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The Pee Dee’s OldestIndependentlyOwned NewspaperopinionWord of the Weekbosky 1 : having abundant trees or shrubs2 : of or relating to a woodsMerriam-Webster.comJULY 19, 2017 PAGE 2Athe NeWs ANd Press, dArliNGtoN, s.C.WWW.NEWSANDPRESS.NETOP-EDOld MemoriesBy Bill shepardI suppose we all have some! Some memories, we share andsome are allowed to remain undisturbed. They are better that way.My son called today and our conversation began with the line,"Dad, I want to take you back in time a ways." He continued, "Iopened a box that has been closed and packed away for a very longtime." My curiosity was really getting the best of me to know whatwas coming next. Then he said, "Dad, you gave me a little recordingthat you made while you were in the Army and you were in thehospital. The recording was on a small Red Cross record and wastitled, "A Message to Mama."My mind was now a long way back. After doing a little math, weboth decided it was 75 years ago. By now, my mind was back to1942-I had been in the Army since February of that year. I was inbasic training at an infantry base, Camp Joseph T. Robinson, LittleRock, Arkansas. I had enlisted in the Army, along with somefriends. They had gone in a different direction and I felt lost amongstrangers, and for a youngster who had lived on a mill village all ofhis life, I felt I was in a foreign land.The cold winter and the red hills of Arkansas took its toll on me.One day, my leg was swollen so badly and I was advised to reporton sick call at a tent near my barrack. I did so, early that morning.There were several men there, all from various parts of the Camp.When I finally was called to the area where the doctor was, he tookone look at my leg and said, "You need to go to the hospital" and hehanded me a small piece of paper with the word Hospital printedon it. He turned and called for the next patient. I did not know atthe time, and I had not been told that I was to wait outside until hehad seen all the patients and those who were to go to the hospitalwould be loaded on a truck and transported there. Not knowing allof that, I went outside and wondered where the hospital was. Istarted walking, limping along. Every time I saw someone, I asked,"Where's the hospital?" 1\o one knew. I walked and I walked. Thefarther I walked, the more lost I became! Yes, I know this story ishard to believe, but every word is true. I had started my search forthe hospital about 10:00 a.m. and it was now 3:30p.m. I stumbledup the steps at the large hospital. I was met by a very friendly nursewhen I entered the door. She asked what I needed and I handed herthe paper with the word, Hospital written on it. She then lookedmore puzzled and asked where I was located on this sprawlingAnny base. I went through the large address-11th Regiment, 51Battalion, Company D, 4 Platoon. That was my address. Shelooked at me, the paper in her hand, and then asked, "What's thematter with you?" "I have a sore leg," I answered. She looked likeshe was ready to faint. "You have a sore leg and have been walkingsince 10 o'clock this morning; have you had lunch? Come into myoffice and be seated." An officer (doctor) approached and shecalled him to one side and they talked. I couldn't hear their conversation, but I felt they were talking about me. She left and returnedin a little while with a glass of orange juice and a few cookies.Shortly afterward, I was carried to a room, in a wheel chair andassigned a cot on which to lie. I remained there for a week andwhile I was there, a lady from the Red Cross came to see me andallowed meto make the tape. I was to send it to my parents back home. Thetitle on the small tape had been prepared-A message from a Serviceman. I began, "Dear Mom, I'm lying here as happy as a dead pig inthe sunshine. I had heard that line back in the mill village. I waseverything but happy Now 75 years later, my son calls and tellsme he has the little recording. It has been tucked away in a box forall these years. My son then added, "Dad, there's a story you canwrite about! I just did!Next time,Bill ShepardMr. Shepard is a native of Darlington, S.C., and a current residentof Piedmont, S.C. He is the author of “Mill Town Boy” and “Bruised”.He has been sharing his tales of growing up in Darlington for decades,and we are delighted to share them each week. His mailing address forcards and letters is: Bill Shepard 324 Sunny Lane, Piedmont, S.C.,29673.OP-EDTo the Editor:On Memorial Day, May29, 2017, I attended the service next to the Veteran’sMemorial in Darlingtonwhere Col. James Peterson,retired, gave the keynoteaddress. He spoke about twosoldiers from Darlingtonwho fought in World War IIand was not known by a lotof local folks except theirfamilies. One of those soldiers