All About Ben

By Ben Robinson

Ben Robinson

So its 3:30 on a Monday afternoon, and I’m still struggling with this computer. I came in this morning, bright and early. Well, early at least. With nothing else to write, I started working on my weekly column. It was about my tax refund check, which the state kept almost all of to pay old hospital bills.

I wrote how I did not much appreciate the state determining how I would spend my money. The hospital spends lots of time and money to make sure I am aware of the bills (everyone I know gets to bill me for my last hospital stay). While I was in the hospital, I mentioned I had no insurance and was not sure how I would pay. The nurse said, “Don’t worry about it,” and sure enough, I get about eight chances a day to pay them.

The latest is that they set up with the government to take whatever tax return I thought I would have and use it to pay my bills, randomly, of

Analyzing TIF ruling

Dear Editor,

TIF is short for Tax Increment Financing. First, a city creates a TIF area. From that day on, the county, city and the school district (taxing authorities) agree any tax revenue generated from the appreciation of property in that area will not go to the taxing authorities, but instead will be invested in the TIF area within restrictions under the law. The aim is to revitalize that area of the city with an injection of investment funded by that TIF revenue.

The county and school district had two main complaints in their lawsuit against the Clemson TIF.

Under the law, the investment must be limited in size and scope, and a cost estimate of those redevelopment projects must be made known and adhered to. The cost estimate of the projects in the TIF was $10.4 million. By law, the TIF spending must be limited to that $10.4 million figure. Anything

On The Way

By Olivia Fowler

There’s no such thing as completing a task on Fowler Farm. One thing always leads to another. For example, consider the responsibilities attached to owning dogs. A person may think it’s a simple thing, but I assure you, it is not.

Olivia Fowler

We have four outside dogs and a fenced-in backyard. You would think all four would live happily there, as there is a deck upon which they sun, ample housing, lots of shade and a plentiful supply of water and food.

But, sadly, that is not the case. Due to gender issues which are too complex to explain lucidly, two live in the backyard and two on the front porch, more or less.

The two in the backyard, Kewpie and Diablo, are only outside the fence if we are home. Then they can play with the others. But if we aren’t home and there’s no supervision, they are confined inside the fence. They have absolutely no road sense, and there are also some top-dog issues between our one unneutered male and our two neutered ones.

The porch dogs, Red Dog, our boxer mix, and Sebastian, one of the rat terriers, sleep on the porch in their insulated dog house in winter. They have a heat lamp for cold nights and curl into

All about Ben

By Ben Robinson

My sister gave me a book last weekend to add to my reading rotation. It’s a biography of former President Ronald Reagan, written by his son, also named Ronald Reagan.

Ben Robinson

I’m not sure whether she gave it to me because I used to be a fan of the former President during my college days, or if she knew I have been pretty much ready to read matchbook covers lately. Perhaps she just thought, “Give it to Ben, and I won’t have to keep up with it.” Whatever the case, I am reading it now.

The book so far does not seem to be recounting the political career of Reagan, but the Reagans’ family history. Ron Jr., it seems, wanted to look into his family roots.

I understand that, as several years ago, I looked into my family roots.

On my mother’s side it’s complicated. She was a Melton growing up, and her grandmother was Elizabeth Melton. I remember her, because we used to get comic books from my cousin Mike Moser through grandma. But here’s the catch: Grandma’s maiden name was Melton. One story I heard was that my grandfather came from up north and may have been in some trouble. So when he settled in South Carolina,

On The Way

By Olivia Fowler

Olivia Fowler

Saturday was a great day, because I discovered relatives I didn’t know I had. Fowler is related to everybody in the county, but I’m not, or at least that’s what I thought until I went to the fifth annual Reunion of Upcountry Families at Southern Wesleyan University.

And there, I found relatives I didn’t know existed.

My people hail from Eastern North Carolina and Tidewater Virginia. While wandering around the room scanning family genealogy tables, I discovered the Masters/Southerland table, which had a large graphic behind it listing all the family

Merck choice natural, easy and smooth

Dear Editor,

On April 10, in a 6 to 0 vote, the Pickens County School Board named Dr. Danny Merck the new superintendent. Some asked why the school board didn’t implement a thorough search/selection process, examining many applicants, doing interviews and then making a selection? Actually, we did all that, but some may not realize it because the process began years ago.

The last few years, the board has focused on promoting from within, beit for assistant

On The Way

By Olivia Fowler

Olivia Fowler

I was 8 years old when I saw my first chocolate bunny. Until then, I didn’t even know there was such a thing. We were brought up with more simple candies.

Candy came into our lives only three times a year, as Mama believed it would rot our teeth out.

Halloween was the first candy celebration. We didn’t always get to go trick or treating, but when we did it was a very big deal.

We’d take our booty home, dump it out

All About Ben

By Ben Robinson

Easter Sunday our family had one of those once unusual days, just trying to get together to celebrate Easter.

Ben Robinson

It started with the Sunrise service, which our church — Nine Forks in Dacusville — celebrates every year with the church next door, which happens to been a predominantly black church, Shoals Creek. We’ve been doing this for years, with the service being held at Shoals Creek one year and Nine Forks the next. We may be mostly different races, but we’re all Baptist, so that means we have a meal after the service. When the service is held at Nine Forks, the Shoals Creek pastor — Rev. Charles Hendricks — preaches the sermon, and Nine Forks provides breakfast.

We were shown up in past years when our

On The Way

By Olivia Fowler

Olivia Fowler

Have you ever thought that so-called inanimate objects really aren’t inanimate at all? Well, I have. There’s a children’s storybook about how a child’s toys come to life at night and have amazing adventures. The movie “Toy Story” probably stole this idea

I have a theory, never disproved to my satisfaction, that this is what happens to many useful things I depend upon to get through the day. All I ask is that someone prove me wrong, and I’ll happily check into an asylum.

Maybe this doesn’t happen at your house, but it does happen at mine. It’s evening and you’ve come inside for the day. The first action taken after you

All About Ben

By Ben Robinson

Lately I’ve been concentrating on getting my act together. I have the opportunity to make a special trip to Kentucky.

Ben Robinson

I’ve already asked for the time off, and was simply told not to leave the paper in bad shape. That makes sense. The trip to Kentucky is on a Christian mission trip, and the way I figure it, if you take off and leave with no thought toward your coworkers, you’re not really showing any Christian spirit.

I also have my car taxes due this month. The county thinks a lot more of my car than I do. If I ever decide to sell the car, I need to let the county folks market it for me. But taxes do not work that way, so I need to just be quiet and pay my share.

So with the taxes and the county taxes coming up, I’ve got quite a handful to save up for. But looking at my income coming in and comparing it to the bills