LOCAL: JoyRun delivery app makes its way to Sumter A2 CLARENDON SUN Fundraising walk honors SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894 investigator A7 FRIDAY, JULY 6, 2018 75 CENTS District to conduct ‘swap’ again Measure to benefit taxpayers will also generate about $1.8M in revenue for fund balance BY BRUCE MILLS ing last week, the district’s rate is what’s used to calcu- Act 388 from about a decade debt and operational sides, [email protected] board of trustees unanimous- late property taxes. ago eliminated four-percent, but it will be a wash for them ly approved a resolution to The school board’s bond at- owner-occupied property with the addition of 10 mills Sumter School District will allow for the swap, which — torney, Franie Heizer of Mc- taxes from having to pay for on one side and the reduction again perform a “millage rate in tax law terms — will de- Nair Law Firm in Columbia, schools’ operations, so home- of 10 mills on the other, Heiz- swap” this year to the benefit crease the county’s debt ser- emphasized the swap is a owners are unaffected by the er said. of all taxpayers in the county vice millage rate by 10 mills “wash” and will not result in additional millage this year The district is allowed by and also its own general fund this year and offset that by a any net tax changes for home- on the operations’ side. state law to do the millage balance. 10-mill increase in general op- owners or businesses in the Businesses and rental prop- At its regular board meet- erating millage. A millage county this tax year. erty owners pay on both the SEE SWAP, PAGE A11 Downtown Little landscapers help beautify library Sumter County Library’s Wes- mark Branch has a bit of a new Rite Aid will look outside after local children, with the help of local Master Gardeners and customer service employees from Lowe’s, planted close soon, flowers and laid down mulch and river rocks on Thursday morning. The children learned the proper way to put plants in official says the ground to promote good growth and received tomato plants from Lowe’s to start their Pharmacy’s last day is own gardens at home. Monday; store to remain open a couple weeks BY BRUCE MILLS [email protected] The Rite Aid store on Washington Street in downtown Sumter will be closing soon. Mega-retailer Walgreens officially began purchasing about 2,000 Rite Aids across the U.S. last fall and it said at the time it would be closing some Rite Aids to ensure it had a more focused store network and to offer the greatest value to customers, according to com- pany spokesman Phil Caruso, who spoke Thursday. Rite Aid, at 225 N. Washington St., was acquired by Walgreens in January, along with Sumter’s two other Rite Aid locations — 1077 Broad St. and 375 Pinewood Road — Caruso said. Since then the three stores have offi- cially been “Walgreens-owned Rite Aid locations,” he said. The stores’ pharmacies have all changed over their names to “Wal- greens Pharmacy,” while the front of the stores are Walgreens-owned but maintained general Rite Aid merchan- dise. The last day for the downtown store’s pharmacy will be Monday, while the front of the store will remain open “about two more weeks” after that, Caruso said, until all the mer- chandise can be sold. After Monday, he said, pharmacy prescriptions from the Washington Street location will be available at the SEE RITE AID, PAGE A11 BRUCE MILLS / THE SUMTER ITEM A woman and her daughter walk out of Rite Aid, at 225 N. Washington St., on The gardening activity is one of many programs offered through the Thursday. A sign announces the Walgreens library’s 2018 Summer Reading Program. For information about up- Pharmacy inside the store will close Mon- coming programs, go to www.sumtercountylibrary.org and select the day. The front of the store will remain “Calendar of Events” tab. open for a couple weeks after that, accord- ing to a Walgreens official. PHOTOS BY ADRIENNE SARVIS / THE SUMTER ITEM VISIT US ONLINE AT DEATHS, B6 WEATHER, A12 INSIDE Clyde Alexander Wilkes Jr. Claudia Gathers HEAVY STORMS POSSIBLE 3 SECTIONS, 26 PAGES the .com VOL. 123, NO. 185 Charles Moody Cobb Dorothy Jordan Green A stray afternoon storm Michael Allen McLeod Pamela Ophelia Singleton- possible today; heavy storms Clarendon Sun A7 Opinion A10 Laurance H. Kannon Millhouse and rain tonight possible Classifieds B7 Sports B1 Deneen Carter White Elizabeth Player McAlister Lily Pritchard Ward Verlie Johnson HIGH 91, LOW 71 Comics C6 Television C4 A2 | FRIDAY, JULY 6, 2018 THE SUMTER