LOCAL: Operation Inasmuch gears up for day of service A2
SUMTER HIGH BASKETBALL: New coach English ready for challenge B1
Pass the POTATOES, please There’s more to spuds than just French fries C8 VOL. 118, NO. 140 WWW.THEITEM.COM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013 | SUMTER, SOUTH CAROLINA
FOUNDED OCTOBER 15, 1894
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Man accused of contributing to death of neglected wife, 78 Know faith by love, not our wallets
W
hen Sharon came into the office where I worked, I steeled myself for an offbeat encounter. Wearing a tattered men’s flannel shirt, she had obviously been living on the street for a couple of weeks. I mentally took inventory of my wallet, noting a few spare singles, should she ask. But it wasn’t money she asked for. She needed advice. After a few minutes, I knew Sharon’s story: the falling out she had with her son in Florida and being laid off from her job as a technician for a medical supply company. At the end, I hugged her, not knowing whether I helped. Although many of us in the faith community claim to worship one God, most of us secretly worship two idols: the gods of comfort and convenience. If you are like me, you’ve fashioned yourself a fairly respectable life, filled with creature comforts, and have rid it of people who do not share your way of life. When we do reach out to others in dire circumstances, we like to keep them at arm’s length. Never was this truth as apparent as when I realized it about myself just a few weeks ago. I was sitting with a group of friends, trying to identify a cause to which to allocate some funds we’d recently raised. We belabored the prospects of benefiting our usual choices: the children’s home, the homeless ministry or the domestic violence shelter. They are easy targets and often the beneficiaries of small groups and churches across the county. We chose and sent our money accordingly, thus ending our transaction with the group. There, neatly packaged in a single envelope, was the entire contribution of our mission work. Afterward I couldn’t help but feel as though I had cheated. It was the feeling of work only half done. I didn’t know the people I gave money to, I hardly had been around them because my daily life didn’t include the people who were in their situation. I remember feeling better about the interaction with Sharon than I did blindly giving my money to a cause. The problem is that the people who need the most help aren’t organized. They don’t have a 501(c)3 status or marketing campaigns
BY BRISTOW MARCHANT bmarchant@theitem.com A 78-year-old woman who law enforcement said was being neglected in filthy conditions has died, and her husband has been accused of contributing to her death. Isaac Wilson, 74, of 74 Wilson St., was arrested Monday and his initial charges upgraded to neglect of a vulnerable adult resulting in death.
On March 15, Wilson reportedly called Emergency Medical Services because his wife, Louise Wilson, was unconscious at the home. First responders noted that Louise Wilson showed signs of being malnourished and apparentWILSON ly had not been moved from the bed in some time. The home was also reportedly so filled with “trash” that
paramedics had difficulty getting their equipment inside to treat her. The suspect was charged the same day with neglect of a vulnerable adult. Reports indicate he initially told sheriff’s deputies they couldn’t enter the house “until he cleaned up,” according to the arrest report. On March 22, Louise Wilson died as a result of her neglected SEE ARREST, PAGE A8
GET SOME DIRT ON YOUR HANDS LEFT: Juliet Keenan, 6, spends a mild spring afternoon on Tuesday playing in the sand at Dillon Park with sister Jenna, 8, while their mother, Crystal, watched from a bench nearby. BELOW: Katie Jones said her 20-month-old daughter, Karsen, loves the slide.
RIGHT: Jenna Keenan, 8, thought playing in the sand would be a perfect way to spend a nice spring day. PHOTOS BY ROBERT J. BAKER / THE ITEM
SEE FAITH MATTERS, PAGE A8
City has 3 months to close budget gap of just under $1M BY BRISTOW MARCHANT bmarchant@theitem.com Sumter started its annual quest to balance the city’s finances Tuesday with balances already projected for
most of its budget funds. Everything from the city’s $52,000 victims assistance fund to its $20 million fund for water and sewer services show projected expenditures matching expected
revenues. The only obstacle members of city council will face during the next three months of work on the 2013-14 budget is the general fund — the largest — which faces an initial deficit
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of just under $1 million. The proposed budget for the next fiscal year presented at Tuesday’s council meeting projects total revenue of $55,379,238 against expenditures of $56,308,719.
In the general fund, the city projects revenue of $31,417,434 for the year but expenditure of $32,346,915 — a deficit of $929,481, or 3 SEE BUDGET, PAGE A4
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Clouds and sun today; increasing cloudiness tonight HIGH: 64 LOW: 42 A8
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