Category: Editorials

          Management of a long-running Oconee County manufacturing operation, in preparation of its move to a Central American country, has been reducing its workforce in trickles.  One official tells us, however, he’’s expecting a wave of job terminations soon.                 For displaced workers here, the closing of the Covidien plant at Bountyland is likely to be traumatic.  […]

If you spent any time looking at the faces of those who showed to mark 100 years of public education in Oconee County’s Keowee community, you couldn’t help conclude that small schools in small communities still work well. With a student enrollment of 380, as one teacher told us, the teacher-studio ratio is conducive to good education. And, considering the […]

As our pothole-filled highways seem to buckle beneath us, is there a statesman out there who can lead us out of the predicament? We’re constantly told we live in a state so poor there is little, if any money, to do this or that. At what point does South Carolina begin to seriously catch up on the deteriorating condition of […]

As a guest editorial, saluting Mayberry Comes to Westminster, Kris Butts presented the following item from Paul Harvey News & Commentary dated Saturday, January 10, 1998 Since television ran away from home .. it has been wandering .. searching .. trying to find it’s way back to Mayberry. These days, whatever I’m watching, I’m unfulfilled. I can close my eyes […]

The administrator for Lila Doyle stood before the board of directors at Oconee Medical Center and explained why the Elder Care Justice Act is important to everyone—-and especially the directors. Lila Doyle administrator Keith Paul delivered a sobering message when he told the hospital directors that, in the event they should become aware of abuse or neglect and don’t report […]

A young couple who had made their home America after leaving Mainland China encountered great tragedy March 16 doing exactly what promoters of Oconee tourism and recreation want. They were enjoying a day of recreation at one of the county’s popular attractions: Lake Jocassee. The lake was heavily used on what turned out to be a windy day. Their kayak […]

James Singleton let it be known that he was pleased and appreciative of the many kind things said about him during his retirement dinner last weekend. The dinner marked the end of 38 and a half years in law enforcement. But, always known for subtle humor, Singleton cracked a half-smile and remarked that, to him, it all sounded like being […]

96.3/WGOG joins the Radio Television News Directors Association and others in drawing attention to next week’s Sunshine in Government Initiative. Here’s the heart of a public service announcement that the RTNDA produced with the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation: “We don’t leap tall buildings or climb walls, but we have, each of us, a power. […]

This year’s “State of the Oconee” once again succeeded in what it always sets out to do. The speeches that ring out from the dais accomplish the intended. They make us feel good about the county in which we work and live and give us, in spite of unsettling times, hope for the future. The messages during a 90-minute time […]

Is it any real surprise that the State doesn’t feel it can come up with either the money to replace an old bridge near Westminster or the cost to repair it? We think not. That’s no solace at all, especially to those who regularly make their way in and around the Clearmont Community. But it gets us to think about the financial […]