PANORAMA
THE SUMTER ITEM
SUNDAY, MARCH 22, 2015
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YESTERYEAR, FROM PAGE C1 50 YEARS AGO – 1965 June 14-20 Construction on an additional 63 units costing $250,000, with furnishing, $300,000 – that will almost double the present 68-unit capacity of the local Holiday Inn has begun. The new construction involves three lots on Church Street, 215, 217, and 219, purchased by the Washington Street inn and recently rezoned by City Council from R-3 (residential) to the MFR-2 (transitional) classification necessary for the additional work. • Two recent graduates from area high schools, Carla Marazzi of Edmunds and Jeff Pritchard, Mayewood, have each been awarded $600 scholarship grants by the South Carolina Elks Association. Both were previously announced as local-level scholarship recipients, pending the outcome of their entry in state-level competition. Brochures of the two were sent to the State Elks Assn. by the local Elks Educational Committee. Miss Marazzi and Pritchard received their state awards in Greenville this past weekend at the annual state Elks convention. • J.C. Britton Jr., Manning Insurance agent, was named “Key Man of the Year: by the Manning Jaycees. This award is presented to the member who has done the most outstanding work in the community during the past year. Britton has been instrumental in the Jaycee sponsored drive to keep the swimming pool operating in Manning. • Fifteen thousand people is more than 60 percent of the 1960-census population of the city of Sumter. Fifteen thousand people wear 30,000 shoes, eat 2,550,000 pounds of meat a year, earn and spend more than $45,000,000 a year. These numbers fluctuate and vary from year to year. There is only one factor that remains constant. Fifteen thousand people are embalmed only 15,000 times. And A. Kell Brunson, president of ShelleyBrunson Funeral Home here, estimates he has embalmed and handled at least that many people since he obtained embalming license No. 248 in 1922 after attending Brown’s College of Embalming in Raleigh, N.C. • J.W. Jones, a member of the Bishopville High School coaching staff for several years, has been named head coach of the Dragons. His appointment is effective July 1, and he replaces W.C. “Smitty” Smith, who resigned to accept a position on the Hartsville coaching staff. • Some 125 persons participated in the blessing of the new parsonage of St. James Lutheran Church, Sunday, June 12. St. James Pastor Robert M. Weeks led the special service. The Rev. Guy Cruse, dean of the Central District of the South Carolina Synod, read Old and New Testament passages. The Rev. Kari Kinard, D.D., president of the South Carolina Synod, brought a brief message. Following the house blessing, an open house was held. Visitors were invited to tour the new parsonage and were served punch and cookies by the Lutheran Church Women of St. James. • Both incumbent members of the District 17 school board were re-elected yesterday. They are Dr. Charles R. Propst and Logan L. Phillips. Propst garnered the most votes, 2,388, while Phillips picked up 1,724. Their only opposition, Mrs. J.E. Grant, a former schoolteacher, received 1,266 votes. Propst, a pediatrician, has served on the board for the past eight years. Phillips is secretary-treasurer of Dealers Wholesale Inc., building materials distributors, and has been a board member since 1963. • Coach Bernard Jones will take his Sumter P-15’s into tonight’s games at Timmonsville with the same problem he’s had all season – what to do with all those pitchers. Last night’s 4-0 win over Timmonsville was the fifth straight this season for the defending League III champions, but it only complicated the pitching problem. For, while it was cold and windy at Riley Park, Ron Davis was red hot. The stocky Mayewood right-hander stymied the visitors with his curve ball and held them hitless until there were
1965 -- This is the Sumter Area Technical Education Center’s first two-year class to graduate. Receiving associate in applied science degrees last night in industrial technology were, from left, front row: Donald Olin Atkinson, Hubert Eugene Davis, William Louis Hester Jr., Theo Austin Ross Jr. and Robert Jeffrey Reynolds. Civil technology graduates on the back row are, from left, Ronald F. Atkinson, Willie Wayne Lane, Baxter Platt Moore Jr. and Kenneth Watson. two outs in the seventh (and last) inning. • Sumter County’s handsome, newly renovated courthouse was dedicated yesterday morning with the hope that it would serve to secure “the proper administration of justice to all.” A bright, red ribbon stretched across the front door of the building on which more than $1,200,000 was spent for renovations, was cut at 10:30 a.m. by Donna Moody, Miss Sumter 1965. • Jack Mooneyhan, formerly of Sumter, has found an entertaining diversion in Tampa, as he is one of the members of the Florida Wheel basketball team. The Wheels are a group of partially paralyzed or handicapped persons who have banded together and formed an outstanding basketball team. Mooneyhan, who attended Sumter city schools, is not confined to a wheelchair, but he is handicapped from a bout with polio suffered when he was a child. • A new, 70-unit motel close to downtown Sumter will soon join the city’s two other motels. Plans for the Downtowner Motor Inn of Sumter were announced today by S. Alvin Creed of Columbia, developer of other Downtowners throughout the state. The $625,000, two-story, structure will be located on the northeast corner of Main Street and Loring Place. It will have, in addition to the 70 units, a coffee shop restaurant with a seating capacity of 65 persons, conference room, a swimming pool and ample parking.
