TheState.com: Local / Metro

Tornado-ravaged Oklahoma town might not rebuild

Mon, 12 May 2008 10:07 EDT

Sue Sigle was hoping the government would offer more money for her home before she moves away from this pollution-scarred town. Then the tornado came.

As she began the task of salvage Sunday, Sigle kept a smile on her face, noting that she was fortunate to be visiting family in Missouri when the massive twister hit Saturday night, killing at least six people in this northeastern Oklahoma town. Tornadoes killed at least 22 people in three states that night.

"I'm OK with everything," Sigle said. "The Lord is going to take care of anything. ... I was going to move anyway. I guess I'll just have to move sooner."

That sense of inevitability appeared to grip residents as they picked through the remnants of their homes. The lead and zinc mines that made Picher a booming town of about 20,000 in the mid-20th century closed decades ago; leftover waste has turned the area into an environmental disaster and a Superfund site.

Many families have moved away to escape the lead pollution, taking advantage of state and federal buyouts in recent years. Piles of mine waste, or chat, have long towered over the town across a highway from the devastated neighborhood; they're now peppered with debris from homes flattened by the tornado.

Election 2008: Will House District 79 swing Democratic?

Mon, 12 May 2008 09:47 EDT

Unprecedented growth and shifting demographics could make House District 79, which includes portions of Northeast Richland and southwest Kershaw County, less reliably Republican than it has been over the past two decades.

Rep. Bill Cotty, a Republican who has represented the district for 12 years, recently announced he won’t seek re-election.

Three Republicans are competing in the June 10 primary to earn the party’s nomination for the seat. The winner will face a tough test in the fall from a well-funded Democrat who narrowly lost to Cotty two years ago.

Cotty said he’s stepping down after a two-decade grind in politics.

“It’s time for me to go do something else,” said Cotty, whose proudest achievements include helping to move the Confederate flag from the State House dome, reducing residential property taxes and reforming welfare. “Including my time on the (Richland 2) school board, it’s been a 22-year sentence. I haven’t done anything that bad.”

Mother's Day: Kayaking with Mom

Mon, 12 May 2008 09:47 EDT

USC student Tiffany Davis offered to celebrate Mother’s Day with her mother, Tamah Davis, by taking her to Olive Garden, but her mom had other plans.

Tamah Davis opted to take her crew canoeing down the Congaree River. With her were 20-year-old Tiffany; her 27-year-old son, Tanner Davis; his girlfriend, 27-year-old Walynne Shealy; and Shealy’s son, J.J. Moore, 8.

“We normally cook a big meal and hang out on Mother’s Day,” said Tanner Davis, who lives in Gilbert.

Tamah Davis, who had never canoed on the Congaree, said she thought the Adventure Carolina trip would be a bonding experience for her family.

“It’s a good way to create a memory,” the Columbia resident said. “I made the decision for everybody to go.”

Indigent defense: System gets ‘win-win’ overhaul

Mon, 12 May 2008 09:47 EDT

South Carolina’s patchwork system that provides attorneys to defendants who can’t afford them is undergoing a multimillion-dollar transformation — one that advocates say is long overdue.

More than eight in 10 of nearly 126,000 cases heard in the state’s general sessions courts last year involved defendants unable to afford a lawyer, according to the S.C. Administrative Office of the Courts.

In some rural counties, the percentage of defendants represented by public defenders is as high as 95 percent, said Patton Adams, executive director of the S.C. Commission on Indigent Defense.

Indigent defense is important because each person charged with a crime has the constitutional right to adequate representation.

A system of 39 nonprofit agencies previously provided representation to indigent defendants in South Carolina’s 46 counties. But critics say that system had become broken.

High winds leave 5,500 homes without power

Mon, 12 May 2008 09:47 EDT

About 5,500 households were left without power Sunday night, as high winds knocked down power lines.

An SCE&G spokeswoman said the outages were not concentrated in any particular area, and instead were scattered throughout the service area.

The Midlands escaped most of the severe weather that swept across parts of Georgia and South Carolina this weekend.

From staff reports

Cabin fever: 'History worth saving'

Mon, 12 May 2008 09:47 EDT

At its core, the old Lindler house on Broad River Road might be one of the oldest structures in Richland County. It’s certainly one of the luckiest.

How else to explain a conservationist taking a different route home one day, noticing the construction signs and spotting the unusual aspects of a house on the property?

And how else to explain a developer first letting the conservationist nose around, then making financial sacrifices to save what appeared to be a doomed building?

A CABIN INSIDE

The latest chapter in the long history of the house began last year when Bright-Meyers Development bought 3.5 acres owned by Rick Lindler, whose family was among the first settlers in the Dutch Fork area two centuries ago. The company needed the property for an entrance to a new Irmo-area shopping center anchored by a Wal-Mart.

