Category Archives: Opinions
Not calling ‘wolf’
And now as we head down the final stretch of 2019, there are three things I believe we can pretty much count on to happen:
The weather is going to get a little cooler; a property tax notice from the Pickens County Treasurer is going to land in your mailbox; and the Pickens County Humane Society is going to be teetering on the brink of financial collapse.
For the past five years since the county council decided to cut the funding for the Humane Society — which some people don’t realize is not a county agency — the animal shelter out on Five Forks Road near Liberty has found itself on the edge of the fiscal cliff at the end of the
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What’s the scoop on apples?
Did you know that some varieties of apples are better for you than others? Well, I didn’t know that. I thought an apple was an apple and they were all equally nutritious. I was wrong.
This discovery came about when I started thinking about going up to Hendersonville to get apples from the orchard.
We used to do this every year, but we make the trip less often now since I quit making apple jelly.
I started looking up recipes for fried apple pies, apple nut cake, apple butter and apple sauce. Also, baked apple dumplings and homemade mincemeat.
I knew Granny Smith apples are recommended for baking but ran across information about apples in general which was all
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A legend in the making
On a very cold night in February 1963, there was a high school basketball game played at the old Pickens High School 
gymnasium between the D.W. Daniel High School Lions and the Pickens High School Blue Flame.
This game not only set local records, but it also featured a young player who, years later, set numerous high school, college and professional basketball records. I am told some of these records are still intact.
His name was Pete Maravich, who later became known as “Pistol” Pete Maravich. I had the opportunity to play in that game. There were numerous major college scouts in the stands, as well as reporters. Please read my account of this game. I hope you enjoy it.
Throughout the earlier minutes of the game, we were two to four points
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Courier Letters to the Editor
Thoughts on DMVs, sugar and more
Dear Editor,
We need to increase federal government workers at the DMV, Social Security offices and post offices so we don’t have to wait in line so long. Also, government workers should be added so we don’t have to be put on hold when we call them. Also, government buildings waste money keeping them too cold in the summer and too hot in the winter. We should stop sending money to foreign countries and spend it here in our own country, where it is needed.
If the new prison does not have a chapel like the old one, it should. The prisoners need prayer and church services so
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Liberty’s blanks at the ballot box
Welcome to Liberty — “Where neighbors become friends.” Where the ideal of American freedom is embodied in its very name. And where, if you live in a certain part of town, you could go to the polls to vote in the Nov. 5 municipal elections and see a blank slate, because nobody signed up to represent you on the city council.
Incumbent Ward 3 Councilman Josh Harrison decided after three terms that he would step aside and let somebody else have a go at it. No one was interested in the job.
But don’t despair. Unwilling to allow the city to have to run a special election to fill the seat — with no assurance that anyone would step forward even in the second go-round — Harrison declared himself as a write-in candidate. Which I think is highly commendable.
He said he doesn’t have an explanation for why no one was willing to
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Raccoon hunters — not raccoon finders
I am relatively sure that the Good Lord gave Pickens County its pro-rata share of raccoons back during the great animal handout many, many centuries ago. But, alas, where were the little bandits hiding from the raccoon hunters? That was the most-asked question back in the 1950s and ‘60s.
We professional raccoon hunters in the Shady Grove area of Pickens County were beginning to wonder if this animal had, indeed, become extinct. I need to mention that I called myself a professional because I
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Congressional offices in veterans hospitals
I can’t imagine this being OK anywhere else: Members of Congress have commandeered space in Department of 
Veterans Affairs hospitals to use as their personal offices. It started with one, and quickly grew to six U.S. representatives in one state who’ve set up shop in hospitals. They want to talk to veterans, they say.
The VA wants them out by the end of the year. It wants the space back for medical purposes.
One congressman claims it’s personal because of something he said in a meeting with the VA. Snarling has gone back and forth, as VA Secretary
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Impossible things seem to happen every 15 minutes
I don’t know what official position Rudy Giuliani holds in the Trump administration. I remember him as the mayor of New York after terrorists brought down the twin towers at the World Trade Center in 2001. He rose to the occasion then, but his recent conduct has tarnished his image.
As far as is known by ordinary American citizens, he hasn’t been elected to any office in the government at this time. It’s my understanding that he’s serving in the capacity of personal attorney to President Donald Trump.
But if that is true, how can he be authorized to represent
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Courier Letters to the Editor 10-16-19
Collect your books before it’s too late
Dear Editor,
Here’s something for the young people reading this that will stand true at a future time in the history of the world.
They were made out of paper, and within was all kinds of information. They could educate, amaze and entertain you for hours. What was so amazing was that there were no pop-up ads and no one, absolutely no one, but you and God knew what you were learning about from them. Not the government, not even your parents. No?! I’m serious!
They, like weapons, in the right hands could inspire. In the wrong, destroy. So powerful, they were feared by the
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Easley Chicken Wars heating up again
Well, it looks like the Easley Chicken Wars are fixin’ to heat up again.
The newest entrant into the fracas, Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen, has been going great guns ever since opening a couple of weeks ago. Every time I’ve thought to stop by and get some of their wonderful spicy fried chicken, there’s been a line of cars winding all the way out into the highway. I keep thinking it’ll slow down once the novelty wears off, but it seems as though things are going to be jumping for a while over there.
Reminds me of the way Chick-fil-A, just down the road, has them lined
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