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Graham says more troops likely to go to Afghanistan

August 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Senator Lindsey Graham says Officials will soon start drawing down the number of American troops in Iraq. But the news from Afghanistan is not as good.Forty-three Americans were killed in action in Afghanistan during the month of July alone. Graham says that may be the highest death toll since the American invasion and he says more American and NATO solders will assuredly be needed soon.   “The new commander in Afghanistan will issue  a statement soon on what he needs.  I will be shocked if he doesn’t ask for more troops.”

The Republican says 68,000 American ground troops in Afghanistan are not enough.  “We have a lot of NATO troops but some of the rules of engagement for NATO countries don’t allow them to fight as we would like and some NATO countries have suffered great casualties.  And we appreciate very much their assistance.  But we’ve got to secure Afghanistan before you can bring about economic and political progress.  We learned that in Iraq.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Military, News, Politics & Government

SC high school seniors set scholarship record

August 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

South Carolina’s high school seniors have set a new record for college scholarships.  

The Class of 2009 has won $869-million in college scholarships – $100-million more than last year’s class and the highest one-year total since the state started tracking such data seven years ago. 

The scholarship totals came from an annual survey of South Carolina’s local school districts, as well as public charter schools, the Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics in Hartsville and the Governor’s School for Arts and Humanities in Greenville.

This year’s senior class total pushed South Carolina’s five-year scholarship to $3.5 billion.

The numbers represent two-year scholarship values for technical colleges and two-year schools, and four-year totals for four-year colleges and universities.   The State Department of Education estimates that 90 percent of the scholarships are academic and 10 percent are athletic, although sports scholarships also have academic requirements.

LIFE, HOPE and Palmetto Fellows scholarships represent about one fifth of the total.  State Education Superintendent Jim Rex says the new record will be hard to top, and calls it a tribute to the students’ hard work and the support they got from parents, teachers, guidance counselors and administrators.

(David Waterman contributed to this article)

Filed Under: Education, News

Large scale arrests made in gang crackdown

August 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

More than 108 people in the Midlands were charged Tuesday with federal

from right to left: SLED Director Reggie Lloyd, Lexington County Sheriff James Metts, U.S. Attorney Walter Wilkins, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, FBI Agent Dave Thomas, Columbia Police Chief Tandy Carter, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Assistant Special Agent Kenneth Burkhart

drug, weapon and immigration violations in the states largest-ever federal sweep of gang activity.FBI Special Agent in charge, Dave Thomas says this was a huge undertaking. “It’s the largest scale investigation of this type that the FBI has done in the state of South Carolina with this many organizations, this many wire taps, this many people targeted in one investigation.”

Thomas, along with U.S. Attorney Walter Wilkins, and a group of federal ,state and local law enforcement agencies announced that what started as a gang task force investigation, revealed a widespread drug conspiracy across the Midlands. Wilkins says it all led back to Mexican drug cartels. “We’ve arrested eleven individuals that were here illegally in the country from Mexico who have direct ties to the Sinaloa cartel and the Los Zetas in Mexico,” said Wilkins. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, News

Appeal in animal cruelty case denied

August 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Officials begin the task of finding homes for horses seized in a Colleton County animal cruelty case.

A judge has turned down an appeal from the owner of over 40 horses that officials ruled were being mistreated. Eddy Ackerman, who had the horses at a camp near the Colleton County town of Cottageville, made the appeal. The ruling paves the way for Colleton County to work toward finding homes for the horses.

On May 5, officers working on behalf of Colleton County Animal Control seized a dozen dogs, and a number of chickens, along with the horses from the Gift Horse Bible Camp after reports that the animals were suffering from neglect. Ackerman says some of the horses were not eating because they were sick, not because they were abused. Ackerman has asked that the charges of animal cruelty be dismissed.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Human Interest, News

Edgefield prison fight under investigation

August 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The federal prison in Edgefield is on lockdown and four inmates were sent to a hospital for treatment after a fight in the recreation yard. Officials say an inmate fight broke out Tuesday afternoon around 12:30 p.m. The fight was contained quickly, and no staff members were injured in the fracas. Prison Public Information Director Wayne Smith declined to comment on the incident. In a written statement, Smith stated that the cause of the fight is unknown at this time and an investigation is underway.

The medium security facility houses more than 1,700 males.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, News
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