STATE NEWS: DSS pick says it will take years to make changes to agency A3 THE CLARENDON SUN
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Military adds $19.3B to Bullet S.C. economy, study says killed crash victim Autopsy reveals gunshot wound FROM STAFF REPORTS Authorities on Wednesday ruled that a Camden man found dead just outside Rembert early Tuesday morning was the victim of a fatal shooting. Sumter County deputies are officially investigating the death of 65-year-old Johnny Singleton as a homicide after an autopsy on Wednesday revealed that he died from a single gunshot wound, a statement released by Sumter County Sheriff’s Office indicated. Singleton was involved in a crash on U.S. 521 near the Modern Turf sod farm about
SEE HOMICIDE, PAGE A5 U.S. AIR FORCE / SENIOR AIRMAN JENSEN STIDHAM
The 20th Operations Support Squadron air traffic control tower pierces the night sky at Shaw Air Force Base on Tuesday. The tower provides airmen with visibility of both runways, providing aircraft and vehicles the clearance to land and drive safely. According to a new report from Gov. Nikki Haley’s military advisory panel, the U.S. military pumps $19.3 billion into the state’s economy each year. Shaw contributes $2 billion, the report says.
Report shows Shaw contributes $2B annually BY SUSANNE M. SCHAFER The Associated Press COLUMBIA — The U.S. military pumps $19.3 billion into South Carolina’s economy each year, according to a new report released Wednesday by Gov. Nikki Haley’s military advisory panel. The study by economists at Darla Moore School of Business at University of South Carolina said the state’s military community supports 152,812 jobs that provide $8.6 billion in labor income for state residents. The report said more than half those jobs are in the private sector, with an average annual income of $56,105. “This report reinforces that our overall military footprint — from our active bases to the Reserve to our military retirees — is a vital part of the state’s economy,” said Bill Bethea, chairman of
the Military Base Task Force. “Recognizing this link, our task force has worked hard with our elected officials on new legislation to ensure that South Carolina continues to be a military-friendly state, and we’re heartened by the progress on these initiatives.” The study said the $19.3 billion figure represents the dollar value of all goods and services produced in the state that can be attributed to the military community. Joint Base Charleston is the largest contributor at $7.4 billion. It is followed by the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center-Atlantic in Charleston at nearly $3.7 billion. Fort Jackson in Columbia and Shaw Air Force Base near Sumter both contribute $2 billion, the report showed. Under the report’s definition, South Carolina’s military community includes
the eight major military installations, members of the National Guard and Army Reserve, as well as more than 600 defense-contracting firms and nearly 58,000 military retirees residing in the state. Bethea has said his panel wants to improve on South Carolina’s reputation for being friendly to the military and wants to convince lawmakers to exempt military retirees from state income taxes. He argues that this will increase the number of retirees attracted to the state and thereby grow the economy. During the last legislative session, a bill exempting military retiree pay from the state income tax passed the House but came up too late for the Senate to vote on it. The South Carolina Board of Economic Advisors has said the tax generates at least $22 million a year in revenue.
ROCK HILL — For a moment, Clarence Graham’s heart raced. Fifty-four years after he and eight fellow black men served a month of hard labor for sitting at a whites-only lunch counter, a judge declared that they had been wrongly convicted of trespassing and their records would be tossed. “In my heart, I was leaping,” Graham said. Family, friends and supporters in the packed courtroom clapped and cheered Wednesday as Judge John C. Hayes vacated the sentences for the men known
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as the Friendship Nine. Seven of them were in court. One had died, and another couldn’t make the hearing. The men who were there — some surrounded by their children FINNEY — smiled as they heard the ruling. They had “never felt guilty of anything,” Graham said. Hayes said the men had been prosecuted “solely based on their race.” “We cannot rewrite history, but we can right history,” he said. The eight college students and one civil rights organizer were convicted in
1961 of trespassing and breach of peace for protesting at McCrory variety store in Rock Hill. They had a choice of spending 30 days in jail or paying a $100 fine. All opted for jail. The men’s refusal to pay into the segregationist town’s city coffers served as a catalyst for other civil disobedience. Demonstrators across the South adopted their “jail, not bail” tactic. Retired S.C. Chief Justice Ernest Finney, a former longtime Sumter resident and the first black on South Carolina’s Supreme Court, represented the
SEE FRIENDSHIP NINE, PAGE A5
SEE TASK FORCE, PAGE A5
DEATHS, B5 Annie H. Dingle Audrey L. James John Howard Sr. Juanita P. Tisdale Roberta P. Brown Jessie J. Welch Jr.
BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com Two educators from the tricounty area will be part of a task force charged with finding a way to reform the state’s education funding to comply with the South Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling in Abbeville County School District v. the State of South Carolina; ANDREWS the court declined to grant a rehearing in the case Friday. After the ruling, House Speaker Jay Lucas announced TINDAL five representatives who will participate in the House Education Policy Review and Reform Task Force. The five were selected and the names provided to Lucas’ office by attorneys for poor, rural school districts who were plaintiffs in the case. Wanda Andrews, superintendent of Lee County School District in Bishopville, and John Tindal, superintendent of Clarendon County School
Judge tosses Friendship Nine convictions BY MITCH WEISS The Associated Press
Tri-county educators named to task force
George C. Green Juanita W. Pendergrass Carl V. Amerson Jr. Christopher F. Hicks Hilda V. Smith Victoria O. Northcutt
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