The Greenville News from Greenville, South Carolina • Page 18

Tuesday, September 20, 1994 gQ vThr Grmuultf Nrus propas teg cefeireirodliQiAfii 3-choice measure would go to voters in November 1 996 The Heritage Act proposal is similar to a bill adopted by the Senate in June. That plan was killed with procedural moves in the House. The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a lawsuit against the flag Nov. 15. Flag opponents contend the banner flies Charleston, one of the bill's authors.

"I think the Heritage Act is put out there as a position that all South Carolinians can embrace." McConnell, along with Sens. John Courson, R-Columbia, and Verne Smith, D-Greer, said they decided to introduce the referendum bill after meeting with other flag supporters last week. COLUMBIA (AP) Legislation to let voters decide what to do with the Confederate battle flag that flies atop the Statehouse was filed Monday by three of the flag's staunchest supporters. The measure would let voters: Leave the battle flag where it has flown since 1962, move it to a monument on the Statehouse grounds and build a civil rights monument as part of the "Heritage Act," Investigating i or remove the battle flag altogether. The solution picked by the most voters would win.

The referendum would be held in November 1996. "It encourages a real strong look at the middle position," said Sen. Glenn McConnell, R- V. 1JU i i ii. i 1 Hi, i without legal authority, and some legal experts agree.

Flag supporters want the court to wait until the Legislature has another chance to act. Monday was the first day senators were allowed to introduce legislation in advance of the 1995 General Assembly session. .1 i i. I STAFF BILL KALIS .2 if' Jf it i i ti ni.tilfaf i it I. .7 ii i ,1 8 i i i a wreck scene Greenville Police Officer R.E.

Inman investigates a car that crashed through cers arrested the city-owned fence in the Nicholtown neighborhood. Lt. E.F. Blackburn said offi- driver and charged him with damaging city property, a 40 of Adopt-a-Highway groups in Greenville County not doing job Top court reprimands lawyer from Greenville BRIEFS Charleston-based ship en route to Haiti CHARLESTON (AP) A Charleston-based destroyer is on its way to Haiti even though the anticipated invasion has been called off. The USS O'Bannon sailed from the Charleston Naval Base toward Haiti Monday morning with a crew of 20 officers and 270 enlisted personnel.

Base spokesman Mike Shumake said the O'Bannon will be in a support role in Operation Support Democracy. Shumake said the O'Bannon's presence would allow normal rotation and turnovers with other navy ships in the area to ensure sailors are rested. He would not say how long the O'Bannon would be deployed in Caribbean waters. Suspect from state sought in Mississippi JACKSON, Miss. (AP) A manhunt has been launched to find a South Carolina man who officials believe sexually assaulted a young girl in his home state and kidnapped an 8-year-old Mississippi girl last week.

Philip Dean Fleming, 45, whose hometown was not immediately available, is the key suspect in the abduction of Santana Renee Boyd from Bramlett Elementary School, said David W. "Woody" Johnson, special agent in charge of the FBI Mississippi operations. Santana was taken about 2:50 p.m. Sept. 12 from her school.

Authorities said witnesses reported that a man driving an older-model gray car abducted the girl and sped off, striking another vehicle near the school. Santana was found 18 hours later crying outside a McDonald's restaurant in Jackson, Tenn. Johnson said South Carolina authorities called the office after hearing of the Mississippi case. Fleming is wanted on federal charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and local charges stemming from a South Carolina case. Authorities there have charged him in the August kidnapping and sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl in Lexington.

Investigation sought on vote allegation State Republican Party Chairman Henry McMaster has asked U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to order a federal investigation into allegations that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nick Theodore's campaign bought votes. The vote-buying allegedly was made through "street money" payments in Williamsburg County during August's primary. In response, Democratic National Committee member Don Fowler said McMaster's charges contained "not one iota" of truth and were proof that Republicans were beginning a negative campaign for governor. Former opponent to work for Condon Republican candidate for attorney general Charlie Condon said his former opponent, Steve Hamm, will serve as chairman of Condon's campaign finance committee.

