Church News ...........................9 Classi� eds ............................11Coming Events .....................10Entertainment .....................9

Home & Garden ................8 Obituaries ............................4Opinion ................................7 Sports ....................................5

Estelle CairnesGeneva CuretonCharles Evans

Michael HadvabCalvin McIlwainCarl TruesdaleIrene Williams

Index Obituaries, 4WeatherCloudy and mild, scattered showers Highs: 65-67 Lows: 46-48

162nd year, No. 38 One section

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NewsThe LancasterLancaster County’s triweekly newspaper

FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2014www.thelancasternews.com 75 CENTS

The

Buford High School honors top fall, winter sports

student athletes SPORTS, 5

HOME & GARDEN, 8

YOTM: Hortons have a bloom for every season

future road map

Comprehensive plan charts new course

for Lancaster County

road road mapmap

Comprehensive plan Comprehensive plan charts new course

for Lancaster County

CHRIS SARDELLI/csardelli@thelancasternews.com

Catawba Regional Council of Governments senior planner Robby Moody, at left, asks residents to mark their homes and favorite entertainment ven-ues on a county map, during a comprehensive plan workshop held Wednesday, March 26, at Lancaster High School. With him are Indian Land residents Gregory Powell and Doris Anderson.

Christopher Sardellicsardelli@thelancasternews.com

Perusing the large Lancaster County map in front of him, Gregory Powell quickly found his Indian Land neighborhood, peeled off a small smiley face sticker and placed it over his home.

Within a few minutes he’d also placed a few red heart stickers as well, marking off places he likes to

visit for fun, ranging from res-taurants to retail stores.

It may seem like a strange way to spend a Wednesday morning, but it was actually one of two exercises con-

See ROAD MAP I Page 2

Denyse Clarkdclark@thelancasternews.com

KERSHAW – The Rev. Bryant Fersner has faithfully served as senior pastor of Kershaw First Baptist Church since November 1987, but Monday, March 31, that will change.

Ferser is retiring. He calls the experience of pastoring a single congregation for more than a quarter of a century, hard to describe.

“It’s like trying to put the Pacific Ocean into a 10-gallon hat,” he said. “I’ve lived in a gen-eration there – I’ve seen children born, mar-ried them and dedicated their children – the greatest joy has been sharing the love of Jesus.”

Fersner never took for granted the God-given opportunity to grow where God planted him.

“It has been a humbling experience to have the joy and pleasure of living in Lancaster County and the Kershaw community,” he said. “And hopefully, I’ve been a positive influence.”

Angie Brewer, is among that generation Fer-sner is speaking of.

Brewer, who has attended First Baptist Church since childhood, said Fersner was there for her brother's death in 1989. The next year (1990), Fersner officiated at her wedding and later baptized two of her children.

“He's kinda been there for my whole family,” she said.

In 2010, Fersner provided emotional strength to Brewer’s family when her son, Justin, was killed in an automobile accident.

“He (Fersner) was a rock when it happened,” she said. “He’s a very caring person. He tries to make you feel it’s gonna be OK no matter what the situation.”

Brewer readily admits struggling to deal with her son’s tragic death. Fersner, she said, pro-vided the spiritual guidance to help her family cope with the loss.

“With his counseling, he let us know the

feelings of anger and bitter-ness were normal. It was OK to feel that way,” she said. “He knew what to say.”

Brewer said when Fersner’s son died last year, a bond was forged between them because of their losses.

Recently, Brewer’s youngest child was baptized by Fersner because she couldn’t imagine anyone else handling the rite.

“He’s been a very good influence on our church and our family,” she said. “I wish him the very best.”

The Rev. Bill Truesdale, associate minister of administration and education at Kershaw First Baptist Church, said in 2009, Fersner asked him to serve part time at the church.

Truesdale, a Kershaw native, said he knew Fersner when they were in seminary, but they weren’t close friends at the time.

Truesdale said just after he moved back to Kershaw to care for his ailing father, Fersner saw a need to get him involved in the ministry.

Truesdale ascribed Fersner’s longevity at First Baptist to one important attribute.

“He’s been here 26 ½ years because he loves the people,” Truesdale said. “He’s cried when they’ve cried, he’s celebrated when they’ve cel-ebrated and he’s mourned when they’ve mourned.”

Truesdale said Fersner is serious about his call into the ministry.

“He’s a man of God and he’s walked with God in all that he’s done,” Truesdale said. “I’ve served under several pastors but Bryant has been the most Godly man I've served under – he really has impressed me with pleasing God.”

Task force seeks to identify homeless in Lancaster County

Denyse Clarkdclark@thelancasternews.com

According to the South Caro-lina Coalition for the Homeless, 27 percent of the state’s home-less are families.

The Lancaster County Home-lessness Task Force hopes to shine a local light on the home-less population here.

