Keeping jobs in Greenwood

Clemson and Genetic Center collaborative
could provide ‘many opportunities’ for area

July 21, 2005

By MEGAN VARNER
Index-Journal senior staff writer

With the signing of a contractual agreement Wednesday, leaders from the Greenwood Genetic Center (GGC) and Clemson University took the first steps in a collaborative initiative to move South Carolina ahead in the areas of genetic research and technology.
Representatives from both institutions, as well as community leaders, witnessed the announcement at GGC.
The $15 million genetics collaborative will increase research and doctoral education in human genetics.
“The central goal of the Greenwood Genetic Center is to bring hope to individuals who have disabilities and birth defects. In the early years of our operation, that hope often came in the form of information,” GGC Director Dr. Roger Stevenson told the crowd. “Now, that hope is turning increasingly toward curative therapies.”
Stevenson said the genetics collaborative focuses on two essentials: research and education.
The initiative will bring to GGC a 20,000-square-foot graduate education facility, complete with classrooms, laboratories and office space.
It is in that facility that officials hope to open new opportunities for graduate students and find ways to diagnose and treat disabilities and birth defects, Stevenson said.
“First, it will increase our research force to try and understand human disease and disability,” he said, “and second, it will bring talented graduate students to Greenwood, some of whom we hope to keep.”
Recent breakthroughs in preventive treatments have helped curb South Carolina’s cases of some birth defects, such as those of the brain and spine. But the state still ranks above the national average for birth disorders, especially mental retardation, and Stevenson said the research that will be conducted in the collaboration should provide scientists with answers and cures.
“This (collaboration) with Clemson will, hopefully, help us get to answers for birth disorders and disabilities earlier,” he has said, “with the ultimate aim being to develop and provide treatment for these disabilities.”
The projected opening date of the facility is August 2007, said Clemson University President James Barker.
Barker said the facility will provide countless possibilities for intellectual and economic development for not only graduate students, but residents of the area and state.
“We have great teachers, but students will now have the opportunity to spend time in an environment to do research. Their education will be much richer than if they just stayed on campus,” he said. “This kind of transition will aid in their movement into the real world. At the same time, coming out of their work will be ideas, inventions and technology that will change the economics of this state.”
Clemson graduate student and GCC employee Dee Cohn said she and other students were enthusiastic about the future of their education.
“It opens up so many opportunities that really aren’t in this area. Students used to get an education here and then have to move away, but now we don’t have to,” she said. “What people learn here is fascinating. This is a great thing for everyone.”
Another important piece of the collaboration is the potential impact the deal will have on the local and state economy.
“We think we will be laying the groundwork for high technology-based jobs in South Carolina,” Barker said, adding that SC Bio, the state’s biotechnology incubator, will work to keep the discoveries and technology in this state.
“If you make the discovery in your state, the chances are greater that (your state is) going to produce the products and get the economic benefit of doing it,” he said. “We want to make those discoveries here, and we want to keep those dividends here.”

