Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Earvin ‘Magic Johnson launches rural S. C. technology centers John C. Drahe THE ASSOCIATED PRESS EASTOVER — ‘ Telling students and residents here that small towns can dream big, basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson celebrated the first of five community empowerment centers his foundation is opening in South Carolina. A refurbished gym and two classrooms at Webber Elementary School in this Richland County town about 25 miles from Columbia is the site of the foundation’s first attempt at bridging the digital divide in a rural community. The athlete-turned entrepreneur’s foundation has opened 20 technology centers in urban areas around the country. “We are in a rural community, and 1 think it probably means more to this community than any other community,” said Johnson, who previously, opened facilities in places like Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland and Houston. “Just ‘cause you’re from a small town, just like I am, that doesn’t mean your dreams have to be small,” said Johnson, who was born in Lansing, Mich. He was speaking to hundreds of Webber Elementary students attending a ceremony Tuesday next to the facility. Eastover’s Magic Johnson Community Empowerment Center will provide classes on improving, credit, buying a house and starting a business. Kids can learn basic computer skills, take literacy classes and participate in leadership development among other activities. The school began offering limited activities at the facility this summer. Other South Carolina communities that will have centers are Bennettsville, Greenwood, Lake City and Orangeburg. Eastover Mayor Chris Campbell, who enrolled in the first computer class offered at the center, said it has had “a substantial impact” on his town of about 1,000 people in a 1-square-mile area. “They’re hiring local people to come in and teach,” he said. “They’re not strangers.” The facility is waiking distance For anyone who lives in the town. And people outside the city who want to use the center can take public transportation, Campbell said. The Magic Johnson Foundation is providing $200,000 for each center, said Jeanella Blair, technology program director for the foundation. The South Carolina Department of Commerce has committed $170,000 for each center’s first year through its Rural Crossroads Initiative, said department spokeswoman Karen Owens. South Carolina Commerce Secretary Bob Faith said his office contacted the Johnson Foundation two years ago asking if the group would be willing to bring its technology center concept to rural South Carolina. During his 13-year NBA career, Johnson was named the league’s most valuable player three times and won five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. He retired in 1991 after being diagnosed with HIV. He made brief comebacks in 1992 and 1996, and he coached the Lakers in 1994. He has kept his sickness at bay with medications and has been active in raising awareness about the virus am | AIDS. In retirement, he has become a successful entrepreneur, opening theaters, shops and restaurants in inner-city neighborhoods. He remains vice president and a part-owner of the Lakers. While he had previously hoped to become full ownt'- of an NBA team, he said he now has other entrepreneurial and philanthropic priorities. “My goal now has switched,” he said. “The way our community can grow £ through people having jobs. I’d rather do this than actually own a team; not to say that won’t happen. It’s just one of my lesser goals now.” Job fair for hurricane evacuees draws thousands Giouanna Dell'orto THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA — At one of the nations largest job fairs set up for hurricane evacuees, thousands of people- some driven by stormy weather as far away as Galveston, Texas; others driven by unemployment just blocks away-competed Tuesday for more than 8,000 jobs. The response was so overwhelming that organizers closed the doors within two hours and promised to set up another fair next month. The United Way, which set up the event, had estimated a turnout of 15,000 job applicants. About 30 percent of applicants were hurricane evacuees from Louisiana and Texas, while the rest were local residents taking advantage of what the state Department of Labor called the largest job fair in Georgia and perhaps the biggest in the country. • The job seekers looped across and around the downtown Atlanta’s gigantic Georgia World Congress Center, carrying laptops and resumes in Kinko’s sacks, wearing everything from black suits and stiletto heels to do-rags and sports jerseys. They thronged booths staffed by 300 local employers, offering jobs ranging from clerks at Home Depot to officers with the suburban Gwinnett County police. A 19-year-old construction worker from Galveston who fled Hurricane Rita with his wife, 2-year-old son and 8 month-old daughter, and needed the help of a Spanish language translator lined up next to a 60-year-old woman, who spent 33 years teaching in Atlanta schools. “We’re not the special unemployed,” said Deborah Watts, a 47-year-old Atlantan who was looking for a retail management position. She and others complained about the long lines and the lack of on-site interviews. Most job applicants had to fill out online forms at computers that lined up an entire wall of the central hall. But most refugees were simply grateful for the throbbing job market, free childcare and Cokes and pizza offered by their new state. “You’ve got to think somebody is always worse off than you,” said Angela Lassere, a medical assistant who lost her New Orleans home to 10 feet of water. Lassere and 20 of her family members fled the city just as the levees were breached following Hurricane Katrina nearly a month ago. It took them 20 hours to reach Atlanta, where they had relatives to stay with. Audrey Morgan-Martin and 28 of her family members also left New Orleans in a caravan right before the flooding. On the job, Morgan-Martin used to handle a different kind of hurricane — she chopped fruit for the signature hurricane drinks at Pat O’Brien’s Bar in the heart of the French Quarter. Even though she said she didn’t know what, if anything, she would find when she returns, she was planning to go back and was looking for any job in Atlanta that would support her until then. “I can sweep streets, I can pick leaves, I can wash dishes till I can go home,” Morgan Martin said. “I don’t have a problem.” ADOPT • CODTIIlllED PROfT) I Most of the students have found housing in apartments and houses around Columbia. One student is living with an attorney near campus. Students have also been set up with law school friends who help them in class. Spearman said USC has raised more money than any school that has taken in students affected by Katrina. Spearman and Bailey have been contacted by eight other major schools, including Ole Miss and Georgetown, asking for advice on how to run similar programs. While no other students affected by Katrina are expected to arrive, some might come from areas hard hit by Rita. The Adopt-a-Law-Student program is working on securing donations and gift cards for domestic and housing items for the students. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@gum.sc. edu TRIAL • COOTinUED PROA) I Callahan testified that board member Alan Bonsell — during a retreat in 2003 — “expressed he did not believe in evolution and if evolution was part of the biology curriculum, creationism had to be shared 50-50.” HAVE you EVER 80RIWED MONEY I it - « ; t0C,kWW-t? ' U If YES, YOU MAY BE A ADDICTED To GAAABLiWG. hd I www.sa.sc.edu/adp777-7716 ® ZEUS Technical Inside Sales Zeus Industrial Products, Inc. is a leader in fluoropolymer extrusion for the medical, aerospace, automotive, analytical, electronics, semiconductor, and environmental industries. We are seeking qualified candidates for the position of Inside Sales Associate for our Sales and Marketing facility located in Orangeburg, SC. Sales Associates perform a wide array of sales functions including reviewing customer applications, problem solving, account maintenance, and generating new business. Requirements: Bachelors degree preferably in Business, International Business, Biology. Psychology, Packaging Science, Engineering 1-3 years of prior technical sales experience Zeus Industrial Products, Inc. is a growing company offering a competitive compensation and benefits package. Please submit your resume to: Zeus Industrial Products, Inc., 620 Magnolia St., Orangeburg, SC, 29115. 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