October 23, 2017

Ridge Spring News

Harriet Householder

The Friends of Ridge Spring or FORS is an organization of businesses and friends of the town who want to promote our town.  There will b two events in the upcoming months.  In November we will have Black Friday and Small Business Saturday on November 25 and 26.  Special deals  and beautiful art will be available with some nice surprises.  Then on December 9 and 10, there will be Shoppes and Art Center of Ridge Spring Open House with holiday music and refreshments.  Keep us in mind!!!!!

Richard Elders Another good festival.  Thursday night was bingo with great prizes. Friday night there was a Street dance under the moon by Under the Sun.  Saturday morning was the good entries for the parade.  Saturday afternoon-- By far the largest crowd of the festival due to Christy Mills dancers(40 plus performers)with super routines. Once again we blessed with The Gospel Warriors and a new entry---The Lexington Youth Ballet---another super routine group. Charlotte Ginn and Friends made it back after a 2 year absence and we ended the day with Shrimp City Blues   Band. 

You can say we had everything Under the Sun from Ballet to Blues along with the Great B B Q cook off and contest. Great entertainment and great food....Now that's a festival.

The participants of the Bar-be-que Cook Off for the Boston Butts were Pimp My Pig-Dean Price;  Blazing Bullets Barbeque-Ken Hillard; Swine to Wine-Rodney Kindard; Backwood BBQ-Mike Stevens;. VFW Post 10601-Horace Sweat; Fun Time-Dude Thomas. Backwoods Bar-B-Que-Gene Culbertson; JT's BB- J T Handy; S'Lowcountrtry Q-Quentin Tedder; Southern Accent BBQ-Jeff  Yonce; Caroline Squires-Brian Pearson; Good Time Grillers-Byron Rickard;  Mac's Lunch-David McLaurin; Bold Branch Bar-B-Que-Joe Hillard; and Smokin' Stacks-Jeff Smith.

Monetta has been selected by SOUTHERN LIVING magazine in the November issue as "one of the best tiny towns in the South".  Monetta has a population of 234.  WHAT AN HONOR!!!!!

An ART EXHIBITION by local artists Anne Rauton Smith and Judy Adamick will be at the Aiken Center for the Arts from Oct. 30th to Dec. 2nd with a reception
on Nov. 9th, Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m.  A total of 23 new works will be exhibited.  Come join us for food, fun and art on Nov. 9th.

There will be a run-off for the Republican nomination for Saluda County Chairman between Gwen Shealy and Derrick Jones on October 31.  Frank Daniel won the Democratic Party's nomination.  Voting will be at the Ridge Spring Fire Department.

Art Center in Ridge Spring by Joanne Crouch

     Make your own gourd Christmas ornament with Joanne Crouch on Saturday, October 28^th from 9-12. Students will make a gourd Santa or Snowman ornament.  The ornament will be completed when it is taken home.  All supplies will be supplied for $30.  This class is for ages 12 & up.  Preregistration is required for this class.  Contact Joanne at joanne.crouch26@gmail.com or call (803)685-5577 and leave message or preregister at the Art Center on Fridays and Saturdays from 10-4.   There is another pottery class with Kim Ruff on Monday, November 13^th from 6:30-8:30.  Cost is $35 and for ages 12 & up.  The projects are a Christmas box with ribbon and a Christmas tree.  Contact  Kim Ruff at makerart@aol.com or Joanne Crouch at joanne.crouch26@gmail.com to pre-register for the class.  Please shop local on Fridays and Saturdays from 10-4.  Works of 15 plus artists are available.  Get your unique gift here. 

Jerry Sheets of Audibel comes to Ridge Spring the first Thursday of the month to serve the community.  It is good to make an appointment so you do not have to wait.  He does preventive maintenance, cleaning, batteries always, and can do full hearing test, evaluations, and fittings.  He is at the Ridge Spring Library from 10:00 to :12:00 and by appointments.  He can be reached at 803.648.7156.  His office is at the Mitchell Shopping Center at 1637 Whiskey Rd. Aiken.