Hamm resigned as state consumer advocate to run for attorney general, but lost to Condon in the August primary. Courts have new administrative head COLUMBIA (AP) George A. Markert has been appointed the head of South Carolina's courts administration. He will succeed court administrator Louis L. Rosen, who has resigned.

Markert, who has been assistant director since 1981, will take over as head of the agency on Oct. 3. As court administrator, Markert will be in charge of the opera-tions of all courts in South Carolina's 46 counties, including the assignment of judges and court reporters. Greenville radio host goes north WFBC-AM talk show host Mike Gallagher has left the Greenville station to take over a radio talk show at WG Y-AM in Albany, N.Y. WFBC-AMFM recently was sold, and Gallagher said the uncertainty that generally surrounds a change of ownership prompted his move.

"You never know what will happen with a new owner, and I've got a wife and four kids. This is a great opportunity with a great station," Gallagher said. Gallagher joined WFBC in 1989 from a station in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio, and most recently was host of the station's afternoon talk show. Richard Warder admitted the problems cited, the ruling said. By Tim Flach Capital Bureau COLUMBIA The state Supreme Court on Monday reprimanded Greenville lawyer Richard Warder for repeated lapses in representing clients.

Warder was cited for failure to provide competent representation, failure to act with rea-sonable diligence and promptness and failure to communicate adequately with clients, records show. In addition, he was cited for failure to cooperate fully with a panel that investigated complaints against him, the court said in its 4-0 decision. Associate Justice Ernest Finney did not owes much of its success to the $37 green signs that identify a highway as being "adopted" by a particular business or group. The state spends $14 every time it replaces a group's name on the signs. The state also pays for the signs and supplies for volunteers, such as the bright orange safety vests.

Dannheisser said he receives 1 calls every day from people who saw the signs and want their group or business to sponsor a highway. "First they see the signs and they say, 'That would be good to have my company's name up 1 he said. "So they take a road somewhere and we hold the first pickup, and they put a sign up." About 40 groups mostly small businesses haven't sent a crew out to clean their highway for two years, and another 45 to 50 have missed one or more cleanups, he said. Volunteer coordinator keeps track of who cleans regularly. By Melinda Gladfelter Environmental writer The 232 Adopt-a-Highway signs that dot state highways in Greenville County might be a good reminder that the community cares about litter and wants to keep its roads attractive.

But about 90 of the groups and businesses whose names hang above the highway haven't been keeping their adopted roads clean, the program's volunteer coordinator said. "Approximately 40 percent of the people who signed up need to be motivated in some way to get out and do that," said D.H. Dan-nheisser, county coordinator. "I don't have any control over these people; they're all volun- Library taps bequest to create endowment Condemned killer ready to die He'll ask high court to let appeals stop teers." Dannheisser keeps track of who cleans regularly through postcards that each group sends him after a cleanup. They need to send the first card before their sign is put on the highway.

He also calls some of the groups that haven't participated for a year to find out if they still want to be sponsors. Still, Greenville County's program is a model for others, said Vivian Patterson, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation. Greenville had more volunteers with 2,728 than any other county last year. The volunteers collected a total of 100,081 pounds of litter and covered 475 miles of highway, she said. Greenville County spends $1,200 a year on mailings for the program, and the state's bill for Greenville County was $2,875.70 last year.

The Adopt-a-Highway program ting caught. But I realize what I did is not within society's rules." Torrence, 33, who said he takes lithium to stay calm, said he couldn't take life in prison. "There's nothing for me to do for the rest of my life in here," he said for Monday's story. Public defender Joe Savitz said he would not fight his client's wishes if he thought Torrence was rational. "I think he thinks this is a game, which it's not," he said.

"And that he's a pawn in some liberal social engineering program, which he is not." Savitz points out that Torrence claims to have killed a family of five in Guatemala about 15 years ago. But Torrence's father, Ron, said his son was jailed in North Carolina during that time and doesn't know if his son ever visited Guatemala. "I'm not sure with Michael where reality ends and fantasy begins," Torrence's father said. Torrence was convicted for killing Dennis Lollis and Charles Bush during a February 1987 robbery. He stabbed Lollis and choked Bush with a dog chain.

