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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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OCT. 24,
2011 - For Charleston, there's good news and bad news.
The good news is that Charleston dethroned San Francisco as the No. 1 tourist destination in America in the Condé Nast Traveler reader survey. The award highlights Charleston's "friendliness" and "bounty of outstanding restaurants, top-notch hotels, rich history, quaint shops and overall ambience." And more people are moving into the area with college degrees, putting Charleston, North Charleston and Summerville first in the nation, on a percentage-point basis, for attracting people with bachelor's degrees, a key to generating greater economic development, according to a study of census data conducted for the Wall Street Journal.
The bad news is that, for the second time this year, Charleston has landed on a "Watch List." The L.A. Times story opens, "Note to Charleston, S.C.: Your charm is in danger. That's the word from the World Monuments Fund, an advocacy group that has included the historic Southern city on its list of the globe's most threatened cultural heritage sites." The New York group releases its list every two years, this time after combing through 266 recommendations before settling on 67 from 40 countries and territories. The Fund's president, Bonnie Burnham, said poorly managed tourism is the problem facing many of the sites, including Charleston's 17th century historic district, noting, "Tourism is a double-edged sword." The World Monuments Fund said, "The cruise ships obstruct views both of the harbor and the town, while the potential for hundreds of thousands of passengers to disembark in the town every year is upsetting the balance between commercial development and the residential areas that make the city livable." In June,
the National Trust for Historic Preservation added Charleston to its
list of the 11 most endangered places in the United States. The Trust
also placed its concern squarely on Charleston's unwillingness to regulate
cruise ship tourism. The National Trust noted that "in the case of
Charleston, expanding cruise ship tourism could jeopardize the historic
character of the city, historic downtown Charleston and its surrounding
neighborhoods," and the Trust has offered "to assist with finding
a balanced solution that benefits the community and its rich cultural
heritage."
Occupy, tea party movements show frustration with system By ANDY BRACK, publisher OCT. 24, 2011 -- Boy, does politics run in cycles, or what?
The latest incarnation, the occupy movement that has spread from Wall Street to Charleston and Columbia in South Carolina, reflects the frustration of a new crowd of people who have been quiet for awhile. Its similar to the frustration that fueled the rise of the tea party after voters elected a black man president in 2008. And a version of the sentiment that same man tapped into with his campaign of hope that led to his election. Thanks to pervasive televised media, the Internet, iPhones, iPads and more, weve become an iAmerica that seems to be constantly on the prowl to vent. The political cycles are getting shorter. The occupy movement is the latest incarnation, a move to restore a balance from the ire stemming from tea partiers. If the occupiers are able to keep their passions going as the tea partiers have, we could be headed for a heck of a clash next year during the fall presidential campaign. When the tea partiers got going, they seemed mad at just about everything involving the government, especially the federal government and its spending. They ranted so much that congressional candidates, mostly Republican, listened and co-opted their rage. As the country headed into a longer and longer recession, new tea party congressmen flexed their muscles over debt ceilings and spending, which stalled long-term solutions for economic recovery and getting out of the spending addiction.
Now theyre mad and they want to occupy the spotlight for a bit to vent their rage at the corporatization of America -- the seeming takeover of everything for corporate profit and the lack of real government leadership to limit unfettered capitalism for the common good. Conservative critics dismiss occupiers as socialists who want something for nothing. First, thats not true because occupiers dont want the government to control the means of production, as socialists do. Second, occupiers want jobs and a stronger America, not the free ride that corporations and the rich got from handouts and policies aimed at building their wealth, not that of the middle class. I want to see the tax code reformed -- the federal one, and the state could use it too, one Summerville woman said at Occupy Charleston on Thursday. Id like to see the legs of K Street lawyers [in Washington] chopped off.
Charleston County Councilman Vic Rawl, a former circuit judge, gave an Economics 101 teach-in to about 20 people Thursday along Brittlebank Park. He outlined how the country was going through an ideological battle between the Keynesian economics of common good and the Friedman economics of free-market capitalism that sought little regulation. Rawl said Friedmans followers, who have been winning the upper hand with more and more corporate deregulation for years, were turning government and the taxpayers into a opportunistic grab-bag for private business. The occupiers, he said, were focused on jobs and the economy, while tea partiers dont have enough intelligence to understand the people theyre supporting caused this problem. ... Remember the trickle down theory [of economics]? I aint seen no trickle. Mount Pleasant attorney William Hamilton said occupiers werent another part of a cycle of politics, but instead a vacillation indicative of a system on the verge of failure. One thing is for sure, occupiers and tea partiers are shaking up the status quo politics in new ways that reigning politicians are having to scamper to figure out how to respond. * * * If you want to read about something good going on in South Carolina, take a look at an exclusive column in Statehouse Report by University of South Carolina President Harris Pastides. He tells the story of how the university is constructing one of the worlds most innovative green buildings.
