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PAGE 6A BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2016 Archibald Rutledge McCLELLANVILLE. S. C. — A brief sojourn into South Carolina’s low coun try offers much. If you should make a list, you begin with hospitality, charm and history. You’ll find that everywhere, A recent trip began with a stopover in Isle of Palms, the barrier island, connected to Charleston geographically like being joined at the hip. If you have been to Charles ton before, you likely are a kin dred spirit of those who profess that they can't get enough of the Holy City. My hand, as we speak, is raised in confirmation that I belong to that fraternity. Founded in 1670 as Charles Towne, Charleston has experi enced as many ups and downs as a cotton farmer in the boll weevil era. When you travel, it is nice to be a favored guest. Bobby Johnson, the former football coach at Vanderbilt, and his lovely wife, Catherine, were our hosts at the appropriately named, “Bobcat Inn” on our excursion to the low country. Bobby’s skill on the Green Egg and Catherine’s touch in the kitch en resulted in a meal worthy of several stars. Good wine and dining alfresco, while monitoring cruise ships and tankers ply their way out to sea in slow motion, raised the spirits. Sagging palms, olean der. wax myrtle and sea oats, thrive with a glint of freshness as if they, the sea oats in particular, know that they can’t be disturbed without legal recourse. Then sundown segued into the silver showers from a full moon. Emotional fulfillment accompanied the humility of the setting. Such an ambient setting enveloped by an arousing and inspirational atmosphere made one wish he were keeping a diary. The scene remains affixed in the mind’s eye, however. The next day, there was a tour of Charleston by Bobby’s boat, “Gridiron- sides.” This was a new experience, seeing Charleston from the water, gliding by Ft. Sumter with flashes of regrettable history in the forefront of your thoughts. Bobby allowed Gridironsides to drift aimlessly at the Morris Island lighthouse. The sea was slapping ferociously about the rocks of its foundation, counter punch ing as if it meant to topple the imposing structure with sea gulls squawking loudly and incessantly as if they were competing for a prize, making no sense but to them- -like the stockbrokers on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. There was no agenda organized for our stay at the Bobcat Inn, but a side trip from Charleston to McClellanville, a commu nity of 525, allowed for a glimpse in the past when rice production was an import ant cash crop, made so on the backs of poor men. mostly black. At the Village Museum, the curator handed over a pam phlet that proclaimed McClellanville now is the “Seafood Capital of the World.” Bet that comes as a surprise to countless seaport villages in New England. The Atlantic is more than arms length, but not much so, from the village which is best described by South Carolina’s poet lau reate, Archibald Rutledge, who grew up in these parts and is about as highly regarded as the Revolutionary War General, Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion. His words about McClellanville have endeared him to local resi dents. “The village faces n the wide Green-waving marsh that fronts the sea There in the coastline’s curv ing side.” It nestles white and tenderly. We have come here to see the Hampton Plantation State Historic Site, mainly because a friend, Coleman Hood, gave me a book, “Home by the River,” a story of life on a plantation where Archibald Rutledge grew up, resettling on the prop erty late in life where he made do, hunted and fished to his heart’s content and wrote about it. His writings are not only popular among natives of the Palmetto State, but at large. His book, “Life’s Extras,” has such demand that it causes perpetual reprint ing. Only 44 pages long, it has vignettes that bring about the greatest aftertaste when you put it down. When he was a young man, fresh out of college. Rutledge settled in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, teaching at a preparatory school for boys. He discovered three Confederate graves in the local cemetery. Rutledge wrote about the Confederates for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which elicited a response from Hallie Quain- tance, the widow of one of the soldiers, who wanted to come visit the grave of her husband who had left her soon after they were married, never to return. She was apprehensive, wondering if she would be welcome. The town, Union to the hilt, turned out en masse to welcome her. Union Army veterans, flower girls, all citizens of the town-and, of course, a band. Widow Quaintance was the guest of honor and a musical tribute ensued following her laying of a wreath on her late husband’s grave, Archibald Rutledge’s title for that chapter in “Life’s Extras” was “When the Yankee Band Played Dixie.” Loran Smith is a columnist for the Barrow News-Journal. He is host of the University of Georgia football radio pre game show. loran smith Letter to the Editor Expects better from Trump and this paper’s editor Dear Editor: You aren’t the only one who watched the campaign from the beginning. You stated Trump won’t be the worst president in history. Is the second or third worst up to your standards? The clown spoke about the size of his penis. He mocked a goldstar family. How many of his companies went bankrupt? Do you know? I sure don’t want him running are economy. I could go on and on. Chris, you should be ashamed and embarrassed, for this none thought out article. Chris, I suppose you think of yourself as a reporter, well O.K, but try being hon est. You will be respected for it. Donald Trump is an embarrassment to the Republican Party and you know it. I’m no Hillary Clinton fan either. Maybe Green Party. I am hoping for better from you. I could go on and on. Maybe just maybe your readers have higher standards. Sincerely, Terrence Dombrowski Winder Statham Library to host events The Statham Public Library has the following programs and events planned for the upcoming months. •Ready to Read Pre-K Story Time every Monday at 10:30 a.m. •Thursday, Sept. 1, at 11 a.m.: Homeschool Parents Organizational Meeting Friday, Sept. 9, and Fri., Sept. 23, at 1 p.m.: Knitting Club. Beginners welcome. •Saturday, Sept 17, book sale in front of library beginning at 10 a.m. during the Statham Sunflower Festival. All monies raised will be used to purchase a new rug for the children’s area of the library. •Thursday, Sept. 22, at 5:30 p.m.: Adult Beginning Computer Skills Class. Call 770-725-4785 for reservations as space is limited. •Saturday, Sept. 24, and Saturday, Oct. 1, at 11:00 a.m.: Free writing class offered by Bilbo Books of Athens. Classes will last about an hour. “If you have always want ed to write a book but didn’t know how to start, this is the class for you,” said Suzy Dukes. “The Friends of the Statham Public Library needs you.” said Dukes. “There are officer