Deaths shock family, friends

Investigators suspect money, medical pressures led to murder-suicide

October 5, 2006

By MEGAN VARNER
Index-Journal senior staff writer

When Janet McWhorter left her Montague Avenue beauty salon on Friday, she told her stylists that she would see them on Tuesday.
It would be the last time she spoke to her employees.
Deputies found the bodies of McWhorter, 69, and her husband Jimmy, 67, on Tuesday night in the couple’s home at 301 Roberts Drive, both dead from apparent gunshot wounds to the head.
Authorities are calling the incident a murder-suicide, although Chief Deputy Mike Frederick, with the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office, said Tuesday night’s discovery was different from a domestic-violence related murder-suicide that took place earlier that day at a home on Callison Highway.
On Tuesday morning, Timothy Lail, 48, from Tennessee, shot and killed his estranged wife, Peggy Lail, 45, before killing himself in a mobile home near Callison. Authorities said the man might have been upset that his estranged wife had begun a relationship with another man.
Frederick added that, although the shooting cases both involve husbands killing their wives and then themselves, the sheriff’s office investigation revealed that the motivations in each case were likely different.
“The Lail case ... was a textbook domestic violence-related murder suicide,” Frederick said. “We have no indication in the McWhorter case, however, that a pattern of abuse existed prior to this week.”
Frederick said that investigators think that financial and medical pressures might have been factors in the McWhorter case.
“Of course, that makes it no less tragic,” Frederick added.
Deputies responded to the McWhorter residence in the Hyde Park community just after 10 p.m. Tuesday, after neighbors reported that the couple had not been seen for two days, though their lights and televisions were on and their vehicles were parked in the driveway.
After deputies did not get a response at the door, they entered the home where they found the bodies in the bedroom.
Frederick said there were no signs of violence in the home.
Through crime scene analysis and interviews, investigators determined that Jimmy McWhorter apparently shot and killed his wife prior to killing himself sometime Sunday or Monday. Investigations Division Commander Maj. John Murray said that, as with the case in the earlier murder-suicide on Callison Highway, no third party involvement is suspected. The discovery left friends and family members of the couple devastated, and many said Jim and Janet McWhorter’s recently declining health might shed some light on what happened.
Steve McWhorter said his brother and sister-in-law “had some pretty bad medical conditions,” adding that Janet McWhorter had just discovered she had cancer again, which he described as a “terminal” condition. His brother also suffered with cancer and, in February, had undergone quadruple bypass surgery on his heart, Steve McWhorter added.
Jim McWhorter was scheduled to return to the doctor on Friday for another medical procedure, Steve McWhorter said.
“They were great people, super,” Steve McWhorter said, adding that his brother coached successful football teams at the YMCA and was self-employed.
Janet McWhorter owned the Janet’s New Image salon on Montague Avenue in Greenwood, where she had been in business since 1991. Friends and co-workers said Janet McWhorter had been in the beauty industry for 25 years.
Rae Lucas and Carolyn Gingerich, stylists with Janet’s New Image, said Janet McWhorter seemed “fine” on Friday as she left the beauty salon. Both said they had no indication something was troubling the woman.
“She said, ‘I’ll see you on Tuesday’ when she left,” Gingerich said. “That’s one thing I’ll never forget.”
Lucas said Janet McWhorter walked to the back of the salon, where Lucas’ booth is located, to say goodbye. “That was one strange thing,” Lucas said. “She’ll usually just call out ... but she came back there and told me bye. That was significant. She made sure she told us both bye.”
The stylists said Janet McWhorter did seem a “little down” recently because of her medical troubles.
“She was going to have that biopsy done, and she was worried about that,” Lucas said. “She kept saying that she was scared to death. Other than that, she worked with her customers fine and she interacted with us.”
Gingerich added that Jim McWhorter, who stopped by the salon last week, did not seem troubled.
When Janet McWhorter failed to return to work on Tuesday, Gingerich said she thought the woman might have had another doctor appointment.
“We called her all day (Tuesday), but I thought maybe she was at the doctor’s office and that was why she didn’t come to work,” Gingerich said. “Janet was always a tough person. This would be the last thing I would have thought.”
Steve McWhorter said the couple had a “to-do” list inside their residence that included things they needed to do on Monday. Janet McWhorter had appointments scheduled for Tuesday in her book at work.
“There was no indication,” Steve McWhorter said. “They were excellent people. If you ever needed anything, they’d find a way to get it for you.”
Ray Medlock, a “close family friend” of the McWhorters, said the news was hard to believe.
“I talked with (Janet’s ex-husband) a few minutes ago, and he said he had just talked to Janet on Sunday. He said she sounded perfectly fine,” Medlock said. “I had trouble convincing him that something had happened.”

James L. Emily

James Lee Emily, 93, of 1110 Marshall Road, husband of Elizabeth Peele Emily, died Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006, at Self Regional Medical Center.
Services will be announced by Harley Funeral Home and Crematory.

Lillian Brownlee

WARE SHOALS — Lillian R. Brownlee, 44, of 80 Audubon St., died Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006, at HospiceCare of the Piedmont, Greenwood.
The family is at the home.
Services will be announced by Robinson-Walker Funeral Service.

