May 24,  2019

Ridge Spring News

Harriet Householder

Peach Tree 23 will be held on May 31-June 1.

Farmers' Market will be on Town Square

Vouchers given out on June 6 at Town Hall

Come rain or shine the Peach Tree 23 Yard Sale is here!!!!!  The Highway 23 is 44 miles long and goes through Modoc, Edgefield, Johnston, Ward, RIDGE SPRING, Monetta, and Batesburg-Leesville.  Friday and Saturday are the days to come.  Ridge Spring has rented over 115 spots for vendors.  Who knows what you will find.  You know the saying, “One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.”  Make sure your truck is empty.

 Trip to the World War II Museum: On May 11-13, Joe Cal Watson, a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, and his daughter, Mary Edmonds, traveled to New Orleans to visit the World War II Museum. The bus trip was led by  Douglas Hastings, a Vietnam veteran from Georgia who coordinates trips for veterans,. There were eight World War II veterans on the trip. At 96, Joe Cal was the next to the oldest; one vet was about 20 days older than Joe Cal. There were also Korean and Vietnam vets on the trip. The World War II Museum is fantastic. It tells the story of both the European and Pacific theaters and the home front. The exhibits draw you into events: for example, you walk through snow-covered fir trees in the Battle of the Bulge, palm trees in the Philippines, and the interior of a aircraft carrier in the naval war in the Pacific. The exhibits encouraged Joe Cal to share some personal experiences with Mary. He also noted that two members of his very small graduating class at Ridge Spring High School were sadly killed in World War II, Haskell Miller and Guy Fallow. Guy Fallow, who was killed at D Day, was born on the 4th of July. Joe Cal and Mary ate some great seafood and met some warm and friendly people.  

Jeff Clamp Band Director, Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle /High School: On Saturday, May 18th the Aiken County Band Directors Association hosted the annual Da Capo Band Clinic at Leavelle-McCampbell Middle School.  Five students represented Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle School at the clinic, which is basically an All-County Band for 6th-grade beginning band students.  Students were chosen by nomination and ranking from their band directors.  RS-M 6th grade students Quamaine Allen, Jarvis Bush, Cassandra Oakman, James Smith, and Maryann Sterling participated in the clinic.  The students gathered at LMMS with students from most of the other middle schools in Aiken County.  They rehearsed music all morning and performed five songs in a concert for the public that afternoon.  Congratulations to these students for their hard work this year. 

Sadie L. Davis: Mt Alpha Baptist Church Vacation Bible School You are invited to attend Vacation Bible School from June 3rd through June 6th^. from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. The Theme will be World Changers: Acts 6-8 "Leading Through Action".

Juniper Restaurant: We were invited to cook lunch at the SC Governor's Mansion on May 22 for the Palmetto Cabinet! We had a great time and really enjoyed getting to cook with Chef Jared Hudson! I We featured some great Certified South Carolina farms that included Adluh, Hickory Hill Milk, Titan Farms, WP Rawl, Watsonia Farms, Cottle Strawberry Farm, and  Manchester Farms Quail! 

“Farm Fresh Faith”

Come one, come all to grow a Farm Fresh Faith through a study of God’s work in Joseph’s life during Vacation Bible School here at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church.    We begin Sunday, June 2nd followed by Four Fantastic Wednesday Nights;  June 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th.     The time is 6:00 - 8:30 pm nightly with suppers served in the Fellowship Hall. There is a place for everyone at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church

Vacation Bible School.

Remember Ridge Spring is a "Small town with benefits".  I was getting gas at the filling station and saw Amancio Palma from Titan Farms.  I asked him if peaches were at the Packing shed (Old term from my past) because I wanted to give peaches to those who would be at the promotional talk about Ridge Spring.  It would be to a group at the Lexington United Methodist Church.  He brought me a half bushel before I left the shop to go to Lexington.  We do help each other out and I am thankful.  When I finished,  they knew about our town, Titan Farms, and peaches.

Harriet's Garden is closing at the end of June.  Come check out bargains or just visit.  I have been open for 17 years. 

Josie Rodgers

RSM High: We held our first Senior Awards Night last Thurs, and it was amazing! The bleachers were filled with parents, family, and friends. The graduates wore their caps and gowns, and over a million dollars in scholarships were awarded. Jason Rodgers, student body president, led the Pledge and welcomed the audience as well as gave advice to his fellow graduates. Principal Blankenship honored each graduate by describing their plans after high school. He also announced the honor roll and the honor graduates. Various members of the community, business leaders, and scholarship committee members were on hand to present awards and scholarships. After the ceremony, everyone enjoyed delicious refreshments and fellowship with each other. The graduates watched a senior slide show and took over the mic later to sing and dance. The highlight of the dancing was Mr. Briggs Smith, son of our guidance counselor. He really entertained us with his moves! Many thanks to those who made this event so awesome including Monica Smith, Angela Rodgers, Angela McDowell, Coach Lipsey, and Ms. Douda.

Last Friday, RSM held its first ever Senior Decision Day on the football field. Seniors created posters representing their post-secondary plans and presented them as the underclassmen watched from the stands. After, all the students participated in games and dancing. And yep, Briggs was at it again, showing these teens how to really dance! Many thanks to Angela McDowell, Amanda Derrick, Monica Smith, and Kerry Jackson.

