Clarendon Bike Plant to Add 65 Jobs
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REGION: Wintry storm leads to several deaths, leaves mess across Southeast A4 Got Rodents? PEST CONTROL $75.00$75.00 MICE CONTROL AT NO EXTRATRA COSCOSTT CALLCALLLL FORFORO YOUR FREE ESTIMATE!ESTS IMATE! MOBILE:OBILE: 803-968-505780803-968-5057 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2018 | Serving South Carolina since October 15, 1894 75 cents [email protected] li t@f Clarendon bike plant to add 65 jobs million capital investment in the for- BCA will expand in Summerton with $5M investment BCA EXPANSION mer Federal Mogul building in Sum- BY BRUCE MILLS Walmart, Target and other retail out- • 65 new jobs (mostly production workers); merton and add the 65 jobs there. [email protected] lets, based in Manning, is making an- • $5 million in capital investment; and Most of the new jobs will be produc- other $5 million investment in the tion jobs, Kosinski said. • Hiring to begin in 2nd quarter and A leading Clarendon County manu- county. With the expansion, BCA will be the through summer. facturer has outgrown its Manning fa- George Kosinski, executive director county’s largest manufacturer, he cility and will expand to add 65 jobs in of the Clarendon County Economic said. Summerton. Development Board, said Monday that BCA, which opened its Manning During the Great Recession of the Bicycle Corporation of America, a after the state Department of Com- operation in 2014 and currently has maker of bicycle product lines for merce released the announcement about 140 employees, will make a $5 SEE BCA, PAGE A6 $5K reward Finding the right fit offered for info about man’s death Police ask for help after shooting in November BY ADRIENNE SARVIS [email protected] A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered for information that can help authorities make an arrest and bring some solace to the family and friends of Chester “Rock” Stavis, who died of an apparent gunshot wound to the chest last month. The body of Stavis, 31, was found at STAVIS about 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 21 in a water- way near Rast and Dicks streets almost a week after he was last seen leaving his house on Albert Spears Drive. His death was ruled a homi- cide after an autopsy was per- formed at MUSC in Charleston, according to Sumter County Coroner Robbie Baker. PHOTOS BY MICAH GREEN / THE SUMTER ITEM Where and when he was shot Robert Burgess, left, and Kodie Bird look over the operation of a machine at Kaydon/SKF last week. Both took classes in the Central and why are not known, said Carolina Technical College Engineering Design Technology program, many of the classes together, and now work together at the Tonyia McGirt, public informa- manufacturer in Live Oak Industrial Park. tion officer for Sumter Police De- partment. Since November, po- lice have questioned 70-year-old 2 CCTC grads get flexibility, opportunity at Kaydon Carter Strother, who is the last known person to be seen with BY BRUCE MILLS Stavis before his body was found. [email protected] Strother was interviewed by city officers after he was arrest- Two people, a generation apart and ed on Nov. 28 by Sumter County coming from vastly different back- Sheriff’s Office deputies for un- grounds, are now friends working on related stalking and assault and the same team at a local company and battery charges. However, offi- earning great incomes — mostly just cers have determined he was not because they both share the power of involved in and does not have determination. knowledge of the shooting, Mc- Kodie Bird, 27, and Robert Burgess, Girt said. 54, are both recent graduates of Cen- Anyone with information tral Carolina Technical College’s Engi- about what happened to Stavis is neering Design Technology program asked to call Sumter Police De- and work at Kaydon/SKF in Live Oak partment at (803) 436-2700 or Industrial Park off U.S. 15 South. Crime Stoppers toll free at That field of study allows students 1-888-CRIME-SC. to learn computer-aided design (CAD) Burgess and Bird work together to make adjustments in technical drawings Kaydon/ Anonymous tips can also be technology to develop technical draw- SKF uses for its manufacturing process. submitted electronically to ings and modeling used in the produc- Crime Stoppers by logging onto tion process at manufacturing plants tempt at college, Burgess began work About 2000, Kaydon — like all man- www.P3tips.com and clicking on today. at Kaydon in 1986 in a labor-intensive ufacturers — began implementing the “Submit a New Tip” tab or After graduating from high school, position as a drill operator/machinist by downloading the P3 Tips app. a stint in the military and a failed at- making $5 per