Family affair

Soldier welcomed back home with honor, another new baby

January 9, 2006

By JOANIE BAKER
Index-Journal staff writer

ABBEVILLE — In the last row of cold metal folding chairs at the Abbeville Armory, Baby Korea comforts her little brother, Baby Kansas while their mother keeps Baby Iraq from squealing Sunday during the Freedom Salute Ceremony.
The children’s father, Brian Nugent, was one of the 100 Army National Guard soldiers from the 111th Signal Battalion who returned from Iraq in May and was honored for his service as a defender of freedom.
Though Nugent received the same Soldier Defender of Freedom Certificate, framed flag with a coin and pins that his fellow soldiers received for their service, Nugent held a different reward proudly in his arms — 12-month-old Brian, also known as Baby Iraq.
Nugent and wife Jill have conceived all three of their children just before Nugent has left on deployment. They are nicknamed accordingly: 8-year-old Katie is Baby Korea, 3-year-old Brady is Baby Kansas and now there is Baby Iraq.
“It was definitely not planned,” Jill Nugent said. “About three weeks after he left, I was cleaning out the medicine cabinet and I saw a pregnancy test. I decided to go ahead, take it, and found out I was pregnant. I screamed and called my neighbor. Everybody thought I was joking because every time he goes away I get pregnant.”
Even Nugent thought she was joking when she called and told him the news, and he said it took about a minute before he realized she was serious. He said knowing he had a new son to come home to made coming home all the more exciting.
“I was happy but sad I wasn’t going to be there for the whole thing,” Nugent said.
Jill said it was the pregnancy that helped get her through her husband’s absence at home.
“I don’t know if I could have handled it, but knowing I was pregnant and I had to, kept me going,” she said. “I was telling my neighbor after (Nugent) left that I could get through this if I was pregnant. I guess God heard me. He got me very good.”
Nugent was able to take leave last January to be present for Brian’s birth, and was able to see the ultrasound pictures before the birth via e-mail. He said people still tease him about the family’s ongoing trend.
“They tell me I don’t need to go on any more deployments,” Nugent said with a smile.

Woman’s ‘difficult age’ places
her in need of assistance

January 9, 2006

By MEGAN VARNER
Index-Journal senior staff writer

With warmer than normal weather stretching past fall and into winter, some area residents might have had a false sense of security that the warm air — and low heating bills — would last though the season.
But when the mercury began dropping outside, so did the temperature in Helen’s home.
For more than a month, the Greenwood resident lived without heat in her home.
Working a minimum-wage job, Helen’s struggles with heating costs began after a bout of pneumonia landed her in the hospital.
Unable to work because of her illness, her financial situation worsened and she soon could not afford the gas to heat her home.
With no family shoulders to lean on for assistance, Helen found a helping hand at The Salvation Army.
“She didn’t know anything about assistance,” said Fannie Christopher, a caseworker with The Salvation Army. “(Helen) is elderly, but not old enough to draw Social Security. It’s a difficult age.
“Lately, we’ve been seeing people (in need of assistance) who are not old enough to retire. They are still working, but they can’t make ends meet,” Christopher said, adding that minimum-wage salaries are sometimes not enough to cover all of a person’s needs. “It’s got to be hard to pay everything out of that check.”
After meeting with Helen, Christopher said she made a call to Helen’s gas company. Because she had been a good customer, the company was willing to bring kerosene to Helen’s home if she was able to pay an amount toward her bill.
With The Salvation Army’s help, Helen’s heat was restored.

