State Briefs

ORANGEBURG — Gov. Mark Sanford has appointed Bowman dairy farmer Hugh Weathers as agriculture commissioner.

Weathers, already serving on an interim basis, would complete the two years of the term of Charles Sharpe, who resigned after pleading guilty earlier this month to extortion.

Sharpe admitted in federal court he took $10,000 to protect a cockfighting organization from legal trouble.

Weathers had been named by Sanford in September as interim commissioner after Sharpe was indicted in July.

‘‘The governor wanted to make sure Commissioner Weathers was interested in fulfilling the term and fortunately he was,’’ Sanford spokesman Will Folks told The (Orangeburg) Times and Democrat on Thursday. ‘‘He came in at a very difficult time in the history of this agency and he really distinguished himself.’’

Weathers said some lawmakers could be upset with his appointment because Sanford has proposed a constitutional change that would make the elected post permanently an appointed position.

Weathers is co-owner of Weathers Farms Inc., a 50-cow dairy operation in Bowman.

Woman pleads guilty

to slaying of boyfriend

ORANGEBURG — An Orangeburg woman has been sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing her live-in boyfriend last year.

Carol Lee McCollum, 35, also pleaded guilty to trying to burn the home to cover the crime and to possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

Her five-year sentences for those crimes will be served at the same time as the murder sentence.

Robert Lancaster, 39, was found shot to death last March in the home he and McCollum shared. Investigators think he was shot once with a large-caliber handgun as he slept.

Authorities say four people helped McCollum set the house on fire and/or avoid arrest.

Billy Joe Williams, 43, and Sylvia Ann Murphy, 38, both of Neeses, are charged with accessory after the fact of murder and attempted arson.

Karen Nettles, 32, of Neeses, and John Hydrick Fogle, 54, of North, are charged with accessory after the fact of murder.

Man died of heart failure,

according to coroner

GREENWOOD — A Greenwood man died of heart failure that could have been made worse by cocaine use, Greenwood County Coroner Jim Coursey said.

The death of Corey Fuller, 34, was being investigated as a homicide. Police first thought he had been shot after a fight that resulted in Michael Rodney Pope, 36, being arrested and charged for possession of cocaine and a possessing a weapon.

‘‘From all the preliminary evidence, and due to the fact that he had an enlarged heart, the possible or probable drug use and the physical activity in combination with all of these, the cause could be heart failure,’’ Coursey said.

Police still are investigating the incident.

A police report says Fuller, who was found dead in his own bedroom, apparently was trying to steal crack cocaine from Pope’s home.

(Associated Press)