The truth

Dear Editor,

We all must face many hard things in this world we live in. Two of the hardest to face are the truth and death. We all must someday face both. Everyone dreads death, however the truth is the hardest to face. You can run from it, but you cannot hide. You can bury it, however deep matters not, for someday it will surface.

It will remain when all of creation is gone, for it is eternal and never changing. The truth cannot be bought nor sold, for it has no price put on it. When facing people with it, they will become angry and possibly kill you simply for showing them.

There is a reason the truth is called bitter yet a lie so sweet. The truth — so small a word yet so mighty — has destroyed many a person in history. In life, everything has two sides. When you talk only one side and ignore the other, you are not on the side of the truth. It shows weakness.

People need to hear both sides to make an honest, balanced decision. So many only want their side told, which makes them look all-knowing and powerful. I’ll consider taking the part of the silenced party when this happens.

Evil runs from the truth. I’ve always heard it said, “for lo the evil flee when no man pursue.” I wonder why? What an awful place our world would be if the truth didn’t exist. You could not believe anything, for all would be a lie. Chaos would be constant. No rest for the weary if not for the truth. Our world could never survive if not for this small word called the truth.

P.S. It would be great if politicians and their supporters got to know it better truly. John 8:32.

Eddie Boggs

Westminster

Heartening interaction with Clark

Dear Editor,

An incident happened to me the other day which was quite disturbing and also touched my heart.

I’m an 80-year-old disable woman who takes a walk early morning in my driveway and across the road to the mailbox. I use oxygen and rollator.

The traffic was really bad, and I had a hard time getting across. I finally got across to mail my cards, but then the traffic was worse than earlier. Every time I tried to cross, a car would come over the hill and I would back up.

I finally got across to my driveway and thanked the Lord and got up to my ramp when the sheriff of Pickens County, Rick Clark, pulled up and got out. He asked me if I was OK and said he was concerned when he saw me trying to get across the road. He turned around and came back to check on me.

That touched my heart, because all you hear now is bad things about the police, but you don’t hear the good. That’s why I’m telling this — because I am grateful for our police and thank them for their protection and what they do every day in our community.

P.S. Needless to say, I’m changing my walking schedule!

Dena Young

Pickens

Clarifying earlier letter

Dear Editor,

I sent a letter to the editor on or about Aug. 10. The last paragraph made a remark that some people swell with pride when they send a backpack of food home with an underprivileged child. I continued that every time teachers and administrators get a raise, the parents of these kids are pushed deeper into poverty. It’s true that tax revenue pays for raises within the district.

My mouth keeps me in trouble. When I was on the school board, we voted to allow Feed a Hungry Child to come into the schools and supply these backpacks of food. The food is supplied by Golden Harvest. There is absolutely no cost to the school district. This organization is currently helping to feed around 600 hungry kids in the county. I never meant for anyone to think that I meant that this organization had anything to do with all the numerous raises given to teachers and staff. The school board, and only the school board, did that. That is, all except Alex Saitta, and I applaud him for not spending every cent of the budget for raises.

Feed a Hungry Child has a wonderful heart and purpose. They and many other charitable organizations in this county provide food, clothing and services to those who cannot afford those things. When I ran for the school board, I went door to door and was totally surprised by how many people in Pickens County live in poverty. There are kids who eat at school on Friday and don’t eat again until Monday at school. My deepest apology to all of you who donate your time and money to those who need you. I wish I could be as selfless. Thank you, Feed a Hungry Child, and thanks to those of you in the school system who make sure hungry kids have food for the weekend. Next time I’m writing, I’ll try to think at the same time.

Jimmy Gillespie

Central

By harvesting the sun’s rays and converting them into electricity, solar panels can mean big savings on electrical costs. To get those savings, however, the solar projects have to actually be completed. The Office of Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs investigated 11 solar projects undertaken by the VA and rated them on the end result.

These projects had been awarded between 2010 and 2013. Between 2010 and 2015, the VA spent $408 million. By March of 2016, only two of the 11 projects were up and running.

Solar projects are designed to be completed in less than 372 days. The projects the VAOIG inspected (at least the ones that were finished) had an average completion time of 1,269 days.

