INSIDE
HIGH SCHOOL HOOPS
• Lakewood overrun
Gamecocks battle Goose Creek for lower state title
by flocks of flamingoes
A3 • 2 men get 15 years
B1
for drug charges
A2 VOL. 118, NO. 106 WWW.THE WW HEITEM.COM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013 | SUMTER, SOUTH C CAROLINA
FOUNDED OCTOBER 15, 1894
60 CENTS
A tour through
Lincoln’s life Russian meteorite spurs interest in Bishopville’s own BY RANDY BURNS Special to The Item BISHOPVILLE — Last week’s meteor explosion over Russia’s Ural Mountains injured more than 1,000 people and has sparked discussion and a greater interest in meteorites throughout the world. South Carolina Cotton Museum Director Janson Cox spends most of his time talking about cotton, but he also has been engaging visitors with talk of meteorites. “I hope this will create a greater interest in space,” Cox said. “People don’t realize that there is a tremendous amount of debris, materials and rocks floating in space. Much of it never comes to earth, and a lot that does is never found.” And any talk about meteorites will surely find Cox showing off the Bishopville meteorite, one of only six meteorites to have been found in South Carolina. In addition to the hundreds of cotton-related items on display, the museum is also home to a piece of the Bishopville meteorite that detonated over Wisacky in 1843. In August 2003, Cox bought a piece of the meteorite on eBay from a man in Arizona at a cost of only $9. Cox credits Bishopville businessman Robert Peoples, who is on the museum’s board of directors, for
Mystery ‘booms’ actually part of military training BY BRADEN BUNCH BBunch@theitem.com After much speculation throughout the community, military training at the McCrady National Guard Training Center in Eastover was the reason for the series of small booms reported in Sumter and the surrounding areas on Wednesday and Thursday. “That was just expending ordnance at McCrady,” said Maj. Cindy King with the South Carolina National Guard. “They’re finished, and in the future we will be sure to notify the public if there’s going to be any significant noise (so) as to not cause them any unnecessary concern.” The lack of an explanation for a few days left many in Sumter and surrounding areas trying to determine what had happened. “We can’t tell you what it was, because we don’t know,” said Shaw Air Force Base spokesman Rob Sexton, adding that there weren’t any flight operations or ordnance activity at Poinsett Electronic Combat Range to which the sounds could have been attributed. “We weren’t doing anything at all that could have
SEE METEORITE, PAGE A7
SEE BOOMS, PAGE A8
PHOTOS BY IVY MOORE / THE ITEM
Rotary honors law enforcement
Senior Cpl. Ben Stiles, second from right, is the Sumter Police Department Officer of the Year. Stiles is joined by, from left, Sumter Deputy Police Chief Alvin Holston, state Public Safety Director Leroy Smith, Sumter Palmetto Rotary Club President Curt Ackerman, and Police Chief Russell Roark, right.
the room for Rotary’s Law Enforcement Day dinner Thursday. They came together with other members of the community to honor two of Sumter County’s top cops as they were named Officers of the Year. Senior Cpl. Ben Stiles with the police department and Sgt. Jason Tassone with the sheriff’s of-
BY BRISTOW MARCHANT bmarchant@theitem.com The crowd in the dining room of Sunset Country Club wore a darker shade of blue than the Sumter Rotary Club usually sees. Officers from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office and the Sumter Police Department filled
BRISTOW MARCHANT / THE ITEM
20 N. Magnolia St. Sumter, SC 29150 (USPS 525-900)
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Local historian and Item archivist Sammy Way leads a group from Clarendon Baptist Church in Alcolu through the “Lincoln: The Constitution and The Civil War” exhibit at the Sumter County Museum on Thursday. Admission is free to the exhibit in the Heritage Education Center, which is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekly on Thursday through Saturday. Call (803) 775-0908 to arrange a group tour or for more information.
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Christopher C. Edwards Carolyn W. Oliver Hamilton D. Hill Jr. Sandra E. Brown Thomas A. Davis Faye D. Mills Dixie Hinson
Edward James Sr. William B. Boyle Sr. Annie B. Pate Cynthia D. Strickland Horace L. Morris Jr. Carolyn O. Rose B5, B7
OUTSIDE RAIN ALL DAY
fice were both presented with plaques recognizing their contributions during the past year. Both men were previously named officer of the year for their respective departments at the American Legion Post 15 Law and Order dinner on Feb. 4, and the accolades SEE ROTARY, PAGE A8
INSIDE 3 SECTIONS, 26 PAGES
Rain throughout the day with light winds, low temperatures; thunderstorms roll in at night. HIGH: 48 LOW: 46 A8
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