SPORTS Wilson named AP women’s college hoops Player of Year B1 SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894 FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2018 75 CENTS Morris dedicates building to $10M donor different kind of people. From left, architect Danny Solomon Jackson Jr. used “I can proudly say this man whom Shelley; Morris College a portion of his lottery we are honoring today, he did not won- Board Chairman, the Rev. der what is happening in the world, he Mack Hines; the Rev. Solo- winnings to help school did not watch things happen, but he mon Jackson Jr.; and inter- made things happen,” Hines said. im college President Leroy BY BRUCE MILLS Hines, other college officials and Staggers are seen as Jack- [email protected] Sumter leaders honored Jackson, a son is presented the key to Morris alum, on Thursday with the the college’s new Adminis- In recognizing the Rev. Solomon dedication of the college’s new Admin- tration Building on Thurs- Jackson Jr. at a worship service and istration Building at an annual pre- day on campus. dedication Thursday, Morris College Easter worship service in the Neal Board of Trustees Chairman the Rev. BRUCE MILLS / THE SUMTER ITEM Mack Hines described there are three SEE BUILDING, PAGE A9 Businesses Prom Promise challenges students will move and rebuild Commission recommends approval for Sumter Casket Co., McLaughlin Ford plans BY ADRIENNE SARVIS [email protected] Sumter City-County Planning Com- mission recommended approval of two major site plans for Sumter Cas- ket Co. and McLaughlin Ford as both businesses prepare to relocate and re- build. Sumter County Council approved the sale of 15 acres of county-owned land on North Wise Drive to Sumter Casket Co. in April where the business will build a new facility after the previous building on South Magnolia Street was destroyed during a fire in July 2016. The new building — a 32,600-square- foot structure that will house an office, manufacturing, painting and manufac- turing facilities — will be on a 15-acre parcel at 1400 N. Wise Drive, near Cat- erpillar Inc. and Sumter Easy Home in Black River Industrial Park. The move for McLaughlin Ford is one that was foreseen as Sumter County works to finish the final 2008 Capital PHOTOS BY SHARRON HALEY / SPECIAL TO THE SUMTER ITEM Penny Sales Tax project, the Lafayette Scott’s Branch High School senior Devin Brown aids local EMS personnel in a dramatization of how patients are treated at the Diamond, to reconstruct the intersec- scene of an accident and airlifted to local or trauma hospitals. See more photos from Wednesday’s Prom Promise program on A5. tion of North Main Street, the U.S. 76/378 bypass and other connecting roads. Dramatization shows what could happen if students make poor choices McLaughlin Ford is located at the corner of North Main Street and South BY SHARRON HALEY were milling around. Drivers showed students actual pre- Pike West and will relocate to an 11.18- Special to The Sumter Item Why? sentations from family members acre parcel at 2665 Broad St., between It was a dramatization called who had lost loved ones because of Tractor Supply Co. and SpringHill SUMMERTON — A large black Prom Promise held annually in an poor judgment. Suites. hearse is parked in plain view. A de- effort to make school students more The mother of a 19-year-old teen The new lot will include a molished car with the roof cut off aware of their actions and the con- from Lexington who was riding with 37,000-square-foot dealership building in order to extricate a victim and sequences of poor judgment. a friend when they wrecked and the with 381 parking spaces for vehicle in- blood smeared on the inside was Scott’s Branch High/Middle car burst into flames told the story ventory. parked at the rear of the school, and School Resource Officer Shante De- that changed her family forever. AMAN TO TIGER LILY ROAD more than a dozen law enforcement, mary with Clarendon County Sher- With burns covering more than 95 EMS and fire department officials iff’s Office told the students the re- percent of his body, the teen tried to Planning commission recommended alities of making bad choices such help his friend who was trapped in- approval of a petition to change the as drinking and doing drugs side the burning car. Bystanders name of Aman Road to Tiger Lily Road. while driving. said that while the teen struggled to A staff report states that a 520-foot “The choices you make help his friend and fought the pain portion of the road in Sumter County right now will determine he was enduring, he kept calling is named Aman Road while the majori- how your life develops out, “I want my