THE CLARENDON SUN: Manning remembers former Mayor William Harvin A6 COMING FRIDAY
Looking back on Obama’s presidency THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017
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Coaches dismayed with stipend cuts School board action was part of $6.8M in cash preservation BY BRUCE MILLS bruce@theitem.com Athletic coaches in Sumter School District are upset their stipends have been cut as an initial measure by the board of trustees to preserve cash in its current debt crisis, according to two coaches in the district who spoke on condition
of anonymity. The school board last week approved Superintendent Frank Baker’s recommendations to stop payment on all non-teaching stipends, cut 47 jobs and freeze various budget line items, among other measures totaling $6.8 million in an effort to end the fiscal year with a balanced budget.
Stopping remaining stipends is estimated to preserve $867,000 in cash for the district through June 30. In addition to coaches, department heads and some musical directors, among others, receive stipends — according to district office personnel. The two coaches expressed their concerns that budget
cuts seem to always affect people at the lower end of the pay scale, and the board’s decisions will not only affect the coaches but the student athletes in the long run. “First, it’s hard to believe that everyone at the district just found out about all this mess, and the deficit they are facing,” one coach said. “Cuts
Firefighters battle grass fire
RICK CARPENTER / THE SUMTER ITEM
A line of flames, fanned by westerly winds, sent firefighters to the Boyle Pond area Wednesday afternoon to fight a grass fire. Sumter Fire Department firefighters defended homes on Cobblestone Road near St. Pauls Church Road.
BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com Nervous homeowners watched a grass fire at Boyle Pond on Wednesday as it neared their properties on Cobblestone Road near McCrays Mill Road and St. Pauls Church Road. Flames, fanned by westerly winds, shooting 10 feet high and hundreds of yards long moved eastward across the dried lakebed. Firefighters defended homes on Cobblestone Road and planned to watch the fire overnight, hoping it would burn itself out. Engineers drained the pond after its dam sustained
damage during the October 2015 flood. Dried brush filled much of the drained pond that caught fire. Sumter Fire Department Battalion Chief Joey Duggan said the call came in about 3:15 p.m. He said current dry-weather conditions contributed to the setting for the fire to spread quickly. Duggan said five fire stations and at least one crew with South Carolina Forestry Commission responded to the fire. He said the forestry commission used tractors to cut a fire line to prevent the flames from spreading further in the emptied pond. The cause of the fire is unknown, he said.
Sumterites to be on hand for Trump’s inauguration BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com Wilkes Burnette is a 6-yearold first-grader at Wilson Hall, but he is not too young to catch the political bug. “He’s been into politics since the beginning to the election cycle,” said his dad, Eric Burnette. They saw President-elect Donald Trump when he appeared at the Sumter Civic Center and watched the presidential debates. “He stayed up all night on election night,” Eric said. On Friday, the father-son duo will be on hand to watch Donald Trump be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. “Hopefully, we can be close enough to see Trump,” Eric said. “We have actual seats, but I don’t know how close they are.”
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Eric, who is originally from Tennessee, said he got invitations though his father’s connection with a senator in that state. He said they would be catching a tour bus with a group from Tennessee. He said he and his son were looking forward to the historic event and spending a weekend of seeing the sights in the nation’s capital. Wilkes was mum on which museum he would be most excited to see, but Eric volunteered it would be the National Air & Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. “That and the Bureau of Engraving,” Eric said. “He wants to see money being made.” Shery Smith, chairwoman of the Sumter County Republican Party, said she is thankful for the opportunity to attend Friday’s inauguration
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PUBLIC REACTION See page A2. always start with the bottom up. The people, or persons, who are responsible for all this are sure that their livelihood is not affected by all this — and by this I mean their
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Supreme Court: McMaster can’t pick successor COLUMBIA (AP) — The state Supreme Court made it clear Wednesday that Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster can’t pick his successor if Gov. Nikki Haley is confirmed as ambassador to the United Nations. Justices ruled that a constitutional amendment changing the lines of succession won’t take effect until the 2018 election. That means the state constitution still calls on the Senate’s leader to fill a vacancy in the lieutenant governor’s office, requiring Senate President Pro Tem Hugh Leatherman to do some maneuvering to keep his powerful leadership post. He refuses to become lieutenant governor. Sen. Tom Davis had asked the justices to settle a discrepancy on when the change, approved by voters in 2012, took effect. Leatherman initially asked the justices to decide nothing unless McMaster is actually sworn in, calling Davis’ request speculation that relies on a series of assumptions. Haley’s confirmation process began Wednesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, two days before the inauguration of her new would-be boss, President-elect Donald Trump. McMaster would ascend to the governor’s office after Haley resigns. “The Supreme Court is to be commended for acting both swiftly and correctly in this matter before the political dominoes start to fall,” said Davis, RBeaufort.
Haley supports moving U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem
JIM HILLEY / THE SUMTER ITEM
Eric and Wilkes Burnette will join a Tennessee tour group to visit Washington, D.C., and see the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. with her husband, Randy. “I am very excited,” she said. “We are going to the South Carolina Ball on Thursday and the Inauguration on Friday.”
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WASHINGTON (AP) — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley pledged her support for moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a shift firmly endorsed by Donald Trump but one that could trigger more violence in the Middle East. Haley, Trump’s pick to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday that she “absolutely” backs the embassy move because that’s what Israel and congressional Republicans want. But a spokesman for Jordan’s government recently told The Associated Press that the embassy move would be a “red line” for Amman and “inflame the Islamic and Arab streets.” Jordan serves as custodian of a major Islamic
DEATHS, B4 Stacey J. Gadsden Mary Ruth Smith Alton E. Truesdale Rosa Lee W. Sanders
Ruby W. McQuillar Johnny Hewitt Juanita G. McLeod Charles L. Sanders
shrine in east Jerusalem and the Palestinians seek a capital there. Haley also took a tougher stance against Russia than Trump, who will be sworn in Friday. She told the committee that she believes Russia committed war crimes by HALEY bombing Syrian civilians in the city of Aleppo. Rex Tillerson, Trump’s choice for secretary of state, declined to make that accusation during his confirmation hearing last week. She said she doesn’t think that the United States can trust Moscow right now and said she’s against lifting existing sanctions
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Becoming cloudy and mild. Tonight, a couple of showers late. HIGH 66, LOW 51
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