Red flag sends up red flags

Your mailbox can attract thieves looking to pilfer information

April 24, 2005

By TASHA STEIMER
Index-Journal staff writer

On your way to work in the morning, you slip a few paid bills into your mailbox and put up the red flag. You might not think about it, but that flag not only lets the postman know you have mail to be picked up, but also attracts thieves.
Although thieves take mail looking for checking account numbers and other personal information, Harry E. Spratlin, communications specialist for the U.S. Postal Service Greater South Carolina District, said thefts are rare and often the amounts taken are not large.
“Our inspectors work hard, but mail fraud does happen,” he said. “Most thieves look for other ways than the mail to get personal information.”
If residents want to be cautious, Spratlin said they can use the letter slots at the post office and should pick up mail soon after delivery.
“People shouldn’t leave their mail in overnight,” he said. “They should make sure all of their mail is accounted for daily.”
“Even if you’re not home, if you’re expecting anything from your bank, keep an eye out for it. “If what you’re mailing is sensitive, I would suggest people send it by registered or express because it provides more security for the item,” he said.
Scott Silvestri, spokesman for Wachovia in Charlotte, said the occurrences of thieves stealing written check from personal mailboxes are rare and typically isolated incidents.
“The opportunity exists if the mail is left in an insecure box, and people should stop by the post office or drop them off in a post office box,” he said. “For boxes of new checks, set up a delivery to another address where you’ll be during the day, such as your work address. Or have a neighbor or friend that you trust keep an eye out for it when you’re expecting them to arrive.”
Derrick Copeland, head of security for The Palmetto Bank and a fraud investigator, said more than $1 billion is lost every year because of check fraud.
“That includes checks, check cards, ATM cards and anything else relating to checking,” he said. “That number isn’t limited to checks stolen from mailboxes.”
Copeland, who is also a certified fraud examiner, said thieves get checking account numbers from many sources, mainly through stolen purses and some mailbox scams.
“We try to train our people that when you put the flag up on your mailbox, it indicates to crooks that there could be a check there,” he said.
Statistics from American Bankers Association Deposit Account Fraud Survey Report showed that check-related losses vary but generally increase with bank size. Community banks reported seven cases with a median loss of $5,042 per bank in 2003. Banks that include multiple regions, or a “money center,” reported 4,829 cases in 2003, with a median of more than $8 million in losses per bank.
Spratlin said stealing personal information or tampering with the mail carries a stiff penalty – one that should deter many thieves.
“Tampering with any mail is a federal offense,” he said.
Mailboxes are considered federal property, and federal law makes it a crime to vandalize them or to injure, deface or destroy any mail deposited in them. Violators can be fined up to $250,000, or imprisoned for up to three years, for each act of vandalism.
Spratlin said all thefts, tampering or vandalism to mail or mailboxes should be reported immediately to the local postmaster and U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Postal inspectors will determine whether your problem is isolated, or one frequently experienced in your neighborhood.
Obtain Label 33 from the Postal Inspection Service and affix it to your mailbox. The sticker warns that willful damage to mailboxes and theft of mail are crimes.
Keep your mailbox in good repair, and make sure it’s properly installed. This may help prevent theft of the mailbox itself.

Calhoun Falls prom takes place under tight security

April 24, 2005

By SHAVONNE POTTS
Index-Journal staff writer

CALHOUN FALLS — As students headed to the Calhoun Falls High prom Saturday night under a full moon, police and area law enforcement were working to ensure their safety after the shooting death last week of an Abbeville man in this town.
Calhoun Falls Police asked officials with the State Law Enforcement Division, the Abbeville County Sheriff’s Office and city police and the McCormick County Sheriff’s Office and city police to assist in patrolling near the Savannah Lakes activities center in McCormick, where the prom took place. They also planned to patrol Calhoun Falls after the prom. “We are beefing up our patrol,” Calhoun Falls Police Chief Mike Alewine said Saturday afternoon.
Late Saturday night, an Abbeville County dispatcher and the McCormick County Sheriff’s Department said they had not received any calls about violence.
Monday’s shooting at the Hunter’s Blind Apartments in Calhoun Falls resulted in the death of E’maseo Montez Morris, 18, who police said was beaten and shot in the back.
Alewine addressed rumors of retaliation from the shooting, saying that “we all have heard the rumors.”
“You have to take precautions,” he said. “We haven’t seen any signs, and nothing has happened so far.”
Four Calhoun Falls men — Rayshawn Lewis, 18, Catlin Lee Norman, 19, Marvin Craig Kennedy, 18, and Octavious Arja Belcher, 19 — and one juvenile have been charged 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.
Reports said officers responded to building G at the far end of the apartment complex just before midnight after calls about a shooting. Officers found a metal chair lying across Morris’ right side, reports said. Other published reports said Morris had been beaten with bricks in addition to being shot to death.
Morris was born in Abbeville and graduated from Abbeville High.
He attended Piedmont Tech.

