The Item from Sumter, South Carolina • 2

SECOND FRONT To contac) the News Departroen cal (803) 774-1226 of com PAGE 2A Lee administrator announces retirement Council Chairman Beasley credits LaCoste Wth turning finances around interests of the people of Lee County county treasurer I have had the pleasure of working with Capell said is always very accountable and conscientious He will be sorely missed until the county is able to find a qualified Beasley said the county will begin advertising for a new county administrator in June are going to make sure we get' the best person for the Beasley said not going to get in a big hurry just to have somebody hired by Aug 1 Contact Staff Writer Randy Bums at rbumsAettemcom or (803) 491-4533 Beasley said retiring a little bit tarty to help the county going to be easier to find a county administrator in July and August than it would be in January and February" Councilman Sam McCutchen said LaCoste has always been fair honest and aboveboard in Ins dealings with council and the public think Jimmy has done an outstanding job as he said has recognized the importance of public safety in Lee County We have a hospital so we have to put more money in our emergency medical services Jimmy has understood County Treasurer Wayne Capell said LaCoste has always looked out for the best turning the financial status around came at a time when we had real bad financial problems" Beasley said was on contract for a while helping us with our finances and then he became our interim county It long before the council dropped the interim from title Beasley said most important part of a county job I think is the finances and Jimmy has done a great job in keeping the county fiscally Beasley said LaCoste has always placed the interests ahead of his own had planned to retire in De WEDNESDAY MAY 7 2008 Nation World briefs From Associated Press report EX-NJL CANDIDATE DCDDS ARRESTED TUESDAY DOVER NH A former congressional candidate convicted of faking his disappearance after a car crash two years ago was arrested Tuesday after his wife reported that he threw her to the floor Bail was revoked for Gary Dodds who was considered a fugi- tive on Tuesday until police arrested him near an apartment building he owns in Portsmouth said Assistant Strafford County Attorney Thomas VelandL Cindy Dodds called police in Rye around 1 am Monday to report 4 that she and Dodds had argued while on vacation in Florida and that her husband had picked her up thrown her to the ground taken his bags and left She told police she hurt and think her husband was a danger to himself or others but she wanted officers to check whether Dodds had flown home One of attorneys accused Velardi of attempting to harm attempts to appeal his convictions and help the own career 1 is nothing more than mart-tal stress that has been blown out qf proportion" Jay Nadeau said CALIFORNIA COLLEGE CRUS BUST NETS 75 STUDENTS SAN DIEGO Dozens of San 1 Diego State University students were arrested and six fraternities were suspended after a sweeping drug investigation found that some fraternity members openly dealt drugs and one even sent a mass text message advertising cocaine authorities said Tuesday A five-month investigation prompted by a cocaine overdose death last year led to the arrests of 96 people 75 of them San Diego State students A second drug deathT occurred while the investigation went on Twenty-nine people were arrested early Tuesday in raids at nine locations including the Theta Chi fraternity where agents found cocaine Ecstasy and three guns Eighteen of them were wanted on warrants for selling to undercover agents f5 Two kilograms of cocaine were seized in all along with 350 Ecstasy pills marijuana psychedelic mushrooms hash oil methamphet-amine illicit prescriptioii drugs several guns and at least $60 000 mcash authorities said! STEPPING GRACEFULLY W'-K By RJUSiY OS Item StaffWriter BISH0PVHJLE Lee County Administrator James LaCoste will soon have more time for grandchildren and family LaCoste 66 who joined the county as a financial consultant in 1992 and became administrator in 1995 will retire effective July 31 he announced Tuesday "It has been an honor and a privilege to work for the people of Lee he said have always placed a priority on taking care of the finances And I will leave the county in pretty fair financial condition Lee County Council Chairman Charles Arthur Beasley credited LaCoste for State briefs From Associated Press reports TCIIRNASIENT TO KSN3R 9 CHARLESTON FIREFIGHTERS CHARLESTON A South Carolina golf tournament created six years ago to thank New York City firefighters who faced death at the World Trade Center has a new focus this year Organizers say the annual F-D-N-Y tournament in Myrtle Beach will be dedicated to the nine Charleston firefighters who died fighting a furniture store fire last June I More than 600 firefighters from across the nation and Canada will play on 30 Myrtle Beach-area courses later this month One of the fallen Charleston firefighters was Capt Louis Mulkey In the past he brought other firefighters from Charleston who volunteered to cook at the picnic and awards ceremony KAN GETS 25 YEARS IN PRISON FOR FATAL WRECK i GREENWOOD A 27-year-old man authorities say was driving under the influence while fleeing from police in a stolen car has been ordered to serve 25 years in prison Prosecutors told The Index-Journal of Greenwood that Antwan Lanier pleaded guilty to a number of charges Monday including two counts of felony DUI resulting in death driving under suspension and possession of a stolen vehicle Authorities say a Greenwood police officer tried to pull Lanier over when he saw him in a stolen Ford Escort in August 2006 Bill READIES SX TO KARX 159TH ANNIVERSARY COLUMBIA South observance of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War would be overseen by a new board under legislation approved by a House committee The bill creating the South Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial Advisory Board was sent to the House floor Tuesday The Senate passed the measure in February The 19 unpaid board members would plan and develop activities across the state to commemorate various dates during the 150-year anniversary of the war South Carolina was the first state to secede from the United States in December 1860 The first shots of the Civil War were fired onto Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor in April 1861 CCSN3ITTEE APPROVES PCUCE