Do you hear what they hear?

Think radio-edited songs are OK for your kid? Listen a little closer

April 23, 2006

By JACKIE R. BROACH
Index-Journal staff writer

Songs with titles such as “Candy Shop” and “Laffy Taffy” aren’t likely to raise any alarms for parents monitoring the titles of tracks their kids download off the Internet to be stored in iPods and other devices.
The titles sound G-rated, but if you listen to the lyrics, it won’t take long to figure out they actually have nothing to do with candy.
Though references are made to lollipops, M&Ms and Jolly Ranchers, both songs are blatantly about sex and describe, with a quite a bit of detail, various sexual acts.
Take, for example, one of the cleaner lines in rapper 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop.” The end of the first verse goes, “Soon as I come through the door, she get pullin’ on my zipper. It’s like it’s a race, who can get undressed quicker.”
Yet you don’t have to have satellite radio to hear songs such as these and much worse. They’re played on public broadcasts. The explicit versions that appear on albums aren’t played on the radio, of course. Instead, edited tracks are played, but even the edited versions leave little to the imagination and can be quite explicit.
A song called “Crazy B----” from rock band Buckcherry, for example, gets frequent airplay, and the title, which is repeated a number of times in the chorus, is not edited. The chorus of the song makes it quite clear what the song is about.
As played on the radio, the chorus goes, “Hey, you’re a crazy b----, but you (edit) so good I’m on top of it. When I dream, I’m doin’ you all night. Scratches all down my back to keep me right on.”
A few years back when Janet Jackson’s breast made its television debut at the Super Bowl halftime show, parents were outraged that their children had been exposed to such indecency over a public broadcast. The story was plastered across newspapers and news shows across the country. Yet there have been few nationwide headlines about parental concern over radio broadcasts.
“I think parents just don’t know what their children are listening to,” said Rodney Robinson, director of guidance at Emerald High School. “They don’t listen to that kind of music themselves, and the majority of parents don’t pick up their child’s CD player or iPod and just listen, so they’re unaware.”
With teenagers, parental advisories on CDs are also often ignored because parents don’t pay attention to CD cases and often aren’t with their children when the CDs are purchased.
As host of a gospel radio show that airs in Greenwood, Robinson’s primary musical interest is gospel, but he regularly listens to all kinds of music to stay in tune with what young people are listening to.

What radio stations are playing

“I’m shocked sometimes,” Robinson said of some of the things he hears coming over the public airwaves. “There are a lot of innuendoes and undercover references using language that kids know but adults often don’t. Some of the lyrics, though, are blatant. I’m shocked by some of the references to sex and to body parts in a sexual way that can be quite explicit.”
The remix version of rapper T-Pain’s “I’m ‘N Luv Wit’ a Stripper,” featuring Twista, is particularly explicit, giving in-depth detail about what’s going on at that particular strip club.
In a song called “Hey Mister,” by rock artist Custom, the lyrics are directed toward a father. “Hey Mister, I really like your daughter,” goes the first verse. “I’d like to eat her like ice cream, maybe dip her in chocolate. Hey Mister, on your way to work in your Volvo, suit and tie. We’ll be crawling in your bed soon, messing around, maybe getting high.”
Rock band Nickleback has a song called “Animals” that’s receiving frequent airplay. “It’s hard to steer when you’re breathing in my ear, but I got both hands on the wheel, while you got both hands on my gears. By now, no doubt that we were heading south. I guess nobody ever taught her not to speak with a full mouth,” belts out lead singer Chad Kroeger. While many parents have been cautioned about explicit lyrics by rappers such as 50 Cent and Eminem, many times parents aren’t aware of the sexually suggestive lyrics in songs by popular and seemingly mainstream artists such as Beyonce. But even in a radio edit of one of her songs, “Check on It,” she describes what a man has to do to “get in more places” with her after she “shakes it” in front of him.
In many of the songs on the radio, artists use references to candy, such as lollipops and Jolly Ranchers, to refer to male private parts, and they often refer to a females’ backsides in numerous ways, including referring to it as “lady lumps,” “junk in the trunk” and “Laffy Taffy.” Sometimes the radio edits don’t even bother to remove the A-word in describing this body part. Other times, clear references to hardcore curse words are edited so the listener hears most of the word or just enough to make it even more inticing to find out what is actually said.
In Gwen Stefani’s popular song “Hollaback Girl,” she repeatedly replaces a curse word with “sh” when saying, “This ‘sh’ is bananas.” In Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar We’re Going Down,” one demeaning line in the song played frequently on the radio says: “I’m just a notch in your bedpost, but you’re just a line in a song.” Another line says: “Oh, don’t mind me, I’m watching you two from the closet, wishing to be the friction in your jeans.”

