Weekly Awards Presentation - Part 3 of 4

HUMOR COLUMN WRITINGWeekly Under 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACEUnion County NewsGraham Williams

sfi

h

t

b

it

y

"There's a sucker born every minute"- P.T. Barnum

It began innocently enough.I was browsing my Facebook page when I ran

across a posting for Subway sandwichescoupons. Never one to turn down free food, Iclicked on it and was instructed to type "I loveSubway" on my Facebook wall. Next, I clicked

on the Subway icon, thinking Imight gain access to $100 worthof coupons for chicken, bacon,ranch sandwiches and otherfavorites. Instead, I found myselfstaring at a page full of promo-tions for Wal-Mart gift cards,insurance, on-line college degreesand the list went on and on.

I clicked on the return button,attempting to back out of thismaze of special offers, but theharder I tried, the worse thingsgot.

I can't recall exactly what I did to escape, butwithin minutes after doing so, my phone beganto alert me to incoming text messages.

"Want a Wal-Mart gift card? Text yes" wasthe first one. I texted no.

No sooner would I reply no to one offer,Another would appear. I spent several embar-rassing minutes at my desk, trying to stop thosebothersome messages while explaining to myco-workers why my phone was making somuch noise.

Just when I thought the problem was solved,the phone rang. It was someone calling to askme if I wanted insurance. They said they werereplying to my Internet request. I explained tothem that all I was trying to do was get acoupon for a Subway sandwich - that I wasn'tinterested in getting insurance. They acceptedmy explanation and hung up, but that wasn't theend of it.

I'll bet I've received at least one call a dayfrom someone asking me if I am interested inan online degree or insurance. It's really gettingon my nerves.

Just last week, I was driving throughSpartanburg when my phone rang.

“Graham Williams? I understand you areinterested in an online degree,” the caller said.

“No, I already have a degree,” I replied. “Ij t t i t t f f

I

B

GrahamWilliams

No such thing as a free lunch

H

Beep! Beep!Honk!Beep!The blare of car horns reverberates between

the glass windows that flank the entrance to ouroffice on Main Street. Patsy Eubanks turns and

looks back at me from her deskand grins; she knows how muchthe noise irritates me. It bothersher, too, but not as much as itdoes me.

Some of the horn blowing isnecessary -- people sometimesback out of their parking spaceswithout looking and oncomingtraffic has to alert them.

Occasionally, a vehicle's anti-theft alarm will be triggered andthe horn will honk and honk andhonk until the owner disables it.

Other times, however, people honk their hornsto get someone's attention -- either a pedestrianor another driver, in which case that personhonks their horn in return.

Beep! Beep!Honk!Beep!One recent Friday afternoon Patsy and I must

have heard about a dozen horns honk during afour-hour period.

You'll never hear my honking my car horn -- Ihad it disconnected earlier this year because itwouldn't stop blowing.

At first it was just a nuisance -- the hornwould blow with the slightest touch and I hadto hit it really hard to make it stop. Then itbegan blowing at all hours of the night, espe-cially when I was sound asleep.

I would run down the hall, race down thestairs and out the front door to the car beforeslamming my fist on the middle of the steeringwheel. By this time, every dog in the neighbor-hood was barking.

The final straw came last year when I was onvacation at Pawleys Island. The car was parkedbeneath the house, right below my bedroom.Around 3:30 a.m., those dual horns began blar-ing, snatching me out of a deep sleep. I ranthrough the house and out the front door,hopped down the front steps and danced acrossthe gravel to my car, hit the steering wheel andstopped the horn.

It was then I realized the door had lockedbehind me and I was wearing nothing by myb h t

h

ga

oNr

roottwTat

GrahamWilliams

Ask not for whomthe horn blows ...


SECOND PLACEThe Berkeley IndependentDan Brown

BY DAN BROWN

Ivisited a small town coun-try restaurant recentlyoffering rural Southern

fare. I noticed what looked tobe beef stew simmering in apot under the counter.

“What’s that?” I inquirewith a curious waggle of anindex finger, wanting toappear open minded in regardto the local cuisine as I wasnot a local and this was myfirst visit.

In fact, I was probably thefirst non-local to visit this fineestablishment sinceReconstruction, but I wasn’tgoing to let that stop me.

“Stone Stew,” the guybehind the counter says.

Interesting name.Looks like beef stew to me,

but who was I to arguesemantics? So I order up adouble heaping of StoneStew.

“You sure?” the guy behindthe counter asks with a sur-prised frown.

Which should have servedas my first warning, but mebeing of the obtuse disciplinedid not recognize his inquiryas such.

“You ever eat Stone Stewbefore?”

That should have served asmy second warning.

“Okay,” he says and ladleson two heaping spoonfuls ofthe Stone Stew. “Since this isyour first time I’ll give youlots.”

He chuckles a little.It’s the chuckle that you’d

hear following a good joke,only I didn’t tell any joke.

I’m thinking the stew looksa little thin as he pours it overthe rice, but hey, who am I toscoff at this establishment’sfine food? When in Rome,you know?

As I start to eat I notice thereare lots of eyes watching me.Perhaps it had been a whilesince they had seen a city boythis far out in the country. Ormaybe my fly was openagain. I check as discreetly aspossible and discover the flyoption is engaged.

I have no reason to doubt thetasty goodness of their StoneStew so I dig in.

That’s when I bite down onsomething hard.

My first thought, “Holycrud, they aren’t kidding.There are rocks in this stew.”

Very discreetly I wipe mymouth and spit the offendinggravel into my napkin. I takea peek.

There aren’t any stones, butinstead…

Vertebrae.I regard my plate and notice

lots more vertebrae, almost anentire spinal column of tinyvertebrae in fact.

Something in my stomachstarts tocurdle atthe thoughtthat I’meating thebackboneof a small-ish animal.I pokearound thebed of rice and notice somespinal column matter, bonemarrow, a little fat for flavor,and I calculate how fast I canrun out of here before theynotice I’m gone.

I can’t eat this. It’s back-bone.

“You enjoying your StoneStew, sugar?” the proprietorasks in the sweetest Southerngrandmamma tone of voiceimaginable.

For this woman I’d eatasphalt.

And I did. I ate it all. To behonest it didn’t taste bad.

“So, what’s in this StoneStew anyway?” I inquire as Isop up the last of the brothwith a biscuit. “I want to trythis recipe at home.”

Genuine surprise registerson the woman’s face, whichshould have served as mythird and final warning.

“Well,” she begins with anod that says, I did ask. “Thekey is to get fine quality pig-tail and to do that you need togo straight to the slaughter-house…”

I didn’t hear anymore afterthat.

I visualized the pigtail, andthen I remembered growingup and how I’m coming infrom a day playing outsideand my mom tells me to besure to wipe my feet on theback porch doormat.

Then I do the math …

Stone Stew

BY DAN BROWN

Iwouldn’t wish driving inDayton, Ohio on my worstenemy.

Talk about a recurring night-mare. There is lots of asphalt,lots of orange cones, lots oforange drums, retaining walls,dump trucks, shovels, front-endloaders and ODOT road work-ers standing around in the sum-mer sun, but nobody’s working.

Talking to Dayton residents,not much has happened on this10-mile stretch of Interstate 75for the past 30 years. Roadcrews have been working (ornot working) on widening thisstretch of I-75 since I movedfrom Indiana to Georgia back in1981 and they look no closer tobeing done now than they wereback then.

As traffic approaches down-town Dayton, a sign advises usthat the current three lanes inwhich we are driving wouldsplit off, with one lane veeringoff indiscriminately to the leftwhile the other two lanes headright. Not sure why we did that,other than maybe to give thepeople driving in the far leftlane a nice little tour of townwhile the rest of us languish onthe right side of the road.

Eventually we rejoin and arewelcomed with a pair of cautionsigns reading, “RIGHT LANEENDS,” and “NO EDGELINES.”

No edge what?What’s an edge line anyway?

And why aren’t there any?I soon find out what an edge

line isn’t as the three lanes of I-75 bottleneck into about a laneand a half and there is just acrooked white stripe designat-ing lane assignments.

And for fun ODOT threw in apair of high retaining walls oneach side to serve as de factoedge lines.

I have to pass through that?You got to be kidding. There’sno way.

That’s like handing me a pairof size 36-inch pants and say-ing, “Here, put these on.”

Not going to happen, at leastnot without the Jaws of Life.

The only way I fit through thatopening is minus a quarter

panel or two, a side view mirrorand definitely a coat of paint.

I just close my eyes and floorit.

The tractor-trailer next to meis so closethe driver issitting inmy frontpassengerseat.

Up aheadI see anoth-er cautionsign postedabove thehighway. It reads: WARNING:NEEDMORE ROAD exit?mile.

Now that’s the most intelli-gent thing I’ve read all day.

No kidding, they need moreroad.

I do, though, see a road belowthe fray. It’s called Third Street.It’s beautiful, like a mirage inthe desert almost, with widelanes, painted lines, landscapingand working stoplights. Itshows motorists what a realDayton, Ohio road should looklike. This road definitely hasedge lines.

It’s also closed.You can’t get there from here.I can hear the distant screams

of motorists begging to drive onthat road. It haunts us.

As I clear downtown DaytonI’m presented with a wonder-fully landscaped four-leafed-clover interchange intersectingwith I-70 that sends me into a400-degree turn. Afterwards, Iemerge pointed in the samedirection I had started.

For comparative purposes justspin around in a circle two orthree times and you’ll knowwhat I mean. Dizzy yet?

This is like NASCAR.Hey, if you’re going to

corkscrew me like the least youcan do is bank the turn.

As I leave the great state ofOhio 24 miles later I am pre-sented with a wonderfully sce-nic arch spanning the interstatewishing me safe travels and tocome back soon.

To me this arch screams, “Thereasons our roads stink isbecause we blew all our DOTmoney on this stupid archway.”

Figures.

Driving in Dayton

BY DAN BROWN

I remember watching theroiling gray clouds collideoverhead as storm systemsconverged over downtownAtlanta during the Braves’game on Father’s Day week-end.

My daughter made theremark that it reminded her ofthe movie Independence Day,when the gigantic alien shipsemerged from the cloudbanksto begin their invasion ofEarth.

That’s when it hit me. IfEarth is ever invaded, could wesurvive an alien attack?

As if.We’d be in some deep trou-

ble. Basically, toast.Aliens from outer space have

invaded Earth for years andthey didn’t travel all this wayto shop at Stuckey’s. Theycame to take over and youstand in their way.

The big question remains,how do we survive an alienattack?

The answer has evadedhumans since the War of theWorlds’ radio broadcast onOct. 30, 1938 that sent theworld into a frenzy, horrifiedthat a Martian invasion washappening right before theireyes – I mean, ears.

Nazi Germany stood poisedto invade Poland and startWorld War II and Americanswere freaking out overinvaders from Mars. See whywe are in need of some guide-lines here?

These basic rules will helpyou survive in the event of analien attack. Read them. Learnthem. Know them.

Rule Number 1: This is notE.T.

He is not cute. He is not atoy. And you are not namedElliott. He is an alien and hewill dine on your entrails forsure.

This is the Mutant Hordefrom the Ninth GalacticSwarm we’re talking abouthere not some Yoda lookingdwarf with a glow in the darkchest that says “E.T. phonehome,” when you pull thestring, on sale at Toys R Us for$29.99.

This foreign gnome will zapyou with his death ray at thefirst available opportunity, sograb that shovel and pitchforkand make like an angry mob.

Rule Number 2: If you seeswirling flashing lights outsideyour window in the middle ofthe night, do not peek between

the blinds to see. You will bevaporized into powder.

Those lights mask alienprobes and those alien probesare looking for something onwhich to complete theirassigned function in the inva-sion: TO PROBE.

Which means, you.They are the PROBERS. You

are the PROBEE.R u l e

Number 3:Do not…and I repeat… Do notget on thatrescue heli-copter.

I don’tcare howmany bonesare protruding from your leg.

No sooner than that chopperlifts off it will get shot out ofthe sky. It will blow up.Whoever was inside is nowtoast. Burnt toast.

Rule Number 4: Leave theexoskeleton alone.

Do not examine the exoskele-ton. Do not try to pry open theexoskeleton to get a peek at thewithered and dying little alieninside. Yes, he is butt-ugly. Ifhe weren’t would he be wear-ing an exoskeleton?

He will also rip out yourbrain at the stem if given thechance.

Rule Number 5: Who madeyou ambassador to the stars?

No one designated you asEarth’s personal welcomingcommittee so why would yoube the moron to approach thespaceship that just landed in thepark to welcome these strangersfrom afar in the name of peace?

Isn’t the swirling mist andstrange lights enough of a warn-ing? Did you not read and heedRule Number 2? You are mere-ly an opportunity to test theirdeath ray to see if it actuallyworks.

Alien Number One:Humanoid subject at threeo’clock.

Alien Number Two: What amoron. Shall we test the deathray?

Alien Number One: Weneed to if this invasion is goingto work. Fire up the dilitheumcrystals, Xorak.

You: We welcome you in thename of pea—

Death Ray: ZZZZZZZZZA-APPPPPPP!

You: Toast.Mutant Horde of the Ninth

Galactic Swarm: Let the inva-sion begin!

Surviving an alien attack


FIRST PLACELexington County Chronicle & The Dispatch NewsJim McGowan

A8 | Thursday, August 25, 2011

There are certain inci-dents that can only occur in specific places. If the State of California is mentioned the word, ‘weird’ comes immedi-ately to mind followed by a shrug that seems to mean, ‘What did you expect’. Say New Jersey and scenes from the TV program, “Sopranos” and heavily accented “Youse guys” remarks are mentally heard.

After you read the story below see if you can figure out where it occurred.

“Drummond’s Bar began construction on expansion of their building to increase their business.

In response, the local Baptist Church started a campaign to block the bar from expanding with peti-tions and prayers. Work pro-gressed right up until the week before the grand re-opening when a huge thun-derstorm came up, lightning struck the bar, and it burned to the ground.

“After the bar burning to the ground by a lightning strike, the church folks were rather smug in their out-look, bragging about “the power of prayer”, until the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the church “was ultimately re-sponsible for the demise of his building, either through direct or indirect actions or means.”

In its reply to the court, the church vehemently de-nied all responsibility or any connection to the building’s demise.

The judge read the plain-tiff’s complaint and the de-fendant’s reply, and at the opening hearing he com-mented “I don’t know how I’m going to decide this, but

it appears from the paperwork that we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an en-

tire church congregation that now does not.”

So what is your guess? You are right, it happened in Mt. Vernon, Texas.

You have to admire your residents of the Lone Star State. When it comes to out-landish, the Texans seemed to have cornered the mar-ket.

So let me leave you with a good Texas joke.

A Texas millionaire had fallen ill. The doctors con-sulted did not seem to un-derstand what ailed him. The millionaire let it be known that any doctor who could heal him could have whatever he desired. A country doctor was finally able to cure him, and as the doctor was leaving after a week’s stay, the Texan said, “Doc! I am a man of my word. You name it, and if it is humanly possible, I will get it for you.”

“‘Well,” said the doctor, “I love to play golf, so if I couldhave a matching set of golf clubs, that would be fine.”

With that, the physician left. The doctor did not hear from the Texan millionaire for some months. Then, one day, he got a phone call from the millionaire.

“Doc, I bet you thought that I had gone back on my word. I have your matching set of golf clubs. The rea-son it took so long is that two of them did not have swimming pools, and I did not think they were good enough for y’all. So I had pools installed and they’re ready for you now!”

An accident of geography?

JIM McGOWAN [email protected]

HARMONY COUNTY _|

HUMOR COLUMN WRITINGHUMOR COLUMN WRITINGWeekly Over 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Columbia Star

Mike Maddock

HUMOR COLUMN WRITINGWeekly Over 6,000 Division

SECOND PLACEThe Greer CitizenKrista Gibson

Shakira’s got noth-ing on me. “I’m on tonight. You know

my hips don’t lie,” she sang in her hit single of 2006. After assessing my measurements last week at the halfway point of my fitness program at Greer Athletic Club, my hips are an inch smaller.

I may not have Shakira’s moves, but it’s nice to feel a little room in my pants and dresses. There is less tugging going on and you might even catch me tuck-ing in my shirt once in a while. I also have smaller thighs and my percent-age of body fat has come down. My arms have definitely become more defined and muscular.

The scale continues to hover in the same range, but trainer Don Lowcav-age isn’t worried. I can’t say I’m worried either, but the girl in me would love to see lower numbers. It’s how us southern girls were raised even if the facts don’t back up our Bless Your Heart myth.

Let’s revisit my goals: toning up, working on my metabolic rate, and weight loss. Bottom line: getting into the best shape pos-sible. With that in mind, I set out on this journey.

Using high intensity workouts with a mix of weights and cardio, I’m on my way after only six weeks.

So far, as I’ve chronicled my workouts, I have yet to use the word Tabata. The exercises we do are named after Izumi Tabata of Japan, who created the process. The basic idea is to do an exercise for 20 seconds as hard as you can go, then rest for 10 seconds and start all over again.

When we do the planned circuit in After-burn, we usually go for five minutes completing two different exercises: for example push-ups for 20 seconds, 10 seconds of rest, then directly into reverse lunges for 20 seconds, 10 seconds rest. After five minutes, we rest for one minute and move to the next circuit. There are variations, but that is the premise. Each workout is started with a dynamic warm-up and followed by a metabolic boost, or as Lowcavage loves to say, a “bonus round”. The total session takes less than an hour, but your body continues to burn calories long after it’s over.

Even if you aren’t ready to tackle the full workout, experiment the next time you are on the stationary bike or elliptical machine. At the end of your normal workout, take four min-utes and do eight sets of 20 seconds as hard as you can go, then rest for 10

seconds. I’ve found that the program works for me. Shake up your work-

out and find out if your “hips don’t lie” too.

NEW fromEngravable

Bracelet, Earringsand Rings

“Southern Gates”

The hips don’t lie

Vance Campbelland

Charlene Waddell Campbellwere married onAugust ,

Th ere will be a drop in reception onAugust 27, 2011

at Washington Baptist Church3500 N. Hwy 14, Greer, SC 29651

in the parlor.Th is event will be from 2-4PM.

No gifts please. Instead, give fundsto Washington Baptist Church Building Fund

or Greer Community Ministries.All who want to attend are invited.

LIFE’SA JOURNEY

KRISTA GIBSON

I watched former Olympian Cathy Rigby fly through the Peace

Center last week as she played the lead role in “Peter Pan.” The effortless movement of the 59-year-old was breathtaking. In fact, I wanted to be sprinkled with fairy dust and head to Never Never Land with her.

If hanging out with the Lost Boys and Wendy help me regain the rigors of youth, I’m ready to fly. Heck, I’ll even wear green tights and pointy shoes. And maybe a little green hat to cover up those white strands in my hair.

In Never Never Land, no one ages. Perhaps it is because the leader of the island, Peter Pan, refuses to grow up. He is very happy with his life and loves to crow about it.

I think we could all learn a little from that.

Of course it might be easier to like who we are if we could fly and had a place where we didn’t have to grow up.

Flying would help solve a world of ills. Gather up all those lovely thoughts and off I would go to work, leaving $3 a gallon gas behind. I wouldn’t have to wait for the train right outside our office when I’m running late. A little arm flapping and leg

kicking along the way and I’d get a double workout in on the way.

If I didn’t have to grow up, I could still write, but not have to punch a clock to do it. I could take the afternoon off to go to the park and play.

But wait, when Peter took Wendy to Never Never Land, he asked if she would be his mother. The Lost Boys, though free from growing up, still wanted to be tucked in at night. They also wanted pockets sewn onto their clothes.

I’m starting to think Never Never Land is right here in the south some-where. After tucking all the boys in and sewing all the pockets, I wonder if there would be any time left for me to stay young. And think of all the crit-ters and trinkets they would put in their pock-ets. They would all end up in the laundry where I would have to keep them from drowning in the water and put them in a place where they could be found again.

That sounds a little too much like real life. But I think I’d take a chance if the opportunity came my way. Hopefully, they wouldn’t look at me and assess the damage of ag-ing and stamp my ticket Access Denied. What would I have to crow about then?

Access deniedLIFE’SA JOURNEY

KRISTA GIBSON

If hanging out with

the Lost Boys and

Wendy help me

regain the rigors of

youth, I’m ready to

fly.

I never thought that de-priving my two boys of a dog while they were

growing up would lead to the predicament I find myself in today.

I had my reasons for the moratorium on dogs as pets in my home. First of all, we moved too often with my husband’s job to provide the stability needed. Also, they acted too much like puppies themselves to make me feel the loss. My sons found their own ways to damage furniture, pee on floors and dirty the walls, all classic pet problems.

Don’t get me wrong; I wasn’t a total pet Scrooge. We housed three gerbils and a guinea pig along the way, each adding a measure of pleasure to our lives. But attending and presiding over their small boxed funerals was traumatic enough, I didn’t need the loss of a beloved dog added to the mix of constantly changing elementary schools and friends.

One Thursday night in October, my youngest son headed to the Tooter Town live animal auction with friends. He came home with a pygmy goat.

Peanut the pygmy goat now lives in our backyard in a “dog” house. He graz-es on grass and weeds and shrubs. He even ate all of those nasty little onion weeds that tend to sprout in droves in my yard. I call it Landscaping by Peanut.

He is not a dog.He cannot stay inside,

although he has made it in on several occasions. He poops with unquali-fied regularity and in enormous amounts.

I’ve done my best not to get attached and, yet, I was the one who bought him a sweater when the temperatures dipped into the teens for the first time. Peanut promptly peed all over his warm, navy pullover.

I’ve made him a “salad” from the leaves atop the bushes that he cannot reach and would have been fodder for the hedge

clippers later anyway. I give him treats when he knocks his hoof against the door and looks at me with his little goat eyes while chewing his cud. I found an old blanket in the garage and told my son to put it in his house for him. I also wash the blanket regularly.

I’m not looking forward to a hot summer and the smells of the farm that will waft from the goat domain that is our backyard. I don’t think my son really planned that far ahead. He fixed the gate and found the house, bought food and filled up my Tupperware with it, but beyond that, I guess he figured it would work itself out. By the way, I replaced my plastic bowls with metal ones because if I know one thing about goats, it’s this: they don’t discriminate much when it comes to putting things in their mouth.

Stay tuned. I feel sure that more goat stories are on the way.

d b h

LIFE’S A JOURNEY

KRISTA GIBSON

Not the pet I imagined

MANDY FERGUSON | THE GREER CITIZENLANDSCAPING BY PEANUT: Peanut the pigmy goat frolicks through the back-yard, left, and stretches in an attempt to reach the top leaves of the bushes in the yard. The lower halves of the bushes are leaf-free because Peanut has eaten them all.

MANDY FERGUSON | THE GREER CITIZENLOVING PET: Krista Gibson pats Peanut on the head. Peanut can be just as affectionate as any other pet.

HUMOR COLUMN WRITINGWeekly Over 6,000 Division

FIRST PLACEThe Moultrie NewsRobin O’Bryant

Last week my husband and I attempted to celebrate our 13th

anniversary. The date of our actual anniversary fell on a Monday, so on Sunday night Zeb suggested cooking a couple of steaks on the grill for dinner. It sounded like a great idea to me, so I stra-tegically fed the kids dinner earlier than normal.

Right before the steaks were ready, I got all three of our daughters ready for the bathtub. We are in a sweet spot right now--our girls are all still young enough to bathe together but old enough to play in the tub

without constant adult supervision. My plan was to let the girls play with their mermaid Barbies until their fingers and toes wrinkled while Zeb and I ate dinner, interrupted only by an occa-sional trip to the bathroom to make sure their splash-ing wasn’t getting out of control.

I was excited by the idea of eating an entire meal without anyone poking their

chubby little finger in the middle of my fillet and say-ing, “What’s that Momma? I wanna bite”.

The girls were playing happily in the tub, the steaks were plated and butter was melting on the potatoes. Zeb and I sat down to eat in relative silence. (I’m not counting all the “HEY! That’s mines!” that were coming from the bathroom.) We ate, trying to pace ourselves and to not shovel food in our mouths like Marines at chow time in the middle of boot camp. The food was perfect and the company was even bet-

ter… then it happened. A blood curdling scream

echoed out of the bathroom. My husband and I stopped eating and locked eyes in a look that said clearly, “Yep, this is our life.” Our two old-est daughters came tum-bling out of the bathroom in their birthday suits, sopping wet. Water pooled at their feet as they stood beside me at the table, hysterically talking at the same time and trying to tell us what had happened.

“Sadie pooped in the tub!” They were finally able to articulate.

Nothing kills a mood

faster than a floater.I looked hopefully at my

husband, who looked back and forth from me to his dripping daughters, to his last bite of steak.

“I’ll go,” he said, “but I’m finishing my steak first.”

I shooed the big girls into the bathroom to get towels and followed behind them to retrieve my little trouble-maker. I scooped Sadie out of the tub, careful to avoid the present she’d given the entire family. By the time I had towel dried each of the girls, Zeb was in the bath-room.

“I’ve got this, go finish eat-

ing,” he said.I ate the rest of my din-

ner alone and cleaned the kitchen while he dressed our daughters in pajamas and voluntarily had the most unpleasant task of cleaning out the bathtub.

It may not be a dinner at the fanciest restaurant in town, a dozen roses or a shiny new ring, but a man who is willing to clean poop out of the bathtub while you eat a fillet is worth keeping.

(Robin O’Bryant is a for-mer Mount Pleasant resi-dent and mother of three. Visit www.robinschicks.com

Nothing sinks spirits faster than a floaterROBIN’S CHICKS

Robin O’Bryant

10 A .MOULTRIE NEWS ___________________________________ www.moultrienews.com ______________________________ Wednesday , March 2 , 2011

HUMOR COLUMN WRITINGWeekly 2/3 Times Division

THIRD PLACEThe Gaff ney LedgerCody Sossamon

A view of the worldfrom my front porch

When was the last time you sat on your front porchwith family or friends and just talked? For that matter,do you even have a front porch?

In 2007, 62 percent of new homes had porches, upfrom 50 percent in 1999, according to the NationalAssociation of Home Builders. The South and West arethe most porch-crazy regions, with the Midwest closebehind.The front porchranked higher than thepatio and rear porch onbuyers’ wish lists in theNAHB’s “The New Homein 2015” report.

Front porch sceneswere common on theAndy Griffith Show. Andy,Opie, Aunt Bea, Barneyand a myriad of othersoften spent time onAndy’s front porch talkingabout everything andnothing. Their conversa-tions usually started withsomething rather innocu-ous and drifted to some-thing even less profound.

Barney: “Hot, ain’t it.”Andy: “Yes sirree. Can’t

remember it being thishot.”

Barney: “Back in ’48 itwas hotter than this. Youremember, Ange. We hadto buy fans so Otis wouldn’t have a heat stroke whilst hewas locked up. Don’t know what we’d do without fans.”

They then proceeded to discuss one thing or another,drifting from one topic to another, with periods of silencein between. Occasionally Opie would chime in, asking asimple question such as “What’s a fan, pa?”

Remember, this was in the days before air condition-ing so people sat outside on their porches where it wascooler than inside the house. Television was in its infan-cy, so folks found other ways to entertain themselves.

My parents used to spend a good bit of time sitting ontheir front porch at 701 S. Petty St. and also when theybuilt a new home across the street at 602 S. Petty.

Front porch conversations in those days were notmuch different that the ones Andy and Aunt Bea had.Being on South Petty though, one could expect to see afair amount of traffic — drivers and walkers.Depending on who drove or walked by, the conversa-tion could changequickly. Not that Iever heard any mali-cious gossip on ourfront porch, but seeinga person could sparksome discourse aboutthem or a family mem-ber.

Or a neighbor couldbe out working in theiryard and drop by dur-ing a break to join inwhatever happened tobe the topic at thetime.

We’ve been sittingon our front porch afair amount lately.

i i i h ‘ ’

CODY SOSSAMONPUBLISHER

They then proceededto discuss one thingor another, drifting

from one topicto another,

with periodsof silence in between.

Occasionally Opiewould chime in,asking a simple

question such as“Whatʼs a fan, pa?”

LEDGER COLUMNIST

HUMOR COLUMN WRITINGWeekly 2/3 Times Division

SECOND PLACEThe Cherokee Chronicle

HUMOR COLUMN WRITINGHUMOR COLUMN WRITINGWeekly 2/3 Times Division

FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Hartsville MessengerBob Sloan

SERIES OF ARTICLESWeekly Under 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACELexington County Chronicle & The Dispatch NewsBill West

BY BILL [email protected]

Jim Carpenter talks freely about his son’s progress.

LCpl. Kyle Carpenter re-mains at Bethesda Medical Center in Maryland. He con-tinues to undergo surger-ies and treatment for cata-strophic wounds suffered in November while fighting in Afghanistan.

“He was in awe when a Four Star General took time to visit and present him with the Purple Heart,” said his proud dad. Gen. James Amos and Sgt. Major Carlton Kent presented Carpenter with the Purple Heart and took time to visit with the young Ma-rine and his family during the Christmas holidays.

Photos of the event show the wounded warrior with the Purple Heart taped to his bare chest.

The proud father said his son is ‘Fighting like a Marine to get better.” But the battle will be a long one with more surgeries to go, followed by extensive rehab.

The family hopes he will be moved to Richmond, Va., the rehabilitation facility closest to home. LCpl. Car-penter could be transferred to another facility, including one in California. “We want the one that is best for Kyle,” said his father, “we can deal with the distance.”

Everyone in the family re-ports the wounded warrior, even when in severe pain, continues to act the part of a Marine. His father said each morning he is ready to get out of bed, whether to sit in a chair, go for more surgery, walk the halls or endure painful rehabilitation exer-cises. He wants to do what it takes to win the battle.

Girlfriend Jordan Gleaton has dropped out of USC for the next semester to help the wounded warrior through the healing process, the re-

hab, and the surgeries.“She is a gift from God,”

said Jim Carpenter. “She is as tough as a Marine while she is encouraging Kyle during the rehab.”

His brothers visited with their older brother for Christ-mas. Peyton and Price were excited to see the improve-ment made since the last time they saw him on his ar-

rival at Walter Reed in No-vember. The Lexington High students helped with his exercises, his rehab move-ments, joked and shared as only brothers can.

After observing Christmas as a family, they posted: “We had an awesome day. Kyle has kept us laughing the last two days. We opened pres-ents and someone provided us with a Christmas meal. Much to be thankful for!”

On New Years Day, they posted on Facebook: “Kyle is doing much better. Last night he insisted on watch-ing the ball drop in Times Square.”

Sunday morning the Ma-rine was back in surgery. Those skin graft procedures that had been scheduled for the following Tuesday be-

came urgent. There were some complications on his right arm.

The family posted on Fa-cebook OpertionKyle Sun-day evening, “Everything went great in surgery! I don’t know how people don’t believe in the power of prayer! His skin grafts have taken and he got his wound vacs off! We feel covered in prayers!”

Cards may be sent to: LCpl. Carpenter, William Kyle, National Naval Medical Center, 8901 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20889, c/o Marine Liaison Office.

Kyle Carpenter, a Marine through and throughWyman King Academy graduate continues to fight and win

PHOTOS COURTESY OF FAMILYCutlines clockwise from top. 1.) LCpl. Kyle Carpenter with Marine Commandant, Gen. James Amos and Sgt. Major Carlton Kent. The Lexington hero was awarded the Purple Heart. 2.) Surround-ed by family and caring hospital staff, LCpl. Kyle Carpenter smiles and grunts a big “Ooo-rah” giving everyone a sign that he is in the battle to win. Medical professionals indicate there could be a year of more surgeries and rehabilitation before he can come home to Lexington. 3.) As any true Marine, LCpl. Kyle Carpenter is

“ready and eager” to do what it takes to win. After major surger-ies to his torso, legs, arms and face, he is eager to participate in rehab. “I’m trained to fight, and these wounds are the enemy,” he told one family member. 4.) Robin Carpenter is all smiles as she poses with her wounded warrior Marine son, LCpl. Kyle Carpen-ter. She has left her son’s bedside for just a few hours since he was flown from Germany last month. She has only the highest praise for the care her son is getting at the National Naval Hospi-tal in Maryland.

-Thursday, Dec. 8 at 8:17 p.m.“Unless you have walked the

halls of Bethesda Naval Hospital, or something like it, you cannot imag-ine the incredible and simultaneous grief and hope that fills its halls.

“It is a place of great tragedy and tremendous healing.

“Someone’s best day is another’s worse and progress is measured in weeks not days.

“Kyle occupies a small room in the ICU of the National Naval Med-ical Center.

“The room is filled with different medical supplies and the sounds of ventilation and titration. At any giv-en time, Kyle has a dozen different leads trailing from his body.

“We are watching him heal daily, but the process is not easy on his

body. “We live between OR visits. Suc-

cessfully completing one operation, rolls into the anxiety of completing the next.

“Our goals for now are simple. Getting from one step to the next, and then to the next.

“We joke daily about graduating to Fifth Floor. That’s where the non-critical inpatients go. But, all in good time.

“The stories you hear put life in perspective here. Mouthing a word, eating a solid meal, breathing on your own, wiggling your toes. These are our joys.

“I lived my first real Thanksgiving this year. And through Kyle, I think a lot of other people did too. He’s always been good at that, bringing

you back to a place of simplicity. He has always known what mattered most, kindness.

“I would never wish a visit to this place on anyone. You treat people differently up here; you never know at any given moment what great battle they are fighting.

“We have in just one short week already seen life fade from the bod-ies of warriors. And we will never be able to erase those visions from our minds.

“But bigger than the death we have witnessed, is the life that so many of these are fighting so des-perately for. Kyle fights for every beat of his heart.

“Every breath is a task and I doubt I will ever witness something more heartbreaking than his strug-

gle. It is not often that you see such great effort given to something so seemingly natural.

“Piece by piece, Kyle is being patched back together. The journey will be long but worth it for certain.

“Though the days are long, we are continually placing him in the hands of the One who first formed his body. We believe that nothing is beyond the effect of our fervent prayer.

“We are constantly overwhelmed by the love we have been shown.

“It is a different world up here, every moment revolves around Kyle’s sweet and divine healing.

“So we are here for now, living in the sweetness that every day, we have been given one more day with Kyle.”


People, literally around the world, are keeping posted on Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter’s progress at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Mary-land.

The young Lexington County Marine was seri-ously wounded last month in Afghanistan.

He has undergone mul-tiple surgeries since arriv-ing at Bethesda, and will have many more before he returns home.

His parents, Jim and Robin Carpenter, remain at his bedside. His broth-ers, twins, Price and Pey-ton, “seem to be fine,” said Robin, “But I can’t imagine what this is doing to them

and how worried they are about Kyle, their mom and dad.”

“I know one thing — they have learned the love of God, family and friends.”

Paternal grandmother Barbara Carpenter said she and Robin’s parents are “tending to home fires” with regular phone updates on Kyle’s progress.

“We are amazed and strengthened by the out-pouring of love and sup-port from the community, especially the church fami-lies around the world.”

Congressman Joe Wil-son told the Chronicle, “My office is in regular contact with the family and have offered to assist in any way necessary during this

time of healing.”Gov.-Elect Nikki Haley

expressed concern and support for the wounded warrior.

“Michael and I are pray-ing for healing for this young South Carolina he-ro,” she said.

LCpl. Carpenter was scheduled for more sur-geries this week, including more surgeries to his right arm.

Surgeries to repair “ma-jor” wounds to his face ap-pear to have been success-ful thus far.


Amazed, but not sur-prised is how Scott Vaughn described his re-action to the response to the wounding of Marine LCpl. Kyle Carpenter.

Vaughn is leader of the “V” Sunday School Class at Lexington Bap-tist Church, the Carpen-ter’s home church.

“The Operation Kyle Facebook page, established by the class, has 21,226 dai-ly visitors.”

The Operation Kyle fund at Lexington Baptist Church continues to receive gifts to offset family expenses.

Vaughn told the Chronicle, “Coming alongside a family with a real connection to Af-ghanistan has opened a lot of eyes and hearts. Afghani-stan is a real place, and our Armed Services are in real danger — not just in Af-ghanistan but throughout the world. We’ve learned that ‘supporting our troops’ is not just a patriotic cliché

— it is a real and genuine call to action.”

Describing the concern and prayers of so many as “A marathon — not a sprint,” Vaughn said, “Our journey alongside the Carpenters, specifically, will be a long one, and we’ve got to pace ourselves for the journey. We can’t afford to burn out on the front end of the journey.”

The concern is not just lo-cal, Vaughn said, “We’ve also learned that the family of God is larger than our local church, denomination, or even community of church-es. Those who follow Jesus are bound together across geography and demogra-phy.”

“We get so busy in our daily lives that we begin see-ing our world as our home, street and daily routine,” he said.

“This project has remind-ed us that we as believers are called to have a greater vision of the world. We’ve certainly learned about the power of prayer.”

Operation KyleMore major surgeries in store for wounded Marine

Operation Kyle has opened a lot of eyes

‘We have been given one more day with Kyle’Excerpts from a posting by his girlfriend Jordan Gleaton on the OperationKyle Facebook page

Fishing tournament to help Kyle

Lexington Baptist Church will hold the Op-eration Kyle Fishing Tour-nament Saturday, Dec. 18 on Lake Murray. Check-in for the event begins at 6:45 a.m. and weigh-in will be at 2 p.m. at the South Shore Marina. The event is open to anyone. Cost of the event is $50 per team (two-person teams), make checks pay-able to Lexington Baptist Church, designated for Operation Kyle. Dona-tions are not tax deduct-ible. All proceeds go to Operation Kyle Fund. For more information contact Edgar Alewine at [email protected] or (803) 238-1725.


Marine Lance Corporal William Kyle Carpenter is home convalescing until mid-March when he will re-turn to Bethesda Naval Hos-pital in Maryland. The Lex-ington County Marine was critically wounded in Af-ghanistan on Nov. 21 when he received a direct blast from a grenade from Taliban rebels.

Since the incident, Car-penter has undergone 30 major surgeries to repair multiple breaks in his right arm, significant surgeries to his face, his mouth, his eyes, his torso, and his legs. His right arm alone sustained more than 30 fractures and at one point doctors were al-most convinced that ampu-tation was the only alterna-tive.

But, the total loss of one eye, and most of his teeth, multiple skin grafts and painful rehabilitation proce-durs, the Lance Corporal says he is blessed.

“Blessed to be alive, blessed to be a part of a lov-ing family, with a loving sweetheart, blessed to be the part of the Christian family at Lexington Baptist Church, I am truly blessed.”

His 20-year-old girlfriend, Jordan Geaton, is never far from his side. She dropped out of studies at USC to be with Kyle and his parents during the long days and nights of pain and questions.

Looking back at that day last November, Kyle remem-bers he and his company of

Marines were close to being given a break by some fresh troops. We had begun to make way for the new troops, he said, and they quickly found themselves targeted by Taliban snipers with rockets and hand gre-nades and bullets.

The graduate of Wyman King Academy was on a roof top with Corporal Nick Eu-frazio when a grenade land-ed next to them. “I was about a foot away from it, on my knees looking down.”

Carpenter took the major force of the blast. Tragically, a piece of shrapnel hit Eu-frazio in the forehead.

“Everything went white, I heard a loud ringing, then I passed out.” Carpenter was unconscious for about two minutes, but when he came to, he felt blood runnning over his body, and he heard another Marine buddy,

Lance Corporal Jared Lilly saying, “Don’t you die, don’t you die.” Later he told me, I said, “I’m not going to die.”

Medical reports indicate that Carpenter flat lined three times during the heli-copter flight from the battle field to the first of several medical facilities where he was to be treated before coming home to America. One flat line situation often meant death, but three times, surely was an omni-ous sign. “God had some-thing else for me to do,” he said during an extended in-terview with the Chronicle.

The wounded Marine said he doesn’t remember much more of the next three weeks. Once back in the states at Bethesda, he under-went surgery every other day to repair his torn face, dislocated jaw, an arm that sustained 30 fractures, the

loss of an eye, multiple mouth and gum surgeries, and almost too many skin grafts to count.

“But, what I do remember is waking up in Bethesda and seeing my mom, dad and girlfriend. I heard them pray and I knew I was going to be all right.”

Jim Carpenter remembers seeing his son for the first time in the ER at Bethesda. “They literally had to help me out,” he said. “I thought I was losing my son.” He said Kyle’s mother was much stronger than he, “but then that’s the way mothers are,” he told the Chronicle. “Now when I look at him, I feel my son is back and ready to con-tinue his life as God intend-ed.”

The doctors have told Lance Corporal Carpenter and his family that on paper his brain should not work.

But cognitive tests continue to improve. The young Ma-rine hero has been dubbed “One of the fastest healers on his floor at Bethesda.” To that, Kyle and his family credit the excellent care he received from the battlefield to Bethesda and now at the Lexington Medical Center where he is receiving physi-cal therapy and to his doc-tors at the VA hospital where he will visit twice a week un-til he returns to Bethesda. “That and the prayers that have been so constant from the members of Lexington Baptist Church,” said the wounded hero’s mom, who says the members of the “V” Sunday School Class have truly been faithful in every respect.

Carpenter continues to amaze doctors, especially with his right arm. They had originally expected to have

to amputate it, but through surgeries, therapy and his own Marine determination, he is beginning to regain some use, even in the fin-gers.

Would he do it all over again? “It may sound crazy,” he said, “but, yes. I am a Ma-rine and serving our country is what we do.”

Would you encourage your brothers, twins Price and Peyton, students at Lex-ington High School to join the Marines? “If that is what they want and feel called to serve, yes. But it is a calling.”

What is in store for Car-penter now? “I will first fin-ish my therapy then, since I can’t return to the active Corps, I would like to go to school to become a high school teacher and football coach. I have a story to tell, and with gratitude, I want to repay the many kindness-es this community, the churches, and this country have shown to me and my family.”

After ending his first physical threpy session while back home, Kyle wanted to stop for lunch at one of his favorite restau-rants. As his family was leaving, they were told that a Lexington County Sheriff’s Deputy had paid for his lunch. “Isn’t this a great county,” he said, with an ev-er broading smile that was so present during the inter-view.

“America is a great place to live and I owe it so much,” the Purple Heart re-cipient said.

Lexington’s Marine hero continues to amaze family and medical personnel with his recovery after receiving the full impact of a grenade blast in Afghanistan.

‘I’M NOT GOING TO DIE’, MARINE TOLD BUDDY


SECOND PLACECoastal ObserverJackie Broach

Thursday Pawleys Island,September 8, 2011 COASTAL OBSERVER South Carolina

TEN YEARS LATER

BY JACKIE R. BROACHCOASTAL OBSERVER

On the morning terrorists destroyedthe World Trade Center, killing thousands and turning Sept. 11 into a national day of grieving, Mike Fanning was supposed to be in court, just around the corner from where the twin towers stood.

“I couldn’t get a baby sitter,” said Fan-ning, 45, who was a sergeant in the NewYork Police Department’s hate crimes unit.

His wife, Donna, had just gone back to work and Fanning was at their home onLong Beach taking care of their 2-year-old daughter, Brenna. He had to call one of the city attorneys and ask if he couldpush his appointment back to noon. Be-cause she agreed, he was sitting at home with the police radio on, feeding his lit-tle girl breakfast when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north tower at 8:46 a.m. He watched on TV as the second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, hit the south tower 17 minutes later.

