Andanh.com

Five days after the storm, the junta continued to stall on visas for U.N. teams and other foreign aid workers anxious to deliver food, water and medicine to survivors amid fears the death toll could hit 100,000.

Among those stranded in Thailand were 10 members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team. Air Force transport planes and helicopters packed with supplies also sat waiting for a greenlight.

"We are in a long line of nations who are ready, willing and able to help, but also, of course, in a long line of nations the Burmese don't trust," U.S. Ambassador Eric John told reporters in Thailand's capital, Bangkok.

"It's more than frustrating. It's a tragedy," he said. Each day of delay means "a lot more people suffering," he said.

With diesel fuel prices stubbornly above $4 a gallon, the state will probably need more money than it budgeted in the fiscal year that begins July 1 to keep school bus tanks filled for the entire school year.

"I expect they'll probably be running a deficit next year unless they find money from other accounts," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Cooper said Thursday after the House approved final amendments to the spending plan. Differences between the House and Senate now will be resolved in a conference committee.

Because the House and Senate have agreed to spend just $21 million to cover higher fuel costs, that's locked into the budget and can't change unless the two chambers approve more with a two-thirds vote.

The Education Department had asked for $9 million more and says the meter is spinning on diesel costs. Every 8 cent increase adds $1 million to the deficit, agency spokesman Jim Foster said. Next year, "we're confident the General Assembly will give us an emergency appropriation and will not allow the buses to stop running."

The Greenville News reported that Judge Edward Miller denied the motion by Jerry Buck Inman's attorneys during a hearing in Pickens County on Thursday.

Inman is charged with kidnapping, rape and murder in the death of Tiffany Marie Souers.

Souers was found in her off-campus apartment in May 2006. Police said a bikini top used to choke her was still around her neck.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. In September, a judge rejected Inman's request to plead guilty but still have his sentence decided by a jury.

The wreck happened about 2:55 p.m. between the Fort Jackson Boulevard and Forest Drive exits. At least one car was involved.

— Ishmael Tate itate@thestate.com

The Beaufort Gazette reports that the county's Board of Education unanimously approved the settlement Tuesday.

Philip Underwood-Sheppard was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2003, for molesting at least nine students. Some of the assaults took place in his office.

In August, the district finalized a $4.6 million settlement for six victims. A seventh case was settled and paid by district liability insurers.

The eighth victim had rejected a $300,000 settlement offer from the district in February before agreeing to the $563,000 settlement

The state Office on Aging will direct scam victims who call an 800 number to agencies that can help them. The partnership includes prosecutors, the AARP, banks, law enforcement, and the state Revenue and Consumer Affairs departments.

"We're serious about protecting our seniors, and we'll put you in jail," said Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, who announced the task force.

He noted that an alert bank employee prevented an 80-year-old woman from losing $8,000 earlier this year to a scam claiming she'd won a Jamaican lottery.

John Jenkins, whose sole job at Mount Pleasant Police is to investigate crimes against residents 60 and older, said the woman was about to make a second wire transfer to the scammer when he was called. Jenkins said he gets about five such calls a week, roughly double from a year ago.

Myrtle Beach-based Gilmore Entertainment and Roanoke Rapids officials said they have signed a letter of intent for Gilmore to operate the Roanoke Rapids Theatre. But Gilmore, which operates the Carolina Opry in Myrtle Beach, immediately cautioned it will be difficult to immediately improve attendance at the theater.

City leaders borrowed $21.5 million to build the theater, designed to be the anchor of their planned Carolina Crossroads entertainment complex. The complex is still a largely undeveloped site off Interstate 95 near the Virginia border.

"This development came from a group of good citizens who wanted to create jobs for the young people in their region," Calvin Gilmore, the company's chairman, said in a statement. "But creating an audience for a theater so far from any urban area or other major tourist attractions is not something that can happen overnight."

"We don't have any silver bullets, but we are willing to step up and try to help them get it rolling," he said.

Bennettsville Rep. Doug Jennings told the House Thursday that Columbia Rep. James Smith would be back home on Sunday.

Smith left for training and an Afghanistan tour 15 months ago as an Army National Guard captain. He returned briefly last year before heading to Afghanistan.

