IN SPORTS: Florence Post 1 takes home American Legion state baseball title B1 INSIDE Pressure mounts to curtail surgery on intersex children THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2017 | Serving South Carolina since October 15, 1894 75 cents A4 Interim superintendent a proven leader superintendent of Sumter School Dis- Hamm said she thinks the district Hamm’s decades in trict on Tuesday. ALSO INSIDE has “tremendous potential,” and she Hamm spoke Wednesday on her new has three main goals for the upcoming Sumter School District board member Daryl public education post after Sumter School McGhaney welcomes Dr. Hamm to Sumter. school year. District Board of Trustees See page A11. One, she wants to make it a great unanimously voted her as year for the students by providing started in Sumter its interim superinten- them the resources to succeed. Next, dent Monday night at a School District 2 in Columbia and was Hamm said she desires to get involved BY BRUCE MILLS special called meeting. the district’s superintendent for the in the Sumter community and wants [email protected] Hamm will be replacing last four years, before retiring June 30. to work on that partnership, which HAMM retiring Superintendent She said the trustees asked her to she thinks is critical. Finally, she A public educator for 43 years who Frank Baker, whose last commit to being with the district for a plans to get the district’s schools in has held several leadership positions in day with the district is Monday. year while it conducts the search for a the best condition possible for the next her career, Debbie Hamm said she’s ex- Hamm spent the vast majority of her new superintendent, and Hamm said cited to start her new role as interim educational career with Richland she’s prepared to do that. SEE HAMM, PAGE A7 Future engineers Patrol officers earn citizen’s Thumbs Up BY IVY MOORE [email protected] When Renee Robbins’ hus- <UNICODE-WIN> band called the Sumter Police <vsn:5> Department to report a “suspi- <pstyle:BODY COPY> cious character” at their resi- dence, the outcome was not ex- actly what she expected. It was daytime, and Robbins was home alone when her doorbell rang. “Our friends know to text us first, because we can’t usually hear the doorbell,” she said. “We do get a lot of UPS packag- es, and we have a lot of solicita- tion, but for once I checked be- fore I opened the door. There was a guy on my porch.” Robbins watched him walk away from the porch and sit down on her front wall by the sidewalk. That’s when she texted her husband, who called the non-emergency SPD number, “just to be safe be- PHOTOS BY CAITLAN WALZER / THE SUMTER ITEM cause I wasn’t going out to From left, Regrick Howard, 12, and his brother Nathaniel, 9, both used their imagination to create bridges and towers at the Sumter check.” County Library’s marshmallow engineering event on Tuesday at the main library. She said a patrol car arrived within three or four minutes, Left to right: Josiah Hatfield, 10, and two officers got out to talk Riley English, 7, and Ashton Lee, with the man on the wall. As 8, participated in the marshmal- Robbins watched, she said, the low engineering event and built a man “seemed to be very ani- variety of structers like bridges mated. ... He looked like he and towers at the marshmallow was a little heated. ... I think engineering event. he may have been feeling ha- rassed.” At that point, Robbins was afraid the situation might es- calate. “Then the greatest thing happened!,” she said. The officers were able to de- fuse the situation, Robbins said, then one “went back to the patrol car and came back with a Gatorade she offered to him.” That officer, Cpl. Caroline Sheppard-Lewis, works with Trump’s order: Bar transgender troops from U.S. military the SPD’s patrol division. She said the incident Robbins re- counted was “all in a day’s BY ROBERT BURNS will not accept or allow work.” AND CATHERINE LUCEY Transgender individuals to “Our primary job is to an- The Associated Press serve in any capacity in the swer calls for service,” Shep- U.S. Military,” the com- pard-Lewis said. “We were an- WASHINGTON — Presi- mander in chief tweeted. swering a call for a ‘suspicious dent Trump abruptly de- Trump wrote that he had person’ and were asked to go clared a ban Wednesday on consulted with “my generals check on it. We saw the gentle- transgender troops serving and military experts,” but man sitting on the wall; it anywhere in the U.S. mili- he did not mention Defense could have been anything from tary, catching the Pentagon Secretary Jim Mattis, the re- a welfare check to something flat-footed and unable to ex- tired Marine general who worse. If you come at some- plain what it called Trump’s less than one month ago told