26 charged, 12 sought in sting THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2017 75 CENTS SERVING SOUTH CAROLINA SINCE OCTOBER 15, 1894 Sheriff’s office conducts 6-month drug investigation 2 SECTIONS, 14 PAGES | VOL. 123, NO. 4 FROM STAFF REPORTS counterfeit items were seized. Arrested in the drug sweep and trans- WHO WAS SCIENCE Twenty-six people have been arrested ported to Sumter-Lee Regional Detention ARRESTED? after a six-month undercover drug opera- Center were: tion, according to a news release from • Tony Baker, 44, of 11 Montreat St., Turn to page A6 to see the mugshots of Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. Sumter. Baker is charged with distribu- all suspects arrested Twelve more people are still being tion of crack cocaine, one count. in the six-month drug sought in the sting in which metham- • Tyrone Bradley, 39, of 1259 Jerry St., investigation. phetamine, opiates, marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin and $20,000 in SEE STING, PAGE A6 Building supply truck spills cinder blocks He lived every kid’s dream U.S. astronaut writes memoir about his year in space A5 SPORTSORTS Wilson Hall, TSA volleyball teams ready for state B1 Harry Potter exhibit marks 20th anniversary JIM HILLEY / THE SUMTER ITEM B5 of 1st book A Burgess-Brogdon Building Supply truck traveling northbound spilled much of its load of cinder blocks when it veered off U.S. 521 north of Sumter on Wednesday afternoon. No injuries were reported. The incident is under investigation by the DEATHS, B3 South Carolina Highway Patrol. Louise Andrews Don A. Richardson Leon Lands Irvin Canty Johnnie M. McLeod Leroy McBride Frank Moses Berlie Taylor Charles Colclough St. Clair Britt Jr. Laying a new foundation cluding the last four years as su- Interim superintendent perintendent, Hamm is about 2 WEATHER, A8 works to build winning 1/2 months into her post as inter- im superintendent in Sumter ANOTHER NICE DAY culture in Sumter district School District. Nice with plenty of sunshine; clear sky tonight After starting in the position BY BRUCE MILLS Aug. 1, Hamm basically hit the HIGH 78, LOW 48 [email protected] ground running. Her initial weeks and months on the job included Serving mostly as an adminis- meeting people in the community, INSIDE CONTACT US trator during her career in public forming relationships with the var- Classifieds B6 Info: 774-1200 education, Debbie Hamm said her ious school principals and under- most gratifying work has been standing their goals and dealing Comics B4 Advertising: 774-1237 creating winning cultures that with lingering financial issues in Opinion A7 Classifieds: 774-1200 bring about positive change and the district related to overspending Sports B1 Delivery: 774-1258 improve academic achievement. and a program’s previous misuse Television B5 News and Sports: Various things instill and breed of state funding that initiated a 774-1226 a successful culture including a State Law Enforcement Division leadership style that’s inclusive investigation during the summer. and an optimistic mindset and She said she’s been happy with VISIT US ONLINE AT the .com BRUCE MILLS / THE SUMTER ITEM personality, according to Hamm. the progress that’s been made to Sumter School District Interim Superin- She’s working to implement date, which includes increased fis- tendent Debbie Hamm is seen recently that type of culture in Sumter. cal responsibility and transparency in her office with a picture she received A life-long educator who spent under the direction of new district last year upon retirement from Richland most of her career in Richland School District 2 in Columbia. School District 2 in Columbia, in- SEE HAMM, PAGE A6 Ven. Chinnaphat Khot- wong, president of Sum- Monks celebrate annual Kathina ter Forest Temple, leads a procession around the BY ADRIENNE SARVIS present new robes and financial dona- temple building during [email protected] tions to the monks, who cannot pur- the Kathina ceremony on chase or solicit those things for them- Sunday. During Kathina, On Sunday, monks at Sumter Forest selves. Buddhist temples are main- laypeople offer new Temple on Thomas Sumter Highway tained by financial contributions from robes and financial con- received new robes during Thot laypeople. tributions to the monks. Kathin, or Kathina, the annual robe Every year, laypeople sponsor the offering ceremony celebrated by Bud- Kathina ceremony at Buddhist tem- dhists. ples. ADRIENNE SARVIS / THE SUMTER ITEM Kathina is celebrated at Buddhist This year, three women sponsored temples between the middle of Octo- Kathina at Sumter Forest Temple on ber and the beginning of November. Sunday. Before celebrating Kathina, Bud- One of the sponsors who did not dhist monks must stay at one temple, want to be named said she sponsored where they study and meditate, during the ceremony in memory of her hus- the