“She probably saved my life,” said Fan-ning, now a corporal with the Pawleys Is-land Police Department.

On the 10th anniversary of the attacks,people are being reminded of the horrors of that day — the shock and fear, the stag-gering losses, the mourning.

But for Fanning and others who saw the devastation first-hand, who dug throughthe rubble for the remains of friends andco-workers, the memories are always with them, as clear and devastating as if no time had passed.

“For me, every day is the same,” saidMike Milne, 55, of Ricefields. “One year,two years, nine years, today, tomorrow; it doesn’t change.”

He spent 20 years with the NYPD andworked midtown Manhattan. On Sept. 11, 2001, he was at his home on Long Islandgetting ready for work. He saw the reports on TV, got in his car and reported for dutyas quickly as he could.

“I got there shortly after the buildings fell and I was there for the next threeweeks straight, without going home,” Milne said.

He and a longtime friend, BrendanO’Connor, 43, were assigned to the transit division and commuted to work together most days. They’re both retired now andO’Connor lives in Myrtle Beach.

On the morning of the attacks, O’Connorwas already at work. He remembers it as a sunny morning with clear, blue skies.It was just a normal day on the job untilone of the female officers started yelling that something had hit the tower. Then it turned to chaos.

“I remember somebody wheeling a TV set out by the front desk and we just start-ed watching it unfold,” O’Connor said. “Then the phones started ringing off the hook, with people wanting to know if

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

The firefighterBY JACKIE R. BROACHCOASTAL OBSERVER

In 30 years as a firefighter, Troy Hutchinson has seen his share of devas-tation.

From fires at businesses, houses and apartments to plane crashes and explo-sions, he responded to them all while working in the metropolitan area of Mary-land and Washington, D.C.

But nothing he witnessed before or af-ter Sept. 11, 2001, compares to the attack on the Pentagon that day.

“The way the fireballs would travel through the building being fed by jet fuel, it was amazing,” he said. They traveled from office to office, passing through one and leaving it unharmed only to destroy another.

Hutchinson, of Murrells Inlet, is a fire-fighter/EMT at Midway Fire and Rescue, but during the attacks he worked for the fire and rescue department of the Metro-politan Washington Airports Authority. He was one of the first responders at the Pentagon, helping put out the flames and later being assigned to search and rescue efforts. He stayed on the scene for nine days, sleeping on the grounds in one of the tents set up for rescue workers.


The civiliansBY JACKIE R. BROACHCOASTAL OBSERVER

As a young girl, Angie Shoemaker watched as the twin towers went up and remembers hearing the pounding of con-struction that sounded throughout Man-hattan as workers started the project.

“When they were finished, I remem-ber it just added to the whole skyline,” she said. “It was a special vision. I used to lean my cheek up against the side of the build-ing and just look straight up. The sight was magnificent. I can’t describe it.”

It was a practice she kept up into adult-hood.

Angie and her husband, Bob, worked on Wall Street as municipal bond traders for more than 25 years each before they retired and moved to the Pawleys Island area 14 years ago. They live in Willbrook Plantation.

Angie spent six years at Cantor Fitzger-ald on the 105th floor of the World Trade Center and was the company’s first female vice president, heading its short-term


The cops: Mike Milne, above left, Mike Fanning and Brendan O’Connor.

Photos by Tanya Ackerman/Coastal Observer

The firefighter: Troy Hutchinson.

The civilians: Bob and Angie Shoemak-er.


FIRST PLACECoastal ObserverJackie Broach BY JACKIE R. BROACH

COASTAL OBSERVER

Jennifer looked nervous as she wait-ed for a taxi on a recent afternoon. When it arrived, it would take her and her young daughter, Molly, away from Georgetown County and the life they had made here.

Jennifer, who is in her mid 30s, was flee-ing an abuser, a man she had already found the strength to split from, but who continued to track her down after she left, threatening her safety and that of those around her.

“He knew my job, my family, my friends, the places I go,” she said. She told friends and neighbors not to give him any infor-mation about her. She changed her rou-tine, shopping in different stores and go-ing to different gas stations, and she closed her accounts on social networking sites to keep him from learning anything about her whereabouts that way.

So he started going to see her at work,

causing trouble for her there, and very near-ly getting her fired from her job on the Wac-camaw Neck, where she worked in the hos-pitality industry.

“I didn’t want anybody to know what was going on, but I had to tell them in order to keep my job,” Jennifer said. She turned to the Family Justice Center in Georgetown for help and they assisted her in getting out of the county and starting a new life.

“I’ve been in a safe house and a shelter,” she said. At first she stayed with family. “Georgetown’s just not that big; it’s too easy to be seen, so I’m here today trying to leave altogether. I don’t know what else to do.”

Jennifer is one of more than 36,000 vic-tims who report a domestic violence inci-dent to law enforcement agencies in South Carolina every year, according to informa-tion from the state attorney general’s office. Many others — estimated to be about 75 percent – go unreported.

Georgetown County ranks sixth in the state for the most cases reported, with more than 500 last year.

South Carolina ranks ninth in the na-tion for homicides caused by domestic vio-lence. Over the last 13 years, an average of 33 women have been killed annually in the state by their intimate partner. As of Sep-tember, 23 had been murdered this year, a statistic Joan Meacham, interim executive director at the Family Justice Center, de-scribes as “chilling.”

Statistics from the center show that, na-tionwide, battering is the single largest cause of injury to women, affecting more

SEE “STIGMA,” PAGE 4


Looking around the Family Justice Center in Georgetown, Garvey and Carol Winans can’t help but feel happy — and per-haps a little awed.

The center, which opened its doors in January and will have a ribbon cutting today, in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, was years in the making. The couple were part of a dedicated and persis-tent team that turned the vi-

sion into a reality and both now serve on its board.

“It’s heartening,” Carol said. “The reason I can say that is we received an estimate it would cost $365,000 to get that building presentable. We did it for $65,000 and the rea-son is tradespeople in this area stepped up to the plate. Many of them worked for nothing and supply houses gave materials at cost or less.”

It’s a sign of how much sup-port for the center exists in the

SEE “JUSTICE,” PAGE 5

Unsafe at home

f

First in a seriesThe names of victims have been changed to protect their privacy.

County 6th in S.C. in domestic violencePhoto illustration by Tanya Ackerman/Coastal Observer

Family Justice Center works for solutions

Linda Collins and Carol Winans, in the center’s mediation room.Tanya Ackerman/Coastal Observer

By the numbersDomestic violence cases through Sept. 30Georgetown: 151Waccamaw Neck: 98Andrews: 32Pleasant Hill: 25

SERIES OF ARTICLESWeekly Over 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACEClarendon CitizenSharron Haley

/Clarendon Citizen

Citizen News

Prayer from page 1

/Clarendon Citizen

Citizen News

/Clarendon Citizen

Citizen News

Calendar from page 1

Vietnam Veterans of America.

Saturday with the Mayor


SECOND PLACECarolina GatewayJulie Graham

JULIE GRAHAMFor Carolina Gateway

Holiday traditions – it just doesn’t feel like December without them.

For local families with con-nections to different parts of the world or observing reli-gious rituals, ‘tis the season to bring their customs to life.

Elissa Boyet, 41, of Indian Land is Jewish and celebrates Hanukkah, known as the Fes-tival of Lights.

The eight-day holiday com-memorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusa-lem is an important ritual for Boyet and her boyfriend, Jeff Miller.

This year, Hanukkah starts at sundown on Dec. 1 and ends Dec. 9.

“It’s small and intimate here,” she said. “Each night, we light the electric Menorah and say prayers.”

The traditional Hanukkah Sabbath meal includes potato

pancakes, also known as lat-kes, matzo ball soup and Chal-lah bread.

The dreidel is a favorite party game – the four-sided top is spun and competition goes on until the last person wins the pot.

As a child, Boyet enjoyed getting gifts each night of the holiday. Now she focuses on preparing delicious food for her family.

See TRADITIONS, Page 2

Jewish families prepare for Hanukkah

Part 1 of a four-part series

From lighting the Menorah to gifts from Jesus and Christmas pudding, area families celebrate the season

with customs from around the world

photo courtesy of ELISSA BOYET

Elissa Boyet and her dog, Frankie, pose for her annual Hanukkah

card.

Holiday Traditions

research, things like that,” See MULVANEY, Page 2day as Maggie Davis and food pantry volunteer Harold McDonald look on.See PANTRY, Page 2


In Radmila Zamanska’s Indian Land home, the holiday season is truly festive with two Christmases and two New Year’s celebrations.

Zamanska moved to the United States from Russia in 1999.

She and her son, Alexei, 10, observe Christmas Eve and Christmas on Dec. 24 and 25, New Year’s Eve on Dec. 31,

Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve and Christmas on Jan. 6 and 7, and Old New Year on Jan. 13.

“We celebrate two Christ-mases,” she said. “For us, the New Year is a way bigger holi-day. New Year’s Eve is getting around the table with good friends and family, dressing up, dancing, eating and drink-ing.”

After the 1917 Revolution, all religious celebrations were banned in Russia so the people

reinvented New Year’s cele-brations to include many Christmas traditions. Christ-mas has since been observed in the country, but New Year’s is still the larger event.

On Dec. 31, Zamanska, 33, usually joins other Russian-born area locals for a night of fun. She enjoys seeing the New Year’s Eve broadcasts from Russia, eating home-cooked foods and drinking vodka.


Russian family enjoys double holidays photo courtesy of

RADMILA ZAMANSKA

Radmila Zamanska and her son, Alexei,

and their cat, Catalina, celebrate

one of their four winter holidays in 2009. The family,

which has its roots in Russia, celebrates

Christmas and New Year’s according to both the Gregorian

and Julian calendars, which makes for double holidays.

Holiday Traditions



with customs from around the world.


Parties for the Vasquez fam-ily of Indian Land begin Dec. 16 with Novena, a nine-day prayer ritual to prepare for Christ’s birth.

Christmas celebrations in Lina and Cesar’s home coun-try of Colombia, South Amer-ica, are shaped around religion, where almost everyone is Roman Catholic.

During Novena, family and friends gather each night to

pray and share Christmas foods like homemade breads and puddings. It is typically hosted in a different home

each night, with a grand party on Christmas Eve.


Feliz Navidad from South America photo courtesy of

LINA VASQUEZ

Lina and Cesar Vasquez brought their holiday traditions with

them from Colombia, where Christmas is

primarily a birthday celebration for Jesus. Here, their children – Sebastian, 9, Andres, 11, and Jennifer 15 –

pose in front of a Christmas tree with

their cousins (the three girls in the mid-

dle).

Holiday Traditions




photo courtesy of LINA VASQUEZ

Lina and Cesar Vasquez’ holiday involves the nine-day Novena prayer ritual, which begins Dec. 16.


At the home of Emily Ley-land of Indian Land, Christ-mas dinner would not, could not, happen without the joyful sound of Christmas crackers – a cardboard tube wrapped in colorful paper that is pulled by two people to make a small bang.

An English tradition since 1847, the contents consist of a hat or crown, a small toy and a joke.

The 32-year-old photogra-pher and mother of three who lived in England for a decade cannot imagine Christmas without crackers, if for no other reason than to see every-one at the table wearing silly paper hats.

“It’s so fun,” Leyland said. “The English have a wonderful spirit about them. It starts the meal off fun and it becomes a celebration. It’s a little thing that means so much.”

Leyland loves to bring Eng-lish traditions into her home

so her children experience her husband’s home culture and the traditions she came to love when she moved to England at age 14.

“I was born American, but I feel very English,” she said. “My husband (Daniel) is Eng-lish. I want to show the tradi-tions to our children and share our heritage.”

On Christmas Eve, Grand-dad Ken Leyland reads Clem-ent Moore’s “Twas the Night


English traditions at home here photo courtesy of

EMILY LEYLAND

Emily and Daniel Leyland’s three chil-dren – Connor, Chloe

and Annabelle – pose for a Christmas por-

trait. Because Daniel is from England, where

Emily also spent many of her formative years, the family enjoys many English holiday tradi-

tions, such as Christmas crackers

and Christmas pudding.

Holiday Traditions





FIRST PLACECarolina Forest ChronicleMichael Smith

POSTAL PATRON

PRESORTEDSTANDARD

U.S.POSTAGE PAIDCONWAY, S.C.PERMIT NO. 44

DAVID CHRISTIAN | FOR THE CHRONICLE

ROOMS AT RISKDHEC hasn’t performed routine hotel inspections in 16 years

BY MICHAEL SMITHEDITOR

Brenda Agnerwill still visitMyrtleBeach.But because of amattress stain that

contaminated her last vacation, whenshe returns she’ll be packing her ownpillows, sheets and alcohol wipes.Regular visitors to theGrand Strand,

Brenda and her husband, Brian,

checked into aMyrtle Beach hotel Oct.1, 2010.As they always do, theGraham,N.C.

residents flipped theirmattress beforegoing to sleep.“I always sleep better when themat-

tress has been flipped,” Brenda Agnersaid, explaining she has back problems.“Not tomention, with the bed bugproblem that has been going around, Iwant tomake surewe are okay.”What the Agners saw under the bed

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) hasn’t performed routine health inspections of S.C. hotel rooms in nearly two decades, public records show.

CHRONICLECAROLINA FORESTCHRONICLECAROLINA FOREST

www.thecarolinaforestchronicle.comWaccamaw Publishers, Inc.

2510 Main St., Conway, SC 29526Attention: Delivery

Thursday, January 6, 2011, Vol. IV, No. 11

Brenda Agner of Graham, N.C. photographed this mattressstain during a recent stay at a Myrtle Beach resort. Becauseof budget cuts, DHEC no longer performs health inspectionsthat used to screen for mattress stains such as this one.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY MYRTLE BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT

Would you sleep here?

CHRONICLE SPECIAL REPORT

� Next week

DHEC delegates health inspection re-sponsibility to cities and counties, butneither have the resources to per-form routine health checks.

DHEC, A2

SERIES OF ARTICLESWeekly 2/3 Times Division

THIRD PLACEThe Lancaster NewsChristopher Sardelli

Landfill axed?

Vote unanimous for changeChristopher Sardelli

[email protected]

With a show of hands, Lancaster County Council members voted unani-mously Tuesday night on an ordinance that could hamper plans for a proposed solid waste landfill in the county.

Only minutes before the start of council’s meeting, copies of the last-minute ordinance circulated through the crowd of more than 150 residents who turned out for the meeting.

Seats were at a premium and quickly filled up as the room reached its maxi-mum occupancy for the second time in two weeks. Latecomers, many who were decked out in white as a sign of solidarity against a proposed landfill near S.C. 903, watched from the door-way of council chambers. In their hands, some people held glossy fliers, created by members of the Lancaster County Action Council, opposing the landfill.

Council had not originally planned any action on the landfill, but with mounting vocal opposition from resi-dents throughout the county, council-

decided to reverse a change it made several months ago in regards to land-fill buffers. The new ordinance, which council voted to approve at the begin-ning of its meeting, amends the coun-ty’s Unified Development Ordinance to change landfill buffers from 1,000 feet to 1 mile.

Under the county’s new requirement, landfills would not be allowed within 1 mile of residences and structures such as day-care centers, churches, schools, hospitals or publicly owned recreation-al parks.

The amendment comes only months after council changed the buffer to 1,000 feet in county ordinance 1073.

The new ordinance also states that the amendment can be used immedi-ately by the county’s Board of Zoning Appeals, even though ordinances usu-ally don’t become official until after approval of third reading. It also directs the planning department to hire a li-censed environmental engineer to de-termine a scientific reason for the buf-fer distance of 1 mile.

Once the vote was cast, Council re-ceived a standing ovation from many of the people in attendance.

In a rare deviation from the meeting, Council Chairwoman Kathy Sistare ex-plained the meaning behind the new ordinance before moving on.

“County Council based this on fur-ther investigation about the landfill and discussions with DHEC (S.C. De-partment of Health and Environmental Control) and looking at the Lee County landfill,” Sistare told the crowd. “Con-versation should have been taking

County reverses change

in landfill buffers

See REVERSES | Page 8A

PHOTOS BY REECE MURPHY/REPORTER

LEFT: Angie Hunter of Primus, and her son, Eli, 3, protest a proposed Waste Management landfill at Tuesday night’s crowded Lancaster County Council meeting.BELOW: Many people could not get into the cham-bers and had to stand in the hall-way.

BZA Meeting Canceled

A county Board of Zoning Appeals meeting planned for Thursday night was canceled. Mike Griffin, of Griffin Brothers Enterprises, withdrew his application by e-mail on Thursday afternoon. A public hearing had been scheduled to hear comments on the expansion of Mining Road Landfill, off S.C. 903.


SECOND PLACEThe Herald-IndependentJames Denton

See CAPACITY Page 3

JAMES DENTON––––––––––Editor

What killedChrist Central

project?

Part 2:A Matter

of Capacity

The demise of ambitiousJenkinsville development

It was a big dream – a

development that could

change the face of Fair-

field County, particularly

its more rural and less af-

fluent Western region.

David Brown, Chair-

man of the Fairfield

County Council, was in-

volved in the project

from the beginning, in a

private capacity as the

real estate agent repre-

senting Christ Central in

the land deal.

Now, three months

after the project literally

died from thirst, Brown

reflected on the process

that left his client, Christ

Central, high and dry.

“It’s been kind of dis-

heartening,” Brown said.

“We went from $15 mil-

lion in investment to

zero. Now, the property is

back on the market and

we’ll probably end up

with a filling station out

there that will be empty

in 10 years.”

Brown never hid the

fact that, during the

process, he was repre-

senting the buyer, Christ

Central, in the purchase

of the land.

“I disclosed that from

day one,” he said. “I sat in

the audience every time

it came up before Coun-

cil.”

Although standing to

n

rd

-

-

”

g

e

r

k

-


FIRST PLACEThe Lancaster NewsJesef Williams, Robert Howey andReece Murphy

THE SOUNDTRACK OF

Black America

FILE PHOTOS

The Fifth Dimension, led by original member Florence LaRue, second from left, per-formed here on Feb. 7, 2009, as part of the See Lancaster SC Performing Arts Series.

Locals discuss signifi cance, impact of music on black culture

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Issues, dreams and realities

2011Jesef Williams

[email protected]

t’s hard for Dennis Jones to explain the concept of chords and

octaves. He’d rather spend that time trying to convey the immac-ulate feeling soul music gives him.

Jones, a L a n c a s t e r native who’s played the k e y b o a r d for more than 30 years, breaks out into a rhythmic clap and dance routine on the spot. With no radio or instru-ments around, he imag-ines an upbeat drum ca-dence while pretending to play a piano melody at the same time.

He says there’s nothing else in life that can give him such a thrill.

Jones is immediately tak-

en back to the sights and sounds of James Brown, the late soul singer whom Jones said ushered in the “funky” side of R&B. He’s then quickly reminded of other

black artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire and Stevie Wonder, whose musical in-fluence is still felt today.

From jazz, gospel and blues to modern day R&B and rap, Jones said music has always been a huge part of the black experi-ence and continues to help shape the habits and atti-tudes of that community.

He and a few other Lan-caster County natives re-cently took time out to dis-cuss the dynamics and im-pact of black music past and present and also what the future may hold.

‘It was a blessing’ Jones, 50, started playing

the keyboard when he was 13 or 14 years old. He found music as something else fun to do when the weather didn’t allow him to play outside.

He started playing at church and also began

William Mobley sings “I’ll Always Serve Him,” a song he wrote that was considered for a Grammy Award nomination in 2010. Mobley is the guitarist for Voices of Praizz.

See MUSIC | Page 3A

Jones

CROSSING BASELINES

Paving the way

FILE PHOTO

History was made in 1967 when Bennie McMurray and some other classmates from the then all-black Barr Street High School were asked to join the Lancaster Post 31 American Legion baseball program.

McMurray, Barr Street teammatesproved they belonged

Robert [email protected]

Back in the late spring of 1967, Bennie McMurray saw the invitation from the Lancaster Post 31 American Legion baseball program as just a chance to play.

Today – some 44 years later – he sees a greater sig-nificance.

“We went down to Eggle-ton Field and history was made,” said McMurray, now the head football coach at Lancaster High School.

Back in 1967, McMurray’s senior year at the then all-black Barr Street High School in Lancaster, the ace left-handed pitcher and his Golden Tigers’ teammates were making a name for themselves on the dia-mond.

Barr Street High, a school

with a reputation for ath-letic excellence no matter the season, was coming off a 19-4 Class AAAA state championship season in baseball.

McMurray, then a mere 16-year-old, recalls getting a call to the office along with three other Barr Street Golden Tigers’ baseball standouts – catcher Dennis Bailey, shortstop Elroy Dun-can and outfielder Lydie Porter.

See PAVING | Page 2A

BLACK HISTORY MONTH


2011

YOUNG BLACK MALES

in a crisisREECE MURPHY/[email protected]

Adopt A Leader participants recite the “Seven Principles” in preparation for a Black History Month program at Clinton Elementary School in Lancaster.

Black Achievement Gap is a collective challenge

Reece Murphy [email protected]

magine walking into school on your first day of first grade and al-

ready being at a disadvan-tage just because of your race, gender and economic background.

Of course you don’t real-ize it, since you’re only a 6-year-old boy, but accord-ing to statistics you’re al-ready behind in your vo-cabulary.

By the time you’re in the fourth grade, you’re al-ready nearly three years, on average, behind your white peers academically, according to some ex-perts.

When graduation rolls around, there’s a good chance – statistically speaking – that you might not even be in school any-more, having given up and dropped out sometime be-tween the eighth and 12th grades.

The forces acting against you are legion: Some are of your own making; some emanate from your friends;

some grow out of your community and home life; and some are placed upon you by the educational system itself.

Though you may not be aware of what it’s called, you find yourself caught up in the achievement gap – a force that’s all too real for those affected by it and often elusive for those try-ing to close it.

Generally defined as the “disparity in academic per-formance between groups of students,” the achieve-ment gap in the United States most commonly ap-plies to the difference in academic performance between minority and dis-advantaged students and their white peers.

While the gap is evident in several student popula-tion groups, virtually no other group has been af-fected so much, for so long, as black males.

“The greatest challenge to a diverse society is the inability for some of its participants to reach cer-tain standards,” retired educator and Adopt A Leader Director Bobby Bailey said. “The educa-tional challenges of Afri-can-American boys are some of the greatest in this country.

“In almost every city and school district across the nation, scores on stan-dardized tests are lowest for black boys – in every category except sports and P.E.,” he said. “The girls need help too, but the boys are just in crisis.”

Bailey, an acknowledged expert in the subject who heads up the Lancaster County School District’s Closing the Achievement Gap initiative, said the long-term effects manifest in many ways, including joblessness, crime, drug and alcohol abuse and poverty.

He said the effects of the problem fall most immedi-

See CRISIS | Page 2A

BLACK HISTORY MONTH


2011

REPORTING IN DEPTHWeekly Under 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACEThe Berkeley IndependentDan Brown

®

Wednesday, July 13, 2011 50¢ www.berkeleyind.com

INDEX: Calendar 2A Classifieds 6B Crime 2A Crossword 4B Editorial 7A Obituaries 6A Sports 1B Education 5B• • • • • • •

BY DAN BROWNThe Independent

Can Berkeley County supporttwo hospitals?

That question is at the heart ofa dispute between Roper St.Francis Healthcare and TridentHealth System – a dispute that

is preventing any hospital frombeing constructed in the coun-ty. The second anniversary ofthe dispute recently passedwith both sides vowing to seethe fight through to the end.

It has been 34 years sinceBerkeley County had a hospi-tal.

In June of 2009, the SouthCarolina Department of Healthand Environmental Controlgranted Certificates of Need toboth Roper St. Francis Hospitaland Trident Health Systems tobuild hospitals in Berkeley


Local elected officials saythey would like to see RoperSt. Francis Health Care andTrident Health System resolvetheir philosophical differencesand get on with the business of

building Berkeley County itsfirst hospital in 34 years.

Rep. Joe Jefferson, whose102nd State House District rep-resents almost all of ruralBerkeley County, feels his con-stituents have gone withoutlong enough.

“We need a hospital in

Berkeley County,” he said.“There are comparable coun-ties in South Carolina that havetwo hospitals and BerkeleyCounty can certainly supporttwo hospitals.

“I believe Trident is underes-

Hospital standoffNext Week: Roper St. Francis and Trident CEOs make their case

No end in sight for dispute ‘Berkeley ... needs a hospital’

See DISPUTE Page 6A See HOSPITAL Page 6A

REPORTING IN DEPTHREPORTING IN DEPTHWeekly Under 6,000 Division

SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Clinton Chronicle

Larry FranklinHealthcare in Laurens County

REPORTING IN DEPTHWeekly Under 6,000 Division

FIRST PLACELexington County Chronicle & The Dispatch NewsVicki Shealy, Jerry Bellune, Mark Bellune and Bill West

Is Amazon.com Project ASAP?BY VICKI SHEALYAND JERRY [email protected]

Is Amazon.com bringing more than 1,000 jobs to Lexington County?

Confidential sources told the Chronicle the company secretly negotiating with Lexington County may be Amazon.com, the powerful internet retailer.

The company may be looking for space for a ma-jor distribution center near the UPS hub at Columbia Metropolitan Airport.

Lexington County will identify the new industry that is bringing more than 1,000 new jobs to the coun-ty at a special council meet-ing next week.

The announcement will

be made on Dec. 7 at 5 p.m. at the Lexngton County Ad-ministration Building.

Council also will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. on a fee-in-lieu of taxes agree-ment for the company, which will bring new jobs and investment dollars into Lexington County.

State and county leaders are working together to fi-

nalize the deal with the new company, known only as Project ASAP.

The company will be the first recruited industry to locate in the Saxe Gotha In-dustrial Park near I-77 and the 12th Street Extension.

The project is on the fast track because company offi-cials are ready to begin work on the new facility,

once negotiations are final.Details on the industry

and its investment in Lex-ington County will be re-leased during the meeting.

The meetings will take place in Lexington County Council Chambers at the county administration building at 212 S. Lake Drive in Lexington.

Editorial, Page A10

Company X to bring 1,000+ jobsBY VICKI [email protected]

A new company, bringing more than 1,000 jobs, may be coming to the county.

County Council gave ini-tial approval to a fee-in-lieu of taxes agreement last week for the new firm, iden-tified only as Project ASAP.

The value of that agree-ment will be determined by

the amount of investment the company makes in Lex-ington County.

“This will be a great thing for everybody,” said County Council Chairman Jim Kinard.

“It’s a great fit for the county industrial park” and will bring a substantial num-ber and variety of jobs to the county, Kinard said.

But first, negotiations with

the company have to be fi-nalized, he said.

County leaders are work-ing with state commerce de-partment officials to finalize the deal.

The company will be the first recruited industry to locate in the Saxe Gotha In-dustrial Park near I-77 and the 12th Street Extension.

The project is on the fast

track because company of-ficials are ready to begin work on the new facility, once negotiations are final-ized with the county, offi-cials said.

That could come as soon as mid-December.

The county has not re-leased the name of the new company. Details will be kept confidential until a

public hearing on the fee agreement is held on Dec. 7 at 6 p.m.

More information on the company will be available at a special County Council meeting, which will be held at 5 p.m. before the public hearing.

Final approval of the agreement is set for coun-cil’s Dec. 14 meeting.

REPORTING IN DEPTHWeekly Over 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACECharleston City PaperErica Jackson Curran and Gervase Caycedo

FEAT

URE

|ch

arle

ston

city

pape

r.com

23

he Charleston Ballet Theatre is celebrating the launch of its 25th season, a major milestone for a

company that’s struggled with budget cuts in recent years. They’re touting a shining silver anniversary season and a fresh new home in Mt. Pleasant, yet out of the public eye, the company has been dealing with claims of improper use of copyrighted material by

international choreographers Eddy Toussaint and Jiri Kylian.

COPYRIGHT AND WRONGCharleston Ballet Theatre accused of using works without permission

BY ERICA JACKSON CURRAN and GERVASE CAYCEDO

Resident Choreographer and CEO Jill Eathorne Bahr and the CBT’s board of directors say the issues have been resolved. According to a statement released in August, “The board of directors was made aware that some dances used at our events contained works for which we did not have licenses to perform or for which the original owner disputed the terms of licensing agreements. The events happened months ago and were

dealt with appropriately at the time. We understood at the time that the owner of the original material and all parties involved were satisfied with the action that was taken to remedy the situation.” Yet a number of current and former dancers have stood up to complain about poor management and improper handling of the issues.

continued on page 24Sco

tt S

uchy

pho

to il

lust

rati

on


SECOND PLACEDaniel Island NewsElizabeth Bush

ELIZABETH [email protected]

The list of victims of debit/credit card fraud on Daniel Island is growing. Both island residents and island employees have been affected. City of Charleston Police and the Charleston office of the United States Secret Service are now investigating the string of cases. After an article on the subject appeared in last week’s Daniel Island News, multiple new cases have been reported to the paper via phone, email and Facebook postings. Approximately 30 people have notified the paper about their debit or credit card numbers being compromised in recent weeks. Un-

authorized charges continue to be posted all across the United States and at international locations.

Blackbaud sent out an email alert to employees last week about the fraud cases. According to Blackbaud spokes-person Melania Mathos, twenty employ-ees were identified as potential victims. A City of Charleston Police officer came to the Daniel Island facility on May 19 to

take reports from affected employees. Special Agent David Cockrell of the U.S.

Secret Service said his office was working with police to determine if there is a “com-mon point of origin” on Daniel Island for the

cases. Anyone who suspects their card numbers have been compro-

mised is asked to contact City of Charleston Police at (843) 577-7434 or Agent Cockrell (843)

388-0305.

More debit/credit fraud cases

Cases of credit/debit card fraud on DI slow


As the old slogan for a popular credit card goes, “it’s everywhere you want to be.” But that also means the risks are everywhere as well. Even on Daniel Island.

About one in three consumers in the United States have reported credit card fraud in the last year, according to a National Public Radio report. Last summer, Daniel Island residents Lora and Pat Connelly were reluctantly added to those statistics when they joined a growing list of island residents to be impacted by the crime.

“We have had that account for over two decades and never had any trouble,” said Lora. “Our son noted the irony that he lives in the inner city of Baltimore and we live in a nicer, overall safer area. We had credit card troubles and he has not.”

Jeanette Henderson, another Daniel Island resident, had two cards breached, one in March and another in September.

“There is still a risk,” said Henderson. “…Even if this data was stolen four months ago, they could just be getting around to printing the cards….Because I did a little

research on it, I think I’m a lot more aware of ways my credit card numbers can be stolen….And there is really no way you can completely protect yourself against it.”

When the investigation into the Daniel Is-land cases began last April, reports initially were filed with the City of Charleston Police Department. About 24 cases of credit or deb-it card fraud on Daniel Island were reported to police, and another six were reported in other parts of the city, according to Sgt. Donald Daquigan of the department’s white

collar crimes division. Later, the Charleston office of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) took over the cases, but continued to work with police and other authorities. A “point of compromise” was identified on Daniel Island, said USSS Resident Agent-in-Charge John Kenney, and steps were immediately taken to shut down the breach.

“We feel that the cyber breach that oc-curred was closed and if people are still getting their credit cards compromised at this time, that’s a separate occurrence,” said Kenney, who did not disclose the business impacted. “…That merchant has taken very specific steps that the industry de-mands…and they are costly steps, to repair that breach.”

According to Sgt. Daquigan, the cases on Daniel Island are similar to others that have been reported in Columbia, S.C., as well as in Alabama and other states. He believes the breach, not your typical credit or debit card theft, may have taken place in another loca-tion altogether.

“With the time period we’re talking about, we’re not even sure if the compromised cases were on Daniel Island or in Charleston

or anywhere else,” he said. “It could be hap-pening at a place where all of this informa-tion is stored…I know people (on Daniel Island) are worried, but I don’t believe it’s going to be a restaurant or a grocery store doing this. It’s a little bit more sophisticated than that.”

While Agent Kenney didn’t feel it would further the investigation to comment on the specific nature of the breach, he did report that there are several fraudulent tactics they have ruled out.

“It is not a skimming case, where an individual employee has a device that takes credit card numbers…It’s not dumpster div-ing. This is high-tech cyber stealing and they utilize faults in the software that companies use to process their payments. This is one of the many ways that people are stealing credit card numbers in cyber world and it so hap-pens that this particular case happened on Daniel Island, but every community that has access to the cyber world can be impacted.”

That’s where folks like Daniel Island resident Dana Vosburgh come in. Vosburgh is the senior vice president of sales for Mer-chants United, LLC, a company that helps businesses with secure payment processing solutions. He estimates that as many as half of all businesses on Daniel Island may not be fully protected against credit or debit card fraud.

“Credit card industry compliance is fairly new, and a lot of merchants don’t realize it,” said Vosburgh, who had his own personal credit card compromised back in May. “…You have to be compliant with rules, and the rules vary depending on the volume of transactions you do and the type of system you use.”

Vosburgh recommends merchants visit the website his company uses, www.mypci.com, to test their compliance and make sure their

payment processing systems are safe from hackers.

“If somebody has databases of people’s credit cards on hand, keeping cards on file…their software could be breached and nobody would really know it. Basically, all the card holder data is exposed….It’s important for merchants to understand what their responsibilities are, because they are the front line of defense.”

Often, business owners end up being the true victims in these types of cases. While banks typically reimburse consumers for fraudulent charges, and issue new cards, merchants don’t fare as well financially. With fines, forensic audit charges, records research, and other charges, the fraud tab to merchants could reach more than $10,000, said Vosburgh.

“It’s very expensive,” he added. “But for less than $8 or $9 a month, they can have breach protection…They should be contact-ing their credit card providers…and making sure they have done their compliance…Ev-erybody has to do their part.”

Vosburgh warned that any business utiliz-ing a wireless transmission system needs to take extra steps to ensure it is secure.

“Any business that has wi-fi, that system has to be specifically addressed so it can’t be hacked into,” he added. “….If it’s not secured the proper way, records can be ac-cessed….crooks can actually go around with scanners and look for access.”

Honeycomb Café on Daniel Island is al-ready “PCI” (Payment Card Industry) com-pliant, said owner Oang Dang, who reported no recent transaction or data breaches. Still, Dang recognizes the need for merchants to stay on guard at all times.

“You have to be vigilant as a business owner,” said Dang, who had her own per-

ISLAND NEWS thedanielislandnews.com02 The Daniel Island News ■ Oct. 20 - Oct. 26, 2011

See CREDIT CARD on PAGE 07

Merchants stay vigilant

Island Residents Victims of

DEBIT/CREDIT CARD FRAUDDEBIT CARD FRAUD PREVENTION TIPSThe following tips were provided by Consumer Reports at their website,

www.consumerreports.org.

• Avoid typing in your PIN at the pump – Experts say it is best to use a credit card at a pump, or other retail locations, but if youmust use a debit card, enter it as a “credit card” when the screen prompts you. That way you will not have to enter a PIN.

• Use ATMs located at banks – Machines located at banks, as opposed to those in convenience stores, airports, or other isolated areas, are less likely to be targeted by card thieves.

• Keep a close eye on your bank accounts -- Monitor transactions regularly by checking your accounts online. This will give you more immediate information, instead of waiting for your monthly statementto arrive.

If going to a restaurant where the waitress takeyour card, plahead and tacash.


If you were to check Kevin Reed’s debit card statement earlier this month, it looked as though he was enjoying a little shopping spree in Florida. The Daniel Island resident appeared to be racking up more than a thou-

sand dollars in charges in the Sunshine State at a variety of retail outlets, including Wal-Mart, Foot Locker and Radio Shack. The only problem was, Reed wasn’t anywhere near Florida at the time. He was home on Daniel Island with his family. His bank alerted him that someone had compro-

mised

his business debit card and was making unauthorized charges on his account.

“It was crazy,” said Reed, who runs his own construction contracting company. “I said (to the bank), ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’”

The bank representative asked Reed if he had recently booked any airline flights or hotels, to which he responded “no.” The account was immediately frozen, the money was put back into Reed’s account within 48 hours and he was issued new cards. But two days later, his personal accounts, managed by another bank, were also compromised. This time it was a credit card and a debit card.

“Neither card had left my wallet,” he said. “So it was kind of weird… I’m 44 years old and I’ve never had any fraudulent charges or anything like that!”

Again, the cards were cancelled. Other Daniel Island residents were experiencing similar problems around the same time

period. Molly May, who lives in Center Park, got a call earlier this month that someone in California had used her husband’s debit card at a Target and a Safeway, with charges totaling over $400. Her husband’s card was still in his possession here.

“It prompted us to do a credit check and run the gamut to find out if our identities had been compromised,” said May.

Jo Cooper, who lives just around the corner from May, got an email alert a couple of weeks ago from her bank about some suspicious purchases made in Wisconsin using her debit card account.

“I was amazed they caught it and it was very painless to me,” explained

Cooper. “All I had to do was shred my card and wait for a new one to arrive.”

Island resident Melissa McCorkle dis-covered that unauthorized charges to her debit card account were made in Maryland and Georgia at around the same time.

“We looked at the bank statement and saw that over $1000 had been taken,” said McCorkle. “The purchases were made at Sears, Macy’s, and Super 8 Motels…”

“My bank contacted me around the third or fourth of May and

said ‘did you authorize a purchase at Ikea in New Jersey for $400?’” added Codner’s Ferry Park resident Caroline Smith, yet another debit and credit card fraud vic-tim on the island. “…She

asked if both cards were in my possession, and I said yes.” The suspect(s) attempted two other large purchases on Smith’s

account, but fortunately they did not go through. Smith has since received a tentative credit and new cards.

Center Park resident Karen Szlosek’s case is a bit more far-reaching. Someone tried to use her credit card account in Malay-sia for a purchase worth several thousand dollars.

“The company was very prompt about informing us that there was suspicious activity,” said Szlosek.

Once the credit card case was resolved, Szlosek got hit again - this time with her debit card account. An unknown person tapped into her account for a $240 purchase at a Wal-Mart in Rock Hill, S.C. on May 14.

“The whole thing is incredibly frustrating,” added Szlosek. “…I am still waiting to see if we are liable for the charges…The woman on the phone from the fraud department (at my bank) said that it has gotten really bad lately with desperate people out there doing anything they can for some money.”

It was both a debit card and a credit card for Smythe Park resident Tanya Murphy, who said both accounts were shut down within a week of each other. Her debit card was used in Califor-nia, but the charges did not go through. According to Murphy, the credit card account was tapped for purchases both locally and in Spain.

A mysterious $222 purchase at a Wal-Mart store in Fort Worth, Texas, hit Bob Schilling’s debit card account on April 19. He and his wife, Ronda, are careful not to ever use their card for any

online or kiosk transactions, said Schilling.“We’ve never had this happen before,”

he explained. “…Luckily, the transaction was denied so no money was taken from my account…My guess is that an island business has had their database compro-mised. Just seems too coincidental that this many people in a small area were hit with fraud in a one to two week timeframe.”

Is there a common thread in these and other cases involving Daniel Island residents? So far, The Daniel Island News has learned of about a dozen victims in the community, including those listed above. But according to Lt. Christine Middleton, commanding officer for Daniel Island-based Team 5, only a couple of cases have been reported to police.

“It’s important for people to notify the police so we can investigate the incidents to see whether or not we have a developing problem,” she said. “Otherwise, we have no way of knowing….For the incidents that

we do have on hand, there is no correlation whatsoever.” In each of the cases outlined here, the cards remained in

the possession of their owners, leading victims to believe the suspects created new cards using their account numbers. In a practice known as “skimming,” account information is literally downloaded off the magnetic strip on the card and onto a device attached to a credit card swipe machine at a gas station pump, restaurant, retail outlet, or at an or ATM machine.

“Card swipe information can be obtained several ways, includ-ing small swipe devices in an apron or pocket, (or) skimmers attached to the front of an ATM,” said Sgt. Trevor Shelor, crime prevention officer for the City of Charleston Police Department. “…The info is then recorded, downloaded onto a computer and transmitted to someone else, usually in another state, and used to produce counterfeit cards.”

Recently, “skimming” attracted national attention when it was determined that more than 80 Michaels Arts and Crafts stores in 20 states had been the victim of “PIN pad tampering” (South Carolina was not listed as one of the affected states).

When asked if there might be a possible skimmer device in use on Daniel Island, both Sgt. Shelor and Lt. Middleton said it’s hard to determine that information without more data.

“The majority (of victims) just work through their banks and don’t discuss it with their neighbors,” Shelor explained. “Not that there isn’t a common thread – sometimes there is, like a skimmer on a particular ATM or a criminally connected cashier, but every person probably had several avenues their information could have been taken.”

“There is nothing to indicate there is a problem at any one par-ticular establishment (on Daniel Island) or any potential suspects to indicate that we have fraudulent activity occurring or devices that are being used to retrieve banking information or credit card information.”

For now, police are urging residents to take a few extra safety precautions when it comes to using your debit and credit cards. First, make an effort to make sure you do not allow your card to leave your sight.

“If going to a restaurant where the waitress takes your card, plan ahead and take cash or you should still be allowed to just got to the register (to pay),” said Shelor. “(Also), be wary of buying anything online with a debit card. Credit cards usually have more legal protections against fraudulent use, and a person using a debit card can clean you out instantly, causing all of your legitimate transactions to bounce.”

Report all possible fraudulent activity or scams to police, add-ed Shelor. He also suggested residents contact the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-IDTHEFT or online at www.FTC.gov. Identity theft information is also available on the Charleston Po-lice Department website at www.charleston-pd.org under “crime prevention.”

ISLAND NEWS thedanielislandnews.com02 The Daniel Island News ■ June 23 - June 29, 2011


The Daniel Island business that served as the “point of compromise” in a rash of debit/credit card fraud cases has taken steps to shut down the breach, according to an investigator with the Charleston office of the U.S. Secret Service.

“The point of compromise has been identi-fied and that business has taken clear steps to rectify the situation so that that compromise is no longer available to the cyber criminals,” said John Kenney, Resident Agent In Charge.

While Agent Kenney did not release the name of the business, or when the breach was identified, he did report that investigators are still working the cases involved. The U.S. Secret Service began looking into reports of debit and credit card fraud cases on Daniel Island last month, after dozens of island residents and or employees began contacting The Daniel Island News and local authorities about unauthorized charges that were being posted to their accounts both nationally and internationally.

“We have an ongoing investigation and I

can’t comment further,” added Kenney. “I know there are many

questions, but one thing I can share is that we are working the case and continue to work it. We advise people to be cautious with their debit and credit cards. This is not a problem that is unique to Daniel Island. It’s very nor-mal. Cases where networks are compromised happen very routinely and that’s just part of the cyber world we live in.”

Over the last week, additional new Daniel Island debit/credit card fraud cases have con-tinued to pop up. Island resident Chip Law was contacted by his bank on Friday when a charge was attempted on his credit card account from a location in Pakistan. Ten days

prior to that activity, another account held by Law was hit with an unauthorized charge in New York.

“I feel completely compromised,” said Law. “I now feel uneasy with every electronic transaction I make. While I still need to use my credit cards to do what is necessary, I am now leery of all involved: merchants, card processors, banks, etc.”

When asked how new cases can occur even after the suspected Daniel Island threat has been eliminated, Agent Kenney said the po-tential for stolen credit or debit card numbers to be used is still a possibility both now and in the future.

