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Crowds turn out for sales bonanza BY MATT BRUCE matthew@theitem.com The holiday shopping season officially got underway Friday as retailers across the nation braced for the busiest consumer day of the year. Black Friday hit the area, and Sumter shoppers partook in the bonanza of sales, flood-
ing into stores. Lines of shoppers on Friday filtered into JCPenney in Sumter, which opened its doors at 5 p.m. Thursday. At nearby Simpson Hardware and Sports, more than 100 people lined up in front of the store by the time it opened early Friday. The scene inside the shop late Friday morning was kinetic as shoppers filled
Black Friday gets less frenzied
the aisles, rummaging for bargains on hunting equipment, fishing items and firearms. “It’s definitely our biggest day and our best day historically,” Simpson store manager Shawn Matthews said. “This time of year, we have a lot of other promotions, so we call it a marathon and not just
NEW YORK (AP) — Black Friday seemed a little less crazy this year. There were squabbles here and there, and elbows got thrown, but the Friday morning crowds appeared smaller than usual and less frenzied, in part because
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many Americans took advantage of stores’ earlier opening hours to do their shopping on Thanksgiving Day. That might be hard to stomach for people worried
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Can’t forget the Thanksgiving pie
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Jessica Johnson, left, hands a pie to Janelle Buniel to add to the Thanksgiving food box she’s packing. Both were volunteering their time at Sumter United Ministries, and Buniel is a student at University of South Carolina Sumter. About 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, cars lined up along South Artillery Drive to pick up Thanksgiving food boxes from the organization. It collected between 160 and 170 turkeys and hams for the giveaway, said Mark Champagne, executive director of the nonprofit.
Sumterites hold vigil, share thoughts on jury’s decision not to indict officer BY MATT BRUCE matt@theitem.com As the nation watched a second firestorm develop in Ferguson, Missouri, this week, Shaakira Lewis looked on in horror. “It was scary watching it,” she said as tears streamed down her face Tuesday. Lewis, a freshman at Morris College in Sumter, grew up just outside St. Louis in a suburb about 10 minutes north of Ferguson. She knew Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man who was gunned down by a Ferguson police officer in early August. The shooting sparked a whirlwind of fury and drew in-
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ternational media attention when it occurred, sending a city near a metropolitan area up in flames as protests and civil unrest ensued for weeks. On Monday, anger roiled over again after a grand jury decided not to indict Darren Wilson, the white officer who fatally shot Brown. Lewis was still living in the St. Louis area in August when Brown’s shooting occurred. She saw firsthand how angry residents tore her city apart. Now she’s more than 800 miles from her hometown and said the images she sees on television frighten her. “I already know, from seeing what it was like before, after
this … it’s scary,” she said. “I really might not have anywhere to go home to. I might have a home to go back to, but it won’t be home. It won’t be the same. They’re angry.” According to media reports, the Ferguson protests are primarily concentrated in St. Louis’ predominantly black north end as well as several outlying suburbs. The shooting was one of several incidents in the country to occur this year during which police officers used lethal force against an unarmed black male. This week’s grand jury decision has brought racial tensions between law enforcement and black communities
to the national forefront. It’s also generated a firestorm of protests across the country as many question whether America’s legal system works for minorities.
The discussions born out of Ferguson have birthed debates across the country, and several Sumter residents expressed
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Morris College freshman Shaakira Lewis, third from right, a St. Louis native and acquaintance of Michael Brown, grieves the loss of a family friend as people violently protest in Ferguson, Missouri, and surrounding areas after a grand jury decided not to indict police officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed Brown in early August.
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