Smith joined the Army Reserve in 1996 as a lawyer and switched to the Army National Guard two years later. After the Sept. 11 terror attacks he decided to go back through basic training and move to the infantry.

Advocates of restrictions have said a delay could mean silent death for the bill, but Cato said he expects it will get a vote from his committee and go to the House floor before the session ends June 5.

"There’s plenty of time left,” Cato said.

The S.C. Senate passed the bill Feb. 19 hearings have been held since then in the S.C. House Banking and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee.

As it stands, the bill would limit borrowers to no more than one $600 loan from any lender, require a seven-day waiting period between loans and establish a state-monitored database to ensure lenders and borrowers were complying with the law.

Prosecutor Bob Ariail told The Greenville News on Wednesday there was "no reasonable alternative" in the case against 23-year-old Roger Eugene Shephard of Williamston.

Shephard is accused in the June 2006 death of 65-year-old John Bruin.

Ariail says dropping a possible death sentence was the only way to get Shephard extradited from Canada.

Canadian authorities handed over Shephard to U.S. marshals at Champlain N.Y. on Tuesday after a two-year legal battle. Shephard on Wednesday agreed not to fight extradition from New York.

The (Greenwood) Index-Journal reported that 28-year-old Jessica O'Donnell of Hodges pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy and six counts of obtaining money under fales pretenses.

Prosecutor Jerry Peace says O'Donnell was sentenced to the six months she's been in jail, plus five years of probation and ordered to repay nearly $9,000.

Peace says O'Donnell advertised she would be a surrogate mother if families paid her $1,000. The newspaper says the woman collected more than $14,000 in the scam before she was arrested in December.

Her husband, Daniel O'Donnell, faces the same charge and will be tried later.

The (Rock Hill) Herald reports that Judge Henry Woods ruled Wednesday that 17-year-old Caleb Preston George's must be let out of prison by the time he turns 21.

George pleaded guilty in March to voluntary manslaughter in the death of 21-year-old Jake Miller.

Authorities say George and Miller got into an argument about the victim's girlfriend at a birthday party in Clover in December.

Prosecutors say George then pulled a knife from a block in the kitchen and stabbed Miller in the neck. Miller died the next day.

No. 2 is her best friend and fellow mom, Charise Dockery.

The two women get together once a week to walk along riverfront park and talk, much of their conversation about family.

“She’s a great listener,” said Osterberg, who met Dockery at church about five years ago.

Coming up this weekend is Mother’s Day, a time to reflect on life’s first relationship between mother and child.

For Elizabeth Tyner, it was a distraction that occupied too much of her father and brother’s time.

But for Terry and Will Tyner, building a wooden boat in their Chapin back yard was a dream come true.

Terry started thinking about building a boat 10 years ago.

“It was on my list of the things I want to do before I die,” he said.

Those limits won final Town Council approval Monday, as another measure to discourage golf course redevelopment is delayed temporarily.

The tree protection plan is an effort to ensure natural buffers remain when commercial development adjoins neighborhoods.

It requires developers to keep a 20-foot buffer of landscaping on parts of a tract abutting homes and to look for ways to save major trees elsewhere.

Trees still will but lost but “this will help slow it down,” councilman Ted Stambolitis said of the plan unanimously adopted.

Only one would be chosen as Kershaw County’s newest Teacher of the Year.

And, when Angie Lawson, a music teacher at Pine Tree Hill Elementary, heard her name called, it was surreal.

“I’m very honored and thrilled and nervous and shaking to be Teacher of the Year,” Lawson said after receiving a standing ovation from a room full of her colleagues.

“I truly feel that we all should share the spotlight tonight.”

HISTORIC COLUMBIA FOUNDATION is looking for volunteers to lead tours of historic house museums and special tours, educate visitors about Columbia’s history, work with school groups and meet interesting people. Volunteet training sessions will be offered 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, May 19, 20 at the Seibels House, 1601 Richland St. (803) 252-1770, ext. 24

SEXUAL TRAUMA SERVICES OF THE MIDLANDS will hold volunteer advocate training June 17-23, sessions will meet 6-9 p.m. June 17-19, 23; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. June 21 and 1:30-6 p.m. June 22 (attendance at all sessions is required) at 3700 Forest Drive, Suite 300. Volunteers must be 18 or older; complete the training program, available during required times (on-call at least two shifts per month); and have reliable transportation. (803) 790-8208; www.stsm.org

ROAD TO RECOVERY is a program that provides cancer patients with transportation to and from treatments. Training is scheduled weekly at the American Cancer Society office, 128 Stonemark Lane. Volunteers must have a valid driver’s license, good driving record and a reliable vehicle. Lang Hunt, (803) 759-1693.

