NATION Panel backs a lower threshold for drunken driving THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2018 | Serving South Carolina since October 15, 1894 75 cents A3 Real estate companies merge Coldwell Banker acquired by ERA Wilder Realty; all accounts will remain active BY BRUCE MILLS On Wednesday, officials with ERA Charge Stan McLeod said his firm’s Banker’s local Residential Division [email protected] Wilder Realty confirmed it has ac- expanded operation will continue to were being processed over to ERA quired the Sumter branch of Coldwell operate out of its 691 Bultman Drive Wilder on Tuesday and Wednesday, The area’s largest residential Real- Banker Residential, 1229 Alice Drive. location. tor just got bigger. ERA Wilder’s Sumter Broker-In- Twenty-seven agents from Coldwell SEE MERGE, PAGE A6 Prison tests cellphone It’s not rocket science jamming Former S.C. corrections officer hurt in inmate hit ordered by phone in 2010 COLUMBIA (AP) — Federal pris- ons officials on Wednesday tested a jamming technology inside the walls of a federal prison, a rare move that authorities said they hope will help combat the danger posed by inmates with cellphones. The test was conducted over sev- eral hours Wednesday morning at a federal prison in Cumberland, Maryland, Assistant Attorney Gen- eral Beth Williams told The Associ- ated Press as the testing took place. Williams didn’t give specifics of how the test worked but said it marks a step in the fight to cut down on inmates’ ability to commu- nicate unsupervised and carry on with criminal efforts. Last year, South Carolina Correc- tions Director Bryan Stirling testi- PHOTOS BY MICAH GREEN / THE SUMTER ITEM fied at an Federal Communications From left, the team of Alana Garrick, Alyse King, Mary Brooke Mooneyham and Ashlin Farmer explain each step of their science Commission hearing in Washington experiment Wednesday at Alice Drive Middle School. The school announced Wednesday that the foursome’s proposal will be per- alongside Robert Johnson, a former formed on the International Space Station in June. South Carolina corrections officer who was nearly killed in 2010 in a hit orchestrated by an inmate using Students’ experiment MEET THE TEAM an illegal phone. Johnson is a veteran of 15 years as ready for liftoff after Find this story at www.theitem. a corrections officer who oversaw ef- com to watch a video of Alice Drive Middle School’s annou- forts to keep cellphones and other it was chosen for trip ncement and to meet the team. contraband out of Lee Correctional Institution near Bishopville. Early one morning in his home, to the space station Johnson was shot six times, left for BY BRUCE MILLS lected this school year for the pro- dead and had to be resuscitated sev- gram. [email protected] eral times. He has serious lingering After recognizing all three student effects from his wounds. teams and their proposed experi- Johnson, who authorities have t was both “one small step for ments, Pressley unveiled the one said was the first U.S. corrections man” and “one giant leap for team and experiment that was select- officer harmed by a hit ordered ed by a national review board of re- from an inmate’s cellphone, sur- mankind” for an all-girl team searchers and distinguished educa- I tors to be on board Mission 12 space- vived after months of surgeries and Wednesday at Alice Drive Middle rehabilitation. Before retiring from flight to the International Space Sta- the Corrections Department in 2011, School — to borrow from astro- tion. In November, the national re- he appeared alongside Sanford, who naut Neil Armstrong’s famous view board chose one experiment to was the governor then, and prison represent each school in the program. one-liner when he first walked officials to implore the Federal Mary Brooke Mooneyham demonstrates That experiment — testing the ef- Communications Commission to let on the moon. Wednesday how her team inserted vege- fects of microgravity on seed germi- South Carolina jam the signals of table seeds into sodium polyacrylate for nation in sodium polyacrylate — will cellphones being used illicitly by In front of an assembled audience, their science experiment. be proposed by four sixth-grade girls prisoners. Principal Jeannie Pressley an- at the school: Alana Garrick, Alyse “I don’t want someone else to go nounced the school’s top three final- International Space Station in June. King, Mary Brooke Mooneyham and through what I’ve gone through,” ist project teams selected for national Pressley said Alice Drive is one of Ashlin Farmer. Johnson said in March. “I would review for a student spaceflight ex- only 31 schools and colleges in the like to tell the industry to come talk periments program that will go to the U.S., Canada and Brazil that were se- SEE SPACE, PAGE A6 to me and get off their bottom dol- lar and do what’s right, and that is block cellphones.” In