Fireman’s prayer answered

‘I couldn’t have gotten out without God’

November 27, 2005

By MEGAN VARNER
Index-Journal senior staff writer

As he pressed his body as close to the floor as possible, an attempt to protect himself from the clouds of black smoke and fire billowing around him, Whitfield Brooks said a prayer for God to show him the way out of the inferno.
Less than 10 minutes earlier, Whitfield, 19, son of Greenwood Police Chief Gerald Brooks, entered a burning house on Deadfall Road, prepared to battle the blaze as a firefighter with the Northwest Volunteer Fire Department.
The fire started in the kitchen of the house on the morning of Oct. 19, just two hours after Whitfield had finished his 24-hour shift as a paid, full-time firefighter with the Greenwood Fire Department.
As a child, Whitfield said he grew up watching his father work as an arson investigator and volunteer firefighter with Northwest.
Though he originally planned to go to school at The Citadel, by the time he graduated high school, and after volunteering with Northwest, he knew he wanted to become a firefighter as well.
For his graduation present, his parents, Gerald and Donna, sent him to a seven-week firefighters academy program. While there, an opening arose at the Greenwood Fire Department, and a few days after graduating the program, he was offered the job.
“It’s really a challenge. It’s you against the fire,” he said of firefighting. “You know that you’re helping other people. You work together to put the fire out, and you’ve beat something that’s really dangerous.”
On the morning of the Deadfall Road house fire, Whitfield drove to his parents’ Greenwood home for a visit before he went to his apartment for breakfast.
“The last thing my dad told me was to be careful,” Whitfield said.
Within moments of arriving at his apartment, a call from dispatch about a kitchen fire sent him back out the door.
“I figured it would be pretty quick, not much to it,” he said.
When the fire engines arrived on the scene, Whitfield, who had arrived at the home a few minutes earlier, suited up and prepared to douse the home with water.
Whitfield and fellow firefighter Josh Strange used a water line to put out the flames rising from the porch and then began to work their way into the house.
With visibility severely limited because of thick, black smoke, the men began feeling their way along the hallway wall, inching closer to the kitchen and the heart of the blaze.
But the intense heat roaring through the house caused the ceiling to collapse, and debris rained down around Whitfield, blocking his escape route.
Strange, who was closest to the door, was able to escape.
“At the time of the fire, it’s black and orange (in the house) and you operate by feeling. When the ceiling collapsed, it changed the feel of the house,” Whitfield said. “The fire was in front of me and then, just like that, it was all around. I knew I needed to get out because it wasn’t going well.”
As the fire raged, he said he sprayed water on his body and began to crawl on the floor, searching for a door leading to safety. He activated his Personal Alert Safety System (PASS), which makes a noise to alert other firefighters of his location.
“About 75 percent of my mind was concentrating on the fact that I was burning — it was a pretty powerful thought,” he said. “It did cross my mind that I was getting ready to die and that I was enjoying my last moments.”
When his oxygen mask light began to flash, alerting Whitfield that he was running low on air, he said he screamed a prayer over the fire’s roar.
“It was quick and it was loud, and it was ‘Please show me the way out because I can’t find it,” he said.
At that same moment, on the other side of the inferno’s walls, Coronaca Volunteer Fire Department firefighter Al Tumblin was walking behind the house and heard Whitfield’s PASS alarm.
“He (Tumblin) was saying a prayer at the same time I was saying a prayer, and they came together somewhere on their way to the top,” Whitfield said. “They met up and it worked, and our prayers were answered. I couldn’t have gotten out without God.”
He saw a “square of light” pop up before him, as firefighters on the outside knocked out one of the home’s windows, and after knocking the sash out with his arm, Whitfield dived onto the ladder and out of the blaze.
With first- and second-degree burns covering his arms, lower back, side and thighs, Whitfield said the pain was overwhelming, even as EMS technicians administered morphine.
Within moments, Gerald Brooks received a call from Northwest Assistant Fire Chief Keith Alexander. Because it wasn’t the first time Gerald and Donna had received a call about Whitfield being injured, they said they didn’t panic at first word of the accident.
“You’re always concerned, but I tend to be an optimist,” Gerald said. “When I got to the emergency room entrance, I saw his (Whitfield’s) turnout gear. By looking at it, I knew he’d been in a pretty intense situation. A fellow firefighter was being treated there, and the look on his face gave me reason to be concerned.”
