Posts tagged "South Carolina"

Police: SC man stole grandma’s electric wheelchair

Investigators say they have arrested a South Carolina man, accusing him of stealing money from his grandmother, along with her electric wheelchair.

Orangeburg County sheriff’s deputies say 43-year-old Richard Fleener II will have a bond hearing Monday. He is charged with abuse of a vulnerable adult.

Authorities say Fleener was living with his 78-year-old grandmother from November until February, when he stole so much money from her that her power was shut off for several days.

Investigators say Fleener also stole her wheelchair, television and window air conditioning unit.

Deputies did not know if Fleener had an attorney.

South Carolina teacher who stomped US flag gets $85G payment

A South Carolina high school teacher removed from the classroom when he stomped on an American flag while discussing freedom is being paid $85,000 to avoid a legal challenge.

The State newspaper obtained documents under the Freedom of Information Act that show Chapin High School teacher Scott Compton is being paid the settlement by Lexington-Richland District 5, in addition to his salary through June 7.

Compton resigned as part of the settlement after criticism about his actions last December. The documents also show that the school district will pay attorney fees of nearly $32,000 for Compton.

The payments were not disclosed when Compton’s resignation was announced March 27.

A school spokesman said Compton’s lawyers had indicated they would file a complaint in federal court about school officials who sought his dismissal.

South Carolina woman accused of using ambulance as taxi — at least 100 times

Talk about a free ride.

A South Carolina woman was arrested after authorities discovered she called 911 at least 100 times in the past seven years to get rides into Charleston, the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office says.

Audrey Ferguson, 51, allegedly faked illnesses and would immediately sign out of area hospitals upon arrival, telling doctors she was fine, WCSC reports.

“She’ll have a vague medical complaint; for instance, abdominal pain,” Dorchester County EMS Director Doug Warren said. “She has medical complaints that are legitimate, and so until she’s been evaluated and determined not to be sick, we have to assume she is.”

A police report said Ferguson said she didn’t have a car and expected Medicaid to pick up the tab for ambulance bills.

Each of Ferguson’s trips cost $425 plus mileage, and officials say taxpayers may have to pay a bill of more than $400,000 to cover expenses that aren’t covered by Medicaid, WCSC reports.

Ferguson is charged with unlawful use of 911 and filing a false police report.

Click for more from WCSC.

China’s cotton stockpiling threatens to devastate American producers

The Unites States is the third-largest producer of cotton, a product that everyone wears, everyone uses. But that may not be enough to ensure the security of the American cotton industry, with China now a major player in the world cotton market.

“Most of the cotton now has got to get in the container and go overseas,” South Carolina cotton farmer, Carl Brown Jr. told FoxNews.com.

For the past three years, China has been turning to the U.S. for millions of bales of cotton. But instead of consuming that cotton and keeping the demand high, the Chinese have been storing it, gradually building its stock up to to more than 60 percent of the world’s inventory.

“The fact they are rebuilding their stocks and have almost a year’s supply of cotton in their warehouse has farmers in this country, merchants and everybody concerned about what’s going to happen to the cotton market,” Brown said.

Experts predict that China eventually will have cornered the world cotton market.

“They have a lot of control over those stocks, obviously, and that’s having a big impact on our prices,” cotton economist Don Shurley told FoxNews.com

China’s cotton reserves are at a record high 10 million tons, causing U.S. prices per pound to fall from 88 cents in 2012 to 71 cents in 2013. They averaged about $2 a pound in 2010. The U.S. crop also is projected to fall from about 17 million bales in 2012 to 14 million in 2013.

“China is the driver,” Brown said.

And China eventually could drive the prices down to 50 cents a pound.

“If it reaches that, you might as well park your equipment,” Brown said.

But that’s partially because U.S. consumption of cotton has dropped dramatically over the years. American cotton consumption is only a third the amount it was in the ’90s, as much of the production of clothes has moved overseas.

“We don’t have much of a domestic textile industry within the U.S. anymore,” Shurley said.

Brown said in the ’70s and ’80s, 70 out of every 100 bales were used domestically. Now, 80 out of every 100 are being shipped overseas.

The decrease in the demand for cotton is being felt nationwide. The National Cotton Council predicts there will be 25 percent less cotton acreage in 2013. But China, the world’s largest producer, largest consumer and largest importer of cotton seems to be the only thing keeping the U.S. cotton market above water.

“At some point, they are going to have to quit buying,” Brown said. “When that happens, what’s going to happen?”

Winning ticket for $338M Powerball jackpot sold in New Jersey

A single ticket sold in New Jersey matched all six numbers in Saturday night’s drawing for the $338.3 million Powerball jackpot, lottery officials said. Thirteen other tickets worth $1 million each matched all but the final Powerball number and were sold in 11 other states.

The New Jersey Lottery said Sunday that details about the winning ticket would be released Monday. It was the sixth largest jackpot in history.

The numbers drawn were 17, 29, 31, 52, 53 and Powerball 31. A lump sum payout would be $221 million.

The 13 tickets for $1 million apiece that matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball were sold in Arizona, Florida (2), Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina and Virginia.

No one had won the Powerball jackpot since early February, when Dave Honeywell in Virginia bought the winning ticket for the $217 million jackpot.

The largest Powerball jackpot ever came in at $587.5 million in November. The winning numbers were picked on two different tickets — one by a couple in Missouri and the other by an Arizona man — and the jackpot was split.

