April 17, 2016

Page 1

Discovery and redemption in the woods

D6

PANORAMA

Earth Day 46 Plan ahead for Sumter’s date with Mother Nature at Swan Lake-Iris Gardens C1 SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894

SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2016

$1.50

INSIDE: Vote in The Sumter Item’s Reader’s Choice survey

Tuomey nurse earns prestigious award

Linemen keep the current flowing

BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com As a 15-year-old lifeguard, Christina Lafoon was doing what she loved best, helping other people. “I wanted to be in that kind of saving profession where I could help people who are really in trouble and pull them out,” she said. The desire to help others led her to becoming a nurse, and on Saturday, she was among 100 nurses in South Carolina to receive the 2016 Palmetto Gold award, given by the South Carolina Nurses Foundation, recognizing nurses for their excellence in nursing and their commitment to the nursing profession. In her nomination form, Palmetto LAFOON Health Tuomey Administrative Director Betsy Cain called Lafoon, a registered nurse at Tuomey, “a bright, hardworking nurse who dives into each day with tremendous energy and enthusiasm.” Cain said physicians respect Lafoon and know that patients in her charge “will have optimal outcomes and stellar care experiences.” “She has great rapport with the staff and physicians, incredible clinical abilities, superb assessment skills and a personality that exudes caring and compassion,” Cain said. Lafoon said she thinks nursing is “like a window into the best parts of humanity.” “It gives us a chance to raise up parts of us that I think are lacking in today’s society, like kindness and compassion and helping our neighbors,” she said. “I think it was a calling for me. I just wanted to be in a position to give people my best every day.” Lafoon’s career path might have led her in a slightly different direction, however. “When I got into college, I thought I wanted to go to medical school,” she said. “Then I had a professor in biology who really talked to me about medical school and how as a doctor you really don’t get that one-on-one with patients.” The professor advised her that doctors are pressed for time, in and out of the room and usually don’t see the patient again for 24 hours. “With nursing, that’s bedside; you are with that patient all day; you get to know them; you get to know their families; you really make an impact,” Lafoon said. “That kind of put me on the direction of nursing school and narrowed

BY RICK CARPENTER rick@theitem.com Linemen do their best work in the worst conditions. And weather conditions generate the highest incidences of lack of electricity to your home or business, whether it manifests itself in the form of floods, ice storms, thunderstorms or isolated lightning strikes. Ironically, when you talk to linemen, they say that while working in hazardous weather conditions stresses them, they fear drivers ignoring pylons more than the weather. One worker looked up when he heard a tractor-trailor rig screeching to a stop, smashing the pylons he placed to warn drivers. The rig stopped just inches short of the bucket truck where he was perched 45 feet off the ground handling power lines. And whether they work for Duke Energy or Black River Electric Coop., the workers talk about their teamwork and relying on each other more than they do about their personal achievement. Sumter Mayor Joe McElveen will sign a proclamation Monday naming

SEE LINEMEN, PAGE A6

RICK CARPENTER / THE SUMTER ITEM

Duke Energy lineman Matthew Prince marks a drilling site of a new utility pole he and his crew installed on Hanna Court on Wednesday. Inset left, Andy Harris of Black River Electrical Coop; center, Black River’s Josh Cannon; right, Duke’s Prince.

Unemployment up slightly in Palmetto State BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com A record number of people entering or returning to the labor force pushed up South Carolina’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate to 5.7 percent in March from 5.5 percent in February, marking the first increase since September 2014, ac-

cording to a monthly release from S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce. County-level numbers, which are seasonally adjusted, showed Sumter County with a 395-person increase in the labor force and a 332-person increase in employment, leaving an additional 63 unemployed from a month ago. The num-

bers raised the county’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate slightly from 6.5 in February to 6.6 percent in March. Clarendon County showed 184 more people in the labor force, with 157 more people employed and 27 more individuals seeking employment. The

SEE JOBS, PAGE A9

SEE AWARD, PAGE A9

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DEATHS, A11

Information: 774-1200 Advertising: 774-1237 Classifieds: 774-1234 Delivery: 774-1258 News and Sports: 774-1226

Mary Butler Debbie D. McLeod Frederick Oliver Jr. Eugene Bradley Dewey D. White Sr. Michael J. Ballard Louise A. Major

WEATHER, A12

INSIDE

A PERFECT SPRING DAY

5 SECTIONS, 40 PAGES VOL. 121, NO. 156

Sunny and warm today, not a cloud in the sky. Tonight, clear and chilly. HIGH 74, LOW 45

Business D1 Classifieds D7 Comics E1

Opinion A10 Stocks D2 Television E3

With BOC Mobile, The Bank of Clarendon Is In Your Pocket. bankofclarendon.com 803.469.0156


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