“Cyber criminals often, and it appears to be the case here, ‘dump’ numbers over a

period of time (days or even weeks),” Kenney added. “The end users of the stolen numbers may hold them for a time as well or re-sell the numbers to other criminals.”

Always careful to review his accounts each month, Law plans to stay extra vigilant in the wake of his credit card scares. He now goes online at least twice a week to check recent charges.

“Unfortunately, I thought we did every-thing we could to keep this from occurring,” said Law. “For these instances on Daniel Island, it appears that we have been had by some sophisticated professional operators.”

Kenney said the U.S. Secret Service would continue to work with City of Charleston Police and other law enforcement agencies to investigate the Daniel Island credit and debit card cases.

“We work in concert with our police partners here, but when a case begins to cross borders we either work with other Secret Service agents or international partners,” he said. “And with cyber crime, it can become international very quickly.”

Anyone who suspects their credit or debit accounts have been compromised is asked to contact Special Agent David Cockrell of the Charleston office of the U.S. Secret Service at (843) 388-0805.

Just because your credit cards are in your wallet, doesn’t mean they are safe…U.S. Secret Service agents continue to inves-tigate a string of credit/debit card fraud cases on Daniel Island, even though the alleged “point of compromised” has been identified and shut down.

DI debit/credit card breach thwarted

sonal credit card hacked during the same time the cases on Daniel Island were occur-ring. “There is a lot of crime out there…but we have had no problems here….For consumers, the fear shouldn’t be there. As a consumer, you are well protected. It’s the vendors who have to handle the repercus-sions.”

At nearby Daniel Island Wine and Spirits, Store Manager Patty Hoare said her store has been spared any trouble as well.

“Because of the nature of the business, we get signatures for every single transaction,” added Hoaré, who said her store’s payments are processed over the phone, not through a computer. “We never had any calls (relating to the debit and credit card problems)…A lot of our customers, we get to know them. We have been very fortunate.”

“I came on (staff) in May, and since then we have had no problems,” added Linda Saccomagno, manager at the Island Market/Kangaroo Express. “We are PCI compliant.”

Still, the criminals committing credit and debit card fraud are constantly evolving their game, hoping to find new ways to tap into accounts – something that makes track-

ing them all the more difficult. When the playing field is global, things get even more complicated, said Agent Kenney.

“To commit the crime, you don’t have to be here,” he added. “You can be sitting in Moscow or Kiev…and you’re getting the data you want… …You have two points, one is the actual business where the server is, the other is the person on the keyboard…your venue for the crime could be at either loca-tion.”

To report new credit or debit card fraud cases, contact Charleston Police at (843) 577-7434 or the local Secret Service office at (843) 388-0305. For additional informa-tion on protecting yourself against credit or debit card fraud, visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website on identity theft at www.ftc.gov/idtheft.

ELIZABETH BUSHPatty Hoaré, store manager at Daniel Island Wine & Spirits, runs a customer’s credit card through a machine beside the register. No cases of credit or debit card fraud have been reported at the business, but Hoaré and her staff continue to be vigilant about closely monitoring transactions.

CREDIT CARD From PAGE 02

Credit Card theft is a local and national problem



State probes veteran’s group


They spent all week can-vassing Carolina Forest fordonations to benefit veter-ans.

But the Veterans SupportOrganization (VSO) spentless than 7 percent of themoney it collected in 2009-2010 to directly benefit veter-ans groups, according to aChronicle review of federal

tax records.Toting buckets bearing

American flags, VSO volun-teers dressed in camouflagescoured Carolina ForestBoulevard last week, captur-ing the attention of Paul

Soucy, a Carolina Forest resi-dent and 22-year Air Forceveteran.

Soucy said he filed a com-plaint with the S.C. AttorneyGeneral’s office after he saidVSO volunteers couldn’t an-

swer basic questions abouttheir military background orwhere the money was going.

“A military guy wouldn’t dothat. He’d have his own uni-forms,” Soucy said. “Whatgets me is the person collect-ing the money gets 30 centsout of every dollar, and that’sgoing to someone’s boss.”

Mark Plowden, spokesman

CHRONICLE SPECIAL REPORT

Attorney general, secretary of statelooking into non-profit’s activities

� Breaking News

The Carolina Forest Chronicle broke this story onlineMarch 29 at 10:05 a.m. Visit the Chronicle’s website atwww.thecarolinaforest chronicle.com.

VETERANS, A5

REPORTING IN DEPTHWeekly 2/3 Times Division

THIRD PLACEThe Hartsville MessengerJim Faile

REPORTING IN DEPTHREPORTING IN DEPTHWeekly 2/3 Times Division

SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Gaff ney LedgerJoe L. Hughes II

By JOE L. HUGHES IILedger Staff Writer

[email protected]

A beautiful afternoon atSpartanburg’s Cleveland Parktook a tragic turn Saturdaywhen a popular children’strain ride derailed, killing alocal child and injuring manymore.

Spartanburg Public Safetyofficials worked well intoSunday morning hoping tofind answers as to why theminiature train ride called“Sparkles” overturned near atrestle shortly before 1 p.m.

Approximately 28 people,most of whom were children,were aboard the train when itcrashed, said SpartanburgPublic Safety Capt. ArtLittlejohn.

Two medical helicopterswere deployed to transportthe injured to children’s hos-pitals in Greenville, whileothers were sent toSpartanburg Regional andMary Black hospitals.

Efforts to save 6-year oldBenjamin “Benji” SamuelEasler unfortunately werefutile. The Gaffney child diedabout an hour after the acci-dent, Littlejohn said.

Both of the child’s parentsand his two siblings were alsoaboard the train when itderailed.

His father, Dr. DwightEasler, pastor of CorinthBaptist Church and assistantfire chief at the CorinthVolunteer Fire Department,reportedly suffered a brokenleg, internal injuries and anumber of cuts and bruises.Both of Benji’s brothers suf-fered broken arms.

Benji’s mother, Tabitha,was taken to SpartanburgRegional Medical Center forobservation but was laterreleased.

“Each Sunday when thepastor would ask whether vis-itors were present andwhether they would like to begiven a pamphlet from one ofthe deacons, Benji wouldalways raise his hand. Not aSunday would go by withouthim doing this,” said a tearfulCorinth Baptist Church dea-con at a prayer service heldfor grieving church membersSaturday night at CentralBaptist Church. “And nowthat he’s gone, that little handwill not raise requesting apamphlet anymore. ... When Iheard of the devastation, Iquestioned God, ‘Why? Why?’But only He knows the pur-pose, only He knows theanswer. All we can do isthank God for Benji’s life,and thank Him for beingGod.”

“No one knew what wasgoing on until it actually hap-pened,” said Leslie Ellis, amember of Corinth Baptist

Church whose daughterMarigrace suffered a brokenarm in the crash. “As Ifocused in on my camera,they went around the curveand all of a sudden we hearda loud pop. When this hap-pened half the train fell offthe tracks. There was noforewarning. It happened inthe blink of an eye.”

Ellis said she then heardchildren screaming andyelling.

“All I heard was scream-ing,” she said. “My firstinstinct was to look for mychild. So I got down on allfours, pulling rocks out try-ing to find her. Once I wasable to find her, then we wentabout the task of finding oth-ers who were affected. Itwould seem as if it werechaotic, but a lot of angelswere present there.”

Corinth Baptist Churchmembers held a prayer serv-ice Sunday, lifting up inprayer all of the familiesaffected. They also offeredcounseling to those who feltthey needed it.

“No doubt, it was one of themore difficult church servicesmany of us have ever attend-ed,” Ellis said. “There was a

group for our youths, one forchildren and another for par-ents involved in the wreck.

“It is very reassuring andcomforting to know you havesuch a loving church andcommunity to rely on.Actions speak more thanwords and a simple hug or

pat on the shoulder means alot, lets you know people arethere. We all know those whosurvived are blessed andlucky, but it will take sometime before things get backto normal.”

Meanwhile, an investiga-tion continues into what

caused the crash. The S.C.Highway Patrol’s Multi-disci-plinary Investigation Team(MAIT) spent much ofSunday afternoon atCleveland Park reconstruct-ing the disaster.

According to information�� See TRAIN, Page 5

Park outing turns tragic6-year-olddies when

train derails

Emergency workers pull victims from the scene of a Saturday afternoon accident in which a popular children s trainderailed, killing a 6-year-old boy and leaving many more people injured. (Photo courtesy TIM KIMZEY / Spartanburg Herald-Journal)

Some of the injured are treated at the crash scene. Officials said more than two dozen peo-ple were aboard the train when it derailed. (Photo courtesy TIM KIMZEY / Spartanburg Herald-Journal)

�

By JOE L. HUGHES IILedger Staff Writer

[email protected]

The aches and pains of Rev. DwightEasler’s body compared little to the painthe Corinth Baptist Church pastor felt inhis heart Thursday afternoon.

Typically accustomed to looking downfrom his pulpit and seeing his three sonsfocused intently as he delivered themorning sermon, the local clergymanwas in the same place doing his best tofight back tears, struggling to find wordsin the wake of his family’s tragic loss.

His family did not grieve alone, howev-er, as scores of county residents packedthe rural Cherokee County church to saygoodbye to 6-year-old Benjamin “Benji”Samuel Easler, who died last Saturdayafternoon from injuries suffered after theminiature train ride “Sparkles” derailedat Cleveland Park in Spartanburg.

Injured in the same crash that took thelife of his young son, Rev. Easler wasunable to move more than a few steps ata time without the use of a wheelchair.The pastor tried his best to convey thepain of separation he and his family wereexperiencing.

“Like Elisha did when his mentor Elijahwas called to heaven, I currently am

� See HUNDREDS, Page 5A

A HEART-WRENCHING GOODBYE

A large crowd gathers around the grave site during services Thursday for Benjamin “Benji” Samuel Easler.

Hundreds attend funeral of 6-year-old boykilled when miniature train at park crashed

Benji s mother, Tabitha (background), watches as her son Matthew releasesdoves with the assistance of funeral director Ashby Blakely during the gravesideportion of the funeral service Thursday. (Ledger photos / JOE L. HUGHES II)

REPORTING IN DEPTHWeekly 2/3 Times Division

FIRST PLACEThe News & ReporterDenyse Clark and Travis Jenkins

CHESTER COUNT Y’S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1869

Issue 33, 2 Sections, 18 pages WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2011 75 Cents

CHESTER COUNT Y’S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1869

THE

NEWS&REPORTERTHE

NEWS&REPORTER

Phone vote on super sparks debateBY DENYSE MIDDLETON

[email protected]

Questions about a board member’s phone participa-tion have arisen in the past week since the Chester County Board of School Trustees voted to place it’s superintendent on paid administrative leave.

One board member sub-

mitted a “Letter to the Editor” to address the phone participation.

On Monday, April 18 at 7 a.m., four members of the board, Maggie James, Denise Lawson, Dr. Laurens W. Fort, Jr. and the Rev. Bill Stringfellow, met at the district office on Hinton

School Board’s Attorney: Phone vote ‘appropriate’ BY TRAVIS JENKINS

[email protected]

A representative of the South Carolina Press Association disagrees with the opinion of a Chester County School Board attor-ney regarding the ability of board members to cast votes over the telephone.

At a meeting held last Monday morning, the board voted to place superinten-dent Dr. Thomas Graves on

administrative leave with pay. Three board members were absent from the meet-ing, but board member Gene Boyd was allowed to partici-pate in the executive ses-sion portion of the meeting and vote over the phone.

According to Robert’s Rules of Order, the book that details parliamentary procedures for governing bodies and boards, voting over the telephone is not permissible unless a board

has a specific by-law which allows board members to vote in that manner. The Chester County School District has no such by-law.

The board’s attorney, Allison Hanna of the firm Childs and Halligan, told The News & Reporter that in this state, school board members may vote by phone if they deem the practice necessary. In fact, Hanna

Press Association: No it wasn’t

Dr. GravesSee BOARD, Page 2-A See PRESS, Page 2-A

BEAT REPORTINGWeekly Under 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACECoastal ObserverJackie Broach


Herman Cain’s front and center placement at this week’s GOP presidential debate is proof of something Wacca-maw Neck Republicans already know: It’s far too early in the game to count anybody out.

“You have to look back on 2008. John McCain was stuck in third place, but ultimately he won the nomination,” said

Ted Quantz of DeBordieu.Former Massachusetts Gov.

Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry have been clear frontrunners in the race and Perry, with his straight talk, seemed to be a favorite locally. But Cain, a businessman who hails from Atlanta and was once relegated to the fringe of the debate stage, joined them in the top tier after a surge that followed his straw poll win in

SEE “GOP,” PAGE 3

Politics

More candidatesline up for runin District 108BY JACKIE R. BROACHCOASTAL OBSERVER

It was expected that the field of candidates for the new 7th Congressional District would be crowded, but the roster of candidates for state House Dis-trict 108 might end up being just as long.

Randy Hollister, 58, of Paw-leys Plantation, and Joey Smith, 29, of Hagley, said this week they will run for the seat, adding their names to a grow-ing list of Republicans who have expressed interest. Hollis-ter has been in the real estate business since the 1970s and last year teamed up with John-ny Weaver to open a commer-cial and investment real estate brokerage firm in the Pawleys Island area.

Smith helps run his family’s industrial pressure washing company and said he has want-ed to run for office for 10 years.

Alan Walters, a county mag-istrate and judge for the town of Pawleys Island; David Du-Rant, attorney for the town; and Stephen Goldfinch, a Mur-rells Inlet attorney, all say they are considering a run. Gold-

finch has registered with the state Ethics Commission.

New lines for the district re-ceived preclearance from the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday, meaning more offi-cial announcements of candida-cy are probably on the way.

Incumbent Rep. Kevin Ryan, elected in 2010, announced last month he won’t run again. That’s when Hollister decided it was time for him to get in-volved in politics again.

“My wife and I looked at each other and said, you know, this is the time. Instead of scream-ing at the news every night, I need to make something hap-pen,” he said.

SEE “HOUSE,” PAGE 3

GOP members in no rushto pick presidential nominee

Hollister, left, and Smith

BEAT REPORTINGBEAT REPORTINGWeekly Under 6,000 Division

SECOND PLACESECOND PLACELee County Observer

Gee Atkinson

BEAT REPORTINGBEAT REPORTINGWeekly Under 6,000 Division

FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEMyrtle Beach Herald

Amanda KelleyStrand fi shermen reeling

from latest regulation

BEAT REPORTINGWeekly Over 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACECarolina GatewayReece Murphy

REECE [email protected]

They’re young. They’re smart. They’re small but mighty.

They’re the Incredible GRALCs of Indian Land – and they’re gunning for world domination in the internation-al First Lego League (FLL) annual robotics competition.

Or maybe just a Blizzard from Dairy Queen.

Made up of five Indian Land Middle School students, the team recently ranked sev-enth out of 17 teams at the regional FLL competition held at York Technical College in December. The showing earned the team a spot in the state competition March 5 in Columbia, and hopefully, a chance to compete in the FLL’s World Festival in St. Louis, Mo., in April.

The team name is an acro-nym of the first letter of each member’s name: Greg Mil-lett, Rodney Hubbard, Alex Boggess, Lisa Krause and Chris Nahum.

“We wanted to be tough and geeky at the same time,” club president Chris Nahum said of the team name. “So we put it together and it’s kind of like a geeky Hulk – The Incredible GRALCs.”

Team coach P.J. Krause said the FLL challenge was found-ed by American entrepreneur and inventor Dean L. Kamen, better known as the inventor of the Segway.

Krause said as a 4-H team, the GRALCs took on and beat school teams that were not only much bigger, but with better funded, curricu-lum-based programs.

She said the team’s confi-dence level flagged a bit when they saw the larger teams at regionals, but the Incredible GRALCs persevered.

“They actually started off saying, ‘We get Blizzards when we win,’ then it was ... ‘if we’re the top 10,’ and then it was ‘OK, if we don’t come in dead last,” Krause said.

“When they called their names, Greg fell to his knees

...and they said, ‘Lucky No. 7. We’re getting Blizzards!

“I’m telling you, those kids walked right in there and took on those larger teams like it was nothing,” Krause said. “And they had a blast.”

The First Lego League competition is fairly intense.

Each year, organizers release a scientific topic-based theme. This year’s theme is “Body Forward” and deals with bio-medical sciences. Past years’ themes have included the sci-entific study of climate, nano technology and the oceans, among others.

The challenge has two parts, a project and a robot game, which the kids take on and complete by themselves. Krause said her role is simply to act as a “motivator.”

For the project portion, team members research a topic and come up with a new solution related to the sub-ject.

Then the team has to make a presentation before judges of their findings and solution.

This year, the IL team chose ADHD as their research proj-ect.

“You have to research all the different treatments and then think of a treatment that might work,” Lisa said. “What we found was that sunlight produces more energy, so it’s best that you have more artifi-cial light (if you have ADHD).

“Plus, it’s been proven that having artificial light in a class-room helps students concen-trate,” she said.

For the robotics portion of the challenge, students design, build and program an autono-mous Lego computer to con-duct a series of challenges on a themed playing field. The robot has two minutes to automatically conduct as many tasks as it can, earning points as it goes. Students lose points if they have to touch the robot outside the safe area.

The tasks are impressive: Pull a Lego hand onto your side of the board for extra points; insert a stint in a Lego artery; cast a broken Lego bone; put a pacemaker into a Lego heart; and make a medi-cine dispenser dispense only blue and white Lego pills and

take them to a Lego patient area, just to name a few.

Team members use a host of skills, from geometry to mathematics to reading, in building and programming their robot.

“It’s a basic ‘tribot’ design,” Greg said. “We got Design Quality (at the regional com-petition) because our robot was the simplest. It was sim-ple, but it took us months to build.”

“Yeah, and the program got wiped out the night before the competition, so they were literally programming on the fly,” P.J. Krause said. “They were truly the little team that could.”

Which brings up another point – more than anything, the Incredible GRALCs are a team: Greg is chief builder, Rodney is a builder/designer, Alex is a builder, Lisa chief researcher, programmer and robot operator and Chris is president and programmer.

“That was one thing I noticed,” Lisa said. “When we went in there, we all worked together. A lot of the larger teams had one or two people

working and the rest just standing around.”

Chris’ dad, Mike Nahum, said he originally wanted his son to play football, since he himself is a coach. But Chris took to robotics instead, Nahum said, and he’s been rooting for his son and the GRALCs ever since.

Nahum said he appreciates that fact that, like sports, FLL teaches kids how to work together as a team.

“Teamwork is the No. 1 reason they’re able to go and compete,” Nahum said. “Each member has an assignment, and to win, they’re going to have to work together. I think they’re doing awesome.”

Most of all, though, being on the team is fun, members say, and they can’t wait for the state competition. The Incredible GRALCs think they stand a good chance.

“I think it would be great if we make it to the Interna-tional,” Chris said. “I would freak so much. It would be awesome.”

“Yeah, we want a Blizzard!” Lisa adds.

They all cheer.

ILMS robotics team going to state

To buy this photo, visit www.carolinagatewayonline.com AARON MORRISON/staff photographer

LEFT: Indian Land’s Incredible GRALCs 4-H robotics club, along with coach P.J. Krause, are heading to the First Lego League (FLL) state championship in March. Lisa Krause, front, holds the club’s robot. Other members are, from left, Greg Millett, Alex Boggess, Chris Nahum and Rodney Hubbard. ABOVE: Chris Nahum, Lisa Krause and Greg Millett reprogram their robot as team members Alex Boggess and Rodney Hubbard set up pieces of the practice board. In competi-tions, the robot must maneuver around the board by itself and suc-cessfully complete as many tasks as it can in two minutes.

Incredible GRALCs take on much larger teams


As the old saying goes, the Lord works in mysterious ways.

So it shouldn’t come as any surprise that he’d keep up with the times and occa-sionally work through Face-book as well.

That’s the gist of what can only be called the miraculous story of David Ensley of Stallings, N.C., and Amy Cunningham of Indian Land.

It was through the social networking site that the two strangers met and became bound by more than just a Facebook friendship after Cunningham, a 20-million-to-1, near-perfect match, donated her kidney to save Ensley’s life.

“Amy told me that from the get-go she knew her kid-ney would match,” Ensley said from his hospital room at Carolinas Medical Center on Friday. “She’s such a close match that she could be my sister.

“There’s not even 20 mil-lion people living in North and South Carolina both, so I’d say that pretty much makes it a miracle,” he said.

For the whole story, you have to go back to 2001 when doctors diagnosed Ens-ley with polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder that causes multiple cysts to form on the kidneys causing them to become enlarged, among other problems.

Over the years, Ensley’s kidneys continued to degrade until finally, in 2009, they failed.

Dialysis at home became dialysis at a kidney center, the medication increased and Ensley started losing weight, settling at 133 pounds earlier this year, a shadow of his former 223-pound self.

“My doctor told me, ‘You need to have a consultation with your wife; we may have to do something drastic,’” Ensley said. “He said I could

die in weeks if I didn’t get anything done.”

“I looked like a dead man when I walked by the mir-ror.”

After more than three years of her brother being on the donor’s list with no matches, Ensley’s sister, Jen-nifer Scoggins, decided to set up a Facebook page on March 9. She called it “Looking for

a Kidney for My Brother David Ensley.”

Scoggins said the response and support for her brother was great right from the start. But as the weeks wore on, there was still no donor.

“I figured it would take a while,” Scoggins said. “And if not, at least we were try-

photo courtesy of CHUCK CUNNINGHAM

David Ensley sits in his hospital bed, holding the hand of his kidney donor, Amy Cunningham. Ensley found Cun-ningham through the Internet networking site Facebook.

See DONOR, Page 2

ONE IN 20 MILLION MIRACLEMan finds IL kidney donor through Facebook


A Sun City Carolina Lakes resi-dent says he is frustrated and get-ting nowhere fast trying to find someone to help him with flooding issues on his property and the street in front of his home.

Larry Campbell of Yosemite Way lives in an area of the immense active adult community that is still under development. His home is located near several vacant proper-ties and home sites under con-struction.

Campbell said during heavy rains, muddy stormwater pours over a retention wall from the properties above his home, leaving

his yard covered in puddles of muddy silt at times an inch and a quarter deep.

Flowing together with more stormwater runoff from down the street, Campbell said the silty water clogs storm drains and turns the cul-de-sac in front of his home into a pond of standing water for days. He said it also covers surfaces with a muddy glaze.

“It’s been about three weeks since I started trying to find some-one to help me, and then I find out that nobody was really doing any-thing,” Campbell said. “It’s been a series of false starts, misdirections and denials of responsibility.”

Campbell said the first person he spoke with was Pulte Homes’

field manager Greg Coffey, who, while sympathetic to the problem and helpful in cleaning it up, and repairing and installing more silt fencing, has not been able to cor-rect the problem.

Coffey did not return calls from the paper by presstime.

Pulte site supervisor Brian Fis-cher said he was unfamiliar with the situation and directed ques-tions to his supervisor, Cisco Gar-cia, who did not return calls from the paper by presstime.

Campbell said he also turned to Carolina Lakes Homeowners Asso-ciation chairwoman Carol James and HOA board member, Darrell

photo courtesy of LARRY CAMPBELL

Stormwater rushes over silt fences and a retaining wall into Larry Campbell’s yard at 4009 Yosemite Way in Sun City Carolina Lakes after a July 14 storm. Representatives from the county and state S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control visited the site Thursday, July 28, at Campbell’s request.

Stormwater floods Sun City

DHEC looking at runoff issues

See SUN CITY, Page 2


Fed up with unchecked growth in Lancaster County’s fastest growing region, a group of Panhandle residents have joined forces to explore incor-poration for Indian Land.

Calling themselves Indian Land Voice (ILV), the group met publicly for the first time Aug. 17 at the Del Webb Library. About a dozen resi-dents attended the meeting, not counting organizers.

Having organized and begun the exploratory process about two months ago, members say it’s now time to take their ideas to the public.

“We are a group of citizens interested in the incorporation

of Indian Land,” ILV member Michael Koshis said in kicking off the meeting. “We want to engage the support of the community, that’s why we’re having these meetings. We want to gauge what you guys think.”

This is not the first time incorporation has been dis-cussed by Indian Land resi-dents, though before the area lacked the statutory popula-tion density to support the move.

But all that’s changed now in an area that saw its popula-tion nearly double over the last decade to 19,729, accord-ing to the 2010 Census, almost all of it north of Waxhaw Highway (S.C. 75).

Panhandle’s population dense enough to become a city now

Indian Land Voice explores incorporation

See INCORPORATION, Page 3


The Indian Land communi-ty was stunned last week by the death of a beloved coach and teacher.

Mike Kersey suffered a severe head injury shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, when he was thrown from an ATV at his home on Dirt Road in the Van Wyck com-munity.

Kersey, 39, died Oct. 4, at Carolinas Medical Center, where he was flown after the accident.

“Coach Kersey” as he was almost universally known among students, peers and the community, was a 17-year vet-eran of the Lancaster County

School Dis-trict. He taught physi-cal education at Indian Land Ele-m e n t a r y School and had coached wrestling at L a n c a s t e r

and Indian Land high schools.In a move many said was

indicative of the deep com-mitment he had to his family, Kersey had put his coaching duties on hold this year and next to help care for his chil-dren while his wife, Erin, pur-sued her master’s degree.

The couple has three chil-dren, Madeline Grace, 10, Julianna Rose, 6, and Lowdan

Michael, 3.Indian Land Elementary

Principal Beth Blum said she and other staff members were stunned and heartbroken to hear the news.

ILES announced Kersey’s death to parents Oct. 4 with e-mails and ConnectEd phone calls, sad news many had already heard as word spread quickly to schools and com-munities across the county.

Blum said the school called in grief counselors from all over the district to help stu-dents cope with losing Kersey. She said students were dealing with it in different ways, as was the staff and faculty.

“It’s been a tough day – a lot of crying, a lot of heartache,” Blum said Oct. 5. “You just

kind of take the kids where they are with their grief.

“They tell me, ‘I miss Coach Kersey,’ I tell them, ‘I know. Mrs. Blum misses him too,’” she said. “We all do.”

Students placed a ring of flowers, hand-lettered cards and star-shaped balloons at the base of the school’s flagpole in Kersey’s memory. The flag hung solemnly at half-staff in his memory Oct. 5.

Trying to be strong, but overcome occasionally by tears, ILES fifth-grader Baile-igh Sizemore said she felt bad for Kersey’s family, especially her classmate, Madeline Grace Kersey, one of Kersey’s daugh-ters.

Kersey

See KERSEY, Page 2

Community remembers coach KerseyBeloved teacher/coach died last week after ATV accident

To buy this photo, visit www.carolinagatewayonline.com REECE MURPHY/reporter

Indian Land Elementary School first-graders Perla Sanchez and Matthew Bowling add their cards to the stack of cards, flowers and balloons left under the school’s flag pole in memory of Mike Kersey, who died Oct. 4. The school’s flag was also at half-staff. For obituary information, see page 8.

BEAT REPORTINGBEAT REPORTINGWeekly Over 6,000 Division

SECOND PLACESECOND PLACECharleston City Paper

Paul Bowers2011 Elections

BEAT REPORTINGBEAT REPORTINGWeekly Over 6,000 Division

FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEFree TimesEva Moore

Columbia city government

BEAT REPORTINGBEAT REPORTINGWeekly 2/3 Times Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Press & Standard

George SalsberryCriminal Courts


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Gaff ney Ledger

Tim GullaPolice


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Gaff ney Ledger

Tim GullaCourts

SPOT SPORTS STORYWeekly Under 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACEThe Berkeley IndependentDan Brown

read

leldnrdy

-frdose-

e

ge-rht-e

AyVse

o,s-

f

Showdown!


Call it an uncivil, civil war.Friday’s football game matching

visiting Timberland against hostBerkeley almost pits brother againstbrother. The players filling out bothrosters have grown up playing withand against each other in Park andRec leagues in Moncks Corner, St.Stephen and Bonneau.

They love to play each other, andthey love to beat each other even

more.It was Berkeley who last defeated

the Timberland Wolves in a regularseason game and that was back in2007. The teams did not meet againuntil last year, leaving Wolves’ fansto gnash their teeth in anticipation ofrevenge for the better part of threeyears.

Last fall the Wolves notched theirfirst win ever against the Stags, a 24-21thriller in St. Stephen.

On Friday they have at it again,this time in Moncks Corner with the

Wolves and their juggernaut defensetrying to make it two in a row over ayoung Stags team.

The 2011 season finds both teamsat complete opposites of the spec-trum, with the young and inexperi-enced Stags struggling to find theirlegs under new coach Jeff Cruce’sspread offense. The team has goneeight quarters without a touchdownin the young season, whileTimberland’s veteran team is run-ning a modified “Pistol” offense andscoring almost at will.

The 2011 edition of theTimberland Wolves return 17starters and a defense coach ArtCraig calls perhaps the fastest andbest defense he’s ever coached.

“We have to play within our pro-gram to be successful,” he said. “Weare so fast that our biggest problemon defense is that we overrun theplay. We have to play a controlledgame to be successful.”

Last Friday the Stags were shut outfor the second week in a row, 13-0

See SHOWDOWN Page 2B

f hPhoto by Dan Brown/Independent

SPOT SPORTS STORYWeekly Under 6,000 Division

SECOND PLACENews-ChronicleDebbie Rogers

DR. JOHN C. NEEL IVCHIROPRACTIC PHYSICIAN

Walk-ins welcomeMassage Therapy and Biofreeze available

Phone 864-338-BACK (2225)

Social Security Disability Cases

Private Arbitration • Mediation

Professional Consulting Services Business •Personal

Notary Public

Capt. Leonardo OrtizJd • Dd • Msd

(864) 202-8634

HONEA PATH -- The Bears created a storm of their own Friday night as they defeated the Cyclones 37-7 to advance to the AAA Elite Eight.

For the first time since 2004 and only the third time in school history, BHP made it past the sec-ond round.

“We’re in the Elite 8,” came the yell from the team during the post-game huddle.

The accomplishment is just another step in a string of goals set early in the season.

“We’re one game away from one big one,” said head coach Russell Blackston referring to the Upper-State Championship, which will be played Nov. 26.

The Bears wasted little time in proving they weren’t afraid of an anticipated storm.

After Matt Williams’ punt rolled dead at the 20, Jermale Turner in-tercepted Chester’s first pass and returned it past midfield.

Dajun Martin completed the drive three plays later with a 42-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Cody Spence.

Julio Gomez first of three PAT kicks gave BHP a 7-0 lead with 8:44 left in the first quarter.

After both teams exchanged punts, the Cyclones went to the air; covered 58 yards in just over a minute and tied the game.

It was the last time the Cyclones found the end zone. Meanwhile BHP (12-0) scored on its next five possessions.

After defensive lineman Dar-rius Williams entered on offense,

he rushed for two first downs and scored on a 24-yard pass from Spence.

“It felt good to run the ball,” said D. Williams. “I had perfect blocking and it gave us motivation. Knowing this could have been my last game made me fight harder for the extra yards.”

The Bears stayed on the ground on their next drive. D. Williams, Markell Johnson and Tyler McGill led the rushing and a still-injured Charles Lindsey scored from two-yards out.

“We knew going into the game that Charles was not 100%,” said Blackston. “We knew there were certain things he would be able to do. When we got close to the goal line, we wanted him to have the ball because he is so good at finding the end zone and getting first downs on short yardage. He is such a warrior.”

Following a red zone defensive stand led by McGill, Corey White and William Miles, Martin leaped over the line and blocked Chester’s 30-yard field goal attempt.

The Cyclone warning was downgraded to a watch.

The Bears took a 24-7 lead to the locker room when Gomez connected for a 28-yard field goal with 3.9 seconds left on the clock. It was the junior’s and Bears’ first field goal of the season.

The Bears controlled the clock for just over 18 minutes in the second half and finished the game with 34:35 minutes of possession, while Chester had 13:25.

When Spence hit Keinan Lewis

for a 14-yard TD and a 30-7 lead, the Cyclone watch was cancelled.

McGill’s two-yard TD run at 7:12 in the fourth ended the scor-ing.

Martin intercepted Chester’s fourth-down, desperation pass and the Bears ran off the last five min-utes of the clock.

“We had our most complete week of practice this week and it translated to our most complete game,” said Blackston. “We’ve always had good practices, but haven’t always been sharp for two hours.”

The Bears, who ran 68 offensive plays, accumulated 442 yards with 204 coming through the air.

The BHP defense held Ches-ter to 146 yards on 33 offensive plays.

“I am so proud of our defense shutting them down and shutting them out the last three quarters,” said Blackston.

Chester came into the game averaging 34 points. Despite their bigger offensive and defensive lines, the Cyclones were no match for the stronger, faster and better conditioned Bears.

“Our strength and conditioning showed at the end,” said Blackston. “Our young men took over in the second half.

“It was an unbelievable win. I told the team it goes to those coach-es getting them ready to play.

“I am so proud of them. Now I get to coach my 21 seniors, whom I’ve been with for so long, for one more week.”

Chester, the Region 5 third seed,

ends its season 7-5.Due to Fairfield-Central’s 20-7

upset win over Union, BHP (12-0) received an unexpected home game this week. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Fans are reminded that BHP season passes cannot be used for playoff games. Only S.C. High

School League passes will be ac-cepted throughout the playoffs.

Scoring SummaryBHP: Dajun Martin, 42-yd. pass from Cody Spence (Julio Gomez kick) with 7:44 left in the first quarter.CHS: Julius Pendergrass, 9-yd. run (Joey Ford kick) with 3:25 left in the first.BHP: Darrius Williams, 24-yd. pass from Spence (Cameron Park kick) with :09 left

in the first quarter.BHP: Charles Lindsey, 3-yd. run (Gomez kick) with 7:50 left in the second.BHP: Gomez, 23-yd. field goal with :03.9 left in the second quarter.BHP: Keinan Lewis, 14-yd. pass from Spence (kick failed) with 3:26 left in the third.BHP: Tyler McGill, 2-yd. run (Gomez kick) with 7;12 left in the fourth quarter.

Individual StatisticsOFFENSE: Rushing (rushes-yards-TDs): Charles Lindsey 4-12-1, Corey White 1-3, Tyler McGill 7-34-1, Dajun Martin 1-4, Markell Johnson 16-72, Darrius Williams 6-77, Eric Taylor 6-27, Mark Hill 1-4. Passing (completions-attempts-interceptions-yards-TDs: Cody Spence 13-21-0-204-3. Receiving (catches-yards-TDs): Martin 3-58-1, Keinan Lewis 3-45, Matt Williams 4-28, Corey White 1-42, D. Williams 1-24-1, Jarius Scott 1-7. Punt Returns (attempts, yards, TDs): Lewis 1-2, Martin 1-11. Kickoff Returns (attempts, yards, TDs): Martin 2-29 (longest 20), Kori Cooley 1-2. Punts (attempts, yard average): M. Williams 2-34. Kickoffs (attempts, yard average): D. Williams 4-44 (longest 57). Linemen- Drew Greer 85%; Kevin Roper 85%, knockdown; Myles Agnew 93%, 2 KDs; Brandon Schortgen 85%, 3 KDs; Nathan Plank 82%. DEFENSE: Linemen - D. Williams 81%, 1 solo tackle, 2 hurries, sack; Plank 75%, 3 tackles (2), hurry; O’Shea Robinson 2 tackles (0); William Miles 71%, 2 tackles (1 for loss), Tyler Brock 78%, 1 tackle (0); Hill 2 tackles (1). Backs-White 4 solo tackles, pass breakup; Martin 1 solo tackle, blocked kick, INT; M. Williams 1 tackle (0), PBU; Jermale Turner 4 tackles (1), INT; Tyler McGill 8 tackles (3), PBU; Johnson 1 tackle (0); Malik Robinson 1 tackle (0); Taylor 1 tackle (0). Linebackers-Jarad Jennings 8 tackles (7 solo, TFL), sack, PBU; Shaheem Starks 11 tackles (5); Kendall Joseph 1 solo tackle; Ben Major 2 solo tackles. Tackle Points - Jennings 27, Starks 18, McGill 17, White 14, Martin 13, D. Williams 12, Turner 11.

NEWS-CHRONICLE - November 17, 2010 - Page 5

Bears blow past Cyclones, advance to Elite 8

Anderson TD Club

Thanks for reading the News-Chronicle

Honorees for week #11Offensive Player: Dajun Mar-tin, BHP; Co-Defensive Play-ers: Tyler McGill, BHP & Jonah Frady, Palmetto; Lineman: Matt Aleruchi, Hanna; Coach: Kenya Fouch, Hanna.

Game Stats: BHP vs. Chester Score by Quarters 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F

BHP 14 10 6 7 37

CHS 7 0 0 0 7

Team StatisticsBears Cyclones

19 First Downs 847-238-2 Rushes-Yards-TDs 14-30-113-21-0-204-3 Passes comp.att-int-Yds-TDs 10-19-3-116-02-0 Fumbles - Lost 0-02-34 Punts-Average 3-317-53 Penalties - yds penalized 5-50

Friday Night FootballThird Round of Playoffs

F-C @ BHP7:30 p.m. kickoff

Sports CalendarFootball

Nov. 19 Fairfield-Central @ BHP 7:30 State Quarterfinals

Competitive CheerNov. 20 State Meet @ Bi-Lo Center 2:40 @ Greenville

BasketballNov. 22-23 Lady Bear Invitational 22 Clinton vs Pendleton 6:00 BHP vs Crescent 7:30 23 Losers from Nov. 22 6:00 Winners from Nov. 22 7:30 29 BMS @ Gray Court-Owings 5:30

WrestlingNov. 20 BHP JV/MS @ Hillcrest 9 a.m. 27 Team Bear at Ft. Dorchester TBA @ North Charleston

MARKELL JOHNSON, RIGHT, RUNS BEHIND the block of sophomore Dillon Coleman, center,

during Friday’s football game against Chester. Johnson, a junior, rushed for 72 yards for BHP.

NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO - Debbie Rogers

NEWS-CHRONICLE PHOTO - Debbie Rogers

SENIOR DARRIUS WILLIAMS (22) FOLLOWS THE BLOCK of fellow senior Jarad Jennings, left, as he runs for a Bear first down. Normally defensive players, the duo has seen a lot of offense in the playoffs.


BHP’S DREW GREER (61) SPRINTS TO MAKE A BLOCK for running back Markell Johnson, center back.


TYLER MCGILL (47) TACKLES A CHESTER RECEIVER after he makes a catch. The Bear defense allowed no passing TDs Friday.


JERMALE TURNER RETURNS AN INTERCEPTION during first-quarter action of Friday’s playoff football game with Chester. The INT sparked the Bear offense which cov-ered 60 yards on two passes to take the early lead.


QUARTERBACK CODY SPENCE PREPARES to hand the ball off to a running back during Friday’s football game. The senior has broken nearly every BHP passing record this season.

SHAHEEM STARKS (33 LEFT) RUNS THROUGH an opening created by offensive linemen Brandon

Schortgen (79) and Myles Ag-

NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO - Debbie Rogers

SPOT SPORTS STORYSPOT SPORTS STORYWeekly Under 6,000 Division

FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACESpartanburg County NewsJed Blackwell

SPOT SPORTS STORYWeekly Over 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACEFort Mill TimesMac Banks By Mac Banks

[email protected]

FORT MILL — Two local wrestlers captured individualstate titles at the 3A state tournament as Nation Ford High’sStewart Snodgrass and Fort Mill High’s Nick Sinicrope bothwon their weight classes.

Snodgrass pinned Chester High School’s Dominick Davis,who was No. 1 in the state at 145-pounds, in the third periodin dramatic fashion after trailing the majority of the contest.Sinicrope pinned North Myrtle Beach’s Jared Michael to winthe 189-pound title.

The only local 2A wrestler at the tournament was IndianLand’s Rondreas Truesdale, who took second place at 160pounds after losing a heartbreaking, 3-2 double overtimedecision to Marion High School’s Dondre Ethridge.

Snodgrass, who was ranked second in the state behindDavis, had lost to the Chester wrestler in the last two tourna-ments, but he didn’t think about that this time around.

“I knew if I wore him down, everything I worked forwould come true,” Snodgrass said.

Snodgrass had been losing to Davis until he surprised theChester wrestler and had his shoulders to the mat before theCyclone knew what hit him. Snodgrass won with just 18seconds left in the match.

The Nation Ford win was the first state wrestling champi-onship for the school. Falcons head coach Paul Richardsonsaid Snodgrass slightly changed his approach this week inwrestling Davis by working him inside.

“Stewart works at it,” Richardson said. “He really workshis butt off.”

Snodgrass, the school’s most winning wrestler, finishedthe season at 41-4. His career record is 130-26.

Sinicrope had a similar experience to Snodgrass in thefinals as he was losing to Michael before staging a dramaticcomeback and getting the pin fall with just 30 seconds left inthe match.

“There were definitely some nerves,” Sinicrope said. “Hewas a good kid. He was pretty strong.”

His coach wasn’t surprised at how Sinicrope was able toturn the tables as time was running out.

“Nick has a knack for catching people and pinning them,”said Fort Mill head coach Chris Brock. “It’s always good tohave a state champion in the program.

Fort Mill had two wrestlers fall in the finals at 130 poundsand at 152 pounds. At 130, the Jackets’ Ryan Dugas lost toEastside’s Jacob Simmons 14-4 and at 152 Fort Mill’s Jona-than Miskelly lost to Chapin’s Scott Swindell 12-2.

Brock said he felt for his wrestlers.“Things don’t always work out the way you planned,” he

said “There are a lot of broken hearts here ”

Miskelly, who won a state title in 2009, finished his careerat Fort Mill with a 154-31 record, the second most wins everby a Yellow Jacket.

Both of Nation Ford’s wrestlers at the state competitionmade it to the finals. At 160 pounds, Markevis Duncan fell toGreenville’s Duncan Benson 4-3 in double overtime.

Fort Mill brought six wrestlers to the state finals tourna-ment, but three of them – Seth Frase, Ryan Cass and NickLeitten were knocked out without placing

PHOTOS BY MAC BANKS/FORT MILL TIMES

Fort Mill’s Nick Sinicrope goes for the pin over North Myrtle Beach’s Jared Michael

Fort Mill, Nation Fordhave S.C. title winners

WRESTLING CHAMPS: Snodgrass, Sinicrope

Nation Ford’s Stewart Snodgrass has his hand raised invictory after defeating Chester’s Dominick Davis.

Indian Land’s Rondreas Truesdale wrestles Marion HighSchool’s Dondre Ethridge in the finals.


SECOND PLACEFort Mill TimesMac Banks

By Mac [email protected]

LEXINGTON — F-Q-O! Three letters embodied a whole sea-

son for the Fort Mill High boy’s lacrosseteam. With their team trailing 11-10 af-ter the third quarter, the Jackets’ faith-ful who showed up at White Knoll HighSchool for the state championshipgame started chanting, “F-Q-O!, F-Q-O!”

The letters stand for “fourth quarterours” and that is exactly what it was asFort Mill outscored Greenville High 6-1in the final quarter to get a 16-12 winand its first state lacrosse title, rippingthe title out of the hands of the Red Raid-ers, who have had a death grip on the

S.C. championship for the past fiveyears.

“That was our quarter today,” FortMill head coach Jim Van Blarcom saidafter Saturday’s title game. “It is excit-ing for our team. I am so proud for ourkids. The kids played a heck of a game.”

