IN SPORTS: Swampcats bring home second SCISA 3A boys bowling state title B1
1 dead, 8 arrested as Oregon standoff continues A6 THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016
| Serving South Carolina since October 15, 1894
75 cents
DHEC makes funding pitch
Planning commission approves hotel plan BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com
JIM HILLEY / THE SUMTER ITEM
Members of the House Ways and Means Healthcare Subcommitee Jimmy Bales, D-Eastover, William “Bill” Clyburn, D-Aiken, and Chairman Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, listen to South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Director Catherine Heigel as she talks about budget needs for her agency.
Director supports capital improvement requests for Pinewood site BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com Rep. Murrell Smith, RSumter, chairman of the South Carolina House Ways and Means Healthcare Subcommittee, might have felt like the little boy trying to plug a leak in the dike with his finger as he heard Department of Health and En-
vironmental Control Director Catherine Heigel outline her agency’s budget needs Wednesday in Columbia while also endorsing requests for capital improvement funding at the Pinewood Site landfill. She said she was grateful to Gov. Nikki Haley for including many of her budget
requests in the executive budget request, including funding for benefits, infrastructure and electronic medical records, but she said there are many other programs the agency must administer which are underfunded, which can lead to even greater expenses. She pointed out the state
should have been in compliance with the federal mandate for electronic medical records in 2015, but lack of money has meant the state is behind schedule. “When we were last reviewed, we were told to take steps to get in compliance,”
SEE DHEC, PAGE A9
Bill aims to train students for open jobs Unemployed adults also eligible for state-paid scholarships BY SEANNA ADCOX The Associated Press COLUMBIA — South Carolina would pay for high school students and the unemployed to train for jobs available locally under legislation that overwhelmingly passed the House. The bill approved 106-5 Wednesday expands dual-enrollment opportunities for high school students so they can take courses that count toward their diploma and a technical certificate or an
associate degree. It also provides scholarships to the state’s unemployed so they can train for a job in their area. Ways and Means Chairman Brian White, the bill’s sponsor, said South Carolina’s future depends on all businesses, whether they’re being recruited to the state or have been here for decades, being able to hire locally. The goal is to match training with businesses’ workforce needs. “If we can’t do that as a state, we need to pack up our tent and head home.
We’ll be dead in the water. This is something vastly needed,” said White, R-Anderson. Before the vote, the state’s business, school and agency leaders filled the Statehouse lobby to show their support. Although the state’s unemployment rate stood at 5.5 percent in December, about 124,000 people are still out of work despite 60,000 job openings statewide, Gov. Nikki Haley said.
SEE JOBS, PAGE A9
After much discussion during its meeting Wednesday, Sumter City and County Planning Commission approved the major site plan for the Hyatt Place hotel coming to Main Street. The main topic during the consideration of the site plan was a 24-foot, one-way driveway off of Main Street proposed by the applicant, Thompson Turner Construction, which was later narrowed to 20 feet. In its report, Sumter Planning Department staff said the 24 feet would be too wide for the driveway. The report states that the wide driveway could alter the aesthetics of the downtown area as well as the pedestrian experience because there are not many driveways that interrupt the sidewalks on Main Street. During the meeting, Planning Department Director George McGregor said a 24-foot entrance could also encourage drivers to cut through the driveway. Planning department staff recommended that the drive to be shortened to 15 feet wide, where it meets Main Street, and transition to 24 feet further into the drive. Charlie Wendell, CEO of Virginia Inn Management Inc. which serves as manager of the Hyatt Place, said he understood the planning department’s concerns for pedestrians and the look for downtown, but his concern was hotel patrons holding up traffic on Main Street. He said narrowing the entrance to 15 feet could cause traffic to stop in the north and south bound lanes of Main Street. A 24-foot entrance would allow for two lanes so that the drivers checking into the hotel would not stop traffic, he said. Wendell said signs could be placed to ensure that drivers know that the drive is one-way and is not to be used to cut through traffic. After more discussion, Wendell said narrowingg the driveway entrance to 20 feet would still leave room for two lanes of vehicles and asked if that compromise could be made. Planning commission then approved the 20-foot driveway entrance. Wendell said construction of the hotel should start in mid to late March, and he anticipates it will take 12 to 14 months to construct the hotel.
Obama to seek $12B from Congress for child summer nutrition A healthy chicken salad school lunch, prepared under federal guidelines, is on display at the cafeteria at Draper Middle School in Rotterdam, New York, in 2012. See the full article at www.theitem. com.
BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE The Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to ask Congress for $12 billion during the next decade to help feed schoolchildren from low-income families during the summer, the White House said Wednesday. The request will be in the 2017 budget proposal Obama plans to send lawmakers on Feb. 9. Nearly 22 million low-income
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DEATHS, B4
VISIT US ONLINE AT
the
.com
Albert O. McEntire William D. Reed Francine Hudgins James Bolden Virginia Sue Dameron
James J. Prince Theodore Diggs Roosevelt Collins Sr. Lila T. Gamble Leroy Cook
Wallace L. Jackson James T. Stevens Jr. Bertha E. Wiley Wilhelmena Reese Johnny Lee Tindal
children receive free and reduced-price meals during the school year, but just a fraction of those kids receive meals when school is out. The disparity puts those children at higher risk of hunger and poor nutrition during the summer months when school is out of session, the White House said. Benefits under the proposed program would be loaded onto a debit card that can only be used for food at grocery stores. A child nutrition bill the Sen-
ate approved last week would also put more money into summer feeding programs. The Agriculture Department on Wednesday was announcing a pilot program to increase access to the National School Lunch program by reducing the paperwork their parents must file in order to participate. Under the demonstration program, states will be allowed to use Medicaid data to certify students for free and reducedprice lunches.
WEATHER, A12
INSIDE
CHILLY AND WET
2 SECTIONS, 18 PAGES VOL. 121, NO. 88
Cool today with a good chance of rain; tonight, partly cloudy HIGH 46, LOW 34
Classifieds B6 Comics B5 Lotteries A12
Opinion A11 Religion A3 Television A10