Today's Opinions

I just read that the dog tethering bill passed the S.C. Senate. I am absolutely livid.

How dare so many responsible dog owners be lumped into a bill that is geared to reduce dogfighting. This is totally against my rights. I understand that the government wants to rid the state of dogfighting, but this is unconstitutional.

What about all of us who tether our dogs during the day and release them all night to guard our livestock? What about all of us who have our hunting dogs on trolley systems until the hunt? These are loved working dogs.

Gonze Lee Twitty’s recent Pioneer Award from the NAACP is most fitting for a man who has put others first in his life of service.

Twitty, 89, has lived a productive life of paving the way for others in need of a helping hand.

“He’s been out there for a long time helping those who can’t help themselves,” said Charlene McGriff, second vice president of the local NAACP and a member of the committee which selected the winners.

In the past year, we’ve been reminded more than once what an important resource the Catawba River is – not only to us in Lancaster County, but to residents of many counties in both South Carolina and North Carolina.

First there was the drought that took hold last summer and brought water-use restrictions to communities in both Carolinas that draw water from the Catawba. Then there were the water wars that erupted between North and South Carolina after the cities of Concord and Kannapolis in North Carolina proposed to draw 10 million gallons a day from the river.