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November 13, 2009

COLUMN: Republicans are nation’s true spendthrifts

Ah, what a dramatic moment it was when Maddie turned up on the U.S. House floor, opposing the health care bill. Maddie, it turns out — apparently unlike Democrats — “believes in freedom.”


November 08, 2009

EDITORIAL: Machinists, aerospace workers have local connection

When the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers was in the news the other day concerning a proposed airline merger, Dr. Joe Stukes pointed out a local angle.


October 23, 2009

OPINION: West Evans history worth improvement efforts

I have written about the 100 block of East Evans Street, my favorite block when Florence had a real downtown, but the 100 block of West Evans was pretty neat, too.


October 09, 2009

COLUMN: South Dargan Street shaping up culturally with museum site

On Feb. 3, 1939, Dr. Ralph Van Deaman Magoffin, head of the department of classics at New York University turned the key to a ground floor door at the Florence Public Library and opened the new Florence Museum.


October 04, 2009

COLUMN: Florence natives were truly able to reach for the stars

A couple of Florence girls some years ago got jobs in Washington and left to reach for the stars, so to speak. They later found themselves knee deep in stars, but more about the stars later.


September 26, 2009

Florence on cusp of new season of local, cultural events

It dawned on me after attending a couple of events that a new season had started for the local entertainment and cultural scene.


September 20, 2009

COLUMN: Sleepless night when Hurricane Hugo hit

The night Hurricane Hugo hit in 1989, I didn’t get much sleep, frequently getting up and looking around to see if there were any problems. I mean, other than the fact that the storm was raging outside.


September 12, 2009

COLUMNIST: Woman wrote of very early days of Florence

In early 1939 the Morning News published some articles written by older Florentines looking back on the early days of the town. It was in connection with the 50th anniversary of creation of Florence County.


September 06, 2009

COLUMN: Obama should reflect on Johnson, Vietnam decision

Do you have a sense that we have been here before — maybe a little feeling of déjà vu all over again, as Yogi might put it? It might be a very good thing if Barack Obama reflected on what happened to Lyndon B. Johnson.


August 30, 2009

COLUMN: The almost-unknown story of Daniel C. Roper

In October 1884, young Daniel C. Roper left his home in Marlboro County, bound for Wofford College in Spartanburg.


August 23, 2009

COLUMN: Writer from 1882 gives Florence glowing review

Where around here do you suppose you could find it “cheering to hear the sound of saw, hammer and trowel on all sides”?


August 16, 2009

COLUMN: The names of cities, town, places in the Pee Dee

Everybody — well nearly everybody around here — knows where Florence, city and county, got their name.


July 26, 2009

OPINION: Uncle Walter: a connection with memories

In 1963, Morning News editor James Rogers told me we had been invited to send a reporter to Kansas City with the state’s Future Farmers of America delegation to their national convention. Would I like to take the trip?


July 19, 2009

OPINION: Plenty to do in New York without spending a lot

On a travel Web site, a woman asked what she could do in New York without spending lots of money.


July 10, 2009

OPINION: Station wagon vacation amidst moonwalk

We gave no particular thought to the space shot in 1969 when planning our first station wagon vacation.


July 03, 2009

Nothing new about embarrassing politicians

Much has been said about Gov. Mark Sanford’s AWOL and other behavior embarrassing South Carolina. There’s something new about S.C. politicians embarrassing the state?


June 28, 2009

COLUMN: Florence’s first football team quite successful

Football was still a pretty new game, and Florence was still a pretty young community in 1912.


June 21, 2009

FLT regular will be missed in Florence

It is a little like the end of an era. But to start at the beginning, a young couple moved to Florence more than 50 years ago so he could work in a family manufacturing business in the county.


June 14, 2009

Shorty was a character in old downtown

Some veteran Florentines who were around when Florence had a real downtown might remember Shorty Andrews.


June 07, 2009

Spoleto a different world from week to week

There is quite a difference between opening weekend of the Spoleto Festival in Charleston and the second, or middle, weekend.


May 31, 2009

When railroad engineers were rock stars of the day

Florence railroad engineer W.W. Corrie made an unusually fast and efficient run between Ashley Junction near Charleston and Florence in 1894 and got a lot of attention.


May 24, 2009

Driving report surprisingly off the mark

New York drivers are the nation’s worst? That’s what a GMAC Insurance test suggests.


May 17, 2009

Taxes can’t remain lower than expenditures

Watching the tea bag parties recently, I agreed that keeping taxes as low as possible is a good idea. But any dream of taxes continuing forever so much lower than expenditures, as they have through 30 years of “conservative” political dominance, is impossible.


May 10, 2009

Trip to San Francisco offers surprises

We didn’t leave our hearts in San Francisco, but we did leave what seemed like a pretty good little boost for their economy. They call it “everybody’s favorite city,” and it ranks mighty high with me.


May 03, 2009

FLT concludes memorable first season in its new home

Veteran Florence Little Theatre-goers looked back during the community theater group’s first season in new South Dargan Street digs.


April 26, 2009

Answers solved on Blanchard’s bowl appearance

When Bishopville native Doc Blanchard died the other day, it brought back memories and led to puzzlement.


April 19, 2009

Florence full of planning 100 years ago

Were you wondering what they were thinking about in Florence 100 years ago?


April 12, 2009

Book from Art’s Alive sale gives insight to another Florence

So I am browsing the used book sale at Art’s Alive the other day. What do I find but a history of Florence, Mass.?


April 05, 2009

Legislative Manual of 1947 gives a snapshot of Pee Dee ‘power brokers’

Probably the handiest of state publications is the Legislative Manual, which is a digest of state officers and a description of some.


March 29, 2009

Taking a look back at Timmonsville’s namesake

The Rev. J. Morgan Timmons must have been quite a fellow. He is best remembered for having the town of Timmonsville named after him, but according to the January 1942 edition of The Whirlwind, Timmonsville High School student newspaper, he was a busy guy.

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