Sword-wielding man reportedly tries to break into home. A4 JETS FLYING HIGH Dalzell-Shaw ready to begin American Legion state playoffs today against Lancaster.
Maintenance will resume on Clubhouse, Bo’s, Paul’s roads. A4
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013 | SUMTER, SOUTH CAROLINA
VOL. 118, NO. 223 WWW.THEITEM.COM
FOUNDED OCTOBER 15, 1894
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Bynum ends SWEET 16 District delays standards-based report cards for third-graders by 1 year BY BRADEN BUNCH bbunch@theitem.com PHOTO PROVIDED
A section of fence cut away by copper thieves is seen recently at Black River Electric Cooperative’s Lowder substation on Mason Road. The Lowder station has been hit three times in the past two weeks as the electric co-op deals with a rash of metal thefts.
Officials investigate substation metal thefts BY BRISTOW MARCHANT bmarchant@theitem.com Copper thefts have become a common way for thieves to make a quick buck reselling scrap metal. But a rash of thefts in recent days from electric substations across Sumter County not only have the potential to disrupt power flow to the community, but also pose a serious danger of electrocuting repair crews or the thieves themselves. In the past two weeks, officials with the Black River Electric Cooperative have had to deal with five separate break-ins at unmanned power substations across Sumter County. One station has been hit three times in a matter of days, resulting in thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to sensitive (and highly charged) equipment. Now the electric co-op is announcing a cash reward for any information leading to the arrest of anyone connected to the thefts. At the same time, officials are highlighting the danger that cutting apart a live power station poses to everyone involved. “We’re announcing a $500 reward for any information leading to an arrest,” Sherri Woodward, Black River spokeswoman, said Tuesday. Woodward didn’t make a direct comparison, but the reward is about the same amount as the maximum a thief is likely to get selling all the recently stolen copper combined. The cost analysis is what irks Black River engineer Brian Keith. “They’re damaging a three-quarters-of-a-milliondollar transformer to get 50 to 100 dollars’ worth of copper,” he said. SEE THEFTS, PAGE A6
SWEET 16, the embattled program used by Sumter School District to observe teachers’ performance in the classroom, has been discontinued after a tumultuous two-year stint. In addition, Superintendent Randolph Bynum said Tuesday the scheduled expansion to third grade of the district’s standardsbased report-card system, used for students in the earliest BYNUM grades, would be delayed by a year. The decision to stop using SWEET 16, effective immediately, and to delay the expansion of standards-based reSCHULTZ port cards, comes less than two weeks before the district’s board of trustees is expected to conduct a high-stakes review of Bynum’s performance. Last week, the trustees convened a special meeting and after a six-hour executive session announced Bynum must address several concerns that were raised behind closed doors. Board Chairman Keith Schultz, speaking at the end of the meeting, said those issues included “various issues at Sumter High SEE SWEET 16, PAGE A8
Air Force pulls sexual assault prevention brochure at Shaw FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS The Air Force has pulled a brochure circulated at a Sumter base after a congresswoman from New York complained about some objectionable advice to sexual assault victims — such as submitting to an attack rather than resisting. Ginny Waller, executive director of Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands, on Tuesday applauded the removal of the pamphlet from circulation on Shaw Air Force Base. “It’s a very antiquated version of prevention that unintentionally — and I do believe it was unintentional — blames the victim for what happened,” she said. “The idea is why are we telling victims how to behave when we should be focused on the offenders, perpetrators and a culture of violence. We don’t need
World needs spiritual first responders
W
es to survivors of sexual assault and abuse — serves four South Carolina counties including Sumter. It recently opened a
hen I sat down to write this column, I did what I usually do: check my Twitter feed for pertinent religion news, peruse my emails and read a couple of blogs on spirituality in America. I try to keep my finger on the pulse of our local community to see what information translates well to readers of The Item newspaper. I found myself pulled into reading story after story of the Granite Mountain Hotshot fire crew who died on June 30 trying to stifle a forest fire in Arizona. Nineteen of the 20 died fighting the
SEE BROCHURE, PAGE A7
SEE FAITH MATTERS, PAGE A7
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington in 2010. The Air Force has pulled a brochure circulated at a South Carolina base after Slaughter complained about some objectionable advice to sexual assault victims such as submitting to an attack rather than resisting.
tips on how to walk to the car. We need to focus on gender equality.” Her organization — a nonprofit agency committed to providing free, confidential and direct servic-
DEATHS
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