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STATE Law enforcement in S.C. still against medical marijuana THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2019 | Serving South Carolina since October 15, 1894 75 cents A2 Sumter coroner predicts fatal overdoses to rise again throughout 2019 BY ADRIENNE SARVIS The coroner’s office worked a hospitals and nursing homes. [email protected] total of 745 deaths in the county in He told county council he expects 2018, he said, which is about 30 to see more deaths this year from Sumter County Coroner Robbie more deaths than the previous year. accidental drug overdoses. Baker gave a grave outlook for 2019 “Of those 745,” he said, “we au- “I hate to tell you this, council,” on a projected increase of opioid-re- topsied 94.” he said, “[but] we have not even SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTO lated deaths during a review of 2018 In total, Baker said, the county seen the tip of the iceberg as to Coroner Robbie Baker is seen at the Sumter County at Sumter County Council’s meet- had about 1,100 deaths in 2018 in- morgue in 2018. Baker predicts the number of ing Tuesday. cluding patients passing away at SEE DEATHS, PAGE A6 deaths because of drug overdoses will rise this year. ‘How could one man whose fundamental ideas were so WHAT YOUR GOVERNMENT IS correct be opposed by so many?’ SGT. MAJ. JEFF GRELA DOING: SUMTER COUNTY COUNCIL A true and courageous leader County gets clean audit with drop in revenues Subdivision proposed near Sumter Airport BY ADRIENNE SARVIS [email protected] Sumter County spent $4.2 mil- lion more than it earned in 2018 but remains in a surplus, ac- cording to auditors who pre- sented their 2017-2018 budget re- view during the Sumter County Council meeting Tuesday. Webster Rogers LLP’s unmod- ified opinion did not find any discrepancies in the county’s fi- nancial reporting. Partner Chuck Talbert said the team of external auditors is- sued a clean report for the county’s financial statements for the previous fiscal year after no material weaknesses in doc- PHOTOS BY KAYLA ROBINS / THE SUMTER ITEM uments and other materials Retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Allen J. Jamerson talks to an audience Wednesday at U.S. Army Central headquarters at Shaw Air could be found. Force Base in Sumter about the leadership values Martin Luther King Jr. demonstrated that can be translated to the military. During the past fiscal year, the county’s expenses exceeded U.S. Army Central headquarters at Shaw AFB holds Martin Luther King Jr. observance its revenue by $4,188,857 with total revenues recorded at BY KAYLA ROBINS A connection between the civil $83,673,995 and $87,862,852 in [email protected] rights leader whose iconic non-vio- total expenditures. The finan- lence led to sit-ins, boycotts and cial report also states the coun- When Martin Luther King Jr. gave marches may not on the surface ap- ty spent about $7 million more his famous “I Have Dream” speech in pear to align with a combat army in for public safety in the fiscal 1963, the U.S. military had been deseg- any military. King asks us all to look year ending 2018 compared to regated by public policy for 15 years. beneath the surface. the $26,319,551 spent in previous There was still work to be done. Retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. fiscal year. On Wednesday, that speech that Allen J. Jamerson pointed out three Other areas of expenses were was delivered to an estimated 250,000 parallels between King and the mili- less than the previous fiscal people in Washington, D.C., by the tary on Wednesday during the pro- year except for public utilities. civil rights leader was 56 years old. gram, drawing from an article he pub- The county also saw a drop in As SPC Fred Johnson III recited lished through the Air Force in 2014. total revenue between 2018 and King’s speech to an audience attend- “A lot of people didn’t like Dr. 2017 with significant decreases ing an MLK observance program at King,” he said, noting that to many, in capital grants and contribu- U.S. Army Central headquarters at even a president, he was thought to be tions and property taxes with Shaw Air Force Base called “From a troublemaker and a communist. the county bringing in $5.6 mil- Dream To Reality,” no one would G6 Sgt. Maj. SGM Jeff Grela introduces the Jamerson said King learned to lead lion less in fiscal year ending doubt the work is done. What every- program Wednesday by telling the audi- by being led, he encouraged creativity 2018. one in attendance has now, though, is ence of soldiers and civilians what in- and innovation in those around him, Despite those losses, the coun- the template of a courageous leader spired him about Martin Luther King Jr. and he led with courage. ty ended the year with a $15.8 to incite change. And, though