Giving Peace a chance

Local couple to help Ukrainians enhance economic development

February 13, 2005

By WALLACE McBRIDE
Index-Journal senior staff writer

There are 33 letters in the alphabet used by Ukraine, characters that share only a fleeting relationship with English. While it shares a few things with Russian and Polish, it also has its own set of unique grammar rules, vocabulary and usage.
Mark and Virginia Pulver have about three months to learn this language as they prepare for a two-year stint with the Peace Corps. The couple submitted their application for service on April 1, and spent the rest of the year waiting for a response.
“We went around thinking about it all year — but not talking about it — because we didn’t know if we were going to get selected,” Virginia said.
During the wait, Mark found out he was diabetic. While the problem is under control, he said it limited his eligibility to certain kinds of environments.
He said he was concerned that his background would hold him back, and that diabetes might be the final straw.
“I have a lot of education, but no degree,” he said. “Their advertising always makes you feel like, if you don’t have a degree, just stay away. And it’s not true.”
Three days after returning from Christmas vacation, they got a call advising them that a package would soon be arriving. Even though their general destination has been determined, the former United Soviet Socialist Republic country in Eastern Europe has a cultural gulf that will make training a bit complicated.
Russian and Ukrainian languages are fairly similar, but still different enough to qualify them each as individual languages. The closer the Pulvers are to Russia, though, the more likely they will be required to learn Russian.
Mark is the television production instructor and computer technician at Emerald High. Virginia is a former Air Force JROTC instructor at the same school.
“I felt like we were at a point in our lives when our children were raised and gone,” Virginia said. “I had this vision that we’d sit around complacent, watching Home and Garden TV on Saturday night worrying about what color to paint the walls. I just can’t see that being the rest of my life.”
The couple will work with Ukrainian businesses to develop processes to enhance economic development. They will be allowed to assess the needs of the community and devise a project of their own.
Mark said he’ll have to learn how to give up control of the kitchen, since they will have to live with a Ukrainian family.
“I’ve basically cooked every meal in the house for 25 years,” he said. “I’ve spent most of the last year learning how to cook for diabetes, learning to cook low-fat.”
“Now we’re going to a country where everything is pork, potatoes and cabbage,” Virginia said.
The couple have been sharing e-mails with other Peace Corps volunteers participating in the same training session. When they leave the country, they will be allowed to take only 100 pounds of items with them — so packing strategies are important.
Because it is so difficult to match couples with a community’s needs, few volunteers are married. Most — about 90 percent — are under age 50, which will mean the Pulvers will be among the senior members of any Peace Corps group.
“We hope we’ll be able to be parental figures for some of the volunteers,” Virginia said.
Volunteers are required to maintain ties to some kind of educational institution. Mark will join with Emerald High, while Virginia is adopting an Arizona school their grandchildren attend. Photos and diaries of their trip will be posted on www.pulverpages.com.
The Pulvers have known each other since their own high school days, where they were debate team partners.
“The topic was something to do with ‘mandatory universal service,’” Virginia said. “This was the Vietnam era, and Mark was a peace-freak guy with long hair and a headband.”
Her future husband was a conscientious objector to the war, but said he was not opposed to the idea of military service.
“Unlike a lot of people who said they were conscientious objectors, I was registered,” he said. “I did serve, but I chose a service where I did not have to carry a gun. (This) status is not against the military, it’s against killing.
“We were assigned guns, but I never saw them,” he said.
Military service is like any other kind of service project, he said. Service projects are a means to repay a community, while military service requires a much broader payment plan.
“The military, to us, was a way to pay back the country,” he said.
When Mark was discharged, Virginia enlisted in the Air Force.
“I was able to get my associates, my bachelors and my masters,” she said. “For the first couple of years he was Mr. Mom. He stayed home and took care of the kids. It was good for us — we learned a lot about each other.”
While they were both involved with non-profit groups for most of their marriage, the death of their 26-year-old son Caleb in 2002 jump-started an interest in service projects. At the prompting of Emerald High students they helped found a library in the African nation of Malawi.
“When our son died we started thinking about doing things outside of the school,” Mark said. “The students got us started with a project helping to get books to Africa. We spent a year getting books for the library in Africa, and have people from all over the United States sending books to this library.”
The Caleb Library now boasts one the country’s largest book collections.
“It’s got books in it, but now we have to sustain it,” Virginia said. “It got us thinking about how you use your life, and the kind of choices you make in your life.”
The couple will leave home Feb. 25, the anniversary of Caleb’s death. The will have orientation in Chicago, and leave in March for Kiev, Ukraine.
On their way out of the country, the Pulvers plan to donate their car to National Public Radio.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen when we come back,” Mark said. “We’re going to come back here, because our house is here. And then we’ll decide from there.”

