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COVERING BEAUFORT COUNTY
Beaufort’s Cummings cruises to 1st senior national title By Mike McCombs As far as national championships go, it was about as ho hum as it gets for Beaufort’s C.J. Cummings on Friday afternoon. Cummings went 6-for-6 in his lifts and wasn’t challenged, winning gold medals in the Snatch, Clean & Jerk and Overall in the 73-kilogram weight class at the USA Weightlifting National Championships in Detroit. It is the first senior National Championship for the 21-year-old Cummings.
“I didn’t really think about that (being the first senior championship),” Cummings said. “But I guess it is. Yeah, it felt pretty good.” C.J. Team Beaufort Cummings Coach Ray Jones said the goal was really for Cummings to have a great “workout.” “It was a good thing for him to make body weight,” Jones said. “Plus, (USA Weightlifting) wanted him to be there anyway. They wanted to
have a good send-off for the Olympians.” Cummings competed lifts of 130, 135 and 140 kg in the Snatch and 165, 170 and 175 kg in the Clean & Jerk for an overall total of 315. His total was good enough to win by 31 kg over second-place Omar Mohamed. For comparison’s sake, when he won gold at the Pan Am Games in April in the Dominican Republic, Cummings didn’t even attempt a lift as light as Friday’s top Snatch or Clean & Jerk. At that meet, Cummings set an American record in the
Snatch with a lift of 155kg – only good enough for silver – and his overall total was 343 kg. “It keeps me on track,” Cummings said of the conservative approach. “Every week I have to hit a certain percentage (of my lifts). It’s just good training to be sure I keep hitting my marks.” Next up for Cummings are the INSIDE New Team Beaufort stars Graham, Desvarieux emerge, A10 PLUS Beaufort’s Stanley wins Jr. National Championship, A10
JOANN ORISCHAK
When public bodies censure one of their own
According to DeVito’s Facebook message, the crew responsible for putting on the show discovered a wiring issue. By 9:30 p.m., it become obvious it wasn’t an easy fix. DeVito said by 9:45, Port Royal officials asked the crew to shoot off what fireworks they
By Mike McCombs City of Beaufort Police officers responding to a 9-1-1 hang-up call on Sunday, July 4, were shot at in what appears to be a deliberate and planned attack. According to a release Monday by the Beaufort Police Department, officers with Patrol Team 2 responded to an 8:08 p.m. 9-1-1 hang-up call from a residence in the 70 block of Bostick Circle. During the call, 44-year-old Daniel Bridwell did not provide any information to the dispatcher and hung up the phone. Two officers arriving at the home were met by another occupant of the residence, who said she heard a gunshot come from Bridwell’s second-story bedroom and that she could not get any response from behind the closed bedroom door. The officers entered the residence and attempted to check on Bridwell, calling out to him from the area adjoining his bedroom. According to police, almost immediately after officers approached the door, Bridwell allegedly fired two shots from a .45 caliber handgun through the bedroom door, narrowly missing both officers. “The initial assessment of the incident seems to indicate a planned assault, in that he called 911 to provoke a response by police and then fired at our officers,” City of Beaufort Police Capt. George Erdel said Monday. “As to his mental health or other motivating/causal factors, that is still under investigation.” The officers, neither of whom were injured, retreated to a safer position and continued to call out to Bridwell, who did not answer and remained barricaded behind the door. Deputies from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office responded to provide assistance. After several minutes, Bridwell jumped from his bedroom window and allegedly fired an additional shot into his bedroom from outside of the residence, before dropping his handgun and attempting to flee. Bridwell was arrested without further incident in front of the home and was ultimately transported to the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston for treatment of injuries he received in the fall from the second story of the home.
SEE FIREWORKS PAGE A2
SEE POLICE PAGE A4
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“… Less severe than an expulsion, a censure doesn’t always have an official penalty attached to it (usually, the very act of censure going on the record is enough to tarnish a reputation) …” The primary reason the D5 board censured their fellow board member was based on the assumption (right or wrong) that the board member violated executive session confidentiality and board policy. Those opposing the censure maintain that the board may have taken illegal action in executive session, and that is what justified the board member speaking out and revealing events. The D5 facebook groups are battling it
SEE ORISCHAK PAGE A11
After waiting for more than an hour, people began to leave and boats began blowing their horns in protest of the much-anticipated Fourth of July fireworks show Sunday night at The Sands in Port Royal. The show got off to a late start because of technical issues. It culminated after only a few minutes with the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner over the public address system. Photo by Bob Sofaly.
A fireworks do-over Mayor says Port Royal will make up for disappointing July 4 display
By Mike McCombs After a disappointing July 4 fireworks display Sunday, Town of Port Royal Mayor Joe DeVito is promising a make-up show sometime in the fall. The fireworks were scheduled to be launched from a barge near The Sands around 8:30 p.m. Sunday. By 10 p.m., those who had gathered were still waiting. When the fire-
works finally went off, the show was extremely abbreviated. “First of all, we want to thank everybody that came out to see the show and experience the Fourth of July with Port Royal,” DeVito said in a video message posted to Facebook on Monday. “And we know that we’re all disappointed in what ended up happening.” So what did happen?
Mike McCombs is the editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
Police fired on while responding to 9-1-1 call
INDEPENDENCE DAY
ately I’ve been following a news story out of South Carolina’s Lexington Richland 5 School District regarding the abrupt “resignation” of their CEO and SC Superintendent of the Year, and the fallout that ensued. The fallout included a widespread, emotionally-charged outpouring from school communities, the resignation of one school board trustee in protest to board actions, at least two scathing Editorial Opinions from major news outlets criticizing the D5 Board of Trustees, and one very public censure by the board of the board member who resigned in protest. If you want to follow along, the Post and Courier and The State are providing updates regularly. Censure, not to be confused with censor, was aptly defined on one of the D5 education advocacy group facebook pages while kibitzing over recent events. The facebook group provided the following, compliments of Merriam-Webster. com:
Summer Olympic Games held July 23 through Aug. 8 in Tokyo. Cummings, set to lift on July 28, said the keys between now and then are to “stay consistent and be sure to get rest for my body to recover.” He did admit, he’s starting to feel at least a little anxious. “In the past, it’s been more like there’s excitement and I’m savoring the moment,” he said. “Now, as it gets close, I’m like, ‘Oh boy, this is it.’”
NEWS
EDUCATION
INSIDE
Sea Island Rotary gives two Ethics in Business Awards.
Battery Creek High School holds groundbreaking for renovations.
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