The Index-Journal from Greenwood, South Carolina • Page 12

12 The Index-Journal, Greenwood, S.C., Thur, Aug. 19, 1993 South Carolina Sick leave up after Charleston naval base told to close down YD Winning with a smile Bill Rooney receives the Toastmasters Pin and a certificate from Toastmaster President Michael Dorn for winning Humorous Speech at the Greater Greenwood Toastmasters Gala Contest Evening. (Toastmasters photo) Local toastmasters move to area competition yard's work force heavily. The shipyard is working on three submarines, but it's the work on the O'Bannon that's in danger of slipping. The project had been running ahead of schedule until the base closure commission's vote in June to close the yard.

If Uie work is delayed, however, it could lead Uie Navy to cancel work scheduled next year on yet another warship, Uie Charleston-based destroyer Nicholson. The Nicholson is due to enter Uie yard in February 1994. The job would be Uie last major overhaul of a surface ship before the shipyard gets ready to close in April 1996. The shipyard hopes to keep the bulk of its remaining work force on Uie job at least through June 1995. Layoffs could come even sooner than that, however, if Uie Nicholson work is lost.

Justin Thivierge, president of Uie American Federation of Government Employees Local 1864, said shipyard workers are angry. "But I think we can turn this thing around," he said. Sick leave isn't like vacation time which workers can sell back to Uie Navy when they quit, retire or are laid off. It's accumulated at a rate of 26 days a year, but Uie only way a worker can effectively use it is to call in sick. CHARLESTON (AP) 111 feelings have taken hold at the Charleston Naval Shipyard ever since the military facility was told to close.

Employees at the shipyard are taking two or three times more sick leave than normal since the Base Closure Commission said the installation will be shut. Those numbers could mean trouble for work scheduled for the next two years, particularly the destroyer O'Bannon. Work on the O'Bannon is supposed to be finished by Oct. 23, after a 15-month overhaul. Shipyard spokesman Jim Beltz said that's still the official forecast date.

Beltz said the absentee rate among workers on the O'Bannon wasn't immediately available, but that the rate for the entire shipyard work force was running two to three times above average since late June. "We have an average sick leave rate of 3 (percent) to 4 percent," Beltz said. "We're currently running two to three times that amount." The shipyard has 4,570 full-time workers, plus 105 temporary employees. That's down from more than 7,000 full-time workers two years ago and more than 5,600 last spring. Layoffs and the offer of early retirement have cut Uie ship A contest supper meeting of Uie Greater Greenwood Toastmasters held recently produced some winners to move to Area competition in Uie next round of Uie annual Toastmasters International Speech Evaluation and Humorous Speech contests.

Mike Dorn, associated with Uie purchasing department at Park Seed Company, won Uie Speech Evaluation contest. Bill Rooney, a local freelance photographer and writer, will move up as winner of Uie Humorous Speech Contest Pressing Mike and Bill hard were the team of Wendell and Barbara Bakke. Wendell was runner-up to Dorn and Barbara was runner-up to Rooney. Hotly contesting Dorn and Bakke was Lee Natvig, an engineer with Westinghouse. Under contest rules, Humorous Speech competitors must certify that the speeches are original and be no less than five minutes long and no more than seven minutes long.

Club President Mike Dorn, pronounced Uie club's first competition since receiving its charter in July a huge success. "Quite frankly, I was worried," said Dom. "I've been with other clubs and sometimes these tilings were a complete disaster," he said. "This was a professional job from beginning to end and I mean the contestants and Uie organization and smoothness Uie program ran with everything." Nash family hires lawyers Inmate stabbed while in his prison cell In Columbia, a Kirkland Correctional Institution inmate was hospitalized in serious condition Wednesday after he was stabbed in his cell, a prisons spokeswoman said. Tracey Hulson, 31, was stabbed several times at about 10:15 a.m.

