Upstate pastor arrested

Police: Explicit text messages sent to teen

July 26, 2007

By CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal staff writer

WARE SHOALS — An Upstate pastor was arrested by the Ware Shoals Police Department after authorities say he sent sexually explicit text messages to a local teenager.
Ware Shoals Police Chief Mickey Boland said Claude Anthony Wallace, 43, a pastor from Gaffney, was arrested about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and unlawful use of a phone.
Wallace is pastor of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church at 1809 Old Post Road, Gaffney.
According to Boland, the 17-year-old victim and Wallace apparently have been trading text messages for some time, perhaps even a year. He said the two were together at a church function as recently as 10 days ago.
“We were called out on Saturday by the girl’s father,” Boland said. “He had been scrolling through her cell phone and saw these explicit messages. Some of the messages are from June and some are from July.
“We are in the process of subpoenaing his phone records and hers and seeing what’s there.”
The chief did say WSPD had already read about 40 text messages between Wallace and the girl and has reviewed 60 text messages on the victim’s phone.
Boland said the messages began when the now-17-year-old victim was 16.
Boland said there doesn’t appear to have been any physical sexual contact between the two, but he said the messages could have posed a problem.
“It looked like it could have been building to (a sexual encounter), judging from the messages,” Boland said. “It could have been headed there. It was building up and building up.”
Boland said the victim said Wallace initiated the text messaging. Wallace said the victim initiated it.
When asked how WSPD apprehended the Gaffney pastor, Boland chuckled.
“You know, we can be sneaky sometimes,” Boland said.
Boland said the victim’s father contacted Wallace on Saturday and angrily demanded the pastor come down to Ware Shoals and talk. The pastor reportedly declined.
After some investigation, Boland said the WSPD obtained arrest warrants for Wallace. Boland said Detective Bryan Louis called Wallace and asked if he would come down to the police department and talk.
“Lo and behold, he did,” Boland said. “The arrest was made at 6:30 (Tuesday) night.”
The chief said that, during Wallace’s interrogation, the preacher initially denied writing the text messages. However, after some time he reportedly admitted to writing them but insisted the victim initiated the conversations.
Boland openly wondered what this arrest could lead to.
“I’ll be interested to see if others come forward in Gaffney and accuse him of the same type of thing,” Boland said.
Wallace was taken to Greenwood County Detention Center and released on $10,000 bond.

Officers accused of having sex on job

July 26, 2007

By MIKE ROSIER
Index-Journal staff writer

CALHOUN FALLS — Calhoun Falls Police Chief Mike Alewine accepted the resignation of one town police officer and fired another Wednesday following weekend allegations of threats and sex while on duty.
Officer Rafael Jimenez, who had been a Calhoun Falls police officer for less than six months, has resigned, and officer Cleveland Cade, a three-year veteran, was fired after refusing to offer his resignation.
The dismissals follow a Saturday incident in which one of the officers is said to have threatened a former town council member’s granddaughter.
Alewine said one of the officers told the former council member’s granddaughter he would “jump on her and lock her up” on Saturday.
Following that alleged incident, accusations surfaced that both officers were participating in illicit sexual activity while on duty.
“It’s all very disappointing,” Alewine said. “We’re like a family around here, and when you have to do something like this, it hurts. No one has been charged with anything at this point, and I think that will be the end of it unless someone else comes forward with something else. It hurts real deep.”
The officers were suspended without pay Monday pending an investigation by the Calhoun Falls Town Council Safety Committee, which includes Councilman Rickey Holland and Councilman Jimmy Dove.
After meeting with Alewine, the committee recommended to Mayor Johnnie Waller that Jimenez’s resignation be accepted and Cade be fired after he refused Alewine’s offer to submit a letter of resignation.
Waller said the he agreed based on the information in hand. The decision was made Wednesday afternoon.
“The safety committee met with the chief of police, and they recommended that one officer be terminated and a resignation accepted from another officer for conduct unbecoming of an officer,” Waller said. “I concurred.”
The resignation and firing have now dropped the department’s resources from a staff of seven officers to just five, including Alewine.
“This not only hurts the families of those two officers, but also leaves us shorthanded,” Alewine said. “It makes it hard to perform, but I have a great bunch of officers and we’ll pull together. We’ll get the job done.”
The two positions are not likely to be filled for at least several weeks.
“We’ll have to go through applications, conduct interviews and do all the background checks,” Alewine said. “It’ll be at least a month.”
An investigation into these allegations remains open.
Repeated attempts to contact the officers were unsuccessful.

