The Item from Sumter, South Carolina • 35

Kentucky being probed by NCAA LOS ANGELES (AP) The University of Kentucky is investigating a published report that a package sent by an assistant coach to the father of a Los Angeles high school basketball star accidentally opened revealing $1000 in cash The Daily News of Los Angeles in a copyright story in editions said it learned of the package and it contents from employees of a delivery service The player Chris Mills of Fairfax High School signed a letter of intent Nov 11 to accept a basketball scholarship to Kentucky which was reprimanded last month by the NCAA for minor violations after a lengthy investigation of charges that substantial payments were made to players Mills his father and university officials denied knowledge of the money the newspaper reported But university President David Roselle issued the following statement Wednesday night: is going to be a morning story in the LA Daily News about possible new violations of NCAA rules in our basketball program We first heard about the matter on last Friday evening as a result of a telephone inquiry by a reporter from the newspaper gave us only enough information to indicate the possibility of a serious rule infraction We immediately began an investigation and in very short order informed the NCAA enforcement An investigator for the NCAA which regulates college athletic and recruitment programs was in Los Angeles this week to determine whether a violation had occurred The official Charles Smrt declined comment On March 4 the NCAA said it failed to uncover any proof of wrongdoing after investigating charges that Kentucky had violated several NCAA rules including cash payments to players The 6-foot-7 Mills who averaged 283 points per game as a senior was intensely recruited by some of the powerhouse programs They included Indiana UCLA Syracuse and UNLV Mills said last November when he announced his decision to attend Kentucky In a series of interviews during the last week employees of Emery told the newspaper they noticed cash when a package broke open during handling March 31 at their Los Angeles shipment center Casey said the package he sent contained Claud videotape of his son playing basketball Schools routinely obtain videotapes to review progress and determine whether to recruit them Eric Osborn the Emery employee who found an opened package when it arrived said he looked inside and saw money sticking out of a videocassette box (See KENTUCKY on page 6D) staff a day we confirmed enough of the information given to us by the reporter to be seriously concerned At that point we requested the NCAA staff to join us in a further investigation It is our intention to find out what happened to report everything we find to the NCAA to take full responsibility for whatever is proved to have A shipment record obtained by the newspaper showed the package was sent March 30 via Emery Worldwide air freight from Kentucky assistant basketball coach Dwane Casey to father Claud Casey interviewed in Pittsburgh at a national high school all-star game last Friday denied he put money in the package recruit that he said I have never ever put any money in a package That accusation is Head coach Eddie Sutton said can promise you it occur I feel very confident in my assistant coaches I believe NCAA officials said serious penalties could be imposed if the allegation is substantiated called improper David Berst NCAA director of enforcement said in a telephone interview from NCAA headquarters in Mission Kan inducement the sort of thing you need a handbook to figure out if a Leon Durham is tagged out at 4-3 win Wednesday See baseball plate by St Louis catcher Tony Pena during the roundups on pages 4-5B Payton be charged in accidental shooting Columbia pitchers shut down Sumter Sumter 000 000 000 0 Columbia 000 204 OOx 5 Game Winning RBI Murrell Diaz Redington Clonlnaer Fredymond LOB Sumter 4 Columbia 8 2 Jimenez SB Relaford Baldwin Turtletaub Murrell Pitching Sumter IP ER BB SO Burlingame L0-1 5 4 4 2 2 6 Waznik 2 3 1 0 2 0 Sumter Valera W2-0 8 3 0 0 0 12 Bauer 1 1 0 0 0 Waznik Burlingame 2:22 1277 SCHAUMBURG 111 (AP) No charges will be filed against former Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton in the accidental shooting of a manager at suburban Chicago restaurant police say The shooting occurred Wednesday when an employee handed Payton an automatic pistol that no one knew was loaded Police Chief Kenneth Alley said can say at this time without hesitation that it was an accidental Alley said Elmer Hutson 28 of Hoffman Estates was in fair condition after undergoing surgery on his left leg at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights nursing supervisor Gail Hillary said is extremely upset over the Alley said was extremely cooperative with us and so was his wife about ready to go said Alley who declined to identify the employee who handed Payton the gun was on the telephone sitting beside the Alley said placed the telephone back on the receiver and turned back and the gun went off striking Mr Hutson in the left leg just below the The gun a French-made 9mm automatic pistol was registered to Payton a gun collector who had the proper registration Alley said Police know why the gun was loaded but Alley said it held eight rounds and had five left after the single shot was fired Payton told police he he normally keep a gun at the restaurant but had brought it from his Barrington home several days ago (See PAYTON on page 2D) home telephone is unlisted and he could not be reached for comment But Mrs Payton told reporters: fine just disturbed about his agent Bud Holmes called the accident most unfortunate freak kind of Holmes said Payton is extremely cautious and careful a fanatic about being careful with weapons Walter hurt a Mrs Payton was in the office of the restaurant when the gun went off as were several of employees the chief said Alley said Payton had left the recently purchased pistol on his desk and was using a telephone when an employee whom police would not identify handed him the gun appears that they were just time He allowed four runs only two of which were earned in 5 innings of work The Mets who had seven hits in the game got four of them off of Burlingame 0-1 while he