The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 29, 2001, Page 4, Image 4
Week after death of Floyd Spence,
state senator takes quick steps
ASSOCIATED PRESS
State Sen. Joe Wilson is taking
some heat for his billboards posted
in the Midlands announcing his
candidacy for the congressional
seat vacated by the death of long
time Rep. Floyd Spence.
State Democratic Party
Chairman Dick Harpootlian said
the billboards’ timing was “impo
lite at best, rude at worst.”
Spence, who died Aug.'16 at a
Mississippi hospital following
surgery to remove a blood clot,
was juried a week ago. “They
could wait a week,” Harpootlian
said. “What’s a week going to be?”
However, the turnaround on
the special election doesn’t give
candidates much time. The filing
period opens Aug. 31, the primary
is Oct. 30 and the election is Dec.
18.
“You’ve literally got a couple of
weeks,” said Furman University’s
Danielle Vinson, a political scien
tist who specializes in congres
sional politics. “You can’t sit
• around waiting.”
In his defense, Wilson said he
had received Spence’s blessing for
the campaign.
Spence called Wilson at home
on July 21, before he checked into,
the hospital.
Wilson, Spence’s longtime cam
paign manager, said they talked
about the 2002 campaign and
Spence asked him to prepare along
two tracks.
“He said, one track would be for
his campaign and another would
be for a Wilson campaign,” Wilson
said. “I was extremely honored
that he would call but I was much
more distressed.”
Wilson said materials were be
ing prepared in both names. After
he announced his candidacy last
Wednesday, he decided to use bill
boards and some were up by
Saturday.
Other Republican candidates
for the seat include Joe Grimaud
and Tony Evans. Grimaud, a
Columbia-area businessman and
the organizer of the 1997 Tony
Evans Crusade, announced Friday
he would run. Evans is a Texas
based evangelist who held a racial
reconciliatioh event at Williams
Brice Stadium.
Marine Corps Recruit Depot
Parris Island commanding Gen.
Steve Cheney, of Beaufort, has
said he is almost certain he’ll run
for the seat that stretches from the
Midlands to the Georgia border
and south to Beaufort and Jasper
counties.
Spence’s son, David, said last
week he was considering a run
and Lexington County Sheriff
James Metts said Monday he also
♦ SPENCE, SEE PAGE 5
The funeral of U.S. Rep.
Floyd Spence was held last
Tuesday, photo by aaron hark
4 die, 13 injured in
Upstate accidents
GREENVILLE (AP) - Four
people died and 13 others
were injured, including one
sheriffs deputy, in five
separate accidents on Upstate
roads.
George B. Finley, of
Liberty, died early Saturday
when the vehicle he was
driving went off the road in
Pickens County, the coroner’s
office said.
Finley might have had a
medical condition that caused
him to become unconscious,
authorities said.
Jonathan Chase Hutchson,
19, of Anderson, died early
Saturday after the vehicle he
was driving ran off the road
and flipped. He was flung
from the vehicle, said Charlie
Boseman, Anderson County
deputy coroner.
Six people, ages 16-19, were
also injured in the crash, said
Lance Cpl. Dan Marsceau.
Only one person was wearing
a seat belt, he said.
Genaro Solis Belazquez, 19,
and Angelica Picaso, 13, both
of Marietta, died early
Saturday after Belazquez
crashed into a utility pole,
Marsceau said.
The accident occurred
when a front-seat nasseneer
struck Belazquez several
times during a fight, causing
him to lose control, said Mike
Ellis, Greenville County chief
deputy coroner.
The driver, who was not
wearing a seat belt, was
carrying six people from a
party. The car looked like it
was cut in half, Ellis said.
Rhonda M. Jones, 30, of
Greenville, was critically
injured Saturday after being
involved in a hit-and-run
accident on Interstate 385,
Marsceau said.
Also, a Greenville County
deputy was injured when a
man who had been drinking
alcohol hit a squad car,
causing it to hit the deputy.
The deputy was investigating
an auto break-in, officials
said.
IT HAPPENED:
News you might have missed
SEARCH FOR SUSPECT:
Investigators are still
searching for William Rush,
25, of 1004 Haverford Circle
after charging him with
kidnapping, assault, and
battery of a high and
aggravated nature.
HOTEL INVESTIGATION:
Fire officials in Myrtle Beach
are investigating a chlorine
spill that forced three
ocean^ront hotels to evacuajy
several hundred guests for'
about four hours.
STATE
BRIEFS
Police capture
escaped murderer
RIDGEVILLE (AP)-A man
serving two life sentences for
drowning his half sister and 2
year-old nephew was
captured Sunday, two days
after he escaped from a
maximum security prison.
Anthony Brown, 30, of
Williamsburg County was
caught around 6 p.m. in an
abandoned house in Berkeley
County, State Law
Enforcement Division
spokesman Hugh Munn said.
Brown escaped from the
prison Friday evening.
But authorities at Lieber
Correctional Institution
didn’t realize he was missing
until 12 hours later, when he
failed to show up for a routine
prison count early Saturday,
said Charlie Sheppard,
inspector general for the S.C.
Corrections Department.
Prison officials think
Brown, who rebuilt vehicle
transmissions for the prison,
hid inside a 18-wheel tractor
trailer while it was being
loaded inside the prison.
Brown then cut a 10-inch hole
in the side of the trailer after
it was parked outside the
prison fence about 6 p.m.
Friday.
Brown was 17 when was
convicted in 1988 of beating
Andrea Beach with a wrench
after she refused to give him
money for drugs, then tossing
her and her son, Akai, into
the Black River. Police said
both mother and child
drowned.
A
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