Happening Now
The Local Journalism Sustainability Act of 2021 would help local newspapers, including The Sumter Item, reach viability through tax credits that also would benefit subscribers and advertisers.
Local Journalism Sustainability Act of 2021 would boost local news, including The Sumter Item, through tax credits to subscribers, advertisers and newsrooms
Audit shows S.C. Public Charter School District has deficiencies
A ‘Vote Here’ sign is seen near the entrance to the old Sumter County courthouse in November 2020. Redistricting is the process of redrawing district lines to fairly and accurately represent a state's population, which will be done after the U.S. Census Bureau population data is released in August.
Sumter, neighboring county residents raise concerns about new district lines coming
Some seats are still available for Global Leadership Summit at Alice Drive Baptist in Sumter
Hannah Merchant receives her Clemson-stamped $2 bill on Thursday at the Sumter Area Clemson Club's send-off event for the Class of 2025 and Class of 2024.
Becoming Tigers: Program is held for incoming Clemson freshmen from Sumter

Finding respite from the heat with Sumter's splash pads

On what was forecast to be the hottest day of the year so far in the Midlands, children found a way to have fun and cool off at the Birnie HOPE Center splash pad on South Purdy Street in Sumter. A heat advisory was in effect from noon to 8 p.m. …
Lakewood High School, Sumter County Adult Education to hold Meet and Greets on Aug. 5
Personnel report before Sumter school board; special-called meeting set for Monday night
Lee district schools will hold registrations next week

July 31, 2021 - August 2, 2021

View this issue

Browse other issues

Studio Sumter

Sumter Today: We hold our annual Best of Sumter red carpet awards ceremony

We held our Best of Sumter 2021 red carpet winners celebration on Tuesday at Sumter Original Brewery. After holding it virtually last year due to the pandemic, we were excited to see people’s …

More Video from Studio Sumter

Friends to Follow
SPORTS
Crestwood's Javion Martin, left, and the Knights will see their first competition this week a scrimmages get underway.
Football scrimmages in SCISA, SCHSL highlight 5 Things to Watch This Year
Oklahoma head football coach Lincoln Riley and the Sooners are officially bound for the Southeastern Conference after the school's board, along with the board at Texas, accepted the invitation to the SEC.
SEC welcomes Oklahoma, Texas after boards accept invitations
The Sumter 11-12 year-old Dixie Ponytails X-Play all-star softball team rolled through the state tournament, going 5-0 while outscoring its opponents 60-6. Sumter begins play in the Dixie Softball World Series on Saturday.
Sumter Ponytails X-Play team opens Dixie World Series today
Panthers' Perryman will wear mask, won't get vaccinated
The Atlanta Braves acquired outfielder Adam Duvall from the Florida Marlins on Friday. Duvall played for the Braves last season.
Braves stack outfield with Rosario, Duvall
Poll of the Week

Will you receive an Advanced Child Tax Credit payment?

Have a question you'd like us to ask? Emai editor@theitem.com.

View results

More local news
U.S. Army Central honored two soldiers, Sgt. Brandon Brantley and Spc. Omar Dacosta, with an awards ceremony Thursday after they won the USARCENT 2021 Best Warrior Competition.
ARCENT at Shaw Air Force Base awards 2 Best Warriors Competition soldiers for winning title in Kuwait contest
Sumterite named SC Deputy of the Year honored
Ron Lewis, left, and Rick Kump hold their Quilts of Valor.
Clarendon County Quilts of Valor recipients honored for their service
Manning Mayor Julia Nelson; Dr. Jacqueline Inabinette, assistant superintendent of Clarendon School District 2; Jon Weiss, general manager of Adams Outdoor Advertising; Glynn Weiss, Realtor and public relations at Adams; and Darryl Jackson, operational manager, stand in front of Adams Outdoor Advertising's first digital billboard in Manning on Thursday.
Manning installs its 1st digital billboard
Liberty STEAM Charter School Board of Directors Chairman Greg Thompson, center, holds a check displaying awards this summer totaling $1,415,000 on Tuesday night during a school dinner event. Thompson is flanked by his wife, Danielle, and fellow Liberty board member Ben Griffith.
2nd national foundation awards Liberty STEAM $645K

