Local educators tackle issue of equitable school funding

March 24, 2005

By WALLACE McBRIDE
Index-Journal senior staff writer

Teachers and future educators got the chance Wednesday night to voice their opinions on how South Carolina funds public education.
Following an hour-long presentation that featured state Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum, state NAACP President Lonnie Randolph and attorney Anthony Hayes, the 200 attendees broke into smaller groups to provide verbal and written insight into the issue of equity in school funding.
Wednesday’s meeting was part of a series conducted across the state by Education First, a coalition of 85 national, state and local organizations.
“The governor said we’re spending more on education than ever before,” said Education First Co-Chairman Rhett Jackson.
“Isn’t that a ridiculous thing to say? I’m spending more on groceries than I ever did before. I’m spending more on gas than I ever did before.”
Proportionately, Jackson said the state currently spends less on education than it did 50 years ago.
Education First Co-Chairman Randolph said there was more at stake than simply maintaining a schoolhouse.
“‘Upon the education of the people of this country, the fate of this country depends,” Randolph said, quoting 19th century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.
“Our children’s education and our state’s education are intertwined,” Tenenbaum said. “Inadequacy in funding places our future at risk.”
Tenenbaum called for a change in the way the state pays for public education. She said the current system puts the state at odds with property owners, who have to make up the shortcomings of state funding.
“For 30 years, we’ve tinkered with school financing and it’s simply gotten more confusing,” she said.
Hayes is a partner with Nelson, Mullins, Riley and Scarborough, a law firm suing South Carolina state government for greater aid to rural school districts.
The eight school districts — which include Abbeville County — argue that property values do not generate enough tax money to provide the same kind of education available in wealthier counties.
Hayes brought a slideshow with him for Wednesday’s meeting, illustrating the various inadequacies with which rural districts have to cope. These include a school building in Dillon County constructed in 1896, where teachers have to hand out coats to children in the winter to offset the lack of heating in the building.
“Every time a child fails, every time a child winds up on welfare or incarcerated, it affects everyone in this room,” he said. “Do you really think it’s cheaper to pay to send a child to school for 12 years or to keep them on welfare for 60?”
The results of the first trial over this issue are still pending, he said.
“A favorable decision will provide the fuel we need to make changes to the status quo,” Tenenbaum said.
Education First town meetings are also taking place in Florence, Rock Hill, Greenville, Charleston, Beaufort, Anderson and other cities.

Erskine outfielder has 37 career homers heading into weekend

March 24, 2005

By JIM JOYCE
Special projects editor

DUE WEST — Casey Smith played baseball and football at McEachern High School in Marietta, Ga. Today, he is listed as a 6-foot-4, 235-pounder who roams the outfield for Erskine College’s baseball team.
Even though he has the size and ability to play baseball for bigger schools, Smith said the decision to attend Erskine was not a mistake — and he is proving he is an asset to the Flying Fleet.
“I was recruited more as a pitcher, but I like the outfield,” Smith said.
However, the focus has been on power after he tied the career home run record last week.
Dode Phillips had the career high of 17 (believed to be set in the early 1920s), which was broken in 1999 by Joe Whitmer during his junior season. He added 20 his senior year for a career total of 37.
Smith tied that in 2 1/2 years when he hit his 37th homer for the Fleet March 15 during a doubleheader sweep of Paine.
That number, no doubt, will get higher as Smith has 20 games remaining this season and all of next year to add to that total.
“He hit nine home runs his freshman year, had 15 the next year, and has 13 this season,” coach Kevin Nichols said.
“That’s 37, and if he has another great year next year, that might be a record that will stand for a long, long time.”
Smith, recruited by other colleges more for football than baseball, said he was not aware of the record until he went to the Internet to check the game report.
“I saw that I had tied the record, and my parents called,” he said. “It was like, I had no idea.”
One milestone has been reached, but there are others out there for a player who just happened to be part of a discussion between two friends.
“One of my buddies I used to play with, who is a scout, told me about a kid from Georgia with a lot of potential, but had never hit a lot of home runs in high school,” Nichols said. “He was a big, strong kid. We brought him in, knowing he was very raw and needed to work on some things. He has really excelled at this level so far.”
Nichols has not regretted for one minute that particular conversation with his friend.
“I don’t think anybody can recruit a kid and put a label on him after his freshman year,” Nichols said. “Even when you recruit a kid, you don’t say he has a chance to hit 20 home runs. We knew he had the potential, but he still had to make the adjustments with our hitting philosophy that would allow him to use his power.
“He excelled through our philosophy. He has gone into it 100 percent, and he’s done everything we have ask of him. The numbers are there.”
It was definitely a change for Smith.
“He was knowledgeable about the game,” Nichols said. “It’s just that our hitting philosophy is so different than high school and even some colleges. He had to really understand what we’re talking about, and buy into our program to make it work.
“Casey came in as what we call an inside-out type hitter, where you like to look at hitting the ball the other way before looking and getting the head out, as we speak.”
It was a theory with which Smith had little or no problems.
“Right now he’s got just as much power as I’ve ever seen in a kid, and I’ve been at a lot of levels,” Nichols added.
For Smith, the switch from Marietta to Due West was a change he had to learn to deal with.
“It was a big culture shock,” Smith said. “I came out of a high school where there were more students in my graduation class than they had in the entire school here.”
Sometimes, however, he said it’s better to go somewhere smaller and be able to accomplish goals, than somewhere bigger and not get to play.
Making his choice to attend Erskine was fairly simple.
“He said I would have a shot to play,” Smith said about his conversation with Nichols concerning the operations on campus.
“He didn’t guarantee anything, but I really liked the way he ran things. He’s a great coach, and he turned me into the hitter I am.”
Even though Smith believes the Flying Fleet could be better (23-9 before Wednesday’s game at Augusta State), he said he’s happy where the team is at this time.
Individually, Smith said, “I feel I still have a ways to go. I’m playing well, and I need to keep doing what I’m doing. I can’t relax.”
Midway through the season, Smith is near the top in about every offensive category in the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference. He leads in RBIs (54) and home runs (13), is second in batting (.442 average) and slugging percentage (.900), fourth in on-base percentage (.510) and runs scored (41), third in hits (53), and tied for third in doubles (16).
“I hit more home runs my first year here than I did in all my high school games,” Smith said. “I want to be a good average hitter, but power is what I’m going for. That’s just Casey.”
A key part of hitting is a good vision, which Smith believes has been an important factor.
“For the most part, I can pick up the spin pretty well,” he said. “I watch pitchers in the bullpen, and can pick up their different angles. Lots of pitchers tip their pitches, and do something different. For the most part, I can pick it up pretty well. If I see the ball up, I tend to go with it. I try to go the way the ball is pitched.”
Not only is his presence felt on the baseball field, but also being at a small school creates a better classroom environment.
“It definitely helps,” Smith said. “The professor can focus more on you, and you don’t have a lot of distractions here. You’ve got baseball and school. That’s it. It definitely helps your focus.”
And, a new career home run record is only a matter of time.

