‘Lest We Forget’

Doctor encourages congregation not to forget past

February 12, 2007

By MIKE ROSIER
Index-Journal staff writer

The cover of Sunday’s bulletin at the Little Zion AME Church featured the image and a short bio of noted black inventor Elijah McCoy.
For the church’s African-American Culture Day celebration, McCoy’s presence on the cover was most appropriate. His lubricating invention for farming equipment, after all, had led to the eventual coining of the phrase “The Real McCoy” – for products that are the “real thing” and of high quality.
McCoy also supplied U.S. patents for the ironing board and the lawn sprinkler, among his many other inventions.
His contributions to black culture and greater society as a whole have been well documented. But Dr. Green B. Neal, a Columbia-area cardiologist and internal medicine specialist and the evening’s featured speaker, did not ask the congregation for contributions approaching McCoy’s level, or that of the lofty achievements of civil rights hero Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
As February is celebrated across the country as “Black History Month,” Neal asked the audience for things far more subtle —and more difficult — for the average person to give up. He asked for their hearts, and their minds — things that every person has the ability to give every day.
“We must truly love our neighbors as ourselves,” Neal said. “The same selfishness that we see today and we lament in so many of our politicians, we see in our own people. Too many times we allow others to vote for us and think for us.”
For Neal, the denying of one’s self is a beginning.
“Things have been too good to us,” he said. “Too often we don’t want to risk those things that we want for ourselves. We must learn that self is at the heart of all sin. We need to learn to give up what self wants as a people.”
Neal also brought some numbers with him to the church.
He talked about previously free medications once donated by pharmaceutical companies that have all but dried up, and how much even those under Medicare coverage must now contribute for adequate coverage in 21st-century America.
“This is a day of trouble for our people,” Neal said. “We need to be mindful of these things, lest we forget.”
But there is something else.
There is something Neal finds more troubling than the loss of additional health benefits – something that hits far closer to home, and far more often: the loss of potential.
“What I find as more shocking and troubling is when speaking of our contributions to the greater good, that what ought to be does not come to be,” he said.
“Perhaps none of us will ever lead a great movement as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did,” Neal added. “Our obligation is to add to the sum total of our people. Together we will stand and divided we will fall – lest we forget.”
Neal’s message rang true for members and visitors.
“His message gave us an insight into what’s going on out there,” Harry Rice Jr. said. “A lot of people do not understand what’s going on (with healthcare).”
Abbeville City Councilman Gus Wilson was also on hand.
“(Dr. Neal) gave us a great message tonight,” Wilson said. “He talked with us tonight about the things that we need to do when it comes to preparing for better health education.”
Dr. Vinetta Goodwin Witt is a professor of sociology and the faculty adviser at Newberry College for the Metoka Galeda Gospel Choir, which served as one of the evening’s several standout musical entertainers alongside the church’s own Children of Zion Choir.
“He provided us with a real heart-to-heart message tonight,” she said. “He showed that we need to place more importance upon our own awareness during Black History Month. It was an awesome, touching message.”