struck out six and walked two AJ Waznik pitched the final 213 innings for Sumter giving up an unearned run Three of five runs were unearned as the Braves committed three errors The Mets scored two runs in the fourth off of Burlingame before knocking him out of the game in the sixth with a three-run inning Winston Relaford Popeye Cole Tom Redington and Tony Baldwin each had a hit for the Braves Sumter which is 3-3 on the COLUMBIA The Sumter Braves finally had their hot bats cooled off as two Columbia pitchers combined to throw a four-hitter in the 5-0 win at Capital City Park Wednesday Sumter which had 59 hits and was averaging nine runs in its first five games was shut down by Julio Valera and Pete Bauer Valera allowed only three hits in eight innings of work He struck out 12 and walk a batter in improving his record to 2-0 Bauer pitched a scoreless ninth inning Starter Dennis Burlingame took the loss for the Braves Burlingame who threw five shutout innings in his first start of the season was not as fortunate this season plays in Columbia again at 7 tonight The Braves will have a day off on Friday before starting a 10-game nine-day homestand Sat urday against the Augusta Pirates The two teams will play a double-header beginning at 6:30 pm Braves statistics Braves profile Popeye Cole scores with crowd Through gamot of April 11 Hitting SB BA 3 500 1 455 0 368 0 348 1 333 0 313 0 286 2 278 0 250 0 211 0 182 0 154 0 000 0 000 8 ERA 0 000 1 000 0 338 0 360 0 360 0 360 0 450 0 600 0 675 0 900 0 900 Carolina signs English Rhett By The Associated Press South Carolina has signed standouts from archrivals Lower Richland High School and Eau Claire to its basketball team while Clemson signed a junior college transfer from Los Angeles The three were signed on Wednesday the first day of a month-long signing period for NCAA colleges Jo Jo English a standout guard on the 4A prep champion Lower Richland team was on The Associated Press all-state second team English also had considered attending North Carolina Asheville and Austin Peay Lower Richland High is in Hopkins Jo is coming from a winning program played with a great big man in Stanley Roberts and played just about every position on the said South Carolina coach George Felton think going to a plus at the University of South Carolina to have a player that The 6-4 170-pound English averaged 14 points four rebounds and 34 assists per game in his senior year Joe Rhett of Eau Claire also signed Wednesday with South Carolina The 6-8 185-pound forward averaged 188 points 95 rebounds 23 blocked shots and 14 steals during his senior year He narrowed his choices to Georgia Tech Wake Forest and North Carolina State before choosing to attend his hometown university "Joe Rhett is a legitimate said Felton look for a bright future for him at South Carolina because I feel he can step in and make an immediate impact with our Clemson signed Kirkland Howling a 6-4 wing The junior college player will have two years of eligibility with the Tigers Popeye Cole Sumter outfielder Getting the most possible out of that speed is one of top priorities The 22-year-old Meridian Miss native has appeared in five of first sue games twice as a starter and three times as a pinch-runner In 10 at-bats collected four hits for a lofty 400 batting average also scored five runs driven in one run and stolen three bases If he can maintain that pace over the course of the season Cole will be a happy man in the lineup probably going to be batting first or said Cole a 1987 graduate of the University of Mississippi role is to get on base steal bases when I can and let the big pys drive me in My biggest job is just getting on Last year in his first season of professional baseball Cole batted 309 in 48 games for the rookie league club in Idaho Falls He scored 33 runs and had 19 stolen bases but also struck out 25 times while walking only 13 working on evening up the strikeout-to-walk ratio this season basically a contact hitter and I try to put the ball into play everytime I come up" Cole said do have streaks where strike out twice a game though and trying to cut By KEVIN McLENDON ITEM Sports Writer Home run hitters are usually the biggest crowd favorites and when you stand five feet seven inches tall and weigh 170 pounds not likely to hit many home runs Popeye Cole has been one of the most popular Sumter Braves thus far this season however Possibly because of his stature and probably because of his name Cole has received an ovation every time entered a contest for the Braves this season The name is something Cole has carried with him since childhood started Awhen I was 7 or 8 years Cole said was always a small stocky guy and had little legs and a big upper body just like Popeye the cartoon character One day I was out playing around and they just started calling me that As you can see though done filled out When everybody else started growing tall I started growing Cole given name is Robert Lloyd Cole outgrew his skinny legs and has develops them to the point that speed has become his biggest asset as a ball player not the fastest guy on the team but up there near the Cole said down on the strikeouts this year and hopefully get more Once he gets on base Cole is always looking for the steal but speed alone make for a successful base-stealer he said stealing bases got to study the pitcher watch his move and his Cole said "Getting a good lead where you have to dive back to the base is the most important thing If you can get a good jump on the pitcher then speed will take care of the Speed can also be an asset in the outfield where Cole plays defensively long as they keep it in the air we have enough speed iikthe outfield to run it Cole said five of our outfielders have better than average speed so defense be a problem My feeling good and throwing the ball good so pretty happy with my had a chance to play defense only twice this season but Cole worried about playing time now if playing I just want to do the job on the field and if not playing I want to help out however I can If called in the pinch-hit or run be ready This early in the season I think he (manager Ned Yost) is just trying to work out a lineup and see going to do the job and who confident get my share of playing (See COLE on page 7D).