 |
|
|
|
|
|
Issue
4.52 | Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 TODAY'S
FOCUS CURRENTS SC
AT WAR: 150 YEARS AGO GOOD
NEWS HISTORY
ALSO INSIDE :: FEEDBACK: Mayor's race, Haley :: SPOTLIGHT: SCIWAY :: BROADUS: Five percent :: CALENDAR: This week ... and next :: THE LIST: What to do now :: QUOTE: Act quickly |
ABOUT US CharlestonCurrents.com offers insightful community comment and good news on events each week. It cuts through the information clutter to offer the best of what's happening locally. What readers say WHERE IS IT?
|
|
OCT. 29, 2012 -- Having penned four cookbooks, I am now into a new series about French cooking. I studied in France and Le Cordon Bleu, so it is only natural.
The latest book, "The French Cook: Sauces" (Gibbs Smith), is a study of the world of classical French sauces. The five classical mother sauces are brought to the fore-front: béchamel, veloute, hollandaise, espagnole, and les sauce tomates. There are also chapters devoted to mayonnaise and stocks, since they are so widely used, easy to make, and integral to sauce making. I wrote the book because I love France and French cooking. The idea for the series came from my editor, Madge Baird. The truth is, I've always loved France, and much of the inspiration in this book comes from there.
So, a simple stock becomes the base for a béchamel fortified lasagna with wild mushrooms and leeks or a rouille on toast points with a fish stew, and so on. I am very excited about the release of this book in March 2013. It will be available at bookstores near you and Amazon. Pre-publication ordering is available now.
OCT. 29, 2012 -- Gov. Nikki Haley could learn a thing or two about leadership from Batman.
But when the private information of South Carolinians was in peril thanks to a hacker who invaded the state's surprisingly vulnerable Department of Revenue computer system, what did Haley and company do? Wait. Not one day. Not two. Not a week. Not even two weeks. They waited 16 days to let people know their private information was at risk. That's longer than the entire Cuban Missile Crisis! If you want to get some perspective about what went on from when Haley was notified on Oct. 10 that the Revenue computer system had been hacked until Oct. 26 when she and law enforcement officials came clean, click on the attached PDF that marries the timeline of what officials did after discovering the hack to Haley's public schedule.
Bottom line: The hacking episode that has left 3.6 million South Carolinians vulnerable to identity thieves was a crucial test of Haley's leadership. Quite simply, she failed. She left the whole situation up to others in the law enforcement community instead of taking control. Had the media not finally caught on that something was up, we still might not know. U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings taught a long time ago how public officials work for the public, not for law enforcement who are investigating a problem or other government officials looking for more time. Think back to February 1993. At that time, Hollings discovered that the Base Realignment and Closure Commission quietly had targeted Charleston's naval facilities for closure. The official report wasn't due for about six weeks. What did Hollings do -- wait for the report to come out? No, he got on a plane to Charleston, held a press conference and warned Charlestonians of the impending economic blow. He got criticized for letting the cat out of the bag early and lots of local officials didn't believe him. But he was right on the money. And he let people know quickly because he knew his duty was to the citizens of South Carolina. He let them know because it was the right thing to do. As a result, a couple of things happened. First, Hollings' early warning forced Charleston to start dealing with the situation more quickly than other communities and they were better prepared to fight. Also, the early warning forced the Navy to back down a little, which resulted in Charleston keeping NavalEx, the highly-technological complex of engineers that today are known as SPAWAR. Nikki Haley talks a lot about transparency. But the secrecy involving private information of 3.6 million people is about as transparent as a blindfold. She should be held accountable.
To the editor: The race will probably develop as you predict and even though it is supposed to be non-partisan, everyone knows who the party's candidates are as in the last mayoral race where the Republicans were absolutely shameless and juvenile in their unsupported accusations against Hizzoner. I predict it will be very partisan and very divisive, if not actually polarizing. We will see what "issues" will develop and gauge the candidates' sincerity factor along with their record of honest and valuable service to the community they aspire to lead.
