Message of faith

Greenwood event offers lesson to students

August 8, 2004

By TASHA STEIMER
Index-Journal staff writer

Some area churches and organizations came together Saturday with children in mind for the annual Community Back To School Bash.
The event – sponsored by the Greenwood Crimestoppers – provided a pizza lunch and school supplies to more than 300 children at Morris Chapel Baptist Church.
Members of Mount Calvary Baptist Church and Mars Hill Baptist Church presented a play, “Lord Save My Child Part II,” written by Ojetta Williams.
Williams said she wrote the play after seeing children turn to drugs and other illegal activities because of peer pressure.
“You see things going on in the community, and I wanted to do something to encourage children to stay away from drugs and be active in their church and community.”
The play revolves around a rebellious daughter who disobeys her parents and sneaks out for a party instead of going to church. The girl is drugged by her boyfriend and becomes comatose.
After many hours, the girl awakes in a hospital to find her family praying over her.
Williams said the play stresses obedience and faith – something she believes all children need. “When you disobey your parents, bad things can happen,” she said. “Having faith and religion is a must. I think that is more important now than when I wrote the play three years ago. I hope they’ll take away that drugs are a no-no in their life and leave them with a sense that they need to be careful of who they chose as friends.”
Greenwood County Councilwoman Edith Childs said more than 600 packages of school supplies were made to give to children during the event. Any packages that were not handed out Saturday will be distributed to area churches and given away to other children.
“It’s awesome, awesome,” she said. “We had over 30 pastors and other people here who were involved, and that made (the group) larger.”
Robert McClinton, assistant superintendent of administration at Greenwood School District 50, encouraged students to work a hard through the school year.
“Let’s use talents to the best of your ability with the right attitude,” he said. “When you use talents to the best of your ability with the right attitude, God will bless you with another talent.”
Charles Graves, director of the Career Center in Greenwood, said he didn’t like school as child, but his parents knew how important it was for him to get an education.
Roger Richburg, principal of Springfield Elementary School, told students that education is a life-long pursuit and to pass that education along to someone else.
“Remember that you are worth something because God made you, and God doesn’t make junk,” he said.
Georgia Deal, patient navigator for the Morris Smiling Faces Project, taught students about the importance of brushing and flossing their teeth.

