Local residents report ‘tremor’

Minor quake centered near Tenn.

August 25, 2005

From staff reports


Greenwood residents reported a “tremor” they thought signaled a small earthquake that hit the area shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday.
Television reports said tremors were reported in Spartanburg, Anderson and other areas across the Upstate.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey Web site, a minor earthquake occurred Wednesday night.
The magnitude 3.8 earthquake was centered near the North Carolina-Tennessee border, about 20 miles south of Greeneville, Tenn.
The quake happened at 11:09 p.m., the site said.
Jan Figueira, who lives on Kimbrook Drive in Greenwood, said she felt the tremor, which lasted about 15 seconds. “I sat down to eat a piece of cake and thought God was after me,” she said.
She said that at about 11:09, the cabinets started slamming and the dog ran out into the middle of the floor. She said her drink started swirling around. She said she called the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Department and she was told the department had received calls “all the way up to Ware Shoals.”
Dan Richardson, who lives on Richardson Drive at Lake Greenwood, said he and his wife were watching the news when “the house got a pretty good shake.”
He said it lasted just a few seconds, but “it shook enough to alert you.”
Greenwood County Dispatch said it had received calls about the “ground shaking,” but said it couldn’t be confirmed.
Abbeville County Dispatch said it had not received any calls about the tremor.
The quake was the strongest in the Southeast region since February of this year, when a 4.1 magnitude quake struck in Arkansas.

New look to city championship game

EHS coach Mac Bryan brings different offensive set into annual game with GHS

August 25, 2005

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports writer

No matter the outcome, this year’s Greenwood city championship game will be a unique one.
When the Greenwood and Emerald high school football teams open the 2005 season 7:30 Friday night at J.W. Babb Stadium, it will be the first time in the game’s eight-year history that Shell Dula’s Eagles will not face Frank Hill’s Vikings.
Instead, Dula’s new crosstown adversary will be Mac Bryan, Emerald’s new head coach.
And the Greenwood coach knows from personal experience that the new Emerald coach brings with him a different offense.
While at Union, Dula coached against Bryan, then at Boiling Springs.
The Vikings’ offense, which spent many years in the I formation under Hill, now works out of the spread, lining up most of the game with the quarterback in shotgun surrounded by four or five wide receivers.
“Emerald may throw more in the first half than they threw in two or three of the games we had in the past,” Dula said. “They’re definitely going to throw the ball more, and we have to make sure that we know our assignments as far as what coverages we’re in. We have to make sure we don’t leave some free in our secondary.”
Emerald’s new offense, led by senior quarterback Dan Wideman, made marked improvement in its three jamboree appearances, increasing its scoring output each time, from 6 to 16 to 25 in last Friday’s Greenwood Jamboree.
And as the preseason progressed, so did the Vikings’ desire to balance that offense. After using five running and 17 passing plays in the Abbeville Jamboree, Emerald had 10 runs and 13 passes at Greenwood.
“If you look back to the first of spring ball last year, we’ve definitely come a long way, but we definitely had a long way to go,” Bryan said. “I think the kids are starting to understand some things. We are starting to teach some of the finer points now.
“It’s a matter of looking more comfortable at what we do. There’s not any particular part that stands out. You just can tell when things look normal. Things are a little more fluid. The timing looks better, and that just comes from repetition.”
In the three jamborees, Wideman, who is starting his second season as the Vikings’ quarterback, completed 31 of 45 passes for 351 yards and three touchdowns.
That’s one less touchdown pass and 83 fewer passing yards than he had in 12 games last season.
And his jamboree completion percentage of 69 was a major improvement to the 37 percent (37-of-99) he had in 2004. The negative side of Wideman’s extra pass attempts is that the senior did have five interceptions during the jamboree season.
However, Bryan isn’t as concerned with the number of interceptions as he is with what caused them.
“Any quarterback that’s put into the spread, where you throw the ball, there’s going to be some interceptions,” Bryan said. “That’s just something you have to live with. I mean if you run the ball 60 times a game chances are that you’re going to fumble the ball every now and then.
“What you have to do from a coaching standpoint is determine why was it intercepted? Any quarterback at any level is going to throw interceptions. The question is what is the thinking process? He had three in one jamboree, but only one was a bad decision.”
While Bryan is pleased with the Vikings’ progress over the preseason, Dula was hardly as enthused about how his Eagles closed out in their own jamboree.
After a nearly flawless performance against Ninety Six in the Abbeville Jamboree, Greenwood edged past the Wildcats’ and Emerald’s Region III-AA rival Newberry last Friday, where the Eagles got a late touchdown to come away with the 14-7 win.
“We were very encouraged and pleased about the way we played his preseason until this past Friday,” Dula said. “We felt like we had executed and played well against Ninety Six in the Abbeville Jamboree. We felt positive about our scrimmages, but we didn’t feel real positive about our performance against Newberry.
“And I made that very clear to them that I wasn’t satisfied.”
Dula said his defense wasn’t physical enough against the Bulldogs, whose wing T offense racked up 120 yards of offense (97 rushing) in two 12 minutes quarters.
“We’re going to have to play much better than we did this past Friday night,” Dula said. “Hopefully, our kids realize that if you just walk out on the field that nothing good is going to happen. You have to go out there with emotion.
“And hopefully, it was a learning experience for them.”
Eagles returning quarterback Armanti Edwards was 5-of-5 for 126 yards and a touchdown against Ninety Six, completing his passes to five different receivers.
However, Edwards, who passed for 1,397 yards and rushed for 574 last season, was only 3-of-7 for 60 yards with a touchdown and an interception against Newberry.
Senior tailback Robert Robinson took the bulk of the preseason handoffs, amassing 70 yards on 11 carries (a 6.4 yards per carry average) and three scores.
“We feel very good about our offense,” Dula said. “I think that Armanti threw the ball well for the majority of the preseason. We didn’t catch the ball well the other night.”

