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Police arrest 2nd man in Sunday blaze; another sought FROM STAFF REPORTS A second man has been arrested and charged in a home fire in Sumter, and police are looking for a third suspect in the case in which one person was sent to a hospital. A tipster led Sumter Police Department deputies and the state Fugitive Task Force to Olive Street on Thursday, where they arrested Shan Lando Hill, of 813 S. Main St. Hill was charged with accessory before the fact of arson, second degree, and conspiracy.
Many patrol cars in state lack cameras
Police are still looking for Gregory Wilson Sharper, 30, of 813 S. Main St., who is reportedly Hill’s brother. Sharper is wanted for arson, second degree; SHARPER conspiracy; and attempted murder. David Shamar Sims, 26, of 861 Carolina Ave., was arrested Sunday and charged with arson, second degree, and conspiracy. He is being held along with Hill at Sumter-Lee
Regional Detention Center. The fire occurred about 4 a.m. Sunday on Hoyt Street, and police think it was intentionally set with a Molotov HILL cocktail made with an accelerant. Six people were in the home at the time, and the 30-year-old victim is being treated for his injuries at a local burn center. Officials said he was not the target in the fire, and minor inju-
ries were reported among the other residents. Officers think the men all know each other and that the incident could be related to illegal drug activity. If you have information about Sharper’s whereabouts, call Sumter Police Department at (803) 436-2700. You can also anonymously call Crime Stoppers at (803) 436-2718 or 1-888-CRIME-SC. A cash reward could be given for information leading to an arrest.
Leventis’ home catches fire
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS If proposed legislation leads to all officers in South Carolina wearing body cameras, the devices could provide some officers in the state their only way to capture video of an arrest. Dashcams are not as widespread in South Carolina as many assume. Seventeen years after the Legislature required the videotaping of drunken driving arrests, many patrol cars still have no video capabilities. How many is unclear. But the state sheriffs’ association says half of the sheriffs attending a recent meeting indicated at least some of their vehicles lack dashcams. Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster says his agency has none. In more populated Lexington County, just 15 percent of the sheriff’s marked patrol cars — or 27 — have dashcams, said office spokesman Maj. John Allard. However, in Sumter County, a representative of local law enforcement said lack of dashcams is not a problem. “Every marked patrol car is equipped with a camera,” Sumter County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Braden Bunch said Thursday. “All of our vehicles are required to have cameras,” said Sumter Police Department Public Information Officer Tonyia McGirt. “That’s about 80 vehicles.”
KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
A firefighter from Sumter Fire Department works to extinguish a blaze in the attic of former S.C. Senator Phil Leventis’ Andiron Drive home on Friday afternoon.
Former state Senator, wife home at time of blaze, not injured BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com The house of former South Carolina Senator Phil Leventis caught fire Friday evening during the replacement of an air conditioning unit part in the attic above
SEE DASHCAMS, PAGE A9
the three-car garage, according to Sumter Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Ward. Ward said about 25 firefighters responded to the call that came in at 4:18 p.m. “It was a big fire,” he said. The fire started as workers
were soldering brass pipes during the installation process and dust particles and insulation caught fire, he said. Ward said the fire was mostly contained to the garage and bonus room above the garage but some of the house was
damaged. He said neither the workers nor Leventis, who was at the residence at the time of the fire, were injured. A detailed report of the fire was not available as of late Friday evening. Check the theitem.com for more information.
Making a difference for 50 years Brown has served Head Start program since its inception RICK CARPENTER rick@theitem.com Artrell Brown began working with Head Start when she was a junior in high school, 50 years ago. Through the years, she has witnessed a significant change and watched some of those first 5- and 6-year-olds in 1965 grow up to be major contributors to the Sumter community. The start of the program was billed as a major effort in President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” Head Start began as an eight-week summer program for children from low-income families to help them transition successfully into public schools in the fall.
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The program evolved into a yearlong program and eventually for ages birth to 5 years old. Head Start provides students with two meals and a snack a day, medical care, dental care and mental health services. Brown said the mental health services involve helping students make the transition from being home with their families to attending school and socializing in a positive environment. Former Sumter School District 17 applied for and received one of the federal grants in 1965. Brown worked those first two summers and helped write a local community assessment proposal to offer a year-round program. When Sumter Child Lift Inc. was awarded the grant, she had worked her way into a fulltime position where she’s now been for 48 years. Through the years Brown has
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Artrell Brown, a 50-year employee of Head Start, dances to entertain the children during the agency’s 50th anniversary celebration at Dillon Park recently. KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
watched the program literally change the lives of not only children, but their parents as well. She said parents began going back to school and getting educated so they could develop the skills to be gainfully employed. Brown, now a family and community partnership specialist for Head Start, rattled off names of former Head Start children who have lifted themselves from challenges their families faced.
DEATHS, A9 Lloyd W. Atkinson Lorene O. Hallman Virginia M. McLaurin David W. Jackson Olympia D. Wilson
Sharon Richardson Malachi Fortune Jr. H. Christopher Hood John Hannah
She mentioned Dwight Moore, who was in one of those first classes. Moore said the program offered him an opportunity to be around an academic program that was structured and nurturing that gave him a solid background in reading, writing and arithmetic that adults would normally pass on to children through the use of
SEE HEAD START, PAGE A9
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