Category Archives: Opinions
Personal perspective
There are a lot of things my cousin Jack could probably tell me about his 35 years as an employee of the Central Intelligence Agency, but then he’d have to kill me.
We wouldn’t want that.
Actually, Jack’s not his real name, but he is my cousin. And he did work for the CIA from 1986 until he retired earlier this year.
He was there, at CIA headquarters, when the Soviet Union fell. He was there through two wars in Iraq and at the start of the war in Afghanistan.
And he was there for 9/11.
I haven’t actually seen him in quite a few years. We have a cousins’ text group that we communicate on, but until he retired, Jack — again, not his real name — could never discuss his employment, other than that he worked for “the government.”
But ever since he retired, I’ve been wanting to try get a story out of him. So as we approached the 20th anniversary of 9/11, I thought it would be interesting to find out what that fateful, awful day was like for him.
So he got clearance from the CIA to tell me, and my readers — without giving away any state secrets — a bit of his
Treasure maps don’t talk
I had a meeting in Columbia and plugged the address into the GPS in my car. I like the GPS Lady — she has such a soothing voice. She said, “in 1 mile, merge onto I-26.” She is obviously oblivious to the four lanes of semi-trucks and speeding cars that are determined to keep me from merging. Later on, she said, “10
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God has not given us a spirit of fear
Soon after Jesus had resurrected, we find a beautiful passage found in John chapter 20 that is a wonderful example of how much God loves us and wants to encourage us.
The friends and family of Christ were gathered together after his horrific crucifixion and were still grieving over his death when all of a sudden, he appears in their midst! Even though they remembered how he had promised to
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Engage your brain
Have you ever listened to a podcast? A podcast is a digital audio or video file that you can access from the internet. They’re often in a series that you can tune 
into one at a time, almost like radio on demand. They’re usually associated with a website where you
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Courier Letters to the Editor 9-8-21
Soapstone hosting final fish fry meals
To my dearest and loving community,
For 22 years, Soapstone Baptist Church has held a monthly fish fry for the community and folks who journeyed from far and wide.
Sept. 18 and Oct. 16 will be the final two fish fry meals served by the church.
It’s time to retire the fish fryer.
Who would have thunk it?
The delta variant is highly contagious and is attacking children. Mask wearing will help stop the spread.
And to all those in positions of power who block health and safety measures for the public, such as mask wearing and vaccinations, think of all the illness and death you are responsible for because you are more interested in pandering to the fanatical rather than protecting the public you serve.
So now we have a network news show broadcasting information that is killing people. And people are listening
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The legalities of the left lane
I may be the only person in Pickens County who’s not as pleased as a possum in a pokeweed patch about the new state law that encroaches upon the rights of “slower” drivers.
I think it was passed only because so many people get highly irritated when someone in the left lane is preventing them from speeding.
The law, in case you haven’t heard, says you can’t drive in the left lane unless you’re passing somebody — or if there’s nobody behind you. This applies to interstate highways only.
Here’s the thing, though: I usually drive at the speed limit. I don’t think anybody has a right to get mad at me as
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Everyone needs a hug
National Hugging Day is celebrated around the world on Jan. 21. We missed out this year. I didn’t want to bring it up in January because we were masking up and social distancing. After all, hugging was prohibited, forbidden, taboo, verboten. People were feeling too apprehensive and anxious to hug.
Kevin Zaborney founded Hugging Day in 1986. He realized there was nothing to break the monotony between New Year’s Day and Valentine’s Day and decided everyone needed something to get them through these dreary winter days — and thought that a hug would do nicely.
Chase’s “Calendar of Events” decided to include Zaborney’s Hugging Day in their publication — and it caught on. Zaborney was right — everyone needs a hug.
Hugging makes you feel like everything is going to be OK. It makes you feel happy and safe. It reduces stress and
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Letter to the Editor
Thank God for memories
Dear Editor,
For the older people out there, maybe this will bring back memories.
Do you remember eating for breakfast such things as grits, red-eye gravy, thickening gravy or cathead biscuits? How about salt or sugar cured ham, fresh slaughtered from homegrown hogs. Hawuh! Talk about good eatin’! What about cracklings? And
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Finding random acts of kindness
Have you ever been traveling when the highway shrinks from two lanes to one due to road construction? And have you found yourself stranded in the lane ending, with car after car ignoring your signal in an attempt to get in the correct lane?
When out of the blue a good Samaritan slows and motions to you to get into the flow of traffic.
Once you’ve experienced this act of kindness, you’re usually motivated to extend this courtesy to others in similar situations.
The lady at the dollar store not having quite enough to pay for her Christmas presents was in a fix until the next in
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