The Index-Journal from Greenwood, South Carolina • Page 2

Du THE LWAJOITIXAL Greenwood South Carolina Lakelands 2A Area news State news Ninety Six Abbeville Saluda Calhoun Falls is -i 1 SUNDAY, June 22,1997 McCormlck Km TODAY'S WEATHER House-Senate fight means no elections for judges until '98 June July LASTQTR. NEW MOON July July 12 20 FIRST QTR. FULL MOON ft" M-Mv UfckJ a i 11111 Staff photo by Allen Easter The Gospel Tabernacle Church Children's Choir Community program held at Greenwood Gardens sings praise to Jesus during the Unity in the Apartments Saturday afternoon. Event promotes Unity in Community COLUMBIA (AP) In recent months, most squabbles between the House and Senate have been relatively low key and have ended after sometimes jovial negotiations. Now, though, a new conflict has escalated with no resolution in sight.

The spat over legislative voting has left three empty judgeships and forced State Supreme Court Chief Justice Ernest Finney Jr. to begin looking for other judges, even retired ones, to fill the vacant posts until next year. "I am looking at the situation right now to see about the availability of somebody to pinch hit," Finney said. "It's rather difficult." The legislative disagreement began when the Senate decided it wanted to change the way judges are elected to give the 46 senators more influence than they have now when voting with their 124 House counterparts. Currently, the election of judges requires only a majority of the combined chambers.

Sen. Glenn McConnell, who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, has been working on changing the judicial election process that he says is tainted by allowing judgeship candidates to lobby heavy in the House and ignore the smaller Senate. 4 'If (elections) require a majority in both the House the Senate, it makes it much more difficult for the power brokers," McConnell, R-Charleston, said. 44 We think it' a positive step. However, House Speaker David Wilkins took the floor last week to chastise the Senate for delaying the judges' elections until next year.

Wilkins, R-Greenville, said there was no chance of the House agreeing to the Senate plan to require candidates to win a majority of the votes from each chamber, a move he said would change the way elections have been held for 200 years. 4 "The Constitution says each member shall have one vote," he said. "I hope the Senate will realize they're doing a disservice to this state." Finney refused to take sides in the fight, saying he will do whatever is necessary to keep South Carolina's court system running smoothly. 4 'I'm going to try my best to stay out of it," he said. "The dilemma is if this logjam is not broken then of course we would be slipping further and further back." The elections were scheduled to replace three retiring judgef: Circuit Court Judge Don Rushing, assigned to Chester, Fairfield and Lancaster counties; Family Court Judge William Charles Abbeville, 'Greenwood, Laurens and Newberry counties; and Family Court Judge Donald Fanning, Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Jasper and Hampton counties.

4 'We always have pending cases," said Libby Smithdeal, an assistant solicitor in charge of juvenile prosecution in most of Charles circuit. "If we're going to have any court canceled, it will present a problem." Mrs. Smithdeal said she spends about three days a month in court prosecuting juvenile cases. 4 'Even missing one does affect our caseload," she said. "The Family Court caseload is heavy all over," said Fanning, who, like other judges, rotates through other circuits.

However, Rushing said the rotation means his circuit really isn't down a judge, but the judicial system is. "All it does is make us one judge short," he said. "We have not had a full complement of judges probably within the last 10 years." By ALLEN EASLER Index-Journal staff writer GREENWOOD Both black and white came together to discuss the problems facing society at the Unity in the Community rally Saturday afternoon. Held at Greenwood Gardens Apartments, the event attracted nearly 50 people to discuss issues such as the community responsibil ity, drugs, violence, deteriorating family structures, moral breakdown and.getting better policing. During the family- and religion-oriented event, attendees heard it takes a village to raise a child.

They were also told Jesus is a re-spector of no color for all are "equal in his sight." Apartment residents and interested citizens led the event, provided musical entertainment and gave motivational speeches. After the presentation, there were games and crafts for the children as well as food and snacks. Organizers and leaders for the event were Reginald Freeman, Carrie Davis and John Dill. They were also organizers for the Feast for Peace at New Haven Apartments June 7. TOBACCO: Bitter enemies finally agree on settlement Continued from page 1A NORTHERN GREENVILLE, NORTHERN OCONEE, NORTHERN PICKENS: sunny with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms.

High near 90. Wind south 5 to 10 mph. doudy with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. Low 60 to 65. sunny with a 20' percent chance of thunderstorms.

High near 90. ANDERSON, CHEROKEE, CHESTER, CHESTERFIELD, LANCASTER, SOUTHERN GREENVILLE, SOUTHERN OCONEE, SOUTHERN PICKENS, SPARTANBURG, UNION, YORK: Partly sunny with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. High in the lower 90s. Wind south 5 to 10 mph. cloudy with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms.

Low 65 to 70. sunny with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. High in the lower 90s. BAMBERG, BERKELEY, CALHOUN, CLARENDON, DARLINGTON, DILLON, DORCHESTER, FAIRFIELD, FLORENCE, HAMPTON, KERSHAW, LEE, LEXINGTON, MARION, MARLBORO, NEWBERRY, NORTHERN COLLETON, ORANGEBURG, RICHLAND, SUMTER, WILLIAMSBURG: Partly sunny with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. High 90 to 95.

