Customers 'Left Holding the Bag'
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Life insurance medical exams on life support C1 PANORAMA Appearing at the Sumter Opera House Game show, country music, comedy and more at Main Stage series A5 SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894 SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017 $1.75 IN SPORTS: Week by week look at the prep football season B1 Customers ‘left holding the bag’ Sen. McElveen calls for special session of Legislature on abandoned nuke plants BY JEFFREY COLLINS actors is impulsive, and there by Senate Major- “There just needs to be a this week to review that law Associated Press isn’t a reason to immediately ity Leader Shane timeout, a pause, whatever and to consider firing the call a special session. Massey of Edge- you want to call it, until the members of the Public Ser- COLUMBIA — Both Demo- Pressure to do something, field and Senate General Assembly has the op- vice Commission, which has cratic and Republican law- whether stopping any new Minority Leader portunity to understand in de- to approve all of SCE&G’s makers in South Carolina, in- rate hikes or firing lawmaker- Nikki Setzler of tail what has happened here,” rate hikes. cluding Sen. Thomas approved regulators, is McELVEEN West Columbia, said Setzler, who was one of Sen. McElveen, a member McElveen, D-Sumter, want mounting in the days after calling for law- 25 Senate sponsors of a 2007 of the caucus, said he would the Legislature to return soon South Carolina Electric & Gas makers to return law that allowed utilities to in- like to halt any further rate to deal with the abandonment and Santee Cooper decided to Columbia and pass a reso- crease rates to pay for the increase requests. of two nuclear reactors under this week to abandon work lution stopping the utilities plants before they ever gener- “Ratepayers have already construction. that has already cost billions from raising electric rates or ated power. been bilked for billions of dol- But Speaker Jay Lucas said on the reactors at the V.C. taking any other action con- A different group of biparti- lars for a project that is not Friday that calls to freeze Summer site. cerning the abandoned plants san lawmakers calling them- electric rates and stop any Lucas’ comments were until the Legislature meets in selves the Energy Caucus also other action involving the re- prompted after a Friday letter regular session in January. called for a special session SEE CUSTOMERS, PAGE A11 Off into the wild blue yonder Parents still waiting on closure after nearly 5 years BY ADRIENNE SARVIS [email protected] The Sumter Item’s Cold Case series con- tinues with the unsolved shooting death of Kyle Eppling from 2012. · · · Nearly five years after their son was shot and killed in 2012, the Eppling family is still hoping to hear that the person re- sponsible for their son’s death has been arrested. Kyle “Big Kountry” Eppling was shot while hanging out with friends in the parking lot of Oakland Plantation Apart- ments on Edgehill Road on Aug. 26, 2012. He was transported to Tu- omey Regional Medical Cen- EPPLING ter, where he later died. U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO BY AIRMAN 1ST CLASS DESTINEE SWEENEY / SPECIAL TO THE SUMTER ITEM Kyle Eppling was an out- U.S. Air Force Capt. Matthew Kimmel, 79th Fighter Squadron (FS) pilot and U.S. Thunderbirds pilot-select, inspects an going person, said Danny F-16CM Fighting Falcon prior to flying at Shaw Air Force Base in July 2016. Kimmel was inspired by the Thunderbirds when Eppling, his father. he saw them perform at a Travis Air Force Base Air Show in California. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think about him,” he said. “I always try to think about the good.” Combat pilot locked in to be Thunderbird No. 6 He was a good son and a good friend, he said. BY AIRMAN 1ST CLASS the pilots, God-like — and a dream ron, “Tigers,” would be selected Kyle Eppling was also a full-time em- DESTINEE SWEENEY forms in the child’s heart. nine years after joining the service ployee at Eaton Corp. and a part-time stu- 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs A combination of his love for avi- to join the same demonstration dent at Central Carolina Technical Col- Special to The Sumter Item ation, the legacy of his grandfa- team that inspired him. lege. thers’ military service, the patrio- “To grow up and become a Thun- Kyle Eppling’s mother, Nancy Eppling, SHAW AIR FORCE BASE — A tism that spread through the nation derbird pilot and to be looked at by said she and her husband also find com- small child in a sea of people stands after the events of 9/11 and the potentially future generations of fort in their