DONATIONS

LEXINGTON COUNTY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION-RETIRED: 1 p.m. today at Brookland Methodist Church, 541 Meeting St., West Columbia. A reception for the scholarship winner will be held. Retired employees from all Lexington School Districts are invited. RICHLAND COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: Organizing precinct clubs in two locations: from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesdayat Ballentine Park on Bickley Road for Dutch Fork 1, Dutch fork 2, Harbison 1, Harbison 2, Oak Point, Parkridge, Pine Grove, Spring Hill; and, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Mondayat Katie & Irwin Kahn Jewish Community Center, 306 Flora Drive, for Blythewood 1, Blythewood 2, Blythewood 3, Kelly Mill, Lake Carolina, Parkway 1, Parkway 2, Ridge View, Round Top, Sandlapper, Spring Valley West. (803) 254-9543

TRENHOLM ARTISTS GUILD: 7 p.m. Monday at Forest Lake Recreation Center, 6820 Wedgefield Road (near Decker Boulevard and Two Notch Road). Guest speaker will be Cindy Howe; visitors welcome. (803) 865-1431

RETIRED ENLISTED ASSOCIATION, CHAPTER 38: 5:30 p.m. the third Friday monthly, in the third floor staff room at Moncrief Hospital, Fort Jackson. All retired military, guard and reserves are encouraged to attend. (803) 740-2319; jrodgers11@sc.rr.com

COMMUNITY MEETING: 6:30 p.m. Monday at Old McGraw Baptist Church, McGraw Road. (803) 353-5290

LEXINGTON SHERIFF

Padgett Road, 400 block, between 12:01 a.m. April 21 and noon April 25. Someone stole a tow dolly worth $800 from the yard of a home.

ZIP CODE 29016

RICHLAND SHERIFF

Following is a Q&A with the three — Gerald Dawkins, superintendent of Saginaw, Mich., public schools; Percy Mack, superintendent of Dayton, Ohio public schools; and Craig Witherspoon, superintendent of Edgecombe County, N.C., public schools.

Richland 1 board members will be discussing candidates in coming weeks. The final day for current superintendent Allen Coles is June 30.

What strategy have you found effective as superintendent that has improved the learning environment in your school system?

Dawkins: The teaching and learning environment is immeasurably improved if we provide our students with the best staff and we provide staff with the appropriate training and resources to do an effective job in every school and ... classroom.

MARY MYERS, Gable Oaks Tenants Association president, received the Dorcas Elledge Award for Community Service by the Eau Claire Community Council on April 25. Richland 1 superintendent Allen Coles and north Columbia resident Alvin Hinkle were recognized for their work with the A+ Schools initative. Other honorees included:

Businesses of the Year: Irvin Lewis, Bi-Lo; Buster Gleaton, Piggly Wiggly; Ernie Shiver, Food Lion

Neighborhood Volunteers of the Year: Deborah Green, Ridgewood/Barony; Rose and Willie Fuller, Northwood Hills; Dennis Black, Denny Terrace; Bruce Sanders, Colonial Heights; Gail Baker, Hyatt Park, Eula Stokes, Burton Heights/Standish Acres; Joyce Latimer, College Place

Friend of the Council Citation: Greg Howard, city of Columbia Parks and Recreation employee at Hyatt Park

RICHLAND COUNTY

ST. ANDREWS REGIONAL BRANCH: Story Time for all ages, 10:30 a.m. Saturdays. Hey! Listen to This!, stories and songs for all ages, 4 p.m. Tuesdays. Book Banter for adults, 7 p.m. Tuesday; selection is “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak. Plant Your Own Rainbow, story and craft session for ages 3 and older, 4 p.m. Wednesday. Sew Divine, A Gathering of Crafters for adults, noon-2 p.m. Tuesday, May 20. 2916 Broad River Road, (803) 772-6675

