Funding a community dream

Organizers still seeking ways to pay for West Cambridge Park

April 25, 2005

By WALLACE McBRIDE
Index-Journal senior staff writer

When West Cambridge Park opened to the public a year ago, it was a dream come true for planners. In recent years, local children had few places to go for fun and exercise, and volunteers with the Greater Greenwood Parks and Trails Foundation thought a new park would be used, and used often.
Weather permitting, the new park is busy almost every day of the week. But a year’s worth of fun might conceal an unfulfilled need at the park — specifically a $160,000 debt.
“When we built the park, we knew we would take out a loan to pay the project off,” said Natalie Parramore, project chairwoman for West Cambridge Park. “But we felt like we needed to built the project to show the community the value it would have in the area.”
Five volunteers signed a personal loan to cover the remaining $160,000 owed on the park’s creation, with the intent of recouping those dollars in benefit events this summer.
Most of the formal events planned for the summer have been canceled, though, because of conflicts with other local events. Project coordinators wanted to bring a series of concerts to the park this summer to raise needed money, but discovered similar plans were already in place for Uptown’s Live After 5, Festival of Flowers and elsewhere.
“There’s a whole lot of other campaigning going on,” Parramore said. “We didn’t want to conflict with other events going on. We want to partner with everyone and have a great calendar of events going on all year long — you don’t want people to have to pick and choose.”
One fund-raiser now in progress is the Greenwood Cares 100, designed to collect $1,000 donations from 100 people or businesses. When finished, a monument will be built at the park using engraved bricks and plaques featuring the names of donors.
Parramore said 68 people have already made commitments to Greenwood Cares 100.
“I’m very confident that we’re going to finish raising the money,” said GGPTF President Kim Madden. “There was never a doubt in my mind that we would.”
Initial campaign efforts succeeded in raising almost $300,000 for the creation of the park, she said.
“We can do this in small, bite-sized pieces,” she said. “If I had a dollar for every time someone told us we couldn’t build a park, we’d already have it paid for.”
West Cambridge Park was built using donations from the public. GGPTF pays the costs of the park’s long-term maintenance, while the city and county manage daily cleanup.
The park marks its first anniversary May 9.
Donations for the project can be mailed to: GGPTF, P.O. Box 8021, Greenwood 29648; or call 942-8496 or 941-5435 for information about West Cambridge Park.

Wallace McBride covers Greenwood and general assignments in the Lakelands. He can be reached at 223-1812, or: wmcbride@indexjournal.com

Board member hopes to bring better economics education
to Greenwood-area students

April 25, 2005

By TASHA STEIMER
Index-Journal staff writer

When she isn’t heading a consulting firm or working on the board of directors for the South Carolina Council on Economic Education, Linda L. Dolny is saving dogs.
“I just pick up a stray if I find one,” she said. “I’ll take it over to Greenwood Veterinary Hospital and they’ll check it out and then we find it a good home,” she said.
Dolny, who is president of PML Associates Inc. – a human resource and management consulting firm – recently joined the SCCEE board of directors after someone in the Upstate region recommended her for the position.
“I was a school teacher before I worked for Union Carbide, so I’m very interested in education,” she said. “This is for high school students to better understand the American business system. I was also looking to bring new opportunities to Lander University.”
Dolny, a Lander alumna, found out that the university was a host site for the council’s economic education program focusing on fourth to 12th grades.
Dolny said Tim Dupont, director of the Center for Economic Education and visiting instructor of economics for Lander, works with teachers and provides guidance to better teach economics to students.
“The council also runs a stock market game that many school participate in that’s sponsored by Merrill Lynch,” she said. “Students have done some interesting things.”
Students also participate in “Hootie” stocks that involve businesses that have a South Carolina connection.
Dolny said this real-world experience helps students get acquainted with the economic system.
Although she is still new to the board, Dolny said she is looking forward to becoming more active through the program at Lander and on other projects that may come up.
“Once I understand more about the role and what I can do for the council, I’ll take more on. I’m always interested in working with students,” she said. “Tim and I will probably work more together and figure out how to increase involvement in the community. It will make Lander more visible too, and I think that’s important.”
Dolny said many people in Greenwood are not familiar with the SCCEE but she would like to see that change.
“Most of us are very shy about talking about economics,” she said. “People just don’t like it because most of us don’t feel comfortable with it. I’d like to see us make it more communicable and more interesting.”
One way SCCEE is trying to gain momentum in the Upstate is by meeting with educators and business leaders at Lander during a statewide meeting in September to discuss ways to introduce more economic-related programs to children.
One such program the council has done is collect artwork from students throughout the state to be used in a calendar depicting economic concepts.
“It’s another way to take the spookiness out of economics,” she said.
Dolny, who grew up in Abbeville, moved to Greenwood in 1992 with her husband and their business from Connecticut.

