At the 'center' of it all

Ware Shoals comes together at sports facility

February 1, 2007

By BOBBY HARRELL
Index-Journal staff writer

WARE SHOALS — Before the Riegel Mill shut down in the 1980s and the town expanded, the YMCA was the place to be.
Kids could play pool, basketball and every other kind of sport, said Chuck Couch, director of the Larry Traynham Center.
Mostly the Y kept kids out of trouble, before it too went away.
But the history of Ware Shoals and its community centers are intimately linked: One cannot work without the other.
Couch, along with assistants Bob Johnston, Jarrod Moody and Phil Browning, help keep the Traynham Center running and the children of Ware Shoals out of the night and on the playing field.
Without the center, kids would walk the street or worse, Johnston said.
Couch, a local boy like Johnston, who taught Ware Shoals High School girls basketball for 15 years, enjoys working at the recreation facility.
The center, like the Y before it, is the hub of activity in the town, Couch said.
“It’s the focal point of the community,” he said.
From senior citizens who try to get into the center before 10 a.m. to walk when the weather’s bad, to the Greenwood County Parks and Recreation Department kids who play basketball past 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, most people in Ware Shoals have a stake in the community center.
Hundreds of kids come out to the center every week, Couch said.
The Larry Traynham Center, named after one of its former directors, started out life as a South Carolina National Guard armory before being abandoned by the Army for a new building in the mid- to late 1990s, Johnston said.
Lander University provided paint, backboards and floors for the basketball court when it practiced there, before the Finis Horne Arena was built.
The name “Lander” still appears on both sides of the court.
Johnston said that in 1999, then-Greenwood County Councilman Richard Crowe asked him to open the center on Monday nights so people would have a place to play basketball, but soon even more activities came around.
Parks and Rec basketball teams practice and play at the center, with baseball, football and soccer being played during their seasons at Young’s Park in Ware Shoals, Couch said.
Ware Shoals’ junior high school, junior varsity and high school teams also practice there occasionally, a necessity for the small town and schools.
Little River Baptist Church runs a summer program at the center for the children of working parents, Johnston said.
Greenwood School District 51 has its alternative school at the center, while the Ware Shoals Youth Athletic Association has its meetings there.
The association raises money to buy sports equipment for Ware Shoals kids, Couch said.
Wesley Jordan, 12, plays for the Parks and Rec 11- to 12-year-old Pistons boys basketball team.
He said the center is always busy in the summer.
If he couldn’t practice with his team, he’d be playing basketball with the older guys in the neighborhood who sometimes get rough, or have nothing to do at all.
Couch became director in September. His former job, building chain-link fences, had a different set of rewards than his current one.
When he got done building a fence, he could see where he had been. Touching the life of a child is more rewarding and important, but the results are harder to see.
“You’re planting a seed in that kid’s head, but you don’t know how that seed will grow,” Couch said.

Woman trespassed at school for hours

February 1, 2007

By CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal staff writer

Emerald High School and the Greenwood Sheriff’s Office have issued a trespassing notice to a Greenwood woman who signed in to the high school last Wednesday and hung around the school for hours reportedly harassing a student.
The notice was issued to Kendra Carter, 24, of 108 Marshall Road, Greenwood.
According to sheriff’s office incident reports, Carter came to Emerald at 8:45 a.m. Jan. 24 and signed in as a visitor.
The reason she gave for her visit was to observe an Emerald student she referred to as her sister. It was later determined the girl is not Carter’s familial sister, but the girl said Carter is “like a sister” to her.
When a front office attendant at the school recognized Carter had signed in, she called Emerald Assistant Principal Les Gamble. The report said Carter told Gamble she wanted to check on her “sister’s” progress, as the girl had recently been suspended.
The report said Gamble then escorted Carter to the girl’s class, where Carter said she wanted to “observe for a while.”
Gamble noted Carter did have a visitor’s pass.
According to the incident report, Carter never signed out after the class.
“From there, it appears she stayed on campus most of the day,” school resource officer Amy Tyler said Wednesday.
After that class the 16-year-old girl, who is the alleged victim in the case, said a group of girls approached her in the hall and asked her if she was romantically interested in a male student who was involved with Carter. The girl reportedly later went outside during her lunch break, where she encountered Carter. She said Carter and Carter’s “sister” were following her and watching her every move.
Later in the day, when the bell rang at 3:30 p.m., the report said Carter and Carter’s “sister” again accosted the victim near a doorway. They told her they knew where she lived.
The report indicates that when the victim’s mother came to pick her up that afternoon, she noticed her daughter was very upset. She asked her what was wrong, and her daughter told her about Carter harassing her on school grounds throughout the day.
The mother asked her daughter whether Carter was a student in the school, and her daughter told her, “No, she’s in her 20s.”
The report said Carter approached the victim’s mother at her car. The mother reportedly asked Carter why she was bothering the 16-year-old girl and that if anything needed to be said, it could be said to her, because they were both adults.
The mother said Carter then became irate and said she knew where the victim and her mother lived.
Following the tirade, the victim’s mother reportedly went inside the school and found assistant principals Gay McHugh and Chip Tinsley. She asked them why a 25-year-old had been at school all day and then told them about the encounter she had just had with Carter.
The report said McHugh told the mother she needed to go to the sheriff’s office and file a complaint about the threats.
The report said Carter spoke with Gamble by phone the next day, and that Gamble informed her she had been put on trespassing notice by the school and the sheriff’s office. Deputies contacted her Friday and also made her aware of the trespassing notice.
Gamble did not return calls placed to his office Wednesday. Emerald Principal Sabra Price was out sick for the day.
Meanwhile, McHugh said she didn’t think she could “accurately comment” on details surrounding the incident.
Tyler added that, to her understanding, Carter had signed in as a visitor in the past and legitimately observed her “sister’s” classes.
“As of January 26, (Carter) cannot come on school grounds,” Tyler said.
The resource officer said one reason Carter likely went unnoticed throughout the day was because she did have the visitor’s pass, which would give the appearance that nothing was amiss unless someone knew otherwise.
Tyler said she thinks school administrators could review their visitor sign-in policies.
“They should do a little more with who they are allowing in the school,” Tyler said. “Just be a little more thorough with who they are signing in and why they are there.”