SANDHILLS BRANCH: Story Time for all ages, 11 a.m. Saturdays. Hey! Listen to This!, stories and songs for all ages, 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays. Sew Divine, A Gathering of Crafters for adults, 1-2:30 p.m. Tuesdays. Crochet? Okay!, craft project for ages 9-12, 3:30 p.m. Tuesday andMay 20. Sandhills Book Group for adults, 7 p.m. Wednesday and 1 p.m. Thursday, May 15; selection is “Kabul Beauty School” by Deborah Rodriguez. Kids Kraft, Lazy Ladybugs for ages 5-10, 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 21. Lights, Camera, Action for all ages, 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 27; bring the family for a special screening of the G-rated “A Bug’s Life.” Game On! for teens, 3 p.m. Saturday, May 31, join your friends for a session of Lego Star Wars. 1 Summit Parkway, (803) 699-9230

NORTHEAST REGIONAL BRANCH: Book Club for adults, 7 tonight; selection is “An American Childhood” by Annie Dillard. Story Time for all ages, 11 a.m. Saturdays (this week’s session will feature a Mother’s Day craft). Hey! Listen to This!, stories and songs for all ages, 10:30 a.m. Monday and May 19. Sew Divine, A Gathering of Crafters for adults, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Monday. Weaving Tales, 3:30 p.m. Monday; ages 10-12 will learn about weaving through the ages and make a bookmark or wall decoration. Let’s Speak English for adults, 7 p.m. Monday and May 19. Dance the Night Away, Dance Dance Revolution tournament for teens, 3:30 p.m. Monday, May 19. 7490 Parklane Road, (803) 736-6575

With just a few weeks left until summer vacation, Richland 2 officials still do routine checks to verify district residency.

If officials learn that families don’t live in or own property in the district, their children could be asked to leave school — up until eight weeks before the end of the school year.

They say it’s an issue of fairness — ensuring that at all times, funds for education are spent on the right students, and not poachers.

“We get pressure from taxpayers that people who are in our district are legitimately in it,” said Roger Wiley, the district’s registrar.

Bowser never made a lot of money, but at 93, he’s active and alert, one of a select brotherhood who forged a special chapter in American history.

On Saturday, Bowser will join five other surviving porters who will be feted by Amtrak during a special National Train Day celebration at Chicago’s Union Station.

Bowser and the others were among the thousands of black men who were proud members of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, working the Pullman cars during the nation’s great era of passenger railroads in the early to mid-20th Century.

The brotherhood, led by A. Philip Randolph, became the first African-American-led labor union to reach a collective-bargaining agreement with a major American corporation.

The federal agents went to one or two parties but never actually went to class or lived in the dorms. Instead, they merely arranged meetings with suspected dealers and asked about buying cocaine, Ecstasy, methamphetamine, marijuana and other drugs, authorities said Wednesday.

“All it took was saying, ‘Hey, I go to State, can you hook me up?’” said San Diego County prosecutor Damon Mosler. “And then it was off to the races.”

The day after the drug sweep landed members of three fraternities in jail and led to the suspension of six frats, investigators revealed how easy it was to penetrate the university’s drug culture.

Students who had gotten caught for fighting, drinking, minor drug offenses or other crimes quickly turned informants and used text messages to introduce their drug dealers to undercover agents. Dealers made handoffs in front of dorms, in parking lots or behind frat houses, sometimes in broad daylight in full view of surveillance cameras.

Turn on the TV and you’ll see grainy archive footage and old-timers reminiscing about desert wars and pioneering days on the kibbutz. Radio stations are busy with musical retrospectives.

The love affair with the past comes at a time of unease — Israelis have much to be proud of but aren’t sure what they have to look forward to.

“It’s no secret that in our country the present isn’t great and the future is always scary, so if you want to feel good, it’s more fun to look back and ignore the problems,” said Shaanan Streett, frontman for the Israeli hip-hop group Hadag Nahash.

“It’s just like when people turn 60,” he said. “Their relatives throw a party and show slides of them when they were younger and better looking.”

