INSIDE: Governor reflects on U.N. job, state crises and lessons in diplomacy
A3
THE CLARENDON SUN
Clarendon 1 School Board members are sworn in A6 THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017
| Serving South Carolina since October 15, 1894
75 cents
APEX tools to lay off 170 at Sumter plant Spokesperson: Production will end by March 31 BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com APEX Tool Group will cease production of its Armstrong and Allen lines of hand tools, a move that will end employment for 170 workers at its Sumter plant, said APEX Communications Director Kelly Rhoads. “This is a difficult announcement for us and our associates,“ Rhoads said. “We can confirm we are reducing employment there (in Sumter) by 170 positions. She said production of the Allen and Armstrong lines of hand tools will end by March 31. Rhoads said no reductions are planned at any other of the company’s facilities. “We have given people the WARN notification that gives people 60 days prior to their last day of work,” she said. Rhoads said she was unsure if all the employees who will be laid off
have yet received the notification. Rhoads was referring to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, a federal labor law that requires companies that are laying off more than 100 workers to give the workers 60-days advance notification. Rhoads said the positions will be eliminated by March 31 as the production of the Armstrong and Allen tool lines ramps down. Full-time associates are being offered severance benefits and employment assistance counselors have been made available, she said. “We are partnering with state and local agencies to provide job search resources,” Rhoads said. “We are already speaking with SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTO the SC Rapid Response team, which assists Production of Apex Tool Group’s Armstrong and Allen lines of hand with workforce resources.”
tools will end March 31, putting 170 workers at the Sumter plant in SEE APEX, PAGE A5 the unemployment line.
State of the State address Haley bids farewell, thanks citizens for changing S.C.’s image BY SEANNA ADCOX The Associated Press COLUMBIA — Gov. Nikki Haley used her State of the State address Wednesday to say goodbye to South Carolinians and a job she calls “the greatest honor of my life.” Haley thanked residents, who she called both the state’s strength and hers, for changing the way the world perceives the state she loves. Her goal was always to better the state’s image from being the punchline of late-night jokes, and the “people of South Carolina accomplished the highest aspiration I had for our state all on their own.” They did it, she said, through their response to the 2015 “hatefilled atrocity” of nine people killed in a Charleston church, an unarmed motorist killed by a North Charleston officer, natural disasters and other crisis during her tenure. “They did it by displaying for all to see the power of faith, of kindness, and of forgiveness. They did it by stepping up to every challenge, through every tragedy, every time,” she said. “And in so doing, the people of South Carolina changed our image in a way no piece of legislation or shift in policy or job announcement could have ever accomplished.” She did cite those job numbers — touting 85,613 jobs announced during her tenure across each of the state’s 46 counties, helping bring the unemployment rate from 11.1 percent in January 2011, her first month of office, to 4.4 percent. But she thanked “Team South
Sen. McElveen says bipartisan solution needed BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com
of the Southeast,” she said in her 27-minute speech. The shorter-than-normal speech was free of rancor and recommendations. “Gov. Haley has been a great cheerleader for the state,” said Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey,
Sen. Thomas McElveen, D-Sumter, delivered the Democratic response to Wednesday’s State of the State Address by Gov. Nikki Haley. In his response, McElveen said state leaders are aware of the state’s most pressing problems, but he said that partisanship needed to be put aside so solutions can be reached. “We know all too well what needs to be done in South Carolina to ensure future prosperity and competitiveness in a global economy,” McElveen said. “We know what our responsibilities are.” MCELVEEN However, he said state leaders have not worked together to turn To read Sen. McElveen challenges into opand Gov. Haley’s portunities. speeches, go to McElveen www.theitem.com. thanked Gov. Haley for her service and wished her luck in her position as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He then returned to his call for more cooperation in the branches of South Carolina government. “It’s time for us to do what’s right, and to do it with a sense of urgency that our leaders have failed to execute for well over a decade,” McElveen said. McElveen, considered a rising star in the South Carolina Democratic Party, said the people of the state deserve honesty and integrity from public officials. “What they don’t deserve is a cloud of corruption charges and far too many instances
SEE HALEY, PAGE A10
SEE MCELVEEN, PAGE A10
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, with Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster, right, delivers the State of the State address Wednesday night at the state Capitol in Columbia. Carolina” for making that happen, saying local leaders stopped thinking regionally and competing against each other to work with state leaders and present a united front to lure companies to the state and expand existing ones. “Team South Carolina is a very real thing. And it is no wonder they now call us, which I love, the “beast
Former Sumter School Board members, area pastors voice frustrations BY BRUCE MILLS bruce@theitem.com Two local pastors and two former Sumter School Board members, among others, voiced their frustrations with the Sumter School District Board of Trustees concerning the district’s debt crisis on Monday at the board’s regularly scheduled meeting. The comments were made during the public participation portion of the meeting, and — with only one regular-
VISIT US ONLINE AT
the
.com
ly scheduled board meeting in December — it was the public’s first opportunity to speak since the 2015-16 audit report was presented Dec. 12 by auditor Robin Poston. The report revealed the district had gone over budget by $6.2 million in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016. The audit report also revealed the district had $106,449 in its ending general fund balance at the time. The previous annual audit report showed the district had $4.48 million in its
CONTACT US Information: 774-1200 Advertising: 774-1246 Classifieds: 774-1234 Delivery: 774-1258 News and Sports: 774-1226
ending general fund balance as of June 30, 2015. About 60 members of the general public were in attendance for Monday’s night board meeting at Hillcrest Middle School in DalMCGHANEY zell. A couple repeated comments from community members who spoke were in reference to asking what caused the district to
spend $6.2 million over budget, and a belief that the district’s students will suffer educationally as a result of the crisis. Patty Wilson and Keith Schultz both previously served on the Sumter School Board and explained Monday during their public comments that the district had $4 million in its general fund balance as late as 2014 while they served on the board. Wilson said she was disappointed in the district’s over-
DEATHS, B4 Nancy D. Webster Elliott L. Wilder David Davis Peggy Ann Crim Louise Sheridan William Pearson
Freddie H. Francis Henry Jeter Lucille A. Scott Leroy Woods Jr. Arthur McCoy Jr.
spending the past couple of years. “Surely, we must know now that our kids are going to suffer because of this and so is our community,” Wilson said. She questioned whether the board’s budget committee had been doing its job. “We used to have somebody looking and checking to see who was doing what,” Wilson said. “Are we going to be doing that in the future?”
SEE VOICE, PAGE A10
WEATHER, A12
INSIDE
PLENTY OF SUN
2 SECTIONS, 18 PAGES VOL. 122, NO. 64
Foggy in the morning, breaking for sunny skies. Tonight, cloudy and mild. HIGH 73, LOW 51
Classifieds B6 Comics B5 Opinion A11 Television A9