25 years later, evidence gone from McCormick crash site

June 3, 2004

By TASHA STEIMER
Index-Journal staff writer

McCORMICK – Evidence of the airplane and its $6.5 million cargo are gone now, nearly 25 years after it crashed in McCormick County.
The DC-4 turbo-prop airplane, carrying more than 15,000 pounds of marijuana, crashed about 6 a.m. on Nov. 19, 1979 off S.C. 28, about 10 miles north of the Town of McCormick. The remains of two people aboard were found at the site.
Tom McComb, owner of the property where the plane crashed, said the plane had taken out the tops of several trees and a power line before coming to rest in the woods.
“There’s nothing there anymore,” he said. “The wreckage was cut up and taken out of there about a year after it crashed.”
The Index-Journal reported Nov. 20, 1979, that the flight left Colombia, South America, heading toward a landing strip in the county about five miles from where it crashed. Some bales were wrapped in newspapers from Bogota, Colombia.
Local authorities investigating the incident said the landing gear was extended and the flaps of the aircraft were down, indicating that it was in the process of landing. The plane was low on fuel when it clipped a power line and crashed. Debris scattered over several hundred feet surrounding the wreckage.
“Both wings were taken off by the pines, and the fuselage skidded into the trees,” McComb said. “The nose was turned under the plane and the (marijuana) poured out.”
The cargo, 209 bales of marijuana valued at $6.5 million, was removed from the site and burned.
Authorities believed the plane originated in Albuquerque, N.M., and made a stop in Costa Rica before picking up its cargo in Colombia. The owner of the plane, identified as Thomas Keen Edenfield, lived in Corrales, N.M.
The S.C. Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and McCormick County Sheriff’s Department released the names of the pilots a week after the crash, according to the Nov. 29, 1979 issue of the McCormick Messenger.
Pilot James Robert Davis, 56, of Sherman Oaks, Calif., died in the crash with co-pilot John Sherman Lundelius, 42, of Homestead, Fla.
No arrests were made in relation to the marijuana, according to media reports at the time, and no new information has surfaced in recent years.
There is no visible evidence left from the crash, but McComb said long-time residents still remember the incident.
“A lot of people who were here remember when the plane crashed, but we don’t talk about it much anymore,” he said. “It happened a long time ago.”

Scruggs becomes CFHS boys hoops coach

June 3, 2004

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports writer

CALHOUN FALLS — With all of the changes going on at Calhoun Falls High School; things should not feel all that different when basketball season starts.
Assistant boys basketball coach John-Mark Scruggs will take over as the head coach of the varsity team, filling the void left by long-time coach and Scruggs’ mentor Jimmy Towe, Calhoun Falls athletic director Eddie Roberts said.
“With him being familiar with the kids and what they’ve done in the past, it is certainly going to be a plus,” said Roberts, who enters his first season as the Blue Flashes’ AD and football coach.
“He knows the kids and he knows what they can do and has a good rapport with them. He’s excited about the opportunity to become a head coach and the kids are excited. I think it will be a good transition.”
After four years as an assistant, Scruggs is excited about the chance at his first head coaching position. “It’s a great opportunity to be able to coach such a group of fine young men,” said Scruggs, who will continue to be the boys jayvee coach.
“I’ve been around them for four years and I’ve enjoyed being around them. They’re a good group of kids.”
Scruggs completed his third season as the Blue Flashes jayvee coach and assistant varsity coach under Towe, spending his first year as a student assistant while a senior at Lander University.
Scruggs’ connection with Towe, who left Calhoun Falls to become the defensive coordinator at Greenwood, actually began as a player-coach relationship. Scruggs played basketball for Towe for two seasons while a student at Ninety Six.
“We’re basically doing a lot of the same things, but it’s just a different person coaching them now,” Scruggs said. “I felt like that was the best thing to do, because I believe in a lot of the things that Jimmy did. And they were very successful for him.”
Scruggs takes the reins of a boys basketball program that is consistently at the top of the Region I-A standings.
The Blue Flashes finished second in the region last season, after four straight years as region champions.
The 2003-04 Calhoun Falls team had only one senior starter. Scruggs’ first team should have his top two scorers, D.J. Roundtree and Theo Tillman, back for their junior seasons.
Scruggs said he was offered a position on Roberts’ football coaching staff, but he turned it down to have more time to spend with his two daughters, Shilby-Anne, 2, and Savannah, 7 months.
“He (Roberts) asked me whether or not I wanted to coach football,” Scruggs said, “and I told him that I missed a good portion of my first daughter’s first year and with me having both jayvee and varsity I felt like it was smart for me just to concentrate on basketball.”
It’s a situation the new Calhoun Falls AD can take in.
“I understand that and I look forward to him joining in the future,” Roberts said.