A parent’s reaction

Marilyn Cooper, of Bradley, is a mother of two teenagers. Her 17-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter are both rap fans. She doesn’t like most of the music they listen to because she said the lyrics degrade women.
She said she tries to monitor the music her children listen to, but it’s difficult. If she hears something inappropriate playing at her home, she tells them to turn it off, but she can’t stop them from listening to those songs when they’re away from her. They hear them at school and even blasting from cars in store parking lots, she said.
Cooper doesn’t listen to the music her children do, but thought she had a good understanding of what the lyrics were like. When she was shown radio-edited versions of some of today’s popular song lyrics, however, her mouth dropped.
“Oh my god! I can’t believe this,” she said, looking over the lyrics of the “I’m ‘N Luv Wit’ a Stripper” remix.
“Even my 17-year-old is too young for this,” Cooper said. “No wonder when he gets a CD, even at Kmart or Wal-Mart, an adult has to buy it for him. I see why now. I didn’t have any idea it was like this.”
Cooper said her children know how she feels about the music they listen to, but it’s almost impossible to keep them away from it. They can’t be monitored all the time, she said, and if you don’t buy the CDs for them, they either download them off the Internet or get others to buy them.
“They say I’m just old-fashioned,” she said. “Young people don’t seem to think (the lyrics) are disrespectful. They think because these rappers say them, they can too. These singers are getting richer at the expense of our children.” What effect do lyrics have on kids

Robinson said he has no doubt that the lyrics kids hear on the radio have an influence on their behavior. He sees it demonstrated daily in the hallways at Emerald, he said.
“Kids often haven’t had time to develop a very strong sense of themselves or of self worth,” Robinson said.
“They don’t know who they are in terms of self concept, so they’re more easily influenced to have sex or do drugs or whatever else they hear described.”
The often raunchy lyrics played on the radio desensitizes kids to sex and drugs in much the same way as movies desensitize them to violence, Robinson said. He also attributes a lack of respect to authority figures to today’s lyrics.
Beth DeLoach, child care director at the Greenwood Family YMCA, said she sees the effects of raunchy lyrics every day in a number of the children in her programs. Children as young as 6 know and sing the lyrics to songs including “Laffy Taffy” and “Candy Shop.” A 3-year-old in the program sings “My Hump” by the Black Eyed Peas.

What the law says

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates what can be broadcast over public radio airwaves, but their guidelines aren’t very clear, according to “Fisher,” program director for Hot 98.1, a top 40 station. There are seven words that aren’t to be used on the air, but the FCC also requires radio stations to edit themselves according to local standards. There are no clear guidelines for “local standards,” however, so it’s left to the discretion of individual stations what is fit for their listening audiences.
“We don’t say the N-word or GD, for example,” Fisher said, “but in New York, that might be fine. What’s locally OK is what you would put on the air.”
Yet if a station makes a wrong judgment as to what is locally acceptable, it could still be fined.
“It gets kind of confusing,” Fisher said.
When radio stations receive promotional singles for play from record labels, the disc usually contains several versions of a song, including the album version, an edited version and versions cut to shorter lengths. Often, no additional editing is needed before an already edited version can be played, but “sometimes tracks considered radio edits say the F-word,” Fisher said. That’s why it’s station policy that every cut must be screened before it’s played, he said.
When it comes to sexual references, editing depends on how graphic the lyrics are, Fisher said. If the station receives as few as two or three complaints about a song, an edit would promptly be cut, he added.

