Close call: Woman escapes wrath of Mother Nature

May 19, 2006

By JOANIE BAKER
Index-Journal staff writer

As the sky filled overhead with angry gray clouds, Doris Brown thought she better take out the trash and get her mail before the rain prevented her from doing so.
And just like any other day, Brown sifted through the bills and junk mail on Thursday as she casually crossed back to her condominium at Reynolds Colony in Greenwood.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong. Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
Five minutes later, Ethel Robinson, one of Brown’s neighbors, frantically rang Brown’s doorbell.
While Robinson was looking out the window as she washed her dishes, she saw a large tree limb fall on top of Brown’s condo, destroying the mailbox her neighbor visited only moments before.
“It was the strangest thing. I heard a cracking sound and could see it falling,” said Robinson, who said the wind probably blew the limb over. “I thought, ‘Poor Ms. Brown,’ and started running.”
But Brown, whose interior remained untouched by thoughtless branches, had no idea a limb landed on her roof.
“I heard it and thought, ‘Ooh, lightning has struck somewhere real close,’” said Brown, who was watching TV at the time. “I didn’t even know until (Robinson) came and told me.”
As neighbors surveyed the giant oak branch that cracked their mailboxes open like a peanut shell, other residents returning home tried to find a way inside.
Earl Carroll, president of the homeowner’s association, said he didn’t know what to expect when a resident called and told him what had happened.
“We’ve had minor damage with ice, but nothing to this extent,” Carroll said. “We’re shocked, to say the least, but we’ll get it worked out today.”
Though Brown and fellow residents remained unscathed, there were two casualties involved in the property-damaging incident.
Two birds fell victim to the misfortune that littered the parking lot until about 8:15 p.m., when Allen Irwin was contracted to remove the mess of branches.
Brown, who lost her home in Callison several years ago in a fire, said looking at the tree relaxing on her roof was like seeing a bad dream. Her son, Jerry Brown, said he was expecting a much smaller branch from the little tree in front of his mom’s condo. He said even though she told him it wasn’t bad, he still hurried over from Wal-Mart when he received the call.
“It could have come right in on me sitting on the couch,” Doris Brown said. “...I’ve got a lot to be thankful for.”

Championship cowgirl

Ware Shoals’ Jadia Giles enjoying barrel racing success

May 19, 2006

By CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal sports writer

WARE SHOALS — When many fans in the Lakelands area think of athletics in Ware Shoals, they probably most often think of the high school’s football team, or maybe the softball squad.
However, there is also a professional athlete roaming the halls of Ware Shoals High School.
Freshman Jadia Giles, 15, competes on the International Professional Rodeo Association barrel racing circuit when she’s not focusing on her school work or hanging out with her friends.
Barrel racing is a form of horse racing in which riders race around three barrels in a cloverleaf formation, hoping to post as low a time as possible.
Giles will get an opportunity to show off her skills locally tonight, as River Oaks Arena in Ware Shoals will be hosting an IPRA sanctioned rodeo. Giles said she is excited about performing for the home crowd. “I like it,” Giles said of racing close to home.
“Usually I always have to go somewhere else to race. Most of them are up in North Carolina. I don’t mind going up there, but I’d rather be close to home.”
Giles has been barrel racing since she was five. She said she has been in love with the sport, which was introduced to her by her grandfather, since that time.
She said she enjoys the competition and winning, but thinks she has done her job as long as she gives her best effort.
Giles had a good showing at the Ware Shoals rodeo a year ago, completing the course in 14.9 seconds, which would have been good for second place. However, because of a technical infraction, her time was not allowed.
The rodeo at Twin Oakes Arena is tonight and Saturday with barrel racing both nights, and, according to Giles, will be run by women from all across the country. There are no particular age limitations, with any qualified female racer allowed to compete on one of the two evenings.
If the whole activity sounds a little bit rough-and-tumble for a 15-year-old girl, consider this: Giles was crowned the Junior Southern Rodeo Association Queen Jan. 7 in Asheville, N.C.
“It was just like any pageant, just without the evening dresses,” Giles said.
“We made the grand entrance into the arena, and we had to make a speech. We had to make a good show of it. I was happy to have won.”
Considering her entire sport is geared toward speed, Giles’ horse has a particularly contrasting name: Stop.
“That’s not his registered name,” Giles said.
“But a few years ago we started calling him Stop, and it’s just stuck with him.”
When asked if participating in professional athletics creates a strange paradigm between she and her friends, Giles deflects the idea.
“They seem to like it,” Giles said. “Some of them will come and watch. We just have fun with it.”
Giles said she will continue to pursue the sport of barrel racing, saying she hopes to keep improving and driving her times lower and lower.