Fort Mill finished the season 15-2,with one of their losses being to Green-ville earlier in the season. This was justthe second year the state High SchoolLeague has recognized the sport, but ithas been played as part of the SouthCarolina Lacrosse League for the pastseveral years with local high schoolssponsoring teams. Fort Mill has had ateam for the past five years. The seniorson the Jackets squad have been part ofthe program since it began.

The team includes players from bothFort Mill and Nation Ford high schools.

It was back and forth scoring for themajority of the game until the Jacketsdominated the fourth quarter. Juniorgoalie D.J. Quill made seven of his 16saves in the final period. The Jacketswere led by senior Steve Blanchard,who scored five goals and freshmanMitch Russell, who scored three.

Russell said playing for his team-mates inspired him in the game.

“I wanted to do this for the seniors,”he said. “They have worked hard forthis for so long. I wanted to give this tothem. It feels great.”

Greenville stayed focused on senior

MAC BANKS/FORT MILL TIMES

Fort Mill lacrosse players Patrick McDowell, left, and Cody Harris race downfield after winning the state title onSaturday.

Fourth quarter surgedecisive in title game

Please see TITLE 2B

CHAMPIONS: Fort Mill lacrosse team



POSTAL PATRON

PRESORTEDSTANDARD

U.S.POSTAGE PAIDCONWAY, S.C.PERMIT NO. 44

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL SMITH | THE CHRONICLE

THEY WON IT FOR ‘EA’BY MICHAEL SMITHEDITOR

Edward “Allen” Armstrongwould’ve smiled.

It’s always been the goal of theCarolina Forest football team todefeat cross-town rival Conway, a

feat the Panthers have never ac-complished in their previous 11 at-tempts.

On Friday night, Carolina Forestfinally achieved that goal.

Inspired by the memory of Arm-strong, the team’s running backscoach who died late Tuesday night

of an apparent heart attack, theCarolina Forest Panthers matchedConway score for score, eventuallyemerging victorious 46-42.

“What can you say? I can’t sayenough about the community and

Carolina Forest lineman Thadeus Edge (center) and the rest of the football team storm the field Friday after the Panthers defeated rival Conway for the first time in school history.

CHRONICLECAROLINA FORESTCHRONICLECAROLINA FOREST

PANTHERS, A6

Carolina Forest dedicates victory over Conway to fallen coachTHIS WEEK’S

EDITION:FOUR SECTIONS,

34 PAGESButtons for sale at Friday night’s gamepay tribute to the late Edward Armstrong.

SPOT SPORTS STORYSPOT SPORTS STORYWeekly 2/3 Times Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Press & StandardBrantley Strickland

NJCAA Hands Out Punishment for Brawl

SPOT SPORTS STORYWeekly 2/3 Times Division

SECOND PLACEThe Summerville Journal SceneRoger Lee

Summerville 8Wando 4

Edwards liftsGreen Waveover Wando

BY ROGER LEEThe Journal Scene

Green Wave pitcher Austin Edwards pickedup one of the biggest wins of his career Fridaybut it came at a hefty price.

Edwards was solid on the hill for four andtwo-thirds innings but he had to leave thegame in the fifth after being hit in the mouthwith a line drive. Edwards was taken immedi-ately for dental surgery so he didn’t get to seethe fruits of his labor, an 8-4 victory overWando that is Summerville’s first over thediamond Warriors in some time.

“It was a hard hit right back at him,”Summerville coach Burt Bazzle said. “Hedidn’t have time to react and it hit him right inthe face.”

The pitcher is at home recovering this week,but missed Saturday’s prom and will likelymiss the rest of his senior season.

“We sure hope he will get well soon,”Bazzle said. “Austin had kind of just foundhis rhythm. We dedicate this win to him. Ashe walked off he said just one thing and thatwas ‘just win.’ The team took that to heart.Wando has kind of had our number the lastfew years, but we found ways to hit the balltonight.”

Wando scored two runs in the first inning offan error and two earned runs in the second,but then Edwards shut them down.

The Green Wave scored two runs in the thirdinning and three in the fourth to take a 5-4lead. Brian Peagler came in for Edwards withtwo outs in the top of the fifth and kept

File

Austin Edwards was the winning pitcheragainst Wando Friday but may not returnto the hill this season due to an injury sus-tained during the game.

See WAVE Page 2B

SPOT SPORTS STORYWeekly 2/3 Times Division

FIRST PLACEThe Summerville Journal SceneRoger Lee

BY ROGER LEEThe Journal Scene

In between warnings to fansabout their behavior and bouts ofshouting involving the refereeand coaches, the Swamp Foxesscored four goals Tuesday tonotch a big victory.

In a spectacle of a match at The

Swamp, the Ashley Ridge boys’soccer team earned a 4-1 victoryover Colleton County. A stutterstep on a penalty kick cost ScottJones a hat trick, but his twogoals were enough to lift theSwamp Foxes to their first regionwin of the season.

“Our kids just needed someconfidence,” Ashley Ridge coach

Nate Harris said. “It’s been hardtransitioning to Class 4-A andColleton has vastly improvedlately so this is a good win for us.Hopefully this means we arestarting to get acclimated to 4-A.It was a great team effort.”

Sean Siehl and Ben Justice alsoscored for Ashley Ridge (8-8, 1-3) while keeper Stockton

Blanchard and the Fox defenseheld the Cougars (5-4, 0-3) toone goal, scored by Jarrod Ritter66 minutes into the contest.

The game was very physicalright from the start as membersof both teams went full out intheir efforts to make plays. Thisdrew frequent whistles by the

Roger Lee/Journal Scene

Ashley Ridge midfielder Michael Sauter kicks a ball past a Colleton County defender.

Foxes earn first region winAshley Ridge boys gain confidence in spectacle of a match

See FOXES Page 2B

SPORTS FEATURE STORYSPORTS FEATURE STORYWeekly Under 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACESpartanburg County NewsLeon Russ


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEMyrtle Beach HeraldAmanda Kelley


The Chesnee TribuneJed Blackwell

BEST OF THE BESTBEST OF THE BEST

SPORTS FEATURE STORYWeekly Over 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACECarolina Forest ChronicleMichael Smith


Black Water Middle School football player Hayley Taylor-Cox (right) participates in the halftime huddle in Monday’s game against Conway Middle

Seventh grade athlete becomes secondfemale to play Carolina Forest footballBY MICHAEL SMITHEDITOR

Chelsea Thomas was the first totry it. Now Hayley Taylor-Cox isfollowing in the Carolina ForestHigh School alumni’s footstepsby trying her hand at football.

Taylor-Cox, a seventh grader at BlackWater Middle School, said she knew aboutThomas, who played a season for the var-sity team last year.

Instead, the BWMS student said she

drew her inspiration from her brotherThomas, who’s in eighth grade.

“My older brother loves football and hetaught me some stuff about football,” shesaid. “We used to play it in the yard a lot.He influenced me.”

Taylor-Cox plays mainly defensive backand safety for Black Water, and has seenconsiderable playing time.

In Monday night’s game against ConwayMiddle, she lined up for four plays, the first

BLACK WATER, A10Hayley Taylor-Cox prepares to take the field in the thirdquarter. She plays defensive back and safety.

GRIDIRON GIRL


SECOND PLACEFort Mill TimesMac Banks

By Mac [email protected]

FORT MILL — In the sport ofswimming, just like in life, everysecond counts.

One second you can be aheadand winning, the other you canbe trailing even by a 10th, 100thor 1,000th of a second and endup losing. The whole idea behindthe sport isn’t just to swim, butswim fast – at least, faster thanthe person in the lane beside you.To get off the block fast, to makeit to the other end of the poolfast, to turn around fast, and getback to where you started from…fast.

The whole time, a clock isrunning and everyone thereknows who’s making every sec-ond count.

Swimmers know this instinc-tively, and it certainly isn’t some-thing you have to remind NationFord High School swimmersBrandon and David Sweezerabout. They also know that therule doesn’t just apply in thepool, but in life as well.

Just seven months after theirlife was changed forever, thebrothers will be competing for astate title Saturday in the stateHigh School League swimmingfinals in Columbia. The stretchbetween March and Octobermight not seem all that long tosome, but for the Sweezers itmight as well be a lifetime ago.

In March, while on their wayto a swim meet in Charlotte asmembers of the Rock Hill Rays,

the Sweezer boys – Brandon, 15,and David, who turns 14 thisweek – were riding with theirparents, Bobette and Bill, when

they were involved in a car acci-dent on I-277. Another car be-

MAC BANKS/FORT MILL TIMES

Brandon (standing) and David Sweezer have been standouts for theNation Ford High swim team this season. Together, the brothersovercame big obstacles.

Brothers rebound fromtragedy to chance at title

THE SWEEZERS: Making every second count

Please see SWEEZERS 4B


FIRST PLACEThe Greer CitizenJoel FitzPatrick

SIBLING RIVALRY

BY JOEL FITZPATRICKSPORTS EDITOR

Greer senior basketball player Jor-dan Mathis will never be the tallest player on the basketball court, but she will usually be the one with the biggest heart and most desire.

When she stepped on the court last week against Blue Ridge, she saw a player with the same characteristics,

one that she knew quite well. It was her sister, Ross, a freshman at Blue Ridge.

The sisters have never played on the same team, and until last week had never played against one anoth-er. Because Blue Ridge and Greer are in the same region, they will play at least twice this season.

Until that second game, Feb. 4 at Greer, Jordan will have bragging

rights. Greer dominated last week’s game, 79-41. Ross finished with 18 points, while Jordan tallied 12.

“It was definitely a new experi-ence,” Jordan said. “I wasn’t expect-ing us (Greer) to do as well as we did. We had been getting off to a slow start in most of our games, but to-night we came out and played really well from the start.”

SEE SISTERS | B6

Sisters face off for first time

, f n h a n

y s -, r s e

, d e s o f

n e -l

---y ,

d t y

a y . -

o s s y -

y

n

MANDY FERGUSON | THE GREER CITIZENFAMILY FEUD: Ross Mathis, left, and her older sister, Jordan, were on opposing sides last Tuesday at Blue Ridge. The sisters will meet at least one more time this season.

‘We have never been on the

same team...’

Ross MathisBlue Ridge basketball player

‘My dad will probably bring it

up at home, but it’s not that

big of a deal for us.’

Jordan MathisGreer High basketball player

SPORTS FEATURE STORYWeekly 2/3 Times Division

THIRD PLACEThe Lancaster NewsRobert Howey

9:30 a.m.

Masrid

to hHOGregory A

gsummers@th

A group of lodo-gooders arefingers crossed nation of Carolina temperatures upper-80s thishold up.

The Widow Riders Associlocal Masojoining forcever HOPE Saturday.

“It looks lireally going t

everything is Grey Taylor, a Widow Sons. “Wing forward promises fro

groups like thRiders and S

The six-at 9:30 a.msonic LSprings ain Lanca

Lodges iron, Camp C

Indian Land, donia in Jeffersmaker. Taylor planned at each

“We’ve gottenresponse and abeen workingworking hard,“Some have doothers have don

So far, Taylor have raised a l$3,000. They acollection barrelobby.

The charity rcash donation food. Everythindonated to HO

See CHARIT

Tory Knight tackles middle school football

&

“Tory’s not a girlie girl, she’s a tomboy. She doesn’t mind

getting dirty. Tory played catcher in softball, so that kind of gives

you an idea about her.”

Robert [email protected]

The element of surprise was not a factor when Buford Middle School opened football practice in August for the 2011 sea-son. Not for BMS veteran football coach Greg Caskey, who among his new players was Tory Knight, 12.

Knight, a Buford Middle seventh-grader, is a girl.Still for Caskey, it wasn’t stunning to see Knight out for the

team.“I wasn’t surprised in the least bit,” Caskey said. “She had

told me as a sixth-grader in my physical education class she was coming out for the team.

“It was the same for our assistant coach John Bundy when Tory was in elementary school,” Caskey said of the BMS end. “Tory told him the same thing.”

Doug Deese, who coached Knight in recreation softball and basketball, said he also had a strong idea of Knight’s in-tentions to play a sport, which draws few females.

“That’s all she’s talked about,” Deese said. “That’s all she wanted to do.”

Tory’s parents had mixed feel-ings about her playing at BMS.

Her father, Phillip, admits he was somewhat hesitant.

– Doug Deese, who coached Tory Knight in recreation softball and basketball

Buford player out to prove a point

See FOOTBALL | Page 2B

Photo byAARON MORRISON

[email protected]

SPORTS FEATURE STORYSPORTS FEATURE STORYWeekly 2/3 Times Division

SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Press & StandardBrantley Strickland

SPORTS FEATURE STORYWeekly 2/3 Times Division

FIRST PLACEThe Hartsville MessengerBob Sloan

SPORTS COLUMN WRITINGSPORTS COLUMN WRITINGWeekly Under 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Woodruff NewsJed Blackwell

SPORTS COLUMN WRITINGWeekly Under 6,000 Division

SECOND PLACEMarion Star & Mullins EnterpriseNaeem McFaddenFootball is on the way

I’m so excited about football right now, I just couldn’t help myself to let the world know.

After weeks of being down in the dumps with the threat of not seeing my five-time Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers on the field, the owners and NFL Players Associa-tion are on the verge of finalizing a 10-year collective bargaining agreement. I’m saved, the season is saved and we football fans may not have to worry about another NFL lockout for another decade. Now my football jones is amplified, eager to see what free agency moves are about to be made. Personally, I’m pulling for my squad to land either a premier cornerback like Nnamdi Asomugha or signal caller in Dono-van McNabb.

My football craving doesn’t stop there. I know how crazy your Caro-lina vs Clemson fans are but I’m a fanatic for all of our in-state college football teams. My alma mater South Carolina State has been on tear the past five years.

I’m looking forward to rooting for my boys Arnette James and Avery Grant leading the mighty Bulldogs to another NCAA Division II playoff berth. I’m also looking forward to seeing Grant and Mullins Auction-eers teammate Lester Smith Jr. hit the field. Smith is heading to Savannah State and will play Grant’s Bulldog team in the fall.

Clemson should be fun to watch and my eye is on Coastal Carolina and my favorite wideout on the squad, Dushawn Davis from Mul-lins.

However, the big storyline and the huge expectations are on the Game-cocks. This team has the weapons to mount a return trip to the South-eastern Conference championship,

which has ushered in the last four national champions.

In my opinion, wide receiver Alshon Jeffery was the best player in the nation the prior season and remains at the top in 2011 as the clear front-runner for the Heisman Trophy.

The Ol’ Ball Coach Steve Spur-rier has recruited well over the years, and say what you will about Stephen Garcia, he’s the best quarterback the school has landed since the accurate Steve Taneyhill. Marcus Lattimore is a once in a generation running back and now they have the nation’s top freshman on the defensive line.

If these guys remain confident and play like the meanest team on the planet, that killer instinct will serve them well.

So with the pros and college stars arriving soon, I still get treated to most entertaining brand of football — high school gridiron action.

Teams start their full practices next week and I’m excited to see what our two first-year coaches at Mullins and Marion are up to.

Brian Hennecy leads an Auction-eer squad that he had the opportu-nity to lead on an interim basis last season.

I’ve grown up with the founda-tion of this coaching staff and their contributions have made a huge difference for the program. Coaches

Tony Nelson, John Williams and Jimmy Vereen have prepared teams well before I was kid roaming the halls and they’re still at it.

Mullins lost a hefty frontline, but return players that can make things happen when they get their hands on the football. Speedster D.J. Johnson will make plays, and senior running back Rembert Timmons is a human highlight reel, drag-ging and fighting off defenders. Big 6-foot-4 lineman Charles Lacy will be a force, while sophomore Justin Elliott, already a top run support-ing cover corner, takes the helm at quarterback.

Donald Cribb takes over as the Swamp Foxes football coach. Cribb inherits a solid coaching staff also and may have the top rusher in the area in Lue Clemmons. The senior tailback has game-breaking ability with speed and the toughness to run between the tackles.

Splinter Spivey did an awesome job replacing his father Lon Spivey as the Pee Dee Academy Golden Eagles head coach. I expect another solid year from the squad, led by seniors Nick Ammons, Brian Davis and quarterback Will Daniels.

Creek Bridge coach Al Calcutt is surrounded by a great coaching staff. I expect the Warriors to chal-lenge teams in that tough region. I certainly want to see more of their burner at wide receiver, Rashawn Rogers.

I’m sure most of you football fans are as excited as I am. Mark your calendars for Aug. 19, as the Golden Eagles open the season hosting Dil-lon Christian.

You can expect to see our annual football preview, starting Aug. 10, followed by an in-depth look at our local teams on Aug. 17.

Naeem McFaddenRamblin’ Man

Football is on the way

SPORTS COLUMN WRITINGWeekly Under 6,000 Division

FIRST PLACEThe Berkeley IndependentDan Brown

Doug Rogers /Spe cial to The Inde pend ent

Rahkeem White was set to play college footballfor St. Augustine in the fall.

RahkeemBY DAN BROWNThe Independent

It’s been nine months sincethe Berkeley family lost the

heart ofits 2010f o o t b a l lteam inD JWeathers.

L a s tweek, theStags losttheir soulin Rah-

keem White.My relationship with

Rahkeem was a lot like myrelationship with DJ. Rahkeem

White didn’t owe a guy likeme the time of day, but he tookthe time. Just like DJ.

If I shook hands with one, theother would be next in line. IfI talked to one about the touch-down he just scored, I talked tothe other right afterwardsabout the key block that set upthe touchdown.

In fact, shaking hands withStags players along the side-lines is something of a newtradition started by these guys.They took the lead … and therest followed.

Rahkeem would find me onthe sidelines, especially after


For someone so soft spokenRahkeem White wielded a largerthan life personality.

The Berkeley Stags family andthe Moncks Corner communitycontinues to reel from the shockof White’s tragic death last week.

“Everybody is just numb,” saidStags baseball coach and footballassistant Landy Cox. “With DJ itwas shock that something like thishappened. With Rahkeem every-body is just stunned with whathappened being so close to DJ.Numb is the word of the dayhere.”

New BHS football coach Jeff

Cruce knew White from the oppo-site sideline.

“I knew how he was an amazingfootball player who could beatyou in so many ways, and that hehad become such a role model fora lot of these kids after DJWeathers died,” Cruce said. “Ididn’t know him that well but Iknow he was a remarkable youngman.

“Rahkeem was a popular kid andhe’ll be missed.

“Not a lot places where you cango to where you’ve had twotragedies this close together.These kids are upset … it’s soclose to DJ and his passing.”

Stags’ White remembered as larger than life

‘Everybody is just numb’g y

See WHITE Page 2BSee MUDVILLE Page 2B

SPORTS COLUMN WRITINGWeekly Over 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACEThe LinkAndy Cagle

ast weekend, theNASCAR Cupboys got together inLas Vegas and

doled out all of their awardsand feel-goods and crownedthemselves a five-timechampion.

I hear it was on my televi-sion, but I hate awardsshows, banquets and RascalFlats, so I stuck with footballand avoided listening to Jim-mie Johnson talk about him-self and the crowning of thisyear’s Raybestos Rookie ofthe Year (anyone?, any-one?).

Since I didn’t tune in tothe festivities, I can give youmy unbiased, unfetteredawards for the 2010 season.While these aren’t coming toyou from fabulous LasVegas – they are coming toyou directly from my couch,again – and they come withabsolutely no accolades, justshame, and absolutely nomoney, they are still as pres-tigious as the Rookie of theYear Award. And have aboutthe same impact on your ca-reer.

The Jeremy MayfieldAward

This one has nothing to dowith being (allegedly) meth-addled or having run-inswith stepmothers who mayor may not have killed yourfather. This is the award thatgoes to the driver who hadthe most litigious season –lawsuits followed himeverywhere he went – muchlike Mayfield’s 2009 cam-paign.

This year’s winner isKevin Conway. Conwaywas the centerpiece of Ex-tenZe’s motorsports effortsthat kept coming up short in2010. The not-so-dynamicduo of Conway and the “nat-ural male enhancement”started the year with FrontRow Motorsports. The sepa-ration of Conway and Ex-tenZe from Front Rowresulted in a lawsuit overnon-payment of promisedsponsorship dollars. Then itwas on to Robby Gordon’steam for Conway and thepurveyors of better lovingthrough pharmaceuticals.And now Gordon is suingExtenZe for roughly $700Kfor unpaid sponsorship dol-lars.

So congratulations toKevin Conway. I wish theaward came with somemoney to help y’all withthose legal fees.

Oh yeah, he was also the2010 Raybestos Rookie ofthe Year.

The Michael VickAward

This one has nothing to dowith dog fighting or spend-ing time in the federal peni-tentiary. It is the comebackdriver of the year. Much likeVick, this year’s winner ofthis award had very low ex-

The end-of-year Cagleawards

AndyCagle

NASCARColumnist

L

pectations placed at his feetentering 2010, and while hedidn’t make the Chase, hehad a heck of a year.

Of course the winner isJamie McMurray. After beingjettisoned from Roush-Fen-way Racing so that teamcould get under NASCAR’sfour-team cap, McMurraylanded at Earnhardt GanassiRacing where he won threeraces in 2010. Well, not justthree races, three big races:the Daytona 500, the Brick-yard 400 and the fall Char-lotte race.

Not bad for a castoff.

The “Yes, You Are Bold,But Are You Daring?”

AwardI do love a bold move. This

award goes to the driver orteam that makes the boldest -dare I say daring - move ofthe year. There were a lot ofchoices this year, but youhave to really get to the onethat had the greatest risk-re-ward associated with it, andthere is no greater rewardthan winning a champi-onship. Therefore this has togo to the No. 48 team, crewchief Chad Knaus and ownerRick Hendrick for sacking hisentire crew during the race atTexas – the seventh race ofthe Chase – and replacingthem with crew membersfrom Jeff Gordon’s team. Themove was very risky thatdeep in the Chase, but in theend it proved to be the rightmove, and the 48 won its fifthstraight championship.

The “Have At It Boys”Mantra Was A Bad Idea

AwardI appreciate the intention

when Robin Pemberton tookthe gloves off of the driverswith those four little words.NASCAR fans had com-plained about the uttervanilla-ness of the sport overthe last few years. But tellinga bunch of guys in 3500-pound stock cars to “have atit” is bound to be problem-atic. So the NASCAR-sanc-tioned beating and bangingensued.

Again, many things to pickfrom, but the winner has to bethe Carl Edwards-Brad Ke-selowski dust up at Atlantathat ended up sending Bradairborne roof-first into theoutside retaining wall. Greatdrama, but bad if your goal isto finish the day with all ofyour competitors alive.

The Quote Of The YearThere were many memo-

rable quotes from the 2010season. Who can forget KevinHarvick’s “horseshoe” com-ments regarding Johnson orJoey Logano’s questioningwho wore the fire suit in theHarvick family? But I had to

go a bit deeper than that. Thequote of the year for 2010 hasto go to Richard Childressafter Denny Hamlin tookshots at Clint Bowyer’s teamafter the team was penalizedfollowing their win at Loudonin September:

“You can’t win a pissingcontest with a skunk.”

That’s comedy gold.

The Kyle Busch ActingLike A Baby Award.

For his body of work, itgoes to: Kyle Busch. Thehighlight was the Martinsvillerant on the radio againstJohnson. It would makeRichard Pryor and GeorgeCarlin proud.

And finally…

The Ken Schrader/AndyCagle Memorial/Honorary

Driver Of The YearThis award goes to the

driver who betters their lotdespite the fact that theyhaven’t sniffed victory lane inyears and years, a la KenSchrader.

This year, the nominationsare a bit thin. I am going toblame it on the economy. El-liott Sadler is up for consider-ation because he actually has

a chance to win on the Na-tionwide Series side next yeardriving for Kevin Harvick.Bobby Labonte goes from theNos. 71 and 09 to the No. 47next year – upgrade(ish). BillElliott says he will run full-time with the Wood Brothersnext year if sponsorship canbe found even though, despitebeing awesome, he doesn’tseem too interested in run-ning up front. Ken Schrader-worthy all. But they pale incomparison to Paul Menard,this year’s driver of the year.Menard did improve his ac-tual performance this yearunder the Richard Petty Mo-torsports banner – finishing23rd in the final points run-down, but six top-tens doesnot warrant moving to an or-ganization that placed threedrivers in the Chase this year.But that’s where Menardfinds himself in 2011. He willbe piloting a fourth car forRichard Childress Racing.That beats the uncertaintythat he went through at Pettythis year.

God bless Daddy’s money.

Andy Cagle may bereached at [email protected].

Shop Online at: www.burrybookstore.com130 West Carolina Avenue, Hartsville, SC 29550 • 843-332-2511

17 Christmases

Wonderful story about a young child's Christmas road trip to see family & friends from Alaska to Maine and everywhere in between.

by Dandi Daley MacKall

Christmas Boxed Cards 50% OFF!Christmas Gift Bags 50% OFF!Christmas individual cards 50% OFF!2011 Calendars (large selection) 50% OFF!

Come check out ourChristmas Merchandise!

Burry Bookstore

Published by

Merry Christmas fromMerry Christmas from

Since 1985

843-658-7547 • www.rollinspc.com

Christmas Special!$20 off New Services Only

Be prepared against rodent problems this winter!Have you checked your crawlspace lately...?

Moisture Inspection (underneath home) • Termite Inspection

CAGLEContinued from 1B

SPORTS COLUMN WRITINGSPORTS COLUMN WRITINGWeekly Over 6,000 Division

SECOND PLACESECOND PLACELaurens County AdvertiserNick Herman

-.ann

-at-e-.d-

nt

s

When players and coachescome out to start every LittleLeague baseball game, they areasked to take the Little LeaguePledge. In part, that pledge asksplayers and coaches to say theywill “play fair and strive to win.But win or lose, I will always domy best.”

Considering the behavior ofsome of Laurens’ coaches duringthis past weekend’s LittleLeague Coaches Pitch UpperState tournament, another linemight need to be added: “I willact like a mature adult whenthings don’t go my team’s way.”

Coaches are expected to teachthe proper way of playing thegame to the younger players, toinstruct them on how to hit andfield, and how to play the gamein a sportsman-like manner. Theplayers did that and the coaches— most of the time — did thesame as well. But there were sev-eral times when Laurens coachesbecame so upset with calls thatdidn’t go their way that itseemed they would respond bytaking their bats and balls andgoing home.

It’s one thing when a LittleLeague coach on the field is sofrustrated on Saturday with a callthat he is pointing his fingertoward the source of his anger, oreven when on Sunday after a callwas mistakenly made but laterreversed, the team’s head coachwent all the way out to the fieldin front of the pitcher’s mound toargue the call. Why walk all theway onto the field? Instead, calltime calmly, walk to the closestumpire and ask for a clarifica-tion about the call, then walkback to the dugout.

But the “lowlight” of theweekend was when the coachingstaff threw a temper tantrum thelikes of which I haven’t seensince I was their players’ ages.After a field umpire signaledone of the players out when he

should’ve been called safe, thecoaches in the dugout reacted bythrowing their hats in the air andthe coach who was pitching forLaurens threw his glove towardthe dugout fence.

It was such a disappointingchain of events that it led LittleLeague District AdministratorChip Brownlee to mutter aloudin the press box above the fieldthat something should be writtenabout the spectacle. His wish hasbeen granted.

Why overreact that way infront of the children, the sameones the coaches are trying toshow the right way of handlingboth the good and bad breaks ina game? That’s when the coachesneed to be pulled aside and toldtheir actions will not be tolerat-ed.

The coaches’ love for thegame and their players can’t bedenied. Yet before returning nextseason, the coaches shouldpledge not to repeat such behav-ior again. After all, when coach-ing kids about baseball, there isone lesson that should be taughtabove anything related to hittingthe ball to the opposite field orhitting the cutoff man with athrow from the outfield to pre-vent opposing runners from tak-ing an extra base. When you dosomething wrong, admit yourmistake, say you’re sorry, and goforward.

That will certainly help vali-date that last part of the LittleLeague pledge — to always doyour best — more than nicelyfielding a ground ball or gettinga timely hit could ever do.

Coaches’ outburststarnish pledge

NICKHERMAN

sports editor

SPORTS COLUMN WRITINGWeekly Over 6,000 Division

FIRST PLACEThe Horry IndependentRobert Anderson

Old age takes away whatwe’ve inherited and gives uswhat we’ve earned.

That was one of the bestquotes heard this past week-end at Conway High Schoolwhere 40 former Tigers re-turned to participate in theschool’s first alumni base-ball game.

With several of the formerplayers approaching thehalf-century mark, reminisc-ing about the good old dayswas naturally a favoritetopic.

“Boys, I’m sitting herewondering where 28 yearshave gone,” said Russell Gra-ham, a member of the Classof 1983. “Your mind tells youthat you can do it, but yourbody brings you back to real-ity.”

Player-coach RichieCausey said before the gamehis plan was to see whateveryone wanted to do andwhat their bodies wouldallow them to do.

“The funniest thing willprobably be seeing theseguys like myself who stillthink they can do it, trying todo it,” he said.

When some players startto see the proverbial hand-writing being scrawled onthe wall, they look the otherway.

One of them is MikeThomas, who played base-ball and football at CHS in

the mid-1980s.

Thomastraveledfrom NorthCarolinafor theConway-MyrtleBeachAlumniFootballGame inDecember,and wasback forSaturday’sbaseballgame.

He saidprior to the

football game his goal was tomake it to work Mondaymorning. Reliving the pastwas a blast for Thomas, whosaid his high school yearsflew by.

“It was a blur,” he said. “Itwent by so fast. When you’regoing through it you reallydon’t realize they are someof the best times of your life.They really do fly by.”

After the football game, AlBease said he felt like he was17 all over again.

“I’m like a kid in a choco-late factory,” he said.

Although he was a weekaway from being 44, TracyRowell didn’t hesitate to signup when he heard about thefirst Conway-Myrtle Beach

Alumni football game.“Everyone always says if I

had the chance to go backand do it one more time, andthis was an opportunity togo back, dress out and playfootball one more time,”Rowell said.

There are former athleteswho can read the handwrit-ing on the wall.

“I figured out a long timeago I can’t play anymore,”said former Tiger and cur-rent CHS assistant footballcoach Kelly Andreucci, whodressed out for the first halfof the football game beforeswitching to street clothesand reverting to coaching.

“Just getting together andseeing everyone again andenjoying the camaraderie isthe big thing for me,” hesaid.

As Henry David Thoreauonce said, “None are so oldas those who have outlivedenthusiasm.”

Enthusiasm wasn’tenough for 47-year-old BudParker who wanted to givethe alumni football game theold college try.

“Your heart says yes butyour mind and body say no,”Parker said. “I went to somepractices and my shoulderstarted bothering me and myknee flared up.”

As everyone will attest, it’sbetter to be over the hill thanunder it.

Alumni game brings laughter,reality and pain in the joints

SPORTSTALK

Robert Anderson

SPORTS COLUMN WRITINGSPORTS COLUMN WRITINGWeekly 2/3 Times Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe Press & StandardBrantley Strickland

SPORTS COLUMN WRITINGWeekly 2/3 Times Division

SECOND PLACEThe News & ReporterTravis J enkins

SThere are a lot of benefits to organized ath-

letics. Players make friends they’ll have for life, they get exercise and learn a lot of life

lessons. The primary reason anyone competes in an athletic event, though, is to win.

Except maybe in Class A soccer.Soccer is still a relatively new sport to the

prep ranks in this state. Many schools that com-pete in Class A, the state’s smallest athletic clas-sification, don’t even have soccer teams. Locally, Lewisville High School does. In fact, Lewisville had very good boys and girls teams this year. Both had winning records, both were among the most productive in terms of goal-scoring in the school’s history, both beat larger schools during the regular season and neither had a snowball’s chance once the playoffs began.

Class A has been crowning state champions in boys soccer for 11 years. During that time, teams not named “Christ Church” have won exactly zero titles. Christ Church, a private school in Greenville County, has claimed every Class A boys soccer title. That level of dominance is so pro-found, it has actually set a national record. No other boys prep soccer team in our country’s his-tory has won 11 straight state titles.

Our state has had dominant programs in many sports, from our own Great Falls High in boys basketball to Byrnes Gaffney and Woodruff

Level the playing field

TalkingSports

Travis Jenkins

SPORTS COLUMN WRITINGWeekly 2/3 Times Division

FIRST PLACEThe Press & StandardDrew Tripp

Too hot? Give me a break.

DrewTRIPP

Football practice has start-ed in early August for decades. Appar-ently, that doesn’t

it

TRIPPContinued from 1B

Be thankful for state of local football

PAGE ONE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly Under 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACEThe StarBrandon Lockett Living in

faith

Email your praise or critique of news events happening around our community to

[email protected]

INDEX

IN THE NEWS

Bookings 6AClassifieds 4BEditorials 13AObituaries 4AProfile 8BReligion 3BSocial 5BThrough my Eyes by Charley Britt 12A

March 31 - April 6, 2011 | Vol. XVIII, No. 30 | 50¢

ADDR

ESS

LABE

L

2011 MISS NASH

ROAD CHANGES

ugusta

30 YEARS FOR MURDER

REVAMPING SCHOOLS

YELLOW JESSAMINE FESTIVAL

NNNNNNNNorth Au

The StarNorth Augusta police are

searching for a man who stole a forklift from a North Augusta middle school, took it to a bank and then attempted to steal an entire ATM.

Although the man was suc-cessful in loading the machine, North Augusta Public Safety received an alarm at the First

Citizens Bank on Knox Avenue before the man could get away, police said.

Shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday, an officer responded to the alarm and found the ATM flipped on its back with both doors open and a large JCB forklift still running, police said.

The ATM was destroyed; however, police said the suspect didn’t get any of the cash in the machine.

During the early morning investigation, the officers tracked down the forklift and learned it was stolen from a construction site at North Augusta Middle School, 725 Old Edgefield Road. The equipment belonged to an Anderson company.

The company’s representa-tive who spoke with police said the forklift had been parked and locked at the middle school.

Police said it appeared as if

it had been driven around the school and out the front gates to Old Edgefield Road.

Investigators said photos from the surveillance cameras at the bank show that a black male between 25 to 35 years old was operating the forklift.

There was also a 1988-1998 Chevy truck in the area during the attempted ATM theft, police said.

The case is under investigation.

By KAREN DAILYStaff writer

Forklift thief fails in ATM heist attempt

March has been a big month for Lacey Ferguson over the past four years, and the tradition reached a new high point Saturday evening at North Augusta High School, as she won top honors overall at the Miss NASH pageant.

By BILL BENGTSONStaff writer

NAHS names Ferguson as Miss NASH

Come rain or come shine, the fifth annual Yel-low Jessamine Festival took root in downtown North Augusta on Satur-day.

The festival opened on Georgia Avenue at 11 a.m. Saturday, with plans to remain open until 4 p.m. despite cloudy skies. Rains did begin at 1 p.m., but the festival continued on with some alterations.

“We’ve moved a cou-ple of acts up a couple of hours hoping to beat the next rain. But the crowds have been steadily pick-ing up this morning,” said John Felak of the City of North Augusta Depart-ment of Parks, Recreation and Leisure Services.

By SUZANNE R. STONEStaff writer

Festival blossoms despite the rain

Drive down Georgia or Carolina avenues on a Sunday morning, and you’ll immedi-ately know where

most North Augustans spend their “day of rest” – in church.

Or try to do business on a Wednesday afternoon or eve-ning and you’ll find many of the local establishments closed for the day at noon. There’s even still one restaurant that closes early so the owners and employees have time to get to church on Wednesday night.

But what does that mean for the church in 2011? Members of Leadership North Augusta recently got a glimpse into the answer with the help of some of the city’s church leaders.

And the answer they heard was clear: If churches are to be rele-vant in a modern world, they must look outside themselves.

Several local minis-ters shared where their churches are headed in North Augusta and how the congrega-

tions are

working to keep the church message current. Participating in the discus-sion were Pastor Jim Glander of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, the Revs. Jim Dennis of Grace United Methodist Church, Josh Edwards of Belvedere First Baptist Church and Dr. Bob Fuller of Fairview Presby-terian Church. And to conclude the conversation was Dr. Curt Watke, who described the bigger picture of religion throughout the CSRA.

Pastor Glander suggested today’s congregation must be focused on looking ahead, “not building num-bers, but ministering to the needs of others,” he said, as he pointed to his church’s motto, “Christ’s work; Our hands.” To do that Holy Trinity Lutheran has added a contemporary service, “Craze 4 Praze,” twice a month and has done a great deal more toward reaching outside the church.

By PHYLLIS BRITTStaff writer

Photo by Kevin Wilson

Tears of joy flowed down Lacey Ferguson’s face when she was sashed and crowned as the 2011 Miss NASH last Saturday night.

“For some churches, this is it – serve us, rather than service, but it is Fairview’s desire to be a ‘troop-carrier’ rather than a ‘luxury liner.’”

DR, BOB FULLER,Fairview Presbyterian Church pastor

Photo by Bill Bengtson

Crosby Broadwater dem-onstrates the bo-staff as part of a presentation by Premier Martial Arts dur-ing Friday’s Yellow Jessa-mine Festival gathering at Jackson Square.

Are you being affected by the renumbering on Atomic Road? | 3A

Man pleads guilty to 2009 murder case, sentenced to 30 years in prison. | 3A

Aiken County BOE votes to move five assistant superintendents into new roles at Aiken office. | 2A

IN THE SPOTLIGHTSee who was center stage at this year’s North Augusta Idol. | 1B

Please see FAITH, page 5A

See JESSAMINE, page 14A

Please see NASH, page 14A

Huddle House murder to be featured on | 5A

RETIRING REDDINGLongtime North Augusta Baptist pastor retires after 40 years in ministry. | 3B

Stock photo

Email your praise or critique of news events happening around our community to

[email protected]

INDEXBookings 6AClassifieds 5BEditorials 15AObituaries 4AProfile 8BReligion 3BSocial 4BSports 13AThrough my Eyes by Charley Britt 15A

ADDR

ESS

LABE

L

The Starugustaug

May 12 - 18, 2011 | Vol. XVIII, No. 36 | 50¢

INSIDE LOOK SEE WHAT AREA KIDS ARE DOING IN SCHOOL 1B

PROFILE WOMAN OVERCOMES CONDITION, SUCCEEDS IN OBTAINING EDUCATION 8B

NAHS APOLOGIZES FOR YEARBOOK OMISSION2B

Running out cancer

Photo by Bill Bengtson

Kindergartner Zoey Owens provides a back-scratch for her mom, Emily Owens, during the “spa day” held Friday morning at Mossy Creek Elementary School, offering a little extra hands-on affection in advance of Mother’s Day.

What does it take to be an effective leader in today’s world?

That was the question before a gathering of partici-pants in the various Leader-ship programs throughout the CSRA.

Representatives of Leader-ship North Augusta, which hosted the daylong 2011 Regional Leadership Forum, were joined by those from Aiken County, Augusta/Richmond County, Columbia County, McDuffy County and Lincolnton County, as they were led through a

By PHYLLIS BRITTNews editor

Program discusses what it means to lead

Hundreds of folks gathered last Friday

night for a little fun, food and camaraderie in the name of one cause: fighting cancer.

The North Augusta/

Midland Valley Relay For Life was held at the North Augusta High School stadium.

Introducing the evening’s festivities was Glenn Nichols, who with his wife Erin co-chaired the event.


Photos by Mike Adams

Sarah Beth Vaughn, 9, donates her hair to Locks of Love last weekend at Relay for Life.

Local government lead-ers agreed that economic development, coopera-tion and regionalism were among the top things a leader in the CSRA must focus on.

During a leadership con-ference held last week in North Augusta, representa-tives of a number of local

leadership programs (Lead-ership North Augusta, Leadership Aiken County, Leadership Columbia County, etc.) had the opportunity to hear from and ask questions of a panel of CSRA leaders. On hand to share their thoughts were Mayor Lark Jones of North Augusta, Mayor Fred Cavanaugh of Aiken, Aiken


Local leaders hope to focus on cooperation, economic development

Photo by Phyllis Britt

Leadership North Augusta classmate Toi Bowie, left is one of 12 volunteers to participate in a teamwork exercise under the direction of speaker Charles Nickell during a Leadership North Augusta-sponsored conference on lead-ership held last week.

Event raises about $35K for research

Please see RELAY, page 11A

Please see PANEL, page 12APlease see LEADER, page 12A

‘HOW’S THAT?’

Joe Hillary and family put on a wonderful performance of gospel music at the Relay For Life at North Augusta High School Stadium.

AS04-529084

Email your praise or critique of news events happening around our community to [email protected]

INDEXBookings .....................................6AClassifieds ..................................5BEditorials ...................................13AObituaries ...................................4AProfile .........................................8BReligion.......................................3BSocial ..........................................4BSports ....................................... 11AThrough my Eyes by Charley Britt .....................................12A

AD

DR

ES

S L

AB

EL

The Star

INSIDE TODAY

COMING UP

School works to end bullying for students

When students return to school next week at Mossy Creek Ele-mentary School, they will be greeted by teachers and staff who are primed to provide a safe atmo-sphere designed to help improve student academic performance.

SEE LOCAL NEWS, 3A

Aug. 11-17, 2011 • Vol. XVIII, No. 49 • 50¢

Almost 6,000 in City to attend County’s schools

Schools in North Augusta will welcome back nearly 6,000 of the Aiken County school district’s 23,000 students next Monday when school begins.

Things are a little different in what was Area 2, along with the other four attendance areas. There is no longer an assistant superintendent specifi-cally charged with overseeing the four elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school in the North Augusta. Instead parents will look mainly to the principals at the individual schools, as well as to the two elected school board officials who represent the North Augusta schools – Ray Fleming and Keith Liner.

The district administration estab-lished an organizational rede-sign this year, moving the five area assistant superinten-dents into the district office with new titles and duties. Four of them are serving as academic officers; the fifth, Dr. Randy Stowe, has the new position of director of administration.

“It’s going well,” Davidson said of the changes. “Everybody seems to be adjusting. The principals are handling things like school transfers. If it’s across grade levels, Dr. Stowe is handling that.”

At last week’s meeting of the Area 2 Advisory Council, former Area 2 assistant superintendent Peggy Trive-las was still handling the district side of the meeting; however, Trivelas is

now one of two assistant superinten-dents for elementary education, and her office is located at the district

office in Aiken.School administrators and

the district office are still working out the hierarchy under the new plan that no longer includes attendance areas.

In addition to the major organizational change, the school district entered into

an agreement with Veracity Payment solutions, allowing parents and/or students with available credit to use a charge card for payment for a variety of obligations – school matriculation fees and costs, band fees and rentals, certain athletic charges, lost or dam-aged book fees, parking fees, year-book costs and other fee requirements.

By ROB NOVIT and PHYLLIS BRITT

[email protected]

Star file photos

COMPILED BY BILL BENGTSON

What are you looking forward to in the new school year?

“I’m looking forward to getting ready for academics, and hope-fully we’ll have a good year and all the other activities are good, too.”

JACOB ATTAWAY, 13, eighth grade, C.T. Walker Traditional Magnet School (Augusta)

“My best friend’s going to be there.”

5, kindergarten, Merriwether Elementary School

“My best friend.”,

8, kindergarten, Merriwether Elementary School

“I’m looking forward to meeting my teacher and my classmates. I’m looking forward to seeing how my teacher looks, and my class-room.”

7, second grade, Merriwether Elementary School

“I’d like to play basketball, and I’d really like to be in the band, with Mr. Workman.”

