Making an IMPACT

Youth group members give back to Greenwood

June 3, 2006

By BOBBY HARRELL
Index-Journal staff writer

Unlike many kids during summer break, Thomas Yeargin didn’t spend this week planted in front of the TV or relaxing at the pool.
Instead, he was lugging around mulch to spread at the Connie Maxwell playground and teaching Bible school at Pine Tree Apartments. Yeargin, along church youth groups members from across Greenwood, helped in the community through Impact Greenwood.
Bringing kids together to help is what Impact Greenwood is all about, said Chris Fox, youth minister for First Baptist Church and organizer of the summer missions project.
Eight church youth groups split into teams to help deliver food through Meals on Wheels, teach Bible school and soccer camps, and build houses for Habitat for Humanity from Tuesday to Friday, Fox said.
The theme of this year’s Impact was “Contagion,” he said. Getting the youth groups to spread their love of God by doing good work in the community is the main goal of Impact Greenwood.
Patrick Hobson and Gray Johnson taught soccer to young children in a field behind Grace Community Church. Hobson said the kids enjoyed learning how to play soccer.
“It was fun,” Hobson said, “and they all wanted to learn, because it was fun.”
Ashley Miller helped with the Bible camp at Pine Tree Apartments. She said she had a good time playing with the kids at Pine Tree and being a positive force in Greenwood.
Volunteering is often done outside of Greenwood, but not as often in Greenwood, Miller said. “We focus on doing stuff inside Greenwood because this is where we’re at,” she said.
Sara McGee also helped with the Bible camp. She said she was impressed with how the kids at the apartment complex were familiar with the Bible stories they were being taught and could actively discuss them.
Fox said he thought the week was a success, adding that he hoped the kids now want to do more with their summer than just sit around the house. “We’ve had a very intense week, but a fruitful week,” he said.
Yeargin’s gotten to like teaching so much, he said he wants to go back to Pine Tree.
“We want to go back twice a week,” he said.

‘Hard Rock’ ready to roll

June 3, 2006

By CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal staff writer

COLUMBIA — Many of the world’s greatest sculptors create fine art from solid stone, or perhaps even wood.
Greenwood native Johnny “Hard Rock” Hurley is a sculptor with a slightly different palette: his body.
Hurley, who now lives in Columbia, is a competitive body builder. He travels around the country competing in different shows, attempting as always to impress the judges and earn the respect of his bodybuilding peers.
“I started getting into competitions back in 1999,” Hurley said. “I had always worked out and stayed in shape. Then in 1999 a buddy of mine convinced me to enter in a contest down at Parris Island. I actually won the competition. I’ve been working hard and getting stronger ever since.”
Hurley will compete again June 17 at the Carolina Naturals competition at USC Upstate. The “natural” aspect of the show is what Hurley is especially proud of.
In the bodybuilding world, the natural tag applies to competitors who are free of any type of steroids or human growth harmones. According to Hurley, the organizers of natural events go to painstaking lengths to ensure the participants are drug free, including extensive drug testing at each show and polygraph tests.
“The rule is you have to have been clean for several months,” Hurley said. “They give us the polygraph because if the drugs are out of someone’s system, the detector will show whether they had taken something before that time. I stay away from any of that stuff.”
Hurley said that many of the bodybuilders people might see on television are not natural competitors. He said if you come to a natural show, don’t expect to see athletes who look like “Arnold Schwarzenegger used to look.”
Hurley recalled some advice he got from a promoter at the first show he ever competed in.
“He told me I had a chance to do well in bodybuilding,” Hurley said.
“And one thing he said I will always remember is that bigger doesn’t always mean better. That’s why I try to stay lean and toned.”
Another form of inspiration for Hurley comes from a local level. Hurley said he had a teacher at Northside Middle School years ago named Carl Summers. He said Summers encouraged him to get physically active. He also said Summers was a disciplinarian who kept students on the straight and narrow.
“I’ve never been able to find him and tell him how much I appreciated what he did for me,” Hurley said.
“But I really do value some of the things he taught me.”
Hurley said the Carolina Naturals show will be a special one for him for a reason other than his desire to win.
He is officially dedicating his performance in the event to his brother, Gregory Hurley. Johhny said Gregory was killed in 1993, and his killer was never found. Johnny said he has never dedicated a show to his brother, but thinks now is the time.
“He meant a lot to me,” Hurley said of his brother. “I just hope my performance in Spartanburg would make him proud.”

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

Obituaries

Rickie Carlisle

Rickie W. Carlisle, 52, of 149 Marshall Circle, husband of Jill Leek Carlisle, died Friday, June 2, 2006 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Services will be announced by Harley Funeral Home & Crematory.

Mildred Wier

ABBEVILLE — Mildred White Wier, 77, of 100 Pineview St., widow of Van Noy Wier Jr., died Friday, June 2, 2006 at The Hospice House in Greenwood.

Opinion

Newspaper carriers more than what they may seem

June 3, 2006

Those persons who deliver The Index-Journal every morning are more than newspaper carriers.
They are real people with real concerns about their communities and all the people in them.
And, they get up early and make their rounds, no matter how terrible the weather might be.
For most of us, perhaps, that might be enough. After all, it is an everyday job that has no holiday. Under the circumstances, it would not be out of the realm of understanding if they approached the repetitiousness lackadaisically or disinterested. Once in a while one might, but that would be rare and it would be understandable.

NONE OF US GOES THROUGH our business or personal lives without facing a little anxiety, sometimes when least expected.
All in all, though, newspaper carriers persevere, and they do it with a smile, even if a complaint comes their way on occasion. Not many of us can keep up that kind of positive pace.
It was heartwarming, then, when Ninety Six’ Noahleen Berry added a personal “thank you” to Senator John Drummond’s paper on the morning of Memorial Day. It was her appreciation for his service to Greenwood and the nation. We all owe him for his service to nation, state and community. Drummond, of course, was a fighter pilot in World War II. His plane was shot down and he spent the rest of the war in a Nazi concentration camp.

NOAHLEEN BERRY IS NOT the only carrier of The Index-Journal that goes above and beyond to serve his or her customers. She is representative, though, of a group of people who, like veterans, don’t always get the recognition they deserve.
Senator Drummond and all who have served our country are owed a debt of gratitude. That’s obvious. But, then, the unpretentious service of those everyday people who care, and also serve their neighbors and friends without fanfare, often go unnoticed. They, too, deserve thanks for fighting the everyday battles that go with the territory. Sometimes, when we forget, it’s not intentional. Still, saying thanks once in a while is appropriate. Their dedication makes them heroes, too. They just do it in a different setting, very often when the rest of us are sleeping. And, like Noahleen Berry, they know their customers ..... and it shows.

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