Moving dirt for a dream

Abbeville breaks ground on new baseball facility

August 8, 2004

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports writer

ABBEVILLE — It was a day Mark Smith never thought would come.
Smith has spent the past 20 years coaching the Abbeville High School baseball team at Hite Stadium. That is after the Panthers’ football team was finished with it.
In 2002, Smith skeptically listened to an idea to build the baseball team its own facility.
The Abbeville coach, along with a couple hundred Panthers baseball fans and former World Series MVP Bobby Richardson, witnessed the biggest step in bringing that idea into reality Saturday afternoon.
Smith, Richardson and contributor and former state congressman Charles Powell each plunged gold-plated shovels into the ground of a brand new baseball facility on the campus of Wright Middle School.
“I was a little pessimistic two-and-a-half years ago as to how this was going to take shape, but seeing certainly is believing and this is really an exciting day for our program,” said Smith, who teaches PE and health at Wright.
“After twenty years at Hite Stadium, I still can’t believe that everything’s going to be brand new. The kids, over all the years, have worked hard to make us worthy of something like this.”
Richardson, a resident of Sumter who played 12 seasons at second base for the New York Yankees, signed autographs before the groundbreaking.
The seven-time All-Star was excited about both the community turnout and the purpose for the event.
“It really makes me feel good, because they’re not only interested in providing a great facility, but they’re coming together to do it,” Richardson said. “So, I’m excited for them.”
Wayne Stevenson, the radio voice for Abbeville football and baseball, was also pleased to see so many from the tight-knit community come.
“It’s an amazing atmosphere out here,” Stevenson said. “You can’t put a dollar amount on something like this. It’s a rallying point for people in this community. It’s like one big happy family.”
It was also an especially gratifying day for Stevenson, who is the chairman of the Abbeville High School Baseball Field Steering Committee.
Stevenson, along with the rest of the committee, has worked since March 2002 to see this park come to life.
“We’ve been into this project for two-and-a-half years and this has just been amazing,” Stevenson said. “It’s a project where the community has come together, and once it’s done we will turn it over to the school district. It’s theirs. It’s a gift from this community. How many communities the size of Abbeville will come together and give a facility like this to their school district.
“It says a lot about this community and it says a lot about the baseball program that Mark Smith runs here.”
And Smith reciprocates the appreciation bestowed on him by the committee.
“This steering committee is unbelievable,” the coach said. “They kept their eyes on the prize the entire time. They never doubted that they were going to make this a reality. And another thing is every time there was a decision to be made they would always call me first. For them to include me in the decisions and the planning was super.
“And now to look around and see where everything is going to be is really exciting.”
Stevenson said the total cost for the facility, which was estimated at $500,000, is to be funded primarily by private donations.
Stevenson said the park, which is currently known as The Abbeville Baseball Park, would be officially named at a later date.
And what Smith has seen of the new park from the architect’s drawings leaves the usually quiet and unassuming coach with plenty to say.
“Most schools have really nice fields, but this is going to be a total park,” Smith said. “We’re going to have a 10,000-square foot plaza, a walk of fame, a dressing facility with a coach’s office and training room, which is going to overlook the park.
“I think about all the times I pulled hose pipes to try to make sure we had proper irrigation at Hite and we’re going to have forty-two sprinkler heads here. That just blows me away.
“And it’s going to be very fan friendly. There’s going to be an area in right and an area in left where people can just bring their chairs and watch from out there. We’re going to have a $40,000 scoreboard that’s forty-feet wide.
“And I never really felt a pressure to win until today,” he said, jokingly.

Opinion

All classrooms don’t have qualified teachers needed

August 8, 2004

Does every school in Greenwood County and the Lakelands area have a qualified teacher in every classroom. What about all the schools in South Carolina?
The answer to those questions seems obvious as problems in education continue year after year. Schools still have some teachers who have to teach out of their field of training. That’s not fair to the teacher or the students. Then, as anyone who pays attention knows, there are some working teachers who should not be in the classroom at all.
Nobody knows this better than teachers who are qualified and see their hard work diluted by those who fall to the lowest common denominator.

IF THERE ARE SOME who doubt this situation exists, consider a recent report published by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), an organization of 16 states, which includes South Carolina. The report noted:
“In the 1980s, shortages of qualified mathematics and science teachers were seen as a threat to our economic future. This threat, in fact, drove early school reform as we began to understand the connections between those shortages and the wellbeing of the nation. SREB states spent hundreds of millions of dollars to change the way that teachers are prepared to teach and are supported once they enter the classroom. These states developed or revised academic programs, raised standards, revised licensure systems, paid teachers more and provided staff development.”
Still, SREB says, “Even so, too much is the same today as it was in the 1980s …
“… Current national surveys show that 24 percent of classes in academic subjects in grades seven to 12 in SREB states still are led by teachers who do not have a minor in the subject; this number jumps to 34 percent in high-poverty schools. In most cases (for example), we still can count on one hand the number of graduates each year from traditional teacher preparation programs in a state who are prepared to teach physics …”

THE REPORT NOTES, “Why has so much reform aimed at helping every child have a qualified teacher not produced more? The problem is that we have made changes one by one, disjointed from other reforms. We need to adopt one system whose key elements work together to make a difference, especially given the complexities of preparing, supporting and compensating teachers …”
All of this sounds good and may help future needs. There is one important question none of this addresses, however, and that should concern educators and lawmakers. That’s what to do about teachers now in the system who are not qualified. As long as they remain, the overall problem will never be solved.

