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Officials nab 2 in high-speed chase
Education task force gathering coming up New state group will host speakers Monday BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com
PHOTOS BY KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
Sumter County Sheriff’s Office deputies and state troopers discuss a high-speed chase as the driver, Rayshon Jamall Foster, is placed in a patrol car on Flamingo Street on Friday afternoon. Deputies discovered about $21,000 in Foster’s abandoned vehicle. The passenger in the chase, Donald Dingle, below, looks out of the back of a sheriff’s patrol car on Friday after he was captured.
Items thrown from suspects’ vehicle as they fled on S.C. 53 FROM STAFF REPORTS Sumter County Sheriff ’s Office apprehended and charged two suspects Friday afternoon after they reportedly took deputies, members of South Carolina Highway Patrol and Sumter Police Department on a chase that reached speeds as high as 110 mph on S.C. 53. Unconfirmed reports indicated the suspects were seen throwing items from the vehicle during the pursuit. When officers stopped the vehicle, a white Chevrolet Impala, the driver and a passenger allegedly
bolted from the scene. The driver, Rayshon Jamall Foster, 21, last known address 422 Council St., was apprehended near the vehicle, but the passenger, Donald Ant-
wan Dingle, 23, last known address 117 King St., who reportedly took off his upper garments so that he would not be identifiable, was apprehended about a quarter
mile from where the vehicle was ditched. A spokesman for the sheriff ’s office said about $21,000 in cash was found in the abandoned vehicle as well as a handgun. Officers were calling one of the items dropped during the pursuit a “satchel.” Officers were still looking for the dropped items Friday evening as of press time. Foster was charged with failure to stop for blue lights; driving under suspension, second offense; contempt of magistrate’s court and contempt of circuit court. Dingle was charged with breach of peace in the incident. Both men are being held at Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center awaiting bond hearings.
The House Education Policy Review and Reform Task Force will meet from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at Dillon Middle School, 1803 Joan Drive, Dillon. Invited speakers include Tammy Rawloski, director of Francis Marion University Center of Excellence; Rep. Terry Alexander, D-Florence; Helena Tillar, superintendent of Marlboro County School District and chairwoman of Pee Dee Education Center; Debbie Hyler from the School Foundation; and ANDREWS Rette Dean, former superintendent of Marion School District 7. Other expected speakers include numerous educators and private citizens. South Carolina House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, formed the task force in January after South Carolina Supreme Court refused to reconsider its decision in Abbeville County School District v. the State of South Carolina that ordered the state to make changes in how it funds poor rural school districts. The task force first met Feb. 23 in Columbia, where it heard from speakers such as Lucas, former S.C. governor and U.S. Education Secretary Richard Riley, former state superintendents of education Barbara Neilson and Inez Tenenbaum and other education experts. Lee County Public Schools Superintendent Wanda Andrews, a member of the task force, said she thinks the group learned a lot at the first meeting. “I think that the speakers, and especially our former governor, Riley, shared a lot of information that will be significant for moving forward,” she said. “I would say that the first meeting was time well spent.” Andrews said she expects to gain more information at Monday’s meeting. “I think we will hear from community members and educators and folks who are concerned about education in South Carolina,” she said. “I think it is gathering information from a different group from whom we heard from the first time. “We will hear from superintendents, community members, educators, and I think this will be, again, time well spent, hearing from people in the community and school systems and what they have to say.”
SEE TASK FORCE, PAGE A7
Undersecretary visits Clarendon, stresses importance of rural care BY KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY konstantin@theitem.com MANNING — Lisa Mensah, undersecretary for U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, spoke on the importance of rural
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showed a $710,000 profit in 2014. By refinancing under USDA Rural Development, the hospital is able to save tens of thousands of dollars because of lower interest rates and a longer term in repayment, Stokes said.
to support rural health care in the United States.” Mensah said she knows how vital rural hospitals are to their communities. “The care you provide to the residents of this county is exceptional, and they can rest assured that you will be there for them in their toughest
times of their lives,” she said. USDA Rural Development was instrumental last year in providing the health system with a low-interest loan to pay off a commercial bank loan with difficult requirements, said CEO Richard Stokes. The health system faced accumulating losses in the past but
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health care during her visit to Clarendon Health System on Friday. “A large part of my job is presenting in front of Congress the stories behind the numbers,” Mensah said. “What you all are doing at Clarendon Health System is a great example of why we need
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