Opinion

Tearing down the military at this juncture is unwise

June 3, 2004

South Carolina waits, holding its breath, unsure what will happen when the Pentagon begins the next round of closing military bases. State officials are, nevertheless, anticipating that one or more bases will be closed in this state. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wants to shrink our military in the name of saving money.
With that possibility in the offing, it wouldn’t hurt to remember what President Ronald Reagan did during the cold war with the Soviet Union. Instead of cutting back on the military, he built it up.

HIS SPENDING TO BUILD UP our military, along with his promotion of what critics called a “Star Wars” anti-missile defense system, became the target of critics and detractors as they predicted the nation could not maintain such spending and survive.
Contrary to the prophets of gloom and doom, though, Mr. Reagan persevered. The Soviet Union, of course, didn’t come out on top. It fell, as did the Berlin Wall that was the symbol of Communist repression.

THE WAY THINGS ARE going now, it would be advisable to rebuild our military instead of reducing it. History should teach us a valuable lesson on letting our defenses down. It’s foolhardy. We let our forces dwindle drastically before World War II and look what happened.
As they say, if we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. We have a choice. We can do as Reagan did, or we can let our defenses shrink. History has the answer for both of those lessons. Some just don’t pay attention.

Editorial expression in this feature represents our own views.
Opinions are limited to this page.

Obituaries

Brady Boozer

NINETY SIX – Brady J. Boozer, 77, of 108 Cothran Street, Ninety Six, husband of Grace Opal Poore Boozer, died Tuesday, June 1, 2004 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Born in Greenwood, he was a son of the late Brady J. Boozer, Sr. and Emily Smith Boozer. He was retired from American Termapest and was a member of Ninety Six Church of God.
Surviving is his wife of the home; a son and daughter-in-law, Brad and Kay Boozer of Greenwood; a sister and brother-in-law, Doris and Tom Tumblin of Clinton; a brother and sister-in-law, Aaron and Joann Clem of Ninety Six; a granddaughter and grandson-in-law, Michele and John Campbell and two great grandchildren, Brie Campbell and Jared Campbell.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Harley Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Roy Burroughs, the Rev. Wilton Scruggs and the Rev. Bobby Davis officiating. Burial will be in Elmwood Cemetery.
Pallbearers will be Perry Fernandez, Gray Fernandez, Bobby Agner, Michele Campbell, Jared Campbell and John Campbell.
Honorary escort will be the men of Ninety Six Church of God.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Thursday from 1 to 2 p.m.
The family is at the home of his son, Brad Boozer, 1426 Bucklevel Road, Greenwood.
Memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, PO Box 658, Greenwood, SC 29648.
Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.harleyfuneralhome.com
PAID OBITUARY

Everette Fox

NINETY SIX – Everette L. Fox, 76, husband of Faye Foster Fox, died Tuesday, June 1, 2004 at NHC Health Care Center, Greenwood.
Born in Newport, TN, he was a son of the late Zeb and Marcella Turner Fox. He was a resident of Cleveland, OH for 20 years, where he was a foreman with Ford Motor Co. He was a contractor in South Carolina for over 20 years.
He was preceded in death by a sister, Agnes Mattison.
Surviving is his wife of the home; three daughters, Annetta Fox, Carlene Fox and Genia Fox, all of Lexington; a stepdaughter, Kathy Swink of Greenwood; a stepson, Alvin Corbin of Greenwood; two brothers, Eugene Fox and Earl Fox, both of Ninety Six; two sisters, Amozine Fortner of Ninety Six and Louise McKinney of Greenwood; a granddaughter, Kayren Skenes of West Columbia and a great grandson, Garrett Skenes.
Services will be at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Harley Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Bobby Davis officiating. Burial will be in Greenwood Memorial Gardens.
Pallbearers will be Steve Fox, Russell Fox, Russell Fox Jr., Bobby Foster, Lynn Gibert and Floyd Porch.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m.
The family is at the home.
Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.harleyfuneralhome.com
PAID OBITUARY