Ware Shoals man saw devastation
of the Chernobyl disaster firsthand

April 23, 2006

By JACKIE R. BROACH
Index-Journal staff writer

It was eerie gazing upon the deserted streets surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station, said Darrell Rooks, of Ware Shoals.
The dilapidation and utter stillness, the results of almost 20 years of near total abandonment, warned of something terrible that had once happened there, chilling Rooks to the bone, he said. Perhaps what affected him most was a calendar left open in one of the abandoned structures. It was still opened to the day it was hastily left behind — April 26, 1986.
That was the day one of the station’s reactors exploded, ripping the top off the containment building and expelling radioactive material into the atmosphere. More was released in the subsequent fire. Twenty firefighters died immediately from overexposure to radioactivity.
Despite the fear clearly displayed by Ukraine citizens at the mere mention of Chernobyl, Rooks wasn’t about to let slip away the opportunity to visit the site once it was offered, he said. As the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, the station is highly guarded and only a select few will ever get close enough to see it.
“You have to know somebody or have some kind of connection to get approval,” Rooks said. “We were lucky that one of the people we were with had a connection.”
Rooks visited Chernobyl on one of his many mission trips to the Ukraine. He’s been to that area of eastern Europe somewhere between 40 and 50 times over the years, he estimates.
The trip during which he ventured to Chernobyl, however, is among the most memorable.
Rooks visited Chernobyl shortly before the plant totally closed in December 2000. He rode through the dead villages around the site, within the 30 kilometer contaminated zone that surrounds the station, but he said people were still visible. Some were workers brought in for short rotations to keep watch on the contaminated zone around the reactor and carry out decontamination work.
Others have moved back to the area permanently, despite warnings from officials. For the most part, though, the area was still eerily deserted, he said.
Rooks described homes left behind, so overgrown by weeds and brush, they’re barely visible. Toys and other items can be seen lying discarded and covered in radioactive dust.
The nearby town of Pripyat, one of the area’s most modern cities stands completely empty and silent. An amusement park that was scheduled to open May 1, 1986 – five days after the explosion — sits motionless.
On his trip, Rooks took food and medication to some of those, called liquidators, who fought the fire at the Chernobyl and had a chance to hear some of their stories. One of the liquidators recalled having clothes hanging on a line outside to dry on the day of the explosion, Rooks said. The man went out to collect the clothes when it looked like a storm had started but was surprised to see the clothes weren’t wet. Instead, they were covered with debris. It wasn’t long before the man got a call about the explosion and was asked to go test soil at the site to check the radiation levels.
He was left blind from exposure to radiation, Rooks said.
One of the topics Rooks heard spoken of with terror in the Ukraine was that of the cement sarcophagus that encases the reactor that spewed eight tons of radioactive material into the atmosphere. The cement was air-dropped over over the reactor to seal off its core.
Now people around Chernobyl talk about how the sarcophagus is crumbling with age and how the reactor’s original columns inside are leaning.
“They say it’s only a matter of time before it caves in and when that happens, the radiation will be worse than when the explosion happened,” Rooks said. “They don’t talk about if this happens, but when it happens.”
According to reports, thousands have already died as a result of the explosion and during its cleanup.
People who lived near the plant in Ukraine and Belarus at the time have seen a greatly increased incidence of thyroid cancer and genetic mutations have been discovered in children later born to exposed parents.
A report recently released by the environmental watchdog group Greenpeace estimates that more than 90,000 people are likely to die of cancers caused by radiation from the Chernobyl explosion.