John Calvin Burns

DUE WEST — John Calvin Burns, 48, of 21 Beula St., died Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Born in Abbeville County he was a son of Nettie Floyd Burns and the late Jessie Burns. He was a graduate of Dixie High School, attended The Allen University in Columbia, S.C. and was a member of the Mount Lebanon A.M.E. Church.
Survivors include his mother of the home; a daughter, Whitney Sprowl of Greenwood; five sisters, Evelyn Simonds of Jamica, N.Y., Jessie Smith of Brooklyn, N.Y., Johnnie Butler of Bradley, Linda Jackson of Hodges and Helen Anderson of Due West.
Services are 1 p.m. Monday at the Mount Lebanon A.M.E. Church in Due West. The body will be placed in the church at 12.
Burial is in The Evening Star Memorial Garden, Greenwood.
The family is at the home.
Holloway’s Funeral Home Inc., Belton, is in charge.

Claude “Ray” Butler

McCORMICK — Claude “Ray” Butler, of Highway 28, died Saturday, Feb. 12, 2005 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.
The family is at the home.
Services will be announced by Strom Funeral Home.

Joyce Burton Robards

Joyce Burton Robards, 67, of 213 Shrine Club Road, wife of John Howard Robards, died Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 at her home.
Born in Anderson County, she was a daughter of the late Edward and Ellen Garrison Burton. She retired from Monsanto where she was on the safety team. She was a member of the Ninety Six Church of God, the Sanctuary Sunday School Class, Women’s Ministry, the Monday Night Bible Study and a primary Sunday School assistant at the church.
Survivors include her husband of the home; three daughters, Sherry Davis of Ninety Six, Teresa Bullis of Sanford, N.C. and Tammie Mullinax of Ninety Six; a son, Michael K. Coakley; two sisters, Doris McCollum of Hartwell, Ga. and Debbie Cox of Anderson; two brothers, Roger Burton of Anderson and Joey Burton of Townville; 11 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Services are 2 p.m. Monday at the Ninety Six Church of God, conducted by the Rev. Wilton Scruggs, the Rev. Bobby Davis and Donnie Davis. Burial is in Greenwood Memorial Gardens. The body will be placed in the church at 1.
Pallbearers are Josh Mize, Jason Mize, Blake Botello, Jody Davis, Justin Pennington, Michael Chambers and Robby Brannen.
Honorary escorts are members of the Sanctuary Sunday School Class of Ninety Six Church of God. Visitation is 7 to 9 tonight at Harley Funeral Home.
The family is at the home of her daughter, Tammie Mullinax, 111 Cruger Court, Ninety Six.
Memorials may be made to the Ninety Six Church of God, P.O. Box 297, Ninety Six, S.C. 29666 or to HospiceCare of the Piedmont, 408 W. Alexander Ave., Greenwood S.C. 29646
Harley Funeral Home is in charge.
Online condolence may be sent to the family at www.harleyfuneralhome.com

Tootsie Smith

Ada Evelyn “Tootsie” Eubanks Smith, 74, of 134 Sylvan Road, widow of Ira L. Smith, died Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Born in Clinton, she was a daughter of the late Bunyan and Vesta Holtzclaw Eubanks. She was a graduate of Clinton High School, retired from Professional Medical Products and was a member of Mathews United Methodist Church.
Survivors include a daughter, Gail F. Sexton of Greenwood; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Services are 10 a.m. Monday at Blyth Funeral Home, conducted by the Rev. Nellie G. Cloninger. Burial is in Greenwood Memorial Gardens.
Visitation is 4-5:30 today at Blyth Funeral Home.
The family is at the home of Gail and James Sexton, 803 Wright Ave.
Memorials may be made to the American Lung Association, 1817 Gadsden St., Columbia, S.C. 29201-2392.
Blyth Funeral Home is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.blythfuneralhome.com

David Richard Spencer Jr.

David “Tank Head” Richard Spencer Jr., 52, of 401 South Cambridge St., Apt. C1, died Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2005. Born in Savannah, Ga., he was a son of the late David Richard Spencer Sr. and the late Amanda Cicely Smith. Survivors include two brothers, Ulysses Spencer and Joshua Spencer, both of Atlanta; three sisters, Charlene Lipscomb and Darlene Spencer, both of Greenwood, and Jacqueline Spencer of Ninety Six. Services are 3 p.m. Monday at Bethel A.M.E. Church, conducted by the Revs. L.B. Walls and D. Scott. Burial is in Maple Ridge Baptist Church Cemetery. Viewing is 2-7 tonight at Union Community Funeral Home. The family is at the home. Union Community Funeral Home, Union, S.C., is in charge.