was Col. Peterson’sletters to the editoruncle, John Peterson. Col.Peterson described the areahis uncle fought in and thedifficulties of adjusting oncehe returned to Darlington. Ibelieve this is what we nowcall PTSD, Post TraumaticStress Disorder.The next day as I pondered the comments of Col.Peterson, it occurred to methat probably there are manyfamilies who have stories offamily war heroes that arenot well known outside oftheir families. These storieswill fade away in two orthree generations and wouldbe lost forever. I think thecitizens of DarlingtonCounty may be delighted toknow of these Darlingtonheroes, regardless of whichwar they served in, and celebrate these men andwomen’s heroic sacrificesalong with their families.Their stories could berecorded and remain withthe Darlington CountyHistorical Society for thepublic to celebrate.I would like to hear ifthere is an interest in ourcity as well as county ofbringing these stories tolight by sending them to theEditor of the News andPress, if that is agreeable.Regards,Bill AbbottDarlington843-393-1852OP-EDThe Coding Movement is Sweeping the World, U.S. and S.C.By Phil NobleAll the way from theboardrooms of tech executives in Silicon Valley to thekindergarten class atVoyager Charter School inCharleston, the codingmovement is sweeping thecountry.So, who is behind thecoding movement?Let’s begin with theNational ScienceFoundation, MIT MediaLabs, Newt Gingrich,National GovernorsAssociation, Amazon,Disney, Tim Cook, AmericanAirlines, DonorsChoose.org,Facebook, Google, BarackObama, Microsoft, GoldmanSachs, Skype, MarkZuckerberg, YouTube, JohnDeere, Jeff Bezos, DiscoveryChannel, JuniorAchievement, Jeb Bush,National BasketballAssociation, One Laptop PerChild, Marriott, Bill Gates,Expedia, Mark Cuban, DeltaAirlines, General Motors,Best Buy, JP Morgan,LinkedIn, Intel, Wells Fargo,Target, Salesforce, Verizon,Walmart, Corey Booker,AT&T, Accenture, BillClinton to name just afew. This is to say nothing ofjust about every nationaleducational organization inthe country, 27 Democraticand Republican governors well you get the picture.OK, you say, but exactlywhat is the coding movement?In the narrowest sense,it’s about teaching youngpeople to be able to writecomputer code. In the broadest sense, it’s about promoting computer education.Now, unless they havebeen living in a cave for thelast 20 years of so, most people have figured out thatcomputers are important andunderstand they are vital forour future. But, what most ofus who have not been livingin a cave generally don’tunderstand is how big aproblem we have with thelack of skilled coders andcomputer education. Arecent Washington Post article outlined the problem:“An estimated 500,000unfilled U.S. jobs requiresome level of computer-sci-ence understanding, yetthree-quarters of the nation’spublic schools do not offerany computer science courses, often sending companiesturning to foreign workersfor specialized skills. Thefederal government isn’tdoing much to help:Virtually no federal fundingis dedicated to enhancingcomputer science offeringsin K-12 schools Computerscience education has longbeen treated as an elective inK-12 schools, a nice-to-haveoption for the few studentswho are naturally inclined toseek it out.”The coding movement isnot just a top down movement from businesses, politicians and other well-knownfolks. As the WashingtonPost article says:There is a growing movement to treat computer science instead as a core subject, such as algebra or biology, to which every student isexposed.90 percent of parentswant their children to haveaccess to computer scienceeducation at school, andteachers agree. They knowthat technology opens doors.100,000 teachers havetaken matters into their ownhands and already begunteaching computer science.Over 100 school districts are rolling out courses,from New York to Chicago toLos Angeles, from Miami toLas Vegas.20 states have passedpolicies and are now lookingto support professional training for new computer scienceteachers.Despite all this newmomentum and support, westill have a huge problem inthe United States (and SouthCarolina).75 percent of U.S. schoolsdo not offer meaningfulcomputer science courses.The current 500,000open computing jobs are inevery sector, from manufacturing to banking, from agriculture to healthcare, butonly 50,000 computer science students graduate ayear.What is increasingly abasic skill is only available tothe lucky few, leaving moststudents behind, particularlystudents of color and girls.Not only does computerscience provide every student foundational knowledge, it also leads to thehighest-paying, fastest-growing jobs in the U.S. economy.Nationally and worldwide, the best-known organization that has spearheadedthe coding movement isCode.org. It was founded in2013 by twin