Public hearing to address city smoking ban

Mon, 12 May 2008 09:47 EDT

Residents and business owners can have their say this week on whether the city should ban smoking in bars.

A public hearing will be held at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Eau Claire Print Building, 3907 Ensor Ave.

Columbia City Council members are reconsidering making bars a part of a smoking ban approved in 2006. The ordinance, which will be enacted in July, now applies to restaurants and other public places. Businesses that receive 85 percent of their revenue from alcohol sales were excluded.

Council members will vote on adding bars May 21.

Mayor Bob Coble and council members Tameika Isaac Devine and Anne Sinclair say they support the move to include bars; members Daniel Rickenmann and Kirkman Finlay are against; and E.W. Cromartie and Sam Davis are undecided.

Man charged in fatal shooting

Mon, 12 May 2008 09:47 EDT

RICHLAND COUNTY

A Columbia man was arrested Saturday night in connection with a shooting that occurred Friday in Richland County’s Hollywood Hills neighborhood.

Julius Marvin Jacobs of 229 Roosevelt Jacobs Road was arrested just before midnight Saturday and charged with murder in the shooting of Darrick L. Darvy around 10 p.m. Friday, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Office.

Darvy, 30, died of blood loss at the scene after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said.

Authorities said Jacobs, 27, and Darvy were arguing Friday in the 100 block of Roosevelt Jacobs Road, but no one else was injured during the incident.

Public defender hopes to aid less fortunate

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:47 EDT

Being a public defender is not an easy task, but Doug Strickler would have it no other way.

“This is why I went to law school,” Strickler said shortly after being installed as the 5th Circuit’s public defender to represent poor defendants in Richland and Kershaw counties.

Raised in a middle-class military family, Strickler says it’s his responsibility to give back to others.

“I’m a child of the ’60s,” he said.

Nearly 100 people attended Strickler’s swearing-in ceremony, laughing and clapping as attorneys and judges told funny stories and heaped praise on the veteran public defender.

Kershaw slow to rezone schools

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:16 EDT

The Kershaw County school board is uncertain how long it will take before new attendance zones are redrawn and implemented, but it’s clear it won’t be any time soon.

The semi-rural district is grappling with overcrowded schools and aging buildings. Board members have been unable, or unwilling, to make solid decisions, which has prolonged work on attendance lines.

The longer the district waits, the greater the chance that construction prices will go up, more students will sit in crowded or shoddy classrooms and more portable classrooms will sprout.

“When you deal with a growing district, these are normal kinds of issues that you deal with,” said superintendent Frank Morgan.

In Camden, the task of redistricting hinges on the Jackson School decision — an issue steeped in historical significance, racial undertones and a failing facility. Many want a new school near the current site.

Midlands most wanted

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:17 EDT

Each Monday, The State runs information on a suspect wanted by authorities. Since the feature began in February 2004, 67 suspects have been taken into police custody.

Date of birth: Oct. 9, 1979

Description: Bell is 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighs 160 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes

Wanted by: Lexington County Sheriff’s Department

Charges: Second-offense criminal domestic violence

Growth fuels Kershaw election

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:22 EDT

Preparing for growth by expanding fire service and alleviating traffic are key issues for Kershaw County Council District 3 candidates.

District 3, which includes most of Elgin and part of Lugoff, is experiencing growing pains largely because of neighboring Northeast Richland’s explosive growth.

Republicans Charlie Miles and Councilman John Wells are on the ballot for the June 10 primary. Wells is a 14-year incumbent, and Miles a political newcomer.

The top vote-getter will be unopposed in November’s general election.

Both candidates want to expand fire protection, though Miles wants to focus on additional firefighters for Lugoff and Wells on Elgin’s proposed new fire station.

Two men arrested in shooting death

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:10 EDT

SUMTER

Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis says two men wanted in connection with the shooting death of one man’s wife have been arrested.

Dennis said Samuel Lee Montgomery Jr. was arrested Sunday afternoon at a Sumter motel and Sherald Anderson was arrested a little later at a bus station.

Coroner Verna Moore said 37-year-old Angela Anderson of Sumter died Saturday evening at a Columbia hospital from a gunshot wound to the back.

Dennis said that Angela Anderson apparently was living with another man and jealousy over her new relationship might have been a motive in the shooting.

Pilot earns award for humanitarian flights

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:22 EDT

HILTON HEAD — Jack Schuler will use any excuse to fly, especially if he can help someone along the way.

The Hilton Head Island pilot has flown a man from Harrisburg, Pa., to Pittsburgh on a snowy Christmas Eve for liver transplant surgery the next day.

