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CURRENTS THE
LIST CHARLESTON
GREEN GOOD
NEWS HISTORY
ALSO INSIDE ::
CALENDAR: This week ... and next :: FEEDBACK: Send us your letters ::
SPOTLIGHT: Maybank Industries :: QUOTE: Don't interrupt |
UNDERWRITERS/PARTNERS
ABOUT US 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 |
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AUG. 18, 2011 - The tourism industry is crucial to Charleston and carriage horses are a fixture on that scene. Charleston is known as a hospitable city and a model for the rest of the country on tourism management.
Charleston's carriage animals, who clop around town carrying tourists and bringing in thousands of dollars to local wagon operators and city coffers, deserve nothing less than the best standards of equine care. They deserve - and tourists expect - the best standards in the industry. The current ordinance regulating the humane treatment of carriage animals is far from a model ordinance. The issue of humane treatment and oversight of these voiceless animals is left almost entirely to local operators. It leaves the city vulnerable to liability from passengers, motorists and taxpayers. One horse straining to pull 17 passengers in searing heat and stifling humidity while carrying along its manure surely cannot be the image this city, known for its hospitality, desires to portray to the rest of the world! The Carriage
Horse Safety Committee is a group of citizens who believe these animals
deserve humane treatment and independent oversight by qualified, trained
professionals. Citizens, tourists and motorists deserve protection from
injury and liability through an ordinance that addresses the urban environment.
We are not advocates for the abolishment of this industry in Charleston,
rather we believe that reasonable regulations should be enacted. Reasonable folks would assume that the city measures ambient temperature in the Market area, where the animals work, and at nose level. Wrong. The temperature is registered away from the Market area, and many feet above the asphalt. According
to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a level of 98
degrees is considered "Danger;" not "Caution," not
"Extreme Caution." Dangerous. At any humidity level. Recently, City Council amended the ordinance to provide for "monitoring" at 85 degrees and the thermometer moved from far away to a closer location, though still not where the animals work. The critical issue now, is enforcement. The city has a long history of passing ordinances and not enforcing them. Who will monitor the horses in each barn? The city likely does not have enough people who are trained in equine health (maybe none …) to inspect each animal. Therefore, operators and their employees will inspect these animals. Fox guarding the henhouse? You decide.
A hawk on the hunt signals a great day By MARSHA GUERARD, editor AUG. 18, 2011 - The racket had been building for a few minutes, then a flash caught my eye as the sun glinted through red feathers atop a nearby pine tree.
A red-tailed hawk was visiting. That explained why the back yard suddenly sounded like a set from "Tarzan." Every mockingbird, every blue jay, every squirrel - and there are a bajillion squirrels in this subdivision that sprouted up in a pecan orchard - all chattered the news to its neighbor. This was far more exciting than a visit from the UPS guy.
When the hawk flew, a passel of smaller birds of all types followed. We had our own avian Tower of Babel. By the time I grabbed my camera, the hawk was a blur headed off on the search for an unsuspecting mouse. I compared my blurry shot to one on the Cornell Ornithology site, and yup, the markings are the same. A morning's excitement concluded even before the coffee pot had stopped gurgling. It's going to be a great day.
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring CharlestonCurrents to you at no cost. This issue's featured underwriter is Maybank Industries, LLC of Charleston, SC. With broad experience in commercial and government operations, Maybank Industries applies deep-rooted commitment to teamwork, reliability and personal service to provide innovative business solutions for project development, information technology, logistics, vessel design, shipping agency services and marine terminal operations, both locally and internationally. Maybank Industries applies a powerful blend of professional expertise to research, analyze and develop tailored solutions with thorough plans of action, combining a heavy dose of common sense to solve today's needs that can adapt to changing or evolving requirements. More: Maybank Industries and Maybank Systems.
Fans of
the Holy City have known that Charleston is one of America's great destination
cities. Now, SportsBusiness
Journal, one of the nation's premier authorities on the business
side of sports, lists the Port City as a top-10 minor league market.
In the
August 15 issue of SportsBusiness Journal, research director David
Broughton creates the biennial study's top-10 list. Also included in the
region for the study are the South Carolina Stingrays (hockey) and the
Charleston Battery (soccer). Beyond just baseball, though, it's the tenure of the all three local clubs that has helped lift Charleston into the top 10. Each club has been in the market for at least 16 seasons. San Bernardino (No. 2) is the only other market in the country that can boast hosting three or more clubs for at least that long.
