Dist. 50 denies claims

James says board hasn’t been having ‘secret’ meetings

November 14, 2006

By BOBBY HARRELL
Index-Journal staff writer

Greenwood School District 50’s board of trustees on Monday night denied allegations of secret meetings raised by a citizen’s lawsuit against the system.
Meeting in a special, called two-hour session, board members talked about where to build a new elementary school, recently released test data and allegations by a man suing the district over its facility bond plan.
Henry Johnson, former owner of Rental Center and the plaintiff in a lawsuit against District 50, its bond plan, superintendent Darrell Johnson and chairwoman Dru James, is joined in the action by the South Carolina Public Interest Foundation.
District 50’s controversial bond plan would leverage as much as $145 million over a 25-year period to pay for construction of three new elementary schools, and renovations and modifications to the rest of the schools in the district. Bonds are typically sold by government agencies to the public and investors to pay for large projects.
The money gained from the bond sale is given to the issuing agency and paid back over an established amount of time.
James addressed accusations Henry Johnson has made against the district’s bond plan.
She said many of Johnson’s accusations against the district were false, including that the board of trustees were having secret meetings about the bond plan and that they violated their own procurement plan. Procurement is the way school districts spend their money.
The district also is facing a tough line of questioning from local elected officials.
County councilman and attorney Dee Compton said Nov. 10 he will not enforce his 29 FOIA requests, but he and District 50’s attorneys at Childs and Halligan in Columbia are talking in detail about the installment purchase bond plan and sharing information and opinions. County councilman Bob Jennings has requested District 50 postpone the issuance of $150 million in bonds for a few weeks because he doesn’t want the district exceeding for 25 years the 8 percent spending cap laid out in the state constitution without a contingency plan.
Both Compton and State Rep. Mike Pitts have expressed concerns that the district’s installment purchase bond plan is unconstitutional because of the same spending cap.
Despite the concerns, the board continues to move ahead with proposed bond-financed facility plans.
Members discussed Monday night where the new Merrywood Elementary School would be located. They were given two options — the old Northside Middle School area or the new Northside Middle School area.
Both plans will make people uncomfortable, but either site will suit the district, said Darrell Johnson.
“I see pros and cons both ways,” he said.
Building Merrywood on the old NMS area will maintain the “neighborhood” school distinction, keep the school centrally located in town and close to emergency services and have the benefit of a new park once the city builds it on the old Commissioners of Public Works land near S.C. 72, said Gary Johnson, assistant superintendent of business.
Preparing the old site for a new school and demolishing the old one would cost an estimated $1.3 million.
The new NMS area would cause less traffic congestion, but may prompt minor elementary zoning to the estimated tune of $1.6 million, he said. Both sites have been approved by the state Department of Education and the Department of Transportation. Geological studies have to be performed on both sites before construction began, he said.
Board member Deborah Miller said she didn’t want to see the gym at the old NMS be lost to the community.
Many options are still up in the air, Gary Johnson said.
The flexible learning center slotted for the soon-to-be old Merrywood site could be moved to old NMS to save it from being demolished. The state-mandated transportation facility for buses also could be transferred from Woodfields Elementary School to Northside, he said.
Test data
The district also reviewed data from several tests over the year, including the Measures of Academic Progress test, the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test and No Child Left Behind’s Adequate Yearly Progress.
Scholastic Aptitude Test scores were lower overall this year for District 50 seniors, said Pat Ross, assistant superintendent of education for the district. But the district passed its High School Assessment Program in both English/language arts and mathematics sections this year, Ross said.
Board member Lary Davis said he wished the tests would provide more detailed feedback for teachers to help students perform better. Darrell Johnson said the MAP test, which compares scores on a national scale, will be used as a way to prepare students for the PACT test.
New board members Dan Richardson, James Williams and LeVerne Fuller will be sworn in at the Nov. 20 monthly meeting, James said.
Board member Tom Pritchard was absent because his daughter was in the Miss Greenwood pageant.

A reunion 56 years in the waiting

‘I still can’t believe this has happened. It’s amazing.’

