By JEFFREY WALLACE   Columnist   5/25/2012 9:12 PM   

The wheels of justice seem to move slowly. Sometimes too slowly we think. Being a part of the system, however, one can appreciate more fully the reasons for such deliberateness in our judicial system. As a member of a federal jury a week ago, I c ...

By Dr. TOM MACK   Columnist   5/24/2012 5:42 PM   

One of my most vivid memories of my first year at USC Aiken involved a few hours spent in Columbia. Jimmy Carter, then the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Presidency, was speaking on the steps of the state house in the last weeks of his national camp ...

By MIKE GIBBONS   Managing Editor   5/22/2012 9:50 PM   

It's always fun to be hit in the face with a mockingbird. It happened the other night when I was taking my trash out. I approached my garbage bin and a mockingbird, apparently taking temporary residence in a bush nearby, flew out, smacking me in th ...

By GARY WILLOUGHBY   Aiken SPCA president and CEO   5/22/2012 1:37 PM   

Over the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of taking lots of people for a tour of the new facility that is still under construction. Each time, I get the chance to share with pet lovers our plans for the future and how the new facility and ...

By CATHY DYSON   The Free Lance-Star   5/22/2012 12:32 AM   

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) SEmD Garrett Camacho knew exactly what he wanted to do in the Marine Corps. He told a recruiter he'd like to be a combat cook. The recruiter asked him to repeat that - to be sure he heard him right - then told Camacho to pu ...

By NOELLE CARTER   McClatchy-Tribune   5/22/2012 12:32 AM   

Scones are one of the basic pleasures in life. Like biscuits with a touch of added sweetness, the best scones are delicate and light yet somehow wonderfully rich, each bite suggesting bits of butter that have all but disappeared, leaving behind tende ...

By BRIAN PARR   Feature columnist   5/20/2012 11:57 PM   

Bob recently lost 50 pounds following a low-carbohydrate diet. After he reached this goal, he went back to his normal diet. To his disappointment, he started gaining the weight back even though he was exercising every day. Bob's experience is all too ...

By Gene Owens   By Gene Owens   5/20/2012 11:50 PM   

Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is abomination. -- Leviticus 18:22, King James Version Be not deceived: Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind ... shall inh ...

BY DAVID KEISLER   Feature columnist   5/19/2012 11:37 PM   

We were pleased to attend a wonderful wedding recently on the fifth of May, also known in Mexico as Cinco de Mayo. This is a celebratory day, as it represents the day Mexican forces defeated the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862. We have known t ...

By Rev. Dr. FRED ANDREA   Columnist   5/19/2012 11:37 PM   

Today I want to talk with you about your vocation. There are few words we contemporary Christians misunderstand and misuse more than the word "vocation," or the whole idea of what constitutes God's calling. How would you, as a child of God, answe ...

By ROGER ROLLINS   Columnist   5/19/2012 11:32 PM   

In this fallen world, marriage's power of truth and power of love can be at loggerheads." - Timothy Keller "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is, Christ." - Bible Matt and Mar ...

Submitted article   FOTAS   5/19/2012 11:32 PM   

Let's start with some really fabulous news: In April 2012, Friends of the Aiken County Animal Shelter volunteers, County Shelter staff and rescue partners working together saved 132 dogs and cats through adoptions and transfers to no-kill shelters. T ...

By TONY WILLIAMS   Columnist   5/19/2012 11:32 PM   

Summertime is here, and that means blockbuster movies are in season. This summer and throughout the end of the year, moviegoers can catch some of the usual heroes on the silver screen. Take Batman. He'll be back on the big screen in another surefi ...

By GREG ROBERTS   Columnist   5/19/2012 6:22 PM   

Trusts have long served as valuable estate and financial planning devices since they can meet a number of important planning needs. Trusts are not new, since they date back to circa 4000 B.C. in Egypt, when individuals who were the equivalent of to ...

By JOHN NELSON   Columnist   5/19/2012 6:22 PM   

But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill. -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 1 Dew is something that has long captured the imagination of the poets: it is born from the air, appearing as magic pear ...

By SCOTT TERWILLIGER   Beauty columnist   5/19/2012 12:30 AM   

Dear Scott: I appreciate your common-sense approach to life and, especially, I appreciated last Sunday's column regarding wrinkles. I am a soon-to-be-mother of the bride, and the soon-to-be-MOG is younger, shapelier and more stylish than I, but it ...

by WHIT GIBBONS   Columnist   5/19/2012 12:30 AM   

The following questions were sent to me by a U.S. journalist on assignment in Capetown, South Africa. Some of the questions are relevant only to that region but most have a more universal applicability. Q. What is your opinion about big game hunti ...

By JEFF WALLACE   Columnist   5/18/2012 11:50 PM   

The number dialed and I awaited the answer from the other end. It was not what I had hoped. The pleasant, recorded voice said, "Please report for jury duty tomorrow at 9:30." The material had come in the mail many weeks ago. The large envelope contai ...

By KATHY VAN MULLEKOM   McClatchy-Tribune   5/18/2012 12:30 AM   

When the tomatoes are finally planted, any old daffodil foliage is cut back and the beds are weeded and mulched, it's time to add the final touch of perfection - tropicals that give your porches and patios a little island mystique. And, since tropi ...

By ANNE FULCHER   Special to the Aiken Standard   5/18/2012 12:00 AM   

We made it back to the states none the worse for the wear. We are exhausted since we traveled for 24 hours to make it back to Aiken. We left the U.K. at 2 a.m. Wednesday and I walked in my front door at 2:45 a.m. Thursday. Everyone has gone their sep ...