mom.” The mother ty of the road, in Lee County, is called in years to come,” De- of the young man said she tells the Tiger Lily Road. mary said. story to other young people so that Aman Road serves as access to one Ashley the pain she and her family endure single-family home and one business in Merrick doesn’t happen to their family. Sumter, and those property owners al- with the Merrick shared several statistics ready use Tiger Lily Road as their ad- Columbia with the students. dress. Chapter of “Did you know that one in three REZONING PROPERTY FOR Mothers teenagers have admitted to drinking FUTURE DEVELOPMENT Against Drunk SEE PROMISE, PAGE A9 The request to rezone 9.5 acres at 1501 Camden Highway from agricultur- al conservation to general commercial Summerton Funeral Home had the most dramatic is expected to promote future commer- end to Wednesday’s Prom Promise program. The cial and multi-family uses about half a local funeral home parked a large black hearse outside the school demonstrating the worst out- SEE BUSINESSES, PAGE A9 come from making poor choices on prom night. VISIT US ONLINE AT DEATHS, B5 WEATHER, A12 INSIDE Samuel Levy Bertha Mae Jackson A BIT RAINY 3 SECTIONS, 28 PAGES the .com VOL. 123, NO. 116 Mamie R. Jefferson Lulabell Epps A shower in the morning; Louise W. Mack Dr. Curtis V. Goings clearing today and cooler Classifieds B6 Religion A4 Marvin L. Gamble Cora Lee Singleton with a moonlit sky. Comics C6 Sports B1 Varnie V. McLeod James Ford Sr. HIGH 78, LOW 45 A7 C4 Randolph Richardson Clarendon Sun Television Opinion A10 A2 | FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2018 THE SUMTER ITEM Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: [email protected] Officials: 2 Sumter residents ID’d as suspects in mail, package thefts BY KAYLA ROBINS McGirt, public information of- delivered to at least two [email protected] ficer for the Sumter Police De- homes in the city. partment. McGirt said they also could Two Sumter County resi- Turner, who lives on be tied to similar cases in Rich- BLAZER TURNER dents have been identified as Poole Road off County Road land and Kershaw counties. suspects in recent thefts of 43-543 in southern Sumter Turner is described as packages and mail from other County near Furman Mid- 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds who colored 2006 Ford Explorer. 1-888-CRIME-SC. homes, officials say. dle School, and Blazer, who will "sometimes go clean-shav- Anyone with information Tips can also be submitted Sumter detectives and U.S. lives on Joyce Street off en." about their whereabouts is to CrimeStoppers by logging Postal Service agents are look- Keels Road, which connects Blazer is about 5 feet 4 inches asked to call the Sumter Po- onto www.P3tips.com and ing for Robert Paul Turner, 31, Wedgefield and Loring Mill and weighs about 152 pounds, lice Department at (803) 436- clicking on "submit a tip" or who is also known as Jeremy roads, both face petty larce- McGirt said. 2700. Information can be by downloading the new P3 Blazer, and Anahea Nickolette ny charges after they re- Both suspects have been re- given anonymously by calling Tips app for Apple and An- Blazer, 25, according to Tonyia portedly took merchandise ported seen traveling in a dark- CrimeStoppers toll-free at droid smart devices. S.C. closer to medical marijuana legalization for critically ill patients COLUMBIA (AP) — South by many who support it but marijuana and lays out a Carolina took a step closer primarily out of the hope it number of requirements for Thursday to becoming the would be a gateway to recre- prescribing physicians and latest state to allow the legal- ational legalization of the operators of medical canna- ization of marijuana for drug. bis dispensaries. treatment of critically ill pa- Currently, 29 states, the Davis has proposed the tients, although the bill's District of Columbia and legalization of medical sponsor acknowledged it's Puerto Rico allow some type marijuana for several unlikely to become law this of medical cannabis pro- years, speaking multiple year. gram. On Thursday, Sen. times on the floor of the On an 8-6 vote, the Senate Danny Verdin, who chaired Senate about personal sto- Medical Affairs Committee that subcommittee, said he ries he's heard from both approved a measure that understood reservations adults and children suffer- would allow the use of medi- about the measure but was ing from debilitating disor- cal marijuana to treat some tired of South Carolina's re- ders and pain some say critically ill patients. It now luctance to move on cultural could be treated with mari- goes to the full Senate, but issues like this one, putting juana.