OBITUARIES
THE SUMTER ITEM
LYNN S. BRUNSON SALISBURY, North Carolina — Norma “Lynn” Sweatte Brunson, 81, of Salisbury, North Carolina, passed away Friday, June 6, 2014, at Novant Rowan Medical Center in Salisbury. Born Sept. 22 , 1932, in Sumter, she was a daughter of the late Ruby Oliver Sweatte and Johnny Ethan Sweatte Sr. BRUNSON and step-father Marion Davis. She was a graduate of Edmunds High School. Lynn worked 13 years for the Salisbury City Schools Head Start Program. She was a member of Milford Hills Baptist Church for more than 50 years where she held various leadership roles and served on multiple committees. Lynn was a loving wife for more than 60 years, a dedicated mother and proud grandmother. She enjoyed pulling for University of South Carolina Gamecocks and loved spending time with her family at Surfside Beach. She believed that the South Carolina coast was the most beautiful place in God’s creation. Preceding her in death was
her husband, Robert Manning Brunson, who passed July 6, 2012; a sister, Jean Boyson; and a brother, Johnny Ethan Sweatte Jr. Those who survive her are her sons, John Spencer “Spence” Brunson Sr. and his wife, Deneen, of Salisbury, and Robert Manning “Manny” Brunson Jr., of Little Rock, Arkansas; and her grandchildren, Robert Manning Brunson III, Jaynie Lynn Brunson, Morgan Hayley Ann Brunson and John Spencer Brunson Jr. The visitation for Lynn will be held Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. at Milford Hills Baptist Church in Salisbury. The funeral service will follow at 1 p.m. at the church with the Rev. Dr. Bruce Beck officiating. Burial will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at Sumter Cemetery in Sumter. Memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 3800 Shamrock Drive, Charlotte, North Carolina 28215 or the American Lung Association, 514 Daniels St. #109, Raleigh, North Carolina Summersett Funeral Home is assisting the Brunson family. Online condolences may be sent to www.summersettfuneralhome.com.
BARBARA F. CASTELOW Barbara Lee Farmer Castelow, wife of Harry B. Harley, died Friday, May 30, 2014, at Palmetto Health Richland Hospital in Columbia. Born in Dillon, she was a daughter of the late Earl and Vergie Elois Horne Farmer. Mrs. Castelow was of the Baptist faith. Surviving is her husband of West Columbia; two daughters, Jennifer and Michelle; two brothers, Ervin Farmer and Eddie Farmer; and three grandchildren. Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday at the Evergreen Memorial Park Cemetery with the Rev. Charles Ahtonen officiating. Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home & Crematory, 221 Broad St., Sumter, is in charge of the arrangements, (803) 775-9386.
LEROY FLEMING Funeral services for Leroy “Duke” Fleming will be held
SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014 at 11 a.m. in the Bacote-Eaddy Funeral Home of Timmonsville Chapel. Burial will be in Unionville AME Church Cemetery in St. Charles. He died Thursday, June 5, 2014, in Sumter. He was born Sept. 12, 1943, to the late Willie and Margaret Smalls in Mayesville. He was educated in the Sumter County public school system. As a young adult, he moved to Jersey City, New Jersey, where he was employed as a city employee until he returned to Sumter after an accident left him permanently blind. He was preceded in death by one brother, Johnnie Bacote. Survivors include three sisters, Mary Frances (Ronald) Weinstock of Union, New Jersey, Willie (Charles) NelsonHerriott of Columbia, and Helen (Larry) Brunson of Sumter; three adopted children, Mary Lee Thompson, Robert Lee Thompson and Frances Thompson, all of Sumter; a very special aunt, Marie B. Small; a special cousin, Murray Lee Small; a host of cousins, nieces and nephews; and his beloved caregiver, Deborah Wilson. The family is receiving
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friends at 4315 Queen Chapel Road in Dalzell.
HARRY LEON JUNE MYRTLE BEACH — Harry Leon June, 56, husband of Terri White June, died June 7, 2014, at the home of his sisters, Elizabeth J. Newkirk and Rodena June, 203 Ashley River Road, the Lake Subdivision of Myrtle Beach. He was born Oct. 3, 1957, in Greeleyville, a son of the late William and Sarah Whack June. Family is receiving friends at the home of his sister and her husband, Mamie and Remus Smalls, 1518 Eddie Woods Road in Greeleyville. These services have been entrusted to Samuels Funeral Home LLC in Manning.