, 13, seventh grade, Paul Knox Middle School

“I’m looking forward to being in Mrs. Adamson’s class (for math) and Coach Andrews’ (for social studies) and basketball.”

13, eighth grade, Paul Knox Middle School

Bennett takes job with Santee CooperNorth Augusta City Adminis-

trator Sam Bennett has accepted a position as the manager of eco-nomic development with Santee Cooper and will leave the City’s employment Sept. 30.

The City Administrator for 41⁄2 years in North Augusta, Bennett admitted he wasn’t really looking for a new job, but the position with the state-owned electric and water utility offered opportunities for Bennett and his family that he could not ignore.

Santee Cooper is located in

Monck’s Corner, not far from where Bennett and his family spent seven years when he was the assistant city administra-tor in Goose Creek – and among his responsibilities was economic development. It is likely that they will move back to Goose Creek, where

they enjoyed living before and where they were involved in a close-knit church, said Ben-nett.

Acknowledging he has an extremely good working rela-tionship with Bennett, North Augusta Mayor Lark Jones said, “When you hire good

people, it’s not a surprise that they get other opportunities.”

The mayor said he hates to lose Bennett. “I hoped he’d be here longer,” said Jones, who called the situation “regretfully understandable.”

By PHYLLIS [email protected]

McDowells: ‘We’re two miracles’ after collisionTwo North Augusta residents

were injured in a Saturday wreck on West Martintown Road, when their motorcycle was struck by a pickup truck near the I-20 inter-change, according to a report from the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

Ken McDowell, 57, and his wife, Donna, 54, were hurt in the colli-sion that occurred about 10 a.m. Their injuries were described as

non-life-threatening by the agen-cy’s report.

The McDowells were reportedly

on a 2005 Harley-Davidson which had come to a stop in the turn lane, facing west. They were approached by Martinez resident Jack Hudson, 58, in a 2002 Dodge truck.

The truck struck the motor-cycle’s front and Hudson, who was not injured, was charged with fail-ure to yield the right of way.

The troopers’ report indicated that the McDowells were not wearing helmets, and Hudson was wearing a seat belt. Several observ-ers reported being surprised that the McDowells survived.

“We’re two miracles,” Donna said in a Monday interview, report-ing that her husband was in surgery at the time at Georgia Health Sci-ences University. “That’s exactly what we are, and we’ve had people tell us that, and we’re glad we’re still here. We apparently have some work to do.”

She described her husband as “pretty beat-up” adding, “I’ve got lots of bruises and scrapes and scratches and stuff.”

By BILL [email protected]

The hours for each local school are:

BENNETTSEE BENNETT, 5A

INSIDE ON

BACK TO

10A,4B

Friday, Aug. 12

School kindergarten orientation

grades 1 through 5, Merriwether Ele-mentary School

-

middle schools

-mentary schools

Saturday, Aug. 13-

-

Monday, Aug. 15

Edgiefield counties

featuring SmartKids

SEE

SEE MCDOWELLS, 5A

SEE , 7A

D. MCDOWELL K. MCDOWELL

WATCH GROUP HOLDS EVENT FOR NEIGHBORS TO MINGLE IN BELVEDERE 1B

PAGE ONE DESIGN PORTFOLIOPAGE ONE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly Under 6,000 Division

SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEMyrtle Beach HeraldBetty Moses

PAGE ONE DESIGN PORTFOLIOPAGE ONE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly Under 6,000 Division

Myrtle Beach HeraldChris Mowder


PAGE ONE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly Over 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACEThe Greer CitizenJulie H olcombe

Community hosts balloon launch

Ruth W. Bishop, 94Mabel H. Dill, 82Thalia H. Duncan, 86Carolyn A. McManus, 61

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2010 GREER, SOUTH CAROLINA VOL. 97 NO. 51 50 CENTSWWW.GREERCITIZEN.COM

NDEX | DEAR SANTA | DEATHS | TO SUBSCRIBE

TO THE

GREER CITIZEN,

CALL US

TODAY AT

877-2076PUBLISHED IN GREER

FOR LUCY WILSON AND ALL DEVOTED READERS OF THE

GREER CITIZEN

BUSINESS A9CLASSIFIEDS B6-7COMMUNITY CALENDAR/NEWS A2-3FOOD C4ENTERTAINMENT C6OBITUARIES A6OPINION A4OUR SCHOOLS C5RELIGION A7-8SPORTS B1-6, B8WEATHER A6

NOTABLE |

AREA’S BESTGriffin named top

football playerB1

SPORTS |

Marilyn Styles is organizing Sunnyside residents in a group called Neighbors Unit-ed Against Violence.

Styles held candlelight vigils after two re-cent shooting deaths in Greer, but wants to branch out and bring the people together when the community is not enduring a pe-riod of adversity. Thursday, she’s hoping to take a step in that direction with a 4 p.m. balloon launch in Greer City Park in memo-ry of loved ones who have passed on.

The public is invited to bring a balloon and attach a note written to a deceased friend or relative to release into the sky.

LETTERSStudents write their wish lists

D,E

Hospital sale brings 150 jobs$14 millioninvestmentBY MATTHEW BURDICKSTAFF WRITER

The city of Greer has sold the Allen Bennett Me-morial Hospital campus to a Washington, D.C.-based group with plans to rede-velop the 10-acre property into a retirement commu-nity and a national call center.

City officials closed on the deal with Cardinal Real Estate Group Thursday, and announced the trans-

action Tuesday at a press conference in the former hospital. The city will re-ceive $1.4 million for the sale of the campus, and Cardinal Real Estate will invest an additional $14.2 million in redevelopment efforts expected to be completed by Nov. 2011.

The city completed the sale approximately two months after negotiations broke down with another prospective buyer, locally-based Bennett Place De-velopers, because they re-portedly could not secure the funding to redevelop the property. Cardinal Real Estate CEO Garrick

SEE SALE | A10

BY KRISTA GIBSONTAFF WRITER

‘Are you the Spirit, sir, whose coming was foretold tome.’ asked Scrooge.

‘I am.’The voice was soft and

gentle. Singularly low, as ifnstead of being so close beside

him, it were at a distance.‘Who, and what are you.’

Scrooge demanded.‘I am the Ghost of Christmas

Past.’‘Long Past.’ inquired Scrooge:

observant of its dwarfish stat-ure.

‘No. Your past.’”

When dump trucks rolled through the rubbish of the old Victor Mill plant, they must have stirred up some powerful dust. The soil and bricks and mortar mixed together to call out the

Spirit of Christmas Past and it came to visit three ladies in Greer.

Rebecca Justice’s father worked for 26 years at Victor Mill as a weaver, loom fixer and trainer.

“My daddy, James Fred Rol-lins, worked at Victor Mill. At Christmastime, once a year, we would get to visit Victor Mill. They would open it up and we could actually tour where daddy worked,” Rebecca said.

Lila Wilson worked there for

34 years, staying in the office even when the mill changed hands making her total service 47 years. She remembers the Sunday before Christmas when the mill was closed and all the children under 14 received shopping bags filled with fruit and toys. All the employees also got a gift.

“As each person came in, they went and picked up their gift. They had a photographer to take pictures of the children

SEE VICTOR | A6

MANDY FERGUSON | THE GREER CITIZEN

MEMORIES: Lila WIlson looks through mementos from her Victor Mill days.

CHRISTMAS GIFTS

The Good Sports charity sports memorabilia auc-tion ended on Monday, with the month-long event raising $825 for Greer Community Ministries.

“The auction went better than I could have ever ex-pected,” said Sports Editor Joel FitzPatrick, who had been planning the auction for several years. “With this being the first one, I had an amount in mind that I was hoping to raise.

The final amount was much higher.

“I just want to thank the people generous enough to donate the items, and the people who bid on them for this worthy cause.”

Two of the items had bids of over $100. A poster signed by the Duke men’s 2007-08 basketball team sold for $150, and a poster signed by Mar-cus Lattimore, named the

SEE AUCTION | A10

Spirit of Christmas Past visits Victor Mill residents

Auction raises $825 for GCM

Hope JoyComfortPeace

Love

E very person has a story that reflects on the true meaning of Christmas. Lonnie McGee (above) has Greer’s

unconditional love. Tim Bright will celebrate Christmas with the hopes of many more to come with his wife, Jenny. Theresa Williams has followed a calling to bridge families separated by prisons and bringing joy to their children during the holidays. Rick

McKeeman finds it spiritual as he comforts people in the twilight of their lives. Amanda Roberts made one of life’s most difficult decisions with her unborn child but found peace with the result.

We commend your attention to the stories, pages A11-12, and hope that throughout the holidays the true meaning of Christmas resonates with you and your families.

‘We’d have an apple, orange or tangerine, a handful

of real nuts still in the shell, a handful of hard

candy or big peppermint balls that melt in your

mouth. And we would get a silver dollar.’

Rebecca Justice

Merry Christmas

WWW.GREERCITIZEN.COM

INDEX | LIVING HERE | DEATHS | TO SUBSCRIBE

TO THE

GREER CITIZEN,

CALL US

TODAY AT

877-2076

PUBLISHED IN GREER FOR FRED EDGE AND ALL

DEVOTED READERS OF THE GREER CITIZEN

RODEO RIDERLeah Hunter races

to the top C1

IN BLOOM: Spring Home & Garden 2011 INSIDE

Waverly L. Brown, 66Carlton B. Fuller, 71Jeanette T. Lynn, 102Gwendolyn M. Smart, 91Timothy A. Savage, 60

NOTABLE |

FAMILIAR FOESRiverside hosts EHS in opener

B1

SPORTS |

Deadline extendedThe deadline to enter the Greer Family

Fest Bass Tournament at Lake Robinson has been extended to April 11. Presented by CPW, the fi shing tournament will be held Saturday, April 16.

Applications are available through greerfamilyfest.org under the tournament link. The cost is $125 per boat and top prize is $1,000. The top 10 spots earn cash and special $500 prizes will be awarded to the fi sherman snagging the biggest fi sh and the smallest fi sh. The entry fee also covers the cost of a t-shirt and a banquet.

BUSINESS A5CLASSIFIEDS B5-6COMMUNITY CALENDAR/NEWS A2CRIME A9ENTERTAINMENT C6OBITUARIES A6OPINION A4OUR SCHOOLS C4DINING OUT C5SPORTS B1-5WEATHER A6

BY JOEL FITZPATRICKSTAFF WRITER

Ken Harper resigned as President and Chief Ex-ecutive Officer of Greer Bancshares Incorporated and Greer State Bank last week. He also resigned as director.

The boards of the com-pany and the bank elected Dennis Hennett to succeed Harper as president and CEO.

Hennett, 68, has been a director of the company

since 1988. He previously served as president of the company until July 1, 2004 and as CEO until his retire-ment on Feb. 1, 2008.

“Ken came here in July of 2004,” Hennett said. “Over the last two or three years, he has been con-fronted with several chal-lenges.

“We thank him, and we wish him the very best. This was a very painful ex-perience for us.”

Before last week, Hen-nett didn’t expect to hold

the titles again.“I have given 22 years of

my life to this bank,” Hen-nett said. “It has been nice to spend the last 20 years of my career in an environ-ment like this, and I would

like to see the people who are here now have the same opportunity.

“The Greer community has been good to us, and I feel that the bank has been

SEE BANK | A6

BY JULIE HOLCOMBESTAFF WRITER

The bright pink, purple and blue walls, the Nickelodeon program flashing from a flat screen, and the neon pink guitar clock all scream typical teenage girl. The physical therapy machine, hospital bed, and wheelchair around the perimeter suggest otherwise.

Now 13 years old, Katie Doll is proving through fight and deter-mination that she is so much more than typical.

FIGHTING CHANCEThree years ago, Doll’s life mir-

rored that of most of her peers–full of days dancing, playing with her animals, and running in the woods. On March 27, 2008, all of that changed. Doll, her younger brother Brandon, and friend Carson were riding a go-cart when it flipped and ejected her. She suffered a traumat-ic brain injury that left her fighting for her life.

On a ventilator and in a coma, she was not expected to make it through the night. Doll and her dedicated team of family, friends, therapists, and nurses had other plans.

When a doctor said she would never come off the ventilator, the

feisty 10-year-old grabbed the nam-etag off his coat, and when he later insisted she would never do any-thing independently, she laughed out loud at him.

“Somehow I latched onto faith that night, and that’s what I’ve held onto,” Katie’s mom, Lynn Doll, said.

Her daughter holds onto a prayer cloth given to her by clogging

teacher Louise Harris, and Lynn reads healing scriptures every day, convinced that God can accomplish what doctors can not.

“I haven’t been sick, haven’t had a cold or anything since I brought this child home,” said Lynn, who sleeps vigil in a bunk bed beside her daughter each night to care for her needs.

Doll has undergone numerous surgeries including a tracheotomy, shunt, G-tube, and removal of the front left lobe of her brain. It was only when a second skull plate was replaced that her progress im-proved.

“She started smiling and hand playing. She would take the tooth-brush and hairbrush from me,” Lynn said.

“This hand (of hers) expresses ev-erything that’s going on with her.”

Today Doll can lift her head, help scoot herself to the edge of a thera-py table, and walk a few steps with assistance. She laughs at the antics of her brother and enjoys teen cul-ture.

From the sidelines, she cheers on her older sister Lynzie as a Blue Ridge High wrestler and member of the cross country and track teams or Brandon as a baseball and foot-ball player.

SEE DOLL | A10

BY ADAM KELLEYSTAFF WRITER

Southwest Airlines an-nounced Tuesday morn-ing that it has resumed regularly scheduled opera-tions.

Due to an opening in the roof of the aircraft, Flight 812 departing from Phoe-nix to Sacramento had an emergency landing in Yuma, Ariz, on April 1. None of the 118 travel-ers on board were injured despite the cabin losing pressuring, forcing a rapid

descent.Since the incident last

Friday, Southwest has worked with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Trans-portation Safety Board (NTSB), and the Boeing Company to investigate the problematic aircrafts. Approximately 600 flights were cancelled over the weekend, and 70 were can-celled Monday.

Rosylin Weston, Vice-President of Communica-tion at GSP International

SEE SOUTHWEST | A7


Last Sunday morning was not restful for resi-dents on East Lee Road in Taylors. Two bodies were found inside a burning home at 2004 E. Lee Road, Unit A.

An autopsy performed Monday morning identi-fied the bodies as Christo-pher Paul Porcoro, 30, and Amber Christine Daniel, 18.

Porcoro lived at the du-plex, is married and father

of four. Daniel is from Greer and a former stu-dent of Greer High School. Monday afternoon their deaths were classified as homicide, with an ongo-ing investigation into their death and fire that fol-lowed.

Sunday at 10:30 a.m., the Taylors Fire Depart-ment responded to a call and rushed to a brick du-plex across the street from Brook Glenn Elementary School. When they arrived, neighbors were beating on

SEE HOMICIDE | A10

LIVING DOLL

Authorities find bodies at residence

Tigerville teenager defies the odds

Hennett replaces Harper at Greer State Bank

Southwest is back on track

‘We thank him, and we wish him the very

best. This was a very painful experience

for us.’

Dennis HennettOn outgoing CEO Ken Harper

Dennis Hennett Ken Harper


CRIME SCENE: The bodies of two people were found inside this duplex on E. Lee Road Sunday morning.


TEAM KATIE: Nurse Maria Hayes (right) and mom Lynn Doll always get a smile from Katie when they shake her hand and joke around with her.


NO WORDS: Katie’s left hand is her best source of communication.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2011 GREER, SOUTH CAROLINA VOL. 98 NO.14 50 CENTS WWW.GREERCITIZEN.COM

INDEX | SPORTS | DEATHS | TO SUBSCRIBE

TO THE

GREER CITIZEN,

CALL US

TODAY AT

877-2076

PUBLISHED IN GREER FOR BETTY HART AND ALL DEVOTED READERS OF THE

GREER CITIZEN

MEETING A HEROLocal boy hangs out with Michael

Phelps B1

MY FAIR LADY: Area performers star in musical C1

Christine H. Davidson, 89Catherine L. Poole, 81Peggy Rogers, 54Leo B. Smith, 86Nevaeha Sprouse, 1Caroline S. Talbert, 81

NOTABLE |

INSPIREDGreer family gives back A3

INSIDE | BUSINESS A5CLASSIFIEDS B6-7COMMUNITY CALENDAR/NEWS A2-3CRIME A10ENTERTAINMENT C6OBITUARIES A6OPINION A4RELIGION A7-9SPORTS B1-5WEATHER A6

George the Train awaits inspection

With the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR) ban lifted, the Pavilion’s popular ride George the Train could be back on track in the next few weeks. LLR is requiring all mini-trains to add a speed-limiting device before an inspec-tion, which could take place this week. “Once they inspect, assuming everything is good, we’ll open,” said Mike Teachey, Green-ville County Recreation District director of community relations. GCRD still plans a third party inspection to go over the entire operation.


The Greer chapter 39 of Disabled American Veterans (DAV) honored fallen soldiers Saturday morning at Victor Memo-rial Veterans Park.

“We assemble here to recount the glori-ous character of their achievements,” said Preston Johnson, DAV commander, during the memorial ceremony. “Language fails and forms are nothing when someone is gone, but memories will help us never forget them.”

In observance of the

50th anni-versary of the Vietnam War, a newly constructed

fountain in the park was dedicated to memory of Ronnie Eugene Norris.

Norris was killed in ac-tion in 1966 during his tour of duty in Vietnam. He was born and raised in Greer, graduated from Greer High School in 1965 and then joined the army. The Norris family donated the fountain to the park and attended the ceremony.

“In the book of St. John, the Bible says no greater

SEE PROGRAM | A6

Gibson takes over as principalBY KRISTA GIBSONSTAFF WRITER

Principal Tommy Hughes wiped a tear from his eye as he hugged his way through the Blue Ridge High Class of 2011. He’s not only saying goodbye to the students who start-ed their academic career at Mountain View Elemen-tary under his watch, he’s saying goodbye to over 40

years of academic service.Hughes will hand his

keys over to Jennifer Gib-son on Friday. Gibson has worked at Mountain View for eight years as an assis-tant principal.

“This school is really full of gifted people. We have a veteran group of teachers. That’s going to help Jen-nifer Gibson. She knows them,” Hughes said. “I feel great about leaving it where it is.”

He is also leaving Gibson a unique variety of learn-ing programs like multi-age teaching, team teach-ing, looping from one grade to the next with the same teacher and a fifth grade that is departmen-

talized. Being diverse is a way to have programs that reach all learning styles, he said. He let his teachers know from day one that he expects them to be innova-tive. There were only two rules for change: pass the

idea by him first and if it doesn’t work, let it go.

“I’ve ignored a lot of the edicts to give my teach-ers time to do what they have to do. I expect that when they walk across

SEE HUGHES | A5

Greer woman killedRushton charged with murder


James Byron Rushton was arrested and charged Monday for murdering April Dawn Smith by vio-lent sexual assault.

Approxi -mately 4:45 a.m. Sunday m o r n i n g , Greenvi l le C o u n t y Sheriff’s Of-fice (GCSO) responded to a 911 call from the 50-year-old Rushton to his residence at 2054 Edwards Lake Road in Greer in reference to unresponsive 33-year-old Smith.

According to the inci-dent report, medics from the fire department and EMS arrived on the scene and pronounced Smith dead.

When GCSO arrived, they observed Rushton at-tempting to perform CPR on Smith. Rushton initial-ly advised deputies that Smith might have suffered from a possible drug over-dose, said GCSO Master Deputy Sam Cureton.

Rushton told investiga-tors he retrieved Smith from her boyfriend’s house Saturday evening after the two were involved in a ver-bal altercation, at which point he brought Smith to his home in Greer.

Greenville County Depu-ty Coroner Kent Dill identi-fied Smith after an autopsy Monday morning and de-termined her death was a direct cause of a traumatic and violent sexual assault by Rushton.

Dill said Smith was theSEE MURDER | A10

MEMORIAL DAY SALUTE

DID YOU KNOW? |• Earned the Red Carpet Award three times (2003, 2006 and

2009) – the only school in Greenville County to do so.• He maintains Mountain View as a community school, making it

a welcoming place for everyone. • Reunion each fall for Mountain View High School• Known for the multi-age classes and looping – visitors come

from other states regularly to how it is done• Character education before it was district wide or mandated• Safe Schools award the last four years• Met AYP the last three years

Fallen soldiers honored at Veterans Park

Hughes leaves Mountain View


EMOTIONAL DEPARTURE: Tommy Hughes, center, embraces Blue Ridge graduate Chas Williams and his mother, Deb. Hughes is retiring as Mountain View Elementary School principal.

ACTIVE DAY PAYS TRIBUTE |

A12


TO THE REPUBLIC: Veteran Richard Boyles salutes the American fl ag during the Pledge of Allegiance.

Council holds special meetingBY ADAM KELLEYSTAFF WRITER

Greer city council held a special scheduled meeting last night to discuss the redistricting process and the general election origi-nally scheduled for this November.

Mayor Rick Danner said the results from the 2010 census triggered the meet-ing. The census results for the city of Greer revealed a population of 25,515 people; a 51.5 percent in-crease from 2000, adding 2.6 persons per day.

Bobby Bowers, director of the office of research statistics for South Caro-lina budget and control board, spoke at the meet-ing and explained to the council what to expect in the redistricting process.

Bowers recommended the city adopt three main criteria when redrawing the lines for the new dis-tricts.

“The first criteria is court ordered constitutional requirement of equal dis-tricts,” said Bowers. “That is one person, one vote.”

He explained it is recom-mended that districts do not deviate beyond two to four percent and are com-paratively equal in popula-tion. The target population to equally divide the six districts is 4,253 residents for each district.

Under the current dis-trict zones, District 6 positively deviates 97.81 percent, while Districts 2, 3 and 5 have a negative deviation from the target population.

The second criteria of compliance entails the Voting Rights Act of 1965, specifically the Section 5 preclearance process that requires certain states and

SEE REDISTRICTING | A6

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2011 GREER, SOUTH CAROLINA VOL. 98 NO.22 50 CENTS

Rushton MANDY FERGUSON | THE GREER CITIZEN

SHARED EXPERIENCE: Vietnam and Gulf War veteran Bobby Sauer, of Spartanburg, left, greets Luu Hai, of South Vietnam Marine Corps, during the Memorial Day ceremony at Victor Memorial Veteran’s Park Saturday.


SECOND PLACECarolina Forest ChronicleMichael Smith

THURSDAY

Mostly SunnyHigh 96, Low 76FRIDAYMostly SunnyHigh 96, Low 78SATURDAYHotHigh 97, Low 78SUNDAYSunnyHigh 95, Low 76

HORNET FIRESTILL BURNINGWildfire contained, butcontinues to smolder.

A3

| OUTSIDE |

| INSIDE |

POSTAL PATRON

PRESORTEDSTANDARD

U.S.POSTAGE PAIDCONWAY, S.C.

PERMIT NO. 44

Thursday

July 21, 2011

VOL IV, No. 38

843-236-4810

www.thecarolinaforestchronicle.comWaccamaw Publishers, Inc.

2510 Main St., Conway, SC 29526Attention: Delivery

75 Cents

THIS WEEK’S EDITION:FOUR SECTIONS, 32 PAGES

FINEST OFTHE FORESTBaseball standouts helpedturn season around.

A9

APARTMENTSREJUVENATEDHalyard Bend gets $3.4million facellift.

C1

3325 Waccamaw Blvd. Myrtle Beach, SC 29579

843-828-4601

Auction License # 2905F

All Items Sold Cost Plus 10%

Hardwood and Laminate Flooring, Tile, Sinks,

Solid Wood 1st Quality Kitchen Cabinet Sets, Vanities, Jacuzzis,

Saunas, Name Brand Tools & 100’s More Remodeling Items

��

Station empty during fireBY MICHAEL SMITHEDITOR

Nobody was on duty at a nearbyfire station when flames consumed aCarolina Forest town house.

HCFR Station 45 on InternationalDrive, an all-volunteer station, wasunmanned and didn’t respond whena fire erupted at The Orchards on July

11, according to Horry County Fire-Rescue.

Station 45 is 1.28 miles from 1124Harvester Circle, site of the townhouse fire, according tomapquest.com. A tanker from theCity of Myrtle Beach’s Station 6 wasthe first unit on scene. Station 6,


Allen Armstrong never knewBrian Kratz before Monday.

Now Kratz’s well-being is allArmstrong can think of following afire that destroyed Kratz’s town-home in The Orchards on Monday.“There were hundreds of people

there not knowing what to do,”Armstrong said. “I’m an involvedChristian and you have to take thenext step in a crisis like this. I wentin there and started praying withhim.”

Armstrong’s prayers have turnedto action, as he and others have

Volunteers not on duty in Orchards fire Fund created for Orchards fire victim

VOLUNTEERS, A2 FUND, A3

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL SMITH | THE CHRONICLESOURCE: HORRY COUNTY FIRE-RESCUE

A firefighter responds to The Orchards fire that eruptedMonday, July 11, in The Farm in Carolina Forest.

ED PARSONS | FOR THE CHRONICLE

Ad hoc committee lookinginto county fire operationsBY MICHAEL SMITHEDITOR

Horry County is taking asecond look at how its fireand EMS departments areoperating.

The goals of the county’sad hoc fire study commit-tee, Horry County Council

members say, are to findways to improve how HorryCounty Fire-Rescue oper-ates.

“My biggest [desire] is tobe more efficient, effectiveand do things in a moreprofessional manner,” saidCouncilman Paul Prince, R-Loris, a member of the com-

mittee. A critical compo-nent of the review includesa re-examination of thecounty’s fire department ef-ficiency study.

Completed in 2008, the$95,000 study listed 72 rec-ommendations for improv-

Board fields $3.3 million in road requestsBY MICHAEL SMITHEDITOR

At least $130,000 for side-walks in a Carolina Forestarea community have beenput on hold for at least an-other month by an HorryCounty committee.

The group did, however,

approve $437,000 for otherroad-related projects in theLoris area, including$188,000 requested by anHorry County Council mem-ber.

Altogether, the HorryCounty Transportation Com-mittee (CTC) fielded morethan $3.3 million in requests

at its most recent meetingJuly 12. The CTC’s entire an-nual budget is about $3.8million.

Some CTC committeemembers displayed frustra-tion with the large number ofrequests at last Tuesdaynight’s meeting.

“I am somewhat dismayed

that I have a $4 millionagenda to deal with tonight,”said CTC chairman George“Rayford” Vereen. “We’re nota $100 million agency. Wecannot address $4 million inone meeting.”

Among the other notablerequests appearing on Tues-day’s agenda were:

• $600,000 from the City ofMyrtle Beach for a connectorroad linking Farrow Parkwayand Harrelson Boulevard,

• $486,064 from HorryCounty Department of Air-ports for Harrelson Boule-vard,

CTC, A5

STUDY, A5


FIRST PLACECarolina GatewayJane Alford Inside this issue

Newcomers guide


Mighty in number and stench, the kudzu bug is the new pest in Van Wyck that residents just can’t seem to shake off.

Farms and homes near soy-beans and kudzu, its plants of choice, have been invaded by thousands, if not millions, of the bugs that resemble lady-bugs, but are muddy in color. They are attracted to light col-ors – everything from T-shirts to cars to vinyl siding.

“The kudzu bugs were defi-nitely very numerous. I had seen a bug here and there in the past, but I had never seen them in that great a number,” said Paul Thompson of the Clemson Extension Service, after visiting infested Van Wyck sites a few weeks ago. “I had a couple of hundred of them on my white pickup truck when I drove up the driveway to the homes. It was like a magnet.”

Art Henderson, 72, lives on Old Hickory Road near a soy-bean field. He gave up trying to keep up with his pool after spending hours each day skim-ming kudzu bugs off the sur-face, only to realize they do not die in water alone.

“I had to put dish detergent in the pool. That way they get

To buy these photos, visit www.carolinagatewayonline.com BRANDY DANDRIDGE/for Carolina Gateway

Indian Land High School’s Lori McKay plays the flute during the ILHS Warrior marching band’s performance of its 2011 show, Vision Quest, at the Andrew Jackson High School band exhibition Sept. 17. The band placed sixth in its class at the Upper State band competition Saturday, Oct. 22, in Boiling Springs. On Saturday, Oct. 29, the ILHS band will compete in the state competition at Spring Valley High School in Columbia.

CHRISTOPHER [email protected]

A motorcyclist died Satur-day night after colliding with a pickup truck in Indian Land.

Rusell Eugene Mangrum, 47, who lived in the Indian Land area, was driving his 2008 Yamaha motorcycle south on U.S. 521 when the accident happened, said S.C. Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Billy Elder.

Mangrum was driving at about 9:40 p.m. when another Indian Land man, who was driving a 1999 Toyota pickup truck north on the road, attempted to make a left-hand turn, Elder said.

That’s when the two vehi-cles collided.

The accident scene is about 2.5 miles south of Fort Mill.

Lancaster County Deputy Coroner Glen Crawford said Mangrum was pronounced dead at the scene. He said the official cause of death was head trauma.

“As far as I know, they (Highway Patrol) are still investigating what happened,” Crawford said.

Elder said Mangrum was wearing a helmet during the accident.

The driver of the pickup truck was wearing a seatbelt and was not hurt in the crash.

The Highway Patrol’s Multi-disciplinary Accident Investi-gation Team (MAIT) is investi-gating the crash, though no other details were released as of Monday morning.

No charges had been filed as of press time.

ILHS band sixth at Upper State IL man dies in wreck


When most people hear about hauntings, they either scoff or steer clear. Not Van Wyck resident Ben Webber.

When Webber hears talk of ghosts, ghouls and demons, he wants to check it out. He’s got his flashlights, cameras, com-pass and voice recorder packed and ready to roll.

Webber, 22, is a ghost hunt-er, or rather, a paranormal investigator, a hobby at which he’s still relatively new, but eager to explore more.

Webber said he became interested in paranormal inves-tigations shortly after moving to Van Wyck from Syracuse, N.Y., in 2008, inspired by shows like “Ghost Adven-tures,” “Ghost Lab” and “Para-normal State.”

“So I got i n t e r e s t e d and started doing a lot of background inve s t i g a t -ing,” Webber said. “I start-ed looking around, but nobody in

South Carolina would join me, so I joined Charlotte Ghost

Hunting Paranorms.”As an investigator-in-train-

ing, Webber has been on two investigations with the group so far – Latta Plantation in Huntersville, N.C., and Camp-bell Creek Greenway in Char-lotte.

During the Campbell Creek investigation, Webber said the team used an EMF (electro-magnetic field) detector to determine there were a male

and a female ghost haunting an old mill house.

How? Webber said they asked the

spirits to light up the detector once if male, twice if female and three times if a child. It lit up once, then twice, Webber said.

But it was during the Latta Plantation trip that Webber had his most significant encounter, upstairs in one of

the big house’s bedrooms as he and Paranorms founder Eddie Huntley and another member investigated.

“My shirt got tugged; tugged really hard like this,” Webber said pulling at his left T-shirt sleeve.

“It almost pulled me down and I was struggling to get back up so I wouldn’t get

See GHOST HUNTER, Page 12

Van Wyck ghost hunter seeks local spooks

Band prepares for state competition SaturdayREECE [email protected]

The Indian Land High School Warriors marching band is on its way to the state championship.

The band placed sixth in the Upper State 2A competition Saturday, Oct. 22, to qualify for state.

This is the second year in a row that the band has qualified for the state finals, since moving up into the 2A class.

“This is a big accomplishment for this year’s band, far exceeding expectations,” said ILHS band director Matt Willis.

See BAND, Page 2

Kudzu bugs invade area

Serving the Indian Land community

Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011 Volume 8, Issue 42a publication of The Lancaster News www.carolinagatewayonline.com 75 cents

OBITUARIES, PAGE 8

Margaret Garris, 86Robert Green Jr., 80 Gerald “Bus” Eugene Van Note, 87Gerald Levern Vowell, 69

WHAT’S INSIDE

Classifieds.................................11Education...................................5Entertainment............................9Lifechanges...............................8Opinion......................................10Religion......................................7Sports........................................6

www.carolinagatewayonline.comonline

PR SRT STDU.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #33

INDIAN LAND, SC 29707

Newsroom: (803) 283-1154 or (800) 844-9344, ext. 225; fax: (803) 283-8969; [email protected]. Adver-tising: (803) 283-1140 or (803) 283-1142; [email protected].

Frightful fun 9Area Halloween events

See KUDZU BUGS, Page 2

Webber

SEND US YOUR PHOTOS

Send your photos from area fall festivals and Halloween events to cgnews@thelancaster news.com.

WHO YOU GONNA CALL?

ILHS girls win three region titles 6Girls win crowns in tennis, volleyball, cross country

Size: 43 members, including color guards. Competes locally in class 1A, 2A at S.C. Band Directors Association (SCBDA) state-level competitions

Band directors: Matt Willis and Scott Fleischman; percussion instructor, Michael Jenkins; color guard instructor, Mariah McCarter

This year’s show: Vision Quest. Theme: Self-discovery. Songs: “Severance,” “Threshold” and “Incorporation”

Competitions this season: Mount Pleasant Showcase of Champions (first place, general effect, second in class and second place visual, music and color guard); Butler Festival of Bands (second place visual, general effect and color guard, second in class); U.S. Scholastic Band Association South Carolina Regional (first place music, overall effect, visual, color guard, percussion, first in class); S.C. Band Directors Association Upper State Championship (sixth overall)

ALL ABOUT THE 2011 ILHS BAND


Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010 Volume 7, Issue 46Honoring our vets County veterans parade 4IL schools honor vets 6 a publication of The Lancaster News www.carolinagatewayonline.com

WHAT’S INSIDE

Business......................................5Classifieds.................................15Education...................................6Entertainment............................13Lifechanges...............................12Opinion......................................14Religion......................................10Sports........................................8

OBITUARIES, PAGE 12

Donald O. “Pop” Hayden, 57

MARY BROWNfor Carolina Gateway

A beautiful Sunday afternoon was the per-fect backdrop for the Indian Land Volunteer Fire Department’s renovation and addition groundbreaking. A crowd of family, friends, community supporters and dignitaries filled the grounds to join in the celebration.

“Excited sums it all,” said ILVFD Captain Tom Pickard. “We have been working on this for almost two years.”

After the invocation by the Rev. Tai Mag-ette, the Indian Land JROTC presented the colors.

Guest speakers at the event included Lan-caster County Councilman Larry McCullough, S.C. House District 45 Rep. Deborah Long and Steve Baird, project developer for Bob-bitt Design Build, which teamed up with Architrave Inc. to design the expansion proj-ect and will also do the actual construction.


A potential zoning change has one local congregation breathing a sigh of relief.

More than 30 members of Trinity Baptist Church, who are in the process of relocating their church from Fort Mill to a former Van Wyck cabinet shop on Steele Hill Road, packed the audience during Lancaster County Council’s Nov. 9 meeting hoping to save their new home.

The congregation recently discovered that a county zon-

ing law, pro-hibiting reli-gious organiza-tions in indus-trially-zoned b u i l d i n g s , could halt their progress. They learned of the prob-lem after try-

ing to acquire a building per-mit for the church’s new stee-ple.

In response, council heard first reading on an ordinance to change the zoning of the build-ing from I-2, for heavy indus-trial disticts, to B-3, for general commercial districts. Council unanimously approved the first step toward allowing the church to stay, though it even-tually settled on rezoning to B-1.

As pastor of the church, the Rev. Rick Cope pleaded with council to rezone the property, prior to the vote.

“This is a very sensitive sub-ject and we know it’s not easy,” Cope said. “The zoning doesn’t matter to us. We just want the church.”

But many residents who live near the church worried about the original idea of rezoning

See CHURCH, Page 2 See FIRE STATION, Page 2

Renovation should be complete by spring 2011

Rezoning to allow Trinity Baptist to stay in former cabinet shop

Council action may save church

ILVFD breaks ground for $1.7M station expansion

HOW TO REACH US


Traveling back in time 16Life in the Waxhaws lantern tour revisits historic events



To reach Carolina Gateway’s newsroom, call (803) 283-1154 or (800) 844-9344, ext. 225, fax (803) 285-5079 or e-mail [email protected].

To reach the advertising staff, call (803) 283-1140 or (803) 283-1142, fax (803) 289-6503 or e-mail [email protected].

‘Nutcracker’ coming to town Columbia City Ballet and local dancers to stage performance Monday

13


Lancaster pharmacy owner Hugh Mobley became the first person to officially throw his hat into the ring for the Dis-trict 16 state Senate seat last week.

Mobley, a pharmacist and owner of Mobley Drugs, said he will run for the seat, which will be vacant after Repub l i c an Mick Mulva-ney of Indian Land assumes his duties in the U.S. Con-gress. Mulva-ney bested Democratic incumbent John Spratt of York for the 5th Dis-trict congressional seat in the midterm elections. Spratt has held the seat since 1983.

Mobley will be seeking the Republican nomination for the seat.

“I’m at a point in my life where I feel like I can run,” Mobley said. “The community and this area has been really good for me. This is my oppor-tunity to give back to the next generation.”

With more than 30 years of experience in the pharmacy business, Mobley said he already has a good perspective on how government works.

“The government is about revenue and expenditures and business is about revenue and expenditures, and I don’t see why you can’t apply business principles to the government,” he said.

Mobley said he’s running because he wants to change the way government works and bring more “common-sense solutions to the table.”

See MOBLEY, Page 2

Lancaster pharmacist to seek seat held by Mulvaney

Mobley to run for S.C. Senate

Mobley

To buy these photos, visit www.carolinagatewayonline.com photos by MARY BROWN/for Carolina Gateway

ABOVE: Indian Land Volunteer Fire Department firefighters, from left, Joshua Benson, Steven Piotrowski, Brandon Greene, Allen Walker, Benji Moore, Johnny Helms, J.O. McCorkle, Capt. Tom Pickard, Fire Chief Raymond Griffin, Assistant Chief Mike Magette and Christina Potter break ground Sunday afternoon for the $1.67 million expansion project that will double the size of the fire station. BELOW: Cole Russell, 2, looks out the window of one of the fire trucks on display. Cole is the son of Morris Russell, Lancaster County Fire Service director, who is reflected in the window of the truck.

Cope


Wednesday, March 30, 2011 Volume 8, Issue 13Best of the Best goes online 7 a publication of The Lancaster News www.carolinagatewayonline.com

WHAT’S INSIDE

Business......................................6Classifieds.................................19Education...................................7Entertainment............................17Lifechanges...............................15Opinion......................................18Religion......................................14Sports........................................13

OBITUARIES, PAGE 15

William Wallace Baker Sr., 83


Tina Miller sighed as she watched the digital readout climb

from $5 to $15 to $30.Filling up her tank at Murphy’s

Express on S.C. 9 Bypass, Miller shook her head in disappointment. The price was

$3.27 a gallon for regular gas at the station last Wednesday. “These prices are ridiculous,” Miller said. “It’s

outrageous. And with this economy, it’s hard.”The Lancaster native said it’s hard to remember a time

when gas wasn’t so expensive. “I’d like to see them (prices) go down,” she said. “If I pray long

enough, maybe I’ll see it go down.”

To buy photos, visit www.carolinagatewayonline.com AARON MORRISON/staff photographer

Wayne Houston fills up his truck with diesel at the Cobblestone (Mara-thon) gas station on U.S. 521 Saturday. It cost him $75 for 20 gallons. Houston, who is from Charlotte, drives here to fill up to “save a few nickels.” At right are gas prices at Indian Land stations Saturday.


The S.C. Department of Education upgraded Indian Land High School’s report card after officials discov-ered inaccuracies in their ratings.

The change, which also affected 14 other state high schools and four school districts, raised ILHS’s abso-lute rating from “good” to “excellent.”

Absolute ratings are a measure of overall student performance on standardized tests.

The upgrade means ILHS joins Lancaster’s Discovery Charter School as the only schools in the district to receive absolute ratings of excellent.

According to a release sent out Fri-day, the inaccuracy was the result of a “rounding” error.

The release said the schools’ abso-lute index scores of 3.399 should have been rounded up to 3.40, the minimum for an excellent rating. State Education Oversight Committee guidelines say absolute index scores should round up to the nearest one-hundredth of a point, the release said.

ILHS Principal Kathy Faris said she did not suspect anything was incorrect with the ratings and was just happy it went up from last year.

“When I learned it went up to ‘excellent,’ I almost jumped out of my skin,” she said.

“I have a wonderful staff and great students, all of whom work hard. They, in my opinion, deserve all the good press and recognition received,” Faris said.

It was not clear from the release whether the round-ing correction would affect the school’s growth rating, a measurement based on individual student test scores from one year to the next and the number of students who showed improvement.

See GAS PRICES, Page 2

Rounding correction leads to rating upgrade

ILHS gets ‘excellent’ news about report card


The U.S. Census Bureau has released population figures for Lancaster County that place the county among the

fastest growing in the state over the last decade.

The data also provides a preliminary snapshot of popu-lation growth in the county that will reshape Lancaster County Council districts in coming months.

According to census data for South Carolina released Wednesday, Lancaster Coun-ty’s official population is now 76,652.

The number represents a

population growth rate of 24.9 percent between 2000 and 2010 and places Lancaster County fifth on the state’s list of fastest-growing counties, behind Dorchester, York, Hor-ry and Beaufort.

County Administrator Steve Willis said the population is actually lower than expected.

“That’s about 1,000 under what they estimated,” Willis said. “I can only speculate that with the economic downturn,

people weren’t moving in as fast as they were in the past.”

Among the county’s muni-cipalities, the city of Lancaster was the largest with a popula-tion of 8,526, followed by Kershaw with a population of 1,803 and Heath Springs with 790.

The most populated part of the county, as was expected, is Indian Land.

While there was no listing for “Indian Land” specifically,

the Van Wyck census track, which includes the Panhandle area north of Waxhaw Creek, is shown as having a popula-tion of 19,729.

“We’ve been kind of expect-ing that, based on building permit trends and other things, but the census has pretty much borne it out that that area is the fastest growing in the county,” Willis said.

Additional data released Thursday breaks down the

county’s population by race and ethnicity:

Among the census findings: 54,844 Lancaster County

residents identified themselves as “white alone”

18,278 identified them-selves as “black or African-American alone”

3,384 identified them-selves as “Hispanic or Latino”

1,815 identified them-selves as “some other race

See CENSUS, Page 2

Lancaster fifth fastest-growing county in S.C. County grew 24.9 percent in 10 years

HOW TO REACH US


Home & Garden Section 10-12Do try these ideas at home



To reach Carolina Gateway’s newsroom, call (803) 283-1154 or (800) 844-9344, ext. 225, fax (803) 285-5079 or e-mail [email protected].

To reach the advertising staff, call (803) 283-1140 or (803) 283-1142, fax (803) 289-6503 or e-mail [email protected].

DON’T MISS THIS

Pleasant Valley Fire Station’s ribbon-cutting and open house is from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 2.

Faris

GAS PRICESON THE RISE

PAGE ONE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly 2/3 Times Division

THIRD PLACEThe Lancaster NewsBarbara Rutledge

INSIDE | 3AMulvaney supports Gregory for Senate District 16 seat

INDEXCOMMUNITY CALENDAR, 3B

CLASSIFIEDS, 6B | ENTERTAINMENT, 4B OPINION, 7A | POLICE, 4A | SPORTS, 5A

DEATHS4A

George BowersJethro Brown Sr.Ameila CovingtonWillie HarrisBrooks JohnsonBarbara Jones

Carolyn ParksDoris SmallWilliam Strickland Issac Colbert TimsAlyssah TotherowCharles Weagly

Girl falls from truck, diesJesef Williams

[email protected]

A shiny tiara, a cheerful smile and bright gray eyes.

