Ware Shoals police chief: Carnival workers heroes

May 28, 2005

By WALLACE McBRIDE
Index-Journal senior staff writer

WARE SHOALS — Mike Sewar and Daniel Moore spend their evenings in a carnival booth trading chance for prizes. It’s not a glamorous life by anyone’s definition and, often, they’re the subject of scorn and ridicule by some people.
Tomorrow, the two will be in another town where nobody knows their names. But today, they are heroes.
Sewar and Moore are traveling with Smokey Mountain Amusement across the Southeast. Moore builds miniature motorcycles that are given away as prizes in a ring toss booth at carnivals.
The company is providing entertainment for this weekend’s Catfish Feastival, and the two decided to take in a swim at Pitts Park during a Thursday lunch break.
“We were getting ready to leave and saw some people in trouble,” Sewar said. Not far from the shoreline, they saw Tim Bailey fighting to keep two of his children from going under the water.
“The father started hollering for help and was doing his best to keep them above the water while he was going under the water.”
“They were screaming,” Sewar said. “Me and my friend thought they was playing.”
“He was just bobbing with the kids, holding on to them,” Moore said. “He was unconscious. I reached out for the kid and he came right to me.”
“Daniel got the first boy, Mikey got the second one,” said Lori Genbleyker, from Shiloh, N.C., who also operates a carnival booth. “I just held them all.”
When the men turned to help Bailey, they saw he had gone under the water. His body was recovered about 20 minutes later. Efforts to revive the local minister were unsuccessful.
“How many people were here yesterday and how many were in the water?” Boland asked. “They went to bed last night a hero as far as we’re concerned in Ware Shoals. If it wasn’t for them we would have lost those kids.”
“Everybody’s very proud of them, they’re like heroes,” Genbleyker said. “They did good.”
Bailey was a native of Ninety Six, and a graduate of Ninety Six High and Lander University. Ware Shoals Mayor George Rush said Bailey spent a summer in Ware Shoals a few years ago as a youth minister with First Baptist Church.
He was most recently involved with a church in Egypt, Ga., before coming to Ware Shoals, Rush said.
For the last few months Bailey had served as pastor for Calvary Baptist Church.
“Even though they (the family) were only here for a relatively short time, he had managed to make an impact on the community,” said George Leagans, pastor at Enoree Baptist Church in Newberry.
“It’s kind of interesting that here is a man committed to serving the Lord,” he said. “And Christ saved all of our lives through his death on the cross and Tim, by example, through his sacrifice, saved two of his children.”
Leagans last spoke to Bailey at a recent baccalaureate service in Ware Shoals.
“He and I had parts in the service. We talked about days to come and doing some things. How did we know that service would be his last?” he said.
“The church has rallied beautifully around the family, doing everything they could, bringing food, being with them,” Rush said. “I was up there with them a few minutes ago and there were some ladies washing clothes. When you’ve got four kids you need to wash clothes.”
Church members decided the children needed a break Thursday night and took them back to the festival, Rush said.
“I took the children and told them ‘I’ve got some special people I want you to meet,’” Rush said. “So I took them over to the carnival workers who helped get them out of the water. The carnival workers talked to them and told them they were glad they were saved.
“The older one said ‘We didn’t save daddy.’ I thought for a minute that the carnival guys were going to break down and shed tears.”
Funeral services for Bailey will be conducted during Calvary Baptist Church’s regular Sunday services. Burial will follow in Elmwood Cemetery in Ninety Six.
Thursday’s incident happened so quickly that emergency services had little time to react. Rush said Boland and other police officers were on the scene within minutes, but it was too late to save Bailey.
The fire department’s water rescue team was certified five months ago, Fire Chief Greg Lindley said, but much of its training is shore-based.
“(It) was past that point,” Lindley said. “It was more of an operation to get into the water and find him.”
Bailey was found not far from where he was last seen where the depth falls to about eight feet, he said.
Water levels have been raised to accommodate construction on a nearby bridge, but steps had been taken to lower levels in anticipation of the weekend’s festival, said Everett Kelly, firehouse operator for Consolidated Hydro SE.
“A lot of people come in the park, and we didn’t want it high,” he said. “We had the water about where it’s supposed to be. It’s just a freak accident. It could look different every day out there.”
“The water levels had been up, and along with that it was muddy,” Lindley said. “I think he was down for almost 20 minutes.”
The last drowning in the park took place four years ago, and not much can be done to increase security without inhibiting the park’s purpose, Boland said. In August, a boy was saved from rain-swollen waters by an Abbeville man who was at the park with a group from Beckman Center.
“You start talking about lifeguards and stuff like that and I’m sure you’re going to start talking about money,” he said. “Then it’s not going to be free anymore. This is a natural park. There’s always going to be a danger to it.”

