IN SPORTS: Clemson takes down Louisville in ACC tournament B1 REVIEWS
6 apps to make road trips even more interesting A5 SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016
| Serving South Carolina since October 15, 1894
75 cents
Pastor gets maximum sentence DuRant found guilty of criminal sexual conduct with minor, judge gives 20 years BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com South Carolina Ninth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Roger Young Sr. sentenced the Rev. Larry DuRant of
World International Ministries to 20 years in prison, the maximum sentence, on Wednesday after a jury found the pastor guilty of one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
DuRant, who is legally blind and also a bilateral amputee after a train accident, was arrested in June 2013 for forcing three female minors to participate in sexual acts DURANT with him at the church and his home between 2011 and 2013. Another victim came forward in 2014, and more charges were presented against DuRant.
The pastor is reported to have used his position in the church to coerce at least four girls to engage in sexual acts with him at the church’s Manning Avenue and North Guignard Drive locations in the city and his residence on Four Bridges Road in the county. Sumter Police Department charged DuRant with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a
SEE SENTENCED, PAGE A10
Celebrating the 76th Annual Sumter Iris Festival IRIS FESTIVAL SCHEDULE TODAY • Head Turnerz Classic Car Show, Bland Gardens, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., Games2U & Palmetto Amusements • Just Kidding Around, Games2U & Palmetto Amusements, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m • The World of Welding, presented by Central Carolina Technical College Changing Lives through Education • Children’s Art in the Park, Bland Gardens, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. • Mary Hinson Flower Show, “Celebrating the Festivals of SC,” Alice Boyle Garden Center, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. • SAFE Kids Adventureland, sponsored by SAFE Kids Sumter County & Tuomey Foundation, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., includes Kiwanis Kids Fingerprinting, Bike Rodeo, Informational Displays and more. • Introduction of Iris Kings & Queens, Main Stage, Noon • East Coast Golf Cart Show, Visitors Center Lawn, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. • 11th Annual Shrine Day Parade hosted by The Jamil Streakers, West Liberty Street, 8 p.m. (Begins at Sumter County Fairgrounds) * Entertainment MAIN STAGE Noon-12:15 p.m. — King, queens, dignitaries introduced 12:30-1 p.m. — Common Call Quartet, Charleston 12:30-2 p.m. — Lemira Percussion 1-4 p.m. — Lexi the Clown 2-2:30 p.m. — Fallen Statues 2:30-3 p.m. — TBA 3-3:30 p.m. — Sandy Banks, Hartsville 3:30-4 p.m. — Heartstirs
4-4:30 p.m. — Crestwood Chorus 4:30-5 p.m. — Last Generation Quartet 5-6 p.m. — Maddie Hunt, Myrtle Beach DOCK STAGE Noon-2 p.m. — Believe in Fate Fitness with Rudi 2-4 p.m. — From the Morning GAZEBO Noon-4 p.m. — Frank Fickling SUNDAY, MAY 29 • Sumter Cruisers Show & Shine, Garden Street, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. • Just Kidding Around, presented by Games2U & Palmetto Amusements, Noon - 5 p.m. • Children’s Art in the Park, Bland Gardens, Noon - 5 p.m. • Mary Hinson Flower Show, “Celebrating the Festivals of SC,” Alice Boyle Garden Center, 1 - 4 p.m. * Entertainment MAIN STAGE 1-2 p.m. — Believe in Fate - Fitness with Rudi 1-4 p.m. — Lexi the Clown 2-2:30 p.m. — Zadok, Gospel Rapper 2:30-3 p.m. — Miss Libby’s School of Dance 3-3:30 p.m. — Sandy Banks, Hartsville 3:30-4 p.m. — TBA 4-4:30 p.m. — TBA DOCK STAGE 2-4 p.m. — John Berry & Kevin Jarvis GAZEBO 1-4 p.m. — Frank Fickling
KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
Ella Wray-Carnes, 17, uses a cotton swab to feed a Monarch Butterfly at the Vibrant Wings Butterfly exhibit during the Sumter Iris Festival on Saturday. The business raises butterflies for education and release. See more photos from the Iris Festival on page A3.
Weather system takes aim at South Carolina
8th Memorial Day Celebration and Fish Fry salutes veterans BY IVY MOORE ivy@theitem.com All Sumter veterans will be honored Monday during the 8th Annual Memorial Day Celebration and Fish Fry at South Sumter Park. The event was started eight years ago by City Councilman Calvin Hastie, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and a former instructor at West Point. Since 2009, the number of participants has increased each year for the program that began as a neighborhood event, said Patty Wilson, spokeswoman for the Veterans Appreciation Committee, which now sponsors the program with Hastie and Neighborhood Watch associations. “We had more than 1,000 last year,” Wilson said, “and we expect to have even more
VISIT US ONLINE AT
the
.com
this year.” The 2 to 4 p.m. celebration at the park on the corner of South Sumter Street and Atlantic Avenue will begin with a brief address by U.S. Army veteran Jim Felder, head of the South Carolina Voter Education Project and a former state representative. Al Spencer, commander of VFW Post 10813, will give a special tribute to POW/MIAs. After Felder and Spencer will be special guest U.S. Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C. Several members of the local legislative delegation are also expected to attend. “The celebration caters to veterans and senior citizens,” Wilson said. “So many veterans come each year. Last year, we had more than 200 and even some family members of World War I veterans.”
BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com
PHOTO PROVIDED
U.S. Rep. Tim Scott will be the guest speaker at Monday’s Memorial Day Celebration and Fish Fry at South Sumter Park. She said the 2015 event was the largest. “We invite veterans and their families especially, as well as members of the public,” Wilson emphasized. After the brief program, she said, “everyone, veterans first, is invited to enjoy fried fish, hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries and cold beverages.”
SEE FISH FRY, PAGE A11
DEATHS, A11 Ellen T. Hicks Ronald Boone Hollis M. Ray Louise Anderson Leevone Felder
John W. Cooper Sr. Mildred Ammann Mary W. Williams David Holloman Jessie Workman Jr.
As if to announce the approach of the official Atlantic Hurricane Season, a weather system between Bermuda and the Bahamas may bring significant rains to the Sumter area during the next few days, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Mike Proud in Columbia. “Right now it is just a disorganized area of cloudiness,” Proud said Friday afternoon. “They have one of the hurricane hunter airplanes out doing a survey of that area today.” Proud said the system has a 90 percent chance of forming into a tropical system. “The track brings it to South Carolina but there is not a lot of intensification expected before it
comes into the state this weekend,” he said. Proud said forecasters are not concerned about winds, but are concerned for the potential of heavy rains from the slow moving system. “Rains could move into the Sumter area midday Saturday and then rain off and on Sunday and Monday,” he said. “At this point, there is some indecision between the models as to when it is going to move on (out of the area). It could be Monday or Tuesday.” An outlook for the hurricane season released Friday by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association said forecasters expect a near-normal Atlantic hurricane season, after three relatively slow years. However, they cautioned that climate conditions are
SEE WEATHER, PAGE A11
WEATHER, A12
INSIDE
EXPECT RAIN TONIGHT
2 SECTIONS, 20 PAGES VOL. 121, NO. 188
Some sun and some clouds today; a couple of thunderstorms likely tonight. HIGH 79, LOW 65
Classifieds B6 Comics A9 Television A4-A5