Surging prices for copper, zinc and nickel have Congress trying to bring back the steel-made pennies of World War II, and maybe using steel for nickels, as well.

Copper and nickel prices have tripled since 2003 and the price of zinc has quadrupled, said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who chairs the House panel that oversees the U.S. Mint.

A penny, which consists of 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper, cost 1.26 cents to make as of Tuesday. And a nickel — 75 percent copper and the rest nickel — cost 7.7 cents, based on current commodity prices.

Stephen Phillips, 22, and other soldiers in his Army MP company were battling insurgents when his phone was pressed against his Humvee. It redialed the last number he’d called — his parents’ in the small Oregon town of Otis.

Most of the sounds were gunfire, but shouts could be heard, including, “More ammo! More ammo!”

“At the end, you could hear a guy saying ‘Incoming! RPG!’ And then it cut off,” John Petee, Phillips’ brother, told KPTV-TV in Portland.

Phillips’ mother, Sandie Petee, and her husband, Jeff Petee, were not at home at the time of the call. When they checked their voice mail, they heard the shooting.

The $195 billion measure, to be voted on as early as Thursday, would fulfill President Bush’s demands for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan until the next president can set a new policy next spring. Lacking the votes to force troops home as they would like, Democrats are using the bill instead to assert to voters that the war is to blame for the nation’s economic woes.

In addition to restricting U.S. aid, the bill would require Bush to negotiate an agreement with Baghdad to subsidize the U.S. military’s fuel costs so troops operating in Iraq aren’t paying any more than Iraqi citizens are.

A recent Associated Press report revealed that troops are paying the market average of $3.23 a gallon for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, while Baghdad subsidies put domestic consumption inside the country at about $1.36 a gallon. Meanwhile, Iraq is expected to reap some $70 billion in oil revenues because of record-high fuel prices.

Another provision of the bill would give veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan a big boost in college aid costing $720 million through 2009 but expected to cost far more in future years.

Computers and documents were seized during the raid on the special counsel’s office in downtown Washington, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing inquiry. At least 20 agents were still on the scene as of mid-afternoon Tuesday.

Bloch’s home, in suburban Virginia, also was raided, the officials said.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko confirmed that agents with the FBI and U.S. Office of Personnel Management executed “a number of court authorized federal search warrants today” but declined further comment.

The raids mark the latest twist in what critics describe as Bloch’s bizarre tenure as the head of the federal agency responsible for protecting the rights of federal workers and ensuring that government whistle-blowers are not subjected to reprisals.

In the former capital of Yangon, soldiers from the repressive military regime were out on the streets in large numbers for the first time since Cyclone Nargis hit over the weekend, helping to clear away rubble. Buddhist monks and Catholic nuns wielded axes and long knives to remove ancient, fallen trees that were once the city’s pride.

However, coastal areas of the delta worst hit by the high winds and tidal surges were out of reach for aid workers, isolated by flooding and road damage.

The U.N.’s World Food Program said international aid began to flow, with 800 tons of food getting through to the first of nearly 1 million people left homeless by the cyclone.

Concerns mounted over the lack of food, water and shelter in the delta region and adjacent Yangon, where nearly a quarter of Myanmar’s 57 million people live, as well as the spread of disease in a country with one of the world’s worst health systems.

Raymond Simon, deputy U.S. secretary of education, met for an hour Wednesday in Columbia with S.C. educators to discuss how the federal government can help public schools and students reach national school-reform goals in the No Child Left Behind act.

Simon said his boss, Margaret Spellings, is willing to make modifications to some of the law’s regulations that many front-line educators find too restrictive or unfair.

Rebecca Swift has more to celebrate at this year’s USC commencement than most of the graduates who will receive degrees at the Colonial Center on Friday and Saturday.

An athlete and runner, the 22-year-old pre-med student survived a heart attack just before her 21st birthday. Today, she’s not only looking forward to graduation but marriage to a Navy officer, a move to Seattle after the wedding, and probably entering medical school next year.

Her health crisis “was just an awful experience,” she said. But after completing cardiac rehabilitation, she not only is healthy again, but she has resumed running in races. And she said she learned just how much USC meant to her.

