THE ISSUE: Discovery of woman 18 months after her death

OUR OPINION: Times have changed, but this case is as unusual as it is sad

The story of a 74-year-old widow whose remains were discovered in her home at Sandy Run in Calhoun County is getting a lot of attention from media. It’s a sad account that we at The Times and Democrat found nearly unbelievable in breaking the story a week ago.

People near the secluded home find it as unbelievable as those from afar that no one noticed the woman had not been seen in a year and a half, that no one picked up on obvious signs that something was wrong, that no one actually went to check on the woman believed to be Mary Sue Merchant.

Locals from Sandy Run are criticizing themselves. In interviews with The Associated Press this week, they say it simply should not have happened this way.

Neighbor Tonya Craven said if she’d known Merchant was all alone, she’d have checked on her. But she said they spoke only once when Craven’s dog ran away. Merchant fed and cared for about 15 wild dogs, so Craven wanted to see if her dog had joined the pack. While talking with the AP reporter, it occurred to Craven she hadn’t seen the dogs in some time.

Becky Rucker, owner of a florist for 30 years, said, “It’s so sad. It makes me feel bad for our community. In this day, we’re supposed to be out of everybody’s business, but I think sometimes that goes too far.”

Possibly, but the fact is what happened in this instance could have happened anywhere. People in Orangeburg and places much bigger and smaller don’t routinely have contact with neighbors as once was the case. Neighborhoods are not the tight-knit communities that once featured long-term residents. In far too many instances, neighbors don’t even know one another.

Consider how often a neighbor checks on you. How often do you make contact with a neighbor? There are certainly a lot of exceptions, but we’ll bet very often the answer is “not very often.”

Other factors might have led to the Sandy Run woman’s being found far sooner, but circumstances worked against them in this instance.

No family members reside locally. The woman apparently did not attend church or other functions. Her only prescribed medicine was for glaucoma, so she wasn’t on any medical check list. There was no one individual or group to take responsibility.

She slipped through the cracks with official sources, too.

Law enforcement makes checks on elderly and infirm individuals, “but we have to know they’re there,” Sheriff Thomas Summers told The AP.

His deputies check on about 200 senior citizens monthly. “We didn’t know this lady existed,” Summers said.

With no bills being paid, utilities were cut off long ago and the property ultimately was put up for sale for failure to pay taxes. It was only after the sale that the woman’s remains were discovered. Officials say trespassing issues were a factor in no one finding her before that.

“We’ve lost the community,” said the Rev. Neil Flowers, who told The AP he plans to talk about Merchant on Sunday at Beulah United Methodist Church, a few miles from where Merchant died. “We do our own thing. We lead busy lives. We go and go and go ... and stay within our comfort zone.”

If talking about this sad story leads to more neighborly concern, that is a good thing. But this unusual case is not a broad indictment of humanity in Sandy Run or anywhere else. Times have changed in communities in the way people interact, but there remain many people who care.

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