February 8, 2016

Ridge Spring News

Harriet Householder

The Friends of Ridge Spring will meet Thursday at 5:00 PM at the Ridge Spring Library. One of the items on the agenda will be noting what the Saluda County Council shared the ATAX monies with us.  ATAX money needs to be spent on attracting tourism to our area.  With the Peach Tree 23 Yard Sale, the Farmers’ Market and other activities FORS will continue to support our community and attract tourism.  A big “thank you” goes to the Saluda County Council.  Join us.

You can tell spring is getting close.  The Big Mo Drive-In Theater in Monetta has a sign up saying they will be opening on March 4^th.  I see all sorts of bulbs popping up through the ground, too. We do need some cold hours for the peaches to set up and bloom.

Ridge Hill Education Association Lenten Services Calendar for the year 2016 has the following service that start at 7:00 PM on Wednesday February 17^th and will be held at Jerusalem Baptist church.  The scripture will be Luke 23:24. The preacher will be Rev. Dr. Butler and the subject will be “Father Forgive Them.”  All are welcome.

Next Wednesday which is February 24^th services will be held at Pine Hill Baptist Church. The scripture will be John19:26-27 and led by Rev. Joseph Smith.  The subject will be “Woman, Behold, Your Son”.

The Helpful Hands Mission would like to thank the Ridge Spring Monetta Elementary School for donating over 1400 items to our Community Food Band. This was an outstanding act of kindness. Our food bank is open every Sunday from 12 noon to 2:00 PM.  We are also asking donations for our community youth ministry we need DVD's Books, Kids Tables and Chairs.

Mount Alpha Baptist of Ward, SC will have their Black History Program on Sunday February 21 at 11:00 am. Everyone is invited to see all the Art and Craft that will be on display in the Fellowship. There will be a bag lunch. 

March 4 & 5 are dates for Aiken's AAUW 54th annual book sale. At least 50,000 books will be available and they will be sorted by category. Hardcover books are only one dollar.  For more information go to aauwaikenbranch.org  

Rene Miller, RSM Elementary School

NFL Player Visits RSM: Dekoda Watson of the New England Patriots visited RSM on Monday, February 8. He was here in support of the American Heart Association, for which our students are currently raising money. His Foundation,

“Koda’s Kids”, donated money to the cause. He also spent time with the students as they exercised in the gym to the Wii Dance Party. Dekoda joined in and danced with them. We would like to thank Dekoda for visiting and for the generous donation.

First in Math: Our students are competing against themselves, students in our school, and all across the nation to boost their math skills. We will update biweekly in the school newsletter to let you know who is in the lead within our school. For the week ending February 5: Our school has completed 504,882 math problems. We have earned 168,294 stickers. The team of the week is Mrs. Carson’s 1st grade class. The player of the week is Dylan Harris. He earned 191 stickers. He is in Mrs. Carson’s 1^st grade class.

The top team for each grade level is: Kindergarten: Mrs. Hallman’s class; 1st Grade: Mrs. Carson’s class; 2nd Grade: Ms. Shrader’s class; 3rd Grade: Mrs. Cockrell’s class;

4th Grade: Ms. Thompson’s class; and 5th Grade: Mrs. Wilson’s class

The Trojan Pride from the Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle/High School

Ms. Douda challenged the students in her Sports and Entertainment Management class to create a model of an amusement park using the principles of logistics, so the  students not only had to plan how the amusement park would look, but they also had to plan how to make it work and be profitable. The winning project  was made by Leslie Long, Katelyn Taylor, and Nathaniel Williams.

Superintendent Dr. Sean Alford established a Student Advisory Council to meet with him each semester to discuss concerns and new ideas about the schools in our district. Students representing all 41 schools in the Aiken County Public School District were nominated by their school’s principal to participate. Representatives from our school are. 8th grader Morgan Berry. 9th grader Arturo Contreras, 11th grader Alicia Key, and 9th grader Jason Rodgers represented our school at the Student Advisory Council.

"The Lavender Lane Lothario" by David Handler; Reviewed by David Marshall James: Historic Dorset, Connecticut-- a fictional locale on the Long Island Sound-- is all about picket fences, center-chimney houses, and stringent building codes.  That is, when it isn't about the summer tourists and the pizzerias, beer halls, and ice-cream parlors they favor, but only from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

            Being the town's building inspector can get Dorset developers and summer-dependent merchants waving fingers and hurling insults at yo' face like a political candidate turning on his own, when he's low on positive polling percentages.

            Nevertheless, Dorset's current building-code enforcer is terribly zen about all those in-yo'-face threats.  Come to find out, there's a very good reason for that, and it's at the thrust of David Handler's eleventh Berger & Mitry mystery.

            Mitch Berger and Desiree Mitry make for an unlikely Nick and Nora Charles.  "Des" is in law enforcement, so solving crimes is the name of her game.  Mitch, a film critic, has seen every whodunit between Dorset and the Warner Bros. movie lot in Burbank, so he's picked up his skills via osmosis.

            Plus, the little old (and not-so-little-and-old) ladies of Dorset and environs just love pouring tea, literally and figuratively, with Mitch.  He's so plugged into the town grapevine that he could break its circuits.

            This Berger & Mitry mystery polls in as one of the best.  Handler never allows his story to drag, adhering to the Agatha Christie credo of holding mystery novels to 70,000 words, lest they be padded or contain enough plot for two books.

            The frequently sarcastic dialogue harkens back to an era of detective fiction and noir-ish novels in which the parlance is as pithy as a Christmas gift-box grapefruit.

            This novel's three-woman detective team and their repartee highlight a novel that's probably not going to receive its proper due of attention, so here's a high-decibel shout-out to both it and the series.

MAGNOLIA RIDGE ANTIQUE AND ART GATHERING will be held on MAY 21^st from 9:00 AM UNTIL 4:00 PM. To save a spot please call 561.262.7475 or email bevarndt36@gmail.com

Reminders:

Ridge Spring Library hours: Mon/Tues 8:30 am - 12 pm; Wed., 12:30 – 4:30; Thurs 8:30 am - 12:00 pm; Fri 8:30 pm -4:30 pm

Ridge Spring Library Toddler Time Mondays at 10:30

3^rd Thursday:  FORS at Ridge Spring Library 5:00 pm

1^st Tuesday of the Month:  AARS meets at 6:30, 685-5783

 Wednesday:  AA meets at Recovery Works

 Monday & Friday:  Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings 7 pm at Recovery Works (enter on Ponderosa Drive; park in Visitor Parking Area)