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Buck Sawyer starts every class with a prayer thanking God for keeping his family safe. He also prays he'll know when to draw his gun. The soft-spoken, retired law enforcement officer teaches a concealed-weapons permit class for legal residents over the age of 21 who don't reside in a mental institution, have a criminal history or harbor a notion to overthrow the government. These days, a lot of law-abiding folks who never had much interest in gun ownership are rethinking self-defense. Sawyer's class was an eclectic mix of talents from first-time shooters -- well into their AARP years - to...

I have two 5 month old kittens looking for a home. These two sisters were brought to my backyard by their mother a couple of months ago. They are both negative for feline AIDS and luekemia. They have been spayed, and had all shots. They are strictly indoor cats now and looking for a quiet home. They are both shorthairs. Reason for giving them up, I have six cats already and cannot give all cats enough attention.

Polidata did a projection based on population trends over the past decade and are predicting that both North Carolina and South Carolina will gain a Congressional seat after the 2010 Census and with that an extra electoral vote in the Presidential elections. This would bring North Carolina up to 14 seats in Congress and 16 electoral votes and South Carolina up to 7 seats in Congress and 9 electoral votes. The bigger question is which party will benefit from this change. In South Carolina the seventh Congressional seat will almost certainly go to the Republicans. They dominate the state and...

CAYCE -- On a recent Thursday evening, the South Carolina Democrat sharing the top of state ballots with Barack Obama strode through a restaurant parking lot where the bumper stickers featured the presidential candidacies of Ron Paul, Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin. Inside the family eatery just outside Columbia, a mix of independents, Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Constitution Party members waited. A smattering of members of Southern heritage groups were in attendance. Copies of "Free the South: A Blueprint for Peaceful and Legal Secession," rested on a couple of tables. In a year when South Carolina voter registration shot up...

PICKENS — Illegal immigrants arrested in Pickens County are walking back into the shadows after serving their time or paying their fines, according to officials. More than half of arrested illegal immigrants are released on the orders of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said Capt. Phil Sargent, jail administrator for Pickens County. The mission of ICE is “to more effectively enforce our immigration and customs laws,” but most of the agency’s Web site is devoted to anti-terrorist activities. Numerous phone calls by the Independent-Mail to various ICE offices, including one in Puerto Rico, led to dead ends in trying...

Democrat Bob Conley may use cardboard cutouts of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham if he won't commit to debates. Conley's campaign manager Lee Griggs said Monday the campaign may resort to cutouts if the first term Republican won't show up for public discussions.

Federal agents have arrested five additional House of Raeford Farms employees and continue to search for others as part of their investigation into alleged immigration violations at the company's Greenville poultry plant. On Wednesday, Victor Cruz-Soto, Daniel Badillo-Baca, and Nain Zarate-Camarero were indicted on charges of using counterfeit IDs to gain employment, identify theft, and making a false statement to a federal agency, according to federal records. The three men were arrested in July. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Federico Torres-Perez and Juan Francisco Martinez-Olivares last month on similar charges. The plant's human resource manager, Elaine Crump, was...

WELLFORD — The theft of a black bear cub from Hollywild Animal Park has led to the jailing of a Blacksburg man.

A clerk at a local convenience store on North Kings Highway shot at a man who tried to rob the store last night, according to Myrtle Beach police officials. The incident happened around 6 p.m. Tuesday when a man walked into the store and demanded money. The clerk pulled out a handgun from under the counter, shot at the man, and missed, said Capt. David Knipes, Myrtle Beach Police's public information officer. The bullet hit a wall, Knipes said. He said the man fled out the door. The case is under investigation.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The flap over an ad promoting South Carolina as “So Gay� will cost the state tourism dollars, according to an industry expert. Gay and lesbian travelers will likely be turned off by the political posturing surrounding the ads, which were pulled by the state tourism agency and led one employee to resign. “We experience discrimination every day, so we certainly don't want to when we travel,� said Wesley Combs of the Washington-based communication firm Witeck-Combs, which specializes in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender travel. Combs noted that national media attention about the ad, including jokes on Conan...