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring Charleston Currents to you at no cost. This issue's featured underwriter is the Charleston RiverDogs. The Lowcountrys leader in sports entertainment, Charleston RiverDogs baseball is an attractive, affordable medium for your group or business. The RiverDogs develop the next major league stars for the 26-time World Champion New York Yankees at one of the finest ballparks in Minor League Baseball -- Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park. Three short words sum up the every day approach taken by the Charleston RiverDogs front office. The brainchild of club President Mike Veeck, the nine-letter phrase Fun Is Good is meant to be a guideline and daily reminder of how employees should approach their jobs and in turn capture the imagination of the fans to turn them into repeat customers. Call them today at (843) 723-7241 or visit online at: www.RiverDogs.com.
The Charleston
Regional Development Alliance will hold its annual luncheon on Wednesday,
Nov. 2. The keynote address will be delivered by Parag Khanna, geo-strategist
and futurist, named by Esquire magazine as "one of the 75 most influential
people of the 21st century."
Khanna
has been hailed as a "21st century Alvin Toffler-style global futurist"
for his remarkably forward-thinking predictions of geopolitical changes
and crises, and game-changing economic and technological breakthroughs
that transform the world's balance of power. Results from a multi-site clinical trial concluded that the use of anti-microbial copper surfaces in intensive care hospital rooms reduced bacteria by 97 percent, resulting in a 41 percent reduction in hospital-acquired infections, SCRA announced on Friday. The study authors, whose research was supported by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, concluded that when bacteria in patients' rooms are reduced, infection risk is significantly lowered.
SCRA's Applied R&D Division has managed the program since its inception in 2007, capitalizing on its relationships with both the Department of Defense and the U.S. Copper Development Association. Dr. Michael Schmidt, a research leader and vice chairman of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina, has found that bacteria on ICU room surfaces are responsible for up to 80 percent of patient infections. Objects in hospital patient rooms are a potential breeding ground for bacteria that cause infections. "SCRA's Applied R&D Division, formerly ATI, continues to lead outstanding collaborations that produce real results," said SCRA CEO Bill Mahoney. "This study proves that antimicrobial copper can reduce bacteria and mitigate risk to patients. We are delighted with these outcomes and look forward to continued successes through our copper programs." Juried Watermedia Exhibition to open here Nov. 5 The Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs will host the 34th Annual South Carolina Watermedia Exhibition at the City Gallery at Waterfront Park, featuring original paintings from 62 award-winning artists from across the state, consisting of watercolor, acrylic, colored pencil and any water-based media. The exhibit opens on Saturday, November 5 with an admission-free, public reception in honor of the artists from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The exhibit will remain open until December 31, 2011.
This year's exhibition was selected by a panel consisting of Charleston artists Lese Corrigan, Dr. Richard "Duke" Hagerty, Tate Nation and Lynne Riding. Florida artist Mary Alice Braukman will jury the show with awards to be given to 30 artists, whose works will travel the state for a year with the S.C. State Museum's Traveling Show program. The S.C. Watermedia Society will also produce a DVD of the judge's critique of paintings, which will be available to artists, schools, universities and community groups. The S.C. Watermedia Society is the only statewide visual arts organization in South Carolina and nurtures and promotes artists who work in watermedia (i.e. watercolor, acrylic, gouache, casein and mixed media in conjunction with watermedia on any surface) by providing exhibition opportunities, professional development and educational programs. For more
than 25 years, the Annual Traveling Exhibition has been a popular touring
exhibit, appearing in cities across the state and drawing more than 20,000
visitors last year alone.
WoodWorks East competition to honor wood construction WoodWorks
is now accepting nominations for its East Region Wood Design Awards. The
awards recognize excellence in wood design and construction, as well as
innovative projects that showcase wood's strength, beauty, versatility
and cost-effectiveness.
Southeastern Wildlife Expo poster selected Southeastern Wildlife Exposition's poster for its 30th annual event features two American bison grazing on a grassy hillside in the morning sunlight with mountains behind them.
Southeastern Wildlife Exposition will be held in multiple venues throughout downtown Charleston from Feb. 17-19, 2012.
New fitness studio offers holistic approach BLAST900,
a cutting-edge fitness studio in which participants can burn an average
900 calories per one-hour session, is expanding to Mount Pleasant. Local Development Corp. obtains $1 million grant Charleston's Local Development Corporation has been awarded $1 million in federal funds to boost its Small Business Incentive Loan Program. The Incentive
Loan Program supports the creation, development and expansion of small
businesses and can provide funds to eligible small businesses for almost
any operational need.