Wind south 5 to 10 mph. cloudy with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. Low 65 to 70. sunny with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. High 90 to 95.

BEAUFORT, CHARLESTON, JASPER, SOUTHERN COLLETON: Partly sunny with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. High in the upper 80s coast to lower 90s inland. Wind south 5 to 10 mph. cloudy with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. Low 70 to 75.

Partly sunny with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. High in the upper 80s coast to iower 90s inland. GEORGETOWN, HORRY: Partly sunny with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. High 85 to 90. Wind south 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight. cloudy with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms Low in the lower 70s. sunny with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. High 85 to 90. AIKEN, ALLENDALE, BARNWELL, EDGEFIELD: Today sunny with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms.

High 90 to 95. Wind south 5 to 10 mph. cloudy with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. Low 65 to 70. Partly sunny with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms.

High 90 to 95. with their worst foes, and Moore called in other attorneys general to start the hard bargaining. Myers remained hugely skeptical. The deal was full of "goodies" like curbs on advertising that he believed lures many teen-agers to smoke, but what if there were loopholes? So he and Moore crafted penalties millions of dollars the industry would pay if teen smoking didn't really drop. "In an ideal world, you'd wave a magic wand and tobacco would disappear tomorrow," Myers said.

4 4This is the real world. We are trying to drive down the number of people who smoke and who die now." For weeks, and then months, it dragged on: at first secretly and 1 then dogged by TV cameras. Gregoire, from 'way out West, took red-eye special after red-eye special to make meetings. Other times, the dickering was by conference call. Two weeks ago, Gregoire thought she had forced the industry to accept strict FDA control of nicotine.

But Brown Williamson balked. The White House said no deal unless every company was on board. It took a week for to back down, and even then it demanded conditions. By Wednesday now they were meeting at a posh Washington hotel the attorneys general were almost giddy at the thought they had a deal. Friday, they did.

Moore called the White House to say the deal was done and announced a news conference. But minutes later, Carlton called the White House to report a snag: again, this time balking on protecting a whistle-blower who gave Moore much of the ammunition in his lawsuit. At the White House, Lindsey put on the pressure: If wanted to walk, let them they'd pay the price in facing all future legal battles alone, inside their third-floor conference room, Philip Morris and RJR were furious at their smaller competitor. LAKELANDS LOG Saturday's inmate count at the Greenwood County Detention Center: 186. The Greenwood City Fire Department responded Friday to a fire at the intersection of Calhoun Road and Montague Avenue at 3:38 p.m., an alarm at Park Plaza at 4:52 p.m., a fire at the Burger King on South Main Street at 10:23 p.m.

and an outlet fire in a home on New Market Street at 10:38 p.m. The department responded to no fires on Saturday. HodgesCokesbury Volunteer Fire Department responded at 2:04 p.m. Saturday to a structure fire on Smith Street in Ware Shoals. Lower Lake Volunteer Fire Department responded at 3:49 p.m.

Friday to a fire on S.C. 702. Northwest Volunteer Fire Department responded at 10:50 a.m. Friday to a false alarm at Hyde Park Baptist Church Day Care. Greenwood County EMS responded to 9 non-emergency transport requests and to emergencies at Walmart, Elm Street, Karen Apartments, Blythe Road, Sweet Pea's Restaurant; Summit Park, U.S.

221, Emerald Center, U.S. 25 North, White Oak Lane, Taggart Avenue, New Havea Apartments, Overbrook Road, Camak Avenue in Ware Shoals, the Greenwood Civic Center and Tower Point Marina. The Greenwood City Police Department incident reports were not available. The Greenwood County Sheriffs Department responded to one re-port each of criminal domestic violence and burglary. Boycott having little effect, Greenville business owners say Frost may have killed beetles were gone, replaced by profit-driven bottom-liners like Philip Morris' Geoffrey Bible and R.J.

Reynolds Steven Goldstone. Peaceful coexistence was slowly very slowly looking more attractive than tobacco's traditional policy of quashing any challenge. So Carlton came to Washington with the message that tobacco might want a truce. And Clinton aide Bruce Lindsey was receptive. After all, his boss' prized Food and Drug Administration crackdown on tobacco just might be overturned in court.

But everyone knew public health groups would have to agree. Enter anti-tobacco crusader Matthew Myers. He couldn't imagine trusting tobacco companies not to rig a deal. But reluctantly, Myers did an old political pal a favor, met Carlton and told him if the CEOs convinced him they really wanted to deal, he'd at least talk. And so on April 3, Bible and Goldstone sat eyeball-to-eyeball FARMER: Tobacco deal Continued from page I A will split $7 billion the first year, then share $15 billion each year for 25 years.