South Carolina’s top tourism agency has canceled an overseas advertising campaign targeting gay tourists. The campaign, tied to gay pride week celebrations in London, included ads that proclaimed “South Carolina is so gay.” A handful of other U.S. destinations joined the campaign, including Atlanta, Boston and New Orleans. After learning last week the state had agreed to spend tax money on the campaign — and spurred by a post on The Palmetto Scoop blog — the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism said Thursday it would not pay the tour operator. Parks, Recreation and Tourism director Chad Prosser said an...

In an occasional series, The Post and Courier has been exploring the potential consequences of illegal immigration on people in business, law enforcement, health and education. Ana-Cecilia de Marquez, 43, rubs her belly when she talks. The illegal immigrant has bothersome and sometimes painful symptoms that require her to stay close to her Goose Creek mobile home. "It's ... like I'm going to deliver a baby," de Marquez said. "It feels like a wound inside." De Marquez, who moved from El Salvador to the United States three years ago, is uninsured. She said she has been bounced around the health...

A pair of former Ware Shoals High School students have filed lawsuits against Ware Shoals School District 51 and its board of trustees in relation to the district’s employment of ex-cheerleading coach and guidance clerk Jill Moore. The lawsuits were filed on behalf of the two WSHS graduates -- one a former cheerleader, the other a former Hornets’ football player -- by Charleston attorney Lionel Lofton. “This is a civil lawsuit being brought by two former Ware Shoals High School students,” Lofton said Wednesday. Each lawsuit levies four causes of action against the district and its board, including gross negligence,...

LITTLE MOUNTAIN, SC (WIS) - A Little Mountain family escaped a house fire. The cause of the fire was an unlikely one, it's one you might find in your back yard. While hard to believe, it's true -- fire ants ended up starting the blaze. Homeowner James Southerland explained that "the fire ants had gotten into the pressure switch on the water pump and shorted it out." Southerland owns what's left of the home. His daughter, Erika, her husband and their daughter, Sonya, live there. James does electrical work and has seen fire ants getting into electrical boxes and A/C...

Officials at the Isle of Palms ordered everyone out of the water because of a dangerous animal. But it wasn't a shark this time. Instead, wildlife officials ended up trapping a two-metre-long American crocodile in the surf ... the crocodile likely escaped or was released by someone who illegally brought it from its normal habitat in southern Florida. But Bennett says it is possible the crocodile could have swum up the coast.

Charleston, SC (AHN) - A 10-year-old South Carolina boy died of "drowning" several hours after he was on dry ground, a coroner's report has found. Johnny Jackson died of "dry drowning," a form of asphyxiation that happens when a small amount of water gets into the lungs and damages tissue, causing the lungs to swell and fill up with water. The boy's mother, Cassandra Jackson, said Johnny went swimming in a local pool at Goose Greek on Sunday. Though the child didn't show any signs of respiratory distress, he "soiled himself," NBC News reported. He walked home with his mother...

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford will sign the immigration reform bill Wednesday afternoon. Sanford's spokesman says the signing will take place at 4:30pm in his office at the Statehouse. "I'd give real credit to the House for standing strong on the issue of an e-verify requirement, and for leading in that regard -- because we believe that is what will ultimately make this bill effective and enforceable," said Sanford in a statement on May 28. "Working together, we've put forth a bill that will make a difference when it comes to illegal immigration in South Carolina." The bill was given...

President Bush departed the White House late this afternoon to travel to Greenville, South Carolina where he will deliver the commencement address at Furman University. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates attended the second day of the Shangri-la Dialogue Security Summit in Singapore. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

Yes, this is a vanity...but an important one. Calling all Freepers to support Buddy Witherspoon for US Senate. He's going up against Lindsey Grahamnesty on June 10th. We've got an opportunity to throw this guy out of office for good. Remember Graham spoke before La Raza and stated: "We're going to tell the bigots to shut up!" watch the video here: Witherspoon needs donations. I don't even live in South Carolina but have donated to his campaign. Let's give Grahamnesty the boot.

