Category Archives: Opinions
Remembering the way it was
Miss Maude Moore was our sixth-grade teacher. She drove a little gray car and lived with her sister. She’d graduated from Flora McDonald College 
and approached teaching much like Miss Dove in the book “Good Morning, Miss Dove.”
She ran her classroom with perfect discipline, and we learned.
No one questioned her authority. We were a little afraid of her. Once, a new boy — a rarity in our little rural school — came into our class.
He wasn’t the usual farm child taught to respect his elders. The first thing we noticed about Pate Johnson was his smirk. He didn’t pay attention in class and was reluctant to follow instructions.
On his third day in class, Miss Moore, as was her custom, told him to go to
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Letters to the Editor
There are angels all around us
Dear Editor,
On Monday, Oct. 8, my husband and I were on our way from Pickens to Easley. We were on Highway 8 just past the Landmark Church sign when my car spluttered and quit. Out of gas! We were in the right lane, but not completely off the highway.
That’s when God sent us an angel — a young man around 30 years old. He helped us get our car completely off the road. We thanked him and thought that was the last we would see of him. Wrong! A few minutes later, he returned with a gasoline can in his hand, and he proceeded to put gas into my empty tank. He wouldn’t let us pay him, and I did not get his name, but I know he lives on Cedar Rock Road outside of Easley.
I just want to thank him for his help and let him know how very much we appreciate his act of kindness. May God bless you and yours, and my prayer is that when you need an angel God will provide one for you.
Again, thanks so much for your act of kindness.
Sonny and Georgia Harvey
Pickens
A spiritual awakening
When we consider the word revival and more specifically within the Christian faith, we think of a series of evangelistic meetings with the intention to increase interest in God. If we look more closely, we notice 
that being revived is the act of being restored and renewed back to a former place.
Similar words that are associated with being revived are reinvigorate, revitalize, refresh, restore, energize, rejuvenate, regenerate and stimulate. Within the context of our spiritual life, we see that a personal revival is a positive experience that convicts us to rearrange our priorities in order to give God a higher place in our life. This stirring of the soul brings a fresh awareness and rekindles the desire to follow the Lord with a renewed zeal and deeper commitment.
If we once had a genuine and exciting relationship with God, but now for some reason we have drifted away, our intimacy with him can be restored by humbling ourselves and calling upon him. We do not need to attend a church meeting in order to repent or draw closer to Christ — we just need a passion and determination to be with him.
Through the years, there have been some very powerful spiritual movements recorded in places other than America, such as China, Korea, India, Brazil, Nigeria and Indonesia. These movements have generated enthusiasm and interest in Christ and the Bible and have helped spread the
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It now costs nothing to freeze your credit
Per a new law, you can now put a freeze on your credit report for free. Gone is the $10 (or more) fee to freeze your credit and another equal fee to 
unfreeze it later. Multiplying by three for the big-three reporting companies, the cost kept too many people from taking steps to protect their credit.
All three companies — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — now are required by law to give consumers this option after the huge credit debacle last year, when over 148 million people had their information stolen. Unfortunately, you still need to contact all three agencies. Freezing one does not automatically freeze the other two.
Why is it important to freeze your credit? With locked reports, no one can sign up for new accounts in your name. Mortgages, utilities, loans — they’re all at risk.
There are several ways to freeze your credit. If you call or submit your request online, the companies have to freeze your credit in one day. Later, if you need to unlock your reports (if you want to apply for something), they have to do that within one hour. You also can freeze it by mail.
Call Experian at 1-888-397-3742, Equifax at 1-800-685-1111 and TransUnion at 1-888-909-8872. Note: You’ll need a personal identification number to use if you ever want to unfreeze your credit. Write it down and put it somewhere safe. Another way to protect your credit is with a lock. You can use a cellphone and an app to do this, but it’s not as secure.
If you’ve been a victim of identity theft, go online to www.identitytheft.gov or see www.consumer.ftc.gov for more information.
Remember that you’re entitled to one free credit report per year. Order yours from annualcreditreport.com.
© 2018 King Features Synd., Inc.
Please let me know when it’s all over
Is it a good thing to have a former coal industry lobbyist running the Environmental Protection Agency? Is it a good thing to have a wedding planner heading up HUD in New York? Is coal beautiful and clean? Is global warming really a myth? Do the Russians really have our best interests at heart? Is the huge national debt really helping the country? How can we possibly question this? Our leaders are running along the yellow brick road to see the great and powerful Oz. He has the answers.
The Germans embraced Hitler. He told them what they wanted to hear. All their
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Courier Letters to the Editor 10-10-18
Thankful Kavanaugh was sworn in
Dear Editor,
The often-stated reason liberals opposed Judge Brett Kavanaugh was abortion, but that’s only part of it. The left’s zeal to ruin his reputation and keep him off the Supreme Court was fueled by something more.
Smear campaigns against Christian conservatives are nothing new. The left has skillful but disgusting techniques. First, they fabricate a story, then get a media friend to run it — giving it legitimacy in the eyes of the unsuspecting, and it takes off like a spark to a bale of hay.
Unfortunately, in these days of 24-hour news, many stories run with little
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Religious freedom for all convictions
As we are noticing in our ever-changing world, when one person is offended over something, the new social acceptance solution is to stop what we are planning and allow that individual to change or prevent the desires of many. It now appears that new rules of order are being established with the supposed intention of not offending anyone. I understand the idea to try and accommodate everyone with whatever they believe, but since we are trending toward a puzzling destination, I’m troubled that our culture is losing an understanding of right and wrong.
I was raised with the idea that it takes a voting majority to make decisions, and this seems simple enough, however, our world is now becoming more
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Courier Letters to the Editor 10-3-18
An interest in open government
Dear Editor,
Public participation is vital for a healthy democracy. To that end, elected officials play a primary role in educating the public on the key issues, so the public can intelligently participate in the decisions being made by our government.
Unfortunately, most local leaders reach out to the public when they want our votes. Once elected, most disappear and do not spend the time to educate the public on the issues.
We see this with our new school board. Can you name a pressing issue in front of the school board right now? Probably not. That is not your fault, but rather the fault of the trustees who have made little to no effort to tell
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How do you plan to keep busy this winter?
Did you read the weather almanacs’ predictions for this winter? One of them mentioned teeth-chattering cold. Others ranged from warm and wet to cold and dry. No matter, winter is coming. Have you decided what you’ll do when it’s cold where you live? While none of us wants to stay locked inside every single day, we do need to prepare for those days we just can’t get out.
Here are some thoughts:
— Does your library have a book mobile? Check the bestseller lists and make your reading list. Some books won’t be released yet, but if you
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What is the Thin Gold Line?
Many of you reading are probably familiar with “The Thin Blue Line” representing law enforcement and maybe even “The Thin Red Line” 
representing the fire department. Fewer are probably aware of “The Thin White Line” that represents emergency medical services, but I imagine even a smaller percentage are aware of “The Thin Gold Line” that holds all the others together.
The following has been provided by a former Pickens County 911 dispatcher, and just as they served behind the scenes and unseen, that is how they requested to remain.
“The Thin Gold Line represents an emergency telecommunicator, also known as a 911 dispatcher or a 911 call taker. Agencies may have different titles for these types of positions due to a person’s role in a communications center. For example, in some agencies a person can be both a 911 dispatcher and a 911 call taker. This is where an individual has the capability and training to answer a 911 emergency call and then notify (dispatch) first responders to the caller’s location. In larger agencies, there is usually a designated 911 call taker and a 911 dispatcher, which means the
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