Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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October 1,1999 <5dJ1?tt0tk PagsS 1 1 Irmo hosted its annual Okra festival Saturday. pr_^-—--■' ..IW-JlLJUUmilM ii " -:-1 I1 ■111III ill—■ _I Judson Drennan The Carolina Reporter Women of the Lake Murray-lrmo Women’s Club serve up some okra at the Irmo Okra Strut on Saturday. The Women’s Club Is the only organization allowed to sell okra at the festival. Fanners to get less relief money BY JUDSON DRENNAN The Carolina Reporter Limited federal disaster relief funds for farmers will be spread thin this year after both drought and flood have dev astated the agricultural community in South Carolina, according to National Legislative Coordinator Larry McK inz.ie. Only $500 million will be allocat ed by Congress for farm disaster relief nationwide, lie said. However, with more than $1.25 billion in farm damages to the Carolinas alone, he said farmers na tionwide will likely get far less than lliey might normally expect. The federal money will be distrib uted after damages from disaster areas are calculated nationwide. Farm relief is then distributed to farmers according to their losses. “Farmers are in a pretty tough sit uation right now,” McKinzie said. “There have been the low market prices, the flood, the drought.” This year, South Carolina was de clared a disaster area twice: first for drought and then for flood. However, the Hoods won't bring any more mon ey to farmers in Hooded areas, McK inz.ie said. Declaring the state a Hood disaster has made available Federal Emer gency Management Administration funds and other public money to help the stale rebuild infrastructure and to assist fam ilies who can’t afford to rebuild after the flood. But this money doesn’t help farmers. “We could end up losing a lot of farmers because of these natural disas ters,” McKinzie said. “It doesn’t look good right now.” He said that until about two years ago, farmers had been in fairly good standing with banks. However, he said, the past two years’ seasons will make it hard for many to continue farm ing. “I think what you’ll see this time is a lot of people voluntarily leaving pri or to being foreclosed on,” he said. Federal relief funds are available each year to farmers in suites deemed by the government to be disaster ar eas. To qualify for these grants, farmers must be in a county that reports at least a 30 percent loss in agriculture revenues. In a normal year, farmers who qualify can expect to get somewhere between 40 cents to 50 cents on the dollar in dis aster relief handouts. “This year, they’ll be lucky to get half that,” McKinzie said. Becky Walton of the S.C. Depart ment of Agriculture said South Giroli na farmers will qualify for low-interest loans from the government, but low market prices will make it difficult, if jiot impossible for them to repay them since many farm products are selling for less than they have in 40 to 50 years. “Like farmers need any more loans,” she said. The loans’ interest rales are fixed below prime rate, a better alter native to the higher-interest loans the farmers could get from private lenders. Walton said recent rains came too late for many farmers suffering from drought. She said the growing season is over for most of the stale’s crops, and the damage to farmers has been done. “And then you have the fields in coastal areas Dial are underwater,” she said. “It’s really ironic that we got hit with Floyd, yet we iire having a drought. It’s an incredible situation where we liave drought and llixxl at llie same time.” New skills test aims to raise state's education standards by Ashley Mathias Tiie Carolina Reporter Alter 20 years of using the Basic Skills Assess ment Program, South Carolina is implementing a new test, the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test, to raise the state’s education standards. R\CT will lake the place of the BSAP lest over the next four years. In the spring, the lest was ad ministered to third- through eighth-graders. The implementation schedule is staggered among the different grade levels, but by 2003, grades three through eight and 10, 11 and 12 will be using the new lest. “Since the BSAP test is 20 years old, it was time for a change,” said Marianne Bird, public infor mation educational associate for the S.C. Depart ment of Education. “The PACT test is part of the initiative to raise the bar and meet new stale stan dards.” The BSAP tested a student’s knowledge of ba sic skills. B3CT measures a student’s ability to un derstand and work out basic life situations. A sample test question from the BSAP would be,“What is 60 percent of 270?” PACT is more of a practical test. A typical test question fora sixth grader would be, “At a clearance sale, the price of a VCR was discounted 40 percent. The discount price wits $375. What was the original price?” Stu dents would then liave to explain how they got their answers. Because of the new lest formal, tlie scores aren’t expected to be very high for the first year. “Because the lest is more academically chal lenging than BSAP, the first year’s scores are ex pected to be lower,” Bird said. “We can't predict how they will be in the future.” District 5 Test Coordinator Joe Saunders said the lest gives more information about students’ abil ities. “With the BSAP, it really wasn’t very informa tive about what knowledge the students had, and the test was considerably too easy,” he said.