During the 1990s, a documentary titled “Uprising” about efforts by workers in the South to unionize textile mills was made. It was a factual account about events taking place in 1934 at a textile mill in Honea Path.

There was so much concern about having the film aired on SCETV, a decision was made not to air it. This was 20 years ago. But it happened.

Despite the resistance by the powers-that-be, the documentary was shown at the Easley Library on a rainy night with perhaps a dozen people in attendance, counting the team from Columbia that presented it.

Why was the film so controversial?

In September 1934, textile workers at the mill in

Last week, Gov. Nikki Haley was sworn in for her second four-year term and a new legislature convened in the Statehouse. This seems like an appropriate time to look back on their record over the last four years.

Gov. Haley delivered a short Inaugural Address in which she laid out her ideas for the next four years. This caused me to begin to think about the standards and measures we use to evaluate what government does and what it ought to do.

In short: What is the test by which we should judge what government should do?

In thinking about what would be a good standard, I began by Googling a number of terms, such

Saitta talks school taxes

Dear Editor,

When I read the letters of those advocating higher school taxes in Pickens County, I wondered if these individuals actually looked at the data. Responding point by point…

Academic performance is not falling in Pickens County, nor is it low. Pickens ranks seventh in the state out of 85 districts on the SAT. Our PASS ranking is 20th. The graduation rate has risen significantly from 71.2 percent in 2010 to 80.4 percent this past year.

It is also untrue starting teachers in Pickens make $3,000 less a year than teachers in surrounding districts. A first year teacher with a bachelor’s degree in Pickens earns $893 less

The terrorists’ outbreak in Paris was another act of hatred. The extremists who carried out these attacks have nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with the cult mentality which is embraced by those who feed on hatred and cultivate it.

The journalists and cartoonists who were slaughtered lost their lives because they used the written word and political cartoons to comment on what they found ridiculous and illogical.

The magazine suffering the loss of so many valuable staff members wasn’t silenced by the attack. They put out another issue — with one million extra copies — because they won’t allow this act of terrorism to silence the free press.

The word goes on, I guess, but it is definitely poorer.

Mr. Lake Looper of Dacusville has passed away at age 100.

My contact with Mr. Looper was limited, but he made a deep impression on me. When I was a child of maybe 8 years old, my parents made the courageous decision that instead of going to Easley to go to Rock Springs Baptist Church, we would start going to Nine Forks Baptist Church in Dacusville, just a couple of miles from our house.

The four Robinson kids had started school in Easley so we could spend time with our grandmother and our beloved uncle Cecil. When my eldest sister, Rhonda, came to

No repeating our mistake

Dear Editor,

Recent news on economic development in the Upstate has omitted the fact that Pickens County is not a member of the Upstate Alliance. The county dropped out of the alliance two years ago.

S.C. Commerce Department officials have stated publicly that they only want to work with regional alliances, not individual counties. Commerce has $5 million annually to market the

A request for SDPC board members

Dear Editor,

A few years ago, the board of the School District of Pickens County decided to no longer give the school children in Pickens County Presidents’ Day off as a holiday, and instead began choosing a random day off either the week before (Feb. 13 this year) or the week of (in 2016, the proposed day off is the Friday after Presidents’ Day). The school districts in Oconee, Anderson and Greenville counties continue to recognize Presidents’ Day as a holiday. As a United States citizen, a patriot and a parent, I am apalled the school board of Pickens County has chosen to no

This year we postponed our family Christmas due to unforeseen circumstances. Instead of celebrating Christmas together on Christmas Day, we delayed until our family could be together. So on Christmas Day we spent time relaxing, wrapping presents and being thankful for our many blessings. We had ham sandwiches for supper and phoned our loved ones.

It was a happy, peaceful day. The tree was on, and the wrapped presents were at its base. Some of the smaller boxes were inside a red peck basket to protect them from an inquisitive Chihuahua who is at the stage of puppyhood where shredding paper is a joyous activity.

He is being house trained but seems a little

Now, starting a new year. A chance to put all those mistakes I made last year in my rearview mirror and start anew.

I have plenty of priorities for the new year. I need to pay my father back for the money he lent me to fix my car. It was probably my fault that the car would not work. Apparently you have to have some oil in the car. I thought the oil light on my car was hung up, but apparently it was accurate.

So I now have a different engine running the car. I had found that the old engine was causing the car to be covered with a black, powderish substance. I wiped some off last week when I was filling up with gas. I suddenly had a clean back windshield. I also had a dirty sleeve of the jacket I got for

Although some countries think Americans are only concerned with profit and material possessions, that isn’t true. Not according to data from recent reports by Chronicle of Philanthropy, which ranks giving by state and The World Giving Index (WGI), which ranks 103 countries worldwide based on charitable contributions of money, time and willingness to help other.

America tied for first place with the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Canada, Ireland and New Zealand were ranked second, third and fourth, respectively.

Surprisingly, at least to me, is that the Chronicle of Philanthropy report found the wealthiest