June 8th

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

June 8th is Democratic and Republican Primary day in South Carolina. In Bamberg County, several highly contested races are on tap for four-year terms on Bamberg County Council. In District 2, incumbent Bamberg County Council Chairwoman Alzena Robinson will face challenger and former Bamberg County Council member Roger C. Moses.

In District 3, incumbent Dorothy “Dot” Tatum is running for a fourth four-year term on Bamberg County Council. She is being challenged by political newcomers Larry Haynes and Sherryl Walley. If necessary, a runoff will be held on June 22.

In District 6, incumbent County Council member William H. Nimmons is being challenged by Denmark City Council Mayor Pro Tem, attorney Evert Comer, Jr.

Bamberg County Auditor Margaret Meyer and County Treasurer Alice Johnson have no challengers in the June 8th Primary and their names will not appear on the ballot. District 90 Representative Bakari Sellers also has no opposition.

The polls will open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m. on June 8th. Monday, June 7th, at 5:00 p.m. is the deadline to vote by absentee on the voting machine at the Bamberg County courthouse. Friday, June 4th is the final day that ballots will be mailed out.

Bamberg School District Two

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

Bamberg School District Two like most school districts in South Carolina, will look to “tighten its belts” again next year, when it comes to the district’s finances, said District Finance Director Rodney Anderson, Tuesday, after the district held a budget work session on Monday, April 26.

“It’s going to be real tight,” Anderson said of next year’s budget, noting that in their first budget work session the school board was already looking at possibly a $500,000 cut in spending, though he added that the numbers were not final at this point.

O n May 10th the district will have another budget work session at 4:00 p.m., followed by a regular meeting and first reading of the new budget. A total of two readings are required before the budget is approved.

To make matters even more difficult, Anderson stated that the district has not had a millage increase in three years and it does not appear that the board of trustees is inclined to have one next year. Although he noted that a final decision concerning a millage increase has not been made by board members at this time.

“We can use the money, but we must consider what is going on with the economy and everyone in the district. People can’t stand a millage increase,” Anderson said.

Anderson noted that administrators in the district haven’t received a raise in three years and classified employees have not received a raise in two years. He commented that it appears that the board of trustees of the district will go along with the State of South Carolina’s recommendation of no step increases for teachers. “That means no raises for anybody,” Anderson commented.

He stated that the district built its 2009-2010 budgets around not using its fund balance and fortunately did not have to. Plans are not to use any of the fund balance again in next year’s budget if possible.

Also during the meeting:

The board voted to change its policy for the rate of reimbursement of travel to reflect the new federal rate which was changed in January. Effective July 1, the district will reimburse employees .50 cents per mile for travel.

Trafficking Deer

James Schaffer, 61, of Charleston, South Carolina was ordered to pay $235,000 for participating in a scheme to illegally ship deer from Ohio to a hunting preserve he owned in Denmark South Carolina.

Schaffer pleaded guilty on March 10, 2008 to two misdemeanor counts of violating the Lacey Act, which regulates interstate shipment of animals, and one misdemeanor count of conspiring to violate the Lacey Act, in connection with the sale of 54 whitetail deer that had not been tested for diseases.

Schaffer admitted conspiring with Danny L. Parrott, 62, of Kimbolton in Guernsey County, Ohio to ship the deer from Ohio to Graham’s Turnout Plantation and Hunting Preserve in rural South Carolina. A jury convicted Parrott on October 16, 2009 of two counts of conspiracy and 12 counts of violating the Lacey Act. Parrott was sentenced on April 12, 2010 to 21 months imprisonment followed by six months of home confinement.

Federal law requires that any deer he shipped out of state are required to be tested for tuberculosis and accompanied by proper ear tags and a veterinarian’s certificate. Deer sent from Ohio to another state must be certified to be tuberculosis free. Most states also prohibit introducing deer into a state if the deer are not from a herd certified as free from Chronic Wasting Disease, nor are purchasers permitted to receive uncertified deer shipments.

Baccalaureate Services

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

Bamberg-Ehrhardt

The Bamberg County Ministerial Alliance held a Baccalaureate Service for the 2010 graduating class of Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School May 23, 2010 at Mount Carmel United Methodist Church in Bamberg with the Rev. Bernard Ponds officiating.

The speaker for the occasion was the Rev. Danny Singleton of Ehrhardt, President of the Bamberg County Ministerial Alliance. Rev. Singleton told B-E graduates “don’t let anybody look down on you because you are young.” “Make something of yourself, your whole life is ahead of you.”

Denmark-Olar

“It’s not the number of times you fall down in life, you’re going to fall down, it’s how many times you get up. When you stumble and fall always look up, Jesus will always pick you up,” Lay Speaker Betty Singleton told the 2010 graduating class of Denmark-Olar High School, Sunday, at their Baccalaureate Services sponsored by the Bamberg County Ministerial Alliance and held at the Rome Baptist Church in Denmark.

Singleton told the graduates to “do and be the best that you can be.” She encouraged each of them to “seek higher education.” But, she added if they didn’t seek higher education to be the “best person” he or she could be and don’t always take the easy way out, because she noted “the easy way wasn’t always the best route.”