IN SPORTS: Sumter, Lakewood and Crestwood kick off in Sertoma Jamboree B1 REVIEW
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New Walmart will bring 100 jobs BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com While construction of the Walmart Neighborhood Market on the corner of Kilgo Street and Bultman Drive continues, the store manager said customers can expect a similar shopping experience and then some. Jason Woodlief, store manager, said although the grocery store will only sell food items on the shelves, customers can have anything on Walmart’s website delivered to the store for free,
just like other Walmart stores. Also, like other Walmart stores, the neighborhood market will have a fuel center with 12 pumps. Woodlief said it is a myth that the neighborhood markets are replacing the supercenters. He said the neighborhood markets are placed closer to residential areas in order to make groceries and supplies more easily accessible. Prices will be the same but the market will offer features not available at other Walmart stores, Woodlief said. This store will decorate cakes and
allow customers to build their own pizzas that will be cooked in the store. Woodlief said the store will also have a different layout than all other Walmarts in South Carolina. He did not comment further on the layout of the inside of the building, but he did say the store will use LED lighting throughout. More than 650 neighborhood market stores are currently operational but that number is constantly increasing because multiple stores open every week, Woodlief said.
Sumter’s Walmart Neighborhood Market is expected to open sometime this fall, according to a recent news release. In January, Sumter City Council approved a request to rezone the final portion of the 7.52-acre site from residential property to limited commercial. In the same month, Sumter CityCounty Planning Commission approved the site plan and traffic improvements for the store.
SEE JOBS, PAGE A7
District names Teacher of the Year Judge extends appeal Settlement date pushed to Oct. 1 BY RICK CARPENTER rick@theitem.com Tuomey Healthcare System announced Friday that Federal Judge Margaret Seymour has granted a motion to extend Tuomey’s $40 million appeal bond until Oct. 1. But information obtained after that statement reveals hope that Tuomey has been privately working out a final settlement agreement with the Department of Justice. The U.S. Fourth Circuit of Appeals affirmed an earlier district court decision in the Drakeford vs. Tuomey Healthcare System that awarded damage and civil penalties totaling $237.4 million against Tuomey. Tuomey officials have stated that if the healthcare system has to pay more than $70 million, it would face closing or selling the hospital. The healthcare system has been in negotiations with Palmetto Health to purchase Tuomey, but Palmetto Health has said the final settlement of the case determines whether it will go through with the purchase. On Friday, Tuomey Acting President and CEO Michelle Logan-Owens indicated the final settlement with the Justice Department and a binding agreement with Palmetto Health go hand-in-hand. “We are very confident in the progress that we have made with the Department of Justice to settle this case, and our advanced discussions leading to a binding agreement with Palmetto Health are following a similar timeline,” Logan-Owens said. The federal government charged the hospital with
SEE TUOMEY, PAGE A7
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Krista Jennings, a technology facilitator and reading interventionists at Pocalla Springs Elementary School, reacts to being named Sumter School District Teacher of the Year during the district’s annual Opening Meeting on Friday at the Sumter County Civic Center.
Pocalla Springs’ Jennings named Sumter’s top teacher BY KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY konstantin@theitem.com Krista Jennings, technology facilitator and reading interventionist at Pocalla Springs Elementary School, was named District Teacher of the Year at the Sumter School District
Opening Meeting held Friday at the Sumter Civic Center. Jennings was a finalist along with Helen N. Hutto-Palka, a teacher at Ebenezer Middle School. A total of 25 teacher-of-the-year recipients from each of the district’s schools were named last spring. Finalists were
named this summer. “It’s unbelievable, I’m totally speechless,” said Jennings after receiving the honor, in front of a crowd of about 2,000 teachers, staff and administration from all of the district’s
SEE JENNINGS, PAGE A7
School district hires executive director of finance BY KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY konstantin@theitem.com Nancy McMillan has been hired as the new executive director of finance for Sumter School District. A Sumter native, she has more than 30 years of experience in accounting and has worked for both the former Sumter School District 17 and District 2 for a total of 14 years. The two districts consolidated in July 2011.
Before being named to the district’s top financial position, she served as Lee County School DisMCMILLAN trict’s director of finance. McMillan was hired for the position out of 13 people who applied, and four who were selected to be interviewed, according to Sumter School District Superintendent Frank Baker.
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“Nancy McMillan has an outstanding knowledge of how the school business operates,” said Baker. “Her qualifications made her an ideal candidate.” McMillan said she is excited about serving in her new role and looks forward to the challenge of working in a larger district. Lee County has a total of seven schools in its district, compared to 30 in Sumter. “I’ve had great experience and wonderful administra-
tion and staff at Lee County and am looking forward to working in Sumter,” she said. McMillan will be filling the position left vacant by former Executive Director of Finance Steve Mann, who left the district in May to join the S.C. School Boards Association in Columbia as director of insurance services for the S.C. School Boards Insurance Trust. McMillan said working in
SEE MCMILLAN, PAGE A7
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