In Arkansas, an $8 million solar panel project had been created in the parking lot. It was never activated because it had to be dismantled when a new parking garage was built. The finish date was to be May 2013, and cost overruns are already at $1.5 million.

In California, a company was awarded a $22.5 million solar project in 2011, with an expected finish date of 2012. The state’s historic preservation office got involved and required modifications to the plan, something nobody apparently considered. The solar array started producing electricity in 2015.

In Florida, a project was delayed for almost five years because no one realized that the roof of the parking garage would need to be raised to accommodate buses.

And so on, through another half dozen projects. In one, the connection point wasn’t indicated on the plans. Another has been delayed 28 months so far, with one problem being welds versus bolts.

The VAOIG issued four suggestions for future improvement. The interim assistant secretary for management disagreed with two of them, including doing a lessons-learned analysis.

(c) 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.

I don’t know if children memorize poetry anymore in elementary school, but when we were children, we had to.

Mrs. Gainey, the fifth grade teacher at Wagram Elementary School, forced generations of children in our rural community to memorize poetry. She also made us memorize Psalms from the King James Bible.

I must say, although it was hard work at the time, I no longer hold it against her, because what we memorized in fifth grade, believe it or not, we all still know.

She didn’t change things up any from year to year.

What my older cousins had been taught was also taught to the younger ones as we came through.

I never realized what a favor she’d done us, but I must say that as I grow older and memorization becomes more difficult, I appreciate being able to recite some of the most beautiful language in the Bible from memory.

It doesn’t matter where I am, whether it’s dark or light, or whether the electricity is on or off.

It’s all there.

I can still hear her voice in my head. Now she had a keen unpleasant voice and talked through her nose. It was like being taught by a chain saw. It kept on and on and on until you learned the piece out of self-defense.

Also, nobody got to go out for recess until every single person in the class recited the poem. It didn’t matter if they were able to read or not.

Two students in my class, we now know, had dyslexia. But they both learned the poems, because we drilled them relentlessly at every opportunity. Mrs. Gainey allowed us time during class to do this.

Now one boy, whose family owned a peach orchard in the sand hills, missed a lot of school in the spring and again in the fall when he was needed at home to work.

He wore overalls and brogans to school every day when he attended. He was a smart boy but never a good student because he wasn’t in class.

Ardis was smart enough to get into the Air Force. Fortunately, he wasn’t killed in Vietnam and made a career out of the service, one of the few options for rural boys if they didn’t want to stay on the farm. And I’m sure he still knows the poem “Trees,” by Joyce Kilmer.

If any of Mrs. Gainey’s former students are ever on a quiz show and need to know anything about the Bible, Longfellow or Robert Louis Stevenson, another of her favorites, they’ll make out like bandits.

We had the benefit of going to a very small school with really excellent teachers. We didn’t have computers in class. We had books, a library, teachers who were valued and families who appreciated the effort made to teach children.

I don’t know of a single student who ever dropped out of that school. They would have been afraid to because they knew their teacher would personally go to their house and drag them back into class.

We may not have all become rocket scientists, but we all knew how to write in complete sentences, had a solid understanding of math and knew right from wrong.

I know times have changed, but it is my sincere wish every child in America could go to a school like that.

School board elections

Dear Editor,

I read about the filing for local school board elections in Pickens County with some concern. School board trustees are to balance the wants of the school administration with the wants of the public.

In Clemson, Betty Bagley is a former superintendent and is running unopposed. I can’t see how a former administrator who didn’t have to spend any time talking with the people of Pickens County during the campaign will be anything but biased toward doing what the district administration wants.

The same in Easley, where Betty Garrison, a former principal, is running unopposed. Garrison has praised Judy Edwards, who ignored the public when she voted to close A.R. Lewis and Holly Springs schools, and just followed the district administration.

Add in Brian Swords, who is an administrator at Tri-County Tech and voted to close the schools, too.

Our only hope is Alex Saitta in the Pickens election, who showed he is independent-minded by voting against the closings and has the experience and grit to stand as a counterbalance to Bagley, Garrison and Swords, who will rubberstamp district administration plans.

