ONE DOG'S DAY: It may have been pushing 100 degrees Sunday afternoon, but that didn't dampen the energy of this pooch, whose master tossed a tennis ball near the pineapple fountain in Charleston's Waterfront Park. Photo by Marsha Guerard.

TODAY'S FOCUS
:: Law school gets full accreditation

CURRENTS
:: Fiddling with election law

THE LIST
:: What to do in Charleston

FOOD & DRINK
:: Salivating over sivvy beans

GOOD NEWS
:: Jaycee award, redistricting, Bulow land

HISTORY
:: Stephen Bull

ALSO INSIDE

:: CALENDAR: This week ... and next

:: FEEDBACK: Send us your letters

:: SPOTLIGHT: Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company

:: BROADUS: Grape Stomping Festival

:: QUOTE: Try a Kindle

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CharlestonCurrents.com offers insightful community comment and good news on events twice each week. It cuts through the information clutter to offer the best of what's happening locally. What readers say

Law school's full accreditation is great news for Charleston
By ABBY EDWARDS SAUNDERS
Special to Charleston Currents

AUG. 8, 2011 - The Friday announcement that the Charleston School of Law received full accreditation from the American Bar Association is wonderful news for this community.

Saunders

"It has truly been a remarkable seven-year journey made possible by the incredible efforts of the founders, faculty, students, staff, alumni, Charleston community, and the lawyers and judges throughout this city, state and region," Dean Andy Abrams stated after receiving the news.

"The Charleston School of Law is an institution with a brief but remarkable past, a compelling present, and now, with this grant of full accreditation, an exciting future."

Abrams

Since we admitted our first class in 2004, students at Charleston Law have been committed to providing access to justice for those who have a critical need for legal services.

Students have performed more than 161,000 hours of public service through our pro bono and externship programs throughout Charleston, our state, and the nation with the following breakdown of hours:

• 95,394 hours of pro bono service. (Click here to learn more about our pro bono program.)
  
  
• 66,286 hours of externship service. (More on our externship program.)

"The Charleston School of Law has had an extraordinary impact on the growth and enrichment of American law and the legal profession," noted retired Chief Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals, former College of Charleston president, and Charleston Law Board Chairman Alex Sanders. "We have endeavored to teach our students the law as a profession having as its primary purpose rendering public service."

Full accreditation is the culmination of seven years of dedication and hard work to create a student-centered law school focused on public service for the citizens of our state and region. We are deeply appreciative of all of the support we have received from the Charleston community.

Abby Edwards Saunders is the associate dean of students at
Charleston School of Law. She can be reached by email at
asaunders@charlestonlaw.edu.

AUG. 8, 2011 -- Since 2003, the S.C. General Assembly has approved measures that allowed 34 of the state's 46 counties to reshape, rename or reconfigure precinct lines.

Brack

Generally when that's done, officials point to a state law that says precincts need to be changed when they get bigger than 1,500 voters. They say there's nothing nefarious about it.

But in some of the state's larger counties, you've got to wonder if reshaping precincts because of growth is the driving force behind line changes. Why? Because when precincts change or get new names, voters have to be notified of the change. Some become confused on election day about where they're supposed to vote. In the end, some give up because they find it too tough to vote.

Confusion certainly reigns in Horry and Kershaw counties, both of which have reshaped precincts five times since 2003. In Kershaw, the maps changed every year from 2006 to 2010. In Lexington and York counties, lines changed four times since 2003. Aiken, Georgetown, Spartanburg and Greenville counties each had three precinct map changes over the last nine years. Precincts have changed twice since 2003 in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties.

Fiddling with election law is nothing new in South Carolina or any state. It's part of the process. In fact, every 10 years with the Census, the Constitution requires new lines to be drawn to better reflect where people live, as witnessed in the just-passed 2011 reapportionment sent in late July to the U.S. Justice Department for preclearance. (The federal Voting Rights Act requires preclearance of changes before they go into effect to ensure that S.C.'s historic voting wrongs are righted.)

But there seems to be a growing push by conservative forces nationally to mold state election laws in new ways to chill voter behavior. Witness South Carolina's new voter identification law, which opponents say will keep hundreds of thousands of people -- mostly Democrats -- from the polls because they don't have state IDs or won't bother to get them. The contrived reason for requiring new IDs for voting -- the possibility of voter fraud, which has happened less in South Carolina than the number of fingers on your hand. Simply put, the new voter ID law is a new barrier to voting for many, a modern-day poll tax created to obfuscate.