brothers Hadiand Ali Partovi. Today,Code.org is a fast growingnon-profit dedicated toexpanding access to computer science and increasingparticipation by women andunderrepresented minorities.Their big annual event isthe Hour of Code promotionwhich encourages people toparticipate via a free onehour online coding lessonthat is available in 45 languages. Dozens of presidents, prime ministers andother world leaders havejoined in and Code.orgclaims they have engaged 10percent of all the students inthe world.And what of SouthCarolina?I have been a keen observer of the coding movementsince its early days but Inever really realized itsreach and impact until a fewmonths ago when I visitedVoyager Charter School inCharleston. There I saw akindergarten class, yeskindergarten, with the students nearly jumping up anddown in excitement as theyplayed with a coding program called Scratch on theirindividual iPads.To the kids, they were justplaying a game of connectingworms but what they werereally doing was learning theconcepts of combining digital elements (the worms)into links of code. I wasstunned.On the statewide level,there is good news and badnews.The good news is there isbeginning to be some(though not near enough)institutional and legislativesupport for coding and computer education.CODING ON 3AThe News & Press117 S. Main St., Darlington, SC 29532Phone (843) 393-3811 Fax (843) 393-6811STAFFGeneral Manager: Morrey Thomasmthomas@newsandpress.netEditor: Melissa Rollins editor@newsandpress.netStaff Writer: Samantha Lyles slyles@newsandpress.netDesign: Duane Childers ads@newsandpress.netAdvertising: Charlotte Berger sales@newsandpress.netOffice Manager: Judy RogersLETTERS TO THE EDITORWe encourage letters to the editor on any subject. Please includeyour name, location and phone number for verification.Mail to P.O. Box 513 Darlington SC 29540or e-mail editor@newsandpress.net.Letters to the Editor do not reflect the opinions of the Newsand Press, and content may be edited prior to printing. Letterscontaining overtly malicious comments or personal attackson your fellow citizens will not be printed.SUBSCRIPTIONSIn-state subscriptions: One year 30Out-of-state subscriptions: One year 40.Sorry, but we cannot give refunds for canceled subscriptions.PRESS RELEASE AND EVENT SUBMISSIONSAll press releases are welcome and will be considered,but the News & Press reserves the rightto edit as necessary for space or other requirements.Please contact us by phone at (843) 393-3811, by fax at(843) 393-6811 or by e-mail at editor@newsandpress.netwith your Darlington area news.

NEWS AND PRESS DARLINGTON, S.C.WEDNESDAY JULY 19, 2017 PAGE 3ACouncil votes to approve sale of city administration buildingBy Melissa RollinsEditoreditor@newsandpress.netDarlington City Councilvoted Tuesday night to sell theadministration building at 410Pearl Street.After a lengthy and heatedexecutive session, councilwoman Elaine Reed made themotion.“I make a motion that weallow Genesis (Healthcare) topurchase the property at 410Pearl Street at 100,000 andhave the first option on theCouncil on Aging buildingwhen that comes up,” Reedsaid.Darlington City ManagerHoward Garland added that theoption for the Council on Agingbuilding would only becomeavailable if and when the council had moved out.Several of the city administration offices moved from thebuilding at 410 Pearl after astorm caused a chimney to collapse and damage the roof.Since it was already on a list ofrepairs to be done, the roof willbe fixed by the city even thoughGenesis is purchasing it.Old BusinessCity Building Inspector andCodes Enforcement OfficerAlex Gainey appeared beforecouncil again regarding theproposedDemolitionAssistance Program. The program seeks to rid the city ofblighted buildings while helping people to maintain ownership of their property. Underthe proposal, people that meteligibility requirements wouldpay a minimum of 500, to bedetermined by their income, forthe city to remove the house.Any upkeep of the propertywould be the sole responsibilityof the owner. Mayor Hinesexpressed come concern andvoted against the program.Ultimately, a vote was takenand program adoption wasEverett Samuel asked Darlington County Council for help dealingwith flooding on his property.PHOTOS BY SAMANTHA LYLESCountyContinued from 1ACouncil member BobbyKilgo suggested that if thedeveloper did not build theditches according to countycodes, the County Attorneycould bring an action againstthe developer to force compliance with those codes. Coxsaid that he “would love” forthe county to direct him to filesuit, but the county wouldhave to pay for his legal feesresulting from such an action.