RIDGE SPRING UNITED METHODIST CHURCH:

 The Big Red Box (RBR) is filling up but always room for more!! This month is BRB is hungry for pillows and pillow cases, standard size and washable blankets suitable for a twin bed. These items will be delivered to Killingsworth Home. This is a Methodist mission providing shelter, counseling, life and work skills training for women. Staff likes to provide each resident with a new pillow, case and blanket. Goal is 17! But hey, if we go over these items have a long shelf life. If you would like to help, leave donated item on porch of the Family Life Center and a member will make SURE to get it in the BRB.

You are Invited:  To a 5^th Sunday Music Celebration of Praise and Worship! On October 29^th at 11 a.m. the walls of RSUMC will be rocking with voices raised in Praise. Several individuals and groups will be joining us for the Service, we hope you will too!

Immediately after the Service, please stay for a light lunch (provided by the Church) and meet Pastor Ashley. We are thrilled to introduce our new Pastor to the community and know you will find her a blessing as we do. RSUMC is on Face Book. Like our page and keep up with the activities of the Church. The Family Life Center, FLC, is available for meetings, receptions, etc. Contact a church member of more information.

5^th Sunday Music Celebration of Praise and Worship! Join Us!!

Josie Rodgers:

RSM Elem (Rene Miller):  “PJs and Pancakes” is the theme of our Literacy Night this year! It will take place on Nov. 14 at 5 p.m. in the main office building. This fun-filled event will promote a love for reading and writing in your child’s life.

Congratulations to Advisory Council for the 2017-2018 year:   Student Advisory Members Jayke Carson, Roxy Khan, & Braylon Smith; Parent Advisory Members Dawn Pace, Katrina Rodgers, & Angela McDowell; and Teacher Advisory Members Betsie Davenport & Tieshia Walker.

RSM Elem at the Harvest Festival:  The theme of this year’s festival was “BBQ Bat-tle For The Ridge.” At RS-M Elem, we are fired up about learning! We would like to thank the following students for riding the float: Matthew Cockrell, Connor Cockrell, Chandler Harley, Kollyns Harley, Christian Finnie, Marcellus Wideman, Aaliyah Hartzog, and Addison Cooper. We are proud of these students for representing RS-M Elem so well!  Our school also had a booth. Free books and notepads were handed out to encourage students to read and write. Booth visitors were very appreciative for the free materials.

Thanks to everyone who helped with or attended Sonic Night. We had 44 students attend, and we raised $360.

Read Your Way to the Big Game:  You can show your support for Carolina or Clemson and possibly win a ticket to the big game simply by reading.  Reading logs will be sent home.  All you have to do is read 6 books to qualify.

After-School Program:  The YMCA of Aiken is offering Primetime, an after-school care program.  For more info, call the school at 803-685-2000.

First grade would like to thank postal worker Lara Edwards for visiting us. The students were fascinated by the postal vehicles with the steering wheel on the wrong side. The vehicles with two steering wheels were even more interesting. She discussed how the postal system works, how mail is sorted based on size, and how mail is delivered to homes or P.O. Boxes. Mrs. Edwards brought stamps so students could mail a letter home. Her visit was enjoyed by all.

RSM High:  The RSM True Blue Marching Band completed its competition on Sat., Oct. 14, in the "Garden City Classic" at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School.  RS-M earned one of its highest competition scores ever and finished 2^nd Place in Class A.  The band also tied for the "Best Horn Line" award.  The True Blue Band finished the season with an 11-4 record in head-to-head competition, losing to only one Class A band all season and earning a 5-2 record against bands from Class AA, AAA, and AAAA schools.  The True Blue Band would like to thank the support of the parents, family members, alumni, and friends who traveled with us to competitions this year.