Trivial Commute: Ride the
bus and play trivia for prizes Winners
will receive a goodie bag from CARTA Show celebrates life from a bird's eye view In the upcoming Wanda Steppe Solo Show, Bird's Eye View, the viewer is asked to approach each painting in the collection from the perspective of a bird, and sometimes the point of view of a bird.
After spending many years teaching herself to paint traditionally, Steppe found herself in the position of not being able to paint at all. Chemotherapy affected her sense of smell so that painting made her ill. She spent many months thinking about working without being able to work. "When I was able to return to my studio, I knew I needed to create work that was personal and cathartic. I decided to turn from painting objects from life to imaginary landscapes that were metaphors for the passage of time," Steppe said. "When I began the landscape series, they were simply about the metamorphic effects of time and the elements, but as I healed they became more about emotional healing and spiritual freedom." The final works in the series are contemplations on the fragility and uncertainty of the physical world and the nature of spirituality. The show will run during the month of September, with an artist's reception from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sept. 2 at the Martin Gallery, 18 Broad St., Charleston. Husk
named Bon Appetit's best new restaurant in America
Opened
in November 2010, Husk is committed to Southern foodways, a farm-to-table
restaurant housed in a restored pre-Civil War mansion on Queen Street.
The restaurant's entryway is site of a 10-foot tall blackboard listing
every ingredient and its strictly southern supplier. Easily identifiable
by his "Make Cornbread Not War" baseball cap and vivid garden
patch tattoo on his left arm, the 33-year-old Brock is revisiting traditional
cooking methods and personally propagating heirloom seeds on the brink
of extinction at his 1.5-acre plot at Thornhill Farms in McClellanville.
Daniel Henry Chamberlain was born in West Brookfield, Mass., on June 23, 1835, the ninth of 10 children born to Eli Chamberlain and Achsah Forbes. He graduated from Worcester High School in 1857 and Yale University in 1862. The following year he left Harvard Law School to serve as an officer with the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry, a black regiment. He came to South Carolina in 1866 to tend to the affairs of a deceased classmate. On December 16, 1867, he married Alice Ingersoll of Bangor, Maine. They had four children.
Chamberlain entered South Carolina politics in 1868 as a delegate to the state constitutional convention from Berkeley District. From 1868 to 1872 he served as attorney general in Gov. Robert K. Scott's administration. He was also a member of the financial board, an agency tainted by corruption involving the state land commission and the sale of Blue Ridge Railroad bonds. Chamberlain vigorously denied benefiting from these scandals and publicly criticized Republican corruption. In 1871 he joined Democrats in organizing a state taxpayers' convention to press for reform and limits to state appropriations. Failing to gain the Republican nomination for governor in 1872, Chamberlain practiced law in Charleston. In 1873 he was elected to the board of trustees of the University of South Carolina as the first black students and faculty joined the institution. In 1874, with the support of the black leaders Francis L. Cardozo and Robert Brown Elliott, Chamberlain became the Republican candidate for governor, and he won the general election that fall. Opposed to Republicans he regarded as corrupt and too radical, Chamberlain cultivated the support of moderate Democrats led by the Charleston newspaper editor Francis W. Dawson. As governor, he vetoed twenty spending and patronage measures he considered reckless. In 1875 he alienated many Republicans when he refused to sign commissions that would have enabled William J. Whipper and Franklin J. Moses Jr., to serve as circuit court judges. By 1876 it appeared that Chamberlain's strategy to gain Democratic support for his reelection would pay political dividends as Dawson repeatedly praised the governor in the pages of the Charleston News and Courier. But when "straight-out" Democrats murdered several black militia members in the Hamburg Massacre of July 1876, Chamberlain condemned the killings and asked Washington for federal troops to quell the violence. Moderate Democrats deserted Chamberlain and threw their support behind Wade Hampton III. In the violent campaign that ensued, Hampton's supporters threatened and intimidated Republican candidates and black voters. Chamberlain and the black leader Robert Smalls were hooted off the platform by an angry mob at Edgefield during the campaign. Both the Democrats and Republicans claimed victory in the 1876 election, and a prolonged controversy followed. For a time Hampton and Chamberlain each insisted that he was the state's chief executive. But in April 1877 President Rutherford B. Hayes informed Chamberlain that he supported Hampton and subsequently withdrew federal troops from South Carolina. Chamberlain departed South Carolina and became a successful Wall Street lawyer. Embittered by his experiences as governor, he vilified the Hayes administration for its "treachery" in abandoning black South Carolinians to white Democrats. In 1881 Chamberlain defended the black West Point cadet Johnson C. Whittaker in his highly publicized court-martial case. However, in the years that followed, Chamberlain shifted in his racial attitudes. In a series of articles Chamberlain described his increasing disillusionment with Reconstruction and criticized attempts to secure voting rights and political power for African Americans. From 1883 to 1897 he was a professor of constitutional law at Cornell University. On his retirement he traveled extensively in Europe before settling in Charlottesville, Va., where he died of cancer on April 13, 1907.
