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SUNDAY, JULY 21, 2013 | SUMTER, SOUTH CAROLINA
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Thousands gather for Martin in Columbia BY CASSIE COPE Associated Press Writer Participants at Columbia’s rally and march for Trayvon Martin said they were angered by a verdict that reminded them of injustices faced by civil rights activists years ago. “The Trayvon Martin verdict kind of took us back in
the history books,’’ said Melody Williams, who helped coordinate the event. About 5,000 to 7,500 people gathered at South Carolina’s State House on Saturday morning for one of more than 100 vigils held nationwide to remember the 17-year-old Florida teen killed by a neighborhood watchman last year.
Many marchers felt the killing could have happened in South Carolina — or even to them. “It’s a local MARTIN issue because we experience injustices on a daily basis,’’ said chief organizer Chris Sullivan, 22, of Co-
lumbia. “It’s a local issue because all of us are Trayvons.’’ Various speakers and singers led a rally on the State House grounds before the group gathered to march, holding hands with their arms crossed, to the Matthew J. Perry Federal Courthouse on Richland Street, off Assembly Street. The crowd
eventually swelled to 7,500, Sullivan estimated. Many among the crowd of all ages wore hoodies like the one worn by Martin the night he was killed while walking home from a convenience store. One of those wearing a SEE MARCH, PAGE A6
GriefShare helps people heal from loss of loved ones
RAT ROD SATURDAY
BY JADE ANDERSON janderson@theitem.com
cer making an arrest, and the dog bit the suspect, then there would be liability for the dog bite,” Martin, R-Pickens, said in an interview this week. “When I realized that and just how one-sided existing law was, I felt we needed to
Grief is a powerful thing. “I’m a nurse, so to me, it’s kind of like having your leg cut off,” said Delany McDonald, grief support group facilitator for Bethesda Church of God. “You can go home and you may heal on your own, but you’ll have complications, scarring and probably won’t regain full capacity of that leg. Or you can stay in the hospital where you can get medication and physical therapy. Many who try to do it on their own do it the wrong way and end up with health issues such as Delany McDonald anxiety or depression or abusing alcohol and drugs.” Her church is one of four local sanctuaries that offer the GriefShare program, a Christian-based, nondenominational, 13week ministry that features video lessons with leading experts on grief recovery and workbooks. “It’s a community outreach so you don’t have to do it alone,” McDonald said. “No where in life are we taught to deal with grief. It’s hard to put your life back together, and you can feel alone even in a family.” The grief can be from a recent loss or it may have happened years ago. Brenda Fields lost her husband to a sudden heart attack a little more than a year before she first attended. “It’s very devastating,” she said. “We’d been married 43 years. That’s most of my life. You need help. It affects every part of you physically and emotionally. You don’t get over it, but you do get through it to a new normal.” McDonald’s grief was older still. It had
SEE POLICE DOGS, PAGE A3
SEE GRIEFSHARE, PAGE A6
RIGHT: Glenn Hill of Sumter props up the hood so visitors to Saturday’s Auto Parts Swap Meet and Rat Rod Show could take a look at the details of his 1932 model ABOVE: Bill Barkley, front, and Todd Touchberry check out some of the vehicles at Saturday’s event BELOW: William McCoy of Sumter grabs flyers out of his Rat Rod Saturday. Rat rods are a subculture of car shows that often feature a more unfinished look but still run or style that is not necessarily representative of the era it comes from, said Todd Touchberry, general manager of Sumter Cut Rate Soda Fountain, and organizer of Saturday’s Auto Parts Swap Meet and Rat Rod Show.
PHOTOS BY JADE ANDERSON / THE ITEM
New S.C. law limits liability for police dogs COLUMBIA (AP) — A new South Carolina law provides police K-9 units some protection in court. Until last month, the state’s strict liability statute for dog bites meant criminal suspects could almost certainly collect a settlement if a police dog bit them, re-
gardless of the situation, said Senate Judiciary Chairman Larry Martin, the bill’s sponsor. That’s because the law made exceptions only if the person bitten was trespassing on private property or had directly harassed the dog into attacking. “If a suspect turned on an offi-
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‘Nowhere in life are we taught to deal with grief. It’s hard to put your life back together, and you can feel alone even in a family.’
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