Severe weather hits area communities

April 13, 2005

From staff reports

Dark clouds, rain and lightning are what many residents in Abbeville saw Tuesday as torrential weather pounded areas throughout Greenwood and the Lakelands area.

Blaring sirens warned Greenwood and Lakelands residents of a fast-moving storm Tuesday, elevating worries and blood pressures.
Torrential rain pounded Abbeville and Ware Shoals, and a church steeple in Abbeville was struck by lightning. Worried residents who live in manufactured housing in Ware Shoals showed up at town hall looking for a safer place to spend the time it took for the storm to pass.
Sirens were activated in Greenwood County because the vortex of a tornado was detected by radar in a storm cloud. Emergency Preparedness Director Bob Smith ordered the sirens activated because of the potential of a tornado touching down.
No touchdown was reported in Greenwood County, and there were no reports of serious damage.
Emergency Preparedness criteria calls for the sirens to be activated “anytime we get an actual sighting or a radar image declared by the National Weather Service,” Smith said. The local emergency office will not activate the sirens on its own unless there is an actual tornado sighting, he said.
“I’d rather apologize for upsetting people than not sound the sirens,” Smith said. Nineteen sirens, scattered throughout the county, can alert residents to approaching storms or other natural or manmade disasters.
Tuesday evening, the sirens went off as a tornado warning was issued for Greenwood County until 7:23 p.m. Abbeville County experienced a tornado warning an hour earlier, and that storm moved through Cokesbury and Ware Shoals.
Cross Hill in Laurens County and eventually Newberry also were in the storm’s crosshairs. Farther south, Saluda County also was under a tornado warning.
A dangerous cloud was spotted by radar near the S.C. 72 and S.C. 28 intersection, about nine miles west of Donalds, WSPA-TV reported.
A tornado warning means that a tornado has been indicated by radar or by a weather spotter. It also can mean a tornado has been sighted by someone.
Church members and onlookers gathered around Abbeville Presbyterian Church on North Main Street as firefighters put out a steeple fire.
“Lightning struck the steeple,” said Abbeville City Fire Chief Mason Speer, “and set the upper portion on fire.”
The steeple fire happened about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday while area firefighters were at the city fire department getting physicals, Speer said.
It was the only time Speer said he could recall a church in the city being struck.
Firefighters repositioned trucks to get a closer look at the damage to the steeple and to determine if the fire was, in fact, completely extinguished. They ripped off parts of the shingles to get a closer look.
“There was no one inside and there were no injuries,” Speer said. “Thank the Lord it hit the steeple and not the church itself.”
As Jennifer Smith, of Abbeville, pulled up at the red light at the intersection of North Main and West Pinckney streets, she said a bolt of lightning came down and cut across her car. “I thought lightning had hit me,” she said. “My car was smoking.”
Smith, who was trailing behind a friend’s vehicle, said she saw the lightning “zigzag” between the two cars and cross the street.
“My radio blinked, my cell phone went dead. It was like the power went out in my car for a second,” she said.
After the temporary power failure, Smith said she was afraid to get out of the car, so she pulled over and dialed her friend.
It wasn’t until after she saw the fire trucks that she said she realized the lightning bolt that had bounced off her car and was probably the lightning that struck the church. Smith is a member of the church.
Another church member, Linda Arnold, of Abbeville, stopped to witness the fire damage.
“I’m thankful it wasn’t worse than it was,” she said, adding that she was also thankful for the fire departments that responded.
“I’m thinking how blessed we are that it’s not worse,” said Mary Anne Tafta, another church member.
Though the National Weather Service had no confirmed reports of tornadoes touching down in Greenwood or Abbeville counties, meteorologist Bob Bruce said locations in the area received as much as 2 ½ inches of rain.
Bruce said 1-inch hail also pounded the Hodges area, and the towns of Donalds and Honea Path reported wind damage.
Bruce said the nasty weather was triggered by a number of factors, including a frontal boundary and upper-level instability.
He said most of the severe weather was expected to move through the area by midnight Wednesday, with lighter showers expected throughout the day today.
Greenwood County Sheriff Dan Wideman and the Greenwood Police Department reported no major damage in the city or county. No major weather-related wrecks were reported to the S.C. Highway Patrol, said Lance Cpl. Steve Sluder.
The Ware Shoals Police Department said there were no damage reports in the town, but people unsure of the stability of their homes in the face of a potential tornado came to town hall. A “handful” of people sought shelter there, and Mayor George Rush said he left the building open for them. He said he had heard that the Darby Building at Ware Shoals High also had people seeking shelter.
For 45 minutes, the northern Greenwood County town experienced high winds and “lots of rain,” Rush said. “It was over-capacity for the gutters,” he said.
“Right now,” Rush said Tuesday evening, “it’s eerily still.”

