By CLAY MURPHY
Union County Bureau

(7/14/95) -- One of the key players in the Susan Smith drama was absent for the first three days of the young woman's trial. Union County Sheriff Howard Wells spent the first part of this week in Hilton Head at a South Carolina sheriffs convention. Coincidentally, he was named Sheriff of the Year by the association for his handling of the initial investigation of the disappearance of Smith's children. She later confessed to Wells that she drowned the boys. Wells was back at work Thursday, monitoring the jury selection for Smith's death penalty trial.

-- The people of Union are determined to weather the turbulent Susan Smith trial and are wearing emblems to prove it. Stickers bearing the phrase "I will survive the summer of 1995" and badges that say "Union Matters" are rapidly circulating throughout the community. Fred Delk, leader of the Downtown Union Revitalization Association, initially produced the stickers for merchants and shoppers inconvenienced by the Smith trial, as well as the "Streetscape" renovation of Main Street. "With that end closed off and this end messed up, people needed something to make them smile," he said. "It's been a big hit." Delk has given away more than 1,600 of the 2,000 stickers he had printed because the media and residents throughout the county have taken an interest in them. "I'm sure we're going to have to print more," he said. And the Union County Office of Substance Abuse Prevention has 400 left of its "Union Matters" badges bearing the image of a pineapple, the fruit of friendship and hospitality. The office has already handed out about 600 of the emblems.

"It's really starting to take hold, said OSAP Project Director Greg Sparkman, adding that the emblems are being produced jointly by local media outlets, public officials and ministers. OSAP is also putting together green ribbons bearing the same phrase and symbol. "To me, the pineapple and `Union Matters' say we're moving forward," Sparkman said.

-- The impact of the Susan Smith trial on the nation can be seen on the desks of the Union County Clerk of Court's Office. Messages for Smith from around the country have been pouring into the Union County Courthouse at an increasing rate since the young woman's trial began Monday. While the courthouse has been receiving some mail for Smith since she was first arrested for the drownings of her two young sons, the number of letters and cards has grown dramatically in recent days. The clerk of court's office took in nearly 30 pieces of mail for Smith Thursday, with some of them coming from as far away as Illinois and Oregon. The office even received a call from a man in Kansas earlier this week who professed his love for Smith and offered to take her place in the electric chair, if she is given the death penalty. Law enforcement agents took no action against the caller because he was threatening no one and merely "offering his services," said one source.

-- A gift shop in Lockhart is selling miniature replicas of the Union County Courthouse. But the store's owner said Thursday that their sale, which has been going on for months, has nothing to do with the Susan Smith trial, and the timing is mere coincidence. In fact, Ailene Ashe, of Our Old Home Gift Shop, said she is actually trying to reserve the figurines for Union County residents and people with ties to the community. "The only way they can be purchased is through this shop," she said, adding that she has no intention of taking them down to Union and hawking them to tourists and media representatives. That's because the supply of Georgia Marble miniatures is limited to 1,000, and 600 have already been sold, almost exclusively to locals. And Ashe said she believes that success has little to do with the attention now surrounding the courthouse. "I really and truly believe the people in Union County aren't buying this because of the trial," she said. "It's a beautiful building and a part of our county."

The courthouse statuette is the first of several to eventually make up what Ashe refers to as the "Union County Village." Future replicas will be of the First Baptist Church in Lockhart, Jonesville High School and Buffalo Mill, among others. "We want to do something in each part of the county," Ashe said, adding that the shop had a Georgia artist sculpt the courthouse first because it is a building all county residents have in common. The figurines cost $25 and must be ordered.

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