The task force, made of sever-al agencies including United Way of Lancaster County, the American Red Cross, Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, Lancast-er Police Department, Alston Wilkes Society, K.A.R.E., Lan-caster County Council on Aging, Family Promise and volunteers began the unofficial, county-wide count of the homeless March 15 and will continue it through April 15.

“I think it’s imperative we ad-dress this issue in our commu-nity,” said Melanie Outlaw, di-rector of United Way of Lan-caster County. “The problem is not going away.”

According to the state coali-tion, of the total 6,035 homeless in South Carolina, about 1,026 of these are children.

Also per reports, 3,116 of the state’s homeless are living in

housing that’s not suitable for hu-mans.

The sole purpose of the Lan-caster County Homelessness Task Force is to get an accurate count of the homeless to better serve these individuals and families, Outlaw said.

Community assistance is needed to identify places where they may be staying, she said.

Donations of non-perishable food items, hygiene products and blankets also are needed from the community. Items can be dropped off 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Wednesday at SC Works, 705 N. White St. or 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday at Lancaster Fire De-partment, 401 E. Arch St.

Anyone with information about a homeless individual or family is asked to call Outlaw at (803) 283-8923 or Gina Amato at (803) 417-9650.

Contact reporter Denyse Clark at (803) 283-1152

“The problem is not going away.”

– Melanie Outlaw, director of United Way of Lancaster County

Agencies form local coalition for uno� cial count that continues through April 15

Fersner steps down March 31 as pastor of First Baptist Church

Kershaw

The Rev. Bryant Fersner

See FERSNER I Page 2

Christopher Sardellicsardelli@thelancasternews.com

It’s been more than a month since Lancaster County authorities responded to two homicides with-in days of each other, though few developments have been released about either case.

The two deaths, including the stabbing of an Indian Land man and the shooting of a Lancaster man during a two-day time span in February, remain as open investi-gations, though no charges have yet been filed or arrests made.

Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Matt Shaw said Monday, March 24, that there was nothing to publicly report about the Feb. 16 stabbing death of 47-year-old Jim-mie Adams.

Adams’ body was found about 1:32 a.m. Feb. 16, as deputies re-sponded to a domestic disturbance at a home in the 1200 block of East Arrow Lake Court in Indian Land, according to a Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office press release.

Deputies found Adams on the floor and discovered he had been stabbed, the release said.

He died at the scene while being treated by Lancaster County EMS.

Shaw commented soon after the stabbing incident and said that all involved in the case had been found and investigators were not search-ing for anyone else. He also said ev-eryone involved in the incident was cooperating with deputies.

By late February, Shaw and Lan-caster County Coroner Mike Morris said they were waiting on autopsy results before moving forward with the case.

Still no charges in two

homicides

See HOMICIDES I Page 3

Page 2 | Friday, March 28, 2014 • www.thelancasternews.com • The Lancaster News

ducted during a commu-nity meeting to discuss a new Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan.

Held March 26 at Lan-caster High School, and moderated by Catawba Regional Council of Gov-ernments senior planner Robby Moody, the meet-ing was the last of four community sessions of-fered to get county resi-dents involved in the Comprehensive Plan process. Previous ses-sions had been held throughout the county this month at Andrew Jackson, Indian Land and Buford high schools.

Powell, a resident of Sun City Carolina Lakes, was one of about 20 peo-ple to attend Wednes-day’s session, hoping for more information about the future direction of the county.

“It’s fantastic. You need to know what’s happen-ing where you live. I came down to find out what’s going on. This is my last move (into a home) and I’ve gotta get involved,” he said.

After finishing the map exercise, Powell moved on to another activity, this one featuring a board with the words “I want to see...”, followed by col-umns for “more of” and “less of.”

Powell watched as his fellow residents scribbled a long list of wants, from better public transporta-tion to improved roads to more restaurants, as well as items they wish would go away, including crime, potholes and long com-mutes.

“Personally I’d like to see more food and jobs. I hate having to go out of the county to spend my money and I try not to when I can,” he said.

Next to him was Doris Anderson, who lives in In-dian Land’s Belair com-munity and attended the meeting to gather con-crete information about county needs.

“I like to see they are making an effort to have community involve-ment,” Anderson said.

She hoped to leave the meeting with specifics she could talk about with her neighbors.

“Residents need the background and knowl-edge of what’s happen-

ing, otherwise we just have rumors going around,” she said. “That’s the future of Lancaster County – knowledge.”

In the year 2050Making decisions based

on future forecasts is a large part of developing a comprehensive plan, Moody told the crowd.

Based on statistical pro-jections for the county, Moody said all signs point to a population boom within a few decades, ris-ing to almost 120,000 resi-dents by 2050.

In comparison, he said employment will climb more modestly, with the number of residents em-ployed in the county moving from 26,000 in 2010 to 32,000 in 2050.

“What this means is, people are growing faster than jobs and that’s not always good news for a healthy economy. It doesn’t mean jobs aren’t here, it means people are going to work outside the county,” he said.

