IN SPORTS: Crestwood takes on Lower Richland in high school basketball
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THE CLARENDON SUN
Elected county officials, deputies sworn in A6 THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2017
| Serving South Carolina since October 15, 1894
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Committee provides recommendations have already been addressed and will be presented officially to the board tonight at a special called meeting where he will present an emergency financial plan. The board requested the plan from Baker at a special called meeting Dec. 20 in the wake of the audit’s findings. Tonight’s special called meeting will start at 6 p.m. in the district office, 1345 Wilson Hall Road. Per instruction from the board, Baker worked with the auditor at the end of December to produce a mid-year
School board superintendent to present emergency financial plan BY BRUCE MILLS bruce@theitem.com Sumter School District Finance Committee recommended the board of trustees address staffing, review financial reports and consolidate schools as solutions to a district debt crisis on Wednesday at its monthly meeting. The committee’s list of recommendations to the board for cost-saving measures come after the district’s
2015-16 audit report, released last month, showed the district had gone over budget by $6.2 million in the fiscal year ending June 30. The audit also revealed the district had $106,449 in its general fund at the end of the fiscal year — a critically low level, according to auditor Robin Poston. Other committee recommendations Wednesday included freezing capital spending, adding an appropriate fulltime person in the district’s finance department to monitor spending as
closely as possible, and conducting a mid-year budget review, which was initially recommended by Poston when she presented the audit report in December. Committee Chairman and board member Johnny Hilton also suggested that cost-cutting measures should affect classroom instruction as little as possible. Superintendent Frank Baker told committee members Wednesday that several of their recommendations
SEE COMMITTEE, PAGE A10
Snowfall could be in forecast for Sumter
Baker wants to improve learning experiences
BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com
adrienne@theitem.com
BY ADRIENNE SARVIS
Snow may be in Sumter’s forecast for the weekend. While the prospect for snow is still uncertain, cold temperatures are not, said National Weather Service Columbia Warning Coordinator John Quagliariello. “Whether it snows or not, it will be cold,” he said. Saturday’s high temperature may not get out of the 30s, he said. “Overnight lows next weekend and next week may be in the 20s, so it’s really going to be a cold spell we are looking at for the weekend,” Quagliariello said. As of Wednesday morning, he said forecasters are seeing a mix of sleet and possibly some freezing rain late Friday into Saturday morning. “It’s questionable where that transition occurs at this point,” he said. “Does it become all snow, is there a mix, do we get some sleet in there?” Quagliariello said the biggest impacts will probably come Saturday morning. “We could see sleet and freezing rain mixing in, turning over to snow on Saturday,” he said. “We still want to monitor for some accumulating snow on Saturday morning, but right now it is still limited confidence as to where that transition will occur.” Snow requires the atmosphere to be at or below freezing from the ground to the clouds, and that appears to be likely for this weekend, he said. “You start getting things like sleet if you have a layer of warm air just above the surface so the snow melts,” Quagliariello said. “In this case, we are looking at temperatures near or just below freezing from the clouds down to the surface.” He said besides the timing, a lot of uncertainty in the forecast is if there are any warm layers and how deep they might be. He said the good news is that if it snows, it will be during the weekend. “That limits the potential for traffic problems,” he said.
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spoken 22-year-old white man said calmly as he stood in front of a podium, occasionally glancing at notes. “I am not going to lie to you. ... Other than the fact that I trust people that I shouldn’t and the fact that I’m probably better at constantly embarrassing myself than anyone who’s ever existed, there’s nothing wrong with me psychologically.” Roof’s attorneys have indicated that he chose to represent himself during the sentencing phase of his trial because he was worried they might present embarrassing evidence about himself or his family. As early as last summer, they said
Sumter School District Superintendent Frank Baker did not touch on the subject of the school district’s budget while he spoke during Sumter Vision in Progress’ meeting on Wednesday but discussed ways to improve learning experiences for students. Baker said the district’s efforts to introduce technology in the classrooms has been a success by providing laptops BAKER for students. The concept behind providing the computers is to prepare students for college where technology is heavily integrated into assignments, he said. Baker said teachers are able to monitor what the students are doing on their computers during class, and parents have been educated on how students should be using the laptops while at home. Another project the district is tackling is trying to stay ahead of the state’s Read to Succeed law, which requires teachers to retain students who are not able to read at grade level by the time they complete the third grade, Baker said. District administration is discussing ways to identify
SEE ROOF, PAGE A10
SEE BAKER, PAGE A10
AP FILE PHOTO
This undated photo that appeared on Lastrhodesian.com, a website investigated by the FBI in connection with Dylann Roof, shows him posing for a photo holding a Confederate flag. Roof, who would later admit he wanted to start a race war, fatally shot eight black worshippers and their pastor at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.
Roof talks to jury Claims ‘nothing wrong with me psychologically’ CHARLESTON (AP) — Convicted Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof spoke to the jury for the first time at his death penalty trial Wednesday, telling them there’s nothing wrong with him psychologically and that he is not trying to keep any secrets from them. But perhaps most important is what he didn’t say: He didn’t ask jurors to spare him from the death penalty. The jury last month unanimously found Roof guilty of hate crimes and other charges in the shooting deaths of nine black church members during Bible study. The jurors will now decide whether he should be sentenced to life in prison or death. “My opening statement is going to seem a little bit out of place,” the soft-
City residents seeking answers to discolored water woes BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com Orange sidewalks and stained driveways and lawn statues marked with a rich, rust-colored patina are some of the signs that something isn’t right on Sun Valley Drive. After complaining to City of Sumter numerous times about the red discolored water that has reportedly plagued the area for years, some residents say they’ve had enough. KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM “We are fighting right now,” said Brianna Carter talks about the rust stains that are Brianna Carter, who lives on the street. discoloring her home off Kolb Road. Carter has At Tuesday night’s regular city tried pressure washing and industrial cleaners council meeting, several residents showed up to air their concerns. but has had no luck removing the stains.
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DEATHS, B4, B5 Raymond Holliday William E. Smith Lillian J. Ghrael Samuel Jefferson Ethel P. Edwards Tracy Morales William J. Epps
Roosevelt Miller Ruby B. Williams Margaret P. Parker Lillian R. Tarvin Beulah T. Hollis Martha Bennett
Carter attended the meeting with a friend, but she said she had no idea her neighbors who have had the same problem would show up as well. “I am glad they did,” she said. Carter and other people who spoke at the council meeting said they are tired of not getting answers. “We were dumbfounded when the mayor (Joe McElveen) and Mr. Harris (Assistant City Manager Al Harris) said they knew about the problem,” she said. “Harris even has a
SEE WATER, PAGE A10
WEATHER, A12 Roberta Boatner Theodore Wright Jr. Peggy Ann Wilson Clara W. Carter Turner A. Green Jesse J. Stuckey Annie Oaks
SUNSHINE
Mostly sunny and a bit colder. Tonight there will be considerable clouds. HIGH 55, LOW 39
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2 SECTIONS, 20 PAGES VOL. 122, NO. 59
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