A month later, Torrence shot Cynthia Williams, a Charleston prostitute whom he said was his girlfriend, then dumped her body on a highway. He said he killed the two men take part in the decision for reasons that were not explained. Warder admitted the problems cited and agreed to the penalty, the ruling said. He did not reply to a request for comment. The 10 problems cited by the court include inaction by Warder that cost one client nearly $22,000 in damages; permitted the brief jailing of a motorist for failure to appear in court on a traffic charge; led to the conviction for another client in absentia for failure to notify him of a trial date; overcharged another for work related to appeal of a criminal sentence; delayed settlement of one lawsuit, and left one woman without child support for an undefined period.

Warder also was cited for not responding to initial inquiries from the panel assigned to look at complaints from clients against him. the remaining $100,000 to pay for book needs in the future. Library officials said they expect to receive between $4,000 and $8,000 a year from the endowment to supplement the $950,000 to $1 million they spend each year on books and material. Cummins said the library was using community gifts to expand the book collections at branches initially but the extra money was necessary to keep pace with the expansion afterward. The library system launched a $20-million program last year to replace nine branch libraries and build another branch and a new main library over the next 13 years.

Library officials began construction of a new branch in Greer earlier this year and expect to begin work on a Travelers Rest branch early next year. Library officials said the number of books in a branch will grow from to 65,000 titles. About $1 million will be needed to expand the book and material collection at the main library, which will grow from 300,000 books to more than 500,000 books. "Increasingly, libraries and others are turning to alternative sources of funding to keep pace with growth, and this endowment is a good first step in ensuring we keep our collections up to snuff," said David Rogers, chairman of the library board. so they couldn't identify him.

He said he killed Ms. Williams in a rage, and now regrets it, because he should have killed her drug supplier instead. "I'm not a person who just kills for the thrill of it. I have to be provoked," he said. "It's not a factor of enjoying it, but you have to take care of business and move on down the road." He said he "flew into a rage" as he stabbed Lollis 19 times.

"I didn't realize I had stabbed him so many times." Since September 1992, when Torrence was sentenced to die by a Lexington County jury, he has asked to end the appeals that keep him alive. If the Supreme Court rules in Torrence's favor, he could be executed after a brief legal review of his case. If the justices don't agree to end the appeals, Savitz says it's likely Torrence's death sentence will be overturned, sending the case back to Lexington County for the third time. Savitz, deputy chief of the state Office of Appellate Defense, said he must try to convince the court to reject his client's wishes. "Once we start executing incompetent men on invalid death sentences, we've gone a little too far," he said.

"It's almost like state-assisted suicide." On Tuesday, triple murderer Michael Torrence will become the first prisoner in 20 years to enter the chambers for a hearing. COLUMBIA (AP) Michael Torrence wants to die and doesn't want to appeal any more. His lawyer says Tor-rence's death sentence probably would be overturned on appeal, and Torrence's father says his son is irrational. On Tuesday, South Carolina's Supreme Court will be asked to sort it out. Torrence will become the first prisoner in 20 years to enter the state's high court chambers for a hearing and the first South Carolina Death Row inmate since 1977 to argue that his appeals should be dropped.

Lawyers and psychiatrists who question his sanity are part of the "liberal garbage truck," Torrence said during a prison interview with Columbia's The State newspaper last week. "I broke the law. I got caught," he said. "I regret get- By Scott Wyman Staff writer The Greenville County Library has used part of a $250,000 bequest from Homozel Mickel Daniel's estate to create its first endowment that will be earmarked for new books and materials. Library officials said the endowment is critical to the success of the renovation plans that began last year because the new main li-brary and branches will house more than twice as many books, tapes, videos and other material.

They set aside $100,000 of the $250,000 bequest with the Community Foundation of Greater Greenville and are beginning to search for donations to add to it. "This meets a serious need that we have because the money we are using for the new libraries is earmarked for the construction and staffing of the libraries and not keeping up their collections," library Director Tom Cummins said. "We were fortunate this came at the time it did because this does not address a luxury but a basic need." The library was one of several community organizations and churches to split $1.5 million of Mrs. Daniel's $70-million estate in 1992. The library spent the rest of the bequest last year to buy books, but library board members said they decided to set aside.