Greenwood County could receive people
displaced by hurricane

September 7, 2005

By SHAVONNE POTTS
Index-Journal staff writer

Throughout the United States, people are banding together to take in hundreds, even thousands, of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
As many as 2,000 people are expected to receive medical care in more than 30 South Carolina hospitals.
“Initially, these people will be taken to metropolitan areas,” said Dan Branyon, Self Regional Medical Center spokesman. “Eventually, we’ll see people coming in.”
Branyon said, thus far, the hospital has had one person who was displaced by the hurricane. That person arrived in the area before Hurricane Katrina hit, staying with relatives, but lost belongings.
“That person is still a victim of the hurricane,” he said.
Branyon said the hospital is awaiting word on more displaced people who required medical treatment.
“We are also assembling a list of hospital personnel who want to volunteer to go down there,” he said. “We have over 30 people who have stepped forward.”
There is an order in which people will be sent to the counties in the state, said Bob Smith, Greenwood County emergency preparedness director.
Smith said people first would be sent to Charleston, then Columbia and then Greenville.
“Any overflow will be dispersed to surrounding counties,” he said.
Many of the patients will be allowed to bring up to three other family members with them, which could bring an additional 6,000 people into the state, Smith said.
“We do not know yet how that will impact us,” he said.
Smith said he’s been in talks with other emergency response personnel including the Red Cross, Self Regional Medical Center, the unemployment office, Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office and the Greenwood Police Department to see how these agencies can help people who could be sent here.
Those displaced people who do not require medical services will be housed in hotels by the American Red Cross, said Greenwood County Manager Jim Kier.
Smith told the Greenwood County Council on Tuesday that the local Red Cross chapter has had some of its resources transferred to Greenville, and that left the local office able to house only 30 refugees.
That didn’t sit well with Councilman Gonza Bryant. “I think this county is able to help more than 30 people. We should help more,” he said. “Those people have nothing.”
Smith said if Greenwood is called on by state officials to play host to more than 30 people, it would trigger the establishment of local shelters, the first of which would be at Grace Community Church and could accommodate 200-250 people.
In all, Greenwood County has 15 shelter sites authorized by the Red Cross, and “several thousand” people could be housed, Smith said.
“We’re able to help more if we’re called on to do so,” said councilman Dee Compton. “I’m also confident people in the community would step up if called on. I would have to echo your (Bryant’s) sentiments.”
Smith said he also has contacted the superintendents of Greenwood County school districts to receive word when teachers learn of refugee children enrolling locally. “We will take care of their needs as best we can,” he said.

Regional Editor Vic MacDonald contributed to this report.

Troxie Clamp

GREENWOOD — Troxie Lee Clamp, 73, resident of Old Mill Townhouses, died September 5, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Born in Greenwood County, May 10, 1932, she was a daughter of the late David Floyd Sr., and Olive Vaughn Clamp. She was a graduate of Ninety Six High School and attended Lander College. Ms. Clamp was retired from Dr. Sweet’s Eye Clinic and was currently employed by Bowling’s Bootery with 39 years of service.
She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church.
Surviving are two sisters, her twin sister, Roxie C. Godfrey of the home and Marie C. Wells of Greenwood; special nieces and nephews, Tom Wells, David Wells, Roberta Sepulveda and Lisa Livingston; eight great-nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by a sister, Hazel D. Clamp and a brother, David Floyd Clamp, Jr.
Funeral services will be conducted at 2 pm Thursday from the Blyth Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. David Mayo and Rev. Bobby Davis offi-ciating.
Burial will be in Elmwood Cemetery in Ninety Six.
Pallbearers will be John Paul, Jerry Hunter, Walt Cowan. Dr. Brant Sweet, Rufus Werts, Earl Cowan and John McGee.
Honorary escort will be the men of First Presbyterian Church along with Larry Lawson, Bobby Lawson and Bill Clamp.
The family is at the home in Old Mill Townhouses, and will receive friends at the funeral home from 7 to 9 Wednesday evening.
Memorials may be made to First Presbyterian Church, 108 E. Cambridge Avenue, Green-wood, SC 29646 or to Elmwood Cemetery, PO Box 15, Ninety Six, SC 29666.
For additional information please visit www.blythfuneralhome.com
BLYTH FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICES IS ASSISTING THE CLAMP FAMILY.
PAID OBITUARY

Harry Fleming

HONEA PATH — Harry Truman Fleming, 60, of 7634 Highway 20, husband of Katie Alexander Fleming, died Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005.
Born in Abbeville, he was a son of the late Samuel Allen and Ava Louise Latham Fleming. He was a member of Due West Baptist Church, a Navy veteran serving during the Vietnam War and retired from Maxxim Medical.
Survivors include his wife of the home; a son, Travis Fleming of Anderson; two stepsons, Paul Lindley of Pelzer and Dennis Lindley of Travelers Rest; a stepdaughter, Tammy Crawford of Honea Path; three brothers, Larry Eugene Fleming of Honea Path, Samuel Earl Fleming of Abbeville and Jerry Reynolds Fleming of Clinton, Md.; two sisters, Dorothy Ann Smith of Donalds and Martha Gail Hyder of Anderson; and six grandchildren.
Services are 2 p.m. Thursday at Pruitt Funeral Home, conducted by the Revs. Ronnie Alexander, Tim Brooks and Bob Philyaw. Burial is in Greenwood Memorial Gardens.
Visitation is 1-2 Thursday at the funeral home.
The family is at the home of Lonnie and Becky Alexander, 134 Bolt Drive, Donalds.
Pruitt Funeral Home is in charge.

