Stephen Toy (c), president of Torch Clubs International, congratulates Warner M. Montgomery (l), member of the Torch Board of Directors, and Ed Latimer (r), Torch Club International president- elect.

Two Columbians, Warner M. Montgomery and Ed Latimer, came away from a Torch Club International convention in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with honors. Latimer, an attorney, was elected president- elect for the 2,500- - member, 71- chapter international organization. He will become president in 2010. Stephen Toy of Newark, Delaware, was elected president.

Montgomery, publisher of The Columbia Star, was elected to the board of directors for a two- year term. He will serve the seven clubs in Region 4: Boca Raton, Athens, Augusta, Asheville, Columbia, Greenville, and Knoxville.

The convention focused on the five best Torch Papers presented during 2007. Each local Torch Club meeting features a talk by a member on any topic. The written version of the talk is submitted to the international headquarters where the best papers are selected and published in the Torch Magazine. The best five are presented at the annual convention. The top paper is given at the Annual Paxton Dinner. The papers presented in Lancaster were

1) The Scots- Irish shaped America,

2) Thaddeus Stevens, America's forgotten giant,

3) Election 2008, Cliff Hanger or Blowout?,

4) Is the Melting Pot boiling over?,

5) and the Paxton Award, Should Turkey be admitted to the European Union?

 

 

 

 

Entertainment at the convention included tours of Wheatland, home of President James Buchanan; the National Watch and Clock Museum; downtown Lancaster; Amish Country; and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. All Torch members and their spouses attended a performance of

Brigadoon at the historic Fulton Theatre, which claims to be the oldest community theatre in the U.S. Of course, those of us from Columbia know our Town Theater is the oldest.