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Web posted Tuesday, August
26, 2003
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Bremer: Worthy statewide program feels the
budget pinch
By Carolyn Bremer
Carolina Morning News
Our
new governor Mark Sanford is surely a handsome
fellow with a fine-looking family. But he is doing
some things I am not happy about. The prestigious
Leadership South Carolina program's state funding
is being cut. South Carolina is a national leader
in its promotion and execution of this effort. We
have been cited as being innovative and
progressive in educating community leaders so that
they can return home filled with knowledge of
diverse state activities, cultural differences and
ways in which to address local problems based on
success elsewhere. I urge any of us who care to
write a letter to Gov. Sanford asking that he
please reinstate the small amount (if memory
serves, under $100,000).
South Carolina
rates at the low end of any scale nationwide, we
should be proud of this one program in which we
excel so well that others follow our lead. Thanks
to any who will plead this case with
me.
Last week I took my annual trek to
Pittsburgh with two college friends to visit a
fourth friend's home. Dede, Eda, Mibs and I met as
housemates in the fall of 1947. Even though we did
not stay in close touch through the years, at our
first hiatus in 2001, the years fell away. We
gathered again in 2002 and are today as close as
ever and share family wonders and woes and
entertain one another with funny
stories.
When we used to visit with Dede in
Pittsburgh in the late '40s, every time we went
outside we would come back home with dirty fingers
and soot on our exteriors. Today, it is a model
city. The downtown is beautiful, with small parks
nestled every few blocks and giant prehistoric
animals adorning street corners and placed
whimsically around and about. It is clean, clean,
clean and the three rivers (Allegheny, Monongahela
and Ohio) are sparkling bright and busy with
traffic.
It was a wonderfully relaxing
week. Dede has a pretty pool in her side yard and
the grandkids and I had a good time swimming laps
and playing while the others sun-bathed and sat.
'Tis always great to go away and even greater to
come back home.
A couple of weeks ago while
Lucy and I were swimming our distance in the Maye
River, we glanced over and looked up to see about
eight wood storks nestled in the trees at the near
end of Myrtle Island. They are magnificent large,
wide-winged, long-billed white birds with black on
the wings who do not normally come up this far.
Their home is mostly in the Southeastern United
States (with lots in Florida) extending down to
Argentina. A colony was sited some time ago over
in Colleton River Plantation. It's the first time
I've seen them here.
The very next day on
our swim I looked down at the marsh grass as I
walked the stairs into the river and thought I saw
the marsh grass (Spartina) in bloom. Sure enough
as we came alongside the marsh in our swim we
looked closely and the tiny white blossoms are
budding away at the top of the tall spikes of the
grass. What a wonder!
The roving Radests,
Moss Creekers Rita and Howard, are home again from
a three-week sortie that went from New Jersey
friends to London to a seminar in Hungary, back to
London, to our shores on the QEII, to a brief stay
in New York with family. They are recuperating
from a magnificent journey, according to
spokeswife Rita.
As friends and students
are aware, Dr. Howard Radest is a philosopher,
ethicist and teacher of the first order. He is a
member of the Highland Institute for American
Religious and Philosophical Thought which is
headquartered in Highland, N.C. The group meets
each year in June and every 5th year they meet at
a different European location. This year, being a
5th year, they met their counterparts in Dobogoko,
Hungary, on the grounds of a former nunnery just
moments from cliffs alongside the Danube River.
"We had a glorious time," added Rita, "the
Institute has about 75 members and almost 50
attended. We covered many subjects, among them
human and animal rights, a worldwide
topic."
The trip home on the big ship was
such a treat for them, weary after all that
thinking, I guess. Rita said they were pampered
and on this cruise did a lot of resting and
eating. "We did attend one classical concert which
was excellent. The theme of the cruise was 'Jazz'
and we can listen to only so much of that. (I am
with you all, Rita! My jitterbugging days are
fini.)
She made Annelore and spouse and me
and my beloved anxious for our own journey on the
QEII in December, pray God we will all survive to
make it.
Don't forget, friends, the Friends
of the River Regatta and day in the sun is
Saturday, Labor Day weekend at the oyster factory
grounds. Come early and stay late for they will be
many nice surprises in store.
Also, please
treat yourselves to a performance of the newest
offering by the May River Theatre Company musical,
an evening with the incomparable songs of Johnny
Mercer. As you probably know, Johnny Mercer was a
hometown Savannah boy who went on to fame and
fortune. He wrote the lyrics to so many tunes that
were part of our lives for years. This production
features a lot of the enduring and well-loved
music that was popular in my youth. It begins with
an evening show at 8 p.m. Thursday and continues
for five performances.
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