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FRESH SURROUNDINGS
• Body of Shaw F-16 pilot who died in crash expected to return this weekend • Mayesville citizens ready for special election, upset about U.S. 76 bridge A2
Timeless Memories photography relocates. B3
THEN THERE WERE 2 Final teams set for NCAA tournament championship
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VOL. 118, NO. 144 WWW.THEITEM.COM
SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013 | SUMTER, SOUTH CAROLINA
Sumter fights ‘unsafe’ image
BY JADE ANDERSON janderson@theitem.com A group of “unlikely” locals have bonded together to bring women’s ministry to Sumter — digitally. “A little over a year ago, God put it on my heart to do something for him,” CATOE Louise Marlowe said. “I prayed through it. Through talking and prayer, I felt led that it KELLEY would be ministering to women through a website. None of us have experience. I thought, ‘I’m not hearing you right.’” She and Carolyn Kight, Lisa Catoe and
BY BRISTOW MARCHANT bmarchant@theitem.com
PHOTO PROVIDED
ABOVE: Senior Cpl. Brian Rulong, left, and Sgt. Jason Tassone with the Sheriff’s Office Interstate-95 Interdiction Team pose with a large amount of cash confiscated during a traffic stop on Interstate 95. The interstate team is one area the sheriff’s office feels they’ve had a high rate of success.
Grace Kelley launched ParkingSpaceFaith.com in January. The website is designed to encourage women in their walk with Christ. “God uses unlikely people, unlikely computer people,” Kight said. “It’s amazing to see how he has brought us to this point.” KIGHT It’s a work in progress, all four acknowledge, and they give kudos to their MARLOWE webmaster, Ken Lewis, for getting them this far. “We really shared with him our vision, (and) he’s become our biggest SEE MINISTRY, PAGE A9
South Sumter residents clean area for festival BRISTOW MARCHANT bmarchant@theitem.com
BRISTOW MARCHANT / THE ITEM
Early Saturday morning, the dew was thick on the grass along a South Sumter street. And on the glass bottles and bits of plastic that also lined the sides of the road. Until, that is, someone with a bulging orange trash bag stopped to pick them up. One week before the annual Festival on the Avenue is expected to bring swarms of visitors to festivities on South Sumter’s main thoroughfare, local residents set out Saturday to spruce up the surrounding neighborhoods by collecting litter along the roads.
ABOVE: Capt. Jeffrey Jackson speaks to a driver at a Sumter Police Department checkpoint on Miller Road this week. RIGHT: Deputies led fairgoers at the 2012 Sumter County Fair in the field sobriety test while wearing “drunk goggles.” Educational and community outreach measures are one way local law enforcement agencies try to prevent crime before it occurs.
SEE REPUTATION, PAGE A7
PHOTO PROVIDED
Discouraged Americans leave labor force WASHINGTON (AP) — After a full year of fruitless job hunting, Natasha Baebler just gave up. She’d already abandoned hope of getting work in her field, working with the disabled. But she couldn’t land anything else, either —
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Local group starts online ministry for women of faith
Law enforcement astir about area’s No. 3 rank in crime despite effort Anthony Dennis is upset by Sumter County’s performance in the annual statewide crime report, released by the State Law Enforcement Division last Monday. Sumter showed the third highest violent crime rate per capita in the state in 2011, the latest year for which statewide data is available. What bothers the county’s three-term sheriff the most is finding out errors in his office’s counting inflated the number of murders Sumter reported. It may not affect the final rankings in SLED’s report, but it doesn’t help the county’s image as an area perceived as rife with crime. “I’m disgusted about it, frankly,” Dennis said. “We’ve taken some proactive measures to reduce that. And then, in 2011, to rise to third again, it’s not only disappointing, it’s depressing because of the hard work being done in this office.” Local law enforcement officials at both the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office and the Sumter Police Department have taken steps to combat crime and help residents find ways to reduce it. But in the process, they’ve come up against larger social problems that feed into criminal activity, as well as the frustrating knowledge that the
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not even a job interview at a telephone call center. Until she feels confident enough to send out resumes again, she’ll get by on food stamps and disability checks from Social Security and live with her parents in St. Louis. “I’m not proud of
it,” says Baebler, who is in her mid-30s and is blind. “The only way I’m able to sustain any semblance of self-preservation is to rely on government programs that I have no desire to be on.” Baebler’s frustrating experience has become all too common
20 N. Magnolia St. Sumter, SC 29150 (USPS 525-900)
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SEE CLEANUP, PAGE A5
nearly four years after the Great Recession ended: Many Americans are still so discouraged that they’ve given up on the job market. Older Americans have retired early. Younger ones have
South Sumter resident Ertha Hill picks up trash along South Main Street on Saturday as part of a group from the South Sumter Neighborhood Beautification Association. BRISTOW MARCHANT / THE ITEM
SEE WORKFORCE, PAGE A5
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Nice and sunny out with a few clouds passing through during the day; mostly clear with slightly chilly temperatures through the night. HIGH: 74 LOW: 52 A10
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