Nebraska still holds the record for the largest Powerball jackpot won on a single ticket — $365 million. That jackpot was won by eight workers at a Lincoln, Neb., meatpacking plant in February 2006.

Powerball is played in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The chance of matching all five numbers and the Powerball number is about 1 in 175 million.

Penn State softball: Nittany Lions fall in extra innings

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Macy Jones pitched six scoreless innings but could not hold off South Carolina in extra innings in a 4-3 Penn State softball loss Sunday afternoon in the finale of the South Florida Under Armour Showcase. Kristen Struett's sacrifice …
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Oldest living US citizen, dies at 114 in South Carolina

A 114-year-old South Carolina woman who was the oldest living U.S. citizen has died, two of her daughters said Saturday.

Mamie Rearden of Edgefield, who held the title as the country’s oldest person for about two weeks, died Wednesday at a hospital in Augusta, Georgia, said Sara Rearden of Burtonsville, Maryland, and Janie Ruth Osborne of Edgefield. They said their mother broke her hip after a fall about three weeks ago.

The Gerontology Research Group, which verifies age information for Guinness World Records, listed Mamie Rearden as the oldest living American after last month’s passing of 115-year-old Dina Manfredini of Iowa. Rearden’s Sept. 7, 1898, birth was recorded in the 1900 U.S. Census, the group’s Robert Young said.

Rearden was more than a year younger than the world’s oldest person, 115-year-old Jiroemon Kimura of Japan.

“My mom was not president of the bank or anything, but she was very instrumental in raising a family and being a community person,” said Sara Rearden, her youngest child. “Everybody can’t go be president of a bank or president of a college, but we feel just as proud of her in her role as housewife and particularly as mother and homemaker.”

Mamie Rearden, who was married to her husband Oacy for 59 years until his death in 1979, raised 11 children, 10 of whom survive, Sara Rearden said. She lived in the family homestead with a son and a daughter on land that had been in the family since her father’s accumulation of acreage made him one of the area’s largest black landowners.

Her father sent her off to earn a teaching certificate at Bettis Academy on the far side of the county, and she would spend an entire day on a loaded wagon to reach the school along dirt roads, her daughter said. She taught for several years until becoming pregnant with her third child.

In the mid-1960s at age 65, when some settled into retirement, she learned to drive a car for the first time and started volunteering for an Edgefield County program that had her driving to the end of remote rural roads to find children whose parents were keeping them home from school, Sara Rearden said.

Mamie Rearden always counseled that her children should treat others as they wanted to be treated and that included never gossiping or speaking ill of others. When asked about a preacher’s uninspiring sermon, her daughter recalled her mother saying: “`Well, it came from the Bible.’ She never would bad-mouth them.”

SC woman, oldest living US citizen, dies at 114

A 114-year-old South Carolina woman who was the oldest living U.S. citizen has died.

Two daughters say Mamie Rearden of Edgefield, who held the title as the oldest person in the country for about two weeks, died Wednesday at a hospital in Georgia.

Sara Rearden of Burtonsville, Md., said Saturday that her mother broke her hip after a fall about three weeks ago.

Robert Young of the Gerontology Research Group said Mamie Rearden’s September 1898 birth was recorded in the 1900 U.S. Census. The group, which verifies age information for Guinness World Records, listed Rearden as the oldest living U.S. citizen after last month’s passing of 115-year-old Dina Manfredini of Iowa.

Rearden was more than a year younger than the world’s oldest person, 115-year-old Jiroemon Kimura of Japan.

PSU commit Walton plans S. Carolina visit

Jonathan Walton remains committed to Penn State, but the three-star linebacker said he "most likely" is going to make an official visit to South Carolina in the new year. The 6-foot-1, 236-pound senior said the Gamecocks' new offer came as a surprise, …
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Man sought in deaths of 2 found in South Carolina barrels

The man investigators think killed two people more than a month ago and stuffed their bodies in barrels before dumping them into a South Carolina lake is on the run, authorities said Friday.

Deputies charged John Michael Young with two counts of murder Friday after searching his home not far from Lake Hartwell, taking away a chainsaw and machetes, Anderson County Sheriff’s spokesman Chad McBride said.

Authorities said in arrest warrants that Young killed 52-year-old Tony McGinnis in September and 37-year-old Andrea Mitchell in October by beating them in the head in woods near his home. Investigators didn’t give a motive, but said the victims weren’t killed at random.

“We believe he targeted these victims for a reason,” McBride said. “I don’t necessarily believe he’s out there targeting people for a random reason.”

Mitchell’s body was found Wednesday in a plastic barrel that was partially submerged in the lake after an officer saw the barrel and examined it. Deputies returned to the lake Thursday and found McGinnis’ dismembered body in a metal barrel about 10 feet under water.

The two victims were acquaintances, but they had several friends in common. McBride said.

A second man, Shaine David Fischer, was arrested and charged with two counts of accessory after the fact of murder. Investigators said he helped Young dump the bodies in the lake. Arrest warrants said he confessed to his role and led investigators to charge Young. It wasn’t known if he had an attorney.

Deputies are looking for any leads to find Young, and McBride has a warning for anyone who knows where Young is but isn’t telling authorities.

“Think twice before you assist Mr. Young so you won’t get charged, too,” McBride said.