Around the state

Church, other land annexed into city

The Cathedral of Praise, and more than 100 nearby acres zoned for light industries and business, are now in North Charleston.

The church and other Ashley Phosphate Road tracts near the Windsor Hill subdivision were annexed Thursday night after a public hearing and final reading. The 13 tracts abut the subdivision and cross the road in a strip to a large parcel that borders the Charleston County line near the Forest Hills subdivision off Dorchester Road.

All of the property is in Dorchester County.

Almost all of the property in question west of Ashley Phosphate Road — 50 acres — belongs to Cathedral of Praise. A 91-acre parcel on the other side, which sits near an industrial park, would come into the city for light industrial use. The other parcels will be for general business.

Both the church and the 91-acre parcel's owners had asked the city about being annexed, city officials said. The church wants better police protection.

S.C. officers seek escaped inmate

State corrections officers were looking for escaped inmate Rayshawn James and asking for the public's help in finding him.

Authorities tracked James to an apartment complex at 1214 Douglas MacArthur St. in the city of Orangeburg about 5 p.m. Thursday, according to a release from Josh Gelinas, communications director for the South Carolina Department of Corrections. As law enforcement officers approached the building, James ran into a wooded area nearby.

Authorities described James, whose age was not provided, as 5 feet 11 inches tall and 205 pounds. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, red shorts and black shoes, Gelinas wrote. Investigators with tracking dogs were searching for James, believing he remained in the area.

James escaped June 28 from the Palmer Pre-Release Center in Florence, the Corrections Department said. He was serving a six-year sentence for crack distribution in Chesterfield County. Residents are asked to contact law enforcement at one of the following telephone numbers if he is sighted: the Department of Corrections at (803) 896-2258; the State Law Enforcement Division at (803) 737-9000; or local law enforcement.

Blaze damages sign business

An early-morning fire damaged the offices of a Neck Area sign business, though the company's top executive said that production would not be affected.

An alarm had sounded in Anchor Sign's office at 2:29 a.m. and Charleston firefighters who arrived shortly thereafter noticed heavy smoke rising from the top of the building, company President and CEO Hank Cheves said. He credited firefighters with keeping the blaze from spreading further. Anchor Sign's nearby production facilities were untouched.

Cheves said it appeared that the fire started in an air-conditioning unit.

Assistant Charleston Fire Chief Larry Garvin said an investigation into the cause was ongoing, though they were focusing on an air handler in the building's attic.

Crews at the scene had seen heavy black smoke rising from the roof, but no visible flames, Garvin said.

The fire burned a water line in the attic, likely helping extinguish the flames. Firefighters went inside to put out hot spots they could not reach from outside.

Lawyer seeks bail for elderly suspect

GREENVILLE — The attorney for a 78-year-old woman charged with murder in her husband's death says his client doesn't belong in jail and he will pursue bail.

An arraignment was held Friday for Gwen Rice, who was being held in the Anderson County jail.

Attorney Chip Price told The Associated Press that the woman's medications may have played a role in the attack but he declined to comment further.

Rice was taken into custody Thursday after spending time in a hospital recovering from cuts to her arms and trying to overdose on medication following the attack.

Investigators think Rice's husband, Paul Norman Rice, was sitting at a computer June 16 when Gwen Rice hit him with a hammer and a gardening tool.

He died on his way to the hospital of a heart attack, not blows to his head and body.

Fire damages Erskine dining hall

DUE WEST — A fire has caused extensive damage to the dining hall at Erskine College in Due West.

Authorities told The Index-Journal of Greenwood the fire started Thursday evening about 30 minutes after workers had left the kitchen in the Moffatt Dining Hall. There were no injuries.

Erskine president Randall Ruble said a recent addition to the dining hall's Founder's Room was saved.

He said nine invaluable portraits of past presidents of the college also were rescued from the flames.

Many of the firefighters who fought the blaze were at the Due West Lions' Club when the blaze broke out.

Member Lee Kennedy says the club was honoring the men, who had to leave before the program started.

Officials say man shot woman, self

FLORENCE — Authorities say a man shot and killed woman, then committed suicide at a Florence business.

Sheriff's Lt. Brett Camp told WBTW-TV that the man entered Samson Industrial around 10 a.m. Friday.

Authorities say the man knew the woman he killed.

Deputies and company officials did not immediately return phone messages from The Associated Press.

Samson Industrial makes and distributes supplies such as hoses belts and fasteners.

The Florence location is one of more than a dozen facilities across the Southeast for the company based in Tulsa, Okla.