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THE CLARENDON SUN
Seeking to help Manning Junior High students improve community with project-based learning A10
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Proper procedure not followed Parental note didn’t make it to front office, district says BY KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY konstantin@theitem.com While many parents may wonder how a 6-year-old student was lost while walking home from school Mon-
day, Sumter School District says a note from one of the student’s parents saying another parent would pick up the student didn’t get to the front office before she was allowed to walk home. The district released a statement Wednesday on what the proper procedure should have been that could have avoided the incident at Cherryvale Elementary School that resulted in the student being reported missing Monday afternoon.
According to a Sumter County Sheriff’s Office news release, Emily Ginther, 6, began walking home from school Monday after dismissal about 2:30 p.m. She became lost, and Steven Watts, a 9-year-old fellow schoolmate, approached the girl and asked her if he could help After walking around the Cherryvale area for some time with the 6-year-old, who couldn’t locate her home, Watts then led her back to his own home, said Braden Bunch,
spokesman for the sheriff’s office. From there, Watts’ family contacted law enforcement, and deputies arrived at the home moments later, shortly before 6:30 p.m., Bunch said. Sumter School District Superintendent Frank Baker said, in a statement, when a parent enrolls a child in school, he or she indicates whether their child is a walker — a student who walks to and from school. Once a
SEE DISTRICT, PAGE A8
Sumter turns out to honor military BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com A beautiful sunny day greeted Sumter as hundreds turned out for a Veterans Day parade, remembrance ceremony and meet and greet in downtown Sumter on Wednesday. Many stood on Main Street and cheered the parade, Sumter’s first Veterans Day parade in several years, and at 11 a.m. the front lawn of the Sumter Courthouse was filled with veterans and supporters all thanking the veterans for their service. The Rev. Harry Boyd gave the invocation, Sumter High School Air Force JROTC presented the colors and Judith Forshee sang the national anthem. Guest speaker was Chief Master Sgt. Christopher McKinney who is Command Chief Master Sergeant for the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base. McKinney was introduced by Mayor Joseph McElveen, who said the beauty of Veterans Day is that it honors all veterans. “Thank God that young men and women are willing to pick up the banner to protect our country,” he said. “Let’s make sure we remember
Quilts of Valor volunteer Egidia “EG” Bell wraps Purple Heart recipient Johnny Williams in a Quilt of Valor at the Veterans Day Ceremony at the Sumter County Courthouse on Wednesday. More than 40 veterans received the hand-woven quilts at the service.
KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
Vietnam veterans show off their Quilts of Valor on Wednesday. See more pictures on pages A3 and A8. every day those who have served.” He noted the return of the parade and said he hoped it would continue. McKinney said he was proud to represent Shaw at the ceremony and praised Sumter for supporting the base from its very beginning. He thanked all veterans, whether they served in foxholes or far from the front lines, and McKinney also thanked family members who spend months or years without their loved ones. “We stand on your shoulders,” he said to the veterans gathered. “We stand on the shoulders of giants.” A 21-gun salute, Taps and a
wreath-laying ceremony followed McKinney’s speech. At that point, more than 40 local veterans were presented quilts by Quilts of Valor, a national volunteer organization with the mission “to cover all those wounded warriors with both physical and psychologically wounds with a Quilt of Valor.” A welcome addition to this year’s program was a meet and greet at the rear of the courthouse, where veterans and their supporters could mingle, browse the displays and enjoy some hot dogs, chicken, popcorn, snacks and lemonade.
JIM HILLEY / THE SUMTER ITEM
SEE VETS, PAGE A8
FACT CHECK
Putin puffery visible in Republican’s latest debate WASHINGTON (AP) — You’d think from the latest Republican presidential debate that Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina have special insights into what makes Russian President Vladimir Putin tick, because the candidates have been up close and personal with the Kremlin’s man himself. Not so much. Trump declared himself a “stablemate” with Putin because both were on the same TV program — once, and in different segments, thousands of miles apart. Fiorina claimed a “private meeting” with Putin, but the setting was a holding room where they sat before giving
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speeches; not exactly a summit. The Putin puffery proved to be one of the odder episodes of an evening that brought viewers a variety of flubs and exaggerations. Some of the claims Tuesday night and how they compare with the facts: TRUMP: Speaking of Putin, “I got to know him very well because we were both on ‘60 Minutes,’ we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that.” FIORINA: Saying the U.S. is currently in a weak position with Russia and that is “one of the reasons I’ve said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met
him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting.” THE FACTS: Trump and Fiorina seemed to be contesting who knows Putin better — Fiorina from a chance meeting in a holding room before she and Putin addressed a Beijing conference in 2001, or Trump from having appeared on the same “60 Minutes” program as Putin in September. At least Fiorina actually met Putin. During a September appearance on “The Tonight Show,” she described how they sat in adjacent chairs for 45 minutes while they each waited to speak. Trump’s only connection to the Russian leader was that they both ap-
DEATHS, B5 Bessie Oyer Benjamin Gipson Joseph Burno Virginia Mack-Washington George Leon Maple Leon Benbow
Elwyn C. Grisworld David E. DuBose Phillip Nixon Roslyn D. Miller Sarah L. Pope
peared on the same show. He was interviewed in New York, Putin in Moscow, and they weren’t even in the same segment on the program. BEN CARSON: “Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases.” THE FACTS: Actually, that usually doesn’t happen. When the minimum wage was increased in 1996 and 1997, the unemployment rate fell afterward. In June 2007, when the first of three annual minimum wage increases was implemented, the unemployment rate was
SEE DEBATE, PAGE A8
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2 SECTIONS, 24 PAGES VOL. 121, NO. 25
Periods of clouds and sunshine today and clear to partly cloudy tonight. HIGH 76, LOW 48
Classifieds B8 Comics B7 Lotteries A16
Opinion A15 Television B6