Rain finally goes away

Despite showers, Kid’s Triathlon goes off without a hitch

April 23, 2006

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports writer

Mother Nature smiled down on the 100-plus youngster ready to tackle the third annual Kid’s Triathlon at the Greenwood YMCA Saturday afternoon.
The heavy overnight rainstorm combined with the early morning downpours caused concerns about whether the three-phased event, which consisted of a 100-yard swim, 3-mile bike and a 1-mile run, would take place Saturday. Adding to the uneasiness was quick shower that hit the competitors and family standing in the YMCA parking lot to sing the national anthem.
However, the worry was quickly put to rest when 6-year-old Marco Guareschi became the first youngster to sprint out of the YMCA pool into the bike transition area under sunny skies.
“I knew it wasn’t raining because when I was in the pool I knew it had stopped raining because I looked out the door as I was swimming,” Guareschi said.
But even though the rain subsided, it still found ways of wreaking havoc on the competitors.
“I had to run without my socks because all my stuff was wet,” Northside Middle School student Jack McAlhany said. “I didn’t want my bike to get wet because it’s a triathlon bike with real skinny wheels.”
The rain stayed clear of the YMCA throughout the remainder of the race. It wasn’t until a half hour after the final competitor crossed the finish line did the showers resume.
“I thought the two thunderstorms that I heard last night, I wasn’t sure if that was a dream or not. I was just been bombarded with phone call this morning, but I knew it was going to be fine,” said YMCA fitness director Fran Friday, who was the event coordinator.
“Then, it worked out real well for us. It rained during the national anthem but I looked ahead and saw blue skies and just knew it would be all right.”
The race — a lead in to this morning’s seventh annual YMCA Sprint Triathlong — involved 100-plus kids from all over South Carolina including a handful from North Carolina and Georgia.
“It’s great to see the 120 or so kids come out and participate in something of this caliber is awesome,” Friday said. “They definitely defy the childhood obesity epidemic for sure.
“Greenwood is so tri(athlon) happy right now. It’s just growing and growing. It’s definitely put us on the map.”
Guareschi enjoyed the distinction of being the first kids triathlete to cross the finish line. Since the swimming phase is done in the YMCA pool, the competitors start the competition in groups.
The Cambridge Academy student actually was first through all three events, finishing with a time of 31 minutes, 40 seconds, which was more than a four-minute improvement from his time last year as the race’s lone 5-year-old competitor. It wasn’t good enough for the overall win, but Guareschi did have the fastest time in the 6-7 age group.
He was concise in his feelings about being the first across the finish line.
“Cool,” the 6-year-old said.
McAlhany was the overall male winner of the triathlon. The 12-year-old completed the event in 20:30.
“I think I did pretty good,” McAlhany said. “My favorite part is the biking and running. The course is pretty flat for the bike ride and the run is cool because you get to go through the woods.”
There was only one person McAlhany didn’t beat. Columbia native Haley Guyton was the lone finisher with a sub-20-minute time of 19:53. Guyton’s time was more than three minutes faster than the second-place girl finisher, Rock Hill’s Izzi Woodard (23:15).
While the rain posed some concern for McAlhany, it was something Greenwood Christian student Rachael Kilburn was hoping for when she sprinted to her bike.
“I was looking forward to the rain,” Kilburn said. “When I saw the sun, I knew it would be hot.”
Kilburn, 11, finished the race in 24:29, which was just ahead of older sister Rebecca, 12, 25:20.
Both Kilburn sisters had the same soft one-word answer in how they felt after finishing the race, “tired.”
“It’s great to see the 120 or so kids come out and participate in something of this caliber is awesome,” Friday said. “They definitely defy the childhood obesity epidemic for sure.
“Greenwood is so tri(athlon) happy right now. It’s just growing and growing. It’s definitely put us on the map.”
Guareschi enjoyed the distinction of being the first kids triathlete to cross the finish line. Since the swimming phase is done in the YMCA pool, the competitors start the competition in groups.
The Cambridge Academy student actually was first through all three events, finishing with a time of 31 minutes, 40 seconds, which was more than a four-minute improvement from his time last year as the race’s lone 5-year-old competitor.
It wasn’t good enough for the overall win, but Guareschi did have the fastest time in the 6-7 age group.
McAlhany was the overall male winner of the triathlon. The 12-year-old completed the event in 20:30.
“I think I did pretty good,” McAlhany said. “My favorite part is the biking and running. The course is pretty flat for the bike ride and the run is cool because you get to go through the woods.”
There was only one person McAlhany didn’t beat. Columbia native Haley Guyton was the lone finisher with a sub-20-minute time of 19:53.
Guyton’s time was more than three minutes faster than the second-place girl finisher, Rock Hill’s Izzi Woodard (23:15). While the rain posed some concern for McAlhany, it was something Greenwood Christian student Rachael Kilburn was hoping for when she sprinted to her bike.
“I was looking forward to the rain,” Kilburn said. “When I saw the sun, I knew it would be hot.”
Kilburn, 11, finished the race in 24:29, which was just ahead of older sister Rebecca, 12, 25:20.

Opinion

Don’t leave any doubts, clean up language on TV

April 23, 2006

Little by little, the television networks have allowed programming that is not only indecent, it’s a threat to the foundations of life as we know it. The Federal Communications Commission thinks so, too. It recently ruled that because of gutter language, several programs were indecent.
The four networks involved - ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, along with their affiliates are appealing the FCC ruling. They obviously believe that it’s OK for their shows to have the f-word and s-word so many times that after a while the average person either doesn’t even hear them anymore or doesn’t really care, as demonstrated by a lack of protest. In effect, we tend to become immune to the four-letter words that are being thrown at us whether we want it or not.

WHAT ABOUT CHILDREN? How do they react when they hear such language? And they hear it, not only on primetime network shows, but, believe it or not, children’s cartoons also are littered with foul language. What do they learn from that? Furthermore, what do they learn when we allow them to watch such trash? When we observe that filthy talk on South Carolina’s school buses, playgrounds and in the schools is already a reality, does that mean we have to add to the problem by increasing children’s exposure to the vulgar practice?
Of course, they can argue that all we have to do is turn off the TV set. But, then, that would be ignoring the fact that these are public airways they are filling with indecent language and every other negative influence that’s imaginable, including promiscuous and often gratuitous sex. The public airways are there for the benefit of their public owners, not for the destruction of morality by repetition.