That picture of Alyssah “Shirley” Totherow has most likely been a source of joy, but now yields mixed emotions

as family members mourn her loss. The 3-year-old Lancaster County girl

died Tuesday night after falling from a moving truck outside a Mangum Drive home, said Lancaster County Deputy Coroner Glen Crawford.

Shirley was taken to Springs Memo-rial Hospital, where she died at about

8:35 p.m., Crawford said. The 3-year-old’s family was moving

to a house and was driving a borrowed truck, according to a Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office incident report. The truck was turned off, but the keys were still in the ignition.

One relative said he thought every-one was in the house. But Shirley

PHOTO SUPPLIED

Shirley Totherow, jumped from a moing truck and was hit by one of the front tires, accord-ing to a Sheriff’s Office report. Shewas taken to SprinMemorial Hospitalwhere she later diebefore she could be flown to anothehospital.

Officials: Incident was accidental

Landfill axed?

Vote unanimous for changeChristopher Sardelli

[email protected]

With a show of hands, Lancaster County Council members voted unani-mously Tuesday night on an ordinance that could hamper plans for a proposed solid waste landfill in the county.

Only minutes before the start of council’s meeting, copies of the last-minute ordinance circulated through the crowd of more than 150 residents who turned out for the meeting.

Seats were at a premium and quickly filled up as the room reached its maxi-mum occupancy for the second time in two weeks. Latecomers, many who were decked out in white as a sign of solidarity against a proposed landfill near S.C. 903, watched from the door-way of council chambers. In their hands, some people held glossy fliers, created by members of the Lancaster County Action Council, opposing the landfill.

Council had not originally planned any action on the landfill, but with mounting vocal opposition from resi-dents throughout the county, council-

decided to reverse a change it made several months ago in regards to land-fill buffers. The new ordinance, which council voted to approve at the begin-ning of its meeting, amends the coun-ty’s Unified Development Ordinance to change landfill buffers from 1,000 feet to 1 mile.

Under the county’s new requirement, landfills would not be allowed within 1 mile of residences and structures such as day-care centers, churches, schools, hospitals or publicly owned recreation-al parks.

The amendment comes only months after council changed the buffer to 1,000 feet in county ordinance 1073.

The new ordinance also states that the amendment can be used immedi-ately by the county’s Board of Zoning Appeals, even though ordinances usu-ally don’t become official until after approval of third reading. It also directs the planning department to hire a li-censed environmental engineer to de-termine a scientific reason for the buf-fer distance of 1 mile.

Once the vote was cast, Council re-ceived a standing ovation from many of the people in attendance.

In a rare deviation from the meeting, Council Chairwoman Kathy Sistare ex-plained the meaning behind the new ordinance before moving on.

“County Council based this on fur-ther investigation about the landfill and discussions with DHEC (S.C. De-partment of Health and Environmental Control) and looking at the Lee County landfill,” Sistare told the crowd. “Con-versation should have been taking

County reverses change

in landfill buffers

Sheriff identifies officerinvolved in shooting

Reece [email protected]

A witness to the shooting of a Lancaster maMonday night by sheriff’s deputies during confrontation at a Lynwood Drive car wassaid the victim appeared intoxicated, but caluntil deputies arrived on the scene.

Meanwhile, the Lancaster County SherifOffice has confirmed the names of the deputiinvolved in the incident. They are Deputy Jermie MacKinson and Deputy Michael Kimbresaid sheriff’s Maj. David Belk.

Chief Deputy Coroner Karla Deese identifiethe victim of the shooting as George Randa“Randy” Bowers, 56.

While law enforcement officials are still ncommenting on the details of the shooting, aeyewitness report, confirmed in part by asheriff’s office incident report release

Candidateforum on MondayRepublicans square off for Senate seat

Jesef Williams [email protected]

The public will have a chance to hear thRepublican candidates for the open District state Senate seat discuss key issues early next week. Those five candi-dates are slated to appear at a special forum that will be held Monday in-side the Bradley Building multipur-pose room at the University of South Carolina at Lan-caster.

Doors will open at 6 p.m., which will give time for candidates to in-teract with attend-ees. The forum will start at 6:30 p.m., said Dean Faile, president o

Deputiesnames revealed

Other forum The Lancaster TEA

Party and S.C. District 5 Patriots are holding a candidate forum from 11a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday inStevens Hall at the Uni-versity of South Carolina at Lancaster.

The Young Republi-cans will hold a candidatedebate at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 also in Stevens Hall at USCL.

See FORUM | Page 3

See SHOOTING | Page 2

See GIRL | Page 2A

See REVERSES | Page 8A

PHOTOS BY REECE MURPHY/REPORTER

LEFT: Angie Hunter of Primus, and her son, Eli, 3, protest a proposed Waste Management landfill at Tuesday night’s crowded Lancaster County Council meeting.BELOW: Many people could not get into the cham-bers and had to stand in the hall-way.

Two Sections/16 Pages/75 cenFriday, February 4, 2011thelancasternews.com

The NewsLancasterLancaster County’s triweekly

newspaper

Bruins’ Dustin Belk signs to play football at North Greenville

SPORTS, 5A

Wildfires kicking up early in state

HOME & GARDEN, 1B

BZA Meeting Canceled

A county Board of Zoning Appeals meeting planned for Thursday night was canceled. Mike Griffin, of Griffin Brothers Enterprises, withdrew his application by e-mail on Thursday afternoon. A public hearing had been scheduled to hear comments on the expansion of Mining Road Landfill, off S.C. 903.

PAGE ONE DESIGN PORTFOLIOPAGE ONE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly 2/3 Times Division

SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Press & StandardBrantley Strickland

PAGE ONE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly 2/3 Times Division

FIRST PLACEThe Hartsville MessengerStephen G uilfoyle

FEATURE PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly Under 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACECoastal ObserverCharles Swenson

Thursday Pawleys Island,July 7, 2011 COASTAL OBSERVER South Carolina


It was only the second North Litchfield Fourth of July pa-rade that John Venuti has been to, but he was as excited as any of the neighborhood kids.

“It’s just such fun. Of all the things to do in this neighbor-hood, this is the one that I most look forward to,” said Venuti, a resident and the owner of Capt. John’s Seafood Grill.

He said he likes to see all the kids having so much fun and the enthusiastic displays of red, white and blue bursting from golf carts and draped over bicy-cles, scooters, people and pets.

Venuti and his wife, Mary Lee, rode their cart in the pa-rade Monday, with their neigh-bors and “surrogate daugh-ters,” Samantha Homan and Olivia Minervini, 18, spray-ing spectators with water guns from the back. The girls partici-pate in the parade every year, but the water guns were a new addition, they said.

First organized in 1986, with just a few golf carts the parade has grown to include more than SEE “NORTH LITCHFIELD,” PAGE 14

What so proudly we hailed

BY CHARLES SWENSONCOASTAL OBSERVER

In a Fourth of July parade where floats drew heavily on this year’s royal wedding and last week’s College World Se-ries title by the USC Game-cocks, the Britt family soared above the rest. Theirs featured a life-sized biplane fuselage with seven kids tucked into the cockpit.

The Spirit of Pawleys Is-land was the result of a year’s planning and two months’ solid work. It won the prize for Best Overall.

That spirit was more than a clever idea. It’s what made Mike Britt join the celebration even as his son awaited surgery in the Medical University of South Carolina hospital follow-ing a traffic accident on July 2.

Clay Britt suffered two broken legs and “was pretty banged up,” but the family de-cided it would be better for his two children, 11 and 8, to go ahead with the parade.

“We didn’t want to alarm them any further,” Mike said.

But he told his son beforeSEE “PAWLEYS,” PAGE 15

BY ROGER GREENECOASTAL OBSERVER

Red, white and blue were the colors of the day on Monday in Murrells Inlet. Thousands of spectators lined the Marsh Walk and 102 vessels made the voyage from Garden City Point to Morse Park Landing, cel-ebrating the Fourth of July in true inlet fashion with the 28th annual boat parade.

“It turned out great,” said Lee Hewitt, one of the parade’s organizers. “Every year viewer participation seems to get larg-er and larger. It’s a wonder-ful and unique opportunity for families.”

Following the parade’s theme of “Ride the Inlet Wave to Freedom,” the stars and stripes were prominently dis-played on each craft, alongside red, white and blue bunting and banners honoring veter-ans causes and supporting the armed forces. Flags honoring the University of South Caroli-na’s back-to-back national base-ball championships flew proud-ly, as did those of other favored teams such as the Pittsburgh

SEE “INLET PARADE,” PAGE 16

North Litchfield

Neighborson paradefor 25th year

Pawleys Island

Spirit soarsin family’sbiplane

Murrells Inlet

Water, likepatriotism,spills over

Charles Swenson/Coastal Observer

F-16s from the 77th Fighter Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base pass over Pawleys Island for the Salute From the Shore.

FEATURE PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly Under 6,000 Division

SECOND PLACEThe Manning TimesJason Lesley

Page 12 Thursday, April 14, 2011

JASON LESLEY / [email protected]

PRESENTING THE COLORS. A member of the S.C. Highway Patrol Honor Guard marches with the state flag during the ceremonies to honor slain law officers in Clarendon County on Saturday.

We honor16 heroesBy SHARRON [email protected]


MEMORIAL. Sgt. Scott Danback, with the Manning Police Depart-ment and coordinator of Saturday’s ceremony, explains to attendees why 2011 Ride for Hope Team Manning was hosting the service.


PIPING. Kyle Ryan, piper and member of the City of Charleston Police Department, played prior to Satur-day’s service and performed “Amazing Grace” during the service.


SALUTE. Members of the South Carolina Highway Patrol, the South Carolina Department of Natural Re-sources and the Manning Police Department salute as flags were presented at Saturday’s ceremony honoring Clarendon County’s fallen officers.

RIO. A member of the Highway Patrol ACE Team’s K-9 Unit, Rao was named in honor of fallen Trooper Michael J. Rao.

Dedicated to the officers of this county who gave their lives in the line of duty.

Travis D. Davis Summerton PD 1955Harry Boyd Ray Highway Patrol 1958John Ray Riddle Highway Patrol 1961Samuel Davies Gaskins Manning PD 1969Doyle Hayes Hill Wildlife Dept. 1975Frank J. Burriss Highway Patrol 1976Jesse L. Mallett Sheriff’s Dept. 1979Henry Bethea Morris Sheriff’s Dept. 1982Dewey L. Thornbrew Wildlife Dept. 1987Jamie W. Wells Summerton PD 1988Leroy M. Dantzler Wildlife Dept. 1991Michael Chappell Highway Patrol 1995Billy Ray Elms Sr. Sheriff’s Dept. 1997Walter K. Floyd Sheriff’s Dept. 2002Michael J. Rao Highway Patrol 2002Jonathan W. Parker Highway Patrol 2005

Clarendon Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial

See HEROES, page 14

FEATURE PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOFEATURE PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly Under 6,000 Division

FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEMyrtle Beach HeraldChris Mowder

FEATURE PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly Over 6,000 & 2/3 Times Divisons Combined

THIRD PLACEThe News & ReporterPhyllis Lucas

LIFESTYLES8A • THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 2011 • The News & Reporter

Miss Jennifer Eve Mosley and Mr. Erik McWatters, both of Edgemoor, were united in marriage on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2010, at Harmony Baptist Church in Edgemoor.

The Rev. Woody Oliver officiated the 3 p.m. ceremo-ny.

The bride is the daughter of Wayne and Jackie Mosley of Edgemoor. Her grandpar-ents are Laney and Joyce Ernandez of Edgemoor and Doris Mosley of Richburg. She graduated from Lewisville High School and Coastal Carolina University and is employed as a first grade teacher with the Lancaster County School District.

The groom is the son of Albert and Robin McWatters of Fort Lawn. His grandpar-ents are Sylvia and Fred Zickmond of Winnsboro, Doug Self of Rock Hill and Hazel McWatters of Ches-ter. He graduated from Lewisville High School and is employed with Compo-rium in Fort Mill.

The bride was given in marriage by her parents and escorted by her father, Mr. Wayne Mosley.

She wore a white wed-ding gown by Casablanca featuring dazzling embroi-dery and beadwork on the bodice. The gown also fea-tured a pleated sash at the waist. Fancy beadwork on the entire semi-cathedral train completed the dress. The bride wore a fingertip double-layered veil and a tiara and also matching dia-

mond earrings and a neck-lace. She wore a silver bracelet given to her by her maid of honor and carried a bouquet of orange, chocolate and sunset roses with dia-monds and fall-colored leaves. Within the bouquet was a wedding band that belonged to the bride’s great-great-grandmother, Mrs. Janie Hinson. The wedding band is 105 years old.

The maid of honor was Misty Ernandez, cousin of the bride. She wore a strap-less espresso colored satin floor-length gown with a princess line. It was accent-ed with a persimmon satin empire waistline and per-simmon underlay. She car-ried a bouquet of burnt orange calla lilies with hypericum berries and bear grass.

The bridesmaids were

Courtney Boling, Emily Huffstickler, Jennifer Murphy, Amy Roddey, Heather Stacks and Lenna Wishert. Their dresses and flowers were identical to those of the honor atten-dant.

The best man was Scott McWatters, brother of the groom.

The groomsmen were Albert McWatters, father of the groom; Clint Mosley, brother of the bride; Johnny Gaston, Cole Wilson and Nathan Fickling.

For her daughter’s wed-ding, Mrs. Mosley wore a latte colored floor-length dress with silver sequins and a matching jacket. Her corsage consisted of burnt orange roses.

Mrs. McWatters, mother of the groom, chose a tea-length navy and cream dress. Her corsage also con-sisted of burnt orange roses.

Traditional wedding music was played by pianist Jimmy Gladden. Soloist Albert McWatters, father of the groom, sang “I Cross My Heart.”

Flowers were placed in the vestibule in memory of lost loved ones of the bride and groom.

The registry attendant was Meg Gulledge. The wedding was directed by Cathy Jones.

An outdoor reception was held at the home of the bride’s parents.

Following a honeymoon to St. Lucia, the couple is at home in Edgemoor.

Miss Jennifer Eve Mosley weds Mr. Erik McWatters

Mr. and Mrs. Erik McWattersThe former Miss Jennifer Eve Mosley

Josieanna Lenay GregoryNapoleon and Alesia Gre-

gory of Chester announce the birth of a daughter, Josieanna Lenay Gregory, on Dec. 20, 2010, at Piedmont Medical Center.

Maternal grandparents are Jessie Moore and Lawrence Moore, both of Chester.

Paternal grandparents are Napoleon Johnson and the late Josieann Gregory of Chester.

Bailey Anne RoweAdam and Ashley Rowe

of Rock Hill announce the birth of a daughter, Bailey Anne Rowe, on Dec. 21, 2010, at Piedmont Medical Center.

Maternal grandparents are Eddie and Marsha Young of Richburg.

Paternal grandparents are Dale Rowe and Merri Thomas, both of Rock Hill.

Karleigh Nicole MooreDarren and Jennifer

Moore of Rock Hill announce the birth of a daughter, Karleigh Nicole Moore, on

Dec. 21, 2010, at Piedmont Medical Center.

Maternal grandparents are Karen Jones of Rock Hill and Mark Emhof of Lowrys.

Paternal grandparents are Kenneth and Julie Moore of Fort Mill.

Jaden Isaiah WilksArb and Emeka Wilks of

Rock Hill announce the birth of a son, Jaden Isaiah Wilks, on Dec. 21, 2010, at Piedmont Medical Center.

Maternal grandparents are Johnny and Mary McCrorey of Rock Hill.

Paternal grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Lee Wilks of Chester.

Vivian Darragh McAteeJosh and Ashley McAtee

of Rock Hill announce the birth of a daughter, Vivian Darragh McAtee, on Dec. 27, 2010, at Piedmont Medical Center.

Maternal grandparents are Sam and Kit Frazer of Chester.

Paternal grandparents are Randy and Diane McAtee of Riverside, Ohio.

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS

ENGAGEMENT

Miss Sonia Melinda Morrow and Mr. Patrick Young

Morrow – YoungBobby and Frances Morrow announce the engagement

of their daughter, Miss Sonia Melinda Morrow, to Mr. Patrick Young, all of Chester. He is the son of Betty Young, also of Chester.

The bride-elect is employed with the S.C. Budget and Control Board in Columbia.

The groom-elect is employed with the U.S. General Services Administration in Columbia.

The wedding is planned for Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011, in Chester.

Have you noticed lately all the New Year’s advertise-

ments and commercials out there for diets? We’ve got Weight Watchers, Nutri-System, Jenny Craig, the baby food diet, the carb diet, the fasting and purification diet (bet-ter known as just purge, starve and cleanse your-self in the bathroom con-stantly for four to six weeks) and let’s not forget the old sure bet Atkins diet. Women, their bodies and their dieting have been around for years, but just for the record, it’s not for me!

Back when I was a lit-tle girl there were no gyms, but we did have the Y. There were two differ-ent ones, the YMCA and the YWCA. The YMCA

stood for Young Men’s Christian Association and the YWCA stood for Young Women’s Chris-tian Asso-ciation.

Back years ago in Char-lotte, girls and boys and women and men were segregated when it came to gymnastic classes, swimming classes, exer-cise classes and dance classes if you took them at the Y. Now I am sure there were other facilities, but for a middle class family living in America,

the Y was where you went.

I can remember when Cindy and I went to our swim classes at the Y every Tuesday and Thursday night, Mama would either be swimming laps at the other end of the pool or in exercise class. It was very family-oriented and just about everybody I knew went.

Years later Mama became a member of a women’s gym called Spa Lady. There she would take high- speed exercise, which we now call aero-bics, and work out on the exercise machines.

I am laughing now, because I just talked to Mama about this the other day. I was reliving the type of exercise machines she would use. One of the

machines was a jig-ga-ler machine, in which you strapped a wide band around your fanny and hooked it up to the other side and turned the machine on and it was suppose to jiggle the fat right off your butt. Imagine that!

Another thing they had was this large curved roll-er machine in which you would either lay on your front side or your back side and it supposedly rolled the fat off your belly and your butt.

Mama, being a secre-tary and all, had this little wooden spin wheel thing under her desk. We called it the twister. There were two boards approximately 2 foot by 2 foot separated by a very large screw and wheelie-type mechanism.

It stood up off the floor about 4 inches. To use this invention, you would stand on the top board and do the twist. The bottom board would remain sta-tionary and the top board would turn with you. This was very good for the hips and tummy, and being a secretary, one needed this!

Years have passed since I last stepped foot in a YWCA or a Spa Lady. There is no more segrega-tion of girls and boys and they no longer have any-thing but YMCAs. But one thing’s for sure, there are a lot of gyms and work out facilities in America, not to mention all the many personal trainers and per-sonal chefs, all the money-making gimmicks and quick fixes for a skinny, sexy new you and blah,

blah, blah, blah blah. I have never much been

a dieter, and I don’t intend on starting now. I love eat-ing good food, I want to eat good food and I enjoy eating good food. I am never going to purge and starve myself, and you can better believe I am never going to be a super skinny model, but I am going to be healthy, happy and me. I for one always love eat-ing my dessert first, plus you never know, I might not be here tomorrow and I definitely don’t want to miss out on anything, nor do I want to go out hun-gry!

Sharon Furr, 42, is a Charlotte native but has been living and farming in Chester County since 2000.

Fat free, sugar free, sodium free ... it’s not for me

What'd She Say?

Sharon Furr

PHOTO PROVIDEDThe Spanish Club went on a field trip to the Queen City Ball Room in Pineville on Friday, Dec. 10. By visiting the dance studio, students learned more about Spanish dances associated with different Spanish speaking coun-tries. After dancing, students went to a local Spanish restaurant to practice speaking Spanish and to experience authentic cuisine. Chaperons were Ms. Rowsam, Mrs. Marquez, Mr. Dean and Dr. Conrath.

Spanish students learn the culture

The diabetes support group for Chester Regional Medical Center will meet at 5 p.m. Jan. 14 in the Resource Center. Barbara

Brentlinger, RN, CDE, will present "Your Journey Controlling Diabetes in 2011." For more information call 581-3151.

Diabetes support group to meet

FEATURE PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOFEATURE PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly Over 6,000 & 2/3 Times Divisions Combined

SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEGeorgetown Times

Zena Altman

FEATURE PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly Over 6,000 & 2/3 Times Divisions Combined

FIRST PLACEThe Gaff ney LedgerLaura P arker

LifestylesPAGE 6A

Lifestyles Editor Laura Parker may be contacted at [email protected]

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2011THE GAFFNEY LEDGER

Cowpens Battlefield celebratesnation’s independence July 2

650-shell fireworks show begins at 9 p.m.after a day of history, music and family fun

Cowpens National Battlefield will cele-brate our nation’s independence with patri-otic music, fireworks and opportunities tolearn about Revolutionary War history onSaturday, July 2. The free event will beginat 10:30 a.m. with a guided battlefield walkand end with a 650-shell professional fire-work display at 9 p.m.

Local reenactors will set up a soldiers’camp and will give weapons firing demon-strations on the half hour from 12:30-5:30p.m. Afternoon battlefield walks will beginon the hour at the Visitor Center fromnoon until 4 p.m., and a talk will be offeredat the 1932 US Monument in front of theVisitor Center at 6:30 p.m. The Visitor Cen-ter will be open from 9 a.m.-9 p.m.

On the lawn behind the Visitor Center,the Spartanburg Community Band willplay patriotic music from 7-9 p.m. leadingup to the fireworks show. The Chesneebranch of the Spartanburg County Librarywill have story time and games from 5-6p.m. while the park will offer children’s

activities from 7-9 p.m. Activities includeplaying Colonial-era children’s games,writing with a quill pen and makingwhirligigs.

Everyone is encouraged to bring a picnicand enjoy the afternoon with family andfriends. There will be no food available inthe park and alcohol is not allowed at thisfamily event. While supplies last, waterand soft drinks can be purchased at theVisitor Center. Park regulations prohibitpersonal fireworks, sparklers, chem-lights,etc.

For visitors’ safety, the battlefield areawill be closed between 5:30-9:45 p.m. tostage and shoot the fireworks.

In the event of inclement weather, onlythe fireworks display will be rescheduledfor Sunday, July 3.

Cowpens National Battlefield is the siteof the American victory over the Britishon Jan. 17, 1781. For more information, call(864) 461-2828 or visit the park’s webpageat www.nps.gov/cowp/.

All we have of freedom –all we use or know –

this our fathers bought for us,long and long ago.

–Rudyard Kipling

Ledger staffer Joe Hughes IIsnapped these photos inJanuary during the 230th

anniversary celebration ofthe Battle of Cowpens. Sim-ilar activities will take place

on Saturday, July 2, at thebattlefieldʼs celebration of

our nationʼs independence.

LifestylesPAGE 6A

Lifestyles Editor Laura Parker may be contacted at [email protected]

FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2011THE GAFFNEY LEDGER

By SCOTT POWELLLedger Staff Writer

[email protected]

Aturquoise blue dress with a hint ofred whisper is not the typical fash-ion a high school student can find

when shopping for formal wear.Red whisper and turquoise were exactly

the colors Daria Fowler had in mind for thisyear's prom while browsing catalogues look-ing for ideas. She was more than willing todrive from Shelby with her mother and theall important checkbook on April 20 so shecould pick up this special dress at BasketCase Summer's Formal Wear in Gaffney.

“I spotted the turquoise dress in a maga-zine in January. As soon as I saw it, I knew Iwanted it,” Fowler said. “I went ahead andhad my Mom order it for me so it would behere in time for my prom on May 21. I hadto have it shipped from Japan. I was worriedfor a little while that it might not get herebecause of the recent tsunami, but it turnedout all right.”

Red whisper is a popular Oriental fabricthat has become a favorite among high schoolfemales looking to make a splashy entrance attheir prom. It is not uncommon for young

women to order a dress four to five months inadvance before a formal event.

A stunning prom dress can range from$200 to $400. Females will often splurge onnail care, facials and special hair styles,from a sleek, elegant up-do to curls for theglamourous night.

Men have their own searching to do to findtuxedos to match the dresses of their dates.Bright color vests like purple and red areoften chosen to accent the traditional blackand white tuxedo styles.

“We carry lots of different tuxedo styles, butcan order just about anything,” said TerriWoodward, co-owner of Basket Case Sum-mer's Formal Wear. "We've had men order acheetah and zebra print vest in recent monthsto match a dress picked out by their date."

Martineous Hopper is still a couple of yearsaway from being eligible for the prom. Butthe ninth grader from Shelby has alreadylearned colors like mauve and wisteria are away to add a sophisticated style to a formalevent.

“I like looking through the catalogues to seethe different colors and styles,” Hopper said.“It's important for colors to match what yourdate is wearing.”

Gaffney Ledger staff writer Scott Powell models a tux and purple vest while working on a story about prom fashions. He is picturedwith high school students Jabria Byars, Caroline Alexander, Daria Fowler, Bailey Frye, Mary Ann Huff and Karli Green.

Daria Fowler (left) and Martineous Hopper drove toGaffney from their homes in Shelby to find the perfectfashions for the prom.

Shelby resident Martineous Hopper used a catalogue on April 20 to order a wisteria shirt with a mauve print to complement his traditionalblack and white tuxedo. While he's only a ninth grader, Hopper is already preparing for a few busy years of attending formal events.

Ledger Photo / SCOTT POWELL

Ledger Photo / SCOTT POWELL

� See PROM, Page 7A

PromNightThat ‘perfect’ dress or tux can make

special evening a lasting memory

SPORTS PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly Under 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACELexington County Chronicle & The Dispatch NewsTravis B oland

SPORTSLEXINGTON COUNTY CHRONICLE AND The Dispatch-News—SINCE 1870

BColumns|3-5Classified|6-11Parents & Kids |12

Travis Boland, Sports Editor | 803-359-1946 | [email protected] Thursday, April 28, 2011

BY TRAVIS [email protected]

It started with a promise.Brookland-Cayce’s baseball team traveled to

South Aiken to battle for the Lower State cham-pionship. B-C would have to beat the Thorough-breds twice to advance to the Class 3-A state championship series.

John Petrey made the trip, and B-C head coach Brian Hucks told him the Bearcats would win twice and play one more game at Brookland-Cayce. The Bearcats fell 5-4 ending the 2010 season.

Petrey wouldn’t get that last chance as he lost his battle with glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive type of brain tumor, in the summer of 2010

Petrey was diagnosed with the tumor in June of 2009.

Hucks wanted a way to keep the spirit of Pe-trey during the 2011 season.

“He coached a lot of these players on the team and I wanted to find a way to honor his memory this season.”

Hucks’ idea was to place Petrey’s initials on the Bearcats’ hats this season.

“He was well respected around the state, as a former defensive coordinator at Swansea,” Hucks said. “He’s the standard by which all men should be judged..not just as a coach, but as a father and husband.”

Before Hucks went through with the uniform change he wanted to get the approval of John’s oldest son Tanner who was beginning his senior season with the Bearcats.

“(Coach) Hucks talked to me about it before the season, along with my mom,” Petrey said. “I second-guessed it at first, but then I realized that he meant a lot to so many people.”

Petrey said his team-mates have

embraced the memory of his father and want to win for him.

“Even during his sickness last year, he would come out and support the team,” Petrey said. “I remember his character and how he treated oth-ers with respect.”

Petrey batted .372 with four doubles and 14 RBIs while leading the Bearcats with four saves on the mound this season.

“It’s been tough to go out and play this sea-son,” Petrey said. “It’s hard not seeing him in the stands, but I know that he would want me to play.”

Petrey’s toughest day may have been Wednes-day against Gilbert. It was the Bearcats Senior Day. Petrey was recognized with his mom Gay, but couldn’t help being overwhelmed with the loss of his father.

“Without the game of baseball, this team and my coaches, I don’t know what I would have done,” Petrey said. “They saved my life.”

Hucks is impressed with what Petrey has been able to do this season.

“I don’t know how he does it,” Hucks said. “He’s been resilient all season. He just finds a way to go out and play.”

Hucks also erected a sign in the out-field with the initials JP emblazoned on it with phrases John Petrey used to say to the team.

Words like courage, pride, class and will to win face the B-C team before every game.

“Every player touches the sign when we leave the locker room,” Hucks said. “Before the game, we gather around and pray in front of the sign. It’s just another way for our team to remember (John’s) memory.”

Petrey wanted to individually hon-or his father by wearing No. 45 this

season.“We ordered the jersey before the season, be-

cause that was John’s number,”

Hucks said. “(Tanner) wore it this season and it will be passed down to his brother Grant, then it will be retired.”

Tanner’s younger brother Grant is a freshman on the JV team. Every member of the Bearcat baseball program wears the JP initials on their hat.

Bearcats remembering Petrey

TRAVIS BOLAND | CHRONICLE

Gilbert’s Connor Owings delivers a pitch against Spartanburg earlier this season.

Gilbert armedfor postseasonBY TRAVIS [email protected]

Gilbert head baseball coach Ashley Burnett knows what it takes to win.

Burnett has led the In-dians to state titles in 2006 and 2008.

“Pitching is the name of the game,” Burnett said. “You have to have good pitching if you’re go-ing to make a run.”

The Indians used four pitchers in a 10-5 victory over Pelion Monday.

Mike Morrison picked up the win against the Panthers.

Leading the way for the Indians are Connor Owings and Austin LaBounty.

LaBounty has been in-jured for much of the season, but returned to throw against Brookland-Cayce. He held the Bearcats to one run in a 9-1 victory.

“We’re just trying to take steps forward,” Bur-nett said.

The Indians finished the season 23-2 and will host its first round playoff game Thursday.


Lexington defender Paul Melton battles Cardinal Newman’s Patrick Allen during the fi-nal game of the Palmetto Cup. Melton and the Wildcats defeated Cardinal Newman 5-2 in the final.

‘Cats roll to Palmetto Cup titleBY TRAVIS [email protected]

Lexington’s Rustin McAlister always seems to be in the right place at the right time.

McAlister scored eight goals during the Palmetto Cup, held at Brookland-Cayce High School, helping lead the Wildcats to its first ever championship.

“It’s a credit to my teammates,” McAlister said. “The only reason I’m able to score is because of them.”

McAlister thanked his teammates after being named Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

“I give glory to God,” McAlister said. “For giving me the opportunity to play the game.”

The Wildcats rolled up 20 goals during the five-game event, including a 5-2 win

over Cardinal Newman in the final. The Wildcats scored all five goals in the first half.

McAlister opened the scoring in the sixth minute as Cardinal Newman failed to clear the ball from its zone.

Ryan Frieburger would add two goals, along with Sammie Andrews and Osasu Aighewi.

Cardinal Newman scored two goals in the second half, but it wouldn’t be enough to take the Wildcats.

“This tournament is a good chance to prepare for the postseason,” McAlister said. “One of our goals is to win the region championship. We’re taking it one game at a time, and hopefully we’ll finish the season strong.”

The Wildcats moved to No. 2 in the latest SCHSSCA 4-A poll, one spot behind unde-feated Irmo.

White Knolltakes regionSpecial to the Chronicle

The Harrison brothers helped propel White Knoll to its second-straight re-gion championship.

Ricky Harri-son threw into the seventh inning against South Aiken, giving up just three runs while older brother Chris com-pleted the game as the Timberwolves finished an 8-3 victory over the Thor-oughbreds.

White Knoll broke through in the fifth inning when Trevor Bradley con-nected on a two-run sin-gle to give the T’wolves a 3-0 lead.

White Knoll added four runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach.

White Knoll avenged a 10-0 loss to South Aiken earlier in the season to fi-nish 9-1 in the region.

White Knoll will be the No. 1 seed in its district when the Class 4-A play-offs begin Thursday.

The Timberwolves will face Irmo at home in the first round beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Brookland-Cayce’s Tanner Petrey delivers a pitch against Lexington earlier this season. Members of the B-C baseball program are wearing hats with the initials of Petrey’s father who died in 2010.

Lexington tennis defeats IrmoSpecial to the Chronicle

Lexington’s tennis team improved to 13-3 on the season with a season sweep of rival Irmo.

In a rematch of the last year’s 4-A Lower State fi-nal, the Yellow Jackets got wins from their top two players, but couldn’t find a win later in the match.

Paul Reed and Jasdeep Guram earned wins for

Irmo.Winners for Lexington

were Logan Adkins, Trey Swearingen and Thomas Bryan.

Brandon Matthews and Grayson Hill combined to win their doubles match against Irmo’s Wesley Tur-beville and John Rast.

Lexington faced region rival White Knoll Tuesday with the region champion-ship on the line.

Airport hits the road for playoffs: B2

Chapin, Irmo remain No. 1BY TRAVIS [email protected]

Chapin and Irmo boys soccer teams both re-mained atop their respec-tive polls in the latest SCHSSCA rankings.

The Yellow Jackets are 17-0 on the season.

Lexington made the largest leap in the 4-A boys poll with a 5-0 record at the Palmetto Cup.

The Wildcats are 15-5-1 on the season.

Dutch Fork is also in the 4-A poll, ranked 12th.

In Class 3-A, Brookland-Cayce used a strong show-ing in the Palmetto Cup to rise to No. 4 in the rank-ings.

Gilbert is 17-2 on the season and ranked No. 2 in the Class 2-A poll.

The Indians have losses to Andrew Jackson and Batesburg-Leesville.

Gilbert avenged its loss to B-L with two region wins over the reigning Class 2-A champions.

The Panthers are ranked No. 7 in the latest 2-A poll.

In girls soccer, Lexington is ranked third in Class 4-A while Irmo is ranked No. 6.

Dutch Fork and White Knoll are also ranked in the 4-A poll.

Brookland-Cayce and Airport are both ranked in the Top 5 of the Class 3-A poll while Chapin is ranked 12th.

In Class 2-A, Swansea is ranked fourth after just two losses on the season. Gilbert is ranked sixth in the latest 2-A poll.

Full Palmetto Cup scoreboard on B2


BColumns|3-5Classified|6-13Your Good Health |14

Travis Boland, Sports Editor | 803-359-1946 | [email protected] Thursday, August 18, 2011

Ciuffo namedto Team USASpecial to the Chronicle

CARY, N.C. - Follow-ing a six-day trials and training evaluation peri-od, Lexington High School junior catcher Nick Ciuffo has been named one of the 20 players who will make up the 2011 16U National Team.

The club will travel to Lagos de Moreno, Mexico, to compete in the 2011 IBAF World AA/16U Youth Champi-onships, Aug. 19-28.

Ciuffo, who trans-ferred from Wando High School, hit .416 with two homers and 41 RBIs for the S.C. Diamond Devils 17U squad this summer.

The two-time all-Low-country selection was named all-state by the High School Sports Re-port after hitting .372 with three homers and 31 RBIs this past spring for Wando.

The 16U team left for Mexico Thursday. It will play its first game on Aug. 19 against Austra-lia. Pool play will run from Aug. 19-23.

Ciuffo

Pelion set to open season against Wagener-SalleyBY TRAVIS [email protected]

For the second consecutive season, the Pelion Panthers will open the football season during Week Zero.

The Panthers will travel to

face Wagener-Salley Friday night after a 10-7 loss to Brookland-Cayce at the Lexington County Jamboree.

Pelion’s defense played well, holding Brookland-Cayce to just one touchdown. Kyle Rogers led the way with an interception.

The Pelion offense struggled early, having a touchdown called back due to a penalty.

Jamar Pontoon led the Pan-thers in rushing.

Pelion broke through on the scoreboard with just 34 seconds left in the half.

Freddie Phillips caught a touchdown pass to make the fi-nal score 10-7.

The Panthers defeated Wagen-er-Salley 27-6 at home last sea-son.

Pelion is coming off a 5-5 re-cord in 2010.

‘Cats to hostscrimmages

By TRAVIS [email protected]

1. Can Lexington win the Class 4-A state championship?The Wildcats certainly have the most talent in the region led by South Carolina commit

Shaq Roland along with 2,000 yard rusher Kevin Miller. Lexington’s defense will be better this season with the addition of Rivers Bedenbaugh. The game against North Augusta should decide the region and whether or not the Wildcats will get another home playoff game this season.

2. What will Tom Knotts do for an encore?Knotts led Dutch Fork to a region championship after knocking off Irmo in the Silver

Foxes season finale. The title broke the Yellow Jackets string of four straight region crowns. Knotts has to replace quarterback Justin Suber, but the Silver Foxes still have a lot of talent on offense. Brandon Quattlebaum will lead the charge after rushing for 18 touchdowns last year.

3. How will Rusty Charpia fare at Brookland-Cayce?Charpia takes over a B-C program that is looking for an identity. The Bearcats showed

some good things at the Lexington County Jamboree against Pelion. Zeke Walker will be the key, leading Charpia’s spread offense.

4. Who will be the surprise team in the region?Gordon Walters begins his third season at White Knoll where he took the Timberwolves to

the Class 4-A playoffs in 2009 and 2010. Walters has been opening the playbook which will allow for a versatile style of offense, and possibly more points scored. The defense is led by new coordinator David Smith and should be more attacking this season. If White Knoll’s young secondary can gel quickly, the T’wolves could advance in the 4-A playoffs for the first time in school history.

5. Who will be the Player of the Year?The smart money is on Lexington’s Shaq Roland. Roland was second in the state in

touchdowns last season and could be making plans to accept the state’s Mr. Football award in December. Marcus Smith will try to continue the tradition of talented backs at Irmo while the Airport tandem of quarterback Kelvin Harris and tailback Devon Howell are sure to put up yards this season. A few other players to keep an eye on are Jamar Pontoon at Pelion, Mason Zandi at Chapin and Juwan Etheridge at Batesburg-Leesville.

2011 FootBALL PREVIEW5 Questions for the start of the high school football season

Irmo, Dutch Fork renew rivalryBY TRAVIS [email protected]

Dutch Fork made a statement in its first game last season.

The Silver Foxes fell to Irmo 28-26, but Dutch Fork fans could feel the the tide turning against its rival.

After a loss to North Au-gusta, the Silver Foxes rat-tled off seven-straight wins before hosting the Yellow Jackets.

With the region champi-onship on the line, Dutch Fork defeated Irmo to keep the Yellow Jackets from a fifth-straight championship.

The rivalry has been re-newed under head coach Tom Knotts.

The Silver Foxes are breaking in a new quarter-back in Clayton Little.

Little will have two of

the top receivers from last season in Shaq Price and Jordan Berry.

Brandon Quattlebaum also returns for the Silver Foxes after rushing for 18 touchdowns last season.

Irmo is also replacing its quarterback, but the job has remained open throughout fall practice.

Grant Davitte and Austin Pitts will share time under center.

Leading the Yellow Jack-ets will be running back Marcus Smith who rushed for over 1,000 yards as a backup to Dawan Scott last year.


Dutch Fork running back Brandon Quattlebaum leads the Silver Foxes against rival Irmo Friday.


Former Chapin standout Kyle Koch advanced to the third round of the UTSA Boys 18 National Championship.

Chapin’s Kochfalls at NationalsSpecial to the Chronicle

Former Chapin stand-out Kyle Koch competed in the United States Ten-nis Association Boys 18 National Championship at Kalamazoo, Mich.

Koch reached the third round of the main draw before his first loss.

He had a second chance in the feed-in bracket, but dropped a fourth-round match to Austin Ansari 6-4, 6-3.

Koch, who led the Ea-gles to back-to-back Class 3-A championships, will be a freshman at South Carolina and play for the men’s tennis team.

If you’re going...Who: Irmo at Dutch ForkWhen :Friday, Aug. 19 7:30 p.m.Where: Dutch Fork High School

If you’re going...Who: Pelion at Wagener-Salley When :Friday, Aug. 19 7:30 p.m.Where Wagener-Salley


Six Chronicle Region teams will have a final op-portunity to fix mistakes before the start of the football season.

Lexington High School will host the Wildcat Jam-boree Friday, Aug. 19 be-ginning at 6 p.m.

Airport, who was shut-out by White Knoll at the Lexington County Jambo-ree, will face Swansea during the second half.

Swansea defeated Batesburg-Leesville 27-0 thanks to the strong run-ning of Randy Brown.

B-L faces Chapin in the third half while Lexington battles Brookland-Cayce in the events finale.

Lexington scored 31 points against Gilbert led by Shaq Roland’s 70-yard touchdown catch.

Brookland-Cayce defe-ated Pelion 10-7 in the Lexington County Jambo-ree. Zeke Walker threw a touchdown to B.J. DeWalt for the Bearcats’ lone touchdown.


Shaq Roland leads Lex-ington against B-C at the Wildcat Jamboree Friday, Aug. 19 at Lexington.

Matthews returningAdam Matthews will re-

turn to the South Carolina baseball team after being drafted by Baltimore: B2

Previews of Gilbert and Wyman King opners: B2

2011 High School Football Edition

Check out our annual Prep Football Edition in today’s Chronicle

Bryan finishes 40th in North Carolina

Special to the Chronicle

Chapin’s George Bryan IV finished 40th overall at the HGM Hotels Classic at Rock Barn in North Caroli-na.

Bryan had three rounds of below 70 golf before a final round of 77 that made him

finish -7.The tournament is part

of the eGolf Professional Tour.


Travis Boland, Sports Editor | 803-359-1946 | [email protected] Thursday, December 23, 2010

BColumns|3-5Focus On You|6Classified|7-11Parents & Kids |12

The Lexington Chronicle and Dispatch News2010 All-Region Football Team

Lexington’s Roland personifies team playerBY TRAVIS [email protected]

Shaq Roland is no stranger to pressure.

During last season’s Class 4-A playoffs, Roland sank two free throws with less than three sec-onds remaining to force overtime.

The Wildcats would go on to win and advance to the state championship.

Roland said he felt the pressure on the football field this season with a new coach coming to town.

“We knew that (Coach Earley) had won a lot of games,” Roland said.

Roland, the starting quarter-back a year ago, would have to transition to a new position to fit into the new offense.

Roland moved to receiver, a more natural position, and put up

big numbers helping the Wildcats advance to the Class 4-A state semifinals.

“I think receiver is a better posi-tion for me,” Roland said. “I was running the option as a quarter-back, so I didn’t throw that much. I told the coaches, wherever you need me to play...I’ll go.”

Roland was used as a quarter-back, running back, receiver, kick returner and defensive back this

season.He finished the year with 2,757

total yards and 37 touchdowns on offense (most of anyone in the state) while intercepting four passes and returning one for a score.

Roland says the game he re-members most this season is the second round playoff game against Summerville.

“We knew we could play with

them,” Roland said. “Going down there and winning gave us a lot of confidence. We had a letdown against Byrnes, but we’re not go-ing to let that happen again.”

Roland returns next season with state title aspirations.

“Everyone is expecting us to compete for the title next year,” Roland said. “That’s our goal. We want to win the region and even-tually the state title.”

First Team OffenseQB - Justin Suber

(Dutch Fork)Senior who threw for 1,875

yards and 14 touchdowns and rushed for 1,054 yards and eight scores. Led Silver Foxes to Class 4-A Region IV title.