Tasha Steimer covers general assignments in Greenwood and the Lakelands. She can be reached at 223-1811, ext. 3305, or: tsteimer@indexjournal.com

Making modifications

Area doctors taking different approach to physicals

April 25, 2005

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports writer

Many of the student-athletes looking to participate in athletics for Greenwood District 50 have already noticed a different take on the sports physicals for next school year, and they can expect even more changes when they undergo the actual test.
Dr. Dave Sealy, who has overseen sports physicals for District 50 since 1997, made those modifications in response to a silent killer: sudden cardiac death, something that has left an indelible mark on college and prep sports throughout the country. In the last two years, six high school student-athletes have died from sudden cardiac death in South Carolina alone.
“We are doing a number of things to be a little more sensitive to the subtle symptoms and the signs associated with sudden cardiac death in student-athletes,” said Sealy, a director of residency education and a director of sports medicine at the Montgomery Center. “It’s quite a bit more aggressive than what we’ve done in the past, and it will probably turn up a lot of people that are totally normal, but remember we’re looking for the needle in a haystack.”
Prospective student-athletes for the 2005-06 season from Greenwood and Emerald high schools as well as those from Brewer, Northside and Westview middle schools will have designated date and times to undergo sports physicals at the Montgomery Center, which is located on the corner of Academy Avenue and Edgefield Street.
The cost for the physicals is $20.
Greenwood students are scheduled for Tuesday, with the girls slated for 5:15 p.m. and the boys at 6:15. Emerald and Westview students are set for the same times Wednesday. Brewer and Northside students are scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday.
But this year, student-athletes will have three different documents that need to be filled out before being cleared to play sports next season: a family/personal history form, a physical examination form and a clearance form.
Sealy said he contacted all five athletic directors in the district and all of them were extremely open to the changes.
“I don’t think words can express how important this issue is,” Greenwood AD Shell Dula said. “We’re just making every effort we can, and you can still miss things. I just appreciate the initiative that Dr. Sealy has put forth to give our kids in District 50 the best possible physical they can get.”
Mac Bryan, who will take over as Emerald’s athletic director next school year, agrees.
“Anything you can do to try and protect the student-athlete I think you need to do that,” Bryan said. “If a more thorough background check will help then I think it’s certainly something you ought to do.”
Sealy said the family/personal history form contains questions that are similar to the ones used on past history forms. But this time, the document must be filled out and signed by a parent before being seen by a doctor.
“In the past, depending on the school, the athlete often filled out the form in the waiting room without a parent’s signature and could easily check no to all of the questions,” Sealy said.
“We know that asking just one and not the other is not enough. You can’t just ask the parents, because they may not know all of what the athlete has experienced, and you can’t just ask the athlete, because they’re motivated to say no to everything.
“In medicine, one of the things we’ve learned is that the better the history you take, the better you listen to your patient, the more important the information can be gleaned, and that’s our goal.”
But the major difference this year will take place during the physical examinations itself. After the standard check the patient’s height, weight, blood pressure, pulse, etc, Sealy and the 12 or so doctors will repeat specific list of questions that was on the history form face-to-face with the more than 1,000 boys and girls. Sealy said that contingent upon how those questions are answered will show if those athletes will be further evaluated by an echocardiogram (ECHO) or electrocardiogram (EKG). Sealy said that echocardiograms, which is an ultrasound of the heart that can cost over $1,000, will be offered for only $50 thanks to the Athletes For Life program.