He was in serious condition after about three hours of surgery at Richland Memorial Hospital in serious condition, Corrections Department spokeswoman Robyn Zimmerman said. Inmates James Towler, 44, and Marvin Ayer, 30, both suspects in the stabbing, were moved to administrative segregation while prison officials tried to sort out what happened, another spokeswoman, Brenda Reed, said. Although prison officials did not know exactly what happened, "we believe it was related to a debt that was owed," Ms. Zimmerman said. Cells in the unit are unlocked during Hie day and the pair, neither of whom was Hutson's cellmate, were able to walk in, Ms.

Reed said. No weapons had been found, but Hutson's wounds that included punctures and cuts led prison officials to believe at least two weapons were involved, Ms. Zimmerman said. One may have been a homemade knife, Ms. Reed said.

Hutson is serving a 40-year sentence from Barnwell County for criminal sexual conduct with a minor. Towler is serving 18 years for armed robbery from Florence County and Ayer is serving 27 years from Bamberg County for manslaughter. Pendleton mayor says check cashing was favor: The mayor of Pendleton said he cashed payroll checks for town employees as a favor, not because he was deducting loan payments from the checks, as some employees said last week. Buddy Durham said he made a regular practice of cashing the checks at his business, Buddy's Automotive. However, during an Aug.

2 interview with Anderson Independent-Mail, the mayor said he didn't cash payroll checks for town employees at his business. On Tuesday, he changed that statement, explaining he used to cash the checks but hasn't "cashed none in a good while. SLED announced last week that it would launch a preliminary inquiry into concerns made in an anonymous letter containing 25 statements questioning the practices of the mayor and other town officials. Tenth Circuit Solicitor George Ducworth said he expects to have a report from SLED agents by Friday or next week. fl Rep.

Smith switches tO GOP: In Langley, State Rep. J. Roland Smith switched from Democratic to Republican ranks on Wednesday, putting the GOP just 11 seats short of controlling the 124-member House. "I did not leave the Democratic Party," Smith said. "I believe the Democratic Party left me and the people of House District 84." Among the issues Smith, a retired minister, has supported is putting prayer back in schools.

Smith, who has been a state representative since 1988, becomes the 52nd Republican in the House where 10 years ago the GOP had only 20 members. His switch leaves Rep. Irene K. Rudnick as the only Democrat left in the Aiken County House delegation. "Anyone has a right to choose his or her party affiliation, but it disturbs me very much that he obtained office as a Democrat then switches to the Republican Party in the middle of the term," she said.

"I don't ill i iik it is right or ethical to do so. I think he should resign and run as a Republican." Last week, Jim Law, a freshman representative from Moncks Comer who was elected as a Democrat, also switched to the Republicans. Couple charged with child neglect in drowning death: An Anderson couple has been indicted for child neglect in the drowning death of their 2-year-old son. Bo Brian Wilson drowned last month in Lake Hart well. Prosecutors allege that Clarence B.

Wilson, 38, and his wife, Teresa, 27, failed to watch their toddler while they were at a lake outing with friends. Witnesses say the parents were at a nearby party while their children, ages 2 to 10, were in the water. Court records show the Wilsons have a history of substance abuse and the couple twice had their children removed from their custody. Two suspects charged in mall shooting: Two men were charged with murder Wednesday in Tuesday's shooting of a 23-year-old man at a Gaffney shopping center. Leroy Smith, 23, and Shawn Emory Smith, 38, who police said are not related, were charged with killing Demitrius Dawkins, Jr.

No bond hearing was set. Witnesses said three shots were fired at Dwkins while he walked in front of a department store at the Peachtree Market Place. Police say those witnesses told them Leroy Smith did the shooting, while Shawn Smith stood by. The shooting apparently stemmed from an argument over a woman, police detective Richard Weaver said. compensation, there could be direct action against an employer," Kelly said.

HAZMAT not possible without funds (Continued from page 11) cals used as thinners. Hundreds are evacuated. The train had passed through Greenwood hours before. April 23, 1992 A train derails near Monsanto Chemical Company, toppling a tanker loaded with 23,600 gallons of a potentially toxic chemical. July 18, 1992 Several bags of medical waste are found discarded on Spring Street.