A new article in The Nation magazine ("Rigging Elections") exposes a national effort by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative-funded, limited-government, pro-business think tank, to craft one-size-fits-all model legislation for state lawmakers to introduce in their states. That's just what happened here with voter ID. It was a legislative proposal from outsiders pushed successfully, just like it was the backbone of similar legislation in Wisconsin, Alabama, Kansas and Tennessee. The measure has been introduced in two dozen other states.

According to the article by John Nichols: "ALEC's goal is to influence not just state politics but also the 2012 presidential race. ... It just wants the rules to be set by CEOs, campaign donors and conservative legislators. Restricting voting and direct democracy while ensuring that corporations can spend freely on campaigning makes advancing the conservative agenda a while lot easier."

ALEC's model legislation, which is restricted to members, covers a lot of ground, which you can tell by the titles of the organization's offerings. Among the election-related model legislation that you might see soon here: Opposition to taxpayer-financed election, ballot initiative reform, restricting random sampling, opposing a national popular vote interstate compact and support of unlimited corporate money in campaigns.

But the group doesn't stop with just elections. It offers conservative bills ready to be introduced on everything from reform of the bail system, laxer firearms laws and prison privatization to more tort reform, changing business rules to favor corporations, making life tougher for unions and school choice. The list seems endless.

Bottom line: South Carolina's leaders need to decide for themselves what needs to be done for the state in voting, elections or any issue before it. Legislators should focus on what matters to South Carolina, not outside groups and their agenda. And they should stop fiddling with the election process.

Andy Brack, publisher of Charleston Currents, can be reached at: publisher@charlestoncurrents.com.

Got a beef or good word? Let us know

Send us a letter on something you like -- or don't -- about what's we're publishing or what's happening in Charleston County. We love getting input from you. If you have an opinion you'd like to share (150 words or less), send your letters to the address below. We look forward to hearing from you!

• editor@charlestoncurrents.com

Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company

The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring Charleston Currents to you at no cost. Today we shine our spotlight on the most famous Pig in the Lowcountry: Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company.

Founded in 1947 in Charleston, Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company proudly serves customers at more than 100 stores throughout South Carolina and coastal Georgia. Piggly Wiggly offers the finest quality meats, cut to order by skilled, in-store butchers, more local produce than anyone in the state, and freshly prepared deli foods that satisfy the Southern soul. The Piggly Wiggly family provides legendary customer service, delivered every day by the Employee Owners of our 100 percent employee-owned company.

By using their Pig Card, customers earn Greenbax that returns incredible value by offering free gas, free groceries, free gift cards, and many other opportunities to cash in and save. Piggly Wiggly remains deeply committed to investing in the communities we serve by supporting not-for-profit organizations of all missions and sizes to enrich the region’s quality of life. Piggly Wiggly’s roots run deep in the Lowcountry, and Mr. Pig invites Charleston Currents readers to invest in our local economy by shopping The Pig! More: http://www.thepig.net.

Technology offers reminder of good old-fashioned food term
By ANN THRASH, contributing editor

AUG. 8, 2011 - "Just put up half a bushel of sivvy beans for the fall and winter!" That was the Facebook status update that one of my friends posted last week, and it reminded me of a good local food term that many people don't know: "sivvy beans."

"Sivvy beans" is the peculiarly local name for our tiniest, freshest, best-tasting butter beans. I heard lots of people use the term when I was a kid, chief among them my father, who was a big fan. They were on our dinner table regularly, and when my sister and I grew up and had homes of our own, Dad used to order several bushels of sivvy beans each summer from Leland Farms so Mom and my sister and I could "put up" a good store to see us through the cold weather.

Dad's been gone for almost five years now, and hearing a friend use the term "sivvy beans" really made me miss those days when Dad would call me and say, "I'm going down to Wadmalaw tomorrow to get the sivvy beans. You ready?" That meant I had a day's notice to clear some extra freezer space and buy enough Ziploc bags to handle the bounty.

If you're wondering where the term "sivvy" comes from, here's the scoop from Lowcountry food historian John Martin Taylor's pivotal book "Hoppin' John's Lowcountry Cooking" (Bantam, 1992):

"Sieva- also called Sewee and pronounced 'sivvy'- beans ... are the smallest of the lima beans, a delicious butter bean that has no equal. They are said to have been grown here by the Sewee Indians when Europeans arrived, though all lima beans supposedly originated in South America."