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Five Savannah treats
Thinking of taking a quick road trip? Travel just a couple of hours south to visit Charleston's beautiful sister, Savannah, Ga. Here are Savannah resident Bob Pritchard's five favorite spots to dine, as listed in our sister publication, GwinnettForum.com: The Olde Pink
House (no Web site). 23 Abercorn St., 31401. Phone 912-232-4286. This
restaurant is in a late-1700s home on one of Savannah's prettiest squares.
The specialty is crispy-seared flounder and it is wonderful. Most entrees
are in the $20 - $30 range. Reservations required in advance. Be sure
to ask for seating in one of the smaller rooms (the ballroom is too "live"
for pleasant conversation). Crystal
Beer Parlor.
() Hands-down the best casual dining in downtown Savannah, and inexpensive.
An authentic 1930s beer parlor run by two brothers who know what they're
doing. Great food, great fun. It is now packed pretty much every lunch
and at the end of the workday - very popular neighborhood gathering spot.
Menu and directions on Web site (as for the others below). Cha
Bella. Quirky little place on the far east side of downtown. Heavy
emphasis on healthy/organic, including vegetables grown in its own garden. Bonna
Bella Yacht Club. This is uniquely coastal Georgia, a former
marina on a creek at the edge of a salt marsh. Limited menu, but healthy
(as they're on the water, they can't have a grease trap!) Superb views,
big deck, fun place to have a drink and/or a light meal when the weather's
good. Lunch on Saturday/Sunday only, dinner seven days a week.? Gryphon
Tea Room. More than a tea room, a unique lunch spot --
ladies especially love it -- operated by Savannah College of Art and Design
in a former pharmacy spot in what was originally the Scottish Rite Hospital. "When your work
speaks for itself, don't interrupt."
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.
Summerville Third
Thursday: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Aug. 18, historic downtown. Come
celebrate the end of summer in Summerville as the stores and restaurants
feature great meals and good deals. There will be live music on in several
venues, the Art Walk on Short Central, fun new entertainment to try called
Bopping Heads and entertainment by a local dance studio. More info: by
email or (843) 821-7260. Louie’s Kids
Benefit Dinner: 6:30 p.m., Aug 18, Circa 1886, 149 Wentworth
St. Joining Chef Marc Collins of Circa 1886 will be Chef Bob Waggoner
of U Cook With Bob, and Chef Scott Crawford of the Umstead Hotel and Spa.
Cost is $75 per person, $50 of which goes directly to Louie’s Kids
and is tax deductible. To make a reservation, call 843-853-7828 or online.
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.
Couponing 101:
10 a.m., Aug. 20, Mount Pleasant Regional Library. How can
you spend less while getting more of the items your family needs? Join
couponing expert Kay McFadden at this free workshop to learn how and when
to use coupons, where to get your coupons, how to organize your coupons,
stockpiling, and local stores' coupon policies. To register, call 843-849-6161
and ask for the reference desk. 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. 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. Facebook Seminar: 9 a.m. to noon, 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.
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.
(NEW) Women In Defense: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Aug. 26, Carrabba's, 2150 Northwoods Blvd., North Charleston. State of the Organization meeting featuring annual reports from committee chairs, announcements from executive and election boards and future plans. RSVP by email to attend by Aug. 22. $20 member/$25 non-member. Cash only at door. More: visit this site. Grape Stomping Festival: 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Aug. 27, Irvin~House Vineyards, 6775 Bears Bluff Road on Wadmalaw Island. Join in the yearly harvest and stomping of the grapes at Charleston's only winery, Irvin~House Vineyards. Bring lawn chairs or a blanket to picnic on the expansive lawn, but no coolers. The highlight of the Grape Stomping Festival is the Lucy Look-A-Like Contest. For more information, visit www.charlestonwine.com. Admission is $10 per car.