Velvia Stevens Aiken

Services for Velvia Stevens Aiken are 1 p.m. Tuesday at Mount Zion A.M.E. Church, Hodges, conducted by the Elder Jonathan Baker and the Rev. Albert Thompson. The body will be placed in the church at 12. Burial is in the church cemetery.
Pallbearers are nephews.
Flower bearers are nieces.
Visitation is Monday evening at the home, 15211 Highway 221 S.
Robinson & Son Mortuary, Greenwood, is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at robson@emeraldis.com

Margie Osborne Dorn

COLUMBIA — Margie Osborne Dorn, 76, of 5217 Circle Drive, widow of John E. Dorn Sr., died Friday, April 22, 2005 at her home.
Born in Shelby, N.C. she was a daughter of the late Carl and Nellie Freeman Osborne. She was retired from Palmetto Fed. Bank and was a member of First Baptist Church, McCormick. She made her home in McCormick, S.C. until 1995 and then with her daughter in Columbia.
Survivors include a son, John E. Dorn Jr. of Columbia; a daughter, Susan D. Sims of Columbia; two grandchildren, Kevin Walton and Amy D. Johnson; a great-grandchild, Savannah Johnson.
Graveside services are 11 a.m. Tuesday at Overbrook Cemetery, McCormick, conducted by the Rev. Doug Kauffman.
Visitation is 7-9 Monday at Strom Funeral Home, Highway 378, McCormick, S.C.
Strom Funeral Home, McCormick, is in charge.
PAID OBITUARY

Debra Leckliter

Debra Pardue Leckliter, of 1619 Highway 34, wife of Mike Leckliter, died Saturday, April 23, 2005 at her home.
Services will be announced by Harley Funeral Home.

Willie Belle Linton

Willie Belle Linton, 84, of 201 McKellar Drive, widow of Thomas L. Linton, died Saturday, April 23, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center.
She was a daughter of the late Henry & Henrietta Harrington Abrams.
Survivors include a daughter, Mrs. Claude (Coateen) Garrett of Sumter; two sons, Ernest Linton of Providence, R.I. and Charles Linton of Greenwood; four grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; two great-nieces reared in the home, Jasmine White and Latoya Arnold.
The family is at the home.
Services will be announced by Robinson & Son Mortuary.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at robson@emeraldis.com

Edward Hays Reynolds Jr.

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Edward Hays “Bubber” Reynolds Jr. passed away Friday, April 22, 2005, after a lengthy bout with cancer. Bubber was born August 9, 1923, in Greenwood, South Carolina, the second son of the late Edward Hays Reynolds Sr. and Rebekah Graham Reynolds. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Suzanne Janes Reynolds and two brothers, Edward Alexander Reynolds of Columbia and Harry Graham Reynolds of Trenton, South Carolina. He is also survived by his five children and their spouses, Edward Hays Reynolds III (Cherry), John Alexander Reynolds (Lib), Susan Carson Reynolds, Jacqueline Reynolds McLeod (Parks), and Harry Neel Reynolds (Pam), all of Greenville; and fifteen grandchildren, Hays Reynolds IV, Charlie Reynolds, Lee Reynolds, John Reynolds Jr. and Ann Marie Reynolds, Elizabeth Reynolds, Katherine Reynolds, Suzanne Broome, Lee Broome, Parks McLeod Jr., Reynolds McLeod, Martha McLeod, Ashley Reynolds, Caroline Reynolds and Rebecca Reynolds.
Bubber grew up in Columbia, SC, graduated from Clemson College, Class of 1944, B.S. Textile Engineering, and served as a Captain with the 42nd Infantry Division in Europe in World War II. After the War, he moved to Greenville and worked in sales with Keever Starch Company. Shortly afterwards, he began working in sales with Charles S. Tanner Company and in 1960, started The Compressor Corp. of America. In 1967, he started Tanner Chemical Company (Tanco Adhesives). In 1978, Bubber resigned as President of Tanco and founded The Reynolds Company. He retired in 1999, and spent considerable time fishing for flounder in the creeks at Litchfield and Pawleys Island. He was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed duck hunting and fishing with his sons and grandsons. Bubber served as past President of both the Poinsett Club and the Greenville Country Club. He was a member of The Cotillion Club and the Pawleys Island Yacht Club, and a member and former deacon at Fourth Presbyterian Church.
Funeral services will be 4:00 pm Monday, April 25th, at Fourth Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Allen McSween officiating. A memorial service for the family will be held in the Church Memorial Garden immediately following the 4:00 service. Following the services, the family will receive friends at the home, 855 South Pleasantburg Drive, Greenville, S.C. 29607.
Honorary pallbearers are Frank Halter, Knox Haynsworth Jr., Jack Stripling, Robert Country Harrison, Dick Osborne, Lang Donkle, Bennett Hudson, Bob Yeargin, John Wood Sr., Coy Huffman Jr., Frank Hammond, Dave Reese, Bill Robinson, Donald McKellar, Julian Friday, Reggie Crouch and Harry King.
The family would like to express its appreciation to the caregivers at Hospice of St. Francis, Caroline Stone and Dr. Mark O’Rourke.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Hospice House of Greenville Fund, 113 Mills Avenue, Greenville, SC 29605-4085 or Clement’s Kindness at the Community Foundation, 27 Cleveland Street, Greenville, SC 29601.
Robinson Funeral Home-Downtown, Easley, is assisting the family with arrangements.
PAID OBITUARY

