Gospel Fest brings acts of praise to Ninety Six

June 12, 2005

By MEGAN VARNER
Index-Journal staff writer

NINETY SIX – Local singers and performance groups were using their voices, bodies and souls Saturday to praise the Lord during Gospel Fest at the Ninety Six Depot.
The three-hour concert, one of the first events in this year’s South Carolina Festival of Flowers, celebrated its 10th anniversary with the Festival this year, Gospel Fest chairwoman Molly Harts said.
Harts, who is also a member of the 2005 Festival of Flowers Steering Committee, said the variety of performances offered during the concert has made the event very successful over the last decade.
The music for this year’s Gospel Fest, sponsored by the Historic Ninety Six Development Association, included traditional gospel, contemporary pieces and dance performances.
“This is such a diverse music program – it really pulls people in,” Harts said. “Each year, it just seems to keep getting bigger and better. I really enjoy seeing the people come together and have a good time praising the Lord. Everyone gets into the spirit.”
This year’s Gospel Fest featured performances by the Enoree Zion Baptist Church Youth Ministry, the Rev. Wayne Grubb and his wife, the International Council, the Springfield Baptist Singing Convention Sharp Note Singers, the New Vision Chorale, the Bethlehem Baptist Church Choir and Male Chorus, the Fire Birds and Nancy Reese.
Rather than sing during the festival, Hands of Praise Ministry members Denise Keller and Diane Brown used their hands to sign words and phrases to music.
Brown, director and choreographer with the Fountain Inn-based ministry, said she and Keller were inspired to do their sign language musical acts after seeing a similar performance at church.
“A little girl did one pantomime performance to a song, and it was beautiful. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to let it go,” Brown said. “This is everything to me – it’s my life.”

Ex-Eagles coming home to guide campers

June 12, 2005

By CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal sports writer

One of the most unsung factors in the development of young athletes is the opportunity to see where the fruits of their labor might take them.
Attendees of Shell Dula’s Greenwood Eagles Football Camp at Greenwood High School will have a chance to do just that June 13-15. One of the highlights of the camp will be the appearance of two former Eagles who have gone on to play football at the NCAA Division I level: Clemson University’s Jad Dean and former Georgia Tech player Mark Logan.
Logan enjoyed a four-year career with the Yellow Jackets, seeing action at quarterback, punt returner, and wide receiver. The Georgia Tech graduate’s collegiate career was highlighted by a diving 26-yard TD catch in the team’s upset win over Auburn in 2003.
Dean, entering his junior year, had a breakout year for the Tigers last season.
He connected on 12 of 15 field goals and had 25 touchbacks in his 50 kickoffs.
Logan is slated to speak to the campers on Monday afternoon, while Dean is on tap to address the youngsters on Tuesday morning. The two are expected to speak on the benefits of staying in school, getting good grades and staying out of trouble, all attributes that the two learned while playing football at Greenwood.
“It’s fantastic that Mark and Jad are coming in to speak to us,” Dula said. “They’re going to talk to the kids about getting good grades, doing the right things, and all of the little lessons they have learned along the way.”
While the focus of the camp will be on improving the fundamentals of young players, Dula stresses that he wants them to hear a more important message from the former Eagles standouts.
“Take a look at Mark,” Dula said. “He has a degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
That’s one of the finest institutions in the country. I’m proud of what he did in football, but I’m even more proud of that degree. I want the campers to know that.”
Dean said that he is looking forward to the experience of sharing what he has learned with the campers.
“It means a lot to me, both as a person and as an athlete, to be invited in by coach Dula,” Dean said. “This is my first time doing this, and I’m more than happy to give some younger players some guidance for on and off the field.”
Dean spoke highly of the fundamentals and values that will be imparted to the campers by Dula and his staff.
“One of the main things, and this is with coach Dula and (Clemson) coach (Tommy) Bowden, is that they try to develop you as both a person and a player,” Dean said.
“They want you to leave their program with a better understanding of the game and, most importantly, a degree in your hand. I want the kids to know that these guys are developing you for life after football first and foremost.”
Dean said that he would speak to the campers on the benefits of learning and adapting to new skills. It’s a concept that is familiar to the Tiger kicker.
“I’m still adjusting to the college game myself,” Dean said. “When I came to Clemson, it took me forever to get adjusted to kicking the ball off of the ground instead of a tee. I really just got adjusted to that last summer. I’ll try to let the campers know that it’s important that they always be open to learning new things, adjusting and getting better.”
Dean spoke of being envious of the opportunity that the campers, who will range from second- to eighth-graders, will have in getting expert tutelage at such a young age.
“We didn’t have as many camps like these when I was coming along in elementary school and all,” Dean said. “These kids will be at a great advantage. In fact, the younger you start, the greater advantage you will have.”
Dula said that he was confident that campers would find the experience rewarding.
“It will be a great opportunity for the kids to be exposed to Greenwood High and our philosophies on football and academics and so on,” Dula said. “Primarily, we’re going to focus on them having fun, learning some techniques and learning teamwork and cooperation.”
Dula was enthusiastic in his observations on what the camper can learn from college players such as Dean and Logan, as well as current GHS players.
“It will probably mean a lot to some of these kids to see college players from our program,” Dula said. “We’re also going to have (Greenwood kicker) Clay Baldwin come out and work with the kickers, or maybe have (Greenwood quarterback) Armanti Edwards come out and throw them some passes. It should be a lot of fun.”
Anyone interested in registering for the camp can do so from 12-1 p.m. June 13 at Greenwood High School.
The camp will run in four sessions: 1-4 p.m. on June 13, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1-4 p.m. on June 14, and 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on June 15. The cost of the camp is $15 per session or $50 for all four sessions.

