FIGHTING FIRE, THE BRITISH, TAXES, UNEMPLOYMENT

A look outside the window here in the Midlands shows that today is definitely Stormy Monday. Hopefully Tuesday won’t be just as bad.

Anyway, here are a few small stories making some ripples in the rain:

• THE FIRESTARTER, TWISTED FIRESTARER, GETS 15 YEARS — If you missed it, that was the second musical refrence in the post… something TPS regulars will appreciate as a rarity.

Anyway, the Associated Press is reporting that Kimberly Wooten was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday for burning down four homes near her Irmo neighborhood, with two years suspended for time served. The 42-year-old mother of two pleaded guilty but mentally ill in June to seven counts of second-degree arson and other charges related to the fires.

• GRAHAM PUTS ON TRI-CORNER HAT, FIGHTS LOBSTERBACKS — Sen. Lindsey Graham has picked up the musket ball fumbled by his colleague Sen. Jim DeMint and is now “a key player” in the struggle to get national park status for the Battle of Camden site in Kershaw County, The State reports.

A measure to require the Department of the Interior to conduct a feasibility study for possible park status passed the U.S. House late last year. This is the first time the measure has reached the Senate.

Ordinarily, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., would be shepherding the bill. It landed in his committee, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

But DeMint has turned his back on the bill, and Graham is riding to the rescue.

When asked why he abandoned a chance to preserve South Carolina’s history, DeMint reportedly said, “I just got back from a séance, and the spirits from the battle gave me some really bad vibes. That, and I also want to drill for oil there someday.”

• GET YOUR SWAG WITHOUT PAYING THE PIPER — For big kids like me who never really grow up and always wish they were still in first grade throwing play-doh at Susie and stealing little Billy’s Tonka trucks, tax free weekend rocks. It’s a chance to stock up on all sorts of new school clothes, backpacks, the latest Air Jordan’s and, most importantly, pencils that can be sharped down into tiny pencils for throwing at other kids — all without paying the state government a dime. Wait, no one else does that? Whatever, forget you then.

Anyway, the ninth annual tax-free weekend runs from midnight Friday, Aug. 1 through midnight Sunday, Aug. 3 across the state. But be warned, tax-free weekend is so popular that it is the third busiest shopping period of the year.

• SC’S LATEST MONSTER IS A GOOD MONSTER — Monster.com was cool about five years ago when they were tops in the online job search sector, but has since become one of the most useless places to look for employment. I saw a commercial the other day that pretty much hit the nail on the head when they said Monster and others aren’t selective enough and will let a whole field of unqualified Joe Schmos crowd out the best candidates.

So they’re taking the same approach as drugged up celebrities — they’re going to rehab. And what better place than South Carolina where you can be secluded from the rest of the world in a place where most people will leave you alone and let you recover?

For Monster, that means opening a recruitment center in Florence. For South Carolina, it means up to 350 new jobs. Everybody wins except for those who like unemployment checks!

This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 3:31 pm and is filed under Around the state, U.S. Congress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.