he never answered fire million surplus in unassigned Lt. Gen. Michael X. Garrett, com- meet King that he would thank him with fire, the opposition King faced, funds, which are available for manding general at ARCENT, said on for making sacrifices “for something Jamerson said, were combat condi- spending at the government’s a video that featured soldiers of rang- he felt very, very strongly about.” tions. discretion. ing ranks and positions explaining “He taught me to be a good example County Administrator Gary what they would say if they could for others,” Garrett said. SEE KING, PAGE A6 Mixon said the result of the audit is the culmination of three to four months of work, ‘I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have and he thanked Webster Rogers and county staff for their work the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, during the process. is stronger than evil triumphant.’ MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. SEE AUDIT, PAGE A6 VISIT US ONLINE AT DEATHS, B3 WEATHER, A8 INSIDE Frances K. Winegar Bertha M. Brunson A LITTLE RAIN 2 SECTIONS, 14 PAGES the .com VOL. 124, NO. 69 Ruth Joe Washington Stevie Leevon Commander Morning rain with Jean Howard Skinner Reynolds Lillie Mae Evans Thompson decreasing clouds; clear Classifieds B6 Sports B1 Almena Leaf Richardson Ada Cooper Kirby and much colder tonight Comics B4 Television B5 Sarah Brown Freeman Deloris Colclough Gary William C. Saunders HIGH 63, LOW 31 Opinion A7 A2 | THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2019 THE SUMTER ITEM Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: [email protected] S.C. law enforcement still against medical marijuana BY JEFFREY COLLINS Seabrook, the president of the state Associated Press Medical Association. Davis stood in the crowd during the COLUMBIA — Legislation to legalize news conference, taking notes. He marijuana has been making progress pointed to the scribbling all over his in conservative South Carolina, but the paper when it was finished, telling a re- state's top law enforcement officials and porter, "I kind of lost track writing doctors got together Wednesday to say down all of those absurd assertions." they are still fired up in opposition. Davis said Wednesday's speakers The Compassionate Care Act has must not have read the dozens of pages both Republican and Democratic spon- in his bill, which includes a training sors in the General Assembly. It would program for doctors before they could allow doctors to prescribe 2 ounces of prescribe marijuana and a tracking sys- marijuana every two weeks, makes it il- tem for any marijuana used for medici- legal to smoke the drug and has a spe- nal purposes from farm to dispensary. cific list of ailments it can be used for He said he was especially disappoint- including cancer, multiple sclerosis, ep- ed by doctors who prescribed much ilepsy and post-traumatic stress disor- more addictive and dangerous opioids der. for years being against him. State Sen. Tom Davis, one of the A total of 33 states, the District of Co- chamber's most conservative Republi- lumbia, Guam and Puerto Rico allow cans, calls the bill he sponsored the some type of medical cannabis pro- most restrictive medical marijuana law gram, according to the National Con- in the country, even making it a felony ference of State Legislatures. But al- to convert medical marijuana to per- AP FILE PHOTO most all the Southern states of the old sonal use. Allison Johnson, an employee of Buckeye Relief LLC, works on topping a marijuana Confederacy are exceptions. But the state's top prosecutor and law plant in Eastlake, Ohio. Davis said the reaction by these offi- enforcement officer, joined by sheriffs, cials to this bill, which is awaiting a police chiefs, other state lawmakers hearing in a Senate committee, shows from both parties and doctors from the ‘We’re urging the members of our General Assembly to not they have old-school mentalities about South Carolina Medical Association, all let those who are pulling at your heart lead you to bypass drugs that haven't changed over gener- said at a Wednesday news conference ations. that medical marijuana would make it the processes and the systems that have been protecting "It's like we traveled back to the too easy for teens and young adults to 1950s," Davis said. obtain the drug. They also said the each and every one of us from harmful substances for State Attorney General Alan Wilson medical benefits of marijuana are still organized the news conference, saying uncertain. more than a century.’ marijuana is the drug that often leads Cherokee County Sheriff Steve Muel- to people becoming addicted to stron- ler said his fellow officers don't lack CHEROKEE COUNTY SHERIFF STEVE MUELLER ger drugs, like methamphetamine.

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