Gerald said when he first saw Whitfield at the hospital, he could tell he was in excruciating pain.
“Every muscle was contracted, his face was distorted and his jaw was clenched,” he said, adding that he watched as doctors administered a third round of morphine. “In my line of work, you see a lot of tragedy and victims.
It’s tougher when it’s somebody you know, and it’s even tougher when it’s somebody you love.”
Within minutes of getting to the hospital, Gerald made the call to Donna, who was at work at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Greenwood.
“I remember going back to the emergency room, and a wall of men met me,” Donna said.
Two of the men were Self Regional Hospital security guards. The other two were chaplains.
“I thought he had died,” Donna said, through tears. As the men tried to tell her that she did not want to see Whitfield, she said she told them otherwise. “I made it clear to them that I was going to see him. I don’t care how bad it is; a parent needs to see their child.
“When I got to him, Whitfield looked at me and said, ‘Hey mom, this is the first time you’ve seen my tattoo, isn’t it?’” Donna said, laughing and adding that the tattoo is of a fire emblem. “I felt a lot of relief, but we didn’t know enough to know we weren’t out of the woods yet.”
Because Whitfield’s skin continued to burn after leaving the fire — Donna compared it to taking a roast out of the oven — many of his burns began to develop into ones more serious. Doctors worried that his lungs and airway might have been damaged in the blaze, and they needed to insert a breathing tube as a precaution. They also prepared to transport him to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Ga.
“For me, that was one of the hardest things to do — to tell him goodbye before they put him on a helicopter to fly to Augusta,” Donna said.
Because doctors still didn’t know if his airway was damaged, Donna said she feared it could be the last time she said goodbye to her son. Doctors later informed her that Whitfield’s lungs and airway were not burned.
At the burn center, doctors first assessed Whitfield’s condition before performing surgery to graft a special fabric over his wounds that acted as a synthetic skin.
During his four-day stay in Augusta, Whitfield’s parents were visited by the parents of another firefighter, Jeff Chavis, who was burned four years earlier in a blaze and received treatment at the center. Chavis, who has a building at the center named after him, died from his injuries.
“The hospital called them and told them they had another young firefighter, and they dropped what they were doing to come see us,” Donna said. “It meant so much to us to hear them talk. They were so positive and upbeat, and only four years ago they had lost their son.”
The family said it meant a lot to see the see the support from firefighters, who visited Whitfield while in the hospital and at his parents home, where he was sent to recover after leaving Augusta.
Donna said the outpouring of support from the Greenwood community “overwhelmed” the family, and even strangers approached her offering kind words and help.
Though the ordeal was difficult for the entire family, including Whitfield’s younger sisters, Laura Beth, 17, and Catherine, 6, it has also brought them closer together, Donna said.
“We all knew that we had a lot to be thankful for, but we knew this Thanksgiving that we had just that much more to be thankful for,” Donna said.
Whitfield has now been able to return to his apartment, and though he continues to have to make regular trips to his parents’ house and the hospital for bandage changes and checkups, his wounds are healing.
The skin covering his burns is still sensitive, and he can’t return to work until his doctors have cleared him.
Because the injury happened while Whitfield was working as a volunteer, workers’ compensation from the city isn’t available, so, for a time following the accident, Greenwood firefighters volunteered their off-time to work for Whitfield so the teenager would continue to receive a paycheck.
Whitfield said he is now using the employee leave-transfer pool — a method where employees donate their off hours into a pool that can be used by other employees — to support him until he returns to the station.
He said the brotherhood among the firefighters and their show of support during his ordeal still makes him emotional.
“It gets a lump in your throat,” Whitfield said. “It’s hard for words to explain how that makes you feel.”
Whitfield has since made a trip back to Deadfall Road to take photos of the house where he nearly lost his life, and he said the journey offered some sense of closure.
“It’s nice to go back and see what the house looked like. It answers questions,” he said.
When he does answer his next call, Whitfield said this fire will “be in the back of his mind,” but he won’t let it stop him from doing what he loves.
“I can’t wait to go back,” he said.

