IN SPORTS: P-15’s host Orangeburg in League III battle
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On your marks, get set … READ! Sumter County Library cranks up kids’ summer programs C1
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City approves first reading of budget Council balances books at $62.58 million; no tax increase necessary BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com Sumter City Council approved first reading of the city’s balanced 2017 budget of $62.58 million during its meeting on Tuesday. City Manager Deron McCormick
said this will make the ninth consecutive year the city has not increased taxes during the budget process. Later, council approved a resolution authorizing South Carolina Department of Transportation to make improvements at the intersections of Broad Street and Bultman Drive and Broad Street and Wesmark Boulevard. The intersection projects are two of Sumter Urban Area Transportation Study’s long-range plans to make intersection improvements throughout
Sumter in order to reduce the possibility of wrecks and reduce traffic congestion. Sumter Planning Department Director George McGregor said the designs for the project are underway. He also said about one mile of Broad Street, a distance that covers both intersections, will be resurfaced from Bultman Drive to Market Street. It makes sense to resurface portions of the road since construction work will be done to the intersections, McGregor said.
City council also approved first reading of an ordinance to amend the city’s 2016 budget to adjust for emergency expenses that were made during the fiscal year. Council gave the initial go-ahead on the changes during its budget workshop on May 26. McCormick said the municipality usually reviews its budget and makes adjustments this time of year. The amendments include increasing
SEE CITY, PAGE A5
Foster parent community shares closet
KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
Angel Cribb, one of the founders of Caring Hearts Foster Care Sharing Closet, organizes some of the clothing available at the shop on Tuesday. The store offers toys, cribs and clothing for teenagers as well as toiletries.
Nonprofit provides free clothing, other supplies for children in need BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com Foster parents in Sumter, Clarendon and Lee counties now have a one-stop shop to pick up clothing and other supplies for children free of charge after Caring Hearts Foster Care Sharing Closet, 42 Hauser St., officially opened its doors on Monday.
The sharing closet is open Monday through Saturday, but the nonprofit’s founders can be contacted whenever a child is placed with a family and items are needed. The nonprofit was founded by four local foster care parents, Tyrone and Andreyada Nixon, and Angel Cribb and Russell Massingill. Angel Cribb said the idea
behind the sharing closet is to provide one location where foster families can find everything they needed for children. Foster parents must provide a valid child-placement agreement provided by Department of Social Services in order to be eligible to receive items from the nonprofit. She said the nonprofit is her
way to give back to the children who have been as important to her as she has been for them. “Giving back to them means the world to me,” she said. These children can grow up to do great things; they just need us to provide for them right now, Cribb said. Cribb said the closet receives donations from many
people throughout the community. The nonprofit even received donated strollers during its opening ceremony. The closet has clothing to fit infants, toddlers, adolescents and teens as well as play pens, toys, books, jewelry and shoes. Cribb said the closet will
SEE CLOSET, PAGE A5
Holland announces plan to run for Sumter mayor FROM STAFF REPORTS William “Dutch” Holland, retired U.S. Air Force major general from Shaw Air Force Base, announced that he plans to run for City of Sumter mayor during the general election on Nov. 8. After serving 34 years in the Air Force, Holland retired in 2010 and decided to stay in Sumter and work for the city and county as the Shaw Base Defense director, later renamed ShawSumter Partnership for Progress director, until December 2014.
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After his release from the city and county in 2014, Holland and his wife, Norma, also a retired Air Force officer, immediately became active in the community, participating in many activities in downtown Sumter as well as YWCA of the Upper LowHOLLAND lands, League of Women Voters and One Sumter organizations to help address issues they thought were important in the community.
Dutch Holland serves on the Red Cross Sandhills Advisory Council; South Carolina Midlands Red Cross Board of Directors; South Carolina Veterans Policy Academy; Sumter Combat Veterans Group; Sumter Vision in Progress; and Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce. He also recently joined the local Rotary and Sertoma organizations. He is a member of Fort Jackson Commander’s Senior Leader Forum and serves on numerous committees at his alma mater, East Carolina Uni-
DEATHS, B7 Ruthie M. Williams Salters Ballard Jr. Ethel Farmer Howard W. Brutsch Rosa Mae Pringle
Roosevelt Miller Jr. Flora Wright Paralee Wilson Georgia Mae Mack Andrea Owensford
versity in Greenville, North Carolina, including the board of visitors and the chancellor’s society. Holland is working with the Chamber’s small business committee to help potential entrepreneurs, especially veterans and those getting ready to leave active duty, start local businesses. “We must continue to encourage and actively seek out other industries for our community; but we also must provide incentives for the small
SEE MAYOR, PAGE A5
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3 SECTIONS, 24 PAGES VOL. 121, NO. 197
Sunny and warm today with little chance of rain; clear and mild tonight. HIGH 85, LOW 62
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