25 YEARS AGO – 1990 March 16-22 Mayor Pansy Ridgeway denied in court Thursday that former Manning city employees Ed Gamble and Ray Brown ever told her about their concerns that some of her administrative practices were unethical or illegal. She said she didn’t learn about Gamble’s allegations of misconduct until he sent a detailed list of charges to city council in December 1988. Ridgeway explained each allegation and denied any wrongdoing. Gamble filed a Whistleblower’s Act lawsuit against the city last year, contending that he was relieved of his job responsibilities in retaliation for allegations of mismanagement against the city and the mayor. He was fired the following day. • Medical officials say Sumter is seeing the outbreak of a stomach virus that has caused about 30 children to be hospitalized in the past two weeks. Tuomey Regional Medical Center Nursing Supervisor Sylvia James said at least three cases a day of gastroenteritis, including children and adults, have been received at the hospital’s emergency room in the same time period. • A Clarendon County jury upheld the firing of former department head Ed Gamble Friday and rejected his claim that the city violated the state Whistleblower’s Act. The 12-person jury ruled unanimously in the city of Manning’s favor after an hour and a half of deliberations. • Morris College President Dr. Luns C. Richardson has been elected as secretary of the United Negro College
SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTOS
1990 -- This illustration depicts the mausoleum planned for Sumter Cemetery. The drawing was provided by Bill Gaffney Inc. of Greenville, the architect and builder contracted for the project. Fund. Richardson was elected during the annual spring meeting held in New York last week. He also serves on the Board of Directors. Morris College became a member of the UNCF in 1982. The Fund is a nonprofit organization which raises money in support of 41 private, accredited, historically black colleges and universities. • Two of Sumter’s largest car and truck dealerships will be combined April 2, when Jones Chevrolet purchases T.A. Davis Nissan and T.A. Davis Pontiac-GMC Daihatsu. John T. Jones Jr., Jones Chevrolet vice-president and general manager, confirmed Saturday that final details are being completed on the purchase agreement. He would not disclose the purchase price and said he could not discuss the terms of the deal until next week. • Bishopville’s Harold Galloway and East Clarendon’s Dennis Keels have been named the Item’s Coach and Player of the Year, respectively. Galloway led the Dragons to a 24-3 record and an appearance in the second round of the state playoffs. The 17year coaching veteran, who had led the Bishopville varsity boys for the past five years, is loath to accept credit for this team’s accomplishments this season. “This is the best boys team I’ve had since I’ve been coaching,” Galloway said. “This season was the culmination of five years of building and the result of having eight seniors on the team.” • A groundbreaking ceremony for the elementary school to be built for District 17 will be held at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday on the site on Kingsbury and Lewis roads. Construction of the new school, which was approved through a $5.9 million bond referendum in March 1989, is scheduled to begin this week. • On a card that featured athletes ages 12-24, the Can-Am boxing at the Sumter County Exhibition Center was a event to be remembered. The final team totals for the international boxing competition were: Canada, Six matches, the United States – six matches; and Sumter Coach Burke Watson said he would settle with that count. Of the six wins by the U.S.
three were by Sumter fighters: Tyrone Burton defeated Arturo Gatti; Essau Jefferson beat Martin Laplante; and Jefferson’s twin brother Jacob won a decision over Yves Huneault. • The Carolinas PGA Pro-Lady tournament Monday at Pocalla Country Club featured 19 teams from North and South Carolina, including club professionals, but the victorious foursome came from nearby Clarendon Golf and Country Club. The tournament was best net score and, headed by club assistant pro Ricky Wilson, the group from Manning shot a 10-under-par 51. The other members of the team were Bunny McKenzie, Dee Osteen, and Betty Hinson. • Sumter High School’s Mark Roach shook his head as if he was in despair after the Gamecocks’ game against Spring Valley Tuesday at Riley Park. Sumter scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth on four hits – three of them scratch hits – a sacrifice and two errors to rally for a 4-3 win over the Vikings. • Sumter City Council postponed awarding a $25,000 contract to redesign Swan Lake until it can see just what the money will buy. Council, which met for nearly three hours Tuesday night, voted down a motion to award the contract to Columbia landscaping firm Kenneth B. Simmons Associates after several council members expressed concern over the cost. Instead, council asked that a representative of the firm, the low bidder for the project, explain how the company plans to approach the project. • “Hard work and a constant effort to acquire knowledge” were called the two major factors in gaining success by Robert W. Weeks as he addressed the graduating class at the Sumter Area Technical Education Center last night. Weeks, who is general manager of the Alkaline Battery Division of the Electric Storage Battery Company, stressed the value of these two elements in gaining responsible jobs in industry. Reach Item Archivist Sammy Way at waysammy@yahoo.com or (803) 7741221.
OPEN MIC, FROM PAGE C1 On Thursday at the Coffee Palace, Al Black will read from his collection, “I Only Left for Tea,” published late last summer by Muddy Press Books for Jasper magazine. Musical guest will be Cassy Renee. Future open mic events include: At Coffee Palace, fourth Thursdays: • April 24, Heather Dearman • May 28, Ed Madden with harpist • June 25, L. Lamar Wilson • July 23 Michelle Ross • Aug. 27, Bonnie Stannard • Sept. 24, Michele Reese • Oct. 22 Cassie Premo Steele
• Jan. 22, 2016 Kim Blum Hyclak At Central Carolina Technical College, third Wednesdays: • April 15, Shameka Cunningham Admission to Thursday’s How Sweet the Sound, which begins at 7 p.m. at the Coffee Palace, is $5, which includes desserts. Taylor said she plans to have brownies, cookies “and maybe cake pops, because those are Len’s favorites.” Students and military receive a discount. For more information, call (706) 414-8981 or visit the Coffee Palace, 1105 N. Lafayette Blvd., Suite D in the medical park.
PHOTO PROVIDED
Poets listen to Cedric Tillman read from his works as they await their own turns to read at the Central Carolina open mic night last Wednesday.