Career Center engineering new program

Project Lead The Way to offer ‘exciting opportunity for students’

May 17, 2005

By MEGAN VARNER
Index-Journal staff writer

Greenwood School District 50 heard Monday about plans to put Project Lead The Way (PLTW) into place at the G. Frank Russell Career Center.
The program, made possible through a State Department of Education grant, will “provide a high-tech and exciting opportunity for students,” Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Pat Ross told the board.
According to information provided by the school board, the PLTW program provides students with an introduction to engineering and engineering technology before entering college. The program also provides a curriculum for students at the middle school level.
Ross said at least two classes will be added at the career center, and District 50 teacher Darin Rice has been selected to instruct students in the program.
During Monday’s meeting, the board also:
* Honored 49 District 50 faculty members who have retired this year or will be retiring upon completion of the 2004-05 school year. All together, the retirees account for more than 1,140 years of service to District 50, Superintendent Bill Steed said.
* Received a facilities update from Gary Johnson, assistant superintendent for business. Johnson said construction on the new Brewer Middle School should be “substantially complete” within the next five weeks. He added that plans have been finalized to build a shop at the G. Frank Russell Career Center to alleviate current space problems.
* Heard from Alice Jones, chairwoman of Westview Middle School’s School Improvement Council.
* Voted to reschedule the regular July board meeting to July 11.
* Voted to enter into a three-year agreement with McAbee, Talbert, Halliday and Co. of Spartanburg, to provide audit services for the district. The services, at a total of $143,200, will begin in fiscal year 2006.
* Voted to accept a bid of $729,990 from Core Construction for renovations to District 50 high schools’ tracks and improvements to stadium seating at Emerald High School. Johnson told the board that a new material, made from recycled tires, will be used on the school tracks. The material is safer for athletes, and requires less upkeep than regular asphalt, he said.
* Voted to approve a proposed list of student fees, fines and charges for 2005-06, which have no changes from the previous school year.

Opinion

U. S. needs strong voice in effort to reform U. N.

May 17, 2005

There was good news and bad news recently about the nomination of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent his name to the full Senate for a vote but did not make any recommendation. That pretty much assures a battle royal ahead.
Bolton has been heavily criticized by Democrats and a few Republicans. They say he’s too blunt and overbearing to hold a position that requires more diplomacy than Bolton can muster. They argue the nation needs more of a “unifier” to work among and with representatives from other nations.
As far as many South Carolinians are concerned, the U. S. needs a tough-minded ambassador like Bolton to look out for its interests in the world body. If the truth be known, there are a lot of folks in the Palmetto State who’d just as soon see the U. N. eliminated altogether.

SCANDAL, INEFFICIENCY, and ineffectiveness have made the U. N. an expensive, high-life club for “diplomats” and their staffs from around the world. More than that, though, it has become a forum to make the United States the whipping boy for every nation that would like nothing better than to embarrass this country ….. or worse.
Among Bolton’s critics, which is no surprise, are some Americans who take pleasure, it seems, in blaming their own country for every problem in the world. They’d like someone in the U. N. who would act more as an apologist for what we do, no matter what it might be, than to stand up and be counted on when needed.
President Bush should have his own man in that high-profile position. He has said Bolton is that man and the right man to help reform the U. N. Reform, to be sure, won’t be easy, but it’s needed, and it will take a strong ambassador to work at it.

WHAT REALLY APPEARS be the issue, however, is the direction of Bush’s foreign policy. In a word, it’s politics as usual.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., reports say, has put a “hold” on any vote until she lifts it.
Does it make any sense that one senator from one state can prevent a vote on a nomination of a president who is elected nationally? It may be a matter of senatorial courtesy, but somewhere along the way in the Bush presidency, his critics have cast courtesy to the winds.
In this case, and for judicial nominees, political tinkering also should be thrown out the door. Vote. That’s what the public does. It expects no less from its elected officials.

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

Obituaries

Samuel H. Connor

ABBEVILLE — Samuel H. Connor, 84, husband of Ruth Hunter Connor, died Saturday, May 14, 2005 at Abbeville Nursing Home.
Born in Abbeville County, he was a son of the late Josephine Connor. He served in the Army, was a deacon at Mount Canaan Baptist Church and was a former employee of the U.S. Postal Service and Brown & Walker Funeral Home.
Survivors include his wife of the home; a son, Samuel Connor Jr. of Washington, D.C.; four daughters, Mrs. Pete (Naomi) Aiken of Central Islip, N.Y., Mrs. Willie (Mary) Marine, Mrs. Clyde (Susanne) Ebo and Doris Bernice Jackson, all of Greenwood.
Services are 2 p.m. Wednesday at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, conducted by the Rev. Al Green and the eulogy by the Rev. M.L. Taylor. The body will be placed in the church at 1. Burial is in Forest Lawn Memory Gardens.
Viewing is 1-9 today at Abbeville & White Mortuary.
The family is at the home, 104 Second St.
Abbeville & White Mortuary is in charge.

