The Index-Journal from Greenwood, South Carolina • Page 31

the Index-Journal News features from Greenwood, Abbeville, McCormick, Saluda and southern Laurens counties. Greenwood -y, SSkjt i McCormick NewsFeatures SUNDAY December 24,1995 THIS WEEK Bus drivers to be tested WARE SHOALS Bus drivers in School District 51 will be subject to random alcohol and drug testing beginning Jan. 1. Also, pre-employment testing for 3 i -13 i 2 Qfl a a ofl t'l no Kiwi tmQL WlfTMWWWlJiBW Staff photo by Patricia Edwards The train is at the station. In Ninety Six, the depot downtown serves through community donations.

The community raised $14,000 to as a backdrop for a new set of Christmas lights purchased by the town replace the dilapidated decorations. drivers hired after that date will be required. The action was unanimously approved by the Ware Shoals School Board, with one absence. Fifty percent of the drivers, who now number 18, will be chosen at random twice a year. PharChem laboratory will perform the testing after drivers are selected by Social Security number.

No names will be submitted. The district will provide transportation to the nearest collection site, Donaldson Center in Greenville. Drivers who refuse to be tested will have their commercial drivers licenses revoked. The Observer Wildlife area due for disabled CALHOUN FALLS Mohawk Industries and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the Richard B.

Russell Project are working to create a wildlife management area especially for use by disabled sportsmen. The area consists of 500 acres of public property located on the peninsula around Mohawk Industries. The boundaries and shoreline of this area have been posted with informational signs. The natural terrain and layout of this area offer excellent access for those in wheelchairs and similar Down by the station 0 Community joins together to help train pull into the depot downtown By JASON PERRONE Index-Journal staff intern NINETY SIX When last year's Christmas lights and decorations came down in pieces, Judy Sargent of the Chamber of Commerce said people of Ninety Six knew something had to be done. that costs $162," Sargent said.

Many people who purchase an entire decoration do so in the memory of a loved one or as a gift, Sargent said. "Across from the depot there's a snowman by the Christmas tree. It's in memory of little Taylor Turner," Sargent said. Turner is the kindergarten student who passed away after a bout with pneumonia, but who lives on in the spirit Christmas in Ninety Six. Earlier this year, while the temperatures were still in the 90s, town officials had Christmas on their minds, Sargent said.

"We looked at a whole bunch of different types of decorations and we had to test them out because you really can't be sure how they will look until you light them up," Sargent said. The officials tried to keep the cat in the bag and gathered at an out of the way location in order to view their different lighting options. "It was a good thing we went out and voted on the best decorations when they were lit up because the one everybody we wanted didn't look real pretty at night so we had to pick a different set," Sargent said. Visitors and locals who cruise through downtown Ninety Six can't miss the new purchases. The main attraction is the lengthy lighted train that rests on the lawn of the depot.

Sargent said local churches have taken a cue from the town and placed new nativity scenes on their property as well. "We've done really well this year and we're trying to raise enough money now to buy 30 more decorations for next year," Sargent said. Without using a penny of taxpayer money, various contributors managed to round up $14,000 to replace the dilapidated decorations. Duke Power tossed $6,000 into the pot to cover the expense of rewiring many of the poles on which the lights are hung, Sargent said. "The people in town have really gotten into the Christmas spirit with this whole project.

We get calls every day from people who want to give anything from $2 to a whole fixture types of transportation. They also will be able to use Mohawk's picnic shelter and parking area. The first hunts will be scheduled for the 1996 season. The Corps of Engineers will perform certain wildlife and forest management activities such as planting food plots and food strips. Access trails, hunting stands and shooting lanes will be provided.

The area was closed for hunting to the general public Dec. 11. Calhoun Falls News if Kaiser sure to make 'nice' list with its first Christmas Drive By JASON PERRONE Index-Journal staff intern GREENWOOD Kaiser Aluminum is sure to make Santa's "nice" list when he learns the company is sponsoring 12 local needy families in its first Christmas Drive. "Each of the 12 work teams here at the plant have sponsored a family in Greenwood," said Quentin Robinson, Kaiser's accountant. "This is the first time we've done something like this but we hope to make it an annual event." Robinson got the idea from his college days when he was involved with charity work through the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and got the nod to pursue it after speaking with the plant manager.