Opinion

Fearing only fear itself is still a viable concern

March 24, 2005

Fear is a terrible thing. It is debilitation personified. It preys on the human mind like nothing else and stymies our very will.
There are some around Greenwood and the Lakelands who remember President Franklin Roosevelt telling us in his first inaugural address that “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, said the same thing more than a hundred years earlier, but regardless, it was good advice for the ages.

ROOSEVELT, OF COURSE, was talking about the Great Depression but the words obviously are timeless. He was talking about the Great Depression, of course, but it’s advice worthy of the centuries.
Now we face fear again. This time it’s called terrorism. The very freedom we enjoy is also the weak link in our fight against terrorists. We’ve already seen how they made use of our freedoms so they could kill. Now terrorists exploit that freedom through threats. Whether those threats are substantive or for propaganda purposes.

IT’S TIME FOR AMERICANS to take another look at those Wellesley/Roosevelt words again. They are as relevant now, maybe even more so, than they were way back then.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. If we let that fear paralyze our actions, our movement or just plain living, the terrorists win.
Under those circumstances, there’s no better reason to keep the pressure on them ….. wherever they might be, in Iraq, Iran, Syria or within the United States.

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

Obituaries

Addy C. Chandler

ST. MATTHEWS – Addy Antley Chandler, 99, of 3303 E Bridge St., died Tuesday afternoon, March 22, 2005, at the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg.
Mrs. Chandler was born in Calhoun County, a daughter of the late Jack D. and Bessie Shuler Antley. She was a graduate of Piedmont College, Demarest, GA. After college she toured with a theatre group and was a former teacher in the Guntersville, AL, public schools. She lived and worked in Atlanta as an Insurance Agent for the Travelers Company. Mrs Chandler was a member of the Million Dollar Roundtable and was in the top 10 Travelers salespersons for most of her 30 years. She moved back to her hometown following retirement and was a member of First Baptist Church and the Dogwood Garden Club of St. Matthews. She was the widow of John Chandler. Mrs. Chandler was predeceased by a brother Shuler B. Antley, sisters Aurelia Antley Smoke, and Evelyn Antley, Niece Iris Antley Hensley, and Nephew W. Gladden Smoke, Jr.
Funeral services will be 2:00 PM Friday, March 25th at West End Cemetery with Rev. Dr. Thomas B. Huggins officiating. Burial will be in West End Cemetery.
Survivors include a Step-Daughter: Mrs. Diane D. Holland, Pensacola, FL; a Niece: Mrs. June Antley Vreeland, Kennesaw, GA; a Nephew: Jan Smoke, Greenwood, SC; a Special Friend & Caretaker: Mrs. Viola P. Lowe, of the home; Friends: Lee & Katherine Bozard, St. Matthews; and a number of great and great great nieces and nephews.
Dukes-Harley Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
PAID OBITUARY

Paul Hudgens Sr.

