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IN SPORTS: LHS grad,
Bryan, to box on ‘Friday Night Fights’
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MATT WALSH / THE SUMTER ITEM
Witnesses talk to police about a shooting incident in the 500 block of North Lafayette Drive near Red and White Street on Saturday.
Man shot several times, listed as stable BY JADE REYNOLDS jade@theitem.com A man shot multiple times outside a Sumter business parking lot Saturday afternoon is said to be in stable condition with non life-threatening injuries. The victim, whose name was not released as of Saturday evening, was taken to Tuomey Regional Medical Center by Sumter County Emergency Medical Services after being shot either two or three times, said Tonyia McGirt, spokeswoman for the Sumter Police Department. The shooting occurred at about 4:50 p.m. in the 500 block of S. Lafayette Drive near Red and White Street. Deputies with the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the scene to offer assistance. This case remains under investigation by the Sumter Police Department. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sumter Police Department at (803) 436-2700 or Crime Stoppers at 1-888- CRIMESC (274-6372). An award may be available for information leading to an arrest. Reach Jade Reynolds at (803) 774-1250.
PHOTOS BY MATT WALSH / THE SUMTER ITEM
The Lemira Elementary School step team, seen above and below, takes position during a practice last week in the School’s gymnasium. The team recently beat several middle and high school teams in a competition in Columbia.
Lemira step team wins competition in Columbia BY RAYTEVIA EVANS revans@theitem.com The Lemira Elementary School step team recently took home the overall trophy after beating 11 other teams — with many of the other teams from middle schools and high schools — in the inaugural Royal Affair hosted by the Royal Diamond Steppers at Columbia High School. Coach Mary Tuggle started the team five years ago after seeing a performance on television. “My husband and I were watching Dancing with the Stars one night and a step team performed. My husband said to me, ‘You should start a step team,’� she said. “I said, ‘I don’t dance and I don’t step.’� After asking a relative who is a professional dancer about stepping, Tuggle said she received even more encouragement to start a team when the relative said she couldn’t do it. Tuggle consulted with a few contacts at Morris College and
asked for help putting together a team at Lemira. In steps Alpha Phi Alpha member Mario Burch, who started out helping the team as volunteer work. “This is our fifth year and it
started out as volunteering because she called and asked for a volunteer, but I continued it after I graduated,� Burch said. “One thing I
SEE STEPPERS, PAGE A9
Eagle Scout project revitalizes old cemetery in Manning BY JADE REYNOLDS jade@theitem.com Looking like a graveyard is a compliment for one Manning boy’s Scout project. Jason Woodbury, a 13-yearold homeschooler who served as a correspondent for The Sumter Item last summer
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while attending the National Scout Jamboree, has taken on the restoration of Cross Roads Cemetery as part of the effort to earn his Eagle Scout Award and achieve the highest available rank in Boy Scouts of America. “I was just looking around for an idea, and I thought it
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would be kind of fun and challenging,� said the eighthgrader. “I wanted to make it more accessible.� He and some adults from Cross Roads Bible Fellowship Church in Manning supervised other youths from Troop 339 Saturday as they got posts in the ground and
dug a hole for one of two trees. The Troop has dug a road around the old cemetery and is covering it with crushed concrete, Jason said. The trees will provide shade for a sitting area where a bench will be placed, and he plans to plant bushes along the road.
DEATHS, A9 Henry O. McLeod Angel Lynn R. Demery Evelyn Ford Dwight Nesbitt David T. Wells
John A. McGriff Sr. JohntĂŠ S. Holliday Lawrence E. Gross Diana M. Fenley Mary Ellen B. Sargente
The $8,644 price tag was met with a combination of private donations, fund raisers and donated work hours, Jason said. In 2005, the church purchased some land next to the sanctuary and discovered the
SEE EAGLE SCOUT, PAGE A3
WEATHER, A10
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A LITTLE WARMER
5 SECTIONS, 34 PAGES VOL. 119, NO. 99
Partly sunny and warmer during the day; partly cloudy at night. HIGH 63, LOW 42
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