Let’s not forget State Rep. Neal Collins of Easley wants to add a seventh seat to the school board, and it will be in his area of Easley. Sen. Larry Martin stopped it before, but Sen. Martin is no longer there to stop this.

District administrators and the Easley and Clemson crowd are trying to hijack the school board, and this is not good for our county.

Dennis Reinert

Easley

Reflecting on power

Dear Editor,

In the heat and anxiety of an election year such as I have never seen in my 84 years, we need to do some reflecting on what power really is.

We read and hear about the power of the parties and also of the presidential candidates. In light of this debate or struggle, let us look at real power and might.

Look to God, the author and creator of all things, then of man created in God’s own image, which is spiritual. Man was created to care for and rule over things on earth — to subdue control and replenish. With this responsibility, he had a condition to meet. He was to be obedient to God. God place Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, commanding them to do what they were told. He stipulated that they could take fruit from all trees, etc., except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They could choose to be obedient or not. Enter Satan (the tempter and deceiver). They sinned (disobeyed God).

Thus sin entered into this world, and mankind was removed from the rulership he had and Satan took dominion over the power over the earth in the place of man. God is still supreme, but Satan is allowed for a season to tempt mankind and cause separation from God, due to we mortals having free will and a choice we can make.

Whom have you chosen? God or Satan? Each of us have to choose. It is a personal choice.

As to some of God’s power I spoke of versus man’s power, I would like you to take a short drive east of S.C. Highway 8 on Wilson Way and look at a tree on the right of the road in the pasture there. This tree about two weeks ago was alive and thriving. Approximately half-way up, it has been literally exploded. This happened as a bolt of lightning (created by God) blew the tree up.

Our home is about 100 yards from the tree. I watched it happen. The flash of light and the noise happened at the same time. Yes, it did shake our home, lit up the area and made a noise heard quite a distance awway. This was just one lightning bolt.

We need to revere God and allow him to again be the God of our nation and not the politicians as they make their ploy to be the next president. We need again to be one nation under God, instead of under man.

This is my prayer for our nation — a nation of the people, by the people and having God back in our nation as it was when our nation was founded. I see this as the only way our nation can survive.

The story of the lightning and the tree is just a reminder of just what an awesome and powerful God we serve as believers in Jesus Christ. I pray that you are, or will become, as I am. Not perfect, but forgiven through the blood of Christ, shed for all of mankind’s sin.

Max Wilson

Pickens

Camp iRock provides help for families

Dear Editor,

I had a chance to visit Camp iRock toward the end of July. It is a combination school district-YMCA-United Way summer camp with the focus on reading improvement, serving 150 students countywide at Pickens, Chastain and West End elementary schools.

It is a mix of reading classes and summer camp activities to help rising second, third and fourth graders who are below grade level in reading. It was a Monday through Friday, eight-week program.

At Pickens Elementary, two were running the program day to day — Andrew Shipman (the instruction part, a teacher from Pickens Middle) and Josh Miller (the camp part, YMCA camp coordinator). The academic improvement was significant this summer, and the kids had a lot of fun.

I asked, how do you motivate these children who are thinking this is summer school? They said, we told them it is not summer school and showed them the camp side of it all to convince them. The first week there was no reading and no instruction, just camp. Thereafter, each morning was devoted to reading, improving research and writing skills and showing the kids how to fall in love with books. The afternoons are for camp activities like swimming at the YMCA, music, character building, soccer and field trips to places like the Greenville Zoo, Table Rock State Park and more.

I’ve long said, if a child doesn’t read well, it is more a social problem than an academic one. My children learned the building blocks of reading in school, but they became proficient reading with us at home. If that isn’t occurring, that’s a social problem and has to do with the relationship between the parent and child.

Camp iRock invests time with the parent-child relationship — how to work together to pick out books, read together at home, review and pick out a book’s themes, characters and information. Tips were sent home to parents to help reinforce what students are learning during the week. Plus there were family nights. It was all geared toward integrating parents as part of the child’s education team in order to build on gains after school restarts in August.

