USC men set to take on Duke in Round 2
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Old warhorse Restored combat veteran PT boat makes a splash A10 SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894
$1.75
SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 2017
PANORAMA: 3 named to Women’s Honor Roll
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Deficit crisis provokes change District’s finances heading on right path Bill would expand Sumter school board BY BRUCE MILLS bruce@theitem.com Sumter School District’s financial picture is headed in the right direction with the help of its independent finance consultant and decisions made Thursday to give the board’s finance committee more oversight on the district’s budget, says two private business leaders who serve on the committee.
Item wins 14 awards at S.C. press convention
BY BRUCE MILLS bruce@theitem.com
Sumter School District Finance Committee members Greg Thompson and William Byrd made their remarks Friday after the full committee had its regular monthly meeting Thursday with school finance consultant Scott Allan. The board’s finance committee includes four local private-business owners
Both state senators representing Sumter County introduced a bill Thursday to add two at-large board members initially appointed by the county legislative delegation to the Sumter School District Board of Trustees. State Sen. Thomas McElveen, DSumter, said he introduced the legis-
SEE FINANCES, PAGE A13
lation with state Sen. Kevin Johnson, D-Clarendon, with the full support of the entire delegation, which consists of both senators and four representatives in the House of Representatives. McElveen said the delegation has considered introducing the legislation for a long time, but the recent
SEE BOARD, PAGE A13
‘WE GOT TO KNOW PEOPLE’S FEET PRETTY WELL’ Many mothers and fathers have taken their children, who have then taken their children, down to Jack’s to be fitted for a new pair of shoes. After nearly 100 years, the Sumter mainstay, “which served people the way the big-box stores can’t,” is going out of business.
Jack’s Shoes set to close doors
FROM STAFF REPORTS The Sumter Item staff won 14 awards, including four first places and sweeping first, second and third place in two categories at the South Carolina Press Association Awards Banquet held Saturday in Columbia. The Sumter Item’s biggest GEDAMKE winner was photographer Keith Gedamke, who won five awards, including sweeping all three places in the feature photography category and finishing first and second in the pictorial photography category. Melanie Smith finished third in the pictorial photography category that completed The Sumter Item’s sweep in that category. Smith is a page designer/copy editor who shoots photos in her spare time. Jessica Stephens, a page designer/copy editor for The Sumter Item, won first place in feature page design portfolio, and the entire news staff won first place in reporting in depth for its coverage of Hurricane Matthew. “What’s significant about Jessica’s win is that as our newspaper group takes on designing products for our other newspapers across the country, she has very few opportunities to work on The Sumter Item pages,” said Rick Carpenter, managing editor of The Item.
SEE ITEM, PAGE A12
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PHOTOS BY RICK CARPENTER / THE SUMTER ITEM
From the left, Jack’s Shoes owner Darrell Thompson, former owner Abe Stern and retired employee Jenkins McElveen.
Longtime Sumter business will shutter at end of month Jack’s Shoes, a Sumter institution, will close its doors toward the end of March and is currently reducing inventory with a 60 percent off sale.
BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com
J
ack’s Department Store was first opened in Mayesville in 1922 by Jack Addlesburg and his brother Max. Since that time, the business moved to Sumter and changed its business model from being a department store to specializing in shoes. At the end of this month, what is now called Jack’s Shoes will close its doors forever. Jack’s Shoes owner Darrell Thompson said it is not because of any sort of busi-
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ness difficulty but that he is ready to retire. “I turned 71 this month,” Thompson said. “I am ready to relax.” After its founding in Mayesville, the store was moved to Sumter in the late 1920s and within a few years was relo-
DEATHS, A15 Willie L. Hardy Sr. Cecil G. Scott Sr. Beatrix B. Bagnal Betsie A. Bryan Bertrand Waring Pauline W. Jackson
Viola W. Brayboy Peggy R. Roberts Willie M. Lowder Patricia S. Sumpter LouLenden McBride Moses Annie Baxter Singleton
cated to the ground floor of the imposing Dixie Life Building. The store wrapped around the seven-story Dixie Life Building and had entrances on
SEE SHOES, PAGE A13
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SUNNY SUNDAY
4 SECTIONS, 34 PAGES VOL. 122, NO. 111
Plenty of sunshine. Tonight, clear and cold. HIGH 64, LOW 35
Business C1 Classifieds C8 Opinion A14 Outdoors C6
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