Montague Ave. work slated for finish next week

September 16, 2006

By MEGAN VARNER
Index-Journal senior staff writer

If you’ve driven through Greenwood this week, you’ve probably noticed the ride took a little longer — and was a little bumpier — than usual.
Crews have been working on Montague Avenue throughout the week as part of a multi-county resurfacing project, said Tom Evans, Greenwood County resident construction engineer with the South Carolina Department of Transportation. The work should be completed by the beginning of next week, Evans said.
Crews began “milling out” more than an inch of pavement from Montague Avenue on Sunday night, Evans said, to prepare the road surface for a fresh layer of asphalt.
“After a number of times putting asphalt down, it begins to build up” above drainage lines, Evans said, adding that some of the pavement must be removed before new asphalt can be added.
A special machine pulls up the old pavement, grinds it into fragments and removes it from the roadway, giving the road a “bumpy” feel that motorists might have noticed as they drove through town this week.
Evans said a good portion of the resurfacing work took place in the early morning and night hours, to avoid a buildup of traffic during the weekday rush hours.
“We are trying not to disturb traffic any more than we have to,” Evans said.
After the two-day milling phase, Evans said crews replaced “bad spots” in the stone base below the roadway where needed.
On Friday morning, crews began to resurface the roadway with a hot asphalt mix, and Evans said the work will continue through the weekend.
He said the department expects to have the roadway resurfaced and lane markers repainted by Monday.
The Montague Avenue project is part of a larger resurfacing project that includes work on roads in Ninety Six, as well as Newberry and Edgefield counties.
Evans said a similar resurfacing project is scheduled for early 2007 in Uptown Greenwood and will coincide with streetscaping and enhancement projects planned in the City Center Masterplan.

Megan Varner covers general assignments in Greenwood and the Lakelands. She can be reached at 223-1811, ext. 3308, or: mvarner@indexjournal.com

Area students meet ‘basic’ standards on PACT

Local schools’ PACT results show fairly average progress

September 16, 2006

By BOBBY HARRELL
Index-Journal staff writer

South Carolina students have shown a middle-of-the-road performance in the 2007 PACT scores, according to data released Friday by the state’s Department of Education.
The Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests measure students’ progress toward the state’s curriculum standards.
Area school district scores were fairly average, with most districts’ students meeting the basic standards for the test.
State officials reported that more than 300,000 students from third to eighth grade took the aptitude test in May in the areas of math, English, science and social studies.
District officials in the Abbeville County School District, McCormick County School District and Greenwood School District 50, 51 and 52 commented on the scores.
Officials with the Saluda County School District were not available for this story.
PACT scores can be viewed at the state Department of Education’s Web site at: http://ed.sc.gov/topics/assessment/scores/pact/2006/default.cfm.
The Index-Journal tabulated districts’ scores based on each grade’s average in all four subjects.
Scores are divided into Below Basic, Basic, Proficient and Advanced categories.
District 50 students’ 2006 PACT scores decreased in the fourth grade but remained about the same for the other grades.
The district gained in the science proficient and advanced categories in the third, sixth and eighth grades; increased in social studies in the same categories for third- and eighth-graders and scored at or above the state average in all middle school grades, said Pat Ross, assistant superintendent for instruction for District 50.
While she sees some improvement, Ross said the achievement gap between free/reduced lunch and full-pay students is too wide to ignore.
“We will analyze each student’s performance to determine the academic growth made during the year and will expect continuous improvement to be the goal,” Ross said.
McCormick students’ 2006 PACT scores had slight increases in the third and fourth grades and slight decreases for the other grades.
McCormick superintendent Sandra Calliham said her district increased in five areas with the third grade making the most improvements.
The fifth grade also showed an increase in math.
McCormick has maintained a focus on its English and math tests while expanding to the four-year-old social studies and science tests.
Not every district has done that, Calliham said.
Abbeville students scored slightly higher in most subjects and grades in meeting basic standards on this year’s PACT compared with 2005’s scores.
Abbeville district officials said that students scored higher compared with the rest of the state in four grades in English, three grades in math, four grades in science and four grades in social studies.
District officials said through a press release that the progress made is because of students’, teachers’ and administrators’ hard work.
“Schools are putting the needs of the students first, and it shows,” the press release said.
District 51 students’ 2006 PACT scores skewed wildly in comparison with last year’s scores, with some grades making slight advancements in basic standards and others losing ground by almost 20 percent.
District officials said that scores in the third, fourth, seventh and eighth grades showed a trend of fewer students scoring Below Basic than in past years. Social studies and science scores also need to be improved.
Professional development training, student support and balanced literacy are some of the programs and services that the district is offering to make scores more buoyant.
District 52 students’ 2006 PACT scores mostly reflected improvements, with seventh-grade scores up by about 15 percent in basic standards.
Superintendent Dan Powell said he is pleased that the district’s scores are above state average, but he knows they can be improved.
“We have work to do like every other district,” Powell said.
Saluda students’ 2006 PACT scores decreased in the third and eighth grades while remaining steady over the rest.
State officials said that one of the best long-term improvements for South Carolina students is in math.
“While it’s good to see long-term gains, we know that improvement must accelerate in order to meet the high achievement goals we’ve set,” said state Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum.
Officials said that 75 percent of seventh-graders scored in the Basic category or above in math. Abbeville seventh-graders scored 87.4 percent in math. Greenwood District 50, 51 and 52 scored 82.1 percent, 73.3 percent and 91.3 percent, respectively, in math. McCormick and Saluda scored 68.2 percent and 75.8 percent, respectively.
State officials said South Carolina third-graders met the state’s standards the most while sixth-graders met standards the least.