Opinion

Numbers at The Citadel good news for the nation

August 25, 2005

Recruiting for America’s military has fallen off in recent times. The powers that be attribute that to the extended war in Afghanistan and Iraq. That being the case, it would be reasonable to assume that enrollment at The Citadel, South Carolina’s Military College, would be in decline, too. Not so!
This year’s freshmen enrollment amounts to one of the largest classes of freshmen at the Charleston college in a couple of decades. That should be encouraging news for the military services, since graduates of The Citadel have a history of being top grade officers.

MORE THAN THAT, though, it should be a strong indication that the drop in recruiting for the regular branches of the services can be considered a temporary problem.
While most freshmen historically have come from South Carolina, figures show this year they come from 39 states and about a half-dozen countries. Also, there are 48 female freshman cadets, the second-largest class since females were admitted a decade ago.
All of this is good news for The Citadel, naturally. However, it should be even better news to the top brass at the Pentagon who may be worrying a little too much about supply and demand.

Editorial expression in this feature represents our own views.
Opinions are limited to this page.

Obituaries

Barbara Allen

TAYLORS — Barbara Jo Allen, 57, of 551 E. Darby Road, died Monday, Aug. 22, 2005 at Greenville Memorial Hospital. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., she was a daughter of the late John H. and Edith Banes Allen.
Survivors include a sister, Deborah A. Sims of Taylors with whom she made her home.
Graveside services are 2 p.m. today at Greenwood Memorial Gardens, conducted by the Rev. Tim Ellenburg.
Memorials may be made to the Emerald Center, P.O. Box 3004, Greenwood, SC 29648.
Blyth Funeral Home & Cremation Services is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.blythfuneralhome.com

Phyllis Dutton

WARE SHOALS — Phyllis L. Rogers Dutton, 55, wife of John Robert Dutton Jr., of 62 Telephone Exchange Road, died Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2005 at her home.
Born in Hartsville, she was a daughter of Doris Hopkins Rogers Wicklund and the late Hobert Rogers. She was of the Baptist faith and was a former employee of Park Seed Co.
Survivors include her husband of the home; her mother of Gaston; a son, Kenneth Marler of Gaston; a daughter, Lynn Ramsey of West Columbia; a brother, Stanley Rogers of Gaston; three sisters, Kathy Deemer of Sumter, Patty Seawright of Irmo and Linda Rogers of Hartsville; and five grandchildren.
Memorial services are 3 p.m. Sunday at Westside Baptist Church, West Columbia, conducted by the Revs. Danny Hedgepeth and Harvey Johnson.
The family is at the home of her mother, Doris Wicklund, 213 Bentgrass Lane, Gaston.
Memorials may be made to Westside Baptist Church Building Fund, 2100 Platt Springs Road, West Columbia, SC 29210.
Announcement by Parker-White Funeral Home.

Clayton Dean Walton

LAURENS — Clayton Dean Walton, infant son of Chrissy Ann Mathis and Russell Dean Walton, died Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Services will be announced by Blyth Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Greenwood.