LOCAL: Police chief speaks to school board on threats A2 FOOD Beef, beer and barbecue Do we need to say more? C4 SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2018 $1.00 PHOTOS BY MELANIE SMITH / THE SUMTER ITEM Litter is seen across Sumter in Swan Lake-Iris Gardens, at Dillon Park, on roadsides and in a church parking lot. Canning Sumter’s litter problem Group discusses concerns, ideas to solving trash, dumping in county BY KAYLA ROBINS [email protected] Seeing all the litter — everything from ciga- rette butts and discarded plastic bottles to shoes, tires and mattresses — in Sumter County makes Erika Williams want to cuss. Williams, the communications and strategic ini- tiatives manager for Sumter Economic Develop- ment, told a group of about 40 in Swan Lake Visi- tors Center on Monday night she is a member of the Sumter Litter Alliance because she wants to “clean up Sumter’s streets.” Cuss. “Trash sucks,” she said after the alliance’s first pub- lic meeting after forming last fall to solve the issue of Sumter’s litter and illegal dumping problem. “And it really impacts the quality of life for everyone here.” SEE LITTER, PAGE A10 ‘TRASH TALK’ FROM MONDAY’S MEETING “We can’t get that Target or that “One day “An aggressive “It’s an Publix without getting higher-paying a year educational education jobs, and we can’t get higher-paying “Aren’t you tired of there being program is thing. It’s “If we don’t jobs if no one wants to come here isn’t a negative connotation about what we a caring try nothing, because the streets are covered going to your community? Let’s be known for something positive.” need.” thing.” nothing will in trash.” solve the “We all have to problem.” get done.” be taking respon- sibility.” Students from Canada skip spring break to help others Habitat volunteers build — much of it through snow, rain and crew from St. Catharines in Ontario, ent areas — sports management, med- fog — last week to spend their spring Canada, they agreed. ical, education, business.” homes for Sumter families break working construction in Sum- Staff lead Desirae Stack said Brock Each student also must pay $850 for ter. The Brock University students University has been participating in what has become known as a “winter BY IVY MOORE seemed to revel in helping to build the Collegiate Challenge for seven years. retreat” and an “alternative spring Special to The Sumter Item 122nd home for Sumter Habitat for This is her second. break,” according to Sumter Habitat Humanity. The program is “opened up to the Development Coordinator Geneva Twelve university students and two And the warm, spring-like weather whole university,” Stack said. “We’ve staff members rode a bus for 800 miles made the work even better for the got students studying in a lot of differ- SEE CHALLENGE, PAGE A9 VISIT US ONLINE AT DEATHS, B5 WEATHER, A12 INSIDE William Lee Morris Nathan Choice STORM POSSIBLE 3 SECTIONS, 22 PAGES the .com VOL. 123, NO. 94 Richard A. Nunnery Jr. William Lee Webb Sr. Cloudy with a storm Mary Lee James Lakeisha Isaac possible in the afternoon; Classifieds B6 Panorama C1 Paul L. Jenkins Sr. Katherine B. Powell mild and cloudy tonight Comics C2 Sports B1 Cantfield Davis Leroy Washington HIGH 63, LOW 58 C4 C3 Thomas W. Bellinger Sr. Food Television Opinion A11 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 | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2018 THE SUMTER ITEM Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: [email protected] Sumter police chief speaks to school board Says nurturing kids is vital in preventing school shootings, threats BY BRUCE MILLS Sumter Police Department has con- ment and have seen police officers "Most children just want to be loved [email protected] ducted in the last two weeks in perform some of the harder aspects and taken care of," Roark said. "You schools and with district administra- of their job, such as when the Depart- can see that as you interact with chil- Sumter's police chief says the issue tors to ensure student safety and ment of Social Services gets involved. dren. So, it's very important that we of school safety related to potential fully investigate all "They see this uniform and connect continue to do that." shootings is an emerging issue that threats or pranks of im- this uniform with something bad," On the topic of school safety, Inter- must be dealt with proactively by pending violence. He Roark said. "We took them out of im Superintendent Debbie Hamm re- local law enforcement working in as- said his department their home. As bad as it may be, that's viewed various safety drills that all sociation with schools. takes every threat seri- still home, and