2018: The year in quotes
By Bobby Bryant, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
This is the time of year when the news media begin prepping for “year in review” stories: The year in politics. The year in sports. The year in business. The year in movies.
The News & Press is working on our annual “year in review” project, which will run at the beginning of January. But in the meantime, in the spirit of the whole “year in review” season, we offer … the year in quotes.
“Darlington has a courthouse; that is its reason for existing. We don’t have a Fortune 500 company in the midst of our city. We don’t have a college, we don’t have a Governor’s School, we don’t have a Byerly Foundation. We’ve got the Darlington courthouse, which is extremely important to our lives and to our welfare. It is our heartbeat … and it’s critically important that it stays.”
— Former Darlington mayor Ronnie Ward, on the courthouse’s future
“It would be so nice … if you all would stop acting like schoolkids on a playground. You’re not up there for this; stop doing that. You ought to let each other speak before you interrupt. The city of Darlington is in Darlington County; go to the Darlington County Council meetings and watch how they act at council meetings. They let each other speak. … You can say what you want to; you have the floor. You all shouldn’t be interrupting each other. Stop acting like kids. You are all grown-ups. Act like it.”
— Resident Linwood Epps to Darlington City Council
“Every citizen should have the right to have clean water. Water that don’t mess up your clothes. In 2018, we shouldn’t have to fight to have water. … From here all the way to Bennettsville is bad water. DHEC knows it. They say it’s drinkable, but it will mess up your clothes.”
— Pastor Matthew Robinson on water problems in the Society Hill area
“We need one, and if we never have to use it, I would be the happiest man on Earth.”
— Hartsville Police Chief Jerry Thompson, on whether Hartsville should have an armored rescue vehicle
“That’s a hero.”
— Darlington Mayor Gloria Hines on slain police Sgt. Terrence Carraway of Darlington
“I’ve been coming to these meetings for a year now. Every one of these meetings has been extremely difficult to sit through. . . . I am extremely disturbed by what I see when I come to council meetings. … The City Council, the mayor, are totally disrespected. It is just unheard of. . . . I know this is black and white. I don’t care what anybody says. It’s always been black and white.”
— Resident Gladys Wingate Jules, in remarks to City Council
“I promise you all – and I’m not just putting on my corporate hat here – it’s going to transform this community.”
— Ben Breazeale, senior director of government affairs for Charter Communications, on plans to bring high-speed Internet to Lamar
“There’s still a lot of responsibilities that go along with running a water system. It’s not just turning on a faucet or flushing a toilet and we’re good.”
— Paula Brown, a drinking water system inspector with DHEC’s Florence office, on Lamar’s wastewater system