John recommends blanching the beans for a few minutes, then freezing them in plastic bags. I've done it that way, but I've also simply packaged them uncooked in serving-size portions in just enough water to keep them moist. Either way you put 'em up, they're a welcome taste of summer when fall and winter come.

Cooking Class Spotlight

Fall classes at Trident Tech: The Culinary Institute of Charleston at Trident Technical College has just posted its fall cooking class schedule, and there are some great-looking new classes to pique your interest, including "Taming Your Wild Game," "Petite Sweets and Cookie Exchange Workshop" and "3-D Sculpted Cakes." Go online for a full list and sign-up info, and look for details in this space in the coming weeks on specific offerings. One bit of advice: The gingerbread house classes, which they've offered for years, have always filled up very quickly, so don't delay in registering. I know, it's 100 degrees outside now and you're probably not thinking about Christmas, but if you wait until it cools off to sign up for these classes, you'll be as disappointed as if you'd found a lump of coal in your stocking.

Mount Pleasant writer and editor Ann Thrash can be reached at: ann@charlestoncurrents.com.

Jaycees honor Jason Deierlein with award

Jason Deierlein of Charleston was honored last week by the Charleston Chapter of the Jaycees with the South Carolina Outstanding Young American Award.

Deierlein

Deierlein recovered from a tragic accident at the age of 16 that claimed the life of his best friend, ruined his competitive swimming career, and left him in a coma for months. After years of determination and painful physical therapy, Jason Deierlein has become a published author, mentor, motivational speaker and community activist.

"Whatever happens in life is not for us to question," Deierlein said. "It is there to enlighten us and to motivate us into enhancing our physical strength and mental fortitude. The hand life deals us may involve trials that challenge the human spirit. It is for us to accept and overcome them. It is by doing so that we show our highest appreciation for life."

Deierlein has created a weekly Webcast, at MyPositivePerspective.com, dedicated to instructing and motivating others to overcome adversity in their lives. He also instructs the community on healthy living, overcoming social and cultural problems, recovering from traumatic brain injury, and the power of positive thinking. Jason is a supporter of the Jaycee Camp Hope, a statewide camp for mentally handicapped citizens.

The Charleston Jaycees are a fun, social, community service organization for young people aged 21-39. The number one goal is to gain leadership training through community service. To accomplish this goal, the members of the Charleston Jaycees plan, participate in, and sponsor a variety of events across the South Carolina Lowcountry.

• For more information visit www.MyPositivePerspective.com. You can friend Jason Deierlein on Facebook here.

Justice Department approves Charleston redistricting

The city of Charleston has received preclearance from the U.S. Department of Justice for its redistricting plan adopted by City Council in May of this year for City Council districts.

This action by the Department of Justice indicates its concurrence that the plan and the method of its adoption conform to the requirements of the Voting Rights Act. Redistricting is necessary every 10 years to reflect the demographics established by the current census data. Five meetings allowed affected residents to meet during the week of May 16 to discuss redistricting.

"The hard work of our City Council members and city staff produced a plan that, according to the Department of Justice, fairly reflected Charleston's population," said Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. "This preclearance will allow the election in November to proceed as scheduled."

County parks commission buys former Bulow Hunt Club

The Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission paid $4.9 million on July 29 to purchase the former Bulow Hunt Club property in West Ashley.

Nearly $4.1 million of the purchase price was funded by the Greenbelt Bank Board half-cent sales tax fund. CCPRC will fund $825,000 to support the appraised value of improvements to the site.

Photo of a deer taken by one of the Bulow Hunt Club's trailcams.

The addition of the Bulow property, located near Bees Ferry Road, adds 322 acres to the park system, for a total of 9,855 acres owned by CCPRC.

The conservation of this property will help to preserve part of its plantation past, as well as the story of the Bulow Mining Company. Occupation of the property dates back to the 1700s when the land was owned by John Drayton as part of Savannah Plantation. In 1818, John Joachim Bulow purchased the plantation plus adjacent land on Rantowle's Creek, renaming it Bulow Plantation. After the death of Thomas Lehre Bulow in 1860, the property was purchased by William L. Bradley, who used the property for phosphate mining in connection with his fertilizer business in Boston. Mining operations ceased after the earthquake of 1886.

Additionally, Battery Bulow, a Confederate defense, is documented to be on the property.

