Thumbs up to Honda for library donation

Thumbs up to Honda of South Carolina Manufacturing Inc. in Timmonsville for contributing $25,000 in support of the town’s new Baker Memorial Public Library. The Florence County Library System broke ground for the 6,500-square-foot branch library at 298 W. Smith St. on May 16. The current library only has two public Internet computers, no meeting room space and limited operating hours. Timmonsville librarians also have said they need more space to hold children’s programs at the library rather than using the town’s Boys & Girls Club as an alternate location. The new library, by comparison, will include 18 public Internet computers, wireless Internet access, a 65-seat meeting room space with digital projector and sound system, a children’s section, a reading area, professional library staff, about 10,000 books, CDs and DVDs and expanded operating hours. “Honda of South Carolina is well known for its community support and this generous gift will benefit everyone in the community who uses the new library,” Florence County Library Director Ray McBride said in a press release. “We look forward to continuing a great relationship between Honda, Florence County Library System and the Timmonsville community as we plan and build this new facility.”

Thumbs up to all those who participated in the 25th Annual BI-LO Charity Classic golf tournament, which raised a record-breaking $5,659,000 that will benefit an estimated 500 charities in the four-state region served by BI-LO. Among the Pee Dee agencies expected to receive funding this year are Pee Dee Area Council of Boy Scouts of America, McLeod Children’s Hospital in Florence, the Darlington County Council on Aging and The Manna House of Mullins. BI-LO Charities Executive Director Carol Browning said the record-breaking total also was made possible by hundreds of volunteers and BI-LO teammates who donated more than 5,000 hours of time, allowing BI-LO Charities to minimize costs associated with putting on the nation’s largest single-day golf charity event. The BI-LO Charity Classic was founded in 1984 as a fundraiser for Meals on Wheels of Greenville. By 1998, the tournament had become so large that a separate charitable organization, BI-LO Charities Inc., was formed. The BI-LO Charity Classic has raised more $45 million for charities since it was initiated in 1984. BI-LO operates 220 supermarkets in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee and employs about 16,000 people.

Thumbs down to Jackson Police Chief Dennis Rushton and resident Gail Martin. Martin told Columbia television station WIS that during a recent meal with her daughters at Buckhead Café in Jackson, Rushton twice yelled at them to leave because her 4-year-old autistic daughter Alyssa began crying. “I wasn’t embarrassed of Alyssa’s behavior, I was embarrassed of the way it was handled,” said Martin, who said that’s why she and her daughters did leave the restaurant. Even though Rushton said he knew the girl was autistic, he asked the Martins to leave because he felt the girl was being extremely loud and bothering other customers. A man who was dining with the chief, as well as a waitress at the restaurant, also dispute Martin’s claim that the chief was rude. Regardless, Martin said she felt Rushton should have been more understanding. No one enjoys being disturbed by an unruly child at a restaurant when dining out, but any child’s behavior can be unpredictable at any time or place. Considerate parents, however, usually will try to calm their children or, if unsuccessful, leave the restaurant with the child so as not to bother other patrons. Rushton told the television station he is open to going through training through the South Carolina Autism Society to help him better understand the condition, and that his police commissioner has invited the Martin family to meet with them at Jackson City Hall. We hope the police chief, Martin and her family learn an important lesson in sensitivity and consideration.