Megan Varner covers general assignments in Greenwood and the Lakelands. She can be reached at 223-1811, ext. 3308, or: mvarner@indexjournal.com

Sharp foul shooting lifts LU women to win

November 27, 2005

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports writer

The Lander University women’s basketball team overcame a nine-point second-half deficit and 29 percent field goal shooting to defeat Virginia Union, 73-68, Saturday afternoon at Finis Horne Arena.
Despite the lackluster shooting, Lander did do well from behind the two lines, connecting on 25 of 31 free throws and 10 of 32 3-point shots.
“The one thing I’ve been telling these kids is ‘you can never give up,’” said Lander first-year coach Kevin Pederson, whose Lady Bearcats (3-2) climbed over .500 for the first time this season.
“A lot of people didn’t expect anything from this team at the beginning of the year, and I don’t think anyone would have given us a prayer to be 3-2 after five games.
“No matter what happens, this team never quits playing.”
Lander junior Bryony Crouch led all scorers with 24 points, connecting on only 6-of-19 3-pointers. But the junior from Melbourne, Australia was 6-for-7 from the free-throw line, including hitting all four attempts in the final seconds to secure the victory.
“We just had to focus on upping the tempo and forcing turnovers,” said Crouch, who added four rebounds, four assists and five steals. “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. So, you just have to keep it up, keep focused and make adjustments on what you’re doing wrong.”
Freshman Bobby Jo Grooms added a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds, going a perfect 10-for-10 from the foul line, while 6-foot-2 junior Tara Nyikavaranda came off the bench for eight points and 10 boards.
Lashaundra Dubose and Shatora Irby added nine points and five assists each.
LaToya Green scored 21 off the bench to lead four Lady Panthers (0-3) in double figures.
The Lady Bearcats closed out the final 4 minutes with a 14-2 run.
Sophomore guard Jennifer Hukill, who missed on her first five 3-point attempts, drained a long-range jumper from the left corner to give Lander the 67-66 lead with 1:23 remaining. It was their first lead since they were up 37-34 with 1:13 left in the first half.
The lead didn’t last long, as Virginia Union’s Andrea Bellamy’s putback reclaimed the lead, 68-67, with 58 seconds remaining.
But that was the last point for the Lady Panthers.
Nyikavaranda gave the Lady Bearcats the lead for good on an out-of-bounds play on the team’s next possession. Dubose stood a midcourt and fired a deep lob to the 6-foot-2 Nyikavaranda, who dropped in the easy bucket and was fouled, giving the Lady Bearcats the 69-68 advantage with 30 seconds remaining.
“That was the third option on that play,” Pederson said. “We designed it to get the ball to one of our shooters. We really didn’t think we were going to get the lob play, but they were so worried about the shooters that it was open.”
Trailing by a point, the Lady Panthers failed to get a shot off on the ensuing possession, but had an inbounds opportunity with 3.1 seconds remaining.
Green took the ball from the official and found Racquel Jeffress open under the basket. But as Jeffress’ 2-footer dropped through the goal, the official blew his whistle, calling a traveling violation on the inbounds pass. Virginia Union coach Moses Golatt was almost immediately tagged for a technical foul.
Crouch stepped to the line alone and drilled both free shots and then was fouled before the ensuing inbounds. The 5-9 guard then hit two more free throws to seal it for Lander, 73-68.
The Lady Bearcats, who enjoyed a seven-point lead several times in the first half, went 4:34 into the second half without hitting a field goal and waited 5 more minutes to hit their second.
Both droughts, which saw the team go 4-of-4 from the foul line, ended on big 3s from Crouch.
“Coach always pulls us in and gets us focused when we go through something like that,” Crouch said. “Sometimes it gets frustrating, but you just have to keep at it. Keep positive.”
Crouch’s 3-pointer on an out-of-bounds play with 10:27 remaining kickstarted a 12-4 run that cut the deficit to one, at 57-56.
Lander heads into Peach Belt Conference play with a two-game winning streak. The Lady Bearcats open PBC play 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at UNC Pembroke.