“We have an opportuni-ty with the comprehensive plan that if we don’t like what we’re projecting for the future we have the chance to make some changes.”

He also walked the crowd through a list of mandatory elements found in comprehensive plans, such as considering natural resources, com-munity facilities, housing, economic development, population and transpor-tation.

Using a PowerPoint presentation, Moody said the comprehensive plan will also take into account several other county plan-ning documents, includ-ing the county’s strategic plan, the 14-county CON-NECT Our Future project

and the U.S. 521/S.C. 9 Corridor Study.

He hoped to use the county’s strategic plan as a model for tracking the county’s needs.

“Lancaster County is one of the few counties that does a report card of how they’re doing with these priorities. The coun-ty is actually keeping track to see are they doing the things they say they’re go-ing to do,” Moody said. “It’s refreshing and it’s one thing we want to do with the comprehensive plan. We want to keep track of our progress.”

In the audience was county resident Melvin Threatt who expressed concerns to Moody about how the comprehensive plan would eventually be used.

“We did that corridor study and it cost about $350,000 and to my knowledge the county hasn’t used it and hasn’t even looked at it,” Threatt said. “My concern, Rob-ert, is if you make a com-prehensive plan, will they even look at it?”

Moody said he under-stood his concerns, but said the plan would only be effective once residents and leaders come together to put it into action.

“You need to have will-ingness from leaders. Hopefully you as citizens and leaders can find points of commonality,” Moody said.

‘Eye-opening’Though she was happy

with the high turnout from residents at the ses-sions, County Planning Director Penelope G. Kar-agounis was also pleased to see students make their presence known during the workshops.

“They’re the ones who

will be here in 40 years. They want a sense of community. They also ex-pressed wanting a shop-ping area or a movie the-ater. They all said there’s no place to come togeth-er, to hang out with each other,” Karagounis said.

Also a concern for many of the students was where they would find jobs after they graduate.

“They love their com-munity, but they don’t see any opportunities here,” she said. “We found that the Buford youth love liv-ing on big lots (of land), but they also want more urbanized areas like a shopping center, ball fields, things like that. It was very eye-opening.”

Moody said the per-spectives of young peo-ple and adults are a good mix to have.

“Residents tend to lean more toward wanting jobs while for students, its more entertainment, shopping, recreation,” Moody said. “It’s helpful, though, for the adults to hear what’s on the stu-dents’ minds and what they think is important.”

Next up, Moody will host another community meeting at 5:30 p.m. April 17, at the Native Ameri-can Studies Center in Lancaster.

Contact reporter Chris Sardelli at (803) 416-8416

Road map>>FROM 1

County resident Melvin Threatt expressed dis-may during the March 26, meeting that the county hasn’t had an up-to-date compre-hensive plan. “Since 1998 there has not been another compre-hensive plan because the county commis-sioners haven’t been willing to do one,” Threatt said.

photos by CHRIS SARDELLI/csardelli@thelancasternews.com

COG senior planner Robby Moody holds a composite map of Lancaster County, developed with information gathered from residents.

As he now transitions into a new role, Fersner said he will strongly rely on his pastoral experi-ence. Next month he will become part time mis-sions director for the Mo-riah Baptist Association.

“I hope to be a leader

who’s a mission catalyst with a shepherd’s heart,” he said.

Fersner said he and his wife, Roseanne, look for-ward to continuing the many friendships and re-lationships they’ve devel-oped and hope to make new ones.

“All of us know that we’re living in changing times and with that, it brings great opportunity,” Fer-

sner said. “It will be our objective in the Moriah Association to create a transitional future, pene-trating our county with the love of Jesus and the Good News of the Gospel.”

Contact reporter Denyse Clark at (803) 283-1152

Fersner>>FROM 1

News BriefsUW offers 2-1-1 training

Local nonprofits, such as United Way, various government agencies and churches, provide many programs to sup-port people in need. But the people who need these programs often don’t know they exist.

That is where 2-1-1 comes in. 2-1-1 is a 24/7 health and human ser-vices hotline number to connect those in need in Lancaster County with resources that can help them.

Representatives of lo-cal nonprofits interested in receiving referrals for the programs they pro-vide are invited to attend United Way of Lancaster County’s 2-1-1 training at 11:30 a.m. today, March 28, at the Lancaster County Library, 313 S. White St..

The training should last about an hour.

Call the United Way of Lancaster County at

(803) 283-8923 to reserve a spot.

Hospital seeks volunteers

Springs Memorial Hos-pital is accepting appli-cations through today, March 28, for its summer Junior Volunteer pro-gram.

Applications may be picked up in the hospital lobby, 800 W. Meeting St., Lancaster, and from guidance offices at area middle and high schools.

Students age 14-17 are eligible.

For details, call (803) 416-5459.

County fire commission to meet Thursday

The Lancaster County Fire Commission meet-ing is 7 p.m. Thursday, April 3, in Emergency Operations Center, 111 Covenant Place.

For details, call (803) 283-8888.