47.4 million $14.3 million $33.1 million2006-07 $42.3 million $14.7 million $27.6 million2005-06 $36.2 million $13.2 million $23 million

MEN’S BASKETBALLYear Revenue Expenses Profit/Loss2009-10 $9.8 million $4 million $5.8 million2008-09 $8.9 million $5.2 million $3.7 million2007-08 $8.7 million $4.9 million $3.8 million2006-07 $8.4 million $3.8 million $4.6 million2005-06 $8 million $3.8 million $4.2 million

BASEBALLYear Revenue Expenses Profit/Loss2009-10 $3.1 million $3.4 million ($300,000)2008-09 $2.5 million $5.9 million ($3.4 million)2007-08 $1.1 million $3.5 million ($2.4 million)2006-07 $1.3 million $1.5 million ($200,000)2005-06 $900,000 $2 million ($1.1 million)

DEPARTMENT TOTALYear Revenue Expenses Profit/Loss2009-10 $79.9 million $78.3 million $1.6 million2008-09 $76.1 million $75.6 million $500,0002007-08 $66.5 million $64.5 million $2 million2006-07 $60.5 million $57.1 million $3.4 million2005-06 $52.1 million $53.1 million ($1 million)SOURCE: USC Athletics Department

BIG SCOREThe country’s most profitable college football programs in

2009 plus other SEC schools and Clemson. Figures are inthe millions of dollars:School Revenue Expenses Profit1. Texas $93.9 $25.1 $68.8 2. Georgia $70.8 $18.3 $52.5 3. Penn State $70.2 $19.8 $50.4 4. Michigan $63.2 $18.3 $44.9 5. Florida $68.7 $24.5 $44.2 6. LSU $68.8 $25.6 $43.2 7. Alabama $71.9 $31.1 $40.8 8. Tennessee $56.6 $17.4 $39.2 9. Auburn $66.2 $27.9 $38.3 10. Oklahoma $58.3 $20.1 $38.2 11. South Carolina $58.3 $22.8 $35.5 12. Notre Dame $64.2 $29.5 $34.7 13. Nebraska $49.9 $17.8 $32.1 14. Ohio State $63.8 $31.8 $32 15. Iowa $45.9 $18.5 $27.4 17. Arkansas $48.5 $22 $26.5 19. Kentucky $31.9 $13.9 $18 22. Mississippi $28.4 $11.9 $16.5 27. Clemson $31 $16.3 $14.7 38. Vanderbilt $22.5 $14.1 $8.4 54. Mississippi State $14.5 $9.9 $4.6 SOURCE: U.S. Department of EducationNOTE: The calculations USC must use for the Department ofEducation reports differ slightly than its own budget.

THE PLAYBOOKHow the USC football team scored $34.3 million in

profit during the 2009 season:Category AmountREVENUETicket sales $16.1 millionGuarantees $200,000Contributions/seat licneses $20.5 millionCompensation from third parties $1.8 millionNCAA/SEC broadcast/bowl distributions $13.6 millionLocal broadcast rights $1.4 millionPrograms/concessions/souvenirs/parking $2 millionRoyalties/licensing/ads/sponsorships $1.5 millionTotal revenue $57.1 millionEXPENSESScholarships $3 millionGuarantees $1.3 millionCoaches salaries/bonuses $2.7 millionCoaches salaries/3rd-party bonuses $1.8 millionSupport staff $960,000Recruiting $270,000Travel $1.1 millionEquipment/uniforms $870,000Game expenses $3.2 millionMarketing/promotion $240,000Maintenance/rentals $6.75 millionMedical expenses $170,000Other $430,000Total expenses $22.8 millionProfit $34.3 millionSOURCE: USC Athletics Department

USCFROM PAGE C1

USC baseball’s run to the national title narrowedthe revenue gap for Ray Tanner’s program.

FILE PHOTOGRAPH/THE STATE

“Describing this asan arms race is

pretty accurate. Withthat kind of

escalation, you say,‘It can’t go on this

way.’ ”Charles Clotfelter

Duke professor on theexplosion in college

coaches salaries

WWW.THESTATE.COM ● THE STATE, COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA ● SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2011 C7THE BUSINESS OF USC ATHLETICS

USC players celebrate with fans after their 35-21 victory against Alabama last season. Revenue from a soldout crowd in that and six other home games allowed USC’s football program to make over $35 million last year, according to the U.S. Department of Education.


C O L U M B I A � S O U T H C A R O L I N A

SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2011 � WWW.THESTATE.COM � SECTION C

SUNDAYSPORTSNBA: CELTICS COUNTING ON COLUMBIA’SJERMAINE O’NEAL AGAINST MIAMI C5

USC athletics director EricHyman likes to say he runs abusiness. And the Game-cocks sports business is do-ing very well in recent years.

The football team’s profitsreached $34.3 million in 2009— up $11.2 million from fourseasons earlier, according toschool data. The earningsfrom Steve Spurrier’s squadranked 11th in the nation.

Meanwhile, the South Car-olina men’s basketball pro-gram profits rose 37 percentover four years to $5.8 mil-lion in 2008-09 — ranking29th in the country.

Growth in those money-making programs, alongwith some cost controls, hashelped turn a six-figure, de-

partment-wide deficit into amillion-dollar profit, makingUSC one of a handful ofschools nationwide in theblack.

But can the boom last?Experts say college athlet-

ics face a number of chal-lenges, such as talk aboutending tax-exempt status forbooster club donations andlawsuits seeking payment forstudent-athletes. And therecould be measures to levelthe playing field for the ma-jority of Division I schoolsthat transfer millions of dol-lars from university generalfunds used to pay for aca-demics to support sports.

USC ATHLETICS

Business isgood for USC

Last year’s on-fieldsuccess lends to

financial stability

By ANDREW [email protected]

INSIDEHow the football team made

$34.3 million, where USCranks nationally in footballrevenue and the athletics’

balance sheet, C7

USC’s athletics department was running deficitsbefore Eric Hyman took over as athletics director in

2005. Last year, USC made a million-dollar profit.


SEE USC PAGE C7

SPORTS FEATURE STORYSPORTS FEATURE STORYDaily Under 20,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEIndex-JournalCheng SioSpirit Man

By CHENG [email protected]

ABBEVILLE

It’s three hours before kickoff of Abbeville High School’s biggest regular-season football game of the 2011 season.

