Today's News

My goodness, Christmas seemed to slip in on us and now we are facing a brand new year.

I seriously doubt if the Evans household will splurge on any extravagance celebration to welcome in 2008. We will face it with a month- old great-grandson who has no idea what may lie ahead.

Two events of major concern for us are paying property taxes by Jan. 15 and celebrating my 75th birthday in February.

That's as good a reason as any (not the taxes) to pause and look at New Year's past.

The Indian Land Warriors capped the 2007 portion of their 2007-08 basketball season, going 2-1 in the Central Eagles holiday tournament.

IL rebounded from a 74-52 first-round loss to host Central of Pageland to defeat New Covenant 77-46 and McBee, 43-37.

"After playing 13 games and going 6-7 against a tough schedule, I feel pretty good about our team," IL coach Nate Smith said. "We've had some tough losses, but we've also had some good wins, like our two victories over Nation Ford and Newberry.

It was an early Christmas present. The Greater New Hope Christian Association soup kitchen.

It was rainy, dull day when it officially opened on Dec. 15. But the dreary day did little to dampen the spirits of the soup kitchen’s champions – those who had the vision and those who helped make it become a reality.

Those involved with the Closing the Achievement Gap initiative met three times last year to address a concern that impacts everyone – the academic achievement gap between students in different demographic subgroups, including race and income.

Closing that gap should concern us all. The Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test (PACT), high school exit exams and end-of-course exams show a 20 percent or more gap in scores between the races and between those receiving free or reduced meals and other students.