Letter: Let’s Hear From All Citizens!

Monday’s county council meeting was attended by the most citizens of all the meetings I’ve been to.  When I got to the speakers’ signup sheet, names were already halfway down the backside of the page.  The citizens really came out to speak about the revised animal ordinance and it was a great sight!  Obviously, the […]

Letter: It Takes a Village

When I acted up in school, I got disciplined by EVERYBODY. My teacher, your teacher, teachers I didn’t even know, the principal, the custodian, the bus driver, the school secretary, all of these people either fussed or laid hands on me, and I ain’t talking about praying. No matter where a kid got out of […]

Guest Editorial: One of the Most Significant Moments in American History

The Civil War was the darkest period in American history. But from the midst of the horror came a moment of hope. Sunday marks the anniversary of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Lincoln on Sept. 22, 1862, just five days after the battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day in American history. The […]

Guest Editorial: 9/11 by The Numbers

The casualties from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 were diverse in many ways. The deaths represented most U.S. states as well as 77 countries, a host of occupations, and a wide array of personal backgrounds. A total of 2,977 individuals lost their lives on that morning, including 2,606 at the World Trade Center, […]

Guest Editorial: Lock ’em up and throw away the key

Now that the state of South Carolina has three court-approved methods that a condemned convict can choose from to meet his maker, it’s curious lawmakers didn’t consider a tried-and-true method of execution so gruesome that it should be certain to have a deterrent effect: the guillotine. South Carolina is scheduled to get back into the […]

Letter: Council must consider animals’ welfare!

Fairfield County’s animal welfare efforts have been stalled for years due to a lack of progress on the comprehensive animal ordinance and the construction of a new animal shelter. Despite being on the agenda for the County Council’s Monday meeting, the ordinance was again delayed and the shelter discussion was removed from the agenda entirely. […]

Letter: Small Things Matter

“If you’re too big to do the small things, then you’re too small to do the big things.”  I don’t know who deserves the credit for this, but it’s powerful in its simplicity and meaning. Let’s consider the “small thing” example of revising the county council regular meeting agenda items outside of a public meeting […]

Letter: Council Bringing Fire Service To Its Knees

In a recent story in The Voice (8/8/24), Fairfield County Fire Chief Jamie Webb said the county has only six full-time and one part-time paid firefighters and fewer than 90 volunteer firefighters right now. “We need at least twice that many volunteers to adequately man the county’s 15 fire stations,” he said. In other words, […]

Letter: Public Cries Out for Safety

Peggy Swearingen is the only Fairfield County Councilwoman who has dared to speak out and emphasize the importance of life-saving EMS services, well-paid law enforcement, and the need for full-time firefighters to keep our citizens safe. It’s clear that the current approach of deploying a single paid firefighter to a station from 8 a.m. to […]

Guest Editorial: What’s It Going To Take To Make America Safer From Gun Violence?

Another horrific incident led S.C. Rep. Wendell Gilliard to do what he’s done many times in career:  bemoan the continuing scourge of gun violence and call for change.  This time, the spark was the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, which rocked both red and blue America. Something Charleston’s Gilliard said stood out. […]

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