The State from Columbia, South Carolina • 1

Be all that you can be in Army's cyberspace, A9 The State ec 111TH YEAR, NO. 183 SOUTH CAROLINA'S LARGEST NEWSPAPER Wednesday, July 3, 2002 COLUMBIA, S.C. SWITCHBOARD (803) 771-6161 STATE EDITION WOLO's Jim Blue is losing his anchor position and trying to decide what he'll do as broadcasts move to Charlotte. WOLO staffers to lose jobs Merger with Charlotte station means at least 30 staffers will be cut By DOUG NYE Television Editor WOLO-25 meteorologist Reg Taylor is sending out audition tapes. Anchor Jim Blue is pondering his future.

In three months, newscasters in Charlotte will anchor the Columbia station's daily newscasts; Taylor's and Blue's jobs will be history. At least 30 WOLO news staffers have been told to look for jobs because, beginning Oct. 1, the ABC affiliate's sister station in Charlotte, WCCB, will "centralcast" both stations' news. Bahakel Communications. which owns the stations, a announced Friday that WOLO would merge operations with Fox affiliate WCCB.

It would mean the Columbia station could forgo spending $1.5 million to convert to federally mandated digital broadcasting. With a crew of about 10, WOLO will feed news segments to WCCB, which will broadcast to SEE WOLO PAGE A4 Russians mourn loss in air crash Collision claimed lives of 52 of the country's brightest children By BURT HERMAN The Associated Press UFA, Russia They were the chosen children, standout athletes or students with the best grades. And they had been selected to represent their Muslim region on a trip to the Spanish coast away from their homes in the industrial city of Ufa in the heart of Russia. Instead, the Russian republic of Bashkortostan is mourning the loss of the 52 children and five adult escorts who died when their chartered plane collided with a cargo jet Monday night in Germany. All 12 crew members of the Russian Tupolev 154 jet also were killed, as were the two pilots of the cargo plane.

Flags few at half-staff Tuesday evening outside the government building in Ufa, now a crisis center for victims' families, overlooking the White River that flows through the regional capital. Three SEE MOURN PAGE A4 INDEX 4 SECTIONS, 46 PAGES ABBY D9 MOVIES D1 BUSINESS B6 NATION A4 CLASSIFIED C8 OPINION A10 COMICS D8 PEOPLE A2 CROSSWORD D8 SPORTS C1 D1 TV D6 METRO B1 WORLD A4 6 07770 00001" 0 Lake Murray drawdown already hurting bus businesses But project also could bring $22.7 million, 330 construction jobs By TIM FLACH Staff Writer Midlands boat dealers say sales already are being sunk by the coming drawdown of Lake Murray to build a backup dam. Watercraft purchases are off up to 50 percent at some stores, dealers say. The decline signifies life with lower lake levels is "going to be a challenge" for businesses around the shoreline, Alan Giddens, a south shore boat dealer, said. A new federal study predicts the two-year drawdown will cost recreation-related commerce $4.2 million.

It estimates 205 people at those facilities will lose jobs. But that forecast seems "highly underestimated" on the basis of reports from local businesses, said Miriam Atria, executive director of the Lake Murray Visitor Center. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's predicted economic impact of the drawdown is based on FERC's estimated 1.4 million annual visits to the lake and spending averages at southeastern lakes. The FERC assessment forecasts a net economic gain. The $250 million project is expected to generate $22.7 million in income and 330 jobs, mainly for local construction workers.

Contracts haven't been let yet. National firms will be solicited to manage the project, but local companies are expected to provide the bulk of the labor. The lower lake level will hap- REALIZING HIS HEART'S DESIRE NS TIM STATE Shelton Stephenson, 77, sits outside the plane chartered by Heart's Desire to fly him Tuesday over parts of S.C. Ex-mason sees wish take flight Columbia man says plane ride over city was everything he'd built it up to be By MICHAEL KERR Staff Writer Shelton Alaska Stephenson helped shape the Columbia area. As owner and operator of Masonry in the 1960s and '70s, Stephenson, 77, was the masonry contractor during the construction of more than 30 buildings in the Columbia and Orangeburg areas.

Stephenson, who several years ago lost the lower part of both legs to diabetes, got to see some of his creations Tuesday from above- in the comfort of a single-engine plane as part of the Heart's Desire program. "When you're cut off from life, it really brings you down," Stephenson said. "I thought it'd be uplifting to my spirits to go up and look down at those buildings, and it really was." Heart's Desire grants wishes to residents of the 360 long-term WEATHER Humid. Today: Hot and humid; a stray thunderstorm. High 94, low 72.