friends, but it’s not the same in awe as the Thunderbirds, the memory of the Thunderbirds at a the Air Force, much like I looked at as having their son at home. U.S. Air Force precision-flying dem- Travis Air Force Base Air Show in them when I was a kid, means the “He was our only child,” she said. onstration team, perform overhead. California would later lead the boy world to me,” Kimmel said. You have to look to God to get through He feels the jet noise as it rumbles to join the military. In 2018, Kimmel is slated to be it, she said. in his chest while watching pilots After receiving a commission at Thunderbird No. 6, one of the Danny Eppling said the sad thing is guide red, white and blue F-16 University of Southern California team’s solo acts and part of the that a suspect has not been arrested, and Fighting Falcons into various ma- and successfully becoming an F-16 neuvers and formations. pilot, Capt. Matthew Kimmel, as- The skies seem unattainable — signed to the 79th Fighter Squad- SEE THUNDERBIRD, PAGE A11 SEE CLOSURE, PAGE A11 VISIT US ONLINE AT CONTACT US DEATHS, A10 WEATHER, A12 INSIDE Information: 774-1200 Jackie D. Olson Sr. Haskell Brunson Jr. SOME THUNDERSTORMS 4 SECTIONS, 30 PAGES the .com Advertising: 774-1246 Samuel Lee Jackson Pauline Wilson VOL. 122, NO. 210 Classifieds: 774-1200 Clouds and sun Donald E. Thompson Dale H. Barkley with a thunderstorm. Classifieds C7-C8 Delivery: 774-1258 John H. Hatfield Herbert Lee Glisson Jr. News and Sports: 774-1226 Tonight, a thunderstorm Opinion A9 J. Daniel Caraway Jr. Jacqueline F. Welch in spots early. Irvin Drayton Outdoors B6 HIGH 91, LOW 73 Stocks C3 62 Years Of Mortgage Lending Ready To Work For You. Sumter: 803.469.0156 Manning: 803.433.4451 bankofclarendon.com ."//*/(t46.5&3t4"/5&&t46..&350/t8:#00 A2 | SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017 THE SUMTER ITEM Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: [email protected] LOCAL BRIEFS FROM STAFF REPORTS Students learn the ways of the deputy Back-to-School Giveaway on Saturday BY ADRIENNE SARVIS Training Simulator. [email protected] The simulator includes The Good Samaritans for All various situations a deputy People Inc. will have its Back- About 50 students in could respond to, including to-School Giveaway from 8 to Sumter County’s Youth trespassing, domestic vio- 10 a.m. on Saturday at the Old Employment and Mentor- lence and active-shooter sit- Bishopville High School foot- ing Program visited Sumter uations. ball field on U.S. 15. County Sheriff’s Office on Through the simulations, The Rev. Eddie Thomas Jr., Friday to get a firsthand the students experienced president of the organization, look at some of the opera- how deputies read situa- said the event is planned for tions within the agency. tions based on the informa- anyone who needs help pre- Through the program, tion provided by people at paring their kids for school. the students spent four the scene as well as a per- “This is going to be our 24th weeks learning about vari- son’s body language. year of having giveaways and ous county agencies and All deputies use the sim- helping people,” Thomas said. spent their last day of the ulation system to train, Lee He said the Back-to-School program learning about the said. Giveaway will have school sup- different divisions at the Cpl. Lenell Allen, a mem- plies, furniture, food and sheriff’s office. ber of the Sheriff’s Emer- clothes. The students took a tour gency Response Tactical For more information or to of the office and spoke team, conducted the simu- make a donation, call Thomas with deputies in different lations and assisted the stu- at (803) 459-4989. departments about their dents with each call. You jobs. have to evaluate your op- Clarendon S.D. 2 to hold Capt. Misty Lee led a tions before you can use special board meeting group of students on a tour force, he said. of the sheriff’s office and Allen explained to the The board of trustees of explained how evidence is students that drawing a Clarendon School District 2 stored, where people are in- weapon is a last resort will hold a special called board terviewed about crimes and when handling a situation. meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday at how deputies train to re- When an officer responds the District Office, 15 Major spond to calls. to a scene, he has to take Drive, Manning. Lee told the students that control of the situation, he a major part of being a law said. Turbeville Town Council enforcement officer is being The simulations showed meeting cancelled able to articulate what hap- that a delayed response or pened during a call and misreading of a situation The regular Turbeville why that deputy responded could be life-threatening.