Family pride

Stan Doolittle continuing career in football at Gardner Webb

October 5, 2006

By RENALDO STOVER
Index-Journal sports writer

Former Ninety Six Wildcats quarterback Stan Doolittle left an impression on the school’s football program and on those who had a chance to watch him air it out week after week as his father, Wildcats coach Mike Doolittle, patrolled the sidelines.
Stan is now in his first season as quarterback for the Bulldogs of Gardner Webb (3-2) and has made the transition without much of a problem.
Doolittle’s father and former coach said that he has been truly blessed to not only see Stan move on to the college level, but also to see his older son, Mitch, who is the starting quarterback at Presbyterian College, succeed.
“Stan and Mitch worked extremely hard during their high school careers to get where they are now and nothing came easy for them,” Mike said. “As a coach and as a parent I guess I’m doubly proud.”
With both sons playing college football, that presents a small problem for the family. Mike says that he and his wife split up each weekend so that their sons can each have a parent at their games. So far, Mike says that there have been two games that they both have been able to attend, but he considers the situation a good problem to have.
Having a father who is your coach also can be a good situation to be in.
Mike said his advice to Stan, so far, has been to work hard and compete to be No. 1. He thinks it helped that his sons were able to be around football on a regular basis while growing up and see other players competing on the field.
“I think about Mario Williams and Corey Carter and a bunch of guys that they saw compete and do well, and they found out that the only way to get there is hard work and neither one of them mind doing that.” Mike said.
Before a minor injury suffered against Appalachian State, which kept him out of last week’s 28-21 win over Southeastern Louisiana, Stan was making progress early in the season, seeing action in four of the Bulldogs’ first five games.
“I’m feeling pretty good, and I actually was able to run today,” Stan said. “The head trainer said that I was ahead of the game right now.”
Stan said he already has a target date of when he wants to return to action, but added that he’ll have to wait until he is medically cleared. In the meantime, he is still involved with the team and he reflected on his time so far as a college quarterback.
“We’ve got a great future ahead of us and I think once we get going, we just have to learn to be consistent,” Stan said. “We’ve got a great group of seniors here, and the No. 3 receiving corps in the nation. As a team, we’ve got a great supporting cast.”
When discussing some of the differences between high school and college football, Stan went against the grain when breaking down the biggest changes.
“A lot of people say speed, and that is true, but I think you get used to that in camp,” Stan said. “As far as the actual game, I would say the different looks that they have now in college, because you have to be more focused on your reads.”
Stan has an advantage over some quarterbacks after not only playing quarterback in high school, but also spending time on defense at safety.
“Actually, that helps out a lot, because I can remember where I lined up whenever we were in cover three or cover-four,” Stan said.
Probably the biggest advantage Stan has early in his career is having an older brother who played the same position growing up.
“That’s what has helped me out now as far as being behind somebody,” Stan said. “It also helped me as far as staying humble, showing my work ethic and persevering to get the job.”
Doolittle has shown what made him Shrine Bowl MVP in 2005, going 13-for-20 for 139 yards and three touchdowns with zero interceptions. His completion rate of 65.0 percent is solid.
“He’s playing about as well as you can play as a true freshman quarterback,” according to the Bulldogs’ Sports Information Director Marcus Rabb.
Gardner Webb coach Steve Patton agrees.
“He has played real well, and we were thinking maybe we could redshirt him, but he performed too well,” Patton said. “He was splitting some time with our starting quarterback as a true freshman and he’s as good as any true freshman that I’ve coached at quarterback, and I think he’s done a great job.”
Patton says one of the factors that played a role in his decision to recruit Stan was a familiarity with the team after recruiting former Ninety Six quarterback Mario Williams and getting to know coach Doolittle over that time.
“We probably started recruiting him before anybody else, and then, of course, his senior year a bunch of people jumped on him,” Patton said. “We felt fortunate to get him and everything has paid off like we thought and I think he’s going to have a great collegiate career.”

Newspaper carriers part of the people they serve

October 5, 2006

The newspaper boy is an American icon. Every South Carolinian above a certain age remembers the young boy - and sometimes girl - pedalling a bicycle down a sidewalk delivering the morning or afternoon news right to the subscribers’ doorstep. Times change, though, and so does life. Paper boys, alas, are virtually no more. Now adults deliver The Index-Journal and most newspapers every morning, Sundays included.
Most of the time the paper is in the box or on the porch long before readers even think of getting out of bed. That means the carriers have been at it long before the sun comes up. It’s not just a pasttime, either. Carriers take pride in the service they provide and they do it 365 days - early mornings - every year.

DOWNPOURS? BITTER COLD? You name it, the carrier is always there.
There are occasions, very seldom to be sure, when a paper might be late. Someone might be sick and has to call a substitute. There are any number of possibilities. There may even be a time when a delivery is missed. That’s mighty noticeable, and irritating, no doubt about it. Why? Having our newspaper delivered to us every day is one of those things we tend to take for granted. The carrier is usually so dependable that anytime one delivery is missed, even if it’s one out of 5,000, the regularity of the good service makes that one miss stand out.
Newspaper carriers work for themselves, too. They are independent contractors. In that role they are integral parts of local economies wherever they live. Their customers are their neighbors.

THEY SPEND THEIR EARNINGS in the local grocery stores. They buy their clothing, gasoline, automobiles, essentials and non-essentials where they live. They eat out, go bowling and to the movies in their communities. In short, they are ..... we the people.
This has been the week to remember newspaper carriers. When you think about it, though, they deserve our consideration all year long. Put it in perspective we all can appreciate: Who else do we know who gets up so early every day to bring us the latest news about our communities, state and world ..... and do it in conditions that make the rest of us pull up the covers and snuggle against the coming dawn?