Climate in leaders’ spotlight

S.C. mayors trade ideas to fight global warming

March 1, 2007

By MIKE ROSIER
Index-Journal staff writer

COLUMBIA — The excuses end and a collective fight begins.
Mayors from across South Carolina gathered Wednesday in Columbia as part of the S.C. Mayors for Climate & Energy Leadership — a new bipartisan organization of Palmetto State leaders who hope to turn previously cool “enviro-speak” into significant action.
Greenwood Mayor Floyd Nicholson was in attendance and picked up on a few ideas that could prove meaningful in the Emerald City.
“Really this is just to make the public aware of what we’re trying to do here in South Carolina,” Nicholson said. “It’s a national issue, but we need to make sure that people are aware of what’s going on here as far as things we have to do for the environment and the direction that we have to take.”
The organization is sponsored by the S.C. Wildlife Federation, the Carolina Climate Network and the National Wildlife Federation.
Wednesday was the first step on a local front, but it’s the opening move in a long-term struggle U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says the nation and South Carolina can’t afford to lose.
“This is an issue of international and generational importance, and one of the biggest issues facing our generation,” Graham said via telephone from Washington, D.C. “The consequences of doing nothing are devastating. If we don’t get a grip on this thing, the consequences are going to be unacceptable.
“This is also a chance for our state to define itself anew and be a state that provides solutions. South Carolina stands to benefit as much as anyone from the transition away from fossil fuels.”
State mayors have signed South Carolina up for that fight.
“We declare war on the future of the way of life we’re now living,” said Spartanburg Mayor Bill Barnet. “We’re going to work to help people understand that through dialogue and action we can make a difference.”
“This is the moral equivalent of war,” Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley said. “(Global warming and climate change) has challenged the sustainability of our planet and the ability of future generations to be fed. It’s our responsibility to act and to act with dispatch.”
Some action is already under way.
The city of Cayce, near Columbia, is looking into replacing maintenance and service fleets with pickup truck models that are either totally electric or electric-fuel hybrids.
Riley has fast-tracked several energy-saving ideas in Charleston — such as replacing street lights and traffic lights with bulbs that use 80 percent less energy to accomplish the same job.
Greer and Spartanburg are advancing projects that would make biking or walking more attractive alternatives than travel by car, as well as working with building architects to create more energy-efficient designs.
Smaller towns — such as Union — are also getting in on the act.
“We have to be a leader on this issue, both in our country and in South Carolina,” Riley added. “We have to think globally and act locally.”
Graham said climate change will affect the occupancy of the White House as well, adding that 2008 presidential candidates should maintain a strong grasp of the issue — or risk marginalization at the polls.
“This is a growing, worldwide problem,” Graham said. “It would be difficult for a candidate to get elected if you denied that climate change is an issue.”
He also mentioned nuclear power as an “untapped resource.”
“Nuclear power provides just 20 percent of the power here in the United States, whereas it provides 80 percent of the power in France,” Graham said. “Now surely we can be as bold as the French. What they’ve done is figure out how to deal with the waste. Hydrogen-based power is also a reality here in the next 10 to 15 years.”

