May 31, 2013

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ON PAGE 2A:

USC, Clemson begin postseason play today at Carolina Stadium and could meet up this weekend. B1

8 students face charges after fight Woman arrested after 3 other women stabbed

FRIDAY, MAY 31, 2013 | SUMTER, SOUTH CAROLINA

VOL. 118, NO. 190 WWW.THEITEM.COM

FOUNDED OCTOBER 15, 1894

60 CENTS

Person of interest ID’d Man wanted in killing and missing person cases BY SHARRON HALEY sharron@theitem-clarendonsun.com NEW ZION — Clarendon County and other local and state authorities are looking for a person of interest in connection to a missing 77-year-old woman and the shooting death of a local recycling center employee. Authorities late Thursday

were looking for Jeffrey Eady, 31, of 1054 527 Subdivision Road, a person of interest in the shooting death of the 65-year-old EADY recycling center employee and who is wanted for credit card fraud in connection to the missing woman. He was last seen in a 2008

blue Ford Focus, license plate GYF 642, possibly headed toward Savannah, Ga., according to Clarendon County SherBROWN iff Randy Garrett. Authorities believe there is an unidentified occupant in SEE EADY, PAGE A10

POLICE RESPOND TO EVENING WRECK

RANDY BURNS / SPECIAL TO THE ITEM

Easy Living Home Center, located at 239 N. Main St. in Bishopville, is closing its doors after 42 years in downtown.

Easy Living store closing number of years now, and I see no near-term prospect for improveBISHOPVILLE — Anment,” Smith said. “As other downtown business much as I hate to close is closing its doors. the store, there just Easy Living Home doesn’t seem to be a way Center, a fixwe can conture at 238 tinue.” N. Main St. GOING OUT OF BUSINESS Easy Livsince 1971, LIQUIDATION SALE ing Home opened its Center is doors at 10 Where: Easy Living Home Center, the latest in a.m. Thurs238 N. Main St., Bishopville a number of day for a Phone: (803) 585-6114 closings on “Going Out Main Street of Business in recent and Liquidation” sale. years including Citi Owner and operator Trends, Logan’s AppliTommy Smith said closances and Ginsberg’s Laing the furniture store dies’ Shop. was a “heart-wrenching In a letter sent to cusdecision.” tomers, Smith, a Camden “We’ve been fighting a weak economy for a SEE CLOSING, PAGE A7 BY RANDY BURNS Special to The Item

BRISTOW MARCHANT / THE ITEM

A Sumter police officer looks through the wreckage of a 1996 Chevrolet Blazer on Wednesday. The Blazer was reportedly traveling westbound on South Pike Road from Main Street when the car left the roadway and flipped onto its side between Pike and U.S. 378 about 6:35 p.m. The driver and the passenger were treated at the scene for injuries, and a section of Pike Road was shut down while firefighters and EMS attended to them.

County council meetings go high tech BY BRADEN BUNCH bbunch@theitem.com Sumter County Council has gone high tech. Attendees to Tuesday’s council meeting found the council chambers in the third floor of the Sumter County Administrative Building had more of a 21st-century flair, as the county administration unveiled a series of technological aids for the proceedings. While portraits of previous council chairmen continue to hang along the chamber walls, they are now joined by two wide presentation screens displaying the graphs,

maps and proposed ordinances associated with the issues at hand. In addition, a bank of monitors — one for each council member — adorn the council dais, displaying the documents as well. Each council member was also given a tablet-style computer, uploaded with the documents for the day’s agendas. The rollout of new equipment is part of a technological expansion county officials say they hope will make local government more accessible to the public. Earlier in the month, the county also installed a

PHOTOS BY BRADEN BUNCH / THE ITEM

County council members work with new tablet-style computers and presentation screens during their regular meeting Tuesday in council chambers.

SEE HIGH TECH, PAGE A7

BY ROBERT J. BAKER bbaker@theitem.com Patricia Singleton’s three children will never again celebrate Mother’s Day with her. They will never hear her laugh, or be able to come to her for encouraging words. The man the Sumter Police Department alleges shot her DARBY to death, Derrick Antwan Darby, will remain at the Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center for now. Third Circuit Judge R. Ferrell Cothran denied 3rd Circuit Assistant Public Defender Tiffany Butler’s motion for bond on a murder charge until “we can see if perhaps it is possible he was not fir-

DEATHS

20 N. Magnolia St. Sumter, SC 29150 (USPS 525-900)

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Judge denies bond for man accused in fatal shooting

Information: 774-1200 Advertising: 774-1236 Classifieds: 774-1234 Delivery: 774-1258 News, Sports: 774-1226

John H. Mickens Rosa Lee H. Brooks Marion Canty Sr. Wilson Oliver Jr. Franklin R. Johnson Ivory Wilson Jr.

Pearl M. Golden Nathaniel Anderson John A. Witherspoon Rosa Lee C. Clea B4, B5

ing directly at someone.” Darby, 18, was charged with murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and possession of a stolen pistol after the incident, which allegedly started Feb. 27 when Darby’s sister and another female began fighting in front of Singleton’s home, according to 3rd Circuit Assistant Solicitor W. Jason Corbett. “Darby injected himself into that altercation,” Corbett told Cothran. “He appears to have been firing at another individual and then missed, shooting Ms. Singleton in the chest.” Detective John Litaker told Cothran that Darby’s actions “were not in selfdefense.” “After the incident, he fled the scene,” Litaker SEE BOND DENIED, PAGE A10

OUTSIDE STORMS COMING? Mostly cloudy with storms possible today; humid tonight HIGH: 88 LOW: 66 A10

INSIDE 3 SECTIONS, 24 PAGES

Classifieds Comics Daily Planner Opinion Television Classifieds

C1 B7 A10 A9 B8 B7


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May 31, 2013 by The Sumter Item - Issuu