HEALTH: Are you committed? Making lasting changes A3 Slower hurricanes over land will mean more rain SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894 A4 THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2018 75 CENTS City council OKs 1st budget reading completing a series of budget work- Drive; and $1.2 million to engineer and more than predicted, so it would be Proposed budget is shops. install a new fiber loop to secure data good to use that surplus to purchase The budget still needs one more vote usage for the city’s departments. park and garden equipment for the before it is fully approved. The 2018 budget amendment also in- tourism department, City Finance Di- balanced at $67M Council also approved first reading cludes an increase in the amount of rector Beth Reames said. BY ADRIENNE SARVIS of an ordinance to amend the city’s money to be transferred from the MINI-STORAGE FACILITY [email protected] 2018 budget to include a $6 million city’s hospitality fund to the general PLANS PASSED general obligation bond, approved in fund. Sumter City Council approved first March, to fund three projects: $800,000 Originally, it was planned that 45 City council approved second and reading of the city’s proposed 2019 to reimburse the city’s general fund percent of the hospitality fund would final reading of a request to amend budget, which is balanced at account for improvements made to the be transferred to the city’s general the city’s mini-storage warehouse $67,218,077 million with revenues and Alice Drive fire station last year; $4 fund based on the predicted hospitali- development conditions to permit a expenditures each totaling $39,365,543 million for finishing touches to the ty revenues for the 2018 fiscal year. in the general fund on Tuesday after Public Safety complex on Lafayette However, hospitality revenues are SEE BUDGET, PAGE A6 Perfect 4 seniors mark 12 years of never missing a day of school BY KAYLA ROBINS [email protected] o one is perfect. Except four teenagers from Sumter. When J’Quan Jenkins-Johnson, NMorgan Pringle, Shekinah Lonon and Kyle Boothe graduate from high school this weekend, they will complete a 12-year challenge that started in kindergarten and ended with them having not missed a single day of school. Ever. “To graduate without goal and that he didn’t like missing a single day of class missing school because he in your 12-year academic ca- didn’t want to fall behind. reer is an extraordinary ac- They all also said working complishment that is the toward perfect attendance culmination of hard work through elementary, middle and determination,” State and high school taught them Superintendent of Educa- about commitment, dedica- tion Molly Spearman said. tion and hard work. The four are among 43 They sat down with The high school seniors who had Sumter Item to tell us a little perfect attendance through- more about themselves and out their entire public school their future. career. Spearman said in a news release that each stu- • • • dent will receive a letter and certificate that she signed. Jenkins-Johnson said his mom was a major part in making sure he got to school every day, to which the other three emphatically agreed. Pringle said when she was younger, her mom would make her go to school when she didn’t want to but that later in high school she took it upon herself to not miss a J’QUAN JENKINS-JOHNSON day because she wanted to get the certificate. Age: 18 Lonon said she liked going Elementary school: Lemira to school every day because she could be around people Middle school: Bates, Chestnut who make her laugh and Oaks smile. High school: Sumter PHOTOS BY MICAH GREEN / THE SUMTER ITEM Boothe said making sure Activity: Junior Firefighter From left, Shekinah Lonon, Morgan Pringle, J’Quan Jenkins-Johnson and Kyle Boothe never missed a day of he got to school taught him to school in 12 years. All will graduate this weekend in Sumter. never stop reaching toward a SEE PERFECT, PAGE A6 Analysis: HUD plan would raise rents for poor by 20 percent BY JULIET LINDERMAN South Carolina, where most the plan. That’s about six Shannon Brown, 29, and LARRY FENN households receiving federal times greater than the growth walks with her four- The Associated Press housing assistance would see in average hourly earnings, year-old daughter, rents rise an average 26 per- putting poor workers at an in- Sai-Mya, in Charleston CHARLESTON — Housing cent, according to an analysis creased risk of homelessness on May 17. Brown lives Secretary Ben Carson says his done by Center on Budget and because wages haven’t kept in public housing and latest proposal to raise rents Policy Priorities for The Asso- pace with housing expenses. could face a steep