The primarily forested property includes mixed pine and hardwoods and freshwater wetlands. It is contiguous with nearly 2,000 additional parkland acres owned by both CCPRC and the city of Charleston, and serves as an important uninterrupted habitat area. This habitat area extends into the plantation district, and has the potential to host a variety of threatened or endangered species.

Portions of the Bulow property are under conservation easement with Wetlands America (Ducks Unlimited). Improvements to the site include a three-bedroom lodge, two garages, and several docks. CCPRC will immediately use a portion of the site for rentals and events. The property will be master-planned in conjunction with the adjacent park property.

County asks: Have you received your reassessment notice?

The Charleston County Assessor's Office has re-mailed more than 8,100 reassessment notices due to address changes. The follow-up mailing comes after the office mailed 170,000 real property notices and 9,000 mobile home notices on June 30 to implement a required, countywide real property reassessment.

The opportunity to appeal the reassessment expires on Sept. 28. Taxpayers who have not received a notice need to contact the Assessor's Office at 843-958-4100. County staff will instruct callers on how to file a change of address and will mail them a copy of their notice.

"These assessment notices may ultimately affect property owners' taxes, so we're making special efforts to reach everybody," said Toy Glennon, Charleston County assessor. "Even though it is the owner's responsibility to update mailing addresses, we're making special efforts to reach as many people as we can."

Local company kicks off drive for used medical instruments

The Odle Group LLC and Odle Uniform Co., its locally owned and operated uniform retailer, "pays it forward" from now through the end of September to collect used medical instruments to be refurbished and donated to medical missions and clinics domestically and abroad.

With the support of Landau Uniform and MDF Instruments, national distributors and manufacturer of stethoscopes, sphygmomanometers (blood pressure cuffs), and other medical instruments, Odle Uniform Company encourages all users of medical instruments to bring in their old stethoscopes and donate them for this humanitarian effort. For the exchange, Odle Uniform with the support of Landau and MDF will offer a replacement scope at a 30 percent discount. Scopes are being collected at the uniform store located at 946 Orleans Road in the Citadel Mall area, between Ross Dress and Bed, Bath and Beyond.

For more information contact Jeffrey Cohen, managing partner, either at the retail location or the Odle Group's corporate offices located at 5809 N. Rhett Ave., Hanahan. Cohen can be reached at 843-852-7878 (store) or 843-554-3840 (corporate).

Trident Tech, area companies begin new program

As manufacturing activity rebounds in the greater Charleston area, local manufacturers are uncovering a growing problem. A critical shortage of qualified skilled maintenance mechanics hampers their ability to fill critical positions certain to grow as an aging workforce heads towards retirement. To confront this problem, area manufacturers have teamed up with Trident Technical College to form a sector partnership to "grow their own" through the development of a U.S. Department of Labor Industrial Maintenance Mechanic Apprenticeship.

A sector partnership is a regional collaboration of employers, education and training programs, economic development, community-based organizations and other stakeholders that come together to address the workforce needs of a critical industry in their region.

In the early planning stages of the partnership, TTC interviewed members of the Lowcountry Manufacturers Council and learned of the need for an apprenticeship that featured:

• A flexible training program that didn't require a company to enroll six to eight employees at a time;
  
  
• A program that would meet the same day every week so they could plan accordingly; and
  
  
• A program that could be registered, if they chose, with the U.S. Department of Labor to insure mastery of a broad range of skills.

Trident Tech, along with IFA Rotorion, Kemira, J.W. Aluminum, Showa Denko Carbon, B&D Boilers, Welded Tube - Berkeley, and Lafarge Corporation have agreed to a three-year Industrial Maintenance Mechanic Apprenticeship.

For more information on TTC's Industrial Maintenance Mechanic Apprenticeship or how an apprenticeship can be developed for a specific industry or occupation, call Mitchell Harp at 574-6979 or Jerry Davis at 574-6423.

Defeat of Charleston led Stephen Bull to self-imposed exile

Stephen Bull was born in South Carolina, the only surviving son of Stephen Bull and Martha Godin. He was descended from one of the first families of colonial South Carolina and was the nephew of Lieutenant Governor William Bull Jr.

Bull inherited Sheldon Plantation in Prince William's Parish. His family's prominence thrust him into political leadership. He represented Prince William's in the Commons House of Assembly from 1757 to 1760 and served as a justice of the peace from 1756 to 1769.

