Calhoun Falls residents deal with fallout of brutal killing

Four men, one juvenile charged with murder

April 21, 2005

By SHAVONNE POTTS
Index-Journal staff writer

CALHOUN FALLS — Residents here were hesitant and apprehensive in talking about the slaying of an 18-year-old Abbeville man at an apartment complex parking lot.
Calhoun Falls Police officers responded late Monday night to the Hunter’s Blind Apartments, where E’maseo Montez Morris was found dead from a single gunshot wound. Morris was also beaten with bricks, The Associated Press reported.
Four Calhoun Falls men and a juvenile were charged Tuesday with murder and first-degree lynching. First-degree lynching is any act of violence inflicted by a mob on another person that results in the death of that person.
Those charged, who a nearby resident said all live within a few blocks of the apartment complex, are: Catlin Lee Norman, 19, of Hickory Street; Rayshawn Lewis, 18, of Florence Street; and Marvin Craig Kennedy, 18, and Octavious Arja Belcher, 19, both of Seneca Circle. The name of the juvenile was not released by authorities.
The investigation has been turned over to the State Law Enforcement Division, which is interviewing people, Police Chief Mike Alewine said.
Many residents at the complex would not talk about the incident. Some said they were at work or not home, while others said they were asleep. Most said they didn’t want to get involved or comment about what happened.
People who live near the complex said they knew the suspects. No one interviewed Wednesday wanted his or her name used.
One teen spent the night at a friend’s house at the apartment complex the night of the shooting.
“I heard the gunshots,” she said. “It was about seven or eight (shots).”
When the teen girl came out of the apartment, three buildings down from where the shooting happened, she said police were already on the scene.
“It’s not an everyday thing,” she said of someone getting shot at the area, noting that the last time someone was shot at the complex was about seven years ago.
A Calhoun Falls resident who lives near the complex said he frequently saw the suspects.
“I’d sit on my porch and they’d wave at me and wave at my wife,” he said.
He said his 19-year-old son hung out with them.
The resident said being involved in a shooting incident seemed “out of character” for the teenage suspects.
One man who lives two streets away from the Hunter’s Blind apartment complex said he heard a call from law enforcement about shots being fired, but had no idea the incident was so close.
“I heard the gunshots that night and heard it on the scanner. I thought (the incident) was in Greenwood,” he said.
Abbeville County Coroner Ronnie Ashley said Tuesday that Morris was shot in the back.
Alewine said he could not release any specific information about the circumstances of the shooting, only that people are still being interviewed.
Reports said officers responded to building G at the far end of the complex just before midnight Monday. Several people were standing in front of the building letting officers know someone had been shot behind the building.
Reports said officers noticed a bullet wound in the back of Morris’ head.
Alewine said he could not say what type of gun or guns were involved in the shooting. “My thoughts and prayers go out to the victim’s family,” he said.
The men arrested are at the Abbeville County Law Enforcement Center awaiting a bond hearing.

Greenwood man saw different side of war

‘I experienced what being an American really means’