More News

More Sports
South Carolina's AJ Lawson signed with the Miami Heat after not being selected in the NBA draft on Thursday.
USC's Lawson, Clemson's Simms sign as free agents
Ali Williams is shown pitching for Crestwood High School during his playing days for the Knights. Williams will don the Crestwood jersey once again as he has been named the school's new varsity baseball head coach.
Former Knight, pro Williams to coach Crestwood baseball
West Florence wins Junior state title
Former Sumter High star and current New York Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery pitches during the Yankees' 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Montgomery stops 8-start winless streak as Yankees top Tampa 4-3
Leonard Johnson is back as the head football coach at Scott's Branch just a year after his second stint with the program lasted one season.
Johnson taking third go as Scott's Branch football coach

More Sports

Panorama
Susan Beckham Zurenda will speak on the "Small-town South in the 60's" in relation to circumstances and conflicts in her book, "Bells for Eli," at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Sumter County Museum.

Award-winning author to speak at Sumter museum on Thursday; 'Bells for Eli' explores relationship between cousins, best friends

The Sumter County Museum continues its author series at 6 p.m. Thursday with an appearance by novelist Susan Beckham Zurenda. Her new novel, "Bells for Eli," has already received several awards, notably the Gold Medal for Best First Book - Fiction …

More Panorama

Nation & World
Senate advances nearly $1 trillion infrastructure plan

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate advanced a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan on Friday with a bipartisan group of senators helping it clear one more hurdle and bracing to see if support can hold during the next few days of debate and efforts to …

1 in 5 flight attendants report high frequency of unruly passengers DALLAS - Nearly one in five flight attendants say they have witnessed physical incidents involving passengers this year, and their union is calling for criminal prosecution of people who act up on planes. A union survey supports what airlines and …
In the year ending in June, wages and salaries jumped 3.5% for workers in the private sector, the largest increase in more than 14 years. That increase was driven by sharp rise in pay for restaurant and hotel workers of more than 6%.
Worker pay rises strongly, businesses fight to fill jobs WASHINGTON - Wages and salaries rose at a healthy pace in the three months ending in June as employers competed to find enough workers to fill millions of available jobs. Pay increased 1% in the second quarter for workers in the private sector, …
CDC team: 'War has changed' as dangers of variant emerge New evidence showing the delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox and may be more dangerous than other versions has prompted U.S. health officials to consider changing advice on how the nation fights the coronavirus, internal documents …
This transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, isolated from a patient in the U.S. Virus particles are shown emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. The spikes on the outer edge of the virus particles give coronaviruses their name, crown-like.
Expert: COVID-19 poses risk to male reproductive system, but not vaccine Contrary to myths circulating on social media, COVID-19 vaccines do not cause erectile dysfunction and male infertility. What is true: SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, poses a risk for both disorders. Until now, little research has …

More Nation & World News

State News
S.C. extends pandemic food assistance benefits

COLUMBIA (AP) - South Carolinians receiving federal food aid will continue to get extra emergency benefits through the end of the year, even though a pandemic-related state of emergency ended last month. State officials announced Friday that they …

TRAXLER
S.C. health officials encourage mask use, vaccines in schools as variant spreads COLUMBIA - South Carolina health officials are still recommending students and teachers wear masks indoors to curb COVID-19's spread in the upcoming school year, though state lawmakers have already banned school districts from requiring the face …
Responders congregate Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018, near where two people drowned when they were trapped in a Horry County Sheriff transport van while crossing an overtopped bridge over the Little Pee Dee River on Hwy 76 during rising floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Marion County.
$1M settlement after 2 patients in S.C. drowned in transport van CONWAY (AP) - A manufacturer of cages for inmate transport vans has agreed to pay $1 million to the family of a South Carolina mental health patient who drowned during 2018's Hurricane Florence while trapped inside a sheriff's department van …
Elijah Whiteside leads protesters in a chant outside Solicitor Scarlett Wilson's office in the Charleston County Judicial Center on May 21 in Charleston to demand that the officers involved in the January death of Jamal Sutherland be charged. On Monday, a prosecutor decided not to charge two jail employees in Sutherland's death, saying the employees did not intend to kill him.
Prosecutor: No charges in man's death in jail due to poor training COLUMBIA - A South Carolina prosecutor decided Monday not to charge two jail employees who stunned a mentally ill Black man 10 times and kneeled on his back until he stopped breathing, calling the guards' videotaped actions "damning" but not against …
S.C. man retraces history of family's 19th-century whiskey bottle NEWBERRY - The corked brown bottle had mystified Rex Woolbright for decades. Rumor had it the Old Ingledew whiskey, which belonged to his uncle, Logan Drake, predated the Civil War and had decorated the shelves of powerful elites. It was mostly a …

