Master Collector
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IN SPORTS: Sumter faces Lexington in Legion playoff series B1 PANORAMA Downtown still rocking Joe Sanford Band next up in SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894 C1 WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2017 $1.00 Fourth Friday series SCDOR settlement with FTC a shock to counties BY JIM HILLEY sesses large companies.” companies to provide rural The amount of money in- [email protected] Editor’s note: For a late- Much as homeowners can telephone service in unincor- volved is significant, Claren- breaking development on this appeal their property’s assess- porated areas was ignored by don County Administrator Several South Carolina story read Adrienne Sarvis’ ment to the county, compa- the department when assess- David Epperson said Monday counties may be on the hook County Council report at the nies can appeal to depart- ing FTC’s property. at a Clarendon County Coun- to repay significant amounts bottom of this page. ment, he said. In January, a settlement cil meeting. of money to Farmers Tele- FTC, which includes Farm- was reached in the company’s “We and the other counties phone Cooperative and its af- as a basis for collecting ers Telephone Inc., Farmers favor, but according to local may have to give up some ser- filiates because of a settle- taxes. Telephone LLC and Farmers county administrators, the vices,” he said. ment with South Carolina De- “The county doesn’t do Telephone Diversified LLC, counties were not notified “Not only Clarendon Coun- partment of Revenue. those assessments,” Lee appealed its property assess- until the last week in June, ty, but also Sumter County, The department assesses County Administrator Alan ment with the department, Watkins said. Lee County, parts of Florence the value of large companies Watkins said. “Just like the contending that a decades-old “The law does not require County, Williamsburg County and provides those assess- county assesses the value of South Carolina law exempting notice when a taxpayer has ments to local entities to use your house, the SCDOR as- property used by telephone appealed,” he said. SEE FTC, PAGE A7 SUMTER SCHOOL DISTRICT DOE declares ‘fiscal watch’ BY BRUCE MILLS [email protected] Editor’s note: Spearman’s full letter to Sumter School District is attached to this Master story at www.theitem.com. Under a new state law requiring the South Carolina Department of Education to regulate school districts’ financial prac- tices, the state agency has placed Sumter School District on “fiscal watch.” collector State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman sent a letter Monday de- claring the “fiscal watch” to district Su- perintendent Frank Baker, district board Chairman the Rev. Daryl McGhaney and new district Chief Financial Officer Chris Griner via email and certified mail. Spearman detailed in the BRUCE MILLS / THE SUMTER ITEM letter that under Act 23 ap- Avid fossil collector Dougie Patterson shows how the upper and lower teeth of a megalodon shark functioned together at proved by Gov. Henry Mc- his display area at Strong Arms Gun Shop in Sumter. He collected both teeth from the bottom of the Cooper River near Master on May 9, which di- Charleston in the Lowcountry. rects DOE to develop and SPEARMAN adopt a statewide program on school districts’ fiscal Sumter native’s finds are both from land and water practices and budgetary conditions, her department must declare a state of “fiscal BY BRUCE MILLS Clarendon counties. Patterson said He has displays of his artifacts watch” on a school district if “there is any [email protected] that dig process unearthed hun- and fossils at Clarendon County type of ongoing, related investigation by dreds of thousands of arrowheads Museum in Manning, Old Santee any state or federal law enforcement agen- He’s a collector of all things — for collectors. Canal Park in Moncks Corner and cy” on that district. from antique spinning wheels, Rev- His 25-year career with Sumter Strong Arms Gun Shop on Broad On June 16, State Law Enforcement Di- olutionary War rifles and cannon- Fire Department allowed him to ex- Street Extension in Sumter. He vision spokesman Thom Berry confirmed balls to artifacts such as arrow- tend his discoveries from land to keeps his most valuable display to The Sumter Item that SLED is conduct- heads, tomahawks and fossilized water. He conducted rescue dives items at these locations. He previ- ing an ongoing investigation concerning teeth. His collection of megalodon with the department and was able ously had a display at Sumter potential financial improprieties in Sum- shark teeth, woolly mammoth ele- to hold onto his gear and equip- County Museum as well. ter School District to include claims in an phant teeth, ancient horse teeth ment