Gen. ‘Fig’ Newton will tell his impressive story of service in war and peace
June 15, 2022Gen. Lloyd “Fig” Newton has a lot of fascinating stories to tell, having led a life of adventure and distinction serving his country. He is a retired U.S. Air Force…
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Eastside Celebration to feature Mayor Tecklenburg, Eastside community leaders and Piccolo Spoleto pop up performance Friday evening
June 9, 2022Please join Mayor John Tecklenburg, City Councilmember Robert Mitchell, Police Chief Luther T. Reynolds, Philip Simmons Foundation Project Administrator Rossie Colter and Eastside Community Development Corporation President Shelia Fields at…
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A Creek Runs Through It
June 9, 2022By Tom Poland Writers title works and often they fail to come up with a good one. Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas comes to mind. Sometimes a gem of…
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Choosing to love
June 8, 2022By Jeff Becraft When I headed off to college back in the day, I had this imagination in my mind (all kinds of brainy things go on in there)…
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21 heroic dogs selected to compete for America’s highest canine honor
June 8, 2022Public Voting Opens to Choose 7 Finalists for the 2022 American Humane Hero Dog Awards More than 400,000 votes from animal lovers across the country have decided the top 21 semifinalists from…
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Blink Book Review #1: Only Wanna Be With You by Tim Sommer
June 7, 2022This is the first in a series of summer “Blink Book Reviews” by Reba Hull Campbell When I first started “Only Wanna Be With You,” I anticipated a bit of…
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The no’s of life
May 25, 2022By Jeff Becraft As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I had gotten in from speaking at a camp the day before, was hoping to spend Monday morning…
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The Cedars Of Philomath
May 19, 2022By Tom Poland Long ago it was, in the late 1980s. I was in a hurry to get back to South Carolina. Thus did I take Georgia Highway 22,…
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Revs. Joe & Janis English
May 18, 2022By Jeff Becraft Many times I will half-jokingly say to someone, “You are one of my mentors.” There is more truth to this statement than not because I am…
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A New Broom Sweeps Clean
May 18, 2022By Tom Poland “A new broom sweeps clean, but an old broom knows the corners.” Mom pulled out this old saw when a new preacher attempted wholesale change or…
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Relic Room to offer free summer admission to military and their families
May 17, 2022As it has for several years, this summer the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum will participate in the Blue Star Museums initiative, a national program that provides…
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Decorated officer will tell how the Marines took back Hue during Tet Offensive
May 16, 2022At the start of the fateful year of 1968, then-Capt. Myron Harrington, USMC, was a supply officer in Da Nang, far from the sharp end of the Vietnam War. In…
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Upcountry History Museum presents iconic AP Vietnam War photos
May 13, 2022Iconic images are a powerful part of the collective memory of the Vietnam War, and the Associated Press produced a vivid visual narrative of the human story of the conflict…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: churches, life, media, military, non-profit, on-the-move
Rediscovering An Old Friend
May 12, 2022By Tom Poland March 3rd is a day I’ll long remember. A bit earlier I had given a talk to the Kiwanis Club at the Darlington Country Club. Returning home…
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What You Forget About Parenthood
May 12, 2022By Amy Coward It’s been a while since I had young children at home. Other than the occasional visit from grandchildren (an hour here, two hours there), all my children…
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The beauty of humility
May 12, 2022By Jeff Becraft A couple of years ago I went to a workshop on experiential learning. It was on a college campus in one of the training rooms in…
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Join in the excitement and be a part of the Lake Murray landscape forever
May 11, 2022The Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board announces the “Welcome to Lake Murray” destination landmark project at the Lake Murray Dam located at Highway 6 and 60. Residents and…
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Registration open for city’s summer camps program
May 11, 2022Art, Sports & Weekly Camps Offered for Children Registration for the Columbia Parks and Recreation Department’s Summer Camps Program, which includes weekly camps and a variety of specialty camps, is…
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An Old Tree, An Old Academy
May 5, 2022By Tom Poland A Magnolia and a School of Consequence As you top the Edgefield County rise, that fine word “copse” comes to mind. Copse, a small group of…
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The process of growth
May 5, 2022Our front yard is high-maintenance, high-water, have-to-mow-more-than-usual Bermuda grass. Each year, it is usually a process of transitioning from dormant brown through the winter to green in the spring. This year,…
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Cotton Pickin’ Memories
April 27, 2022By Tom Poland My jaunts around the South take me past old haunts, a cotton gin now and then. I’ve seen gins in Salters, Bishopville, and other rural places.…
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What is Wisdom? How Truly Wise People Act—and What You Can Do to Become More Like Them
April 27, 2022By Mike DuBose The Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of wisdom is “the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment.” When it comes to ourselves (and those around us), however,…
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The little things
April 27, 2022By Jeff Becraft Hudson Taylor said, “A little thing is a little thing. But a little thing done faithfully is a big thing.” A recurring theme you will see…
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A life paid for
April 20, 2022By Jeff Becraft Both of our dogs are rescues. Each has its own unique story. Moe is particularly interesting. It is a longer backstory of how we even came…
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Miss Emily’s Oak
April 20, 2022By Tom Poland She planted the oak some sixty-eight years ago. Miss Emily was around twenty-six then. The years passed, the tree grew, and today it’s a setting Normal…
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Veteran to tell the story of the Mobile Riverine Force in Vietnam