As usual, an old black man with a stubby white beard in his late 50s walks through the back entrance of Dennis Botts Field at Hite Stadium. Naturally, as with the ritual of every home game, he’s decked in Panthers gear.

On this sunny, mid-60 degree afternoon, the elderly man arrives sporting a red letterman’s jacket with the big Abbeville “A” stitched onto the left breast, sunglasses above the flap of his red Abbeville

baseball cap, black pants and black dress shoes. Around his neck is the key to his trailer home as well as a medal from last year’s state championship team.

No, the elderly man doesn’t roll in early to tailgate, nor does he try to claim the best seat in the house. He’s usu-ally there at around this time because he’s arguably the Abbeville Panthers’ big-gest fan.

“Fridays, we go eat at The Dutch (Oven Restau-rant) or whoever is fixing food for us, we come back and it’s maybe 4 ‘o’clock, he’s here,” running back

ABBEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL’S BIGGEST FAN

PHOTOS BY KELLY LAFFERTY | INDEX-JOURNAL

Setting out folding chairs Friday afternoon is one of Dee Hunter’s responsibilities before home games at Abbeville High School.

SPIRIT MAN

Michael Lee Hunter, known as Dee Hunter around Abbeville, is arguably the biggest fan of the Panthers.

Abbeville super fan Dee Hunter serves as Panthers’ unofficial athletic director

See SPIRIT, page 6A

“That’s just God working,” Doris Jean Hunter said. “And with everybody knowing him, that in itself is how he makes it.”“That’s just God working,” Doris Jean Hunter said. “And with everybody knowing him, that in itself is how he makes it.”


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEIndex-JournalCheng SioSurvivor’s Story

B

“He beat something a whole lot heck of a lot more important than football.” — Ware Shoals offensive line coach Mike Bridges

SAM O’KEEFE | INDEX-JOURNAL

Ware Shoals sophomore starting left tackle Nick McGee was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia when he was 4 years old. He went into remission about a month later and received treatments for the next three years.

By CHENG [email protected]

WARE SHOALS — Nick McGee remembers.He remembers receiving plenty of shots. He

remembers lying on his sickbed for months. And he remembers choosing to stay at the hos-pital because he was afraid to go home, know-ing the previous two times, he returned to the hospital days later.

But McGee also remembers fraternizing with nurses and playing video games. He also remembers the Clemson University football team and Greenville Braves visiting him.

And if McGee ever forgot his battle with acute lymphocytic leukemia, all he has to do is find the scrapbook his mother, Julie McGee, created to relive the memories.

“Now that I look back, it was kind of scary. But back then, I didn’t really realize what was going on,” said Nick McGee, a Ware Shoals High School sophomore varsity football player. “I had a little bit of a clue. I mean I didn’t know exactly the bad situation I was in, that I had can-

cer. But I knew I was really sick and that I didn’t feel good. But now, I pretty much know every-thing that’s in (the scrapbook) by heart because I looked at it a lot when I was little.”

Searching for answersWhen Nick McGee was 4 years old, Julie

McGee said her son liked to ride his bike, play with toy cars and was basically a good, normal boy.

But on one late October day 11 years ago, Nick McGee was no longer considered normal.

“We got up one Sunday morning … and he said he couldn’t walk,” the mother said. “I thought as a normal 4 year-old, he was just playing. I said, ‘That’s not funny. You need to get up.’ I picked him up off the floor and set him on his feet, and he fell again. So, he really couldn’t stand up.”

Throughout the day, Nick McGee suffered various ailments, most notably a fever. After watching his son struggle, Nick McGee’s father, Herman McGee, decided to take action.

“I figured it was something serious,” Herman

McGee said. “I didn’t want to play around.”First, the McGees visited their local physician

in Ware Shoals. But after a few tests and blood work, no answer was found.

Dissatisfied, the McGees traveled to an Anderson-area hospital with the assumption an institution with more resources should be able to yield the proper response. The McGees were right, sort of.

Julie McGee said they stayed in Anderson for a couple of days because doctors thought they had discovered an infection in her son’s hip known as an “old man’s disease.” More blood work was taken every day, and after about four days of tests, that hospital referred the McGees to one with the capabilities to diagnose their son’s problem.

“They finally came in there one day and gave us a paper and said, ‘We don’t like his blood work. We’re going to send you to Greenville to another doctor,’” Julie McGee said. “And of course, we said OK.”

SURVIVOR’S STORY11 years ago, Hornets’ McGee was in fight for his life

See SURVIVOR, page 3B


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Times and DemocratBrian LinderOne Heartbeat

The Times and Democrat

SPORTSFRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2010 / SECTION B

INSIDECollege football: B3NFL results: B6

One heartbeat


BAMBERG — Jake Davis’ brow quivered but the strength in his face never wavered.

No high-schooler should have to confront what Davis has, the death of a mother, but that is exactly what the se-nior linebacker was discuss-ing Wednesday on Willie Jef-fries Field just after his team finished practicing for today’s noon Class A state title game against Abbeville at Benedict’s Charlie W. Johnson Stadium.

During the spring, Davis would go home in the after-noons for an hour and tend to his mother, Janice Down-ing, who was ailing with a bad lung and heart. When he was done, he would gather his things and drive back to Bam-berg-Ehrhardt High School for football practice.

“He would get here late, dress in the parking lot,” B-E defensive coordinator Corey Crosby said. “And he would come out here and stretch by himself and get ready, but he was always here.”

Davis was with his team on a bus to a 7-on-7 exhibition at Woodland when his head coach, Kevin Crosby, got the call.

“They just told us, we had

Tragedy brought Bamberg-Ehrhardttogether on the road to title game

BRIAN LINDER/T&D

B-E linebacker Jake Davis, pictured during Wednesday’s practice at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium, is just one of several Red Raiders who have dealt with tragedy this season. Overcoming those tragedies helped bring the Red Raiders together en route to today’s state title game against Abbeville.

BRIAN LINDER/T&D

B-E’s Randon Sandifer prepares to throw a pass during his team’s practice at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium. Sandifer is a triple threat for the Red Raiders, excelling as a quarterback, punter and placekicker.

Sandifer could be B-E’s ‘X-Factor’By BRIAN LINDERT&D Sports Editor

BAMBERG — Hemingway was in despera-tion mode.