Regional editor Vic MacDonald and staff writers Shavonne Potts and Megan Varner contributed to this story.

Charles White

ST. LOUIS – Charles H. “Cotton” White, 74, passed away on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 at Christian Northeast Hospital in St. Louis after a brief illness.
Born in Ware Shoals, SC, he was a son of the late Charlton and Eppie Lou Pitt White. He grew up in Greenwood and played American Legion Post 20 baseball. He was a nonresident charter member of Mathews UnitedMethodist Church in Greenwood, SC. After a twenty-two year career in the US Air Force, he served as Administrative Division Chief at the V.A. regional offices in Baltimore, MD, Houston, TX and Los Angeles, CA. He was then appointed as Director of the huge Records Processing Center in St. Louis, MO where he retired.
He was a wonderful person who will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him and whose lives he touched so meaningfully.
He is survived by his wife, Maria; two sons, Mike White and wife, Cherie of Texas and Chuck White and wife, Della of St. Louis; a grandson, Damien of St. Louis; a daughter, Wanda and husband, Gene Collins also of St. Louis; two sisters, Maria Quattlebaum and Betty White, both of Greenwood; two brothers, Herbert White of Ware Shoals and Jimmy White of Laurens.
Funeral services were conducted at 10:30 AM Friday, April 8th from the Hutchens Mortuary in Florisnant, MO.
Burial was held at Jefferson Barracks with full military rites.
ANNOUNCEMENT COURTESY OF BLYTH FUNERALHOME.
PAID OBITUARY

Pepper Martin, Scouting! The influence is notable!

April 13, 2005

“I couldn’t do it by myself. I didn’t do it by myself.” Typically, that’s what Greenwood’s O. A. “Pepper” Martin said after being honored by Governor Mark Sanford and the State of South Carolina Sunday for outstanding achievement and contributions to his community.
His focus has always been on serving and helping others. That’s why Martin was presented the highest award the state bestows for volunteerism and community service, the Order of the Silver Crescent.
Martin has received other awards for a variety of services in other areas, but more than anything else, he was honored for his success as Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 57 at First Presbyterian Church.

AS SCOUTMASTER, MARTIN achieved a level of success few can match. For one thing, 50 boys reached the rank of Eagle Scout and 16 earned the God and Country Award. Many others were positively affected as they grew from childhood to be the best they could be.
His greatest reward, though, he says, has been seeing “his boys” do so well in so many undertakings in their communities and beyond.
That, in itself, speaks to the dedication that has typified the life and times of a very special man to so many people.
If one word can be used to sum it up, that word would indeed be dedication. That, after all, is what it takes to spend a quarter of century teaching young boys and girls about God and country, morality and patriotism, and all the other qualities Pepper instilled in so many through the years.
Awards were never what it was about with him, either, although it’s good to see his devotion and commitment recognized.
SCOUTING HAS CHANGED since Pepper Martin turned the reins over to others. Every South Carolinian must be familiar with the social issues that have taken hold in the meantime. Still, Scouting remains one of the few participatory activities that help build character and dedication in young people.
Some find some of the influences on Scouting today offensive. No doubt some are. Nevertheless, as long as people like Pepper Martin hold sway, there’s still no better place outside of the family and church to learn and develop the qualities that make and keep this nation healthy in every respect. Like in so many other things, being part of the solution instead of part of the problem is still important. What better way to contribute than from being part of Scouting?
Thanks, Pepper. The list of names is endless.