Columns

Last fall, the Beacon brought readers a story of a young woman preparing for the arrival of her first child. What would be a nerve-racking experience for any expecting mother was amplified by the fact that this young woman’s husband was gearing up to deploy to Afghanistan as she prepared for the baby’s arrival.

Brunswick County Schools Superintendent Edward Pruden has it right. When it comes to student safety, there is no room for error.
It’s unfortunate, however, that at least two bus drivers missed the value of this message—and may have forgotten their training—when two students were let off county buses at the wrong locations.
Luckily for everyone involved, the students were ultimately safe, although one was injured following what the school system has called horseplay on a bus.

Maybe Brunswick County Social Services board chairman Charles Warren and members of the North Carolina Social Services Commission are getting their cues from the same place.
And apparently it’s a place where no one feels input from the county’s governing elected body—Brunswick County Board of Commissioners—matters much.
Last Tuesday county commissioners voted in majority to send recommendations for Dean Walters and Sue Carroll to the commission for two vacant positions on the local DSS board.

Recently, I swore my allegiance, taking up the cause of a growing movement in this country to “buy American.”

For one thing, I’ve been shopping at local produce markets. As far as I know, the stores’ crop yield this year still consists mostly of fruits and vegetables harvested on American soil, right? Except maybe for bananas.

I also pledged I would not buy or wear any new clothes that weren’t bearing a “made in USA” label.