July, an inmate was able to es- A print Best of Sumter ballot will run on these days in February. cape from a maximum-security Vote daily online starting Feb. 1. prison in South Carolina, thanks in Reader’s Choice part to a smuggled cellphone. Jimmy Causey was recaptured three days later in Texas. nominations open Similar cellphone-jamming tests occurred in 2010, but Williams said Annual contest changes name, process Wednesday’s effort was significant Item because jamming technology has FROM STAFF REPORTS Now called Best of evolved, as have inmates’ efforts to Sumter, the contest smuggle in the devices. Such tests, Nominations are boasts more than 200 she said, could lead to the broader now open for The categories that can be use of technologies like jamming Sumter Item’s annual nominated and voted for inside prisons to immobilize inmate Reader’s Choice con- online at www.TheItem. phones, which officials across the test, and this year fea- com/BestOf. country have described as their No. tures some key chang- Categories span auto 1 security threat. es and advances in and transportation, reader and winner ex- CALENDAR FROM GOOGLE SEE CELLPHONES, PAGE A6 perience. SEE BEST OF SUMTER, PAGE A6 VISIT US ONLINE AT CONTACT US DEATHS, B3 WEATHER, A8 INSIDE Information: 774-1200 James C. Peters Sr. CHILLY BUT SUNNY 2 SECTIONS, 14 PAGES the .com Advertising: 774-1246 Rickey Lee Smith VOL. 123, NO.65 Classifieds: 774-1200 Chilly with plenty of sunshine; Cleothria Porter clear and cold tonight Classifieds B5 Sports B1 Delivery: 774-1258 Charlie Gaymon Comics B4 Television A5 News and Sports: 774-1226 Cynthia Black HIGH 46, LOW 24 Darnella Kendrick Opinion A7 Hayes F. Samuels Jr. A2 | THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2018 THE SUMTER ITEM Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: [email protected] City council approves damaged meter fee BY ADRIENNE SARVIS aged the meter unintentional- of dilapidated houses, funding corner of McCrays Mill Road Later, council approved a [email protected] ly, or if the damage is a first youth employment programs, and McLeary Lane from gen- request from Angel Main offense for the customer. Fail- YMCA and Sumter United eral residential to general Cleaning Co. LLC to rezone City of Sumter residents ure to report damage to a Ministries. commercial. .28 acres at 301 S. Main St. now have a greater incentive water meter may be a consid- Final vote was approved to The parcel is owned by from light industrial-ware- to be more cautious around ering factor in determining if close two alleyways on Dingle Sumter County Forfeited house to central business water meters after Sumter the fee will be waived. Street between South Sumter Land Commission which de- district to allow more use op- City Council voted to imple- OTHER FINAL READINGS and South Main streets and molished a dilapidated dou- tions for existing office spac- ment a fee for damaged me- transfer the property to Job's ble-wide mobile home that es inside a building on the ters. Council also approved sec- Mortuary, the adjoining prop- was on the property prior to lot. The amendment to the city's ond and final reading of an erty owner. the request. Currently, use of the site is water and sewer rates will in- ordinance to amend the city's During a previous council The commission requested limited because of the light clude a $50 minimum fee — 2017-18 Community Develop- meeting, city officials said the the rezoning in order to industrial-warehouse regula- the average cost to send a ment Block Grant to transfer alleyways are not in use, and make the land more desir- tions which permit mostly public works crew to check a $1,800 originally allocated for the city has no public interest able for sale, though it is not industrial-type operations meter — for unintentional, Wateree Aids Task Force to in keeping the two pieces of large enough on its own for a and a few commercial busi- negligent or intentional dam- housing repair after the task land. significant commercial de- ness opportunities, limiting age to water meters caused by force dissolved in August. REZONING REQUESTS velopment, according to a re- potential use for the existing vehicles, lawn equipment, The $1,800 is a portion of APPROVED FOLLOWING port from Sumter City-Coun- structure, states a report landscaping or misuse, ac- $291,838 appropriated to Sum- PUBLIC HEARINGS ty Planning Department from planning department cording to the amendment. ter by Housing and Urban De- staff. The property may be- staff. It is possible for the fee to velopment to address various City council approved first come more suitable for com- No one spoke during pub- be waived if the city can de- community development reading of a request to re- mercial use if it is combined lic hearings for either re- termine the customer dam- needs such as the demolition zone .24 acres of land at the with an adjoining parcel.