Welcome! to the Made in South Carolina website, an initiative of the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance. Here you can easily identify products made by South Carolina companies and learn of the significant impact manufacturing plays in our daily lives. Some of the finest products used around the world are manufactured right here in our backyard. South Carolina, home of hundreds of manufacturing companies, supplies the world with a diverse assortment of goods and products that enhance our quality of life and provides high paying technical jobs to thousands of South Carolinians.

State senators have passed a bill that would impose fines up to $10,000 for employers who knowingly hire an illegal immigrant. Senators gave the bill a key second reading Wednesday evening with an agreement to give it final approval Thursday. It will then move back to the House.Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell calls the bill the toughest against illegal immigration in the country.Employers who fail to have proper paperwork on hand could face a fine of up to $100 for each illegal worker.Employers knowingly breaking the law would face up to a $2,500 fine for each illegal immigrant on...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A high school senior collected enough supplies to carry out a bomb attack on his school and detailed the plot in a hate-filled diary that included maps of the building and admiring notations about the Columbine killers, authorities said Sunday. Ryan Schallenberger, 18, was arrested Saturday after his parents called police when 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate was delivered to their home in Chesterfield and they discovered the journal, said the town's police chief, Randall Lear. The teen planned to make several bombs and had all the supplies needed to kill dozens at Chesterfield High School,...

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A bill now awaiting the South Carolina governor's signature would require abortion providers to ask women if they want to see ultrasound images of their fetuses before going ahead with the procedure. A legislative compromise formally announced Thursday says women must wait at least an hour after seeing the ultrasound to have an abortion. State Sen. Mike Fair says he hopes women will use the time to decide against abortion. The agreement was reached after more than a year of debate on whether women should be required to see the ultrasound. Gov. Mark Sanford has said he...

‘It’ attacked a van in Bishopville and attracted a Bigfoot-hunting team to the state BISHOPVILLE — Something apparently attacked Bob and Dixie Rawson’s van in the early morning hours of Feb. 28. The Rawsons live about two miles southeast of downtown Bishopville. They woke up Feb. 28 to find the front fender of their 2002 Dodge Grand Caravan chewed up, bite marks through the front grill, wheels on both sides bitten and metal crumpled in a wad. There was also blood on the front and sides of the car. While there has been no “official” sighting of the Lizard Man...

McCain Veepstakes: Old School Sanford by John Gizzi “Sanford’s heart is in the right place, but he sure is tough to deal with We have to argue with him about everything!” As my press colleagues, Jamie Coomarasamy and Mike Innes of the BBC, and I made our way through polling places in Columbia on the day of South Carolina primary in January, we heard this repeatedly from area Republican activists. They were talking about the Palmetto State’s two-term Gov. Mark Sanford -- then, as now, mentioned as a vice presidential prospect on the impending John McCain ticket. (In 2000, then-Rep....

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A state trooper is seen kicking a suspect in the head multiple times after a high-speed interstate chase in the latest in a string of alarming Highway Patrol videos. In two other videos, a trooper punches a suspect several times in the face after a pursuit and a different officer appears to hit a suspect with the barrel of a shotgun during a traffic stop. The Department of Public Safety released the videos, recorded in 2006, on Monday following media requests. They are the latest to surface showing troopers acting aggressively toward suspects. Highway Patrol Col. Russell...

The Washington Post March 30, 2008 6:00 AM Amongst the moss-draped live oaks of Charleston Collegiate School's 33-acre campus in Johns Island, S.C. - where children of all ethnicities, religions and abilities work and play together - the words of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright seem alien and hostile. His sometimes hate-filled rhetoric is weirdly out of sync with this quiet corner of the Old South, where ancestors of the school's African-American students worked as slaves, perhaps upon these very fields. The differences between this microcosm of a near-utopian community and the world that informs Wright are as stark as the...

Columbia (WLTX) -- Governor Mark Sanford says South Carolina will not comply with the federally mandated Real ID. Sanford's Response This is a requirement that would make the state issue new driver's licenses that would meet federal security demands. Sanford shared an open letter to Michael Chertoff, asking the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary to give South Carolina the same treatment as other states, who are asking for a Real ID extension. Sanford says he's not opting for an extension, because South Carolina laws passed last year prohibit it. The letter also says that South Carolina drivers licence requirements already meet...

Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina and the diocesan standing committee have made public a  letter sent March 27 to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori in which she was asked not to proceed with a “special convention” meeting she announced and personally will convene on March 29 at St. John the Baptist Church in Lodi, Calif.  The meeting agenda includes adoption of the 2003 version of the San Joaquin Constitution and Canons certification of delegates and ratification of Bishop Jefferts Schori’s nomination of retired Northern California Bishop Jerry Lamb to be provisional bishop for the newly reconstituted diocese. The diocese...

citizen of India living legally in South Carolina pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to illegally export weapons to India, authorities said Thursday. It was one of two cases involving illegal arms in India.

TAMPA, Fla. - A judge on Thursday ordered that a terrorism-related charge against an Egyptian student accused of transporting explosives will be handled in a separate trial from the explosives counts. Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed and another Egyptian student, Youssef Samir Megahed, were arrested last summer in South Carolina over material found in their trunk. Prosecutors say it was explosive material; the defense says it was homemade fireworks. Mohamed also is charged with a terrorism-related count stemming from a video found on a laptop computer in the car. The video, which Mohamed is accused of producing, shows how to turn...

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- The future of NASCAR's oldest major speedway sits on Chris Browning's desk, in the form of a thick, ring-bound booklet packed with timelines, blueprints, architects' renderings, and maps. The president of Darlington Raceway reaches into his five-year master plan and pulls out a graphic of a two-story, barn-styled garage complex, complete with a fan observation area, that may one day grace the infield of this revered 57-year-old track.

California's embarrassment in the Senate, Barbara Boxer, attacked fellow Senator Jim DeMint for suggesting that Berkeley CA should have federal funds stripped from the town, according to Mercury News.com. "A spokeswoman for Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., called DeMint's comments 'just plain wrong.' 'Sen. DeMint may not like what the Berkeley City Council has to say, but to punish the children, police, first responders and the university for something they had nothing to do with is just plain wrong,' said Natalie Ravitz, the spokeswoman."

Real Change Requires Principled Conservative Leadership By Sen. Jim DeMint Tuesday, January 29, 2008 Since 1966, the opposition party has delivered a response to the State of the Union Address. This year, I am delivering a Conservative Response not to oppose the President, but to compliment what the President has proposed. The President last night took some bold positions and we will work to support his principled stands. But more must be done. As a Senate conservative, I will work with my colleagues to put forth principled conservative ideas for action in Congress. First, we must start with National Security....

Since we are today nearing the closing of the voting polls in the Democratic Primary of South Carolina, it would be interesting to lightly discuss the racial elements that have been brought to the publics attention by the Media, ever since Obama’s bid for the White House has taken the lead in all political discussions. One of the most important aspects of this year’s campaign has been the continuous advocacy of the claim that it has always been the Democratic Party who has been at the forefront in the fight for diversity (which ironically negates true racial integration) and racial...

Bruce Feirstein: Bill Clinton, Nasty Man

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South Caroline Democrat Dogfight, I mean Debate! (McCain won.) I saw a bulldog, a Labrador and a terrier when I tuned into the South Carolina dogfight (debate). The Democrats didn’t wait for Republicans to draw first blood.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - A simmering feud between Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama erupted into charges of distortion and exaggeration in a gloves-off presidential debate Monday, with Clinton accusing him of representing a Chicago slumlord and Obama countering that she was a corporate lawyer for anti-union Wal-Mart. Even in the superheated atmosphere of their fight for the party's nomination, the statements and exchanges between Clinton and Obama were unusually acrimonious and personal. The debate came as the two campaigns continued to complain about dirty politics and disenfranchisement of voters in last Saturday's Nevada caucuses. As Obama tried to...

"...The question remains whether Mrs. Clinton can carry the momentum of her wins in New Hampshire and Nevada into South Carolina, which holds its Democratic primary on Jan. 26. Mr. Obama strongly defeated Mrs. Clinton in Iowa on Jan. 3 and currently leads in South Carolina with 46% of votes compared to 36% for Mrs. Clinton and 15% for Mr. Edwards, according to a poll conducted by SurveyUSA. The state is the last Democratic contest before 22 states vote on Feb. 5 or "Super Tuesday" when over half of all the pledged national convention delegates will be awarded. A strange...

