2003 The Year

in Review The biggest stories of the year for York section readers included the themes of revelation and transition. Tradition calls for Top 10 lists, but we decided 11 news events made the cut; another five merited honorable mentions.

Front Door

The Front Door Communications saga continued for Lancaster County. In May, three council members asked the S.C. Law Enforcement Division to investigate whether county officials misappropriated funds when they gave the company $637,000 for startup costs to help build a publishing and broadcasting complex in the county.In June, Front Door's $500,000 check to pay back the county bounced, and in September, Front Door President Robert Davis was arrested on a fraudulent check charge. Company officials continue to promise they will return the money.

Strom Thurmond's death

Just five months after retiring as the nation's longest-serving senator, Strom Thurmond died at the Edgefield County Hospital on June 26. He had been in declining health since returning to South Carolina and had lived at the hospital. Thousands flocked to pay their respects in Columbia, where his body lay in state at the capitol. Some 3,000 mourners packed a church, where he was eulogized by Vice President Dick Cheney. Thurmond was laid to rest in Edgefield.

Strom's daughter

The former segregationist senator was back in the news this month after his biracial daughter Essie Mae Washington-Williams announced the late Thurmond was her father. Her mother was a 16-year-old black maid who worked for Thurmond's family while he was still a young man living at home in Edgefield. The retired Los Angeles school teacher said Thurmond gave her financial support throughout her life and that she kept the secret to herself out of respect to Thurmond.

Great Falls brawl

One man was killed and another injured in June, when more than 100 people got into a fight outside a newly opened restaurant and bar in Great Falls. The fight, which erupted among white and black residents, ended in the shooting death of Charlie "Juicy" Brown Jr., 24, of Great Falls. Lawrence Thigpen of Great Falls was also injured by a bullet in the brawl, in which several combatants used golf clubs, bricks and sticks, according to witnesses. Police are unsure what caused the fight. Shawn Wilson, 25, was charged with murder in the death of Brown. He is out of jail on bond while awaiting trial.

Fuel company explosion

A diabetic Charlotte man lost control of his truck on Albright Road in October and slammed into a fuel company's pumping station, igniting an explosion and blaze that burned for nearly three hours.The explosion sent Culp Petroleum employees fleeing from a building and forced the evacuation of a strip mall and several nearby businesses. Culp employees led the driver, Marion McIlwain of Charlotte, to safety immediately after the collision. County officials said the employees' actions likely saved McIlwain's life. No one was hurt.

"Fritz" Hollings retires

U.S. Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, an S.C. original if there ever was one, announced Aug. 4 that after 55 years of public life, he'd had enough and will leave the Senate at the end of 2004.

One of the last of the old breed of Southern Democrats whose seniority gave them the clout to rule Congress, Hollings was also one of the first of a new kind of Southern politician who campaigned for the votes of African Americans and championed anti-poverty programs.

Colorful and unpredictable, Hollings said what he thought, tossing out verbal barbs in a foghorn voice and a thick-as-marsh-mud Charleston brogue. Columnist George Will once called him "a human cactus."

Sanford's new ideas

Gov. Mark Sanford proved true to his campaign promises his first year in office, sending lawmakers idea after idea to reshape state government in ways that nobody had proposed before. His premise is that outside-the-box thinking is needed for South Carolina to attract more new jobs.So far, however, he has little to show for his efforts, even though he has a majority of fellow Republicans in both legislative chambers. Sanford got off to a rough start with some lawmakers who say he had a bad habit of springing unwelcome surprises, such as vetoing their pet bills without talking to them first.

For the legislative session that opens Jan. 13, Sanford is getting only lukewarm support, at best, from GOP leaders for his plan to slash the state's income tax rate and replace the lost revenue with higher taxes on cigarettes and a new tax on lottery tickets.

Springs Industries closes

Springs Industries Inc. -- one of the region's largest employers -- closed three of its S.C. plants this year, laying off more than 800 workers.

In July, Springs officials announced they would shut down their two oldest plants in September. The 111-year-old White plant in Fort Mill and the 107-year-old Lancaster Plant in Lancaster employed about 600. An additional 130 workers lost their jobs at the Grace Fabrication Plant in Lancaster. Springs officials say more than half of those workers took early retirement or found work at other Springs plants.

In October, Springs announced it was closing its 140-employee plant in Fort Lawn. Springs continues to employ about 5,000 workers in York, Lancaster and Chester counties, part of a work force of about 16,000 worldwide.

MLK official holiday

In September, the York County Council voted 5-2 to change its policy and make Dr. Martin Luther King's Jr.'s birthday an official holiday.The council had earlier voted 6-1 to keep its holiday policy in place, which meant the county's 800 workers could either take off MLK Day or their own birthday while county offices remained open.

Council member Buddy Motz worked behind the scenes to help change the council's thinking about the slain civil rights leader's birthday. In a guest editorial in The Observer, Motz wrote: "Our policy should reflect and honor not just the people who worked so tirelessly during such a trying time in America's history, but a man who had a dream that eventually everyone could see."

Rock Hill race lawsuit

The parent-led lawsuit to block the Rock Hill school district from using race to assign students to elementary schools was settled out of court in the spring. The settlement required that the district replace its assignment plan with one that does not use race as the main criterion within the next few years. The district could also continue plans for the construction of the third high school, an action the lawsuit originally sought to block.

The settlement ended a lawsuit over the district's plan that moved almost one-third of the district's 6,700 elementary students to different schools at the beginning of last school year.

Ivory Latta era closes

Ivory Latta redefined achievement in six (yes, six -- she began playing high school ball as a middle-schooler) seasons on the York Comprehensive girls' basketball team. Her 4,319 career points rank fifth all-time among prep players in the nation. She was named the girls' high school basketball player of the year this spring. The honors and titles go on and on.She ended her prep career in March, when York lost to Dreher in the girls 3A state championship game.

She's already making a name for herself as a freshman at UNC Chapel Hill. This past week her photo was at the top of the Tar Heels' women's basketball Web page, where her 16 points in a victory over the University of South Carolina was mentioned prominently. She currently leads the nationally ranked Tar Heels with a 13 points-per-game scoring average and has been named ACC Rookie of the Week once. And conference play has yet to begin.

Duly noted:

• Rock Hill city councilwoman Maxine Gill, 82, announced this summer she would not seek re-election this fall. A colorful fiscal conservative, she was known for keeping an eye on the city's infrastructure needs.

• Rock Hill named John Gregory as the city's first black police chief.

• The Fort Mill school board, faced with a fast-growing student population, decided to ask voters to approve $62.6 million in bonds to build a new high school and a new middle school. The vote is set for March 16.

• A series of stories in The Observer revealed that many of South Carolina's mentally ill residents were receiving poor care -- in some cases being handcuffed to beds in area hospitals while awaiting admission to a state psychiatric facility -- because of bad decisions by mental health department leaders. The department had blamed the problems on state budget cuts, but later conceded that money was not the root of the problem.

• One year after a 21-year-old Winthrop University student was forced into a thicket near campus and raped, police arrested a suspect in September. Winthrop Police spent 12 months interviewing more than 50 suspects and collecting DNA evidence from many of them. Daniel Edward Gaynor, 30, of Rock Hill was charged with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping in the case. He remains in the York County Detention Center while awaiting trial.