SOUTH CAROLINA

CHARLESTON

Sullivans Island woman new poet laureate

Gov. Mark Sanford has named a Sullivans Island book and film publicist as the state's new poet laureate.

Marjory Wentworth, co-author of "What the Water Gives Me," also wrote a poem for Sanford's inauguration called "Rivers of Wind."

Wentworth replaces Bennie Lee Sinclair, who died in 2000. Sinclair had held the position since 1976.

"It really has taken me by surprise," said Wentworth, who is married to independent film producer Peter Wentworth. "There are so many great writers in the state, so I feel honored. It's exciting, but I don't know what it all entails at this point."

There's no requirement under the law that defines the role, and there's no confirmation process through the General Assembly.

"The governor can call upon her whenever he finds the occasion to be appropriate," Sanford's spokesman Chris Drummond said Friday.

Last week, Sanford vetoed the $1,200 stipend for the poet laureate in the state budget. Sanford said the person had agreed to serve for free.

HARDEEVILLE

City to build water park without county

Hardeeville says it will go ahead with a plan to build a big water park even though the Jasper County Council has severed ties with the New York developer.

County Administrator Henry Moss has said he was concerned about Aquatic Development's finances and who would pay for the 80 acres of county-owned land.

But Hardeeville officials see economic potential in the proposed $37 million park, hoping it will lure travelers from Interstate 95.

For now, the town will work alone with the developers, who are looking at buying privately owned land for the water park, City Administrator Shane Haynes said Thursday.

"It was perceived down here that they are a company on the verge of bankruptcy," Haynes said. "Nothing we have seen has indicated that."

ANDERSON

Honeywell tells workers to quit or be laid off

More than 100 Honeywell Nylon workers have been asked to give up their jobs.

If the 103 workers don't voluntarily leave, they will be laid off, Ed Donnelly, the company's operations director said Friday.

Volunteers who leave get severance pay packages. Layoffs would begin in the first part of July, and the full reduction should be complete by mid-August, he said.

The company blames the cuts on imports and other poor market conditions. It is shutting down an outdated, labor-intensive production process and concentrating on other operations.

NORTH CAROLINA

JACKSONVILLE

7,000 Marines to return home this week

About 7,000 Marines due to return to Camp Lejeune starting today will get the hero treatment, as family members hang up banners and stock refrigerators with favorite foods.

No spouse may be more excited than Greg Mayo, whose wife has been deployed to southwest Asia since January.

"Sometimes, you don't know how much you miss them until they're gone," Mayo, 38, said Saturday.

The returning Marines are members of Task Force Tarawa, also known as the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

In Iraq, the unit suffered 20 combat casualties during battles at Nasiriyah and other cities, helped rescue Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch and captured more than 1,000 prisoners of war. Three other members of the task force died in accidents.

Mayo's wife is Gunnery Sgt. Yolanda Mayo, a reservist who was called up after Sept. 11, 2001. She is aboard the USS Kearsarge, which is scheduled to arrive at the end of the week.

LEXINGTON

FBI sits in on state criminal probe of sheriff

FBI agents sat in this week during interviews of potential witnesses in a State Bureau of Investigation probe of Davidson County Sheriff Gerald Hege, Sheriff's Office employees said.

Two FBI agents observed interviews but asked no questions themselves, a Sheriff's Office employee told The Dispatch of Lexington.

Federal and state authorities refused to comment on what role, if any, federal investigators will play in an investigation, the newspaper said last week.

The FBI agents arrived after more than 15 investigators, most of them SBI agents, descended on the county June 10 for a probe that District Attorney Garry Frank requested into unspecified conduct and activities by Hege.

The Hege investigation grows partly out of an earlier SBI inquiry into allegations that Ron Richardson, former county public buildings director, used county resources to do private work for other county officials.

Richardson resigned Jan. 31 after a nearly four-month probe but has not been charged with a crime.

Last year, three of Hege's officers were sent to federal prison for their involvement in a drug ring. Hege narrowly won re-election to a third term in November over challenger Roy Holman.

The three former county narcotics officers were sentenced almost 11 months ago. A federal inmate can receive consideration for reduction of a sentence by providing substantial assistance to prosecutors in another case, The Dispatch reported.

But the assistance must come within a year of the original sentence unless the defendant does not learn the information or the significance of the information provided until later.