Greenwood County standoff

Report: Man fired 2 rounds during dispute with SCDOT

June 1, 2006

By MEGAN VARNER
Index-Journal senior staff writer

Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Tara Scott runs with two children from a house at 311 Kathy Hill Road during a standoff with law enforcement. A man identified by authorities as Richard Hurley allegedly threatened a South Carolina Department of Transportation worker and refused to surrender to authorities before a three-hour standoff ended with Hurley being taken into custody.

A resident’s dispute with a South Carolina Department of Transportation crew led to a nearly three-hour standoff with law enforcement officials Wednesday outside of a house on Kathy Hill Road, south of Greenwood.
The Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office arrested and charged Richard Hurley, 44, of 311 Kathy Hill Road, with threatening the life of a public official, breach of the peace high and aggravated and resisting arrest.
“It went great,” Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Mike Frederick said once the standoff was resolved. “Nobody got hurt — that’s the best deal.”
Residents said SCDOT workers had been going to houses along Kathy Hill Road earlier in the day to inform residents of work that needed to be done to clean the ditches along the road.
Lt. Tara Scott, with the sheriff’s office, said Hurley “exchanged words” with the two-man highway crew, telling the workers that he didn’t want them on his property. Scott said, to her knowledge, the highway workers were attempting to clear the right of way.
A sheriff’s office statement said Hurley fired two rounds from a rifle, and deputies responded to the residence after the SCDOT crew fled and call the sheriff’s office.
The Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office Tactical Team and Hostage Negotiation Team, part of the SWAT unit, also responded to the scene, Scott said, and the South Carolina Highway Patrol worked to secure the area, blocking off Kathy Hill Road near S.C. 25 and Phoenix Road.
When deputies initially arrived at the scene about 2 p.m., Scott said Hurley appeared to throw some type of gun outside of the house. Officials tried to make contact with Hurley on several occasions, but he did not cooperate and would not come out of his house to speak with negotiators, Scott added.
“We did make contact with him by phone,” Scott said, “but he would talk to them (the negotiators) and then hang up.”
Deputies cut the power supply to the house just before 5 p.m., and at that point, Hurley came to the house’s side door and showed his hands for deputies. After throwing a distraction grenade into the home, deputies stormed the residence and took Hurley into custody.
Hurley’s wife and two children were inside the home with Hurley during the standoff and were not injured. They were escorted by law enforcement into waiting vehicles near the house.
Scott said at the scene that deputies performed a criminal background check on Hurley revealing charges including resisting arrest and criminal domestic violence. In a statement later in the day, the sheriff’s office said Hurley has 11 convictions dating to 1981 and these include two prior resisting arrest, criminal domestic violence, assault and attempted murder charges.
As the scene unfolded only yards away, neighbors stood on porches and in their lawns watching as law enforcement took Hurley into custody. Hurley was taken from the house on a stretcher by Greenwood County EMS workers and went to the hospital for an examination. There was a brief scuffle between officers and Hurley, and Hurley suffered minor cuts. He also claimed to be suffering a seizure, the sheriff’s office statement said.
Timothy Roundtree, Hurley’s next-door neighbor, said he saw the man standing near a truck just before the standoff began.
“I got a phone call from a neighbor stating that a guy from the highway department said they’d have to get the sheriff’s office down here because a guy was down here with a gun,” Roundtree said. “I walked out to my mailbox to look, and my neighbor (Hurley) opened a truck door and squatted down. I went on back into my house and called the sheriff.”
Roundtree said he assumed that Hurley had a gun at that point. When deputies arrived, Roundtree said he waited inside his home for his own safety, adding that he could hear negotiators talking with the man.
He said it is not the first time the law has had to come to Hurley’s home.
“All these years we’ve been down here and the only time the police ever had to come was to his house,” Roundtree said.
One neighbor, who did not want to give his name, said Hurley had always been a man who “keeps more to himself.” The neighbor said a highway department worker had stopped by his home to talk about clearing the ditches in his yard and told him that Hurley “had started acting up” when workers were at Hurley’s home. He said the workers told him they were afraid to take a crew to Hurley’s house.
“The first thing out of his (the highway department worker’s) mouth was, ‘We don’t want another Abbeville,’” the neighbor said.
Two Abbeville County law enforcement officers were shot to death in December 2003 allegedly by two Abbeville residents after a confrontation concerning the widening of S.C. 72 through the city.
Death penalty cases are pending against Stephen Bixby and mother Rita Bixby in the incident, and Stephen Bixby’s father Arthur also is charged with murder and is awaiting trial. They were arrested after a 14-hour standoff and shootout with law enforcement.
In the Kathy Hill Road incident, the neighbor said he was not very concerned for his own safety, but instead was concerned for Hurley’s.
“I hope he responds and listens to them,” the neighbor said during the standoff.
Frederick said Hurley wouldn’t leave the house and spoke occasionally to negotiators from a side porch. Hurley had thrown one rifle into the front yard, Frederick said, but claimed to have another inside. Negotiators saw Hurley and his wife on the side porch, and away from the children, Frederick said, and neither appeared to have a weapon. Then the SWAT deputies rammed the front door, rescuing the wife and children and arresting Hurley.
Frederick said investigators seized the second rifle and a box of ammunition inside the house. Two spent shell casings were found in the area of the side porch, said Investigations Commander Major John Murray.
Sheriff Dan Wideman said that when Hurley appears before a magistrate for bond, he will request a bond that reflects Hurley’s “extensive record, history of violence and the seriousness of this incident.”
“We think the safest place for this guy is in our jail,” he said. “Not only did he endanger the DOT crew, but our deputies spent hours facing this guy down and exposing themselves to the risk so no one else had to.”
Of the DOT crew who was threatened, Wideman said people must respect their right to be within the highway right of way. “These guys were out there doing their jobs,” the sheriff said. “They were clearing a culvert, well into the state’s right of way and nowhere near Hurley’s residence.”

