Gas
prices climbing, shortages
cropping up in Greenwood area
September 24, 2005
From
staff reports
Here we go again.
That was the thought running through the minds of many gas buyers
Friday afternoon as they pulled up to pumps in Greenwood only to
find higher gas prices — or no gas at all.
With the eye of Hurricane Rita making landfall early today, the
fear of damage to oil refineries off of the Gulf Coast drove
prices skyward throughout the region. By 5:30 p.m. Friday, gas
stations in Greenwood had prices nearing $3 per gallon.
It was a scenario that echoed the days following Hurricane
Katrina, and some buyers said they wanted to fill up their tanks
before prices climbed even higher.
By 5 p.m. Friday, prices at stations in Greenwood ranged from
$2.79-$2.99 per gallon for regular unleaded fuel, with premium
gasoline reaching as high as $3.19 per gallon.
“Prices hit three dollars for Katrina, so they’ll
probably hit four dollars for Rita,” said McCormick resident
Neil Coatsworth, who stopped Friday afternoon in Greenwood to
fill up.
“God forbid another storm comes. They might go up to six
dollars.”
Coatsworth said the prices have forced him to cut back on his
shopping trips to Greenwood.
“Not only do I try to conserve, but we’ve got to leave
gas for other people,” he said.
After watching prices jump throughout the day Friday, Crystal
Higgins, a Donalds resident, said she decided to stop before they
jumped again.
“I figured I’d go ahead and fill up. I’ll try to
last out the weekend to avoid three dollars a gallon,” she
said.
Sommer Bice, a Greenwood resident, said she was afraid stations
were going to run out of gas. “I’m filling up just in
case,” she said. “I don’t want to be stuck if they
run out. If the prices get higher, I’ll hate to pay it, but
I will.”
By late afternoon Friday, plastic bags — signaling no fuel
— could be seen on the pumps at several Li’l Cricket
stations in the Greenwood area.
With premium gasoline already sold out, the Li’l Cricket on
Bypass 72 received a shipment of 4,500 gallons of regular
unleaded fuel at noon Friday, and Assistant Manager Mike Austin
said he expected the station to be out of that gas by Friday
night. He said he didn’t know when the next shipment would
arrive.
“People are scared, so they rush to the tanks. They try to
make sure they have their gas before there is none,” he
said. “Anytime the price goes up, it just fosters the
(problem).”
Austin said cars had been lined up for gas throughout the day on
Thursday and Friday, with some cars even having to wait in the
lanes of Bypass 72 for their turns at the pumps.
A similar scene could be found at the L’il Cricket on Grace
Street in Greenwood, where every grade of gasoline was gone by
Friday afternoon.
“It’s been crazy. People have been fighting at the
tanks,” said Assistant Manager Dietra E. Culbreath. “I’ve
been here three years and I’ve never seen anything like
this.”
Charles A. “Chuck” Francis, owner of Deluxe Computer
Systems, decided to share his opinion about escalating gas prices
with drivers and pedestrians on South Main Street in Abbeville.
He defines terrorism as “making a change through fear.”
So, he put up a sign reading: “American terrorists: Shell,
Mobil, Exxon, BP.”
He said that a business making a profit was not the issue, and he
is a Navy veteran who has paid higher fuel prices while overseas.
However, he considers that there are people already having
difficulty paying for necessary bills, such as for doctors and
medicine, who will suffer even more because of the higher gas
prices.
“You’ve got to say something,” he said.
On Friday, South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster’s
office urged residents to report any suspected illegal gas
pricing activity to a special e-mail address:
gasshortage@scattorneygeneral.com. More than 200 complaints have
been received at this e-mail address since Sept. 1.
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue asked the state’s schools to take
two “early snow days” and cancel classes Monday and
Tuesday to help conserve gasoline as Rita threatens the nation’s
fuel supply line.
If all of Georgia’s schools close, the governor estimated
about 250,000 gallons of diesel fuel would be saved each day by
keeping buses off the road.
The Associated Press and Index-Journal staffers Megan Varner and
Kathryn Elrod contributed to this report.
Emerald’s air show beats Flashes’ run game
September 24, 2005
By
CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal sports writer
CALHOUN FALLS — The Emerald High School
football team did something Friday night that no team had done in
almost four years — defeat Calhoun Falls in Calhoun Falls.
The Vikings snapped the Blue Flashes 22-game home winning streak,
downing Eddie Roberts’ squad 35-26 in a game that lasted
three hours. Emerald (4-1) coach Mac Bryan was ecstatic with his
team’s effort.
“When you get a win like this, it’s exciting,”
Bryan said. “They hadn’t lost here in about four years
or so. And let me tell you they were fast and gave us a game. Our
guys hung in there and did what they need to do to win.”
Dan Wideman once again paced the Vikings. The senior quarterback
was 17 of 30 passing for 309 yards and four touchdowns with one
interception.
Calhoun Falls (3-2) got tremendous production from its
quarterback as well. Senior D.J. Roundtree rushed 13 times for
179 yards and two touchdowns.