Bigger picture, the challenges we face with many students are beyond academic. These students face social and psychological obstacles that are inhibiting their learning. For instance, when Jayne comes into school crying her eyes out because her dad is MIA, her mom is on meth and she is being bumped from relative to relative, putting a newer Promethean Board in her class isn’t going to help.

We’ve improved the graduation rate from 71 percent to 82 percent. To capture an even higher percentage of students and get them to the graduation finish line, we must formulate broader and more comprehensive academic-clinical efforts with students and their families. Camp iRock provides one example of how this might work.

Alex Saitta

School board trustee

Pickens

In support of Saitta

Dear Editor,

It puzzles me why the nice young man is running against Alex Saitta for school board.

I believe him when he says what he wants is best for all the schools. So does Alex, and his record has shown that over the years.

Alex promised to speak up for the people, which he has. He promised to use the school district’s money more wisely, which he has. He promised to hold the school board accountable, which he and Henry Wilson have tried to do.

You would think a lot of people in Pickens County would have long noses from all the lies that have been told about Alex.

Some even say he should not be able to hold office because he is not from this area. Nikola Tesla was not even from America. When anyone flips on a light, they are glad a man from Eastern Europe came to the U.S.A.

Anyone who truly knows Alex, as I do, is glad he came to Pickens County.

Another thing — the woman running for District 5 in Easley said the woman going off the school board did a good job. Maybe for Easley, but not for the rest of the county — helping cause the loss of two great schools.

It would be great if the man wanting Alex’s seat on the board moved to Easley or Clemson and won one of those seats.

David F. Holcombe

Sunset

Preamble — When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the culinary bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and preeminent station to which the Laws of BBQ and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to declare South Carolina’s BBQ Supremacy.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all BBQ is not created equal, that South Carolina BBQ is endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable Rights and Qualities, and that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of BBQ Perfection.

That to secure this exalted position, The S.C. Barbeque Association was instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the BBQ Eaters and Judges. That whenever any form of challenge to South Carolina’s BBQ Supremacy becomes destructive of the ends of honesty and good eating, it is the Right of the BBQ-eating People of South Carolina to alter or to abolish our relationship with other BBQ pretenders, and to institute a new Declaration of South Carolina BBQ Supremacy thus laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affirm and maintain this South Carolina BBQ Supremacy.

To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Whereas, “A History of South Carolina Barbeque” by Lake E. High, Jr.(aka the BBQ Bible) is recognized by all rational, literate and discerning people as the one true, accurate, comprehensive and undisputed history of the origins of BBQ in South Carolina, America and the world, and

Whereas, said BBQ Bible has been established as a true, verifiable and documented historical fact that BBQ is a ‘gift of two civilizations’ with the native Indians providing the method of cooking meats slowly to endure tenderness combined with the pigs introduced in the New World by the Spanish, as the first, true and only method of cooking BBQ, and

Whereas, this method of cooking by native Indians was clearly, graphically and indubitably established by the drawings made by contemporary artist Jacques le Moyne in the 1500s, and

Whereas, the first Spanish colony to combine this indigenous Indian cooking method with imported pigs was at Santa Elena settlement in what is now Parris Island, South Carolina, in 1566 the then capital of Spanish Florida proclaimed by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, the first governor of Spanish Florida, and

Whereas, all BBQ pretenders who would falsely claim that there is such a thing as BBQ beef, chicken, goat, rabbit, alligator, lamb, turkey, possum or any other four or two legged creature that trod the earth or swim in the seas are guilty of the crime of BBQ Blasphemy as their spreading of falsehoods as to the origins and definition of BBQ is by its very nature false as it has been established that all true and authentic BBQ is and always will be ipso facto pork, and

Whereas, over the centuries of BBQ preparation in South Carolina, the chefs of the state have established the culinary hierarchy and traditions of BBQ sauces, basting and preparation to include in order of historic emergence to be vinegar and pepper, mustard, light tomato and heavy tomato, and