ITEM Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: [email protected] $100 offered New on-demand delivery app for returned body camera launches at Shaw, in Sumter BY ADRIENNE SARVIS JoyRun provides peer-to-peer food, errands service [email protected] Bishopville Police Depart- BY KAYLA ROBINS Fortune said JoyRun is "giving [flexible ment is asking for the public's [email protected] earning options] to anyone in the commu- help in returning a body cam- PHOTO PROVIDED nity," according to a review posted on the era that an officer lost during A Bishopville police officer lost An app that lets the community help each JoyRun website. A review posted on the a struggle with a suspect a body camera like this one other out with everyday errands and neces- site from Spoon University at Boise State about two weeks ago. while responding to a call with- sities has made its way to Sumter. says, "JoyRun is reinventing the way col- Capt. Michael McInville in the city limits in June. JoyRun is a peer-to-peer social app plat- lege students do food," and Inc. said "Joy- said the officer had a physical form that allows people to pick up items Run has that rarest of things for an on-de- struggle with a suspect after that the body camera be re- and deliver them to others. Based in Silicon mand startup: a unique business model." responding to a call within turned, no questions asked, at Valley, the app is used on campuses nation- To deliver to Shaw, runners need base the city limits. 112 E. Council St. in Bishop- wide and launched in Sumter and at Shaw access, she said. People requesting a run- The department is asking ville for a reward of $100. Air Force Base in February, according to ner can deny and get a new person to Courtney Hammond, marketing manager make the run if they don't feel comfort- for JoyRun Inc. able. "It's not like Uber Eats. When you're at She said the majority of runners are work, you can request staples. Someone women and veterans because they can S.C. starts a peach of a fight says ‘I'll give you $3 for that.’ There are no take their kids to work with them. paid employees," Hammond said. The idea started in 2015 with a Silicon COLUMBIA (AP) — It Twitter to point out that the Unlike Uber Eats or other delivery servic- Valley CEO for college campuses, where might be one of the sweetest Palmetto State actually pro- es, JoyRun works at any restaurants or any students may think “I have a car and you battles on record, but the duces three times as many store, as long as a runner wants to go there. don't. I'll go grab this for you,” Hammond peach war is really starting peaches as the official Runners pay $0-$5 out of their pocket, said. Now, a new push is to help people on to get juicy. Peach State. and the app refunds them for runs within military bases. Georgia is officially That spawned a good-na- 30 minutes. The community members who There have been more than 500 down- known as the Peach State, tured online back-and-forth run the errands for you and deliver are re- loads locally, she said. Overall, JoyRun boasting bountiful harvests between the neighboring quired to log in through Facebook, making has paid more than $2 million to runners. of the succulent, fuzzy states, with Georgia's De- privacy and secrecy unable to lead to un- The app is free to download. fruits. But earlier this week, partment of Agriculture identified crime or robberies like Craigslist. For more information, visit www.joyrun. the South Carolina Depart- tweeting that its fruits are Hammond said she made $2,500 in three com or contact Hammond at courtney.joy- ment of Agriculture took to "3 X SWEETER." months. [email protected] or (803) 468-2328. Don’t miss Diamond Rio on Sunday Grammy-award- winning Diamond Rio will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Sumter Opera House, 21 N. Main St. In addition to a Grammy, the vocalists have won Group of the Year four times from the Country Music Association and two Top Vocal Group awards from the Academy of Country Music. Their hits include “Meet In The Middle,” “How Your Love Makes Me Feel” and “One More Day.” Tickets are $55 and $50. Call the Sumter Opera House at (803) 436-2500. PHOTO PROVIDED State, federal officials to revisit coal tar in Congaree River COLUMBIA (AP) — A private util- also signed by the state Department discuss plans to deal with the tar found the river safe for recreational ity should reconsider its decision to of Health and Environmental Con- again, according to documents ob- use. The utility also said the cap- leave century-old coal tar at the bot- trol.