Pete Davis

Ernest K. “Pete” Davis, 62, of 1548 Parkway, died Saturday, May 14, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Born in Greenwood, he was a son of the late Allen G. and Ethel White Davis. He was employed by Powell’s Trash Service and was a member of First Mount Moriah Baptist Church.
Survivors include a son, John Davis of Waterloo; two daughters, Tracy Davis of Columbia and Kandy Cunningham of Hodges; a sister, JoAnn Williamson of Greenwood; a brother, Billy Davis of Greenwood; five grandchildren.
Graveside services are 11 a.m. Wednesday at Walnut Grove Baptist Church Cemetery, conducted by the Rev. Billy Reynolds.
The family is at the home of a sister, JoAnn Williamson, 201 Sivell Road.
Memorials may be made to the Ernest K. Davis fund, c/o Harley Funeral Home, P.O. Box 777, Greenwood, SC 29648.
Harley Funeral Home is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.harleyfuneralhome.com

Isabella D. Hackett

Isabella Davis Hackett, 75, wife of Edward Hackett Sr., of 315 Sullivan St., died Sunday, May 15, 2005 at the home.
Born in Ninety Six, she was a daughter of the late John and Edna Kinard Davis. She was a former employee of Greenwood Methodist Home and a member of Bethlehem Church of God Holiness.
Survivors include her husband; four daughters, Mrs. Marvin (Mary L.) Norman of Charlotte, N.C., Mary E. Johnson of the home, Mrs. James (Priscilla) McCree of Portland, Ore., and Mrs. J.C. (Shirley A.) Hunter of Greenwood; three sons, Edward Hackett Jr. and Zachariah J. Hackett of Greenwood and Samuel Hackett of Fairfax; a grandson reared in the home, Tokay T. Hackett of Philadelphia; 11 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.
The family is at the home.
Services will be announced by Parks Funeral Home.

Mabel Morse

BLUFFTON — Mabel Plampin Morse, 88, of 32 Tillinghast Circle, wife of Earl Morse, died Sunday, May 15, 2005 at Hilton Head Regional Medical Center.
Born in Greenwood County, she was a daughter of the late William E. and Martha Holsonback Plampin. She was a graduate of Greenwood High School and had lived in the Hilton Head/Buffton area since 1961. She retired from Atlantis Development Co. and was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, both in Hilton Head.
Survivors include her husband of the home; a daughter, Vicki M. Nix of Bluffton; two sons, David Lewis and Richard Morse, both of Hilton Head; two sisters, Sybil P. Sparks and Christine P. Howard, both of Greenwood; six grandchildren.
Services are 2 p.m. Wednesday at Blyth Funeral Home, Greenwood, conducted by the Rev. David Mayo. Entombment is in Oakbrook Memorial Park Mausoleum.
Visitation is 11-1 Wednesday at the funeral home in Greenwood.
Visitation at Saul Funeral Home, Bluffton, is 1-3 Saturday.
The family is at the home of Sybil and Charles Sparks, 10 Royal Oak Drive, Greenwood.
Memorials may be made to Connie Maxwell Children’s Home, P.O. Box 1178, Greenwood, SC 29648.
Blyth Funeral Home is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.blythfuneralhome.com

Pearlie Mae Tennant

McCORMICK — Pearlie Mae Tennant, widow of Willie Lee Tennant Jr., died Monday, May 16, 2005 at the Medical College of Georgia Hospital.
Born in McCormick, she was a daughter of the late Otis and Sallie Ann Wideman Harling. She was a member of Tranquil A.M.E. Church and Women’s Home Aide Society No. 94.
Survivors include three daughters, Geraldine Tennant and Mrs. John (Nellie Mae) Martin, both of McCormick and Betty Jean Ross of Greenwood; three sons, Alexander Tennant, Willie James Tennant and Roy Lee Tennant, all of McCormick; a grandson reared in the home, Marcus L. Tennant; two sisters, Helen McDaniel and Ellen Wideman, both of McCormick; a brother, James S. Wideman of Greenwood; half sisters and brothers, Willie Lee Harling, John L. Harling and Otis Harling Jr., all of McCormick, Robert Harling of Anderson, Barnett Harling and Lillie Bell Middleton, both of Greenwood, William Hearst of Bradley, Rosa Bell Freeman of Honea Path, Mae Lee Talbert of Augusta, Ga.; her stepmother, Cora Bell Harling of Honea Path; eight grandchildren; two great-grandchildren.
The family is at the home of a daughter Nellie Mae Martin, Airport Road, McCormick.
Services will be announced by Walker Funeral Home.

Correction

In the Mary Bledsoe obituary which published onMay 16, 2005, the address for the Faith Home should have read – PO Box 39, Greenwood, SC 29648. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.
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