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SECOND FRONT THE ITEM
FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013 Contact the newsroom at 803-774-1226 or e-mail news@theitem.com
Executive director: School will stay open BY BRADEN BUNCH bbunch@theitem.com Benita Dinkins-Robinson, executive director for Mary L. Dinkins Higher Learning Academy, insists the school will remain open Monday, despite declarations from the S.C. Public Charter School District ordering it to close. Dinkins-Robinson said regardless of the recent announcement from the state charter school district, the school has not officially received any order to close and has no plans to do so. Earlier this month, Administrative Law Judge Shir-
ley Robinson ruled in favor of the state charter school district, reaffirming its decision to revoke the academy’s charter. It was MLD’s appeal of the district’s 2012 decision that brought the matter to the courts. With the judge’s March 1 ruling, the state charter school district announced Tuesday it would immediately stop providing any money for the school. The district also said it was in the process of informing officials with Lee County School District and Sumter School District to expect many of the students at MLD
to begin attending the local public schools as of Monday. MLD, however, has once again appealed. Dinkins-Robinson said the judge’s ruling upholding the closure order was the result of receiving misleading information. “She didn’t look at all the evidence,” Dinkins-Robinson said. The MLD executive director also said she felt the efforts of the charter school district to close her facility were simply attempts to cover up the district’s shortcomings. “I’ve never seen such a conspiracy in my life,” Dinkins-Robinson said. It is estimated MLD serves
145 students ranging from kindergarten through eighth grade from its current location at William Thomas Academy. The 8-year-old school moved to the Sumter County location — a move the state charter school district says it did not approve — in 2012 after several years of fighting with Lee County School District officials for facilities in Bishopville. The charter school has had several disputes with officials in its short existence. According to the charter school district, a routine review of MLD’s academic records for 2011 and 2012 found serious
academic irregularities at the school, including students receiving grades for classes not being offered. On Thursday, DinkinsRobinson said these grades were never given to students, and that no investigation had ever taken place. “I don’t even know what they’re talking about,” Dinkins-Robinson said. “They never came to investigate anything, never asked me about a class. They’re trying to cover up the fact that they’re a failure.” Contact Braden Bunch at (803) 774-1201.
Arrest made in shooting incident BY STAFF REPORTS Sumter police have arrested a 22-year-old Sumter man in connection with a shooting incident that occurred Wednesday afternoon. Timothy Jamal Wilson of 45 Reese St. was arrested and charged with attempted murder after allegedly shooting 22-year-old Quinton Roach at a residence in the 100 block of Carolina Avenue about 4:45 p.m. Detectives indicate that Wilson and Roach had been in an ongoing dispute over a female acWILSON quaintance. When Roach and the girl stopped by a mutual friend’s residence on Carolina Avenue they came into contact with Wilson who was also at the residence. Wilson allegedly pulled out a handgun and fired several shots at Roach, who was sitting in a vehicle in front of the house. Roach was reportedly grazed in the head by a bullet, but the projectile exited his scalp without causing any lifethreatening injury. He was taken by his girlfriend to Tuomey Regional Medical Center, where he was treated and released. Wilson fled the scene before law enforcement arrived but was located a short time later in a neighborhood a few blocks away where he was apprehended after a brief foot chase. The suspect reportedly provided detectives with information that led to the recovery of a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol used in the shooting. In addition to the attempted murder charge, Wilson also faces charges for possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime and possession of a stolen pistol. He is being held at Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center pending a bond hearing.
LOCAL BRIEF
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From staff reports
Lake City business expands, expected to create 15 jobs LAKE CITY — ICE Recycling LLC has expanded operations in Florence County with the purchase of an existing 200,000-square-foot facility in Lake City. The $1.05 million investment is expected to generate 15 new jobs. Anyone interested in job opportunities with the recycling company should visit its website at icerecycling. com and complete the employment application on the contact information page.
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JAMIE HUDSON WILSON / SPECIAL TO THE ITEM
Brandi Troncoso weighed 210 pounds before she decided to do something about her health. At age 25, the mother of one started attending Zumba classes and dropped nearly 100 pounds.
Troncoso teaches one of her Zumba classes. In 2012, Troncoso suffered a twisted colon that reduced her weight to 98 pounds. Now, she has made a full recovery and teaches several Zumba classes a week.
She’s fit, trim, vivacious Dance fitness class instructor overcomes obesity, health issues BY JAMIE HUDSON WILSON Special to The Item It’s not unusual to hear Brandi Troncoso before you see her during one of her group fitness classes. Between whoops and hollers, she is high-fiving her participants or singing along with the songs of her choreographed routines. By most standards she has come a long way, bouncing back from obesity and a debilitating health issue. Now she is fit, trim and vivacious, three words she said would never describe her just 10 years ago. Troncoso doesn’t mince words when she describes herself in her early 20s. “I got fat,” she said. Newly married, the 20-year-old said she fell into poor eating habits. “You think it’s the thing to stay home and cook and eat,” she said. Before she knew it, she said, she had ballooned to 210 pounds. On a 5 foot 2 inch frame, that’s a body mass index of 38.4, which the National Institute of Health considers to be obese. After having her daughter, Troncoso said she dieted on and off, but it wasn’t until a cousin invited her to a new fitness class that she said her life truly changed. “Out of curiosity, I went with her,” she said. Zumba, a popular dance fitness
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class, left her tired, breathless and more than a little envious of the fit instructor teaching the class. “I hated it,” Troncoso said, laughing. “But I was really just jealous. I wanted to move like that.” She kept going to the group fitness class and after about two weeks, she said, noticed a difference in the way her clothes fit. After months of the workouts, Troncoso was down to 170 pounds and decided she wanted to help others in situations like hers so she became a licensed Zumba instructor. She found that her story combined with an infectious enthusiasm helped others discover their fitness goals. Just three years after she began classes, she was teaching upward of 80 students in one class. “I loved it,” she said. “When all of those people are in here, having a good time and whooping and hollering, it’s just amazing.” But in early 2012, Troncoso woke one night with severe abdominal pain. After an ambulance ride to the hospital, doctors diagnosed her with a twisted colon, a previously undiscovered birth defect. The initial diagnosis was a three- to five-day hospital stay. Troncoso was admitted for seven weeks. Complications from the conditions impeded her recovery. “I felt God had taken and ripped
the rug from underneath my feet,” she said. “Why, why me?” She spent the better part of last year fighting for her health again. The sickness had reduced her body to a slight 98 pounds, well under the healthy weight for her frame. “I didn’t think I would ever get out of that bed,” she said. Her digestive system in disarray, Troncoso relied on an intravenous catheter in her arm for nutrition. Day after day, Troncoso grew stronger. She began walking, then driving, then she was able to hold her daughter. Then, she went to a Zumba class in June 2012. “It was challenging to just get up and get dressed, but it felt like I was overcoming something,” Troncoso said. “I had waited for so long.” Where some might have accepted a calmer lifestyle, Troncoso resolved to get back to teaching fitness. By September, Troncoso was able to stand in front of a group of her faithful followers. As someone who has been overweight and had medical issues, Troncoso said she uses her story to encourage others to live an active lifestyle. “I have used every excuse in the book myself,” she said. “It’s priorities.” Troncoso teaches Zumba several days a week. To see her schedule visit branditroncoso.zumba.com.
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