Kenny Maple, The Index-Journal intern, contributed to this story.

DHEC: Food preparation likely led to bacteria in fundraiser meals

May 28, 2005

By VIC MacDONALD
Index-Journal regional editor

A common bacteria is the culprit in a food poisoning outbreak in Greenwood that sickened more than 50 people and caused a destroy-food warning by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
DHEC issued the warning Wednesday to anyone who had purchased prepared food from Faith Home’s annual barbecue fundraiser. Faith Home sold food to about 1,400 people during the weekend event.
Samples of the barbecue tested positive for staphylococcus aureus. It is a “fairly common bacteria,” said Bob Bailey, public information coordinator for the Upper Savannah Public Health District.
“Normally, when humans have a problem with it, food was not hot enough or cold enough,” Bailey said. “There is no way to know when or how it got into the food.”
DHEC does not suspect a food supplier problem, he said, but rather suspects the bacteria resulted from the food preparation.
Although only barbecue was tested for the cause of the food poisoning, Bailey said people who bought food from Faith Home should throw out more than just the barbecue. All food purchased should be destroyed, he said.
No new cases of food poisoning were reported to the health department on Friday.
“What we were hoping for was to get the word out to people who bought it, to discard it,” Bailey said.
Faith Home wanted that warning issued, said Executive Director Aline Barnes.
“Thank God it was not too bad,” she said. “It could have been worse.”
Workers at the fundraising event prepared the food the same way they had for the past 38 years, she said, but changes would be made if the fundraiser is conducted next year.
“We won’t do it without monitoring by (DHEC),” she said. “We would not dare undertake it again without inspections. Yes, there will be changes.”
Barnes said a refrigerator would be close by the food-preparation site, and sales would be made “straight out of the refrigerator.”
“We had put some in containers for rush hour,” she said. “We filled orders, and then some people did not get there on time.”
Many people have said they will return if Faith Home has the fundraiser next year, Barnes said.
Northwest Fire Department Chief Ted Martin said he could not tell Friday morning that the food poisoning reports had scared off people from the department’s hash and barbecue meat sale.
He said the people preparing the food used their normal procedures: cooking the day before, transferring the food into smaller containers, room cooling it, and then placing the food into a large cooler.
Meanwhile, people coming to Northwest Meat Center for a sale of hash, ribs and barbecue — which continues today — were commenting about the food poisoning reports, said Glenn Jones, owner.
“It’s definitely on people’s minds,” he said. “They commented that they saw in our ad that our food is state inspected.”
Northwest Meat Center operates under different state standards than nonprofits such as Faith Home and Northwest Fire Department and churches that can sell food once a year without having to obtain a service permit, Jones said.
“DHEC comes in and checks us,” he said. “With food products you cook it and keep it hot. As soon as it’s ready you package it and send it to the cooler. People do not buy anything hot. They buy it cold. Once it cools down, it needs to go right into the cooler.”
The Food and Drug Administration Web site says that a toxin dose of less than 1.0 microgram of staphylococcus aureus in contaminated food will produce food poisoning symptoms.
“Foods that require considerable handling during preparation and that are kept at slightly elevated temperatures after preparation are frequently involved in staphylococcal food poisoning,” the Web site says.
“Death from staphylococcus food poisoning is rare, although such cases have occurred among the elderly, infants and severely debilitated persons.”
Bailey said there will be no fines levied against Faith Home in connection with the contaminated food.
“It was a very unfortunate incident,” he said. “Faith Home was very helpful in our investigation.”

Re-donning their jerseys

Four from Lakelands area to play for North in all-star series

May 28, 2005

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports writer

Four area softball players — from left, Ninety Six’s Lindsey Eargle, Ware Shoals’ Danielle Boyter, Abbeville’s Brittany Gary and Dixie’s Heather Barnes — will play in this year’s North-South All-Star series at USC Aiken.

