Sumter judge grants bond for suspect in birds’ deaths Man will be required to wear GPS device $1.50
SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 2015
SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894
5 SECTIONS, 36 PAGES | VOL. 120, NO. 151
BUSINESS
BY KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY konstantin@theitem.com James Laverne Lowery, 44, of Sumter County, a suspect thought responsible in the death of 300,000 chickens in Clarendon and Sumter counties, was granted a $27,130 surety bond in Sumter County on Friday at Sumter-Lee Regional De-
tention Center. Lowery faces eight counts of second-degree burglary and four counts of malicious damage to property in Clarendon County and LOWERY one charge of seconddegree burglary and malicious damage to property in Sumter County. Conditions set by a Clarendon County magistrate judge on Wednesday, in which Lowery was granted a $30,000 cash or $60,000
surety bond, require him to wear a GPS monitoring device on his ankle for the next 90 days. Once those 90 days expire, a Sumter County magistrate judge has required him to wear a GPS monitoring device until his trial date, which has not been determined. Lowery was arrested at his home late Tuesday night in Gable. Lowery was a chicken farmer in Sumter who had a contract with Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. His contract
SEE SUSPECT, PAGE A5
SUMTERITES, VISITORS ATTEND FESTIVAL ON THE AVENUE
Thousands visit South Sumter for 10th festival BY MATT BRUCE matthew@theitem.com
Going on a trip?
R
oger Solomon stood beneath a vendor’s
Sitter will help take care of your pets and home D1
tent staring out into
the sun-baked pavement Saturday, watching
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throngs of people filter past his food station. Many of the streetwalkers stopped in their tracks as they passed his post, some tempted by the promise of homestyle cooking that hung from a sign on his tent, others titillated by the aroma of chicken and pork chops emanating from the sidewalk eatery. The scene brought back several good memories for Solomon, who remembers Manning Avenue as a bustling business strip when he grew up in the heart of South Sumter, about three blocks east of the main drag. “If people knew the history of Manning Avenue, they would be surprised,” he said. PHOTOS BY KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM “This is just a reflection of Jamari Green, 5, gets a piggyback ride from Pee Wee Bradley while attending Festival what it was like back in the 50’s and 60’s and early 70’s.” on the Avenue on Saturday morning. The festival celebrates South Sumter’s history. Solomon was one of more than 70 vendors present SaturThe Festival on day, showcasing the rich culthe Avenue parade ture of the city’s community marches up the beyond the bridge during the Manning Avenue 10th-annual Festival on the Avbridge on Saturday enue. More than 5,000 were on morning to start hand for the morning session the day’s activities. of the street fair, which trumThe festival began pets the spring season in Thursday with a LivSouth Sumter. The three-day ing History Museum. festival runs the 1.5-mile stretch of Manning Avenue from the base of the Manning Avenue bridge heading south to U.S. 15. It has grown into one of the
SEE 10 YEARS, PAGE A7
Mourners pay respects to man shot by police SUMMERVILLE (AP) — The death of a black man shot in the back while fleeing a white police officer was the act of a racist cop, a minister told hundreds who gathered Saturday for the funeral of Walter Scott. “All of us have seen the video,” the Rev. George Hamilton, the minister at W.O.R.D. Ministries Christian Center, told an overflow congregation.
“There is no doubt in my mind, and I feel that Walter’s death was motivated by racial prejudice.” Authorities have not said whether race was a factor in the shooting. Scott was a father of four and a Coast Guard veteran whose death sparked outrage as another instance of a white law officer fatally shooting an unarmed black man under questionable cir-
cumstances. The shooting last weekend in North Charleston was captured on a dramatic cellphone camera video by a man who was walking past. About 450 people, including U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., the two black members of South Carolina’s congressional delegation, gathered in the sanctuary of the church where Scott
had worshipped. About 200 more people waited outside beneath the portico of the church or under umbrellas in the rain because the sanctuary had reached capacity. Hamilton called Michael Slager — the officer involved in the shooting and who has been charged with murder and fired — a disgrace to the Charleston Police Department.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mourners look on as a hearse carrying the casket of Walter Scott arrives for his funeral at W.O.R.D. Ministries Christian Center on Saturday in Summerville.