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

Opinion

Despite our differences, we can do much together

May 19, 2006

Talk about strange bedfellows! When two ranking, influential state senators - one black, one white - give the rest of us a lesson in how to work together on what historically has been a contentious issue, it’s time to pay attention, no matter what color we are.
The issue is Confederate Memorial Day. The two senators are Charleston’s Robert Ford and Glenn McConnell. They agreed that Confederate Memorial Day should be a state holiday, with both saying it should become as widely accepted as Martin Luther King, Jr. day.
Some disagreed with that assessment, as might have been expected. Nevertheless, when the reasoning was explained, the perspective left a positive impression.
SENATOR FORD, WHO IS black and a Democrat, said, “The goal is to bring both sides together to get to know what makes us ‘tick’ as Southerners.”
Senator McConnell, who is white and a Republican, said that “If we can honor Dr. King’s work and the sacrifice of these men (Confederate veterans), then both the days are worth it.”
Racism remains an issue, in South Carolina and, indeed, all over the nation. Still, if we, like Ford and McConnell, can approach the problems it creates with positive attitudes and a willingness to hear both sides with understanding, there are probably not many problems we couldn’t solve ..... together.
On the other hand, if we don’t try to understand our differences and what it might take to overcome them, again together, the same old problems likely will be around forever.

CONSIDER THE MATTER THAT got Ford and McConnell together. Both Martin Luther King Day and Confederate Memorial Day were made mandatory holidays in South Carolina in a compromise six years ago. Still, not many governing entities in the state give both holidays full acceptance. Why not? Is it to keep from offending one side or the other, or is it a failure, based on two-sided racism, to try to close the divide?
No doubt it’s some of each that builds walls of separation and enhances misunderstanding ..... by accident or on purpose.
Give Senators Ford and McConnell credit, though, for working together. They’ve shown us how. Now the rest of us have no excuses about not knowing how to build bridges instead of walls.

Obituaries

Betty Forsyth

DONALDS — Elizabeth “Betty” Graham Forsyth, 82, of 165 Double H Farm Road, wife of Robert Bruce Forsyth, died Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at her home.
Born in St. Paul, Minn., she was a daughter of the late Leslie and Bertha Norma Barron Graham. She was formerly of Simpsonville and a former employee of Bob Jones University. A member of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Antreville, she taught the Ladies Sunday School Class.
Survivors include her husband of the home; two sons, Thomas Hamilton Forsyth of Piedmont and James Robert Graham Forsyth of Easley; six daughters, Leah Elizabeth Detamore of Hodges, Madelaine Ann Dodgens of Elche, Spain, Barbara Helen Semanach of Oakley, Mich., Norma Forsyth Lunn of Landrum, Rebecca Dale Kaiser of Taylors and Joanne Valerie Johnk of Piedmont; 26 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren.
Services are 2 p.m. Saturday at Emmanuel Baptist Church, Antreville, conducted by the Rev. Ray Hansel. The body will be placed in the church at 1. Burial is in the church cemetery.
Pallbearers are Willie C. Johnk, Robert C. Lunn, Scott Detamore, Ethan J. Johnk, Aaron Semanach and Will C. Johnk II.
Visitation is 6-8 tonight at Harris Funeral Home, Abbeville.
The family is at the home.
Memorials may be made to The Wilds Christian Camp, 1000 Wilds Ridge Road, Brevard, NC 28712-7273 or Hopegivers International Orphanages, India Project, Hopegivers International, PO Box 8808, Columbus, GA 31908.
Harris Funeral Home is in charge.
Online condolences may be made to the family at www.harrisfuneral.com

