Category Archives: Opinions
Courier Letters to the Editor 9-16-20
The Return in Pickens
Dear Editor,
The conversation around Pickens is about our country morally eroding, heading toward a point of no return. Our Constitution is in jeopardy on our present course, away from our forefathers’ vision for the freedoms we enjoy to have. God had been the foundation of our country’s liberties. Some
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Make your investments work as hard as you do
Labor Day has come and gone. Of course, this year, the holiday may have a different impact, given the employment-related stress and disruptions stemming from the coronavirus. Yet, it’s good to 
recognize the value of work and its importance in achieving your life’s goals. But if you’re going to retire comfortably and reach your other financial objectives, you also need to invest — and your investments need to work as hard as you do.
To help make this happen, you need to know why you’re investing in the first place. You likely have a
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Medical decisions made by neighbor?
How would you like it if you were admitted to a hospital, unable to express your wishes and ask questions, and a neighbor strolled in and started making medical decisions for you?
The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General was asked to investigate after this happened to a veteran who was hospitalized for three weeks.
The OIG determined that the neighbor had no legal authority to make medical decisions for
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Being ready to give an answer
Today, just as there was in the ancient world, there is a need for the people of God to assume the role of a watchman. If Christians do not share the gospel and warn the world that Jesus is the only hope for our future and is returning soon … who will?
The watchman’s call 2,700 years ago is still valid today: “The morning comes and also the night!” Yes, the world is in distress and insecurity is increasing on many levels, but there remains one rock that cannot be shaken, and that is the Kingdom of God! Many are
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Should the US bring back the Pony Express?
The removal of many mail sorting machines from our post offices is a worrisome state of affairs. Each machine can sort up to 36,000 pieces of mail per hour. The machines sort letters, postcards 
and other mail by bar code.
One person sorting mail can’t come close to sorting that number of pieces of mail.
There must be information somewhere as to how many pieces of mail a lone person can sort in one hour, but so far I haven’t been able to find it.
Now, if we compare mail sorting to cotton picking, we can say, according to Wikipedia, that one cotton picking machine replaces 50 human cotton pickers. So 50 human cotton pickers would have to be hired to replace one cotton picking machine.
I don’t know a lot about sorting mail quickly, but I’m on solid ground with information about cotton harvesting, as we grew up on a cotton and tobacco
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My glory, the lifter of my head
Sometimes the dark side tries to bring us down and discourage us, and if we continue down this dreary path, we will agree that our life is not worth much and no one really cares. However, there is some incredibly good news — the Bible as the highest standard of absolute truth clearly establishes that God sees you as the most valuable treasure ever created.
Since He is perfect and what He makes is without mistakes, all that is needed for us to be a victorious overcomer is to believe it! “I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that, my soul knows well” Psalm 139:14.
Living with low self-esteem is like driving with your foot on the brake, and this has everything to do with how a person views themselves. Ralph Waldo
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Women in the military
Dear Editor,
Twenty-six of our U.S. presidents served in the military before they were commander-in-chief of America. None of the presidents’ daughters have ever served in the military.
The military shows your love of your country. The military can provide educational grants to cover the cost of college for you and your children. The military develops leadership traits. The military improves skills for jobs that are needed to support our labor force. The military helps your personal growth. Lastly, serving in the military is a gesture of respect for our country.
Women face several challenges that are different from men in the military. Women face sexual abuse. Women come up against gender discrimination. Women have a deficiency in gender-specific
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Praying all goes well
With the children of Pickens County stepping across the threshold of a schoolhouse this week for the first time since March, we have entered a potentially dangerous phase of the new abnormal of 2020.
Everyone will have a mask on at school, at least when they’re within 6 feet of someone else — presumably. That’s what the state Department of Education requires. But these are kids.
While they’re jumping around outside at recess, with masks off, the coronavirus may also be happily jumping around — from one kid to another, I’m afraid.
The schedule the school district came up with for the first six weeks made very little sense to me when I saw it, although I think I understand the concept a little better after talking with a district spokesman about it. But it still seems more risky than what Greenville
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A nurse’s perspective
As a nurse, working around illness is nothing new; in fact, it’s the expectation. But lately, working in health care has been challenging and has provided me with a new perspective on care.
The current pandemic has stressed every aspect of our nation’s health care system. And while the lasting impact of COVID-19 is still unknown, your local doctors and nurses are absolutely focused on understanding this virus and providing you with excellent care. We are constantly looking for better ways to treat it and prevent its spread, while protecting
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This was life as we knew it
Does anybody remember when there was an uproar over the length of the Beatles’ hair? Or when Elvis Presley couldn’t be shown below the waist when he performed on the long-ago Ed Sullivan show? When radio stations received protested calls for playing “Little Egypt” on air?
These were all matters of interest in the part of the country where we all lived.
When you grow up in a largely rural community in the South, hardly anything ever happens. So the least littleYou must be logged in to view this content.
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