Playoff run pinned

GHS falls to Boiling Springs in first round

February 1, 2007

By RENALDO STOVER
Index-Journal sports writer

The Greenwood Eagles wrestling team’s run in the Class AAAA playoffs ended just as quickly as it began Wednesday night with a 45-25 loss to Boiling Springs at Greenwood High School.
The Bulldogs (20-8 overall) jumped out to a 29-3 lead against the Eagles (16-9), who finished the night by winning three of the final four matches, including pins by Nick Mountz (189 pound weight class) and Daniel Ivey (215). It wasn’t enough though and now, the Eagles must now prepare for Saturday’s individual tournament at Laurens High School.
“They (Bulldogs) just came out tonight and wrestled real well. They’re a good team. They were able to kind of come out and set the tone early and they were able to score some points when we were not able to tonight,” Eagles coach Greg Brewer said. “We’ve got a chance to have several region champs and have several guys qualify for the upstate. There’s still hopefully a lot of wrestling to be done. There’ll be no more team scores. It’ll all be individuals.”
The Bulldogs first pin of the night came in the second period of the 103 match between Jesse Hammett and Cody Pippin.
Pippin found himself in a precarious position near the 1 minute, 30 second mark of first period, but was able to avoid the pin. He still trailed though, going into the second period, which Hammett dominated before getting the pin at the 2:56 mark.
The Eagles first points of the night came thanks to a tough performance by Michael Hellman in his 119 match-up against Josh Wilson.
Hellman led 7-2 after the second period, but Wilson was able to tie the match 7-7 with 1:26 remaining in the match.
Wilson finally grabbed a 9-8 lead with less than one minute remaining, but Hellman picked up three late points for the victory.
The win cut the Bulldogs lead to 11 points, but they scored 27 unanswered points to take a commanding 41-3 lead, following a Rob Green first-round pin against Matt Carroll. From that point, the outcome was not in doubt.
“We’re really still very young. Mostly freshmen and sophomores but they did really good tonight,” Bulldogs coach Leo Sawyer said. “I think the young men we faced tonight were pretty tough as well. They seemed to be pretty young too.
They’ll be tough to contend with, those guys, when they get a little bit older.”