The contrasting statistics for the two was a perfect microcosm of
the differing styles of the two teams. The Flashes kept the ball
on the ground all night, while Emerald resorted to its usual
passing scheme. The two teams used their areas of expertise to
battle with one another for four quarters that at times seemed
more akin to a heavyweight prize fight.
“It was a physical game,” Bryan said. “Both teams
were getting after each other.”
Calhoun Falls opened the scoring early in the game.
After forcing the Vikings to punt on their first series, Calhoun
Falls took possession on its own 26-yard line. On the first play
of the series, Roundtree faked an inside handoff to Santonio
Tillman, wheeled to his right and dashed through a gaping hole in
the line. Seventy-four yards later, Roundtree crossed the goal
line to put Calhoun Falls up 6-0.
“I turned around and just saw green grass in front of me,”
Roundtree said. “We saw on film that they would bite on that
handoff. They did, so I took off.”
Emerald wasted little time answering back.
With the ball on their own 23, Wideman and the Vikings offense
faced a third-and-12. Wideman received the shotgun snap, glanced
to his left and saw senior wide receiver Nick Lanier streaking to
the middle of the field facing one-on-one coverage from Calhoun
Falls’ Cleave Robinson.
The pass needed to be perfect, and it was. Wideman hit Lanier in
stride over the fingertips of Robinson, and Lanier streaked for
the 77-yard touchdown. Joseph Taylor’s extra point put
Emerald ahead 7-6.
Calhoun Falls kept the first half see-saw battle going on the
next possession.
The Flashes drove 64 yards in 4 minutes, 1 second for a go-ahead
score. Santonio Tillman capped the drive with a 16-yard touchdown
scamper. Theo Tillman blasted into the end zone for the two-point
conversion to put the Flashes on top 14-7 with 4:25 remaining in
the first quarter.
Emerald was not done adding to the first-quarter scoring.
The Vikings got the ball with just over 30 seconds left in the
quarter. On the first play, Wideman fired a pass to a slanting
Preferio Strong, who ran 59 yards for the game-tying touchdown.
Eagles can’t stop ground attack of Aiken in loss
September 24, 2005
By
RON COX
Index-Journal sports writer
AIKEN — They ran up the middle. They ran left. They ran
right.
But most importantly, they ran off most of the clock, including
the better part of the fourth quarter to set up the game-winning
score.
The Aiken High School football team’s wing T offense ran
straight to its third consecutive win over Greenwood, handing the
Class AAAA No. 2 Eagles their first loss of the season, 16-14,
Friday night at Hagood Stadium.
After controlling more than 16 minutes of the first half, eating
up 6 minutes, 12 seconds to set up the game-winning field goal
was nothing for the Green Hornets (4-1), who defeated Greenwood
twice last season, including a 49-30 win in Aiken in the second
round of the playoffs.
“A field goal was not what we wanted but we’ll take it,”
Aiken coach Carey Johnson said. “Our gameplan was to go out
there and just get three or four yards each time and keep their
offense off the ball. It was just Aiken High football. We’re
going to run the ball and try to eat up the clock and let our
defense keep us in the game.”
Trailing by a point with 8:50 remaining, the Hornets nit-picked
their way down the field against the Eagles’ defense, going
12 plays to move the ball down to the Greenwood 17.
Aiken kicker Schuyler Reardon, who had a 50-yard field goal
attempt blocked and shanked punt for no yards, booted a 34-yard
field goal with 2:45 remaining to win it for the Hornets.
“You can’t mess up three times in one game,”
Reardon said.
“They tried to ice me a little bit, but I had enough time to
settle down and kick the ball. It was no problem.”
The Eagles had one last opportunity to reclaim the lead. After
Greenwood quarterback Armanti Edwards completed a 20-yard pass
play to Anthony Chalmers on the first play from scrimmage,
Edwards took off on an option keeper and fumbled the ball.
Aiken’s Darien Crawford, who also intercepted Edwards in the
first half, recovered at the Greenwood 47.
The Hornets picked up one first down and ran out the clock for
the win.
“It hurts. This is one we felt like we could win, but we
didn’t play very well,” Greenwood coach Shell Dula
said. “It’s my fault and I take full responsibility for
it. We just didn’t do the things you have to do against real
good competition.
“We never could stick it to them. You can’t come back
on a consistent basis. We dug ourselves too big of a hole.”
Aiken started its second drive at its own 6-yard line after
Crawford’s interception, and drove the 94 yards on 10
error-free plays for the score.
After five straight running plays netted 47 yards, quarterback
Brett Williamson hit Taikwon Paige on a deep fade pattern for a
40-yard pickup, putting the Hornets on the Greenwood 4.
Four plays later, on fourth-and-goal from inside the 1, Antonio
Corley snuck into the end zone for the touchdown. Reardon’s
extra point made it 7-0.
The scoring drive ate up 4:07 off the clock, which was four
seconds longer than the Eagles’ total possession to that
point.
The Eagles failed to answer on the ensuing possession.
The Hornets took possession at their own 38 and used nine plays,
again keyed by a long pass, to hit the scoreboard again.