Close call with crane

Equipment tips, crashes into parked tractor-trailer

September 16, 2006

By SUZANNE DUNAWAY
Of The Index-Journal Staff

A 60-ton crane tipped over Friday morning at the Greenwood Mall, crashing onto a tractor-trailer rig parked at a loading dock and closing traffic at one of the mall’s entrances.
The crane, placed at the back entrance of the mall between Carmike Cinemas and Belk, had been moved in to replace a rooftop air conditioning unit.
Crane operator Randy “Squirrel” Anderson, of Augusta Crane and Rigging, said he “realized the rig was moving and jumped out to steady the crane.”
Ray Farmer, of Farmer’s Stump Grinding, was behind the crane trimming a flower bed near the mall entrance when the crane began moving.
“The rig was perfectly level, and then the crane started moving to the right,” Farmer said. “It began to lean and the weight carried it over.”
The crane fell into the trailer of a truck unloading general freight at the Belk loading dock. Truck driver Sheila Parnell of Unique Express Inc. said she and at least one Belk employee were in the trailer at the time of the crash.
Immediately after the crash, Farmer and a passerby raced to the trailer to check on the safety of those inside. “We jumped over the loading dock brick wall. The other guy slipped into the loading dock through a small opening at the dock wall, while I ran around to the the other side and started banging on the bed walls,” Farmer said. “We were told everyone inside was OK.”
Anderson said he had worked with similar equipment for more than 31 years and had worked with this particular rig for a year and a half. Anderson said he was taken inside the mall offices where he was allowed to watch the video of the incident taken by mall security cameras. He believes that mechanical failure caused the accident and that the crane itself did not appear to be damaged.
Barbara Gravely, manager of Carmike Cinemas, said mall mangement told her that the wreckage should be cleared before the theater opened Friday night.

District 50 school board to take up bond plan
during Monday meeting

September 16, 2006

By BOBBY HARRELL
Index-Journal staff writer

Greenwood School District 50’s trustees will discuss more details about a potential plan that would leverage millions of dollars for new construction and renovation of existing schools.
The board will meet 7 p.m. Monday at the district office to smooth out the wrinkles in the district’s installment purchase bond plan, said Martha Vincent, director of teacher evaluation and public information.
If it goes forward with the plan, the board will consider leveraging a range of between $135 million and $150 million for the project, said Gary Johnson, assistant superintendent of business and operations. The board has also estimated it will take 25 years to pay off the bonds.
Johnson, along with Superintendent Darrell Johnson, will possibly give out more information about the plan during a presentation at the meeting, Vincent said.
A board of trustees work session was scheduled for Tuesday, but Vincent said the board might not need it.
If the board members get all of their questions answered Monday, a work session on Tuesday would not be necessary.
Darrell Johnson’s secretary, Nelva Temple, said that a work session was not built onto the end of Monday’s agenda.
Once the agenda has been approved, it can’t be changed, Vincent said.
The board will also see a presentation about Northside Middle School programs, review recent state test data and vote on the Pinecrest Elementary School project.