“The neighborhood canbring a private action againstthe developers because thecounty has no control overthat subdivision,” said Cox,adding that a letter has beendrafted requesting that Halland Lexus Development takeaction to address the PecanPointe flooding problems.County Administrator CharlesStewart said that if Councilhad no objection (they didnot), he would sign the letterand have it sent to the developer.AlsoduringpersonalArrestsContinued from 1AWatson praised the officersin his department, as well asthe SLED officers that theyreceived assistance from.“We had great partners withStateLawEnforcementDivision and Lt Valazak withour Investigations section didan outstanding job,” Watsonsaid. “She was very dogged, astalwart investigator, who justkept going out there, alongwith the investigators thatwere assigned in our PatrolDivision, who did an exception-CodingContinued from 2AThe Citadel is listed as aregional partner for Code.org.More significantly, a bill waspassed by the House in the lastlegislative session to “createnew standards for computerscience education in grades 912, set up summer training fornew teachers in the field andrequire that every high schoolin the state offer at least onecomputer science course.”The bad news is that the billhas only passed the House andit provided no significant funding to get the computer education courses that are neededactually implement in schoolsappearances, Allen Tisdale, aparamedic and owner ofMedic of South Carolinaambulance service, voiced anumber of concerns aboutDarlington County EMS.Tisdale alleged mismanagement by EMS director MichelleMoore, and suggested thatnumerous job openings –including 6 openings for fulltime paramedics – are resulting in a lower standard of careand slower response times byEMS.CouncilchairBobbyHudson suggested that Tisdaletake his allegations to theDarlington County AmbulanceCommission's next meeting,scheduled for 6 p.m. on July27, and let them decide if anyrecommendations should bebrought to County Council'sattention.On the regular agenda,Council approved second reading of Ordinance 17-07, authorizing a Special Source RevenueCredit agreement for ProjectPhoenix, the still unnamedindustrial development projectwhich Darlington CountyEconomic Development is pur-al job. They were getting outthere and making sure thateverything continued to gowell and that we didn’t haveany new occurrences. We didn’t, which was really great, andthey were able to solve this.”The victims of the shootingwereRandolphMalikaMcClain, 21, and AhmondBritton, 24, according toDarlington County CoronerTodd Hardee. Police werecalled to the scene around12:45 on June 26 where theyMcClain and Britton shot insideof a car. Another victim wastaken to the hospital butexpected to recover.across the state.The coding movementdemonstrates what everyoneknows: computer literacy andeducation are essential to thesuccess of our children and ourstate.What we don’t know is willour national and state politicalleaders do what is required toensure our children have thisknowledge required for success.We should all demand thatthey do.Phil Noble has a technologyfirm in Charleston, is founder ofWorld Class Scholars and writesa weekly column for the S.C.Press Association. Contact him atphil@philnoble.com and get hiscolumns at www.PhilNoble.com.approved.In other business, final reading was given to an ordinancerelating to a tax levy. The ordinance is for the “purpose ofraising revenue to pay principaland interest on outstandingbonded and other indebtednessof the City of Darlington and forthe purpose of defraying thecorporate expenses of said Cityof Darlington for the currentyear 2017, there shall be andhereby is, levied and imposedon all taxable property in theCity of Darlington a levy of 125mills.”New BusinessIn the new business portionof the meeting, the city councilgave first reading to Ordinance2017-26 to purchase the property at 909 Pearl Street, previously the location of Ray’s Tires.Garland explained that theproperty was a necessary purchase in order for the city tocomplete their stormwater project.“The stormwater drain runsdirectly under the building,”Garland said. “The building wasbuilt there in 1950 and I don’tknow why someone wouldbuild right over a stormwaterdrain but they did. We needthat as a part of that stormwater project this is in the budget for that project.”After getting final approvalat the next council meeting, theproperty will be purchased fromDonaldandDewayneWeatherford for 25,000.A bid was presented to council for the replacement of theHVACsystemfortheDarlington Fire Department.The ac

"The program is a Florence-Darlington Tech program for high school graduates," Bumba said. "We have three stackable certificates starting with the basic Certified Nursing Assistant. Each of those adds to their salaries and adds to the type of job that they are able to get. It is a huge, huge benefit." This grant from the Duke Energy