Bryan’s baker’s dozen

February 13, 2005

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports writer

Mac Bryan can’t officially fill his position at Emerald High School until July 1.
But the Vikings’ new football coach and athletic director is already spending time at Emerald, getting to know the students, teachers and his coaches.
Bryan spent some time with The Index-Journal to discuss his outlook on family, sports and how good an athlete he was.
Q: Describe your philosophy on football.
A: The game has never changed that much. It still goes back to fundamentals. You have to block people and you have to tackle people. All of the pretty stuff and the Xs and Os, that’s all fun, but you have to block and tackle. You can’t lose sight of that in today’s game.
It’s still a game of toughness. It’s still a game of mental discipline. Really, the game itself comes down to mistakes. The team that does not make mistakes – and that’s every level, all the way down – usually comes out ahead.
Q: What style of offense and defense will you use?
A: You have to look at the personnel you have available. But we believe in a one-back offense, and we will be a no-huddle offense. We will attack. Personnel will determine how much we run or throw. From the starting point, we would say that we are a passing football team. We’re going to spread the field and throw the football.
Defensively, I like to attack. We would like to show various different looks. We would like to take their offense out of their rhythm.
Q: What is your philosophy on being an athletic director?
A: I think you have to realize that every young student-athlete that plays a particular sport, that sport is extremely important to them. And we want our coaches that coach those sports to have that in their minds, that that sport is the most important thing to that young person.
As an athletic director, we want to try to make sure the coaches are supported and the student-athletes are supported. Whether it’s girls tennis, whether it’s volleyball, whether it’s baseball, whether it’s wrestling or whatever it is, the support from the administration is going to be there.
We want all of our teams to be successful. We’d like to win state championships in every sport. But beyond that, we want the student-athlete to have a positive experience in whatever sport we’re involved in. That’s what we’re here to teach: the self-discipline, the accountability, responsibility, the value of teamwork and for them to enjoy what they are doing and leave with a positive experience and hopefully be better people and better citizens for it.
Q: What’s the most difficult aspect in being the new guy?
A: It’s just learning people. Putting names to faces. Getting a feel of how things operate. Having Frank (Hill) here is a great benefit for that. Whenever I don’t have to do anything else, we’re sitting down talking.
The transition is going to be so smooth, because I’m not coming blind. Of course, things are going to change, but at the same time, you have to know how things were going and how it was working. That’s just a major asset.
Q: Your wife and children remained in Chattanooga when you moved to Newberry to become the assistant head coach for the Indians. How difficult has your time a part been?
A: This is the longest we have ever gone through a move and not been together and it’s the most difficult one we’ve ever done. The time of year that I took the job at Newberry wasn’t fair to move my daughter a week before school started. And I certainly didn’t think it was the right thing to do for my wife to resign as the special education teacher, because they probably wouldn’t have been able to replace her.
This has been difficult, but it’s been a weekend thing going here and going there. We’ve had to do that for a couple or three months before, but nothing this long.
My oldest daughter is at UT-Chattanooga and she will probably stay there. My youngest and my wife will come here at the end of school and we hope to buy a house here in the next month or two.
Q: Did you have any knowledge of Emerald before taking/applying for this position?
A: I had a general idea. I recruited in this area – the Upstate – for a long time. This was in my recruiting area this past year. I came by here on a couple of occasions.
I’ve known Frank for a few years, not as well as I know him now.
I came by here recruiting and Frank told me he was planning to retire, and I asked some questions about the situation. That was on a Thursday. I had a couple of stops to make on Friday, drove over to Chattanooga, put my resume together and sent it Fed Ex Saturday morning.
Q: You have experience coaching both high school and several levels of college football. What have you found to be the differences?
A: Every level of college coaching is different. Southern Miss was different that (UT) Chattanooga, Chattanooga was different than Lees-McRae and Pikeville was different than all of them. … And it’s the same in high school coaching. There are different concerns. The main difference is that you can only recruit your talent inside the hallways. That is the major difference.
Q: You’ve coached at a small high school and a large high school. Is there a difference?
A: We probably run just about as many sports as most (Class) AAAA schools do. I would like to hope we could get the numbers, from a football standpoint, up to what I’m used to. I think the main thing is the numbers you draw from, you might not have quite as large a squad. So, you might have to adjust your practice concepts a little bit. In fact, we talked about it today a little bit.
Really, I don’t think there’s much of a difference.
Q: Do you know your assistant coaching situation at this time?
A: We’re working on that. I haven’t made any major decisions yet. We’re trying to get an idea. I’d like to meet with every coach and talk to them.
Sometimes, because of positions that become available, a guy may be more comfortable coaching something else, but did the job he did because it was open.
I’d like to have all that decided by the end of next week. I’d really would.
I certainly have some people that would like to come in. The question is what’s available in teaching slots. That’s something that will work itself out in time.
I hope the entire coaching staff football-wise stays here with me. I hope they feel comfortable doing that. I think that Frank has assembled a great group of guys.
And from what I have felt and what I have heard, they care about young people. And that’s the first priority. We want these young people to understand that we care about them. … That doesn’t mean they’re not going to work hard or that we’re not going to get after them. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to be a disciplinary figure. They have to understand that everything we do is for their benefit. Not just to win football games, but to make them better people.
Q: What coaching role do you see for yourself?
A: I will coach the offensive line and I will coordinate the offense. Now, I may have someone helping me do all of that.
But if you throw things out of the stands on Friday nights because of the plays, throw them at me, because I’m the clown that called them.
Q: You graduated from North Wilkes High School (Hays, N.C.) in 1978. How has high school football changed since you played?
A: It’s totally different. It’s a lot more diverse, a lot more complicated. It’s not just a few guys lifting weights now. It’s everybody.
The game has gotten faster. It’s just a different game.
Q: Talk about your playing experience.
A: I was awful (laughing). I’ve played since I was in the sixth grade. I played all through high school and got a scholarship to play at Appalachian State. Found out I wasn’t as good as I thought I was. I red-shirted my first year and was a backup my second year. I was an offensive lineman my entire playing career. That was about 70 pounds ago.
I was a starter coming out of my third spring, and I held onto that position in the fall. I’m sure they would have replaced me if they could have. They didn’t have anybody else (laughing).
I tore my knee up after that and my career was cut short after my third year.
Q: What was your playing weight? What is it now and how did you get there?
A: I think I left high school at about 230, and I got up to 263 in college. I’m around 190 right now.
I dropped about 30 pounds after the injury and tried to move to center, but that didn’t work.
In 1988, my dad had a major heart attack, and I put on a pair of running shoes when he got out of ICU and lived through it. And I haven’t stopped running since. I run everyday for about 45 minutes. It’s an individual concern of mine. It’s become a part of who I am. My dad is still alive and doing well.
I’m not good at it. I’ve never run a single race and I never will. I don’t want to run with anybody else and I don’t wear earphones. It’s my time to be alone with the world and it’s a little chance to talk to God.
I just think.

