PSC restructuring becomes law

Gov. Mark Sanford signed into law this week a bill that restructures the state’s Public Service Commission and the way its commissioners are elected.

The Senate and House fought for nearly two years over changes at the PSC, which regulates power, water and local telephone utilities in the state. The fight grew out of a commissioner screening process two years ago that found underqualified candidates, raised concerns about legislators’ family members’ getting the jobs, and uncovered inappropriate contact between commissioners and the companies they regulate.

The new law revamps elections and bars family members living with legislators from seeking commission jobs. In the future, commissioners also will have to have college degrees and experience in a field that is applicable to utility regulation. It also sets up a separate PSC staff to argue on the public’s behalf at commission hearings.

• Neal named to state education panel

Rep. Joe Neal has been appointed by House Speaker David Wilkins to be his designated representative on the Education Oversight Committee.

The Richland Democrat replaces Upstate banker Susan Hoag, a co-author of a report on public education that led to adoption of a 1998 school reform law.

Hoag was a charter member of the EOC, formed to enforce the Education Accountability Act. She resigned Feb. 6, citing a growing list of professional and personal obligations in Greenville.

Neal, a legislator since 1993, is a former chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus and has served on the House education committee.

• Public’s help sought in search for man

Columbia police are asking for help in locating a man missing since Feb. 13.

Bobby Dean Jeffries, 43, of 1211 Chevis Street, was last seen leaving his home to go to work, said police spokesman Skot Garrick.

Jeffries is described as a black male, 5 feet 11 inches and weighing 200 pounds. Investigators suspect foul play might be involved, but police declined to go into further details.

Anyone with information can call police at (803) 545-3500.

• Man who sold urine kits sent to jail

GREENVILLE — A man who has spent years selling urine as a protest against what he says are the erosion of privacy rights was sent to prison on Friday.

Kenneth Curtis will spend six months behind bars for his December 2001 conviction for selling urine — an action prohibited by a law written after Curtis tangled with state lawmakers over the issue a few years before.

Curtis’ lawyers had asked Judge Charles Simmons to give Curtis a few days at home before sending him off to prison. But Simmons ordered Curtis’ sentence to begin immediately.

Curtis had been out on $30,000 cash bail as he appealed the state Supreme Court’s decision last month to uphold his conviction. It was the same court that ruled the law banning urine sales was legal.

• Company fined for selling tainted meat

An Orangeburg company has been fined $3,000 and sentenced to three years of probation after admitting it sold meat tainted with rodent feces and hair, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Orangeburg Sausage first came under scrutiny when a woman reported she found rat feces in a package of chicken she bought from the company in September 2001, prosecutors said.

Federal food inspectors came to Orangeburg Sausage’s plant the next month and found rat feces, hair and other items tainting meat products, prosecutors said.

The inspectors destroyed 625 pounds of food, authorities said.

The company pleaded guilty earlier this week to a count of causing meat products to become adulterated.

• Price of S.C. Wildlife Magazine to increase

South Carolina Wildlife magazine is going to cost its readers a little more and taxpayers a little less next year.

The S.C. Department of Natural Resources Board voted last week to raise the subscription rate for the magazine from $10 to $12 a year in January 2005. The two-year rate will go from $18 to $20 and the three-year rate from $25 to $27.

The subscription increase, the first since 1989, was implemented to help the magazine become self-sufficient. The increase is delayed until next year to allow loyal subscribers to beat the hike with long-term subscriptions.

Gov. Mark Sanford’s budget proposal calls for elimination of $410,000 in funding for the magazine, which is produced by the Natural Resources Department.

• Death of man found in woods investigated

Authorities are still investigating the death of a man found dead in Lexington County last week.

Javier Barbaro Sabina, 41, was found dead Feb. 10, Lexington County Coroner Harry Harman said. Sabina was found in a wooded area off Glover Road near the intersection with S.C. 302 in the Pelion community. Lexington County sheriff’s spokesman John Allard said Sabina’s last known address was 87 Tara Trail in the St. Andrews community near Columbia.

Sabina was identified through fingerprint analysis and the numerous distinctive tattoos on his body, Allard said.

Anyone with information can call the Sheriff’s Department at (803) 359-8230 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 559-TIPS.

From Staff and Wire Reports