You see parking meters every day, and to most people they are merely a necessary nuisance that to ignore would get you a ticket. Probably no one sees them as a pretty thing, but after The City of Columbia and WACH Fox recently distributed several dozen to local artists, those simple clumps of metal became actual works of art. In […]
Papa Jazz swings into its 32nd year
With one foot planted in the past, the other in the present, and both eyes firmly fixed on the future, Tim Smith of Papa Jazz Record Shoppe defies any label one wants to give him—Renaissance man… gambler…. prognosticator…. All of the above? Smith, the owner of Papa Jazz on Greene Street, is moving into his 32nd year of operations and […]
Equipment can mean freedom
If most of us fell down and broke a leg or a hip, we would go to the hospital and come home with whatever we needed for our recuperation. Most of us. Not all of us. Hundreds of people throughout the Palmetto State and thousands across the nation are uninsured and can’t afford things like wheelchairs, walkers, portable toilets, or […]
Clean out your medicine cabinet
The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) encourages the public to make an annual medicine cabinet cleanout part of their New Year’s resolutions. Pharmacists recommend patients use this time to properly dispose of all the unused and expired medications that accumulated over the previous year. Because each season brings a host of new illnesses and conditions, it’s easy for medicine cabinets to […]
Quirky Crimes in the Capital City
Forest Acres tWoodmont Drive, 1000 block: A man called police at 9:30 p.m. Thursday after he found a racial slur spray painted on the back of his house. The obscene phrase contained the word “you,” and it was portrayed as a pitchfork, which authorities say may be a type of gang sign. The man told officers he had not had […]
The book Forest Acres is now available
Local author Warner M. Montgomery, Ph. D. and Arcadia Publishing present Forest Acres, the newest addition to the popular Images of America Series. Boasting over 200 vintage images, Forest Acres showcases the beginning of the town at Quinine Hill and the blossoming into the community of today. Revolutionary War heroes Thomas Taylor and Wade Hampton I bought 18,500 acres along […]
Shandon United Methodist Church
“A natural progression.” That’s what the leaders at Shandon United Methodist call their church’s ongoing service to community. For more than 100 years (they celebrated their Centennial in 2009), this Methodist congregation has witnessed and served its Christian faith in Columbia. Now they’re looking to the future. This church has always functioned in the heart of Columbia’s Shandon neighborhood. It […]
It’s not a criticism; It’s an observation
The weddingWeddings are like the Three Stooges, hardware stores, and Michael Bolton; how one feels about them is strongly influenced by gender. Women become giddy as teenage girls talking about the prom when weddings are mentioned. Men would rather attend their own funerals. We went to a wedding a few weeks back. I had to TIVO an episode of Lawrence Welk […]