Today's News

Susan and Andrew Stewart of Simpsonville, SC welcomed daughter Anna Marie Stewart into the world on October 6, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. in Simpsonville, SC. She weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. She is the granddaughter of Vickie Stewart of Myrtle, Miss., Mike Stewart of Simpsonville, SC, and Richard and Betty Cunningham of Rochester, NY.

        As I allowed myself to become caught up in the flow of patriotism, enthusiasm for the moment and, actually, something else yet to be identified during the past two days of remarkable national significance for Americans as a people, I couldn’t help recalling oddly similar, but different feelings when I first read Tale of Two Cites by Charles Dickens. Author Dickens began Book One, Recalled To Life, Chapter One, The Period with words so profoundly appropriate for today that I reprint them below for those who may have never read them.

 Mathematically, it is virtually impossible to prove any of the theories that for every $100 you spend locally, X amount of dollars stay at home. Different surveys have provided different results, so all that can be said is that it makes sense for the folks in any community to spend their money with their local merchants if they want their community to survive and the business community to grow.

     Past the purely monetary considerations, there are other reasons to shop at home with your business neighbors.

This editorial appeared in The Arkansas Leader, the newspaper in Jacksonville, Arkansas. It was written by Garrick Feldman, owner and publisher and is being reprinted with his permission. Tobacco companies are organized and will fight any serious attempt to increase taxes on their products, as they will also do as we consider raising tobacco taxes in Mississippi.