Ruins of Sheldon Church, near the old plantation.

On the eve of the Revolutionary War, Bull was the colonel commanding the Beaufort District militia regiment. Unlike most members of his family, Bull supported the American cause and took up arms against the king. He led his regiment in the occupation of Savannah in 1776, a decisive event in bolstering Georgia patriots and driving Loyalists from Savannah. In 1778 Bull was promoted to brigadier general and led his regiment in the ill-fated American campaign against British East Florida. Command of the American forces was divided between General Robert Howe of the Continental army and Governor John Houston of Georgia. The American army never got past the Loyalist fort at St. Mary's, Georgia.

Bull participated with General William Moultrie in the American victory at Port Royal Island on Feb. 3, 1779. Two months later the Lowcountry was overrun by British General Augustine Prevost's invasion from Georgia, and defeat and desertions decimated Bull's regiment. After the fall of Charleston in May 1780, Bull went into self-imposed exile in Virginia and Maryland and offered no more service to the patriot cause.

Politically, Bull was elected from Prince William's Parish to the First and Second Provincial Congresses in 1775 and 1776 and the First and Second General Assemblies of South Carolina from 1776 to 1778. After the war Bull was a member of the S.C. House of Representatives from 1783 to 1790. He was twice elected to the S.C. Senate but declined to serve.

Bull was married first to Elizabeth Woodward, on December 18, 1755, and then to Ann Barnwell, on May 24, 1772. By his second wife he had three daughters: Charlotte, Mary, and Sarah. Bull died in 1800 and was buried at the ancestral seat at Ashley Hall, but he was later interred in Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston.

-- Excerpted from the entry by Lawrence S. Rowland. To read more about this or 2,000 other entries about South Carolina, check out The South Carolina Encyclopedia by USC Press. (Information used by permission.)

Grape Stomping Festival coming

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Charleston Currents is provided to you twice a week by:

• Editor : Marsha Guerard , 843.270.1814
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What to do in Charleston

As the "Lead Navigator" at the Renaissance Charleston Historic District Hotel, Suzanne Cohen is the go-to person for the insiders' scoop on the best places in Charleston to savor, sip, shop and see. The recently launched "Navigator By Renaissance" concept introduces a well-connected local insider to share recommendations on fun and exciting things to do. Suzanne shares her Top 10 Picks:

1. Walk along the butterfly lakes at Middleton Place. With unbelievable views of the Ashley River, this centuries-old rice plantation is home to the oldest landscaped gardens in the United States. The wealthy Middleton family grew their famed "Carolina gold" rice, favored the world over and considered the original cash crop of the South's agriculture industry. If you arrive early enough, you can catch American alligators warming themselves in the sunlight on the banks of the Ashley.

2. Eat a table full of steamed oysters at Bowen's Island. Nobody does the rustic Southern dive scene quite like Bowen's Island Restaurant. A true hole in the wall destination for local oysters, Lowcountry boil, Frogmore stew, and cold beer.

3. Visit Fort Moultrie en route to the beach at Sullivan's Island. Fort Moultrie is easily one of my favorite sights to see while visiting Charleston. A Revolutionary War era fort successfully used to defend the harbor against the British during the siege of Charleston, the fort has a storied past. While many argue that Fort Sumter is the best war-related tourist attraction, to me, Fort Moultrie is more fun because it's located right on Sullivan's Island beach, one of the best local beaches.

4. Bask in the shade of the Angel Oak, all 17,000 feet of it. Considered to be the oldest living thing on the East Coast, the Angel Oak is estimated to be upwards of 1,500 years old. Walking in the shade of the enormous branches, it's hard not to think about all the events that have occurred since the tree sprouted all those years ago. It's definitely worth the trip out to John's Island to see the tree in its massive entirety. Bring your camera!

5. Skip the sit down and do an "appetizer crawl" at all the best restaurants. While I definitely advocate sitting down for a traditional dinner at least once during your vacation, an appetizer crawl is a breath of fresh air in the dining scene. Whether you're sampling crab cakes at the Wentworth Grill, duck breast with dates at Muse, fried okra with goat cheese at Anson, or oysters Rockefeller at Hall's Chophouse, getting a taste of several different dishes makes for a fun and unique evening. I recommend sitting in the bar or lounge area to expedite the whole process.