More State News

Obituaries

ROMAN

EDWIN HARMON ROMAN JR.

Edwin Harmon Roman Jr., 66, husband of Shirley Peterson Roman, was born on Aug. 29, 1954, in Sumter, a son of Alice Jones Bechman and the late Edwin Roman Sr. He departed this life on Saturday, July 24, 2021, at Agape Care of South Carolina in …

WHITEHEAD

SADIE JEAN MCFADDEN WHITEHEAD

On July 21, 2021, God searched his garden, found a beautiful rose and called her home. Sadie Jean McFadden Whitehead was born on Oct. 7, 1949, in the New Zion community of Clarendon County, the second of eight children of the late Phillip …

POLK

JAMES G. POLK SR.

Interment services James G. Polk Sr., who died April 21, 2020, will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at Edward Cemetery, Milford Plantation Road, Wedgefield. A memorial service will be held today at noon at the Spirit of The Living God Church, 1106 …

EDUARD ALLINGER

Eduard Allinger, 88, husband of the late Ingeberg Arndt Allinger, died on Monday, July 26, 2021, at his home. Born on Dec. 17, 1932, in Switzerland, he was a son of the late Josef and Frieda Eberle Allinger. He retired from the U.S. Air Force …

JAMEIKA GRANT MIDDLETON

Jameika Grant Middleton was born on Jan. 10, 1980, in Kershaw County, to the late Norman and Linda Grant. She departed this life on Sunday, July 25, 2021, at Atruim Health in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jamieka graduated from Lugoff-Elgin High …

More Obituaries

Faith
Church News: Friday, July 30, 2021 First Baptist Missionary Church, 219 S. Washington St., announces: * Friday, Aug. 13 - Food giveaway at 1 p.m. while supplies last. Knitting Hearts for Christ Ministry, which meets at Bethesda Church of God, 2730 Broad St., announces: * …
LIVINGSTON
Manning Pastor Sam Livingston: When is it going to drop? In the retail and entertainment industry, we often hear this phrase, "When is it going to drop?" The scenario may be played out when a professional athlete is about to present a new sneaker to the general public. Depending on who the athlete is, …
Students at a Presbyterian boarding school in Sitka, Alaska, are seen in the summer of 1883. U.S. Catholic and Protestant denominations operated more than 150 boarding schools between the 19th and 20th centuries. Native American and Alaskan Native children were regularly severed from their tribal families, customs, language and religion and brought to the schools in a push to assimilate and Christianize them.
U.S. churches reckon with traumatic legacy of Native schools The discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada have prompted renewed calls for a reckoning over the traumatic legacy of similar schools in the United States - and in particular by the …
Church News: Friday, July 23, 2021 Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 211 Alice Drive, announces: * Saturday - "Last Generation," a popular Sumter men's gospel quartet, will perform at 6:30 p.m. in the church fellowship hall. The group has been singing together for more than 30 …
Celebrations
MR., MRS. KENNETH L. BENJAMIN
Benjamins celebrate 50 years of marriage Kenneth L. and Dianne R. Benjamin of Sumter will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Sunday, July 25, 2021. A family cruise will be taken in the summer of 2022 in their honor.The couple has …

More Celebrations

Dear Abby
Pets for adoption
Sumter SPCA's Chase would be great for an active owner

