Archive By Section - Columns
Conspiracy theories never really die
Ralph, who runs a roadside nursery business on the Maine island where Nancy and I spend time, is a conspiracy theorist of the first order.
Local saints and sinners
Which current major university was once located in Winnsboro?
Southern support will be hard to gauge
"A hootenanny" -- that was the scene 48 years ago in Oct. 1964 on the campus of North Carolina State University.
The banality of Watergate
WASHINGTON -- Forty years ago, all of America learned the name of a particular condominium, hotel and office complex along the Potomac in the nation's capital.
Googling anti-Obama racism
On the night of Barack Obama's presidential election victory, Americans seemed to shed our troubled legacy of racism. Or did we?
Another great year!
Every year in May, a community member named Bob Watkins invites me to speak to the Golden Club, a really fun group of local retirees that meets for breakfast once a week. Generally, I use this opportunity to talk about the accomplishments of school year. I thought I'd share some of the same highlights in this month's column. It's been another great year! Our students and our staff continue to achieve at an impressive level. Following are just a few examples:
A balance of the good and the bad
Bear with me as I put a little of my comic book geek on to make a point about what makes the front pages of this newspaper.
Too many choices can paralyze
Time's old adage says, "More money, more problems," but I think the problems come when people realize they have more choices available when they have more money.
City of Camden in great financial shape
Financially, the city of Camden is in great shape. Stockpiling citizen tax revenue is neither good for the citizen paying the tax or for the city not investing accordingly. Financial stability is not about how much the city collects, but about how well the monies are used. Without increasing your property taxes, the city has made significant progress by assessing requirements and strategically planning without taxing and spending.
Hard times, weak unions
Let's give Wisconsin voters some credit. While others try to find easy right-vs.-left explanations for Gov. Scott Walker's decisive victory, Badger State voters appeared to be worried less about politics than about their state's purse.
Can this really be happening?
Seldom have I witnessed such a gross malfunctioning of local governments as that which has developed in Camden and Kershaw County over the future of recreation programs to serve the citizenry.
In awe of people who can jam
You might have seen the segment on TV recently that spotlighted a guy who had virtually no musical talent, then dived one day into the shallow end of a pool and suffered a severe head injury, and days later sat down at a piano and played it like a virtuoso.
Top three's dominance likely to continue at Wimbledon
Regardless of the outcome of Monday's rain delayed French Open final, the record books were destined to change.
Tobacco
Tobacco was an important part of life in Georgia during the thirties and forties. Every man smoked -- a pipe, cigar, or cigarette. Farmers raised tobacco as a money crop and their own use. Most women did not smoke; if they did so, they did it in private, certainly not on the street. My mother considered women who smoked to be "hussies," although she dipped snuff. I cannot remember her, in her few times of leisure, without a dip of snuff and a twig in her mouth and a spit can by her side. I certainly was not interested in becoming ...
Nobody likes a loser
WASHINGTON -- For the past year, we've been relentlessly reminded that Republicans didn't especially love their front-running presidential candidate.
Articles by Section - Columns
S.C. Supreme Court ignored FOIA in autopsy ruling
Let's make something perfectly clear: The S.C. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is not dead, but the S.C. Supreme Court is sure acting like they're trying to kill it.
Crazy and proud of it
My grandmother -- Daddy's mother -- was sometimes called "crazy" by others who didn't quite understand her eccentric ways. Of course, in the South, we are proud of such a label for it means that we are interesting and worthy of being the center of coffee and cake conversation.
Impeaching the president
WASHINGTON -- Sarah Palin is right about impeaching President Obama.
The real meaning of ‘freedom of speech’
With today's plethora of online news and the subsequent discussion forums that accompany most Internet articles, there is a lot of confusion on the somewhat vague thing called "freedom of speech." Really, it's not vague at all, but it sure seems to be quite vague to those who don't really know what it means. What it doesn't mean is you have the right to say whatever you want to whenever you want to without consequences.
‘Not Just Guns:’ The Ross E. Beard Collection
On Tuesday, July 1, 2014, at 11 a.m., the Ross E. Beard Collection became the property of the city of Camden, as Mr. Beard signed the paperwork at the Camden Archives and Museum. City officials, long-time friends of Mr. Beard and representatives from the Friends of the Archives and Museum looked on as City Attorney Lawrence Flynn, Mr. Beard, Ed Royall (his attorney) and Austin Sheheen (his accountant) processed the paperwork.
Tiny Tim
Isn't it odd how every once in awhile, something pops in your head that's been buried for a long time -- a distant memory that for some reason comes alive?
Op-Ed: Supreme Court autopsy ruling trumps public accountability
For the second time in a month, the S.C. Supreme Court has ruled against openness and punted important issues back to the Legislature for change.
Yousef’s story
WASHINGTON -- The Israeli soldier shot Yousef Bashir in the back in the front yard of his father's house in Gaza. It was Feb. 18, 2004, a week after Yousef's 15th birthday. The bullet splintered into three fragments, severing nerves near the teenager's spine.
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