United Way of the Midlands honored Edward W. Mullins Jr. as the 2018 Humanitarian of the Year at its annual dinner and award ceremony Thursday, February 21 at the University of South Carolina Alumni Center. “Ed has been a champion for United Way and our community for many years,” said United Way president and CEO Sara Fawcett. “We were delighted […]
Parks and Recreation provides “Senior Savvy Workshops”
City of Columbia seniors have a new opportunity to attend workshops at the Busby Community Center. Columbia’s Parks and Recreation Department is sponsoring “Senior Savvy Workshops” the last Wednesday of every month as part of its services for seniors at the center. Wallace Cunningham, assistant associate director for multicultural leadership at AARP, presented a program February 27 on frauds and […]
Remembering Rachel Haynie and Isabel Sloan
Part 3 ( of 3)Author and local historian Rachel Haynie started researching and writing a book several years ago about Isabel Sloan’s dancing school. After Rachel’s death in 2018, her friends collaborated to finish her last book, South Carolina Dances with Isabel Whaley Sloan. Images from the book will be part of “Remembering Rachel Haynie and Isabel Sloan” presented by co- authors Pat McNeely […]
Searching for Motel Simbeth
On October 20, 1955, Jet, a national weekly digest with a primarily black audience, published the expose “SOUTH CAROLINA’S PLOT TO STARVE NEGROES.” The six-page piece described efforts by White Citizens Councils in Clarendon and Orangeburg counties to create an “economic squeeze” on black community members. The goal of the squeeze was to “‘starve’ some 3,000 Negroes in the two […]
Quirky Crimes in the Capital City
West Columbia Augusta Road and 12th Street: A woman was arrested at 4 a.m. Sunday after a patrol officer observed her speed through a red light. The woman allegedly “never even slowed down” as the light turned red and ran it while squealing her tires in the process. The officer followed the woman and clocked her doing 70 mph in […]
Invasive plants can put your garden in peril
ASK US AT THE STARWhat do novice gardeners need to know about invasive plants? I must confess, I’ve hardly ever seen a flower, vine, shrub, or tree I didn’t like, but my gardening efforts have suffered from some of my indiscriminate choices. English Daisies and Black-Eyed Susans have been nearly choked by the Mexican Petunias and flower beds have been overrun with English Ivy […]
From Dick Tracy to FaceTime
It’s not a criticism; It’s an observationI participated in my first FaceTime call recently. I observed one in Savannah last fall, when my son and his wife spoke with my grandson. Zack’s mom gave him a home tour as they talked. The more recent one didn’t work nearly that well. Many years ago, when Dick Tracy first combined the concept of Apple Watches with FaceTime, this […]
Birthday Blues
I’m just saying...It’s my birthday month. Again. My husband Marty says I should be thrilled to have another birthday and naturally, faced with the alternative, I am, of course, indeed happy to be celebrating another trip around the sun. After all, as they say, life is a journey…not a destination. But it seems like yesterday I was conflicted and obsessing about turning […]
Thou shall not eat my ice cream
40–SomethingI broke a cardinal rule at my house the other night. I knew better, but I just couldn’t help myself, and frankly, I was left with no choice. I ate the last of my wife’s chocolate almond ice cream Sunday night, and what’s worse, I may have failed to mention it to her. When I heard the freezer door open […]
