Columns

To all who participated in the 2013 Van Wyck Christmas Parade:  Thank you so much! The weather on Saturday, Dec. 7, started out iffy, but we received a much-prayed-for window that permitted everyone to participate.

The Indian Land Band, under the direction of Mathew Willis and Scott Fleischman, sounded terrific and looked so good in their “ugly” Christmas sweaters. The IL ROTC was impressive and sharp in its presentation and in the number who participated.

There was a potential solution to some of the school traffic woes that may have slipped away, which many in the community may not have been aware of.
The S.C. Department of Transportation held a hearing in January 2013 regarding rerouting Harrisburg Road. Harrisburg Road could have been rerouted to line up with the main Lowe’s entrance on S.C. 160. This also would have become a lighted intersection.

The welfare state is now omnipresent in every part of the United States. The federal budget is dominated by entitlement spending, with 45 percent of federal spending in 2012 going to Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare (among other health care entitlements).

Simultaneously, states are struggling under the fiscal burdens imposed on them by mandatory entitlement programs: for example, spending by the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services (primarily on Medicaid) has averaged $1.21 billion over the last three budget years.

As South Carolina struggles to recover from the Great Recession, state agencies in recent years have increased spending on travel in and out of the Palmetto State.

A review by The Nerve of annual state travel reports by S.C. Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom found that the total amount spent on travel increased from $61.9 million in fiscal 2009 to more than $69.6 million last fiscal year, which ended June 30 – a jump of more than $7.7 million, or 12.5 percent.