Issuu

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2015

N.G. Osteen 1843-1936 The Watchman and Southron

H.G. Osteen 1870-1955 Founder, The Item

THE SUMTER ITEM H.D. Osteen 1904-1987 The Item

Margaret W. Osteen 1908-1996 The Item Hubert D. Osteen Jr. Chairman & Editor-in-Chief Graham Osteen Co-President Kyle Osteen Co-President Jack Osteen Editor and Publisher Larry Miller CEO Rick Carpenter Managing Editor

20 N. Magnolia St., Sumter, South Carolina 29150 • Founded October 15, 1894

COMMENTARY

‘Zoo’ delivers with curiosity, intrigue

o many television shows have failed to live up to their hype that my personal viewing habits have devolved (some would argue “evolved”) into only watching movies, news and sports. But I took the bait, the promotion offered for the series “Zoo” on CBS, and watched the first episode. I’ve been hooked ever since. The storyline centers around strange aniRick mal activity Carpenter that throughout the series becomes more prominent. It starts with a few species appearing to communicate throughout the world. And the animals have decided to turn the tables on humans, from being the hunted to the aggressor; the animal kingdom decides to test the biblical proclamation that man should have dominion over the world. Even household pets leave their homes for secret rendezvous. The first few episodes show how what appears to be a government official pulling together five people from diverse backgrounds to identify what is happening, why it’s happening and what to do about it. The team includes an animal behavior expert, a journalist, a safari guide, a French foreign intelligence officer and a veterinarian pathologist. Only two of the team members knew each other ahead of time. Their search for answers leads them all over the world and focuses their efforts on the research of one member of the team’s father who was discredited by other researchers when he predicted the creation of such a development. Not only does each episode force you to sit at the edge of your seat, each scene sends you to commercial break wondering what’s next. The plot includes the introduction of a bacteria into animal food products made by conglomerate Reiden and a possible cure through what the cast calls “the mother cell.”

As the bacteria spreads throughout the animal kingdom, animals force mankind indoors as species of animals unite with their natural animal enemies to create global panic among humans. Worldwide governments unite to solve the animal takeover by possibly killing every animal on earth. Each episode connects to the next one. You’ll know if you’re interested after the first one. I won’t spoil the ending because we don’t know it. The final episode only makes you wonder what’s next. Of course, the scenario appears fictitious. You may be thinking, “Hey, mankind can’t even communicate mentally across the room, much less worldwide. How can animals do it?” Let me remind you of Napoleon Hill. Andrew Carnegie commissioned Hill in 1908 to interview 500 successful men to determine what common traits they had that made them successful. The culmination of his work, “The Law of Success,” was published in 1928. Hill’s most successful book, “Think and Grow Rich,” based on the same research, was published in 1937 and had sold more than 20 million copies when Hill died in 1970. Both were considered the first books in the personal success genre. In Hill’s “The Law of Success,” he mentions several times how many of the great minds of the time — such as Carnegie, Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, to name a few — possessed the ability to transfer knowledge and communicate mentally with each other across great distances. Today, we might call it “channeling.” Just recalling Hill’s research piques my curiosity about the animal kingdom’s ability to mentally communicate. In Zoo, mankind — at least the five main characters — uses cellphones to communicate. Which makes me wonder; perhaps we’re all devolving. Rick Carpenter is Managing Editor at The Sumter Item. Reach him at rick@theitem. com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR SCHOOL BOARD SHOULD ANSWER FISCAL QUESTIONS I personally delivered a letter to the members of the Sumter School Board on Aug. 20, 2015, asking important questions. The letter was in The Sumter Item soon after I delivered it to the board. To this date, I have received no reply at all from the board. No one from the district has contacted me to tell me what to do or how to do it. No response at all from the Sumter School District, period. The board is known for telling citizens they will look into matters and never giving a substantive response. Ever. What is going on? Why won’t the board respond? More important, why hasn’t The Sumter Item made this a top issue, “how can the board simply refuse to answer a citizen’s very reasonable and important questions?” And tell the public

the answer to the questions! I asked two basic questions: How much did the district get for the Bultman Drive property and what did they do with it? And how many people got no-bid contracts to do work at district schools this year, for how much and why? Oh, and how often have no-bid contracts happened since the new district began and who got the most money? Oh yes, and who is giving approval for all these contracts? Regardless of your political party, don’t you want to know what’s going on? I am asking you to write to the board chairman, board members and The Sumter Item asking for answers. And while you’re at it, ask who is advising the board to stonewall the citizens of Sumter regarding how they are spending millions of our dollars. LOYD YOUNG Sumter

