IN SPORTS: Legion baseball playoff starting to take shape
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22 years a slave Myanmar fisherman finally able to return home A6 SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894
THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2015
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Legislators react to budget vetoes Smith says Sumter still fared well BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com Gov. Nikki Haley’s line-item vetoes announced this week represent setbacks to several projects of local interest, but local legislators say they think there is a good chance the General As-
sembly will override many of the vetoes when it meets Monday. Haley vetoed a non-recurring revenue appropriation through the Department of Parks, RecWEEKS reation and Tourism of $400,000 for the Sumter Green Space Initiative as well as $250,000 for the Manning Avenue/ Wilder School Area Green Space Initiative. Both projects would reportedly require a one-to-one match with local
money. In her veto message, Haley called these and 16 other projects “pork barrel” and “some of the most irresponsible political deal-making that JOHNSON South Carolina has to offer.” Rep. David Weeks, D-Sumter, said he thinks Haley was taking the wrong perspective. “I think the Legislature took a lot of time on this, and the whole budget was very carefully crafted,” he said.
Sen. Kevin Johnson, D-Manning, criticized Haley for vetoing mostly local projects. “The governor doesn’t believe in state dollars coming back to the local districts, and she thinks all of those projects should be funded with local tax dollars,” he said. “I think that is unfair because the state has almost killed any ability that local governments have to raise revenue.” He was also critical of the governor’s lack of support for quality-of-life
SEE VETOES, PAGE A7
Vote to remove Confederate flag seems likely
Carnival celebration at Camp Happy Days
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
Samantha Estes, 11, from Bishopville, squirts a water gun at targets during Camp Happy Days at Camp Bob Cooper on Wednesday. To see more photos, check out The Clarendon Sun section starting on page A8.
Garrett: ‘No ill’ in letters to pastors Sumter man talks to Clarendon deputies, signs apology BY KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY konstantin@theitem.com The man who wrote letters reportedly containing threats to three women pastors in Clarendon County has apologized. Henry Felder, of Sumter, spoke with Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office deputies on Wednesday evening. Sheriff Randy Garrett said Felder admitted to writing the letters, and he wrote and signed a letter of apology to the pas-
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tors at the sheriff’s office. “We believe that he had no ill will or bad intensions,” Garrett said. The sheriff’s office and the solicitor’s office decided not to press any charges against Felder. “We investigated the matter, did a background check on the individual and had come to the conclusion that he is not a danger to the community, did not make any open threats and had not violated the law,” said Third Circuit Solicitor Ernest A. “Chip” Finney III. The letters were sent to
churches that have women pastors, including Greater Union Cypress AME Church on S.C. 260, Society Hill AME Church on Morello Road and Reeseville AME Church on Sumter Highway. The letters quoted several Bible verses which the writer may have interpreted as references to women not being head of the church or household, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. The letters stated “the women must repent and turn away from what you
are doing in the church, home and the world or you and your children will die,” according to the news release. The letters were signed “Apostle Prophet, Harry Leon Fleming H.L.F.,” which Garrett said he thought was a fictious name. The letters caused the pastors of all three churches them to be concerned for their safety and the safety of their congregations, Garrett said. Garrett said the case is closed at this time.
DEATHS, B5 Brian K. Craft Leroy Hampton Sr. Ida Mae C. Keels Eva Brown Yvonne Newman Jean O. Loyd Mitchell Geddings Jr.
Carolyn J. Butler Jerry Dennis Charlotte Dinkins Louise C. Conyers Julia P. Miles Josephine B. Durant Mingo Boone Jr.
A survey of South Carolina legislators shows there is enough support to remove the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds if all supporters cast a vote. The Post and Courier newspaper, the South Carolina Press Association and The Associated Press asked all lawmakers how they intend to vote. At least 33 senators and 83 House members say the flag should go. That appears to meet the two-thirds majority needed from both chambers to move the battle flag. That rule is part of the 2000 compromise that took the flag off the Statehouse dome and put a smaller, square version beside a monument to Confederate soldiers. There are currently 123 legislators in the House and 45 in the Senate. The flag push follows the shooting deaths of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston on June 17. The pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, was among the dead. The suspect in the shooting, Dylann Storm Roof, was shown in photographs brandishing the flag. Republican Gov. Nikki Haley called on legislators to send the battle flag to a museum. While the flag for many South Carolinians stands for traditions of history, heritage and ancestry, she said, for many others it’s a “deeply offensive symbol of a brutally oppressive past.” “The events of the past week call upon all of us to look at this in a different way,” she said. The exact number needed to pass a bill is uncertain. The two-thirds requirement applies to whoever is present and voting at the time. A day after Haley made her request, legislators overwhelmingly approved a resolution allowing them to add the flag to their special session’s agenda. But that doesn’t mean the debate will go smoothly. Some did not want to risk harsh words amid a week of funerals. Legislators are expected to return to Columbia on Monday to consider Haley’s budget vetoes and take up legislation that would remove the flag. Rep. David Weeks, D-Sumter, said he will certainly vote to have the flag taken down. “All of the Sumter delegation has committed to have the flag come down,” Weeks said Tuesday. He said he thinks the House is very close to having the number of votes needed to remove the flag. Some legislators responded that they would not weigh in until after the funerals for all nine victims. Others say they’re still undecided. Rep. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, said he won’t take a position until a proposal comes before him for a vote. Two bills have been
SEE FLAG, PAGE A7
WEATHER, A14
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