Even though the high school softball season ended a few weeks ago, four girls from the Lakelands area have the opportunity to represent their team one more time.
Ninety Six’s Lindsey Eargle, Abbeville’s Brittany Gary, Dixie’s Heather Barnes and Ware Shoal’s Danielle Boyter will take part in the 21st annual North-South All-Star softball series, June 17-18 at J.H. Satcher Field on the USC Aiken campus.
Eargle and Gary are on the North AAA/AA roster, while Barnes and Boyter were named to the North AAAA/A squad.
Four teams, consisting of the top 64 seniors in the state, will compete in the two-day tournament.
For the four recent graduates, the all-star tournament gives the girls one last chance to put on their high school jerseys.
“It makes me feel good to know I can wear my jersey one more time to represent Ninety Six,” Eargle said. “I was hoping I was going to get it back to play in it, but I wasn’t sure. I’m very honored to play in it. I just want to go out and have fun.”
Eargle is the third straight Lady Wildcat to make the team, following her sister, Katie, who played last season.
Like Eargle, Barnes and Boyter didn’t think they’d get the chance to put on their softball uniforms any longer.
“I didn’t think I’d get to wear it again,” said Boyter, who played for Ware Shoals since eighth grade. “I just thought I’d turn it in, but (Lady Hornets) coach (Tim) Walker told me I made the all-star team.
“It makes me feel pretty good, because this is something I’ve always wanted to do.”
Barnes agreed.
“When I took off my jersey at the end of the season, I didn’t ever think I’d put it back on again,” the Dixie catcher said.
“Just think, other people have turned in these jerseys not too long ago, and here I am still wearing mine.
“I’m proud to represent Dixie High School and especially coach (Steve) Dunlap, because he means a lot to me.”
Gary didn’t have to get her uniform back from Abbeville coach Tim Collins. That’s because she didn’t give it back when the Lady Panthers’ season ended earlier this month.
“I think he had an idea that I would make the team, because he didn’t really ask for it back,” Gary said. “This is very important to me, because I love Abbeville. It means a lot to me to represent my school.
“But I’m not sure if he’ll get it back after the all-star games. I haven’t decided yet,” she added, jokingly.
Gary did a lot this season to play in the series. After spending last season as the Lady Panthers’ designated hitter, she found more playing time after the graduation of North All-Star Mary Todd at first base.
Gary batted over .500, and knocked a team-high four home runs and 37 RBIs, which helped her earn a scholarship to Newberry College.
“The spot opened and it was my turn to play,” Gary said. “It was very important for me to come out and have a good senior season because I play summer ball, but colleges really want to see how you do in high school.”
Gary isn’t the only member of the all-star quartet that will continue her softball career. Eargle will follow her sister and play at North Greenville College, while Barnes signed to play at Southern Wesleyan University.
Barnes, the Dixie softball defensive player of the year, said this two-game tourney will give her a better taste of what’s to come.
“I think it will help prepare me for the level of competition that I’m about to go into,” Barnes said. “Because at Dixie and (Class) A, you don’t face a lot of tough competition. So, this should better prepare me for what I’m going to see in college.”
But this will be the final opportunity for Boyter. The Ware Shoals shortstop plans to give up competitive softball for good and head to Clemson in the fall to major in engineering.
“It’s my last chance, really, to go and compete at this level,” Boyter said. “It’s a great opportunity for me.”

Opinion

Corrupting the language and use of gutter words

May 28, 2005

Language. The English language. It’s been corrupted so often it has changed from one generation to the next.
Much change begins with coining words or phrases that speak to the slang of everything from TV shows to gutter talk. Sometimes it’s nothing more than laziness in speaking properly. Sometimes it has ethnic origins or some other public influence, like the jargon of advertising or sports or the military.
There are examples of changing the language in everyday life, and it’s not always for the best. Take a couple of current, popular phrases that somehow have managed to become, if not acceptable, a routine insult to proper English.
One refers to a body function and depicts anger. It is crude at best and its use on television has become outrageous.
The other is “gone or went missing,” a phrase that shows up often these days on TV news and entertainment shows, on broadcasts and in print.
Whatever happened to “disappeared” or “lost?” Those are perfectly good words and are correct. “Went missing” only adds to the trivialization of how we talk ….. and further corrupt the language.