With just over three seconds to play in Fri-day night’s Lower State championship, and the score tied 14-14, the Tigers found them-selves looking out at Bamberg-Ehrhardt’s Ran-don Sandifer, swinging his leg back and forth, needing to hit just a 22-yard field goal to end the game.

The call was obvious. Ice the kicker. Call all three timeouts, hope the pressure mounts, the mind wanders and the man getting ready to send the ball toward the uprights rattles enough to throw his kick off course. It was all Heming-way could do and it didn’t matter.

Sandifer nailed the kick, giving B-E a 17-14 win, sending the team and town into an emo-tional celebration.

“I knew they were going to try to ice me,” Sandifer said. “I really wasn’t looking forward to kicking it until they called their three time-outs. But, it really wasn’t much more than a chip shot.”

Not much more than a chip shot, and re-ally, not much pressure for Sandifer. After all, if there is a player on the Red Raiders that knows a thing or two about pressure it is Sandifer, who, as a star on the B-E baseball team — he was the 2010 T&D Region player of the year after hitting .452 with two home runs and 32 RBIs and going 5-2 on the mound with 33 strikeouts and a 2.33 ERA — has played in the past three Class A state

title baseball series, winning two.“We took that in stride the other night,”

Bamberg-Ehrhardt head coach Kevin Crosby said. “Them trying to ice him, we were not wor-ried about that. He has been in those pressure situations, playing for three state titles.”

Crosby called Sandifer an “X-Factor,” a term that was illustrated during Wednesday’s prac-tice at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium. Near the end of practice, the Red Raiders moved into their field-goal team and, on his last kick, Sandifer drew chatter from his linemen when he nailed a 47-yard field goal that would have been good, likely, from 55.

“I think he is one of the best kickers in the state,” Crosby said. “We are trying to get some film out on him to some schools, and hopefully some schools will get him in because I think he can kick on the next level.

“We haven’t used him a lot this year,” he added. “But, we have actually been scoring. He kicked a couple last year. Against Barnwell, he kicked a 48-yarder, but we have been hold-ing him back because I think we kicked him out last year.”

Sandifer’s impact isn’t limited solely to place-kicking. Against the Tigers, he boomed a field-changing punt, and as a quarterback he threw the game-tying touchdown to Carl An-thony Williams.

“He handles all the kicking duties, and as our quarterback, he is a real dual-threat player for us,” Crosby said.

BRIAN LINDER/T&D

David Deleon, pictured, and the Bamberg-Ehrhardt defensive line will be tested today by the rushing attack of the Abbeville Panthers.

Red Raiders embracingunderdog role vs. Abbeville


Kevin Crosby has seen the film on Abbeville.

And, with that in mind, at Monday’s Class A state title press conference, the Bam-berg-Ehrhardt Red Raid-ers’ head coach offered up a prediction for today’s noon state title showdown be-tween his team and Abbev-ille at Benedict’s Charlie W. Johnson Stadium.

“They are a mirror image of us,” Crosby said. “So, this may be the quickest game in the state of South Carolina this week. Nobody is going to be throwing the ball.”

Crosby’s Red Raiders (13-0) can throw the ball if need be, quarterback Ran-don Sandifer (76-125 pass-ing, 1,460 yards, 18 TDs, 8 INTs) and wide receiver Carl Anthony Williams (37 receptions, 892 yards, 8 TDs) are a dangerous duo, but the team relies heavily on its rushing attack out of the “Wishbone.”

B-E standout tailback Demetrius Williams leads the way for an offense that is averaging 32 points per game with 1,975 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns, and O’Keefe Jones has 803 rushing yards and 10 touch-downs. Abbeville (12-1), also running out of the “Wish-bone,” counters with tail-back Ashton Heard (1,368 yards, 21 TDs) and fullback Quay Watt (1,157, 10 TDs).

The Panthers have thrown the ball just 39 times.

“They are coming right at us,” Crosby said. “They might throw it a couple of times, but they want to run the football. And, they run right at you. It’s noth-ing fancy, just hard-nosed,

Abbeville expectinga tough challenge


Abbeville head coach Jamie Nickles smiled when the ques-tion was asked.

Does he think that the drop from Class 2-A to 1-A made the road to a state title game — his team will play Bamberg-Eh-rhardt today at noon at Benedict’s Charlie W. Johnson Sta-dium — easier?

“There’s no easy road,” Nickles said. “If you would have been at our games, these last two especially, buddy, it’s been hard fought. And, this one is going to be tough as well. But, football is football.”

Abbeville (12-1) squeezed by Lamar, 20-12, Friday in the Upper State title game to advance to today’s game. Beyond that playoff game though, the road, in fact, does appear to have been an easy one for the Panthers.

Abbeville’s only loss came in its season opener, a 35-21 loss to Chester. But since, the Panthers have used their grind-it-out “Wishbone” featuring tailbacks Ashton Heard (1,368 yards, 21 TDs) and Shrine Bowler Quay Watt (1,157 yards, 10 TDs) running behind an offensive line that features North-South All-Star Colleton Lollis to mash opponents.

Calhoun County is a high-powered offensive ball club, featuring standout Shamier Jeffery, but the Panthers shut them out 24-0 in the second round. They opened the play-offs with a 56-7 win over Blacksburg. In their 13 games, Ab-

See TRAGEDY, B2

See UNKNOWN, B2 See UNDERDOG, B2 See ABBEVILLE, B2

SPORTS FEATURE STORYSPORTS FEATURE STORYDaily 20,000 - 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe HeraldDarin GanttLancaster Speedway: A “Regular Good Time”


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEHerald-JournalTodd ShanesyEvan on His Career Day

For a few seconds, Michael Harpe wasn’t thinking about his

mother. He was thinking only about that football spi-raling in his direction.

The Wofford College soph-omore tight end from Spar-tanburg High School caught the ball and turned toward the end zone Saturday to score the fi rst touchdown at any level of the game. And he still couldn’t think of his mom just yet. First, he had to concentrate on staying out to block for the extra point. Then, only then as he crossed the sideline, he looked for his mother in the stands at Gibbs Stadium.

“I saw her taking pic-

tures,” Harpe said. “That was pretty special.”

Karen Harpe was diag-nosed two months ago with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, cancer of the tissues in the immune system. She had a lump removed from her

neck. They told her it was nothing to worry about. But it was. Cancer has since been found to have spread throughout her body, infect-ing her spleen, lungs, pelvic area and even penetrating into bone marrow.