CORRECTION

For the obituary of Damion Austin Turner in Tuesday’s paper, incorrect information was provided to The Index-Journal.
Survivors include a grandfather, Larry Adams. Graveside services are changed to 11:30 today at Oakbrook Memorial Park.

LU welcomes back golf

September 7, 2005

By CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal sports writer

A new beginning is just days away for the Lander University golf team.
Lander will play its first match since 1979 on Monday when the Bearcats take part in the Kiawah Island Invitational. The event pits 18 NCAA Division II teams in a 54-hole tournament.
Lander announced it would resurrect the program, along with women’s tennis, last year. The team was cut because of budgetary constraints.
The Bearcats are fielding a six-man team — all freshmen.
“I thought that was the proper way to do it,” said Lander coach Chipper Bagwell.
“Some people say you should go get a bunch of juco’s (junior college players) or transfers. I think the way we’re doing it will work just fine. We’re starting from scratch.”
Bagwell said there has been strenuous effort put into restarting a program that was dormant for more than 25 years. He said he spent the last year attending dozens of South Carolina junior golf and high school golf matches, searching for the right players to help kick start the new era.
Bagwell said it was important he find players who could play right away. That provided the coach with a unique and enticing selling point to recruits.
“Oh, it was an easy sell,” Bagwell said. “To be able to tell the young men that they are guaranteed to come in and play right away is a very attractive option. The guys we have are really talented, so it’s working out good so far.”
Billy Belair, from Myrtle Beach, said the opportunity to get playing time as a freshman was the chief reason he came to Lander.
“I knew if I went to Coastal Carolina, or another Division I school, that it may be a year or even two before I had a chance to crack the top five,” Belair said. “I’m glad I chose Lander. We all are. We want to be the ones that put Lander golf on the map.”
Bagwell said he expects his young squad will be a bit nervous Monday. Defending NCAA Division II champion USC-Aiken in part of the field at Hilton Head.
However, Bagwell said he would be disappointed if his team wasn’t nervous about their first match.
“If they’re nervous, that mean’s they’re excited,” the coach said. “And, mostly, it will be because it’s their first match, not because it’s Lander’s first match in 25 years.”
Cooper Tinsley, who graduated from Emerald High School, shared Belair’s enthusiasm.
“I’m proud and honored to be a part of helping to rejuvenate the team,” Tinsley said. “It’s amazing to think we’ll be the first golf team to suit up here since the 70’s.”
Tinsley said he knows the invitational will be a tough test for the Bearcats, especially considering it will be a 54-hole event. He said he expects the team will be in the hunt for the tournament title.
For Bagwell, coaching golf is a welcome respite from the hustle-bustle world of NCAA basketball. Bagwell coached the Lander men’s basketball team from 1997-2004, after serving seven seasons as an assistant coach.
“My old basketball coaching buddies told me I must have died and gone to Heaven,” Bagwell said. “They give me a hard time about it.”
Bagwell said his coaching philosophy has changed drastically.
“In basketball it was always ‘Let’s go out there and get physical and kill these guys,’” Bagwell said. “Golf is so much more about the individual and playing within yourself. For me, it’s fresh and it’s different.”
Bagwell called the competition in the Peach Belt Conference the toughest in Division II in the country.
“Well, we’ve got the defending back-to-back national champions (USC-Aiken) in the league,” Bagwell said. “Plus we’ve got five or six other teams in the league that could be top 25 clubs. If we can go down there and finish in the top half of the field in our first tournament, I think it would be something we could build on.”

Chris Trainor covers area sports for The Index-Journal. He can be reached at: ctrainor@indexjournal.com.

Things would be different if the world were perfect

September 7, 2005

In a perfect world there’d be no hurricanes or other disasters.
In a perfect world there’d be no victims with no where to go.
In a perfect world there’d be no death, disease, hunger, thirst, suffering or despair.
In a perfect world every victim of Hurricane Katrina would have been rescued immediately and simultaneously.
In a perfect world there’d be no victims who refused to evacuate, even when warned of the impending danger.
In a perfect world there’d be no finger-pointing to blame somebody else for not being perfect.
As we all know, though, nobody’s perfect.
There are things to be thankful for, however.
We can be thankful for the law enforcement people in devastated areas who worked around the clock to restore and keep order, even when many of them didn’t know the fate of their families and homes.

WE CAN BE THANKFUL FOR the thousands of volunteers, from South Carolina and just about every other state in the union who are doing what they can to help provide assistance and sustenance to the multitude of victims.
We can be thankful for churches and social agencies, in Greenwood and elsewhere, that have joined the massive private endeavor with business and industry to get food, water, medicine, fuel and blood to the people who have lost everything but their lives, even while so many others perished.
We can be thankful for the government and military for undertaking a daunting mission with a reassuring sense of purpose as they haul thousands to safety, deliver to the affected areas literally millions of tons of food, millions of gallons of water and massive amounts of other essentials needed by so many.
All in all, it has been and is a magnificent display of caring for so many by so many against overwhelming odds.

HOWEVER, AS SHOCKING AND reprehensible as it might be, there are those who have been critical of the effort, either through a total lack of understanding of the unprecedented numbers involved in such an unpredictable disaster, or the all but impossible logistical challenges that were created.
Add to that the mean-spirited rhetoric that has sought to inject politics and race into the tragedy, and the problems have grown unnecessarily greater.
In a perfect world, yes, there’d be no tragedies. But, then, in a perfect world everyone and everything would be perfect and we’d all live happily ever after. Come to think of it, too many live in a fairy tale as it is. May the good Lord further deliver the storm victims from them.