1 injured on Hwy. 67

July 26, 2007

By KENNY MAPLE
Index-Journal staff writer

A man was sent to the hospital Wednesday after his red Ford Mustang was sent airborne when it was struck from behind.
About 4:40 p.m., as Shane Goodman prepared to turn off Highway 67 onto Bryan Dorn Road, authorities say he was struck from behind by Daniel Callan, 19, in his 2002 silver Ford Explorer Sport Trac as he traveled south. The Mustgang went airborne and landed upside down on the right shoulder of the highway.
Goodman was taken by EMS to Self Regional Medical Center.
Callan was not injured. He told authorities he was traveling south behind Goodman when the Mustang stopped and his truck hit the Mustang.
Callan’s truck sustained damage to its front end, and the driver’s side airbag did deploy.
Another vehicle also was involved. An Isuzu driven by Jason Benjamin was traveling in the opposite direction. Goodman was waiting for the Isuzu to pass. Benjamin, who was traveling with his father, William, saw the collision and, to avoid making contact with either vehicle, left the road but was able to steer back on. The Isuzu’s only damage was a small crack in the windshield from scattering debris.
“It scared me to death, man,” Benjamin said. “That car was crushed.”
Jason said his father and another bystander helped pull Goodman from the crushed vehicle.
Highway 34 Fire Department and Callison Fire Department arrived on the scene to help. After the car was loaded onto a tow truck, firefighters hosed off the highway and cleared the area of debris.
State Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Scot Edgeworth said Goodman has been charged with driving too fast for conditions.

Post 20 fends off Richland

July 26, 2007

By KEVIN FIORENZO
Index-Journal sports writer

Down 0-2 with its season hanging on life support, Greenwood Post 20’s lineup finally got the clutch hits it needed Wednesday, coming back for an 8-7 win in the second round of the American Legion baseball playoffs at Legion Field.
With runners on first and second in the ninth, Brad Dorn grounded into what seemed to be a double play. Richland got the out at second but an errant throw by shortstop Robbie Wilcox, his second of the game, allowed Corey Lloyd to score the winning run. Greeting him at the plate were his jubilant teammates, thrilled just to have the chance to play another day.
“I just have to say I’m so of proud of these kids,” Greenwood coach Billy Dean Minor said. “They were down 2-0, but we just kept battling and battling. They showed (Wednesday night) that they can play with a high intensity level. We made some errors, they made some errors, but the bottom line is we played hard.”
Greenwood will now travel back to Columbia today and attempt to even up the best-of-five series.
“We’re just going to have to come back and play it one out, one pitch at a time,” Minor said.
Outscored 23-5 in the first two games and struggling to contain Richland’s lineup, Greenwood found its bats at the key moments for the first time in three games.

Dorn’s game-winning RBI was the capper in an impressive comeback for Greenwood. Trailing 6-3 in the seventh, Post 20 came roaring back with four runs off Richland reliever Greg Dunston.
Brandon Miller scored on a fielder’s choice ground out by Drew Willingham. Dunston then proceeded to load the bases and allowed a run to come in by hitting Matt Titus with a pitch.
Greenwood took the lead in the next at-bat when a throwing error by Wilcox allowed two more runs and put Post 20 ahead 7-6.
Richland couldn’t be silenced, though, tying the game back up in the very next inning thanks to an RBI single by Doug Allen.
Willingham (2-2) struggled with his control on the mound, giving up four walks and allowing five runs on six hits over four innings. Richland jumped on the right-hander early for five runs in the second inning. Greenwood came back in the bottom half of the inning, putting up three runs of its own to make it 5-3.
Christian Powell scored on an RBI single by Justin Collier, and Willingham came home when Richland second baseman Kyle Strasburger failed to catch a pop-up in shallow centerfield. A fielder’s choice groundout by Dorn in the next at-bat brought Post 20 to within two runs.
Greenwood’s lineup failed to produce again until the seventh, but Titus relieved Willingham in the fifth and held Richland to just two runs over the next five innings.
“Titus hadn’t pitched all year, [but he] stayed around and did a great job,” Minor said.