Bearcats play tough to get win

February 1, 2007

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports editor

The Lander University men’s basketball team used a big first-half run keyed by its bench to knock off UNC Pembroke, 62-54, Wednesday night in a Peach Belt Conference North Division game at Finis Horne Arena.
Backup guard Zach Evans and former starter Jason Davis, who has come off the bench since recovering from an injured thumb, accounted for 11 points on a 15-0 run that erased a nine-point deficit and put the Bearcats (13-7 overall, 7-2 PBC) ahead for good.
“It’s such a luxury to have those guys,” Lander coach Bruce Evans said of his bench players. “When you’ve got guys like Jason Davis, a starter the first part of the year, who is a team player that’s not worried about starting, but just wants to play and do what’s best for the team and you’ve got Zach Evans who can score at will at times.
“Those guys are willing to sacrifice and be patient and know they’re going to get their chance to contribute.”
Zach Evans finished with 10 points, while Davis chipped in eight. Senior starters Jarred Jackson and Michael Griffin led the way with 17 and 12 points, respectively.
It was the fourth straight victory for Lander and eighth in its last 10 games. The Bearcats travel for a 4 p.m.
Saturday game at Augusta State, which is undefeated in PBC play.
Jonathan Hart led UNCP (5-16, 4-6) with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Jarrell Hunter chipped in 13 points, going 4-of-8 from 3.
Freshman Dane Sparrow, who replaced Davis in the starting lineup, capped the run with a breakaway layup to put Lander up 24-18 with 2:40 to play in the first half.
The Bearcats did lead the rest of the way, but that lead didn’t reach double digits until starting point guard Michael Griffin stole a pass and went in for the uncontested layup to make it 54-44 with 2:39 remaining.
However, that difference quickly went back to single digits when UNCP’s Jarrell Hunter drained a 3-pointer on the team’s ensuing possession.
But the Bearcats, who shot only 34 percent from the field and 25 percent from 3s, maintained the lead by hitting their free throws. Lander went 14-from-15 from the line. Jackson, who also provided a game-high nine rebounds, and Griffin combined to go 8-for-8 from the foul line in the final 2 minutes to seal the win.
“Even though we couldn’t get our lead to 10 or 12 or 14, we were able to maintain that lead and keep our composure,” Bruce Evans said. “The other thing is that we got to the free throw line and hit our free throws, and that’s big because that’s how you win ballgames.”
Griffin’s bucket ended a long scoring drought for the Bearcats, who went more than five minutes without a points. But Lander was able to maintain control of the game despite the scoring woes thanks to a defense that kept the Braves (5-16, 4-6) without a point for almost six minutes, until Hunter’s trey.
“We talk about not letting our offense affect our defense,” Evans said. “If we’re not scoring, that’s fine. Don’t go down thinking ‘I missed that shot,’ because thinking about that, you’re going to slip on defense. Those times when we have those droughts offensively we can’t let affect us defensively and the guys did that tonight. We went through that drought but we were able to stay in striking range because of our play defensively.”

Obituaries

Mildred L. Chiles

PENDLETON — Mildred L. Chiles, 74, of 1402 Autun Road, died Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007, at the home. The family is at the home.
Services will be announced by The Holloway’s Funeral Home Inc., Belton.

Nellie Ryans McKie

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Mrs. Nellie Ryans McKie, wife of Deacon Quincy McKie, of Hazel Street, departed this earth on Monday, Jan. 29, 2007 at Heartland Hospice. Her eldest son, Curtis McKie, Sr., preceded her in death. Funeral service will be held Friday, Feb. 2, 2007 at 11 a.m. at the Elim Baptist Church, with Rev. C.D. Roberts officiating. Burial will be at Hillcrest Memorial Park. Mrs. McKie, a native of Edgefield Co. S.C., was a retiree of Dept. of Veterans Affairs Linwood Hospital. Mrs. McKie was a member of the Elim Baptist Church, where she served as Correspondent Secretary for the Senior Missionary Board. Those left to love and cherish her memories are her husband of 61 years; daughter, Velma McKie Tyler, Hinesville, GA; son, Gregory A. McKie, Augusta; seven grandchildren; daughter-in-law, Mildred McKie, Augusta, Ga.; 9 great-grandchildren; 2 sisters-in-law; 2 brothers-in-law; a host of nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.

Opinion

Worrisome social changes reflected in Ware Shoals?

February 1, 2007

You have to feel for the people of Ware Shoals. They’ve been dragged into a situation they don’t deserve.
The scandal involving sexual and other misconduct charges against a teacher, along with the continuing controversy have put them through a harrowing experience that no community should ever have to face.
Nevertheless, it is a sobering reminder that we are all vulnerable to the negative effects of a society that is undergoing worrisome changes in attitudes about morality and right and wrong in general.
Included among the changes is how we, as a people, take a more liberal look at a variety of social situations that have historically been taboo and not denounce them.

THERE HAVE BEEN A NUMBER of high-profile cases in various parts of the nation in recent times where teachers have been charged with improper relations involving their students. South Carolinians will remember that it hasn’t been long ago that one such situation occurred in Laurens.
In most of the cases that have filled television screens and newspaper headlines, it’s been the teacher that has initiated the contact, although there have been some where it’s been the other way ‘round.
It could be argued, no doubt, that such things aren’t one-sided. As the saying goes, it takes two to tango. Still, it’s the teacher’s responsibility to make sure there is no physical or romantic relationship with a student. Teachers are the authority figure as well as role model. They must create and maintain the proper teacher-student relationship, free of any activity that could be interpreted as questionable behavior.

THOSE FOUND GUILTY OF such offenses cannot be excused, of course. It’s not unreasonable, however, to lay the blame at the feet of a legal system and some of its judges who fail to apply and uphold a level of punishment that must serve as a force for prevention. How many times in recent history have we seen judges allowing child abusers to walk away with nothing but the proverbial slap on the wrist for their transgressions? Whether registered sex offender, teacher with poor judgment and/or morals, or anyone else who violates the innocence of a young boy or girl, the penalty ought to fit the crime. Too often it hasn’t and the results are all too painfully obvious.
Under the circumstances, what can we expect?