He estimated South Carolina's cut would come, to about $300 million a year; The money will provide medical insurance for the state's 144,000 uninsured children and increased efforts to curb teen smoking, he said. Industry experts say cigarette prices could rise by as much as 75 cents a pack to pay for the agreement. Abbott, who also runs a tobacco consulting service, believes that could decrease smoking by 7 percent to 15 percent. A provision that calls for the reduction of teen smoking eventually will cut into his livelihood by decreasing the overall demand for the 1.1 billion pounds of tobacco that cigarette companies need each year, Abbott said. The settlement includes goals that call for cutting teen smoking by 30 percent in five years, 50 percent in seven years and 60 percent in 10 years.

DEATH: Greenwood Continued from page I A cide." The police department has called in a forensic team from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, according to Brooks. The victim's father John D. Arrington went to check on his son Friday morning, found the body and called the authorities, Brooks said. Brooks also said this could be ruled the first murder in Greenwood this year; GREENVILLE (AP) The frost that killed last year's peaches may have saved this year's pine trees. Pine beetles were expected to be thjck and hungry this summer, but officials say the hard freeze destroyed a massive Southern pine beetle outbreak in the Upstate.

"We really dodged a bullet because these outbreaks usually last about three years," said Greenville County Project Forester Paul Dulin. "But, thanks to the weather pattern we had, this one only lasted one year, and there's not anticipated to be a problem anywhere that I know of." Surveys taken this year suggest a low population of Southern pine beetles and a high number of Clerid beetles, which feed on the pine beetle, The Greenville News reported Saturday. Two years ago in the Piedmont region, more than 7 million pine trees worth $89.5 million were lost to the Southern pine beetle. The cost rose to $107 million statewide. Last year only 1.6 million trees worth $21 million were lost in South Carolina.

FESTIVAL: Turnout good Continued from page I A take pictures of the flowers gardens. "And, we've basically sold out of all of our he said. "The T-shirts we had left were being sold at the Civic Center. We had a little more than 700 shirts prints. But, we're down to a Cuda summed up his views of the festival.

"This has been another success ful," Cuda said. "We're well pleased with it all." Blacks in Greenville County spend $1.3 million per day in the county, he said. Beaufort 8869 Charleston 8376 Columbia 9071 Florence 9070 Greer 8769 Myrtle Bch ............8275 I.VDEX-JOIEXAL USPS. 261-540 Greenwood Journal, established Aug. 1, 1895; Greenwood Index established Nov.

7. 1897; The Journal and Index Consolidated Feb. 6, 1919 Published Weekday Afternoons ind Sunday Mornings THE INDEX-JOURNAL GREENWOOD ol Greenwood. S.C. Periodicals Postage Paid at Greenwood, S.C.

29846 rn cdy rn clr cdy cdy cdy .38 cdy cdy 84 73 88 71 94 69 92 61 91 65 89 63 63 46 80 61 81 64 90 67 ABC AUDITED Rates by Carrier: GREENVILLE (AP) An NAACP-sponsored boycott of white-owned Greenville businesses did not appear to have a striking impact on retail sales on Saturday. Store managers said there is little or no way to immediately determine whether their cash flow had been hurt. But they said business seemed to be steady, as well as racially mixed. no way to really know what effect (the boycott) is having," said Paulette Anderson, the mall manager at Greenville's McAlister Square shopping mall. 4 'To be honest, I can't say we've noticed any difference," she said.

Greenville NAACP President Ennis Fant urged blacks not spend money in white-owned businesses to encourage removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse and to' focus efforts to keeping affirmative action measures. He said the boycott exceeded his expectations. "It's been a long time since there's been any civil rights activity in this city," he said. "So we didn't really expect to hit a home run. But we wanted to make sure we didn't strike out." 28 1 Mo.

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Chattanooga Cheyenne Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Colorado Springs Columbia.S.C. Columbus, Ga Sunday Only oyMail 19.50 37.05 70.20 FLOWERS: Park Seed trial gardens Continued from page 1A also allows us to experiment to see what plants hold up best to the South Carolina climate." More than 25,000 plant varieties were displayed in a variety of settings on Park Seed's grounds. Garden and plant arrangements were set into formal gardens, near fish ponds, in and around archways and in front of signs. The trial gardens contained annuals, herbs, vegatables, flowering vines and perennials for all seasons. Elaine Alexander headed up the registration tent at Flower Day.

"We've had folks from probably every state in the nation," Alexander said. ''There have also been visitors from as far away as German, Australia and Russia." Alexander said she thinks the gardens were even better this year. "The gardens have really looked pretty this year," Alexander said. "The weather has worked out for us this year and should stay that way.The plants have really benefited from the nice weather." ALLEN EASIER, staff writer The Index-Journal Is not responsible tor money paid in advance to carriers. MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS Make All RemittArvna Trv cdy cdy rn cdy cdy .04 cdy .14 rn cdy 06 cdy cdy clr .64 cdy .01 cdy .24 cdy 77 68 84 42 86 55 92 68 86 68 90 81 83 74 89 68 74 50 87 40 87 73 89 65 88 73 84 67 79 55 83 69 1 86 68 90 74 THE INDEX-JOURNAL COMPANY P.U.

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