Additional area news

Web posted June 29, 1998

From Staff and Wire Reports

Man, boy drown in local pool

A McBean man and a 4-year-old boy apparently drowned in a neighbor's pool Sunday afternoon, officials said.

A 53-year-old man, whose name was not made public because his family had not been notified, was trying to save Kadarian L. Jordan of Waynesboro, Ga., who was swimming with several other children at the man's neighbor's pool in the 1200 block of Clark Road in McBean, police said.

The boy jumped into the pool. When he didn't come up, the boy's aunt jumped in after him but couldn't reach him, police said. Another boy at the pool ran to get help and found the 53-year-old man in the house. The man jumped in after the boy and also drowned.

Autopsies will be performed to confirm the two died of drowning, Richmond County Deputy Coroner Grover Tuten said.

Landfill to accept trash Wednesday

The Three Rivers Solid Waste Authority's $21 million landfill opened this weekend at Savannah River Site. Starting Wednesday, it will accept garbage from Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Edgefield, McCormick, Orangeburg and Saluda counties in South Carolina.

Fees for using the landfill will go up slightly in Aiken County and drop in Edgefield County.

The modern landfill took more than six years to finish, and the first 16-acre cell should last about two years, landfill manager Mickey Hand said. A second cell will be built this year.

The cells have clay bases and an inert liner topped with sand. Leachate, the fluid seeping from garbage, will flow through the sand and to a retention pond for treatment.

The landfill ``is one of the best things that could happen to solid waste,'' said Bamberg County Council Chairman Jasper Varn.

The landfill could save his county $8 a ton over what it currently pays to get rid of trash, he said.

Orangeburg County Administrator Donnie Hilliard figured it would have cost his county $6.5 million to build a landfill that met federal guidelines.

Two eateries damaged by fires

Fires damaged two Augusta-area restaurants during the weekend, fire officials said Sunday. No one was hurt.

A cigarette discarded on the patio of Boll Weevil Restaurant late Saturday night smoldered all night before erupting into flames, destroying the patio and damaging the back wall of the Ninth Street building, said Battalion Chief Cary Russell of the Richmond County Fire Department. The restaurant likely will be closed for a few days.

At nearby Beech Island, firefighters battled a blaze at Freeman's Bar-B-Que on Sand Bar Ferry Road at about 5:15 p.m. Sunday, said Fire Chief George Knowles.

A grease fire started in the kitchen and got out of hand, Chief Knowles said. The cooking area was destroyed, but firefighters stopped the blaze at the dining room.

Water outage worries fire chief

EAST POINT -- About 66,000 residents continued without water Sunday after a 12-inch pipe connecting a city treatment plant to a pumping station burst.

The pipe sends water throughout East Point and College Park.

The broken pipe at the East Point water plant left residents and businesses without water and dried up fire hydrants throughout the two south Atlanta suburbs in Fulton County.

``There's no water to the city,'' East Point Fire Chief David Hawkins said. ``That's real serious.''

Shortly after the break Saturday, firefighters from nearby Spalding and Fayette counties established relay teams prepared to fight fires with water trucked in by 2,000-gallon tankers.

Mayor wants to keep charter

AUBURN -- Auburn's new mayor has lived in the tiny north Georgia city for only a year, but he wants to make sure it remains a city after November.

Reeling from political turmoil that resulted in the ousting of former Mayor David Hawthorne, Auburn residents face a vote Nov. 3 on a referendum to annul the city's charter.

The new mayor, Len Cooper, plans to research the pros and cons of annulling the charter and get them to people via newsletters, the World Wide Web and other media.

``They just aren't receiving the information, and that's what I'm going to make sure doesn't happen any more,'' Mr. Cooper said. ``I really believe there is a very small faction of people who want the charter to be dissolved, but they haven't informed the citizens about the pros and cons.''

The turmoil began in February 1997 when the city council voted to disband the police department.

Loan leads to takeover rumors

COLUMBIA -- Rumors that South Carolina State's financial troubles may lead to its consumption by the University of South Carolina has both universities looking over their shoulders.

South Carolina State University borrowed $2.1 million from the University of South Carolina earlier this month to keep it from going into debt.

``There's always some anxiety that this great institution is going to swallow us up, (but) this is not what that is all about,'' South Carolina State President Leroy Davis said. It's ``just a loan that is brokered by the (state) Budget and Control Board.''

The University of South Carolina wasn't South Carolina State's only chance for a loan, state Budget and Control Board spokeswoman Louise Majors said.

``We did consider several other agencies, (but the University of South Carolina) had the reserves and could accommodate our request,'' she said.

If the University of South Carolina doesn't stand poised to ``swallow'' South Carolina State, it does compete for students and income.

The University of South Carolina's 3,960 black students is second only to that of historically black South Carolina State's 4,294, according to the state Commission on Higher Education.

Board OKs Citadel budget

CHARLESTON -- The Citadel's budget for next year, which includes an increase in fees and tuition, has been approved by the school's governing board.

The $50.7 million budget, which takes effect Wednesday, will increase tuition and fees for next year's in-state freshmen by $692 to $12,506. An out-of-state freshman will deal with a raise of $1,132 to $17,589.

The extra money will go to the second phase of The Citadel's plan to enhance student life and assimilate women into the Corps of Cadets, Board of Visitors Chairman Francis P. Mood said.

Fort Sumter to get repair funds

CHARLESTON -- The site where the Civil War began is getting some money for repairs and renovations.

The Fort Sumter National Monument will get $200,000, U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., said. The announcement came after a Charleston newspaper reported the fort's crumbling condition.

Since then, Gov. David Beasley and Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., have called on the federal government to help Fort Sumter.

About half the money will go for replacing mortar on one of the fort's five exterior walls, park Superintendent John Tucker said. The rest will be used to seal brickwork above a cannon. Work will start when the money is received this fall.