Panthers take a bite out of Vikings

B-L beats Emerald in Class AA Upper State final

November 27, 2005

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports writer

Batesburg-Leesville was the victim of Emerald’s first state championship in football.
The Panthers exacted some revenge seven years later, ending the Vikings’ chances for a second trip to Williams-Brice Stadium.
The Panthers, behind a formidable defense, which allowed Emerald’s vaunted offense only 167 total yards, claimed their third straight win over a No. 1 seed with a 20-14 victory in the Class AA Upper State final at Frank Hill Field at Emerald.
B-L (12-2) advances to AA state title game for the fifth time in eight years and will face Cheraw — which defeated Carver’s Bay in the Lower State final — next Saturday.
“I can’t describe it ... it’s a very emotional because you fall in love with the kids and they go out and play their hearts out for you,” B-L coach Courtney McInnis said. “It’s just such a great feeling.
“Whoever’s in front of them, they don’t mind it. I think that was three number ones in a row. And this bunch believes they’re a number one seed.”
The Region III-AA champion Vikings end their season, the first under coach Mac Bryan, 11-3. It’s the program’s best record since the 1998 title squad went 12-3.
“I’ve very proud of our team. I think we’ve had a great year,” Bryan said. “I hate that we might have come a step short of where we wanted to go.
“But Batesburg played a heck of a ballgame. When you get this far, it comes down to who makes the plays.”
The Vikings had one last opportunity to win the game with less than 5 minutes remaining trailing by a touchdown.
Emerald opened its final drive with a first-and-10 from its own 34. After quarterback Dan Wideman threw one of his 20 incompletions on the night, the Vikings’ senior rolled out to the right, trying to buy time on second down.
But Wideman failed to see teammate Justin Calhoun completely alone deep down field and settled for a 3-yard run. Two plays later, the Vikings caught a break on fourth-and-3 when the Panthers committed one of their 12 penalties, keeping the Emerald drive alive.
However, that drive would go only one more play.
Wideman hit his top receiver Demarco Anderson for a short pass. The senior wide out picked up 5 yards before fumbling for the second time on the night.
B-L recovered on its own 48 and proceeded to run out the remaining 3:42 off the clock.
“We had a couple of fumbles we don’t usually have,” Bryan said. “We’ve done a great job of winning the turnover battle and that’s how you win 11 ballgames in a year.
“I credit them with doing a great job defensively on us. We never could quite get in a rhythm offensively.”
Wideman finished the night completing 11 of 31 passes for 104 yards. During one stretch in the first half, the Lakelands’ Player of the Year, who added 55 yards and a score rushing, was 2-of-17 for 12 yards and an interception.
“They did a nice job in the secondary to keep us off stride,” Bryan said. “They kept us from getting things clicking.”
The Panthers took the game’s first lead not long after collecting the first turnover.
On the first play from scrimmage, Anderson gained 8 yards on one of his seven receptions, but lost control of the ball. B-L’s Josh Harris fell on it at the Emerald 34-yard line.
Three rushing plays later and B-L’s Chaimas Johnson took the toss to the wide side of the field for a 24-yard touchdown.
The Panthers’ extra point was wide, leaving B-L up only 6-0.
The Vikings’ offensive struggles were evident through the first quarter. The team’s first four possessions ended with a turnover and three punts.
However, Emerald caught a break on that third kick.
Freshman punter James Childress made a leaping grab of a high snap and got the kick off.
The ball bounced off B-L’s Johnathan Chatman and Emerald’s Hakeem Freeman recovered on the Panthers’ 16.
Two plays later, Wideman was pushing his way through the B-L defense on the option keeper for the 16-yard score.
Sophomore kicker Joseph Taylor booted the extra point to give the Vikings the 7-6 lead with 4:35 left in the first.
But Emerald wouldn’t get close over the remaining 16 minutes of the half, but B-L did.
While the Vikings had four drives end on punts and one on a Wideman interception, the Panthers put two scores in the end zone, both coming from quarterback Garrett Jones.
The B-L quarterabck capped a four-play, 2:37 drive with a 10-yard score. Jones ran in the two-point conversion for the 14-7 lead.
After an Emerald punt, the Panthers went on a 6-play, 63-yard drive that ate up 3 minutes of clock and ended with Jones rolling out and finding Dontrelle Inman for the 24-yard TD pass.
Jones was 9-of-17 for 92 yards passing and added 40 rushing.
“Garrett did a good job for us,” McInnis said. “He’s a competitor.”