Whereas, since the origination of BBQ, the People of South Carolina have continued the improvement, expansion and promotion of BBQ such that today there are over 250 fine establishments in the state serving authentic BBQ and these said fine establishments are recognized and sanctioned by the State of South Carolina by inclusion on the Official BBQ Trail and Map, and

Whereas, the state of South Carolina has a diverse and vibrant culture of Competitive BBQ Cooking with dozens of official events and over 150 cooking teams that are officially sanctioned and presided over by Official Certified SC BBQ Judges as deemed trained and qualified by the S.C. Barbeque Association, therefore,

We the People of South Carolina, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name of and by Authority of the good People of the near Sovereign State of South Carolina solemnly publish and declare, That the State of South Carolina is, and of Right ought to be hereby Declared The One and Only True BBQ Capital of the World and that all intending and competing claims by any locale or collections of such are hereby deemed to be false, deceitful, untrue, erroneous, fanciful, fraudulent, fictitious, unfounded, specious, spurious, invalid, inaccurate, misleading and untrue.

And in support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Proclaimed, this the eighth day of August in the year of our Lord of two thousand and sixteen on behalf of and in the name of any and all South Carolinians, living, dead and unborn who have or will ever cook, eat or in any way partaken of said BBQ, regardless of sauce, from the Time of Origins in 1566 on St. Elena Island until today, and for future generations of South Carolinian’s to come, ad infinitum.

Phil Noble is a businessman in Charleston and a proud member of the S.C. Barbeque Association. His columns are distributed weekly by the S.C. Press Association. He can be reached at phil@philnoble.com.

I got the mail today.

A couple of bills. A greeting card. Some catalogs. A newspaper. One package that my wife grabbed right away. (Wonder what that was?)

Lately, it occurs to me how completely I take for granted that I will get the mail tomorrow.

I’ve had my share of gripes about the mail. As president of the National Newspaper Association, I have fielded our community newspaper members’ postal concerns all year. The mail is slower than it used to be. The U.S. Postal Service slowed it down by a day, at least, because of financial problems. Newspaper subscribers are unhappy, because too often their papers are arriving late. Some local businesses have had problems with cash flow because of late mail.

Still, I get the mail every day but Sunday. Bet you do, too.

If you follow the news, you know the U.S. Postal Service is in trouble. Because so many people and businesses use the internet, there isn’t as much mail to deliver. But we still expect the mail to come. At my newspaper, we look for it on Saturdays, too, because weekend mail is extremely important in small towns. (Congress considered ending Saturday mail, but thankfully it has dropped that idea for now.)

Beneath the surface, however, we see seismic, economy-rattling changes ahead unless Congress can pass legislation to lower the Postal Service’s cost of doing business. It carries more than $50 billion of debt on its balance sheet. Fortunately, there two bills that would do the job. The House bill, HR 5714, is by Reps. Jason Chaffetz, R-UT, and Elijah Cummings, D-MD, and co-sponsors Mark Meadows, R-NC; Gerald Connolly, D-VA and Stephen Lynch, D-MA. The Senate bill, S. 2051, is by Sens. Tom Carper, D-DE, Claire McCaskill, D- MO, Mark Warner, D-VA, Roy Blunt, R-MO, Jerry Moran, R-KS, and Susan Collins, R-ME. Passing these bills is easier said than done. You may have noticed Congress is having a hard time these days getting anything passed.

This is what the bills have to fix.

A 2006 law imposed a requirement to put advance funding into a federal retirement health plan for postal workers. Other agencies don’t do advance funding. They are on a pay-as-you-go system. That requirement began to cripple USPS within a year or two after its passage. What the 2006 law didn’t do was relieve USPS of also contributing to Medicare for the same workers, which many do not use. So there are two plans for many workers, when only one is used. USPS has to double-pay, which is another way of saying you double-pay every time you buy stamps—for a total of about $29 billion now paid into the Federal Treasury. The Chaffetz-Cummings and Carper bills would end the double-payment. Retirees would go onto Medicare like the rest of us do, and the other plan would provide supplemental coverage. The Postal Service would be relieved of the debt it is carrying from the 2006 law because the funding will be complete.

