The Greenville News from Greenville, South Carolina • Page 3

(n LOT LOCAL OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS TUESDAY, MAY 7,1991 SECTION Greenwood County customers sought to restore electricity rates to 1966 levels By William Fox News Capital Bureau COLUMBIA More than 4,000 Duke Power customers in Greenwood County lost a bid to restore their electricity rates to 1966 levels when the state Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling on Monday. County residents, now charged rates about five times higher than they were in 1966, filed a class-action suit in 1980 contending Duke Power broke a promise to charge them no more for electricity than they did 25 years ago. The lawsuit named Duke Power Co. and Greenwood County as The Supreme Court on Monday sided with the lower court, ruling that "it was the understanding of all parties involved in negotiating! and implementing terms of the; sale, that transfers to Duke once made, would be perma-; nent." Ironically, the electricity rate' for about 3,300 Greenwood Coun- ty customers is fixed at 1966 lev-; els because they never switched! to Duke Power rates, according', to Joe Maher, a company spokes-; man. The average customer on' the old rate saves about $672 Circuit Judge Walter J.

Bristow Jr. ruled against the Duke Power customers in 1989 following a two-day trial, and on Monday, the state Supreme Court agreed with the lower court decision. South Carolina residential customers pay about $72 for 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, compared with the 1966 rate of $16, according to a Duke Power spokesman. The lawsuit stemmed from the July 1966 sale of the Greenwood County Electric Power Commission, which served more than the 1970s, according to the court's ruling, and Greenwood County residents were expected to be transferred to Duke rates when it was most favorable to the customer. "Although at the time of sale it was anticipated that rates would continue their downward trend, Duke, in 1971, was granted the first of several rate increases," Associate Justice A.J.

Chandler wrote in Monday's ruling. Rising energy costs, due largely to the increasing price of fuel, forced Duke Power to raise its rates above the old Greenwood County Electric Power Commission level. The South Carolina Public Service Commission approved a series of nearly annual rate increases for Duke Power, and customers who had been switched to the Duke rate asserted they should revert to the old rate of the Greenwood County Electric Power Commission. The 5,000 residents who filed suit also demanded a $40-million reimbursement of payments made since their rates rose above 1966 levels. 9,000 customers at the time, according to the court ruling.

Under the terms of the sale, approved by voters, power customers paid the lower of either their old rate or the Duke rate, based on a 12-month comparison. Customers also were transferred to Duke rates when they changed either the character of the connection for example, an upgrade in service or the type of use from residential to commercial, according to the ruling. A 1964 federal survey projected declining power rates well into year, he said. Greenwood citizens, foundry settle lawsuit Alleged damage to cars, stench I'-jl 1 fj I I if 1 khz lyr McCravy said residents will be reimbursed for damage to their cars and property, along with money for suffering because of dust and odors caused by chemicals used at the foundry. Foundry President Hal Robinson declined to comment on the lawsuit Monday.

Hughston's order, issued April 18, set the April 26 hearing to give residents a chance to object, according to records. McCravy said only a few residents turned up at the hearing and, once their questions were answered, agreed to the settlement. The original lawsuit was filed in 1989 by six Greenwood residents, records show. Later, a Circuit Court judge ruled that people living within a mile of the foundry since Sept. 14, 1983, could join a class-action suit.

The company was cited by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control in 1988 for installing new machinery without an odor control device called an acid scrubber. The scrubber was designed to control the smell of the chemical dimethylethylamine, DHEC officials have said. The company was fined $3,000 at the time. By Elaine Ellison-Rider News Greenwood Bureau GREENWOOD A class-action lawsuit filed by 239 Greenwood residents against Roberts Foundry Co. Inc.

has been settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, authorities said. The residents, who all live within a mile of the foundry on West Alexander Street, had claimed damage to 111 cars from metal particles and complained of a stench emanating from the foundry, court records show. The lawsuit was settled during a hearing in Laurens before Judge Thomas L. Hughston Jr. April 26, according to court records.

Hughston ordered the file with details of the financial settlement to be sealed. The case had been scheduled for a special monthlong term of court in Greenwood beginning on Monday, court officials said. "The proceeds are distributed in pretty specific ways," said John McCravy, the residents' attorney. "I feel like it was a fair settlement. I also feel like because of this, the quality of life has improved in Greenwood in the past several years." 1 -s i THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A 'veteran9 flag A South Carolina state flag is pre- the Marine Corps' Fighter Attack Squad- area during the Persian Gulf War and sented to Gov.

Carroll Campbell by Lt. ron 451, in Columbia Monday. The flag also flew on a combat mission with Dud-Col. A.S. Dudley, commanding officer of was flown above the squadron's living ley.

48 years later, Easley woman receives medal from Newberry 'It was totaled. Everything was pretty much destroyed. For right now, we're off the air until everything kind of settles Fire knocks WGSW-AM off the dial IMlSllillllli medal. As she stepped up to accept the award, College President James C. Kinard presented her with a small box.