Post 20 win just grand

Burden’s walk-off grand slam gets Greenwood even with Irmo

July 21, 2005

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports writer

Clint Burden put the finishing touches on a perfect night with a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 10th to give Post 20 a 10-6 come-from-behind victory over Irmo Wednesday night.
The win tied the American Legion playoff series at 1-1. Game Three is at 7 tonight at Dutch Fork High School.
Burden, who went hitless in Tuesday’s game, was a perfect 5-for-5 at the plate on Wednesday, finishing with six RBIs.
The former Calhoun Falls High School standout stepped to the plate against reliever Matt Arnold with the bases loaded and one out. He drove a 2-2 fastball over the fence in right for the game-winner.
“I got here early today and worked in the cage, and I got real comfortable at the plate and was seeing the ball real well,” Burden said. “I got my pitch to hit. I knew he threw two curveballs in the dirt and he had to come throw me a fastball. I just sat on it and drove it.
“There’s no better feeling.”
The win ended a string of seven consecutive playoff losses to Irmo, which swept Post 20 out of postseason play in 2002 and ’03. After dropping the first game of the series to Irmo Tuesday night, Greenwood Post 20 coach Billy Dean Minor questioned the team’s commitment.
The Post 20 players responded by coming back to tie the game two different times before winning it in an extra frame.
“We wanted to show Billy Dean that we wasn’t going to get down,” Burden said. “We just wanted to show Billy Dean and (assistant coach) Nate (Hamilton) that we still had the fight in us to see this out.”
Game Three is scheduled for 7 tonight at Dutch Fork High School.
Irmo hit the scoreboard before Greenwood recorded its first out.
Jamal Kinard led off the game with a walk from Post 20 starter Josh Jones and later scored to give Irmo the 1-0 lead on Jones’ pitching counterpart Kyle Branham’s single to center.
Irmo added to its lead in the fifth.
Arnold, who hit a one-out single, went from first to third on a groundout and a wild pitch. He came home to score Irmo’s second run on Ryan Schumpert’s soft single to left.
In 4 2/3 innings, Jones, who threw 89 pitches, 47 for balls, surrendered two earned runs and gave up five hits and eight free passes (four walks, four hit batters), while striking out two.
Post 20, sluggish throughout the first four innings offensively, sprang to life against Branham in the fifth. Brandon Miller drew a one-out walk. Nick Milford and Milton Brown followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases. Brown’s base hit ended an 0-for-9 slump at the plate.
Behrendt, the team’s leading hitter at .402 coming in to the game, plated both runners with a single to left, tying the game at 2.
But Post 20’s new life was quickly extinguished in the next inning.
Adam Churchwell led off the sixth with a single and later scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch from Jenkins to make it 3-2 Irmo.
But Irmo wasn’t done yet.
Post 20 reliever Justin Jenkins was pulled after walking Arnold and hitting Branham. But Behrendt, who came in relief, was roughed up early, allowing consecutive base hits, including a bases-clearing double from Flood to make it a 6-2 game.
Post 20 matched the four-run output in the seventh. With two on and one out, Gary notched hit of the series with a single to left. Nick Milford, who was on second, ran through Minor’s stop sign and slid in safely to cut the deficit in half.
Burden, who was 0-for-4 Tuesday, crushed a pitch off reliever Charlie Stevens into the gap in left-center, scoring Behrendt and Will Gary. Burden came around for the tying run on Wade Scott’s blooper to right that fell in front of and got by a diving Churchwell.
Both teams had more than a fair chance to win it in the ninth.
Irmo has runners on second and third with one out, but couldn’t push anything across.
Post 20 had the bases full and no outs, but went down after a shallow fly out to right, line out to the pitcher and a groundout to second.

Opinion

Judge wanted to interpret, not legislate from bench

July 21, 2005

Who would it be? It wasn’t a rock star or athlete or any kind of entertainer. Nevertheless, the speculation before President Bush nominated federal Appeals Court Judge John G. Roberts Jr. for a spot on the U. S. Supreme Court made it appear to be. That, of course, indicates how important it is.
U. S. Senators have an opportunity to show they can handle the people’s business with dignity and fairness. And make no mistake, it is the people’s business.
From all appearances, though, there will be a few Democrats – and a Republican or two – who will try to shoot down the Roberts candidacy. Some statements already show some liberal senators don’t care whether Roberts is a great legal mind or fair, and his record shows he is both. He is conservative, and that is a red flag, especially to liberals like Teddy Kennedy.

TAKE SEN. PATRICK LEAHY, D-Vermont. Leahy said he wants someone who will not be an activist. The description of an activist judge is one who tends to make laws instead of interpreting them. That makes Leahy’s words hypocritical in the extreme. Members of the U. S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco have made a habit of legislating from the bench. They have built a reputation as the most liberal and activist court in the whole system. Neither Leahy nor any other liberal has said a word about activism on that court, though. It’s simply another forget the Constitution, just do as I say situation.
What else could be expected? Liberal Democrats in Washington appear to want a court that will do for them what they could not do in the elections last November. That is give them power to govern the country.
The people, though, including the majority of South Carolinians, elected President Bush twice.

CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS’ argument that both elections were close in no way negates Bush’s responsibility and right to name Supreme Court justices.
There will be many “what if” questions thrown at Judge Roberts in Senate hearings. Those kinds of questions don’t deserve answers.
Probably the best indication of the kind of justice he would be came in a statement he made. “We have gotten to the point these days,” he said, “where we think the only way we can show we’re serious about a problem is if we pass a federal law, whether it is the Violence Against Women Act or anything else. The fact of the matter is conditions are different in different states, and state laws can be more relevant.”
Too many times federal courts have assumed jurisdiction in issues never mentioned in the Constitution. It’s encouraging to see a federal judge mark the importance of that distinction.