“We have several high-achieving students in our district, and they were always topping out on the test.” Saunders thinks that the test might result in few er overachievers. “The PACT test is considerably more difficult because the standards are higher and more de manding,” he said. “Because of this, the number of students who actually meet the standards will prob ably be lower.” Amy Gunwall, a third-grade teacher at Bound aly Street Elementary School in Newberry, admin istered the test to her class in the spring and saw that the test had lots of problems. “I hated il,"GunwaII said. “The lest was just lex) long. It wits unlimed, so you had to wait until every student finished a problem before you could go to the next problem. This created disci pline problems." Gunwall also had complaints about the test’s formal. The S.C. Department of Education said it has worked out the kinks in the test formal so it’ll be more easily understood by students and teachers the next time. According to the department, scores have initially been lower in every stale where a new testing program has been put into place. Once students become more accustomed to the type of lest and the standards are fully implement ed, scores are expected to rise. Test scores from the spring will be released Oct. 12. Sunday alcohol sales tail to make ballot m Beautort, Greenville by Gina DeMillo Tin; Carolina Reporter Residents of Beaufort and Greenville counties will have to wail until next year to vote on Sunday alcohol sides. Restaurant owners in Beaufort Coun ty were unable to get the signatures re quired by Sept. 15 to get a Sunday al cohol sides referendum on die November ballot, marking the third straight year they have fallen short. Though they successfully collected 2,500 signatures from county resi dents, petition organizers were told that die signatures must come from registered voters in unincorporated areas of the county. Unincorporated areas include those from Hilton Head Bridge to Sun City, St. Helena Island and Lady's Ishtnd. The city of Beaufort c;m sell alcohol on Sun days. “Everyone had to lake a step back idler we found out we needed the regis tered voters’ signatures,” said Beth Cool er, owner of ComerSlone Grill in Beau fort and leader of the petition drive for the third consecutive year. With the setback coming just two weeks before the deadline, restaurant owners scrambled to gather the signa tures needed. Though Hurricane Floyd didn’t help their cause. Cooler siiid she couldn’t blame the storm entirely. Greenville County restaurant own ers idso lacked the 2,500 registered vot ers’ signatures needed to put the issue to vole there in a special election Oct. 12. “Our goal was to get 10,000 signa tures, to make up for any unregistered voters who signed,” said Kathleen Wald man, who manages Austin’s restaurant at the Greenville Marriott hotel and is on the board of directors for the city’s restaurant association. As the deadline approached, however, owners had col lected only about 4,000 signatures. “When they submitted their petition on September 8, tliey did not liave enough valid signatures,” said Conway Behingia, director of the Greenville County elec tion ollice. Legally, sales advocates have until Saturday to submit another petition to gel the referendum on the Nov. 2 ballot, Belangia said. However, Waldman said restaurant owners want to avoid the November election. “Wfe don't want to go up against video poker at the same lime,” she said. “If Sunday sales are denied then, we would have to wait another four years to vote again.” Instead, petition organizers will try to have another special election for Sun day sales, though W.ddman said she’s not sure when. Both Austin’s restaurant and tire Mar riott have lost business in the past be cause of restricted sales, Waldman said. “People want to check in on Sun days, but they hear we don’t sell alco hol, so they don’t," she said. Gxiler, who owns ComerStone Grill, said her concern isn’t lost business as much its giving customers wlial tliey want. “As business owners, it is our re sponsibility to provide to our customers wlml all the other businesses can,” she said. “The issue is not the extra revenue. The issue is that Hilton Head c:in do it. Blufllon c.ui do