Christian classical academy to open in fall

February 12, 2007

By BOBBY HARRELL
Index-Journal staff writer

Joseph Johnson thinks public and private schools aren’t delivering the education children deserve, so he’s decided to do something about it.
He’s helping open a new school in Greenwood in the fall that will offer classical education from a Christian standpoint.
Heritage Classical Academy will give Christian families in the area a chance to educate their children in a more traditional way, said Johnson, school provost.
The school sprang from several Greenwood families with experience in public and private education who became disillusioned about both. South Carolina’s test scores highlight the growing need for a better alternative, Johnson said.
“There’s something wrong with the educational system,” he said.
Classical education was prominent in the United States until the late 1800s.
Classical Conversations, a home-school organization that meets at Northside Baptist Church, provided the inspiration to begin the school.
Johnson, who taught at Greenwood Christian School for 10 years, said Classical education focuses on rigorous and demanding study of the Trivium, including schools of grammar, dialectic and rhetoric.
The grammar stage features memorization, the dialectic stage logical arguments and the rhetoric stage speaking and writing persuasively, in addition to regular subjects like history and math.
Johnson said classical education is superior because it teaches students more than one subject at a time, such as world literature and world history, so they understand it better. For example, students learn about literature chronologically, thereby learning history at the same time.
Part of Heritage’s education includes learning Latin and Greek from the first grade of the school until the ninth grade, Johnson said.
The school will offer classes from the first to 12th grades, said Melissa Mack, who’s helping with the school opening.
Johnson said learning Latin early in life helps students learn English better, as the two are closely related.
He said his 6-year-old daughter Abigail’s level of understanding is greater because of classical education.
Students also will read the “great books” from Western civilization.
Heritage currently doesn’t have a home, but Johnson said one should be found by the fall. The academy could cost about $4,500 to $5,000 per year, comparative to other classical academies in Anderson and Greenville.
Heritage has been talking with the Greenwood YMCA about using its facilities for physical education, Mack said. Johnson’s also talking with several teachers interested in coming to teach at the classical school, including one from as far away as Montana.

Obituaries

Mary Frazier

HODGES — Mary Frazier, 71, of 1202 Shriner Road, died Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007, at Hospice of Greenwood.
The family is at the home.
Services will be announced by Robinson-Walker Funeral Service, Ware Shoals.

Jamie Mars

BRADLEY — Jamie David Mars, 36, of 623 Rushville Road, died Saturday, Feb. 10, 2007, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.
Born in Greenwood, he was a son of Thomas Clark and the late Donna Marie Mars Clark. Mr. Mars was a bell ringer for the Salvation Army and a member of First Damascus Baptist Church.
Surviving in addition to his father of the home are two sisters, Barbara Joy Nation of Bradley and Kayla Ruth Rodgers of Hodges; a brother, Marion Thomas Clark of Ware Shoals; six nieces; eleven nephews.
Memorial services will be held 2 p.m. Wednesday at First Damascus Baptist Church with the Reverend Kevin Carter officiating.
The family is at the home.
Harley Funeral Home & Crematory are in charge of arrangements.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.harleyfuneralhome.com.

Becoming ‘The Big Two’

