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Article published Sep 18, 2003
SLED seizes 21 video poker machines

Associated Press

COLUMBIA -- The State Law Enforcement Division has seized 21 illegal video gambling machines across the state.Undercover SLED agents, working with local authorities, searched 20 counties and 727 locations across the state on Wednesday. Twelve machines were seized in Greenville County, five in Richland County and one each in Sumter and Charleston counties. Agents will continue to canvass the state for other illegal machines, said SLED Chief Robert Stewart.Video gambling became illegal in July 2000 after the state Supreme Court closed down the industry.By JIM DAVENPORTAssociated PressCOLUMBIA -- Some of the state's poorest counties have the fastest-growing over-85 populations, a group more likely to need expensive care that's getting harder to provide in cash-strapped rural counties.U.S. Census estimates for 2002 released Thursday show mostly rural Jasper County had a 24.4 percent increase in the state's oldest residents since a similar 2000 estimate.Neighboring Beaufort County, known for its Sun City retirement development as well as wealthy Hilton Head Island retirees, was second at 23 percent growth.The next three counties -- Calhoun, Williamsburg and Allendale -- are among the state's poorest and each saw over-85 population soar by 20 percent. That's well above the statewide growth rate of 8.3 percent.More people over 85 may be on the way. South Carolina ranks 10th nationally with its population of those 65 and older.Jasper County's senior ranks are swelling with spillover from Sun City as well as the normal aging of residents, said Carl Roache, the county's Council on Aging director."Many of our clients are people that have essentially fallen through the cracks and are in need of basic survival services," including home-delivered meals, Roache said. Most have income under $700 a month, he said.The state's growth in the senior population comes from a variety of sources. Some people are growing old in the state where they were born; others were born here but moved away to work and have returned to retire; still others are newcomers drawn by less expensive living costs and mild winters.The burgeoning senior growth in rural counties concerns Debbie Bower, president of the South Carolina Association of Council on Aging Directors. "We're all challenged, but those rural counties are especially challenged," she said.State funds are short and counties and local governments struggle to meet match requirements for federal funds. "We're not able to put in the amount of money that's required to serve all these people," she said.That scramble has demanded more creativity. Williamsburg County's aging programs are turning to the state's youngest residents to help out the oldest.The county's Vital Aging agency is opening an adult day care center and a child care center "so we will have the income to serve these populations," said agency head Judy Elder. "One has to be very creative in finding dollars that are there and making the dollars grow," Elder said.While programs are making due, Elder said more state help is in order.South Carolina is spending about $57 per person over age 60, she said. North Carolina spends about four times that much, Elder said.The state Department of Health and Human Services released a report in April that says South Carolina puts $55 into community and home-based services for seniors, compared with $366 for North Carolina and $370 for Georgia. Those figures don't include money the states put into federal Medicaid matches or other funds, such as the money generated from bingo games in South Carolina, the agency said.The state is trying to find ways to stretch dollars, including through S.C. Choice, a new program that gives seniors and disabled citizens more flexibility in spending Medicaid money for health care and work around their homes that can keep them out of nursing homes.With the Baby Boom generation strolling into senior status, "there are never going to be enough public resources to meet the needs of this huge senior population we're about to experience," said Sue Scally, director of the Bureau of Senior Services at Health and Human Services.