three-month rainy season between band, who passed away earlier this July and September. year. After the rainy season and after cel- After her husband died, the sponsor ebrating Kathina, the monks are al- began visiting the temple multiple lowed to travel to other temples and do times a week and speaking with the missionary work. monks. Each temple can only celebrate One day while visiting the temple Kathina once a year. During the ceremony, laypeople SEE KATHINA, PAGE A5 A2 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2017 THE SUMTER ITEM Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: [email protected] Sumter Mall to host local performers at Festive Five FROM STAFF REPORTS Nov. 13, with performances each together to showcase local talent and said Coles Doyle, marketing director night. kick off the start of the holiday season for Hull Property Group, owner of the Sumter Mall, 1057 Broad St., has an- Throughout the week, friends, fami- here in Sumter. We have fun new sea- mall. nounced the launch of The Festive ly and shoppers can vote for their fa- sonal décor that will be displayed The Festive Five is hosted by the Five, a new event that will kick off the vorite holiday performance. The act throughout the mall and a holiday-in- Sumter Mall at no cost to participating holiday season. with the most votes will win the title spired performance area for The Fes- performers. Registration is open, and The five-night event will feature of Sumter’s Festive Favorite. The win- tive Five participants. We want shop- individuals or groups interested in choirs, musicians, dance groups and ner will be featured on a mural in the pers, performers and the entire com- performing can visit www.thefestive- spreading of holiday cheer through mall, receive the 2017 Festive Favorite munity to engage in a new holiday ex- five.com or email thefestivefive@hullpg. live performances in the new Festive award and be announced in a news re- perience and enjoy the spirit of the com to sign up. A full list of perfor- Five performance area in the mall. lease. season through song, dance, music mances will be announced before the The event will be held the week of “Our goal is to bring the community and scenes from Christmas classics,” event and featured in the mall. LOCAL BRIEFS Sumter chapter president speaks in Florence FROM STAFF REPORTS Launch a sky lantern for charity on Oct. 28 American Pontoon, 11141 S.C. 260, Manning, will host a Sky Lantern Celebration at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28. For a $10 donation, attendees receive dinner and a sky lan- tern. Additional sky lanterns are available for $5. Lantern send-off is at 7:30 p.m. The eat-in or take-out dinner will include pulled pork, corn on the cob, homemade cole- slaw, a roll and dessert. Listen to music, huddle around the bonfire and watch the sky lanterns all while sup- porting the Community An- gels Fund Inc. For more information, call (803) 979-4950. 11 co-workers will split Powerball prize Eleven Sumter co-workers are celebrating after learning PHOTO PROVIDED they will share a $150,000 Pow- Col. Frank Brown, second from left, president of the Col. Matthew Singleton Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution in Sumter, erball prize they won Saturday was guest speaker at the October meeting of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Samuel Bacot Chapter meet- night. ing. Seen from left to right are SAR member Dr. Tom Barnett, Col. Brown, NSDAR Samuel Bacot Regent Anne Jenkins and Vice Regent The group, which has played Ruth Barnett. Held at Florence Country Club, Brown educated NSDAR members about SAR, the largest male lineage organization in the Powerball for the past three U.S., consisting of 50 societies, more than 500 chapters and more than 34,000 members. It is dedicated to assisting members, schools, years, traveled to Columbia on teachers and the public in efforts to sustain and preserve history and constitutional principles. Brown added that the local Col. Matthew Wednesday to cash in their Singleton Chapter is very involved in the area, working with local veterans, JROTC programs, Eagle Scouts and community leaders. He ticket, which was bought at added that the local chapter represents the Pee Dee area, and prospective members can visit www.scssar.org for more information. Youngs No. 3619, 1233 N. Main Known as the largest women’s patriotic organization in the world, DAR has more than 170,000 members with approximately 3,000 St. chapters in all 50 states and 11 foreign countries. DAR has long promoted patriotism through commemorative celebrations, memorials, Their ticket with PowerPlay scholarships and activities for children and programs for new immigrants. For more information about DAR and the local Samuel Bacot matched four of the five white Chapter, visit www.dar.org or http://www.scdar.org/Samuel_Bacot.htm.