Planets:

What now, with Pluto gone?

September 11, 2006

By BOBBY HARRELL
Index-Journal staff writer

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas has been shortened to My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos, according to Yvonne Simmonds’ ninth-grade science class at Emerald High School.
The class isn’t getting lunch from someone’s mother as much as it is using a new mnemonic device to remember the order of the planets now that Pluto is no longer considered a classical planet.
The International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of its classical planet status Aug. 24 and renamed it a dwarf planet.
New IAU rules stated that the planet’s small size compared with the rest of the solar system and its distance and irregular orbit around the sun disqualified it from planetary ranks.
The original order of the plants in our solar system included Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
The Emerald High class’ new eight-word mnemonic device kicks Pluto out of the gang of planets.
Emerald High doesn’t currently teach an earth science course, a class that covers the solar system, but the topic has come up across Greenwood School District 50, said Chuck Sexton, assistant principal at Emerald and former science consultant to the district.
Some students have come up to Sexton and told them that they are sad about Pluto not technically being a planet anymore.
Simmonds was teaching her physical science class about how the orbits of planets are caused by gravity when the students started talking about Pluto.
She said she didn’t know about Pluto’s change in status until her students brought it up to her.
Simmonds didn’t completely believe her students until she went home and researched Pluto’s demotion.
The next day, the class decided to create a new mnemonic device to remember the planets: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos.
Simmonds said the change in the planets has helped pique her students’ interest in science.
“It’s relevant to their lives,” she said. “It’s happening right now.”
The change in the planets hasn’t affected John Kinard’s physics class at Greenwood High School.
The science chairman for the school said via e-mail that he thinks the publicity over Pluto is overrated.
Emmy Evans, a science teacher for the third, fourth and fifth grades at Springfield Elementary School, has a bulletin board that features the nine, now eight, planets.
Evans cut two lines out of red construction paper and crossed them over Pluto as a way for her students to remember the planet’s downgraded status.
She said she crossed out Pluto to make a point and give the students something to talk about.
Evans also read The Index-Journal’s article on Pluto’s new position to her third-grade class.
The class seemed interested about Pluto, but not as concerned as many of the teachers were after seeing the bulletin board.
“The adults are definitely more upset about it than the children,” Evans said.
Teachers are wondering why the change had to happen now and what publishers of science textbooks are going to do about Pluto.
Evans said that change is a part of the history of science. She told her students that new discoveries are constantly being made in all fields of science.
But the students weren’t as worried about the loss of a planet from the solar system as they were about remembering the order of the planets.
“The big thing with them is that they would have to learn a new song to remember the planets,” Evans said.
Maybe they could borrow “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos” from Simmonds’ class.

Mark Arrington

NINETY SIX — Christopher Mark Arrington, 46, resident of 102 Pinehaven Drive, husband of Melisa “Missy” Bowie Arrington, died September 9, 2006, at Hospice House of Greenwood.
Born January 26, 1960 in Columbus, Georgia, he was a son of Evelyn Ford Arrington and the late Gilbert E. Arrington. He was a graduate of Boiling Springs High School and attended Rutledge College in Spartanburg. Mark was a US Army veteran and was formerly employed with C. Thompson Automotive in Greenwood.
He was a member of the First Baptist Church of Ninety Six and the Men’s Fraternity of the church.
Surviving in addition to his wife of the home and his mother of Spartanburg are two sons, Christopher Chandler Arrington and Curtis Cameron Coffey, both of the home; two brothers, Tommy E. Arrington of Newberry and James C. Arrington of Waterloo; a sister, Linda A. Pearson of Spartanburg.
Funeral services will be conducted at 3:00 p.m. Tuesday at the First Baptist Church of Ninety Six with Rev. Chuck Sprouse officiating.
Entombment will be in Oakbrook Memorial Park Mausoleum in Greenwood.
Pallbearers will be Marty Bowie, Craig Tollison, Joe Chisholm, Michael Chisholm, Tracey Terrell, Matt Arrington, Brandon Arrington, and Skip Mathis.
Honorary escort will be members of the Men’s Fraternity of First Baptist Church of Ninety Six.
The body is at Blyth Funeral Home in Greenwood and will be placed in the church at 1:00 p.m. Tuesday.
The family will be at the home on Pinehaven Drive and will receive friends at the church from 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church of Ninety Six, 205 N. Church Street, Ninety Six, SC 29666, or to Hospice Care of the Piedmont, 408 West Alexander Ave., Greenwood, SC 29646.
For additional information and online condolences please visit www.blythfuneralhome.com.
Blyth Funeral Home & Cremation Service is assisting the Arrington family.

Searles Cartledge

PLUM BRANCH — Deacon Searles Cartledge, 77, of 893 Harmony Road, husband of Bertha Cunningham Cartledge, died Friday, Sept. 8, 2006, at Self Regional Medical Center in Greenwood.
The family is at the home.
Services will be announced by Bostick-Tompkins Funeral Home, Columbia.

James Keith Kennedy

ABBEVILLE — James Keith Kennedy, 45, of Alice Drive, husband of Elaine Fuller Kennedy, died Saturday, Sept. 9, 2006, at his home.
Services will be announced by Abbeville & White Mortuary Inc.

Carmen Munoz-Caro

GREENWOOD — Carmen Munoz-Caro, 84, widow of Sandalio Caro-Muniz, died Sunday, September 10, 2006, at Self Regional Medical Center.
Born in Rincon, Puerto Rico, she was the daughter of the late Raymon and Juanita Munoz-Caro. She was a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.
Surviving is her daughter, Carmen Z. Smith, of Greenwood; three grandchildren, Betty Colon, Lisa Buchanan, and Juan Maldonado and their spouses; and eight great grandchildren.
A prayer service will be held on Monday at Harley Funeral Home Chapel with the Father Timothy Tebalt officiating. Burial will take place in Puerto Rico.
The family will receive friends at 7 p.m. on Monday at the funeral home from 5:00 until 7:00 PM. Memorials may be made to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 915 Mathis Road, Greenwood SC 29649.
Services and burial will take place at a later date in Rincon, Puerto Rico.
Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.harleyfuneralhome.com

Take care of local needs before turning to global

September 11, 2006

It shouldn’t surprise anyone, especially educators, students and their families that in a national report on higher education South Carolina got an “F” on preparing students for college, enrolling them in education beyond high school and making it affordable for them to go to college.
In the report, the president of the National Center for Public Policy and High Education, says if South Carolina doesn’t correct those problems, it won’t be able to compete in a global economy.
The global economy is important, to be sure, since much of tomorrow’s industry and business will depend on new and evolving technology that will require more specialized and comprehensive education.

IF THE STATE IS TO GROW while attracting new companies with more jobs, its people have to be prepared to fill them.
It is, no doubt, true that we have to correct some problems to better place us in position to compete in a global economy. However, there are facets of the economy of the Palmetto State that should get more attention before concentrating on one area at, perhaps, the expense of another.
It’s a fact that funding in recent years hasn’t been at a level that would hold down costs for students at state universities, and the technical colleges would be included in that. There has been concern that higher costs for potential students could get to where they’d price some students out of college.

LOTTERY REVENUE HAS HELPED, but apparently it hasn’t been the complete answer.
There is a good example of educational needs that could benefit the local and state economy. Technical colleges have an opportunity to prepare people for the health care field ..... and there is a growing need for them. Give the tech schools the wherewithal to fill the needs. There are other needs as well not necessarily associated with the global economy.
Maybe it’s time to look at home needs first. Fill them and go from there.