Thursday: Partly sunny and hot; storms. High 94, low 72. See Page A2 COSBY American comedy icon Bill Cosby's recent behavior is causing friends, relatives to worry. See Page A2 Copyright 2002, The State 771-8415 HOME pen this fall as a prelude to building the new wall. FERC ordered its construction as a safety precaution to reinforce the existing earthen dam built 72 years ago.

The reduction of 13 feet equals the drawdown of 1996 to battle the aquatic weed hydrilla. But that reduction was for a few months outside prime recreation season. SEE LAKE PAGE A4 Suspected killer said he couldn't fight urges Evonitz told Florida police 15 years ago they led to his arrest for a lewd act By KIMATHI LEWIS Staff Writer Suspected serial killer Richard Evonitz once told Florida police he couldn't control his urge to do sex acts in front of teen-age girls. "When he feels the urge, he drives around looking for a girl 18-19 years old, short in height and has brunett (e) hair," said a Clay County Sheriff's Office report. Those urges led to his arrest for a sexual offense 15 years ago in Florida.

Last week, Evonitz, 38, of Columbia, kidnapped and raped a 15- year-old Lexington County girl, who managed to escape when he fell asleep. She led police to Evonitz's apartment, where they found materials that indicate he might have killed three girls in Virginia, officials said. Case workers with the South Carolina branch of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children helped police make the connection to the Virginia cases. On June 26, they called the case analysis department in Arlington, about the Lexington County case, said Margaret Frierson, executive director for the local branch. "By that time, we knew his name, the car he was driving, his Social Security number and the age of his victim," Frierson said.

Cathy Nahirny, supervisor of brick for his father. During peak years of Masonry, had about 70 men working him, laying the bricks for USC's law school and other buildings across South Carolina. Stephenson's brother, Leon, 69, also worked in construction. He said it was a family tradition. "Construction was in our bloodstream," Leon Stephenson said.

"All of us were builders. We all learned it from Dad." Leon Stephenson said his brother's love for construction work took him out of South Carolina and up the East Coast. "Self-employed construction workers float to wherever the building is best," he said. "There was a period when there was no masonry work in South Carolina that would amount to anything, so he went back up to D.C. and New York to build high rises." Shelton Stephenson, the oldest of six children, ran Masonry from 1962 to 1976.

The masonry business in South Carolina slowed almost to a standstill in the late 1970s, as people built more with SEE FLIGHT PAGE A4 CAROLINA Dr. David Hatch, Columbia William Hedgepeth Myrtle Beach John Jones, Greenwood Edna Joye, Barnwell Richard Lewis, Columbia Pauline May, Orangeburg Harriel Mayrant, Camden Durant McCutcheon, Olanta Rebecca McManus, Rock Hill Willie Mew, Fairfax Hattie Montgomery, Laurens Helen Noe, Barnwell Sudie Parks, Ninety Six Harold Pettit, Anderson Henry Rollins Kershaw INTERNET www.thestate.com SEE KILLER PAGE A4 SPECIAL TO THE STATE Stephenson gets a bird's-eye view of some of his work as a bricklayer in Columbia, Denmark and Orangeburg. nursing facilities operated by HCR Manorcare, based in Toledo, Ohio. Stephenson lives at the Heartland of Columbia facility on Forest Drive. His sister, LouEllen Noble, 71, said he has always had passion for his work.

Six simple desserts to reflect your holiday spirit. See Page D1 DELIVERY 771-8380 "Most every time we visit him, he'll say something about his work, and then he'll look down his legs she said, her voice trailing off. "He's just overwhelmed. This is something he just for dreamt about." Stephenson started out laying SOUTH Douglas Allen Anderson Virgil Amick, Columbia Thomas Anderson, Lexington Joe Banks Columbia Flora Bishop, Travelers Rest Brent Blake, Columbia Primus Brown, Tarboro Vanessa Carter, Fort Lawn Curtis Clark, Elgin Ernest Drakeford Camden Emmett Eaddy, Surfside Beach Dorothy Ellerbe, Pawley's Island Betty Foskey, Hardeesville Von Ginn, Grays Mary Grubbs, Kingstree Charles Hamilton Lexington CLASSIFIED 771-SOLD INSIDE Officials form a task force to reconstruct Richard Evonitz's activities during the last few years. See Page A4 Evonitz DEATHS Ruth Smith, Johnston Wayne Steele, Lancaster Hugh Wade Rock Hill Catherine Weir, Chester Richard Wood, Bamberg Gregory Wright, Columbia Maude Young, Hartsville DETAILS, DEATHS ELSEWHERE, Page B4 INFORMATION FOR LIFE.