June 15, 2014

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‘A stone of hope’ Stinney’s supporters unveil memorial to executed boy

This headstone marking the life and death of George Stinney Jr. now faces drivers passing through Alcolu on U.S. 521. The marker was unveiled Saturday, placed near the private home of a supporter of the Stinney family.

BY BRISTOW MARCHANT bmarchant@theitem.com (803) 774-1272

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George Stinney was buried in an unmarked grave, deliberately so some say, to prevent it from being vandalized. After all, Stinney had been put to death for the brutal murder of two young girls. Now, something that looks like a headstone marks Stinney’s life and death in the community where the tragedy unfolded 70 years ago, its black surface etched with a defiant message facing drivers on U.S. 521 in Alcolu. “Wrongfully Convicted, Illegally

BRISTOW MARCHANT / THE SUMTER ITEM

Executed by South Carolina.” Stinney supporters, including several living family members, unveiled the marker on Saturday to mark the June 16 anniversary of

Stinney’s 1944 execution in the electric chair. The black teenager, only 14 years old at the time of his

SEE MEMORIAL, PAGE A4

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Tyrone Smalls spends time recently with children he mentors. Smalls has volunteered and worked at The John K. Crosswell Home for Children for seven years, and he has a 40-year history of working with children.

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3 Sumter men serve as positive male role models to youth BY JADE REYNOLDS jade@theitem.com (803) 774-1250

S

ome men just have a certain aura about them. “You know how when someone walks in a room, and it gets better?” said Jerry Allred, executive director of The John K. Crosswell Home for Children. “(Tyrone Smalls) is one of them. In a lot of kids’ homes, there is no stable role model. He might be the only father figure some of these children have in their life. He sets high expectations, but if the kids need something or need some-

one, he’s there. Kids know who cares.” Smalls knows the importance of being available to talk, and so does Sgt. Perry Tiller with the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. “Unfortunately, my wife and I haven’t been able to have children,” Tiller said. “I do it because I have a passion for kids.” He and his wife do have two godchildren they adore, he said. Still others are new to the mentoring bond. Battalion Chief Johnnie Rose has worked with a Kingsbury Elementary School student for two years now. “Taking this program was an

eye-opener,” he said. “It’s awesome. I wish I’d been part of the program years ago.”

OLD-FASHIONED Smalls has volunteered and worked at Crosswell for seven years, but he has a 40-year history of working with children. “I really just talk to kids,” he said. “They gravitate toward me. I understand ways to teach expectation while taking the individual developmental nature of the child

SEE MENTORS, PAGE A3

Double Dutch teams jump in from far and wide for tourney BY BRISTOW MARCHANT bmarchant@theitem.com (803) 774-1272 Becky Herndon is as close to being an expert on jumping rope as you are likely to find. She coached competitive Double Dutch for more than 15 years, during which time she brought four D.C.-area teams down to Sumter for the American Double Dutch League’s world invitational. “And we walked away three times with world’s (titles),” Herndon said, beaming with pride at the memory while sitting in the stands Saturday at MATT WALSH / THE SUMTER ITEM the Sumter County Civic Center, A team from Columbia performs in the 41st Annual American Double Dutch League watching the next generation of jumpWorld Invitational Championship at the Sumter County Civic Center on Saturday. Teams ers compete in the 41st annual chamrepresenting several states and Japan participated in the weekend event. pionship competition.

Herndon is retired from coaching now, and D.C. has cut back on Double Dutch since her glory days; no Washington teams were represented at this year’s three-day competition, which finished its run at the center on Saturday. But Herndon came back to Sumter this year to show her 12and 8-year-old grand-nieces how it’s done. “They’ve seen it done on the street, but they don’t see the competitive side of it,” she said, going through the three categories for judging the competition: compulsories, speed and freestyle. “They say, ‘why are they doing sign language,’ and I say, ‘that’s how the jumpers tell them to speed up or

SEE JUMPING, PAGE A3


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June 15, 2014 by The Sumter Item - Issuu