Improving state schools? At least look at new ideas

February 13, 2005

“Put Parents in Charge.” On its face, that statement should not worry anyone in South Carolina. Add education to it, though, and it becomes a cause celebre for public education doomsayers.
“Put Parents in Charge” was proposed by Gov. Mark Sanford as a public education reform measure. It offers tax credits for tuition for private/religious schools and some home schooling, which gives parents a choice.
Education in South Carolina, it seems, is never without controversy. It’s usually self-serving, too. So it is with the Put Parents in Charge situation. Included on one side are the S. C. School Board Association, the S. C. Association of School Administrators, many legislators and parents and the S. C. Education Association.

NONE OF THEM SEE ANYTHING good in it, and argue it would only take money from public schools.
On the other side are the Sanford Administration, much of the legislative leadership, other lawmakers and many other parents.
Both cite arguments for and against by respected economists and others. It is a hot topic all over the state.
One question should be asked by every South Carolinian concerned about education: Are we getting a good product for the money? The answer to that, of course, is obvious when statistics show that South Carolina fares poorly in too many education categories. In fact, almost half of all students that make it to the 9th grade don’t graduate. That alone should tell us that something should be done to make things better.

PUT PARENTS IN CHARGE AT least stirs public dialogue that can only lead to improvements. Sanford put it in perspective in his state of the state address. “If we keep on doing what we’ve been doing, we’re going to keep on getting what we’ve been getting.”
Under the circumstances, educators, lawmakers and parents should not only be willing, but anxious, to consider any reasonable idea without automatic opposition. Exploring possibilities is not a negative thing.
Many ideas have been tried, of course, and much money spent. Still, the state ranks at or near the bottom in too many education categories. Anyone truly interested in getting better results must ask why, and at least be willing to consider something new. The way things are, maintaining the status quo is foolish.