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Old Man Winter’s presence to be felt in region Bone-chilling temperatures in forecast BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com Get ready to bundle up this weekend. According to Jeff Linton, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Columbia, a cold front will come through today and the coldest air of the season follows. Linton said to expect today
to reach the mid-60s, but temperatures should fall to near freezing tonight. And you will feel Old Man Winter’s presence on Friday. “Highs will be only about 45, and Friday night lows will be in the low 20s,” he said. “Just looking upstream, the air mass is very, very cold.” That’s cold enough to freeze most outside vegeta-
bles and annual potted plants. “People really should have already brought their houseplants in,” Clemson Extension Master Gardener Amanda McNulty said. She said the most important thing to do for outdoor plants is to make sure they stay watered. “Since we have had rain, everything’s OK,” she said. She said outdoor plants should be watered every two weeks during the winter if it
doesn’t rain. “When you water, you should put down an inch so that you really do make sure it goes deep enough to reach all the roots.” She said plants spend a lot of time developing good deep root systems that helps protect the plants even in winter. “When things start to slow down, remember that even though the top of the plant is dormant or even lost its leaves, the roots are still
alive and things are happening,” she said. “You want to keep those roots healthy by not letting them get too dry.” She said people with automatic sprinkler systems need to reset them for a winter watering schedule. “It’s time to scale that back, we don’t need to water as frequently in the winter, and you are just wasting water,” she said.
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Fantasy of Lights For more Swan Lake holiday photos, please see page A3
PHOTOS BY KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
At right, Santa Claus reads “Twas the Night Before Christmas” to his fans during the annual lighting of Swan Lake on Thursday. Above, members of the Lemira Percussion Ensemble perform during the opening ceremonies. Below, spectators get a close up look at the depiction of the gardens. Fantasy of Lights runs every night through Christmas and is free to the public.
SC House: Sumter delegation loses at musical chairs
Women leaders hope to bring about change
BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com
BY BRUCE MILLS bruce@theitem.com If you adhere to the old adage that “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy,” John Zinsser says, “Mama ain’t happy in South Carolina.” Zinsser presented the findings of a recent report published by the Center for Women — Charting the Course for Change: A 2015 Report on the Status of Women in SC — on Wednesday to a group of about 40 women leaders in Sumter at The O’Donnell House. Zinsser spoke on behalf of the Center for Women, which helps educate and advocate for women in the state. The Charleston-based nonprofit’s report covers four broad indicator areas to benchmark the relative status of women in the state compared to men and also to women in other states. The four areas measured are leadership, health and safety, education and economic security.
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Women attending the “Status of Women in SC” presentation at The O’Donnell House on Wednesday discuss how to improve the lives of women in the community during the event. In regards to leadership, Zinsser said South Carolina profoundly lacks women in leadership positions. With just one of the 43 publicly traded companies in the state having more than 30 percent female board representation and relatively low numbers of women in the state Legislature or elected seats, the Palmetto State is way behind national averages. “When you have at least 30 percent board representation by women, that’s a great threshold to
reach,” Zinsser said. “People start to behave better when you reach that level of diversity.” Zinsser noted that in some leadership areas, Sumter County is ahead of the curve. To his knowledge, Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce is the only chamber in the state to have a female chair in Jeannie Crotts, administrator at NHC
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The South Carolina House of Representative met for an organizational session Tuesday and Wednesday and among the tasks was to determine seating for 124 legislators. The procedure was to have a random draw of the county delegations, with representatives able to choose which delegation they would sit with before the drawing. Each delegation would choose where they would sit, beginning with the first delegation drawn. “We were the last county picked,” said Rep. David Weeks, D-Sumter. Rep. Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, said he and Weeks, who have been deskmates for 14 years, will be split up. “We are scattered all over the floor,” Weeks said of the Sumter delegation.
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2 SECTIONS, 22 PAGES VOL. 122, NO. 40
Clouds giving way to some sun. Tonight, partly cloudy and colder. Chance of rain is 10 percent. HIGH 60, LOW 30
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