April 21, 2005

By MEGAN VARNER
Index-Journal staff writer

As thousands of American and Allied soldiers took to the skies for distant missions over enemy-occupied France and Germany in World War II, thousands more, such as Greenwood resident James Gardner, remained on the ground at the air bases, anxiously waiting for their comrades to return.
As a member of the ground crew, Gardner’s duty – to repair and replace damaged communication devices in the massive bomber planes – did not begin until the other men’s missions were complete. It was a unique position that kept him somewhat safe during the war, and it gave him the opportunity to travel throughout Europe during his tour of duty.
When he returned home from service in 1945, the war had not only given him a wife and a child, but it had given him a better understanding of what it meant to be an American.
Gardner, now 83, was born in Greenwood County, near the town of Callison, in May 1921. He said his father owned a large family farm, on which as a young man, Gardner spent many hours performing typical farmhand chores.
When he graduated high school in the late 1930s, Gardner said he had his hopes on going to Clemson University.
“My parents wouldn’t pay my way to a military school, so I had to go to Erskine,” he said.
Gardner spent two years at Erskine College before he transferred to Furman University in September 1940.
On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Gardner, a business administration student, was tucked away in his dorm room studying for a commercial law exam, when he became aware that something was very wrong.
“I heard a noise down the hall and it didn’t quiet down – it got louder. I went to see what it was, and that is when I found out that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor,” he said. “I had been in an international relations club at Furman for two years, and we had studied the situation. I knew when they bombed Pearl Harbor that we were now in the war, and that my time out of service was short.”
But Gardner wasn’t called up to fight for his country immediately, and in June 1942, he graduated from Furman. Three months later, he was working at an air base in Greenville when his draft notice arrived. He reported to Fort Jackson in Columbia to be inducted into service.
After a battery of tests, Gardner said his scores indicated he would be a good candidate for the United States Army Air Corps – now known as the United States Air Force. He was shipped to a base in St. Petersburg, Fla., to begin basic training. After three months, Gardner began learning how to build and repair small radio sets at a radio communications school in Wisconsin.
On May 3, 1943, when he finished radar school in Florida, Gardner reported to Fort Kilmer, N.J., where he boarded a very crowded RMS Queen Mary for the journey into the European battle zone.
“There were 22,000 of us on that ship,” Gardner said. “It was so crowded that, every other night, we had to sleep out on the deck.”
Though the Queen Mary was one of the most luxurious passenger liners of its time, Gardner said his journey across the Atlantic on the enormous ship was anything but pleasurable.
“That was the most stressful time of my service. We all knew that these were the days of the German submarine packs, and they were sinking ships by the dozens every day. Thousands of boys on those liberty ships were sunk,” he said. “It took us five days to cross, and we were constantly watching the water to see any sign of a torpedo coming.”
Unbeknownst to the men, at about the time of their crossing, American and English intelligence forces had managed to break the German submarine code, Gardner said. Allied forces, in B-24 Liberators, were flying over head, scanning the oceans to find and destroy any German submarine packs that were looking to stir up trouble.
The Queen Mary pulled into port in Glasgow, Scotland, on May 10, and Gardner said the troops were given a warm greeting.
“We went through the towns on a train, and the little kids would be out there, holding up their hands and making Vs for ‘Victory,’” he said. “They knew that we were Americans, and they were glad to see us.”
The men arrived at the Grafton-Underwood air base in Kettering, England, the field from which Allied planes carried the first bombs dropped over German-controlled Europe, Gardner said.
As a part of the 384th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force, Gardner’s role was not flying over the skies in one of the massive B-17 bomber planes, but as a technician on the ground, repairing damaged radio and communication devices on the planes as they returned from missions.
“When the planes returned, the crews were carried to debriefing, and we were allowed on the plane to see what damage was done. If we found a damaged radio set, we took it out and put another one in,” Gardner said. “If we replaced the set and it still didn’t work, then we had to find out why. Sometimes, shrapnel would go through the wires that ran along each side of the plane, and we had to reach in there to find the wire that was broken. Then we soldered that wire with a match and wrapped it in tape.”
Gardner said one of the trickiest wires on the plane to fix was the thin antenna wire that ran from the tail of the plane to the top of the cabin.
“The only way you could get up there to (repair) the wire was to wrap your legs around the plane’s tail and pull yourself up – there were no steps,” he said. “And when it was cold and the plane was wet, you still had to go.”
On the night before a scheduled mission, Gardner and the other ground crew members would thoroughly check that each plane’s communication equipment was working properly. When the planes departed, Gardner said he and the others would wait at the base until the squadrons were due to return.
The longer bombing missions could last up to 10 hours, and Gardner said the ground crew men spent those hours trying to relax back in the barracks on the base.
He said one of the most emotional parts of the job – and one that still affects him today – was watching for the planes to land after their mission. Some came back unscathed, some were damaged, and some never returned at all.
“We assembled where the planes were coming in. We knew how many left, and we could count the ones that were coming back,” he said, solemnly. “When we lost a plane, we may not have known anybody on it, but we knew we had lost the people.”
After missions, Gardner said the soldiers would head into Kettering, a factory town of about 30,000 people at that time, where a Red Cross Club served as a place of refuge and celebration for the soldiers.
“The boys would go and shoot darts and talk to the natives. It was our way of forgetting about what happened that day,” he said.
Gardner said he received a seven-day furlough every three months, and he used the weeks away from the base to visit towns throughout the British Isles. With history as his minor in college, Gardner said the trips were both educational and interesting.
He spent hours studying the unique architecture of antique cathedrals, strolling the halls of venerable university campuses, sailing the lakes of Scotland and walking the moors of the northern Isles.
“It was an opportunity I would not have had otherwise,” he said. “I really enjoyed it.”
The war not only gave Gardner the opportunity to enrich his education – it also gave him a bride.
One Sunday in May 1944, Gardner and a soldier walked into the Red Cross Club in Kettering, where they saw three women sitting on a bench. One, a blonde, caught their attention, and the men decided to flip a coin for the chance to dance with the lady.
“Harold won the toss, so I started dancing with the next girl,” he said, laughing. “It was Sunday night, and I asked her where she was going, and she told me she was going to church. I said that I would go with her, and we went to church. Then, we went back to her house that night for a cup of tea, and it ended up that I married her.”
After receiving permission from the Army for marriage, Gardner and his fiancée Joan, a native of Kettering, took their vows in December 1944, just seven months after the fateful coin toss.
By the time Gardner’s bomb group took its 316th and final mission on April 25, 1945, the unit had lost more than 1,000 men and had dropped more than 22,000 tons of bombs, he said.
“There is no way to tell how many people we killed. It didn’t really bother me at the time, but sometimes I think about it now,” he said.
The war was drawing to a close in Europe, and in May, Gardner was moved to France as part of an occupational army. He remained there until September, when he had accumulated enough points to return to the United States to be discharged from duty.
His wife, who was expecting their first child, was unable to make the journey to America until after the birth of their son Richard in December 1946.
His position on the ground may have kept his body safe during World War II, but it did not spare his soul the heartache of watching many of his war brothers sacrifice everything in the name of freedom.
“I experienced what being an American really means. Many of those boys over there sacrificed their lives, and I saw those sacrifices. In a small way, I participated in it because I helped prepare them for the missions they were going on,” Gardner said. “The war made me appreciate the freedom that we have. Freedom is never free. It costs something, and I did see how much it costs.”

