One of the most popular stories from last week’s paper was about the Pickens County School Board planning to consider starting meetings with prayer again.

This was thought to be illegal, but recent rulings have said it is OK as long as you follow certain guidelines. It will be interesting to see how this turns out, but this measure only controls prayers before school board meetings.

Nobody will be checking to see if anybody has their eyes open. There are no tests as to what is asked for in

There’s a friend out there who has been longing for a snowfall all winter. She has kept her snowman decorations out to help things along. So now I see the snow coming down and realize that my friend is actually a powerful weather witch, and I’m a little afraid of her.

It is beautiful falling. I’d forgotten how pretty it makes everything look and how clean. We know what a temporary condition that is. Maybe that’s part of the beauty of snow in the South.

Have you ever heard the one about how to tell the southerners from the northerners in a neighborhood? When it snows in the South, the northerners who haven’t lived here very long can all be seen out in their driveways shoveling snow. The southerners will all be out in the front yard with the children, playing in it. They know that

Pointing out hypocrisy

Dear Editor,

Pickens County school district administration recently put forth a five-year plan that proposes raising property taxes 13 mills.

Tom O’Hanlan, speaking on behalf of the Manufacturers Caring for Pickens County (MCPC), endorsed the plan in a letter to the editor that said “The MCPC would like to offer our support to the five-year maintenance plan. … While no one likes taxes and tax increases, sometimes they

We all do things that don’t turn out the way we planned. And on some days it’s not just a single thing. It’s everything. And that is what happened last week, when a very valiant attempt was made to attend a reading of poetry sponsored by the Birchwood Center for Art and Folk Life.

Harriet Richie and Tom Johnson, two talented regional writers, were presenting a reading of love poems in honor of Valentine’s Day at the Reserve, a gated community in the scenic area of S.C. Highway 11.

Although I’d never visited the Reserve proper, I nevertheless assumed there would be no problem in getting there.

McKinney’s Chapel is, however, a familiar destination and

Music means different things to different people, but to me, music is something you listen to. So if you take away the distractions and all you have is the voice and the accompaniment, then you can tell if the music is good. Or not.

So if you need 20 gyrating dancers, flashing lights, fireworks and revealing costumes to sing, maybe what you’re doing isn’t really singing. Good music doesn’t have to be propped up.

Who gets to say what is music and what isn’t? There isn’t an answer to that,

Scouts’ ‘leave no trace’

benefits all

Dear Editor,

Last weekend, Boy Scout Troop 134, sponsored by Lawrence Chapel UMC, picked up trash between Daniel High School and Jones Mill Road as a service project.

This is a stretch of road that is about two miles long. We have cleaned this section before, and the church has adopted this section of S.C. Highway 133. The Scouts picked up eight and a half large orange garbage bags of trash. What

We are all a bunch of lucky ducks. While all the world is concerned about war, terrorism, plague, natural disasters and whether the asteroid will hit us, we Americans are focused on whether or not anybody had knowledge that the game footballs used by the New England Patriots were under-inflated.

Not that the issue isn’t of utmost importance. Apparently an under-inflated football in the possession of any team gives them an incredible

Analyzing the taxes list

Dear Editor,

I read with astonishment the letter published last week regarding the multitude of taxes we bear, from the Pickens County Taxpayers Association. A closer examination compelled me to respond. Instead of hitting all 61 separate taxes, I’ll group them in the interest of time.

Taxes that we don’t pay in Pickens County: This includes dog licenses, bike licenses, bike and

Dogs are the most reliable of creatures when it comes to being loyal. You can tell a dog anything without having to worry about seeing your secret broadcast on the six o’clock news.

Dogs are also very protective of your interests. Look at Red Dog, our old boxer. He is top dog now and takes those responsibilities very seriously.

He has a squad of loyal soldiers who follow his lead into any situation.

We have a large propane tank in our side yard. Red Dog feels strongly that it is his duty to keep a close watch on this tank and protect it from intruders.

When the propane truck pulls into the yard, Red

Do you care about your county?

Dear Editor,

Pickens County schools need a tax increase in order to restore funding to 2007 levels. There are folks who are passionate about the future of Pickens County, and then there are those who are passionate about their party’s no-tax pledge.

Let’s take a look at some of the folks who are passionate about the future of Pickens County. Google “Concerned Citizens of Pickens County.” Look at the passion, the supporting graphs and