Sounds so reasonable, right? Why hasn’t it passed? Because Uncle Sam likes keeping half of that double payment. Somehow, some think tanks inside the Beltway (and I say “think” with my tongue in cheek) believe by ending the double payment, USPS would be getting a bailout. But it isn’t a bailout. This is stopping your postage money from being unfairly collected and relieving a financial burden USPS did not deserve if Medicare was used as intended.

Saving this money may not mean much to you at a few pennies a pop, but to businesses, it is big money that could be used to create jobs instead of lining the federal treasury. Did you know that the mail is responsible for 7.5 million jobs and $1.2 trillion in the U.S. economy?

Mail is important. But it has to be reliable and on time. Unless this legislation gets through, mail will get slower and eventually, we won’t be able to take it for granted.

If you get a chance this summer, e-mail your members of Congress a note asking them to pass these bills. Or better yet, send a letter by mail. Bet Congress takes that mail for granted every day, too.

Chip Hutcheson is hte publisher of The Times Leaders in Princeton, Ky., and the president of the National Newspaper Association.

A year after my sister-in-law died from advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, her 55-year-old daughter, Debbie, came to me asking, “Will I also have this disease? I seem to easily forget things I should remember, such as a person’s name, or where I left my keys.”

This is a common fear. Alzheimer’s disease researcher Robyn Honea of the University of Kansas said, “It is estimated that people who have relatives, especially mothers, with Alzheimer’s disease are four to 10 times more likely to develop the disease themselves compared to people with no family history.” However, this is not a verdict.

There are two forms of Alzheimer’s — early onset and late onset. Early onset is rare. Symptoms start before the age of 65. This type of Alzheimer’s tends to cluster within families. Often, several generations are affected. In many cases this form of Alzheimer’s is caused by mutation in one of three genes. People with these extremely rare mutations tend to develop Alzheimer’s disease in their 30s or 40s. On average, half of the children of a person with one of these rare genetic mutations will inherit the disease. Those who do not inherit the mutation cannot pass it on and are not susceptible to getting Alzheimer’s. It is also important to know that these mutations are extremely rare and account for fewer than one in 1,000 cases of Alzheimer’s.

The second form, late onset Alzheimer’s disease, is much more common than early onset Alzheimer’s. It effects people older than 65. Research is constantly being done for this group. It has been found that in the regular aging process all of us lose brain vitality (gray matter), and there is brain shrinkage. Those with parents (especially mothers) with Alzheimer’s experience this at a faster rate than those without parents who have this disease.

What can you do if you have this concern? First, share your apprehension with your doctor. A complete assessment can be made. It would include family history, a physical exam, a neurological exam, mental clarity tests and brain imaging. Second, research reveals that aside from DNA, environment, lifestyle and eating habits also play a large role. Those who exercise regularly, stimulate mental acuity and eat a healthy diet can possibly delay, if not circumvent Alzheimer’s disease.

So many people have asked if they can ask me questions or tell me concerns regarding dementia. The answer is yes. Please address them to me at askbonnie@outlook.com. While you remain anonymous, answers to your questions will be revealed in the newspaper so that you and others can benefit. I look forward to hearing from you.

Bonnie Holmes is president of Loving Health Care Inc. Although the well-qualified caregivers care for clients with many different types of needs, the specialty of the company is clients with dementia. For more information, call (864) 916-9204.

Snarling and snapping

Dear Editor,

Seems every time I pick up a newspaper these days someone is snarling and snapping at the heels of the Democrats.

Nothing wrong with sharing your opinion, however the Republicans aren’t exactly saints heading to glory either.

Republican Idaho Senator Larry Craig involved in a homosexual scandal in the airport bathroom, our own ex-Governor Mark Sanford hiking the Appalachian Trail, and let’s not forget Richard Nixon and Watergate, to name just a few. Now what good did that do to say that? Just made Republican supporters mad — nothing more, nothing less.

Same when you snap at the Democrats — makes Democratic supporters more determined than ever to elect their candidates.

If you really care about America, the best thing to do is do as 2 Chronicles 7:14 says.

