BCHNC almost breaks even

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Writer

A decrease in volume led to the Bamberg County Memorial Hospital and Nursing Center recording its first, “just below break-even month of the year, last month. “Something that will be given appropriate attention,” BCHNC Interim CFO Carl Menist told trustee board members at their June 23, meeting.

Even with the down month in May, the combined facilities recorded a total profit year-to-date of $470,000. Year-to-date profits for the hospital were $418,000 and $52,000 for the nursing center. Menist stated that the $2.5 million upswing in profitability in the facility over the past year was due in part to the “right sizing and flexible staffing” initiatives implemented last May.

Prostate Cancer Screening

Joyce M. Searson, Publisher

Real men were checking it out Saturday. Approximately 62 males between the ages of 40 and 64 years participated in a free prostate cancer screening at the Bamberg Job Corp., Wellness Center. Of those 62 approximately half had a risk problem with either elevated blood pressure or an enlarged prostate. A few had both.

Speaker Bill Carter of Orangeburg, a cancer survivor and advocate for early detection, said you should know your own health status.

4th of July Celebration

Joyce M. Searson, Publisher

The Thirteenth Annual Fourth of July Celebration will be held again this year at the Julius B. Ness Sports Complex on Saturday from 2pm-9:30pm.

Bamberg native and recording artist David Cooler along with renowned artist Otis Brown and a local Bamberg band “Northwood & Faust” will be providing the entertainment along with Houdini and his magic show.

Stop killing your best friend

The weather is starting to warm up and soon Orangeburg County Animal Control officers will be inundated with calls concerning dogs left in locked cars in parking lots of area businesses.

Leaving your dog in a hot car is not only uncomfortable, it’s also dangerous. Every year, dogs die after being locked inside cars while their owners leave them, often for “just a few minutes.” The reason for this is that dogs are designed to conserve heat. Their sweat glands, which exist on their nose and the pads of their feet, are inadequate for cooling during hot days. Panting and drinking water helps cool them, but if they only have overheated air to breathe, dogs can suffer brain and organ damage after just 15 minutes.

If you see an animal in a parked car during these hot days, alert the management of the shopping mall or grocery store. If the owner does not return promptly, call local animal control or the police.

School District Two budget

After reaching a stalemate at their meeting on whether to use $875,000 of its reserve fund to balance its 2009-2010 budget, Bamberg School District Two (Denmark-Olar ) Board of Trustees came out of closed executive session and voted to give first reading approval to its $7,862,085 budget.

After a considerable amount of discussion, a divided Trustee Board deadlocked 2-2 with Board Members Ann Causby and Blossom Thompson voting against the proposed budget, and Board Members Alvin Maynor and Larry Bias voting in-favor of the proposed budget. Trustee Board Member Loretta Goodman participated in the meeting via conference call but did not cast a vote because of technical difficulties.

District One balanced budget

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Writer

Without knowing any of the details concerning receipt of pending American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) funds, Bamberg School District 1 Superintendent Dr. Phyllis Schwarting presented Bamberg District One Board Members with a balanced budget for the school year 2010, at their public hearing and regular meeting Monday night June 22, at the Richard Carroll Primary School.

“We were told stimulus money would be in next Tuesday June 30th,” Dr. Schwarting said. “We have no sign of how much the district will receive, how the district will get them, or anything connected to the money,” Schwarting added.

Armed with that lack of concrete information concerning stimulus funds, Bamberg School District One officials presented the board with a balanced budget of $13,662,316.56 for 2010 which was approved unanimously on final reading.