Robots running on brain power

Students build their way to win

March 1, 2007

By BOBBY HARRELL
Index-Journal staff writer

Art Jur’s house is pretty noisy some nights.
It’s hard to hear over the sounds of kids playing, jumping off small stairs and generally having a good time.
Normally, Jur’s playroom is quiet while his robotics team works hard to build and program robots to compete in regional and state competitions.
But right now, his team members are kids again.
That’s the secret of Jur’s playroom: The future is being built one brick at a time.
Jur, coach of the Pinecrest Fighters robotics club and engineer at Eaton, helps lead Pinecrest Elementary School students in learning more about robotics through building Lego programmable robots to perform tasks.
“They’ve learned so much that it’s rewarding for me,” Jur said.
He believes that with so many children building robots, like his team and others across the country and world, at least one of them will go on to do something really extraordinary.
The team won first- and third-place awards for design and programming, respectively, at a regional FIRST Lego League competition at Clemson University in the first week of January, and it went to the state championship Jan. 26-27 in Columbia.
The Pinecrest Fighters took on 45 teams at the regional competition and won, something Jur didn’t expect from his rookie team.
Math and science skills help when programming a robot, he said. In competitions, teams build tables and courses for their robots to complete tasks, such as setting off a trigger than lifts a Lego elevator or tripping a switch that dumps blocks down a net, simulating how stain-resistant cloth works.
Nanotechnology helps make the cloth stain resistant, which also was the theme for the league this year, Jur said.
Not bad for fourth-graders who are learning about a technology most adults don’t understand.
Then again, the team has spent about four hours a week since August in Jur’s playroom downloading programs for the robots and completing research projects from two computers and practicing for the regional tournament.
Jur got involved with the club after being inspired by the Greenwood Robotics Interactive Partners robotics club and ended up the coach after other parents left the team.
Jur said he’s coached soccer and baseball before with his three kids but has never been so personally connected with a team. The Fighters have managed to win the awards partially because they’ve had so much help from parents and partially because the team members know each other so well.
The team members are all in the same class and mostly live in the same neighborhood.
Junaid Khan, a fourth-grader, got involved with robot building when he saw robots made out of Legos.
“I never knew that robots could move,” he said.
Jur’s son Vincent is already looking forward to the future of the team. He wants to recruit some more people from his class for next year’s team, including a student Vincent calls “The Walking Dictionary.”
Who says smart kids get picked last for teams?

Diane Byrum

CHAPPELLS — Linda Diane Henson Byrum, 60, resident of 954 Doc Holloway Road, wife of John J. Byrum, died Feb. 26, 2007 at Hospice House in Greenwood.
Born Feb. 6, 1947 in Rutherford County, North Carolina, she was a daughter of Irine Radford Henson and the late Willis Henson. She was a graduate of Boiling Springs High School and Ceciles Business College in Spartanburg. Mrs. Byrum was a mail carrier with the Chappells Post Office.
She was a member of Chappells Baptist Church.
Surviving in addition to her husband of the home and mother of Spartanburg are a daughter, Allison Brady of Spartanburg; two stepsons, John E. Byrum of Spartanburg and Don Byrum of Chesnee; a brother, Terry and wife, Louise Henson of Spartanburg; nine grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Graveside services will be conducted at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 3 at Chappells Baptist Church Cemetery, with Rev. James Rodgers officiating.
Pallbearers will be Eric Byrum, John Byrum, Jeff Henson, Josh Henson, Anthony Byrum and Todd Brady.
The family is at the home in Chappells and will receive friends in the church fellowship building following the service.
In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Hospice Care of the Piedmont, 408 W. Alexander Ave., Greenwood, SC 29646.
For online condolences please visit www.blythfuneralhome.com.
Blyth Funeral Home & Cremation Services is assisting the Byrum family.

Samuel C. Doar Sr.

LANDRUM — Samuel Carr Doar, Sr., 69, of 114 Red Barn Road, Landrum, died Feb. 27, 2007 at the Regional Hospice Home in Spartanburg. A native of Orangeburg County, he was the son of the late David and May Fleming Doar.
He is survived by his wife, Wanda A. Doar; two sons, Sam Doar, Jr. and wife, Mandy of Landrum and John Doar and wife, Clair of Greenville; a daughter, Mickie Jennings and husband, Bob of Ware Shoals; and 9 grandchildren. He was predeceased by a sister, Martha Fischer and a brother, David Doar, Jr.
He was an active member of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross in Tryon, NC, and sang in the church choir for 42 years, was a Sunday School teacher, and member of the Vestry for many years. He served in the US army and later worked as a Structural Designer for 29 years at Lockwood Greene.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross in Tryon, NC, conducted by Rev. Michael Doty.
The family will receive friends following the service at the church.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Regional Hospice Home, 686 Jeff Davis Drive, Spartanburg, SC 29303 or to the Holy Cross Episcopal Choir, P.O. Box 279, Tryon, NC 28782.
Condolences may be left at www.pettyfuneralhome.com.
Petty Funeral Home, Landrum, SC.