“It’s just a time when all you can do is pray,” Michael said. “That’s about all I’ve been doing.”

Later in that second quar-ter of the 47-14 win Satur-day against Virginia-Wise, Harpe caught the second touchdown of his career. His mother was soaking up every drop of the best game her son had ever played.

WOFFORD FOOTBALL

JOHN BYRUM/[email protected]

Wofford’s Michael Harpe can’t help but grin as he crosses the goal line for a touchdown Saturday in the Terriers’ 47-14 win over Virginia-Wise at Gibbs Stadium. Harpe scored two touchdowns on the day.

Even on his career day, Harpe focuses on mom

Todd ShanesyOn the Sidelines

◆ SEE SHANESY PAGE B3


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe HeraldJason ChisariBlindness Doesn’t Get in the Way

By Jason ChisariHerald correspondent

Perry Montuori, Sullivan MiddleSchool’s wrestling coach, understands theconcept of “feel” as it pertains to his sport.

Montuori often scrimmaged blind-folded at Madonna High School in Weir-ton, W.Va., to strengthen his ability todepend on senses other than sight.

So when seventh-grader Anna Milligansays she feels equal to her teammates andcompetition, Montuori believes it. Milli-gan became completely blind when shewas 3-years old after a failed cornea trans-plant surgery.

But underestimating her on the matcould be an opponent’s biggest mistake.Milligan, who has thrived under Montuo-ri’s direction, is not lacking for confidence.

“I am equal to everyone else,” Milligan

said. “I look small, I’m blind, I’m a girl,but surprise; I have your back on themat.”

Most opponents didn’t quite knowwhat to make of Milligan when she hit themat this past season. Standing at just over4 feet, the 13-year-old alternated betweenthe 100- and 105-pound weight classes inher first season, which she finished with a10-15 record.

Montuori has become a mentor toMilligan. He’s become a big fan of hers aswell.

“I made Anna autograph a picture ofherself for me, which she signed inBraille,” Montuori said. “I can’t wait toframe it and put it up in my office. Thatway whenever I feel down, I can see that

“I am equal to everyone else. I look small, I’m blind, I’m a girl, but surprise; I have your back on the mat.”

—Anna Milligan

Just try to stop her

Photo courtesy Cara StevensSullivan Middle wrestling coach Perry Montuori kneels beside seventh-grade wrestler Anna Milligan.

Determined Sullivan Middlestudent doesn’t let blindness getin way of her wrestling dreams

JASON CHISARI - Special to The HeraldAnna Milligan, center, is hugged by her father, Christian Stevens, and her mother,Cara Stevens. See MILLIGAN ● 2C

SPORTS FEATURE STORYSPORTS FEATURE STORYDaily Over 50,000 Division


Josh KendallGarcia’s Last Stand


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Post and CourierTravis HaneyBeating the odds

BY TRAVIS [email protected]

OMAHA, NEB. — As South Carolina celebrated another baseball national

championship, someone looked out of place as bodies crashed into one another to form the traditional dogpile on the TD Ameritrade Park playing field.

About five steps away from the growing heap of Gamecocks, a little boy, leaning forward with anticipation, wanted desperately to join in. He just was not quite sure how, considering his size relative to the others around him.

“I didn’t want to get smashed,” said Charlie Peters, a 13-year-old Omaha native who served as USC’s batboy for four of the team’s five College World Series games.

After moving a few steps forward, a couple back and then a few more forward, Peters eventually just went for it. He launched his 5-foot, 75-pound frame into the mountain of big-

ger baseball players, sticking the landing and joining the party.

“It was awesome,” Peters said. “I was sitting on top of (outfielder)

Evan Marzilli’s head.”In reality, even if he appeared

that way, Charlie Peters was not out of place. No, he had just as

much to celebrate, if not more, than the back-to-back NCAA champs.

First meetingIt was another cast of Gamecocks

that first met Charlie Peters in 2003. The common thread, of course, was coach Ray Tanner. Tanner was making his second trip to the College World Series — his second in as many years with the Gamecocks, actually.

Early in the tournament, the team scheduled a trip to Children’s Hospital in Omaha. That’s where they found Charlie, diagnosed earlier that year with Burkitt’s lymphoma.

He was struggling. He was weak. But he was happy to see the

SOUTH CAROLINA: BASEBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

ONLINEFor more USC baseball, go to postandcourier.com/cws.

GERRY MELENDEZ/THE STATE

Charlie Peters, a 13-year-old cancer survivor from Omaha, served as the Gamecocks’ batboy for four of South Carolina’s five CWS games.

Batboy an inspiration, comfort for Gamecocks

GERRY MELENDEZ/THE STATE

Charlie Peters (left) and USC coach Ray Tanner first met during the Gamecocks’ College World Series trip to Omaha in 2003.

Beating the odds

Please see BATBOY, Page 8C


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe StateAkilah Imani NelsonThe Wrestler

SPARTANBURG

W hen Jerry Bragg reunited withRhonda Clippard after 18years, he was a different fellow

than the one she had dated when she wasin eighth grade and he was a senior atBoiling Springs High. He had beenthrough two marriages and had threechildren.

It was the roofing contractor’s secondjob that took Clippard by surprise. WhenBragg, then 36, invited her to a wrestlingmatch on their first date, Clippard did notknow what to expect.

It took one match for her to understand.

Jerry Bragg is a 57-year-old grandfather who makes elaborate, wooden birdhouses and helps run Cherokee Dawgs restaurant in Chesnee with his wife, Rhonda. On Saturday nights, Bragg becomes Chief Jay Eagle, a well-known wrestler who competes with guys half his age.

He founded American Professional Wrestling in Spartanburg, where he trains prospective wrestlers.

THEWRESTLERFor more than three decades, Jerry Bragg has made fans cheer and

taught others how to wrestle professionally as “Chief Jay Eagle”

Young wrestling fans cheer for Chief Jay Eagle after a victory during a match in July against Tim Thomas. “I’ve pretty much been the good guy

all my life,” the chief said.

