TWEETING SHARK?
Great white off East Coast is a star
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Heroin antidote hits the streets Regular folks can be trained to carry lifesaving drug A4
SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894
TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2015
75 CENTS
Obama restricts transfer of military gear to police President: Battlefield equipment ‘can alienate and intimidate’ BY NEDRA PICKLER The Associated Press KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
Sherry Armstrong pulls weeds in the sensory garden that members of Alice Drive Baptist Church are building at Cherryvale Elementary School as part of Project Inasmuch.
Church plants sensory garden
CAMDEN, N.J. — President Obama ended long-running federal transfers of some combat-style gear to local law enforcement Monday in an attempt to ease tensions between police and minority communities, saying equipment made for the battlefield should not be a tool of American criminal justice.
Grenade launchers, bayonets, tracked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft and vehicles, firearms and ammunition of .50 caliber or higher will no longer be provided to state and local police agencies by the federal government under Obama’s order. “We’ve seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people a feeling like there’s an occupying force, as opposed to a force that’s part of the community
that’s protecting them and serving them,” Obama said, nine months after an outcry over the use of riot gear and armored vehicles by police confronting protesters in Ferguson, Missouri. “It can alienate and intimidate local residents and send the wrong message,” he said. Obama made his announcement in
SEE MILITARY GEAR, PAGE A7
VIETNAM WAR, 50 YEARS LATER
A welcome home long overdue
School’s plot will stimulate senses BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com Members of Alice Drive Baptist Church Outreach gathered in the Cherryvale Elementary School courtyard on Saturday morning to begin construction of the Cherryvale Sensory Garden and Outdoor Classroom as one of the church’s Operation Inasmuch projects that was rained out in April. The garden will have interactive features made of recycled materials aimed to stimulate students’ senses of touch, sight, hearing and smell. Cindy Roberson, assistant physical therapist with Sumter School District, said the sensory garden and outdoor classroom will really benefit students with disabilities who may not be able to tolerate all outdoor elements. She said students will be able to anticipate the changing textures in nature by feeling the different landmarks on the ground in the garden. She said the inside of the covered shed, which will serve as the outdoor classroom, will have different colors and textured items on the ceiling, and the seating and tables will be made from tree stumps and other natural elements. ADBC Outreach was able to acquire all of the construction materials through Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation with a Toolbox for Education grant of $4,950. Cherryvale special education teacher Linda Bach said she is very appreciative of the volunteers from the church. “It means a lot to have so much support from the community,” she said. Maxwell Bohn, maintenance director at Cherryvale,
PHOTOS BY RICK CARPENTER / THE SUMTER ITEM
James A. Brown, of Sumter, above, stands beside the uniform he wore in the Navy during the Vietnam War in 1967 and 1968. The uniform is part of the Sumter Military Museum at 129 S. Harvin St. The museum hosted a reception after the 50th Anniversary Commemoration of the Vietnam War. Retired Maj. Gen. W.L. “Dutch” Holland, below, gives the keynote address during the ceremony recognizing the 50th anniversary of the official U.S. entry into the Vietnam War.
More than 300 attend ceremony to honor veterans BY RICK CARPENTER rick@theitem.com
I
the
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Sunday, Vietnam War veterans were thanked for their service and
honored for their commitment to serve their country.
Sumter’s Home Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution hosted the commemoration of 50 years since the U.S. officially entered the Vietnam War. Guest speaker W.L. “Dutch” Holland, retired major general and former commander of the 9th Air Force at Shaw Air Force Base, told the 300 in attendance the commemoration represented a welcome home from war that was long in coming. He pointed out it was the first war that reached every household in America either
SEE GARDEN, PAGE A7
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t took more than 50 years, but on
DEATHS, B5 Wendy K. McCoy Kenneth Kennedy Sadie McFadden Polly W. Timmerman Preston Nero Julia Dukes
Deborah T. Smith Nicole D. Johnson Willie T. Wilson Elias Rivera Thomas Warren James E. Sanders
by affecting a family member who served or those who watched TV news. “News correspondents were more well known and trustworthy than our elected officials,” he said about the 1960s, when journalists were making people aware of the realities of war. He said many veterans took off their uniforms when they came home from war because they were looked down upon by a generation that didn’t value their service and didn’t understand they were obeying their commander in chief, not agreeing with his political views of the war. Holland pointed out more than 58,000 soldiers died in the war. He contrasted that with the 125,000 draft dodgers who went to Canada to avoid the war and an additional 50,000 who deserted their country after entering the military. Holland acknowledged the unpopular war
SEE VIETNAM, PAGE A7
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2 SECTIONS, 18 PAGES VOL. 120, NO. 181
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