Category Archives: Opinions
Crisis in the chicken coop
Thanksgiving marks the beginning of eating as a sport. People take delight in chomping, munching, gobbling and gorging. It’s sort of like a hot dog eating contest with no hot dogs.
The holiday eating season begins on Thanksgiving Day and continues right through Christmas and into the Super Bowl.
There is an ugly rumor floating around about a chicken shortage that is threatening one of our most favored cuisines. Just the thought of a shortage of barbecue, buffalo or hot wings is
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Courier Letters to the Editor
Keep the Christ in Christmas
Dear Editor,
It’s that time of the year when most people are more courteous. There’s just something about Christmas!
Some say we shouldn’t celebrate it, however, the angels in heaven were celebrating on the night of His birth, weren’t they? On Earth as in You must be logged in to view this content.
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Celebrating a century of Aunt Eileen
Yesterday, Dec. 7, 2021 — a date which will live not in infamy, but in love in my heart — my dear, sweet Aunt Eileen, who was like a second 
mother to me and my brother when we were babies, hit the century mark.
Happy 100th birthday, Aunt Eileen!
Her birthday is easy to remember because she was born exactly 20 years before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the date President Franklin D. Roosevelt said would live in infamy.
Yet it is she who always remembers my birthday and sends me a card.
I got lazy and quit sending out Christmas cards a few years ago, and
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The uninvited guests
It was a beautiful December morning. The sun was shining on the horses, who were grazing in the pasture.
I was looking out the kitchen window at the scene when I noticed two dark figures walking through the fallen leaves beneath the oak. It 
took a moment to realize what I was seeing. There were two large black hogs ambling around the horses, snuffling and rooting through the leaves.
Apparently they were eating acorns, which we have an ample supply of.
I hadn’t seen them before and have no idea where they came from.
At first, I was afraid we had an invasion of wild boars. But a closer look revealed that these
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‘Twas just weeks before Christmas
T’was just weeks before Christmas and all through the town, people hurried and scurried, faces scrunched in a frown.
No dolls or toys for good girls and boys, no holiday deals or red-hot sales ploys.
There are no “steals” or squeals of delight ‘cause the shelves are all empty,
it’s a frightening sight.
The ships are trapped way out in the sea, unable to unload because of COVID, you see.
The supply chain is clogged up just like I-85, and everyone’s hoping that they can survive a
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A season to remember in Central
Another season has come and gone, and once again the D.W. Daniel Lions are state champions.
Last year, when the Lions won their first state championship since 1998, I said that I didn’t think coach Jeff Fruster and the Lions would make us wait 22 more years for the next championship. I even thought they had a pretty good shot at coming right back and winning the title this season.
With that said, if you asked me a month ago if Daniel was going to win back-to-
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Humane Society in need again
The dogs and cats of Pickens County need your help.
Yes, again.
I’ve written this story several times since 2014, when Pickens County cut back its funding of the Pickens County Humane Society.
The county Humane Society is not connected to the national Humane Society and gets no funding from it. Prior to 2014, it had been getting $60,000 a year from the county to help with the costs of operating its animal shelter on Five Forks Road near Liberty.
It had also been surviving partly off some money that had been left by a benefactor prior to that, which has
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The importance of shopping small
Small businesses have had a rough couple of years, beginning with the pandemic and continuing with the labor shortage and breaks in the supply chain.
Still, South Carolina’s small businesses have persevered. Despite the many challenges, they’ve continued to provide the goods and services their customers need, and they’ve continued to support their communities.
That’s why we need to support local businesses this holiday season.
It’s easy to forget, but small business is the heart of South Carolina’s economy. By the federal
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Thanksgiving and the supply chain
Thanksgiving is over. The turkey is eaten, the pumpkin pie is just crumbs. The football games have ended (hope your team won). Just when things are beginning to settle down, a new stressor is added to an already hectic holiday time.
They may look like toy ships bobbing in a big bathtub, but they have cast a cloud of gloom over Thanksgiving, and specifically Black Friday, the day Christmas shopping is supposed to begin. Huge container ships loaded with millions of cartons of holiday toys and stuff rock idly in the ocean, waiting to be unloaded in ports all across the United States. The Grinch may be grinning, but millions of parents are frowning as they contemplate what will happen if there is
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Desiring God more than anything in the world
For those who ponder about the requirements for developing and maintaining a deeper relationship with God, we must include some vital components, and one of the most critical is desire. Ask any businessperson or athlete about what it takes to accomplish a goal, and they will 
always testify about the importance of vision, perseverance and determination. Likewise, when it comes to drawing nearer to the Lord, we must begin with old-fashioned enthusiasm.
The next question is where does this passion come from? Most Christians will agree that
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