"First I made a call to the Department of Social Services and requested a list of potential families that we could help and then I contacted them personally to let them know that we would be providing some assistance," Robinson said. Robinson was inspired by the way his coworkers took to the idea and helped get it off the ground. The Kaiser employees have gathered quite a few items for the families whose size varies from three to 1 1 members. "Most are single parent families, but I believe three or four have both parents in the home," Robinson said. Robinson agrees that the children in the sponsored families are the ones who would suffer the most if they didn't have a Christmas.

Please see KAISER, page 2D Counties goal: widening of 72 ABBEVILLE The Upper Savannah Council of Governments is coordinating efforts to get a multi-county committee formed to work on getting the state to widen segments of S.C. 72. A goal is to enhance industrial development along the route. Abbeville County Council has named Buddy Hagood of Calhoun Falls and Bill McNeil of Abbeville as representatives. According to USCOG Executive Director Patricia Edmonds, Greenwood representatives are County Council Chairman Patrick Moody and Councilman Fred Armfield, chairman of the public work ommittee.

Photo courtesy Kaiser Aluminum Kaiser Aluminum workers, from left, Ken Amick, wrap presents for distribution during the Vickie Jeter, Tonya Wimmes, Cheryl Fuller, Stacey company's first Christmas Drive. Booker and Plant Accountant Quentin Robinson This cypress one of state's oldest Savannah River Swamp tree more than 650 years old Laurens members are Clinton Mayor Myra Nichols and Cross Hill Mayor Charles Jester. Edmonds said efforts were being made to include a Georgia respresentative, probably from Elberton. For at least a decade, the.e have been efforts to get the highway widened from Abbeville to Calhoun Falls and areas of Greenwood and Laurens counties. The Press and Banner BALD CYPRESS TREE FACTS Cypress trees, a common swamp species have "knees' that extend from the root system to well above the average water level.

(The knees on the 650-year-old bald cypress found in the Savannah River Swamp are about 3.5 feet tall.) The functions of the knees have been an issue of speculation for the past century. Some scientists believe they anchor the tree, while others think they are a means of respiration for the tree. Perhaps they do both. Please see FACTS, page 2D Four Hole Swamp (near Charleston) that were close to 1,000 years old. The record in the Southeast is a tree in North Carolina." Still, the Savannah River Swamp tree, which is within the Upper Three Runs Creek floodplain, is significant, Dr.

Sharitz said. It has survived many threats, including logging by southern settlers in the 1700s and then the Leigh Banana Case Co. and others around the turn of the century. The companies cut both cypress, a cone-bearing deciduous tree, and tupelo, a hardwood, from the Savannah River Swamp to make shipping crates and veneer. "This tree probably was not logged at the time other cypress were removed from the floodplain because it has grown so slowly and would produce a very good log," Dr.

Sharitz said. "There are other trees nearby that are about the same size (about 3.5 feet in diameter) that are much younger about 200 years old AIKEN About 150 years before Columbus discovered America, a tiny bald cypress seedling emerged from the mucky ground of the mighty Savannah River Swamp. Today, after centuries of surviving colonization, logging, extreme flooding and nuclear reactor operations, the tree still stands. Based on aging of a tree core extracted by scientists from the Savannah River Site, it is more than 650 years old, said Dr. Rebecca Sharitz, senior ecologist and University of Georgia professor of botany.

Joy Young, a former research technician for Dr. Sharitz and now a graduate student at the University of Arkansas, aged the tree. "In the course of conducting our research, we have not found any older bald cypress trees in the Savannah River Swamp," Dr. Sharitz said. "It is probably among the older bald cypress trees in South Carolina, though Dr.

Dave Stahle of the University of Arkansas has aged several in and have grown more rapidly." Historically, bald cypress was an important tree in the economy of the Southeast. The wood is generally resistant to decay, easy to work with relatively few hand tools, and makes beautiful cabinets and furniture. Despite its swampy habitat, early settlers and then loggers harvested bald cypress. High demand for the wood around the turn of the century almost completely destroyed accessible southern swamp forests. In the Savannah River Swamp, Leigh Banana Case Co.

and others harvested selectively in the forested wetland from the late 1800s to the middle part of this century. Still, parts of the forest was not logged by the Leigh company, and some 200-year-old trees remain today. The dam-building era that began in the 1900s brought another challenge to bald cypress and Please see TREE, page 2D LVSIDE Today in History 2D NewsFeatures 3D Editorials 4D Campus scene..