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Today's Opinions

  • Upgrades under way on website

    Transparency has become just another buzzword to some in government these days.
    A few years ago, before it ever became a government buzzword, I launched a project to make the details of how government spends money readily available and transparent to citizens in South Carolina.
    As the state’s comptroller general – more commonly described as its chief financial officer – it seemed only natural to me that South Carolinians ought to be able to see the full picture of how government officials are spending the public’s hard-earned tax dollars.

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  • Writer concerned about smart meter installation

    I live in a large development in Indian Land, and have York Electric Cooperative as my distribution provider.
    On Saturday, March 9, York Electric made a number of computer-generated calls to multiple customers here to inform us that they would be coming around this neighborhood soon to install “smart” meters. As it turned out after making a call to their office, “soon” meant Wednesday or Thursday of the upcoming week. 

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  • Why you can’t read half the state budget

    The South Carolina state budget is split into two major pieces, part 1A and part 1B. While both parts are excruciatingly boring to read, the first part, 1A, is at least understandable. At least it looks like a budget.
    Each agency has its own chart of line items showing how much money is allocated to each agency, program, function, etc. That’s why, when members of the news media talk about “the budget,” they’re almost always talking about that portion of the budget they can read, part 1A.

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  • Congrats to schools for their awards

    There’s a lot of Palmetto pride on display in Lancaster County schools these days and with good reason – 11 of the county’s schools recently won Palmetto Gold and Silver awards for the 2011-12 school year from the S.C. Department of Education.
    And while that total number is lower than last year’s 16 winning county schools, the number of gold award winners actually doubled from four last year to eight this year, despite a more rigourus criteria.

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  • Pass Constitutional Carry Act

    Citizens of South Carolina got a rare treat March 4. State Sens. Lee Bright, Shane Martin, Greg Hembree and Brad Hutto conducted a public hearing on Senate Bill S115 for the proposed Constitutional Carry Act.

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  • Background checks to buy guns serve no purpose

    Background checks before the purchase of guns is useless and against the Constitution.
    The rights listed in our Constitution Amendments are not subject  to the whim of some elite bureaucrat sitting in a cubical somewhere.
    For the casual thinker, like most Liberal Democrats, background checks are a good thing. It keeps people who should not have a gun from getting one. It keeps gangs, thieves, terrorists and felons from getting guns.
    Only problem is that they do not submit to those checks. So how are those checks working for us?

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  • HOPE has filled dire need for 30 years

    No one is immune. Loss of a job. Devastating medical issue. Death of a working spouse. Divorce. The list is endless. An individual or family’s economic status can change almost immediately – for numerous reasons.
    Life happens. And when it does, people often find themselves suddenly in need. Elaine Adkins knows. Adkins, executive director of HOPE (Helping Other People Effectively) in Lancaster, meets these people everyday.

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  • Nullification – are these guys nuts?

    You can’t make this stuff up. And if you did, no one would believe it. But it’s true – South Carolina legislators are once again talking about nullification.
    It’s no wonder, I guess, given how well that worked out for us last time.
    When this nullification stuff first happened in 1850s and 1860s, Charleston Unionist James L. Petigru uttered his famous description of the Palmetto state: “Poor South Carolina, too small for a republic, too large for an insane asylum.”

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The Lancaster News is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Lancaster County and Lancaster, South Carolina, and the surrounding area..