But instead of a medal, the box held a note of explanation and a promise: No gold was available because of the war, but when the war was over, the medal would be presented to her. For nearly 50 years, no medal appeared. But late last year, a friend of Mrs. Hancock decided to trace the medal. The college's Office of Protocol was contacted and asked to investigate the matter.

Officials at the school quickly set out to correct the situation, and a medallion imprinted with the Newberry College insignia was ordered. At the Pickens-Anderson Area Newberry College Alumni Association meeting April 24, Setzler presented Mrs. Hancock with her gold medal, along with a plaque recognizing her patience in waiting for it. Coincidentally, Setzler is the grandson of the person who chose her for the medal in the first place: E.B. Setzler, who was chairman of the English Department in 1943.

By April Moorefield News Laurens County Bureau NEWBERRY It's been near-ly 50 years since Jeanne Johnstone Hancock graduated from Newberry College, but it took that long for the school to get her the gold medal she was promised. Mrs. Hancock, a 1943 graduate who lives in Easley, received a gold medal for English trom college President Hubert H. Setzler Jr. last month along with a plaque honoring her for her patience.

"I'm just so glad to have this," Mrs. Hancock said. "I thank Dr. Setzler for his concern." In February of 1943, 60,000 Americans already had died in World War II, and by commencement day in June, everyone knew the fighting was far from over. "The war was waged on the homefront as well," Newberry College Public Information Director Sue Summer said.

Americans gave up meat on certain days, planted victory gardens, rationed shoes and collected tin, rubber and other materials for the war effort. That year, Mrs. Hancock won the Excellence in English gold By Elaine Ellison-Rider News Greenwood Bureau I GREENWOOD Greenwood's only full-time gospel ra-" dio station will be off the air indefinitely after its building was destroyed by fire early Monday, authorities said. William Lee, the accountant for WGSW, said the station's building on Kateway Drive near Piedmont Technical College was completely destroyed. "It was totaled.

Everything was pretty much destroyed," he said. "For right now, we're off the air until everything kind of settles down." Lee said the 6 a.m. fire caused $125,000 in damage to both the building and equipment. The brick building was gutted, leaving only the radio tower functioning. The station had broadcast at 1350 AM.

The station's owner, attorney Alex Kinlaw could not be reached for comment Monday. At least 30 firefighters from Coronaca Volunteer Fire and Rescue Station, assisted by the Northwest station, fought the blaze for more than two hours, Newberry College President Hubert H. Setzler, left, congratulates Jeanne Johnstone Hancock at a ceremony where she got her gold medal in English 48 years late Fundamentalists view rift as needed course correction convention's executive committee, said the actions would not have been necessary if the moderates had agreed to hire more conservative faculty members for the seminaries. Patterson and others say that even an outright split by would involve fewer than 800 of the SBC's 37,700 churches. Fundamentalists say moderates are wrong to characterize the battle as political.

Pressler said, "(The rift) cannot be healed if they continue throwing hand grenades at Southern Baptists. If they will recognize that the vast majority of Southern Baptists believe the Bible is completely true we'll have no trouble whatsoever." WEDNESDAY: The the convention. Criswell, convention president in 1969-70, is called the spirit behind the fundamentalist resurgence. The resurgence can be traced back to a 1978 meeting of 25 Baptist pastors and laypeople called by Patterson and state appeals court Judge Paul Pressler of Houston. They talked about bringing back the convention to its conservative roots.

The takeover relied on using the largely honorific office of the presidency to place fundamentalists on the boards of the con-vention's agencies and seminaries. Later, Pressler and other conservatives pushed to have fundamentalist trustees put on boards of all Southern Baptist institutions. Pressler, vice chairman of the "It's asking a lot to believe that a little group of people can hijack a denomination this big." Patterson, who is president of Criswell College in Dallas, said he and other conservatives were forced to steer the convention back on the course set forth by the Bible. Fundamentalists say a liberal drift was putting the faith's future in peril. They point to Northern Baptists, who have lost control of several institutions and splintered into diverse conventions.

"It was just an effort on the part of conservative people to bring our convention back to its historical fundamental belief in the word of God," said the Rev. W.A. Criswell, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, the largest in Part 3 in a series DALLAS (AP) The insults fly fast and furious infidels, bigots, narrow-minded know-nothings, liars and thieves. Those hurling the harsh words aren't wayward children or warring troops, but clergy and laymen grappling for the soul of the 15-million-member Southern Baptist Convention. Fundamentalists have had the upper hand for more than a decade.

The convention presidency has been in fundamentalist hands for 12 years, and convention boards have been stacked with conservative voices. "You could never do that if you didn't have a powerful grassroots movement," said conservative leader the Rev. Paige Patterson. said Coronaca firefighter Glenn McDowell. "We've got no idea how it started," said McDowell.

He said flames were shooting through the building's roof when firefighters arrived on BAPTISTS at a CROSSROADS the scene. No injuries were reported, he said..