Story by AKILAH IMANI NELSONPhotographs by GERRY MELENDEZ

SEE WRESTLERS PAGE C6

SPORTS COLUMN WRITINGSPORTS COLUMN WRITINGDaily Under 20,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEIndex-JournalScott J. Bryan

No Dureal Elmore. No Jimmy Thackson. No Sammy Head. No Gavagio

Enwright.Abbeville’s version of the four

horsemen — forget War, Famine, Pestilence and Death — donned graduation caps and gowns June 5, ending a stretch of football success not many thought could be matched and causing heartache for a town longing for a state championship.

With those four offensive backs — Thackson was the quarterback, Elmore was a fullback, Head and

Enwright were running backs — Abbeville posted a 36-4 record in three years but failed to snap a decade-plus state championship drought.

Farewell to the horsemen, say hello to the cavalry.

With a 20-12 vic-tory over Lamar in the Class A, Divi-

sion I Upper State championship

game Friday, the Panthers reached their first state title game since 2002. And Abbeville advanced with far less star power than ever.

Doubters, detractors please move forward to the front of the line, Quay Watt owes you some thanks.

“We like being the underdog going into the game,” said Abbev-ille’s Shrine Bowl safety, who logs most of his snaps at fullback.

“We appreciate the people who downed us at the beginning. ... We let it motivate us.”

YOU KNOW YOU were one of them. Unless you’re a parent who believes in everything, a coach who remains confident or a fan with blinders, you knew Abbeville was going to be good. But state champi-onship good? Good enough to reach a state title game without possibly the most talented quartet in Abbev-ille history?

No way. Not possible. Not buying it.But the beauty of being young is

wide-eyed optimism, the belief

See BRYAN, page 2B

ASSOCIATE

EDITOR

SCOTT J. BRYAN

Cavalry achieves what four horsemen couldn’t

Greenwood High School’s football pro-gram looks a lot differ-

ent than it did 20 years ago, or 10 years ago, or really anytime in between.

For those who follow high school football and especially the Eagles, it’s easy to recite a roster that reads like a who’s who of football.

Want to delve back a few years? There’s Ben Coates.

Want to live in the present? Armanti Edwards.

Whether it’s NFL players or

college stars — former Eagle Sam Montgomery was starting at LSU before an injury, D.J. Swearinger is a regular in South Carolina’s lineup, Byron Best is play-ing at Toledo

ASSOCIATE

EDITOR

SCOTT J. BRYAN

Cathcart and the gang — boring but successful

See BRYAN, page 2B

It’s been a three-and-a-half years since Brian Neal, born and raised in Ninety Six, was dispatched from his

job as the Wildcats’ football coach.For those readers who didn’t follow

the saga — or those, like me, wishing to black out the entire, sordid period —

Neal’s contract was not renewed for a variety of reasons in December 2007. A contentious grievance hearing a month later resulted in the same 4-1 vote to remove Neal from his post, and months later, he left Ninety Six for a job in North Myrtle Beach.

For many, the story ended there. Neal was

gone, a new coach was hired and time moved on.

Neal, however, longed to return to the Lakelands. His family is from here. The lure and trappings of a beach are nothing compared to the comforts of a home-cooked meal and a lifetime’s worth of friends. That’s why, one supposes, Neal has applied for numerous jobs in the Lakelands.

On Monday evening, the McCormick County school board, based on the rec-ommendation of the district’s adminis-tration, hired Neal to serve as its football coach.

Thousands and thousands of words have been proffered on Neal, many from the keyboard that rests before me. Here’s five more: McCormick hired the right man.

THERE WERE NEVER two Brian Neals, but it seemed that way. First, there was the dedicated and involved coach. His career started in McCormick at Long Cane Academy, where he eventually won a state title in football. He returned to his hometown as an assistant coach at Edgefield Middle, before ascending the

coaching ranks and eventually serving as Ninety Six’s defensive coordinator and, for one tumultuous season, the head football coach.

Along the way, Neal coached wrestling, girls soccer, softball, basketball and even assisted with volleyball. By all accounts, he was a good teacher and a good role model.

The other Brian Neal wasn’t a differ-ent person. But Neal did, on occasion, surround himself with people who didn’t have children in their best interest. The loudest cheerleaders for Neal — through message boards and websites — were his downfall.

We’re all fallible. Nobody is perfect. Not you. Not me. Not Neal.

Neal readily admits he made mistakes. If he could turn back the hands of time, he’d probably do many things differently. And if he had become the head football coach one year later, he’d probably still be in Ninety Six.

What it boils down to is this: When serving as Ninety Six’s coach, he failed to

do the right thing all of the tHe paid a price. It cost him

coaching is much like a laddslip a few rungs and still clim

MONDAY’S MEETING sequent hire was a new startreturn to the head-coachingproverbial ladder.

The hire doesn’t come witversy. There are some who wMcCormick would hire a cofired just up the road. Therewho point to his record — 3son as the head coach — anbetter coach was available.

There are some who quesNeal can be the right fit.

“I was opposed to the indwas presented to us becausehe was a good fit for our comsaid McCormick school boaByron Thompson, the lone dMonday’s vote.

That’s a fair concern. Nealstint as Ninety Six’s coach diBut that one year shouldn’t enumerous good years beforeNeal was a valued communiand a jack-of-all-trades coac

Was it a controversial hirewas also the right hire. McCa football coach interested inthe long haul, somebody whstands how a winning progrconducted and somebody dtime to improving the footb

Yes, he comes with some bhe comes with three state chrings, too.

The latter is the part of NeMcCormick fans would be bremember.

Bryan is associate editor ofJournal. Contact him at 943-mail [email protected] in this column are writer only and do not represpaper’s opinion.

Time heals old wounds

Haley thanks Pittsfor his support

Last week, 36 members of the South Carolina House and Senate took a brave stand by supporting my request that the General Assembly return to Columbia and complete their work on government restructuring.

I would especially like to thank Rep.

real reform.Key to bringing true accountability and

transparency to our state government is the passage of the Department of Administra-tion bill. Restructuring our state’s critical support functions will modernize the func-tions of state government, enabling us to meet the new challenges of the 21st century.

We must have a state government that’s run like a business. If we are to prevail

ment that is more agile, moreand more responsive than thetoday.

I will continue to insist the Assembly pass the Departmeistration bill before they leave again. South Carolinians desegovernment, and they shouldwait another year for it.

Working together, we can m

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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ASSOCIATE EDITOR

SCOTT J. BRYAN


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEIndex-JournalScott Chancey I

’ve seen this before.Living in Georgia all my

life before moving here in April, I witnessed how politics can interfere with high school athletics.