Climbing up the curve

Dixie boys basketball enjoying best start in more than 10 years

January 9, 2006

By CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal sports writer

DUE WEST — One thing most followers of high school basketball know is though things may get bad, fortunes can always change for the better.
The 2005-06 Dixie High School boys basketball team is living proof of that theory.
The Hornets, a team that has long struggled finding success in varsity hoops, have raced out to a 11-1 start this year, their best season-opening record in more than a decade.
Included in the opening 12 games are comeback wins over Class AA opponents Palmetto and Crescent, and three victories in the Dixie Holiday Tournament.
The Hornets have also started the Region I-A season with a 3-0 mark.
“I’m extremely pleased with what we’ve done so far,” Dixie coach Jay Lown said. “I honestly didn’t think we would get off to the fast start we have. We’ve got a long way to go, that’s for certain. But there have certainly been bright spots in the early going.”
Lown attributes part of his team’s play this season to an increase in overall athleticism. More so than in any year during his tenure, Lown said this team is strong inside, with quickness in the backcourt and leaping ability to spare.
“One thing I told this team before the season started was that we were going to play man-to-man, and we were going to be aggressive,” Lown said. “In the past, I felt like we had to play zone, but this year I knew we had the athletes to go man more often. The guys have really responded to it.”
Dixie has a moderately senior-laden starting lineup, with strong leadership coming from senior forwards Ajmal Davis and Sean Lown, who is Jay’s son.
Sean Lown has been playing for the Hornets’ varsity since seventh grade.
“The attitude of this team has been so much better this season,” the senior said.
“The hustle is there more than in the past. We have forced so many turnovers in the second half of games because of hustle.”
Another senior starter who is making a major impact is Diomi Gordon, who began playing for the Hornets only a year ago. Gordon has become a more prevalent scoring threat for Dixie, culminating in a 17-point output in the Hornets’ 91-35 drubbing on Region I-A opponent Tamassee-Salem last week.
He and teammate Yavario Smith scored 23 points in Saturday’s region win against Ware Shoals.
“Diomi has picked up the game pretty fast over the last year,” Jay Lown said. “He’s been important to us offensively and defensively.”
With the early season wins has come a benefit unusual to the Hornets during hoops season: fan support. According to Sean Lown, Dixie’s support so far has been tremendous.
“We love it,” he said. “The fans really do help us get ready for the games. It always helps us to play better when we have a bunch of students and fans in the gym.”
However copious the start to the season has been, the Hornets still have to complete the most important part of the regular season: the rugged Region I-A schedule. Dixie will meet stiff competition from athletic squads such as rivals Calhoun Falls and McCormick, as well as ever upset-minded Thornwell and Ware Shoals.
Jay Lown said he has made sure the Hornets are aware of the task at hand.
“We think of our season in four sections,” Lown said. “The pre-region, the Christmas Tournament, the region and, if we’re fortunate enough to win enough games, the State playoffs. We’ve done alright through the first two sections.”
Sean Lown said a playoff berth has been the squad’s goal since day one.
“That has been the number one thing on our minds,” the forward said. “We’re determined to finish in the top four teams in our region and give ourselves a chance to compete for a title.”

Opinion

Stopping political rancor could, should be a goal

January 9, 2006

It’s a long-standing tradition. Every year many of us make New Year’s resolutions. We have the best intentions, of course, but every year, it seems, as time goes by we somehow manage to fall back into old habits.
That, however, doesn’t keep us from looking for a brave new world and making new – or old – resolutions at the beginning of every year.
One that most people would like to see made, no doubt, would involve politicians, regardless of which political party they represent. It would be even better, to be sure, if their resolutions were kept. But, then, they’d probably like to see many other people making and keeping resolutions, too.
If politicians, though, would make and keep a resolution to eliminate the nasty partisanship, in Columbia and Washington, surely it would make a lot of people happy in South Carolina …..
Democrats and Republicans. The way it is, the ability to disagree with grace and honor and be respectful of others’ rights to their opinions, seem to be a thing of the past.
If we all could get past the rancor that has become routine, there’s a good chance the faith Americans have historically had in their government would be enhanced, if not restored.
However, it may be like an alcoholic looking for a cure. First, there would have to be an admission there is a problem. What’s the odds of that happening?

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