RSMH Athletic Booster Club is sponsoring a Golf Tournament on Sat. May 25. This will be a 4-man Captain’s Choice at Indian Trail Golf Course in Batesburg. Entry fee is $50 per player and includes 18 holes with cart, soft drinks, water, meal, & prizes. Sign-in is at 8 am with shotgun start at 9. Prizes awarded for First Place, Longest Drive, & Closest to Pin. For more info, contact Brian McCormack at 803-960-0508 or mcfalcons@comporium.net.

RSM Elem (Tonya Rodgers): Kindergarten Registration: Students must be five by Sept 1. Visit ACPSD.net ~ About Us ~ How to Enroll ~ 5K Registration or stop by any one of 20 Aiken County elementary school for detailed information.       

2019-2020 Online Registration: Registration will be completed online for next school year. You must have access to PowerSchool/Parent Portal to register your child. Please contact Mrs. Workman in the office before June. You will need to bring your ID. Having access to PowerSchool/Parent Portal will also allow you to view your child’s grades.

Edmentum: Online summer learning from June 17 - Aug 1for all rising 2^nd – 9^th graders.  Interested parents should register their child by May 31 at:

( http://www.surveymonkey.com/r/summerchallenge2019 ). Email questions to:

( alogan@acpsd.net ).          

Review from David Marshall James:  "The Sentence Is Death" by Anthony Horowitz

   London TV and novel (including the young-adult Alex Rider series) author Anthony Horowitz scores another winner with his second Daniel Hawthorne mystery, following last year's "The Word Is Murder."

   Hawthorne's more than a bit of a cipher himself, a sort-of modern-day Sherlock Holmes who has been dismissed by the police force but who is so adept that he's called in to consult on difficult cases.

   Horowitz appears as himself in the narrative, in a metafictional construct.  That is, he presents the plot as if it were a true crime happening in real time, tagging along with Hawthorne, who wishes to be chronicled by a sort-of modern-day Dr. Watson.  The better to feel like Sherlock himself, eh?

   This literary device allows the author plenty of editorial room to discuss what's au courant in and around the capital, from its neighborhoods to its constabulary to its cultural scenes.

   Hawthorne's latest assignment involves a highly successful London divorce attorney who has been knocked over the noggin, repeatedly, with an insanely expensive bottle of wine, then given the coup de mort with the jagged edge of the broken bottle.

   The crime scene is set up to point the blame at the ex-wife of a recent client.  Horowitz earns his laurels in fashioning this divorcee author, what with her of-the-zeitgeist, in-the-moment pronouncements and lauded-to-Parnassus (if not best-selling) writings, including a collection of haikus that becomes a major plot point.

   So, did she do it, or do you just wish she did, because she's as annoying as a gardening rash?

   Yet, wait:  There's a back story concerning the murder victim that takes "Tony" (not his favorite nickname) and Hawthorne to the Yorkshire dales in a first-class train compartment.  Was the murder victim once responsible for another man's drowning in a spelunking "accident"?

   The novel offers six or seven serious contenders as suspects in the crime, and Horowitz-- through ever-increasing plot developments-- makes them all seem guilty.  Some of them even lie about their alibis-- to Hawthorne, no less.  We pity the fools.

   Yes, he's a pip, as is Horowitz (author and participant), as is the Jabbette-the Hutt police DI who loathes Horowitz, as is the author's London Eye, as is the solution to the crime.  That's five pips-- right, Sherlock?

Harriet's Garden Tips: ( from last year) April showers bring May flowers.  How true!!!  Daylilies are really hardy.  Have you seen them growing in ditches and along the roadside?  They are called daylilies because that beautiful bloom lasts one day.  There are newer varieties that bloom continuously for longer periods of time.  I love to  mix daylilies in flower beds.  They divide easily and just survive.  We have two wonderful daylily places in town.  The Daylily Depot and Loris and Bobby Yonce have and sell beautiful varieties of them.   In 1944 my mother was visiting may father at Fort Hood, Texas when she walked by a lady selling what turned out to be daylilies out of her trunk.  Mom could not get a plant but the lady promised to send Mom some seeds for $1.00 or it might have been a quarter. That began my families love of daylilies. 

REMINDERS

May 31-June 1: Peachtree 23 Yard Sale

June 6: Vouchers distributed at Town Hall

June 8-Labor Day: Ridge Spring Farmers' Market on Saturdays

Ridge Spring Library Hours: Mon. Tues. 9:00 - 12:00; Wed. Thurs. Closed;

            Fri. 10:00 - 4:00; Sat. 10:00 - 1:00.

Saluda Library Hours:  Mon/Wed 8:30 am-5 pm; Tues/Thurs 8:30 am – 6 pm; Fri 8:30    am – 5 pm; Sat closed

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

Fridays & Saturdays:  AARS hours 10:00-2:00 or by appt, free admission

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

Third Thursday: FORS at Town Hall at 5:30 PM

Every 1^st Thursday:  Audibel Hearing Center in the back room of Bank

Security Bank Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 9-12  1-5, Wed. 9-12

Ridge Spring Town Hall: Monday - Friday 8:30am - 5:00pm, Sat. 8:30am - 11:30pm