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THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015
Funding bill may be on road to nowhere BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com Frustrated motorists in South Carolina have been hoping the South Carolina General Assembly and Gov. Nikki Haley would take action this legislative session to address the poor condition of South Carolina highways. At this point, however, it looks like their brains may have been addled by all those potholes. Instead, it appears any solution may be blown off course by a Hurricane Hugo-sized political storm brewing between the governor and the General
Assembly. House Bill 3579, written by a special committee that met before the beginning of the session, has been passed out of two subcommittees to the full House Ways and Means Committee. Included in that bill are provisions that would change the way the Commission of the Department of Transportation is appointed, create a mechanism to transfer some state roads to counties, increase the user fee on wholesale gasoline and raise the maximum taxable amount of vehicle sales from $300 to $500. The South Carolina Coalition to Fix Our Roads, which
Industrial park will receive county funds
has waged an extensive lobbying campaign for action on the state’s roads, has thrown its support behind the House bill, even if not very enthusiastically. “We are anxious to have them move forward with a positive road funding proposal, and that looks like the only thing that is really moving right now that has any significant funding in it,” SCFOR executive director Bill Ross said. “We are supporting it fully. We don’t think it is adequate, but it is a start. It is moving in the right direction,” he said. In short, SCFOR is taking the position that some addi-
tional money for roads is better than none. “We have had so many years pass that we haven’t done anything and the roads are in terrible condition,” Ross said. “The longer we wait the more it is going to cost. “It’s just one of those things that we feel like we have to start somewhere.” Rep. Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, who is on the House Ways and Means Committee, said he has reservations about the bill and is not committed to vote for it. “I think there are still some refinements to be made,” he said.
Smith said that while the House bill raises more money than the governor has proposed, it would only maintain roads in what the Department of Transportation calls “satisfactory” condition. On top of that, Smith thinks tweaking the DOT leadership structure will not produce better results for smaller, rural communities and is not getting to the core of the problem. “This bill, as it currently stands, is asking the taxpayers of Sumter County and Lee County and Clarendon County to, in essence, fund projects in
SEE ROADS, PAGE A10
CLOWNING AROUND
Ringling Bros.’ GiGi visits Sumter
$86,000 set aside by council for recertification studies BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com In preparation for the recertification of Black River Airport Industrial Park, Sumter County will provide funds for the studies needed to qualify the land as a marketable industrial site. Industrial sites must be re-certified by the South Carolina Department of Commerce every five years in order to qualify as marketable property. Black River Airport Industrial Park’s first certification in 2009 expired in 2014, and in order for the site to be marketable to future companies, it needs to be certified. “The major point of a site certification is to reduce the number of unknowns about a property,” said Rick Farmer, director of communications and strategic initiatives of Sumter Economic Development. He said uncertified properties could be problematic to investing companies if all of the necessary
studies are not completed before the land is sold. The funds provided by the county will go toward an updated environmental assessment, wetlands delineation, a protected species study, Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps and documents associated with the ownership of the property. Sumter County Administrator Gary Mixon said the re-certification of the industrial park will be a big advantage for the county because the site will be listed on the S.C. Department of Commerce’s website for industrial parks in the state. Sumter County Council voted to provide as much as $86,000 for the re-certification of the industrial park during its meeting on Tuesday. The money will come from the county’s infrastructure fund, which is set aside for industrial and economic development initiatives. The
Jennifer Thomas, above left, an employee of the Rubye Johnson Headstart center, learns to juggle with GiGi the clown from Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus at the Sumter County Library on Thursday. GiGi read to the children and performed magic for them. GiGi the clown takes a make-asilly-face “selfie” with the children from the Rubye Johnson Headstart center. KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
SEE SITE, PAGE A10
Heart disease not always obvious; Heart Association work critical BY RICK CARPENTER rick@theitem.com
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started this column last month when my 85-year-old mom was having congestive heart failure. She has since recovered and is doing well. It was a natural fit to promote Saturday’s American Heart Association Heart Walk (9 a.m. at Greater Sumter Area Chamber of Commerce, 32 E. Calhoun St.), especially since my dad also had heart disease when he died at 81. As a former competitive distance runner who has continued to run, bicycle and lift weights all my life, I never thought I’d be writing about my
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own heart issues. That changed a few weeks ago and will change more this week. For about a year, I had been experiencing severe headaches during and after long bike rides (as long as 70 miles). Before moving to Sumter in October, doctors in Reno, Nevada, had taken an MRI of my head to see if I had a developing aneuCARPENTER rysm or blockage that might be causing the headaches. They allegedly found a brain, but no health issues. That was after doctors there had me add salt to my diet (yes, a doctor actu-
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ally prescribed the unthinkable); exercising with and without caffeine; taking mega-doses of ibuprofen before, during and after a ride; and running exhaustive blood tests to see if I had an imbalance of chemicals that might be causing the headaches. Nothing showed up. When I moved here, Dr. Luke Lucas at Colonial Family Practice put me through a battery of tests that I basically rolled my eyes over with the attitude “been there, done that.” The tests included a nuclear stress test, an echocardiogram, an electrocardiogram, a carotid Doppler test and a holster monitor that looks for irregular heartbeats and fainting spells for 24 hours.
DEATHS, B4 Susan G. Lawson Alfred H. Perry Dr. Charles W. Long Helen M. Reese Dorothy M. Baird Chester L. Douglas IV
Daryll C. Milam Bonnie K. Parnell Thompson R. Foster Sr. Charlie Brunson Gladys M. Kelly-Pringle Mack Hollmon
In a follow-up visit, Lucas said the echocardiogram showed a suspicious area that looked like it might be limiting blood flow through my right subclavian artery, which winds its way through my right clavicle (aka collarbone) and supplies blood to my right arm all the way to my fingers. Last week, I had an angiogram where a doctor in Columbia was planning to insert a stent in the artery to open it. But when the doctor got to that point, he discovered there was what appeared to be an aneurysm on the other side of the blockage. Luckily, the doctor stopped the procedure to
SEE HEART, PAGE A10
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