.....Advertisement.....
.....Advertisement.....

Columns

  • Column: 5 inexpensive ways to improve education

    When S.C. politicians start to talk about education, almost immediately it becomes an argument about money.
    Before we as a state wade into this political swamp of “spend more – spend less,” we should first focus on things that we can do to improve education that cost little or no money. This won’t fix our big education problems long term, but it’s at least a constructive, positive step forward while the partisan politicians bicker among themselves.

    Click here to read more...
  • Column: Writer takes hit-and-run driver to task

    This is a letter to the young woman who rear-ended me around 10:30 Sunday morning, July 24, and fled the scene on Hubbard Drive.
    I am writing this letter because I am still in disbelief at your folly. Surely, you are not gloating because you have apparently gotten away with something that you will eventually answer to.
    I was en route to church with my 82-year-old mother, who is in ailing health. For the first time in weeks, she felt up to attending service and I was more than willing to oblige.

    Click here to read more...
  • Column: Persistent scammer is a skunk

    I want to share with everyone about a scam going around.
    It started Tuesday, July 12. We got a call. He said he was from Bank of America. I told him I was not interested in credit cards or loans. He would not hang up.
    I hung the phone up.
    He called right back. Just listen to me; I’ve got good news for you, he said. I told him I did all my banking at Founders and not to call again.

    Click here to read more...
  • Column: Here’s how our system works: Vote or shut up

    The final phase of this political season has officially begun. I think we can all agree to a great big “amen” here.
    The presumptive candidates have been selected, and there are less than four months left for the candidates to dazzle us with their brilliant rhetoric, snide remarks, denials of culpability and other as yet unknown items that will surface before November and be thrown as broadsides against the opposition.

    Click here to read more...
  • Column: County Council: Confusion, lack of understanding or just unprepared?

    Which was it during the July 18 Lancaster County Council meeting? There was much discussion and some opposition to Councilman Jack Estridge’s motion to undo or rescind the approval of a June 13 motion to renew a motion that was never made.
    The June 13 actions were a clear violation of the council’s rules of parliamentary procedures.
    Estridge’s motion itself was really quite simple – “a motion to rescind (cancel) the approval of a motion to renew an ordinance or, if you prefer, to renew a motion.” That was it.

    Click here to read more...
  • Column: Let’s Talk About It

    Yes, let’s talk. Not only to ourselves, not only to people who look like us, not only to people who go to church with us, not only to our friends and family, but also to our community members, clergy and law enforcement officers.  
    In order to start to heal from the tragedies that have occurred throughout our country, we must have an open and honest dialogue with folks who do not look like us. We need to understand why we do not trust each other. We need to understand we all hurt when our loved ones are killed.

    Click here to read more...
  • Column: We must talk about the turmoil to heal it

    Editor’s note: This column ran in USA Today on Thursday.

    Our American family is experiencing turmoil we have not seen in a generation.
    Two weeks ago, a tragedy in Dallas, where five police officers were killed and seven more wounded, closed a disturbing week that began with the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philandro Castille. Then, early this past Sunday, three Baton Rouge police officers were ambushed and killed.

    Click here to read more...
  • Column: Interest rates this low kill the incentive to save, invest

    In 2014, Janet Yellen was named chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, succeeding Ben Bernanke.
    Under Bernanke the Fed failed to exhibit the leadership necessary to maintain the independence Congress intended. Instead, the board became a partner to the White House, correlating the monetary policies of the Federal Reserve with the administration’s fiscal policies.
    The result has been a disastrous federal debt of over $19 trillion and monetary policies that will ultimately lead to inflation pressures or worse when we finally deal with it.

    Click here to read more...
  • Column: Tragedy 101: We must treat cause, not result

    As I sit here, at my desk, on July 8 with a blank page in front of me, I am trying to organize my thoughts and emotions, in  order to convey some level of objectivity and sense, to events that have just transpired. I have tears in my eyes and in my heart for the tragedy that has just taken place in Dallas, Texas.

    Click here to read more...
  • Column: Sen. Scott: Even if you can’t feel others’ pain, know that it is real

    Editor’s note: These are excerpts from a speech by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., to the U.S. Senate this week.

    I rise today to give my second speech this week discussing the issues we are facing as a nation following last week’s tragedies in Dallas, Minnesota, and Baton Rouge. This speech is perhaps the most difficult, because it’s the most personal.
    In many cities and towns across the nation, there is a deep divide between the black community and law enforcement – a trust gap, a tension that has been growing for decades.

    Click here to read more...