Archive By Section - Editorials
Noted and passed -- Aug. 8, 2011
• We note with sadness the death last week of veteran horse trainer Charles "Charlie" V.B. Cushman Jr., whose name is synonymous with the horse industry both in Kershaw County and abroad. A twist of fate thrust Cushman from race spectator into the saddle at the 1949 Carolina Cup as a fill-in for an injured jockey. He went on to capture third place in that spring ...
Lawsuit No. 3
Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews has been sued for the third time since taking office only a few months ago. While we aren't legal experts, we do see a few interesting developments here, the first one being that Matthews has been no shrinking violet when it comes to making statements about the way the department was run prior to his election. Of course that's not uncommon in South Carolina law enforcement circles; after all, ...
Matthew Perry
It is difficult for children in Kershaw County today to even imagine the Jim Crow era, when African-Americans had to use separate bathrooms, couldn't eat in most restaurants, endured poor facilities and often had a difficult time even voting. That was just a bit more than a generation ago, and one of the towering figures who fought such injustices was Matthew Perry, who died earlier this week at age 89.
Noted and passed
• TV personality Alex Trebek is well known for asking "answers" on "Jeopardy!" but not as much so for chasing down intruders, which he did last week after someone invaded his hotel room. Alas, Trebek suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon while chasing down the violator, and he has undergone surgery. We hope he'll soon be recovered, as we (and legions of other "Jeopardy!" fans in Kershaw ...
Anonymous charges
An anonymous group has sent a letter to Kershaw County Board of School Trustees Chairman Joey Dorton charging that the school district -- its top officials, who make employment decisions -- had decreed who would be hired, or at least which races would be hired, before interviewing began for three principal's positions in the county.
Dangerous politics
With the country on the brink of a debt default, and with elected officials in Washington locked in combat, it has never been more apparent how fragile the art of compromise is in the nation's capital. Most believe the reason is that for years, members of the Republican and Democratic parties have become more and more polarized, Republicans hewing to the hard right and Democrats to the hard left. There's lots of space to ...
Noted and passed -- July 25, 2011
• Actress Jane Fonda says she's "deeply disappointed that (shopping channel) QVC caved in to insane pressure" and cancelled her recent television appearance. Fonda, as you might recall, straddled a Viet Cong anti-aircraft gun during the Vietnam war; she later charged she'd been tricked into the stunt. But people have long memories. Fonda's conduct went far beyond activism and protest, amounting instead to consorting with the enemy, and she must live with the consequences. ...
Student reading
Author Chris Crutcher says he's shocked -- shocked! -- that his book "Angry Management" has been removed from Kershaw County School District libraries and from the district's summer reading list. Imagine that.
Reggie Lloyd
Kershaw County resident Reggie Lloyd has had an impressive -- some would say meteoric -- career run in his public life. After practicing law for a prestigious Columbia law firm, he was elected a circuit court judge, and then he became U.S. Attorney for South Carolina, the first African-American to serve in that post since Reconstruction. In 2008 he was appointed by then-Gov. Mark Sanford to head the State Law Enforcement Division.
Noted and passed -- July 18, 2011
• The suit filed by former Kershaw County Sheriff Steve McCaskill against present Sheriff Jim Matthews is a messy situation that will cost county taxpayers money. Libel laws are written so that people who hold themselves up to scrutiny -- in other words, almost all elected officials -- have very difficult tasks in winning such suits; they must usually prove there is malice involved, which is difficult to do. At the same time, Matthews ...
Debt ceiling stalemate
Business leaders from across the United States -- ranging from Wall Street monarchs to small-town family business owners -- barraged Congress earlier this week with the same message that many Americans would like to send: quit arguing and get something done about the debt ceiling and then the long-term fiscal discipline of this country. News reports indicate that a concerted effort from business people across the spectrum was aimed at ...
Betty Ford
Many Kershaw Countians who are past middle age undoubtedly recall with fondness former First Lady Betty Ford, who died last week at age 93. Her husband, Gerald Ford, became president upon Richard Nixon's resignation following the Watergate scandal; he had earlier been appointed to the vice presidency after Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace.
Noted and passed
• President Obama has started tweeting, and he might regret it. The president is now using the social-media Twitter to send out messages, but Republicans aren't letting him get off unscathed, sending in questions about the economy's performance during his administration. The city of Camden has recently undergone its own social media upheaval with its (former) Facebook account, and folks there might advise the president that tweeting might not end up all that it's ...
Casey Anthony
Many Kershaw County residents are no doubt keeping in their minds the most-used cliché in legal circles: you can never predict what a jury's going to do. That certainly proved true again earlier this week, when 12 people found Casey Anthony not guilty of murdering her 2-year-old daughter. It was a case that had captured public opinion perhaps as no other had since the murder trial of O.J. Simpson many years ago. Both defendants ...
Michelle Bachmann
Up until recently, someone who mentioned the words "woman" and "presidential candidate" in the same breath probably would have been met with the response, "Sarah Palin." But now, with Palin's star fading -- at least politically -- and with nobody having stepped forward to commandeer the frontrunner's role in the Republican field, Minnesota Congressman Michelle Bachmann is assuming a front-and-center position as a viable candidate to take the GOP nomination. Whether her early poll ...
Articles by Section - Editorials
Obama scandals
By now you have probably heard on more than one occasion some representative of the Obama administration -- perhaps Jay Carney, the press secretary; or maybe Eric Holder, the attorney general; or maybe the president himself -- repeat words that have become almost a mantra in responding to the multiple issues that are dogging the White House: "It wouldn't be appropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation." <p class="MsoNormal" ...
Road diet
The proposed "road diet" that the city of Camden is contemplating for its downtown area is intended to make the central business district more vibrant, pleasant and inviting. But not everyone agrees that will happen if the plan is effected, and city council is right to proceed slowly with this rather than rushing into something that's going to be met with resistance. The plan is complex but involves, among ...
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