Marie Burton

NINETY SIX — Marie Butler Burton, 91, of 408 Sirrine Street, widow of Albert Burton, died Friday, September 15, 2006 at the Laurens County Hospital.
Born in South Carolina, she was a daughter of the late Ned and Annie Lou Hasting Butler. She was retired from Greenwood Mills, Ninety Six Plant, where she was a member of the Quarter Century Club. She was a member of Temple Baptist Church, where she was a member of the T.E.L. Sunday School Class and the Personal Witness Mission Group.
She was preceded in death by a son, Perry Burton.
Surviving is a son, Wayne Burton and his wife, Connie, of Ninety Six; four grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Services will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Harley Funeral Home Chapel with burial in Greenwood Memorial Gardens. Pallbearers will include Julius Calhoun, Rodney Smith and Clayton Burton.
Honorary escort will be the members of the T.E.L. Sunday School Class of Temple Baptist Church.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Sunday from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
The family is at the home of Wayne and Connie Burton, 1825 Highway 246 South.
Memorials may be made to Temple Baptist Church, 95 Saluda Street, Ninety Six, SC 29666.
Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.harleyfuneralhome.com.

Leora Overholt Swartzentruber

ABBEVILLE — Leora Overholt Swartzentruber, 67, of 110 Colony East, wife of Eldon Swartzentruber, died Friday, Sept. 15, 2006, at her home.
Services will be announced by Harris Funeral Home of Abbeville.

Eagles remain unbeaten

Greenwood strikes early in romp of Spartanburg

September 16, 2006

By RENALDO STOVER
Index-Journal sports writer

J.W. Babb Stadium was the battlegroud Friday night for the No. 10 Greenwood Eagles, who squared off against the No. 6 Spartanburg Vikings.
Both teams entered the game unbeaten with matching 3-0 records, but thanks to a second-half 19-0 shutout, the Eagles were able to send the Vikings sailing back to Spartanburg, beating them 33-7.
The Vikings were without head coach Doc Davis for the first time in 16 seasons after he underwent back surgery.
Assistant coach Dale Duncan took over the play calling duties in a game that was highlighted by numerous third-down miscues for the Vikings.
“Well, we just have to give Greenwood credit because they beat us in every part of the game tonight,” Duncan said.
“They were well prepared for us and they had an answer for everything we had.”
The Eagles struck early and often in the contest, jumping out to an early 14-0 lead on two of their first three drives before the Spartanburg Vikings closed the gap to 14-7 to end the first half.
The Eagles’ Byron Best returned the opening kickoff 65 yards to the Vikings’ 28-yard line, putting the Eagles in prime scoring position.
It only took four plays for the Eagles to find the end zone when quarterback Jay Spearman took the snap around the left side to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead with 10:17 remaining in the first quarter.
The Vikings would struggle on their first possession, going three and out thanks, in part, to pressure applied by Jordan Gary on the Vikings’ first pass attempt of the game.
A less than stellar punt by the Vikings gave Greenwood the ball on their own 43-yard line.
Two plays later, Best fumbled on a running play to give the ball back to the Vikings.
The Vikings would not move the ball and would punt again, giving the Eagles the ball at their own 20-yard line.
The Eagles faced a third and 13 on the drive when Spearman picked up the first down on a 29-yard scramble.
On the next play, tailback Zachary Norman busted through the middle of the defense for the Eagles’ second rushing touchdown of the night at the four-minute mark.
The Vikings were successful in moving the ball on their next drive, finally converting on a fourth and one as the first quarter came to a close.
The Eagles’ Mackenzie Tharpe would squash the Vikings’ hopes in the second quarter though, when he sacked quarterback Chris Bain for an 11-yard loss, forcing the Vikings to call a time-out.
Following the time-out, the Vikings decided to go for the first down but would be denied as the Eagles’ secondary deflected Bain’s pass to the end zone.
The Vikings would receive another chance to get into the end zone before the half and would do just that at the 1:29 mark when Bain hooked up with receiver Cameron Anderson for a 15-yard touchdown pass in the right corner of the end zone.
Anderson gave the Eagles problems for most of the night as he finished with eight catches for 106 yards.
The second half was all Greenwood following the Vikings three and out.
Spearman made the Vikings pay for not converting by scrambling 30 yards down the left sideline for his second touchdown of the night, giving the Eagles a 20-7 lead on a six-play 50-yard drive. Spearman finished with nine carries for 47 yards and was also 8-12 passing for 80 yards.
Nick Mountz would get the ball back into the hands of the Eagles’ offense on a fumble recovery at the 36-yard line. Two plays later, Norman found his way into the end zone for the second time from 36 yards out to give the Eagles a commanding 26-7 lead.
The Eagles would cap off the night with a 6-yard, Jarvie Robinson touchdown run on his 10th carry of the night for the final score of 33-7.
“I thought our football team was very prepared and the coaches did an excellent job tonight,” said Greenwood coach Shell Dula.
“I thought the key to the football game was the second half and the way it started. Now we’re back where we were last year and we don’t need for the same thing to happen.”