“I really got to see the support network I have here at USC, as well as my family and friends,” Swift said.

Jeremy Antwoin "Tookie" Williams, of Austin McCartha Drive, was arrested Tuesday afternoon on two counts of second-degree burglary, two counts of grand larceny and two counts of criminal conspiracy, the Lexington County Sheriff's Department said.

Williams is suspected of taking 51 computers valued at $75,238 from the high school in February and April, the department said.

According to arrest warrants, Williams, along with an unnamed 16-year-old accomplice, is suspected of taking 15 laptops and other electronic equipment from the school on Summerland Avenue between Feb. 1 and Feb. 4. Those items were valued at $16,500, the department said.

On April 20, Williams and the teen-ager are accused of returning to the school and taking another 36 laptops and other equipment worth $50,828.

Five candidates visited the campus last week.

They included two university academic officers, the interim chief of a nonprofit economic development foundation, a U.S. Department of Agriculture administrator and a university chief planning officer.

Trustees are looking for a president who can raise money and improve academic standards at the 4,400-student state-assisted school.

In December, trustees voted to remove then-president Andrew Hugine after they said he failed to make improvements in those areas.

Many of the 150 or so left the event unsure which of the three candidates for the job is the front-runner. King B.L. Jeffcoat, a school board member since 1994, was among them.

“I’m going home (to) try to figure out some way we can hire all three,” Jeffcoat said.

Jeffcoat and fellow Richland 1 trustees spent a long day, much of it behind closed doors, conducting separate interviews with finalists to fill the post by July 1.

They are:

The remaining candidates are:

• George Cooper, deputy administrator of science and education resources development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C.

• Johnson Akinleye, associate vice chancellor for academic programs at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington

• Juanita Fain, vice president for planning at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

Statewide, there are 6,033 homeless students, an increase of about 4 percent since 2005.

Locally, the numbers are more drastic:

• Richland 1, the area’s largest school district, has seen its homeless student population grow by nearly 300 students to 1,281.

• Lexington 2, the Cayce-West Columbia school district, saw its homeless student population increase from two to 50.

About half of the $159.8 million raised would expand Medicaid services to low-income families and the disabled, while the other half would pay insurance premiums for low-income workers.

The proposal also includes money to help children and adults quit smoking or avoid starting the habit.

Senators voted overwhelmingly — 33-11 — to increase the tax, but the proposal still must win approval from the House and survive a likely gubernatorial veto. The state’s 7-cents-per-pack tax, lowest in the nation, has not been increased in 31 years.

Nonetheless, supporters of raising the tax said the Senate plan was a good first step toward addressing the state’s estimated 700,000 uninsured.

The state Office on Aging will direct scam victims who call an 800 number to agencies that can help them. The partnership includes prosecutors, the AARP, banks, law enforcement, and the state Revenue and Consumer Affairs departments.

"We're serious about protecting our seniors, and we'll put you in jail," said Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, who announced the task force.

He noted that an alert bank employee prevented an 80-year-old woman from losing $8,000 earlier this year to a scam claiming she'd won a Jamaican lottery.

John Jenkins, whose sole job at Mount Pleasant Police is to investigate crimes against residents 60 and older, said the woman was about to make a second wire transfer to the scammer when he was called. Jenkins said he gets about five such calls a week, roughly double from a year ago.

Wilkins is an assistant U.S. attorney in Greenville, where he has prosecuted cases involving mortgage fraud, large-scale gambling and human trafficking. He has a degree from USC’s School of Law.

• Council members are expected to settle on a smoking ban for the city, with the fight being over whether bars should be exempted.

• The council also will decide whether to participate in a six-story retail, residential and parking building in Five Points — a project that has generated a relentless attack from some local neighborhood leaders who say the building is too tall and a waste of taxpayer money.

“It will be an important day for the message Columbia sets for the future,” said Mayor Bob Coble, who supports the development project and the smoking ban.

SMOKING IN BARS

A mix up in the 180-page amendment's drafting and extended debate on an immigration bill left House members saying Wednesday they wanted more time to review changes to the Senate version of the spending plan.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Cooper told members the biggest changes included restoring $10 million for research programs and $10 million for tourism promotion the Senate dropped as it cut $180 million from the budget last month.

