9 arrested, $240K in drugs seized in Rembert raids 25 dogs, fighting pit also confiscated from area home $1.50
SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2014
BY BRADEN BUNCH bbunch@theitem.com (803) 774-1201
SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894 A series of early Saturday morning drug raids in the Rembert area have led to the arrest of nine people on various drug charges as deputies with the Sumter County
Sheriff’s Office seized a combination of marijuana, cocaine and crack cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $240,000. In addition to the drugs, during one of the morning raids - this one on a residence in the 5600 block of Hines Road in Rembert - authorities also came across an apparent
pit bull dog-fighting ring, discovering not only 25 ill-treated terriers, but also a pit in the back of the residence that authorities say was used to fight the animals. According to law enforcement reports, Saturday’s operation was
SEE BUST, PAGE A9
The different faces of Mother’s Day
When all you have is each other
Sharing memories with Mom
5 SECTIONS, 38 PAGES | VOL. 119, NO. 177
MATT WALSH / THE SUMTER ITEM
JADE REYNOLDS / THE SUMTER ITEM
Brady and his mom, Nina, sit at a picnic table with their dog, Kashi, on Saturday, and are looking for a foster family to look after their dogs while they get back on their feet.
Deborah Norman, back, sits with her mother, Helen Carroll, at a Mother’s Day Tea held Thursday at Covenant Place. Carroll won a gold medal for swimming is the 1932 Olympics and athleticism runs in her family.
Homeless mother, son Centennials celebrate face hardship together with their daughters
Taming the Wildcats Barnes, Sumter shutout Lexington in 7-0 in lower state opener B1
DEATHS, A9 Jane A. Carper Margaret L. Lamer Willie P. Ragin Doris F. Holladay Earlene H. Bennett Clara Fowler
Antonio J. Cowell Peter I. Okodugha Catherine F. Keen Lorenzo Tindal Vernon E. Hampton Marie M. Brodie
WEATHER, A10
BY MATT WALSH matt@theitem.com (803) 774-1227
BY JADE REYNOLDS jade@theitem.com (803) 774-1250
Brady Lambert will wake up in a dusty green house in Sumter’s historic district with nothing but a peanut butter sandwich to give to his mother, who will be laying next to him on the morning of Mother’s Day. He could not be a better son, said his mother, Nina. “This one has been there for me through thick and thin,” said Nina about her son. “Now things are very thin, and he is still here. There is no better son.” Three weeks ago, illness and a stroke of bad luck left the two homeless for the first time, and they have spent the last six days living in Memorial Park with their two dogs, Kashi and Tinker Bell. Brady and Nina were evicted from their Loring Drive home after Nina lost her job at Save-A-Lot because her legs gave out and she fell down. She has Stage-3 Fibromyalgia, a painful muscle disease that will eventually put her in a wheelchair, she said. Brady, 21, suffers from a debilitating cyst on his
A few women are fortunate enough to be celebrating this weekend with mothers who are almost or are a century old. While no one special Mother’s Day sticks out for them, they all remember getting together for the special occasion. “We would gather in the dining room at your house and had dinner or sometimes Dad would take us all out to eat,” Deborah Norman told her mother Helen Carroll. “Mother was the center of attention, and we always gave her gifts and cards. If there were dishes, the husband and children had to take care of them.” It was a tradition many carried into adulthood. “We’d come from wherever we were,” Betty Hornsby said. “Many times we couldn’t, but we always wanted to be there with Mama. We’d leave our children and come to our mother.” Her mother is Mary Cunningham.
SEE HOMELESS, PAGE A3
SEE CENTENNIALS, PAGE A7
THE GREEN THUMB Until the last year or so, Cunningham tended the gardens at Covenant Place.
BEAUTIFUL MOTHER’S DAY Partly sunny throughout the day; a clear, moonlit sky at night. HIGH 87, LOW 66
INSIDE
CONTACT US
Business D1 Classifieds D3 Comics E1 Lotteries A10 Opinion A8 Television E3
Info: 774-1200 Advertising: 774-1237 Classifieds: 774-1234 Delivery: 774-1258 News and Sports: 774-1226
VISIT US ONLINE AT the
.com
Brady and Nina walk to a home that opened their greenhouse to them for the night on Saturday.