TELEVISION: ‘American Experience’ remembers ‘Space Men’
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An evening of good causes Award winners highlight race, abuse, climate change
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GOP split as Trump, Clinton seek wins BY JULIE PACE and JILL COLVIN The Associated Press VALDOSTA, Ga. — On the eve of Super Tuesday’s crucial primaries, a sharp new divide erupted between Republicans who pledge to fall in line
behind Donald Trump if he wins their party’s nomination and others who insist they can never back the bombastic billionaire. The fissure could have major implications beyond the primaries, exposing the
More goats fall victim to dog pack in Dalzell
looming challenges in uniting the party after the election, no matter who wins. Nebraska’s Ben Sasse, a rising star among conservatives, became the first current senator to publicly raise the prospect of backing a third party
option if Trump clinches the nomination. In a letter posted on Facebook late Sunday, Sasse urged Republicans to consider whether a party led by Trump would still represent their interests. “If our party is no longer
working for the things we believe in — such as defending the sanctity of life, stopping Obamacare, protecting the Second Amendment, etc. — then people of good conscience
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Dedication to the Hawks
11 animals dead after early Monday attack BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com “It makes me sick,” Harold Johnson said Monday after 11 more of his goats were killed by dogs in his field behind his Tree House Nursery in Dalzell. It is the third such attack in the last few weeks. Johnson said several young goats, or “kids,” were among the victims mauled to death in the latest incident. “We were out there playing with them yesterday,” he said. “My wife was feeding them out of a bucket yesterday afternoon.” Johnson, who raises the goats to be milk animals or pets, said they were trying to keep the animals tame after surviving other attacks. “It breaks your heart,” the retired Sumter police chief said. Though Johnson’s field is protected by a 5- or 6-foot fence, the large dogs seem to have no problems leaping it, he said. The dogs attacked early Monday morning, and Johnson was able to obtain pictures of the dogs using a deer camera, but he has still not been able to identify where the dogs live. Johnson said he has been checking his field every night but didn’t Sunday. “The one night I didn’t go out, they came in,” he said. He said the attack happened between 3 and 5 a.m. He has seen one of the three dogs that attacked Monday before, he said, a pit bull with short ears, but didn’t recognize the other two. “I have ridden every back road and every field now for three weeks, and I’ve never seen these dogs,” he said. “Somebody knows these dogs. They are big, healthy, well-fed dogs.”
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KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
DeShawn McKnight, 12, runs with a parachute to train for next football season. McKnight plays fullback and linebacker for the Alice Drive Middle School Hawks and was training with his father and little brother Saturday at Dillon Park.
Warm weather might give false impression of community needs BY RICK CARPENTER rick@theitem.com Don’t let the warm temperatures fool you, said Salvation Army social worker Christy Lamb. The need to help people from having their electricity turned off remains high, she said. One client went by The Salvation Army office last week with an electric
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bill of more than $600. That client said she heats her home with space heaters that continue to run up her bill, but
she received a notice that her electricity was going to be disconnected if she didn’t pay her bill. “She has no other form of heat,” Lamb said. Warm temperatures may give locals the impression that heating bills have subsided. But electric companies have been notifying residences that their electricity will be cut off if they don’t
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make payments. While many people may take electrical service for granted, she said for many clients, that’s their only way to heat their homes. And temperatures continue to drop at night. Meanwhile, Lamb said many of the final disconnection notices were from
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Nice and warm with some sun; a storm early this morning is possible HIGH 73, LOW 53
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