IN SPORTS: With Byrnes visiting, it’s time for Sumter football fans to show up B1 NATION
U.S. religious leaders make forceful appeal for Syrian refugees A6 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015
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Fireside Fund honors Propst this season BY JACK OSTEEN jack@theitem.com Dr. Charles R. “Pap” Propst, in whose honor this season’s Fireside Fund is dedicated, was one of Sumter’s most beloved physicians and exemplified what the Fireside Fund is all about: A spirit of giving and helping others, especially the truly needy. “It’s all about service, which is what Dr. Propst’s life was dedicated to, not just as a pediatrician caring for children but as a community leader who served faithfully on the School District 17 Board of Trustees for many years,”
said Hubert D. Osteen, chairman of Osteen Publishing Co., and a close friend. “He was one of Sumter’s finest who made a difference in so many people’s lives,” Osteen said. “In remembrance of him, this year’s fund could not have been dedicated to a more selfless and giving person than Pap Propst.” Started in 1969, the Fireside Fund is
a partnership between The Sumter Item and The Salvation Army. The newspaper collects the donations and gives them to the local nonprofit. The Christian charity then interviews people who need help with heating costs such as past-due electric bills or to purchase kerosene or wood. Candidates must provide a valid form of picture identification, paycheck stubs and copies of late bills. “Dad loved Sumter and everyone associated with the town; and he spent his life working to make things better for all people whether through medicine, the schools or the YMCA,” said
one of Propst’s two sons, Sims Propst. “Dad was all about people and always delighted in their successes. He would be proud to know that he was representing the Salvation Army and helping the Fireside Fund,” Sims Propst said. Dr. Charles “Pap” Propst died on May 20, PROPST 2015, at the age of 90. He founded Sumter Pediatrics with Dr. Ted Young in 1954, and he practiced there until 1986. Propst became a prominent
SEE PROPST, PAGE A11
Swan Lake lights up Nov. 30
SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTOS
The Fantasy of Lights annually delights both children and adults. Many people enjoy walking through the display of Christmas lights, while others prefer to drive. Either way, they can see all the different characters, trees and other objects. In addition, children can get help writing letters to Santa and mailing them to the North Pole on weekends.
Festival undeterred after flood damage BY IVY MOORE ivy@theitem.com Things are about to get much brighter around Swan Lake-Iris Gardens. The gardens will be illuminated by thousands of color-
ful lights during the Monday, Nov. 30, opening ceremonies for the annual Fantasy of Lights. Lynn Kennedy, events coordinator for the city, said many of the Christmas lights were lost when the warehouse
where they were stored was flooded during the first weekend in October. “A lot of them were OK, and we’re replacing the others,” she said, “so the display
SEE LIGHTS, PAGE A10
Clyburn donates congressional papers to USC COLUMBIA — Sumter native and No. 3 House Democrat James Clyburn is sending his congressional papers to University of South Carolina to help establish a new research and education center on civil rights. “I want this center to take a hard look at what South Carolina did for the civil rights movement, and so many people don’t know about it,” Clyburn, the first black person elected to Congress from the state since Reconstruction, told The Associated Press in a recent interview. The 75-year-old congressman is formally announcing the donation Monday morning. Clyburn said he thinks students and citizens demonstrating for civil liber-
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ties today will be buoyed by learning of the courage shown by the average men and women — black and white — who struggled for years to achieve equality. He said his papers will show that his work was part of a movement and that his rise in politics stands on the contribuCLYBURN tions of many other men and women who came before him. “What I want to see in this center is young people being motivated, learning lessons that can benefit them,” he said. “It’s important for people to know that the whole issue of civil rights, of human rights, transcends
race and political persuasion.” The university’s Center for Civil Rights History and Research is going to be able to draw from the university’s collections of more than 100 civil rights leaders, politicians and citizen activists, said Tom McNally, USC’s dean of libraries. African-American history professor Bobby Donaldson said Clyburn’s contribution comes at a crucial time. “We find ourselves in South Carolina at a profound juncture in terms of racial matters,” said Donaldson, referring to the deaths of the nine black churchgoers at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston and the subsequent battle concerning the removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse.
DEATHS, B5 Marie S. Montalbano Thelma Crosby Virginia B. Brabham James Padgett
Geneva F. Blackmon Elizabeth DuBose James Grant Jr. Debra S. Brettelle
Last week, a group of primarily African-American students walked out of class to protest what they called inequalities for minority groups on the Columbia campus, as well as the lack of black role models in academic and university leadership roles. Clyburn’s papers document his rise to the highest levels of congressional leadership; his work on legislation such as the 2006 reauthorization of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965; and his support during the years of labor unions, the minimum wage, Pell grants and historically black educational institutions, McNally said. Also, the papers will cast light on the
SEE CLYBURN, PAGE A11
WEATHER, A12
INSIDE
NICE AND CHILLY
2 SECTIONS, 20 PAGES VOL. 121, NO. 35
Sunny and cool today with no chance of rain; Tonight, clear and cold. HIGH 58, LOW 36
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