in- would mean a path toward ciated Press. Her increase “I saw public housing as an crease under a HUD self-sufficiency for millions of would be nearly double that. option to get on my feet, to proposal that would low-income households across Overall, the analysis shows pay 30 percent of my income raise rents for millions the United States by pushing that in the 100 largest U.S. and get myself out of debt and of low-income individu- more people to find work. For metropolitan areas, low-in- eventually become a home- als and families. Ebony Morris and her four come tenants — many of owner,” said Morris, whose small children, it could mean whom have jobs — would rent would jump from $403 to THE ASSOCIATED PRESS homelessness. have to pay roughly 20 percent Morris lives in Charleston, more each year for rent under SEE RENT, PAGE A6 VISIT US ONLINE AT DEATHS, B3 WEATHER, A8 INSIDE Charles Wesley Kershaw Sr. Elizabeth Mouzon Beaufort SUNNY AND BEAUTIFUL 2 SECTIONS, 14 PAGES the .com VOL. 123, NO. 164 Wilbur Earl King Lillie Mae China Sunshine with some clouds; Charles M. Brown Ruth Adger Young mainly clear tonight Classifieds B6 Sports B1 Leroy Wilder Roman Santos Adams HIGH 91, LOW 67 Comics B4 Television B5 Robert Bradley Gloria Ann McLaughlin Pearl Murray Holmes Opinion A7 A2 | THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2018 THE SUMTER ITEM Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: [email protected] Robbery suspect leaves jacket with name, prints FROM STAFF REPORTS County Sheriff’s Office, 30-year- enclosed area at S&S Muffler on May 7, the suspect reportedly old Jehrode William Hodge, of Shop, 100 Myrtle Beach Highway, entered a residence in the 600 Not only did this suspect leave 1575 Robert Perry Road, was ar- and once inside, entered an un- block of East Brewington Road behind his fingerprint at a crime rested and charged with bur- locked 2001 Saturn. by pushing a window air condi- scene, but he also left behind his glary, second degree, pursuant to Hodge reportedly then stole tioner through the window and jacket. Better than that, it had a warrant issued on May 31 and speakers and amplifiers from the going through the opening. Once his name on it. another on June 1. car valued at $2,700 but left be- inside, Hodge reportedly stole a HODGE According to a news release The first warrant states that hind a blue jacket with the name 32-inch Sony TV valued at $200. from Deputy Ken Bell, public in- on April 21, Hodge reportedly Hodge on it. This time, investigators recov- formation officer with Sumter entered an unlocked door in an The second warrant states that ered Hodge’s fingerprint. Beware Dalzell man faces child of mystery porn charges FROM STAFF REPORTS shopper A 43-year-old Dalzell man has been arrested on child por- nography according to a news release from S.C. Attorney scammers General Alan Wilson. Chad Everett BY RHONDA BARRICK McCollam was [email protected] arrested on Mon- day and charged Though some retailers actually with three counts hire “secret” or “mystery” shop- of sexual exploi- pers, scammers are also known to tation of a minor, use this term. second degree, a MCCOLLAM According to Emma Fletcher felony offense with the Division of Consumer and punishable by up Business Education, Federal Trade to 10 years' imprisonment on Commission, this old scam is mak- SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTO each count. ing a comeback, and this is how it Democratic candidate Archie Parnell is seen with his wife, Sarah, during the last District Internet Crimes Against works. 5 Congressional race. He’s running against U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman for a second time. Children Task Force investiga- A letter arrives in the mail tors with Sumter County Sher- promising a job as a secret shop- iff’s Office made the arrest. In- per and containing a check. You vestigators with the Attorney deposit the check, and surpris- General's Office and Homeland ingly, the check clears your bank House hopeful Parnell Security Investigations, both account. The next step is to visit also members of the state's the store named in the letter and ICAC Task Force, assisted with test its money transfer service — the investigation and arrest. Western Union or MoneyGram. vows to remain in race According to investigators, Of course, the way you test it is McCollam distributed multiple by wiring some of the money you Posts video on Facebook north from Columbia, through Char- files of child pornography. just deposited to the scammer. At lotte suburbs and then west to pick up The case will be prosecuted this point, everything seems BY MEG KINNARD more rural areas. It had been in Demo- by the Attorney General's Of- plausible.