Jackie A. LaCount Harmon

ANDERSON — Jackie A. LaCount Harmon, age 32, wife of Danzell Harmon Jr., of 315 Wellington St., Anderson, SC, died Feb. 27, 2007 at her residence.
Born in Anderson Co., July 2, 1974, she was a daughter of Bobby R. LaCount and Sharon Friar LaCount. She was a homemaker and a member of Southside Baptist Church.
In addition to her parents and husband, she is survived by sons, Christopher Daniel Harmon and Timothy Lee Harmon of the home; daughter, Briana Maxie Sue Harmon of the home; stepdaughter, Merrissa Danielle Harmon of Elberton, GA; grandfather, Harry M. Friar of Anderson; 2 sisters, Cathy Gentry of Anderson and Debbie Black of Belton.
She was preceded in death by her brother Bobby LaCount, Jr.; grandparents, Harriet K. Friar and Freeman and Ruby LaCount.
The family will receive friends at Woodlawn Funeral Home, Thursday, March 1, 2007 from 6 p.m.-8 p.m.
Funeral services will be held Friday, March 2, 2007, 1 p.m. at Woodlawn Funeral Home Chapel, with the Rev. Phil McCalister officiating. Burial will follow in Oakbrook Memorial Park, Greenwood, SC.
The family will be at the residence, 315 Wellington St., Anderson.
Woodlawn Funeral Home, 3219 S. Main St., Anderson.

Emma D. Lauer

OKLAHOMA — Emma D. Lauer, 65, wife of Richard C. Lauer, died Monday, Feb. 19, 2007 at Hospice House in Greenwood.
She is survived by her husband, Richard C. Lauer of the home; her mother, Ruby Calvin of Frederick, OK; one son, Brad Lauer of Greenwood, SC; three daughters and sons-in-law, Tammy and Richard Hammonds of Tipton, OK, Patricia and Bryan Cason of Clinton, SC, and Gail and Dean Berry of Bradley, SC; four brothers and two sisters of Oklahoma; nine grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her father; one son, Ricky Lauer; one daughter, JoDean Lauer; one brother, Steve Calvin; one sister, Betty Calvin.
Mom was laid to rest in Frederick, Oklahoma, on Friday, Feb. 23, 2007. We loved her dearly and will always have her love in our hearts.

Mary Jane Palmer Leatherwood

Mary Jane Palmer Leatherwood, age 59, of Sevierville, TN, passed away Feb. 28, 2007 at Ft. Sanders Regional Medical Center in Knoxville, TN.
Mary was preceded in death by her parents, John D. and Marie Simmons Vaughn of Simpsonville, SC.
Survivors include her husband, Rex Leatherwood; children, Angela Garrett and husband, Phillip, Larry Leatherwood, Laura Adams and husband, Elzie; grandchildren, Casey and Jayni Garrett, Chandler and Garrett Adams, all of Sevierville, TN; sisters, Judy Lamar and husband, Dick of Greenwood, SC, Brenda Lancaster and husband, Billy of Lexington, NC; brothers, Wayne Palmer of Greenville, SC, Charles Palmer and wife, Mary Ann of Simpsonville, SC; several nieces and nephews; special friends, Carol Baker and family and friends at Twin Mountain Campground of Pigeon Forge, TN.
Services will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 1, 2007 at Rawlings Funeral Home, with the Rev. Roy Berrier and Rev. Bill Merritt officiating.
Interment will be 10 a.m. Friday, March 2, 2007 in Union Grove Cemetery located off Douglas Dam Road.
The family will receive friends 6-7 p.m. Thursday, March 1, 2007 at Rawlings Funeral Home.
You may share your thoughts and memories with the family on our Web site: www.rawlingsfuneralhome.com.