Aiken receiver Romon Williams made a diving catch off a pass from
Williamson for a 25-yard gain to convert a third-and-7 from the
Eagles’ 42. Three plays later, Williamson again found
Williams, this time wide open on a roll out, for a 16-yard
touchdown pass, giving Aiken a 13-0 lead with 3:59 remaining in
the half.
The Eagles had possession two more times, but went into the half
shutout for the first time this season.
Greenwood made up for 24 minutes of being dominated with a little
less than 2 minutes of exciting play.
Aiken drove the opening possession of the second half down to the
red zone, but found itself in a fourth-and-29 from the Greenwood
33.
Reardon trotted out for a 50-yard field goal, but a swarm of
Eagles collapsed and blocked the kick, giving the Eagles the ball
on the Hornets’ 46.
The Eagles needed only six plays to find the end zone. Robert
Robinson, who entered Friday’s action as the Lakelands’
leading rusher, gained only 6 yards in the first half. Robinson,
who finished with 39 yards rushing, took the next handoff on a
draw and got a big hole on the right from the offensive line and
sprinted in for the 15-yard score.
The Greenwood defense forced another Aiken fourth down. This time
deep in the Hornets’ own territory, at the 21.
The punt snap to Reardon was high. The kicker scooted right and
then shanked the punt. The ball rolled out of bounds at the 21
for a net of 0 yards on the punt.
On the next play, Edwards hit Alex Sellars on a short pass.
However, the Greenwood tight end’s second effort put the
ball on the 1. Edwards did the rest, riding his line for a 1-yard
score. Clay Baldwin’s extra point gave the Eagles the 14-13
lead.
Opinion
Observations ... and other reflections
September 24, 2005
With
so many immigrants coming into South Carolina, some of us are
concerned about the survival of the English language. The fear is
that with other languages all around, our children will be weaned
away from their native tongue.
No worry! Education officials say that a growing number of
students in the Palmetto State are learning English as a second
language. There are, officials say, around 16.000 students
statewide learning English and the number is more than likely
going to keep increasing.
That’s good. It’s a sure indication that while English
may be a second language for a while, it will eventually become
the first language to the younger generations. Check their
clothing. They all want to look alike already. Language won’t
be any different. The four-letter word speech heard in every
context these days ought to make that pretty clear.
* * * * *
Despite what appears to be a follow-the-leader effort among much
of the media and others to describe the U. S. presence in Iraq
and Afghanistan in negative terms, there are a couple of things
that should be emphasized. They show there is a determination by
the people in those two nations to decide their own futures.
The two things, of course, are the free elections that have been
held in the two countries. Voter turnout was tremendous in both,
even in the face of constant bombings and killings designed to
frighten voters and keep them from speaking. We take our free
vote for granted. Is it any wonder that some of us can’t
appreciate what’s being accomplished?
* * * * *
Some analysts say the high price of gasoline is not caused by a
lack of crude oil. Rather, they say, it’s a matter of not
having enough refining capacity to meet demand. Still, the crude
oil reserves are getting smaller every year.
With the consumption of gasoline rising rapidly around the world,
and the pressures and efforts to develop alternate fuel sources
– like hydrogen and electricity – increasing, there’s
a logical question. With the cost of building refineries so high,
coupled with the declining availability of crude oil, how many
companies or governments are going to invest in new refineries?
That’s a sobering thought.
Obituaries
Elsie Bryant
Elsie
Kathleen Barton Bryant, 74, formerly of Greenwood, widow of Sgt.
William Thomas Bryant, died Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005 in Mount
Vernon, N.Y.
Born in Madison County, Ga., she was a daughter of the late
Ernest and Cornelia Barton. She was a member of Central Baptist
Church in New York City.
Survivors include a son, the Rev. Glenn T. Bryant of
Simpsonville; three daughters, Wanda Garland with whom she made
her home in New York, Teresa Shackelford of Mount Pleasant and
Jennifer Brown of London, Ky.; two brothers, John Barton of
Bowman, Ga., and Doyle Barton of Shabona, Ill.; three sisters,
Earlene Bryant of Royston, Ga., Nancy Orr of Charleston and
Martha Cox of Bowman; eight grandchildren; and seven
great-grandchildren.
Services were Friday at Central Baptist Church in New York City.
Private graveside services, for immediate family only, are today
in Greenwood Memorial Gardens.
Memorials may be made to Samaritan’s Purse (Franklin Graham’s
World Outreach and Relief Organization), P.O. Box 3000, Boone, NC
28607.
Blyth Funeral Home & Cremation Services is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.blythfuneralhome.com
Dale Ann Davis
Dale
Ann Davis, 49, of 114 Anchor Road, died Thursday, Sept. 22, 2005
at Self Regional Medical Center.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, she was a daughter of Laurella Campbell
Davis and the late Carson Davis. She was a graduate of Ninety Six
High School and attended Lander College.
Survivors include her mother of the home and a sister, Janet
Clark of Aiken.
Graveside services are 2 p.m. Sunday at Greenwood Memorial
Gardens, conducted by the Rev. Buddy Wiles.
Visitation is 6-8 tonight at Harley Funeral Home.
The family is at the home.
Harley Funeral Home is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.harleyfuneralhome.com