Society Hill Special Election Results

A special election was held yesterday, July 8th, to fill two seats on Society Hill's Town Council. Tommy Bradshaw was elected by 148 votes as was Cameron Michael with 87 votes.

Opponents included Robert Hancock (53) and Robbie Burns (33).

The special election was prompted as two seats on council became available when Valencia Brewington was named Mayor of Society Hill and Les Baker stepped down as Mayor Pro-Tem.

Society Hill Town Council members are as follows: Tommy Bradshaw, Charlotte Chapman Edwards, Richard Gainey, Denise Douglas, Cameron Michael and Deborah Harrell.

Livestock and Global Warming

This 2006 United Nations report discusses the impact of livestock on the global climate. Apparently it accounts for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions - nearly as much as the entire transit system.

Here's an interesting article about the topic.

Farmers could increase organic farming practices for better soil health and capture the methane from animal waste to turn it into useable fuel.

For everyone else, our part is simple: Eat less meat.

Presidential Election Politics

You may have noticed that a presidential election is coming up this year.
However, what you may not know is all the candidates. Sure, there's Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, but who else will be on the ballot in November?

Every year, countless voters are surprised to see a lengthy list of candidates when they go to cast their ballots. So-called third party candidates are almost completely ignored by the main-stream-media (MSM) unless the point is to get a comment about the GOP or Democrat running.

America is about freedom and choice. The people decide who to elect, and we should not stand for subpar coverage of our election.

In South Carolina, the deadline to get names on the ballot is July 15, so until then here are the "other" candidates running for president that you may see in the voting booth.

Chuck Baldwin, Constitution Party Web site
Bob Barr, Libertarian Party Web site
Cynthia McKinney Green Party Web site
Ralph Nader, Independent Web site

Exercise all your rights this election.
Learn about and consider all the candidates running for office.

Miss Darlington Teen wins Wednesday preliminary talent award at Miss South Carolina Teen

Miss Darlington Teen Anna Mills Polatty captured Wednesday's preliminary talent award by singing an Italian Aria. Polatty, 16, was overcome with joy as her name was called out at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium. Winning the talent award strengthens Polatty's chances of being named as a top-10 finalist on Saturday July 5. The winner of the Miss South Carolina Teen competition will advance to the Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant which will be held in Orlando, Fl. in August. No Darlington title holder has ever won Miss South Carolina Teen. Polatty is the first ever Miss Darlington Teen. Miss Darlington Brittany Robinson and Miss Society Hill Merideth Watford both had strong showings in their talent preliminaries on Wednesday night. Miss Lexington Anna Truluck Perry, a graduate of Trinity Collegiate School, won Wednesday's talent competition with a classical piano piece. Perry also captured Tuesday's nights swimsuit award. 51 Miss South Carolina contestants will also be narrowed down to the top-10 on Saturday night.

In Europe

Hey everyone,
I am in Europe finally and waiting at the dock to leave from London on a ferry for France! I am so excited and can't wait to shop while I am there! Hope to blog soon!

Lesa Hudson in Concert on the 4th

Lesa Hudson Headlines Festival
Concert on July 4!
Hartsville Family Fireworks Festival

Lesa Hudson & The Band will headline the entertainment at the Hartsville Family Fireworks Festival on Friday July 4, from 6 p.m.-9:30 p.m. at Emmanuel Baptist Church. The festival, sponsored by Emmanuel Baptist Church, the city of Hartsville and the Greater Hartsville Chamber of Commerce, has been the area's premiere Independence Day celebration for over four years.

Lesa will deliver a variety of musical styles to the festival including Country, a little Classic Rock, some Oldies and of course her trademark original Christian Country hits. Members of the band include: Debbie Anderson (acoustic guitar/vocals), Matt Moseley (lead guitar/vocals), Lee Richardson (drums), Jamie Grimsley (bass guitar/vocals), Tricia Quarles (vocals), and Sid Tyner (saxophone).

Fun and festivities will be available for families and visitors of all ages including a pie-eating contest, a hot dog eating contest, pony rides, inflatable games and a car show.

Thousands of people from all over the region enjoy this festival! We hope you'll be among the crowd this year!

Hartsville Family Fireworks Festival
Friday - July 4, 2008
6pm-9:30pm

On the campus of Emmanuel Baptist Church
Located at US 15 and US 15 Bypass

ATM Breach

Start off the day with something scary here. The four-digit Personal Identification Number or PIN you type into an ATM isn't as safe as you think. Hackers "broke into the ATM network through a server at a third-party processor, which means they probably didn't have to touch the ATMs at all to pull off the heist."

They didn't even touch the ATM! So much for the head-bob, the I-can't-believe-you're-watching-me stare, the body-block or the hand-guard people use when punching in those precious PINs at ATMs and grocery stores everywhere.

In previous PIN thefts, thieves generally took steps that might draw notice — sending "phishing" e-mails, for example, or installing false-front keypads or even tiny cameras on ATMs.

So we still have to watch for all those things, but now we can worry that a hacker is stealing our closely-guarded PINs while we sleep.

Of course one of the third-party processor company spokespersons is "confident in the integrity and security of our system."

Industry standards that call for protecting PINs with strong encryption — which means encoding them to cloak them to outsiders

And surprise, surprise, industry alone isn't doing its job.

Will states or Congress act? Should they? Is there something we can do in the meantime besides bite our nails?

If you have any ideas, please post them by hitting Comments below and to the right.