February 1,  2019

Ridge Spring News

Harriet Householder

Little Peach League is getting ready for a new season of baseball and softball. Registration will be at the ballpark Sat., Feb. 2, from 10 am until 2 pm. Programs are for kids ages 5-12 with a cost of $50 which must be paid at registration. Parent must be present to register the child. For more info, please contact Leslie Long.

RS-M Elementary: 2019 acGateway Application:  The program serves students in grades 3 - 12 who excel in the visual and performing arts.  Applications are due by February 8, 2019.  You can access the application by visiting https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/P6STQJZ     The requirements can be found at the bottom of our school webpage.  https://www.acpsd.net/RSMES

            Respect The Bus:  Please be aware that busses unload in front of the school each morning.  It is against the law to pass a school bus when the stop sign is out.

            Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Poster Contest:  Congratulations to Jayke Carson.  He is the district’s third place winner for grades 3 - 5. 

Josie Rodgers

It’s already February, and life is starting to really get rolling! Super Bowl, Open House, conventions, inductions, archery tourneys, sports banquets, early release/club day, Read Across America, softball, baseball, basketball, birthdays, college visits, prom shopping…does your calendar look like mine? If so, we must remember to take time for self-care and appreciation of each moment.

RSM Schools: Congratulations to the elite of RSM! RSM High: Joey Middlebrooks, Teacher of the Year; Bailey Coble, First Year Teacher of the Year; Angela Rodger, GEM (staff member of the year). RSM Middle: Casey Spire, Teacher of the Year; First Year Teacher of the Year, Samuel Bedenbaugh; Patricia Tyler, GEM.  RSM Elem: Gayle Wilson, Teacher of the Year; Candy Barnes, GEM.

RSM Elem: The Gateway program serves students in grades 3-12 who excel in the visual and performing arts. Applications are due by February 8, 2019. Access the application by visiting https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/P6STQJZ. The requirements can be found at the bottom of our school webpage (https://www.acpsd.net/RSMES).

Respect The Bus: Please be aware that busses unload in front of the school each morning. It is against the law to pass a school bus when the stop sign is out.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Poster Contest: Congratulations to Jayke Carson, 3rd place district winner for grades 3-5. 

RMS High: Congratulations to several RSM band members for being selected to attend the Limestone College Honor Band Clinic last weekend: Chesley Cooper, Jonathan Cumbee, Kandon Hastings, Joanna Kaiser, Kelsey Moore, & Kyla Padgett.

It was an exciting night last Friday at the RSM vs WS game when Dakoda Watson, alumnus of SAHS and linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers, donated $10,000 to RSM High football program. Watson ho currently has a special place in his heart for RSM as his mom is a graduate of the school. Principal Kyle Blankenship & AD Kenny Lipsey were on hand to accept the generous donation ($5,000 from Watson matched by the NFL). Watson was joined by his parents and little boy for the game & presentation. The school was very grateful for the tremendous support Watson has shown over the years with scholarships and donations. 

Several Beta Club members will attend the SC Beta Club Convention in Myrtle Beach this weekend. Participants are creating a portfolio highlighting the past year of service and participation in community and school activities. In addition, several are creating an original banner promotion the theme of this year’s convention, “Beta Fueling the Future.” Also, all RSM members will compete in other categories such as math, ELA, agriculture, art, and dance. Last year was the first time we had someone place in a competition. We’re excited to see who will make RSM proud this year! Members attending include President Austin Scott, Arturo Contreras, Jason Rodgers, Tyler Stone, Symia Wilson, Kaylah Ginyard, Joanna Kaiser, & Bailie Davis.

The English Dept (Kelly Bedenbaugh, Kerry Jackson, Monica Jones, Josie Rodgers) participated in the SCCTE Conference at Kiawah Island last weekend. This is always a wonderful event full of wonderful information, strategies, research, and fun! We also enjoy just spending time together to let off a little steam and enjoy the cuisine of the area. Several of us participated in a Mindful Breathing session where we learned how to relax and focus and regroup. These strategies are also helpful for our students. We learned that the conference will be moved next year to Myrtle Beach, a disappointment for us because we have loved Kiawah for so long.

Dive into History Part II

Joe Cal Watson is a World War II veteran, as well as the Battle of the Bulge, participated in the crossing of the Rhine.  He came across this article in the Bulgebusters Magazine February 2009.  The author is Unknown but to Joe the description is perfect.  Enjoy.  The second half of the article is in this week's column.

The Jerries figured it was time for them to throw some shells back at us.  That was when all my life started to pop before me.  I was shaking like hell and I know it wasn't patriotism that we were shaking with.  It exploded everywhere without warning because of the noise of our own guns.  A hell of a lot of shells dropped in front and behind us, but thank God, nobody in our sector got hit. 

You can't see the riflemen because of the smoke laid down to cover their move, but you can hear the motors of the assault boats and you can hear the engineers working.  There is very little rifle fire on the other side.  That means so far so good for the doughs swarming inland.  It is 5:00 AM now.  Midnight in N. Y. what a beautiful sight that would be right now.  I used up two packs of cigarettes since midnight.  It must be my nerves what's left of them!

