Voter Turnout for Primaries 11.8 Percent
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IN SPORTS: Upsets abound in early going at Palmetto Pro Open tennis tourney B1 RELIGION Southern Baptists take stand against Confederate flag A5 THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2016 | Serving South Carolina since October 15, 1894 75 cents Voter turnout for primaries 11.8 percent BY ADRIENNE SARVIS tration and Election Director poll workers and voters. head-to-head for the District 1 number of votes are chosen to [email protected] Patricia Jefferson said Tues- Two of the local races, Sum- council seat. run against one another dur- day that voter turnout was ter County Coroner and Sum- Jefferson said races with ing the run-off election. Voter turnout during the very low overall after visiting ter County Council District 1, three or more candidates will Only District 1 Democratic 2016 Republican and Demo- 15 precincts, including Ebene- will have run-off elections on need to end with one person primary voters or those with- cratic primaries on Tuesday zer 1 and 2, Wilder, Hillcrest June 28. receiving at least 51 percent in the district who did not was low, with 11.8 percent of and Thomas Sumter. Harvin Bullock, the current of the vote in order to proceed cast ballots will be able to vote the 66,868 registered voters in She said turnout through- county coroner, and Robbie to the general election in No- for Sumpter or Kershaw, Sumter County’s 58 precincts out the state has been pretty Baker will face off again for a vember. while all county voters in the casting a total of 7,918 ballots, quiet. spot on the November ballot, If no candidate receives 51 Democratic Primary or those according to scvotes.org. Jefferson said the polling while Chris Sumpter and percent of the votes, the two Sumter County Voter Regis- process did go smoothly for Caleb Kershaw Jr. will go candidates with the largest SEE TURNOUT, PAGE A3 House sends Tasered: ‘You don’t forget that’ ethics bill to state Senate BY JIM HILLEY [email protected] Ethics reform legislation is not dead in the South Carolina General Assembly after the House of Representatives ap- proved a conference report on a bill re- quiring income disclosure by General Assembly members. The House voted 99-10 to send the measure to the Senate, which requires disclosure of any income that would normally be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. “This is a compromise we have worked out with the Senate,” said Rep. Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, who was a member of the confer- SMITH ence committee. Smith said the legislation would include income by anyone living in the household, includ- ing spouses and children who are living 4 officers-to-be get a in the home and are listed as dependents. Income that needs to be disclosed on shock on training day a candidate’s statement of personal in- terest would not include court-ordered BY ADRIENNE SARVIS income, bank accounts, mutual funds [email protected] and mutual fund investments, Smith said. our employees at Sumter Smith said defining income as any- County Sheriff’s Office re- thing of value used on an IRS form ceived a shock at the con- would give clarity of what to disclose, F clusion of the training Smith said. when they were shot with a Taser “This is not the perfect bill,” Smith marking the conclusion of the said, “but it is in the best interests of course on Wednesday. the state,” he said. Sumter County Sheriff’s Office PHOTOS BY KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM Several members questioned the need Public Information Officer Ken Bell Recruits Joseph Brancato, top left, and Jarrett Logan, top right, hold up Public In- to disclose the income of minor children said all officers must take a Taser formation Officer Ken Bell as he is zapped with a taser at the end of a training ex- who work outside the home; but, in the class and pass a written test about ercise at Sumter County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday. All deputies must end, the committee report was adopted the weapon before getting shot with experience what it feels like to be ‘Tased.’ Above is a closeup view of the barb that and sent the Senate, which meets today. the Taser. attaches to the body when the taser is fired. Earlier, the House failed to override Bell, who will begin officer train- Gov. Nikki Haley’s veto of a bill requir- ing in January, completed the train- long with a sharp probe, the part she was shot with the Taser during ing licenses to operate mopeds on public ing along with three new officers. that punctures the skin, attached to her training in 2010. streets. The 65-47 vote Wednesday fell With the class and a 50-question each cord. “You don’t forget that,” she said. short of the necessary two-thirds need- test complete, each person was shot The needle portion of the two After giving the verbal cue, ed. and shocked for 5 seconds with a probes are about a half-inch long “Taser, Taser, Taser,” Mays fired The Republican governor said requir- H26P Taser, which puts out 50,000 but only half of that length goes the weapon, hitting each person in ing reflective vests for nighttime driving volts of electricity. into the skin. The tip of the probe is the back. and helmets for drivers under 21 repre- Various medical conditions can barbed to keep it from falling out. Other officers within the agency, sents government overreach. exempt a person from being shot “It’s like a fish hook,” said Depu- who underwent the same training, The bill’s supporters contend moped with a Taser after passing the writ- ty Jennifer Mays, one of three showed up to see the new officers drivers are dying because people can’t ten test, Bell said. Taser instructors at the sheriff’s of- get shot with the Taser and cheer Each Taser cartridge has two fice. SEE VETOES, PAGE A3 cords that are either 15, 21 or 25 feet Mays said she remembers when SEE TASERED, PAGE A3 Body of boy snatched by gator found in Disney lagoon LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. after authorities first got the was planned. thanking well-wishers for what we can” to help the fami- (AP) — The body of a 2-year- call that a reptile had taken “Of course the family was their “thoughts and hope- ly. old Nebraska boy who was the boy from the water’s edge distraught, but also I believe filled prayers.” Disney World closed beach- snatched off a Walt Disney at Seven Seas Lagoon despite somewhat relieved that his CEO Michael Iaccarino of es around Seven Seas Lagoon World beach by an alligator his father’s frantic attempt to body was found intact,” Dem- Infogroup, a marketing com- during the search, and it was and dragged underwater was save the child. ings told a news conference. pany where Matt Graves is not immediately clear when recovered Wednesday, ending Sheriff Jerry Demings said The boy’s parents were chief data officer, said Grave’s they would reopen. a ghastly search at one of the it appeared the gator pulled identified as Matt and Melissa family “is the light of his life.” While “no swimming” signs world’s most popular tourist the child into deeper water Graves of Elkhorn, Nebraska, In a statement from Disney are posted at the beach where destinations. and drowned him, leaving the a suburban area of Omaha. A World Resort President the boy was attacked, no signs Divers found the body of body near the spot where he family friend released a state- George A. Kalogridis, the Lane Graves about 16 hours was last seen. An autopsy ment on behalf of the couple company said it was “doing SEE DISNEY, PAGE A10 VISIT US ONLINE AT CONTACT US DEATHS, B4 WEATHER, A12 INSIDE Information: 774-1200 Rev. Matthew Isaac HOT AND STORMY 2 SECTIONS, 20 PAGES the .com Advertising: 774-1246 Sophie J. Gibson Expect clouds and an VOL. 121, NO. 203 Classifieds: 774-1234 Catherine English Felder afternoon thunderstorm Classifieds B7 Delivery: 774-1258 William Johnson News and Sports: 774-1226 today; clear, warm and Comics B6 humid tonight. Opinion A11 HIGH 94, LOW 75 Television B5 A2 | THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2016 THE SUMTER ITEM Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: [email protected] STATE BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS District 50 run-off set for June 28 Troopers arrest man for death of truck driver BY JIM HILLEY office,” he said. ham, 357; and Keith John- [email protected] Drayton will face off in a son, 184. GASTON — South Carolina runoff election June 28 “I appreciate everybody troopers say they have arrested South Carolina House District 50 can- against Bishopville attor- coming out yesterday, and, a man who struck and killed a didate Tom Drayton said he was not sur- ney Will Wheeler, who re- hopefully we can get them truck driver from Georgia and prised there will be a runoff in the race ceived the most votes in back out on June 28,” Dray- then drove away last monthy. to replace retiring Rep. Grady Brown in Wednesday’s Democratic ton said. The Highway Patrol said that the General Assembly. DRAYTON primary but not enough to WHEELER Attempts to reach Wheel- Ricco Williams of Columbia “With six people in the field, we were avoid a runoff. Candidates er were unsuccessful by was charged Tuesday night expecting it to happen,” he said. must win at least 51 percent of the vote press time. with hit-and-run resulting in Drayton said he was happy to be one to avoid a runoff.