it. Beaulort can do it.” Advocates of Sunday alcohol sales point to the revenue local govern ments would receive from reslauninls. According to the stale Department of Revenue, each business that sells alco hol pays $150 per Sunday to their city or county. Cooler estimates that more than $200,000 a year would come from Beau fort County restaurants. Since Richland and Lexington coun ties passed Sunday sales in 1984 and 1986, respectively, millions of dollars have gone to Columbia in the form of Sunday li censes. List year alone, licenses from those counties generated about $983,000, said Vicki Ringer, spokeswoman for the Department of Revenue. Five counties and nine municipali ties in South Carolina have Sunday sales, and most of those areas lie near the curst, Ringer said. While many churches in tire state are opposed to video poker, there’s some concern there for Sunday alcohol sales, as well. Drinking is one way people refuse to honor the Sabbath, said Joe Mack, di rector of Christian life concerns at the South Carolina Baptist Convention. “We would like our churches in Greenville lo oppose that," Mack said. In Beaufort County, just days after this year's deadline, Cooler is thinking aliead to next year. “We'vegotten someg(xxl ide;is from Charleston," she said. Cooler said that Berkeley County, where Charleston is located, hired a mar keting lirm and a radio station to pro Israel Kloss The Carolina Reporter mote Sunday sales. Eventually, the ref erendum passed diere, and county restau rants split the cost of the hired help. Cooler said she’s hopeful of the referendum’s possibilities. “It will definitely pass in Beaufort County next year,” she said. S.C. alcohol revenues Sunday alcohol sales permits issued to counties in 1998 generated $4.5 million statewide. Alcohol sales on Sundays requires a local option permit tram the state. Five counties and six cities in South Carolina have these permits. The following cities are grouped into the other category: Edisto Beach, Santee, Tega Cay, Beaufort, Hilton Head and Port Royal. Richland $688,250 \ Other $677,800 Charleston $1 million Lexington $294,450 Georgetown $245,250 l Horry $1.6 million Source S C Dept ol Revenue Briefs ■ City Council Columbia City Council meets the first and third Wednesdays of each month at the Cit; Hall Council Chambers, third floor, 1737 Main St. ■ County Council Richland County Council meets the first and third Tuesdays of each month at the County Administration Building, 2020 Hampton St. ■ Photography exhibit “Lord, I Wish I Had a Prayin' Church Tonight," a photography exhibit by Stanley Lan/ano depicting small African-American churches in the stale. Through Oct. 10, McKissick Museum. For more information call 777-7251. ■ Marionette theater The Columbia Marionette Company holds performances at 3 p.nt. each Saturday and Sunday at 401 Laurel St. For more informa lion, call 252-7366. ■ Eau Claire Renaissance Faire The Eau Claire Renaissance Faire will he held today and tomorrow at Hyatt P;irk, as the neighborhood celebrates its 100th an niversary. Festivities include games, arts an crafts, and music. Free. For more informa tion, call 799-5508. ■ Parade of homes The Panide of Homes will be held from noon to 9 p.nt. through Sunday at Winder mere at LongCrcck Plantation. Single-site display of 12 fully decorated homes built b) some of Columbia's premier builders. For cost or other information, call 256-6238. ■ Caboose day Gihoosc Day will be held Saturday at the S.C. Railroad Museum in Winnsboro. Ac tivities include the chance to ride on a freight Gihoosc. 9:45 and 11 a.m., I, 2:15, ;uid 3:30 p.m. For cost or oilier informulioi call 796-8540. ■ Blessing of animals A Holy Eucharist luid Blessing of Animals will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Kccnar Cliapcl, Trinity Catlicdral. As a celebration of the least day of St. Francis of Assisi, any one gui bring pels to receive a blessing. Free. For more information, call 771-7800. "Che Carolina TRxportcr Publisher Judy VanSlyke Turk Reporters Shana Bowman David Cloninger Rebecca Cronican Gina DeMillo Judson Drennan Ashley Mathias Ryan Mosier Cara Pellatt Jell Romig Jell Stensland Managing Editor: Kristin Freestate Editors Allison Aiken Jessica Barfield Ann Kennedy Israel Kloss Todd Money Kate Maxwell Noelle Orr Jacquelyn Poston Adrienne Thompson Faculty Advisers Scott Farrand Keith Kenney Pat McNeely Henry Price Jennifer Wood The Carolina Rennrter senior semester students pro vide The Gamecock with week ly Metro & State coverage. For Metro & State news tips, please call (803) 777-3307 or (803) 777-3248 To lax tips, please call (803) 777-4103 Letters to the editor regarding Metro & State coverage should be directed to The Gamecock, RH 333, or gcked@sc edu The Carolina Reporter Online can be lound on the World Wide Web at: www.lour.fc.edu/reporter/home.html