By Rene Bufo Miles, special to Charleston Currents
It looked like ribbon my husband said
that long run of river
flattened out in the summer heat,
and at first, that’s what it felt like,
the shining water reflecting the sunlight
as they rafted in the early morning.
By Fred Palm, contributing editor | The S.C. State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) last week voted no (4-3) again on continuing the contract for completing the I-526 extension (I-526X) in Charleston County. On Friday, the county threatened a lawsuit, claiming the SIB couldn’t pull out of the project that would connect West Ashley to Johns Island and end on James Island, traversing the Stono River over the adjacent swamp-wetlands.
While the final costs of this addition have not been nailed down, it would be the most expensive highway expansion ever built in South Carolina. This is a big deal.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | In more ways than one, South Carolina’s fall gubernatorial election will hinge on age.
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who nabbed a primary runoff victory in an election much closer than expected, is 71. His Democratic opponent, longtime state Rep. James Smith of Columbia, is a generation younger at age 50.
In the months ahead, expect to hear both talking about experienced leadership, but in different ways.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Americans shouldn’t have to be reminded about core values. But with all that’s roiling in Washington, let’s go back to the beginning.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Those were Thomas Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776. They’re filled with a courage found just days earlier on June 28 as South Carolina patriots defended a fort on Sullivan’s Island at the mouth of Charleston harbor from a massive land and sea attack by the British. It was the first major patriot victory of the Revolutionary War. Word spread quickly and gave colonists the courage to declare independence.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | More than 100,000 South Carolinians may have bought a pig in a poke in the recent GOP primary. They voted for Greenville businessman John Warren, a political neophyte who joined the state’s gubernatorial race just a few months back and who reportedly has pumped $3 million of his own money into winning.
He is, if you didn’t know, a Marine. That’s about all we really know about him, as he repeatedly says in television ads.
The term “pig in a poke” is an English idiom from the Middle Ages, a time when meat often was scarce. Tricksters would offer suckling pig in a closed bag to customers. Many times, however, the bag contained the meat of some other animal.
IN THIS ISSUE | June 18, 2018
FOCUS, Group calls for Tuesday passage of slavery apology resolution
COMMENTARY, Brack: Is S.C. ready for a political pig in a poke?
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Charleston Gaillard Center
MONEY, Morris: Prepaid tuition 529 plans offer flexibility over 529 savings plans
WHAT WE LOVE, Burkel: Charleston brings out the best in us
FEEDBACK: On ferries, Michaux mural and governor’s race
MYSTERY PHOTO: A house that may look familiar
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Peaches, our state fruit
CALENDAR, June 18+: Portrait unveiling, jazz, yoga, book sale
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Don’t look for too many surprises Tuesday in what’s been a pretty lame set of gubernatorial primaries.
Unless something surprising happens before the June 12 Republican and Democratic primaries, incumbent Gov. Henry McMaster will lead four challengers and be forced into a runoff while Democratic state Rep. James Smith of Columbia may just muster enough votes to win the party’s nomination outright.
Staff reports | Owlbert, the mascot for Charleston County Public Library, will unveil a new book, “Owlbert Finds a Home” during a special storytime event 10:30 a.m. June 14 in the Main Library’s children’s area.
The fun story, which was written and illustrated by library staff members, explains how Owlbert ended up living at the library and becoming its mascot. On Thursday it will be read aloud by the story’s illustrator, Liz Wuestefeld.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | It may be the Year of the Woman in politics around the nation, but not in South Carolina – at least not in races for the S.C. House of Representatives
In 2018, just over 20 percent of major party candidates in the 124 House races are women, according to a Statehouse Report analysis of state election data. Four years ago, there were nine fewer women candidates as 38 women (19.4 percent of candidates) ran for House seats.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | My Southern daughters have been making fun of my Southern accent.
They giggle when they hear me say words like yellow, mosquito, potato, pillow or can’t.
Of course, the right way to pronounce these words, despite what these ungrateful children say, is YELL-ah, muh-SKEE-tah, pu-TAY-tuh, PILL-ah and KAINT.
They go into a full-blown tizzy, though, with one word – water, which is correctly pronounced “WART-err.”
We Can Do Better, South Carolina! (2019) by editor and publisher Andy Brack offers incisive commentaries on the American South, politics, the common good and interesting South Carolina leaders. Available exclusively for Kindle for $7.99. A paperback version will be ready soon. Learn more.
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