Remembering the slain $1.50
SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2015
SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894
5 SECTIONS, 36 PAGES | VOL. 120, NO. 210
More than 70 years late World War II internees finally get graduation ceremony A6 SUMMER RESTORE
Home repair ministry in full swing C1 Las Vegas tests out new police training tactics A4 DEATHS, A9 Karen W. Richbow Lottie C.B. Fiore Estelle E.B. Wilson Isaiah Brown
Thelma G.F. Cole Robert Wilson Jr. Ruby T. Payne Thomas E. Bartlett
KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
Pastor, Betty Deas Clark, Mount Pisgah AME Church, wipes a tear away as Reverend Marion Newton holds his head during the community prayer service at Jehovah Missionary Baptist Church on Saturday.
Churches comes together to pay respects to Charleston 9 BY COLLYN TAYLOR intern@theitem.com The chapel at Jehovah Missionary Baptist church was packed less than three days after the tragic shootings in Charleston as those in Sumter came to pray for the nine who lost their lives.
Dylan Roof, 21, is charged with murdering nine members of a Bible study group at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Authorities say Roof made racist remarks against black people before opening fire Wednesday night. The event Saturday was put on by Senior Pastor Marion New-
ton of Jehovah Missionary and Stuart Mizelle, pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church. Mizelle led the congregation in the first prayer of the evening, making way for more than 15 people to stand up and pray aloud after him. The service took an hour, with each person praying for
those who died at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Prayer after prayer, given by both white and black, mentioned forgiving the shooter and stressed the urgency of coming together and forgetting racial stigmas.
SEE PRAYER, PAGE A5
WEATHER, A10 PREPARE TO SWEAT Very hot again today. Partly cloudy tonight and still very warm. HIGH 100, LOW 78
INSIDE
CONTACT US
Business D1 Classifieds D4 Comics E1 Lotteries A10 Opinion A8 Television E3
Info: 774-1200 Advertising: 774-1237 Classifieds: 774-1234 Delivery: 774-1258 News and Sports: 774-1226
VISIT US ONLINE AT the
.com
Fighting fire is all about family BY COLLYN TAYLOR intern@theitem.com No matter how much time passes, some family traditions stay family traditions. For the Dollard family, the tradition of fighting fires hasn’t cooled off through four generations and 40 years. For this family of firemen, it makes a Father’s Day gathering look like a fire station group photo. Tommy Dollard joined the fire department in 1975 and has worked his way up to lieutenant at the Bethel Volunteer Fire Department in York County.
He has four sons: Thomas, Ernie, Joey and John, and when it came time for them to decide what they wanted to do, it was as easy choice. “We had a trailer fire down the road and you could actually walk to it,” Ernie said. “There was a fatality in it, and I walked around it and such. From that day on, I wanted to become a fire fighter. I got hooked.” Thomas, the oldest son, started in 1976 when he was about 20 years old. He’s now an engineer with the Bethel Fire Department. Ernie started a year later in 1977 when he was 15 years old and has worked
his way to Assistant Chief at the Sumter Fire Department. When Joey could start working for the department in 1980, he chomped at the bit to volunteer. “Every time the alarm went off, I was in one of them’s car,” he said. “Following them, I just enjoyed it.” Joey is now battalion chief at the Sumter FD, where his nephew, Ernie’s son Jason, is a master fireman, meaning he has special training. Jason joined in 2006 and said watching his family at a young age
SEE DOLLARD, PAGE A5
CARRIE LENOIR — 1920-2015
LeNoir remembered as ‘always ready’ to help
PHOTO PROVIDED
The late Carrie Baker LeNoir in front of the Horatio Volunteer Fire Department fire truck. LeNoir helped start the fire department and donated the land for it to be built.
Carrie Baker LeNoir grew up during the Great Depression. A daughter of a farmer and one of 11 children, she was described as a hardworking woman who was able to balance raising a family of seven, running a family store and post office, driving a firetruck for the local fire department and being actively involved in the community. LeNoir died on Thursday at 94. “She loved the town of Horatio, really took a lot of pride in it,” said Steve LeNoir, one of her three sons. Horatio is an unincorporated community of 93 people in Sumter County. The LeNoirs have owned a family store in
the community, LeNoir’s Country Store, since 1765, making it one of the oldest continuous-running businesses in the nation. LeNoir worked at the store for more than 70 years, until she was 91 years old. She also served as Horatio’s postmaster for about 35 years in the post office inside the store. “I had the privilege of working with her side by side for all of those years,” Steve said. LeNoir was born in Sumter and graduated from Charlotte Thompson High School. She married Gaillard LeNoir in 1938 and moved to Horatio the same
year. She began working at the country store and post office. When rural post offices began closing in the mid 1970s, LeNoir was successful in her fight to keep the community’s post office open. “She was a very strong-willed woman,” said Cleo Jackson, one of her neighbors and longtime friends. “Whatever she put her mind to, she stuck with getting that project done until the end. She always managed to balance all of the community organizations she was involved with. She was an honest and
SEE LENOIR, PAGE A5
Still Waiting? Act Now Before Mortgage Rates Rise. Sumter: 469-0156 Manning: 433-4451 bankofclarendon.com ."//*/( t 4"/5&& t 46..&350/ t 8:#00 t 46.5&3