November 14, 2006

By MIKE ROSIER
Index-Journal staff writer

CROSS HILL — Benjamin Morrow often wondered what had become of his baby girl.
He could close his eyes and still see her right there in front of him. In his mind it was 1950.
She was just walking then. The words hadn’t come yet, but they were on the way, and there was a tuft of brunette hair sticking out from under so many tiny bonnets. And there were curls. Beautiful little curls.
It was so many years ago. A lifetime ago. But not so many that the emotion had faded.
The thoughts would soon turn to frustration, and that frustration to hot tears streaming down his cheeks. He cried because when he returned to the United States from England (the second time) following his Air Force service in France during World War II, he did so alone. His wife Constance, his lovely Connie, whom he’d met in June 1944 at a dance where available English girls went to meet available American soldiers in those days, instead chose to remain with her family near Southampton on the southern coast of England.
Little Donna Gail, and her newborn brother Barry stayed, too.
Suddenly, the romance — and the marriage — were over.
“After the war we came back to Spartanburg and I was discharged,” Morrow, now 81, said Monday. “We lived here approximately two years — Donna was born in Spartanburg — and moved back to England for about 18 months. Then I moved back and acquired a divorce.
“I hadn’t seen Donna or talked to her since that day, almost 56 years ago.”
Over time, the memories of those days grew still, just like the old photographs. He re-married — as did Connie back in England — and carried on with life with a new family just as thousands of other returning soldiers did in those days.
But he never felt complete. Part of him remained in England that day in 1950, a part he never forgot.
“I just thought it best that I not try to look for her then, and they never talked about me,” Morrow said. “Donna knew nothing of me and I just thought that was the way it was going to be.”
Thousands of miles away, across the Atlantic Ocean, little baby Donna often wondered, too.
But she had no memories of her dad to cling to. There were only a few pictures and the stories recalled by her beloved Auntie Kath (whom her dad remembers as Kitty), stories in which her dad was remembered as a “lovely man.”
Little Donna grew up, married Ron Wateridge, and had two children, Kerry and Lee. They now have grandchildren.
But as to what had become of her handsome soldier dad she never knew. Her mother never spoke of him, and she did not bring him up out of respect to her stepfather, a man who had raised her and provided for her.
Then, in 2004, her mother passed away. Donna began to get curious.
She began looking for her dad by doing to the first thing anyone does when searching for anything these days: She Googled him. The search of the Spartanburg area wrought numerous Morrow men from the phone listings. She called everyone of them.
But none of them were her father and she had no idea where else to look, so she gave up.
“I looked, and we tried to find dad then, but no one in Spartanburg knew of him,” Wateridge said.
Donna couldn’t have known that Morrow had moved, eventually settling near the shores of Lake Greenwood on Lake Breeze Road. She also couldn’t have known that her dad’s American wife, Ruth, also had passed away, within months of her own mother’s death.
Destiny was drawing near, though neither of them knew it.
A little less than one month ago, on Oct. 15, Donna’s husband, Ron, began fooling around on the Internet, nosing for information on his family on Ancestry.com. For the heck of it, he figured he’d look for his wife’s father’s family as well.
With his wife unaware, and armed with the couple’s wedding license, he typed in the name — Benjamin Franklin Morrow Jr. — and clicked.
What he found was a link to a memorial obituary listed in the Greenville News, one for a Ruth Morrow, survived by a man named Benjamin Franklin Morrow Jr. Several clicks later and Ron had the proper address and phone number.
So he dialed the number and asked the necessary questions.
“Did you ever live in England?”
“Yes.”
“Did you have any children?”
“Yes, Donna and Barry.”
“Well, would you like to speak to her?”
This time there was silence for a moment ... and tears.
It was nearly a quarter of midnight Southampton time. Donna Wateridge walked into the bedroom prepared for a night’s sleep. Little did she know it would be the best night of sleep she’d ever had.
“I held out the phone to her and asked if she’d like to speak to her dad,” Ron said of the conversation.
In less than 20 minutes, the search was over.
“I was in shock,” Donna says. “I said ‘Hi, Dad,’ and then we talked on and on for something like the next hour and a half.”
“I still can’t believe this has happened. I can’t explain it,” Morrow said, recalling the evening, choking back the tears. “It’s amazing. They were always in my mind.”
Within two weeks, Mr. and Ms. Wateridge of Southampton had passports. The passports came in on a Friday. They were on a plane on Sunday, landing in Greenville for long-awaited hugs and more tears.
“I told her that she had to hurry up and get over here or I was going to start swimming,” Morrow laughed.
But the story doesn’t end there.
As they walked across the yard, hand in hand, they discussed yet another flight, one in which Morrow will return to England to meet the grandchildren and great-grandchildren he never knew existed. That flight will take place on the 25th of this month, and he’ll cross the deep water once more.
Fate has determined a happy ending for this father and daughter.
“It’s just a wonderful thing,” Wateridge said. “After all these years and here we sit, with my dad.”
Benjamin Morrow often wondered what had become of his precious little girl.
He wondered, but never hoped. Hope cost him too much. It just hurt too much.
But today a daddy clings to his baby girl once more.
This time he’ll never let her go.

Opinion

What should the state do with any ‘extra’ revenue?

November 14, 2006

One of the disagreements between South Carolina Gov.. Mark Sangford and many state lawmakers during the last legislative session was over unexpected revenue that was “extra” money. Sanford wanted to give some of it back to the taxpayers.
The lawmakers balked at that and Sanford lost the battle then. However, when the election came around last week, he won. It’s a good bet that many voters remembered who wanted to return some of their money to them and voted accordingly.
Now, that “extra” money debate is likely to come up again. State revenues are expected to grow by more than $387 million during the next two years and the governor thinks some of that money should go back to the taxpayers, too.

