SPORTS Duke advances in NCAA Tourney on Sunday B1 TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2019 | Serving South Carolina since October 15, 1894 75 cents Governor slams school board on THE ASSOCIATED PRESS President Donald Trump waves after speak- ing with the media after stepping off Ma- rine One on the South Lawn of the White MuellerHouse on Sunday in Washington. recent actions finds no McMaster: Appeal, school reopening ‘going to cost us’ BY KAYLA ROBINS Club on Monday afternoon, said the governor said. “We can’t have that.” [email protected] possibility of the school district not McMaster addressed a range of reaching one month’s operating ex- topics Monday, from the sale of San- Trump The governor of South Carolina penditures by the end of June next tee Cooper to the statewide educa- joined the list of officials who have year is “unacceptable.” tion reform bill to the state’s techni- condemned recent decisions by the “When you have businesses com- cal college system, but he spent the Sumter school board to reopen ing to locate here … when you have most time answering one question Mayewood Middle School and alter Shaw Air Force Base and [U.S. from Greg Thompson, CEO of collusion financial recovery plans submitted Army] Central Command … We Thompson Construction Group Inc., to the state last summer. have people coming here in the mili- chairman of the Sumter Economic Gov. Henry McMaster, in answer- tary, and if they face that kind of BY ERIC TUCKER, MICHAEL BALSAMO, ing questions at the Sumter Rotary statistic, that’s going to cost us,” the SEE McMASTER, PAGE A4 CHAD DAY and JULIE PACE The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence Presi- dent Donald Trump’s campaign “con- Curating cosplay at Patriot Hall spired or coordinated” with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election but reached no conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice. That brought a hearty claim of vindication from Trump but set the stage for new rounds of political and legal fighting. The battle began Monday as White House aides and allies blanketed TV news broadcasts to trumpet the findings and claim that Trump has been the vic- tim in a probe that never should have started. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump will let Attorney General William Barr decide whether the special counsel’s Russia report should be publicly released, though she SEE TRUMP, PAGE A4 April concert will benefit hungry kids 50 musicians will perform PHOTOS BY MICAH GREEN / THE SUMTER ITEM variety of styles at church Emma Ketchum, as Jubilation “Jubilee” Lee, celebrates after being named a winner during Swan Con’s cosplay contest Saturday. BY IVY MOORE Cast of characters competes for honors at Swan Con Special to The Sumter Item BY KAYLA ROBINS More than 50 vocalists and instru- [email protected] mentalists from around the area will join on Tuesday, April 2, to present a he Flash, Green Lantern, Glimmer, Lady benefit concert for Feed My Starving Loki, Hermione Granger and a host of other Children. Solos, duets and ensemble T pieces are all on the program for the 7 comic book, TV show and movie characters p.m. concert at Mayesville Presbyterian descended upon Patriot Hall on Saturday for a first- Church. In addition to the diversity of the per- ever cosplay contest during Swan Con, a two-day formers, the music will also comprise a comic book fan event put on by USC Sumter and the variety of styles. Crestwood High School Choir, directed by Deborah Horton, will Sumter County Cultural Commission. open the program. Since Horton’s 20- year tenure at Crestwood began, hun- After two days of artist Emma Ketchum, who co- ABOVE: Dominic dreds of her students have earned hon- panels, workshops and art splayed Jubilation “Jubi- Quinues as The Flash ors and scholarships, and the choir as a displays, Sumterites lee” Lee, a character from sits during the awards whole has collected numerous superior donned their best cosplay, X-Men. In the 16 years ceremony. ratings at state and national competi- which stands for costume and older category, tions. On April 28, the choir will sing play, a performance art 58-year-old Abigail Nor- LEFT: Abigail Normal Vivaldi’s “Gloria” at Carnegie Hall where participants wear mal took home first place dresses as Lady Loki. under the direction of Jay Johnson, for- — and often make from for her cosplay of Lady mer Crestwood music teacher. scratch — costumes and Loki, a Marvel Comics Horton and Johnson will also perform use props to represent an character. a vocal duet. Johnson taught in Sumter established character. In Kayla Robins is a