On The Way

By Olivia Fowler

Olivia Fowler

My brother, Matt, who has smoked since he was 16 years old quit smoking! He called and told me he hasn’t had a Marlboro cigarette in four weeks. This is the best news in the world to our family.

We grew up with tobacco as the big money crop. There was still cotton, soybeans and, lespedeza, but tobacco, unless something went wrong during the drying process, was where the money could be counted on.

Even back then we all had heard rumblings about lung damage. We had a science teacher, Charlie Parker, who referred to cigarettes as coffin nails, and said we’d all die early if we smoked.

Almost everybody in the family smoked, except for Grandmama and Uncle Walter. Grandmama never had

Motives are important

Dear Editor:

Motive is a very important part of judging the merits of an issue. Both sides of an issue always have a motive.

The Obama Administration, The CCSSO, The NGA, Achieve and Bill Gates all have claimed their motive is getting children college and career ready and able to work successfully to compete for jobs in the future. They have invested a great deal of our own taxpayer funds as well as their own personal wealth promoting these standards. They have invested a great deal of time in making sure these standards are touted as the best plan for America to be competitive in the global 21st century economy. Many have also earned a healthy income in the process of selling these

School board leaving debt-filled legacy

Dear Editor,

I have read that pomposity called the AdvancED report. It did make one truthful statement that warrants mentioning: “Members of the governing board reported themselves that not all of them share the vision of the district administration” (item 2, page 38).

Thankfully, Alex Saitta, Jimmy Gillespie and Ben Trotter actually have a vision of both scholastic and financial responsibility, and that is certainly contrary to the vision of the district administration. Otherwise we would have been broke before now.

The building program started at $150 million and now it is nearly $400 million, thanks to the

Olivia Fowler

On the Way

By Olivia Fowler

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, there’s a 50 percent probability that the last frost date for our area is March 31.

This means it’s highly likely that any bedding plants put out before that date will get zapped, except for pansies.

Even though we know this with our brains, our hearts tend to ignore this information. That’s why so many of us can be seen strolling optimistically through garden centers, greenhouses and nurseries, prematurely investing our hopes and dreams into a flat of bedding plants that may

Balance is necessary

Dear Editor,

Contrary to a local newspaper’s Feb. 5 editorial, fiscal responsibility cannot always continue to be relegated to the backseat.

Our schools, our children and our education system represent a massive investment in our future, so it is in everyone’s best interest to always be fiscally responsible, especially considering we spend more than $12,000 a year per student, not including building costs. Pushing fiscal responsibility to the back seat is what has gotten the education system in this country into the situation it is in — costing more per pupil than all other developed countries while in far too

Ben Robinson

All About Ben

By Ben Robinson

It’s February, and I need to exercise some to avoid the “fat guy in summer” syndrome. For the past few weeks my exercise has been kind either “shiver” or simply avoid falling down in the snow. Sounds exciting, but it burns very few calories.

Today at lunch I did the “stare at attractive girl” exercise, which did not burn off any calories, though the guy she was with looked ready to attempt the “beat up fat guy maneuver.”

Olivia Fowler

On The Way

by Olivia Fowler

Never do I feel as ignorant as when athletes from countries participating in the Olympics march into the stadium carrying their flags.

It’s true that there have been many changes since my sixth-grade geography class with Miss Maude Moore, when we were all assigned a country to study. Part of that assignment was to research the country, write a report and draw a replica of their flag.

Olivia Fowler

On The Way

By Olivia Fowler

Sometimes things happen and I don’t find out about them until they are very old news, but just in case you missed it too, the news about Oreo cookies is scary.

We’ve all been saying no to drugs since Nancy Reagan told us to while happily nibbling away on these popular cookies. But a group of students and their neuroscience professor in Connecticut have conducted an experiment which indicates Oreos are as addictive as cocaine and heroin to lab rats.

Oh, lab rats, you may say. Why should we be concerned? Apparently the brains of lab rats are not so different from humans when it comes to addiction. This information is demoralizing. It’s

Ben Robinson

All About Ben

By Ben Robinson

Believe it or not, there was a plan involved here.

I was located in the Upstate of South Carolina, where cold weather only happens just to show it still exists. Then talk became common about the so-called global warming. Word was that the temperatures would eventually cause a year-round summer in these parts. My reaction was to smile — 12 months of warm weather and girls in bikinis — not bad in exchange for several weeks of cold, miserable weather.

Of course, whoever came up with the theory of global warming ignored the fact that despite this terrible global crisis we hardly ever broke any records for high temperatures. My theory was that it is colder some winters, and not so bad others. Recent weather pretty much proves that I am right.

Right. I would rather be warm.

So this year we have already had one snowstorm that covered our quarter-mile driveway, but I was able to get out and about. The snow melted in a few days, giving support to those idiots who have been harping on the global warming theory. I sat down and made the statement that we did not need any more bad weather, or else we would spoil our “global warming.”

Of course, more bad weather followed, often just up the hill in North Carolina. At some point God knew that too much snow on Ben Robinson was not a good idea. Despite the prayers of so many school children, He assigned most of our snow for north of here.

“Ben will move to Hawaii,” God probably said to the angels one day.

“And you know the prayers of those kind Hawaiian girls. ‘Keep fat ugly guys off our island.’”

So if this weather continues, I may have to check out the islands for year-round warmth, causing those girls to cry while they hula around the island.

So let’s let this be our last confrontation with bad weather this year. You would think a fat guy like me would be more opposed to warm weather, but I really have no problem with that, especially since air conditioning has become so common. I can handle sweating better than I can handle shivering.

Ben Robinson

All About Ben

 By Ben Robinson

The weather is crazy, but for all we know we are through with the rough days for this winter, so I need to start getting in shape.

Now I know that literally “round” is a shape, but it’s not one I am comfortable with. A few years ago I was down to just more than 230 pounds, which is comparatively low for me. I won’t mention where I am now, but let’s just leave it at “more than 230 pounds.”

I lost my job and went into some kind of depression. Looking back, that was probably the best thing that could have happened to me — at least the best thing that would not involve Sandra Bullock. But still, I was depressed, and I turned to food for my comfort.