FAR LEFT: Chase is a neutered and housebroken 2-year-old white-and-tan blue heeler / pit mix. He is great with older children. He is a sweet guy who is active and loves people but would prefer to be the only pet. He loves to run and get exercise and …

Weddings
MR. AND MRS. THOMAS A. SPEIDEL
Beaty-Speidel CHARLESTON - Mary Elizabeth Beaty of Sumter and Thomas Anthony Speidel of Athens, Greece, were united in marriage at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 12, 2021, at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Wesley Beaty and …
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 …

More Weddings

Engagements
MISS WILSON
Wilson-Chestnut Mr. and Mrs. John Joe Wilson Jr. of Manning announce the engagement of their daughter, Celia Burgess Wilson of Manning, to Mr. Hunter Tyson Chestnut of Conway, son of Mr. and Mrs. Homer Tyson Chestnut Jr. of Conway. The bride-elect is the …
Unhoch- Maccauley Mark Katz of Sumter and Loretta Burkholder of Wytheville, Virginia, announce the engagement of their daughter, Helena Unhoch, to Stephen Maccauley of Mineral, Virginia, son of Richard Maccauley of Louisa, Virginia, and Alvena Tierney of St. …
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 …
Reflections
Agnes Wilson at Lincoln High School was named Teacher of the Year on Nov. 14, 1968.

Reflections by Sammy Way: The establishment of Lincoln High School, part II

Part II continues a brief report of the organization and building of Sumter's initial Black high school. Information for this segment was obtained from The Sumter Item archives, Ruth Edens' The History of the Development of Secondary Education in …

More

Yesteryear
Enjoying a light moment at the Nov. 13, 1971, kickoff of the Sumter-Shaw Community Concert Association's 1971 membership drive were, from left, Donald Wiegand, area representative of Community Concerts Inc., which books artists for the local series; John Mazzaralla, eastern manager for Community Concerts; Herbert Rosefield, president of the Sumter-Shaw Community Concert Association; and Mrs. Harrison Harp, campaign director. The 25th anniversary season of the association began Oct. 19 that year.
Yesteryear by Sammy Way: Studebaker Drivers Club meets in Sumter; depot nominated for register 75 YEARS AGO - 1947 Jan. 7 - 13 - R. L. Irby, who was formerly with the city police, was officially appointed Sumter County jailer this morning at the meeting of the Sumter County Board of Commissioners. S. B. Geddings had handed in his …
The students at Clemson University at Sumter distributed Sightsavers in September 1971. Known as "Candy Day," the campaign raised money for the benefit of the blind and eye conservation. All money received remained in Sumter and was used to provide eyeglasses and eye examinations for young children in the community. Here, students Jeremy Bauer and Bonny Briggs try their luck with motorist Roger Cheek.
Yesteryear by Sammy Way: Pro archers in Sumter for tournament; Shaw gets 18 new F-16 jets 75 YEARS AGO -1947 Dec. 31 - Jan. 6 - Dr. John M. Wells, 76, pastor emeritus of Sumter Presbyterian Church, died at the Tuomey hospital from a heart attack. He was born July 16, 1870, in Hinds County, Mississippi, and came to Sumter in 1924 as …
Debra Geddings, 10, and her younger brother Marvin, 6, prepare to wheel off to school with books and bags and memories of a fun-filled summer on Aug. 30, 1971. Debra was a fifth-grade student at Willow Drive Elementary School and Marvin a first-grader at Willow Drive. They are the children of Mrs. Tommy Geddings.
Yesteryear by Sammy Way: Daredevil driving at Sumter Speedway; chanting helps Manning team win 75 YEARS AGO - 1946 Dec. 24 - 31 - A letter to the editor: Chairman McKnight has asked for an expression of opinion whether or not the County of Sumter and the City of Sumter should give to the Federal Government Shaw Field. I think we should. …

More

From the opinion pages
Columnists
 Editorial cartoon: Saturday, July 31, 2021
Editorial cartoon: Friday, July 30, 2021
HAMILTON
Opinion: Why voters vote as they do in our country
Your view
© Copyright 2021 The Sumter Item | Terms of Use / Privacy Policy | Cancellation / Refund Policy
Powered by Creative Circle Media Solutions