body too strong ... “guidance.” His proclama- the military service chiefs to “We listen to people.” tion, on Twitter rather than spend another six months Tonyia McGirt, SPD’s public any formal announcement, weighing the costs and bene- information officer, said a pa- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS drew bipartisan denuncia- fits of allowing transgender trol officer generally responds Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., center, greets Blue, an 11-year-old tions and threw currently individuals to enlist. At the when “somebody sees some- transgender girl, and her mother Jess Girven, at Kennedy’s event serving transgender soldiers time, Mattis said this “does thing out of the ordinary,” as in support of transgender members of the military on Wednesday into limbo. not presuppose the outcome Robbins had. in Washington, D.C. Blue’s parent is an airman at Ramstein Air “Please be advised that the Base in Germany. United States Government SEE BAN, PAGE A7 SEE OFFICER, PAGE A7 VISIT US ONLINE AT CONTACT US DEATHS, B6 WEATHER, A12 INSIDE Information: 774-1200 Cecelia H. Eadon MORE OF THE SAME 2 SECTIONS, 22 PAGES the .com Advertising: 774-1246 Col. Thomas Lee Ross Jr. Stray afternoon VOL. 122, NO. 203 Classifieds: 774-1200 Jeremiah Heyward Jr. thunderstorms today, Classifieds B7 Opinion A9 Delivery: 774-1258 Emily W. Thompson News and Sports: 774-1226 clearing in evening; Comics B6 Television A10 tonight, humid. HIGH 91, LOW 73 A2 | THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2017 THE SUMTER ITEM Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: [email protected] Parents urged County on good path toward audit season BY ADRIENNE SARVIS trator Gary Mixon. He said Michaelson’s tion regarding: to register [email protected] planning and preparations have allowed • A request from the human resources the department to complete financial department to offer a short-term dis- Sumter County Council received projects faster than in previous years. ability plan to county employees via an children for news that the county is on a good path Council also received a presentation outside vendor. Keysa Rogers, county going toward its external audit season pertaining to accepting a county-wide human resources director, said the de- this fall. plan with AirMedCare, an emergency partment had received requests for a During the Sumter County Fiscal, helicopter transport company already short-term disability plan from employ- school Tax and Property Committee meeting operating out of Sumter. No action was ees. County council will give three read- on Tuesday, County Finance Director taken during the meeting. ings before the request is approved; and FROM STAFF REPORTS Jamie Michaelson said the plan is to During the public comment portion • To add a part-time position in the have the county’s financial information of council’s regular meeting on Tues- probate office. Rogers said the probate Parents who plan to enroll completed and turned into Webster Rog- day, a county resident made complaints office director is in the process of filling their child in Sumter School ers LLP on Oct. 6, which intends to have regarding Sumter-Lee Regional Deten- a vacant position and is planning to hire District for the first time are its audit report completed by Oct. 19. tion Center pertaining to safety and a part-time employee to assist with re- encouraged to enroll as soon The deadline to have audits completed legal matters. maining duties. Three readings are re- as possible to avoid last min- is Dec. 31, said Sumter County Adminis- In other news, council passed a mo- quired before the request is approved. ute crowds. Parents may reg- ister their child in the school zoned for their residence dur- ing regular school hours. Persons unsure of their school zone may contact the district’s attendance office at (803) 469-6900, extension 414. Children must be 4 or 5 on or before Sept. 1 to enroll in preschool or kindergarten, respectively. State law man- dates that children ages 5 to 17 must be in school. Upon registration, parents are required to provide school personnel with the child’s official birth certifi- cate or other proof of name and age, proof of residence and S.C. Immunization Form (DHEC 2740). The district recommends that parents of children transferring from another school district also bring the child’s latest report card. PHOTO PROVIDED Children transferring from Elijah Bradford, center with microphone, is the leader of the Valentinos, who will open for the O’Jays and Stephanie Mills at the Town- out of state must have their ship Auditorium in Columbia Sunday night. health certificate information on a S.C. form. Parents must take out-of-state certificates to a doctor or clinic in S.C.