Obituaries

Eva Blackwell

BLOOMFIELD, Conn. — Mrs. Eva Cunningham Blackwell, 97, of Bloomfield, entered into rest July 22, 2007 at St. Francis Hospital.
Mrs. Blackwell, a native of Plum Branch, S.C., was a member of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, Plum Branch.
Survivors include two daughters, Robbie Risby, Farmington, CT, and Connie Pinckney, Windsor, CT; a brother, Clarence Cunningham, Washington, D.C.; three sisters, Janie Ryans, Hattie Lou Murcier and Claire Blair, South Carolina; a host of other relatives and friends.
Funeral services will be held 1 p.m. Saturday, July 28, 2007 at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, with the Rev. Melvin Gordon officiating. Interment will be in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends from 6-7 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.
Friends may call at the residence of Hattie Murcier, 1300 S. Main Street, McCormick.
G.L. Brightharp & Sons Mortuary, 250 Coral Street, Edgefield, S.C. (803) 637-4900.

Maude Stevens

SALUDA — Maude Stevens, 78, died on July 24, 2007 in Edgefield County Hospital.
She was born in Edgefield County, daughter of the late Joe and Ella Carson Stevens. She was a member of the Willow Spring Baptist Church.
She is survived by three sisters, Josie Richardson, Washington, DC, Julia M. Johnson, Chicago and Orbedella (Juileus) Holmes, Conway, SC; brother, Andrew (Kathalene) Stevens, Edgefield, SC; brother-in-law, Gable T. Bartley, Saluda; nieces, nephews and other relatives.
Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Saturday at the Willow Spring Baptist Church, conducted by Reverend Anthony Gordon. Burial will follow in the Mine Creek Baptist Church Cemetery. The family is at the home of her brother-in-law, Gable T. Bartley, 139 Gabe Road, Saluda, SC.
Butler & Sons Funeral Home is in charge.

Eva Mae Taylor

PIEDMONT — Miss Eva Mae Taylor, age 54, of Rosalee Drive, Piedmont, S.C., departed on Friday, July 20, 2007 at Greenville Memorial Hospital.
She was born in Greenwood, S.C., and was the daughter of the late Claude L. Taylor and Rose B. Anderson Taylor.
Surviving in the home are two children, Willie Jermaine Taylor and Senita Ann Taylor of Piedmont, S.C.
Left to cherish her memories are her six sisters, Patricia Taylor of Philadelphia, Pa., Sandra Taylor Mayes, Barbara Taylor Mathis, Angela Taylor Lewis, Dolly Taylor Leach, Charlotte Taylor Cade, and the late Cora Lee Lewis; and her three brothers, Quincy L. Taylor, the late Claude Taylor, and the late Leo Fuller.
She has three grandchildren; two goddaughters; and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
Services will be July 26, 2007 at 2 p.m. at Pine Pleasant Baptist Church in Ninety Six, S.C.

Opinion

John McAllister gave us public service role model

July 26, 2007

John Andrew McAllister was a fixture in Mt. Carmel, McCormick County and indeed the state of South Carolina. The list of his accomplishments over a lifetime of public service is second to none.
In fact, the honors he received, the positions he held, and the many years of service in which he gave so much of himself likely would overwhelm most of us. They could fill a book on how to be an exemplary citizen. He was that, to be sure, and was one who did what he loved and loved what he did.
Most of the time he was helping people in a variety of ways. However, modesty and the desire to serve kept him from seeking any kind of recognition for his efforts. Seek or not, though, he became a positive role model who showed what public service means when devoted to the betterment of all people in so many ways.

THE AMAZING THING ABOUT this quiet man was that he never seemed to tire of reaching out to help, and at a pace that also could be daunting to a lesser man.
Mr. McAllister died Tuesday at age 78, but what a record he created in pursuit of improving the lives of his fellowman. It was all inclusive, too, including people he didn’t know.
During his years among us he left few public service stones unturned. From conservation to economic development to education to politics to government and everything in-between, Mr. McAllister was a human dynamo in promoting, creating, building, teaching, helping and generally pushing the interests of others who needed a boost.
He was equal to the task, of course, and then some.

MANY PEOPLE COME ALONG and make their marks while enriching the lives of others. Few, though, come along and become actively involved in so many areas that have a positive effect on people’s lives as did John McAllister.
The people of the Lakelands area have lost a permanent member of the Mt. Carmel booster club. But, then, all of the Palmetto State has lost a friend. John McAllister was an activist for good. His record makes that clear. It shows, without a doubt, that he had a lifelong love affair with the state, the community and the nation he respected and served so graciously and selflessly.
One other thing demands mentioning. He went through 12 years of public schools without one absence. That, perhaps, tells more about this generous public servant than anything. It’s a feat that should be an inspiration to everyone.