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Obituaries

Deatra Evelyn DeGeeter

GREENWOOD — Deatra Evelyn DeGeeter, 37, of 109 2nd Ave. Rt. 84, Carbon Cliff, Illinois, died July 18, 2005 in Rock Island,Illinois. She is the daughter of Brad DeGeeter of Carbon Cliff and Jennette Harvley DeGeeter of Greenwood.
Funeral services will be Thursday at 2:30 pm at Harley Funeral Home Chapel with The Reverend Chris Stansell. Burial will follow at Elmwood Cemetery in Ninety Six.
Pallbearers will be Danny Harvley, Terry Harvley, Ricky Dill, Mike Harvley, JerryHarvley, Josh Hamrick, Donald Hollingsworth, and Stanley Medlock.
The family will receive friends from 1:00-2:30 today.
The family is at the home of an uncle, S. W. Harvley at 107 Circle Street, Ninety Six. Memorials may be made to Harley Funeral Home.
Online condolences may be sent by visiting www.harleyfuneralhome.com
PAID OBITUARY

Rosie B. Jones

SALUDA — Rosie Bouknight Jones, 92, formerly of 224 Graham St., widow of Jessie Jones, died Tuesday, July 19, 2005 at Saluda Nursing Center.
Born in Saluda County, she was a daughter of the late Eddie and Della Simpkins Bouknight. She was a member of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church and Women Home Aide Society No. 126 and a retired domestic worker.
Survivors include three daughters, Jessie Mae Means, Rosetta Jones and Della M. Wise, all of Saluda; 20 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren, 13 great-great-grandchildren.
Services are 2 p.m. Saturday at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, conducted by the Rev. Clarence Kenner, pastor. Burial is in the church cemetery.
Pallbearers are grandsons and great-grandsons.
Flower bearers are granddaughters and great-granddaughters.
The family is at 224 Graham St.
Butler & Sons Funeral Home is in charge.

Ruth D. Ramhurst

ABBEVILLE, SC — Ruth D. Ramhurst, 69, of 205 Magazine St. died Sunday, July 17th at her residence. She was born in Newark, NJ to the late Samuel J. and Elizabeth Hanson Keller. She has been a resident of Abbeville since 1982. She was very involved with the Tracy Jackson Program of G.I.F.T. of Abbeville and was a member of the Toxaway United Methodist Church in Anderson.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Donald Ramhurst and son Arthur Ramhurst.
Surviving Mrs. Ramhurst is a sister, Evelyn Crockett of Georgia, a brother, Samuel Keller of California, her daughter, Ester Soriano and her husband Greg, a son, Richard Ramhurst and his wife Shelley, and five grandchildren, all of New Jersey. A Memorial Service will be held 4:00PM Thursday, July 21, 2005 at the Haigler St. Church of Christ. The family will receive friends from 3:30PM to 4:00PM prior to the service on Thursday. The family is requesting donations to be made to the family in lieu of flowers.
Online condolences may be sent to the Ramhurst family by visiting www.harrisfuneral.com
HARRIS FUNERAL HOME, of Abbeville is assisting the Ramhurst family.
PAID OBITUARY

Mrs. Lizelle J. Waits

CALHOUN FALLS, SC — Mrs. Lizelle J. Waits, age 82, of 609 Savannah Street, passed away Tuesday, July 19, 2005 at her home.
Mrs. Waits was the widow of Robert Ennis “Bobby” Waits and a member of Calhoun Falls Pentecostal Holiness Church. Survivors include her son Darrell E. Waits and his wife Linda of Abbeville; Grandchildren, Darrell Waits, Jr. and wife Carol of Lexington and Stephanie Carwile and husband Ken of Abbeville; Great-Grandchildren, Lenzi Brady, Corey Waits and Wesley and Kensley Carwile. Also surviving are sisters, Doris Harmon of Calhoun Falls and Audrey Brewer of Laurens.
The family will receive friends Thursday, July 21, 2005 from 1:00-3:00PM at Calhoun Falls Funeral Home with serv-ices beginning at 3:00PM in the Chapel. Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to Hospicecare of the Piedmont, 408 W. Alexander Avenue, Greenwood, SC 29646.
The family may be contacted at the residence, 609 Savannah Street.
Calhoun Falls Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.
PAID OBITUARY