Abbeville’s Toquavius Gilchrist
runs past Pendleton in Panthers’ victory

September 16, 2006

By CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal sports writer

PENDLETON — There might not be a more frustrating feeling in the world than knowing something is coming and not being able to stop it.
The Pendleton High School football team is likely filled with that frustration after Friday night.
The Bulldogs knew Abbeville was coming at them with star tailback Toquavius Gilchrist. However, they could do nothing to stop him as the junior bulldozed his way to 324 yards and two touchdowns as the No. 2 ranked Panthers rolled to a 21-6 win over No. 3 Pendleton. With the win, Abbeville moves to 4-0, while Pendleton falls to 3-1.
The win gives the Panthers the upper hand in Region I-AA, and also avenges two consecutive losses to the Bulldogs.
Abbeville coach Jamie Nickles lauded the effort of Gilchrist and the entire Panthers offense.
“What a team effort,” Nickles said. “I can’t say enough about our whole offense. (Gilchrist) did put in a heck of a show.”
Gilchrist admitted the Panthers had Friday’s game circled on their calendar for quite some time.
“We hit the weight room last December, looking forward to this game,” Gilchrist said. “What can I say? We really came to play tonight.”
The 324-yard performance was Gilchrist’s career high, topping his 299- yard performance at Batesburg-Leesville in 2004. He admitted topping 300 yards has been a goal he hoped to accomplish.
Pendleton was first to jump on the scoreboard.
After stopping Abbeville on its first drive, the Bulldogs navigated the field using a combination of runs from Alonzo Bennett and DeQuan Hickmon. Kicker Zach Sears capped the 77-yard, 6-minute, 57-second drive by popping in a 22-yard field goal. That put the Bulldogs up 3-0 with 11:46 left in the second quarter.
The Panthers struck right back, however.
Like the ball in a pinball machine, Gilchrist ripped down the field, bouncing off tacklers and grinding up yards on one carry after another. The bruising back powered across the goal line from one yard out to wrap up a 75 yard drive that lasted 3:57. Abbeville was ahead, 7-6, with 7:44 remaining in the first half.
Pendleton kept the back and forth nature of the game going on the next possession, once again driving the field and grabbing three points courtesy of a Sears 30 yard field goal.
Abbeville had a simple formula for adding to its lead on the next possession: more carries for Gilchrist.
Working from the Pendleton 23 yard line, Gilchrist took a ball off right tackle and motored into the secondary, smashing Pendleton cornerback Chris Patterson on his way to a 50 yard gain.
Abbeville quarterback Mack Hite took matters into his own hands several plays later. Hite took a snap from under center and circled around to his right on the option. He opted for the keep, and dashed into the endzone from eight yards out. The run gave Abbeville the 14-6 lead heading into halftime.
“Our defense was bend but don’t break,” Nickles said of his team’s ability to hold the Bulldogs to two first half field goals. “Pendleton was playing a ball control offense. I can’t say enough about the effort of our kids.”
The Panthers were able to put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter, courtesy, once again, of Gilchrist.
The slashing runner took a Hite handoff at his own 32 and sped around right end. Dodging a cadre of Bulldogs’ tacklers, Gilchrist ran all the way down to the Pendleton 5 yard line, good for 63 yards. Two plays later he broke across the goal line to give Abbeville the 21-6 lead.
“Like I always say, it’s the offensive line,” Gilchrist said. “It’s not me. My teammates are the best. The best.”
Abbeville will play Walhalla at 7:30 p.m. next Friday at Hite Stadium.