Most of you claim to be Christians, so you should know what that verse says. If not, look it up if you really care. Do what it says and believe instead of snarling and snapping. Why not — you’re not changing things for the better with your spiteful letters other than to get your frustration out and probably the praise of your friends.

Eddie Boggs

Westminster

Dealing with addiction

Dear Editor,

I found Alex Saitta’s letter on the growing meth problem in the county to be very insightful. Alex is a problem-solver, and I think we would all be well advised to take his solution-orientated ideas seriously.

Abuse of prescription drugs is also rising, and a grave concern. Pain clinics seem to be all over — Mr. Jones or Mrs. Smith needs the drug, says they have a pain, and the prescription is written. Not only are adults abusing prescription drugs, but medicine chests in too many homes are full of these opiates, and children are often getting their hands on them.

And when people become addicted to these prescription opiates, and they no longer can get them as readily as before, many are turning to street heroin, and that is one reason for that drug’s resurgence in the country.

Shockingly, Pickens County is one of the leaders in the state in drug overdose deaths. Before a problem can be solved, it first has to be recognized and accepted as a problem. And this problem is a matter of life and death.

A dialog of over-prescribing, dependence and allowing these prescription drugs to get in the wrong hands needs to be started by our elected officials, who seem oblivious to the problem.

But we as parents, siblings, friends and even children must be proactive in the lives of those we love. Do what you can, all you can, to help those you love that fight addiction.

Addiction is not a character flaw — it is the worst kind of disease, one that attacks the soul as well as the body. With faith, hard work and prayer, addiction “can” be beaten.

Visit this website for help locally, local.soberrecovery.com/Narcotics_Anonymous_Easley_SC-r1298556-Easley_SC.html.

Rick Tate

Easley

The love of money

Dear Editor,

Eight or 10 years ago, the Pickens County School Board used a loophole in the law to fund a $375 million building project. Known as the Greenville Plan, it was later made illegal by the S.C. legislature. Voters said no in a referendum, but the board did it anyway.

Well, now there is a different board, so things should be better, right? Not. They’ve blown around $2.5 million in savings to give teachers three raises and one raise to assistant principals. Then they said they would have to close three schools because there wasn’t enough money. Recently, they voted to enter into what looks like an illegal contract with the superintendent. Did the majority of the board say, “we might be wrong”? Nope. They’re defending their decision to pad the pockets of their friends while using your money and their office to do just that. Their reasoning? Somebody might go to Greenville County. Do you know how much of the roughly $100 million budget goes to salaries and benefits? About 90 percent. That leaves 10 percent for everything else.

One board member compared Alex Saitta to a leech and implied that he is an egomaniac because Saitta pointed out that the contract is probably illegal according to recent case law. Saitta has lots of human defects, but he can’t be bought, he won’t use his office or influence to do political favors for his friends, and when he votes he uses common sense to do what is beneficial for voters and the school district, i.e. students, and the education of those students. And he won’t bend or sway to coddle the good ol’ boy politicians. He’s a damn yankee who has better ethics than my fellows.

Just so all of you know, there’s much talk among the board about closing Dacusville Middle. And no, Henry Wilson is not among the guilty. He’s been a relatively pleasant surprise on a liberal board that would make Hillary Clinton look conservative. Henry, plant your feet and take a decisive stand for what is good and right and legal.

There are people in this county who swell with pride because they give underprivileged kids backpacks of food. Then they want salary increases that will tax parents deeper into poverty. Educators love quotes and sayings. Here’s one. The love of money is the root of all evil.

Jimmy Gillespie

Central

Bias and  inaccuracies

Dear Editor,

This is in reference to the “Brexit” editorial by Phil Noble in the July 6 issue.

The scope of bias and inaccuracies in Mr. Noble’s editorial are massive. First off, the organization he is affiliated with, S.C. New Democrats, is in itself inaccurate. There is nothing new about the message, the people, the tactics or the philosophy of this group compared to the Democrat Party of the last 40 years.

In his editorial, he talks about how bad the Brexit is and how it has and will destroy your investments and the economy. Well, less than one week after the article was in the paper, the Dow Jones Industrials reached record levels. He was proven 100 percent wrong in very short time.