Transfers Good, Ponds enjoying role as Lady Bearcats’ leaders

February 12, 2007

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports editor

The plan at the beginning of the season was for “The Big Three” to come in and erase the memory of the rough year the Lander University women had in 2005-06.
The plan worked to perfection early on, as transfers LaShonda Chiles, Tiara Good and Stephanie Ponds had the Lady Bearcats, who were 5-23 last season, on a 2-0 start in the 2006-07 campaign.
But something happened, not long after, to throw a hitch in their dream season. Chiles, the No. 2 all-time leading scorer in Division II women’s basketball (she’s 567 points shy of breaking the record), went down with a knee injury in the third game of the season. But Ponds, who like Chiles transferred from Anderson University, and Good, who came over from Wake Forest, have more than picked up the slack in leading the Lady Bearcats back in the hunt for a Peach Belt Conference crown.
“What Stephanie and T-Good have done is gone from being two of ‘The Big Three’ to ‘The Two,’” said Lander coach Kevin Pederson, who coached Chiles and Ponds while at Anderson.
“With three people, one can have an off night. But we need T-Good and Steph to have a good game every night, and that’s been the biggest difference. We’ve been fortunate that those two have brought that level of play every game.”
It’s doubtful that Chiles will return for this season, however she has to be granted a medical redshirt by the NCAA to retain this year of eligibility.
After averaging 16 points in the first two games, Good has become the Lady Bearcats’ go-to person, leading the team in scoring in 14 of the 21 games. The 5-foot-10 junior from Jonesville now leads the PBC in scoring with a 21.3 average. Good also leads the conference in average minutes played (37.7) and assists (6.4 per game), while being second in 3-pointers made (63).
Ponds, a 6-1 junior from Bethune, isn’t far behind her teammate, averaging 17.2 points (third in conference), 8.8 rebounds (fourth in conference) and has 61 block shots (first in PBC) and is making 52 percent of her field goals (second in PBC).
“I knew I’d have to step my game up a lot more, but I also knew the other girls were going to have to do the same,” said Ponds, who with Good combined for 55 of the Lady Bearcats’ 75 points in a win over USC Upstate Wednesday night.
Despite the progress “The Two” have made, the adjustment to becoming the team’s leaders didn’t happen overnight.
“I felt bad because I knew what kind of player LaShonda was coming in,” Good said. “I knew that two-man game her and Stephanie had going at Anderson. When she went down, I didn’t know how quickly I would adjust to things. I did feel like I needed to assert myself more than I did at the beginning of the season.”
While Ponds is the quite leader by example, Good, who took over at point guard for Chiles, is the more outspoken one. However, that vocal ability took some coaxing.
“It was more him (Pederson). He came to me and he told me ‘if LaShonda’s not able to come back, it’s on you,’” Good said. “I knew that but to have him tell me it was my team now and that I had to lead it with Stephanie and (senior) Bryony (Crouch) was big. I just took it and ran with it.”
But that wasn’t the only thing that needed some time. The on-court relationship between the two juniors had to grow as well. Chiles and Ponds already had a working relationship, as the two were teammates at Anderson.
But Good and Ponds hadn’t worked together. In fact, Ponds had been with the team for most of last season, getting to know other members of the Lady Bearcats. But Good was a recent arrival to the Lander campus.
“That was a big concern for me,” Pederson said. “Steph and Shonda played together before and we felt pretty good about that. But T-Good had come from a different path. While those two were dominating in Division II, Tiara was on the bench in Division I. Her thing was getting her experience on the court again. So, it took a while.”
One thing that has helped is that the two are roommates.
“I love T-Good to death,” Ponds said. “At first, it was hard because we were trying to get a feel for each other’s game. I know it takes time. But she’s non-stop. She’s always giving her best effort.”

Opinion

Thin skin or skin color? That’s a good question!

February 12, 2007

(Comedy) it is who proposes the correcting of pretentiousness, of inflation, of dullness, and of the vestiges of rawness and grossness yet to be found among us. She is the ultimate civilizer, the polisher” - George Meredith, English novelist/poet who supported the emancipation of women.

Comedy. Humor. It’s possible they can intermingle, but one thing is certain. They are indeed ingredients that put “civil” into civilization. There come times, though, when we could use a little more comedy/humor in our lives. From all indications, it seems, now is one of those times.
For one thing, too many of us fail to laugh at ourselves. That’s a characteristic influence within the human comedy in which we live that turns that comedy to tragedy.

THEY SAY COMEDY AND TRAGEDY are separated by a very thin line. Perhaps that’s why the minds of comedians/humorists are so “flexible” and innovative. Comedians, in fact, have turned in some of the best dramatic acting performances in films, for example. Red Buttons was presented a best supporting actor Oscar by the Academy of Motion Pictures for a dramatic role. Other comedians and comedic actors, too, have made their marks in more serious acting. Milton Berle, Red Skelton, Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg, Betty Hutton and others have been among the many, male and female.
Sometimes, comedians see things the rest of us don’t see. They see the human comedy and tragedy around us and they are able to condense world events, even complicated situations, into easily understandable and concise language.

CONSIDER ONE COMEDIAN: Dennis Miller. He recently put all the negatives on one facet of civil social intercourse into one sentence. On the subject of why races have continuing differences in getting along, Miller said it’s not always a matter of skin color, but skin thinness.
That’s as concise and comprehensive as it can get. While he was talking about race relations, of course, that “thin-skin” condition applies to other things these days. In politics, in education, in economic matters, on terrorism and on just about everything the human race does, “thin skin” is a definite definition.
When we cannot laugh at ourselves and agree to disagree in a civil way, tolerance will continue to turn quickly to intolerance ..... along with the consequences.