Bearcats pound Fleet

Wilson pitches shutout as Lander hammers 15 hits in victory

April 21, 2005

By BRIAN HOWARD
Assistant sports editor

Ryan Roeder capped a six-run second inning with his first collegiate grand slam as the Lander University baseball team snapped a two-game skid to Erskine, routing the Flying Fleet, 16-0, Wednesday at Legion Field.
The Bearcats (24-23), who split with Erskine (37-14), entered Wednesday’s rival game against the Fleet coming off their third straight loss, but pounded out 15 hits and took advantage of four Fleet errors to get the win.
“We played well in three phases,” Lander coach Mike McGuire said. “Obviously David (Wilson) pitched extremely well. He made a good-hitting team look bad at times. That’s hard to do. That’s a credit to him and the way he pitches.
“Offensively, we got a merry-go-round going. They made an error or two that kind of hurt them. It wasn’t one guy. Ryan Roeder got the big hit that kind of jump-started us to break it open.”
Wilson (8-4) pitched a complete-game six-hitter to get the win for Lander. Four of the six hits Wilson surrendered came to Erskine center fielder Antonio Sabatini (4-for-4). The senior left-hander has won his last two starts, giving up just two runs.
Lander took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Jonathan Myers, who went 2-for-6, scored on David Walton’s single.
The Bearcats then put the game away by scoring six runs in the second inning.
James Compo, who went 2-for-3, drew a one-out walk, followed by an infield single by Jeremy Ryals (3-for-4). Myers singled to center, scoring Compo.
Radley Raven followed with an infield hit to load the bases and David Walton reached on a fielder’s choice as the throw from Erskine first baseman, Brent Mahaffey, was high to catcher Matt Wurzer, trying to get Ryals at the plate.
After a pitching change, Roeder took a 1-0 fast ball and sailed it over the left field wall for the grand slam.
“The moment it hit the bat, I knew it was gone,” Roeder said. “It was just a sweet connection, great swing. As soon as I hit it, I said, ‘Yes.’”
Roeder’s homer was his fourth this season.
Lander added a run in the third, but scored five in the fourth, with all of them coming with two outs.
Adam Strongman, Ryan Brisby, Compo, Ryals and Myers all had RBI singles to give Lander a 13-0 lead.
In the fifth, with two outs and bases loaded, Strongman crossed the plate on an error by Erskine second baseman J.J. Newman, then Kevin Davis and Brisby went home on Ryals’ two-RBI single for Lander’s final runs.
“That was a butt kicking, that’s what that was,” Erskine coach Kevin Nichols said. “Any time you show up with two good baseball teams, you have that threat of getting spanked and that’s what happened today. Hopefully we can take it on the chin.”
Chris Peeples started on the mound for the Fleet, who used six pitchers. Peeples worked just 1 1/3 innings, giving up six runs on five hits.
McTaggart relieved Peeples and gave up seven runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings. Dooley worked an inning, giving up three hits and three runs.
Erskine (37-14) took the first meeting against Lander, beating the Bearcats 8-7 on a walk-off home run by Sabatini on Feb. 16.
The 16 runs scored tied a season high, as Lander beat Augusta State, 16-12, Feb. 19.
Lander plays host to North Greenville 6 p.m. Friday in a three-game series with the Crusaders.
Erskine plays in the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference tournament Friday at Pfeiffer.