Getting ready for nationals

June 1, 2006

By JIM JOYCE
Special projects editor

The end of the regular school basketball season is not the end of the sport for some area middle school players. One large task remains.
Nine players who played at Brewer and Westview in Greenwood, McCormick Middle School, and a team in Clinton, continued playing after their school team finished. They are now helping prepare the Lakelands Sparks for the Youth Basketball of America national (YBOA) AAU tournament in Orlando, Fla.
It’s not the first year for a YBOA team in this area, but it is the first year for Demetrius Middleton to serve as coach. He is assisted by Eddie Callaham.
“This gives young ladies an opportunity to play basketball and experience different levels of competition,”said Middleton, who said he enjoys being involved in a community project.
Middleton moved here from Goose Creek, where he played basketball four years at the high school level.
The 2006 season started the last week of February for players age 14 and under, with a schedule that is somewhat different from that of public schools.
“The season is composed of tournaments, and we have played three so far,” Middleton said. They were in Starr, North Augusta and Greenville.
“The North Augusta tournament was a qualifier for the nationals,” he said. “To qualify, you had to win it or place second.”
The July 8-15 national tournament will feature from 60 to 100 teams representing each state and some foreign countries.
Middleton said the event will be played in several arenas before the finals, because there are so many teams involved.
“After you qualify, you have to play the state tournament, but it has nothing to do with going to the nationals,” Middleton said. “Once you qualify you’re in, no matter what you do in the state tournament.”
The first-year coach said individual scoring records are not emphasized, because the purpose is giving the young girls the opportunity to learn to play as a team and getting along with others. “We have some girls who are honor students,” he said. “We have one who has been selected for a Duke Scholarship, and some have maintained a B average in school. It’s not all basketball.”
As a team, Middleton added, “We are maturing and learning the game as far as what it takes to win. The main focus is getting to your ultimate goal, which is winning the national championship.
“We have a good team and if we play like we can, we can beat any team. But, if we don’t, we can get beat by any team.”

Opinion

State could throw curve at city, county efforts

June 1, 2006

It looks as if any property tax “reform” measure the South Carolina Legislature might come up with, if it ever does, would include some additional sales tax. That’s not unexpected, of course, considering all the debate over so many different proposals in recent months. Nevertheless, it does present a possible problem for cities and counties.
One of the taxes that invariably is mentioned when new funding is needed is a local option sales tax. That means the voting public would be asked to approve adding a local sales tax to the sales tax already levied by the state.
Greenwood County is considering such a tax to help pay for a new library, and maybe a little dam work on Lake Greenwood, as mandated by the federal government. If the state increases the sales tax before a Greenwood referendum is held, that could well have a negative effect on whether voters would be agreeable to adding on another penny.
Depending on whether the state does increase the sales tax, and how much, we could very easily end up solving one problem while creating another.