“We’re looking for the poker face on the kids,” Sealy said. “We’ll look on the form and they’ll all be nos. So, we’ll need to say ‘so, you’ve never passed out before?’ and they’ll go ‘well … no.’ We need to say ‘tell me about well … no.’ ”
Dr. Eric Cole, who is one of the dozen or so doctors that will be performing physicals at the Montgomery Center, said you get a better feel for the patient by the answers given in person more so than the check marks on a history form.
“By us asking face-to-face, we think they’re probably going to be more likely to answer us honestly than just looking at a sheet of paper,” said Cole, a second-year resident at Self Regional Healthcare. “We’re hoping to increase the sensitivity of the history itself. So, hopefully, we can pick up any subtle symptoms the athlete might have that could lead to sudden cardiac death.”
But Dr. Daniel Lewis, a first-year resident, said there’s another reason for asking the patient the questions.
“We’re also looking to clear up any of the misconceptions the kids have about the questions,” Lewis said.
Lewis said most every athlete would say yes they’ve had chest pains, but they may not be sure what kind of pain it is, where it’s located or how severe those pains are. But further examining the questions will lead to a better medical history.
“The history part of the physical is very, very important,” said Brian Bishop, who is the athletic trainer for Emerald. “Dr. Sealy has done a great job of putting together those questions. I just hope our parents take the time to answer the questions and not just guess.
“Because that history part is of the utmost importance for the doctors going into the physicals.”
Bishop knows first-hand what it’s like to watch a high school student, in seemingly perfect health, collapse because of cardiac arrest.
During a January 2004 basketball game between Mauldin and Hillcrest, Bishop, then Mauldin’s athletic trainer, saw Phillip Davis collapse with no pulse. Bishop used an automated external defibrillator (AED) along with CPR to revive the Mauldin student.
“The young man is doing fine now, he’s even back playing basketball, but there for about five minutes he had no pulse and he wasn’t breathing,” Bishop said. “Nothing had been picked up on a physical. He was 5-foot-8, 155 pounds, and socio-economically he came from an excellent background. It was just totally unexpected. … Even more is that his father was in a CPR class I taught and his mother was a nurse at Greenville Hospital.”
It’s the obscure symptoms of this pressing problem that has many puzzled. Sealy said that many are born with congenital heart problems, but sometimes they don’t manifest symptoms until teenage years.
“What they’re looking into is the things that you don’t even know are there, and that’s the scary part,” Bryan said. “But I think the way they’re going is the way more people are trying to go with this. But I’m not sure you could ever be 100 percent about something like this.”
But Sealy understands that while there’s an importance in finding a better why to detect cardiac problems in high-school aged athletes, you can go too far.
“We can be too aggressive,” he said. “And here’s why. The leading one, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, is present in about one in 2,000 or more kids, but only one in 100 or less that have it are going to actually die from it. So, that means the other 100 to 200 that have it are going to get excluded from sports, but never need to be. If we just found these things in kids that had no symptoms, we might not be doing them a favor.”

Ron Cox covers prep sports for The Index-Journal. He can be reached at: ronc@indexjournal.com

Opinion

What do Bolton’s critics want in United Nations?

April 25, 2005

There should be an important question about the United Nations on the minds of most Americans these days. It’s particularly pertinent now, while we’re trying to get a new U. N. ambassador on the job.
President Bush’s nominee for the post, John R. Bolton, has come under fire from some members of the U. S. Senate. Opponents, mostly Democrats and a couple of Republicans, say he has a reputation of being too blunt and too critical of the world body. Also, there was another charge against him that brought questions about Bolton’s temperament and credibility.
Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, controlled by Republicans, decided to delay a vote on sending Bolton’s nomination to the full Senate when Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said he was not comfortable voting today (Tuesday), that he had some concerns about Bolton.