<p>One day after a disappointing second place finish in South Carolina, Mike Huckabee got back in the saddle Sunday to party at the ranch of action movie icon Chuck Norris, and repeated a claim by his campaign chairman that Fred Thompson was his biggest barrier to defeating John McCain in the Palmetto State.</p>

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Now that the Republican primary is over in South Carolina, it's onto the Democrats. Sunday Michelle Obama and Chelsea Clinton attended service at the same Midlands church, and News 10 was there. If you've ever visited Bible Way Church of Atlas Road, you know there's a lot of singing. Sunday morning the church had two extra voices: Michelle Obama and Chelsea Clinton. One on one side of the church, one on the other. And the congregation took note. "I don't know. It was kinda awkward," said Evette Brown. "Well to me I think it shows divide...

The following picture appeared on the front page of the Index Journal which is the newspaper for Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick and Saluda Counties here in South Carolina. Clearly a sign of the times when Spanish has to be posted on signs voting precints in the area. I wonder how many Hispanics voted for McCain knowing he will allow them to stay and bring in their relatives?

Who got the biggest boost on Saturday? Clinton - Winning Nevada Romney - Winning Nevada McCain - Winning South Carolina

Where Now From Here? The South Carolina primary turned out to be a clarifying event after all. Instead of the potential for five front-runners in the Super Tuesday contest in two weeks, it appears we will have at best three viable candidates for the nomination, and only if Rudy Giuliani proves his strategy correct by winning Florida. What will be left will be the three candidates that the conservative blogosphere has relentlessly criticized for their lack of lifelong fealty to the Ronald Reagan legacy, but whom voters have nevertheless trusted enough to support in the primaries. First, the failure of...

A cheer went up from the crowd of Fred staffers at the Greenville Embassy Suites when Fox News called South Carolina for McCain. No, Fred is not a stalking horse, but what has emerged here is a palpable contempt for Mike Huckabee and his campaign methods (push polls Upstate) and his outright lies and blatant pandering changes of position. CW is that conservatives have serious resevations with Huckabee and McCain. If this sample is representative of conservatives-and Fred’s campaign is certainly staffed with many Reagan conservatives-then Rush and Levin are only half right. UPDATE: 9:35. A groan greeted Huck’s appearance....

From FoxNews: Conservatives - Mike Huckabee 32%, John McCain 26%, Mitt Romney 19%, Fred Thompson 17% Independents - John McCain 37%, Mike Huckabee 23%, Ron Paul 15%, Mitt Romney 14% Evangelicals - Mike Huckabee 41%, John McCain 27%, Fred Thompson 14%, Mitt Romney 11% Veterans - John McCain 36%, Mike Huckabee 25%, Mitt Romney 20%, Fred Thompson 13% As far as the three most important issues to voters: McCain and Huckabee are tied on the economy, Huckabee is leading on immigration and McCain is winning on Iraq.

Watch as the goalposts move before your very eyes, with less contested southern states like Georgia and Tennessee now the benchmark for voter enthusiasm. Third in SC is very much a possibility, of course — but early indications from Carl Cameron are not good. Politico says he sounds wistful on the trail today while the NYT seizes one last opportunity to snark. “Amen! Tell the truth, Fred! Amen!” Update: Victory in defeat: Over the past month, Huckabee first surged in polls of South Carolina Republicans, from fifth place to, for a time, a solid first place. Over the past two...

COLUMBIA, S.C. - As many as 90 percent of the electronic voting machines in one coastal South Carolina county did not work when polls opened in Saturday's Republican primary and officials also worried that snow forecast for the northern part of the state could impact voter turnout. Lisa Bourcier, a spokeswoman in Horry County, which is home to Myrtle Beach, said 80 percent of the roughly 400 machines that failed to function were up and running by noon and that technicians were working on the rest. She said officials had heard reports of voters being turned away because of machine...