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HALL VS. HALL Barons take on Highlanders in hard court action. B1 VOL. 119, NO. 71 WWW.THEITEM.COM
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2014 | SUMTER, SOUTH CAROLINA
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Shaw whistleblower wants harassment inquiry redone BY BRADEN BUNCH bbunch@theitem.com The Shaw-based airman whose complaints of sexual harassment resulted in a
force-wide investigation into the hostile work conditions for women throughout the military branch has appealed the results of the inquiry, saying the penalties did not go far
enough to address the problems facing female airmen serving today. Labeling the investigation concluded by the Air Force last year as “biased and inade-
quate,” lawyers for Tech Sgt. Jennifer Smith filed their appeal with the Board of Military Corrections on Tuesday, calling for the inquiries into her allegations to be restarted.
OLD MAN WINTER FINALLY ARRIVES
Back in October, eight highranking officers at Shaw Air Force Base — two colonels, five lieutenant colonels and a SEE APPEAL, PAGE A8
Health care law could put fire departments in financial, staff bind 160 Sumter volunteer firefighters could be affected by Obamacare STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS About 160 volunteer firefighters with the Sumter Fire Department find themselves awaiting a ruling pertaining to an ambiguity with President Obama’s health care law which could impact their positions. Meanwhile, fire chiefs and lawmakers from around the nation are working to protect the system of volunteer firefighting that has served rural America for more than a century but could find itself threatened. Small and rural fire departments from California to Maine, which has one of the country’s highest percentages of volunteer and on-call firefighters, rely on volunteers to avoid the budget-strapping cost of paying them to be on duty in between fighting fires. The volunteers are considered employees for tax purposes, a classification that grew out of an ongoing effort to attract firefighters
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Water from the fountain at Memorial Park is frozen Tuesday morning thanks to a blast of Arctic air from the northeast. Brutal temperatures continued to wreak havoc across the East and South on Tuesday. See more on the cold weather that’s gripping much of the nation on page A3.
by offering them such incentives as stipends, retirement benefits and free gym memberships. That leaves open the question of whether the volunteer firefighters fall under the health care law’s requirement that employers with 50 or more employees working at least 30 hours a week must provide health insurance for them. Fire departments across the county say they can’t afford to pay such a cost. Doug Mathis, county chief emeritus who works with volunteer firefighters, said everything dealing with the guidelines and requirements affect volunteer firefighters in Sumter County. “With requirements and guidelines, everything affects the volunteer firefighters as well. They have to have the same training as everyone else, and they do that on their off hours,” Mathis said. “Volunteers put SEE VOLUNTEERS, PAGE A6
Electronic reading options prove popular at library BY JADE ANDERSON janderson@theitem.com Just because you have an e-reader doesn’t mean you can’t get books from the library. Thanks to the Palmetto Library Consortium, patrons of the Sumter County Library have been able to check out electronic copies of books for their devices for at least the last two years. It’s a trend that continues to grow in popularity, said Ford Simmons, reference and
information services coordinator. “A couple of times a week, I have people asking for help downloading items to their tablets,” he said. The way it works is interested individuals go to the library website, sumtercountylibrary.org, and sign in with the pin from their library cards. From there, they can choose e-books in fiction or non-fiction to read or listen to. “We have over 1,300 titles just in e-books and
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a little over 1,000 in audio books,” Simmons said. “You can listen to them on some e-readers or MP3 players, computers or tablets.” Once “checked out,” the books are accessible for two to three weeks. There are no late fees, and when the reading term expires, people can check it out again if it is not checked out already. “Right now, only one ‘copy’ can be checked out at a time,” Simmons said. “We are always
E-BOOK DROP-INS Twice a month, Ford Simmons, reference and information services coordinator for the Sumter County Library, holds an e-reader drop-in where library patrons can get one-on-one assistance with downloading books and audio books to their devices. He usually sees eight to 10 people each time on a first-come, first-serve basis. The next two are as follows: • Thursday, Jan. 23, at 3:30 p.m., at Main Branch, 111 N. SIMMONS Harvin St. • Monday, Jan. 27, at 3:30 p.m., at Wesmark Branch, 180 W. Wesmark Blvd.
adding more titles. Our collection is always growing.” And there is a wide variety of titles from new hits and popular books to the classics, he said.
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DEATHS Thomas Richard Olsen Sr. Lucille Watson-Brunson Roberta S. Cranford Thelma Brown Kentrell V. Daniels
Having been with the Sumter library system for five years, he has also seen an increase in the use of many library features. “We do get a large
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amount of users for the e-books, but we have many come in for the regular books,” Simmons said. “Our check out of them is higher than ever. It’s really awesome. “Our use has gone up, especially since the economy went down in 2008. More people than ever are using our computers for job applications and résumés.” Reach Jade Anderson at (803) 774-1250.
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NOT AS COLD Mostly cloudy today; partly cloudy and chilly tonight HIGH: 44 LOW: 28 A8
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