Opinion

Court ruling on marijuana shows an uncommon split

June 12, 2005

So, you’re kicked back in your easy chair reading The Index-Journal when a headline catches your eye. Reading on, you see where the U. S. Supreme Court has ruled that state laws are superseded by federal laws where medical marijuana is concerned.
Specifically, the court says that federal authorities may prosecute people who use marijuana when their doctors prescribe it for pain. The court concluded that state laws don’t protect users from a federal ban on the drug.
It was, of course, a defeat for marijuana advocates who had successfully convinced 10 states to allow the drug’s use to treat various illnesses.

THAT LOOKS GOOD, YOU think, until you see what appears to be a strange split among the justices. Liberal justices voted to uphold the federal ban and conservatives took the other side.
What’s going on, you wonder, when Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, one of the most conservative chief justices in the history of the court, voted in favor of the state laws. So did conservative Sandra Day O’Connor.
While on the surface it appears to be a decision on their part to favor marijuana, it wasn’t that at all. It was all a matter of states’ rights versus “rights,” or authority, of the federal government.
The debate over states’ rights has been going on for decades, of course. The late Senator Strom Thurmond was known for his states’ rights beliefs, as have many other public figures in South Carolina history ….. primarily John C. Calhoun in the years prior to the American civil war.

IT IS, TO BE SURE, A constitutional question. It’s pretty hard to dispute what the U. S. Constitution means, although that hasn’t seemed to curtail the federal presumption of authority in so many situations.
Amendment X of the Constitution says: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
No where does the Constitution mention marijuana, or abortion, or any number of other subjects. That, however, hasn’t prevented federal usurpation of jurisdiction in a myriad of things not mentioned.
What part of “reserved to the States” is so hard to understand?

Editorial expression in this feature represents our own views.
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Obituaries

Floried Ray Brock

HODGES — Floried Ray Brock, 87, of 2968 Old Douglas Mill Road, died Friday, June 10, 2005 at Self Regional Healthcare Center. She is the widow of Ralph L. Brock, Sr. and the daughter of the late James and Flora Ray. She was of the Baptist Faith. She was a native of Spartanburg County.
She is survived by two sons, James Ray Brock of Longs, SC and Rhett Brock of Donalds, SC and by ten grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren and by one great-great-grandchild. She was predeceased by a son, Ralph L. Brock, Jr.
Funeral services will be held Sunday, June 12, 2005 at 3:30 at Eggers Funeral Chapel of Chesnee, officiated by the Rev. Craig Hughes. Burial will follow in Springhill Memorial Gardens.
The family will receive friends Sunday, June 12, 2005 from 2:30 until 3:30 at Eggers Funeral Home of Chesnee.
Memorials may be made to Quiet Acres Rest Home, 2968 Old Douglas Mill Road, Hodges, SC 29653.
E-condolences may be sent online to www.eggersfuneralhome.com
Eggers Funeral Home, Chesnee.
PAID OBITUARY

Raymond Robert ‘Ray’ Jennings

McCORMICK — Raymond Robert “Ray” Jennings, 80, of White Town Road, died Friday, June 10, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center in Greenwood.
Born July 5, 1924 in St. Petersburg, Fla., he was a son of the late Veldee and Nellie Mann Jennings and lived in McCormick most of his life. He was a World War II Navy veteran and a retired personnel director with McCormick Mill. He was a member of McCormick United Methodist Church and the McCormick Exchange Club.
Survivors include his wife, Julia E. “Libby” Holloway Jennings; a son, Richard “Rick” Jennings and his wife, Jennie Lee Jennings of McCormick; a daughter, Brenda E. Jennings of McCormick; a brother, Dewey M. Jennings of McCormick; a grandson, Clint Jennings of Savannah, Ga.; and a great-grandson, Adam L. “A.J.” Jennings Jr.
He was predeceased by a son, Michael “Mike” Jennings, a brother, Herman T. Jennings and a grandson, Adam L. Jennings.
Services are 3 p.m. today at McCormick United Methodist Church. Burial is in Overbrook Cemetery.
Pallbearers are Belton Goff, Todd Harmon, Lamont Deloach, Charles Shealy, Nathan Holland, Terrell Holloway, Ronnie Kidd and Dwayne McDaniel.
Visitation is 2-3 today at the church.
The family is at the home.
Strom Funeral Home is in charge.
PAID OBITUARY