Enemy "lurf guns" have opened up now.   That means the Jerries who have survived the artillery have recovered enough to attempt a defense of their positions.

By dawn the riflemen had advanced far enough inland to silence most of the enemy artillery in our area.  What shells did come in were concentrated on the English at the edge of the river.  I had been kidding with one of the boys and said "Let's turn in a report that there were no casualties on hill 7-11."  I took a walk down to our position on the left to talk to the boys.   We were standing there when all of a sudden we heard one coming in.  We hit the ground just in time.  It landed to our right about 25 years.  A sergeant from the T.D. was observing on the hill when it came in.  It caught him in the back of the neck.  He was killed almost instantaneously.  Two of his buddies dragged him down from the top and the medics took him away.

Finally, all enemy fire stopped and the spot light turned to the army and navy landing crafts busy on the river in front of us ferrying the heavy stuff from this shore to the other.  The men are really busy.  Tank after tank is thundering down the beach and onto the LCU's.  Today in the first time in two weeks that we were able to walk down along the beach.   It really was a beautiful day.  Too warm for an O.D. shirt.  All along the beach weary engineers were laying along the beach exhausted after their hard work during the night.

They are starting to bring in some prisoners now.  There were hundreds of them.  Kids from 14 and men up to 50.  All were sloppy looking and happy.  We all knew that they were laughing up their sleeves at us because the fact is they got it made now.  The war is over for them.

I doubt if I will ever again go through what we've been doing through these last two weeks.

Tonight is the 4th of July, and because a lone German place is trying to strafe the river with machine gun, 20 mm, 37 mm, 40 mm, and 90 mm ack-ack he has the sky looking like a full fledged Independence Day celebration.  A gun to our rear finally knocked him out of the sky.

As far as I can accurately recall this covers the movement from every angle I was able to see and I hope after you've read it you will have a clearer picture and a better conception of what the crossing up here was like.  Too bad that I'll have to wait so long to mail it.

Dead news can never be as interesting as last minute reporting and by the time this reaches you the map of Germany will look like a squirming rat between the jaws of a giant vice. 

This was written by one of the boys and it includes everyone that was there.  So I got somewhat of a copy to let you know how things were.  We lived in nice houses not far from the river. I sent it to  you first then you could send it  home and so forth.  This was submitted in 2009 to the magazine.  I assume the sender of the article is referring to living in a house not far from the river around 2009 but the military action took place in 1945.

Joe Cal Watson's comment and observation of the event notes how their clothes vibrated during the intense bombing. 

Review from David Marshall James:  "First, Kill the Lawyers" by David Housewright

   This is the kind of novel that John Grisham used to write, a legal thriller/mystery with plenty of juice, an array of interesting characters, and an ethical overlay.

   Here, the ethics pertain to a group of Minneapolis attorneys-- at separate firms, no less-- who have gone to extraordinary lengths to protect the confidentiality of their respective clients, including a murderer and a rapist.

   Well, let's just say that they've gone to ordinary lengths in their shielding of such criminals.  That is, they've been hacked en masse, with a vigilante threatening to post their dirty secrets on a Wikileaks-type website.

   Enter private investigators (Holland) Taylor and Freddie (Sidney Poitier Fredericks), who are challenged by the attorneys, pushing stacks of cash on the table, with getting at the hacker before the attorneys-- and their clients-- are beset by heart-attack-ers.

   Freddie works his magic on the office computer while Taylor TCBs on the streets of the Twin Cities (or just The Cities, if you're a fan of "Fargo").  Please Google "Elvis Presley" if you don't know of "TCB."  We wuz abbreviatin' long before you Millenial texters think you invented it.

   As the narrative, told by Taylor, progresses, author David Housewright dabs in a few traces of noir, of the type for which he is well known in his Rushmore McKenzie mystery series.  For, what's more noir than an insanely wealthy old man who hides out in the middle of a hedge-maze in his fabulously landscaped gardens?

   Somewhere in the authorial firmament-- a hazy bar, perhaps, with plenty of neon in the windows and plenty of cases of Four Roses in the back room-- Raymond Chandler is quaffing a highball and exhaling a smoke ring of approval.

   Housewright earned an Edgar Award for his Holland Taylor series back in the '90s; then, he left it for the McKenzie books.  Last year, he resurrected Taylor & Freddie for a fourth novel, "Darkness, Sing Me a Song."  Seems about time that the Edgar voters doffed their fedoras to these two P.I.'s yet again.

Harriet's Garden Tips:  January is over and we are now into February.  Prune those roses unless they are old fashion or as some call them antique roses.  You can prune them if needed for shaping.  You can cut out the deadwood in almost any plant, but check to see if it is alive by  scratching the surface of the branch.  If there is any green it is alive.  If no green cut away. 

Spring is a great time to test your soil, and you can apply lime between fall and early spring. Many gardeners prefer to lime just before the first frost in fall because the soil has all winter to absorb the lime. Try to not spread lime on a dry, wilted lawn or a soggy, wet lawn.

REMINDERS

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,        Wednesday 9-12