Opinion

Results showing promise in single-gender schools

November 27, 2005

Everyone is bending over backwards these days to worship at the altar of diversity. Generally, diversity has a positive connotation as efforts are pursued to overcome some of the inequities of the past.
There are times, though, when diversity can be an albatross and have a negative impact instead of the positive results sought. Perhaps one of the most obvious places to notice the difference is in public schools. In their rush to be all things to all people, schools sometimes can impede rather than enhance progress of students.
Example: Some students perform much better in single-gender settings. Some boys apply themselves and learn much better when they’re in classrooms with only boys. The same applies to all-girl classes.

INNOVATIONS IN EDUCATION can help eliminate some of the negatives in the classroom, whether in the learning process, discipline or other “self-esteem” experiments. Fortunately, from time to time, there are role models that are most effective.
The Charleston County School District, for instance, saw much success when it gave parents of a middle school the option of signing up their seventh-grade children in single-gender classes. It was such a positive experience, in fact, and district leaders were so pleased with the results that they are considering possibly designating some middle schools entirely one gender and expanding single-gender classes to other middle schools.
It’s not confined to Charleston, either. In South Carolina at least eight public schools offer single-gender options for students.

EIGHT YEARS AGO, THERE were only four public schools in the entire country that offered single-gender classrooms, according to the National Association of Single-Sex Public Education. There were others, also, in some private schools. Now, there are close to 200 public schools with some single-sex classrooms, and at least 42 are completely single sex.
Considering the growing changes, it seems obvious the results are positive. The idea is to educate our children, right? Why, then, wouldn’t other school districts take advantage of what others have proved successful? If it’s single-gender and successful, they’re foolish not to at least give it a try.
Then, perhaps, the powers that be can talk about single-gender colleges …... or, at least, single-sex classrooms.

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

Obituaries

David Goode Graham

SALUDA — David Goode Graham, 44, died Saturday, Nov. 26, 2005 at the Saluda Nursing Center.
Services will be announced by Butler & Sons Funeral Home.

Walter Henry Hill Jr.

NINETY SIX — Walter Henry Hill Jr., 65, of 701 Carter Road, widower of Shirley Hill, died Saturday, Nov. 26, 2005.
Born in Greenwood County, he was a son of the late Walter Hill Sr. and the late Vinnie Pitts Hill. He was a retired U.S. postal worker and a member of the Pleasant Rock Baptist Church. He was a deacon, a choir member, a son of Aide No. 43, a member of the Mason Masonic Lodge and secretary of the Progressive Lodge No. 403.
Survivors include two sons, Walter Quincy Hill, Boiling Springs and Rodrick Lytes, Lexington; a daughter, Annette Wilson, Rock Hill; a brother, Cecil Hill, Greenwood; four sisters, Mozelle Anderson, Florence, Ella Sanders, Ninety Six, Odessa Bryant, Durham, N.C. and Patricia Wharton, East St. Louis, Ill.
Services are noon Wednesday at Pine Pleasant Baptist Church, conducted by the Rev. Robert Taylor and assisted by the Revs. Juliette Curry, Jonathan Green, Joe Caldwell and Ernest Cannon. The body will be placed in the church at 11 a.m.
Burial is in Greenwood Memorial Gardens.
Pallbearers are members of the Progressive Lodge No. 403.
Flower bearers are the Rochelle Chapter Eastern Star No. 298 and ladies of the church.
Visitation is 6-7 Tuesday at Robinson & Son Mortuary Inc.
Robinson & Son Mortuary, Inc. is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at robson@nctv.com

John Luther Rosser

SALUDA — John Luther Rosser, 55, of 407 Waters Ave., died Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2005 at his home.
Born in Saluda County, he was a son of the late Moses Luther and Martha Bush Rosser. He was a member of the New Salem CME Church and a retired construction worker.
Survivors include three sisters, Willie Pearl Ray and Annie Gaines, both of Saluda and Cora Lee Johnson, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Memorial services are 3 p.m. today at Butler and Sons Funeral Home, conducted by Minister Janet Corley. Butler & Sons Funeral Home is in charge.

Walter Smith

ABBEVILLE — Services for Walter Smith are 1 p.m. Tuesday at Washington Street Presbyterian Church, conducted by the Rev. Alice L. Ridgill, with Dr. Michael D. Wood, eulogist. The body will be placed in the church at noon. Burial is in Forest Lawn Memory Garden.
Visitation is 6-8 Monday at Washington Street Presbyterian Church.
The family is at the home.
Brown and Walker Funeral Home is in charge.