ADDING TO THE DELAY WERE charges by a Dallas businesswoman that an irate Bolton chased her through a hotel and threw things at her at an international conference.
That was 10 years ago, though, and Bolton supporters wondered why she waited until now to make such a charge. And, if anyone wonders, it was reported the woman has belonged to an anti-Bush organization for some time.
Partisan politics, you ask? There hardly seems to be any doubt about this being yet another political effort to embarrass Bush.
Be that as it may, there is one overriding question that should be directed at Bolton’s opponents: Who and what would they have representing the United States in the U. N.?
Do they want someone who will carry on business as usual in an organization that has been decidedly anti-U. S. for years?
DO THEY WANT SOMEONE reduced to a role of being the official apologist for this nation? Do they want someone who accepts the criticism from opponents that we are responsible for all the bad things in the world? Or, would they prefer someone who sees the U. N. as a political tool to use to beat the U. S. over the head?
In short, do they want someone who simply would not fight back?
Never mind that the U. S. is by far the number one financial supporter of the U. N. Never mind that the U. N. has become the number one soap box for America’s detractors.
Why send someone who’ll push for reforms? Why indeed!

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

Obituaries

Lilber Coursey

Lilber Rushton Coursey, 91, resident of 3310 Highway 25 S., widow of Allen Coursey, died April 24, 2005 at her home.
Born March 25, 1914 in McCormick County, she was a daughter of the late Tillman Rupert and Mattie Deloach Rushton. She was a graduate of Grove Town School in Grove Town, GA and was retired from Self Memorial Hospital as a nurses aide.
Mrs. Coursey was a member of Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church.
Surviving are one granddaughter, Angie Coursey Palmer of Charlotte; one grandson, Allen Coursey of Columbia; and one great-grandson, Nicklaus Watson Palmer.
A graveside service will be conducted 11:00 a.m. Tuesday at Greenwood Memorial Gardens with Rev. Tommy Cartledge officiating.
Honorary escort will be Tim Ethridge, Clifton Eakin, Tony Eakin, Daryl Dodgen, Dewey Rains, Greg Rains, Kenneth Wheless, Barry Wheless, John Rodgers, Jimmy Rodgers, Jeff Rodgers, and James Rodgers.
The family will be at their respective homes.
Memorials may be made to Hospice Care of the Piedmont, 408 W. Alexander Ave., Greenwood, SC 29646.
For additional information please visit www.blythfuneralhome.com.
BLYTH FUNERAL HOME IS ASSISTING THE COURSEY FAMILY.
PAID OBITUARY

Helen Patton Davis

NINETY SIX — Helen Patton Davis, 77, of 2011 Tillman Territory Road, widow of James “Buddy” Davis, died Sunday, April 24, 2005 at her home.
Born in Spartanburg, she was a daughter of the late Letha Harris and the late Joseph Patton. She was a homemaker and a member of Mount Pisgah Baptist Church, Missionary Society, Senior Choir, Usher Board, Women’s Aide No. 104, Mount Pisgah Order of Eastern Star No. 418, former Comandress of Daughter of Isis, former member of American Legion Post No. 224 and Seaboard Sr. Citizens.
Survivors include four sons, Willie Davis, Fayetteville, N.C., Alfonso Davis and Randy Davis, both of Greenwood, and Jimmy Davis; five daughters, Brenda Davis of the home, Mrs. John (Mary) Pope, Ninety Six, Mrs. Ralph (Martha) Wilson, Goose Creek, Mrs. Monroe (Marie) Roundtree and Carolyne Carter, both of Greenwood; 20 grandchildren, two reared in the home, Brittney Davis and Brandon Davis; and nine great-grandchildren.
Services will be announced by Robinson & Son Mortuary.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at robson @emeraldis.com