Lesley B. Harrison

McCORMICK — Services for Lesley B. Harrison are 2 p.m. Friday at Shiloh A.M.E. Church, conducted by the Rev. James Louden III, pastor. Assisting are the Revs. Robert Haskell, Robert Taylor and J.C. Williams. Burial is in the church cemetery. The body will be placed in the church at 1.
Pallbearers are members of Sons of Aide Society No. 30.
Flower bearers are nieces.
Visitation is 6-8 tonight at Walker Funeral Home.
Walker Funeral Home is in charge.

Sam Ross Jr.

EDGEFIELD — Sam Ross Jr., 76, of Rosa Hill Street, died Monday, May 31, 2004 at Edgefield County Hospital.
A native of Edgefield County, he was a member of Simmon Ridge Baptist Church. He was the first black policeman hired by Edgefield City Police Department, where he worked until retirement.
Survivors include three daughters, Barbara Ross of Aiken, Jeanette Hammond of Columbia and Bernice Walker of Melbourne, Fla.; two sons, Richard Ross of Camp Spring, Md., and Larry D. Ross of Washington; a brother, Leroy Diggs of Queens, N.Y.; 10 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren.
Services are 1 p.m. Friday at Simmon Ridge Baptist Church, conducted by the Rev. George Counts. Burial is in the church cemetery.
Visitation is at the home or after 1 p.m. today at G.L. Brightharp & Sons Mortuary.
G.L. Brightharp & Sons Mortuary is in charge.

Pauline Strickland

LAURENS — Emily Pauline Morrison Strickland, 83, of 63 Strickland Ave., widow of Charles Grover Strickland, died Tuesday, June 1, 2004 at Greenville Memorial Hospital.
Born in Henderson County, N.C., she was a daughter of the late Burgain Holmes and Lillie Hill Morrison. She was a retired employee of Torrington Co. and a member of New Prospect Baptist Church, the Aunt Het Sunday School Class and Laurens District Genealogical Society.
Survivors include two sons, Sammie “Sam” Strickland of Gray Court and Timothy C. Strickland of Laurens; a daughter, Mrs. David (Judy Strickland) Humphries of Laurens; four sisters, Helen M. Cotes, Eleanor M. Lawson and Ann M. McDowell, all of Laurens and Millie M. Gwinn of Pascagoula, Miss.; a brother, Daniel L. Morrison of Laurens; five grandchildren; three great-grandchildren.
Services are 3 p.m. Friday at New Prospect Baptist Church, conducted by the Rev. John Huckaby. Burial is in the church cemetery.
Visitation is 7-8:30 tonight at Kennedy Mortuary.
The family is at 8610 Highway 76 W.
Memorials may be made to Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children, 950 W. Faris Road, Greenville, SC 29605.
Kennedy Mortuary is in charge.

Louise Jennings Tankersley

WHITMIRE, SC – Louise Jennings Tankersley, age 81, formerly of Whitmire and widow of Chester Tankersley, died Wednesday, June 2, 2004 at Oakmont Nursing Home in Union.
She was born in Newberry County and was a daughter of the late Fred and Lillie Mae Cook Jennings. She was retired from Whitten Center and was a member of Friendship Baptist Church.
Surviving are two daughters, Brenda Maness and Elaine Gaffney both of Greenwood; two brothers, Gene Jennings and Ernest Jennings both of Whitmire; two grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Funeral services will be conducted Friday at 3:00 p.m. in the Friendship Baptist Church with burial in Whitmire Cemetery.
The family will receive friends at Friendship Baptist Church, before the service from 1 to 3 p.m. on Friday.
The family will be at the home of her brother, Gene Jennings, 78 Lowery Street, Whitmire.
Gray Funeral Home-Whitmire, SC.
PAID OBITUARY