Category Archives: Opinions
Saitta speaks on MRR settlement
Reading the Courier articles about the MRR settlement, I had the same feeling as Ron Barnett (the reporter who covered the story). After six years of employing a go-to-trial strategy, why the 180-degree turn by the county to settle out of court?
The county council voted 4-2 to negotiate with and then settle out of court with MRR. Trey Whitehurst and I voted “No,” wanting to stay the course and go to trial. Let me explain my reasoning, but first some history.
First the administrative law case.
By law, a minor modification of a landfill is a routine or administrative change. A major modification
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How many more must die?
Nineteen children of Texas,
Their futures denied.
Nineteen families in mourning,
Their faith will be tried.
How many more must die?
A class full of children,
Bright lights, all extinguished,
Along with two teachers,
For reasons unknown,
By an angry young man
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The ones that got away
The wonderful thing about vacations is everyone is different. We haven’t had a family vacation since the summer before the pandemic, and we’ve looked forward to it for months.
We no longer go to the inlet end of Cherry Grove as we’ve done for years because of the anti-canopy rule. We tried the umbrella way once, but gave it up after a woman lying on the beach was killed when a wind-tossed
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What was this fight all about?
At last, the long and winding road comes to an end. Pickens County’s fight to keep coal ash from being dumped here is over.
Actually, that fight was over a long time ago. The legal dispute with a North Carolina-based company called MRR Pickens LLC has dragged on quietly for more than six years after our legislative delegation succeeded in passing a law preventing the potentially hazardous material from being disposed of in the type of landfill Pickens County allows.
So what was the big fight that ended up costing the county several million dollars to settle about?
It was about lack of communication, or miscommunication, or — in the view of the county — intentional deceit. And about a
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Freedom is not free
Memorial means to “remember,” and every year on the last Monday in May, we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice with their lives in the line of active military service while protecting and defending the country they loved. For those of you that have family members and close friends who died fighting for our freedoms, we can know they perished for a cause greater than their own.
What do you think about when you hear the words Memorial Day, and does it have personal significance? Unfortunately, for some Americans, the true meaning of Memorial Day has been seemingly lost. It’s common for
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What ever happened to customer service?
It was a very long time ago, and though it may sound like a fairy tale today, there was once something called customer service.
In those olden days, customer service meant that if you bought something from a company and something went wrong, you could call and a human being answered the phone.
There was no recorded robotic message from an inhuman being or android, just something known as the human voice.
This voice was activated from within the human’s brain and was programmed to respond to a ringing phone by
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Courier Letters to the Editor
Do you think you’re old?
Dear Editor,
I’m old. How old? Old enough to remember phone booths that you walked into and shut the door. Only a dime to make local call. Had to dial a number, not push buttons.
Old enough to remember when TV was black and white. And 21 inches was considered big screen. Movies were 75 cents, as were haircuts. Movies were often
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Walk faster, live longer
We’ve known for years that walking is a good form of exercise for seniors … we just didn’t know why. Now a new study not only explains how it works, but why brisk walking is even more effective.
Ten years ago, researchers at Leicester University Biomedical Research Centre started looking at genetic data in the biobanks in the U.K. for clues about why seniors who walk seemed to live longer. They didn’t fool around with a
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Understand the past to help the future
I’ll never forget my first visit to Mathis’ Bar & Grill in downtown Macon, Ga.
It was 1974, the heyday of the Allman Brothers Band, and I had moved down there to get in on the music scene.
I had heard Mathis was a jazz-blues virtuoso on the Hammond B-3 organ and had a great band. So one night I slipped down there to check them out.
The music was incredible, as I expected. But that wasn’t why that particular night stands out in my memory.
It was because I was the only white person in a dark, smoky, packed room of about 200.
It was my first time ever being in that situation. And if you’re white and you’ve never been in that situation,
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Special Lions group culmination of Boyer’s culture
‘‘I can’t lie and say I always believed the Daniel High School boys’ soccer team was going to pull out the state championship win against Brookland-Cayce on Friday.
When the Lions went up 2-0 in the first half, I was ready to call the game. Then, when Brookland-Cayce stormed back to take the lead in the final five minutes, 
I was ready to call it once again for the other side, and once again I was proven to be wrong as Liam Desjardins hit the equalizer from 52 yards out.
By the start of extra time, I realized that neither team was going to give until the final whistle, and for the first time I got it right, with the Lions pulling out the heart-pounding state championship win in penalty
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