SANFORD’S WORKING ON his 2008 budget and he wants it to limit the rate of state spending to about 5.5 percent, a figure tied to inflation and population growth. Any money left “ought to be returned to taxpayers in some form or fashion,” says Joel Sawyer, the governor’s spokesman.
You can bet taxpayers will be paying a little closer attention to what happens this time. Don’t wait, though. Ask any of them if they are interested in “extra” revenue collected by the state and if they would like to have some of it back ..... or if they would be satisfied just to let it be spent however lawmakers decide.
That’s probably a dumb question. When taxpayers control the money, though, government can’t spend it. The sad fact is, the only way to rein in government spending is to limit its revenue.

THAT DOESN’T MEAN, OF course, that the legitimate needs of the people should not be addressed by the state Legislature. The debate comes when the definition of “legitimate” is considered.
There really should be no problem with that, however, if everyone took a common sense look at what’s necessary and what should be considered “frills.”
Every lawmaker in the state, as well as every taxpayer, knows full well when money is being spent on things that aren’t really needed ..... things that stroke egos, fish for votes or address some other self-serving purpose.
The rationalization that “justifies” frill spending sometimes boggles the mind. In the end, though, voters aren’t deceived. However, there are some who stand to profit from such spending. And believe it. There are plenty of those. In fairness to the Legislature, it’s never a one-way street.

Obituaries

Faye B. Cooper

CALHOUN FALLS — Faye B. Cooper, age 83, passed away Monday, Nov. 13, 2006 at Abbeville Area Medical Center.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Sonny Cooper and son, Dale Cooper.
Survivors include daughters, Gwen Bond of Calhoun Falls and Eris Timms of Mt. Pleasant; grandchildren, Janna McCoppin, Kacey Timms, Sonya Hicks and Scott Cooper; great-grandchildren, D.J. and Brandon McCoppin; and brother, Bobby Burdette of Dewy Rose, Georgia.
Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 1 p.m. in the Chapel of Calhoun Falls Funeral Home, with burial following at Forest Lawn Memory Gardens. The family will receive friends Tuesday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. The family may be contacted at the residence.
Calhoun Falls Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Joyce R. Horton

HAYESVILLE, N.C. — Joyce R. Horton, 76, formerly of Greenwood, S.C., died Monday, Nov. 13, 2006, at Valley View Care Center in Hayesville.
Townson Rose Funeral Home, Murphy, is in charge.

Carolyn Letman

McCORMICK — Carolyn Letman died Monday, Nov. 13, 2006, at the home of her mother, 167 Plainview Drive.
Services will be announced by Walker Funeral Home.

Paul Rush, Jr.

WATERLOO — John Paul Rush, Jr., 78, resident of 46 Violet Drive, widower of Carol Cain Rush, died Nov. 12, 2006 at his home.
Born in Spartanburg, Dec. 1, 1927, he was a son of the late John Paul Sr. and Etta Walls Rush. He was the former owner and operator of Rush’s Heating and Cooling.
A member of Main Street United Methodist Church, he was also a Mason and a Shriner.
Surviving are three sons, John P. “Chip” Rush, III of Greenwood, Ted Carroll Rush of Hodges and Jeffrey Ryan Rush of Ninety Six; four grandchildren, Kayla Morin, “C.J.” John Paul Rush, IV, both of Greenwood, Ashley Rush of Hodges and Haylee Rush of Ninety Six.
Graveside services will be conducted at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Greenwood Memorial Gardens with Rev. James Dennis, Jr. officiating.
The family is at the home of Chip Rush, 107 Lakeview Road and will receive friends at the Blyth Funeral Home from 6 to 8 Tuesday evening.
For online condolences please visit www.blythfuneralhome.com
Blyth Funeral Home & Cremation Services is assisting the Rush family.

William David Tucker

William David Tucker, 49, of 303 Siloam Church Road, died Friday, Nov. 10, 2006 at his home. Born in Greenwood, he was the son of Dorothy Bailey Tucker and the late George Tucker. He was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church and was in the National Guard. Survivors include his mother of Greenwood; one son, Antwain Sprowl of Greenwood; seven daughters, Andrea Sprowl, Janeisha Jones, Gena Cunningham, Ember Cunningham, Sierra Cunningham and Seareas Mitchell, all of Greenwood, Candance Anderson of Abbeville; one brother, Gerald D. Tucker of Greenwood; one sister, Lillie T. Todd of the home; six grandchildren. Services will be 2 p.m. Wednesday at Trinity UMC, conducted by Reverend Ronnie Jeffcoat. The body will be placed in the church at 1 p.m. Burial is in Rockford A.M.E. Church Cemetery in Mount Carmel. The family will receive friends 6 to 7 p.m. today at the home. Online condolences can be sent to the family at robson@nctv.com
Robinson & Son Mortuary, Inc. is assisting the Tucker family.