IN SPORTS: Rivals Crestwood, Lakewood meet on diamond
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Zumbathon 5th annual benefit for sickle cell research to be held on Saturday at M.H. Newton C1
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Johnson to testify before Congress Former guard, shot six times, urges blocking cellphone signals in prison BY IVY MOORE ivy@theitem.com Robert Johnson said he’s not optimistic that Congress will pass a law allowing the blocking of cellphone signals in prisons, but he’s hopeful the Federal Communications Commission will make some changes that could have close to the same effect. At 10:30 a.m. Thursday, however, he’ll testify for the FCC before Congress in favor of blocking cellphone signals.
Johnson has a compelling case. In 2010, the former prison guard was shot six times in his Sumter home and left for dead. He had to be resuscitated several times and has serious lingering effects from his injuries. Johnson’s primary job at Lee Correctional Institution, where he’d worked for 15 years, was to prevent contraband from entering the prison. He was so successful at
SEE PRISON, PAGE A7
BY JEFFREY COLLINS The Associated Press
for Water Missions. According to the website, www.watermissions.org, he raised more than $70,000, enough to provide drinking water for two communities in Honduras.
CHARLESTON — During a night of vodka, cocaine, marijuana and video games, Joey Meek listened as a childhood buddy confided that he hated blacks so much he was going to kill them at a Charleston church. Meek said he thought his friend was all talk until a week later, when news broke of a deadly shooting rampage at Emanuel AME church. But instead of calling authorities, Meek talked another friend out of going to police and giving them Dylann Roof’s MEEK name. And then he lied to the FBI about his conversation with Roof. For those crimes, Meek, 22, was sentenced Tuesday to more than two years in prison. The punishment was handed down by the federal judge who presided at Roof’s trial, which ended in January with the avowed white supremacist sentenced to death for massacring nine black people as they bowed their heads in prayer during a Wednesday night Bible study session on June 17, 2015. Unlike Roof, Meek showed remorse for his crimes. “I’m really, really sorry. A lot of beautiful lives were taken,” he said, reading from a statement. He cried as he told the judge he fears retribution behind bars: “I don’t know if I’ll make it out of prison alive. I’m scared.” U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel’s 27-month prison term was the minimum punishment under federal sentencing guidelines. The government wanted a stiffer sentence to make an example out of Meek and because he could have stopped the massacre. None of the victims’ family members spoke in court, and they had no comment for reporters. In a deal with prosecutors, Meek pleaded guilty to concealment of a crime and lying to the FBI. Meek was not charged for failing to tell police about the impending attack, since that is not a crime under federal law.
SEE QUEST, PAGE A7
SEE MEEK, PAGE A7
AP FILE PHOTO
Capt. Robert Johnson, right, talks in 2014 with Lloyd Greer, who investigated a plot to kill Johnson at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, where Johnson was in charge of preventing contraband from entering the prison.
Teen brings clean water quest to Wilson Hall BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com Middle school students at Wilson Hall are learning about people in other countries who don’t have many of the things we take for granted. Take clean water, for example. In many developing countries, people must walk for miles every day just to get water, and even then it is not safe to drink without being boiled. To help the lesson soak in, the students got a splash course Monday, carrying various water containers for 17 trips up and down the football practice field at the school, or the equivalent of about 1 mile. It’s all part of the school’s “Compassion Project,” said Wilson Hall Middle School Principal Stacey Reaves. During this week, the students will also read “A Long Walk to Water,” a semi-fictional account of a South Sudanese girl’s daily trips to provide water for her family. “We take that for granted,” Reaves told the students during an assembly. “This is about stepping out of our comfortable lives and learning about how people live in other parts of the world.” The students also were able to hear from a young man of about their age who has translated his compassion into action.
BY JIM HILLEY / THE SUMTER ITEM
Scotty Parker and his mother, Pam, greet Wilson Hall Middle School students as they leave an assembly about compassion at the school gym. Parker, 12, is planning to ride from Santa Monica, California, to Charleston this summer to raise money for water systems in poor, undeveloped countries. Scott Parker, 12, from Hanahan, South Carolina, learned about the plight of children who have no access to clean drinking water when Water Missions, a group helping get water to undeserved communities, made a presentation at his
Roof ’s friend gets 27 months for hindering FBI
church, he said. “I saw kids my age,” he said. “It could have been me.” He first took up a collection instead of receiving birthday gifts, and two years ago, completed a five-day trip across South Carolina on a bicycle to raise money
City Council votes to amend vacant property ordinance BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com Sumter City Council recognized retiring Magistrate Court Judge Lee Tindal at its Tuesday night meeting. The judge is retiring after 15 years on the bench. Mayor Joe McElveen congratulated her on her service to the community. “She has shown compassion when needed and straightness when needed,” he said.
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He said that the magistrate court is the court most people come into contact with and her sense of justice has helped the community maintain law and order. Council also passed two procurement resolutions. A custom fire pumper truck that was bought for the Sumter Fire Department was authorized at a cost of $420,191. A local company, Toyne of Sumter was the low bidder.
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Chief Karl Ford noted that the City is purchasing the truck from a different supplier than it has in the past. “Sometimes once a company has your contract the price keeps going up and up and sometimes you have to let them know you will take your business somewhere else,” he said. He said that by purchasing the truck in a joint bid with Sumter County the City was able to save 2 percent on the purchase price. McElveen asked the fire chief to
DEATHS, B4 M. Piercy Parker Christine McClam Grant J. Conyers Janice A. Phelps
Tim W. Truett Willie Martin Karl Lyn Rogers Gwendolyn M. Nixon
keep reminding people that the fire department will donate and install smoke detectors for any resident who needs one. “All you have to do is ask,” Ford said. Council also authorized the purchase of a new diesel powered electric generator for Water Plant No. 3 at a cost of $121,000. Assistant City Manager Al Harris
SEE CITY, PAGE A7
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INSIDE
ANOTHER NICE DAY
3 SECTIONS, 20 PAGES VOL. 122, NO. 113
Clearing today and cooler, mostly sunny with slight chance of rain; tonight, chilly and mainly clear. HIGH 69, LOW 38
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