The House is expected to resume discussions on the amendment Thursday.

The vote Wednesday was 26-13 against the change.

Senator Larry Grooms' plan would have changed a proposal adopted Tuesday that splits the money from a 50 cents tax increase between Medicaid programs and a new voucher system to buy health insurance.

Grooms said his proposal would keep the state from expanding entitlement programs.

He says if 90 percent of the state's uninsured residents took advantage of the credit, the program would pay less than $500 for policies that often cost more than $3,000 a year. But he expected the credits to cover most of the costs if only half the uninsured had taken it up.

Some senators say no tax should be raised without lowering another tax and they'll try to do that Wednesday on a bill that raises the state's cigarette tax to 57 cents a pack. The current 7 cents tax is the nation's lowest.

Senators approved an amendment Tuesday that uses the $159 million the tax increase would generate to expand health care programs for the poor and create a new health care insurance voucher program.

Senator Larry Grooms wants the money for tax credits for employers to buy health insurance.

Other legislators want to overturn plans approved Tuesday to raise the tax automatically to keep pace with health care costs.

The bill that passed 80-33 also removes employers' ability to use a new paper-based system created and audited by the state. Businesses could only verify a worker's immigration status using a federal database or state-issued identification.

Gov. Mark Sanford had criticized both provisions of the Senate bill; he said the heavy fines would supercede federal law and that the House bill "provides for a real and meaningful employment verification process."

Instead of heavy fines, the House version would suspend a company's business licenses for up to 30 days on a third offense. Businesses could be on probation for up to three years, meaning they would have to submit quarterly reports proving their compliance.

"Our idea was to make people comply, not put them out of business," said Harrison, R-Columbia. "We think businesses want to comply."

Cayce leaders say the vote is not an endorsement of a proposal from Columbia Venture, developers of the 3,000-acre Vista Farms project.

But at least one Cayce resident said it appears the city has given a backdoor nod to new levees.

Conservationists and some townspeople say Columbia Venture turned to Cayce as a friendly government to support their nearly decade-old, twice-rejected plan for a $1 billion project.

While Richland County Council and the city of Columbia blocked the former Green Diamond project, critics say support from a local government could bolster the construction of the scaled-back Vista Farms development.

How much?

An initial agreement that would raise the tax by 50 cents a pack, a total of 57 cents, passed the Senate. That would raise $160 million. Lawmakers could take a key vote today to set the hike at 50 cents.

How to spend it?

The first $5 million would pay for programs to prevent people from smoking and to help smokers who have quit, under the Senate plan. The remaining money would be split, with half to be used to expand Medicaid for low-income families. The other half would provide grants to help the uninsured purchase health-care coverage through an employer or on their own. The plan would provide insurance to an estimated 170,000 to 200,000 people.

Mrs. Watts, wife of the late Marshall Watts, died Monday, May 5, 2008. Born in Carbonhill, Ala., she was a daughter of the late Charles B. and Sara Elizabeth Prescott Yocum. She was a self-employed welder. Mrs. Watts was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Windsor Lake.

Surviving are sons, James Hall, Frank Hall, Joe Hall and Marshall Watts; son-in-law, Lewis Williams and his wife, Yuriko; four granddaughters, eight great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by a daughter, Margaret Hall Williams.

Please sign the online guest book at www.dunbarfunerals.com.

«Obituary posted: May 8, 2008»

Funeral services will be held Friday, May 9 at 11 a.m. at Red Hill Baptist Church. Burial will follow in Sunset Gardens Memorial Park.

Mr. Williams was a native of Edgefield County, had retired from Tranter Manufacturing Company and was a member of Red Hill Baptist Church.

Survivors include one stepdaughter - Ruth Burton Case, Ohio; 2 stepsons - Wayne (Mary) Burton, Edgefield, John (Jennifer) Martin, Edgefield; one sister - Ida Herlong, Johnston; 6 grandchildren - Wayne Jr., Laotha, Mary, Joseph, Destiny and Dawson; 2 great-grandchildren; and a companion, Virginia Hammack.

The family will receive friends Thursday, May 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Edgefield Mercantile Funeral Home.