RB - Dawan Scott (Irmo)Senior carried for 2,131 yards

and 31 touchdowns while catching six passes for 44 yards. Was named to the SCADA North-South game and earned MVP honors.

RB - Kevin Miller (Lexington)Junior finished the season with

2,015 yards rushing while scoring 23 touchdowns. He also caught 24 passes for 176 yards and a score.

WR - David Frazier (Irmo)Senior caught 53 passes for

1,074 yards and nine touchdowns. Was named to the South Carolina Shrine Bowl team.

WR - Corey Ingle (Pelion)Senior caught 36 passes for 697

yards and 12 touchdowns.

WR - CJ Cannon (Dutch Fork)

Senior played tight-end for the Silver Foxes and led the team with 57 catches and 728 yards. Also led the team with eight touchdowns while rushing for 97 yards. Was named to the North-South game.

OL - Coleman Hunter (Lexington)

Senior center averaged 87 per-cent rating for the season with 31 knockdowns and 14 pancakes. Named to the South Carolina Shrine Bowl team.

OL - Shaquille Counts (Irmo)Senior named Class 4-A lineman

of the year. Helped pave the way for over 3,000 rushing yards, was named to the S.C. Shrine Bowl team.

OL - Devin Williams (Batesburg-Leesville)

Senior averaged 89 percent rat-ing. A three-year starter was named all-region.

OL - Strike Sox (White Knoll)Senior led the Timberwolves

rushing attack to over 4,000 yards on the season.

OL - Earron Twitty (Gilbert)Senior averaged 92 percent rat-

ing for the season with 31 knock-down blocks and was named all-re-gion.

ATH - Jonathan Rumph (Brookland-Cayce)

Senior played offense and de-fense. Threw for 1,355 yards and eight touchdowns, caught three passes for 20 yards and a score and rushed for 373 yards and three touchdowns. On defense, played defensive back and also returned kicks and punts. Was named Region

V Player of the Year and named to the SCADA North-South team.

First Team DefenseDL - Austin Long

(White Knoll)Led the Timberwolves with six

sacks and finished third with 80 tackles. Recovered two fumbles.

DL - Cavon Howell (Airport)Led the Eagles defense in tack-

les (102) and sacks (seven)

DL - Kendall Hopkins (Lexington)

Senior recorded 58 tackles and 10 tackles for loss. Led the Wildcats with seven sacks, intercepted three passes and forced two fumbles.

LB - Jared Pryor

(Dutch Fork)Led Silver Foxes with 189 tack-

les including 20 tackles for loss. Al-so led the team with six intercep-tions.

LB - Matt Bowman (Lexington)

Senior recorded 76 tackles in-cluding nine tackles for loss. Added three sacks, one interception, one forced fumble and two fumble re-coveries.

LB - Rivers Bedenbaugh (Batesburg-Leesville)

Junior was named All-Region and All-Area after recording 119 tackles including 10 tackles for loss. Also caused two fumbles.

LB - Byron Johnson

(Swansea)Sophomore recorded 98 tackles

with 16 tackles for loss. Added an interception, recovered two fumbles and blocked two kicks. On offense, caught 30 passes for 545 yards and five touchdowns.

DB - Carlton Richard (Pelion)Sophomore recorded 64 tackles

with three tackles for loss. Added

eight pass break-ups. Averaged 25. 8 yards per kickoff return.

DB - Devin Bedenbaugh (Wyman King Academy)

Senior recorded 116 tackles with three sacks and four intercep-tions including one for a touchdown. On offense, rushed for 1,787 yards and 26 touchdowns.

DB - Ricky Adams

(Batesburg-Leesville) Senior recorded 28 tackles in-

cluding one tackle for loss. Added four pass break-ups and two inter-ceptions. All-Region selection and Defensive Player of the Year. Select-ed to SCADA North-South game.

DB - Jonathan Detouche (Irmo)

Senior finished the season with 40 tackles (28 solo tackles). Had five interceptions including one for a touchdown. Recovered three fum-bles and blocked a kick.

Lexington County Chronicle All-Region Football First Team

Carlton Richard

Matt Bowman

Justin Suber

Ricky Adams

Dawan Scott

SPORTS PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly Under 6,000 Division

SECOND PLACEThe Berkeley IndependentFrank J ohnson


The afterglow of the Berkeley Lady Stagsmaking the state playoffs under first-yearcoach Crystal Peace lasted exactly 72 hours.

By 8:30 p.m. on Monday night the LadyStags’ season was over. BHS fell in the firstround to top-ranked Hartsville 67-31. Berkeleymade the playoffs by virtue of a 47-45 win overCane Bay on Feb. 11.

“This has been an amazing ride,” BHS coachCrystal Peace said of her first year on thebench. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Wehad our ups and downs, but these young ladieshave worked so hard all season long.”

The Red Foxes (18-6) entered the playoffs asthe top seed from Region 6-AAA after runningthe table with an 11-0 region record.

The Lady Stags (7-12) were led by LeAnnaMorrison’s 17 points. She closed out herscholastic career unofficially with 1,223 points.Her actual career total is higher, as no recordsremain from Morrison’s eighth grade season.She could conceivably have racked up more

than1,500 points inher career. On Monday,Morrison was named to theClass AAA all-state team.

“LeAnna has done anamazing job,” Peace said.“She became more of a ‘vocalleader’ as the season progressed.”

Peace called her point guard and leadingscorer a one-of-a-kind student-athlete.

“It’s not often that you find a high school stu-dent-athlete that works as hard as she does onand off the court,” the coach said. “She’s a verysmart young lady so she puts in an extraamount of time studying ... That's a hard thingto do. I was blessed to have been her coach thisseason.”

Berkeley’s basketball season got off to a lessthan auspicious start when Peace stepped in to

LeAnnaMorrisonnotched 17pointsagainstHartsville.

Doug Rogers/Special to The

Independent

Lady Stags ousted by top-ranked Hartsville

a T & M Windows Inc. Co

843-973-3535

LIFETIMEWARRANTY

Ask about our Vinyl Siding and Soffit

WHITE DOUBLE HUNG

BI0

1-472555

Page 1B • Wednesday, February 23, 2011

See LADY STAGS Page 2B


It’s spring, when a youngman’s fancy turns to thoughtsof … baseball.

The Goose Creek AmericanLegion Preseason InvitationalBaseball Tournament throwsout the official first pitch of the2011 high school baseball sea-son on Friday with a pair ofdoubleheaders slated at twotournament locations.

At Goose Creek, AcademicMagnet takes on Goose Creekat 5 p.m. In the 7:15 p.m. night-cap, Cane Bay plays FortDorchester.

At Berkeley, a pair of rivalsbegin the preseason with

Ashley Ridge squaring offagainst West Ashley at 5 p.m.At 7:15 p.m., Timberland willface the 2009 defending tour-nament champ Berkeley Stags.

The eight-team, round-robinstyle tournament runs all nextweek at both sites with champi-onship play slated for Saturday,March 5 at Goose Creek.

The Stags come in to the tour-nament slated as the preseasonfavorites in Region 7-AAAalong with fellow region new-comer Cane Bay.

Junior right-hander GarrettGallagher has been tabbed asthe prospect to watch thisspring in the region andanchors a solid Stags pitchingstaff with senior Tyler Barwick,

a left-hander who signed a let-ter of intent to join his brotherBrad at Florence-DarlingtonTech earlier this month.

Seniors Ryan Wise and AlexPresnell provide leadership foran experienced, but youngBHS team.

Timberland faces a challeng-ing and rebuilding year ahead,having to replace the likes ofCody Craig, Brian Welch, andCaleb Gibbs. All three are ply-ing their trade on the collegiatelevel.

Senior Bobby Jackson headsup a young Wolves team in2011.

Games are scheduled forMonday, Feb. 28, March 2 andMarch 5.

High School Baseball

Dan Brown/Independent

Alex Presnell takes cuts in the cage under the watchful eye of coach Landy Cox.

Tournament signals startof new season on diamondBerkeley to serve as one of two host sites

BY DAN BROWNIColumnist

Marion.We. Want. Marion.It has been the rallying cry for the

Timberland Lady Wolves all sea-son long and with last Friday’s 64-40 dismantling of NorthCharleston, THE Game is now TheNext Game, and a game for whichpoint guard Rateska Brown hasbeen waiting her whole life.

“They beat us last year, and wewant them, we want them badly,”

Brown said. I’ve watched Rateska Brown

play basketball for three years nowand couldn’t believe the first time Isaw her direct an offense that shewas just a sophomore. Her maturi-ty and demeanor on the floor beliesher youth.

She plays this game like an adult,and not once have I seen her comeunglued or even come close to los-ing her composure.

Brown plays with a stoic calmthat says she rules the floor, whichmeshes nicely with her nickname

belted out in pre-game introduc-tions, “The Queen of the Court.”

Rateska Brown is indeed royaltywith a basketball in her hands.

She averages more than 24 pointsa game and is a member of theSouth All-Star team, joining fellowhardwood monarch LeAnnaMorrison from Berkeley.

“Rateska is a great player, espe-cially offensively,” Morrison said.“Playing against her keeps me onmy toes because you never knowwhat she’s going to do.”

Brown has had to shoulder some

serious responsibility in her youngyears. She lost her mother,Colleen, in September of 2005 butlife’s hard realities help keep thegame of basketball in perspective.

“It’s been rough growing upwithout my mom, but as I maturedI realize God does certain thingsfor a reason and I believe heavenwas the place for her to be,”Brown said. “Her memory doesplay a huge role on the court forme … It brings motivation to mygame because I still want to make

Dominic McKelvey/Special to The Independent

Rateska Brown has posted an 83-10record over four years as a starter.

The queen of the court

See MUDVILLE Page 2B


The Timberland Wolves sur-vived a pair of scares toadvance to the third round ofthe Class AA state playoffs,winning 73-71 in overtimeover Woodland in the secondround after hanging on againstDillon, 78-70, earlier.

The Wolves play Mullins onWednesday night with thewinner advancing to the

Lower State finals at TheCitadel on Saturday at 4:30p.m.

Michael Bowen’s six over-time points proved the differ-ence as Timberland came frombehind to secure the win afterboth teams ended regulationtied 63-63.

Against Dillon (10-12), a 24-point third quarter by theWildcats turned a blowout intoa close one and the Wolves

Timberland boys postOT win; Mullins next

Doug Rogers/Special to The Independent

Michael Bowens led Timberland to a pair ofplayoff wins last week.


The Cross Trojans wrestling pro-gram made history Saturday at theLower State individual qualifier inSwansea.

The Trojans advanced twowrestlers to the Class A-AA statechampionships for the first time inthe school’s wrestling history.

Jacquiel Hunter (103 lbs.) andRashawn Howell (152) qualifiedfor the state championship tourna-

ment by placing first and third intheir respective weight classes.

“We had a very good showing forCross this weekend,” said coachPaul Herman.

Hunter took the top seed in hisweight class with wins againstBamberg, Aynor and - in the finals -Josh McDermitt from AcademicMagnet.

Hunter is ranked number one inthe state at 103 pounds and holds a38-3 record.

See WOLVES Page 2B

Cross wrestlers qualify forClass A-AA championships

See CROSS Page 2B

Page 1B • Wednesday, July 6, 2011

BY DAN BROWN

Given the flurry of no hit-ters and near no-no’s thisyear in baseball, I get askeda lot about what goesthrough a pitcher’s headduring one.

Does he think about it? Ishe aware he’s throwing ano-hitter? Does he get nerv-ous during the last inning?Do thep l a y e r stalk to himwhile he’sthrowingone?

I havethrown myshare ofno-hitters,so allow me: Yes. Yes. Yes.And Yes.

Of course you think aboutit, and yes you’re aware ofwhat’s happening.

I want to take you througha ball game, seven innings,inning-by-inning, and giveyou a little insight as towhat’s happening on themound.

First Inning: More timesthan not I opened a ballgame striking out the side. Ihad a 90 mph fastball andliked to show it off. Pitchingis an ego thing and pitchershave egos. The first inningwas my statement inning.I’m taking your three besthitters and sitting themdown because there’s noway they can hit what Ithrow.

Second Inning: See firstinning. It’s another state-ment inning.

Third Inning: In highschool baseball the sixth

Inside ano-hitter


Ready for winsLady Wolves optimistic


The Timberland LadyWolves can only be calledyoung for so long.

While boasting three sen-iors, coach Joy Elizondoreturns a roster full of sea-soned players that have beencommitted to making the stepup to the next level since thefall of 2010.

Elizondo said it’s refreshingto see such dedication andcommitment to the team.

“We have worked hard allspring and had a fantasticspring practice season,” shesaid.

“We’ve been putting a lot offocus on strength and condi-tioning workouts so far thissummer but are ready to get

at it with the College ofCharleston volleyball campthis week.”

The camp begins Thursdayand offers the Lady Wolves achance to match up againstother teams from around thestate.

“We’re getting there,”Elizondo said. “We’ve hadour own camps this spring,but now we’re ready to stepup our competitive level.”

Timberland will get its firsttaste of local competitionduring the Berkeley CountyJamboree on Aug. 20 at CaneBay.

With 14 players returningthe Lady Wolves look toimprove upon their thirdplace Region 7AA finish in2010.


Returning seniors Carson West, Emory Baker and Kaitlin Miller lead Timberland volleyball.See THS Page 2B

PlayoffPuzzle


Everybody is invited to theBig Dance this fall, the South

Carolina High School LeagueClass AA ExecutiveCommittee decided.

In a move prompted by thedesire to give smaller ClassAA schools the same oppor-tunity to compete for a statechampionship as the largerschools, the Class AA

THS faces new format


At left, Timberland seniorlineman James Middletonworks the weights duringsummer training.

Take me out to theBallgame!


One of my most favorite things todo as a kid was to watch a baseball

game. To play a game you have tofirst watch the game and I loved towatch baseball games.

This is the first part in a summerseries about the games we used to

play as kids and how we fare play-ing them all grown up.

My kids and I took in a Bravesgame for Father’s Day. Primo seats,19 rows directly behind home plate.

A great day, three-hour rain delayand two-mile walk in 100-plusdegree heat notwithstanding. The

See GAMES Page 2B

See PUZZLE Page 2B

GA

MES

WE

USE

DTO

PLAY

Page 1B • Wednesday, August 3, 2011

BY DAN BROWN

It happens about the sametime every year, give or take aweek or three. I rememberwatching my very first, andonly, NASCAR race, theFirecracker 400 at DaytonaInternational Speedway.

I remember it like yesterday,1977, my second year withthe Cubs, playing out ofPompano Beach, FL, and howwe were in Daytona over theFourth of July weekend. Wehad scored some infield pass-es to the Firecracker 400courtesy of the grounds keep-ing crew at Daytona’s CityIsland Ballpark. They had aworking deal with the mainte-nance staff at DaytonaInternational Speedway: if weshowed up at the Turn OneMaintenance Entrance at 1p.m. we’d get in free.

There was just one hitch. Wehad a doubleheader scheduledthat day which began at noon.

A doubleheader, on theFourth of July, how were wegoing to get out of that one?

Sometimes though, you justhave to tip your cap to theguys who chalk the straightlines. They are a creative lot.

There came a knock at myhotel room door at the HoJoaround midnight.

It was the City Island Parkgrounds keeping crew, show-ing up as they promised.Eight of them, plus almost adozen members of both base-ball teams, the Cubs and theDaytona Islanders, a KansasCity Royals affiliate.

You in? That’s what they asked me,

a green rookie kid of 19 fromIndiana.

I felt like Al Capone was atmy door. I was too scared notto be in.

Crammed into two cars werode to City Island Ballparkin downtown Daytona and by12:45 a.m. we were standingaround the darkened infieldlooking up at the starlit skyoverhead.

“There’s no rain in theweather forecast for tomor-row and we want to see thisrace, right?”

This was Joey, a New Jerseykid barely 16, a kid whoclearly could think outside thebox.

We all nodded, heck yes.None of us had ever seen aNASCAR race before.

“Okay,” Joey said as if seal-ing the agreement, and he dis-appeared down the tunnelbehind the first base dugout.About 30 seconds later, the

A stock carrace to

remember


Making a

SplashPhoto Provided

The relay team of Amber Hennick (diving), Sarah Mundy (in water), Sarah West (cheering) and Jessica Bellile (in back) took first place.

Waveriders crest in final meet of summerBY DAN BROWNThe Independent

The Berkeley CountyYMCA Waveriders wrappedup a successful summerswimming season with a fifth

place finish at the CarolinaYMCA State Meet inNewberry in July.

The Waveriders naileddown the fifth place team fin-ish with just 12 swimmerscompeting. Sierra Steward

racked up 29 total teampoints and Tiffany Hennick17 team points to lead thetide.

On the girls’ side, SarahWest bested the field, takingfirst in the 9-10 age group

50-yard breaststroke andplaced third overall in herclassification.

Jess Belille took top honorsin the 9-10 girls 100-yardfreestyle race and placed sec-ond overall.

In girls 7-8, Amber Hennicktook third place overall.

On the boys’ side BrandonHart brought home gold witha first place finish in the 11-

See SWIMMERS Page 3B

Football practice beginsBY DAN BROWNThe Independent

The countdown clock hit0:00 last Friday morning asthe curtain officially openedon the 2011 high school foot-ball season.

Football teams across thecounty hit the gridiron earlyFriday morning in prepara-tion for the start of footballseason. They practiced againon Saturday, twice.

For area teams Timberland,Cross and Berkeley, all have

been chomping at the bit tohit the field. All three areranked in the Top 15 and havestate title hopes.

The Berkeley Stags spentthe summer getting acquaint-ed with new coach Jeff Cruceand learning a new offenseand defense. It became quick-ly apparent that the defensethat took the brunt of formercoach Jerry Brown’s heatduring the 2009 state champi-onship season has come ofage. Dan Brown/Independent

Stags running back Asante Dantzler takes a handoff from Matt Harkness on Friday.See FOOTBALL Page 3B

SPORTS PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOSPORTS PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly Under 6,000 Division

FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEMyrtle Beach HeraldChris Mowder

SPORTS PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly Over 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACECarolina Forest ChronicleMichael Smith

Wednesday

November 24,2010

Editor:Michael Smith

843-236-4810 www.thecarolinaforestchronicle.com A6

CCU FOOTBALLCCU FOOTBALL

WE’RE INCCU goes from dominated to dominating to clinch share of Big South, make playoffs


Brandon Whitley (No. 25) and David Duran (No. 18) celebrate after Whitley scored the game’s opening touchdown early in the first quarter. The Chanticleers went on to score nine moretouchdowns to rout the Buccaneers 70-3. The win helped propel CCU into the FCS playoffs this weekend. It’ll be the Chants’ first postseason appearance since 2006.

Oct. 16 Oct. 23 Oct. 30 Nov. 6 Nov. 13 Nov. 20CCU 35

Presbyterian 7Stony Brook 38

CCU 28CCU 30

Gardner-Webb 27CCU 31VMI 3

CCU 45Liberty 31

CCU 70Chas. Southern 3

COASTAL CAROLINA 70, CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 3

Records fall as Coastal stomps CSU 70-3 Chants face tough testagainst Western IllinoisBY MICHAEL SMITHEDITOR

Seth Smalls still can’t believe it.A day after the Coastal Carolina football team’s inspira-

tional entry into the postseason, euphoria filed the senioroffensive lineman’s face.

“I’m still kind of on a high. I’ll probably come downsometime tonight and go back to work,” Smalls said. “I

found out just a few secondsago that we were hosting agame, so I’m very excited.”

Even CCU coach DavidBennett joined in the jubila-tion at a watch party Sundayin Myrtle Beach.

“People were talkingabout us on message boardsand blogs [saying], ‘they

need to fire the staff and get rid of all this,’” Bennett told acrowd of about 100 players and supporters at Logan’sRoadhouse.

“You know what? This football team in the last two ballgames played better than any team Coastal has ever had,”Bennett continued.

BY MATT MONTGOMERYSTAFF WRITER

Head coach DavidBennett took amoment of per-sonal privilegeduring Satur-

day’s post game press confer-ence.

His Chanticleers had justcreamed in-state rivalCharleston Southern 70-3 andkept alive, at least for thattime being, their postseasonplayoff hopes.

Coastal’s ninth-year coachbowed his head and likelyprayed for Liberty’s footballteam to win and score a lotdoing it.

At that moment, theFlame’s game against the BigSouth’s best team Stony Brookwas still in the first quarterand Liberty only had a 17-7lead.

Coastal needed Liberty toCCU running back Eric O’Neal (No. 22) runs past Charleston Southern linebacker Fred God-frey (No. 46) for a big gain in Saturday’s Big South finale.CCU, A7 WESTERN ILLINOIS, A7

CFHS WRESTLINGPREVIEW:Two veterans of state wrestlingmeet return to the mats for2010-2011 season.

A8

� Online video

For video from Sunday’swatch party, visit theChronicle’s website atwww.thecarolinaforestchronicle.com.

NOVEMBER 24, 2010| CCU FOOTBALL |

CAROLINA FOREST CHRONICLE | CAROLINA FOREST, S.C. A7www.thecarolinaforestchronicle.com

Coastal CarolinaUniversity

Coach | David Bennett(9th year)

Record | 6-5 overall, 5-1Big South (T1)

Notable wins | DefeatedNo. 11 Liberty 45-31(Nov. 13)

Strongest opponent |West Virginia Moun-taineers (Sept. 4, lost31-0)

Mascot | Chanticleers

Nov. 27 | vs. Western Illi-nois (TBD)

Nov. 20 | vs. CharlestonSouthern (70-3, W)

Nov. 13 | vs. Liberty (45-31, W)

Nov. 6 | at VMI (31-3, W)Oct. 30 | at Gardner-

Webb (30-27, W)Oct. 23 | vs. Stony Brook

(38-28, L)Oct. 16 | at Presbyterian

(35-7, W)Oct. 2 | at Richmond (41-

19, L)Sept. 25 | vs. Delaware

State (34-14, W)Sept. 18 | vs. Georgia

Southern (43-26, L)Sept. 11 | at Towson (47-

45, L)Sept. 4 | at WVU (31-0, L)

363 392(33.0 PPG avg) (35.6 PPG avg)

285 242(25.9 PPG avg) (22 PPG avg)

Coach | Mark Hendrick-son (2nd year)

Record | 7-4 overall, 5-3Missouri Valley (2nd)

Notable wins | DefeatedNo. 11. UNI 30-14North Dakota State28-16 (Oct. 2)

Strongest opponent |Purdue Boilermakers(Sept. 11, lost 31-21)

Mascot | Leathernecks

Nov. 27 | vs. CCU, (TBD)Nov. 20 | vs. UNI (30-14, W)Nov. 13 | at Southern Illi-

nois (20-10, L)Oct. 30 | vs. Illinois Statte

(68-38, W)Oct. 23 | at Missouri State

(31-28, L)Oct. 16 | vs. Youngstown

State (40-38, W)Oct. 9 | at South Dakota

State (33-29, L)Oct. 2 | at North Dakota

State (28-16, W)Sept. 25 | vs. Indiana

State (40-7, W)Sept. 18 | vs. Sam Hous-

ton State (56-14, W)Sept. 11 | at Purdue (31-

21, L)Sept. 4 | vs. Valparaiso

(45-0, W)

Western IllinoisUniversity

FAST FACTS

2010 SCHEDULE

POINTS PER GAME SCORED

POINTS PER GAME ALLOWED

PASSING YARDS (TEAM)

PASSING YARDS (INDIVIDUAL)

RUSHING YARDS

TOTAL (2,509) TOTAL (3,134)

Zach MacDowall | 190-308(61.7 percent), 20touchdowns, 12 inter-ceptions, 212 yards pergame (average)

Matt Barr | 203-329 (61.7percent), 26 touch-downs, 5 interceptions,279.9 yards per game(average)

LAMORHICKMAN

MATTBARR

BRYCEFLOWERS

CAULTONRAY

AARONJONES

RACHEEDGAUSE

ZACHMAC-DOWALL

ERICO’NEAL

160 165

307

710

99

407

744

899

Total: 1,655 Total: 1,952SOURCES: CCU ATHLETICS, WESTERN ILLINOIS ATHLETICS, CHRONICLE REPORTING

MATT BARR PHOTO PROVIDED COURTESY OF WESTERN ILLINOIS MEDIA SERVICES

COMPILED BY MICHAEL SMITH | THE CHRONICLE

COMPLETE205 (61.2%)

INTERCEPTIONS12 (4.2%)

INTERCEPTIONS5 (1.5%)

INCOMPLETE116 (34.8%)

INCOMPLETE123 (36.8%)

COMPLETE206 (61.7%)

CCU: Chanticleers secure home playoff berth after big CSU win

be victorious and to score atleast 42 points to win a con-ference-title tiebreaker forfewest allowed points andqualify for the FootballChampionship Subdivisionplayoffs.

“Go Flames,” Bennett said,upon being informed of thescore.

“But we need more scores.We need them to get 24points in the first half, don’twe? Hold on, let me say aprayer.”

Liberty came through, 54-28. The Chants are headed tothe playoffs on an automaticbid for the first time in BigSouth history.

Now they’re set to faceWestern Illinois at home thisSaturday. News of the gamebroke Sunday morningshortly after 10 a.m. as play-ers, coaches and fans gath-ered at an area restaurantand watched as ESPN madethe announcement.

Also intriguing to many ofthe players is the potentialsecond-round matchupagainst Appalachian State,the team who ousted theChants in 2006. But rest as-sured that Bennett and com-pany are focused onSaturday.

“My wife asked me wherewe were going for Thanksgiv-ing,” the coach said Sundayto a large contingent gath-ered at Logan’s Roadhouse. “Isaid ‘Baby, we’re going to bein the playoffs.’”

The Western Illinois Leath-ernecks visit Brooks Stadiumthis Saturday after finishing7-4 overall and 5-3 in theMissouri Valley Conference,good enough for secondplace.

Whoever wins Saturday’sgame advances to face No. 1

seed Appalachian State.Entering this past Satur-

day’s game against in-staterival Charleston-Southern,Coastal Carolina’s role was tolimit the Bucs to as fewpoints as possible.

Done and done.The Chants defeated CSU

70-3 and kept alive, at leastfor the rest of the afternoon,postseason hopes. In the end,the Chanticleers won to playanother day.

There’s no denying thatthis year’s Coastal squad ma-tured by leaps and bounds.After starting 1-4, the Chantshave rebounded to finish 4-0in the Big South and the play-off birth is the icing on thecake. It was especially sweetfor many Chanticleer seniorsto have avenged a two-yeardrought to CSU.

“Right now I feel so good,man,” Brandon Whitley, asenior receiver, said. “To goout in college with a big win,that feels really good.

“We put in our head [afterthe homecoming loss toStony Brook] that we knewwe were a better team thanthat. We knew coming into

the season that we were agood team, but in those firstfive games we just didn’t fin-ish.”

Whitley finished with fivecatches for a game-high 70yards and a score.

The star of stars was easilyquarterback Zach Mac-Dowall. The senior threw for248 yards on 15-of-20 throwsand set a new school recordwith five touchdowns. Thehandful of TD throws alsotied the all-time Big Southmark.

MacDowall threw touch-downs to five different re-ceivers in the win, and herushed for a sixth early in thefourth quarter on a quarter-back keeper from eight yardsout. When CCU got the ballback shortly thereafter, nearlyall the seniors took the fieldfor a deserved curtain-call.

“It was an awesome feelingcoming out like that with thefans that stuck around andgave us that ovation,” Mac-Dowall said. “Just coming outwith those guys, it was justawesome.”

MacDowall said senior re-ceivers Jonathon Morgan and

Marquel Willis lined up as of-fensive lineman for theplanned timeout play. All 11positions were filled by sen-iors on that play.

The Chants scored touch-downs on five of their first sixpossessions in the first halfon their way to the second-most points in program his-tory (behind a 71-8 win overMansfield in 2005).

While Coastal’s offense washumming, the Chanticleerdefense and special teamswas out to play. Two pivotalCCU touchdowns early camefrom a 66-yard interceptionreturn and a 91-yard punt re-turn.

Tre Henderson intercepteda flea-flicker pass and re-turned it 66 yards for thescore at 4:58 to give Coastal acommanding 28-3 lead. Thepick-six was the secondlongest in school history.

After CSU’s next offensivepossession that ended in aquarterback sack by BrianHarrison, the ensuing puntwas returned 91 yards by Ni-colo Mastromatteo for atouchdown.

The punt return was thelongest in Big South Confer-ence history and also set anew school mark for longestreturn of any kind.

Earlier in the game, thefreshman Mastromatteo alsobecame Coastal’s all-timerecord holder for return at-tempts.

Coastal’s game againstWestern Illinois is set to kick-off at 1 p.m.

MICHAEL SMITH | THE CHRONICLE

“It’s okay Son, it’s okay. We’ll get ‘em on the next play,” CCUcoach David Bennett (left) says to receiver Marquel Willis inSaturday’s game against Charleston Southern.

Western Illinois: Missouri Valley team faces CCU Saturday

CCU has good reason tocelebrate.

After starting 2-5 at onepoint, the Chants rallied towin their final four Big Southcontests to finish 6-5 overall,5-1 Big South.

The wins, coupled withsome help from Liberty, pro-pelled CCU into the FCSplayoffs for the first timesince 2006. The Chants alsolocked up their first homepostseason game in history.

Now the true test begins.How long CCU’s season

continues depends on howthe Chants respond to West-ern Illinois, who they faceNov. 27 at 1 p.m.

In 2010, Western Illinois (7-4 overall, 5-2 conference)placed second in the Mis-souri Valley Conference.

The Leathernecks periodi-cally cracked the Top 25 inFCS standings.

As recently as Nov. 8, theywere ranked No. 21 and 23 inthe Coaches Poll and SportsNetwork polls, respectively.The Nov. 22 standings weren’tannounced as of press time.

Getting into the playoffsbrought “a big sigh of relief,”Western Illinois coach MarkHendrickson said.

“There’s no doubt it was agreat feeling as our playersgathered together [Sunday],”Hendrickson said. “It wasgreat to hear the enthusiasticcheer go up from the play-ers.”

On paper, both teamsseem to match up well.

The Leathernecks havequality wins against No. 11UNI and No. 13 North DakotaState. Coastal also has a qual-ity win, defeating then No. 11Liberty, 45-31 on Nov. 13.

Both teams have lonelosses to FBS opponents,though West Illinois seems tohave fared better, falling 31-21 to Purdue.

CCU opened the seasonwith a 31-0 loss against amuch tougher West Virginiateam, who at the time wasranked No. 21 in the FBSstandings.

In other categories, West-ern Illinois appears to havethe edge.

Offensively, the Leather-necks averaged 35.6 points

per game, 2.6 points morethan Coastal Carolina (33.0).They allowed 22 PPG, 3.9 lessthan Coastal Carolina (25.9).

Western Illinois also winsthe rushing battle, outgainingthe Chants 1,952 to 1,655 intotal net yards.

Sophomore running backCaulton Ray leads WesternIllinois in rushing with 899yards on 207 carries. Ray andfreshman running back BryceFlowers have scored eighttouchdowns apiece.

Like CCU, the Leather-necks throw frequently.

CCU quarterback ZachMacDowall and Western Illi-nois quarterback Matt Barr –both seniors – have identicalcompletion percentages (61.7percent), but Barr statisticallyhas the edge in yardagegained, touchdowns andoverall efficiency.

In the regular season, Barrthrew 203-329 for 26 touch-downs and only five intercep-tions. He’s thrown for 3,079yards, averaging 279.9 yards agame.

“Matt has done an excel-lent job taking care of thefootball and getting it to the

open receiver,” Hendricksonsaid. “He’s had a very goodyear.”

MacDowall has thrown190-308 for 20 touchdownsand 12 interceptions. He has2,340 yards throwing, a 212.7-yard average. But the last twogames have been his best.

Since the Liberty gameNov. 13, MacDowall hasthrown 40-57 (70.2 percent)for 630 yards – an average of315 yards – and nine touch-downs.

CCU holds a big edge inspecial teams.

Return specialist NiccoloMastromatteo has 640 com-bined yards on kickoff andpunt returns, including a 91-yard touchdown Nov. 20against Charleston Southern.

Myers Hendrickson – West-ern Illinois’ best returner –has just 268 yards returningand no touchdowns.

Despite a shaky start, JustinDurham has converted 7 of12 field goals (58.3 percent),his longest kick from 46yards. Charlie Jouett and PattSmith have combined for 5 of10 (50 percent), with thelongest kick being 36 yards.

MICHAEL SMITH | THE CHRONICLE

Coastal Carolina football players celebrate at a watch party Sunday after learning the Chanticleers will host Western Illi-nois in the first round of the FCS playoffs, which kick off this Saturday at 1 p.m.

� Online photo gallery

For photo galleries fromSaturday’s game, visit ourwebsite atwww.thecarolinaforestchronicle.com.

Continued from Page A6

Continued from Page A6


SECOND PLACEThe Greer CitizenJennifer Annis


Area wrestlers won titles in five weight classes at last weekend’s Greenville County wrestling tourna-ment.

Four of the five titles were won by grapplers from Riverside and East-side. Winning from River-side was Coates Carpen-ter (130) and Brian Ettari (160). Leading Eastside was Clay Walker (125) and Cullen Gallimore (215).

The other area cham-pion was Blue Ridge’s Matt Kowalski, who was the top wrestler in the 171-pound class.

Hillcrest won the team title with 288 points. East-side was second with 228 points.

The Eagles placed in the top six in 12 of the 14 weight classes. Second place wrestlers included Cole Anderson (103), James Jones (135), Beija Canova (145), and Kyle

Berdugo (189).Jacob Simmons (130)

and Zach Lake (171) placed third, Mike Fernandez (160) and Tre Long (heavy-weight) were fourth, and Dustin Langher (119) and Dennis Gemberling (152) placed fifth.

Riverside finished third with 152 points. The War-riors had nine place in the top six of their weight class.

Mason Young (135) and Andrew Surratt (heavy-weight) placed third, An-thony Ton was fourth in the 152-pound division, Gabe Fehrenbach was fifth

at 125 pounds, and Corey Jones (112), Michael Weber (119) and Taylor Catalano (215) placed sixth.

Greer finished fourth with 125.5 points. The Yel-low Jackets had nine wres-tlers place sixth or better, but didn’t win any of the weight classes.

“The brackets weren’t set up correctly,” coach Chad Nelson said. “If they were, I think Storm Nelson and Jalen Chapman could have made it to the finals.”

Rhett Plemmons ad-vanced to the finals of the 112-pound division, plac-ing second. Chapman fin-

ished third at 119, while Nelson (140) and Danny Kimball (130) placed fourth. Finishing in sixth place were Devon Wright (103), Daquan Wright (125), Josh Monte (145), Darius Newman (160) and Islam Istanbuli (189).

“Rhett was a seventh seed who wrestled in the finals,” Nelson said. “His mother had a heart attack in December, and I think he was wrestling for her.

“Daquan is a first year junior who stepped up big time, and Islam did a re-ally good job.”

Blue Ridge placed 11th

with 66 points. Along with Kowalski’s win, the Tigers got a fourth place finish from Jordan Ludd (112) and a sixth place fin-ish from Chris Sammons (140).

TEAM SCORESHillcrest 288, Eastside

228, Riverside 152, Greer 125.5, Greenville 121, Wade Hampton 107.5, Mann 107, Mauldin 100, Woodmont 82, Travelers Rest 79, Blue Ridge 66, Christ Church 40, St. Jo-seph’s 32, Berea 12, Caro-lina 8


Last week, 500 of the nation’s top junior football players participated in the U.S. Army Junior Combine in San Antonio, Texas.

The combine tested athletes on their 40-yard and shuttle times, vertical jump and one-on-one drills.

Three of those athletes were from Greer High, as quarterback Reese Hannon, linebacker Adam Ah Ching and defensive back Josh Rowland were invited.

“It was a great experience,” Hannon said. “Everybody there was good. It was great to see how you are as a player and how you compare to the best.

“Most of the quarterbacks were big kids who could throw the ball well. If I work hard, it’s my hope that I am considered at the same level as the top quarterbacks.”

Like Hannon, Rowland returned to Greer feeling confident about how he stacked up against other players at his position.

“I felt really good about how I did in my position drills,” Rowland said. “Of the eight reps I had, I allowed one completed pass, had six pass breakups, and one interception.”

Part of the experience included attend-ing the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, which featured some of the nation’s top senior players.

“The presentation and players were great,” Hannon said. “Lateek Townsend (Clemson commitment) was pretty im-pressive.”

Said Rowland, “It was awesome. Both teams were equally matched, and it was a great experience to see all the military people.”

Also making the experience unique for Rowland was that the trip marked the first time he had flown.

“It was a great experience,” Rowland said. “It was really nice weather, but then when we got back to Atlanta it was snow-ing. Our plan slid a little. At first, I was a little nervous. But after a few seconds, it wasn’t that bad.”

EYEING THE NEXT LEVELAthletes participating in the combine

hope that their performances garner inter-est from college coaches and scouts.

Regardless of how impressive the Greer athletes were, each has already received interest from Division I schools.

Notre Dame, LSU, Alabama, Nebraska, Georgia Tech and Michigan have shown interest in Ah Ching, while BYU, Oregon, Utah and Colorado have made verbal of-fers.

SEE COMBINE | B3

SPORTSWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2011

FITZ’S FINTHOUGHT

JOEL FITZPATRICK

Let’sstay

green

Closer than you think.

Doingbusiness

in the Upstate

for

25 years

Main Toll-Free: 800-936-9090Local: 864-877-9090

14100 E. Wade Hampton BoulevardGreer, SC 29651

Monday-Friday 9am-8pm& Saturday 9am-7pm

Lowest True Cost of Ownership.Honda made the list more than any other automaker. –Edmunds

www.dickbrookshonda.com

Linebacker Adam Ah Ching

Quarterback Reese Hannon

Defensive back Josh Rowland (13)

GHS trio stood tall in Texas

Players took part in Army combine ‘It was great to see how you

are as a player and how you

compare to the best.’

Reese HannonGreer High quarterback

Five wrestlers claim county titlesRHS, EHSwin four classes

MANDY FERGUSON | THE GREER CITIZENCOMING OUT ON TOP: Eastside’s Cole Anderson defeated Carolina’s Anthony Zovich in the second round of the Greenville County wrestling tournament. Anderson placed second in the 103-pound division.

I will admit that I amfan of the Boise Stfootball field.When you spend your

football-watching life looking at green fields every Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the fall, a change of pace cabe welcomed.

Those who watched the Eastern WashingtonEagles in the Division II football playoffs in 201saw a field of another color, red.

Although I didn’t thinthe Eagles’ red field wasas pleasing on the eyes as Boise State’s blue, I appreciated looking at something different.

It appears that I wasnthe only one inspired bythe color scheme. Can-yon High, located in NewBraunfels, Texas, recentunveiled its own brand red turf.

When the high schoolfootball season begins, Canyon will be the only high school in the natiowith the red turf. FellowTexas high school Hildaplays on a blue field.

It’s no secret that highschool football in Texasis held in higher regardthan almost anywhere else in the country, but the red field may be taking things too far.

The Comal School District paid $800,000 to replace the artificial turf fields at Canyon anSmithson Valley (SpringBranch, Texas) and lay down the red surface atCanyon.

Smithson Valley (blueand Canyon Lake (gold) have colored end zonesbut opted to go with traditional green playinfields.

It’s interesting that thnation’s top high schooteams are televised on ayearly basis, but there acollege programs that wdon’t see unless they arplaying a ranked team oare participating in a bogame.

Canyon has an enroll-ment of 998 students. That is one more stu-dent than Southside High, which would makCanyon a AAA school inSouth Carolina (AAAA inTexas).

Last year, the team posted a 5-5 record. By comparison, Greer finished last season with a 6-5 mark. How would people react if thschool district shelled ohundreds of thousands of dollars to make DoolField yellow?

Along with being any eyesore, spending that kind of money on a football field would not be well accepted.

With 7.6 percent of the population in New Braunfels unemployed, it shouldn’t be acceptedthere, either.

fi [email protected] | 877-2076

SPORTSWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2011

FITZ’S FINAL THOUGHTS

JOEL FITZPATRICK

Cutlernot a

quitter

B

C

T

Ed RichGeneral Manager

Stacey Brooks JacksonCo-owner

The New All-Wheel-Drive KizashiIntelligent All-Wheel-DriveTM system • Advanced I-VSPTM stability system with traction controlSwitchable AWD for optimized MPG • One of the most powerful standard engines in its class

5-star front and side crash ratings with 8 air bags standard

Check it out today in our showroom or online!

13710 E. Wade Hampton Blvd.,

Greer864.968.1722

Mon.-Fri. 9am-7pmSat. 9am-6pm

SuzukiofGreer.com

SIBLING RIVALRY


Greer senior basketball player Jor-dan Mathis will never be the tallest player on the basketball court, but she will usually be the one with the biggest heart and most desire.

When she stepped on the court last week against Blue Ridge, she saw a player with the same characteristics,

one that she knew quite well. It was her sister, Ross, a freshman at Blue Ridge.

The sisters have never played on the same team, and until last week had never played against one anoth-er. Because Blue Ridge and Greer are in the same region, they will play at least twice this season.

Until that second game, Feb. 4 at Greer, Jordan will have bragging

rights. Greer dominated last week’s game, 79-41. Ross finished with 18 points, while Jordan tallied 12.

“It was definitely a new experi-ence,” Jordan said. “I wasn’t expect-ing us (Greer) to do as well as we did. We had been getting off to a slow start in most of our games, but to-night we came out and played really well from the start.”

SEE SISTERS | B6

Sisters face off for first time


On Saturday morning, a modest-sized group of people sat in the main room of Springwell Church in Taylors, listening to a powerful 71-year-old man speak.

This wasn’t just any man, however. This was NFL Hall of Fame quar-terback Fran Tarkenton, who after a terrific career on the football field has also been successful in the business world.

Over the past 25 years, Tarkenton has launched 20 companies, with the largest reaching revenues of $142 million. He is also the owner and founder of

gosmallbiz.com.For just less than an

hour, Tarkenton kept the group’s attention by mas-terfully mixing football with business.

“When I played, I was 6-foot, 190 pounds,” Tarken-ton said. “I was the small-est guy on the team, every year. I wasn’t the biggest, fastest or most talented guy on the team. What got me through it was my will.

“I never went into a game that I wasn’t totally convinced we would win. They don’t give any tro-phies for trying.”

Tarkenton has ties to the Upstate, his parents met in Greenville and his business partners, Tony Dale and Phillip Allen, re-side in the area.

But he perfected his craft in Georgia, where he played for at Athens High School and later at the University of Georgia. In 1961, he was selected in the third round by the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings and in the fifth round by the AFL’s Boston Patriots. He chose to sign with Minnesota, and soon showed the football world he was better than a third round pick.

In his first regular sea-son game, against the powerful Chicago Bears, Tarkenton passed for 250 yards and four touch-downs in a 37-13 upset win. He is still the only player in league history to score four touchdowns in his first game.

SEE TARKENTON | B6


A host of area senior football players are pre-paring to make their col-lege choices official on National Signing Day next Wednesday.

Defensive tackle Ma-rio Sanders, who verbally committed to Duke before the start of the season, is the lone Greer player who will definitely sign on Feb. 2, according to coach Will Young.

Young added that offen-sive tackle Matthew Roch-ester and wide receiver

Jihad Lateef have received interest from North Green-ville, while Rochester is

also being recruited by Newberry, Catawba and Wingate.

