January 28, 2018

Ridge Spring News

Harriet Householder

Harvest Festival Committee Chairperson Patrick Arnold:   We had a great Harvest Festival last year from the BBQ Competition to Shrimp City Slim and everything in between.   We have received positive feedback from festival goers and we need to examine what we did right and what we need to improve for this year.  Ann Marie Taylor has done a magnificent job, leading our group and the festival back to being a success. She dealt with many obstacles with the festival and in her personal life, moving into a new house, renovations, and losing her mother. Along with a high pressure job she devoted her time and efforts into this festival. Thank you Ann Marie, you have a HUGE heart.  We all have full time jobs, weather it a punching a clock, caring for loved ones or whatever fills your days.... they are just full. But we join this committee because we care about our community and want to make a difference.   I can't promise that I will be as organized or as thorough with all the details, but I can promise that I will be driven and dedicated to the Harvest Festival to make it the best that I can.  Please encourage anyone that you believe would like to make a difference or contribution to our festival to come to our meeting which will be held in the Town Hall, February 13th at 7:00pm. 

AARS: Kim Ruff will have a pottery class on Monday, February 12th from 6:30-8:30 with a Quilt Patch platter to commemorate the quilt emphasis that Ridge Spring has coming in March.  This is a beginner class.  Quilt designs will be painted on the platter with underglazes.  Cost is $35.  Pre-registration is requested.  Please contact Kim by emailing her at makerart@aol.com or Joanne at joanne.crouch26@gmail.com.

Terrible wrecks occur and when one happens in our small town, we all care.  For more information on Charles or Charley that works at Juniper, please contact Jeanne Velie at Juniper Restaurant for more information.

The Department of Agriculture will be holding classes for farmers so they can accept vouchers this summer.  These vouchers are given to people over a certain age to use to get fresh fruits and vegetables.  For more information contact the department at 503.734.2224.  The class closest to Ridge Spring will be in Aiken on February 26 from 10;00 AM til noon.  You must register no later than February 1.

RIDGE SPRING UNITED METHODIST CHURCH:For the past several Sundays Pastor Ashley has been talking about words that begin with EX, such as excited! As the Church that ‘Lives to Give’ we are Excited about 2018 with the possibilities, events, activities and services planned.

 January: The Big Red Box, BRB in January will be collecting for health bags. Items needed are: wash cloth, towel (full size), tooth brush and paste, full size, comb, emery boards, bath soap, full size. If you are interested in helping, leave your donations on the porch of the Family Life Center, FLC and a church member will make sure they are placed in the BRB. The Bags will be delivered to a local Ministry the end of January. If you haven’t donated you still have time. The bags will be assembled and delivered the 1^st week of February.

 February: February and the BRB starts thinking soup…in fact the BRB will be collecting cans of soup the entire month of February. The Souper Bowl of Caring (an international organization started in Columbia, SC) will sponsor many drives, lunches and soup collections. RSUMC will host a Souper Bowl of Caring lunch on February 4, 2018 immediately following regular church Service. Several different types of soups, deserts, corn bread/biscuits and drink will be provided. Cost: free with a donation of cans of soup. For those interested, buckets with the Super Bowl teams logos on them will be available for donations to see ‘whose team’ comes out on top. The cans of soup and money collected will go to local food banks. Have you  heard our AD on WKSX? Have you seen notification of the Souper Bowl Lunch on the Town Sign?

 Later in February RSUMC will host their first ever Shrove (or Fat) Tuesday pancake supper. This will be at the FLC February 13, 2018 5 pm-7pm. Pancakes and link sausage will be provided along with water and coffee. The supper is free but a love offering would be appreciated. Eat in or carry out.

The next day, Wednesday, February 14, 2018 at 6 pm RSUMC will offer an Ash Wednesday Service at 6 pm. Join us for this moving service to begin the very powerful and meaningful beginning of Lent.   

As you can see much going on at RSUMC. We would love for you to join us at our regular church service, Sundays at 11 am and at any or ALL of the activities noted. Prayer box and church/Pastor information are located on the porch of the FLC.

