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Winter storm claims 1 life Homeless man freezes in abandoned South Sumter house BY TYLER SIMPSON tyler@theitem.com A Sumter homeless man was found dead in an abandoned home Thursday afternoon, and the extreme winter weather has been ruled as the cause of death. According to Sumter County Coroner Harvin Bullock, Jason Fleming, whose age
was unknown as of Friday afternoon, died from hypothermia in the abandoned home near Brent Street in South Sumter. He was found by a neighbor at 3:11 p.m. before the Sumter Police Department and Emergency Medical Services were called in to investigate. Bullock stated that Fleming
was not heavily dressed around the time he died. “When it’s freezing out there and you’ve got no heat, you can bundle up as much as you want to, but chances are you are not going to generate enough heat to overcome the cold,” Bullock said. Bullock spoke with Fleming’s family, who stated that
they weren’t surprised to learn that he was found dead in an abandoned building. Fleming’s son was unable to provide his date of birth to Bullock. The exact reason for Fleming occupying the house is unknown, although it is strongly possible he was there to seek shelter from the winter storm.
According to the Rev. Walter Robertson of the Samaritan House in Sumter, many homeless people, whom he refers to as “chronic homeless,” often prefer to seek shelter in abandoned buildings rather than turn to shelters. “It’s the chronic homeless
SEE FLEMING, PAGE A7
Full service expected late Sunday Many still don’t have electricity BY BRISTOW MARCHANT bmarchant@theitem.com Slowly but surely, life is returning to normal after the biggest ice storm in a decade, although the clean-up efforts are sure to continue for days. Many people in the tri-county area were still without power on Friday as crews continued to work late into the REPORT AN night to reOUTAGE store power to as many people as In the event of a possible. power outage, Power call Black River companies Electric Coop. at are optimis(803) 469-8060. tic that a majority of Call Duke Energy residents Progress at 1 will have (800) 419-6356. their electricity restored by today, but some people could be without power until late Sunday night. Wedgefield resident Rogina Bostic is one customer who had to struggle through the storm without power. Her home lost power about 1 a.m. Wednesday, and her family of four, like many of their neighbors, had to do without for the next three days with only a brief respite. “It came back on for about
MATT WALSH / THE SUMTER ITEM
Will Barwick, along with friends Blaze Robertson, Lake Kirven and Branson Bruce, directs traffic at Guignard Drive and Miller Road, where a light was out on Thursday night. The boys said they were bored, the light was out, and they wanted to help. two minutes,” she said. Along with the challenge of dealing with the cold temperatures and the boredom of an unplugged house, Bostic also wondered what to do with the food slowly going to waste in her refrigerator. “Everybody rushed to the store (before the storm hit),” she said. “Now we have a fully stocked refrigerator and no power.” Bostic is not alone. At one point on Friday, more than
9,000 customers of Duke Energy Progress were without power in Sumter County, down from a high of 19,028 the day before. By later in the day, the number had dropped to 5,178, and an additional 1,720 were without power in Clarendon County, down from 3,881 the day before. “Our collective resources have shown dramatic results in a short period of time,” said Duke spokesman Theo Lane. “By the end of the day (Friday),
I expect you’ll see more big numbers drop.” Lane predicted service would be restored to 80 percent of Sumter County customers Friday, a goal which seemed to be met by 5 p.m. when 17.5 percent were still reportedly without power. A total of 675 linemen, some brought in from elsewhere in South Carolina and North Carolina, were working on power outages throughout Sumter, Clarendon and Williamsburg counties.
But many still face a long wait for power to be restored; an earlier news release from Duke Energy Progress said full service wouldn’t be restored to Sumter and Clarendon counties until 11:45 p.m. Sunday. Herb Leaird, CEO of Black River Electric Cooperative, set an even more ambitious goal, saying 99 percent of Black River customers would have
SEE POWER, PAGE A7
National Guard thriving across state BY JADE REYNOLDS jade@theitem.com
JADE REYNOLDS / THE SUMTER ITEM
Staff Sgt. Michael Wright, left, and Staff Sgt. Lorraine Lordy, center, are two of the four full-time S.C. Army National Guard recruiters stationed in Sumter near Dillon Park and Capt. Mike Jones, right, is their commander. The Guard has played a significant role in recent conflicts, Jones said, and with the reduction in Department of Defense funds and troop drawdown, some are advocating for more resources for this branch of service.
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With the large number of airmen at Shaw Air Force Base and now soldiers from Third Army/ ARCENT in town, there is one branch of service that is sometimes overlooked in Sumter. “Sumter has always been more of an Air Force community,” said Capt. Mike Jones with the Army National Guard. “When Third Army came, I went into the same restaurant I’ve gone to for years, and the staff said, ‘we’re glad to have you.’ I was like, ‘I was here just last week.’ It’s been kind of interesting, kind of funny, but it’s nice to be recognized.”
Often thought of in times of natural disaster, as of Thursday, 232 National Guard soldiers were deployed during the ice and snow this week supporting highway operations with 14 wrecker teams and an additional 30 dump trucks hauling more than 600 tons of salt inland from Charleston, according to the S.C. Governor’s Office. The Guard population has averaged about 9,500 across the state the last few years, Jones said, and occasionally there has been a push to get that figure to 10,000. There was a surge after the 9/11 attacks, and around 2008 and 2009 when the economy dipped, there was another smaller surge, Jones said, but it has
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mostly remained steady at that figure. “There used to be a little bit of attitude, but the National Guard has kind of carried the past two major conflicts,” Jones said. “The National Guard has had above 50 percent on the ground the past decade.” In the Sumter area, 216 residents are currently with the S.C. Army National Guard, with 37 having joined just last year. There are currently 9,355 enlisted with SCARNG, Jones said. And with discussions of downsizing at the Department of Defense, some are advocating for more resources for the old
SEE GUARD, PAGE A8
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Mostly sunny and windy today with partly cloudy skies tonight HIGH 55, LOW 28
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