Opinion

Registering sex offenders hasn’t solved the problem

April 21, 2005

Are we letting convicted criminals – sex offenders and others – out on the streets when they should be kept behind bars? Considering recent tragic events, it would be hard to convince a lot of people these days that we’re not doing something wrong and that somehow the system needs improving.
In fact, some South Carolina lawmakers are wondering now whether they ought to change a prison release program after a former inmate was accused of killing two people and raping a teenager.
Stephen Stanko was completing the S. C. Department of Probation Parole and Pardon Service’s community supervision program as part of his 10-year sentence on kidnapping, assault and breach of trust charges when those crimes occurred.

IT’S A SHAME IT TAKES violent acts or other wrongdoings for some things to get attention.
Nevertheless, if the release program needs reworking, no more time should be wasted.
The Stanko case put a national negative spotlight on the Palmetto State, upsetting a lot of people. And rightly so. Still, if it leads to improvements of the system, maybe corrections will be made that otherwise might never have seen the light of day.
This, though, is not the only program dealing with convicted criminals that needs revamping. All over the nation there have been kidnappings and killings in recent months that should create a lot of doubts for law enforcement and society as a whole.
That’s especially evident in the state of Florida, which has seen two high-profile cases in recent months.

FIRST, IT WAS A REGISTERED sex offender, John Evander Couey, who confessed and is charged with kidnapping and killing 9-year-old Jessica Marie Lunsford.
Next, another registered sex offender, David Lee Onstott, confessed and is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 13-year-old Sarah Michelle Lunde.
All of these cases are particularly disturbing since all the men involved were free after serving time for other crimes. The first question that comes to mind for many people, of course, is why require sex offenders to register if they can so easily have opportunities to commit more crimes.
The system indeed needs tightening ….. before yet another registered sex offender kills another child.

Editorial expression in this feature represents our own views.
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Obituaries

