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Disc golf makes its way to Sumter BY HAMLET FORT hamlet@theitem.com Golf is one of the simplest and yet most frustrating sports to play. Now the sport is taking new forms that help alleviate the stress and the cost of the timehonored tradition of 18 holes on a beautifully landscaped course. Disc golf is growing in popularity. Take the basics of golf and a flying disc, and you’ve got the essentials for a round of disc golf. It’s a new style that uses less equipment, and if you know how to throw a Frisbee, less practice. Players throw a disc into a PHOTO PROVIDED BY STEVE BOUCHER metal basket with chains that The chained post serves as a disc golf “hole,” seen in silhou- catch the disc, aka the “hole.” ette against the sunset. The objective of reaching the
hole with the fewest throws remains the same as in traditional golf, which counts strokes. A typical course consists of 18 baskets with at least one tee pad per hole. Steve Boucher, representative for South Carolina Disc Golf Organization, said the sport is extremely accessible to players of all ages. “The sport is very affordable, requiring as few as one disc, although more serious players will carry 20 to 30 discs, with each one as different as a golf club,” said Boucher. Different discs occupy different roles, such as putters, midrange and drivers. The largest professional tournament, the U.S. Disc Golf Championship, is held in Rock Hill every October, and it draws play-
ers from all over the world. According to Boucher, there are 96 courses in South Carolina and approximately 200 in North Carolina. Sumter will soon try to make it 97. On Saturday, March 28, a disc golf tournament will be held at Dillon Park in Sumter. The entry fees will go toward building a disc golf course in the community, according to Kelly Melton, the organizer for the tournament. The tournament will comprise two rounds of 18 holes. Entry fees will be $15 for beginners and $20 for pros, advanced and intermediate players. Melton said he first got into disc golf five years ago and that
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Volunteers create ‘victory garden’ at Morningside BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com Morningside Assisted Living residents and volunteers got their hands dirty to create a raised pallet garden Wednesday afternoon. The project was spearheaded by three student volunteers from Saint Leo University’s Human Services program at Shaw Education Center on Shaw Air Force Base. The three students, Debbie Sage, Kelvin Thompson and Megan Geddings, are volunteers with the hospice organization, Caris Healthcare. Caris provides nurses and volunteers for many senior homes and individuals across the city. Volunteer Coordinator and licensed master social worker Erin Weekes said the victory garden is the brain child of a former Caris volunteer who is now the volunteer coordinator for Caris Healthcare in Columbia. Weekes said the victory garden is a World War II concept when people grew their own food at home to help cut back on spending. Everything that is grown in the garden will be used in the
kitchen of the home. Morningside Community Relations Director Heather Freiberg said the food service director and executive chef have been discussing which vegetables can be put in the garden and served throughout the day. The garden contains lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, strawberries, herbs and various flowers for a pop of color. Freiberg said some of the residents are excited to eat food fresh from the garden as well. “For some of them, it’s something they naturally did when they were growing up,” she said. “It wasn’t something that was trending.” Freiberg said the residents are excited to have the garden. “We’re very appreciative of Caris for reaching out to us and including us in their initiative,” she said. The volunteers and residents used raised wooden pallets as gardening troughs and leaned them against the walls of the courtyard. Weekes said the raised gardens are great for those residents who may have trouble bending. Sage said the gardening experience was very rewarding, especially to see the residents get involved. She described one res-
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Scott Freiberg, food service director for Morningside Assisted Living, and Debbie Sage, a volunteer, talk about the items being planted in the “victory garden” in the facility’s courtyard on Wednesday. The garden is being coordinated by Caris Healthcare and features items which can be used in the facility’s kitchen. Caris plans to reach out to other assisted care homes to build other gardens. ident who was more than happy to get her hands in the soil on Wednesday. “She told me, ‘I’m just an old farm girl,’” Sage said. Sage and her peers will graduate from Saint Leo University in May. According to Weekes, the garden could serve more than just a nutritional purpose. She
said the gardens will be great for residents with memory deficiencies. She said the residents may not be able to remember what happened yesterday or last week but they can remember yesteryear. Weekes said the garden can help residents who have memory deficiencies to connect
with family over a shared experience. Weekes said she is really interested in the idea of a community garden and she hopes to bring gardens to other senior living homes around the city. Caris volunteers will return to Morningside next week to complete the pallet garden.
Wedgefield sisters reach the top, heading 2 state agencies BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com
Start or kindergarten, and I had done both, so by the time I got in third grade, I was more advanced than the other children, and they started putting me in accelerated classes.” Murray said one of her favorite teachers was her thirdgrade teacher, Jessie Washington, and in high school, she was inspired by her home economics teacher. “I didn’t have an interest at all in home ec, but she was the one who gave us a firm foundation: ‘You will go to college, you will do good, you will pick a great school to attend,’”
At first glance, it would seem remarkable that two sisters who grew up in the rural community of Wedgefield would rise to the top of two separate state agencies. Sylvia Murray was recently confirmed by the South Carolina Senate to be the new director of Department of Juvenile Justice, while her younger sister, Valarie Williams, has been the executive director of South Carolina Housing and Finance Development AuthorPHOTO PROVIDED ity for seven years. Valarie Williams, left, and Sylvia Murray are sisters who grew up in After growing up in Sumter Wedgefield and now head separate state agencies. County, Sylvia Murray attend-
ed Columbia College and had jobs at an insurance company and, later, at a software company. At DJJ, she worked as a business manager for about seven years and as a lobbyist for the agency. “I was promoted to deputy director two years ago,” she said. Growing up in Wedgefield was not a hindrance to her success, Murray said. “I had very strong roots in my elementary school (F.J. Delaine), and that, I think, prepared me for a higher task. ... Most kids my age in elementary school didn’t get the opportunity to go to Head
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