Taking a look back

I became somewhat nostalgic two weekends back. No, I wasn't flipping through photos of past loves or my travels in Europe. Or hitting up the Five Points bars stockpiled with sorority gals.

Tucson rampage wasn't about politics

The shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that killed six people, including a federal judge, and put many in the hospital, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, is a tragedy.

What's so bad about civility?

Just as it sometimes takes a scandal to engage Americans in a national conversation about sex, race or some other touchy topic, it sadly has taken a deranged gunman to launch us into a national argument about civility.

Proposed legislation impacting K-12 education

The beginning of a new year brings the start of many activities, including the opening of the 2011 session of the South Carolina General Assembly. Obviously, our legislators face more than even the usual level of challenges because of the $1 billion budget shortfall and the redrawing of legislative districts that will be done as a result of the 2010 census. As part of their deliberations, legislators will tackle a variety of issues related ...

What is enough?

WASHINGTON -- "High Capacity Magazines ... When ten rounds isn't enough," the Internet site offers.

Living with a bad case of puppy love

Is it possible to love your pet too much? That's a question I have asked myself many times since Oct. 28, the day I drove my new Labrador retriever-mix puppy home from the Walter M. Crowe Animal Shelter. I have always vowed that I would not be the kind of person who dressed their dog up in clothes or morphed into a baby-talking machine whenever their pet was around. No, I ...

Westerns still have their fans

I'm not much of a movie-goer -- maybe one a year, or two at the most. But I intend to see "True Grit." First of all, westerns are my favorite type movie, though they don't make many of them anymore. And second, Jeff Bridges is a good actor. I'm not a sophisticated enough movie maven to truly appreciate fine acting, but his performance as the down-and-out country singer in "Crazy Heart" was ...

Cooperation

My first Saturday night in office started at 8:00PM in the training room at the Sheriff's Office. I joined Sheriff's Deputies, Camden Police Officers, a couple of 16-year-old minors and two of my captains for a briefing by a Sheriff's Office investigator. He briefed everyone on our operations for the night. We were going to target stores in Kershaw County that could legally sell beer just to see if they would sell to these ...

Huck Finn stirs trouble again

Making good on a campaign promise, the Republican-dominated 112th House of Representatives opened with a reading of the Constitution. But they copped out of reading some of the most thought-provoking parts.

Better read than dead?

NEW YORK -- While sorting through the perennial lip-pursing tempest about a certain word in Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" -- the "N-word," as we now say it -- I turned for inspiration to the master himself.

Camping out

"You want to do what?" I said. Although I asked the question, I fully understood what the boy had just asked. He is my son, after all, and since he has not yet reached high school, we still speak the same language although the dialect is becoming more and more, let's say, strained. His question was short and to the point and he knew I understood, but asked again anyway with perfect clarity: ...

New year, new budget

Something I didn't do very well in 2010 was managing my family's personal finances.

Boomers, embrace your inner grouch

We baby boomers begin to turn 65 this year, which gives us a new excuse to be grumpy.

Is there a vaccine for that?

Good morning, and please step into my office. I'm Dr. Tucker. Are you feeling bummed out by the colder-than-normal temperatures? Left shivering by nights in the teens and days that don't get out of the 40s? Weary of winter and ready for spring? Not so fast. You're not just weary of winter; you're sick. As in "ill." What's that, you say? You might have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which ...

Good teen pals equal good politics

Of all the scientific studies that came out this past year, the most intriguing to me confirms an old theory: Adult politics are really an extension of which clique you joined in high school.

Fredericksburg Township explored

Our grand city of Camden is a beautifully preserved town laid out in an 18th century plan devised by Joseph Kershaw. We are proud of our historic homes and buildings, carefully placed public parks, wide streets, and beautiful trees. So it is easy to forget that this was not the original plan for the "town" that was to develop in this area of South Carolina. The original plan was a part of the "Township ...

What was the IRS thinking?

Well, this is a fine mess.

Are we willing to pay for increased public safety?

Kershaw County public safety is at a crossroads. The sheriff's office is greatly understaffed and deputies are compensated for their mandatory overtime work by an antiquated and grossly unfair payment system. The solicitor's office is working with half the staff it needs to properly prosecute the cases it receives every month and the jail is barely able to keep sufficient staff to meet state standards. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: ...

Benghazi redacted

Gatsby? What Gatsby?

Another view of Plan B

In "Getting it wrong about Plan B," Ruth Marcus ends her column by stating that the debate over the proposed Plan B policy "isn't about the government coming between parents and children or society condoning teen sex. It's about preventing teen pregnancy."

Are you (fill in the blank) enough?

WASHINGTON -- Enough with this "enough" business.

Reflecting on 100 years of success

KershawHealth recently completed a week of celebration commemorating the opening of the Camden Hospital in 1913 and a century of outstanding care. One of the things that struck me during those activities was the incredible amount of community support the hospital has always enjoyed, and the amazing things that strategic thinking and teamwork can accomplish.

What Sanford win says about S.C.

Somehow, the man who walked the Appalachian Trail all the way to Argentina to see his mistress got elected to Congress last Tuesday in a voting outcome that almost defies belief.