Happening Now
 Sumter County fireworks show, Shaw AFB Freedom Bash return this Independence Day
Sumter County officials quarrel about party lines on committees, decisions
EDWARDS
Sumter Girl Scout earns Gold Award for project helping military families
Siemens, Prisma Health announce partnership
KELLEY-JAY
Suspect, 'armed and dangerous,' sought in May 25 killing 2 arrested in connection to crime

'More than health care': Former House Speaker Paul Ryan visits McLeod Health Clarendon to see Nurse-Family Partnership program

Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan listens to mothers who have participated in the Nurse-Family Partnership program, their nurses and those who have supported the program at the McLeod Health Clarendon campus on June 18.
MANNING - Nurses in a pregnancy and motherhood program at the county's only hospital know their work goes beyond health care, breaking barriers between provider and patient, outsider and friend. Now, their stories have reached the ears of who was …
JAY
Sumter man wanted in connection to death of Kalieah Green
Pearl Fryar stands in his topiary garden in May 2018. The McKissick Museum Museum is partnering with the Atlanta Botanical Garden, the WeGoja Foundation and the Garden Conservancy for Midlands Gives on plans for the long-term preservation of Pearl Fryar's Topiary Garden in Bishopville.
Grants will help preserve famous Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden in Bishopville
Jennifer Fretwell serves a group of women at The Restaurant at Second Mill's new location on Broad Street in November 2020.
South Carolina adds only 4,100 jobs in May

Friday, June 25, 2021

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Studio Sumter

Sumter Today: Grants will help preserve famous Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden in Bishopville

Pearl Fryer is famous for his decades of creating and maintaining his large topiary garden at his home in Bishopville.With more than 400 sculpted, trimmed and shaped shrubs, trees and plants, his …

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Friends to Follow
SPORTS
Sumter's Dustin Kennedy pitched for the first time this season in the P-15's loss to Horry 8-1 on Wednesday.
P-15's can't complete sweep, fall to Horry 8-1
YOUTH ALL-STARS ROUNDUP
Sumter National stays undefeated in coaches pitch baseball
Lakewood's Savannah Ard, left, signs her letter of intent to play soccer at USC Sumter during a ceremony earlier this month. She was joined by her mother, Vicky, at the signing.
Lakewood's Ard turns short prep soccer career into opportunity at USC Sumter
Mississippi State fans react as Notre Dame's Spencer Myers (2) catches a Mississippi State fly ball on Sunday, June 13 in Starkville, Mississippi.
NCAA moving toward hyperlocal solution to NIL as placeholder
Leah Malone sets first base in place as the grounds crew prepares The Ballpark at Jackson before a home game for the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the American Association on Tuesday in Jackson, Tennessee.
Cities stripped of minor league teams finding ways forward
Poll of the Week

Should critical race theory be taught in public schools?

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KAYLA GREEN / THE SUMTER ITEM
May Teacher of the Month awarded Carolina Grove restaurant gift card
Sumter County Council: County to revise, combine employee vehicle use policy with sheriff's office policy to create one
College savings fuel dual enrollment growth at USC Sumter
Clarendon County passes $23.3M with 5-mill tax increase; increase will go toward salaries, vehicles, security upgrades
AMOS
1 in custody, 1 wanted in fatal January shooting in Sumter

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Sumter Dixie Darlings to face Hartsville for title
Sumter American rolls past Clarendon 15-3
Manning-Santee's Britton Morris hit a 2-run home run in Post 68's 15-1 win over Dalzell-Shaw on Tuesday.
Manning bats come to life in 15-1 rout of Jets
Sumter's Hayden Lyons allowed just one hit and one run in 5 1/3 innings during the P-15's 3-1 win over Horry on Tuesday.
Lyons pitches P-15's past Horry in 3-1 win
Lakewood pitcher Hunter Hoff, center right, signs to play baseball at Columbia International University in a ceremony on June 7. Hoff was joined by, from left to right, his sister Shaye, mother Tina and father Jay.
Lakewood's Hoff signs to pitch for Columbia International

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Panorama
JASON MCELVEEN

Beacon Cinemas holds over Sumter native's film, A Father's Legacy, through June 29

"A Father's Legacy," a movie set and filmed around Sumter County was the best attended film at the Beacon Cinemas last weekend. Because of its popularity, the theater has extended its run through June 29. Jason McElveen, whose stage name is Jason …

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Nation & World
This March 20, 2020 file photo shows HMS Defender in Portsmouth, England. The Russian military says its warship has fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs to force the British destroyer from Russia's waters near Crimea in the Black Sea. The incident on Wednesday June 23, 2021, marks the first time since the Cold War era when Moscow used live ammunition to deter a NATO warship, reflecting soaring Russia-West tensions.
Russia says next time it may fire to hit intruding warships

