Opinion

There has been much discussion about saving Lancaster’s historic jail. There are those who think it is not worth saving for a number of reasons. Probably the prime reason for some is the repair costs.

Other reasons include a lack of understanding of the significance of the jail. Therefore, there is no appreciation for its history nor the noted architect who designed it.

This letter is in response to the gentleman who has the opinion that the historic Lancaster County jail is not worth saving. He seemed to take great pride in knowing about the great architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, but admitted not knowing anything about another great architect, Robert Mills, who was born almost 100 years before Wright.

When Jed Clampett was shooting at some food and some crude came gushing out of the ground instead, he achieved by accident what almost all Americans dream of – instant wealth.

Often Jed, the patriarch of the 1960s show “The Beverly Hillbillies,” showed the sophisticated city slickers that he was the one with true wisdom – a wisdom that comes from living, not from a fancy college degree or from reading The Wall Street Journal every day or working in a high-rise office building.

Due to frustrations about the endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the country’s continued bleak economic situation, being an incumbent officeholder has become a dicey proposition.

No matter what you stand for, if you’re currently a governor or in Congress, you’re in trouble because you’re an insider and thereby part of the problem.

The year 1959 is best remembered in Lancaster as the year the University of South Carolina at Lancaster was founded. That same year, however, Wylie Park was created by the Richards-Wylie family as part of the development of Forest Hills in the city of Lancaster.

If I told you that, in a year when most state agencies saw cuts of 30, 40 or even 50 percent, there was one agency that got almost a 50 percent increase, would that strike you as being, well, wrong?

It certainly struck me that way. And last week I voted to sustain S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of that expenditure.  But not enough other senators agreed and that funding increase was approved.

What agency got that extra money this year? The South Carolina Senate.

Here is how it happened:

So, what does last week’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on handguns mean? Legal experts on both sides of the gun control debate predict it will mean more challenges to gun-control laws – challenges that might very well be decided in future Supreme Court rulings.

The decision will also almost certainly void gun-control laws in Chicago and Oak Place, Ill., that forbid residents to have handguns in their homes.

I read the editorial about saving the old Lancaster County jail. I do not believe it needs to be restored because it is useless to the public. How many people have come to look at it?

Everything old is not historic. We now have an old courthouse that probably no one will go in. There are old jails in every town. That does not make them unique. It is not like everyone who has been there has such good memories.

The editorial mentioned Robert Mills, the architect who designed the jail. I have never heard of him. Now, if he was Frank Lloyd Wright, that would be different.

The building, which once was the home of Barr Street High School and Barr Street Junior High School, sports new life.

The building, which for the most part has seen little or no activity since 2003, has been renewed through the work of Hope on the Hill, a local group led by the Rev. Wayne Murray to boost opportunities for youth.

Plans called for the renovated facility to open in late June, but the opening is now set for Saturday due to complications with the alarm system.