James ‘Jimmy’ Earl Brevard

CROSS HILL, SC – James “Jimmy” Earl Brevard, 67, went home to be with his Lord on the 19th of April, 2005 at home. Jimmy was born on February 14, 1938 in Hendersonville, North Carolina to Melvin and Ruth McCall Brevard. His parents and his beloved wife, Grace Angel Brevard predeceased him. He was a graduate of Jackson High School, Jackson, South Carolina and Western Carolina University. He retired from Walt Disney Co. in Orlando, FL after 25 years of service. He was an avid golfer and member of the Rolling S Golf Seniors as well as a fisherman. He was a faithful church member and Sunday School Teacher at Bethabara Baptist Church. His devoted wife, Judith Parrish Brevard; a daughter, Angela McKee of Kissimmee, Florida; a son, Steven Gregory Brevard of Cross Hill, South Carolina; three grandchildren and three great grandchildren survive him.
Surviving also, his step family; Jimmy & Linda McRae, Carrollton, Georgia; Thomas and Lisa Burdick, Villa Rica, Georgia; Donnie McRae, Temple, Texas; Theresa and Henry Erhardt, Dallas, Georgia; 13 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. He leaves behind a host of special Uncles, Aunts, cousins and friends. Visitation – 1:00-2:00 p.m. prior to the services at Bethabara Baptist Church, 635 Bethabara Church Road, Cross Hill, South Carolina at 2:00 p.m. Friday. Inurnment in Shepherds Memorial Park, Hendersonville, North Carolina on Saturday, April 23, at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family request memorials to Bethabara Baptist Church Building Fund, P.O. Box 395, Cross Hill, SC 29332; First Baptist Church Building fund, 220 East Washington Ave., Hinesville, GA 31313 or HospiceCare of the Piedmont, 408 West Alexander Avenue, Greenwood, SC 29646.
GRAY FUNERAL HOME of Clinton is in charge.
PAID OBITUARY

Henry Wendell Grubb

SAMMAMISH, WA – Henry Wendell Grubb, of Sammamish, died at home on Sunday, April 17, 2005. He was 92 years old.
Mr. Grubb was born on October 3, 1912 in Michigan City, Indiana, the son of Wendell and Anna Grubb. He was raised in Michigan City and graduated from Notre Dame University in 1936. He married Jane Rankin on February 10th, 1945 in Kentucky. He worked for Warner-Lambert Company as a Chemical Engineer. He moved to Sammamish in 2001. In his leisure time he enjoyed model railroading and amateur radio.
Survivors include son David Grubb, of Sammamish and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife Jane in 1990 and daughter Jane Hoag in 2004.
A memorial mass will be held 2 PM Thursday, April 21, 2005 at Mary Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Sammamish.
Friends are invited to share memories and sign the family’s on-line guest book at www.flintofts.com
Arrangements are by Flintofts Funeral Home and Crematory.
PAID OBITUARY

Betty Faye Ferqueron

Betty Faye Ferqueron, 58, died Wednesday, April 20, 2005 at the home of a sister, 1208 Sweetwater Road.
Born in McCormick, she was a daughter of the late Luther Lee “Doc” and Minnie Wideman Ferqueron. She lived in McCormick until 1988, when she moved to Greenwood.
Survivors include three brothers, Ollie Ferqueron of Troy, Roy Ferqueron and Ray Ferqueron, both of Greenwood; three sisters, Sadie Lou Whitten, with whom she lived, Doris Brown and Peggy Royston, both of Greenwood.
Graveside services are 3 p.m. Friday in Overbrook Cemetery, McCormick, conducted by the Rev. Bud Tumblin.
Visitation is 7-9 tonight at Strom Funeral Home, McCormick.
The family is at the home of Sadie Whitten, 1208 Sweetwater Road.
Strom Funeral Home is in charge.

Joe Ross

WARE SHOALS — Robert Joe Ross, 92, husband of Lettie Medlin Road, of 18 Pearl St., died Tuesday, April 19, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Born in Greenville County, he was a son of the late Marvin Arnold and Lizzie Sullivan Ross. He retired from Riegel Textile Corp., where he was a Quarter Century Club member and was a member of Ware Shoals Pentecostal Holiness Church.
Survivors include his wife of the home.
Services are 2 p.m. Friday at Parker-White Funeral Home, conducted by the Revs. Mac Jones and J.C. Sorrow. Burial is in Greenwood Memorial Gardens.
Pallbearers are Scott Giles, Billy Vinson, Robert Vinson, Jason Vinson, Frank Chapman, James Madden, Danny Medlin and Steven Medlin.
Honorary escorts are members of Ware Shoals Pentecostal Holiness Church Men’s Bible Class.
Visitation is 7-9 tonight at the funeral home.
The family is at the home.
Parker-White Funeral Home is in charge.