Debra Leckliter

NINETY SIX — Debra Pardue Leckliter, 33, of 1619 Ninety Six Highway, wife of Mike Leckliter, died Saturday, April 23, 2005 at her home.
Born in Greenwood, she was a daughter of William and Betty Polk Pardue. She attended Greenwood High School and attended Augusta Highway Baptist Church.
Surviving is her husband of the home; two sons, Bradon Pardue and Gary Leckliter, both of the home; her parents of Greenwood; her grandmother, Mary Pardue of Greenwood; four brothers, Biemann Pardue of Hickory Tavern, Ronnie Pardue, Johnny Pardue and Jeff Pardue, all of Greenwood; her father-in-law, Kenneth Leckliter of Lothian, MD and her mother-in-law, Shirley Leckliter of Greenwood.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Augusta Highway Baptist Church with the Rev. Craig Hughes officiating.
Burial will be in Elmwood Cemetery.
Pallbearers will be Tony Walker, Glenn Drummond, Mark Mobley, Joey Leckliter, Jeff Pardue and Johnny Pardue.
Honorary escort will be Raymond Massey, Chris Tyler, Mickey Goodman and George Harbin.
The body is at the home and will be placed in the church at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
Memorials may be made to HospiceCare of the Piedmont, 408 W. Alexander Avenue, Greenwood, SC 29646.
Harley Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.harleyfuneralhome.com
PAID OBITUARY

Helen B. Phillips

ABBEVILLE, SC — Helen B. Phillips, 90, of 404 Sunset Dr., Abbeville, wife of the late Horace “Whitey” Phillips died Saturday, April 23, 2005 at the Anderson Area Medical Center. Mrs. Phillips was born in Monroe, GA to the late Mahlon and Bessie Jackson Burson.
The family will receive friends from 10:30AM to 11:30AM Tuesday, April 26, 2005 in the Abbeville First Baptist Church. Funeral services will follow in the church at 11:30AM on Tuesday. Interment will be in Long Cane Cemetery.
The family is at the residence.
Online condolences may be sent to the Phillips family by visiting www.harrisfuneral.com
HARRIS FUNERAL HOME, of Abbeville is assisting the Phillips family.
PAID OBITUARY

Claude ‘Mutt’ Roundtree

Claude “Mutt” Roundtree, 84, widower of Bertha Bowman Roundtree, died Saturday, April 23, 2005 at Magnolia Manor of Greenwood.
Born in Callison, he was a son of the late Alex Roundtree and Mahila Sullivan Roundtree. He was a member of Flint Hill Baptist Church and a veteran of World War II.
Survivors include six sons, Willie Moss and Claude Roundtree, both of Greenwood, Horace Carroll of Syracuse, N.Y., Claude D. Roundtree Jr. and Benjamin E. Roundtree, both of Tulsa, Okla., Robert Lee Roundtree of Ninety Six; a brother, Earl Roundtree of Greenwood; a sister, Ollie Roundtree of Laurens; several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The family is at the home, 1117 McKenzie Road, Ninety Six.
Services will be announced by Parks Funeral Home.

Margaret Sherrill

DUE WEST — Margaret Ellis Sherrill, 91, of Due West Retirement Center, widow of Rev. Paul L. Sherrill, died Saturday, April 23, 2005 at the Carlisle Nursing Center in Due West.
Born in Abbeville County, she was a daughter of the late David Boyce and Margaret Armstrong Ellis. She was a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Erskine College and formerly taught in the public school system of Darlington and Marion, S.C. Formerly of Charlotte, N.C., she had made her home in Due West since 1994. She was a member of Due West Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.
She was the last member of her immediate family.
Graveside services are 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Due West Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church Cemetery, conducted by the Rev. Calvin Draffin.
The body is at Blyth Funeral Home in Greenwood.
Memorials may be made to the Carlisle Nursing Center, 18 Frank Pressly Drive, Due West, S.C. 29639.
Blyth Funeral Home, Greenwood, is in charge.