Check out the Savvy Seniors section Starting on the right foot
Sumter P-15’s cruise by Chapin-Newberry 6-0 in opening day of tourney B1
SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894
SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2014
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I just wanna dance
Man, 22, stabbed to death Girlfriend charged with murder in domestic dispute BY RAYTEVIA EVANS ray@theitem.com (803) 774-1214 One man is dead and a woman is in custody after an apparent quarrel turned violent early Saturday morning. Investigators with Sumter County Sheriff’s Office are charging Sumter resident Helen Wells, 20, with murder after she allegedly stabbed her boyfriend during a heated argument that reportedly occurred shortly after midnight. Mallory Jerrell Richardson, 22, was pronounced dead after units responded to a call regarding a stabbing around 1 a.m. Saturday at the couple’s home located at 1920 Peach Orchard Road (S.C. 441) in WELLS Sumter. According to Chief Hampton Gardner, the responding deputies encountered Wells — Richardson’s live-in girlfriend — at the front door of the residence speaking on the phone when they arrived. Gardner said Richardson appeared to be already deceased on the living room floor at the time. “Officers approached and she appeared to be a bit upset and she indicated that she assaulted her live-in boyfriend,” Gardner said. “She stabbed him in the upper body and he appeared to be lifeless when officers arrived and rescue was called.” The official police report states that Wells admitted to responding officers that she had stabbed Richardson with a knife after they had an argument. Gardner said at the time of the incident, Wells didn’t appear to have been physically
The cha cha, the Charleston, jazz step and a little hip-hop was all it took for the more than 100 people to show up to celebrate National Dance Day at 9 a.m. Saturday. With a little direction from dance instructors from the four dance studios in Sumter, a group of kids and adults alike got jiggy with it in the green space across from the Opera House in downtown Sumter. The local studios — Freed School
SEE STABBING, PAGE A3
SEE DANCE, PAGE A7
RAYTEVIA EVANS / THE SUMTER ITEM
Instructors with Freed School of Performing Arts, Miss Libby’s School of Dance, DreamWorks Dance Academy and Caroline Mack Center for Arts led the crowd in the 2014 National Dance Day routine at the green space in Downtown Sumter on Saturday morning.
Locals convene on green space for National Dance Day BY RAYTEVIA EVANS ray@theitem.com (803) 774-1214
Park fields among list of projects for proposed penny tax renewal
Miguel Saquic, 9, heads a soccer ball alongside the construction fencing surrounding the soccer field at Dillon Park. Two new football fields will be built behind the fence with money from the new penny sales tax, but soccer players will still be able to use the convertible playing fields.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a series of stories examining the proposed projects for a renewed penny sales tax, which Sumter County voters will be asked to approve in November. Money raised by the tax will go toward a series of building, infrastructure and other projects throughout the county.
BRISTOW MARCHANT / THE SUMTER ITEM
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Dancers with the Belly Dance Troupe Habibi perform a short routine during the City of Sumter’s National Dance Day event held at the green space in downtown Saturday morning. More than 100 people, including students and parents of the four local dance studios, came out to dance and celebrate the fun and energetic event.
DEATHS, A9 Samuel L. Roddey Jr. Robert C. Vivian Bryson C. Smith Martha Grinnell Lila B. Edmond
Cornell Burroughs Joy E. Cole Amelia Epps Estell Fulwood Charlene Dangerfield
BY BRISTOW MARCHANT bristow@theitem.com (803) 774-1272 If your team is playing in a tournament at Patriot or Palmetto Park, you will be playing in some of the newest and most advanced sports facilities in Sumter County. If you’re playing in Dillon Park,
on the other hand, that isn’t necessarily the case. That’s why one of the proposed projects for a renewed penny sales tax would direct $2.75 million to make improvements to the county park north of the U.S. 378 bypass. “We don’t want kids who
SEE DILLON PARK, PAGE A7
WEATHER, A10
INSIDE
A LITTLE HUMID
6 SECTIONS, 40 PAGES VOL. 119, NO. 242
Partly sunny and humid during the day; partly cloudy and humid at night. HIGH 97, LOW 78
Business D1 Classifieds D3 Comics E1
Lotteries A10 Opinion A8 Television E3