  Homecoming was celebrated Friday evening with Ja’Ceel Tyler crown Queen and Julia Brewer crowned Maid of Honor.  The Trojans gained a huge victory over Estill 46-0.  Other highlights included the Banner Contest and the Chant Competition, both won by the freshman class.  Winners of the activities included Tug-of-War (juniors), Obstacle Course (seniors), Dizzy Bat (seniors), and Hula Hoop (juniors – Bailie Davis).  Other awards included Mr. Football Tyson Bettis, Miss Cheerleader Rachel Burger, Miss Volleyball Kadaija James, and Mr. Band Tyler Rowe. 

The Beta Club and NEHS are collecting socks during October for SOCKTOBER!  The least donated item to shelters is socks, so we will be donating socks to our local shelters.  The clubs will take new socks of any size to deliver.  Contact Kelly Bedenbaugh or Josie Rodgers for more info.

Review from David Marshall James:  “The Rooster Bar” by John Grisham

   Smooth narratives, propelled by “What happens next?” plotting, have placed John Grisham at the pinnacle of American popular novelists for going-on 30 years.

   His latest legal thriller zips the reader along as most of his other novels have, no thumb wetting required, loud or otherwise (apologies—just caught Carol Burnett as librarian Carol Bradford in one of her 1960s appearances as Lucille Ball’s roommate on “The Lucy Show”).

   Moreover, here Grisham emerges as a muckraker, if you will, taking to task for-profit diploma mills (you’ve seen the adverts) for which many unqualified students are handily and heartily accepted with largely undeliverable promises, sometimes running up several hundred thousand dollars in student loans.

  “The Rooster Bar” red-pens four D.C. law students at just such a mill.  Now that they’re up to their last semesters and realize that they’re probably not going to pass the bar exam, much less succeed in job competition with graduates of more prestigious schools, they’re sweating bullets and biting nails.

   The bottom really falls out of their barrel of hopes and dreams when the golden boy among them, ignoring his bipolar meds, spirals out toward suicide.  Desolate and desperate, the three remaining stoop to a scheme for which they are woefully unprepared.

   Seems their high-priced, government-sponsored dip-factory hasn’t even prepared them to be decent criminals.

   This being a well-structured Grisham work, that’s just the general gist of the story, and it’s to his credit that he can get the reader to root for these three desperadoes.

   Most desperate of the trio is a young woman whose parents and siblings are illegal residents who become targets of the feds. 

   In that for-instance, Grisham calls attention to an enormous problem, as he does with the massive-student-loan trap.  His is the vic’s perspective, and it’s an eye-opener.  As in many such faulty situations, there are plenty of unexpected sharks circling the prey, thrashing to be stuffed with wads of money.

   The author’s legal-based novels always open the reader’s mind and store of knowledge to the profession they examine.  As such, any potential law student who hasn’t read his or her way through the Grisham oeuvre is probably missing more than a few vital points.

REMINDERS

October 28:  Art Classes

October 28: Yon Family Fall Bull & Female Sale

November 4: Saluda County Farm to Table

November 13: Art Class

November 25 & 26: Ridge Spring Shoppes Specials

Ridge Spring Library hours: Mon/Tues 8:30 am - 12 pm; Wed., 8:30 – 4:30;         Thurs 8:30 am –12:30 pm; Fri 8:30 pm -4:30 pm; Sat 9-12

Ridge Spring Library Toddler Time Mondays at 10:30

Saluda County Library Hours:  Mon/Wed 8:30 am-5 pm; Tues/Thurs 8:30 am – 6 pm;   Fri 8:30am – 5 pm; Sat closed new fax machine and can send toll free

Narcotics Anonymous Fridays at RS Library at 7:00 PM

Ridge Spring Post Office hours:  Mon-Fri. 7:30 am – 11:30 am; Sat 9 – 10 am

Recycling Center Hours: Mon/Wed/Fri 1-7; Sat 7-7; Sun 3-7; Tues/Thurs closed

First Thursday of the Month:  AARS meets at 6:30, 685-5783

Every Friday & Saturday:  AARS hours 10 – 4 or by appt, free admission

Third Thursday of the Month: FORS at Library at 5:00