THE NETWORKS BASE their legal appeals on what they call vague and inconsistently applied rules. Really? Maybe the right thing to do, then, is to set new rules and make them explicit. Ban such offensive language and practices outright. Of course, there will be those who say that would violate constitutional rights. The way it’s going, though, they are violating the rights of every person to expect better things on public airways.
If the trend continues, there can only be two primary results. Either the language and other indecencies will get worse, or the public will demand better. That’s how the public reacts to foul play. If the FCC is to do its job, the network appeals should be rejected outright.

Obituaries

Wilma H. Bannister

The services location for Wilma Jones Holsonback Bannister, of 303 Draper St., has been changed. Services are 3 p.m. today at Harley Funeral Home.
Visitation is 2-3 today at the funeral home.
Harley Funeral Home & Crematory is in charge.

Buffort Blocker

PLUM BRANCH — Buffort Blocker, 82, husband of Carrie Prince Blocker, died Saturday, April 22, 2006 at Hospice House of the Piedmont.
Born in Edgefield County, he was a son of the late James M. and Carrie Kimble Blocker. He was a member of Mount Moriah Baptist Church and a retired construction worker.
Survivors include his wife of the home; three stepdaughters, Dr. Arlene Prince of Columbia, Minnie Prince of North Augusta and Linda Prince of Dallas, Texas; two stepsons, William Prince of Durham, N.C., and Curtis Prince of Woodbridge, Va.; a brother, Frank Blocker of Washington, D.C.; five grandchildren; a great-grandchild.
The family is at the home, 345 Old Augusta Road.
Services will be announced by Walker Funeral Home, McCormick.

C. Timothy Burns

TRENTON — Cecil Timothy Burns, 43, died Saturday, April 22, 2006.
A native of Greenwood, he was a son of Gloria Rodgers Rhoden and the late Cecil Burns. He was employed at Heritage Hardware in sales management and was a member of Phillippi Baptist Church.
Survivors include a son, Cody Timothy and a daughter, Cassie Lynne Burns, both of Saluda; a brother, Jadie Eugene Burns of Rock Springs, Wyo.; and his mother.
Services are 2 p.m. Monday at Bland Funeral Home, Johnston, conducted by the Rev. Mayhew West. Burial is in Ridge Crest Memorial Park, Batesburg.
Visitation is 6-8 tonight at the funeral home.
Memorials may be made to Wyman King Academy Athletic Department, 1046 Sardis Road, Batesburg, SC 29006.
Bland Funeral Home is in charge.

Betty Pearl Cobb

ABBEVILLE — Betty Pearl Cobb, 75, of 1609 Old Abbeville Highway, died Friday, April 21, 2006 at her home.
Born in Abbeville County, she was a daughter of the late Murray and Laura Brown Cobb. She was a member of Fairfield Baptist Church, where she served on the Senior Choir, Usher Board and in the Missionary Society. A retired employee of Abbeville Shirt Manufacturing Co., she was a homemaker.
Survivors include two nieces reared in the home, Mary Stackhouse and Laura Frazier.
Services are 3 p.m. Tuesday at Fairfield Baptist Church, conducted by the Rev. Michael Peppers. The body will be placed in the church at 2. Burial is in the church cemetery.
The family is at the home of a niece Mary Stackhouse, 115 Barnett St.
Brown and Walker Funeral Home is in charge.

Ethel Grinnell

GREENWOOD — Ethel Adkins Grinnell, 88, of 328 Hwy 246 North, formerly of 2215 Old Laurens Rd., widow of Willie Cecil Grinnell, died Saturday, April 22, 2006 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Born in Lawrenceburg, TN, she was the daughter of the late A. C. and Minnie Olive Adkins. Mrs. Grinnell worked for American Home Products and was of the Holiness faith.
Survivors include a daughter Betty Luker of Greenwood, a daughter-in-law of West Abbeville, six grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.
Services will be 2:00 PM Monday at Harley Funeral Home Chapel with the Reverend John Walsh officiating. Burial will be in Oakbrook Memorial Park.
The family will receive friends from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM on Sunday at the funeral home.
The family is at the home.
Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.harleyfuneralhome.com
PAID OBITUARY