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia is prepared to target intruding warships if they fail to heed warnings, a senior Russian diplomat declared Thursday after a Black Sea incident in which a British destroyer …

President Joe Biden, with a bipartisan group of senators, speaks Thursday, June 24, 2021, outside the White House in Washington. Biden invited members of the group of 21 Republican and Democratic senators to discuss the infrastructure plan. From left are, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Biden, Sen, Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., rear, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz, and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.
'We have a deal': Biden announces infrastructure agreement WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced on Thursday a hard-earned bipartisan agreement on a pared-down infrastructure plan that would make a start on his top legislative priority and …
RUDY GIULIANI
New York court suspends Rudy Giuliani's law license NEW YORK (AP) — An appeals court suspended Rudy Giuliani from practicing law in New York Thursday because he made false statements while trying to get courts to overturn Donald Trump's loss in …
Palace: Japan emperor 'worried' about Olympics amid pandemic TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Emperor Naruhito is "extremely worried" that the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics could accelerate the spread of the coronavirus, the head of the Imperial Palace said …
Vice President Kamala Harris waves goodbye prior to boarding Air Force Two at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, on Sunday, June 6, 2021, en route to Guatemala City.
Following criticism, Harris to visit U.S.-Mexico border area WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris will make her first visit on Friday to the U.S.-Mexico border since taking office, following criticism from members of both parties for failing to …

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State News
Supporters of the South Carolina Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act fill the Statehouse lobby on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020, in Columbia, South Carolina.
Discord over whether to halt South Carolina abortion case

COLUMBIA (AP) — The parties involved in a lawsuit over South Carolina's new ban on almost all abortions disagree about how the case should be handled while the U.S. Supreme Court considers …

A vehicle sits in the driveway of a home Tuesday, June 8, in rural Colleton County, near Islandton. A mother and son from a prominent South Carolina legal family were found shot and killed on the family's land, and authorities said they have made no arrests in the double homicide case.
Hit-and-run death reopened in mother and son shooting deaths COLUMBIA - Information gathered by agents investigating the death of a mother and son from a prominent South Carolina legal family has led state police to review a nearby unsolved hit-and-run death from six years ago. What that information is and …
31-year-old inmate stabbed to death in McCormick prison MCCORMICK (AP) — An South Carolina inmate was stabbed to death Tuesday in a common area of a prison in McCormick County, authorities said.Garrett Lemont Lyles Jr., 31, was stabbed several times …
New York Yankees' Brett Gardner, left, and Chris Singleton watch batting practice before the Yankees and Minnesota Twins baseball game Aug 17, 2015, at Yankee Stadium in New York. Singletons mother, Sharonda, was one of nine parishioners killed in the Emanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston. Singleton, now director of community outreach for the Charleston RiverDogs, stays busy on the speaker's circuit sharing hope.
Son of church shooting victim draws on tragedy to share hope CHARLESTON - Sometimes, standing before his audience, Chris Singleton likes to tell the story of the father and son walking the beach after a hurricane has destroyed their home. Strewn across the sand are hundreds of starfish, washed up by the storm …
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster
S.C. $11 billon budget heading to governor COLUMBIA (AP) - South Carolina's nearly $11 billion budget was sent to the governor's desk on Monday as lawmakers cut close the deadline to get the spending plan in place before it begins July 1. There is something for almost everyone in the …

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Obituaries
GARY STANLEY HERRINGTON

Gary Stanley Herrington, son of the late Norman "Noug" and Louise Dennis Herrington, departed this life on Sunday, June 20, 2021. He was born on Jan. 1, 1955, in Sumter County. Affectionately known by family and friends as "Stan," he was a man …

CHARLENE WILSON FRIERSON

ALCOLU - Charlene Wilson Frierson, 55, wife of Frankie Frierson, died on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, at MUSC Florence. She was born on Nov. 28, 1965, in Reading, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Margie Hodge Wilson and the late Charles Joe Wilson …

MARGIE GAYMON WARD

CONYERS, Ga. - Margie Gaymon Ward, 59, wife of Mark Ward, died on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, at her residence in Conyers. She was born on Nov. 17, 1961, in Summerton, a daughter of Essie Mack Gaymon and the late William Gaymon. These services …

JAMES FRAZIER JR.