Glenn Russell

WARE SHOALS — Glenn Edward Russell, 52, of Buddy Knight Road, died Friday, April 22, 2005 in Lexington, S.C.
Born in Ware Shoals, he was a son of Marvin Eugene and Virginia Dyal Russell. He served in the Army in Vietnam, was employed by Fisher Tank Co. and was a member of Harmony United Methodist Church.
Survivors include his parents of Ware Shoals; a son, Bobby Russell of Ware Shoals; a daughter, Felicia Russell of Ware Shoals; two brothers, Dwayne Russell of Germany and Dwight Russell of Grant Pass, Ore.; and a sister, Susan Gambrell of Melbourne, Fla.
Services are 2 p.m. Monday at Parker-White Funeral Home, conducted by the Revs. Fred Treaster and Tim Bailey. Burial is in Greenwood Memorial Gardens.
Visitation is 7-9 tonight at Parker-White Funeral Home.
The family is at the home of his parents, 12021 Highway 25 N.
Parker-White Funeral Home is in charge.

Barbara Jean Williams

Barbara Jean Williams of 127 Lauren Circle, died Friday, April 22, 2005.
Born in Greenwood, she was a daughter of Raymond and Elizabeth Henderson Williams. She was a 1984 graduate of Greenwood High School and a graduate of Piedmont Technical College with a degree in Business Administration. She was an employee with Marriott Fairfield Inn and Suites in Greenwood.
Survivors include her parents; four brothers, Raymond Williams Jr. of Greenwood, Bobby Williams of Hodges, Stevie Williams and Joseph of Callison; two sisters, Lisa Williams of Greenwood and Joy Williams of Callison; and maternal grandmother, Josephine Henderson of Callison.
Services are 3 p.m. Tuesday at Parks Funeral Home.
The family is at the home of her parents, 1211 County Line Road, Bradley.
Parks Funeral Home is in charge.

Margaret Sherrill

DUE WEST — Margaret Ellis Sherrill, 91, of Due West Retirement Center, widow of Rev. Paul Sherrill, died Saturday, April 23, 2005 at the Carlisle Nursing Center in Due West.
Services will be announced by Blyth Funeral Home.

