Opinion

You would figure a guy who has been around Lancaster Dixie Baseball for 30-plus years would know all that goes on.

Not a chance a major event would get by like some seeing-eye single.

Well, if this was, in baseball terms, a hidden ball trick, then longtime Dixie Youth Baseball official Ronnie Gandy would have been like some stunned rookie.

On Lancaster Dixie Baseball’s opening day – Saturday, April 10, Gandy was invited to be a part of the youth baseball program’s 2010 ceremonies at the Wylie Park Complex.

The founding of the University of South Carolina at Lancaster in 1959 created new hopes and opportunities for area citizens. In 1951, a void in the community led to the vision of the future.

USCL has come a long way since then. It has greatly changed the community and it changed many of our lives. It shows by radiating change and hope in the community. Where there is hope, there is a bright future. From one house and humble beginnings, growth continues to this day.

Every day, it seems to me, we are slowly losing the right to make our own decisions. It seems the government is making more and more decisions for us. One right I refuse to be denied is the right to bear arms.

It’s refreshing to know there are still people who want to protect our rights. I would like to give a huge thank you to our S.C. House Rep. Deborah Long. She has signed on to sponsor House Bill 3994 – Transportation and Storage of Firearms in a Locked Vehicle.

While President Barack Obama and his Wall Street buddies are hustling to divert public money to patch wounds inflicted by corporate greed and government-endorsed Ponzi schemes, toilets are overflowing.

The government has flushed perfect opportunities to infuse federal money into community-based, job-producing critical infrastructure projects, which could have stabilized employment, but instead paid off whining board members with billions of dollars to cover obscene bonuses and mismanagement.

First, let me assure you that I value hearing your opinions. Just like you, I want what is best for South Carolina, its citizens and especially our children – and who better to determine what is best for kids than their parents?

The Kershaw Children’s Memorial and Prayer Garden opened on April 10.

This garden is a place to come and remember those children who have died or who are apart from our lives. It is a place of peace. It is our place, your place.

It came into being through the help and donations of several wonderful and caring companies and individuals.

Thanks to Haile Gold Mine Inc. for providing the bench, balloons, foundation and many other things.

Thanks to Knight Lawn Care for providing the river stones for the families to decorate.

“Playmates,” a painting by local artist Dianne Mahaffey is missing.

Mahaffey donated the painting and other artwork for an auction at the Lancaster County Council of the Arts gala, “Southern Charm.”

The Arts Council’s annual fundraiser was on March 6 at the Bradley Arts & Sciences building. The painting has been missing since then.

If you have any information about the missing painting, please contact Christina Chastain at Lancaster County Council of the Arts, 285-7451.

Dianne Mahaffey

Lancaster

U.S. Rep. John Spratt told a reporter during a recent interview about his vote in the health care reform bill that he would have preferred to have taken the overhaul in stages or steps.

“By taking on the whole bucketful of issues and problems, it only made it (more) complex,” Spratt said.

Whose call was it? Either he voted on his own freewill or someone pulled his puppet strings. John Spratt holds no personal responsibility for his actions. Lets look at a few more items that may or may not have been Spratt’s call.

I want to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone who has supported me and my family through this very troubling time.

Your belief in me and your kind words are appreciated more than simple words could ever express.

I know that this ordeal has also been very hard on many of you as well. Many of you have been attacked on a personal level for publicly showing your support for me. For that I am truly sorry. My own family has had to endure these attacks as well. Yet they still stand strong beside me.