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VOL. 119, NO. 65 WWW.THEITEM.COM
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2013 | SUMTER, SOUTH CAROLINA
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Fire guts Chicken Shack eatery BY JADE ANDERSON janderson@theitem.com DALZELL — It’s not exactly how Sarah Eades planned to spend her Christmas break. “Yesterday (Sunday), the fire de-
partment called my parents,” said the University of South Carolina Columbia student Monday as she helped her family and others clean up. “When I got here there were like five to six fire trucks, so I knew then it was kind of a big deal.”
Fire ripped through The Chicken Shack on Sunday, gutting the restaurant and forcing it to close for the foreseeable future. Located on Camden Highway, the restaurant has been owned and operated by Eades’ mother, Ki Suh, and
her stepfather, Sei Suh, since 1997. Because the restaurant was closed on Sunday, no one was injured. Sei Suh thinks the fire started in the cooler in the back room, and the SEE CLOSED, PAGE A10
Cancer patient sets goal to live to see New Year cer permanently transformed her, so she takes life one day at a time. A tombstone inscribed “My goal is to make it to with Paula Scott’s name Jan. 1,” she said with a and birth date waits in smile. “And if I make it a Manning cemetery that far, my resolution will for the breastbe to make it to Jan. cancer patient, INSIDE 2.” who faces the The 63-year-old was Leaders set New Year knowdiagnosed with stageNew Year’s ing that she resolutions. four breast cancer for could soon die. A7 the second time in At one time, 2011, just two hours Paula’s New after her mother died of Year’s resolutions Alzheimer’s. Paula had 42 were like many radiation treatments, six clichés; she want- months of chemo and a ed to quit smokmastectomy. One doctor ing and lose weight. But canSEE GOALS, PAGE A7
BY MATT WALSH matt@theitem.com
MATT WALSH / THE ITEM
Sumter resident Paula Scott, 63, shows off a pink rose tattoo that symbolizes her breast cancer. She got the tattoo shortly after she was diagnosed in 1996. Paula is going into the New Year terminally ill, but she faces 2014 in good spirits. It shocks some people that she is still alive, and that makes her laugh, Paula said.
Heating needs still great as New Year approaches BY JACK OSTEEN Jack@theitem.com Christmas 2013 may have come and gone, but the needs for many Sumter residents will likely still be great as we head into 2014. Salvation Army Social
Worker Pamela Lassiter is helping as many as a dozen families a day with requests. “One was a single father stating that ‘he needed just a little help because he had lost his job’,” Lassiter said. “I also helped a fami-
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Dedicated to the memory of Glen Sharp
ly that has special needs children,” she said. “They were so grateful
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and said, ‘We will be warm tonight’.” Lassiter said her cal-
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endar is booked through Jan. 14 but asks folks to be patient as she tries to see everyone she can. Founded in 1969, the Fireside Fund collects money for those Sumterites who need help with heating costs, including past-due elec-
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Mostly sunny today and mostly cloudy tonight HIGH: 55 LOW: 37 B4
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INSIDE
OUTSIDE NICE OUTSIDE
Ida Estelle Ardis Lonzena J. Felix Grace A. Brown Charles T. Brotherton Jr. Ida Johnson Earline J. Singleton
tric bills and vouchers for kerosene and wood. The Item collects the money, and The Salvation Army interviews candidates, who must provide a valid form of picture identification,
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