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

Obituaries

Haskell E. Fletcher

Haskell E. Fletcher, 85, of 219 Utopia Acres, widower of Grace Watson Fletcher, his loving wife of 47 years, died Friday, August 6, 2004 at his home.
Born in Ware Shoals; a son of the late Oscar and Tecora Whitman Fletcher. He was retired from the Durst Plant of Greenwood Mills, where he was a member of the Quarter Century Club. He was a member of the United States Marine Corp, the Woodmen of the World, and First Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, where he was a member of the Bill Rushton Sunday School Class and the choir.
Surviving are two daughters Carole Scott and Judy Doolittle both of Greenwood; two sons Eugene Fletcher of Rock Hill and Jimmy Fletcher of Greenwood; a number of grand and great grandchildren.
Graveside services will be 2:00 p.m. Monday at Greenwood Memorial Gardens with the Rev. Fred Smith officiating.
Pallbearers will be Clyde Taylor, Bill Rushton, Bennie Burnett, Hugh Teasley, Billy Coursey and Ned Scott.
The body is at Harley Funeral Home where the family will receive friends Sunday night from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m.
Memorials may be made to First Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, 2107 Mt. Moriah Road, Greenwood, SC, 29646.
The family is at the home.
Online condolences may be made to the family at www.harleyfuneralhome.com

Rev. William E. Link

ABBEVILLE — Rev. William Edwin Link, 79, widower of Elizabeth Allen McLaughlin Link, died Thursday, Aug. 5, 2004 at McLeod Hospital in Florence, S.C.
Born in Jolo, Sulu Archipelago Philippines, he was a son of the late Francis Lawson and Emily Schuck Link.
He was a Navy veteran, attended University of South Carolina and Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C. where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. He entered Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va. where he received a Bachelor of Divinity Degree. He retired from active ministry serving Ashpole and Rowland Presbyterian Church in Rowland, N.C. and was involved in the Lion’s Club, board of education and served as hospital chaplain.
Survivors include a brother, Rev. Robert Sumter Link; four sons, William Edwin Link Jr., Charles McLaughlin Link, Stuart Townsend Link and Samuel Allen Link; seven grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
Services are 3 p.m. today at Claritin Presbyterian Church.
Burial is 2 p.m. Monday in Long Cane Cemetery, Abbeville.
The Chandler-Jackson Funeral Home is in charge.

Lenora McBride

Services for Lenora McBride are 1 p.m. Tuesday at Robinson & Son Mortuary Inc., conducted by the Rev. John Henry Parks Jr. Burial is in Ninety Six Community Cemetery.
Pallbearers are friends of the family.
Flower bearers are nieces.
Visitation is 7-8 Monday at Robinson & Son Mortuary Inc.
The family is at the home of an aunt, Jessie Mae Bowie, 605 Owens St.
Robinson & Son Mortuary Inc. is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at robson@emeraldis.com

Terry L. Sanders Jr.

WARE SHOALS — Terry Lee Sanders Jr., 31, of 2445 Poplar Springs Road, died Saturday, Aug. 7, 2004 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.
Born in Lancaster County, he was a machinist employed with Burns Repair Shop in Simpsonville.
Survivors include his wife, Melissa Knight Wheatley Sanders of the home; his mother, Virginia Sparr, Greenville; two daughters, Nicole Sanders and Summer Sanders, of Easley; and one brother, Michael Sanders, Fountain Inn.
Graveside services are 11 a.m. Monday at Westview Memorial Park in Laurens.
The family is at the home and will receive friends there and at the cemetery after the service.
Parker-White Funeral Home is in charge.

Donna Turner

NINETY SIX — Donna Arlene Barber Turner, 73, of 95 Kitson St., wife of C.Z. Turner, died Saturday, Aug. 7, 2004 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Services will be announced by Harley Funeral Home.

David G. Wood Jr.

David Glenn Wood Jr., 62, of 50 Second St., died Saturday, Aug. 7, 2004 at his home.
Services will be announced by Harley Funeral Home.