April 22, 1993 A train derails near the Greenwood County Recreational Complex and topples a car loaded with a toxic fumigant. May 12, 1993 A wreck at the Edgefield-Greenwood county line topples a truck loaded with a bleaching agent. "I'd like to sit here and think it never will happen, but sooner or later the law of averages catches up to you," he stressed. "While you can't really prevent these things, you can be a little better prepared to cope with them." Because of that realized potential, members of the business and industrial community want a response team available so when something happens here in our back yard, we don't have to go out of town to get immediate help, Vaughn said. "We've worked on this thing for years but we've never been able to get anything going until this spring," he said.

"It's been hard to generate some interest, but now, not only do we have some people who are interested, but some people who are dedicated to making it work." The team, called the Greenwood County Hazardous Materials Response Team, is the effort of the Greenwood County Hazardous Materials Response Commission. Formation of the Commission falls under the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) Tide III, which was an outgrowth of federal actions taken after two out- of-country chemical accidents, Vaughn explained. "It's basically the public's right to know of chemicals used by manufacturers and transported through their (the public's) area," he noted. SARA mandated that each state have its own emergency response commission and that each county have its own local emergency planning committee. Now, the Commission wants to make sure that in the event of a threatening situation, local officials will be able to respond, contain and control, Vaughn said.

"With us having our own team, we can't completely solve the problem, but at least we can handle it until others can get in here to assist with it," Vaughn said. Fund raising for the team started in 1992, but so far the effort has raised only $10,500, almost half of which was used to buy a trailer that will be the command post for the team. Officials are still looking for the other $90,000 needed to properly modify and stock the trailer plus purchase equipment for the response team members, Vaughn noted. Officials will also need a one-ton truck to pull the trailer, which will have an on-board computer system, office space, communication equipment, plus all the equipment needed for the team. The trailer "will be dedicated to the hazmat team" and officials are hoping to do a lot of its outfitting in-house "so we can get the best bang for our buck," Vaughn added.

But for right now, Vaughn and the other Commission members are just hoping that the funds will start rolling in that businesses, industries and residents will realize the need for a hazardous materials response team. "We're looking at it as a community effort to do this," he said. "If we put this thing together, get people trained and never, never do anything but train, we'll be happy." (Continued from page 11) Nash, 19, of North Myrtle Beach and Zachary Steinke, 17, of Indianapolis died Aug. 10 after falling in a cage that was taking Uiem to the top of Beach Bungee's 172-foot-high arch. Witnesses told police a cable on Uie cage broke.

The South Carolina Department of Labor is trying to find a cause of the accident. Horry County police and Uie solicitor's office are investigating for possible criminal charges. Local attorneys said they weren't surprised to hear that Uie Suggs Kelly firm had been chosen by die Nash family. "They're very active and they try good cases," said attorney Bob Mclnnis of Norm Myrtle Beach. Suggs, 46, a past president of Uie South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association, specializes in product liability cases.

In one of his most well-known cases, Suggs took the cases of 100 women suing Uie manufacturer of breast implants. "The reason we were hired is our reputation and the fact that we're able to do muldple things under one roof," Kelly said. Kelly said two attorneys will be working full-time on the case and will be meeting with state investigators. Private investigators plus five other attorneys will be assisting, he said. Questions have been raised about insurance coverage because Uie arch was not insured by Uie Illinois company listed on a certificate given to town officials, and Uie state says it has no records of a policy.

State investigators say it may take several weeks to sort through financial records to determine if Beach Bungee was insured for Uie deaths. Tommy Brittain, an attorney for owner Charles Vereen, has said Uie business was insured. Nash was an employee with Beach Bungee, and there have been no records indicating Beach Bungee had insurance covering its employees, according to Uie Worker's Compensation Commission. Owners of Beach Bungee have met with the commission this week. "Assuming there's no workers The Museum issues statement considerate action.

"Jim and Judy Keith, the crofters of willow furniture who were mentioned in die article, use only Black or "Swamp" Willow which they gather from wet and boggy areas on Uie property of Bowater Timber Company. They tell us that a Weeping Willow, commonly found in residential yards, does not bend, and cannot be used for making willow furniture. Judy Keith told us, "We had to ask for permission before we could even enter Bowater Company property." "We hope that this insensitive action will remind others of Uie importance of propriety and common courtesy, as well as Uie significance of any tree in another person's yard." DSS to distribute USDA commodities Last week The Index Journal ran a story regarding an exhibition of willow furniture at The Museum. After Uie story ran. The Museum issued the following statement: "We have been informed that Uie following night a willow tree was cut and removed from private property on Lake Greenwood.