Paul Nolan Hudgens Sr., of 134 Creek Road E., widower of Dorothy Swingle Hudgens, died Wednesday, March 23, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Services will be announced by Harley Funeral Home.

Raymond E. Mayer, Jr.

BARNEGAT, NJ – Raymond E. Mayer, Jr., 76, resident of 21 Newport Street, formerly of Greenwood, husband of Margaret Field Mayer, died March 20, 2005.
Born July 14, 1928 in Philadelphia, PA, he was a son of the late Raymond E., Sr. and Lillian Groves Mayer. Mr. Mayer resided for many years in the Grand Strand area of South Carolina before moving to Greenwood in 1988. He was active in the Greenwood Family Council, the Experimental Aircraft Association and local bowling leagues.
Surviving in addition to his wife of the home are a daughter and son-in-law, Susan Mayer-Todd and Mark Todd of Georgetown. A son and daughter-in-law, Rob and Shirley Mayer of Piedmont. Two grandchildren, Jason and Michelle Mayer, both of Piedmont.
Mr. Mayer was predeceased by his first wife, Rose Mary Beitzell Mayer.
Memorial services will be at 2:00 PM Friday, March 25, 2005, at Blyth Funeral Home in Greenwood.
The family will receive friends immediately following the memorial service at the funeral home.
A private family burial will be in Greenwood Memorial Gardens.
Memorials may be made to the charity of one’s choice.
For additional information please visit www.blythfuneralhome.com
Blyth Funeral Home of Greenwood is assisting the Mayer family.
PAID OBITUARY

Chester Murphy

NINETY SIX — Chester Murphy, 71, of 1016 Red Bud Lane, husband of Cynthia Gottlieb Murphy, died Wednesday, March 23, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Visitation is 7-9 Friday at Blyth Funeral Home.
Services will be announced by Blyth Funeral Home, Greenwood.

Farris E. Richardson

CONWAY – Farris E. Richardson, age 53, died Tuesday, March 22, 2005 at Kindred Hospital in Charleston, SC.
Mr. Richardson was born in Conway, a son of Evelyn Victoria Johnson Richardson and the late Brantley Elmore Richardson. He was a member of North Conway Baptist Church and was a 1969 graduate of Conway High School. Mr. Richardson graduated from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.
Surviving in addition to his mother of Conway are one son Justin Richardson of Columbia; two brothers, Larry Richardson and his wife Missy of Greenwood and Loren Richardson and his wife Gabriele of Conway; three nephews and two nieces.
Funeral services will be held 2:00 PM Thursday from North Conway Baptist Church with Rev. Jim Mezick officiating. Burial will follow in Hillcrest Cemetery, directed by Goldfinch Funeral Home, Conway Chapel.
Memorials may be sent to North Conway Baptist Church, Billy Fallaw Ministerial Student Fund, 1608 Sessions Street, Conway, SC 29526.
Sign an online guestbook at www.goldfinchfuneralhome.com
PAID OBITUARY

Elouise Robinson

Services for Elouise Robinson, of 1303 Bunche Ave., are 1 p.m. Saturday at Oakbrook Memorial Park Chapel, conducted by the Rev. Clyde Cannon, assisted by the Revs. Dora White and H.T. Legons. The body will be placed in the chapel at noon.
Pallbearers are Lee H. Blocker, Floyd Nixon, John F. Carter, Douglas Lindsey, Joe Johnson and Charlie Carter.
Flower bearers are Old Mount Zion Women Missionary Society members.
Visitation is 5-8 Friday at the home.
Robinson & Son Mortuary Inc. is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at robson@emeraldis.com

SFC Alvin Scott, Sr. US Army (Ret.)

LUGOFF – Graveside services for SFC Alvin Perry Scott, Sr., US Army (Ret.), 77, of Lugoff, SC, will be held Noon today, (Wednesday) at Greenlawn Memorial Park, with Full Military Honors.
Memorials may be made to Disabled American Veterans, National Service Foundation, P.O. Box 14301, Cincinnati, OH 45250. Shives Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Scott died Monday, March 21, 2005. Born in LaFrance, SC, he was a son of the late Sidney Lee and Argil Dye Scott. He was a U.S. Army Veteran of WWII, Korean and Vietnam Conflicts.
Survivors include his wife, Dorothy Medlock Scott; his children, Alvin Perry Scott, Jr. and his wife (Nilda) of Columbia, Dennis Michael Scott of Ridgeway and Bessie Scott Copeland and her husband (Richard C., Jr.) of Greenwood; grandchildren, Alvin Perry Scott, III, Jessica Elizabeth Dinkins, Nicholas Wayne Jackson, Jr., Sarah Jackson Lawrence and Sabrina Leigh Scott; 4 great grandchildren; sisters, Wilma Scott and Juanita Bradberry both of Greenwood.
www.shivesfuneralhome.com
(803) 754-6290
PAID OBITUARY

CORRECTION

For the service notice for Kunte Kinte Elmore in Wednesday’s paper, the family is also at the home, 1014 Flatwood Road.