IN USA TODAY: Trump makes series of executive actions
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‘Professional gypsy’ recalls life with the circus
SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017
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Board rolls back stipend cuts Payments now reduced by 25 percent; consultant says school district needs loan BY BRUCE MILLS bruce@theitem.com
ALLAN
After exiting executive session Monday night, the Sumter School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve a recommendation to reduce all stipends
by only 25 percent of their annual amount. On Jan. 12, the board had approved Superintendent Frank Baker’s emergency financial plan, which cut all stipends in the district by 50 percent. The response by the board Monday at its regularly scheduled work
session came after much public outcry concerning the stipend cuts. Also at Monday night’s meeting, the outside financial consultant recently hired by the board updated the board on his work to date and goals.
Since starting with the district on Jan. 10, Scott Allan of School Support Inc., has conducted a 12month cash-flow analysis and determined the district will need a loan, or tax-anticipation note,
SEE DISTRICT, PAGE A7
Breaking ground on the Public Safety Complex
PHOTOS BY RICK CARPENTER / THE SUMTER ITEM
Sumter city and county officials as well as promoters of the 2014 Penny for Progress campaign don hardhats with a penny to symbolize the groundbreaking of a Public Safety Complex funded through the ballot question. The $10.6 million complex, on the east side of Lafayette Drive between Loring Drive and Calhoun Street, will house a 36,000-squarefoot headquarters building for Sumter Police Department and a 21,600-square-foot headquarters for Sumter Fire Department as well as a four-bay fire station. Engineers predicted it will take about 14 months to complete the project. Shovels with hardhats await Sumter city and county dignitaries to break ground on a new public safety building on Monday.
Sumter Police Chief Russell Roark, left, and City of Sumter Fire Chief Karl Ford don hardhats for the ceremony on Monday.
Recent area retiree gets help through Fireside Fund
Crime Stoppers provides resource for public to help solve cases in community BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com
BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com Kevin Howell, crisis relief director for Sumter United Ministries, said Fireside Fund has provided the ministry with the resources to address urgent heating needs and to make a lasting impact. Recently, a senior visited the Crisis Relief Ministry and needed assistance with a propane account, Howell said. The woman is from Pinewood, he said, which is one of the many smaller communities Sumter United Ministries assists throughout the county. “She has used electric space heaters in the past but has access to propane in her home and felt it would be a more
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The Shaw Firefighters Association presents a check for $1,000 to The Sumter Item Publisher Jack Osteen for Fireside Fund. The group’s members conducted two boot drives in December to raise money for local charities, including Fireside Fund, which helps needy residents stay warm during the winter months.
cost-effective heat source,” Howell said. “She recently retired at 71 years old but had hopes of receiving some additional income, which never materialized.”
Her income is extremely modest, he said. “She owns her home, which is a great benefit to her,” Howell said. “However, with no house payment, her living expense totals cause her to be disqualified from some forms of assistance that she greatly needs.”
SEE FIRESIDE, PAGE A7
DEATHS, B4 Lucille Y. Pechinka Travis Lee Barger George W. Clemmons Michael P. Tennant
Cynthia Maple-Hudson Ruth Johnson Wesley Kind Timothy T. Brooks
The Crime Stoppers organization was created in 1976 after information from the public was used to solve a murder case in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after a monetary reward was advertised on TV. Sumter Crime Stoppers, the first Crime Stoppers program in South Carolina, was organized in October 1981. Marie Hodge, Sumter Crime Stoppers coordinator and latent print examiner at Sumter Police Department, said the organization receives about 10 cases per month from calls and solves about two calls
each month. Calls are answered by a secretary in the police department’s investigation division during the day on weekdays, and 911 dispatch answers calls on weeknights and during the weekend, Hodge said. Tips called in to the state number are sent to the appropriate law enforcement agency by email, she said. Most of the tips Crime Stoppers receives lead to the arrest of fugitives, she said. Some really good calls come in, Hodge said. About four years ago, a tip helped solve a three-year-old cold case, she said.
SEE SOLVED, PAGE A7
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Sunny and nice today; a clear sky tonight HIGH 65, LOW 41
Classifieds B6 Comics C4
Opinion A9 Television B5