ROOSEVELT HARRY NEW YORK, New York — Roosevelt Harry, of New York, New York, and formerly of Lynchburg, died on Thursday, June 5, 2014, after an illness. He was the brother of Herbert Harry. Services will be announced later by Jefferson Funeral Home of Lynchburg.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Why Det Bowers should be our next U.S. senator Our family has known Det Bowers for years. As a pastor, he has strengthened our marriages, helped bury our relatives, laughed and prayed and cried with us. When someone does that for you, you unfurl every sail for him. He is the instrument of the Lord who has changed hundreds of lives. A pastor who, of all the couples he has married over 20 years, none of those unions have fallen into divorce. The Graham campaign likes to point out that Det used to be a lawyer and a Democrat (as if there could not be a more unfortunate combination). He was, and assisted in many Democratic campaigns until he found Christ in his late 30s. His conversion was so real he quit his lucrative law practice and Democratic pursuits and went into ministry. Det is now 62. He can be presented with any fragment of the Constitution or the Bible and expound on it for an hour — without notes and without saying “um” once — and make you feel like you need to be a better person. He is cut from the same spiritual
LAND FROM PAGE A1 Initiative funds, he said, and the S.C. Conservation Bank contributed $741,772. The city paid about $7,100, according to Eric Shytle, the city attorney. “I really like how this project came together, how excited the mayor and the city administration are about the project’s potential for citizens of Sumter,” Johnson said. “The fact that you’re able to take advantage of property in multiple ways — military, recreational and there is a financial benefit to the property — makes it a very interesting project and one we’d like to repeat.” After the conservation easement is settled, the next consideration will be timber harvest, McCormick said. “This is a working forest that the landowners had every expectation of cutting in the next couple of years,” Johnson said. “The city could take advantage of that. Scattered over the next few years, it could harvest timber. After the har-
and intellectual cloth as our founding fathers. This is the kind of individual South Carolina needs to represent her in the world’s greatest deliberative body. South Carolina is blessed to have several strong candidates running for Senate. We believe Det should be our next senator because we can trust him to not raise the debt ceiling and not to vote for liberal Supreme Court justices. To not vote for the Affordable Care Act before he votes against it. To not become a creature of Washington but to exert every effort to change it. We are not called to timidity in purpose or action. Stand with us and with Det Bowers. Please vote this Tuesday. GRAINGER McKOY Jr. and GRAINGER McKOY Sr. Sumter
Bowers will bring change to S.C., national picture The patriots of our beloved country and those of South Carolina are responding to another tremendous challenge. This time, the challenge is from
vest, it can replant to continuously produce good timber stands that lead to funds that can be put back into the property, and hopefully, net neutral as cost to the city.” The arrangement took about a year and a half to conclude, but Johnson said there is no such thing as a typical timeline for such easements. Some can take as little as three or four months while others may take nearly four years to complete. The City of Sumter now controls about 1,700 acres near the base. “We have worked on this for a long time, and we’ll continue to work in properties adjacent to the base,” McCormick said. “Everyone wants to be close to the base, but we have to be careful. With the base realignment and closure process, we pay attention to what things keep a base viable not only now, but in the future. One of the major imperatives is to not allow encroachment. We want to be good neighbors and also want to be good stewards of the property we have.”
within, and it appears that our brothers and sisters throughout the state will once again stand up to lead this nation in an all-out war on our freedom, our principles and on justice for all. Returning our state and country to the true conservative principles on which each was founded is the issue, plain and simple. Folks all across our state are rallying behind Det Bowers as his campaign for the U.S. Senate builds momentum daily, and signs indicate that change is in the wind. Between now and Tuesday morning, we need to reach each and every truly conservative S.C. voter with the message of this change. Det Bowers will be a leader in this change. Det’s campaign is well on its way to returning South Carolina’s U.S. Senate seat to the people, allowing us to once again lead in bringing true reform to this land. No one knows better than you that major changes are desperately needed in the U.S. Senate and the general culture of Washington, D.C. And the place change needs to start is within the leadership of
Republican Party, itself. Let’s turn the party back to its true conservative principles ... fighting for common sense, free enterprise, business opportunities, removal of strangling unnecessary regulations and standing up once again for our military warriors and country’s Christian morals and beliefs. The change has begun, and if we band together and replace our “token” conservative senator, who currently occupies (and wastes) such an important seat of power in the U.S. Senate, the change will indeed be meaningful and lasting. Please pass the word on Det Bowers for U.S. Senate — the candidate who is a true conservative S.C. businessman, an unashamed believer in God, family and patriotic pride in this great nation. A vote for Det is a vote to get government: • out of our workplace; • out of our homes; • out of our churches; and • out of our way. HARVEY W. SENTER Sumter
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An additional 700 acres of land near Shaw Air Force Base will be protected thanks to a partnership between the City of Sumter and The Conservation Fund. The tract might also be used for timber and recreational purposes in the future.