Not enhance, mind you. Simply interfere; sometimes for better, sometimes for

worse.Almost

11 years ago, Georgia’s then-speaker of the House became so incensed that his daughter’s public-school debate team lost to a pri-vate school in h ll

See Merrill’s crusade against

SCHSL for what it is

SCOTT

CHANCEY

SPORTSLOUNGE

There was an excitement in George Williams’ voice.

It had not been an hour since Greenwood High School’s volleyball team com-pleted a season sweep against crosstown Emerald earlier this month. Yet Williams, an

assistant vol-leyball coach for the Eagles the past 11 years, could not contain himself.

“You learn to appreci-ate the good moments,” he said.

Williams has learned to do that more

than you will ever know.S di t f hi ti

SCOTT

CHANCEY

SPORTSLOUNGE

Assistant stands tall,motivates athletes


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Island PacketJustin Jarrett

SPORTS COLUMN WRITINGSPORTS COLUMN WRITINGDaily 20,000 - 50,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe HeraldBarry Byers

By Barry [email protected]

Mike Kersey passed away Tuesday after-noon from injuries he suffered in an ATVaccident over the weekend.

Kersey was a competitor; strived for ex-cellence no matter what he was doing. Hetook over the wrestling team at Indian Landand quickly built it into one of the best inClass A.

He was a devoted family man, survivedby his wife and three young children.

Word of Kersey’s passing spread quicklyand the loss had an impact on not only theIndian Land community, but on coaches inthe area.

The following are comments from localwrestling coaches about their fallen col-league and friend:

■ DAVID SPENCER, YORK: My rela-

tionship with Coach Kersey began in 2005,my first year coaching wrestling. He im-pressed me the first time we met; not justwith the fact that his team was full of someof the toughest, most technical wrestlersthat I had seen, but be-cause he came up to talkto me, the new coach, in agym full of proven, suc-cessful leaders and egos alot larger than the trophiesthat the kids were wres-tling for.

We talked about what itwas like trying to change aprogram and build it intosomething great, which iswhat he did at Indian Land. As our careersprogressed, our talks began to change. Webecame closer as we both worked toward a

master’s degree from the University ofSouth Carolina.

He spoke often of his family, and alwaysshowed great concern for mine. After thebirth of our first child, he was one of thefirst to call and congratulate my wife andme, and after that, wrestling was always adistant second in our conversations. Hebragged about his kids and showed me pic-tures of his son standing in the refrigeratorlooking for something to eat. “Definitelynot ready for the mat yet!” He laughed. Heloved his family.

He walked away from the sport in orderto “coach” and teach his own children for a

change, but his drive to make things andpeople better influenced him to start an af-ter school program for all youth in an effortto battle youth obesity. Coach Kersey wasjust that; always a coach. Always trying tomake people and things better, and wheth-er he knew it or not, he made me better.Mike will be missed by many, but his lega-cy will continue on through the wrestlingprogram that he worked so hard to build,through the countless numbers of childrenthat he influenced everyday and throughhis family that always was his greatest ac-complishment.

■ CHRIS BROCK, FORT MILL: It’sjust tragic, and I feel for his wife and thosethree young children. It almost seems un-fair how quickly life can change.

I think probably most of us, at life’s end,would hope that people would say that we

were a good person. I can say from myyears of knowing him that Mike was a goodman. He loved his family, school and wres-tlers.

I met Mike years ago at a local tourna-ment. At the time, I was coaching in RockHill and would always see him at tourna-ments and camps in the spring and sum-mer. He was always very complimentary ofmy wrestlers and looking for ways to makehis kids and program better. If I had to de-scribe Mike in one word, it would be“true.” He was a student of the sport andwas never too proud to ask for advice, as-sistance or help. That always impressedme about him. He was always seekingknowledge and opportunity to pass on tohis kids, and that never changed.

Area wrestling coaches reflect on Kersey’s legacy

Kersey

See KERSEY ● 4C

SEE ALSO

■ Kersey’s obituary ● 2B

The band was playing;cheerleaders cheering;fans standing and yelling;coaches jumping up and

down on the sidelines; hot dogsand drinks being sold and playerson the field butting heads andhoping the result would be a ‘W’in the left side of the standingscolumn.

Yes sir (or ma’am). It was an-other high school football Fridaynight and fans had come out indroves to watch their team play

another game. It’sa scene playedout at DistrictThree Stadiumnearly ever weekin the fall. I hearthe Rock Hillschool district isspringing to putup some morepowerful lights.Good. Sitting uphigh, that plasticgrass covering thefield looks very

dark because of the small blackrubber pellets that fill in the cracksbetween the fake grass.

Maybe when the new lights goup, the field will look more likegrass than victim of a small wild-fire gone wild.

No, it’s not really that bad, butbad enough. Personally, I’m all forsaving money and being able toplay in the rain, but only if there ismud. I don’t like the way the stufffeels. Don’t like how the littleblack whatevers (pebbles?) some-how jump into your shoes.

The previous was the mild rantof the week. The following is themain event.

Remember the first paragraph? None of that applied to District

Three Stadium heading into thefourth week of the season. North-western and Rock Hill share it,and so far both have been on theroad for three straight weeks. Wayback when the stadium was Mu-nicipal Stadium with concretebleachers on what is now thevisiting side, wood ones withsplinters begging for fans to sitdown and be speared on the ‘new’

home side, the south end zonewas all dirt because it was theinfield of the baseball stadium thetwo in-town schools were left todecide which would play on agiven night.

If a deal couldn’t be workedout, the one with home rights thatseason had first choice. And I’dguess and probably be correct,that team usually chose Friday.The other team had its choice ofThursday or Saturday, and again,the bet is most of the time Thurs-day was chosen.

True, scheduling is hard forNorthwestern and Rock Hill be-cause they are traditional powers.

But, and remember this, eachhas a Thursday night game laterthis season and both are home-heavy the rest of the way.

Just doesn’t seem fair and there

are fixes, regardless of how far-fetched they may seem.

First, do away with the playoffpoints system used by ClassAAAA for playoff purposes, butlet’s wait and go there in say,maybe Week 10. That would al-low more local games and likelymore flexibility for scheduling.