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

Obituaries

Rev. Tim Bailey

WARE SHOALS – The Reverend Timothy Courtney Bailey, 34, of 13 Woodlawn Drive, Ware Shoals, husband of Haven Frost Bailey, died Thursday, May 26, 2005.
Born in Bangkok, Thailand, he was a son of Hiram Earl Bailey and Marlene Courtney Bailey. He was a graduate of Ninety Six High School, Lander University and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louis-ville, KY. He was currently serving as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Ware Shoals and had previously served Elam Egypt Baptist Church in Guyton, GA, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Mount Eden, KY and had been an associate pastor and youth minister at Coronaca Baptist Church. He was a member of the Abbeville Baptist Association.
Surviving is his wife of the home; his father of Kansas City, KS; his mother of Ninety Six; a daughter, Caitlyn Bailey and three sons, Dylan Bailey, Christopher Bailey and William Bailey, all of the home; a sister, Joy B. Blind of Lexington; two brothers, Philip Bailey of Bristol, TN and Donal Bailey of Warsaw, Poland; 14 nieces and nephews.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Sunday at Calvary Baptist Church, Ware Shoals, with the Rev. David Little, the Rev. Scott Smith, the Rev. Chuck Sprouse, the Rev. Steven Crittendon and the Rev. Douglas M. Kauffmann officiating. Burial will be in Elmwood Cemetery, Ninety Six.
Pallbearers will be the deacons of Calvary Baptist Church.
Honorary escort will be members of the Abbeville Baptist Association.
The family will receive friends at Harley Funeral Home on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. The body will be placed in the church at 10 a.m. on Sunday.
The family is at the home in Ware Shoals and at the home of his mother, Marlene Bailey, 101 Green Avenue, Ninety Six.
Memorials may be made to Baptist Collegiate Ministries at Lander University, 154 W. Cambridge Avenue, Greenwood, SC 29646; Calvary Baptist Church, 5551 Highway 252, Donalds, SC 29638 or to the Bailey Children’s Scholarship Fund, c/o First Citizens Bank, 808 N. Greenwood Avenue, Ware Shoals, SC 29692. Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.harleyfuneralhome.com
PAID OBITUARY

James Oliver

MOUNT CARMEL — James Oliver, 77, widower of Millie Cade Oliver, died Thursday, May 26, 2005 at McCormick Healthcare.
Born in McCormick County, he was a son of the late Raymond and Mary Julie Oliver. He was a member of Spring Grove Baptist Church and a retired pulpwood cutter.
Survivors include a son, James Oliver Jr. of Wilmington, N.C.; four daughters, Daisey M. Tolbert, Maggie Pearl Oliver and Roberta Dowsey, all of Atlanta and Mary Ann Jackson of Wilmington; five sisters, Sue Anne Nowel and Minnie Lue Oliver, both of Greenville, Irene Oliver of Columbia, Mary Faye Oliver of McCormick and Betty McKenny of Nashville, Tenn.; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The family is at the home of a cousin, Minnie New, Fort Charlotte Road, Mount Carmel.
Services will be announced by Walker Funeral Home, McCormick.

Bobby Ware

ABBEVILLE, SC – Robert Emory ‘Bobby’ Ware, 76, resident of 406 Magazine St. husband of Betty Sprouse Ware died Thursday, May 26, 2005 at Abbeville County Memorial Hospital.
Born in Abbeville Co, SC he was a son of the late WilIie James, Sr. and Elizabeth McNeill Ware.
He was a retired employee of Abbeville Mills. Milliken Plant as a Department Manager. He was an Active member of the Abbeville Jaycees where he was twice awarded the Distinguished Service Award. He was formerly the chairman of the beautification committee of Abbeville. He was a very active member of Main St. United Methodist Church. He was the former Superintendent of Education, a member of the Methodist Men of the church and was a lifelong member of the church choir.
Survivors are: his beloved wife of 56 years Betty Sprouse Ware of the home, 3 daughters, Becky Bowie and her husband Marion of Abbeville, SC, Mary Beth Cannon and her FiancŽ Ray Peck, Lynn Blanton and her husband Ben, both of Abbeville, SC; 2 brothers, Billy Ware and his wife Frances of Appling, GA; Francis ‘Buggs’ Ware of Abbeville, SC; grandchildren; Valerie Snyder of Greenville, SC; Laura Evans of Saluda; SC; Kelli Stoddard of Lexington, SC; Mandi Cannon of North Myrtle Beach, SC; Lesli Cason of Simpsonville, SC; Kimberly Thomasson of Columbia, SC; Casey Thomasson of Abbeville, SC and Libby Blanton of Abbeville, SC; great-grandchildren, Tori, Nicole, Alli, Emily, Will and Braeden.
He was preceded in death by a great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Ann.
Funeral services will be conducted Sunday, May 29, 2005 at 2:30 PM from Main St. United Methodist Church. The burial will follow in Long Cane Cemetery.
The body is at The Chandler-Jackson Funeral Home where the family will receive friends from 5:00 until 7:00 PM Saturday evening. The family is at the home, 406 Magazine St., Abbeville.
Active pallbearers will be Jimmy Ware. Robert Ware, Mark Snyder, Ben Stoddard, Luke Cason and Jamie Blackmon.
Memorials may be made to Main St. United Methodist Church, 300 N. Main St., Abbeville, SC 29620. THE CHANDLER-JACK-SON FUNERAL HOME IS IN CHARGE OF ARRANGEMENTS.
PAID OBITUARY