Cat survives

80-foot fall

SUMMERVILLE - Piper may have used up a life or two but was unharmed after falling nearly 80 feet from a tree.

She had been in the tree for eight days when a rescuer started up to save her Monday. But a scared Piper crept away until the limb underneath her snapped.

She fell 80 feet, twisting and turning in the air before slamming onto the ground. It looked like a catastrophe, but Piper wasn't even dazed, scampering off before her owner Rodney Colvin could catch her.

Piper was found a few minutes later under a vehicle. Her owner said she had no broken bones and was only a little dehydrated.

Siren activation

was inadvertent

JENKINSVILLE - Warning sirens sounded Tuesday morning around the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Fairfield County, but officials say there was no problem with the reactor and other critical elements.

The sirens sounded for about three minutes at 2:30 a.m. in Fairfield, Newberry and Richland counties, said Eric Boomhower, a spokesman for South Carolina Electric & Gas Co.

''It was an inadvertent activation of the system,'' he said. ''It was not actually related to any issue at the plant and the public was never in danger."