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Man arrested in Broad Street fatal hit and run BY BRADEN BUNCH bbunch@theitem.com The Sumter Police Department has arrested a man in connection with a fatal hit-and-run wreck on Broad Street late Friday night. Tyrone Willie Dennis, 25, of 2895 Bend K Drive in Sumter has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death after turning himself in to
authorities at about 5 a.m. Saturday. According to police, Dennis struck 54-year-old Sumter resident Isabelle Shannon with his car about 9:20 p.m. Friday as she stood next to her disabled van on Broad Street between the intersections of Milton Road and Carolina Avenue. Dennis’ vehicle crashed into Shannon’s van, as well as another car which had
stopped to assist her. Shannon was pronounced dead at the scene. While there were no other fatalities stemming from the incident, preliminary reports indicate there was at DENNIS least one other person transported from the scene by Sumter County Emergency Medical Services
with what are said to be minor, non-life threatening injuries. Police said the suspect’s vehicle continued west along Broad Street for about two blocks before he stopped the car and ran from the scene, leaving the car parked on the road. The three-block stretch of Broad Street between Highland Avenue and Milton Road near downtown was
blocked off for several hours, preventing any traffic along that portion of the city’s major thoroughfare while emergency responders worked the crime scene. Sumter County Coroner Harvin Bullock said a regulatory autopsy would be conducted but that it was clear the cause of death was excessive blunt-force trauma. SEE HIT AND RUN, PAGE A5
Post office releases Althea Gibson stamp BY ROBERT J. BAKER bbaker@theitem.com
Man’s death a mystery 5 years later BY BRISTOW MARCHANT bmarchant@theitem.com Five years is a long time to wait to find out how your loved one died. The family of Charles Way knows some details, but not enough for closure, of what happened to him on Aug. 18, 2008. The 66-year-old retired postal worker was found by his WAY daughter on the floor of his Grace Lane home, dead of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. But who pulled the trigger and SEE WAY, PAGE A5
Before there were Serena and Venus, there was Althea. Althea Gibson was the first black, male or female, to rise to the stratosphere of the international tennis world, and now a U.S. postal stamp will commemorate her contributions to the sports world and civil rights. Released on Friday, the stamp is the 36th in the U.S. Postal Service’s Black Heritage Series. Born in 1927 in Silver, north of Summerton, Gibson was the first black tennis player to win Wimbledon, U.S. Open and French Open when she did so in the 1950s. She was the first black athlete selected as the Associated Press’ Female Athlete of the Year, which like her Wimbledon and Gibson, seen here after her 1957 WimU.S. wins, she accomplished bledon win, ultimately won that title twice. She was also doubles twice, the same number of times she champion at Wimbledon won what is now called the U.S. Open. three times from 1956-58 She was the first black to win either with British player Angela title. Buxton, American Darlene Hard and Brazil’s Maria FILE PHOTOS Bueno, respectively. “In sports, you simply Trailblazing tennis star Althea Gibson competes in the first round of Wimbledon, in aren’t considered a real England, on June 26, 1956. Gibson, who went on to win the French Open, the U.S. Nachampion until you have tionals and was named the Female Athlete of the Year in 1957 by The Associated Press, will now be honored with a stamp from the U.S. Postal Service, and a ceremony will be SEE GIBSON, PAGE A4 held Friday at the South Carolina State Museum to commemorate the milestone.
Alice Drive Baptist to start Monday night service BY JADE ANDERSON janderson@theitem.com A local church is continuing its mission of trying “to help as many people as possible take their next step toward Jesus Christ” by adding a Monday night service.
“We’re trying to reach people that either can’t or won’t come on Sunday,” said Condy Richardson, outreach pastor at Alice Drive Baptist Church. “We baptized a man at the 8:30 a.m. service (Aug. 11) that works third shift. He
wanted to be baptized and was glad to do it, but he said he’d be happy when we start Monday night worship service. “Then there is the second category that just won’t. They have a preconceived notion of
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Sunday morning service. They had a bad experience. RICHARDSON They’ve been hurt, and coming Sunday morning is just icky and
off-putting.” It’s also nice for people on vacation who might not get back from their trip until late Sunday afternoon, he said. Monday Night Worship kicks off at 7 p.m. Sept. 9. Life Groups, which Richardson said
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are kind of like Sunday school, will follow immediately afterward about 8 p.m. and connect with the presented sermon. “We’re committed to being respectful of their SEE SERVICE, PAGE A9
OUTSIDE NICE WEATHER, INDEED Sunny and nice through the day; clear and cool tonight. HIGH: 83 LOW: 63
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