A Viking shutout

Strong pitching helps Emerald clinch victory

March 1, 2007

By RENALDO STOVER
Index-Journal sports writer

ABBEVILLE — The Emerald Vikings needed just one run thanks to a solid night on the mound by John Woolston, but added a few more in their 5-0 win Wednesday night over the Abbeville Panthers.
“Every time he’s been out, he’s been effective and we hope he can keep that up,” Vikings coach Chad Evans said. “If he can keep that up and we can get Brandon back healthy and Stephen and Derek, I feel pretty good about our chances.”
Howell, who scored the game’s final run off a Ben McIntosh single, allowed only one hit, a deep shot by the Panthers’ Matt White, while collecting six strikeouts in seven innings of work.
“I was just trying to keep the ball down,” Woolston said. “I knew if I left it up high, they’d hit it hard so the main thing was keeping it down. They started to crowd the plate a little bit in the late innings but that was about it.”
The Panthers sent Brett Bush to the mound to start the game.
Bush came out solid in the first two innings as he picked off two Vikings’ base runners.
Both sides left runners in scoring position in the second inning as the Panthers’ Ty Suit made a diving catch that ended the Vikings’ scoring bid.
Bush left the game after giving up six hits and three walks in 3 1/3 innings of work.
Before Panthers coach Mark Smith could make the switch for right-hander Matt Lee, the Vikings’ Tyler McGraw, who drew a walk to start the inning after being down 0-2, advanced to second and then third base after a balk followed by a wild pitch by Bush.
Derek Moore drove McGraw in from there, giving the Vikings a 1-0 lead.
McGraw, who drew a walk in his first at-bat, was 1-for-3 at the plate.
The Panthers Lee came in after Bush walked Hunter Dowis in the fourth inning.
Lee finished the inning strong, striking out McGraw.
Woolston was in total control in the bottom of the fourth inning as the first three batters he faced found themselves looking at an 0-2 count before heading back to the dugout.
“The difference in the game was their pitcher,” Smith said. “We didn’t threaten all night and I think we hit one ball hard. We’re improving at the plate but you couldn’t tell it tonight. We lost to a good team.”
The Vikings wrapped up their scoring in the top of the seventh inning after Stephen Gary, who went 2-for-4 and scored one run, loaded the bases with a single.
Hunter Dowis, then performed a textbook squeeze bunt that gave the Vikings a commanding 4-0 lead after Brandon Miller, Josh Lovvorn and Gary crossed home plate.
“We’ve been together for a long time and we’ve got good team unity,” Gary said. “We just know how to win when the game is on the line and somehow we always pull it through.”
“Our kids kept plugging away,” Evans said. “We left base runners on all night, had guys picked off and that hurts when you do that. But they never quit and they kept going and there’s something to say for that. For us to get those runs when we did, that was pretty clutch.”

Opinion

Reject any demagoguery in skating rink incident

March 1, 2007

Demagoguery is the single-minded pursuit of an inflammatory issue. Sometimes it involves politics. Sometimes it’s about religion or race or almost anything that can be exploited in a demagogic way. It’s used by one “who seeks to gain personal or partisan advantage by specious or extravagant claims, promises or charges.”
In short, it’s rabble-rousing, and there appears to be the possibility of some of that in the wake of a melee at a local skating facility. The methods used to restore order are being questioned by some in and out of this community.
Some parents were legitimately concerned when pepper spray was used indirectly to allow law enforcement officers to get through a boisterous crowd. They had to get through, however, so they could indeed restore order before someone was hurt.

NO PARENT WELCOMES ANYTHING that has a negative effect on his or her child. Still, had officers, short of physical force, not done what they could to defuse the situation it could have been much worse.
While the crowd was blocking officers from the scenes of conflict, officers could not know what was happening. It could well have been a knife fight or even a gun and they would not have been taking a responsible approach had they acted differently.
It was a hectic situation to say the least, one that could have escalated into something a lot more terrible than what it did. Fortunately, it did not. Nevertheless, there is some anger. Unfortunately, there are indications that some consider the whole episode a racial issue. That’s the demagogic approach and it’s too extreme. It’s an erroneous assumption.
It was a mixed crowd, and in the midst of such confusion it would have been most unusual had the colors of skin been a factor.

IN SUCH VOLATILE CIRCUMSTANCES, officers don’t have time to consider anything but what they perceive to be the immediate threat to the safety of everyone in the crowd, not to mention those involved in the disputes that got the police there in the first place.
A comprehensive review should be automatic. Any discussions should start and remain rational, with the understanding that this was not a racial incident. The only thing that could be racial about the entire thing would be for anyone to try to make it a racial cause celebre when it was, in fact, a response to a tense and threatening occurrence that raised safety concerns.
There was no racism. Films of the melee apparently support that. That, though, is not likely to satisfy anyone who is looking for an excuse. If that happens, the whole community, black and white, should reject it and worry not about what the police did, but why it was necessary for them to be called.