6. Take a guided walking tour. It would be near impossible to see every single sight in Charleston in a three-day vacation and it would be even more difficult to discern exactly what you've seen without an expert guiding your way. I definitely recommend taking a walking tour with one of our fabulous local guides. Want an overview of the town? Take a walk with Tommy Dew. A tour of homes and gardens? Al Ray is your man. A tour with a Civil War focus? Jack Thompson is a fabulous local historian and tour guide. Per city law, each walking tour guide is only allowed to take out 20 people to ensure the quality of the tour. Make sure to book reservations early!

7. Order a Brown Derby at the Belmont. Let's be honest, Charleston is a town that enjoys itself some bourbon. What better way to celebrate being in the Holy City than by imbibing a native cocktail featuring the delicious amber-colored liquor? This particular concoction comes with fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice (I'm not kidding, they literally juice it right into your glass) and jalapeno honey. The result? Refreshing enough to be sipped on the porch mid-summer without breaking a sweat.

8. Rent a kayak or paddleboard and see the natural beauty of Shem Creek from the water. For outdoorsy types, the kayak and paddleboard scene is huge in Charleston. Coastal Expeditions on Shem Creek is just a 10-minute car ride from the peninsula. With guided kayak tours and rentals available, seeing the creek by boat is a way to get in touch with your natural side. If paddle boarding is more your scene or if you've been dying for an excuse to try one out, Charleston Watersport has you covered.

9. Walk the Ravenel Bridge. Although only completed in 2005, the Ravenel Bridge has quickly been adopted into the culture of the Lowcountry. Charlestonians take a great deal of pride in our gorgeous bridge that spans the Cooper River.

10. Consult your concierge/navigator for reservations! The secret is out. Charleston is one of the hottest tourist destinations in the country. According to Conde Nast Traveler's 2010 Readers' Poll it's the #2 destination in the U.S., and Travel + Leisure ranks it #1 for friendliest city and #1 for stylish boutique hotels. Dial up the local experts to set up dinner and tour reservations.

Have a top 10 list? Let us know.

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THIS WEEK | permalink

Play Auditions for Adults: 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Aug. 8, South of Broadway Theatre Company (a non-profit organization),1080 E. Montague Ave.,North Charleston. Greater Park Circle Play Fest (3 plays on 3 separate weekends) audition dates for adults and older teens. Will provide sides from scripts.Minimal rehearsals (3 - 4). Performance dates will be Sept. 10, 17 and 24 at 7:30 p.m.

Facebook Seminar: 9 a.m. to noon, Aug. 9 and Aug. 23, Charleston Digital Corridor Flagship, 475 E. Bay St. (corner of East Bay and Calhoun streets). Step Ahead offers two seminars sharing tips for successfully using Facebook to promote and grow your business. Part 1 will focus on the basics of setting up a Facebook page, behind-the-scenes functions, posting strategy, photos, videos and tagging. The second will explain how to customize your page, strategies for generating results, Facebook apps and Insights (analytics). Each seminar is $65 or register for both and save $10 ($120 for both). For more information or to register, visit here or email here.

Legislative Forum: Noon, Aug. 10. The S.C. Chamber of Commerce's grassroots meeting with an open forum session at the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce allows attendees to share their legislative priorities to help create the Competitiveness Agenda, the business community's annual list of legislative priorities. Free and open to the public. To register, visit online or contact Julie Scott at 803.255.2628.

Lowcountry Local First: 6 p.m., Aug. 10, Francis Marion Hotel, 387 King St., Room: Carolina A. How to market your local business to tourists. Conde Nast Traveler Magazine voted Charleston No. 2 of the Top American Destinations. While the beauty of the area speaks for itself, local businesses are what create the flavor of the Lowcountry. Meeting will explore how can you make your business stand out and best market it to the growing tourist industry. Go online for more information.

(NEW) Skin Cancer Screenings: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Aug. 13, the Splash Zone Waterpark at James Island County Park. Dermatologists with the MUSC Mobile Health Unit will offer free skin cancer screenings.

(NEW) Mad Science Saturday: 10 a.m. to noon, Aug. 13, The Charleston Museum. Learn about Newton's first law. Explore gravity, centrifugal force, and use a gyroscope. Join us each month for a different themed event including presentations and craft projects for children of all ages. Admission is free for museum members; $10/adults, $5/children, under 3 free.

Charleston Young Professionals Anniversary: 8 p.m., Aug. 13, Johnson Hagood Stadium Club Level, The Citadel. Charleston Young Professionals will celebrate five years of professional development with an anniversary party Enjoy live music, dinner and cocktails for $50 CYP member, $75 non-member. To register, visit here.