How about something that hasbeen buried away back to thetime Rock Hill’s third high school,South Pointe, was readying toopen in 2005. The Stallions gottheir own stadium, smaller thanD3, but very nice. It was not to becalled South Pointe Stadium, notStallions Stadium, but would becalled District Three South Stadi-um. It was said back then that thestadium belonged to all threeschools. That if a big game was tobe played at District Three South

Stadium, it would be moved toD3, which holds close to 3,000more fans. Money, money, money... money.

It was said that if the existingtwo schools had home games thesame week, and South Pointe wason the road, the teams with sec-ond choice could play there.

When Northwestern openedthe season at South Pointe lastmonth, the stadium was packed.Fans were turned away, somewho had reportedly bought ad-vance tickets.

Seems like a South Pointe ver-sus Northwestern game wasplayed at D3 a few years backafter being scheduled as a Stal-lions’ home game. If so, it’s likelyto be the only time in six years it

HERALD FILE PHOTONorthwestern’s Josh Shelton cuts upfield between South Pointe’s Josh Massey (3) and Brandon Bechtlerduring the teams’ meeting earlier this season.

HighSchool

NotebookBarry Byers

No excuse for darkness

See BYERS ● 3C

Breaking news! York Com-prehensive High wasrecognized last week inColumbia during the State

AAA Principals-Athletic Directors’conference and presented the SCHigh School League Award ofExcellence for exemplary displayof sportsmanship, ethics and in-tegrity for Region 4 AAA.

Good job guys. Keep it up andwin it again next year.

You know there is more tosports than winning or losing; you

learn lessons thatwill help you laterin life. You learnthat no matterhow bad youwant to tear offthe head of youropponent, youcan’t do it. Butyou can get underhis or her skin asfar as rules allow.

Ah yes, therules issue.

Folks are talk-ing all over the county about whathappened after the South Pointe atRock Hill football game last Fridayat District Three Stadium. Therewas a ruckus (?), fight (?), brawl(?) on the field after the game.

Rock Hill coach Joe Montgom-ery said one of his players threwthe first punch. Two South Pointeplayers were seen on video throw-ing punches. A Rock Hill playerpicked up a loose South Pointehelmet and flung it over a crowd ata group of Stallions.

All four have been suspended.The coaches, Montgomery andSouth Pointe’s Strait Herron, havebeen told not to discuss who theplayers are or give details at thistime about how long they will besuspended. Picking the players outis a matter of subtraction. Two willnot be allowed on the field whenRock Hill plays host to Blythewoodon Thursday, same as at SouthPointe when the Stallions playSpartanburg on Friday.

It would be nice to know thenames, because maybe it woulddeter any of the four from doinganything that will get them in

trouble again. You can look backat two incidents at South Pointe inrecent years, and in both cases, theStallions players were caughtretaliating, two of the finest kidsyou’d want to meet.

Devin Wherry got tossed in agame against Clover.

Video showed a Blue Eaglesplayer trying to pull off Wherry’shelmet while another clawed hisface. Wherry, quiet and mild man-nered off the field, was one of thelast people you’d expect to getejected. He took it like a man, satout the next game and nevershowed a hint of anger on the fieldafter that.

Last year at Fairfield Central,South Pointe quarterback TayHinton was mauled on the Stal-lions’ sideline. But while he wasgetting up, he punched a player

who had done the same to him,which could be seen on video. Hesat out the rest of the game andDevin Pearson quarterbacked therest of the way. Hinton, a teamplayer with a quick, friendly smile,moved to wide receiver and was astarting defensive back.

He helped lead the Stallions tothe state championship game.

And why single out SouthPointe? Why not?

After Friday night’s postgamescrum, Herron said he’s tired ofhis school, his team and his play-ers being stereotyped as thugs.

He’s right. Every team has a bad seed or

two, but South Pointe can hardlybe described as a bunch of thugs.They are good kids, just like theones at other schools.

So what might happen?

The South Carolina High SchoolLeague has video from bothschools. The schools have writtenreports on what the administratorsand coaches saw on the videos.

My guess is that the four sus-pended players will miss a gameor two. Montgomery said onSaturday that if the high schoolleague felt other suspensions werewarranted, he will not questionthe decision and hand outadditional suspensions. Same forHerron.

Death penalty – meaning theschool will not finish the season?Absolutely not.

Probation – meaning the teamscan’t compete in the state play-offs? Surely not.

Restricted probation – the teams

MELISSA CHERRY - [email protected] Hill’s Jonathan Adams tries to slip through the tackles of South Pointe’s Josh Massey (3) and JeremyHopkins (61) as Dreon Gordon closes in.

HighSchool

NotebookBarry Byers

Don’t punish all the kids

See BYERS ● 2C

SPORTS COLUMN WRITINGSPORTS COLUMN WRITINGDaily 20,000 - 50,000 Division

SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEIndependent MailScott Adamson

Y ou needed to be wearing beer gog-gles to think the game was pretty.Even so, let’s allow the University

of Georgia’s teetotaler coach, MarkRicht, to raise a glass, drink deep andtaste the glory of his team’s beautifulvictory over Florida on Saturday.

And when the Bulldogs boss is done,he can continue the celebration by pour-ing its contents on the seat he occupies.

Ahhh … smell the smoke … listen tothe sizzle. Bid the flames a not-so-fondfarewell.

The fire is out now that Richt andGeorgia put Florida out its October mis-ery, topping the Gators 24-20 on Satur-day at Jacksonville’s EverBank Field.

In the latest must-win game in Richt’s11th year as Top Dawg, UGA somehow,some way got it done, sending WillMuschamp’s team to its fourth consecu-tive defeat and leaving the GainesvilleGridiron Gang oh-for-October.

It certainly didn’t look like therewould be any script-flipping early on.

Richt, the coach, was 2-8 againstFlorida coming into the game.

Georgia, the program, was 4-18 versusthe reptiles spanning its last three headcoaches.

And when UF jumped out to a 14-3lead — punctuated by a coast-to-coastkickoff return for a touchdown — well,you kinda figured where this one washeaded.

Instead, it didn’t head that way at all.In a battle that was truly painful to

watch at times — miscues, mistakesand misfires marred both teams— UGA just kept plugging

away.The Bulldogs survived horrid special

teams play and some asleep-at-the-wheeldefense.