An open letter to the governor Dear Gov. Haley: Your waiting 16 days before letting the residents of S.C. know that you were a poor steward of our personal information will go down in history as of one of the most blatant cock-ups of an administration since the missing 18-1/2 minutes on the Nixon White House tapes. It appears that someone was totally asleep at the switch. That would be you. If my tone seems angry, you are finally getting in tune with the thoughts of ONE of your constituents. Does it really help to stick your head in the sand and hope this goes away? It shouldn't take 16 days to decide how to spin this to your advantage. I cannot imagine what you must have been thinking. How quickly did you contact Experian and put a security freeze on your credit information? I will bet you have them on speed-dial. Did you go ahead and take our their Platinum Security Package? I am sure they offered you a discount since you will be giving them a huge chunk of business for them to provide basic identity protection coverage to 3.6 million people. Who knows what S.C. could have done with that money to help its residents instead of enriching the security companies. I know how important it is to you that you be remembered once you are out of office. I am sure that many people will remember you for quite a long time but not in the light you would want. I imagine that I speak for a lot of people when I say, "I am just disgusted with you and your policies".
The public
spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring Charleston Currents
to you at no cost. This issue's featured underwriter is Maybank
Industries, LLC of Charleston, S.C. 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, vessel construction, 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.
Christening
the Charleston ironclads In February
1861, the Charleston Mercury advocated the construction of "iron-clad
floating batteries, made perfectly shot-proof, and mounting heavy shell
guns, to be used against wooden-sided vessels . . ." In February
1862, the Executive Council of South Carolina appropriated "three
hundred thousand dollars for building a Marine Battery or Ram . . ."
The first of the three gunboats was to be named the Chicora and built by Eason & Brothers, located at 12 Columbus Street. James M. Eason, president of the company, was highly regarded for his locomotives built in the 1830s and his steam engines built in the 1850s. Eason had a Scottish lathe capable of constructing a flywheel twelve feet in diameter. Mrs. Sue L. Gelzer of Summerville, South Carolina, wrote a letter, published on March 3, 1862, in the Charleston Daily Courier, stating: ". . . the ladies of New Orleans had given an order for a Gunboat, and also the idea suggested, to the ladies of Charleston, to emulate their example." Mrs. Gelzer announced her own donation to support the building of a second ironclad gunboat and urged, "every true woman, in our beloved State" to do the same. The response to Mrs. Gelzer's challenge was immediate and profound. Businesses, banks, ladies' societies, private citizens and both Charleston newspapers made donations for the Ladies' Gunboat. Donations arrived from as far away as Richmond and Atlanta. In May, Charleston ladies hosted a multi-day fair and raffle at Hibernian Hall, home to the Irish benevolent society, to raise funds for the ironclad.
Sufficient funds were raised to begin construction in mid-March. Marsh & Son, located on Concord Street, was contracted to build this "Ladies Gunboat" to be named the Palmetto State. Cameron and Company, located on Pritchard Street, assisted with the project, working on the engines and mechanical components. The challenge for the shipyards building the two ironclad gunboats was to locate sufficient iron to build the armor plating. Both shipyards advertised for lead but had to resort to destroying nonessential rail lines to harvest the railroad tracks. The T-rails were malleable and could be converted to armor plating. They were sent to Tredegar Foundry in Richmond and Atlanta Rolling Mill in Georgia to be reproduced in twenty-foot lengths, seven inches wide and two inches thick. When installed on the exterior sides of the gunboats, the armor rails were first laid horizontality, with a second layer installed vertically. The decks and hull, five feet below the water line, received only one two-inch layer. The gunboats were painted a pale bluish gray color, referred to as "blockader's blue." With no properly sized engines available, steam engines were harvested from small steamships for the Chicora and Palmetto State. Both the Chicora and Palmetto State were finished by October 1862. A festive ceremony to christen the Palmetto State was held with Flag Officer Duncan Ingraham; Commander John Tucker, commander of the Chicora; Lieutenant Commander John Rutledge, commander of the Palmetto State; Mrs. Sue Gelzer, whose letter and financial contribution gave life to the Ladies' Gunboat project; and General P.G.T. Beauregard on the program. Richard Yeardon, editor of the Charleston Daily Courier, offered at the ceremony, "At this crisis, a noble spirit stirred in the bosoms of the daughters of the Palmetto State, and the project of building iron clad gunboats for the defense of Charleston, originated in and emanated from their patriotism and public spirit…donations in money, plate, jewelry, works of art and ingenuity, family relics, tokens of affection, the widow's mite, and even bridal gifts, were poured forth as from a horn of plenty or an exhaustless fountain, to arm Charleston with the means of a defense…Noble boat!" As the ceremony ended, the Chicora was also brought before the crowd, "steaming up from the lower wharves, and, with colors flying, fore and aft, saluted her consort." With its addition to the festivities, the crowd cheered the Chicora and James Eason, the shipbuilder.
