Via Digit Matheny, contributing editor | “I’m buying a house. Should I buy a home warranty?”
Seems like a relatively tame question, right? But post it on Facebook or Nextdoor and watch the impassioned responses roll in. You might as well ask, “What political party should I belong to?”
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | No one in modern time has given as much to South Carolina as Fritz Hollings. In seven decades of public service – starting as a young officer in World War II to becoming governor to being elected seven times to the United States Senate, Hollings has given back in big ways.
Most recently, he made news [in 2015] after he asked for his name to be taken off of a federal judicial annex in Charleston and for it to be named to honor the late U.S. District Judge Waties Waring, the courageous civil rights jurist from Charleston who paved the way for landmark school integration in the United States.
Through the years, Hollings has left a huge mark that is still paying dividends today. He’s the guy who pushed through stable funding for schools in the early 1950s and later started the technical college system, which attracts companies like BMW and Boeing. …
By Herb Frazier, special to Charleston Currents | Decades ago when Magnolia Plantation and Gardens only opened the gates during the azalea-bloom season, Nona Hastie Valiunas and one of her cousins hid in the bushes then jumped out to scare the tourists. It was a playful time for young Nona who now shares ownership of the gardens that has been in her family for more than three centuries.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Word came early Wednesday that was expected but not welcome: A good friend, Carroll LeTellier, passed away peacefully that morning. We were an unlikely pair — a 57-year-old liberal writer and a 90-year-old retired Army general who was a child of The Citadel and who didn’t hang out much with my kind.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | It took New Zealand less than a week to ban assault-style rifles following a deadly slaughter at two mosques. As a comparison, South Carolina and Congress have been doing nothing but dilly-dallying for almost four years since Charleston’s own horrific massacre.It’s downright embarrassing that we are so hogtied with inaction.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The silly season is here already in Charleston city politics.
In the last week, two city council members, 45-year-old Gary White and 23-year-old Harry Griffin, huffed and puffed that they are running for mayor against first-term incumbent John Tecklenburg.
Their reasons for running appear to be that they don’t much like Tecklenburg, who has been thwarted by the likes of White and Griffin and other council members who don’t seem to want to move quickly on curbing rampant development that’s destroying the character of the city or dealing proactively with flooding.
By Jerry Adams, contributing editor, March 14, 2019 | Taking an unexpected day off, wary of the weather and listening to my body and giving it a day rest.
This isn’t playing out the way it did eight years ago, but, then, I am not the same man who did this incredible journey eight years ago. Not even close. My sensei might have phrased it thus: “You must empty the cup, grasshopper. You must empty the cup.” Translation – you must give up a lot of what you think you know so that you have room to learn more.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | With two months left, the General Assembly still has a lot of work to do if it really wants to accomplish anything this year.
Despite headlines of progress, lawmakers of both chambers have passed five pretty minor bills, four of which became law. Gov. Henry McMaster vetoed a measure on the election of water and sewer district commissioners for Bath, Langley and Clearwater (wherever they are).
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Sandwiched between the Southern stains of slavery and oppressive Jim Crow laws were a few years of mostly forgotten history, the Reconstruction era.
In the months ahead, the Beaufort area is poised to become the nation’s hub for rediscovering and understanding the promise of Reconstruction to newly-freed slaves as they started to engage in America by voting, buying land and living in freedom.
Via Digit Matheny, contributing editor | Many homeowners don’t think about home maintenance until something breaks, but that’s not the best way to take care of your home. Whether you’re a new homeowner or have been settled for years, it’s never too late to cultivate some home maintenance habits. Here are three tips to help you protect your investment and keep your property in good shape for years to come:
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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