(NEW) The Rule of Law: 2 p.m., Aug. 31, Charleston County Public Library Main Branch, 68 Calhoun St. Larry Krasnoff, Ph.D., of the College of Charleston, will begin a four-part lecture series based on the book, "Law and the Long War: The Future of Justice in the Age of Terror," by Benjamin Wittes. Wine and Beer Festival: 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Sept. 4, on the Green at Freshfields Village on Johns Island. The 5th Annual Lowcountry Wine and Beer Festival will benefit the Barrier Islands Free Medical Clinic, Inc. Guests will enjoy an array of wines and beers, Lowcountry cuisine, a silent auction, and live jazz music will be provided by the Cobblestone Quartet. Tickets are $35 in advance, and $40 at the gate. Junior tickets (age 10 to 20) are $20, and children under 10 are free. Tickets may be purchased at Hyams Garden and Accent Store, Paul's Hairstyling, Forsberg's Wine and Spirits, the Johns Island UPS Store, Schoen Ace Hardware, Indigo Books, Freshfields Village Guest Services, Seabrook Island Real Estate and Kiawah Island Town Hall. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
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Aviation hero Moffett DOUG
BOSTICK: 11/14: Battle
of Port Royal ANDY BRACK 11/14:
Election
reflections MARSHA GUERARD 9/1:
Bill
Regan, more ANN
THRASH: 11/14:
Franklin's
turkey PETER
LUCASH: 8/25: 2
tech companies move here GREG
GARVAN: 10/17: Contrarian
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It
doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that 97 degrees in stifling
Southern humidity is too hot to do heavy work.
The
hawk swooped from the pine tree on the left to a pecan in the yard on
the right, passing right over our heads, out in the open, hunting for
breakfast. I clutched the three-pound dog a bit tighter and our pack of
four -- three dogs and me, the pack leader -- watched with interest. 
AUG.
18, 2011 -- Single stream recycling has proven a success here in Charleston
with participation rates as high as 70 percent in neighborhoods that were
involved, compared to 35 percent to 40 percent for the rest of the county.
The county says it will expand SSR to another 5,000 homes by the end of
this year. Charleston County was named the 2011 Outstanding Composting
or Organic Recycling Program at the annual trade show for programs in
the Carolinas. 
Greg
Garvan of James Island is president of Money with a Mission, an 18-year-old,
fee-only financial planning firm that specializes in socially responsible/
'green' asset management. On the Web: 
Those
who ride 
A
bird's eye view is typically an elevated view of an object from above
... a perspective as though the observer were a bird, looking down on
that object. While several of the paintings in this collection show what
one might see if he or she were hovering over a subject like a bird in
flight, others are quite different.
The
issue spotlights the magazine's annual Top Ten Restaurants of the Year
list. This honor comes as Husk enters its eleventh month of business in
a year marked by media accolades, highlights of which include being named
Best New Restaurant in the South by Southern Living (January 2011)
and a feature story by The New York Times restaurant critic Sam
Sifton (February 2011). 
(NEW)
Cookbook
Signing at 82 Queen: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Aug. 18. 82 Queen restaurant
will host a book signing for author Patricia Branning to promote her new
Lowcountry cookbook, "Shrimp, Collards & Grits." The cookbook
features recipes, stories and arts from the Lowcountry. One of the featured
artists, John Doyle, will also be at 82 Queen with Branning for the book
signing.
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.
Femivore:
6 p.m., Aug. 23, Ashley Hall, 172 Rutledge Ave. The evening
will feature food from area female chefs, wine, champagne, snoballs and
music, as well as presentations on the local food movement. Tickets, $30,
are 
(NEW)
Women's
Wellness Weekend: Aug. 26 and 27, Woodlands Inn, 125 Parsons
Road, Summerville. Weekend will include facials, manicures, pedicures
and massages, as well as yoga classes, tennis lessons, and heart healthy
meals served in Woodlands' Five Star Dining Room. There will be classes
in cocktail-making and cooking, as well as health screening and seminars.
Rates start at $645 per person, based on double occupancy. Day-only rates
are available upon request. To make a reservation, call 843-308-2106,
(NEW)
Black
Woman Redefined: 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., Aug. 28, Mount Pleasant
Towne Centre Barnes & Noble. Sophia A. Nelson, a national opinion
columnist, JET Magazine feature political writer, and MSNBC analyst, will
be signing copies of her book, "Black Woman Redefined." Nelson
arms black women of this and the next generation with the necessary tools
to redefine themselves and overcome destructive notions that black women
can't have it all-a career, a love life, and a healthy balance.