Dotting South Carolina's streams and rivers are Indian mounds, vestiges of her prehistoric past. These mounds offer fragmentary evidence of the cultures that thrived before the Europeans arrived. Five of South Carolina's Indian mounds are listed in the National Register of Historic Places: Adamson Mounds (Kershaw County), Blair Mound (Fairfield County), Lawton Mounds (Allendale County), McCollum Mound (Chester County), and Santee Mound (Clarendon County). At least 16 Woodland mounds and 19 Mississippian mounds have been identified in South Carolina that are at least 50 percent intact. Another 1 known sites have been destroyed or are underwater. Woodland period mounds are located primarily along coastal rivers, while Mississippian mounds are found along inland rivers near the fall line. Beaufort County has the largest concentration of mounds, followed by counties located in the Midlands. Similar mounds are found in Georgia and North Carolina.
In the late prehistoric period and early contact period, some of South Carolina's mound builders were part of vast Mississippian chiefdoms. South Appalachian Mississippian ceramics indicate that a similar culture embraced South Carolina, Georgia, and neighboring areas. These mounds were ceremonial, cultural, or administrative in nature and at times were associated with villages and burials. Some of them were also associated with the Pee Dee, Lamar, or Irene culture. Historical evidence suggests that as many as 150 mounds were present in South Carolina at the time of European contact. In 1540 Hernando de Soto encountered the mound dwellers of Cofitachiqui on the Wateree River. The accounts of his journey are important documentary sources for understanding the mound dwellers. During the Revolutionary War, the British recognized the strategic potential of the mounds. They built Fort Watson on the Santee Mound, which patriot forces captured in 1780. Erosion and looting threaten the survival of South Carolina's Indian mounds.
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For young ghouls and goblins
"Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so."
Dracula: Through Oct. 30, Charleston Stage Company, Dock Street Theatre, 135 Church St. Count Dracula is back. Centuries before the TWILIGHT Saga began, the original Prince of Darkness reigned over the shadowy world of the Undead. Rediscover the classic tale that launched a thousand teeth. Intense content, please see parent guide by clicking here. For ticket information, go online. (NEW)
Halloween Aboard The Yorktown: 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.,
Oct. 28-31. Experience a hauntingly good time aboard the aircraft
carrier Yorktown for Ghost Ship Tours: The Curse of Blackbeard's Skull.
The tour below decks of Yorktown is full of unexpected adventure, until
guests come face-to-face with the terror of the Seven Seas himself, Blackbeard.
This tour is not for the feint of heart. Children ages 11 and under must
be accompanied by an adult. Tickets are $15 each and can be purchased
at www.PatriotsPoint.org
or at the gate. (NEW)
Yoga Marathon for Louie's Kids: Noon to 3 p.m., Oct.
29, Marion Square. For more information and to register, visit www.louieskids.org. 10th Annual Rein
and Shine Barn Raiser: 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Oct. 29, at the Rein
and Shine barn in Awendaw. The therapeutic riding program celebrates its
10th anniversary with food courtesy of 17North, music produced by Awendaw
Green, silent and live auctions, beer, wine, champagne, and kid-friendly
refreshments, pony rides, face painting, pumpkin carving and costume contests.
Adults $30 in advance, $40 after Oct. 25; couples $50 in advance, $60
after Oct 25; children (under 15) $10 in advance, $15 after Oct 25; children
(4 and under) are free. To purchase tickets go
online. CALENDAR: ONGOING AND SOON Family comedy, Nov. 10 through Dec. 4, Charleston Acting Studio, 915 Folly Road, Charleston. Midtown/Sheri Grace Productions will present 14 performances of "Over the River and Through the Woods" starting Nov. 10. The "heartwarming family comedy" follows an Italian family, but offers universal themes. More info on times, dates and tickets online at: MidtownProductions.org. (NEW) Harvest Fest: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Nov. 5, Mullet Hall Equestrian Center on Johns Island. The Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission's 10th Annual Harvest Fest offers food, games, music and fun for the family. Admission is $5, and free for children 12 and under as well as Gold Pass holders. For information, visit www.ccprc.com/harvest. Calligraphy Workshops: 9 a.m. to noon, and 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Nov. 12. The Charleston Museum and professional calligrapher Natasha Lawrence invite you to learn the art of creative lettering. Morning workshop will be Introduction to Calligraphy and afternoon will be Wedding Calligraphy. All materials are included: calligraphy pen to keep, workbook, practice paper and more. Each workshop is $30/member and $35/non-member. Advance reservations are required. Register online or call 722-2996 x235. Rural Mission Oyster Roast: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Nov. 20, Bowen's Island Restaurant near Folly Beach. The fundraising event ($25 advance, $30 at the door) supports the nonprofit's ministry for outreach and home repair on the Sea Islands. More info: 768-1720. Tickets are available online. Tech Entrepreneur Training: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Dec. 12 at the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, 4500 Leeds Ave. BizBuilderSC, which offers statewide entrepreneur and small business training, is offering the 10-week course "NxLevel for Tech Entrepreneurs." Tuition is $345, and includes materials. For more information or to register, visit online or contact Laura Williams at 843-805-3102. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
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