cultural the age 6-15 category, first commissioner and one of the SEE CONCERT, PAGE A4 place went to 11-year-old judges. VISIT US ONLINE AT DEATHS, B4 WEATHER, A8 INSIDE Roosevelt Durant Jr. Frank Rogers RAIN POSSIBLE 2 SECTIONS, 14 PAGES the .com VOL. 124, NO. 112 Lottie Hilton Marco Teneia Anderson Boutte Rather cloudy today with Mary Lee Boyd Murdock Allen White a shower or two; partly Classifieds B6 Sports B1 Dorothy Price Amen’ra Allah Liles cloudy and chilly tonight Comics A5 Television B5 Cassie Green Corine Nickens Yates Grant HIGH 59, LOW 35 O.G. Henderson Donna Jean D. Blanding Opinion A7 Eugenia Bradford Mabry John H. Epps A2 | TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2019 THE SUMTER ITEM Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: [email protected] EDITOR’S NOTE: The two stories below are being rerun in their entirety. The jumps for both stories were left out of our Sunday edition. We apologize for the error. Bus crash is 2nd time property is hit by vehicle BY KAYLA ROBINS er to go off the road is not yet clear. bors or drivers who saw the crash all house after crashing due to the driv- [email protected] Winchester said he saw a couple were “coming out of everywhere” to er’s “medical issue,” hitting the two bloody lips from where the kids had help. Becky Anderson, a Sumter resi- while they were on their couch. Dano Winchester was working on a hit the seats in front of them. It could dent, helped corral the kids and tried The wife, a middle school teacher in contracted remodeling project in a have been much worse. to keep them calm until EMS and Sumter, ran up to the scene Friday af- home that had been damaged by a car The bus was making the curve on their parents showed up. ternoon. crashing into it on McCrays Mill Road the road toward Sumter High School She said the kids handled the situa- “That’s my house. That’s my when he heard what sounded like an and left the roadway at one driveway, tion well for what it was. They didn’t house,” she said, reaching law en- explosion, then kids screaming. struck the entire side of a second really cry, and they listened to what forcement and firefighter first re- A Sumter school bus carrying five house and ricocheted to the left, mow- they were told to do. They were shak- sponders. Her first question was to elementary school students had just ing down a chain link fence and en, clearly scared. make sure the children on board and crashed through the house next door crashing into a shed at a third house, Shelly Galloway, spokeswoman for everyone else was OK. and took out the shed on the property according to what could be seen on the school district, said the vehicle in- The family has sued the city for on which he was working Friday af- scene and Scott Floyd, a Sumter resi- volved was bus No. 215 and that all damages in the November 2017 inci- ternoon. dent who was driving two cars behind students were assessed at the scene dent. “I knew what had happened once I the bus and said he saw the bus go by EMS and released to their parents. The Sumter Fire Department, Sum- heard it,” Winchester said. airborne. This is the second time the owners ter Police Department, Sumter Coun- He ran out, the bus’ horn blaring, “I remember following the bus and of that corner house have seen a vehi- ty Sheriff’s Office, South Carolina and helped pry the door open for the just hoping he wouldn’t make us stop cle crash into their yard. Highway Patrol and Sumter County bus driver to hand the kids out to before we got to the school zone,” he A 2-year-old and her father were in- EMS were on scene Friday to help him. said. “I’ve never seen anything like jured, the toddler seriously, in No- those involved and direct traffic. The No major injuries were reported, that before. I’m glad they’re all OK.” vember 2017 when a City of Sumter highway patrol will be investigating and exactly what caused the bus driv- Floyd, Winchester and other neigh- pickup truck rammed through the the incident. Advocates push for ratification of nearly 100-year-old amendment BY RACHEL PITTMAN 1923 by suffragette Alice Paul, to be added to the Constitu- to pass this session because the 1970s and today feel the [email protected] reads “Equality of rights tion. we’re getting close to the ERA pushes for more accessi- under the law shall not be de- Now, states such as South crossover period when all ble abortion and aims to An equality amendment nied or abridged by the Unit- Carolina, North Carolina and bills have to be in the Senate,” alienate femininity and sexu- that was proposed nearly 100 ed States or by any state on Georgia have ERA legislation McKnight said.