'The Willow Tree' "The Museum does not endorse, neither does it encourage trespassing andor cutting of trees when permission has not been granted. We are greaUy saddened if, in any way, the article about willow furniture influenced a careless and in AMERICAN 'When Is woes local cable companies, including: WSPA-TV. The CBS affiliate in Greenville and Spartanburg, and TeleCable announced Wednesday that WSPA will remain on cable channel 10 in Spartanburg and cable channel 9 in Greenville. Also, TeleCable will air five-minute local news programs produced by WSPA twice an hour during CNN's Headline News. WLTX-TV.

Columbia's CBS affiliate and CVI reached an agreement Tuesday that will keep WLTX on the CVI channel lineup after Oct. 6. Both sides refused to discuss details of the settlement. Kiawah resort (Continued from page 11) aligned itself with Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens of Richmond, which has filed notice it is interested in purchasing the course for environmental reasons. ir the RTC decides to sell the course to an environmental group, Armstrong said, AMF wants to be viable.

If not, AMF wants to buy the course outright Reports are that KRA also is aligned with an environmental group vying for the course. Negotiations between the RTC and environmental groups must be completed by Sept 15. At that point, if no deal has been struck developers can bid oh the course. Cable (Continued from page 11) WACH-TV. Fox will spend $100 million on new programming for the channel, which would be broadcast exclusively on cable, Flynn said.

WACH is continuing to negotiate widi CVI, but 60 percent of cable companies nationwide have agreed to Uie idea for the second channel as compensation, Flynn said. Some cable companies are resisting paying cash. CVI's headquarters in New York, for instance, mandated that no cash should be paid to local stations, said Bud Tibschrany, CVI regional director based in Columbia. Nationwide, CVI has 1.2 million subscribers in about 100 communities, and it has 85,000 subscribers in the Columbia area and 30,000 in other parts of South Carolina, Tibschrany said. CVI has begun notifying its customers statewide that it will drop broadcasters if agreements can't be reached by Oct.

6. Several state television stations have reached agreements with Now you know About 100 Americans die from lightning each year, but survival chances are excellent if quick first aid is nearby, according to National Geographic. In the course of a year, the most intense concentration of cloud-to-ground lightning in the United States assaults central Florida, reports National Geographic. Quotes By The Associated Press "I just about jumped out of my skin when I saw Uie monitors." Steve Hammond, manager of Uie National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Vents Program at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center, on having recorded a volcanic eruption while it occurred on Uie floor of Uie Pacific Ocean. Uie poverty line for Uie appropriate household size.

Applicants must present two forms of identification, one of which must contain an address. If a representative picks up for someone else, the representative must have hisher own identification and Uie identification for Uie individual(s) heshe is to pick up for. Representatives must also be able to state income for the individuals), or have green card(s). This program prohibits discrimination on Uie basis of race, color, sex, age, religion or national origin. Have you made your will? CaD 3Jofpl( 4tt.

iflrClellan Attorney at Law 701 Ohm Bktg Z29-661 Your House Looking PRESSURE The Greenwood County Department of Social Services wiU distribute USDA commodities on Aug. 27, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Uie American Legion Building, Post 20, 806 Calhoun Ave. A food stamp recipient-individuals who receives food stamps are automatically eligible.

Proof of food stamp participation must be presented at time of application. Acceptable proof is a food stamp green card, or letter of approval from the local county DSS. If proof of food stamp participation cannot be furnished, the applicant must declare income, and a determination of eligibility must be made, using the USDA guidelines for participation in Uie program. Income eligible-eligibility will be based on total household, income not in excess of the state established maximum percentage of CLEANING Can Give It A New Look! SUMMER SPECIAL Any 1 Story $89.95 CALL 223-2648.