Check us out on our Face Book page. Hope to see you in church next Sunday. We’ll save you a seat.

Josie Rodgers:

RSMMH:  On Jan. 26, C-SPAN’s state-of-the-art 45-foot customized motor coach visited RSMMHS.  This visit is a component of C-SPAN’s “50 Capitals Tour.”  The bus is high-tech with access to many tech devices that give students hands-on experience with political and educational resources and how they are used in our ever-changing fast-paced media world. 

RSM High:  The English department spent some time on Kiawah Island at the SCCTE Annual Conference.  The teachers attended various breakout sessions and heard from several speakers including Stephanie Harvey, Releah Lent, and Monika Schroder.  The theme of the conference was “Literacy in a Transdisciplinary Age.”  The teachers learned new ways to access literacy and critical thinking in a world where text is more than a book.  The RSM teachers also spent time together relaxing and getting renewed for 2^nd semester.  Ask them about the A.R.C. they built!

Summer Cherry:  The Trojan Champs sponsored lunch for their buddies recently and treated them to pizza, corn hole, and dancing.  Trojan Champ member Brair said, “This was the best buddy day yet!”

Mrs. Monica Jones, secondary literacy teacher for the high school, treated her students who had improved their reading scores to a luncheon. She cooked chicken Alfredo and cake for forty of her students, who were very grateful for the special treat. The Lunch Bunch is for any student who has improved his or her comprehension score, vocabulary score, and context passage score with 80% or better on the software for Read 180. The Lunch Bunch takes place each nine weeks. As an additional incentive, each student invited one other guest to join him or her. “I want to encourage these star students to be role models for others and to set a standard of excellence in their classroom, which is the Trojan Way,” said Mrs. Jones. 

The RSMMHS media center is sponsoring two reading promotions this year. Since September, it has been promoting the Junior Book Award nominees and the Young Adult Book Award nominees. Any student who reads at least three books from either list and makes an original bookmark promoting one of the books by the middle of February is eligible to participate in a recognition celebration in March. Starting in February, students who pick up a punch card and read a book from each genre can claim a prize with a full punch card.

REVIEWING THE LAST 3 MONTHS OF 2017

October 2017: The Harvest Festival filled most of the article with winners of the BBQ, Ribs, Cake and Pie Contest and more.  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!!!!!  Security Federal Bank has been looking at options for locating a branch in Ridge Spring. The First Citizens Bank in Ridge Spring recently closed. For hearing needs, Jerry Sheets of Audibel comes to Ridge Spring the first Thursday of the month to serve the community.

November 2017: From the Mayor's Desk: Santa has certainly come early for Ridge Spring. In November, Haley Bee's opened for business in the old town hall. If you haven't visited the shop, you will be in for a pleasant surprise. Besides the variety of clothes, gifts, men's and baby clothes that Haley offers, you must see what has been created from the old building. Next, Ridge Spring Auctions will have its first auction on December 3rd in the Civic Center. There will be 2 auctions weekly: one Thursday evenings at 6:00 and another on Sunday afternoons. Security Federal Bank will have made a much anticipated announcement on Wednesday, November 29. Teresa Wallace has opened up My Love All Occasion Shop at the Cumbee Place on East Main Street. This is a consignment shop with clothes for $1.00.  The shop will also include wedding clothes, prom dresses and tuxedoes that will be available.  She also has her notary seal.  Her hours are Sunday through Friday from 1:30 to 5:00.  Closed Saturdays.

December 2017: Ridge Spring Town Hall:

2017 has been a busy year for our town.  We are finally in our permanent home, and like all building owners have had to make some adjustments to make the building ours.  We took out a wall to make a meeting room, added a skylight to cover a hole in the roof where the chimney was located, rewired, and painted.  In addition to the work inside, we enlarged and paved the parking lot and added addition outside wiring.

At the same time we  brought the police back into town hall, and added and equipped an evidence locker; we were able to get a safe for small evidence from SCE&G; we bought new software for the police computers and hired two part time policemen.  Both retired at the end of the year.