positions available, of if you would just like to help our library call 770-725- 4785 or email Dukes at sdukes@prlib.org.” An organizational meeting of the Statham Home School Community is set for 11 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 1, at the library. Skinner family reunion set Sept. 11 A family reunion for the descendants of W.N. Sr. and Lena Doster Skinner will be held at noon on Sunday, Sept. 11, at the Lions Club in Winder. Solutions to abortion I am going to follow up with my column from last week and offer the solutions from a libertarian perspective. While I do believe that the termina tion of any human life (other than self-defense) is murder, I do not think that prohibition of abortion is going to stop abortions any more than prohibiting drugs has stopped drug use. Unfortunately, we do not live in a utopian society. Because man is fallible, it is impossible to cre ate a man-made utopia, and any attempt to do so will turn into a dystopic society that is worthy of a George Orwell novel. I will say that I am pro-life because I am pro-choice. By this I mean that I will not declare that it is “my body,” and therefore my choice to choose to abort, but rather that it is the body of another human being that would be butchered, and the life of this human being that would be terminated, and this is not extending the right to make choic es to this person if I am the sole person to decide whether or not he or she lives or dies. Because prohibition does not work, attempting to ban abortion in this nation at this point would result in a higher demand, creating a black market that would then lead to more crime. We see this with the War on Drugs, and upon studying history, we see the exact same thing happened with the pro hibition of alcohol in the 1920s. For this reason, we need to focus on the heart of our culture before trying to take mea sures to demand the hand of government to intervene. One thing that we need to remember is that women are not victims in every abortion case. The majority of the time, women become pregnant as a result of the choices they make. Rape consists of only about 1 % of all abortion procedures in the nation, which hardly justifies the victimization of women and their “rights” to terminate another human life. For women who are raped, they should immediately seek help and take advan tage of emergency contraceptives avail able. I would support an organization that would provide such things for these women, doing whatever necessary to make them feel safe so that they would seek help. We also need to understand that our life choices make us volunteers, not victims. I know this isn’t something that a lot of you want to hear (or read, in this case), but the truth is my way of extending love to you and the future of this nation. There are some cases in which a wom an’s health may be at risk if she moves forward with a pregnancy, which is one Random Rants in Rhyme of the rare times abortion may be justifi able. Self-preservation is a human right. I shall again reiterate the point I made in my last article, which is that we must, as a society, once again value life and true human rights— those of life, liberty and the pursuit of property. (Note that “Pursuit of Happiness” is men tioned in the Declaration of Independence, but not the Con stitution itself, which is why I chose this change in terms.) These rights are inherent, given to us by our Creator, not by government. Government has no authority to give or take rights, or even to redefine rights, and the only reason it exerts such power over us is because we allow it to. Government’s sole purpose upon the founding of this nation was to preserve the rights and liberties of the people, and now we are trying to redefine what a “person” is so that we can exclude them from these rights. Let’s not forget this is the exact thing that was done to justify slavery. The biggest solution is education of what abortion really is, what real ly happens during the procedure, and the statistics of who is affected most by abortions: African-American babies and other minorities. Abortion has been referred to as a “Black Genocide,” which is not only supported statistically as almost 16 million of African-Americans have been aborted since 1973 after the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. While this group only makes up about 13% of the population, they represent about 36% of abortions performed each year. This is highly disproportionate. This is not surprising if we under stand the motives of Planned Parenthood founder, Margaret Sanger, who believed that “birth control must ultimately lead toward a cleaner race,” (Birth Control Review, p. 108, 1932) and that “[the] most successful educational approach to the Negro is through the religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebel lious members.” (Women, Morality, and Birth Control, p. 12, 1922) Once we have an understanding— both political and historical—of what it truly means to deprive the right to life from another person, we will be able to understand how demeaning it is to our race to deny the chance at life to our own kind. Jessica Swords is a local columnist. She can be reached at jlswordsl998@ aol.com. Can Sharia Law Be Far Behind? A little chink here - a little chunk there - just enough to raise a few eyebrows - have brought our country into despair, the terrible place where we stand now. dr. cb skelton At first, we were a Christian nation. Oh, not everyone exalted Christ’s name, but His principles formed our Constitution and our laws and our courts upheld the same. Most “institutions of higher learning” were chartered by Christians with a common faith. But many of them are presently spurning and mocking the idea of salvation by grace. Professors with humanistic knowledge suggest that Christians “have rocks in their heads,” teaching evolution as fact to our kids in college. One even reasoned that God is dead. The so-called “Blue Laws” affected sales and nonessential work on the Sabbath day. But they have vanished - with Christians as well - and respect for the Sabbath has fallen away. The ten Commandments may not be displayed in any government building or function. If the Bible were read or somebody prayed, how long would it take to get an injunction? Many more things have happened that show that we. as a nation, have turned our backs on God. He has taken notice and wants us to know that a price will be paid for the path we trod. His hand of great blessing has been removed, and hatred and fear are on every hand. To regain His blessing, then we are behooved to have great revival sweep through the land. The latest example of our defection came with Obama’s hand-picked selection of Carolyn Walker, a Muslim woman as judge in a municipal court in Brooklyn. She made her oath on the holy Koran - a thing that blows most American minds. Since the Koran only sanctions the Sharia plan, can Sharia Law be far behind? © 2016,cbs Dr. CB Skelton is a Winder resident and retired physician.