Charleston
School of Law Chairman Alex Sanders, a former president of the College
of Charleston and former chief judge of the state Court of Appeals, offers
insights into the golden age of baseball at 9 p.m. Thursday during
the broadcast of "Cards Against A Wall."
In the
film, Sanders says when he saw the trick, he decided to put baseball on
hold as a career and become a magician. "I was 50 years old and chief
judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals before I finally learned
how to do that trick," Sanders wryly wrote. "By then, I was
too old to play baseball." You'll
enjoy this look back at baseball (especially now since the World Series
is over). Charleston's Tim Fennell directed the film, which was shot throughout
South Carolina, including narration by Sanders as he sat in center field
of the Joe Riley ballpark in Charleston. Fennell, Dave Brown and Brooks
Quinn co-produced the film. National paddlesport conference to be in Folly Beach Folly Beach on Friday through Sunday will host the 5th annual National Paddlesport Conference of the American Canoe Association. The conference is open for public registration and paddling enthusiasts from beginners to pros will find lots of family fun, high-quality educational sessions and paddling opportunities. The conference is hosted at The Tides on Folly Beach, with sessions at other locations including James Island County Park. Some events:
Ghost Tour to be held on CofC campus on Oct. 30 The College
of Charleston is celebrating Halloween with a spooky ghost tour of campus
at 7 p.m. Tuesday as student tour guides tell tales of the ghosts and
goblins that are a part of the College's 242-year history. Tours will
leave from the Admissions Courtyard at 65 George Street. Gibbes to offer two special exhibitions starting in January The Gibbes Museum of Art is will open two special exhibitions on January 11, 2013, to showcase an artist's outstanding collection of modern and contemporary art and to display iconic civil rights images.
The Pee
Dee is a river system that drains northeastern South Carolina and central
North Carolina. It is properly called the Great Pee Dee or more commonly
the Big Pee Dee to distinguish it from one of its tributaries, the Little
Pee Dee River.
For thousands
of years people lived along the Pee Dee, and the river provided generously
of fish, game, and waterfowl. The Native American kingdom of Cofitachiqui
extended into the Pee Dee region and thrived for centuries before Europeans
arrived. Spanish conquistadors entered the Pee Dee region during the 1540s-1560s,
and Englishmen arrived in the early eighteenth century. By the 1730s the
English had settled around Winyah Bay, and soon they were moving up the
Pee Dee, establishing a village upstream at Cheraw. The Pee
Dee's first cash crop was naval stores: the tar, pitch, and turpentine
produced by the region's pine trees and used on sailing vessels as wood
preservatives and caulking. The Pee Dee backcountry was covered with ancient
pine forests, and the naval-stores business thrived as thousands of barrels
per year were rafted down the river bound for Europe. By the
1730s rice was replacing naval stores as the region's principal crop.
