IN SPORTS: Two Lady Gamecocks entering WNBA draft
B1
PANORAMA
Balsam Range Modern masters of Bluegrass coming to Opera House on Friday — don’t miss it! C1
SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894
$1.00
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2017
SUMTER SCHOOL DISTRICT
Consultant previews potential cuts Besides classroom positions, Allan will propose school consolidation, district staff eliminations BY BRUCE MILLS bruce@theitem.com Potential school closings, cutting district office positions and freezing all non-teaching staff salaries and stipend increases are key areas to consider for cutting additional expenditures from next year’s budget, said the financial consultant working with Sumter School District. Scott Allan made his comments Monday night to the district board of trustees after detailing to the board
his analysis and the district’s plan to cut 86 classroom teachers and related instructional staff, to include para professionals and behavior and academic interventionists, as part of his 2017-18 budget update presentation. The classroom position cuts were announced Monday ALLAN because Allan and district leadership had recently completed staffing meetings with the principal at each school.
Allan advised the board Monday that a plan to cut administrative staff at the district office is forthcoming. “There’s definitely a recommendation out there by the superintendent as to some staffing changes at the district level,” Allan said. “So don’t think for a minute it’s just out at the schools.” At least 12 positions have already been eliminated from the district office as part of an emergency financial plan by Superintendent Frank Baker that was approved by the board. That
plan went into effect Jan. 31 and also trimmed six teaching positions, but five of those were vacant at the time. With Monday’s announcement of the 86 classroom position cuts for next fiscal year, the district has now eliminated 133 positions since January. Allan will reveal his analysis and the district’s plan to eliminate further district office positions to the school board’s finance committee at its next meeting, tentatively scheduled for Friday, April 21.
Oats are good for goats, too
SEE CUTS, PAGE A9
Two rounds of severe weather possible today
Casey Belinski feeds Donkey the Nubian goat Strawberry Cheerios at his family’s farm in Sumter recently. MELANIE SMITH / THE SUMTER ITEM
BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com
City, police served with wrongful death lawsuit BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com On Friday, city of Sumter and Sumter Police Department were served with a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the sister of Waltki Cermoun Williams, the 35-year-old man who was killed during a shooting incident with Sumter police officers on Dec. 10. The lawsuit is an attempt to get more information about the incident, according to one attorney. The lawsuit was filed
VISIT US ONLINE AT
the
.com
with Sumter County Court of Common Pleas on March 24 and alleges that at least three city police officers unjustly used deadly force when they fired at least 24 rounds at Williams while he was on the ground unarmed. The lawsuit states Williams was shot at least 19 times and struck at least 17 times in the back. Attorney C. Carter Elliott with Elliott Phelan LLC in Georgetown, one of the lawyers representing the Estate of Waltki Williams, said he and his legal team
have already spoken to witnesses who were at the scene on Dec. 10 to get a better understanding of the incident. He said part of the reason the lawsuit was filed was to receive about 20 video recordings from officers’ body and dashboard cameras that will show multiple angles of the incident in order to compare with allegations. Williams’ death was the result of police misconduct, Elliott said. Williams was not a danger in any way
CONTACT US
DEATHS, B6
Information: 774-1200 Advertising: 774-1246 Classifieds: 774-1234 Delivery: 774-1258 News and Sports: 774-1226
Stephen W. Brown Joe Lewis Price Titus Rogers Maliaka Truesdale Willie Bracey
after he was on the ground and did not deserve to have been shot once, let alone 19 times, he said. There is no way those officers are justified, he said. Elliott said he has seen a copy of Williams’ autopsy report and that photos taken of the body before it was cremated match with the autopsy information. He said many of the bullet wounds he saw coincide with fatal wounds described in the report.
SEE LAWSUIT, PAGE A9
Area residents will have not one, but two storm systems with the potential for severe weather today, according to Tenia Morrison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Columbia. “We’ve got a warm front lifting northward in the early afternoon, and that will probably bring one round of showers and thunderstorms from 11 a.m. to 3 Jim p.m.,” she Hilley said. That will be quickly followed by an approaching cold front later in the afternoon, she said. “We’re looking at a second round late in the afternoon and into the night; that’s from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.,” she said. Both rounds will include potentially severe weather, including wind gusts to 70 mph, large hail and some flooding, she said. “The severe weather today will possibly be worse than Monday,” she said. She said the second round of storms is the most likely to produce severe weather. “But we can’t rule out the one earlier,” Morrison said. Monday’s round of thunderstorms included an EF1 tornado near Monetta, which snapped numerous pine trees, she said. In addition, Aiken reported many downed trees and quarter-sized hail. Shaw Air Force Base reported 1.06 inches of rain as a line of storms passed through the Midlands on Monday. According to the NWS web page, showers are predicted to taper off by 10 a.m. Thursday, with cooler temperatures and mostly sunny skies expected through Saturday, with highs expected to be in the middle to upper 70s and lows in the lower 40s. Sunday is predicted to have a high of 75 and a low of 47, with Monday and Tuesday highs reaching into the 80s.
WEATHER, A10
INSIDE
STORMS LIKELY
3 SECTIONS, 22 PAGES VOL. 122, NO. 123
Warm today with good chance of strong afternoon storms; tonight, severe storms. HIGH 78, LOW 59
Classifieds B7 Comics C2 Food C4
Opinion A7 Television C3