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Ryan P. Haygood, director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, talks outside the Supreme Court in Washington on Tuesday about the Shelby County v. Holder voting rights case in Alabama. The Supreme Court said Tuesday that a key provision of the Voting Rights Act — the requirement that all or parts of 15 states with a history of discrimination in voting get Washington’s approval before changing the way they hold elections — cannot be enforced until Congress comes up with a new way of determining which states and localities require close federal monitoring of elections.
Voting decision divides leaders BY ROBERT J. BAKER bbaker@theitem.com The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday to strike down a key section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is nothing less than “the first shot of the second Civil War,” according to one local leader. Ferdinand Burns, Sumter branch president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Wednesday that he fears the deeply divided decision will open the door for “those who would try to take away the vote from minorities in the South.” “These people now have a license to do anything they want to impede minority voting,” Burns said. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the 5-4 decision for the court, which invalidated Section 4 of the law establishing a “coverage formula” to determine which states and local governments fall under Section 5. That portion of the law requires all or part of 15 states with a history of voting discrimination against blacks, Native Americans and Hispanics to get Washington’s approval before changing local election laws. “The conditions that originally justified
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BELOW: School district board to meet Monday
THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2013 | SUMTER, SOUTH CAROLINA
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Final reading, public comment on county budget set for Friday BY BRISTOW MARCHANT bmarchant@theitem.com Sumter County Council was presented with a new option for balancing the county budget Tuesday, only days before council members must approve a spending plan for the fiscal year beginning Monday. The option presented
by county staff at a budget workshop is the fourth considered by council in the past week, after a vote on the initial budget proposal June 11 ended in a deadlock and the county had to start the budget process over again. A final vote on the budget will follow a public hearing in council chambers in a spe-
cially called meeting at noon Friday. That vote will determine whether county property owners will see their taxes go up next year. In the latest option, Sumter County will collect a smaller millage increase than previously proposed while also taking money from the authorized reserve fund to cover expenses.
Under Tuesday’s proposal, the county millage rate will increase by 1.7 mills, raising a projected $703,500. That’s lower than the 2.15-mill increase initially proposed in the budget. Both proposals also include a 0.8-mill increase for property owners in Fire District 1 and a SEE BUDGET, PAGE A8
Columbia Marionette Theatre performs for local children ABOVE: Itica Battis is fascinated with the marionettes. The 5-year-old was with a large group from the Grace Cathedral Child Development Center.
SEE VOTING ACT, PAGE A6
School district specially called meeting Monday
John Scollon, executive director of Columbia Marionette Theatre, took Anansi the Spider out front following a performance at the Sumter Opera House, and kids gathered around to meet the marionette. They were participating in a Sumter County Library summer-reading program presentation.
BY BRADEN BUNCH bbunch@theitem.com The Sumter School District Board of Trustees has called a special meeting for 6 p.m. Monday at the district’s headquarters, once again for the exclusive reason to hold an executive session. This will be the second specially called meeting called this month by the trustees. As at the last meeting, most of the activity will be behind closed doors. However, Monday’s sparse agenda reveals a few more details regarding the reason for the special meeting. This time, the official agenda points out that trustees will receive a personnel report, which could include employee “elections, reassignments, transfers, resignations, retirements, and/or terminations.” SEE DISTRICT, PAGE A8
PHOTOS BY IVY MOORE / THE ITEM
ABOVE: Anansi the Spider tricks his friend tortoise so that Anansi can eat all of the yams in the bucket. Anansi later taught Silly Monkey a song that made him appear to confess to the deed. RIGHT: Mia Ingram, 5, watches the performance of the African folk tale about Anansi the Spider from the lap of her mother, Kathy Stacy, as Zoey Davis, 4, also watches attentively.
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