Rice thrived in the swampy areas along the Pee Dee, and soon hundreds
of fields were cleared and thousands of enslaved Africans were imported
to work in them. By the 1740s blacks outnumbered whites in much of the
region. The coming
of cotton about 1800 transformed the Pee Dee yet again. Thanks to cotton's
low startup costs, the Pee Dee backcountry boomed, as large flatboats
propelled by African slaves carried cotton bales to Georgetown and merchandise
back to eager consumers at every landing along the way. The maturation
of the cotton economy and the advent of steamboats marked a golden age
of the river. By the 1820s steam-powered barges were plowing the dark
waters of the Pee Dee, and river towns such as Cheraw, Georgetown, and
Society Hill flourished. Steamboats soon received fierce competition from
railroads, which diverted freight from Georgetown to Charleston and Wilmington,
North Carolina. Railroad expansion in the late nineteenth century and the advent of automobiles in the early twentieth century gradually replaced river transport altogether, but the Pee Dee's importance as a water and power source increased. Population growth and industrial expansion made increasing demands on the river, and development polluted the Pee Dee with silt, chemicals, and sewage. By the 1970s environmental legislation was in place, and by century's end the Pee Dee was much cleaner.
SISTER PUBLICATIONS We encourage you to check out our sister publications:
CREDITS Charleston Currents is provided to you twice a week by:
Address: P.O. Box. 22261 | Charleston, SC 29413 UNSUBSCRIBE We hope you'll keep receiving the great news and information from CharlestonCurrents.com, but if you need to unsubscribe, click here. © 2008-2012, Statehouse Report LLC. All rights reserved. Charleston Currents is published every Monday and Thursday by Statehouse Report LLC, PO Box 22261, Charleston, SC 29413. |
What to do since The Great Hacking With the private information of virtually all of South Carolina's adults at risk because of The Great Hacking of 2012, officials strongly encourage you to sign up for identity protection now. The state is paying for a year's worth of protection.
If you don't trust
the government's solution or get put on hold forever, you might want to
consider private sector solutions from companies like LifeLock.com.
"When the average citizen on the street is in peril, something must be done, and quickly."
Loading
Education debate: 5 p.m., Oct. 31, Physicians Memorial Auditorium, College of Charleston. Students who are teaching fellows will moderate a panel discussion for candidates running for school board seats in West Ashley, downtown and North Charleston. Submit questions before the forum here. (NEW)
Business lunch: Noon to 1:30 p.m., Nov. 1, Marriott
on Lockwood, Charleston. "How Businesses Can Benefit from Working
with Nonprofits" will be led by the Coastal Community Foundation's
George Stephens at the event hosted by the Charleston American Marketing
Association. Panelists include Jennet Alterman (Center for Woman) and
Paul Heinauer (Glasspro). More. (NEW)
"Wit and Wisdom" performance: 7 p.m., Nov.
1, Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston. Art Bumgardner
will conduct the CSO Chorus Chamber Singers Ensemble for an evening of
vocal music featuring compositions by Penn, Britten and Mozart. Tickets
are $20. More. 8th annual Fur Ball: 6:30 p.m., Nov. 2, Charleston Marriott, 170 Lockwood Blvd. Get on your Gatsby glamour and Flapper fab at this annual fundraiser for Pethelpers that features dinner, dancing, and live and silent auctions. Learn more online. Art on Paper Fair: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Nov. 3, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Nov. 4, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston. The museum has partnered with the Charleston Fine Art Dealers Association to offer the first Art on Paper Fair as part of the association's Fine Arts Weekend. On sale will be prints, pastels, watercolors, photos and drawing. More. Harvest Festival: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Nov. 3, Mullet Hall Equestrian Center, 2662 Mullet Hall Road, Johns Island. Families can celebrate the season's harvest at this 11th annual event that features a barbecue cook-off by local restaurants and live bluegrass music by local bands. Kids 12 and under are free to enjoy hay rides, pumpkin decorating, lasso demonstrations and more. Online. Golden Nugget Paddle 'n Party: 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Nov. 4, Lighthouse on Shem Creek. The Mount Pleasant Land Conservancy