Obituaries

Roger H. Davis

IVA — Roger Hornsby Davis, 72, husband of Marguerite Davis, of 108 Debora St., died Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at his home.
Born in Iva, he was a son of the late William Henry and Eula Mae Brown Davis. He retired from Monsanto in 1985 with 26 years of service. A Mason, he was a former member of the Lions Club and Gideons International and a member and deacon of First Baptist Church of Iva.
Survivors include his wife of the home; two daughters, Mrs. Jerry (Sherry) League of Starr and Mrs. Billy (Bettie) Peele of Iva; five grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; a brother, Stan Davis of Iva; two sisters, Helen Gaines of Anderson and Gloria Killin of Albuquerque, N.M. Services are 11 a.m. Friday at First Baptist Church of Iva, officiated by the Revs. Jerry Gray and Paul Pinson. The body will be placed in the church at 10:30. Burial is in Iva City Cemetery.
Visitation is 6-8 tonight The McDougald Funeral Home.
The family is at the home.
Flowers are accepted. Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church of Iva Building Fund, PO Box 475, Iva, SC 29655.
The McDougald Funeral Home, Anderson, is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.mcdougaldfuneralhome.com

John Howard

ABBEVILLE — John Raiford Howard, 80, of Apt. 1401 Abbeville Arms, husband of Lillie Stevenson Howard, died Wednesday, May 31, 2006 at his home.
Born in Abbeville County, was a son of the late John Salter Howard. He retired as a fixer with Grendel Mills, Greenwood, was a World War II Army veteran and was a member of Jordan Baptist Church, Greenwood.
Survivors include his wife of the home; two sons, Roger Dale Howard of Chanute, Kan., and Steven Louis Howard of Huron, Ohio; two sisters, Kitty Mae Hawkins of Hodges and Vera Wilson of Abbeville; five grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren.
Services will be private.
The family is at the home.
Memorials may be made to Hospice of the Piedmont, 408 W. Alexander Ave., Greenwood, SC 29646.
The Chandler-Jackson Funeral Home is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.chandlerjacksonfh.com

Sallye Mae Rayford

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Services for Sallye Mae Rayford are 11 a.m. Friday at Macedonia Baptist Church, Greenwood, S.C., conducted by the Rev. Dr. Willie Harrison, assisted by the Rev. Norris Turner. The body will be placed in the church at 10. Burial is in The Evening Star cemetery.
Pallbearers are Nathaniel Booker, Lenny Rayford, Jessie Rayford, Tony Warren, Walter Warren Jr. and Henry Hamilton.
Flower bearers are cousins and friends.
The family is at the home of a sister, Joann Warren, 543 Goode St., Greenwood.
Percival-Tompkins Funeral Home, Greenwood, is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at pertompfh1@earthlink.net

Louise Speed

Elder Louise Speed, of 1411 Mays St., widow of Charlie Speed, died Monday, May 29, 2006 at her home.
Born in Anderson, she was a daughter of the late John Allen and Ida Mae Cummings. She was a certified nursing assistant and a member of Little Mill Baptist Church and Women Home Society Lodge No. 81.
Survivors include a son, John Geer of Abbeville; five daughters, Katherine Derbow of Bridgeport, Conn., Shirley Ray of Anderson, Laura J. Martin of Spartanburg, Dersenia Blakeley of Abbeville and Audrey Moss of Greenwood; a sister, Addie Hunt of Bridgeport; 22 grandchildren; 33 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren.
Services are 2 p.m. Saturday at Little Mill Baptist Church, McCormick County, conducted by the Rev. Paul Saunders. The body will be placed in the church at 1. Burial is in the church cemetery.
Viewing is 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and visitation 7-8 p.m. Friday at Richie Funeral Home, Abbeville.
Richie Funeral Home Inc. is in charge.