BISHOPVILLE - The Rev. James Frazier Jr., 90, died on Sunday, June 20, 2021, at Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center in Hartsville. He was a son of the late James Sr. and Silvie Bolden Frazier. The family is receiving friends and family at …

HERBERT WALTER JAMES

Graveside funeral services for Herbert Walter James will be held at 4 p.m. today at Wayman Chapel AME Church Cemetery with the pastor, the Rev. Robert L. China Jr., officiating. Herbert Walter James, husband of the late Carrie Lang James, …

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Faith
DR. JOEY DURHAM
Sumter Pastor Joey Durham: Peace in our times of trouble Today's devotion asks this question, "How can I have peace that passes my understanding?" In Philippians 4:6-7, we see, "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto …
Court: If bias rules have exceptions, faith groups qualify Justice Samuel Alito called it a "wisp" of a decision - a Supreme Court ruling Thursday that favored Catholic Social Services in Philadelphia but was far from the constitutional gale wind that would have reshaped how courts interpret religious …
THE REV. DR. CLAY SMITH
Sumter Pastor Clay Smith: Sleeping in church I admit it - I have fallen asleep in church. When I was a child and we had church on Sunday nights, the preacher's voice seemed hypnotic. A few minutes into his message, I would be stretched out on the pew, lost in la-la land. When I was home …
High court sides with Catholic agency in foster care dispute WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously sided with a Catholic foster care agenc y that says its religious views prevent it from working with same-sex couples as foster …
Celebrations

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Dear Abby
Pets for adoption
Sumter Animal Control's Henry is handsome and full of fun

BELOW: Henry is a darling. He is a 4-month-old mixed breed puppy who is full of fun. He weighs 28 pounds. This handsome fella needs a family who will have the time and patience to give him some basic training. Henry would love a fenced-in yard to …

Weddings
MRS. BRANDON GRANGER
Vise-Granger Rachel Vise and Brandon Granger, both of Sumter, were united in marriage at 5 p.m. Saturday, May 1, 2021, at Sans Souci Farms in Sumter. The bride is the daughter of Mr. Johnny Vise and Mrs. Barbara Watson Vise, both of Sumter, and the …

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Engagements
MISS TESENIAR, DR. DECKER
Teseniar-Decker Mr. and Mrs. Mark Teseniar of Charleston, formerly of Sumter, announce the engagement of their daughter, Laila Teseniar of Charleston, to Dr. James Decker of Charleston, son of Dr. and Mrs. James Decker of Charleston. The bride-elect is the …
MISS SCHALLER, MR. WILLIAMS
Schaller-Williams Mr. and Mrs. Phillip C. Schaller I of Sumter announce the engagement of their daughter, Olivia Jade Schaller of Sumter, to Dakota Colt Williams of Hampton, Tennessee, son of Ms. Angela M. Williams and the late Mr. Ernest "Mike" M. Williams of …
MR. MAGEE, MISS GOLDEN
Golden-MaGee Ida Lee Golden and Alphonso Douglas Golden, both of Sumter, announce the engagement of their daughter, Allicia Marie Golden of Durham, North Carolina, to Derrick Magee, also of Durham, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Magee of Jackson, …
Reflections
SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTOS Needwood was the home of J. Frank Williams and his family in the Stateburg community on the King's Highway.

Reflections by Sammy Way: J. Frank Williams, master farmer and preservationist

Reflections looks back at John Frank Williams, who became one of Sumter's most remembered farm agents who lived at Needwood, a beautiful plantation constructed in the Stateburg community; Mr. Williams and his family restored the beautiful antebellum …

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Yesteryear
SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTO Splashing paint onto a papier mache rock as a part of the scenery for Summerthing IV are Jackie Worrell, left, and Candy Kudra, two of the many teenagers who worked to create the three-day happening at the main exhibit building of the fairgrounds, which was open to the public Aug. 4-6, 1971.
Yesteryear by Sammy Way: Santa will arrive at municipal airport; frogs and toads invited to contest 75 YEARS AGO - 1946 Nov. 26 - 3 - Dr. J. M. Wells, pastor emeritus of the Sumter Presbyterian church, delivered a Thanksgiving address at the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club at the Community Center. Dr. Wells was presented by T. H. Parker …
SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTO Baseball comedian Max Patkin visited Riley Park in July 1971.
Yesteryear by Sammy Way: H. C. Bland gets radio salute; 'clown prince of baseball' visits Riley 75 YEARS AGO - 1946 Nov. 19 - 23 - The annual Gamecock Field Trials will start Dec. 2 at Cane Savannah, and plans are nearing completion for this outstanding event, which will attract many well-known sportsmen from other sections of the …
SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTO Junior Girl Scouts Moneisha Juniores and Manon Zamora hold hands with their newest troop member, Amanda LeGrand, as they sing the friendship song at the closing of Millwood Brownie Troop 56's "bridging" ceremony in May 1996.
Yesteryear by Sammy Way: Christmas Seal Sale under way; 5 Olympic torchbearers from Sumter 75 YEARS AGO - 1946 Nov. 12 - 18 - Bishopville High School's Dragons trounced an aerial-minded Rockingham, North Carolina, team at Memorial field, 27 to 7, before a good-sized crowd. With only two days of rest since their bruising game with …

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From the opinion pages
Columnists
MOLLETTE
Opinion: Invest in yourself and your health
Editorial cartoon: Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Editorial cartoon: Tuesday, June 22, 2021
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