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Obama marks Selma milestone 1st black president commemorates civil rights march
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Obama speaks near the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Saturday in Selma, Alabama. This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” a civil rights march in which protestors were beaten, trampled and tear-gassed by police at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
SELMA, Ala. (AP) — America’s racial history “still casts its long shadow upon us,” President Barack Obama said Saturday as he stood in solidarity and remembrance with civil rights activists whose beatings by police a half-century ago galvanized much of the nation against racial oppression and hastened passage of historic voting rights for minorities. Tens of thousands of people joined to commemorate the “Bloody Sunday” march of 1965 and take stock of the struggle for equality. Under a broiling sun, the first black U.S. president praised the figures of a civil rights era that he was too young to know but
“It was not a clash of armies, but a clash of wills, a contest to determine the meaning of America,” Obama said. He was 3 years old at the time of the march. A veteran of that clash, Rep. John Lewis, who was brought down by police truncheons that day in 1965 and suffered a skull fracture, exhorted the crowd to press on with the work of racial justice. “Get out there and push and pull until we redeem the soul of America,” Lewis said. He was the youngest and is the last survivor of the Big Six civil rights
that helped him break the ultimate racial barrier in political history with his ascension to the highest office. He called them “warriors of justice” who pushed America closer to a more perfect union. “So much of our turbulent history — the stain of slavery and anguish of civil war, the yoke of segregation and tyranny of Jim Crow, the death of four little girls in Birmingham, and the dream of a Baptist preacher — met on this bridge,” Obama told the crowd before taking a symbolic walk across part of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where the 1965 march erupted into police violence.
SEE SELMA, PAGE A9
CCTC head pleased with transfer deal
Lakewood falls short in 1st title appearance Lancaster’s Malia Rivers blocks Lakewood’s Kamryn Lemon shot during Saturday’s 3A girls state basketball championship at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia. The Lady Gators fell short in their first state title appearance with a 44-42 loss to Lancaster, who completed a 27-0 season.
BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com South Carolina Technical College System signed letters of intent with Clemson University and University of South Carolina to offer coordinated admission processes for students graduating from one of the 16 technical colleges in the state. Discussion of creating a smooth pathway from a technical college to a four-year university has been in the works since last fall, according to Kelly Steinhilper, director of communications for the system. Now that the letters of intent have been signed, the universities and SCTCS are working together to “hammer out the details” of the agreements.
KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
SEE COLLEGES, PAGE A9
Boy Scouts, state barbecue association host benefit weekend BY HAMLET FORT hamlet@theitem.com Fourteen barbecue teams met Friday and Saturday at the fairgrounds on Liberty Street in Sumter raise money for a good cause. The Henry Shelor District of the Boy Scouts of America and the South Carolina Barbeque Association teamed up to put on the 4th annual BBQ for Boy Scouts Benefit. Friday evening was the Wing Ding portion of the event where the barbecue teams offered up chicken wings for judging. Saturday was the main draw with the teams jockeying for prize money in pulled pork and rib competitions. The Sumter Item was allowed access to the judging tables at both events to learn about the judging process and sample some of the finest barbecue in the region.
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The South Carolina Barbeque Association upholds rigorous standards for judging meat as well as an extensive training program to certify judges at competitions across the state. Potential judges have to pass a one-day seminar and judge four events at the “novice” table where master judges teach about the finer points of scoring barbecue. Once they’ve completed the seminar and judged four events as novices, they can be a certified SCBA judge, according to Harold Chandler, master judge and event marshal for the SCBA. After judging 15 events and cooking with at least one team, you can move to senior judge, and 15 more events after that gets you to master judge. Meats are judged on appearance, aroma, taste, texture and tenderness. Scores are
tallied to determine a winner and runners-up based on all the factors that go into mastering barbecue. Chandler said the event is one of many SCBA sanctioned events, and they’re always in support of some charity, event, group or even just for town fund raising. It was the chief fund raising event for the Henry Shelor District of the Boy Scouts, which encompasses Sumter, Clarendon and Lee counties. The money raised in ticket sales goes toward the Pee Dee Area Council, which according to Emil Wodicka, program director for the district, operates the Scouts’ programs in northeastern South Carolina. The money will help put on events such as Boy Scouts summer camp and the winter and fall camporees. Boy Scouts represented their different units at the event, and Wodicka said they
HAMLET FORT / THE SUMTER ITEM
A barbecue team representatives dishes out pulled pork Saturday morning at the 4th annual BBQ for Boy Scouts Benefit. A Wing Ding competition was held Friday. helped the cook teams by punching tickets so the cooks could focus on their barbecue. “The Scouts are out here making their presence known
and thanking everyone for buying tickets and being here,” Wodicka said. “We are
SEE BARBECUE, PAGE A9
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