One huge inning does in Emerald

April 24, 2005

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports writer

The Chapman High School baseball team used a huge fifth inning to knock off Emerald, 17-7, Saturday in the Class AA District III second-round winner’s bracket game.
The Panthers sent 15 batters to the plate in the fifth and scored nine of them to erase a 4-3 deficit.
Chapman scored its 17 runs on 20 base hits and 12 free passes — seven walks, five hit batters — from Vikings pitchers.
The slugfest gave the Panthers a total of 35 hits in two playoff games, after they had 15 in Thursday’s 18-8 win over Abbeville.
“Those guys can hit the baseball. We hit the baseball well, but they just out-hit us,” Emerald coach Chad Evans said.
“We had a couple of innings where we couldn’t get them out. And when that happens, all you can do is tip your hat to them.
“We have to battle back.”
The Vikings could get another shot at Chapman, but it will be in Inman Wednesday and only if Emerald can get past Abbeville Monday.
Abbeville knocked off Columbia, 7-3, Saturday, to keep its season alive.
Chapman had two players reach base safely all six times they were up.
Catcher Phillip Morgan was 3-for-3 with a home run, five RBIs, three runs, but also walked twice and was hit by a pitch once. First baseman Blake Moon also reach base each time, but he may have some bruises to show for it, getting hit four times, walking once and picking up a single.
Emerald catcher Wade Scott and courtesy runner Justin Davis provided six of the Vikings’ seven runs.
Scott, who was 1-for-3 in Emerald’s win over Columbia Thursday, was 2-for-3 with three runs scored against Chapman starter Ryan Deese.
Justin Lovvorn’s two-run double in the first gave the Vikings the early 2-0 lead. But Chapman touched up Emerald starter Brandon Miller for two runs in the third when Morgan doubled in Jacob Israel and later scored on a wild pitch.
Emerald reclaimed a two-run advantage in the bottom of the inning.
The Panthers cut it to 4-3 in the fourth, but the inning could have been a lot worse for the Vikings.
But with the bases loaded and no outs, Emerald left fielder James Childress made a diving catch on a short fly from Israel and then tossed to Josh Lovvorn to double up Ed Veilman.
After walking Morgan to re-load the bases, Miller got out of trouble by fanning Jared Birdno.
But Miller lasted only two batters in the fifth on a double from Bubba Owens followed by a homer to Jonathan Henderson, starting the nine run inning.
Emerald junior Blake Moore came in relief of Miller, who suffered his first loss of the season, but Moore gave up seven hits, walked two and hit four batters and was touched for eight runs.

Spartanburg eliminates GHS

April 24, 2005

By BRIAN HOWARD
Assistant sports editor

The Spartanburg High School baseball team scored 11 runs during the second and third innings, then held off a late rally by Greenwood to beat the Eagles, 11-8, and eliminate Greenwood from the Class AAAA playoffs Saturday.
Spartanburg (11-14) advances to meet the loser of the Gaffney-Lexington game Monday. The Eagles ended their season 10-11.
Matt Titus started on the mound for GHS, but lasted 2 1/3 innings after surrendering eight runs on nine hits.
Greenwood trailed 11-0 heading into the bottom of the third, but scored four runs and cut the deficit to seven.
“We try to teach them to never give up and to fight to the end,” Greenwood coach Stanley Moss said. “There are going to be games like this where teams come in, score some runs early, but you can’t get yourself down.
“They did an excellent job, especially those young kids. Our younger guys really came back and battled and gave us a shot. That’s all we can ask for.”
After a scoreless first inning, Spartanburg exploded for five runs in the second and six in the third innings.
Scott Harward led off the second inning, drilling a 2-1 pitch over the left field wall to give Spartanburg a 1-0 lead.
Costly defensive mistakes doomed Greenwood with two outs in the second inning.
David White reached on an infield single and advanced to second on an error by Greenwood third baseman Christian Powell. Buck Thomas reached on an error by Powell, and White scored on a base hit by Joseph Burnett. Ryan Wilkins belted a 2-1 pitch over the right field fence for a three-run homer, giving Spartanburg, which hit three home runs, a 5-0 lead.
Kyle Behrendt led the Eagles at the plate by going 3-for-5 with a double and a home run.
Austin Addison was 2-for-3 with three RBIs — all coming in the third on a bases clearing double.

Constitution and treason and travels of Jane Fonda

April 24, 2005

Write your own editorial!
An American Vietnam veteran has been charged with disorderly conduct after he spit tobacco juice into the face of actress Jane Fonda. The actress is touring the country promoting her new book. The veteran, Michael A. Smith, 54, of Kansas City, Mo., after he was arrested and charged, commented that Fonda has been spitting in the faces of Vietnam veterans for 37 years.
She was, of course, a well-known opponent of U. S. involvement in Vietnam. What really irritated many veterans, not to mention many other Americans, was a trip to North Vietnam where Fonda became a big propaganda opportunity for the Communists of North Vietnam. Many of them consider what she did and said there as treasonouable.
Whether it was a matter of treason or not probably depends on personal beliefs. So, what does the U. S. Constitution say about treason? It’s very clear in Article III, Section 3 (1):

“Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.”

World Book Encyclopedia explains this section thusly:

“No person shall be convicted of treason against the United States unless he or she confesses in open court, or unless two witnesses testify that he or she has committed a treasonable act. Talking or thinking about committing a treasonable act is not treason.”

Did Fonda commit treason by visiting North Vietnam during war and while there criticizing the United States?
The answer to that is clear for veterans who have no doubts about her giving their enemies aid and comfort. For others, it’s not all that clear. Then, to be sure, there are those who say she was only exercising her constitutional rights.
The debate has been going on for almost four decades. Has anything changed?
Write your own editorial!