COMMENTARY

Money quotes from GOP contenders W

ASHINGTON — Sometimes what seems the least consequential detail tells the most about a person’s character — or at least his or her intentions. Such was the case at the end of Wednesday’s debate, the second for the GOP field of presidential candidates, with the “light” and irrelevant question of which woman’s face they’d like to see on the $10 bill. In case Kathleen you’re one Parker of those people who couldn’t care less whose face is on paper money or any other legal tender (my hand is raised), the query probably was a cue to find the remote. Why not ask what kind of dog they’d like to be? Come to think of it, that would be informative. (Suggestions @ kathleenparker.) But light notes are nearly required as epilogues to insult matches, otherwise fantastically referred to as “debates.” Anyone amusing himself with the notion that CNN’s extraordinary ratings (an average of 23 million over three hours) reflect the nation’s fascination with substantive discourse on foreign policy ignores history. Hint: the Colosseum. If all eyes were on Donald Trump during the first debate, they were riveted on Carly Fiorina this time, not least because of what many hoped might transpire between these two as they faced off in the wake of Trump’s despicable insult in a Rolling Stone interview about Fiorina’s looks. “Look at that face!” he said. “Would anyone vote for that?” Viewers were denied a bloodletting but were richly rewarded if they prefer a cutting comment to a knife fight. To the inevitable question about Trump’s affront, Fiorina replied: “I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said.” Brava.

Economy of words is one of Fiorina’s strengths, and she was equally concise on the money question. Pandering to no one, she said she wouldn’t put any woman on the bill. “I don’t think it helps to change our history,” she said. “We ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group.” Despite the relative insignificance of the changing faces on our currency — by the way, who knew $20bill poster boy Andrew Jackson pioneered the hairstyle popularized by Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter? — the candidates’ answers were revealing. It would have been simpler if moderator Jake Tapper had just asked, “To whom would you wish to pander this evening?” but the 10-dollar question seemed more fun. Alas, some candidates weren’t playful and eliminated themselves from consideration for the title of “Worst Panderer.” These were Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump, all of whom named a family member. Sweet but unsporting and lacking in imagination. Trump did amend his choice by seconding Rosa Parks, whom Marco Rubio had picked as “an everyday American that changed the course of history.” Even though Parks is certainly a legitimate choice, it isn’t entirely cynical to infer that Rubio and Trump need some cred among African-American voters. Libertarian Rand Paul, who has a hard time convincing people that he’s on board with social issues, picked suffragette Susan B. Anthony, who is a popular symbol for the pro-life movement. Check. Jeb Bush chose Margaret Thatcher because Ronald

Reagan is a man — and Thatcher is as close as you can get to Reagan. Acknowledging that putting her on the $10 bill was “probably illegal, but what the heck,” a Republican candidate can never overassociate himself with Reagan. Chris Christie, perhaps burnishing his intellectual bona fides, suggested the tough and brilliant Abigail Adams, the nation’s second first lady. Also, Golda Meir was off-limits. Ted Cruz, ever the maverick and edging out the rest of the pack, said he’d leave Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill and replace Andrew Jackson with Parks. Read: Black woman unseats the seventh president, who owned hundreds of slaves. Got it. Saving the best, which is to say the worst, for last, we come to John Kasich, who probably figured you can’t ever lose by bringing up Mother Teresa. Except, sir, for this time. Who ever would think of putting the face of this woman, whose singular purpose was helping the poorest with the currency of God’s grace, on a $10 bill? Perhaps only a man who thinks he has been chosen by God, as Kasich has expressed in so many words, and who routinely bullies his opposition by suggesting that they’re not Christian enough. If Kasich was angling for a photo op with the pope or a handle on the Catholic vote, he badly missed the mark. See? Following the money really does get you where you need to go.

‘Anyone amusing himself with the notion that CNN’s extraordinary ratings … reflect the nation’s fascination with substantive discourse on foreign policy ignores history.

HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY? Send your letter to letters@theitem.com, drop it off at The Sumter Item office, 20 N. Magnolia St., or mail it to The Sumter Item, P.O. Box 1677, Sumter, SC 29151, along with the writer’s full name, address and telephone number (for verification purposes only). Letters that exceed 350 words will be cut accordingly in the print edition, but available in their entirety at www.theitem.com/opinion/letters_to_editor.