Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told a crowd Thursday they need to turn out the votes for a gay marriage ban amendment to South Carolina’s Constitution in November and show “marriage still means something.”

The Republican governor is in South Carolina as chairman of the National Governors Association, which meets in Charleston this weekend.

Huckabee was the keynote speaker Thursday at “A Celebration of Classic Marriage.”

The event was sponsored by First Foundations Inc. and Palmetto Family Council. Gov. Mark Sanford and Attorney General Henry McMaster also attended.

Huckabee, who is pondering a 2008 presidential bid, helped a same-sex union constitutional ban pass in Arkansas in 2004 with 75 percent of voters approving.

South Carolina voters will decide in November on ballots with an amendment that says marriage is between one man and one woman.

• Date set for GOP presidential debate

South Carolina Republicans have set May 15 as a debate date for presidential hopefuls.

The debate will be held at the Koger Center at the University of South Carolina.

CHARLESTON

• Part-time director named for museum

The board of the International African American Museum has hired a part-time director for the planned $69 million museum.

Gretta A. Middleton is a management consultant and former Charleston Southern University professor who has worked with the United States Agency for International Development in Africa.

ORANGEBURG

• Funeral for presiding elder is today

Willie J. Baxter, presiding elder of the Orangeburg district of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina, died July 27. He was 66.

Baxter died at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, after a brief illness.

Baxter served more than 40 years as pastor and presiding elder in the Central Conference. He held leadership roles with the AME Church in Orangeburg, Calhoun and Columbia.

He had served as a member of the Allen University board of trustees .

The funeral is 11 a.m. today at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Center at South Carolina State University, 300 College St., Orangeburg.

WILLIAMSBURG COUNTY

• Couple found shot to death in home

A married couple have been found dead in a farmhouse in eastern Williamsburg County.

The victims were found around 1 p.m. Wednesday by a caretaker at Lakewood Plantation near Nesmith, Chief Deputy Dwayne Wilson said.

William Hilton Jr., 64, and his 60-year-old wife Linda Poole-Hilton were shot several times, according to the coroner’s office.

Contributing: The Associated Press