IN FOOD: Great ideas to treat Mom on Mother’s Day
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City approves resurfacing project $734K plan will include more than 15 streets BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com Sumter City Council approved a $734,220 contract with Palmetto Corporation of Conway to resurface more
than 15 state streets during its meeting on Tuesday. Assistant City Manager of Public Services Al Harris said it may take a year before the company gets to the roads on the project list because it is
working on other road projects. He said the city will try to get the Palmetto Corporation to get the project done as quickly as possible. Harris said the city received non-recurring funds from the state for the project.
The streets for the resurfacing project include: Lang Jennings Drive; Meadow Circle; South Purdy Street; Dogwood Drive; Loring Drive from Main Street to Magnolia Street; Hampton Avenue from Main Street to Harvin Street; Allen Drive; Brownfield Way; Arrowhead Drive; English
SEE CITY, PAGE A6
Observe International Firefighters’ Day Say ‘thank you’ to one of Sumter’s 287 firefighters today BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com International Firefighters’ Day started after five Australian volunteer firefighters died while trying to control a large wild fire in Victoria, Australia, in 1998. Now, Firefighters around the world are recognized every year on May 4 to show thanks to the men and women who lost their lives protecting the public and to support those who continue to fight fires. The holiday is observed on May 4 in honor of St. Florian, the patron saint of all firefighters, who died in the line of duty while serving as the commander of a firefighting squad in Roman Empire, according to International Firefighters’ Day website. International Firefighters’ Day is well earned and well deserved, said Phil Leventis, former South Carolina senator and director of development for South Carolina Firefighters’ Foundation. The nonprofit foundation dedicated to supporting the education of firefighters and the families of firefighters who have died on duty. “Three firefighters lost their lives in 2015, and we’ve already lost one this year,” Leventis said. He said the foundation also raises money to send firefighters to leadership schools and other training courses that will in turn benefit their fire stations and surrounding community. Leventis said some people do not understand the many situations firefighters are trained to respond to includ-
KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
Scott Graham, left, explains a new style of fire mask that the Sumter Fire Department will be trying out for the next month at station headquarters Tuesday afternoon. People often think of firefighters as only combating blazes, said Battalion Chief Joey Duggan, but they respond to other rescue operations, too, as many witnessed during October’s massive flooding. SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTO
ing: house fires, boating incidents, vehicle wrecks, collapsed buildings and wild fires.
They are also trained for urban search and rescue, he said. Leventis, who spent three
Sumter native attends dinner at White House, meets president BY KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY konstantin@theitem.com Sumter native Stephanie Michelle Johnson, a third-grade teacher at H.B. Rhame Elementary School in Richland County School District 1, did something on Tuesday night that most people won’t get the opportunity to do in their lifetime. She had dinner at The White House and met the president. She attended a banquet with the national teacher of the year, state teachers of the
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year and educational leaders from across the nation. Johnson has gone through many firsts in her lifetime. She was the first in her family to go to college and the first to become an educator. In DecemJOHNSON ber 2015, she became the first teacher from South Carolina to be selected as a 2015 Hope Street Group National Teacher Fellow, one of 18 fellows
SEE JOHNSON, PAGE A6
DEATHS, B7 Gloria Carter Anthony Glasscho Bessie Lee Singleton Sherry E. Walker
Victor H. Jackson Janie Barlow Robert Lee Pendergrass Albert Frazier Sr.
months of his 30-year-service in the U.S. Air Force in a combat environment, said he has some experience with danger-
ous situations that firefighters can experience on a daily basis. Firefighters can be called to a situation any day of the week at any time, he said. Leventis said four in every 1,000 people in South Carolina are firefighters. Of the estimated 17,500 firefighters in the state, about 10,500 are volunteers and 7,000 are career firefighters, he said. According to information provided by Leventis, S.C. firefighters saved an estimated $2.9 billion worth of property in 2015. Sumter Fire Department Battalion Chief Joey Duggan
SEE FIREFIGHTERS, PAGE A6
Cruz ends Republican bid; Sanders claims Indiana INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz ended his presidential campaign Tuesday, eliminating the biggest impediment to Donald Trump’s march to the Republican nomination, and Bernie Sanders won the Democratic presidential primary in Indiana, scoring a late primary season victory over front-runner Hillary Clinton. The conservative tea party firebrand who cast himself as
the only viable alternative to Trump announced his exit after a stinging defeat in Indiana’s Republican primary. “It appears that path has been foreclosed,” Cruz told supporters in Indianapolis. “Together, we left it all on the field of Indiana. We gave it everything we’ve got, but the voters chose another path, and so with a heavy heart but
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A BREAK FROM THE RAIN?
3 SECTIONS, 24 PAGES VOL. 121, NO. 167
Times of clouds and sun today, and partly cloudy tonight with the chance of a shower. HIGH 79, LOW 55
SEE PRIMARIES, PAGE A6
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