He compared the Brexit approval voters to Republican supporters of Donald Trump and said they were old, white, rural, uneducated, poor males who are xenophobic (not his word). Well, there’s a sweeping generalization based on race, class and education. I thought that’s exactly the kind of thing a “New Democrat” would abhor. Yes, educated minority women did vote for the Brexit. Yes, of the most liberal UK voters (Green and Lib Dem) 25 percent and 30 percent respectively voted for Brexit.

Mr. Noble does not like it when people want to be independent and free. That means less government and less control for those in power, which he tries very hard to ensure, are members of the Democrat Party. The examples of why the Democrat Party should not be strongly supported are many, but since we’re talking about voting, I’ll use that example.

The Democrat Party is fiercely against voter identification laws. They use massive donations by billionaire George Soros (who became wealthy by stock market speculation and thus is “Big Wall Street”) to fund this and many other activities. President Obama worked for ACORN, which was convicted in several cases of voter fraud. Hillary Clinton is against all voter ID laws and in fact wants universal automatic registration at age 18, 20 days of early voting, and to return to the southern states having to get permission to change election laws from the federal Justice Department. All of these favor voter fraud.

Old Dominion University conducted a study on non-citizen voting in U.S. elections and found that the majority (54 percent to 80 percent, depending on the position-specific election) vote for the Democrat running. They found that Democrats have very likely won positions based on non-citizen votes. The voting irregularities extend to 2.75 million people registered to vote in more than one state and 1.8 million DEAD people registered to vote. In May 2016, CBS News reported 215 dead people voted in Los Angeles County alone.

These voting issues are illegal. This violates the Voting Rights Act. It violates the Constitution, which says only U.S. citizens have the right to vote. The Democratic Party benefits from this illegal activity, and so they protect it.

New Democrats? Hardly. The enforcers of Jim Crow laws in the 1880s and into the 1960s used them to get elected to gain power, wealth and control people. Now, the same Democratic Party uses illegal voting to win elections to gain power, wealth and control people. Nothing new about it.

Reed Severance

Pickens

By Olivia Fowler
Staff Reporter

The first cup of coffee in the morning starts the day. It’s a morning ritual. My favorite place to drink it is on the front porch in the stillness of early morning.[cointent_lockedcontent]

I sit there and sip, watching the butterflies swirl around the lantana on the walkway. How do they sustain themselves?

Have you ever wondered what butterflies do for a living?

We know their lives are short in comparison to our lives, so what do they do in their short time on earth?

Apparently they exist to be beautiful and to make us wonder.

We usually fly through each day so busy we forget to enjoy the moments that make it up.

We turn away from living in the moment and rush through the day, stressed out with the attempt to complete another task or check something off the list.

“Have to” and “should have” are phrases that pepper our speech. And of course we turn our backs on many beautiful opportunities because we say we don’t have time.

I can’t do this because I have to do that.

What would happen if we broke that cycle?

What do you think the butterflies think about our frenzied lives, or do they even pay attention to the humans?

The butterflies don’t impose this sort of stress on themselves.

“Hurry up” doesn’t seem to be a phrase they’re familiar with.

There are zebra swallowtails hovering around the lantana and hibiscus. They’ll light on a stem near a bloom and enjoy the pollen.

The honey bees are willing to share. There seems to be plenty for everyone.

This particular morning, I saw several of the ones we call mourning cloaks. I’m not sure what the official name is because I lost our butterfly book long ago, but mourning cloak suits them well enough.

Starting out the day watching the butterflies flit about is a very peaceful way to put the day into perspective. How best can I use this day?

Some days I give myself permission to step off the treadmill and just be. It’s a form of meditation, but it helps in every way.

Each day is a gift. We should open this gift carefully and enjoy all the generosity we benefit from.

The beautiful wings of the butterflies are a promise of the beauty and intricate structure of our world.

We are part of this world, but it is foolish to try to impose our own limited, narrow perspectives onto the vital and powerful thing called life.

Look at our world and really see it. The immense and unlimited variety of every life form is spread before us. Don’t walk by blindly focused on your cellphone. Look and see.

Butterflies are free.

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