will celebrate the natural beauty of Shem Creek during this benefit that will include paddleboard races, good, local beer and live music. Tickets are $25 in advance. More. CALENDAR: ONGOING AND SOON Fun run and walk: 6:30 p.m., Nov. 7 and Nov. 8, James Island County Park. You can be the first to see the 600+ light displays at the Holiday Festival of Lights during a fun run and walk that will happen twice on successive days. To guarantee a spot, register online and learn more at: www.ccprc.com/funrun. Nov. 9: Festival of Lights opens. Garden workshop: Nov. 10, Cypress Gardens. Clemson Extension and Cypress Gardens will team for a one-day garden-based workshop with several classes and a wreath-making session with Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow." Cost: $60. Pre-registration is required and ends Nov. 5. Register online. Lowcountry Hoedown: 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., Nov. 10, Charleston Bus Shed, 375 Meeting St., Charleston. This inaugural benefit for Lowcountry Local First will provide guests with moonshine and bourbon cocktails, barbecue and funky bluegrass bands. Tickets: $50 advance. More. (NEW) Trail dedication: 10 a.m., Nov. 17, Low Falls Landing, Berkeley County. Dedication of the Swamp Fox 50 Mile Paddle & Camp Trail will occur, followed by a paddle through Sump Hole Swamp. Directions and more online here. Bird walks: 8:30 a.m. to noon, every Wednesday and Saturday. This is the time of year that a great variety of migrating birds fly through the Lowcountry so what better time to take part in one of the regular early morning bird walks at Caw Caw Interpretive Center in Ravenel. Pre-registration is suggested. Cost is $5. Learn more online. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
FOCUS ARCHIVES
12/24: Abrams:
Holiday time 11/26:
Stevens:
Thank you letters 10/29:
Herrick:
Saucy new book DOUG
BOSTICK: 12/17: Charleston
Christmas ANDY BRACK 12/24:
Looking
back at 2012 11/26:
Guilty
pleasure 10/29:
16
days, Gov. Haley? 9/24:
New
TravelOrMove site More Andy Brack in the archives ANN
THRASH: 10/15:
Guerrilla
cuisine GREG
GARVAN: 9/24:
Permaculture,
more LIST
ARCHIVES 12/24:
Last-minute
gifts 11/26:
Giving
back winners 10/29:
Anti-hacking
tips IN OUR SISTER PUBLICATION
Twitter
feeds via TweetsWind:
a Twitter widget
|
While
writing the book, I tried to keep the needs of the home cook in mind,
while also nudging them to do more than they think possible. Sauces are
ultimately very simple, a series of reductions and layers of flavors to
produce the consummate finishing touches for any meal.
"When
the average citizen on the street is in peril, something must be done,
and quickly," Batman said in 1967 in episode 109 of the classic television
show.
I
think it's way too early to speculate. [
By
early March, Francis M. Jones, a Charleston shipbuilder, was charged with
building three ironclads in Charleston. These ironclad gunboats were designed
at 150 feet long, with a beam of 34 feet and an 11-foot draft. They were
to be armed with four guns: Brooke rifles fore and aft, and eight-inch
smoothbores on the sides. 
The
25-minute film, which will be aired on SCETV's "Southern Lens"
series, takes a look at stories of three storied South Carolina baseball
players -- Shoeless Joe Jackson, Van Lingle Mungo and Bobo Newsom. Of
particular interest -- and where the film got its title from -- was a
card trick that Sanders saw as a boy when meeting Jackson in is Greenville
liquor store.
The
tours are free and open to the public (children are welcome!), but space
is limited, so advance registration is required. Register by emailing
"Both
exhibitions shed insight on an incredibly significant period of American
history," said Gibbes Executive Director Angela Mack. "The photographs
of James Karales offer an intimate glimpse of the civil rights movement
in action, while Jonathan and Richard's remarkable collection provides
a broader perspective of the twentieth century and the diverse influences
that have shaped American art and culture."
One
of the Carolinas' principal rivers, the Pee Dee begins its journey in
the mountains of North Carolina, where it is known as the Yadkin River,
and travels 197 miles in South Carolina to meet the Atlantic Ocean in
Georgetown's Winyah Bay. Along the way, the Pee Dee receives the outflow
of several smaller streams, including the Black, Little Pee Dee, Lynches,
and Waccamaw Rivers, and discharges about fifteen thousand cubic feet
of water per second into Winyah Bay. The Pee Dee River was named for a
Native American people of the same name who inhabited the region.
