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Dog shot to death triggers questions on guns in parks No charges in incident; authorities consider ban BY BRISTOW MARCHANT bristow@theitem.com (803) 774-1272 Public parks in Sumter have strict rules about how you need to handle your dog when you’re around other
members of the public. When it comes to your gun, however, the rules aren’t so clear. In Memorial Park and other city and county parks around Sumter, posted signs let dog owners know they can’t let their four-legged friends run around unleashed, but none of those parks have anything prohibiting holders of concealed weapons permits from carrying firearms in public parks. So when a
man legally carrying a handgun shot an unleashed dog he claimed was threatening him in the city park on Thursday, the only clear legal violation was on the part of the dog. Now the killing of the family pet is putting a new focus on how firearms are regulated in public parks. “This is something that’s never come up,” said Sumter County Administrator Gary Mixon. “Any time
Judges deliver verdict on their new facilities
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Clerk accused of stealing child support payments
BY BRISTOW MARCHANT bristow@theitem.com (803) 774-1272 Operating a courtroom out of her old office building was awkward for Kristi Curtis. Inside the seven-story government office building at 115 N. Harvin St., Sumter County’s chief magistrate judge sat in an office directly outside the summary courtroom. Members of the general public could walk into the lobby and right past her door, including most of the people about to appear before her in court. “Every day, somebody would pop their head in and say, ‘Judge, I see you’re eating lunch, but I’ve got one question,’” Curtis said. The Summary Court setup in the decades-old office complex was not only annoying, but it could also be dangerous. There was no security between the lobby and the main courtroom. The building had multiple entrances, which is a security headache, while judges and jurors had to walk out of the same corridors as everyone else in court. “And half the people leave court unhappy,” she said. Last year, after work was completed on the Sumter County Judicial Center, crews began renovating the former family court building on the corner of Canal and Magnolia streets. Curtis and her three fellow summary magistrates moved into the redesigned interior this week and quickly ruled the facilities superior to what they had to deal with before. Judges and jurors can now enter and exit a courtroom through a separate hallway, leading to a secured
a weapon is discharged in a place like that, it scares everyone.” Under South Carolina law, a person licensed to carry a concealed weapon can bring that weapon into any public place, whether it be a park, a restaurant or an office building, unless the property owner posts a sign explicitly stating “no concealed weapons allowed.” There are
BY BRADEN BUNCH braden@theitem.com (803) 774-1201
MATT WALSH / THE SUMTER ITEM
Municipal Court Judge Lee Tindal lines up a stuffed deer to hang in her office in the new Sumter Summary Court in the former family court building on the corner of Canal and Magnolia streets. The building was upgraded to improve safety.
A 35-year-old Wedgefield woman and former employee of the Sumter County Clerk of Court’s office has been charged with breach of trust after authorities said she stole several thousand dollars in payments that were supposed to be credited to various child support accounts. Keri L. Pritchard, of 20 Youmans Drive, was charged earlier this week after an investigaPRITCHARD tion into her alleged activities while operating the child support payment window in the Sumter County Judicial Center between March and June this year. She was officially charged with breach of trust with fraudulent intent of a value of more than $2,000 but less than $10,000. “Right now, there’s approximately $4,000 that she can be responsible for,” said Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis, adding that the investigation is ongoing. The sheriff said his financial investigators first began their inquiry into the child-support payments after an audit by Sumter County Clerk of Court Jamie Campbell turned up a series of discrepancies. According to Dennis, this audit by the clerk’s office was prompted after a few non-custodial parents complained that they were erroneously
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Dr. CHARLES H. ANDREWS Jr. • 1918 - 2014
Physician remembered as dedicated surgeon, sports fan
W
hile he passed away last week at the age of 95, Dr. Charles “Charlie” H. Andrews Jr. filled his years with one of the most eventful lives anyone could imagine. A graduate of Wofford College and later the Medical College of South Carolina in
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Sandy said she remembers accompanying her father on house calls when she was just a little girl. “That was back when doctors were on call for a month instead of just a week,” she said. “I used to go with him all the time. I loved it.”
Charleston, Andrews proudly served in World War II as a physician, working at a French hospital as part of the ANDREWS France Belgium Medical Corps and later on as part of the Austria Army of Occupation.
After his overseas adventures, Andrews eventually returned to Sumter in 1951, where he would raise his family while working at Tuomey Hospital as a general surgeon for 35 years. The fibers within his passion for his work and love for his family wove a delicate fabric that his daughter, Sandy Noonan,
adored growing up. “We’re a medical family, and we always have been,” Sandy said. “His father was a doctor. He was a doctor. My mom and I are nurses. My daughter is a nurse, and my son is a dentist. We all grew up watching him do his work, and that inspired us to follow in his steps, in a way.”
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Partly sunny today and quite warm with partly cloudy skies tonight HIGH 92, LOW 75
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