that's still Mama and schools in the district perform and Chief Russell Roark spoke to the ously, and the safety of still Dad. So, what we try to do is to said school safety is an ongoing pro- Sumter School District Board of children is everyone's develop a dialogue and at the earliest cess and will be continuously upgrad- Trustees on Monday at its regularly ROARK top priority. age start to build a relationship and ed. scheduled work session after a mass He also discussed a nurture some of these kids." Sumter School District Intervention shooting at a Florida high school Feb. longer-term approach toward solving School board member the Rev. Services Coordinator Kathy Morrison 14 that killed 17 and a rash of "copy the problem that his department has Ralph Canty told Roark in various also discussed the district's new cat" threats at schools, including a implemented in the last several years news reports he's been saddened to school safety threat online reporting few in the area. by trying to build positive relation- see the bad home environments that system, known as Sprigeo, that stu- "This is not a problem that can be ships inside the district's elementary many of these shooters come from. dents and parents can use from each eradicated by placing one person in schools. He also said he hoped some of those school's website. The district imple- jail for the rest of their life," Roark Roark said many children may have children could be nurtured. mented the reporting system in Janu- said. "It's an ongoing, recurring issue a negative perception of the police Roark said that stresses the impor- ary primarily for bullying, but offi- that we've got to deal with." from a young age, especially if they tance of the department's interaction cials are seeing its benefits with larg- Roark discussed various activities come from a difficult home environ- with children at a young age. er school safety issues. A circle of friends Anticipated road projects getting closer to starting BY ADRIENNE SARVIS moving medians, updating [email protected] curbs and sidewalks, and re- surfacing Broad Street from Lafayette Diamond and Bultman Drive to Wesmark other highly anticipated road Boulevard. improvement projects are get- INTERSECTION OF ting closer to the starting PINEWOOD, MCCRAYS MILL line, according to Sumter City-County Planning Depart- This intersection project is ment Director George Mc- in the design phase now, Mc- Gregor. Gregor said. The Lafayette Diamond Improvements will include project is a lot closer to get- closing or moving access ting started than it has ever points to stores at the inter- been, McGregor said during section and extending medi- the Sumter Urban Area ans to prevent drivers from Transportation Study Policy making left turns across mul- Committee meeting on Mon- tiple lanes. day. The highly traveled inter- He said the county is still section on the southwest side working with a few property of Sumter is the fourth-high- owners in the area to acquire est vehicle wreck location, ac- right-of-way property for the cording to a study conducted road project. by the planning department. The $6 million project to MANNING AVENUE BRIDGE reconstruct the intersection RECONSTRUCTION of North Main Street, the U.S. 76/378 bypass and other South Carolina Department connecting roads is the only of Transportation is antici- remaining 2008 Capital pated to schedule the project Penny Sales Tax penny proj- — also a 2016 penny project ect. — for sometime this year. WILSON HALL ROAD The county will allocate AND WISE DRIVE $2.5 million collected through the 2016 penny sales tax to as- The $600,000 penny project sist SCDOT in costs for the to relieve congestion during state-mandated reconstruc- peak traffic hours will in- tion project. clude installing traffic lights, McGregor said the county though the original idea was hopes that providing local MELANIE SMITH / THE SUMTER ITEM to construct a traffic circle. funds will move the project The circular swing at Swan Lake-Iris Gardens' playground seemed to be the most popular attraction McGregor said there is not near the top of the SCDOT's on Sunday afternoon. enough right-of-way property list of statewide bridge re- in the area for a traffic circle. placements. BROAD STREET $4 MILLION SHOT POUCH IMPROVEMENTS GREENWAY PROJECT LOCAL BRIEF School District, 310 Roland St., Bishop- ville. Plans to add safety im- Construction for the $4 mil- FROM STAFF REPORTS The district will be recruiting for all provements to the intersec- lion project — to provide pe- teacher positions and will conduct inter- tions of Broad Street and destrian access from Dillon Lee School District to hold views onsite.