TRAILS REOURSEKENTS COLUMBIA Police departments who hire rookies working at other agencies fresh out of police academy training would have to reimburse costs under legislation heading to the Senate floor The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the House legislation with little discussion Tuesday Local police agencies say they lose money when their new hires seek bigger checks at other depart-' ments Under the legislation th'S hiring police department would 'i diave to reimburse all the training costs in the first year and half of them in the second year GGmmai) A story published Tuesday about an apartment fire on SC 261 should have identified the complex as Spanish Garden Apartments Kath Gedamke The Hem Stan Tindal rides a Tennessee Walking horse in th Second Annual Sumter County Walking Horse Championship on Sunday at Dillon Park The event was a fundraiser for the Shrbter's Club Transportation Fund Senate gives approval to tax increase Extra 50 cents per cigarette pack would raise money for health care programs Cc health care available to as many as 200000 residents who now quality for Medicaid have insurance through their employers or afford it The proposed 57-cent tax would be about half the $L13 national average but at least 20 cents more than either or North tax Alexander said that when South tax was last raised 31 years ago cigarettes cost 45 cents a pack which meant the 7-cent tax was equivalent to 14 percent of a price With the average South Carolina price now over $3 a pack the tax is currently less 3 percent erf the price proposal would spend the first $5 million raised on programs aimed ft at curtailing smoking The rest would be split between expanding Medicaid programs and a new private health insurance voucher program The money would allow the state to include more families in Medicaid by changing its eligibility requirements To qualify a family currently can earn no more than 50 percent of the federal poverty level but the plan would double the threshold to 100 percent That means a family of three earning less than $17600 would be covered under the plan It would cost about $71 million and cover around 75000 adults that now covered Alexander said Children of those parents typically already qualify for care under an existing Medicaid program die for kidnapping and shooting his live-in girlfriend Ginger Moore three tomes in the face and head two decades ago After he buried body in a shallow grave near a south Georgia farm authorities said Lynd fled to Ohio where he shot and killed another woman who had'stopped along the side erf the road to help him Postmaster Sand address Changes to Osteen Publishing Co 20 MagnoEa St Sumter SC 29150 PubfeaSon No USPS 525-900 PHOTO REPRINTS: Purchase a reprint df a photo teat appears in The Asm fcy oortecSng tie newsroom Provide date and page number CORRECTIONS: 8 you see a statement in error contact tie City Desk at (803) 774-1225 Corrections wl appear on this page iv RECYCLING: This newspaper uses emiron-mentaty sate soy inks to reduce niwfi and is printed on recycled paper fi is recyclable COLUMBIA (AP) South Carolina's Senate gave key approval Tuesday to a 50 cent-a-pack increase to the lowest cigarette tax to raise money for health care programs Senators voted 27-16 in favor of the cigarette tax law amendment and debated how to spend the $159 million expected to be raised by the increase Further amendments were to be discussed Wednesday as the Senate considers hiking the tobacco tax for the first time since 1977 a workable compromise and a great many South Carolinians will be helped dramatically state Sen Thomas Alexander R-Walhafla said of plans to spend the money on health programs and efforts to curb smoking Alexander says the plan could make execution ends 7-month moratorium ll a 2 The Associated San Diego State University President Stephen Writer right and SDSU chief of police John Browning stand over guns and drugs seized during the arrest of 96 people Tuesday in San Diego CONGRESS CONSIDERS USING STEEL FOR PENNIES NICKELS WASHINGTON Further evidence that times are toqgk lt now costs more than a penny to make a penny And the cost of a nickel is more than 75 cents Surging prices for copper zinc and nickel have some in Congress trying to bring back toe steeknade' pennies of World War and maybe using steel for nickels as welL 2 Copper and nickel prices have tripled since 2003 and the price of zinc has quadrupled said US Rep Luis Gutierrez D-DL whose subcommittee oversees the US MinV Keeping the coin contetif means to our national debt fry almost as much as the coin Gutierrez said A penny which consists of 975 percent zinc and 25 percent copper costs 126 cents to make as of Tuesday And a nickel 75 percent copper and the rest nickel costs 77 cents based on current commodity prices according fo the Mint more than seven months while the US Supreme Court reviewed the constitutionality of the three-drug cocktail used It was the longest pause in US executions in a quarter century The Supreme Court last month upheld the legality erf lethal injections Lynd 53 was sentenced to dead at 7:51 pm Department of Corrections spokeswoman Mallie McCord It came less than an the US Supreme rejected efforts to block roughly three dozen around the country that injection held off on out any executions for By SHANNON MCCAFFREY Associated Press Writer JACKSON Ga A Georgia man who killed his live-in girlfriend was executed Tuesday the first inmate put to death since the US Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injections William Eari Lynd was pro SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Horn Delivery Deity and Sunday: One year Six months $69K Three months Two monte $2450 One monte Bardraft Sunday Monday: One Year £55 Six monlhs Three Months $14 Senior Ctttzan Flats Da8y and Sunday: One year $12495 Sot months $6615 Three montes $3491 One month $1255 Bar draR monthly $1041 Mai monthly $1975 Member Verified Aik CSraiafan HOME DELIVERY INFORMATION: CaS (803) 774-1258 Moa-Fri 8 aim to 6 pm Sat and Sun 7 tra to 10 am nounced Georgia said hour after Court it The states use lethal carrying tnNi-irnl 41 li mrtinlnrt fnr-ri iti nln In nrrfn ra NSSOftm ACrVGrusfiy HOpFQSOntatMX LaflOQn Associates Inc fit carriers and dealers of The Item mm independent contractors AcKarce payirmt for subsapHons may be made dftect-to Osteen PubSstmg Col as agent No responsibility for advance 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