Lura Ann Lenton

Services for Lura Ann Lenton, of 102 Corley St., are at noon Saturday at Dunham Temple CME Church, conducted by the Rev. James McKee, assisted by the Rev. James Duncan. The body will be placed in the church at 11 a.m. Burial is in The Evening Star cemetery.
Pallbearers are Dunham Temple CME All Male Chorus members.
Flower bearers are Tasha Roundtree, Shamika L. Cohen, Andrea D. Strong, Henrietta Cohen, Ruby Brown, Kalisha Thomas, Nicole Mathis, Sandra Simpson, Debra Lanford, Jo Ann Tolbert, great-nieces and cousins.
Viewing begins at 12 today at Percival-Tompkins Funeral Home. Visitation is 7-8 tonight at the funeral home.
The family is at the home of a cousin, Laura Mathis, 369 Joe Louis Blvd.
Percival-Tompkins Funeral Home is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at pertompfh1@earthlink.net

Samuel Emory Summers Sr.

GILBERT — Samuel Emory Summers Sr., of 1132 Spring Hill Road, husband of Annie Vivian Satterwhite Summers, died Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at Providence Hospital.
Born in Gilbert, he was a son of the late Tally and Mamie Draft Summers. He was a member of Good Hope CME Church, where he was an usher and trustee. He was an Army veteran and a retired commercial truck driver.
Survivors include his wife of the home; a daughter, Teresa Forte of Kokomo, Ind.; two sons, Jerry J. Summers of Gilbert and Ricky Summers of Kokomo; two stepdaughters, Patricia Wilson of Maryland and Regina Boyd of Washington, D.C.; a stepson, Ernest Wilson of Maryland; a brother, Tommie Summers of Washington, D.C.; 14 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren.
Services are 3 p.m. Sunday at Good Hope CME Church, conducted by the Rev. Lena M. Williams, assisted by the Revs. Joe Brown, Eric R. Dent and B.T. Martin. Burial is in the church cemetery.
Pallbearers and flower bearers are family and friends of the family.
Viewing begins 1 p.m. Saturday at Butler & Sons Funeral Home.
The family is at the home.
Butler & Sons Funeral Home, Saluda, is in charge.

William Westbrook

MARIETTA, Ga. — William Howard Westbrook, 82, husband of Julia Tyson Westbrook, died Wednesday, May 17, 2006.
Born in Alpharetta, he was a son of the late Arthur Dewey and Edna Christine Dodd Westbrook. He retired in 1982 from Georgia Power after 32 years as an electrical engineer. A World War II Navy veteran, he served for eight years and received a Purple Heart and two Battle Stars. He was a member and deacon of Roswell Baptist Church.
Survivors include his wife; a son, Brian Westbrook; a daughter, Linda Wheeler; a sister, Wynette Westbrook; two brothers, Raymond Westbrook and the Rev. Reuel Westbrook of Greenwood, S.C.; three grandchildren.
Services are 11 a.m. today at Roswell Baptist Church, Marietta, conducted by the Revs. Reuel Westbrook and David Christian. Burial, with military honors, is in Greenlawn Cemetery, Roswell.
Georgia Memorial Park Funeral Home is in charge.
Announcement courtesy of Harley Funeral Home & Crematory, Greenwood.

Coline K. Zellars

WARE SHOALS — Coline Kelley Zellars, 75, of Highway 252, died Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at Self Regional Medical Center, Greenwood.
The family is at the home.
Services will be announced by Robinson-Walker Funeral Service.