Nose guard Daris Mur-ry, who competed in the Shrine Bowl, could sign with Mars Hill or Roches-ter Community and Tech-nical College in Minnesota. Former Greer teammate Dominique Parks played at Rochester this season.

Dakari Sitton, an offen-sive and defensive stand-out, could sign with South Carolina State as a Propo-sition 48 player, an NCAA rule that states an incom-ing freshman must have a 2.0 grade-point average and a minimum score on either the Scholastic

SEE SIGNING DAY | B6

Fran Tarkenton

Former NFL QB inspires crowd

‘They don’t give any

trophies for trying.’

Fran Tarkenton

Players ready for signing day

MANDY FERGUSON | THE GREER CITIZENFAMILY FEUD: Ross Mathis, left, and her older sister, Jordan, were on opposing sides last Tuesday at Blue Ridge. The sisters will meet at least one more time this season.

‘We have never been on the

same team...’

Ross MathisBlue Ridge basketball player

‘My dad will probably bring it

up at home, but it’s not that

big of a deal for us.’

Jordan MathisGreer High basketball player

MANDY FERGUSON | THE GREER CITIZENPILING ON: Riverside’s Kevin Dodd will be part of Clemson’s signing class.

While watching Sat-urday’s basketball games between

Greer and Chapman, it was mentioned to me by a woman sitting near me that what I did for a living sounded like a lot of fun.

It’s a comment that has been made to me on several occasions, and one that I have never dis-puted. I work hard, but at the same time I know that I am fortunate to be in the position to watch some great athletes and tell their stories.

I had the chance to interview one of the great-est quarterbacks in NFL history, Fran Tarkenton.

Five minutes into the conversation, I knew that I would be a fan of his for the rest of my life. He was more than willing to answer anything I asked, and didn’t shy away from saying exactly what he felt.

One of the things that Tarkenton said was that quarterback was the hard-est position to play in all of sports.

When you think about what is involved in play-ing the position, often having the hopes of an organization and count-less fans resting on your shoulders while large fast men try to inflict pain on you, what Tarkenton said makes a lot of sense.

I thought about that comment while watching Sunday’s game between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. Chica-go’s starting quarterback, Jay Cutler, was injured in the first half and didn’t play in the second.

After the game, Cutler’s toughness and will be-came a question raised by the media and other play-ers around the league.

Players play the game to win championships. It’s why players like Ladanian Tomlinson and Jason Taylor joined the New York Jets this season, and why Green Bay’s Charles Woodson was grinning ear-to-ear on Sunday after his he realized he would be returning to the Super Bowl for the first time in eight years.

When the second half began, Green Bay led 14-0. The Bears were one play away from cutting the lead in half and seizing the momentum.

Cutler went to war every week with his teammates. He started 15 of 16 games, leading the Bears to wins in 11 of them.

In just 15 weeks, he probably took more phys-ical abuse that most of us will endure in a lifetime.

With his team so close to playing in the Super Bowl, a game that every NFL player dreams of being part of, what sense would it have made for Cutler to give up?

fi [email protected] | 877-2076

SPORTSWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2010


JOEL FITZPATRICK

Hebrought a

spark

B

Downtown Greer

BY LELAND BURCHEDITOR EMERITUS

Greer’s state football champion-ship aspirations collapsed like a house of cards under the weight of second half turnovers Friday night.

The Yellow Jackets mounted a val-iant effort that kept Belton-Honea Path out of the end zone until the closing seconds of the first half. Then a fumble and three interceptions en-abled the unbeaten Bears to bury Greer, 42-10, in the playoff opener.

“It was very disappointing,” Greer coach Will Young said. “But that was the story of our year, one mistake after another. And not normal mistakes, but crazy stuff.

“We gave up five interceptions in which the ball bounced off of our receivers into the hands of kids on the other teams. You rarely see that.”

Trailing 7-3 in the third period, Greer was moving into the end zone to take the lead when quarterback Reese Hannon fumbled at the five-yard line. Tyler McGill picked up the loose ball and rambled 95 yards to score for B-HP.

“It was a busted play because the runner was out of position and Hannon was trying to make something happen, which he is coached to do,” Young said. “Un-fortunately, he put the ball on the ground.”

Even at that, Young said the Yellow Jackets “were definitely still in the game when the fourth quarter started,” after Hannon scored on a two-yard keeper that cut the B-HP lead to 21-10. The Yellow Jackets had gotten a rare break when a seven-yard punt and two penalties allowed them to start a drive at the Bears’ eight-yard line.

After B-HP’s next march stalled at the Greer 15-yard line, “I felt like we could score, get a two-point conver-sion and later a field goal or another touchdown,” Young said.

SEE GREER | B2

Turnovers end title dreams for Jackets


Five of the six area cross country teams that competed in last week’s state championships in Columbia had top 10 scores.

The Eastside Lady Eagles finished fourth in the AAA meet with 132 points. The Lady Eagles were led by Caroline Duer, who placed fifth overall at 19:19.

Blue Ridge was 10th at 290. Pacing the Lady Tigers was Kelly Knutson, who had the 14th best time, 19:57.

Fort Mill won the state title with a score of 67. The overall top time was turned in by Daniel’s Sinead Haughey, 18:40.

Greer placed seventh in the boys AAA meet. The Yellow Jackets finished with 214 points, six ahead of seventh place Eastside. Aaron Mosteller posted Greer’s highest finish when he placed 15th at 16:41. Eastside’s Tucker Huellmantel finished 12th, 16:39.

Blue Ridge finished 13th with 404 points. The Tigers’ top runner was Jacob Nathanson, who placed 47th with a time of 17:29.

Hilton Head placed first overall with 33 points. The top individual runner was Nation Ford’s Kevin Ketner, 15:59.

Riverside’s girls placed ninth in the AAAA meet with 215 points. The Lady Warriors were paced by Carly Howell, who finished 28th with a time of 19:55.

Emma Jennings, an eighth grader run-ning for Byrnes, had the third best over-all time, 18:31.

Dorman finished first overall with 80 points. The top individual runner was Stratford’s Jasmine Polite at 18:18.

PHOTO | SUBMITTEDLEADING JACKET: Aaron Mosteller’s 15th-place fi nish helped the Greer boys place seventh in the AAA state meet in Columbia last week.

Runners shine at state meetArea cross country teams in top 10

MANDY FERGUSON | THE GREER CITIZENSTOPPED SHORT: Dakari Sitton and the Greer Yellow Jackets were within reach of B-HP in the third quarter of last Friday’s playoff game, but saw the game quickly get out of hand in a 42-10 loss.

‘It was very

disappointing.

But that was

the story of

our year, one

mistake after

another.’

Will YoungGreer coach


The Byrnes football team dominated Mauldin in a pair of games last season, the first in the regular season, and the second in the AAAA state playoffs.

If what happens in the regu-lar season holds true in the playoffs, Friday’s first round playoff game at Nixon Field could be interesting.

Byrnes won at Mauldin in week six, but needed a late field goal by Kaleb Patterson to secure the 27-24 victory.

“Last time was a big con-fidence builder for them,” coach Chris Miller said. “They

know they can play us and play us well.”

Maudlin won three of its fi-nal five games, but the wins were over Region II-AAAA’s bottom three teams. Despite that, Miller said the Mavericks are a dangerous team.

“They are very talented,” Miller said. “They have a cou-ple of Shrine Bowl players (of-fensive lineman Ryan Norton and linebacker Carson Smith) and their quarterback (Jere-miah McKie) proved last time that he is capable of taking it the distance.

“I don’t feel good about playing them, especially after the way we played (last Fri-day) against Boiling Springs.”

Byrnes enters the playoffs as the sixth overall seed.

With a win over Mauldin, the Rebels would either travel to Dutch Fork or host Clover next Friday.

Dutch Fork is the third seed, and Clover is seeded 14th. The higher seeded team is the host.

PHIL BUCCHEIT | SUBMITTEDROUND TWO: Shakeem Wharton and the Byrnes Rebels will play Maudlin for the second time on Friday.

Game: Byrnes vs. MauldinWhere: DuncanTime: 7:30 p.m.Records: Byrnes 8-3; Mauldin 6-5Radio: 106.3 FMLast meeting: Week six, Byrnes

won 27-24

Confident Mauldin expectedWEEK 12 |

I know this makes me sound old, but I really miss the ‘80s.

It was the decade of some of my favorite music of all-time, I didn’t have all the fun responsi-bilities that come with be-ing an adult, and baseball was more enjoyable to watch.

What made the game better back then were the characters. You either loved them or hated them, but you watched them. I got excited when the Tigers would play the Milwaukee Brewers or the Kansas City Roy-als, because looking at Rollie Fingers’ mustache or watching Dan Quisen-berry’s delivery made me laugh.

I may have been the only Detroit fan to look forward to a Reggie Jackson at-bat, but I can remember believing that every time he stepped to the plate, he was going to hit a home run (and not the kind that was aided with steroids).

The true characters, however, seemed to be the managers. Whether it was Tommy Lasorda, Earl Weaver or Lou Pinella, watching a manager bump chests or kick dirt on to an umpire’s shoes always was an unexpected treat that brought excitement to the game.

The Tigers didn’t have a manager who was known for that, but did have one who brought many excit-ing years to the organi-zation, George “Sparky” Anderson.

A relative unknown when he was hired to manage the Cincinnati Red in 1969, Anderson built the Reds into a power, winning cham-pionships in 1975 and 1976.

He was fired in 1978 because of his refusal to shake up the coaching staff as suggested by then general manager Dick Wagner. The team didn’t win another title for 12 years.

He was hired by the Tigers in 1979 and in 1984 led the team to an unforgettable season. De-troit won a major league record 35 of its first 40 games, and won a champi-onship by defeating the San Diego Padres in five games. The organization hasn’t won a champion-ship since.

Anderson died last week, although it didn’t make the kind of news it should have. Instead, coaching headlines be-longed to Wade Phillips and Brad Childress, two men who were struggling to get a group of talented millionaires to play up to their potential.

It’s sad that those are the types of things that keep our attention.

Rest in Peace, Sparky, and thank you for the memories you provided for so many of us.

GAME OVER

DISAPPOINTED: Jay Coggins shows

his displeasure with his senior season ending.


FIRST PLACEThe Greer CitizenJulie Holcombe

SPORTSWEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2011


JOEL FITZPATRICK

Weallwin

B

In Greer, Blue Ridge, gameBY JOEL FITZPATRICKSPORTS EDITOR

When rivals collide, in any sport, there doesn’t have to be anything on the line for the game to mat-ter.

When the stakes are higher, however, the ri-valry is taken to a differ-ent level.

Such will be the case on Friday at 7:30 p.m., when the Blue Ridge Tigers (2-1, 7-1) host the Greer Yellow Jackets (3-0, 7-1).

If Greer wins, the Yellow Jackets would capture the Region III-AAA title and a No. 1 seed in the upcom-ing state playoffs.

If Blue Ridge wins and defeats Union next week, the Tigers would claim re-gion supremacy.

“This is certainly the most important game be-tween the two schools,”

Blue Ridge’s Wade Cooper said. “This is the first time that this much importance has been involved.”

Greer’s Will Young was quick to agree with Coo-per.

“There has never been a bigger game between the two,” Young said. “The games have gotten bigger

SEE MATCHUP | B4


Two of the state’s top quarter-backs will be on display Friday when Caleb Rowe and the Blue Ridge Tigers host Reese Hannon and the Greer Yellow Jackets.

The quarterbacks play for bit-ter rivals, but there isn’t a dis-like between the two. In fact, they share a bond that devel-oped over the summer.

“Reese is a great quarterback,” Rowe said. “We have been to a lot of camps together, and be-came friends. He runs, throws and makes good reads. He can do it all.”

Hannon thinks just as highly of Rowe.

“I spent time with him at camps, and I think he is a really good guy,” Hannon said. “I want him to do well, except when he plays against us.”

SEE QUARTERBACKS | B8


Champion is a label that has been given to Kristi Yamaguchi on several oc-casions, as she has cap-tured Olympic gold and was also the 2008 “Danc-ing with the Stars” winner.

For the past six years, Yamaguchi has been cham-pioning another cause as a spokesperson for the Fac-es of Influenza flu vaccine awareness campaign.

“Back in 1988, I had a friend who missed com-peting in the Olympics because she had the flu,” Yamaguchi said. “At that point, my mom told me that I was getting a flu shot right away.

“Now, as a mother, wanting to keep my family healthy has reinforced the importance.”

Yamaguchi said being involved in this campaign has given her a platform to spread the importance of getting vaccinated to people of all ages, includ-

ing seniors.“There is a high-dose

version of the vaccine that is available to older people,” Yamaguchi said. “Their immune systems are a little more compro-mised.

“I became involved with Faces of Influenza because I believed in its message, and wanted to help get that message out there.”

Because she was in the spotlight as a skater 20 years ago and also on one of television’s most popular shows three years ago, Yamaguchi is able to spread her message to a wide range of people.

“I think I am known as a skater first, but there is a whole younger genera-tion who knows me from ‘Dancing with the Stars.’

“I think that when peo-ple see me as a Face of Influenza, they think ‘If Kristi is a face of influen-za, maybe I am too.’”

To learn more, visit facesofinfluenza.org.

Title, bragging rights up for grabs Friday

CLINTON CHRONICLE | PHOTO SUBMITTED

TITLE WITHIN REACH: With a win on Friday, John Hicks (making tackle) and the Greer High Yellow Jackets would capture the Region III-AAA championship.

PHOTO | SUBMITTED

SPREADING THE WORD: Kristi Yamaguchi has worked with Faces of Infl uenza for the past six years.

Olympic champ Yamaguchi is a face of influenza

TALE OF THE TAPE99 .............................completions ..............................81160 ............................ attempts ............................. 1584 .............................. interceptions ...............................51,860 ......................passing yards ....................... 1,64531 .........................total touchdowns ..........................20

Quarterbacks share respect

Caleb Rowe Reese Hannon

‘This is certainly the most important game

between the two schools. This is the first

time that this much importance has been

involved.’

Wade CooperBlue Ridge head coach

Over the weekend, we learned just how frag-ile life can be.

On Sunday, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon died of head injuries after being involved in a 15-car wreck at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The 33-year-old Weldon was one of the best at what he did. He was hap-pily married, the father of two young children, and a tremendous life still ahead of him.

I have seen footage of the accident several times, but what stuck out to me the most was the footage of him before the race. He believed that he was going to spend the day doing what he loved. He had no idea that is life was on the verge of ending.

One day before, Marcus Lattimore saw his sopho-more season come to an end. Regardless of who you pull for at the high school or college level, Marcus is someone that all of us can be proud to say came from the Greer area.

I am a fan of Marcus Lattimore not because he and I graduated from the same school, but because of how humble he is off the field, and how he plays the game. The injury he suffered came because he was do-ing what he always does, looking for a way to help his team.

This Friday at Blue Ridge High, the area will have much to be proud of when the Tigers and Yellow Jackets square off. This will be a battle between two of the best teams in the state, and they are both from Greer.

I have met many players from both teams, and I can honestly say you aren’t going to meet a finer group of young men. These student-athletes are filled with respect and are overflowing with pride for their schools and com-munity.

Quarterbacks are often the faces of their pro-grams, and there may not be two better in the state than Greer’s Reese Hannon and Blue Ridge’s Caleb Rowe. Maryland and Furman each landed a top-notch human being. In a time when one of our state’s major universities is making headlines for the wrong type of person at quarterback, you won-der why Reese and Caleb aren’t at the top of the recruiting list.

These are the type of people you want repre-senting your institution, whether they start every game or never see the field.

Regardless of Friday’s outcome, the two teams that meet on the field make this community a winner.

864-877-07111000 Wade Hampton Blvd., Greer

MANAGEMENT ORDERED:EVERY VEHICLE ON THE LOT SHOULD BE SOLD REGARDLESS OF LOSS OF PROFIT!

VEHICLE ELIMINATION EVENTAT D&D FORD IN GREER, WE ARE SELLING MORE CARS

THAN EVER BEFORE AND MAKING DREAMS COME TRUE EVERY DAY!COME IN TODAY AND TEST DRIVE YOUR NEW VEHICLE.

OVER 100 USED VEHICLES TO CHOOSE FROM4 DAYSONLY!

BY LELAND BURCHEDITOR EMERITUS

A pair of opening week scrim-mages will give Jacket Backers their earliest ever realistic preview of a Greer High football team.

Greer will host AAAA power Gaffney for “Meet the Jackets” Night on Friday at Dooley Field at 6 p.m., and then will battle Byrnes in the FCA Jamboree on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at North Greenville University.

Coach Will Young hopes the early combat will help develop backups at various positions as the Yellow Jackets scramble to cope with unexpected losses of defensive back Josh Rowland transferring to Wren, and start-ing right guard Tyrone Donaldson who will be absent for an undeter-mined period.

Young said that Donaldson’s father had mysteriously disap-peared from his home in Blackville 10 days ago, “and we told him to go and be with his family during this time. That’s more important than football.”

Young plans to groom sopho-more Ty Campbell at right guard, “and when Tyrone returns we could end up having good depth at that position.”

The good news is that Greer welcomed Zach McDavid, a soph-omore linebacker and running back who transferred from Pick-ens. “We’re going to see how he competes at the varsity level, and, of course, he certainly can play

with the jayvees.”Another thin spot is at quarter-

back, where the coaching staff is trying to groom a backup for se-nior Reese Hannon.

“We’re going to let Jonathan At-kins and Josh Gentry battle it out for the next couple of weeks lead-ing up to the first game. And we will have a plan in place in case something happens to Reese,” Young said.

Hannon should be well protect-ed with four of five offensive line-men, led by senior Josh Rumsey, returning.

Some 70 candidates for the var-sity and jayvees reported for the opening workout in light gear on Saturday in oppressive heat. “The kids did OK. They were in pretty good condition and we’re keeping them hydrated,” Young said.

With no relief from the high temperatures and humidity in sight this week, Young said “I

SEE GREER | B4

SPORTSWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2011


JOEL FITZPATRICK

Wherenothing happens

B

FIRST DAY PRACTICE

Focus: FootballBLUE RIDGE BYRNES EASTSIDE GREER RIVERSIDE

Jackets facing pair of powers this week

Greer High School reserved football tickets will be on sale through Aug. 12 to all previous reserved ticket holders.

After Aug. 12, all unclaimed reserved tickets will go on sale to the public.

The cost of a reserved football ticket is $45, and can be purchased from Rhonda Hammond at Greer High.

For more information, call Hammond at 355-5703.


Loaded with a roster of stellar seniors, the Blue Ridge football team began fall practice on Monday with a pair of morning workouts.

“It went very well,” coach Wade Cooper said. “We had good numbers, and I thought the kids came in with an excellent frame of mind.”

Cooper said that 81 varsity and junior varsity players showed up for drills.

“We usually have some-where between the high 70s and lower 80s,” Coo-per said. “We will have around 35 C-team players, and 40 on D-team. We are getting good numbers for our program.”

By practicing in the morning, the Tigers didn’t have to deal with the heat as much.

“It wasn’t much of an

issue,” Cooper said. “But starting as early as we did, we were able to get around most of it.”

Blue Ridge will have a pair of scrimmages this week, hosting Riverside on Friday at 6 p.m. and tak-ing on Hillcrest in the FCA Jamboree on Saturday at North Greenville Univer-sity.

“If heat is an issue, both of those times could be moved back,” Cooper said. “We want to see how the players do in live action situations. A lot of ques-tions will be answered this week.”

SEE TIGERS | B4

Coaches weigh inBY JOEL FITZPATRICKSPORTS EDITOR

On Monday, the South Carolina High School League finalized its re-alignment proposal for the 2012-2014 school years.

Schools in the Greer area found themselves in two conferences, Region II-AAA and Region II-AAAA.

Region II-AAA will con-sist of Greer, Blue Ridge, Eastside, Berea, Greenville, Pickens, Southside and Travelers Rest.

“From a travel stand-point, it is very good,” Greer High Athletic Direc-tor Travis Perry said. “But from a financial stand-point, it’s not as good. Union and Clinton have great fan bases, which led to good gates. We will try to keep those schools on our (football) schedule.”

Because Region II willSEE REALIGNMENT | B4

TICKET SALES |


RAISING THEIR GAME: The Greer High Yellow Jackets got to work on Saturday morning. This Friday and Saturday, Greer will play Gaff ney and Byrnes.

Tigers open 2011 campaign strong

GreerBlue RidgeEastsideBereaGreenvillePickensSouthsideTravelers Rest

Schools realigned

REGION II-AAA |RiversideByrnesBoiling SpringsDormanGaff neyMauldinSpartanburgWade Hampton

REGION II-AAAA |

‘A lot of questions

will be answered

this week.’

Wade CooperBlue Ridge head coach

PRESTON BURCH | THE GREER CITIZEN

ON THE MOVE: Eastside will spend this season in the same conference, but will join Greer and Blue Ridge in an eight-team conference in 2012.

The National Basketball Association’s slogan is “Where Amazing

Happens.”At times last season,

especially during the playoffs, that was a true statement.

It was amazing that the Miami Heat and its trio of superstars including LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh not only didn’t win the NBA championship, but were defeated in six games.

It was amazing that the Memphis Grizzlies, the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, eliminated the top-seeded San Anto-nio Spurs and were within one game of advancing to the third round.

And it was amazing that the Dallas Maver-icks, with really only one legitimate scoring threat, was the team that came out on top when the dust settled.

Now, however, it may be time for the league to adopt a new slogan, “Where Nothing Hap-pens.”

With football players and owners able to put their differences aside, the NBA has taken the NFL’s place as the Ameri-can professional sport currently on hold.

Owners are seeking massive changes to the league’s salary structure, saying they lost $300 million last season and hundreds of millions more in each year of the previous Collective Bar-gaining Agreement, which was ratified in 2005.

Players have acknowl-edged losses, but dispute they’re as large as owners say, and have balked at the league’s desire to in-stitute a hard salary cap, slash salaries and reduce the maximum length of contracts.

That has created the possibility of lost games because of a work stop-page for only the second time in league history.

The 1998-99 season was reduced to 50 games, and players have been preparing for the poten-tial of something similar.

The central issue remains the division of basketball revenues. Players were guaranteed 57 percent under the old agreement and the league says it cannot ad-dress its losses without a significant change to that number.

The players offered a reduction to 54.3 percent that would have reduced their take by about $100 million a year, and said the owners’ proposal would have them well below 40 percent in the later years of the deal.

Owners had proposed a deal that would guaran-tee players total compen-sation of no less than $2 billion annually, with an average player salary of about $5 million. But that represents a pay cut from the more than $2.1 billion players were paid this season.

As was the case with the lockout in the NFL, it is a battle between billionaires and million-aires.

Both sides are claim-ing to be the victim, but as this debate lingers and players choose to go overseas to play and collect a handsome pay-check, there is truly only one loser in this fight, the fans.


Like most children, Jessica Monte spent her early years playing tag and other running games.

She attended Bob Jones Acad-emy during her freshman and sophomore years, and because the school doesn’t have cross country and track programs, she didn’t get to run as much as she would like.

That changed for Monte as a junior, when she transferred to

Greer High and joined the cross country team.

“I really wish I had two more years to work on it,” Monte said.

It may not be at the high school level, but Monte will still have time to become a better run-ner. Recently, she signed with Spartanburg Methodist, and will spend the next two years at the junior college.

“They have a good running system,” said Monte, who has a personal best time of 22:00.

“They seemed to be good, qual-ity people, and it’s only 20 min-utes away from home. That will be nice on the weekends.”

Monte would like to spend the next four years running cross country, but hasn’t made plans past 2013.

“Right now, I have no clue as to where I will transfer,” Monte said. “I was looking at Lime-stone, but other than that there were really no other schools.”

[email protected] | 877-2076


Greer cross country run-ner Damon Hill showed several signs of promise during his high school ca-reer, including a personal best time of 17:17.

When he looks back at his time as a Yellow Jacket, however, he may remem-ber it more for the times he was unable to run.

“I thought it went well, minus all of the injuries,” Hill said. “I had a back injury, broken toes, and hamstring pulls. The bro-ken toes came from when I dropped a 25-pound weight on my foot.”

Fortunately for Hill, his cross country days are far from over. Recently, he signed with Spartanburg Methodist College.

“It’s only 20 minutes away, and for the first few years of college I would rather stay closer to

home,” Hill said. “I wasn’t really looking at any other schools.

“After my two years at

SMC, I would like to trans-fer to a four-year school like Clemson or Carolina. If a schools shows inter-

est, it’s something I would definitely consider.”


B4 THE GREER CITIZEN SPORTS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2011

CMYK


DEDICATED TO DUKE: Mario Sanders will contiue playing football at Duke. With Sanders are his parents, Sharon and Mario Sr. .

Greer High

FOOTBALL

Mario Sanders Duke University

Greer High

FOOTBALL

Matt Rochester North Greenville University


FUTURE CRUSADER: Greer’s Matt Rochester signed with North Greenville. Pic-tured with him are his parents, Carrol and Vickie, and Greer coach Will Young.


One year ago, Greer High senior Mario Sanders made it known that he in-tended to sign with Duke University.

Last Wednesday, he stayed true to his word and officially signed with the school. He will con-tinue his football career in Durham, but admitted that the choice was about more than just football.

“When you hear the name Duke, you think aca-demics,” Sanders said. “It may not be an Ivy League school, but it’s just as good. I really fell in love

with the campus. It had a Hogwarts feel to it - it was a little quieter than I expected.

“I told my coaches the reason I was committing was more of a divine thing. I was sitting at home on my couch and basically it came to me that it was time to commit to a school.”

The 6-foot-5-inch Sand-ers will play defensive end at Duke. His position coach, Marion Hobby, left Duke for Clemson, but Sanders didn’t allow that to alter his decision.

“It was kind of a blow at first, but I am commit-ted to the school, not the coach,” Sanders said.

With Duke being a mem-ber of the ACC, Sanders will play against another school he was looking at, Clemson. That also hap-pens be the school that Greer coach Will Young graduated from.

“Mario will do well,” Young said. “He was a late bloomer, and it has taken him a while to catch up to his size. He has a great work ethic, and the frame to put on more weight.

“He has always been a great student. All the teachers here love him.”



Matt Rochester won’t have to travel far to con-tinue his football career.

Last Wednesday, the Greer senior standout signed with North Green-ville University.

“I am a family person, and I like to stay close to home,” Rochester said. “I like the surroundings, and my sister went there, so I know the school well.”

The 6-foot-2-inch, 270-pound Rochester will play either guard or center for the Crusaders. Should he see the field early, the for-mer Yellow Jacket will ei-ther be snapping the ball to or blocking for a past rival, former Byrnes quar-

terback Willy Korn.“It will be weird,” Roches-

ter said. “I played against him as a freshman, and he was outstanding then.”

Rochester plans to ma-jor in Secondary Education and minor in Sports Man-agement. The fact that he will be attending college and will have the chance to continue his football career had been a lifelong dream.

“I have wanted to play college football since I was little,” Rochester said. “I’ve always wanted to play at the next level.”

Regardless of where the game takes him, Rochester said Greer will always be close to his heart.

“I feel like I left a good legacy,” Rochester said. “I

showed that if you work hard, you can go some-where.

“It really meant a lot to me to be named all-state and all-region, and I really enjoyed playing alongside guys like Efferlan Wil-liams, Dominique Parks and Tymeco Gregory.”

Greer coach Will Young, himself a former college lineman, expects Roch-ester to do well at North Greenville.

“Matt was a four-year starter for us, and will be a big loss,” Young said. “He is very similar to (Duke signee) Mario (Sanders). He has high character and was very dedicated to our program.”


Greer High

CROSS COUNTRY

Jessica Monte

Greer High

CROSS COUNTRY

Damon Hill Spartanburg Methodist

Last Wednesday was National Signing Day, and 20 athletes from the Greer area signed letters of intent with col-

leges and universities.

Counting Greer’s Jessica Monte and Damon Hill, along with Blue Ridge’s Lyn-zie Doll, all of whom signed to run cross country at Spartanburg Methodist before Wednesday, the total number of athletes who will continue at the next level hits 23.

Among the sports that the athletes rep-resent are football, cross country, soccer and lacrosse.

National Signing Day

Hill is getting fresh start at SMC


BOUNCING BACK: Damon Hill didn’t let injuries derail his running career. Pictured with Hill is his mother, Lynel, and Greer coaches Mike Meade and John Heberger.

Sanders follows through

Rochester staying close

MANDY FERGUSON | THE GREER CITIZENBETTER LATE THAN NEVER: Pictured with Jessica Monte are her parents, Jon and Susan, and Greer cross country coach Mike Meade.

Monte moves to next levelSpartanburg Methodist

SPORTS PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly 2/3 Times Division

THIRD PLACEThe Gaff ney LedgerJoe L. Hughes II

sportsTHE GAFFNEY LEDGER

PAGE 10A WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

BRIEFS

WE BUYWE BUYGOLD!!!GOLD!!!CASH PAID!CASH PAID!

Downtown Gaffney

489-2244 • 487-5329489-2244

SCHEDULE

TodayNo games scheduled

ThursdayJunior Varsity Football

Gaffney at Boiling Springs — 7 p.m.

The Cherokee CountyClemson Club will hold its fallmeeting Thursday, Aug. 18 at6 p.m. at the Broad RiverCoop Building (811 HamrickStreet, just off of Highway29, directly across from theNestle Plant in Gaffney.Please note the location andtime.

Assistant AD Brad Scottand Associate HeadBasketball Coach Rick Raywill be the guest speakers.

A barbecue supper will beserved for $10 per person.Please call David Parker at864-415-5296 (mobile) or864-489-6338 (home) oremail him at [email protected] to makereservations. Please makereservations by Tuesday,Aug. 16.

If you have email but didnot receive an email notice ofthis meeting, please forwardyour email address to David.

The Cherokee CountyGamecock Club GolfTournament is scheduled forSaturday, Aug. 20 at GaffneyCountry Club.

The start time is 9 a.m. Thereare only three team spots left.

The tournament will feature acaptainʼs choice format. Lunchwill also be provided.

To register, call Mike Phillipsat (864) 812-1487 or sign up atthe country club.

Gamecock Clubgolf tourney Aug. 20

Gamecock ClubFall Banquet Aug. 25

The Cherokee CountyGamecock Club Fall Banquet willbe held on Thursday, Aug. 25, atthe VFW at 6 p.m.

The tickets need to be pur-chased one week in advance.

Guest speakers will be theparents of star running backMarcus Lattimore, Vern andYolanda Smith. Gamecock Clubpersonnel are also expected toattend.

Tickets are $15, the costincluding a meal served duringthe event.

The tickets can be purchasedfrom Mike Phillips at (864) 812-1487, Harolds Restaurant at(864) 489-9153, Dr. Hank Jolly at(864) 489-2221 and Sub Stationat (864) 489-7827.

Clemson Clubmeeting Aug. 18

Gaffney JV teamopens Thursday

The stars of tomorrow will beon the field Thursday at 7 p.m.when the Gaffney High juniorvarsity opens its season atBoiling Springs.

Quarterback Luke Lancasterleads a balanced offense fea-turing running backs HylekFoster and Jo Jo Miller andwide receivers Bryce Spurlinand Tomaine Miller. The offen-sive line has been steadilyimproving. Defensive playerswhich have stood out in prac-tice are linebacker Chavis Miler,defensive lineman RussellHughes, and defensive backsAvery Shippy and Eric Avent.

Gaffney junior varsity coachJeff Mages estimates 12 of hisplayers will be eight quarterguys that could see time on thevarsity. The junior varsity fin-ished with a 7-2 record in 2010.

"We want to teach our play-ers and get them experience sothey are ready for the nextlevel," Mages said. "Everybodyis ready to play. Boiling Springsis always a tough opener. It'sgoing to come down to theteam who makes the leastamount of mistakes and exe-cutes the most."

UnforgettablePost 109 players do their traditional handshakes prior to Sundayʼs game against Eden Prairie (Minn.). Unfortunately, Itwould be the teamʼs final game of the season, a 12-2 loss.

(Ledger Photo by LARRY HILLIARD)

By JOE L. HUGHES IILedger Sports [email protected]

Unfortunately, all goodthings must end.

For Post 109, it came a fewgames short of the team’s ulti-mate goal of winning theAmerican Legion World Seriesin Shelby, N.C., eliminatedSunday after falling 12-2 toEden Prairie, Minn.

Finally awakened from theirdream season, the past fewdays have allowed managerZach Clary and other membersof the team to relish theiraccomplishments, whichincluded the post’s first stateand Southeast Regional cham-pionships. One of the last fiveteams remaining nationally, hesaid Post 109’s run of successwill never be forgotten.

“It was an unbelievableexperience for me and thiswhole team. No team fromPost 109 has gone this far;there is nothing for these guysto be ashamed of,” Clary said.“Of course, we wanted to winit all, but we ran into someteams that were better than us.Sometimes that is just the waybaseball goes.”

Rarely does a team have allthe tools to make a deep run atany level. Clary found that outlast season, his team winningthe League VI title before

eventually bowing out in theplayoffs.

“Last year we had a lot ofthe tools to make a deep run,but didn’t have the pitchingdepth,” he said. “But this yearwe had plenty of good fieldersand pitching depth to boot.There are not many times youhave all the tools necessary towin; we definitely had all ofthem, but all that wouldn’tmatter if we didn’t use themthe right way.”

At the forefront was adynamic pitching staff made

up of Jordan Garrett, NickSmiley, Bryon Munsterman,Corey Crissone, Kaleb Earls,Colby Hill and Michael Wright.None shying at the opportunityto keep opposing batters offbalance, Clary said they madehis job much easier, as wellthat of the rest of the team.

“Pitching was a big factorfor us,” he said. “I truly neverhad to worry about who Ibrought in. Each of them hadgood stuff and I knew everygame we had a chance.”

� See POST 109, Page 11A

Though falling shortat World Series,Post 109 reachedgoals... and beyond

Wallace stepsdown after25 years asPost 109 AD

By JOE L. HUGHES IILedger Sports [email protected]

More than a season endedwhen Eden Prairie (Minn.)recorded the final out Sundaynight concluding its 12-2 con-quest of Post 109 at theAmerican Legion World Seriesin Shelby, N.C.

It inevitably drew the cur-tain on the tenure of Post 109’sathletic director Jerry “Jug”

Wallace, whodecided tocall it acareer after25 years onthe jobTuesdaynight beforefellow mem-bers of thelocal

American Legion post.“Nobody’s enjoyed this time

more than me,” a tearfulWallace said upon announcinghis retirement. “This hasalways been about these kids;I gave it all my heart. We’vehad a lot of good kids comethrough here, ones that havebecome good brothers, hus-bands and fathers. While it’ssad to go, I couldn’t think of a

� See WALLACE, Page 11A

WALLACE

By JOE L. HUGHES IILedger Sports Writerjoe@gaffneyledger,com

No plays off.Gaffney head coach Dan

Jones during the course ofTuesday’s practice embeddedthese words in the minds ofhis players as they fine tunedtheir game plan in preparationfor Friday’s season openeragainst Boiling Springs.

“You know exactly whattype of team you’re playing inBoiling Springs,” he said. “Ifthey get under your skin, thebest way to get him back isbeat him. It’s as simple as that.

“It’s a physical game, andtempers will flare up fromtime to time. For that reasonwe teach everyday to keepyour composure and play yourgame.”

The Indians are coming offtwo solid performances inscrimmages over the week-end, in particular the team’simpressive performance at theBorder Showcase against T.C.Roberson, 35-6.

“This being a team of jun-

iors and seniors, few thingsare going to catch them bysurprise,” Jones said. “That isthe benefit having playerswith ample big game experi-ence. The kids responded wellto our fast-tempo type of gameand picked it up well.”

According to the Gaffneyhead coach, he is particularlyexcited about the performanceof running back C.J. Miller,who he said gave the teamquite the boost in its scrim-mage at York last Fridaynight. “He really picked it upfor us and we’re pretty excitedabout what he may be able todo for us this season,” Jonessaid.

Indians ironing out last minute detailsOf particular emphasis for

Jones and the coaching staff ismaking sure players focus noton their opponent, but on mak-ing themselves better and exe-cuting the game plan preparedthroughout the week.

“We’re mainly focusing ontaking the right steps, thequarterback getting the rightkeys,” he said. “Their offenseruns a lot of the same things we do; so a lot of this shouldnot surprise us. But no matterwho we play, whether it beBoiling Springs, Dorman, who-ever, we want to execute andplay our brand of ball.”

Last season, the Indians’contest with Boiling Springswent down to the final sec-onds, taking a goalline stand toprevail. Though he doesn’twant the scenario to repeatitself, Jones is preparing forany and everything.

“It was exciting and therewas a big turnout on bothsides; pretty electric I’d say,”he said. “We’re expecting thesame type of game this time.But we’re willing to do any-thing to begin this season 1-0.”

GaffneyʼsQuinshadDavisbreaksawayfrom traf-fic duringTuesdayʼspractice.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPARTANBURG— The daysof three yards and a cloud ofdust and fans yawning in thestands seem a distant memorywhen it comes to the new-lookCarolina Panthers offense.

It took only one preseasongame to realize new coachRon Rivera was serious aboutthe team's "aggressive, attack-ing style" on offense whichfeatures a quick-strike men-tality led by downfield passinggame.

Offensive coordinator RobChudzinski's new scheme hasjust about everyone excitedabout the potential of thisyear's offense, just one yearafter the Panthers finishedlast in the NFL in pointsscored, total yards and pass-ing offense.

The Panthers scored 20points in Saturday's preseason

� See PANTHERS, Page 11A

No matter theQB, Panthersplan to attackon offense

Post 109 players gather around the S.C. AmericanLegion championship trophy after winning it a couple ofweeks ago. The team would add more hardware to itsshelf, however, also winning the Southeast RegionalChampionship.

SPORTS PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly 2/3 Times Division

SECOND PLACEThe News & ReporterPhyllis Lucas

12A • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011 • The News & Reporter

BY GARRETT MITCHELLSpecial to the N&R

The score was 40-29 with the Burke Bulldogs ahead late in the third quarter of Saturday’s 1A boys’ state championship game with Great Falls. That was enough to make Xavier Holmes see red. This time, however, Holmes would not be denied as he led the Red Devils to an exhil-arating, heart-pounding come-back win to capture the state championship. For Great Falls, it was their third consecutive appearance in the title game, but this time there would only be tears of joy as the final buzzer sounded.

Holmes, who led Great Falls (25-2) in scoring all season with a 17.1 points per game clip, exor-cised the demon of being shut out from the field in last year’s title game against Hemingway by scoring eight of his team high 18 points in the final period. With a little help from an unlikely hero, he helped the Red Devils capture their state-record-tying ninth state championship and seventh for coaching legend John Smith, South Carolina’s all-time leader in coaching victories.

Shaquille Lamar got things started for the Red Devils when he drained a three pointer from deep in the corner on the game’s first possession. Fadol Brown would add two buckets for Burke (23-8) in the opening minutes to give the Bulldogs a slim lead, but

Holmes would score to put Great Falls in front 9-8, a lead they would keep for the remainder of the half.

Both teams would fall into an offensively-frigid stalemate in

the second quarter as neither team could find the basket. Jemarcus Culp would manage the only basket of the period for

‘Third time’s the charm’

SPORTS

PHOTOS BY TRENTON BROCK/THE N&RThe Great Falls Red Devils celebrate at mid-court following Saturday's 53-50 in the state title game against Burke.


Saturday night, Great Falls coach John Smith had something every coach wants, but no coach ever really expects to have in his possession.

“We’ve got an extra jer-sey,” Smith said to his coaching staff. “Five JV players turned in jerseys and we’ve got six. How did that happen?”

An extra jersey wasn’t the only coveted item Smith had in his classroom/office. Sitting two desks over from the pile of black and red garments was the state championship trophy his team won a few hours ear-lier with a hard-fought

53-50 win over the Burke Bulldogs. Assistant coach Jeff Holmes brought the trophy off the bus inside the school. There wasn’t a big, celebratory crowd waiting for the bus to arrive back on campus. There weren’t any players on the bus either.

“When you lose the state championship game, every-body pretty much files onto the bus and comes home. Having won it, a lot of the players wanted to stay and watch the rest of the games, or ride home with their fam-ilies or celebrate with their friends. We gave them that option,” Smith said.

Aside from the big, shiny trophy sitting on a desktop, the scene in Smith’s class-room was pretty much the

way it always is after a game. Smith and his coach-es talked about the contest the Red Devils had just completed. Holmes wanted to see the game tape.

“It’s still downloading,” Smith said. “It’s got another five minutes and 17 sec-onds.”

Holmes wasn’t interested in watching the whole thing. Great Falls led after one, but went on a prolonged dry spell to trail by 11 toward the end of the third.

“I don’t want to see that. I just want to watch the end,” Holmes said.

Smith said when his team fell behind by double digits, he was a little wor-

BY TRAVIS JENKINS/THE N&RJohn Smith watches a replay of his team's win over Burke.

Smith’s after ‘party’Xavier Holmes gets a rebound the hard way.

GREAT FALLS’ ROAD TO STATE

Great Falls 98 Denmark-Olar 45

Great Falls 67 St. Joseph’s 38

Great Falls 54 Calhoun County 47

Great Falls 62 Abbeville 52

Great Falls 53 Burke 50

FINAL RECORD- 25-2CLASS A STATE CHAMPIONS

See STATE, Page 13-A

See SMITH, Page 13-A

SPORTS PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOSPORTS PAGE DESIGN PORTFOLIOWeekly 2/3 Times Division

FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Press & StandardBrantley Strickland

SPOT NEWS PHOTOSPOT NEWS PHOTOWeekly Under 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACENews-ChronicleRichard KellyFire damages home in Craytonville


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACENews-ChroniclePaul BrownTruck driver morns traffi c death


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACECoastal ObserverTanya AckermanPaul Willyard is comforted by Jessica Sports as his home is repossessed and hauled away

SPOT NEWS PHOTOSPOT NEWS PHOTOWeekly Over 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACETribune-TimesGwinn Davis18-wheeler crashed into car


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACECarolina Forest ChronicleMichael SmithOrchards fi re breaks out


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACETribune-TimesGwinn DavisPolice used K-9 units and helicopters in their search for a gunman

SPOT NEWS PHOTOSPOT NEWS PHOTOWeekly 2/3 Times Division

HONORABLE MENTIONHONORABLE MENTIONThe Hartsville MessengerBob SloanBillows of grey smoke fi ll the air


THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACEThe News & ReporterNancy ParsonsGreat Falls house fi re


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACEThe Summerville Journal SceneStefan RogenmoserA truck carrying beer crashed into the I-26 Eastbound wall


The Press & Standard, George SalsberryThe portion of the roof of the Great Swamp Baptist Church


GENERAL NEWS PHOTOGENERAL NEWS PHOTOWeekly Under 6,000 Division

THIRD PLACETHIRD PLACECoastal ObserverTanya AckermanThe annual Lost at Sea Memorial ceremony in Murrells Inlet


SECOND PLACESECOND PLACENews-ChronicleRichard KellyRunning for a cause


FIRST PLACEFIRST PLACEThe Manning TimesJason LesleyMike Graham Jr. sees his father for the fi rst time since he returned from Afghanistan

News & Politics

Weekly Awards Presentation - Part 3 of 4