(NEW) First Day Festival: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Aug. 14, Liberty Square near the S.C. Aquarium and the Maritime Center. The ninth annual First Day Festival will celebrate education as students prepare to return to school. There will be exhibits, school supplies, healthy foods, celebrity chef demonstrations, recreational activities, entertainment, free boat rides, and a misting festival. Free. Park for a flat rate of $1 at the Aquarium and Gaillard garages.

Book Cart Sale: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., Aug. 14, Charleston County Public Library Main Branch, 68 Calhoun St. The Charleston Friends of the Library will offer a taste of their larger book sales. Fiction and non-fiction books will be available for $1 and $3, and children's books for 50 cents and $1 at the Information Desk every second Sunday of the month.

CALENDAR: ONGOING AND SOON

Family Fun Weekends: Saturdays and Sundays in August. South Carolina residents who want to enjoy a "staycation" can take advantage of reduced admissions at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. Weekend admission to the gardens and a nature train ride will be $40 for each vehicle carrying up to five passengers. Free snow cones and popcorn will be served at the Peacock Café. For more information, call 571-1266.

Business Before Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., Aug. 18, ITT Technical Institute. The Charleston Metro Chamber presents Business Before Hours to allow businesses to work on relationship building while being exposed to a variety of industries and professionals. Cost: Chamber members $20 non-members $40 includes breakfast. Register online.

Port Briefing and Tour: 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Aug. 18. The Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce hosts an update from Port leadership at the Chamber then a bus tour of the new terminal and by boat, waterside views of all the Port terminals. Cost: $75 for Chamber members $150 for non-members. Register online.

Evening on Queen by Rick Reinert will be on display at the exhibit.

Art Exhibit Opening Reception: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Aug. 19, The Wells Gallery at the Sanctuary on Kiawah Island. Opening of Rothwell/Reinert, a new show of works inspired by the scenery of the Lowcountry. The artists, Junko Ono Rothwell and Rick Reinert, both inspired by nature and sunlight, have created numerous new works that will be on display in the gallery Aug. 19 to Sept. 2. Both artists will attend the Opening Reception on the evening of Aug. 19.

Book Signing: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Aug. 19, Blue Bicycle Books, 420 King St. Author Maurita Corcoran will sign her book, A House Interrupted, a can't-put-it-down read about a wife's devastating discovery that her physician husband had been living a double life. Recently, Maurita and her husband appeared on national television on The Dr. Drew Show, where they discussed their successful efforts to rebuilding their lives together.

Auditions for Youth Plays: 1:30 p.m., Aug. 21 and 22, and 5:30 p.m. Aug. 22, South of Broadway Theatre Company (a non-profit organization),?1080 E. Montague Ave.,North Charleston. Ages 13-18: Power Play, remounting last year's popular production, with additional school performances in discussion. Ages 9-13: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a creepy musical experience. Power Play performance dates: Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 20 at 3 p.m. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow performance dates: Nov. 12 at 7 p.m., Nov. 13 at 3 p.m.

Hurricane & Earthquake Expo: 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Aug. 24, at SCRA MUSC Innovation Center, 645 Meeting St. The Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce hosts a Hurricane and Earthquake Awareness Expo. Get resources on how to prepare for and protect your business from natural and man-made disasters. Also speakers on how Charleston prepares for a disaster, how to protect your employees and more. Cost: $55 Chamber Members, $95 Non-Members. Register online.

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FOCUS ARCHIVES

11/14: Hills: Aviation hero Moffett
11/7: Nikolajevs: Chamber music
10/31: Whetzel: Waterway app
10/24: Williams: On Charleston
10/17: Kaufman: Sustainability film
10/10: Wutzdorf: Education Foundation
10/3: Echols: RiverDogs give back
9/26: Raven: My Sister's House
9/19: Dewhirst: Arthritis battle
9/19: Blanton: "Neck" charrette
9/12: Ginn: Scoring our economy
9/6: Miller: Urban Horticulture Center
9/1: Frazier: Magnolia's azaleas
8/29: Stone: Helping ONE.org
8/25: Blessing: Veterans to meet
8/22: Haley: Grow businesses
8/18: Harley: Better carriage law
8/15: Hargett: Regional plan
8/11: Renfroe: Bachelor Bid
8/8: Saunders: Law school news
8/4: Sarnoff: Cancer prevention
8/1: Savicz: Charleston's choirs

