Features

Diabetes has become the greatest American public health crisis of the next 25 years.

To address the burden of this disease, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) is issuing an urgent call-to-action for Americans to find out their risk for type 2 diabetes during the 21st annual American Diabetes Alert Day.

Nearly 6 million Americans have diabetes, but don’t know it.

Another 57 million Americans have pre-diabetes, placing them at increased risk.

There are two types of diabetes – type 1 and type 2.

This year in the classroom, the county’s 900-plus fourth-graders become acquainted with astronomers such as Galileo Galilei and Edmund Halley for the first time.

Outside the classroom – at the pool inside the Gregory Health and Wellness Center at the University of South Carolina at Lancaster, they become  acquainted with “Miss Anne.”

Miss Anne is Anne Small, a certified Red Cross swim instructor and aquatics director at USCL.

Years from now, these students might not recall

I was greeted with much enthusiasm by Kristin Scott Benson when we talked by phone Wednesday. We hadn’t talked in 15 years.

Her name may not ring a bell for most of you, but for those of you headed to The Grascals concert at the University of South Carolina at Lancaster at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, you’ll soon be acquainted with the bluegrass band’s talented banjo player. The concert is part of USCL Educational Foundation’s 2009 Performing Arts Series.

Great musicians always find a way to make good music, but for great musicians to make great music, they must find a bond that goes beyond the purely musical to the personal.

For The Grascals, that bond has been forged by friendships, shared resumes and a keen mingling of bluegrass and country music that has been a Nashville hallmark for more than 40 years.

Now they are coming here. The Grascals will perform 7:30 p.m. Saturday on the Bundy Auditorium stage in the Bradley Arts and Sciences Building at the University of South Carolina at Lancaster.

Editor’s note: Each Sunday this month, in celebration of March as American Red Cross Month, The Lancaster News is honoring local volunteers who are the cornerstone of what the agency does. From donating blood and helping military families to disaster relief and teaching CPR and first aid, 96 percent of the Red Cross work force is volunteers. Many of those who make a difference everyday are your neighbors. 

In 1989, Lancaster High School senior Pam Neely Giardiello started donating blood to the Red Cross at the urging of her mother, Kathy Sistare.

It’s time to “Spring forward.”

Sunday at 2 a.m. signals the start of daylight-saving time, when Americans set their clocks ahead by an hour to create another hour of sunlight each evening.

Here are a few interesting facts about the time change you may not be aware of:

– It’s officially called daylight-saving time, not daylight-savings time.

OK, I’ll admit it. I’m a fan of Girl Scout cookies. Not that I eat them (that much); gastric bypass took care of any affinity for sweets that I have several years ago.

But I am a fan. Imagine the surprise when I recently walked in and found two boxes on my desk, wrapped together with a bow, along with a note from Cherie Ellis, community development manager for the Mountains to Midlands division of the Girl Scouts of South Carolina.

The Peanut Butter Patties were placed on the newsroom alter, where they almost immediately disappeared.

After 100 years, Mildred Caskey McWaters continues to grow in the kind of grace refined by fire.

No, it’s not the kind of fire that emanated from the birthday cake she enjoyed during the celebration of her 100th birthday on Feb. 16 at White Oak Manor.

McWaters’ grace comes from family flames that spark when one your four children accidentally sets the car shed ablaze and fire trucks show up, sirens blaring, in front of your home on West Gay Street.

These days, you want the most for your money. Now that you’ve clipped all the coupons and recipes, finished the crossword puzzle and gleaned every valuable nugget of information from the previous edition of The Lancaster News, what do you do with what’s left? Here are a few green suggestions on how to reuse and recycle your newspaper.

1. Compost