Joe Eddie Scott Harris

Joe Eddie Scott Harris, 43, of 210 Perry Drive, died Friday, April 21, 2006 at his home.
Born in Greenwood, he was a son of Louise Carroll Harris and the late Joe Eddie Harris. He was a former electrician with Larkins Electrics and a member of Morris Chapel Baptist Church.
Survivors include his mother, with whom he lived; three brothers, Lorenzo Harris and Darryl Harris, both of the home and Vernon Harris of Hodges; five sisters, Mrs. Silas (Shirley) Childs of Ninety Six, Virginia Spearman and Mrs. Timothy (Angela) Cook, both of Greenwood, Ruby Harris of Cross Hill and Mrs. Melvin (Michelle) Williams of Bradley.
The family is at the home in Wilson Creek Trailer Park.
Services will be announced by Robinson & Son Mortuary Inc.
Online condolences may be made to the family at robson@nctv.com

Betty L. Moore

IVA — Betty L. Moore, 78, wife of Robley L. Moore, died Saturday, April 22, 2006 at the Hospice House in Greenwood.
Born in Forsyth County, N.C., she was a daughter of the late John A. and Hannah O. Carter Minor. She retired from Sears & Roebuck and Western Electric after many years.
Survivors include her husband of the home; two sons, Robley T. Moore and Mack L. Moore, both of Abbeville; a daughter, Joyce L. Ehlke of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.; two brothers, Rufus A. Moore of Three Rivers, Texas, and Phillip J. Moore of Hillsborough, Va.; two grandchildren; a great-grandchild.
All services will be private.
Memorials may be made to the National Rifle Association, PO Box 420648 Palm Coast, FL 32142.
Harris Funeral Home, Abbeville, is in charge.

Marelle W. Sanford

ORANGEBURG — Marelle Williamson Sanford, 100, of 1000 Methodist Oaks Dr., died Friday, April 21, 2006 at the Methodist Oaks.
Mrs. Sanford was born in the Middle Willow Community of Orangeburg County, a daughter of the late William Franklin and Effie Mathis Williamson. She was educated in the Norway public schools. Mrs. Williamson was a retired seamstress from Belk-Hudson and the Smart Shop. She was a member of First Baptist Church for over 50 years and was a member of the Lydia Sunday School Class and the Golden Fellowship Club of the church. She was the widow of Virgil “Jack” Sanford and was predeceased by two sons, Sherwood F. Sanford and Virgil Morgan Sanford and a grandson, Sherwood Franklin Sanford Jr. Survivors include a granddaughter, Mrs. Sherry Sanford Sullivan, and husband Dennis, of Greenwood; a grandson, Virgil Sanford of Orangeburg; a great-grandson, Ted Sullivan of USC-Columbia; and a number of nieces and nephews.
Services are 2 p.m. Sunday at Dukes-Harley Funeral Home, with Rev. Kermit Shrawder officiating. Burial is in Memorial Park Cemetery.
Pallbearers are Ted Sullivan, Carl Williamson, Brian Gibbons and Rolly Williamson.
Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church, 1240 Russell St., Orangeburg, SC 29115 or the Methodist Oaks Residents Assistance Fund, PO Drawer 327, Orangeburg, SC 29116.
Dukes-Harley Funeral Home.
PAID OBITUARY

Susie Mae Williams

NEWBERRY — Susie Mae Williams, 83, of 23 Lonesome Road, died Saturday, April 22, 2006 at Self Regional Medical Center, Greenwood.
Born in Greenwood County, she was a daughter of the late Jack and Ellen Johnson Ouzts. She was a member of Mount Pisgah Baptist Church, where she was a deaconess and a Missionary Society and Adult Choir member. She was also a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and the Minister Wives in Newberry.
Survivors include a son, Odell Ouzts of Fort Meade, Fla.; seven stepsons, Bennie Williams of Apex, N.C., Choice Williams of Philadelphia, Johnathan Williams of Charlotte, N.C., Terrance Williams of Batesburg, Benjamin Williams, Arnold Williams and James Williams, all of Newberry; four stepdaughters, Hattie Murray of Philadelphia, Ella Mae Ellis of Chester, Pa., Barbara Jean Williams and Martha Thomas of Newberry; several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The family is at the home of a niece Gladys Roundtree, 303 Danby Drive, Bradley.
Services will be announced by Parks Funeral Home, Greenwood.