after he retired. He has spoken through the years anonymous letter that was previously cir- and alligator and other animals’ He still dives today and says his to various groups on his finds, in- culating throughout the Sumter commu- teeth is too many to count. fossilized teeth finds (as deep as 60 cluding Sumter County Genealogi- nity on social media sites. He’s Dougie Patterson, and he’s feet) are from the Cooper River in cal Society, various nursing homes Ryan Brown, chief communications of- quite possibly the biggest active col- the Lowcountry. His research and the local public schools. ficer with the state Department of Educa- lector of fossils and artifacts in shows the megalodon shark teeth As any good collector should, Pat- tion, said Tuesday that Sumter is the first Sumter County. he has found are from millions of terson estimates he has about 1,000 district that the state agency has placed on The 74-year-old Patterson got his years ago when the entire region research reference books in his “fiscal watch” since the new law has come start 60 years ago in the mid-1950s and coastal counties up to Colum- Sumter home (also known as “The into play. Brown said more districts could when he was 14 with his first ar- bia were underwater. Some of the Man Cave”) to study up on his col- possibly be placed on “fiscal watch” in the rowhead find in Bennettsville, near shark teeth in his collection mea- lectibles. Most of those books were near future, but Sumter’s situation fell di- the Pee Dee River. sure up to 6-inches long. purchased “pre-Google” and before rectly under the language of the new law. He said in the ‘60s, he was Studies suggest this giant shark the Internet. Spearman also said in her letter that “lucky” in his arrowhead discover- reached a length of 60 feet, Patter- “I have read them 10 times each,” DOE’s auditing department has recently ies with the construction of Inter- son says. He says the shark’s mouth Patterson says on his reference books. investigated irregularities in the district’s state 95 and its associated exit was up to 9-feet wide from corner to use of funds under the Child Early Read- ramps built through Sumter and corner. SEE FINDS, PAGE A7 ing Development and Education Program. Brown said DOE has submitted a version of the auditing report to SLED for its in- vestigation, but wouldn’t release that ver- sion to the public. He said once the district responds to the fiscal watch and its feed- Sumter County to contest FTC settlement back is incorporated, then DOE will be able to release a final version. BY ADRIENNE SARVIS to unincorporated areas when as- It’s not known whether DOE’s audit [email protected] Editor’s note: For more information on FTC’s settlement see Jim Hilley’s sessing the cooperative’s property findings are related to claims in the anon- report at the top of this page. for tax purposes. FTC claims that ymous letter. That letter from May claims During its meeting on Tuesday, it paid too much in property taxes a district employee used school district Sumter County Council approved because the exemption was not ac- funds for multiple personal purchases. It a motion to contest a settlement ed between 2010 and 2015. knowledged. also accuses an administrator of colluding Farmer’s Telephone Cooperative FTC’s settlement states that the Chairman James McCain said with the person to use other school dis- reached with South Carolina De- department of revenue did not council will join Clarendon Coun- trict funds inappropriately. partment of Revenue that requires consider a South Carolina law ty and other affected counties in Spearman also detailed the district has counties under its service to pay that exempts telephone companies back some property taxes collect- providing rural telephone services SEE COUNTY, PAGE A7 SEE WATCH, PAGE A7 VISIT US ONLINE AT DEATHS, B5 WEATHER, A10 INSIDE Edwin Blaylock II Arthur J. Folmar HOT AND STORMY 3 SECTIONS, 20 PAGES the .com Ann Marie Thomas Carolyn K. Ward Even chance of afternoon VOL. 122, NO. 192 Emma Mae McFadden Sara Williamson storms today and hot; Classifieds B6 Opinion A9 Levi McDonald Ethel L. Williams tonight, early storms, cloudy. Comics C2 Television C3 Carrie G. Harvin Katrin Ross HIGH 93, LOW 73 Walter T. Brown Wade L. Hickson Food C4 A2 | WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2017 THE SUMTER ITEM Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: [email protected] YWCA presents ‘Hats Around the World’ Lee County Event to promote unity negotiates fee and nonviolence is from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday agreement BY IVY MOORE [email protected] with landfill The YWCA of the Upper Lowlands Inc. will sponsor a Saturday event to BY JIM HILLEY advance its mission to promote unity [email protected] and non-violence in the Sumter com- munity.