They were even ableto make it through

a period inthe secondhalf where quarter-

back Aaron Murraycouldn’t hit a receiverto save his life (or sus-

tain a drive).None of that matters

right now.The Bulldogsbeat the

Gators,which is

always areasonto cele-brate

in Athens.And the fact that Saturday’s victory

moves Georgia to 6-2 overall and 5-1 inthe SEC makes it even better.

On a long day in what we once wereallowed to call “The World’s LargestCocktail Party,” Richt saved his job andGeorgia saved its season.

There’s even a chance the club couldsave its best for the last conferencegame on the season — the one played inthe Georgia Dome on Dec. 3.

Of course to reach all those lofty goalsthey’ll have to play much better thanthey did against Florida. And SouthCarolina will have to cooperate with asetback.

On Oct. 29, 2011, however, playing justgood enough to beat the Gators wasplenty good enough for Bulldog Nation.

Its citizens have earned the right toraise their glasses, drink deep and tastethe glory.

Scott Adamson can be reached at(864) 260-1237 or by e-mail [email protected].

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An ugly game was a thing of beauty for Georgia and Bulldog Nation

T he pros have put the lockout be-hind them and put on their Sundaybest as they get ready for a new sea-

son with a full slate of exhibition games.The colleges have already strapped on

the pads and endured two-a-days, mean-ing references to NCAA Football 2011 areno longer merely references to a videogame.

But tonight, in Anderson County andbeyond, the last real bastion of pure foot-ball is on display.

Before Week Zero (when the gamescount), high school players get to show offtheir talents in a festival-type atmosphereknown as a jamboree.

The scores won’t matter, nor will theoverall statistics — but there will be hardhits and even harder effort as startingspots are on the line.

One of the many great things aboutprep football, of course, is the playersthemselves.

The world has changed from an era

when it seemed like most kids wanted togo outside and play. Thanks to 24/7 televi-sion, Xboxes and Playstations, iPhonesand iPads, the path of least resistance isoften the path that never strays from akid’s room.

The young men you see tonight aren’tafraid of sacrificing an episode of one ofMTV’s latest offerings to sweat a little. Orsweat a lot.

The phrase “hard work and sacrifice,”has become one of the most overusedsports clichés in the world, but that does-n’t mean hard work and sacrifice nolonger matter.

They matter very much, and thesekids prove it every day.

And prep coaches always

have and always will have a special placein my heart.

They don’t earn $4 million a year, don’thave a shoe contract or book deal anddon’t make thousands of dollars a pop at

speaking engagements.They teach,

coach, cut grass, linethe field,show tough love whenthey have to and pro-

vide a shoulder to cryon when no one else

will.To them, recruiting in-

volves walking downthe halls and ask-

ing a kid tocome out for

the team.In a

prepcoach’sworld,

a lockout is easily solved; he just goes togate and unlocks it himself.

And yes, there are “bad” coaches outthere, those who don’t put the kids first.But the vast majority of the ones I’ve metare some of the hardest-working, mostunselfish people you’ll find. They careabout the health and well being of yourkids because your kids are their kids, too.

And you’ll meet a whole bunch of goodpeople who have made high school coach-ing their vocation in the Upstate andnorth Georgia.

So enjoy the season — tonight andevery night. Cheer loudly and don’t boo atall.

Only idiots boo kids.When the game is over thank the ath-

letes who played. Touchdown or fumble,big tackle or big mistake, they workedharder than anyone who sat in the stands.

And thank a coach, too.Teaching young people should never be

a thankless job.

Scott Adamson can be reachedat (864) 260-1237 or by e-mail [email protected].

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High school football presents the gridiron sport in its purest form

B eing a member of the National Col-legiate Athletic Association en-forcement staff is a difficult and of-

ten thankless job.Many sleepless nights are spent poring

over records of tattoo parlor transactions,and of course the folks in the home officeup in Indianapolis have to keep a close eyeon eBay to make sure a player isn’t sellinghis jersey.

And then when it comes time to launcha full-scale, all-out investigation into theshenanigans at a particular school, figur-ing out who to stick it to and who to letslide often comes down to the flip of thecoin. Heads it’s Ohio State, tails it’s South-ern Cal.

But really, the NCAA does its best work,I think, in how it handles secondary viola-tions.

All schools commit them, all schools re-port them and all schools must makethem public.

Clemson University released its list oftransgressions on Friday, and one act of

rule-breaking was particularly heinous.Its seems a student-athlete was travel-

ing to Clemson in order to make an unoffi-cial visit. Unfortunately, the athlete’s carbroke down 5.33 miles from campus. Notsix miles or five miles, mind you, but 5.33miles.

Aside from the inconvenience of hav-ing car trouble, the prospective Tiger hada 1-year old child in the car — a young ‘unwho really didn’t need to be stuck on theside of the road. So, the student-athletecontacted a director at Clemson and toldhim of the situation.

The director, realizing one false movecould result in probation and a loss ofscholarships — especially if he caughtthe NCAA in a bad mood — con-tacted the compliance office to

ask if there was a Good Samaritan’s wayout of this.

The kindly person on the other end ofthe line said that Clemson could, in fact,find a non-coaching staff employee andhave that employee drive 5.33 miles to

Pendleton and pick upboth the student-

athlete and baby-typeperson. Theemployee also hadthe authority to

drive the pair 5.33miles back to campus.

Still, the NCAA real-ized the student-athlete

must pay for allow-ing his car to

break downand causing

so muchtrouble.Hey, ifthesekids

don’t learn responsibility now, thenwhen?

To that end, the esteemed governingbody of collegiate athletics ruled that thecost of driving a total of 10.66 miles toreach to the player and toddler was $2.66.

In order to prevent the heavy hand ofthe NCAA law from dropping on theTigers, the student-athlete was requiredto pay back $2.66 to make things right.

Yep. Clemson gets a windfall of $2.66 be-cause the NCAA — which realizes most ofits athletes will be going pro in somethingother than sports — also realizes everypenny counts.

So even though current student-ath-letes are not allowed to be paid, prospec-tive student-athletes better be ready topay up if they have a child in the car,break down, and need a lift.

Too bad the kid couldn’t just donate themoney to charity. In that case, he could’vegiven it to the good folks at the NCAA.

They really need to buy themselves aclue.

Scott Adamson can be reached at(864) 260-1237 or by e-mail [email protected].

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$2.66 might not seem like much, but it really adds up for the NCAA

daily awards presentation - part 4 of 5

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