hour, he said. SEE KAYDON, PAGE A6 VISIT US ONLINE AT DEATHS, B3 and B4 WEATHER, A8 INSIDE David Richardson Kevin Connor Taylor Isabelle Bailey WARMING UP 2 SECTIONS, 14 PAGES the .com Vivian L. Stives Marc Bradley McCutchen VOL. 124, NO. 39 Daniel Dale Browder Jr. Preston Johnson Eleanor M. McDougal Partly sunny today; Barry Geddings Betty Ann Thames Ernest B. Taylor Sr. clear and cold tonight Classifieds B6 Sports B1 Fred Denner Hatchell Barbara B. Mockalis HIGH 53, LOW 27 Comics A5 Television B5 Jerry Franklin Dow Van Bernard Conyers Sr. Irene Scriven Jackson Opinion A7 Frances Ruth Brunson Edward Lawson Sr. Rebecca Nelson Burgess Ashton Bennett Robert J. Harden Santa Shops Here! If you didn’t buy from us, you paid too much! A2 | TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2018 THE SUMTER ITEM Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: [email protected] LOCAL BRIEFS FROM STAFF REPORTS Crestwood junior 1 of 2 in state chosen Sumter County Council to announce grant award for governmental education program Sumter County Council will meet at 6 p.m. today in County Council Chambers, third floor of State FBLA president to meet Supreme Court justice, senators, president Sumter County Administration Building, 13 E. Canal St., to an- BY KAYLA ROBINS chosen by State Superintendent of He said he was in “complete disbe- nounce the award of a grant for [email protected] Education Molly Spearman, who lief” and was “taken aback” when the Sumter County-Shannontown said in a news release that the two he found out he was one of the two Demolition CDBG Project to tear Many high school juniors are still “represent the very best of our stu- applicants Spearman chose, even down dilapidated houses in the thinking about college applications, dents in South Carolina,” noting the though he felt confident in how his Turkey Creek area. but one Crestwood High School nomination process was “rigorous interview went in November. Council will also consider first third-year is already almost halfway and extremely competitive.” Shirley Nelson, his guidance reading of a request to rezone 2.22 through his associate degree and Johnson, who also serves as the counselor at Crestwood, said acres of adjoining property at 2110 now has his sights set on a presti- South Carolina Future Business Spearman couldn’t have chosen a and 2115 Loring Mill Road from gious scholarship pro- Leaders of America state president, better person to represent South agricultural conservation to light gram that will land him said he has been interested in poli- Carolina. industrial-warehouse. in front of the U.S. Su- tics and the idea of making positive “He’s a leader, but at the same Sumter County Forfeited Land preme Court. change in the lives of Americans time, he doesn’t have to lead. He Commission will meet at 5:15 p.m. Travis Johnson is one since 2008 when Barack Obama be- works really well in the background today to hold an executive session of only two students in came president. Now, he said, he ... you know how some leaders have to discuss five contractual matters the state to be selected wants to go into politics to inspire to always be the main person. He pertaining to property in the JOHNSON as a delegate to the 57th- others the way he felt inspired by lets people do their own thing and county’s forfeited land commis- annual United States Obama. could also help and organize things sion. Senate Youth Program, an all-ex- “[Politicians] have the ability to without taking all the credit,” Nel- Sumter County Fiscal, Tax and penses-paid trip to Washington, create change and improve some- son said. Property Committee will meet at D.C., where 104 of the nation’s “most one’s situation so they can grow up She said he was taught to be high- 5:30 p.m. today to receive an up- outstanding high school students, to achieve the American Dream,” he ly motivated and had his strong date on the county’s internal and two from each state, the District of said. sense of work ethic instilled in him external audit processes and hold Columbia and the Department of The trip, happening in March, was through the support of his family. an executive session to discuss a Defense Education Activity” partici- created by Senate Resolution 324 in “Wherever he turns, there’s a sup- contractual and economic devel- pate in an intensive week-long study 1962 and has been sponsored by the port system there. At home, here, opment matter. of the federal government. Senate and fully funded by the his friends, he surrounds himself Johnson and the other delegates Hearst Foundation since its incep- with positive people,” she said. will have the opportunity to meet tion, so no government funds are “Every time I see him, he laughs with senators, cabinet members, of- used.