• More of Focus in the archives

DOUG BOSTICK:
CIVIL WAR HISTORY

11/14: Battle of Port Royal
10/17: Fleet headed South
9/11: Port Royal Sound
8/11: Ohio native helps CSA
7/14: Blockade intensifies
6/9: Hampton's Legion
5/12: Beauregard prepares city
4/14: First shots fired
3/10: Student vs. instructor
2/10: War prep offsets horseracing

ANDY BRACK

11/14: Election reflections
11/7: SC's immigration pickle
10/31: Stop messing around
10/24: Occupiers, tea partiers
10/17: On campaigning, fixing stuff
10/10: Our Civil War hangover
10/3: Great day in SC, Charleston
9/26: Do more to cut violent crime
9/12: Aquarium birthday party
9/6: Not the trip, the questions
8/29: Report shows kids' challenges
8/22: Metro Charleston impact
8/15: Tea party zealots
8/8: Fiddling with election law
8/1: New Orleans vs. Charleston
7/25: Time for Ard to go
7/18: Camp Ho Non Wah
7/11: Higher ed flexibility
7/6: A different Eden

• More Andy Brack in the archives

MARSHA GUERARD

9/1: Bill Regan, more
8/25: Aware of bed bugs
8/11: Violence and redemption
8/4: Emily in perspective
7/28: Yep, there's an app
7/21: Sunscreen and tennis
7/14: A good birthday
6/30: Help name a dog
6/16: Rain good; more needed
6/2: Family lexicon
5/26: Can Boomers earn encore?
5/19: Napa's not intimidating

ANN THRASH:
FOOD & DRINK

11/14: Franklin's turkey
10/17: Perfect rice
10/3: Free tastings
9/19: Stack's Evening Eats
9/6: Herrick's new cookbook
8/22: Carter on Iron Chef
8/8: Sivvy beans
7/25: Figs on steroids
7/11: Lady Baltimore cake
6/27: Palette & Palate
6/13: That's the Spirit
5/30: Hook, Line & Dinner
5/2: Royal wedding cake
4/18: Brock on TV
4/4: G&G food brackets
3/14: Market counting
2/28: Wine + Food
2/7: Frozen Frogmore stew
1/27: Home cooking
1/20: SEWE 2011
1/13: Dry-erase board of shame
1/6: Restaurant Week

• More Ann Thrash in the archives

PETER LUCASH:
BUSINESS INDIGO

8/25: 2 tech companies move here
7/28: Discovery training
7/14: Business training
6/30: Witty makes Inc. list
6/16: Boeing opens
6/2: Digital corridor expanding
5/19: Manufacturing key?
5/5: PeopleMatter's funding
4/21: AITP event
4/7: Enviro firm, more
3/24: April tech events
3/10: Networking about blogs
2/24: Internet addresses
2/10: Companies at conferences
1 /27: Levelwing head to speak
1/13: Health care reform

GREG GARVAN:
CHARLESTON GREEN

10/17: Contrarian nuke voice
10/3: Recycling efforts
9/19: Green roofs, more
9/1: CharlestonWISE
8/18: Single stream recycling
7/21: Port gets nod
7/6: Marketplace dissatisfaction
6/9: New green jobs in Jasper
5/26: Good for business
5/2: Boeing and green power
4/14: Green economy moving
3/17: New offering
3/3: Recycling more
2/17: Veggies profitable
2/3: Companies at conferences
1/20: Green initiative
1/6: Green initiative

LIST ARCHIVES

11/14: McCray's jazz list
11/7: Home safety tips
10/31: 5 for fright night
10/24: For ghouls, goblins
10/17: Art busting out
10/10: Getting outdoors
10/3: Giving Back awards
9/26: School improvements
9/19: Top Outside towns
9/12: Helping Sea Island kids
9/6: Speaking out
9/1: Homeless programs
8/29: Small biz help
8/25: Storm tips
8/22: Back to school
8/18: Savannah treats
8/15: New photo site
8/11: Charleston rum
8/8: What to do in Charleston
8/4: Debt ceiling list
8/1: Family Circle stats

• More Lists in the archives
  
  
• Let us know if there's a broken link

IN OUR SISTER PUBLICATION

Here's the latest from our sister publication, Statehouse Report.

TWITTER UPDATE: acbrack