He has flown a battered woman to a shelter in Wilmington, N.C., to escape her abuser.

Most recently, he spent six months flying a Savannah resident to Raleigh, and then driving her the extra 45 minutes to Duke University for experimental cancer treatments.

In 2007, he flew 12 missions, more than any other Mercy Flight Southeast pilot in South Carolina. The organization has named Schuler its 2008 Pilot of the Year, an award based on the number of missions successfully completed.

Two killed in crashes at beach biker rally

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:22 EDT

MYRTLE BEACH — Two people died and at least three others were injured in separate motorcycle crashes after the second day of Myrtle Beach's Harley-Davidson spring motorcycle rally.

Horry County Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard said 45-year-old Angelo Gonzalez of Boardman, Ohio, died and a woman was injured Saturday night when their motorcycle hit a truck making a left turn on Kings Highway.

Willard said that a crash near the site of the former Pavilion Amusement Park killed 46-year-old Roger Winburn of Darlington and injured at least two other bikers.

Willard said Winburn crossed over into oncoming traffic.

The 10-day rally typically draws about 200,000 people to the 60-mile stretch of beaches from Georgetown to the North Carolina state line.

Volunteers go on wild goose chase

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:22 EDT

CHARLOTTE — The volunteers launch two kayaks onto the misty pond in the University City area and glide quietly across the water, while three others creep along the bank with nets.

Their mission? To catch a goose with a nail through its neck.

With a rustling flap of wings, the male Canada goose, which the team believes was attacked with a nail gun, is airborne and then sliding to a stop on the other side of the pond. The kayaks turn around. And the volunteers on the banks trudge through thick mud to the other side of the pond, where they’ll try again.

For Jennifer Gordon, founder and director of Carolina Waterfowl Rescue, this is a typical Sunday.

On any given day, her group — Charlotte’s only organization dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating injured and abandoned water birds — receives about 30 calls about birds. Some are reports of birds injured by predators; others are people frightened by birds attacking their reflections in windows. But more and more, Gordon is getting calls like this: a bird intentionally injured by a human: run over, shot, burned and even poisoned.

This week in local government

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:22 EDT

RICHLAND COUNTY

GOVERNMENT

Columbia City Council: 9 a.m. Tuesday, Eau Claire Print Building, 3907 Ensor Ave. Public hearing on proposed smoking ban in bars.

SCHOOLS

Richland 1 school board: 7 p.m. Tuesday at Hopkins Elementary School, 6120 Cabin Creek Road, Hopkins. (803) 231-7504; trustees will meet in a private session at 5:30 p.m. A public hearing on the 2008-09 school year budget is scheduled. Agendas are available online at www.richlandone.org/schoolboard/board_agendas.htm

This year, Historic Columbia Foundation celebrates National Preservation...

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:22 EDT

This year, Historic Columbia Foundation celebrates National Preservation Month by highlighting Columbia’s residential architecture, recognizing exemplary preservation projects and educating the public on 19th and early 20th century residential architectural styles. National Preservation Month spotlights grass-roots preservation efforts.

Melrose Heights Neighborhood

1308 Fairview Drive

Many homes within the Melrose Heights neighborhood reflect the Tudor Revival style, a subset of the larger revival design movement that enjoyed popularity in Columbia and throughout the United States from 1890 to 1940. Embodying this easily recognizable style, 1308 Fairview Drive incorporates a number of features inspired by 17th-century English architecture.

Typical characteristics of this revival style include steeply pitched roofs and faux half-timbering and stucco. After masonry veneering became widespread in the 1920s, brick became the preferred wall finish for even modest Tudor Revival cottages.

Poetry contest open to Latinos

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:22 EDT

The third Amateur Latin Poetry Contest seeks entries. Participants must be Latino, amateur writers and reside in South Carolina.

Winners will receive prizes ranging from $25 to $100. For more information visit www.schlc.org.

Submission guidelines:

• All styles, forms, themes will be accepted.

• Maximum of two pages per poem.

Best Bet: Shakespeare company to perform

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:22 EDT

You’ve probably had the candy bar or maybe you’ve seen the movie, but have you attended the play?

The S.C. Shakespeare Company is performing “The Three Musketeers” at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and May 17 and May 20-24.

The story is set in the 1600s and follows D’Artagnan, who leaves his home for Paris to join the Musketeers. The Musketeers fight for the king of France and enjoy adoration by all.

The production will be at the Finlay Park Amphitheater on Taylor Street. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors and military and $5 for students.

The play is directed by Linda Khoury. The S.C. Shakespeare Company is made up of classically trained actors who have studied at prestigious arenas such as the former Folger Shakespeare Theatre in Washington and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.