Local man shares his World War II service
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Flood strangles ag industry Cotton one of worst hit crops BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com “The stress is out there; it’s palpable,” said S.C. Agriculture Secretary Hugh Weathers. “You see it on faces; you hear it in stories.” Farming can always be a stressful job, but this year, S.C. farmers are reeling after a summer of drought withered corn crops and lessened the potential yield of row crops such as cotton and soybeans. Then came the 1,000-year flood, drenching cotton crops and keeping soybean and peanut farmers out of rain-soaked fields. As the Palmetto State is
SEE COTTON, PAGE A8 KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY / THE SUMTER ITEM
Cag Brunson, a third-generation farmer in Summerton, lost both row crops and vegetables as a result of October’s flood. Brunson’s farm, Oak III, includes between 3,500 to 4,000 acres, some of which have become standing ponds.
Clarendon County farmers could lose millions BY KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY konstantin@theitem.com Brent Cogdill, a third-generation farmer in Summerton, lost about 1,500 acres of crops from his family farm’s 6,000-acre total as a result of the early October flood that hit the state. “This is the worst thing our family has seen in the last 29 years in terms of crop damage,” he said.
Cogdill’s farm received about 28 inches of rain, destroying most of his cotton crop. The flood also destroyed some of the farm’s peanuts, wheat and soybean crops. “Farmers get paid once a year based on the crop they produce,” he said. “Imagine working all year long and not getting your paycheck at the end.” Cag Brunson, also a third-generation farmer in Summerton, lost both row
crops and vegetables. Brunson’s farm, Oak III, includes about 4,000 acres, some of which have become standing ponds. The rest of his farm had standing water for about a week after the flood. KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM The farm lost all of its green beans and Cotton rots on the plant in Sumabout 70 percent of its collards, turnips and mustard greens. Brunson also lost a ter County. The combination of too much rain and the inability to sweet potato crop, which he shares with
harvest it will not yield much of a SEE CROPS, PAGE A6 crop this year.
Tri-county will honor veterans with parade BY IVY MOORE ivy@theitem.com Sumter, Lee and Clarendon counties will honor veterans from the World War II era to the present with a parade down Main Street and a ceremony at the Sumter County Courthouse on Wednesday, which is Veterans Day. The 10 a.m. parade will be the first of its kind held in Sumter in many years, said SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTO Valerie Brunson, director of James Prosser, a World War II vet- Sumter County Veterans, aleran and recipient of the French though there has long been an Legion of Honor, will be the annual ceremony at the Vetergrand marshal for Sumter’s Veter- ans Memorial on the Sumter ans Day parade along Main Street County Courthouse lawn. on Wednesday. It starts at 10 a.m. Brunson said veterans from at the corner of Bartlette and all branches of the service are Main streets. expected to march or ride in
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Wednesday’s parade, which will begin at the corner of Main and Bartlette streets, proceed up the corner of Main to Calhoun streets, turn right, then turn right again onto North Harvin Street ending at the Judicial Center. From there, those in the parade will proceed to the front lawn of the Sumter County Courthouse on North Main for the 11 a.m. Veterans Day Ceremony. The parade will include more than 30 units, said Arthur Bradley, Vietnam veteran and parade organizer, who will also ride with the Jamil Shriners in the final unit. The line-up is a “Who’s Who” of
SEE PARADE, PAGE A6
DEATHS, A8 Donald D. Parker Harold Duren Virginia Washington Pamela McElveen
Blondell M. Fargas Mary K. Parnell Nancy O. Geddings Frances W. Morris
KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
Dick Dabbs reflects on his time serving with a medical unit in Vietnam during a recent interview at his wood shop on U.S. 378.
Sumter man recalls service in Vietnam BY KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY konstantin@theitem.com An emergency room in a partially underground bunker in central Vietnam was where Sumter native
Dick Dabbs reported for work for nine months during the Vietnam War. “It was like being in a trauma center,” he said. “Soldiers would come in
SEE VIETNAM, PAGE A3
WEATHER, A10
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