April 19, 2022Tillman Abell, an ROTC-trained Army officer from Wofford College, took command of a platoon with the 9th Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta on March 28, 1968, when the Tet…
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Setting the atmosphere
April 14, 2022By Jeff Becraft The following is a poem I wrote one Poetry Night with the students. The local artist, Eboni, had sown the vision with us about what poetry should…
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The Congaree Vista District celebrates 30 years of Artista Vista, April 22-24
April 11, 2022This April marks 30 years of Artista Vista, the weekend-long celebration of the Congaree Vista district’s vibrant art scene, happening April 22-24. The event continues to highlight incredible artists in…
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Masters Memories
April 11, 2022By Tom Poland There comes a memory from long ago when Georgia had yet to win 1980 and 2021 national champions. No worries, Georgia was and is an annual…
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Nick to resume screenings next week
April 8, 2022The Nickelodeon theatre will reopen next week, with two movies set for the weekend, April 15-17. Audiences will be able to enjoy “The Worst Person in the World,” a 2021…
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The Unumb Center for Neurodevelopment is hosting Happy Glampers, a fundraiser benefiting Camp U at Camp Cole
April 7, 2022Come glamp with us! The Unumb Center for Neurodevelopment invites the community to join them at Stone River on Tuesday, May 17th from 5-9pm for Happy Glampers, a night of…
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Regaining the wow in life
April 6, 2022By Jeff Becraft One of our grandsons is named Levi. He is about 1 ½ years old. One of Levi’s favorite words is “Wow.” Except he doesn’t say it…
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Wingard’s Market summer produce baskets are back
April 6, 2022Wingard’s Market is thrilled to announce the return of the summer produce baskets starting at the end of April. The Produce Baskets will have a mix of local and regional…
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Lake Marion community celebrates grand opening of 1,000-home development
April 5, 2022McCord’s Ferry at Lake Marion, a 700-acre master-planned lakefront community near Santee, SC, will host a two-day celebration to showcase the expansive residential development’s grand opening. The event will be…
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Blind Spots
March 31, 2022By Jeff Becraft We all have blind spots. Years ago, I started cutting my own hair. And I cut it much shorter now – I get better gas mileage that…
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From Savior to Survivor
March 31, 2022By Tom Poland Four relics remind me of how things used to be: fire towers, windmills, chimneys, and silos. I’ve written about fire towers, windmills, and chimneys but never…
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Creativity and Collaboration on Full Display in Clinton
March 28, 2022Some of the best ideas come from collaboration. That’s exactly what happened recently when Berkshire Hathaway Home Services and the artists of T.A.G. collaborated to create the Uptown Window Project. Uptown…
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Wild Horses
March 24, 2022By Tom Poland When I hear some determined soul say “wild horses couldn’t pull me away” thoughts race through my mind. First, I think of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. You’d…
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Tickets on sale for Nickelodeon Red Carpet Awards Party 2022
March 23, 2022Dress your best and join The Nickelodeon on the red carpet Sunday for the ultimate Academy Awards watch-party! Together we’ll laugh, cry, and cheer over surprise winners, fashion triumphs, and…
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U.S. News ranks three Hammock Coast beaches among South Carolina’s top 10
March 22, 2022U.S. News & World Report has ranked three beaches on South Carolina’s Hammock Coast among the best in the Palmetto State. In its ranking of the 12 best South Carolina…
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Just Say Something hosts 34TH Annual Red Ribbon Classic Golf Tournament
March 21, 2022The 34th Annual Red Ribbon Classic Golf Tournament, presented by Reed Property Group, will be held on Monday, March 28th at the Thornblade Club, 1275 Thornblade Blvd, Greer, SC 29650-4515.…
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Spokes in a wheel
March 17, 2022By Jeff Becraft I was reviewing one of my old journals yesterday and I came across a page from Leadership Weekend from way back in 2012. We were having…
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40th Annual St. Pat’s in Five Points returns this Saturday
March 16, 2022All Roads Lead to Five Points for Columbia’s Favorite Irish Fest on March 19th! After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Five Points Association is pleased to…
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The Best Drink Of Water
March 16, 2022By Tom Poland Seems to me, as the old folks would say, an aluminum dipper delivered the best drink of water. You’d sink that dipper into a wooden bucket. And…
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Veterans to tell about surviving one of the fiercest battles of the Vietnam War
March 14, 2022Craig Van Hout and his comrades in the 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, fought the very last major battle Americans experienced during the Vietnam War. It’s regarded as one of…
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Read The Fine Print
March 10, 2022By Tom Poland Note: For Non-Offended Eyes Only Some say we are what we eat and that what we eat these days is killing us. Down in Australia, some…
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You have to start somewhere
March 9, 2022By Jeff Becraft I am deeply grieved on what we are seeing on the world stage. I don’t watch the news on a regular basis but lately, every night we…
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Soiree on State returns to Cayce’s River Arts District
March 8, 2022The City of Cayce is thrilled to announce the return of the Soiree on State, to be held on Saturday, April 23, 2022. The City has partnered with the Avenues…
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Lecture to cover Westmoreland role in Vietnam, Civil Rights, and the Great Society
March 8, 2022The 1960s was a time of tremendous economic expansion. It was also a time of ambitious social change, from the Civil Rights Movement to President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society…
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Putting courage in someone
March 3, 2022By Jeff Becraft Leadership really it is not about me… it has to do with lifting up others around me. As I learned from a friend named Jermaine, if you…
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